Recap / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S6 E6 "No Second Prances"

Silly Starlight, Trix are for... oh, wait a minute.

"Please, Twilight! I know you're trying to help, but I need to make friends on my own if I'm going to become a better pony."

— Starlight Glimmer

Written by Nick Confalone

Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer are busily setting a table in the castle for a dinner with Princess Celestia that night. Starlight is surprised to see that Twilight has laid out four places at the table; the latter explains that, as a test, she wants Starlight to go to Ponyville and make a new friend to invite to to the meal. A nervous Starlight heads to town, where the rest of the Mane Six try to help her befriend various other ponies, only to run into trouble: Pinkie Pie introduces her to Mrs. Cake, and an overeager Starlight accidentally outdoes the baker with her magic; Applejack suggests Big Macintosh, only for Starlight to turn him into an uncontrollable Motor Mouth with a spell; Rarity promises to make Starlight a new outfit to help her find friends — a process that will take three weeks; Rainbow Dash goes to get Spitfire of the Wonderbolts, but Starlight shocks the speedy pony by admitting she's never heard of them; and finally, Starlight meets Angel Bunny (who loves her), but realizes that he doesn't really count. Determined not to let stress scare off other ponies further, Starlight decides to head to the spa for a quick facial to calm down. While there, she complains aloud about her situation, and another pony in a mud mask chimes in, admitting that she's struggled with people judging her for past actions as well. Starlight eagerly rushes to the castle to show off her new friend to Twilight, describing her as "great and powerful" — and that's when Trixie walks through the door with a smirk on her face.

Twilight is immediately distrustful of Trixie's intentions, but Trixie says she's only in Ponyville on tour with her new magic show. Starlight points out that Twilight said she could choose any pony as her friend, and the latter reluctantly lets the two continue spending time together. As Trixie sets up for her magic show with Starlight's help, other ponies come by and make it clear that they remember Trixie's cruel actions from the last time she was in Ponyville. The magician complains about the difficulty of getting second chances from others, and Starlight agrees, strengthening the bond between the two. When they go to unload Trixie's wagon, Starlight is surprised to see Twilight spying on her from a nearby bush. Twilight tries to get Starlight to consider choosing someone else, including DJ Pon-3, Derpy Hooves, and Cranky Doodle Donkey, to be her guest at the dinner; an angry Starlight accuses Twilight of not trusting her and runs off to help Trixie. She brings up the tension between the alicorn and the magician, with Trixie admitting that most of her actions toward Twilight were Driven by Envy — Twilight is so good at everything that Trixie is compelled to find just one thing to do better. Starlight points out that Trixie is an excellent stage magician, and the latter admits that she's not skilled enough to perform a trick perfected by the great Hoofdini: the "Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive," which involves shooting oneself out of a cannon directly into the mouth of a hungry manticore, only to appear unharmed in a box nearby. Starlight offers to become Trixie's assistant and use a teleportation spell to help with the trick, but then realizes that she can't perform in the show that night because of her dinner, and is visibly upset when Trixie laments this fact.

At the dinner, Twilight nervously introduces DJ Pon-3, Derpy Hooves, and Cranky Doodle Donkey to an annoyed Celestia, with Starlight nowhere to be seen. The alicorn runs into town to find her pupil, and discovers her helping Trixie prep for her show. While Twilight and Starlight fight, Trixie brags that the latter chose to help her with the show as opposed to attending the dinner with Celestia, and she has therefore finally beaten Twilight at something. A shocked Starlight asks if Trixie just befriended her to get back at Twilight, and in the heat of the moment, the magician agrees, though she quickly explains that she has developed a genuine connection with her. Starlight runs out in tears, and Twilight is prepared to give Trixie a tongue-lashing — only to discover Trixie crying herself as she claims that she's in no way at all upset for losing her first friend ever. Later, a decidedly less-than-enthused Trixie introduces the Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive while Starlight watches from a nearby hill. Twilight approaches her pupil and admits that she was wrong to try to control Starlight, suggesting that she give Trixie a second chance. At the last second, Starlight rushes backstage and warps Trixie from the manticore's mouth, completing the trick to a thrilled audience. Backstage, Twilight sincerely compliments Trixie on a job well done, and the magician admits that she couldn't have done it without her "great and powerful assistant... and best friend" Starlight. All has ended happily... except for the dinner party, where Celestia is still waiting for Twilight and growing increasingly frustrated by Cranky's invasive questions.

Cue credits music in the style of a Scott Joplin piano rag.

---

Tropes:

• Added Alliterative Appeal: During his magically-induced Motor Mouth moment, Big Mac recounts "Annie Apple awoke and accidentally ate an auburn azalea."
• Aesop Amnesia:
  • This isn't the first time Twilight doesn't trust an unreliable former bad guy, to the point of fouling up the latter's attempts to make friends. (Two unreliable ex-villains in this case — Trixie being the less reliable, if how she addresses Twilight is any indication.)
  • Twilight isn't quite as forgiving of Trixie as she thinks she is.
  • Trixie, in turn, doesn't seem particularly grateful for being freed from the Alicorn Amulet in their last encounter.
  • Twilight has also forgotten the advice Spike told her at the end of the Crystaling fiasco about letting your students have their space to make decisions for themselves. When she eventually re-learns it, she even tells Starlight this word for word near the end of the episode.
  • It's implied Fluttershy was scared of the Manticore though in the pilot she was the only member of the Mane Six not to be afraid of "Manny Roar". According to the show staff she was actually horrified at seeing it chained up.invoked
• Alliterative Name: The trick that Trixie wants to perform is the Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive.
• Always Someone Better: Why Trixie is so frustrated with Twilight; she feels like Twilight is better than her at everything.
• And I Must Scream: Inverted in practice, but played straight in spirit. Starlight casts a spell on Big Macintosh to make him more talkative, much to his horror. He even yells, "Make it stop!" when he realizes he can't do anything about it.
• Art Evolution:
  • Though Trixie's design was already subtly non-standard when she debuted (she has one highlight in each eye rather than the standard two), this episode gives her a slight increase in uniqueness, with less-detailed irises and a long horn that matches Twilight's.
  • The manticore seen in Trixie's show differs in appearance from the one seen in "Friendship Is Magic, part 2", in that it has shorter ears, bushier eyebrows, and a pair of horns (although it may just be a form of subspecies or sexual dimorphism).
  • Rainbow Dash's "freakout face" really stands out for being so detailed and expressive.
• Artistic License – Biology: Trixie wouldn't be able to wear her cannonball helmet at all without having a hole in it for her unicorn horn. But given the way it still fits on her head, it seems to be making her horn bend into the helmet which is not a good thing as unicorn horns would not even be that flexible.
• Art Shift: Trixie's pastel poster almost looks psychedelic the way it clashes with the rest of the background.
• The Atoner: Trixie realizes what her manipulation has brought her, and apologizes to Starlight.
• Be All My Sins Remembered: Trixie and Starlight engage in some Heroic Self-Deprecation about their pasts as villains.
• Becoming the Mask: Trixie really found herself liking Starlight, despite originally approaching her to show up Twilight.
• Big Sister Instinct: Twilight feels the need to be protective of Starlight from being influenced by Trixie and later, when Trixie and Starlight have a falling out, she tells Starlight that she should make up with Trixie.
• Both Sides Have a Point: More like three sides, but Twilight, Starlight, and Trixie each had their own reasons for behaving as they did in this episode, and none of them were completely right or wrong.
  • Twilight shouldn't have been so controlling over Starlight, but her reasons for not trusting Trixie were well-founded, and were proven to be true. (And there are reasons for keeping Starlight Glimmer on a short leash as well.)
  • Starlight was right about Twilight not trusting her judgment or her friends, but she was wrong to blow her off without telling her and brag about it before being caught.
  • Trixie was right about others not completely forgiving her or trusting her even when she tried to change; but her behavior towards Twilight shows just why it is that she doesn't get much trust. She and Starlight connected spontaneously at first, but Trixie immediately turned it into a plot to get back at Twilight — and then blurted that out out right in front of Starlight Glimmer.
• Buffy Speak: According to Rainbow, Spitfire is the only "Wonderbolt-iest pony in the Wonderbolts."
• The Bus Came Back:
  • After a rather lengthy absence from the series, not counting the appearance of her counterpart in the Equestria Girls films, and a background appearance in last season's finale, the Great and Powerful Trixie returns in a major role, then promptly leaves again. Justified because she is still a traveling magician living out of her wagon.
  • Manticores haven't been mentioned since the second half of the series premiere.
• Call-Back:
  • When Trixie mentions her wagon is messy after spending a long time on the road, Starlight responds with:
    Starlight: Maybe I can help? I'm pretty good at organizing things. Magic props, brainwashed crowds...
  • When Starlight tells Trixie that she is better at magic. Trixie's response?
    Trixie: Only when I'm wearing a soul-sucking evil amulet.
• Captain Obvious: "And the knives... are sharp! Always be careful with knives!" Really, Twilight? Starlight might think they are soft as feathers and touch them.
• Cartesian Karma: The sole truly evil things Trixie has ever done were while she was under the influence of the Alicorn Amulet, which turned her into a megalomaniac. Nonetheless, the inhabitants of Ponyville (including Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship herself) are still distrustful of her despite the regrets she expressed.
• Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: Rarity magically dresses behind a privacy screen while saying one sentence.
• Cloudcuckoolander: When you first hear Twilight saying she found a friend for Starlight, you almost think it's going to be something imaginary or a Companion Cube... The way DJ Pon-3 is lost in the music, there isn't much of a difference.
• Comedic Sociopathy: Starlight still has a bit to learn about boundaries and ethics regarding the use of her powers.
• Commonality Connection: The first pony Starlight is able to bond with on her own is a stranger she meets at the spa, and they bond over their respective troubled pasts.
  Starlight: [to Trixie] You're the first pony I've met who has any idea how I feel!
• Continuity Nod:
  • Bulk Biceps is still working at the spa as seen in "Castle Sweet Castle".
  • Cranky still has his new toupee from Steven Magnet that he got in "Slice of Life".
  • DJ Pon-3 listens to the cello dubstep that she and Octavia made.
  • Another manticore appears in the show.
• Cringe Comedy: Twilight embarrassingly trying to sustain the conversation at the dinner with an annoyed Princess Celestia and three oblivious guests is quite cringe-worthy.
• Crossing the Burnt Bridge: "The Humble and Penitent Trixie's Equestrian Apology Tour".
• Cucumber Facial: Both Starlight and Trixie meet at the spa while having a facial with cucumbers. Starlight is aiming at reducing her stress from not making any new friends. The mud mask and towel around the head temporarily hide Trixie's identity.
• Deadpan Snarker: It's a side of Starlight's personality that is only beginning to show up in season 6, but she can be both very snarky and very deadpan in her delivery, like when saying hello to Twilight's "bush friend".
  Starlight Glimmer: [to Twilight] Great. Thanks for asking in a completely not creepy way.
• Death Glare: Applejack gives a scathing glare to Starlight after she uses a spell to talk eloquently on Big Macintosh and causes him to freak out. Never mess with the Apple family, indeed.
• Didn't See That Coming: Starlight is surprised that the new friend she met at the spa is someone that Twilight has an unpleasant history with.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: When Trixie reveals that she originally only talked to Starlight to get back at Twilight, she tries to recover, only to say that she really felt a genuine connection after using Starlight — and then adding in that "beating Twilight Sparkle is a bonus!". Trixie, for her part, recognizes that she's only making herself sound worse.
• The Dissenter Is Always Right: Twilight disapproves of Starlight befriending another former bad-pony, the Great and Powerful Trixie, suspecting that Trixie might be manipulating Starlight for her own ends. Starlight eventually gets fed up with Twilight's meddling and calls her out on being so suspicious of Trixie. Twilight is suitable ashamed—and then Trixie lets slip that she really did just befriend Starlight for the sole purpose of getting back at Twilight. (Although she grew to genuinely appreciate her bond with Starlight.) It's an odd case where Twilight the dissenter is both right and wrong: Twilight still apologizes to Starlight for trying so hard to control her, while Trixie apologizes to Starlight for living down to Twilight's low expectations of her.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: At least two examples:
  • Twilight's suspicious behavior towards Trixie makes her look like a helicopter-parent that doesn't want her daughter to fall in with a bad crowd.
  • The reaction by Mrs. Cake to Starlight's cake, where she rants about the fact that it's better than her's but made in a fraction of the time comes across as a joke that wouldn't be out of place in South Park.
• Double Standard: Starlight is upset at Twilight for not accepting Trixie and trying to hinder their friendship, but doesn't mind what Trixie originally did to provoke such treatment in the first place.
• Driven by Envy: Slightly; Trixie reveals to Starlight that she's jealous of Twilight becoming a princess and eventually reveals she was using Starlight to show up Twilight but did come to like having Starlight as a friend. When her actions were eventually revealed, she tries to put on the usual bravado but it's clear she knows what she did was wrong and that it (almost) cost her a genuine friendship.
• Dude, Not Funny!: When Twilight instructs her to make a new friend, Starlight jokingly suggests magically enslaving the citizens of Ponyville and forcing them to be her friends. Twilight is not amused, and immediately chastises her for it. Though later Starlight and Trixie are able to share a laugh over the same joke.
• Easily Forgiven: Averted — Twilight is very distrustful of Trixie, and as an unfortunate result, doesn't trust Starlight either. This leads to the both of them angrily telling Twilight off. Played straight in that Starlight comes to Trixie's rescue near the end of her act after Twilight convinces her to give her a second chance.
• Eaten Alive: The climax of Trixie's new show, the Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive, has the magician appear to be this, only to show up unhurt. Trixie mentions it's only been done once before by Hoofdini, and notes that even she lacks the magical prowess to pull it off without assistance.
• Face Palm:
  • Starlight facehoofs upon noticing that she offered to help Trixie with her spectacle tonight, just at the same time she's supposed to have dinner with Twilight and Celestia.
  • Trixie facehoofs when she realizes she's been digging herself deeper by saying that beating Twilight is just a bonus.
• Faint in Shock: Fluttershy faints when it looks like Trixie has gotten herself eaten by the manticore.
• First Friend: The reason Trixie takes being "back to a solo show" so hard is because Starlight was the first friend she ever had.
• Freak Out:
  • Big Mac, after Starlight causes him to speak more than usual with her magic.
  • Starlight has a minor one when her initial attempts at making friends go bust.
• Gratuitous Foreign Language: Trixie's ad posters appear to be written (somewhat illegibly) with Greek letters.
• The Great Whodini: Equestria has an equivalent to Harry Houdini in "The Great Hoofdini", who is Trixie's biggest inspiration.
• Heart Symbol: Angel Bunny, of all critters, seems to like Starlight enough to produce plenty of little pink hearts.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Twilight is worried that Trixie may be up to her old tricks. While Trixie is a bit Heel-ish, her intentions with Starlight did eventually turn genuine.
• Human Cannonball: The "Moonshot" part of the Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive involves a pony being shot out of a circus cannon.
• Hypocrite: Trixie is well-aware that Twilight hasn't really forgiven her, despite claims to the contrary, and needles her about it. When Twilight finally admits outright she considers Trixie a Toxic Friend Influence, Trixie excitedly shouts, "Ah-ha!"
• Hypocrite Has a Point: Twilight is definitely being hypocritical for forgiving Starlight but not Trixie. Yet, she may be correct on how both of their past history of evil could lead to a Toxic Friend Influence, and is rather inclined to believe Trixie is still a jerk given the first thing she does upon reunion is engage in Passive-Aggressive Kombat with Twilight. Indeed, it turns out that Trixie initially became friends with Starlight to get back at Twilight.
• Iconic Outfit: Trixie reintroduces herself to Twilight wearing the same Robe and Wizard Hat from her previous appearances.
• Implausible Deniability:
  • Twilight specifically denies remembering who said what when Starlight brought Trixie to the castle. Starlight doesn't buy it for a minute.
  • After chasing off Starlight, Trixie tries to go into her usual bravado claiming to Twilight she was glad to be rid of Starlight. Though her breaking tone and eyes welling up with tears say otherwise.
    Trixie: Thank you, Princess Twilight, for getting rid of that annoying pony who wanted to be my first friend. I am NOT sad at all. I definitely don't feel like my heart is breaking into a million pieces!
• Impossibly Awesome Magic Trick: The Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive, wherein a magician shoots themselves out of a cannon into a manticore's mouth and gets swallowed whole, only to reappear in a nearby box, unhurt. Averted in Trixie's execution, as Starlight Glimmer's genuine (and very powerful) magic is used, but ambiguously played straight by Hoofdini. Hoofdini gets extra points for the fact that his performance has the manticore chewing, while Trixie's swallows her whole.
• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Twilight's pretext for walking out from the dinner with Celestia and her guests, to go looking for Starlight Glimmer, isn't too convincing.
  Twilight Sparkle: If you'll excuse me, I need to check the kitchen. Maybe she got lost among the... uh... ARTICHOKES!
• Irony: What do Starlight and Trixie have in common? A lot. They feel like misunderstood outcasts among the residents of Ponyville and each of them swore to take their own personal revenge on Twilight Sparkle because they were still stuck in the past with their anger and hate towards her... even though Starlight and Trixie were the ones who had transgressed against Twilight Sparkle first.
• "Just Joking" Justification: The Cold Open ends with Starlight giving one of these.
  Starlight: New friends? Hey, maybe I'll just force friendships by magically enslaving the entire population of Ponyville!
  Twilight: Starlight!
  Starlight: Kidding! [nervous laugh]
• The Klutz: Derpy is back in true form, flying into a sign.
• Lampshade Hanging: During The Stinger, Cranky Doodle asks Princess Celestia how she gets her hair to constantly move and wave. Celestia lets out an annoyed sigh.
• Large Ham: Trixie, as usual, hams it up a bit, mostly in Twilight's castle. Her ham noticeably tones down while she's depressed onstage.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Starlight can be a little quick on the draw with her magic here, like at the beginning where Twilight is trying to tell her to set the table without it, only for her to hear "set the table" and magic the silverware into place.
• Meaningful Echo: When Trixie first sees Twilight again, she sneeringly calls her "princess". At the end of the episode, when Twilight congratulates her on her show, Trixie takes off her hat and genuinely uses the title out of respect and thanks.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: Trixie manages to keep Starlight from going to Twilight's dinner with Celestia and cites it as a victory over Twilight since Starlight chose to help her instead. But after Starlight runs off crying, Trixie realizes that her "win" is meaningless if it costs her a genuine friendship.
• Metaphorgotten: Twilight starts off with the plate being a pony's head, and the spoon the heart. When she tries to make a metaphor about knives, she goes into Captain Obvious territory.
  Twilight Sparkle: And the knives... are sharp! Always be careful with knives!
• Mobile Shrubbery: Twilight tails Trixie and Starlight using a shrub she moves with her. She also hides DJ Pon-3 in another shrub.
• Mondegreen Gag: Cranky mishears "Starlight Glimmer" as "nosehair trimmers".
• Monochrome Past: Trixie's flashback of Hoofdini is done as a black-and-white film reel.
• Motor Mouth: Starlight invokes this on Big Macintosh with a magical spell. It freaks him out and Applejack isn't pleased one bit.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Trixie is overcome with regret and self-loathing when she realizes her petty scheming cost her the first real friend she ever had, which leads to Twilight Sparkle herself realizing her mistrust of Starlight and Trixie is actually hurting them, and preventing Starlight's growth as her student.
• Naïve Newcomer: Starlight Glimmer is definitely new to Ponyville, and it shows. That, combined with her lack of any social skills, gives her a hard time making new friends with the Ponyville citizens.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Hoofdini, a reference to Harry Houdini.
• Non Sequitur, *Thud*: Trixie gives one when she reappears inside the magic box after completing the magic trick, and then faints.
  Trixie: Behold, the Pate and Growerful Triskie!
• No Social Skills: Starlight Glimmer's social awkwardness is in full display. She doesn't know who the Wonderbolts are, which freaks out Rainbow Dash, and she scares Big Macintosh away by casting a magic spell on him that turns him into a Motor Mouth. Her reason? She can't converse with a pony who doesn't talk much. The only one she manages to get along with is Angel Bunny.
• Not Helping Your Case: Trixie wasn't exactly putting in a lot of effort to appear non-antagonistic to Twilight.
• Not So Above It All: Celestia is clearly annoyed at being left alone with Derpy Hooves, DJ Pon-3 and Cranky Doodle, especially when Cranky asks how her mane keeps flowing.
• Oh, Crap!: The moment Starlight describes her new friend as "great" and "powerful", Twilight looks worried about where this is going.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: For a brief moment under the Talking Spell, Big Macintosh sounds like Time Turner. Maybe it's a side-effect of Starlight's spell.
• Parrot Exposition:
  Starlight: Twilight, guess what! I made a new friend.
  Twilight: That's fantastic news!
  Starlight: She's great!
  Twilight: [happy] Great!
  Starlight: She's powerful!
  Twilight: [concerned] Powerful?
• Pick a Card: The floor of Trixie's wagon is littered with many cards, all of them aces, implying she cheats when she performs this trick.
• Pie in the Face: Starlight accidentally drops the big cake she created through magic on top of Mrs. Cake. Pinkie Pie can't resist tasting it nonetheless, and says it's delicious.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Starlight has never heard of Equestria's premiere aerial team.
  Starlight Glimmer: I guess my first question would be "What's a Wonderbolt?"
  Rainbow Dash: Gasp!! You've never heard of the Wonderbolts? Where have you been??
  Starlight Glimmer: [mirthless laughter] Enslaving villages, I guess.
• Properly Paranoid: Twilight is right to be suspicious; Trixie really is using her friendship with Starlight to show her up, at least at first.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: Deconstructed. Twilight is distrustful of Trixie for her past wrongdoing despite having forgiven Starlight for far worse. Starlight calls Twilight out for how unfair this is and starts to doubt the genuineness of her own forgiveness. Despite their concerns about Trixie proving correct, Twilight realizes it still unfairly hurt Starlight and Trixie by damaging the redeeming relationship they developed and immediately help them reconcile and apologizes.
• Pun-Based Title: On the phrase "no second chances."
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: A key factor for Twilight's distrust of Trixie is that, while she did undergo a Heel–Face Turn to some degree, she still kind of acts like a low key Jerkass, with her and Twilight's first interaction upon The Reveal being extremely passive aggressive. The first time Trixie demonstrates sincere humility for hurting Starlight leads to Twilight taking her redemption at face value.
• Reformed, but Rejected: Starlight's overriding fear is that everypony is secretly judging her for her past and not giving her a fair shake. That doesn't actually occur with those ponies she approaches before meeting Trixie, but her nervousness and stress over the idea cause her to make unpleasant mistakes. Trixie also says she suffers this a lot; we even see a few ponies whispering while looking at her just to demonstrate it's not a lie.
• Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: Trixie and Starlight never divulge their villainous pasts to each other in full; instead, they bring up details in bits and pieces, with remarkable and maybe unsettling casualness.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: After Starlight reveals she doesn't know who the Wonderbolts are, a shocked Rainbow Dash goes into this exchange:
  Rainbow Dash: Where have you been all this time?
  Starlight Glimmer: Enslaving villages, I guess.
• Rule of Three:
  • Trixie's long title Running Gag is used three times.
  • Twilight tries introducing Starlight to three different characters (DJ Pon-3, Derpy Hooves, and Cranky Doodle Donkey) to make friends with instead of Trixie. Twilight eventually invites all three of them to dinner.
• Rummage Sale Reject: When Starlight tells Rarity she needs a new outfit by tonight, Rarity suggests a hat from the clearance bin. Starlight tries one on and promptly declines.
• Running Gag: Trixie saying that the long title of her new show is "a working title".
• Saying Too Much: Trixie when she accidentally lets slip the reason she originally tried to befriend Starlight was to use her to finally upstage Twilight at something.
• Self-Deprecation:
  • Trixie when she starts her show after her manipulation is revealed to Starlight.
    Trixie: [in an un-enthused tone] Come one, come all. Come and see the pathetic and friendless Trixie's "Way-To-Go-Dumb-Dumb-You-Really-Messed-It-Up-This-Time" Repentance Tour.
    [crowd murmurs in confusion]
    Trixie: It's a working title!
  • Starlight engages in this almost constantly throughout the episode, nonchalantly making joking remarks about her past transgressions.
• Shout-Out
  • The poster for Trixie's new spectacle is inspired by a 1921 magic show advertisement poster.
  • For that matter, the ball Trixie holds in the poster looks almost exactly like a Dragon Ball.
  • Fans are saying that the animators took notes from PONY.MOV when they made Rainbow Dash's "freakout face", which is much too expressive and similar to what you find in the aforementioned video series to be a mere coincidence.
• Something We Forgot: At the end of the episode, we see Celestia, Cranky, DJ Pon-3 and Derpy still at the dinner waiting for Twilight to get back.
• Stealth Pun:
  • On excitedly saying "Spitfire!", Rainbow Dash accidentally spits in Starlight's face.
  • Trixie Lulamoon, a pony with a crescent moon cutie mark, performs the Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive.
• Super-Speed: Rainbow Dash again demonstrates her ludicrous flying speed, breaking the sound barrier to go find Spitfire. This is the first time we see her do this without generating a Rainboom so she must be getting better.

• Technically a Smile: The "grin" Twilight puts on when Trixie quotes her Exact Words on her. It's obviously forced and doesn't alter her still-frowning eyes.
• Teleportation Sickness: Starlight's teleportation spell to save Trixie from the manticore's gullet works, but it leaves Trixie frizzled, dizzy and feeling faint.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Trixie's breakdown over losing her first friend proves to Twilight that she has started to learn how to be a nicer pony. Trixie further demonstrates this by doffing her hat to Twilight and sincerely thanking her for a compliment.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Twilight fears that Trixie will harm Starlight's on-going reformation, and she's right. Trixie manipulates Starlight into being her assistant instead of going to Twilight's dinner just so she can one-up Twilight in something.
• Trailers Always Spoil: From the first preview clip for the episode, it's clear that the "fellow formerly-bad pony" mentioned in the synopsis is Trixie.
• Traitor Shot: Trixie's scene at the castle is loaded with them. She seems to be deliberately invoking it just to mess with Twilight.
• Troll: Trixie turns several of Twilight's cutlery and napkins into a sculpture of herself, clearly just to tick Twilight off. Trixie's friendship with Starlight as a whole prioritizes this over being a good friend, befriending Starlight in order to rub it in Twilight's face as the main goal. Unfortunately, Starlight is deeply burnt by Trixie's selfishness when the truth comes out and Trixie realizes Starlight was taking their friendship seriously when she was not, which brings about genuine change at the end of the episode.
• Tsundere: Trixie is a classic Harsh type, outwardly boastful and haughty, inwardly friendly and insecure, and using the former to cover up the latter.
• Twinkle Smile: While Twilight is talking in hushed tones to Starlight, Trixie gives them a wide smile that actually twinkles. Her expression is not reassuring at all.
• Understatement: Starlight tells Trixie she used to be "a tiny bit... [Beat] completely and utterly evil."
• Ungrateful Bitch: Even though Twilight saved Trixie from the Alicorn Amulet's corrupting influence in "Magic Duel", Trixie admits still being jealous of her, and has no problem going ahead with her scheme to "one-up" Twilight by stealing her student from her.
• The Unreveal: We never do hear Celestia answer Cranky's question about why her mane always moves the way it does.
• The Unsmile: As Trixie expresses her "gratitude" to Twilight for reforming her, the two both exchange very forced and snide grins.
• Villainous BSoD: After her manipulation is revealed, Trixie realizes her manipulation cost her a genuine friendship with Starlight. Thus, when she does her show, she has virtually no drive in doing her magical act which almost gets her eaten. Luckily Starlight has came back, with some prompting from Twilight, to save her which (hopefully) leads to a genuine Heel–Face Turn.

• Was It Really Worth It?: When Trixie reveals she was just using Starlight and sees her run off crying. Twilight tells her she "won" and hopes she's happy with herself. It's pretty obvious Trixie finds her little victory very hollow.
• Watch Out for That Tree!: Derpy gets distracted by waving at Twilight while flying, and smashes her muzzle against a hanging sign.
• Wham Shot: The return of Trixie.
  Trixie: Hello, Princess.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Starlight's attempts at making friends. In particular, she breaks out the magical manipulation again to make Big Macintosh a Motor Mouth. Is this cause for alarm? This is the sort of stuff she used to do, but she has no experience making friends, and hardly any experience interacting with ponies at all without manipulating them.

• You Taste Delicious: Pinkie Pie manages a completely platonic example, eating some of Starlight's cake off of Mrs. Cake's head.

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