S5 Episode 25 + 26 Theory

[CameoShadowness 251]

I can't find the best place to put this so sorry. If you know a better place, let me know- I'd try to fix it.

 

I have a hug theory on what was happening in Nightmare Moon's ruling in the Episode 25/26 "The Cutie Re-Mark".

While we do see plant life, we see that beyond the castle the Everfree Forest has taken over.

While we don't fully understand why any plants are able to grow we do know the Everfree has always been a strange place. It was marked as one of the scariest placs in Equestria in the earlier season and has enough magic of it's own to have the clouds move without ponies. Remember?

So what does this have to do with anything? Well it brings up the question of where ponies are getting their food from. While it is possible that they can still have farms we see that there are limits to the types of plants that grow.

Some will argue that they must have farms but given the huge lack of plant diversity the chances of having a complete moonlight farm is very little. You don't even see basic things like small flowers growing around. Just grass, scattered trees and the Everfree. You can try to excuse this by saying the Everfree itself has edible plants- which isn't wrong but to constantly go through such a dangerous place for little food would be ineffective. On top of that, Food plants need lots of sunlight to grow.

This means there is a food problem here. There are solutions to it however. Let's talk about crystals.

It is no secret crystals not only have magic but can produce light, best example is the crystal heart but we can also see other crystals sparkle and shine- even when underground- there is some minor bits of light as seen in "Bats!".

 

BUT on top of it all we know that there can be extremely bright natural crystals like in Maud's new home as seen in the episode "Rock Solid Friendship".

Since we know this place existed long before Maud ever came there (or rather we can infer since we know Maud randomly stumbled to it) It is very much possible that Nightmare Moon or some pony else found it as well. Given it's bright lights, huge water source and such this could be used for farming (or a good place to plot a rebellion) and since it's underground, it doesn't detract from the enteral night. This is not the most idea place for farming but it could easily be one of the few places they would HAVE to do it in.

 

Another possibility is just having caves with crystals as a light source in general used for farming. This keeps the crops coming to make things go smoothly without ever having to bring the sun up ever again.

 

This is just my theory on how they kept farms up even though the whole Eternal Night and Everfree taking over. What do you guys think?

[SharpWit 2,771]

I very much like the idea of a magical system for the modern concept of "indoor" farming, I doubt that's what's happening.

The Everfree is a relatively large place, and the mane 6 amd Zecora eventually showed that it can be safely traversed if you know what you're doing and maintain regularly trafficked paths.

The forest does have a magic of its own, it's more a lack of magic or its use at the very least that the forest has its own weather system. It's just nature doing what it does.

We really can't attribute how the farming situation is for the rest of Equestria because we're not seeing it. Ponies don't farm in the Everfree because it's not an ideal location to do so, and if anything, serves as a protective barrier for the castle under Nightmare Moon's reign. The lack of plant diversity shown is the result of the location, not the circumstances brought on by eternal night.

While it's fun to explore the consequences for bringing about an eternal night, we can't look into it too much. Reason being when we apply physics to the scenario, few if any plants could survive. Our moon IRL reflects back one forty-thousanth of our sun's light, and the entire earth would freeze over after a month with it's complete absence. It would become so cold, that the atmosphere would condense into ice sheets made up of mainly nitrogen and oxygen in solid form, similar to the CO2 caps on mars, though the cause is the result of very different process.

Though the moon has shown to put out it's own light in this world so maybe it's enough to sustain life that requires it. Maybe less light dependent plants would have to be bred, maybe not thanks to magic or ideas like your use of crystals. There's several opportunities to explore.

[EpicEnergy 23,238]

I think you have a good theory, it makes sense! 

[Misty Shadow 7,999]

I thought I was the only one who made a fan theory suggesting any connection between plants and crystals in the MLP world, thank you for proving me wrong. 

[CameoShadowness 251]

4 hours ago, SharpWit said:

I very much like the idea of a magical system for the modern concept of "indoor" farming, I doubt that's what's happening.

The Everfree is a relatively large place, and the mane 6 amd Zecora eventually showed that it can be safely traversed if you know what you're doing and maintain regularly trafficked paths.

While true- vast majority of ponies don't know what their doing there AND the place is now spreading to other places beyond it's typical boarders.

Quote

 

The forest does have a magic of its own, it's more a lack of magic or its use at the very least that the forest has its own weather system. It's just nature doing what it does.

 

Except that doesn't explain all the magical creatures in it, how magic is still a very natural thing in MLP, how it's so feared, how it's the only place without magic (if you are correct) yet still survive AND THRIVE in such poorly lit conditions without the sun.

Quote

 

We really can't attribute how the farming situation is for the rest of Equestria because we're not seeing it. Ponies don't farm in the Everfree because it's not an ideal location to do so, and if anything, serves as a protective barrier for the castle under Nightmare Moon's reign. The lack of plant diversity shown is the result of the location, not the circumstances brought on by eternal night.

 

While true we see that the forest is well over grown. Yes we don't see much else but the lack of diversity deson't have to be due to the location due to us seeing that place before and after NmM's rule had plenty of plant diversity.

Quote

 

While it's fun to explore the consequences for bringing about an eternal night, we can't look into it too much. Reason being when we apply physics to the scenario, few if any plants could survive. Our moon IRL reflects back one forty-thousanth of our sun's light, and the entire earth would freeze over after a month with it's complete absence. It would become so cold, that the atmosphere would condense into ice sheets made up of mainly nitrogen and oxygen in solid form, similar to the CO2 caps on mars, though the cause is the result of very different process.

Though the moon has shown to put out it's own light in this world so maybe it's enough to sustain life that requires it. Maybe less light dependent plants would have to be bred, maybe not thanks to magic or ideas like your use of crystals. There's several opportunities to explore.

I wasn't giving our all of our physics to MLP. I was using what we see in MLP to explain or think about what happened in that Time line. Yes the moon produces it's own light but that is only on ocassion, once during NmM's rule and is probably due to Celestia being trapped there (hens the colors) and another when we saw that during Twilight trying to raise the sun and moon for the first time when Terik got the princesses. The moon still depends on the sun most of the time, this was backed up in the movie when we see Twilight talk about Celestia moving the sun to 'just the right position' so the moon will be lit up in just the right way for their celebration. This means their moon follows our logic a bit- not all the time but it does follow it to an extent. Yes it can still have it's own light but we know it's mixed.

Magic is a huge factor to things which is why I was talking about crystals, the light they produced, why the Everfree clearly had it's own type of magic keeping it alive and well and so many other things. I wasn't using many IRL things for a reason, I was using the show and what I understood from it.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4 hours ago, EpicEnergy said:

I think you have a good theory, it makes sense! 

Thanks.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4 hours ago, CloudMistDragon said:

I thought I was the only one who made a fan theory suggesting any connection between plants and crystals in the MLP world, thank you for proving me wrong. 

Really?! You thought you were alone? Welp I'm glad to help prove you wrong then :3 Maybe we should make a club!

Edited July 15, 2020 by CameoShadowness
Little fix up.

[CameoShadowness 251]

4 hours ago, Bakugou is my Man said:

@CameoShadowness

Only staff can move threads.

Beyond Equestria is designated for discussing topics unrelated to MLP. Your thread would be best suited for FiM Show Discussion. Therefore, it will be moved there. Also, I have altered this thread’s title to give it proper context. Original title was much too vague.

Thank you. I tried to add it to show discusson before but it wouldn't let me. Thanks for the help.

[nightshroud96 124]

I always figured Nightmare Moon thought things through with the whole Eternal Night stuff.
She didn't want the night to last for ever for the sake of "because eviuuulll" but she wanted her night to be loved. It will be redundant to her goals if everyone ends up suffering/dying from her night instead of admiring/seeing it. So she would had some sort of plan and it looks like it worked since she's been ruling for a few years(she said that when she mentioned Celestia being banished to the moon) and life looks like its going on normally in a way.
As for Everfree forest, I have a few thoughrs aobut it.
Like I think Nightmare Moon had some sort of power affecting it since it left her castle untouched despite the forest kind of went out of control at times. I think I even read that the real reason why Celestia moved the capital to Canterlot is due to the forest went out of control when NMM happened.
In fact I feel like she can counter the Plundervines too since the Tree of Harmony would have been unable to suppress the vines anymore by now(especially with how the Elements aren't awoken yet) and yet they are nowhere in sight.  I bet they can't mess with dark magic and NMM was able to get rid of the vines due to her powers are that of darkness.
 

[CameoShadowness 251]

4 hours ago, nightshroud96 said:

I always figured Nightmare Moon thought things through with the whole Eternal Night stuff.
She didn't want the night to last for ever for the sake of "because eviuuulll" but she wanted her night to be loved. It will be redundant to her goals if everyone ends up suffering/dying from her night instead of admiring/seeing it. So she would had some sort of plan and it looks like it worked since she's been ruling for a few years(she said that when she mentioned Celestia being banished to the moon) and life looks like its going on normally in a way.
As for Everfree forest, I have a few thoughrs aobut it.
Like I think Nightmare Moon had some sort of power affecting it since it left her castle untouched despite the forest kind of went out of control at times. I think I even read that the real reason why Celestia moved the capital to Canterlot is due to the forest went out of control when NMM happened.
In fact I feel like she can counter the Plundervines too since the Tree of Harmony would have been unable to suppress the vines anymore by now(especially with how the Elements aren't awoken yet) and yet they are nowhere in sight.  I bet they can't mess with dark magic and NMM was able to get rid of the vines due to her powers are that of darkness.
 

I kinda doubt she thought things through, she could have made a plan after the fact when realizing the troubles and struggles eternal night has brought. Yes she wanted Night to last forever, to be admired but as Luna she never thought of how to make ponies love her night without attacking her sister- yes you can say she simply lost control but we see no actions beyond the fight to make ponies admire her night. She just wanted it always around to force everyone to love it. Yes she could have had a plan- which is why I theorized what said plan could be- that is literally what my post is about. How she could use natural resources like crystals as such to still grow crops and keep the eternal night to force folks to love her.

Unless the whole Nightmare Moon causing the forest to go wild was in the show or a chapter book (which I have yet to see one which mentions it ut I could be wrong I don't know all of them), the type of canon will be weak. Spoken word has been contracted often as well as comics (with the only real exception being Season 10 for obvious reasons). How and why would the magic depend on Nightmare Moon's stay? Shouldn't her returning as Luna also effect the forest and such in the normal show?

In the end, you maybe right about her powers with the plunder vines but it raises more questions.

[nightshroud96 124]

22 minutes ago, CameoShadowness said:

I kinda doubt she thought things through, she could have made a plan after the fact when realizing the troubles and struggles eternal night has brought. Yes she wanted Night to last forever, to be admired but as Luna she never thought of how to make ponies love her night without attacking her sister- yes you can say she simply lost control but we see no actions beyond the fight to make ponies admire her night. She just wanted it always around to force everyone to love it. Yes she could have had a plan- which is why I theorized what said plan could be- that is literally what my post is about. How she could use natural resources like crystals as such to still grow crops and keep the eternal night to force folks to love her.

Unless the whole Nightmare Moon causing the forest to go wild was in the show or a chapter book (which I have yet to see one which mentions it ut I could be wrong I don't know all of them), the type of canon will be weak. Spoken word has been contracted often as well as comics (with the only real exception being Season 10 for obvious reasons). How and why would the magic depend on Nightmare Moon's stay? Shouldn't her returning as Luna also effect the forest and such in the normal show?

In the end, you maybe right about her powers with the plunder vines but it raises more questions.

She would most likely would have had a plan since if she didn't, the ponies would have most likely die and then no one would be able to love her night.
The fact Equestria didn't look messed up from what we saw in the NMM timeline and she was ruling for a few years means whatever she came up with worked.
Wished they touched more on that timeline honestly.

I don't remember where it was said sadly. Maybe from one of the writers on Twitter maybe.
In fact I think after the premiere, the forest in later appearances didn't seem so.. terrifying or so compared to what was seen in the season 1 premiere. So NMM must have been connected to it(and Luna getting purified by the Elements caused the forest to be less.. aggressive. At least easier for the Tree of Harmony to suppress it better until it  got killed and literally nothing was holding the forest back anymore).

 

[CameoShadowness 251]

4 hours ago, nightshroud96 said:

She would most likely would have had a plan since if she didn't, the ponies would have most likely die and then no one would be able to love her night.
The fact Equestria didn't look messed up from what we saw in the NMM timeline and she was ruling for a few years means whatever she came up with worked.
Wished they touched more on that timeline honestly.

I don't remember where it was said sadly. Maybe from one of the writers on Twitter maybe.
In fact I think after the premiere, the forest in later appearances didn't seem so.. terrifying or so compared to what was seen in the season 1 premiere. So NMM must have been connected to it(and Luna getting purified by the Elements caused the forest to be less.. aggressive. At least easier for the Tree of Harmony to suppress it better until it  got killed and literally nothing was holding the forest back anymore).

 

We know there is a limit until food runs out. At the start of the show, Apple Bucking Season was really close to the start. So they would at least have some time before it becomes a huge deal letting NmM have time to think of it.

 

Also you are right but we also see in Season 1 that the ponies, despite being such a frightening thing, they do not  go in prepared. In the end though, you are right about that.

[Evil Pink One 13,518]

The moon stays where nightmare moon is and the sun at the opposite end of equestria.... Making that side a scorching wasteland and between the moon and sun's reach, there will be abundant life organisms.

[CameoShadowness 251]

14 hours ago, Kujamih said:

The moon stays where nightmare moon is and the sun at the opposite end of equestria.... Making that side a scorching wasteland and between the moon and sun's reach, there will be abundant life organisms.

Except the sun isn't up at all and we see life is still going all around... Just not all life.

[ZiggWheelsManning 11,768]

Then how come there isn't massive cold and ice on the ground and ponies wearing winter gear?  

[CameoShadowness 251]

4 hours ago, ZiggWheelsManning said:

Then how come there isn't massive cold and ice on the ground and ponies wearing winter gear?  

Becuase the show has proven time and time again, it doesn't play by our exact logic. Magic is a HUGE factor in the show and it effects plants and nature in general. 

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,597]

I like this theory... A LOT!

[CameoShadowness 251]

6 hours ago, TheAnimationFanatic said:

I like this theory... A LOT!

 Thanks!