• Community Soapbox - Twilight's Magicless Equestria, the Legion of Doom, and More!

    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

    • What didn't cause the divide in Equestria: The Legion of Doom
    • What's Next for The Mane 5?
    • Did Twilight Sparkle Cause Equestria to Lose its Magic?
    • Friendship is Magic Miniseries: Spike
    And go read them below!



    What didn't cause the divide in Equestria: The Legion of Doom
    by ShadowWriter45


    Another common thing I've heard people say is that the Legion of Doom, which is considered Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis, caused the divide; given that their plan in Ending of the End is almost like what we see in G5 I can understand. But the reason I can never believe it is because the world of G5 doesn't benefit them.

    Tirek would no longer be feeding off the magic of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies anymore. Even if he was full of magic, I can't imagine that he wouldn't leave Equestria in ashes somehow afterwards; make sure everypony was wiped out.

    Chrysalis wouldn't be thriving in the G5 Equestria. With all pony kind so separated believe that the love that she feeds is very minimal. Sure she could feed among other tribes but I can't imagine she's getting the meal she would want; if anything she's only getting what she was able to get after she lost the throne. And I also believe she and any loyal changelings that might have gotten back, or simply made herself if she could, then she would directly rule Equestria under her rule not in secret

    Lastly, Cozy Glow would also want to rule Equestria directly and be an alicorn while doing it. She wouldn't want to rule just one tribe; she would want to rule all tribes; ruling over all pegasi would not be enough and even if it was she would more than likely have waged war on the other tribes too. It stands to reason that she would lose her ability to fly in the world of G5 too with magic gone at the time. And if

    Lastly, this applies to everyone, there do not appear to be any scars from an attack from them. There is no mention of any of them, as far as we know, coming back and causing the divide. Even if they did it incognito they would still directly take over afterwards which is something we're clearly not seeing.

    Side Note: I think one of the season 10 comics had an image of what appeared to be Chrysalis breaking free so chances are if she, Tirek, and Cozy Glow got out then odds are they were taken care of again by Twilight and her friends even before the future we saw in the Last Problem.

     


    What's Next for The Mane 5?
    By Alexrioponylover95


    Hello everycreature!

    So earlier I discussed what may happen next following the events of MLP: A New Generation and well now I want to discuss what’s in store for our new Mane 5 and what’s going to happen with them and the development they’ll get!

    I think it’s obvious to start with Sunny of course!

    So with Sunny’s new transformation and status, she is very much the new leader of our new Mane 5 and well her mission has only just began from the movie, with her overarching development being to continue to follow in her father’s hoofsteps. Sunny, along with her friends, will journey out to more and more places, reuniting the three pony kinds more and other lands, like the dragons and hippogriffs. And any other lessons she learns will be a bonus as well.

    Moving on to Izzy, well from the movie she finally has her magic back and is already using it, helping to put the trolley back in place. So she’ll probably learn more spells and tricks to using her magic to help others. And well… It would be interesting to see her get together with Sunny as a marefriend, since those two had the most interaction with each other during the movie. Now that may seem unlikely, but I can dream too!

    On to Hitch, well I actually have a pretty good idea on what development he could have! So earlier, there were some false concept art for an incoming episode of the show, with Hitch being G5’s version of the Mare Do Well. And while that episode turned out to be false, I could imagine a similar idea could work! We all know that everyone in Maretime Bay looked up and depended on Hitch to help keep the town safe, following his lead from the sound of it.

    Well now the town could pay more attention to Sunny since she helped them overcome their fear of the other pony kinds, paying less attention to Hitch as a result. So Hitch decides to do something in order for the town to like him again, of course it fails and well Sunny reassures Hitch he is important and such.

    Next, to Zipp, I have discussed before how she is to become the next queen of Zephyr Heights, but maybe not wanting to and bringing back the Wonderbolts instead, becoming the flight leader of the team. However I would love to see the sister dynamic between her and Pipp, since those two are opposites from each other. Also maybe Pipp would become jealous that her mother picked Zipp to become her successor, with Sunny, Izzy, and Hitch needing to either take sides or help bring the sisters back together.

    And finally Pipp, which well discussed just now the possible sibling tension with Zipp, but other than that, well she’ll probably expand her popularity and fanbase, having Earth and Pegasus fans now. And I could imagine that maybe there will be a time she feels overwhelmed by the rush of new fans.

    And that's my ideas on some of the development for our new Mane 5! What do you think will be next for our new group of ponies!? 



    Did Twilight Sparkle Cause Equestria to Lose its Magic?
    By: Raincloudboom


    One of the biggest questions that My Little Pony: A New Generation left us with was how did Equestria come to be in the state we see it in at the beginning of the film. The land once full of magic had none left, and the ponies and creatures from within to far beyond the borders of Equestria went from being close friends and allies to xenophobic and isolationist, to the point where it seems unlikely Equestria even exists anymore as a country. Towards the start of the film, Sprout mentions a battle between the tribes, but that doesn’t explain the loss of magic and its relation to the crystals. I have a theory that Twilight Sparkle may actually be the catalyst to this loss of magic.

    Shortly before ascending the throne, Equestria faced a crisis where divisions between the races were sown and the pony subspecies became distrustful of one-another. Perhaps some number of years into her rule, the tribes became distrustful again. Twilight came up with a solution to this problem by crafting three gemstones and infusing them with the very essence of the magic of Equestria. Each of the leaders of the tribes, who had already started to isolate themselves, would be given one of the gems, and instructed that once a year these gems must be brought together in friendship, or Equestria would be drained of magic.

    This worked well enough for a number of years, a mural was even created to commemorate the event, and each year the leaders of each tribe brought their crystals together to renew the magic of the land, but alas it did not work forever. In the Earth Pony led city of Maretime Bay a demagogue rose to power. He asserted that Earth ponies were getting the short end of the stick, that unicorns could cast spells, and pegasi could fly, but Earth Ponies got no benefits from continually restoring the magic to the land. So the next time the Unicorns and Pegasi brought their delegations to Maretime Bay to complete the ritual they were met with barred gates. Seeing that the Earth leader would not relent the other tribes marshalled forces against Maritime Bay, and a battle ensued. Ultimately the unicorns and pegasi were repelled and banished from the city henceforth. Slowly, year over year magic lost its potency and grew weaker and weaker without the ritual to revitalize it. Until, Poof, one day the magic just disappeared, give or take a decade after the battle.

    Earth ponies, having no use for magic in their everyday life, hardly noticed the change. Pegasi, having noticed that flying was getting more and more difficult over the years adapted to a ground based lifestyle, though the royals still kept up the appearances of effortless flight by utilizing technology and some trusted helpers. Unicorns were hit the hardest, and many fell into depression without their magic, and a growing contingent grew overly superstitious, especially distrustful of the pegasi and anything related to them (wing, feather), and as time went on even grew resentful of magic itself. Also the leader of the movement hated mayonnaise, and forbid anyone to say that word too.

    Over the years the purpose of the crystals was completely forgotten, to the point where nopony saw them as anything more than decorative baubles. Twilight had envisioned the crystals as a way to bring the tribes back together, but in the end it only succeeded in driving everyone further apart.

     


    Friendship is Magic Miniseries: Spike
    By Double C


    For my first miniseries we will talk about Spike.

    Spike’s one issues that both the show comics should have talked is his place with family. At this point we will never know about his origins and his real family except we can agree it was Celestia who found him. It’s safe to say Spike doesn’t care about his real family except they are never coming back for him and has moved on. In my opinion, Spike seem to be conflicted of which is more important friends or family. I can imagine Spike views the Sparkle family not his family but rather ponies that were just following orders. Hearing that would have been like a knife in the heart. A fan art I would recommend to see is Spike's Parents by HeavySplatter. I love this picture because it shows how much Night Light and Twilight Velvet love him and are willing to risk their lives to bring him home.

    Spike becoming the Friendship Ambassador to all creatures was a big surprise since he was already the ambassador to the dragons but how he got it is a mystery. If I had to guess the non-ponies helped him get it since they may have the same problem as he does. Even though he enjoys being Twilight’s “assistant” and advisor but feels like he just doing it because everyone thinks there was nothing else he can do. So Spike feels like if he didn’t do what Celestia “tasked” him then his existent was a mistake. So the royals and dignitaries would feel the same since they had to impress their family to carry on their name or they too would feel worthless. This way Spike wouldn’t feel like he’s the only one who has the weight of the world on his shoulders.

    But what would be interesting to look is him joining the dragon migration. We don’t how often they travel and where they go. Spike joining the migration would be a great story with many adventures and challenges. The one problem is how long he can be gone since he and Twilight are hardly apart for very long. I can imagine his adopted family and friends giving him gifts for the trip before departing with his dragon friends Ember and Smolder. The dragon migration could introduce new places, new creatures like new dragon types, and help him discover more about his life’s purpose. Hopefully one of those stops will we finally get to see Scorpan since he is long overdue. It may also help explain how he got so big and buffed.

    Spike has been shipped with just about any girl fans like but I think the gold metal goes to Gabby. It’s a shame that it only happened in season 9 for there was so many potential adventures between these two. Both as mention are perhaps the same age but they accepted friendship despite being from cultures with bad reputation which made them somewhat outcast. I can see Spike and Gabby make a great team with delivering messages, helping dignitaries, and helping Twilight. I can also see them foalsitting Flurry and potentially Twilight and Flash’s children. The most fun part is her meeting his adopted family and exploring the possibility of accepting a good natured griffon as a new member of the family.