Yikes

no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tear off his wings, Chrysalis.

@Background Pony #E540
 
I didn’t really get “they’re probably getting reformed” vibes from The Summer Sun Setback.
 
Frenemies, outside of that moment they shut down collectively, made it clear that they both found their past crimes amusing, and that they wanted to “laugh as they all scream.”
 
Optimistically, Tirek didn’t kill a bird in the later episode, caught it reflexively, played chess with Cozy and… that’s about it.
 
The overall tone of their scenes were pointing to “they’re unrepentant,” between Tirek complaining about having to return stolen magic (“I don’t have to like it”), in stark contrast to his attitude after returning it to Chrysalis in Frenemies, or how this scene was framed, with them appearing in a flash of lightning, or Chrysalis sowing seeds of disharmony with unicorns, or Cozy continuing to do her thing with no signs of remorse, and the note it all ended on.
 

 
_{so unless they were gonna suddenly start strengthening community relations… their plan was the star of the show}
 
Overall, the second episode felt like a thriller, although that’s in part due to how hyped I was, because those three were interesting to follow.
 
_{…what didn’t help the overall narrative was the plot-hole ridden episode of Daring Doubt, which aside from retconning Ahuizotl to justify Fluttershy being right (Caballeron wasn’t an inherently bad idea), when the narrative was building to something else for the main villains, there’s the fact that it was a big deal Daring Do was apparently a secret is a glaring continuity error that contradicts Fame and Misfortune having the Journal of Friendship published and a kid outright referencing Rainbow Dash going on an adventure with Daring (which RD didn’t deny), which got a reference in Frenemies, via Rusty Bucket having it, and how it didn’t even make sense within the context of S9, with how RD offhandedly talked about her in front of Clear Sky in Common Ground.}
 
(Long story short for the above paragraph, not taking Daring Doubt into account saves lots of headscratching, and I’ll say the same is true for a lesser extent for Sweet and Smokey, because I preferred Garble as just a kinda idiotic sociopathic dragon, the change was silly)
 
Grogar being real would’ve probably amounted to the same thing, since they were building up to him being none-the-wiser in both episodes. Him coming out on top of a backstabbing attempt wouldn’t have been properly built up to, no matter how appealing it may sound.
 
…what happened here, I’ll note, isn’t that far off from what at least one of them have done before.
 
Tirek summoned Twilight’s friends in bubbles, Spike included, with the implicit threat to their well-being if she didn’t surrender, and they all found that story amusing in Frenemies, and he isn’t even half the sadist Chrysalis has been from her debut.

It had felt like the show was reforming them slowly. Then the finale came, and they threw stuff like this in as though to compensate for “Frenemies.” The result is a lot of bewildered viewers, many of whom actually liked these three, trying to figure out the point of all this.  
Grogar should have been Grogar.

@Background Pony Number 17
 
And none of them were really “corrupted,” either. They were all terrible/morally bankrupt enough to all collectively find sadistic amusement in the prospect of dismembering a child.
 
If there’s one thing she “regretted,” it was not going through with it.

@Background Pony Number 17  
That Correct

And this is why they ended up a statue. Creatures willing to do that to a living being were too dangerous to leave alive.

So Sad :(

Its ok. He hasn’t angrily wiped blood from his mouth yet