Theory My MLP Conspiracy Theories #1: Friendship is Indoctrination (updated)

[Nightfall Veilwing 1,124]

 

For many years, MLP has does us that "friendship is magic" (roll credits XD), but is it really? I have reason to believe that, ever since we've started watching Friendship is Magic, Celestia has been lying and manipulating everypony, and even us! "Celestia is a great princess and leader, and she'd never plan a conspiracy!" you may be typing right now. Well, I'm sorry to tell you, but Celestia hasn't been honest with anypony, and I'm gonna expose her!

First, have you noticed that, whenever the Cutie Map summons a number of the Mane Six to an area, they try to make the inhabitants of said area to become friends with them, it would even forced on the inhabitants of the area, while disregarding their objections and their own ways of life and beliefs. If they turn down the friendship offer, the Mane Six treat them like they're wrong and the bad guy for refusing the offer, basically shaming them. However, if they accept the offer, it's always after the Mane Six solve a problem they've been dealing with for some time, and they appear to be more willing to do what the Mane Six ask of them. In case you didn't put the pieces together so far, basically, the friendship bond that the Mane Six try to make others apply makes them more submissive to authority, Celestia, in this case. Speaking of Celestia, when she tells the Mane Six what to do and where to go, if you pay close attention to it, it sounds like Celestia knows more about the area she's sending the Mane Six to than she's saying, even using the "but I don't know much about this area" card so she doesn't look suspicious. This part of the episode may seem like exposition and Celestia giving the Mane Six some info about the area they're going to and some warnings, but it seems more like instructions. When take this into consideration, it's quite possible that Celestia herself controls the Cutie Map.

"Okay, but what's Celestia's 'agenda,' as you're claiming she has?" you're asking. Celestia's agenda is about expanding her kingdom by using the concept of friendship make other more submissive and obedient to her rule and authority. If you're friends with somepony, you'll lower your guard and be more open to them, and this, in turn, makes you more likely to do something if they ask you.

Believe it or not, we have an example of Celestia's agenda being take into effect: The Crystal Empire.

In The Crystal Empire, Part 1, Celestia explains the Crystal Empire to Twilight, but if you take a closer look at Celestia story, you can tell that it doesn't sound right and maybe even fabricated. She says that King Sombra was an evil king that enslaved his people. But I ask you, what proof do we have of that, outside of Celestia's story? We don't. So, this was just a story Celestia told Twilight so she'll be biased, supportive, and obedient to Celestia's instructions. So, yeah, Celestia's story of King Sombra is just that, a story. Celestia said that her knowledge of the Crystal Empire "was very limited," but I don't think this is true.

So, prior to Cadance 's and Shining's journey to the Crystal Empire, Celestia gave Cadance a memory-wiping spell and a false memory spell to use on the Crystal Ponies. The memory-wiping spell was used so the Crystal Ponies would forget the good things King Sombra has done for them, and the false memory spell was used to implant the false memory that King Sombra was an evil king that enslaved his people into the Crystal Ponies' minds. When a Crystal Pony asked Twilight, "Were we really gone 1000 years?" she then appears to be in pain after she asked and we see some creepy eyes show up as a mental image, which appear to be Sombra's, and this was a failsafe of the spells that were put on the Crystal Ponies and activates whenever they question what they've been told about their past. This was the spells' way of saying, "Do not question what you've been told!" And those eyes may actually be Celestia's because we've seen her eyes like this before, when she was giving Twilight instructions prior to arriving at the Crystal Empire. Also, the Sombra we see in episodes The Crystal Empire, Parts 1 & 2 may actually have been an illusion that Celestia (or Cadence) made to make it look like her fictitious story was true. This way, the Crystal Ponies will be more willing and likely to accept Cadence and Shining as they're new rulers because it was staged to look like they were being rescued. And it's possible that the original King Sombra (who was a good king and supportive of his people) was murdered when Cadance and Shining arrived at the Crystal Empire, and the "gone for 1000 years" bit may have been a part of the false memory spell.

But after all is said and done, it's not really Shining and Cadence that's ruling the Crystal Empire, it's actually Celestia.
With Cadence in charge, Celestia can rule the Crystal Empire through Cadence by giving her instructions under the table and behind closed doors.

The Mane Six are completely unaware that Celestia is using friendship to brainwash others.
By only showing the Mane Six the positives of friendship, Celestia can manipulate them to do her bidding with getting her hooves dirty.
And Celestia may really a queen and uses the "princess" title to make her seem more harmless so nopony would suspect her of any conspiracy. I wouldn't put it past her of unleashing or creating some of the enemies the Mane Six come across to distract them so they wouldn't think to look at Celestia as the source of these problems. This way, Celestia won't get caught and her agenda can be fulfilled without being noticed.

So, what do you think of this theory? Is Celestia really a king princess of Equestria, or is that merely a façade to mask her agenda?

Edited March 12, 2018 by Millennium Shadow

[SugarCoatxMarblePie 701]

Friendship is a marketing ploy so yeah. But the other stuff, ehhhhh.

If you ask me tho, personally I think Sombra just liked the Crystal Pony aesthetic of the mares *wink wink nudge nudge* they were all his slaves, doing what I wonder? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[Nightfall Veilwing 1,124]

1 hour ago, CuriUndersXeno said:

Friendship is a marketing ploy so yeah. But the other stuff, ehhhhh.

If you ask me tho, personally I think Sombra just liked the Crystal Pony aesthetic of the mares *wink wink nudge nudge* they were all his slaves, doing what I wonder? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Maybe Sombra thinks that the crystal pony mares are pretty as diamonds while be twice as hard himself? 

[ManaMinori 4,143]

Sunbutt can't control the map, because in the episode where Twilight and her friends got the locked box from the tree of harmony, Sunbutt said that she didn't know how to open it, or what was inside (the castle and the map)

[Nightfall Veilwing 1,124]

5 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

Sunbutt can't control the map, because in the episode where Twilight and her friends got the locked box from the tree of harmony, Sunbutt said that she didn't know how to open it, or what was inside (the castle and the map)

Celestia could be a master manipulator, you know. There could be countless things that Celestia has made up, exaggerated, or even lied about.

Like, Celestia was nowhere to be found in the 1st and 2nd episode until Nightmare Moon was defeated, and she could have been Celestia in disguise. 

[heavens-champion 1,893]

Are you serious, or is this just for fun?

[GrimGrimoire 4,970]

 

As much as I love to have fun with the whole idea Celestia is actually a lot more sneaky and devious than people give her credit for... this is really taking it too far.

It's a kids cartoon show that promotes simple morals for young kids. You'll find that stuff in some fanfiction writings I am sure, but not here.

[Luminance 2,181]

She's clever for a fact but that doesnt mean that her intentions are for her selfless gain. Her plan in the portrayal of friendship also benefitted others. 

[Thrond 3,257]

I don't think Celestia has anything to do with this, and I definitely don't think Sombra or even Chrysalis were anything but tyrants, but I do think a lot about how recent seasons have the ponies going around the world and enforcing their values on other cultures, to the point that they've interfered in dragon politics just to ensure the ruler wasn't a threat to their interests. So I don't fully agree, but I don't entirely disagree either. 

[Nightfall Veilwing 1,124]

On 7/8/2017 at 5:19 PM, Star Trail said:

She's clever for a fact but that doesnt mean that her intentions are for her selfless gain. Her plan in the portrayal of friendship also benefitted others. 

Celestia could've executed her adenga so that it would benefit others so they'd be blind to her true intentions. If you think about it, if something benefited you, you wouldn't question anything, unless it stopped working for you.

[Singe 2,109]

There are episodes where friendship is forced despite the other party's objections.

[Marimo 555]

22 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

to the point that they've interfered in dragon politics just to ensure the ruler wasn't a threat to their interests

I challenge this. Twilight and Rarity did not interfere. Spike was the one who came up with the idea that he should compete to help keep Equestria safe, and even insisted on doing it even when Twilight and Rarity tried talking him out of it. Spike is a dragon, and therefore he has just as much right to compete for the title of Dragon Lord as any other dragon and use that power as he wants to. If he wants to protect ponies, then he's still just as valid as Garble wanting to pillage and burn Equestria instead.

And Twilight and Rarity didn't interfere to help Spike win, only cheered him on. The only actual assistance Spike got was from Ember, another dragon competitor.

Edited July 10, 2017 by Marimo

[Thrond 3,257]

10 hours ago, Marimo said:

Spike was the one who came up with the idea that he should compete to help keep Equestria safe, and even insisted on doing it even when Twilight and Rarity tried talking him out of it.

However, Spike was raised in pony society and had more of a connection to it than to dragon society. When he ran for Dragon Lord, and later crowned Ember instead, he did so primarily with pony interests in mind. I agree with him much more than with Garble, but he still involved himself mostly to protect the pony society which he more clearly belongs to. 

[Marimo 555]

13 hours ago, AlexanderThrond said:

However, Spike was raised in pony society and had more of a connection to it than to dragon society. When he ran for Dragon Lord, and later crowned Ember instead, he did so primarily with pony interests in mind. I agree with him much more than with Garble, but he still involved himself mostly to protect the pony society which he more clearly belongs to. 

I objected to how you said the ponies interfered in dragon politics. Regardless of where Spike had grown up or whose interests he had, he was still acting on only his own desires, not under the commands of someone else. Under those circumstances, the ponies did not actually interfere.

[Nightfall Veilwing 1,124]

On 7/8/2017 at 4:46 PM, heavens-champion said:

Are you serious, or is this just for fun?

Both. But I wouldn't put it past Celestia to have a couple of agendas. I mean, who doesn't have a secret agenda, right? 

On 7/10/2017 at 3:24 PM, Singe said:

There are episodes where friendship is forced despite the other party's objections.

That's exactly what got me to make this theory in the first place.
Makes it seem like friendship is more of a religion, don't it? 

[SDP40F amtrak 2,442]

Oh God I didn't know that

[heavens-champion 1,893]

This is just plain ridiculous. 

[King of Canterlot 9,588]

What about when the Cutie Map called Starlight because Celestia and Luna were fighting? If Celestia really does control the map, and she was aware of a problem with her sister that she felt the need to place it on the map for someone else to fix, then why would she do that? Wouldn't she be able to fix it herself? The whole propose of the problem was that Celestia and Luna didn't even know they really had a problem until Starlight uncovered it, which again, is sompony else discovering the problem, not Celestia because she would have already known about the problem in the first place if she really did control the map, which in this case, proves that she doesn't.  

Edited March 11, 2018 by King of Canterlot

[Nyactis Mewcis Catlum 670]

On 7/8/2017 at 9:17 AM, Millennium Shadow said:

By only showing the Mane Six the positives of friendship

I think this is where the problem with this whole theory lies. "The positives of friendship" implies there are negatives of friendship.

But there kind of isn't... Not for healthy friendships, at least.

If Celestia is planning on ruling all of Equestria but she is spreading benevolent teachings that ultimately benefit the world, certainly it's still a dictatorship, but does that mean it's inherently a bad thing? "Forced" as those friendships were, the friendships came at a mutual benefit, and those who refused friendship's calling did so at their own detriment.

Also, for the record, I think it's less brainwashing and more characters coming to realize the way they viewed friendship was backwards and unhealthy. Brainwashing of the kind you're suggesting (that is, the kind that is cult-like to change your entire moral system to believe something) is something that takes years, and even then it's commonly ineffective. Learning something new and seeing that you're doing things in a way that only harms you, however, is far more feasible, and something that happens to people every day of their lives.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

I like conspiracy theory making, its really fun  

Let see...

Your theory about Celestia brainwashed Crystal ponies to make them believe King Sombra is an evil king, is debunked. Remember Cutie Remark? King Sombra used mind control helmet to control his subjects, to lead them to battlefield to their death, what kind of excuses for his monstrosity? 

There are no evidence that Celestia could control the map, or possessed elements of harmony after banishing her sister. In multiple universes, there isnt even one universe where Celestia can defeat any villain of the show, even her own sister.

The fact Celestia used Crystal Empire citizens just to make a test for Twilight fueled the conspiracy theory.

[Iam 525]

Well, I can finally answer to this... Making such complex conspiracy may have more sense, than second one, but I just cannot believe in that conspiracy, because friendship is set to be something good, not a tool of manipulation. That would place a Celestia in a psychopatic mare. How she could control everything in the Equestria? I mean, everything.

[Admiral Regulus 2,769]

Very amusing. I enjoyed the read. I'll try to come back to this later today and offer some more constructive thoughts.

[Props Valroa 26,040]

Now that I read through it, it really does make a lot of sense. At least to me, personally.

[Twilight Luna 30,940]

What if Celestia is just like Crysalis in that she draws power from friendship like Crysalis draws power from love? This could be why Celestia groomed Twilight to spread friendship everywhere, giving Celestia more power.

[Sunlight Glisten 368]

Continuing the expanded empire theory... somepony with a lot of knowledge of the elements of harmony has been interfering in the human world. Could celestia have sent her faithful student sunset shimmer as a spy into the human world. Only sunset having a thirst for power attempted a coop with humans to overthrow celestial. Foiled by princess twilight, sunset remains adverse to celestias rule and each time celestia sends equestrian magic to the human world sunset shimmer defeats it. (The dazzlings, midnight sparkle, gloriosa, the mirror, the phone) all celestial pawns in her plot to conquer the human world. Sunset (the defender of earth) is laying low playing princess twilights friend game and acting like she's on celestias side while derailing each of celestias attacks. All waiting for the opportunity to once again take the thrown of equestria and the human world. ALL HAIL QUEEN SUNSET SHIMMER!!!

(After all it is her name, sunset, as in the setting of celestia.)