@Background Pony #074B  
Sticks and stones dude. All I said was that Dash got the worst vision, and that she seems to be the most effected by it due to her continuous hatred of Discord. I never said Dash beat the spell, but being Discorded WAS supposed to reverse their element morality completely, and for some reason that didn’t happen for Dash. I’ve always been curious why. When I first saw the episode, I thought her Discorded personality would be one that has loyalty to nothing.  
Yes, Dash is at the top of my many favorites cause she seems to be the most interesting character by a small margin. Yes, I focused on Dash more, but only on the ‘morality bend not break’ reason, plus I also focused on Pinkie and AJ and THEIR visions’ potential aftereffects.
 
(sigh) Listen, I have no idea why you are getting so vehemently worked out about this. You seem like a rational guy, and I agree 100% on your comments you made on this page 6 days ago about Twilight working best as just A main character, and how the current writing status quo in S4 is creating some crappy stories.
 
Fluttershy seemed to think it was a bad dream instead of an issue developing memory. If you’ve got some insight on some obvious after-trauma, please share it. Truth be told I’ve thought about it as well before, about her later outbursts of anger might be related, but then I remembered her snap in The Best Night Ever came BEFORE Discord.
 
You’ve accepted this headcanon that Fluttershy’s personality was ‘forcibly ripped apart.’ and was ‘literal mindrape’. I shouldn’t need to tell you this, but not everybody has that headcanon, and as I just told you, I’ve been on both sides of the fence on that subject. Why are you so fixated on this?

@Background Pony #C371  
You’re one of the most reality-twisting Rainbow Dash fans I’ve ever seen, and you accuse me of reaching? At least have the self-awareness to realize just how biased you are.

“traumatic”  
Indigo: “Why do you keep using that word? I do not think it means what you think it means.”
 
Your kind of reaching here dude. ‘Chalking something up to a bad dream’ is not synonymous with ‘traumatic’, especially if there is no post-evidence of trauma for Fluttershy.

@Background Pony #C371  
The fact that she wanted to call it a bad dream demonstrates the traumatic nature of it. Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack clearly demonstrated that they had no difficulty recounting everything that happened.

@Background Pony #074B  
I’m not why sure why some compare Fluttershy’s enforced personality change to the severity of Darkseid brainwashing Superman to attack earth, but I can assure you this ‘personality forcibly ripped apart’ did not happen for Fluttershy. When the spell cured her, her personality snapped right back to normal, and it had no after effects. What little she did remember felt like a really bad dream to her.

@Background Pony #C371  
She DID remember everything that happened, what are you even talking about? Seeing a “scary vision” isn’t half as bad as having your personality forcibly ripped apart.

@Background Pony #89EF  
Absolutely nothing in what I said earlier would even remotely hint to that.(unless you made a petty assumption that just because I’m a fan of Rainbow Dash, she should lead everything, which is inane) Twilight’s a natural singer, Rainbow Dash is a natural guitarist. If it made sense in story that Twilight had to be the main singer of the group, then that would be perfect.
 
Instead, the opposite seems to be the case. Neither Equestrian Twilight, who they couldn’t of written in without ignoring or devaluing continuity, or Human Twilight, who they could of written in, was present for their band practice for a long while. That would be Sunset Shimmer.
 
Based on the scenes and how used to their transformations they are, it appears RD built the band at least several weeks prior. By the very simplest of logic, it wouldn’t make sense for them not to have chosen a vocalist for any of their songs
 
In fact, in every conceivable manor based on the scenes shown, it sounds like Sunset Shimmer was supposed to be the singer in the original script, as she is in all the early scenes of their group as a band. It doesn’t make a lick of sense they would BANK on Twilight appearing so she could learn the lyrics at the last minute before the competition. When you say it outloud, it sounds absolutely insane doesn’t it?
 
Hopefully the movie will surprise us and be more clever then the last finales, but if the movie lives by the rules of ‘Twilight must be the most important’ like it did last time, Sunset will be shoved to the side as only a minor hero role like Spike the Dog :/

@Background Pony #C371  
I’m starting to think that you’re more upset about the fact that someone “steals” the lead singer position from RD than about Equestrian Twilight being in the movie.

@Background Pony #91E9  
One, I don’t see how Pinkie’s, Applejack’s or Rarity’s illusion, Fluttershy’s hypnosis, or Twilight’s simple giving up could compare to seeing (and believing) your entire home town being destroyed.
 
Two, Fluttershy was the only one that was forcibly AND directlly taken over. The others were given a strong mesmerizing illusion, so only partial hypnosis. Dash’s the worst, while Rarity’s was the least harmful. (beyond embarrassment of course)
 
Three, as for short term effects, Pinkie managed to laugh it off but started growling at Discord a minute later, Applejack felt very ashamed at her behavior, and Rainbow Dash flew into a complete concern-panic the second she was released.
 
Four, as for long term effects, AJ hates Discord even more now then when he was a villain, Pinkie Pie has become EXTREMELY bi-polar on whether she likes Discord or not, and Rainbow Dash now loathes Discord with every fiber of her being. She’s still the leader of the ‘don’t give Discord an inch’ team.
 
Five, even with all his power and schemes for revenge…his spell on Rainbow Dash was the only one that partially failed. Discord could NOT remove the loyalty in RD’s heart, he could only divert it within a delusion (cloud=cloudsdale). Discord HAS moral standards even as a villain, he established that with his dialogue with Celestia. Even by stretching those standards to pure cruelty, he could only weaken and divert Rainbow Dash’s will of loyalty, not reverse it.  
(I should note that RD was not completely alone on this. Pinkie was also able to do fun skating while Discorded. But I guess no one should be surprised that Pinkie Pie found some cartoon loopholes in Discord’s magic. Seriously, I hope there’s an episode where Discord decides to act childish around Celestia for constantly praising Twilight, and decides to make Pinkie Pie HIS apprentice. That would be friggin’ hilarious XD)

@Background Pony #C371  
So, Fluttershy could have been merely hypnotized, since we don’t have any evidence of any “lasting effects” of whatever Discord did to her. What are the “lasting effects” that point to Rainbow Dash being more forcibly taken over by Discord?

@Background Pony #074B  
I don’t know if Fluttershy’s case constitus as mindrape or simple hypnosis. Since there is not memory, and since her will didn’t bend or break by Discord’s words or illusions, there’s little guilt for whatever she did while Discorded. And since it didn’t have any lasting psychological effects, it doesn’t have the harmful effects of mindrape or brainwashing. Having a vision of the people of your city dying, and in your mind convinced it was real, that’s a little more like mind rape.

@Background Pony #C371  
Dash may have gotten a nasty vision, but Fluttershy’s treatment was the worst. Literal mindrape.

@Background Pony #89EF  
(shrug)In Friendship is Magic, Celestia doesn’t even know the other Mane 5, so a little unfair treatment is expected. On the other hand, Rainbow Dash is the one responsible for Twilight not going into the forest alone and “Dumbledore: dying a most painful death” and bringing the group together in the first place, as well as taking a exclusive trial.
 
Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash immediately started thinking on how to defeat Nightmare Moon when she returned. Twilight’s plan was to go alone, which would of gotten her killed. Dash, who was listening earlier and watching Twilight’s movements, figured out Twilight knew a lot more about Nightmare Moon and decided to bring her new and old friends. (we learn later that RD hadn’t been in Ponyville that long, she didn’t even know Pinkie was a prankster yet)
 
In Return to Harmony, its sort of inverted at times with the exception of Discord couldn’t ‘force pull’ the Element of Magic. Twilight might have been the one to free them, but she was also the one easiest to defeat, Discord didn’t have to use a spell or lift a finger to grey her. While RD was given an infinitely more cruel illusion then the rest.
 
Canterlot Wedding was a turning point. Putting aside the :‘brother is a captain of the guard, babysitter was a princess, painfully making her life more perfect.’
 
With her brown-nosing attitude at its (we thought) apex, she started acting more and more rude to her friends who thought her wrong even to the point of being a complete douche and shoving AJ’s hat down her face. RD had an unusual role in the first half, which was to NOT witness Chrysalis that much. AJ, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie are humble enough around royalty to not act suspicious. RD isn’t. If Chrysalis cadence had made a snide remark about her flying that didn’t match Twilight’s description of her being a loving baby-sistter, RD would of backed her up. That and Shining Armor’s duel-layered mind control was part of her plan. The more she acted obvious around the humble ponies, the more neurotic Twilight would get. In the second half, after Twilight and Cadense escaped, they fought as a team of equals.
 
Twilight’s overwhelming confidence in herself while shoving others to the side was Twilight’s downfall in a Canterlot Wedding, and she was the focus in the first half cause Shining was her brother. I was hoping that S3’s premier would have more Twilight learning from that mistake and only working as a team….but then we got Twilight on BAD writing during premiers and finale’s.

@Background Pony #5D82  
And at the beginning, he looks at Sunset… We really should stop overthinking each scene :p

@Background Pony #5D82  
Spike, you dog!

spike has the perfect upskirt view. Especially since Rarity is right in front of him

@Dashy  
It’s pretty unlikely that it happens as you say but thanks for sharing, it was a pretty good read (and I’d love if it went like you said).

Aww, Sunseeeeet, don’t be like that! Join in, c’mon!

@Background Pony #F6BA  
You learn that sidestep naturally if you’re a shy, unpopular, insecure sociopath like I am.  
Self-taught myself to sidestep out of hugs since I was nine.

My plot theory for the movie (again, spoilers for the songs in the official soundtrack):  
First, I don’t think the songs are in the right order: it makes no sense for Battle of the Bands to be the eighth song.
 
The movie starts with the first sneak-peek, then the opening (the Rainbow Rocks song) plays. The rest of the movie happens several months later, around May. For that year’s Summer Gala (or whatever name they gave it), the school organizes a battle of the bands. Sunset decides not to join the Rainbooms because since they turn into pony girls when playing music, Sunset might turn back into a demon. Sneak-peeks #2, #3, #4 and the Battle of the Bands song happen.
 
The main cast minus Twi talk about how weird the Dazzlings are, figure out they’re using the students to gain something somehow, mostly thanks to Sunset. They go to the statue and check if there really isn’t any way to go to Equestria to ask for help (if Sunset even knows anything about sirens, it probably isn’t a lot and Equestria is a much better place to look for information about magic that the human world). But they don’t find a way.
 
We go back to Equestria, where we see Twi talking with her friends and then finishing to install the mirror in her castle, which opens it again (possibly with the possibility of turning on and off the portal so that no one goes through it when she’s not there). She notices something’s wrong with the other world when running some tests. She turns off the portal (if possible), talks with her friends and the princesses. She eventually decides to go check if everything’s going fine in the human world and if there’s a problem caused by magic, to help fixing it.
 
So Twi comes to the human world, her friends plus Sunset are happy/relieved that she came back. Someone tells Twi about the Dazzlings and how they can turn into their pony girls forms when playing music and she leaves for around five minutes to look for information about the Dazzlings and their powers and to tell the princesses to close the mirror behind her (and to open it 5min every day so that she can come back) in case the Dazzlings try to come back to . She figures out that together, they could use music to turn back into pony girls and fight the Dazzlings.
 
So Twilight joins the Rainbooms as a singer (because she doesn’t know how to play an instrument) and helps them. Sunset starts feeling jealous because Twi gets to be in the spotlight while she’s scared to sing in case it makes her change back to a demon and she starts hanging out with them less and less, not helping them at all anymore after a while. Twily notices Sunset spends less and less time with them but she’s too busy practicing to go talk to her. The others don’t notice at all.
 
They all start to get really stressed because they feel their song isn’t ready and the battle of the bands gets nearer and nearer. The Battle of the Bands happens, with the songs Under our Spell by the Dazzlings, Awesome as I Want to Be by the Rainbooms and Tricks Up My Sleeve by Trixie’s band. Sunset decided not to come. The Rainbooms fail to turn into pony girls this time for some reason, and the Dazzlings win and they control the whole school save for the main cast.
 
The mane six flee to Sunset, who stayed in their practice room, telling her they lost and need her to fight the Dazzlings. Sunset answers that she can’t help them because of the demon thing that might happen if she sings and doesn’t change her mind.
 
The mane six take the song Fluttershy wrote. They each have a sheet with the lyrics and [I don’t know the word for when music is written down, sorry] on it, except for Flutter, because she printed them before Twi came back. They go back to where the battle of the bands takes place to try defeating the Dazzlings again.
 
In the mean time, Sunset thinks about it, that if they came to her for help, it probably meant she was their last chance and that it’s worth risking to turn into a demon. She goes to where the battle takes place
 
On the Dazzlings’ and the Rainbooms’ side, they play Welcome to the Show. After the Dazzlings’ last verse, the Rainbooms still didn’t turn into pony girls look definitly beaten but Sunset comes in and tells them she’s willing to sing if that’s what it takes to win. Adagio says something like “Yeah, right, like it was gonna work”. Twi’s friends start playing again and Sunset sings. Instead of turning into her demon-self, she turns into this toy >>719871. When the others start singing, they turn into pony girls. They defeat the Dazzlings, they break their necklaces, they party until the next time the other princesses open the mirror, Twi goes back to Equestria with Sunny and the Dazzlings are the new Sunset!
 
tl;dr: Sunny gets jealous of Twily and I didn’t even mention Spike.
 
Thank you for reading, because that’s pretty long :o

@Background Pony #C371  
So what’s about Friendship is Magic, Return of Harmony and Canterlot Wedding? Why isn’t Twilight the only important pony in these episodes? Because I honestly see no difference between Twilight then and Twilight now.

@Background Pony #C371  
I high-five this comment, because brohoofs are so 2011.

Come on, Sunset, join the group hug. You know you want to.

@Background Pony #89EF  
People assume that because its been the unfortunate trend since Crystal Empire.
 
Crystal Empire, MMC, EG, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Twilight’s Kingdom….
 
Everytime they came up with a reason for Twilight to be the only important pony in the big plot episodes, its always been hackneyed and destructive to the plot. Is the person who’s been going to their band practice for ages going to become the singer? No, we already have confirmation its Twilight out of nowhere.
 
I would be..THRILLED…if this was the start of a trend where they stop trying to make Twilight ‘THE’ main character. (Its never worked, she was a far better observer main character in S1 and she was a better as ‘a’ main character of six in S2 after Lesson Zero.) But considering the recent track record, I don’t see that happening.

@Background Pony #89EF  
Merely appearing in an episode did not make her the primary focus in most of S1s episodes. She was just there in a sideline role for most of them. She was NOT in any way the focus of the show.