S09:E24+E25 - The End of the End

[bwrosas 252]

#MLPSERIESFINALE: Review of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Series Finale #THANKYOUMLPFIM

#MLPSEASON9 #MLPSERIESFINALE #MLPFINALE #MLPFIM #MYLITTLEPONYFRIENDSHIPISMAGIC #THEMANE6 #THEMANE7 #SERIESFINALE #REVIEW airs in 6hrs

It what is probably my longest review ever at 1hr 50mins, I review and give my thoughts on the Primetime Series Finale Movie of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. 

And all I can say is: 10/10 *****STARS NOW THAT'S YOU HOW PROPERLY DO A SERIES FINALE!

Comments are Welcomed

 

Edited October 14, 2019 by bwrosas

[TwentiethBeef08 12]

And here we are... The end of FiM.

I have to say, I never really thought it would end. I knew it would have to, someday. But I wasn't prepared for it. After my seven years with the show, It's all over... And I wasn't expecting anything in the episodes. 

Sure, I knew the villains were gonna fail and that Twilight would take the crown. But I didn't expect much else.

I can now see all the signs that showed us that Grogar was Discord the whole time, as well as his motive behind it all. Most notably, the fact that Grogar couldn't seem to tell that his bell was hidden sometimes just behind a rock just feet away from him. Though, at the time I agreed with DRWolf's theories about that.

And how they were defeated by everyone, rather than just Twilight and her friends, via the same rainbow attack style as Nightmare Moon and Discord, as well as being turned to stone. That defeat and punishment was really fun for me.

And when I watched it, it felt like half an episode had passed by the time I had elapsed nearly the entire special. I just had fun with the finale. And I think this one will be among my most re-watched episodes, just behind maybe some from Season 3 and the Epilogue.

But beyond that, beyond what I did or did not expect, beyond the story of the episode itself. Above all, this episode will go down as one of the three most important events in the show's history for me, Friendship is Magic parts 1 and 2, Magic Mystery Cure, and The End of the End parts 1 and 2. Those three events are the most important, I think, to not only she show, but also to Twilight as a character.

And now, I won't have pony to look forward to every week, and I will no longer anxiously wait for the hiatus to end so I can get new pony. Sure, the comics will go on but nothing will quite be like the show.

And I'm looking forward to the next movie and Gen5. I think I'll like those. I don't think it'll be fair to compare Gen4 and Gen5, since they'll probably be nearly as different as Gen3 and Gen4, so I don't think it should be looked at that way.

But that's beyond the point. I love FiM, and I probably will for as long as I will live. It's something special. It may not be objectively as good as other shows, and may not be the most important show to exist by a long shot, but it's not comparable to anything else since it has just meant so much to me and everyone else here, I'm sure.

So I would like to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you everyone who made this possible. Thank you Hasbro for green-lighting this series, thank you Lauren Faust for the creative direction at the beginning, thank you to the animators and DHX for bringing it to life, thank you to all the writers for giving us the characters and stories that we'll remember forever.
And thank you all, the community, for making this past 9 years what it's been. All the art, stories, creativity, socializing... Everything. Thank everyone involved for making it happen, and for one of the biggest highlights of the 2010s.

I hope to keep seeing you all keep active, even if it's outside of pony. Doing what you love, having fun.

Being a community.

Thank you, and I hope this isn't goodbye forever.

[Hierok 11,831]

I think Grogar should have been the end villain of mlp, and this is how it easily could have worked. Grogar could have been trapped inside the bell.

Spoiler

https://www.deviantart.com/moonrises/art/Alternative-Ending-real-Grogar-awakening-revenge-812936233

Maybe Grogar was trapped inside the bell by Gusty. The trio of doom come to understand the bell, and just like in the canon version, and plan to get the magic for themself. Instead of the magic coming out, Grogar appears and tells them he is set free at last. After a talk he captures Chrysalis and Cozy since they are only interested in themself, and steals their magic. Tirek joins Grogar on his crusade. Then Discord comes back, but seeing the real Grogar with Tirek he tries to battle them, which he can't win. 

Discord returns to Canterlot and warns the ponies. Twilight informs the pillars, Starlight and the Crystal Empire. Trixie takes care of the students, and Starlight joins the pillars and try to return to Canterlot, but Grogar and Tirek caught them on the way. A big battle breaks out (Not like in the canon where plot armor was necessary) and Grogar takes the magic of the pillars, but Starlight barely escapes.

From here it would be kinda simmilar, except for the trio being a duo. Chrysalis and Cozy could maybe reform or be of use for fanfics. This I think would leave a bit more impact on me then it did. I was quite good, but a bit anti-climactic.

Edited October 14, 2019 by Hierok

[Ganondox 899]

Here the link to image the header reminded me of, it's just some light swearing: https://derpibooru.org/2127827

On 10/13/2019 at 1:11 AM, BastementSparkle said:

Discord was also conscious in his statue prison, he could apparently hear things. He just couldn't move or talk or interact with anything at all, frozen in place for a thousand years, hearing life go on around you, isolated entirely. It'd drive anyone to madness, unless you were already a mad Chaos Spirit in the first place.

 I sincerely hope the trio aren't conscious in that statue, otherwise they very well might have just got a fate far worse than death.

I figured Discord's final comment on the statue implied they were still conscious. This gave me the idea of fic or comic which just consists of the trio conversing with each other while in stone. 

Edited October 14, 2019 by Ganondox

[ChB 18,550]

18 hours ago, Dark Qiviut said:

According to leaked documents, it was. To expand on what ideas they had…

  Reveal hidden contents

One idea involved the Terrible Trio using Elements of Disharmony (a concoction Discord-as-Grogar created) to spread disharmony and ruin the Magic of Friendship, and episodes in which they were going to be in aside from the ones they appeared officially were Growing Up and Sweet & Smoky (as Trial by Fire). In the former, Cozy uses an element to attack the town after hearing some of the M6 were there, and in Trial, Chryssie tried to take over the Dragon Lands. (Tirek had his own episode, but nothing was written down.) Here, Discord would use the corrupted Element of Harmony to turn Twilight into Midnight Sparkle. Magic corrupting Twilight like from Friendship Games.

In the second draft, the Elements of Disharmony were removed from the villain arc, and so were Discord causing Midnight Snarkle. To go over the points.

1. Tirek slowly ate away the Earth ponies' magic so they can't grow crops as well as before.
2. Cozy took over the weather factory and sabotaged the weather as a whole.
3. As a unicorn in disguise, QC was able to slowly manipulate the unicorns into believing their magic is taken for granted.

As a result, the harmony between them has eroded away. Discord-as-Grogar planned to attack the coronation, but the trio doesn't attack. Later, Discord warns Twilight that he is Grogar and would try to use the disguise again to sway them off. But the trio uses the bell to banish Discord instead. Out of desperation, Twilight would force the races to get along, corrupting her into Midnight Sparkle. And it's up to Twilight's friends to rescue Discord, free Twilight, beat the bad guys, and rescue harmony to the land.

 

While a few of those ideas are interesting, none of them would make the plot twist feel any better, to be honest. Seems like the plot twist was a bad idea from the get-go, and no amount of build-up, foreshadowing, development, or whatnot is going to fix that.

[RulesofRarity 489]

It would've been nice if the treehouse of harmony actually played a part in this finale. The spirit of the tree talked about it being a place of solace but they don't expand on this despite having the perfect opportunity to do so.

[Latecomer 439]

51 minutes ago, RulesofRarity said:

It would've been nice if the treehouse of harmony actually played a part in this finale. The spirit of the tree talked about it being a place of solace but they don't expand on this despite having the perfect opportunity to do so.

The treehouse was a central part of an early S9 plan where the Mane 6 would actually train the Young Six up as sucessords of sorts ,I think.

[The Nth Doctor 661]

20 hours ago, BastementSparkle said:

  Reveal hidden contents

A corrupted pony Twilight would have been a cool idea, but the series finale where she's supposed to be taking over the Equestrian throne soon after doesn't seem like the right time to do it. Would be strange to see her ascend to the throne so soon after her biggest fall like that, just would have been a very odd way to end the show. Would make for a cool Season finale or a comic arc, just not necessarily a series finale, at least not if they wanted her to take the throne so soon after.

And yet Starlight was crowned a hero of Equestria days after enslaving the Main 5, on top of her loooooooong list of other crimes she never got punished for
 

That, and Twilight's various neurotic episodes throughout Season 9 really didn't paint her in a flattering light either, yet she was still made ruler regardless, so a brief stint as Midnight Sparkle wouldn't have been any different

[Latecomer 439]

22 minutes ago, The Nth Doctor said:

And yet Starlight was crowned a hero of Equestria days after enslaving the Main 5, on top of her loooooooong list of other crimes she never got punished for
 

That, and Twilight's various neurotic episodes throughout Season 9 really didn't paint her in a flattering light either, yet she was still made ruler regardless, so a brief stint as Midnight Sparkle wouldn't have been any different

"Hero of Equestria" isn't a position of power - heck, if we go by the early Manes it doesn't even come with any recognition or perks. 

And I don't really see ponies going for a ruler who mindslaved all of them when they've had a perfectly good one not doing that for a millennium. Celestia's endorsement only goes so far.

[ggg-2 3,552]

You know, despite them stating that Grogar's bell is unable to be destroyed, is it just me or did the bell become cracked after the villains were defeated?

[Brainstorm 4,106]

This is my theory, I think Discord pretended to be Grogar to get the bell to turn it into the princesses. But, he didn't suspect they would betray Gorgar. 
 

But, I'm glad he not only redeemed himself, he proved himself to be an alley instead an enemy.

[Latecomer 439]

12 minutes ago, Brainstorm said:

This is my theory, I think Discord pretended to be Grogar to get the bell to turn it into the princesses. But, he didn't suspect they would betray Gorgar. 
 

But, I'm glad he not only redeemed himself, he proved himself to be an alley instead an enemy.

That remains very questionable - or rather, whether such an ally is not possibly worse than an enemy. Don't forget all the damage Sombra did.

[gingerninja666 487]

2 hours ago, ggg-2 said:

You know, despite them stating that Grogar's bell is unable to be destroyed, is it just me or did the bell become cracked after the villains were defeated?

Honestly, I think that alone is a testament to how strong Grogar is. When the full combined might of three different sets of ultra friendship lasers could only crack his artifact.

Edited October 14, 2019 by gingerninja666

[BastementSparkle 20,324]

12 minutes ago, gingerninja666 said:

Honestly, I think that alone is a testament to how strong Grogar is. When the full combined might of three different sets of ultra friendship lasers could only crack his artifact.

I pretty much headcanon now is that the actual G4 version of Grogar is a villain so horrible, he actually straight up can't be shown on screen, because the show's rating would have to be bumped up to a straight TV-MA for him. Like, he's a villain with no interest in being a family friendly cartoon villain, he's a complete mismatch with the rest of the setting and it's absolutely horrifying.

Bit of a meta headcanon but I kind of like it.

[Will Guide 21,360]

2 minutes ago, BastementSparkle said:

I pretty much headcanon now is that the actual G4 version of Grogar is a villain so horrible, he actually straight up can't be shown on screen, because the show's rating would have to be bumped up to a straight TV-MA for him. Like, he's a villain with no interest in being a family friendly cartoon villain, he's a complete mismatch with the rest of the setting and it's absolutely horrifying.

Bit of a meta headcanon but I kind of like it.

Not a bad idea. Something to keep in mind.

[BastementSparkle 20,324]

9 minutes ago, Wolf Guide said:

Not a bad idea. Something to keep in mind.

To expand on my idea a bit, it's not only that Grogar himself is pretty much totally at odds with the rest of the world around him, but it's that his mere presence alone along with his magic can sort of "Corrupt" the world around him. The remains of Grogar's reign can still be felt today, though they are weakening. The Everfree Forest is a good example, the forest is a patch of land that was heavily corrupted by Grogar's magic. Remember how back in Season 1, the forest was presented as terrifying to ponies and deadly, and yet as the seasons went by, it became less dangerous and frightening to ponies? That's a sign of the remains of his magic weakening over time, fading away, the world becoming safer as his influence fades. Part of the reason the Season 9 finale was so much darker than usual was due to the presence of Grogar's magic from the bell spreading it's influence through the trio.

 As for where the actual Grogar is, nopony is really certain, but some say he's locked up in the deepest, darkest pit of Tartarus. Not the top-most layer with just the cages to contain villains and monsters, but the absolute bottom of it, near the core of the planet itself. Petrified and locked behind hundreds of thousands of safety spells and locks that would take millennia to crack open. Any of the very rare beings who's actually old enough to remember him beyond the sanitized stories told today will pale and shake at the mention of his name, not even the most sadistic villain would dare to release him onto the world if they actually knew what they were releasing.

...Okay, I'm having way too much fun thinking this up.

[Rixton 1,105]

14 minutes ago, BastementSparkle said:

To expand on my idea a bit, it's not only that Grogar himself is pretty much totally at odds with the rest of the world around him, but it's that his mere presence alone along with his magic can sort of "Corrupt" the world around him. The remains of Grogar's reign can still be felt today, though they are weakening. The Everfree Forest is a good example, the forest is a patch of land that was heavily corrupted by Grogar's magic. Remember how back in Season 1, the forest was presented as terrifying to ponies and deadly, and yet as the seasons went by, it became less dangerous and frightening to ponies? That's a sign of the remains of his magic weakening over time, fading away, the world becoming safer as his influence fades. Part of the reason the Season 9 finale was so much darker than usual was due to the presence of Grogar's magic from the bell spreading it's influence through the trio.

 As for where the actual Grogar is, nopony is really certain, but some say he's locked up in the deepest, darkest pit of Tartarus. Not the top-most layer with just the cages to contain villains and monsters, but the absolute bottom of it, near the core of the planet itself. Petrified and locked behind hundreds of thousands of safety spells and locks that would take millennia to crack open. Any of the very rare beings who's actually old enough to remember him beyond the sanitized stories told today will pale and shake at the mention of his name, not even the most sadistic villain would dare to release him onto the world if they actually knew what they were releasing.

...Okay, I'm having way too much fun thinking this up.

I like where this is going.

[Latecomer 439]

55 minutes ago, BastementSparkle said:

I pretty much headcanon now is that the actual G4 version of Grogar is a villain so horrible, he actually straight up can't be shown on screen, because the show's rating would have to be bumped up to a straight TV-MA for him. Like, he's a villain with no interest in being a family friendly cartoon villain, he's a complete mismatch with the rest of the setting and it's absolutely horrifying.

Bit of a meta headcanon but I kind of like it.

I used to have that one for Sombra. (Still do, really, but I have to ignore his appearance this season.)

 

[BastementSparkle 20,324]

5 minutes ago, Latecomer said:

I used to have that one for Sombra. (Still do, really, but I have to ignore his appearance this season.)

 

An easy way to make it work even taking the Season 9 premiere into account is to say Discord tweaked Sombra's personality around when he brought him back from the ether to try and make him at least a little more tame, because even he thought the "Real" Sombra was a little too harsh to use for a test.

[Rixton 1,105]

2 minutes ago, BastementSparkle said:

An easy way to make it work even taking the Season 9 premiere into account is to say Discord tweaked Sombra's personality around when he brought him back from the ether to try and make him at least a little more tame, because even he thought the "Real" Sombra was a little too harsh to use for a test.

So technically, he served as an example for the other three?

[Latecomer 439]

4 minutes ago, BastementSparkle said:

An easy way to make it work even taking the Season 9 premiere into account is to say Discord tweaked Sombra's personality around when he brought him back from the ether to try and make him at least a little more tame, because even he thought the "Real" Sombra was a little too harsh to use for a test.

Possible - but Discord bringing Sombra back at all is just too dumb for me to run with anyway. No, that isn't getting into my headcanon through any door.

[Senko 459]

42 minutes ago, BastementSparkle said:

To expand on my idea a bit, it's not only that Grogar himself is pretty much totally at odds with the rest of the world around him, but it's that his mere presence alone along with his magic can sort of "Corrupt" the world around him. The remains of Grogar's reign can still be felt today, though they are weakening. The Everfree Forest is a good example, the forest is a patch of land that was heavily corrupted by Grogar's magic. Remember how back in Season 1, the forest was presented as terrifying to ponies and deadly, and yet as the seasons went by, it became less dangerous and frightening to ponies? That's a sign of the remains of his magic weakening over time, fading away, the world becoming safer as his influence fades. Part of the reason the Season 9 finale was so much darker than usual was due to the presence of Grogar's magic from the bell spreading it's influence through the trio.

 As for where the actual Grogar is, nopony is really certain, but some say he's locked up in the deepest, darkest pit of Tartarus. Not the top-most layer with just the cages to contain villains and monsters, but the absolute bottom of it, near the core of the planet itself. Petrified and locked behind hundreds of thousands of safety spells and locks that would take millennia to crack open. Any of the very rare beings who's actually old enough to remember him beyond the sanitized stories told today will pale and shake at the mention of his name, not even the most sadistic villain would dare to release him onto the world if they actually knew what they were releasing.

...Okay, I'm having way too much fun thinking this up.

The thing is the forest was shown from the very begininig to be frightening not because of the creatures living in there but because it functions by itself without pony involvement. Their fears were because the plants grow, animals and weather take care of themselves and the like not because there were manticores, seaseerpents and other dangerous creatures in there. It was frightrening because it was outside their control.

[Latecomer 439]

Just now, Senko said:

The thing is the forest was shown from the very begininig to be frightening not because of the creatures living in there but because it functions by itself without pony involvement. Their fears were because the plants grow, animals and weather take care of themselves and the like not because there were manticores, seaseerpents and other dangerous creatures in there. It was frightrening because it was outside their control.

Over time it became clear it was free of pony magic becuse it had it;s own, though. It's not pony-controlled, but it's not what we would call natural, either, except by comparison.

[Rixton 1,105]

There must have been other powerful, un-controllable places too, outside of Equestria, but the Everfree Forest is a weakening, but real threat to the ponies who are brave to enter.

[BastementSparkle 20,324]

3 minutes ago, Rixton said:

So technically, he served as an example for the other three?

Basically, yeah. Discord meant for him to serve as an example and an easy starting test for the Mane Six, and he served that purpose pretty well. His plan didn't go quite as he expected even at the start, he didn't want the Mane Six to get their Elements or for the tree to get destroyed, but other than that the Sombra part went pretty much how he wanted.

3 minutes ago, Latecomer said:

Possible - but Discord bringing Sombra back at all is just too dumb for me to run with anyway. No, that isn't getting into my headcanon through any door.

I like to think he didn't really "Resurrect" Sombra because Sombra was never truly dead to begin with. Sombra is sort of like a half-pony/half-shadow kind of creature to me (Basically an Umbrum like in the comics, though I don't really count those as canon.) and very hard to kill unless you basically completely destroy him like the Mane Six did at the end of the Season 9 premiere. His horn wasn't destroyed by the Crystal Heart, so he was able to survive through that, he can't be resurrected after Season 9 though, he's actually genuinely dead now.

5 minutes ago, Senko said:

The thing is the forest was shown from the very begininig to be frightening not because of the creatures living in there but because it functions by itself without pony involvement. Their fears were because the plants grow, animals and weather take care of themselves and the like not because there were manticores, seaseerpents and other dangerous creatures in there. It was frightrening because it was outside their control.

That's still part of why they're afraid of it, the forest is out of their control, but it's also just genuinely unnatural to their world. Even without the Plunder vines the thing grows wildly out of control when the tree or somepony isn't keeping it under control, and it's filled with all sorts of dangerous monsters and stuff. Ponies had a lot more reason to be scared of it back in the day, but due to the tree of Harmony being planted inside helping to keep everything under control and Grogar's magic fading, it just kept becoming safer over time, even if it's still more dangerous than most of Equestria itself.