I don’t think individual episodes, that are not meant to end a series, are comparable to a sequel work undoing a happy ending in a finale. An individual episode like The Perfect Pear can have a bittersweet ending because it’s in own self-contained story in an episodic series, and doesn’t need to be as satisfying as the ending of an entire show.
You bring up the The Last Airbender, and though I don’t think it’s in any way comparable to Friendship is Magic just because they’re both for kids…The Last Airbender, despite its more mature themes, DID have a happy ending! And when it came time to do a sequel series, the Legend of Korra–as problematic and controversial as it was–didn’t need to bring down The Last Airbender’s ending to justify itself.

Again, if you are on board with the idea of G4’s ending being undone if it’s written well, that’s fine. But I think it’s been a bad idea since the beginning, because I think The Last Problem was the perfect place to stop. I think G5 is as its best when it’s doing its own thing, coming up with its own ideas. If they have to reference G4 every now and then because they made their bed so they have to lay in it, fine. But I prefer it’s done more as a loving tribute like in the movie, and not as a crutch to bring in viewership and bringing down the previous series with it like they’ve done in the comics.

@NicoThePinkUnicorn
I agree that the darker/more actionized works tend to be more problematic, with this comic/poor explanation for what happened to G4 being prime examples. However:

I short there is proof/precedent within animation, the target demographic and older fans, and FIM that something dark as undoing G4’s happy ending could be done well or at least in a way most would enjoy/think worth it despite the issues. The question/issue to debate is why those reasons/precedents for it working well failed to apply in later FIM and G5. (Like G5 thus-far failing establish what makes it worth setting in the G4 continuity at the expense of FIM’s ending as opposed to being seperate.)

@Incursor
Okay, to go by point here;

-Not everyone liked the darker or action-packed works for FiM–I didn’t like a lot of them, and I’m sure there were others–including kids–that didn’t like them either.

-Fans are known for, well, not knowing what they want. Just because they revel in their edgy fanfics doesn’t mean they want the same tragedy in canon. They may make it seem like they want a darker pony show, but hey, bronies asked for less redemption arcs, and then whined when Chrysalis, Cozy, and Tirek didn’t get one. And this is just one example of the fandom not liking something they asked for.

-A Canterlot Wedding and Twilight’s Kingdome upped the stakes for more satisfying happy endings–they’d end the big bad villains with the power of friendship and loooove and end in a big gooey musical number, despite the more violent challenges they had to go through to get there. That’s very different to taking an already happy ending and saying ‘Well actually no it wasn’t’ so that they can make a new generation–which would’ve been better off being its own thing.

-Yes, Hasbro made it clear that G5 was gonna take place after G4, and that it was gonna feature racist segregated ponies. A LOT of people complained about this as soon as this info was given to the public, and I found it questionable too. But a lot of people had the comfort that the writers never stated how long it was after The Last Problem. A lot of people assumed it was waaaaaay after Twilight’s time, that she and the girls could live with their happy ending and not be responsible for how Equestria later turned out. This would’ve been the smarter decision.

Again, I get why you want to give the comics the benefit of the doubt, but the scrutiny they’ve gotten is not just understandable, but I think it’s perfectly reasonable.

@NicoThePinkUnicorn
@Macaroni C-Pony
If fans didn’t want this why did they feel the need to make so many darker or actionized fanworks? How was “A Canterlot Wedding” and “Twilight’s Kingdom” so well received, despite the formers divisive happenings, that the more serious formula was stuck to for the rest of the series if it didn’t have most fans, including said kids, like it?

But that aside, the only execution problem with that is it being so different than what the show normally does/the limits of the target demographic that it’s beyond what it can be expected to do well.

And it is a positive message that even after such setbacks and failures that friendship and such can endure and recover. The S9 finale had Twilight state such, so it’s not even coming out of nowhere.

It’s like criticizing a war movie if you don’t like war, it’s valid not to like but not valid as a criticism as it is doing what it’s advertised/set out to do. It is valid to criticized the execution, like despite the selling point of the G4 connection the reason for it, how it happened in-universe and the payoff that would make it worth undoing the ending as opposed to making G5 separate, are thus far lacking.

I agree with this take

@Incursor
There’s a difference between Shakespearian tragedies, and a franchise like MLP that is based on positivity and love and comfort. People expect and WANT happy endings and satisfying conclusions in their escapist shows about friendly candy-colored horses. As they should; kids want and love their happy, satisfying endings, and kids were meant to be the target demographic. Who wants MLP to be written like a Shakespearian tragedy? What KID wants MLP to be like a Shakespearian tragedy?

A lot of people loved The Last Problem because they saw it as a satisfying, heartfelt ending where friendship lives on. There’s no reason to bring it down to make G5 work; they could’ve just framed the eventual segregation as something that happened long past G4’s time, not make it a little too soon after The Last Problem.

@NicoThePinkUnicorn
If a work is only good if it’s satisfying, than Shakespeare’s work would widely be seen as bad because they oft have downer endings.

It’s not inherently bad that the good of Twilight’s rule didn’t last. We can fairly complain about the work execution of it, but confusing sad with bad writing will just discredit otherwise legitimate complaints.

Bridlewood opaline’s dark castle Hmm Could it Be something to do with Izzy and alphabittle?

@Incursor
Agreed. Celestia was too dependent on Twilight, and Twilight was too insecure or oblivious.

@Phoenixflambe
Twilight and was letting her admiration of Starswirl, who thought them irredeemable, get in the way of her normal judgement.

@NicoThePinkUnicorn
It was Celestia’s plan, but Twilight still went along with it never questioning it despite how wrong it turned out to be. That’s my big problem with Twilight taking the throne, she never realized Celetia’s fallibility in a way that stuck and how she displayed better effectiveness than her over the series which would have justified their replacing her.

And Twilight didn’t doom it or outright fail, she kept things enough together said future generations were able to fix this.

@Incursor
Reforming Stygian was Starlight’s idea?

@Incursor
Hmm, okay, I’ll concede your points there. I’ll say that the planning in Twilight’s Kingdom was Celestia’s idea and thus not really the fault of Twilight’s stress, but with the rest I totally see what you mean.

I think I’m still fundamentally opposed to Twilight making a rash decision with such dire consequences because, well, it’s not-satisfying to see a main character accidentally doom the future generations in a sequel. But you’ve made me understand that it wouldn’t be OOC, at least, so long as it’s explained well (though I’m still pessimistic on that front).

Twi’s tendency to “overthink and overorganize so that everything turns out perfectly” has and would not made her less prone to bad/“insane” decision or losing sight of friendship, in fact it’s the opposite of making her more prone to do so.

So the “bad decision” (that’s pending revealing just what circumstances made them do so and Twi or Celestia could have done better, remember Celestia’s fix was to have Twi do so) is still not OOC of her (yet). The problem is the reasons it would be in-character for her confirm other issues like her flaws making her seem unfit to lead.

@Incursor
I think you misunderstood why I brought up Twilight’s stress as a characteristic to her character. I brought it up because Twilight being easily stressed and anxious was tied to the reason why she wasn’t a reckless character. Her stress wouldn’t lead her to making rash decisions–or at least, that wasn’t the first thing she’d resort to. The first thing she’d do is overthink and overorganize so that everything turns out perfectly. That’s the kind of stress that makes it hard for me to believe that she’d make that insane decision with the crystals.

I understand why you wanna give the writers the benefit of the doubt though, and you’re right in that it’s possible that they want to go more into detail eventually. But the way it’s all presented in that individual issue is so sloppy and hard to stomach, it activates my common pessimism. The most benefit of the doubt I can give is that either they’ll explain what happened better later on, or that the comics aren’t canon to G5 like they weren’t in G4.

@NicoThePinkUnicorn
Shadow Play, The Movie, so many other moments of Twilighting it has it’s own name. Stress/her eccentricities overwhelming the part of her that would think such out isn’t OOC, it’s her main character flaw. She got better over Season 9 but the finale showed that it can still crumble, and it’s unrealistic to assume anyone can 100% overcome their most ingrained flaws.

If by OOC you mean there’s no reason they’d screw-up/let it come to the point these in-character flaws would lead her to do such, than that is the case. But we only have part of the story thus far.

Something beyond just racism happened that warranted such drastic action as the crystals. Maybe that lest no time for better alternatives or the immediate danger outweighed the risks of the crystals. It will be bad writing if we don’t get any more explanation, however.

The crystals apparently did work in staving of whatever it was they were supposed to, what caused the tribes/crystals to split was a separate event. We don’t know what happened but it’s likely the show will go over it and if so it will be long enough after G4 to keep the IDW parts separate.

You did raise a good issue over the absence of the School of Friendship who were what stopped them from diving last time. Hopefully that will be explained. But we’re only getting parts of the answer thus far.

something off with this map when compared to the g4 map

@Incursor
I did not notice that. Weird, I think it’d make more sense if Opaline disguised her wings with magic than with her mane 🤨Real convenient of her than a strong breeze hadn’t blown her hair away from her wings.
I guess I can accept your other theories on how Opaline could’ve always been an alicorn tho, but we’ll have to wait and see what the show confirms.

As for Twilight, I found her solution OOC because it makes her be the one thing she’s never been in the show; reckless.
Twilight was a lot of things, but reckless was not one of them. On the contrary–she was so prudent she’d constantly overthink on the worst scenarios. She developed out of her anxiety in the show, sure, but I think it’s a stretch to say that Twilight wouldn’t think of the repercussions of sealing magic away in the crystals.

How would such a thing even solve racism, exactly? By forcing others to get along? That seems like something Twilight should know is a bad thing. It didn’t even solve racism in it of itself, and it might’ve intensified it. In the movie, Izzy says that the unicorns blame the pegasi for them not having any magic. Twilight probably should’ve figured something like that could happen, especially if racism was at an all-time high. How did she not think that stealing a single crystal would make magic disappear? Or what would happen if the crystals started breaking? Or just if they got separated?

Twilight was a character who would REALLY think ahead on possible consequences to her actions. She would never be reckless enough to seal all of Equestria’s magic away in crystals. Especially when she has stood against racism in more effective ways, like by founding the School of Friendship. (Which in it of itself is also something that makes the downfall of Equestria happening soon after The Last Problem a dumb idea.) MAYBE a MASSIVE time of crisis that required SUPER desperate measures could justify it, MAYBE, But issue #2 doesn’t really hint at such a thing. We just see ponies arguing with each other and…that’s it. We don’t even see the windigos!

As for her using deux-ex-machinas to defeat villains…uh, sure, but the ex-machinas would be the Elements of Harmony, that never gave any negative repercussions. They’re not comparable to sealing all of the world’s magic in crystals, which can be stolen or can crack and leave the world without magic by doing so.

@NicoThePinkUnicorn

They were wearing their hair down enough to cover their wings.

Also Cozy (artificially) became an alicorn in a way nobody noticed until they revealed themselves, and it seems nobody recalls Celestia and Luna’s birth or ascension as such. Just because it’s a cosmic event doesn’t mean it happens in a time or manner everypony would know about. Opaline may be from the time of Celetia and Luna’s parents which it seems no one recall and that age would give them the experience to topple them and a reason for their racism.

@NicoThePinkUnicorn
OOC of Twilight how? Most of the villain she’s bested required such magical deus ex machina to do so. And it for now avoid stating what happened that was so bad they resorted to such (it will be valid complaint if they never give the reason).

SEA PONIES SEA PONIES.

there is a reason but to explain it I’d have to ramble about philosophy.

I’m so scared of a place owned by someone called “Opaline”, ooooooohhh!

@Background Pony #723C
Well, realistically there’s no actual way to build a utopia. It’s impossible for society to truly erase all of it’s issues, even in a theoretical golden age, especially across generations which tend to develop different ideologies than their predecessors. Twilight herself literally states in the last episode:

“There will always be darkness in the world but there will also always be those who find the light. The pillars knew this; that’s why they created The Elements of Harmony. The Elements showed me and my friends how strong our friendship could be, and Together we work to bring Harmony to Equestria. But there will always be more to do. which is why we teach others about the magic of friendship others who will continue our mission after we are gone”

Literally just describing G4, Twilight predicted Sunny own’s adventures “continuing her missions”

I’ll never understand people’s passion for utopias in cartoons. They are so boring. It was hilarious when people thought Aang achieved eternal peace when he defeated the Fire Lord and then the sequel came and they were like “But there is no way! Aang is a failure! He is a fraud!” Yes, because Aang didn’t destroy all evil like he was apparently supposed to.

And for people saying that the comics are blaming Twilight. Wait for the rest of the story first. We don’t have enough proof. There is more to come.

G4 didn’t end with a happily ever after. Just because the Mane Six achieved peace in Equestria for many years doesn’t mean it became a utopia. People forget that Twilight herself said “There will always be darkness in the world, but there will also always be those who find the light.” There will always be evil, there is no way to live without evil. To say that Twilight’s reign was evil-free is stupid or that Opaline couldn’t have manipulated ponies in Twilight’s reign is also dumb. Twilight isn’t somekind of goddess that can control reality or mind-control others against their will to live in a perfect Equestria where there is no ‘evil’. Stop blaming Twilight for everything. Opaline isn’t the problem, racism is.
Do you think the Mane Six destroyed all evil when they alongside the Young Six and the Pillars defeated the Legion of Doom?