Twilight's Kingdom review!

Boy what a finale! If you haven’t seen it yet then beware the spoilers ahead..

We begin in the Crystal Empire where some very important guests are coming and Twilight has a job to do, lowering their welcome banner. Since becoming Equestria’s newest princess, Twilight is still unsure as to what she’s actually supposed to do as a princess, Luna raises the moon, Celestia raises the sun, and Cadance is both the princess of love and the protector of the Crystal Empire, and what’s Twilight? Celestia assures her (former) pupil that she will find her role in Equestria soon enough, in a new song that marks the sinning debut of Luna. So all is peaceful in Equestria right? Wrong!

Deep within a dark alley (which seems to be similar to where Trixie got the Alicorn Amulet) an unsuspecting unicorn (named Rare Find) trots along magically carrying some oranges, when suddenly he bumps into someone…

“Is he friend or is he foe? The pony wonders, I can assure I am no friend, I am Lord Tirek! And I will take what should’ve been mine long ago!” and with that this new villain (pause for dramatic effect) steals the unicorn’s magic! (Also notably his cutie mark disappears)

Celestia awakens in her bed, she hopes it was a bad dream but when Luna comes in and tells her she saw the same thing, she knows it was a vision and that HE is back…

Tirek along with his brother Scorpan (these names came from two characters from another MLP generation BTW) come from a land far from Equestria and thousands of years ago (I’d guess somewhere after Discord’s first defeat and before King Sombra took over the Crystal Empire) planned to take over Equestria and steal all of its magic! However Scorpan came to appreciate the ways of the ponies, even befriending a young wizard (my guess is that fans will say he is Star Swirl the bearded) Scorpan attempted to talk his brother out of the plan but Tirek refused, Scorpan alerted Luna and Celestia to Tirek’s intentions, Scorpan returned to his land and Tirek was imprisoned in Tartarus.

Now he’s back, Remember in season 2 the episode “It’s About Time” when Cerberus left his post guarding Tartarus? Apparently that was when Tirek escaped, however his imprisonment left him very weak so he couldn’t act on his plan to steal magic until now. Twilight says she is more than willing to track down and defeat Tirek but Celestia says she must call on another to stop Tirek, Discord.

Apparently Discord has the power to sense magical imbalances in Equestria so the next time Tirek uses his power to steal pony magic Discord will be able to track him. Before leaving to track down Tirek Discord says he’s marked a few pages in the ponies’ journal. In an attempt to find her role is Equestria Twilight decides to find the way to open the chest from the Tree of Harmony.

Meanwhile, Tirek is stealing pony magic and sets his sights on another pony only for the pony to reveal himself to be Discord in disguise. Discord quickly subdues Tirek who responds that he should’ve known Discord would want Equestria for himself. Discord however points out that he’s doing this for his friends (mostly Fluttershy). However Tirek calls Discord’s “friendship” merely a new form of imprisonment as Discord must abandon his true nature to stay on the ponies’ good side. Discord defends that he has done nothing of the sort but Tirek points out he’s seen it before, in Scorpan, but remarks that Discord is more intelligent than his brother, he asks Discord to join him offering him something much better than friendship “freedom” he goes onto say that once he’s stripped everypony of their magic he’d love to see their world turned upside down and who better to do that than the master of chaos himself! Discord thinks for a minute.

Meanwhile Twilight has read the entries that Discord marked and they are the entries from the following episodes “Rarity takes Manehatten” “Rainbow Falls” “Pinke Pride” “It aint easy being brezzies” and of course “leap of faith” you guessed it, the adventures in which each pony was tested on their element of harmony! Each time they proved themselves to be the elements true bearers and led someone else to follow in their lead who also left them with a gift! Yes they are the keys! Specifically when each object is put within the range of the chest from the tree of harmony it transforms into the individuals key (each of which is shaped like the ponies cutie mark) but there are six locks and only five keys, where’s Twilight’s key?
Suddenly Spike burps a message from the princess summoning her to Canterlot at once! At Canterlot castle Celestia confirms it, Discord is a traitor! Discord’s helped Tirek not only gather massive amounts of Unicorn magic but now Tirek has grown strong enough to take the Pegasus flight and the earth pony strength too! Celestia knows that Tirek plans to make Alicorn magic his last conquest, and they cannot let him get it so they must, relinquish their magic!

Twilight says she is willing to give up her powers but Luna tells her that their powers cannot simply disappear into thin air, it has to go somewhere, and so the other princess plan to transfer their magic to Twilight, you see Tirek believes there are only three alicorn princess, he doesn’t know about Twilight, Twilight accepts the plan, the three princess give their magic to Twilight. Soon enough Tirek arrives and steals Shinning Armor’s magic! Now it’s time for Tirek to steal the Alicorn’s magic but of course it’s gone, so instead Tirek sends the three princess to Tartarus! Tirek sits in the throne room where he presents Discord with a pendant he wears, he says that it was given to him by someone important and it is a symbol of their partnership, at this point Tirek sees the stain glass which depicts Twilight becoming an alicorn, now that Tirek has given him a symbol of their partnership Discord is ready to talk about Twilight. While Twilight struggles with her new abilities the rest of the gang tries to keep Ponyville under control and keep everypony inside. Soon enough Discord appears and captures them, Tirek steals their power and is now ready to face Twilight and make all the magic in Equestria his and his alone, Discord has outlived his usefulness, Tirek steals his magic! Discord questions Tirek about the amulet, it was a symbol of their partnership, an important item given to him by an important person, Tirek corrects Discord, the amulet was given to him by Socrpan his brother, it means nothing to him.
A great magical showdown between Tirek and Twilight begins and in the battle the Golden Oaks Library is destroyed. The two seem evenly matched so Tirek offers a trade, the Alicorn magic, for her friends (the rest of the mane six, Spike, and Discord) as they float above Tirek in bubbles Fluttershy remarks that they aren’t worth it, Discord corrects her that she is, she was the pony who taught him that friendship is magical and that he had friendship and magic, and now he has neither. As Twilight looks upon her friends each of their bubbles flashes a color and Twilight has her Rainbow effect! Twilight agrees to trade her magic for her friends, all her friends including Discord. Tirek is surprised that Twilight still considers Discord a friend but releases him, Discord both thanks Twilight and apologizes to Fluttershy. Tirek steals Twilight’s magic and becomes much stronger. Disocrd tells the ponies how Tirek tricked him into thinking he could have something more valuable than friendship but he understands now there is nothing more valuable, Tirek gave Discord that pendant (which he is still wearing) as a symbol of gratitude and trust, but he lied, but when he gives it to twilight as a symbol of their friendship he is telling the truth, as Discord places the amulet around Twilight’s neck it flashes with the rainbow effect! The ponies rush to the chest and low and behold the amulet transforms into the final key! The ponies each gather around and turn their keys…

A rainbow appears and hits with the element of magic in the tree of harmony, the tree glows stronger than ever and each pony is hit with a beam of light!

The ponies transform, you know those “rainbow ponies” the hubs been advertising and were in the happy meal toys? Now we know what they are! The mane six is also surrounded in a ball of light similar to that produced by the elements of harmony but much bigger, brighter, and more powerful, the gang confront Tirek who is powerless to stop this power, he is confused as he took all their magic, but Twilight says they had another magic, the most powerful of them all…

Tirek is enveloped in light and grows weaker and weaker, and eventually is transported back to his prison in Tartarus, the mane six’s spread a light across all of Equestria, restoring everyone’s abilities and cutie marks as well as freeing the princess, the mane six appear in front of the chest and the tree of harmony which releases a powerful rainbow which transports the chest to Ponyville where is grows into a castle….

The gang is transported to the castle gates (by now they’ve changed back to normal) and who’s castle is it? Twilights of course, this all began when Twilight wondered what her role as a princess is in Equestria, from here she is destined to fill all of Equestria with the magic of friendship! That is the role of Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship! But of course she won’t be doing this alone…

Seven thrones (yep Spike gets one too) each marked, after all what is the princess of friendship without her friends right? The gang shares a group hug along with Discord who questions as to where his throne is, Fluttershy tells him he’s not quite there yet and Discord admits she’s right.

Similar to how the crystal heart amplifies the magic of the light of the crystal ponies and amplifies it across Equestria when the mane six gather in the throne room the magic of their friendship is amplified across Equestria by the castle in the form of a rainbow! The episode ends with a rainbow from the castle shining across Equestria and being seen by everyone who gave the ponies their keys including Disocrd who presents flowers to Celestia (oh boy the discord and celestia shippers are gonna have a field day with this one) of course according to the comics her heart belongs to somepony else.

And that’s the story so what do I think of this season finale well I think it’s the best one to date, a great end to a great season, well paced, action packed, and focused on friendship, and I think the chest was sure worth waiting for, over all A+!