YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S7 E26 "Shadow Play – Part 2"

• Accidental Aesop: Don't be afraid to question authority figures if you know what they're telling you isn't right.
• Accidental Innuendo: Pinkie Pie can be too friendly with the way she hugs.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Did the Pillars not allow Stygian to explain himself when they banished him, or did they but he failed to do so?
  • Was Star Swirl normally the arrogant, dismissive jerk he was in the episode? Or was he just angry at Stygian for his (seeming) betrayal and the Mane Six for causing the current predicament? He did get over both almost as soon as he actually heard them out.
  • What degree was Stygian's becoming the Pony of Shadows and actions as such his own free will and/or the Shadows influence?
• Anti-Climax Boss: The Pony of Shadows barely gets any offense, and he loses his only Beam-O-War. His only real feat (if one doesn't count him destroying Ponehenge) is that he manages to resist the Elements of Harmony longer than any other villain thus far.
• Applicability: Some interpret the episode as a Take That, Critics! to those critical of all the show's redemptions, with Star Swirl's "once a villain, always a villain" mindset proved horribly wrong and causing all the episode's conflict.
• Base-Breaking Character: Starlight Glimmer yet again. Detractors dislike that, much like the Season 6 finale, it was Starlight who saved the day and acted as the Only Sane Man to the group that talked them into finding a better solution while the rest were given the Idiot Ball. Supporters point out that everyone contributed to the final battle, Starlight only spurred discussion on finding a way to win it, and her skepticism of meddling over Star Swirl's magic, and then using it to beat the Pony of Shadows, shows her growth from her usual behavior of relying on magic to solve any problem. Plus if Starlight had her way initially (i.e. to not meddle with the sealing at all), no one would have been saved.
• Broken Base:
  • The fact the Elements of Harmony were used instead of the Rainbow Power. Some feel it makes sense and are happy to have them back, others are disappointed the show seems to be actively trying to forget that the Rainbow Powers exist all because of a gaudy design and wanted to see the concept explored more outside of cheap gags.
  • Star Swirl's (initial) portrayal as a Knight Templar. Some feel it fits Celestia's description of him as someone who, while well-meaning, nevertheless doesn't understand The Power of Friendship; others feel it makes him come across as an idiot and Jerkass (especially since his conclusion-jumping turns out to be what drove Stygian to become the Pony of Shadows in the first place).
• Epileptic Trees: Stygian and Star Swirl look surprisingly similar (grey coats, blue eyes, two-toned hair coloration), which has led to speculation they could be related somehow, father and son being the most common idea. If true it would add numerous new layers of subtext to their relationship.
• Fandom Rivalry: Ironically spurred this with the movie! The finale aired shortly after the release of the movie, and was leaked during the week of the movie's premiere, so a lot of discussion comparing the two happened. Some prefer the finale for its strong continuity and ties to series lore, bringing up plot points from several seasons ago and tying them into each other; others say the finale is too self-referential and steeped in continuity to have worked as a standalone movie, find the Pony of Shadows' threat to be an Informed Attribute compared to Tempest Shadow and the Storm King, and dislike the contrivances that make the episodes keep moving without giving room for its characters and story to be properly developed.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • How will the Pillars of Old Equestria come to terms with being more than 1000 years removed from the past and no longer being able to see the families and friends they used to have back then? Their stories will be difficult and interesting to say the least.
  • Star Swirl, one of the most powerful unicorns in history ^note King Sombra's feats are more One-Man Army-worthy than Star Swirl's; though Depending on the Writer, the former is actually a Ponified Eldritch Abomination instead of a true Unicorn., is back and Walking Equestria.
  • The Mane Six apparently got the Elements of Harmony back. Even if they had to give them back, the fact that they can still be retrieved from the Tree of Harmony at will still counts.
  • With the Pillars and their virtues being considered a sub-group or proto-group to the six Elements of Harmony the Mane Six have, the idea of there being more Elements is pretty much canonized.
  • The last time the Pillars banished someone, they ended up causing chaos in the human world. This means that the Pony of Shadows could potentially end up there as well. How would the Humane 7 deal with him?
  • What exactly is the shadow? Are there more entities like it out there still loose in the world of Equestria? And who, or what, built that ancient worship temple to the shadow beneath Hollow Shades?
  • Imagine how the Cutie Mark Crusaders are going to react to their sisters (and sisterly-figure) working alongside their legends and then some.
  • The existence of a book on Seapony etiquette implies that Seaponies do exist in G4. Whether they were referring to Mt Aris or some other group living in the ocean is up for debate.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • "Butthugging" was a fan-made meme that was started back in 2012. And now Pinkie just made it into an official meme. Extra points for Applejack being the receiver on both the fan-made and official starts!
  • The concept of characters returning from being stuck in some form of suspended animation (petrification, limbo) and having to readjust to a world that has vastly changed since the last time they saw it has been explored in several fanfictions. Among the noteworthy of these is Twilight and the Spartan Stallion.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • While listing the Elements of Harmony, Pinkie enthusiastically grabs Applejack's butt and squeezes it, while also pressing her cheek against it with a wide grin. This immediately caught on.
  • The face Twilight makes when Star Swirl finally compliments her sparked plenty of spontaneous "sempai noticed me" jokes.
• Questionable Casting: Some feel that Murry Peeters's performance as Somnambula is too deep-voiced and serious in contrast to the character's Moe appearance and Hope Bringer personality.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The synopsis saying that The Pony of Shadows was going to be the main villain seemed to address this complaint from "Castle Mane-ia". However, he's revealed to have been trapped in Limbo during that episode, so the entity from The Stinger couldn't have been him (it was more likely Tirek, since he is introduced wearing the exact same cloak discarded from Pinkie Pie in the castle). Likewise, he's completely unrelated to Nightmare Moon, despite the Urban Legend associated with him. Beyond that, the Pony of Shadows simply doesn't do a lot. Despite him constantly being described as incredibly powerful, he spends most of the two-parter in a severely weakened state and doesn't do much beyond destroying Star Swirl's journal and blasting the heroes with dark energy. Also, unlike King Sombra from the Season 3 premiere, he doesn't even have any Crazy-Prepared countermeasures to make up for his lack of direct action.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Though Nightmare Moon is mentioned in passing when the Mane Six go over their various accolades with the Pillars, no mention is ever made that Nightmare Moon was once Princess Luna, even though there are clear parallels between her and the Pony of Shadows.
  • The Pony of Shadows turns out to be hiding in Hollow Shades... why not have its lair be in the Castle of the Two Sisters, to tie back into "Castle-Mania" and allow a chance to explain how/if it is connected to Nightmare Moon.
  • The cast specifically notes that Star Swirl knew about travel between worlds, but makes no mention of Equestria Girls or the magic mirror. If anything, the episode goes out of its way to avoid referencing the mirror, instead mentioning Starlight's time travel portal and then immediately noting it isn't the same thing as dimensional travel. This is in spite of the episode showing the Sirens from Rainbow Rocks in the Pillars' flashback; there clearly wasn't an issue with referencing the films that way, which makes the lack of mention of the mirror all the more glaring.
  • While many like getting the Elements back, others are upset the Rainbow Power (supposedly a Superior Successor due to not needing the gems while being able to overpower the combined magic of Equestria which includes four alicorns and Discord compared to the Elements which only dealt with just one alicorn or Discord alone at best) aren't mentioned in the slightest, as in the first potential usage of them since they were used to beat Tirek, they're just re-replaced with the Elements.
  • The ritual Stygian was performing, where he attempted to use the relics of the Pillars to gain similar powers to them, is similar to how Twilight became an alicorn by harnessing the power of the Elements of Harmony via Starswirl's unfinished spell. Furthermore, in his Pony of Shadows form, Stygian becomes a dark alicorn. However, this is completely unremarked upon, and any potential connection between Stygian's ritual and Star Swirl's spell is up to fan speculation.
  • On that topic, despite Star Swirl's unfinished spell apparently being his life's work, and Twilight finishing it was so monumental a feat it earned her a royal title, that she finished his spell is only glossed over briefly in dialogue and Star Swirl doesn't even seem to think it's a big deal.
• Unexpected Character: The Sirens cameo in a flashback, when most fans had presumed that Equestria Girls would never be directly referenced in the show.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The Pony of Shadows in general. The smooth, liquidous, flowing animation used for his every scene not only looks amazing, but creates an uncanny effect with how different it is from the show's standard style, emphasizing how foreign and creepy he is. Even those disappointed with his actual execution tend to admire and appreciate it.

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