GrifCannon

I like to think this timeline is the one where all the villains went to war with each other and devastated equestria.

^this, you even see her room (at her parents house) in "One Bad Apple"

One episode I would like to see would be the CMC helping starlight understand the true meaning of her cutie mark, because as it stands, it would seem her talent is removing others' cutie marks.

In no particular order... Brotherhooves Social - Big Mac's act was pretty cringe-worthy Made in Manehattan - Just a really boring episode to me Canterlot Boutique - Again, just a boring episode for me (I swear I don't hate Rarity episodes) The one where Pinkie Pie knows - Nothing against pregnant Cadence, but I think the reveal should have been at the end of the episode instead of the beginning What about Discord - Most of the jokes fell flat because we are presented the episode from Twilight's point of view and like Twilight, I didn't see what was funny about them

To be fair, its already been established that they have an entire school made up of magically gifted unicorns, so its not like they are completely out of nowhere. And Moondancer was never established to be "special snowflake," she just has a passion for learning like Twilight.

For the record, we have seen a form of mind control magic in the show already. Twilight's "Want it, need it" spell. Would be a safe bet that other more sinister spells may exist. Also, I doubt we will be getting much more backstory on Starlight, it can be inferred that after her friend (Starburst?) got his cutie mark and she developed her hatred for them, she became obsessed with finding a way to remove them, once she learned the spell, she earned her cutie mark, which is why her cutie mark depicts the magical removal of a cutie mark. She would have had to have been naturally powerful in order to use such an advanced spell. As for her gaining access to time magic, she already spelled it out: she took the same spell twilight used before and modified it to interact with the map. As she said Starswirl already took care of the hard part, the actual time manipulation part of the spell, all she had to do was augment it with the maps magic. The map gets its magic from an extremely powerful source, the Tree of Harmony, so it wasn't even really her power that allowed her to travel so far back in time, it was the maps. This also explained why the map persisted throughout every timeline, it was connected to starlight's spell. If she had sucessfully destroyed the spell, the map would have likely vanished from the alternate timelines leaving Twilight and Spike stranded.

So this week's upcoming episode, "The one where Pinkie Pie knows" revolves around Pinkie struggling to keep a secret involving Cadence and Shining Armor. Based on this season constantly changing up the status quo, I have a feeling that the secret is that they are pregnant. It would obviously be something they would want to keep as a suprise and Pinkie would definitely have trouble not spilling the beans.

A new building known as the "Cutie Castle" was added to the mobile game. All the ponies from Starlight's village will move in there apparently. Could have some connection with the finale.

Discord obviously. Also Spike and Iron Will Edit: Almost forgot the Sirens

I actually don't think she was sleeping, everyone is forgetting the scene where she flies into canterlot to take over watch for celestia. She came from outside the shield, which means during the day she was likely patrolling the borders or following leads on whatever the then unknown threat to Canterlot was. During the battle she was likely still out on patrol. During the real wedding she was likely sleeping as it probably took place a day after the battle (they would have likely needed an extra day to reorganize the wedding.)

we also need a discord origin episode and a Sunset shimmer returns/visits equestria episode

Sunset shimmer also uses it in EQG

Its likely the sirens were never sent to the human world through the same portal that twilight/sunset shimmer used. Otherwise, they would have known its location and realized it was active again when they heard about sunset shimmer's exploits and twilights arrival/departure. Also Friendship Games spoilers

But that just makes her Tirek 2.0 basically :okiedokielokie:

Whip out a mirror when she tries her cutie mark removal spell so she removes her own cutie mark. Then put her in jail. Then she has no magic and no talents to help her escape.

I'm betting she possibly was a late bloomer in terms of getting her cutie mark and became jealous of those who already had there's so she decided that if she couldn't have her's nopony should have one. She set about studying the spell to steal others' marks away and in doing so earned her own cutie mark, which just happens to represent stealing the marks of others. At that point the damage was already done and her mind was made up. Other ponies even refer to their cutie marks as their "Destiny" so she belevied that her destiny was to liberate other ponies of their cutie marks.

Just adding an aside from the season 5 premier

Reposting what I said in the episode discussion, I'm actually convinced that Starlight never believed her own philosiphy. The theme for the season is Cutie Mark Magic. This leads me to believe she had an ulterior motive for collecting cutie marks and the village and equality philosiphy was just a cover to placate the ponies she stole from. During the scene in her cottage with the Mane 6's cutie marks she seemed expecially interested in twilights. Its pretty clear she's studied cutie marks extensively if she could develop a spell to forcefully remove them, she must know something we don't. I'm convinced she'll be the main villain for the season, though I'm unsure if she'll be redeemed in the end. Possibly it will end with her imprisoned or (wishful thinking) her own cutie mark being stolen by her own backfiring spell.

I'm actually convinced that Starlight never believed her own philosiphy. The theme for the season is Cutie Mark Magic. This leads me to believe she had an ulterior motive for collecting cutie marks and the village and equality philosiphy was just a cover to placate the ponies she stole from. During the scene in her cottage with the Mane 6's cutie marks she seemed expecially interested in twilights. Its pretty clear she's studied cutie marks extensively if she could develop a spell to forcefully remove them, she must know something we don't.

if you want to support the show I recommend itunes, they usually add each new episode within a day of it airing.

From the looks of it Twilight loses her cutie mark as well Would be funny if spike or the CMC saves the day due to their lack of cutie marks.

Watch the season 5 preview from SDCC if you want your answer to that, just beware of spoilers

You're right, all she does is give twilight a history lesson about the empire and that she needs to find a way to protect it, she never specifies what it needs protection from. Shining Armor is the first one to suggest that Sombra returned with the empire.

I assume the reason they didn't bring the elements to the empire was because they needed a more permenant solution to protect the empire. They couldn't just live there forever with the elements to keep sombra at bay. My headcannon also says that Celestia and Luna used the elements when they initially banished sombra, so if they attempted to use them again, it would have the same result, he would curse the empire and it would disappear for another 1000 years.

One small detail that I almost overlooked in Rainbow Rocks - When Rarity is sitting in her chair the cutie mark symbol above her is glowing. Anyone who's seen the season 5 preview knows the signifcance of this but I still found it to be a nice adition.