- Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Were Opaline's few positive moments toward Misty amongst her abuse and still keeping her around even after she regains her powers just to ensure her loyalty, or some form of genuine attachment? Relating, is she really so anti-friendship or jealous of such? note
- Her saying she doesn't care about Misty in "Cutie Blossom Bash". Does she really mean it, or is she in denial? It is noticeable that she was about to check up on Misty before stopping herself. Relating, in "Roots of All Evil" was her (uncharacteristically) sparing Misty besides stealing her cutie mark after learning she turned against her and denouncing her mercy or just Bond Villain Stupidity?
- Pipp and Zipp's disgust at their mother dating Alphabittle. Is it G-rated Parental Sexuality Squick, or was it connected to their Disappeared Dad? And did that contribute to why they were so aghast by their mother thinking their friendship with Hitch was romantic in "The Jinxie Games"? And was Zipp's more subdued reaction to the aforementioned Stunned Silence or a hint of such feelings toward him?
- Were Alphabittle's claims that Misty Used to Be More Social as a foal signs of how badly Opaline's mistreatment damaged her, or did what caused him to overlook Misty's present personality led him to be wrong about or exaggerate it? Misty's foalhood flashbacks failed to show her acting any closer to the present instead, but it's possible her memories were unreliable.
- Were Opaline's few positive moments toward Misty amongst her abuse and still keeping her around even after she regains her powers just to ensure her loyalty, or some form of genuine attachment? Relating, is she really so anti-friendship or jealous of such? note
- Common Knowledge: It's widely stated that Spike's inability to recall much of the previous series or events leading up to this one is due to The Fog of Ages. But in the actual episode it's stated that it was due to his only recently awakening from a century-long sleep, with Hitch noting his memories are similarly fuzzy right after waking up.
- Fan-Disliked Explanation: Twilight Sparkle's messages reveals the Happy Ending Override and changes between G4 and G5 were caused by Opaline attempting to steal all magic forcing Twilight place it in the Unity Crystals to keep it from her. G4 fans saw this as underdeveloped at best for what was supposed to make G5 appeal to them, as Opaline came off as no more powerful and less intelligent than prior villains so seemingly should have been defeated without Twilight having to resort to such and failed to address many of the inconsistencies in the setting. That the vagueness and contradictions meant it failed to clearly decanonize the comics more detailed but even more disliked explanation didn't help.
- Fanon: It's widely assumed Queen Haven's song "Pony Love" was about her love of Zipp and Pipp's Disappeared Dad.
- Growing the Beard: Initially the series was seen as inferior to the comedy-focused Tell Your Tale spinoff due to its attempts at more substantive stories being seen as underwhelming and the main story plodding. Chapter 4 was the point it started delivering on the Emotional Torque that had been built up; the heroes directly confronting the villain, Misty's Heel–Face Turn, and the plot stared advancing in high gear, that it became as good as it got and seen by many as the higher quality work.
- I Knew It!:
- There was wide speculation from fans that Alphabittle is Misty's long-lost birth father given his reaction to seeing her in "The Manesquerade Ball" for months before Chapter 5 ultimately confirmed it.
- Spike was one of the characters fans most expected to still be around, given how Long-Lived dragons were in Friendship Is Magic. Sure enough, he shows up in Chapter 6.
- It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: The Series Finale revolving around stealing magic and cutie marks was seen as overly similar to the Friendship Is Magic Season 4 finale, the latter part its Season 5 premiere. That the FiM movie and finale also used the magic theft plot to diminishing returns caused to be seen as an overdone cliche here.
- Memetic Mutation: See here.
- One-Scene Wonder:
- Opaline, the then-unnamed villainous alicorn, only appeared for a few seconds in the premier, but became its most talked about part due to the likely ramifications she'd have for the backstory and series going forward and speculation about her identity.
- Near the end of episode 2, Twilight Sparkle appears through the form of some mystically holographic recorded message, giving a cryptic warning to the Mane 5 about an "evil pony", which doesn't take a genius to know she's talking about Opaline.
- Realism-Induced Horror: Opaline's regular verbal abuse and emotional manipulation of Misty are perhaps the most villainous thing about her to many, as they parallel the basics of abusive parenting in real life.
- Salvaged Story: A criticism of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic was earth ponies seeming lack of the well-defined magic like unicorns or pegasi, as their Word of God-stated connection to nature wasn't clearly demonstrated and Super-Strength shown only by a few individuals or inconsistently. Make Your Mark rectified this by granting earth ponies Green Thumb abilities, even making it a plot point that magic has evolved to explain why earth ponies never had this power before.
- Strawman Has a Point: In "Top Remodel", Sprout claiming Canterlogic was still his despite being since abandoned and the heroes converting it into Canterlove Studios was supposed to be dismissed as him being unrepentant for his wrongdoings in A New Generation. But Sprout's argument that the property still belongs to his family was unintentionally valid as it's never addressed if/how it legally changed ownership after shutting down, as would be his antagonism to the "heroes" who'd be stealing his property.
- Tainted by the Preview: Twilight's appearance at the end of the second chapter trailer has received some criticism for looking like her normal self, as opposed to her post-Time Skip Alicorn appearance in the series finale of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, as well as concerns that bringing in G4 characters so soon would be pandering at the expense of the G5 cast and setting. In the second chapter itself, she only makes a singular appearance.
- Uncertain Audience: For returning/older audiences of Friendship Is Magic and/or A New Generation it was seen as failing to live up to their writing quality, and lacking enough continuity with Friendship Is Magic to justify being its Sequel Series but enough to displease those who wouldn't have minded if it was a separate series. Meanwhile the new/younger audiences who wouldn't care about these issues or would not be picky about quality were inclined to ignore Make Your Mark in favor of the Tell Your Tale spinoff for its cartoony style and greater accessibility (more episodic, far more frequent releases, not being locked in a subscription service). Thus Make Your Mark wasn't renewed after its initial run
while Tell Your Tale was because it better appealed to a specific audience. - Unexpected Character: Few would have expected the Breezies to make a return given that while the other non-pony races became prominent the Breezies had no appearances outside their debut Season almost a decade prior.
- The Woobie: Misty suffers a lot of abuse from Opaline.
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