Likely accidental, but Future Castor’s death makes much more sense when you consider this: in the myth of Castor and Pollux, the twin who dies is Castor.
The Dark King is both the strongest and the least intelligent villain in the series. Makes sense, as he is the evil extracted by prisoners, which could be completely mindless, but is immensely powerful and purely evil. Well, for these standards, it's good the King can think at all.
The argument against United Equestria having Internet is that it's based around friendship. But the series is explicitly anti-friendship and, in fact, the Space Ponies preach about belief. If the Internet is used correctly, it helps people communicate, and makes them less gullible because there are many different sources of information. So, of course, Internet undermines belief, not friendship, if used correctly, and that's why it was forbidden in United Equestria.
Ka Hotake tells Stammadon, his apprentice, to not lash out at his minions, although he only shouted to make them stop fighting each other. This advice would be stupid in context... except Ka Hotake knows what he is doing.
Titan and Sari: they're the last of their kind, and Sari's dead and Titan's fate is unknown, so Starfleet has canonically rendered an entire species extinct. VividSpark goes into further detail here.
Krysta currently appears to be a young adult, yet her husband Topaz is described as having graying hair. What exactly is the age difference between them? How old was Krysta when she was separated from her kingdom?
She's implied to be around Lightning's age and was separated from the other fairies around the same time she met Lightning, over 10 years ago. Lightning was at least 7 years old at the time, so Krysta must be near that age. Meanwhile, if Topaz is old enough for gray hair in I, then he would be middle-aged at youngest ten years ago. So if the estimates are correct, then that would mean 10 years before I, Krysta was a child and Topaz old enough to be her father, and they were married at the time. Ewwww.
A weapon that captures opponents was invented in the second season. Just how many "evil" species were driven to extinction by Starfleet beforehand?
Perhaps they did have a rehabilitation center, but since the plot of season 4 was started by rehabilitation gone horribly wrong, it's doubtful that it's there anymore.
Speaking of Mako, his imprisonment gets even worse. The reason Sienna turned evil and became a mass murderess was that she and Mako were abused by staff and inmates alike in an orphanage. Now, considering the description of the prisons above and how evil some other inmates are, this will retraumatize Mako and Sienna and undo their redemption.
In IV, Starfleet's idea of rehabilitation consists of draining the evil out of prisoners. Firstly, they have had a lot of prisoners, given that in the present they have whole planets dedicated to housing them. This would mean that they were Mind Raping thousands, maybe millions, of prisoners in a misguided attempt to reform them. For contrast, in FIM, this is rarely used, and one of the two instances was only a last resort if the conventional method didn't work, and it was stopped short, indicating that it was not the right thing to do. Second, this would mean that if Starfleet has no problem brainwashing large numbers of people, something that only villains have done in this series, then this is theiridea of what reformation looks like, and it's implied that they didn't try other, less invasive methods beforehand. Third, what if some of the prisoners were only guilty of minor crimes, like petty theft or fraud? Or worse, innocent of the crime they were convicted for and still got brainwashed? The possibilities are endless, and every bit as nightmarish as it sounds. Our heroes, everyone.
Starfleet was explicitly told by Grand Ruler to not try to apprehend Raven because she was too powerful. Given that she ends up killing Twilight, who's to say she didn't kill anypony else while she was on the lam?
In fact, following the above, who's to say that, if a super-powerful enemy shows up and starts killing people, Starfleet won't do anything about them because they're supposedly too mighty to face?!
Considering Lightning had to basically oppose Celesto for the first and only time in Season VIII to save Swift Star from getting raped, Starfleet's inaction is even worse than previously thought.
Also, the fourth season has one of the few villains who are supposed to be sympathetic, Emil Kudos, doing things like destroying his own base that has historical value, blaming civilians for his crimes and beating up helpless prisoners, trying to awaken a very destructive being he thinks he can control, and even insulting and using his powers on his captives. This leads to him being comparable to villains like Director Spandam from One Piece, which raises the question about why Starfleet shows more sympathy to him than to Fratello.
Unicornicopians don't have cutie marks to distinguish themselves. Instead, they have numbers. While this is supposed to make them superior to the Equestrians, it manages the opposite, as being distinguished by personality (which defines the marks) implies treating others as people, while numbers bring to mind the Stormtroopers from the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy in this case.
Speaking of the First Order and the Sequel Trilogy, Swift Star is at one point in Season 8 scolded thoroughly by Captain Shaina for disobeying orders to save lives. This could be a conversation of Finn and Captain Phasma. This is not flattering for Shaina. And, in Season X, after Lightning takes Swift as an apprentice, the cadet slowly becomes blindly obedient to Starfleet. The once actually heroic Swift Star was corrupted and he had no idea.
Spike was aged up to make his relationship with Rarity acceptable, but not only does no one give a shit about the age gap to begin with, Spike's personality doen't change at all with his body. One would think that the age-up should come with an more mature mind as well, but noooo... In other words, Spike is still the same as when he was a kid when he hooked up with Rarity, and no one seems to care about the fact that Spike may be too young for Rarity. Heeuuuughh.
En Shi hits on Swift Star, who is 16, thus a minor. To the point of obsession. Whatever her abusive mom did to her, she really made a monster.
In the twenty-second chapter of the sixth installment, "This Little Piggy Went To a Better Place" (which Mykan has stated is a better introduction to the concept of death than "Tanks for the Memories" [1]... Even though the episode was meant act as a metaphor for addressing the grieving process.), it's revealed that Applebloom's pet pig, Norman, can talk. That breaks all sorts of canon in a universe where the only other hoofed mammals that can talk are cattle (and reindeer). But what makes it even WORSE is that, in the Starfleet Universe, the Space Alicorns and Equestrians eat meatballs, steak, chops, bacon, ribs, hamburger and other beef and pork products. In a universe where cattle and pigs can talk. Hey, kids! Today's special word is: Cannibalism! Well, not technically cannibalism, but still, eating sapient beings is something associated with very loathsome characters.
Stammadon is implied to have been conscious during all the millennia he was imprisoned.
Take a look at Starfleet's track record. They got countless planets destroyed because GR threw out the Star Stones willy-nilly for the villains to look for, kept quiet about the Changelings, Raven, Megadox and the Devils instead of warning everyone, let Raven get away and kill Twilight, got Starla kidnapped because the guards are idiots, nearly caused a Bad Future that put everyone in danger, let all of Conva's prisoners escape because the guards are still idiots, put Ainzul and Vistula in grave danger on separate occasions, couldn't protect a single person (Calista), and did many, many, many more acts of mind-numbing, completely preventable stupidity. It makes one wonder: how many people died because of Starfleet's inability to get their act together in time? How many planets did they endanger like Ainzul and Vistula, but didn't save in the end? How many times did shit like this happen and it ultimately ended badly for the civilians caught in the crossfire? There's no way all of these enormous bouts of stupidity ended well for Starfleet and their hapless victims.
On the subject of Ainzul and Vistula, the people wholeheartedly accept Starfleet despite everything that happened. And if their disappearance for most of their respective seasons is of any indication, despite both planets having capable warriors of their own, they never provide much military aid to Starfleet, much less actual armies, and trust Starfleet to clean the mess they made. Let me repeat: They are willing to throw their sovereignty, their culture, and their lives entirely into the hands of a Fascist, but Inefficient empire, who endangered them before and can throw them into grave danger again at any time, for the flimsiest of reasons. Realistically, they will not be so lucky one day, and it's only a matter of time before Starfleet's luck fails them...
And it does. The Blisstonians lose their planet because Starfleet couldn't save it and didn't try much to do so. Basically, while they did save the civilians, Starfleet let their planet get blown up and then, instead of feeling bad about not being able to save the planet, they scold the now homeless Blisstonians for believing in miracles. Despite a miracle being the only reason Starfleet has a planet at all.
Grand Ruler and Lightning have more authority than the judge in a court, telling him in Season X, in Beaker's trial, that he should not stop Swift Star from speaking and that he feels the same way as Swift. The judge seems to fear them. And one of them is the king, while the other is the general.
Fluttershy speaks only in rhyme in Season X. The scary part is that gradually, her personality becomes just like Rhymey's, which is not a sign of a healthy relationship. Especially since he never changes.
Had the IDIOTS succeeded at overthrowing Starfleet, they would have still been in deep trouble, because they would have to reorganize the planet. That could be manageable in peacetime, but they were in the middle of a war with Titan, who wouldn't leave the planet alone just because Starfleet was gone. War and rebuilding from scratch at the same time is a very dire situation, and Swift Star lambshades this.
If Titan was seriously weaker during his exile, why didn't the Grand Ruler just destroy his prison and him with it after getting stronger over the centuries?
Why couldn't Starfleet fly over Violet Swamp to Blacktop Mountain to find the Titan clone (Episode 2), yet when they were challenged by his minions (Episode 16), they suddenly can? This is especially egregious, as Mykan does nothing with the Violet Swamp scene other than a song (which was later removed) and boils it down to "They did some things at Violet Swamp but now here they are at Blacktop Mountain"
In Starfleet Magic, Episode 5, how did Mysterious decide that the Waterworks building was the best place to hide rather than, say, Violet Swamp? At least at Violet Swamp, he wouldn't have had to cut off the power.
In Starfleet Magic, Episode 14, how long did Starfleet have to stay at Brain's building to where, Rep-Stallion could look into the window, see Brain's invisibility spray, get an idea, go back to the other minions and then come back?
In Starfleet Magic, Episode 23, Luna's stealth veil is described as a pure black shadow. How do the Shadowbolt guards not notice a large black shadowy veil? Furthermore, how does it mask sound, to the point where Rhymey can talk and no one can hear him?
In Starfleet Magic, Episode 25, why did Brain build a rocket when interplanetary transportation already exists in a near-instant form? He couldn't have known that they would need it to escape from Discord because most of Starfleet didn't even know Discord existed and Brain had to have started building it well before Unicornicopia was invaded.
In Starfleet Magic, Episode 26, how can Starfleet fuse 2 dead planets, along with their native wildlife and vegetation, back into existence with belief, but cannot bring Twilight Sparkle back from the dead in Starfleet Magic III or erase all evil out of the universe? How does this belief power work?
In Starfleet Magic II, why does Starfleet find it necessary to not tell anyone about the Changelings and just let them assume their friends have suddenly gone crazy?
A huge piece of Fridge Logic concerning Starfleet's very name and concept. In this blog explaining the differences between the Space Ponies and Equestrians, it's revealed that Starfleet, despite being a space-faring organization, lacks any sort of interstellar travel. Why, then, are they called Starfleet?!
Probably because Mykan thought it sounded cool. Knowing him, that's pretty much the most logical explanation.
They actually do have interstellar travel in the form of a portal network (think Stargate SG-1). Why they went with the name Starfleet despite not having anything resembling one (or how they set up the portals in the first place)... that's another story.
How old is Human Grand Ruler exactly? The story states he was one of the last men to walk on the moon. Since the last moon landing was in 1971 and based on the fact cell phones are present in the first Starfleet Humans means it has to take place around the mid-2000s/early 2010s. Since there is nothing in the fic to suggest history is different in this universe it means Grand Ruler would have to be at least fifty to seventy years old!. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be that big a deal except the story also states that he and Celestia knew each other when they were kids and it implies Celestia is in at least her mid-thirties in the Equestria Girls universe...well, you got something to add to the fridge horror section.
So either Celestia (and probably Luna) aged really well, or Grandruler's adoption of the human-verse's Starfleet characters just became way squickier. (Granted, that second one is probably the result of thinking too hard, but considering the lack of details on Celestia and Grandruler's relationship...)
Furthermore, why doesn't anyone else notice, least of all, Castor and Leilani, once they find out about his origins? They all had time to realize the problem with the DK's plan, the protags had a scientist with them, and they could've used it to their advantage. Superior species, my ass.
For that matter, are the dragons of Mandala the same type as the Equestrian ones? They're from another planet, but space-faring races aren't unheard of. However, from what we see of the Equestrian dragons, it's unlikely that they would have the technology or power to move to another planet.
How can Queen Mowaza, a lioness, have Balia, a tigress, as a daughter? Nothing else indicates that Balia is adopted, and Ainzul's real-life equivalent, Imperial China, used agnatic primogeniture, meaning that kinship and succession to the throne relies on how closely related one is to the nearest common ancestor. Since Balia is the next in line to the throne (which also meant that Mowaza has no living siblings), that should mean she's Mowaza's biological daughter.
Why are there so many Palette Swaps? Starla and Rarity, Data Stream and Twilight, Krysta and human!Fluttershy, Cerise and Cadance, Penny and the vet from "Secret of My Excess", Cookie Dough/Abra and Shining Armor, human!Lightning/human!Buddy/human!Rhymey and human!Flash, Celesto/En Shi and Celestia, Inquirius and Mayor Mare, etc. And in several of the cases they're not even the same species!
In "The Greatest Strength", it's revealed that in order to access the Pure Inner Strength, one needs to be in battle, and be surrounded by many pure-hearted beings. Which brings up the question: why wasn't this discovered before? Swift, Starla, and Applejack have all demonstrated that you don't need to use it voluntarily, and that you don't need to be surrounded by a group larger than Starfleet's. So why is it that they can only use it now, after 8 seasons of battling alongside so-called "pure-hearted" individuals?note Not counting Deus ex Machina.
Even worse, why isn't it used again in the next seasons, where they know how it works? It would do wonders against demons and a being like Titan!
And while Swift, Starla and Applejack can be believable through stretching the way the Pure Inner Strength works, Lightning has no excuse for using it in a duel in enemy territory, which is when he isn't surrounded by pure beings.
Swift Star was 16 when he joined his first battle and was training for such from an even younger age. Spike was even younger than that in his own first battle. For comparison, in international law, the minimum age required to legally join a military is 18, and for many today, even that is still debated as it raises concerns over predatory recruitment, yet here, Starfleet is clearly sending minors to war in the open and no one bats an eye at it.Our heroes, everyone.
What are the Shis' real names? It's not clear if the names or even the first half of the names we're given are the names they started with, and we never hear their backstories more than once.
Dearka's parents died seventeen years ago. However, he was banished just ten years ago, and his parents supposedly died between his banishment and his first return to Vistula. Von Devilor couldn't have been behind it, as the Vistulans themselves confirm that they died seventeen years ago, so why did Starfleet say that his parents died between his banishment and Dearka's first return?
The answer comes from Agapi using Cadance as a decoy of herself to fool von Devilor. Who can still give the energy she gives. In short, the embodiment of good just sacrificed someone to save herself.
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