Bridlewood is being underutilized.

[Toastypk 920]

I just realized this, though it seems obvious.

The show primarily takes place in Maretime Bay, but we've had episodes In TYT that have had a substantial portion of them take place in Zephyr Heights, which I love. But aside from a couple of quick cutaway shots of unicorns on their phones, Bridlewood is largely missing from the show.

That place has a lot of potential. What is unicorn life like back there now with magic returned? I want to see more of Alphabittle, too! And that beatnik mare, who fans have named Gloomy Sonnet! I'd love to see her again.

Do you think we're going to see some substantial scenes there soon? Maybe the show staff haven't thought of anything worthwhile to do there? Zephyr Heights DOES have Zipp and Pipp's royal background, but aside from Izzy, Bridlewood really might not have much of a connection to the main characters.

[Misty Shadow 7,084]

Oh, definitely. I don't mean to throw shade at the Royal Sisters, especially not Zipp, but Tell Your Tale should not be The Royal Sisters Show. Izzy already gets a lot of screen time too as a fan favorite character, so I see absolutely no reason why we shouldn't get an episode with her showing off more of Bridlewood Forest. 

[Props Valroa 26,044]

Am curious to know who the leader of the Unicorns and Earth ponies is. Didn’t show that in the show or movie.

[Rosy Moonlight 367]

Spoiler

Izzy moved into the Crystal Brighthouse the day after the movie, so she didn't have time to make friends with her fellow unicorns after the magic returned.

Here is my idea.

If she decides to visit Bridlewood after realizing that, she might feel uncomfortable with her fellow unicorns being cheerier after spending all her life being the cheeriest pony around.

Her being the cheeriest pony around made her feel special, and now that they aren't that gloomy anymore, she feels out of place even though they have become more like her.

She eventually tries to be a party planner to bring even more joy to Bridlewood (and to feel more special), but it doesn't work out.

At some point in a disaster, she gets covered in pink powder with the bag covering her horn, making her look like Pinkie Pie. It's too much for her, and she runs away crying.

Edited July 13, 2022 by Rosy Moonlight

[Skylight Scintillate 1,851]

Yeah now that I think about it, that is strange. They talk about how the unicorns were quite depressed because they didn't have magic in the movie, but magic has returned now. Also, I agree with the others that we definitely should see more of Izzy's connection to Bridlewood. (Though given the scene of Izzy leaving Bridlewood in I forget which episode, it seems like the unicorns still don't really care about her. I wonder why.)

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,152]

I would have to agree, but I am not sure if TyT would be the best way to dig more into Bridlewood. They haven't really done anything with Zephyr Heights, even with it appearing in the show. Birdlewood, IMO, needs something a bit more definite than TyT to fully explore it.

[Sparklefan1234 161,874]

Bridlewood makes me think of cookie baking pony fairies. I think we need something like that. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by Sparklefan1234

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

I hope MYM explores it more. Bridlewood has some insane potential. 

[Rosy Moonlight 367]

I also imagined that Sunny would try to get another unicorn in the gang, so they would be more like the...

Spoiler

Guardians of Friendship.

But the gang, especially Izzy, would be upset that she's acting this way.

Izzy would be extra upset since she spent her whole life alone among gloomy unicorns, and just when they aren't gloomy anymore, she finds her friend treating them like the potential missing piece of a collection.

This and her struggle in adjusting to not being so differen from her fellow unicorns eventually causes her to snap at everyone and run away.

Edited July 14, 2022 by Rosy Moonlight

[Landi 597]

I agree that Bridlewood is being very underutilized. The village has a out of potential especially given that it is inside a fantasy-like crystal forest. It was a nice break from the distracting phones and social media that taken up G5 (though unfortunately TYT has changed that by giving Bridlewood the same technology that the other cities have). Plus, it would be an interesting concept to see how the village and its residents have been affected by the return of magic. Unfortunately, TYT and MYM so far have almost completely just focused on Maretime Bay, which is easily the most generic and least interesting of the three cities.  Hopefully the rest of MYM can give Bridlewood some screen time and development, along with other locations outside of Maretime bay. After all, G5's mere three cities looks pitiful when compared to G4's Equestria. 

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

I just want them to explain why the unicorns were so mopey all the time. Did they really miss magic that much, despite most ponies never really knowing what it felt like? It's not like the place was boring, since it had an arcade, a park, and probably a few other fun things to do.

[Sparklefan1234 161,874]

3 hours ago, ExplosionMare said:

I just want them to explain why the unicorns were so mopey all the time. Did they really miss magic that much, despite most ponies never really knowing what it felt like? It's not like the place was boring, since it had an arcade, a park, and probably a few other fun things to do.

 

A couple of them looked like skateboarders to me. I bet they have a skating section at Bridlewood Park. 

[Rosy Moonlight 367]

It would be cool if there were crystals in Bridlewood that let you see into the past, and maybe do other things, like let you see alternate timelines.

If Bridlewood really is Ponyville overrun by the Everfree Forest, those crystals would allow ponies to see what it was like before and what happened to the place.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Rosy Moonlight

[HereComesTom 2,232]

It's been my headcanon for a long time that the soil in Equestria has magic in it, and that magic gives it geology that we couldn't have in real life---for example, the crystals in Bridlewood.  For that matter, it was my headcanon that Pinkie's parents' rock farm actually made use of the magical geology of Equestria to put together rocks that were optimized for building materials and landscaping!

It'd sure be interesting if they actually had an episode about how the return of magic affected those crystals, and geology of Bridlewood in general!  I mean, they've done episodes about the larger economic impact of magic's return before; they could do one about its impact on nature, too!

[OptimisticNeighsayer 471]

On 2022-07-17 at 11:02 AM, ExplosionMare said:

I just want them to explain why the unicorns were so mopey all the time. Did they really miss magic that much, despite most ponies never really knowing what it felt like? It's not like the place was boring, since it had an arcade, a park, and probably a few other fun things to do.

Perhaps not so much “miss” as they tried to suppress the thought of it. Rather, unicorn’s biology is such that magic is necessary for optimal dopamine pathway functioning. (Except for Izzy, it seems overactive in her).

[HedonismBot 218]

On 2022-07-14 at 2:37 AM, Rosy Moonlight said:

I also imagined that Sunny would try to get another unicorn in the gang...

 

At the end of the "Make Your Mark" special, when:

Spoiler

the evil purple alicorn is revealed, there's a unicorn alongside her who looks like she really doesn't want to be there. So there's a decent chance Sunny and her friends will persuade said unicorn to switch sides, then it's friendship lasers for the win.

 

On 2022-07-20 at 8:25 AM, OptimisticNeighsayer said:

Perhaps not so much “miss” as they tried to suppress the thought of it. Rather, unicorn’s biology is such that magic is necessary for optimal dopamine pathway functioning. (Except for Izzy, it seems overactive in her).

Reminds me of a couple stories I've seen in Fimfiction dealing with the idea that pegasi have an instintive need to fly, and even with their magic drained they feel a strong urge to try, with tragic results.

[North Star 4,540]

preach! show me some horn!

on the other hoof, with the place being so mystical, that does give me a lot of room to head canon RPs about it

[AlbaTross 1,581]

Bridlewood is certainly an example of an underutilized location, yes.  One could argue the same applies to the rest of G5's Equestria; even more so, in fact.  Going from the vibrant and exciting world of FiM to barely much of a world at all just serves to showcase which is the superior series.  That G5 can't even effectively manage its grand total of three locations doesn't help matters much.  There's certainly room for improvement there.  

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,152]

28 minutes ago, AlbaTross said:

Bridlewood is certainly an example of an underutilized location, yes.  One could argue the same applies to the rest of G5's Equestria; even more so, in fact.  Going from the vibrant and exciting world of FiM to barely much of a world at all just serves to showcase which is the superior series.  That G5 can't even effectively manage its grand total of three locations doesn't help matters much.  There's certainly room for improvement there.  

TBF, season one of FiM really only had Ponyville as the main area; plus Everfree, Canterlot, and Cloudsdale as additional areas (if anything; it's somewhat reminiscent to G5 atm). We had hints of others places like Manehatten, but not much more than that for S1.  G5 definitely needs time for the Mane 5 to explore everything beyond those three locales.

That said I do agree that Bridlewood is severely underutilized atm.

[AlbaTross 1,581]

10 hours ago, Ashen Pathfinder-Geo said:

TBF, season one of FiM only had Ponyville as the main area; plus Everfree, Canterlot, and Cloudsdale as additional areas (if anything; it's somewhat to G5 atm). We had hints of others places like Manehatten, but not much more than that for S1.  G5 needs time for the Mane 5 to explore everything beyond those three locales.

That said I do agree that Bridlewood is severely underutilized atm.

I suppose that's true.  I still think FiM did a better job of setting up an interesting world right out of the gates even if it took a little longer than one season to properly explore more of it.  But, it did indeed take some time for G4's Equestria to be more fully explored.  If only the world was G5's only deficit...  I will agree that there is still time to correct things and show us more of G5's Equestria.  Whether I'm even going to bother with G5 for much longer though will most certainly hinge on how MYM is handled when that finally hits.