Okay, so tomorrow is the season finale, "The Cutie Re-Mark" part one and two. As usual, I'm posting the discussion thread the night before, so we're all ready for it.

I wanted to also note that I've heard it's gonna air a half hour earlier then usual, so be careful to tune in at the right time!

It's kinda interesting that the title could be read as either "remark", as in a comment somepony makes, or "re-mark", literally changing your cutie mark. I know there have been some spoilers around with trailers for the episode and such, and the end of Friendship Games seemed a little spoilery towards the finale, too, so there's plenty to talk about, even before the episode.

Waiting for tomorrow morning may be difficult!

--Sweetie Belle

4881950 I guess the big question on everyone's mind right now is, will Starlight Glimmer actually be reformed, or has all this teasing from Hasbro just been clever misdirection? I'm leaning towards the former, Hasbro doesn't seem sneaky enough to do the latter, not with that G. M. Berrow book.

4881971 While I'd highly prefer Starlight Glimmer staying a villain, I think there's little doubt she'll end up getting the reformation treatment given the possible spoilers on the matter, unless it somehow means something else. If that's the case, my main hope is that they don't make it seem forced or contrived, because Starlight does some rather awful actions if the teaser is anything to go by.

Also, it looks like Twilight will do most of the heavy-lifting like she did in some of the other two-parters, though the rest of the Mane 6 (and possibly Double Diamond, Night Glider, Sugar Belle, and Party Favor) might help as well if the story decides to head down that route. I'm hoping those four return and are as awesome as they were in The Cutie Map, maybe even get a little bit about how and why they ended up in Starlight's village. And I wonder if multiple timelines will be explored.

I'll admit, I'm a bit nervous as to how this episode will fare and I think I have a general idea of how some events will play out, but I guess we'll find out what it's like soon.

4881950 Man, I swear if Starswirl the Bearded will make a surprise appearance and helps Twilight save the day...

Is it just me, or do you guys know that season 5, episode 1-13 is on netflix.... from this post ad the dating, for me, it was aired a while ago..... or is it just because im in the USA...

4882157

Um... 13 was "Do Prinecesses Dream of Magic Sheep". Netflix is about thirteen episodes behind. That's okay and all, but you're gonna have problems avoiding spoilers until they finally pick it up, especially around here.

4881950 TFW you're in an inconvenient time zone such as Australia and must wait until Sunday morning to watch :(

4882576 That sucks!

4881950

Alright, let's get down to brass tacks.

I liked the episodes. I liked the looks into crappy futures (it got a little silly at the end, but still). And, most importantly, I really enjoyed that they actually did a decent redemption for once (in an episode, at least). Starlight was a good foil for Twilight. Powerful, studious, clever, she was a match for her in nearly every way, which is pretty damn impressive.

In some ways, Starlight was a mirror of what Twilight could have been, I do, however, think it is somewhat silly that Starlight had no idea what kept happening to the future. Why was she not dragged along with Twilight every time?

I guess cause it made redemption that much more complicated.

-Lumino

Okay, I just finished it. I liked it, it had some fun development with Starlight, and it had some really cool alt. universes (totally a 'we love you' to all those writers) where the writers basically said 'any alternate universe is possible,' and I liked most of it. The fun thing that I thought was a let down was the end. I always thought of Starlight as 'gone too far,' but I guess they disagreed. When we saw the world that was nothing, I almost expected them to leave Starlight in that universe or something similar when she refused their offer of friendship and tried to create her own timeline that favored her.

4881950
Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

I think it might actually be my favorite finale yet. It was just so purely and absurdly enjoyable. I didn't think anything could touch the last season finale. But... I think I had more fun watching this. And unlike the last, where most of the awesomeness was compressed into a few scenes, this one was just consistently great. I didn't expect Starlight to basically be the best villain yet. I always thought she was a bit lamesauce. The futures were all incredibly neat, and entertaining. The plot was neither rushed, nor slow. And even Twilight's Obligatory Friendship Lecture was grand and heartfelt.

My pony satisfaction level is super-high.

First villain defeated by something other than lasers and explosions. I like this.

Twilight could have just outlived her, though. Kept cycling till Starlight was old, Spike was gigantic and Twilight was still the same.

Also cyborg Rainbow Dash! I want a spinoff or fanfic of that first alternate timeline.

4881950

Was good until the end.

Great, another character to hog screentime, one that I never gave a crap about in the first place.

Also, why in the holy fuck isn't Sunset in Starlight's place instead--reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

4881971

I guess the big question on everyone's mind right now is, will Starlight Glimmer actually be reformed, or has all this teasing from Hasbro just been clever misdirection?

Well, they answered that... NOW the big question on everybody's mind is: Which antagonist was responsible for the utterly shattered world that Twilight dragged Starlight to? Trixie, Sunset Shimmer, or the Mirror Pool Pinkie Pies?

4882958
Um. Because Sunset is already redeemed and won't be going supervillain again any time soon?

4882958

I wanted it to be Trixie.

But she might not actually become an important character. That montage could have covered her entire recover and in the next season she'll be off in that village or something.

4882963
Clearly, it was the world where it was all Celestia's fault. Where she abdicated and sat by while the pony/zebra war consumed everything.

In my opinion this season sent a message. And that message is "You can be friends with anyone if you just try."

4882968

Um. Because Sunset is already redeemed and won't be going supervillain again any time soon?

She'll be resigned to stay in EQG world. I want her in pony world. She's far superior to Starlight anyway.

4882972

Doubtful. Seems like they want this to be the next Twilight plot advancement: teaching Starlight.

Just stop focusing on Twilight already, damn, have a season arc about Rarity or Rainbow Dash. And how in the holy hell is Starlight more powerful than Twilight--argh shit don't make sense.

4882968

But the human world Sunset could come to Equestria and be a supervillain! I'd rather have Sunset around than Starlight, too.

Thus far Starlight doesn't have much of a personality outside of being a jerk.

4882981
You and me both, Jakey-Jake. And yes, she's much better. But I don't expect we'll ever get that.

Shame that Friendship Games cut that plotline about Sunset longing for home. That would have been way cooler than the silly games plot.

I'm kinda betting we won't get much in the way of Starlight next season, though. We probably wouldn't have gotten the big montage if they were planning on showing her making friends with everypony.

4882988

Shame that Friendship Games cut that plotline about Sunset longing for home.

I'm thinking—I'm hoping—that EQG 4 picks this up.

And it ends with Sunset going back to pony world and only visiting EQG world, and then she shows up for the MLP Movie.

I'm kinda betting we won't get much in the way of Starlight next season, though. We probably wouldn't have gotten the big montage if they were planning on showing her making friends with everypony.

She'll get a few episodes, as Discord does. But I'll be fine if they lump them in with Twilight episode.

I don't want the other Mane 6 to be bogged down an episode because they have to babysit her ass.

4882981

The thing is, when they stopped focusing on Twilight in S4, folks complained that Twilight was turning into a Princess Who Doesn't Do Anything, kind of like her mentor...

4882988
4882987

>mfw this episode can spawn fics based on the alternate timelines, where Sunset is the head of the Mane 6, thus explaining why Nightmare Moon and Discord never succeeded in the Sombra timeline etc.

Either way, proves Pinkie can be a fighter.

4883009

That wasn't the reason. People were upset that they made Twilight a Princess, and then ignored it. She couldn't even catch a damn cab.

Season 5, at least, acknowledged that she WAS a Princess.

-Lumino

4883000

I agree that I'd rather not have any episodes devoted to Starlight Glimmer, but I probably would have said the same about Sunset after the first EQG movie to be fair.

Still, Sunset Shimmer has the advantage of looking way cooler than Starlight does.

4881950 Okay, let's place bets.
Who thinks she's going to have a prominent role in the next season?
Who thinks she's only going to have short cameos?
Who thinks she'll never appear again due to the immense backlash? (Derpiboo.ru, for one, is exploding in anger over this.)

-Kirb.

4883013

Season 4 - "Oh, yeah... I have wings and I'm a princess now."

Season 5 - "Did I mention that I'm a princess yet in this episode?"

The ending was absolutely beautiful! Starlight is now part of the gang (somewhat), she's perhaps one of the most ambitious pony villains (if you were to include NM, she was posessed with something else more than just a corrupted pony's heart), but through seeing the her action's outcomes and expressing her motivations on why she has done so, Twilight managed to reform Starlight like Moondancer, just give friendship another chance.

This problem addresses to millions of people out there who gave up on friendship, and chose to be a lone wolf, it's really heartbreaking, that we don't do anything to help because we fear what may happen, and that we don't have the spare time to help them.

4881950 I loved the first alternate future with the war with the Crystal Empire.

Overall, I think any one of the AU's could have taken more development. I would have loved to spend 20 minutes in one of them, to see some real soul-searching, and then have the resolution. But that's more of a Doctor Who thing, and it inevitably has someone heroically sacrificing herself in the bad future, and everyone being all sad...

You know what, the episode was fine. It was perfect.

4883031 The whole Alicorn Princess thing became a lot less impressive since the unicorn class got a buff in the recent update.

4883017 If anything, I think this could be a transition into FIM:TNG. Slowly we have the Mane 6 retiring as a new group emerges.

Actually, that sounds awful.

I loved the resolution but disliked how it got there.

For the resolution itself, I thought that was an incredibly pragmatic move on Twilight's part. Keeping Starlight close was the smartest move Twilight could have made. It's better to get a powerful pony on your side and use that strength for good rather than locking them away. At least it is if they show even a hint of willingness to change.

However, changing someone that psychotic with a friendship speech kinda sucked. And that backstory is such an asspull and doesn't even come close to explaining how she went that far off onto the deep end. I think it would have been much better to not give her a backstory. Just make her a well intention extremist that agrees to try something different after seeing Equestria as a wasteland. The ending would have still been Twilight offering friendship to Starlight and her accepting, but it would have made far more sense.

Oh well, everything leading up to that was pretty good. Aside from that complaint, it was a great two parter. And, damn the Sombra future was dark. I loved the little details of how Rainbow Dash got injured during the war, though it was rather dark.

4883075

Robowing, Eye Scar and a chunk of her ear missing.

Rainbow "Badass" Dash.

-Lumino

4883075 But canon cyborg Rainbow Dash. That makes everything okay. EVERYTHING.

And unrelated to what everyone's saying, what's with the wasteland future? Who caused that one? We already saw Tirek, Discord, Nightmare Moon, Sombra... even Flim and Flam. Who exterminated every living thing? I don't recall any villain doing that.

4881950 What I want to know is, how could Flim and Flam take over all of Equestria? Yeah, they might have gained control of Sweet Apple Acres, but I hardly doubt they would gain enough power and influence to stop Discord or Tirek, let alone Celestia. I could at least buy Trixie taking over if she was never stopped during the alicorn amulet incident.

Guys, I have this one question:

So assuming that the majority of you watched it, I will just exploit THIS one small scene of the finale. As Twilight constantly sees a far worse future due to Starlight's alt... interception let's just say, from the past. Each future was involved with major villain of each season, but then we get to see Flim Flam brothers as well, destroying Equestria with some bulldozers and... industrial manure.

I'm not here to rant, but it is kind of weird, considering those two being just business-stallions trying to survive in such a dynamic world. Anyone got any ideas why would creators put THEM as some top antagonists who have the power to destroy Equestria?

4883067 They already did that, remember? It was called Dusk's Dawn, and it was awful.

4883120 Your link is broken. Nevermind!

-Kirb.

4883081

It got into my wing, and it went bad, so I lopped it off. But that didn't stop it. It came back, big time...

4883109

My money is on the Mirror Pool Pinkie Pies.

4883124 I know, no matter how small the size of an image is sometimes, it's link is still hella lot to scroll through. I had to pick the smallest size to prevent such catastrophe.

4883131 Actually, come to think of it... parasprites?

4883170

Ooh... good one.

4883109
My guess is that timeline had a three way war between Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, and Sombra. Ponyville could have been the sight of a massive battle that destroyed the area.

4882949
I really enjoyed it too! Seeing all those alternate realities was fun. They fixed the animation errors when they reanimated Rainbow Dash's race, too.

Though, it may be silly, but one minor bit that stuck in my mind. In one of the cycles, the very first thing Spike said to Twilight was "Well, that didn't work."...

4882946
I was wondering about that myself, actually. It would have made her redemption a little more believable if she'd actually seen all the bad futures, sort of hammering it into her.

4882958
Well, you know, I just figure I'll wait and see what they do with it in the next season. I mean, it's not like most people liked Sunset Shimmer after Equestria Girls, but then Rainbow Rocks came along...

4883017
I think we need to have a redeemed villain meetup now, with how many we have. Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer need to meet.

4883117
We didn't see much of that reality. Maybe it was just Ponyville that was taken over by them, rather then all of Equestria?

--Sweetie Belle

4883250

One thing I will say is that Starlight is probably the first example we have of a truly well written villain, instead of the 'Card Carrying' variety.

You can understand her motives, even if they are skewed and distorted. You can understand how, in her mind, she is the true heroine. Her speaking with the bullies reinforces that idea. She isn't evil and out to end the world, she was just 100% convinced in her beliefs.

Yes, she did keep going when she saw the bad future, but you could tell that was just her having a mental breakdown due to having to come to terms with the fact that she was wrong, and had always been wrong. For someone who lives their life focused on one, core belief, having that belief shattered can be mentally devastating.

-Lumino

4883250
Considering how enormous a fan I am of Hard Reset, you think I'd have picked up on that.

Great eye.... err... ear.

Ok, so you guys remember the part where Twilight sends herself and Starlight to a possible Future. I think it was the final one. There was nothing. No life, no signs of ponies. Could this be the doing of a future villain we have yet to meet? Remeber, we have already seen each possible future for each villain so far. Could this have something to do with the future movie being made. What do you guys think?

The villians reform WASN'T a mind reset this time? FINALLY, IT ONLY TOOK FIVE SEASONS!

Luna's reform- brain washing

Trixie's reform- her character had to be forced to be evil in the first place, as originally Twilight and co were in the wrong and Trixie was never an evil person, the moral works, save for Twilight and her friends never being called on their BS behavior from before.

Discord's reform- alright, but rushed, also many have pointed out that it looks like Fluttershy was planning on using their friendship to manipulate him from the get go... um, don't do that to people-EVER!

Diamond Tiara's reform- went from evil to good and turned on her own parent in under two hours (in universe) because the plot said so -seriously, I believed her wanting to be better, but the CMC didn't show her how to do that or explain it to her, she just sorta did-

Sunset Shimmer's reform- heal to face turn that looked incredibly unconvincing, like she was only doing it because she lost

human Twilight's reform- ... well done actually, but she was never evil

Starlight's reform- Saw the consequences of her actions, realized she was wrong, had it explained to her WHY she was wrong, it took time and convincing for her to turn around and she didn't instantly know what to do, in fact she still needs help and the mane seven are ready to give it to her... FINALLY!