@PonyPon  
Better be paranoid than be flimflammed. They clearly wanted Sweet Apple Acres, be it by slowly driving out of business, or quickly through contest.

@Background Pony #FBF8  
Now that’s just being paranoid.

@Background Pony #E02B  
Do you reaally believe that if Applejack accepted offer of two rooks, everything was going to be oooo-okay? If anything, even if those two just gave Super Cider Squeesy 6000 to Apples (in which I doubt), there is no knowing if this machine wasn’t stolen and/or infringes any patents.

@Background Pony #E02B  
That’s why I said ‘born’, not ‘live’. Obviously the crystal ponies didn’t start out as crystal ponies prior to the empire, unless they sprouted from the earth where-ever the crystal heart was. That would be silly.
 
It is their Manifest destiny of sorts, but there is absolutely nothing to prove those weren’t the bare facts of the matter. Even in the present there is almost no significant population of any of the other intelligent species, or significant powers in pony society.
 
…or even existing at all. In the past, they weren’t just the three ruling breeds, they were the entire population’s combined mixed breeds. The three breeds can be found anywhere, while a 4th one does not seem to exist AT ALL, hence the three options I listed surrounding the theory of flutterponies.
 
Besides, the earth ponies, while represented, were not rulers among the pony race, but were simply part of the cycle of co-existance and role. If there is a 4th pony tribe, they had no everyday role.
 
…let me put this in perspective. The three pony tribes have been the reoccuring thing for so long, they would have to find a real solid excuse for why there is a 4th, something even more significant then normal ponies being born in the land where the crystal heart was at its strongest, and banished for 1000 years…and that’s pretty significant. They can’t just go ‘oh, after all our talk about the 3 tribes of ponies, remember the 4th pony tribe that almost nobody talks about and lives just outside our borders?’‘Oh yeah, everyone knows about them’
 
They can’t do that, it would sound ridiculous. Thus in this scenario, deer are the elves of the forest. They have no connections to the ponies, hence why they are so unknown to them.

@Background Pony #40B8  
No, Flash, Cadance and Shiny who we are told are from equestria but moved to the Crystal Kingdom don’t get the crystal effect. It only seems to be on the natives outside of that one spell that gave the effect temporarily to the mane6.  
However I think we’re getting a bit sidetracked from the pic. My point was merely that the “3 tribes” theme seemed more like something that would have been made by the historians who chronicled the founding of Equestria as a Manifest destiny kind of deal, hence only members of the 3 ruling pony breeds are represented rather than every inhabitant of the land when it was founded.

@Background Pony #E02B  
Crystal Ponies are just normal ponies born in the Crystal Kingdom and thus permanent crystal, there are pegasi and earth ponies among them at least…although I noticed there were mostly earth ponies since I guess earth ponies make better slaves for Sombra. Zebra’s are unknown, their ‘cutie marks’ are unconfirmed since its never mentioned.
 
Your right that Griffons being foreigners are more or less canon, although the fact the only time more then one has appeared was for the equivalent of the Olympics supports that idea.

@Background Pony #40B8  
Zebra’s and Crystal Ponies both have cutiemarks.  
Griffons as foreigners is more or less canon, if you check the canonical map of Equestria, it has an arrow pointing east across the ocean saying “Griffons this way”

@Background Pony #E02B  
Its not the different species thing I’m hung up on, its the fact that flutterponies would still be labeled as ponies, cutie marks and all.
 
The other species don’t have cutie marks, and whenever the villains are selective in targeting ponykind, they only list the 3. So I reckon Flutterponies are either a) long since extinct(or became something else), b) long since in hiding, or c) they never existed. Until we know more about Chrysalis, c) is the most likely. Although a) is also a popular theory.
 
Actually the writers HAVE hinted that it was mostly ponies that are in central Equestria, and that other species with large numbers and civilization live in different regions.
 
Cows, pigs and sheep are intelligent but they don’t have any sense of civilization while Donkeys and Mules do(although uncommon compared to ponies). And Camels, Zebras, and Griffons have been confirmed to be from far away lands by the writers. And judging by their reactions, Minotaurs were considered in the same category as dragons, i.e. intelligent monsters, until somewhat recently. That’s hardly surprising due to the violent lore surrounding minotaurs.

@Background Pony #40B8  
>that didn’t fit in with the ’three tribes’ theme.  
I wouldn’t read too much into that.  
Either a large number of species are immigrants to Equestria since the founding of the country, or the ponies simply didn’t bother to mention the natives in the play.  
Consider where the cows, sheep, minotaurs, Zebras, Donkeys, Mules and Dragons all where at the time.

@Background Human  
We said the same things about humans, Background Human. In fact, we thought adding humans would be far WORSE. Besides, its a C.S. Lewis and Tolkein inspired world. I would be surprised if their weren’t elves. In fact, a lot of the fandom was expecting the flutter ponies since they WERE the elves in G1 MLP, but then that didn’t fit in with the ‘three tribes’ theme.
 
@Philweasel  
They greenlighted Rainbow Rocks, which outright mocked Princess Twilight episodes like MMC. This isn’t much of a stretch. I’m not a experianced sailor, but I sense a shift in the wind.

The guy is slightly more of a dick than Aspen, but I still think they’re going to come up with a solution that makes both sides happy.
 
But yeah, the villain is so obviously Hasbro, complete with Pinklestia. How did they get away with this again?

…Still better than the fucking elves.

Coincidentally, I had to read “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley for College English. Take that as you will.

And progress is bad.  
Just like in Super Cider Squeesy 6000.

@YenaMuffin  
Get yours before the scalpers do!

Is it wrong of me to want that Psycho Pinklestia figure?

Is that supposed to be Pinklestia that Pinkie is holding?