spoiler How exactly did the villain did that in the finale?

[Baykush 328]

I'm talking about what we didn't get an explanation for, Chrysalis and her army being able to kidnap all the princesses, the mane 5, Shining Armor and the baby. I actually love that was left as a mystery because any cannon explanation for that would have potentially been a let down and taken time from the episode. I just want to hear what theories you have

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,632]

This is definitely a huge plot hole in the finale for sure. It doesn't bother me as much as it does some others but I can see why it is an issue. It could just be immense numbers that took them out possibly during the night. Sleeping is a definite way to be captured by an army like them. XD Though it also begs the question how so many important ponies were captured without absolute chaos ensuing in Equestria. Literally every single royalty figure was captured and Equestria was like, eh, another day.

[Midnight Seashell 206]

I guess their drinks got spiked or they were taken away during their sleep.

[PoisonClaw 8,164]

Because the plot says so. That's how she was able to do all this, since otherwise someone else could step in and save the day. If they had been vastly outnumbered that would have been one thing, but if was as easy as waiting until they were asleep and kidnapping them without anyone being the wiser it begs the question why she didn't do this sooner.

 

Although... what became of the Changelings impersonating everyone after Chysalis was defeated? Did they continue doing a poor job of impersonating them before the real ponies just walked up and kicked them out? I'm just imagining Luna and Celestia strolling into the throne room with their duplicates and toying with them, with Luna suplexing her impostor and Celestia just asking the copy that, if she's the real Princess Celestia, than what's her favorite type of cake?   

[pnylvr 185]

Could be that the changelings have weapons that nullify magic, made of the same material that Chrysalis's throne was made from. Perhaps they only have a couple dozen, which might explain why they didn't use them to invade Canterlot.

[cider float 2,538]

My guess is that they were either real covert in their operation executing the perfect plan to sap out all their love and incapacitate them.

 

OR
 

They might have more of that magic nullifying stone "kryptonite" they used to peg them all down.

[Sonic5421 425]

Well, I do have a few thoughts about the episode. I'll list them in bullet point form below:

• Regarding capturing both the Mane Six and the Royal Family as part of Chrysalis' revenge against them for her defeat in A Canterlot Wedding, she must have sent her armored Changelings to capture them as their armor must have been made of the same material Chrysalis' throne is made off, essentially rendering the Princesses and the Elements of Harmony as powerless as newborn fillies, making it easy to capture them, cocoon them, and then carry them as the fluid in the cocoons slowly sedate them back to the hive to hang in Chrysalis' throne room as both her trophies and a chance for her to taunt them at how with them replaced back in Equestria with drones, Chrysalis will soon fully complete her revenge and take Equestria for her own.
• Since Starlight and the others don't set out for the Changeling hive until at least a day or so after the Mane Six were kidnapped, and Starlight is warned by Luna of her and Celestia's capture during her sleep, while at the same time Sunburst sends Thorax to Ponyville to find help after witnessing the kidnapping of Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart, it gave Chrysalis plenty of time to have everypony deeply sedated in their cocoons because when we see them in said imprisonments, no one looks to be fully conscious as they all look either semi-conscious, or are fast asleep with the only sign of life being the twitch of their hoof, having been in there for several hours to 1-2 days compared to the few minutes Celestia was originally imprisoned in a cocoon back in A Canterlot Wedding.
• Not to mention seeing how the cocoons are busted open when Chrysalis' throne is destroyed. Best-case scenario is they were ripped or cut loose from the ceiling when it disintegrated, fell to the ground, and busted open then since the fluid inside would have acted as an impact cushion to protect the Mane Six and Royal Family from injury before the force of the impact burst the cocoon open and drained the fluid out, allowing them to regain full consciousness within minutes, give or take being dazed, groggy, or confused as to what happened between when they were kidnapped and then being freed and able to go home again.

[Castle Bleck 19,376]

Well, since her throne chair functioned similarly to Sombra's "prison" crystals, it's not a stretch to figure she simply gave her guards some pieces.

 

And/or they likely waited until bedtime just to be sure.

Edited October 8, 2016 by A.V.

[Sonic5421 425]

Well, since her throne chair functioned similarly to Sombra's "prison" crystals, it's not a stretch to figure she simply gave her guards some pieces.

 

And/or they likely waited until bedtime just to be sure.

 

Makes sense since even if they woke their targets up, the pieces of Chrysalis' throne would have rendered them powerless already and make them easy to capture.

[Chuckles4lyfe 441]

I'm actually kind of glad that we weren't given any explanation as to how the Changelings were able to capture everyone. Showing how they all got captured would have taken too much time from the episode. Plus, it keeps the story moving along and showcases the more important part of the episode (Starlight having to quickly assemble a team to stop the imminent threat). 

 

Like you said, any cannon explanation would have had us crying foul and nitpicking at every single minute detail. Perhaps it was for the better that it is left to fan interpretation  . 

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

I kind of was figuring that those 4 pieces that the Changelings put together at the table to summon the giant Floating head of chrysalis were shards of the throne.

They could have handwaved away/explained the capture by saying that they were able to use the shards to create small "anti-magic" zones to take out their targets with them-- Maybe say that the shards are destroyed when they're used that way away from the throne to explain why they haven't used them before like in their invasion of canterlot (being expensive single use objects essentially)

[Marimo 555]

The changelings have been able to take out the mane six, Cadence, Shining, and Celestia before. They even took out Cadence and Shining offscreen in ACW just like in this finale. So I don't think they really need a given explanation as to how they did it in the show, since they've done it before and therefore already established to be a strong threat.

[Sonic5421 425]

The changelings have been able to take out the mane six, Cadence, Shining, and Celestia before. They even took out Cadence and Shining offscreen in ACW just like in this finale. So I don't think they really need a given explanation as to how they did it in the show, since they've done it before and therefore already established to be a strong threat.

 

Technically, in A Canterlot Wedding, Cadance was the only one kidnapped, and she was put in the caves beneath Canterlot to rot, while Chrysalis disguised herself as Cadance to get close to Shining Armor to brainwash him. Celestia was the only one to actually be put in a cocoon then as Chrysalis did not want her to retaliate again once she recovered from her earlier defeat, and the Mane Six were outnumbered and stopped before they could get the Elements of Harmony. That was when Twilight was still a Unicorn.

 

Chrysalis had underestimated them then, so she had to make sure they were all fully subdued this time before she could make her move on Equestria, including Luna and Flurry Heart since Luna never took part in the battle and what happened in A Canterlot Wedding, and Flurry Heart was still a prime target due to being an Alicorn herself and loved by the Crystal Ponies.

[pony.colin 156]

I pretty much agree with what others have said. I'll admit, I like this espionage kidnapping coup set up because it's so entertaining to me. 

 

I agree that I think the groups of changelings that were assigned to take out and kidnap Celestia and Luna, Cadance and SA, and the Mane Cast were probably carrying some parts of the anti-magic throne with them in order to give them an advantage in their plans.

 

With magic being counted out on this kidnapping, the rest relies on work of the spies to blend in and secretly gain the trust of the others to lure them into a trap.  I'd like to believe that they used a 'trojan horse' method of doing it by getting the royal families to come out of their castles to try and attend to 'citizen's problem' in order to lure them out and away from their defenses. 

But there can be a myriad number of ways to fill in a espionage plot of how the spies achieved their job of kidnapping.  I also like to think Chrysalis actually sent her best elite spies to try and accomplish this mission

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

My guess is she and her minions snuck in when they were asleep and kidnapped them.

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

My vote goes to the old pony snacks being left under a crate held up by a stick gag.

 

Chrysalis was probably the most shocked of all when it actually worked. And not just once either....but 11 times!!! Of which only one has a legitimate excuse to fall for it. Ponies are apparently easier to catch than Caterpies in Equestria.

[Sonic5421 425]

I pretty much agree with what others have said. I'll admit, I like this espionage kidnapping coup set up because it's so entertaining to me. 

 

I agree that I think the groups of changelings that were assigned to take out and kidnap Celestia and Luna, Cadance and SA, and the Mane Cast were probably carrying some parts of the anti-magic throne with them in order to give them an advantage in their plans.

 

With magic being counted out on this kidnapping, the rest relies on work of the spies to blend in and secretly gain the trust of the others to lure them into a trap.  I'd like to believe that they used a 'trojan horse' method of doing it by getting the royal families to come out of their castles to try and attend to 'citizen's problem' in order to lure them out and away from their defenses. 

But there can be a myriad number of ways to fill in a espionage plot of how the spies achieved their job of kidnapping.  I also like to think Chrysalis actually sent her best elite spies to try and accomplish this mission

 

Well, I do wish they could have shown how exactly how Chrysalis managed to pull it off with kidnapping the Royal Family and the Elements of Harmony from right out under the Royal Guard's noses without setting off any alarms, save for Sunburst and Thorax finding out.

 

My guess is she and her minions snuck in when they were asleep and kidnapped them.

 

That's the best idea I've thought of myself. Starlight and Trixie were gone for several hours since, with Trixie pulling her wagon, they could not take the train to Our Town and back, so it took them longer to get there and return to Ponyville. During the night, with most of the Royal Guards asleep in their barracks and only a handful on patrol, it was easy for the Changelings to slip into the Castle of Friendship, the Crystal Castle, and Canterlot Castle, and kidnap the Royal Family.

 

They still needed to hit Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow's condo, Carousel Boutique, Fluttershy's cottage, and Sugarcube Corner to kidnap the rest of the Elements, and they pulled that off as well without alerting Granny Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, or anyone in Ponyville.

[Megas 27,702]

Everyone had to be worfed beyond belief to make Starlight look good

[KatonRyu 1,033]

I'm gonna go with the changelings using a rock with similar magical properties to Chrysalis's throne. It wouldn't make complete sense because Luna was still able to appear in Starlight's dream, for which she presumably used magic, but by that point they might have been able to use brute force instead of subversion.

[ph00tbag 108]

It's not like was actively looking for Changelings at the time. These are creatures that can look like anything. A well-organized enough coup wouldn't take more than an hour--magical ability needn't even come into it. The biggest difficulty would be in moving all of them to the badlands without being caught.

[Sonic5421 425]

Everyone had to be worfed beyond belief to make Starlight look good

 

Yeah, the writers really screwed over the Royal Family and Elements of Harmony here just because they took a gamble to have it focus on the reformed villains in Starlight, Trixie, Discord, and soon to reform his Swarm, Thorax. While some think it worked, a lot of us think it could have been done much differently so the Royal Family and Elements of Harmony could have had a bigger role.

It's not like was actively looking for Changelings at the time. These are creatures that can look like anything. A well-organized enough coup wouldn't take more than an hour--magical ability needn't even come into it. The biggest difficulty would be in moving all of them to the badlands without being caught.

 

Yeah, they had been on alert in the Crystal Empire after learning of Thorax, but once they learned he was not a threat, they pretty much let their guard down, thinking that Chrysalis really had given up on Equestria. They did not realize Chrysalis was simply biding her time as she reworked her plan from the Royal Wedding into a larger version for not just revenge, but ensuring her conquest this time would face little resistance. As for getting the Royal Family and Elements of Harmony from Ponyville, Canterlot, and the Crystal Empire to the badlands where the hive was, cocooning them, and taking them to the hive to hang up in Chrysalis' throne room, best option was how Chrysalis sent Cadance and Twilight to the caves beneath Canterlot: Teleportation spell. It would be quick, silent, and the Royal Guards won't even suspect a thing.

[ph00tbag 108]

Teleportation spell. It would be quick, silent, and the Royal Guards won't even suspect a thing.

 

Oh, that's a good point. Chrysalis is a hell of a schemer, though.

[Sonic5421 425]

Oh, that's a good point. Chrysalis is a hell of a schemer, though.

 

Who can blame her? She wanted revenge for the Royal Wedding defeat, and what better way to get it than to kidnap everyone responsible for it, essentially decapitating Equestria's government and primary defenses in a single blow overnight. With the Royal Guard mostly asleep in their barracks, and few out on patrol, it would be easy to do it then.

[Ganondorf8 11,322]

This is what can happen when you have to deal with time constraints with episodes. Even though the finale was forty-four minutes, that still wasn't enough time given how much was crammed into it. I actually counted seventeen characters who spoke in Part 1 and about ten in Part 2 who spoke. It's a shame that we didn't see how the Changelings were able to kidnap so many characters. Had they decided to make the finale into three parts instead of two, I'd like to think we'd have seen what happened.

[Baykush 328]

Like you said, any cannon explanation would have had us crying foul and nitpicking at every single minute detail. Perhaps it was for the better that it is left to fan interpretation  . 

 

Yeah, I'm basically looking for headcanons in this thread