The Beginning of the End reaction (some spoilers) · 2:18am Apr 7th, 2019
Whew, nine seasons, two-parter opening which is... wow. Quite the adventure :)
It's got a few minor plot holes and practically nothing involving the school is shown or mentioned, outside of characters and a passing reference. In that sense it's tight, as there is a lot going on, though I feel a slight possible missed opportunity for some conflict. The opening theme is the same as Season 8... Spike still does not have wings in it yet XD
So, it took me most of the first episode to get into it, not because of spoilers, but because the first half feels a bit formulaic and predictable. However, it's got a few surprises:
First and foremost, Celestia and Luna are retiring and are thrusting the rule of Equestria over to Twilight and her friends. This of course causes Twilight to have a... moderate breakdown. Her friends support the ideas, of course, as well as her, and she reluctantly goes along... to have her become more high-strung as the episode goes on. She's understandably nervous, more on this later...
Second surprise is the return of King Sombra, Tirek, and Cozy Glow. Chrysalis is in there, too, taken away from where they were via black magic by a strange old villain, a blue ram named Grogar. Grogar looks a little silly and a little menacing at the same time -- take away the horns and he'd look a bit like a big cat with hooves and a slight beard. He's got enough magic to partially restore Tirek's power, however.
As a side note King Sombra has a rather large speaking part and his voice... is kinda silly. It works, especially for the comic, yet menacing villain, though he's been portrayed in the past to have kind of a guttural, cold, growlly voice. Something to ice the veins, where as here... he kind of sounds like a spoiled, royal, rich fop. Some might have a problem with this, but on first viewing it didn't really bother me. Sencing a slight lack of support from Sombra, he's offered the Crystal Empire by Grogar if he can win it back, though if he fails we must unite with all the other villains to carry out master Grogar's plan. That's fair.
Sombra does get the empire back, fairly quickly... imprisoning within a trance the populace, drafting them into his army of green-eyed drones. It's good imagery, and it's actually kind of creepy. He takes Shining Armor and Candace, and is even... apparently kinda seen torturing Flurry Heart, holding her upside down.
The six step in, with Discord oddly being a part of everything so far, including the initial summons to Canterlot... Twilight is hesitant to involve the princesses, as she's just been given the keys to the kingdom and doesn't want to go crawling to the two when something goes wrong. Of course they first teleport to the Tree of Harmony, get the elements, then run into the overthrown kingdom's throne room to have Sombra try to stop them, only for his efforts to work as a distraction. They then literally obliterate Sombra with the Elements. He's dead, yet again.
When they return the Elements it's shown Sombra isn't actually dead, rather he fake obliterated himself to learn where the elements are kept... too bad he didn't just ask Chrysalis, but we're seeing here that Sombra is not really a team player. However, in finding out where the elements are kept he's able to destroy them and he does have Twilight where he wants her... he imprisons them in a twisted spire of magical stalagmites, drifting off to Ponyville to make it's denizens the first real victims of his total reign.
Around the time Sombra shows up is the time part one ends. Seeing the Tree of Harmony destroyed and knowing Celestia and Luna unfairly thrust Twilight into a state of panic and responsibility they themselves knew would eventually die down once she came to grips with the idea is pretty strong. It gives their actions some almost human qualities... but they literally should know better than to give her just days to adjust. Also, having looked him up, Grogar has appeared in earlier iterations of MLP and he seems to be somewhat of an evil ruler. Overall I find the plot setup a tad bit contrived and as a result predictable... though it's handled with humor, which makes it enjoyable and offsets the formulaic aspects. The characters all have good screen time and a small chunk of the episode is dedicated to show how they've made Twilight into a sort of verb for how she reacts to new, stressful situations, and they have her patterns down. It shows they know her. It's also a tad self-referencing, pointing out that Celestia and Luna really haven't done much to save Equestria in a while XD
In part two, after Twilight and her friends literally dig themselves out of the prison Sombra's placed them in, they go to Ponyville to find EVERYPONY there (and dragon) have the green eyes... even the Babycakes. They're all off to lay siege to Canterlot, which Sombra has no problem taking, however Twilght and her friends can't hoof it there because, without the Tree of Harmony the Everfree forest is out of control. I don't think we've heard The Everfree forest's name in almost five years, it's kind of surreal. Why Twilight can't teleport or fly there with her friends in anything from a balloon or chariot seems kind of... overlooked, but the 6 go to taming the forest fast as Sombra takes over Canterlot, with Celestia and Luna nowhere to be seen.
While all seems lost, Starswirl and the two Princesses show up to obliterate the out of control forest using grand magic. With it ut of the way Twilight and her friends can just teleport to Canterlot.
Outside the castle Twilght and her friends are face-to-face with green-eyed drone shells of every pony they know. They realize they must fight their friends to get inside, and part of me was really hoping to see Spike and Starlight in the mix, but they're not there... and neither are the Student 6, which its kind of a missed opportunity. Not even once they make it inside the castle are characters they know really well shown, though Rainbow's got to go against the Wonderbolts under Sombra's control before they can get in.
Once inside Discord helps dispatches the castle guard and is shown basically saving the day, having been talked into it by the Mane 6. He shows a weakness, his love Fluttershy, and Sombra attacks... he blocks the shot and appears broken. When he finally comes to, he lets Twilight know that "he's all used up" magic-wise, and its on her and her friends. He then tells them the qualities they all have, as if on his dying breaths, and Twilight takes that energy, that belief in herself and her friends, and turns it into a weapon... obliterating Sombra for real this time. He is dead, and instantly everything is restored... including balance to the Everfree forest, which isn't really explained.
Once Celestia and Luna return to Canterlot, Fluttershy is shown babying the recovering Discord, everypony thinks about what just happened... and Celestia takes back her initial offer to just turn Equestria over to Twilight. She wishes to give her time, as just throwing her into the deep end wasn't fair, and she talks about what Twilight's learned from the ordeal. Discord adds that he faked the injury to bring the best out in Twilight and her friends, so Twilight could become a confident leader, and they, of course, are horrified at the idea of Discord faking being hurt... but realize it was his way of showing how he cares for Twilight, though he couldn't ended it with the snap of his fingers.
In the end, back at Grogar's lair, Cozy, Tirek, and Chrysalis are becoming as close... as evil villains can get. He shows them Sombra's failure and apparently won't resurrect him as incentive to those who doubt his plans... that's the closest to "I'll kill you if you get in my way" MLP's probably going to get. They all agree to go forward, naturally.
So that was the opener for Season 9. Not the best, not the worst. It was fun and it set up the conflict for the Season as it progresses. I'm a bit mixed feelings-wise when it comes to FiM's mustache-twiddling villains, as I enjoy m though Grogar is by far the most ruthless. There are a few plotholes -- namely the Everfree Forest and the fact that Celestia and Luna appeared to take a vacation before passing over the torch all the way to Twilight. One could also argue it was putting Twilight into a position, cruelly, that would cause her anxiety, though she did believably triumph over the problems she faced as a result. They also turned Darth Vader into something more akin to Prince Poppycock, which is... eh, kinda cool with the way they did it. Also, though it would've taken time, I would have loved to have seen Applejack having to fight Big Mac, Twilight having to fight Spike and Starlight, and Fluttershy fighting some of the Student 6... maybe even Sandbar taking the evil helmet off at the end of the episode, actually having mildly harmed one of his teachers while under Sombra's power. We got RD with the Wonderbolts, which is a bit creepy and dark as it is, especially with the characters feeling torn about leaving their loved ones "possessed and Sombrafied".
Good opening, fun, but a little weak in places where the writing seems kinda fudged and formulaic.
Hope everyone's enjoyed the opening. Looking forward to 24 more episodes ^^
Peace 
-Wayward Pony
The hiatus has truly made me miss your episode follow-ups. You certainly give me more imagery than the audio itself does.
Spike, sadly, had a very little role and Starlight was a plot hole, for me, as I'd think she'd be more able to hold off Sombra given her background in brainwashing and being a villain herself. *Shrugs* Oh, well. Perhaps we didn't get as much due to the 'Voice Actor Budget'? (The anime, Excel saga, makes a nice reference to this when they are trying to figure out why certain characters aren't around and/or doing much)
Thanks for describing Grogar. I remember him from when I binge-listened to G1. He was a pretty scary fellow in G1. However G1 had a number of really scary bad guys. Most had very menacing voices and seemed often barely beaten. Heck, even The Smooze from the movie was able to do more than Tirek's "Rainbow Of Darkness".
What I liked in the episodes, and this is probably predictable, is cozy Glow. She is showing she still 'knows' the friendship lessons and has a good chance of reforming. Her reform would work even better after Tirek and Chrysalis would gladly ditch her because she doesn't have any real powers compared to the elder two. Cozy Glow brings practically nothing to the 'team' and she'd be so easy to turn to get insight on Grogar when, or if, the time may come.
All the same, I want a Cozy Glow plushie!
Thanks for a great write-up, Wayward! I'll look forward to your further insights as Season 9 rolls on. :)