The Magic of Friendship Grows
I'm not going to lie. The Last Problem hit me pretty hard - so hard that I've had trouble working up the energy to write about it.
Maybe it was the painful reminder that maintaining friendships despite adult responsibilities is darn near impossible, (even if the Mane Six ultimately did succeed). Maybe it was the knowledge that a phenomenon like this show will never come around again in our lifetimes.
(Sure there will be other great programming, but the completely spontaneous development of our fandom, and the show's unexpected willingness to grow beside us? That's lightning in a bottle.)
Maybe it was just the way that MLP:FIM chose to go out. The finality of hearing the theme song quoted orchestrally as the main cast stood before a sunset, and the book from the pilot episode closed - that was both devastating and sublime!
For a while, I even got to wondering if they should have made the epilogue episode at all, since so many people had felt so very crushed by it. The circle of life "end with the beginning" trope works just fine, and was used well in The Last Problem, but was it really necessary?
After thinking about it for a few weeks, I have come to the conclusion that it was. The ending was about more than just the closure. It's a statement.
For the past nine years, the magic of friendship has been a mission ever-evolving. From the adventure of simply learning to get along with others, to the act of spreading that wisdom, to friendship evangelization (for lack of a better word) on a massive geopolitical scale. The final battle in Ending of the End was the culmination of all of that development, not just in terms of the plot of the show, or the development arcs of hundreds of its characters, but also for the growth of magic in Equestria itself.
The entire world came together in friendship, and wielded its magic together. The entire world! To end the series there would have been beautiful - the grandest thing they could possibly have done - but by setting up the next generation of pupil in Luster Dawn, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic chose instead to make a point about friendship magic and how it works.
The Elements of Harmony, (like the show's constantly expanding friendship mission), have taken on so many forms over the years! Gems and rocks and necklaces and crowns and keys and trees and maps. Its magic is like a flower, forever opening up to reveal deeper beauties within, only it has no center - its blossoming has no end.
Luster Dawn will fumble, just like Twilight Sparkle did. She'll mature and learn, just like Twilight did, and discover brand new mysteries that could not have been unlocked from Twilight's throne. It is through lineages such as these that magic in Equestria will continue to take on new shapes and new powers.
True friendship magic has never been about achievement, or ascension, or friendship mastery, or coronations. The real magic is, and has always been, the act of learning in and of itself - that eagerness to become a better person - the willingness to work at it!
The aforementioned final shot of the series, the one which wounded our hearts so deeply - it's more than simply looking back at a life well lived. It's the joy of looking forward and watching somepony else begin that same rocky journey. This is how the power of loyalty, laughter, honesty, kindness, and generosity transcends our experiences in the here and now. This is how harmony reigns eternal! How "the magic of friendship grows."
We can say the same for our own lives. If this show inspired you to become a better person in any way, however small, then it is through you that Equestria lives. Those feelings of ponyjoy that the show awoke in you? It was just hope. That's all.
Continue to hope. Look for joy in small acts of kindness. Like Luster Dawn, it's up to us to write the next chapter of how friendship manifests in the world around us.
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