New (Leaked) MLP Opening Sequence

This was leaked last week, but I only found out about it today. There are probably very mild spoilers here, but since this is the opening sequence all of these was going to be revealed early on anyway.

So let's watch and then obsessively deconstruct it!



The first 12 seconds tell us a LOT:

1. There's a new building next to Twilight's Castle, and it looks kind of like a school.
2. There are a lot of secondary characters getting screen time, like Maude and Vinyl Scratch and Ember and Thorax.
3. Big Mac officially has a girlfriend now (I'm pretty sure that's Sugar Belle).
4. There's a seapony frolicking in the moat, meaning that the events of the MLP Movie are not only canon but are being integrated into the show.
5. Is that a Yak from Yakyakistan coming down the stairs?

[0:13]The big door with the "Twilight Seal" on it seems to confirm the idea that the new building is a school. Perhaps the Mane 6 are teachers there?

[0:16] Pinkie Pie is teaching a class -- Celestia help us -- and the students are VERY diverse as I count a hippogriff, griffon, pony, that yak again, a neu-changeling and what I think is a dragon. 

[0:18] Good to see that Rarity's business is continuing to do well. Hi, Sassy Saddles!

[0:19] Applejack is teaching students to applebuck? I see the griffon, hippogriff, yak and dragon again. 

[0:20] I see that Sweet Feather Sanctuary is doing well. I'm noticing a theme here: all of the girls have succeeded in life. 

[0:23] That looks very much like a class photo, with all the instructors in the front row, Twilight in the center, and Spike holding what looks like a coat of arms and which matches the design on the door. I'm almost positive that Twilight has opened some kind of "Friendship Academy" and the other Mane 6 are going to be teachers there at least part time. 

[0:26] It's about damn time that Luna got a throne of her own!

I confess that I am both intrigued and worried by the "exchange students". Intrigued because it gives the Friendship Academy depth and a "Xavier's School Meets Hogwarts" vibe; worried because the obvious differences between ponies and yaks, dragons, changelings and hippogriffs/seaponies likely means there's going to be a lot of episode time devoted to that... and that's bad only because it feels like our girls are being moved to the back seat while the next generation takes over the show. 

I am cautiously optimistic. There have been times that the show has done things which worried me (Twilight becoming a princess in season 3, the addition of Starlight Glimmer as a regular cast member) but so far the writers haven't screwed up and ruined the show so they get the benefit of the doubt. This season looks awesome; I'm going to have faith that it will in fact be awesome.