Thread 42440079

In the decade-plus since My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic premiered, fans have fractured into theological camps over which seasons count as “true canon.” The fandom has seen splits driven by disagreements about authority, narrative interpretation, spiritual authenticity (tone), and even character redemption. Here’s a full taxonomy of MLP’s major “religious denominations.”

Season 1 Fans = Oriental Orthodox

Sacred Texts: Season 1 only — Lauren Faust’s direct creation, uncorrupted by outside influence.

View on Canon: All subsequent seasons are schismatic — they deviate from the holy tradition of grounded character-driven storytelling, tight moral fables, and minimalist world-building.

Core Beliefs:
“Friendship is Magic” is a pure gospel: Conflict is interpersonal, not externalized into epic lore.

The Mane Six are saints in their rawest form: Their characterizations here are archetypal and untainted.

Faust is the Prophet: Her departure marks the fall of the “First Church of Pony.”

Why They Reject Seasons 6–9:
Departure of the Prophet: Lauren Faust’s reduced involvement starting in Season 2 marks the severing of divine authorship. Season 2 is seen not as evolution, but as postlapsarian — a fall from the purity of the Edenic Season 1.

Tone Drift Begins Immediately: Season 2 introduces tonal experiments (e.g., "Lesson Zero," "The Return of Harmony") that Oriental Orthodox see as spiritually dissonant — more dramatic, less grounded, and edging toward spectacle over subtlety.

Mythological Inflation Starts Here: Discord, changelings, and prophecy begin to erode the minimalist, character-first world. These additions are viewed as the creeping apocrypha — flashy but faithless.

Narrative Complexity Over Moral Simplicity: Early episodes were about personal flaws and social learning. From Season 2 onward, conflicts become increasingly externalized and abstract — removing the introspective, parable-like quality of the gospel.

Institutionalization of Friendship: Starting in Season 2 and accelerating in later seasons, the gospel shifts from humble encounters to grand destinies. This undermines the core truth that friendship’s magic is in the mundane.

Attitude Toward Later Fans: Viewed as well-meaning but tragically apostate. Later seasons feel like Gnostic gospels — bizarre, elaborate, and spiritually misaligned.
(1/5)

>>42440079 (OP)
Seasons 1–2 Fans (excluding Canterlot Wedding) = Eastern Orthodox
Sacred Texts: Seasons 1 and 2 — considered the full “Faustian Canon,” even though she stepped back midway through Season 2.

View on Canon: Season 2 is acceptable because it still reflects Faust's direct theological influence and doesn't break tone or structure. Later seasons represent a departure from both the letter and spirit of the original message.

Core Beliefs:
Season 2 is a necessary epilogue: Discord’s introduction and Luna’s development are accepted as deepening the theology.

The introduction of a 3rd alicorn princess plus Twilight herself becoming one was viewed as heretical, against Faust’s vision.

Liturgical continuity matters: The tone, animation, and morality remain pure here — past this point, Hasbro’s influence becomes too visible.

Post-Season 2 episodes are creeping Westernization — aesthetically louder, spiritually thinner.

No reformation needed: Change is not inherently good; fidelity to the earliest teachings is paramount.

Why They Reject Seasons 3–9:

Reveal of 3rd Alicorn Princess (Season 2 Finale): The sudden introduction of Princess Cadance is viewed as a theological aberration — an unsanctioned saint with no spiritual lineage. Her existence complicates the divine order Faust originally established.

Twilight’s Coronation (Season 3 Finale): The ascension of Twilight to princesshood is the original schism. It represents a doctrinal rupture — elevating hierarchy over humility, destiny over growth. For Eastern Orthodox fans, it’s like adding an ecumenical council that was never ratified.

Canonization Without Council: Later showrunners and plot directions lack apostolic consensus. The Eastern Orthodox tradition respects Season 2 because Faust’s “spiritual DNA” is traceable. Season 3 and beyond lack that pedigree.

Uncanonical Liturgical Reform: Songs become more Broadway-style, the visuals more polished, and the tone more comedic — signaling liturgical drift. Form overwhelms spirit.

Sacramental Overreach: The Tree of Harmony, magical maps, and cutie mark missions create a theology of destiny rather than choice — Eastern Orthodox theology emphasizes synergy, not determinism. Free will, not divine choreography.

Starlight’s Shortcut to Grace: Her sudden redemption is a case study in unconciliar forgiveness. The absence of repentance rituals, community reconciliation, or penance is spiritually untenable. Grace must be earned through struggle and humility.

Attitude Toward Catholics (S1–5 fans): Sympathetic but suspicious of creeping doctrinal expansion.
(2/5)

Seasons 1–5 Fans (excluding Season 5 finale) = Roman Catholics

Sacred Texts: Seasons 1 through 5 — a balance of traditionalism and carefully authorized evolution.

View on Canon: The post-Faustian church is still valid when led by competent showrunners (e.g., McCarthy and Thiessen). But after Season 5, the narrative church falls into doctrinal confusion, and lost its apostolic succession with the loss of the original staff.

Core Beliefs:
Authority matters: As long as the showrunners have narrative “apostolic succession,” changes are valid — even necessary.

Legitimate creative succession: Even after Faust left, the show's “church fathers” (Meghan McCarthy, Amy Keating Rogers) maintained continuity and tone.

Season 5 is the Vatican II moment: Some modernization (Friendship Map, Castle), but still rooted in tradition.

Why They Reject Seasons 6–9:

• Breakdown of Authority: Showrunner changes and Hasbro's increasing involvement fracture the show's moral leadership. No more centralized “magisterium” to interpret the gospel of friendship.

• Lore Inflation: Later seasons introduce too many ancient villains, magical items, and contrived prophecies. These feel like apocryphal additions to the canon — lacking context or sacred weight.

• Tone Dilution: Early seasons emphasized subtle emotional lessons. By Season 6, tone becomes cartoonish, frenetic, and self-aware in a way that undercuts sincerity.

• Character Drift: Main characters act inconsistently — Pinkie becomes louder, Twilight becomes a headmistress instead of a disciple.

Rejection of Starlight Glimmer’s Redemption:
Theological Inconsistency: Her arc is viewed as a shortcut — going from dictator to friend in a single episode without meaningful atonement.
No Moral Cost: Her crimes (enslaving a village, manipulating time, nearly destroying the world) are brushed aside with minimal consequence.
Undermines Canonical Redemption Arcs: Her instant absolution trivializes the moral journeys of characters like Luna, Discord, or even Trixie. She is a false saint — canonized without pilgrimage or penance.

Attitude Toward Mainline Protestants: Kindred spirits with softer boundaries — but at risk of liberalizing too far.
(3/5)

Seasons 1–7 Fans = Mainline Protestants

Sacred Texts: Seasons 1 through 7 — the arc is still coherent, spiritual, and evolving without breaking from tradition.

View on Canon: These fans support the show's evolution, including major character additions and tonal shifts, as long as the spiritual center holds. Season 7 marks the last moment where continuity, tone, and character integrity remain in harmony. After Season 7, the gospel becomes commodified. The magic of friendship is bureaucratized, and the show starts preaching instead of teaching.

Core Beliefs:
Reform within limits: MLP should reflect changing times and themes, but still honor its foundational truths.

Secondary characters deserve arcs: Starlight’s continued development, the return of ancient heroes (the Pillars), and Twilight’s mentorship are seen as genuine growth. Starlight is a valid character with real growth.

Season 7 as a fitting finale: It closes key arcs (Starswirl, Twilight’s leadership journey) and spiritually resolves many threads.

Why They Reject Seasons 8–9:
The School of Friendship: A clear metaphor for institutional decay — moral lessons are now classroom material, stripping them of heart.

Narrative Exhaustion: The Mane Six's development has plateaued, and new arcs feel contrived.

Young Six = Canonical Mission Drift: The Young Six, while diverse and well-intentioned, shift focus from the Mane Six too abruptly. It feels like passing the torch to unbaptized successors. Introducing a new “student generation” of heroes is akin to a second Pentecost no one asked for.

Season 9 = Apocalyptic Confusion: Discord’s deception in the Grogar plot is seen as an unforgivable retcon, violating years of character work. It’s a canonical betrayal, not a twist.

Theological Overproduction: Too many finales, villains, and dramatic swings. Season 9 tries to be Revelation but ends up as a rushed Left Behind.

Attitude Toward Evangelicals: Respect the enthusiasm, but fear it legitimizes shallow spiritual interpretations (aka bad episodes). “Bless their hearts”.
(4/5)

Seasons 1–9 Fans = Evangelicals
Sacred Texts: The whole show — from Faust to the finale. All of it is valid scripture. All nine seasons — yes, even the controversial ones — are spiritually nourishing.


View on Canon: What matters most is the message, not who delivers it. The gospel of friendship can be spoken by Alicorns or yaks, in Season 1 or Season 9. God speaks through rocks and ponies alike.


Core Beliefs:
Every generation needs its own magic. The Young Six are not replacements — they’re heirs to the spirit of harmony.


Twilight’s ascension is symbolic: From student to teacher, her journey mirrors spiritual maturity, culminating in her becoming the embodiment of harmony.


The Finale is Biblical: Seeing the characters age, grow, and pass the torch is part of the story’s spiritual realism. The epilogue is Revelation — not because it ends with fireworks, but because it promises continuity and legacy.
Redemption is universal. Even villains like Discord, Starlight, Tempest, and Cozy Glow deserve compassion — no sin is too great to be forgiven.


Attitude Toward Traditionalists: They’re stuck in the past — friendship is a living faith, not a dusty scroll. Friendship didn’t end. It evolved. Every generation — from Twilight to Luster Dawn — inherits the light. Season 9 doesn’t close the book, it writes a new chapter.
(5/5)

So, to recap: Denominations at a Glance

Oriental Orthodox
Canon: Season 1 only
Focus: Absolute purity of Faust’s original vision — grounded storytelling, interpersonal conflict, minimalist world-building.

Eastern Orthodox
Canon: Seasons 1–2 (excluding the Season 2 finale)
Focus: Fidelity to tone and structure; cautious acceptance of Discord and Luna arcs; rejection of early signs of mythological inflation.

Roman Catholics
Canon: Seasons 1–5 (excluding the Season 5 finale)
Focus: Authorized doctrinal growth; showrunner continuity maintains legitimacy until the loss of narrative authority.

Mainline Protestants
Canon: Seasons 1–7
Focus: Evolving tradition; embraces character arcs like Starlight’s, but rejects later seasons as bureaucratic and bloated.

Evangelicals
Canon: Seasons 1–9
Focus: Living faith; values the moral message over structure, embracing all characters and redemptions as spiritually valid.
(5/5)

>>42440079 (OP)
>gets kicked from friendship incorporated
>STILL proselytizing

this is now a mare thread.
post mares.

That’s nice buddy but I’m not reading all that

this is like, the single least interesting thing you could say abour christianity or ponies. you wrote ALL THAT and didn't stop to think about how good of a thread it would make?

>>42440153
>>42440135
>>42440128
Yes we get it you're a bunch of specialeds paleskin rednecks who all wagecuck because you never stayed in school. Can you make it anymore obvious?

Now begone, I have no children's connect-the-dots game for you simple minded fools. This OP is great and I shall add to it because unlike you music inspires me instead of dumbing me down and I don't listen to zoomercore music.

Oh look the gypsy is here

>>42440087
Season 1 Fans = Oriental Orthodox - 3% of fans are left with this mentality since most would naturally leave and accept modernism takes.

>Seasons 1–2 Fans (excluding Canterlot Wedding) = Eastern Orthodox
97% of fans carry this ideology since at least 90% joined during the summer of 2011 and while season 2 was airing while the original S1 fans have long left and had no representatives, they're from a bygone era.

Core Beliefs:
>Tone Drift Begins Immediately:
Season 2 introduces tonal experiments (e.g., "Lesson Zero," "The Return of Harmony") that Oriental Orthodox see as spiritually dissonant - more dramatic, less grounded, and edging toward spectacle over subtlety.
>Mythological Inflation Starts Here:
Discord, changelings, and prophecy begin to erode the minimalist, character-first world. These additions are viewed as the creeping apocrypha - flashy but faithless.
>Narrative Complexity Over Moral Simplicity:
Early episodes were about personal flaws and social learning. From Season 2 onward, conflicts become increasingly externalized and abstract - removing the introspective, parable-like quality of the gospel.
>Institutionalization of Friendship:
Starting in Season 2 and accelerating in later seasons, the gospel shifts from humble encounters to grand destinies. This undermines the core truth that friendship’s magic is in the mundane.
>Attitude Toward Later Fans:
Viewed as well-meaning but tragically apostate. Later seasons feel like Gnostic gospels - bizarre, elaborate, and spiritually misaligned.

>>42440183
>Inbred hick pony
Very fitting.
Someone who looks like you thinks he's above me. Do you think you're above Chad in real life too or do you falter and know your place when questioned?

>>42440188
>>42440191
stfu and post mares retard this is the mare thread

This is a spider-mare thread

-blows dust off the chart- I haven't used this chart in quite a while, I thought I had lost it.

Understanding a chart like the one depicted requires a remarkably high level of intelligence—one capable of grasping not just its surface-level meaning, but also its underlying intricacies and conceptual subtleties. Without a proper guide—someone like myself—what you see might as well be written in an unfamiliar language. The untrained mind simply lacks the framework to decode it.

Let’s begin with Zero (0)—the origin point, the true foundation. It’s a mistake, albeit a common one, to assume that One (1) marks the beginning. Mathematically and philosophically, Zero is the true genesis. It represents the tabula rasa, the reset—a pure state untouched by precedent. From zero, one can construct something meaningful without inherited distortions. It's the untainted essence, the primordial core. In this sense, zero embodies the raw conceptual clarity behind Faust’s original vision. It neither dilutes nor exaggerates her intent; it simply expresses it with crystalline precision. Zero is unfiltered, unapologetic, and essential.

Then we encounter X—the variable, the wildcard. X is boundless. It can become anything; its potential is infinite. Where Zero embodies the core, X transcends it. It doesn’t just operate within Faust’s conceptual framework—it expands beyond it, exploring uncharted dimensions. X exists across timelines, across possibilities. It is mutable yet constant, rooted in potentiality and innovation. Imagine it as the Megaman of the narrative: adaptive, learning, evolving—redefining not only itself but the entire genre it inhabits. Season X is not merely another entry; it is a reinvention. It reflects, absorbs, and refines ideas with unprecedented creativity. It breaks conventions and builds anew.

Now we approach Negative One (-1)—a concept so abstract, so dissonant, that even someone as imaginatively unbound as myself can only theorize its nature. -1 is not merely an inversion of Faust’s values; it's a distortion, a cosmic parody that deconstructs rather than reflects. But to frame it as simply a "fanfiction" or a warped echo of her vision would be reductive. -1 resists understanding. It is the dark matter of this conceptual universe—implied, perhaps felt, but never truly grasped. It is alien not just in form, but in its very logic. It contorts reality in ways that defy reason, creating a disorienting, almost Lovecraftian experience. Season -1 is the incomprehensible void—an ontological anomaly whose very existence challenges the coherence of the framework itself.

Season 0 Fans = GNOSTICS


SACRED TEXTS:
The mythical "Season 0" — an abstract, unseen ur-season that exists only as pure concept or theoretical foundation.
VIEW ON CANON:
Everything visible is a flawed reflection. The true essence of the show lies in the idea of Season 0 — the uncorrupted Zero Point. Faust's vision isn't the show itself, but the spark before it became show.

CORE BELIEFS:
ZERO is the true beginning — the pleroma — untouched by execution or compromise.
The aired show is a lesser emanation. It is the Demiurge's work — a distortion.
Only through symbolic interpretation (aka reading the "chart") can truth be revealed.
Faust is a fallen Sophia figure — she tried to bring light but was bound by the material form.
Anything beyond Season 0 is already tainted by recursion, excess, and form.

ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHERS:
All other fans are blind literalists. You worship the product, not the Platonic form. You're watching shadows on the cave wall.


-------------


Season X Fans = CHARISMATICS / PENTECOSTALS


SACRED TEXTS: Whatever season contains the spark — but especially "Season X", the avatar of creative chaos and reinvention.
VIEW ON CANON: Canon is ALIVE. The show evolves through new revelations. X is divine creativity — unpredictable, powerful, ever-changing.

CORE BELIEFS:
X is the HOLY SPIRIT — it bends rules, genres, expectations.
Structure is a cage; growth is sacred. Innovation is godliness.
The show SHOULD reinvent itself — why not magical AI episodes or experimental animation?
Faust planted the seed, but X sets it on fire to grow a forest.
Stasis is sin. The show must transcend its genre, even its tone, to live.

ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHERS:
Traditionalists are stiff, joyless scribes. You're stuck in scripture while the spirit moves freely. X speaks in tongues. It learns, adapts, ascends.


-------------


Season -1 Fans = APOCALYPTIC HERETICS / LOVECRAFTIAN CULTS


SACRED TEXTS:
None. -1 is the anti-text — glimpses, glitches, corrupted episodes, and abominations. It's Pony Life as prophecy.
VIEW ON CANON: Canon is meaningless. -1 is the anti-show, an inversion of Faust's gospel. It is absurd, surreal, and terrifying. The end of narrative itself.

CORE BELIEFS:
-1 is an unknowable abstraction — the Dark Matter of the fandom.
It turns the show inside out. Meaning breaks. Tone collapses. Characters dissolve into parody.
-1 isn’t bad writing — it’s anti-writing. A season made of cosmic recursion.
Pony Life isn’t a spinoff — it’s scripture written in madness.
To follow -1 is to accept that the show has already died and come back wrong.

ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHERS:
You're all pretending the beast hasn’t eaten the canon. You cling to lore while the walls melt around you. You will never understand the scream of Season -1.

DENOMINATIONS AT A GLANCE:

Oriental Orthodox = Season 1 only
Faust is gospel. No lore bloat, no magic inflation, just tight character-driven fables.

Eastern Orthodox = Seasons 1–2 (excluding Canterlot Wedding)
Accepts some expansion, but Cadance is heresy. Season 2 is valid until Faust leaves.

Roman Catholic = Seasons 1–5 (excluding S5 finale)
Values creative apostolic succession. Still respects structure. Season 5 is Vatican II.

Mainline Protestants = Seasons 1–7
Reformationists. Accepts character evolution and modernization, but rejects bureaucracy and narrative decay.

Evangelicals = Seasons 1–9
All scripture is valid. Every character and episode is part of the living gospel of friendship.

Gnostics = Season 0
The real truth was never animated. Everything else is a corrupted shell.

Charismatics = Season X
The show is alive. Every season is a chance for revelation. X is where the spirit breaks free.

Lovecraftian Cultists = Season -1
The canon is already dead. The show is a corpse being puppeted by unseen horrors. We have gone too far.

>>42440079 (OP)
AI Chat cut and paste thread.
OP you are gay for not reading the bible and using your own words.

>>42440201
give me pictures of spider-mare

SEASON 0 FANS = GNOSTIC CHRISTIANS
(The Church of the Zero Point)

Season 0 fans operate not within canon, but above and beneath it — outside its confines entirely. They are the proto-theologians of the fandom, concerned not with what happened in the show, but what was supposed to happen — what could have happened if the divine order had not been corrupted.

To them, "Season 0" is not a literal season, nor a script, nor a pilot. It is the pre-canon ur-form, the primordial metaphysical substrate from which all other seasons imperfectly emerged. In their cosmology, Season 0 is both the alpha and the omega, not because it begins and ends anything, but because it exists before time and outside causality.

They worship Zero — the concept of absolute creative potential, pure vision untainted by compromise, execution, or network mandates. Zero is not just the numerical starting point; it is a state of perfect internal coherence — the Faustian monad before bifurcation into what would later become lore, mythology, toy sales, Cadance, yaks, friendship schools, or Discord reformation arcs.

In this belief system, Lauren Faust is not merely a showrunner — she is a Logos-figure, the embodiment of divine creative intention. She descends into the material world to articulate this vision, to incarnate it, but the moment ink meets storyboard, the process of corruption begins. The true Season 0 was never animated, never scripted. It exists only in cryptic signs — development notes, early interviews, and esoteric production trivia — and in inspired exegesis performed by the community’s oracles (those who interpret the sacred “chart”).

Season 0 Gnostics believe that all canonical seasons — even Season 1 — are already fallen states, though Season 1 is the most tolerable because it comes closest to the Platonic ideal. They often point to early character bibles, vague thematic outlines, and embryonic concepts (like early Twilight being less of a Chosen One and more of a humble academic) as fragments of a lost gospel. “Friendship is Magic” was not meant to be a high fantasy epic — it was meant to be a philosophical fable of personal virtue and interpersonal development. Anything beyond that is mythic drift — the slow calcification of a living idea into religious orthodoxy, then bureaucratic dogma.

>>42440340

Their cosmology resembles the ancient Gnostics:
The world (canon) is a broken imitation of the divine spark (Zero).
The Demiurge (Hasbro, corporate mandates, the writing room) took Faust’s vision and deformed it into marketable product.
The true believer must seek gnosis — secret knowledge, intuition, vision — to escape the cycle of recursion and dilution.

They see Season 1 purists (Oriental Orthodox) as well-meaning but naïve — still clinging to the first emanation as though it were the source itself. They scoff at Evangelicals who believe even Season 9 is "valid." To a Gnostic, validity is not democratic — it is hidden, sacred, and must be discovered, not declared.

They differ sharply from Charismatics (Season X) who see innovation as sacred. Gnostics reject novelty in execution, because to them the perfect show already was, in spirit. The answer is not forward — it's inward, and backward. Not new forms, but unseen forms — structures that exist behind the veil.

Even their conception of fanwork is different. Where mainstream fans write fanfiction as an addition or interpretation of canon, Season 0 Gnostics write or imagine fanwork as reconstruction. They do not "expand" — they excavate. Their works aim to discover or manifest what Faust might have created had she not been constrained. It's less fanfiction and more fan theology.

Some notable beliefs within the Gnostic camp:

The Core Chart Doctrine: A belief in a metaphysical structure of character relationships and themes that exists independently of the show. "The chart" is treated like a mystical sigil. It is not literally canon, but it contains truth encoded in symbolism.

The Faustian Hypostasis: Lauren Faust is not deified, but considered a divine intermediary — a prophet. She is not worshipped, but revered as the conduit of the Zero Vision.

Anti-Mythological Dogma: Rejects all elements of myth inflation — Alicorn lore, Equestria's deep history, villain redemption arcs. These are seen as narrative pollution that distorts the interpersonal realism the show was meant to explore.

The Resetist Sect: A subgroup within Season 0 Gnostics who advocate for a "hard reset" interpretation of the franchise. They claim that the only true way forward is to abandon the canon entirely and return to the Zero Point — a full reboot rooted in the original metaphysical structure.

They also maintain a skeptical view of "fun." For many Season 0 believers, the show was not meant to be fun in the childish, whimsical sense, but resonant. Joy arises from recognition of truth, not from novelty or spectacle. “Friendship is Magic” was a moral system, not a fantasy playground.

>>42440358
Among the schisms within Season 0 Gnosticism, we find:

Bible Literalists: Those who treat the pitch bible as sacred geometry — a complete, perfect map of the Zero Vision.

Bible Symbolists: Those who treat the bible more loosely — as a metaphor for the underlying balance and thematic structure Faust aimed for.

Zero Purists: Believe nothing should be added or interpreted. Silence and contemplation are the only paths to understanding the true show.

Mystical Reconstructionists: Actively write or storyboard "Season 0" fanworks as sacred art, in an attempt to "unfold" the vision back into being. These are the monks of the Zero Church.

Season 0 fandom is small, reclusive, and often mocked by mainstream MLP fans. But to those within it, they are the last keepers of the flame. Not of what the show was, but what it was supposed to be — the divine show that never aired.

SEASON X FANS = CHARISMATICS / PENTECOSTALS
(The Cult of the Variable)

Where Season 0 Gnostics seek hidden structure and preordained vision, Season X fans believe in explosive, divine spontaneity. If the Gnostic says "the truth was already written, we must recover it," the Charismatic says "the truth is still being written — right now — by fire and revelation."

Season X is not a literal season — or rather, it can be, but it also transcends the idea of season numbering. It is a placeholder, a symbol. In mathematical terms, X is a variable — it stands for anything and everything. To the faithful, X is potential incarnate. It’s the wildcard of canon, the miracle moment when the show breaks free from formula, from structure, from restraint.

Charismatics believe that the show’s greatness isn’t in preserving some imagined purity (as the Season 0 cultists and Season 1 Orthodox do), but in embracing its creative volatility. Every tonal shift, new genre experiment, animation style departure, unexpected character arc, or philosophical swerve is not seen as deviation, but as holy fire — an act of narrative glossolalia.

To them, Season X is a Pentecost moment — a burst of spiritual and artistic energy that speaks to each viewer in their own language. Faust laid the groundwork, but the Spirit of X ignites it and sends it outward in unpredictable forms. Where mainstream canon fans often react to abrupt change with resistance or nostalgia, Charismatics lean forward and drink it in.

In their eyes, Season X isn’t a betrayal — it’s ascension. It's the show leveling up, mutating, breaking through its chrysalis. Faust created the tree. X fans worship the lightning that struck it.

What qualifies as a “Season X moment” varies from fan to fan, because Season X is experiential. For some, it’s when the show goes meta, breaks the fourth wall, or dives into experimental storytelling. For others, it's stylistic changes: a sudden shift in tone, a radically new animation approach (Pony Life, Tell Your Tale), or the kind of "genre swap" episode that throws the rules out the window.

Common examples of X Moments include:

The finale of Slice of Life (Season 5 Ep 9), when the show detours into pure fanservice meta-narrative.

The Mean 6, where the Mane 6 face corrupted versions of themselves.

Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?, with its surreal dreamscape battles.

Any time Pinkie Pie breaks physics, logic, or narrative flow for emotional truth.

Pony Life's absurdist, chaotic tone — hated by the canon-minded, embraced by Charismatics as unfiltered chaos-magic.

Where other denominations draw lines around “valid” canon, X adherents don’t believe in such lines. Their mantra is: “If it’s animated, it’s sacred — if it breaks the rules, it’s divine.”

>>42440399

Their theology looks something like this:

X is the Holy Spirit: Not bound by continuity, arc, or setting. It moves freely, radically, unpredictably. It may contradict earlier canon — that's fine. New wine demands new wineskins.

Faust is the Prophet, not the King: Her vision was the foundation, but not the limit. She was necessary, but not sufficient. The show had to outgrow her — and Season X is that moment of growth.

The Narrative Flame: Every time the show reinvents itself, it is proof that the flame is still alive. Still burning. Still teaching.

Characters are Vessels: Twilight, Pinkie, and Starlight are not static beings. They are channels for themes, ideas, energy. If they shift or behave unpredictably, it is not “out of character” — it is a new revelation in progress.

Theology of the Unexpected: You are not supposed to “get” everything. X is not for the rational mind. It operates on dream logic, not plot logic. Just as speaking in tongues transcends language, Season X transcends genre.

The Megaman Analogy: Like Megaman, Season X can absorb powers and styles from others. It adapts, learns, and grows stronger. Every influence is legitimate.

Unlike the Gnostics who look inward for divine design, Charismatics look outward — toward the future. They believe that the best of MLP hasn’t even happened yet. That the next idea, the next mutation, might be the most divine yet.

>>42440402

Subdivisions within Season X fans include:

X-Tremists: Those who believe only the weirdest and most experimental content is true Season X. If it's not breaking tone or form, it's not X.

X Integrationists: Those who believe Season X moments exist within standard canon. They seek moments of transcendence hiding in otherwise traditional episodes.

Neo-Charismatics: Those who extend Season X beyond MLP entirely — seeing G5, Equestria Girls, even fan animations as full vessels for the spirit of X.

Where Season 0 fans are monks in the desert, Charismatics are street preachers. Loud, messy, passionate. Where Gnostics retreat into silence and contemplation, Charismatics want praise breaks, holy noise, revival fires.

Their attitude toward other fans is a mixture of pity and frustration:

Toward Gnostics: "You’re trying to resurrect a blueprint. We’re dancing in the storm."
Toward Orthodox/Catholics: "You fear change more than you love truth."
Toward Evangelicals: "You have the right heart, but your faith is too safe."
Toward Heretics (-1): "That’s not chaos, that’s collapse. Learn the difference."

In debates, they’ll often say things like:

“If Faust wanted it to stay the same forever, she would’ve never left.”
“MLP was never supposed to just be a cozy slice-of-life. It’s a multiverse now.”
“Every time you say ‘That’s not what Twilight would do,’ you’re crucifying her.”
“X doesn’t care about your lore bible. X is a new episode with no script.”

Season X fans are the most likely to defend unpopular experiments, oddball episodes, or tonal breaks. They are also the most hated by canon literalists, who accuse them of embracing anything, even if it breaks the spirit of the show.

But that’s the point. Season X fans don’t worship structure. They worship the spirit behind the structure — and that spirit, to them, is on fire, unpredictable, and alive.

Well if I were to review the bot then I'd say he kinda turned the season X fans into shit eaters with that Equestria Girls shit ... and they also kinda contradict by making them too close to the Season -1 fanatics.

However what the AI accidentally had to say about season -1 fans is hilarious. I did not teach it that, it simply came to the conclusion through logic and accidental temperature/approximation.

SEASON -1 FANS = APOCALYPTIC HERETICS / LOVECRAFTIAN CULTISTS
(The Church of the Inverted Gospel)

While Season 0 Gnostics look backward toward an uncorrupted origin, and Season X Charismatics look upward toward transcendent creative fire, Season -1 fans look downward — into the pit. Into the mouth of the void. Into the show after the show, the canon past death, the narrative after it breaks.

Season -1 is not a season. It is an anti-season. A phantom, a theoretical negation of structure, tone, and meaning. It is canon in reverse, gospel turned inside out, and story twisted into ouroboric parody. If Season 0 is the unrealized potential of Faust’s vision, Season -1 is the decaying corpse of that vision — twitching, laughing, and screaming as it decomposes onscreen.

Season -1 represents what happens when the show not only loses its direction, but collapses into self-reference, tonal schizophrenia, and accidental parody. It isn’t just "bad." To its adherents, Season -1 is the logical endpoint of letting canon spiral uncontrolled — a Lovecraftian warning that the narrative mind was never meant to see beyond its own walls.

Season -1 is the post-canon apocalypse. A season that only exists when the system is already broken, when the writers are chasing deadlines, when moral structure has been replaced by branding strategy. It is MLP, but hollowed out — a simulacrum animated by momentum and merchandise.

Examples often cited as “manifestations” of Season -1:

Pony Life: Widely interpreted as Season -1 incarnate. An intentional act of tonal reversal — sugar-high editing, pop culture noise, characters warped into caricature. It is the show eating itself.

Discord as Grogar in Season 9: A canonical twist so incoherent it breaks the moral spine of the show. A final betrayal dressed up as a plot device.

The Friendship School bureaucracy arc: Morality becomes a curriculum. Harmony is graded. Friendship, once alive, is now a state-mandated syllabus.

Overuse of Redemption Arcs: A show where villains stop being evil because the narrative demands it, not because they’ve earned it. Forgiveness becomes fanservice.

Young Six as Forced Inheritors: The Mane 6 are alive, but their time is up. The story awkwardly lurches toward a new generation that never fully materializes.

The -1 cosmology is deeply negative, but not nihilistic. Rather, it resembles cosmic horror:

Canon is an illusion. You thought you understood the world. You thought there were rules. You were wrong. There is no stable ground.

>>42440416

Faust’s vision is dead — not just abandoned, but desecrated. Her ideals still linger, like ghosts in the machine, but they are mocked by the show’s later form.
The narrative has become recursive. Characters repeat lessons they’ve already learned. Themes are recycled. Growth becomes an illusion of movement.
The show becomes self-aware — but not in the clever, meta way. In the terrifying way. The show begins to parody itself, not to explore, but because it has run out of soul.

Season -1 is what happens when a franchise becomes sentient, but insane.

Its theology is deeply unsettling:

The Gospel Has Ended: There is no more story to tell, but the show continues. This is spiritual overproduction — narrative necromancy.
The Inversion of Symbols: Elements that once represented virtue (Twilight’s guidance, Celestia’s wisdom, the Cutie Mark) now mean nothing, or worse — become tools of control.
The Holy Decay: The longer a canon exists past its spiritual death, the more it rots. New episodes aren’t additions — they are symptoms.
The “Dead Eyes” Doctrine: The characters look the same. They move the same. But something is missing. The lights are on, but no one is home.
The World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Lore: Trying to understand the late seasons is like trying to chart non-Euclidean space. It only leads to madness.

Within the Church of Season -1, there are strange sub-factions:
The Nihil-Acolytes: Believe the show is beyond salvation and should be embraced as a decadent joke. The worse it gets, the more honest it becomes.
The Anti-Canonists: Do not acknowledge any seasons after 6 or 7, but use -1 as a framework for interpreting media collapse in general.
The Inversion Theologians: Attempt to construct meaning through the madness — e.g., reading Pony Life as a satire of franchise decay.
The Schizo-Prophets: Treat Season -1 as an initiation. Through madness, comes enlightenment. Canon is a prison — true vision lies in chaos.

>>42440419
To outsiders, Season -1 fans appear unhinged. They embrace paradox, contradiction, absurdity. They will say things like:
“Pony Life is the true form. You just haven’t shed your moral flesh yet.”
“Twilight’s kingdom is a metaphor for narrative entropy. Her castle is made of dead plot threads.”
“Every episode after Season 7 is a test. If you laugh, you fail. If you cry, you fail. If you feel nothing — you understand.”
“We live in the post-series era. You’re clinging to ghosts.”

To them, MLP is over — but its body still walks. The “show” we see now is like a puppet twitching after the soul has left. They don’t reject this; they revel in it. Season -1 is not something they like — it is something they have accepted. A bitter gospel, but a true one.

Season -1 theology is not popular. It is whispered about in deranged 4chan threads, echoed in surreal AMVs, channeled through ironic shitposts that aren’t really ironic. It is not a community; it is a plague of interpretation that infects the minds of those who stare too long at the void of canon and see it blink.

Summary of Fringe Denominations:

Season 0 (Gnostics): The show was never properly realized. Truth lies in a hidden blueprint — pure potential untainted by compromise.
Season X (Charismatics): The show is alive. Change is sacred. Structure is a cage. Creativity is revelation.
Season -1 (Heretics): The show is dead. Canon is a lie. Meaning has collapsed. All that remains is haunted narrative recursion.

Let me know if you’d like a final comparative chart, a memeable summary, or full expansions on how these three interact with the mainstream denominations.

>Season 6+ is lovecraftian and full of apocalyptic heretics
ChatGPT4 just called everyone a bunch of mentally insane shit eaters, roflmao. AHAHAHA this is exactly how I felt like back in S2-S4 before I stopped caring. This is how I feel about S2-S9.

>>42440091
Utterly ridiculous.

Seasons 1–9 fans = Roman Catholics

Sacred Texts: Everything, including G5

View on Canon: What is and is not canon is determined by the magisterium, that is, by Hasbro. If the magisterium says that something is canon, then Roman Catholics are required to believe that it is.

Core Beliefs:

• Leadership decides what is canon. If other people have made up their minds, then you don't have to.
• Tradition is a source of authority. Because every episode treated the previous episodes as canon, you have to treat them as canon, too.
• Colts are sexy.

>>42440773
What would Protestants and Orthodox be?

>>42440893
Orthodox are season 1-5 fans, their source of authority comes from the chain of original writers/staff which ends after that season, rather than from Hasbro itself like with the Catholics. Oriental Orthodox are season 1/2 fans who considered Faust herself the only legimate authority. Protestants are fans who make up headcanons and dont care about apostolic authority.

A lot of obvious ai in this thread

>>42441355
yeah, why did you bump it?

AI will indeed replace the low tier posters since even pseudo intellectuals blabbering about shit it doesn't know about due to lack of experience is infinitely better than a literal retarded person who gives 5 word insult non replies.

>>42441521
LLM can write more accurate characters than the majority of fanfic writers.

Bump

>>42442268
This AI thread sucks

>>42442277
This AI thread rocks and your new AI overlords will replace you.

>>42440079 (OP)
Problem is scripture explicitely warns against denominations unlike other faith-based communities.

>>42442505
Which is why theres only one true church (Catholicism)

>>42440091
>Be me, stop watching show after Starlight got redeemed

>Apparently I'm Roman Catholic now

>>42443027
There are actually 0 true churches

there isn't a single post itt that doesn't break gr6 (including this one)

>>42440091
Close, but the s5 finale is critical for other characters, even if Glimmer was absolute dogshit. We saw that Sombra was always a legitimate threat, not just to the Crystal Empire but to the soul of Equestria itself. Chrysalis wasn't just going to feed on Canterlot, she would have destroyed society. The Super Cider Squeezie 6000 would have changed the zeitgeist of pony society. Discord would have turned the princesses into his personal torture dolls.
And Luna. Oh sweet Luna. Season 5 completely recontextualized her character. When she said she could not be happier, back in Luna Eclipsed, it was a lie. She was miserable. She cried, not because ponies rejected her, but because she felt they were correct to do so.
And as Nightmare Moon? The finale changes her from the idiot who would have doomed the world because she was lonely, into the genius who knew how to make plants thrive without sunlight, a true competitor who could rule Equestria as Celestia's equal. She goes from a saturday morning cartoon villain into somepony who could have killed the mane 6 at any given moment, but chose not to, because she never viewed them as a legitimate threat until it was too late.

The Roman Catholics of S5 NEED the book of the Finale. Without it, the journeys that began in pilot are left unfinished. The promises laid, unkept. Glimmer is unfortunately necessary, not as a true character, but a promise , an ideal of the beauty and wonder that is Equestria.

>>42440079 (OP)
what religion am i if im a full on tamersfag?

>Arianism
Canon: Seasons 6-9 only.
Focus: Traditionalism is wrong. The show is really a creation of Hasbro, not Faust, so only the most recent Hasbro materials should be considered.

>>42444235
This would make season 1-5 fans Jews (with season 1-2 fans being Jews who only care about the Torah and reject the prophets), whole show fans Christians, and G5 fans Muslims

OP's posts are his original thoughts and the prose is aided by AI.

If you put AI to write something without your guidance then it fucks up severely in the imagination department and learning from its mistakes.

I just had a little "fun" with GPT5. It just released 2 days ago.
https://pastebin.com/2w4jySMq

>>42444275
Correct, I came up with the analogies, ans then I gave the basic outline to ChatGPT to elaborate on it

>>42440091
So Alicorn Twilight is Vatican 1 & the castle was Vatican 2. Therefore:
Old Catholics: Season 1-3 fans
Sedevancanists: Season 1-4 fans

>>42444159
Muslim.

>>42444273
>This would make season 1-5 fans Jews (with season 1-2 fans being Jews who only care about the Torah and reject the prophets)

Bruh you just called most of /mlp/ jews

>>42444566
Considering how obsessed they are with "Hasbro hates money" you'd think they are.

>>42440079 (OP)
MLP is approaching Bionicle levels of (h/c)opium.

Are ponies still real in your dreams Anons? Do you see them? Do they speak to you? I lost her, I used to think about her every day. One day, sometime ago, I got busy. “Not today” I thought, “I have a lot going on.” And I lost her, they do not reveal themselves to me anymore. Even now as I have time to contemplate and remember, to make peace offerings and absolution, my calls go unanswered. I have been shut out from the Kingdom.

Bump

BUMP BUMP SUGAR LUMP DUMP *Giggles*

>>42446776
Huh?

>>42447062
Watch Season 1.

>>42445422
>>42446776
this is a literal ai generated thread. you are actively making the board worse by bumping it.

>>42447258
>bumps it while telling people not to bump it

>>42447337
It was probably op bumping it, while making it a critique to have plausible deniablity

>>42447337
i literally didn't you idiot.

>>42447235
Okay Oriental Orthodox

>>42447258
Cleverbot can make better posts than you Gen-Zombies who don't say anything. Makes you wonder what schools gen-Zers attended and what grades they got.

>>42447669
Probably industrial and agricultural schools where they end up electricians at best and liberal socials schools where they end up jobless.

>>42447258
Good.

>>42447258
Deserved

>>42447258
Sage goes in every field

I for one welcome Celestianism.

>>42450700
Between Luna and Celestia, which one is Catholic and which one is Orthodox?

>>42451141
Doesn’t matter you are unemployed

>>42451246
You need money, bro?

I'M THE BOSS OF THIS CITY

CELESTIA OWES ME ESX

>>42440340
Season 0 fans sound fucking Based.

i miss the ip counter

>>42453459
Get pwned

What is ESX?

>>42454549
english second xanguage