History AlternativeCharacterInterpretation / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic

* Blueblood's behaviour at the Gala has been interpreted by some as him recognizing Rarity's intentions, and was screwing with her because he's met countless [[GoldDigger other mares with the same vapid dream]] and he's not willing to play the part.

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

-->3) A kind pony with genuine mental disabilities who speaks in broken and (seemingly) senseless sentences that may or may not make sense in hindsight. This one became less popular after "The Last Roundup" showed her perfectly capable of speaking normally.

** 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 she's causing and how this could potentially bankrupt the town]]?
* Exactly how useful is the Royal Guard and Wonderbolts? Are they really as useless [[MilitariesAreUseless as their constant failures suggests]]? If so, why do they bother having them? Or do we only see them when they fail [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality so the main characters save the day]]. Is it a result of [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent complacency]] due to [[PhysicalGod the Princesses]] being the ones who normally [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking take care of things]] and anything [[TheWorfEffect able to threaten them]] beyond what anyone else could be expected to do any better against?
** Are the Royal Guard kept around due to tradition? To project authority? Because the Princesses [[FantasticNuke powers would risk collateral damage]]? Or is to carry out more mundane responsibilities? And their failure in those tasks (like finding a lost pet) due to ineptitude or being outside their training?
** One interpretation is that since there hasn't been any implication of large scale war in Equestrian for 1000 years, and even then the "wars" were mostly individuals with abnormal powers, the Royal Guard may simply be underprepared. If there's been no notable war for centuries, then training would naturally fall to the side.
** Interestingly, the Royal Guard and the Pegasi were able to hold their own against Sombra's army of mindless husks. Does that mean the husks are just as bad soldiers, or are the guard not quite as bad as we thought? Or does the fact that they're evenly matched by untrained, unarmed, smaller numbers of mindless ''civilians'' serve as proof that they couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag?
** There's lots of [[MildlyMilitary ambiguity if the Wonderbolts are military]], or if they've evolved from those origins to just be stunt flyers who now lack the skills or training to be any more useful.
** Speaking of, did Spitfire ''actually'' have a change of heart at the end of ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E7WonderboltsAcademy Wonderbolts Academy]]'', or was she only suddenly concerned because the behavior she was encouraging now had happened to endanger a member of royalty? It's a little convenient, especially now that she's suddenly praising the leadership qualities of someone who showed no real leadership qualities all episode who she also just "coincidentally" learned is best buddies with said princess. After all, [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E10RainbowFalls come next episode]] she's [[AesopAmnesia conveniently forgotten the moral lesson]] and turning her back on comrades for personal gain, so one wonders if she's not just [[ProfessionalButtKisser kissing up to Twilight by giving Rainbow Dash preferred treatment]] and [[TheScapegoat throwing Lightning Dust under the bus to pass the blame off of herself]]. Alternately, a later episode has her outright admit she's wanted Rainbow Dash in the Wonderbolts since day one: since she only "cared" about Lightning Dust's antics once Rainbow Dash tried to quit, it's quite possible her only motive behind firing Lightning Dust was merely to entice Rainbow Dash to stay and that if Dash hadn't tried to walk out she couldn't have cared less about Lighting Dust's antics.

** With Big Mac turning into an ''alicorn princess'' (or prince? not sure how that works) in "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep", some have theorized that he may be a {{transgender}} woman, with others chalking it up to a mere power fantasy after "Brotherhooves Social" showed he feels inadequate that he's "just a farm hand while his sister saves the world."
** Between the aforementioned horned Big Mac in "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?", his [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Oubliettes and Ogres]] character in "Dungeons and Discords" being a unicorn, and his new unicorn girlfriend in "Hard to Say Anything", it's possible that that he has a unicorn fetish.
* 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's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA9dFZJtQWc the idea that she was created by him.]]
** When she first appeared there were interpretations that she's a normal pony, possibly a baseball star, who only seemed unusual due to Discord screwing with everything.

* According to some fans, the single most evil entity in all of Equestria is none other than [[KillerRabbit Angel Bunny]], especially after [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E19PuttingYourHoofDown "Putting Your Hoof Down"]]. Although he has [[TookALevelInKindness taken a level in kindness]] since then.
** Another candidate for "most evil thing in Equestria" is [[CatsAreMean Opalescence]].

* 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.
* Granny Smith. Is her eccentricities just "old people are funny humor" or waaay back in her youth was she the Pinkie Pie of her social circle? The Zap Apple prep stuff she's shown to do in "Family Appreciation Day" support this. Pinkie often knows what she is doing even if it seems strange, and it would explain how Granny discovered things like Zap Apples prefer polka dots; she did Pinkieesque things and kept doing them when they made the jam better. Besides, running off into the most dangerous forest in the world alone at night is not very sensible.

** [[http://www.equestriadaily.com/2016/03/pony-spotlight-9-starlight-glimmer.html This Equestria Daily article]] argues that Starlight showed no intent to kidnap/brainwash the Mane Six to her way of thinking until they started to investigate her, perhaps originally planning to persuade them benevolently. Given Starlight was [[OffstageVillainy only explicitly shown to use evil/forceful methods on the Mane Six and associates]] when they threatened her way of life ([[{{Revenge}} at first]]), and all but three of the townsfolk were content with the life she offered, it's possible she wasn't as ([[ObliviouslyEvil intentionally]]) evil as [[{{Cult}} her methods]] and FridgeHorror hinted to. This would explain why the town was [[EasilyForgiven was so quick to forgive her]]. While Starlight does claim to have "enslaved" them in later seasons, by that point she's carrying such guilt over her action it may have clouded her perception of it.
* Is Chancellor Neighsay just a [[FantasticRacism genuine racist]] or are his beliefs of non-ponies being a threat a [[StrawmanHasAPoint genuine concern]] based on Equestria's history of being invaded by non-ponies like the formerly evil changelings and the Storm King's army? Is he just calling out Twilight's school and teachers for being bad at their jobs to fuel his racial agenda or does he genuinely believe they're unfit to teach as well? His eventual HeelFaceTurn and support of Twilight's school does little to clarify this.
* The Flim-Flam brothers coming back to help the heroes in the final battle. Is this a case of EvenEvilHasStandards in opposing three wannabe tyrants, or are they simply engaging in PragmaticVillainy since it would be hard to succeed in a dystopian hellhole? Technically it could even be both.

* Lord Tirek seems to hold an extreme grudge towards his brother for betraying him (in self defence), and shows disgust for Twilight's loyalty to Discord despite selling her out. Given he himself backstabbed Discord as a stepping stone for his conquest, is this standard villainous MoralMyopia, or does he merely find contempt in said characters valuing and boasting the importance of friendship (which he openly devalues) [[AtLeastIAdmitIt despite having the same self serving tendencies]]?

** While Discord has been given a clear character in the show, Sombra hasn't gone through any character development at all. The only thing we know about him is that he's power-hungry and strong enough to subjugate an empire and pose a threat to Celestia. [=ACI=]s about him largely go into one of the following:
*** The one closest to what little we get in the show is that he's actively malevolent, seeking only to expand his own power and influence, while driving his subjects to death if need be.
*** Another is that he's more akin to [[Franchise/StarWars Emperor Palpatine]]. Power-hungry and even sociopathic, but mostly uncaring about his subjects. He wants power for power's sake, but as long as he has said power, he doesn't care what happens to his subjects.
*** The third is that he's 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.
** Lots of fans have drawn a line between Sombra and Luna. It's outright depicted that Luna and Celestia were the cause of Sombra's downfall (though not stated), and many see a connection between Sombra, who's associated with shadows, and Luna, who's associated with night and darkness.
** Some people have interpreted King Sombra's animalistic behavior as a sign his defeat and long imprisonment have driven him insane. While he ''was'' a nasty person ''before'' that, this would explain why he acts so feral and inequine. Celestia outright states he was "turned to shadow" when he was overthrown. The phrase "a shadow of his former self" springs to mind.

** Do he and Celestia [[FoeYay 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're only able to speculate about, and 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.
** As of "Keep Calm and Flutter On", has Discord [[spoiler:truly reformed? Or is he just pretending to play nice, still intent on screwing with people but keeping his actions within a certain limit so he won't be imprisoned again]]? In the opening for season 4, [[spoiler:he's unconcerned with the havoc his vines are causing, and he refuses to tell the main cast what they are, for no real reason other than his own amusement.]]
** His relationship with Twilight; Is it a platonic/obsessive friendly antagonistic relationship much like Q and Picard? Or is it that Discord has a FoeYay with Twilight? It seems that Twilight is the only one he sees as a WorthyOpponent and 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, he's projecting his feelings of Celestia onto Twilight?

** "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" shows she has some ''extreme'' mommy issues and, after standing up to her mother, she gets her first genuine PetTheDog moment. Whether it leads to a full-on HeelFaceTurn or a FriendlyEnemy at best is still up in the air, however, as she hasn't had a proper apperance as of the first half of Season 7.

** Is he the AnthropomorphicPersonification of chaos that's just hard-wired to want chaos, just as the ponies are hard-wired to want harmony and peace? If so not only is he unwilling but incapable of [[BlueAndOrangeMorality maintaining anything resembling a moral compass]]; even if he ''could'' feel empathy for the beings he torments for his own amusement, he wouldn't be able to maintain it long enough for it to make any difference. By this interpretation, he is TheSociopath because he's hard-wired to be incapable of internalizing emotions that could let him live in harmony with others; by his very nature, Discord must consider himself separate from and in conflict with the rest of existence. ''Keep Calm And Flutter On'' seems to suggest [[spoiler:he ''can'' understand and even enjoy friendship, however his [[ItsAllAboutMe selfishness]] and chaos-mongering tendencies have always prevented him from ever having a real friend.]]

** Her treatment of Pinkie has been interpreted as her trying her best to keep her anger in check (at least up until she bullies Fluttershy) as she just doesn't want her meeting with her friend to be interrupted. Some people also find it understandable for her to blame Pinkie for Rainbow's pranks after Pinkie's earlier behavior and to leave town out of frustration when her only friend yells at her.
* Perhaps Diamond Tiara's bullying is her lashing out at others because her special talent is merely wearing jewelry, possibly on the issues of TruthInTelevision beauty pageant attendees.
** Similarly, Silver Spoon may be a [[AlphaBitch stereotypical "queen bee"]] because she's insecure about being rich and useless, hence her cutie mark.
** 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's less a generic bully and hates Applebloom specifically (and by extension, those she's hanging around). "Flight To The Finish" seems to support this, as the two 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.)
** 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 who is mean to Apple Bloom because she's 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", and 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.

** 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's also a very large part of the fanbase that remains adamant that she is just as powerful, if not ''more'' powerful than Twilight, despite "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E6BoastBusters Boast Busters]]" showing that her special talent is in stage performance.

** A common fanon portrayal of Trixie depicts her MilesGloriosus streak as a mask over a DarkAndTroubledPast with a side order of [[TheWoobie woobie]]. (It's quite possible you get bonus points for the degree of cruelty with which you kill off the parent who inspired her to start a magic act.)
** Others have suggested that Trixie suffers from an InferioritySuperiorityComplex; she didn't make it in magic school because she was a bully whose only real talent was using her telekinesis to pick on others 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's desperate to convince herself and everypony else otherwise.

** 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's not clear if the show treats the comics as canon, and ''Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep'' centered entirely around her 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're told]] she's the niece of Princess Celestia, but she couldn't be Luna's child since Luna spent the last thousand years in the moon. So who are her parents? Is she also immortal and will outlive 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.

** 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 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 she knew 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's even possible she [[BothSidesHaveAPoint saw the value in both side's arguments]] and was treating Twilight's school as a preliminary test to see if the EEA's policies ''should'' be changed.

** Celestia's tendency to do absolutely nothing other than sent Twilight and the gang after a perceived threat against Equestria, along with her utter [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] by Chrysalis the one time she ''did'' try something (granted Chrysalis had a power boost, but you'd expect her to have at least been able to put up more of a fight than ''that'') and how Nightmare Moon had her on the ropes in their flashback battle until Celestia brandished the Elements of harmony, have made many fans question her strength. Is she actually powerful and holding back to do behind the scenes work, or just a BadassOnPaper who knows she doesn't have the power to do much of anything against a powerful enemy and has to hide behind others? ''The Cutie Remark'' showing that every single future of Equestria without Twilight and her friends is a [[BadFuture war-torn post-apocalyptic nightmare]] only serves to imply the latter: while this means only one villain succeeded and the rest were defeated, there's no word on whether Celestia or [[EnemyCivilWar the current dominant villain]] was responsible for it. Later episodes have attempted to [[AuthorsSavingThrow address this]] by claiming she [[WillfullyWeak holds her power back]] out of fear of harming others, but this raises other questions: does she honestly believe standing by and doing nothing, holding back to the point villains defeat her, and/or only relying on others ''actually'' endangers her subjects less than just fighting back herself?

** In most of the two-parters, Celestia is put into question. Is she TheChessMaster who has thousands of {{Batman Gambit}}s lined up, can plan someone's life from the day they were ''born'', but can be blind-sided when an OutsideContextProblem comes into the picture with a plan of her own or is Celestia a GeneralFailure whose successes are either based around relying on {{Deus Ex Machina}}s, the villains holding {{Idiot Ball}}s or pulling off last-minute resorts in a desperate attempt to gain ''some'' victory? Both these interpretations have evidential footing and it all falls in how the viewer sees Celestia, either in a positive or negative light.
** 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's 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's actually a ''terrible'' leader outside of her ability to raise the sun and is merely a [[PuppetKing figurehead]] at best who is the "face" of an empire that's actually ran by others, and so everything goes fine until she's 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 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.

*** Some fans have also noted the rather troubling number of ponies who have feared being banished by the princess[[note]]Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash on three separate occasions[[/note]]. Are they just being paranoid, or does Princess Celestia have a history of banishing ponies for arguably minor infractions of the law? It doesn't help that Princess Celestia and her followers seem to only give forgiveness to villains [[BoxedCrook whose powers they can use]] or to villains they're [[{{Nepotism}} related to or personally sympathize with]], while not actually caring what crimes you committed or how many people you hurt along the way, which shifts the "merciful and wise" depiction the writers were going for to a "cruel unless they have a use for you" interpretation.

*** Some fans have noted that devastating, highly important events in Equestrian history are either completely unknown to the general populace ([[TheDarkTimes Discord's reign]], the disappearance of the Crystal Empire) or only known through inaccurate myths (Nightmare Moon's [[TheNightThatNeverEnds longest night]]). They thus speculate that Celestia [[InternalRetcon regularly alters official histories]] to remove undesirable elements, which in turn has speculations as to whether she does this out of misguided benevolence or a malicious attempt to hide her own mistakes.[[note]]One alternative to these alternatives is that she just lets the natural distortion of historical events happen, and everyone usually thinks she's too busy or important to fact check with her. In Nightmare Moon's case, who's going to ask her about the time she banished her own sister and risk reopening old wounds?[[/note]] Her actions in the Season 9 finale, where she swept Discord's involvement in the Legion of Doom under the rug and pinned all the blame on the others adds serious weight to this theory to the point of practically proving it, as it is evident Equestria wasn't allowed to know that Discord was directly responsible for the entire incident in the first place and, as far as the newspapers say and anyone outside of Celestia's circle know, the ''only'' ones responsible for the Legion of Doom were Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and Tirek.

** [[TheHighQueen Princess Celestia's]] characterization can vary greatly depending on who you ask or what fanfiction or fanart you look at. Canonically she's a wise and loving BigGood, but in the fandom she is very prone to RonTheDeathEater characterizations:
*** Some see her as a {{Troll}}, perhaps as an effect of her immortality and position making her day-to-day life very dull and 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 they'll 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.
*** There's also the interpretation that she's full evil, ruling a CrapsaccharineWorld as a vicious tyrant who enforces conformity, segregation and control. These can vary from her being a KnightTemplar who sees such control as needed to keep Equestria from falling apart, to DespotismJustifiesTheMeans, focused on keeping her control over the land by any means necessary.

** Scootaloo is the only member of the [[PowerTrio Cutie Mark Crusaders]] who had had no familial connections shown or even hinted at until near the end of the series, and is rarely seen apart from her two closest friends. Additionally, she's a pegasus unable to fly for anything but short distances, and is rarely seen without her crude wooden scooter. As such, Scootaloo is often depicted as being stuck in an abusive family, or as a homeless orphan. Her statement in "Parental Glideance" that she's never had anybody to cheer her on the way Rainbow Dash's parents do could support both interpretations. As of season 9, however, the "orphan" part is disproved with the reveal that both her parents are still alive.
** It's 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.

** Another theory gaining some popularity is that Scootaloo is the product of a mixed marriage and for whatever reason-death, divorce, etc.-the Pegasus parent is a missing parent, leaving Scootaloo to be raised by an Earth Pony or Unicorn, neither of which can teach her how to fly. The Cake twins being born to Earth Pony parents has led to an alternate take, where Scootaloo is a "throwback" born to two non-Pegasus parents.

** 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're just seeing her at her worst.
* 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 and they were feigning niceness? Or were they just drunk (we don't see Spike, so they might have been serving intoxicating beverages).

** Due to an offhand comment in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E21OverABarrel Over A Barrel]]", some people think she's obsessed with becoming a tree. (Her disguise in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E22HurricaneFluttershy Hurricane Fluttershy]]" probably only added fuel to that particular fire.)

** 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, and that those who know her know to be cautious around her.

** Some fans, who've noticed her BigEater habits, draw humanized art with her being [[HollywoodPudgy bigger than the other ponies]], sometimes [[BigBeautifulWoman considerably so]].
** After "Party of One" it became very common for fans to depict Pinkie as judging her self-worth entirely by her parties and how much other ponies enjoy them, which is used to explain why she's so eager to be happy and (literally) bouncy all of the time. Less common is the interpretation that she is outright mentally ill, with manic-depression and schizophrenia the usual suspects. Another point of evidence to the former theory, in her "Smile" song, Pinkie sings "There's one thing that makes me happy and makes my whole life worthwhile / And that's when I talk to my friends and get them to smile."
** 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.
** There's a theory that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sym1h72K2c Pinkie's a changeling]].

** 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, shares 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 explore 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. 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's also 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 Flanderized in fanworks such as ''Friendship Is Witchcraft'' to the point she can only really say her name. Often times, 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 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.

** One Website/YouTube commenter had the idea that Rainbow Dash has Winston Churchill Complex - she equates affection with achievement and assumes that if she isn't the best at what she's doing, her friends won't love/respect her, which 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's such a persistent GlorySeeker in contrast with her more HumbleHero friends.

** Rainbow Dash is often implied to be a LazyBum, yet she has also been shown working her rump off when it's important to her (such as constantly practicing her moves) or to Ponyville (she's a team leader during Winter Wrap-Up). Is she lazy, or is she bored by what she sees as trivial duties and consequently slacks off? Given her preternatural skill in tasks she's interested in, such as being the only pony in recorded history to perform a Sonic Rainboom, she might be BrilliantButLazy. "Testing Testing 1-2-3" adds a new layer to this by strongly implying that Rainbow Dash has a learning disability.

** His relationship with Twilight. Does he see her as [[HappilyAdopted his mother]]? [[CoolBigSis His sister]]? [[PlatonicLifePartners Best friend?]] His boss? [[{{Shipping}} Possibly a potential girlfriend?]] Something else entirely? Or an undefinable combination of all of them? Later, the show settles on "they're family", but even then they can't seem to decide if Twilight is his [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E24FatherKnowsBeast parent]] or his [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E4SparklesSeven sibling]].
** 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 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's a reason that 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's also that interpretation.

** "Lesson Zero" gives more insight into Twilight's personality, specifically her deepest fears: She's 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. Now that she has real friends, she's completely terrified of losing them and reverting back to the lonely filly she once was.

** 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 [[AsianAndNerdy various]] [[BlackAndNerdy common]] [[BollywoodNerd stereotypes]]). This doubles as a GeniusBonus as well: horses with dark coats in real life actually ''do'' have dark skin underneath.

* 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"]], and [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 Starlight reformed just because she was a character Twilight personally sympathize with despite all of her crimes]]. Cozy Glow, on the other hand, is never even considered forgiveness despite her being a child and despite her actions being just as bad (if not worse) than all of the adult villains who received leniency in the eight seasons before she came along, and 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 with none of the characters expressing any remorse or regret at all for it, or even considering if she had a FreudianExcuse or could change for the better. While one can argue that the main characters decide who they will and won’t forgive on if they show remorse, as Discord and Starlight eventually had remorse over their villainous actions while Cozy Glow didn’t, ''none'' of these villains showed any remorse at all for their actions after their first defeats so one could also just as easily argue that Cozy simply never got the same opportunity that the others got: the princesses swiftly turned her to stone after her second defeat without her so much as getting a word out, unlike Starlight and Discord who were allowed the chance to speak in their defense and put in an environment where they were given the opportunity to change for the better.

*** Some fans have noted that devastating, highly important events in Equestrian history are either completely unknown to the general populace ([[TheDarkTimes Discord's reign]], the disappearance of the Crystal Empire) or only known through inaccurate myths (Nightmare Moon's [[TheNightThatNeverEnds longest night]]). They thus speculate that Celestia [[InternalRetcon regularly alters official histories]] to remove undesirable elements, which in turn has speculations as to whether she does this out of misguided benevolence or a malicious attempt to hide her own mistakes.[[note]]One alternative to these alternatives is that she just lets the natural distortion of historical events happen, and everyone usually thinks she's too busy or important to fact check with her. In Nightmare Moon's case, who's going to ask her about the time she banished her own sister and risk reopening old wounds?[[/note]]

*** Some fans have noted that devastating, highly important events in Equestrian history are either completely unknown to the general populace ([[TheDarkTimes Discord's reign]], the disappearance of the Crystal Empire) or only known through inaccurate myths (Nightmare Moon's [[TheNightThatNeverEnds longest night]]). They thus speculate that Celestia [[OrwellianEditor regularly alters official histories]] to remove undesirable elements, which in turn has speculations as to whether she does this out of misguided benevolence or a malicious attempt to hide her own mistakes.[[note]]One alternative to these alternatives is that she just lets the natural distortion of historical events happen, and everyone usually thinks she's too busy or important to fact check with her. In Nightmare Moon's case, who's going to ask her about the time she banished her own sister and risk reopening old wounds?[[/note]]