• Community Soapbox - EG Attacking Equestria, Atomic Cartoons Hiring Lighting Artists, and More!

    If you are bored and have pony opinions, send a soapbox in! We are low on them again for the first time in a while. 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:

    • Friendship is Magic Miniseries Next Generation 
    • The Equestria Girls Government Attacking Equestria
    • Of Ruins and Time.
    • Atomic Cartoons Hiring Lighting Artists is Exciting!
    And go read them below!

    The Equestria Girls Government Attacking Equestria
    By: FlareGun45

    So here's something about Equestria Girls I've thought about. Also, I'm not sure if I posted this soapbox before or not. Regardless, what would be a great conflict if Equestria Girls DID have a real finale is that the government has not been looking into the magic surges at all!

    It's no secret that Canterlot High has seven magical teenagers (and a talking dog), and the magic is spread into the wilderness, a carnival, out at sea, and at a concert, and some people are actually using these magical artifacts that leak through! One would think that by now, a government agency would come to bring everyone involved into questioning - not to mention someone would probably want to harness that magical energy as a new power source. Sure, Sci-Twi tried it, but she's just a kid. Someone could make ALOTA money with that stuff!

    It's like in the newer Doom games when the UAC harnessed Hell's energy: Argent Energy, into a clean power source. Basically, using souls to power up everything. It's clean and reliable, but of course it came with an apocalyptic cost. Imagine if something similar were to happen in this world.

    The magic leaks are just getting stronger, and no one is doing a thing about it. All the girls do is just wait until something happens, and then pounce into action. Let's be absolutely real here - this is NOT something the entire world would just ignore! I don't care if it's a children's show, I've seen children's shows go this deep.

    As long as Twilight keeps that magic mirror opened, Equestria is in grave danger: humans. In particular: human greed. There's probably a reason why the mirror only opens once every 30 moons. Now that Twilight broke that, she's endangering her world.

    There's also a reason why EG may not appear in G5. There's plenty of time for that, but I kinda doubt EG is gonna play a role in this new generation, so it wouldn't be any consequence to shut down the portal. Equestria Girls needs a finale.

     


    Friendship is Magic Miniseries Next Generation
    By Double C

    For this finale miniseries we will talk about The Next Generation

    If there was anything Hasbro could have done as a sequel to Friendship is Magic is adding new characters who happen to be the children of the Mane 6 and others. With so many fan art and fan fiction of next generations, this should have been the next idea Hasbro could have followed after scraping a reimagining of the Mane 6. Luster Dawn could have interacted with them and made friends with them. Besides the Mane 6, what if the Mane 5 also looked at the journey of their children for guidance.

    If each of the Mane 6 did get married like Pinkie and Cheese then there would have been many challenges. One of those is trying to balance between career and family life. While not confirmed, Twilight for example would have a hard time trying to be the ruler of Equestria while trying to be a good wife and mother. That’s why Flash would make both a good co-ruler, husband, and father for her and their children. That can also be the same with the others like Rainbow Dash with the Wonderbolts, Rarity with fashion shows, and Applejack with the farm. However Fluttershy would have no problem with her career and family since fans voted her number 1 mother in one poll. So having this would teach use how to find a balance between following our career and spending time with family otherwise it could end badly.

    The kids would have even more challenges than their mothers do. One of those is the kids trying to find their place and talent without living and following in their mother’s shadows. While some will become like their parents but the others would take a different path. Also each one will be in a different age since many fans think it’s not a good idea for the Mane 6 to have kids close to the same age as they were. The children of Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rainbow would hang out with each other while Twilight’s would most likely hang out with Moondancer, Twinkleshine, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, and Sunset kids.

    Luster Dawn is perhaps what all fans want to know more about including her new friends she made. It would be interesting of how she and Twilight meet and see more of her personality. Would also like to know the names of the kirin, griffon, yak, and other pony she befriended. I think she may have made friends with Twilight and Cadance kids including Flurry Heart. Seeing her go on many adventures with her new friends and with each of the Mane 6 children would be interesting.

    After watching DisneyFanatic’s prequel A Different Kind of Family, it would be good to see at someone make an adoption. It’s sad to see kids who not only lost their parents but also who were abandon/abused by them and live in orphanages and praying to have a new family. I can see some Gen 5 characters that are related to either of the Mane 6, the royal sisters and Spike who are not blood or species related.

    I know this may not be possible but if Luster and other next gen fought against the unknown alicorn then the Mane 5 could have some hints of who she is.



    Of Ruins and Time.

    Hello, and let me start by saying that I'll be discussing some spoilers about G5 and the IDW comic issues #1 and #2, so as not to spoil anyone.

    With the publishing of the new comics, we got to learn what happened to Canterlot and witnessed how time wasn't kind to this once lively kingdom. I couldn't stop but feel sad about the state of things, which seems (personally) contradictory when I see the ruins of a long-gone kingdom. Allow me to explain, I big fan of the Souls series of games, not so much for the gameplay (I'm kinda bad at it), but more for the environment. The empty cathedrals, the castle walls, the massive towers that extend upwards, just the sheer size and architecture of these places fascinate me. So I stop, turn my sights to these ruins, put down my controller, close my eyes, and try to imagine how they once stood.

    The Age of Fire, Lordran the Domain of Lord Gwyn, everything pristine, I hear the sounds of the bustling streets, the chatter of the people and merchants going through their daily lives, the clanking of armour plates of the patrolling knights, the sight of sentinels standing tall at the border walls keeping vigilance. The libraries and academia are filled with students and scholars discussing their findings. The churches with the scent of their censers, the whispered prayers of the faithful. I try to imagine how it once was, how the people lived there, and it all sounded and smelled, to try and envision this place in its prime, on its most boring day.

    I do mostly the same in real life whenever I visit historical sites and ruins, trying to see them rebuilt and see their true colours. It's fascinating and it makes me very curious about its history.

    But for Canterlot... it feels different. I knew how it looked before, I knew who lived there, I knew their names, I knew about their lives, I knew the stories. It all feels... tragic. This once was a town of high class and socialites, now it's empty, their banners still up in the wind, the buildings cracking and crawling with moss. This place wasn't abandoned gradually, it's as if everyone left all at once. The bakery even had pastries still on display and the royal castle still remains undisturbed, not looted nor vandalized. In the throne room lies the throne of Princess Twilight Sparkle and by its side is the seat of the Ambassador of Friendship, still there, empty and unchanged.

    Then came the thought. What would happen if Sunny were to stare from the balcony of the highest tower, down to the base of the mountain, what if she saw Ponyvile from a distance? What if she visited it, what would she see?

    A city hall in shambles.
    The Carousel Boutique and its mannequins are bare of any clothes.
    Sugarcube Corner with faded colours.
    Sweet Apple Acres is overgrown and unkept.
    Twilight's former castle is no longer radiant and its crystals are dulled.
    And right behind it, was the School of Friendship that once symbolized the future. Now has its gates closed and halls silent.

    "No Kingdom lasts forever", this is true and always will be, for time moves forward and with it comes change. In so many media there's this immortal ancient character with this very used quote: "I have seen civilisations rise and fall", and it all feels weird, to see it from this perspective. To see this fictional place in a fictional world and feel sad and just wonder "How? What happened?", waiting for some sort of relief or satisfaction of knowing how it all came down.

    Not quite sure how to end this, especially with that depressing tone back there. But what I can say is, thank you. Thank you for reading.

    Atomic Cartoons Hiring Lighting Artists is Exciting! 
    By: Hoelion

    EQD Recently posted a new piece about Atomic Cartoons hiring lighting artists, and I think people didn't realize how big a deal that is. It's no secret that the lighting in the Make Your Mark special was really bad, and the fact that they took that feedback and plan to fix it with new hires is such a breath of fresh air in the world of kids animation. Very few other shows would bother, especially something that is just being dumped on Netflix.

    Hopeefully they keep taking feedback and listening to what people say about it, but this is a great first step and I look forward to the series at the end of the year more and more knowing that the wonky lights we got in the special might actually be fixed in the end.