History AlternativeCharacterInterpretation / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic

* Do the main characters [[EasilyForgiven easily forgive]] villains purely out of altruistic desires and ThePowerOfFriendship, or do they decide who they will and won’t forgive on [[BoxedCrook how useful the villains can be for the defense and protection of Equestria]]? The ponies who reformed the two biggest examples of reformed villains in ''MLP'' had ulterior motives for their actions: Discord was reformed because Celestia decided [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E11KeepCalmAndFlutterOn his powers can be "used for good"]] while [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 Starlight was given the chance to reform just because she was a character who Twilight personally sympathized with in spite of her crimes]]. Cozy Glow, on the other hand, is never even considered for forgiveness despite her being a child and despite her actions being on par with all of the adult villains who received leniency in the eight seasons before she came along. The series portrays her getting locked up in Tartarus for her crimes in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E25SchoolRazePart1 School]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E26SchoolRazePart2 Raze]]" and then [[spoiler: being [[TakenForGranite turned into a stone statue]] along with Tirek and Chrysalis in the GrandFinale]] as something she totally deserved, and none of the characters express any remorse or regret at all for her fate or even consider if she had a FreudianExcuse or could change for the better.

** Since Twilight has the darkest hue of the Mane Six, it's not uncommon for humanized fanart of her to depict her as Black, Asian, or Indian[[note]]Interesting, given the pseudo-Greek aspects of Equestria and the ancient Greek RealLife belief that unicorns came from India.[[/note]] (mostly following the common stereotypes (AsianAndNerdy, BlackAndNerdy, and BollywoodNerd). This doubles as a GeniusBonus as well: horses with dark coats in real life actually ''do'' have dark skin underneath.
** "Lesson Zero" gives more insight into Twilight's personality, specifically her [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes deepest fears]]: She is absolutely terrified of failure and the thought of not meeting the expectations of others (a trait further solidified by "The Crystal Empire"). Add her general social awkwardness, the fact that she always wanted to throw a slumber party (even though she and her friends are now adults), and even the lyrics of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiTVSjlTcvc the full version of the theme song]] ("When I was young I was too busy to make any friends / Such silliness did not seem worth the effort it expends."), her obsession with studying and being a good student seemed to be all she had to validate her own self-worth. Therefore, a possible interpretation for why she has that fear is that now that she has real friends, she is completely terrified of losing them and reverting back to the lonely filly she once was.

** As of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E3TooManyPinkiePies "Too Many Pinkie Pies"]], Twilight is labeled as a mass murderer due to seemingly committing genocide on the Pinkie clones the moment they looked away from the paint wall. The entire discussion has sparked a strong back-and-forth debate on the episode discussions of Blog/EquestriaDaily and Website/YouTube about the nature of the clones, the Mirror Pool, and whether Twilight can be labeled as a murderer or not. Considering how in "A Canterlot Wedding" she had been [[spoiler:willing to severely harm, if not kill Cadance, with only the SecretHandshake proving it was the real Cadance]], it's not much of a stretch to assume that...

** In "It's About Time" Spike said he likes it when Twilight goes on adventures so he can nap. Is this true or is it just a lie to fool himself?

** Twilight's relationship with ''him'' also gets much scrutiny. Sometimes she seems to view Spike as a beloved family member, other times as just an employee who she can order around. After all, Spike is explicitly a ''baby'' dragon who does lots of hard work for nothing but food and a place to live. There is a reason that [[ParodyFic parody fanworks]] often outright call Spike a slave. ''Friendship Games'' depicts the human world's Twilight having Spike the dog as a pet she mostly treats as such, but he also seems to be her only friend that she talks to about her life, so there is also that interpretation.

** Where exactly did Princess Celestia get the egg that Spike hatched from? Did she conjure it up with magic, or find it abandoned somewhere? ''Or did she overpower a dragon mother and steal her soon-to-be child?'' The fact that "Dragon Quest" gives the set-up to answer this question but never delivers in the end only [[FridgeHorror raises further questions...]]

** Some people suggest that she and Applejack got the wrong Elements and that she should have gotten Honesty while Applejack should have got Loyalty, since Rainbow Dash hardly ever lies and is a BadLiar when she does, while Applejack is very loyal to both her family and her friend group.
** A pretty obviously non-canon one, but still one that a lot of fanfics have fun exploring: Rainbow Dash and Celestia, despite almost never interacting in the show, share some interesting traits. Their eye color is nearly identical, both have prismatic manes, and they even share a love of practical jokes. This has lead to many a fanfic that explores the possible relationship between the two, most commonly depicting RD as Celestia's long lost daughter.
** Rainbow Dash has several interpretations coming from fans and haters alike. [[RonTheDeathEater In a few fics]], she is a BitchInSheepsClothing who only helped Fluttershy to further her own evil goals, and really doesn't give a damn about anyone but herself. There is also "[[FanNickname Scootabuse]]" to consider, which is basically Rainbow Dash being a {{Jerkass}} to Scootaloo most often for humour. Whenever she is not portrayed by a fan, many haters will have her be a straight up {{Jerkass}} instead of the lovable JerkWithAHeartOfGold we know from the show. Her ego is often [[CharacterExaggeration Character Exaggerated]] in fanworks such as ''Friendship Is Witchcraft'' to the point she can only really say her name. Often times, [[DumbMuscle due to being an athlete]], she is often portrayed as the token idiot of the group who doesn't know anything, even more than Applejack who was born and raised on a farm (and presumably [[BookDumb never went to school]]). Rainbow Dash has many different fan interpretations, and to list them all would take up an entire page, but these are perhaps the most common.

** Some fans have noticed that Pinkie's abilities (OffscreenTeleportation, obtaining objects from [[{{Hammerspace}} nowhere]], ignoring the rules of magic, use of WrongContextMagic) are very similar to Discord's, leading them to conclude that she is a demi-goddess of chaos, like how Discord is a full god of chaos. If nothing else, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it [[https://trixiebooru.org/1829858 scene in School Raze]] confirms that, yes, she ''does'' have powers no other earth pony has.

** Because of season one's finale, Fluttershy has been thought of as more than a little unstable, due to her rather [[SanitySlippage terrifying outburst]].
** Because of the numerous situations in which Fluttershy [[BewareTheNiceOnes kicks extreme amounts of flank]] (making a dragon cry, staring down a [[TakenForGranite cockatrice]], giving belly rubs to Cerberus, counter-trolling the spirit of chaos) it's common to depict her as the scariest pony in Equestria. In this view, those who know her, also know to be cautious around her.

* In "Sweet and Elite", the behavior of the Mane Cast outside of Rarity lends itself to some speculation. For instance, was Twilight genuinely ignorant that Rarity was ditching her and the rest to hobnob with the Canterlot Elite? Or was she feigning ignorance to help Rarity save face? Or was their immediate act to crash and trash the Garden Party them being spiteful? Were they simply feigning niceness? Or were they just drunk (we don't see Spike, so they might have been serving intoxicating beverages)?

* Apple Bloom's friendship with Twist. Did Apple Bloom abandon Twist for more popular friends? Did Twist abandon Apple Bloom after getting her cutie mark? Or do they hang out off-screen because Twist can't be a Cutie Mark Crusader?

** It is known that pegasi have to learn to fly. So far Scootaloo has not shown any interest in flying. Does she not want to fly, or is she outright incapable of flying? As confirmed in season 4, Scootaloo is unusually old to display no aptitude for flying. Scootaloo being disabled [[WhatCouldHaveBeen was something thrown around during the series' development]], but it may or may not have been abandoned - the ending of the episode in question leaves it ambiguous as to whether she is truly incapable of flight, or merely a very slow learner.

*** Some see her as a {{Troll}}, perhaps as an effect of her immortality and position making her day-to-day life very dull. Thus she needs to have fun sometimes. She ''does'' demonstrate a more mischievous and fun side sometimes, such as inviting the Mane Six to the Grand Galloping Gala in the hopes that they will liven up the boring tradition for once. While she can still be loving and wise while this way, some fans go for full [[JerkassGods Jerkass God]] who toys with her subjects for her own amusement.

** One wonders how hard Celestia's job actually is on a normal day, and how much authority she actually has. She does a fine job leading when everything is going well, but the ''second'' things go south and she is called upon to take charge, she begins making terrible decisions, gets defeated effortlessly, and has to sit back and hope others can save the day on her behalf. Perhaps she is actually a ''terrible'' leader outside of her ability to raise the Sun, being merely a [[PuppetKing figurehead]] at best who is the "face" of an empire that is actually ran by others, so everything goes fine until she is put on the spot and called upon to actually lead. Organizations like the EEA being able to tell Celestia what to do seems to suggest that she actually makes very few decisions on her own, while Twilight Sparkle being able to easily do the job of both Celestia ''and'' Luna in the DistantFinale hints that perhaps she and Luna's duties aren't much of a burden since most of the work is done by others.

** Princess Celestia calling out Chancellor Neighsay at the end of School Daze and allowing Twilight Sparkle to run her school without EEA accreditation leaves you wondering where she actually stands on the issue. While she allowed Twilight to skirt the rules she certainly didn't seem to make any attempt to remove authority from Neighsay or reform the policies of the EEA, with them operating completely unchallenged as late as the season finale despite Celestia apparently disagreeing with how they were operating, and at the time she had rather strict gender and racial exclusions in her military and leadership. Does Princess Celestia actually believe in Twilight's methods and beliefs, or does she actually agree with Neighsay but was just siding with Twilight [[{{Nepotism}} because of their relationship]]? Perhaps she actually agreed with Neighsay's beliefs, but had faith that if anyone could do it Twilight could. Or Celestia knew that Neighsay was a noble man deep down and would ultimately be swayed by Twilight. Or she initially only sided with Twilight to save face, but was swayed along the way like Neighsay was. It is even possible she [[BothSidesHaveAPoint saw the value in both sides' arguments]] and was treating Twilight's school as a preliminary test to see if the EEA's policies ''should'' be changed.

** It isn't even clear what Nightmare Moon WAS, given that once the Elements of Harmony were used on her, she reverted to Princess Luna, who is far more mild-mannered. Was she brainwashed by the elements, or was Nightmare Moon some sort of possessing force that Celestia herself could not extricate? [[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW The IDW comics]] seem to indicate that Nightmare Moon was the result of an outside force, given that [[spoiler:they possess Rarity and make her their new Nightmare Queen]]. However, it is not clear if the show treats the comics as canon, and ''Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep'' centered entirely around Luna addressing her guilt of becoming Nightmare Moon of her own accord, with absolutely no mention of the Nightmare Forces.

* This is further complicated by the presence of Princess Cadance. Is she also a Physical Goddess? [[AllThereInTheManual We are told]] that she is the niece of Princess Celestia, but she couldn't be Luna's child. Luna spent the last thousand years in the moon. So who are her parents? Is she also immortal, and will she outlive her husband Shining Armor? Does she even have a blood relation to the Royal Pony Sisters? (It should be noted that Cadance was originally conceived as a unicorn but made an alicorn because of ExecutiveMeddling.) ''Literature/TwilightSparkleAndTheCrystalHeartSpell'' expanded on Princess Cadence's backstory and where she came from: It is revealed that Cadence was originally an orphaned pegasus that was adopted by an earth pony village. A WickedWitch by the name of Prismia attacked the village by draining all their love for each other. Cadence somehow defeated her and was magically transported to the same "interstice" that Twilight went to when she completed Starswirl's unfinished spell. She met Princess Celestia there and was turned into an alicorn, adopted by Celestia, and made a princess herself. Whether this is canon or not is up in the air right now, but this is the closest thing to a backstory she has so far.

** Is [[LargeHam The Great and Powerful]] '''[[EnsembleDarkhorse TRRRIXIIEEE]]''' a {{Jerkass}}, or [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex insecure]]? Was Ponyville a lousy stop? Did the Mane Cast have the right to interrupt her show and performance with heckling? There is also a very large part of the fanbase that remains adamant that Trixie is just as powerful, if not ''more'' powerful than Twilight, despite "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E6BoastBusters Boast Busters]]" showing that her special talent is in stage performance.

** Others have suggested that Trixie suffers from an InferioritySuperiorityComplex. She did not make it in magic school, because she was a bully whose only real talent was using her telekinesis to pick on others. This compared to other unicorns that can do much more ''useful'' magic. Similar to common fan theories about Applebloom's nemesis Diamond Tiara, this theory holds that Trixie is such a showboating {{Jerkass}}, because her talent is nothing special and she is desperate to convince herself and everypony else otherwise.

** Despite her rhetoric against Blank Flanks, the only ponies Diamond Tiara is ever seen bullying are Applebloom and those who hang around Applebloom. Maybe she is less a generic bully and hates Applebloom specifically (and by extension, those Applebloom hangs out with hanging around). "Flight To The Finish" seems to support this, as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon switch to bullying Scootaloo about her inability to fly, when they realize their "Blank Flank" comments aren't getting to the CMC anymore. (Although they did have a reason for going after them specifically that time - they were worried about the CMC's act being better than theirs and wanted to destroy their confidence so that they would lose.)
** While Diamond Tiara is usually thought to be a simple AlphaBitch (although see the Trixie example for one way some people interpret her more sympathetically), her friend Silver Spoon is sometimes suggested to be a much nicer filly. She is mean to Apple Bloom because she is imitating her best friend. Silver Spoon is noted to genuinely care about Diamond Tiara's feelings, seeing how she tried to cheer her up at the end of "Call of the Cutie". She was also the very first in the class to applaud Granny Smith's story about how the Apple Family founded Ponyville, despite Diamond Tiara refusing to. (This also indicates that the two friends have different reactions to certain people).

** Do he and Celestia have a more amiable history? Many fans think that the two were close friends or even lovers long ago, and that their falling out has at least something to do with his [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans tyrannical intentions]]. Their dialogue hints at a deeper relationship of some kind that we are only able to speculate about. The way they brush off each other is very similar to the way [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Q (who Discord is based off of) would ruffle the feathers of Captain Picard]], who had a lot of HoYay.

** His gambit of [[spoiler: posing as Grogar to trick Queen Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow for the sake of a grandoise accomplishment for the Mane Six was a dubious plan at best. It can be interpreted as Discord still having shades of EvilCannotComprehendGood and thinking the ponies enjoy busting up bad guys more than they actually do (much like he enjoyed toying with his opposition before), or, given his MeanBoss antics as Grogar and intended YankTheDogsChain for the three villains, Discord trying to find a loophole around his HeelFaceTurn, and deciding to vent his troll impulses on characters who deserved it.]]
* Were the Windigos evil spirits intentionally causing the ponies suffering and grief, or non-sentient beasts who were merely feeding and [[EmotionEater their natural way of survival]] made them a dangerous threat? Likewise, were they making the snow on purpose or not?

** "The Washouts" has Lightning Dust offer Scootaloo a place on her new stunt team, exploiting Scootaloo's inability to fly in order to undermine her relationship with Rainbow Dash. She ends up putting Scootaloo into a dangerous stunt that she had no chance of surviving if not for Rainbow Dash rescuing her. Was Lightning Dust ''trying'' to get Scootaloo killed to get back at Rainbow Dash? Or did she sincerely believe that Scootaloo could have pulled it off, biased by her devil-may-care attitude towards safety?

*** The third view is that he is [[DracoInLeatherPants actually benevolent]]. Sure, he may be a tyrant, but he still wants to keep his subjects fed and happy. This mostly lines up with the Tyrannical Celestia mentioned above, as it implies that Celestia and Luna actually attacked the Crystal Empire preemptively, possibly because they feared him.

** Another candidate for "most evil thing in Equestria" is [[CatsAreMean Opalescence]]. Rarity's cat who often lashes out with her claws.

* Sunburst was Starlight Glimmer's old filly friend, she claims they did everything together. Yet when he gets his cutie mark, he immediately runs outside to celebrate with other people. Without so much as a second look back at his supposed closest friend. He also made no attempt to stay in touch with her, barely remembers her when they reunite, and shows no remorse for ditching her, save saying he should have 'stayed in touch'. While they do reconcile, it easy to question if he ever was that close or good a friend [[InformedAttribute as Starlight claimed]]. If this make their falling out being Starlight's StartOfDarkness more or less sympathetic is its own ACI.
** It is made clear that Starlight adored him, but Sunburst seems indifferent to her until their reunion in adulthood. Which suggests that Starlight's feelings were not reciprocated (she saw him as a friend, but he saw her as an acquaintance).

** Applejack's brother Big Macintosh has been portrayed in fanon as a [[GentleGiant simple, big-brother type]], a [[GeniusBruiser civilized, not-quite-country boy with a lot going on in his head]], and in the case of one particularly moving fanfic derived from a short three-panel comic, a [[ShellShockedVeteran veteran shocked or similarly motivated into silence by what he saw.]] Though all of them agree that he is a ChickMagnet.

* The "[[FanNickname Screwball]]" pony flying around with a propeller hat could be like Pinkie: a pony that would be happy if Discord's reign was permanent ("Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain!"). Then there is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA9dFZJtQWc the idea that she was created by him.]]
** When she first appeared there were interpretations that she is a normal pony, possibly a baseball star, who only seemed unusual due to Discord screwing with everything.

-->1) An ordinary pony with the same kind of problems as everypony else, who is just clumsy and misunderstood because of her eyes (not that popular, but made moreso by ''AudioPlay/DoctorWhoovesAndAssistant'')

** In the iTunes redub of the beginning of "The Last Roundup", the pony formally known as Derpy Hooves was made to sound more "intelligent" and her eyes are no longer as "derpy" as before. This causes her wanton destruction of the town hall to appear completely senseless. Is she still genuinely slow, or is she {{troll}}ing Rainbow Dash [[DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery without any concern for the property damage that she is causing, and how this could potentially bankrupt the town]]?

** Speaking of, Shining Armor's personal BadassDecay over the series, going from a strong but outmatched BarrierWarrior who would bravely stand up to the likes of King Sombra and Lord Tirek to a helpless {{Dumbass In Distress|Disorder}} who cries at the drop of a hat and won't even try to fight anymore opens a lot of alternate interpretations . It may be he feels that what he does is a HopelessWar, as no matter how hard he or the guards fight they will be stomped into the dirt without anyone of Equestria even seeming to care. While the Mane Six show up to save the day and get all the glory. He may have figured that [[DespairEventHorizon trying is pointless]] and now puts himself above his duty. After all, [[IronicEcho you can't have a nightmare if you never dream]]. More generously, it is possible that Shining Armor has become a HouseHusband, who no longer has any real duty or authority. He simply stands back with his daughter, while others get the job of saving Equestria. Of course, it is also possible that he was [[MilesGloriosus never a bad ass in the first place]] and was simply attempting to do a job he was KickedUpstairs into. It is a ''persistent'' theory that he was given command of the royal guard [[{{Nepotism}} because he is Twilight Sparkle's brother]], as ''many'' characters in the series were given jobs because they were friends or family of one of the princesses.

* A decent amount of fanfics like to give Star Swirled the Bearded an HistoricalVillainUpgrade. When he finally ''did'' make an appearance in {{Canon}}, they weren't too far off the mark. While he was no villain, he certainly [[GoodIsNotNice was a jerk]] who followed BlackAndWhiteInsanity to a T.

* Another theory is that Equestria ''used'' to be a facist caste system because of the Hearth's Warming Eve play. It is the only time we see the ponies divided along earth pony/pegasus/unicorn lines and that is explicitly set in the past, implying that modern Equestria is much more racially balanced. If the unicorns somehow controlled all the learning and knowledge, then why is the most prominent teacher character (Cheerilee) an Earth pony? Also, if the unicorns oppressed the earth ponies in a 'first and second class citizen' manner, then why is the mayor of Ponyvile (Mayor Mare) an earth pony and the Film Flam Brothers (both unicorns were run out of town by angry customers?) Queen Chrysalis being able to almost ''effortlessly'' sow distrust between the three pony types in no time at all in the SeriesFinale shows that, if this interpretation is true, the ponies have probably only been balanced this way for a very short amount of time and ''still'' deep-down harbor considerable dislike and distrust of one another.

** The episode itself has received this, with some believing it is actually a WholeEpisodeFlashback to a time ''before'' Twilight arrived, since Angel was never that much of a {{Jerkass}} in earlier episodes and Fluttershy herself isn't that timid in earlier episodes.

** As of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E10TheSaddleRowReview season 6]] we know at least one escaped and lives in Manehattan. She was wearing a trenchcoat and fedora and actively hiding from Pinkie. It seems that duplicates can grow and learn, though at what point they become Pinkie's twin and not a destructive homonculus is another debate.

* TheReveal in the season finale is that the Legion of Doom was staged to give Twilight Sparkle a boost in confidence and groom her to take Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's place. One notices that all these villains only seemed to show up once Twilight began her friendship lessons, and seemed to go away again once she ''did'' take Celestia and Luna' place. There are also mysterious circumstances behind some of their escapes and returns. Princess Celestia's tendency to be a TricksterMentor raises a ''disturbing'' alternate interpretation of the events of the entire series. Was Discord just being Discord by staging a conflict and was called out for as such, or has Princess Celestia been doing this from the get-go and Discord was JustFollowingOrders and only got chastised for getting caught? It is even possible he, after watching Celestia do this, [[FollowTheLeader stupidly thought it was an okay thing to do]].

* Some people don't really buy Carrot Cake's explanation of why his children are a pegasus and a unicorn (not that the show [[ChocolateBaby gives them much reason to]]). They believe that magical fertility treatments or infidelity may be involved somehow.
** Two scenarios have been explored on the infidelity side: either a male alicorn is the father of both, or she was impregnated by ''both'' a pegasus and a unicorn.

** Twilight Sparkle's difficulty in social situations (most clearly seen at the start of season 1), her love of studying and reading, her knowledge of magic, and her ObsessivelyOrganized nature all point to her being having [[UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome Asperger Syndrome]] or some other form of high-functioning autism. [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicTwilightSparkle The WMG page]] and the Princesses section has more speculation.

** Since Twilight has the darkest hue of the Mane Six, it's not uncommon for Humanized fanart of her to depict her as Black, Asian, or Indian[[note]]Interesting, given the pseudo-Greek aspects of Equestria and the ancient Greek RealLife belief that unicorns came from India.[[/note]] (mostly following the common stereotypes (AsianAndNerdy, BlackAndNerdy, and BollywoodNerd). This doubles as a GeniusBonus as well: horses with dark coats in real life actually ''do'' have dark skin underneath.

** The events of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E23TheCutieMarkChronicles "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"]] have lead some to speculate that Twilight's obsessive studying and list-making are all about [[DefiedTrope retaining control]] of [[PowerIncontinence her magic]]. Basically prior to the day of the test she was studying to be like Celestia, after the test she's studying so she never again turns someone she loves into a potted plant.

** One Website/YouTube commenter had the idea that Rainbow Dash has Winston Churchill Complex - she equates affection with achievement and assumes that if she is not the best at what she is doing, her friends won't love/respect her. This would possibly explain her fear of failing/losing and her increasingly erratic behaviour in "Sonic Rainboom" and "The Mysterious Mare Do-Well." This could also explain why she idolises the [[TheAce Wonderbolts]] as much as she does, and why she is such a persistent GlorySeeker in contrast with her more HumbleHero friends.

** Is Fluttershy so quiet and timid because she was [[http://warmfuzzyglow.com/my-little-dv-survivor-761/ abused as a young filly?]] Or is it just a [[SharedFamilyQuirks Shared Family Quirk]], since both her parents are also timid?

** Is Fluttershy ''actually'' the expert on animals she thinks she is, or is she a KnowNothingKnowItAll? While her ''intentions'' are kind, no less [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E10SwarmOfTheCentury than]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E22ABirdInTheHoof four]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E7Bats times]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E18SheTalksToAngel now]] she has made at best poor and naive decisions regarding the well-being and treatment of animals, leaving one to wonder if that's her norm or if we are just seeing her at her worst.

* When playing the fan game ''VideoGame/StoryOfTheBlanks'', [[WebVideo/FamiliarFaces CR]] says Sweetie Belle is Rarity's ''daughter'' instead of sister, jokingly. (A ShoutOut to [[http://gavalanche.deviantart.com/ Gavalanche's]] fancomics where Rarity is really Sweetie Belle's [[AdaptationalJerkass abusive]] mother who prefers to be called her sister.)

** "Growing Up is Hard to Do" and "The Last Problem" show Scootaloo's adult body with child-size wings. Shortly thereafter, [[DiagnosisOfGod one of the staff]] [[https://www.derpibooru.org/images/2157535 confirmed via twitter]] that that was indeed meant to indicate an actual disability, but included the line "But fans are welcome to interpret things how they like" (given that Bulk Biceps can fly despite having even smaller wings, Scootaloo's situation still is technically open to interpretation).[[note]]That line could just as easily be interpreted to mean "We're trying to have it both ways" -- that is, satisfy both the fans who wanted to see Scootaloo eventually fly and those who had held her up as a quality specimen of disability representation.[[/note]] It could mean that she has a disability that will always hinder her ability to fly, but won't leave her groudned for life.

* Then Twilight became an alicorn, also making her a princess, bringing another whole host of questions. Do all alicorns "earn" their ascension this way? If so, how did the other three do so? Can it be given as some sort of reward or a EnlightenmentSuperpower? Is Twilight now immortal? And if she is, is this a way to give Celestia some more company for her eternal life?

** His relationship with Twilight; is it a platonic/obsessive friendly antagonistic relationship much like Q and Picard? Or is it that Discord has sexual tension with Twilight? It seems that Twilight is the only one he sees as a WorthyOpponent. He constantly teases her like a childish boy does to girls he likes. His friendship with Fluttershy could be a way to get in good with her social circle and start making his moves there. To add ACI on that, is his relationship with Twilight a mirror image of his relationship with Celestia? Could it be now that Twilight is an Alicorn, Discord is projecting his feelings of Celestia onto Twilight?

** The same episode made people claim, as a joke, that Fluttershy was clairvoyant.

* His gambit of [[spoiler: posing as Grogar to trick Queen Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow for the sake of a grandoise accomplishment for the Mane Six was a dubious plan at best. It can be interpreted as Discord still having shades of EvilCannotComprehendGood and thinking the ponies enjoy busting up bad guys more than they actually do (much like he enjoyed toying with his opposition before), or, given his MeanBoss antics as Grogar and intended YankTheDogsChain for the three villains, Discord trying to find a loophole around his HeelFaceTurn, and deciding to vent his troll impulses on characters who deserved it.]]

** Celestia as a BrokenBird is a less common but still prevalent interpretation. The theory goes that fighting against Discord, forced to banish her sister, and spending a thousand years defending Equestria from [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed frequent threats]] all alone, while everypony else dies of old age, left her bitter and permanently hiding behind [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask The Queenly Mask]].

* Exactly how useful are the Royal Guard and the Wonderbolts? Are they really as useless [[MilitariesAreUseless as their constant failures suggests]]? If so, why does Equestria bother having them? Or do we only see them when they fail, [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality so the main characters can save the day]]? Is it a result of [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent complacency]] due to [[PhysicalGod the Princesses]] being the ones who normally [[AuthorityGrantsAsskicking take care of things]] and anything [[TheWorfEffect able to threaten them]] is beyond what anyone else could be expected to do any better against?

** Is Shining Armor an effective captain? Is the Royal Guards' aforementioned ineptitude due to his poor leadership or just making him look bad? As a soldier, are his constant defeats despite [[BarrierWarrior his powers]] a demonstration of his ineptitude? Was he simply caught off guard or went up against opponents [[AntiMagic who can negate his powers]]? Or are his powers only useful defensively? Why is he in command as opposed to using his power as a supporting role? AuthorityGrantsAsskicking? Is it the best place to use them? Does [[{{Nepotism}} his relationship to Twilight Sparkle or Princess Cadance have anything to do with it]]? The two mares are respectively Celestia's favorite student and her niece, and Celestia is likely to have appointed Shining Armor. Whether she seems merit in him is another question.