Shiki-pon

Ummm, what full power would this be? I don't recall any particular mention of feats she was capable of in the past but incapable of in the present. I do agree on the punishment part, but I'd say the actual punishment in this case was the elements sealing themselves away instead of doing something specific to hurt or hamper Celestia. I feel that using the elements selfishly (meaning in this case without another, balancing user being there for the harmony part) would cause them to deactivate until such a time as a more worthy user came looking for them. Celestia and Luna being separated for a millennium also serves as a harsh punishment in my opinion. But still, I'm curious. How is Celestia weaker in the show than what we were led to believe?

I kind of have to disagree on all unicorn magic being the same here (and since there don't seem to be different subcategories of unicorns, your argument suggests there shouldn't be different types of unicorn magic either). Would you really categorize all feats of magic cast by unicorns during the series as just 'unicorn magic'? As in, different spells have wildly different functions, and thus are not the same. Sure, they're all achieved by using unicorn magic, but its use makes the magic being cast a different type. By way of example, lets compare some of the different types of magic seen in the show: - Basic unicorn telekinesis, which basically consists of using magic to move stuff around. - The time travel spell, the effect of which is rather self-evident. - The different kinds of transmutation seen in the show (mustache growing spell, GGG carriage creation, Twi transforming into a book illustration). There are many more examples, but can you truly handwave all of these clearly different types of magic as just "magic"? As in, how would unicorn magic even work if there aren't any guidelines (such as its categorization into types) to casting spells with it? And if the magic truly just happens magically, why does Twi treat it more or less like science? How is it taught to anyone, especially in prestigious schools? And if unicorn magic (the only "active" magic seen in the series besides alicorn (and most likely changeling plus Tirek' and Discord's) magic), why would the magic of alicorns be any different in this regard? Also this. I suppose that in order to clarify my earlier post, I should point out that by "types" I was referring more to the types of effects one can achieve with magic. The magic being used as a power source is more or less the same, I guess. Sorry for the scatterbrained quality of the post, by the way.

Thus far its been great. It seems that at least the first half of the episodes this season (judging from the synopses for future eps and naturally discounting the season opener and gauntlet of fire) suggest a more uniform slice-of-life -kind of theme, which might rub people more used to adventure plots the wrong way. Still plenty of room for those kinds of plots later in the season, though. As something of a language nerd, I feel the need to point out that the word gauntlet can also refer to a challenge or ordeal of some kind, which the race for scepter rather was.

I'd say the Maud sense revolves around finding things, since that's what it was used for. That would also make it pretty down-to-earth, which I think fits Maud perfectly. And on the subject of her calling after Boulder while looking for him, he's her pet, isn't he? If Maud sense finds objects, then she couldn't use it to find her beloved pet rock, now could she?

Pinkie is mundane? Then again, her background is pretty down-to-earth (pre-rainboom it would be the most mundane of the mane 6 backgrounds). Pinkie is pretty different from the rest of her family, though, so maybe there's something strange lurking in her family tree... And on the subject of Nightmare Moon, we never really saw enough of her to know if she's a 'corrupted' version of Luna or a different personality entirely. I mean, she never referred to Celestia as her sister (despite the rather negative bond they had) and her and Luna's behavior was quite different (evilness aside of course). As an aside, I wonder how well Luna actually remembers her time as NMM?

Could it be that the dark magic Twilight used is just one kind of alicorn magic? I pretty much took that scene (being something of a Sombra fanboy), as a testament to Sombra's talent for magic (as in being a unicorn but still being good/skilled enough to use a single type of alicorn magic). That aside, I'd imagine that dark magic just happened to be the one kind of alicorn magic Twilight happened to know at the time. Another type of alicorn magic might well be what Twilight used in her fight against Tirek. Then again, that could've just been basic unicorn magic ramped up to godlike levels. Using it still hurt Twi (even as an alicorn, as I recall), or at least caused her some discomfort.