Trivia / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S7 E25 "Shadow Play – Part 1"

• Ascended Fanon: The Magical Lore of Equestria includes the usage of runes for complex and powerful spells.
• Development Gag: In Lauren Faust's original pitch for the show, the characters who would eventually become Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were updated versions of the G1 ponies Surprise and Posey, a pegasus and an earth pony respectively. While the Pillar counterparts of the other members of the Mane Six match their (original) pony types, Pinkie Pie's and Fluttershy's counterparts among the Pillars are Somnambula and Mage Meadowbrook... a pegasus and an earth pony, respectively.
• Short Run in Peru: The episode aired in Canada on Saturday, October 21, a week before its actual airing.
• Spoiled by the Merchandise: While the previous issues of IDW's Legends of Magic series have generally been stories about the Pillars of Magic that otherwise do not have direct events with the show, #7, announced back in July, gave article that made it clear the Sirens were involved with the Pillars. Issue #7, which starts a story arc that centers on the flashback events from Stygian's point of view, was released a week and a half before the finale aired in the US.
• What Could Have Been: According to Jim Miller on mid-March 2019, before the School of Friendship was a thing, early pitches of Season 7 had it solely foreshadow the Pillars while Season 8 would follow up with a Story Arc dedicated to bringing them back with their artifacts. But Hasbro wanted to wrap up the series in 2019 with 9 seasons, so the entire idea got compressed into the Season 7 finale instead.

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