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Fridge Brilliance
- Filthy Rich in Equestria was a lot more humble and approachable compared to his human counterpart. In the EQG world, it's not unlike ours where capital is far more the king for better or worse and tends to bring out the worst in us. As such, it was more likely for him to be more of a cruel business man in a world like our's compared to a world of talking ponies and mythic creatures.
- Twilight seems to be dealing with what she did as Midnight Sparkle by considering Midnight to be a different entity from her. Proof of this can be seen by Midnight saying she wants to have all the magic instead of her real goal to understand magic at any cost. Twilight also wanted to understand magic back during the Friendship Games but is subconsciously changing Midnight Sparkle's goals to be different from hers in order to differentiate herself from Midnight Sparkle and absolving any guilt she might have from almost destroying her universe.
- It's possible to realize that Twilight is dreaming before Midnight Sparkle appears. How? Well, it's just very unlike Twilight to oversleep and be late for something. The placement of the alarm clock is also suspicious. If it was going off underneath Twilight's pillow, why didn't it wake her? And what was it doing under her pillow in the first place? Adding to this, Spike is very oddly silent during the whole thing (or, well, before Midnight appears, anyway) — only panting like a normal dog.
- Twilight's similarities to Princess Luna. Both are associated with the night, spent time as an insane and powerful being, and both were plagued with nightmares of transforming back into their evil selves despite everyone close to them having already forgiven them of their past crimes.
- Twilight seemed to defeat Gloriosa Daisy quite easily after she ponied up. While it might feel rushed, remember that the geodes Gloriosa was getting her powers from seem to be related to the Elements of Harmony, magical artifacts that choose their bearers. Gloriosa was just borrowing their powers and when the real bearers of the geodes appeared, she would have to give them up to their rightful owners.
- Pinkie Pie's power isn't to make things she throws explode, it's the power to make sugar explode! Which explains why she blew up the dock at the end: she probably didn't realize her power worked on anything sweet, since until now she only used it on sprinkles. Sure, it was a dumb move from her to mix marshmallows with her confetti, but she didn't know at the time those could explode too.
- Sunset trying to see if she has telekinesis powers like Twilight makes sense when you remember that Sunset used to be a unicorn. Telekinesis basically replaces the dexterity of hands in Equestria so Sunset probably hoped that one aspect of her life in Equestria was back, only to find out that telekinesis was Twilight's unique power.
- Why did Twilight have the problem of turning back into her evil self while Sunset didn't? It might be because Twilight is a human who was transformed into an evil being, which was what gave her magic in the first place. Sunset always had magic in her, being a unicorn, but Twilight wasn't born with magic. She had to learn to embrace her magic and defeat the evil within her.
- All attempts to get through Gaea Everfree's cage of vines fail because the vines grow too fast and close off any exit in seconds. The Humane Seven, minus Sunset and Twilight, only have abilities to destroy the vines but the key to getting past them is Twilight's telekinesis. With her telekinesis, Twilight can force the vines apart without destroying them and keep the exit open as long as needed.
- Also of note: even though Applejack's super strength seems like it would have been a good enough substitute until the cavalry arrived, the openings she could make would be — compared to those made with telekinesis — much smaller, causing problems with evacuation (not to mention leaving her vulnerable to being pulled or pushed by other vines). And while we don't know how much endurance she has, Applejack likely can't keep them open as long.
- The Humane Seven and the rest of the campers intended for the new dock to their camp gift but it kept getting destroyed. The campers, however, gave the camp a much better camp gift than a new dock by successfully ensuring the camp's survival for future campers to enjoy.
- At first, telepathy seems like a random choice for Sunset's power, especially considering her fire-themed appearance and hotheaded personality. However, it makes more sense when one remembers that Sunset used mind-based magic to brainwash the students in the first movie, so she probably has some natural affinity for it. It also fits thematically with Sunset's journey towards being a more empathetic person.
- The connection between the geodes and the elements of harmony makes sense considering that the elements came from the Tree of Harmony, which is located in a cave in the Everfree Forest. Similarly, Gloriosa finds the geodes in a cave located near Camp Everfree, suggesting it is the human world counterpart to the cave where the elements of harmony were found. The pedestal the geodes rest on even resembles a severed trunk, implying that the tree of harmony is stunted and weaker in the human world compared to Equestria.
- A small one: you can see Sunset accidentally knocking the sunscreen tube out of her bag during her conversation with Twilight quite some time before she notices it's missing.
- More like Fridge Heartwarming, actually. Spike comes along for the trip openly, which means that Twilight must have been allowed to take him. Why would she get this privilege if even Fluttershy left her pets at home? Well, for one, Twilight is still recovering from her quite painful experiences at the Friendship Games. It's actually possible that Celestia and/or Luna figured out that having her trusty dog friend there would only benefit the poor girl; especially if Cadance explained their bond. That, and Spike's newfound Talking Animal status might have helped.
- It makes sense that Sunset was far less afraid than the others of their new powers. Not only was she raised in a society where magic was an everyday thing, but her new power is by far the least overtly dangerous of the group.
- Sunset's playing with the flashlight becomes fridge heartwarming when you remember she once literally turned into a monster: she's come to terms with her own past trauma to the point that she can casually joke about it.
- When the Mane Seven sans Sci-Twi and Sunset are fighting Gaia Everfree, they're easily overpowered, because Gaia has the power of seven elements versus their five.
- Sunset displays her power when she bumps into Gloriosa after leaving the tent, but not when she puts her arm around Flash. If you watch that scene, Sunset never makes contact with his skin and she usually sees someone's thoughts by touching their arms.
- This likely isn't the first time Celestia and Luna brought their students to Camp Everfree. Notice the sun and moon on the totem. They look extremely similar to Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's cutie marks.
Fridge Horror
- It's more of a Fridge Tearjerker, but still; Flash Sentry and Princess Twilight's relationship cannot have a happy ending. Princess Twilight can't be with Flash because Equestria needs the Princess of Friendship and might never come back because of her human counterpart's appearance. Flash possibly cannot go to Equestria without completely abandoning his life in the human world and he knows nothing about how to live in Equestria. He obviously thought he might have a chance with the Twilight of his world but sadly, she shows no interest for him and will possibly fall for another man. No matter what, their relationship can never happen as there are just too many obstacles — with Princess Twilight, they're starcrossed lovers; with Human Twilight, his feelings go unrequited.
- The good news is that Sunset's little intervention seems to have helped Flash start to shake off his Twilight fixation a bit.
- Some more Fridge Tearjerker concerning Flash Sentry and his implied intent to get back together with Sunset. Like Princess Twilight, Sunset is a native of Equestria. Even if he succeeds in getting back together with Sunset, his heart will only get broken once again if circumstances force Sunset to go back to Equestria. Flash's love life is looking pretty bleak right now...
- Twilight defeated Midnight Sparkle and overcame her guilt! Great! Except the ending shows that her actions as Midnight Sparkle had far bigger consequences than she thought...
- Directly related to this, we've seen that magic is terribly dangerous: it turned an Alpha Bitch who didn't dare to hurt a puppy into a powerful demon that tries to burn 6 innocents to death; it gave three Sirens from another world enough power to spread an intense Hate Plague and allowed a Near-Villain Victory; it turns an innocent Shrinking Violet Bookworm into what is probably the franchise's single most destructive adversary; and now? It turned a well-meaning, workaholic young woman who had genuinely good intentions at heart into a seriously insane and powerful plant-based Humanoid Abomination — and before that, it made her suffer from a severe Sanity Slippage as the movie progresses. And in the first three cases, the magic was all from The Element of Magic when it was separated from the other Elements of Harmony. Magic-Friendship=tremendous potential for harm without impulse control or inhibitions.
- And further tying into this: how do we know the rest of the Humane 7 won't turn into monsters too? There seems to be a recurring pattern that anger, hatred, or other such strong negative feelings feed into magic going horribly wrong (Gloriosa's desperation, fear and anger at her camp's situation; Twilight being manipulated by her classmates and Principal — after spending the rest of the third film having a really bad time courtesy of those same people — into opening the amulet; Sunset Shimmer's obvious Green-Eyed Monster tendencies towards Princess Twilight and generally cruel, ill-tempered behavior at the time), and the rest of the girls are only human, after all.
- As we see that the magic is still bleeding into the world, it implies that whatever damage Midnight Sparkle did wasn't completely undone by Daydream Shimmer. It also means that Equestria, with all of the good and the bad, is slowly infecting this world (and Twilight wasn't entirely wrong).
- Depending on if the Reflections arc of the comic are canon, it could be even worse. If two worlds with a portal connecting them remain connected for long periods of time, the two worlds will start to sync up, to the point that what happens to someone on one side directly affects their counterpart on the other side. If this is canon to Equestria Girls, then we could start to see some of those effects.
- While building a new dock was incredibly thoughtful and heartwarming for the campers to do, the fact that Filthy Rich wanted to build a spa would mean that he might tear it down along with past camp gifts, which would certainly affect Gloriosa even more as she knows what's going to happen at the end of the month.
- Pinkie Pie could've unintentionally injured or even killed Fluttershy when her power manifested itself.
- In a similar note, Gaea Everfree is driven to such insanity that she apparently fails to notice, not only how terrified everyone is of her, but also that she comes dangerously close to actually hurting people by accident. She could've had any of the kids killed; and even before that, Gloriosa's reckless use of magic could also have led to an accident — the boat crashing against the dock in particular.
- The portal to the Human World is currently in Princess Twilight's castle. What if all the magic casted at the castle is somehow leaking into the human world? Like Discord changing reality into a game or Starlight's magic training and especially her mass brainwashing spell? What if they're unintentionally causing problems for their human counterparts?
- Even worse - what if magic just leaked out in the previous movie when Midnight Sparkle started destroying the barriers? That means human!Twilight is responsible for continuous problems in their world. And even if she isn't, what's stopping her from assuming she is and feeling worse?
- Twilight had the very real threat of turning back into Midnight Sparkle so what's stopping Gloriosa from transforming back into Gaea Everfree? The magic in the geodes, which are implied to be connected to the Elements of Harmony, could have given Gloriosa magic in the same manner Twilight gained her magic. All it would take is another bad day for Gloriosa to transform back into Gaea Everfree. After all, the Element of Magic was returned to Equestria but the Humane Five retained the power it gave them.
- If Spike hadn't been there when Gloriosa trapped Sunset and Twilight in the Crystal Cave, who knows how long it would have been before anyone found them, or even realized they were missing? Likely never, or just too late: Twilight was instrumental in defeating Gloriosa, which means that anyone who could've helped find them would be trapped in the vine dome — all attempts to get out failed miserably. Similarly, how long before someone would notice not only the state of the woods, but also that a whole class and the principals of CHS have gone missing? And how the insane Gloriosa would react at the inevitable arrival of the authorities?
- Gloriosa didn't seem like she intended to go back for them. She left them tied up in a closed-off cave with no food or water. In other words, whether intentionally or unintentionally, she essentially left them to die of starvation or dehydration.
- The movie gives one retroactively to the series. Namely, as Gaea Everfree started to grow her vines, the forest started looking more and more like the actual Everfree Forest from Equestria. The fact that the geodes that powers this came from what looks like their version of the Tree of Harmony implies that maybe Equestria's Everfree forest was formed in a similar way; by somepony abusing the original Elements of Harmony and causing the forest to run rampant. Only that in Equestria's case just how bad it got may indicate that no one was there to stop him/her.
- The series eventually establishes that the Everfree Forest was wild long before the Elements of Harmony were created. Thouhg with an active leak of magic from Equestria there's nothing stopping the human world's forest from going just as wild over time.
- Gloriosa mentions people who were friends of her parents. What happened to them to be referred to in past tense? Remember Gloriosa's running the family business despite not seeming that much older than the late-teenage students.
- While we aren't given the specifics of why or how Gloriosa ended in debt with Filthy Rich (it can be assumed that it was mismanagement of the camp, what with the implicit Parental Abandonment and apparent youth of both Gloriosa and Timber, and also that they're the only two people there), it's perfectly possible for Camp Everfree to end in debt and be in risk of being destroyed again. Coupled with the Fridge Horror above (the one detailing that seeing how Twilight could've turned into Midnight, Gloriosa could turn back into Gaea too)... Although Gloriosa likely learned a lesson to avert Poor Communication Kills and can ask for financial help again, she can't keep doing that forever, and what if the next fundraiser is unsuccessful or something? Point is, they either find a reliable way to avoid falling into debt again (such as better management), or... well...note
- More of a Fridge Tearjerker, but: Nobody holds Twilight's actions as Midnight Sparkle against her, which is really sweet... If you're Twilight. If you're Sunset, it's also a reminder of when she'd been in a similar position, but neither received nor felt she deserved the forgiveness Twilight was shown.
- When the crisis is over, Gloriosa is seen lying on the ground completely still, until one of the green sparks touches her face
. She might as well have been dead up to that point. - With magic leaking out of the portal, it's only a matter of time before it lands in the hands of a villain. The Dazzlings already proved how dangerous magic can be in the hands of a villain who knows how to use it and we don't know if the Dazzlings are the only evil Equestrians stuck on Earth. There could be several monsters from Equestria that were rendered powerless as humans or other animals and would jump at the chance to regain their powers. Magic falling into the hands of an antagonist's human counterpart is no less terrifying. So far, we've only seen magic corrupt three young women and none of them could be considered truly evil. Now imagine that kind of corrupting power falling into the hands of the human counterpart's of King Sombra, Tirek or Discord's counterpart? Even Trixie would be a cause for concern.
- The geodes were created by stray magic that shot out of the portal; from what can be seen from the opening credits, Camp Everfree and its surroundings are quite far away from CHS. The girls were only there, at the right moment and place, to stop Gloriosa by chance. Had their trip been earlier, or if they had missed it for whatever reason, they wouldn't be there to stop Gloriosa from abusing magic and turning into Gaea. Adding to the horror is that, if it can travel that far to a camp in the middle of the woods, what stops magic from shooting out towards, say, the city? Or somewhere even farther away? Heck, how do we know it hasn't already happened and somebody out there has their own set of magic geodes or something? Even if they aren't actively malicious, it practically takes just one bad day before people go One-Winged Angel thanks to Equestrian magic. And one can't help but wonder what would happen if somebody got directly hit by the magic coming from the portal.
- The magic didn't follow them in this case as Gloriosa already had her magic. However, if the magic did follow them (somehow), it's even worse, as anywhere the girls go there's risk of magic crash-landing there. Including their homes. Their school. The Sweet Shoppe (which is in the city). Anywhere they go. And they're not aware of it.
- As someone helpfully pointed out on Derpibooru, among the campers, there were 24 students, 2 teachers (okay, principals), and 1 dog. During Gaea Everfree's rampage, only four of the students are shown to have reached the cabin in which the teachers offer them shelter, before the group gets sealed off by Gaea's vines. Now imagine how Celestia and Luna must have felt about not being able to help the remaining 20 kids (and the dog).
- Twilight Sparkle in this universe is likely a teenager, seeing as she is in high school. Timber Spruce is old enough to run a camp with his sister. They are love interests. Does this mean he's an Ephebophile?
- The novelization and Word of God have established that he's also a teenager, and he's drawn just like any other of the teenage boys with nothing stating or implying him to be any older than anybody else (let alone an adult). It's not unfeasible for a teenager to be helping his older sister run the family business. There is still the mild issue of him being ostensibly an authority figure, but he never does anything that could be interpreted as abusing his authority, either.
- As somebody else noted on the Nightmare Fuel page, Timber easily could have suffocated after Gloriosa entombed him in those vines, which would not only have been a horrid way to go, but think of how GLORIOSA would have felt if she actually did kill Timber during that attack. Heck, the fact she almost did harm her little brother probably ain't gonna be leaving her anytime soon.
- Twilight's fears of turning into Midnight Sparkle seem to have at least some degree of truth to them in spite of being generally brushed off as her being paranoid (and traumatized by the transformation in the last film), as by this film's climax there are subtle hints that there is something very wrong with her: when she lifts the boulder trapping her and Sunset at the crystal cave and when she opens Gaea's vine dome her forehead has a glowing teal spot right where Midnight Sparkle's horn would be, and a rather unpleasant sort of Freeze-Frame Bonus shows her eyes glowing like Midnight's. And while her partial transformation into Midnight Sparkle happens in her mindscape, a few seconds before we cut to inside Twilight's mind we can see a sharp horn slowly growing out of her skull (and the glasses turn into the mask). This is begging to get (unpleasantly) revisited in the future.
- The novelization even says that she did turn into Midnight Sparkle for a moment, though was able to fight her off.
