The concept of Discord falling off the wagon is pretty interesting.

If you look at it subjectively, rather than dramaticly, the villains have actually been getting less destructive if you look at the Sorting Algorithmof Evil. Nightmare Moon was the most powerful in terms of eventual planet-wide destruction of all organic life as having no sun would quickly reduce the planet into a cold lifeless rock. Discord was very evil and wanted to Mind Rape and screw with the ponies, but he very much wanted them alive if only for having them be aware of what's happening. queen chrysalis planned to feed off and probably kill the ponies which is still better than a continuous Fate Worse than Death from Discord. Sombra was threatening an entire empire, but he was already a remnant of what he once was and his threat level is obvious wen you consider Celestia didn't even bother to fight him herself the second time but instead brought the Mane Six to handle it. And of course, Discord's now at least partially redeemed so his villainy has been brought way down.

So the next villain could be a mortal pony, like some sort of evil scientist/pirate/mage etc?

Plus, we haven't had a chance for Twilight to be pushed to her limits in her now form. She could be quite a bit more powerful already for all we know.

The Great and Powerful Trixie's last words, recorded for posterity:

"DRAW! ...Oh, *BLEEP*!"

Well their ancestors, Twi Twinkle, Glory, Sparkler, AJ, Surprise, Posey, Wind Whistler, and Firefly were already wiping out extinction-level villains, like a King of Darkness, a Darkseid-wannabe, a possible God-king of Diamond Dogs, and a bunch of Witches who knew the secret of an ancient weaponized Grey Goo.

what, she got smothered by the resulting moustache so epic it suffocated her?

edited 18th Feb '13 10:59:02 AM by AceOfScarabs

Based on everything we've seen, I think it's safe to say that the Mane Six with their Elements of Harmony are more powerful than Celestia alone. I mean Chrysalis beat Celes in a fair fight, and Celes then told them to go get the Elements. What would be the point if they weren't capable of beating her?

Imminent awkwardness.

It knows things.

I'd find it hilarious if the next villain was a photoshopped real life pony. He/she is so mundane all the magic would just bounce of it and would act as an antimagic sponge. Not to mention it would come off as an Equineoid Abomination.

edited 18th Feb '13 10:59:52 AM by darkabomination

The next villain is Muffin the Mule. Rarity hates him.

Obscure British cultural reference go!

edited 18th Feb '13 11:04:42 AM by PurpleDalek

what, she got smothered by the resulting moustache so epic it suffocated her?

Since I can't decide on which punchline to use, I'll use both of them.

• See that vaguely blue-ish scorch mark over there? That's Trixie.

• The Great and Powerful Trixie was last seen still being propelled backwards through Appleoosa at Mach five.

That does make me wonder though who would win in a fight if the G1 and G4 casts got in a fight. In terms of raw power, the G1 cast isn't very powerful especially how limited telleporting is in that continuity. Though there's an advantage in that any unicorn can do it. However, the Rainbow of Light might actually do a number on the Elements if at full charge.

There's also the fact that the G1 cast fight quick and dirty and mostly win out of guile and sneak attacks.

In the end it would depend on the situation and seems a bit hard to determine. If it was a one on one fight, perhaps a little easier.

I'm still holding out for a unicorn that can summon an army of pony constructs to fight for him, and it turns out he's just too lonely, but can't accept actual friends either.

Or something like that.

Okay, so someone else just pointed this out on another forum, and it kinda blew my mind.

This is Twilight's cutie mark, right?◊ Well, not quite. More accurately, it was her cutie mark. It gained a star after her transformation.◊ Now, due to a little bit of inconsistent animation, her old mark shows up a couple times in that scene, but it◊ has◊ six stars◊ in the various imagery that appeared elsewhere during the episode. Someone had to have drawn a new cutie mark vector for that to even exist, so it really can't be an accident, and considering the symbolism present in her original mark, it's almost certainly significant.

So, speculation time! Most obvious answer is the potential introduction of a new cast member, but who knows what it could mean in the long run?

New and useful reaction image! Now to get it added to the repository!

The Seventh Element of Harmony? Clearly it is the controller who unifies the Chaos and makes it Power Enriched by the Heart

So a ponyfied Tikal?

Maybe it means that if a regular pony turns into an alicorn, their cutie mark gets an upgrade too?

Didn't one of them say something about how "this is what I've always done"? And I remember Fluttershy saying she didn't know anything about dealign with animals. It did something to their memories.

Just not exclusively, otherwise Twilight would be able to do what she did for them when Discord twisted their memories.

TRIXIE!!! IT'S GOING TO BE TRIXIE!!!

What if instead of adding a new cast member to the group, what if it's someone who was already in the show who gets upgraded to the role of "Princess Twilight's personal student"? I personally would hope that IF something like that happened, it would be either Sweetie Belle and/or Pumpkin Cake. Sweetie Belle because she may need help with learning how to use magic at ALL, considering all she's been able to do so far is let off sparks when excited, and even Snails can make his horn glow to produce light. And that would make for some interesting potential interactions between Twilight and Rarity. On the other hand, Pumpkin Cake could be a new young prodigy, like Twilight was, given the level of magical outbursts she had in Baby Cakes. Some of that is just me being a big fan of Pumpkin Cake and her brother, though.

Or it could be Princess Skyla, and Twilight becomes a babysitter Princess like Cadance was.

edited 18th Feb '13 11:26:31 AM by Rainbow

She'd be workable, but that would come off a bit too much fanservice without breaking the Suspension of Disbelief.

I wouldn't jump the gun on it being Trixie, TBH. They're more likely to introduce somepony new to make a new toy out of them.

Celestia will be integrated into the Mane Six. She did say that they'd be learning from her.

That, or the new mane six member is Spike.

edited 18th Feb '13 11:27:32 AM by SuperGex

I'm honestly more surprised that her cutie mark even changed in the first place. Especially considering that it was on the tail end of an episode all about marks being wrong.

Meghan dismissed the talk of Trixie becoming the replacement for Twilight. Who says Twilight needs replacing anyway?