"Equestria was in your care, and you let it be destroyed!"
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The Beginning Of The End
- Grogar - a villain from the old G1 series - makes an appearance and leaves quite the impression; for one, he reveals that he's very powerful by summoning both Tirek and Cozy Glow out of Tartarus and King Sombra out of his non-existence after his defeat all the way back in the Season 3 premiere (along with Chrysalis), and he makes it very clear he's not fooling around. Hell, when King Sombra disobeys his demand to team up and subsequently gets defeated by the Mane 6, Grogar provides his defeat as an example and warning to force the three remaining villains to join him, prompting them to become visibly nervous. Remember that Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow have all done major damage to Equestria themselves; if they're showing submission in front of Grogar, then it tells that he is among the most feared of Equestria's enemies...
- Grogar is noted to have created a large number of monsters which he let loose upon Equestria, and his reign was noted to be a particularly unpleasant time for the ponies.
- Thanks to Grogar, King Sombra makes a comeback and really shows his might and relentlessness.
- First, he attempts to enslave the Crystal Empire once more, and after being defeated by the Mane 6 and the Elements of Harmony, he decides to wait until they return the Elements to the Tree of Harmony before destroying both the tree and the Elements that it bore. And this isn't even like the time Nightmare Moon tried to destroy them in the show's very second episode - the physical embodiments of the Elements of Harmony and the tree are now truly and absolutely gone. King Sombra also makes sure to let out a terrifying Evil Laugh just as the first part ends. The Tree was also previously shown to be sentient, so this is effectively a murder as well.
- When Sombra begins to gain control of the Crystal Empire and moves on to breach the castle, he doesn't immediately go for either Shining Armor or Princess Cadance. He goes for Flurry Heart instead.
- The spell that Sombra casts on the Mane 6 brings out their greatest fears. Though they snap out of it quickly and we only get to see Twilight's nightmare, the scene that follows is pretty disturbing to watch as Twilight sees a giant Celestia and Luna looming over her as they denounce Twilight, complete with a black background and "black magic" eyes. The scene ends with the princesses turning into Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker.Princess Celestia: Oh Twilight. How disappointing.
Princess Luna: Equestria was in your care, and you let it be destroyed! - The part where he goes to conquer Ponyville and take the throne in Canterlot sows darkness in its wake, turning the once sunny setting into something glum and drab. The ponies he proceeds to enslave are of special note as he turns them into mindless minions with Sickly Green Mind-Control Eyes and a creepy blank face expression. The worst part? They're fully aware they're under his control! It's a very eerie callback to a timeline where King Sombra was at war with Celestia.
- When Discord confronts Sombra, he makes an offhand comment about Fluttershy being his favorite among the Mane Six. Sombra promptly has the worst kind of "Eureka!" Moment one could have and sends a blast of dark magic directly at Fluttershy to get Discord to let his guard down.
- Despite being an excellent moment for the Mane 6, Sombra's surprisingly Family-Unfriendly Death can really catch a first time viewer off guard. It looks like his skin is melting off as he disintegrates, and if you time it right, you can see what looks like his jaw disintegrating with it. Of course, his first death was not all that family friendly to start with.
Frenemies
- After getting fed up with their constant bickering, Grogar effortlessly restrains Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow, and says that it's only a fraction of his power and that he is more powerful than the three of them combined. Think about that. Three of the most dangerous and powerful villains (well, two, really) in the show's history have nothing on this guy.
Sweet and Smokey
- How the teen dragons were unknowingly endangering an entire hatching ground worth of baby dragons by draining the lava and preventing the eggs from hatching. An entire generation of dragons was nearly wiped out due to their own stupidity. Ember is especially clear on how close the eggs were to not being able to hatch at all, and it was only thanks to Garble's quick thinking that they managed to save them.Ember: [growls] It's supposed to be heating the eggs! Now they'll never hatch!
Student Counsel
- Unlike some other monsters in Equestria, cockatrices are apparently not a solitary, one-off creature, but an entire species that breed in large nesting grounds that they aggressively defend from intruders. Even worse, they migrate, meaning that you get flocks of aggressive creatures that will turn any creature to stone at the slightest provocation travelling over large distances on a regular basis.
The Last Crusade
- The whole scene with the wild cragadile attacking the classroom.
The Ending Of The End
- The Legion of Doom as a whole is terrifying this episode. Any Villain Decay the trio had is gone, with Tirek and Chrysalis being more competent and dangerous than they've ever been while Cozy Glow is not only on even footing with them now, but spends most of the two-parter acting completely psychotic.
- Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow's Evil Gloating as they reveal to the heroes their efforts in turning the three pony races against each other by invoking The Social Darwinist. It really shows how far they've gone on their paths of evil to the point of reaching the Straw Nihilist territory.Chrysalis: You think your pathetic shield can stop us? [laughs] The Pillars have been defeated. Your school is abandoned. Face it, Twilight. You've lost!
Twilight: You can attack us and we may fall, but Equestria will still stand united in friendship. And we won't stop until we defeat you, no matter how many ponies you take down!
(The villains laugh)
Tirek: Didn't any of you notice something was wrong in Equestria? We've been busy!
Chrysalis: A whisper here, a rumor there...
Tirek: Destroy some crops, cause some damage...
Cozy Glow: Turn pony against pony...
Chrysalis: Until your whole kingdom is on edge, waiting for just one tiny thing to push them over the brink!
Tirek: There's no backup friends or rainbow magic to save you now!
Cozy Glow: Golly. I think it's time for some redecorating!
(The three of them use their combined magic to blast half of Canterlot Castle)
Chrysalis: You know what's stronger than friendship, Twilight? Fear!
Tirek: 'Cause when you have to protect yourself, you don't have time for anypony else!
Cozy Glow: Too bad you never taught that in school!
(The three of them prepare to kill Twilight, until Rarity saves her life) - All the strife causes the return of the windigos, and Chrysalis decides to let Equestria become a frozen wasteland. The ponies would suffer so long until the survivors were willing to submit to her.
- Just the fact alone that all that it took to divide the pony races was just some rumors, specially given how in just a few minutes at worst ponies were not only distrusting but outright physically aggressive towards each other! (granted, Pinkie said the unicorn bakers only threw cakes to the Cakes, but still).
- The most horrifying aspect of this? That there's some Truth in Television in there. Many people in real-life can buy everything they heard without questioning it.
- Also, the way ponies behave against each other is terrifyingly akin to, if not worse that, real-life racism: From ponies refusing to sell products to members of other races, to law enforcers harassing members of a different race, to physical aggression. And here, nearly everyone but the Mane & Young Six and Applejack's family are doing it.
- Discord, who is currently powerless, goading Tirek to blast at him so he can redirect it to free Starlight so she can rescue the others, which could easily have killed him if things had gone wrong.
- During the final battle, Chrysalis forces the Mane 6 to stand down by threatening to pluck off Spike's wings, which is the the closest reference to dismemberment this show has made. And Tirek and Cozy Glow had absolutely zero objections to that threat being made, with Tirek outright gloating after it worked, with the attempt of killing them all immediately after being made. If there was any doubt on the three of them crossing the Moral Event Horizon before this point, they've probably been put to rest many times over here.
