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This fandom lives on theories, headcanons, and rambled thoughts (hello), but these are the question marks we keep coming back to. The open-ended, unresolved, and unexplained elements that most revive our imaginations even during a hiatus.
Let's get mysterious.
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They aren't around for her much and she lives with her gay aunts (confirmed by Vogel), but they definitely exist, even if it's yet to be addressed on the show. Maybe someday...
#10. Glowing Eyes, Castle Mania
But Marvel, some might say, that's not an unsolved mystery anymore. We know the real Pony of Shadows.
We do, indeed, helpful friend, but it took a while for it to really hit me that Stygian/the Pony of Shadows was imprisoned in limbo during this episode... so who's staring at you right now?
Could it be another Pony of Shadows? Some unnamed drifter in the Everfree forest? Tirek preparing for his debut? Zecora, out for a nice stroll? We may never know.
#9. Where Did They Get Spike's Egg/Why Doesn't Spike Have Wings?
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I group these together mostly so you don't know which is being addressed this season when I remind people to please use spoiler tags.
For the moment, though, Spike's an an enigma wrapped in scales wrapped in a frilly heart-covered apron. He's made a powerful friend in Dragonlord Ember, and come to accept himself as a pony, but what is he? Where is he from? Who is he supposed to be?
Only time will tell. And leaks, but we pretend we haven't seen those.
#8. What Happened to the Time Scroll, The Cutie Remark
Every listicle, I get a freebie. I don't see this talked about a whole lot, but it's not exactly clear where the time travel spell ended up and that's catastrophically dangerous.
Considering it absorbed magic from the map before it vanished, it could be in any time or place in existence. Or with anyone. The writers definitely did that purpose, but it still haunts me to think who might've found it, or was waiting to snatch it on the other side.
Dr. Wolf and I talked about it when building a just for kicks Will Sunburst Become Starswirl the Bearded theory a few months back, so whether you're (crackpot) theorycrafting or just a meticulous viewer, it's a fascinating detail.
#7. The Origins of the Everfree Forest
Gone are the days the Everfree Forest struck fear into our girls' hearts, but they never did answer why this one forest is so wild and untameable to begin with.
Leftovers from Discord's reign? A result of the Tree of Harmony restoring the natural order? The deers not taking too kindly to this crazy magic business? The stain the previous generations left on the map? Beats me.
But even as we fear the forest less and less, it seems there'll never stop being a trace of intrigue.
#6. Luna's Guards: Are Batponies a Race?
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I promise, Seth didn't bribe me (... yet. I take cash, credit, or large sacks with dollar signs on them). We know for sure you can be turned into a batpony thanks to Flutterbat, but in that case, Fluttershy was a lot more animalistic, so it makes you wonder about the batponies we've seen in Luna's employ.
Are they like trained dogs, and if so, do they get the choice to turn when they join her ranks? Or is it more of a costume/uniform the night guards wear?
If these batponies are a wholly separate race, though, it calls to mind a secret nocturnal society, a sleepy hidden village, or at the very least a sequestered speakeasy somewhere in Manehatten. For the longest time, if you looked to the official map, Hollow Shades looked like exactly the kind of place you'd suspect to be harbouring bats. But, alas, unless they were sleeping during the season 7 finale, that's out too.
So maybe we won't ever learn the truth—but maybe we will, and maybe they're right under our noses at this very moment! Keep watching the skies...
#5. Where are the Sirens Now?
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After Rainbow Rocks, I've seen nothing short of a great number of fans asking for the return of this troublesome trio, even if it's just in cameo form.
And now that I look at them, I really don't know how well they're surviving without their gems. They used those things to feed, didn't they? That seems... a little important.
... Wait.
Hold on.
I just solved every Equestria Girls plot ever. Make amends with the Sirens, let them feed on the magic leaking out of the portal. Done. No more maniacs spiralling wildly out of control when it hits them or infuses with an item in their path. Equestria Girls is cancelled, we all go home.
So this just in: The Sirens are the world's greatest heroes, kind of.
#4. How did Bright Mac and Buttercup Die?
Oh, that's right, we're going there (specifically because we haven't gone there).
This is the one thing I saw the most disappointment in after what was otherwise one of the most well-received episodes of the series: even after The Perfect Pear, we still have no idea what happened to Bright Mac and Buttercup.
The episode deftly avoided the direct aftermath of their deaths, which was to be expected, but some subtle explanation certainly could've been satisfying. Hints dropped in the background of the episode that slowly unveil the story for viewers emotionally equipped to deal with it (I refuse to say all kids are, as a rule, unable to cope with death, but I understand Hasbro's hesitation). But, nope. Bupkis.
I once theorized that it was something simple like a barn fire — that in fact that's why there's no Pear barn anymore (pear trees are one thing, but you would think Applebloom would've caught on that there used to be another farm next door if there was, y'know, an abandoned barn).
But we may never really know what happened for sure. All we can do, is honour their memory.
#3. Pinkie/Maud/Cheesy Sense
Just as a general rule of, I guess sanity, one can ever truly understand the pink one. The Party Cave is the closest we have to any kind of explanation on how Pinkie does the amazing, cartoonish, and meta things she does, but one thing that's driving me insane is The ___ Sense.
Because it's not just a Pinkie Pie thing anymore, that I could understand never understanding. Maud having a "Maud Sense," as she said in The Gift of Maud Pie, suggests there's a heritability to whatever this is, and Cheese Sandwich having his own Cheesy Sense seems to mean it's not limited to the Pies.
At this point, this very specific kind of psychic ability is a very real thing in Equestria, and it makes me wonder if that has anything to do with the rest of Pinkie's unreal abilities in the art of lolz-so-random (pardon my poor French, I'm Canadian).
Are these the beginnings of an X-Men style breed of meta-ponies? Maybe not, but you have no proof otherwise until you say otherwise, DHX. Checkmate.
#2. What is Discord's Origin Story?
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It might be a fool's errand to want to explain the origins behind a being of pure chaos, so I'll be your fool for this evening. Can I get you started on some nonsensical rambling?
I'm at least comforted that I'm not the only one. From theories that Starswirl the Bearded turned into Discord, to gorgeous animatics like Heaven's Light, we've got young Dizzy on the brain. Or did, more so in the early days of the fandom, but maybe now that we have Starswirl in present day, we'll finally get some answers.
I've always wondered what those two would be like, interacting with one and other. Do they have a history? If nothing else, I still want my Starswirl and Discord buddy cop episode. I may not have any pull around here, but I can keep asking for things like I do, can't I?
... Give me this. And a Dizzy origin story while you're at it.
#1. Who were Celestia and Luna's Parents?
After all this time, we still don't know anything about the original royal family, or rather the ponies who raised what would become Equestria's royals.
It depends on whether you interpret the line about Flurry Heart being the first natural born alicorn since the founding of Equestria to mean Luna and Celestia were alicorns before the founding, or that they ascended like Twilight and Cadence.
And you can get a bit of sense of what they were like as new princesses by reading Legends of Magic #1 or The Journal of the Two Sisters, but before that, well, perhaps this origin story is a mystery that will forever be left unsolved.
And that about covers it for me, but what about you? What have you been waiting for that you want to see addressed? What questions do you ask at every panel, hoping beyond hope that you'll finally learn the truth?
Mulder, play me out.
Mulder, play me out.
