I said things aren't gonna change much, and here, as always, is the latest episode discussion thread. This one is called "Frenemies", and is by Michael Vogel. You remember him.

Former Hasbro VP of development, stepped down, cowrote the mlp movie, cowrites those Ponyville Mystery books with Scootaloo's aunts, wrote Spice Up Your Life, Every Little Thing She Does, cowrote School Daze... he gets around.

You might actually know what this one is about already, if you speak Italian, thanks to early airings. I don't know what it's about, though, so I can only speculate based off the title.

I'm going to guess that this is the episode where we get a spotlight on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, and get to say goodbye to them properly, and see proper rivalry between them and the cmc without bullying.

Or maybe we've already heard the last things they'll ever say on the show. That seems more likely, unfortunately.

At any rate, you can discuss what you think will be in this episode, or talk about it after watching it here. This may be an especially spoily thread...

--Sweetie Belle

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Since I've read the synopsis (but haven't watched the Italian airings nor intend to), I'm going to guess behind the spoiler tags:

Given that Frenemies is going to be about Grogar's Legion of Doom being at risk of being too friendly, I believe there may be some foreshadowing to their weaknesses and/or how they can be defeated come the season finale. This weakness would be intrinsically tied to how their "friendship" shouldn't actually become real friendship; if it does, their friendship might backfire on them and then they'd end up learning friendship lessons, turning them away from evil.

Come to think of it, I think this Legion of Doom is doomed from the start. Grogar wants them to work together but not too together, only desiring unity (strength-in-numbers style) but not friendship... and so personality and power clashes are just asking to happen. So arguments are going to happen, as is usual with friendship, but instead of resolving them properly like the Mane Six would, they'd have to be put in the backburner unresolved, like if Grogar is just going to force them to forget it about. Issue unresolved, tensions unresolved... well, this inner circle of villains is setting itself up for dysfunction.

Honestly, I won't be surprised if the Legion of Doom does win in the finale... only to descend into squabbles and chaos now that everyone's reason for unity is over.

Back to the episode itself, I think that we'll get some fun, light-hearted shenanigans even though it's focused on the villains themselves. Aside from any possible foreshadowing to their end at the finale, I think this will be more of an entertaining episode than a filling one... though I wonder if they're going to teach the lesson's moral by counterexample, given that it's villains we're talking about.

In time for Everfree NW. The Italian dub of the song was fitting.

Is Short Fuse from "The Washouts" Cozy Glow's father? They are both vertically challenged pegasi with even shorter tempers.

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Could be siblings or cousins. As far as we know Cozy could be a pony dwarf.

Well set my mane on fire and call me Cinderella, that was a fun villain episode! Was fun and it actually portrayed our favorite bad guys to be actually competent even if they are obviously dysfunctional mess. And the song! We just don't get enough villain songs in this show despite having so many villains. I enjoyed so much.

Oh and I kinda liked Italian version of the song better.

This one didn't work for me, unfortunately, despite the unique focus and settings.

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As I said countless of times online: I'm not giving up on Chrysalis Reformation no matter what. I just want it to happen for her once and for all!!!!

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I think it's gonna happen. She was feeling the friendship, and enjoyed it, a bit too much. Next stop: Reformation city.

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So this is basically the same plot as Disgaea 3.

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Which was kinda the bottom point of the Disgaea series?

Though, to be fair, I keep feeling like I should replay it. It'd help if they'd go and rerelease Disgaea 3, 4, and D2 on Switch and PC...

--Sweetie Belle

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Well I really liked the premise of weaponizing friendship for evil, but overall it was my least favorite one.

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I suppose if you're ripping off the good parts, at least...

--Sweetie Belle

Anyone thought of the word Frenemies. And be like
"My friends and my and friends are not friends"
... Anyone?

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After this episode, I am beginning to believe that Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow will all be reformed. What I see happening is them turning against Grogar, joining the good guys and realizing that being evil isn't the best thing. I could see Tirek returning to his homeland to be reunited with his brother, Chrysalis accepting love and friendship and transforming and Cozy Glow seeing the error of her ways. I will be honest though, I think that Cozy would be the last of the three to reform because of her personality and what seems to be an insatiable hunger for power.

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So now you're on my side for it StormLuna =3 It took you long enough X3

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I never said that I want to see it, I am simply expecting it. Now I do see Grogar finding his bell and going into a violent fury against his "subordinates" and at that moment, they know that they have to stick together to not defeat the ponies of Equestria but to survive his wrath. I do think Grogar's overbearing nature though will lead to his undoing, bell or no bell.

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I am sorta expecting Cozy Glow to betray the other two since her whole shtick is manipulating others. It's not in her interest to have solo career, which is what Chrysalis and Tirek want but if she would prove loyal to the Grogar than she would be second in command, like she kept insisting in the episode. Though biggest issue with this idea is that she would want eventually to replace Grogar too since she wants to be on top and that is very unlikely. Or perhaps all three will have plans to backstab each other. Alliance born from mutual enemy is fragile one at best.

Though I am expecting things to be played straight and have three of them punished by Grogar.

And speaking of old goat I still wonder what exactly is that he wants. Like why is he asking other villains to work together instead of force them to serve him. Why does he need three of them, especially Cozy Glow.

I mentioned this before in the Frenemies discussion over on the main page, but I'll discuss this again. This episode and our so called 'Legion of Doom' reminded me a lot of the Sith Triumvirate back in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2. I think Darth Traya said it best: To be united by hatred is a fragile alliance at best. Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow do not want to work with Grogar. They are only tolerating him because he is the most powerful than them and their combined hatred of the Main 6. They already betrayed him by lying about the bell, so its only a matter of time before they turn on each other.

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Here is why he wants them to willingly work together. They have all been defeated by Twilight and her friends because they work together. Grogar said this in the season 9 premiere and of course we saw Sombra go down in flames because he wouldn't be a subordinate to Grogar and we all saw how that turned out. Grogar thinks that if they willingly work together that they can defeat Twilight and her friends. However, once he does discover that they lied about not having his bell, he will punish them and if he truly is as powerful as he claims, he could take them all of Equestria on without them.

Now yeah, I could see Cozy staying true to the cause and thinking she could force Grogar out but that wouldn't be possible. A pegasus filly taking down Grogar simply won't happen unless she has magical artifacts.....or maybe she will find a way to use that bell herself....THAT would be the only way she could take over.

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This was the first time I felt it was even slightly plausible. But she seems pretty determined to resist.

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But she seems pretty determined to resist.

Next time we see her.... that's going to change

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Could be. But as I've said before... where would she go after that?

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You'll see....

I'll repost what I said in /r/mylittlepony's episode discussion thread.

In which mountains can be a sign of progress.

I am... surprised by this episode.

First off, let's remember that this is a show for kids. Even though we're way past the show's edutainment era, the moral lessons at the end still play a key part season after season.

Which makes this episode a rather risky one in terms of morals. The villains, which children would learn to not follow unless they get reformed, end up almost learning a friendship lesson—and even then, the villains already state how good it feels to help each other and to be helped by each other. (Bits of the show premiere and Twilight's epiphanies there crop up here for them.)

The fact that the villains are, well, villains should be well enough to tell children that even though they're participating in a sort of friendship, this is not the friendship to aspire to: that of the backstabbing kind, that of mere alliances to gain power for one's self in the end. I feel that Chrysalis's epic "No!" near the end helps bring that point home: there's the good kind of friendship you should follow, and then there's the bad kind. Honestly, I'm expecting shades of Tirek's betrayal of Discord come the season finale if their counterplan against Grogar does end up coming to fruition.

Now let's talk about the villains, starting with Grogar: I guess there's a weakness to him now: being naive. If his own minions are going to conspire against him and he doesn't catch wind of it in time, then that's going to be his downfall (which would make it ironic: being defeated by the power of friendship... of his villainous lackeys, not of Twilight and her friends). Other than that, he is same old self: assertive and gurmpy for a really old dude. Though I think he will only truly shine when he unleashes as much power as possible, and I bet that's going to be far away from now.

Tirek is pragmatic. Very much so, if his plans to stay behind and learn from the others' failures is of any indication. His quest for power ever remains his focal point, given how he saps power from Chrysalis twice and his partial transformation near the end. His characterizing moments in the beginning also humanize him: bodybuilding minotaur? For someone who looks so ripped, I should've thought of that beforehand. And it's also this episode that I've gotten 100% used to his raspy voice—'cause, honestly, it took me a long while to get used to it (missing out on the Season 4 finale when it was still hot doesn't help).

Chrysalis is in top shape(s)... OK, maybe not since she still talks to a log, but it's also nice how this episode fleshed her out, what with seeing her feed off love and then explaining a bit about why she cocoons her victims. Her scenes in the climbing montage also showcase what a changeling is really capable of if put into an adventuring situation: ultimate adaptation to the elements! Aside from that, there's not much else to say because, for now, her goals are the same as the other two.

As for Cozy Glow: she's bombastic. Her passioned outbursts of rage make me laugh, her cute moments make me smile, but her devious moments truly make me uncomfortable—I still can't shake off the fact that this is a filly who almost drained all the magic from Equestria. And, true to form, she ironically ends up being the leader for a good chunk of the episode, thinking up the idea of really working together and being proactive with keeping the team together.

I was tipped off that there was going to be a song, but I didn't expect it to go off early... or to be sung by the villains at all, stupidly enough. Hearing Chrysalis sing so well is to be expected, but listening to Cozy Glow sing so evilly—and then Tirek, of all creatures, to go on singing like he's an upbeat Leonard Cohen... the song is all fun!

Entertainment-wise, this episode really is a whole lot of fun! In fact, I emoted so much in this episode, I originally thought this was the best episode of the season by far—and, well, while it's not (mostly because of the villain focus; that title currently belongs to The Point of No Return for me), it is coming at a very close second even without much of a moral (and the moral that is there is a very important one to teach given the show's whole focus on friendship that discerning what kind of friendship is good is necessary). Everything from the song and Cozy Glow being all cute with menacing Tirek and Chrysalis through Rusty Bucket's tribulations and the villains' individual failures to the whiplash of an unexpected ending (because I expected them to bring the bell back, but then they didn't and so I freaked out, but then they did anyway so I freaked out again)... wow. Bravo!

Overall: A great episode! A brilliant episode!