S08:E25+26 - School Raze

[rainbowdashacademy 114]

Yes, I rainbow Dash knew that evil witch was up to no good and she's just as bad as the three siren sisters  too ! The episode season 8 finale was 100% cooler ! Just think if Cozy Glow gets canceled off this show for being a lying tramp maybe haaaaa she'd go crazy if they put her in the Paw Patrol episode and she'd say ?" WHERE I'M I NOOOOO NOT PAW PATROL I'M DOOMED"! 

[NavelColt 22,875]

This finale makes me need an adult.

Overall, it was a decent finale. By no means the best, by no means the worst, but decent. It had its ups and downs. But this finale really can't be looked at as a whole, because, at least to me, it was made up of moments. Some of these moments hit well, extremely well, while some fell flat. But I'm not here to talk about those that fell flat. Oh no, I'm here to talk about the rather disturbing moments, as well as the really good moments.

Tartarus

Let's address the elephant in the room. We've finally gotten to see Tartarus, and boy is their portrayal of it interesting. Not only do we trap fully sentient villains in this place, but apparently any magical creature (and fillies, but we'll get to that later, trust me) that has ever wronged a pony, ever, gets tossed in a cage for eternity. Am I the only one that isn't quite sitting right with? Honestly I'm not sure how Fluttershy didn't blow a fuse and form a revolt on the spot. Did she not reject Wrangler's assistance entirely for even suggesting the use of cages back in her sanctuary episode? Sure those were regular creatures and not monsters, but to Fluttershy those segregations don't really exist. Sure these critters are dangerous, and may have caused damage, but all of them could go through training or rehabilitation, and a lot of them may act more on instinct than with concious intelligence. Do we just toss critters into Tartarus every time they act on instinct or attack something out of being defensive? Goodness I hope not.

I'm just very surprised that, A, the show flat out depicted the caging of creatures with seemingly no routine outlet or care, and B, that Fluttershy didn't tell Twilight to stuff her Cozy Glow mission up her tail, go to bang on Celestia's front door and demand the ethical treatment of all Equestrian creatures.

Cozy Glow

'How do you even get this psychotic at age - I don't even know how old you are - nine? Twelve? It took Starlight until adulthood to go full bananas and execute a crazy plan, calm down!'

~ Me to my computer screen for 44 minutes straight

Jokes aside, Cozy's character fits a villain trope we haven't really seen yet, and that's the 'sickly sweet' villain, the one who wears a face and gets you to follow them out of false adoration, as opposed to desperation, force, fear or power like almost all of the past premiere and finale villains have done. Chrysalis sort of did this in the S2 finale but it wasn't quite the same thing, seeing as disguises were involved.

Typically these villains are hated on very harshly, because the audience often gets irritated with ongoing knowledge that the protagonists aren't aware of, yet. They roll their eyes, and some would rather fast forward to the reveal that, to us is obvious and has been obvious for, in our case an entire season. However, in that aspect I do like her as a villain; she's something new, and the fact a filly at her age is capable of psychotic behavior and manipulation of this level truly brings the Equestria lore to a slightly darker place. Cozy Glow is sort of like pre-reformation Diamond Tiara as a super villain. They both wanted to be adored/admired by absolutely everyone and used manipulation to get there, though Cozy's case her schemes were far more sinister. At least Tiara learned her lesson, and her heinousness typically didn't go beyond Ponyville, let alone the schoolyard.

That all said, Cozy is definitely not in my top villains list. Her character lacked weight because we have absolutely no backstory, a motive that was only touched upon near the end of the finale, and, in general, she just...isn't threatening. Of course that's not necessarily a bad thing; these types of villains are supposed to be more subtle and disturbing than they are creators of destruction and shock. Unfortunately they've never personally been my cup of tea.

Also Celestia refers to 'Tartarus' as a 'fitting place' for a filly to 'not cause harm to everyone'. Yes she's absolutely nuts but she's still, presumably just a filly. Damn. Do not mess with horses and their magic.

Tiara, you're lucky your shenanigans never caused issues outside bullying cause your ass might have been down there in hell too right now with this horse in charge! 

Chancellor Neighsay

Now first and foremost, I like how Neighsay was reformed. It wasn't some stupid friendship speech, it was him realizing that he looked like a damn fool in front of the children who saved his sorry behind, right after he finished locking them up (uh oh, even more child abuse this episode). That's pretty realistic. He hit rock bottom after being detained by Clozy Glow, and his saviors were the ones he had previously belittled. That's a pretty realistic way to change someone's views. And because at first it was displayed as the, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' trope, the swiftness of Neighsay to help the Student Six with their goals was also realistic.

Still though, I'm not ready to like this guy yet. 

Tirek

Oh, this was due. This bit is what makes Cozy's character better as a villain, because she, a child, didn't do this entire elaborate scheme, herself. Cozy had a selfish ambition sprinkled with some psychotic tendencies, and Tirek, an actual supervillain gave her a vehicle for it. That's fairly believable. Even if you ain't hit puberty yet you can do a lot of evil stuff with the blueprints for a bazooka that fires pure evil.

Tirek himself was funny. It's interesting how his character seems to change between when he's a weakling to when he's buffed up. His silver tongue slips away for the most part after he's begun to gain power, and he speaks more forwardly. Here we got to see more of how he original was, interacting with Discord in the S4 finale, and it was extremely enjoyable. The interactions between the Mane Six and Tirek were some of the highlights of this entire episode, and you all know right now what I'm talking about.

"TIREK'S IN!"

Seeing more of Tirek in his weaker form was good for his character, especially being exposed to some humor, seeing as the majority of his last appearance was very serious. I've been waiting to see him again for two seasons and it did not disappoint.

Overall Thoughts

Slightly controversial ideas aside, this was an amusing finale. The loss of magic theme was brought back in a way that wasn't entirely redundant from the S4 finale, while still managing to involve Tirek in the plot. That's an accomplishment in of itself. Cozy Glow was a very interesting villain that, overall was presented well. We got to see Tartarus, and seeing all the creatures offer their help to save Equestria was pretty cool (even if does kinda confirm the fact that they can all just be rehabilitated and released again, but hey).

We got to see Tirek again, Cozy got her comeuppance finally, Pinkie was amazing as always, we got to see more critters (I love Cockatrice tbh), and the Student Six got their chance to save Equestria. All is well.

...seriously though what is up with Celestia imprisoning children and magical creatures in cages? Perhaps Cozy Glow isn't the only one putting on a fake face, lately...

Season 9 finale villain, anyone?

Art by ToisaNeMoifs

[YoshiAngemon 223]

I have a feeling that Twilight is gonna go SO crazy that not only she throws a Scrooge McDuck Tantrum, but her friends and Celestia suggest Flash Sentry become Royal Guard at the Castle, for her protection and her sanity! We need more Princes, because Shining Armor and Blueblood are NOT ENOUGH! And what if Twilight goes evil from all this stress? Will it take Daydream Shimmer to bring her back to reality again?

Edited October 14, 2018 by YoshiAngemon

[MissingLegs 0]

I Love Cozy, she's my favorite villain in this show, because I'm weird like that, and I always love the craziest villains. It didn't feel rushed in my opinion, I'm actually very impressed about how well they've handled it. This season... I hated it... well as much as I can hate a season of mlp... and by that, I mean that it was a pretty decent season... anyway, that season was not the best and I was pretty disappointed but this finale has...

[TransitPony 219]

So I've watched the season finale... It was great! Everything about Cozy Glow. The way she inherited power, cult of personality, it was just all great. The reactions to the loss of magic throughout Equestria reminded me of how people reacted to major events in world history. Also, it looks like the Tree of Harmony sees the Student Six as the next successors of the Mane Six looking how they possessed the tree's powers well. Great episode indeed. Who knows what Season 9 will bring us? 

Edited October 14, 2018 by TransitPony

[JH24 385]

One thing I liked about the finale was the way Cozy's dialogue was written. They got the balance between innocence and being manipulative perfectly. She carefully eased everyone in the direction she wanted. 

I like for example how she got Rainbow Dash to cover for Twilight. "I just told her how busy you are and how much her loyalty meant to you."

It sounds innocent, but she was basically guilt-tripping RD here. 

Edited October 14, 2018 by JH24

[bwrosas 252]

Got all of #MLPSeason8 recorded onto DVD (courtesy of DVR Recordings, of course)

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Cozy Glow just stole this finale, I cant just see this season the same after this eps. 

[Steve Piranha 28,747]

This is probably the least impressive finale in the spectacle department, but I think it was intentional due to Cozy being the most unassuming villain ever. Cozy isn’t the first villain that’s unassuming, that belongs to Starlight, but Starlight is accomplished in magic so she could back-up her former villain status. Cozy is just a filly, and not a unicorn at that, so a head-on conflict would’ve been suicide, but she’s the most cunning villains, and was close to being successful. 

Now Ikm conflicted, I’d expected Chrissy to be the final villain, but Cozy being already a tremendous threat with her mind alone, it’d be fantastic to see what she could do with powers  

[tostr 5]

anyone else notice the photo she put on the headmare's desk?

source:
https://papermaid.tumblr.com/post/179024215114/my-little-pony-paper-prop-cozy-glow-framed-photo

[Sonic5421 423]

Another season behind us, and I have to admit that Cozy proved herself to be a threat as a villain on the levels of Lord Tirek or Queen Chrysalis with her plan.

Also, gotta admit, how Neighsay was given a reality check regarding his bias against the Student Six by Cozy really drove home how badly he mistreated them. He thought they would use what they learned at the School of Friendship against Equestria, and he ends up discovering that one of his own kind used what they learned against the ponies instead. As a result, after the Student Six free him, he immediately makes amends by using what magic his medallion had left before it was drained completely to summon one last portal to reach Canterlot and warn Celestia and Luna of the threat and summon reinforcements, so they and Cadence were not useless in this finale or had to be rescued again since they could still fight, just without their Alicorn magic. Not to mention having Flash Magnus as their new drill sergeant must have paid off for the Royal Guards since they helped for once and were not useless every time the Princesses were kidnapped in previous seasons. They even started integrating female members into the corps, if the one Pegasus who helped lock Cozy up in Tartarus is any indication.

Also, I was impressed by the number of strange creatures and animal hybrids that were locked up in Tartarus under Cerberus' watch. Among them, I saw a manticore, a chimera, a bugbear, a cockatrice, the mole-like creature that Thorax, Pharynx, and the Changelings dealt with a season earlier, and some I've never seen yet or don't recognize at first. Heck, the chimera could have been the same one Apple Bloom dealt with a couple of seasons ago. As for Cerberus, he was making it clear he was not letting Lord Tirek out of his sight again after what happened previously. He led the Mane Six right to his cell, and remained nearby in case of trouble, especially if he knew about the magic problem occurring at the moment, so Twilight would need his protection with her Alicorn magic gone.

As for Lord Tirek, nice to see him still under lock and key after his previous defeat, but though he no longer had his dark magic or physical strength, he still had that strategic mind of his, using it to have Cozy concoct her plan as part of his revenge so he could enjoy the thought of the Mane Six being locked in Tartarus for eternity, until they mention he would be stuck with them due to his own sentence, so it only took Pinkie torturing him for a few minutes to get him to crack and agree to help get rid of them and let them out by sacrificing whatever of his dark magic he still had to Twilight, combined with the natural magic that allowed Cerberus and the other hybrid creatures to maintain their fused forms to provide Twilight enough to open the gates and allow them to get out before they closed again.

Cozy being able to manipulate the students to revolt against Neighsay after bringing up how he had tried to close the School of Friendship once before was a good move, but then using what Neighsay said to turn them against the Student Six by making them look like the villains and not Cozy may have been a bad move. When the Student Six risk getting captured alongside Starlight to save Gallus, the students begin to re-think their actions, but Cozy simply tells them off for it. Then the Tree of Harmony intervenes, having seen the Elements of Harmony within the Student Six, and stops Cozy's plan from succeeding as it was just about to transport Starlight, the Student Six, and all the collected magic to who knows where. This time, the students don't help Cozy, run for their lives, and leave the Student Six to undo Cozy's plan just at the last second. Then, when Cozy shows no remorse or guilt for her actions and pretty much vows to try again elsewhere, it's all the testimony the Mane Six, Neighsay, the Royal Sisters, and the Royal Guards need to decide Cozy needs a good stint in Tartarus to teach her a lesson for abusing the Magic of Friendship like she did.

Though the cliffhanger regarding Cozy being locked up in Tartarus by Luna next to Tirek does provide some food for thought as we wait for Season 9...

All in all, the Student Six were a nice addition this season, Neighsay made amends with Twilight and granted the School of Friendship full EEA support and accreditation, and we've got a good lead-in to Season 9 with the last thing Cozy said regarding being Tirek's new cellmate in Tartarus.

I'll give this finale a full 10/10.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

Woo-wee! What an ending to a great season. I knew Cozy Glow was up to something and boy was I right. And you know what...I think it isn't over yet...I normally would say "Why the hay would you banish a foal to Tartarus, but after what she did, pft, she deserved it...and she's STILL scheming...should've just banished her from Equestria beyond Tartarus.

Great lesson about taking friendship the wrong way, and FINALLY, Neighsay's eyes are opened! I tell ya, this was a very real episode. We all should watch this because we end up meeting the wrong person that may take advantage of us and ruin our lives. In the words of Ike to Cozy Glow

 

[Draxon 214]

I thoroughly enjoyed this finale, but I'm a little bit confused concerning the plot.  Cozy was draining all of the magic from Equestria, but she was sending it to another dimension instead of keeping it all to herself for her use (I gathered that she didn't have a choice in the matter thanks to how the draining functioned).  So, she was really only interested in becoming incredibly popular and therefore (in her mind, at least) powerful?  I guess she never did see the rainbows and lasers that happens with the magic of friendship - she might have preferred that instead if she did.

Also, I'd be interested in learning whether the other dimension the magic was being sent to is the Equestria Girls dimension.

Edited October 14, 2018 by Draxon
Added an additional thought.

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

31 minutes ago, Draxon said:

I thoroughly enjoyed this finale, but I'm a little bit confused concerning the plot.  Cozy was draining all of the magic from Equestria, but she was sending it to another dimension instead of keeping it all to herself for her use (I gathered that she didn't have a choice in the matter thanks to how the draining functioned).  So, she was really only interested in becoming incredibly popular and therefore (in her mind, at least) powerful?  I guess she never did see the rainbows and lasers that happens with the magic of friendship - she might have preferred that instead if she did.

Also, I'd be interested in learning whether the other dimension the magic was being sent to is the Equestria Girls dimension.

 

I'm wondering that too, would be really cool if the human world is where the magic was being sent to.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

11 hours ago, tostr said:

anyone else notice the photo she put on the headmare's desk?

Who can miss the face of that little devil's incarnation?

11 hours ago, Steve Piranha said:

Now Ikm conflicted, I’d expected Chrissy to be the final villain, but Cozy being already a tremendous threat with her mind alone, it’d be fantastic to see what she could do with powers  

Every cartoon villain become dumb after they got full power so I hope they wont get that as long as possible.

 

[Victoria Sponge 1,014]

I was so ready for Cozy to be Chrysalis  

Oh well, she's still a great villain and I doubt we've seen the last of her.

[ManaMinori 4,143]

I got some questions.

1: If CG 's plan was to take all the base magic out of Equestria's ponies, then how would that enable HER to have all the physical power when it came to friendship? The base power of earth ponies/ unicorns, pegasi, and magic amulets can be sucked up collected, but how does that equate to "friendship power"?

 

2: Also, if all pony magic is gone, then could Zecora have come out of the woodworks and save Equestria?

 

3: Was Twilight's saying that "one doesn't graduate from learnin about friendship after one has saved Equestria" a contradiction; because Starlight (Trixie, Thorax, and Doscord) saved th e world that one time, and Starlight got thrown a graduation party soon after. What's up with that?

 

4: How did Starswirl know what would happen after the magic was drained on the third day, and that they'd lose their magic forever, if such things have never happened before (because clearly they still have their magic,meaning this has never happened before now and gone as far as after the third day when it'd be lost permanently)?

 

5: Are Celestia and Luna truly raising the sun and moon? Because they could've halted the time cycle to prevent the days from occurring, and stopping Cozy or the prophecy from happening.

 

6: How does Cozy know about other worlds, to have mentioned them in her villainous dialogue? Has she been to them?

 

7: Why did the ponies,  in spite of knowing that Cozy has contacted Tirek from the outside and worked together while Tirek was still locked up, would they put them in the same proximity for them to collaborate on the inside, once Cozy is captured? They know they're a danger when in two completely different places, so why would they put them in the same place?

Edited October 16, 2018 by Nightmare Muffin

[bwrosas 252]

31 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

I got some questions.

1: If CG 's plan was to take all the base magic out of Equestria's ponies, then how would that enable HER to have all the physical power when it came to friendship? The base power of earth ponies/ unicorns, pegasi, and magic amulets can be sucked up collected, but how does that equate to "friendship power"?

 

2: Also, if all pony magic is gone, then could Zecora have come out of the woodworks and save Equestria?

 

3: Was Twilight's saying that "one doesn't graduate from learnin about friendship after one has saved Equestria" a contradiction; because Starlight (Trixie, Thorax, and Doscord) saved th e world that one time, and Starlight got thrown a graduation party soon after. What's up with that?

 

4: How did Starswirl know what would happen after the magic was drained on the third day, and that they'd lose their magic forever, if such things have never happened before (because clearly they still have their magic,meaning this has never happened before now and gone as far as after the third day when it'd be lost permanently)?

 

5: Are Celestia and Luna truly raising the sun and moon? Because they could've halted the time cycle to prevent the days from occurring, and stopping Cozy or the prophecy from happening.

 

6: How does Cozy know about other worlds, to have mentioned them in her villainous dialogue? Has she been to them?

 

7: Why did the ponies,  in spite of knowing that Cozy has contacted Tirek from the outside and worked together while Tirek was still locked up, would they put them in the same proximity for them to collaborate on the inside, once Cozy is captured? They know they're a danger when in two completely different places, so why would they put them in the same place?

1. Well if she knew how to suck the magic up, then possibly she may have had counter-spell to bring it back, but only if she was named empress.  Then again, her plan seem set on ponies needing support, and she would use that to her advangte to gain more friends, thus in her mind, more friends = more power = her becoming Empress.

 

2. She may have been affected too in someway.

 

3. That was being written during Season 6 (most likely), the writers probably didn't know about the School of Friendship being a thing , till at least 2nd half of season 6, very early portion of season 7.

 

4. I will say that, for the way Cozy Glow acted, (No offense), but there's this part of me, that thinks she's older than she looks, in fact, when we piece together some parts of the finale, it makes you wonder. 

I mean, like how did Starswirl know how the spell would work, and how did Cozy Glow know how to cast it (even with Tirek's help).  I think Starswirl knows who Cozy Glow is, because Cozy May have been his very first student from over 1'000 years ago, even before taking Celestia and Luna under his teachings 

Hear me out, I believe,  she maybe a full grown Pegasus trapped in a filly's body, due to a spell that she was planning to use on all of Equestria, and it backfired on her, when StarSwirl and the other pillars came to stop her, the backfire spell turned her into a filly for as long as it must, till the spell is reversed to change her back.

But that's just a theory, that may have more truth than you think to it.

 

5. Yes they could have, but Luna stated that "Even raising the moon has become difficult", So perhaps the same could be said for Celestia, and they didn't want to risk anything more happening.

 

6. That there is the $1billion dollar question. (That hopefully gets answered next season in the premiere)

 

7. Many have speculated (and probably on the nose about it), that that too was part of Cozy's plan (or at least a backup plan) just in case her original plan backfired on her.

 

Hope that helps.

[ImpctR 155]

for.. sake can some stop using real-life logic and rules and laws in a fantasy world of ponies? SJWs? ... I know this is American show for American public but my cringe-o-meter goes wild when I see some talking about lawsuits and I know these are from teh U.S.

'Cozy is just a kid, just a filly, oh noes, how could she be sent there'?

1. Tartarus just looks like another land, certainly not like hell. A prison place.

2. Cozy was a student of Tirek (as in going by his teachings, not a literal student), who is still the most dangerous villain probably. So she almost repeated what he did, it only makes sense she was sent there. Tirek could have been reformed? What on Earth for? There is no incentive why he should and in Twi's Kingdom he was seen as the prime devil.

3. She went with a "f. you all" response when Twilight told her how she didn't get it rather than trying to learn and beg for sparing.

4. If Cozy hadn't been the lil filly that is greater villain that some others, almost as great as Tirek (I dont like the idea), that wouldn't have been even questioned.

 

She was not just a rook she was the queen who in diagonals and lines took out knights, officers, pawns everything. But why is she sent there? /Sarcasm. I didn't expect it but I don't care.

On 9/8/2018 at 6:14 AM, RaphLuna said:

 

can this show get any Tackier... I mean Come on A Pushy young Filly Pegasus outsmarts them all.. and they are far to clueless to see it.,

...

even when Chrylisis got involved that episode was Tacky as Hell.. they make the evil villans look very weak And so easy to defeat them or foil their plans so easy.

Eeexactly!

Edited October 16, 2018 by ImpctR

[Lektra Bolt 2,336]

I just saw this two part, and I do gotta say I feel like I was a bit slow. I caught on with the episode about the tree, but she had me mostly fooled.

While it wasn't the best, this shows that a non magical plot can work. All the previous seasons had a magical based character causing the end of the world, this had a lack of magic based end and a non inherently spell casting or spell related villain. Even with all this, this villain was very refreshing to me.

That said, there are many many flaws with the character that others have touched on, by I'll say it again what struck me. Besides the fact that there are a lot of 'how this now that' holes, this villain suffered from a severe lack of back story (We know next to nothing about her all the way through her existence) leading to a severe lack of a coherent motive even when it was all explained. It just was built too quickly and toppled just as quickly, with paper thin back story and even thinner motive/resolution

These are my thoughts, anyway

[Red Cedar 1,406]

Okay, now I know Equestrian justice is weird. They put a filly in Tartarus but Trixie walked free after her stunt with the amulet.

[Dark Qiviut 22,160]

11 minutes ago, Red Cedar said:

Okay, now I know Equestrian justice is weird. They put a filly in Tartarus but Trixie walked free after her stunt with the amulet.

Same reasons as Starlight. She showed remorse and was forgiven. Also for Magic Duel, royalty wasn't involved, so justice is more local.

[Music Chart Fan 818]

Overall, I found these episodes kind of a mixed bag. There were moments I liked, such as Smolder's being suspicious of Cozy Glow's being put in charge, or Sandbar's getting a little bit of a chance to play an important role. It was kind of clever that Neighsay was ultimately a red herring. And some of the action of these episodes was good as it was playing out. But I also found that many elements of these episodes, when thinking about them more closely, were kind of distracting or stretched plausibility a little too much, and ultimately prevented me from enjoying these episodes. I found a lot of smaller things to talk about, so I'll try to divide those up below.

-----

First, it would have been nice to have an explanation for Star Swirl's oddly specific knowledge of the timeline of how the magic of Equestria would disappear. If, say, Star Swirl is supposed to know that these effects are coming from the six artifacts, then if he had said so, then at least everyone in the throne room would have known to be looking for those.

Star Swirl's letter says that "first, unicorn magic and spells will fail", and "on the second day, creatures will lose their magic abilities". I might have thought that the second statement would have included, say, the ability of pegasi to fly, but apparently that wasn't the case. And there's also a fairly obvious point that if unicorn magic and spells failed, then we would think that Celestia could not be raising or lowering the sun, and yet the sun was still setting anyway.

-----

It's a little weird to me that apparently none of the students other than the Student Six were suspicious of having Cozy Glow be left in charge. Besides Smolder's good points, if these students are the equivalent of high-schoolers (if not younger, as Cozy Glow appears to be), then I can't imagine a high school being left with only a student in charge (apparently a young one, at that) and no adults in sight. And later in the episode, Cozy Glow is easily able to whip the other students at the school into a mob that seizes and chains up Neighsay and was trying to do the same to the Student Six. Do none of these students question or think it a little strange that they're doing all of these things at the behest of a kid? And yet it apparently took the Student Six's "sacrificing" themselves trying to save each other to cause the students to question Cozy Glow and what they've been doing.

-----

The Student Six see Cozy Glow come out of the catacombs underneath the school, and apparently none of them think to investigate what she was doing down there first. (Later on, Yona even asks why Sandbar is leading the Student Six back into the catacombs, even though they all saw Cozy Glow suspiciously emerging from there earlier.) If the Student Six do think that Cozy Glow is up to something, wouldn't it be better to try to find out what she's up to while she thinks that nobody knows what she's doing? On the other hand, if the Student Six's confrontation with Cozy Glow goes wrong and fails to yield any information, then Cozy Glow would know that the Student Six are trying to figure out what she's doing, and she could take steps to prevent them from interfering or finding out any further.

-----

Neighsay says that the Mane Seven are "skipping off on friendship trips" or "gallivanting off on adventures", as though they're taking a frivolous vacation or something. The Mane Seven were summoned by Princesses Celestia and Luna and are working to investigate why the magic of Equestria is disappearing, and to restore it. Is Neighsay not aware of that? Does he just refuse to believe it, or to believe the importance of what they're doing?

Also, what is the mechanism by which Neighsay believes that the non-pony Student Six - probably the equivalent of teenagers, no less - are stealing all of Equestria's magic? Is it just a reflection of his ignorance and arrogance that he would assume that they're behind this even without any plausible theory of how they would be doing it?

-----

Rainbow matter-of-factly tells Tirek that the Mane Seven are out of magic keys and that nobody can open the door, and the rest of the Mane Seven seem to react as though this is news to them. So did this only occur to Rainbow after the doors had closed? And Rainbow hadn't thought to tell the rest of the Mane Seven before now?

And a little later, it's kind of weird to hear Sandbar independently coming to the conclusion that if all of Equestria's magic is getting sucked up, then the Mane Seven won't be able to get back from Tartarus. I suppose we might assume that Sandbar learned in one of the classes at school that the door to Tartarus must be opened with magic. But somehow Sandbar was able to think of that, while apparently none of the Mane Seven did until after they were trapped.

-----

Apparently Tirek and Cozy Glow were "pen pals" and Tirek was instructing Cozy Glow on how to take the magic from Equestria. So letters are being delivered to and from Tartarus? Are these letters not being screened? Was Cozy Glow sending these letters, and getting letters from Tartarus delivered to her, while she was a student at the School of Friendship? Was anyone suspicious at the back-and-forth letters between Tirek and Cozy Glow, when we wouldn't necessarily expect Tirek to be regularly writing to some pony that he would have no record of knowing before?

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Why exactly are all these caged monsters in Tartarus willing to help the Mane Seven escape, while they stay locked in Tartarus? Is it merely because Fluttershy petted them and said a few nice words? Fluttershy tells the monsters "Okay, everyone! Time to show Equestria that you aren't monsters! You're wonderful, mystical creatures!". Is there an implicit promise or understanding there that if they help the Mane Seven escape, they will have demonstrated that they aren't so bad after all, and that they therefore should be freed?

That also leads to a related question of why the other animals in Tartarus don't just escape along with the Mane Seven while the door's open. Does their staying behind "prove" their trustworthiness and build the case that they should be freed, whereas their escaping would just lead to their being hunted down and captured again?

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The Mane Seven expended all this effort to execute their plan to get out of Tartarus, but magic was restored to Equestria soon after they escaped, and before they even had the chance to do anything else. Consequently, that makes their entire effort seem almost pointless. If the Mane Seven hadn't executed this plan to get out, then their magic would have been restored soon after anyway (we see magic returning to residents of Tartarus even behind the closed doors), so they would have gotten out at about the same time and teleported back to the school either way.

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We also don't seem to get much information or explanation about Cozy Glow's thinking or why she's doing what she's doing. Cozy Glow thinks that if she's the headmare of the School of Friendship, then no one will have more friends than she will, and that will therefore make her "the most powerful pony in Equestria". But we've only ever seen at best a couple dozen or so students at the school. Does no one else in Equestria have more than a couple dozen or so friends? How many friends or ponies loyal to Celestia and Luna does Cozy Glow think there are, to give the most obvious example?

And it's hard for me not to be a little cynical about this. The show's writers/producers may have plans to use Cozy Glow as a villain in the future, so Cozy Glow gets no sympathetic backstory of how she got this way, and no real explanation of why she wants to accumulate power or what she would do with it. Those seem like understandable questions for the audience to ask, particularly considering that Cozy Glow appears to be a kid. But it seems that all we need to know is that she's evil, and that she didn't (yet) get a "redeemable" tag, so off to Tartarus she goes. (And yet, if Cozy Glow had merely acted apologetic when confronted, she might well have been treated very differently.)

But, of course, one possible reason that Cozy Glow is being sent to Tartarus is to set up a future big conflict where the residents of Tartarus escape. Tirek and the other monsters in Tartarus all saw for themselves that their inherent magic was enough to open the doors of Tartarus. So what would stop them from doing so again and escaping? Did their magic need to be channeled through a unicorn horn in order to open the doors? Do the other monsters in Tartarus believe in this theory I mentioned earlier where their good behavior in helping the Mane Seven escape would be rewarded by their being set free later, and they'll continue to believe that and just wait for that time to come?

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When the Student Six are practicing for graduation on the belief that they saved Equestria and are therefore done with school, Twilight and company laugh, and Twilight says "Saving Equestria is nice, but I'm afraid it'll take more than one semester to learn all there is to know about friendship". That led me to think back to Starlight's graduation in "Celestial Advice". At that time, Twilight declared to Starlight that "I know there's nothing more I need to teach you", and deemed Starlight ready to graduate. At least at first glance, it seems like the Student Six at the end of Season 8 are in a similar (if not better) position than Starlight was at the beginning of Season 7. In both cases, Starlight and the Student Six had spent about a show season's worth of time as students of friendship, and in both cases they formed teams and saved Equestria in the absence of the Mane Seven. Also, it seemed as though Starlight had a lot more she needed to learn about friendship back then, whereas it seems like the Student Six really haven't needed to learn much about friendship this season.

So what could explain this apparent difference in how Twilight thought Starlight was ready to graduate back then, while Twilight doesn't think the Student Six are ready to graduate now? Is Starlight supposed to have been a student of friendship under Twilight for a significantly longer period of time than the Student Six have been students at the School of Friendship? Were the friendship lessons that Starlight completed supposed to have been significantly more rigorous than those that the Student Six have completed so far? Are there significant differences in what Starlight and the Student Six did to save Equestria that would differentiate their readiness to graduate? Is it just a matter of the Student Six's being too young to graduate? Have Twilight's criteria for what she considers as having learned friendship well enough to graduate changed significantly between then and now? Or if Twilight's criteria haven't changed, should her current thinking that the Student Six aren't ready to graduate be taken as evidence that Twilight was guilt-tripped/pressured into graduating Starlight when Twilight didn't truly think Starlight was ready to graduate? I honestly don't know what the best explanation is here.

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Now here are the rest of my miscellaneous observations:

Cozy Glow throws a juice box in what appears to be a recycling bin, while taking the presumably plastic straw out and putting that in the garbage. I would think the opposite - that the plastic straw would be recyclable while the juice box wouldn't be, at least if Equestria's recycling capabilities are comparable to our world.

I find it a little odd that Cozy Glow just feels free to read Silverstream's crossword puzzle and suggest answers. What if Silverstream wanted to solve it herself, and didn't necessarily want help?

Twilight's grandfather clock in her office has 16 marked positions around the face, and has 4 hands. However, in the show, characters do refer to hours, minutes, and seconds, and have even occasionally used "24 hours" to apparently refer to a day. So I'm not sure what units of time are denoted by these markings, and I'm not sure what units of time the 4 different hands on the clock are keeping track of.

Even without Cozy Glow's "tells" that we in the audience have observed from this season, her brown-nosing behavior might be considered suspicious in itself - not suspicious of being evil, per se, but at least suspicious of what motives she has for brown-nosing this hard, and what favors she might be planning on cashing in later.

Twilight says that Cozy Glow is like her "right-hoof pony", which leads me to wonder how many "right-hoof creatures" Twilight is juggling at this point. Spike is Twilight's original #1 assistant, of course, and at least at one point, Owlowiscious was also supposed to be Twilight's helper. But now apparently Cozy Glow makes for the third one that Twilight has.

While Yona and the other non-pegasus ponies fall through the clouds when Starlight's spell gives out, Smolder, Silverstream, Gallus, and Ocellus don't. So dragons, hippogriffs, griffons, and changelings all have the inherent ability to walk on clouds? Earlier, when Ocellus said "Wow! I've never stood on a cloud before!" and Starlight said "You can't normally. But for our trip, I cast a spell that lets us walk like Pegasi", did that "you" and that "us" not actually refer to Ocellus or the other three? Has Ocellus never stood on a cloud before just because she's never tried it before?

Twilight briefly considers closing the school and sending the students home, but quickly abandons that idea. If this doesn't qualify as enough of an emergency to close the school and send the students home, then what would? Does the school have to be nuked before Twilight would finally send the students home? And what makes the Mane Eight confident enough that Starlight can oversee the school and protect all the students by herself without magic?

Fluttershy says that the cupcakes "must've gone bad without magic to keep them cold", but since when did cupcakes have to be kept cold so as not to spoil, particularly within just a few hours or so?

I'm a little surprised that a Sapphire Shores concert was still being held even as magic was disappearing all across Equestria. I might think that that would be a little bit of a national emergency, and that people would be concerned about security and their ability to travel and whatnot.

The door to the room that the rest of the Student Six were locked into looks as though it's made of wood, so couldn't Smolder try to burn it down? Or if not the door, then is the window frame burnable? Or even the wooden floor? Is Smolder supposed to have lost the ability to breathe fire at this point? (If so, it would be nice to get a confirmation of that.) Could they just try to break the whole window and its frame out?

It does seems fairly dumb for Cozy Glow to take Neighsay's medallion away from him, realizing that it still has magical power, only to drop it in the garbage can in full view mere feet away.

Also, I can't help noting that Pinkie's obnoxiousness is actually a plot point.

It's also strange that Ocellus warns that pulling one of the artifacts out "would probably cause a magical feedback loop and destroy the whole school", and yet they do just that a little later, and nothing happens, without any obvious explanation of why not.

Finally, there are at least a couple of things that happened in other episodes this season that we thought might be answered by the end of the season. I remember some speculation about the significance of the Tree of Harmony's stopping the Mean 6 from obtaining the Elements, how they were turned into logs right next to the Tree, and how the Elements of Harmony might have been corrupted. But those things don't seem to have become significant in this season, other than perhaps demonstrating that the Tree of Harmony has gotten stronger.

Also, in "Friendship University", we never did find out how Flim and Flam obtained a complete copy of Twilight's curriculum without her knowledge, and it was speculated that Cozy Glow might have "borrowed" a copy and given it to them, or that Neighsay gave them a copy from the EEA in order to sabotage Twilight's school. But we didn't see or hear anything about that, so I guess that remains a mystery.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

After re watching the episode, I have a theory about why Pegasus flying magic remained. Cozy Glow is herself a pegasus so she wouldn't want to take away her own ability to fly and maybe the only way to keep her own flying ability intact was to leave all Pegasus magic alone because if she were the only one flying she would draw attention to herself too easily. The Sun and Moon still moving is a huge mystery unless keeping Pegasus powers has something to do with the princesses raising the sun. I think Cozy may be an adult who is the size of a Filly.

As I scrolled through this thread I saw some people saying Cozy is autistic and that disappoints me so much. Cozy's behavior has NOTHING to do with Autism AT ALL. Cozy can interpret social norms perfectly to get what she wants and has none of the sensory problems of Autism. The sensory problems are the root of Autism symptoms. And I stand by this unless a person with Autism tells me otherwise. If Cozy has a mental disorder I would say she is textbook for something like anti social personality disorder, or psychopath instead. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by StitchandMLPlover

[Music Chart Fan 818]

1 hour ago, StitchandMLPlover said:

After re watching the episode, I have a theory about why Pegasus flying magic remained. Cozy Glow is herself a pegasus so she wouldn't want to take away her own ability to fly and maybe the only way to keep her own flying ability intact was to leave all Pegasus magic alone because if she were the only one flying she would draw attention to herself too easily.

That's an interesting theory! I do wonder how Cozy Glow would be able to "customize" the process by which the six artifacts are sucking the magic out of Equestria in order to exclude pegasi. Logistically, it's hard for me to imagine how that would work, although I suppose there are probably a lot of magical artifacts in the world of Equestria, and we don't necessarily know the precise mechanisms by which those operate, either.