“The Elements of Harmony have helped us out more times than you can imagine.”
 
Provided you can’t imagine a number higher than two.

This story is dumber than I thought. You can’t hurt one without hurting the other? If that’s the case, shouldn’t Sombra already be dead? And what about Tirek, does he have some kind nice guy version of himself running around? The whole story begins to cave in on itself pretty fast if you apply any thought to it.

@Starlight Storm  
Yeah, I was hoping to get good-Discord, Chrysalis, and the like. Heck, good-Chrysalis is on the cover and we haven’t seen anything of her. (Just a reference.)
 
While I don’t hate this arc (I like it) It feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity. (Heck, it’d be a good place to have some interesting banter and the view of good and evil.)
 
And yeah, Cadance was awesome in that arc. (I loved her scenes to bits!) Makes me jealous of Shining. She also had some great development in that story.
 
All I need is an arc featuring her and Discord as the main characters, and I’m sold. (Actually, an issue between her and Chrysalis would be good to…maybe becoming frenemies?)

@Evowizard25  
Speaking of Cadance… I have to say it, she was one of the redeeming parts of Shining’s arc. We need more of her. It’s hilarious how the big brother is the uninteresting one, and the pink pony princess is who gets the most love, but I think she earned that love.
 
When you put it that way… Well… Ok, at least that excuse works. Issue #4 wasn’t that bad asides from that and Chrysalis plan.
 
And about the “status quo is god” thing… I never saw that as a problem in this arc. It’s more the “Do nothing for three issues and wrap it up in the last one” thing that truly dissapointed me.

@Starlight Storm  
I’m going to say I like the comic Shining mostly because…Well, show Shining isn’t interesting…At all. At least the comics try and flesh him out. (Yes it’s cliche…It was really cliched, but eh, I put aside that and just sat back and enjoyed it. It’s a guilty pleasure….That and because Cadance. There is never enough Cadance in my opinion….Actually, there should be more of her comic and show.)
 
The illusions couldn’t have been real, because if they were, the main six would have had to fight them. (Also, the changeling encounter Pinkie’s suit, standing up guarding them….yeah, illusions.) I don’t have much of a problem with that arc. (Yeah, Chrysalis’s plan was flawed….But her plan to take over Canterlot was even more so.)
 
And the ‘who needs friends?’ thing…Well, okay, yeah. Seems OOC. She only abandons her friends when Celestia says so…(Gosh darn it, Celestia. The show is about friendship, not just Twilight. Give the others the star role in a opener/finale.)
 
And I’m going to say, the only thing I don’t like in the arc is the whole ‘converging’ thing that’s happening with the worlds. Maybe it’s just me, but I find it kind of stupid, especially because it’s just going to lead to the end ‘status quo’ kind of thing.

@RIG  
You see?! That’s my problem with you! I’m legitimately giving an opinion, saying how much I loved the work done in Big Mac’s arc, pointing out why I disliked the Chrysalis arc, and geniunely giving my reasons why I don’t like Andy and Katie but totally love Amy and Heather… AND YOU THINK I’M LIKE YOU SAYING “HURR DURR COMICZ AER OSOM VEKOUZ NERD SHINING RULZ, BETTER THAN FLASH CLICHE”!  
Let me tell you something: People like you is why I love telling out always the flaws on Andy’s comics. You have him at the pinnacle of the MLP industry, legitimately expecting the series to become the comic books, and don’t realize his flaws.
 
You say you hate Flash “Cliché”, a character that while having a crush on Twilight didn’t make her lovestuck, neither made her forget her duties and the reason she was in Humanland. And yet you love the way Shining Armor, a character that had background but needed to be fleshed out, was transformed into a cliché nerd in an 80’s romantic comedy with the exact same personality as any other “nerd in love” character in history.
 
About this arc… I don’t hate it because it’s dumb. I don’t hate it because they made Celestia a blonde idiot. I don’t hate it because of all the potential it had building up a parallel universe, and yet showing nothing about it (I say it metaphorically, since you’ll go “But we see this!” around my argument). I don’t hate this arc. But I can’t say I like it… It’s a real dissapointment, because I actually expected something that combined the pros of both the Chrysalis arc and the Big Mac comics.  
And you know they fucked it up when the next Friends Forever comic has more World Building than the arc devoted to travelling to a dimension where everything is different.

@Itsthinking  
no, never again, i will follow what i learned from doctor Dale Carnege’s book: “the only way to win a diccussion is to avoid it” and starlight loves to discuss the hay away of the comics, almost all the time about how he doesn’t like them and why they are wrong.

@RIG  
You probably didn’t even read his argument. He has a point.

@Starlight Storm  
great work, once again, you alone killed a pic.

@CronoM  
While I still think that Luna might have overcome her flaws since the NMM incident, the Nightmare Night events and then facing her past once again with Nightmare Rarity, for me the problem with Andy and Katie’s take on her is that she shows no growth or maturity. On Celestia’s defense in this arc, she does show regret for her lovedumb behaivor and the consequences of it. Yeah, I hated that she was turned into another Bella Swan (“‘tragic’ young girl who has a forbidden love and doesn’t care for anything as long as she is with her love”), but at least I can see she has matured since then. With Luna I don’t see any maturity whatsoever.  
And about the “illusions”… That seems to be the most approved explanation for the monsters in the castle. I usually have no problem with cameos, but those really bothered me a lot. Heck, I loved the Mario Brothers in the FF#4 issue, which I loved because it actually fleshed out a little bit more the relationship betten Shining and his sister. But in the Chrysalis arc… It really bothered me. What if they were the REAL deal and not illusions like many say they were? Although it’s just my personal opinnion.
 
What I feel is pretentious of them is how Andy sneaked that “If you’re reading this you’re overthinking this comic” and the line “Who needs continuity?”. It’s like he’s saying “Screw the show, we do what we feel fits our headcanon.” I felt Celestia, although young and naive, could never be so immature and dumb as to put two worlds in danger just for a stallion, and Luna…  
And I wasn’t speaking about this arc only, but also Issue #2 of the Chrysalis arc. Twilight dissing off her “friends”, going on a “who needs friends” rant felt so much like S1… Hell, Pre-S1 Twilight, and not the Twi that managed to not be fooled by changelings in the Canterlot Wedding and that learned that friendship is worth fighting for. And having Fluttershy of all people to quote a Wrath of Khan phrase to make her realize she’s wrong just for the sake of referencing stuff… It just felt so stupidly OOC. Not that the finale was actually well paced and kinda epic.
 
I can see why people love Andy and Katie so much, and why they treat their comics as even more canon than the show. I mean, Show! Fleetfoot was a real bitch, while Comic! Fleet… Can’t deny it, I have a crush on her. But sometimes I feel he’s WAY too overrated, like the way RIG loves the Shining Armor arc for “fleshing out a cliche character”. All I see is taking a not so fleshed out character, putting him on a nerd template, and saying that’s his background.

@Starlight Storm  
Considering you’re using typical castle illusions as a morality bashing, I hope if you don’t mind if I don’t take your word on Andy and Katie seriously. :/
 
Personally I found very little aesthetic difference between Amy and Heather’s take on the characters in the bookworm story when compared to Katie and Cook’s take on the chysalis arc. One could argue that Chysalis arc was more important, ergo, it should of been of higher quality, but I beg to differ since it was just there to present the Chysalis was still a threat. No finality. Not only were they just starting out, I found Twilight Sparkle actually gaining magical power not just from the Element of Magic but from her cutie mark’s affinity, a.k.a. the night sky, absolutely brilliant. It fleshed out her idenity as a person to her very core, something not even Celestia can mold.
 
Speaking of which, since Andy and Katie are responsible for both ‘Rainbow Dash saving Twilight’s life from Evil Celestia’ and ‘Twilight having a well-written self-discovery chapter about what SHE wants for her life’, I fail to see how any slight OOC moments or “pretentiousness” outweigh the shear quality and progression of the story and characters. No those two elements, even the 2nd one, don’t make it AS good as the Nightmarity Arc, but compared to show and its ability to dodge the real issues, the current arc is simply spectacular.
 
As for cameos, who cares about cameos. They are fun stuff that don’t effect the plot, and unless the are extremely dated and open-source, they can’t be used for direct long-length interaction. Even Hasbro knows that, they add Doctor Hooves and Roseluck as an omage cameo to Doctor Who.
 
One of the show’s greatest weak points as of late has been Luna, Celestia, Twilight and Spike, both in their lack of identity in the former 2, and the twisted unexplained relationships between the latter 3. Rob Anderson, Katie and Andy helped fix that.
 
Celestia’s personality and reasoning is now explained, and we see the mortal, human side of her that I doubt the show will ever touch upon. She has flaws and issues of her own..that’s to be expected after having to banish her sister and live 1000 years.
 
Like Gilda and Trixie, Andy Cook’s Luna is a complex good nature vs bad nature character after finally accepting herself after the Nightmarity arc.
 
She knows she is young and has flaws. She knows she’s spoiled. She knows she is immature. She knows she’s a thousand years out of date from a time when mayors would kiss her feet. She knows she has issues with her sister…
 
(In the show she hides her flaws by acting as regal and obedient as possible, but sometimes we see a shimmer of her actual personality’s sassiness. “Forgive me if we do not share your enthusiasm”.
 
In the Nightmarity arc, when Nightmare Moon returns, her fear and shame makes her so timid at first she reverts to her prior ungodly state for a while.
 
But those were just forms of repression.)
 
…She is now the same girl who finally stopped acting like a good little sister and crushed the balcony in frustration before she turned into Nightmare Moon, but only in personality. Her morals are now stronger and tempered. She loves life, she loves having friends and she wants to be herself while improving herself, even if it means being awkward and making mistakes. One doesn’t come back from the dark side so easily, the Elements of Harmony sped up the process of reformation just like her own power accelerated her corruption, but Andy and Katie’s Luna has to accepted the fact…
 
…she is the person who turned into Nightmare Moon. She can’t change her original flaws overnight.
 
And as for the relationships, I don’t know about Spike and Twilight’s relationship, but Celestia saw the morality in ‘roles may change’ in FF, and Twilight starting thinking for herself. I see no big problems with the comics. If they removed those flaws they would be almost completely perfect, but not only would that be asking for too much, with the events of the show since S4’s theme that started in early S3, we can’t be too picky on good storylines like this.

@CronoM  
Maybe only Andy’s. Amy Mebberson’s comics are my favorites, and I really like her. Andy… He’s kinda pretencious.

@Starlight Storm  
Seriously? You complain about illusions in a castle and the Mane 6 not fighting them? Dear god, you’ll find any excuse to bash the comics won’t you?

…Horseolulu? What, do you have to take a boat to get there?

@Background Pony #6C23  
It could be entirely possible and more likely that those were just illusions, created to frighten trespassers.

@Villain Pony  
@Otaku Brony
 
Yeah I know. I loved those in their issues, but I think those have more fortunate/good implications.  
Maybe is that both are examples of protagonists appearing as cameos, as in “Hey! Could you imagine if Luffy met Pinkie and teamed up?” It just sounds crazy but epic.  
But if you instead have a villain that is known for killing children, and the protagonist just ignores it… Well…

@Villain Pony  
Not to mention Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy in the Pirate arc.

@Starlight Storm  
There were ponies that looked like Mario and Luigi in the SA/TS comic. They even spoke with an Italian accent. This wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t crystal ponies.

@Background Pony #6C23  
That was me, by the way. My browser logged me out for some reason.

@Villain Pony  
Pennywise, Mola Rahm, The Phantom of the Opera, the ghost twins from The Shining…  
You have an army of potentially deadly monsters (one that MURDERS LITTLE CHILDREN by the way), and you just ignore them because they’re not the one you’re looking for?!  
…Maybe it’s just me being nitpicky and overthinking, but that actually made me bash my head into a wall in frustration

@Starlight Storm  
what cameos?

@Evowizard25  
Started ok… Then Issue #2 sent everything straight to hell with that contribed and out of character fight between the six of them. And sadly the aftermath was notable in the next two comics, although issue #3 was kinda better… But the unfortunate implications of the cameos in Issue #4 kinda killed that one for me.

@Starlight Storm  
What about Chrysalis’s arc?

@Background Pony #BDD8  
I remember posting something about the Big Mac comic. If not… I really should, that comic was simply comedy done right (qlso Stalkerfoot is best Fleetfoot).
 
And I also loved the entirety of the Nightmarity arc, as I found a better pacing, a better resolution and overall a better story than the previous arc.
 
And don’t get me started On the Friends Forever series. They might have some issues (mostly the first one), but I can say that none in that series has dissapointed me yet.

@TheZcmme  
A “bit” is the the part of the reign they put in a horse’s mouth, so Bitsburgh is a horse pun.