Fridge Brilliance / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - General

• Meta example: Many episodes have often one big moral and a small one, or two morals bundled together. This makes more sense when you consider that, originally, Hasbro wanted the series to run in two shorts per episode.
• Another meta example: The show shifting between adventure and mundane slice-of-life is makes sense considering both Lauren Faust's philosophy and the show being based on a toy line. Just as there is no single way to be a girl, there is no one right way to play with My Little Pony.
• Luna's popularity suddenly makes sense when you realize she's the only dark horse of the ensemble of characters, making her a literal Ensemble Dark Horse.
• Half of the ponies have a cutie mark specific to their race.
  • Twilight Sparkle was originally a unicorn and had a magic cutie mark.
  • Rainbow Dash is a pegasus and has a flying cutie mark.
  • Applejack is an Earth pony, which are stronger and more connected to the Earth than other ponies. As such, her cutie mark relates to farming.
• Why the Mane Six, despite having by now saved Equestria more than once, are still treated like normal ponies and not like heroes? While this with NM can be excused, as everything happened so fast that nopony seemed to know if Celestia was saved or if she freed herself, after Discord there was no excuse, as the Mane Six even had a celebration as heroes at the end of the episode. So how's that possible? Well, considering that Celestia seems to care giving the girls a possibility to live their life as normal ponies, she probably asked everypony present to still treat them as such (and since everypony seems a it intimidated by her... well, you can imagine how eagerly they obeyed). It also helps the fact that only Ponyville's ponies seemed to be present (probably because Discord's chaos never touched Canterlot, or barely touched it), and that no journalist or reporter were seen at the celebration.
  • Of course, ponies saving the world seems to be something everypony is used to by now.
• Why is it that Spitfire, Soarin', and Fleetfoot all have the same windswept hairstyle? Because as Wonderbolts, they're almost always flying.
• It's stated right up front that Princess Celestia raises and lowers the sun. As is pointed out elsewhere on this wiki, the sun continues to rise and set without Celestia actively controlling it. How is she managing it? Well, if you'll go to her Characters listing, you'll notice that the Bishie Sparkle trope is listed, pointing out that she does have a subtle sparkle about her at all times. The only time we ever see these sparkles is when there is magic in effect. ^note Especially when it's twilight out. *ducks a thrown shoe* Celestia is using the latent magic in her body to control the sun passively while she goes about her normal business.
• Rarity's diamond cutie mark and her capacity to work hard (as shown in her many sewing scenes) take on another layer of meaning when one realises that diamonds, apart from being a symbol of wealth and beauty, are also used as the point of especially powerful grindstones.
• Applejack's name still fits the theme naming in the Apple family, despite not being any specific dish or cultivar of apple: Applejack, as in jack-of-all-trades. She specializes in apples in general, as evidenced in her variety of different dishes she offered to Twilight in The Ticket Master.
  • Actually no, it fits all too well, considering her role as the main cider maker of the Apple family in "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000". Applejack is actually the name for a strong apple cider made by freeze distillation (the slang term for this type being "to jack something"), hence the cider she's been giving to the ponies is actually hard alcoholic cider.
  • Watch that episode again; they are clearly crushing the apples into apple juice, and possibly adding spices. They are also making the cider right there, leaving no time for fermentation, and they certainly don't have a freeze unit. Unless they're doing something magical, there's no way it is alcoholic.
    • Not that cider, perhaps. In U.S. English, the word for alcoholic cider is "hard cider", in Imperial English, it's "cider". Then again, given the faces of many ponies waiting to buy, it's quite clear that the creative team knew about this discrepancy and played it to the hilt. Also alcoholic cider is made from a very different kind of apple than soft cider. Alcoholic cider is made from cider apples, which have almost no resemblance to eating apples. It's perfectly possible the Apple family makes and sells hard cider off-screen.
• At first, it may seem that the only reason Equestria is so matriarchal (both rulers are female, as is the mayor of Ponyville, as were the three historical leaders, including a commander who ruled over militaristic society) is because the show is targeted at girls, considering how in the real world, most leaderships have always been male-dominated (even today). But those who are familiar with horses' herd behavior know that it's always the lead mare who is in charge, having the most authority and deciding where the herd will go, so it makes perfect sense that ponies would instinctively choose females for their leaders.
  • In "Hearth's Warming Eve", Fluttershy refers to the character played by Rainbow Dash as "sir" so it's pretty safe to say that within the fictional universe of the show the real in-universe historical pegasus military leader Rainbow Dash is playing in the performance was actually male in reality.
    • Confimed by Word of God: Commander Hurricane was male, despite being played in the pageant by Rainbow Dash.
  • However there are still male ponies that are in positions of power such as Shining Armor who is captain of the Royal guard, Prince Blueblood and the Sheriff of Appeloosa. Though Blueblood hasn't really shown any power beyond a title... More importantly, Shining Armor and the Sheriff being military or defensive figures fits with horse psychology, as the males are supposed to fight.
• The Elements of Harmony require a very powerful bond between the users to work at full power — for example, the bond of friendship between the Mane Cast, or the bond of siblings between Luna and Celestia. So, how could it work with Celestia on her own? Celestia used them to protect her little sister until she could be restored to normal. The bond was still there, despite NM's actions. Celestia was essentially saying to Luna, "I am so, so sorry about this, but I've got to stop you hurting yourself further. I'm doing this because I love you, and I will never forgive myself for what you're going to go through from now on." Awwww!
  • To continue, this is why Celestia can't use the Elements again during the series—after she locked Luna away, their bond was never the same.
    • On another note, it's entirely possible that the reason Celestia couldn't revert NM back to Luna was the emotional stress Celestia had to deal with, as is evident in Princess Twilight Sparkle, Part 2 where we see Celestia crying as she banishes NM to the moon. The heart ache disrupted the Elements' power and could only banish NM. The Mane 6 had little knowledge of Luna and, thus, no reason to hold back.
• It's baffling why Spike's crush had to be Rarity, out of all the Mane Six, until there's a realization that Spike's Trademark Favorite Food is gemstones, which happen to be Rarity's cutie mark.
  • Fridge Brilliance regarding Spike's massive crush on Rarity; despite being a dragon, he was hatched and raised by a pony. He thinks like a pony. And with all the fairy tales in Twilight's collection... why, Rarity's like the princess from all those bedtime stories. Proof with "A Dog and Pony Show" where he pictures himself a brave knight knocking the ruffians into next week to rescue the pretty mare. Realizing that is what can put one right in that shipper camp.
  • Add to that Rarity has the vice of greed (albeit juxtaposed by being the Element of Generosity). Spike, being a dragon, is easily corrupted by greed, and also matures at a faster rate when affected by it. As displayed in "Secret of My Excess", Rarity has the ability to both provoke and neutralize this side of Spike. Add to that, being paired with a greedy yet compassionate partner like Rarity would likely lead him to age at faster rate, albeit possibly without the worry of transforming into an outright selfish, feral beast. Under this theory, Rarity makes the ideal "life partner" for Spike he would likely have to worry less about a somewhat tragic Mayfly–December Romance with.
    • Going along with this theme, it makes sense that Spike would admire someone who not only has the same vice he has, but is (usually) a model of self-control in successfully dealing with it. Rarity is proof positive that greed doesn't always have to win, which would be a very attractive thing to Mr. Noble Dragon Code.
  • Rarity is a Unicorn. The only other unicorn in the Mane 6 is Twilight, who is basically Spike's sister (or, given what happened in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, may even be his legal mother). Spike might be attracted to Unicorns in general because of the amount of time he spent with Twilight, especially since he probably never got to interact with anyone else since Twilight never seemed to socialize before the first episode.
    • Actually, in the first episode, it's implied that Spike has had some interactions with other unicorns; Twilight knows other unicorns by name (and is known in return), she just never had any interest in spending time with them. In fact, Rarity is Spike's second crush; when we first see Spike, he's upset over accidentally wrecking a present for a unicorn mare named Moondancer, which is evidently an old matter given how Twilight reacts.
  • There's a fic where Spike's explaining why he liked Rarity. Her looks were brought up but the main reason? To quote the fic, "Her first instinct is for herself, but she knows that and she tries as hard as she can to overcome it." And he knows her generosity is real because of her element.
  • Another reason for Spike falling for Rarity at first sight can be attributed to the nature of dragons. In mythology dragons are commonly known to be naturally obsessed with objects of beauty and wealth, especially if they're a rarity. Considering how much Rarity parallels a gemstone, it's only natural Spike would be attracted to her.
• There's another interesting thing about the Mane Six — when you pair each pony of the same type (unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony), their personalities seem to be quite opposite to each other — which fits perfectly with the idea of them being harmonic.
  • Twilight Sparkle - Rarity: Twilight doesn't care in the least about her looks (she happily wears an unfinished dress made by Rarity, saying that it's simple and practical, like her, and she even dresses as a male wizard for Nightmare Night), whereas Rarity hates it whenever something messes up her appearance.
  • Rainbow Dash - Fluttershy: Rainbow Dash is a tomboy, extrovert, and excellent flier, whereas Fluttershy is more girly, shy, and more comfortable on the ground.
  • Pinkie Pie - Applejack: Pinkie Pie is a Cloud Cuckoo Lander, Applejack is sensible and down to earth. ^note *ducks a thrown shoe*
• Why can't Rainbow Dash seem to get into the Wonderbolts when she has proven time and again she is the fastest in Equestria? Because speed and skill are different matters all together. Dash gets distracted and crashes all the time. She also has never shown that she is good at working in a team of flyers. Think of it like figure skating; just because someone is the best single skater, that doesn't mean they will make a good member of a team.
  • Besides, Rainbow Dash pretty much idolizes the Wonderbolts and despite her usual confidence and bravado, she often feels insecure about her performance not being good enough to be admitted. In the first 2 seasons, she spends a lot of time practicing her moves in order to achieve the minimal skill level (she considers) a Wonderbolt must have, and she even gets hurt a few times while practicing particularly dangerous maneuvers. It's only by Season 3, after she had learned to use the Sonic Rainboom at will, that she considers herself ready enough to send an application to Wonderbolts Academy.
  • The whole Academy episode itself pretty much confirms this. Lightning Dust is as good a flier as Dash, possibly even better, but she is eventually drummed out for being too reckless and endangering others while Dash's more even-tempered approach gets her promoted to team leader. In a sense, Lightning Dust's fate is exactly how Rainbow Dash would have fared had she gone into the Academy before becoming friends with Twilight and company and learning that it's not all about being the fastest all the time.
• The whole "wingboner" thing seems pretty idiotic... until you see a moment in Dragonshy when Twilight uses her teeth to grab Fluttershy's wing by biting it, resulting in an agonized/aroused look from Fluttershy. This, though not definitively, proves that a pegasus's wings could be an erogenous zone.
  • It is canon that pegasus ponies' wings get stiff in response to various emotions, like anger, fear, excitement, etc., so why not sexual arousal? Not to mention that when you look at mating horses, you will notice that wings would only get in the way of the forelegs, so it would actually make sense for female pegasus to have them standing up during the act.
• A thought recently occurred with Pinkie Pie's random bursts into song. For the most part, most characters don't mind or at least tolerate Pinkie when she does this. However, there are at least three occasions where her songs backfire spectacularly: "Over a Barrel", "Best Night Ever", and "Baby Cakes." What do these situations have in common that few, if any, of Pinkie's other song moments don't? She's trying to be entertaining. Most of the time when she starts singing, it's just her having fun without thinking much about what she's doing. But on those occasions, she was making a special effort to be entertaining, and it failed because she was trying too hard.
• Fluttershy is appropriately named for two reasons. Obviously, she's a very shy pony. Less obviously, shying in equestrian terms (The sport, not the magical land) is the act of a horse jumping in fright, usually at a sudden movement or unfamiliar object, something that Fluttershy does quite often.
  • You noticed the jargon-based Bilingual Bonus, but not the one right in front of everyone, and almost lampshaded by Apple Jack being named Apple Teeny (Appletini). Perhaps a subtle "we got crap past the radar" on both Hasbro and the show.
  • Ironically, Fluttershy's name is actually a play on "shutterfly", a slang term for someone who likes to take photos. Her G3 persona was a shutterfly, but Lauren Faust changed her personality while keeping her name for the show.
  • Also, "Fluttershy" sounds a suspicious lot like "Butterfly"... Wait, what is her Cutie Mark? Butterflies.
  • Or she's reluctant to fly. "Flutter-shy".
  • Going all the way back to G1, there was a type of pony called "Flutter Ponies". What's the first thing The Other Wiki tells us about them? "Flutter Ponies are shy..." (emphasis mine) Really, the name is perfect in so many ways...
    • Also Rosedust, the Queen of the Flutter Ponies, had a yellow coat and a pink mane. Just like Fluttershy. And Rosedust's cutie mark is three pink roses, which isn't all that different from Fluttershy's three pink butterflies.
• For any a fan of Fluttershy, anypony who felt through the series that she's gotten the short end of the stick, getting comparatively little focus compared to the other main characters. But then, she probably wouldn't want so much attention anyway.
• Okay, so we have the five of the six Elements of Harmony: honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, and loyalty, with the sixth being... magic? Each of the others seems to have a sort of sentimental value to them, but magic seems out of place. Then you remember what the title of the show is: Friendship is Magic. So the sixth element can be interchangeably called either magic or friendship, or even the magic of friendship.
  • Well, it could also be an alternate name for chemistry between friends that children would understand, because friendship does require that you get along together as well.
  • This especially makes sense with The Return of Harmony Part 2. Twilight doesn't fall to Discord's corruption until she stops seeing the others as her friends. If her Element truly was just magic on its own, she would have fallen the moment Discord took away her horn.
• Everyone in Applejack's family has an apple-related name, but there's an initial headscratch about Big Macintosh. Then upon seeing his Cutie Mark, an apple with a piece missing, there's a realization that it's a reference to Macintosh computers, which are manufactured by the company Apple, and have an apple with a bite missing as their logo.
  • That's true, but there is an actual type of apple called McIntosh Red. Which is why Apple Computers came out with a line called Macintosh.
  • A closer look shows you his mark isn't a full apple, but the interior of one. Apple Corps (pronounced as "apple core") was the name of the company founded by The Beatles. Many of the records pressed by Apple Records featured a full apple on the A-side and an open apple on the B-side.
  • Also, if any of you were wondering what relation Granny Smith has with the Apple motif, green apples come from a seed type called "Granny Smith", named after its main promoter, Maria Ann Smith.
• Ever notice the colors of Celestia's mane are pink, purple, and blue? Colors frequently associated with the sky at sunrise?
  • Some people say that it's supposed to be an aurora borealis, which is associated with solar wind. This also explains why it's constantly flowing like it's being blown.
  • Also, the particular shade of blue in her mane? It's also called Celeste. Hello, Stealth Pun!
  • Her hair's almost certainly based on auroras, when you consider that Aurora was the Roman goddess of the dawn, and sister to the moon goddess, Luna.
  • Another thing about their design. Celestia wears gold, and Luna wears silver. The elements gold and silver were assumed to be dominated by the sun and the moon, respectively.
• Twilight mentions that Spike's breath always stinks, but how good would your breath be if you ate gemstones and breathed fire?
  • Hence the term "Dragon Breath".
  • Disagree. Gemstones are generally odorless, and, fire, or rather the accompanying smoke, often has a pleasant aroma.
  • The explosive chemical cocktail required to fuel flame, on the other hand, probably stinks.
  • What probably causes Spike's chronic breath problem is that dragon fire (just as hellfire) is usually associated with sulfur fumes, basically hydrogen sulfide, which smells just like rotten eggs. Poor Spike.
    • Actually, the natural gas is odorless. They have to _add_ the rotten egg smell so people know when there's a leak.
    • The gas used to heat homes is odorless. Hydrogen sulfide is the source of the rotten egg smell in that gas. It is also a natural product of active volcanoes, thus the hellfire association. And it explodes if put in contact with nitric acid.
  • Plus, Spike's diet is an Extreme Omnivorous one. He eats things ponies find disgusting, like the worms and mud muffins a sleep deprived Applejack baked and Pinkie Pie later threw to the garbage. If he has this kind of snack regularly, added to whatever substance his body produces in order to create his dragon fire, well...
• It's been noted that all of the mane cast have had Sanity Slippage moments. What isn't noticed is that they all have one thing in common: they occur when a pony's talent with their special skill comes into question. Applejack worked herself to the breaking point because she thought her ability to run Sweet Apple Acres was under fire, Twilight Sparkle started to crack when her magical power backfired, Rarity was depressed when clothes she made were seen as ugly, Rainbow Dash became terrified that she wasn't a good enough flier, Pinkie Pie nearly lost it when she thought her parties didn't make people happy anymore, and Fluttershy flipped out when she encountered animals she couldn't befriend.
  • Reddit refers to it as Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome, or CMFIS for short.
  • You left out Luna; she turned evil when the night, which she brought, went unappreciated.
  • Fluttershy's emotional explosion at the Gala could be seen as a miniature version of what happened to Luna, aka Nightmare Moon. To quote the fanfic "Merely a Mare",
    '"What would you do if you wanted to show your affection for some creatures, to guide them and provide for them, to play with them and enjoy their company, and they shunned you? Fled from your domain and presence? Rejected your gifts and spurned your love? How well would you take it?"'
  • There's also a theme in how each pony snaps during those scenes. When a pony cracks, her personality becomes the opposite of her typical demeanor. Applejack changed from dependable to completely unreliable. Twilight Sparkle is usually logical, but came up with a nonsense plan that had no basis in reality. Rarity is normally gregarious, wanting admiration from others, but became reclusive to the point of considering self-imposed exile. Rainbow Dash is brash and determined, but began literally cowering and quivering in doubt. Pinkie Pie personifies pep, but turned gloomy and cantankerous. And Fluttershy, who is normally very reserved, became explosively expressive.
  • Rarity also had a more subtle one is "Sonic Rainboom". She usually puts helping others above all else, but ended up completely self-centered, ignoring Rainbow Dash in favor of an absurd amount of narcissism. She also made an incredible tacky outfit.
  • So far, Season 2 supports this, with Twilight going bonkers again when she felt she was being a bad student. Remember, she got her cutie mark at the same time Celestia took her on as a student.
  • This suggests Luna's normal personality will be soft-spoken and approachable.
  • Sort of. She's a bit of a royal loudmouth in Luna Eclipsed, and she's hardly "approachable" when she announces everything so loudly that her booming ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE can create gusts of wind and she insists upon referring to herself in the majestic plural. But it turns out this is only because she has no idea how to deal with the Ponyville residents in modern times.
  • By season 3, given enough time to become acclimated to modern pony society and learn that said Royal Voice was anachronistic, she has become as soft-spoken and gentile as her sister, just as predicted.
  • It's possible that CMFIS isn't just limited to creatures with cutie marks. Spike's special goal in life is to assist Twilight. In "Owl's Well That Ends Well", he's worried about being replaced, which would result in him not being Twilight's assistant anymore. This causes him to temporarily become a villain.
  • Similarly, when Discord is temporarily robbed of his Chaos bringing powers, he, in a reversal of the usual, becomes lucid, humble and easy to comprehend.
• It's hilarious enough that Pinkie Pie is the one singing Equestria Girls, which is a parody of Katy Perry's California Gurls. But when you remember that the original music video takes place in Candyland, you realize that Pinkie Pie was THE PERFECT CHOICE.
  • She also seems to be singing to the viewers (even using the word "bronies"), which makes sense as well since she is known to break the fourth wall.
• There's a number of things that make Twilight Sparkle stand out from her friends in Ponyville. She was born and raised in the big city of Canterlot, while most of the other ponies are either native to Ponyville (Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie) or have lived there a while (Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy). More subtly, her coat and mane are darker colors than the brightly-colored Ponyvillers, and her name is the only one out of the main six with four syllables instead of three.
  • Rainbow Dash is probably also native to Ponyville. Applejack's and Pinkie's perspectives agree that she flew directly to Ponyville after getting her cutie mark, before she even decelerated below Mach 1... perhaps because she wanted to show her parents? It's stated, by Scootaloo, in Cutie Mark Chronicles that Rainbow Dash is from Cloudsdale. She probably wasn't paying attention to where she was going after the Sonic Rainboom, caught up in the adrenaline rush of flying so fast. Also, the show seems to imply that Cloudsdale is somewhere near Ponyville.
  • Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders follow the Rule of Three in multiple ways. Aside from being a trio of three different types of ponies (an earth pony, a pegasus, and a unicorn), they also all have three syllables in their names. (A-pple Bloom, Scoo-ta-loo, and Swee-tie Belle)
  • Additionally, Twilight's cutie mark is the only one that does not have a three part pattern (though Rainbow Dash may also seem like an exception at first, the rainbow lighting bolt is comprised of blue, yellow, and red, the three primary colors).
    • Her cutie mark is 3 parts: white star, purple star on-top, surrounded by white stars◊.
    • In fact, the only other main character with a four syllable name is Ce-les-ti-a; not even Nightmare Moon and Luna have it.
    • Where does that leave Pin-ka-me-na Di-ane Pie?
    • She grew up in an even more rural area (re. "Cutie Mark Chronicles"), we can assume that their custom is middle names.
• One from the Web Original folder. PONIES: The Anthology opens with a shot-for-shot remake of Kanye West's "Power", with Princess Celestia in the center — consider that she had to control both sun and moon after exiling her sister. "No one man should have all that power" indeed.
  • No one mare should have all that friendship!
• Some fanworks portray background pony Carrot Top as a rival farmer to Applejack. In Real Life, carrots turn bitter when they're stored with apples.
• The astrophysics equations on the chalkboard in a non-college-level school, and, to a lesser extent, Twilight Sparkle writing a detailed essay on meteors, make perfect sense once you realize that the ruler(s) of Equestria are the anthropomorphic (hippomorphic?) personifications (ponifications?) of celestial bodies. Not only are such matters of greater intrinsic interest than they would be to humans, but you have someone around who can probably casually answer at least certain types of questions WAY before the technology to answer them actually exists. Gets a little weird when you think too hard about the sisters raising the sun and the moon each day, but...
  • It's highly likely that Equestria is a geocentric world. The sun and the moon might be placed in celestial spheres, like the ancient Greeks believed. One alternate explanation is that their planet is so saturated with magic that it has seriously messed up the ecosystem. Not only do unicorns have to raise the sun and moon, but the pegasi have to bring about the weather.
    • There's actually a much simpler explanation for this: the school in Ponyville is a traditional one-room schoolhouse of the kind that was common in the United States in the nineteenth century. It is likely, therefore, that many other grades meet in the same schoolroom. Those equations were probably left on the blackboard from the previous class, which was probably an AP Physics class, or the Equestrian equivalent. Notice that Cheerilee comes into the room as if this were the first class of the day for her and her students, and that her lesson is on cutie marks, not anything to do with astrophysics.
    • Since when has the school only had one room? We know that the door to Cheerilee's classroom isn't the door to the front of the school, so having multiple rooms is the only reasonable explanation, which also explains why there are students aside from those in Cheerilee's class. And before that you say that the building is too small for multiple rooms, none of the buildings in the show have enough room for the interior spaces.
• Fridge Brilliance - Before you renounce Scootaloo or the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders as Scrappies, consider this. Scoot idolizes Rainbow Dash, and the older Pegasus doesn't seem to get the whole "discovering who you are" part of gaining a cutie mark either. So Scootaloo isn't gonna get it because Rainbow doesn't get it. And as the de facto leader of the Crusaders, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are just going to be strung along with Scoot's (innocent) cluelessness until she realizes the right way to get a cutie mark. Besides that, Scootaloo is just a KID. We can't really expect her to do the right thing just yet.
  • It's doubtful if Scootaloo should be considered the leader of the CMC. As long as we're assuming one exists at all, Apple Bloom is probably a better fit. Scootaloo is too impulsive and Sweetie Belle too timid. Apple Bloom is the group's jack-of-all-trades in this respect. She's also had more screen time overall, which should count for something. However, as implied, the group acknowledges any kind of hierarchy (even informal). Each filly respects the others' opinions, and no one character is shown consistently acting as a driving force for the others in any of their featured episodes.
• Not sure whether this is Fridge Brilliance or Fridge Horror, but there are three buildings in Ponyville with straw floors. Two of them are barns: the pig pen in The Show Stoppers, and the barn Pinkie's birthday party is held in in Party of One. Straw is used for barn floors because it is absorbent, and makes cleaning up after animals easier. What's the third building with a straw floor? Cheerilee's schoolhouse.
  • Neither; that's probably fridge humor.
    • It's a much more logical reason; somepony's gonna bring their new puppy for show and tell. And even ignoring the... first reason we all thought of, think of what happens in little kid classes; arts and crafts. Water and glue is easier to get rid of if it falls on straw as opposed to carpet. And, they might have snack time and/or their lunches in the class, so spills would again be better. It's like giving everypony napkins — but a lot quicker, especially since most little fillies wouldn't have the ability to pick them up. Even the unicorns probably haven't grasped that ability yet.
    • The problem with that, of course, is that these things are all true of real-world preschools and kindergartens, but nopony has seen one with straw floors — though, admittedly, it would probably be a good idea.
    • Doing this in the real world would carry the risk that the young children would eat the straw that everyone's been walking on. For a species that could eat stepped-on grass no problem, this isn't as much of a concern.
• Rainbow Dash is Fluttershy's foalhood friend, Pinkie Pie's prank partner, and Applejack's athletic adversary. In turn, Fluttershy and Rarity are fashionistas. It means that, long after her sonic rainboom, Rainbow Dash continues to be a keystone in the Mane 6's friendship! Poor Twilight must still feel isolated, though.
  • Not really, since Twilight's quest to stop Nightmare Moon is what really brought the Mane Six together as a whole.
• It's interesting to look how gems are treated in the series; to ponies, precious stones are Worthless Yellow Rocks useful only as fashion decoration and generally not seen as all that interesting by anyone but Rarity, who incorporates them into clothing designs, and Spike, who eats them. Part of this could be related to how common gems appear to be in Equestria, but it also makes sense that ponies would have learned not to get too attached to the primary food of dragons; only the Diamond Dogs appear to hoard gems, and they're in places where the gems are not only easier to get at but relatively safe from dragons. Gems being important to dragons and nothing but baubles to ponies also explains why the red and green dragon get aggressive in their respective episodes beyond simple territorial matters; the Red dragon actually seems fairly even-tempered if stubborn, but he gets rather irate when Rarity makes a move on his hoard in the way someone else might get pissed at a total stranger waltzing into their home and helping themselves to the pantry. The green dragon overreacts worse because not only is his food supply being invaded by a stranger, it's another young dragon doing it.
  • When has anyone in the show considered gems worthless? And if gems are a primary food for dragons, why does Spike consider them treats and the teen dragons consider it party food, while the red adult only kept gems that were part of jewelry?
• Fluttershy and Rarity receive, possibly, the most "clopping" references on Youtube videos featuring them, among the Mane 6. Why do /b/ronies like them so much? Fluttershy is obvious; she fits the "Moe" archetype almost perfectly. Rarity? If this were a harem anime, she'd probably be the Tsundere. ^note Must...not...write AU harem anime fanfic...
  • Go ahead and write a harem fic if you want.
    • It's called The Unexpected Love Life of Dusk Shine. Enjoy!
  • Except there is nothing remotely tsundere about Rarity. In terms of harem anime stereotypes, she's most definitely Ojou.
    • Rainbow Dash is the likely candidate for a Tsundere.
• The order in which Twilight Sparkle befriended the other ponies cannot have been an accident. Applejack is first. She is forthright, down to earth, and hard working; in other words, she's the pony who is most like Twilight. Fluttershy is second. She's awfully timid, but her compassion and gentle nature make for someone who is almost universally beloved. Pinkie Pie is third. Pinkie is... shall we say... unique, but her cheerful nature lets her laugh at the unknown when it is most terrifying. Rarity is fourth. She is very socially conscious and seems to focus on appearances, which mean nothing to Twilight, but in the right circumstances, her generosity rises to the fore. Rainbow Dash is fifth, and last. Her relationship to Twilight had been the most negative, and even briefly antagonistic, but she sacrificed a shot at her heart's desire without a single regret, and that allowed Twilight to see a very different side to her personality.
  • Lampshaded horribly in Better Living Through Science and Ponies: GLaDOS suggests Celestia bribed them into being her friends.
    • Twilight befriended Rainbow Dash before she befriended Rarity. The result of her meeting Rainbow Dash was what led to her meeting Rarity, in any significant manner anyway. On that note, she "met" Pinkie last, or first if you consider her scream to be "meeting" Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy was third if you count Pinkie Pie. Also, counting Pinkie Pie, Applejack was second.
• Speaking of GLaDOS and Celestia, has anyone noticed that the two are slowly becoming more and more similar? Both are the dominant powers over their respective domains, both maintain a nuclear reaction, both have a thing for "testing" in some form or another, and both have made themselves infamous for trolling. Both are mostly white with yellow/gold accents, and now, both have a thing for cake that neither will live down. Both have, as of "A Canterlot Wedding," appeared suspended from the ceiling. There are other similarities, but it's clear just from those listed that we may have a Princess CelestiOS on the way in a future episode...
• While most likely introduced to play with the show's usual format, having others besides Twilight Sparkle write Friendship Reports is a very significant moment in-universe. She was so busy freaking out about missing her report that the once socially awkward Twilight failed to realize that the reason she hadn't learning something new about Friendship that week was simply because she'd learned so much in her time in Ponyville that she didn't have as much to learn as she did at the start. Now that others are involved in the Friendship Reports, though, lessons that Twilight herself might not have encountered for some time, if at all, are now also brought to the forefront.
• There's been some conflicted feelings in the fanbase lately, mostly because in the second half of season two Spike has gotten less screen time. The one upside is that fan-favorite Big Macintosh has been promoted to a larger role. Then it hit me, usually (but not always) Big Mac has a bigger part in episodes where Spike is missing or has diminished screen time (like in "The Sisterhooves Social", "Family Appreciation Day", "The Last Roundup", "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000", and "Hearts and Hooves Day"), they're making The One Guy a rotating position. Right now, it switches between the two of them, but as time goes on, the possibility of other male characters (like Caramel, Blues, Bluegrass, or Doctor Whooves) opens up. This allows them to use more of the male characters without having to take away from the Mane Six.
• In the concept art, Pinkie Pie was a pegasus and Fluttershy was an earth pony. Though Fluttershy does fly, she tends to run and jump like her earthbound friends. Also, in Winter Wrap Up, Fluttershy is on the Animal team when many of the pegasi are on the Weather team.
  • Conversely, Pinkie Pie takes to the skies at any opportunity. She skips and jumps constantly, she owns a flying contraption (Griffon The Brush-Off), she uses the balloon to observe the race (Fall-Weather friends), and she's the first to field-test the cloudwalking spell (Sonic Rainboom). One fancomic suggests that she has pegasus heritage. (Many fans also suspect Fluttershy of having an earth pony in her family tree, which would explain her bad flying and amazing animal rapport.)
• This fan interpretation of those two important-looking ponies alongside the Mayor.
• Why does everyone always dictate their letters to Spike? He's the only one with fingers!
• Some people were complaining about the CMC having so many episodes. But remember, they were originally intended to have a spinoff that never surfaced. Naturally they'd do something with all the episode ideas they probably came up with if they were planning to make an entire series around them.
• Pinkie's "Pinkie Sense" makes a lot more sense when you consider she was named "Surprise" in the early concept.
• A massive fanbase, needless to say, has a large amount of fanfiction. In a good amount of the fanfiction (especially if it's romance-centric), the completely female Mane 6 are more than often paired with each other (Twilight Sparkle/Rarity, Rainbow Dash/Applejack) rather than with male background characters. There are even background females that are pair up a number of times (Lyra/Bon-bon, Octavia/Vinyl). The love and tolerance moral lessons from the show must be having its effect, because nopony has seen a fanbase more accepting towards same-sex relationships, ponies or not.
  • That kind of falls apart when ship fanart like Big Mac/Braeburn together gets put on ponibooru and flamed for being "faggy".
    • They are essentially cousins. Homosexuality is one thing, incest is another. Plus, it's ponibooru...
  • However, one should note that same sex relationships are common in any fandom where a gender outweighs the other such as South Park or Red vs. Blue.
  • Also this expose on sexism in the MLP fandom reveals that lesbian fans are actually very much discriminated against, meaning that the fan's apparent "acceptance" of lesbianism extends only toward fictional characters.
• It's a little strange how Twilight is capable of regularly staying up all night studying without any repercussions. Then upon remembering that horses in general only need about 3 hours worth of sleep to function properly.
• Many people wondered why Luna was so ignorant of modern protocol in "Luna Eclipsed." After all, as a princess, she would have to deal with lots of ponies, especially in a city the size of Canterlot. But "A Canterlot Wedding" shows that she doesn't live in Canterlot, and only flies in to cover the night shift. "Luna Eclipsed" really was the first occasion where she dealt with modern ponies outside of business.
• A small one, but... Gummy is named Gummy because his name is a play on the candy called gummy worms. In this case, he's a 'gummy wyrm', as in a dragon or a lizard. Just the sort of thinking Pinkie would do.
  • Wait, how would she even know what a "wyrm" is? That's a word you'd expect to hear from Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville's little answer to any question one might ask. And the only other member of the Mane Cast to keep a baby reptile in her home. In other words, the one pony Pinkie Pie would ask for guidance on how to take care of her new pet baby alligator.
  • Pinkie named him Gummy because he has no teeth. Though it wouldn't put it past the writers to be playing a pun-game with us.
  • If any pony besides Twilight would know what a 'wyrm' is, it's Pinkie. She has shown a knowledge of obscure facts and trivia before, and her knowing what a 'wyrm' is isn't that far-fetched an idea.
• The Unusual Euphemism "horse feathers." Considering the three pony races spent a long time not getting along, it's entirely plausible that pegasi might molt regularly, and carelessly leave their lost feathers lying around in places where the earth ponies might find them to be a nuisance. Most Real Life profanity refers to something unpleasant, after all.
  • There's a Shout-Out in there as well... "Horse apples!", on the other hand, is just toilet humour.
• Spike was hatched before Twilight even started going to school. Therefore, say if Twilight was around 4-7 years old in human ages (even younger if the ponies age like normal horses) when he hatched, Spike would only be a few years younger than the Mane 6. If the ponies were in their early twenties, Spike would be in his late teens. He just hasn't matured yet, as dragons age differently than ponies. This makes Rarity and Spike's relationship a bit less Squick-y.
  • Or Spike is literally 10-12 and the Mane Six are 15-17. Considering Spike has essentially lived like a pony, besides his diet, it's kind of a stretch to say he's 17 while they're 23.
• The Age of the Main cast is actually calculable.
  • All the Mane Six got their cutie marks on the same day, which Applejack and Fluttershy being the last in their class, Rainbow Dash being the first in her class, and the others undetermined (presumably middle of the pack).
  • The Apple Family reunion is held every 100 moons (episode: Apple Family Reunion). Presuming a 12 month year, this means it's held every 8.3 years
    • As evidenced by "Princess Twilight Sparkle", the first three seasons all take place in one year. In Episode 1, there is an Apple Family Reunion. In Season 3, there is an Apple Family Reunion. There's contradiction in your testimony, good sir/lady. As such, OBJECTION!
  • Applejack was a baby (<1) at one reunion
  • Therefore, Applejack is 8, 17, 25, or 30 as of season 3 (and as indicated in Princess Twilight Sparkle) all 3 of the first seasons occurred in 1 year.
  • The fillies are ~12-16, given that they have a full school newspaper.
  • In Sweetie Belle's Nightmare it's shown that Rarity was already an adult at Sweetie's 5th Birthday. Therefore, they cannot be 8 or 17 (as 7 years previous would make her younger than Sweetie is currently)
  • It's pretty obvious that they are not 30 due to relative immaturity and being apparently quite early in their careers.
  • Therefore, Applejack is 25 in the first three seasons. This would make Fluttershy 25, the rest of the cast 23-24, and Rainbow 23 or younger
  • Addendum: in Pinkie's Pride, Rainbow's Cake has 21 visible candles. If the pattern follows on the other side, there are 35. The full count is excluded as being too high for her apparent youth. If she was only 20 during the initial seasons, that would make her significantly younger than the others and would fit with her actions at various points in the series)
• The trading cards have canonized several Fan Nicknames — except for a certain hourglass-cutie-marked male alleged Time Lord. (His official name is Time Turner fyi.) And then it hits you — "Doctor Who" was never a character name in the show to begin with.
  • They still made it a reference to our favorite Time Lord. Time Turner. Doesn't the TARDIS normally spin on its axis while in flight? And if you value your life, please don't take a shot for every day the Doctor's saved by turning his enemies on one another and/or themselves.
    • Come to think of it, Time Turners are Harry Potter time travel devices with hourglasses on them. Coincidence?
    • Furthermore, The Doctor enjoys the Harry Potter book series, and since his normal pseudonym would hardly fit in Equestria...
• As noted in Headscratchers: "Word of God says that the character fans called Derpy Hooves was originally named Ditzy Doo all along, even in the original The Last Roundup script. They changed it to "Derpy" for her speaking appearance at the last minute just for the bronies, but took it out because Urban Dictionary defined Derpy as "mentally retarded". So, yes, Ditzy Doo is Derpy Hooves." She has a cutie mark showing seven bubbles, and the putative explanation is that she has a "bubbly personality". Maybe so, but thanks to Word of God, Derpy Hooves (who is a pegasus) is a flighty blonde ditz with a bubble butt. Yes, Unfortunate Implications abound, but it's still amusing.
• Pinkie Pie's business as the town's party planner seems extra brilliant to me when upon thinking of her using only the Cake's catering service and her being their primary source of income and partnership, leading to them thinking of her as like a daughter is pretty sweet when you think of it.
• It's established in the Season 2 finale that Princess Cadance was Twilight's foalsitter, which seems a bit odd given that it took place before Twilight was accepted into Celestia's school. Then you remember the random power surges from "Baby Cakes", and the fact that Twilight has the most raw magical energy of any unicorn seen so far, and it suddenly makes a lot more sense that it would take an alicorn to take care of her.
• To be "yellow" is to be scared/cowardly. What color is Fluttershy?
• Calling a pony a 'foal' seems like a simple pun on fool until you remember that the pony children are called foals, and then you realize that they are actually comparing someone to a naive child.
• In Season 1, we frequently have references to Granny Smith's dud hip. She's seen using a Zimmer frame several times, and a replacement hip is one of the reasons that Applejack wants to sell things at the Gala. But in Season 2, Granny Smith is hopping around like a bunny in Family Appreciation day. But Applejack certainly didn't get the money together from the Gala, and in The Last Roundup, she was more interested in fixing the Town Hall Roof. Continuity error? No, if you remember that Granny Smith was discorded into a tap-dancer in Return of Harmony. The Mane Six used the Glowing Dome of Elementyness to fix everything Discord had done back to normal, but since Applejack was a part of that, do you think she'd have turned Granny Smith back into a semi-invalid, or that her friends would have forced her to? If it isn't just coincidence, it's a stroke of genius.
• Looking at this article on real life horse behavior gives rise to more than a few moments of Fridge Brilliance:
  • In the wild, a herd is usually led by a dominant mare, not stallion. Which explains why all the ruling ponies in Equestria are female.
  • The ratio of mares to stallions in the wild is usually around 10-20 to 1. Which explains the general sparsity of male characters on the show.
  • Horses generally only need 2 hours of sleep every day, and most of it is done in short, 15 minute rests. This explains why the cast can go on long journeys such as in Dragonshy or the first episodes without needing to rest. It also explains why the other ponies find Spike's sleeping habits so strange: they're more on the level of human sleeping habits, which would seem unnaturally long to equines.
    • This is contradictory to the legend that Luna turned into Nightmare Moon because the ponies "Slept through her beautiful night." If ponies only slept for 15 minutes at a time, for a total of two hours, they would have plenty of time to enjoy the day and the night.
    • Actually, that makes Luna's reaction more understandable. The idea that the ponies could stay awake and enjoy the night, but choose to sleep instead would be a lot more galling for her than if they simply needed to sleep all that time.
    • Also, the fact that FiM's ponies lives in houses kind of counters the need for this defensive mechanism. So for them, the above-mentioned sleep pattern is more of an option than a requirement.
• The world of Equestria appears to run on magic, apparently generated by the ponies that inhabit it. Said magic could be at least partially responsible for each pony/race having a unique set of strengths and abilities. Most of Equestria's most dangerous enemies have, so far, been defeated by this same magic. Stealth Pun: Equestria runs on horsepower.
• Why are there no pegasus or unicorn crystal ponies, only earth crystal ponies? Because crystals come from the earth!
  • We see a crystal pegasus guard in Three's A Crowd
• Despite being the social party planner of Ponyville, Pinkie is exceptionally awkward and has trouble communicating effectively (like how to get rid of the parasprites, for example). Then you realize that growing up, all of Pinkie's 'friends' were inanimate objects. So she has never learned how to act appropriately in various social situations. Her first exposure to a social gathering was a fun filled party that made every pony there happy, so that is what she always uses. Always.
• Celestia sends out her prized pupil to make friends, gather the Elements, and restore Luna to normal. But why keep Twilight there to report of friendship? Well, think on this: Celestia has spent thousands of years above and apart from her subjects — and as an alicorn, she fits in with all and none of their races. Twilight and Luna are the closest thing she has to friends!
• Some people find it odd that Twilight was put in charge of raising Spike. She did help hatch him, but considering how rare dragons are and the fact that Twilight was a young student it still seems strange. Later we found out that Celestia has been guiding Twilight towards becoming a new princess, and what better way to learn responsibility then to help raise a child.
  • Makes even more sense considering Celestia knows becoming a princess means becoming an alicorn. Alicorns appear to be very long lived, so traditionally are dragons. She also knows how lonely it can be to have only shorter lived normal ponies as company. So she gave Twilight a surrogate son/little brother who could be with her even when she had outlived everyone in Ponyville and gave Spike a surrogate mother/big sister who could be with him until he grows into an adult (don't forget, despite being mentally 10 - 14ish, he's still only a baby dragon).
• "Sleepless in Ponyville" reveals that Luna has the ability to enter and possibly manipulate other ponies' dreams. Keeping this in mind, the fact that her evil alter ego was known as Nightmare Moon means a bit more. Causing Nightmares would sure be a good way of ensuring that ponies would stay awake to "appreciate" her night, after all. Also in convenient image form.
• A lot of people complain about Celestia's seeming lack of professionalism for a ruler and engaging in behavior more appropriate for an internet troll. But Celestia has been around for well over a millennium and has seen and experienced much, she likely knows what she's doing when she takes certain actions over others. Allowing the Mane Six to defeat Nightmare Moon on their own rather than lending her assistance could be the result of knowing that her presence would cause them to restrain their behavior and not go all out when it was necessary. Her sending two gala tickets to Twilight when she has five friends to choose from could be interpreted as a lesson to her prized pupil in an attempt to show her that there's nothing wrong with asking her about her motives and questioning authority. Her not springing into action to save Rarity during the young flyer's competition could be from knowing about Rainbow Dash's potential and knowing that she could rise to the occasion if the situation demanded it, like a parent choosing to let their children do their own work rather than helping them out at the first sign of difficulty (Celestia has also shown enough strength to overpower Twilight's raw magical potential, so it would likely be easy for her to stop Rarity's fall should Rainbow Dash not be able to.) Every one of her actions/inactions could be part of a calculated gamble to teach other ponies about how to tend to their own matters, either by themselves or with the help of friends.
  • Or because Celestia intended to give tickets to Twilight and Spike, as she clearly shows she was inviting him, and, well... If Rainbow Dash is the only pony capable of a Sonic Rainboom, then that implies that Celestia can't. Furthermore... Celestia is, like... four to eight times larger and heavier than Rainbow Dash, so she may not be good at sprinting, and surely not as much as the professional speedsters. Though suppose she could magic it.
• The Alicorn!Twilight thing. At first it seems like an Ass Pull, but there have been some subtle hints over the course of the series. (Paraphrased from a post By Tiggers Are Great)
  • Twilight is a member of a higher-class noble family. Albeit, one that has fallen on hard financial times. While that may not be obvious at first glance, remember that that school she was trying to enter was very exclusive, and that her and her family lived in the capitol of Canterlot, which is filled to the brim with elites. However, her father has been explicitly stated to be a bookbinder (in the Gameloft Game, her parents live in the Night Light Bookbinding house), an educated but not really noble trade. This also explains why Shining Armor went into the military. That is traditionally the profession of relatively poor nobility.
  • Her brother married Cadance, a Princess. And before that, he was the Captain of Canterlot's Royal Guard, charged with protecting Celestia herself!
  • Twilight's Power Levels are shown to be as high as Luna's or Celestia, in spite of Red Mages being traditionally weaker than those who specialize in a particular magic. Celestia herself was impressed by Twilight's raw power even when she was a filly.
  • Twilight's Element, the Element of Magic, has always been worn as a tiara rather than a necklace like the others.
  • Twilight became Celestia's favorite student, and there had to be a reason for it. Since the reason appears to be grooming Twilight for the role, it just shows that Celestia is a Guile Hero.
  • Twilight had made friends with 5 other ponies, ensuring that she won't become like Blueblood or, as hinted Star Swirl.
  • She became Ponyville's Reasonable Authority Figure and the one to ultimately solve problems like Trixie and the Pinkie Pie clones.
    • Speaking of the clones, Twilight had to make a tough decision and she had to make it fast. She knew that there was a chance that she would kill the real Pinkie by mistake, but she had to do something. Having to make tough decisions is part of being a leader.
  • Twilight's cutie mark symbolizes magic, but it also resembles a very stylized star- which goes together with the sun and moon, both clearly visible celestial bodies. Perhaps there were always supposed to be three princesses ruling Equestria, and in-universe, Celestia leading alone (until Luna returned) was a temporary thing that everyone assumed wouldn't last.
  • "Magic Duel" also had Twilight taking on other responsibilities, like welcoming the delegates of Saddle Arabia. Other responsibilities of being a princess. (Or other form of royalty or world leader, for that matter.)
  • Celestia is the sun. Luna, the moon. Twilight is the space in between them. She's not as perfect as Celestia, the ruler of the empire, or as bad as Nightmare Moon. She's normal. She's also the best choice for alicorn.
    • The twilight connects daytime and nighttime. What was the first thing Twilight accomplishes when she arrived? Connecting day and night by bringing Luna back.
  • There's another symmetry in play as well. With Twilight's ascension, there are now two pairs of alicorns. Both pairs are sisters (Cadance is Twilight's sister-in-law, remember?), and both pairs are organized along related yet complementary themes. Day <—> Night. Love <—> Friendship.
    • Or, if you want to think of broader themes: Light <—> Darkness. Emotion <—> Logic
  • Also, considering that Twilight and her friends have already taken it upon themselves to help solve problems in Equestria in whatever way they can, Twilight being give an official position of authority would be a step forward in making things easier 'cause if the Mane 6 need certain citizens of Equestria to cooperate in something or provide needed infomation, the citizens in question would be far less likely to refuse.
• In any given Team Fortress 2 crossover, Twilight Sparkle is almost always portrayed as a Sniper. One might consider this strange, since they don't really appear to have anything in common. How is a scholarly purple unicorn learning the Magic of Friendship™ anything like a jaded Australian survivalist? Upon closer examination, however, this actually makes a lot of sense. The Sniper's most famous line by far, from the eponymous "Meet the Sniper" video is: "Be polite, be efficient, have a plan to kill everyone you meet." Much like Twilight, the Sniper is very analytical-minded and never does anything without planning it out beforehand. Being a successful Sniper in TF2 involves carefully finding a good spot to camp out on and cautiously anticipating enemy movements. Being caught unprepared as a Sniper is a death sentence; if you don't see a threat coming, it will end you before you can get a chance to defend yourself. Given how poorly Twilight generally responds to anything that she can't anticipate or prepare for in advance, it's fairly obvious why the Sniper is a good fit for her.
• In "Hearth's Warming Eve", Pinkie Pie (in the role of Chancellor Pudding-Head) confirms that the planet the series is set on is Earth (during a discussion about the orientation of her map). This is demonstrated further in the previous episode (Secret of My Excess), which briefly shows a globe displaying several of Earth's continents (America and Europe being the most recognizable). Since the events in the show never happened in our history, it must be in the future, and the Ponies are likely evolved from the modern species. This begs the (Possibly Fridge Horror) question: Where did the Humans go? Is one reading too heavily into this?
  • Or the use of 'Earth' could be Translation Convention of a sort, and not referring to this planet specifically. Maybe it is an alternative universe Earth populated by ponies and powered by prevalent... magic.
  • The pegasi named their would-be nation Pegasopolis. The unicorns, Unicornia. The earth ponies naming theirs Earth is just continuing the Egopolis theme, albeit with a wink to the viewer.
• It's been a bother when the Crystal Ponies appeared because, before, the Princesses were supposed to be able to represent all the forms of pony: wings like Pegasi, horns like Unicorns, and extra size to show the strength of Earth Ponies. So where do they fit representing the Crystal Ponies? Their manes, which glow and sparkle just like crystal (and apparently, the Crystal Ponies put a great deal of importance on manes, which makes it an even better choice). So far as why Cadance and Twilight's manes don't sparkle, it's just because they're still very young and haven't grown into them yet or mastered their talents enough for it to show.
  • When the Crystal Heart is broken in The Crystalling, we don't see anypony with an even partially crystalized coat/mane/tail until it's restored. This implies that the "crystal" part of Crystal Ponies has more to do with prolonged proximity(and possibly an empathetic connection, given that the whole point of a Crystalling is to add a new shard to the heart to celebrate a foal being born in the Crystal Empire) to the Crystal Heart than them being naturally born that way, meaning alicorns don't necessarily have to represent Crystal Ponies in any way.
• Twilight is the short period of time in between day and night, or in other words, the time of day in which the day and night are in harmony with each other.
  • Twilight (along with the other five) restored harmony between Celestia, ruler of the day and Luna, ruler of the night
• The new Japanese ED goes completely against the show's No Hugging, No Kissing message since it's about one-sided infatuation with a boy... especially when we saw how Rarity got burned for that. Then you get to the last few lines and it says something about "taking these feelings, frying them into a karaage and eating them." Remember what Chrysalis does?
• Fluttershy's "Stare" has been used multiple times to peacefully (Although maybe not willingly.) control violent or troublesome animals. It's usually explained as her special ability, but for animals, staring is a sign of aggression or a threat, and the one that looks away first is the submissive of the two. Fluttershy has used her ability under duress when her friends are in danger or when she feels assertive. It isn't a special ability, but rather a test of will.
  • Which would further explain why Discord didn't fall for it, being a god and all.
• In the second Equestria Girls trailer, Twilight's friends are seen wearing animal eared headbands. Could they be bronies?
• At first tt's believed that Rarity's talent was simply in finding gemstones and making dresses, as shown in Cutie Mark Chronicles. But upon further analysis, it's clear that Rarity's talent involves more than just her individual skills. In the Cutie Mark Chronicles episode, her magic leads her to a big rock on a cliff, which she angrily dismisses as something useless and mundane. But after the rock was split open by the Sonic Rainboom, she was astounded by all the gems inside, and used them to great effect in her work. From this we can see that Rarity's special talent is in finding beauty in anyone and anything, regardless of how dull or uninteresting they may appear on the outside. Going further, one can interpret her cutie mark as representing a "diamond in the rough".
• In "Bridle Gossip", one of the things that convinces the Mane 6 that Zecora is an Evil Sorceress is because she paws at the ground at one point, which they interpret as a threat posture. Although this turns out to be a harmless Character Tic (based off the real-life fact that zebras dig at the ground to find water), the Mane 6 making this mistake is justified: think back on the episodes prior. We've seen ponies paw at the ground before — and always as an aggressive gesture, with the most notable example being Twilight Sparkle and Nightmare Moon doing it before charging each other in the second episode. In other words, pawing the ground legitimately is a threat posture amongst ponykind.
  • Furthermore, this explains why the "digging at the ground" Character Tic was dropped while the "always speaking in rhyme" one wasn't; after befriending the ponies, Zecora would have been able to learn that, amongst ponies, pawing at the ground with your hoof is a threatening action. Naturally, she would have trained herself not to do that in order to avoid the Cross Cultural Kerfuffle.
• Ever noticed that Rarity and Rainbow Dash have names that start with R while their respective sisters (or Fangirl in Dash's case) Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo haves names staring with a S. S is the letter that comes after R This might symbolize that the fillies are younger than their idols.
  • Speaking of Letter Motifs and sisters: The first letters of the Pie sisters' names (Marble, Limestone, Pinkamena) spell MLP.
• Pinkies Pie's 'Pinkie Sense' makes a lot more sense when you think about the fact that she grow up on a rock farm, the ability to know when something's about to fall on you has probably come in handy more than few times.
• Anyone notice how villains defeated by the Elements of Harmony (Nightmare Moon and Discord) end up making a Heel–Face Turn while villains who were defeated otherwise (Chrysalis and Sombra) didn't? It seems that The Power of Friendship that the Elements have work on more than just the Mane Six.
  • Does this mean that Tirek will end up doing this as well?
• Instances of Schizo Tech throughout all the current three seasons are a lot less strange when you remember that Equestrian Ponies never developed as much technology as us humans have done through constant warfare. Without the need to war and industrialization, they have never experienced anything like the Industrial Revolution, so they would not have mass-production as we do, and would quite possibly even lack certain technologies we possess that were born in the fires of war. Furthermore, they would have developed technology at a different pace as their lifestyles are supplemented with strong magical presence and pony physiology, which would change their dependancies on technology. They have some pretty interesting technologies like glassworking (for the precision lenses in Twilight's telescopes!), basic vacuum tubes, film photography (and movies/projectors), airships/balloons, and taffy machines, and both latex and vulcanized rubber (for truck tires, elastic bands, and some of Pinkie's prank props and balloons), but adoption of such things is less widespread in general.
  • What makes you think that the ponies have never been at war?
• The Everfree Forest's nature makes so much sense with the fourth season premiere. It's natural to us, but to ponies it's unnatural... almost chaotic, if you will...
• The reason Celestia knew Twilight could use the Elements of Harmony and had princess potential becomes clear in season four. It's because her cutie mark is on the Tree of Harmony and is even more prominent then the ones of Luna and Celestia.
• Why does the Season 4 opening not show Alicorn!Twilight until And magic makes it all complete. Because her appearance in the first part of the opening is a flashback. I used to wonder what friendship could be/ Until you all shared its magic with me.
• There seems to be a theme running through the episodes of Season 4. This appears to be the Mane Six confronting and overcoming the natural short-comings of their elements.
  • Rarity Takes Manehatten: Rarity's generosity is taken advantage of, in the name of selfishness no less.
  • Rainbow Falls: Rainbow Dash's loyalties to her friends and idols come into conflict with each other.
  • Pinkie Pride: Pinkie's title of Ponyville's party planner is threatened.
  • It Ain't Easy Being Breezies: Fluttershy's kindness interferes with a crisis.
  • Leap of Faith: Applejack's honesty puts her family's happiness at risk.
  • Twilight's Kingdom: Twilight learns that she values her friends more than magic itself.
• After the season 4 premiere, we can assume that Twilight's six pointed star is supposed to be the universal symbol for magic. Now Photo Finish having Twilight's cutie mark makes more sense. What does she like creating again?
• At the time of this writing, Rarity and Rainbow Dash both received what is presumably their "element keys." To receive them, they had to overcome their own failure to deal with a problem involving their element. However, the fridge brilliance comes in when you realize that they also had to help someone else overcome that problem, too. Rarity convinced Coco Pommel that generosity was still an ideal worth following, and Rainbow Dash convinced Spitfire to accept Soarin back into the Cloudsdale team.
• Rainbow Dash seems to be given disproportionate significance. Her name, mane, and tail are "rainbow" (the color of a successful Elements use), she connects the Mane Six w/ her Sonic Rainboom, it's her Discorded betrayal that ends Discord's "game", and her absence is a large part of the reason the first Elements attempt didn't work against Discord. Then upon realization: she's Loyalty. Kindness, generosity, honesty, and a sense of humor are all excellent things to have, but without loyalty, there's no bond: you're exhibiting good traits, but you're detached from the people to whom you exhibit them. Without the bond between people created by loyalty, there's no friendship. That's why Rainbow Dash is such a keystone: it's her Loyalty that ties Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Honesty to other people, and thus creates Friendship.
• The four princesses can be interpreted to each represent one of The Four Loves: Twilight is Philia, Cadance is Eros, Luna is Storge, and Celestia is Agape.
• From Seasons 1-5, each of the six major arc villains represent an antithesis to one of the Elements of Harmony.
  • Nightmare Moon: Generosity^note Grew jealous of her sister and resented ponies for shunning the beautiful night she created for them.
  • Discord: Laughter^note Humiliates and trolls others for his own amusement.
  • Chrysalis: Honesty^note Lies and tricks her way to power by impersonating as other ponies.
  • Sombra: Kindness^note Uses fear and intimidation to enforce his will on other ponies.
  • Tirek: Loyalty^note Forsakes his brother and betrays Discord for his own ambitions.
  • Starlight Glimmer: Magic^note Discards every single individual magic by removing cutie marks.
• Knowing that Tirek escaped Tartarus back in "It's About Time" near the end of Season 2, take a second look at Celestia's actions in Season 3 and Season 4. Season 3 premiere, she foreshadows to Luna she's preparing Twilight for the next phase of her studies, which by the end of the season we know is to make Twilight an alicorn. Also in Season 3, she brings Discord to Ponyville to have Twilight and her friends reform him. Season 4 premiere, Celestia tells Twilight "I hope you know that I will always be here if you need me. Just as I hope that you will always be there when I need you." Fast-forward to the Season 4 finale — Celestia tells Twilight Tirek does not know she's the fourth Princess, and that Discord can track Tirek because he can sense magical imbalances. Celestia was planning ahead for the fight with Tirek a full season before he was even a threat. Celestia takes Stealth Mentor to a whole new level of Magnificence.
  • And speaking of... Twilight assumed that Future!Twilight's appearance was to warn her of an impending disaster. While the end of the episode had it all apparently ending up as just a misunderstanding, Tirek's escape can certainly be considered a disaster.
• Pinkie Pie's element being laughter, ie having fun + MLP is a TV show, something you watch for fun = Pinkie Breaking the Fourth Wall.
  • Let's get to more detail. Pinkie Pie's element is laughter. While this is just of having fun, it has a Stand like effect. It gives Pinkie Pie the ability to alter reality, but only if it is a source of humor and laughter. Most things that she does from the flying contraption mentioned above to appearing in a bookshelf is due to her powers. Likewise, Cupcakes (Sergeant Sprinkles) also works due to Black Humor, as seen with Gilda's skeleton and Pinkie's interactions with it. The only time she is powerless is whenever she is in Pinkamena Diane mode, where she is devoid of humor and laughter.
    • As such, she's just following the example set by Roger Rabbit when he slips out of the handcuffs: it only works if the act of doing so is funny. Pinkie being a renowned breaker of fourth, fifth, sixth, etc. walls, would surely adhere to the "Rules of Toons" when it comes to this sort of thing. Also explains how she was able to breathe despite not having a nose or mouth in "Magic Duel." Because it was funny.
• The trails Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust, and the Wonderbolts leave in the air as they fly is a sign of their heightened power, or even flight capabilities. Twilight gets a similar trail in "Twilight's Kingdom" when she gets the power of the other Princesses, so it's definitely power-related, and Rainbow Dash didn't have it as a filly so it does seem it has to be developed in some manner.
• The princesses and related characters can be mapped to major Roman/Greek deities (and solar system bodies named for them) reinforcing the fanon that they're divine:
  • Celestia = Sol/Apollo
  • Luna = Luna
  • Twilight = Aurora/Eos, goddess of dawn (all three of the above were siblings in Roman mythology)
  • Cadence = Venus/Aphrodithe , goddess of love
  • Shining Armor = Mars/Ares , the god of war (Mars and Venus were lovers, though the latter was married to Vulcan)
  • Discord = Eris (briefly the tenth planet and deliberately named for the goddess of discord)
• The various songs aren't there just because the main target of the show are girls or for tradition, they are there for a good reason: in ancient times, singing and dancing were deeply linked to the act of performing magic (to the point that in Italian and Greek you don't 'cast' a spell, you 'sing' it), and Equestria is full of magic. The link is further reinforced by Lyra Heartstrings (unicorn, and with hints implying her to be a graduate of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns) having a harp cutie mark, both times Celestia sings being immediately followed by her performing an immense feat of magic, Pinkie being the pony both most likely to do impossible things and springing into random musical numbers, and the magic-capable anthro forms of the Human Mane Six from Equestria Girls and Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks being activated via music.
• As noted by the trope Theme Naming, Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, and Starlight Glimmer share a common theme; but besides the "heavenly body phenomenon (Twilight/Sunset/Starlight) + light-based verb (Sparkle/Shimmer/Glimmer)" name, each is also a magically gifted unicorn (now alicorn, in Twilight's case) who has not only done something magically unprecedented in the series, but becomes a "charismatic" leader in their particular environments:
  • Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship in Ponyville, leads her friends during their larger adventures. She completes Starswirl the Bearded's spell in "Magical Mystery Cure."
  • Sunset Shimmer, the "Princess" of the Fall Formal multiple times in the world of Equestria Girls, leads the student body of Canterlot High by humiliation and fear before her defeat and reform. She is the first pony to cross into another world (at least, onscreen), and harnesses the magic of Twilight's crown to accent her own power, transforming herself and controlling the school's populace.
  • Starlight Glimmer is the leader of the "utopian" village via a philosophy of equality. While Twilight may have moved a Cutie Mark from one pony to another in "Magical Mystery Cure," Starlight is the first pony to outright remove the Cutie Mark itself.
• Twilight's cutie mark is one large star in the center, superimposed on another, surrounded by five smaller stars. Twilight herself represents the center star, and the five other stars represent the rest of the mane cast. (Spike could also represent the star underneath the center star)
  • This revelation about Twilight's cutie mark.
• Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, and Starlight Glimmer all have special talents in magic. Their cutie marks are also all modeled after celestial bodies: Twilight (star), Sunset (sun), and Starlight (star).
• In the Season 5 episode "Make New Friends but Keep Discord", Discord threatens to banish Tree Hugger into Another Dimension containing a live action Sock Puppet on what looks to be a low quality children's television show. Since the cast has demonstrated that they are aware they are in a show on numerous occasions, it makes sense that Discord's other dimension would in fact be a different television show!
• Discord's behavior towards ponies seems to reflect how they treat him. In "The Return of Harmony", he was treated as an evil monster and a serious threat, so that's how he acted. Throughout most of Season 4, while they didn't see him as a serious threat, the Mane Six (minus Fluttershy) still saw him as a major annoyance, and didn't seem to be very fond of him. So he acted kind to Fluttershy and an annoyance to the other five. At the end of "Twilight's Kingdom", Twilight and the others, upon seeing his guilt, were quick to forgive him and accept him...which caused him to become fully reformed.
  • "What About Discord?" marks Discord managing to get around the other non-Fluttershy ponies, mostly by appealing to their more chaotic Not So Above It All qualities. He plays The Prankster alongside Rainbow Dash, and told endless jokes to Pinkie Pie. Applejack is a down to earth character with a stereotypical front, so Discord mimicked her cowgirl demeanor. He deliberately excluded Twilight from the weekend, though for the purpose of making her jealous and antagonistic (which given his own very recent bout in "Make New Friends But Keep Discord", would result in them being similar).
  • This little detail about Discord also becomes it's own stealthy little lesson in friendship: Then Let Me Be Evil and Pay Evil unto Evil might work for you, but that kind of behavior isn't going to win you many friends.
• Despite what one may expect of Cadance, given her semi-Love Goddess status in the show, she's actually a sterling example of Good Is Not Soft and an Action Girl to boot. However, this makes a lot of sense when you think about it, at least if you know a bit about historical theology. Several real-world mythologies had deities who pulled double-duty as goddesses of both love and war, with the most notable being Inanna/Ishtar/Inana of Mesopotamian Mythology and Freyja of Norse Mythology. With this being a show about The Power of Friendship occasionally going so far as to use it to fire magical lasers, no wonder it has a badass love mage as well.
• A lot of people complain about how character development is erased between episodes (such as Fluttershy flip-flopping between assertiveness and Extreme Doormat status). However, this happens all the time in real life. It's incredibly rare for people to permanently get over their flaws, especially when factors like how people recently treated you or even what dream you had that morning can have huge effects on your mood, confidence, and actions (related and unrelated).
  • Becomes Ascended Fridge Brilliance in "Fame and Misfortune" with this little rant after Fluttershy is criticized for "learning the same thing over and over again! Be assertive already!"
  Fluttershy: Listen up! I am more assertive! Oh yes, it took me a while to get there, but can you honestly say that you can learn something one time and completely change who you are? (Beat) I didn't think so.
• Why has Celestia never been the focus of any episode, even though Luna has, and more than once? In-Universe, Luna has had some issues needing to be resolved, and a LOT of catching-up to do, while Celestia usually is just working. In meta-sense, though, consider this: the night sky sure is beautiful, but hogs all the attention to itself, not giving off too much light. The day sky, due to the sun, is bright and may actually damage the eyes; however, thanks to all the light, we can see the world much better than during the night. Keeping that in mind, we could say that while Luna occasionally gets the spotlight, Celestia gives it to other characters.
• The Daring-Do books were originally AK Yearling's memoirs, but her publisher said "Reality Is Unrealistic" and insisted she rewrite them as adventure novels with a pseudonym instead so they don't get accused of making it all up.
• Modern theories of psychology state that, with regards to relationships, the average amount of close friendships happy/stable people have is 6, with all others simply being good friends or close acquaintances. Each mane 6 member has 6 close friendships with the other Elements of Harmony plus Spike, while each also has their own circle of good friends and close acquaintances or professional relationships.
• Why is the fandom still split on the name of DJ Pon-3/Vinyl Scratch, despite Derpy now being officially Muffins, and Doctor Whooves also being canonized by My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S5 E9 "Slice of Life"? Well, You can't really check the credits, can you?
• Meta example: Why don’t the villains face consequences for their actions? Because it means that the writers don’t need to put any thought into the repercussions of the character’s misdeeds whatsoever, and can simply put them in any story at their convenience.
• Horseshoes. You see them occasionally in the background as a motif or actual horseshoes nailed to the wall, and they look like just another horse-y thing thet've put in. Except that the whole reason horses have horseshoes is for things like protecting their hooves from surfaces that didn't exist in their natural habitat like hard roads or the stress of carrying heavy packs and to have more traction when pulling carts and wagons. Which is exactly what our ponies are doing all the time.
  • Also explains why Rainbow Dash isn't good at playing horseshoes. She grew up in Cloudsdale where everyone was walking around on clouds or flying so horseshoes would be that common, as footwear or a game.
  • Interestingly Celestia's and the other Princesses' large fancy shoes look a lot like a hipposandal one of the early precursors to the modern horseshoe.
• Daring Do's nemesis Dr. Caballeron is largely based on Indiana Jones villain Dr. René Belloq. If you rearrange the letters in Caballeron's name, you get Rena Balloc, which sounds a lot like "René Belloq".
• Rick and Morty have made cameos in Grannies Gone Wild. However, considering that other franchises have made cameos in the past such as Attack on Titan in the comics, it's entirely possible that those two were just cosplayers.
• Among Pinkie Pie's many cartoon-like antics, there is a somewhat Running Joke involving Pinkie surprisingly appearing from places she couldn't possibly be or even fit in, and there's also been various instances of her inexplicably being already at whatever location the other pony (usually, if not always, Rainbow Dash) was heading to. This works as it is, given Pinkie's character, but what makes it make even more sense? She was originally going to be a remake of Surprise from G1! While the original Surprise didn't have moments like this, doesn't it make some level of sense that a planned reboot version of her would really live up to her name?
• Pinkie and Maud are very close despite having vastly different demeanors. However once you take a deeper look, you can see that two are actually very similar. They both operate on their own wavelength and have an obsessive nature with their interests. They're also shown to be very sensitive to what others think of them and get depressed when they feel they're all alone in the world. They both also end up getting boyfriends that are Distaff Counterparts to themselves, who are slightly more introverted then they are.
• Changelings all having names derived from insect anatomy like "Ocellus" and "Thorax" makes a lot of sense once you remember that their society is based on eusocial insects. Being named after body parts relfects how the swarm functions as a single entity made up of many individuals, each fulfilling their purpose.
• Why do the Flim Flam Brothers have apple cutie marks, as opposed to something more related to being con-men, when only one of their schemes is apple-centric? Recall another story about someone dishonest with a tempting offer that turned out to be Too Good to Be True.
• The characters' eyelashes tell a lot about them.
  • Rarity has more eyelashes than the others for obvious reasons, since she cares about her looks almost maniacally.
  • Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie all have bended eyelashes both upper and lower. Fluttershy is shown to care about her looks a lot though not extremely like Rarity; Pinkie hosts a lot of parties so she would obviously want to look presentable to others despite her eccentric personality, at least to make a good impression. Twilight doesn't care much about looks but she did study in a highly noble school and was even Celestia's star pupil, so she would at least look presentable.
  • Applejack only has upper bended eyelashes, which reflect her rather tomboyish personality. Plus, she works in a barn so of course she wouldn't care much about her appearance but she is the type of pony who would still give herself some care.
  • Rainbow Dash, who is a total tomboy even more than Applejack, has completely straight upper eyelashes. She doesn't care one bit about her looks after all.

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