My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Season X

Cold opening shows the first bit of the first episode, plus some choice bits from the previous episode. The last choice bit is the revelation that King Sombra is Black Cherry's father.

OPENING CREDITS ANIMATION

We open up with everypony and Spike looking at Black Cherry, still with shocked looks on their faces. Rainbow Dash asks:

“How is that even possible?”

Spike says:

“Well, that does explain how you're so good at illusion spells.”

Rarity says:

“But, if you're King Sombra's son, then that means you're the rightful heir to the throne!”

Pinkie Pie says:

“That still doesn't explain how you have a crystal pony for a stepsister.”

Black Cherry says:

“If we could all join hooves and close our eyes one more time, maybe I could explain everything.”

Everypony and Spike now all look at each other. They shrug their shoulders and all join hooves and claws. They nod at Black Cherry and close their eyes. Black Cherry closes his eyes and green flames come out of them for a second. After which blackness fills the screen. What we see next is what appears to be the Crystal Empire. We move down and see what looks like the kinder King Sombra we saw in the last episode. Black Cherry starts to narrate:

[Before he was King Sombra, my father went by the name Black Licorice.]

We now see the kinder King Sombra, or Black Licorice, look over and see a red mare crystal pony. They smile at each other and Black Cherry narrates:

[He was next in line to the throne of the Crystal Empire. As the one and only prince, he was supposed to look for a suitable wife. He found it in my mother, Wild Cherry.]

We now see a very young red crystal filly pony without a cutie mark run up to Wild Cherry and get up close to her with an unsure expression on her face while looking at Black Licorice. Black Cherry narrates:

[My mother never talked much about Red Cherry's father. All I know is that when my mother met my father, she wasn't much older than forty eight moons old.]

We now transition to a place in front of the great palace and see that there is now a foal version of Black Cherry seemingly floating in mid air. On the ground is Black Licorice, Wild Cherry and Red Cherry looking up with smiles on their faces. We also see that they have an audience of crystal ponies who are watching Black Cherry with big smiles on their faces. Black Cherry says:

[Six months after they were married, the previous ruler of the Crystal Empire passed away. Six months after that, I was born. All the subjects who could make it came out to see my crystalling. Good times were had by all.]

We now see Black Cherry and Red Cherry start to age until they look like how we know them now. Black Cherry narrates:

[As the moons went by, we loved each other like family and the subjects of the Crystal Empire loved us back in return.]

We now suddenly see Black Licorice smiling. He then lowers his head and closes his eyes as Black Cherry narrates:

[Then one day, when I got to the age where I could start looking for my own wife...]

We move up close to Black Licorice's closed eyes as Black Cherry narrates:

[He suddenly changed.]

Black Licorice's eyes suddenly open and they now look like the eyes of the King Sombra we know. We zoom out and see Black Licorice now fully transformed into King Sombra and he starts to laugh. As he does, Black Cherry narrates:

[From seemingly out of nowhere, the father I always knew now called himself King Sombra. He no longer recognized us as family and cast us out of the castle.]

We now see the Crystal Empire covered in shadow with all the crystal ponies, including Red Cherry and Black Cherry in chains. Black Cherry narrates:

[He then kicked off the worst reign of misery and sadness the Crystal Empire had never known.]

We zoom up to Black Cherry in this scene as he narrates:

[I remember thinking to myself how I wished my father would go back to the way he was.]

We now see Black Cherry and everything around him disappear into snow. Black Cherry narrates:

[And then, all of a sudden, I blacked out.]

We see everything reappear with Black Cherry having his eyes closed. He opens them and looks around as he narrates:

[When I came to, everything seemed to be the way it was, except that King Sombra had disappeared.]

Black Cherry now sees Red Cherry seemingly out of it, as well as a bunch of other crystal ponies nearby. We see him have his eyes wide open as he tries to talk to them. As he does, we hear narration:

[When I asked around about what happened, nopony could remember anything. Not even who they were or what they were doing. I don't know how, but I was the only one who remembered everything.]

Black Cherry now turns to see Shining Armour and Princess Cadance appear and walk by him. He has a surprised look on his face as he narrates:

[Then, a couple of ponies appeared who I had never seen before.]

We now see Shining Armour and Cadance look up and see a black cloud appear. Cadance closes her eyes and uses her magic to create a dome around the empire. Black Cherry narrates:

[Whoever they were, one of them prevented my father from taking over again.]

We see Black Cherry putting on some very warm clothes and then head through the dome Cadance had created. Black Cherry narrates:

[I knew I had to get out of there and find out how much time had passed, so I left as soon as I could.]

We see Black Cherry, wearing warm clothes, get to the train tracks and get surprised when a train pulls into the station. He hides behind some rocks and looks out to see everypony and Spike getting off the train. He then narrates:

[When I got to the train station, I saw a train appear and you all getting off of it.]

We see everypony and Spike leaving the train. When they're all gone, Black Cherry gets into one of the cars. He narrates:

[I asked the conductor where the nearest town was, and he said Ponyville. Which is how I ended up here.]

We hear Black Cherry's hooves clop together and a white flash appear. We're back in Black Cherry's house as everypony, Spike and Black Cherry open their eyes. Black Cherry then looks at them all as he says:

“I heard later about what happened to the Crystal Empire and how my father was ultimately defeated. I reached out to Red Cherry and she came here to live with me.”

He picks up a book and says:

“I decided to look for some books that I used to like when I was a colt, but couldn't find any. So I became an author.”

He puts the book down and says:

“I then decided to create a turn based game called Burrows and Bugbears and had my newfound friend Pinkie Pie get some ponies together to test it out. You all know the rest.”

Fluttershy says:

“I'm surprised you didn't come after us for revenge.”

Black Cherry says:

“If I wanted revenge, I would have taken it out on you long ago. Besides, King Sombra deserved what he got. As far as I was concerned, I no longer had a father.”

Applejack asks:

“Did you ever go back?”

Black Cherry looks at Applejack and says:

“Never. If I showed up now, they would recognize me and think I was there to take back the throne.”

Twilight Sparkle is looking at Black Cherry and asks:

“But you don't, right?”

Black Cherry looks to Twilight Sparkle and says:

“Of course not.”

Twilight Sparkle now smiles as she says:

“In that case, I think there's only one course of action we can take.”

Everypony and Spike get up and nod with smiles on their faces while Black Cherry looks around at them with a confused look on his face.

CUT TO COMMERCIAL!

We come back and see the train stopping at the station in the Crystal Empire. When it does, we see Everypony, Spike and Black Cherry stepping off one of the cars. Black cherry is looking around with a nervous looks on his face as he asks:

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Spike smiles and says:

“You'll be fine. It's not like you're here for revenge or anything.”

As they walk through the empire towards the palace, Black Cherry sees as the crystal ponies notice him, gasp in shock and have worried expressions on their faces as they speak to each other with hushed tones. Rarity sees Black Cherry, still with a nervous look on his face and she asks:

“What's the matter, Darling?”

Black Cherry looks to Rarity and says:

“Everypony still remembers me. They know who I am and think I'm up to no good.”

Applejack smiles and says:

“Don't you worry none, Black Cherry. So long as you stick with us, you have nothin' to worry about.”

Fluttershy is looking around and sees the ponies continuing to look worryingly at them and speak in hushed tones. She frowns and says:

“I have to admit, I'm not fond of the reception we're getting either.”

Rainbow Dash says:

“We can't get to the palace soon enough.”

They finally get to the palace and walk into the throne room. When they get there, we see Shining Armour, Cadance, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna all there having some sort of discussion. Spike asks:

“What are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna doing here?”

Shining Armour looks over and has a surprised look on his face. He then smiles and says:

“Twily! What a surprise! You should have told us you were coming.”

Twilight Sparkle smiles and says:

“Actually Shining Armour, there's something very important we need to discuss.”

Cadance raises an eyebrow and asks:

“Discuss what?”

Pinkie Pie smiles and pushes Black Cherry forward, who has a surprised look on his face, as she says:

“This is Black Cherry. He's the son of King Sombra and the rightful heir to the throne.”

Shining Armour, Cadance, Celestia and Luna all look over and gasp at this. Princess Celestia asks:

“Black Cherry? Is that really you?”

Black Cherry now has a nervous smile on his face as he waves and says:

“Uh, hi Princess Celestia. I haven't seen you or Princess Luna in ages.”

Princess Luna steps forward and has a matter-of-fact look on her face as she says:

“That's one way of putting it.”

Spike has a confused look on his face as he asks:

“Wait, you know each other?”

Black Cherry looks to Spike and says:

“Of course I know them. They used to come visit the Crystal Empire when my father was Black Licorice before...”

He then looks at Celestia and Luna as he says:

“Well, you know.”

Princess Celestia nods and says:

“Yes. When everypony helped free the empire from King Sombra, I always wondered what became of you and your sister.”

Shining Armour now asks:

“But why have you returned now?”

Rarity smiles as says:

“Well, after hearing how Black Cherry came to live in Ponyville, we thought it was high time to bring him here and sort this whole thing out.”

Sunburst now walks in using his magic to carry in a basket with Flurry Heart in it. He sees everypony there and says:

“Oh. I didn't know we had more visitors.”

Black Cherry smiles and walks over to where Sunburst and Flurry Heart are. He looks down at Flurry Heart and says:

“You must be Flurry Heart. The last time I saw you, your name was Winter Solstice and you spoke with the voice of a mare.”

Flurry Heart now has a confused look on her face and tilts her head while making a questioning baby sound. Black Cherry says:

“Don't worry about it. I'll tell you that story when you're old enough to understand me.”

Black Cherry now plays with Flurry Heart as Princess Cadance asks:

“So, you don't want to take back your rightful place as ruler of the Crystal Empire?”

Black Cherry is now playing with Flurry Heart, who is enjoying him doing so. He stops and looks over at Cadance and smiles at her as he says:

“Nah, I'm good. I'd rather spend my time writing books and fine tuning my game of Burrows and Bugbears. You want the Crystal Empire, you can keep it.”

Black Cherry turns back to Flurry Heart and continues to entertain her. Rarity says:

“Well there must be something to be done about this.”

Luna is now looking up with a thinking expression on her face. She then smiles and looks back at everypony as she says:

“Perhaps we can have a ceremony where Black Cherry gives up the throne to Shining Armour and Princess Cadance. He would officially abdicate the throne of the Crystal Empire to them and he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.”

Applejack raises an eyebrow and asks:

“Abdi-what now?”

Fluttershy smiles and says:

“It's when a king or queen puts somepony else in charge of their kingdom for one reason or another. Or an empire in this case.”

Rainbow Dash flies up to Black Cherry, who is still being silly to Flurry Heart as she asks:

“So that's it? You're just going to give up your birthright and act like it never happened?”

Black Cherry stops playing with Flurry Heart and has a surprised look on his face. He then looks up with a thinking look on his face now. He then looks over at Shining Armour and Cadance and smiles as he says:

“Well, there is one thing I would like, if it's not too much to ask.”

Twilight asks:

“What did you have in mind?”

Black Cherry says:

“Perhaps we can make the abdication ceremony double as a duke coronation ceremony as well.”

He then looks at Sunburst and asks:

“Are you the royal crystaller?”

Sunburst has a shocked look on his face at this question. He then smiles and pushes his glasses up on his face as he says:

“Um, yes. Sunburst is the name.”

Black Cherry says:

“Sunburst, I forget how duke coronation ceremonies work in the Crystal Empire. While I continue to entertain the little princess here, I would appreciate it if you could find a book which explains how such a ceremony is conducted.”

Sunburst nods and says:

“I'll do my best.”

Sunburst walks off and Black Cherry turns back to Flurry Heart. Pinkie Pie hops up and down as she smiles and says:

“Woohoo! One of my best friends is going to be a duke! This is great!”

She stops hopping and then says:

“I need to tell Maud! She's going to be so excited about this!”

Princess Celestia smiles and says:

“It's going to take some time to set everything up, so you should have all the time you need to contact the ponies you want to attend the ceremony.”

Princess Luna nods and says:

“If all goes well, this matter should be dealt with in no time.”

Shining Armour smiles and says:

“Flurry Heart seems to really like you. If you want, maybe you could stay here until the ceremony begins.”

Black Cherry looks over at Shining Armour and asks:

“Are you sure?”

Cadance smiles and says:

“Of course. There's a bunch of empty rooms in the castle and we wouldn't want to leave our duke to be out in the cold.”

Black Cherry says:

“In that case, I accept your offer.”

He then faces Flurry Heart and says:

“In the meantime, I'll try to keep myself busy somehow.”

He start to be silly to Flurry Heart and she responds with giggles and smiles as he does. Everypony in the room and Spike now all laugh at this.

CUT TO COMMERCIAL!

We come back and see that we are now in the throne room of the Crystal Empire. Near the thrones are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna on the side smiling, Black Cherry in the centre with two crowns and Shining Armour and Princess Cadance bowing to Black Cherry with their eyes closed. We also see that there is a large audience in the throne room as well, consisting of various crystal ponies, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Spike, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Starlight Glimmer and Maud Pie. Black Cherry is holding the two crowns up with his magic as he says:

“... and so, as Prince Black Cherry, son of Emperor Black Licorice, I hereby resign as ruler of the Crystal Empire and dub you Emperor Shining Armour and Empress Cadance.”

Black Cherry places the crowns on the heads of Shining Armour and Cadance. He then says:

“Stand up my dearest emperor and empress. You have earned it.”

Shining Armour and Cadance now open their eyes and get up from bowing. The audience now cheers at this turn of events. Sunburst appears with a crown and says:

“Here's the crown for the duke. There's also a crown for a duchess if you ever happen to get married.”

Black Cherry looks out at the audience and directly at Maud as he says:

“Oh, I think you should keep that one on standby, just in case.”

He then winks at the audience and a bunch of the mares make an ooh sound while clapping. Maud looks back and says:

“Maybe I should go visit the pairing rock later.”

Black Cherry now switches places with Shining Armour and Cadance. He closes his eyes and does a bow. Shining Armour takes the duke crown with his magic and says:

“With the power now invested in me as Emperor Shining Armour, I hereby dub you Duke Black Cherry of the Crystal Empire.”

Shining Armour now places the crown on Black Cherry's head. Cadance now says:

“Stand up, brave duke. You have surely earned it.”

Black Cherry opens his eyes and gets up from the bow. As he does so, the crowd cheers. He looks out at them all and says:

“Thank you all. As duke of the Crystal Empire, I will do my best to insure its continued prosperity as long as I am able.”

He then looks at Celestia and Luna as he says:

“As new duke, my first order of business is to decree...”

Celestia and Luna both smile and nod. He looks at Shining Armour and Cadance, who also smile and nod. He then faces back out at the audience as he says:

“A coronation party!”

He looks over at Pinkie Pie and motions for something to come over. Pinkie Pie smiles and pushes her party cannon over to Black Cherry, which rolls all the way over to him. He then faces the audience and says:

“The coronation party officially begins.”

He then pulls the front of the party cannon up into the air and shoots it as he says:

“Now!”

We now see the instant party that the party cannon made and everypony in the room now cheers and starts to partake in the party. There's music during the party and ponies dancing as well as other ponies randomly talking to each other. We focus in on Maud and Pinkie Pie next to each other and Maud looks around at the ongoing party and says:

“It's a good thing you told me about this, Pinkie. I would not have wanted to miss this.”

Pinkie Pie smiles at Maud and says:

“I told you so!”

Maud then looks at Pinkie Pie and says:

“By the way, it must have taken you some time to write all those similes for Black Cherry.”

Pinkie Pie has a shocked look on her face and then asks:

“You knew?”

Maud says:

“Of course. I recognized your writing style by the end of the third one and knew you wrote them for him to recite to me.”

Pinkie Pie looks back with a confused look on her face and then looks at Maud while asking:

“So then, why did you tell him how you want to come visit him more often?”

Maud says:

“After realizing you wrote the similes, I decided to try and catch Black Cherry off guard by asking him what the simile meant. I figured he wouldn't know and I'd blow your plan wide open.”

Pinkie Pie asks:

“So what happened?”

Maud says:

“To my surprise, he gave the correct explanation on how every thing I asked him about worked. When he said “When his silver met my gold, it was clear they would come together. Thus forming the purest form of electrum the world will ever see”, he explained that in nature electrum is an alloy of gold and silver that often has traces of other metals like copper in it. So a pure form of electrum would only have gold and silver in it and nothing else.”

Maud looks over at Black Cherry, who is currently unaware of what's going on. Maud then says:

“Then when I asked him what he meant by “The protolith of his mind was expanded when he learned of my beauty. The slate it became is all thanks to me”, he explained that a protolith is the original form of a rock before becoming something else. The protolith was a shale before turning into a slate.”

Maud looks back at Pinkie Pie as she says:

“By the time he was done, I was so impressed by the amount of research he must have done to know all that. And that's why I told him I wanted to see him more often.”

She now looks away from Pinkie Pie and says:

"Also, truth be told, I already kind of had a thing for him before he recited those similes to me."

Pinkie Pie smiles and says:

“I had no idea he did that.”

Black Cherry is now walking over to Maud as she looks back at Pinkie as she says:

“Now that he's duke of the Crystal Empire, maybe now I can start-”

Black Cherry is now right next to Maud and has a smile on his face as he says:

“Come on Maud, the party's just getting started! We gotta show these ponies how to dance!”

Black Cherry grabs Maud's hoof and Maud looks back at Pinkie for a second and says:

“Sorry, gotta go.”

Maud now lets herself get pulled over to the dance floor by Black Cherry. Pinkie Pie smiles, looks up and shakes her head. We zoom out from this party as Pinkie Pie walks off somewhere to partake in the coronation party.

CUE CREDITS.

END OF SEASON X.

THANKS FOR READING.