Jackson Jekyll defender

This subject is a tricky one. We haven't been told about the Elements of Harmony in this new storyline, and the only thing remotely similar is the Crystal of Friendship, or whatever the buck that thing is called.

See? I'm already censoring myself with horse-related puns.

It's also tricky because we've now got five mane characters instead of six. And, last we all checked, the Elements ended up fusing with the Tree of Harmony (who's spirit I'm still convinced is a Draconequus, but whatever, I'm totally over it).

So, I'm ruling out the Element of Magic. Why? Because it's the odd one out in the 'concepts of friendship' doohickey. I mean- to be nicer about it: the 'characteristics of friendship'.

We've heard 'friendship is magic' a multitude of times, but never 'friendship is kindness' or 'friendship is generosity', yaddi-yadda.

Thus: the mane five of generation five (ohh, I see what they did there) all represent the Element of Magic. They brought friendship back, after all, did they not?

Stereotypically, Pipp - as the Rarity of the group - would be generosity, Sunny - Twilight - would be Magic, Zipp - Rainbow Dash - would be loyalty, and Izzy - Pinkie Pie - would be laughter, because they're the 'carbon copies' of the Mane Six from generation four.

In addition to this, I call horsecrap. The only one I agree with is Izzy as laughter. She's eager to make friends - like Pinkie Pie - and finds joy in most things, in contrast to what the magicless unicorns were (like the rest of the Pie Family).

Let's start with Sunny, though: she was unwilling to give up on the idea of friendship with the other two species. This could put her in Twilight's shoes, but here's one much more fitting:

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie tried to fight the manticore in the Everfree back in the second episode. It wasn't until Fluttershy - who hadn't been participating in such - screamed out that they stopped.

The 'screaming out' in generation five is Sunny reuniting the species with her new friends. The 'attacking' is, well, the war that Sprout had prepared, and the 'not participating' is not giving into the nasty rumours that had been spread.

Abbreviated: Sunny is the Element of Kindness.

Now, for Hitch (who I was actually pretty surprised about not being Sunny's brother. I mean, was that just me? They look more like siblings than Applejack and her siblings ever did, or Zipp and Pipp when their mother isn't present. Like, come on, that would have worked so well!).

He's the sheriff - which could put him in line to be Applejack's counterpart. He was pretty blunt with Sunny about her antics at the mall. But, so was Rainbow Dash. I mean, there was a whole thing in the fandom about her and Applejack not deserving their own Elements, but each other's.

Hitch and Zipp could fill those roles perfectly. But, more on her later.

You could put this down to duty, but as her friend, Hitch never gave up on Sunny, even as his and the town's patience began wearing thin. Plus, wasn't his first-or-second line the cutest thing ever "Don't worry, Sunny, we can play the game your way, I don't mind.", basically showing that he was sticking by Sunny when she got upset because of Sprout's own antics.

And, when he eventually found her in Zephyr Heights (which I so desperately want to be connected to Zephyr Breeze, as well as Zipp's full name 'Zephyrina', even if it is just for a joke) and saw that she needed his companionship more than ever, he stuck by her side, even eventually discarding his own beliefs in the process.

First of all: friendship goals. Secondly: if the writers make one of our leading mares a love interest to him I'll... probably keep watching, but still. (I could tell they were trying to set up some sort of chemistry/dynamic between him and Pipp and him and Izzy, sort of making an Edward-Jacob scenario, and I don't quite know how I feel, yet. I mean, if you're going to ship him with anypony, let it be Sprout!).

Thirdly, this would place Hitch in the loyalty division, and to be frank, I think it fits!

Now, for Pipp Petals. Like Izzy, I think she could shimmy into her counterpart's hooves well. She - although first being portrayed as rather neutral about the whole unicorn-and-earth-pony-ordeal - inevitably gave up her shining spotlight to help her sister, Sunny, and Izzy escape the hullabaloo the revealed wires had caused, even after Zipp had left her quite literally hanging there (which kicked Zipp out of the spot as the Element of Loyalty quite easily) in a similar fashion to how Rarity had cut off her tail for Steven Magnet.

Abbreviation: Pipp stays in the generosity slot.

Now, for Zipp:

She gave up almost everything to reveal the truth. Multiple times, she said that she hated living a lie. She wanted to fly, and if deliberately disobeying her mother and revealing the truth was the way to do that, then so be it.

I mean, the sheer pain on her face when she was looking at that Wonderbolts' poster was just... wow. She faced the truth - she told it - despite how much it hurt her.

It reminds me of Discord's spell over Applejack in generation four's second season premiere. Well, in reverse that is.

You could tell that flying was her passion (like Rainbow Dash, but that doesn't make her a complete carbon copy and place her into the role as the Element of Loyalty), and she often ran to the neighbouring mountain range to play out the closest thing she'd get to actually flying: parkour!.

I could be nitpicking, but I recall Applejack facing the truth after running to a far away cherry farm. It was a problem she overcame, like Zipp had to.

In conclusion: the mane five all represent the Element of Magic - as Friendship - with respective Elements of their own. Izzy Moonbow is the Element of Laughter, Sunny Starscout is the Element of Kindness, Hitch Trailblazer is the Element of Loyalty, Pipp Petals is the Element of Generosity, and Zipp Storm is the Element of Honesty.

What do you think? Did I miss anything?

Do you have any alterations you would like to add? I'd love to hear them if you do.