shadowcipher17

[shadowcipher17]

On Sunset's lack of confirmed backstory, I guess it does come off as a bit odd compared to not only the other MLP redemptions, but also other redemptions in other cartoons. Looking at them:

Zuko: had a horrible father in Ozai

Sasha (Amphibia): Marcy's Journal and interviews by Matt Braly indicate her parents' divorce led to her bossy and controlling ways

Amity (Owl House): horrible mother in Odalia

Hunter (Owl House): raised under the villain Belos

Pacifica (Gravity Falls): raised under her horrible parents Preston and Pricilla

Catra (She Ra 2018): orphan with a horrible childhood raised under Shadow Weaver

Peridot: raised under the regime of Homeworld by the Diamonds

Lapis Lazuli: trapped in a mirror for thousands of years

In comparison to those other redemptions, Sunset stands out as having no confirmed backstory. Like, are there any other redeemed villains either on MLP or other shows that didn't get a backstory?

Also curious on if Sunset even has a family anymore? Considering Celestia is the only person Sunset seemed to have any kind of relationship with before she left for the human world and Sunset never bringing up or showing sign of missing her family even after she redeems and reconciles with Celestia, is it possible she could be an orphan. There are common fan theories on Sunset being an orphan who sees Celestia as her adopted mother or a parental figure (which does give their subsequent fallout more weight in the process).

For the first question, I’m not sure.

For the second, she did mention in the holiday comic that she wasn’t really close with her family back in Equestria. I’ve never been really sold on the Celestia adopted mother theory, but I honestly headcanon that she was Sunburst’s older sister but once she disappeared through the portal, Celestia had to do damage control on the family so questions wouldn’t be asked (also some guilt), and wipe/seal away their memories of Sunset Shimmer until she came back at least.

[shadowcipher17]

So out of curiosity, how would you have improved and made Trixie a better character? Since you find that her jealousy of Twilight made no sense, how would you have improved her arc with her major role in episodes like Magic Duel, No Second Prances, To Where and Back Again, All Bottled Up, To Change a Changeling, Road to Friendship, Student Counsel, and A Horse Shoe-In?

Boast Busters and Magic Duel are fine, I'll even take for Magic Duel that she was being corrupted by the amulet and her resentment of Twilight was jumpstarted. Now thinking about it, what could be better is an episode with Trixie meeting Twilight and sees she has wings and that can jumpstart her jealousy again. Everything plays out normally. Just have the episode set somewhere in between S4 and S6, the two are on good terms, but Trixie can't help still feeling jealous and decides to one up Twilight in some sort of way leading to No Second Prances. Everything else can stay the same.

[shadowcipher17]

So, ever consider allowing for anonymous asks for people who want to ask you questions, but are too shy?

Honestly, I don't mind, I've just never put my settings on that feature. Lol.

[shadowcipher17]

So considering you have disliked how Starlight Glimmer was handled, how would you have improved her redemption arc? How would you have made it feel more earned and make her moments of being the hero (since you aren't a fan of whenever they try to give her heroic moments like in To Where and Back Again where you claim Spike was a better fit for her role there)?

The Cutie Re-Mark: Take out the time travel plot. Let's be honest, Starlight was practically a second thought against going to see different timelines where previous established villains actually won. Have her do some other revenge worthy plot, the princesses' step in as mediators, Twilight agrees to take Starlight on as a student, but Starlight is unconvinced of her ways of equality and her redemption arc is her being proven wrong through other ponies. That's it. Her big test is going back to her village to try and make amends, and don't have everyone forgive her and she comes to terms with that.

Again, not everything has to be some Equestria level world threat in order for the protagonist to learn a lesson.

Also, Spike was a better fit because of his friendship with Thorax and I felt that got overlooked. Also Spike, being the one to save the Mane 6 for once.

[shadowcipher17]

So, what do you think of the deleted scenes in Friendship Games? Looks like they were planning on having a subplot for Sunset feeling homesick for Equestria (which would finally answer the long standing question on if she stays in the human world or moves back to Equestria) and having Sci-Twi stay at CPA with the reformed Shadowbolts. Would those deleted scenes have made the movie better?

Thinking about it now, I think I would've preferred the deleted scenes. We would've finally got something about Sunset being home-sick, Princess Twilight would've had a better role than being at the end of the movie. I would've been fine with Sci-Twi going back with the Shadowbolts but again I think Twilight transferred to balance out the Mane 6 with the HuMane 6. The transition from Princess Twilight being the protagonist to passing the torch to Sunset would've been perfect. For Sci Twi, I like her, but she doesn't really serve anything to the magic plot especially with her stance on magic (according to Spring Breakdown). I feel that Sci Twi was just inserted to replace Princess Twilight permanently to balance out Friendship is Magic with Equestria Girls since Sunset is no Twilight and Twilight's the center focus of the FIM franchise.

[shadowcipher17]

You got any theory on why Sunset became such a jerk in the first movie (before her defeat)? Considering how with other redemptions there is some backstory like Starlight's being that her best and only friend Sunburst got his cutie mark and left her behind which caused her to be too afraid to make new ones in fear of the same thing happening and thinking cutie marks destroy friendships, Discord's being that he will die and fade from existence if he doesn't indulge in chaotic behavior, and even the smaller ones like Diamond Tiara and Gilda have terrible home lives that led to their more antagonistic behaviors.

Sunset on the other hand never got any backstory on why she became a jerk of a mean bully in the first movie. Even that Fall of Sunset Shimmer comic (where canon on that is pretty ambiguous with the comics canon being spotty in general) never gave a reason for why she was so mean with her already being shown as a jerk in the first page (even episode 1 Twilight was never as mean as Sunset), before Celestia showed her the mirror.

Simple, she had an inflated ego from her position of power as Celestia's student and wanted more power and wanted to be an alicorn. I mean she's a unicorn that's the student of the ruler of Equestria and has the opportunity to become something greater. It's just an inflated ego, not everypony has to have a backstory where they start out nice and then turn mean. Again, she was the equivalent of Diamond Tiara before S5 revealed she had parental issues.

Another thing, she's supposed to foil Twilight in terms of personality. Where Twilight was stand-offish and genuinely awkward about the concept of friendship and seemed off put about social interaction in general (going off the first episode), Sunset on the other hand has no problem socially interacting...but she's a complete jerk about it.

It's not hard to infer why she would get an ego: she lives in a world of powerful magic, was born as one of the most powerful races of pony, was the student of the most powerful being in Equestria, it's not hard to see that she got an ambitious and inflated ego.

[shadowcipher17]

Noticing how you are the first person who doesn't consider Rollercoaster of Friendship, Spring Breakdown, or the first Equestria Girls film as the worst of the Equestria Girls movies/specials, given those three are always considered the weakest and rank low on ranking Equestria Girls movies/specials lists. And seeing Friendship Games and Legend of Everfree as the weakest instead, given many put those two films among the upper half as far as the specials/movies ranking goes.

I know you already defended why you think Sunset's turn at the end of the first movie was well written enough, but what would your defenses be for the complaints Rollercoaster of Friendship and Spring Breakdown have from fans like:

Rollercoaster of Friendship adding nothing to the spin off like the previous films/specials did (aside from maybe Rarijack if you wanna push it), being too uneventful for a 44 minute special/movie, pointless Rainbooms transformation (which the writers themselves said was only there for selling toys), being seen as just fanservice, and Vignette being seen as the worst villain in Equestria Girls with the worst redemption as well.

Spring Breakdown due to Rainbow Dash's obnoxious paranoiac behavior in the first half and coming off as essentially "let's be cool superheroes" without considering how the others feel (and the ending trying to justify and prove her behavior was right), being incredibly dull with it taking half the special for human Rainbow Dash, Sci-Twi, and Sunset to even get to Equestria (which was used as the special's selling point), and the climax being too rushed.

Rollercoaster of Friendship: For me, it was nice to have the magic plot point take a back seat especially if it meant other characters aside from Sunset got to shine. Rarity and Applejack were the stars of the special and I liked both characters. Again, I do wish Sunset would interact with someone other than Twilight, she could've interacted with Pinkie or helped out Applejack. I do agree that the magic- side plot was a low point and Vignette was essentially a rehash of Juniper's plan and she wasn't a good villain. Honestly, the Equestria Girls villains haven't been good since Wallflower (to a degree).

Spring Breakdown: I can't defend this one. Rainbow Dash was awful in this special and in her words "ruined everyone's vacation". Sci Twi on the other hand while she called out Rainbow Dash, it's unbelievable at this point that she doesn't believe that the girls are anything but ordinary at this point. I understand that she wanted to try to have a normal vacation for the girls, at this point she needs to accept that magic is real and that the girls aren't normal. I can see why they marketed the girls going to Equestria, because it was the best part and should've been more in the special than the last ten minutes. Missed opportunity.

[shadowcipher17]

On why the first four Equestria Girls movies tended to put the other five Rainbooms out of focus in favor of Sunset and Twilight (both pony and human), I'm guessing this could be due to how similar they are to their pony counterparts and not having as much to distinguish from them like Sci-Twi was to her pony counterpart, so there probably wasn't as much motivation writing for characters who have alternate counterparts similar to them compared to the one who had some differences with the pony counterpart (Sci-Twi) or the original character created for the spin off that need more time for fleshing out (Sunset).

I think it was mainly because despite it being the Mane 6, Twilight is the MAIN character of the franchise. We follow her journey going from an introverted bookworm all the way to the Princess of Friendship.

[shadowcipher17]

Don't you think you are being a bit too harsh on Trixie's actions in Boast Busters? Sure she was being a bit arrogant, but that is supposed to be part of her traveling magician act. Even then, do you really think it justifies getting her home destroyed and getting humiliated and run out of town? Especially since Trixie did genuinely make an effort to try and fight the Ursa Minor instead of just immediately running away.

It wasn't even Trixie's fault the Ursa Minor got loose in Ponyville. All she did was brag, but she certainly never asked Snips and Snails to attract that monster in town in the first place. Like hypothetically if I claimed I could take on a bear and then two idiots decided to cause a bear to escape the zoo and put a town in danger because of it, who's more at fault? The bragger that was simply bragging but not actually hurting anyone or the idiots who unleashed the bear that endangered people's lives in the first place?

The Ursa Minor getting loose in Ponyville was 100% Snips and Snails' own fault, so it does feel odd how they get off super lightly compared to Trixie. There's a reason why it's so satisfying seeing Snips and Snails getting karma in Magic Duel since it was their own idiocy that ruined Trixie's life.

Not saying Trixie was the nicest person around, but trying to claim the Ursa Minor attack was her fault in Boast Busters kinda feels a bit extreme.

I never said she deserved what happed to her. That was on Snips and Snails BUT she was indirectly the cause due to letting her boasting go that far.

My issue was her “beef” with Twilight for little to no reason.

[shadowcipher17]

So out of curiosity, what do you think of Spring Breakdown and Rollercoaster of Friendship? Seeing how they're seen as the weakest among the Equestria Girls movies/specials, wonder what your takes on those are (since you consider Friendship Games worse than both of them)?

Ironically, I like both mainly because Sunset takes a backseat for once. Both have members of the Humane 6 take center stage.

The only thing I really liked about Spring Breakdown was that they went to Equestria. I didn’t like Rainbow in this. Sci-Twi had no argument against the hero thing, yes Rainbow screwed up but after everything that the girls have been through with saving a camp, and saving a parade, I don’t know how Sci-Twi thinks they’re anything but normal. I was hoping Sunset feeling guilty and bringing up the fact that the magic issue is primarily her fault would be a set up for something but it went nowhere and I would’ve liked to see some shorts with the Humane 7 interacting with the Mane 6 in Equestria but wasn’t meant to be.

Rollercoaster of Friendship on the other hand was a refresher and a nice break from the magic plot. Again, it was refreshing to see someone other than Sunset or Twilight have the spotlight…and Applejack and Rarity were both likable as the leads. Didn’t care too much about the plot and the magic business was a re-hash of Mirror Magic which wasn’t really creative. Vignette also sucked as a villain.

I liked Rollercoaster of Friendship as a whole better than Spring Breakdown that only had the few bits of Equestria in it.

[shadowcipher17]

Given how you weren't a fan of how Friendship Games' climax has handled, how do you think it could have been improved? Like I get the vibe you'd try to have the other five Rainbooms a bit more involved in it, but how would you have also improved the Sunset and Sci-Twi interactions in the film as well that could've led to a better climax (it would be weird if Sunset didn't have any involvement in the climax)?

Also since we're on the Sci-Twi and Sunset interaction train, did Legend of Everfree do any better with the Sunset and Sci-Twi dynamic being the core focus again (as one of the spin off's most prominent dynamics) or did it also have problems?

I wasn’t opposed to Sunset not being in the climax because she does come full circle but the issue is that she barely spent enough time with Twilight to earn that resolution. It didn’t feel believable and that they just wanted a role reversal climax of the first movie…just because. Ironically, if Princess Twilight was in place of Sci Twi then the scene could work because they’ve built up this relationship from enemies to friends over the span of three movies. With Sci-Twi, Sunset officially had one conversation where she yelled at Twilight and that was it before the climax. It didn’t feel believable to me.

Legend of Everfree did better at fleshing out their relationship unfortunately at the cost of the other 5

[shadowcipher17]

Given how you did criticize Friendship Games and may have it also with Legend of Everfree where human Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity sorta went out of focus in favor of Sunset and Sci-Twi, do you think the later specials/films did help in rectifying that issue with more effort in letting them take the lead roles like Rarity in Dance Magic, Rainbow Dash in Movie Magic, Applejack and Rarity in Rollercoaster of Friendship, Rainbow Dash (alongside Sci-Twi) in Spring Breakdown, Pinkie Pie (alongside Sunset) in Sunset's Backstage Pass, and Holliidays Unwrapped being split with Rainbow Dash in Blizzard or Bust and Dashing Through the Mall, Applejack (with Sci-Twi) in Cider Louse Fools, and Pinkie in Saving Pinkie's Pie? Course Sunset never stops being a main lead, with Forgotten Friendship, Mirror Magic, Sunset's Backstage Pass, and Hollidays Unwrapped segment Winter Break In focusing on her, but she isn't the only one who gets to be in the main spotlight now.

Sure human Fluttershy sadly never gets to be a major lead in any movie or special (though she does get several shorts focused on her), but it's still a step up.

The specials actually did rectify that and I’m glad that they did. It gives more of a balance for the girls. I do which Fluttershy got a focused special on her.

[shadowcipher17]

In terms of the geodes problem in Equestria Girls, I guess one hard thing they could have run into is how Sunset and Sci Twi would be able to activate their powers without geodes. Even in your post critiquing the introduction of geodes, you didn't quite mention those two activating their powers without geodes like you did for the other five Rainbooms. Also, ever consider including anon asks for those either without an account or too shy to give their identity away?

All of the girls had their powers manifest in some way by being close to the geodes in the movie. Twilight was shown levitating things when they first got to camp and Sunset starting hearing Gloriosa’s thoughts while they were at camp. Same with the others, none of them received the geodes until the climax of the movie but we’re slowly developing powers because of the geodes that happened to be there.

It would’ve been better if they got powers naturally signaling that they’re magic was evolving like in the previous movie.

[shadowcipher17]

MLP Villain Timeline- Pony of Shadows (Main Stygian)

1. Stygian the Unicorn

Stygian was a unicorn who was a scholar who liked to study. He wasn’t magically exceptional nor he was a hero. He lived around the time the Celestia and Luna were teenagers meaning beyond over 1,000 years ago. He mainly liked to study mythical sea creatures. One day he went to the beach to collect sea shells to study but on that day he had an interesting encounter…

2. Stygian and The Sirens

During his findings, he came face to face with The Dazzlings. He was in awe of Adagio and her sisters at first but then Adagio slipped and mentioned how she and her sisters wanted to be empowered by the surface world and spread their negative magic. He managed to get away from them and try to look in his books on how to stop the sirens, but he was too late and his town except for him ended up getting under the sirens spell which caused him to set off on a journey to find a group of Equestrian heroes.

3. Assembling a Team

With his village under attack by The Sirens, Stygian set out to find the Equestrian heroes of legend starting with finding Rockhoof, and then finding the others: Mage Meadowbrook, Flash Magnus, Mistmane, Sonambula, and StarSwirl. Meaning that Stygian was responsible for bringing these heroes together to fight the Sirens.

4. Stygian’s Internal Feelings

Despite, Stygian bringing the group together he feels like he’s nothing special compared to the others Pillars who have done other brave and heavy feats that normal ponies wouldn’t be able to. When it came to the battle against the Sirens, Stygian stood on the sidelines and watched the others banish the sirens to another world. Since that day Stygian felt inadequate and wanted to change that so he could fight alongside his friends.

5. Stygian vs. StarSwirl: A Battle of Ideals

In the 2018 comic annual, Stygian along with the other Pillars have to rescue Celestia and Luna after they get captured by dark forces through a mirror into a alternate dark dimension of Equestria due to Starswirl showing the girls about different portals to other places. Out of the other’s Stygian is mainly against Starswirl for his decision to show the girls the mirrors, which put them in danger. He notes to Rockhoof that after the Pillars are gone, the princesses would only write about StarSwirl’s exploits without the other Pillars hardly get mentioned in Equestria’s history. But despite him being vital in saving the princesses, he still had those thoughts in the back of his mind.

6. The Stolen Artifacts

Months after the Siren defeat and the princesses being saved, Stygian never lost sight of his quest into finding ways to be as strong as the pillars so that he can fight alongside them and after months he finally figured it out. It was a ritual where he needed a symbol of strength from each of the Pillars: Starswirl’s Journal of Sorcery, Rockhoof’s Shovel of Strength, Mistmane’s Flower of Beauty, Meadowbrook’s Mask of Healing, Flash Magnus’s Shield of Bravery, and Sonambula’s Blindfold of Hope. Stygian stole the items for his spell in hopes that he could make copies of the artifacts but he was shunned and cast out from the group.

7. The Rise of The Pony of Shadows

After Stygian was cast out from the Pillars, he wandered Equestria until he came across the Well of Shade and discovered an apparent entity known as “The Darkness or The Shadow” which spoke to Stygian of a power beyond that would make him stronger than his “friends” and he accepted. He merged with “the shadow” and they became one and Stygian was turned into The Pony of Shadows. With his new dark powers he went to claim vengeance on his former friends.

8. The Pony of Shadow’s Initial Defeat/1,000 Year Return

Despite being a formidable force, StarSwirl had a plan to banish the Pony of Shadows, by the Pillars using their symbolic items to magically seal him away in limbo but themselves along with it. Unfortunately, 1,000 years later Twilight, Sunburst, the Mane 5 and Starlight free the Pillars and unintentionally also free the Pony of Shadows.

9. The Pony of Shadow’s Defeat/Stygian’s Return

Despite the Pony of Shadows being free, he was weakened from limbo, so he had to find places of darkness in order to get stronger but due to Equestria being more modernized, he only had one place to draw power from which was the Well of Shade. Despite that he was pushed back into a portal by the Elements and other Pillar’s items and Twilight was about to push him in when she saw Stygian inside of the “the Shadow” and instead she decided to hear his side of the story. There was a lack of communication between Stygian and the Pillars and Stygian went behind their backs to steal instead of just talking to them about his feelings and the Pillars were at fault for not letting him explain instead of shunning and casting him out. StarSwirl realizes he and the others were wrong, and the group frees Stygian while banishing “The Shadow” into a portal. The Shadow was no more while Stygian was free and reunited with his friends.

[shadowcipher17]

MLP Theory/Headcanon: Cadence’s Mother

Now when it came to MLP FIM royalty, easily the most underrated princess out of the four is Cadence. In show canon, she marries Shining Armor, rules over the Crystal Empire, and had Flurry Heart but that’s pretty much it. She gets more development in the supplement material such as the books and the comics. All the backstory that we had on Cadence was that according to the books she was found as a baby pegasus by an Earth pony couple, but she had a high tolerance for love and she defeated a sorceress with the power of love and Celestia found her and was transformed into an alicorn as Twilight was. She was then taken on as her niece and went to Celestia’s school. So she’s been labeled as an orphan until the comic Siege of the Crystal Empire, where it’s revealed that she could’ve been possibly related to Princess Amore, the first princess of the Crystal Empire.

Now it’s been stated that Cadence is “distantly related” to Amore, but going back through the IDW comics, books, and other material gives me an idea that Cadence could possibly be Amore’s long lost daughter, rather than a distant descendant.

1. Cadence’s Origins

So in the book Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell, Cadence finally gets an origin story and honestly gives us more information on Cadence than her entire runtime on the show.

Cadence was originally found as a baby pegasus in a forest

She was taken in by an Earth Pony couple in a nearby village and raised Cadence

As she grew up, her love and compassion had a positive affect on the villagers who were filled with warmth and an urge to protect her

A young Cadence defeated an enchantress named Prismia who was jealous of other ponies and took the love of the other villagers for herself

Cadence defeated Prismia with her compassion and Prismia vowed to change her ways and Cadence was magically teleported to the same “ascension” realm that Twilight was in with Celestia in the Season 3 finale

Celestia found Cadence and immediately took her in as her adopted niece and raised her in Canterlot

She found her special talent in spreading love which presumably got her cutie mark of her crystal heart

She was also a student of Celestia’s School of Gifted Unicorns and in her final exam, she made two Canterlot feuding families become friends

Yeah, 10 times more information on Cadence than the show, but the main points is that she was a baby pegasus found in a forest before being raised by Earth Ponies in the village, all the way up to her success against Prismia and her accession to being an alicorn and taken in by Celestia as her niece and moved to Canterlot.

2. Celestia and Cadence

Now Celestia took in Cadence as her own niece, and continued to raise her in Canterlot. Cadence studied under Celestia, went to her school and had her final exam as well as went to Canterlot Academy being the high school. Now Celestia met Cadence sometime during Luna’s banishment and continued to raise her and even officiated her wedding. The interesting word to note is adopted niece. For Celestia to regard Cadence as her niece or even adopted niece is that Luna would’ve had to have been Cadence’s mother or something happened to Luna and Celestia took Cadence in since she’s Luna’s daughter but neither of those are the case since Luna didn’t even meet Cadence until after her 1,000 year banishment so that’s off the table but not necessarily Cadence being an adopted niece of Celestia.

3. The Crystal Empire

Now the next step in Cadence’s journey is that after her and Shining Armor get married, they end up moving to the Crystal Empire, a kingdom that was cursed to be banished from existence over 1,000 years due to King Sombra. The Crystal Empire is where Cadence is most connected to: her cutie mark is the Crystal Heart, her magic is able to keep out Sombra like the Crystal Heart, one of the residence refers to her as the Crystal Princess despite being gone for 1,000 years. Show wise nothing gets elaborated on Cadence’s connections aside from the premiere episode, but there are some interesting things to take away from the premiere:

Cadence with her own magic surrounds the entire empire with a magical barrier that also serves as an illusion barrier that kept Sombra out of the empire

She’s stated as the new ruler of the Crystal Empire by her title of “Crystal Princess” to the Crystal Ponies

Cadence’s barrier is so powerful that Sombra got his horn cut off as he tried to get in the empire and he had to wait until Cadence was drained of her magic in order to get inside of the barrier

Cadence was able connect with the Crystal Heart with her cutie mark glowing as she visually sensed the heart

Now the interesting thing is that we get more information about Cadence in the Siege of the Crystal Empire comic by different characters. Siege of the Crystal Empire is about how Sombra returns from being destroyed following the events of The Crystal Empire and takes revenge on The Crystal Empire and is also tied in with Sombra’s origin story from the Fiendship comics. For Cadence, some information is learned about her:

She officially addresses herself as an orphan

Radiant Hope (a crystal unicorn who managed to escape the banishment of the Crystal Empire that happened over 1,000 years ago) noted that Cadence looked like Princess Amore who was the former ruler of the Crystal Empire before Sombra got to her.

The true antagonist of the comic, Rabia who is the leader Umbrum or Shadow ponies and Sombra’s mother notes that Cadence has the same magic as Princess Amore who was responsible for turning the Crystal Heart into a weapon and was the one to imprison the Umbrum ponies over 1,000 years ago and Amore’s magic is harmful to the Umbrum ponies (like how Cadence was able to harm Sombra with her magic barrier)

Now I bring those up because both Rabia and Radiant regard Cadence as being similar to Amore in terms of looks and power and they’re both over 1,000 years old and have seen and battled Amore in the past. 

3. Cadence and Amore Parallels

Cadence and Amore share similar parallels to each other outside of having pink/purple manes and being rulers of the Crystal Empire.

Both got their princess statuses at a young age as well as their cutie marks

Cadence got her status as princess and her cutie mark by defeating Prismia with compassion and love where she became an alicorn and got her cutie mark

Amore got her title as Princess for founding the Crystal Empire and using her love magic to fuel the Crystal Heart and she also got her cutie mark because of it

Both attempted to protect the Crystal Empire with their natural magic when the Crystal Heart was missing

Both are able to restore the Crystal Heart with their magic

Both have the same love magic

Both have love magic strong enough that is able to hold off the Umbrum ponies and harm them

Both ended up being physically affected by Sombra

Sombra ended up turning Amore to dark crystal and then shattered her body around parts of Equestria

Due to Sombra’s actions in the past, Cadence had to use her magic to protect the Crystal Empire and it physically weakened her

4. Princess Amore Backstory

To break away from Cadence for a minute, Princess Amore herself has an interesting backstory for a supplemental character. Her backstory mainly comes from The Journal of the Two Sisters but she’s also expanded upon in the comics, specifically Fiendship is Magic #1 and MLP Issues #34-37 Siege of The Crystal Empire. So from all of that here is an official timeline of events based around Princess Amore and The Crystal Empire itself.

A group of Crystal ponies began mining in the Crystalline Mountains up in Northern Equestria, where they came across cave of gems which ended up being the hoard of a dormant dragon. Since the dragon was dormant, the Crystal ponies saw no issue in taking the gems for themselves, one of which was the Crystal Heart. (The Journal of the Two Sisters pg. 96)

A young unicorn named Amore was a pony filled with love in heart and felt a connection with the Crystal Heart, so she used her magic to send her positive emotions into the Crystal Heart which spread across the land which became known as The Crystal Empire. (The Journal of the Two Sisters pg. 93)

Amore got her cutie mark which was a blue crystalline heart/snowflake and became the first ruler of The Crystal Empire as it’s princess

Centuries later, she meets a blank flanked Celestia and Luna who had recently been crowned and as Princesses of Equestria. The three princesses had good relations with each other and Princess Amore respected that Celestia and Luna were the princesses of Equestria who protected the lands overall, while she specifically ruled over The Crystal Empire. The sisters could call on Amore if they needed help and vice versa.

Amore enlisted aid from Celestia and Luna years later, when the Crystal Heart was taken by the former dormant dragon which weakened the Crystal Empire. Amore tried to use her own magic to stabilize the Crystal Empire, but her unicorn magic was completely depleted.

Celestia and Luna managed to get the Crystal Heart back from the dragon and she was replenished with her magic. As thanks, she announced the first Crystal Fair in honor of the occasion and everyone celebrated.

During the years, Amore protected the Crystal Empire from ongoing threats and trained her crystal ponies to be prepared for battle against threats so she created many spells and enchantments in the Crystal Caverns in the event the empire needed to be protected but those spells were protected by an enchantment by her own design

Years later, Amore and the Crystal Ponies faced an unknown threat known as the Umbrum ponies, shadow ponies that feed off hatred and fear. These creatures made their way to the Empire before and managed to get to the Crystal Ponies but Amore used the magic of the Crystal Heart to seal them away into a dimensional prison where they couldn’t escape and were said prison was banished to the frozen north outside the empire where the Umbrum couldn’t escape.

Unknown to her however, the Umbrum devised a plan by having one of their own infiltrate The Crystal Empire under the disguise of a pony, who ended up being a young Sombra who her guards found outside the empire passed out

Amore had her guards take Sombra to the Crystal Empire Orphanage and she kept a watch on Sombra due to knowing the truth about what he was

Amore encountered Sombra and his friend Radiant Hope looking at the Crystal Heart and told them that the Crystal Heart has properties that allow one to see their destiny and she believed that despite what the Heart showed them, they had the power to change their destinies. 

Years later one night, she encounters an older Sombra trying to steal the Crystal Heart and tells him that it’s not too late to change and how he doesn’t have to be like one of the Umbrum, revealing that she knew what Sombra actually was but hid the truth from him and made him suffer during the Crystal Fair due to the light and love destroying him.

For this, Amore was turned into dark crystal and shattered across Equestria due to Sombra’s anger and that was the last of Princess Amore

5. The Crystalling (not the episode but the actual event)

I briefly want to talk about The Crystalling but not the episode itself but more about the event in The Crystal Empire. From what Spike describes in the episode is that when a baby is born in the Crystal Empire, there’s a Crystalling ceremony held where a crystaller is chosen who picks out the purest shard of crystal and the light and love of the ceremony spreads throughout the empire. Now the one line that stands out to me is when Spike says this:

"And this is going to be a royal Crystalling, so pretty much the whole empire will show up. "- Spike, The Crystalling.

"That hasn't happened in millennia!"- Spike, The Crystalling

So what Spike is saying is that a royal Crystalling in The Crystal Empire hasn’t happened in a millennia AKA 1,000 years. This one fact has a few interesting notes about it:

According to Spike, a Royal Crystalling is when the royal family has a baby and they go through the Crystalling ceremony.

A Royal Crystalling has only happened once in 1,000 years

6. My Timeline/Speculation

So, I’m going to give a possible timeline and speculate how Cadence could simply be Amore’s “long lost” daughter and how she survived/escaped the banishment of The Crystal Empire. This would take place a bit before Sombra comes into play but at the same type during his time of growing up alongside Radiant Hope

A few centuries after the initial defeat of the Umbrum, Princess Amore ruled The Crystal Empire in peace as the Princess of Love, but she was lonely, she was always compassionate and was loved by her subjects and used her love to protect her subjects and strengthen the Crystal Empire but she never knew about personal love and relationships. She was close with the Royal Siblings of Equestria to the point where they were her “honorary sisters” but she never experienced love for herself.

Over , she ended up meeting a  visiting pegasus stallion by the name of Alto Harmony who came from a cloud city. He was a painter, who liked to take his time and enjoy the scenery and what he paints. Amore took a liking to him and enjoyed each other’s company, and eventually fell in love with each other. 

Due to not wanting to start a panic with her subjects due to being a princess, she had a private wedding and Celestia and Luna attended as Amore’s mare of honor and the two went on their honeymoon

Months later while her husband was visiting, Amore found out that she was having a foal, but she wanted to keep it hidden from the public 

To not raise suspicion, she uses an duplication spell, to create an duplicate of her current appearance to keep up appearances

Before she created her duplicate she was walking around the Crystal Castle and noticed a young Sombra and young Radiant Hope looking at the Crystal Heart and she encouraged them about destiny and choice

About a year later, Amore and her husband had a pegasus filly by the name of Mi Amore Cadenza, but Amore shortened it to Cadence and she was born on the day of the Crystal Fair (the same fair where Sombra started to get sick)

3 years later, little Cadence grew into a toddler and Amore and Alto agreed that it was time that the public knew of Amore’s relationship and the first Royal Crystalling

That afternoon the celebration was held and the Crystal Ponies were ecstatic with joy and Alto was crowned Prince consort to Princess Amore and due to The Crystalling and the Fair on the same day the light and love magnified across the empire (the same event which caused Sombra to nearly shatter and Hope saving him and earning her cutie mark)

The following day, Amore received word that Radiant Hope got her cutie mark and her special talent was in healing which was really rare for a form of magic and she sent a letter of recommendation to Celestia and Luna to take her under their wing to become a princess so that her healing magic could be put to good use but she held concern about Sombra and his destiny

Alto had family business to take care of in his hometown so he had to leave, and Amore’s maidens took care of Cadence while Amore had her royal duties to take care of.

That night Amore went out for a nightly stroll and saw a hooded figure trying to steal the Crystal Heart, but she knew it was a teenage Sombra and tried to reason with him about his destiny and bout how she knew about his origins but he was too enraged and activated his horn and before he blasted her, she used her magic to send a beacon to her maidens before she was turned into dark crystal

The maidens saw the signal and while the guards went to apprehend Sombra and Radiant Hope left to find the Royal Siblings, the maidens took Cadence to a magical stasis crystal where little Cadence was put inside along with a blanket with her nickname embroidered on it and once inside the crystal teleported off across Equestria

The Crystal Empire fell that day due to Sombra banishing the kingdom for 1,000 years and Celestia and Luna could do nothing to stop it

Celestia and Luna decided not to hide the loss of The Crystal Empire from their subjects

Meanwhile, Cadence’s crystal landed in a forest and turned invisible and remained there for over 1,000 years

Over 1,000 years later after Sombra and Nightmare were banished an earth pony village was formed by the White Tail Woods Forest, and an earth pony couple was in the forest and they stumbled upon the stasis crystal which revealed Cadence inside and the two immediately took her in to their village and raised her as their own

Cadence was raised from a toddler to a pre-teen and was loved by the villagers due to her compassion and love

Cadence defeated Prismia, though her compassion and was brought to the accession place and met with Princess Celestia for the first time

Celestia noticed Cadence’s cutie mark being a crystallized heart and her compassion for love had turned her into an alicorn and Celestia decided to personally raise Cadence as her adopted niece and had her live in Canterlot with her

Cadence was then Celestia’s pupil at the School of Unicorns as well as attending Canterlot Academy High School when she was in her teenage years

Cadence fell in love with Shining Armor and met a young Twilight Sparkle when she fillysat for her for the first time during high school

Cadence graduated high school and she helped out around Canterlot to help ponies find love in her young adult years

She got engaged to Shining Armor and the rest was history

So that’s my timeline on how Cadence was Amore’s daughter and escaped Sombra’s banishment of The Crystal Empire.

[shadowcipher17]

Why Sunset’s Turn Around In EG1 Makes Sense

When it comes to Sunset Shimmer, she’s easily regarded as the highlight of Equestria Girls and one of the G4 characters of MLP that had a good redemption in Rainbow Rocks and onward. Today however I want to talk about her “instant” turn around and “forgiveness” from the others.

A. Sunset’s Turn Around

In the last 10 minutes of Equestria Girls, Sunset got the crown, turned into a raging she-demon, tried to take over Equestria with her own teenage zombie army, and she got blasted by the Magic of Friendship and got turned back to normal and was instantly remorseful. Most people have said that Sunset has a bad reformation because she was blasted by the Elements and was instantly remorseful like the Elements mind controlled her into being remorseful...except the Elements or the Magic of Friendship doesn’t have the power to do that. If that were the case then any villain that got blasted with the Elements or the Magic of Friendship would instantly be reformed and ask for forgiveness. But the Elements only depower those with dark or negative magic with the exception of Discord.

Nightmare Moon: Luna as Nightmare Moon got blasted by the Elements and the magic stripped her of her dark powers but she willingly decided to accept Celestia’s friendship.

Discord: He got blasted by the Elements and got turned to stone and Discord made a genuine friendship with Fluttershy on his own choice (despite going backwards)

Sunset: She got blasted by the Elements and turned back to normal from her demon form and Twilight offered her a choice to accept friendship and she willingly accepted to learn about friendship and turn over a new leaf

Tirek: Got blasted by Rainbow Power and got depowered and was put back in Tartarus without changing his personality

The Dazzlings: They got blasted by the Elements/Magic of Friendship and they got depowered and just lived their lives in the human realm with their personalities changed.

Legion of Doom: They got blasted with the Magic of Friendship and they got depowered from Grogar’s magic and while Tirek and Cozy Glow were ready to surrender because they were outnumbered but Chrysalis flat out states that they’ll never change.

So, no the Elements don’t brainwash the target into being good it just takes away any upgraded dark power that they have minus Discord. So Sunset wasn’t brainwashed into instantly having a change of heart like the majority thinks she did. On the surface, I can see why people think that but when looking at this scene closer, there’s more to it.

1. Sunset’s Punishment (Physically)

I think out of all the defeats in Friendship is Magic and Equestria Girls, Sunset’s was the most brutal. She got blasted by the Magic of Friendship, that blast slammed her into a crater, and left her not only scorching but she was battered, bruised, and her clothes were torn and her hair was a mess. Like, the Magic of Friendship kinda messed her up physically. Even the Humane 5 had shocked/worried expressions despite Sunset breaking apart their friendship (as in “I know she was a jerk, but we didn’t kill her did we”?). 

So, physically she literally got the demon burned off of her and physically that was more punishment than the rest of the villains got with Luna/Nightmare at second. Discord got turned to stone, but his physical body was fine when he was released. The other villains were depowered and had slight headaches. So physically, she got punished enough to get scared straight.

2. Sunset’s Punishment (Mentally)

Now, the reason why she had her turn around was this. She got humiliated. Sunset believed that she could have greater power with the Element of Magic but her ambitious and selfish nature once getting the crown it turned her into a demon. She wanted to take over Equestria with her own teenage army but she got defeated with the true magic of the Element of Magic end she ended up cowering in front of the student body. The same student body that she spent years dividing. She used to look down on the students of Canterlot High and bully them, but now they’re all looking down at her disheveled state. A quote from the novel perfectly sums her reaction.

Sunset looked around at her fellow students. They stared down at her with disdain. She shrank back and hugged her knees, as vulnerable as ever.- Equestria Girls Through The Mirror Novel

She got rightfully humiliated in front of the whole student body that she used to torment. At that point in that scene, it was her by herself against everybody she wronged at that school united looking down at her. She was vulnerable and she broke down, admitting that she never learned the first thing about friendship and she just drove everyone apart. 

Even in the comics, Celestia mentions the importance of friendship and personal relationships but Sunset shrugged that off and only thought of being the best and stuck with that. She dismissed the importance of friendship and humility and now years later in the human world once she’s at her lowest and most vulnerable, she admits that and genuinely wants to change for the better. 

B. Sunset Being Forgiven/Celestia’s Punishments

Sunset technically wasn’t forgiven by anyone in the first movie, clearly shown in Rainbow Rocks. The students clearly didn’t forgive her, the Humane 5 were wary of her, and even Twilight who gave her a second chance was wary of her for a second in the sequel. Twilight gave her a choice on what Sunset could do with herself: either seek out friendship on her own accord or forever be alone. Rarity even notes how she would need an apology from Sunset and Twilight says that she has a feeling that Sunset will be giving out a lot of apologies. It was kinda left ambiguous and I can kinda see why. For one this was first movie and at the time, it was unknown if there was gonna be anymore movies, so Sunset oddly having this face-heel turn and being remorseful makes sense. I want to note one other thing which is the form of either Celestia issuing punishment.

For Princess Celestia, she already punished Sunset by removing her as her personal student but in the case of Equestria Girls...at worst Sunset stole the crown and went into the mirror but Equestria wasn’t really in danger and no one on that side was affected plus she had the crown for only 10 minutes over the span of about 3 days. Since only Sunset, Twilight, and Spike really know what happened I don’t think Celestia could charge her with anything...maybe community service or being banned from Canterlot or something...but Celestia wouldn’t be able to do anything.

For Principal Celestia, all her and Vice Principal Luna know from the event since (they were mind controlled but they do remember it) was that Sunset turned into a demon, got mind controlled, got freed, was there to see Sunset get humbled, and that’s it. They gave Sunset a punishment in fixing up the front of the school from the hole that she created alongside Snips and Snails, but if we’re talking about realistic human punishment they don’t really have any proof.

The hole in the school and crater couldn’t be traced to Sunset or the Mane 6 without evidence

The police would easily have a hard time believing that magic rainbow lasers were involved and they’d think Celestia was crazy

She along with the rest of the student body were mind controlled and the Mane 6, Sunset, Snips and Snails were busy for anyone to record

Celestia and Luna were there when Twilight was talking down Sunset Shimmer as well as everyone else and I’m highly certain Twilight talked to Celestia and Luna about it 

Even before the demon thing, Sunset was smart enough to not have evidence stacked against her for her being a social bully so Celestia and Luna only have the students word’s at best

Celestia and Luna punished Sunset, Snips, and Snails by having them fix the front of the school and it’s implied that they had to fix the crater in front of the school

So while Sunset’s initial change was rushed, ultimately her overall journey into the better pony we know today helped her in the end and honestly became one of my overall favorite characters.

[shadowcipher17]

MLP Villain Timeline- Nightmare Moon

1. Foreshadowing and Seeds Planted

In the mini-series comic, Legends of Magic #1, a teenage Luna magically opens up a portal to the alternate Pony of Shadow’s dimension where she was kidnapped and almost turned into Nightmare Moon earlier. She opened the doorway because she wanted to practice a harder spell so that she could stop Celestia from taunting her because of Luna being less skilled at magic than Celestia. Once she opens the portal and hears voices telling her that she’s destined for greatness, wanting revenge on her sister, and having dark magic inside of her. But she vows that she would never turn on her Celestia.

So Nightmare Moon didn’t make her debut in the main timeline, but the seeds were planted from Celestia’s taunting to Luna opening the dark dimension, so indirectly Celestia is responsible for Nightmare Moon.

The Second Kidnapping

Celestia and Luna get kidnapped again by the minions of the alternate Pony of Shadow and taken to the same dark dimension and the alternate Pony of Shadows wanted to corrupt them with shadow magic turning them into Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon, but the Pillars managed to rescue them in time and was saved.

2. 1,000 Years of Inner Resentment

After the Pillars from the main series banished themselves and Pony of Shadow, Celestia and Luna were left with Equestria as their kingdom. Over that time, the sisters ruled Equestria and stopped many threats and were celebrated. But internally, somewhere along the line she started to grow jealous and resentful over the attention and praise that Celestia received and how ponies played in the day and slept during the night. This led to the downfall of Luna and the rise of Nightmare Moon. But some of the impacts of Luna’s life before her resentment towards Celestia were:

Defeating Tirek and banishing him to Tartarus and befriending Scorpan alongside Celestia

Despite (losing her memory) helped Celestia, Novo, Aspen, Discord, and the King of Abyssinia banish Cosmos to the stars

Celestia and Luna use the Elements of Harmony to defeat Discord and turn him to stone

Celestia and Luna gather the Elements of Harmony from the Tree of Harmony and stored them at the former Castle of the Two Sisters

Celestia and Luna got word from Radiant Hope, a former student of their’s and was informed that Princess Amore was turned into dark crystal and shattered by Sombra, and the two went to the Crystal Empire and used their own magic and turned him into shadow

Although, Sombra was defeated the sisters suffered a huge loss with the Crystal Empire being lost for 1,000 years and their friend Princess Amore being presumably killed 

3. The Rise of Nightmare Moon

Some time after fall of the Crystal Empire, Luna started to be distant with Celestia as ponies played in the day her sister brought forth, but shunned her night and slept through it. One day in the Castle of the Two Sisters Luna bitterly went on about being in Celestia’s shadow and having her night overlooked by Celestia’s day and vowed that she would be the only princess in Equestria. With that, she rose the moon which eclipsed the sun, and that darkness mixed with Luna’s bitterness and jealously, turned her into a wicked mare of darkness proclaiming that she will bring about night time eternal and destroy Celestia, this was the birth and rise of Nightmare Moon.

Note: I want to headcanon about Luna turning into Nightmare Moon by tying in the show and comics. So I headcanon that Luna had over 1,000 years of bitterness and jealousy over Celestia and it was strong enough to attract the Nightmare Forces which are the dark counterparts to the Nyx who are the Guardians of Dreams. Both live on the moon but while the Nyx live on the light side of the moon, the Nightmare Forces live on the dark side of the moon. The Nightmare Forces surrounded Luna and enticed her into giving her their dark energy alongside her resentment and jealousy consuming her with that mixture she turns into Nightmare Moon. 

4. Nightmare Moon’s Banishment

No longer Luna, Nightmare Moon began to ruthlessly destroy the Castle of the Two Sisters and aiming her sights on Celestia to destroy her, and claim Equestria as her own Lunar kingdom. She battled against Celestia and managed to get a good hit on her but Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to banish Nightmare to the moon for 1,000 years before she could really do any damage, however it was the darkest moment of Celestia’s life...but it didn’t stop Nightmare Moon.

5. Nightmare and The Nyx

In the mini-series Fiendship is Magic Issue 4, Nightmare Moon after getting banished to the moon, ends up finding a castle on the moon where it’s inhabited by the Nyx, creatures who are responsible for creating the dreams of ponies. She manipulates them into showing her how the dream and nightmare process works in order to try and get another jab at Celestia by messing with her dreams, but Celestia’s mind is too powerful so Nightmare goes after the ponies of Equestria instilling fear into them about Celestia and having Nightmare being regarded as a hero in the real world but Celestia puts a stop to it, but leaves her mind vulnerable. Nightmare then betrays the Nyx and corrupts them into serving her and giving her the power to get into Celestia’s dreams...literally. Nightmare ends up getting into Celestia’s dreams and tries to use Celestia’s guilt over losing Luna to the darkness but it only strengthens Celestia’s resolve and she defeats Nightmare and breaks the connection to her dreams from the Nyx so that Nightmare can’t enter her mind, but it doesn’t stop Nightmare from going into other’s ponies dreams and causing fear and nightmares.

Nightmare Moon at this point is able to learn the ability to see ponies dreams and even literally be inside their dreams and interact with things

Nightmare is also aware of the dream process and how it works due to the Nyx

By the last line of the comic it’s implied that she tormented ponies in their nightmares for 1,000 years

6. The Legend of Mare in the Moon/Nightmare Night

Over the 1,000 years of banishment of Nightmare Moon, Celestia continued to watch over Equestria peacefully over the millennia and legends and stories were created one of the wider known legends was the Legend of the Mare in the Moon. Now for Nightmare Moon to have a legend and even a holiday centered around her, ponies must’ve heard about her from somewhere and this comes in form of her dream-walking abilities. If ponies weren’t going to love her, she would make them fear her. The tale of The Mare in the Moon as well as the festival Nightmare Night and The Summer Sun celebration were holidays that were celebrated for 1,000 years to the point where Nightmare Moon became a tale for fillies and colts.

7. Nightmare Moon’s Return and Defeat

1,000 years later at the Summer Sun Celebration on the longest day of the thousandth year, Nightmare Moon was prophesied to return to Equestria and be free from her banishment on the moon and had another chance to bring about eternal night. She escaped via the stars and went after Celestia before crashing The Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville. She then announced to the Ponyville citizens that night will last forever, but one pony wasn’t having it and her name was Twilight Sparkle. Nightmare followed Twilight to her temporary home and finds out about how the Elements are located in the old castle of the two sisters. Nightmare does whatever she can to stop the six ponies from trying to reach the castle such as:

Creating a landslide

Turning into a thorn to poke a manticore, causing it to attack the girls

Ripped off a sea serpent’s mustache

Scared the six with evil trees

Trying to trick Rainbow Dash with shape shifting

Destroying the Elements in their stone forms

Unfortunately for Nightmare Moon, the ponies that she tried to stop ended up being the spirits to the Elements despite the physical gems being destroyed. The six ponies came together and reconstructed the Elements of Harmony and they used it’s power to blast Nightmare Moon destroying her and purifying Luna back to normal. This was the last of Nightmare Moon and the return of Princess Luna from over 1,000 years.