Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell
In recent days, my worldview has
completely changed. Superhero films are done, and because of that, I won’t be finishing
the Marvel project. Instead, I have discovered the glory that is My Little
Pony. I realise now that there is no fighting the Bronies. Resistance is
futile, so I join their ranks in order to create a new world order. My role in
this effort is to use this blog to inform readers of all the goings on relating
to My Little Pony. I shall begin by discussing the life changing book that
prompted my epiphany, Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell by G.M.
Berrow.
In this wondrous tale, Twilight Sparkle
has been appointed a princess. After celebrating with delicious cake, poor
Twilight Sparkle realises that she does not know how a princess should behave,
so she asks her sister-in-law Princess Cadance for advice. Princess Cadance
explains that the key is the Crystal Heart Spell, which will be revealed to
Twilight Sparkle if she stays true to her heart. To aid in this quest, Cadance
gives Twilight Sparkle a necklace with a magic gemstone that amplifies the
wearer’s emotions. Positive emotions will reveal the Crystal Heart Spell
sooner, but negative emotions will make the wearer’s heart turn to darkness,
which happened to the necklace’s previous owner, an evil sorceress who was
defeated by Cadance.
Twilight Sparkle asks her friends to
help to reveal the Crystal Heart Spell, but they’re too busy mucking around and
making silly suggestions, prompting Twilight Sparkle to get angry with them.
This has the unfortunate effect of strengthening the necklace’s curse, causing
Twilight Sparkle to push her friends further away, further exacerbated by the
efforts of resident jerkass Gilda the Griffon, who was listening in on the meeting despite not being invited, and encourages Twilight Sparkle
to be selfish and do whatever she wants because she’s a princess now.
Fortunately, Twilight Sparkle’s friends are able to stop a scam run by Gilda
and her accomplice Trixie, which brings Twilight Sparkle back to her senses,
and the reaffirmation of her friendship with the other ponies reveals the
Crystal Heart Spell. The message here acts as a welcome reminder for followers
of the creed that friendship is indeed magic.
However, the fun does not stop there. In
an unprecedented display of generosity, Twilight Sparkle rewards the reader for
their faith with a number of puzzles and activities in the back of the book. Perhaps
this offering is an attempt from Twilight Sparkle to atone for her behaviour,
in which case, I am more than willing to forgive her. These include quizzes
testing the reader’s knowledge of My Little Pony characters and locales, a
wordsearch, and a cutout Twilight Sparkle stand. The highlight of these is the
opportunity to write your own adventure for Daring Do, a pony who does on
adventures reminiscent of Indiana Jones, that exceed the master when it comes
to excitement and danger. The written adventure is sure to stand proudly in the
Daring Do canon of tales. Alternatively, those of baser instincts may instead
write Daring Do into the most vile and tasteless account of the Aristocrats
joke that they can come up with. Simply bear in mind that this sort of
behaviour is highly frowned upon in the new world order.
The story focuses on Twilight Sparkle,
and the reader is given a good understanding of her character. She is
determined to be good and always tries her best. This makes her an endearing
and likeable protagonist who serves as a focal point for those unfamiliar with
the world and concepts of My Little Pony. An unfortunate drawback of this
approach however, is that Twilight Sparkle’s friends do not get a lot of time
to be present, which means their personalities are reduced to more basic
characteristics than the nuanced development Twilight Sparkle gets. For
example, Pinkie Pie has an obsession with parties and is easily excitable.
Bearing this in mind though, this approach could be a conscious decision, with
a number of books each focusing on one of the ponies. The back cover advertises
a book titled Pinkie Pie and the Rockin’ Pony Party, which lends credibility to
my theory.
The book has a user friendly layout,
with large text and double spacing which makes the book easy to read and aids
visibility. There are also occasional illustrations of the characters to give a
visual aid for readers unfamiliar with the cast, allowing them to join in
without being lost. Veteran My Little Pony fans are also rewarded for their
knowledge with references to past events that will be familiar to them.
References to horse-themed locations and concepts such as San Franciscolt,
Manehattan, and the Princess Bridle also help to create the impression that
Ponyville is a real living, breathing world.
Nevertheless, I greatly enjoyed this
book. It truly is an eye-opener, and I’m glad that I got to experience it and
discover a whole world of possibilities that I had never considered previously.
Needless to say, I will be sure to acquire a copy of Pinkie Pie and the Rockin’
Pony Party to feature here very soon.
This is Pinkie Pie's theme song.
Just in case you haven’t realised by now,
(though you probably have) this is a joke, and anyone holding their breath for
a review of Pinkie Pie and the Rockin’ Pony Party should probably stop, since I
don’t want to get into trouble with the law. Happy April Foals Day, everyone!
Yes, I did just go to all that effort
for a bad pun.
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