spoiler Sun and Moon plothole

[Cwanky 17,459]

Sorry for the boring topic folks, but a minor detail bothered me during the finale, namely part 1. We are told that around Thorax's arrival in Ponyville all of the princesses have been captured. Luna barely escaped capture as she tells Starlight in her dream before soon being captured. Earlier than that since we already know by the off behavior of the pseudo Mane 6 that they aren't genuine, we can also surmise that Celestia was already captured some time earlier.

 

Yet the night and day still persisted throughout these events. The sun set as Starlight went to bed and presumably rose when they arrived in the Changeling Kingdom, unless the Changeling Kingdom isn't affected by the Royal Sisters' sun and moon powers...

 

So who was manipulating the sun and the moon during this time? Luna could at the night, but that would be risky, and Celestia was presumably captured and incapacitated? Was Chrysalis somehow manipulating the sisters to manipulate the remaining inhabitants of Equestria with an illusion? Just food for thought. 

[Eggy0 101]

I have a few wild guesses of my own:

• The Changeling(s) that replaced Celestia and/or Luna may have manipulated the sun and the moon in their place (unlikely as it requires a lot of power/magic, but maybe worth a longshot...)
• Celestia and/or Luna may have discovered a powerful spell that makes the sun and the moon auto-move for a time without their intervention and cast it before the events of the finale
• The sun and the moon have begun moving on their own after Celestia and Luna manipulated them for so long at one point in the series (a.k.a. the writing staff forgot they manipulated them in the first place)
• A wizard did it. Yep.

And... that's all I can think of.

[pnylvr 185]

 

 

Was Chrysalis somehow manipulating the sisters to manipulate the remaining inhabitants of Equestria with an illusion?

I think that's probably the answer. My guess is that the cocoons the ponies were in drained their power (this would also explain why Luna couldn't fully enter Starlight's dream and then got pulled away--her power was about to be drained completely) and transferred the power to the throne for Chrysalis to manipulate.

[PoisonClaw 8,153]

Discord poofed them to the Changeling Kingdom in the blink of an eye, so I surmise it was still nighttime. It's possible that the Mane 6 were all captured first, then Luna and Celestia were captured after they had finished lowering and raising their respective celestial body. Since Thorax had enough time to get to Ponyville from the Crystal Empire, it's also possible that the Royal Sisters where the last to be kidnapped, since they would have been a bigger threat and Chrysalis might have wanted a few hostages on hoof incase anything went sour. 

[pony.colin 156]

@@Cwanky, - I love how you're able to catch that detail.  I've got nothing to propose but I think between your last proposed point of supposedly Chrysalis being able to manipulate Celestia and Luna's powers through her green chrysalis prisons and @@Eggy0, suggestion about a passive spell that they have to do it automatically would be one of my guesses.

 

I can't come up with anything at the moment, sorry.

 

I actually keep forgetting that Celestia and Luna control the movement of the Sun and Moon.  Uh well, maybe Celestia and Luna were the last alicorns to be captured? The first was Cadance and SA and then Mane cast and then Celestia and Luna.  In short, slightly de-synchronized kidnappings, not happening all at the same time, but within extremely close timing of each other.

 

Perhaps it was within a 24 hour span of when Luna first contacted Starlight and into their rescue of everypony.

Edited October 11, 2016 by pony.colin

[SasQ 1,355]

I had that crazy idea once, that Celestia and Luna are pretending that they control the Sun and the Moon, like the ancient priests were doing in Ancient Egypt with the solar eclipses, which in turn allows them to control their subjects

 

Good catch though. I'm impressed.

 

Edit:

Another explanation could be the law of inertia, or conservation of momentum: The Princesses can actually control the movement of those celestial bodies, but once they set them in motion, they can move on their own until stopped by something else or manipulated with Magic again.

Edited October 10, 2016 by SasQ

[Sonic5421 423]

I think that's probably the answer. My guess is that the cocoons the ponies were in drained their power (this would also explain why Luna couldn't fully enter Starlight's dream and then got pulled away--her power was about to be drained completely) and transferred the power to the throne for Chrysalis to manipulate.

 

That's one good possibility, but remember: Chrysalis' throne is made of a dark stone that blocks all magic but Changeling magic. The field may have faltered somewhat when Starlight made contact with Luna in her dream, allowing Luna to temporarily fight off the field long enough to dream walk into Starlight's dream, albeit barely, and warn her of the danger before the field returned to full power and cut Luna off, shown by the Changelings grabbing her in Starlight's dream. It would also explain how when we see Luna in her cocoon with Celestia, Cadance, and, just barely, Shining Armor, as we can see his tail while Flurry Heart's cocoon was behind the Royal Sisters, but blocked from viewing when Chrysalis revealed herself, Luna looked all zoned out, a possible side-effect of her dream walking being interrupted by the throne's anti-magic field.

 

However, if the cocoons could drain the Princesses of their magic while also sedating them, then the idea is not that far off.

 

Discord poofed them to the Changeling Kingdom in the blink of an eye, so I surmise it was still nighttime. It's possible that the Mane 6 were all captured first, then Luna and Celestia were captured after they had finished lowering and raising their respective celestial body. Since Thorax had enough time to get to Ponyville from the Crystal Empire, it's also possible that the Royal Sisters where the last to be kidnapped, since they would have been a bigger threat and Chrysalis might have wanted a few hostages on hoof incase anything went sour. 

 

That makes sense. Chrysalis would target the Elements of Harmony first as Spike, due to his fire breath being able to send messages to the other Princesses, would be able to warn the ones not captured yet if Twilight found out about the plot. Once they were subdued, she turned her attention to Cadance and Shining Armor, the ones actually responsible for her previous defeat, and kidnapped them along with Flurry Heart, the kidnapping being seen by Sunburst and Thorax, causing Sunburst to send Thorax to Ponyville to find help. With them captured, Chrysalis would turn her attention to Celestia and Luna last, using the Elements and the other members of the Royal Family as leverage to get Celestia and Luna to surrender without a fight. Thus, with them captured, Chrysalis had total victory.

[The Traveler Pony 68]

Sorry for the boring topic folks, but a minor detail bothered me during the finale, namely part 1. We are told that around Thorax's arrival in Ponyville all of the princesses have been captured. Luna barely escaped capture as she tells Starlight in her dream before soon being captured. Earlier than that since we already know by the off behavior of the pseudo Mane 6 that they aren't genuine, we can also surmise that Celestia was already captured some time earlier.

 

Yet the night and day still persisted throughout these events. The sun set as Starlight went to bed and presumably rose when they arrived in the Changeling Kingdom, unless the Changeling Kingdom isn't affected by the Royal Sisters' sun and moon powers...

 

So who was manipulating the sun and the moon during this time? Luna could at the night, but that would be risky, and Celestia was presumably captured and incapacitated? Was Chrysalis somehow manipulating the sisters to manipulate the remaining inhabitants of Equestria with an illusion? Just food for thought. 

I have 3 answers 

1. the rescue happened in one day and Celestia was kidnapped at dawn.  

2. The changeling realm is unaffected or on the other side of the world as it was night in ponieville but middle of the day in the changeling realm

3. Changelings can mimic the magic of ponies including princesses that they are mimicking as this would stop a changeling being caught out by not having the special talent that there disguise has