#mlp analysis

Here's an idea: imagine an AU where Trixie didn't get reformed after “Magic Duel” (season 3).

After Twilight became an alicorn (season 3), Trixie gets super jealous. Trixie has always secretly resented her cutie mark, because she believed her special talent was only “entertainment magic” than hard-core magic like Twilight. Trixie knows that the only reason Twilight got where she was was due to her cutie mark being magic itself, and Trixie begins to get fed up with how a pony's career is predetermined for them, and ponies judge each other by their cutie marks alone.

Trixie does research on the most powerful magic users throughout pony history, from unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. 

In canon, Starlight Glimmer makes up a story about finding an enchanted staff created by Mage Meadowbrook (an earth pony Pillar of Equestria), but in reality it was her own magic.

In this AU, the staff is really magical, since Trixie (at this point in the story) doesn't have powerful magic. But I don't see why Mage, a down-to-earth… earth pony, would create such a thing. I can see Star Swirl, the mad scientist unicorn creating that (either accidentally or on purpose). And since he already dabbles in cutie mark magic like his unfinished spell (the same spell that turned Twilight into an alicorn), that would work. And then Trixie acquires it and creates her cult…

The same sequence of events plays out, more or less. So after all that, Twilight takes Trixie in as her pupil. At first they're still a bit sassy with each other, but eventually they soften.

I find Trixie being in Starlight's place a lot more impactful, since Trixie and Twilight had a continuous rivalry since season 1. Also, unlike Starlight Glimmer, Trixie's backstory/motivation isn't garbage and she wouldn't be given special treatment by the narrative.

And Trixie being Sunburst's childhood friend still fits into the “day/night” pattern I pointed out before. Not 100%, since her name doesn't reflect light from the night, but at least she's still night themed.

"I don't care"— it is rarely a true lack of desire for love, but rather a trauma shield or defense mechanism protecting them from further rejection, instability, or heartbreak. It means, “If I stop caring, I can stop hurting.” These words often emerge from children who have endured abuse, multiple losses, disrupted attachments, or repeated disappointments. They often use this detachment to mask intense fear, feelings of being flawed, or emotional overload. The "I don't care" is a, "please love me, but I'm afraid to ask," response.

When a child who feels a lack of love or has experienced trauma says, "I don't care," there are often other meanings hidden behind these words:

Fear of new pain: The child pretends not to care to protect themselves from possible rejection or disappointment (“If I don’t care, I won’t be hurt when you leave”).

Emotional armor: This is a way to hide vulnerability. A child may seem indifferent to punishments or losses because they have already lost too much.

Despair disguised as strength: The words “I don’t care” can be a cry for help from a child who has learned that showing feelings is dangerous.

Control/Autonomy: It can be a way for a child to assert control in a situation where they feel powerless.

Power is not an end in itself, but rather an antidote to feeling small — because along with feeling small comes feeling helpless and scared.

The consequences

Insecure attachment type: Adults may have trust issues, fear intimacy, or, conversely, constantly seek reassurance of love due to fear of being abandoned.

Feelings of own defectiveness: The child tends to blame himself for not being loved, considering himself "not good enough."

Difficulty with emotional regulation: Due to a lack of support in childhood, adults have difficulty recognizing and controlling their own emotions.

Hyper-independence: Trying to be completely independent due to the belief that no one can be relied on.

Lack of trust

“Trust issues” are another common consequence of being unloved by parents growing up.

“Children who are not raised in safe, loving, respectful, and consistent environments tend to grow up feeling very unsafe and untrusting.” As a result, they tend to experience challenges trusting themselves and others throughout life.

“This deep sense of distrust can create a dynamic of trusting those who are not trustworthy while being untrusting of those who are trustworthy. On the other end of the spectrum, it can cause a child to create strong defenses that lead to an inability to trust anyone.”

Sparity, as it is in canon, I'm not super into due to these reasons:

It's Adult x Minor. Nuff said.

The “romantic” side of their relationship is strictly one-sided, and therefore boring.

Spike stalking Rarity and sleeping with a Rarity doll is not cute, it's creepy.

Rarity remaining oblivious to Spike's obvious feelings for as long as she did makes her look like an idiot. 

If she's 100% aware of his feelings for her, it makes her look like a giant creepo. Because instead of gently letting him down like a responsible adult, she allowed him to continue on with it (possibly in order to manipulate him into continuing favors for her). Also it makes her behavior in “Dragon Dropped” look even creepier…

However, if we were to do what we normally do and completely ignore canon, I can actually see Sparity working. 

First of all, Spike has to be an adult. Nuff said!

Think about it: Rarity is the Element of Generosity. Dragons are known for being greedy. They literally have a magical biological response to greed, where they'll turn into mindless giant monsters the greedier they get. Why wouldn't Spike admire Rarity's personality, since she inspires him to reject his biological instinct to be greedy, as shown in “Secret of My Excess”.

Rarity and Spike both love crystals and gems. It's shown in “Dragon Dropped" that Spike tastes gems for Rarity to determine if they're high quality for her to use/buy.

In the same way Rarity helps Spike keep his greed in check, Slike helps Rarity from going overboard with her ideas by being real with her which is what he learns in “Inspiration Manifestation”. 

My Little Pony is infinitely better when you ignore the dumb/problematic things in canon, ain't it. You can say that about any franchise actually. I genuinely believe that if Spike were an adult and not a child, the writers honestly could've evolved their relationship to something romantic.

This is how Thorax looks in my AU. 

I prefer the Changelings to look like black fanged bug monsters. However, I do like the way the transformation symbolized that the Changelings were healthier now. So, best of both worlds.

Comparison:

If you want my detailed thoughts on the Changeling transformation, read below. 

I don't mind the base idea of the transformation, it's just that the execution/implications could be better. I find it kinda hard to believe that the Changelings have not ever once experienced sharing love with each other. So Thorax being the first one to discover this because he (for some reason) was just born different from the rest is kinda weird.

Thorax and Pharynx clearly had some affection for each other, even if Pharynx would pretend otherwise. If the solution to the Changeling's hunger was as easy as sharing love between each other, then it's kind of unrealistic that they didn't discover that sooner. Yes, I imagine Chrysalis structured their society to not allow interpersonal relationships between each other as much as possible, but… I just don't believe Thorax was the only one to share love with someone. 

Hey, tough love is still love ;)

One way to fix this plot hole is to have it where Changelings can only feed off of other creatures' love, not each other’s. Thorax being the first to discover sharing is healthier than stealing is because he's the only Changeling to form a relationship with other creatures (still doesn't explain why he was born nicer than other Changelings, but whatever).

I agree that the transformation does reinforce the whole Ugly Equals Bad, Pretty Equals Good thing you see in children's media. I believe it would've been so much more powerful if the changelings reformed, and they stayed weird fanged black bug monsters. 

Remember this line from The Times They Are A Changeling:

Thorax: [groans] I understand. Well, thanks for trying. I-I guess it's not surprising. How can you expect ponies who look like this... [transforms to a pony] to trust something that looks like this? [turns back into a Changeling]

Thorax was afraid of not being accepted by pony society not just because of the changeling's past, but because of their appearance. But in the end they accepted him. 

I understand what the writers were going for with the transformation. Their pretty designs are meant to represent how they gained individuality instead of their Hive mind way of living that Chrysalis kept them in. Also it could represent that they're healthy now that they're sharing love instead of stealing it, and that their original forms represented they were unhealthy and near death. That's not a bad idea. But their transformation unintentionally goes against the Ugly Does Not Equal Bad message of The Times They Are A Changeling. 

Also, I don't like Thorax's metamorphosized design. I get it's a pun on “stag beetle”, but I don't think it fits his personality, and even compared to the other metamorphosized Changelings it's a bit much. I guess that extends to Pharynx, although less.

You wanna know how the show could've had their cake and ate that bitch? If the changelings did transform, but the only thing that changed is that they lost their holes, their wings became sparkly, and they gained different color schemes and elytra. All of this symbolizes that they're healthy now/gained individually, but they're still mostly black fanged bug monsters.

Basically, they look like how Pharynx looks pre-metamorphosis, except without holes, they have shiny wings, and colored underbellies.

Grogar did not create Discord! And Spike was planned to have wings as far back as 2013 (season 3).

I've heard people say that the Discord/Grogar plot twist would've been a lot better if instead of Discord's motivation being to "boast Twilight's confidence”, it could've been bringing the villains together and teaching them to be friends. And it was his subtle way of getting the villains to accept friendship, and reform in the way he did. It almost worked in Frenemies. 

It would reflect Discord's positive character journey. You can say that Discord did all of this because he was trying to be like Celestia, but in his… own chaotic way.

I like that idea, but imo I would rather have it be the real Grogar. Discord being the one behind all of it makes the events of season 9 feel kinda pointless. Instead of it being a natural threat, it was all caused by Discord just screwing around. 

I remember in Gauntlet of Fire, Dragon Lord Torch refers to the dragons as Dragons of Equestria. On the official map of the world, the Dragon Lands are on a separate nearby continent. So Equestria consists of both of these continents. But dragons didn't respect ponies at this time, so I wonder why Torch referred to themselves as "of Equestria"?

Even though Equestria consists of many different nations and royalties, Celestia and Luna are the ultimate rulers of ponykind. Celestia does not consider herself to rule non ponies. Maybe Equestria is just the name of both of those continents, but not the pony nation. Like how Europe and Africa refer to the continents, but they consist of different countries.

Hippogriffs and centaurs are naturally tall:

Also Saddle Arabians, which are more horse-like:

I don't have much to say, I just found this information very interesting.

I always found it odd how the Mane Six cleaning up/spending time in the Castle of the Two Sisters during season 4 never went anywhere. Now I know!

The Tree of Harmony was meant to magical fix/transform that castle into Twilight's new home after the library got destroyed.

But then Hasbro created their own design for Twilight's castle:

And so the plot point the writers were building up to went nowhere.