One thing I really don't like about the movie is those orbs that the villains use in the beginning. Apparently, they can pierce through Alicorn shields and they can instantly turn anyone they hit into crystal. Then, all it would take to kill the victim is a sufficient amount of force such as a magic blast or dropping the victim onto the ground. They're stupidly overpowered and their existence, how they're made, how they work, etc. is not explained at all. It seems like they were a cheap way for the writers and villains to remove characters from the story. Good writing doesn't show a powerful artifact without explaining it!
So here's what I want to know. Let's say that those orbs didn't exist and the Storm King and his troops used a different and more well-written method to take over Canterlot at the beginning of the movie as a result. How would the movie's adventure be set in motion then? What would that method be? The Storm King doesn't necessarily have to trap the princesses or take over Canterlot. The adventure just has to be set in motion.
I can already think of how the Storm King dies and the movie ends. I recently bought a book called "The Art of My Little Pony: The Movie", which has a lot of concept art including art of early versions of the characters as well as deleted scenes and script changes. That art book details a scrapped ending concept that I think is more well-written than what we actually got. Originally, the Main 6 were going to use the Staff of Scanas to power up and fire a rainbow laser at the Storm King, but the writers of the movie wanted to do something different than that because the villains are always defeated by rainbow lasers in the TV show, so they changed the ending to the current ending. The book even shows artwork of a new form similar to Rainbow Power. Well, I think that ending would just be better because it doesn't involve the orbs.
So I just need to think of an alternate beginning. Can anyone think of anything?