What is your opinion on pony magic in G5 so far?

[Landi 600]

Since watching the Make Your Mark pilot special I have been thinking from time to time about how pony magic was presented and handled in it. The concept of magic glitching every time there is conflict is one that has many implications, and one that could play a big part in the generation going forward. Personally, I am not a fan of the idea for multiple of reasons. It seems to make pony magic hinge completely on whether ponykind is all getting along or not, and if there is any sort of fighting, it could put all ponies in danger. Not only that, but it seems like a way to completely force ponies to be kind and friendly all the time instead of letting ponies learn these skills naturally and solve their conflicts on their own. At least with the windigos, they didn't even come into play unless tens to hundreds of thousands of ponies were in strong conflict with each other. G5's handling of pony magic just comes off very contrived to me. That being said, those are just my thoughts on the matter. What is your opinion on how pony magic is being handled in G5 so far? How do you think pony magic will be developed as the series goes on? Could the mysterious alicorn at the end of MYM play a part in this? Feel free to give your opinions on this and/or make predictions for how this will be handled as the generation goes on.

[Jedishy 3,548]

To me it feels like the crystals are a patch to aid things without the elements of harmony to stabilize things. That they were fighting for so long that the "magical weave" is damaged. Sort of like a broken bone that just healed even a small fall can cause a lot worse damage then normal. So I think as magic returns and ponies learn to use the magic of their kind and of their own special cutiemark things will grow more stable and fix themselves. 

[Twilight Luna 31,345]

It's a little confusing as to what we were told about how magic works in G4. As we saw previously, ponies without magic do not have their cutie marks. When Tirek absorbed everyone's magic, their cutie marks disappeared. This also happened when the Princesses gave Twilight their magic. So how did everyone get their cutie marks when there is no magic? I hope that everything gets explains as the series goes on.

[Toastypk 923]

I was thinking of this topic, there's a post about it on Equestria Daily, too.

I don't think it's as simple as just "everypony be nice or disaster strikes". I think disaster strikes only when the worst aspects come forth.

Plus magic was gone for many years so maybe it's just a new setup that may or may not right itself.

[Rosy Moonlight 369]

My opinion of pony magic in G5 is poorly written.

The animosity in Make Your Mark (May 26) only showed in the scale of Maretime Bay which looks ridiculous as G4 involved kingdoms, which is more sensible, and the contrived conflict makes the harmony of Equestria look very weak.

Oh, please let the writing get better or the future of MLP might end up looking worse than G3.

[Twilight Luna 31,345]

After some thought, I had an idea. What if this is a different kind of magic? What if the old magic disappeared or was fading away and the crystals were created to bring about a new magic once they were brought together? That would explain why it’s a little funky and not working completely. As we saw, it took a while for the earth ponies to get their magic.

[Goat-kun 2,527]

I like magic as a feature of a magical world, not as a plot device existing first and foremost to police emotions. They took FIM's friendship lessons to their obvious conclusion: All within Friendship, nothing outside Friendship, nothing against Friendship.

[Sparklefan1234 169,874]

I don't understand how the magic works in this new version of Equestria.

How is it that the crystals hold pony magic when they earned and discovered  their purpose on their own in FiM?

Edited June 2, 2022 by Sparklefan1234

[ExplosionMare 18,062]

I'm glad at least that earth ponies have a tangible source of magic.

[Toastypk 923]

You know what? I'm going to steal a line I heard from a pony watcher on youtube I watch, TPrower. I think this sums it up pretty well.

"Now bear in mind I don't think this means that ponies can never ever be angry or upset about anything. That's ridiculous, those are perfectly natural emotions, as long as you're mindful of how you use them. What I see this as, is that ponies who harbor ill feelings toward each other, reviving the prejudices that kept them apart for so long, allowing themselves to be consumed by petty squabbling, is what causes the magic to weaken, which as Sunny points out, may have something to do with why the crystals were separated in the first place."

There seems to be some mystery to be discovered. The nature of magic may be different than in classical Equestria.

[Splashee 28,563]

G5 is more focused on splitting magic and friendship into two different words to get away from the trademark we all loved and grew up with. It is good that Earth Ponies got magic as well, as it made no sense to tie the flying of pegasi to magic in the first place

[TransPirate 121]

It's not like G4 had a robust magic system lol. It's not a Brandon Sanderson novel y'all, it's going to continue to work the way plot demands in any given episode and it's silly to assume that it's going to stay consistent with vague mechanics presented in early media.

[Sir Hugsalot 9,302]

I have issues with the earth pony magic personally tbh. 

It feels to me kind of forced as it still comes down to casting spells in unicorn-like fashion and I am certain unicorns are capable (or should be capable) of doing the same feats. Kind of gives me vibes of, what I like to call "force Discord call" from Star Wars sequels. Unnecesarry, forced ability that feels more like a plot convinience than actual power that fits in the worldbuilding.

There's argument that every race must have magic and pegasuses do as well, but the truth is - pegasuses have wings that allow them to fly, they don't utilize magic for it, in fact, I never understood why would they lose that ability in a movie. All I can think of is "they forgot how to use them", but it was obvious that with proper help they could manouver well with using them so that argument falls apart rather quickly. I suppose they may have became heavier, held down to the surface, but even that's a far fetched theory. 

Anyway, 

I always believed earth ponies had one thing that pegasuses or unicorns could never possess - creativity to overcome their physical boundaries. What they couldn't solve with magic or wings they could with their brains. Earth pony magic effectively disables that. They no longer attune to nature, for example like farming ponies would - they simply tap their hooves and stuff happens. In a way, I believe it cheapens earth ponies instead of giving them feeling of significance (which they had already without magic).

 

Since earth pony magic, so far took much space in generation 5 I sadly have to say I am not a big fan of this magic system. It's not bad, don't get me wrong, but I think the one from gen 4 was more meaningful. 

[Shagohad12 0]

The idea that earth ponies didn't have magic in G4 is a retcon. During the S4 finale, Celestia flat out says that without their magic, earth ponies wouldn't be able to tend the land. They always had magic, it was just more passive than the others. Theirs granted them enhanced endurance, strength, constitution and an innate connection to nature. I'd be fine if G5 expanded on that with their new grow magic, but pretending they never had any at all is disingenuous.