Ohh, right, forgot about that. That makes sense, I guess. I mean, from the marketing perspective. I don't really feel they have built this romance up all that well so far, so I don't feel that that would really fit.

He only crossdressed once, so I doubt that would be treated as an ongoing "problem" of his, especially since nobody really had much of a problem with it (the issue was his brute-forcing everypony else out of the way in the final race). If anything would be treated as an ongoing "problem" he has it would probably be about somepony trying to get him to talk more (like what Starlight did to him in "No Second Prances"). On the other hand, it probably is going to be about him marrying Sugar Belle or something else about his relationship with her, given that I've also seen it listed as "The Big Mac Question", not "Problem".

As for the other episodes, it looks like the Big Mac one is confirmed to be number 23, not 24, and thus 24-25 are the two parter "The Ending of the End" and episode 26 is "The Last Problem". So based off of that, there isn't an extra episode after number 26, unless we get another special like "Best Gift Ever".

Edited by Rainbow on Aug 23rd 2019 at 8:05:14 AM

So the show doesn't have more than two problems left?

Edited by YamiVizziniX on Aug 23rd 2019 at 9:06:40 AM

Post of the Day #2616

Posted by Seraphem on 16th Feb 2015 06:01:48 PM - Post #106898 in the new thread

I like the idea of a denoument episode. It worked very well for Justice League, tying so many loose ends up and serving as an excellent closer... until they came back a season later, anyway.

Me too, it can serve as a sort of last goodbye after all the big stuff is over. By the sound of the title, that is the idea of it.

Tomorrow: Celestia's LAST Sunset Celebration. That promises to be a big episode.

Edited by Redmess on Aug 23rd 2019 at 6:49:25 PM

Last sunset celebration? Does that mean she decided the whole "eternal night" thing was a good idea after all?

Post of the Day #2617

Posted by Marq FJA on 16th Feb 2015 08:27:33 AM - Post #106817 in the new thread

Tara Strong called me "cute stuff" when I got her autograph at Fan Expo today!

Am I the only one reminded of the Flutter Ponies' Sun Tuesday celebration with the Summer Sun Celebration?

One shouldn't watch those last two episodes back to back, it's a bit jarring.

The ending of Summer Sun Setback got me a little bit emotional actually.

Twilight naming a new celebration in honour of the Sisters really makes the whole "They're going away" thing feel that much more real.

Just watched the new episode. It was a pretty good episode, although as other people mentioned, it makes Trivia Time seem even more out of place than it was.

I loved the gag with Cozy breaking the chains using a book with a key on the cover.

Edited by storyyeller on Aug 24th 2019 at 1:56:26 PM

Post of the Day #2618

Posted by Seraphem on Sat, 14th Sep '13 1:26:53 PM - Post #439 in the new thread

The Summer Sun Setback

Meanwhile, at the Super Friends Headquarters, which I had totally not almost forgotten about...

Grogar is seeking another source of power, since the Super Friends "failed" to retrieve his bell.

By the way, with the finale fast approaching, I'm still not sure what Cozy is going to do as a villain. Chrysalis is probably going to try and take over the Changeling hive, Tirek is... probably going to blow up Canterlot (as we already got a sneak peak of that in the trailer), but Cozy... wait. She's going to take over the school, isn't she? While the world is ending outside, she is going to face off against Starlight and the Student Six over who gets to run the school. Because that will still be relevant after the Mane Six have been defeated.

It reminds me of Harry Potter, where climactic moments tend to gravitate towards Hogwarts, even when the Big Bad Threat is of a much wider scope than that.

"I don't trust him." "None of us do." "Which is why double crossing him with his own bell will be so satisfying." Why are you lugging that thing along everywhere, Chrissy? Are you hiding it behind your back when Grogar suddenly shows up?

Also, Grogar, he of the Magical Surveillance Orb, apparently isn't watching his minions like a hawk, and hasn't discovered their deceit the first time these chucklefucks discussed their treachery openly as soon as they think he's out of earshot, if not much earlier when they actually decided to keep the bell for themselves.

"[Twilight] once said the archive in Canterlot has a restricted area." Hey look, it's another heist episode. ... Why didn't they use THIS idea for their 200th episode?

"Celestia and Luna love to hoard information for themselves." It's called a library, Tirek.

So, while Orcus Grogar remains firmly seated on his throne, the Super Friends are off to Canterlot.

"Oh, things seem calmer than we expected." You two were looking forward to seeing some panic, weren't you? Don't want to be outdone too much by the replacement ruler.

Honestly, it is about time we saw some actual competence from Twilight in her new job. If you keep banging the "Twilight Is Not Ready" drum too long, it won't be very reassuring once she DOES take power. At some point the audience needs to be convinced that, yes, she IS ready for this.

"With the exception of the odd trivia night, I made a lot of progress since the Royal Swanifying Ceremony." Instant progress! Not exactly what I meant, but with only a handful of epiosodes left, it will have to do.

Also, that is quite a character development whiplash to go from "complete meltdown over a trivia game" to "ready to rule a country".

Oh, so THAT is why it is the last Summer Sun Celebration. Because it was all about Celestia, so now she's abdicating, Celestia figures it's not neccesary anymore to celebrate it. Of course completely neglecting the thousand year tradition of it, and the symbolic meaning it holds for her subjects as a celebration of the sun, and all that.

"My sister and I have decided the time to retire is upon us." For realsies now. No take backsies this time.

"You and your friends have proven you are ready to lead Equestria." That's what you said last time, too, and so far, the show has done nothing but prove that Twi is not ready to lead a country.

"So let us see the last Summer Sun Celebration, as Equestria leaves behind the old to embrace the new." I imagine conservative ponies all over Equestria would lose their shit if they haard this.

And then Celestia hands Twi the Sun Moving Amulet, because that went so well the last time.

Oh, Discord is coming along as well. He sure is showing up a LOT this season, isn't he? Maybe De Lancie lowered his rates.

"What are YOU doing here?" Yep, the Friendship Crew is still pretty hostile to Discord. Another example of the NEVER FORGET school of reformation.

Twilight actually gives her friends a concise and workable list of tasks. Except Discord, because screw Discord, clearly.

Twilight is suddenly very mature and level headed about all this. I guess this really IS the beginning of the end.

"Character growth is so boring." I almost feel like the writers have been reading this thread, and are mocking certain tropers for not caring about character growth.

"Why are so many ponies up here in the middle of the night?" Clearly Luna has been hard at work creating night life in Canterlot. No more sleeping through Luna's beautiful nights for THESE ponies!

"It's that silly sun holiday." No, it's city life, but I guess a country bumpkin like Cozy wouldn't know.

Speaking of celebrations, why did Luna never get one of her own? A Summer Moon Celebration, or something?

Sneaking into Canterlot won't be easy for the Super Friends, because the GIANT WINDMILL SHREDDERS OF DEATH are still up. One bird gets smacked down to the ground, and it is Tirek of all creatures who rescues it by catching it. I wonder what Flutters would have to say about all this.

Chryssy tries to sneak inside, but of course the doors need security badges. She asks a guard to let her in, who does not question this at all, opens the door... and then slams it in Chryssie's face. What odd guard behaviour.

Even Chrysalis follows Pony Sexism by turning into a female pony that is noticeably smaller than the guard stallions, by the way.

And then Discord pops the Mane Five right in front of the villains, so they can overhear the various tasks. Plot convenience!

By the way, how is Tirek not sensing the presence of these guys, or of Grogar for that matter? I thought that was one of his abilities when Tirek showed up the first time around.

Pinkie is food inspector, and promptly starts stuffing her face. So much for character development.

"If anypony can handle some last minute baking, Braeburn, it's y'all." Y'all is PLURAL. Every southener in America is rolling their eyes right now. Apples FAILED a countryism! What were the writers thinking?

And then Tirek just slurps up some unicorn's magic. You'd think that would feel very familiar to ANY pony, since they've been through this before, but apparently there is no recognition.

And then he does it with another pony, and with Braeburn. Braeburn promptly blames the food, and everyone panics.

Meanwhile, weather duties are given to a very nervous pegasus, who is promptly set upon by Cozy, who talks him into letting her handle most of it for him. I just don't get why a SINGLE pegasus is in charge of this, or why this important job is handed to someone clearly not up to the task.

Next up is the fireworks display, headed by ponies whose talent seems to be fireworks. I'm surprised they didn't get Tempest Shadow Fizzlepop Berrytwist for this, but I guess Emily Blunt was too expensive or not available. That's what you get for insisting on celebrity star power. It's great for the movie, but it pretty much guarantees you won't see that character ever again on the regular show.

Chryssy shows up, and forments a unicorn rebellion by, I kid you not, invoking the Unicorn Master Race meme. Not by name, but in spirit, invoking pony racism.

Everything seems to be going right for the Mane Six, and Celestia offers Twi a practice session with the sun and moon. Not sure the rest of Equestria would be very happy with that, but that's alicorn privilege for you.

The alicorns leave, only for the others to discover that the earth ponies are too weak to bake, the weather is in chaos (how would they NOT notice that without being told, by the way? You'd think hurricanes and fog would be rather obvious), and the unicorns are rising up against Rarity.

"It's chaos out there!" "Don't look at me!" Couldn't Discord just fix this with a snap of his fingers? See what happens when you write Discord into these plots? THIS is why he never used to show up. But the writers gotta give the fans what they want, right?

Twi shows up, and the others' first reaction is to hide the problems from her. Dash is the first to lie about it. Element of Loyalty, everypony...

"Explain to me why we didn't tell her the truth?" Why didn't YOU tell her the truth then and there, Apples? Apple pony is doing some fine blame shifting here.

"Well, Twilight is finally learning not to let stress get the better of her. If she finds out everything went wrong, it could be devastating." Yep, they don't trust Twilight with responsibility at all. Such true friends they are.

"We just fix everything before she notices, no lying necessary." You ALREADY lied, though. That's some grade A subterfuge, there, Ponks.

"We need a miracle." "We HAVE a miracle." Don't give Discord any ideas, Dash. Oh, too late.

"I suppose I could fix everything. But isn't the real miracle here the miracle of team work and character growth?" Man, he is even worse when he IS around. Now he's just trolling the characters, and the fans, too.

"Even if I was an actual doctor I'd have no idea what's wrong?" Why don't they get an actual doctor, then? They'd even have patient confidentiality on their side.

Meanwhile, the Super Friends overpower a guard (who is now potentially a witness to the villains being out and about), and get into the castle. They look into the throne room, and a guard flamingo follows them. The flamingo reports to another one, who turns out to be Chryssy. Clever.

Meanwhile, the alicorns are about to discover the bad weather, food crisis, and imminent unicorn uprising.

"Applejack, what's going on?" "I told y'all this was a bad idea, but nopony ever listens to me!" Nice to see Twi knows who her number two is in all this. Going straight for the Apple to find out what's going on.

Twilight brieflly chews them all out for lying to her, but she controls herself, showing that she really has changed. It's rather out of nowhere, especially after that trivia night, but the show needs to build her up as a leader, so it's for the best.

The ponies fix the problems outside, while the Super Friends find the book they are looking for (which is chained up in a book case, which seems like a rather poor security measure in a world full of unicorns).

The pegasi fix the weather, which seems straightforward enough. The unicorns' revolt gets resolved... by putting the lead unicorn's face on the moon. I think the writers are forgetting what a pony's face on the moon used to signify to ponies. It's a bit like painting vertical bars over someone's picture. To ponies, this would suggest jail.

It's not entirely clear how the food issue was resolved, but presumbaly, other earth ponies took over the cooking. Though these other ponies are still missing their magic, I assume.

The Summer Sun Celebration goes off without a hitch, and Twilight announces that she is rebranding it into the Festival of the Two Sisters, in honour of Celestia and Luna.

Twilight's friends apologize for not trusting Twi, though I can't blame them for not seeing this sudden character development coming, especially since the rest of the season spend so much time emphasizing how not ready she was.

It seems like this is the end of Old Twilight, and the start of New Twilight, then, or so the episode seems to want to suggest.

Meanwhile, Cozy exposits that Tirek returned all the life force he stole so Grogar doesn't suspect anything (not to mention the main cast). Grogar, meanwhile, has found himself another source of power, which he will go and get himself this time.

Cozy and Chryssy mention how easy it was to set the earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns up against each other, suggesting that this could be part of their plans. So perhaps we will see a pony civil war in the finale as well.

That was it for this episode. It was pretty solid overall, though it is clearly just build up to the finale. Won't be long, now.

Edited by Redmess on Aug 25th 2019 at 4:43:46 PM

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2019/08/netherlands-drops-rest-of-season-9.html?m=1

There's apparently this Videoland streaming service in the Netherlands that dropped all of season 9, including the last few episodes of the series. Though it seems like you need to set up an account. Regardless, I knew there would be at least one country that got it early before the US.

That probably means it's dubbed in Dutch, though, so most English speaking fans won't be able to watch them.

Why does this keep happening lately? They were much tighter about controlling release of episodes at the start of the series.

If anypony can handle some last minute baking, Braeburn, it's y'all." Y'all is PLURAL.

I assumed she was addressing all of the Braeburn clan with that.

I thought of a few interpretations of Twilight's sudden "change". One is that the lesson she learned last episode is fresh in her mind and so she's making more of a conscious effort to not panic (she did mention it near the beginning of the episode). Another is that she makes more of an effort to control her panicking when it comes to truly important things like this, and lets herself go "Twilynanas" over smaller, more personal things like the trivia game. Or things that are more directly related to her Princess duties are things she's gotten more used to being calm about, but that trivia game is the kind of thing she just personally gets more emotional about. They're also different in that what she does in this episode isn't a competition (in fact, it requires cooperation), so maybe her "Twilynanas" side comes out more in regards to competitions specifically.

Also, as for "unicorn master race", yes, their magic may seem more powerful on the surface, but in-universe, the most powerful magic is the magic of friendship, which can be used by any creature and not just unicorns or even just ponies. So them having "more power" doesn't matter in the long run if using it to oppress other ponies just causes the Windigos to return. And I've seen the Windigos appear in previews, so that's probably what Cozy Glow's comment at the end is hinting at.

Oh, of course. I was already guessing that Cozy would be involved in the pony civil war.

So, basically, Cozy is going to ruin Pony Christmas. Cue the Grinch memes.

I already mentioned the Doylist reason for Twilight's sudden character development (she needs to be shown to be really ready for the job to make her taking the throne more believable). A Watsonian reason is a lot more difficult to reach. A transition episode would have helped greatly here.

I do think there's a tiny bit of evidence for it.

In The Beginning of the End we saw Starlight try to trick Twilight into giving herself advice by pretending to have a meltdown of her own. Even though it didn't ultimately work, Twilight did stop her panic attack, pretty much instantly, to give Starlght a calm, sincere pep talk.

That demonstrates that Twi has it in her to control her stress. She can turn it off or at least cover it on a dime when she needs to. If she ever became conscious that she could do that, then I could see her making more of an effort to remain calm.

He privatized his account, it looks like. The vitriol must have been bad.

My bad. I didn't know.

To take this in a different direction , I predict the last 3 episodes will air on the same day here in America, either October 12 or October 19.