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bronyinabottle · 5 years

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ENDING OF THE END + THE LAST PROBLEM + SERIES END THOUGHTS

Well here we are, the final episodes of the entire series before MLP heads off into uncharted waters of an entirely new 5th generation. The future of MLP is uncertain, there’s absolutely no guarantee and I’d even say it’s inevitable that G5 even if does turn out good. Does not quite hit the same lightning in a bottle G4 did. It’ll be a hard act to follow. Especially given how well the ending was executed. For I truly believe that the two-parter is the best one since Twilight’s Kingdom and the series finale itself is the best single episode since Perfect Pear in Season 7.

Let’s get started with the two-parter first though.

THE ENDING OF THE END

I think the real genius about this two-parter is how it ties just about everything from the past 9 seasons together. Just in the first scene you get Chrysalis placing distrust between types of ponies akin to the Hearth’s Warming tale as she did in the previous Summer Sun celebration episode from this season. It takes having seen most episodes to get everything and know all the cameos. Finales are of course supposed to have some sort of payoff for a lot of things. Throughout this thoughts I may take note of many instances.

The villain team-up while it was first established in the opener can be applied to having big mentions to the finales of Season 2 (Chrysalis), Season 4 (Tirek), and Season 8 (Cozy). The few remaining villains not to be reformed or in the case of Sombra… dead.

The first big twist showing up with Grogar being Discord all this time. It’s certainly strange to have them sort of hype up Grogar only for him to turn out to be an established character and in fact on the Heroes side all along. Though I believe the logic was Discord trying to reform the three by having them experience friendship together like they almost did at the end of Frenemies. And if it failed well it’s another of his “tests” for Twilight and the others to topple over that he’s been doing on occasion since Season 4, though he probably wasn’t expecting to lose his magic amidst all that. On Grogar though, it was a bit weird that we really weren’t getting a lot much about him and even if he was actually a threat they’d have to put some sort of focus on why he’s a bigger threat then the villain team-up (And it’d either playout that the Mane 6 work with the villains once they realize that Grogar’s worse for Equestria then the villains. Though nothing indicated what Grogar plans for Equestira were that destructive, since it was simply instructing the villain trio to use teamwork to defeat the Mane 6. When in reality he was Discord trying to make that teamwork reform them in all likelihood. Like Discord said later he had good intentions, but once again his actions almost resulted in the end of Equestria as we know it just like in Twilight’s Kingdom. Albeit to be fair in Twilight’s Kingdom there was enough reason to believe that Tirek gave him something the ponies still weren’t at that time.)

Finally getting back to our ponies proper, Twilight’s first action this episode is to give Spike the role of royal adviser. You know me regarding Twilight and Spike by now, you just know I love this for all sorts of reasons. ^^

The crazy, superpowered Chaos Cozy moment was pretty funny. It’s also a great setup for something later in the two-parter that’s just as if not better.

But not long before the battle begins.Cozy heading straight for Twilight and the others with Alicorn magic. Tirek easily beating the founders of Equestria, and while she puts up the best fight out of them. Starlight still falls to Chrysalis (Though not without some pretty nice one-liners)

Result is that the rest of the Mane 6, Discord, and a magicless Celestia and Luna hold up a barricade just long enough for Twilight to teleport out as the first half of the two-parter ends.

It’s quite nice that Tirek’s first concern is with Twilight still out there. He probably remembers after the events of Twilight’s Kingdom that there’s a danger of Twilight having some sort of secret trinket or something else that will save Equestria.

Even though the situation they’re in is kind of Discord’s fault. He at least seems to still have quite a bit of cleverness that we remember from his Season 2 debut by tricking Tirek to fire off a blast he can reflect to maybe help free a pony and just so happens to free a pretty powerful one in Starlight.

The Mane 6 get to escape and get to Twilight but amidst some angst about the situation things start looking even worse as the Windigoes sense the distrust that the villain trio has placed in Equestria. It takes some convincing, but Twilight heads the charge against some pretty big odds. And a pretty clever Pinky and the Brain reference (Almost wish Chancellor Neighsay was there for that, given he was Brain’s voice actor)

I like the different ideas Chrysalis and Tirek had about the windigoes which gives an insight on what kind of villains they are. Chrysalis wants to them to stick around to break ponies of Equestria spirits where once they’re defeated by Chrysalis the ponies will have no choice but to bow to her or else she may let the Windigoes come back or something else. While Tirek doesn’t underestimate how hard they might be to control and wants to take them out right away cause they may very well be an obstacle for even an all-powerful villain. A frozen wasteland may not be as ideal to rule over as a normal defeated Equestria after all. But before they can even think of challenging the windigoes the Mane 6 have arrived to challenge the trio for the final battle.

The battle itself is well-done and funnily enough has some resemblance to a part I did in Return to Saddle Arabia where most of the Mane 6 and Spike are about to be blasted to oblivion before some kind of magic shield protects them. Granted it’s not exactly the most original idea to go with a scene where the heroes bravely face potential death before some miracle came in. But I like that a few things I’ve done in Genie Twi had something like it happen in canon.

But anyway yes, the unicorns of Equestria have came together to provide a shield. You have Neighsay, Trixie, Moondance, Tempest, Twilight’s parents, Sunburst’s Mom, and Twilight’s old Canterlot friends (Heck even Flim and Flam are helping which may be a little surprising since you’d expect them to just try to profit. Though arguably maybe they’re just going to try to use the publicity of having helped save Equestria to boost their buisness). And back behind them. Are Yaks, Changelings, Dragons and Pegasi. It’s also very clever for the Changelings to become the Main 6 to help confuse the villain trio as to where the real ones are.

And the reason they’re all here to back up? It’s all thanks to the school of friendship from Season 8 along with the Student 6 there to keep everyone together despite the attempts to divide everyone. The ultimate lesson in education helping prevent people/ponies of different kinds of places and entire species in the case of Equestria to come together. While Season 8 wasn’t the most solid season of the show, the role it plays in this finale really gives it a solid purpose that is better way of saving Equestria then the majority of the two-parters where a miracle mcguffin is used to do it. I still love Twilight’s Kingdom a lot but while I’m still deciding whether I like this two-parter more or less then that one. Ending of the End for sure has the better ending, as Twilight’s Kingdom still kind of uses a mcguffin-esque ending with the Rainbow Power which never shows up again outside of a dream sequence. The thing that saves the day is set up over like two seasons, while the Rainbow Power was generally just keys throughout random parts of Season 4. Which is still great. But the school helping is the end after having been established a while ago is a much better setup.

This was the setup from the superpowered Cozy. Pinkie getting it briefly xD Hilariously burying the depowered villain trio with a giant cupcake. While most see the comic where Pinkie was a chaos princess, I also kind of see something similar when I was introducing Genie Pinkie for Ain’t Never Had Friends Like Us.

But yeah, instead of being reformed. Tirek, Cozy, and Chrysalis will remain in stone for probably a long time. Will they get another chance someday like Discord did who was in a similar situation? Who knows, that’s likely up to fanfic authors to decide that now. There is somewhat of a controversy about this. Though given people have had enough of villains being reformed. Wish granted I guess? Though I think most of it surrounds Cozy since she is just a little filly. Unless the “Season 10” MLP comics get around to it, we won’t know Cozy’s history though so we don’t exactly know how Cozy got this way. And perhaps it’s just easier to assume she’s a born psychopath, though the sad look on her face before she’s petrified probably doesn’t help said controversy. All we can really say is, hey they weren’t reformed after all. You happy now? :V If you want a show that literally reforms every villain, I guess there’s always Steven Universe. And arguably some of those villains did much worse then any Friendship is Magic villain ever. Not to be mean to Steven Universe since I do like that show, but you do kind of have to realize they’re even more lenient on the reformations then Friendship is Magic.

With the battle over, Twilight delays the coronation for some time until Canterlot’s castle is rebuilt. And decide to take a good long break at Donut Joe’s shop. The same place they went to after the first gala the Mane 6 went to. Which is certainly a nice touch.

Overall, just a really awesome two-parter of which we haven’t seen since Season 4. Most of the ending with a bang came from this. But coming just right after, is the closing single episode. 22 minutes entirely focused on closing out the series on a happy epilogue.

THE LAST PROBLEM

Whenever there was discussion about what a series finale for the show looked like. I don’t know if there were many diverse ideas. But there were always two ideas on my mind: A timeskip that shows what the world of Equestria is like years in the future especially after we know Twilight’s a princess where she’d be at the very least Cadence sized. Or a sort of final farewell, where all 6 have their own stuff to pursuit. Which the latter became slightly muddled on somehow they’re still able to teach when some of them already have full careers. But nonetheless the Finale did kind of hit both in a way. Where yes much of the episode is about a time skip but we also get a flashback where the Mane 6 are worried about Twilight having to be in Canterlot now. With less time to spend with her friends.

I must say first of all Twilight looks pretty great Celestia-sized. It would be nice to know just how an “Alicorn puberty” works but maybe that’s a job for the “Season 10” comics. Spike’s design on the other hand seems to received mixed responses for the most part. Nonetheless, he’s a muscly dragon friendship ambassador that says he’s been trying to bring peace between a dog species (Diamond Dogs) and a cat species (Abyssinians).

Gallus is now in the Royal Guard. A showing that Equestria has truly diversified.

But anyway, we meet Luster Dawn. Someone Twilight calls her top student who sort of repeats some of Twilight’s own thoughts on friendship during the pilot. It’s a sort of history repeats cycle here going on here.

Anyway, while I still love this episode. I do have to admit there’s something I don’t quite get about the moving part. The tree of harmony gave Twilight a whole castle that’s even themed on her. If she was just going to sit at Canterlot. Why was the castle made in the first place and what will Twilight’s ponyville castle be used for? Just for when she happens to be visiting there occasionally? Do her friends use the castle? Just a little strange to leave a castle that’s perfectly fine and even still in Ponyville for just about everything to work out. Perhaps it’s just a little much to move the capital and a way to kind of keep Ponyville to it’s roots as a generally more outdoor town with less of the royal hubbub. (Then again, because of how the Mane 6 there. So much happens because of it). I guess it’s kind of similar to why have Twilight’s castle when they could of just refurbished the old Castle that was in the Everfree. These ponies sure know how to waste perfectly good castles don’t they heh.

Anyway, we’re getting to real bittersweet part of the flashback. Twilight’s going to be the new ruler of Equestria but being in Canterlot means it’s not going to be a simple walk to see her friends any more. She hopes to see them worried about it just like her. But they seem to be handling things just fine. Unbeknownst to Twilight, they’re just hoping to make Twilight feel better despite the fact that it’s their worries that would make Twilight feel better. The 6 have a good group cry together before they realize the talk has nearly made them late for the train. They even spin past poor Starlight who had a present for Twilight which would have to be opened later. The rush however will have consequences as all the things the rest set up are getting messed up now that they’re aren’t there to head things up. The coronation has lots of things go wrong, but I wonder if at this point the population is generally used to things going wrong with the canterlot events with these 6 like with the Gala. They screw up the formal event but when it comes to saving and leading, Twilight’s done good enough for Equestria.

And now we get to seeing where the rest of Twilight’s friends are in the timeskip!

To the surprise of many, the only one 100% confirmed to be married is Pinkie. Who went with Cheese Sandwich and even had a child (There seems to be a controversy regarding the gender given Big Jim said the script says Lil’ Cheese is male despite having a filly snout and eyelashes while Josh Haber has said no gender was specified. Perhaps we should just say Lil’ Cheese is trans.. if it weren’t for the fact that always gets even worse responses from transphobics). But yeah, while I was never one to heavily ship Pinkie with a character. If I had to see her with anyone. Cheese Sandwich was one that came to mind as a great choice. (Even if we would of thought if any of the 6 were happily married it would be Rarity.) Apparently between Pinkie and Maud, the Pie sisters want someone similar to them. We know anyone that’s just as grumpy as Limestone? Or just as shy as Marble? (That isn’t Big Mac for already married reasons)

Which speaking of which Rarity comes by with some grey streaks in her mane and Tail. Looks like all that stress making dresses late at night has caught up to her heh.

Then Rainbow Dash and Applejack come in at the same time. Some are saying they are a confirmed couple buuuuut it feels like the episode plays it a little too vaguely to say that for sure. They argue like an old married couple yeah, but in all fairness. They’ve done that all series long pretty much. I hope none of you fans of Appledash get mad at me by saying it’s not exactly confirmed here but you’re as free as I am in expressing the opinion on what’s going on here. I may have seen somewhere that Appledash was originally going to be more explicitly shown, but as is we can only take what we see from the final version of the episode. You’re free to suggest they are a couple, but I think I needed more then few dialogue and looks to say that. It’s shipping fuel at the very least, but not concrete like Pinkie and Cheese. But anyway, Rainbow Dash seems to be the new captain of the Wonderbolts after assuringly Spitfire retired and AJ’s still on the farm as always.

Same with regards to the Fluttershy and Discord ship too. Though it might have a slight bigger leg to stand on then the AppleDash thing given the hint from the Angel episode a while ago and the lunchbag with cute drawn faces is there. But otherwise hard to confirm or deny either way. If you think they’re together then they are, if you think they aren’t. That’s all fair.

Anyway, the present that Starlight had was a book of memories that seems to have like enchanted photos of moments throughout the series. Which is pretty cool. Though of course Twilight doesn’t want to leave it off on just the photo album.

Before we get to the very ending, it’s probably something to cover up another slight controversy about this ep: The implication that Twilight will probably outlive her friends. Since Twilight is indeed Celestia sized now and the rest are obviously older with grey hair in the case of Rarity and bags under their eyes. It’s true that this can be saddening to think about, but it’s kind of only bad if they had like shown Twilight see their gravestones after they’ve passed to leave us all sad before the end. Where as it ends here it’s just that they’re older. I know it doesn’t exactly help to know such a future will eventually happen to Twilight. But we must remember that Faust has mentioned that Twilight taking over Celestia’s role was the way she wanted to end the series. And the staff made sure they follow a lot of what Faust wanted. There’s only 3 ways they could of adhered to “Twilight won’t outlive her friends” as said in the Meghan McCarthy tweet. Where either Twilight sacrifices herself to save Equestria from the final threat, the rest of the 6 also become Alicorns, or Twilight somehow vouches to give up her Alicornhood to become a Unicorn again. All of which have their own problems.

Twilight sacrificing herself wouldn’t be unprecedented since it’d be similar to if DBZ had ended with the Cell Saga when Goku’s sacrifice nearly defeated Cell. While Goku’s sacrifice wasn’t what defeated Cell for good, it’d still playout that the main character of the show we’ve seen grow died in a noble sacrifice. Which offers a touching ending but may be a bit of a very sour note to end on for the little girls who look up to Twilight. They’d at least have to make sure Twilight has some sort of Force Ghost type thing, but nonetheless kind of hard to really go for.

If the rest became Alicorns it sort of cheapens Twilight’s own ascension moment. Not to mention it sort of goes to “Every girl wants to be a princess!” which isn’t exactly the case. Maybe arguably things like Flurry Heart being born already kind of cheapened it. But I don’t know it’d just be weird to have like Rainbow be big while still on the wonder bolts. Or a princess Applejack doing the stuff on the farm.

And as for Twilight demoting herself, that sort of makes everything from the Magical Mystery Cure to near the end of Season 9 entirely pointless. Which for people still salty about Twilight becoming an Alicorn might enjoy, it wouldn’t for those who were just fine with Twilight being a princess. There are many areas of the show that some believe the show jumped the shark. Even I’d say the way they executed Starlight’s rise to a recurring character kind of boggled down the show for a good while. But for those who hung on after MMC, there was still plenty of fun we got from the series.

I guess besides these three options maybe you could bring up if Twilight had never become a Princess. Though before she became a Princess we never really knew for sure what Twilight was being groomed for by Celestia. Before Season 3 happened all we could see is maybe she becomes some sort of Grand Wizard ala Starswirl the Bearded after having helped Celestia bring her sister back. But advertisements for Season 3 mentioned a “true destiny” for Twilight And that’s what this was. Some of the stuff people were worried about back when MMC happened have come into fruition here. But even with the fact that there will be a flood of sadfics about when the time comes when all of Twi’s friends pass. It feels like it’s something that was coming anyway. I might be a bit biased on this front though given my own blog has Twilight become a genie before she even became an Alicorn where she had to choose between staying a genie and eventually seeing her friends pass or staying a genie for Spike as well as the massive reserves of magic she’ll have over the years. I can understand everyone’s concern about the implication of Twilight outliving her friends. But whole those still bitter about MMC will shake their fist, we must remember again we see no gravestones. We simply see aging friends at the end of the series. Even with the fact Twilight will outlive them. Twilight still has plenty of time left with them before it all happens. The whole thing gives it a whole bittersweet feeling admittedly, but I wouldn’t say the ending’s ruined by this implication.

Now it’s time though for the final song of the series. And what a note to end on. It’s absolutely one of the most beautiful songs of the series. The chorus always seems to somewhat well up tears in my eyes even beyond just knowing this was the final scene of the episode. The song’s just emotionally powerful in that way. In the midst of the song we also see many older versions of the characters. An older version of the kids from the CMC to Diamond Tiara, and Twist. Pound and Pumpkin Cake older. the older Student six along withe said CMC who seem to be the new teachers at the school. Big Mac and Sugar Belle have their own child (On a sad note you can see Granny Smith’s neck accessory around Applejack as well as Goldie Delicious who’s around Apple Bloom. Both seem to have passed away from old age by this time)

Now what’s really cool is the screen where the 6 come across the screen where the ponies their associated with throughout the series are shown. All the characters that were particularly touched in one way or another by the 6 ponies we’ve come to know over these long 9 years of the show. We see pinkie’s family along with Cheese Sandwich, Gilda, and Cranky. In Fluttershy’s we see Discord, Tree Hugger, the Parasprites, and Iron Will. In Rainbow’s we see the Wonderbolts, Daring Do, Quibble Pants and his family, Derpy, and Tank. In Applejack’s we even see her deceased parents, Autumn Blaze, and Coloratura. In Rarity’s we see Fancy Pants, Saffron, Capper, Ember, and Coco. And of course for Twilight we see the princesses, Moondancer, and heck for the first and only time in the series we see Sunset Shimmer (Albeit it’s kind of sad that this is the only main show appearance for her. I thought I heard somewhere that at some point they were going to show her too and reveal she’s the new principal of Canterlot High. In which I feel could of been a funny dialogue thing where she could say “When I was young, I was sure one day I would succeed Celestia. I just didn’t think it’d be like this!”.

And as Luster Dawn goes to her friends, the sun sets on the day as the Mane 6 all look on. And the book from the very first episode closes. And thus, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was over.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was just a great ending of the series. As I’ve said before iI’m glad it got to end on this sort of note rather then being cancelled out of nowhere with an ending not quite as satisfying as this. Magical Mystery Cure could of been our series finale had the fans not supported the show so much. Some of the stuff we got would of been implicated of happening anyway if indeed the series ended with *BOOM!* Twilight’s a princess but I think it really helped to see quite a bit of aftermath of Twilight struggling with the promotion until she’s finally ready to step into Celestia’s shoes as the new ruler. We should remind ourselves time and again that’s how Faust wanted the series to end and while this show isn’t perfect and there are times in the shows where stuff dropped and episodes that missed the mark. There are usually amazing episodes throughout that has made following the series worthwhile.

And while G4 as a show is over there is still some comics to look forward to. We’ll also hopefullly see how G5 turns out. Though even if it fails, perhaps one day Hasbro will throw us a bone and do a nostalgic special with the G4 cast again. They’ve sometimes done it for Transformers. Hasbro should have the message sent on what made G4 so successful and they’ll try to somewhat replicate it’s success. Though they’ll certainly have an uphill battle with an all new staff and a hard act to follow.

I’m really glad I found this show all the way back in early 2011. It’s been so much fun following the characters as well as meeting new friends online who shared love for the show and even going to conventions related to all this. There’s still some fandom stuff to be done on my part even extending to next year as I’m not quite done with Genie Twilight yet. It is heavy thanks to this show being great for me that I’m gladly working on a little hobby blog for about 7 years or so. Thank you DHX, Hasbro, and everyone else involved with the show’s run for a fantastic show. We’ll never forget as the magic of friendship grows within all of us.

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