S09:E01+E02 - The Beginning of the End

[Brainstorm 4,106]

Discord maybe a "Super-Odd Dude" as Pinkie says, but, at least he cares. And I'm sure he knew what to do if something went wrong. I think his motive was, with his powers, he can beat things too easily, so, he lets others do it cause he knows they don't need his powers all the time. They have to fight their own battles.

I'm just glad that Celestia and Luna didn't retire.

Edited April 7, 2019 by Brainstorm

[Ganondox 899]

6 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

It bug me that Chrysalis asked what PONY was powerful enough to summon them. Why’s it gotta be a pony that first crossed her mind? Especially given their villain nature and non pony species. 

However, it’s pleases me that what Chrysalis did BUGS you. 

[oregon 170]

10 minutes ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

It bug me that Chrysalis asked what PONY was powerful enough to summon them. Why’s it gotta be a pony that first crossed her mind? Especially given their villain nature and non pony species. 

Deal with it and use your horse sense. Eveypony knows how pony-centric this show is. You got to hoof it to the writers, they did a hay of a job. So stop looking a gift horse in the mouth.

3 minutes ago, Ganondox said:

I figure the issue is that the alicorn could then just free the rest, but then he could just separate them...

Twilight wasn’t able to free Applebloom though

Edited April 7, 2019 by oregon

[Ganondox 899]

2 minutes ago, oregon said:

Deal with it and use your horse sense. Eveypony knows how pony-centric this show is. You got to hoof it to the writers, they did a hay of a job. So stop looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Twilight wasn’t able to free Applebloom though

I know, but that wasn’t when they had the helmets on, maybe it takes more time to fully brainwash them. Or maybe Sombra didn’t know they couldn’t undo it. Or maybe Sombra just didn’t think things through...

[Sweet Palette 246]

I just finished watching it. Personally, I enjoyed it but I was a little disappointed about how it ended. I was really hoping to see more of King  Sombra.

[ManaMinori 4,145]

Soooooo... Rarity is completely fine about giving up running her boutiques to run Equestria. rD is fine with having to quit the Wonderbolts. AJ is ok with not being able to work the farm, Fluttershy leaving her sanctuary, Pinkie no longer making cakes or throwing as many parties......all of their lifelong dreams and occupations being halted to rule Equestria full time.....they’re perfectly ok with this, huh? 

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

1 minute ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

Soooooo... Rarity is completely fine about giving up running her boutiques to run Equestria. rD is fine with having to quit the Wonderbolts. AJ is ok with not being able to work the farm, Fluttershy leaving her sanctuary, Pinkie no longer making cakes or throwing as many parties......all of their lifelong dreams and occupations being halted to rule Equestria full time.....they’re perfectly ok with this, huh? 

Because clearly people in power do absolutely nothing in their free time.

Rainbowdash can lead the aerial division of Equestria, and still do Wonderbolt activities.
rarity can still design for all of Equestria
Pinkie can throw massive parties
Flutters can make a massive animal sanctuary

 

[SasQ 1,376]

Dammit! I lost my entire post of replies because the page somehow reloaded itself from page 8 to page 9 after more replies appeared

Oh well, I'm not gonna go through all this process once again, so let me just share my own thoughts on the premiere (this time I prepared it outside the forum's editor and I'm pasting it here, so I'm hoping for no more bad surprises). I decided to split in into 3 parts. Here's part one:

OK, first of all, I have to mention the visible improvement in animation techniques that can be seen right from the beginning, in the running scene, where the ponies run towards the camera for quite a while and the background is zooming out apparently with no end Or increased details / textures on backgrounds. Or slight improvements in magic effects and lighting. This all adds up to the experience.

The finale starts with Twilight and her friends running to Celestia's palace, believing that they've been summoned there because of another great danger. (Kinda surprising, though, that Applejack calls Twilight a "paranoid", considering that in all previous situations where they've been summoned to the palace, it was because of some great danger threatening Equestria :q But let's say it was some sort of a joke and move on.)  And of course we've got yet another proof that Pinkie is crazy But when they finally came to the castle, they learned that there's no great danger, and that "Equestria is currently enjoying its longest period of harmony in recent years" – well, then I suppose what Cozy Glow did a couple of months ago, and the shenanigans with the Pony of Shadows, and two Changeling invasions, and Tirek demolishing all the land, is Harmony Cool, good to know... :q

And this is what the Princesses use as their excuse to... step down from their thrones and retire? WUT?
Well, I guess in Equestria such things are possible, and politicians/rulers can relinquish their power voluntarily without angry mobs forcing them to do so :q

"Because of your efforts there's been less and less for us to do" – said Luna.
Me: "Sooo what is it that you both do, exactly?" :q  Because every time something threatened Equestria, they were either camping someplace safe, or got themselves kidnapped like little babies ;J  I mean, they even lose the fight with WEATHER in Season 6's premiere, soo...   I guess they can safely retire? I bet no pony would notice anyway
(And no, I'm not being cynical – I would LOVE to see them doing something amazing, for a change. But I guess not in this generation... :q )

Discord of course is very happy to hear that And asks some interesting questions: "Who will TAKE OVER? Who will run Equestria?" (having in mind himself, of course ;> but other than that, those are all valid questions). To answer that, Celestia just nonchalantly points at Twilight, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world ;J
Well, actually, we can't see whom did she point at exactly, so it could as well be Spike A funny detail is that Rarity kinda points at herself, as if she were about to ask: "Moi?"   But let's say she's just raising her hoof towards her awe-opened mouth The only pony who was happy about this idea was Rainbow Dash, of course  hoping that she will get Luna's powers of getting into other ponies' dreams I wonder what would she want that power for, though Twilight was of course shocked and overwhelmed by her new "job offer", but the Princesses explained her that she and her friends are the best choice for the new rulers of Equestria. Which makes me wonder how many friends can be included?   Do Moondancer, Lemon Squeeze and Twikle Winkle (or whatever their names were) count? How about their Ponyville friends? I mean, they have friends all over Equestria, so I guess Equestria is now officially Direct Democracy?
Aaand apparently that could be arranged in just a couple of days :J
Well, I guess Twilight can use some advice from that book by Nopony Makepretendsmith

Then Celestia is like: "We have the utmost confidence in you, and we hope you have the same in yourself."
And Twilight is like: (breathing heavily) "DO I LOOK LIKE I HAD?!!"
(She didn't actually say that, but I couldn't get rid of that thought from my head when looking at her panicc attacc ;J Didn't look very confident to me :q Maybe the Princesses should see their eye doctor, because their sight doesn't seem to work well these days )
I mean, even Discord could see where this is going, and correctly predicted the next couple of minutes of the episode So he either is Twilight's good friend now and knows her as well as her pony friends do, or he's that good of a stalker
Also, Twiligt is now a verb
(I would say she's also a pronoun, if she can now stand for the Princesses )

During her freakout, Twilight asked another valid question: "What would we do if something BIG happens and the princesses aren't there to help?"
And the moment I answered it in my head, I heard my thought being uttered with Rainbow Dash's voice: "Umm, if you think about it, they literally almost never helped" :q
HAAA! The show became self-aware! ;D  I literally choke on my coffee when I heard that ;D
But that immediately got me into thinking (during Pinkie's usual one-breath recap): "Hey, isn't that true about ALL governments, though? :q  We don't really need them either. Because in the end, it is we, ordinary people, who does all the dirty job after all. It is we who builds roads, hospitals, museums, shcools, it is we who mans them, it is we who makes the economy rolling... it's just that we usually forget about it, because we believe that it is our governments who always cares about us and does everything for us." :q  And I would never expect a cartoon about pastel-coloured horses to make me think about such things. But hey, that's kinda what it does, right? :q

After Pinkie's monologue, they all came to conclusion that actually it was them who resolved all the late problems Equestria has been through, which Spike summed up by saying: "And there hasn't been a single villain that we couldn't defeat." (Spike, you and your big mouth... )
As usual, my mind immediately started to scan through the list of villains and it found the first exception ;> But I didn't have to wait for long until the show, well, showed it to me: Queen Chrysalis ;> (hilariously losing her mind in the woods while talking to tree trunks with Changeling faces engraved on them ;> ) But suddenly she disappeared in a black puff of magic

Then we saw Tirek in Tartarus (which apparently is now located under the Everfree Forest :q ), along with that evil little bi... I mean, Crazy Glue, making his stay in Tartarus more enjoyable But they also disappeared in black puff of magic, and the camera moved even deeper towards the planet's core :q  where a mysterious stick drawn an FMA transmutation circle on the ground and summoned King Sombra :q  They all have been summoned and appeared in that place underground, to each other's surprise, and accusing each other for being there But it turned out that the one who summoned them there was... Grogar himself! :> "It was I" – he said, having an actual "eye" on the table in front of him ;> (yeah, I cracked at this little joke and I immediately thought about the Palantirs from "Lord of the Rings")  As many of you pointed out, G4's Grogar doesn't look as intimidating as the one in previous generations, but I think that his overall appearance might be deceiving – he's like a super-villain who successfully ruled Equestria for quite a long time in the past, so his strongest attribute might be experience and strategic planning (and he's got quite a lot of time for mastering those skills and coming up with a good plan). I mean, Cozy Glow looks even less intimidating, and yet she managed to make a serious threat for the entire Equestria single-hoofedly :q  So yeah, never underestimate the enemy, especially the meek-looking one
(BTW is it me, or Grogar kinda looks like Scar from "Lion King"?  )

And of course it soon turned out that he indeed has got a plan, the key element of which is getting rid of Twilight Sparkle and her friends.
I've seen some comments here about that too – why is he targeting Twilight and not the Princesses?  Well, haven't you watch the show lately? Who did more for saving Equestria during the last couple of seasons? The Princesses? Or Twilight Sparkle and her friends? Of course he's targeting Twilight! It's painfully obvious Get rid of the main protectors of Equestria (as they even called themselves a while ago when the premiere started), and everything else will be a breeze.

Also I found it kinda funny how Cozy Glow couldn't help herself but poke fun of Grogar all the time and tease him That sneaky little bastard has already figured him out and I bet my tail she's already plotting how to one-up him  Just wait... (However, I also think that Grogar is well aware of it and he won't let her do that so easily I can't wait to see him kicking the little devil's flank to teach her some respect ;> )

Then King Sombra opened his mouth
....I'm not gonna comment on that   But I think he might be cousins with Prince Blueballs :J

However, I liked when Grogar asked the other villains about what they think were the causes of their failures. And they were all salty about it, coming up with all sorts of lame excuses Then he told them that the real cause was that the Mane Six always work together: "When one is weak, another is strong, and thus unified, they are all formidable force." I really love his explanation! That really sums up well what the power of Friendship is all about :>  And it's kinda ironic that the villains, in order to at least stand a chance against them, are forced to fallback to the same strategy, implementing Friendship themselves ;D  because once they do, they're like unknowingly sentencing themselves to the path of redemption ;D Once they taste Friendship themselves, it will start to change them from their inside as well, there's no other option ;>
But let's give them time, they've got entire season for that... Because for now, King Sombra is like: "I don't do 'ours'. I only do 'mine'!"
(Well, why not both? One can mine for hours, it's called "Minecraft" )
That's the kind of answer I would expect from a villain. They all want to have Equestria all for themselves, they don't want to share ;> Which makes a nice conflict for Grogar: how is he gonna convince them to cooperate?
Turns out that there's no better eye-opener than your own experience ;> So Grogar makes a deal with Sombra: "Go! Try to take back your kingdom. I shall send you there myself. If you prevail, you may keep it. But when you fail, you will submit to me." (Notice how he says "when you fail", not "if you fail" – he already knows what the outcome will be ;> ) And this was very clever, I applaud.  And while Sombra was still talking up his ego, Grogar rolled his eyes and sent him to the surface with his magic, mid-word ;D That was funny Then he advised the rest of them to prepare to work together. Which Cozy Glow immediately took as an opportunity to mess with them ;> Tirek was not amused, of course :J I cracked when he got rid of her like an annoying fly buzzing around his ear

The scene with Starlight pretending a freak out about her taking over the school to let Twilight "see herself in a mirror" was a nice touch as well ;> She's good ;>

Then we're back to Sombra taking over the Crystal Empire. I liked how some of the crystal ponies weren't afraid of him that much anymore and courageously standing up to him, after they saw in the past that he can be defeated. Unfortunately, they seemed to forget that Sombra's main weapon is turning ponies' fears against them in order to control their minds (which is pretty much what every government does once it gets enough power).

And it looks like Cadence can use Spike's magic to send letters
Also, Flurry Heart can talk! And she calls Sombra her mommy ;D  See? I knew she's evil ;D
(Just kidding; )

Sombra takes Flurry Heart hostage, and we hear the same worn-off cliché piece of dialogue once again:
Cadence: "You won't get away with this."
Sombra:  "Oh, but I already have!"

OK, let's stop part 1 here, since it's getting quite long already :q
See you in part 2

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

The first thing i really want to mention about season 9 premiere...

...Sombra, The Shadow dies Twice... 

R.I.P Sombra, too bad that The Elements decides to kill villain this time. The remaining villains should learn few things from his death:       

  . Stop being arrogant when you are winning,

   . Dont reveal yourself too soon, just work in the shadow.

   .By the time you learned that even you destroyed the tree you cant disable Deus ex Machina power. The solution is just neutralize them, dont capture them and laugh at them, just neutralize the enemy, Queen bug did it so well in her second attempt but she never learn her #1 lesson.

...

It's good to back to pony once again. Hello, everyone.

Edited April 7, 2019 by Lambdadelta

[DubWolf 17,247]

That was pretty suspenseful. Like the elements being destroyed, all talk and no play wasn't going to save them from Sombra, so nothing was really predictable as to how it would end.

Although I guess somehow having Twilight suddenly become powerful through her friends seemed like what would've happened, considering Celestia, Luna, and Starswirl already had their hands full to appear again, so maybe it wasn't that unpredictable  .

I still feel like Discord is pretty op for them to ever really be in serious, serious, deep trouble (though Chrysalis was able to stop his magic that one season)

[gingerninja666 487]

1 hour ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

Soooooo... Rarity is completely fine about giving up running her boutiques to run Equestria. rD is fine with having to quit the Wonderbolts. AJ is ok with not being able to work the farm, Fluttershy leaving her sanctuary, Pinkie no longer making cakes or throwing as many parties......all of their lifelong dreams and occupations being halted to rule Equestria full time.....they’re perfectly ok with this, huh? 

I mean... yes?

 

Like, they see it as an honour and a duty. Being a defender of Equestria is something they see as a true part of their identity. The princesses themselves came down from on high to decree them the best possible people to lead Equestria into the future. If it's what the princesses want, then they're happy to oblige.

 

Also, they're 6 people taking on the job of 2 people. They're likely to have more free time to do side projects than the sisters.

[heavens-champion 1,905]

Well, at least Twilight's not succeeding Celestia and Luna right away. And, at least Cozy's not in charge of the League of Evil.

It's amazing how Tirek is going to take orders from Grogar so easily.

Edited April 7, 2019 by heavens-champion

[RDDash 19,163]

45 minutes ago, gingerninja666 said:

The princesses themselves came down from on high to decree them the best possible people to lead Equestria into the future. If it's what the princesses want, then they're happy to oblige.

 

Yes the job is honorable or whatever, but I highly doubt that five random ponies are qualified for the job in politics (worst case scenario) or the glorified members of the state (best case scenario)

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Yeah I know, pricey voice actor, but anyone find it funny Grogar never even bothered with this guy?

[bwrosas 252]

One thing I will say about the premiere is this, it gives you that Ol' school Saturday Morning Vibe, especially how it has set up everything for this upcoming season. Don't you all agree?

[Oleks 1,993]

Probably, this reference has already been made like a thousand times, but still. We’re in the endgame now. And this is the endgame I really care about.

So, in my opinion, this was the best season starter since The Return of Harmony. It was epic, it had funny moments and long-awaited characters, and it clarified some things that needed clarification. Grogar is back (even though he doesn’t look too intimidating yet), Sombra showed his true power, and the prediction about a team of villains came true. I don’t know how I feel about the princesses retiring though. I guess they deserve some time off, but still this is a massive change, and maybe a setup for Gen5. And I’m twilighting about this almost as much as Twilight herself.

All in all, it was a great start, and I hope this season will be great and full of pleasant surprises. I’m not going to overanalyze its episodes or nitpick. This is the last season, and I’m just going to enjoy it.

Spoiler

 

Also, this 

 

 

[Dynamo Pad 11,267]

I finished watching the premiere with a friend yesterday and these episodes were pretty awesome. It was interesting to see that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were planning to retire. I think that was the original way the show was going to end with Celestia and Luna stepping down for Twilight to rule Equestria. I'm not sure if that's accurate, but please correct me if I'm wrong on that. If it really is true, then I think it's interesting that the show is going in that direction. Although, I'm glad Twilight isn't taking the ruling of Equestria right away. Hopefully, we'll be seeing her character arc progressing throughout this season. It was interesting to see all the villains returning and showing up in one place. It was amazing to see Grogar making an appearance and announcing that he wanted to team up with the other villains. It makes me wonder how he kept watch over all the villains that were defeated by Twilight and the others. What I also found interesting was when he mentioned the bell and Gusty the Great. I remember in the episode, 'A Flurry of Emotions,' Twilight had a book that talked about Gusty and Grogar. When looking up Gusty the Great, I found a picture of her G1 character. I like how this might bridge the gap between G1 and G4. When Grogar stated how long he was in hiding, it made me feel like it was truly for that amount of time. I wonder if we'll see or be mentioned about Gusty the Great in this season.

It was rather surprising how easily Sombra had taken over the Crystal Empire. Even more so on that he was banished instead of destroyed from what was explained from the events of season 3. It's a shame that Cadence and Shining Armor didn't put up much of a resistance to Sombra's rise to power. However, I can see why because they didn't want anything to happen to Flurry Heart. It seemed rather too easy to defeat Sombra the first time, but I liked how that was a part of his plan by giving the heroes a false sense of security. What I do want to know is how he even survived the rainbow laser the first time. When Twilight was trying to put the element shards back together, I could see and feel both the desperation and hopelessness she was feeling. I liked how we got to see Celestia and Luna aiding Twilight and the others as they tried to fight back against the Everfree Forest. It was even cool to see Starswirl getting involved to help out. I hope we'll see the other old Pillars of Equestria helping out. 

I know Discord was faking on being hurt, but I will not deny that I cried when he got hurt. The speech he gave to the others was both touching and inspirational, in his own way. That even without the elements of harmony, Twilight and the others are the elements themselves. I think that's a callback to the season 4 premiere, but I could be wrong on that. Regardless, I did find it a little strange that they defeated Sombra instead of reforming him. I was hoping they would somewhat reference the comic where Sombra became good. All in all, I really enjoyed this episode a lot. It really gives you that feeling that the stakes have been raised more than before. The jokes and random moments were pretty funny and the action and callbacks were pretty good. I'm definitely looking forward to what the final season has to offer.  

[YoshiAngemon 223]

7 hours ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

It bug me that Chrysalis asked what PONY was powerful enough to summon them. Why’s it gotta be a pony that first crossed her mind? Especially given their villain nature and non pony species. 

She probably wants to see Ponies wiped out into extinction, no exceptions. She even hates Cozy Glow.

Edited April 7, 2019 by YoshiAngemon

[RaphLuna 306]

7 hours ago, Sweet Palette said:

I just finished watching it. Personally, I enjoyed it but I was a little disappointed about how it ended. I was really hoping to see more of King  Sombra.

I agree friend. However I feel that Grogar is still going to need King Somber so he might return.

Hope so he is my favorite bad guy ever. 

[n1029 227]

That premiere was caught between wanting to poke fun at itself and delivering on the expected earnest feel good affirmations. For as much humor as it wrings out of an awareness of its cliches, the story didn't do much of interest to divert from them. Like many episodes, it's held up by entertaining character moments. 

 

I guess it's a symptom of a greater "darkness is better" mentality but I never understood why the fandom demanded Sombra's return so much. He wasn't very interesting as an abstract evil force in the S3 premiere and he's no better as an impulsive, goofily voiced persona with abilities based on episode runtime needs in this one.

Edited April 7, 2019 by n1029

[Thaliel 116]

*deep breath*

 

1. Tia und Luna: Even if they DO one day retire, they still have to live somewhere. Their old castle is in no shape to serve as their retirement home, so why did anyone exoect twily to move to canterlot?

   - plus, twily already HAS a castle, there does not appear to be any need for the rulers of Equestria to reside in Canterlot

2. The Grogar Gang (tm): Those remaining three do not seem very into it yet. I highly suspect at least one of them (mo money is on cozy) to turn their back and work with the mane six at some point, maybe even all thre of them

   - at least Tirekt should know Grogar is merely using he three just to ditch them once in power, he did the exact same thing with Discord

3. RIP tree: Why does it seem like everyone forgot about all those roots the tree has sprouted all the way below the school? And how it had become so powerful it created anvatar for itself and provided the student six with power...The physical tree might be gone, but the...entity (?) is still there and I am sure we will meet it in some way later on

[Steve Piranha 29,419]

9 hours ago, bwrosas said:

It's nice to see Celestia and Luna admit they may have rush things with placing Twilight in charge. I have a feeling they will play a MAJOR Part later on in this final season.

I believe Twi and company will have an army behind them consisting of practically all characters fighting Grogar’s army

[Yfus 28]

I felt that Celestia didn't really want to retire, but i fell into a theory Twilight is a new queen.

I have no idea, how Twilight is supposed to rule, when she doesn't even know how to control the sun and moon. She also needs to stop twilighting.

[DonMaguz 1,023]

15 hours ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

Soooooo... Rarity is completely fine about giving up running her boutiques to run Equestria. rD is fine with having to quit the Wonderbolts. AJ is ok with not being able to work the farm, Fluttershy leaving her sanctuary, Pinkie no longer making cakes or throwing as many parties......all of their lifelong dreams and occupations being halted to rule Equestria full time.....they’re perfectly ok with this, huh? 

I would have liked for this theme to be covered. S8 and the school of friendship already put this issue on our faces and it hasn't been addressed.

I hope that we get some explanation eventually, because most of what I like about these main characters is how different they are and if their role and destiny turns out to be just a piece of Twilight Sparkle's source of power... then the richness of what they are is going to get lost over their duties as "Protectors of Equestria".

Edit: I had written 'the school of magic' instead of friendship.

Edited April 7, 2019 by DonMaguz

[Nye 1,652]

This episode was awesome! Though I'm upset about one thing.

Spoiler

Why did Sombra have to die? He was so cool.