• Member Since 20th Jul, 2015
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Codex Ex Equus


The writing account of Deus Ex Equus.

More Blog Posts30

  • 250 weeks
    Season Nine (Spoilers, etc.)

    Just a few thoughts on a couple of recent episodes (you can probably guess at least two). Spoilers incoming, obviously.

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    13 comments · 1,925 views
  • 252 weeks
    What. (Frenemies spoilers, kind of)

    Okay, so obviously I'm going to be making a blog post about season nine, especially since Frenemies is pretty much the best episode the show's ever had. And I know it's also kind of late for me to post this compared to my usual times.

    But while I was writing it, I found something out, and it's legitimately freaking me out.

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    15 comments · 906 views
  • 259 weeks
    I've cracked the code on season nine

    Cozy Glow is the Storm King reborn.

    That's why she's so obsessed with getting control of a bunch of followers and taking over everything, she's just continuing from where she left off. Same reason she wants to be Queen, she's just getting her title back (adjusted to fit her new body).

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    3 comments · 544 views
  • 289 weeks
    Announcement

    I hope everyone's ready, because something big is coming tomorrow. Here's a preview image of it, I hope you enjoy it.

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    7 comments · 1,160 views
  • 289 weeks
    Season Eight Finale Part Two Translation (spoilers inside)

    Okay, get your spoilers down below.

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    5 comments · 570 views
Jul
27th
2018

Random Yelling About Season Eight (spoilers and such) · 1:13am Jul 27th, 2018


Now that the hiatus is over, here's a followup to my last post, with some things I forgot, some new things I thought of, and various other things that have come up.

First off, this will contain spoilers about the rest of season eight, including the finale, along with what little we know of season nine. So fair warning there.

Second, apologies if this seems kind of disjointed. I've been working on it for a while, and started cutting parts out here and there to use in a separate post speculating on what could happen with Chrysalis in the season eight finale... and that SDCC teaser pretty much destroyed all that speculation. So there may be parts that don't quite flow into each other as I attempt to stitch everything back together.

Third, one thing I need to do more in these posts is lead off with this disclaimer: literally everything I say here is going to be bullshit.

I'm taking single lines of dialogue and constructing elaborate castles in the sky out of them. Nothing I say is actually true or is going to happen on the show. This is just fun speculation on what-if scenarios, i.e. raw fan fiction.

So, with that out of the way, let's get into it.

To start with The Mean Six, now that it's officially aired I'm seeing a lot of weird comments about it. It seems that people don't understand what happened at the end; for example, I've heard things about how Chrysalis's plan was doomed to fail from the beginning. Apparently people even think the Tree of Harmony was corrupted during that sequence? Like I said, a lot of weird stuff.

Here's the way I see it:

The plan itself was perfectly sound, and the clones of the Mane Six would have been able to wield the Elements just fine. I mean, Chrysalis seems very confident about that. The problem is, once they're in front of the Tree, the clones start acting like what they are: evil clones. And that's what sets off the Tree.

Watch the end scene again. Every time one of the clones does something that's the opposite of their Element, that's when the corresponding Element in the Tree goes black. Rarity yells "Mine!", Fluttershy starts kicking the tree, Dash falls asleep in front of it—all of those trigger their Elements. It's not reacting to them being clones or being somehow corrupted by their presence, it's reacting to them acting against their Elements.

I mean, that's pretty clearly what was happening, right? I'm not the only one who saw that?

It has some interesting implications, too.

The thing is, Evil Twilight was able to control the clones, at least momentarily. She got them to stop wrecking the camp and head into the cave. They then immediately started acting out again after seeing the tree, and she tried to stop them. But she got distracted by Chrysalis showing up and attacking her. So, really, Chrysalis actually saved Equestria here. Okay, so she was saving it from a problem she created herself, and she was only doing that because it turned out that it was going to be as bad for her as everyone else, but hey. One step at a time.

The interesting thing there is what set off Twilight's Element and made the Tree melt all the evil clones. It was Twilight attacking Chrysalis and nearly blasting her. Obviously the issue there is that it's because Evil Twilight was attacking instead of making friends. Still, rather interesting that attacking Chrysalis instead of trying to befriend her is a no-no in the eyes (leaves?) of the Tree of Harmony.

Here's a dark implication from this episode as well: if the Mane Six started acting the same way in front of the Tree, would it melt them too?

(Also, if you watched both the leak and the official version, you probably noticed that they toned down the melting in the official version. Made it less horror-moviey. I was disappointed. I mean, not really surprised, but still a bit disappointed.)

Here's another little thing that came to mind about this episode. I mentioned in the previous blog that one of the things I liked about this episode is that it doesn't spend all 22 minutes humiliating Chrysalis, which is typically what you'd see in a children's cartoon episode that focuses on a villain.

I also brought up the point that the comics are different, in that the Mane Six will just plain insult whoever the antagonist of the current issue is. (Actually, that's not completely true. I'm just working off vague memories here, but it seems to me that they never insulted villains who were due to be reformed by the end of the story arc.)

The villains on the show tend to insult the protagonists quite often though, usually tame things like yelling "You fools!" and so on.

The thing I find kind of interesting is that Chrysalis is extremely light on the insults in this episode, despite her obvious frustration. In fact, the closest thing I can think of to an insult is when she refers to trying to lead the clones around as "grubsitting".

On the other hand, Evil Twilight is the one who gets the honor of yelling "You fools! You've ruined everything!" (Classic villain line. In fact, I think yelling that is actually on the list of 'Things I will never do when I become an evil overlord'.) I believe she also calls the other clones fools at some previous points. There's also the way she refers to Chrysalis as "Your majesty" in a mocking tone, which is actually quite a cruel way to talk about her, given that she lost everything that she cared about when she lost her kingdom. It is, in an ironic way, exactly the kind of thing Chrysalis herself would do if their positions were reversed.

It really feels to me like Evil Twilight is supposed to be the real villain here. Clearly Chrysalis is the antagonist at the start, but Evil Twilight takes over almost immediately, and at the end it's pretty clear that we're actually supposed to be rooting for Chrysalis. Obviously they didn't go full hero with her or anything, but she's kinda sorta neutral. Almost. Though then they walk that back a bit with her yelling about revenge (They can't just give away the big twist that she's the hero of this season, right?).

I mean, I'm biased, of course. Give me the slightest excuse to make Chrysalis look good and I'll take it. But if they're going to try to make Chrysalis into something like an antihero, or even a full-blown good guy, this episode would be a pretty good way to start working up to it. Much better than the usual 'one line of dialogue has convinced me to utterly change my ways!' reformations we usually get.

One last thing. I said I loved this episode after watching the leak, and I stand by that. So I was a little surprised when I saw people thought it was mediocre. When I think about it, I've watched it five or six times... but when I say 'watched it', I mean 'watched the parts with Chrysalis and skipped over the rest'. And when I watched it start to finish, I kind of saw why people didn't enjoy it that much. I mean, it's a fun idea having the real characters and the clones walking around and mixing each other up yet never realizing it, but it just wasn't that great compared to the rest of the episode.

The focus really just should have been Chrysalis and the clones. Heck, the actual characters shouldn't have even been there at all apart from the beginning. Maybe it's my bias showing again, but when you have a character with as much screen presence as Chrysalis, she should be the main focus. That's probably why the sections without her dragged a bit.

Anyway, onto the rest of the season.

Now, while I still do not like the new changelings, Ocellus is the fuckin' bomb. Part of that is she's the only one of the students who seems to actually have a personality or any sort of character, unless you count always tripping on stuff or clearly having a cocaine habit to be personality traits.

I absolutely love that not only did she impersonate one of her teachers so that they could all skip class, and not only did she face zero repercussions for that act, but she actually got praised for it. That's honestly not the kind of thing I expected to see on the show, but it's exactly what I wanted to see the changelings doing. The monster wasp and the horrible flying fish transformations were icing on the cake.

(Also, fun little detail, her cutie mark when she disguises herself as a pony is a ladybug, just like Chrysalis.)

It's just a shame that when they designed Ocellus's character, they looked at the new changelings and said "How can we make this look worse."

Originally, I was going to talk about Mr.Obviously-Season-Finale-Villain, AKA Evilguy McBureaucracy. Or Neighsay, I guess.

But after the SDCC 18 teaser, we know he's at least one of the villains in the finale, which is exactly what I was speculating. I also originally speculated that since the finale seems to have two halves, there could be two villains in each 'half'. But now it seems pretty clear that Cozy Glow, Neighsay and Tirek are all working together.

Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this tweet from one of the big writers on the show.

I don't know much about Twitter, but it's pretty obvious even to me that the inclusion of #mlpseason8 on there is simply because he was continuing his thread about the latest episode of season eight, and it wasn't actually supposed to imply that Chrysalis is returning this season. Still, ONE OF THE HEAD WRITERS JUST CONFIRMED CHRYSALIS IS 100% COMING BACK IN SEASON EIGHT CONVERSATION OVER EVERYONE GO HOME AHHBLAGAGBAHG.

Of course, it's just as likely he's talking about season nine. Given that season eight has probably been finalized for some time, and that we saw assets for season nine in the leaks, the writing for season nine has probably been fully done for a while. Hell, just based off the state those season eight leaks were in at the end of last year, there's probably a couple of mostly finished episodes of season nine already.

Now, this post was originally breaking 9k words. In an effort to clean some of that up, I'm going to do a simple list of pros and cons in favor of Chrysalis being in the season eight finale. I'll start with the cons.


Con: There's already too many characters in the finale.

Just in terms of villains, we have Cozy Glow, Neighsay, and Tirek. On the hero side, we have both the Mane Six and the Student Six, along with the CMC, with all three of the other Princesses making at least a token appearance. That's over twenty characters. That doesn't really leave much room to throw yet another returning villain into the mix.

Con: The trailer didn't even hint at her appearance.

Granted, it was maaaaaybe fifteen seconds worth of clips from the finale. And it ended with what was clearly the part one cliffhanger, so there's a lot that was missing. That said, there wasn't even the tiniest glimpse of her. And this is after they spoiled her appearance in season eight nearly a year in advance.

Con: They just don't seem that interested in her.

It took five years for them to bring the changelings back at all, and a year and a half after that before we saw Chrysalis again. And when we did, it was a standard episode in the middle of the season. Much like the Princesses, they just don't seem to want to put her in the show. It actually feels like the whole point of reforming the changelings but not her was so they could shove her off to the side and ignore her as much as possible.

Con: That bootleg brushable.

Just to bring you up to speed in case you missed it, a Chinese online store was selling an update brushable of Chrysalis (the eyes were changed from the original version to be much more show accurate). Given that it's her original design, and there's like a 99% chance they'll transform her when she does reform, that seems to point towards her not returning this season. However, I have two views on this point, and it's a pro as well. Also, I'm assuming that her next appearance will be her last as a villain. I can't really see them keeping her as evil much longer; the show's always been good about keeping things moving, and it feels like its about time for her to reform. Not to mention there's only one season left.

Con: Meghan McCarthy's line at SDCC 18.

When a panel was asked who their favorite villain is, McCarthy said "Chrysalis, because she has a lot of baggage now, and it’s fun to watch her deal with that." This can be read two ways (to the point where this is a pro as well) but if it's present tense it indicates that Chrysalis's story is still ongoing, i.e. not resolved in the near future that McCarthy has seen.


Now for the pros.

Pro: This tweet from one of the head writers.

I mentioned this before, but here it is again. And like I said before, I know the #mlpseason8 is due to the fact that it was part of an ongoing series of tweets he was sending about the episode. But, well, he had to know how that was going to look, right? Given all the hype they've been building up for Chrysalis this season, this is just another step on the same path. Also, and I know they may not think the same way, declaring that she'll return and then not have it happen for another year and a half seems a bit misleading.

Pro: That hype.

Literally the first thing we saw of season eight was that animatic from the beginning of The Mean Six. If I'm recalling things right, we saw that before we even got a glimpse of the school or any of the students. And again with finished clips of the show; another scene from that episode was one of the first clips shown. They really seemed to be pushing her return this season; was it all really just for a single episode mid-season? Normally the premiere would be what they showcase—especially given that it introduced like 800 new characters as well as the school that's the focus of the whole season. In fact, I don't think we even saw Neighsay until like two weeks before the season started. So both the big hook of the season and the main antagonist were ignored in favor of Chrysalis. Again, was that all just to build up excitement for a mid-season finale?

Pro: Twilight's last line.

At the end of The Mean Six, Twilight says "If our friendship can survive a day like today, it can survive anything!" as we see Chrysalis flying off into the night sky. I mean, if that's not a stinger indicating her return in the near future I don't know what is.

Pro: Meghan McCarthy's line at SDCC 18.

"She has a lot of baggage now, and it’s fun to watch her deal with that." As I said, really annoying phrasing, because you can also read it as past tense. As in, McCarthy's seen her deal with it and it's fun to watch (thus implying it happens in the finale). Again, an annoyingly vague way to word it that makes me think it was carefully chosen. What makes me think its past tense is that we really haven't seen Chrysalis deal with it, at all. I mean, unless you count a revenge scheme that ended up failing as 'dealing with her issues'.

Pro: Tirek.seems to be the villain

We saw him in the trailer, and he was at full power, as in 'just ate all the ponies in Equestria and at least three Princesses'. At that level, the only one left who could even come close to matching him would be Chrysalis—remember how badly she overpowered Celestia. And one magic Tirek can't steal is love and friendship, which happen to be the exact things that power Chrysalis. Plus, we have yet to see a 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' theme yet, and this is the perfect match-up for it. And finally, you know what would make an ironic defeat for Tirek that also removes his ability to threaten Equestria again? Have Chrysalis drain him the same way he drains people, and have it remove his ability to do the same.

Pro: That bootleg brushable, again.

While Chrysalis is rather popular, it seems odd that they'd release an updated version of her brushable out of nowhere. Especially if her only appearance for the foreseeable future is one mid-season episode. And considering all the other toys have focused on the new characters and the school, it's kind of weird that they'd just randomly make one for Chrysalis. Also, we have yet to see it be officially released—is some kind of spoiler, a new title perhaps, involved with the box art?

Pro: There's almost literally no time left.

Season nine is going to be the last season. And we already know the premiere is called King Sombra's Return. So if Chrysalis isn't in the season eight finale, when does she reappear? Aside from season nine, I believe there are a number of shorts planned, and I think possibly another G4 movie to close out the series. But does any of that fit Chrysalis? Possibly the shorts, but that's kind of a lame way for her to go out. And while I love her, 'Queen Chrysalis's Personal Quest for Revenge' doesn't really fit my idea of how the series should end, as either the season nine finale or a movie.


How do I feel about Chrysalis in the finale overall? I really can't decide.

On one hand, they've been pushing her a lot this season. The animatics and previews, that tweet, the mysterious toy that we have yet to officially see. They have to know she's popular; the crowd reaction when that animatic was first shown should be proof enough of that. The person who's basically the head of the show has even said she likes Chrysalis's story. And on top of all that, Twilight says a line that's clear foreshadowing as Chrysalis flies away.

After aaallllll that, are they really just going to give her a single episode and then ignore her for another season and a half?

Well... yeah.

They really seem to love building up to things that just kind of go nowhere. The Alicorn Juice from the season four premiere was a good example of that. Twilight gets told that it only reacts to alicorn magic, so she proceeds to use the freaking dark magic she learned from Celestia/Sombra. That sure seemed like it would have some important implications, but nope, it was all just a MacGuffin to activate a flashback. Flurry Heart was supposed to be this big thing too, apparently. It was a big deal that she was a natural born alicorn, and the writers said they did it to 'introduce mystery' into the show. I think we've seen Flurry Heart, what, three times? And she sure doesn't seem to be showing up this season. So it seems entirely in their style to bring back a villain who's sworn revenge, throw her into a 22 minute episode, then forget about her for another season.

The teaser from SDCC is what pretty much cemented Chrysalis not appearing again this season though, seeing as how there wasn't a single hint of her in it. It also destroyed my theory of Chrysalis being who they find under the school in What Lies Beneath, since it seems like that's the Storm King (???) instead. We don't actually know what episode that three second clip was from (could easily be others) but given the ominous title, What Lies Beneath seems to fit the best.

But, to flip back to supporting her return this season, the fact that they didn't show her in the teaser might be an indication that she's going to be in the finale. I say this a lot, but if they really wanted to screw with people that would be a good way to go about it. Hype up her big return and act like that one episode was it, only to have her suddenly pop up in the finale. The only issue is that looking at a lack of evidence and declaring it's actually evidence is just another step down the road towards delusional paranoia, and I'd like to avoid that.


Onto some more random speculation.

Hey, remember that whole thing where I declared that the Pony of Shadows was absolutely and totally Starlight based on circumstantial evidence, due largely to the ordering of episodes? Let me do that again!

Really though, I just find this kind of interesting: episode twelve stars Cozy Glow, who we know is one of the villains in the finale. Episode thirteen stars Queen Chrysalis. And, these were the last two episodes before the mid-season hiatus. Which kind of implies that Chrysalis is in the finale. In a sort of abstract way.

Basically, I'm saying that both episodes were mid-season finales, each with their own antagonist from the season finale. The finale itself already seems to be in two parts, half about the school and the students, half about the Mane Six in Tartarus. So why not split the mid-season finale into two as well?

Arguably, Cozy Glow's episode should have been episode thirteen, the mid-season finale. I mean, she's kind of more important than Chrysalis, given that she's going to be the big bad this season.

But they probably wanted to keep that on the down-low a bit, given that it was probably supposed to be a surprise. Also, if you're going to bring back a big character like Chrysalis it needs to be a big episode in terms of placement, and if you're not going to make it a premiere/finale then the mid-season finale is the only other place. I mean, it's already kind of a downgrade for her the way it is, just imagine how much worse it would be if it was episode six or something.

I just find it suspicious that they put the episode with one half of the season finale's villains in it directly before Chrysalis's episode. I'm going back to that whole Starlight/Pony of Shadows thing, but it seems likely that they would put the two villains back-to-back early in the season. Sort of a two-part mid-season finale.

Introduce Cozy Glow in one episode, remind everyone that Chrysalis is still lurking around in the other. One is a 'preview' for half the finale, the other a 'preview' for the other half.

And if I really wanted to do some speculation... what if these 'mid-season finales' are mirrors of the finale?

Think about it—in Cozy Glow's episode, she was a slightly misguided character who turned out to be good in the end. But, we know she's going to end up as the antagonist in the finale. She spent her episode getting helped by the CMC, and in the finale the CMC will be working against her. It's the reverse of her first episode.

So what about Chrysalis? Well, she spent her episode running around the Everfree forest trying—and failing—to lead evil clones of the Mane Six. So in the finale... what if she's the one who has to lead the Mane Six out of Tartarus? (Don't ask me why she's there in the first place) It makes a really nice counterpart to The Mean Six, it gives Chrysalis a way to interact with the Mane Six in a non-antagonist way and maybe even come to appreciate them, and it helps her develop real leadership skills.

The finale episode doesn't mention Chrysalis obviously (but then again it doesn't mention Tirek either). However, it does say, rather coyly, "Twilight and her friends try to escape Tartarus" (emphasis added). Not 'The Mane Six' (which I believe has been used officially to refer to them in synopses before). Normally I'd assume that meant Starlight as well, but the shots we got of Tartarus in the teaser don't show her anywhere. Which kind of sucks, cause I was hoping for Chrysalis to replace her as part of a revenge plot and accidentally get stuck in Tartarus with them as her catalyst for having to help them all escape.

Obviously this is some more of that bullshit thing I was talking about earlier. 'Twilight and her friends' is a synonym for 'The Mane Six', and has also been used in synopses. Also, I still see it as a possibility that Tirek had nothing to do with the plot up to that point, and he ends up being the one to lead them out of Tartarus and get reformed. Still, you know what I'm going to assume it is.

Now, the Student Six plus the CMC will take care of Cozy Glow and Neighsay, but they probably aren't up to dealing with Tirek, especially given that he seems to be at full power. So imagine Chrysalis in a beam struggle with him, like the end of The Mean Six... except this time Twilight joins in with her, along with the rest of the Mane Six, using the Elements of Harmony. Green is missing from the rainbows the Elements make, right?

I mean, that all makes logical sense, but more than likely it's just a coincidence.

Actually, there's something really interesting that the EQD follow up for the Cozy Glow episode mentioned. Spike is in the episode, with wings. And the Cozy Glow episode takes place immediately after the episode where he got wings. Usually, as the article points out, the writers would hedge their bets with that kind of thing; Spike would just not be in any episodes for a while. But here it's directly after he gets wings.

Which means—and this is probably just me reading too much into things as usual—that the order of these episodes is intentional and deliberate. When they were writing the Cozy Glow and Chrysalis episodes, they specifically wrote them as back-to-back, and they were specifically designated as being the two episodes before the hiatus, the mid-season finales.

There's no other reason for Spike to have been written into the Cozy Glow episode as having wings unless this episode was specifically going to be episode twelve from the very beginning. Why take chances unless the episode was always going to be 'part one' of the mid-season finale no matter what?

(This is why I had that warning about everything I write here being bullshit. Because I'm currently reading waaaaaay too much into the airing order of three episodes.)

It just seems too deliberate to me. Cozy Glow's episode could have been episode five, or eight, or any of those previous episodes. Even the inclusion of Spike doesn't change that. His wings didn't play any real role in the episode other than as some filler dialogue. He could have just as easily not had wings.

The easiest way to do this would have been to have the 'spike wings' episode be episode twelve. Since he's not in episode thirteen, they wouldn't have had to worry about any continuity issues. But instead episode twelve, the episode just before the mid-season finale that features a returning villain, was the episode introducing a character we know is going to be the finale villain.

They seem to have specifically timed the episode introducing the season finale villain right before the episode that has Chrysalis coming back. I'm speculating that this isn't something they did on a whim. Cozy Glow's episode and Chrysalis's episode were always the two episodes before the hiatus from when they started writing season eight.

Now, Devil's Advocate: it's entirely possible that they locked the episode order in at some point, and a quick Spike with wings scene was slipped in once they knew for sure.

Because, of course, the real answer, like with everything I'm speculating about here, is that it's all completely random, unconnected and coincidental.

(The even more likely explanation is that they were finishing up the scripts for season eight and someone went "Oh shit, we forgot about Chrysalis! Quick, throw her into a random episode in the middle of the season so no one realizes!")

Of course, if you want to go full tinfoil hat, you could say Cozy Glow is Chrysalis.

It fits in a lot of ways. Cozy Glow mentions having just come to Ponyville. She seems to be adept at manipulation. Chrysalis picked up information about the Elements of Harmony being somewhere in the Everfree Forest, and I doubt she did that just wandering around Ponyville. If she were disguised as a student who is constantly around the Mane Six, though, she could easily have overheard something. She also seemed to know enough about them and their schedules to be able to jump in and impersonate a scheduled photographer (unless she set that up herself). We also know that in the finale Cozy Glow is taking over Twilight's school, which seems like something Chrysalis might do. But the most telling part, in my opinion, is that when asked what Twilight's Element is she answers 'control'. That line, alone, makes me think it's her.

On the other hand... Cozy Glow seems too genuinely nice to be Chrysalis (at least for now). She got the CMC banned from the school permanently, and then went back on it. She actually seemed to feel bad about it. Chrysalis would just leave things alone. Hell, she'd laugh about it.

The only two possibilities are Cozy Glow was legitimately trying to get the CMC into the school when she faked the test results like she said, or she faked the test results to get the CMC in trouble and then felt guilty about it afterwards so she confessed.

Neither one of those is something Chrysalis would do. (Also, if she did want to undo things, would Chrysalis really go to Starlight for help?)

But the thing that really makes me doubt it's her? Her cutie mark is a chess piece, and it's a rook. If that was actually Chrysalis in disguise it would be a queen. There's no way the writers and artists would be able to resist that. I mean, when they gave her a disguise in The Mean Six, her cutie mark was a ladybug for Gods' sake. Or maybe I'm just saying that because there's no way I'd be able to resist if I were in the same position.

(The chess piece cutie mark makes a lot of sense if you follow along with my theory that episodes twelve and thirteen were two parts of a mid-season finale, and Chrysalis is going to be good in the finale while Cozy Glow is the villain. It's literally two chess pieces fighting, the Queen and the Rook. And a quick google search shows that 'Queen takes Rook' is a much more popular phrase than 'Rook takes Queen'... (Although, to be fair, a lot of that seems to be due to an erotic vampire book series.))

Of course, it's completely possible that the Cozy Glow in the finale is one that's been replaced by Chrysalis. Though that doesn't explain why Cozy Glow was so... unethical? Devious? Borderline villainous? Pick a description. It's also a lame twist. My point is, she's clearly being set up to be a villain while not making it too obvious, what with the ending not being her rubbing her hooves together and going "Mwa-haha! Sooooon!". Although (to go back into my conspiracy theory that the plan is to flip the alignment of these two around in the finale) that is exactly how Chrysalis ends her episode.

I find it far more likely that Cozy Glow is actually a plant, sent there by Neighsay to wreck the school (and this seems pretty much confirmed now by that SDCC teaser).

But the thing is, having Cozy Glow be Chrysalis is actually the one thing they could do that's worse than reforming her like the rest of the changelings. Because obviously the villain isn't going to win, meaning that in the end she would be defeated by children. There are many ways you can ruin a villain's threat level and annihilate their credibility, and that's pretty much the biggest.

(And since it's the worst option, there's like a 90% chance that's what they're going to do.)

Double-layer tinfoil hat time: Cozy Glow is Chrysalis, and Neighsay is Tirek. He has orange magic, his mane and beard kind of resemble Tirek's but toned down (if you squint a bit), he seems to get most of his power from an amulet (which is similar to G1 Tirek), his cutie mark is conveniently covered, he seems to want to end Twilight's reign...

Like I said, super crazy theory. But imagine Chrysalis as Cozy Glow finding out the full extent of his plan, and turning on him, as in the end of the Mean Six. Except this time she has the support of everyone in the school.

And speaking of Neighsay, he actually makes a bit of an interesting foil for Chrysalis.

Consider Neighsay in the premiere: "If they aren't a pony, they're a danger to Equestria! Build the wall Kick them out of the school or I'll close you down!"

Compare that to Chrysalis's attitude: "Fuck it, I'll build a hive of ponies. With hookers, and blackjack."

See, that's the thing about Queen Chrysalis. She doesn't care what species someone is. Dragon, griffin, yak, pony, changeling—it doesn't matter. They're all equally inferior creatures who can be her minions.

Continuing with that train of thought, Chrysalis's line about building a new hive brings up one interesting thing, which I completely missed originally when watching The Mean Six. Her plan is to use the Elements to destroy the ponies she blames for the loss of her hive, namely the Mane Six and Starlight. Then she's going to build a hive of ponies.

There's someone missing from that revenge list—Thorax, and in fact the changelings altogether.

Why wouldn't she go reclaim her throne? And why isn't Thorax, at the least, included in her list of revengees?

She clearly misses the hive. She directly says so, though that's more about missing how easy it was to order the changelings around, versus the Evil Mane Six ignoring her. Her plan is to gain control of the most powerful weapon in all of Equestria, and then not use it to get revenge on Thorax and her traitorous former subjects? There's nothing stopping her from taking back her hive except herself.

I think it's because she still cares about the changelings, and they aren't the ones she blames for what happened.

The key is in what she says when talking about her plans for Starlight: "She turned my subjects against me". She straight up does not blame them for what happened. It was all Starlight's fault. Also, don't forget about how dismayed she looked when she realized the changelings hated her at the end of season six.

So my theory (and again, like everything else here, this is wild extrapolation that has no basis other than a few unconnected points I forced together) is that she's ashamed of herself and how she treated the changelings.

I know I keep harping on this, but her whole thing was 'feed the hive'. Yes, she ruled with an iron hoof, and yes, she was a tyrant. But beyond all that, she was doing everything for what she thought was the good of her people. At no point did she do anything for personal reasons. Twilight and Cadance were responsible for foiling her first plan, but she never wanted revenge on them. It was just "Plan failed? Make bigger plan." She wanted to feed her people and that's all. It's the classic "Villain who thinks they're doing the right thing."

So imagine, after all that, someone comes along and shows her subjects that there's been a better way to get what they need all along. One that Chrysalis couldn't find herself, for centuries. And one that they all just saw her try to reject.

Is it really any surprise that after all that, she'd be too ashamed to face the changelings again? And it's no surprise she'd hate Starlight so much—Starlight not only proved her wrong, she basically rubbed her face in it, and then took pity her. Given Chrysalis's, ahem, 'exaggerated self approval' (arrogance), there's no possible way she could have taken Starlight's offer. The only option she had from her perspective was to run away, take revenge on the ones responsible for what happened, and then start over with subjects who don't know about any of it.

That's the only reason I can think of for why she wouldn't immediately head back to the hive with the Elements. She can't face the changelings anymore. She knows she messed up, that what she thought was the best way to lead them actually wasn't, and now she's too ashamed to show her face in front of them. That's why, rather than attack or claim she'll be Queen again one day, she just declares revenge on Starlight and runs away.

This also fits in with McCarthy talking about watching Chrysalis deal with all of her baggage.

(The real reason Chrysalis didn't mention the changelings? The writers just left them out of the script. They kept things focused on the characters who were actually in the episode. As always, the simplest explanation is the best.)

Getting a bit off-topic here, but I'm fully convinced that Changing a Changeling was satire.

Just look at that episode. Pharynx was right the entire time. The changelings needed to be stronger and more aggressive. He was just trying to protect the hive. Hell, their friends ended up purposefully putting the hive in danger! Then there was that whole scene where the hippie changeling said, to paraphrase, "You can be any kind of changeling you want to be".

And then what happens? Boom, pointless transformation anyway. Hell, his personality didn't even change. Like I said, it seems like satire, or a parody.

Actually, it's kind of stupid, but part of me wonders if Pharynx even really transformed. When the other changelings transformed, they shot Carebear Stares beams out of their chests. And when Thorax changed into a moose the same way Pharynx did, he was in a cocoon. Pharynx didn't do any of that; he just floated up, there was a bright light, and he came down transformed. Seems like that would be easy enough to fake.

And while I'm at it let me double down: maybe a whole bunch of changelings have been doing that. I mean, that seems like a reasonable reaction when your only other option is to be ostracized and eventually exiled due to how you look. The whole point of their shape-shifting powers is to get others to love them, right?

That would even explain why the changelings were so adamant that Pharynx be exiled; it's common that the guiltiest people are the ones who push hardest for others guilty of the same thing to be punished. "I'm obviously not doing that, look how much I hate it!" (See, for example, all the homophobic politicians who end up being closeted homosexuals (Not that I'm saying being gay is something you're 'guilty' of or need to be punished for.))

Now, this is the part where I usually walk back my crazy statements. But no, tripling down: Ocellus is one of those changelings. That's why she got sent to the friendship school, she was having trouble fitting in. And that whole issue is why Thorax said the Changeling Empire "can't afford an international incident right now". It's because they're dealing with this internal issue. In fact, maybe a bunch of the newborn changelings are like that, and they're hoping Ocellus will find a solution to it. (Which brings up an interesting thought, since we've obviously seen Ocellus transform but not turn into a black changeling: can changelings do consecutive transformations? Can they go from one form right into the next, or do they have to return to 'base' first? I don't think we've ever seen.)

Let me build on that some more: sexual dimorphism is a thing. And it's a big thing with bugs. So maybe the boy changelings are brightly colored and small, and girl changelings are big and black (Urge to make joke: resisted). That fits in with the real world, again especially with bugs, where males tend to be brightly colored since they're the ones who have to attract mates. Maybe that also explains why Ocellus is the first non-Queen female changeling we've seen; like I said, maybe she was sent to the school to find out what the problem with these female changelings is, and they've been keeping the rest hidden because of the stigmata of being a black changeling.

Okay, enough tinfoil hat stuff.

Back on that topic (which means this is even more off-topic overall) here's a fun little exchange from a recent comic issue:

Hard to get more blatant than that. We now have word from an official source: the changelings were evil because they were black. Full stop. The end.

And yes, I know the comics aren't 'official' in that they aren't canon, etc., etc. Actually, what makes this really funny is how the entire premise of the issue is explicitly non-canon.

Remember, according to the show, the changelings didn't have a history, or any culture to speak of, before their pony saviors came along. Queen Chrysalis built the hive, carved that magic-nullifying stone with her bare hooves, and then they sat around for a thousand years before deciding to ruin Cadance and Shining Armor's wedding on a whim.

So the idea that they would make a magical amulet is completely non-canon. Also, it's an amulet that lets you transform, which seems kind of like a weird thing to make when you're a race who can intrinsically transform. That's like the pegasi making an amulet that lets other pegasi fly.

There might be a need for that kind of thing. What if a pegasi got hurt and could no longer fly, or a changeling lost their ability to shapeshift? That is a good point. The only problem is, given how Chrysalis seems to get more cartoonishly evil every time she appears (at least in the comics) you'd think she'd just kill a changeling who was crippled (bringing me once again to my pet idea that Chrysalis should be the show's Vegeta).

Also, here's a fun game.

Read this editorial from EQD on whether or not Chrysalis can be reformed. Spoilers: the author says she's a straight-up monster who will always be evil no matter what.

But what makes the game fun is this: when you read the article, every time you see the name 'Chrysalis' replace it with 'Starlight Glimmer'. And every time you see the name 'Starlight Glimmer', replace it with 'Twilight Sparkle'. Then see if you can find any ways in which this exact article could not have been posted in the middle of season five.

More spoilers: you really can't.

Of course, that's because the entirety of the season six finale was an excuse to jerk off over how much Starlight had changed over the course of season six, and Queen Chrysalis was just someone convenient they could throw into the show and have everything she does mirror what Starlight did so Starlight can talk about how she realizes she was wrong.

I used to think the similarities were on purpose, that there was some big plan, but not anymore. I mean, just look at Chrysalis in The Mean Six. First she wants revenge on the Mane Six, oh but she hasn't forgotten about Starlight, oh but she also wants to build a new hive with ponies to be Queen of, oh no wait back to revenge on Starlight again.

At this point, I think the whole reason for not reforming Chrysalis at the end of season six was that they wanted her as a reoccurring villain, but they didn't want her to be too powerful so they took away her army.

I mean, is she even a 'real' changeling anymore? It looks like they separated her completely from the rest of them. She doesn't even say the word 'changeling' the entire episode, just 'my subjects' or 'my hive'. I think they just wanted her as a villain by herself, and used the season six finale to cut her away from them.

Although, with everything I've speculated about the finale this season and Chrysalis fighting Tirek, maybe they didn't have her transform on purpose. Maybe by not doing so, she's going to have some advantage she wouldn't otherwise and save everyone. And maybe a bunch of the changelings will turn back, and they'll all form a united kingdom. I mean, that's literally my dream ending to all of this.

And finally, the biggest disappointment from that SDCC panel and the clips they showed is that it pretty much ruined my theory that Chrysalis is who the students find under the school in What Lies Beneath. Because instead, it is apparently the Storm King.

…Okay?

Not 100% sure why they would decide to keep his remains there, but alright. I mean, to try and keep my theory that Chrysalis is the one under the school I could spin a whole tale about it actually being Chrysalis disguised as the Storm King—she could be trying to scare them away from her lair, and the Storm King is a good choice to scare away a hippogriff given their cultural history.

Now, I'm only assuming that shot of the Storm King was from What Lies Beneath because I saw a comment saying it probably was, and I agree. Its a spoooooky title, so the Storm King being there fits. Although I have to wonder if they got the voice actor back, or if he'll just conveniently not talk, like how Tempest conveniently decided offscreen to go on a world tour (he does seem to be both back in one piece and frozen into a block of ice).

On a side note, if that really is him back together, I'm disappointed that the kill count on the show keeps getting reset to zero. Oh well, there's always that time a character in the comics murdered a retreating villain in cold blood.

There are other possible episodes it could be in; there's one that involves a prank at the school, one about the students homes, and one with Discord messing with the school. Any of those is a candidate, but I agree with the comment I saw; most likely it's What Lies Beneath.

Anyway... let's end this on a positive note, yeah?

Adorable.

Okay, here's the real 'finally': Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon Team up to Save Everyone is done! Currently it is in the proofing stages, and I'm working on the cover for it. So you can expect that... sometime. I'd make a rough guess on the timeframe, but I know it would be wrong. Still, soon!

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Comments ( 19 )

Spoilers ahead:

I'm predicting that Sombra, Grogar and Chrysalis team for the season 9 finale. They destroy the tree and the elements (as we've seen concept art for) and pretty much win. But something turns Chrysalis to the side of good, which I'm predicting is Grogar and Sombra planning to consume the hive as well as the ponies, and Chryssie has a moment where she decides she can't deliver her people into such a fate. So she turns, and does something that allows the Mane 6 to regain their elemental powers.

Nice rant. I actually agree with a lot of your ideas and speculation, not counting the really crackpot theories, of course. Really, the only thing I have trouble seeing is Twilight's final words in Mean 6 with Chrysalis flying away being foreshadowing for something.

Aside from that, however, this was an interesting and fun read. As far as Chrysalis's final fate goes, I just hope whatever they change her into doesn't ruin who she is on the inside, an arrogant, rude, selfish, jerk. As mean as that sounds, those are the qualities I like most in Chrysalis. They make her fun to watch. Kind of like how Discord is still a light-hearted jokester with an ego the size of the planet.

For the season 8 ending, I'm personally hoping they either have Chrysalis be the big hero or perhaps even the princesses(and maybe Discord). Pretty much anyone except the main cast. For instance, Chrysalis could ultimately be the one that traps the mane 6 in Tartarus before eventually being betrayed by Tirek. While this happens, the princesses could take charge and actually be the ones to save Equestria for once. While doing this, they could run into Chrysalis where they could reluctantly team up because the enemy of my enemy is my friends and all that. Eventually, it would reach a point where the princesses end up losing their magic to Tirek, preferable due to sacrificing themselves for Chrysalis. Finally, during the climax, Chrysalis could be in a position to fight Tirek and despite being tempted to join Tirek again, Chrysalis decides to stick by her new friends and defeat Tirek, perhaps with the assistance of the Tree of Harmony.

Having Chrysalis be redeemed in something akin to this would be amazing to me as it would incorporate the princesses in a meaningful role while also allowing Chrysalis the chance to truly shine. It even makes sense that it would be the princesses and not the mane 6 to reform Chrysalis. In the past, all the ponies the mane 6 have redeemed(with the exception of Discord) have all been similar to them in a sense in that, for the most part, they're just ordinary ponies/changelings. Chrysalis, however, is a Queen and is far more similar to ponies like Celestia and Luna than any of the mane 6. It would make even more sense when you think that this would give Celestia and Luna the chance to solve their own friendship problem, something I've been hoping would happen forever.

Finally, a completely unrelated question, but have you read How to Tame a Changeling Queen. It seems like a story you'd like with how it portrays Chrysalis. Also, can't wait for the continuation of your stories. They're amazing.

Aside from season nine, I believe there are a number of shorts planned, and I think possibly another G4 movie to close out the series. [...] And while I love her, 'Queen Chrysalis's Personal Quest for Revenge' doesn't really fit my idea of how the series should end, as either the season nine finale or a movie.

Wait, what? The series is ending?! :rainbowderp: How did... why... when did that happen? How did I miss that?! :twilightoops:

4908566
G5 in 2020. It was in the leaks and more recently all over the Ponysphere.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

... I haven't seen any episodes since mid season 7

Meh.... you know what I know once and for all? COZY GLOW IS JUST QUEEN CHRYSALIS IN DISGUISE!!!!!!!!!! Seriously though, I know for sure that WILL happen in the finale >:/

4908352
I actually had a bit of the same thought; I think some of it stayed in the post, didn't it? In any case, my only issue is that would mean there's three villains, and that's a bit much. Just look at how Spiderman 3 turned out (I actually loved that movie, I just know people thought it was a mess because it tried to cram three villains in. And that was a two hour movie, compared to a pair of 22 minute episodes).

But on the other hand, that fits right into one of my many conspiracy theories, because what you just described is a lot like the Siege of the Crystal Empire story arc from the official comics.

Quick summary, Hope, who loved Sombra when they were kids (comic-only character) brings him back with the help of a bunch of minor villains plus Chrysalis and her swarm. Sombra's plan is to release the Umbra, evil shadow ponies who he secretly is also.

Upon hearing his plan, Chrysalis immediately loses her shit, because the Umbra spread fear and terror, which she and her children can't feed on. They stare each other down, before Chrysalis goes "whatever" and walks away. She gathers the swarm and they leave to go somewhere far, far away, but before she does that she frees Twilight from her cage to mock her.

At the end of the story, just before Cadance and Twilight are turned to stone, all their friends and family show up, including the children, to fight the evil shadow demons and save everyone.

There are huge parts of the ending that make no sense. When Sombra finds out that all the friends and family had escaped to some other city, he claims it's too far away for an effective demonstration. Also, Twilight had destroyed the train tracks leading to the Crystal Empire to enable them to escape. There's zero explanation of how all these characters showed up despite that.

There's also a part where Cadance uses that dark Sombra magic to open a secret chamber under the throne room. When she does, Hope explains that you can only use dark magic if you have true rage in your heart. Cadance mentions that Twilight gets a headache when using the dark magic, but she feels fine. This is then never mentioned again.

On top of that, Celestia was in love with Good Sombra From Another Universe in a previous arc. She showed zero recognition of this when her universe's Sombra is reformed and runs off with another lover. On top of that, the big climax from that storyline was Good Sombra absorbing the evil of Evil Celestia and Luna to 'balance the universes', since if the main Sombra was evil he had to be too. So according to that multiverse theory, the Sombra Celestia loves should now be good again. But again, zero acknowledgment.

Also, they misspelled the title on opening splash page.

So, my big conspiracy theory is that Chrysalis and the changelings were supposed to be the ones who saved them at the end in an 'enemy of my enemy' team up, and Cadance was in fact supposed to have been replaced by Chrysalis when she 'flew away'.

That's why literally the entire second half of the last issue makes no sense and ends with Sombra becoming reformed thanks to Hope's bullshit powers love and they go off to save the original Crystal Princess. And that's why a big "what's going on with Cadance?" moment from issue three went nowhere. And that's why the title was misspelled and no one caught it. It's because they had to suddenly rewrite and redraw the entire last issue, and things got missed.

But why would they have to do it so suddenly? Well, these issues came out just as season five ended. I don't know what kind of lead times they have on these, but there tends to be a bit of a gap between show events and the comics catching up. They do take time to write and illustrate, after all. So the story was probably pitched and approved quite some time before the issue was actually sold, possibly even before season five started airing.

What would have changed in that time? The show writers would have started working on season six, and would have come up with the finale.

So they had to have the comic issue hurriedly rewritten to stop Chrysalis and the changelings from even kinda being good guys for half an issue, resulting in spelling errors, plot hooks that go nowhere, and an ending that is probably one of the most nonsensical things to appear in the comics (which is saying something).

Again, just one of my fun little conspiracy theories.

4908493

Really, the only thing I have trouble seeing is Twilight's final words in Mean 6 with Chrysalis flying away being foreshadowing for something.

Well, Twilight goes "Haha, our friendship can survive anything!" as the camera shows a villain who just swore revenge on them all flying off to plot said revenge. The only way it could have been more foreshadowy is if there'd been a big "DUN DUN DUUUNNNNNN!!!" music sting at the same time, or if the words "To be continued" had appeared on the screen.

For the season 8 ending, I'm personally hoping they either have Chrysalis be the big hero or perhaps even the princesses(and maybe Discord). Pretty much anyone except the main cast.

The only problem there is people absolutely lost their minds when that happened at the end of season six. I legitimately saw people saying they were done with the show if there was any kind of finale like that again. Admittedly, that episode was a more extreme version of what you're suggesting—they literally got hit over the head offscreen at the start and didn't reappear until the end.

Finally, a completely unrelated question, but have you read How to Tame a Changeling Queen.

I have (need to catch up on the latest chapter, though). I had the exact same thought, that she was just like my 'good' Chrysalis. Though, obviously, more... extreme. NSFW stuff aside, that one basically has zero redeeming qualities, while I tried to balance the two a little. Not saying either one is better, just two different ways of doing it.

4909538
Maaaaaaan, like, I really feel like you're right. I know I said I don't see it, but it just... seems like something they'd do.

I said Cozy Glow wasn't Chrysalis and was sent there by Neighsay. But I can see Chrysalis jumping on it the moment Neighsay declares "The reign of Princess Twilight is over!" and taking the opportunity to take over the school (That clip from the teaser ends with Cozy Glow making a surprised face, but I bet in literally the next frame she has the biggest shit-eating grin you can imagine).

But picture this. They don't defeat Chrysalis/Cozy Glow, instead they manage to convince her to be friends. But Tirek is still running around, right? So he shows up at that moment, and she beats the holy hell out of him.

Here's the dream version: Chrysalis accepts their friendship, and starts transforming like the other changelings. She's shining with light and starts floating up into the air, then BOOM Tirek deathbeam blasts her out of nowhere. They think she's dead, Tirek does a little speech and is just about to start stomping on the students, and Chrysalis shows back up to block him, non-transformed, and he gets a beating that makes what Twilight did to him look like a tea party.

But the real version is Chrysalis is going to accept their friendship and transform, and that's what's going to give her the power to defeat Tirek. I mean, I'm pretty much resigned to that at this point. Gotta be realistic.

4910900

I have (need to catch up on the latest chapter, though). I had the exact same thought, that she was just like my 'good' Chrysalis. Though, obviously, more... extreme. NSFW stuff aside, that one basically has zero redeeming qualities, while I tried to balance the two a little. Not saying either one is better, just two different ways of doing it.

You should definitely read it then. The newest chapter is simply amazing. It gives Chrysalis's backstory in a way that actually makes sense and is arguably one of my most favorite chapters out of the entire story.

4910894
Maybe, but the comics are their own separate continuity that has become increasingly removed from the show as time went alone. Sombra's whole origin story along with Chrysalis', the nightmare entity, Starswirl's personality and fate, and origins of the Tree of Harmony... Plenty of things that it's all but certain that it is a different alternate reality

4910903
I agree with you on one particular part: Chrysalis getting reformed. I mean seriously people, do y'all even want Chrysalis to suffer Villain Decay?!! >:/

4911014
I believe the official stance on the comics, per IDW, is that they're 'canon until the show contradicts them'.

So, officially, the changelings were all born from a tree and basically lived as a nomadic swarm of locust, flying from place ot place and draining it of love... until the season six finale aired, at which point none of that had ever happened.

I could say something similar about Sombra, given that he's coming back in season nine, but every single appearance he made in the comics was so nonsensical and bizarre I won't bother.

4912442
As I said, separate cosmic reality. :rainbowlaugh:

4911135
Yeah, that's probably the biggest reason she needs to be reformed, or killed off, next time she appears.

She did an amazing job the first two times she appeared—if anything, her threat level went up the second time. But as much as I liked The Mean Six, she wasn't anywhere near what she used to be.

Part of that, of course, is that she lost her army and was working alone. And on top of that, the mean six immediately turned on her, and Evil Twilight was withing an inch of blasting her before the Tree of Harmony saved her. You lose a notch or two on the villain scale when you create an evil clone of your enemy and it hates you too.

More than that, though, she's lost her motivation. Without her changelings to feed, all she has going is generic revenge. "BLLLARRRRGH REVEEEENGE" feels boring and lame compared to "I need to take over this kingdom or my people will starve". And, in return, she feels like less of a threat.

So yeah, one way or another her current arc needs to come to an end the next time she appears, or she'll just become that old villain that shows up every once in a while. And it needs to be sooner rather than later. If she doesn't appear again until the season nine finale, they run the risk of her becoming irrelevant and forgotten.

4912452
yep :)


Say.... would it be alright if I use your whole comment as a quote for a fellow friend on Deviantart? :twilightsheepish:

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