Hitch goes to increasingly desperate lengths to protect Maretime Bay from out-of-control magic. Meanwhile, Izzy babysits Sparky.
Tropes:
- Bad Liar: Hitch lamely tries to deny that magic makes him nervous, because he doesn't want to deny it to the Earth ponies so soon after they gained it.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: When Sparky's antics get a tomato impaled on Izzy's horn, she tells him not to do that again... unless she's around to film it.
- Badly Battered Babysitter: Subverted. Hitch suffers Amusing Injuries from Sparky's antics, while Izzy just lets him do whatever and watches.
- Covered in Gunge: Hitch and his friends wind up covered in berry goo from the giant berries Sprout accidentally magics up.
- Disaster Dominoes: Sparky knocks over a broom which causes a series of improbable accidents leading to a tomato landing right on Izzy's horn.
- Exact Words: Sunny asks Hitch not to do anything drastic when trying to deal with wild earth pony magic, and he promises to think about it. Then he decides to temporarily ban all earth pony magic, and when she reminds him of what she asked, he repeats that he said he'd think about it.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: Among Hitch's video instructions for taking care of Sparky is a warning to not let him eat before sleeping, or sleep before eating.
- Indy Escape: Played for laughs with the giant berries Sprout accidentally conjures, which roll down the hill and inevitably splatter Hitch with goo.
- Irony: After accidentally covering herself with flowers, Dahlia confesses that she's allergic to gardenias.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Sprout makes his first full appearance since A New Generation, and he is shown to now be doing community service, presumably as punishment for his actions in the film.
- Laughing at Your Own Jokes: Sunny does this twice:
- After seeing Hitch covered in Glimmerberry juice, she jokes that it must have "made a real impact" and laughs.
- She laughs against after noting that the Mane Five, splattered with juice, are a "friendship smoothie".
- Literal-Minded: Pipp tells Hitch that there's a berry rolling in from 6 o'clock (behind him).Hitch: But it's only 2:15.
- Lost in Transmission: Twilight Sparkle's message tries to warn about Opaline, but glitches when she tries to mention Opaline's name.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Hitch stops himself just before trying to remove the Earth pony crystal, realising that he's going too far.
- Narcissist: While complaining about Sunny hardly using the compact Misty gave her, Opaline remarks that if it were her, she'd be admiring her pout every minute on the minute.
- Oh, Crap!: Hitch is horrified when the Pippsqueaks admit that Seashell was holding back in her use of Earth pony magic.
- The Power of Friendship: The Mane Five's unity not only unlocks Twilight's message, but creates a Together Tree to stop the giant glimmerberry.
- Power Incontinence: The Earth ponies have trouble controlling their magic, creating random vines and unintentionally giant food. It only gets worse when Hitch gets them to stop using it, as the power builds up until they can no longer stop themselves from using it.
- Rule of Three: A trio of fillies (one from each tribe) get caught up in a wild vine three times over the course of the episode. The first two are Played for Laughs, but the third time they're in real danger of being squashed by a giant runaway berry.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Sprout brags about how his magic is "probably the most powerful" in Maretime Bay.
- Sycophantic Servant: Misty.
- When Opaline brings up her pout, Misty claims that it is equal parts "chilling" and "charmy".
- When Misty tries to alert Opaline over the outbreak of Earth pony magic, Opaline initially (and irritably) believes Misty just wants to compliment her hooves again.Opaline: "Hooftastic" isn't a word, and I refuse to acknowledge it.
- The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Izzy consults Hitch's prerecorded guide on babysitting Sparky.Hitch: Don't let him do this all unsupervised.
Izzy: Even if he asks me to?
Hitch: Especially if he asks you to! - Tempting Fate: Hitch asks "What's the worst that could happen?" when he decides to be a little less stringent with Sparky. Cue Sparky sneezing and sending out a dragon fire wave that turns most of the objects in the station into balloons and other birthday party stuff.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In ordering the Earth ponies to not use their magic, Hitch inadvertently causes a build-up in the magic, which releases itself in uncontrollable bursts.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After seeing the error of his ways, Hitch starts to doubt that he can still be a good sheriff. Sunny is quick to assure that he'll always be a good sheriff.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Hitch tries to limit, ban and ultimately remove Earth Pony magic altogether because he sees it as a threat to the safety of Maretime Bay. He backs down at the last second and helps Sunny set up a community garden where Earth Ponies can practice plant magic safely.
- Wham Episode: Twilight is revealed to have created the Unity Crystals, and seemingly did so to keep Opaline from controlling all magic.
- Wham Shot:
- When the Mane Five gather in front of the Unity Crystals, their magic combines and reveals a message from none other than Twilight Sparkle.
- Sparky touches the tree that Hitch grew and his horns glow, with magic coursing from him into the tree, suggesting Sparky shares a related Green Thumb ability.
