Mariusioannesp Speculates Wildly: Predictions for My Little Pony The Movie

Greetings once again, my Brony brethren!

As promised, I have promptly returned once more with my predictions for the feature film My Little Pony: The Movie. The film premieres October 6, 2017. Still plenty of time until then. A few weeks ago though, we received a whole glut of information regarding characters and plot that I have waited eagerly to discuss.

Now last February, I included a number of predictions the MLP movie amongst my predictions of MLP Season 6 and Equestria Girls and other stuff. First, let’s see how well any of those predictions were.

So far, I haven’t been proven exactly right about anything, but the possibility still remains. I predicted that Discord would make an appearance in the film. However, John de Lancie revealed via Twitter that he was not in the MLP movie.

He may be taking it in stride, but I will be insulted for him! Then again though, he might not be legitimately needed given the star power they’ve gotten for the new characters of this film. I also predicted that the villains of the film would be G4 versions of the G1 villains Hydia, Reeka, and Draggle. That also does not appear to be the case. I also predicted that Weird Al Yankovic would reprise his role as Cheese Sandwich for the film and provide a song for the film’s soundtrack. That does not appear to be the case either. Instead, it seems they got an admittedly higher profile musical star to provide a couple of songs for the soundtrack. I also predicted that the Mane 6 would become alicorns in the film. That prediction though was made under the pretense that MLP would be ending before the film came out. Since we now know there will be an eighth season next year after the film, I doubt that this will happen in the film. Frankly, I doubt it will ever happen. I mean, maybe it could as the series starts coming to an end, but I still doubt it. With Flurry Heart’s birth last season, Equestria now has five alicorn princesses. Doubling that number by adding the Remane 5 to it seems like too much.

However, there are a number of predictions I made last year that have yet to be proven wrong. I predicted Sunset Shimmer would make an appearance in the film given the role I suspect the first two Equestria Girls films played in even getting this MLP feature film off the ground in the first place. That remains a possibility. I also predicted that Applejack’s parents will be revealed to be dead. That’s also a possibility, unless the upcoming season does it or instead reveals her parents are alive. Not that I believe the latter is a strong possibility. Even if her parents are revealed to be dead in the upcoming season, I think we could still see how they died in the movie. They wouldn’t be able to do that on the show itself. I also predicted that Derpy would be making an appearance, and I still believe that is a no-brainer.

To these as of yet unproven predictions, I would like to add another. I predict that Starlight Glimmer will make an appearance in the film unless she is Put on a Bus by the end of Season 7.

Now, that we have done that, let’s go through what we know of the MLP movie so far, making predictions along the way. First, let’s look at a synopsis that was revealed not too long ago by Equestria Daily.

The herd of brave ponies comes eye to eye with their biggest enemy. The mischievious Storm King decides to steal all of the magic from their home Kingdom of Equestria. In order to save it, the brave heroes have to set out to a journey full of adventures. They will make new friends like seaponies or good pirates and will live through many emotional and funny turn of events to once again prove that friendship is magic.

Interestingly enough, this synopsis was actually posted several months ago on a Polish website and only recently translated into English. However, it seems pretty legit as it specifically mentions the villain as well a number of the things that were revealed about these characters. The only thing though is that this implies that the villain’s modus operandi is the basically the same as Tirek’s. I’m not sure that’s actually the case as I will explain momentarily.

Now, let’s go ahead and speculate and make predictions about all these new MLP movie characters that were revealed a few weeks ago.

The Storm King (Liev Schreiber)

I doesn’t surprise me at all that Liev Schreiber is the villain of this film. Liev Schreiber shall be The Storm King! I remember last June where he gave Jimmy Kimmel a few tantalizing details about his role in the MLP movie.

He’s says he's a monster who eviscerates ponies. I still doubt he’ll actually be eviscerating ponies, but this Storm King still looks he’s capable of doing quite a bit of damage. Initially, it seemed like The Storm King was another centaur like Tirek, but then the toy revealed that he’s actually more anthropomorphic. He has cloven hooves, a long tail, a vaguely ape-like upper body, and horns. He’s a bit like a satyr. However, did you notice he only had three fingers on his hand. Most of the creatures on MLP with anthropomorphic torsos, like Minotaurs and Centaurs have four fingers on their hands. Did you ever notice that? Still, he looks pretty demonic. I predict that he will be called a Storm Demon. Storm demons are are common motif in ancient mythologies. The previously mentioned synopsis seems to suggest that The Storm King’s modus operandi is the same as Tirek’s, stealing magic. I’m not so sure about that. Given his cold color scheme, almost Yeti-like appearance, and the fact that he’s called “The Storm King”, I believe his power is controlling the weather, particularly cold weather. I bet that staff he’s wielding is the source of his power. That’s a reasonable conjecture; it’s surrounded by lightning. I predict his modus operandi is to destroy Equestria with storms, perhaps ice storms. That would make him a lot more similar to King Charlatan from the G1 MLP episode “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”. Interestingly enough, that episode also featured a brief appearance by a couple of Sea Ponies, which will be coming up soon enough in this discussion.

I have also heard it suggested that The Storm King is meant to be Grogar from G1 MLP. With his goat-like lower body and horns, I can see a slight resemblance to Grogar. And he has minions like Grogar did. The Storm King looks like he could be a rather impressive figure. If he ends up being as impressive as he looks, then I might end up being happy that this is the closest we're going to get to having Grogar in G4.

Grubber (Michael Peña)

In the past I speculated that Michael Peña would be suitable for the role of comic relief sidekick to the villain. (Though at the time, I thought he could be Bray if the villain was Grogar.) I seem to be partially right about that. Meghan McCarthy has already confirmed it too. Michael Peña will be Grubber, a hedgehog who is a minion of The Storm King. The most interesting thing about Grubber is that he's a hedgehog. A lot has been said about how a number of these new characters are anthropomorphic animals, which I will get to later on. Either way, anthropomorphic rodents like this one aren’t something foreign to the annals of MLP history. The G1 MLP episode “The Great Rainbow Caper” featured an anthropomorphic… muskrat (I honestly can’t tell) named Drudge who served a pair of monkeys called the Gizmonks. And The Storm King is vaguely primate-like. I wonder if this slight parallel to G1 MLP is intentional.

Tempest Shadow (Emily Blunt)

Emily Blunt shall appear in the film as Tempest Shadow. First off, Tempest Shadow has the coolest name of all these movie characters. She also has a great design with all the deep purples and dark reds. The most fascinating thing about her though is that she's a Unicorn with a broken horn. That’s something hitherto now never seen on MLP. Such would be a debilitating injury for a Unicorn. We’ve never had a major character on MLP who was that obviously disabled. Clearly, she's another one of The Storm King’s minions as she has the same mark as The Storm King and Grubber on the armor on her flank. Plus the “Tempest” in her name connects her to The Storm King. Perhaps she serves The Storm King because of her broken horn. Meghan McCarthy has already hinted that this may be the case. Maybe he’s promised to somehow restore her horn in exchange for her service. I predict though that Tempest Shadow will be the minion who turns against The Storm King and sides with the Mane 6 and/or their allies. This is a tradition that goes all the way back to G1 MLP. All the villains of G1 MLP always had one minion that turned against them and sided with the ponies. Perhaps it’s because she’s a pony herself. It seems natural that she would be the most receptive to the Mane 6’s friendship.

Captain Celaeno (Zoe Saldana)

Zoe Saldana will be Captain Celaeno. Initially, I thought she was a Griffin that was reared up for some reason. However, then her toy revealed that’s actually some kind of anthropomorphic bird creature. It appears that she doesn’t have wings though. That’s rather odd for a bird creature. Anthropomorphic birds aren’t foreign to annals of MLP history. A number of sapient birds and assorted bird-like creatures appeared in G1 MLP. Anyway, I shall hazard a guess as to what manner of beast Captain Celaeno is supposed to be. I submit that Captain Celaeno is a Harpy, the half-human, half-bird creature of Greek mythology. Hence, why she is an anthropomorphic bird in the wide, wide realm of Equestria. Why do I think she’s a Harpy? Well, it’s kind of a no-brainer if you’re familiar with Greek mythology. See, in Greek mythology, Celaeno is the name of a Harpy. Now, what of her role in the MLP movie? I predict that Captain Celaeno is one of these pirates mentioned in the synopsis. It’s not a difficult conclusion to come to. She is dressed like a pirate and looks a bit like a parrot. Pirates have parrots right. She even has a pegleg like pirates sometimes do. The pegleg in particular is interesting. Now, the MLP comics “My Little Pirate: Friendship Ahoy” arc did feature a character who was a pirate with a pegleg. However, outside a brief moment in “The Cutie Re-Mark”, we have never seen a main character on MLP proper with a prosthetic limb. It’s quite something that we’re going to have a character like that in the MLP movie. Either way, Meghan McCarthy already confirmed it and mention she’s the captain of a whole pirate crew of Parrot-Harpy… things. Also, it’s rather ironic that Zoe Saldana will be voicing a character who’s a pirate. In case you didn’t know, Zoe Saldana portrayed a pirate named Anamaria in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. I wonder if that was intentional.

Capper (Taye Diggs)

Taye Diggs will be Capper. He appears to be an anthropomorphic cat. Well, that’s certainly something we’ve never seen on MLP before. We’ve seen semi-anthropomorphic dogs like the Diamond Dogs. So perhaps anthropomorphic cats were never that far outside the realm of possibility. Though this wouldn’t be the first time in the annals of MLP history that we’ve seen an anthropomorphic cat. The villain Catrina from MLP’s second special “Escape from Catrina” was an anthropomorphic cat witch. Anyway, Meghan McCarthy described Capper as a con artist who becomes a hero. The coat does kind of give him a “Puss In Boots” kind of vibe. (By that I mean the character from Charles Perrault’s original tale, not the Shrek character. The cat in the tale was kind of a con artist too.) Either way, that sounds interesting to me. I do have a soft spot for con artist characters, especially ones with a heart of gold so to speak. That would make him similar to Catrina as well. She started off as a villain, but was reformed by the end of the special. However, I haven’t much of an idea how he relates to the other characters and such. I mean, does he con the Mane 6 and betray them to The Storm King. That would make him sort of an ally to The Storm King as well. If that’s the case, could he end up actually being the minion who turns against the villain in favor of the Mane 6. It’s possible he could be the sole one, but my money’s still on Tempest Shadow doing so as well.

Queen Novo (Uzo Aduba)

Uzo Aduba is Queen Novo, apparently the Queen of the Sea Ponies. That’s right, Bronies! The MLP movie will finally introduce G4 Sea Ponies. Sea Ponies were something Lauren Faust wanted to include way back during her tenure on the show. Now, we’re finally getting them. Frankly we don’t have much else to go on. Nonetheless, I predict the Queen Novo will lead the Sea Ponies as allies alongside the Mane 6 against The Storm King. Perhaps the Sea Ponies are the source of an artifact that the Mane 6 can use against The Storm King or that The Storm King is after or perhaps both.

Princess Skystar (Kristin Chenoweth)

Kristin Chenoweth will be Princess Skystar, a Sea Pony princess and daughter of Queen Novo. Here’s a question. Why does a Sea Pony princess have a name like “Skystar”? That sounds more like the name of an aerial pony, like a Pegasus. Anyway, I don’t really know what her role in the film will be or anything like that. I will merely predict that she will become fast friends with the Mane 6.

Songbird Serenade (Sia)

Sia will be Songbird Serenade. Now, I admit, this character is particularly interesting. When it was first announced that Sia would have a role in the MLP movie, an image with this character was tweeted out. Many wondered if this was meant as the actual character or a ponysona of Sia. Turns out, it is the actual character. Songbird Serenade looks like she’s going to be a pony version of Sia… for some reason. I’m not sure why a character based on Sia is in this movie. According to Meghan McCarthy, Songbird Serenade is apparently the hottest musical act in Equestria. I imagine she has taken the place of Coloratura from “The Mane Attraction” in that regard. Sometimes being true to yourself does not guarantee you success. Either way, she will be singing two of the film’s seven songs. So, I imagine her character is important. Still, I don’t have the least idea what Songbird Serenade’s role in the MLP movie is or what purpose she serves in the film’s narrative.

Stratus Skyranger (TBD)

Not too long after all the announcements concerning the big name characters of the MLP movie, Equestria Daily revealed another character from the MLP movie through one of the movie’s toys. This is Stratus Skyranger, and he’s a Hippogryph Guard! As of yet, we don’t know his voice actor because he’s not voiced by one of the film’s big name stars. I imagine he’ll be portrayed by someone on MLP’s in-house roster of voice talent. The thing that stands out the most here of course is that he’s a Hippogryph! As of yet, we have never seen a Hippogryph on MLP. (Unless Season 7 throws us a curveball and introduces Hippogryphs as a partial set up for the movie.) Though Hippogryphs have been speculated to exist in the wide, wide realm of Equestria given that the actual myths concerning Hippogryphs state that it is the product of a Griffon mating with a mare. Now generally, a Hippogryph is depicted with foreparts of an eagle and the hindquarters of a horse. This Hippogryph seems more like a blend of Griffon and Pony. He has very feathery ears and a very horse-like snout. However, the box art seems to indicate that this snout ends with a rather thick-looking beak. I’m not completely certain how a Hippogryph Guard will figure in the Mane 6’s adventures in this movie. The Mane 6 could end up in a new land where there are Hippogryphs. Or perhaps the Hippogryphs request Equestria’s aid in fighting The Storm King. Mayhaps they are the first of The Storm King’s victims. That's one thing we have an abundance of--possibility.

Now, how about the songs of the MLP movie. The film will have seven songs in it. Meghan McCarthy gave a bit of a breakdown of five of the film’s seven songs. Five of these seven will be sung by Sia as Songbird Serenade, Emily Blunt as Tempest Shadow, Kristin Chenoweth as Princess Skystar, and Taye Diggs as Capper. Now, as I said before, Sia’s Songbird Serenade has two songs. So that means Tempest Shadow, Princess Skystar, and Capper each get a song. I think I can predict what their songs might be like. Tempest Shadow’s song will be a mournful ballad about her troubled past. Capper’s song will be about how he’s a cool cat or a slick trickster or perhaps both. For Princess Skystar’s song, I shall make my boldest prediction. I predict that Princess Skystar will sing a remake of the original “Call Upon the Sea Ponies” song from the very first G1 MLP special “Rescue at Midnight Castle”. You know, the one that goes, “Shoop-bee-doo. Shoop-shoop-bee-doo.” I don’t see how you can have Sea Ponies in MLP without that.

Now, what about all these anthropomorphic animal characters that shall be appearing in the MLP movie. Some have shown concern over this as it appears to violate Lauren Faust’s original vision for the creatures of Equestria. According to Lauren Faust, the only non-mythical, non-equine creatures that were sapient in Equestria were cloven-hoof ruminants. However, someone didn’t seem to get the memo when it came to goats, deer, and sheep for the most part. Interestingly enough, these mistakes have occurred since the back half of Season 2, around the same time as Lauren Faust’s departure from MLP. Still, this wasn’t a hard and fast rule even in Lauren Faust’s time. Remember the Diamond Dogs. I say that since the Diamond Dogs were semi-anthropomorphic then anthropomorphic creatures were always a possibility. Plus, anthropomorphic animals aren’t something foreign to the annals of MLP history. A number of them appeared in G1 MLP. In fact, many of these characters bear a certainly similarity to many of the characters from G1 MLP with certain aspects shuffled around a bit until they are completely unrecognizable.

The biggest reason though I think for why there are so many non-pony characters in the MLP movie comes down to a lack of the show’s limitations. See, to create a new non-pony character on MLP, they would have to create a whole new character model from scratch in their animation software. That would take too much time and money that the show probably can’t afford. That’s why we rarely see anything but ponies on MLP. They already have plenty of pony models to build off of. The MLP movie on the other hand utilizes a whole new kind of animation software and has a much bigger budget. Given that, it’s clear that those behind the MLP movie went all out with all they could do.

As a final note, I shall render my boldest prediction. I will attempt to predict the plot of the MLP movie based on everything I can surmise from what we know so far. I predict that the film will begin with The Storm King and his minions Tempest Shadow and Grubber kidnapping Songbird Serenade. And why would they do that? Well, they need Songbird Serenade’s musical talent to get to the Sea Ponies. The Sea Ponies are attracted to singing or something. See, the Sea Ponies will be guardians of an artifact that can increase The Storm King’s power so he can raise a storm that will raze Equestria. The Mane 6 become apprised of this and set out to get to the Sea Ponies first. They travel to a foreign land home to a diverse assortment of creatures. This land is the home of Capper and where Stratus Skyranger serves as a guard. The Mane 6 meet Capper, but he then betrays their confidence to The Storm King. The Mane 6 have their first run in with The Storm King and are captured. Capper has a change of heart. (Perhaps he’s also betrayed and captured by The Storm King.) Capper then helps the Mane 6 escape and introduces them to Captain Celaeno and her pirate crew. Captain Celaeno takes them to the undersea kingdom of the Sea Ponies. There the Mane 6 meet Queen Novo and Princess Skystar. What happens after that, I can’t really tell without any more details. Besides, you wouldn’t want me spoiling the movie for you all anyway.

I’m probably completely wrong about everything. But this is my story for now, and I’m sticking with it.

Whether these movie predictions are at all accurate or just the deranged and perverse fantasies of a clearly addled fanboy remains to be seen. Like I’ve said, I do have a pretty good track record. My Little Pony: The Movie is shaping up really well. It looks pretty awesome. I’m really looking forward to this movie. What do you all think of my predictions for the MLP movie? What to you foretell will happen in the MLP movie?

God bless you all. God bless America. And God bless Equestria.