Season 5 Finale Thoughts · 7:44am Nov 29th, 2015
I doubt many care what I have to say, but here we go anyway!
I definitely enjoyed this finale. Starlight made for a competent villain who wasn't pure power like many of the other villains of the series. Time travel is always fun, though part of me felt that some of the alternate timelines could have easily been ripped right out of fanfiction. It was nice to see all the villains again, though they made it so Chrysalis' voice was normal instead of that which she had in the season 2 finale, which was weird to me. It's a minor gripe, though.
The biggest thing that bothered me was how almost nobody seemed to notice that Twilight was an alicorn, the only exception being Rainbow filly and only after an extended one on one conversation. There are only three alicorns in Equestria without Twilight, possibly even only two if somehow the change in the past eliminates Cadence. You'd think that a mysterious fourth (or third) alicorn showing up would be a big deal. I don't know, maybe they were just assuming she used a spell to grow wings like she did with Rarity way back when. I also suppose it would have derailed the story to have everybody constantly being astonished at seeing an alicorn.
Honestly, if I hadn't heard it confirmed that there was a sixth season coming ages ago early on in the fifth season, I could have easily seen this as a series finale. I've actually felt that a few times over this season, come to think of it. Rainbow Dash flying with the Wonderbolts in a show, Rarity opening a boutique in Canterlot, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders getting their cutie marks all felt to me like it was building up to an ending. I'd be sad to see the show end, but I think that if it were to do so here it would be a solid finish.
One thing that I couldn't help thinking about as I watched this was actually a story I have been working on for a few months now. It involves time travel, and a very unfortunate and accidental change in the time line. The majority of the fiction would be based around the fallout of the attempt to fix it by the pony who messed it up to begin with. The story may also have involved Chrysalis in a prominent role. I swear, not all the stories I write involve Chrysalis and/or the changelings, even if it seems that way to even myself sometimes. Anyway, now all I can think of is how if ever I were to post it here, it would likely be assumed that the story was inspired by this season finale when it's not. Oh well, not a big deal, really.
I liked the story/plot. Time Travelling to make sure the future is saved from Starlight. What I didn't like was Starlight's motivation. I mean I thought Discord's reform was quick, but Starlight's was quicker, since they were actively only working to reform her at the end of the second episode.
I did enjoy all the alternate timelines, showing each villain doing their own thing. The Discord one made me smile, I miss Discord as a proper antagonist Q_Q. The only one I thought was out of place was the Flim Flam brother one. I mean come on? A pair of con artists destroying all of Equestria? I would have preferred maybe a reality where a Demonic Sunset Shimmer and her possessed army were taking over Equestria or Trixie with the Alicorn amulet, enslaving the land. The sunset shimmer one isn't an impossibility, since we did see a purified Luna in the Discord future, so clearly there was another Mane 6 in that timeline.
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I hadn't thought of a Sunset Shimmer timeline. That may have been interesting, but I think that Hasbro is keeping the Equestria Girls movies separate from the tv series.
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Yeah I got the impression that Hasbro were going that direction with Equestria Girls too. Still it woulda been fun to see ^^;. A lot of people joke that the Desolate Wasteland seen was the Fallout: Equestria universe, I figure it's probably some post-apocalyptic world, created by all the major villains, fighting over the world and bringing mutually ensured destruction to it, in their bid to take control.
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Huh, that it was a world where all villains came to power and fought each other would actually make some sense.
It may be interesting to try and imagine how the alternate time lines came to be the way they were. How was Nightmare Moon foiled without Twilight? Or any of the other villains, thought I think Nightmare Moon may be the one that needs the most explaining.
Discord was released when the CMC argued in front of his statue. Presumably he was weakening his prison over the entire thousand years he was in it, or that it weakened naturally, but if you prevented the CMC from showing up on that field trip to argue then he may have missed the last spark that allowed him to escape. I could easily see him being at the very least delayed without much difficulty in alternate timelines.
Chrysalis wasn't actually defeated by Twilight or her friends, she was defeated by Cadance and Shining Armor, though Twilight did help her get out of the Canterlot Caves. I suppose she isn't hard to explain, either, though. Without Twilight around for Cadance to foalsit, it's quite possible that she never would have gotten close to Shining Armor which would mean that the circumstances of the changeling invasion would be drastically different and something we couldn't really predict.
Sombra......Hmmmm.....I suppose you could have had Celestia and Luna showing up to face him instead of having them just send Twilight. It's possible they could have stopped him, or failed as was the case in at least one timeline.
I doubt that the writers actually went and thought through how the differences in the past actually caused each of the timelines. They were probably just being lazy with the whole "small changes in the past can have drastic effects on the future" thing. It is still interesting to think about, though.
I have to wonder something. How the heck did Equestria survive the thousand years between Luna's banishment and Twilight's arrival as a hero? Did they have a huge spree of villains a thousand years ago, then a thousand years of calm only to be followed by several major threats to Equestria in a relatively short time span?
That time span I noted thanks to this episode is years. I'd heard that the first 4 seasons or so was essentially just one year, but in the Nightmare Moon alternate timeline, she says that her sister (Celestia) had been trapped on the moon for years. There's no reason to think that she would have escaped earlier had Twilight not been around, so it indicates that the series has taken place over at least 2 years. Unless of course it was just an oversight by the writers or they say she was exaggerating.
3582703 Yeah I did feel the writers were kinda lazy about how the future kept changing. My only explanation is that the continued prevention of the future, kept resulting in worse and worse futures. Starts off with Equestria at warwith Sombra, then conquered by Chrysalis and then Nightmare Moon, if I remember correctly. At that point though, the future outcomes vary wildly, I feel the Flim Flam future should've been one of the earlier outcomes since it honestly didn't seem as bad as Tirek or Discord's respective timelines, I would've liked to see Twilight spending a bit more time in those universes, like with the Sombra/Nightmare Moon/Chrysalis realities.
I also would've liked to have seen a villain that hasn't shown up in the series yet, like Grogar. A little foreshadowing for Season 6? That would've been clever and caught both Twilight and the fans off-guard, especially knowing the old Goat was just waiting for his turn to attack in the present. Keeping us all excited for the next season.
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It would have been interesting to see someone like Grogar (who I admit I only know of thanks to a story from here called "Who Is This Lord Tirek You Speak of?"). Since they do seem to like bringing back old villains from previous generations, I wouldn't be surprised to see him show up in season six, yes. It's possible he would get the Shmooze treatment and not be villainous, though.
I suppose it is possible that the constant intervention in the past caused damage to time itself and not just to the future, which could have led to progressively worse results.
I had felt the urge to see more of each timeline. I think it could have been fascinating, but there really wasn't enough time to do so. This was naturally a result of having only 44 minutes for the entire thing and having so many different timelines. Had they kept it to one or two alternate timelines, then maybe it would have been possible, but not with the amount they did have.
I actually would have been excited to see Nightmare Moon successfully going back in time with Twilight. That would have been an intense situation, one that could have convinced Starlight Glimmer that she was screwing things up really badly and needed to set things right. Though, given how even minor changes had severe effects, I suspect that NMM showing up would have completely derailed the sonic rainboom even more thoroughly than all the other things that had been done.
3582862 Yeah I read that fic, it had a stronger start but felt like the story kinda grew desperate towards the end. I think I knew about Grogar before FiM started but only recall hearing about him in stories like Reformation of the Hives by Law Abiding Pony (You should check out all his Changeling fics) or the Slave King stories by TalonMach5, though I think the name is slightly different there. Grogar also cropped up in the awesome Equestrian Wind Mage stories by LordSirvant, season 2/story 2 I believe.
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Damn that's a lot of "_______ The Hive" stories. I had the first one in my far too extensive to read list already. One day I'll get around to it. I do love me some changeling stories. Most of the time anyway. There was that one that was highly rated that I just couldn't stand. The Winds of Change, by Agent Snail. I stopped reading it around halfway through, which was over twenty chapters in. Perhaps one day I'll go back and give it another chance since the author does say it's bad at the start but gets much better later on. It was a real slog getting through what I had gotten through, though.
I enjoyed the Tirek story I mentioned, but didn't think it was amazing. It was good, but not great as far as I was concerned.
I'll take a look at some of those other stories you mentioned too.