History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E5GauntletOfFire

* LineOfSightName: Spike looks at sand on the beach and rocks to combine into Sandy Rockbeach, a cover name for Princess Ember.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Garble stating his desire to loot and destroy Equestria if he wins is what leads Spike to decide to participate in the Gauntlet when he'd previous decided to just skip it and go home. As it turns out Spike teaming up with Ember is what stops Garble from winning the contest. If Garble had kept his mouth shut he would have been Dragoon Lord.

* BecauseISaidSo: Torch refuses to let Ember compete in the Gauntlet because he thinks she is too small to win. When Ember argues she is smarter than most of the other dragons Torch says that won't help her win, and finishes by telling her "Besides, ''I said no!''

** At one point, Garble basically tells Spike that the latter [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings stinks of horse]].

* BigDamnHeroes: Ember saves Spike from Garble when Garble is about to drop him off the side of a cave.

* PlanarShockwave: Happens when Torch flows the scepter into the Flamecano, and to a lesser extent when [[spoiler: Spike grabs the scepter.]]

* AnAesop: You don’t have to be big and strong to be a good leader; just be who you are.

* BoringButPractical: Twilight opts not to use the TotemPoleTrench disguise they used last time and instead have Rarity make simpler but more effective disguises such as a rock, much to her dismay.

* ThroughAFaceFullOfFur: Or Through A Face Full of Scales, anyway. Ember sports a pair of {{Blush Sticker}}s when Spike hugs her towards the end of the episode, even though one would expect that her reptilian scales would cover any rush of blood to the underlying skin.

'''Ember:''' Not really. Unless I count you, [[{{tsundere}} which I don't!]]

'''Ember:''' Not really. Unless I count you.

* HappinessIsMandatory: When Torch wants you to feel a particular emotion, he ''will'' let you know it, and you ''will'' [[SarcasmMode spontaneously and sincerely]] feel that emotion. Although this is justified by the young dragons being rather slow on the uptake, and bad at catching more subtle hints.

* OfferedTheCrown: Ember is given the Bloodstone Scepter by Spike.

* OhCrap: Garble gets a big one when Spike gets the Scepter.
* PassingTheTorch: A figurative and literal example since [[spoiler: Spike wins the title of Dragon Lord, but decides to give it to Ember and actually passes the torch to her.]]

** This is also what Ember is aiming to be as the new Dragon Lord.
* RebelliousPrincess: Ember is a dragon version who earned her right to rule after going through an insanely dangerous DeathCourse.

* {{Tsundere}}: Ember is a classic Harsh type, putting on a strong front but still being nice and friendly in her own way.

* LargeAndInCharge: Dragon Lord Torch is the leader of and by far the biggest dragon in the Dragon Lands, even bigger than Spike was [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E10SecretOfMyExcess during his rampage]]. To ''really'' put things in perspective, Torch is even bigger than a fully powered Tirek [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E26TwilightsKingdomPart2 during his rampage]]. Later {{inverted|Trope}} with Spike and Ember however, as they're perhaps the smallest dragons in attendance.

* RentAZilla: Torch, the largest dragon yet. He's even bigger than Spike during his greed-induced rampage. For comparison, individual phalanges of his claws are bigger than most ponies. Some size estimations even put him above the humongous Ursa Major.

* {{Retcon}}: Rarity and Spike remember Garble's name, even though it was [[AllThereInTheScript never mentioned]] in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E21DragonQuest Dragon Quest]]".

* TheBusCameBack: Garble reappears after being absent for two seasons since Season 2.

->''" I'm not big and strong. I know. But you know what? I won anyway. So maybe it takes more than just being big and strong to be a good Dragon Lord."''
-->--Princess Ember

* BadassInDistress: Ember almost drowned because of her heavy armor.

* DeathCourse: The title Gauntlet, an extremely dangerous course inside an unstable "Flamecano" which the would-be Dragon Lords must run to obtain the Bloodstone Scepter.

** Spike defending Ember to Rarity and Twilight sounds like they're discussing her as his girlfriend, with such choice phrases as "I can't believe she ditched me" and "Oh, you're better off."

** Princess Ember painted herself green and donned a full-body armor to be able to compete.

** "Ember" was also the name of a baby pony in the G1 line, and while she was nowhere near as badass as dragon Ember, the fact that she was small was a plot point in "[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials Rescue at Midnight Castle]]." She also befriended Spike, who could be considered her enemy at the time (he was a reluctant minion for Tirek, who had captured her).

* SamusIsAGirl: A brief example. When Spike sees a competitor fall into the water, he immediately says, "He'll drown!" and dives in to save "him." When the mask is taken off, he (and Rarity and Twilight) is shocked that Princess Ember is competing for the title of Dragon Lord.

* DungeonBypass: Rarity and Twilight are somehow able to keep ahead of Spike and Ember, evidently unhindered by the dangers of the Gauntlet, something Ember lampshades.

* SneezeOfDoom: Rarity getting her nose tickled by the tip of Twilight's quill causes a sneeze that almost betrays them to the dragons. Luckily, Spike takes the blame.

* NonStandardCharacterDesign: More than ever, Spike is shown to fall under this compared to other dragons, even though they're already very diverse in appearances, by being still the only dragon we've seen that lacks wings. [[note]]Arguably justified, though, given how he's visibly much younger than the others -- and thus, potentially has to wait until he's older to grow some.[[/note]]

* NonStandardCharacterDesign: More than ever, Spike is shown to fall under this compared to other dragons, even though they're already very diverse in appearances, by being still the only dragon we've seen that lacks wings.

** Subverted and played straight. Rarity and Twilight Sparkle are a lot more receptive toward dragons (Twilight is very excited to learn about them), Princess Ember is fine with Ponies too, and if her becoming Dragon Lord is any indication, relations between dragons and ponies have improved, albeit just a little, but will grow more in the future. Garble, on the other hand, still hates ponies, perhaps even more so than before, and hates Spike just as much for associating with them. It's not just ponies though, Princess Ember and Spike working together also strikes a chord with him too.