Shadow Reviews, Episode 13: Twilight's Kingdom

My LORD What a finale it was!!! It was undoubtedly one of the best finales of the entire series!!! Holy Crap, this was amazing!!! Tirek Is best villain!!! No doubt about it, this was ama-

"Ahem. Did you really think you'd do a review of a Cutie Mark killing villain and not include me?"

Oh, hi, Diamond. I didn't see you come in.

"It's just the fact that this guy even has the ability to take Cutie Marks away that really surprises me, and partially scares me for some reason. But I kind of feared for my life there."

And who wouldn't after seeing that Finale? It was even more exciting due to the fact that I was in London for the Finale today! For anyone from that party reading this, Hi! It's me, Thomas!!! I was hoping to see you all again someday!

"Uh, Thomas, shouldn't you be doing your review by now?"

Hush, Diamond. I need this. Aaaaaaaannnnnnndddddddd... I'm done. Let's get on with the review!!!

---

First off, it is great that we're seeing more of the Equestria ethnicities and delegates. I mean, I know Equestria is a pretty big place and all, but I didn't expect it to be THAT big. But I think that there's an issue here. Twilight claims she hasn't done anything to benefit the ponies of Equestria, what with her new position as a Princess and all, but that's not true! I ask you, who took out both Nightmare Moon and Discord? That was Twilight. Who faced off against a fiery Demon and didn't even flinch? That was Twilight! And who did the overall best in this Finale? THAT WAS TWILIGHT!!! You can't just say you haven't done anything useful, or you won't be beneficial to the ponies of the world. Just, it was kind of weird she said that.

"Then we come to the big bad ringleader of this little Cutie Mark killing theatre, Lord Tirek, one of the oldest villains in Pony Lore. I mean come on, he's from the oldest generation around! THE 80'S!!!"

Uh, Diamond?

"You had your turn to speak, now I'm having mine. Tirek might be one of the coldest villains to even exist in Equestria in my opinion. The ability to drain ponies of everything, power, magic, flight, Cutie Marks. That is pretty scary, Remind me never to show this episode to Silver, okay?"

Ok, Diamond. You're in good hands. Pssst, guys, I think she's buying it.

Next up, we finally decide to focus more on the box and the legend behind it. Also, I CALLED IT!!! I KNEW IT!!! I KNEW THERE WAS MORE TO THOSE OBJECTS THAN MEETS THE EYE!!! Ok, calm down now. But it was nice to be reminded of the keys and how the Mane 6 got a hold of them. Nice reminder, but also, Discord managed to hint at it for the first part of it.

"Well, what do you expect from a guy who has literally no boundaries of sense and logic?"

Good point, anyways, Diamond, your turn.

"Thank you, Thomas is it?"

Yeah.

"Then we get a rather dark and edgy scene where Tirek convinces Discord to go back to his old ways, the ways of chaos and nonsense. But despite Discord accepting, we never see him altering the fabric of reality as he did in Return Of Harmony, he just made it easier for Tirek to sap the power of ponies and make himself godlike."

But still, from what we now know, Tirek also had the ability to drain Pegasus flight and Earth Pony strength as well. Which means, Diamond, you were lucky to have been evacuated to your home.

"Why do you say that?"

I would have been happy to see Tirek take yours and Silver's power and Cutie Marks away, I even had a now who's the Blank Flank?! Joke set up for the occasion. But unfortunately, you avoided his wrath, this time.

"Why this time?"

Who knows, he may return in a future season, he was just locked away in the end, remember? I have a hunch that either Tirek or Queen Chrysalis WILL make a return, unlike most other villains in this series, Chrysalis and Tirek weren't completely destroyed/reformed.

"Oh god, are you saying?"

That's right, Diamond, he won't stay cooped up forever. No-one does.

"You're scaring me now, uhh l-let's just continue with the review now!"

Ok, I've had my fun for the day.

Next we come to Twilight receiving limitless power from Cadence, Celestia and Luna. Something I thought was a great concept, really a nice little time buyer. But even so, It would make sense that Twilight can't control her power from the start, no-one can, inFAMOUS 1 (PS3) is a prime example of this. But when Twilight does receive her new power, it takes time to perfect it, but it is time well spent, as we finally see one of the greatest action sequences in the entire series!

"Oh, yeah, the number of Dragonball references the bronies are gonna make in the future. I can't really tell how many, but they will. Believe me."

The fight scene is truly fabulous, both the almighty Demigod Tirek and the Alicorn Protagonist Twilight throw down. Rocks were spawning everywhere, Tirek throwing her into a mountain, him torching the Golden Oaks Library! There are no words to describe how amazing that fight scene was, gargantuan beams of light and darkness, the overall fantastic comebacks and turnarounds. Tirek is definitely the most powerful villain in the entire series now, sorry, Shadowsun, you had your fun in Equestria Girls, but now it's time for the truly badass to take the stage!!!

And finally the-

"Did you forget about me again?"

Diamond, I'm pretty sure you'll get a chance to-

"MOVE IT, BUB!"

CRASH!!!

Oh fine, you win this round, Diamond.

"Finally, after making a very tough sacrifice, Twilight sacrifices her new power and classifies Tirek as an actual god. After this, whilst Tirek begins a homicidal rampage, the backstabbed and TRULY reformed Discord can hand her the final key to the box; A pendant."

What is that pendant anyway, and where did Tirek get it from in the first place?

"It's best if you don't know."

Oh, okay then, please, continue.

"Our little box finally opens, revealing our last line of defense... A Hasbro marketing gimmick."

Oh don't you dare start with Hasbro Marketing Gimmick crap!!! Just because Hasbro teased it with their constant adverts and marketing models, that doesn't make it bad!!!

"Whatever you want to think, but using Hasbro's new secret weapon; Rainbow Power, our fabled friends triumph once again, and Tirek is sent back to hell where he belongs! Once again, Friendship saves the day!!!"

After which, the girls tie up loose ends and fix all the ponies that Tirek drained dry.

"It's been established now, Rainbows are the most powerful weapon in my world. Now if I could get my hands on one of them-"

Diamond, it's only powerful for those who know how to control it and know how to wield it. You're a black-hearted filly who hates the talentless and the handicapped. There's no way in hell a rainbow would give its' power to the likes of you.

"Darn it. And it's not black-hearted, it's called topping the table if you ask me."

Whatever, but then we get our happy ending with Twilight getting a new house for her and her friends. And when I say house, I mean CASTLE!!! Twilight finally has a castle now!!! All hail the Princess Of Friendship And Her Disciples!!!!!

"I always thought that Princess Twilight was a Princess of Magic for this season. Turns out she got a better title in the end."

And with our closing sequence/song, we get all the callbacks that made Season 4 so great. I saw 2 callbacks to my favourite characters, The Breezies, in this episode. I knew they'd be back sometime. Even though their screentime is short-lived, it's nice to know they're still there and thriving. But after our happy song and one final friends picture, the episode closes and thus ends Season 4.

"So what do I do now? There's gonna be no more ponies until 2015 with Season 5. Any suggestions, Thomas?"

Well, you could begin rehearsing your script for Season 5. And, if Hasbro is generous enough to cast you, you could start working on your lines in Equestria Girls 2: Rainbow Rocks.

"That exists?"

It will, give it time.

---

Twilight's Kingdom is one of the most spectacular Season Finales I've seen come out of this series. Not only was everything executed well, the humour scenes were pretty damn funny, especially with Discord in them. The villain, Tirek, albeit rehashed from G1, is absolutely stunning, very dark, and had a brilliant plan for world domination. The overall tensity of this episode was also very high, even though the livestream did break a few times in the pub, me and the guys were on the edges of our chairs.

The overall drama of this episode is also well done, with very sad and emotional scenes, scenes where you felt betrayed by a powerful asset, and a very grimdark setting throughout the second part. The fight scene is spectacular and very fast paced, with Twilight and Tirek pulling out all the stops, both with the intent of killing one another. The final attack with Rainbow Power is also a nice new feature, since the Elements Of Harmony were starting to get stale after three uses. And the overall episode itself is brilliant, but then again, you'd expect that from all Season Premieres and Finales, besides the gala in Season 1, that was weak.

Contrary to this episode's finale, I did let the rainbow remind me...

On how great this season was.

Final Score: 10/10
Yes, it did better than the Breezies (Never thought that would happen)

COMING SOON: Equestria Girls 2: Rainbow Rocks
I'm kind of on the meh side for this movie at the moment, but let's see if it can deliver.

Be sure to comment on this blog post and share it with your friends and followers. Let's see what you thought about this episode.

So long, Season 4, and a flight of Breezies send thee to thy rest.

Until next time, farewell.