The soapboxes continue! As always, these are the opinions of fandom members, not us here at EQD. If you'd like to submit your own soapbox, hit up this post for infos.
Have some headlines
- Why G4 is canon with G5!
- MLP G5: The Crystal Empire, Windigos, and Mixed Pony Couples
- G5 and the Death of Knowledge
- Have We Been Wrong About Earth Ponies?
Why G4 is canon with G5!
By Alexrioponylover95
Hello everycreature!
So I seen some people say that G5 is an alternate universe rather than a continuation to G4 and well… While I’m not saying those opinions are wrong, I have to strongly disagree and well, here’s why.
G4 and G5 are connected to each other no matter what, I mean the evidence is right in the A New Generation movie, with various nods to the world and lore of G4. Look no further than the opening of the movie, with such things like Twilight and the rest of the Mane 6 showing up, the research Argyle has, which includes a drawing of Twilight and Starswirl, as well as the fact that certain events from G4, like Twilight being called by Celestia are mentioned.
And there were other things that we missed, like the old tree of harmony, which were pointed out later as nods to G4, and who knows… There might have been other things we missed from the movie which further proves that G5 follows after G4’s timeline. And that’s another question too… How long has it been since we last saw Twilight and the Mane 6 in The Last Problem? My guess is that it’s at least a few hundred years, if not more than a thousand, as the world has developed more modern technology, having moved on from the older technology from G4.
Now to be honest, I don’t mind G4 and G5 being connected to each other, it makes for a more interesting mystery and well leaves me curious to know what exactly remains of old Equestria. I’m sure the upcoming special and TV show will include Sunny and her group of friends discovering ancient relics from the bygone age, maybe even find the ruins of such places like Canterlot and Ponyville.
Speaking of which, some say that the world of G5, if it is connected to G4, makes everything that Twilight and her friends accomplished, worthless in the end and again, I don’t see it that way… Sure the majority of the ponies have been divided and living separately from each other, however you have ponies like Argyle, Sunny, Izzy, and Zipp, who have all shown they are willing to reach out and make friends. Not buying into all the propaganda having spread about, these few ponies either remember the past or are willing to help change things for the better. And well… Without Twilight and her friends setting that example, these same ponies might not have that courage to make a difference.
Now, whether or not the two generations are connected is still a question, but I’m sure once we see more in the coming months, we will know for sure about the answer. Until than we can only speculate and make theories and you know… I might be wrong, I might be right, we just have to wait and see!
MLP G5: The Crystal Empire, Windigos, and Mixed Pony Couples
by ShadowWriter45
When MLP A New Generation came out, I chose to remain cautiously optimistic about it; at the same time I was indifferent too since I knew off the bat that if I chose to get invested in it I wouldn't put it on the same standards as I would G4 despite them being in the same world. That being said, I still have a lot of questions for it, especially about how ponies became so divided. However, I'm wondering why the Windigos didn't "prevent" the division; specifically, where are they?
Even with all magic in Equestria seemingly being gone, I can't imagine that the divide made them go as well, nor do I believe that they were somehow hunted to extinction; after all Tirek mentioned that they are a form of ancient magic and even he felt that their presence needed to be dealt with. Aside from the fires of friendship, Equestria never had an explicit method to stop them (at least none that I can remember).
While there is no evidence to this (yet), I don't think the world of Equestria is as divided as we're led to believe; that there might be some unity between ponies and maybe other creatures that are keeping them at bay. I have two answers to this: Mixed Pony (Crystal) Couples and the Crystal Empire.
I picked the Crystal Empire because of how it's magic, location, and lore were one of the most unexplored even if you accept certain comics as canon or not. We do know that love and light protected it so it's not unreasonable that there is somehow enough of it that is keeping Equestria going without Windigos but its limited to spreading magic likely due to whomever is in charge not wanting to share or limited by magical knowledge. I think it's also possible it became a safe haven for ponies who didn't believe in the divide and chose to take sanctuary there as the rest of Equestria crumbled onto itself; afterall couples like Big Mac and Sugar Belle, Lyra and Bon Bon, and Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood (if they were alive, which I know they weren't) would not accept such a divide Equestria so easily; same goes for other creatures who didn't go back to their "native" lands. At the same time, they would later choose to hide themselves from the rest of Equestria with magic or even technology that masked their presence.
All of this hinges on if the Crystal Empire is still around; at the very least something like it. Also, it solves the issues of not only the Windigos not being around but also how there are/were no signs of any mixed pony couples to prevent this divide. Maybe as G5 continues we'll get an answer but it's the best one I've got so far
G5 and the Death of Knowledge
by: SigmaSilver7
After watching the new movie, many have remarked that the changes in Equestria have hit the unicorns the hardest. Izzy tells the group that unicorns are very superstitious, to the point where if someone says a "bad" word, they will immediately drop what they are doing and perform an elaborate ritual to ward off bad luck. In Twilight's time, magic had been studied to the point of becoming a science. One can only imagine that if Twilight saw a bunch of unicorns believing in "jinxes" and honking to avoid bad luck, she would flip her lid! She would teleport the lot of them to a lecture hall, strap them to their seats, and refuse to release them until they could identify the 7 Cardinal Sigils AND recite Starswirl's Eightfold Principle from memory AND explain its importance to maintaining the integrity of thaumic fields.
This reminded me, oddly enough, of the universe of Warhammer 40K. That universe had an interstellar technology-driven society as seen in so many sci-fi properties.. until it all came crashing down due to a combination of an AI rebellion and losing the means of faster-than-light travel. Suddenly, it was a mad scramble for survival which caused much knowledge to be lost as humanity descended into a new age of barbarism. The world of Mars managed to hold on to more technical information than most. In the modern galaxy of the 41st millenium, most of humanity's technology is manufactured and maintained by the Tech Priests of Mars.
Yes.. "priests." I also said technical "information" rather than "knowledge".
To illustrate what I mean, let's suppose a tech priest wants to perform maintenance on an Imperial Guard APC. The priest would tighten the bolts, drain the engine oil which had become heavy with the driver's impure thoughts, pour in fresh blessed oil, all the while burning incense and praying to the APC's machine spirit. Some aspects of this ritual have actual mechanical value, such as tightening bolts and changing the oil. The rest of the ritual.. less so. The thing is, the tech priest doesn't actually know what he's doing! All he knows is that if he performs this ritual regularly, the vehicle keeps running. He doesn't know WHY it works. He doesn't realize that the need to change the oil has nothing to do with sinfulness. He just knows that when he does the ritual, the machine works like it should.
The unicorns of G5 are in a similar spot. Comprehension has been replaced with ritual. Knowledge has withered into mere information. Who knows what roadblocks superstition will put up that will prevent the recovery of the knowledge that existed in Twilight's time because this is "forbidden" and that is "unlucky"? They have a vague memory that incantations and following certain formulas can invoke preternatural forces but the WHY and HOW has been lost, so they fill in the holes with superstition. Of all the pony races, the unicorns have the longest road to recovery.
Have We Been Wrong About Earth Ponies?
By: Coffiecats
For many years, people have speculated on what the special powers of struggle ponies are. While unicorns have magic and Pegasi have flight, earth ponies seem to have…super strength? Farming? G4 didn’t really seem clear about that, but were we as fans simply overlooking and far undervaluing the power of earth ponies?
While farming in and of itself is a large responsibility- as far as sustaining the entire lives of not just earth ponies, but Pegasi and unicorns through nourishment that the earth ponies can only provide, I don’t think that is the earth ponies’ only or even main power.
Taking a look at “super strength”, I am left to wonder….is that really what that power that we see is? Or rather, it is actually tapping into earth’s natural laws and environs, to reverse or negate gravity, as it were?
I think that a more interesting explanation to earth pony powers is just that- allowing these ponies to harness and manipulate earth’s natural energies and laws to their advantage- from gravity, to enhancing plant’s energies and growth, and even their their own biological structures. This is certainly explained and seen in Pinkie Pie, and to a lesser extent- some main and side character earth ponies- be it through their prehensile hair manipulation, or gravity defying propulsion at times.
I believe that every earth pony has the ability to manipulate the world’s energies and laws, to different extents. This, in my opinion, makes earth ponies much more interesting than just saying that “they’re farmers with super strength “, and that’s it. Earth is a very powerful and beautiful thing, even the fictional earth the ponies inhabit. It can most certainly be used to its full potential through the earth ponies, who appear to be natural stewards of it. I just don’t feel like fans are giving earth ponies the respect and power they deserve when attempting to explain these ponies powers.
