The Ending of the End - Part 1

The Ending of the End - Part 1
Season №:	9
Season episode №:	24
Overall episode №:	220
Original airdate:	October 12, 2019       August 17, 2019[released early in the Netherlands] September 23, 2019[released early in Poland and aired early in Ukraine]
Written by:	Nicole Dubuc
Storyboard:	Kaylea Chard and Carrie Mombourquette
Featured characters:	Grogar/Discord Legion of Doom       Queen Chrysalis Lord Tirek Cozy Glow
See also
credits • transcript • gallery • allusions animation errors • statistics • speculation
Episode guide
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The Ending of the End - Part 1 is the twenty-fourth episode of season nine of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the show's two hundred and twentieth episode overall. It is the first part of a two-part episode, and it premiered as part of the 90-minute series finale.

In this first part, Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow unleash their unified might on Equestria, and it's up to the Mane Six to save the kingdom.

Production

This episode was released on Videoland's on-demand service in the Netherlands on August 17, 2019, but was later taken down.

This episode was originally scheduled to air on September 22, 2019 on Polish channel MiniMini+, but was replaced with a rerun of an earlier episode. However, it was still released the following day on the nc+ GO on-demand service.

It also aired on PLUSPLUS in Ukraine on September 23, 2019.

When the episode premiered in the United States, it did not include the "To be continued" card or the credits, with the credits of all three final episodes combined at the very end of The Last Problem.

According to Jim Miller, Discord impersonating Grogar was planned since the beginning of the season, as they wanted Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow to be the main antagonists because they had more connection to the main characters.

The scene when Rarity saves Twilight from Lord Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Queen Chrysalis with her magic reappears in A-Dressing Memories.

Sunni Westbrook was nominated for a UBCP/ACTRA Award for Best Voice for her work in this episode.

Summary

The truth about Grogar

Chrysalis turns a unicorn on his fellow ponies.

The episode begins outside Canterlot, where Queen Chrysalis—disguised as Crackle Cosette—intercepts a unicorn baker and informs him that the Earth ponies and Pegasi are selfishly hoarding food for themselves and refusing to share with the unicorns. In addition to trying to unlock the power of Grogar's Bewitching Bell, Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow have also been sowing distrust between the pony tribes and getting them to turn on each other.

Grogar is revealed to be Discord.

Back at Grogar's lair, using the book they stole from the Canterlot Archives in The Summer Sun Setback, the villains learn that the Bell can drain magic from others. With a spell from the book, they 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.

"That was unexpected."

— Lord Tirek

With his power completely drained, Discord is forced to retreat on foot. The villains, while shocked by their leader's true identity at first, allow him to escape in order to put the rest of their plans into motion.

Calm before the storm

The residents of Canterlot are distrustful of each other.

Meanwhile, in Canterlot, final preparations are underway for Twilight Sparkle to assume the role of ruler of Equestria in Celestia and Luna's place. Twilight is surprisingly calm about the transition, and she appoints Spike as her royal advisor as thanks for everything he has done for her over the years. In the city, Fluttershy and Rarity are collecting supplies for Twilight's coronation, but the streets are largely abandoned, and any ponies they encounter are reclusive and hostile toward them.

Discord confesses what he has done.

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 dessert 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.

"My bad."

— Discord

Evil is looming closer

Twilight rallies her friends for the coming battle.

In the castle throne room, Discord explains to the ponies and princesses that he assumed the identity of Grogar and brought the biggest villains of Equestria together as part of a plan to boost Twilight's confidence as a ruler when she defeated them. Despite Discord's good intentions, the ponies are deeply upset by his actions and poor planning, and Twilight loses confidence in herself, believing none of her and her friends' successes were their own.

After some words of encouragement from her friends, Twilight tells Spike to send letters to their other friends and allies across Equestria. Star Swirl the Bearded and the other Pillars of Old Equestria are tasked with guarding the border to Canterlot; Shining Armor and Princess Cadance are told to serve as Equestria's last line of defense; and Starlight Glimmer and Trixie are warned about Chrysalis' imminent arrival.

"The ultimate battle for the fate of Equestria is coming!"

— Twilight Sparkle

Discord's magic is too much for Cozy Glow to control.

Back at Grogar's lair, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy discuss what to do with Discord's chaos magic, with 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.

The Legion makes their move

Tirek defeats the Pillars of Old 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.

...while Chrysalis captures Starlight Glimmer.

In Ponyville, 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.

Pushed to the brink

The villains back Twilight and her friends into a corner.

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 hold the villains off while she escapes.

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 tearfully teleports away while the others are completely overwhelmed by Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy's power.

Quotes

For more quotes, see the episode's transcript.

Queen Chrysalis: Spreading distrust among the unicorns and Earth ponies is almost too easy. We could take down Twilight and her friends a hundred times, but as long as they have the "love" of Equestria behind them, they'd crawl back to defeat us. Not anymore.

Grogar: The Bell! You had it all this time?! Why didn't you tell me?!

Cozy Glow: We're villains. Duh.

Spike: Oh, I don't know. It's not every day the princesses that have ruled Equestria for hundreds of moons retire and pass all their responsibilities on to your and your friends.

Rarity: [gags, coughs] Ooh! Twilight, darling! You're just in time. Only one more pre-coronation stop. We're picking up the final touch for your apres-hors d'oevres gown...

Twilight Sparkle: Is that before or after the royal marshmallow-eating-contest gown?

Rarity: What?! I haven't made one of those! You must tell me when they add these sorts of things!

Pinkie Pie: Do not go in that kitchen!

Princess Luna: Let me get this straight. You wanted to boost Twilight's confidence, so you brought back Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and Tirek to attack her?!

Discord: Don't forget Sombra.

Twilight Sparkle: The ultimate battle for the fate of Equestria is coming!

Cozy Glow: We're not going anywhere until you two stop arguing! Chrysalis, say something nice about Tirek.

Queen Chrysalis: [groans] He's... red.

Cozy Glow: Tirek?

Lord Tirek: She's... not as annoying as I expected.

Twilight Sparkle: We've faced enemies of Equestria before. And we've always succeeded, no matter the odds. That wouldn't be possible without all of you.

Discord: You're welcome!

Spike: Dude, read the room.

Lord Tirek: Oh, run along. The big stallions are playing.

Lord Tirek: Didn't you all notice something was wrong in Equestria? We've been busy.

Queen Chrysalis: A whisper here, a rumor there...

Lord Tirek: Destroy some crops, cause some damage...

Cozy Glow: Turn pony against pony...

Queen Chrysalis: Until your whole kingdom is on edge, waiting for just one tiny thing to push them over the brink!

Discord: Fly, you foal!

Gallery

The Ending of the End - Part 1 image gallery

References

v • e Episodes, films, and animated shorts

Make Your Mark
Episode 1 Izzy Does It	Episode 2 Growing Pains	Episode 3 Portrait of a Princess	Episode 4 Ali-Conned
Episode 5 The Cutie Mark Mix-Up	Episode 6 The Traditional Unicorn Sleep-Over	Episode 7 Hoof Done It?	Episode 8 Have You Seen This Dragon?
Episode 9 Top Remodel	Episode 10 The Jinxie Games	Episode 11 Sunny Side Up	Episode 12 The Manesquerade Ball
Episode 13 A Little Horse	Episode 14 Missing the Mark	Episode 15 Cutie Blossom Bash	Episode 16 Family Trees Pt. 1
Episode 17 Family Trees Pt. 2	Episode 18 Father of the Bridlewood	Episode 19 Mane Smelody	Episode 20 Nightmare on Mane Street
Episode 21 The Isle of Scaly‎‎	Episode 22 Roots of All Evil Pt. 1‎	Episode 23 Roots of All Evil Pt. 2