The My Little Pony

ImpracticalDino · **Reply #6220 on:** September 11, 2019, 08:56:45 PM

Dang, it sucks to know that Equestria Girls will end with a whimper rather than a bang. Oh well. :/
I still really hope that there's still a lot of plot progression in those shorts that are being released on YouTube. I still need to watch them to find out, but I like I said I'm short on time, and the Season 9 episodes are kinda my priority at this point. I still didn't start on any new Season 9 episodes, so it'll be quite awhile before I make any progress.

Sneak · **Reply #6221 on:** September 12, 2019, 05:12:31 AM

Not even a year has passed since I started to watch this series, and it's possibly going to end very soon. That's sad.
In one particular aspect, it's even very very bad... :/ possibly, will see...

ImpracticalDino · **Reply #6222 on:** September 12, 2019, 03:03:33 PM

^Dang. And I can't believe that I started watching the series in 2010, the same year of its release. Yet, here we are now with the series finale of MLP:FiM and the possibility of G5 being in the works as well.

It's sad indeed, Sneak. :/

The Chronicler · **Reply #6223 on:** September 15, 2019, 12:00:11 AM

First off, it was recently officially announced that the series finale will be on Saturday, October 12, which will be the last three episodes together (the two-parter and the epilogue), and will begin at 8pm (primetime, rather than the usual 11:30am). And the day before that (October 11), there will be a behind-the-scenes special at 5pm, so that should be very interesting to watch. Of course, all of this implies that the previous week (episode 23, on October 5) will be the last time this show premieres a new episode at its usual time.

Next up, the latest Equestria Girls short to be released on YouTube, another "choose your own ending" type of short, featuring Applejack:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8eDC2_TcZA

Spoiler: Show

Applejack is thrilled to be watching her favorite country singer, Dirk Thistleweed, performing live, but with everyone dancing to the music, her foot gets stomped on and broken, forcing her to leave the crowd. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie help her limp to a safe distance, but they refuse to let her miss out on the show and both of them offer to do something for her (while Snips happens to be walking by on his own).

Choose Rainbow Dash: Rainbow mixes up a special lotion that she's used before to treat injuries. Applejack is unsure due to its odor, but it attracts Dirk, who's suffering from a sore throat. A starstruck Applejack agrees to let him use some of the lotion to regain his voice.

Choose Pinkie Pie: Pinkie is determined to make sure Applejack doesn't miss Dirk's performance by any means necessary. Pinkie tosses Applejack into a wheelbarrow and pushes her up to the top of a hill near the stage. Due to the hill's location off to the side of the stage, Pinkie then shoves Dirk to the very front of the stage so Applejack can see him, then is immediately tackled off the stage by security.

Choose Snips: Snips is confused why Applejack wants to hang out with him, to which she says he had seemed lonely without Snails around. Snips laments being abandoned by his friend (and seemingly doesn't notice Applejack's offer to be his friend), but Snails eventually arrives, along with Dirk who happens to be enjoying hanging out with Snails (mostly for his use of armpit noises). Upon finding out that Snips and Applejack happen to be friends with Snails, Dirk offers the three of them backstage seats to watch his performance (where Applejack again feels completely ignored by Snips and Snails).

For this one, I think Rainbow Dash was the best choice, because she offered something to help Applejack's broken foot, which also happened to be helpful for Dirk as well and left Applejack excited to actually meet him. Pinkie was fine, but being tackled off the stage by security was one of those rare moments where her antics came with real consequences. Snips was definitely one of those out-there options that I'm usually not fond of, not only because it meant Applejack passed on her closest friends, but also it left her seeing a rather unflattering side of Dirk.

Finally, here's this week's officially released new episode.
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/09/season-9-episode-20-horse-shoe-in.html

Spoiler: Show

With the upcoming ascension of Twilight to ruler of Equestria upon the retirement of Celestia and Luna coming closer, Twilight officially declares Starlight the new head-mare of the School of Friendship. Starlight is understandably worried about how she'll handle the new responsibilities, especially with her friend Trixie complaining about the two of them not having much time to hang out. During that conversation, Trixie unintentionally gives Starlight the idea to hire a vice head-mare to help ease the burden of running the school. With Twilight approving of the idea, Starlight sets up a three-stage process to help her determine the best pony for the job, and the candidates who apply are Spoiled Rich, Doctor Hooves, Octavia, Big Mac, and Trixie (who confidently assumes that being Starlight's best friend means she's guaranteed to be given the job, and assumes the selection process is just a worthless formality).

Stage one of the selection process involves teaching a class. Big Mac, Octavia, and Doctor Hooves handle their tasks quite well, while Spoiled Rich's arrogance annoys the students and Trixie's laziness leaves the whole class asleep. Although removing Spoiled Rich is an easy choice, Starlight reluctantly decides to give Trixie another chance. Stage two involves a parent-teacher conference. Octavia does well with Ocellus's parents and Doctor Hooves does just as well with Yona's parents, but Big Mac's habit of not saying much leaves Silverstream's father confused, while Trixie's arrogance just infuriates Gallus's legal guardian. Big Mac agrees with Starlight's decision to let him go, but again Starlight reluctantly decides to give Trixie another chance. Stage three involves taking a class out on a fieldtrip. Octavia takes her students to a concert hall and impresses them by having DJ Pon-3 perform alongside her, Doctor Hooves takes his students to his laboratory and fails to impress them with his time-based inventions, while Trixie tries to stand out by "bringing the fieldtrip into the classroom" by teleporting part of a bog into the classroom which immediately goes wrong when a swarm of flash bees are accidentally released.

After Starlight saves the students and deals with the flash bees, she finally loses patience and tells off the still oblivious Trixie for everything she did wrong. Finally realizing that simply being friends with Starlight is not enough to get her a position in the school, Trixie leaves with hurt feelings. Also hurt by that confrontation, Starlight discusses the issue with Twilight and they agree that some friends just aren't fit for any task, with Starlight admitting she should've voiced her objections at the start rather than let it escalate too far. Starlight talks with Trixie and they settle the issue. While Trixie concedes she's not fit to be vice head-mare, Starlight points out that all the remaining candidates have dropped out due to personal reasons, so Trixie suggests another close friend who would be more qualified. Sunburst turns out to be excited to be given such a position, especially since his old duties of Royal Crystaler have grown diminished due to Flurry Heart getting older. In addition, after seeing more of Trixie's tendency to unintentionally provide helpful advice, Starlight decides to make Trixie the school's new guidance counselor.

Considering the synopsis of all the remaining episodes, it looks like this will probably be the last episode to feature Starlight Glimmer, the School of Friendship, and its students such as the Young Six. (If I'm wrong, no spoilers please! I'd like to find out on my own, give myself a chance to be surprised.) I liked how throughout the selection process there was one pony (besides Trixie) who was clearly not as good as the others at the task of each stage, leading us to ultimately assume Octavia would get the position, only to hear that she ended up dropping out for being uncertain about balancing those responsibilities with her typical life (at least it was nice to hear the voices of Octavia and Doctor Hooves for the first time since the special 100th episode back in Season 5). And of course, there's Trixie once again being too arrogant for her own good and being forced to learn her lesson the hard way. At least Trixie will be given Starlight's old job at the school, and it was especially nice to see Sunburst is presumably now capable of moving to Ponyville now that his duties in the Crystal Empire have apparently been reduced. Not to mention, this episode had plenty of funny moments involving Starlight talking to a plant she named "Phyllis". Overall, I liked this episode, perhaps not my most favorite of the season, but definitely up there among those I liked the most.

The Chronicler · **Reply #6224 on:** September 15, 2019, 09:30:21 PM

Time for the next Equestria Girls short, another "choose your own ending" type, featuring Twilight Sparkle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_c5JAjFLK0

Spoiler: Show

Twilight has written a schedule for her day at the Starswirl music festival, but she trips over a boom box and her phone is ruined by Bulk Biceps' sweaty chest, preventing her from accessing her schedule. At Spike's suggestion, she decides to to spend her day by following someone around.

Choose Celestia: Celestia is accompanied by Luna and Cranky Doodle, the three of them having attended every Starswirl music festival since the very first one some unspecified number of years ago. They let Twilight and Spike join them as they have fun old-school style (80s or 90s, by the looks of it). At the end, Celestia jokingly suggests Twilight write letters to her about what she learned (an obvious reference to one of the oldest themes from the pony series).

Choose Micro Chips: Twilight discovers Micro is apparently a fan of techno music performer MC Dex FX, and they end up disagreeing on some of the minor details, such as what the MC stands for or the identity of that person's gender. Twilight is ultimately proven wrong in her arguments when she sees Micro literally run on stage and put on the costume to perform as MC Dex FX.

Choose Fluttershy: Twilight waits for Fluttershy as she is getting changed. When she comes out, Twilight is shocked to see her dressed up as a fan of a death metal band called Skull Cruncher. Fluttershy admits she got interested in the genre after her talk with Vignette back when they visited the theme park (the Rollercoaster of Friendship special), and fears her friends will think she's weird, but Twilight is supportive enough that she decides to join her.

I think this is the very first "Chose your own ending" short where any of the Main 7 had only one of the options rather than two or all three. For this one, I think Celestia was the best choice, because Twilight was able to have a great time with her all day. Micro Chips was what I would call just interesting for revealing himself as the secret identity of one of Twilight's favorite music performers. Fluttershy (ironically, considering she's the only Main 7 choice) was definitely the out-there option (again, the kind I'm usually not fond of) for rather obvious reasons. Of note, based on the remaining shorts that have not yet released on YouTube, I can say that while this is not the last "choose your own ending" short, it is the last short based at the music festival, meaning that all the other remaining shorts will take place at the school and other usual places.

The Chronicler · **Reply #6225 on:** September 17, 2019, 08:45:51 PM

So it looks like now that all the shorts that take place at the music festival have been released, they're now finally starting to release the six parts of the "Sunset's Backstage Pass" special. Here's Part 1 to start it off:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVTwoNnwjVM

As with the previous specials, I've already posted my review of the entire thing back when it premiered on TV, so I'll just say a few thoughts on each part as they're released on YouTube.

Spoiler: Show

The Chronicler · **Reply #6226 on:** September 21, 2019, 11:15:11 PM

Kind of strange that the Equestria Girls shorts suddenly stopped their three-per-week release schedule right after only the first part of Sunset's Backstage Pass, and even stranger that the playlist says it was most recently updated only yesterday. I guess we'll have to wait a bit to see what's going on there.

Either way, at least we still have this week's new episode of the pony series (it should be noted this episode was the last one to be released early in China, so all the remaining episodes after this one are the ones that were actually leaked).
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/09/season-9-episode-21-daring-doubt-stream_21.html

Spoiler: Show

Fluttershy has gotten interested in the Daring Do book series, and while meeting with Rainbow Dash, she claims to have read every book in the series, including an apparently new one that came out just a week earlier that Rainbow was unaware of. It turns out this latest book, which portrays Daring Do in a highly negative way, was written by a different author named "Martingale", who has written it from Caballeron's perspective. Rainbow and Fluttershy inform A. K. Yearling/Daring Do about it, then Rainbow and Fluttershy go to another book signing just across the street to confront Martingale, who's obviously Caballeron wearing a fake beard. But while Rainbow Dash immediately accuses Caballeron of making yet another attempt to take down Daring Do, Fluttershy makes the effort to actually listen to him. Caballeron claims that he and his crew had been taking artifacts with the intent of displaying them in a museum, but Daring Do kept taking them and putting those artifacts into her personal collection. Feeling sorry for him, Fluttershy accepts his offer to join him on his next expedition to retrieve a truth-telling talisman (which only a pegasus can reach), much to Rainbow's shock.

Rainbow warns Daring Do about Caballeron taking Fluttershy with him and they both immediately set out for the same temple. Meanwhile, as Caballeron and his crew journey towards the temple, they are astonished by the numerous small acts of kindness by Fluttershy to help them out along the way. When they finally reach the talisman, Fluttershy ends up in danger upon grabbing the artifact, so Caballeron and his crew work together to save her. Soon after, Rainbow and Daring arrive to confront them, but Fluttershy insists they're not really doing anything wrong. Now wearing the artifact and thus compelled to speak the truth, Caballeron admits he initially just wanted to take advantage of Fluttershy to take the artifact, but her acts of kindness along the way made him and his crew see things in a better light. But then Ahuizotl, who had followed Daring and Rainbow, catches up to the combined group and unleashes some traps against them.

Daring and Caballeron reluctantly agree to work together to escape, but after getting past a few obstacles, they end up trapped in a room with the only way out blocked by Ahuizotl. Much to everyone's shock, Fluttershy decides to simply talk to Ahuizotl and listen to his side of the story. It turns out his duty has been to protect the artifacts of the jungle, and through use of the truth-telling artifact, Daring admits she thought she was protecting those artifacts by taking them for herself, while Caballeron admits he was in it for the money of bringing those artifacts to museums. The three sides make a truce with Ahuizotl letting everyone go with Daring and Caballeron both promising to never take any more artifacts from his territory. Later, after how great things turned out from working together, "Yearling" and "Martingale" agree to co-write their next book, but are ultimately surprised by Ahuizotl writing his own book series.

All I can really say about this episode is that it's definitely the kind that deserves to be among the last few episodes of the entire series, because now that all sides have reached an understanding, there's unlikely to be anymore conflicts to provide interesting stories. I liked how Fluttershy was so willing to listen to all sides and bring understanding to the three-way conflict that had been going on for likely a very long time (perhaps Fluttershy should consider being a diplomat). But even though I'm okay with the point in the series this episode took place, I'm not quite willing to rank this one among my favorites.

The Chronicler · **Reply #6227 on:** September 22, 2019, 11:00:23 PM

Despite the odd absence of a release last Friday, the Equestria Girls shorts are thankfully still being released on YouTube. Today, we have Part 2 of Sunset's Backstage Pass:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0CHdmGWIOA

Spoiler: Show

The Chronicler · **Reply #6228 on:** September 24, 2019, 07:20:28 PM

Here's Part 3 of Sunset's Backstage Pass:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYWLPcdMOfE

Spoiler: Show

The Chronicler · **Reply #6229 on:** September 28, 2019, 10:45:52 PM

No Equestria Girls short this Friday either, so it looks like they're now being released just every Sunday and Tuesday. Well, at least that's one less thing for me to be focused on today.

Regardless, we obviously still have this week's new episode (for those who refused to watch any of the leaks, since this is the first of those final remaining episodes that were leaked).
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/09/season-9-episode-22-growing-up-is-hard.html

Spoiler: Show

The Cutie Mark Crusaders are excited to go to the Appleloosa fair, but despite all of their careful planning, the one thing they forgot to do was ask an adult to accompany them there. They ask Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Twilight (I wonder why they never considered Pinkie Pie), but all of them are busy with other important things, and all of them remind the CMCs why they can't just simply go on their own without adult supervision. When they are left alone with a mysterious flower Twilight has been trying to study, they wish they could be adults, unknowingly triggering that flower's magical ability to grant wishes (limited by the number of petals left on the flower), and the three fillies are suddenly transformed into adult mares.

The CMCs immediately take advantage of being adults by boarding the train on their own, and continue to express excitement for being adults (ignoring all the weird looks from everyone around them). Unfortunately, they had ended up on the wrong train, and with the next one hours away, they decide to walk to Appleloosa with directions provided by a rather crazy pony at the ticket booth. They quickly get lost in the swamp, but eventually stumble across two foals. The brother, Biscuit, wants to bring their pet to the Appleloosa fair, but the sister, Spur, is against it due to worries how their pet might react around a crowd. Taking advantage of their adult stature again, the CMCs convince the two siblings to go with them to the fair. Once there, Biscuit enters their pet into a contest, and Spur is unable to find the CMCs to voice her objections, as they're too busy enjoying the fair (including rides they otherwise would've been too short for). Biscuit and his pet do well at first, but the cheering crowds agitate the pet to the point that it suddenly turns into a raging tornado that threatens to destroy the fair.

Twilight and Fluttershy (having completed research on the magical flower and suspecting the CMCs probably used it) arrive at Appleloosa just in time to see the destruction begin. Fluttershy immediately recognizes the creature and knows that it needs its caretaker to calm it down, so while Twilight and Fluttershy try to keep things under control, the CMCs find and bring Spur, whose presence is able to calm the creature. With the crisis dealt with, the CMCs admit to Twilight and Fluttershy that they now recognize they can't just suddenly be adults and that growing up the natural way is what provides them with the experience they need to be true adults. They use the last remaining petal on that magical flower to return to their younger selves.

I was really looking forward to this episode when I first heard about it, because we've already seen numerous times what many of the main characters were like in the past, so I was naturally curious to see one that showed what they would be like in the future. While this episode technically doesn't offer that, it did give us a glimpse with official adult forms of Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. I have to say, the most peculiar detail among those three is Scootaloo still having tiny wings with which she still can't fly, which to me implies she might have some sort of condition that has stunted their growth. As for the moral of this episode, it really does make sense that many responsibilities require years of experience, so it really comes down to the fact that physically becoming adult is not the same as mentally being one. Despite some moments of cringe, I actually liked this episode, and would consider it among my favorites of this season.

Just a heads up for you guys, my review of next week's new episode will likely be a day or two later than usual, due to the fact that I'll be attending my brother's wedding next Saturday.

The Chronicler · **Reply #6230 on:** September 29, 2019, 11:15:12 PM

Here's Part 4 of Sunset's Backstage Pass:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p145VIyNYI4

Spoiler: Show

Sneak · **Reply #6231 on:** October 05, 2019, 05:31:10 PM

Finished watching movie and the whole season 8 in this week.

I have 7 days until the end and 30 episodes (judging by screentime of season 9, specials and shorts) to watch.
Thanks subgod I am protected from any spoilers now. Let it be finished with positive emotions.

ImpracticalDino · **Reply #6232 on:** October 05, 2019, 07:57:30 PM

Quote from: Sneak on October 05, 2019, 05:31:10 PM

Finished watching movie and the whole season 8 in this week.

I have 7 days until the end and 30 episodes (judging by screentime of season 9, specials and shorts) to watch.
Thanks subgod I am protected from any spoilers now. Let it be finished with positive emotions.

Wait...you actually watched the other 7 seasons in its entirety already? I know you started with the show a year ago, but how persistent were you with the amount of episodes you watched?

Sneak · **Reply #6233 on:** October 06, 2019, 06:04:22 PM

I watched non-stoppable everything that was released before MLP movie (first 7 seasons, Equestria girls movies and shorts, comics) in just around couple months, ~1 year ago. and then I decided to wait when everything else will be released, starting from Movie, so I could wach it non-stoppable again, and that's what I'm doing now.
Only 18 episodes left already, from main series.

*goes to sleep and analyzing some things*

oh, and also I'm officially into FIM fanfiction now. XD
Found couple stuff I like (super horror stuff), and possibly I will make something myself.

The Chronicler · **Reply #6234 on:** October 06, 2019, 10:00:28 PM

Okay, now that I'm back from my weekend trip, I finally got around to watching the latest officially released content today and I'm ready for my usual reviews. First up, it seems the Equestria Girls shorts are no longer releasing on Tuesday as well, so now it's just Sundays. Today, we have part 5 of Sunset's Backstage Pass:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z9krOIMAeY

Spoiler: Show

And now for the final regular episode of the series, an episode that anywhere else would've absolutely changed things for certain characters on the show.
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/10/season-9-episode-23-big-mac-question.html

Spoiler: Show

Big Mac is planning to propose to Sugar Belle, and requests Spike to help with preparations, but Discord being Discord decides to invite himself along as well. Big Mac's plan is to have Sugar Belle follow a series of apples with messages on them leading to Sweet Apple Acres, where he will have built a picnic table resembling the countertop he made for her when they started going out. While Big Mac works on building that table, Spike and Discord try to set up the trail of apples, only for Sugar Belle to completely ignore the very first one. While Discord tries all kinds of antics to get Sugar Belle's attention (such as making those apples speak their attached messages), Spike ends up helping Mrs Cake who's frantically trying to finish baking 21 different items with little messages hidden inside. Spike tries to speed up the process with his dragon fire to plant all the messages at once, but ends up burning all the baked goods (many of which Spike mentioned didn't taste good anyway). Discord eventually decides to just take Sugar Belle directly to the final destination, but Big Mac isn't there, so then he takes her back to Sugar Cube Corner, where they find Big Mac, Spike, and Mrs Cake. As everyone gets upset in all the confusion, a monster apple suddenly comes charging into town.

While all of that was going on, Sugar Belle had her own plan to propose to Big Mac, and asked Mrs Cake and the Cutie Mark Crusaders to help. Inspired by Big Mac's failed gesture from Hearts and Hooves day, Sugar Belle's plan is to bake a bunch of items, each with one-word messages hidden inside, but this forces a frantic Mrs Cake to rush through all 21 items and make numerous mistakes. Meanwhile, the CMCs (to make up for their initial failures in helping start that relationship) agree to deliver a pie with the invitation directly to Big Mac, but to prevent Spike and Discord from finding out about their plan, they rush outside with Sugar Belle (missing that first apple as a result). In an effort to find Big Mac, Apple Bloom suggests following some of Granny Smith's advice, but they fail to find him in both unexpected and expected places. They eventually try asking Granny Smith, but she just rambles on about a recent dream (which is so obviously a big Star Trek reference), only for the monster apple (formed from Discord's talking apples merged together) to chase them into town.

After Discord undoes his magic on the apples, the combined group of Spike, Discord, Mrs Cake, and the CMCs (along with Granny Smith) argues over both surprises getting ruined, but when they later try to apologize to Big Mac and Sugar Belle, those two had already left. The two lovers arrive at Sweet Apple Acres and eventually arrive at the combined apple and pear tree where Big Mac's parents were married, where Big Mac laments how his relationship with Sugar Belle has been nothing but a series of big messes, but Sugar Belle points out how Mac's parents had to go through worse to get married and how they've been able to remain strong despite all those big messes. Big Mac and Sugar Belle then propose to each other at the same time. Later, the "interviews" with the other characters throughout this episode turn out to be on the wedding day where they explain to Applejack about their involvement in the proposal. Finally, Big Mac and Sugar Belle are married at the exact same site as where Big Mac's parents were married.

With how the relationship has developed between Big Mac and Sugar Belle over the last few seasons, it was really only a matter of time before they finally decided to make it official, and I suppose it would make sense to have such a dramatic change to the status of those secondary characters come near the end of the entire series. I certainly liked the format of the first two acts happening simultaneously (like certain pairs of different episodes before), along with the secondary characters sharing their thoughts in the style of an interview (much like the episode where Rarity opened her Manehattan boutique). Of course, with two sides trying to hide secrets from each other, it was inevitable that a big mess would result, especially with Discord getting involved. I also got a big laugh out of Granny Smith talking about her recent dream involving Grand Pear as an eccentric captain on a spaceship, Mudbriar having pointy ears and complaining about something "illogical", and Discord showing up and being his usual self, all of which is so obviously a huge reference to Star Trek (and you know there's going to be plenty of fan art about that). Overall, this was the perfect episode to count as the series finale among the slice-of-life episodes, and therefore definitely worth watching.

On a personal note, I find it kind of amusing that I ended up having to postpone watching this new episode that featured a wedding so I could attend a real wedding.

Also of note, Discovery Family is apparently showing a non-stop MLP:FiM marathon all week long, leading up to the series finale on Saturday evening.

The Chronicler · **Reply #6235 on:** October 12, 2019, 07:00:50 PM

As of this moment, the official premiere of the series finale episodes is now just one hour away. Since that's three episodes worth of content, I'll wait until tomorrow to post my thoughts in this topic, as I won't have time to do it right after watching it (not to mention, my lack of trust in the reliability of any of the streams means that I'll actually wait until a few hours later when someone uploads the official broadcast on one of the video sites).

At the very least, I decided to watch yesterday's behind-the-scenes special:
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/10/official-special-decade-of-pony.html

It was definitely interesting to see all of that and hear what they all had to say. (Probably worth mentioning is that there are some brief spoilers of the upcoming final episodes, but since I've already been exposed to some bits and pieces that aren't quite enough for me to figure out how the story unfolds, I honestly didn't mind it at all.)

Sneak · **Reply #6236 on:** October 13, 2019, 05:41:41 AM

yesterday I finished watching till episode 23.
Have to wait for translation of last 3 episodes and behind-scenes special.
Then move to EG and comics and finish everything for good.

Sneak · **Reply #6237 on:** October 13, 2019, 03:28:43 PM

So, I watched it.

And here I won't write spoilers for plot, but I wanted to express my first and post-first impression.

Spoiler: Show

I still have to watch some MLP material (a lot, actually), but this was a big finish for main story.
Thank you, MLP universe, for taking small place in my life!

The Chronicler · **Reply #6238 on:** October 13, 2019, 11:00:28 PM

First off, today happens to be Sunday, which means another Equestria Girls YouTube release, and this week is the sixth and final part of Sunset's Backstage Pass:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anUahnrfES0

Spoiler: Show

Also of note, it was just officially announced that the Equestria Girls holiday special will officially premiere on November 2, three weeks from now, so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing that (especially since it was released early in Ukraine about a month ago, so now I can finally be assured that an official showing of it will be coming soon).

With that out of the way, time to discuss the final episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. First up, the two-parter episode.
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/10/mlp-season-9-episode-24-ending-of-end.html

Spoiler: Show

In Part 1, with the upcoming coronation of Princess Twilight, the villain trio have been carefully influencing the ponies to distrust each other and even figured out how to utilize Grogar's bell to make themselves far more powerful than before. When Grogar returns, they use the bell to take away his magic, revealing that he's actually been Discord in disguise all along. Discord escapes to warn Twilight and her friends of the impending trouble, while confessing he had arranged the villain team-up (including the return of King Sombra) in an effort to boost Twilight's confidence ahead of her coronation.

Without Discord's chaos magic to fall back on, Twilight quickly sends out messages to warn everyone in Equestria about the inevitable invasion. The Pillars (the six heroes from the past introduced in the Season 7 finale) prepare to guard the borders, but are easily defeated and weakened by Tirek. At the School of Friendship, Trixie helps the students reach shelter while Starlight confronts Chrysalis, who is able to defeat and capture her. Back at Canterlot, Cozy Glow attacks Twilight and friends, and even manages to use Grogar's bell to take away Celestia and Luna's magic. The heroes are barely able to hold off Cozy Glow, but Tirek and Chrysalis arrive and the trio quickly overwhelm them. But at the last minute, at the urging of her friends, Twilight reluctantly teleports away.

In Part 2, the villain trio have imprisoned Twilight's friends, the Pillars, the Princess sisters, and Discord, but are in disagreement on what to do next. Discord tries to make up for his failure by confronting the villain trio, ultimately tricking Tirek into blasting open Starlight's cage, allowing her to free everyone else, and tells Twilight's friends to escape and find Twilight while she and the princesses hold the villains back. As the main ponies try to find Twilight, they discover the unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi have isolated themselves due to immense distrust in each other. The main ponies eventually find Twilight in the Crystal Empire, but despite her best effort, she's been unable to come up with a plan on how the stop the villain trio, and things get even worse when the windigos show up (due to the amount of hatred and distrust among the ponies). But with some encouragement from her friends, Twilight decides they should directly confront the villains.

Twilight and friends return to Canterlot and fight the villain trio while attempting to take away Grogar's bell. They are unable to beat the villains, but just when all hope seems lost, a massive army of ponies, griffins, dragons, changelings, yaks, and hippogriffs arrive to help out, and it's revealed the Young Six had used their lessons from the School of Friendship to rally their respective kinds together. Inspired by the efforts of all those creatures, Twilight inspires her friends, the Pillars, and the Young Six, and together their combined magic of friendship banishes the windigos and strips the villains of the magic they got from Grogar's Bell. After Discord and the Princesses recover their magic from the bell, they finish off the villains by imprisoning them in stone (as suggested by Discord). Having proven herself ready to rule Equestria, Twilight decides to postpone her coronation until after Canterlot Castle is repaired, and she and her friends celebrate their victory by having some donuts together (much like they did back in the final scene of the Season 1 finale).

As I mentioned earlier, trying to avoid spoilers for weeks was very difficult, but the few pieces I got were not enough to tell me what really happens, and a real testament to that is how I was totally surprised by that twist of Grogar being Discord all along within only the first few minutes. For being the series finale, I was totally expecting practically all of the friends the Main Six had made over the years to come together to help them win the final epic showdown, and not only did we actually get that, I was especially excited that it was the Young Six who rallied them all together. But perhaps the part that I found most impressive of all was how that final rainbow laser attack was powered by the three groups of six friends representing the past (Pillars), present (Main Six), and future (Young Six), all working together. Overall, definitely an epic two-part episode worthy of being the series finale.

And finally, the epilogue episode.
https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/10/my-little-pony-season-9-episode-26.html

Spoiler: Show

Many years in the future, Twilight and Spike (both of whom are now much taller) are visited by a student from the School for Gifted Unicorns named Luster Dawn, who believes friendship to be a worthless effort that won't last, so Twilight shares the story of her coronation. Back then, Twilight is so worried about moving away from Ponyville because it'll mean leaving her friends behind. She tries to seek comfort from her friends, but they're all very busy with preparations for the coronation and their seemingly lack of worry for her leaves her even more distraught. Eventually, when her friends check on her before departing, she voices how upset she is that they don't seem as upset as she is about moving away.

Twilight's friends confess they kept themselves busy to distract from being upset. Unfortunately, sharing their feelings causes them to run late for preparations for the coronation. Although they arrive just in time for the ceremony to proceed, just about all the preparations Twilight's friends had made end up going wrong. But despite the complete disaster of a ceremony, Twilight and her friends eventually laugh it off. Starlight gives Twilight a gift, which is a book of memories compiled by her friends to remember all the good times they had together. Not wanting to let go of their close friendships, Twilight decides her first royal decree shall be to arrange a meeting between her friends once every moon, known as the Council of Friendship.

Back in the future, as Twilight finishes telling her story to Luster Dawn, her friends arrive for their usual meeting, showing us a glimpse of where they're at now (Pinkie Pie has had a daughter with Cheese Sandwich, Rarity has now expanded her business as far as Yakyakistan, Rainbow Dash and Applejack are seemingly living together, and Fluttershy is still hanging out with Discord). Luster Dawn is astonished to see Twilight and her friends are still together after so many years, but is still uncertain about where to make her own friends. As a final song plays, Twilight and friends bring Luster Dawn to Ponyville, where we see more glimpses of where many familiar characters are at (including the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the Young Six). The episode ends with the closing of the same book that was opened at the very start of the very first episode.

The majority of this episode focused on Twilight worrying about her friendships ahead of her coronation and the epic failure it turns into. But what ultimately made me very excited about this episode is the scenes that take place many years further in the future (we've seen plenty of flashbacks to the past throughout the series, so I've always been eager for glimpses into the future). I'm not gonna lie, I cried tears of joy during the final song when I decided to watch this episode a second time in a row (heck, I've even cried tears of joy just writing about this episode here). Needless to say, definitely one of my favorite episodes of the entire series, and definitely a worthy send-off of our beloved cast of ponies.

And that's the last of the regular episodes in the series. But I've heard there's going to be a few shorts coming out sometime soon (much like the Equestria Girls shorts). If and when they come out, I will definitely be sharing them here, along with my thoughts on each of them.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #6239 on:** October 15, 2019, 06:44:14 PM

Me, I'm super pleased with the finale on every count.

Spoiler: Show

The My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic Thread