Prospekt

What makes Silica a unique case is that she was written for a fanfic that takes place in the future. She's supposed to be Pinkie's niece. So perhaps she could be turned into a Pie cousin, because she has the generally grey color scheme of Maud, Limestone, and Marble. Or put her in the great outdoors hauling around rocks, because she's a miner by trade. Just don't put her somewhere that makes no sense, like in Canterlot (she's about as far from the royal, aristocratic lifestyle as a pony can get).

I have a lot of friends who are already into niche nerdy shows with cult followings, so many of them either 1. don't mind at all or 2. have at least watched MLP. A very good friend of mine happens to be a pegasister. I have one close friend who was dumbfounded when he learned that I'm a brony and regularly roasts the show whenever it's mentioned; he can't stand it. But he's not immature enough to hate me for it.

One might be able to consider G4 the most gender-neutral generation of the My Little Pony franchise because of its incredibly diverse demographic. While I'd guess that young girls are still by far the majority of people who watch the show and buy the merchandise, it's clear that Friendship is Magic did away with many of the stereotypical girly themes and topics that dominated earlier incarnations of My Little Pony. Now, note that I said "gender-neutral" instead of "genderqueer" or "agender." While the ponies we see are mostly female, their gender isn't really the focus. They are written a lot more gender-neutral now, often mixing together masculine and feminine qualities rather than all being obsessed with things that are stereotypically feminine. I've come across multiple people on the internet who originally thought Rainbow Dash was male, because of her "masculine" need for speed and athleticism. I'd be totally fine with G5 using the same approach. It's good for the majority audience to have strong female role models who don't present as overly girly.