Showing results for tags 'Theorycrafting'.

*slams hand on table* Alright boys we back on this sh— What is a Zipp? A Rainbow Dash clone? An unsympathetic pony and sister? A strawblueberry scoop of ice cream on a snow cone horse? Up until now, we've seen various sides to Zipp's character, but very little to build anything truly consistent with. With certain clips of the Make Your Mark special now out, I believe we have something tangible to work with. Sit back, my little ponies, and let me do what I do best...streams of consciousness. A rehash of what we know about Zipp. In the G5 movie, Zipp was steadfast in her pursuit of magic—more specifically, flight. She was so focused on this that she spent most of her time researching methods of unlocking flight with or without magic, and, when presented with a lead through the notes in Argyle's journal, opted to (granted, with some hesitation) abandon her sister and mother in the midst of a public ousting to chase it. When confronted about this by her sister, her only response was that, when magic was restored, nothing else would matter anymore. More on this later. Her entire character more or less revolved around wanting to fly and there was very little else, apart from enjoyment of music numbers and a rather endless number of moments with Hitch, her obvious soulmate. This was rather concerning for lore buffs and analysts like myself, who wanted to see a character that had some semblance of a rounded shape, a character who could at least react differently in different situations when weighing what was more immediately important. Instead, we got a character with a very one-track-mind, with no depth provided into why she acted this way. It was at this point that a hundred fanfics rained down from the digital sky, weaving tales of strained sister relationships, depression and anxiety, and a dozen other downtrodden topics to try and make sense of this undeveloped character. So then Tell Your Tale comes along, and we got to see how Zipp behaved in a world with renewed magic. Suffice to say, it's a noticeable change. Right from her focused introductory episode, 'Sisters Take Flight', Zipp is far more attentive of her sister, and they have a bonding moment near the end of the episode. But most noticeably to mention is 'Mane Melody', where Zipp has a rather interesting (and adorable) character arc within a mere five minutes. Though starting the episode with hiding from her sister's attempts to style her mane, Zipp ultimately ends up comforting Pipp after a styling mishap, and then allows her mane to be done, purely because it'll make her sister happy. This, right here, remains the most wholesome moment between these two so far, and was a much needed development after their seemingly strained/detached relationship in the film. Tell Your Tale showed us that Zipp's character had mellowed out from what it was in the film. She was paying attention to smaller things and those around her far more than before, now that there wasn't some large-scale threat to flight and magic in Equestria. And so NavelColt began to write adorable sisterfics to counteract all the dour and angst from the previous five months. "*GASP!* Really?! You NEVER let me style your mane!" "*verbal shrug* :)" And so at last we reach the present, on the very cusp of the Make Your Mark special coming out. Well now, thanks to previews and clips galore coming out all the time, we have something interesting to take a look at. Here, we see the return of that very one-track-mind pony we saw in the G5 movie, terrified of not having access to magic (and flight). Not only does Zipp blow off her sister's song (and in a deeper context, her attempt to help Zipp relax), she even shows a more instigator-y side when she purposefully gets a rouse out of Pipp for the sake of demonstrating her point about how the friendship crystals seem to be 'glitching'. Especially in the latter parts of this scene, you can see how laser focused she is on this issue, when she (and Sunny, after jumping in) brainstorm what exactly is going on. And now, an analysis of Zipp's character from my perspective. From the early days of her reveal, Zipp's criticizers have often referred to her as a Rainbow Dash clone, or a mary sue, or both. I'll lay out right now that Zipp is not a Rainbow Dash clone. An inspiration, maybe, but not a clone. Dash is a loud-spoken, boastful extrovert who largely emulates tomboy and jock stereotypes while Zipp is a modest, (mostly) laid-back introvert who has branching interests in math, science, and athletic pursuits. They also have polarizing views on attention. Dash loves to be the center of attention while Zipp actively avoids it, always denouncing her princess title and doing her best to stay away from public photos she believes are embarrassing. "Pipp, no pictures!" "Aww, cmon Zipp, just one? :3" The mary-sue argument had more ground to stand on. It was born from the fact that Zipp, in addition to being athletic, is incredibly learned in math and science (having presumably written out all of the equations regarding aerodynamics and other mathematical functions seen at the start of this topic) while having no real, solid flaws. Even in the early promotional material, Zipp was kind of perfect. She's fit, she's smart, she's stealthy, she's courageous, and she's in line to be a queen. Before TYT and the MYM promotional trailers, it really did seem like Zipp was noticeably less flawed than the other four main characters. For those paying close attention, this bit of promotional material confirms that Zipp loves math. She totally wrote those equations. But now we have more material to work with. Now we know better. Zipp does have major flaws, and they can be summarized like this: When Zipp is fighting for/bothered by something she deems to be very important, nothing else matters. She can grow curt and impatient, narrow-sighted, and will even brush off friends or family in the face of trying to solve whatever she's faced with. To Zipp, chasing magic was more immediately important than attempting to help her sister or mother after the fallout of their family's lie. When Pipp confronted Zipp about this, she blew everything off—her sister's career(hobby?), her status, her worries, everything. She told Pipp to simply 'forget about all that' because '(they) think (they) can bring back magic.' She cited magic, again, as the solution to Pipp's worries and anger later on, saying that, 'once everypony gets their magic back they won't even remember any of that. You'll be a hero, Pipp.' From what we can see so far from the Make Your Mark special, Zipp is displaying traits like this once again, and, like before, it's linked to a crisis involving magic. When magic was a thing that had been lost, it was an insatiable longing that drove Zipp. Now that it's a looming threat of losing magic again, it's become paranoia, as Pipp herself mentions. In both scenarios, this unease drives all of Zipp's major decision making. She likely has some manner of anxiety issue, which a lot of us can probably relate with. In my latest work, 'The S-Regimen', I explore this stance further. Taking place prior to the G5 film, it shows the emotional (and heartfelt) climax that comes from months of Zipp doggedly chasing flight through non-magical means. Zipp's endless pursuit has not only caused her to isolate herself from her family, but to neglect certain rituals with her sister that they've done since foalhood. It takes Pipp yelling at her sister with tears in her eyes for Zipp to realize just how shut off she's made herself. As an introvert with anxiety issues, myself, I know about these things all too well, and again, I'm sure others can relate too. ~ The S-Regimen, found on FIMFiction and in audio form (Parts 1 & 2 ) I think the Zipp we see in Tell Your Tale is a Zipp free of worries. She loves her sister and readily shows it when needed, genuinely enjoys being spontaneous with all of her friends and is (usually) a voice of reason in the group. The Zipp we see in the G5 film, and at least the pre-conclusion of the Make Your Mark special is a Zipp ruled by anxiety. She's often blunt, unsympathetic, and has a one-track-mind for solving the greater problem at hand. Zipp has flaws, everypony, and they're starting to become tangible and identifiable. And that's cause for celebration. Zipp is a queen in both lineage and character, because she's a work in progress, and that's what makes her work. (Let's just hope the writers keep this consistent.) Thank you for coming to my PONE Talk.

I posted about this on its episode thread, but I feel it should get its own thread. In Nightmare Roommate, the outside of the police station shows this: Sprout is on a wanted poster! Does this mean he's on the run? Was it for his actions in the movie? Or is this only just a random visual thing and nothing will be made of it? What do you think?

So,i never the movie.Only watched glimpse of it and some songs.And while i know more about it,and actually kinda just first seeing that there is smartphones.This question pops up.And after some searching,Yup,this question still remains. Who the hell invented smartphone in MLP???!Hooves Job???!!Steve Hoove????!!!Or is it Canterlogic? Well,since i've brought it up,i would kinda like to see a pony version of Steve Job lol.

Given that the world of FiM had to end in order to make way for the process that would eventually lead to the world presented in ANG, there is definitely room for discussion on the topic of implications. Regardless of whether the show ends up answering all our questions or not, there's room for all manner of fan theories and headcanons in the meantime. So, feel free to share your theories on what happened. There isn't a lot that we know, but it's probably worth going over the evidence anyways: The three pony races live separately from one another leading up to the events of the film. The other races are nowhere to be seen. Pony magic is contained within a three-piece crystal artifact, with somepony from each race having possession of one of the three parts. The world is otherwise calm during the events of the film. All of the above has its share of implications. The three pony races obviously split off from one another, which heavily implies conflict of some kind. Of course, the ponies living apart from one another, but in otherwise well-developed kingdoms that function like typical post-modern societies obviously means they were able to rebuild, thus implying the world pf Equestria wasn't irreparably destroyed. It's also worth noting that the three pony races clearly lived through whatever conflict they may have had or they wouldn't be around anymore. The absence of the other races doesn't necessarily mean they died off. Perhaps they also went their separate ways. We actually have even less information on this point to base any kind of inference off of. All we can say for certain is they are not by where the pony settlements are, nor are they in the space between the three settlements that Sunny and her friends traversed. The very existence of the crystal artifact implies the sealing away of pony magic was in fact intentional, and was a mutually agreed upon act by all three races. That each race has possession of one of the parts further supports this notion. That two of the three races were very negligent with theirs to the point that their descendants forgot they so much as had any significance, and even the Pegasi, who actually did treat their part of the artifact with proper reverence forgot why it was important to them implies that a great deal of time has elapsed, and there was poor record keeping. However, it does all make sense to some extent. If ponies had no intention of ever reconciling, I could see some groups not caring if their part of a shared artifact ended up in the bottom of the ocean, let alone whether it's stored in a safe and respectful manner, but I could also see a group treating theirs like a royal heirloom that does need protecting. The world as of the events of the film appears fairly empty. Perhaps that will change when the show finally hits, but for now all that can be assumed is that there's nature between the three pony settlements and that's it. Of course, the very existence of said nature, along with the existence of life in general and having a day/night cycle also indicate none of the above depend on ponies. Given what we know and the implications that entails, it seems likely that something cataclysmic happened that forced ponies to give up their magic. Windigoes could be that thing, as they're supposed to block the sun and freeze the planet in an eternal winter, effectively killing off ponies throw freezing and starvation. That they didn't suggests that the ponies did something to make that not so. Giving up their magic isn't something they would do lightly for a variety of reasons. Ironically, I think the three races had to work together to circumvent the threat of imminent death, even with every intention of parting ways afterwards. They must have really hated one another to choose to give up their magic instead of trying to work things out. My headcanon is that ponies still had some magic. Half-cutie marks imply a major magic deficiency, but even that shouldn't be possible without some magic. Come to think of it, most coat and mane colours shouldn't be either. As for the other races, well, Windigoes seem to follow ponies specifically. It's unknown what their radius is, but they seem to only venture so far away from ponies. I think the most practical decision a leader of a race could make would be to get as far the heck away from the source of something like Windigoes as possible, and make it clear the species that attracts them isn't welcome within a certain distance of their lands. There's a good chance the other races didn't die off, but just decided to stay clear of ponies. The world itself may have also had some of its magic removed. Windigoes are magical beings, so of course cutting off their life source would be crucial to defeating them. On the other hand, life in this new Equestria goes on. Heck, the sun and moon either move on their own or somecreature else is controlling them (we really don't know which). For my ideas on why the ponies started hating one another, I think some external force is to blame, likely an antagonist or antagonists of source. First and foremost on my list are Tirek, Chryssy and Cozy Glow, if they were to get unpetrified at a time when the Mane Six and others weren't around to stop them. They did almost cause such disharmony in a remarkably short time span in Season 9. Sirens are also a possibility, though I have my doubts about that. Anyways, what do you all think? I'm curious to know what other theories there are on the subject.

Okay, I have every reason to believe that Equestria Girls is definitely not canon. This line wipes all 72 minutes of that film from the series bible: "Last time you were [at the Cyrstal Empire], you got the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadance in time to save this entire empire from destruction!" ~Princess Twilight Sparkle This means that the events of EQG couldn't happen before that episode, because Spike went to the Crystal Empire. And the movie can't come after this episode, because Twilight is used to flying and her royal title by then. Standard expanded universe rule: it is only retconned if major points in the plot are completely contradicted by the source material. Since Spike's presence in the movie is so important to the movie, and this episode contradicts that event; the movie can no longer be considered canon. So...in the FiM continuity, Flash isn't incredibly two-dimensional and bland?

There's a question I have been pondering recently. We know that Gen 5 takes place in Equestria, but all magic is gone. In Gen 4, magic is seen being used to control certain things, such as the weather and the sun and moon. I think it is safe to assume that the sun and moon still rise and set and the weather still moves in and out by itself in Gen 5. For the sun and moon, my best guess is that it is a ceremonial thing done by royalty. On the other hand, why would they need the pegasi to micromanage the weather in Gen 4 then? Like in Hurricane Fluttershy, they needed to create a twister to suck up the water to Cloudsdale, but in Gen 5, it is safe to assume the water evaporates without ponies interfering. How would you explain this discrepancy?

The way Cozy Glow was treated was abhorrent, and completely out of line with how ponies had dealt with villains in every instance prior, including Chrysalis. She was never even given a chance to redeem herself or see the light besides a weak AF, "Why'd you do it?" from Twilight, who then sat idly by and let Celestia throw a child into Hell with the very creature that corrupted her. I know some people want to think she was evil all along, but there's no way she was. First of all, the artifacts didn't even show up at the school until AFTER Cozy did, and since they came from Celestia, there's absolutely no logical way to claim she knew about them ahead of time and that they'd be coming to the school. And since the artifacts were the central, critical piece of her eventual plan, there's no way she showed up with that in my.l. But the more clear and indisputable evidence that she wasn't evil to begin with is her debut episode. She goes out of her way to try to get the CMC into the school as a thanks for their help, and is genuinely upset that she got them in trouble when in backfired. Not the scene with Starlight, but immediately after Twilight throws the CMC out. Cozy is watching from afar, all by herself, with nobody to be putting on an act for, and is genuinely distraught that she got her friends in trouble. And before anyone says it, it was not because she needed them in the school for her plan. Which is clear as day when you remember that they were nowhere to be seen when Cozy launched her takeover, and when they did arrive on the scene, they were an active hinderance she was very much not pleased to have around. So the only explanation for her interactions with the CMC in Marks for Effort is that they were genuine. She was a good pony who was failed by the Mane Six and her other teachers, who clearly missed the signs that HAD to have been present that Cozy wasn't understanding friendship properly and was getting things twisted. And then they failed her again by not making any effort to help her at all and instead throwing her in prison with ultra-evil villains, sealing her fate for her without even attempting to help her become a better pony. Which brings us to G5. They've got a chance to rectify a wrong given Cozy's fate. Sunny can free her from the stone and take her under her (proverbial, or maybe literal if she's a permanent alicorn) and give her the genuine help and guiding light she clearly deserves but never got. And it would take some doing at this point after how long Cozy was allowed to be astray from the righteous path, but a long-term redemption for a previous character the last gen's heroes totally let down would be a great way to tie things together between the generations, and a connection that actually makes sense thanks to the stoning.

So, There is mane 5 characters right? Each one mostly a reflection of an original mane 6 character. Sunny could be Twilight, Ivy could be pinkie, Hitch is obviously fluttershy, Zipp is rainbow, Pipp and is Rarity. So that begs the question, Is Sprout supposed to be Applejack? I had a small headcanon he might be a descendant of big mac cause of the colors haha, but its interesting to think if Sprout will be redeemed and apart of the Mane 5?

I had a sudden thought and I'm not sure if it had already been discussed. In Gen5, when all magic had left the 3 pony races, who was rising the moon and sun????? This is something I know that Gen5 must bring up if they ever touch upon the past of Gen4 where, it was Celestia and Luna who rose the moon and lowered the sun. After them Twilight took the job over, and before them Starswirl and a group of Unicorns (fact by Celestia not correcting the play about it) were doing it. So, in order for the sun and moon to rotate I can only think of two possibilities. Either something happened that allowed them to rotate on their own (was a theory that Discord broke them, so maybe he fixed them?) or someone out there, far away from the ponies, is still moving them. What do you guys think? Thanks for reading and please share your thoughts. ^^

So I was rewatching the G5 movie just because why not and I noticed that roughly around the 2-1/2 minute mark the camera pans down stairs to the desk of Sunny's fathers before landing on him. However, this gives us a glimpse of his research into Equestria's past and on the wall we get to see a small portion of the world with Ponyville, Canterlot, and Cloudsdale. But, I noticed that Everfree Forest was right next to Ponyville unlike how it was presented in FiM where it was presented roughly underneath the town unlike in G5 where it's shown to be to tht right of Ponyville. Which leads me to think that A New Generation takes place in a sepreate timeline from Gen 4. Though it's worth pointing out in the episode Family Appreciation Day, Everfree is shown in the bottom right of Ponyville along with at the time of me posting this we haven't gotten the G5 TV show. Now there is a chance that I could be entirely wrong which is why I'd recommend taking this Theory with a grain of salt and if you have any other evidence to prove that I'm wrong please let me know.

I've been thinking about long-term goals for the Mane 5 in the upcoming Generation 5 Netflix series. Big ambitions aren't NECESSARY for making a character interesting; characters can also develop simply via experiences and interpersonal bonds. But if our new main ponies did have long-term goals, what do you think they could be? And by "long-term goals" I mean accomplishments that take them a while to get to, and it feels rewarding when they finally reach what they've been aiming for. Something akin to Rainbow Dash wanting to be a WonderBolt, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders seeking their cutie marks. (Not all ponies had significant goals over time though, e.g. Pinkie Pie or Applejack.) Here are my ideas for each. I don't expect them to be accurate or anything, they were just fun to come up with. Sunny - Establishing a new city? Obviously, Sunny's original long-term goal was to restore harmony among the three pony breeds, but she has already achieved that now. It was tough for me to think of what her new aspiration could be. But maybe she would dream of building a new city in addition to Zephyr Heights, Maretime Bay, and Bridlewood that has elements of each, where the three ponykinds can happily live together. She could even be the ruler of such a city. Or maybe she wants to discover something related to her dad's research... this is off-the-wall but an example could be that she reads about seaponies and wants to discover the seapony kingdom one day. Hitch - Becoming a royal guard? Hitch already seems pretty accomplished in life, being the sheriff of Maretime Bay. But he could be getting bored if he spends most of his work hours just telling ponies to pick up their litter, and it will be even more uneventful now that Sunny probably won't need to get up to her usual antics anymore. He seemed eager to go "dancing with danger" after Sunny and Izzy escaped. What if he wants to move onto a new job, but still relating to protecting a town? I can imagine him wanting to become a royal guard in Zephyr Heights instead, but struggling with the idea of leaving his hometown behind. I guess that's slightly like Tom from the Sonic Movie... Just another thing the two characters would have in common, lol. Zipp - Forming the new Wonderbolts? I don't want many G4 references in G5, because young kids shouldn't have to watch G4 in order to understand and enjoy G5. However, I think bringing back the concept of the Wonderbolts wouldn't be a problem. We saw Zipp looking at an old Wonderbolts poster in the film, and I think she would definitely be passionate about anything related to flying. So, perhaps she wants to form a new team of Wonderbolts and has to train ponies to be skilled enough flyers. Then she could plan to put on a big Wonderbolts show for the Earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi of Equestria, and master some kind of difficult move. But I dislike Zipp and Rainbow Dash comparisons, and this would get people to compare them even more, so I dunno about this one. Pipp - Becoming queen of Zephyr Heights? Pipp already gets plenty of love and fame from being a singer and social media star, but what if she wants even more attention and respect? Maybe Pipp wishes she was the heir to the throne. She seems the most comfortable with being in the spotlight. Zipp doesn't seem that enthusiastic about one day ruling and she is described as a "rebel", so I think it's possible that Pipp would be more interested in becoming the queen than she is. So either Pipp doesn't confess that she wants to rule instead, or they both know about the other's feelings and can't really do anything to change it since the crown is rightfully Zipp's. I think this plot trope is used in a lot of media, but it could still work for Pipp in my opinion. Izzy - Reuniting with lost family? I see Izzy as living life in the moment and I couldn't really think of good major goals for her, but perhaps her family is missing and she wants to reunite with them one day. She didn't seem to have any relatives in Bridlewood. I don't want to give Izzy too sad/serious of a goal, but at least it would be made clear that her family is still alive and just got separated or something. I think it could be an emotional and rewarding moment when she finds her family. Feel free to tell me your ideas too!

-Spoilers for the movie ahead- So, the ending of the movie has Sunny discovering a 3rd stone within her dad's lighthouse in what I can only assume is some sort of a machine to...do what exactly? Shine the magic from the 3 crystals through the lighthouse and across the sky akin to the Crystal Empire spreading the magic from the Crystal Heart? Or was this hidden compartment just meant to hide away the stones? But, that would assume her dad knew the stones existed and never actually went out to find the other 2. If he knew that hidden compartment with the 3rd stone was there and had even the faintest of ideas of what it was, why didn't he tell or at least leave Sunny some sort of way to find them? But again, what was this compartment meant for? And why is it in the lighthouse of a random pony? It doesn't look old, and Sunny never knew it existed even though she grew up there. It honestly makes me think the lighthouse was built or configured in a way to channel the 3 stones and their magic somehow. But what do you guys think? We can all agree on one thing, though. Whatever this compartment or lighthouse was meant to do, thanks to Sprout, it will be forever lost to the sands of time. Let's just hope it wasn't meant to save pony kind... On a side note, where did this stones come from? Are they the Elements Of Harmony planted by the Mane6 as the Pillars Of Equestria did before them? Like to hear those thoughts as well! And, thanks for reading. ^^

This ride will never end. https://www.deviantart.com/cloudmistdragon/art/King-Sombra-is-in-G5-MLP-Fan-Theory-896633007 Introduction This was originally not intended to be a theory, just my obligatory thoughts on what’s been circulating lately about the possibility of King Sombra returning for Generation 5. Before the G5 movie premiered, there was a particularly interesting and amusing trailer that dropped showing Izzy Moonbow admiring the crystals in Bridlewood Forest. I made a joke about it regarding Sombra, like everyone else, laughed with some people, fully believing what everyone else thought, that it was very likely just a humorous coincidence. I maintained this belief watching the movie when it came out too, even as I naturally made some mental notes of certain features in Bridlewood. Then, not too long after, character designer for G5, Imalou, made a post on the internet that caught everybody’s attention, a surprise confirmation of the Tree of Harmony still being alive and well in the world of G5 in response to a fan’s notion. At this point, I was starting to get more curious. After all, I made an entire theory about King Sombra’s possible relations to the Tree of Harmony, but still, this could have just been a coincidence. Even as the location Imalou referred to as the Tree of Harmony just so happened to be where the main characters are passing by just before they visit Bridlewood. Then a development artist for the movie, Damon Bard, showed pictures of early development models of the crystals. The colors of these crystals were blue, purple, and most notably, black, the trademark color of Sombra’s crystals. And crystals of all three colors are shown in the movie. This is the point where me discussing this at reasonable length was inevitable. You can’t expect me to just sit back and say nothing about something that’s gotten more people talking about the shadow king. I really wanted to give the Sombra theories a rest. It’s been over a whole year now, and I gave them that rest I felt they deserved because I can empathize with people’s fatigue. However, now that something is inspiring more people to talk about him again while giving us things to theorize, I see no reason not to theorize. Even if I just tried to make this theory a discussion of one like my discussion of the theory of Sombra possibly being a kirin, it would have ended up becoming a regular theory anyway because of the evidence tying into my earlier theories. Evidence Correlating to My Theories The theory that the evidence we’ve seen so far corresponds to most is the aforementioned theory about Sombra’s possible relations to the Tree of Harmony. This postulation was a key part of my second theory about how Sombra was still alive. Since Sombra had already found a way to return after being gone for a thousand years when his character first debuted, the time jump from G4 to G5 wouldn’t affect him returning so long as there was a way for him to still linger in Equestria like I theorized, I’m sure we all know. However, would his return involve him having already returned in the past, essentially making him a vital part of the new generation’s lore, or would it involve him returning as a villain to be fought? I lean more towards the former, as I do see a few bits of evidence to support speculations like how Alphabittle could be a descendant of Sombra. Originally, Alphabittle was a blind sage with a curved horn the main characters were intended to meet up with in a cave. A cave where blue, purple, and black crystals were growing at that. The fact that they’re both the same color and share the same crystal fascination is also interesting, the same way it’s interesting how Izzy Moonbow has a color scheme similar to both Princess Cadance’s and Radiant Hope’s, as well as a blue heart for a cutie mark. Also, the name. Moonbow. If that ties in with my theory on how Sombra was sent to the moon, I will be laughing so hard. An easier tie-in for me to imagine though would be what I talked about in my second theory of Sombra still being alive concerning the forest Celestia was in when the shadow resembling Sombra passed by her. Another bit of information that has recently been revealed from an artist who worked on the movie for G5, Alvaro Ramirez, is that Bridlewood Forest was originally intended to be the modern-day Everfree Forest. What did they change it to instead? We currently don’t know for sure, but in the movie, interestingly enough, you can see that Sunny’s map shows mountains just behind Bridlewood. Compare that map to a map of G4 Equestria and you’ll find that for Bridlewood to have mountains behind it, it would have to be somewhere far north, somewhere close to the Crystal Empire. I understand how someone could just look at a forest with crystals and see it as just that. But a forest with crystals that’s also near where the Crystal Empire used to be? How can you not think Sombra? Also, the crystals seem to be more than just an added detail, even disregarding the effort that went into the models. I mean, Crystal Tea Room? Why would they also make the forest crystal-themed? Additionally, the way every unicorn in Bridlewood except for Izzy is depressed and subdued…doesn’t that remind you of the Friendship is Magic Season 3 premiere, what the Crystal Ponies were like before they had their spirits lifted? Taking a look at their horns too, you can see a familiar swirl pattern…one present in the Castle of Friendship, which was created by the box sprouting from the Tree of Harmony. Putting the Evidence Together Even if you are unfamiliar with my earlier theories, passing all of this off as a simple coincidence should be growing quite difficult. The story so far is that Sombra was conveniently led to the Tree of Harmony after being banished by the Elements, had a shadow that looked like him appear in a forest after he was banished again, and now, a crystal-themed forest of unicorns just so happens to appear in G5 right next to the Tree and the Crystal Empire? That isn’t even the last geographical convenience. Remember in the movie, how Queen Haven was able to break out of captivity and get to Bridlewood so quickly, despite being all the way in Zephyr Heights? Well, if you look back at the map again, Zephyr Heights is also not too far from where the Empire would have been. Why do I bring this up? Because people talk about how Haven could be a descendant of Cadance, given her familiar look, the same way they talk about how Alphabittle could be a descendant of Sombra. Remember that Cadance was originally a pegasus, not a unicorn… If Zephyr Heights was actually a land inherited by Cadance’s descendants and Bridlewood Forest was actually a land inherited by Sombra’s descendants, that would explain a lot, most notably why Zephyr Heights is so advanced while Bridlewood Forest is so rundown. Zephyr Heights was likely already a developing society before the magic vanished. As for Bridlewood, we don’t know whether or not Sombra’s magic would have been affected, since it was the magic of light, love, and friendship that had to be restored in the movie, not dark magic. Either way, those crystals had to come from somewhere. After all the evidence we’ve reviewed so far, it’s difficult to assume they’re just naturally grown in a world like MLP’s that always uses mystical explanations for its environmental lore. You could say they came from the Tree of Harmony, but looking at the Tree of Harmony, you can see that it’s lost its crystalline features since G4. The most popular reason speculated right now for this change is the loss of magic. That only leaves the shadow king. Even if the Tree wasn’t affected, Sombra is the only being in the show whom, at the moment, we can fully ascertain has the ability to create crystals that are blue, purple, and black on a whim without limitation. Proof that these colors were not chosen randomly is displayed by both the models and development art done by Ramirez. The only question that remains now is how Sombra was able to return and create those crystals. Explaining Sombra’s Presence Obviously, for Sombra to be the ancestor of Alphabittle, he would need to create some sort of physical manifestation of himself upon returning from banishment. However, he does not need to return at all in order to be the creator of the crystals in Bridlewood. Recall how in FiM, the spirit of the Tree of Harmony never returned again after the Student 6 caused the Treehouse of Harmony to grow from its remains. If Sombra was able to watch Celestia as a shadow in a forest, what would stop him from living on in the form of crystals the same way the Tree of Harmony lives on? Sombra’s recent return in the Transformers crossover comic involves him being brought back from crystal. Though this comic is often regarded to be noncanon, it would be unfairly dismissive to completely ignore how it provides an explanation for Sombra’s apparent immortality. This is something we require in order to fill in an inconsistency left by FiM in the Season 9 premiere, no explanation of Sombra’s return after his first defeat. This is a discrepancy I attempted to explain myself in the past, at one point suggesting that crystals of Sombra’s could still be growing in the cave he was revived in. Intriguingly, a cave with familiar crystals, as discussed before, was where the main cast would’ve originally met with Alphabittle… At this point, we also have no explanation as to how the pony tribes were separated. For right now, we have room to theorize and fill in the lore ourselves about the cause of Equestria’s societal decadence, even speculate that there was a war at one point. After all, the ponies were quick to both accept and forgive Sprout’s declaration of war on the other tribes in the movie. It’s hard to imagine that the only reason they’ve come to be this way is because of what they’re told. I don’t want to go too far and claim that the reason is because Sombra returned from his banishment and started a war, but I did note that the three crystals from each tribe in the movie, when combined together, do form a heart-like shape, perhaps hinting that they originally made up the Crystal Heart. Another thing that everyone had already noted long before the movie had even premiered was the unusual absence of the Windigos in the world of G5 despite the fact that ponies now distrust each other. And long before even that, I wrote an explanation for this apparent inconsistency without even realizing it in my third King Sombra theory. Quote… “It’s confirmed that the cause of the Windigos returning is animosity, hate among the ponies...yet Celestia described Sombra’s return in The Crystal Empire as hatred and fear taking hold. What banishes the Windigos is unity...which is ironically what Sombra does when he puts the ponies under his mind control. Though it’s through evil, he unites them and turns them into a formidable force.” I think you can see where I’m going with this. Even though the pony tribes were segregated in the movie, they were still united within their own tribes. And if you go back to early Equestria in FiM, something pointed out by prominent fan theorist Sawtooth Waves, you can see that the pony tribes live segregated, yet are still able to get by. It’s only when the quarreling between them grows too intense that the Windigos show up, just like in The Ending of the End. The three separated tribes in the movie weren’t arguing with each other, just living away from each other sequestered and paranoid. So long as the ponies don’t abandon unity altogether, they won’t cause the Windigos to return. This isn’t an anomaly created by G5 ignoring G4 lore. G5 is simply expanding on what began in G4, where it’s implied that even a kind of unity that isn’t what you would call “good” would ward off the Windigos. The kind of unity that G5 presents is unity through mind control, ponies being taken hold of by hatred and fear without having to fight among each other. In fact, given that the Sombra in the alternate dimension of The Cutie Re-Mark was able to start a war without triggering the Windigos’ return, this would make the possibility of there being a war in Equestria reasonable. Even if there was no war, Sombra’s presence in G5 would still make perfect sense for an explanation as to how the ponies came to live the way they did, since uniting ponies through mind control, controlling them with hatred and fear without summoning the Windigos, is simply a continuation of something that he began. Conclusion In conclusion…I actually don’t feel that it would be appropriate to give this theory a conclusion at the moment. After all, at the time of me writing this, G5 is quite literally BRAND NEW. I may have to update this theory more frequently than my older ones simply because of how much G5 content is coming in the future. I still understand some people being fatigued with these theories, but know that I am simply inspired by what I see other people talking about. I never wanted to indefinitely create Sombra theories, but so long as there is a purpose to do so being provided by new content, I will continue to do so. I’m just glad that we’ve come a long way since the days where theories primarily focused on him returning because of his horn not being destroyed. It would seem that meme, just like Izzy’s tennis ball, is forever behind us. However, hold on. Just for a bonus, let’s go back to the last time we saw Sombra’s horn, in the well-known scene of his disintegration in The Beginning of the End, broken down frame-by-frame. Obviously, we can’t see what’s happening to the upper part of his horn in any frame of this scene, so let’s just look at the last shot of the lower part of his horn. You would think the horn would’ve been reduced to ash at this point, but instead, it remains intact with gray matter beginning to encase it. Recall that the very bottom of Sombra’s horn is gray. This gray matter, in the very next shot, fully envelops the lower part of the horn as it comes up. Your first assumption for the reason for this detail would be an animation error. However, the moment the horn fully ascends is the trigger for Sombra to open his eye, making this detail very unlikely to be accidental. All of this is highly difficult to catch in full-motion, but slowed down by frame, you can see that particles of Sombra floating up from the rest of his body are easy to confuse with particles you may have thought were from his horn. So what actually happened to his horn? One would still assume it was destroyed, even if only offscreen. But the only thing we can ascertain from these shots is that it was torn from his head, covered, and lifted upwards with its fate becoming unknown. So actually, albeit shockingly, NO. You can not absolutely confirm what happened to Sombra’s horn after his second defeat in The Beginning of the End. Therefore, the meme isn’t behind us after all. And I guess, to be fair, neither are Izzy's balls. Isn’t that incredible and INSANE? There is no reason to presume anything happened differently to his horn besides it disintegrating, and not just because that’s the first thing one would assume. Every speculation I’ve made regarding Season 9 Sombra surviving and returning, every speculation everyone else has made about him surviving and returning, even the explanation for him surviving and returning that the Transformers crossover comic went with, all of it has NOTHING TO DO with his horn surviving the blast. There has been no incentive to argue that Sombra’s horn survived the blast in a LONG TIME, now that we have all this evidence. We’ve never needed this one bit of extremely easy-to-miss evidence all this time…YET IT’S THERE. The only question now is…what do we do with it? I have no idea, I’ll let you make the call. I guess I just won’t be surprised if I see Sombra’s horn in G5 too. In the event that this was just done as an Easter egg, I guess I’ll just sit back and appreciate the effort Sombra put into protecting his manhood. Long live the meme of Sombra’s horn and the meme of Izzy’s balls. And most of all, long live the shadow king.

Something clicked in my head while reading other people's comments: Windigoes. If ponies hate each other, then won't the windigoes come back? They'll need a really good explanation for why that didn't happen if this is going to be their backstory!

I recently created an account on this forum because I made a list of important details of sunny dad's house and also because I made some crazy theories, well there you go. (if you find any mistake on the images or in grammar please warn me.) <------O-------> Minute 2:18 - We can see what can be an anatomy picture of probably the twlight, comparing the hair, for having horns, wings, and the shape of the face seems to be her. Picture example: Image <------0-------> <------O-------> Minute 2:20 - We can see an equestrian map with all the places that the 6 mane won their cutiemarks, like pinkie pie, rarity, rainbow dash and fluttershy But the twilight cutiemark is off the frame, perhaps indicating that sunny's father doesn't know where she got her cutiemark, it's also not possible to see applejack's cutiemark Picture example: Image <------0-------> <------O-------> minute 2:22 - We can see a photo of the box of 6 locks created by the tree of harmony. Picture example: Image <------0-------> <------O-------> minute 2:25 - We can see the grogar bell in the lower middle left corner on top of a pile of books and further to the left we can see a picture of Star swirl the bearded Picture example: Image <------0-------> <------O-------> minute 3:53 - We can see that there among several other pieces on the floor where sunny's father studies, There's a treasure chest, which was used a few times in MLP G4 (it usually contained diamonds) Picture example: Image <------0-------> <------O-------> minute 5:24 - We can see a window with the cutie mark of rarity and what appears to be the cutie mark of fluttershy. We can also see a different symbol at the top of the window (it could also be another cutiemark) Picture example: Image (Don't know if this is important but i included anyway.) <------0-------> <------O-------> minute 6:21 - We can see a Spike Plush in the corner of the room and a pillow in the shape of a purple star that resembles twilight's cutie mark Picture example: Image <------0-------> <------O-------> (important) 6:25 min - We can see the first mention of Princess Celestia, it is possible to see the exact design of the her cutiemark on the wall behind sunny's bed Picture example: Image <------0-------> <------O-------> minute 6:53 - We can see the cutiemarks on the board representing Rarity's, twilight's, applejack's cutiemark and fluttershy's cutiemark, we couldn't find the cutiemark of pinkie pie. Picture example: Image <------0-------> <------O-------> 7:04 minutes - We can see sunny's father's belongings and pictures of him, leading to the conclusion of that he is dead. Picture example: Image <------0-------> <------O-------> minute 39:42 - We can see the underside of the balloon used by twilight in the opening, in some episodes and in a movie Picture example: Image <------0-------> first conclusion (3:27): sunny's father doesn't seem to mind Sprout's mother's criticisms Which indicates that he has already gone through this situation alot of times. Picture example: Image Second conclusion: We can also observe that in several parts of the house they have the Twilight cutiemark. My Theories: (You can ignore this if you like) Theory / maybe a fact _____________________________________________________________________________________ I believe that something or someone put on the head of all the land ponies that the others they really were evil, but not in a way of simply saying, "be careful with those unicorn ponies and pegasus they're dangerous" no, it's more like they actually said scary things and convince the population that they are dangerous; ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ theory 1 __________________________________________________ It seems sunny's father doesn't have much information about how twilight actually learned about friendship. He says that "a princess decided to learn about friendship", But twilight wasn't a princess when she started studying friendship, so I believe that Sunny's Father He met twilight after she became a princess and didn't talk to her much about the past. And I also believe he didn't talk to twilight anymore before she created her school. Because Princess twilight created that school for all races, and sunny's father says that the princess of friendship gathered all the ponies, So he should be saying that he joined the pegasus, land ponies and unicorns again OR that twilight only gathered the ponies and not the other species (due to not being aware of this event), If that's right he must have stopped talking to twilight after she created her school for everyone, or he must have stopped before twilight make her (ua) first (a) friend (a) no pony; The sequence would be like this: Start twilight turning princess \ sunny's father meeting twilight sunny's father no longer talking to twilight twilight creating school for all species end \_________\________________________________________________________________________________________________________\_________________________________________________________________\_______________________________________\ (We should also consider that sunny was a child and her father must have told the story with few details to facilitate the understanding of sunny and thus the story would not be completely complete.) _____________________________________________ The end ________________________________________________________ This theory I consider my best: (Theory 3 reinforces this second theory as well) ___________________________theory 2________________________________________________________________________ Another theory of mine is that sunny's father had some special participation in some adventure together with twilight and her friends. I believe that twilight and her friends were on another adventure and something went very wrong that could end with all life (or all ponies), So twilight and her friends sacrificed themselves along with all the equestrian magic so that no one died, and only sunny's father managed to survive for "not having as much relevance as her twilight and her friends", with all due respect. I also believe that all life (or all ponies) were unconscious and/or not understanding what was happening during this terrible situation, so they didn't know who saved them later. And so sunny's father being friends with twilight and knowing what happened shares what he learned from others. _____________________________The end___________________________________________________________________________ | V __ reinforcement __ Another theory that may reinforce that sunny's father was once a twilight acquaintance and her friends is that he knows their exact look, so much so that he made mane 6 dolls for his daughter. Or he must have read it in a book or seen it in some glass, but the dolls have so many details that it's hard to be just a book or glass. _____________ ------------------------------------Another theory that may be important: ___________________________________________ theory 3______________________________________________________ we can see in the film where the protagonist and two more ponies enter a historic place (minute 40:12) This place is not in horrible condition and it doesn't seem to be falling apart, so, You could say the ponies were together about 40 years ago (may be consistent with when sunny's father befriended twilight (((theory2))) ) This reinforces theory 2, But in this one I believe the ponies' memory may have been "modified" to believe something else, since much more than just 1 pony should have known of the past and that land ponies, pegasus and unicornis were united and everything else about twilight and her friends. Another thing to say is that the symbol on the glass of this historic place was probably made before the pony's memorys to be "modified" That explains almost no pony knowing about those symbols, even being in such an important place. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ THEORY THAT MAY ALSO BE IMPORTANT:: _______________________________________________THEORY 4_______________________________________________________ at the 42:01 minute of the film it is possible to see a glass with the twilight cutiemark in the sky *We already saw in the movie that this happened once when twilight turned into an alicorn *So... what if twilight did it the other way around? *She split her being to create the 3 stones (since she is an alicorn which is a mixture of them all), and each stone meant the land ponies, *pegasus, and unicorns (This part of the theory was created by Sawtooth Waves) (supports a part of theory 2 that has to do with the sacrifice of twilight and her friends) and distributed them to a representative of each race (looks like what is described in the glass) Picture example: Image (Bad quality ik) And it is also possible to see that the middle glass (land ponies) has been removed. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Theory 5__________________________________________________________ This theory I thought out of nowhere but it might even make sense. I believe the stones created by twilight (theory 2 and 4) I believe the price of twilight to save everyone would be the confinement of all the magic within the stones. and could only be released again with with the union of all races. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here's what I thought - if Sprout did not become a dictator and build his machine, magic would not have returned. Sunny would have found the Earth Pony crystal, put all three crystals together and nothing would have happened, because the ponies would still have hated each other. However, Sprout was the common enemy who drove everyone else to work together to stop him. Because they worked together, they managed to get the magic back.

My theory is that while twilight is a good teacher, her lessons failed to really reach her student, and maybe she was forced into a retirement earlier than anticipated by some unforseen circumstances. Either way twilight likely left without a proper heir and the ponies appointed leaders as guides and figureheads. I think twilight had a hoof in creating the 3 major cities, maybe seeking to showcase the beauty of each pony species in their own unique ways. After she left (or maybe disappeared) the ponies and their new leaders over time began to congregate in their cities out of growing fear and mistrust of their own kind. I do think maybe a small war even broke out, driving ponies deeper into their cities and cementing generations of stories about how terrible the others are and to be afraid. All this time magic seeps away slowly and becomes nothing more than a legend. I really do think that the G4 series is as ancient to the G5 ponies as greek and roman mythos is to us. I don't have any basis on any if this aside from what i know about the series and just seeing the movie the other night. It's just for fun! Don't take this too seriously ^w^

That the Pegasi Royals were lying about being able to fly? Obviously the Pegasus who was orchestrating their entrances and Pipp’s performance had to have known, and presumably at least some of their guards would had to have known or at least suspected since they didn’t fly outside the public eye. And in my opinion, surely, some commonfolk Pegasi had to suspect that something wasn't right, or at least think it was very strange, that only their rulers could fly out of all Pegasi in the world. Do you think anyone else could have known or at least guessed they were frauds? I posted this question on Reddit and got a few responses, but I thought it'd be a fun thing to think about here, too.

Why did ponies lose their magic!? Well, I think unicorns lost their magic because they became tame. They lost their edge, their spike! And all ponies and creatures who care about ponies have got to get it back! I'm looking at you Gimme a picture of a creature standing up for pony freedom and you can stand with us!

So as we know G5 takes place a very long time after G4. We know form G4 that when things between ponies get too bad, the windigos come. So what if during twilight's rule...something happened that broke trust between the races, causing the windigos to attack and "reset" everything?

How would you feel about Cozy Glow being reformed and an ally to the new Mane Cast in G5, perhaps even being reformed by them? She could either be already have reformed in the past (maybe by Flurry Heart), or more interesting, have been released by the Pegasi at some point because she's a Pegasus and they thought she had been unfairly treated or punished by the other races. I think the latter idea would be neat because, firstly, I could see Cozy being a leader in the Pegasi world of the Equestria that exists at the beginning of G5 and someone that could establish exactly what the hostility between the races is, and secondly, because in my opinion, the Pegasi would be absolutely justified in freeing her and thinking her punishment was unjust. Also, the effort the Mane Cast might have to put in to get her to see the light could do a lot to establish their credibility, and in particular would be a major boost in that department for the original true believer in Friendship in Sunny. Plus, maybe it would actually provide chance for an actual backstory on her and some better context into what exactly her mindset was (or is, if the Mane Cast have to reform her themselves and get her on side). I think it would be a great opportunity to bring back an important G4 character to tie the generations together and have it make sense, too, since Ponies presumably don't age while stoned and therefore her still being around would still be easily explained. And finally, and on a more personal level, it would provide a chance for Cozy's arc to reach a better, happier conclusion, which I believe she absolutely needs and deserves. What do you think?

What if Flurry Heart went off the beaten path of pony morality and led Equestria to where it is now through her vision? She is an alicorn, and the youngest of them, so logic dictates she eventually would hold some power. She could even still be the main villain pulling the strings in the serie, and be reformed. Or, for a more comedic bent, what if she was in her "rebellious teen" phase and acting out by sewing the seeds the disharmony behind the scenes before the time of the show? She's young enough that she could still be around in the new generation in either case, and I really felt Flurry didn't get enough shine in the show, so giving her a role here would be good.

I really love the hippogriffs, my OC is one and everything, i also love thinking about even the tiniest bits of the MLP world, so i think a lot about relatively mundane hippogriff headcanons. Like for example you can tell wether or not if a hippogriff is permanently on mt aris, or goes in between there and seaquestria by their horse shoes, perma griffs have metal nailed in shoes as a near necessity due to mt aris' rocky terrain, while seaponies visiting have to wear rubber clip on shoes as ordinary steel shoes cant transform with them, for that theres special shoes made from a transforming alloy typically reserved for the military and nobles. Another example is that a fair few hippogriffs were really shaken up by the storm kings siege and go further than just to stay permanently on Mt Aris, they can't even stand being submerged in water as it gives them trauma, so the majority of griffs sole method of cleaning themselves is preening, to enhance this theres special preening shampoo in the form of small beads the size of peas, the griff pops one in their beak swirls it with their tongue til it turns to foam and uses that to supplement their natural saliva, as for the foam its non toxic and safe for consumption obviously. And thats just 2 headcanons I'd love to hear about anymore from any if you reading, I'd love to discuss small headcanons about hippogriff society