Hey, I just realized a few things with the movie. Where was Shining Armor in all this? Where were all the guards that would have at least put up a bit of resistance against the Storm King's goons? Why was Discord in the credits but Shining Armor and Flurry Heart nowhere to be seen in the movie?

6148981
I haven't seen it yet (I'm going Tuesday), but I bet it's because they're still in the Crystal Empire and don't know anything about what's going on in Canterlot.

6148981
Exactly what I was thinking.

6148981
Yeah, everyone I went with noticed that too. Flurry Heart's absent can be explained because the movie's development started around the 4^th or 5^th season (Flurry appeared in the 6^th). The absents of Shining didn't seem like it would change much, but I think the fact of having no guards was intended to express how helpless the pony's are to threats (we know they're not, but this is a movie focused mainly on the 6 girls and not the society).

6148981
1. Back in the Crystal Empire is my guess. Someone's gotta run it. Would make sense to keep Flurry Heart with him there too, since Cadence would be busy the whole time in Canterlot and wouldn't be able to watch her.
2. They were invaded via the air, so they couldn't have done much to stop them getting there. Then, they petrified the Princesses within minutes of arriving, they probably surrendered because it was clear they were outmatched.
3. Probably some contract John de Lancie had, or maybe he voiced some lines in scenes that ended up getting cut.

6149056
That raises the question of the Wonderbolts, they showed how sluggish the airships are compared to Rainbow Dash later in the movie. Realistically those airships would be sitting ducks against the Wonderbolts given Rainbow Dash canonically is at least breaking the sound barrier, making Rainbow Dash capable of easily moving at 10 times the speed of the airships.

6149407
But then you get a small collection of ponies against an armada of massive metal airships. The Storm King seemed to be technologically and magically pretty advanced, so he was bringing the big guns and he was bringing a lot of them.

6149435
It should have given Canterlot advanced notice given peagasus should by flying much faster then the airships. Then there is the fact the two large dragons in MLP are far larger then the storm kings airships, I doubt those airships would have stayed in the air for long if Torch was in Canterlot at the time. Add the other very powerful beings in MLP and Storm King didn't have much a advantage long term, only the staff would have allowed him to realistically hold Equestria (even then the opening battle required the princesses to not attack Tempest when her intentions became obvious).

6149522
It's possible that whoever was on scouting duty got captured, because they would've anticipated that. Alternatively, they may have believed that being in the absolute center of the country, scouting duties weren't entirely necessary because how would someone have invaded? If he was smart (which it seemed like he was at least moderately competent), he would have had his ships hide inside of storm clouds that were scheduled to be in Equestria and then only be visible for the last little portion of the trip to Canterlot, and by that point, it would have been too late.

6148981
Some other ponies that were credited but didn't talk were Granny Smith and Apple Bloom

6149728
Granny Smith had a line, and I'm pretty sure Apple Bloom did too (in the sequence "We've Got This Together!").

Dreadnought