Twilight, sweetie….  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYJp2mlsGwQ

I can’t even read these damn comics anymore, because shit like this, and the effortless forgiveness of the Kelpies and crap have made it impossible.
 
Pet comic, they didn’t have enough time/ care enough to end it by either punishing the Kelpies properly or coming up with a reason that they couldn’t have just ASKED the ponies for help outright. They even implied it being entirely sound to sacrifice a thousand people you DON’T know for the twenty or so that you do. Mr. Spock would be proud.
 
The Sirens comic was out and out a stupid outing into failed humor that made Rainbow Rocks look as bad and worse than EQG haters already believe it is.
 
And here we have the same problem we had in the S5 premiere, except THERE they at least had the presence of mind to keep Spike out of the action entirely, creating contrivance, but contrivance that made the proceedings more believable.
 
Except here, the problem of Twilight being able to handily subdue criminals is met with bullshit bureaucratic nonsense that I’m damn skippy will never be the case in the series itself. And it’s made worse by how later issues run with the theme of casually clear lawbreakers being capable of brushing off Twilight’s authority or ignoring her entirely.
 
Either raise the fucking stakes in your comic series to match Twilight’s ability/authority, or find a reason to keep her away from the action altogether so the others can have something smaller to contend with. Don’t insult my fucking intelligence.

@Combine03  
Another term for a cow pie.

@Hollow_Shades_resident  
As if that makes any significant difference.

[deleted]

@Hollow_Shades_resident  
Being a pirate, probably not.

I know this has probably been said already, but I guess this guy wasn’t a citizen: https://derpibooru.org/476848?scope=scpeddc3764697afe4450adf8a3640b77eccef1db5d5

@Background Pony #286B  
She said she wouldn’t use magic on a citizen of Equestria, despite having been previously shown doing so. I don’t think the details change that.

@Scrounge  
nah, in that pic she was doing self defense in this one she just don’t give care she would let them kidnapping happen if it was fluttershy or something

@Background Pony #286B
 
That’s part of the problem, but also…
 

 
…It’s inconsistent.

dayum twilight that’s some bogus reasoning there

@Background Pony #8133  

 
Still have no idea what the heck you’re talking about. Articulate your position more clearly.

…Yeah, I still think this is a stupid reason to have Twilight do nothing.
 
And it’s not like she’d have necessarily resolved everything anyways. She’s screwed up and made things worse before.
 
…Maybe that would have been a less stupid way to sideline her. She tries to help, botches it, causes the situation to escalate, and gets cold hooves because she’s worried her next mistake will get somepony killed. Still not great, but at least it’s vaguely in-character.

@Background Pony #6B77  
>And again, I see no reason why the mane six shouldn’t be fighting back.
 
In you scenario there would be no one to fight. The bulls would not stick around.
 
 
@archestereo  
>…that’s just it: this ISN’T a story! To call it a story would be to give the writers way too much credit!
 
Jesus Christ.

@archestereo  
And naturally, the fact that it’s supposed to be about AJ is all the more reason to not even have Twi in it in the first place.

@Background Pony #8133  

 
…that’s just it: this ISN’T a story! To call it a story would be to give the writers way too much credit! (That’s why I’ve constantly referred to this as a “story”. <insert Lego Movie joke here>)
 
As I’ve pointed out before, they’re not even trying to write something that actually fits into FiM; they focused on writing a western, and it’s an inexcusably fuzzy focus, not to mention jarringly uncreative for a comic about magical talking technicolor ponies that live in a world brimming with mythical creatures and diabetes.
 
So the ponies are effectively shoehorned into the western, and as a result it comes apart at the seems. Twilight may as well have looked straight at the reader and said “these are not the droids you’re looking for”; that’s how insulting her BS excuse comes across.
 
…and again, the whole reason they’re even writing a western is because they’re writing a comic that focuses on Applejack; heaven forbid Applejack get characterization beyond apples, “honesty” and “country”, cuz that would take both effort AND respect.

@Background Pony #8133  
Wherever they’re going, they can easily be pursued by a contingent of pegasi, and that’d be the only logical response to this scenario. These guys are criminals, and criminals ought to be apprehended, not allowed to wander freely and cause more chaos.
 
And again, I see no reason why the mane six shouldn’t be fighting back.

@Background Pony #6B77  
Try to think in terms of narrative and motivation. A story needs conflict and resolution, or it is not a story. The other five would head to the saloon, because they would have nothing else to do in your scenario. The bulls have to reason to wait for the damned army to show up. They arr headed for the hills. The conflict is over. The resolution happens without any effort at the beginning.

@Background Pony #8133  
“Head to the saloon”? What, so they’re just weaklings now who don’t know how to resist a bunch of thugs? Don’t be ridiculous. Just as they all fought against an army of changelings, they might as well be able to do the same thing here.
 
Twilight going to get reinforcements makes sense because she has the title and position for it, not RD. As for the bulls “sticking around”, I don’t even see how that’s relevant either way.
 
Serious B’s idea is at least a decent attempt at making the situation easier to swallow. There’s nothing to like at all about the way the comic is actually written.

@Serious B  
That does not solve anything. All that does is end the story early without any witty problem solving and without any friendly cooperation, just like a rainbow lazar would. On top of that, it is just as much a plothole-ridden contrivance. Why would Twilight herself leave to get the guard when Rainbow Dash is right there? Why would the bulls stick around? Why don’t the other five just head to the saloon until this is all over?

Also, this whole goddamn mess could’ve been averted if the writer at least made Twilight use some kind of protection spell on AJ to protect her friend from harm, instead of just standing there doing nothing.
 
In fact I can see it now:  
-the bull wants to hit AJ, but Twi puts up a shield protecting her friend from harm;  
AJ:Twi, you could use your powerful magic to get rid of the bulls and help the town!  
Twi:sorry AJ, I can’t abuse my newfound power to hurt equestrian citizens…  
AJ:Meadow Muffins!  
Twi:…but I can use my newfound authority to command ponies of the Royal Guard to come and apprehend them!  
AJ:Great! We’ll hold them off until you get back with a bunch of guards!
 
(Twilight gets to keep her silly magic code while still being able to protect her friends from harm, gets to actually excercise her princess status and on top of that, gets put on a bus for the bigger part of the arc, letting the others shine. It may not be perfect solution but to me it beats the official one.)

@Dragonmage  

 
Listen here you fuckwit. Please show me where in my previous comment did I say that all earth ponies are like Maud, Mac or AJ? All I said was that AJ is damn strong herself on top of having her lasso skills and quick wit, which all together would make her capable of handling the bulls (which, as many people have mentioned before, already happened in the previous comic where she had no problem fighting them off).
 
For that matter, when exactly have Big Mac and Maud muscled through a fight in the show, huh?
 

 
How do you know if the tree was eroded? And how the fuck does that have anything to do with Dash? Where the fuck did I even mention her or tried to in any way diminish her abilities like you seem to do with AJ? Did you actually read my post at all?

@Background Human
 
Quite frankly, I actually wish that was the direction this took; it’s not like they didn’t make room for two other shorts in this issue anyways, so it’s not like you can say they have to stretch the story.
 
…besides, just about anything would’ve been better than this…

@archestereo  
I gotta say, though, it’d be hilarious if they told this story while keeping the Manes’ power level consistent with what we’ve seen in the past. Instead of a ragtag band of misfits struggling to stand up to the big bad bulls, you’d have six little Liam Neesons carving a path of FUCK YOU across the land to get to the Cattle Rustlers.

@Dragonmage  
Who cares about Dash, she’s a total freak and hardly representative of Pegasi at large.
 
As for Applejack, she can certainly handle herself in a fight. It almost sounds like you think she couldn’t for some reason.