Season 9 Discussion Thread [Warning: SPOILERS!!!!!]

This thread is to discuss Season 9 episodes and spoilers. The other thread says no spoilers, so put them all in this one. Now that the trailer is out, let’s begin:

SOMBRA’S BACK AND AFTER FLURRY HEART!!!!!!!

I love the part with Sombra kidnapping (I assume) baby Flurry

Time to join the spoiler thread until mid-season leaks inevitably force me to move to the spoiler-free one!

Thoughts:

I doubt the whole mess with the Tree is going to be as simple as it seems. I mean, Hasbro would hardly spoil the season's potential biggest twist right out of the gate in the very first trailer, right? Right?

On that note, however — what about Treelight Sparkle? We know her roots spread right up to the School and she can manifest there, so I feel that she probably survived in some form.

Also, King Crystal Stairs' return as a clear-cut villain seems to indicate that the show's going to by and large disregard his comics arc. The Sirens, Nightmare Moon and now Sombra — time's not been kind to Fiendship is Magic.

Fucking Sombra's back.

He's here to enslave the masses, grow crystals and climb some stairs. And he's got plenty of stairs.

He's here to name some ass and kick some takes.

He will literally steal your children and ferry off into the night. Because he's fucking King Sombra, a unicorn who's heart is as black as night, and the comics aren't canon.

What does his Reflections show? Who he is inside? No, it shows him sodomizing you with a crystal stalagmite.

Like I said earlier, the elements shattering would probably have a lot more impact, if this wasn't something we already saw happen to them in the second episode of the entire show.

@Frustration in Excelsis
Treelight Sparkle was just a form taken on by Harmony itself, so I’m pretty sure she cannot be killed and is basically in in-universe God.

@EotD

This was the elements in the seat of their power though.

@gingerninja666
Just like they were when we first saw them? (From an audience standpoint at the very least)

@EotD

Well, you can blame the first season for that. Destroying the powers of the main characters for the grand finale is a time honoured staple. You think they should never have that plot point again?

@Background Pony #0ECA

I love the part with Sombra kidnapping (I assume) baby Flurry

I had a brief mental image of a very tired looking Cadance catching him doing that and just letting him do it.

"She's been teething. I haven't slept in a week. Honestly, you'll be doing me a favor here."


@Frustration in Excelsis

Time to join the spoiler thread until mid-season leaks inevitably force me to move to the spoiler-free one!

I seriously hope that won't be the case this time. But if not, I'll see you there.


@Frustration in Excelsis

I doubt the whole mess with the Tree is going to be as simple as it seems. I mean, Hasbro would hardly spoil the season's potential biggest twist right out of the gate in the very first trailer, right? Right?

Well… admittedly, they don't have the best track record in that department, but honestly this time I'm betting on something bigger yet to be revealed. I mean don't get me wrong, I think that and Sombra are both going to be big parts of the opening, but in service to a larger story we don't know about yet seems like a completely plausible thing for them to do.


@Frustration in Excelsis

On that note, however — what about Treelight Sparkle? We know her roots spread right up to the School and she can manifest there, so I feel that she probably survived in some form.

A bigger question is, do Twilight and her friends even know the tree is alive like that yet? The student six do, but we never saw them tell Twilight, and the finale (right after that) concluded without her making another appearance. They may have no idea what exactly just got destroyed.


@gingerninja666

And he's got plenty of stairs.

"Join me, Silverstream!"
"Never!"
"I have stairs. Endless stairs."

@gingerninja666
No, not necessarily but it shouldn't be something we've seen before

@Frustration in Excelsis
Now I'm gonna wonder how the comics are going to handle that.

This thread boom out all of a sudden

Idea: Flurry Heart stays kidnapped for several years and there’s a major time jump in the season. When she’s an adult, she’s an evil brainwashed pony working for Sombra, Grogar, Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and Tirek.

I was hoping to start this thread…

Saw the trailer. All I can say is, if that's not just the pilot (In which case wow) then we're looking at a very adventure focused season…

@Wiimeiser
Yea, I really hope it's not just a two part opening to Season 9.

@Background Pony #3629
I've heard that the series finale will be a 3 parter.

New trailer.

Is it just me or are the trailers this season uncharacteristically dramatic?

Anyway, thoughts:

Luna and Celestia are stepping down from rulership. Huh? And Twilight and the rest are taking over. Huh? I mean, I always suspected the show was going to end with something along these lines, but… huh.

I mean, where are they going to go now? If Twilight is taking over, does this confirm that she's going to become immortal or ageless or whatever in the way the sisters are? If here friends are ruling alongside her, will they become like that too?

… you know, given that this is all apparently the premiere… will they all become alicorns at the end?

Sombra's mind-control helmets are now a thing in the main timeline. Given that they're seemingly identical to the ones in "The Cutie Re-Mark"'s first alternate timeline, this implies that Sombra got the idea and worked out the design before he was released, or more specifically before the two timelines diverged.

Rarity is guard now?

Living vines… this looks familiar, but they're the wrong color for being plundervines and those were all zapped into sparkles anyway.

Sombra apparently mounts at least a minor attack on Canterlot at some point.

Treelight is alive! My mind is now at ease!

@Frustration in Excelsis
I don't think they'll become immortal, because that'd be kinda dumb, although it would be super wholesome to see.
I also don't think the abdication is gonna stick 100%, like they won't be princesses but they'll still be regents or something similar for Twilight.
Rarity as a guard is something I am 10000% for, that's gonna be great if true.
I suspect timelines got messed up when a certain someone used excessive time travel, which would explain the helmets.
Finally, yeah the Mane 6 are all gonna be alicorns by the end. There's no way that's not what's being set up here.

So it looks like the theory that Celesia has been grooming Twilight all along to take over as her successor is true after all.

@Background Pony #361F
What about Luna? Who's gonna take her place.

@Background Pony #361F
She had been grooming her to be a princess. Makes sense.

@Shimmering Spectacle
Nyx. jkjkjkjkjkjkjkjk in all seriousness, probably no one, because who cares about the mental health of the whole country, anyway?

@GenericArchangel
She was fictional from the beginning, there were no canon sightings of her.