Writer: Christina Rice
Artist: Agnes Garbowska
Cover Artist: Agnes Garbowska
Synopsis: "Ponyville Days" Part 2. The town struggles to mend a major divide, while hordes of tourists descend on Ponyville and threaten to overwhelm the populace!
Release Date: 6/17/2015
Writer: Ted Anderson
Artist: Brenda Hickey
Cover Artist: Amy Mebberson
Synopsis: Twilight Sparkle is feeling overworked and stressed out! She decides to visit the most Zen pony she knows-Big Mac! But Mac is feeling less than communicative, so Twilight will have to go where no pony has gone before-inside Big Mac's mind!
Release Date: 6/3/2015
Comments:
The arc in Friendship is Magic looks more interesting now that tourists are getting involved. I didn't expect Twilight and Big Mac to team up, and the story looks like it could be fun. The second cover art reminds me of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team.
The arc in Friendship is Magic looks more interesting now that tourists are getting involved. I didn't expect Twilight and Big Mac to team up, and the story looks like it could be fun. The second cover art reminds me of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team.
It's been a while since last, but... I drew a thing. A little bit of headcanon turned into a drawing.
The headcanon being... whatever happened to the Element of Magic after Luna was banished?
- It was MIA on the element holder in the Castle of the Two Sisters when the Mane 6 found it.
- The other five elements were on the holder, but petrified. Whatever caused that had to have happened after they were placed, but before Magic was put back.
- Celestia admitted that she has lost the ability to use the Elements of Harmony.
I'll admit it's a bit farfetched, and it's surely not the only conclusion to where the Element of Magic went. I just like the idea of that one time Celestia lost control, and broke something really important. Harmony itself. Which also explains why Celestia took in Twilight as her student immediately after seeing that cutie mark. A chance of redemption is not one to throw away.
It's nice to be able to get headcanon out of the way like this. And also nice to actually finish a drawing. Been way too long since last time.
My own headcanon is that Celestia maintained control of the Elements for the thousand years before Twilight got them. She's ambiguous on the timing when she mentions that she's lost the ability to use them, and I think it makes more sense that the magic sealing Discord would wear off shortly after they lost their conection with them than over who knows how many years since they stoned him.
I think she (and possible Starswirl) wrote that prophecy and left the other 5 elements in the castle, inert, as part of the quest to find them. I think she was watching over Twilight and the others on the quest, and would have stepped in to banish her sister again if need be. But her gambit was to save Luna, and I think it was Celestia who warped the final element to Twilight once she saw that Twilight had figured it out.
I don't know about Discord, it seemed that he needed a spark of chaos to break free, so thank you Cutie Mark Crusaders for that one. Kind of sneaky to put him out in a tanquil garden really. A prison would have all kinds of chaotic influences, but a giant grassy calming garden? It's where ponies go to just relax and zen out. The perfect "cage" for Discord.
And then somepony had the crazy idea of taking schoolfoals there on field trips. I mean the whole Discord thing worked out great in the end, but still. That escape could have been averted. Plus, as S4 showed, the spells of the Elements of Harmony kept going as long as the Tree of Harmony was strong. And it was weakening rapidly.
I kind of like the idea of Celestia snapping just for one moment over a thousand years ago. It's hard to imagine what else would make her truly furious. Royally angry, sure, we've seen that already. But a burning rage is just interesting to think about.
I don't know about Discord, it seemed that he needed a spark of chaos to break free, so thank you Cutie Mark Crusaders for that one. Kind of sneaky to put him out in a tanquil garden really. A prison would have all kinds of chaotic influences, but a giant grassy calming garden? It's where ponies go to just relax and zen out. The perfect "cage" for Discord.
And then somepony had the crazy idea of taking schoolfoals there on field trips. I mean the whole Discord thing worked out great in the end, but still. That escape could have been averted. Plus, as S4 showed, the spells of the Elements of Harmony kept going as long as the Tree of Harmony was strong. And it was weakening rapidly.
I kind of like the idea of Celestia snapping just for one moment over a thousand years ago. It's hard to imagine what else would make her truly furious. Royally angry, sure, we've seen that already. But a burning rage is just interesting to think about.
I seem to remember someone, might of been Faust, saying the CMC had nothing to do with it. I can't imagine after at least 1000 years that no fight ever happened in the statue garden.
As for the tree, the Tree of Harmony was just a plot to sell more toys and in the grand scheme of things makes absolutely no sense. Celestia and Luna lived right above the Tree, knew the Elements belong with the Tree and don't keep them in the tree until they need them, Instead they keep them in a hidden chamber under the throne room for no real reason at all.
I seem to remember someone, might of been Faust, saying the CMC had nothing to do with it. I can't imagine after at least 1000 years that no fight ever happened in the statue garden.
As for the tree, the Tree of Harmony was just a plot to sell more toys and in the grand scheme of things makes absolutely no sense. Celestia and Luna lived right above the Tree, knew the Elements belong with the Tree and don't keep them in the tree until they need them, Instead they keep them in a hidden chamber under the throne room for no real reason at all.
It is a bit of a retcon, yeah. I mean it was a fun season-long arc (where the writers bought themselves time to find out exactly what to really DO about the whole Princess Twilight thing), but yeah. Totally a retcon. To sell toys. I mean, unless that pedestal somehow connected to the tree, but I see no reason to believe it so. And it would still be a retcon.
I will admit, drawing Celestia really angry was fun, though. There's no reference for that at all in the show, the worst she's gotten was against Queen Crysalis, and that was still a restrained royal anger, as is befitting a ruler such as her. I just wanted to show her with the restraints off, I suppose.
It is a bit of a retcon, yeah. I mean it was a fun season-long arc (where the writers bought themselves time to find out exactly what to really DO about the whole Princess Twilight thing), but yeah. Totally a retcon. To sell toys. I mean, unless that pedestal somehow connected to the tree, but I see no reason to believe it so. And it would still be a retcon.
I will admit, drawing Celestia really angry was fun, though. There's no reference for that at all in the show, the worst she's gotten was against Queen Crysalis, and that was still a restrained royal anger, as is befitting a ruler such as her. I just wanted to show her with the restraints off, I suppose.
Please don't take my different headcanon as any critique on the work. It is very nice, and I would like to see the angry Celestia that has been in the Books and comics show up in the show at some point.
Please don't take my different headcanon as any critique on the work. It is very nice, and I would like to see the angry Celestia that has been in the Books and comics show up in the show at some point.
Oh, I wasn't taking it as a critique. I know my headcanon is just that, and people will disagree on that. Mine just has a visual aid now.
And yeah, I agree on Celestia. The comics have used her decently, and I'd like to see just one episode of her doing something significant, or even just taking a day off (even if that was done in the comics as a B-plot in the Luna story). Just, she's the Big Good. I kind of want to see her do something. More than just being mission control. I'd even be happy if the season finale ended up being a four-princess problem (and not just by piling everything on Twilight and pointing her at the bad guy as usual).
I've always assumed that the elements are vaguely sentient in an Arthurian sword in the stone sort of way, and having just seen one bearer use them to seal away the other bearer for a millenium, decided it was high time to go back to sleep and wait for someone more suitable, with magic poofing itself out of existence to serve as the metaphysical sentry and judge.
As for the tree, the Tree of Harmony was just a plot to sell more toys and in the grand scheme of things makes absolutely no sense. Celestia and Luna lived right above the Tree, knew the Elements belong with the Tree and don't keep them in the tree until they need them, Instead they keep them in a hidden chamber under the throne room for no real reason at all.
Did they know that keeping the Elements separated from the Tree was going to cause problems, though? I don't remember hearing anything like that.
As for why they'd hide them away, the Tree isn't exactly in a secure location; it's in a shallow cave that anyone can just walk into. Makes sense to keep dangerous magical artifacts hidden away IMO.
I've always assumed that the elements are vaguely sentient in an Arthurian sword in the stone sort of way, and having just seen one bearer use them to seal away the other bearer for a millenium, decided it was high time to go back to sleep and wait for someone more suitable, with magic poofing itself out of existence to serve as the metaphysical sentry and judge.
Appleoosa's Most Wanted
Air Date: May 2nd
Infamous outlaw Troubleshoes Clyde returns to terrorize the Appleoosa rodeo and the Cutie Mark Crusaders set out to bring him to justice and finally get their cutie marks.
Kind of surprised we're getting another CMC episode so soon (well, I suppose episode 4 is just Apple Bloom, but still), but this series always had an odd thing about grouping character episodes together. This seems like it could be fun, and less infuriating than the similar comic arc.
With this, we only have one completely unknown episode left before episode 101.
Appleoosa's Most Wanted
Air Date: May 2nd
Infamous outlaw Troubleshoes Clyde returns to terrorize the Appleoosa rodeo and the Cutie Mark Crusaders set out to bring him to justice and finally get their cutie marks.
Kind of surprised we're getting another CMC episode so soon (well, I suppose episode 4 is just Apple Bloom, but still), but this series always had an odd thing about grouping character episodes together. This seems like it could be fun, and less infuriating than the similar comic arc.
Also, reminder that Friends Forever #15 (Applejack / Mayor) and Friendship is Magic #29 (wrestling) are both releasing tomorrow.
EDIT: Just read Friends Forever #15. I didn't like the ending much, in that Mayor Mare never actually owns up to the fact that her bureaucracy is terribly structured, or at least never seems like she really intends to do anything about it, but the rest of the issue was a lot of fun. I thought the art during the crisis at the end was great, though because MY HEADCANONS, I didn't like that
Sweetie Belle was able to use magic to transform Twilight into a state where she couldn't use magic
.
EDIT: Just read Friendship is Magic #29, and it was OK. It was really odd how they tried to play it both ways, by saying that the wrestlers don't actually try to hurt each other (implying that it's staged), yet still presenting the matches as actual fights. And though there's precedence of Cheerilee being surprisingly strong, I didn't like how she was naturally good at wrestling. The wrestling also wasn't quite as goofy as I would have liked.
Also, we're getting pretty close to the point where the OT thread for season 5 would be made, so let's settle on the title. I still want "Challenge of the Superfriends".
I suppose I'd be willing to do it if no one else is, though I would need to know if there are any mods I should contact beforehand and such. There also wouldn't be any of the image editing usually associated with OTs.
I suppose I'd be willing to do it if no one else is, though I would need to know if there are any mods I should contact beforehand and such. There also wouldn't be any of the image editing usually associated with OTs.
Anyway, in terms of assets, I can mostly use what's in the season 4 thread, though I do think it would be nice to have a picture with Belle Eve somewhere (one the size of the other character profile pictures), and of course, I'll have to find a suitable header image.
Also, I'm totally going to list this as the opening theme.
Anyway, in terms of assets, I can mostly use what's in the season 4 thread, though I do think it would be nice to have a picture with Belle Eve somewhere (one the size of the other character profile pictures), and of course, I'll have to find a suitable header image.
Also, I'm totally going to list this as the opening theme.
Also, just to make sure, did you contact any mods before making the season 4 topic? I know not doing that led to a lot of trouble with the movie announcement thread, but there wasn't much trouble in the season thread.
I don't have an issue with it myself, but I feel like there might be some folks here who would. Something more general might be a safer bet if you're looking to avoid another discussion about spoilers.
Well, the thing is that both images are really the same level of spoilers, since the former is introduced in the premiere episode only a few minutes after the latter. I think I'll just go ahead with the premiere plot specific one. The thread is supposed to be posted on the same day as the premiere now, minimizing the risk, and I would think the picture I chose would provide a better hook for people who haven't been following the fandom--there were a bunch of posters who came into the season 4 thread surprised about Twilight becoming a princess and such, so we do have those on this board.
Of course, I can't actually make the thread until next week anyway, so things can change.
Well, the thing is that both images are really the same level of spoilers, since the former is introduced in the premiere episode only a few minutes after the latter. I think I'll just go ahead with the premiere plot specific one. The thread is supposed to be posted on the same day as the premiere now, minimizing the risk, and I would think the picture I chose would provide a better hook for people who haven't been following the fandom--there were a bunch of posters who came into the season 4 thread surprised about Twilight becoming a princess and such, so we do have those on this board.
Of course, I can't actually make the thread until next week anyway, so things can change.
Since I'll be working on it piecemeal throughout the week, I figure I'll post the barebones version of the OT OP that I have so far in case shenanigans happen. I un-embedded the spoiler image and spoilered the spoiler text; this won't be the case in the actual OP. In terms of new assets, I suppose it would be nice to have banners for "PREVIOUSLY ON MY LITTLE PONY" (though I can just use a screencap) and "OTHER MEDIA".
The long national nightmare finally comes to an end! After literally nearly a year, season 5 has arrived!
This season is a particularly special one, as we're coming up on the 100th episode! And not just that! With this season, Friendship is Magic will become Hasbro's longest running TV series, beating the original Transformers' 98 episodes.
And it doesn't end there! Season 6 has already been confirmed, and in 2017, we're getting a wide release theatrical film! And with multiple ongoing comics and tie-in books to boot, it's a good time to be a pony fan... besides the long gaps between seasons, that is.
PREVIOUSLY ON MY LITTLE PONY
TO ELABORATE
After our heroes were forced to give up the Elements of Harmony to save the Tree of Harmony in the season 4 premiere, a mysterious locked chest sprouted from the Tree. Through their daily lives, the girls found themselves each having to demonstrate their respective Element of Harmony in circumstances where it would have been easier to go against them. These acts inspired others, who then gave them parting gifts--gifts that turned out to be the keys to the chest, and a new Tree of Harmony grew from the chest when it was opened. This became Twilight Sparkle's new castle (after the villain Tirek destroyed her old home) (buy our toys), and Twilight realized that her purpose as a princess is to spread the magic of friendship with the help of her friends and the mysterious powers of the castle.
With a base of operations and a new purpose, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie truly are SUPERFRIENDS
AND NOW
One day, our heroes activate a magical map in the new castle, and marked on it is an unusual town. There, they find that everyone has the exact same cutie mark: an equal sign. While they all seem perfectly content, the girls can't shake the feeling that there is something sinister going on.
Will they be able to stand up to the forces of Cutie Marxism?
Will the inevitable power up to resolve the premiere problem look as bad as it does in the toys?
Will the Cutie Mark Crusaders still fail to get their cutie marks when the marketing gimmick of the season is called Cutie Mark Magic?
This thread is for the discussion of season 5 episodes, along with news and speculation.
* Episode titles and official synopses can be freely discussed, along with things tweeted by show crew and such.
* Discussion of preview clips taken straight from episodes (as opposed to commercials) should be behind spoiler bars. Let us not forget how a few season 4 preview clips were from late in the episodes, including a "Simple Ways" preview straight up showing the climax of the episode. Many people, like myself, already avoid watching these clips for this reason, so discussion of them should be behind spoiler bars.
* If an episode is leaked or made available early (some episodes have been put on iTunes early), discussion of it should be behind spoiler bars until after it normally airs, and you should state that you are discussing that episode early instead of just having a blacked out post. As in:
(S2 finale leak)
The changelings are neat!
Not:
Twilight became a princess! WHAT
This particularly applies to the BABSCon airing of the season 5 premiere. It starts at the same time as the TV airing, but has no commercials, so it will end before the TV airing. If you post from BABSCon about the ending before it finishes on TV, write something like this:
Just finished the episode at BABSCon!
Twilight dies lol
For general fandom discussion, you can go to the community thread. This thread is also the location for discussions of the official comics and Equestria Girls, but there is no foul in discussing those in this thread. Please try to avoid talking about season 5 episodes in the community thread until about a day after it airs, so it can act as a spoiler-free zone during the season.
Princess Twilight Sparkle Voiced by Tara Strong, singing voice by Rebecca Shoichet
Twilight Sparkle was a gifted unicorn who caught the attention of Princess Celestia, thus becoming her personal student. She used to push away her peers, but one world saving and destiny finding later, she couldn't think of leaving her new friends. Twilight constantly works to improve herself through study and being a better friend, but she can be patronizing at times and has a maddening fear of disappointing others. She is one of the most powerful magic users in the world, and thus represents the Element of Magic (and friendship, which is magic). Over time, her magic developed such that she turned into an alicorn--a form that represents all three major pony types--and became a princess, graduating from Celestia's tutelage. Now acting as the Princess of Friendship, she works with her friends to spread its magic across the land.
After she became a princess in the season 3 finale, people were really worried that this would mean that the show would shift entirely to focus on her and that her personality would drastically change. This didn't happen, because her princess status played no part in season 4 episodes except those explicitly about it, and Twilight didn't get many focus episodes in any case. At least there was a nice song acknowledging this, so hopefully there will be more of a balance this season.
Applejack Voiced by Ashleigh Ball
Applejack is the strong, hard-working, and straight-forward earth pony who runs the Sweet Apple Acres orchard, and she values her family above almost everything (most of whom are apple themed). While content with her life, she won't turn down an opportunity to earn an honest buck. She can be very stubborn and competitive, clashing with Rarity and Rainbow Dash in particular, but she is well known for her reliability--when Twilight is feeling doubts, Applejack is often the one who steps up to lead the others. While she can sometimes feel that a lie can be safer than the truth, the truth always wins out in the end for her, and she thus represents the Element of Honesty.
Rainbow Dash Voiced by Ashleigh Ball (yes, same as above)
Rainbow Dash is a high-flying daredevil and one of the fastest pegasi around. She often acts and speaks before she thinks and hates to be inactive when she's not sleeping, creating friction with Twilight and Applejack in particular, and making her close friendship with Fluttershy all the more surprising. Initially treating everyone in the same brash and careless manner, over time, her leadership skills have developed and she has learned when to be gentle and supporting. Her dream is to join the Wonderbolts, a combination acrobatics and military team. She is already part of their reserves and has the respect of their leader, Spitfire. While initially appearing very selfish, she will never leave the side of her friends, assuming she remembers they're there, so she represents the Element of Loyalty.
Rarity Voiced by Tabitha St. Germain, singing voice by Kazumi Evans
Rarity at first appears to be the image of a fashion-obsessed popular girl, but she is in fact a relentlessly creative designer and a savvy businessmare, who never wears anything she didn't make herself. She runs a boutique that has managed to achieve attention all across Equestria, and has made dresses for more than one princess. Though she is fussy and always tries to look beautiful, putting her in conflict with Applejack, she can be surprisingly effective in a brawl. Her dream is for her designs to spread all across the land, not out of a desire for money, but out of a wish to expose everyone's inner beauty. This, combined with her desire to help her friends even at personal cost, shows that she represents the Element of Generosity.
Fluttershy Voiced by Andrea Libman
In direct contrast to Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy would love nothing more than to stay on the ground and avoid attention. In her cottage, she takes care of several animals and has a Disney Princess-like affinity with forest creatures, but she is shy around other ponies, as her name implies. For a long time, her only pony friend was Rainbow Dash, though she has been learning to open up more, and has particularly become close with Rarity. She is caring to a fault, sometimes to the point of coddling, but when she finds her courage, she can be surprisingly intimidating. She also wrestles bears. Her tendency to be kind even when others aren't means she represents the Element of Kindness.
Pinkie Pie Voiced by Andrea Libman (really, same as Fluttershy), singing voice by Shannon Chan-Kent
Even though she grew up on a dour rock farm with a largely gray family, Pinkie Pie is the brightest and craziest of them all. Able to squash and stretch and seemingly bend reality at will, she baffles the rational Twilight and often startles or annoys the others. Regardless, they would never want to see her go, as she can always bring a smile to everyone's faces, a skill that she carries great pride in--to the point that she gets very depressed if she feels it isn't working. Despite her usual oblivious and airheaded attitude, she can be surprisingly insightful and caring, so she represents the Element of Laughter. Oh, and she can somewhat see the future.
Spike Voiced by Cathy Weseluck
Spike is a dragon hatched by Twilight in her youth, and has since acted as her assistant, which includes using his magic breath to send messages between Twilight and Celestia. He takes his role very seriously, though he can be lazy and sarcastic when off duty. He often worries about his worth and his nature as a dragon, but Twilight assures him that he's nothing less than family; the times when he saved the day himself do help his self-respect too. Spike is in love with Rarity, and Rarity likes him too--though as a friend, to his disappointment. Spike's past is unknown, but that storyline got shut down by the assurance that it doesn't matter.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders (Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo) Voiced by Claire Corlett, Michelle Creber, and Madeline Peters
The Cutie Mark Crusaders are a group of three young fillies out to find who they are destined to be, thus earning cutie marks on their flanks. They are very eager and try everything they can, but don't get the idea that their destiny will be something they love doing and are good at. Apple Bloom is Applejack's younger sister and is good at building. Sweetie Belle is Rarity's younger sister and is good at singing. Scootaloo... apparently isn't related to anyone, but she is Rainbow Dash's number one fan, and she is good at acrobatics. Of course, none of them realize what they're good at. While at first very one-note and interchangeable, they have each since become characters in their own rights and have stopped becoming so obsessive about cutie marks. Perhaps this season will be their chance.
Princess Celestia Voiced by Nicole Oliver
Sorry Celestia, you've been downgraded to no picture until you do something. As an alicorn with power over the sun, Princess Celestia at first ruled the day alongside her sister, Princess Luna, who ruled the night, but after being forced to banish Luna, she has since ruled all of Equestria benevolently for over one thousand years. Thanks to the efforts of Twilight and her friends, Luna was since purified of her corruption, and they now rule side by side once again. Despite her great power, Celestia takes care not to interfere too much, wishing for her subjects to all develop their full potential. While formal in public, she can be a prankster in private.
Princess Luna Voiced by Tabitha St. Germain, singing voice by Kazumi Evans
Also downgraded to no picture. As an alicorn with power over the moon, Princess Luna at first ruled the night alongside her sister, Princess Celestia, who ruled the day. Overcome by jealousy over the adulation and respect her sister received, Luna was corrupted by a dark magic and turned into Nightmare Moon, forcing Celestia to banish her to the moon for one thousand years. Thanks to the efforts of Twilight and her friends, Luna was since purified of her corruption, and they now rule side by side again. Despite being forgiven, Luna is deeply regretful and is currently making up for her actions by guarding the dreams of her subjects from nightmares. Compared to her sister, Luna is more outgoing and is outdated in her views on common ponies and in her speech pattern, though she appears to be getting better.
Discord Voiced by John de Lancie
Formerly a malicious god of chaos, Discord is now merely a god of chaos. In short, he's a slightly nicer version of Q from Star Trek, with Twilight as his Picard. Twilight and the others once defeated and sealed him, but seeing an opportunity, Celestia had Fluttershy try to befriend him. The Fluttermoe seemed to work, leaving Discord largely free to do what he wished without fear of him destroying the world. However, the villain Tirek convinced Discord that friendship was just another restraint and offered true freedom. Discord took this offer, but came to realize that his supposed freedom wasn't worth losing true friendship. Tirek betraying him didn't help either. Twilight forgiving him taught him not to take his new friends for granted, and it looks like his shift to the side of heroes will be permanent now.
Like with Twilight, people were worried about Discord after season 3, where he turned good. However, season 4 did a lot to assure viewers that he was still the same character and even explored how flimsy the impetus for him to turn good was.
New episodes air at 11 AM ET on Saturdays, and are usually put up on iTunes the next day. Seasons 1-4 can be found on iTunes and US Netflix. Episode descriptions are taken from Zap2It and press releases.
Episodes 1-2: Cutie Markless - April 4
In the Season 5 premiere of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the Mane 6: Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack meet Starlight Glimmer when they are summoned to solve a friendship problem only to find a utopian village in which everyone has given up their Cutie Marks. At first look, the ponies in this village appear happy, but it soon becomes clear that Starlight Glimmer has a vastly different and rather sinister view on friendship and the individual talents that make Equestria's ponies so special.
Episode 3: Castle Sweet Castle - April 11
The ponies try to make Princess Twilight's castle feel more like home after finding out she's been avoiding it.
Episode 4: Bloom and Gloom - April 18
Apple Bloom has high anxiety over getting her Cutie Mark and it begins to turn her life into a nightmare.
Episode 5: Tanks for the Memories - April 25
When Rainbow Dash realizes Tank must hibernate for winter, she decides the best solution is to keep winter from coming.
Episode 6: Appleoosas Most Wanted - May 2
Infamous outlaw Troubleshoes Clyde returns to terrorize the Appleoosa rodeo and the Cutie Mark Crusaders set out to bring him to justice and finally get their cutie marks.
OTHER MEDIA (placeholder until get banner)
There is more to Friendship is Magic than just the show.
In the field of animation, there are the Equestria Girls movies and online shorts, which involve an alternate dimension where all of the ponies are humans attending high school--literally a high school AU fanfic world. Since these humans have the same skin tone as the pony fur colors, this world is referred to by fans as Dougworld. Similar to Friendship is Magic itself, this is handled much better than one would expect, though fans are still divided. I myself find the movies OK but dislike some prominent aspects, while some others actually are actually looking forward to the next movie more than season 5. The first film is generally considered OK, while the second film, Rainbow Rocks, is considered to be legitimately great by many. The third film, Friendship Games, will be released this Fall, meaning that we'll probably get previews and tie-in shorts during the airing of season 5.
There are a ton of official tie-in comics from IDW, with two ongoing series, a completed miniseries, three specials, and an ongoing miniseries. The main comic series, Friendship is Magic, started at the same time as season 3 with the return of Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings and has been chugging along since. This series is made up of 2 and 4-part stories, with some one-shots mixed in. Some stories are much weaker than others, but it's generally worth checking out. It starts out with unicorn Twilight, but switches to alicorn Twiight in issue 13 to no fanfare.
Soon after the main series started, a 10-issue miniseries focused on individual characters called the Micro Series started, and is now collected in two volumes labeled Pony Tales. While the first two issues, about Twilight and Rainbow Dash, have bad art and bad dialogue respectively, the third issue about Rarity is a must read, and the others aren't bad either.
After the start of season 4, we got another ongoing series, Friends Forever, this time focusing on the interactions between two or more characters, often focusing on completely unexpected but fitting groups, in one-shot stories--though sometimes the writers forget that the characters should be interacting. The first issue is very bad, but it gets much better after that.
There are three special comics, which can be found under Friendship is Magic. The 2013 Annual Special is a prequel to Equestria Girls. The only part worth checking out is the section on Sunset Shimmer, which is shown in almost its entirety by preview pages anyway. The 2014 Annual Special takes place in the world of Power Ponies, as seen in the season 4 episode of the same name, and is a lot of fun. The 2014 Holiday Special is an Equestria Girls story that takes place after Rainbow Rocks, and is generally considered not worth checking out.
Releasing every Wednesday of April, there is an ongoing series called FIENDship is Magic, focusing on five of the major villains. The first one, about King Sombra, has already been released and is very good--good enough to make we want to actually see more of Sombra. Next will be Tirek, the Sirens from Rainbow Rocks, Nightmare Moon, and finally Queen Chrysalis.
Fan community links Equestria Daily - The most active fan blog dedicated to MLP:FiM. It can be a bit hasty in posting rumors, but they are the best place to find news and fanworks at the same time. Like any big blog, avoid the comments.
Derpibooru - The biggest collection of MLP:FiM related images online. They block NSFW images, but sometimes things slip through, so it is unlinked. Avoid the comments. The Round Stable - The best dedicated forum for MLP:FiM discussion (though I don't like the atmosphere enough to register), founded by those who left Something Awful when MLP discussion became a bannable offense there. There is a main page, but it's basically dead now. It also runs Bronibooru, a site similar to Derpibooru, but dedicated to only uploading family-friendly images. MLP:FiM Wikia - The better source for pure information on the show and its characters.
Thanks to Dr. Forrester for letting me steal from his previous OT!
WIP-OT is looking good Sigma. The Doc might be able to help you out with those header graphics (assuming it was him who made them originally?) Failing that I'd be willing to have a go.
Ted Anderson would apparently like to write a script for S6.
I think he's one of the stronger writers on the comics team, and think he could make a fine mainline episode. He did the Pinkie Pie and CMC Micros, as well as the Celestia and Spike, and Rainbow Dash and Spitfire Friends Forever comics.
We would also get the most hilariously epic afterparty with crap like this.
Ted Anderson would apparently like to write a script for S6.
I think he's one of the stronger writers on the comics team, and think he could make a fine mainline episode. He did the Pinkie Pie and CMC Micros, as well as the Celestia and Spike, and Rainbow Dash and Spitfire Friends Forever comics.
We would also get the most hilariously epic afterparty with crap like this.
