The Ending of the End/The Last Problem (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

The Ending of the End and The Last Problem are the last three (two if treating both parts of The Ending of the End as one episode) episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. it arrived on October 12, 2019. It's the final three episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The episodes involved that The Mane Six need to make a stand and save the kingdom when a dastardly alliance unleashes their unified might on Equestria.

Plot
Ever since the villains had been defeated over the last nine years, they are preparing to get ready to start against the rulers of Equestria, and meanwhile, Chrysalis while disguised as a unicorn, stating that the Earth ponies and Pegasi are selfishly hoarding food for themselves and refusing to share with the unicorns.

Back in Grogar's lair, Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow, transfer the magic inside the Bell to themselves, making them extremely powerful and transforming Cozy Glow into an Alicorn. When Grogar returns with another artifact to use against the Mane Six, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy appear before him and put their plan to overthrow him into action. Using his own Bewitching Bell against him, the other villains drain him of all his power, and he is revealed to be Discord in disguise.

Back in Canterlot, The Mane Six and the Two Princess, while they're preparing for Twilight Sparkle, is going to be the princess, were having more concerned about the villains going to take over by Cozy Glow, Tirek, Queen Chrysalis. But Discord comes back and he reveals that he was being Grogar, and The Mane Six and Two Princess were very mad at Discord about what he had done so badly, thankfully, he learned his mistakes.

Outside, Canterlot, final preparations are underway for Twilight Sparkle to assume the role of the ruler of Equestria in Celestia and Luna's place. Most of the residents of Canterlot were being distrustful to the Mane Six in their doors.

Similarly, Rainbow Dash clears the skies of any bad weather but receives no help from other Pegasi to complete this task. In the castle courtyard, Applejack sets up baskets of apples, but a royal guard constantly watches her with suspicion and addresses her as "Earth pony" instead of by name. Lastly, Pinkie Pie gets caught in the middle of a desert fight between Mrs. Cake and the castle kitchen staff, Discord finally arrives after traveling an extremely long distance on foot and confesses to his friends that he is the one who brought back King Sombra and Chrysalis and released Tirek and Cozy Glow from Tartarus.

As the villains are getting closer, Twilight Sparkle announces to the heroes that they'll never give up to stop the villains at the Two Princesses seats.

Back at Grogar's lair, Tirek believing only Discord is capable of handling it. When Cozy Glow offers to be a test subject to absorb Discord's magic, she briefly goes mad with power, but the magic's chaotic nature proves too unstable for her to control. The villains decide to keep Discord's magic stored inside the Bewitching Bell, and they set out to conquer Equestria.

As Twilight rallies her friends and the Canterlot royal guard together in preparation for the villains' impending attack, Cozy Glow appears before them and attacks them with her newfound Alicorn might. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Canterlot, Tirek faces off against the Pillars of Old Equestria. With the power granted to him by the Bewitching Bell, Tirek easily dispatches the Pillars and drains them of their magic, Starlight, Trixie, and the Young Six are evacuating the School of Friendship students to the crystal catacombs underground. When Chrysalis arrives seeking revenge on Starlight, Starlight entrusts Trixie with the students' safety while she faces Chrysalis alone. Upon teleporting herself and Chrysalis to the Arctic North, Starlight briefly gains the upper hand and buries Chrysalis under an avalanche of snow. However, Chrysalis—empowered by Grogar's Bell—overwhelms Starlight and captures her.

At Canterlot Castle, Cozy Glow overpowers the royal guard and even drains Celestia and Luna of their magic with the Bewitching Bell. Twilight and her friends fight back and disorient Cozy with unpredictable, non-magical attacks. Just as they overwhelm and surround Cozy, Chrysalis and Tirek arrive to back her up, forcing Twilight to protect herself and her friends with a barrier. The villains gloat over their apparent victory, but Twilight is certain that they will be defeated as long as Equestria is united in friendship. The villains laugh at Twilight's sentiment, remarking on the efforts they made to turn the pony races against each other, and they proceed to completely obliterate a sizable portion of the castle. After shattering Twilight's barrier, the villains prepare to finish her off, but Rarity distracts them by hurling a boulder at them. When the villains blast the ponies with magic again, the ponies shield themselves behind a piece of the broken castle wall, Twilight's friends tell her to escape while they hold off the villains' attack. Though Twilight refuses to leave her friends behind, they believe she will come up with a plan to save the day. At her friends' insistence, Twilight Sparkle tearfully teleports away while the others are completely overwhelmed by Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy's power.

Shortly after the teleportation, the Mane Six had sadly defeated, and the Pillars of Old Equestria in the previous episode, Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow imprisons them in the catacombs under Canterlot Castle, using the magic-canceling shards of Chrysalis' old throne to keep them subdued. Tirek believes they should hunt down Twilight, but Chrysalis is confident in their power granted by the Bewitching Bell.

The Mane Six started to try to figure out to escape, Discord apologizes for causing such a crisis and promises to make amends for it. As the villains debate how to make use of all the magic they have stolen, Discord offers to tell them how to use his chaos magic. Tirek refuses to trust Discord, and Discord is equally distrusting of Tirek after he betrayed him during their previous alliance when Discord insults Tirek, Tirek blasts him with magic; Discord reflects the blast off a crystal rock, and it strikes Starlight Glimmer's cage, allowing her to break free. Starlight teleports around the chamber, evading the villains' magic attacks, and releases the other captured ponies from their cages. She, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Discord keep the villains preoccupied while the rest of the Mane Six and Spike escape finding Twilight.

Upon escaping from the catacombs under Canterlot Castle, Twilight's friends discover the unicorns boarding themselves up inside the School for Gifted Unicorns and leaving the Earth ponies and Pegasi to their own affairs. In search of Twilight, the ponies go to Ponyville, where Earth ponies have gathered together from other towns and are in a state of extreme panic. With no sign of Twilight, the ponies try to determine where she is, and Spike has an idea. At the Crystal Empire, Twilight's friends finally find her in one of the palace rooms, where she has been hard at work looking for a way to stop Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow but failed to find one. After the destruction of the Tree of Harmony, the rise of the villains to supreme power, the abandonment of the School of Friendship, and the pony races being driven apart, Twilight has lost all hope that they can win. To make matters even worse, the growing distrust and animosity between the pony races bring the return of the windigos, as Ponyville, Cloudsdale, and Canterlot close themselves off from other cities, Twilight falls even deeper into utter despair. With words of encouragement and a little tough love, the rest of the Mane Six and Spike place their complete trust in her and convince her to fight in spite of the overwhelming odds. Inspired by their words, Twilight thinks of a plan to face the villains and tells Princess Cadance and Shining Armor to protect Flurry Heart as Equestria's last hope if they fail.

Back in Canterlot, after Starlight Glimmer, Discord, and the princesses are imprisoned again, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy discuss whether or not to eradicate the windigos. Just then, the Mane Six and Spike appear in an open field outside the city, and the villains travel down to confront them. Twilight tells Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike to retrieve the Bewitching Bell while she, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash serve as a distraction, as Twilight, Pinkie, and Rainbow face off against Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy and keep them occupied while the others try to steal the Bell, but the villains quickly realize what they are up to and prevent any attempt to take it. When Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy threaten serious harm to Spike, the Mane Six surrender and the villains prepare to finish them off. They blast the ponies with powerful magic, but they are unexpectedly protected by a magic barrier with no idea who created it...

...then suddenly...

...A giant army of ponies, dragons, griffons, changelings, Hippogriffs, yaks, and multiple other creatures appears over the hill to provide backup for the Mane Six. As the ponies and creatures overwhelm Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy with their numbers, the unicorns levitate the Mane Six to safety. Twilight is shocked to see ponies and creatures working together after everything the villains did to drive them apart, and the Young Six appear. The Young Six explains that, as ponies and creatures panicked from the presence of the windigos and isolated themselves from the other races, they and their fellow students used everything they learned at the School of Friendship to bring the races together again and convince them to fight alongside each other. Twilight is overjoyed that her opening the school turned out to be a good thing.

Just as Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy fight through the Equestrian army's forces, Twilight confronts them directly and delivers an impassioned speech about the Magic of Friendship and how, despite how much darkness there is in the world, there will always be those who seek out the light. Her passion brings her friends, the Young Six, and the Pillars of Old Equestria to her side and the power of their combined magic creates a rainbow of light that banishes the windigos and strips the villains of their stolen strength. With the villains defeated, Discord claims the Bewitching Bell and returns the magic of everyone who had theirs drained. Celestia and Luna stand before the defeated villains and, at Discord's suggestion, imprison them in stone for their crimes against Equestria to ensure that they'II never return to harm anypony ever again. Celestia expresses how proud she is of Twilight for overcoming her greatest adversity and recognizes that she is officially ready to rule Equestria. Twilight also feels she is finally ready to rule, but for her first royal decision, she decides to postpone the coronation until Canterlot Castle is rebuilt so that she and her friends can spend some quiet time enjoying donuts at Joe's donut shop. Together, the seven friends acknowledge this as the end of one era and the beginning of a new, better one.

Many years after the final battle, Twilight Sparkle is now being old, and she is still the ruler of Equestria, The Canterlot of the future is inhabited not only by ponies but also dragons, changelings, griffons, yaks, Hippogriffs, and various other creatures living together in harmony. A much older Spike enters the castle and greets Princess Twilight, who now has a tall stature and flowing mane like Princess Celestia. She explains to Spike that, having inherited management of the School for Gifted Unicorns, her top student has failed to learn the most important lesson.

Magic student Luster Dawn enters and tells Twilight that, even though she is very diligent in her magic studies, she is put off by the curriculum's focus on making friends, and sees friendship as a distraction and a waste of time. Despite all this, she has accomplished with her friends. Reminded of how she used to be many years earlier, Twilight explains to Luster that friendships can be complicated and messy, and she tells of a time when she also thought it would not last forever.

The episode suddenly flashes back to the day of Twilight's coronation, soon after the defeat of Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow. Twilight and Spike are packing up to move back to Canterlot; even though she is ready to rule Equestria, Twilight is reluctant to leave Ponyville behind, fearing that she and her friends will drift apart in spite of their promise to rule together. Spike suggests that Twilight talk to her friends about it. However, the rest of Twilight's friends are more welcoming of this transition, explaining that change is natural and should be embraced.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie are making final preparations for the ceremony; Fluttershy is rehearsing with her animal friends; Rainbow Dash is overseeing a special Wonderbolts routine, and Rarity is using star spiders to weave Twilight's coronation gown. Back at the castle, Twilight feels her friends care more about making her coronation perfect than the fact that she is leaving Ponyville. When Twilight's friends arrive to see her off, Twilight fully voices her frustrations. Her friends reveal that they do share her concerns and have been keeping themselves busy with the coronation so that they do not worry about her or make themselves sad. Finally coming to grips with Twilight leaving, the ponies cry together and express how much they are going to miss her. Twilight feels a little better knowing her friends feel the same way she does.

When Twilight misses her train to Canterlot, she teleports the seven of them onto it so they can travel together. Unfortunately, their coronation preparations quickly start to come undone: Big McIntosh mixes up food deliveries to Canterlot Castle; Fluttershy forgets to bring snacks for her performing animal friends; the Wonderbolts leave from Wonderbolt Academy without Rainbow Dash; Pinkie neglects to supervise Gummy and the fireworks display; and the train gets delayed due to a herd of sheep on the tracks. Twilight finally makes it to the castle in time for the ceremony to begin, and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna officially introduce her as the new ruler of Equestria. However, the ceremony hits a number of snags: Twilight briefly trips on her gown; Fluttershy's animal friends fight with Rarity's star spiders; the fireworks disrupt the Wonderbolts' aerial routine, and the coronation guests are served applesauce instead of apple cider.

Luster Dawn believes the disastrous coronation led to Twilight and her friends drifting apart, but she is immediately proven wrong when the rest of the Mane Six enter. In the time since the coronation, the ponies have grown up, some of them getting married and starting families, but they still get together once every moon to keep in touch and rule Equestria together as the "Council of Friendship".

The story flashes back to just after the coronation ceremony ends. Despite how disastrous it was, the ponies share a laugh about it. Starlight Glimmer and Spike arrive with a going-away present for Twilight: a book of memories for whenever she misses her friends or Ponyville. Wanting to maintain relationships with her friends for years to come, Twilight establishes the Council of Friendship. With Twilight's transition to the ruler of Equestria now complete, Celestia and Luna take their leave to enjoy their retirement in Silver Shoals.

Twilight finishes telling her story to Luster Dawn, explaining that friendships can be hard and take work to maintain, but life is even harder without them. Luster takes Twilight's lesson to heart and realizes that friendship is not a waste of time like she originally thought, but she is unsure where to start making friends. Just like Celestia did for Twilight years before, Twilight sends Luster Dawn to Ponyville.

In this future Ponyville, the Mane Six sing The Magic of Friendship Grows, and Luster Dawn immediately starts making friends with the ponies in town. Various characters introduced throughout the series are shown to have grown up with new careers, new or bigger families, and new and fulfilling lives. Toward the end of the song, Twilight, and her friends see Luster off as she goes to hang out with her friends she has made.

The episode ends with the book from the first episode, quickly closes.



Why The Magic of Friendship Will Grow

 * 1) Possibly, these final episodes, officially turned the kids' show gene into a powerful endgame ending with new powerful actions, and content.
 * 2) It's the awesome conclusion of the show, by having the three villains, Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow in one 2-part episode.
 * 3) The scene where all of the ponies and multiple heroes starting to have a fight against the villains is a pretty great reference to Avengers: Endgame.
 * 4) Lots of heartwarming, and heartbreaking moments throughout each last three episodes, like when Twilight Sparkle and all of her friends started to cry for a hug when she is leaving in The Last Problem.
 * 5) The villains, Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek and Cozy Glow start to go even more powerful than all of the villains have ever gotten, like when they start suddenly destroying a lot of buildings in Canterlot, this makes them more of a legitimate threat.
 * 6) Great action sequences, especially when the Mane Six and the Two Princesses, Princess Celestia, and Luna including Discord were defending themselves with a ball defender before the villains destroy the parts of the castle, and as said on Positive #3 and look here to Positive #11, and even the final battle of the conclusion of the show.
 * 7) The most infamous scene where Starlight Glimmer standing like a badass in this scene after she attacks Queen Chrysalis.
 * 8) It introduces the last new character, Luster Dawn which that she wanted to know what is friendship is, until Twilight Sparkle tells her what is friendship is before she sings a one last song.
 * 9) The last episode The Last Problem, is also pretty good, but very sad, and the emotional montage of the Mane 6's adventures is easily a really good send off to the series with one last song.
 * 10) The designs of the Mane Six being grown-ups are decent (except for Princess Twilight).
 * 11) The final battle with the three villains, Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow is pretty epic, with almost every character from the series showing up.
 * 12) The ending is pretty good, but it's pretty sad with the song, The Magic Of Friendship Grows, which can be very sad to some viewers, considering that it's the very last song in the show.
 * 13) It teaches a harsh but necessary message; that there are some bad people who can't be redeemed.
 * 14) It doesn’t use the “characters will never see each other again” cliché, as The Mane Six will occasionally see each other years after the ending.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The shocking twist that Grogar was Discord in disguise was received terribly by most of the fans and it almost affects the quality of the episode entirely as well as how they saw Discord though some fans don't mind the twist since most of the attention had gone towards Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy during Season 9 which they enjoyed.
 * 2) Twilight's design in "The Last Problem" is somewhat lazy, as it's literally Celestia's design with Twilight's color palette, eyes, cutie mark, and mane/tail style. Spike's design is also eerily similar to Knuckles' design in Sonic Boom due to him being muscular with skinny legs.
 * 3) Discovery Kids (Brazil only) didn't air The Last Problem (along with The Last Crusade) just because it had lesbian couples, making the show on the country unfinished and Pony Life premiering immediately on December 14th,2020. Fortunately, Mexico aired it and finished it on Hulu on April 12th,2020 and uncut on Discovery Kids on October 20th, and in 2022, Warner Channel LA will broadcast the series, as well airing the banned episodes in Brazil, due of the WarnerMedia/Discovery merger (Fun fact: Hasbro owns 40% of Discovery Family while Warner Bros. Discovery owns 60% percent of it).

Reception
The ending was well-received by the fans of the show, and it holds a 9/10 rating on IMDB.

Trivia

 * This is the longest episode-related page of the Best TV Shows Wiki.