Mares and Gentlestallions, Start Your Conspiracy Theories!

EDIT: The original, for comparison:

Comments

[BlueBastard]

It was Colonel Mustard, in the Kitchen, with the Noose.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

4630195 Yup.

But who are the second and third ones?
I can't read their names for the big red "Deceased" stamp on them.

[BlueBastard]

4630220
Second from top is Orange Box.

Middle is Minty.

[Shinzakura]

4630220
Just added the original version for comparison.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

4630224 4630225 Okay, thanks, guys.

[badninja]

My money is still on Minty having accepted the offer. Until we find the body of her and her family I do not believe she is dead. So until Nightmare defeated or destroyed I still feel that she is among the living but in hiding. She was shown a future where DJ had raised Gumdrop and her husband had taken another wife and abandoned their daughter, none of which I could have seen happening before Nightmare Moon started her plot.

[Shinzakura]

4630312
Um...Toffee was her husband, not her foal. You're thinking of Gumdrop.

[badninja]

4630322

Thanks editing my original post!

[Zekromic]

4630195
vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/epicrapbattlesofhistory/images/5/55/I_See_What_You_Did_There.png/revision/latest?cb=20140610225008
-I don't think Starswirl ever accepted the offer, she looks clean to me.
-Champagne/Original Sunset Shimmer: She may have accepted, but the fact that she seems more interested on her own personal agenda may point that she didn't
-Bon Bon: Yeah, she has been pretty bitter for not having Lyra lately, not to mention her suspiciously long absence for a great part of the main story
-Minty: Seriously, who are you trying to fool here ? She's the TOP suspect for NMM host

[Shinzakura]

4630353
Well, given that Orange has been confirmed as a host, she'd be the top suspect.

[NachoTheBrony]

So, Shin, have you decided that Minty is dead, once and for all?

[Shinzakura]

4630528
I'm just providing information as the story presents it. After all, we know that Orange was not murdered, yet the information the characters have to go on so far is that she was.

[Spiritus Arcane]

Orange Box is the only confirmed kill, as I share the belief of others here that Minty isn't dead until we actually see a body. Plus she had one of the greater reasons to hate DJ personally, and a lot of NMM's actions seem to target DJ directly.

Bon-Bon is VERY likely, her offer story showed that the Nightmare could pretty much lead her around by the nose and she'd go along with it.

Star Swirl seems...unlikely. Yeah she's heavily pining for Sweetie and into some questionable stuff, but hopefully things with Rumble will let her move past that. Plus she just doesn't seem to have the rage that the others have.

Champagne/Sunset 1. Believe it or not I think she's actually the least likely candidate. She wants to seize power for herself and Blueblood, and while she might be effectively working with the Nightmare through the Purehooves and the Saddle Arabians, I think she knows that being a host would just be exchanging one alicorn's rule for another and leave her nothing but a puppet.

Still, I wonder if the Nightmare is actually rotating hosts. We've seen all the potential hosts except Minty in their civilian lives since Nightmare Moon appeared publicly in the attack on Fillydelphia, and none of them seem to have had excessive absences that people close to them have commented on, yet NMM seems to have plenty of time to consort with her allies around both globes. My theory continues to be that she's rotating hosts, and that Orange Box just happened to draw the short straw for the Canterlot attack. Granted this does actually lend credence to Minty being dead, since if she wasn't she'd be perfect for a full time host since everyone thinks she's dead, and thus has no reason to maintain a civilian life.

[The Quiet Party]

4630705
But wouldn't rotation mean that there's more than just those three (or four)? There's been no reported absences of the suspects, but the Nightmare has operated in areas and conditions that would require a lengthy absence (e.g., the Iranian aircraft theft). Additionally, Shin pointed out that the lesser suspects have all been cleared, and that no new suspects are assumed. But all that could mean is that a new host merely has yet to be seen.

There is also the possibility that Champagne did accept the Nightmare's offer ... via Sunset clones. We know "our" Sunset would never accept such a deal, but other, tailored clones could. We now know a clone was in Saddle Arabia the same time as Sunset was in EQMILCOM ... how many more are out there, doing Champagne's will?

[Sammo]

Note: These thoughts will most likely come across as disorganized rambling compared to other theories/speculation on here, so my apologies in advance for that.

My theories having read the story so far:

1. The candidate is very likely to be the one that people least suspected because some established reason that should mean they are entirely innocent is a fabrication
2. Shin maybe be playing with double/triple red herrings here. Aka Authors can be sneaky and deceiving weasels that like to mess with their audiences.

Candidates who I are unlikely to be/cannot be the candidate for host are:

Orange Box
While she was confirmed to be a host, she cannot be involved in the story from present onwards as her death was 100% confirmed at the end of book 1, in that her death was portrayed in a scene right at the end of the book. AKA she is most definitely dead and isnt coming back.

Champagne Dreams
Not likely to be a candidate because she already has schemes of her own to grab power going on and I am doubtful she would risk giving up her free will to become little more than a puppet/pawn/vessel to the nightmare. This is even probable considering the revelation that she was the original/real sunset shimmer. Note however that I am not going to count out the possibility of the sunset clones she has made being hosts for nightmare moon just yet, as this is a valid possibility.

As such the most likely candidates in my opinion are:

Minty
Primarily because although the story has gone to great extent to state that she died during the bombardment of Filladelphia, her body has not been recovered or even found yet. While this is heavily suspicious, there is no definitive answer as to wether she survived or not yet. If she did survive I am doubtful that she would reappear in the story until later on.

BonBon
Valid as a candidate because she has been strangely absent from a large portion of the story despite her connections to one of the most important characters in the story ,Lyra.

Star Swirl
One of the most likely candidates for being the host in my opinion because of her being consistently portrayed as the least likely candidate throughout which makes me very suspicious of her.

[NachoTheBrony]

4630536
👍

4630705

Orange Box is the only confirmed kill, as I share the belief of others here that Minty isn't dead until we actually see a body. Plus she had one of the greater reasons to hate DJ personally, and a lot of NMM's actions seem to target DJ directly.

Eeyup. She's the one with the most personal grievance against our hero. Other than her: to Orange, she was one link in the chain that saw her mother dead; to Bon Bon, she was just part of why Lyra had gone to Earth; and to the other two, she was a non-entity.

Still, I wonder if the Nightmare is actually rotating hosts.

Almost certain at this point. As I said, Orange shouldn't have had a personal grievance against DJ, so the focused rage had to come from elsewhere.

4630872

But wouldn't rotation mean that there's more than just those three (or four)? 

"Rotation" only means that there's more than one. See it this way: I'm currently rotating between two pairs of shoes to go to work, and and two sets of trainers to go cycling. And I only have four white shirts, although I don't have to wear white every day (just formal, though).

4630945

Star Swirl
One of the most likely candidates for being the host in my opinion because of her being consistently portrayed as the least likely candidate throughout which makes me very suspicious of her.

...Except for that afterglow scene, where Star Swirl's inner monologue states that she resisted temptation from the Nightmare. Thus, she is no candidate at all.
My bets go to either Minty or Bonny, or both.

[NachoTheBrony]

Shin, now that I notice it:
Why did you open this on your blog, rather than on the Group?

[Shinzakura]

4631108
Because I only planned to start the image posting. Everyone else started it.

You are welcome to move it, though.

[NachoTheBrony]

4631122
I'm not even a mod in your group, let alone the owner of your account.

[Former Unicorn]

I'm completely confused.

[Shinzakura]

4631123 4630705 4630312 4630872 4630945 4630239
All, there is now an AAG Group Thread about this. Feel free to post there!

[BlueBastard]

4631125

GET BACK TO WORK