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Imbeciles! You ruined everythinggggg...! note
School Daze
- The Pukwudgies are a surprisingly creepy variation of this, going from harmless hedgehog-like creatures with blank stares to fierce, ferocious and angry little monsters bent on attacking the Student Six for no apparent reason. (Though one could argue that Ocellus might have ended up saying something that ticked them off.)
- Adding onto this, if the Mane Six hadn't arrived in time, the Student Six would've suffered a pretty brutal death! It would be the equivalent of being stabbed repeatedly by a hoard of porcupines!
Molt Down
- The sequence where Spike is engulfed by a cocoon. A stony carapace crawls over him as tense music plays and Spike himself starts to panic. Spike cries out "What's happening!? I can't mo-" before being completely encased in his cocoon... and then it just holds on him, trapped and motionless, with absolutely no sound except Twilight blasting the Roc with magic in the background. It quickly becomes a triumphant moment when Spike emerges with wings, but for a few seconds, it almost feels as though Spike has been Taken for Granite.
The Mean 6
- The Evil Twins of the Mane Six meet a most unsettling end when the Tree of Harmony causes them to shrivel up before they turn back into wood. This is actually toned down from the leaked version
. In the original cut, Mean Twilight appeared to be melting. - Pretty much everything the Mean Six do takes the cake, especially Mean Fluttershy insulting all the forest animals leaving them to put the blame on the real deal. On top of all that, due to the case of Mistaken Identity they unintentionally spark, it almost destroys the real Mane Six's friendship.
A Matter of Principals
- When Discord pushes Starlight's Berserk Button one too many times, she blasts him with a huge magical beam that appears to vaporise him. Of course, Starlight states that he was simply banished off school grounds (and we know he's a reality-warping Physical God so he’s obviously fine), but the students react with a mix of sadness and horror. From their perspective Starlight just murdered someone in front of a bunch of kids.Starlight: This is your last warning...
- Before that, Discord summons a Bugbear to attack the kids. What makes matters worse is that the kids have nothing to do with the reason behind Discord’s tantrum - he was just using them to get to Starlight. Just the idea that Discord, though apparently reformed, isn’t above seriously harming children over a petty grudge is pretty unsettling.
A Rockhoof and a Hard Place
- Rockhoof becomes so depressed at seemingly having no place in the modern world no matter how hard he tries that he comes to Twilight asking her to turn him to stone like she did Discord. The implications are surprisingly dark for a kids' show. While the spell can be undone, Rockhoof makes it perfectly clear he intends to stay a statue permanently. What makes it worse is that Twilight is willing to go through with it in lieu of a better solution, effectively encouraging his pseudo-suicidal behaviour.
What Lies Beneath
- The Tree of Harmony is shown to be capable of some pretty creepy stuff this season even if it has good intentions, using nightmare fuel to test the Student Six.
- Gallus' "test". He's trapped inside a crystal prison full of red and white beams of light. Every time he touches a red beam, the walls close in. If he hadn't calmed down he could've suffered quite the Family-Unfriendly Death (though the Tree of Harmony would've probably intervened before it went that far, he had no way of knowing that), and it gets even worse when he reveals afterwards that he's claustrophobic.
- Silverstream's "test". She sees shadows of the Storm King and his minions, and fears that he has returned and is going to take away everything she loves. Given she must've been young when he invaded Mount Eris, she must've been scarred by the memory of his incursion for him to haunt her like this...
- Ocellus' test involves her facing her people's past as love-siphoning parasites and monsters. She fears that she's just like Queen Chrysalis. For one so young, she's afraid of turning out evil and monstrous.
- Yona's test, where the tree makes use of her arachnophobia. She gets stuck in dark caves with webs and slime dangling everywhere before encountering many spiders that (seemingly) chase her down. Even when the spiders quickly turn out to have good intentions, it doesn't stop them from being absolutely terrifying before the reveal takes place or even when you know of it; there are many, many creepy red glowing eyes in the darkness coupled with spider chirping sounds before a whole swarm of them appears, and some of the spiders even descend right on top of Yona.
Sounds of Silence
- The elderly ticket-selling pony who Fluttershy and Applejack meet shortly after they get off the train. The entirety of the encounter - including his voice, appearance and mannerisms - makes him extremely creepy. Highlights include him startling the mares by screaming like a maniac as he comes up from behind and backing into his booth in a very disturbing fashion as he lets out a deranged laugh and pulls an absolutely terrifying face.
- The Nirik. They're fire-elemental creatures who embody anger and vengefulness. Everything about them can be frightening, from their charred black coats to their sharp teeth right down to their deathly glowing white eyes.
- The Reveal that the Kirin and the Nirik are one and the same. The Kirin become Nirik every time they grow too angry, burning everything in their path. In fact, the very reason they took the vow of silence was because the Kirin burnt down their entire village whilst transformed as the Nirik.
- The way the Kirin decide to toss Applejack and Fluttershy into the River of Silence simply because they argued a bit is eerily similar to Starlight's Equality Town. The fact that their lack of emotions made them decide it was okay to force other ponies to share in their silence doesn't make it any less unsettling.
School Raze
- It is rather unsettling that the Princesses and the Mane Six are willing to lock Cozy Glow up in Tartarus, which is basically like the pit the Titans are trapped in in Greek mythology.
- The episode ends with Cozy Glow ending up in Tartarus with Tirek, and immediately offering an alliance. With Cozy’s intelligence and Tirek’s brute strength, there’s no telling what their plans are.Cozy Glow: Hey, neighbour. Wanna be friends?
