Season 5 episode discussion (Stream & episode links in first post)

@ToskiHero  
People should be careful of what they say: mix-ups like that are part of why the whole “asocial = psychopath” canard exists on the Internet.

@Crystal Neighybánya  
And why the Internet has a near-undying hatred of the autism spectrum.

@ToskiHero  
Or anyone who isn’t neurotypical in general.

@ToskiHero  
I think that really just comes from how incredibly many people self-diagnose themselves with it when they don’t really qualify, or use it as an excuse to not even try…

I think it’s about time we consider asking if Babs is still canon or not. Evidence seems to point to “no”.

@Wiimeiser  
She had a background appearance in “Made in Manehattan.”
 
I say “still yes, just waiting in the shadows”

 
This blew my freaking mind!

@Wiimeiser  
She’s been in 2 episodes (3 including Made in Manehattan), how can she not be canon?

@Wiimeiser  

 
Then by that logic Luna wasn’t canon in season 1.

Is Luna’s cutie mark just the moon, or the moon surrounded by that black stuff?

@MadVillan
 
It’s just the Moon according to the Season 4 finale I think? Crap I can’t remember.
 
 
Edit: Nevermind it was most likely an animation error.

@Cirrus Light  
Didn’t you say you had autism a while back, or am I getting you mixed up with somebody else?

@Wiimeiser  
Now you’re just being absolutely silly.
 
Besides she’s on the official sites and that poster released this week.

@Villain Pony  
@soundtea
 
I think he’s joking about how the writers seem to have forgotten him her?
 
(Something about Babs’ voice or body shape makes me want to call her a him, heh…)
 
@Crystal Neighybánya  
Depends on what you mean by “a while”. Eh, I dunno. It’s all blurry lines and how you define things. When does it go from being just your personality type to being high-functioning AS?
 
Four, five, six years ago I cared a lot, but that was a lot of self-discovery type stuff. Labels like that are an easy out to actually inventing yourself and deciding who you want to be - one of the reasons I don’t like the idea of people labelling themselves as much anything, be it x-sexuality, political view, hobby/obsession, mental illness, anything. You’re you, and you decide who that is, not some label. Not to mention when you identify as a label, it solidifies something that you could otherwise change, thus restricting your own growth and/or development.
 
But now I don’t really care as much. As I said, it’s unclear when it goes from being a personality type that prefers to work alone, obsesses over things sometimes, puts logic over emotion, and has some social anxiety / anxiety in general, to being what you’d call high-functioning AS. I mean, I have a darn lot of the associated traits, but I can also socialize reasonably well, and even started a brony club at my university that’s got a few hundred members now.
 

 
Do you say that because of the “use it as an excuse” bit? It’s not that I’m not sympathetic, it’s just I see that kind of thing a good bit and it bothers me. Yes, mental conditions can make things a lot harder, I know all too well, but your own attitude and approach to things still makes a huge difference.
 
Two people can have the same level of AS, and if one works hard on social skills, they can get along in life as that oddball in the IT department everyone knows, but not too bad off. Certainly still a struggle, but they can still live a life - meanwhile, if he hadn’t worked on it, he could instead end up at home 24/7 with some fetish deviantart account dropping completely incoherent and emotionally unstable sentences everywhere.
 
Two people can have the same level of depression, and one can become bitter and resentful, and talk about how horrible everything is all the time, while the other can become like a sad Fluttershy - not particularly bitter, sad, yes, still, or maybe just largely numb - but otherwise not nearly as bad off as someone who didn’t even try.
 
Another great example is antidepressants - they level the playing field, so to speak, but they don’t make you happy - that’s still up to you. They just make it so it’s possible to feel pleasure and excitement again - but it’s still up to you to be optimistic and make that happen.
 
I’m not in any place to judge any individual, but as a whole, it bothers me that some people will take it as an excuse, or be bothered by something so badly that they’ll stop trying.
 

 
There was a point in time where I was basically mute in middle school, and I know another point where I could’ve gone off the deep end with obsession over a fetish, but by working through those things, instead of being that fetish addict on deviantart, I’ve made a big brony club, a lot of friends and a few very close ones, and worked with faculty in theoretical physics research, and would’ve even been working a research assistant job (got accepted to it/funding approved) this semester had my physical health not decided to be a darn issue again. I’ll probably even get married and have a family one day. All a very far cry from, and a far more meaningful existence than the dark, obsession life that I could’ve easily fallen into if I didn’t put up a stiff fight, and had caved in to some title.
 

 
Lol, so, I guess the answer to your one-line question is “maybe”? :p
 
Eh, I can’t turn down a moral when I’ve got one to preach. Plus, anyone who’s known me knows I have a tendency to write a lot. Now if only writing my fiction came as easily :p
 
But mostly, I wanted to explain how, yeah, that may have been me, but rather than being hypocritical, it’s because I’ve been there that I’m so bothered by others in similar pitfalls.

@ToskiHero  

 
People on the Internet, whether they really mean to be or not, are generally heartless cunts, and I include myself in that category. You’ll never find such concentrated hatred, sadism, and vindictiveness in “meatspace” outside of a prison. I can think of no worse place for a socially awkward person to be. The porn that everyone moans about is the only good thing about it most of the time.
 
Interacting with real people may be complicated for a number reasons, but you’re more likely to find a human smile and some understanding there than any place else.

@HeadlessHorselessHorseman  
Depends a lot on what sites you go to :q

@Cirrus Light  

 
I’ve never seen a site that didn’t have that problem. Even on here, you have people whining about “perverts” or unironically stating that people should be on government watchlists for what they write or read.
 
And even you’re too condescending towards “fetish addicts”.

@HeadlessHorselessHorseman  
But the fact that you put that in quotation marks acknowledges that what I mean by that could have varying degrees of meaning. Don’t assume it means anything like “people who really have serious, crippling mental problems,” or “someone who indulges in this occasionally.” I’m talking about people who could’ve otherwise lived a pretty decent life but have instead lost that opportunity to an unhealthily intense obsession and have similarly given up on making attempts at having anything of a meaningful in-person life.

@Cirrus Light
 
I have an idea of what you mean, and I know you’re trying to be helpful, but telling them the lives they lead are meaningless is a really shit thing to say. I honestly don’t care what people do with themselves, for the most part, and I honestly don’t want anything to do with people who feel the need to meddle in what I do with mine. Generally speaking, I would rather they just leave me alone. If they think I’m so pathetic, they can piss on my corpse when I get myself killed for whatever reason.

@HeadlessHorselessHorseman  
That escalated quickly.
 
Whatever the case, people shouldn’t be shortcutting themselves out of some of the best things in life.
 
The big deal isn’t being into those things, the big deal is letting it consume one’s life away until you don’t even try to make friends or find a mate or get an education and/or pursue a career. Living in some small, dark place with no friends, mate, career, education, or any general goals to better yourself, with ambition completely dead - if kicking someone out of that situation is a jerk thing to do, then I guess I’ll be a jerk, and I’d hope others would be a “jerk” to me if I ever fell into such a hole. How can life be worth living without hope, and how can you have hope without any ambition?
 
…
 
This is relevant to season 5 discussion, somehow.
 
@SeraphimDawn  

 
I don’t get it…

@Cirrus Light  
shippers. what’s there to get?

@Villain Pony  
Why did it blow his mind? They’re holding eachother in one pic, and in another… I’m not sure what’s going on, but they’re much more fully dressed. And Rara’s a unicorn in the top one?
 
Feels like I’m missing some thing(s) :p

@Cirrus Light  

 
That’s just one of her ears.

@Cirrus Light  
The top half of the picture is G1 Applejack with G1 unicorn named Glory. Who happened to have the same colouration as Coloratura.  
A shipping based on this scene  

 
Comparing with the G4 Applejack ship with Rara.

@SeraphimDawn  
Ooooohkay, that would explain why she’s all happy and psyched about it in the top panel, but kinda weirded out in the bottom one. That was the primary confusion :p