My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/WMG/Mane Characters

Guesses about the Mane Cast (minus Pinkie Pie, but don't worry).

"Pinkie Pie Guesses go here"

If you have a guess about something else, then

"Meta Guesses go here

Setting Guesses go here

Secondary Character Guesses go here

Royalty Guesses go here

Minor Character Guesses go here

Future Stories go here

Jossed Guesses go here

Confirmed Guesses go here"

"and you can still go back to the Main WMG Page, here"

Twilight is a Messiah, in fulfillment of an as-yet-unrevealed prophecy, which is why Celestia took her on as her personal protege.
When Twilight was out of control during her entrance exam, Celestia saw that magic of immense power was underway. She entered the room and saw Twilight, and was the first to spot Twilight's cutie mark -- a cutie mark that represents the Elements of Harmony (five smaller stars surrounding a sixth). Basically, Twilight's "special talent" isn't magic, per se, but rather wielding the Element of Magic. The cutie mark signifies that Twilight is Equestria's Chosen One, and Celestia identified Twilight as such, immediately taking Twilight under her wing to prepare the young filly to lead a new group to wield the Elements against Nightmare Moon and any other super-powerful villains who may appear.

The Series final will focus on Celestia turning Twilight Sparkle into an Alicorn.
Celestia is going to turn Twilight into an alicorn so she can serve as a part of the godhead who governs the time between night and day. The problem is that after the transformation Twilight would no longer be able to be with her friends anymore. Celestia will serve as the main antagonist of this Wham episode. In the end Twilight manages to convinve Celestia to turn her back, at least for now.

At some point in the series, Twilight will become an Alicorn.
But she'll still be the same size as she was before, and nothing much will really change in the show once it happens. Maybe Celestia will change Twilight into one if she decides she wants someone to take her place after sometime, or maybe she'll become one on her own because of how strong her power is. Call it far fetched, but it's just one of those things that someone can see happening in there favorite series.

Twilight Sparkle is an intern for some sort of government agency.
She receives direct correspondence with higher government, is well studied in a variety of magic, to the point of being an elite "mage." She is sent on direct assignment, and she is ordered to make strong connections out in a backwater country town. If a government agent ever needed to lay low, a town like that would be a haven. She somehow has knowledge of magic that can temporarily alter and change a cutie mark, which is a highly personal marking that could be used to positively identify individuals. Knowledge of such magic would not be so odd if it weren't for the strong personal connections to a cutie mark; nopony would EVER want to change their cutie mark unless they had a direct need to. she has an almost adept skill in teleportation, which no other unicorn has been observed doing, and she is likely highly educated, having taken the equivalent to some level of college education at a prestigious university. She has the credentials, the skills, the connections, and the orders.
 * She's not skilled enough; she's still learning her magic, and it takes her a lot of effort to pull feats such as quieting down the Ursa  and changing a cutie mark. But perhaps when she grows older, stronger and more skilled, she could qualify.
 * From her cutie mark story, Celestia runs a magic school. After Twilight demonstrated that she was really powerful & it would be dangerous if her powers went out of control, Celestia took her in as her personal student.
 * Also note that as Celestia's protegé, she seems to have been given some authority of her own, was personally requested to take care of the dragon in "Dragonshy" (which this troper thinks would normally require a military intevention or...a specialized agent, also see the mayor's WMG right below), and in "A Bird in the Hoof" she seems to have enough authority to give the royal guards an order (told the guards Fluttershy was an authorized subject in the party) and being given status reports (Philemena's disapearance and once again, the dragon in "Dragonshy")
 * If by "government agency," you mean the ruling monarch, then this not only canon, but very obviously so.

Twilight has a very mild form of Asperger Syndrome.
Not the usual stereotype that is usually portrayed, but she did seem a tad "off" in certain episodes. She has a wealth of knowledge, especially on magic, but at the same time she seems socially naive. In "Look Where You Sleep", she needed a reference guide on how to throw her very first slumber party, and "Boast Busters", she had some trouble predicting other ponies' reactions (She assumed that they would hate her for using magic to show-up Trixie). Perhaps the main reason why she didn't have friends aside from Spike before moving to Ponyville was that she simply didn't "get" other ponies. Keep in mind, she's still fairly confident in what she does and acts fairly normal otherwise, but how much could it be behavior learned through books and lessons rather then actual pony-to-pony interaction?
 * As someone with Aspergers, I can vouch for this one, as that's a pretty good description of what it's like to have it.
 * Of course everyone is a little atypical, but she does have a very polite, somewhat authoritative and very businesslike way of speaking, even with her friends. Addressing everyone like you're at a business meeting is certainly a somewhat autistic trait. I doubt anyone would ever bother to diagnose her as such though, some of the others have issues that cause them far more distress (though you never know, she might have been far worse as a child and had some really good child development Pony help her get over most of her issues).
 * Considering that she has a goddess as a personal teacher, It wouldn't be surprising if Princess Celestia had a degree in foal psychology in addition to raising the sun and moon.
 * I found after skimming Typelogic that most of the quirks listed in this WMG show up as natural behaviors characteristic of the INTJ personality type.
 * Twilight seems to be more in line with a mild case of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive
 * Some amount of obsessive compulsiveness is actually common in Asperger Syndrome though. Considering that one of the main difference between OCPD and AS is that OCPD doesn't have as much impaired social skills and Twilight definitely has some social impairments, I see no reason why OCPD is more likely.
 * Well, the show's all but said it outright as of this writing, at least to anyone who has or knows anything about Asperger's Syndrome. It's not likely to EVER be addressed in-show, unfortunately, because...
 * 1: Asperger's isn't something you can explain to a six-year-old child in a 22-minute cartoon.
 * 2: Many of the adults watching don't understand the disorder enough to explain it themselves.
 * 3: No one has a problem with Twilight being an aspie. It's half the reason we love her!
 * It's not impossible to explain Asperger Syndrome in a children's program. There was an episode of Arthur that covered the subject. But My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic isn't really the correct show to do that.
 * Fluttershy has more towards having Asperger's than just being shy and having a freaky knowledge of sewing. In some of the episodes she definitely has more going on with her than shyness, and considering that its is known that she is older than at least Pinky Pie it seems unlikely that this has do to immaturity. Regarding social empathy, she seems to show this more with animals (including spike) than with other ponies, so I don't think this is a full counter-argument. She is also shown being physically weak for a pegasus, which is often associated with Aspergers, and sometimes her actions seem odd in a non-shy way and sometimes even inconsiderate, even though she is shown to be the most benevolent pony. In some episodes she seems more autistic instead of just being shy than in others, but this may depend on the script writer. Even if she isn't autistic, she defiantly has some complex pyscological problems. Depending on how you interpret Hubworld's description of her it may imply that she is more than just shy. Also I think this is interesting, it seems that "neurotypical" people seem more likely to pick out Twilight Sparkle as the ones with Aspergers (assuming that exactly one of the ponies has the disorder) while people with Asperger's seem more likely to pick out Fluttershy, from what I have seen across the Internets.
 * Expanding on the above, I think it's possible that both Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy both have a case here. Just from the latest episodes alone, TS makes a strong case for herself in "Lesson Zero", and both get a moment or two in "Luna Eclipsed". Twilight Sparkle just is easier to identify (and this is from somebody who has Aspergers), while Fluttershy seems to have something more similar to Avoidant Personality Disorder.
 * As someone with APD I can second that Fluttershy shows many of the symptoms and personality quirks.
 * Being a troper with Aspergers myself, I think that this is possibly correct. While I'm not saying Twilight doesn't show any signs of it, she seems to show more signs of simply being a reclusive nerd than anything, thus having almost No Social Skills, which can happen to anyone. To be frank, if anyone in this show has Aspergers, it'd probably be Fluttershy. Hence why I added that as a WMG below, in her section.
 * Actually, I would think she has Nonverbal Learning Disorder (NLD) rather than Aspergers. Growing up in a household where my dad and brother were diagnosed with it, it seems more plausible. As the troper above says, she's more of a reclusive nerd than anything else, which fits more with NLD than Aspergers. People with NLD are very vocal with their knowledge, which isn't necessarily subject specific. They also are likely to become agoraphobic and appear more "difficult" than anything else.

Twilight Sparkle likes Applejack and Fluttershy more than she likes Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, or Rarity.
In the episode "The Ticket Master", Twilight thinks aloud to Spike about what to do with her tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. During the monologue, we see images over her head representing what she's contemplating, and she is concerned that if she gives away both of her tickets instead of keeping one for herself, she would still have three disappointed friends.

The three ponies that she imagines pouting or crying when they get the bad news are (from left to right) Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. That means her first thought is to give the tickets to Applejack and Fluttershy, suggesting she likes them better than the others.

I would call this a visual Freudian Slip, and that Twilight Sparkle is unaware of this, herself (and Spike, who didn't see what the audience saw, doesn't realize it either).
 * This was only the third episode, and it's really a nice bit of realism. Applejack and Twilight did the most amount of bonding in the pilot, and Twilight is obviously impressed by Fluttershy's easy defeat of the manticore as she references it in Dragonshy. She might have identified with their motives a little more as well, scholarly interest and improving their business. (As opposed to showing off, showing off, and giving themselves diabetes.)
 * I'd say it has more to do with them being birds of a feather than anything they've done. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Applejack all have introverted personality types, and they all prefer things to be straightforward and logical.
 * Applejack's reason--replacing Granny Smith's hip--is pretty close to being objectively the best reason, and she did have first dibs on her side. This explains Twilight's line when she becomes upset at Applejack's pie-bribery attempt later: "In fact, I'm less sure now than I was this morning!"
 * Fluttershy also gave Twilight a bit of a reason to take her. Fluttershy is timid, shy, and easily hurt by others. Of all her friends, Fluttershy is the one she'd be most afraid to hurt because she'd be the most likely to take it badly. So it's likely Applejack was her first pick because her reason was her family and Fluttershy because she really didn't want to hurt her.
 * Spike may know all about it! In "Lesson Zero" he constantly interrupts Twilight's imagine spots by physically interacting with them to push them off stage. He might have seen the whole series of images over her head and said nothing.
 * Reiterated in "Hearth's Warming Eve". While the Mane cast are playing their roles as historical figures in Equestria history, their personalities are clearly cutting through, and Twi, AJ, and Fluttershy clearly get along as well, being the blue oni to the reds of the other three.
 * The group literally represents Power Trio of Beauty Brains and Brawn to a tee, which is why the three work so well together. The other three can be matched in the same way (Pinkie, Rarity, and Rainbow, respectively) but have their own traits that skew these far enough to be effective.

Twilight Sparkle controlled the stars that aided in Nightmare Moon's escape.
If we assume that Twilight is being trained to become a goddess herself, she may unconsciously be controlling those particular stars with her worries. Nightmare Moon would have never been freed had Twilight not worried so much and done what Celestia told her.

Twilight learned how to teleport from Nightmare Moon.
The first time we see her teleport, she states that she didn't know she was doing it. A Dog and Pony Show implies that she can copy any spell she sees. In part 2 of the pilot, Twilight jumps into Nightmare Moon's whirlwind just before it teleports away in a similar manner as how Twilight teleports later. It's also possible she didn't realize she could copy spells yet, which explains why she was surprised she could teleport.
 * The first time we see her teleport is when she fakes out Nightmare Moon (in a moment of understated brilliance). So no.
 * She said she doesn't know how she does it, not that she didn't know she could. This suggests that teleportation is the one spell Twilight can perform instinctively, much as Rarity can instinctively cast the gem-finding spell while Twilight had to learn it.
 * The full conversation says nothing about her not knowing how, if or why she can use it, it was simply Spike asking her to warn him before teleporting next time, and Twi saying she didn't realize she was going to do it. Going to not could or how, 'going to'. She simply used a spell she knew she had, knew how to work, and knew what it did, without planning on it while in a fit of panic.
 * perhaps it was more of a latent ability, inherited by one of her parents(personally, this troper thinks by her mom, go see the WMG about her mom)
 * It could be that she looks at magic the same way a developer looks at software - they know all the basic parts and how to use them, but may not have any idea how to arrange it without seeing how it would work first.

Twilight Sparkle and Trixie are related.
In "Cutie Mark Chronicles", we see Twilight's parents. Note the physical similarities between Twilight's dad and Trixie, specifically their coat colors and cutie marks. Perhaps Twilight and Trixie are siblings?
 * Or perhaps Trixie is Twilight's aunt and Older Than She Looks. (Obviously, Twilight's dad doesn't like talking about her because of the whole using-magic-to-trick-people thing.)
 * Twilight's parents go through a very harsh divorce, and in a very convoluted and spiteful custody battle, Celestia steps in and rules neither parent should have Twilight after how they acted, taking Twilight in as her own. Later, Twilight's dad remarries and has Trixie. They are half-siblings.
 * Trixie looks older than Twilight, maybe it was the other way around and Trixie's mom was their dad's first wife. And Trixie was raised solely by her mother which explains a few things.
 * If Twilight and Trixie are related, they're probably cousins. It's the easiest possibility and most probable out of what's been mentioned on the merit that it doesn't have any unpleasantness. This is a kid's show, after all.
 * Calling it now: cousins on Twilight's father's side. However, as they didn't seem to know each other beforehand, they may not be first cousins. (That, or Nightlight and his sibling simply aren't on the best of terms.)
 * Okay, one more time: Trixie's cutie mark does NOT involve a crescent moon in any way. It's a magic wand trailing sparkles. There is no reason to believe they have any relation whatsoever.
 * Neither does Twilight's. Hers is a big red 6-point star with sparkles all over it. You must be thinking of Luna.
 * No, he was referring to Twilight's dad, whose cutie mark is a pair of crescent moons.
 * Where does the relationship between a parent's and a child's cutie mark come in??? Firstly, what evidence is there before S2E5, and then in S2E5, Rarity's dad has hoofballs for his cutie mark, and her mom has the Eiffel tower.

Twilight Sparkle's Progeny will be extremely important for Ponykind in the future.
During the second part of the pilot, Nightmare Moon, at the cusp of victory said "You will never see your Princess, or your Sun again!" Obviously she meant the bright shiny thingy in the daytime... Or was she? What if that "U" was in fact an "O"? Being something akin to a Physical God in the first place, Nightmare Moon, and of course Celestia, could concievably be able to look into potential futures, if not at will, then at least for the big things.
 * Well Spike is already practically her son.
 * And a dragon, making him potentially very powerful once he's grown up a bit.
 * Each of the Mane cast will have a foal (With Rainbow Dash having a son to incorporate the male demographic) and they will inherit their mother's element of Harmony to defeat a great evil.

Twilight's teleportation has latent time travel effects.
In The Ticket Master, when Twilight is chased by the mob of earnest ponies, it is roughly mid to late afternoon. When she teleports spontaneously, she arrives in her library at night time. Granted she had no direct control over that teleport, so this could mean two things:
 * Her teleportation can also, with focus she is currently incapable of, be used as a form of time travel separately from distance.
 * The longer distance a teleport is, the more effort it takes and the more time passes between the teleport.
 * Hey, maybe this is why she hasn't used her teleportation ability at all since episode four?
 * When Pinkie Pie sang about cupcakes, she must have teleported such a short distance that she went back in time and overlapped herself, because that makes sense, right?
 * Since when does Pinkie Pie have to make sense?
 * So it's like the TARDIS in "The Eleventh Hour," where what was supposed to be a quick trip 5-minute trip to the moon and back ended up taking 10 years?

Twilight Sparkle is able to turn Unicorns into gods.
The only shown characters thus far having a horn as well as wings are Princess Celestia and Luna. In "Sonic Rainboom" Twilight uses her magic to give Rarity wings and turns her into a god for 3 days. She just doesn't use her abilities because she's to busy showing off.
 * Doubt it, those seemed more like Daedalus style fake wings. Though Rarity certainly may have thought she was a god.
 * Given that Twilight only had the energy to do it once, and created incredible fragile (if beautiful) wings, it's possible that as she grows older and gets better at magic, she'll be able to master the spell and give proper wings to ponies.
 * Also, it's pretty clear that Celestia and Luna have wings because they are goddesses; they are not goddesses because they have wings.
 * The Alicorns don't just have wings; they have all the powers of a pegasi (enhanced speed, cloudwalking, flight, weather control). The wings just represent that they are pegasi. Rarity didn't have the other powers, just flight.

Twilight Sparkle is a graduate student.
All the other ponies of the Mane Cast have jobs of some sort. Applejack is a farmer, Rarity is a fashion designer, Fluttershy is an animal caretaker, Rainbow Dash is a meteorologist, and Pinkie Pie is a caterer. This explains the reason why impressing Celestia is so important to Twilight Sparkle. If Celestia gets it in her head, she can flunk Twilight Sparkle for any reason.
 * It naturally follows that The Magic of Friendship is her thesis topic.

Twilight Sparkle is immortal.
Specifically, Type III. Come on, you saw how much punishment she took in Feeling Pinke Keen.
 * They're all apparently invulnerable. Hell, everyone except Fluttershy was slammed into a rock surface hard enough to crumble it in "Dragonshy", and both Dash and Rarity (as well as the Wonderbolts) survived more than 1600 Gs of acceleration at the climax of "Sonic Rainboom".

Twilight Sparkle had friends before the events of the series.
The three unicorns early in the pilot know who she is and invite her to Moondancer's party, and Spike had a present for Moondancer. Lyra Heartstrings was nice enough to wave hi to Twilight running by and looked surprised/disappointed at being ignored. And there's Pony Joe from "Best Night Ever" who tells her "Long time no see!"

It's likely she didn't spend her entire time growing up in Canterlot without friends, but she eventually became more involved with her studies and decided at some point that she didn't need friends. This may or may not be why Celestia decided to use her in part of her Batman Gambit in the pilot. ""The INTJ is not likely to choose to spend time with people who they feel don't have anything to offer the INTJ. They especially like to spend time with other Intuitive Thinkers, and also usually enjoy the company of Intuitive Feelers. These personality types love to theorize and speculate about ideas, and so can usually relate well to the INTJ, who loves to analyze ideas.""
 * Or she just had casual relationships. These friendships weren't really true friends, just people Twilight hung out with when forced to. Ask any schoolkid if all the people they hang out with are their real friends, especially if it's a small school.
 * Or, alternatively, they were just politicking. After all, it is likely that many of the students at Celestia's school are there to make connections with ponies from other prominent families, or otherwise gain political advantage at court. Furthermore, Twilight Sparkle was already Celestia's prize pupil before the beginning of the pilot. It may have been that many of the other ponies were hoping to befriend her to gain advantage. In fact, that may have been a contributing factor in why Twilight was so unsociable. She was probably tired of everypony pretending to be her best friend when what they really wanted was an in with the princess.
 * This has a bit of Fridge Brilliance in it as well. They really didn't seem to know that Twilight had a major connection to Celestia, thus they had no reason to try and suck up to her. She realized that at some point, which is why she let them bond with her.
 * This Troper managed to peg her as an INTJ personality type. Any friends she would've had would have been just as bright and nerdy as she was. The reason she didn't have friends in the first episode? The few she had had already left her to her obsession with her studies. The "Friends" section of the page linked above describes it thusly:

Twilight Sparkle is an epileptic.
In Cutie Mark Chronicles, Twilight Sparkle went on the magic rampage in response to some energy flux produced by the sonic rainboom. This flux worked similar to flashing lights for a sufferer of Epilepsy, causing her to use magic uncontrollably while convulsing in air and levitating. Princess Celestia may have used magic to force the haywire synapses to calm down.

Twilight's unusually high magical ability is based entirely on that one event in The Cutie Mark Chronicles.
The didn't temporarily boost her magic; it granted permanent extreme magical power.
 * Why would the rainboom have had any such effect? It didn't boost anyone else's abilities. More likely, it simply startled Twilight in such a way that she unleashed her abilities.

Twilight Sparkle was never supposed to hatch the dragon egg.
We have never seen another unicorn with an adopted dragon. Fluttershy had never seen a baby dragon before, and none of Twilight's schoolmates at the beginning of Elements of Harmony seem to have had adopted dragons. Furthermore, dragon eggs cannot be easy to come by: consider how the two adult dragons we have seen reacted to the thought of losing even a little of their hoards; now imagine how they'd react to someone trying to steal one of their eggs. More likely, the test was an Unwinnable Training Simulation: the purpose was for the testing board to see how a prospective student reacts to failure. And what happened when Twilight succeeded in doing the impossible? Princess Celestia took her on as her personal pupil. Clearly, Twilight's success made her unique.
 * This Troper proposes that they were supposed to inflict some degree of magic on the egg, but not actually hatch it, which is why we don't see a bunch of unicorns running around taking care of dragons. Additionally, maybe Celestia had a dragon back in her day.
 * That makes sense. The purpose of the test was probably to see what magical methods the prospective student would use to attempt to hatch the egg, how long it would take the prospect to give up, and how the prospect would react to failure.
 * And perhaps the reason is that the dragon egg was unfertilized... and the only way for Twilight to hatch it was to magically infuse it with her own genetic material. Twilight isn't Spike's mother. She's his FATHER. (Why do you think he doesn't have wings, and while most dragon breath just burns, freezes, or melts, his teleports things--while one of Twilight's near-reflexive magical abilities is teleportation??)

Twilight Sparkle was adopted.
Twilight's parents were never really developed outside of their appearance. They never say anything, we don't know what their occupation is, and we don't know if Twilight inherited her overwhelming magical power from them, so there was a possibility she was adopted, most likely left on their doorstep or given over to them by Princess Celestia.
 * Theory One: She was left on their doorstep by a mysterious mare.
 * OR Her real parents were killed by an evil, love-less pony and she was left there by an elderly male pony who is the headmaster stand-in for Celestia at the magic academy and her destiny is to dispose of said evil pony using her powers of love and friendship!
 * Theory Two: She was left on the doorstep of Canterlot's castle where Princess Celestia discovered her, but since they didn't have the facilities to care for a foal, Celestia handed the foal over to the ponies who would be her parents. If they're actually close with the Princess or not, like if they work for her or something, is open for debate.
 * Theory Three: Princess Celestia is actually her mother. She had an affair with a very talented unicorn, and gave birth to Twilight after. Worried about how the public would react to all this, she went out in secrecy and gave her up to the ponies who she selected to be the parents of the foal. Again, it's debatable if she knows them personally or not.

The spell Twilight cast to give Rarity wings also gave her the instinctive knowledge to use them.
We were shown both in "Sonic Rainboom" and in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", and in other episodes as well, that pegasi have to be trained to fly, and that this is a lengthy process often lasting years. Pegasi typically attend flight school and, apparently in many cases, summer flight camp as well. Clearly, learning to use their wings properly is a major educational endeavor. Yet Rarity seemed to pick up flying right away, and did well enough that she was a real contender to win the "Best Young Flyer" competition, without any training. And when you think about it, this makes sense: a spell to give a pony wings that only lasted for three days would be useless if it took years of training to learn to use those wings, so obviously the spell would also have to give the recipient the knowledge of how to use those wings as well. That may have also been what made the spell so difficult to cast: the caster, who, being a unicorn, presumably has no flight training herself, has to impart years worth of such training in a matter of moments.
 * Or perhaps it's just easier to control magical wings than real ones. The wings work by the fact that they're magical, as opposed to the strength and conditioning needed to operate real ones. If so, Rarity could have easily learned how to control her wings in a short time practicing. Kind of like learning how to drive an automatic car vs. a manual one. And her routine wasn't very intense.
 * It doesn't really take any unusual physical strength and conditioning to fly an airplane, but it still takes years of training to be able to do it at all well.

Discord did take Twilight's element.
When they where about to enter the labyrinth, he took her horn and said himself he took her magic.
 * This would be Fridge Brilliance if I was positive.
 * What's more, he separated her from her friends at the very moment her determination convinced them to put their best…hooves forward (cheesy, but awesome). One could say Twilight's not the last to lose her 'element', but it's already been taken from her without brainwashing (because Discord's messing with them all). At least Discord may claim this… Like the shattered 'Elements of Harmony' moment with Nightmare Moon, he's going to be proven wrong. Perhaps because Twilight will work out that they shouldn't be looking in the maze, but back where they began. Or something.
 * What is Magic without Friendship?

The opposite of Twilight's element is actually Science.
If Discord had brainwashed her into opposite, she would be acting like G La DOS. And that would have scared Discord beyond the point of madness.

Twilight's new spells this season...
All have fairly reasonable explanations. A spell for memory and a wide area compulsion spell? It's obviously because she's basically a college student. A spell that allows her to somehow instantly recall any information would be the wet dream for anyone as studious (or even not) as Twilight, especially when it probably doesn't come with the problems that real Photographic Memory has. As for the Want-it-Need-it spell? She used it during registration days. She'd zap some useless class with the spell and drive dozens of unicorns to want something like underwater basket weaving while she gets the cream of the crop picks of classes without even the need to go on the waitlist.
 * The mundane uses for a want-it-need-it spell at university are ENDLESS if the item in question is finite and you're alone enough to dispell it. Noisy roomate/aide? Get them interested in a book, dispel it when they're finished. Cafeteria has a food you really like in limited quantity, and only one left? Cast the spell on a food item next to it, then remove the spell once you've got the food you wanted on your tray. Since she's obviously a grad student, its probably useful in TA work to get the lazy undergrads to focus on their tests. And so on.
 * But she's the personal pupil of the Princess. Does she even take regular classes? And does she work as a teaching assistant?
 * Given how busy Celestia can be, especially before Luna was restored, it's possible that Twilight's lessons from Celestia wasn't her entire curriculum. Plus, personal pupil or not, Celestia also seems like she'd want Twilight to have a well-rounded education. I mean, she even sent off her student to make friends!

In Lesson Zero, Spike was not Breaking the Fourth Wall, he was moving items Twilight manifested into reality.
Remember when Twilight manifested out of nowhere a mustache on Spike in Boast Busters? She's doing the same here, but she's too preoccupied worrying about her failure to send a letter to Celestia to notice. Those three Fourth Wall setups Twilight believes as only imagination in her head are really physical manifestations Twilight brought into reality due to a lack of control. Spike may have pushed a CONCRETE backdrop Twilight apparated behind her, rolled a MANIFESTED 3-d movie screen with Twi right behind it, and popped a LITERAL thought bubble that appeared around Twilight’s head with qualities like a water bubble. We've seen Twilight magick before out of fear back in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, when the Sonic Rainboom scared her into completing her exam with Glowing Eyes of Doom; it's possible Spike Breaking the Fourth Wall may have been a Continuity Nod to Twilight's unknown magic ability.
 * Adding to this: Rarity's couch is actually something similar, she's just simply more aware of it. The cushion she's seen sitting on at the very end is possibly another version of this.
 * Alternatively, Twilight was aware of it. She was doing what happens when "Drama Queen" meets "Master of Illusion".

Twilight Sparkle was permanently corrupted by Discord.
In Lesson Zero, she's completely out of her mind, and actually behaving similarly to Discord himself. Teleporting around at random, trying to cause fights between ponies, using mind control when her first attempt failed and generally acting very chaotic. Now, remember, Twilight only broke mentally, while the others were mind controlled. And she wasn't magically cured, either. She just seemed to spontaneously recover emotionally. Perhaps this was Discord's intention all along, not to just sew chaos, but to corrupt Celestia's apprentice and take her for his own, he did seem to fixate on her during the two episodes.

Twilight was bullied as a filly.
In Lesson Zero she sees a group of fillies laughing while playing jump rope and thinks they are laughing at her before Spike snaps her out of it. Her Imagine Spot of Magic Kindergarten also involves everyone laughing at her. This may imply Twilight has had bad experiences of a similar nature in the past. Even before she entered the Magic Academy, her nerdy, studious nature would've made her a prime target for bullies. After becoming Celestia's personal pupil, she would've been seen as the "Teacher's Pet" by others at the Academy, and possibly resented for her natural talents. The constant bullying served to make her even more anti-social, and is what led to her idol-worship of Celestia as the sole individual at school who had a positive, non-antagonistic relationship with her.
 * Of course, this also combined to make her way too critical of her own failings, which leads to...well, Crazy Super OCD Twilight.
 * We saw in "Mare in the Moon" that quite a few ponies in Canterlot wanted to be Twilight's friends. It's possible that she was bullied when she was younger, but it must have been well before the start of the series. After she became Celestia's personal pupil, it's more likely that her problem was that other ponies would constantly suck up to her and flatter her in an effort to win the favor of a pony who stood high in the Princess' favor.
 * Some of them probably genuinely wanted to be her friend too, because I mean, she's the Princess' protege; how cool would it be to have that person as your friend?
 * We saw in the Cutie Mark Chronicles that she's bad at magic. They probably made fun of her because she screwed up her magic all the time.
 * All it shows is that Twilight couldn't hatch the egg until the Sonic Rainboom shocked her into a Power Incontinence moment, it doesn't really show her being 'bad' at magic in general. Prior to that we see that Twilight studied really hard (and always had - look at Smarty Pants) until her parents decided to try and enrol her in Celestia's school. Going by the other stories, it looks more like Twilight had already shown an interest and aptitude for magic, it's just that the Sonic Rainboom was - like rest of the mane cast - the trigger which confirmed it as her cutie mark talent.
 * Agree with this WMG. Twilight's imagery of Magic Kindergarten show her as a filly, not as her older self. It was a flashback to something that really happened, and would explain her sheer terror of going back there. And as Applebloom in Call of the Cutie and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in The Cutie Mark Chronicles found out, bullying can happen, even right under a teacher's nose.
 * Twilight must've been pretty big for a filly. Not to gainsay the concept of having other kids laughing at you for some reason as it happens, but it seems more like it's the humiliation of being an adult stuck back in kindergarten.

Adding to the above theory, Trixie was one of Twilight's bullies.
Trixie was supposed to be Celestia's student instead of Twilight. But when Celestia chose Twilight instead, Trixie got angry and decided to make Twilight miserable all schoolyear long. Her main way of doing this was saying things like "Just you wait! One day you'll slip up and Princess Celestia will see that you're nothing but a pathetic little failure!" Eventually, Trixie graduated and Twilight decided to stay at school as a grad student to brush up on her studies. Twilight forgot about Trixie (although she did remember someone bullying her as a kid) but Trixie remembered Twilight, and, well...we all saw "Boast Busters"...

Twilight is suffering a relapse into OCD as a result of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
After the way Discord broke her and her friends due what was apparently her fault, Twi developed a guilt complex and an obsession with making things as orderly (ie, not Discorded) as possible. By the time we see her in Lesson Zero, she's basically become a Type A Stepford Smiler due to her experiences, and her fear of failure does the rest.
 * Also, she only really snaps once her friend laugh at her problem. Look at the library scene in "The Return Of Harmony, Part 2" and why she lost it then makes much more sense.

Twilight is going to be possessed by Nightmare Moon or someone similar and become the Big Bad at the end of the season.
In season 1, the first non-Nightmare Moon episode focused on the Gala, which was the season finale. The first non-Discord episode of Season 2 focused on Twilight wreaking havoc. I think the season is going to keep pointing out Twilight's potential in not only her power, but in abusing it. Cut to a possession, involving Discord, NM, and any other villains who might show up along the way. She'll be healed by the Elements of Harmony, with Luna taking Twilight's place (even a callback to "The Return Of Harmony" with a 'You're the new Twilight!') when they face her.

Also, I read someone theorize on the Meta page about a villain whose the embodiment of order, would that be perfect for Nightmare Twilight's actions? Forcing everyone to do things efficiently, with no breaks, laughter, or lightness at all? That sounds like Twilight's OCD taken to its logical extreme.

The Sonic Rainboom boosted not only Twilight's magic, but her intelligence.
Even without her magic, Twilight is very smart and academically gifted. However, her flashback to her Magic Kindergarten classroom seemed, to this troper at least, to suggest that she was being singled out, not for being a nerd, but for being stupid. Twilight may have been of average or below average intelligence when she was young, and only her determination to be a powerful magician like Princess Celestia was able to push her forward to the point where she was even considered for Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Then the Sonic Rainboom happened, and not only did her magic become awesomely powerful, but her mind was boosted to match it. She's terrified of being send back a grade because that happened to her at least once as a filly, and if it happens again, it means that her wonderful new life of being a brilliant student and powerful magician is falling apart and she's going to go back to what she had before.
 * This seems extremely unlikely on both counts. What evidence is there that the Rainboom had either effect? Certainly the second rainboom had no such effect, nor did the first seem to have any such effect on anypony else. It's more likely that the first rainboom startled Twilight in such a way that she unleashed her magic in a reflexive way.

Twilight dropped out of magic kindergarten
Magic kindergarten is another option for unicorns, beside regular school. Twilight was ridiculed by the other students for her poor control over her powers, but her parents knew she had strong powers, because they went haywire whenever she got spooked. Instead they took her out of her school and had her try to get into the Royal magic school.
 * In hindsight, that would fit nicely. Seeing young Twilight surrounded by books in the Cutie Mark Chronicles was understandable at the time, but seeing her studying alone, rather than at school, makes even more sense if her parents took her out of the school she disliked so much (for above reasons) and tried to get her into somewhere more appropriate. And less, y'know, depressing.

Twilight is actually more powerful than the Princesses... potentially.
The Princesses' most powerful magic remains centered around their cutie marks, just as for most unicorns. The powers Luna showed (as Nightmare Moon) all have thematic associations with the moon: shapeshifting (lycanthropes), illusion (lunacy), weather (tides) and teleportation (gravity). If this idea held, Celestia's powers would revolve around light, heat and fertility. This would explain how Twilight was able to do more with the Elements of Harmony than she was, and why she'd get sent to solve problems that the Princess would otherwise be better suited to handle herself (as in Dragonshy).

Twilight Sparkle is a descendent of Clover the Clever.
During "Hearth's Warming Eve", it was revealed that Star Swirl the Bearded was the mentor of Clover the Clever. In the flashback/play, it was also shown that the Fire of Friendship manifested through Clover's magic, causing her eyes to glow white, very similar to how Twilight looks during her most intense spells as well (like her magical awakening and using the Elements of Harmony). Given this similar effect, added with Twilight Sparkle's specific choosing of Star Swirl as her Nightmare Night costume, it isn't unlikely that Twilight is descended from Clover.

Twilight was an accidental Replacement Goldfish for Princess Luna.
While Twilight was studying under Celestia as a filly, Celestia began to notice similarities between Twilight and Luna. (Mostly the fact that they were socially awkward and rather Adorkable.) They weren't alike enough the fill the loneliness left after Luna's banishment, but enough to allow Twilight and Celestia to bond on a deeper level than most of her previous students. Twilight and Luna don't know, however, because Celestia feels guilty about trying to mentally replace her sister.
 * It's possible that Luna knows or at least suspects - when she visited Ponyville in "Luna Eclipsed", Luna's tones with Twi hint at a frustration and sorrow beyond mere displeasure at how the populace treats her now.

Twilight's library turns pink in the spring.
For a brief two weeks after Winter Wrap-up, the tree's foliage turns a light shade of pink. Due to being a Cherry Tree. Unlikely, but it would be cool if it did.

Twilight has a psychotic Split Personality.
In Lesson Zero, she's seen talking to her reflection in the water, with differing expressions very much akin to Gollum. Her darker split showed herself throughout various points in the rest of the episode, we just haven't seen her return yet.

Twilight Sparkle has or had a problem with Alcohol
Much of Twilight Sparkles behavior can be explained by a problem with alcohol. In the first episode we see twilight's reaction to an annoying situation is to pour herself a stiff drink as we can see in the party scene where she gets handed hot sauce instead of alcohol. In Sonic Rainboom we see her cleaning up after a wild night of “studying”, it's likely that she got drunk and trashed her own place. Furthermore her dancing during her birthday is consistent with being bombed out of her mind. Clearly she is not a social drinker, meaning she likely gets drunk only in private.

Twilight wasn't pushing herself to the limit in "Boast Busters"
Her straining actually came from her struggling to keep her magic from going out of control. She pretty much lives in a world made of cardboard. She must always take constant care not to break something or someone, never allowing herself to lose control even for a moment, or somepony could die.
 * Supported by her uncontrollable outburst in "Cutie Mark Chronicles", too. And the fact that she doesn't seem THAT tired after performing that feat.
 * And some Fridge Brilliance too. Of course Twilight has to be careful. Despite how powerful she is, you don't want to invoke Mama Bear when the cub is the size of a multi-story building.

Twilight's attempt to stop the Parasprites from eating food DID save the population of Ponyville from a horrible death.
When you think about it, how long would it have taken the Parasprites to finish off Ponyville's entire food supply before realising that, in a sense, ponies are also food? They certainly don't seem picky regarding what they eat. By confining them to eat normally inedible matter, Twilight Sparkle may have doomed Ponyville's structures, but she saved its population from being torn apart by an unstoppable, hungry horde.

Twilight’s special talent is not manipulating magic, her talent is CREATING magic.
She's utilizing an instinctive ability for magical fusion to create possibly unlimited amounts of mystic energy using her unicorn magic as a base fodder/catalyst. A lot like nuclear fusion, only instead of fusing atomic nuclei she's fusing unicorn magic, and instead of releasing nuclear energy Twilight is releasing/creating pure magic.

Usually Twilight only uses her horn in this process, a habit that limits the initial amount of conversion that can take place and also helps in focusing the new magical energy. This is due to her training in unicorn magic and belief that she is merely manipulating her own latent energies, she is not aware that she is making her own magic.

While using just her horn is an ingrained habit, it is by no means necessary. She can, and has on at least on occasion, used her entire body as a focus for magic making. During the episode "Feeling Pinkie Keen" Twilight battles with, and eventually admits the limits of, traditional logic. At the climax of this struggle between reason and the Pinkie Sense, Twilight becomes enraged and levitates a few feet into the air before exploding into white hot flame.

This is the result of unintentionally using her whole body as a magic fusion focus without immediately expending said energy into a spell; the energy was released in a blast of light/heat/and acoustic energy which lifted her off the ground and momentarily transformed her into living torch. Thankfully, Twilight calmed down quite quickly and her trust in traditional logic shut down the full body reaction almost as soon as it started.

The fact remains, however, that every time she uses magic, Twilight is using unicorn magic, which can already manipulate the heavens, to create a power able to affect literally anything she puts her mind to. She’s repeatedly turning the starter key to a bomb that could rewrite reality, or possibly just destroy it.
 * So... Does this actually differ from the usual form of unicorn magic, aside from degree? The show doesn't really go into technical detail on it.

Twilight has had no training as a librarian.
The state she keeps that library in, Sweet Luna why did Celestia think putting her there was a good idea.
 * She has Spike to organize things.

Twilight is actually an aspect of Celestia.
Due to banishing Luna to the moon Celestia could no longer use the Elements of Harmony. She knew that her sister would eventually return, more than likely still possessed by Nightmare Moon, so when she felt that Nightmare Moon would be returning she spun off a part of herself and gave it to a pair of (child/pony?)less adults who would raise her in secret and she would return for her at a later time when she was old enough to be trained in magic. The test with the dragon egg was just to see if she was as powerful as hoped. It went beyond her expectations and she immediatly started training Twilight herself. It turned out that due to her natural ability and that she was a (if not the only) student of Celestia, that she had little to no social interaction with most anyone else and that caused Celestia to send her away to Ponyville in order to do several things at once.

1) Force her to interact with others and break out of her shell thereby becoming more mature and learning to take responsibility for things.

2) Due to her being the Ruler of her kingdom she had no chance to find anyone who would be able to use the Elements of Harmony and used Twilight to do so, with Twilight hopefully either finding a group to do so or leading them herself.

3) Figure out a way to use the elements to rescue her/their sister.

4) As the ruler of the country she had been brought up in a tense atmosphere. She had to do/act/say everything perfectly at all times and never had time to make friends herself. This was her best way to both do her duty and to give herself some measure of happiness that had been denied to her before. That is why she comes down to ponyville all the time to see the Mane Six as she considers them personal friends as well and lives vicariously through Twlights letters.

Twilight actually has two families
Before becoming the Princess's student she had one family: Her mom, dad, and possible brother. However, as she focused more on her studies in Canterlot, she spent less time with her biological family, and spent more time with Celestia and Spike, and they became a second family to her. Celestia became her second mother, and Spike became her second brother. She doesn't outwardly call the two her second mother and brother though, due to not wanting to ruin their strong friendship, and out of fear that they wouldn't think the same as her.

Future Twilight really did avert a disaster.
In the original timeline, wherein Twilight didn't travel back in time, Cerberus couldn't be returned to Tartarus because he drowned in a flood caused by the dam bursting, and Twilight didn't have access to Pinkie's ball stash because Pinkie was off getting a haircut at the time. All of Future Twilight's injuries were from fighting the monsters that escaped from Tartarus, and Celestia told her where to find the time travel spells before she was devoured by monsters. The events we saw in the episode were the new timeline, where Twilight gets the warning from Future Twilight and enacts general readiness protocols, and the timeline warps probability to give Twilight the same injuries so that the Stable Time Loop is closed properly. (1)Disaster (2) Twilight Decides to go back in time (3) Twilight back in time and prevents disaster This spawns a new time line (0a) Twilight receives information (1a) Disaster averted (2a)Twilight has no need to go back in time 2 never happens and 3 never happens therefore 0a never occurs therefore 1 occurs. Repeat time line from 1. Each iteration of this loop is slightly different, so twilight might get more or less of the message in, the flower pot might miss,the dam might burst, but only one time line results in a break. (0c) Twilight receives information (1c) Disaster averted, accidents occur so that it appears Disaster not averted (2c) Twilight decides to go back in time (3) Twilight goes back to 0c
 * Or more exactly, Twilight-Prime, who i'm assuming was future Tilight was going to warn her about the whole bad future you proposed there. When Twilight danger proofed Ponyville, she retconned the events of that future thus making her Twilight-Prime and the other Twilights are going to either interperet her message differently or do the exact same thing. Lost yet?
 * It is possible that probabilities were not in any way altered, this just the only permutation that result in the time loop breaking. Consider time lines

Twilight will become Celestia.
At some point, Twilight will transform into Celestia and travel back in time to defeat Discord the first time. She will then rule Equestria until the day she meets her younger self and takes her on as her protege, whom she will train until she is ready to transform and travel back in time, forming a Stable Time Loop. Peewee is really a young Philomena.

Twilight is severely mentally unstable, and is a danger to everypony.
She went insane in Lesson Zero because she was stressing out about time and friendship reports. You could say that her insanity there does have some potential for Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome, if you take on the idea that friendship is a magic of its own. However, in It's About Time, she went insane from trying to prevent a disaster, eventually coming to the crazed decision to stop time. Such an act would condemn everypony to a Fate Worse Than Death, and that had nothing to do with her magic talent being suppressed - in fact, she was planning to use it for her own means. Therefore, whereas everypony else suffers from occasional bouts of Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome, Twilight doesn't - she's simply insane all on her own. The fact that she's apparently a genius only ups the danger factor.

Twilight's cutie mark is naturally plausible
unicorns have magic relating to their talents or cutie marks and bizarely Twilight's talent is magic. This can be seen as odd at first but it makes sense that magic and or sorcery is a rare talent. There were probably others with magic as there talent.
 * Which means she could be destined to be a great wizard.

Twilight's family are titled nobility
Granted, from what we've seen they don't act much like it (perhaps knighted just a couple generations ago?), but look at the facts:
 * She's the personal student of the ruler of Equestria.
 * She had a member of the royal family, a winged unicorn no less, as a babysitter.
 * Her brother is Captain of the Royal Guard.
 * As an addendum, said brother said his dress uniform belonged to their uncle, suggesting a tradition.
 * I agree with this, but I would suggest that far from having been knighted only a few generations ago (knighthood is not hereditary), they are actually very high-ranking members of the nobility (probably dukes, but certainly no lower than marquesses), and have been since time immemorial. The reason that they do not seem stuck up or excessively formal is that they are not status-conscious. That is, they are so confident of their place and rank that they feel no need to put on airs. Their attitude is that, howsoever they act, that's just how a duke's family is supposed to act.

Despite the introduction of Shining Armor, Twilight still sees Spike as her little brother
Based on dialogue from previous episodes, it's implied that Spike and Twilight always had a strong bond:


 * Owl's Well that ends Well he was afraid that Twilight didn't love him anymore. Showing that he really cares about her opinion, and would do anything to please her. Which shows that they must have some kind of affection for each other. It also shows that he loves his job as Twilight's assistant, and won't let anyone take away his job. Also, Twilight was the only one that went looking for him after he ran away, and the only pony (with some help from the owl) that saved him from the dragon. She also says that no one could ever take his place.

And that knew each other ever since they met:


 * Secret Of My Excess mentions how for every birthday he had, Twilight was the only one that gave him a gift. Sure he only got a book, and he didn't seem to thrilled about it, but that proves that these two stuck by each other.
 * Another small example would be, when Twilight takes him to the pony doctor. She takes him there, as if he were just any normal filly or colt. She didn't even consider that because he's different, that they he may be treated differently. That alone seems touching.


 * Dragon Quest: In the end, when spike says the ponies are like family to him, they all, including Twilight, give him a hug, showing that they feel the same way. And the picture of baby Spike with Twilight in the final scene from Dragon Quest, implies that she did know him from the moment he was hatched.

Now, as for Shining Armor, look at it from Twilight's perspective. Spike is her loyal friend. He's always willing to help her out when she really needs it, and was there for her when she first arrived in Ponyville, and has lived with her ever since. But that's the thing. She sees him everyday.

For Shining Armor it was different. He was someone that she could look up to. He was a mentor to her, and her very first friend. He taught her things like how to fly a kite, and helped her with her magic. Spike wouldn't be able to do this. Not only would he be a baby, but '''in the flashbacks, Twilight didn't have her cutie mark yet. So he didn't exist yet!' Shining Armor was probably her only friend before'' she became Celestia's pupil, and thus also before she met Spike. Twilight mentioned they drifted apart, and that's probably the point in time when the drifting happened - when Twilight became Celestia's pupil. And also, she said she hasn't seen him since she moved to Ponyville. she misses him. The song is meant to add more depth to that. It was to let the audience know what their relationship was. For spike, we already know what their relationship is. Just watch Owl's Well That End's Well, and Dragon Quest. It pretty much shows that they're like family to each other. He's like her l.b.b.f.f (little brother best friend), and those episode worked fine without a song because we didn't need them.


 * An alternate theory that could also be accepted is: Word of God suggested that Celestia took to the initial raising of Spike, given the general lack of pony knowledge on dragon raising, only giving her to Twilight as an assistant when both were mature enough for it. Hence, the Twi/Spike relationship - prior to being sent off to Ponyville - would be more formal, and becoming more sibling as they both learned to adjust to Ponyville. This would also be consistent that leaving Shining (whom she still probably saw every day while at Canterlot), her relationship with Spike would be upgraded to the sibling nature to make up for not being around Shining.

In case you're still skeptical here: "Spike:You're more than friends. You're my family"

She loves her brother like a friend. She loves Spike like a brother.

The Want it, Need it spell was created by Twilight Sparkle.
One day, while playing with her babysitter, Twilight sees her cast a love spell on an arguing couple. A few years later, she gets into Celestia's school and began developing her power and working on customized spells. At one point, she came across a pair of ponies arguing, and, in an attempt to stop them, she cast an improvised spell, intended to mimic the effects of the one Cadence used. She got it slightly wrong.

Shining Armor and Princess Cadence are Twilight's real parents.
Note several things:
 * She looks far more like Cadence then she does either of her parents
 * Really? I thought her mom looked a lot like one of her previous incarnations.
 * The whole "Why is a princess foalsitting her?" issue.
 * The unusually powerful magic.

Twilight's special spell is her Horn Beam.
Her brother has the ultimate shield, she the sword. Between them they shall vanquish Equestria's enemies. In keeping with her personality, it can be adjusted to have different properties.

Fluttershy is a reincarnation/descendant of Commander Hurricane.
Because that would be awesome.

Fluttershy is a descendant of or part Flutter pony.
Her name reflects this (maybe her parents know and are proud of their heritage). Her cutie mark also reflects this, and considering how cutie marks and names are such an integral part of a pony I don't think this is much of a stretch. Other supporting facts include the butterflies' attraction to her and general affinity for animals/nature. Perhaps she is 'bad' at flying because her genes make her wings more delicate like those of flutter ponies and unsuited for the rigorous or just different Pegasi school of flying. Her build as a young pony could also be due to this or being slightly older than the rest of the main characters.
 * Supported in the Cutie Mark Chronicles; Fluttershy turned into a much better flier after seeing how butterflies did it.
 * Well...it'd explain why she looks a bit like Rosedust, and why she had such long legs as a filly. However, she looked more rawboned than dainty back then, so...difficult to say.

Okay then. Scootaloo and Fluttershy are related
Because seriously, that'd be adorable.
 * Impossible. FS would recognise her sister/cousin/whatever, but in The Stare Master it's as if they've never met.
 * They could be unaware that they're related.
 * (Looks up G3 Scootaloo's cutie mark) Hmmmm, that might be something.
 * All related ponies have similar color schemes...just different tones. Fluttershy is yellow/light pink, Scootaloo is orange/dark pink.
 * Partially jossed due to Pinkie Pie looking nothing like her family (aside from sharing an earlier hairstyle with her sister, but that may be their mother's style of combing their hair and Pinkie kept it that way until her cutie mark gave her the current perm.)

Fluttershy has serious psychological issues but refuses to take her meds.
I have serious doubts that Fluttershy is not on a very serious cocktail of psych meds. The numerous times she has seriously flipped out and turned from being sweet, gentle Fluttershy to one of the scariest and most dangerous pony you could ever meet is my proof of this claim.
 * I don't think so; I think Fluttershy is just a pony who keeps her frustrations in, and then sometimes it explodes. A fairly common thing.
 * Twice.
 * Can we just call this one confirmed?
 * Confirmed
 * No excuses!
 * This is more a case of Fundamental attribution error. The times Fluttershy has flipped out have either been due to imminent mortal danger to her friends, or being placed in an extremely stressful situation. Everyone's behaviour changes in those situations, especially since because of her shyness Fluttershy's personality tends to be muted. (She's actually got a really cunning sense of humour, but it only comes out in situations where she feels really comfortable for example)
 * While I don't think she is on any sort of medication, I do believe she has psychological issues; namely, abandonment issues. Think about it: besides her many animal friends, the other 5 ponies of the main cast are probably the only friends she has. So of course she'd be very protective of them (as seen in "Dragonshy") or protective of their siblings (as seen in "Stare Master"). At Ponyville, when not with her friends, Fluttershy is with her animal friends, so everything's fine. But at the Gala, away in Canterlot, she can't seem to befriend any of the animals there, despite trying many times, and so starts to go a little crazy, fearing that she'll be all alone, again. These issues most likely stem from the fact that she is a rather poor flier, and since pegasi are very proud of that ability, she was looked down upon, possibly even by her own parents! Upon finding out about the wonders of the forest and the grounds under the sky and Cloudsdale, she says that she "never wanted to go back to Cloudsdale ever again". (Cutie Mark Chronicles)
 * This actually does make a lot of sense, and would explain her shyness. Also, that shyness would likely be why she didn't just go find her friends. It was a HUGE Gala, with a lot of people. Fluttershy is...well too shy to go into a place like that without being with her friends. So it was probably just stress that ultimatelly got the best of her.
 * Whatever happened to good old-fashioned Anxiety disorder?
 * She also seems to have some repressed anger issues, as a couple of times she looks visibly annoyed at other characters (for example: look at when she informs Pinkie she's a year older than her; Fluttershy looks pissed) but is unable to vocalise it effectively. This may have contributed to her loosing it in Canterlot, since the source of the anger didn't wander away without realising it, leading to the pressure point being inadvertently reached.
 * Food for thought on this: She did seem to enjoy "beating up" that bear. Even if it was only for a massage.
 * This part at least borders on necessarily true. From what we've seen, Fluttershy has either been picked on, condescended to, or flat-out ignored pretty much all her life. Other than when she becomes a fashion model, does anypony other than her five friends and animals even acknowledge her existence? She almost seems to be an outcast, living on the edge of the Everfree Forest alone except for her pets. It's difficult to tell whether her Shrinking Violet personality is the cause of her exclusion or the result of it, but either way, all those negative emotions from such encounters aren't just going to disappear, they're going to accummulate until they find a form of release.

Fluttershy actually is the world champion at "Shh."

 * How is this a guess? She says that she is in "Stare Master", and there is no reason to suppose that she was lying. It's certainly not difficult to believe.
 * I think the OP is suggesting that "Shh" is an actual competitive sport in Equestria, as opposed to the implication that she was just trying to get the Crusaders to shut up for thirty seconds in a row; while it would, happily, get them to shut their pieholes, it was also a legitimate challenge since Fluttershy's not wholly certain how one goes about entertaining young children.
 * Well, of course it's an actual competitive sport in Equestria. How else could Fluttershy be the world champion?
 * By being the only one who plays it.

Fluttershy's Stare is magical in nature.
When Twilight got stoned in Stare Master, her posture implied it happened instantly or near-instantly. This was not the case with Fluttershy. Thus, her Stare gives her some sort of resistance to that sort of thing.
 * Or cockatrice petrification attacks the target's spirit. Twi was caught by surprise, while Fluttershy was prepared and was thus able to exert her will against the cockatrice and drag it into a psychic duel.
 * There's still that "harvesting apples via the Stare" in "Applebuck Season". Causing the tree to turn old "enough" to make it drop its fruit?

Fluttershy wanted to be a dressmaker when she was younger.
Based on one fact alone, Fluttershy's FREAKY knowledge of sewing. Fluttershy lived all of her blank flank life up in Cloudsdale and only got her cutie mark when she came to visit Rainbow Dash (and Ponyville by extension) and saw all the cute woodland creatures.

Fluttershy was held back a year at flight school.
Because she was terrible at flying she ended up unable to progress, resulting in her having to join a class with younger fillies. She's actually a year (or more, we only know she's a year older than Pinkie) older than the rest of her friends.
 * It was summer flight camp, so she may have just been alone, instead of with the kids her age. It's highly likely.

The events of "The Best Night Ever" will have lasting effects on Fluttershy in the next season.
Her very reason for existence, her ability to communicate with and befriend animals, utterly fails her at the Gala. Once she has time to calm down and reflect, she may begin to doubt her ability to be around animals, especially after her Sanity Slippage.
 * I think Fluttershy was just a bit off that night. I'm sure that once she looked at the situation objectively, she would have seen that what she did was the wrong way to solve problems. She was just out of her comfort zone, and that's not good for very shy people.
 * It's possible the lasting effect could be a My God, What Have I Done? type thing, having to forgive herself for what happened, having an episode centered around her friends helping her through it.
 * "Lesson Zero" does show her being rather... aggressive with a bear.
 * "Sweet or Elite" finds our sweet Fluttershy staying nice and calm to attract a bevvy of Canterlot birds instead of demanding their love. Lesson learned.
 * So, Confirmed or Jossed?

Fluttershy's... episode during "The Best Night Ever" is Twilight Sparkle's fault.
Poor poor Fluttershy... It may not be obvious at first, but it seems she is easily influenced by the opinions of others whom she trusts. However, Fluttershy experiences "delays" between the time she is told to do something and actually acting upon what she's told. A good example occurs in "Dragonshy". Pinkie Pie sings an encouraging song to help the terrified pegasus jump over a (tiny) chasm, but it doesn't quite work. Fast forward to "Feeling Pinkie Keen". This time, Fluttershy faces several tiny platforms that are way more dangerous to cross than the chasm mentioned earlier. Although scared, Fluttershy remembers Pinkie's song... and look at that! This time, she is motivated enough to quickly jump across those platforms! It didn't happen right away, but given enough time Fluttershy will take her friends' statements to heart.

Now for the fun part. Let's apply what we learned here to Fluttershy's actions during the Grand Galloping Gala. First, go back a few episodes to A Bird in the Hoof. Fluttershy is trying very hard to gently nurse Princess Celestia's sickly pet bird, Philomena, back to health. However, Philomena proves to be highly uncooperative with Fluttershy. The bird refuses to take its medicine, have some soup, or get some sleep. Fluttershy is quick to move on to other medical techniques whenever her patient makes it very clear that she won't accept whatever technique the pegasus offers. Enter Twilight Sparkle. Upon realizing what's going on, she strongly insists that Fluttershy should stop being a pushover and FORCE the bird to take whatever steps necessary to make its recovery! To demonstrate, Twilight forces Philomena to take the medicine Fluttershy gave up on, trap it in a cage in an attempt to keep it still and more. Twilight's methods are way more aggressive than those of gentle Fluttershy and she can't wrap her head around them… yet.

Okay, let's bring it all together! Fluttershy is at the Grand Galloping Gala! She's finally going to meet and befriend the unique animals living in Canterlot's Royal Garden! But wait... for one reason or another, the animals are doing everything they can to avoid Fluttershy! How is this happening?! She tries to be as gentle and caring as always, but it just doesn't work this time! That's when something interesting happens... Fluttershy sets up a trap to catch an animal so that she can befriend it face to face. This is NOT normal for Fluttershy... but then she says something very interesting:

"I just have to be more bold, like Twilight says."

Once again she takes her trusted friend's advice, which she initially was hesitant about, and runs with it. In this case, when something doesn't work, she becomes more and more aggressive. Her traps get more elaborate. She raises her voice. She's trying to be less and less of a pushover in order to get something done, just like Twilight Sparkle previously insisted! Combine this advice, which is clearly NOT helping Fluttershy here, along with the emotional stress of being unable to befriend a single creature in the garden no matter how desperate she gets and how hard she tries... And you've got yourself a terrifying disaster.

Overly long entry short: Fluttershy is easily influenced by her friends, but it takes a while for their advice/opinions/suggestions/demands to settle in her mind. But when they do, she feels a need to grab hold of the influence when the time comes to do so and hold on tightly to it. This can be a VERY good thing when you consider the results of Pinkie Pie's "Hop, Skip, and a Jump!" encouragement. Twilight's powerful suggestion of "Be assertive!" on the other hand utterly ruins her. Who knows? If Twilight never gave such a statement that conflicted with Fluttershy's character earlier, Fluttershy may have just kept trying to gently coax the animals around her to come out, rather than shouting at them to do so at the top of her lungs in frustration. Maybe she'd just become immensely sad and frustrated... but not loud and dangerous.

Nice job breaking the gentlest, kindest, most innocent pony in the world, Twilight. In the season finale no less.

Fluttershy has a palsy that mostly affects her wings.
While she certainly doesn't appear to have Cerebral Palsy, she does come off as fairly clumsy, and is still somewhat of a poor flyer despite her age. She also seems to not be as physically active as the others are.
 * This troper atributes that more of Fluttershy being a "Duck Pony", while she was born a pegasus pony, due her shyness, she almost never left her home (and therefore, almost never exercised her wings, making her quite clumsy in that regard, in contrast with competitive Rainbow Dash, who was far more extroverted and athletic, she already knew how to fly when she entered on the junior flyers academy), and after she discovered the ground she rapidly became more comfortable with it, causing her to depend even less on her wings and more on simply walking (note that apparently she can fly as fast as Twilight can run, and we know Twilight is a pony of the weak nerdy type).
 * Not looking good for this one considering her burst of speed in The Return of Harmony, Pt 2.
 * She's bigger-framed than most pegasi. She's had to bust her little rump to even become competent at flight, much less actually good.
 * Most likely Jossed by Hurricane Fluttershy: Her trouble seemed to be mostly performance anxiety combined with bullying. I think she only reached 5 wing speed rather than the ~10 the others had, but that may be just from a lack of practice. The other times where she seemed to nearly match Rainbow Dash's speed were in times of necessity. She's probably an average flyer overall, just prone to performance anxiety.

Fluttershy was very sick when she was young.
Because she was so sick, she couldn't go outside very often, so she recieved little socialization from other fillies early in her life. Even when she was healthy enough to start going out, she was still left weak from being sick and bedridden. This explains why she was initially a weak flier when she was young. It's also worth noting that in her story in "The Cutie Mark Chonricles", she is thinner and smaller than any of the other fillies we see. (her legs look particularly thin) Having very little socialization with other fillies, she was scared and nervous, causing her to be so shy. Going to the ground and seeing the creatures gave her motivation to go out more, allowing her to grow stronger and healthier as we see her now.
 * Highly likely, but I doubt that they'll go into it on a kids show.
 * To me, if anything, she looked taller and leggier rather than necessarily more delicate.

Fluttershy is a partial reincarnation of Medusa.
And that explains her "Stare" as well as help explain her defeat of the Cockatrice. Medusa was a lovely turn-you-to-stone-as-soon-as-you-look-at-her Gorgon, and at least one Pegasus origin story has the winged horse springing from the newly decapitated Medusa's blood. So if Equestria's Pegasi were formed in a similar manner, then Fluttershy "inheriting" her power of stare and resistance to petrification from their Gorgon ancestor would be plausible....

Fluttershy's special ability isn't being good with animals, but being able to walk on swarms of butterflies.
That's why, when she fell from Cloudsdale, the butterflies caught her. They weren't dark matter, she just can walk on them just like clouds.

Fluttershy has gone Meme In Universe.
A (albeit briefly) famous model at a high society event had an epic breakdown, you don't think it'll spread like Parasprites?
 * Wouldn't they all be pretty well-known in-universe by this point? Aren't they the heroes who saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon and the sleeping dragon? Isn't Twilight Sparkle the prized pupil of the Princess? Might not the story of the Ursa Minor have spread beyond Ponyville by this point also? And isn't Rainbow Dash the winner of a major flying competition and the only pony in living memory to have ever performed a sonic rainboom, an event visible and audible for hundreds of miles?
 * Let me rephrase: Flutterrage is a meme in-universe
 * Possible, but why? Fluttershy's episode at the Gala was noteworthy to us because it was so incongruous with what we know of her normal personality, but most of Equestria would have no idea what she's usually like. They would probably say: "Famous fashion model/close associate of powerful courtier turns out to be a primadonna with a nasty temper. So what else is new?"
 * Still to them it probably go viral, like celebrity slip ups in the real world. I think it'll be a season 2 episode with her having to live it down.
 * Well, the fact that she was a national hero, along with the other mane six appears to be very unknown outside of ponyville, that seams unlikely. You would think "the Elements of Harmony ruin the Great Gallaping Gala," be more newsworthy than "former fashion model ruins party." New WMG, Equestria has very strict state censorship.

Fluttershy wasn't just protecting her friends in "Dragonshy"; she was also protecting the dragon.
Twilight Sparkle is perhaps the most powerful wizard in Equestria; only the two princesses are clearly more powerful. Largely because of the nature of the show; we have never seen Twilight uncase the full power of her magic with deadly intent, but if it had come to a fight with that dragon, Twilight probably would have killed it, although there would have been a very real chance that some of the other ponies might not have survived. Now, we know that Fluttershy is a Friend To All Living Things; she's not going to stand by and let one of her closest friends kill a another living creature, especially not a sapient, sentient one like a dragon, any more than she would stand by and let that dragon kill her friends. As for why Fluttershy never said anything about this to the dragon is that, one, dragons are very proud, and saying anything that might have sounded like a threat might have backfired, and, two, she knew that there was a chance she might fail, and if it did come to a fight, she didn't want the dragon to know just how powerful Twilight was, so as not to forewarn him.
 * Doesn't seem very likely considering Twilight was just able to pacify a baby monster about the same size and power as the dragon in the previous episode. Princess Celestia, on the other hand, could take out the dragon no problem, but being the good ruler she is, she probably sent the Mane Six as envoys to try and work out a peaceful solution before resorting to force.

There is some kind of dark entity in the form of Fluttershy's shadow.
The reason she's scared of it may not be just a simple exaggeration of her fear, given how she can stand up to things more fearsome than regular shadows...
 * Alternatively, her shadow also has The Stare. But since you can't see its eyes, you never know when it's glaring at you. Fluttershy is scared of her shadow not because it can harm her, but because she thinks it hates her.
 * So Fluttershy's been reading Carl Jung? (There'd be a some sort of pony play on Jung's name here but I suck at those.)

Fluttershy is part unicorn.
A relatively simple, maybe even obvious, Fluttershy guess. The reason she is such a weak flyer is because she is only part pegasus. She has inherited some magic from a unicorn ancestor, but lacks a horn to channel it. Her magic instead requires the use of her voice and eye contact. Her magic is geared toward manipulation of emotions, which she uses to calm and comfort animals, or in extreme cases, fill them with fear or shame via The Stare. Due to how shy she is, she doesn't use it on ponies, as she can't bring herself to make eye contact or even speak loud enough to be heard. We've never seen her parents, so she could be half and half. Word of God on mixing types was basically, "Sure, Why not?", and a genetics chart was posted on one of these pages showing how it could work.

Similarly, Fluttershy is part Earth Pony.
That's just stupid.
 * I beg to differ.
 * DENIED
 * This makes more sense then her being part-unicorn. Unfortunately, she didn't get the enhanced strength and durability perk, Fortunately, to compensate, her nature ability, and animal communication especially, has been enhanced to superpony levels, hence The Stare.
 * Based on filly!Fluttershy's design, she probably is supposed to be fairly tall and large-framed as pegasi go. Not really being built for flight—and being neither enough of a jock or an overachiever to overcompensate, or assertive enough to find someone to coach her—could explain why she was such a klutz at it in her youth. And it could also explain her habit of sort of curling in on herself and hiding behind her forelock: She's not just being a Shrinking Violet, she's also consciously attempting to take up less space.
 * I actually think this makes sense, as Fluttershy actually had a fear of flying at one point and overall doesn't seem to enjoy it as much as Rainbow Dash (who is clearly Pegasus to the core) and the fact that her "special talent" that earned her her cutie mark involves a bond with animals, and that kind of connection with nature is usually only found in Earth ponies. I also heard that Fluttershy was originally planned to be an Earth pony.

Fluttershy knows Judo.
Because, how else would she over the shoulder throw a bear? Also this might lead credence to the "Fluttershy is half earth pony" theory.
 * As an extension on this, Rainbow Dash indeed knows karate. Her black belt seen in "Call of the Cutie" apparently wasn't just a one-off sight gag if her destruction of Applejack's barn is anything to go by.
 * Going even further, Rainbow and Fluttershy were sparring partners in flight school.

Fluttershy's Shadow Archetype will be an expy of Elmyra Duff.
Whether a pony or another creature, Fluttershy's Shadow Archetype will share her love of animals, but smother them instead of let them be.

Fluttershy has some form of Aspergers Syndrome.
In Twilight's section, there's a WMG about her having Aspergers, but to me Fluttershy would be the likely candidate for it. I myself have Aspergers, and I find that I am most like Fluttershy out of the mane cast. While Twilight seemingly has No Social Skills, that's probably because she never thought she needed them in the first place, and spent more time studying than anything. Fluttershy, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have any real reason to have social problems, at least not in canon. She seems to fit the Aspergers traits that I'm familiar with: shyness, troubles with social skills, nervousness, and (though this may just be me) knowing a lot about something others don't expect you to know much, if anything, about. Not to mention the whole Beware the Nice Ones thing is something I'm pretty familiar with.
 * I've noticed this as well. That part in the pilot when she goes from quiet and awkward to constantly talking upon seeing Spike is something I've frequently experienced.
 * Well, Fluttershy took some asparagus, and since Aspergers and asparagus have the same root (I'm not making this up, they both come from the latin word for spear) Fluttershy must obviously be an aspie. To be serious, she does present a pretty good case, but there are several times where she shows a little bit too much sensitivity to other ponies/Spike's feelings, though this can be explained by saying that she learned these skills the hard way, and abuse she suffered related to her having Aspergers could have made her become such a doormat and taught her to be hypersensitive to the feelings of others in certain situations. Even though she shows some socially empathetic depth at times there is enough other times where it is clear that she really has no idea what other ponies are feeling and she is just trying extra hard to not offend anypony.

Fluttershy's kindness is actually a veil she wears to hide her true nature.
In semi-relation to previous WMG's, Fluttershy is a bitter, cold individual, that sealed up her rage inside at a young age, due to either bullying or an tough childhood. Since she already showed easily attained annoyance when telling Pinkie their age difference, who's to say that she's not truly unhappy at her core?
 * Jossed. She's obviously the element of kindness, your point is invalid.
 * Debatable, the concept of her having severe Aspergers or Autism as presented above, might lead to a lack of empathy on her part. But even Discord could tell her sense of right is unbreakable without magical interference.
 * Jossed by science. People who suffer from Asperger's tend to be more empathetic than most, but they often don't exhibit he nonverbal cues thereof, leading to the illusion that they're sociopathic.
 * A bitch? Maybe. A Monster? I doubt it.
 * So being a little annoyed at someone treating you in a condescending manner is grounds for being labeled as a bitch? Demonization much?
 * Sir, retarded theories are part of my job.
 * Semi Confirmed by "Putting your Hoof Down"

Fluttershy's stare is painful for the subject, possibly even to the point of being a form of torture.
Consider how Rarity and Fluttershy talk about it at the beginning of "Stare Master": "Rarity: Did you use...(scary music plays in background)...the stare on her?
 * So she's like Jane?

Fluttershy: Oh no! I wouldn't! I couldn't! I don't really have any control over when that happens! I-it just happens!"

The way they're talking about it, and the way Rarity trembles at even mentioning it, it's as if she were asking 'You didn't beat her, did you?'; clearly, the stare is painful for its victims.
 * I like to think that The Stare is the equivalent of twisting somebody's arm behind their back. Not too painful, but you're not likely to go anywhere easily. The cockatrice resisted initially, similar to someone who would kick and scream at the person holding them, but the cockatrice eventually gave up. Her will was too great.
 * Word of God is that The Stare is a weaponized form of the attitudes behind the Mama Bear trope, and it's true that it really only comes out A) when someone is resisting something she knows is good for them, e.g. bedtime for the chickens, or B) when someone she cares about is in danger, e.g. when the dragon was dragoning it up in everyone's grill. So basically what happened to the cockatrice was that it was hit with the utter certainty that it had about ten seconds to stop trying to stone this sweet, adorable, pacifistic pegasus, or else this sweet, adorable, pacifistic pegasus was going to tear it a structurally superfluous new one, and it would have nothing to complain about because it attacked the children.

Fluttershy experienced abuse or trauma as a child.
Pre-Cutie Mark, she was a more open, talkative pony, but (possibly elaborating on the Overprotective Dad theory) she had an overbearing parent or teacher, and/or was bullied as a foal into becoming withdrawn, apologetic, and mostly submissive, unless she's provoked, in which case she'll lash out. This Troper and several of her friends had to go through the same thing as a child, and I/we see a lot of ourselves in her behavior.
 * Well, The Cutie Mark Chronicles confirms that she was bullied for being a bad flyer, and in Party of One Spike "confesses" to Pinkie Pie that Fluttershy is afraid of heights. Considering she's a pegasus, that's prime bully material right there, not to mention her lanky legs and Peek-a-Bangs made her look different to the others. No wonder she suffers from low self-confidence.
 * Why on earth is being timid equated to being abused? Not everything is the result of a tragic past...
 * Hurricane Fluttershy confirms that the bullying she received was emotionally traumatic and still affects her to this day.

At some point during season two Fluttershy will be a tree in a play.
And she will be perfectly content with the role.

Fluttershy planned to have Rainbow Dash and Tank together from the very beginning.
She was very insistent on having the tortoise as one of the options. As one of her oldest known friends, Fluttershy knows how Rainbow Dash behaves and that underneath that bravado lies a sensitive side that will do anything for a friend once a bond is made. Likewise, she is able to understand the feelings of animals and she probably knew that the tortoise wanted a friend as well. Fluttershy simply put two and two together and figured that Rainbow Dash and the tortoise would eventually become a very good fit.

Fluttershy is a faster flier than Rainbow Dash.
In "Return of Harmony, Part 2", in the epic chase scene, Fluttershy matches and bests Rainbow Dash's speed. Now, granted, Rainbow Dash was weighed down by two ponies (Rarity and Pinkie), but Fluttershy herself was dragging the balloon that carried two other ponies (Twilight and AJ). Fluttershy was pulling more weight than Rainbow Dash. Add to the fact that air resistance on that balloon would be an added force that Fluttershy needed to overcome, and that means that if the two raced unburdened, Fluttershy should easily win. Of course, the key factor here was Fluttershy's motivation: if she didn't stop Rainbow, Ponyville will be Discord'ed forever, and so just like facing the dragon or the cockatrice, it was a life or death situation, and her rage led to her to her flying speed. Put Fluttershy in a race without any of those motivations, and no way will she show off her skill - the last thing she wants is to be noticed by anypony in general ("Green Isn't Your Color"). Now, we all know that filly Fluttershy was a poor flier by her self-admittance, but there is a difference between flight acrobatics (what the Wonderbolts have and what Rainbow Dash aspires to be), and straight-up speed. Furthermore, Fluttershy may herself be unaware that she can fly that fast; she's never tested herself, and her mind likely wasn't on that factor when she was trying to catch up to Rainbow Dash.
 * Nah. It took the Power of Friendship for Fluttershy to catch up to Discorded Dash, who was motivated mainly by apathy and disloyalty. If Rainbow had had the Power of Friendship on her side too, Fluttershy would be eating her Rainboom trail.
 * But in "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" she flew past Rainbow effortlessly.
 * Sure. Going in the opposite direction. Rainbow's own speed would only have been helping her there.
 * It wasn't Friendship (at least, in the sense that Fluttershy was doing this to help RBD directly): she only got to her top speed when Twilight reminded her that if she lost RBD, Ponyville would remain Discorded forever, hence yet another situation where the safety of her friends drives her to unusual actions. Furthermore, even if we're talking a Discorded RBD, she was fleeing to initially save "Cloudsdale" and then subsequently for her own life; there's no reason she'd not be breaking her top speed to do so.
 * Ah, but doing things you normally can't do for the safety of your friends is what Power of Friendship is all about!
 * Well, again, consider that for several minutes, while loaded as described above, Fluttershy at least matched speed. When she started to drag (putting RBD out of AJ's lasso reach), that's when Twilight spurred her Power of Friendship into gear, which I accept boosted her speed. But before then -- that's where the gotcha is that suggests Fluttershy can normally fly faster than RBD, but certainly can't sustain that speed.
 * It's somewhat confirmed in "Secret of My Excess" that Fluttershy can go as fast as Rainbow Dash, and that they both are aware of that fact.
 * Although in that case they were trying to arrive at the same time. Still, at least it proves Fluttershy isn't a weak flyer anymore.
 * Interestingly, their poses and expressions show that Fluttershy is uncomfortable and impressed with the speed, while Rainbow is more at her element. It's also weird that they go fast enough for Rainbow Dash to leave a rainbow trail, but Fluttershy doesn't leave one.
 * A possible case of Unreliable Narrator and Rule of Funny, but in the opening of "Cutie Mark Chronicles" when Scootaloo is hinting at going to see RBD about her cutie mark story, she has trouble getting the other two to see this. Scoots puts up "the coolest pony", and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle offer up their respective sisters; then Scoots talks about the bravest pony, prompting both to suggest Pinkie Pie (which is essentially true). Then Scoots suggests the fastest pony from Cloudsdale, and both AB and SB put out "Fluttershy". They may know something that Scootaloo would purposely be oblivious to (given that RBD's her hero), and a "fact" that has never been discussed because there's no need to discuss it that otherwise all the other ponies happen to know about.
 * Further supported at the beginning of Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, when Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are flying to Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy is seen flying just as fast as Rainbow in the scene with the bunny. Before that, she's seen flying with no visible effort, while talking to Rainbow.

Fluttershy is a Physical Goddess on par with Celestia
She's capable of matching all her friends at their specialties: the Stare can subdue monsters Twilight cannot; she can fly as fast as Rainbow Dash; she knows at least as much about sewing as Rarity; she can take all the apples off a tree faster than Applejack (and with less effort), and she can be just as wild as Pinkie Pie. The only reason Ponyville isn't serving at her hoof is that she's simply too sweet and shy and would never be comfortable with such worship.

Fluttershy came from a wealthy (possibly noble) family in Cloudsdale
There are a few partially unexplained things about Fluttershy that could be answered through this possibility:
 * Appearance: Despite doing a lot of work with animals and nature, Fluttershy is always shown to be clean and groomed with her mane just as neat and routinely styled as the rest of the cast. Considering she is considered supermodel material in "Green Isn't Your Color" it's evident that she more than knows how to keep up her appearance. Someone of a high-class background would often be expected to keep up appearances and it's possible Fluttershy keeps herself looking good out of old habit her parents instilled in her.
 * Would also explain her knowledge of "French coutour" (or however it's spelled)
 * Personality: Element of Kindness aside, Fluttershy has shown a tendency to be rather condescending when pushed, evidenced by her irritation at Pinkie Pie's comment in "Griffon the Brush Off"- resulting in her infamous "I'm a year older than you" line, as well as her uncharacteristic outburst/sewing rant (Complete with the snooty nose-up motion and "Hmph") in "Suited for Success" could mean that as a foal she was brought up to feel somehow superior to other ponies. These could perhaps be a result of this upbringing. As far as her usual demure persona goes, this could be normal for a more traditional patriarchal family that often comes with stereotypical upper-crust elites. Fluttershy, as a growing filly, was expected to be soft-spoken and subservient. On top of an already shy and submissive temperament, this shaped Fluttershy's outward personality early in life and later became her usual as she had no parental figure to learn otherwise from in Ponyville, which she had to adapt to on her own. Since no one told her otherwise about her soft-spoken demeanor, it never changed and grew to define her.
 * Known Past: Fluttershy was shown to be bullied in her youth as evidenced by "Cutie Mark Chronicles." While her weak flying could have been a result, one can ask WHY she was a weak flyer growing up. Someone in high-class society wouldn't NEED to fly all over the place and thus had no need to develop the same kind of muscle that most pegasi were expected to have at her age. (On a side note, the animals brushing her off at the Grand Galloping Gala may have brought back memories of the bullying, helping spur along her breakdown.) Fluttershy also somehow knows a lot about sewing despite it having nothing to do with her cutie mark or special talent. Where did she learn this? If she was of Cloudsdale upper-class then she could have gained this knowledge due to spending time having to listen to custom tailors if her parents insisted on her looking nice for major events in the city or even in general.
 * Means of living: Just what does Fluttershy do for a living? It's shown she takes care of the animals around Ponyville, yes, but even IF it pays at all the wages given to what amounts to a city park manager or groundskeeper can't possibly afford her weekly trip to the spa with Rarity unless Rarity pays for the both of them. While we know Fluttershy didn't return to Cloudsdale after receiving her cutie mark, there is no reason she wouldn't at least visit her family from time to time. However, there is the possibility of said parents no longer being around at this point, thus there being nothing for her to return to in the first place. Either way, with a high-class background, she either has an inheritance or some sort of allowance.

Fluttershy is left hooved.
At the end of the play in "Hearth's Warming Eve," the actors take a bow to the audience. All of the other five of the Mane Six raise their right front hooves to make the gesture, but she lifts her left.

Fluttershy is NOT secretly evil/dominant/violent/psychotic.
She is exactly who she appears to be--though she is occasionally put into situations where she cannot act herself. This is supported by her name, something proven to be integral to pony's identity and personality, and her element of kindness. Fans constant corruption of her is a result of their own various issues.

Evil Fluttershy will return at some point.
And she will pull a Sakura Haruno and kick the Big Bad, that attempted to possess her, out of her head.

Fluttershy is related to the vet from "Secret of My Excess".
It's popular fan theory that Fluttershy has earth pony ancestry. The unnamed veterinarian from "Secret of My Excess" just happens to be an earth pony with a yellow coat. Coincidence, or a talent for working with animals running in the family? The two are related in some way, and given what "Baby Cakes" has shown us about pony crossbreeds, it could be any relationship at all, although the nameless vet is obviously older. Is she Fluttershy's aunt? A big sister? Or could she possibly be... Flutter Mom?!

At the time of The Cutie Pox, Fluttershy was in Cloudsdale.
Likely for a family reunion or a funeral.

Fluttershy at some point had a traumatic run in with a dragon.
We've seen her in contact with basically Equestria's devil (Nightmare Moon) and Super Devil (Discord) without locking up. We've seen her react with the entirely appropriate amount of fear from a Hydra which lets face it is pretty much a dragon just with multiple heads. Sure it can't fly but Fluttershy so often forgets that she can fly that I'm not buying a dragon is more threatening because it can fly. I supose we can argue about breathing fire vs four heads and which is more frightening but it seems unlikely that she'd treat a hydra as a "regular" threat and a dragon as so terrifying that the mere sound of it paralyzed her.

Fluttershy is a Caustic Critic.
She's painfully aware of the flaws in everything and everypony else, and constantly keeps herself from pointing them out due to actually being kind enough not to mention it. She worries enough about saying her thoughts by accident that she overcompensates and avoids giving any opinion at all, hence her general shyness. She occasionally lets people hear her critical side, either politely or... otherwise. Putting Your Hoof Down displays what happens when she gives up on being polite.

Fluttershy's actions in "Putting Your Hoof Down" were a delayed reaction to Discord's attempt to break her
Think about it, how did Discord try to break her? By telling her everyone thinks she's weak and helpless. What happens in this episode? She realizes the other towns ponies take advantage of her and even her own friends think she's an Extreme Doormat. She originally accepted it, but now she sees even her friends think its a bad thing. Maybe it wasn't a conscious choice, but some part of her realized that Discord was right and her kindness made her "weak", causing her to turn into Fluttercruel again. This makes her Jerkass Realization more awesome because she overcame what was essentually a Discording on her own!

Gilda and Rainbow Dash had a romantic thing in flight school.
Which probably ended when Rainbow Dash got booted out, or never did end. I just get the vibe that Gilda thinks of Rainbow Dash as more than a friend.
 * Gilda isn't a pony, therefore she did not live in Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash probably met her on the racing circut or on a joy-flight after she got her cutie mark.
 * However they originally met, we know they were at a flight school together because 'only for Dash' would Gilda recite the chant.
 * I'm amazed this wasn't already on here. No one wants to see WMG taken over by pairings (because, let's face it, it could go on for pages) but it's certainly more valid than most ships.
 * Another possibility is that Gilda has a crush on Rainbow Dash, but never said anything. That also expalins why she hates Pinkie Pie so much: She thinks Her and Rainbow are in a relationship and naturally wouldn't be happy with it. This also explains why Gilda looks down on everypony but Rainbow.
 * Going on from that idea, Gilda was bullied at flight school too and her attachment to Rainbow grew from that. She has the same massive chip on her shoulder as Rainbow does only much worse, and is pointlessly aggressive to everyone save for her. Makes me wonder if they didn't have some kind of 'You and me against the world, screw the system, not gonna get us' kind of thing going, and that Rainbow might not have returned the feelings back then out of simple camaderie and desire for affection. The problem is that Rainbow Dash has since acquired some actual Character Development and realised the whole world isn't out to get her, and that she doesn't have to project this bitch queen persona to defend herself (within reason, this is Rainbow 'I'm awesome, yay me' Dash). Unfortunately Gilda... hasn't.
 * Perhaps Gilda has become so attached to Dash because she is one of the few, perhaps only, pony she's met who isn't intimidated by a big and rather scary-looking (from a pony perspective) griffon. We know Dash would face anything regardless of what anypony else would think. Trouble is Gilda doesn't know when to back down, has a temper, and doesn't want to share Dash. If so, one has to wonder how Gilda fares amongst her own kind.

There was a truly spectacular Rainbow Dash/Pinkie Pie fight offscreen during "Party Of One".
So apparently, Rainbow Dash had to drag an unwilling Pinkie Pie to the party offscreen. But this is Pinkie Pie we're talking about here. Surely she was able to put up a better fight then just moping. Clearly, Pinkie Pie turned her bakery into a Humongous Mecha, piloted by herself and her "new friends," terrorizing Ponyville while singing an amazing and spine-chilling Villain Song. Rainbow Dash was barely able to defeat her by decapitating the robot with a Sonic Rainboom, and dragged the defeated Pinkie Pie from there. The main cast never noticed because the barn is soundproof, and no one pressed charges because it was Pinkie's birthday.
 * Suddenly, it's Sugar CRUSH CORNER! Rainbow has to fly back to the Library ... which becomes the Fortress of Knowledge! PINKIE PIEEE!!
 * Seems unlikely. This is the sort of thing Pinkie would probably be more capable of in her normal state of mind.

Rainbow Dash is related to Princess Celestia in some way.
The existence of Prince Blueblood proves that Celestia can, in fact, have younger relatives. Who is to say she doesn't have more? Rainbow Dash does have something special about her, if not for the rainbow mane, (she is the only pony we see who has one) for the fact that she's been the only pegasi known to pull off a Sonic Rainboom. Seeing how many pegasi not only have flying as a special talent, but do it professionally and are known all through Equestria for it, the fact that Rainbow Dash has been the only one to do a Sonic Rainboom could imply that there is something unique and perhaps magical about her.

The Sonic Rainboom is powered by the element of loyalty.
This is why Rainbow Dash has only ever managed to perform the Sonic Rainboom twice, even after she's put all that effort and training into her flying. The effect will only happen when you combine supersonic speed with unselfish loyalty to others. The first time it happened, she was concentrating on standing up for Fluttershy, and the second was done while attempting to rescue Rarity (and her Wonderbolt idols).


 * Jossed by A Canterlot Wedding part one and two. Rainbow Dash is able to perform the Sonic Rainboom at will, now. It appears to take very little effort at this point, as well.

Rainbow Dash is a trans mare.
Which is to say, born physically a stallion but identifying as a mare. She comes across to this troper as less of a tomboy and more like an actual boy, judging by her voice (she sounds like a prepubescent boy, like Spike) and way of movement (she seems to fly and fight more like the way a stallion would). Stallions are also noticeably more aggressive than mares, and Dash is the most aggressive, both physically and socially. Dash may have been born a stallion, but stallion mentality may simply not have felt right to her, whereas interacting with the rest of the mane cast as a mare gives her the social network that feels right. (It's also possible that she's a gelding, but try explaining that to the kids.)
 * Considering the main reason for gelding is to make a colt calmer and more manageable (and m-to-f sex changes involve castration) I'd say it's more likely she's a transstallion who just started testosterone therapy.
 * This was Jossed; Rainbow Dash was shown, as a young child, to be female. Her bullies referred to her as female, she looked and sounded female, and she isn't that manly.
 * Spike is voiced by Cathy Weseluck (that is, a woman).
 * She doesn't need to be a trans mare or trans stallion to be as aggressive as she is. I think she may just be more of a "boss mare" type pony.

Rainbow Dash has a monochromatic sibling.
This sibling is basically a black, white, and gray recolor of Rainbow Dash's colors. This is all for Rule of Funny.
 * Black Tornado?
 * White Lightning?
 * Lightning Flash?
 * No you guys, isn't it obvious? Grayscale Dash.
 * Ink Jet?

Rainbow Dash had a serious crush on Fluttershy back in summer flight camp.
We know that Fluttershy is considered supermodel-level beautiful by Equestrian standards. Might not that have been why Dash was so motivated to come to Fluttershy's defense in the flashback in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"? Also, consider the language Dash uses when describing the incident: "I stood alone against all odds to defend Fluttershy's honor." "Defend Fluttershy's honor"? That's the language of courtly love, the sort of thing that a knight might say when describing fighting a duel to defend his lady-love.
 * I disagree. We've seen how honor is a large thing among pegasi from Hearth's Warming Eve, and one must note that Rainbow Dash is much more respectful than the bullies. She didn't like seeing a meek pegasus get bullied. If anything, Rainbow Dash does like being a heroine.

Rainbow Dash is nowhere near the fastest flier in Equestria.
It seems to be implied that by performing a Sonic Rainboom (and being the only one who has ever done so), Dash is the fastest flier ever. However, you would think that the Wonderbolts would jump at the chance to integrate her into their team, wouldn't you? Instead, they almost completely forgot about her in a very short period of time, not remembering her name at all by the time the Gala came around. It's much more likely that she's the first person to perform a Sonic Rainboom simply because she's the fastest pony with a rainbow color scheme to produce the effect with; she's fast, but the Wonderbolts may be able to run circles around her.
 * The Wonderbolts are stunt fliers. Speed isn't as important to them as agility or technique. Dash's technique might still need some work despite her being the fastest.
 * Seeing as how she's earned herself the nickname Rainbow Crash, Dashie might need a lot of work in that area. She's fast, but not exactly what I'd call graceful.
 * It's possible that the Wonderbolts are, traditionally, a team of six, no more or less. There's just no room on the team for a seventh member. However, if/when one of the Wonderbolts retires/dies/suffers a career ending injury, Dash is the first one they'd call. Considering they've been around since Dash was a filly, they probably have had members looking to retire. I could see Dash having mixed feelings about replacing a dead/injured Wonderbolt. She might worry if her desire to be a Wonderbolt somehow jinxed the one she's replacing.
 * Also, she has performed the sonic rainboom twice, the first time unintentionally, and the second time in extremis. She was not able to do it in practice. The Wonderbolts might love to incorporate the rainboom into their act, but how can they until Dash can perform it consistently on demand?
 * Fixed by the Royal Wedding - it's shown that Dash can perform the Rainboom at will.
 * Maybe they're already trying to induct her. It just requires a lot of paperwork.
 * The Wonderbolts are FORMATION Fliers. The ability to coordinate as a team is probably more important to them than INDIVIDUAL stunt ability. Rainbow Dash has yet to demonstrate the ability to perform as a subordinate in a stunt group.
 * On the other hand, she has demonstrated a tendency to crash into things. Even if her tricks are downright dazzling, it's entirely possible that she'd be an absolute disaster as part of a stunt team; there's too many other ponies, too close, and even just grazing each other's wings could cause them to spiral out of control and result in a mid-air domino effect that would result in the entire squad getting a faceful of cloud, and that's if they're lucky.
 * I think this is the most likely explanation. Sure, she's fast, but she has little to no experience in formation flying - only alone. Even in Winter Wrap Up she's seen to be the captain, but does little flying of her own, just pointing the squads where to go.
 * Also, she won the Young Fliers' Competition. It's possible ponies just don't join the Wonderbolts until they're older.

"Rainbow Dash" isn't her real name / Rainbow Dash is a natural blunette/violette with really girly hair.
As a filly, she grew up hearing myths and stories about various flying feats and legends, but the one that stuck out the most to her was the Sonic Rainboom. Shortly after enrolling in her first flight schools, she stylized her mane and dyed it rainbow, partly to come off as more masculine (note the focus of hot colors on her head), partly because of bullies and partly because she hoped it would make the Rainboom easier to perform in the future (tying into the above WMG) and make her performances cooler. She also took on "Rainbow Dash" as a sort of stage name, only for it to stick for the rest of her life, and never told any of the other mane 6 about her real name (Firefly?) because her childhood bullying left her embarrassed about her natural appearance.
 * I was just coming here to point out almost the same thing. I don't know about the girly mane, but I do believe that her hair is naturally a darker blue than her body, corresponding to the outline of her mane. It looks to me like she dyes it for the other colors to look cooler, seeing as all the other ponies have 2-3 color max. Actually, I'd be willing to bet that all - or at least most - ponies naturally have single-colored manes, and dying in a second color is just in style. Dash just took that to its logical extreme. (RD with an all blue mane actually does look a bit more feminine to me, actually. Look.)

Rainbow Dash can only go slightly faster than the speed of sound, not Mach five, three, or even two.
Assuming that the Sonic Rainboom needs to g at least mach 1.7; Rainbow Dash can do tis with diffficulty if she goes straight down. therefore, Rainbow can only go at Mach 1-1.5 speeds regardless of the apearance of the cone.
 * As of the season 2 finale Rainbow Dash is capable of busting out Sonic Rainbooms at will, while flying straight up.

Rainbow Dash is a faster flyer than Fluttershy, but Fluttershy is more powerful.
Just as a Lamborghini is faster than a Mack truck, but the truck is more powerful. Of course, a fully-loaded truck would be able to overtake a sports car that was towing an equal amount of weight, or even a vaguely comparable amount of weight; sports cars just aren't designed for freight hauling. Rainbow Dash has spent years training to maximize her airspeed and racing abilities, whereas Fluttershy is constantly carrying the animals she cares for from one place to another, and is constantly transporting their food, and so forth. As a result, when Fluttershy was chasing Dash in "The Return of Harmony, Part 2", she was able to overtake her despite the fact that Dash was only hauling two ponies while Fluttershy was dragging an entire hot-air balloon; Dash was slowed down much more than Fluttershy was.
 * Debatable, as a hot air balloon has to be able to rise by itself, and does so by being lighter than air, so Fluttershy might have only had to deal with drag, while Rainbow Dash had to carry the actual weight of Rarity and Pinkie Pie (and let's not forget that Pinkie Pie might be heavier than she looks, given her fondness for desserts.)
 * No, not really, because the drag caused by an entire hot-air balloon would be much greater. Compare running while towing, say, 300 pounds of weight on a wheeled cart versus running with a fully opened parachute behind you.
 * So that means Fluttershy had to deal with more drag when moving horizontally, but Rainbow Dash had to work harder just to keep herself in the air due to the extra weight. The question is: which is harder?
 * When flying, the easiest way to go faster is to fly downward, trading altitude for speed; having more weight on her doesn't really prevent Dash from doing that; having a buoyant hot-air balloon attached to her does make that a lot harder for Fluttershy.
 * But there is no sign of Rainbow Dash attempting to do that. If anything, she seems to be trying to climb even higher - which would be made more difficult with extra weight.

The mushroom cloud that occurred when Dash demolished Applejack's barn in "Lesson Zero" was not an atomic explosion or its equivalent.
It was a form of fuel-air explosion because, realistically, Ponyville would have been destroyed by even a nominal yield atomic explosion. But it is entirely possible to create mushroom clouds with conventional explosives. Granted, "atomic rainbomb" sounds cool, but there's no reason to think that that's what it was.
 * Well Duh! We know that already, but Atomic Rainboom flows better then Fuel-Air Rainboom.
 * I like the name: Massive Ordnance Air Rainboom AKA: Mother Of All Rainbooms AKA: MOAR!

Rainbow Dash will set up an annual rivalry with Princess Luna that will have them pranking each other every Nightmare Night
Because the only thing better than spending the night pranking random passerby is spending the night pranking the all-powerful Physical Goddess who's supposed to be scaring everypony else. And also because Rainbow Dash owes Luna one.

There will be a solo song for Rainbow Dash.
Everypony would like this. Perhaps in episodes from above WMG.
 * Oh god, do want!
 * The first song in S2 was a duet between Rainbow and Fluttershy in 'May The Best Pet Win', and so it had a bigger singing part for Dash than any, IIRC, of the other songs. Perhaps a solo - if given a 'cool' enough excuse - isn't far off?

Rainbow Dash will have to deal with feelings of rivalry towards Scootaloo
We already know that Scootaloo can put out a ridiculous amount of thrust; she's capable of towing the combined weight of all the Cutie Mark Crusaders plus Pinkie Pie at ludicrous land speeds without looking like its any particular effort for her. Once Scoot learns how to get proper lift as well as thrust, she's going to fly like a rocket. And Rainbow Dash, who's been encouraging Scootaloo the whole time, will have to suddenly confront feelings of jealousy as her young sort-of-protege is suddenly busting her air speed records (unless Rainbow Dash uses the Sonic Rainboom, of course, but Dash doesn't want to be a one-trick pony in the air). Possibly this could be ameliorated by Dash still being more maneuverable (as Scootaloo is also probably going to corner like a lead brick on a roller skate), but the basic moral challenge for Rainbow Dash will still be the same; can you be satisfied with just being one of the best, or do you have to be the best? Can you take pride in being the best at some things or do you need to be the best at every thing related to what you do? And if the latter, how can you do that at the expense of being jealous of your own student, and somepony who completely idolizes you?
 * Eh, if Scootaloo does manage to become faster than Rainbow Dash, I could see Dash taking it as proof she's so awesome it's contagious. Which is the better boast, after all? Faster flier, or second-fastest, and I taught the only one who beat me everything she knows.

Rainbow Dash wouldn't be a bad sister - just a very, very dangerous one.
The real reason she wouldn't be a very nice sibling to have is that she doesn't seem to understand that not everyone can handle the sort of thing she does on daily basis. Any little sister of hers would end up getting dragged through areas filled with dangers and monsters. While Rainbow would naturally do her best to protect her sibling, it probably wouldn't be a particularly good growing-up experience for the kid.
 * Alternatively, she would just be a very bad influence.

Rainbow Dash has only just begun tricking people after "The Mysterious Mare Do Well"
For as badly as her feelings were apparently hurt, she seems to let it go pretty easily. Clearly there is more to it. Even though she sees why her friends pulled their stunt, she's planning to trick them all in turn just to restore the karmic balance. Pinkie Pie and Spike just went first because they're really easy.

Rainbow Dash is constantly training to compensate for past failures
Which is to say she's making sure she can do things she's failed at doing once. For instance, in "Ticket Master" she and Applejack seem evenly matched at hoof wrestling, but by "Fall Weather Friends" she's able to win handily. In "May The Best Pet Win" she gets caught in an avalanche and pinned - and then in "The Mysterious Masked Mare Do Well" she successfully dodges the falling construction equipment. And now that she can dive bomb with enough force to demolish a building, the next time she decides to pick a fight with a dragon, it probably won't be nearly as one-sided as in "Dragonshy."

When Rainbow Dash has her total psychotic breakdown, it will be the most destructive of all.
You'll be seeing (atomic) rainbooms.
 * At first she'll just act depressed and try to withdraw as usual, but somepony will follow her and just keep annoying her until she won't be able to take it anymore.

Zapp Apples are connected to RD
How could they not? They're electric, speedy rainbow colored apples. For all we know they were made by one or both of RD's parents, with RD being a lab accident or someone who on purpose ate a prototype and gained her powers.
 * Rainbow Dash is basically what happens when a pregnant pegasus indulges her Zap Apple craving.
 * That is my new favourite theory

Rainbow Dash is just too young to join the Wonderbolts
Remember, she won the Young Fliers' competition, and Spitfire calls her 'little' pony. However talented she is, she's probably expected to grow up a little more before flying teams seriously look into recruiting her.

The reason Rainbow Dash can never get any cider is that she just doesn't want it badly enough.
Those ponies who manage to get in front of Dash? They're the ones really into Apple cider. And we should all be happy they're getting it.

Rainbow will attempt to write Daring Do Fanfiction.
Whether or not it's any good is up to anyone right now...

Rainbow Dash will get a "very special somepony."
The problem of the episode will be RD trying to find a balance between her loyalty to her new Boyfriend (girlfriend?) and her true platonic ones.
 * I don't think this will happen because one of the show's main goals is that there is more to being a girl then being obsessed with boys. Also, Rainbow Dash is probably the least likely one to be be caught up in romance anyway.
 * At Shinning Armor and Princess Cadence's wedding, she's shown dancing with Soarin.

Rainbow Dash is uncomfortable around those that could be considered "disabled".
The iTunes redub changed plenty of things with the scene, but one change that doesn't seem to gel well with the rest of the edits is the fact that Rainbow is nicer to Derpy/Ditzy. Which can paint a very different picture from before: Rather then being exasperated by Derpy's klutzy behavior, which would be normal for someone like Rainbow Dash, she now appears to be gentler with her, never mind the fact that it appears that Derpy/Ditzy now has no obvious signs of being disabled. This could raise a few eyebrows and gives the suggestion that Rainbow is giving "special treatment" for somepony who is perceived as being disabled. This can rub people the wrong way. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing as it could the basis of an entire episode's lesson. (You need to take other's needs into account, but it isn't good to take pity on their circumstances).

"20% cooler!" will become Dash's Catch Phrase.
Just as a little Fandom Nod.

Rainbow Dash was one of the ponies who teased Fluttershy about her flying in flight school.
She's so sympathetic to Fluttershy's angst in "Hurricane Fluttershy" partly because of her guilt in being part of what made her so self-conscious in the first place.
 * Probably not, or at least not to the same extent as the others. The pegasus race in The Cutie Mark Chronicles started with Rainbow sticking up for her, after all. In fact, she could have been sympathetic toward Fluttershy because she was always the one who stuck up for her.

Rainbow Dash is the last descendant of an ancient race of special Pegasus.
These Pegasus are now mostly extinct. They were more powerful than other Pegasus, Rainbow colored and the only ones ever capable of creating the Sonic Rainboom. As they all do, the Rainbow Pegasus mingled with other ponies. Over the centuries after the last pure Rainbow Pegasus passed, the race was forgotten, but the Sonic Rainboom was legend because no Pegasus alive could do it. Along comes this plucky little rainbow-colored filly who's Rainbow Pegasus genes have completely resurfaced.

The Wonderbolts would accept Rainbow Dash into their ranks, but they don't want her to lose heart.
The Wonderbolts do not accept her, not because of her not being good enough, but with her own good in mind. They like Rainbow Dash enough, but they know that joining them is her dream, and if they take away her dream but letting her fulfill it, they take away her drive and spirit. The Wonderbolts want Rainbow Dash to still have something to shoot for, still have a dream, which is the real reason they don't accept her.

The reason Rainbow Dash often takes naps during the day is because she works more often than any of the others.
Celestia may have to raise the sun each day, but the pegasi control the weather basically manually. Perhaps they wake up earlier than all the other ponies to move all the cold nighttime air out or perform some other early-morning weather manipulation. In fact, considering that keeping the weather going is the pegasi's job, one might wonder when RD actually gets any sleep. When she goes on shift, it messes with her circadian rhythm so much that she has no difficulty dozing off in the middle of the day. It's the same principle as Applejack with her family's apple orchard, but since we see the series more from the earth pony perspective, we see a lot more of Applejack's handiwork firsthand than RD's.
 * There could be an episode focusing on this in a future season. Everybody thinks Dash is just habitually lazy, but when somepony (probably Twilight) tries to figure out why, they figure out that Dash is more hard-working than any other pony in Ponyville. They apologize for calling Dash lazy, dear Princess Celestia, roll credits.
 * Also, when Rainbow Dash isn't working, she's training. Even if you are an Olympic-caliber athlete you can't do that all the time without needing to rest. So Rainbow Dash operates on the 'go until you can't go any more, then catch some Z's, then get up and go again' system... which also fits her temperament.

In "Applebuck Season", at least a few of the times that Twilight showed up to talk to Applejack were hallucinations.
The example I was thinking of was when Twilight used a series of Teleport Spam to maintain a conversation with Applejack, when it would have probably taken a lot less energy and time to simply walk alongside Applejack and continue the conversation that way. The hallucinations were simply AJ's mind being so exhausted that her subconscious was conjuring up a reasonable authority figure to convince her to rest. And if that one was a hallucination... why not others?

Applejack is made of Dark Matter.
How else could she be heavy enough to launch Rainbow Dash into the stratosphere, regardless of how tired she was?
 * Here's why this is true http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muVfidujxRg
 * Well consider how light a pegasus must be. If they can fly using wings that small and stand on clouds, the must have a very low density. Earth ponies, on the other hand, are much tougher and heavier than unicorns or pegasi, which has been all but outright stated in-series. Exactly how high Rainbow was launched was exaggerated for comic effect. She was really only launched onto Twilight's balcony on the other side of town, and only because she had fallen over on the platform and wasn't able to control her flight.
 * The counter point to this is air resistance. Suppose Applejack weighs as much as a regular pony and Rainbow Dash weighs a negligible amount. Since they're on a see-saw, Rainbow Dash cannot go up faster than Applejack goes down, this in effect puts a cap on her initial launch speed. Now if her mass is very low and her initial velocity is limited, her Kinetic Energy and Momentum are consequently very low. However Rainbow Dash still has the surface area of a normal sized pony, meaning she'll experience drag similar to a normal pony, who aren't particularly aerodynamic. Thus air resistance would rapidly slow her down if she wasn't actively applying thrust. Since the drag force is broadly similar to a normal pony and her kinetic energy is significantly lower.

Applejack is really Apple Bloom's mother.
The Apple parents never seem to be around. In "Bridle Gossip", Applejack tells Apple Bloom she'll tell Big Macintosh on her, conforming that Big Macintosh is the highest authority figure, and that the parents aren't just off-camera. As seen in the flashback in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", AJ's parents weren't around when she was a filly either, suggesting they died when she was still young. Significantly, Apple Bloom isn't around too. This leads to the conclusion that Apple Bloom is in fact the result of a teenage pregnancy, and they're just passing her off as Applejack's sister to avoid embarressment. As for who the father is, well, considering Applejack's love for her family...
 * Maybe the father is just some ex-coltfriend AJ had in the pony-version of high school. Either way, its unlikely Hasbro would approve of any hint of teenage pregnancy in the show.
 * Applejack only seems to be in her early twenties in the show (in human years), and Applebloom seems to be about eleven or so, just by how she acts and talks. Unless ponies can reproduce very early, this is unlikely, though something Applejack might do.
 * Alternatively, Apple Bloom is Big Macintosh's daughter, from a previously relationship with a mare who may now be dead.
 * But can you really see that happening to Big Macintosh?
 * Another possibility is that Apple Bloom is the daughter of Big Macintosh AND Applejack, they're just telling her that their siblings in order to hide the fact that Applejack got pregnant at a really young age, and they were forced to get married. This would also account for the fact that Apple Bloom's coat is a combination of Big Mac and Applejack.
 * You'd expect that someone else in the small town of Ponyville would tell her that her "big brother and sister" are actually married. Incest would be slightly easier to cover up from everyone.

The reason Applejack couldn't sell anything at the Gala was not because everypony there was too stuck-up.
It was because there was a free buffet inside. Seriously, if you were invited to a very nice party in which there was a free buffet inside, would you pay money for a snack outside? Prince Blueblood was a jerk about it, but none of the guests were really being unreasonable.

Applejack will sing with a band called "Hello Seapony"
And Rainbow Dash will snark about being able to sing better.

Applejack and Princess Luna are the Same Pony
Long ago, Sir Isaac Newton proved that the same force with pulls an apple from a tree, is also the same force that causes the moon to stay in orbit. Apple-buckin' is actually a Gravity Master trick that Applejack makes people think is just her kicking the apples off. Why else would they all fall perfectly into whatever buckets happen to be by the tree? Applejack controls Gravity Luna controls Gravity it is not a coincidnece!!!
 * ALSO. Luna is best pony. Applejack is best pony. Quid pro quo.
 * But Newton never said anything about an apple, that was an example someone made later. Which means...Applejack doesn't really exist!

AJ is a reincarnated Sandy Cheeks.

 * This right here is my favorite Applejack WMG. I really hope it's canon.

Applejack is a robot.

 * She was obviously made by other ponies for manual farm labor that no one else wants to do. That's why she's the element of honesty. Unless programmed to, a robot is basically incapable of lying. The episode where she was "tired" was obviously a malfunction in her processor that made her work and work at the expense of rest, which even a robot needs because most machines need to replenish their fuel reserves somehow. I'm guessing that AJ is solar powered and needs to "sleep" out in the sun to recharge her batteries.

Applejack is immortal.
This is why she's the only remaining G1 pony. The other member's of the Apple clan are in on the masquerade (Apple Bloom might not be, yet), and the flashback to when she got her cutie mark was a lie.

Rarity's accent is fake.
The ability to change yourself into a better person by clever accessorizing is a key part of her character, and there is evidence behind it. Many people have noticed that her accent vanishes when she sings, and during her mental breakdown it goes all over the place. Her sister doesn't seem to share it either.
 * This is almost necessarily true. Her accent is known as a Trans-Atlantic (Tidewater) or Mid-Atlantic accent, which simply does not occur in nature. It can develop if you spend a lot of time living in both the eastern American seaboard and in various parts of Europe, but most commonly it is taught specifically as a way to sound high-class.
 * A continuation from this idea. We will meet her parents, and they will have some painfully hick accent that she's desperately tried to escape from.
 * Or she just wanted to sound sophisticated.
 * Assuming that she's from Ponyville too, I can imagine her natural accent being similar to Applejacks. Maybe that's why they didn't get along at first.
 * And now we've seen her parents, her mother sounds like she's from Long Island and her father sounds like he's from Wisconsin
 * Highly likely, given that Sweetie Belle doesn't share the accent.
 * Keep in mind Rarity has a song actress
 * She can't do an accent? Then again, people often lose their accents when singing.
 * Rarity mainly lacked her accent as a Filly, when at that age your accent should more-or-less be set. She also looses her accent way too much to not be intentional.
 * As I mentioned on the headscratchers page, her friends seem to be aware of this too. In the imagine spots in A Dog and Pony show, it seems the rest of the cast imagine her with a slightly more exaggerated accent than normal, such a caricature suggests they find it a bit silly.
 * Well, judging by her parents, this seems pretty much Confirmed.
 * In response to everyone above; What does where her accent is from have to do with its legitimancy?

Alternatively…

Rarity went to design school at a place where the locals used a Trans Atlantic accent.
Her current accent is therefore the combination of her original Ponyville accent combined with that accent, and it fluctuates based on her emotional state and how much she wants to emphasize it.
 * This is plausible - a lot of people who go to college or boarding school out of state find themselves losing their accent or gaining the one from where they now live. I don't see why it would be different with ponies.

Everything that happened in Sonic Rainboom was exactly according to Rarity's plan.
She realized Rainbow Dash wouldn't be able to pull of the titular move unless the life of her friend depended on it, so she had to ensure that without Dash pulling off the Sonic Rainbow, Rarity would die. Hence why she made sure she was the one to be given wings with Twilight's spell, why she went on a massive ego trip upon arriving in Cloudsdale (joining the Best Young Flyers Competition out of the blue would've raised too many eyebrows), why she pulled an Icarus, and why she kicked the Wonderbolts out of commission when they came to her rescue. It was all part of her brilliant plan.
 * Since she couldn't be sure that Rainbow Dash would be able to pull it of, calling this a brilliant plan is somehow inadequate.
 * Gambit Pileup? There's no guarantees that she could get up to Cloudsdale, get herself entered in the tournament, or that her wings would burn up (if that even WAS part of her plan). I think it was more along the lines of… "she entered the contest to help her friend shine, she took so long in the dressing booth because she only knows how to make herself look fabulous, and really needed to try looking as she does." It may also be that when she flew up, all she was planning to do was pretend to faint, counting on RD's loyalty to come save her. The wings disintegrating may not have been part of her plan, and the entire thing felt like some kind of Indy Ploy from the time she agreed to enter the contest.

Rarity was originally a human who somehow ended up in Equestria and got transformed into a unicorn. Sweetie Belle is her sister by adoption.
Consider these facts. Rarity and Sweetie Bell have different accents. In "Suited for Success" Rarity wonders what ponies are supposed to wallow in. And, in "Best Night Ever" she's the only one who cares that they're getting dressed when Spike wants to come in. B. Thats no excuse. and C. The only fashionista is Ponyville.
 * Do Want an episode about!
 * A. She's got a Mid-Atlantic accent, a hybrid of American and British used by people trying to sound "cultured", and she didn't have the accent as a filly. B. She was trying to say "wallow in self-pity" but wasn't exactly in her right mind. C. She's a fashionista.
 * Will you stop trying to Joss all these theories!?
 * A. Why does no one else have a Trans-Atlantic accent?

Rarity is far-sighted.
It's a mild case, but it's the only practical reason I can think of her wearing glasses for dressmaking when she doesn't wear them normally. Either that, or she normally has contacts.
 * Maybe her eyesight just isn't that bad, so she can still see things okay. She has problems with fine details, which is why she wears her glasses when she works. Furthermore, it's a lot harder to make glasses for ponies that don't fall off, on account of the height differential between eyes and ears, which is why she doesn't wear them when she's out and about.
 * Rarity has perfect eyesight, but wears glasses while she works because she feels more focused that way.

Rarity only uses her first name for branding purposes.
Rarity's surname is Belle, but she only goes by Rarity, and never Rarity Belle, because she is trying to become a famous fashion designer, and, like many designers, artists, and celebrities, only uses her first name.
 * Mh, let's see… most members of the Apple Family have their family name positioned before their personal name (Apple Jack, Apple Bloom, etc.). If we assume that this is common practice in Equestria and not just an eccentricity of the Apple family, shouldn't Rarity's full name be Sweetie Rarity?
 * There's not really any evidence that this is a common practice in Equestria. It seems to be an eccentricity, as you put it, of the Apple clan to have apple-themed names as family markers rather than a specific family name; after all, many members of the Apple clan, such as Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, Braeburn, Red Gallant, Red Delicious, and Golden Delicious, do not have the word "apple" in their names at all, while Baked Apples has Apples as a last name. The norm seems to be that if there is any kind of surname at all, it is a family name, as with Mr. and Mrs. Cake, or as when Twilight is referred to as "Miss Sparkle" by one of the test administrators in "Cutie Mark Chronicles"; in other words, Equestrian nomenclature typically, although obviously not always, follows modern American norms and expectations.
 * This troper always thought Rarity's surname was Carousel, for Carousel Boutique, and thus her sister was Sweetie Belle Carousel. Then again, that's not much justification, is it?
 * Well, in the planning stages of the show, it was originally called Carousel Boutique because, in that plan, Rarity designed and made saddles and bridles like you see on carousel horses. But since they changed that, maybe her last name IS carousel. It sounds good as Sweetie Belle's last name.
 * It's possible, but we see a lot of ponies with two names so it's hard to tell which ones are using their full name and which ones are only using first names that happen to have two words.
 * There seems to be a certain amount of fanon going around that Rarity's father's name is "Magnum Fantastic" because of his glorious Selleck 'stache. So, Rarity Fantastic and Sweetie Belle Fantastic. And Mrs. Fantastic.

Rarity was in the Nightmare Night episode.
We just didn't see her because her costume was just THAT good.
 * That or she hadn't finished it yet/could not for the life of her get it right and was at home being melodramatic as she does. Exactly like with the nest Twilight made in Winter Wrap-Up. Because it was too fantastic to make properly, much like a Final Fantasy outfit can be to certain people. She just made it too awesome to actually make.
 * I'd like to imagine that she designed most of the costumes worn in the episode. She made so many that by the time she finished her own costume, she became tired, fell asleep, and missed the whole event. By the time she awoke, it was morning, but Sweetie Belle left her a bag of candy.

Rarity is an amateur fashion designer.
That is, she works solely for her love of beauty and her craft, not for profit. She appears to be a small business owner, but unlike Applejack, she never talks about money at all. She wants her creations to be worn all over Equestria, and gets worried when her deliveries may be late, but the financial side of her work never seems to come up in conversation. Her family is either independently comfortable enough for Rarity to sell all of her dresses at cost, or actually wealthy enough that she can literally make them for free, and simply give them to whomever she wants.
 * The financial side does come up plenty of times. In "Suited for Success", her friends talk about how the fashion show could get her a lot of business. When the fashion show results in disaster, she talks about how her business is ruined, not how it hurts her status as a fashion designer. (though that does come up) It's possible that she makes plenty of money from the dresses so doesn't usually have to worry about finances. And while finances don't come up as often, it's likely that Rarity cares about the art of the craft along with making money. And unlike Applejack, she doesn't have other people who depend on her business.

Rarity's OCD makes her an Unreliable Narrator.
In both "The Stare Master" and "Sisterhooves Social", Sweetie Belle manages to cause a disaster that takes hours for Rarity to clean up... at least, that's the way Rarity remembers it. Consider Twilight's bird nest in "Winter Wrap-Up" - it was just one badly made nest, and yet Rarity felt compelled to spend all day "fixing" it. More likely, Sweetie Belle made a minor mess in the boutique - spilling a basket of fabric samples, for example - and Rarity felt compelled to spend hours getting everything back into her perfect order. Likewise, this explains why Rarity's family were all fine with eating Sweetie Belle's charcoal breakfast - it actually wasn't that bad, Rarity is just compulsively picky about her food.
 * This is supported by the fact that Rarity found the smells of the cooking very pleasant--"divine" was the word she chose--while she was still lying in bed, half-asleep. As soon as she smelled a little smoke, and raced downstairs to see that it was Sweetie Belle doing the cooking, she decided breakfast must have been ruined, even though it was probably only slightly burnt. The bubbling bowl of charcoal that Sweetie Belle called toast was probably just perfectly good oatmeal that had been slightly charred on the very top only; Sweetie Belle was probably being ironical when she said "toast." After all, her sister had just guessed that something that was obviously oatmeal was applesauce, and Sweetie Belle probably thought that Rarity was making a joke, and that she herself was playing along. Because if Sweetie Belle were so catastrophically bad a cook as to turn bread into a bubbling bowl of black goop while trying to make toast, there is no way she could have produced the pleasant scents that Rarity identified as pancakes and spiced warm apple cider.

Rarity has a crush on Big Macintosh
After her Disastrous Date with Prince Blueblood, She quickly learned that it was traits, not titles, who made the pony more attractive. She then focuses her attention to the more likable bachelor ponies in Ponyville. She decides on Big Macintosh because he's strong, hardworking, gentle and wise. Her sleep-mutterings in "The Sisterhooves Social" were proof of this. She was dreaming that she and Big Macintosh had spirited away to a cider mill in some exotic locale, Why else would she be talking about so many apple-related scents?
 * Well, there's also the common fan shipping of RariJack...

Rarity is becoming a Breakout Character due to reflecting an artist’s struggle to become successful.
The show is made due to different types of artists working together, correct? As Rarity’s goal is to become a successful fashion designer, she is the most relatable to the show crew. Plus, almost each one of her episodes showcases one slice of life in that of a growing artist.
 * Sweet and Elite shows the difficult balance in keeping her hometown friends and connections while developing connections with those that can buy her work and advance her career.
 * Sisterhooves Social, while focused on Sweetie Belle, shows how an artist can get inspired by the most random of things like an organized drawer or a shrunken sweater.
 * Green Isn’t Your Color, shared with Fluttershy, shows how an artist can get envious of another’s success, and how acceptance over envy looks to be the better choice.
 * A Dog and Pony Show warns how if you try to steal another artist’s efforts, that same artist will make your life a living hell as hilarious as possible.
 * Suited for Success already had an interpretation before the assumed above theories. It was that fan-annotated MLP FIM episode on Youtube where it shows the different types of Executive Meddling an artist may have to confront in making their dreams concrete. It showed that while an artist should work and compromise to make his/her friends happy, the sacrifices should not go so far as to make the art suffer and take the artist for granted.
 * Look Before You Sleep was more about personal relationships than professional artistry. Although if you were looking for one concerning artistry, Rarity’s talent in topiary contributed to cleaning up the mess in the library, leading to never underestimate the skill set of an artist.

Rarity uses her gem-finding ability to stay financially solvent.
Because no one wears clothes except for special occasions, and she lives in a very small town instead of, say, Canterlot, where you could actually thrive as a fashion designer. When the cash gets lows, she just digs up some more gems and sells them to a jeweler. Easy Money.

Rarity will end up with Fancy Pants (assuming Fleur's not his wife) or with a prince
Spike will be jealous at first, but by the episode's end will decide he wants Rarity to be happy.

Rarity is hideously ugly by pony standards.
In Green Isn't Your Color she was completely ignored and trampled on while Fluttershy (Who is apparently an absolute stunner by pony standards) got tons of attention. It would also help to explain why she never seems to get famous or successful no matter how hard she tries or how many connections she makes; her looks just aren't good enough to sell her products. And if Spike is known for having very strange taste in food, why not also in ladies?
 * Unlikely, she did pretty well in "Sweet and Elite" as long as no one knew she was from Ponyville.

Rarity is really Sweetie Belle's mother.
This explains the awkward nature of their "sisterly" relationship, and why Sweetie Belle is constantly seeking attention and affection.

Rarity's natural hair color is green. The purple is only a dye.
It's very important for Rarity that she looks appealing and stylish. We know that she wears fake eyelashes and her accent is probably fake, too. It also explains why she was so shocked as Trixie turned her hair green.

Rarity trains in some form of martial arts as a hobby.
Whenever she gets into a serious fight, she prefers to get physical rather than use magic, and has a smile on her face as she does so. Sure, her magic isn't as strong as Twilight's but that doesn't explain her skill or enjoyment of combat. This also goes a ways towards explaining why she's in such good shape despite not caring for physical labor.
 * Rarity knows martial arts, not as a hobby, but for self defense. After being captured by the Diamond Dogs, she was worried about what would happen if she was ponynapped by someone who was not easy to manipulate. So she went to self defense classes.
 * Even in the pilot, she attacked that manticore right away. That implies that she's been practicing since before the start of the series, and she certainly seems to enjoy a fight, even if she doesn't start them.

Rarity will get married in Season 3

 * In part 2 of A Canterlot Wedding, she caught the bouquet. Subtle Foreshadowing, perhaps?
 * There was also a possible Ship Tease with Fancy Pants. Possible Relationship Upgrade incoming?

Rarity doesn't realize how well connected she is.

 * Despite being an aspiring social climber, Rarity isn't the sort to use her friends for personal gain, which means she has yet to realize that Twilight Sparkle is THE best pony she could possibly have as a best friend. Twilight is Celestia's personal protige, from a good family (she had a princess as a foalsitter), and as of the royal wedding, actually part of the royal family. Twilight, being more interested in studies than high society, hasn't realized it either, but the day one of them figures it out will be Rarity's big break.

Rarity is several years older than the rest of the mane cast.
(Based off the assumption that the rest of the Mane Six are in their late teens.)

In "The Cutie Mark Chronicles," we see her designing costumes for a school play. One of the foals on stage is clearly recognizable as a young Cheerilee. Now, if we assume that teachers in Equestria have to go through roughly the same sort of credential process that teachers in the United States do, Cheerilee would have to be at least 24 (human) years old. Now, Cheerilee might be a bit older than Rarity while still attending the same school (foals seem to look roughly the same until they suddenly become young adults), but that would still likely put Rarity in her early 20's. Additionally, of the Mane Six, Rarity is the only one who owns her own home and business. (The Apple family as a whole seems to own and run Sweet Apple Acres.)

Not that it makes any real difference in the show, but it might make some of the Rule34 stuff a bit less squicky.


 * Unlikely - Fluttershy is clearly the oldest of the group, just based on physical appearance. During their flashbacks to their cutie mark stories, Fluttershy is very obviously much larger than all the others, and now she's the same size as everyone else.


 * As for the business and home, well...
 * Twilight owns and runs the Ponyville library.
 * Applejack may not OWN Sweet Apple Acres, but she's fairly obviously the manager of their business.
 * Rainbow Dash owns a cloud mansion as a home. She's also the captain of the weather team - now, we don't know what "captain" actually means, but that is not an average job.
 * Fluttershy owns the cottage and obviously has some kind of business in order to feed and home literally hundreds of pets. Her actions and the fact that she has stocks of pills in the episode with Celestia's phoenix suggest she may be a vet.
 * In fact, the only of the mane six who DOESN'T own their own home or business is Pinkie.

Rainbow Dash wasn't the reason the rest of the mane six got their cutie marks. Rather, it was...
The bully who didn't crash into a pillar. Rainbow Dash wouldn't have made her first Sonic Rainboom if she hadn't had to beat him.
 * It was both of the bullies. If they hadn't been making fun of Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash wouldn't have needed to stand up for her.
 * No, it was Rainbow Dash. If she hadn't stood up for Fluttershy, the race wouldn't have happened in the first place.
 * Actually, it was Fluttershy. If she hadn't been there, she wouldn't have been made fun of by the bullies.
 * Really, it was summer flight camp. If it hadn't existed, all the pegasi there would've been in different places.
 * Post hoc ergo propter hoc?

The mane six got their Cutie Marks because of their Elements

 * Rainbow was being loyal towards Fluttershy by "defending her honor"
 * Applejack had to be honest with her feelings and realize she belonged at the farm
 * Fluttershy helped out the scared animals by being kind to them
 * Rarity was generous because she was single-hoofedly sewing costumes for the school play
 * Pinkie wanted to spread laughter to her family by throwing them a party
 * And Twilight was just plain magical
 * And, because Friendship is magic, she also met her first friend, Spike.

Each element is a two-edged sword.

 * Honesty: The wielder of Honesty can't consciously lie, but that doesn't prevent her from misjudging the situation and giving promises she can't keep (like in "Applebuck Season").
 * Doubtful, she gave the most convincing lie in "Party of One". Unless you think she sort of botched that lie too.
 * Look again; nothing she says in the entire episode is actually untrue, she's just selective with the truth. Not only that, Pinkie Pie clearly had the hardest time believing her excuse (which wasn't even technically a lie, and also quite in-character for Pinkie Pie, since she conversely buys Rainbow Dash's and Fluttershy's "house-sitting for a vacationing bear" excuse without a second thought) if the intense stare-downs are any indication; Applejack came very close to cracking.
 * Kindness: The downside of Kindness is, of course, indecisiveness and shyness. (Maybe this point needs some further thought.)
 * As of "The Best Night Ever", the downside of Fluttershy's Kindness is now proven to be a strong psychological need to be loved by the beings she cares about. *shudder*
 * Laughter: As we have seen, the wielder of Laughter is prone to mental instability as soon as no one laughs with her.
 * She also seems to have trouble taking things seriously.
 * Generosity: In order to give, you first have to acquire. That's why Rarity is always in search for more gems. So yes, paradoxically, the downside of Generosity is Greed.
 * Loyalty: Rainbow Dash's loyalty is permanently put to the test. For example, she dreams of joining another group (the Wonderbolts) that would most probably occupy all of her time. And what about her relationship to her old friend Gilda? The downside of loyality is that you can't prevent it to be constantly challenged.
 * Magic: Hm, that's a tough one. Can't come up with anything right now.
 * Inability to believe anything that she can't explain, maybe?
 * The downside of Magic appears to be Social Awkwardness. It's hard to say how exactly those two things tie together though.
 * Remember, Magic is also Friendship. And with Friendship comes the fear of doing something that might upset or offend your friends, losing them FOREVER -- hence, social awkwardness. It feeds into what held Twilight back from challenging Trixie, or her inner turmoil over keeping a secret she saw tearing two of her friends apart -- and then there was how she wanted to throw an absolutely perfect slumber party, and wanted to help out so badly during Winter Wrap-Up...
 * A more fitting one. Twilight is often the Only Sane Pony and the one smoothing the group together. This means she's doomed to have to act as the Mediator and bear the burden of having to settle disputes from her friends and make choices over them (as in Ticket Master).
 * "And Magic makes it all complete"?
 * Think about things more akin to the theological argument that overabundance of a virtue is just as much a vice as a lack of the trait. Applejack is Honest, but Honest to the point where keeping the truth harms everypony more than taking back her word openly did in Applebuck Season. Fluttershy's Kindness makes her a great friend, but it leads her to either holding even the slightest criticism in or letting an overwhelming flood of critique out on request (see her discussion of Rarity's dress for her). When she tries to be kind to animals that want to sleep, it leads to a massive negative feedback loop. Pinkie Pie's obsession with Fun exhausts others (at the Gala) and leaves her in a very bad state when left alone (in Party of One). Rarity's Generosity leads to her giving away too much in Suited For Success, throwing her ideas, time, and a big chance away to fit the mildest desires of others. Rainbow Dash's Loyalty makes her fall apart when competing with friends, and prevents her from realizing when a friend is being mean. Twilight Sparkle's interest in Magic leads her to try solving problems with magic that should not be (see Winter Wrap Up), get overwhelmed when such doesn't work (see Feeling Pinkie Keen), and leap to explanations involving magic when she shouldn't (see how she judged a book in Zecora's first episode).
 * So wait, the Mane Cast are Alphas? Best theory ever.

All six of the main ponies run between a little weird and occasionally psychotic.
Not to be over analytical, but... here goes nothing. I'll rate them on 1 to 5, based on possible danger.
 * There's a guess above that says that Twilight has Asperger Syndrome, which is a ball I'll roll with. I'm gonna rate her a 1, since she hasn't done anything that could hurt somepony. Also gonna say she has no trigger.
 * I guess it is time to rate her 5, or even, 6.
 * AND that episode does establish her personal trigger: the fear of disappointing and failing her teacher, Celestia.
 * There's also one that says Rarity has OCD. I'll roll with that one too and say the unicorns got the long end of the stick. Again, rated 1 with no trigger.
 * Applejack had that time she overworked herself and became sleep deprived. I don't know what to call this other than being too bullheaded for her own good. She probably wouldn't be hard to help if ponies caught on and stopped asking her to do stuff. It's also probably not a stretch to say her trigger (overly competitive) is not something you could easily pull on accident if you watch your tongue. I'll rate Applejack a 3, since she never did anything bad on purpose, but still did over propel that pegasus and practically poison plenty of ponies.
 * Pinkie Pie is very obviously weird, but not so obvious until it rears its head is how reliant she is on her friends. When she got it in her mind that her friends didn't like her anymore, she completely snapped and made surrogate friends out of a bunch of stuff. Add that with the hostility she acted with when Rainbow Dash showed up, and I think we've got a pony with the potential to be legitimately dangerous. I'm gonna give her a 5, with a hard trigger unless she gets panicky like she did.
 * I think that Pinkie Pie is more of a danger to herself' than to others when depressed; she's never shown honestly violent tendencies, and I'd say her reaction to Rainbow Dash showing up was less "bloodthirst" than it was thinly-veiled bitterness and resentment. What's much more likely is that Pinkie Pie would become a complete recluse, cutting off all contact with the world and perhaps negelcting to take care of herself.
 * Fluttershy cannot stand the idea of animals not liking her. The way she acts when this happens is pretty damn unnerving, and it seems like she could accidentally hurt somepony over this fury. Fluttershy gets a 3, since it doesn't seem like she'd do anything bad out of actual malice. Her trigger is probably hard to pull, since animals (save the ones at the Gala) generally do like her.
 * Rainbow Dash seems to rely on her ego to remain stable. When her ego was damaged in Sonic Rainboom, she had quite a panic attack. I think she'd be just as if not more demure than Fluttershy if her ego were eviscerated. I'll give her a 2, with a varying trigger (Rarity pulled it on accident, but it'd take a braggart capable of beating her to pull it on purpose) since it seems like she would hurt herself after a while.
 * You want to know why they're all such colorful (but potentially dangerous) nuts? They're time lords! We've even seen past regenerations of three of them: Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. Just look at them in the G3 videos. The same, but different.

The Cast's Aproximate Human Age.
While Word of God (Lauren Faust) says she wants to maintain certain ambiguity about their age, she stated that they are young adults. horses tend to reach maturity between age 6 ór 7 an average lifespan of 25 years, for this estimation I am making a 3:1 age ratio, a human reaches maturity between the 18 and 21 years old and average lifespan 75 (pretty fitting if you ask me).

Now, we know Fluttershy is the oldest of the ponies, and when the events of the sonic rainboom took place, she seemed like she was starting puberty, so i'll just say she's the oldest for now.

As for Applejack, we know that she had enough age to be allowed to go to live with a relative by her own choice. However, we know she was both a late bloomer (last on her class to get a cutie mark) yet younger than Apple Bloom when she left (Apple Bloom still obviously a Elementrary school child, and I would not say older than say 4th grade, so that restricts the age span between 6/2 or 10/3.1/3 age). Now, I'll assume a 9/3.0 age when she left, and that she probably spend a lot more of time that it was showed on the flashback with their Aunt and Uncle Orange. Let's say she lasted 1 Year/4 Months, so when the sonic rainboom happened she was 10/3.1/3 years.

Now, Rarity Seems to be a similar age to Applejack or Fluttershy. As an adult, she seems to be one of the more mature ones (her NeatFreakness and occacional hamminess being a permanent aspect of her personality. Also note that despite Sweetie Belles's accidents related to her clumsiness, she takes it quite well. And in fact, she's quite supportive with her and the Cutie Mark Crussaders). Meanwhile as a filly, she was already old enough for be starting her own business (or at least being the one in charge of the school dresses) it seemed like she had being doing it for quite some time already, so I'll say, and since it's probably in the middle school/trimester year(more details on Twilight's guess) I guess she was 11/3.2/3 years old by then).

Now, as For Pinkie pie it has been stated that she's 1 year younger than Fluttershy. However, when most people talk about age differences, they tend to make big roundups, gennerally towards the lower number, so 1 year may be something between 9 months to 1 year and 9 months, in this case, I'm taking the wider option and say 1.7 human years and 5 pony years) and giving pinkie an age of 8/2.3 years and Fluttershy 13/4.1/ years, a good age for a girl starting puberty.

Rainbow Dash Was Starting on the Equestria's Junior Flyers Camp, I'll just take that as first grade of elementary school, 6/2 years.

And Finally, Twilight Sparkle. We know that when the events of the sonic rainboom happened, she was on the middle of her entrance exam, so I'll take it as that she was not on Elementary school yet. If you ask me that how did she learn to read and write if she wasn't on school yet, think about this; she was going to enter not on any school, bun on a high performance academy directed by the Goddess/Empress herself, so it is expected that any candidate has enough potential her/himself, so Twi probably learned at home and read a lot of books before ingressing (She probably started studying since age 4/1.1/3 when she saw Celestia and entered to kindergarden).

Now, in many important academies, the process would start with quite some anticipation, I am asuming the School system of Equestria also has the same ratio as the pony:human age, so a scholar cycle would last 1 year/4 months, that being said, i'm asuming they did twilights audition 1 cycle before starting her first elementary school year, at Age 5/1.2/3)

So also assuming 4/12 year passed since them, the actual human ages of the ponies would be:

Fluttershy - 8.1/3 - 25 years Rarity - 7.2/3 - 23(almost 24) Applejak- 7.1/3 22 Pinkie Pie - 6.2/3 - 20 (barely) Rainbow Dash - 18 Twilight Sparkle 17

Also I got another guesses of other characters: Trixie - 8.2/3 26(barely) Big Macintosh - 9 - 27 years(almost 28)(he was already on the puberty when applejack leaved the farm) Zecora - 9.1/3-28

Applebloom - 2.2/3 ->9(almost 10) Scootaloo - 2.2/3 -> 9 Sweetie Belle 2.2/3 - 9 (barely)

As for the Princesess, I am thinking a 1:100 ratio, that originally, Luna was "only" 300/3 years younger than luna, but when she got corrupted/sealed, she got age locked, and didn't age until released, while Celestia spend those 1000/10 years on the normal world aging. This troper also wants to point out that 1000 is not their age, but the time passed since Luna's rebellion. This troper thinks they both were "teenagers" by that time at ages 1700/1400 respectively, and in the present and due the age lock of Luna, their actual ages are 2700 and 1400 respectively.

Rarity would be the oldest due to having AN ACTUAL OCCUPATION leaving her at the 18 mark. Twilight is, we assume in the pony equivalent of High School, so 17 would work out for her. Rainbow Dash is a rebellious Tomboy and a possible homsexual, her need for air-speed could be considered the equivalent of a new driver with a shiny car. That would peg her at 16. Applejack does backbreaking labor on an apple farm, meaning she's still young and vigourous. She is 14 or 15. Fluttershy is shy and afraid of her own shadow, she adores woodland life and has moments that are just plain wierd. I would estimate she's at least 13. Pinkie Pie is borderline insane, always pumped with energy, aware of the 4th wall, has to be told what to do sometimes, random and the literal life of the party. She either has a stash of cocaine unlike the world has ever seen, or she's the youngest of the bunch. I peg her at 12 if she was the latter. Fluttershy and Rarity: 24 or 25. They seem to be the same age, and Rarity generally acts more sophisticated and older than the others.// Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash: 23 or 24. If Fluttershy was held back a year in flight came (likely), she would have been in the same grade as Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie is a year younger than Fluttershy.// Applejack: 22 or 23. She seems to be a bit younger, though this may be because she's always been the "little sister" and has a desire to prove herself.// Twilight Sparkle: 19-21. I always imagined her as the youngest of the group (though she's the cleverest). At the very least, she recently graduated or is still enrolled in Celestia's school, but is old enough to be trusted with responsibilities like helping prepare for festivals. It would also make sense that this is her first GGG (Grand Galloping Gala) (in season one), because students 18 and under cannot attend.//
 * Nope, sounds like a load to me. Word of God clearly states that their ages are between 12-18 (In human years, since these ponies age like us{Also Word of God).
 * Word of God said they're young adults, but they're mentally 12-18 (Depending on what works for the plot, I guess). Also that they develop different than humans.
 * That's very close to my guess, but I guessed Twilight closer to 24, influenced by the Grad student idea.
 * I don't think it's a good idea to assume ponies age faster than humans. Even though Pinkie Pie is a year younger than Fluttershy, they look about the same in age. That would not be possible if 1 pony year=4 human years.
 * As far as age goes, there's no reason the rather advanced Equestrian ponies should have the same life spans as wild ponies. Average human life spans are about double the average lifespans of bonobos, probably our closest relatives among the primates.
 * I'm curious as to why you place Fluttershy at an age that's older than the other mane ponies. You don't really explain why Fluttershy is the oldest other than "she seemed" like it.
 * Fluttershy flat out states that she is a year older than Pinkie Pie in "Griffon The Brush Off", and we assume that Pinkie Pie is roughly the same age as everyone else (granted, Pinkie might simply be younger than the rest).
 * I know, but in this WMG, Pinkie is almost a complete 2 human years younger than Fluttershy. You wouldn't round 1.7 human years down to one; you would round them up to two.
 * That's good. However, I would have ordered them:

Also, Big Macintosh is probably between three and seven years older than Applejack, or old enough that he is a wise figure and she looks up to him, but close enough in age that their childhoods overalapped. The Cutie Mark Crusaders actually seem like they're eleven or twelve to me, both in the way they act and in the way they speak. Zecora seemed older, between her thirties and fifties, to me.


 * While it gives no solid numbers, The Cutie Mark Chronicles could be interpreted as establishing the relative ages of the cast to each other: Twilight being enrolled in the unicorn school (presumably start of secondary education), Pinkie is "a year younger" than Fluttershy (beyond that no other clues to age), Rarity working on a school production, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash being at Flight Camp at the same time (all three presumably during their secondary education, possibly all same age) and Applejack old enough her family would let her move out on her own without any obstacle (she'd been established prior as the last in her class to get a mark, so late or maybe just-post school here). Based on a couple of assumptions this gives a rough order of the Mane cast's ages.


 * Fluttershy is noticeably lankier than the other five, but she could have just developed more quickly, or maybe she was just that way as a kid.
 * Fluttershy's proportions in the flashback are more like those of an actual young horse than any of the other ponies. Make of that fact what you will.

Without the Sonic Rainboom, the ponies would have had different cutie marks.

 * Rainbow Dash- Her love of flying but without causing a Rainboom would've caused a storm cloud with a red lightning bolt.
 * Fluttershy- Without the Rainboom to focus her love of the ground would of decided to help all ground things grow and be health animals and plants resulting in Posies as her cutie mark with bonus points for a Mythology Gag.
 * Rarity- After her magic brought her to the rock, instead of finding the gems she was inspired to make more eclectic designs, making her cutie mark needle and thread
 * Applejack- Without the rainbow leading back to Ponyville, she found a passion for cooking apples, to help her get over her homesickness, her cutie mark became an baked apple slice
 * Twilight Sparkle- Without the Rainboom, she failed the entrance exam and devoted her efforts to study, more so than before, resulting in an Open Book cutiemark.
 * Pinkie Pie- Without discovering joy, Pinkamena didn't find what she was meant for until she was fully grown. Pinkie hit the bottle hard and her cutie mark is a bottle of Whiskeys.

The mane characters' journey through the Everfree Forest to the old palace in "The Elements of Harmony" took the equivalent of several days.
It appeared to be one night, but the night didn't end until they won, so it easily could have been longer. It seems highly unlikely that the palace could be only a single day's ride from Ponyville; that would imply that either the palace is on the very edge of the forest or the forest is quite small, neither one of which seems very likely.

Princess Celestia will eventually grant titles of nobility to the mane cast in recognition of their services to the crown.
Applejack will receive the title of Lady Williams (Lady Hamilton would just be creepy).

The Mane Six are sisters.
Their "father" is the Elements of Harmony.
 * So how would they have been born? And if there was a mother, who was it? Princess Celestia?
 * easy, the elements of harmony made 6 female ponies pregnant, not necessarily at the same time. this probably would made them half-sisters, but sisters at the end.
 * We've seen both Twilight's and Pinkie's parents in "Cutie Mark Chronicles", and we have seen Applejack's grandmother. We know they are not sisters; they're friends.
 * Yes, they have parents, but their fathers aren't the biological fathers.
 * Holy crap, you guys. The mane six are Jesus!!!
 * Or Anakin Skywalker...

The mane six were vulnerable to Discord because they had already betrayed the Element of Harmony they stood for.
In small ways, the mane six betrayed their ideals: Applejack lied to Pinkie in "Party of One", even though it was meant to be a harmless little white lie, she still lied. Likewise, Pinkie became depressed and morose in that same episode, abandoning her ideal of laughter and joy. Fluttershy was unkind to the animals in "Best Night Ever": she wanted them to love her to gratify her own ego, and she was unkind to them when they did not. Rarity has been selfish and self-centered in a couple of small ways, most obviously in "Sonic Rainboom", when she was supposed to be there to cheer on Rainbow Dash, but instead made it all about her. I admit I can't think of a time when Dash was ever disloyal, but the others seem to fit. Even small deviations from the ideals the Elements represent might have rendered them vulnerable to Discord.
 * A better Rarity example (for greed rather than vanity) might have been Dragonshy, where she was less concerned about convincing the dragon to move on and more about looting its hoard.
 * I could think of a couple of Dash examples. Dash attempting to cheat in Fall Weather Friends, her being the ONLY pony not to immediately decline the ticket (But instead gloat about it, since she's the only one left) in The Ticket Master, her constantly trying to get away from Pinkie Pie at the beginning of Griffon the Brush Off, the "picking up the trash" line from Owl's Well That Ends Well, not listening to the Appaloosa side of the argument in Over a Barrel, or finding a way to get out of Gummy's after-birthday party in Party of One. There's a good reason for the latter two, but much like the Applejack answer above, she was still disloyal in a way.

The Aesop of "Luna Eclipsed" will help Twilight realize she can be more open and relaxed around Princess Celestia.
Since really, it would be a completely idiotic case of Aesop Amnesia if she applies the aesop to one princess and not the other. Also notice she Twilight seemed quite comfortable addressing Luna, in contrast to how she normally behaves around Celestia.
 * Twilight is tense around Princess Celestia because Celestia is her teacher, not her because she's a ruler or deity. Twilight isn't likely to lighten up around Celestia unless that changes.

The Mane Six are Decoy Protagonists.
The real protagonists of the series are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, on the search for their cutie marks. Sometime later in the series, something bad will happen to the Mane Six, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders will have a Take Up My Sword situation with the Elements of Harmony. After all, why else would they have an Early Bird Cameo?

All of the mane six will be alicorns by the end of the show.
Instead of just Twilight Sparkle becoming one, in the Grand Finale Princess Celestia will grant each of the six ponies immortality and basically make them demigoddesses under herself and Princess Luna. This would keep the Elements of Harmony together forever without worrying about what happens after the ponies die. Of course, they'd be the same size and not grow as big as Celestia or Luna, being only demigoddesses.

All of the mane cast learnt how to sew during or after "Suited for Success".
At the start of "Suited for Success", Twilight Sparkle needs Rarity to sew a button onto a dress for her, displaying a painful lack of sewing skills. In "Luna Eclipsed", however, she indignantly protests that her costume is "hoof-stitched", implying that she sewed it herself and is rather proud of the (not too shabby) results. Likewise, Rainbow Dash's Shadowbolt costume looks like she made it herself, judging by the visible stitches. This suggests that after "Suited for Success", they (and probably Applejack and Pinkie Pie) learned enough sewing to be able to get by in day-to-day life, having learned their lesson about not treating Rarity like a sentient sewing machine. Either that, or when they all put Rarity's dress together, it really was a group effort, and Fluttershy taught them the skills they needed to help.
 * She said it was hoof-stitched, but she didn't say "I hoof-stitched them." She might have asked Rarity to make her costume for her.
 * Sewing is easy to learn and hard to master. Most people could whip up a simple Halloween costume with some guidance from someone who knows what they're doing, but being able to make an outfit suitable for the Gala is on a much different level.

The mane characters' Cutie Marks are the source of their mental instability
Someone posted something sort of similar above, but didn't go this far into detail. It seems that whenever a pony is breaking down, it's because something in relation to their cutie mark is going wrong.
 * Pinkie's mark has to do with her skill with parties, and when she thinks her friends don't like her parties anymore, her hair goes flat, she delusionally pretends inanimate objects are her friends, and completely rejects her real friends.
 * Fluttershy's frustration and violent rage when the animals stay away from her happens because her cutie mark deals with the fact that she loves and is good with animals.
 * I think Applejack enters a tunnel-vision sort of state where she MUST complete the task, under the conditions she's set, even though those conditions might be ridiculous. Unfortunately for her, her natural stubbornness and independence makes her predisposed to having to do it on her own.
 * Twilight is difficult, 'cause her cutie mark has to do with her magic. But thinking about it, her completely neurotic and destructive behavior stemmed from the fact that she was about to miss an assignment deadline. Her fear about missing the deadline stemmed from the irrational fear that missing that one assignment was going to get her sent back to magic kindergarten, meaning she would fail her cutie mark.
 * Rarity's cutie mark is related to the fact that she can sew epic stuff with gems. When this goes wrong, she falls into a state of self-deprecation, and wallows in... whatever it is ponies are supposed to wallow in.
 * Rainbow Dash gets crippling fear and self-doubt when she starts worrying that she's going to mess up in her flying routine/not win the tournament.

Each of the mane cast's psychotic breaks were opposites of their usual personalities.

 * Twilight, who is normally level-headed and rational, starts freaking out and making ridiculous suggestions in "Lesson Zero" and "Swarm of the Century"
 * Appljack, the most dependable of all ponies, is suddenly very unreliable in "Applebuck Season"
 * Rainbow Dash, the confident show-off, is actually hiding in a corner in "Sonic Rainboom"
 * Rarity, the sophisticated and regal pony, is whining and throwing an overdramatic temper tantrum in "Suited for Success"
 * Fluttershy, who is normally quiet and reserved, goes all out PSYCHOSHY in "The Best Night Ever"
 * Pinkie Pie, fun-loving and always happy, is depressed and, well, not having fun in "Party of One"

The Ponies' Last Names
The ponies that have a double name have their second name as either their last name or middle name. For example, Pinkie Pie's full name "Pinkamena Diane Pie". This could be the case for Rainbow Dash, Sweetie Belle, etc. The only weird one is Apple Bloom. Her first name being just "Apple" in a family full of apple-related names would be weird, so if this WMG is true, she might just have a double first name.
 * Here's a thought: A lot of the Apple clan has "Apple" first. Maybe the original Apples hail from a region where it's customary to put the surname first, like Japan does in the real world.
 * This would, of course, result in Apple Macintosh, which is kinda awesome, and Apple Smith, which isn't so much (assuming Pony names follow the same Marriage Traditions as Western and Central European and North American nations). Of course, Applejack and Applebloom are generally presented as a single word so that theory may break down slightly there.
 * This is a cool idea, but I do agree with the fact that "Applejack" and "Applebloom" are one-word names. An alternative would be that the family's last name is Smith, or something. Big Mc Intosh could just be a nickname; his first name could just be Mc Intosh.
 * Further proof, perhaps? When Rainbow Dash says "her middle name is danger," she gives her full name as then being "Rainbow Danger Dash." It's also possible that the producers just did this for the sake of it sounding better when she said it.
 * Additionally, the Cakes. Mr. Cake's full name is Carrot Cake, and Mrs. Cake's is Cup Cake, probably meaning that onetook the other's last name.

Were it not for each other, everypony in the Mane Cast would have gone plumb loca.

 * Under a night that would last...FOREVER!

The events of "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" took place over the course of several months, if not longer.
It's not that Ponyville is so dangerous, it's just that the episode compressed the events of several months into twenty-two minutes. In fact, there were probably other episodes, some of which have not aired yet, going on in the interval.

One of the reasons why the "Mare-Do-Well" act was created was because the other ponies secretly enjoy excluding Rainbow Dash
Once Rainbow Dash got a pet and became a part of their pet play-time, they were no longer able to do that without her, and they had come to enjoy spending time together with just the five of them. So, they decided to do it again with the "Mare-Do-Well" both to teach Rainbow Dash some humility and to do something that she could be excluded from.

The Mane Cast are all descendants of the founders of Equestria
And probably have an uncanny resemblance to them too, it's why Celestia asked them to play the leading roles in the pageant.

Alternatively, the mane cast are reincarnations of the six founders
The six founders would therefore have invented the Elements of Harmony, from their own spirits. This is why the mane cast are said to be the "spirit" of whatever element they are; because they are literally manifestations of some ancient spirits that have reincarnated through generations of ponies, bringing harmony to each.
 * Perhaps their spirits are part of a jāti in the style of The Years of Rice and Salt, always reincarnating together.
 * Judging by the banner in the play, Princess Celestia and Luna were both present at the founding. Maybe Celestia recognised them, and that's partly how she knew where Twilight would find her friends/ the other elements?
 * Pinkie Pie's offhand comment about "And that's how Equestria was formed"- maybe on some level, she really does remember?
 * It would also explain Twilight's admiration of Star Swirl the Bearded. She remembers being taught by him on some level.

When performed by the Elements of Harmony, the Pageant became more than just a symbol of on-going Equestrian unity
On some level, the Power of Harmony/Friendship was annually re-enforced in Equestria for as long as the pageants were performed across the land. But there is some indication in 'Hearth's Warming Eve' that the Windigos could still return if conflict arises between the three races. And if their separation is what draws the Windigos attentions then the Princesses alone cannot, by definition, be of much help. Knowing of this, Celestia arranged for the modern-day bearers of the Elements of Harmony to act in the Pageant in order to further deter the Windigos with their inherent traits - they don't even need to do the whole Magical Girl thing. There doesn't appear to be an imminent threat of conflict in Equestria, but if Celestia had a chance to protect her land (however it became 'hers' to rule in the first place?) through an innocent play performed by her most trusted student and friends, then it seems like the sort of thing the Princess would do.
 * Also, we will perhaps see the Windigos again because a) they were neat-looking Eldritch threats and b) they're just too appropriate for the show to be one-episode baddies.

The Les Yay between Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever was intentional in-universe.
In preparation for the role, Twilight spent several long nights studying the historical basis of the play. In her research, she learned that many scholars had speculated that Platinum and Clover had been involved, though no serious evidence was ever found. Twilight wanted to incorporate this into the play to show off how much work she'd done, and worked alongside Rarity to create a performance that could be interpreted as Les Yay if you turned your head and squinted.
 * Try watching that episode again without Yuri goggles on.
 * Do they ever state what gender the original Clover was?

The mane six will find a way to use the fires of friendship in conjunction with the Elements of Harmony.
Either that, or they will use the fires of friendship instead of the Elements if they face off against another enemy who somehow manages to steal the Elements.

The Mane Six are not being groomed as princesses at all
Fluttershy has been observed to lose her marbles on being rejected, Pinkie Pie has been observed to lose hers at the mere appearance of rejection, and Twilight Sparkle has been observed lose her marbles when she's about to miss a deadline. Not what you want in national leaders.
 * Well, that's why you groom them. Each lesson they learn is one less mistake they'll make when something big is on the line.
 * Who ever said that they are being groomed as princesses?

Rainbow Dash not being able to get her cider? That's Rarity's fault.
Rarity said she was going to get vengeance on Dash in the previous episode...
 * Mind you, she did eventually relent, and she wasn't behind every misfortune that came Dash's way (she had no way of knowing about the Flim Flam Brothers).

Alternate theory on the Element of Magic. (Borrowed from Friendship Is Dragons)
The general agreement on how Magic fits in with the other Elements is that it's a Title Drop - but what if that's not it? The thing is that Friendship is not just one thing. It's many elements coming together that make up a bond between people (or ponies, as the case may be). So how is Magic connected? Well, think about it. The Mane Cast are as different as different can be - a socially awkward nerd, a flamboyant fashionista, a down-to-earth cowfilly, a silly Reality Warper, a shy but kind girl, and a brash athlete. And yet, they all get on, despite the fact that their personalities SHOULD, by all rights, be incompatible. All of these ponies, coming together, getting on... it's just like magic.

The Mane Six are a subtle example of feminism.
This is mostly about how none of them are featured in Hearts and Hooves Day, but also about their lack of love lives in general. They are concentrating on their own identities before settling down with a man.
 * Applejack is still coming to terms with being the functional matriarch of Sweet Apple Acres, preparing for the day when Granny kicks it and AJ becomes the official matriarch. (Extra stress since she's probably a little young for the job.)
 * Twilight has just left school. She's still in a learning role, but it's more transitioning towards the real world.
 * Rarity is focused on breaking into the fashion industry. When she was flirting with Blueblood, she just wanted to play with her more romantic side, and would have had a tough choice if it had actually worked out.
 * Rainbow Dash just seems to not be interested. She has some maturing to do anyway, since nopony could probably match her coolness expectations.
 * Pinkie Pie is just Pinkie Pie, and also has some settling to do for anypony to catch her attention in that way. She's probably more likely to start wanting her own children before she even starts looking.
 * Fluttershy is probably the biggest exception. There is a small hope that someone could approach her in that way, but she's just as likely to spend the rest of her life just as she is. Kindhearted Cat Lover

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are sisters

 * Rather than a romantic couple, as some have speculated, Dash and Fluttershy are actually sisters. It's why RD stuck up for Fluttershy at flight school, why she insisted that Fluttershy was her number one flier, why she was so enthused to see Fluttershy unhurt after the incident with the Changelings. In fact, it may well have been her desire to look out for her sister that caused Rainbow Dash to leave Cloudsdale and move to Ponyville. After discovering her talent for helping animals, Fluttershy saw no need for staying in Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash could have stayed and worked more on her flying to fulfill her dream to join the Wonderbolts. But her Loyalty to her sister drove her to move to Ponyville as well.
 * Kind of the opposite of the usual older-younger sibling dynamic then? Considering how much taller Fluttershy was as a filly.

Their "Friendship" Magic is interchangable.

 * They do not monopolize all the virtues (and vices) of Honesty, Kindess, Loyalty, Laughter, Generosity, etc. Each can actually show traits that others are supposed to be examples of.