The Canterlot Wedding and everything (Spoilery!) · 10:43am Apr 22nd, 2012
Well!
That was a real roller-coaster ride of a wedding, and season finale. I would have liked to have Luna in an active role, but even so, I was amused, thrilled, creeped out and excited by the whole thing. From here on, there are going to be some spoileriffic comments, so if you haven't seen the S2 finale yet (and why haven't you?), you may not want to read further!
Shining Armor and Cadence were both nice characters, and I quite wish them well. It's pretty obvious that she was given wings for toy-related reasons only, but I have no trouble explaining her as a mortal alicorn, a "mutant" version of unicorn that sometimes shows up in the noble lines [strike]descended from[/strike] related to Celestia. She's probably Blueblood's second cousin or something, except a) a mare and b) not an egoistical, pampered jerk.
Chrysalis and her swarm of Changelings? Best new villains! I mean, what's not to love about disturbingly insectoid, emotion-eating, shapeshifting evil fairy ponies?
Also, I think the whole warning about external threat was Chrysalis' doing, and intended to distract the Princesses from the internal danger that she posed, already controlling the Captain of the Guard responsible for a big chunk of Canterlot's magical defenses, using his love as a magical amplifier for her power, and - as soon as they would be wed - about to dismantle the defenses so that her swarm can swoop in when everypony, Celestia and Luna included, is distracted.
When Twilight and Cadence spoil her surprise, she knows the game's up, so Chrysalis orders the Changelings to break down the field through a brute-force attack (She can't just order Shining Armor to turn it off, not yet, but he can't reinforce it, either!). Hopefully, she can stand up to Celestia long enough that a battallion or two of her warriors can come to her aid... and then, much to her own surprise, she OMGWTFPWNs Celestia! Turns out that Shining Armor was much better a power source than she'd even realized.
Unfortunately for her, that means that Shining Armor is also the huge, honking vulnerability in her plan... and Cadence's magical talent is sparking and re-igniting true love. Whoops. Should have been practical and killed her, instead of dropping her into forgotten gem mines and throwing Twilight in after her in the hopes that Twi will shoot first and ask questions later. :D
yep classic villain mistake letting the person your impersonating live.
Not only is Cadence's talent creating lovey-energies, and she is some kind of alicorn, but the love of her life has the magical talent of protecting others, and is the brother of the greatest unicorn sorceress of this era with similar-level magical power. Those two curbstomping Queen Crysalis is no suprise, really.
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Yeah. Chrysalis was quite a clever villain, and she really came very close to succeeding, but in the end her overconfidence was her undoing.