Vixor

This, and more than likely that's how this will end up; a one episode thing similar to Rarity and Blueblood that will be brushed off as nothing at the end of the episode, rather than something that will be sticking around. There's no need to start panicking before we actually see what the conclusion of this episode is going to be like.

If the show is to explore romance to some extent, why not do it with secondary characters? Or better yet, Shining and Cadence, they could use some character development that is a little more than 'Sell more toys!'. I don't see a good reason to do it with a main character that we have been with since the start; if they were gonna give such a character a love interest, they should have introduced said love interest early on in the show and built it up over a long period of time. And like I said, Soarin can be explored more in depth and be given more interaction with Rainbow Dash, without actually making it a romance subplot. And looking 'into another side' of Dash? Maybe, or maybe not, depending on what they do with it, but I'd imagine that if they really must go there with Dash, the same things could be explored in a single episode by giving a temporary love interest similar to how Rarity and Blueblood worked(it doesn't work out or something in the end). I don't think anything needs to be made permanent here, nor is there much benefit that would warrant adding something that can only be described as significant, jarring, distracting, etc. The current status quo without romance works just fine, and I'd really prefer shipping to stay in fanon where they can be enjoyed and ignored as needed. Of course, it's not like I can convince shippers it's a bad idea, nor can I stop DHX from adding it if they decide to, as unfortunate of a situation I'd find that to be. If it was handled REALLY well and DHX pulled a few miracles, then maybe it would indeed be interesting to some extent, but there is so much potential for downsides and even some level of inevitable downsides, that it becomes very difficult to justify.

The big question is this; Is it actually worth adding it? Does it add anything meaningful by being canon rather than fanon? Unless a lot of time is spent developing and giving it screentime, the answer is probably no, as it ultimately wouldn't make a difference by being canon rather than just fanon. Giving Soarin and Dash some more normal interaction so fanon shippers will have something to go by is great, but actually adding the ship to the canon serves no purpose unless it has a major impact on the show. It's a risky, controversial subject, on top of being one that is hard to imagine as being handled well in the show.

I don't know about you guys, but I really hope they don't canonically ship a main character in this cartoon. From a writing perspective, it's impossible because they would either have to add it and do nothing with it, rendering it a waste of time for everyone who's not already a shipper for said ship, or add it and then spend a lot of time on it, which would be disastrous for the entire chemistry of the show. But really, canonically shipping a main character like Dash with a minor side character who we rarely see like Soarin is... not smart. For a love interest to be good and not a pointless waste of time, they pretty much have to be or become a main or major character, which has problems of it's own, especially in a episodic, slice of life cartoon like this one. It works perfectly in fanon, such as fanfics and fanart, mostly because the problems listed above would be a non concern or could be remedied, but it would be a total train wreck if they actually added it into the canon. And I know the show has had minor romantic aspects before, but that's totally different than giving a MAIN character a PERMANENT love interest, which is a very significant thing indeed.

I've had the idea for a while now that it would look unusually serene and beautiful on the surface, but there are hives buried/hidden underground. It would be deceiving at first; hiding a dark secret, just like the changelings themselves. Though that's just an idea, the traditional barren and hostile design that others have imagined would be just fine too.

But that's wrong, there is no REAL evidence that the ratio is uneven, especially when you consider just how inconsistent those background pony shots are.(clones everywhere!) On the other hand, evidence that points torwards an even ratio is the fact that the ponies are monogamous, and Manehattan seems to have an even ratio as well, though that's relying on background pony shots again. There is no definitive answer, but I'm confident in saying that it's much more likely that the ratio is even. If you want to headcanon that it's uneven, by all means do so; headcanons are fun, but it gets a little annoying when people try to push radical headcanons/theories like that as actually canon.

Just going to echo what others have said in this thread already; it's a cartoon for little girls. However, I would like to add... One of the chief purposes of this cartoon was to brush aside the notion of gender superiority, and that means that there should be no sexism whatsoever in the cartoon itself or the fictional world it's portraying. I think people are looking for problems where they don't exist, because I see people come up with all sorts of grim/negative theories that they claim is true or at least likely to be true every day. Overanalyzing is fun, but doing it and then making absurd claims about the canon with whatever you dig up is a no-no.

I'm grateful that they fund the show and allow it as many nice things as they have, but some of the things that they have or are potentially planning on adding to the show in the future are... not so great. Either way, we are lucky that they have been this good to us so far, especially with copyright(minus the FiM incident). We could have easily ended up with one of the companies who tend to take down even minor fanmade things(art, fiction) with a vengeance.

Oops? I just made an edit about that. I've gone and blown it, haha. Anyway, yeah, I unfortunately take anyone who says stuff like that seriously, because I've found a good number of people are in fact serious, so sorry.

If there is a king of some sorts, it would probably be Celestia and Luna's father, and I'd imagine their parents are quite important, so they might not be present for whatever reason. Then again, maybe they don't have parents and they were created some other way, they seem special, at least compared to the other two alicorns we have seen so far. Either way, Hasbro is likely quite fond of pretty princesses that sell toys, and as mentioned above, kings and queens are often stereotypically evil in entertainment for young children. Matriarchal government? Maybe, though I'd still retain a healthy amount of skepticism. Matriarchal society? Absolutely not, there's no true evidence of that, and I'd imagine it could easily end up going against the spirit of the show and all the positive things we know about Equestria. Honestly a little fed up with fans of MLP speculating all sorts of negative theories that interfere with the generally positive message of the show, and then proceeding to declare them canon without hesitation. Speculating is fine, but I think a lot of people are taking all of these nonsense bad implications that they dig out of the show a little bit too seriously. Sorry if I seem a little harsh there, I have very strong opinions on the matter, since nobody else seems to question it. I hope you're not actually joking in that post and I made this kind of response without knowing, because that would be a little embarrassing

We've been shown that alicorns are made through a process of magic(ascension), not born, so genetics are probably irrelevant to alicornhood. As long as it's a pony, alicornhood should be possible, if it's earned and awarded of course. Anyway, I have no doubt that a male alicorn could be made, but due to the fact that little girls usually like pretty princesses more, it just hasn't been added to the show yet.

The specifics would be complicated, but I'm pretty confident that Earth Ponies are fine. Ultimately though it will probably stay within the realm of speculation, it doesn't seem like something that would be explained, especially since we have yet to have an explanation on things like alicorns and such. And I dunno, an episode about something like that could really put a blemish on the positive portrayal of Equestria in the cartoon. Most of the good morals learned in the show are learned from small scale events, slice of life if you would, if you made it seem like there's some sort of discrimination blanketing all of Equestria, you couldn't rectify that with a nice good lesson at the end of the episode, it would be a permanent stain on the canon. Just my two cents.

Nah, this is a character driven show, and the Mane 6 + Spike are highly developed characters, so it makes sense to focus on them. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to see some other ponies get the spotlight occasionally though, as that could be interesting.

Discord's quote "What fun is there in making sense?" It fits him and what he represents perfectly, while also having a slight malicious tone to it.

What? That's nonsense, this show is about friendship, good morals, and other goody goody stuff, and Equestria will naturally reflect that, so nobody is going to be oppressed or discriminated against. Just because it's a show for little girls with lot's of good female rolemodels doesn't mean it's portraying a society where the other gender is getting the short end of the stick.