Further Future Details · 3:34am January 21st
Greetings again, readers! I decided to make a blog post elaborating on some of my future plans for My Little Pony storytelling, some current activity and a few thoughts I've developed in long time I've spent making The End of an Era. I hope I don't keep you here for too much time.
You already know by now (or not) that a large project I would like to tackle is a complete reimagining of My Little Pony G5's main television/streaming show, Make Your Mark, and my title for it is Re-Make Your Mark. The intent behind it is to preserve at least some of the ideas presented by the canon episodes and specials, and the Tell Your Tale shorts, but use them to create a new story with the G5 world and cast that feels like a better follow-up to the generation's introductory film, A New Generation. I want to stress that 1, A New Generation will be left alone in this project, but 95% of everything that comes after is fair game for a massive rewrite, and 2, I only just finished a rewrite project of the G4 series finale that, through much brainstorming, writing by the seat of my pants, sleepless hours and procrastinating, was done over more than 2 years, so I want to steer away from following and making My Little Pony content for the time being, which is to ask you all not to expect Re-Make Your Mark anytime soon, because I don't know when I'll be putting it together in a presentable form; I've only got the roughest ideas for it right now, specifically for the beginning and the end.
Then there's the original story that I've been holding off on continuing for more than 3 years now, The Brilliance of a Restful Mind. I've been neglecting to change it's status for a long time, but I finally have it set to "On Hiatus" to let you know for sure that it's not cancelled, it's just been in suspension for a long time. I'd like to return to it someday and complete it before I get to work on Re-Make Your Mark, but that isn't a current priority. I've got a clear idea where the rest of it will go, so anytime I return to the MLP franchise and get around to checking the story off my to-do list, it'll be easy to wrap up. No worries.
That fully covers everything I want to do going forward, when it comes to creating my own stories for the MLP series. For the rest of this post, I want to share a conclusion that I've drawn about Friendship is Magic's final season ever since 2021, while I rewrote the finale and rewatched the show and it's supplementary material from start to finish.
In retrospect, Season 9 should've done more than scrapping the Grogar twist. It should've done more than axing the use of Grogar in any shape or form. It should've done more than make better use of the antagonists. It should've canned having a heroes vs. villains arc at all! Why?
What was the main draw of Season 9 when it was announced? What was the big development coming at the tail end of this beloved television show? What was the final journey for it's leading character? Celestia and Luna retiring and Twilight Sparkle ascending to the throne of Equestria as their successor, something that was envisioned by Lauren Faust! That was a big deal, and the plot point which got the most focus. The bad guys getting brought together and planning to access ultimate power to take the good guys down through a team effort felt superfluous. It felt like a desperate attempt to service the fans of those characters one last time, and with characters who were one-and-done deals, or in Chrysalis' case, exhausted beyond the point of relevance after several times in the spotlight. In the end, they didn't do a good job justifying their alliance or adding to the thing that built excitement for Friendship is Magic's mega-sized swan song in the first place. The main narrative of Twilight's rise of power would've gotten by fine without that filler conflict slapped on.
If I were to do a Friendship is Magic rewrite on a 1,000 times larger scale than just modifying the final several episodes, and extended my job to the rest of Season 9, the path to Twilight's coronation would've stayed as the only overarching story. The Mane 6 fighting would only be for the season's opener, nothing more.
To briefly summarize what would significantly change if it were done this way...
1. The Beginning of the End, Part 1:
Instead of King Sombra returning, or the Legion of Doom/Horses of the Apocalypse forming under Not-Grogar, Chrysalis would take the replication magic she used in The Mean 6 to create a clone of herself. The clone would take over the changeling hive, summoning Twilight and her friends to take care of her with the Elements of Harmony, while the real Chrysalis disguised herself as other ponies (like Sugar Belle) to feed off their loved ones, gain lots of strength, and use her new power to destroy the Tree of Harmony, knowing where to find it after her experience in the Everfree Forest.
2. The Beginning of the End, Part 2:
Not much changes, except that besides the episode not ending on the Legion/Horses, Chrysalis, after leaving the Mane 6 to wallow in despair near the destroyed Tree of Harmony, will go on to defeat Starlight Glimmer in a fair fight, and take her hostage to use her for two things: to coax the Mane 6 into surrendering, and to hopefully create an obedient clone of Starlight that will serve and protect her without question. Chrysalis, of course, would meet a gruesome fate, just like Sombra and the Storm King before her, to cap off this last hurrah for the former changeling queen.
3. Frenemies:
It would be a Bottle Episode focused on Tirek and Cozy Glow, still wasting away in Tartarus together. They would start out hating each other's company, and hardly want to exchange words, but as the episode progresses, they coordinate and plan to find a way to freedom. Using pieces of the rock sculpture Cozy managed to built, she and Tirek draw the attention of Cerberus and start a riot between all the monster prisoners. It would end with the plan failing (they get out their cages, at least), but the two recognizing the value and rewarding feeling of helping one another, uninterrupted.
4. The Summer Sun Setback:
The ponies mess up the preparations for the final Summer Sun Celebration on their own, because somebody actually messes up with the food, the anxious weather pony loses control, and the unicorn performers snub their duty out of pride. So, the Mane 6 really have to clean up after them.
5. The Ending of the End, Part 1:
The fiasco during the night of the final Summer Sun Celebration leaves a germ of doubt among the pony clans, which slowly, but surely, causes them to split apart and go to war with themselves, postponing Twilight's coronation. This version of the episode would end with the Windigos appearing.
6. The Ending of the End, Part 2:
It's established that the Windigos are the final bosses of the series, and they rain down icy destruction. With no other villains to fight, the heroes must concern themselves with repairing the unity of ponies, with a little help from the other clans whose hearts they've touched over the show's run.
7. The Last Problem:
Nothing is lost, except for all of the blatant references to the heroes fighting a band of evildoers before the coronation.
This is just me, though. What do you think?
Regardless of how I feel about Season 9's villain arc, looking back, I already had my mind set on the path I ultimately took with The End of an Era, because how the giant payoff to what we got on television, and some of the details of it's buildup, were the most important parts of all. If Season 9 had to go the direction it did, to find a Better Way to be Bad for enemies loved by fans, then it can't be helped, and I wanted to show some respect to the official creators' vision for my idea of a big finish. Don't get me wrong, I love Tirek, I have a soft spot for Cozy Glow, and Frenemies is one of my favourite episodes of the entire show, but did those characters need so much focus in hindsight? Was this so-called "Better Way to be Bad" really needed so... well, badly?
Anyway, I've went on and on just about all day now, it seems. That's all I wanted to expound to you folks. I'll be seeing you again whenever I'm back on a My Little Pony kick, I guess.
Here be Stache Hand the Clutcher, out and about!
Personally, and this is just me, I think the Windigos should also be revealed in the finale to be not only more intelligent than they seem, but also COMPLETELY AWARE that the whole universe is really a cartoon, having figured out the truth during the interval of the first Fire of Friendship and the start of the series, which left them becoming even more nihilistic than usual. Their ultimate plan is to harness enough negativity to strengthen themselves to literally destroy the barriers of reality, make their way to our universe, and kill all humans, all in a twisted sense of true peace, harmony, and freedom. This would escalate the stakes even more as Equestria now must fight for their universe AND their creators.