Honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty, and magic… Do these words ring a bell?

 

If not, let’s try again:

Cutie Marks, Bronies, Equestria Girls, Elements of Harmony… Do these words ring a bell?

 

If you’ve been an avid My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fan in the past decade, you may be familiar with this. 

 

In the world of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, it may seem like an innocent show about colorful ponies, friendship, and adventure, along with some peculiar and eccentric characters.

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However, beneath its vibrant exterior lies some surprisingly deep storytelling. One episode, titled "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?” dives into themes of guilt, self-pity, and the challenge of forgiving oneself. The story centers around Princess Luna, a character who once caused great harm but is now struggling with the weight of her past mistakes. As she confronts her inner turmoil, the episode explores how even those in positions of power can struggle with their own feelings of inadequacy. 

 

This episode—and My Little Pony— isn’t just some show with sometimes excessive singing and unrealistic situations; it’s a powerful reminder that no matter who we are, learning to forgive ourselves is one of the hardest but most important steps toward healing.

 

In this episode, Princess Luna is tormented by a dark entity haunting her dreams, always causing her to relive one weak moment in her life in which she hurts those that she cares for. However, this dark entity was not a mistake. This was not an outside force that sought to do harm to her. It is a creation of hers, a manifestation of her guilt and self-hatred, designed to torture her with her past. The entity is a form of her inner demons she cannot let go of; in a way, the self-punishment she feels she deserves for what she did in the past. Essentially, Luna is not haunted by something outside of herself; she's locked into a cycle of self-inflicted torment, unable to forgive herself for what she did. 

 

It's a powerful shot at how we sometimes carry our regrets so tightly and then go about creating misery even when nobody else will let us. The whole episode becomes a poignant reminder of the fact that our healing process is often more obstructed by ourselves as enemies. We, ourselves, hinder our own growth through self-pity and loathing.

 

In our generation, topics of self-love, inclusivity, diversity, and a myriad of other things are prevalent in conversations with each other. “Hopecore,” which is TikTok’s trend of spreading optimism and positivity through compilations of college acceptances and military men returning home, is sprinkled throughout “For You pages.” Gen Z is known for its openness in addressing tough topics like mental health, self-acceptance, and social justice—issues exhibited in Princess Luna’s journey.

 

A 2021 Pew Research Center survey found that 63% of Gen Z adults feel comfortable discussing mental health, much higher than previous generations. This openness reflects a broader trend of empathy and inclusivity, similar to how Luna confronts her inner darkness and works toward self-forgiveness. Gen Z also takes action on social issues. A 2021 survey by The Center for Generational Kinetics found that 45% of Gen Z-ers feel personally responsible for making the world a better place, supporting movements like Black Lives Matter and climate change action. 

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Gen Z, with its constant exposure to media and a broad range of perspectives, is a generation that has learned from the mistakes of those before it. Though progress made toward emotional openness and societal change has provided a framework for self-improvement, the battle of letting go of guilt is human. Even for a generation as comfortable discussing emotions, which Gen Z happens to be, the vice of criticism and doubt remains.

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It is so easy to get caught up in the rush of trying to grow in this direction that we fail to realize the importance of focusing on ourselves. Focusing too much on developing the world around us, helping others, and in many ways, forgetting self-compassion, sets a standard for ourselves when we really need to sit back, forgive, heal, and reflect on mistakes. If we fail to work on ourselves, how can we be mentally strong and mature enough to help those around us? If we fail to get our own legs working to walk around, how can we run the mile with other athletes?

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Much like Princess Luna, who is haunted by the darkness of her past actions, Gen Z, too, can struggle with letting go of past missteps—whether they are personal, social, or even political.

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But true growth comes when we allow ourselves the grace to move on from our mistakes. It's not about forgetting them and denying we commit them, but learning from them, accepting them, and using them as stepping stones toward a better version of ourselves. Just like the lesson in My Little Pony that Luna learns about self-forgiveness, Gen Z and anyone else with similar feelings needs to realize that improvement is not achieving perfection; improvement is making progress. The key is in balancing the pursuit of external change with the necessary internal work of healing and self-acceptance. Only then can we truly move forward, both as individuals and as a generation.

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Even Princess Luna was able to forgive herself, eventually defeating the very entity she created to punish herself, so who’s to say that we can’t defeat our own evil entities? As we prevent this overly self-scrutinizing part of ourselves from hindering our personal development and instead cultivate healthy growth mindsets, we can look to Princess Luna for inspiration:

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Twilight Sparkle: “You're doing everything you can to stop it! Don't you see? That proves you're not the same pony you were then!... We all trust you, Luna! Do you trust us enough to believe we're right?”

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Princess Luna: “I do!”