• Community Soapbox - Derpy at the School of Friendship, Sunny Alicorn, Queen Haven, and more!

    The soapboxes continue! As always, these are the opinions of fandom members, not us here at EQD. If you'd like to submit your own soapbox, hit up this post for infos.

    Have some headlines

    • The Surprise of Queen Haven
    • Derpy Volunteers at the School of Friendship
    • How Did CaramelJack Survived
    • Does Sunny Deserve to be an Alicorn?
    And go read them below!

    The Surprise of Queen Haven
    By Alexrioponylover95



    Hello everycreature!

    So at this point, I don’t think I need to say you know what about spoilers, haven’t seen the movie yet… Either stop reading or go watch it already!

    So, one of the biggest surprises of MLP: A New Generation was the character development for Queen Haven, which in my opinion, she got the most of all the secondary characters, being the most interesting for me at least.

    When we first heard of Queen Haven, most of us assumed she was going to be an antagonist, and yeah I could have seen that, because often queens get a bad reputation, (Again, thanks Disney…) working against the protagonist and focusing on their own goals and evil intentions. And well the opposite is true for Haven!

    I must admit, at first during the movie she was looking like she was going to be the snobby, demanding royal, not giving Sunny and Izzy a chance to speak and well acting a little arrogant. However as the movie went on, turns out she’s actually a caring mom and royal, she wants to keep the Pegasi feel safe and secure, of course under the lie that she and her daughters can still fly, still, she’s thinking about those under her rulership, rather than her own selfish goals.

    And we continue to see more later on, having escaped and finding Pipp and Zipp, but again, she confronts Alphabittle and the other unicorns about their crystals, however at the same time, it’s that rooted propaganda, so I can’t really fault Haven here.

    And the final act of the movie does a great job showing how Haven broke the status quo of bad queens. Once more urging her daughters to come with her, to actually saving Alphabittle, despite their earlier confrontation, and finally being the first one to come up and put the picture frame back together.

    I really do hope Haven does get more of this kind of development in the upcoming special and show, putting emphasis on being a mother and a good leader. She did say that she’ll pass the crown to Zipp one day, although it did seem like Zipp doesn’t want to be a queen, rather she does seem to take an interest in bringing back the Wonderbolts, as both the movie and what The Dragon Warlock said in an earlier soapbox. Maybe Haven will at first be very confused, maybe even reject that idea, but she’ll come around and support her daughter’s decision, figuring out a different transition of power or letting the Pegasi choose their own leaders.

    So yeah, I ended up liking Haven far better than I first laid eyes upon her first official image, color me impressed! Now if only Disney could take note and actually have a good queen character for once! However, that’s just what I think… What is your opinion of Haven and what do you hope to see next from her!? 



    Derpy Volunteers at the School of Friendship
    By James Jennings



    This takes place shortly after The End of the End two-part episode.  Derpy is still serving the Equestrian Postal Service as a mailpony, but she wants to work part-time at the School of Friendship.  School head Straight Glimmer and deputy school head Sun burst are willing to give the gray Pegasus mare a try-out.  

    Derby takes the Young Six (Sandbar the Earth pony, Gallus the griffon, Oculus the changeling, Silverstream the hippogriff, Smolder the dragon, and Yona the yak) as well as five or six other ponies into the Everfree Forest on a tour.  

    In the forest, Derpy and the students discover a patch.of small plants with blue leavea. Derby suggests that she and the students pick up bundles of the blue leaf plants and take them back to Ponyville and the School of Friendship.

    Derby and the students just arrived in Postville when Fluttershy spots them.  She exlaims, "Muffins! Students! Get rid of those blue leaves! They're poison joke!"

    A little while later, Derpy and the eleven or twelve students are bathing in the
    Ponyville Spa with that special herb that counters the effects of poison joke.

    Headmare Starlight Glimmer and Vice-Headstallion Sunburst visit Derby and the students in the spa.  Sunburst blasts Derpy, "Muffins! That was dumb, dumb, dumb! Incredibly stupid to pick up poison joke!" Starlight reprimands Derpy, "Now Muffins, dear. Not everypony is fit to handle the Everfree Forest. From now on, no.more taking students into the Everfree Forest."

     


    How Did CaramelJack Survive
    By Double C



    For as long as the show has gone on, there have been many ships of the Mane 6 since season 1 but mostly with straight ships. Each of the Mane 6 has been paired with just about any stallion that fans find interesting due to similar hobbies and personalities. The very first ships were Sparity, TwiRion (Orion), CaramelJack, PokeyPie, FlutterMac, and SoarinDash that were made in season 1. But Out of the originally 6 ships, only 2 have survived and they are SoarinDash and CaramelJack. I’m glad that the ship between Rainbow Dash and Soarin had survived and still is despite never being confirmed officially but it is officially to diehard fans of the ship like me. But despite many circumstances, the ship between Applejack and Carmel still lives and these are some reasons.

    This ship got started in Winter Wrap Up when he along with others helped shoveled snow from Sweet Apple Acer. So what I can figure is that they see him as someone who will volunteer to help Applejack around the farm. So this would be much like the perfect country pair since he has appeared in a lot of country themes like at redoes. Since Applejack is hard to be paired because of varies things like her stubbornness and pride, Carmel seems to fans as the only one who can look pass her problems.

    However there are many problems that this pair has but yet fans still pair them. The most obvious is he is a background character. We know that they have little personalities determine on the role they play in. The other is that he was seen in relationships with Sassaflash in The Perfect Stallion and Shoeshine in The Break Up Break Down. So how Applejack could be paired with him if he is either with one? Finally he isn’t the only Applejack ship who are actually are more popular then Caramel. While we all have our own opinions on who is better for Applejack then with Caramel like Blueblood and Trouble Shoes are my top choices.

    But despite many obstacles, CaramelJack has survived thank impart of fans who have always found ways to keep this ship going like giving him more character development. Though I don’t like this ship and have my own but I will respect the fans commitment. Since we all have our own favorite ships that others don’t like but we ignore the criticism and keep going also despite it not being cannon. Do anyone of you think this ship is good or not?

     


    Does Sunny Deserve to be an Alicorn?
    By Alexrioponylover95 and Honōnoken the Samurai



    Hello everycreature!

    So I want to discuss probably the most controversial subject so far from G5 and that’s Sunny being an alicorn!

    So yeah… At the end of MLP: A New Generation, as Sunny finally succeeds getting the three pony kinds to start reuniting and be friends, the three crystals glow, rising up and take Sunny along with them. As the magic starts to work, Sunny has a transformation, gaining a pair of transparent wings as well as a horn, granting her alicornhood in a way.

    Now I’m sure many, if not all of us are wondering… Does she really deserve that much after just one movie?

    To be honest, in my opinion, yes!

    Unlike with FiM, where it took Twilight, after three whole seasons to get her own pair of wings, there, all the pony kinds were already working well with each other, friends and sharing god relations with each other, so it would take a very special pony to gain such power.

    In A New Generation, the three pony kinds are of course separated by fear and hatred and only a few ponies, like Sunny, are willing to extend out their hooves to others. And well Sunny was really the only one, that we know of, who never gave up, despite all the setbacks and obstacles in her way. She really set things in motion, like freeing Izzy, with all the ponies of Maretime Bay looking at her. In addition to freeing Izzy, she also led the charge in finding the three crystals, doing her best to keep everyone together and forming friendships with them.

    And just like Twilight, she has reached her own critical point, almost losing all hope and reason to continue trying, until, having had a little help from her father in the form of the crystal hidden in the lamp… (I’m not crying…) she sprung right back into it, even after having her home destroyed in the process.

    While her transformation (and buildup to it) happens in a shorter timespan compared to Twilight's, Sunny has already proven herself worthy of being an alicorn. Like Twilight before her, she believes strongly in friendship, is a born leader, and has done her part to unite people instead of driving them apart. By becoming an an alicorn (at least temporarily, assuming this isn't a temporary "pony-up" transformation like in EQG), Sunny can exemplify the best of her generation, become a new beacon of friendship and harmony for all to look up to in-universe.

    But what do you all think of this touchy subject and does Sunny deserve it or not! Also, a big thank you to Hononoken the Samurai for joining me again on this soapbox! (His parts are in italics!)