S03:E01+02 - The Crystal Empire

[TheLoneyPony 34]

Watched it today, it was pretty epic. But the villan was quite weak, what were his motivations? Why is he evil? etc etc etc. Still an awesome episode!

[OkBuddy 586]

I liked this episode. It was very good. I mean, I kind of wished that King Sombra Would get to talk instead of just his "roars". He's like the ponified version of bowser.

[Zygen 6,066]

Holy shit this episode was good. It was pretty suspensful right until the end. What does this mean for Twilight? What did Celestia mean when she said "When she completes the task, she will be ready"? Ready for what?! So many questions!

 

I think that my theory is that twilight is going to be taught some dark magic by Luna. I think thats what shes going to be ready for. And I think that theory was further enforced in me when i saw Luna's book she had during near the end.

[Wingnut 6,946]

What did everybody think about Applejack? In the season 2 opener, Discord disabled AJ's honesty element, causing her to become a pathological liar. Now in the season 3 opener, she had to reprise that role to keep the Crystal Ponies away from the fake crystal.

[AustralianFries 213]

 

I think that my theory is that twilight is going to be taught some dark magic by Luna. I think thats what shes going to be ready for. And I think that theory was further enforced in me when i saw Luna's book she had during near the end.

 

Damn I never thought of that. I too noticed the book Luna was levitating (I notice litterally every detail, due to my self-proclaimed CDO [OCD but alphabetized].) I didn't really think too much of it though. Your hypothosis is as accurate as any though

Edited November 12, 2012 by Australianfries

[Zygen 6,066]

Damn I never thought of that. I too noticed the book Luna was levitating (I notice litterally every detail, due to my self-proclaimed CDO [OCD but alphabetized].) I didn't really think too much of it though. Your hypothosis is as accurate as any though

 

Well considering dark magic first appeared in the episode, and all the little foreshadowing and hints in the episode. Plus just how much they can expand on it. I can't imagine that it will only be a one episode kinda thing.

Again it is only theorys though, but I have quite a bit of faith in this theory. That it will atleast happen to some extent.

[Cestler 9]

I think that book was a prophecy about the first living "Element of Magic". Twilight. And if you see the mural, Twilight had wings! She had wings! And the book had her cutie mark on it. Maybe Star Swhirl predicted this! Neigh, soul sister!

[Areoshock 20]

I really hope king sombra doesn't just stay dead for the rest of all the seasons. He was to badflank to just introduce then kill (Course I don't belive he's actually dead. I could explain my theroy but it'd take to much time and I've just trying to post enough to not be a blnk flank ;^;

Edited November 12, 2012 by Areoshock

[Sunny Fox 5,950]

I liked this episode. It was very good. I mean, I kind of wished that King Sombra Would get to talk instead of just his "roars". He's like the ponified version of bowser.

 

Well, he did talk a few times in the episode, but mostly just one sentence lines.

 

As for the up-coming episode, if Trixie is supposed to beat Twilight in a magic duel... how could that happen? Since I doubt Trixie could beat Twilight with her own power, I suspect she (knowingly or unknowingly) will get a power-up from a villain or some sort of MacGuffin.

[aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 55]

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Edited April 16, 2022 by throw

[My Little Mandy 838]

I thought it was kinda cool. King Sombre was a disappointment.

If he shows up again in the series, I hope he gets a better story.

(still thinks Discord is THE best MLP: FiM villain)

[Pepperoni 7]

Its amazing what theories people can come with, and a lot of them make sense! I should have joined this forum sooner. I also hope we learn more about Sombra.

[Clarity 3,094]

What did everybody think about Applejack? In the season 2 opener, Discord disabled AJ's honesty element, causing her to become a pathological liar. Now in the season 3 opener, she had to reprise that role to keep the Crystal Ponies away from the fake crystal.

While I would say she wasn't technically lying--simply acting like nothing was wrong--you're right. One would expect Applejack to be a horrible liar considering what we've seen in the past, and quite a bad actor, too. (except for Hearth's Warming Eve.) But I honestly don't care, because AJ still got some good screentime.

[Lux Brush 35]

Hello eveypony I did not know where to put this so I am posting it here. After watching episode one and two of season three twice, I think I see some bit and pieces of info that are starting to fall in to place for King Sombra to be a more important character then most think, and that Nightmare Moon was made as a direct side effect of Celesta and Luna fighting King Sombra 1000 years in the past and that King Sombra was not destroyed at the end of episode two and that we will probably see him again.

 

Now I have not read much of this this topic to see if anyone else has thought of this theory and posted it. I am just going to post this and see if there are others that have the same theory and hope that it has not already been discussed to death.

 

Now on to what I think I see so far and how I think that Nightmare Moon was a direct result of the fight between Celesta, Luna and King Sombra. The first is the timing of when the fight occurred. Both Luna turning in to Nightmare Moon and King Sombra’s first defeat happened at the same time. Both 1000 years before current Equatra. They both also have very similar powers, they can become a miasma and shape shift. I think that during the fight some part of King Sombras’ powers may have infected or amplified Luna’s already there feelings of resentment and jealousy causing her to transform in to Nightmare Moon. Though I do need to double cheek to see if the timing of the fight with Discord will mess this up but I think this theory fits quite well. Update: They never give a time for when Celesta and Luna fight Discord.

 

And on to why I think that King Sombra is not destroyed. For one he is mostly miasma so he really does not have a physical form and there is a part near the beginning of episode two were he get the tip of his horn is cut off by Cadence magic barrier and it lives on and responds to King Sombra. Then at the end were we see that the power of the crystal hart is expanded out and seams to destroy him by shattering him in to pieces. Now with what I saw in at the star of this episode I think those pieces are still alive and will come into play later in the season. Though I have seen that other think this as well.

 

And sorry for the long post.

[Silverhoof 2,844]

I liked the show. The focus was on twilight, not on the villain. We saw everything from her point of view, not from his. With all the villains stealing the limelight, its nice to have one in the background: This show belonged to Twilight.

[Princess Lintsalot 73]

Um, what are you talking about? Do you think there's going to be an episode where Trixie takes over Ponyville, and that will be the end of the series?

 

No, I was just stating that it's been confirmed that Trixie appears in a future episode, and there was a leaked screeny of her in control of ponyville. That doesn't necessarily mean that that change is permanent, though

[Whofch 128]

My thoughts on the Characters:

 

Twilight - I feel they go too far with her with the whole 'must not fail the test' making it seem she feel's that's more important that the entire Crystal Kingdom, at least up until the end. Her use of powerful magic and how easily it is for her to learn is interesting and will be nice to see where they go with that. Sick of people moaning about why she doesn't use teleport more often, would love for the show to actually state that she needs line of sight or something just to hush them.

Still, loved her little trilling she did near the beginning, was cute. That and her getting all excited in the library.

 

Applejack - Very much liked how she kind of took up leadership over the rest of the things while twilight went hunting. This first popped up in the ep where twilight went nuts in the library and she had to step in to get things done. She's not book smart but she knows whats needed to be done and knows how to go about it. Then the stopped Rainbow for being a mong later on and then Rarity reporting to her when she was running out of mats for her stall.

Also when she made the pun on Rarity. It's so obvious and I've been waiting so long for someone to do it. Finally!

 

Rarity - Absoloutly loved her through this episode. Loved her crazy moments due to her liking sparkly things and her "ha ha very funny" and "I made it work" quotes. I like her little 1 liners. Then at the end when she becomes a comfoting friend starting up the final song and putting her arm on twilights. She's recently being pushing her way into my fave of the main chars though so perhaps biased.

 

RD - She's never really been 1 of my favourites so it didn't bother me a great deal with all of her hostility. She just likes to get the job done and look awesome at the same time so she goes a little overboard I guess. *Shrug*

 

Pinkie - Most of her humour seemed forced. Didn't feel like a natural pinkie. I did like the dressing up as Fluttershy but it was the Flugelhorn part which made me forget about anything else. She was perfect there.

 

Fluttershy - Again at the start I thought she felt a little forced when she was trying to interrigate the Crystal Pony peeps but loved her reaction to her skin on the floor. She also looked so damn adorable after dash had knocked her down.

 

Villain - To me he was just a countdown timer which they had to beat. Perhaps he will be back as I'm sure cartoons for the young don't usually involve people dying these days or perhaps the dark magic itself has some life force behind it will return.

 

Luna - Yay but not enough

 

Cadance - She looked miserable, I felt sorry for her. She's the Crystal Princess. Does she look like their old princess or was it just because she was flying with the heart?

 

Shining A - Was rendered useless in power but a nice support for his wife. Crystal Kingdom would have some hefty protection if they both stayed there and both pot up shields of different types.

 

The little things + assumptions/hopes/thoughts/whateveres

 

The talk between the sisters pointing out that Twilight has something very important coming up. Hoping her next step of training is with Luna, perhaps hinted at when Celest + Twi finish talking and Celest goes "and when you do, I'll know you are ready to move on to your nest level of studies", the camera and twilight look right at Luna (who looks somewhat angry/worried).

There is also the use of dark magic which celest and then twilight use which could indicate that it's going to become a more prominent force in S3. Luna should have more experience with it which might help that theory.

 

There's the part where the backgrounds with Celest + Luna with the Moon/Sun behind and then Twi with her Stars behind her. Looks important.

 

And the book at the end which Luna summons. It has stars and swirls on it as someone brought up somehere. Perhaps just a coincidence or perhaps something about starswirl the bearded.

 

Now looking at the upcoming episode list:

Ep3.Overwhelmed with having to choose just one friend to spend time with, Pinkie Pie uses a magic mirror to clone herself. Parhaps something to do with this new dark magic?

Ep5.When Trixie returns to Ponyville, she defeats Twilight and banishes her from town. Another possibility of the dark magic being hinted at.

 

Granted those could be a bit of a stretch and not sure where it would fit in with the other eps we have info on.

 

Perhaps twilight has to go back in time 1000 years or something along those lines. It would mean Discord could be brought back since that's apparently happening. Also the time spells were apparently in the Starswirl the bearded wing as mentioned in 'It's about time' episode. Since that episode is one of the ones bundles in that odd crystal empire dvd collection thing the whole Starswirl thing, it might have some connection.

 

At the end of the day, I really liked the episode and love the unanswered questions (as long as they do get answered).

Love seeing more luna, hope there is more of her to come and pray to whatever that Twilight doesn't become an Alicorn and/or Princess. I believe that doing either of those would hurt the rest of the cast. I like her being special without being different if you know what I mean.

[honey-pie 3]

I know everyone else saw the Crystal Empire dvd cover way before this episode, but I wasn't following pony news at this time, so it's new to me.

And honestly it's the most disappointing of anything on Friendship is Magic so far, and it concerns me. Not the whole episode, although it wasn't my favourite episode. Just the name 'Crystal Empire.' It's the first place in the series we haven't seen a clever name be used. It sounds generic and a-typical of any other little girl's brand that's out there and has been out there for the past 30 years. It sounds like a starcastle (loved the toy when I was a kid, but definitely not something someone should make a story out of)

 

It must seem like nitpicking, but it makes me cautious of how season 3 will progress. I hope we don't see Hasbro bully the creative team into making the show like any other Barbie movie, or MLP show we've seen in the past.

[Silanda 24]

And honestly it's the most disappointing of anything on Friendship is Magic so far, and it concerns me. Not the whole episode, although it wasn't my favourite episode. Just the name 'Crystal Empire.' It's the first place in the series we haven't seen a clever name be used. It sounds generic and a-typical of any other little girl's brand that's out there and has been out there for the past 30 years. It sounds like a starcastle (loved the toy when I was a kid, but definitely not something someone should make a story out of)

I liked the episode but I somewhat agree. That said, it could have been a lot worse. I think it would be fair to guess that the whole Crystal Empire and ponies are basically something to hang a new toy range on, but they didn't go as overboard with it as I feared they might. My fear was that we'd get a plethora of new Crystal Pony characters introduced for merchandising purposes, which didn't happen.

 

Overall I thought that the episode was decent but was trying to cram too much into two episodes. As such the villain was an overly simplistic, boo hiss evil character who wasn't explored at all and wasn't really interesting. That was the big let down for me, King Sombrero, or whatever his name is, is one of the most one dimensional characters to be introduced into the series thus far, and by far the worst bad guy.

[WildCard 1,037]

Great episode in my opinion, one of my favorites!

 

To be honest I liked how time was the bigger enemy and the focus lay on the quest, rather than on the battle. For some reason the whole episode felt like a part of a RPG video-game where you come into the city and have to prepare for the coming attack before the time runs out. It felt epic.

 

Also the art and animation got even better in my opinion. The world looked more detailed, 3 dimensional, had a lovely atmosphere and reminded me of the "Paper Mario" games(which I absolutely adore).

Characterwise I liked how Spike and the newlyweds got more attention

Also Twily got reeeeally powerful with her magic

 

Only thing that could be different: In my opinion they didn't need to create a villain. Maybe just saying the Kingdom deappears because of a curse that Sombra caused long ago would have been enough and people wouldn't have been disappointed with the lack of a "bossfight"

 

But all in all I liked the concept of "searching for a defense and running out of time" a lot more than "stuff's getting serious and we have to fight the evil boss". It brought up a really tense atmosphere and felt fresh compared to "We may find something but in the end the plan fails and we have to fight the bad guy anyway"

Edited November 12, 2012 by Wildcard

[Copper Loosebrain 31]

I think this was the best series start, but it's got me wondering... The Next Stage Of Twilight Sparkles' Studies, is Luna gonna teach her magic personally? What does Celestia have in mind for Twily?

 

And what about the origins of Cadence? she looks even younger than Luna, we've seen that pegasi, unicorns, and earthies can be born from any of the three, but where do Allcorns come from?

 

Finally, are we going to see any more of the changelings? Do any live in Ponyville, pretending to be normal ponies but unable to show their true natures for fear that they'll no longer be loved? Are all of them evil? Or are some just misunderstood?

[Salacious B. Crumb 13]

For me, the episode was pretty good. May favorite two parts are:

 

1: When Shining A is in his black winter suit. Proves my fanfic in which he becomes Batmane.

 

2: When the ponies are attacked by King Sombra, aka roaring black smoke monster. Lost anyone?

[BaBaBrony 111]

[dekutree64 713]

Perhaps twilight has to go back in time 1000 years or something along those lines. It would mean Discord could be brought back since that's apparently happening. Also the time spells were apparently in the Starswirl the bearded wing as mentioned in 'It's about time' episode. Since that episode is one of the ones bundles in that odd crystal empire dvd collection thing the whole Starswirl thing, it might have some connection.

Now THAT would be pretty awesome. With how time travel apparently works in this series, that would mean Twilight helped Celestia and Luna beat Discord in the past, which would mean that when filly Twilight went all superpowered on her entrance exam, Celestia would be discovering that the pony from her ancient past had finally been born. Certainly would give more reason to take her on as a personal student Especially since that would mean that the princesses would have to guarantee that Twilight develops her abilities to a high enough level to go back, in order to complete the time loop.

 

But that would give even more reason to alicornify Twilight, if she'd been a part of the sisters' lives from that far back. Also would solve the age gap problem of Twilestia shipping, if Celestia first met Twilight as an adult, and when she herself was 1000 years younger. They fall in love, Twilight has to return to the future, Celestia has to wait 1000 years for her to be born, then has to wait for her to grow up and go to the past, and then when Twilight returns to the current time, Celestia can finally tell her everything, and then lots of kisses ensue

I'm so writing a fanfic of that if nothing in S3 makes it impossible.

 

I do agree that alicorn Twilight would be risky of making the other 5 seem less important, but I think there would be some good lessons to learn, for Twilight to stay humble, and the other 5 not to take advantage of her status for their own gain. After all, some of the kids watching will grow up to be rich and/or famous (or simply popular at school), or their friends will, and it would be good to show that you can still be true friends anyway

[PonySoul 10]

I think the episode itself was good, but man the villian was just so bad. They just didn't develop anything about him that made him interesting.