As revealed a while ago, soapboxes will now happen once we get enough submissions for it. Send them whenever, but also expect them whenever!
If you'd like to submit one, hit this post up.
This time around, your headlines include:
- The Mystery of the Alicorn Amulet
- Episodes that should have been rejected by Hasbro
- Pony Midnight Sparkle recycled for Season 10?
- On the Topic of Plotholes
The Mystery of the Alicorn Amulet
Hello everycreature!
So during one Nightly Discussion, I made a joke about what would happen if any of the alicorns wore the Alicorn Amulet, but since than I been seriously thinking about that strange artifact and well how did it come to be and why was it just out there in a random shop, instead of locked away or well… destroyed.
For a refresher, the amulet is featured prominently in the episode Magic Duel, in which Trixie buys it from the shopkeeper who has it and using the amulet to her advantage, takes her revenge on Twilight and takes over Ponyville. And it was only due to trickery that Twilight got Trixie to take it off and stop her.
Now while we don’t know the origin of the amulet, we know a lot about the amulet itself and what it does, namely that the longer one wears it, the more it corrupts him or her, that only the bearer has the ability to take it off, and that the amulet does have its limits in performing certain spells. And knowing this, I have an idea on the origin of the amulet…
Now the amulet came before Twilight’s transformation to an alicorn and I feel like Cadance would also have not been an alicorn when the amulet was around, however definitely Celestia and Luna were around when the amulet was created. And well part of their magic could have very well been put in the amulet, but did they do so willingly or not? And this brings me to my next point… I have this unsettling feeling that Starswirl had a hoof in the amulet’s creation!
Think about it! Starswirl is not only one of the greatest wizards in Equestria’s history, but he was also the royal sisters’ mentor, teaching them magic, he spent a lot of time with them and well could have in fact taken a little of their magic to create the amulet. Now I don’t think, if this was the case, that Starswirl had an evil intention behind the creation of the amulet, maybe he created it as a means of defense for Equestria in the case of an extreme emergency.
And as we know, Starswirl, along with the rest of the pillars became trapped in limbo to stop the Pony of Shadows and that meant he left behind the amulet, maybe even left it in The Castle of Two Sisters. And after Celestia banished Luna to the Moon and moved to Canterlot, Celestia, most likely not knowing about the amulet, left it behind in the castle. Where then a random pony could have found it and well seeing the amulet thought he or she could sell it for a lot of bits, where than it was exchanged multiple times before ending up in the shop where Trixie brought it.
Also one last thing… Could you imagine if a major villain like Chrysalis or Tirek have gotten the amulet? I mean Chrysalis beat Celestia in a Canterlot Wedding as it was… If Chrysalis had the amulet during that fight…
But I’m moving away from the point of the soabpox and this could be a subject for another! And what do you think the origin of the Alicorn Amulet is?
Episodes that should have been rejected by Hasbro
By: FirePuppy
There are some episodes that I feel should not have moved on into production. Here are some examples:
"Applejack's Day Off" - To be honest, Rarijack has become one of the most too commonly used pairs on the show since this episode. We should have had another Discord episode besides Dungeons & Discords instead.
"28 Pranks Later" - I didn't like this one even one bit. Why couldn't there be an episode about world records?
"PPOV (Pony Point of View)" - This is just another of those conflicting story themed episodes. In its place should be another party-themed Pinkie Pie episode.
"The Hearth's Warming Club" - I despised this Christmas themed episode out of them all. In its place should have been one about Parents' Day at the School of Friendship.
"Frenemies" (or more appropriately, "Frenemidiots") - Most frickin' disgusting episode EVER!!! In fact, the whole idea for a villains-only episode instead of an arc was the worst ever done.
"She Talks to Angel" - I actually liked this one, but I don't think another Fluttershy episode was really that necessary. We should have had just one more Pinkie Pie episode in its place, where she makes some desserts or something.
Does anyone like these ideas?
Pony Midnight Sparkle recycled for Season 10?
By: FlareGun45
In the original season 9 finale, it was told that Midnight Sparkle was gonna come back, or the pony version of her makin' her debut. Now, that said, I understand why they didn't use her, cause 1: that'll chew up more time and there was already alot goin' on in the finale, and 2: how could Midnight Sparkle be made? Would the villains just sabotage her? Either way, it wouldn't work in that finale. However, could there be a chance of bringing her in season 10?
We dunno much about season 10 yet other than the first arc of the Mane 5 taking squads out to certain distant lands, but this is only the first arc, and Wizards know how many more arcs there are! So how would Midnight play in? Would it be her stress of her royal duties? Probably not. It would make her Twinanas, but Midnight Sparkle? No, can't be that. Villain sabotage? Maybe, but it depends, since we dunno who the villain(s) is/are in the season. If the villain trio somehow come back, maybe.
But I think the one thing that would create Midnight Sparkle from pony Twilight is a friendship fallout, combined with stress, and maybe combined with villain sabotage, but nothing would make Twilight weaker than losing a friend, whether it's one or few or all of the Remane 5, or even Spike, the latter being the more likely chance. And of course it would be up to said friend to actually fix Twilight, or said friends, it might hafta involve all 6 of his closest friends to get it done. Really, I'll accept anything that increases Spike's value as a character, and people can stop calling him 'useless'.
Midnight would for sure be a huge threat to Equestria, and since Twilight can't be the one to defeat her, it would hafta be someone else. We'll see how this season turns out! Midnight would definitely be an interesting villain for the season - the protagonist also being the main antagonist, I mean that's potentially deep stuff right there!
On the Topic of Plotholes
By: Dark Cyan
It's common knowledge that the show's timeline is....a little messy, and needs some rearranging in order to make sense. It only gets messier if you introduce Equestria Girls into the picture. And don't get me started on how long a 'Moon' is from episode to episode. That's said, I've always found it impressive how overall consistent the lore and timeline seem to be bearing in mind there have been so many writers and showrunners who were not in communication with each other. Talking about this online, however, I've discovered it's an unfairly common consensus that the show's lore is full of inconsistencies, plotholes and contradictions. So I thought I'd try and straighten three of them out here;
Nightmare Night: This one is quite simple; How were Ponies so ignorant of Nightmare Moon in the premier when they had an entire holiday dedicated to her? Well, it appears 'Nightmare Moon' had become some kind of mysterious, formless boogeyman in popular culture, and in Castle-Mania, it's made apparent she even got mixed up with the Pony of Shadows in some old ghost stories. Also note that in the Premier, most ponies didn't know about Princess Luna at all, and if there were any stories about the Two Sisters, she was simply called 'The Mare in the Moon'.
Ahuizotl's Reformation: I see this one a lot, which is baffling. I will agree that it's a jarring conflict in tone, having an actual attempted murderer playing victim and then giving up to become an author. I'll give you that. But a contradiction in canon? Nothing we see Ahuizotl do in Daring Doubt contradicts what he was doing or saying in his prior appearances with the exception of Read It and Weep which is biased at best, fictionalised at worst. In fact, the events of this episode lead to his prior actions making more sense, not less. Now we have a motive. After all, 400 years of unrelenting heat to the jungle would certainly keep all the artefacts safe. And if the "Other Guardian Creatures" are half as amoral and merciless as he is, his fear of them is justified.
The Journal of Friendship/Daring Do: How was Caballeron's book a surprise when Dash had already let slip that Daring Do was real in Fame and Misfortune? Well, this one gets a little trickier to defend as the simplest explanation was that it was an oversight. However, this list is arguing that it doesn't break in-universe show canon, and I don't believe it does. All of Dash's fans in Fame and Misfortune were children. It's possible none of the adults believed her. Also the point of Caballeron's book wasn't just to out Daring Do as real, but also to out her as having done many things with real negative consequences, many of which probably weren't even mentioned in the Daring Do series, hence the outrage.
What are your thoughts? Are there any big plotholes I missed that can't be explained?
