Awesome / Loved and Lost

• When the brainwashed bridesmaids block Twilight and Cadance's way out of the caves, Vivian appears and uses impressive martial art skills to neutralize the three mares in less than two seconds.
  • It's minor, but when Celestia first attempts to reason with Jewelius in the fifth chapter, Vivian stands in her way and aims her glowing horn threateningly at her. While talented, Vivian is an ordinary unicorn, and she saw Celestia's performance in the latter's Beam-O-War against Chrysalis (which she lost only because Worf Had the Flu), yet she dares to wordlessly threaten the powerful alicorn. It's a pity her stoic devotion is wasted on such a rotten and spineless master Jewelius proves himself to be.
  • In the 13th chapter, Vivian casts a spell that petrifies Celestia, Luna, the Mane Five, Shining Armor and Spike, all nine of them at the same time. Her concentration needs to be broken for the spell to wear off.
• Before Shining Armor and Cadance get a chance to blast the Changelings out of Equestria, Twilight uses the power-draining spell Jewelius showed her to turn them all small enough to fit in the glass jar he reveals.
• As conceited as Jewelius proves himself to be later on, one cannot help but give him some respect for the audacious way he takes over Equestria's throne by telling everypony about Celestia, Shining Armor as well as the Mane Five's mistakes. He throws them all — even Celestia — for a loop with his hostile accusations so utterly that their unsuccessful panic-induced escape attempt effectively turns everypony against them. He originally planned to take control of Equestria as Chrysalis' partner, but as he witnessed all that happened canonically between everypony, he devised a new plan that resulted in him getting the Changelings he double-crossed behind bars, gaining the credit of saving the day with Twilight, and overthrowing the alicorns by scapegoating them as well as Shining Armor and Twilight's friends by using the atmosphere of the invasion's immediate aftermath and carefully selected half-truths against them. Had he afterwards kept his ego in check and his mouth shut, his reign could have lasted longer than a week.
  • For that matter, winning the trust of Queen Chrysalis to the point that she takes you as a romantic interest and doesn't expect you to double-cross her even though she fails to drain love from you speaks volumes about how good you are at mind games. To put it in perspective: in canon, Chrysalis fools everypony (even Twilight briefly before squandering that), but Jewelius fools everypony Chrysalis fools as well as Chrysalis herself and Twilight much better than Chrysalis ever does.
  • In the 13th chapter, things start falling out of Jewelius' hooves when both the heroes and Changelings are on the loose. However, when the heroes rush to the medical wing to rescue Cadance, he's still able to get there first with Vivian who subdues the heroes. Jewelius then decides to adapt to this unexpected turn by killing Cadance and framing the "crazed" heroes for it. If not for the fact that Cadance had just managed to free herself, Jewelius would have likely succeeded with this idea, possibly undoing Celestia's success in dispelling the hatred of Twilight and Canterlot's citizens towards her just moments ago. While completely open about his Smug Snake status now, he's still clever enough to come up with such an ingenious change of plans.
• When Fluttershy is cornered by Garble's friends Clump and Baff in the arena, she briefly imagines them as Queen Chrysalis. Turning from fearful into enraged, she bucks Clump twenty feet backwards. Realizing he's screwed, Baff attempts to escape, but Fluttershy catches him by the tail, slams him three times against the ground, and spins him around in the air before throwing him on top of Clump. Just as Rainbow Dash boasted to Garble, the timid Fluttershy can be one of the bravest ponies when she needs to be.
  Fluttershy: Sorry, but you two reminded me of somepony I hate.
  • Garble becomes dumbstruck from witnessing this, and Rainbow Dash uses her Sonic Rainboom to slam him painfully against the ground.
• As soon as Spike removes Jewelius' muzzle from Rarity's snout, the first thing she does (discounting her hugging Spike in thanks) is to go to the imprisoned Diamond Dogs and give them a new taste of the medicine which caused them to give up on her the first time they met. Ten minutes later, she returns to the other heroes, deeply satisfied with herself, while the traumatized Diamond Dogs shake in fetal positions.
• Without hesitation, the princesses, Shining Armor, and the rest of Twilight's friends all agree to return to Canterlot and save Twilight from a possible Changeling attack. Even though Jewelius has branded them as traitors, and they might very well be heading into a trap as Luna (correctly) points out, they all want to keep Twilight safe and are determined to make up for the way they failed her as well as Canterlot's citizens.
• When Hildread attempts to demoralize the Mane Five into giving themselves over, it works… until Fluttershy notices the chandelier hanging above. She tells Hildread where to shove her taunts before she flies above to kick the chandelier's chain, dropping the entire thing onto Hildread and the guards.
  Hildread: To think, Twilight Sparkle considered you all her best friends. What kind of pony would risk everything she cares about for the sake of her worthless, pathetic, annoying so-called friends?!
  Fluttershy: Twilight would!
• Though a big Tear Jerker, the "The Reason You Suck" Speech Twilight gives her friends, brother and mentor in the tenth chapter is satisfying for those who hated the way they treated her at the wedding rehearsal and want her to repay in kind. What triggers this outlash is that Cadance just became injured, and Twilight, distraught for her former foalsitter's sake, mistakenly believes it's her former loved ones' fault. At the end of her rant, she imprisons them in a magic dome and leaves them at Hildread's mercy to check on Cadance the same way they abandoned her to check on the "distraught" Chrysalis, using the same parting words Shining Armor, Applejack and Celestia used back then.
  Shining Armor: Twily-
  Twilight: And you can forget about me calling you my BBBFF anymore! In fact, I don't even have a brother. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go check on the princess.
  Celestia: Twilight, I-
  Twilight: You have a lot to think about.
• In the 12th chapter, Celestia chooses to face the gallows without resistance or pleading to deaf ears. Accepting that Jewelius' grip on everypony is too strong and that her former subjects and student have lost all faith in her, she uses her last words to tell Twilight and everypony else how sorry she is for failing them and raises the sun one more time. The previously angry crowd and jaded Twilight are so touched by Celestia's sincere remorse that they start protesting against having her hanged. The Mane Five, Spike and Shining Armor just failed with their pleading to convince anypony that Celestia's hanging was wrong, but Celestia herself manages to do that simply by taking full responsibility over her mistakes. Let that sink in.
  • Before Celestia can be strangled by the rope, Luna severs it with a magic blast and reveals herself from the crowd while using her Royal Canterlot voice.
    Luna: This party is over!
• In the 13th chapter, Twilight battles the escaped Queen Chrysalis. Now that the Changeling queen doesn't have the power-boost she gained from feeding off Shining Armor's love for Cadance, she's outmatched by Twilight.
  • When Twilight speaks highly about Jewelius, Chrysalis mockingly tells her the same thing the disgraced heroes tried to tell her in the previous chapter: Jewelius at first collaborated with Chrysalis before betraying her, is using Twilight to his advantage, and is likely trying to kill Cadance now. As much as Twilight doesn't want to believe Chrysalis, the latter's words fill her with doubt. When she runs to the medical wing after the Changelings use their chance to bolt before she can shrink them again, everything she witnesses there leaves her doubting Jewelius for the first time.
• While she spends most of the story in the background due to Jewelius taking center stage and betraying her, Queen Chrysalis proves herself to be just as conniving as she is in canon.
  • She is able to escape from captivity due to the guard getting too close to her cell.
  • Her above-mentioned act of planting seeds of doubt in Twilight's mind concerning Jewelius ultimately leads to Twilight having her Jerkass Realization.
  • Finally, she has a Changeling spy (who's disguised as Raven Inkwell) help Twilight free her captive parents, obtain the Elements of Harmony, and escape from Canterlot so that when Jewelius is defeated and cornered by the heroes, she and her minions can take her revenge on him for his betrayal.
• Just as the heroes are petrified by Vivian and the smug Jewelius is about to enter the medical wing to kill Cadance and frame the heroes for it, he finds Cadance sitting free on the hospital bed, levitating in the air two of Jewelius' doctors, and giving an angry Death Glare toward her rotten cousin. After knocking out the doctors, she blasts Jewelius, sending him flying onto Vivian, and breaking the latter's petrifying spell.
  Cadance: That was for ruining my wedding!
• Speaking of Cadence, she convinces a low-spirited Celestia (along with the rest of the heroes) to remain hopeful that Twilight will come around and help them defeat Jewelius.
• The Final Battle of the 18th chapter has several examples.
  • Vivian forces the super-fast Rainbow Dash to dodge multiple magic beams before one of them injures Dash's right wing, forcing her to descend. Dash has to goad Vivian into making a Motive Rant, giving her the chance to take the unicorn by surprise and knock her unconscious by kicking her face.
  • Hildread gains the upper hoof against Shining Armor, but before she can give the final blow, Twilight tackles her. In retaliation, Hildread tries to strike Twilight with her razor-sharp metal wing. Shining Armor blocks the strike in time by engulfing his sister with a force field, and Hildread's wing shatters upon striking it.
    Shining Armor: Don't you dare harm my LSBFF!
    • Hildread is then forced backwards by the expanding force field, and Rainbow Dash — who has just won Vivian — incapacitates her with a hoof to the jaw.
      Rainbow Dash: YEAH! How's THAT for 'false idols'?!
  • Spike gets one by preventing Jewelius from escaping in his chariot. How does he do that? By jamming one of the wheels with the wedding cake toppers Jewelius himself sent the exiled dragon just to taunt him.
  • Immediately after the previous example, all the heroes surround Jewelius who resorts to making pathetic excuses and promises so that the heroes will spare him. This only manages to make them even angrier. After all of the torment he inflicted upon the heroes throughout the story, it's satisfying to see him grovelling before them just as the Mane Five did when he sentenced them to slavery.
  • Just as Jewelius is surrounded by the heroes, Chrysalis appears with her Changelings. They give Jewelius his well-deserved end by eating him alive much the same way Scar is eaten by the hyenas.
    Jewelius: Chrysalis, my love, please help me! Destroy them and we'll rule Equestria as promised!
    Chrysalis: My love?! I thought you said I was a 'despicable animal'. You may not have any love for us to feed on, but we'll just have to settle on everything else. Feed on this despicable excuse of a pony, my subjects!

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