As the title stated, this thread is simply a list for all the Asylumverse theories. This applies for all Asylumverse stories, including non-canon. Let me know and I can quote your theory into this post, along with numbering it, for ease of discussion.

Remember to play nicely.

AU1 theory by Colour Coded Chaos

I didn't want to put this in the group because, if I'm right, it might be spoilers, but I think I've had it arse-backwards the entire time.

We've been making one big assumption the whole time, one massive assumption that (considering the central question of the fic as I understand it) is absolutely critical to how we think this story is supposed to go.

The question asked of us by Asylum is: What is real?

The assumption we make is: The Twilight we're reading about in the asylum is the real one.

And thus it makes sense. Twilight is fighting to shut this thing out of her mind, out of her very soul - which is represented by Ponyville because that's where canon!Twi feels safest and most loved. It's exactly the kind of fakeout that people wouldn't see coming, because Twilight is adorable and we want her to win. The "shadow creature" I've been banging on about previously - that's the real Twilight, smashing down the aggressor with cold logic and purest fury. My theory about this being a prison conjured from what Twilight hates and fears the most is still valid, but canon!Twi is the jailer, not the inmate.

It all boils down to the prospect of freedom. Hope is a powerful motivator, but it's also a way of keeping people occupied while you think of a plan. Vetinari did something similar in Going Postal (I don't know if you've read it); a jail he had made had a block of loose stone leading to the drains, but once the main character dug his way through the mortar with an old spoon and hauled the block out on the very morning he was due to be hanged, there was a really good bit of masonry underneath it with strong, fresh mortar. And a spoon, because he's a sarky bugger. My point is, that's exactly the sort of thing Twilight would do - keep someone working at a pointless task (in this case, escaping from a literally nightmarish mental institution) until backup arrives to blast it to bits.

It's still a Journey To The Centre Of The Mind, as TV Tropes puts it - we just didn't realise whose journey it was.

Of course, this could be ridiculously over-complicated, but even so, I thought you might like to hear it anyway. If nothing else, it might give you a good laugh.

A PM I sent to DoD:

---

I didn't want to put this in the group because, if I'm right, it might be spoilers, but I think I've had it arse-backwards the entire time.

We've been making one big assumption the whole time, one massive assumption that (considering the central question of the fic as I understand it) is absolutely critical to how we think this story is supposed to go.

The question asked of us by Asylum is: What is real?

The assumption we make is: The Twilight we're reading about in the asylum is the real one.
And thus it makes sense. Twilight is fighting to shut this thing out of her mind, out of her very soul - which is represented by Ponyville because that's where canon!Twi feels safest and most loved. It's exactly the kind of fakeout that people wouldn't see coming, because Twilight is adorable and we want her to win. The "shadow creature" I've been banging on about previously - that's the real Twilight, smashing down the aggressor with cold logic and purest fury. My theory about this being a prison conjured from what Twilight hates and fears the most is still valid, but canon!Twi is the jailer, not the inmate.

It all boils down to the prospect of freedom. Hope is a powerful motivator, but it's also a way of keeping people occupied while you think of a plan. Vetinari did something similar in Going Postal (I don't know if you've read it); a jail he had made had a block of loose stone leading to the drains, but once the main character dug his way through the mortar with an old spoon and hauled the block out on the very morning he was due to be hanged, there was a really good bit of masonry underneath it with strong, fresh mortar. And a spoon, because he's a sarky bugger. My point is, that's exactly the sort of thing Twilight would do - keep someone working at a pointless task (in this case, escaping from a literally nightmarish mental institution) until backup arrives to blast it to bits.

It's still a Journey To The Centre Of The Mind, as TV Tropes puts it - we just didn't realise whose journey it was.

Of course, this could be ridiculously over-complicated, but even so, I thought you might like to hear it anyway. If nothing else, it might give you a good laugh.

---

Thoughts?

1052309 I'm not quire sure I understand what you're saying. Is it that the Twilight we're perceiving in the asylum really is a delusion that the "real" Twilight is keeping locked up somehow?

1034805 I think that a simple blueprint over the asylum could help me theorize if it's real or not.
You see, I think that the ponies and sections within the asylum might represent parts of Twilight's mind. If I can see how they are connected in the building, that might give me some hints. Say for example Rainbow, I think she represents Twilight's suppressed agressions. Since Twilight probably has some form of deep-buried thoughts about hurting other ponies (we all have, somewhere inside us) they might have been refined into the Rainbow Dash (she was aggressive if I recall correctly). If her cell is far away from Twilight, that might be an indicator of that the asylum is a prison for her mind, since these aggressive thoughts are suppressed by Twilight it would make sense if they are placed far away from her very being and essence (Twilight in the asylum).

1059930
Not exactly.

Look, there's a good Twilight and an evil Twilight, right? I just think that the evil Twilight is the one stuck in the asylum.

1060026 Got it. Sorry, I'm a bit muddled at the moment. Now I see what you're saying it makes a worrying amount of sense...

1059976

I considered making one, but the problems were that it was a lot of work, could potentially harm me later in terms of continuity, and it could also affect how people might view the story if there was a literal map to follow. One day I might create one (I found a few old blueprints for hospitals that I could edit to make work) but right now, I don't think I could. Plus, not knowing where everything is does help mirror Twilights own confusion.

That being said, if someone found a good hospital / asylum map that is easily edited, I might make one. It all depends.

1060026 There is a saying: One man's villain is another's hero.
What is the definition of evil? (Except from nazis, obviously)
Is it to do something you know is wrong, simply because it's wrong?
Is it to lure other people into killing themselves? (You should be ashamed of yourself Jim Jones)

Is there any true definiton of evil?

1060045 I see...
But I still hold my theory that none of the Twilight's are the real one. They are simply representants of Twilight's different quirks, personality traits and suppressed thoughts. Just like everypony in the asylum.
Applejack represents the reasonable and logical side of Twilight, the one we see in Feeling Pinkie Keen.
Pinkie, well... I need to know more about Pinkie's state, but I would guess she represents Twilight's fear of being abandoned and maybe even hurt by her friends.
Nurse Ratchet, she was the one guarding Twilight, right? She probably represents Twilight's feeling of duty to protect Equestria and her friends, she takes it seriously even when she doesn't want to do it.

1060066
The only relevance of that trite little saying about moral relativism is making you sound smart, and it failed. The reason it did so is because of a lack of clarity on my part, so allow me to correct that.

I believe that Twilight Sparkle has been possessed by a creature of some kind.

I believe that Twilight Sparkle is trying to fight this creature off.

I believe that Twilight Sparkle is NOT the one in the asylum; rather, the thing possessing her is.

I used good!Twilight and evil!Twilight as terms to distinguish between canon!Twilight and the beast possessing her because it was late and, in the depths of sleep-deprived madness, I thought that people might be able to figure that out.

1061988 Oh, in that case. I understand completely your reasoning.

1061988 Nah I think it's as much my fault for so badly misunderstanding and setting the wrong impression for everyone else, though to be fair I was also very tired...

I think, that because of the events occurring in ending of chapter seven and the story's progression through chapter eight, the place that Twilight calls "home" is really her dream or an altered reality. Most of my reasoning is due to the fact of the "dreamlike" things that happened.

Then, I asked the question of: "What about the things that have happened to her in the asylum?" To clarify, I mean the reflection of herself in the mirror of the bathroom physically hurting her

Her reflection grabbed Twilight by the scruff of her neck and yanked her closer, her head hitting the mirror with a loud smack, followed by the tinkle of shattered glass.

and the voice of Princess Celestia talking to her in the bathroom.

“Twilight, can you hear me?” it repeated. Twilight nodded dumbly as she stared up at the ceiling. She knew that voice. She would know it anywhere.

“Yes, P-Princess Celestia... I can hear you.”

Oddly, both of these occurrences happen in the bathroom, to which I find quite comical.

When Twilight's "reflection" hurt her, that made me start thinking. What if the asylum is the dream, but a realistic dream. Still, when she fell asleep in the asylum and woke up in her library, her maniacal counterpart was trying to get rid of her. Then why was "it" mentally and physically abusing her in the asylum? For fun? I don't know.

Now, on to the more interesting matter at hand. Why is this happening and what is making it happen? This question, for me, is a very hard question to answer. With logical thinking and reasoning, ( I'm starting to think and sound like Twilight ) the cause could be that she really is insane, or that it is some sort of magic.

Next, the question of "why". This is an even harder question to conquer. There really is no clear motive at this current moment in time, but hopefully there will be one in the future. To which my final answer is that no one can clearly conjure a reason. If one does, they would just be guessing blindly.

In conclusion, my theory is that Twilight is trapped in her own mind and is creating illusions in the real world ( Equestria as we know from the show ). At the moment, my theory as to why it is happening is unavailable.

1060066

Is there any true definiton of evil?

That entirely depends on perspective, as some people believe in objective morality, while others believe in subjective morality.

1094132 Yep.

If Twilight's recent conversation with Celestia is from the Real World, then is it possible for the Entity behind NightMare Moon could be the one behind this story?

While we don't know the extent of NMM's powers(aside from them probably being equal, if not greater, than Luna's), we do that she could transform her self into a shadowy substance that could interact with the world. This 'Shadow' is trying to engulf Equestria in darkness which is remarkably similar to NMM wanting to enshroud the land in Eternal Night.

Just a thought.

I also believed Asylum Twilight was the real one and Ponyville Twilight the delusion, up to this chapter. I changed my mind not due what we see, but what we don't see. What has no reflection in this twisted mirror.

And I said too much.

I personally think there's too much we don't know to make a real assumption at this point. Then again, I don't usually make guesses at this type of thing.

1064281 both of these was her mind trying to comprehend overwhelming guilt.

1060045 use alternate endings so everyone's happy but maybe 2 people.

1793641

How would both of these occurrences be her mind trying to comprehend the overwhelming guilt? What guilt? The guilt that she can't help any of her friends? Highly unlikely.

Please clarify.

I mentioned this on the comments but I think it's worth mentioning again, purely for entertainment value if nothing else.

Spoilers for two TV series follow.

The latest chapter reminded me of a similar sequence of events in the British drama series Life on Mars, in which a police officer wakes up after an accident to find he's been somehow transported to the 1970s. Through the course of the series he tries to uncover just what's going on and is faced with several contradictory phenomena, including apparent auditory hallucinations that indicate he's in some sort of coma dream, weird anachronisms, and a voice talking to him on the radio claiming that he's been literally transported through time. It ends a little ambiguously, but he chooses to stay.

The sequel series Ashes to Ashes follows a similar conceit, but with another officer investigating what happened to the first (it's revealed that he jumped off a building one day for no apparent reason) waking up in the 1980s. Ashes to Ashes covers several characters, all of whom are eventually revealed to be undergoing similar experiences to the first. At the end of the series it's revealed that the whole "past" is a sort of purgatory, where the characters spend time until they're ready to move on. In other words they're all dead.

The similarities to Asylum just struck me after the most recent chapter.

Of course, after I posted the reply, DoD said he'd never seen the series. But of course I wouldn't expect some sort of slavish re-telling of someone else's work like that.

Going a bit bind here, but this is what I think.

I like to think Twilight is batS#!t insane and she is trying to ration her treatment finally working.
However a few things I'd like to think.

A.) She is in a dreamlike state, while shadows are a thing, they not what everyone thinks they are. They are working akin to Tantabus.
A-1.) infact the "Plague pony" could be a retooled Tantabus trying to help passively.
A-2.) The "Other Twilight" is her mind and/or the shadow telling her to get a hold of her self.

B.) She is in a AU and her link to Celestia is making stuff to brake down in her local reality.
B-1.) Everytime she is mildly happy around electronic equipment, It brakes.
B-1-1.) One thing of data reorder, by a power surge.
B-1-2.) The radio stops for a moment when she walks by.