AHH!! SATAN!!

@redweasel
 
“there’s no problem, don’t worry. I’m fine, and I don’t need any help.”
 
Okay then….. If you say so, pal.
 
 

@CMC Scootaloo
 
yes, let’s drop out of this. we’re not supposed to discuss stuff in the comments. I just don’t want you to feel bad on my account. there’s no problem, don’t worry. I’m fine, and I don’t need any help.

@redweasel
 
“I agree that variety is good in storytelling, but that doesn’t mean all stories are good. I can say a story is objectively bad, and I could make a good case for it or not, and you’re free to disagree with me or not.”
 
Now that I read this, I can see the problem here lies way deeper than I thought….. An advice, before you approach any kind of stories, realize that objectivity has no place there.  
There isn’t an objective right or wrong when writing stories. There is creativity and creativity will always be subjective. An idea that is objectively wrong does not exist, but there are countless subjective ideas that are all equally right in their own, unique way.
 
 
And your third paragraph….. Okay, to be honest, I just want to drop out of this conversation after I read this.  
Not only do you accuse them of straight up copying the “Ponies of Dark Water” arc just because the title resembles the title of another show, you also throw wild accusations on them that neither make sense nor have any real meaning.  
I don’t even want to know what a “try hard mentality” is supposed to be or what’s supposed to be bad about a story involving evil twins….. Thing is, no matter where those interpretations of yours come from, you’re just reading way too much into the official comics that isn’t there and I can’t make heads nor tails of this.  
My best guess is that this is an expression of what I said earlier, that you have a predefined optimum for every kind of story in your head, something you believe is the only way to make a perfect or ideal story, and that you immediately reject a story if it doesn’t meet this optimum you believe in.  
You say you agree that variety is important in storytelling, but you don’t completely understand what that means.

@CMC Scootaloo  
it’s one suggestion. another would be to start out after the world’s gone mad, and samurai starlight has to go back in time to set right what was made wrong.  
or if you want characters other than the heroes in the spotlight, how about a story that isn’t about the heroes?
 
I agree that variety is good in storytelling, but that doesn’t mean all stories are good. I can say a story is objectively bad, and I could make a good case for it or not, and you’re free to disagree with me or not. in my humble opinion, “the bad guy wins easily” has not been done before, because people know better.
 

the… the comic writers copy stuff all the time. “ponies of dark water” was a deliberate pun to tell you that they’re copying the show “pirates of dark water.” what I’m saying is they’re bad at copying, because they have among other things, a fan boner for evil twins, a terrible sense of pacing and balance, a try hard mentality, an unchecked tendancy to soapbox, an ego complex, and an obsessive hatred for cows. they imitate stuff that they don’t understand, getting the most obvious things messed up trying to make it better. there’s a sense of petty hatred in their anti-aesops, that makes me worry for their personal lives. I’m actually kind of impressed, since they’ve been so consistently bad that it’s become the status quo.
 
honestly “ponies of dark water” wasn’t their worst story. at least it wasn’t the nightmare rarity arc…

@redweasel
 
“how about a cursed thing that helps a character and gives them strength while slowly manipulating them by their fears, and turning them against their own values?”
 
That sounds like what you would have liked for the Accord arc; a story where the heroes get taken over slowly and over time, with a strong build-up of suspense. As I already said in my other comment, this is one way of telling a villain story. “Ponies of Dark Water” falls into the other category, where the audience is left to wonder how the heroes should get out of that mess again. Additionally, it is a story that puts other characters rather than the heroes (we haven’t even really seen what Rainbow Dash did while being evil) into the spotlight, because the heroes are evil and busy plotting their schemes, while it’s left to other heroes to save the day.  
Both things would not be possible with your idea.
 
Starlight Glimmer’s journey seen in the S6 Finale was excellent, because it created suspense by having a team of heroes that were powerless and basically helpless against the far superior villain, yet, had no choice than to find a way to succeed anyway.  
The Accord arc created suspense by the increasing dread of seeing all the heroes fall to such a far more superior villain one after another, until only one hero was left who could trick the villain into giving up.  
These are two different kinds of storytelling once again. Though, ironically, the S6 Finale and this arc have also one bit in common; in both we see the respective team of heroes fall to the villain one after another and every time, it’s Starlight who is the only one left to stop the villain in a certain way, yet you don’t have anything against the S6 Finale.  
You’re either cherrypicking here or you simply failed to see the similarity.
 
 
The thing that I was already trying to get across to you is that variety is important for good storytelling.  
You seem to believe that there is a pre-defined optimum for how to write a good story, but, there isn’t one, because if there would be, all stories would be the same:
 
“how about a cursed thing that helps a character and gives them strength while slowly manipulating them by their fears, and turning them against their own values? that sounds like a better story than stepping in a puddle and turning evil. now where have I heard a story like that before…”
 
As you already figured out yourself, we’ve seen your idea already. If the writers of the “Ponies of Dark Water” arc would have done this, they simply would have copied from the show and only replaced Discord with the evil, cursed water. It would essentially have been the exact same story.  
In your first sentence, you claimed you could write better stories than the comic writers, though by what you said here, I can gather that your stories would always follow the same formula, what you see as the optimum, with only the characters swapped out for other characters.  
Seeing that you believe in this one and only good way to write a certain kind of story, your stories would be very repetitive, unlike the stories of the comic writers you loathe so much who know how to create variety for the stories told in MLP: FiM.

@CMC Scootaloo
 
my imagination can make better stories than the comic writers in my sleep. (no really, I had a cool dream last night about *shot*)
 
I’m concerned that accord may have gotten into your brain a wee bit too much. I don’t care that much about this stuff. you don’t have to reply an essay.
 
how about a cursed thing that helps a character and gives them strength while slowly manipulating them by their fears, and turning them against their own values? that sounds like a better story than stepping in a puddle and turning evil. now where have I heard a story like that before…
 
the villain can be powerful and take the characters out quickly, but not for 99% of the freaking story. chrysalis’s takeover took what, 10 seconds of screentime? the rest of the story was starlight glimmer’s journey to defeat her, which unlike “how queen badass easily kicked everypony’s butt” is actually a good story. accord was like a cheap puppet show compared to that.
 
…
 
||  
( looks like I done good, puppet pal glimmer! ) >  
< ( you dolt, you made everything dumb, puppet pal accord! )  
( awww… ) > *gets hit with a foam bat*  
||

@redweasel
 
What you said here concerns me a lot, both for the evil water and Accord. Because those things show a severe lack of imagination/reading comprehension for someone who enjoys(?) reading/watching a high-fantasy comic/show.
 
Where I see the lack of reading comprehension (but probably a bit of a lack of imagination too) is in what you said about Accord.  
As I said below, his unique magic is about getting into pony’s minds and then projecting his own mind into theirs, so that they are mind-wise basically Accord copies. He doesn’t simply mind-control them, he completely turns their brain around and makes them, him.  
That is, as far as we know, a kind of magic neither Luna nor Twilight or anypony else in Equestria ever had to face before. So they had no experience in dealing with it. And even if they would have experience with it somehow, they would not have been able to stop it either.  
If we describe that magic a little differently, then we can say it was affecting the brain directly. Accord messed with their brain cells. High-level brainwashing to make them act like him and to make them accept his ideology.  
Much the same thing that Starlight Glimmer did and that we saw in the Season 5 Opener, with the only difference that Starlight used no magic to brainwash Twilight and her friends, and I don’t see you complaining about this episode, so your reaction here is kinda odd.  
Anyway, since Accord was directly manipulating their brains, they wouldn’t have been able to prevent him from doing that. Struggling and resisting for a while, perhaps, but not preventing.  
They even have to use their brain’s mental energy to cast spells in the first place, so the brain would naturally be the weakpoint of all unicorns and alicorns. If a villain has the power to get in there, they are doomed. Not to mention ponies who can’t actively use magic and who have a lesser mental power. They are even more helpless.  
There’s nothing that can be done about a kind of magic that takes over your brain in a split-second.
 
For the water, it’s not simply evil water, it’s more importantly cursed water. Water with the magical property of infecting those getting in contact with it and turning their souls evil.  
The writers left it vague how that water exactly works on the soul, but vague storytelling does not constitute a flaw. It’s a type of narrative that encourages the readers to think for themselves and come up with the explanation (or with a theory) on their own, something that you sadly don’t see often anymore in stories these days.  
MLP: FiM, both the comics and the show, do that a lot and that’s one of the things I highly value about it and that got me so deeply invested in MLP: FiM.  
What you said about the cursed, evil water here makes me think you are one of those who lack the imagination to see the things that lie beyond what is presented on the surface in a story, something a lot of people lack these days, which is why stories rarely ever encourage the audience to get to the conclusion on their own and, instead, chew the plot for the audience so that it doesn’t have to do any thinking and only has to consume anymore. Because many in the audience would immediately scream that the plot doesn’t make sense if it requires them to think to understand it even just slightly, so creators don’t dare to do that much anymore.  
MLP: FiM does it anyway, though, and I value this greatly. High-fantasy stories should always leave room for a lot of imagination.
 
 
I’m admittedly not entirely sure if you fall into this category, as well. You also seem a bit like someone who either loves his favourite characters so much that you immediately feel insulted if they get defeated or like someone who prefers stories where the villains take longer to take the heroes out and where they have to use strategies and even suffer from a few setbacks before they succeed.  
I already explained why the former would be concerning. If that’s the case, you should take a breather and stop being so obsessive.  
If the latter is the case, then this is simply not your cup of tea in regards to stories involving villains, however, this is just your personal taste then, not a rule of thumb for good stories.  
A villain can either succeed the way you seem to want it, slowly and with a lot of plotting and scheming, or a villain can be very powerful and take the heroes out immediately.  
Both of these types of villain stories have great value; the first one builds up a lot of suspense and lets you sit on edge in a constant back and forth when the villain and the heroes do their steps, the second one creates a breathtaking kind of excitement upon seeing what a massive threat the villain is to the heroes that lets your adrenaline rise when you wonder how the heroes want to get out of this again, or, if they even manage this in the first place.  
Wether or not you prefer the first or the second type, neither of those two is better than the other, they create excitement and suspense in two entirely different ways of storytelling.  
The writers don’t hate MLP: FiM and they are not retarded either, they have simply decided for one type of storytelling over the other.  
If that type they decided for here both in the Accord arc and in the Ponies of Dark Water arc is not your cup of tea, because you prefer that the villains struggle a lot longer before they succeed and that the heroes hold out much longer, then this is your personal preference and nothing else.  
It does not make a “bad story”. Just one you don’t like and your personal taste can’t define if the story is good or bad.

@CMC Scootaloo
 
yeah, the comic isn’t BS just because poor widdle twilie got defeated. it’s BS because he easily defeated everypony. discord’s already enough of a gary stu, but even he had to plot and scheme and trick the 6 into failing. accord just grins and poof. the writer’s would have to be completely retarded to think that a twink like that would do anything but piss readers off and make for a bad story.
 
my hope is that they’re just huge trolls who hate pony, and not actually that retarded but it’s not looking good. in one issue the main 6 were easily defeated by evil water. not a water monster, just… water.

@Background Pony #1362
 

Reason number 254 why this comic is BS: Twilight should not fall to Discord so easily. Neither should Luna, for that matter.

The Smiler’s Theming At Alton Towers In A Nutshell  
(For Those Who Don’t Know, The Smiler Is A Roller Coaster With 14 Inversions At The British Amusment Park Alton Towers)

@Background Pony #9FA5
 
the vast majority of hypnosis should be called mind control, and the vast majority of mind control should actually be called body control, because for dramatic effect the minds are left screaming and helpless inside, free and uncontrolled.
 

Accord’s new Stand, Law and Order, has entered Celestia’s eyes. That is what she’s seeing. The switch for Accord’s mind control has already been activated. Celestia soon falls under Accord’s control.

@Background Pony #0965  
Pretty much this is a ruse and they are playing dumb to get into Accord

I can’t believe this. Twilight Sparkle being bested by Discord.

@Takashi.0  
It’s comics #52-#54 that tie in with S7

@seaswirl10  
Oh Christ.
 
I hoped they picked the good elements/the ones that had potential.

@Tragiclady  
Well they did say elements of the comics will be used for S7, so there’s a hint.

@Background Pony #9FA5  
The two words are used interchangeably in places, and I don’t really have a stake in this. But I prefer magic or psychic based mind control. Those affected would have more of an excuse for why they couldn’t control their actions.
 
Torture, brainwashing, and conditioning also sounds like it would yield results.
 
@seaswirl10  
It remains to be seen whether it’ll be an IDW comics thing, or across all medias kind of thing :D

@seaswirl10  
She’s will be fitted as a better princess of friendship

If this is any hint, then maybe Starlight is the new protagonist of the show, that’s just my prediction though.

@Background Pony #9FA5  
Do you want to remove over 2,028 images from that tag?
 
Even if it’s incorrect, trying to fix the mistake would be an exercise in futility. Just sayin’.

This should not be tagged with hypnosis
 

This is your doing Celestia,