In the sequel, the plot would most likely involve the Changelings, and/or the Crystal Empire.
- Possibilities:
- A civil war breaks out among the Changelings, and Equestria eventually has to intervene. Mirage Squadron is mobilized to help give the rebels a fighting chance against Chrysalis.
- The remnants of Chrysalis' army attack the Crystal Empire, allied with die-hard griffins who refused to accept peace. Mirage is once again called to the front, but the Crystal Empire may have some great fliers of its own...
- Partially confirmed: one of major settings of the story will be The Crystal Empire, but the Changelings will not appear at all.
- Interestingly, Word of God has implied that Changelings' attack on Canterlot will get a Continuity Nod...which leads to the question of why they won't be showing up in the sequel.
Why the Changelings are completely absent in the sequel.
- One explanation is that they simply turned tail and ran after their defeat at Canterlot, fearing Celestia and Luna would want revenge.
- A darker possibility is that the changelings were largely—or even completely—killed when they got thrown out of town, by the sheer force of Shining's shield, and being separated and scattered in hostile territory.
- Jossed. They are scattered in the Badlands and still attempt to reorganize their society.
The Reapers will suffer Death by Irony, based on their defining traits.
- Deathwing: He wants to only fight the best of the best, so perhaps he'll be overly focused on killing Mirage, or perhaps just Rainbow Dash...which will leave him open to a lethal cheap-shot by an Equestrian Red Shirt / Mauve Shirt / the rest of Mirage Squadron.
- Shockwave: His cold, logical mindset will bite him in the flank when he ends up facing a truly unpredictable foe—Possibly Derpy, or even Pinkie Pie.
- Havoc: He'll lose his cool in battle (Exiles suffer a particularly nasty defeat? Death of one of the other Reapers?) and drop his laid-back nature. This gets him killed in a moment of carelessness.
- As the (seemingly) Only Sane Man among the Reapers, he could also be killed by Aurora when she does something particularly despicable, and he calls her out for it.
- Trickster: Sort of a mirror to Shockwave—he'll face an opponent who simply ignores his taunts, and counters his wild fighting style with cool efficiency. Likely candidates are Firefly, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy (in Tranquil Fury).
Exile Civilians?
- The Exiles must have built up a colony or base of some sort during their, ahem, exile. Given the amount of labor and infrastructure it would take to construct the full fleet of warships they used to attack Fillydelphia in chapter 3 (not to mention crew them), it's likely that their population is quite large, and that not all Exiles are part of Aurora's army.
- Hinted to be true in chapter 4.
- And now Confirmed in Chapter 9: King Aigaion's brother, Gyges, mentions the Exiles have built a city near Drakonia's border. Not a base or headquarters, but a city. Time will tell how the civilians play into the war....
- Hinted to be true in chapter 4.
Obligatory War Crime Scene?
- Given the sequel's Darker and Edgier direction, this might be possible. With frequent Death of a Child, brutality towards civilians by the Exiles so far, and the history Aurora and Celestia have with each other...things may get VERY ugly when Equestria goes on the offensive.
- Especially with the aforementioned hint of a non-combatant Exile population in Chapter 4; we'll have to wait and see where that ultimately goes.
Lightning Dust's Upcoming Battle
- Her smug dismissal of Firebolt's death shows that her attitude hasn't improved much since getting kicked out of the Academy, but the mare is (as far as we know) no coward. Depending on how the Battle For East Manehatten goes, her smugness and (seeming) bravery could either bite her hard in the flank, possibly even serving as a much-needed Humble Pie (if she comes out alive at all), or even end up carrying the battle for the EAF.
- Shooting down poor Firebolt as "pathetic" for getting killed raises some red flags for outright sociopathy. Lightning could very well be an excellent combatant in the fight for Manehatten but get most of her squadron killed out of carelessness in the process, likely brushing it off with "it's war; ponies die". She could also provide a dark Foil to Rainbow Dash, being as skilled a fighter, but uncaring towards her teammates and/or very brutal and merciless toward the Exiles (perhaps even to war crime levels; i.e., killing an injured/surrendering flier).
- Lightning's arrogance DID cost her several wingmates, but she certainly didn't shrug it off. It takes all of her surviving squadron to pull her out of her funk after the mission.
- Shooting down poor Firebolt as "pathetic" for getting killed raises some red flags for outright sociopathy. Lightning could very well be an excellent combatant in the fight for Manehatten but get most of her squadron killed out of carelessness in the process, likely brushing it off with "it's war; ponies die". She could also provide a dark Foil to Rainbow Dash, being as skilled a fighter, but uncaring towards her teammates and/or very brutal and merciless toward the Exiles (perhaps even to war crime levels; i.e., killing an injured/surrendering flier).
Bolt Burst and/or Pearl Eyes will defect/surrender to the EAF
- Granted, they seem loyal to Aurora despite their sympathetic portrayal, but Bolt Burst does muse that the Equestrians just might not be bastards after his fight with Flare Star. Given their close relationship, they may end up throwing themselves on the EAF's mercy when Aurora inevitably crosses the line in her war effort...or if one of them is killed for defying her, forcing the other to escape.
The Crusaders are in for a Heroic BSoD
- Once the adrenaline wears off, it's going to hit them that they did, in fact, kill the crews of those Exile tanks they sabotaged. And it will NOT be pretty.
- Confirmed for Dinky; she absolutely refuses to do any more combative operations, and is almost reduced to tears when she recounts seeing a burned Exile soldier.
Pinkie Pie and Rarity will aid in interrogating the Exile prisoners taken in Manehatten
- And if we get to see it, it will be hilarious. Likely tactics include Tickle Torture and/or weaponized rambling from Pinkie; with Rarity getting intel by charm and smooth-talk. Or "whining".
- Confirmed! Tickle Torture wasn't used, but they DID manage to get the Exiles to spill their intel so Pinkie and Rarity would shut up.
Flare Star's Blood Knight attitude is going to bite her in the flank
- Trying to squeeze Pearl Eyes to death was an oddly slow and cruel way to finish her off, even with how ruthless Flare is....and it left Flare open to Bolt Burst's sucker-punch. That's a pretty big hint that Flare Star's ruthlessness can cloud her common sense. If she doesn't rein her battle-rage in, she's going to get careless, and suffer for it.
- Another way this could happen is Flare losing control in the midst of battle and crossing the line from not thinking straight. Killing an Exile medic, or surrendering enemy, in the midst of a battle-rush comes to mind.
