YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S6 E25 "To Where and Back Again – Part 1"

• Broken Base: The premise of Starlight Glimmer leading a group of reformed villains to save the Mane Six and the Royal Family from the changelings. Some dislike how the most powerful ponies in Equestria were defeated offscreen without explanation fueling criticism of making other characters look bad or inept to make Starlight look undeservedly good. Others accept it as necessary for the entertaining high-stakes premise, "Part 2" giving possible handwave with the Power Nullifier, and/or there wasn't time to explain and explaining wouldn't make it any less unsatisfying.
• Fanfic Fuel: Trixie has a full list of what's wrong with the Mane Six. So many possibilities.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The changeling that was pretending to be Applejack was at one point seen eating a pear. An episode in the next season showed that Applejack and her siblings were related to pear farmers. Foreshadowing, anypony?
• I Knew It!:
  • Many fans predicted that the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits would include Trixie and Discord due to various tweets from the director and actor, respectively, suggesting they would be making return appearances in the season. Thorax was also a guess based on the recurring changeling element being built up in the season.
  • The return of an old villain suggested in the synopsis led many to conclude the appearance of Queen Chrysalis, as she was one of the few previous villains still at large and the changelings have had a presence previously in the season. They are proven right as Chrysalis has launched a larger plan to conquer Equestria, this time making sure the entire Royal Family and the Elements of Harmony are already out of the picture and replaced by impersonators like she had done with Cadance.
  • The changeling that replaced Applejack is eating a pear which proves that changelings aren't entirely dependent on love for sustenance and can consume foods as well.
  • Many fans assumed Trixie has peanut butter crackers as her Trademark Favourite Food like her human counterpart. Here, she mutters them in her sleep.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: The two-parter was criticized for being very similar to the plot of the first arc of the Friendship is Magic comic book, down to the changeling infiltration of Ponyville and a rescue mission into the Changeling Kingdom, with the main characters playing the role that was originally done by the Cutie Mark Crusaders in the comics, while Starlight and her group are the ones who set on a journey to save them.
• Memetic Mutation: The moment Trixie picks up her saddlebag with her mouth (and looking unspeakably cute when doing so). Fan-artists naturally exploited, and it came to be called "To Saddlbags and Back Again".
• Paranoia Fuel: The Mane Six, Spike, Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Shining Armor, Flurry Heart, and who-knows-how-many-other ponies have all been replaced by changelings, with Equestria seemingly ignorant of what's going on. Chrysalis has covertly taken over the entire country and no-one knows it. Anyone could be a changeling and it's very difficult for Starlight to trust anyone without a way to prove who they are.
  • It gets worse in the Gameloft game. Everypony that isn't Starlight, Trixie, Thorax, and Discord is captured and replaced with changeling impostors.
• Tainted by the Preview: The episode summary turned off some fans due to the reveal that the episode was going to focus on Starlight Glimmer, while the Mane 6 was being Out of Focus with the implication that they were going to be captured by the threat that would appear in this chapter.

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