@Background Pony #23F1
Very interesting theory
I haven’t seen the pages of the comic yet, tho very interesting…
It has been confirmed with the release of the cover for #2 that it is Cloudsdale who has come to Zephyr Heights. I think it’s because the latent magic in Cloudsdale is attracted to the active magic in the pegasi population of Zephyr Heights, and perhaps the relic in the castle - which has a library full of books with Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark on all covers - could be vital to to save the situation. Meanwhile, Zipp, who will one day succeed her mother as Queen Storm, will find and discover the truth behind the mysterious clouds that we now know are Cloudsdale.
So it’s going to be very interesting to see the ruins after Cloudsdale, but first they have to get the pegasi magic under control. If the two cities crashed into each other, it could disable all automatic weather control stations powered by non-living magic descended from the pegasi. Cloudsdale is likely the heart of the weather control system not only in Equestria, but perhaps the entire world. The odds are no less than in the SYS arc. Perhaps the pegasi in Zehyr Heights will discover their ancestral past as weather controllers, for the Storm arc will be important to the G5’s future.
I think Zephyr Heights was originally erected on the mountaintops as a base for the wonderbolts during Twilight’s reign - although no one knows where the mountains are in relation to the G4 maps. It is a personal theory that Canterlot lies in the shadow of the mountains without being discovered due to cloud cover.
From TYT S1 ep. 24 we know that an unknown pony had split up a magic blank and hidden three pieces while the fourth was handed over to the family from which Sunny Starcourt was born. The way these were hidden showed that only an alicorn could have done it. The first piece was hidden under the throne in the royal palace in ZH. No ordinary pony could build a secret compartment under the throne, which by design seemed to be meant for a fully grown alicorn. This reveals that the castle at Zephyr Heights was not originally intended for the royal pegasi family. This is emphasized by the bibliotheque in MYM ch. 5 which appeared to be very old, with all the mentioned marks on the covers.
Which only leads to a logical conclusion; the royal castle of ZH was the residence of Twilight Sparkle at the end of her reign. But was the castle also her seat of government? It is possible that the family that later became royalty were the guardians of the pegasi crystal while there was still magic, which may have taken over the castle after Twilight disappeared. Based on what the glass windows and the book from MYM Ch. 3 means, is it possible that Twilight left Equestria long before the magic disappeared. Queen Haven mentioned in TYT S1 ep. 24 that the peculiar throne was there for centuries. For the three crystals had flames surrounding them as if they were falling down - from where Twilight’s cutie mark was in the sky, to the three ponies.
The station schedule from the ANG movie stated a number of place names that were later removed because Discovery had intervened - and “Canterlot” like “Ponyville” was not mentioned. We know from a canceled book - confirmed elsewhere - that Ponyville had been evacuated without the cause being known. It might also have happened to Canterlot.
If magic had “only” been gone for a hundred years, it’s possible that Canterlot AND Fluffershy’s cottage would have been protected from the ravages of time by Discord, who chose to stay. This hypothesis makes it sound in conjunction with everything else. But why did Discord choose to stay there in the abandoned valley? Hasbro may integrate Old Discord into the G5 in the future by using memory manipulation on the Mane 5 that will “forget” him. It could be what the IDW writers of the Discord Arc had based their work on. Because the story of how the Unity Crystals came about and Opaline’s first attack does not conflict with what Spike had told.
Then it means that the writers behind the SYS arc and the Storm arc of the IDW comics are on the same level as those behind the Discord arc a couple of years ago. It could mean that the background story for the G4-G5 connection remains intact despite all that has happened around MYM, they are busy adding more meat to it.
I begin to sense the contours of two separate events.
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Evacuation of Ponyville and Canterlot. The ANG movie showed that almost nothing of the Everfree is back, the whole valley seemed to have been erased.
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Collective amnesia that caused the guardians who have to assemble the Unity Crystals from time to time, began to forget so that the magic disappeared.
Between 1) and 2) Twilight disappeared. After 2) when the magic started to disappear, the pegasi had to evacuate Cloudsdale, but then Zephyr Heights as a pegasi settlement had been built, so they could settle there.
Let me think… first, the evacuation of middle Equestria. What on earth had happened there? Maybe in line with the disappearance of all monsters in G5? Later, Twilight had settled on ZH after this. Kansje ZH was Equestria’s capital after Canterlot, as Everfree city had been when Celestia and Luna were young.
Then Twilight disappeared. It seemed to have happened while there was still magic, so she didn’t leave Equestria in ruins, but instead had left the ponies to fend for themselves. The three crystals fell to earth where three families received them and became guardians of the Unity Crystals. The pegasi family got royal status with the pegasi crystal as a symbol. They took over the place of residence after Twilight. We don’t yet know what kind of family name the pegasi royals have, but it is possible that “Starscout” was the family name of the earth pony family who were guardians of the Earth crystal. If it’s “Glow” for the pegasi, I’ll laugh.
The three guardians of the Unity Crystals knew what they had to do after Twilight’s disappearance, and united the crystals from place to place - the lighthouse in Maretime Bay, the castle tower with the throne room in ZH and the Wishing Tree in Bridlewood. But then they started to forget. After what was witnessed with Elderflower who had lived back then, a number of red flags have appeared. It looked like the ponies were suffering from collective amnesia. As soon as the knowledge was lost and the guardians came into conflict with each other, the crystals were not put together for a long time - and then the magic disappeared. Who was behind this?
I believe - no, I’m certain - that a lot had happened between the end of G4 and the ANG movie.
And that’s what the Storm arc of the IDW comics will show us a little bit of.
