Ash Thunderstrike

I don't know a lot about MLp, but I know there are alternate universes and potential timelines, but how does it work exactly? Anything would help!

Now, I’m not a huge fan of g5 so far, and I feel like it also ruined fim thanks to mentions of twilight creating the crystals. But thanks to a YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2jaAcwI7fc&t=364s, or just look up is MLP G5 from an alternate timeline of G4? (Theory idea) on YouTube), made me think that G5 is actually set in an alternate reality, but not one of starlight glimmer’s timelines. And it’s all thanks to equestria girls. The theory: One of the major problems of G5 is that the Sun and moon, established by fim that a princess of equestria has to move them to create the day/night cycle, is functioning normally without a princess for possibly centuries. Also, Twilight is missing her wings, which she should have had when she made the recording seen in make your mark. So we can theorize that she has ethereal wings like Sunny. Now, you may say that Opaline has normal wings, but there are multiple ways of becoming an alicorn, so there could be a difference between princess alicorns and dark magic ones. So my theory is that g5 is set in a completely different universe than the g4 we know. This is because in equestria girls, twilight is transported to an equestria set in the modern day with humans and a normal day/night cycle, yet still having the other mane 5 living there. What if this universe is one identical to the normal g4, but with changes to make it fit in with g5 lore? As several other things are missing, such as other races, landmarks, ect. Now, you might just say it’s a silly theory that’s obviously fake, but I will choose to believe it no matter what. I’m fine with g5 being bad right now, because I know it will get better over time, but bringing down EVERYTHING that was done in g4 is dumb and lazy writing, and it makes me depressed at the sad fate of our favourite characters. It wasn’t even a few centuries afterwards. The crystals could have even been made the next day after the finale for all we know! Of course, they could fix the timeline with Dr. Whooves or some other time-travel machine, but that’s kinda kitschy, but anything to fix g4 will be good, even if it brings g5 down a bit. What do you think about my head canon theory? I know it’s a little rocky, and headcanons are almost always wrong, but I’m clinging on to anything to keep me from imploding from frustration right now, and the evidence I have is pretty clear, and you can believe whatever you want. Have a wonderful day!

Thanks! I know it's still early, and I am excited to see where both the comic and the tv show go in the future, but I am keeping my hopes up (with a hint of skepticism) of seeing improvements. Yeah, that should've happened. Also makes Twilight and co. potentially look bad lore-wise.

Wow, a magic meter dystopian society forcing people to be good would make an AMAZING fanfic! Thanks for the response

This is going to be a VERY long post, so skip to the end if you want a summary of the whole thing. I am also new to the fandom, and haven’t watched a lot of the new show, so feel free to correct me politely for any mistakes I made while writing. I have a big issue with magic in My Little Pony: Make Your Mark. I will be splitting my issues into three parts. PART 1: It’s too flimsy as a system, and is a lazy writing choice. We learn in the pilot for Make Your Mark that magic glitches and can possibly stop if ponies aren’t being kind to each other. In the pilot, Posie starts a small revolution against unicorns and pegasi to ban flying/magic that almost destroyed the crystals. If something that small can permanently destroy magic, or at least put it out of commission for a while, is incredibly stupid and makes no sense. This means that if Opaline or some other villain does something terrible, why would it take so long for the crystal to be destroyed if all it takes was a small group of angry earth ponies to nearly cause the permanent destruction of magic? This makes the villains underwhelming due to their evil having little effect until they fully commit their master plans, making them seem less threatening unless they have immediate responses from their deeds. They fixed this in the comic with Discord stealing a part of the crystal and planning to destroy magic, making him seem threatening while also creating an immediate problem, creating a sense of urgency (though immediately underplayed by the comic’s filler episodes, though that’s another rant for another day.) Another example of how this creates bad and lazy writing, is how it is played as the only thing the villains aspire to destroy/enslave/abuse, ect. Since the crystal is such an easy target for the writers to make as a macguffin, making Oplaine and any possible future villains less creative in their plans. FIM had a varied amount of antagonists, each with their own villainous goals they wished to achieve. If it all ties back to one particular thing (ie magic), then the villains become stale and boring. The final problem is one that can unfortunately kill the entire series permanently. If the flimsy magic system continues for G6 onwards, it will cause the writers to recycle plots from G5, making future series more boring and uninteresting. Though the situation looks bleak, there are ways we can fix the issue, and make the series even better. Make magic permanent! By making magic permanent and not breakable so easily, it solves some of the problems I mentioned. Now, how could this happen? Well, perhaps in one of the specials, the characters find a way to permanently stabilize magic, but with it having the potential to break forever due to mean behavior helping to keep ponies in line being a good way to stop evil. So the mane 5 would be presented with a dilemma: Stabilize magic and hope everyone will stay kind, or keep it flimsy and indirectly threaten everyone with no magic. In the end, they would (of course, since this is a kids TV show, not a Ray Bradbury book) stabilize magic, and everyone is happy, solving that issue. Unfortunately, this could be a series finale thing, ruining any chance of having a show without this issue, but keeps the lessons and episode ideas from coming back in G6. Start a new universe! To stop the whole “flimsy magic” theme, Hasbro could pull a Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and set it in a new universe. This can keep flimsy magic to G5 only, and help quell other concerns people had (lore inconsistencies, modern technology, ect.). Give villains other motives Having antagonists that have evil plans other than ”destroy/abuse magic” can help make them more interesting and threatening. It can also still affect magic, giving the protagonists 2 things to deal with, and forcing them to use creative problem solving instead of casting fireballs or whatever. In summary: I feel like the “magic is easily broken by mean behavior” thing causes lazy writing, bad villains and crappy worldbuilding. In all of the chaos, it can be fixed to make the show better, yet it is still an issue nonetheless, and one I am very disappointed by. If you have any opinions about Make Your Mark’s magic or the show in particular, feel free to voice your likes and dislikes about it. Have a good day!