@Ebalosus
I’m leery of time travel plot devices as well. But I would consider some form of crossover through time if it was a net positive.

So much potential was left unexplored. The exploration on Sunset’s element, and why she became an angel instead of an alicorn when she ascended herself. The reformed Dazzlings. The final explanation of Celestia’s and Luna’s origin, as well as the original connection between Equestria and the Human World.

I felt Sunset could of easily bonded with Stygian as he was so obviously supposed to reflect her as the 7th pony of the original elements, but fell all the way because the original team didn’t trust him enough.

A lot of things could be explored. How certain details effect current society of G5. What the Mane 6 would have to say regarding the split in society in the future.

….

The issue, similar to too many important episodes in the original series, is lack of ambition. “You’ve created a vast fantasy world with lots of lore…try using it for once!!” is what I would use as a sum-up for the original series’ issues.

…Trying way too hard to be episodic and have premiers and finales bring in good elements with serious poential but always seeming to half ass it.

G4 was never short on ideas. It was vastly short on the ambition to utilize those ideas.

@Ebalosus
You can’t have an ending for a Mary Sue as Sunset Shimmer. No ending would satisfy her perfection or her fans.

@Ebalosus
Maybe when the magic started disappearing, the mirror portal went haywire and time got distorted between the two worlds. Sunset arrives in Equestria after graduation to find hundreds of years have passed and Twilight has disappeared. As the former student of Celestia, she feels a responsibility to set things right in Equestria, and tries to recreate Earth technology to replace the disappearing magic, only to find that there is no substitute for the magic of friendship. Exiled from all three groups for her failure, she devotes the rest of her life and the last of her own magic to creating three gems that can potentially restore magic once friendship returns…

After the second movie at the very least, but after the third would be a more natural place for her to return, IMO.

That would be a neat twist, but would also be a bit of a voodoo shark, since it would bigger around with the timeline quite a bit. G5 feels like it takes place an appreciably long time after the events of G4, so having SS introducing the technology that we see in G5 would mean either time-travel, or at the very least G5 doesn’t happen that much longer after G4.

Tbh I would prefer the status quo to that potential explanation for what happened to SS, if only due to me being leery of time-travel in settings that don’t really need it.

@Ebalosus
Maybe Sunset Shimmer was the one who brought all of that technology we saw in G5.

@Ebalosus
Sunset Shimmer should have returned to Equestria where she belongs after the first movie and take her proper place as Celestia’s student.

NGL I’m still kinda annoyed that EQG and subsequently the fate of Sunset Shimmer and friends, just stopped and was never resolved.