Top Ten Forgotten Plot Points · 3:59pm Oct 11th, 2019
Continuity has been something we've praised the show for from day one and we've lauded them for not always resetting everything or clinging to their status quo. That being said, considering this show is and has been a twenty two minute, slice of life based cartoon, it's natural that some plot elements that existed at one point or another will get dumped or forgotten about. Some of them aren't too bad, but others are pretty glaring and leave us scratching our head. And today we're going to look at my picks for ten of these plot points that I feel were lost and forgotten, often for no good reason. Of course as always this list is purely the result of my personal opinion so please respect it.
10. CheeriMac: While it was nice how they built up SugarMac and even let us see them get married, I still feel like CheeriMac was the better ship in the grand scheme of things. It just had more chemistry because Cheerilee was a character we knew for longer than Sugar Belle. Sugar Belle was great, but she didn't get much development after "The Cutie Map" and her and Big Mac getting together felt a little out of the blue. Plus I didn't like how they said Cheerilee wasn't a crush because of the love poison. If we'd only seen the two go on their date at the end of "Hearts and Hooves Day" that would be okay, you could argue they did that just to mess with the CMC and make sure they'd learned their lesson. But in Seasons 3 and 4 we saw them in the background together, in "Just for Sidekicks" they're going on a picnic lunch together, and Cheerilee swoons and faints at the sound of Big Mac (actually Flutter Guy)'s voice in "Filli Vanilli". So what, was Big Macintosh just stringing poor Cheerilee along, too afraid to tell her that he didn't love her? That seems really cruel of him to do. In case you're wondering about MarbleMac, I never shipped them. Marble Pie never developed beyond a Fluttershy clone enough for me to care (it's not because it would be incest because fourth cousins twice removed is far enough away for that not to count).
9. Rainbow Power: When the mane six gave up the Elements of Harmony in "Princess Twilight Sparkle" it looked for sure like the elements were never going to be used again. "Twilight's Kingdom" introduced us to Rainbow Power when the chest was opened, but then it only reappeared briefly in a dream in "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" and that was it. It never got another mention, no indication as to why we weren't gonna see it again. I guess Hasbro saw the backlash against the designs and decided to drop it, which would've been fine if they had devoted a little time in the show to perhaps make it clear that Rainbow Power was a one off thing gifted in a time of need (I could see it not working in Seasons 5 and 6 when the threats were not close to Ponyville or Twilight was without her friends). While it was interesting to see the Elements of Harmony return one more time in "Shadow Play" before their destruction in "The Beginning of the End", it sort of felt like a cop out in the grand scheme of things. Which again could've been easily fixed if they'd at least explained why no one thought to use the elements before while they were on the tree or why it wouldn't work. Supposedly the movie was originally going to have Rainbow Power used to defeat the Storm King, though I don't know where exactly I remember hearing that and most likely that was from an early draft of the script when they had just started on the movie (before the decision to swap animation studios apparently caused the delay). Maybe if Rainbow Power had been used against the Storm King and he somehow drained it all away, that would've explained things?
8. Post Cutie Marked Cutie Mark Crusaders: You could chalk up the huge light show when they all got their cutie marks at the same time as "Rule of Cool" and if that was indeed the most we saw of it it probably wouldn't have been a problem. But the thing is, "The Cutie Re-Mark" made a big deal about this during Twilight's slide show and tied to Twilight and her friends getting their cutie marks at roughly the same time because of the Sonic Rainboom. Did we get anymore follow up on that though, no. In fact, post cutie mark accqusition the CMC just sort of drifted about with no real direction: We got the CMC doing things individually, the CMC helping other creatures, the CMC running their club like a business, and the CMC as friendship counselors/tutors (I'm not sure what exactly they went back to doing in Season 9). And the weird thing is, the run up to "The Cutie Re-Mark" featured a toyline called "Cutie Mark Magic" which seemed like the next Rainbow Power, but it never actually appeared in the show. Was it going to be included originally and then the writing turnover that began in Season 5 caused the idea to be scrapped? Or was that just one of those toyline exclusive things that never crossed into the show (like Princess Skyla who actually had no bearings on the decision to make Princess Cadence a mom)?
7. Rarity's Boutiques: Rarity was the first mane six member to truly achieve her life long goal, or at least take a step towards accomplishing said goal. In Season 5 she finally got to open her dream boutique in Canterlot in "Canterlot Boutique" and thankfully they didn't close it down like it seemed they were gonna do. The next episode to air (though not the next in chronological order) actually began at Canterlot Carousel and it seemed like we were going to see more of it. But no, after that it was just forgotten about and without fanfare Rarity moved on to open a third boutique in Manehattan in Season 6, which saw her make the rookie mistake of waiting until the day of the grand opening to do any sort of inspection of the building, hire any staff, or even get her merchandise in and get the window display set up. Even if you assume she bought Carousel Boutique from someone else and Sassy Saddles managed most of the business and marketing aspects of Canterlot Carousel you wouldn't expect Rarity to do what she did in "The Saddle Row Review". From there we would see Canterlot Carousel only briefly in Season 7 and then we got one more episode at Rarity For You in Season 8, and that was it. Rarity did mention wanting to establish a boutique in Cloudsdale in "The End in Friend" before Rainbow Dash pointed out how impractical that was, but that was it. We never again saw Rarity's boutiques or any indication of how she was affected by having three boutiques under her belt (heck "Fake It 'Til You Make It" seemed to imply she had no one to run the Manehattan branch and was still winging it), even the school didn't seem to affect that even though you'd think Rarity would have no time to be a teacher because of her career. Yes, we did get some closure on Rarity's arc, but the show seemed to forget that where one arc ends another begins. There were so many opportunities presented to us by Rarity's boutiques and they never went anywhere, they were just brought up and then discarded when the show wanted to push new toys and playsets.
6. Rainbow Dash as a Wonderbolt: This one I suspect is a result of the show's writers trying to engage in a little bit of damage control. When Rainbow Dash finally got to be a full fledged Wonderbolt in "Newbie Dash" the episode bombed horribly with everyone saying how much it sucked. From there we wouldn't get another Wonderbolts focused episode for Rainbow Dash until "Top Bolt" near the end of Season 6, and then we only got one more in Season 7 in the form of "Parental Glideance" which most fans weren't too pleased with (and even "Top Bolt" garnered a mixed to lukewarm reception). I suspect that those episodes being so unpopular made the writers think that no one wanted to see Rainbow Dash as a Wonderbolt anymore, and they just sort of gave up and only eluded to it a little from time to time. But considering this show didn't dump Starlight Glimmer even when most people were opposed to her reformation, and considering this show ran with alicorn Twilight even when many fans didn't like it, the idea that they would give up so easily on something that had been a major character arc seems like a sign of weakness. Like with Rarity's boutiques there are so many things they could've done with Rainbow Dash's Wonderbolt career, we never got to see her move past being a rookie. I mean heck, Thunderlane being a Wonderbolt got more attention and fanfare, yet despite the promises that showed we never got to see him and Rainbow Dash together in an episode after that.
5. Griffonstone's Rebuilding: When Gilda was reformed in "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone" it looked like she was going to bring about change and restore Griffonstone to its former glory, albeit with new foundations based on friendship. But then came Season 6 and "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks" where we learned from Gabby that Griffonstone was still a run down dump, and all griffons were still jerks who didn't want to socialize. But when Gabby became a member of the CMC it looked like maybe she would break through to the griffons in a way Gilda couldn't. Except come Season 8 with the introduction of Gallus, we learn that Griffonstone is still a dump and even Gabby and Gilda don't seem very happy anymore. Considering the changelings were able to rebuild their hive after Chrysalis was dethroned, and considering the hippogriffs got to go back up to Mount Aris and rebuild after the Storm King's defeat, there's no reason why the griffons couldn't do the same. Griffonstone was introduced to us as a dump full of greedy jerks, and that's how we left it. We don't even know who's in charge, you could argue it's Grandpa Gruff but why is he the leader if he's so old and seems to be a toxic influence that everyone ignores?
4. The Origins of Alicorns: When Celestia and Luna said that the birth of an alicorn was "Something Equestria has never seen before" that raised a lot of questions, and "The Crystalling" basically admitted it didn't have any valid explanations for them (I still don't see why they couldn't just make Flurry Heart a powerful unicorn? She could still fly through the use of levitation and you wouldn't have to break the rules of the show to do so). And did we get any kind of follow up on this? Nope. "Horse Play" did kind of give us a backstory on Princess Celestia, but only to the extent of explaining how she knew Starswirl and how she basically took over raising the sun since she could do it without draining her magic. We got no real hints as to where she and Luna came from or if they were either not born alicorns or were born alicorns but Equestria did not exist yet. Even expanded material offers no hints, most of The Journal of the Two Sisters has been contradicted by the show so it's unreliable. If not for Flurry Heart being born an alicorn, I don't think people would've desired answers and would've probably been content with just the bits of information we did get. But it is what it is and the show left us hanging.
3. The Castle of the Two Sisters: Remember how throughout Season 4 it would get a mention or even be explored? You'd think they were building up to something, like maybe Twilight finding something in it that would help lead to her key and thus Tirek's defeat, or more likely with all the sprucing up and exploring it was being foreshadowed as Twilight's new castle. But nope, we got a crystal tree castle from the chest, and then The Castle of the Two Sisters just sat abandoned and unused for several seasons. It never got a mention again until "School Daze" when the student six hid out there, and then it would basically be destroyed and replaced permanently by the Treehouse of Friendship in "Uprooted". At least one Brony reviewer mentioned that it was clear to him that Twilight not moving into The Castle of the Two Sisters was executive meddling on Hasbro's part, though as of yet we don't know for sure. Even so, that was no reason to just ignore and ultimately discard a setting that had so much potential, it could've functioned as Celestia and Luna's retirement home. Or the Student Six could've used it as a museum to honor the Tree of Friendship's memory and even spruce it up into a headquarters for them to use (if you know we actually had a passing of the torch to them like "Uprooted" seemed it was going to do).
2. Spike's Egg: Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad that "Sparkle's Seven" finally acknowledged how Twilight sees him and fleshed out his interactions and connections with the Sparkle family (I still will always lean toward Twilight being Spike's mother, but just because she isn't officially his mother doesn't mean she can't still be a maternal figure to him), but there are still gaps about his backstory that we'll probably have to rely on the comics to fill in for us. We still have no clue how Spike's egg ended up in Equestria, let alone in the care of Princess Celestia herself. Maybe she didn't know it was a dragon egg until Twilight hatched it, but if that was the case why would she give an egg of unknown origin or contents to her school to be used for an entrance exam? We don't know what it was supposed to accomplish, was it supposed to be a test to see how one reacts to and copes with failure? Was a student supposed to be able to hatch it or transform it? We'll never know unless maybe Season 10 in the comics finally fills us in. I'm still mad that they delibertly trolled us with "Father Knows Beast", trying to make you think they'd address the origins of Spike's egg, but instead they just rehashed "Dragon Quest" with slightly different window dressing.
1. Applejack's Rodeo Skills/Career: This is something that I don't think a lot of people have taken notice of, even though it was right there almost from the beginning. In "Applebuck Season" Applejack displayed rodeo skills in front of the whole town, and even had a reputation as an animal herder when Fluttershy asked Applejack to assist with the bunny census. It cropped up again in "Look Before You Sleep" when Applejack used her lasso to throw pillows and pull a tree into the library. But after "The Last Roundup" in Season 2, we never again saw any real mention of Applejack's rodeo career or skills, outside of "Appleloosa's Most Wanted" which barely even focused on Applejack competing in the rodeo to begin with. The last time we saw Applejack use a rope or do any kind of rodeo skills might arguably be "Somepony to Watch Over Me", but even then she was more fending off a chimera than trying to do anything rodeo related. Did the writers just forget about it for some reason? Did Applejack just give up on competing in rodeos after she failed to come in first place at the Canterlot rodeo? We'll never know, and it seems no one remembers a time when that was ever a part of her character, a time when they had a chance to give her some kind of goal to strive towards that could get her off her family's farm and actually help define her as something besides the straight mare/voice of reason. Which is why I'm placing it in the number one spot.
And there you have it, come back tomorrow when we'll look at the Top Ten Forgotten Characters (since the finale airs in primetime at 8 P.M. I will have to record it since I'll be away at work, my review will come out when I have a chance to watch the recording).
I agree. About Big Mac, I like how this shipping and Marble still exist despite the canon. It shows that only because it's canon, the rest can still exist in the fandom
The events leading up to Nightmare Moon.
Don't forget the post redeemed Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
Though I heard the comics already did that with the Spirit of Forest or something
You know what I consider a giant missed opportunity?
Prince Blueblood
I mean, seriously?! You would think of all the characters that got redeemed over the years, that he would've gotten an episode or two to flesh him out! I mean, there could've been some interesting plot points to revolve around him (trust issues due to his Royal status, poor parenting, etc.); but instead, he was completely ignored after season one, and left to do nothing as a character in the series.
Personally if I were the show's producer I would've made Rainbow Dash's inclusion into the Wonderbolts without her getting a terrible nickname. The nickname she I would give her would be "Dasher."
I agree with most of these, but I liked Newbie Dash.
I agree with every single one of these (not just the stuff you listed, but also the stuff mentioned by the other responders).
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Yeah. I can see that too. Heck, it might have been interesting to add a little bit of a homage to the "Friends Forever" comic and actually have Blueblood be an actually competent diplomat, plus some possible confirmation of the occasional fan theory that Blueblood only ACTS like a jerk to discourage the gold diggers.
I agree with 10 and 2. While I don't mind that Big Mac end up with Sugar Belle in the show's canon but I find the pairing kinda bland and uninteresting, I prefer CheeriMac to be honest.
While it was nice to see Twilight and Shining Armor recognized Spike as their brother, but I still feel unsatisfied that we never find out where his egg come from. Maybe the comics will do a story about this but I very much doubt it.
I definitely agree with your points, in fact, I think I'll add to it. In no particular order:
1. The Pear Family- We all know that Grand Pear isn't the only member. It would have been great if Applejack and her siblings got to meet the rest of them, presumably in Vanhoover. That way, we would've got to see a new place in Equestria and get to meet new ponies. The interactions would be fun to experience, maybe even a little sad because, ya know.
2. The Friendship Treehouse - Look, at least Twilight's Castle actually had episodes centring around it, so it actually felt like it belonged, instead of a cash grab for Hasbro. The Friendship Treehouse, however, was even a worst-case scenario, because after it was introduced, there were no episodes detailing its existence and the whole "The tree learning to live" stuff.
3. Granny Pie - By the few times Pinkie Pie has mentioned her, it seems like she is the reason why Pinkie is Pinkie. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Pinkie got her "pink colour" from Granny Pie too. Now would have it been cool to meet her?
4. Zecora - Why didn't we have an episode about Zecora's backstory and where she came from? She obviously didn't live in Everfree for her entire life. She was introduced in the show really early yet we barely had any episodes about her. Why does she rhyme the way she does? Why did she came to Equestria where there are no Zebras at all? How does she know so much about potions and stuff? These questions could have been answered by the show but sigh, they weren't. Ah well, that's what fanfiction is for, I guess.
5. Earth Pony Magic - If the show bothered to tell us why the Earth Ponies are better at growing then unicorns, and actually delved into their special abilities, there might have been a more Earth Pony OCs. But in all seriousness, I wished we got see episodes covering this.
I have currently no more ideas at the moment, but I'll definitely add to this if I do.
Those are all good points. You certainly reminded me of many things that have been left 'out there'.
Something I feel needed more explored was zecora. She had a lot of potential for a character. It even seemed like her character would get more involved with Apple Bloom learning how to make potions. The Movie opened up to lands outside of Equestria and could have allowed for us to take a trip to Zecora's origins. However, as far as I know, the most it ever got was Lauren Faust saying she saw Zecora as being from earth, coming in contact with a portal, and being brought to Equestria. (She talked on this during her panel at BronyCon 2019)
We are likely never going to know much about Flurry Heart either. I thought her arrival in Season 6 would mean she'd somehow play a kind of unique purpose in the end of the series. However she still will be a largely untapped character with all sorts of abilities but doing nothing more than a typical foal would do.My biggest sad point is Cozy Glow. It appears we will never get a real reason for why she is what she is. She'll always be that bd guy character with no real reason to do bad things beyond for the heck of it. I didn't like how she got tossed into tartarus and, unless something comes out to say she's really a grown mare in a filly's body, I'll question how we can reform and try to help grown-up characters but toss foals, who really don't know much better, into Equestria's Hell. :(
I would've really liked to see what happened with Bright Mac and Pear Butter because all we have to go on is either Megan McCarthy or Lauren Faust (I can't remember which) said Timberwolves got them. And I would've loved to see the Wendigoes' origins, as well as some more backstory on the Pillars of Old Equestria. I agree with that list, especially Spike's egg. And, even though the show doesn't always confirm stuff that we want, I'm glad, however, that we, as a fandom, get to make our own canons; Spike's mom was raised in a small pony town while his dad came from a dragon clan that's really tolerant of ponies.