spoiler A revision of my thoughts of MLP Magic.

[WindyParadise 59]

So during my time off this site while I was working or moving the house around I kept thinking about how Equestria Girls and what happened to Sunset Shimmer with the Element of Magic or what it meant for the Mane6 and the Villains of the show.

 I ended up spending a few hours past midnight writing it down and trying to organize my thoughts on the subject. 

 

I give all credit to the various threads I stole ideas from and I'm to tired to go look for all of them. lol

[SPOILERS BELOW] [Also this could be considered Head-canon so if it turns out incorrect then oh well. It was a nice thought experiment.]

 

 

In Equestria and whatever the world is called we see many types of magic but learn very little about them. Yet they remain prevalent throughout the show as a major background focus. I now believe that there are three magic systems in the world and these are called Entropy, Natural, and Harmony which indirectly representing the usual Good vs Neutral vs Evil style.

 

  From these magical powers came six(6) more specialized versions.

 Chaos & Darkness, Arcane & Passive, Love & Friendship.

 

Each of the new magical powers are spread throughout the world with some magic being more obvious in some creatures like Ponies or Sirens for example.

Because of this we should now call the Elements of Harmony by their true name which would be the Elements of Friendship.

   Chaos is mostly concentrated in Discord which would explain why he is so powerful compared to the others.  He would act as the token opposite of Love by being the Element of Chaos.

 Darkness however is more spread out into artifacts or the major Villains we have seen so far and I believe it maintains it's own 'Elements of Darkness' similar to the'Elements of Harmony or in this case Friendship.

 

We can see this in each villain representing an element of Darkness.

Sunset Shimmer as a Demon also represented another Element of Darkness.

However, by assigning Sunset an Element we must acknowledge that she also represented an Element of Harmony at one point. This does not mean the other Villains also represented such things or that she represented her direct opposite. So I believe that we will have another major villain representing the opposite of Sunset Shimmers Element of Friendship.

 

King Sombra       = Dark Element of Cruelty

Lord Tirek           = Dark Element of Greed

The Sirens          = Dark Element of Deception

Nightmare Moon = Dark Element of Fear

Queen Chrysalis = Dark Element of Falsehood

Sunset [Demon]  = Dark Element of Power

Unknown Villain  = Dark Element of Doubt.

   Now that we have this list, we should be able to easily sort out their Friendship opposites. But before that we should look into Twilight's Element of Magic and the 'Spark' that apparently had little meaning except as a plot tool. In a flashback on episode Princess Twilgiht Sparkle - Part 1 we can notice that the 6th Element of Magic was already there and did not need to 'appear' after the Spark as originally stated in the first two episodes of season 1.

 This caught my interest and leads me to believe that it does not represent the Element of Magic but represents the Element of Leadership and Twilight just happened to be the Spark who got the new Element Holders together.

 

Now instead of [Twilight Sparkle  = Element of Magic] it should be [Twilight Sparkle = Element of Leadership].

 The list is basically the same with a slight wording change to better represent it's position.

Twilight Sparkle = Element of Leadership (Spark)

Applejack           = Element of Honesty

Rainbow Dash   = Element of Loyalty

Fluttershy          = Element of Kindness

Rarity                 = Element of Generosity

Pinkie Pie           = Element of Laughter

Sunset Shimmer = Element of Faith

 

Sunset Shimmer could possibly have been a Spark but I am unsure on that. Since Sunset is now in the Human world this means the Elements of Friendship are missing a Holder for that Element which means the Element is spread through each of them instead.

At this point I assume some of you will point out that none of the Dark Elements required a Spark. This is true and I shall now explain what the Spark means in my theory.

  The Spark acts as a Safeguard against corruption and to ensure the virtues of Friendship are upheld. It is commonly seen with the Element of Leadership holder and thus assumed to be tied to it. This lead to the Element of Leadership being called the Element of Magic as the only two known Holders of the Element have been powerful in the Arcane arts.

We see this with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna when Luna is corrupted into Nightmare Moon. They failed to uphold the Elements of Friendship with each other and allowed Fear to overtake Luna. Later we see Princess Celestia attempting to save Luna and rekindle their friendship but as that fails Celestia uses the Elements of Friendship to banish Luna to the Moon until a time when new bearers of the Elements could arise.

 Assuming Celestia was the Spark for the two sisters this means the Spark could be used with only a limited number of Friendship Elements. Doing so strips the creature of their Element Holder status and the Spark inside them.

 

A complete list now shows each Element of Friendship and it's Element of Darkness.

 Twilight Sparkle = Element of Leadership (Spark)  ~|~  Dark Element of Power       = Sunset Shimmer [Demon]

 Applejack           = Element of Honesty                   ~|~  Dark Element of Falsehood = Queen Chrysalis

 Rainbow Dash   = Element of Loyalty                     ~|~  Dark Element of Deception = The Sirens

 Fluttershy          = Element of Kindness                  ~|~  Dark Element of Cruelty      = King Sombra

 Rarity                 = Element of Generosity               ~|~  Dark Element of Greed       = Lord Tirek

 Pinkie Pie           = Element of Laughter                  ~|~  Dark Element of Fear          = Nightmare Moon

 Sunset Shimmer = Element of Faith                        ~|~  Dark Element of Doubt       = Unknown Villain

   Edit: Switched NMM and the Sirens after looking back on the list.

 

So after making this list I decided that since other species would probably be able to utilize the Elements of Friendship as well. But they are both more limited in their preferred Friendship Values and by sheer number difference(It's more likely to see a pony with an Element than a Donkey as there are more ponies around.) in terms of their species size.

 

= Species Elemental Preferences =

 Earth Ponies [Honesty, Laughter]

 Pegasus [Kindness, Loyalty]

 Unicorns [Leadership, Generosity]

  •Alicorns• [Faith] 

 

Griffon's [Loyalty, Leadership, Kindness]

 

 Diamond Dogs [Generosity, Laughter, Honesty]

 

 Dragons [Leadership, Faith, Generosity]

 

Buffalo [Loyalty, Honesty, Faith]

    •Cattle are 'civilized' Buffalo•

 

Donkeys [Generosity, Laughter, Kindness]

 

Minotaur's [Leadership, Kindness, Loyalty]

 

Zebras [Generosity, Loyalty, Faith]

 

Sea Ponies [same as Ponies with Faith spread out to all types]

•Have no Alicorns•

 

Sea Serpents [Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter]

 

Changeling [see Below]

•Note• While I have no proof I believe the Changelings and Queen Chrysalis are actually a type of corrupted ponies.

As seen above I set QC as Falsehood to symbolize their ability to change their forms and because it fits her character.

  So I assume this means a pony similar to Starlight Glimmer had gathered a small following and this pony did something to gain the powers of an Alicorn. This came with a heavy cost and left a shameful mark on the Equestrian's history about the creation of the Changeling species/race.

 

With no way to remove the curse but having gained their new abilities the newly dubbed 'Changelings' left Equestria to find a new Home. The curse allowed them to shift from three corrupted pony types into a more Hive-like Insect race. 

They still maintain the same attributes as normal ponies(Like the Sea Ponies) but are more inclined toward the Entropy side of the Elements now.

[End Changeling]

 

• Limited Future Speculation •

 Elk/Deer [Faith]

 Rhino [Leadership]

 Llamas [Kindness]

 Satyrs [Laughter] (Likely to close to humans to appear)

 Naga [Loyalty] (Likely to close to humans to appear)

 Moose [Generosity]

 

At this point I'll stop to address the magic of Love, the Crystal Empire/Ponies, and Cadence. 

  I've notice three(3) things in the show about Love and Friendship. I could be looking for things that are not there.

 

1. Friendship will always offer it's hand to it's enemies and never kill them.

2. Love is not always kind or quick to forgive as seen with King Sombra.

3. Chaos can be directed to a more Harmonic end as (so far) seen with Discord.

 

We will be discussing the first two points, from the Crystal Empire episodes we see that the Crystal Ponies are... well, made of crystal. I think this was only due to the constant focus of power from the Crystal Heart creating the Aurora. The constant bombardment of Love magic slowly reshaped the ponies living near it over several generations of ponies. Forming the first Crystal Ponies.

 

These Crystal Ponies are likely more passionate and emotional(kind of like Rarity and her drama moments.)

  As in our world, Love can cause happiness, jealousy, a sense of purpose, madness, etc... In the show, we have seen that unlike the Magic of Friendship that Love; or more specifically the Element of Love(Crystal Heart?) has destroyed it's enemies. While some bronies would prefer to see King Sombra again(me included) I don't think it would make sense to bring him back unless they introduced some kind of necromantic magic to the show.

 

That of course would make the show rather dark, a good example would be like making the 'Story of the Blanks' a canon event in the show. There would be so much hilarious backlash that the show would die out because of it. I'd rather avoid that if possible. 

 

Anyway, the Magic of Love is less spread out to the rest of the world and maintains a focal point in the Crystal Empire similar to the Tree of HarmonyFriendship for the Magic of Friendship and the Element of Friendship Holders. Cadence is special due to her Cutie Mark which grants her the ability to use the Magic of Love without being a Crystal Pony.

 After I revisited the above I wrote up a new list based on the overall magics of Entropy and Harmony

=  Species Harmonic Preferences  =

 Draconequus [Chaos]-Direct to Discord

Crystal Ponies [Love]-Indirect/Direct

 Ponies [Friendship]-Indirect

 Centaurs [Darkness]-Indirect

All others have no Preference.

 

This ties in the above Species list and their respective Friendship virtue preferences. Now at this point I'm not sure where to continue my theories/mad-research until Hasbro works on establishing a world history to the MLP universe or releases some kind of official role-playing game with a history lesson inside it. 

    I was thinking of the future after the Mane6 as well, which I'm sure most of you assume will include the CMC's. So I wrote a tiny bit on that.

 

The Cutie Mark Crusaders and others will be the successors of the Mane6 in the future. 

Seriously, how else will they keep the show going? xD

 Applebloom [Honesty] •Spark•

Scootalo [Loyalty]

Sweetie Bell [Generosity]

Diamond Tiara [Leadership] Has not been Sparked.

Silver Spoon [Kindness] Has not been Sparked.

Babs Seed [Faith]

Dinky Doo or Pipsquek [Laughter]? Has not been Sparked.

 

So those worried about Diamond Tiara acting as the Element of Leadership, I'd like to defer to Twlight who is the Leader but is not always in control of the group or situation. Which is something Diamond Tiara tries to do usually by insulting the CMC.

   Besides her being a logical choice for the element I think it would also leave room for some character development in Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. It would go along with the theme of Friendship in the show.

 

I wasn't as sure on the Element of Laughter however as there are many fan-favorites to go by.

 I though Pipsqueak might work but we have limited info on him so I'm not sure about him. He is already voice-acted though.

 

Dinky Doo is seen a number of times in the show and she could easily be fleshed out into a more formal character. From what I can tell her on-screen personality could match Laughter but I didn't give as much research on her as Diamond or Silver. 

 

Alright you can breath now, my rant is over. 

TL:DR? Here's a summary.

   Magic, magic, magic, list, magic, list & magic, magic, list, CMC & moar magic, list , CMC & Elements. Fin

 

https://mlpforums.com/topic/116574-can-alicorns-be-killed/

And another thread about species and civilizations that I can't seem to find again. 

Edited June 1, 2015 by WindyParadise