PonyMage

It seems that people misunderstood this topic a bit. First of all, when I say an episode triggers me, I don't mean it sends me into a rage or anything of te sort. I mean I find it off putting to an extreme degree. Secondly, I'm not attempting to degrade, take advantage of, or abuse anything. I thought "trigger" had many meanings, not just the actual medical term. I'm sorry.

Let's have a nice little thread to talk about the episodes that we find truly off-putting. These aren't episodes we dislike; these are episodes we hate, and we want the world to know, dangit. For me, the first episode that always comes to mind is "The Best Night Ever." This episode and its "moral" annoys me on so many levels. What even was it? Never look forward to anything? Don't go to parties? Always stay with your established friends and don't branch out? On a logical level, I understand the idea was "don't overhype anything", but it was executed so questionably. Seeing the Mane6 have their hopes and dreams dashed isn't particularly enjoyable (even if there are funny moments), and them making total jerks of themselves by ruining the gala for everyone isn't fun either. Oh, but don't worry; according to Celestia, that doesn't matter because the gala is always "boring!" Let's all laugh about it! Seriously... what? It's especially jarring since this was a season finale that was (somewhat) built up throughout the season. Enough about me though. I want to know which episodes upset all of you.

It's interesting to see everyone's thoughts on this. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who had an idea of this sort. It's interesting the episode hinted so much that the darkness was a symbiote/being of some kind but never outright stated it. I think Grogar might have been deconfirmed from ever appearing in the main series. In "A Flurry of Emotions," the storybook Spike read to the kids featured a villain named Grogar. I think that might have been the show staff's way of using Grogar's name without actually making him a character.

I feel like the episode was heavily hinting at this. Stygian says that a shadow "spoke to him." This could just be general edginess, but it also suggests he merged with a sentient being, not just dark powers. The ruin they fell into at the Hollow Shades had an image of what appeared to be a shadowy beast upon the wall. Stygian said this ruin was where he met the "shadow," which means the ruin predated the Pony of Shadows. Therefore, the building was not erected to honor the Pony of Shadows, but something else (logically, the "shadow" which resided there). The Pony of Shadows is more snakelike than other ponies, not to mention much bigger and composed of darkness. If Stygian had simply been powered up by his dark emotions, these would be odd effects. The Pony of Shadows apparently wants to completely obliterate all existence to return the universe to oblivion. That seems a bit blown out of proportion, even by Stygian (or Starlight's) standards. Also, the Pony of Shadows did not disintegrate when they pulled Stygian out of it, but was instead sucked into the Limbo and sealed away. If the Pony of Shadows was just Stygian powered up by darkness, why would his pony body be capable of being separated from the snakelike body? Rather, it seems something used Stygian as a host to gain power until it was strong enough to sustain itself without Stygian (even seemingly trapping Stygian within itself). This goes more into headcanon territory, but I also feel the Hollow Shades is likely to have been inhabited by a cult dedicated to this "shadow" god. They were the ones who built the temple, and Stygian found their cult and joined it, eventually being used as a vessel. The cult would desert the place and dismember once they realized their god had been banished by Starswirl and the others.