I dunno if that's exactly it. I mean, yeah, I agree with the statement, but I don't think that's how AJ is thinking.

It's just that since AJ is a mare of her word, not being able to follow through is still a significantly bad thing.

I'd like to weigh in.

Their Elements are not just linked to their actions. They're linked to their personalities too. Take AJ. She is an honest, hardworking, down to earth girl who speaks plainly and makes no deceptions. With her, what you see is what you get. So she gets Honesty, because she's honest with herself.

Dashie meanwhile, is usually not honest with herself. That bit in Sleepless with Scootaloo shows that. For all her bravado and bluster, Dash is deeply insecure, and not very self aware at all. Therefore, she wouldn't make a good Element Of Honesty.

edited 17th Dec '12 7:49:21 AM by ApplelightLimited

Intriguing...

Now go do the other elements.

They're real.

Continuity's been stickign since season 2.

@Apple: Brilliant. That's the biggest point in favour why AJ and Dashie don't swap Elements.

Elements can Triforce

edited 17th Dec '12 7:58:30 AM by AceOfScarabs

One element to rule them all and in the friendship bind them.

Okay, those are awesome.

edited 17th Dec '12 8:01:00 AM by Savato

My take is basically what Applelight said. There's a lot of overlap in the elements in general, but when you tie it to their personalities I think it makes more sense as is.

Take honesty, for instance. Rainbow Dash can be Brutally Honest, but at the same time she doesn't really have any compunctions about lying either. I mean, compare her and Applejack in "Party of One". She obviously didn't really feel too bad about lying to Pinkie about the party, whereas AJ was obviously struggling with it.

I think it even applies to how honest they are with themselves (or about themselves). RD is constantly blustering about how awesome she is even though she very often doubts her own abilities. She's attempting to deceive herself into thinking she's really as awesome as she claims to be when she doesn't quite believe it herself.

On the other hand, when AJ makes that sort of claim about herself, whether or not it's accurate, she actually believes it. Case in point, in Applebuck Season and The Last Roundup, she honestly believes that she has the capability to do what she sets out to do. Her motivation is less "I have to help everypony" and more "I said I was gonna help everypony so I'm going to". That's why in Applebuck Season she kept trying to help long after the point she became a liability. She said she was gonna do something, so she's gonna do it, regardless of whether it benefits anyone.

okay that triforce, now i want to see how they overlap and which element responds to which piece(s) of the Triforce

Magic-Power

Kindness-Power/Wisdom (Only the truly powerful can afford to be truly kind)

Honesty-Courage

Loyalty-Power/Courage

Generosity-Wisdom/Courage

Laughter-Wisdom

Backing up the Elements discussion a bit, I recall someone saying something about Magic kinda being cheating since it's based on ability rather than any virtue. That's not true, because the pilot clearly spelled out that Magic was the "spark" or catalyst that forms the bonds of the rest. If not for Twilight, the group never would have come together as friends, and nothing required her to be a great mage in order for her to do that.

edited 17th Dec '12 8:07:39 AM by PerpetualLurker

What could the Spark be quantified as? some kind of charisma?

...There's an artist, ecmajor, who does some good artwork, but like the Russian Rainbow, he focuses a lot on anatomical correctness and seems to like drawing ponies wearing horse tack and being tied up. He draws a nice Littlepip, mind.

edited 17th Dec '12 8:11:53 AM by AceOfScarabs

It could be anything, really. It could even be circumstances or sheer luck, so long as it binds the group together. I'd like to thing that the wielder of Magic would be chosen for a different reason every time.

edited 17th Dec '12 8:12:52 AM by PerpetualLurker

I'd say it's the ability to get cause a group to coalesce around you, or something like that. Twilight is the one who drew all the other ponies together when in other circumstances they might not have. I mean, I can't really see say, Rarity and Rainbow Dash deciding to join forces unless something drew them both into a group. That's what Twilight's role was.

Does this mean one of the qualities required is one of leading, of uniting, of gathering together?

...Well, Twi is good at taking charge.

Artist:Apples draws a NICE Rarity

edited 17th Dec '12 8:14:22 AM by AceOfScarabs

Yeah, pretty much. I like the idea that Twilight is naturally good at getting other ponies to follow her lead (see Winter Wrap Up), but she never had an opportunity to realize that she had that skill because she never allowed herself to be in that position. She preferred doing things alone and never realized that she was able to work with other ponies rather than in spite of them.

Magic is the binder, yes. Although I still wonder if a non-unicorn could be an Element of Magic.

Agreed!

edited 17th Dec '12 8:21:42 AM by ApplelightLimited

Hmmm, good point. I guess they decided to give it a more abstract name for an Element then.

Don't know why not. All ponies have magic, just different types.

All this suggests to me that the Sixth Element fills the same role as the Ruling Chaos Emerald, which unites the chaos to make it become power enriched by the heart.

I'm not entirely convinced that any of the Element Bearers have to be ponies, either. IMO, Spike probably could have used the Element of Loyalty if it wasn't bonded to Rainbow Dash at the time.

edited 17th Dec '12 8:24:33 AM by PerpetualLurker

So 'Magic' is the bond of Friendship itself, with it's wielder being the nucleolus of a closely bound group, and the one who brought it together. And their tribe type doesn't matter?

I can agree to that!

That's pretty much how I see it. None of the other elements are tied to a specific pony race, so I don't see any reason why that one would be.

edited 17th Dec '12 8:28:07 AM by JapaneseTeeth

Snuggles :3

And as they work to better their relationships with their friends...they grow in power?

Would this make them better that their skills?

Also, could non-unicorns pull off a Power Of Love moment similar to what SA and Cadence did?

edited 17th Dec '12 8:36:56 AM by ApplelightLimited