• Community Soapbox #65 - More Elements, Fluttershy's Sanctuary, Starlight Summoning, and More!


    Expect these posts normally when not late every Tuesday at 2:00 PM PST. To submit your own, see this post.

    Note: These soapboxes do not at all reflect the ideas of EQD. They are an open forum for anyone to post whatever crazy theory they want.

    Headlines for the week:

    • For the Greater Good
    • What if "A Hearth's Warming Tail" Had Been a Two-Parter?
    • Equestria Girls – What if The Map Summons Sunset through her Geode?
    • 7th Element, Element of Empathy
    • Fluttershy’s dream of opening a sanctuary was a long time coming

    And get your soapboxes below!



    For the Greater Good
    By: Dan


    There has been a lot of debate about why Starlight was forgiven so fast and a lot of ppl seem to hate that moment. Is that really the right thing to do? I am of the opinion that Starlight wasn't forgiven too fast at all and i will explain why. First the town. Starlight convinced the villagers with truth about equality. She never lied to them but told them exactly how she saw equality. She brainwashed them the same as she brainwashed herself about the ideology. What did she lie about? Her cutie mark. But here is the thing. Exactly as she said, she had to. Without her cutie mark there would have been no equal town at all. This is a case of "the end justifies the means". As for the finale where she changes her mind, that is exactly the reason for forgiveness. In our world changing your mind from bad to good seems to be a rare event and when it happens it should be celebrated and not punished. That is why Starlight was forgiven so "fast". Not fast at all in reality but exactly when she deserved it and for something that not many ppl understand or even think possible in our unforgiving world.


    What if "A Hearth's Warming Tail" Had Been a Two-Parter?
    by BramtheBrony

    There has been a thought that has been on my mind for a long time; what if “A Hearth’s Warming Tail” had been a 1 parter? I can think of multiple ways the episode could easily be extended; though I am only giving an overview, in an attempt to not go too far over the word limit.

    Merry and Flutterholly’s roles could be extended so that they’re counterparts to Carol’s Nephew Fred and the Charity Gentlemen respectively. Discord’s Marley character that was cut from the actual episode could appear (I’m calling him Confuzzle Chiller).

    The Visit to the Past could include an equivalent to the Fezziwig Party and the breakup with Belle. Here is where I would end part 1, and would place Spike’s request to pause to get more cocoa.

    Featherweight’s Tiny Tim character could be very much expanded upon. (I’m calling him Flakeweight.)

    The future scene we see in the actual episode could be just the beginning; showing the overall consequences of Snowfall Frost’s actions. We could then see the specific consequences; namely the deaths of Flakeweight and Frost.

    Lastly the ending, which I feel suffered the most, and could be the most easily redeemed. Snowfall Frost could then see that because she didn’t actually cast the spell, she could reverse the potion, thus retrieve the items she stole. There could be a “What’s today” moment with Pipsqueak. (which could be the perfect opportunity to give him back his platypus!)

    Part of the difficulty, I admit, is the subject of death prevalent in the original Christmas Carol story. Still, I think they could have find ways of making it subtle, if they had chosen to make the episode a two-parter.


    Equestria Girls – What if The Map Summons Sunset through her Geode?
    By: Brony250


    This is something that I’ve been wondering about ever since the geodes were first introduced in Legend of Everfree. As we all know the map summons the Mane 6 through their cutie marks and as we all know before LoE the human characters do not have cutie marks. But now they have their geodes which also feature the symbols of their cutie marks, so here’s my question; can the Equestria Girls get summoned by the map through their geodes?
    I’d say it’s highly possible and I really hope we get to see it in a future special/movie. But, how can we be sure that it can happen? Well, let’s look at some possible facts in the third EQG special where the girls were altogether their geodes started glowing similar to how the ponies cutie marks glow when their being summoned and for those who have already seen the EQG short “Overpowered” they glowed again the same way. Also, going back to “Movie Magic” as Sunset enters the portal we see her with her geode, however, when she arrives in Equestria her geode is gone and we don’t see it again until she returns to CHS. Has anyone else noticed that?


    7th Element, Element of Empathy
    By: EnergeticRider


    Since there are already two polls about Starlight and one of them includes that option for her let's dig into it.

    There was a tweet or something from show's stuff (sorry couldn't find the link) that 7th Element of Harmony is Empathy. And in EG Sunset Shimmer represents it. So yeah, it's very likely that Starlight Glimmer is Empathy in Equestria.

    What Empathy is? Dictionary definition is:"the ability to understand and share the feelings of another". And this leads to interesting conclusions. First - unlike other Elements, it can't be established immediately. I mean, that you can be honest with your friend or kind to someone outright, but understand a complete stranger, a person whom you don't know anything about? No. That's why Empathy introduced later than six others. In fact, Pillars of Equestria hadn't made it that far.

    And second. Empathy must be a reformed villain. Otherwise, how that pony would understand someone else "on the dark side"? Not only rationally, but emotionally. That's why to "get" 7th Element M6 must have a former villain join them. In EG it's Sunset, in Equestria its Starlight and for Pillars, it could be Stygian.


    Fluttershy’s dream of opening a sanctuary was a long time coming
    By: Nightmare muffin


    Back when “Fluttershy Leans In” aired, a lot of fans were left scratching their heads when Flutters had said that opening a sanctuary had been her dream for a long time. This seemed to come just as out of the blue as Twilight having a brother, to many people, but truth be told, Flutters has been dropping hints to wanting to be involved with a sanctuary ever since April 2013, shortly after the season 3 finale, when “Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell” book was released. Fluttershy suggested it to Twilight. This continued in season 4. Anyone remember the episode, Bats!? Fluttershy’s idea was to open up a sanctuary for the bats right there in Sweet Apple Acres. Even in Three’s a Crowd, Fluttershy flips out at the chance to go to the Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Animals, which is pretty much a sanctuary, and very much likely wound up convincing her idea that opening her own one day was her dream, like she wanted to with the vampire fruit bats. Her dream has been around for a while- its just that few really paid it no mind until “Fluttershy Leans In”.