History FridgeBrilliance / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason3

* As a result of Pinkie's [[InsaneTrollLogic insane worrying]] she was in [[ForWantOfANail just the right place and time]] to show Rainbow Dash how dangerous Lightning Dust's behavior was and stand up to her, [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight not so insane after all.]]

** Likewise, Fluttershy '''not''' forcing him into being good but rather having him realize on his own that he's overstepped his bounds when he learns he'd rather be friends with her than return to his evil ways. What is Discord the god of, again? Chaos. Chaos cannot be controlled. Fluttershy knew this and instead helped Discord realize he could be ChaoticGood (or ChaoticNeutral) instead of ChaoticEvil by befriending him.

** Alternatively, the Crystal Empire pre-dated Sombra, and was once much larger. It was specifially created as an extension of Equestria Proper in the frozen Northern wastes to act as a shield generator, based around the crystal heart, that covers all of Equestria in love and positive emotions, something we know Windigoes can't stand. Sombra mat have found a way to corrupt it, or leverage it to increase his own power, which may have destroyed most of the Empire, leaving only the central city and a small ring of habitable land.

* It might seem a bit stupid to turn King Sombra into a LivingShadow, given how strong he is, but look at the magic its implied he's capable of that he never demonstrates in his shadow form. He has the power to trap somepony in their [[YourWorstNightmare their worst nightmare]] and is apparently powerful enough to curse ''an entire country'' to vanish for a thousand years. We never see him do any of this in his LivingShadow form, so it's likely being turned to living shadow weakened him, even if it had some bonuses.

* Granny Smith is showing the photo album, we see the second photo is Granny Smith as a young adult, and the next one shows Applejack and Big Mac but no sight of their parents. If you think about it, the photos they were showing are in one corner, so there could be at least one picture in between that we didn't see, an effective way to avoid showing AJ's parents.

* To get on the Brilliance we have to look at a bit of Horror, it was confirmed that [[spoiler:the two shooting stars in the episode were a representation of AJ's deceased parents.]] But with this info past incidents make much more sense. In Cutie Mark Chronicles AJ left home (as well as her grandmother and older brother both very upset) [[spoiler:she very well may have left in an attempt to escape the depression of her now gone parents.]] At the same time Big Mac was left physically upset during both this episode and during her disappearance in Last Round Up, so much so that fans tend to mock his overly emotional states. [[spoiler:Being the age he was in Cutie Mark Chronicles he would have been the oldest and therefore most attached of the Apple children to their parents. The thought of losing another member of his family could explain why he was so upset both times.]]
** It also explains Applejack's TeamMom personality and UndyingLoyalty towards her family and friends, [[spoiler:she lost her parents when she was young, she's afraid to lose anyone ''else'' she cares about and probably had to be a maternal figure for Applebloom since Granny Smith was so old it was likely difficult for her to keep up with a young filly.]]
** Another look at Applejack's decision to leave the family: she chose to leave the Apple Family Farms during Cutie Mark Chronicles to see if she can make it in the city. [[spoiler: Take a look at how old Applebloom is. Since Applebloom is Applejack's sister, this means that their parents died sometime after giving birth to Applebloom, but before Applejack left for the city. Applejack might have left because they just lost the two providers for the family, forcing Big Mac to take care of the farm alone since she was too young and Granny was too old. They also had another mouth to feed, baby Applebloom. AJ might have chosen to leave so that she can bring money back home, or at least be less of a burden on her immediate family.]]

* After thinking over Trixie's tirade about how her life and career, something clicked. "Boast Busters" was the point at which Trixie JumpedTheShark as an entertainer. What do most entertainers do when they lose their audience? [[WinTheCrowd Try to win the audience back.]] This may have been what Trixie intended when she bought the amulet; stage a comeback show using ''actual'' magic. That leaves the question: did Trixie's comeback attempt bomb, or was showing up Twilight in a magic duel supposed to ''be'' the comeback show?

* In ''Return of Harmony'' Discord makes Twilight lose faith in her friends by using magic to warp their personalities. Here, Twilight [[NotSoDifferent seeks magic to alter Discord's personality]], demonstrating a complete lack of faith in Fluttershy from the start. In a twisted way, if she'd succeeded, he'd have ''won''.

* The door that makes you confront your worst fears in the second part is actually a CallBack to what Celestia said about how hope and love feel the empire with light while hatred and fear corrupt it. When trying to open the door, it moves around and in her haste to catch it, Twilight got so annoyed and full of hate that she used dark magic to make the door stay in place. However, the price for that was the door hypnotizing her to make her confront her worst fear. After Spike frees her and fees him in return when he gets hypnotized, she comforts him, representing love, and uses her regular magic to pass through the door.

* Why does Twilight submit to the giant magical rays coming from the Elements of Harmony surrounding her during the end of the second act instead of acting all frightened? Simple, she was feeling harmonious feelings from The Elements of ''Harmony''. You might be wondering why she isn't feeling some kind of pain like Nightmare Moon and Discord did. Well, what's different here is that Nightmare Moon was cured of her corruption by the Elements while Discord was being TakenForGrantite since their Harmony overwhelmed his chaos. What also has them being hurt was because they were evil while the Element's weren't trying to hurt Twilight because she was pure-hearted.

## The part where they do the sugar-lump-rump bit. And then Babs covers her flank again, but that's old news. But for a few frames after that, the first expression we see on her face. Not gloating, not mockery, but embarassment! (paraphrasing @/KylerThatch)

* Granny Smith is showing the photo album, we see the second photo is Granny Smith as a young adult, and the next one shows Applejack and Big Mac but no sight of their parents. If you think about it, the photos they were showing are in one corner, so there could be atleast one picture in between that we didn't see, an effective way to avoid showing AJ's parents.

* Another piece of fridge brilliance is the subtle yet very effective form of CharacterDevelopment for Fluttershy. Compare how she responds to seeing the reformed Princess Luna in ''Nightmare Night'' to how she responds to the reformed Discord here. In ''Nightmare Night'' Fluttershy still sees Luna as Nightmare Moon and is terrified when she shows up wanting help to fit in with the other ponies. In ''Keep Calm And Flutter On'' she's more than willing to help Discord since she believes there is some good in him and even says that he's a sweetheart once you get to know him. In other words, Fluttershy has learned since helping Princess Luna that a person shouldn't be judged on their past alone. That anyone should have the chance for redemption.
** I thought her increased fear of Luna (Nightmare Moon) was a result of her fear of other ponies in general. The reason she was more willing to accept Discord was because he was a Draconequis and not a pony. Her Sociaphobia was probably attributed to how much she was bullied by other ponies as a filly that she lost faith in them and is more willing to accept other creatures as friends (she has a fear of dragons, but was more willing to talk to Spike over Twilight when she first met them). Aside from her few pony friends she doesn't accept other ponies well (but she seems to be getting better at it as the series progresses.)

*** But that doesn't entirely make sense that means that Twilight all of a sudden feels it's not worth reforming villains. In Luna Eclipsed she was the only one that wanted to reform Luna (as time when on most of the others agreed to help her as well), now all of a sudden Twilight is the first to turn to using magic to force him to be good. It does make sense why they all dislike him, after everything he did to the Mane 6 his actions were far worse than anything Luna did, but now Fluttershy who was least willing to help Nightmare Moon (all she did was get held down by Twilight, yelled at by Luna, and then passed out when Luna hugged her in her frightened state) wants to help Discord, by this logic every pony except Fluttershy declined as a character.
*** I think I see what you are getting at, Fluttershy didn't improve as a character, because she has always been the same kind sympathizing Fluttershy. Every time they faced an enemy the others were unable to sympathize with because they couldn't understand them (eg. Cerberus, the Manticore, the dragon) she had always been the best judge of character for organisms that were of a different species. This is one of those cases where the enemy is a Draconicus, because of her special talent she understands his intentions better than the others and is able to sympathize with him better. This was something she couldn't do with Luna (or other ponies for that matter) and as a result is forced to understand them at face value, but she is terrified of them because of her childhood.

* While it was obviously intended as a prank on Discord's part to flood Sweet Apple Arches, and then turn it into a frozen lakebed, the ice serves as a fitting form of symbolism. By forming an ice pond Discord is intentionally putting distance between himself and the ponies that are trying to be his friends, or at least tolerate him, and is thus figuratively forming a barrier of ice around his heart. It is only when Fluttershy points out that she doesn't have to be his friend if Discord is going to act like this that he realizes that his wild use of chaos will make him lose his only true friend. By returning things back to normal Discord has chosen friendship over his heart of ice.

* A kind of meta example, but one I realised foreshadows who the real hero of the episode ended up being. In the Failure Song early in the episode, Spike sings for the first time in the show. So, naturally, the story ended with Spike [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome saving Equestria from a major threat for the first time in the show!]] So in this episode the writers went out of their way to show he's officially moved beyond being merely a SixthRanger and is now on equal footing with the Mane Cast.

* The test Twilight came up with turns out to be a brilliant allegory for making a well-rounded character. The Pinkie Pies represent stock characters. Staring at paint drying is comparable to what watching TV basically is. Each Pinkie Pie reflects how long they can stay an interesting character. If they lose focus, that Pinkie Pie will lose the audience's attention. Why? Because that Pinkie Pie is just a clichéd, flanderized [[ThePollyanna pollyanna]], nothing new. But the real Pinkie Pie just keeps staring, representing how a well-made character is interesting and never loses your attention. Why? Because she proves [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome she's more than just an airhead who lives for fun]]. Like any well-rounded character, she has thoughts, feeling, subtleties, and redeeming qualities to balance it out. It proves she's capable of overcoming her personal flaws, such as her [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny attention deficit disorder]].

* Here's a bit of meta-fridge brilliance. This episode was a very [[BrokenBase divisive one]]; some fans loved the idea of Discord being redeemed and others hated it, some fans felt the episode felt rushed, that it contradicted a lot of fanfics and fanworks, and a few have even declared DarthWiki/RuinedForever. In other words, by turning to the side of good, Discord has created chaos. Discord, you MagnificentBastard.

* Here's a bit of meta-fridge brilliance. This episode was a very [[BrokenBase divisive one]]; some fans loved the idea of Discord being redeemed and others hated it, some fans felt the episode felt rushed, that it contradicted a lot of fanfics and fanworks, and a few have even declared RuinedForever. In other words, by turning to the side of good, Discord has created chaos. Discord, you MagnificentBastard.

* The test Twilight came up with turns out to be a brilliant allegory for making a well-rounded character. The Pinkie Pies staring at paint drying is comparable to what watching TV basically is. Each Pinkie Pie reflects how long they can stay an interesting character. If they lose focus, that Pinkie Pie will lose the audience's attention. Why? Because that Pinkie Pie is just a clichéd, flanderized [[ThePollyanna pollyanna]], nothing new. But the real Pinkie Pie just keeps staring, representing how a well-made character is interesting and never loses your attention. Why? Because she exemplifies there's more to her than fun; she has thoughts, feelings, and depth. It proves she's capable of overcoming her personal flaws, such as her [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny attention deficit disorder]].

* The test Twilight came up with turns out to be a brilliant allegory for making a well-rounded character. The Pinkie Pies staring at paint drying is comparable to what watching TV basically is. Each Pinkie Pie reflects how long they can stay an interesting character. If they lose focus, that Pinkie Pie will lose the audience's attention. Why? Because that Pinkie Pie is just a clichéd, flanderized [[ThePollyanna pollyamna]], nothing new. But the real Pinkie Pie just keeps staring, representing how a well-made character is interesting and never loses your attention. Why? Because she exemplifies there's more to her than fun; she has thoughts, feelings, and depth. It proves she's capable of overcoming her personal flaws, such as her [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny attention deficit disorder]].

* The test Twilight came up with turns out to be a brilliant allegory for making a well-rounded character. The Pinkie Pies staring at paint drying is comparable to what watching TV basically is. Each Pinkie Pie reflects how long they can stay an interesting character. If they lose focus, that Pinkie Pie will lose the audience's attention. Why? Because that Pinkie Pie is just a clichéd, [[Flanderization flanderized]] [[ThePollyana pollyana]], [[ItsTheSameNowItSuck nothing new]]. But the real Pinkie Pie just keeps staring, representing how a well-made character is interesting and never loses your attention. Why? Because she exemplifies there's more to her than fun; she has thoughts, feelings, and depth. It proves she's capable of overcoming her personal flaws, such as her [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny attention deficit disorder]].