Fan Fic / The Ending of the End - Love and Tolerance Edition

Grogar's ancient machinations finally come together as he leads the Legion of Doom against Canterlot. Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow want to rule for themselves, however, and intend to betray him as soon as it's convenient. Can Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash save Equestria?

The Ending of the End - Love and Tolerance Edition is a Fix Fic written by, that retells the events of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic series finale. Written by Starlight is VERY Cute. It addresses many of the criticisms the author and other fans had with the finale. While still trying to give events of the story as grand a feel as possible.

It can be found here.

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Provides examples of:

• A Day in the Limelight: The bulk of chapter four is devoted to Starlight, Sunburst, and Trixie's journey to recruit Equestria's allies.
• Adaptational Wimp: Zigzagged. The trio choose to hold off on betraying Grogar and using his bell to power themselves up till after they take Equestria. Meaning they have to fight more tactically in this version, instead of relying on brute force. Especially Cozy Glow, who without her stolen magic granted alicorn form, has to rely pretty much entirely on her cunning, misdirection, and mind games to meaningfully contribute to fights. Despite this, they still prove to be a dangerous team and are almost able to take Canterlot and defeat the heroes completely on their own. With only the arrival of Discord himself requiring Grogar to step in. Tirek and Chrysalis do get their power ups after their truce with the heroes, though Cozy Glow still doesn't get to become an alicorn. Instead opting to use the bell's power to cast an enchantment on her ribbons, that gives her some useful, non-combat related abilities that complement her role in the team.
• Adapted Out: The show's episode long epilogue taking place decades later isn't covered in this fic. Which instead opts for a more simple montage of what the characters are doing not too long after the celebration party for its own epilogue.
• And Show It to You: Invoked. When trying to unlock the power of Grogar's bell, Cozy Glow reads a part saying they have to tune their magical frequency to the beat of a pony's heart. While she's wondering what that means, Tirek and Chrysalis exchange a look, before lunging at her with hoof and hand out. Causing Cozy to panic as they… gently feel her frightened pulse so they can get the right frequency.
  Cozy:' “G-golly, I thought you guys were gonna… heh, nevermind.”
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After Sombra is captured by The Spirit of Harmony/"Treelight", who is ready to destroy him there, he pleads with it to spare him.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Mean Twilight/Midnight asks one of Twilight immediately upon meeting her. After overhearing the princesses reluctance to use necromancy and other forms of dark magic to fight Grogar. And after Applejack tries to but in and defend her friend, she gives one to the heroes as a whole:
    Midnight:“I know all about the spells to raise the dead and make them puppets. That means you read those books, correct, Twilight? I imagine you at least considered casting them. Why shackle your own power? If an army of the dead would aid you, why not utilize it?”
    Applejack: “Now hold on a second, missy. You might be a copy of Twilight, but clearly you don’t know the first thing about her: she really cares about doing the right thing.”
    Midnight: “And the right thing is to save Equestria from Grogar’s reign, correct?”
  • After Fluttershy learns that Cozy Glow has been actively helping fix the strife she and the other villains started because it benefits their current cause, we get this exchange:
    Fluttershy: “So, you’re all doing good… so you can do evil in the future?”
    Chrysalis: “I wouldn’t call it evil. Merely revenge.”
    Cozy: "You can think of it like this: we make sure there’s an Equestria left, and then we figure out who’s going to rule it.”
    Fluttershy: “What I mean is, you’re already willing to do the right thing for selfish reasons. Do you think you’d be willing to for selfless reasons?”
    • To which Cozy admits internally that doing selfless things for the sake of your subjects is an important part of a ruler's job. While Chrysalis believes on some level she does do what she does for her hive anyway. But both admit that maybe it would not hurt to do a bit more of that…
• Aww Look They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite their bickering, it's shown that Mean Twilight did see her fellow clones as "sister's". And after finally reuniting with them in the epilogue, she "regarded them coolly before pulling them into a hug."
• Back from the Dead:
  • After powering up with Grogar's Bell, Queen Chrysalis requests they use the remaining power in the Bell to revive Mean!Twilight to join their group. Which they do. They also promise to eventually try to bring back the rest of The Mean Six as well, but they don't have any power left to do so yet.
  • Grogar is revealed to have brought King Sombra back a second time. Though with a bit more difficulty, since he didn't have any physical remains to work with this time around.
  • Grogar's forces during the final battle include a resurrected Pony of Shadows. Who appropriately, goes after The Pillars during the fight. Particularly Stygian.
  • In the epilogue, The Tree of Harmony and Alicorn!Fluttershy revive the rest of the Mean Six, so they can reunite with Mean Twilight/Midnight.
• Battle Couple: Princess Candace and Shining Armor track down and confront the trio together (along with Flash Magnus). And during the final battle Cadence battle the Windigos while Shining covers her.
• Batman Gambit: After Spike tries to blow Chrysalis' cover to the Student Six, who are left unsure if he or "Fluttershy" is Chrysalis, Cozy Glow jumps in and outs "Fluttershy" as Chrysalis herself. Knowing her former classmates would immediately assume she is trying to trick them into thinking the wrong person is Chrysalis. And promptly pin both Spike and her. Giving the changeling queen the distraction she needed to capture them herself.
• Beam-O-War: Chapter Seventeen ends on one between Twilight and friends wielding The Elements of Harmony and Grogar wielding The Elements of Disharmony. With the next chapter showing it ending in draw.
• Big Bad: Grogar. Who is definitely the real deal this time around.
• Big "NO!": Grogar gets one upon his defeat.
• Break Them by Talking: Cozy Glow makes liberal use of this to help make up for what she lacks physically.
• Bring It: Twilight thinks this to herself, after looking over Grogar's cursed city, Tambelon, and his legions of monsters, before turning to her own allies, both friend and (former) foe.
  Bring it on, Grogar.
• Blunt "Yes": When Applejack and Rarity arrive at Flim and Flam's resort in Las Pegasus to get their help restoring order to the city, Applejack demands to know if they're only interested in helping because the chaos is hurting their bottom line. Flam answers with a simple yes. Though Flim quickly cuts in to give a more detailed, comparably less selfish explanation for their motives. While still not denying that their bottom line is part of it.
• Book Smart: Mean Twilight! Midnight inherited much of original Twilight's knowledge, as well as her love for books. And she is considered to be the overall the most intelligent member of the Legion of Doom. Who are all pretty intelligent themselves. That said, the cloning process didn't grant her all of Twilight's memories, which along with her very short amount of time actually existing, has left some rather noticeable gaps in her personal knowledge. Like what rain is. Or the very concept of shivering or being tired.
• Boring, but Practical:
  • Rarity managed to help nullify the possibility of Chrysalis and other changelings trying to impersonate them in a heated battle, simply by providing clothing for her and her allies to wear, so they can tell the real one apart from a shape shifter trying to take their form.
  • Instead of giving herself a flashy power up like in canon, Cozy Glow used The Bell's magic to enchant her ribbons to give her the power to create illusions of herself. That she can project, along with her consciousness, anywhere she chooses. Allowing her to spy and work her talents over all of Equestria without putting herself in direct danger. Which comes in handy, when she's helping undo the very strife in the land she helped kick start.
• Bystander Syndrome: When Starlight and company go to Seaquestria to look for aid, Queen Novo chooses to take her chances staying out of the conflict with Grogar on the land, like with The Storm King before him. Though luckily, some of her subjects are less keen on her neutrality and offer the support of their navy, even if they have to go behind the queen's back.
• Call-Back:
  • Ember still can't tell Twilight and Starlight apart.
  • When offering a truce with Twilight, Tirek tells her “You know that I’ve upheld past bargains,” calling back to "Twilight's Kingdom", where he kept his word to release and spare her and her friends in exchange for her surrendering the alicorn magic.
  • Ocellus used her shape shifting powers to make fun of the villainous trio with her friends, much like how Chrysalis did to make fun of Twilight in "Frenemies".
  • Rainbow Dash's father says his daughter would have cleared the skies in "ten seconds flat!" Like she herself did in the pilot.
  • Mean Twilight/Midnight actually showing some interest in Cozy Glow's offer to have a slumber party could be this to original Twilight's enthusiasm at having her first sleepover in "Look Before You Sleep".
• The Cameo: The fic has many:
  • Coco Pommel serves as the pov character in the brief scene showing the chaos in Manhattan.
  • Starlight and company meet up with Silverstream's brother and father while going to recruit the sea ponies/hippogriffs to their cause.
  • Dragon Lord Torch appears as part of the army of Equestria's allies.
  • While trying to reach out to The Legion of Doom during the celebration party, the heroes bring in Scorpan and Diamond Tiara to help reach out to the Tirek and Cozy Glow respectively.
  • Lightning Dust, Chancellor Neighsay, Rarity's parents, Flurry Heart, Sunset Shimmer, the ponies from Starlight's Town, and the other five (now resurrected) members of The Mean Six appear in the epilogue.
• Catapult Nightmare: While sleeping under The Tree of Harmony with the other heroes, Twilight has one of these in which Luna tries to warn her that Grogar has The Elements of Disharmony, before being dragged away by tendrils while Twilight tries in vain to save her. Before being confronted by Nightmare Moon and her own nightmare counterpart. Resulting in her waking with a jerk while screaming "No!". While her friends are looking over her with concern.
• Character Development:
  • There's shown to still be a lot of mutual animosity between the Student Six and Cozy Glow throughout the story. But during the finale battle, they manage to put that aside, so Cozy can help direct them through the final battle.
  • Unlike when they first started working together, when the Legion of Doom brings Means!Twilight and later Sombra into their ranks, it's with open arms and as equals. And only after all members agree to it.
  • When Mean Twilight/Midnight Sparkle is first revived, she is openly indifferent to the plight of Equestria and those in it. Not even caring about having a land to conquer like the rest of the legion. So long as she's left to further her knowledge and magical power freely at the end. But she gradually starts to care about others over the course of the story.
• Chekhov's Gun: After Canterlot's destruction, Tirek notes how much information was likely lost forever in the archives. Later, when recruiting the newly resurrected Mean Twilight/Midnight, who seems disinterested in what happens to the land one way or the other. Tirek plays on her desire to increase her magical and general knowledge, by bringing this up.
• Collapsing Lair: Tambelon collapses upon Grogar's defeat.
• Composite Character: Downplayed. Mean!Twilight decides to adopt the name Midnight Sparkle, the name of Sci-Twi's corrupted form as her new name.
• Depower: While scuffling with Chrysalis back at his Evil Lair, after the alliance of heroes and villains first attempt to defeat him, Grogar manages to find where the trio stashed his Bell and uses it to take back the power up Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow gave themselves.
• Downer Beginning: The conflict gets rolling with the villains, inciting strife between the ponies, taking Canterlot and seemingly killing Celestia, Luna, and Discord.
• Enemy Mine: After their rematch with heroes at the Castle of The Two Sisters is interrupted by Grogar destroying Canterlot and releasing the Windigos, Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis realize he will outright destroy Equestria and their personal ambitions to rule it in the process. And they decide to call a truce with the heroes to deal with their common enemy.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • While he isn't too bothered by Canterlot's destruction in of itself, Tirek expresses some melancholy over the large amount of valuable knowledge in the Canterlot Archives that's now likely been destroyed.
  • After Chrysalis captured the Student Six, it's shown that while she's willing to hurt them for leverage or if they try anything, she's not interested in killing them just For the Evulz. Though it's later stated that she's considering executing Ocellus among other notable changeling "traitors" when she retakes her hive to make an example.
  • Cozy Glow claims that part of why she wants to help in the fight against Grogar, is because she doesn't want to see him outright destroy her home land… and not just because she wants to take it over herself. Though it's hard to say how sincere this sentiment is.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • As bad and misguided as Queen Chrysalis was and is, she still cared about her subjects. At least in her own way. And she still does, even if she despises what Thorax has turned them into. Choosing to suck up her pride and work with the heroes against Grogar largely for their sake.
  • King Sombra is still in love with Radiant Hope, his love interest from the comics. And reuniting him with her is Twilight's way of reaching out to him.
  • It's shown that Mean!Twilight/Midnight saw the other Mean Mane Six members as sisters. And she asks The Legion to revive them when they gain the power, as a condition of her assistants.
  • Of course, Cozy Glow, Chrysalis, Tirek, Sombra, and Mean!Twilight/Midnight all grow to care about each other. Whether they want to admit it or not.
• Everyone Has Standards: Rainbow Dash is one of the most skeptical of The Mane Six about forming a truce with the trio of villains. But when it's suggested that they attempt to immediately attempt to capture the villains after they defeat Grogar, before they even have a chance to betray them, Dash immediately and vehemently shoots it down and declares she won't allow her friends to do it. Since like them or not, they are still their allies at the moment. Understandable, given she's the Element of Loyalty and all.
• Everyone Lives: Despite how bad things got and how close the final battle was, there were no confirmed casualties that were not undone by the end. Canterlot is said to have been mostly, if not entirely evacuated prior to its destruction. As was Ponyville, before falling under occupation by Grogar's forces. The villains that were not aligned with the heroes by the end, are said to have been vanished to where they came, but not destroyed outright. And even ponies that were already dead by the time the story begins, including Sombra, Radiant Hope, and the rest of The Mean Six are brought back.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: By the time they take Canterlot, the trio of villains have accepted the fact that they don't want their "alliance" to just be temporary anymore. But Cozy Glow and Chrysalis struggle to understand why they seem to think of each other as more than useful tools. Tirek seems to understand it better, but his hurt feelings over Scorpan's past betrayal makes him reluctant to embrace friendship. Chrysalis eventually realizes it, but stubbornly refuses to admit it. While Cozy embraces it… in her own somewhat twisted way.
• Evil Counterpart: The Elements of Disharmony are this to the Elements of Harmony as are the the beings they represent; Cozy Glow (Deceit) to Applejack (Honesty), Sombra (Cruelty) to Fluttershy (Kindness), Tirek (Greed) to Rarity (Generosity), Chrysalis (Betrayal) to Rainbow Dash (Loyalty), and Midnight Sparkle (Desolation) to Twilight Sparkle (Magic/Friendship) Humorously, through the process of elimination, this leaves Pinkie Pie (Laughter) of all ponies as the good counterpart of Grogar (Despair) himself. Though perhaps it's fitting for the most serious villain to be the counterpart of the silliest of the heroes.
• Evil Vs Oblivion: How the villains see their alliance with heroes against Grogar.
• Fix Fic: This fic fixes many of the issues the author had and others may have had with the series finale:
  • The Terrible Trio of Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow are not only spared their controversial canon fate, but the shreds of a Villainous Friendship they had shown starting to form are expanded on and they're given a redemption arc… even if they refuse to admit it.
  • The Mane Six, while still understandably distrusting, are more open to redeeming the aforementioned trio, instead of writing them off as irredeemable.
  • Grogar is very real and not Discord in disguise, as part of an extremely questionable scheme to give Twilight some "self confidence" by playing around with three very dangerous villains.
  • Mean Twilight is revived to join the Legion of Doom, as foreshadowed by Chrysalis still holding the piece of wood she was made from after her destruction. Instead of just being left dead after one episode and never even getting to meet the heroes properly. The rest of the Mean Six are revived and reunited with her in the epilogue.
  • Cozy Glow is not able to use the Bewitching Bell to become an alicorn and decides not to give herself any other kind of flashy power up that allows her to rely on brute force. Instead granting herself abilities that complement her natural talents and role on the team. And continuing to set herself apart from her powerhouse cohorts.
  • King Sombra is revived once again and his comic book origin story that the show decided to ignore are acknowledged.
  • The Tree of Harmony/"Treelight" is given much more focus and called out for it's more questionable moments.
  • Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all become alicorns like Twilight after the final battle, allowing them to rule beside her indefinitely.
  • Princess Celestia and Luna decide to hold off on their retirement after the events of the finale, to help Twilight and Equestria's five new alicorn princesses settle in.
  • According to Word of God, the story is meant to be roughly equivalent to about four episodes instead of the two episodes the canon finale was. (Not counting the epilogue episode.) Which they feel the finale should have been ala, Avatar.
• Friendly Enemies: Unsurprisingly, Cozy Glow puts a lot more effort into cozying up to the heroes after she and the rest of the legion call a truce with them. Particularly with Twilight and to a lesser extent Spike. Who despite the mutual tension and bad blood between both parties, manage to be mostly civil when dealing with Cozy. At one point, Cozy even asks for Twilight's affirmation like she was still playing the role of her student.
• Foreshadowing:
  • A strange black mist is noticed around Cloudsdale after things start going bottoms up in Equestria and raises some eyebrows. But with everything else going on, nopony investigates this further. This is the once again resurrected King Sombra skulking around.
  • Grogar uses six strange, dark gems in combat. Which are noted to be kind of reminiscent of The Elements of Harmony. They are The Elements of Dis-harmony.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: After Canterlot is taken by Grogar and the other villains, Twilight tasks Starlight, Sunburst, and Trixie with rounding up Equestria's allies.
• Good Is Not Soft: After capturing Sombra, the spirit of The Tree of Harmony/"Treelight" is happy to outright execute him then and there. Even when he pleads that he can provide useful information. It only relents when he convinces it that Twilight and the other elements should be allowed to weigh in on his fate.
• Heel–Face Turn: Zigzagged with Legion of Doom. They've embraced their friendship, have helped save the world, and are on the road to redemption, but not quite ready to admit it to others and in the case of at least Chrysalis, themselves. And they still have their doubts about where to go from there. But they are coming around by the end of the story and Princess Twilight is confident they will.
• Hero Killer: Grogar outright vaporizes Discord and along with the Terrible Trio, seems to kill Celestia and Luna as well, during the battle at Canterlot. They're all brought back by the end.
• Heroic Rematch: It's made clear that Princess Candace still has a score to settle with Queen Chrysalis over what she did to her and her husband in season two. And she is very eager to take her down, after the fall of Canterlot. Where she, along with her husband Shining Armor and Flash Magnus track down and confront the villains. And Candace actually manages to do pretty well fighting the changeling queen one-on-one, while Shining holds off Tirek and Magnus grabs Cozy. Unfortunately, some quick thinking on Tirek and Cozy's part allows them to turn the tables. And the heroic trio wind up captured.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When it's clear Grogar and the trio are too much for them, Celestia orders Twilight to teleport her friends and herself away, while she and Luna hold off the villains. And the last glimpse the heroes get as they are teleported away, is the royal sisters' force field being punched through. They are later brought back by Grogar as Day Breaker and Nightmare Moon, before being returned to their rightful selves by the elements.
• Hidden Depths: We get a couple moments of this when the villains are opening up to each other:
  • Chrysalis apparently uses "Crackle Cosette", the photography pony disguise she used in "Mean Six" to roleplay as a pony that secretly supports her and the return of her regime.
  • Cozy Glow's apparently a fan of a science fiction book series called Alien Alicorns versus Space Pirates. Which she insists is definitely more mature and high quality than her evil cohorts are giving it credit for.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: As Pinkie points out, it was Grogar bringing the villains together that was his undoing, as not only do they turn on him, but they bond and in the process start breaking the very Elements of Disharmony they each represent.
  Pinkie: “Your plan worked too well, Grogar. You brought them together, you made them cooperate, you made them trust each other, you made them teammates. But like one of Discord’s talking apples, you didn’t realize the consequences of what you’d done!”
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Twilight does a bit of angsting over her failure to save Princess Celestia and Luna during the attack on Canterlot.
• Insistent Terminology: Even as the villain's bond deepens, they insist that they are ''co-conspirators", not friends.
• Irony: After using her talents for manipulation to help drive a wedge between the ponies of Equestria, Cozy Glow used those very same talents, along with her newly acquired powers from The Bewitching Bell, to travel Equestria and do probably more than anypony else individually was able to do to undue that damage in lead up to the confrontation with Grogar.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: When Rainbow Dash escorts the Student Six to where the other heroes and their villainous allies are meeting, Pinkie Pie tries to address them and break the ice. Saying she thinks they all know each other… before Sandbar asks if Mean Twilight/Midnight is one of Chrysalis' changelings.
• It Was with You All Along: While Twilight and the others are worrying how they will stand up to Grogar without The Elements of Harmony, especially now knowing he possesses The Elements of Dis-harmony, Pinkie Pie tries to cryptically remind Twilight and the others that they are The Elements of Harmony. Though they don't get it at first. They finally remember during the fight with Nightmare Moon and Day Breaker.
  Nightmare Moon: “But the elements are gone!”
  Pinkie: “It’s like we said aaaaall those years ago. (chuckle) The spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!”
• Legion of Doom: At the end of chapter twelve, Chrysalis, Tirek, Cozy Glow, Mean Twilight/Midnight Sparkle, and Sombra officially adopt this name for their alliance.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Rarity says it word for word, after reluctantly accepting that they'll have to put their vacation on hold to battle another evil threat.
• Love Triangle: A very minor subplot involves one between Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, and Sunburst during their plotline. It's implied Starlight and Sunburst end up together in the end.
• Meaningful Rename: On her new cohort's prompting, Mean Twilight Sparkle decides to adopt a new name to avoid confusion with the original. And ultimately settles on Midnight Sparkle. Because, as she puts it, “As Twilight heralds the transition from day to night, so does Midnight signify the absolute victory of night. And I intend to achieve absolute victory over those who stand against me.”
• Mission Control: Stygian serves as this telepathically to the heroes during the first attack on Grogar.
• Mooks: Grogar has recruited Diamond Dogs and rouge dragons and changelings to serve as this. He also tasked the once again resurrected King Sombra with using his mind control powers to enslave ponies to bolster his forces, before Sombra's capture. And he later summons his cursed city of Tambelon, and with it, hoards of powerful monsters and dark forces at his command.
• Mysterious Past: The author decided to keep Cozy Glow's past and motives vague within the fic. Though they did publish a one-shot, "An Interview with Cozy", that's said to be in continuity with this story and goes into her motives and thought process… but that story leaves it highly ambiguous how genuine she was being.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Celestia and Luna are only resurrected because Grogar brought them back as Day Breaker and Nightmare Moon. Allowing the heroes to restore them with the elements.
  • Also, uniting Tirek, Chrysalis, Cozy Glow and Sombra is ultimately both his undoing and what sets them (and Mean Twilight) on the road to redemption. After they grow to genuinely care for each other and turn on him.
• Night of the Living Mooks: On top of his other minions, Grogar also raises an army of the dead. Which moves to lay siege to The Crystal Empire. Prompting Starlight and Midnight to go on a little side quest to stop them with The Crystal Heart.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis:
  • Grogar doesn't do much gloating and immediately goes for the kill when the heroes first attack him.
  • Mean Twilight/Midnight immediately goes for lethal spells like one that turns someone's blood to acid during the battle with Grogar. Unlike Twilight, who uses spells meant to incapacitate enemies.
• Non-Action Guy:
  • Spike is this during the attack on Canterlot. Choosing to hunker down in the corner and let the girls do the fighting. By the second fight with the villainous trio, while he's still not exactly the most powerful fighter on the team, he has started to take a more active role in the battle. Even disobeying an order from Twilight to go with the students so he can come back to their aid.
  • Cozy Glow is a villainous example; While she doesn't hesitate to get in the fray of things, being physically a normal child with no apparent combat training or abilities, means she has to rely entirely on quick thinking, strategy, misdirection, and mind games to contribute to the fight. Best shown in the second fight between the heroes and her and her teammates, where she gets captured no less than five times. But keeps managing to weasel her way out and continue giving the heroes trouble. Even when the trio upgrade their abilities with the Bewitching Bell, Cozy chooses to grant herself non-combat related abilities that work well with her natural talents, instead of just getting a power boost. She does swipe a spear to try attacking The Mane Six more directly during their second battle. But her small body makes it hard to fight with a weapon built for an adult effectively, so she discards it after a couple attempted surprise attacks.
• No-Sell: Grogar is able to do this with Discord's powers, thanks to his own great natural power, backed up by his artifacts. Before seemingly killing him.
• Not So Stoic: Mean!Twilight/Midnight comports herself with a very clinical and disinterested disposition most of the time. But she occasionally lets the occasional smile or even hug slip through.
• One-Man Army: Grogar's able to stand his ground against and almost kill the combined forces of The Mane Six and the powered up Terrible Trio plus Mean Twilight/Midnight while barely having to move.
• The Power of Love: It's Princess Cadence and her love magic that proves to be the best weapon against the Windigos, during the final battle. Where her with her fiery love magic holds them and their blizzard off all on her own.
• Pragmatic Villainy: The Legion of Doom often ride a thin line between this and genuine Pet the Dog moments, in-between their normal self serving and villainous actions..
  • Underneath her cheerful exterior, Cozy Glow is livid over Grogar annihilating Canterlot. Not for any moral reasons, but because she wanted to manipulate the ponies into letting her take the throne willingly. To give her rule of Equestria some legitimacy in the eyes of foreign powers and help deter reprisals. But with the capital completely in ruins, that option is off the table.
  • More importantly to the plot, the trio realizes the return of the Windigos and strife they will bring to the world would ruin their personal ambitions to rule over it. Prompting them to offer a truce with the ponies.
    Cozy: "So… what does this mean? Them being back, I mean.”
    Chrysalis: "It means there will barely be any love for me or my changelings to feed on,"
    Tirek: "Ponies can’t bow to my will if they’re always battling each other,"
    Cozy: "And an army that’s always fighting itself isn’t an effective army. So… what do we do now?"
  • After forming a truce with the heroes, the villains, mainly Cozy Glow, get to work helping repair the very division they helped exasperate between the ponies. Because they realize it's giving power to The Windigos, and therefore, Grogar.
  • When it's confirmed that Grogar's Bell can't outright make her an alicorn, Cozy Glow opts not to use its magic to give herself any other kind of powerful form. As she considers her non-threatening appearance her best weapon in itself. Instead using its power to enchant her ribbons and give her non-combat powers that complement her role on the team.
  • Chrysalis mentions that when she retakes her hive, she only plans on executing Thorax and likely other noteworthy "traitors" like Ocellus to make an example. But will show mercy and forgiveness to most of her former subjects.
  • Sombra insists that he does not allow harm to come to somepony he's taken hostage, like Twilight and Rainbow Dash's parents, because they're more valuable unharmed. He also avoids causing as much needless harm as he can, since he knows this is likely his last resurrection and if he winds up on the losing side, he may have to appeal to the heroes' sense of mercy.
  • When Starlight goes to talk to the villains who've allied with the rest of the heroes in their hideout, Chrysalis immediately ceases the opportunity to try and murder her while she's alone with them. Even after reluctantly letting her talk, Chrysalis still doesn't intend on letting this chance to take her revenge slide. While her cohorts range from indifferent to mildly concerned about her killing Starlight, but still not doing anything about it. It's only when Starlight mentions the others know where she is, that Cozy Glow steps in to convince Chrysalis to back down. Realizing that killing her would definitely jeopardize their already fragile, but vital alliance with the heroes, if they know the last place Starlight went before disappearing was to see them.
• Put on a Bus: Princess Flurry Heart is mentioned to have been left in safe hooves by her parents early on, while they're off fighting the villains. She doesn't come up again until the epilogue, where Twilight is shown playing with her.
• Revenge Before Reason: Chrysalis, even after their truce with the heroes, doesn't hesitate to 'immediately pounce on Starlight Glimmer when the latter teleports to their hide out. Before Starlight even has time for her senses to register where she is. And is ready to kill her then and there. Taking a lot of convincing from both Starlight and even her own allies to let her talk. And even more convincing to actually let her live. And she seems on the verge of tears when she finally relents and gives up her golden opportunity for revenge.
• Riding into the Sunset: The epilogue ends on the (almost, but not quite) reformed Legion of Doom walking towards the rising sun.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: The Hippogriffs/Sea Ponies decide to go behind Queen Novo's back to lend Equestria their support in the conflict with Grogar, after she turns Starlight and company down. Partially because Sky Beak's daughter, Silverstream, is caught up in the conflict.
• Something Only They Would Say: During the second fight with the Terrible Trio, Spike catches Chrysalis disguising herself as Fluttershy so she can lure the Student Six into a trap and take them hostage. But she claims he's Chrysalis. Prompting Ocellus to attempt asking them something only they would know to parse out who's telling the truth… But they both say something believable. So they have to figure it out through other means.
• Ship Tease:
  • Starlight gets some with both Trixie and Sunburst, after Blueblood (while working as the Equestrian ambassador in Yakyakastan) refers to them as her friend and lover while they're leaving without specifying which he thought was her lover. Which on top of creating an awkward moment, gets her thinking about her relationship and possible feelings about her two friends. Later on, Twilight tries to cover up a potentially troubling part of a letter Starburst sent her, by claiming he was just confessing his crush on Starlight to her.
  • After being informed of the situation in Equestria, Dragon Lord Ember seems to hyperfixate on the well-being of her little buddy, Spike, and orders her people to mobilize immediately. Later during the second fight with the Terrible Trio, Spike admits to having a crush on Ember, when asked to say something only he would know.
  • More surprisingly, Spike and Cozy Glow get a bit of this. Like in the attack on Canterlot, where she (mockingly) batts her eyes at him. But most notably during the first fight with Grogar. Where Spike's tasked with serving as Cozy's bodyguard while she's projecting her consciousness into an illusionary duplicate, to help throw off Grogar and his minions. They end up teasing each other a little over the possibility of liking one another and Spike has to mentally remind himself that Cozy's a very bad pony who he'd never go for:
• Sixth Ranger:
  • Mean!Twilight Sparkle, later renamed Midnight Sparkle is revived and recruited by the Terrible Trio right before their first battle against the Grogar alongside the heroes.
  • Later, Sombra is added to their ranks as well.
• Spanner in the Works: The Cutie Mark Crusaders stay behind in the evacuated Ponyville to spy on the villains and free Princess Candace, Shining Armor, and Flash Magnus from the cocoons Chrysalis left them in after their fight.
• Spoiler Cover: Sombra's presence on the cover spoils that he'll be involved.
• Sympathy for the Devil:
  • Twilight can't help but feel a twinge of pity upon seeing King Sombra tied up in "Treelight's" vines, forced to plead with his own enemies for his life.
  • Despite the fact that she was about to kill her, Starlight also feels a bit of pity upon seeing how broken Queen Chrysalis is about being denied her revenge on the pony that cost her everything.
• Technicolor Fire: Princess Candace's love magic hitting the Windigos causes them to burst into blue flames. Lighting the sky over the battlefield.
• To Know Him, I Must Become Him: While setting off to track down Twilight and her friends after they flee Canterlot, Cozy suggests they try to think about what they would do if they were Twilight in this situation. (skipping writing a several hundred page list of course) And they manage to deduce most of her and her friends' plan.
• Token Good Teammate: "Good" might be a strong word for her, but Mean Twilight/Midnight, while still cold, ruthless egocentric, and valuing magical power over most else, is the only one in the Legion of Doom that doesn't show any personal interest in conquest or hurting others without practical purpose. Nor does she harbor any particular venditte against any of the heroes.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Invoked with Rarity and Rainbow Dash's reactions to becoming alicorn princesses. With Rarity being absolutely giddy about being a princess. Rainbow isn't a fan of the title and asks if she can be called something cooler.
• Took a Level in Badass: In the first confrontation with the Terrible Trio in Canterlot, Spike just nervously stood on the sidelines. And inadvertently allowed the bad guys to get the upper hand, when they targeted him, so Twilight would jump in the line of fire. He's much more active in the second fight, pinning Cozy Glow on his own, breaking out of Chrysalis's hold on him with his fire breath, and throwing a wrench in her attempt to take the Student Six hostage. He even disobeys Twilight's order for him to stick with her students to come to her aid.
• Villainous Friendship: By the time they've taken Canterlot, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow have largely dropped any pretext of just being temporary allies. Openly joking, laughing, and complimenting each other. And they begin developing genuine respect and even trust for one another. They later bring Mean Twilight/Midnight into their circle after her revival. And in a show of Character Development, agree from the start if they revive her, they are bringing her in as an equal and immediately welcome her with open arms.
• Villain Protagonist: The Legion of Doom get about as much focus as the heroes and the bulk of the Character Development.
• Walking Spoiler: Mean Twilight/Midnight Sparkle and the once again revived King Sombra both become major character after their introduction into the story.
• Wham Episode: Chapter five ends with the battle between The Mane Six and villainous trio at The Castle of The Two Sisters, being interrupted by Grogar annihilating Canterlot in the distance.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After the heroes learn King Sombra's been revived (again), the heroes also learn he took Rainbow Dash's and Twilight's parents captive, but they begrudgingly drop the matter for now, upon learning they are safe and unharmed. We never get any further word on them, though presumably they were released after the battle.
• What the Hell, Hero?: After ending up in the place Twilight first became an Alicorn and seeing how The Tree of Harmony showed their students their worst fears as a test and outright destroyed The Mean Six, they call it out on this. Though in a bit of a twist, the spirit knows on some level that it has proven inadequate in its role and confesses that it showed these things to The Mane Six as proof that they have surpassed it in its purposes. And why it's turning Twilight's friends into alicorn's as well.
• Would Not Hurt A Child: Downplayed. Despite still treating her as a dangerous villain who needs to be apprehended and locked up, the adult heroes still generally refrain from striking Cozy Glow. Only ever trying to restrain her. Even after she continues to be a thorn in their side.