WMG / My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Pillars of Equestria

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Student Six, Pillars of Equestria, Royalty

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General

Season 8 will see the Pillars visiting their old homes to see what they have become in the modern day.

Some of these occasions will be relatively happy, like Somnambula going back to find her village still alive and thriving, and some less so, like Rockhoof discovering that there is nothing left of his old home but long-abandoned, buried ruins. There will be an overall theme of the Pillars having to figure out how to adjust to a world that has moved on without them, and that has grown very different from what they knew.

• In Season 8, Rockhoof does visit the archeological dig site located over his old village and Somnambula and Meadowbrook do move back into their old towns, but otherwise Jossed outside of Rockhoof's own struggles — the Pillars settle into modern society with little issue, and it's not stated if Flash Magnus and Mistmane made any attempt to track down their old haunts before settling into Canterlot and the Crystal Empire.

Star Swirl the Bearded

Star Swirl the Bearded's Amniomorphic Spell...

...allows a foal fetus to be carried by a male pony, with its base being an amniotic sack formed with magic. There had long been spells allowing two ponies of any gender to mix DNA and conceive a foal together, but before Star Swirl's breakthrough, the foals would still need to be carried to term by a mare.

This complication discouraged some would-be M/M parents from attempting to have biological foals, and had led to an increasing female percent of the population as F/F parents and their fillies became more frequent.

Because of its rather specific possibly controversial nature, this spell and the mage who literally fathered it remains obscure to most lay ponies, though it is still well known and often used in the medical world.

• Um... no. It's a pun. Amnio means "bowl" and "morphic" is "morphing" so it pretty much morphs clay into bowls. He's a Hairy Potter. It's not a spell for your m-preg or yaoi slashfic.

Star Swirl the Bearded will appear.

Either in an episode that takes place in the past or in a Time Travel episode.

• Well, the time travel spell IS in his wing of the Canterlot library. Perhaps we'll see how he discovered it?
• The third season opening included a book with Stars and Swirls on the cover... the pony himself might be dead, but that doesn't always mean gone or forgotten.
• Confirmed in the Season 7 finale, "Shadow Play". It didn't involve time travel, though; he and the other five Pillars were trapped in Limbo, where time stands still, until they were brought back into the regular world.

Almost nopony has any idea who Star Swirl the Bearded really was.

When he is first mentioned, in Luna Eclipsed, Twilight said that he was in a book of obscure unicorn history. The characters in the Hearth's Warming pageant were all symbolic, not actual living ponies, and each actor traditionally gets to design their own role within the confines of their place in the play. When Twilight mentioned her character was taught by Star Swirl the Bearded, that was just additional backstory made up by her simply because she liked the sound of it. Also, the Star Swirl the Bearded wing of the Canterlot Archives was funded by the mage himself — it wasn't in his honor.

Twilight simply obsesses over him, partially because without the "amniomorphic spell" (spell to morph the amnions of eggs), Spike wouldn't be alive. And partially because that's just one of her quirks—a very specific, and rather weird, obsession with an obscure wizard.

• "Amniomorphic" means "bowl-shaping", as in the pottery. He's a Hairy Potter. It's a pun. Considering this is Twilight, she wouldn't make it up; it's just a little-known fact about Clover the Clever that s/he studied under Starswirl the Bearded. There's also the fact that he might not be obscure, but some of his spells are, such as the above-mentioned pottery spell, and that's what was in the book.
  • Kinda Jossed in "Three's a Crowd". When Twilight and Cadance go to the traveling Star Swirl the Bearded exhibit there are a lot of other ponies there as well, some even cosplaying him like Twilight was. Plus the fact that he has a traveling exhibit dedicated to him in the first place suggests he's fairly well-known.

Everyone's guesses about Twilight's Star Swirl the Bearded costume were right.

Star Swirl played country music as a hobby, performed clown tricks on the street to pay for magic college, and now resides at the old folk's home. He's pretty cranky because nopony recognizes him.

• Considering Luna recognized him, he must be one elderly stallion if he's still at that old folk's home.
  • Why do people think Luna knew Starswirl personally? All she said was that she recognized the costume and that Twilight got the number of bells right.
    • It isn't necessarily that she knew him personally, but that she (at least) knew of him. The fact that Luna was gone for 1000 years and doesn't know how to make friends implies that he was famous before she was banished. Additionally, in Hearth's Warming Eve, Star Swirl is mentioned to be Clover the Clever's mentor, putting him, at the very least, before Luna's banishment.
  • Twilight told Spike that Star Swirl created over 200 different spells; one of them could easily have been longevity. He just forgot the eternal youth part.
  • It turns out that there is an age modification spell, that only the most powerful of ponies can use... maybe he only uses it when he gets really old? Or making himself too young would get him kicked out of the retirement center.

Starswirl was the creator of the spell to change genders

He tested it on himself, but it worked too well and he become a she more time than expected. That makes the female Starswirl toy make a little sense.

• Or... she could be his descendant. Or just have been named in honor of him.

Starswirl's spell from "Magical Mystery Cure" was intended to turn ponies into alicorns.

Originally, it was supposed to give the abilities of multiple ponies to one — after all, alicorns are a combination of all three pony races. However, as we saw, the version Twilight got took the talents and instead of combining them, switched them.

Star Swirl the Bearded is the next Big Bad, or was one in the distant past, which we will see in a Flashback episode

• Either way, if this is true, he'll come back either as a ghost or otherwise.
• Seems legit as one of the only stated attributes about him was that he didn't understand friendship like Twilight did. Given the premise of the show, such an attribute is either that of a naive person or a jerkass.
• Jossed. He's shown up in the show, and asides from being overly uptight and acerbic, qualities he tones down by the end of his on-screen debut, he's very much not a villain.

Star Swirl the Bearded did become a prince.

• It's a matter of some confusion whether creating a new spell entitles one to royalty. Suppose Star Swirl did become royalty but unlike Luna and Celestia decided Who Wants to Live Forever? and then allowed himself to grow old and die.
• Jossed.

Star Swirl the Bearded died by his own hoof.

His spell changed ponies destinies around, and he never was able to repair the damage. Rainbow Dash nearly died in "MMC", and it is pretty much a given that several of Star Swirl's swaps were indirectly fatal in similar ways. Star Swirl took his own life out of remorse.

• Jossed. He didn't die, but was trapped in Another Dimension where time stands still.

The Spell of Starswirl the Bearded was complete

It's just that Princess Celestia didn't understand completely what it was for. She herself said that Starswirl didn't understand friendship like Twilight did, and that was what this spell was for: To swap roles with someone else to get a better understanding of their persona, and in turn, get a better understanding on yourself. Note that Twilight Sparkle did not actually complete the spell, but made a completely new one. Also note that the "cure" for the spell wasn't a magical one, but simply to remind each individual of their particular strengths.The spell is supposed to be cast in a controlled environment, with only two individual, so they can learn to walk in each other shoes for a while, Twilight Sparkle casting it randomly only worked because she is part of the elements of Harmony, and it caused them to switch, not at random, but at the pony with the job/element they were the weakest with, to teach them a lesson.

• Rainbow Dash got Fluttershy's mark. She needed to learn kindness, and Fluttershy's talent, caring for the animals is also the one who would keep her at the ground the most.
• Fluttershy got Pinkie Pie's mark. She needs to let go and learn to laugh at herself, not to mention Pinkie's talent would force her to socialize with her fellow ponies.
• Pinkie Pie got Applejack's mark. Having fun and laughter is fine and all, but she needs to learn that there is a time for fun and a time for hard work, and not every time you get the best results.
• Applejack got Rarity's mark. This one is tricky, but is basically because that's the one left: Applejack needed to learn to appreciate Rarity's hard work and don't dismiss her dressmaking.
• Rarity got Rainbow Dash' mark. As nice as Rarity is, she's the one most prone to deny relationship if she feels threatened: to her friends in "Sweet and elite" and to her family in "Sisterhooves Social". She got better in better in both cases, but there's no guarantee that she won't relapse. Also, of the other six, Rainbow Dash is the one she most obviously would consider a “ruffian", so she needed to learn to appreciate her hard work as well.

Starswirl the Bearded died during Discord's reign.

He used Age Spells to extend his lifespan, but trying to cast a spell like that during an era saturated by chaos is a baaad idea. The ambient botched the spell and he ended up aging himself into oblivion.

• Jossed. He didn't die, but was trapped in Another Dimension where time stands still.

Starswirl planted the seed that would eventually grow into the Tree of Harmony.

After all, he does have a spell that affects them.

• Confirmed! "Shadow Play" reveals that he and the other six Pillars planted the seed that became the Tree of Harmony, although they didn't know what it would become beyond hoping to create a force of good.

Star Swirl didn't make the spell from "Magical Mystery Cure".

To explain, he was working on some poetry, which Princess Celestia mistakenly thought was an unfinished spell. The random result was because Twilight Sparkle tried to cast something that wasn't a spell. As far as Star Swirl's work was concerned, she met as well have tried to cast phonograph instructions.

Star Swirl the Bearded is a Legacy Character

Star Swirl the Bearded is merely a name passed down between powerful unicorns throughout Equestrian history. This explains why he's depicted with different coat colors (white in Three's a Crowd, gray in the IDW comics, and blue in Rainbow Rocks).

Rockhoof

Rockhoof will have an intense craving for a certain type of beverage.

Befitting his "Viking" image, he'll be swilling a drink — but, considering the nature of this show, it'll likely be that he's Drunk on Milk — possibly cider, root beer, or soda.

Mage Meadowbrook

This is not the same Meadowbrook as the one Twilight alludes to in "The Cutie Map".

How could she be? She's not a unicorn.

Flash Magnus

Flash Sentry is a descendant of Flash Magnus.

This wasn't what I speculated, but it's been bouncing around the Internet, probably because they have the same name.

Flash Magnus is going to meet with former Dragon Lord Torch

And if Torch does recognize him, the encounter may not be entirely cordial, as he might keep a grudge for the thunderstorm trick.

Mistmane

Mistmane is a kirin.

Look at her horn, her theme, and where she used to live and tell me it isn't true.

• Jossed. Kirin appeared in canon and they and Mistmane look nothing alike outside of being one-horned ungulates.

If Marco Polo is ever recovered and FiM is still running at the time, Mistmane will be given a relative resembling a ponified Ping-Cho.

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