I wish this was more like a The Wolverine fight, with several scenes dedicated to a fight between two characters and then switching to another. It felt a little rushed. but the animation was soooooooooooooooooooooooo good it didn’t even matter anyways.

Something funny I noticed: both “My Little Pony: the Movie”s have ponies falling into rivers and going over waterfalls! XD

@Background Pony #6BB5 
That would have more effect if the Mane 6 were members of the Royal Guard.

Boy will those guys be sorry when the Royal Guard shows up to defend Canterlot.
 
…What’s so funny?

@G.S.  
You bring up a good point, I did use ‘OP’ too casually.  
I did kind of counter the notion of her being ‘OP’ in my next comment though,  
implying she’s just precise and smart to get them all at once like this.  
And yes, if heroes were always unbeatable we wouldn’t get any action-adventure stories.  
@Ryodraco  
I like the idea that Tempest is actually more of a badass because she’s dealing with severe pain every time she uses magic with her broken horn.  
@Philweasel  
To be fair, considering how very likely this world-conquering army will be defeated by end of movie,  
it’s possible that the forces of good/magic/friendship in Equestria are just that impressive and powerful,  
that it can effectively contain and/or defeat such incredibly powerful foes.  
In other words, it’s possible the rest of the world is just, well, weak and easy to conquer.  
@Lost Marbles  
I think some interesting comparisons between the ’86 and ‘17 movies are in order, don’t you?  
@Background Pony #E614  
I am definitely a fan of action-adventure elements in MLP.

@Background Pony #3CAD 
If Spike was aged-up due to a spell then wouldn’t any enemy versed enough in magic to reverse/undo spells be able to revert him back to tiny form?

Step 1: Twilight, learn and master the damn age spell already. 
Step 2: Cast it on Spike. 
Step 3: Almost any enemy is trivialized, so the Mane6 can comfortably fix whatever needs to be fixed without interruption.
 
Step 4: Spike gets removed from any subsequent movie just like Discord in order to avoid deux ex machina.

@iluvanime9000 
Good use of Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 and 3 references.

We must unleash our nuclear weapons, annihilate them all! 

@Esteban 
Never underestimate your opponent.

@Der_Fur_Shur 
Now all we can do is come up with theories of how THAT happened, because of how lazy the writers were being.

@laofuzi 
McCarthy always liked edgier themes and action in MLP. We had DBZ fight in Twilights Kingdom episode. Now she’s basically wrote in the Sayan and Frieza saga in this movie where Shadow Tempest and Grubber act like Vegeta and Nappa conquering kingdoms across the world like they did planets in DBZ. And as such Storm King is Frieza who rule over them and who will probably have to face Shadow Tempest as she join ponies and Twilight (Goku) to defeat him. What im trying to say is that Meghan McCarthy is probably a fan of DBZ and sea ponies.

@laofuzi 
Since they showed Equestria fighting King Sombra in an alternate timeline back in the Cutie Re-Mark.

Since when did MLP turned into Battlefield 1?!

@Esteban  
That I can agree with you on. I love Fluttershy, so her tendency to be moving background in any episode not focused on her grates on me.
 
My only issue with Discord is that it seems like time wasting. They’ve already got enough cast members to take out of the plot in whatever contrived way they see fit, putting in Discord when you’ve already got decent enough reason for his absence seems like the writers would be just making more trouble for themselves.
 
Frankly, just give Fluttershy a little agency for once. She’s had enough development that being a badass wouldn’t seem that out of character at this point.

@Philweasel 
I would rather have him getting defeated by some anti-magic power and then getting imprisoned so that at least Fluttershy have some motivation to defeat the big bad and not just follow Twilight around like her mook.

@Esteban 
I’m of the opinion that Discord doesn’t like fighting villains. He only did it under extreme duress with Tirek, and his enthusiasm for the job wasn’t exactly exploding off the screen. And with the season 6 finale, Fluttershy was in danger and he wasn’t about to leave her safety to a bunch of B class minor characters.
 
Frankly if Twilight is still up and kicking, he knows she can handle it just fine. No point getting out of bed for some silly little invasion.

@Philweasel 
I feel like Discord would give Fluttershy some kind of artifact to summon him. But i guess he will now be always removed from any stpry and movie for convenience. Not only in Equestria Girls but now he will also not exist in official pony movie.

I’m very intrigued by the quality of the animation, even in these early promos. I’d watch this movie just to see the final results even if the movie turns out bad.
 
Anyone else remember how the animation quality on The Simpsons jumped up after the release of The Simpsons Movie ? I wonder if MLP would do the same.

Don’t you hate it when the bad guys attack in the middle of a party?

@Vaidelot  
It’s quite possible she did, they don’t seem to be particular hurt after all. Unfortunately it didn’t stop the attack from destroying the bridge underneath them.
 
“5. You’re forgetting the main villain is Storm King, who describes himself as (among other things) a force of nature.”
 
Personally I’m calling bullshit on that, the dude’s clearly a flaming egomaniac trying to write his own legend. Still, it is clear that he’s very, very powerful, and knows how to get stuff done.

Looks like Twi haven’t reacted fast enough to erect the barrier… again.

Well Twilight’s shown with a whiteboard that seems to explain what Celestia and Luna do (raising the sun and moon) so I’m not sure who she’s explaining this too or why that’s her job.
 
I’m starting to wonder if Celestia and Luna will even be there when the invasion starts

@Ryodraco 
Celestia, Luna and Cadance do appear in the palace, but let’s face it, we can only really hope they get worfed with some dignity.
 
And Starlight and Trixie appear to be isolated from the others. Starlight is good, but she’s still somewhat of a squishy wizard vulnerable to being outnumbered.

@Esteban 
Apparently not. Said mooks appear to be somewhat competent, and Tempest Shadow doesn’t seem to be missing said horn all that much. Going from the prequel comic she’s likely laden with magical artifacts and/or channeling her magic in other ways. Those mooks are likely also packing magical weapons and armor (those tridents look a look like the one the Storm King himself wields, and they are clad in glowing rune inscribed plate).
 
Discord doesn’t seem to be here either. That’s not exactly unusual, given his prior form in previous ‘villain takes over Equestria’ plots.