Updating Friendship - Part 10 · 9:30pm Oct 18th, 2020
Okay, final part! Here we go! I had a harder time coming up with original episodes for this one compared to the last part. That said, I hope you enjoy my final season for Updating Friendship.
Onto Season 10: Beginning of the End!
Ep. 1 “The Beginning of the End, Part 1” – Same as canon, but with some edits. The Mane Six are called to Canterlot by Celestia and Luna, and find out that the princesses want to retire. Twilight grows anxious at the idea of such a big change and stresses out even more when they want to name her as their replacement. Meanwhile, Tirek and Cozy Glow are mysteriously pulled from their respective dungeons at the same time a lonely and slowly going insane Chrysalis is pulled from wandering the woods. The three villains are gathered in a lair, where Chrysalis is reunited with Mean Twilight and they all meet a revived King Sombra. The five villains are approached by none other than Grogar, the Father of Monsters. Grogar proposes a plan that will finally let them all achieve victory over the Mane Six. Sombra arrogantly refuses, leading Grogar to challenge him at reclaiming the newly expanded Crystal Empire. Sombra kidnaps Flurry Heart and gets Shining Armor and Cadence to surrender. The Mane Six and Spike arrive to defeat him, and Sombra especially targets Spike upon remembering it was him that foiled his return. After a tough fight, the Mane Six finally defeat Sombra again. Back in Grogar’s lair, Sombra concedes to Grogar’s plan and asks for reinforcements. Grogar obliges with monsters from Tambelon.
Ep. 2 “The Beginning of the End, Part 2” – Same as canon, but with edits. After successfully saving the expanded Crystal Empire from Sombra’s return, the Mane Six return to the subject of Twilight taking over for the princesses. As Twilight considers the consequences of such a change, they discover Equestria is under attack by Sombra, who is now leading an army of shadow monsters. They fight their way to Canterlot, where Sombra has set up camp, and the Pillars and Discord comes to their aid when the fighting gets too thick for them to handle alone. Discord has a showdown with Sombra, where Sombra recognizes Discord as a legend and questions Discord’s motives. Discord’s arc of learning to be a better friend since season four comes to its conclusion when he reaffirms his friendship with the Mane Six and defeats Sombra with their help. In the aftermath, the Mane Six and Discord hold a meeting with the princesses to discuss the attack. They all note that a villain has never bounced back so quickly before and suspect Sombra may have had help. When the subject of the princesses’ retirement comes back up, Twilight regretfully refuses and explains that Sombra’s attacks reminded her she has already found a position where she truly belongs- running her passion project, the School of Friendship, and saving the world as an Element of Harmony. She then proposes an alternative idea that Celestia retires since she’s been ruling for over a thousand years and Luna stays on to gain more experience. Luna initially shows uncertainty at the idea, but ultimately agrees after Celestia shows her support. Back home, the Mane Six check on Cozy Glow in the Castle of Friendship’s dungeons, not realizing Grogar has left a fake to keep his new evil alliance under the radar. This episode begins the Legion of Doom arc.
“Uprooted” – Delete because the Tree of Harmony wasn’t shattered in this version and the treehouse concept was stupid anyway.
Ep. 3 “Reflection of a Dragon” – A new episode focusing on Spike. While on school trip to Manehatten, Spike meets a young colt who happened to be adopted by a family of dragons that settled in the city. Spike learns that the colt’s family embraces pony traditions and decides to help him celebrate dragon traditions to better understand his family’s culture. After things go wrong, Spike and his new friend finally understand each other’s upbringing and promise to keep in touch.
Ep. 4 “Hearts, Hooves, and Claws” – A new episode focusing on the Young Six. Sandbar and Yona are eager to celebrate their first Hearts and Hooves Day as a couple, but their happiness concerns Gallus when he admits to Sandbar that he has a crush on Silverstream, but isn’t sure she would like him back since she’s royalty and he’s an orphan. Meanwhile, the holiday overwhelms Ocellus since her kind feeds on love. After flip-flopping over a confession all day, Gallus is encouraged to tell Silverstream, who accepts him as a special somecreature no matter his background. In the end, Ocellus realizes her problem wasn’t feeding on love but rather she was in love, specifically with Smolder.
Ep. 5 “Apples with Sugar” – A new episode focusing on Applejack and the Apple family. With Big Macintosh and Sugar Belle back from their delayed honeymoon, the family adjusts to a change in family dynamics with Sugar Belle added to the mix. Sugar Belle deals with extra attention from Granny, and Apple Bloom has lingering hang-ups about Big Macintosh breaking up with Cheerilee as well as her brother having a new mare to pay attention to in his life. In the end, the family clears the air and acknowledges there will be an adjustment period.
Ep. 6 “Marble Raises Her Voice” – A new episode focusing on Pinkie Pie, her sister Marble, and Fluttershy. After a recent visit with her family, Pinkie enlists Fluttershy’s help in getting Marble to speak up more. Using lessons that taught Fluttershy to be more outspoken in the past, they attempt to help her conquer her fears. When Marble is too afraid to take the leap, she storms off to hide in peace. With help from her animal friends, Fluttershy finds her and convinces her to give it a try. Once she talks more, Marble gains the confidence to leave home more often.
Ep. 7 “Beta Crusaders” – A new episode focusing on Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. A trio of fillies attending the School of Friendship cause chaos the same way the Crusaders did on their hunt for cutie marks. At the advice of the Crusaders themselves, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie take the fillies under their wings as mentees. They soon discover the trio are much like themselves as fillies but with their own quirks. After the fillies try too hard to get their cutie marks, the Crusaders initiate them as members of the club and promise to help them find their cutie marks in more constructive ways.
Ep. 8 “Frenemies” – Same as canon, but with edits. The Legion of Doom’s bickering starts to irritate Grogar, who decides to send Tirek, Chrysalis, Cozy, and Mean Twilight, nicknamed “Midnight”, to retrieve his bell from an enchanted mountain that he hasn’t been able to penetrate. Sombra is stuck in the lair as punishment for the failure at Canterlot. The villains split up to get the bell first, but run into various obstacles that prevent them from getting there. Around a campfire overnight, they all bond over their hatred for the Mane Six. Realizing their common ground, they work together to get to the mountaintop where the bell is located. After successfully stealing the bell, the group starts to consider teamwork until Chrysalis snaps them out of it. They plot to betray Grogar and hide the bell within the lair, lying to Grogar they were unsuccessful. This episode continues the Legion of Doom arc.
Ep. 9 “Back to Griffonstone” – A new episode focusing on Griffonstone since Rainbow and Pinkie’s map mission there. Rainbow is invited to Griffonstone by Gilda to see how Griffonstone is rebuilding its economy. It turns into a group trip after Gallus reveals he’s going back too for personal reasons and his friends come along for moral support. Griffonstone is seen to be doing well, but Rainbow’s more festive side of the trip is abruptly stopped when the group learns that Grandpa Gruff passed away on their trip over. Gallus flees and the Young Six learn that it is the anniversary of his parents’ deaths. With Gruff dead too, Gallus has no guardian figures, but Rainbow and his friends reassure him he has them. The episode ends with the group surrounding Gallus in front of a tombstone, whether it being his parents’ or Gruff’s is open to interpretation.
Ep. 10 “Slice of Life 2” – A new episode focusing on the background characters of the show. Various characters around Equestria react to the news that Princess Celestia is retiring and Princess Luna will be the only princess. This episode was an idea by MLPFollower.
Ep. 11 “The Sun Doesn’t Set Twice” – A new episode focusing on Celestia and the human Sunset. With the two Sunset counterparts having swapped worlds, the human Sunset struggles to adapt to being a unicorn. In the midst of her retirement transition, Celestia finds time to personally tutor her on her new magic. Without realizing it, Celestia revives her unresolved issues with the pony Sunset’s disappearance until it’s too late. Ashamed, she isolates herself in her room until the human Sunset talks to her and convinces her to communicate with the original. Borrowing Twilight’s communication journal, Celestia finally begins to heal as she and Sunset write back and forth. This is the second episode to directly reference Equestria Girls.
Ep. 12 “Draconic Possibilities” – A new episode focusing on the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Much like Gabby, a young dragon seeks out the Crusaders for help. The Dragon Lands doesn’t offer a lot of hobbies and interests, so the young dragon asks the Crusaders to help them find a pony hobby they are good at. Whereas Gabby was great at everything, the dragon isn’t sure what they are good at. After finding a hobby that interests them, they tell the Crusaders that the other hobbies were interesting too and would take them back to the Dragon Lands to see if they work for others.
Ep. 13 “Royal Origins” – A new episode focusing on Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. Since Shining Armor ascended to an alicorn, Star Swirl has been searching for information on alicorn stallions since the royals are too busy to do it themselves, but has come up short. Hitting a roadblock, Twilight suggests the princesses tell their stories for clues that could help them research alicorn stallions. The episode reveals that like Flurry Heart, Celestia and Luna were born alicorns while Cadence earned her alicorn ascension like Twilight and Shining did. As the sisters’ teacher, Star Swirl would appear in flashbacks. Depending on the desired ending, the episode would end with Star Swirl not coming any closer to finding a lead on alicorn stallions or it would end with him finding a clue within the princesses’ stories. This episode answers questions that fans have had about the other princesses’ alicorn ascension. This episode was an idea by MLPFollower.
Ep. 14 “Dark Beginnings” – A new episode focusing on the Legion of Doom. Struck with boredom since their mission for the Bewitching Bell, Cozy Glow pesters the older villains to share their origin stories. Sombra pompously recounts his rise to power within the Crystal Empire; Chrysalis shares her rise to queenhood and how she devised the plan to overtake Canterlot; and even Tirek reluctantly shares his past with Scorpan and Vorak. A common thread in all three stories is the theme of betrayal. This episode answers questions that fans have had for the villains’ backstories and continues the Legion of Doom arc. This episode was an idea by MLPFollower.
Ep. 15 “Am I Bugging You?” – A new episode focusing on Ocellus and Smolder. Ever since her realization that she is in love with Smolder, Ocellus has been unsure how to handle things. She asks several people, including Starlight, Lyra and Bon-Bon, and eventually Sandbar about being in love. It is ultimately Sandbar’s answer that gives her the information she needs and she confesses to Smolder, who is willing to give them a try. Meanwhile, Silverstream enlists Terramar and Gabby for help organizing a birthday party for the orphaned Gallus.
Ep. 16 “Part of the Story” – A new episode focusing on Rarity. At long last, Rarity has gotten the opportunity to meet the author of her favorite book series, Shadow Spade. The author’s suspicious behavior leads to Rarity believing Shadow Spade is real just like Daring Do, and gets tangled up in a mystery. In the end, Rarity learns that Shadow Spade isn’t real and not every fictional story is actually real like Daring Do.
Ep. 17 “The Summer Sun Setback” – Same as canon, but with edits since Luna is staying on the throne and Twilight isn’t taking over. Tirek, Chrysalis, Cozy, and Midnight continue planning to overthrow Grogar with his bell, but are unable to control it. On the suggestion of Cozy, she goes with Tirek and Chrysalis to Canterlot to break into the restricted archives in search of a guide for controlling the bell. Midnight stays behind to keep Grogar and Sombra in the dark. Meanwhile, the Mane Six are in charge of the Summer Sun Celebration preparations while Celestia and Luna plan something special as their last celebration together on the throne. Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy sabotage the planning so they can sneak into the archives. They successfully steal a guide to the bell and get out without anyone realizing their presence. Part of their sabotage gives Chrysalis the idea to turn the three pony tribes against each other. This episode continues the Legion of Doom arc.
Ep. 18 “High School Horseshoes” – A new episode focusing on the Crusaders. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon ask the Crusaders to help them win Silver Spoon the fall formal crown. The problem is Diamond Tiara is more popular than Silver Spoon. Through various shenanigans, their attempts fail, and Silver Spoon worries she’ll never step out of Diamond Tiara’s shadow. In the end, Diamond Tiara wins the vote, but hands the crown over to Silver Spoon for being a better pony than she is. This episode concludes Diamond Tiara's character development.
Ep. 19 “Welcome to the Herd” – A new episode focusing on Gallus and Sandbar, specifically their friendship. Without any further guardians after Grandpa Gruff’s passing, Gallus worries about his future. Always a mellow fellow, Sandbar tries to ease his friend’s concerns. In the end, Sandbar reveals that his family wants to adopt Gallus so he always has somewhere to go and always has a family waiting for him.
Ep. 20 “Dreams Across Equestria” - A new episode focusing on Luna in her dream duties. It’s mostly a filler episode, but we get to see what ponies beyond the Mane Six dream about in more detail. In the end, Luna attracts the attention of a colt or filly that may be interested in becoming her student later on.
Ep. 21 “My Uncle’s A Dragon” – A new episode focusing on Spike and Flurry Heart. Shining Armor and Cadence’s usual babysitter since Sunburst took the vice-principal job is unavailable, and with Twilight and Sunburst both busy running the School of Friendship, Spike is tasked with babysitting Flurry Heart on his own for the first time. The episode explores Spike’s role as Flurry’s uncle as well as their bond in being the two youngest members of their family tree.
Ep. 22 “Breaking Tradition” – A new episode focusing on Rainbow and Silverstream. After Silverstream expresses her interest in joining the Wonderbolts later in life, Rainbow realizes there have never been non-pegasus members of the Wonderbolts before and considers the idea. Met with refusal by Spitfire and other members with traditional mindsets, Rainbow works hard to make Silverstream’s dream a possibility. In the end, Rainbow hasn’t made immediate change, but the idea is being floated around. This episode allows Silverstream to canonically follow her dream instead of teaching at the School of Friendship.
Ep. 23 “The Ending of the End, Part 1” – Luna’s coronation is almost here, set to take place during the moon equivalent of the Summer Sun Celebration, the Winter Moon Celebration. Since the invasion of the restricted archives, Chrysalis has been sowing seeds of mistrust between the pony tribes. The Legion of Doom has finally worked out how to activate Grogar’s Bewitching Bell. Before they can use it on themselves to make them more powerful, Discord catches them in the act and explains he has had his suspicions since Sombra’s return. Grogar emerges from the shadows and takes control of the bell himself, revealing that he knew the legion was planning to betray him. He drains Discord of his chaos magic and orders him to tell the Mane Six and the other royals that he has returned and will reclaim his rightful place as emperor. The Mane Six experience the mistrust Chrysalis has stirred up, and learn along with the princesses from Discord of the new development. As the Mane Six plan their defense, Grogar powers up the legion for the battle ahead. The Pillars are notified of the imminent danger and Twilight begins organizing a safety plan for the School of Friendship. The Legion of Doom spread out to execute their attack with Tirek facing the Pillars, Chrysalis facing the Mane Six, Sombra facing Shining Armor and Cadence, and Cozy facing the Young Six. Meanwhile, Midnight helps Grogar prepare the second phase of the attack. The episode ends with Tirek defeating the Pillars.
Ep. 24 “The Ending of the End, Part 2” – The Legion of Doom’s attack continues. After Tirek defeats the Pillars, he helps Cozy overpower the Young Six and damages the School of Friendship. They go to help Chrysalis take down the Mane Six once and for all, but the Mane Six allow Twilight and Spike to escape so they can help Shining and Cadence. While Twilight and Spike help in the battle against Sombra, Grogar personally challenges Celestia and Luna in Canterlot. With help from Midnight, he is able to overthrow them. As he gloats about the defeat, he and Midnight activate the second phase of his plan- unleashing Tambelon on Equestria. While monsters begin to spread throughout Equestria, the windigoes return.
Ep. 25 “The Ending of the End, Part 3” – Twilight and Spike successfully help Shining and Cadence repel Sombra from the Crystal Empire again, only to discover the tragedy that has befallen Equestria. Having taken the other heroes prisoner, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy gloat their victories over them and Cozy admits that the Legion of Doom is the closest to a family she’s had since her family included in her origin story. Chrysalis and Tirek admit similar feelings, the team reminding Chrysalis of her hive and Tirek of his father and brother before their betrayal. Discord picks up on this detail and uses it to cause enough chaos that allows everyone to escape. The heroes all reunite in the safety of the Crystal Empire, where Luna despairs over her chance to finally be recognized on her own as a ruler being destroyed while Twilight grows disheartened over the fact their enemies keep coming back. Some pep talks from their friends make them realize the battle isn’t over yet and there’s still hope. Restored by their confidence, Twilight realizes that Grogar’s plan relied on them being unable to help each other. With a new plan in place, the heroes go to save Equestria. While Shining Armor and Cadence neutralize the windigos, the Elements of Harmony groups confront the Legion of Doom together. Meanwhile, the rest of Equestria bands together to fight Grogar’s various monsters plaguing the land.
Ep. 26 “The Ending of the End, Part 4” – The Elements of Harmony groups fight their final battle against the Legion of Doom. With all the groups covering each other’s backs, they are able to overwhelm the Legion of Doom. The rest of Equestria comes in to help once the monsters are vanquished. Grogar, Sombra, and Midnight all prove themselves irredeemable, forcing them to be sealed away with Tambelon for good while Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy are given a chance to redeem themselves based on their sense of family. The three are allowed to live together in Grogar’s former lair in peace. Discord regains his powers from the Bewitching Bell, having a new appreciation for magic-less life. Discord proceeds to fix all the damage he can with his magic, allowing Luna’s coronation to proceed closely to the original schedule. Celestia steps down from the throne, wishing Luna the best of luck. As Luna performs the rising of the moon for the Winter Moon Celebration, Twilight’s friends ask her if she thinks Luna will be alright and she responds that Luna will because she has her sister and she has friends by her side. The camera zooms out to show the book from the first episode closing, signaling the end of the story. None of the future epilogue stuff to let fans have their own interpretations of what happens later on in the characters’ lives.
As the final battle of the show, it really deserved four parts instead of two. There was a lot of content they could've included to wrap up everyone's stories. Obviously, there were changes to the Grogar plot and the retirement issue. Grogar was allowed to be real in this version and one sister retired while one sister stayed on the throne. I am in the camp that it would've made more narrative sense for Luna to rule alone after Celestia did it for so long and finally step out of Celestia's shadow; in conjunction with that idea, I am also in the camp that it made more narrative sense for Twilight to remain Headmare of the School of Friendship, which I viewed as her passion project and her ideal career since all her friends followed their dreams and have stable careers. For the finale, we were robbed of a true battle between Grogar and the sisters, between Grogar and the Mane Six, robbed of Legion of Doom family feels, robbed of Cadence single-hoofedly fending away the windigos, and so much more. Four parts would have been perfect.
About my original episodes, I am a Gallstream shipper so I had to do one for them. I also decided to give Gallus a happy ending by having Sandbar's family adopt him, no longer making him an orphan without a family. I also thought I would give Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie their own Cutie Mark Crusader counterparts to complete the set. Of my original episodes, Breaking Tradition might be my favorite premise for the reason of Rainbow getting a decent final outing as an individual character and setting up Silverstream's canon dream of being a Wonderbolt. The future shown in that garbage epilogue had the Wonderbolts remain all-pegasus when the rest of Equestria was shown to have embraced members of other cultures, so Breaking Tradition was my solution to fixing that.
Leave comments below on what you think of my final season in Updating Friendship! Tell me what you think of the changes made to canon episodes and my original episode premises. Thanks for reading all ten parts! This has been a fun short project to share!
To be honest, I love some part of this version better than the one we got in the show
Talk about epic changes!! You fixed all of the horrible cringeworthy plots, added more content that answers the majority of questions that fans have been asking for years, and gave our favorite ponies the send off they deserved!! AWESOME!!
Though I'm a member of the sect of the fandom that doesn't like the idea of EITHER Celestia or Luna retiring, I'll admit that Luna being given a chance to stand on her own is the next best thing! I mean, what were the writers smoking when they had BOTH sisters retire at the SAME TIME?! We may not know how long the Alicorn Sisters ruled before the whole Nightmare Moon debacle, but considering Luna had been gone for a thousand years and hadn't even been back home for a decade makes this stupid retirement idea even more unrealistic...
5380674
I agree. I understand Celestia retiring, but not Luna. She has only been back in Equestria like three years now
5380680
Luna's been back for a LOT longer than three years. Almost all of the seasons in the show took place over the course of a single year. We've seen Hearth's Warming Eve happen at least five times and since it's Equestria's version of Christmas, it's safe to say that it's a yearly celebration.
5380686
Yeah agree three or more Luna only been back under a decade and why would she retire. If she was mortal that I can understand but she not. It would better if Luna rule the land instead of Twilight
5380692
Coupled with the fact that both sisters are still relatively young (for alicorns), retirement for them AT ALL at that point in time makes even less sense...
5380697
Yeah, agree. To me if feel the writers are lazy on season 9. I don’t mind people liking the season as a hold but I wish they done better
I like your idea of a 4 part story because the show’s 2 part is used too much in the previous MLP episodes and the season finales felt rushed and the epilogue future episode, it sucked! Adventure Time & Ok KO! Let’s be heroes! future episodes were way better! Also showing the Villians’ origins is a way better than the reading from a book scenes.
All I can really say is I wish this was canon. Good job.
Thanks for using my episode ideas! Glad I could help out with your version of MLP: FiM when I still could. Hope one day that someone will be able to write all these into full-fledged episodes.
Is Spike an Element Bearer like in the finale?