The day of Princess Twilight Sparkle's coronation, her ascension to ruler of all Equestria, has arrived! But what was meant to be a beautiful day of celebration turns into the greatest disaster in Equestrian history. Chrysalis, Tirek, Cozy Glow and the shadow of a past enemy have been hard at work turning pony against pony and studying the ultimate power of Grogar's Bewitching Bell. Grogar himself has acquired an artifact once thought to be kept away from the wrong hands (or hooves) forever, hoping to use it for an important purpose, but is blissfully unaware of the evil tetrad's deception. Or so they think...
With the Horses of the Apocalypse attacking everywhere, the world's mightiest defenders, including the Council of Friendship, will have to step up and protect the people. Will their rainbow lasers light the sky and win the battle like they always have, or will the diplomacy of their non-combatant allies be the key to restoring unity to the broken equine societies and saving all creaturekind?
2024 EDIT: The TV Tropes page!
Author's note: I know this has been done before, and i'm super late to doing it, but it took me a while to realize what I actually thought of the final two-part episode, and you can probably tell the conclusion I drew by the fact this rewrite exists. This envisions what the 24th and 25th episodes of Season 9 (The Ending of the End) would be if they were instead a four-part, feature-length, apocalyptic epic. Imagine an alternate universe where Season 9 was still 26 episodes long, but two episodes had to go (i'd personally axe 15 and 16, sorry fans of those) to make room for extra parts of the finale. It also takes everything that has happened in the season as canon, but with two differences.
1: I treat Grogar as if he was the genuine article, because in my opinion, if they were going to put him in G4 at all, they really should've made the effort to utilize the guy somehow beyond a powerful item. It was his first appearance in 3 decades, he was a popular G1 villain among fans, and the Season 9 premiere introduced him as an interesting expansion on one of the show's longest established elements. Also, with the way the show was written, changing him to the real thing feels quite easy.
2: I have slightly rewritten the past events involving the villains to add my own little touch to the story. Something that gives a little retroactive significance to both the events of the 13th episode of Season 8 and a fanservice-y thing they did in the 8th episode of Season 9. Before you get started, let me tell you that it's not going to be what you're expecting.
Just to be clear, despite my opinion on the official version, this has not been made with any ill will towards Big Jim Miller, Nicole Dubuc, Michael Vogel or any of the storyboard artists and animators that put the finale together over at WildBrain (formerly DHX Media). This is just something I did to pay tribute to a series i've loved for a long time, do a little writing exercise, show what I personally would've liked to see in the finale, and of course, have some fun. I know a lot of people love the original episode, and I don't intend for this rewrite to replace it. It can never be replaced, or erased, or redone. However, I do hope it can be a fine alternative for both fans and non-fans of the version we got on television. I'd even like to respect what the creators were going for, but tweak their ideas a bit (because there are things I enjoy).
One last thing: I want to highlight StarlightisVERYcute and SuperPinkBrony12 for inspiring me to do this. They've done exceptional rewrite jobs that I highly recommend you give a look.
Impressive story arc. I can't wait for part 2. Also I agree with Cozy I mean, who sends a child to prison, especially one where Tirek was place for a 1000 years? Also I did had a theory where Grogar did created Discord. I mean after when Twilight used the magic of the hybrid creatures of Tartarus; they were turned into 2 or 3 separate animals. So I thought that Discord was created by many different creatures. Also I wish that Twilight and her friends refuse to listen to Discord during that episode. I mean who the hell forgives one for recruiting all the major villains and planned to use them for Twilight to defeat to gain confidence. That's a piece of corruption in Harmony; you forgive your friends. no matter what they commit. Even global destruction (For Discord).
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Cozy Glow may be a child, but she's a child who committed high treason, tricked her teachers into getting trapped in Tartarus, used what they taught her to manipulate others and try to take over Equestria, framed the Young Six for her actions, and had no problem letting them and Starlight get dragged into an empty void. She deserved her punishment.
As for Discord, he never intended for "global destruction". His plan was for the villains to launch an attack on Canterlot, which Twilight and the others would repel. And he still had to earn their forgiveness, via risking his very life.
Are you gonna continue? It's just getting interesting
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Of course. I'm just taking a break from writing MLP stuff for a while, and i'll eventually return to The End of an Era with the Part 2 chapters. It was months before I finished the Part 1 chapters.
I'm glad you've taken an interest in the rewrite.
I added your story to a group here.
DC Comics reference?
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Thanks for the BGM.
I only just stumbled onto this, but I'm so excited to read it. It always makes me grin seeing how people handle rewriting the finale themselves!
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Hey there. I'm honoured to see you here, commenting on my rewrite. Thank you for checking it out. I hope you'll stick around and look forward to the next chapters, however long it takes me to write and publish them, because the story's going to get pretty heavy from here.
Rewriting the finale myself has been pretty fun, especially in making my own answers to the several "What Ifs" Season 9 left me with by the show's end.
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Of course! It's always a joy to see someone else wanting to fix the finale in their own way.
It does make me a little sad to see Sombra not coming back. I like the guy. Mean Starlight Glimmer is a neat idea though.
I was a bit scared that they would lose their powers, but this twist was better than expected. Grogar is a force to be reckoned with, and the "friendship"/teamwork of the four will be stronger than ever.
Discord is very confident that things will work out. Too confident. Now this feels like true endgame, and Grogar already had everything prepared for war. Nice touch on having Cozy's action have more consequences.
Methinks later the three pony tribes will believe that the Alicorn princesses have betrayed them during the darkest hour of Equestria and make up their own accusations about them being useless and uncaring.
Half of them might actually think more on what they've said, while the other half will probably toss it aside and lose their respect for the Mane Six and Alicorns.
I wonder if he means that the three pony tribes, in their bias-filled paranoia, will begin seeing Alicorns as “frauds” and “sell-outs”?
Another thing I'm wondering is since Grogar is now all-powerful, does that mean he will take command of the Windigoes?
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Exactly! What is wrong with those ponies? They didn't even bothered trying to find out about her past! They didn't tried finding out her reasoning for doing the things she did! They just throw her into Tartarus to rot with Tirek and caged like a wild animal and had no shame for it! And later they turned the poor little filly into stone with Tirek and Chryssie without any remorse whatsoever!
No she didn't! No one deserves to be locked away in a place like Tartarus, not even Tirek! At least not for eternally. And again, the ponies could have sent Cozy to a hospital for rehabilitation, and find out what motivated her into trying to erase the magic in the first place and offer her a chance for redemption. The poor filly might have been mentally sick and needed treatment, but no, they decided to imprison her and punish her like an adult instead and sentence her to life imprisonment without even bothering trying to help her!
Yeah, who in their right mind would forgive someone like Discord after he have endangered the entire world by bringing back some of the dangerous enemies of Equestria and have Twilight and the others defeat them, just so she can gain confidence? Yeah, that was corrupting Harmony! It seems like they're okay with their friends committing high treason of the crown as long as it 'helps them'. Discord did not deserve any forgiveness or a chance of redemption for what he did! I mean, he was given so many chances, and he still screws up everytime! They were more than willing to have a child like Cozy locked away for trying to delete magic but had no problem forgiving an abomination like Discord for bringing back villains to attack Equestria with an dangerous, forbidden artifact like Grogar's bell and putting the lives of many innocent ponies in great danger!
Those three could have wanted to go after the rest of Equestria, the other nations and eventually the entire world have they conquered Canterlot and succeeded, and Twilight and her friends could have been killed by them if everypony and creature didn't arrived in time to save them. It doesn't matter why Discord committed those acts, he still should have been not only stripped of his magic permanently, but he also should have been thrown away into Tartarus for life, turned back into stone for eternally, or even executed for what he did, and helping Twilight's friends and Spike escape the cavern wasn't enough to make up for what he caused!
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Really now, "Appleoosa's Most Wanted" showed off an Old-West style jail - there's no excuse for there not to be some place where Cozy could have been kept under control while she gets proper psychiatric help.
Though there's also no excuse for a super-maximum-security prison to allow prisoners to exchange mail with random children with no monitoring whatsoever.
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Yeah, they could have given her help, they could have cared and treated for her while keeping her monitored, but instead they chosen to punish her like an adult and sent to Tartarus with no shame whatsoever! Discord did eventually sprung her (and Tirek) out, but only to have her turned into stone (along with Chrysalis and Tirek) in the end after letting her (and the other two) nearly destroy and conquer Equestria with Grogar's bell!
Yeah, I don't know why would a prison like Tartarus would let it's prisoners get mail from little children unsupervised.
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You just might be in for a surprise.
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No wonder Tirek have managed to escape in the first place.
You know, letting a small filly like Cozy Glow sending letters to a power hungry, magic sucking creature like Tirek like that without anyone knowing was possibly how Cozy have attempted to take the magic away from Equestria to begin with. Tartarus isn't so secure, there is no real guards, all it has is a three headed dog that exactly isn't the brightest.
I would not like the final but I didn’t like it anyway! Tirek in season 4 and Tirek in season 9 are different characters, all his charisma is gone, he is now not a great villain but just a Clown, the story of his brother Scorpan has not been revealed in any way! .Chrysalis has no motivation at all, it is not clear why she needs all this what she is trying to achieve! Sombra is simply an Idiot Grogar is not in the final at all! And Cozy Glow is the worst villain.
MWAH! Goodnight everybody!
So is Daffy Duck’s.
Damn boy! They got schooled!
Grogar possibly would have freed her anyways.
Discord did sprung Cozy and Tirek out of Tartarus in cannon. 
Does he mean the sirens (Dazzlings)?
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Correct. It's a reference to them that's just subtle enough, it'd work in the actual show.
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Yes, and I'm surprised that Discord didn't recruit them too as part of his Grogar stunt which was obviously meant to get Twilight to defeat a bunch of evil ones to help her gain confidence in canon. His chaotic magic does seem so powerful that just about anything is possible, including bringing three dragon-hippogriffs-like mind-control singing hybrids back from exile in another dimension.
And the journey begins anew. Seriously, this is like an entirely different story (but with a the same continuity) now, with the 1 week gap and all. Call it a sequel.
Huh. I kinda of liked the idea that some of Twilight's students were inspired by the School of Friendship, and went on to do important things.
I thought it worked pretty well to show how the school could have been a asset in a better developed season.
Oh well. It will be interesting to see how you develop the characters down the road.
I thought the rock fragments from Chrysalis's throne drained active magic.
This seems more like the rocks in Starlight's cave, blocking magical energies from passing through it.
My reaction after reading this chapter:
Which works better? This:
Or this:
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Oh yes they did. Needless to say, the road to recovery won't be short.
At this moment, I'm glad that Rusty Bucket is one of the few ponies who still believes and has hope. But having the other Earth ponies outright blame Celestia and Luna for not doing a better job at ruling Equestria while refusing to acknowledge how quick they themselves were to give in to paranoia? I wouldn't be surprised if Grogar outright told his associates and/or his enemies that the brain of a pony was comparatively the size of a stress ball.
This is my opinion, but I picture either Patrick Stewart or Jay Baruchel voicing Scorpan if he made an appearance in FiM.
A missed opportunity to collect it, if only for historical reasons.
I don't feel like Tirek would admit to confusion or ignorance on his part. I feel like at the most he'd simply ask Grogar how that was possible. The guy doesn't like to state his weaknesses.
I can't stop seeing Tirek as All Might now. I love it.
"Fear not citizens! Because I am here!"
Cozy Glow can be Deku. She's got the nerd thing down cold.
"Stop mumbling like that, you're freaking me out!"
That's kind of important Gallus. Maybe consider grabbing it?
Ohh! A new element wielder!
Please tell me we get to see Smolder in a bonnet or crown. She'd look so cute!
That's one way to look at it. Another way is to realize that he's so dangerous and manipulative (at least in the terms of this show) that he could be an effective villain in his own right, even without any magic.
I mean they do function as a literal army and are sizable enough to challenge Equestria's capital in a straight fight so...
Well, magic was being drained from him as well, and it's the most likely thing that's keeping him alive too. He'd probably starve or age to death alongside them.
I see that whole thing as being an act of suicide myself. Tirek goes down and takes out Equestria's status as a superpower along with him. Considering his time in Tartarus weakened him the first time around, and how weak he was going in the second, it's entirely possible he thought he wouldn't make it another thousand years. Cozy Glow was a convenient opportunity for revenge.
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Thank you for this detailed, composed comment. It was a genuinely interesting read; your perspective on some of the story elements brought to light understandable ways I hadn't thought about them. That's the kind of feedback which makes storytelling worth the effort. And of course, thank you for giving my rewrite story the time of day. Stay tuned if you're interested in what comes next.
One little thing I'll mention: that's the 2nd time I've gotten the suggestion that Gallus should've taken the Idol of Boreas with him. I wrote the moment as a testament to how far the Griffons, even a youth like Gallus, have moved on from the Idol and the ideas surrounding it, but I understand the desire to see their society's historical treasure(s) preserved someway else.
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It's always nice to know that my comments mean something to a writer. Makes using the comment feature worth it if I can be of assistance or make a connection.
Not a problem. I enjoy chating with writers. I don't always know the right things to say but I enjoy chatting with them.
Thank you for writing. I've enjoyed this so far. It's a far more intense alternative to what the show put forth, and while I get why it wouldn't make it on modern television, I actually am enjoying it a fair bit for what it has done so far.
Removing Discord's involvement with the events of the final is already a huge step up, and it's nice to see how you would top him as a big bad through Grogar.
I mean there's probably a huge argument that they don't need it, and should be able to get along without it, but I'm a big believer in doing what works, and for some reason that lump of metal worked for the griffins.
Now maybe they've improved as a species (there's an argument to be made that Gallus has done remarkably well for himself) but I'm not sure the same can be said for all of of the griffins. Gruff in particular still seems to take losing it particularly hard.
I just hope that Twilight will be able to hang on to her regained sense of friendship even after seeing how bad Equestria’s state has gotten.
Aside from that, quite a lot of twists in this chapter. Some I didn’t even see coming: Scorpan having the same magic-draining ability like his brother, Stygian ending his chapter in the story of Equestria, the seeds of possible reformation being planted in Cozy Glow (along with her slight similarity to one certain Big Jack Horner), the Mane Six realizing what caused their pre-character development relapses, and Havoc realizing he got played at the end.
I love it! I am so looking forward to what Part 4 brings, particularly how it’s going to use the Avengers: Endgame reference to its finest and a six-on-one battle between the Mane Six and the Father of Monsters. Take as much time as you need to write the last four chapters this summer, since it’s probably going to be a long one for this year.
Only two chapters left to go!
Still, it'd be quite awesome (for us readers, anyway) to witness the seemingly impossible: Grogar using his Malice magic to brainwash and take control of the Windigos during the ultimate final battle.
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A natural choice. I had this in mind:
Expected reformations. The actaul freindship.. got a a copy pasta somewhat on the original s9 same hypocritical as the original... i am never pre liking a story again.