>>6680
>Gen-4 doesn't have seaponies, because those are hippogryphs whose queen has control of a shape-shifting artifact,
except claiming this bold statements does raise other problems.

Partially, you are right that the conversion can perfectly be activated with the necklace for any of them (this applies to anyone in general who uses the artifact) and they are capable to do so. In fact, as soon as they got rid of the Storm King, they returned to Mt.Aris, their actual home where they had been living before the attack. So this means that their actual nature is the land part and they only escaped to water as an emergency, impersonating the word of the seahorses to themselves over time.

On the other hand, what do you have to say to those that didn´t return by choice? Then, things don´t look so black and white because some of them got so used to that routine that it would feel alien to them to go back to their roots. Despite having the artifact completely at their disposal for anything, wouldn´t you classify them as non seaponies because they don´t live in the exact same routine in comparison with those who live in the mount (not to mention that some of them were being raised during the exile)? In this case, you would put your neck on the line with your no gen 4 seaponies statement.

By the way, the show could have exploited this question of an intrusive species occupying lands in which they do not belong. That would have been a neat plot device. I am not sure if this was planned out there...I´ll have to check it out.