@Background Pony #53CA  
I think the reason it turned out the way it did was because the whole scenario of the villain betraying his minions has already been done twice for this show (one of which was the 2017 movie) and a third time of that would’ve been redundant, so the appointed minions plotting against and successfully betraying (what appeared to be) the Big Bad of the series finale had to be done as a new twist. It also adds the conflict of dealing with three previously defeated non-reformed villains working together, and it has the development of Discord’s questionable mentoring methods, established pride, and demented logic (being the universe’s Master of Chaos and all) finally getting the better of him.

Yeah, “monsters”.

@Background Pony #C437  
@Background Pony #4BD5  
Wiser words have never been spoken.

@Background Pony #9BD5  
You’re a duck.

@Background Pony #13A2  
What’s so complicated about it? The only thing I see is just the fans being hypocrites. Cozy Glow deserves a second chance despite being a power-hungry psychopat who’s sole talent is to manipulate others,tried to take over Equestria,drained all the magic in Equestria,is in cahoots with Tirek,is completley aware of the consequences of her own actions and didn’t become a better pony whatsoever despite attending Twilight’s school because “she’s just a child” but Diamond Tiara doesn’t deserve any kind of forgiveness despite being just a bully who acted this way because her abusive mother told her to because “She bullied the CMCs and mocked Scoot’s disability”. Because aparently being a bully who mocks people’s disabilities is worse than trying to take over the world and colaborating with the Devil. Garble and Ahuizotl did/tried to do bad stuff so they are irredimable monsters (despite Garble only being a hotheaded teenager who wants to look tough and hide his true soft and sensitive self and Ahuizotl only doing his job in protecting Tenochtitlan relics from Daring Do) but Tirek and Chrysalis who did far worse and literaly showed no remorse deserve a second chance. All because of one scene in Frenemies which the fans misunderstood as showing that the villains still had good in them when in reality the scene was meant to establish that they are evil till the end and will never join the good guys. I mean,come on! How stupid can you be to not understand that? Does everything need to be spoonfed to them? Aparently yes considering that this is the same fandom who can’t understand that Ahuizot’s “villainous nature” in Read it and Weep is from a Daring Do book (which is like reading a book about USA written by the North Korean government) and the reason he tried to unleash a heatwave over Tenochtitlan is to keep Daring Do and other thieves away from the relics (sure it might be a bit extreme but what did you expect from a desperate guy who’s job is on the line because the thieves always steal the artifacts he’s supposed to guard?) or that just because Rainbow Dash and Applejack arrive togheter and Rainbow Dash talks about helping AJ with her chores that doesn’t mean they are lesbians (but then again this is the same fandom who assumes that just because 2 characters hang out or even sit/stand next to each other that makes them a couple)

@Background Pony #463B  
It’s a lot more complicated than that, trust me

A rich girl who bullied others because her abusive mother told her to gets reformed and forgiven
 
Fans: OMG! SHE BULLIED THE CMCS AND MOCKED SCOOT’S DISABILITY! SHE DOESN’T DESERVE ANY KIND OF FORGIVENESS!!!!!!!
 
A pony obsessed with equality takes things too far in blind revenge unaware of the consequences of her own actions gets reformed and forgiven
 
Fans: SHE DESERVES TO BE THROWN INTO A DUNGEON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
A teenager trying to look tough in front of others in order to hide his true softy sensitive self gets reformed and forgiven
 
Fans: BAD WRITING! HE DOESN’T DESERVE REDEMPTION AND FORGIVENESS AFTER BULLYING AND TRYING TO KILL SPIKE,TRYING TO KILL PHOENIX CHICKS,CLAIMING THAT HE WOULD RAID AND PILLAGE EQUESTRIA IF HE BECOMES DRAGON LORD AND ANTAGONIZING SPIKE,EMBER AND THE PONIES!!!!!!!!!!!
 
A creature who’s job is to protect the Tenochtitlan Basin from ponies who come to steal the artifacts,goes to extreme measures to do so and is made into a supervillain in the books written by one such pony gets reformed and forgiven
 
Fans: BAD WRITING! HE TRIED TO BRING A HEATWAVE TO TENOCHTITLAN! I THINK HE LIED AND IS IMMUNE TO THE TRUTH TALISMAN!!!!!!
 
A satanic archetype who tried to conquer a peacful land,thinks ponies are wortless and friendship is a type of prison and drained the life force out of every pony in Equestria,A tyranical queen who kept her subjects in a state of perpetual hunger in order to manipulate them,invaded a peacful nation,is guilty of terrorism and rejected a second chance and a power-hungry psychopat who’s sole talent is to manipulate others,tried to take over Equestria,drained all the magic in Equestria,is in cahoots with the previously mentioned satanic archetype,is completley aware of the consequences of her own actions and didn’t become a better pony whatsoever despite attending Twilight’s school get punish by turning into stone.
 
Fans:“OMG! WHY DIDN’T YOU REDEEM AND FORGIVE THEM? DID YOU FORGET STARLIGHT’S LESSON FROM SHADOW PLAY?! MUH FRENEMIES SCENE!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111111111111 MUH COZY IS JUST A CHILD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111111111111111111111111ONE
 
WTH fans?

@mjangelvortex  
Even M. Night Shyamalan could make a better twist than the finale writers could.

None of this argument holds any effect on me since Discord is a “good guy” and I never asked for him to be reformed back when he debuted.

@Background Pony #1998  
Not necessarily. The real Grogar may have very well have done those things and Discord could have brought that up to be “in character” and keep up the facade to the others.
 
That being said, I still agree that the twist and the fact that they didn’t follow up on those aforementioned things earlier as really disappointing.

@superfun  
It was, but the fact that they didn’t really follow up on what they stated about Grogar was still disappointing.

@Background Pony #1998  
The lore of Equestria’s past was still interesting.

@mjangelvortex  
One of my biggest problems with the Grogar twist is that it makes the explanations of who Grogar was completely pointless.  
Remember in the premiere, Sombra describes him as “the first emperor of Equestria, the father of monsters” And then Not-Grogar said “I gave life to the foulest of creatures, and allowed them to run wild, taking what they wanted and destroying the rest. My reign was a fear-soaked epoch of darkness in Equestria.”? Well, now all of that means nothing, because they did not follow up on it. Now all we needed to know about Grogar was “He was an ancient bad guy with a magic-stealing bell.” That’s it! That’s the only thing that we needed to know because that’s the only thing that the writes followed up on.

@Background Pony #DD61  
@Background Pony #1998  
Agreed. I think the twist was very disappointing.
 
@Background Pony #41C9  
Yeah, that’s one of my main gripes with it. I’m a fan of G1 so I thought it was cool that they brought Grogar back, especially after mentioning him in the previous season. But in the end, it wasn’t really him at all and that’s just kinda underwhelming. It doesn’t help that the twist also ruins Discord as a character as well and makes him even more of a dick than usual.

I agree with OP.

@Background Pony #DD61
 
Imagine a scenario where: A new Super Smash Bros. Trailer comes out, announcing Geno (who is a highly requested character) as a new fighter, as in, actually referring to him as a fighter and giving him a trailer like one. Then, several months later, a new trailer comes out, and reveals that Geno is actually just an assist trophy, and the actual new fighter you’re getting is just another Fire Emblem character.
 
That is honestly how the Grogar twist feels to me, like the writers intentionally wanted to disappoint the fans who were hyped to see him in the final season.

@Background Pony #FFD3  
yes because one poor plot twist spoiled the entire season that mostly had little to do with the villains.

@Background Pony #1998
 
I fully agree! S9 is big bullshit

@Background Pony #DD61
 
Oh yes, I hated the Grogar twist. It shouldn’t have been Discord in disguise, it should have been the real Grogar, and he should have been the main antagonist.
 
But nope, now we know that there was no real danger until Discord decided to be an idiot.

Ignore the finale for a moment and look at Frenemies. They clearly started to understand friendship. There was a chance.
 
Had Grogar not been a huge fucking letdown, he could have been the big bad while they just followed. They could have overthrown him in the end and changed their ways, so yes, it’s a reformation that should have happened and would have been great.
 
Instead, Grogar was the most squandered thing in history and the trio went too far, now being the big bads in charge.
 
Spike isn’t the only “literal child” so is Cozy.
 
With how things went, yeah, their stoning was deserved, but there were also some really stupid decisions that brought us there. The big one being that retarded fucking Grogar twist.

Free those three.

@Background Pony #13A2  
She IS likely the easiest of the three to reform, but it wouldn’t be easy. She’s pretty much a psychopath. Also I don’t think her position on the statue was intentional in that sense.

ok but cozy legit deserves a second chance  
she’ll be easiest to reform for sure, although that’s saying a lot given that the other two are almost impossible to reform and should be petrified forever.  
Also, she’s deliberately connected very loosely to Tirek on the statue, meaning that she can be released without affecting the other two.

@GlacierFrostclaw  
I’m not surprised. As I said, I myself didn’t mind that they didn’t reform and am completely okay with them not reforming. I was just explaining why other people didn’t like it.
 
@Amethyst_Crystal  
Oh yes. While petrification isn’t the end I wanted for them, it definitely is a lot more open-ended compared to what happened with Sombra who just straight-up died. And I also agree that it’s a bit unfortunate that Cozy’s backstory wasn’t explored in the series.
 
@Background Pony #7ED7  
That too. We’ve seen characters get petrified before (e.g. Twilight by the cockatrice, the Alicorn Princess trio and Derpy in the movie, etc.) Of those cases, Discord seemed to be the only one that was “awake” during the process (he was laughing before he escaped). But that might have to do more with him being a living embodiment of chaos.
 
@Background Pony #697B  
Maybe so but it’s the execution and the context that also makes people dislike this. Even if OP is right, they’re painting people who disagree with them as irrational and this picture looks like it’s made to bait people into being upset.