Ohvist
I think that Season 2 would have benefitted to have an overarching plotline that would hqave helped us get properly introduced to the Changelings over the course of the season and had small hints to it back in Season 1. Just imagine how heart-stoppingly terrifying _*The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well_* would be if instead of Rainbow Dash finding out that it was actually her friends, that Mare-Do-Well was actually a rogue Changeling Drone who was trying to prevent the upcoming invasion by issuing a warning to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to be vigilant. We don't get to see the Changelings' true face underneath the mask, just his echoing voice along with him speaking his lines in the voices of other characters to creep the pair of them out. The episode ends on a dramatic note as both Rainbow and Pinkie notice a flash of green fire at the doorway as the pair of them wander out of the building onto the streets trying to follow Mare-Do-Well, only to see that it was crowded by numerous ponies doing their business.
We could even have a chance to introduce us to Shining Armor and Cadence in both_*Best Night Ever_* and _*Sweet and Elite_* with Rarity serving as our in-road to the characters personalities, instead of seeing Cadence as an Alicorn totally, the audience only sees her horn and would be led-on to believe that she is just a Unicorn. _*Sweet and Elite_* would have been the perfect opportunity to help rebuild Prince Bluebloods' character into a likable individual, that the personality we saw in the Grand Galloping Gala was merely a way for him to avoid being taken away by mares of the Unicorn Nobility trying to marry away for the sake of power instead of for the sake of love. Vladímir Blueblood is actually a nice guy who mistakenly thought that Rarity was just another Gold-Digger trying to take advantage of him simply because he is not only a Prince, but because his family the Platinums' were the ones who Founded and governed Canterlot. When Celestia moved the Seat of Power to Canterlot 1000 years ago, the Nobility who believed in the concept of Unicornia: where the Unicorns dominated the world and treated the Earth Ponies and Pegasi as slaves, took full-advantage of Celestias weakened emotional state to help pass laws in their favor to take away all political power from Celestia and make her into the Unicorns' puppet ruler, it was thanks to Vladímirs' Great-great-great-Grandfather that the coup was exposed in time before the damage became too irreversible 600 years ago, but even todwy, tbere qre still trwce elements of the corruption within the Canterlot Elite, chief among them being the treatment of Non-Ponies (done in a bid to cut off Celestia from her friends in Abyssinia, Griffonstone, and Mount Aris), and corruption within the Equestrian Education Association (this was done to try and erase all traces of Earth Pony Magic from history in order to prevent the Earth Ponies from successfully fighting back against the Unicorns on an even playing field should they revolt).
As for Rarity, she isn't going to Canterlot just because, she and Sweetie are heading there to try and get several items belonging to their mother that were left in Canterlot back before Rarity was born. While there, we are given a glimpse into the corrupt and ruthless world of the Canterlot Nobility which Cookie Crumbles was once a part of due to being the heiress to one of the Noble Unicorn Houses until she decided to fall in love with an Earth Pony commoner named Hondo Flanks: Rarity and Sweeties' father. The backlash caused by this (in the eyes of the Canterlot Elite) unholy union, saw Cookie Crumbles being banished from Canterlot and cursed to never set foot on the mountain again. Having the fact of Hondo Flanks being an Earth Pony instead of a Unicorn would lend well to why Rarity is more martially-inclined when it comes to fighting instead of relying upon Magic like Twilight does always, and it would go to great lengths why she wants to prove herself to Canterlot despite being (in their eyes) a Half-Earth Pony Bastard. We even get introduced to several characters that would help Rarity and Sweetie on their journey to retrieve their family possessions from the greedy clutches of their family's patriarch Fancy Pants (who in this story was the one who cast the banishment curse on Cookie Crumbles). We even get introduced to the Flutterponies (a subspecies of Butterfly-Winged Changelings as we would find out by the finale who are led by Chrysalis and her daughter Ocellus whom Sweetie would become close friends with. They are the ones who helped invent the wing spell that Rarity used in_*Sonic Rainboom_*), along with the return of Photo Finish, and a proper introduction to Twilights' parents Twilight Velvet and Night Light (who both actually knew Cookie Crumbles before she was banished, making them old family friends).
Like I mentioned before, we would get hints to Shining Armor and Twilight being siblings, with Seasons 1 and 2 slowly building up "Twilights' Brother" and "Shining Armor" on-screen as two separate characters, and that by the time of the Season finale when we finally get to see Shining and Twilight sharing the screen together we would definitively believe that they are indeed siblings.
Shame that the writing team never considered these as possibilities for the show.
We could even have a chance to introduce us to Shining Armor and Cadence in both
As for Rarity, she isn't going to Canterlot just because, she and Sweetie are heading there to try and get several items belonging to their mother that were left in Canterlot back before Rarity was born. While there, we are given a glimpse into the corrupt and ruthless world of the Canterlot Nobility which Cookie Crumbles was once a part of due to being the heiress to one of the Noble Unicorn Houses until she decided to fall in love with an Earth Pony commoner named Hondo Flanks: Rarity and Sweeties' father. The backlash caused by this (in the eyes of the Canterlot Elite) unholy union, saw Cookie Crumbles being banished from Canterlot and cursed to never set foot on the mountain again. Having the fact of Hondo Flanks being an Earth Pony instead of a Unicorn would lend well to why Rarity is more martially-inclined when it comes to fighting instead of relying upon Magic like Twilight does always, and it would go to great lengths why she wants to prove herself to Canterlot despite being (in their eyes) a Half-Earth Pony Bastard. We even get introduced to several characters that would help Rarity and Sweetie on their journey to retrieve their family possessions from the greedy clutches of their family's patriarch Fancy Pants (who in this story was the one who cast the banishment curse on Cookie Crumbles). We even get introduced to the Flutterponies (a subspecies of Butterfly-Winged Changelings as we would find out by the finale who are led by Chrysalis and her daughter Ocellus whom Sweetie would become close friends with. They are the ones who helped invent the wing spell that Rarity used in
Like I mentioned before, we would get hints to Shining Armor and Twilight being siblings, with Seasons 1 and 2 slowly building up "Twilights' Brother" and "Shining Armor" on-screen as two separate characters, and that by the time of the Season finale when we finally get to see Shining and Twilight sharing the screen together we would definitively believe that they are indeed siblings.
Shame that the writing team never considered these as possibilities for the show.