UNMARKED SPOILERS AHEAD!!
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- the jokes surrounding it are getting annoying for her.
- Most people pulled a Ron the Death Eater on Pinkamena, who despite having to deal with the torment that Pinkie won't face (until her Split-Personality Merge, that is), isn't evil, which she didn't find right.
- In addition, will be killed by Discord when he loses his temper.
- Considering what happened last time she died, that probably won't work out nearly as well as Discord expects it to.
- Magic: Trixie. How it's expressed: While Twilight was the awkward glue that held the others together, Trixie is the brash yet curious learner who pushes them to do better. (Confirmed)
- Kindness: Fluttercruel. How it's expressed: while "Shy" is unassuming kindness though pure gentleness and care, "Cruel" is a kind of Cruel to Be Kind, doing what's necessary in order to have others grow or be saved from themselves. (Confirmed)
- Honesty: Luna. How it's expressed: Brutal Honesty, not censoring one's thoughts even while aware they might hurt others…and also by being fully aware of one's own flaws and failings. This was demonstrated in her handling of Fluttershy, and her honest dealings with Celestia on wanted to be forgiven, not excused. Being able to admit and face your weaknesses, as well as facing the full consequences of your own actions and mistakes. After all, she too looked into truth like Applejack.
- Laughter: Celestia. How it's Expressed: The fact that her discorded persona was stripped of maturity makes an important distinction in how Celestia expresses herself when compared to Pinkie, in that Celestia is more refined and controlled in her expression, and being the rock that everypony turns to comfort when things get pear shaped.
- Generosity: Sweetie Belle. How it's expressed: Showing generosity to those who may not be your friends, but need it the most. That was the lesson Rarity taught her and she's been trying to do it with Silver Spoon.
- Alternatively, Apple Bloom. After she realized that she could have become no better than a bully after seeing The Truth, she now seeks generous redemption for others, whether they be friendly or hostile, giving her time and wisdom.
- Loyalty: Silver Spoon. How it's expressed: While Dash is brash, straightforward and a fighter, she shows the quieter side of loyalty, by still considering Diamond Tiara her friend even while being ignored and shunted aside. Her desire to stand by her best friend and remain true despite Diamond not acting like much of a friend in return will show the importance of faith and trying to do what little you can for the sake of those you care about, even if you're not a fighter and can't 'save' them from themselves.
- Alternatively, Scootaloo. As mentioned in the edit for RD reharmonizing, Scoots was the one mare who never gave up on believing Dash was a hero, always believed in her steadfastness, and kept devoted to her, despite the disdain Rainbow initially showed her. A loyalty no matter the ickiness that you go through is something similar to what Rainbow Dash has, though perhaps Scootaloo is better at showing it through an unquestioned loyalty to someone she considers her superior rather than an equal like Rainbow does with her friends.
- Another possibility is Ditzy Doo. During the Princess Gaia incident, she never left Dinky and fought for her throughout the entire incident, even when tempted to be Gaia's knight. She'd certainly fit.
- Golden Tiara with Joy/Laughter. Just because.
- An epilogue tale, saying how the cast grew in friendship and love, and how Ponyville and Equestria grew from the whole experience.
- A Grand Finale where Discord is defeated by Every pony in Equestria summoning a reflection of the Elements of Harmony, leading to Discord not being Taken for Granite, but evaporating to the wind, stopping him once and for all.
- A Bittersweet Ending where a Mane Cast member sacrifices his or herself in order to stop Discord once again.
- The Reveal of who the interviewers really are.
- A Bittersweet Ending where Discord has been stopped, but because the story has been taken to a logical conclusion, the shadows that watch come to destroy the world, and instead of fighting it, the ponies have one last party celebrating how they've grown, and then are erased from existence.
- A Bittersweet Ending where instead of ending in peace, the people of the world fight to the end to preserve their world, ending in victory, but ultimately a hollow one where the world is now scarred beyond repair due to the cost of fighting the shadows off.
- A Happily Ever After ending where the reharmonized series ends as Season 2 ends: with the wedding of Cadence and Shining Armor. Cadence will reveal to have survived her battle with Havoc, and has been hiding incognito within the POV series for some time, trying to learn about what it's like to have emotions and be like Celestia and Luna. However, after Discord's defeat, she decided it was time to go public and reveal to Equestria the existence of another Alicorn, and she decided to do that by marrying the Unicorn captain who charmed her: Shining Armor. Thus not only will the final story have the customary Wedding episode, but have a family reunion of Alicorns as the world move on to Happily Ever After.
- This one's probably Jossed.
- Earn Your Golden (Tiara's) Ending/Redemption Earns Life: Healing POV Discord
- I have such a guess that probably all recycled ponies were actually used again but just in different timelines. For example, Starsong could be alive again in the same timeline as Orangejack thought probably under a different name and with different or not very different *hint-hint-Applejack-hint* appearance.
- Hinted at, and in some places confirmed given what happened in the G2 ponies saga.
- Shining Armor and the soldiers of Canterlot
- Cadence
- Other Alicorns of Celestia's family
- Trixie
- Onyx Tiara
- The Cutie Mark Crusaders w/Spike and Spoon.
- The Pets (All of them)
- Screwball/Golden Tiara
- Optimus Prime!
- Some or all of the above
- Shady
- Batmare and Superstallion, Equestria's Finest Team
- Wouldn't that make this an homage to the Pony Psychology series where Twilight was the magician and immortal due to being magic incarnate?
- The latest chapter seems to imply the interviewers, or at least the filly one, are actually Twilight…somehow, and it's been established that they're something not exactly normal.
- Ever realize the foreshadowing in the title, "The One and Only"?
- As it turns out, it was Dark World Twilight, having ascended in the aftermath of Dark World's Final Battle and engineered a massive and complicated Stable Time Loop, who is and always was The Magician. Oh, and it's all but said she's the Interviewers as well.
- Jossed
- Jossed, it's apparently just going to keep going and going...
This is because she became Nightmare Shadow during the thousand years of Discord's first reign, and then was hit by the Elements of Harmony, completing her 'Alicornification'. In fact, given her nature with voids (the shadow is a void of light), it's almost as if Shady is an aspect of Entropy, the nurturing part that was cast off so long ago, and was small enough to take form in the material world. Also explaining why Discord would call Diamond Tiara a "bearer of the cursed bloodline" (a relative), when otherwise she has no direct descent from Discord or the Draconequus family.
- Alternately, Discord is able to create copies of them and the heroes are forced to fight against them. Eventually he continues mocking his siblings until the real ones appear and keep the fakes busy as the Mane Six and the princesses go after Discord himself.
- Alternately, they appear to fight Discord with the Mane Six on Havoc's orders. Havoc was a Mad God, it's likely he's recovered his senses since his avatar was destroyed. Discord committed a horrific crime by eating two of his own kind, which is explicitly stated as being a taboo by his species' standards.
- If so, then perhaps there will at least be a bit of Let's You and Him Fight initially, if only because of Pinkie and the princesses' personal experiences with them, and the stories Twilight's heard.
- At the very least, either way it'd be interesting to see how they interact with Fluttercruel — no matter what happens, she's technically related to them after all.
One that is, surprisingly, not so different from the Mane Six.
The names of Elements they represent have undergone a slight cultural (and lingual) translation, each corresponding to the closest Hooviet virtue(s).
Unity (Magic): Represented by the granddaughter of the Supreme Marshal of the Hooviet Union. She came up with the idea of forming a team after becoming enamoured with the tale of six heroes saving the day from Nightmare Moon. Hopelessly naive, having been pampered her entire life. Conversable in Equestrian.
Selflessness/Sacrifice (Generosity): A doe from an upper-middle class family, of whom she estranged herself from as the result of (heated) disagreements over the state of socioeconomic equality in the Hooviet Union. Radical, outspoken and quick to point out injustice, she's avoided the usual fate of those like her soley by virtue of being the same race as the ruling caste, but even if that weren't the case, she's prepared to give up a lot more to help those with even less.
Duty/Obedience (Loyalty): A perpetually conflicted griffoness who recognizes the failings of her government, and even the schism between what the group believes their purpose to be, and their actual purpose. She carries on only out of a sense of obligation, to the comrades who depend on her, and because she's also aware that 1) there aren't many alternatives, 2) most of them are much, much worse.
Sincerity (Kindness): A very intelligent griffoness who always speaks formally, but only out of respect and sincerity. She understands (all too well) that occasionally, one must be Cruel to Be Kind, and does not hesitate when she identifies those occasions. After all, she believes in the Greater Good, and she is supposed to be sincere, isn't she? Fluent in Equestrian.
Honor/Humility (Honesty): A hard-working jenny, her perseverance under challenging circumstances and the care she has for her fellow comrades contrast an unquestioned belief in the leadership and doctrines of her country. She is the model citizen of the Hooviet Union: Someone who sees no reason to lie, only speaking of what she believes to be the truth. She tends to be very modest in regard to her own work, while vicariously parroting the official line. In other words, she's an Expy of Boxer from Animal Farm.
Optimism/Contentment (Laughter): A young immigrant from Zebrafrica who's lived most of her life under war, disease, slavery and famine. She looks forward to living in the Hooviet Union, which has professed itself to be a peaceful and equal society. Can speak a bit of Equestrian.
True to Hooviet operating procedure, they were semi-randomly cobbled together in hopes of recreating even a fraction of the essence of the Elements of Harmony.
And hilariously enough, they do. Though united by chance and initially as miscible as water and fluorine, with time, their comradery grows into what may save the Hooviet Union... or destroy it.
Yes, their primary purpose is to serve as a propaganda tool, a symbol to unify the country and reduce social unrest (AKA promote harmony), but isn't that the point of every national team in existence?
Whether Shining and the Misfits will ever encounter them, well, the Hooviet Union is a very large place with very many denizens/citizens.
- Daunt ("To intimidate" for Havoc Jr., but very generic, and thus very unlikely)
- Daint ("Light and slim", loaded with Unfortunate Implications, specifically Sissy Villain and Bury Your Gays. Very unlikely)
- Doubt ("To disbelieve, to be a heretic, infidel, atheist", it's the seventh Element of Chaos, counterpart to Trust, and an awesome reference to Faith and Doubt. The one concept that would abhor Natural Law, possibly due to being the Concept of Atheism, and a very good indicator of Havoc's view about his son. Extremely likely.)
- Can somebody make this argument without the religious bias and with adherence to real dictionaries? I love the idea of D___T being Doubt but I'd prefer an argument that's not based on somebody's chosen redefining of words and concepts. "Doubt" does not mean atheist and "Natural Law" doesn't automatically mean god.
- Here are some of my guesses:
- My first guess is Deist. A deist is someone who practices deism: belief in the existence of a God on the evidence of reason and nature only, with rejection of supernatural revelation (distinguished from theism ). 2. belief in a God who created the world but has since remained indifferent to it.
- My second guess is Dixit. A quirky name, it comes from the logical fallacy, ipse dixit. Ipse dixit (Latin for "he himself said it") is a term used to identify and describe a sort of arbitrary dogmatic statement, which the speaker expects the listener to accept as valid.
- My third guess is Droit, which means legal right. Considering his past lives and what he did, this could fit.
- D___t: Doubt. That which opposes Heaven (and Hell).
- Strife: Cruelty. Natural selection is cruel.
- Anarchy: Deception. The one Draconequus who has gotten away with lying to his Parents, isn't that right ________ ?
- Destruction: Rage. When he loses control... things tend to explode.
- Pandora: Desire. So says the birth certificate.
- Discord: Tragedy. His entire existence is best described as pain & failure. He's had more friends than any other Concept, but he's also lost more friends than any other Concept.
Of course, that only leaves:
- Rancor: Betrayal. Which makes you wonder...
It really does explain why the Elements of Chaos grant super-regeneration, a universal Draconequus ability.
- CONFIRMED
- Jossed. It was actually Twilight's future Alicorn self as part of a complicated Stable Time Loop.
- Twilight did sent notes back to her past self, which to avoid a time paradox resulted in the timeline splitting into two. There is one world where the main timeline erased the Epilogue timeline and another world where that didn't happen and that is the Epilogue world as seen in the Dark world stories.
- Confirmed in a way. It was one of the timelines created by Paradox's "Groundhog Day" Loop and its implied she originated from a similar timeline.
- Greedity
- Sweetie Belle will be the personal changer, and Mortis, Alicorn of Death will be the talker. In some ways, Greedity doesn't want anything to leave her, so she greedily holds on to them in the form of rocks. Mortis will be there to remind her that for now, nothing lasts forever, and that the best thing you can do for people is to honor them by being willing to let them go.
- While Mortis is a no show, Sweetie Belle is confirmed.
- Sweetie Belle will be the personal changer, and Mortis, Alicorn of Death will be the talker. In some ways, Greedity doesn't want anything to leave her, so she greedily holds on to them in the form of rocks. Mortis will be there to remind her that for now, nothing lasts forever, and that the best thing you can do for people is to honor them by being willing to let them go.
- Angry Pie
- In a twist of silly proportions, one of Pinkie's apprentices will be her Morality Pet from the living, and she's gonna get a personal visit from the Alicorn of laughter to deal with her laughter issues: Puerillis.
- Traitor Dash
- Scootaloo will be the personal, Leo will be the Alicorn as the personification of power given purpose might make for a good leader to talk about the limits of power to help others.
- No alicorn again, but Scoots did come to help as well.
- Scootaloo will be the personal, Leo will be the Alicorn as the personification of power given purpose might make for a good leader to talk about the limits of power to help others.
- Fluttercruel
- This one's gonna require a special intervention since Cruel's been under Discord's wing for so long. Twilight the Unicorn will be the personal, while Fauna Luster herself is going to show up for a long talk with Discord's "girl" on Chaos, life, death, and trying to get both of them a new element, since Kind Applejack now has that covered.
- Jossed. Rarity said the only pony that could help her is Fluttershy, but given that she was taken to pony heaven, Rarity killed her to bring her there.
- This one's gonna require a special intervention since Cruel's been under Discord's wing for so long. Twilight the Unicorn will be the personal, while Fauna Luster herself is going to show up for a long talk with Discord's "girl" on Chaos, life, death, and trying to get both of them a new element, since Kind Applejack now has that covered.
- Magic: Twilight the Unicorn: magic is tragedy and friendship. Confirmed
- Honesty: Rarity/Rarigreed, no longer blind to her faults. Confirmed
- Kindness: Applejack: Lying to be kind to them, and seeking the best for others. Confirmed
- Laughter: Apple Pie: seeking joy even in the darkest times. Confirmed
- Fluttercruel, if she EVER comes around. Always look on the bright side of death!
- Generosity: Spike. Willing to give his all for the sake of Rarity. Confirmed
- Loyalty: Still Traitor Dash: still loyal to something, but also a traitor to something else.
- Spike, who stayed with the six for a thousand years, and refused to abandon Rarity. A hereditary trait and mythology gag all in one, too.
- Angry Pie, who believes in keeping her promises.
- Jossed. It's actually Derpy, due to her loyalty to her children.
(Note: these guesses are going off of recent developments in Dark world, and partially from a hunch I have regarding an older chapter. If you disagree with this theory, post below your dark elements of harmony)
- Fauna Luster, planting a seed of hope in order defy the Draconequi.
- Mimic, because spirits can do that.
- Rota Fortuna, because the Alicorn of fate has seen that all roads eventually lead to Discord's downfall.
- As it is now, Chrysalis was the only one available during that time frame.
- After putting some more thought into this, it's most likely Venus.
- What about maybe a unicorn parent of one of the mane cast? Family saving family? Twilight Velvet is my vote.
- Twilight's parents were plants at the time, remember?
- SHINING ARMOR!!! It makes so much sense it hurts. Who could Cadence have taught the memory spell? Who could have gotten back to ponyville if things went crazy? Who keeps getting mentioned willy nilly in the fic without actually being directly mentioned?
- Shining Armor doesn't seem to exist in the Discorded->Epilogue->Dark World timeline...
- BUUUT, that doesn't mean that he didn't use to exist, and somehow got retconed out of memory previously.
- Neither Discord nor Cadence nor Spike nor Twilight mention him at all. Even if Tragedy's account of events can't be trusted, Spike's can, and Discord or Cadence would have noticed any anomalies.
- Shining Armor doesn't seem to exist in the Discorded->Epilogue->Dark World timeline...
- All the above are jossed: it was Twilight/Amicitia, going in back in time as part of her long Stable Time Loop.
- Jossed, and yet Confirmed in a matter.
- Well, she heard it. But it didn't make her any stronger.
- Jossed according to Rancor, but until SHE reveals who she figured out who the pony is, it's technically up in the air.
- Jossed. She's Twilight's Nightmare.
- Jossed. Nightmare Paradox got him first.
- With Angry Pie, I anticipate something similar to Rarity's change. Entering Pinkie's mental scape, where Twilight finds out about her split personality, thus in a nice Call-Back to the reharmonized series, Pinkie will be reunited without creating Angry Pie, but rather, through a long hard talk about her It's All About Me feelings about laughter, and then the reunion of Pinkamena Diane Pie in that universe.
- It's unlikely that Pinkie Diane could appear in the Dark World timeline, but perhaps an alternate combination such as Pinkamena Diane is possible.
- Confirmed.
- Fluttercruel is going to be a tricky one, but I anticipate they'll take her on as a Token Evil Teammate by reminding her of Discord's inconsistencies, before they figure out how to split Cruel from Shy, making an even more neat parallel to other timelines with Cruel and Shy having two bodies, AND both of them existing physically on the same plane.
- If 'Shy is too damaged, they can always bring out Flutterage to suppress Cruelty for the time being.
- Alternately, Cruel will be the one defeated in a Battle in the Center of the Mind, in a Call-Back to the fight with Loneliness.
- None of the above, Rarity killed Fluttercruel because Fluttershy's spirit was released five hundred years prior.
- Maybe they will at least die as themselves?
- Discord will show how much he really cared for Fluttercruel after she is dead.
- Alternatively they do survive but are completely broken by the experience of 1000 years as Complete Monsters.
- Fluttercruel has been killed by Rarity and it turns it Fluttershy's spirit was taken to Pony Heaven five hundred years ago by Cadence, so partially confirmed.
- Pinkie Pie dies of Rapid Aging due to her Element of Chaos shutting down and Fluttercruel is killed by the Bearers.
So, we know it's possible for ponies to become Alicorns under the right circumstances — like what happened to Fluttershy — so maybe the stresses of Dark World!Twilight's impending death will cause her to ascend. And as for becoming the Interviewers, let's break it down:
1) Twilight's "Half-Light Dawn" form is an Earth pony filly, her "Half-Light Noon" form is a young adult pegasus, and "Half-Life Dusk", as Angry Pie nicknames her aged form, is a unicorn. That all matches up with the physical appearances of the Interviewers.
2) In Different From Everypony Else, Celestia said that it's possible for an Alicorn to split into the three tribes.
3) We know that for a spirit outside the mortal plane, time is meaningless.
Therefore, we can assume that Twilight will somehow ascend — and being at the brink of death seems like the best time — and after beating Discord will enter the spirit plane, where she'll then travel back in time to the first fight with Discord and somehow alter events, thus branching out into the main POV!Verse. And then, she'll somehow perform a Literal Split Personality, becoming the Interviewers in order to aid her younger/alternate self and her friends.
- And erase Apple Pie, Minty Pie, the Sea Ponies of Sky Ocean, the Virgacorns, the Hippogriffs, the Diamond Dogs, the New Avalon Changelings, Tiamat's entire nation, and everyone else born in Dark World from existence.
- Which, if you'll remember, Twilight the Unicorn swore she'd fight for to fix what's there rather than try and undo these mistakes.
- There is a much, much better reason for why the Nightmare Whisper timeline is the main timeline of the Pony POV Series. It is related to the fate of Dark World.
- ________ and _____-_____ say hi.
Now, I'm not saying this is the Fading Futures Nightmare Purgatory. She could be from a similar Dark World alternate reality, and she somehow found a way to move between universes (hey, if Nightmare Mirror could do it, why not Nightmare Purgatory?) determined to punish Discord in all of them. If nothing else, look at her reaction when Twilight jumps off the slippery slope and prepares to kill Angry Pie. If that's not proof, I don't know what is.
- "Say goodnight and welcome to purgatory!" (Evil Laugh)
- Hmmmm, we also know from that certain Fading Futures that Twilight willed the world to vanish, by reminding her past self of the importance of friendship. She knew what would happen, and she took on the form of Purgatory to unleash her vengeance upon the one who ruined so many lives, trying to make him beg for mercy, feel the pain as he inflicted pain for so long. But in that story, twilight was horrified enough that she'd let discord have the last laugh, she pulled back. I suppose it's possible that this purgatory came from a world where she didn't, but at the same time, there's a few little things that makes me concerned about this WMG.
- The voice calls rancor "worse than pinkie pie." Why would she have such a reaction to a friend she was avenging?
- Discord says the voice needs everything to go just so, indicating it's a fan of order. While one could call this vengeance righting the world, doesn't vengeance naturally belong to draconequi?
- Her disbelief at Derpy being element of Loyalty. What would the voice have against Derpy? Derpy's love for her child was one of the things that pushed her forward. Why be so angry?
- Considering the heavy He Who Fights Monsters vibes coming from her, it's possible she's become so consumed by vengeance that she's forgotten what she was seeking it for in the first place.
- Confirmed.
- Heh, that would be a hilarious, aesop-breaking way to use the Elements of Harmony. Who needs friends anyways?
- Fluttershy's spirit who is still trying to help her friends.
- Trixie's spirit who is talking with her over her own Element of Friendship and is still speaking in third pony.
- Chaos Verse!Discord repaying the favour of her restoring his own hope.
- An alternate version of Twilight that managed to become an Alicorn.
- Shady, who loved Discord enough to try and prevent others from hurting him too badly.
- It can't be Gaia for the sole reason that Gaia doesn't fit the currently revealed name: Princess A******* (8 letter word starting with 'A'). Abbatissa, Amaterasu and Applejack are all 9 letters and don't fit either. The only name in the entire series that does fit is Applepie, which implies that the second voice is a new character or has never been previously named.
- Ironically I was jossed the same day I posted this theory as I got to see the ending from one of the audio adaption scripts.
- Because of Fluttershy technically being an Alicorn, Fluttercruel going full Draconequus would make a Draconequus and an Alicorn in the same body, in way one being.
- Seemingly confirmed, but the mastermind isn't a Shadow Who Makes, it's Twilight's Nightmare.
- Jossed.
1. Rainbow Dash and the returning princesses. If so desired, they'll land at Sweet Rock Acres, and we can then have Dinky use the memory spell on Celestia to bring back the mind that had 1000 years to sharpen itself. And of course, Dashie can come back to fight as well.
2. The rebels. They might have heard of discord's weakening, and feeling something wrong, come all the way to hold as a distraction and meat shield to let the elements preserve their will to live in this world.
3. The Dragons. At the very least, the apple dragons can bring in some heavy Cavalry to hold back the tide.
4. Minty Pie. The last piece of the puzzle. With that sword, she can place a final blow to end the war once and for all.
- Somewhat jossed. The Benevolent Interloper is Dark World Twilight, but the present one, who fused with the defeated Nightmare Eclipse/Paradox, who in turn had absorbed every other previous version of themselves, including the above.
- We kinda sorta see one here.
- Diamond Tiara: Considering how Discord's already twisted her desire to 'save' her mother to suit his own ends, a full-fledged Nightmare Diamant could easily be unleashed. Driven by a single-minded need to protect Golden Tiara at all costs, with a heart hardened against stupid ponies who just don't understand how important she is...
- i get some hints about the Nightmares and the Alicorns, this is how I think it works:
- Nigthmare's are born from ponies who used the Elements of Harmony and became obsessed over a part of her personality -Anger, Rage, Fear, Love, etc-, overloading her-his element.
- But as Star-catcher/Celestia used the Rainbow of Light she only became a "Proto-Nightmare", a shadow mode she could give up anytime -She just need to cool of, or something-
- Also, The nightmare's are like the "corrupt" evolution -Think of SkullGreymon- , and the correct one should be the Alicorns, even though its much more difficult to get the correct one -like, only if you were an Alicorn in your past live, like Celestia just did, or if you have the sheer will to go through the process, like Twilight could hope to do in a distant future
- Interestingly, the Magician in Tarot has two meanings - the wise, confident magician and the trickster magician. Possibly this duality relates to the two Elements of Magic?
- Apart from that, it might be possible to predict what the others' tarot motifs might be, since 'shy is Queen of Cups.
- Twilight: Queen of Wands.
- Jossed, this tarot goes to Alicorn Trixie.
- Dash: Knight of Swords.
- Rarity: Queen of Coins (this is the suit also associated with diamonds).
- "Pinkie", nominally Three of Cups, is only one of many numbered cards associated with Pinkie Diane. The wild card is not a tarot card, but it is the best card motif that represents her.
- Twilight: Queen of Wands.
- Since this series has redeemed some unlikely individuals, and since mindscape/alternate personalities come in a lot, perhaps even Discord could be brought around to the side of Harmony. All long-shots, but these might work:
- Mindscape archaeology (Find kid-Discord!)
- Rebuild the Element of Trust (or find someone capable of using it otherwise) so as to add extra punch.
- Find some way to get him to Comprehend Good (since it seems like he actually doesn't understand it, especially in the Epilogue timeline where the idea of feeling sad for someone else confuses him).
- I dunno, it's gonna be really hard to pull off something like this. This Discord already reached the Complete Monster rank, so as readers, already that's one strike against potential redemption. Second, we have had quite a few different characters redeemed, but imagine how hard it will be to get a Draquonus who not only killed his own family and helped ignite a war of the gods and rubbed it in Celestia's face, but also proved unrepentant even after years of just doing Chaos, so he's not exactly bound to get bored of Chaotic evil. Further, notice how he keeps railing against any memory of Love, and since in so many of these situations Love Redeems, this is gonna be a long-shot indeed.
- None of those will work, especially not using the Elements of Harmony nor Rainbow of Light. As Strife showed, those are not effective against a resisting Draconequus. 'Dissey' won't be of much help, because he's just an amnesiac Discord, and amnesiac Discord + memories = regular Discord always. If they really choose to redeem Discord, they have to go beyond the Elements of Harmony, beyond Fauna Luster's power, and do what Celestia & Luna couldn't, by using friendship in its rawest and most powerful form.
- Dark World!Discord is implied to have seen the error of his ways at some point.
- With the various mentions of Celestia's brother Morning Star, who taught Discord everything he knows and is implied to be the Pony equivalent of Lucifer, it seems obvious that he's going to come into play. Plus, with the recent comments being left to readers by a certain unknown entity, it's quite clear that this story isn't going to end with the Discord arc...
- Except I'm pretty sure Word of God stated that Morning Star was killed during the war.
- The Magician is the only one of the Major Arcana not covered by the family members Celestia's mentioned so far, so it's obvious he/she will have to show up at some point. And the entity is definitely an Alicorn, as after mentioning the father-of-Alicorns, it starts referring to it strictly as Father, in the same way Celestia and Luna usually do.
- Sorry, past me, but it got Jossed.
- She doesn't appear to be an Arcana Concept, because she doesn't sense the Elements of Harmony seal being broken. It seems more likely that she's the heartbroken assassin who annihilated Cupid, and now forms a trinity of sorts with Venus and Cadence, of making, breaking, and amending love. Holes in her hooves, holes in her hair, and courtesy of Venus' Wave-Motion Gun, a hole through her heart.
- Half Jossed. It turns out that Chrysalis is the shadow of Cadence!
- If this turns out to be true, maybe it'll end up being like Thanos' relationship with Death — he loves her, but she sees him as only a useful pawn. Hell, maybe she even ends up finding his methods repulsive.
- This may be a bit cheesy, but how could he be anything other than Cadence's champion and Knight in Shining Armor?
- Doesn't this create a great deal of Fridge Logic if this is the case? I mean, for one, this means all the cutie mark crusaders should be dead in the reharmonized series, when they're so obviously alive. Also, notice that the way Twilight thinks about Dark World makes it seem that instead of destroying the world, they'll just rebuild from the ruins and work their way back from the darkness to a new dawn. It just seems a bit weird to me.
- It makes more sense with the use of time travel, inter-dimensional transit, and Retcon's (for when regular continuity isn't good enough).
- This Twilight wields magic still, but it is a magic that is tragedy that refines.
- This Applejack wields the element of Deceit: but it is a deceit that hides pain necessarily.
- This Rarity wields the element of desire. Desire isn't really generous on its own, but it does help motivate others to move forward in their lives.
- This Rainbow Dash wields the element of Choice: we can choose whether to follow or betray others, and how we choose isn't necessarily negative.
- This Pinkie Pie wields an element of seriousness: being overly serious makes all the joy in life drain out, but it can help in situations when you need to be focused on a single goal.
- Finally, this Fluttershy wields an element of tough love: doing something not out of meanness or necessarily out of kindness, but "leaning" on someone to push them farther than they've gone before. Sort of a tougher version of the reharmonized Fluttercruel.
- Confirmed at the end of the Wedding Arc.
- They're both chosen as the first one to form a Royal Guard for a princess.
- They develop a relationship with that princess, bonus points for Cadenza looking and acting like Euphie.
- They've each killed someone they knew in the past, and definitely regret doing it, trying to atone for it in various ways.
- For that reason, they're very careful when fighting, always going for non-lethal incapacitation unlike everyone else.
- Their comrades ridicule them on that idealism.
- Their coloring schemes match.
- They've both fought mechas, are extremely talented in combat, and are overall nice guys.
- But the most important one? They both get geassed.
Ironically, the writer has apparently never heard of Code Geass, making this completely coincidental…unlike all the (Western) expies featured in the arc.
- The writer had heard of it - he just didn't care for it. Jossed.
Unfortunately, insanity is not conducive to Moment of Awesome or Funny at all. "Screwball" is actually extremely demented, to the point of being able to violate Rancor because she can't understand that her actions are disturbingly violent, her mind simply does not comprehend pain; she can't recognize that others may be in pain. With the rest of the bearers dead or incapacitated, Apple Pie will see just how demented that thing can be, the life being slowly strangled out from her, but hope does not die out that easily. Where old heroes fall, new heroes are born. "Mad Tiara" wouldn't stand for this kind of injustice, and Minty Pie and her sisters are always ready to assist with Dinky.
And so the end begins and the torch is passed, to a band of young fillies fending off a crazy old mare while their world falls apart around them. What lays after the end of Dark World is for them to decide.
- Jossed. Discord does free Screwball and Mad Tiara, but promptly tells them to leave and strictly forbids them from fighting with the bearers before or after his death, as he cares too much about them to let them die.
- ...is because he is a Stalker with a Crush to Cadence, and is trying to Murder the Hypotenuse, in this case Shining Armor. It seems like he finds power sexy, and what better to love than the ladies with wings and a horn? It'll definitely be interesting to see how he reacts to Chrysalis. He's like Tirek all over again...
- Alternately, he's somehow aware of the plot, knows how important Shining Armor is, and is trying to eliminate him.
- Jossed
- Princess Incestia approves of this WMG!
- His Curb-Stomp Battle against Galaxia is clearly the result of his eating Destruction and Havoc's Avatar. By doing so, Discord was powered well beyond what a 'fully-empowered senior alicorn' i.e. a mature Concept could handle. Galaxia's bewilderment highlights that until he got that power boost, Discord was not a match for her...even during Ragnarok.
- Discord focuses almost exclusively on destructive ways of using his powers, without even trying to find constructive methods for his chaos. Even his 'mercy' acts as an Evil Overlord are simply because those are unexpected and therefore chaotic acts. He uses them to enhance his destructive acts rather than balance them out.
- He's noted to lack the same Healing Factor that Strife and his 'matured' siblings have...the same way Rancor did before she stole and absorbed Destruction's essence and became mature.
Hence, it's clear that Discord still has some growing up to do.
When Fluttercruel "ascended" by become a pure concept of Cruelty, she was hauled off to her uncles, aunts, grandparents and the like, who treated her like her actions in the dark world timeline were all she'd really done. This is in stark contrast to what happened with the alicorns, who treat ascension as an "always there" rather than a "concept was there, but you weren't there" deal like with Fluttershy as the Queen of Cups or how Fluttercruel turned out. This could mean 1 of 2 things. 1. Cruelty is a minor Draconequi trait that doesn't treat ascension the same way the alicorns do. Or 2, and this is the more shocking choice: The Draconequi do NOT share the spirit realm the same way the alicorns do, and are technically secondary to _______(YOU DON'T EXIST!!!!!)__________(OH, hush up Entropy. You have no power here)
- You see, this leads me to the....staggering conclusion that the draconequi as deities actually came SECOND to the Alicorns, and in fact in the time before anything, there was fauna luster and the father, NOT those two along with Havoc and Entropy. However, when those 2 came into existence, like the existence of Typhon in greek myths, they were too powerful to simply ignore, and so a great secret was created in the cosmos that all 4 elders always existed, when in fact, Entropy and Havoc actually were not "always there". (please don't hate me for this you two.)
When a concept gets erased. Like D__T. There's still SOMETHING there. Some undefinable, unquantifiable existence, but it still EXISTS. Not in any term that can be defined by the other Four Primaries, but it DOES have a presence in the universe. It can be considered, imagined, even interacted with.
Maybe THAT is what Azerhorse represents.
The ___ In D__T.
- maybe Jossed. There are in fact 3 interviewers, and they are a Pegasus, a Unicorn, and an Earth Pony. Maybe dead spirits?
- I don't know if it came up in earlier chapters, but Mind Games part 5 has the Earth Pony interviewer speaking with the same accent as the Apples, and the Pegasus has the same type of attitude as Scootaloo, which would seem to further back this theory.
- But, in Mind Games Part 4, the interviewers are described as, "three ponies, one my age, a mare, and a really old unicorn". In addition, when questioned about the interviewers in part 5, Rarity says, "Do I look like I have a purple coat to you?" This indicates that…
- Discord recognizes the little filly interviewer, and tells her to run off to her sisters in MG3.
- In MG2, the youngest & oldest interviewers assign a special meaning to "starting over".
- Also in MG2, the eldest interviewer mentions humans in the G2 era, and claims to know even more about them than just that.
So who's who? Based on the above evidence:
- Earth Pony Filly: Cadence, the youngest of the sisters as an interviewer and in true form.
- Aged Unicorn Mare: Galaxia, the eldest of the sisters, and participated in the Cosmic Retcon of G3 along with Cadence.
Which leaves the middle-aged mare and 5 sisters: Justita, Rota Fortuna, Venus, Imperatrix, Abbatissa. Depending on how Queen Chrysalis is treated, it might be possible to remove Venus from the list.
- Mostly Jossed: Cadence is in-story with her own role, and doesn't know what she really is, and Galaxia was killed by Discord, who then used her body as his new vessel. So, yeah, y'know that body he's been using to manifest since he was first stopped? That's Galaxia's body, warped into a suitable vessel for him since Galaxia destroyed his original body after he was already imprisoned in stone.
- Is starting to look more likely as of the Duel of Tears, as during the fight Twilight turns into a Pegasus in order to fight Traitor Dash.
- It finally makes sense why they would be of different ages. They come from different points in time, simultaneously being from the past and future. The Unicorn interviewer is likely none other than Twilight the Unicorn, G1. The Earth Pony filly? Minty (Pie), G3. The Pegasus certainly acts like TD/RD, and could be Half-Light Noon, an OC from G4.
- There's also the fact that according to "Different From Everypony Else", they're all purple.
- And according to one user's comment, this is almost confirmed, since the author has gone back to the Epilogue timeline.
- Making Golden Tiara the Only Sane Pony, breaking her already damaged mind and painfully piecing it back together so that she can see his chaotic world in all its insane glory — and making her fully aware that her daughter ushered all this in for her sake.
- Semi-confirmed. Golden Tiara is now sane again - with all that entails - but is not aware of Diamond Tiara's recent actions. And seeing that GT passed out about a minute after getting her mind back, she probably won't find out for a while. That being said, the author has stated that now she can't go insane again, and "when Discord turns the whole world crazy, she'll be the odd one out".
- Rendering Diamond Tiara just as mad so that she truly understands her mother's mindset.
- Switching their sanities, effectively 'Screwballing' Diamond while sanitizing Golden — and again, making her aware of what he's done.
- Create a World Gone Mad that to her, makes sense.
- Something darker, like turning Diamond Tiara into some twisted entity for example.
- Got it in one. Diamond Tiara turned into a Nightmare.
- As of Mind Games Part 2, he has overcome his racism with the help of The Interviewers and Silver Tongue.
Not to say that Trixie wouldn't fight for her friends with every iota of will in her body, but she knows when to fold and ask for help, and she knows when to push even harder than she ever has before. Sort of the Simon to Twilight's Kamina. This may make the case for her being an Element of Magic stronger, but she did tap into her Element as Magic, she would be conditionally choosing it instead of it choosing her.
I may be way off base here or just as conflicted as Trixie, but my guess is that she will eventually come out as the Element of Providence or some derivative thereof. (Hope, Ambition, Insight, et al.) The underlying theme being that she is not what keeps the group together, but what keeps the group going past all since of success and focuses the groups efforts into a defined goal over the Friendship is Magic creed. She's the focus of the group, and when all hope is lost, she's the one exploits Loneliness to give her the insight she needs to get the group back on track.
- Jossed, she is an Element of Magic, and additional non-duplicate elements are not in play.
- Jossed, Diamond Tiara was still heading to free him when the Gaia arc transpired, and Gaia was powered by the Elder Horn.
- After looking back over AJ's Dreams, I predict it's going to be Spike or Rainbow Dash.
- Jossed.
- In a way, confirmed, but possibly inverted. While the break presumably allowed Chrysalis to deviate from the actions she saw from the heart world and change her plans, it may also be her undoing as it's why she was taken offguard by things that didn't happen there, such as Blueblood finding Cadence and the Hoofmaidens saving Moondancer.
- Alternately, they won't team up, but Chrysalis will be Disc-One Final Boss to Makarov, by benefit of Applejack's Truth vision exposing Chrysalis early on, leaving the rest of the arc to Makarov.
- Possibly jossed... Possibly not, given that Chrysalis is acting a lot like Makarov was and that they have the same origin. They could just as easily have the same power...
- Comfirmed...sort of. Makarov does reapppear, in a Flashback to his Changeling genocide. Also, in a way, he's responsible for the arc, as his actions were what let Chrysalis see the Heart World and fix the flaws in her plans.
- Jossed. It was actually Trixie in disguise.
Their Marriage was an uneasy one though. Strife thought Mortis focused on the past a little too much, while Mortis sometimes complained that all Strife did was talk about the future. Thankfully, they enjoyed each other's company well enough not to split up. (think, a less violent version of Havoc and Entropy's marriage) And when Mortis mounted Strife, it lead to...complications in their children. War, pestilence, famine. All these things were in part the tools of Strife, but needed Mortis's duty in order for them to mean anything. Oddly enough, both parents loved their children, although they had the odd distinction of being the first dracon-alicorns in existence, and technically not allowed in either realm for too long. (particularly when they visited their father's family).
However, despite their instrumental role in connecting the families, when Ragnarok rolled around, they met briefly before the battle. Strife was happy to go to war, but Mortis just thought that it was a duty he'd never want to perform, as his siblings can't be escorted in the same way mortals are, taking all the joy out of it. So, as the war would ruin ties for eons to come, they had a formal seperation (not divorce, just seperation) right before the first battle. They weren't exactly angry with each other going into the war, but they both understood that their marriage was essentially over, even if they'd have to work together eventually.
Starting Over Again is a Fix Fic to Step Right In and Start Again, in which Starlight gets trapped in an unbreakable, amnesia-inducing time loop for the rest of eternity as a result of messing with Star Swirl's time spell. She outlives everyone and everything, leaving her the last living thing in an empty, pitch-black universe.
In Starting Over Again, Twilight creates a magic crown for Starlight that stores her memories and helps her retain them with each loop, which eventually leads to a much happier ending than the story it was originally based on. Long story short, Starlight invents an immortality potion and shares it with her friends and the rest of Equestria, allowing everyone to ascend into alicorns and explore the universe. The events of that timeline happened because Amicitia gave Spike that little nudge to suggest making the memory crown, the nail that set everything in motion toward a happier ending. And really, doesn't this sound like the kind of thing Amicitia would really want to happen? Not only averting an incredibly tragic ending but turning it into a joyous future?
In the main timeline, Berry drinks all of the whiskey to keep Ruby from drinking any, with the intent of drinking herself to death before she can give in to Discord's offer. But he never said they both had to drink it all in one sitting. If she and Ruby both drank a small, equal-sized amount of the whiskey every day until the bottle was completely empty, it still would have counted. Sure, it's not the most ethical solution, and it would have taken a long time and a lot of patience, but this way, Berry would get her sense of taste back, and she would still be alive to take care of Ruby. (Assuming, of course, that Discord didn't put in an Obvious Rule Patch like refilling the bottle.)
- Virtually all of these have been effectively jossed by the fact Alexwarlorn has no plans to continue the POV series into Season 3, as well as a few other jossings in other cases...
- Jossed
1. Twilight and team harmony try using the elements, which will not work due to extreme dodging skills, just like in Dark World 19.
2. Twilight will use the memory spell at some point as an alternative strategy.
3. Fluttercruel will try tough love tactics, and get no further.
4. We will get a different worse fear for twilight, who will have picked up something different due to her many quests and discoveries of the true nature of equestria.
5. It is the moment that Cadence touches the real crystal heart that her memories of eternity will kick in, and the reaction will be something like from Dark World 3.
- Cadence: I AM FOURTEENTH MI AMORE CADENZA EQUESTRIA. CONCEPT OF MUSIC AND HARMONY. PRINCESS OF BINDS AND JOY! I HAVE RESTORED HARMONY TO THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE, AND DESTROYED THE TYRANT WHO PERVERTED HARMONY ITSELF. WHAT SAY YOU?Crystal Ponies: Long Live Harmony. Long Live Princess Cadence! Long Live the Alicorns! And Long Live her Prince Shining Armor!
- Jossed
- Not jossed by default
- Still possible
- Technically correct.
- Shining Armor: An evil Living Shadow that escaped from a prison he was put in by the gods that's neutralized my magic and is trying to kill me and Cadence. *Sigh* Not again...
- Probably jossed
- In addition, Discord already escaped his prison and has been confirmed by Word of God to be the Final Boss, meaning unless he's turned back to stone, the episode couldn't happen.