Lerian

Yes, returns to the 'cartoon for little girls' thing...

approx 1:20, is...is that mass effect music or is it just me? EDIT: Also 1:20

Buck creepers! Buck them out of Equestria!

Thinking juice you say? I think that was what I was getting at with the evil names.... It takes a 'special kind of person (pony)' to genuinely name themselves something nasty sounding. (Look at what some DRC warlords call themselves). Also I've liked the idea of world conquering 'love me' Cadence since I saw her power....

Liking that idea for Celestia and Luna Tales, it seems a much nicer (ponylike?) way of doing things than my own idea. Also, obviously blanked out the bit where they mentioned the crystal pony queen, I remember hearing it now you pointed it out but obviously too busy going off on one Nice headcanon while it lasted though!

Equestria is ruled by Princess Celestia and now Princess Luna in a partnership. The Crystal Kingdom is ruled by Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armour. It is widely believed/known that the real world reasons are that 'girls love princesses' and 'queens are evil' but what reasoning could there be in world? Maybe it is a reminder to the Alicorns that, although they are more powerful than the other ponies and that they rule, they are not 'better' than the other ponies. They are not the absolute head. A self imposed title that they reinforce with their subjects. This is then reinforced by individuals who do become too selfish or power hungry, ('I am your queen!', sorry, QUEEEEEEN!), and the society itself calling its bad rulers Kings and Queens and changing their names to reflect their being bad. Likewise,you have pony naming conventions. Are bad 'uns renamed officially as an acknowledgement of their crimes? 'Princess Luna is dead to us. By Royal decree she will now be known as Nightmare moon.' You are not likely to have Dark Lord Sundrop and no parent is going to look at their child and think, 'Hmmm, Blackshadow evillypants seems to suit them.' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Thank you for coming Twilight Sparkle. It seems that Princess Cadence and your brother were corrupted by the shadow crystals of King Sombra and black crystals are spreading throughout the land! They must be stopped!' 'The only way to stop them is to encase them in ice! I....I'm sorry big brother....' 'I love you Twiley' A THOUSAND An indeterminate number of years pass 'Thank you for coming Starlight Twinkle. It seems that Queen Mi Amore Cadenza and her King, Clouded guardian have returned from their frozen prison and the Crystal kingdom threatens us once more! Their black crystals are spreading through our land and the dark queen uses her magic to force all ponies seeing them to love her!'

I believed that as Sombra was defeated by a multi-coloured wave, in a scene very similar to Discord and NMM though with different colours, that the elements had been used the first time. Then, as others have pointed out, it would have been worthless to bring them a second time as he was already the shadow that he had been turned into the first time.

Band you say?

"You weren't willing to risk the future of the citizens of the crystal empire in an effort to guarantee your own. Far better that I have a student who understands the meaning of self sacrifice than one who only looks out for her own best interests," Twilight: risks her hearts desire and future to save a group of strangers Sombra: Enslaves his own subjects in an effort to get his desire Reaching..... Twilight is a 'mix' of daylight and nights darkness, you can't have twilight without both. Sombra - Shadow is a 'mix' of (day)light and (nights)dark you can't have shadow without both. OMBC! - Sombra was a previous student! Twilight v1.0 ! EDIT: Name: canno foddah Sombra "My OC is as good at magic as Twilight Sparkle and was personally taught by Princess Celestia AND Princess Luna and he now rules a kingdom and he is going to take over teh world!!!!!!!!' Not helping the "That's a canon character?" case, am I?

That may apply to Discord (as a god of chaos) but 'They are just crazy' or 'They are just eeeeevil' is a very poor motivation. It can be used in specific instances and kept rare but, if you're interested, try 'approaching it from the other direction' Rather than think of the one or two instances where it works think of the criminals, villains and general antagonists where they are given a more complex motivation and imagine that instead it was hand waved as 'they are just mad' or 'well, evil people are like that' or something similar. I can't comment for others but antagonists having a motivation makes a story, a world or a setting more complete and the more a world is established the more such things have to stay consistent. In an effort to 'approach it from the other direction' myself. What would have justified 'he is just evil' to me would be if they hadn't given him the backstory of having once been a mortal unicorn. If he had been introduced as a corrupting influence, a shadow that was trying to enter the world through crystal, a spirit or god of despair it would have personally sat easier. Although we already have Windigo's who freeze ponies and the world by their nature with no other motivation than 'we feed on anger and hatred'. Heck, "I'm hungry" sits easier than "I'm evil".... EDIT:- little addition to the stairs conversation... It's a good job Sombra didn't build the outer spire stairs the same way as the inner spire stairs

Couple of options:- Could have shown Twilight leaning into the corner (think motorcyclist) 'Pfft, I control gravity! Who says it has to be straight up or down? I'm being pulled upwards but at an angle towards the centre of the spire (or towards the Crystal Heart itself)'

How much history was lost when the Moon palace fell? Look at all those empty frames in S1E2.

To me it seems a secondary effect rather than active aggression. To clarify NMM is seeking revenge against or worship from the ponies, she is directly attacking them and bringing about their demise through eternal night. It has to involve them. (Muahaha, I'ma kill all the ponies) Discord is seeking to bring chaos to the world and discord to the ponies, it has to involve them. (Muahaha, I'ma torture all the ponies) Chrysalis and hive are seeking a food source that consists of the ponies, it has to involve them. (Muahaha, I'ma eat all the ponies) Sombra is gathering as much crystal as possible with a slave workforce. He is using his own population and while the effects are felt across Equestria it is not his active intent. He is gathering crystal and would do so if it affected Equestria quickly, slowly or didn't affect Equestria at all. I'm not denying he is evil, enslaving a population and not caring what you do to the surrounding world and population are certainly not good acts but the evil is not as apparent, 'in-your-face' if you like, as the previous three antagonists who were directly attacking.

"Why were there so few designs of cutie marks for the crystal ponies" As they were slaves for X years perhaps only certain talents were common or were allowed. (Useless talent? no more food for you!) Corn - Farm Bow - not sure (if human I'd say hunter especially being further north but omnivorous ponies is no so...)* Castle thing - Builders Fleur de lis - Not sure (Taking care of children, with relevant implications) Also from Wikipeadia - In Mauritius, slaves were branded with a fleur-de-lis. *EDIT:- two ideas, hunters of meat for the pointy toothed, Carnivorous King Sombra? Hunters of ponies who escaped?

Maybe after world destroying perma-night (NMM), world altering chaos (Discord) and civilisation destroying emotion eating Hive minds (Chrysalis & changelings), simple greed is too petty a motivation for a villain to have? (For some) Maybe as has been said, the idea of slavery is too 'real' and therefore scary for the target audience? Also, play the scenes with the slave ponies and the marching orcs from LOTR films and listen, shout out? Hint at Sauron likeness?

No problems at all . Maybe it will kick my flank into trying a fic rather than only RP's....

I would love to get involved but would only be able to make 3 weeks in 5 due to shift patterns Fantastic idea though and I wish you luck

It can be really fun when you get used to it and if you can get past the interface. Some help Get dwarf therapist to help with orders/tasks. There's a pony wiki for that Nip to step 3 or 4 for design ideas Once you are used to it, try the pony mods for extra fun

Pop idol? Pfagh! *Goes back to live in warm cocoon of headcanon* All credit here! Will have to be link only as I have run out of upload bytes!

Thank you and it's absolutely fine if it doesn't happen. My mind is busy going off in 'New gaming sourcebook mode' as it always does when we get lore heavy episode(s)

Said it before and I'll say it again.... Implied Alicorn Twilight is best Twilight! No way infinity symbol is coincidence.

Very nice ideas! Especially the link to the existing love festival EDIT:- Oooooooooh, headcanon timeline. Time of Discord Discord defeated but the sisters are weakened/new and don't take to ruling Time of harmony, peace and love prospers as all races are happy to be free of Discord. At some point in this period the sisters take to ruling a few lands/small area, aiding harmony as they embody all pony tribes. 'Minor'/individual acts of selfishness creep in, this is when the love poison incident happens. Events in Motion paradox' post. Without the inlfuence of the crystal kingdom more selfishness and paranoia creep in. The build up to Hearths warmiing eve incidents, fighting and windigos. The sisters during this time are too weak or have too little influence to prevent it. The end of Hearths warmimg eve story and the newly harmonious tribes join the smaller lands of the sisters to make Greater Equestria, adopting their flag. And that's how (headcanon) Equestria was made!

An idea for 4x style games (e.g. Civ, Age of Wonders, Sword of stars etc) Spoilered because Season 3 influence

While thinking about dark magic and going off on one had an idea or scenario. I know it's new season and we don't have much canon information about the situation but would you look at creating a story around the following idea? Was dark/mind control magic perhaps originally only known by Alicorns? Queen Luminosity(?) was happily married to the good king, formerly Prince, Sombra as part of an alliance with the unicorn kingdom. Her subjects loved them unconditionally and worked for the betterment of the crystal kingdom, that love and hope filling the crystal heart and spilling over the land. She taught the magic of focussing that love to her husband and they ruled together. Sadly, king Sombra succumbed to the greed and gem hunger that afflicted so many of his unicorn kin and this corrupted the ability to focus unconditional 'giving' into the ability to dominate and take love/hope/joy. Queen Luminosity attempted to stop him but was unable or unwilling to harm her husband or use her magics in such a way. Perhaps she simply was not strong enough against his stolen power. A story about the fall of the Crystal Empire essentially. Apologies if too big a request, too close to show canon etc.

Speculation/idea: It may be that all other forms of entertainment were taken from them, literally or 'mentally'. "I can't seem to remember anything before King Sombra came to power and I don't want to remember anything about the time he ruled over us." - My entire culture has been painfully removed from my mind, it causes me more pain to try to remember it. My entire mind/memory is only filled with my time as a slave so I don't want to think about that. I have no cultural identity, memory of joy/hope, no memory of friendship, of social interaction* or even an idea what a pleasant experience might be. Hope can be an incredibly bizarre thing. Imagine a scene where a person has been trapped on a desert island for a long time, they are despondant, don't have the strength or will to do anything other than survive day to day when.... Is that a plane? Insti-hope! Also, on the idea of illusionary test or 'trollestia' as put forward by various posts. "The Empires magic is powerful, it cannot fall again my sister" A comment and conversation held between the sisters with nopony else present. ^Getting further into speculation here, I have no idea of the social conditions of their slavery.