Alternative Character Interpretation / My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic

My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic

Given the... questionable morality and characterization present in Starfleet Magic, readers have naturally begun drawing their own conclusions about the characters.

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• The Grand Ruler: benevolent king, or racist tyrant?
  • OR a slothful godking who makes Lightning Dawn and friends do all the dirty work?
  • OR a diabolical mastermind Obfuscating Stupidity who hates three-dimensional personalities that is slowly conquering the universe, one morality-altered planet at a time?
• Unicornicopia: a utopian paradise, or autocratic dystopia?
  • Or too paper-thin and inefficient a dystopia without Lightning Dawn and his merry band?
  • This article argues Starfleet is a fascist society by linking ten of fourteen traits of a fascist society according to "Ur-Fascism" to Starfleet.
• Titan: a villain with no redeeming qualities at all, or a bitter old man who lost his mind because no one ever gave him a chance, leaving turning to the dark side as his only option?
  • Or an Evil Sorcerer who is plagued with Bond Villain Stupidity to a degree similar to a bad Sentai villain?
• Starfleet in general, with its tendencies to act as a multiversal police force and army, can seem like an evil overlord's armed force, making sure that everyone obeys the whims of the Unicornicopian overlords.
  • And even then, the only Starfleet people shown to be any effective at that are Lightning Dawn and co. (Seriously, was there ever a Starfleet Red Shirt that showed their prowess in battle at any point in the series?)
• For that matter, Ace Ray. Is he a bitter washout who badmouths the people who saved his life? Is he going through a hard time in his life and looking for some form of solace when no one will support him? Or is he being unfairly persecuted for daring to speak the truth about the regime?
  • Although he should have simply quietly left said regime as, well, it's nowhere near as effective at security.
• Speaking of Ace Ray, whilst most would agree that him assaulting his sister was wrong and he needed to be arrested for it, his punishment of being sent to an insane asylum for life led some to question Starfleet's true intentions. Is Ace really insane, or are Starfleet just saying that he is so that they have an excuse to keep him permanently locked up so that he can't turn other Equestrians against them? The fact that the narration implies that Starfleet had already been looking for an excuse to arrest him leads some credence to the latter interpretation.
• The mysterious future voices (Future Castor and Lelliani) in Starfleet Magic IV. Helpful guides or sociopaths looking to torment Cadance?
• Brass Bolt: an eventual wannabe terrorist, who will be rebuked or shot by Starfleet in the end, with a possibility he could end up in a worse position than Ace Ray...
  • Or a young naive freedom fighter who actually had the guts to act with haste instead of feeling indifferent like Ace Ray.
  • Or the initiate of actual substance in terms of plot and characterization. Doubtful, but his realistic reaction to the setting gives us a whole new perspective towards the fic...
• Similarly to Brass Bolt, is Windy Bag truly a genocidal maniac, or an ordinary pony who's justifiably angry at Starfleet for uprooting her way of life?
  • Or a Knight Templar who, while she is correct to speak against Starfleet and dislike Pony Mykan Stevens, is wrong to abuse her son, attempt murder of her rival and try to blow up United Equestria?
• As a meta interpretation, are we seeing through the eyes of happy content citizens and heroes of the greater good...
  • Or a brainwashed and indoctrinated society where tyranny rules over their lives without them noticing it? After all, we are always seeing it in the perspective of Lightning Dawn in the lessons he learned which praise Starfleet's methods. The story itself could be inverse propaganda intended for children and the next generation of Unicornicopians. A true Antithesis to MLP FiM's intent. There are a couple of stories that go with this interpretation.
    • Lending credence to the idea that the fic is propaganda are the many inconsistencies and suspicious elements throughout the series. Spike and Rarity are stated to be 5 and 7 years apart on separate occasions. Shining Light and Flurry Heart are also said to be 6 and 7 1/2 months apart in VII and IX respectively. New characters, planets, and even powers seem to come out of nowhere, and then never seen again. Starfleet's universe seems to operate like an RPG game and several elements, like fake explosions, seemed completely unnecessary except for Rule of Cool. Every "season" follows the same basic plot. Characters' names can change for no reason (Cerise Wonder vs. Cerise Magenta). Most of the Big Bads are suspiciously similar in motives, actions, and behavior, and some are copies of each other.
• Raven: Is she genuinely a freelance assassin out for Celestia's blood that invokes fear from Starfleet to the point that they don't want to fight her, or a Starfleet sleeper agent assigned to assassinate Twilight Sparkle, with Starfleet's suspiciously OOC standing orders being a way to ensure her success?
  • Also in regards to Raven, Starfleet's decision not to go after her. Are they being rightfully cautious of a powerful and dangerous foe that they don't know how to defeat, and doing their best to not take any unnecessary risks? Or, are they Dirty Cowards who are willingly letting a dangerous assassin run free and potentially cause more harm and destruction because she might pose a threat to them as well?
• A DeviantArt user by the name of VividSpark argues that En Shi is actually a Tragic Villain whose Social Darwinism stems from her cruel mother forcing her own views that the world is "kill or be killed" onto her daughter.