Awesome / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - Season 2

The Return of Harmony, Part 1

• Fluttershy gets one in the first episode. When Discord tries to corrupt her like the others by telling her she's helpless and her friends don't like her, she responds with her usual sweet and kind self and says she's lucky to have such great friends and appreciates them thinking she can do better. When his manipulations fail, he snaps and gets enraged for the first and only time so far, and has to resort to "brute force" Brainwashing.
• Rarity also resists Discord's temptations, and manages to walk away from the diamonds in the rock after she's first shown to have Mind-Control Eyes.
• Discord himself gets quite a few in the first episode. He manipulates the ponies under his rules, and orchestrates their loss like a pro. Dash's corruption in particular is extremely cunning, appropriate considering that it "wins" him the game.
  • Also managing to steal the elements when they were guarded by a spell only Celestia could break.
• An offscreen CMOA is from none other than Princesses Celestia and Luna, who were able to stop Discord's reign of chaos with the newly-discovered Elements of Harmony a thousand years ago. Now imagine that story with the climax from episode 2, with the royal sisters in the place of the Mane Six and Discord in Nightmare Moon's place, turned to stone by the stark opposite of his own existence.
  • An onscreen CMOA for Princess Celestia in the Canterlot Tower scene. Listen to Discord's monologue to her. He's trying to push the princess' buttons and get inside her head. Celestia responds to his teasing with a Shut Up, Hannibal! and orders him to quit screwing around and answer her original question. Discord begrudgingly answers with a cryptic riddle and then vanishes before Celestia could demand a straight answer.
• Seeing the girls working together to get rid of the cotton-candy rain clouds is pretty impressive.
  • It took Rainbow Dash ten seconds to clear the clouds.

The Return of Harmony, Part 2

• The entire chase scene after Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy, pulling Twilight's Twinkling Balloon, tries to catch up to the corrupted Rainbow Dash, but she's still too fast for her even with Rarity and Pinkie Pie weighing her down. That is until this exchange:
  Rarity: Oh Fluttershy, could you be a dear and fly faster, please?
  Fluttershy: (Sobbing) I-I can't...
  Twilight: If you can't catch her, Discord wins!
  Fluttershy: That BIG. DUMB. MEANIE!
  • She then proceeds to outpace Rainbow Dash. This is Fluttershy we're talking about. The one who has repeatedly been stated to be a rather poor flyer. By comparison, Rainbow Dash is capable of shattering the visible light spectrum.
  • Just the fact that it took an entire action sequence involving the concentrated effort of all the other ponies at once to subdue Rainbow Dash is a CMOA for her.
• Discord's downfall. The Rainbow of Light return and Twilight gets a Kirk Summation, followed by the look on Discord's face when he realizes the Elements of Harmony work now and it's too late for him to do anything about it.
  • Twilight's Kirk Summation/Shut Up, Hannibal! deserves special mention for the fact it's probably one of the most badass ways of stating the Aesop of an episode ever.
    Discord: Will you ever learn?
    Twilight Sparkle: I'll tell you what we've learned, Discord! We've learned that friendship isn't always easy, but there's no doubt it's worth fighting for!
  • What's more badass is she just told off what amounts to the God of Chaos. The girl has serious guts. On top of that, she delivered that speech just after teleporting to her friends and protecting herself and them from Discord's telekinesis with a magical force field. That bears repeating - she actually stood up to and countered Discord's magic with her own. The force field returning the ground back to normal when it lands really sells it.
  • Then right after... double rainbow all the way across Ponyville! It was intense, and reverts Discord's reign of chaos back to normal.
• The second of these two lines. The moment it was uttered was the moment you knew the heroes have won.
  Discord: Chaos... is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
  Twilight Sparkle: Not as wonderful... as FRIENDSHIP.
• Celestia gets one by being the Spanner in the Works to Discord and helping Twilight realize what she has to do to reunite her friends. Bonus points for Out Gambitting Discord by just sending some letters.
• Twilight being the only one to overcome the depths of despair and chaos without assistance from magic. Then going about saving her mates. Which included having to tie up and probably chase Fluttershy, who we see can be a competent flyer when she isn't scared.
• Twilight and Spike fighting and successfully retrieving the book containing the Elements of Harmony from the corrupted ponies. Notably, Twilight takes on Pinkie Pie and Applejack at the same time, without resorting to magic.
  • Spike tackling Jerk!Fluttershy out of the air was also awesome.
• Even though it ultimately fails, there's Twilight deciding that she has taken enough crap from the Discorded ponies and taking charge of the situation after discovering the Elements, successfully persuading the others into getting out of the library to confront Discord.
• Discord producing a glass, which he fills with chocolate milk from the top to the bottom, then drinking the glass, and tossing the still glass-shaped milk over his shoulder, causing it to explode and the explosion was even dark, not bright. Discord just holds a nonchalant face through it, like this happens all the time for him.

Lesson Zero

• Fluttershy wrestles a bear. Actually, she was being a chiropractor for the bear. Still, the initial scene was badass. Fluttershy having the courage to help a bear in pain is great in itself, following on from the Manticore in the pilot.
• You've seen the Sonic Rainboom, right? How about a Sonic RainNUKE?
  • Beforehand, Rainbow Dash kicking through walls and biting through ceiling beams.
• Big Macintosh casually punting a massive pile of ponies off of him (some of which ended up flying over the horizon).
  Big Macintosh: Nnnope.
• Spike finally getting fed up with Twilight's issues and yelling at her to "SNAP OUT OF IT!"
  • Spike gets another one by writing to the high ruler of all Equestria herself, knowingly going above Twilight's head in doing so, so that she could come down and help Twilight out with her problems, knowing that they have taken too great a hold on her. And he did this with a claw cramp that he got from writing all day.
• Princess Celestia's clearly angry demeanor towards Twilight when she arrived and the magic she uses to cancel Twilight's spell is a reminder why she is the Princess of Equestria.
  • Also the way she easily cancelled Twilight's spell over everypony. It's not often we get to see the princess unleash her power that way.
  • Despite witnessing this, Twilight's friends still rush to the library in her defense. They'll look out for Twilight, angry sun goddess or no.
• Spike's method of cleaning the frosting off of himself. Pinkie Pie would be proud.
• From the state of the Sun, it looks like Twilight managed to do everything on her list before noon.

Luna Eclipsed

• Luna makes her long awaited return by arriving in a beam of moonlight riding a demonic chariot pulled by a pair of pegasi that look like soldiers right out of Pony Hell with Luna herself dressed like a Sith Lord, all set to Nightmare Moon's theme from Season 1 and Dramatic Thunder. It doesn't help improve her "public image", but it sure was a badass entrance.
  • The part where she descends from her chariot and her black cloak turns into bats that fly away as she unfolds her massive alicorn wings.
  • Pretty much any time she pulls the Dramatic Thunder, even in the most mundane contexts, is awesome. The fantastic animation and great use of light(n)ing certainly help.
• As if her appearance here wasn't awesome enough, Zecora's story-telling is just amazing. She really has a flair for the dramatic, and the way she makes use of her own special brand of magic makes it even cooler, with just enough creepiness to be scary at the same time.
• Luna stopped a panicked stampede of townsponies with the over the top Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice, essentially bringing everypony within earshot to their knees (even Twilight).
  "BE STILL!"
• The fans were very worried about this episode, as giving Luna a canon personality would invalidate a year's worth of fanwork speculation that had become very popular. Her canon personality being accepted by those fans was as unlikely as the show itself earning such devotion.
• Rainbow Dash dressing as a Shadowbolt.
• It was ill-timed, but the fact that Rainbow Dash had the nerve to prank Luna is pretty darn cool.
• It's more Awesome in Hindsight, but think about this: if that's the Traditional Royal Canterlot Voice, Celestia must have used it too.
  • She did. The Journal of the Two Sisters reveals she used it to talk down a dragon who had stolen the Crystal Heart. Oh, and by the way, she not only had the voice, she lit up like the sun itself! AWE-SOME!

Sisterhooves Social

• Rarity running the race with Sweetie Belle. May not seem like much, but then you realize: this is Rarity, who freaks out at the mention of dirt, covering herself from horn to hoof in mud and engaging in rough and tumble, "uncouth" activities she would normally spurn, all for the sake of her sister. And it includes the likes of launching Sweetie Belle over an entire climbing hazard with one leg, bucking a barrelful of grapes in one kick, and launching a bench full of apples. There's some Hidden Depths for you.
  • The final slide toward the finish line. Any baseball player will tell you this is a risky move, in terms of both its effectiveness and the potential for injury. Rarity's willingness to go for it without even thinking says quite a bit about her.
  • Sweetie Belle wound up with a second-place finish, and not by a whole lot, either. This is no small feat for any unicorn, a species that isn't exactly an example physical prowess. And though she led for much of the race, it didn't bother her in the least that she didn't win. To her, quality time was all that mattered.
• Applejack is able to hold her breath under the mud for the entire time the race lasts, just to help Rarity and Sweetie Belle make up. This applies to Rarity as well, perhaps even more so. Think about it: In order for her and Applejack to switch places like that without Sweetie Belle or anypony else noticing, Rarity must have been waiting under the mud for quite a while before the race even started.
  • There's more awesome to Rarity hiding in the mud than just the time she spends under it. She couldn't move or exhale at all, or it could have blown her cover. She couldn't even gasp for breath when she came out, because from Sweetie Belle's POV Applejack was only under for a few seconds at most. This girl had to fight her reflexes on top of her fear of uncleanliness to pull off what she did! That's sisterly love.
• "As Celestia is my witness, I will never go sisterless again!"
• Rarity was able to keep herself under control with all of Sweetie Belle's messes. Considering how frequently Sanity Slippage happens in this show, the fact she had enough self control to not snap under the pressure is a feat in and of itself.

The Cutie Pox

• After being bullied by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in Call of the Cutie, Apple Bloom finally gets to show them up with style.
• Sure, Cutie Pox is serious, but there's no doubt some of the feats Apple Bloom is able to perform are awesome. Toward the end of episode she's able to sculpt a statue, tame a pack of lions, carry a heavy barbell (reading 1000) with just her tail, and put up a fight with a fencer all in quick succession while still being able to keep the two plates and loopty hoop spinning.
• Zecora successfully guessing what Apple Bloom's injury is as she sets up her rhyme.
  • Her sudden disappearance at the end of the episode. Leaving in style.
• Scootaloo's attempt at bowling may lack precision, but it's quite a kick for a little filly.

May the Best Pet Win!

• Most of the animals get at least one during the course of Rainbow Dash's test. Not much of a surprise since one of Rainbow Dash's qualifications for a pet is "awesomeness".
  • Tank lifting up a boulder with his head and carrying Rainbow Dash to safety, proving his worth to her.
    • At the start of the race, Tank is stuck on a tall cliff with no visible path into the canyon below (where he is next shown onscreen). In all likelihood, he dropped all the way down to get there.
  • The bat fighting its way out of a quarry eel's mouth.
    • Also, the bat performing the show's theme tune on water glasses before neatly disintegrating them. Even Rainbow thinks it's awesome.
  • The butterfly hypnotizing Opal.
    • And if that hadn't worked, Tank was about to drop Opal's cathouse on her. At the end of the episode, he successfully steals her toy.
    • And earlier, while Dashie is asleep in the teaser, Winona trees Opalescence. The worst-tempered cat in Ponyville, a cat that raptors fear, and Winona succeeds in treeing her.
• The entire canyon race, until Rainbow's accident, is one major crowning moment of awesome. They even went so far as to use Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries". At one point, Dash briefly whistles along with it.
• How Rainbow Dash started the avalanche. Those weren't loose boulders or anything. She cracked solid rock just by smacking into it. Clearly the Ghastly Gorge just isn't tough enough to have Rainbow Dash in it.
• Tank's helicopter shell attachment thingy.
• Rainbow Dash, in showing off her agility as an example to her potential pets, is able to cut corners better than a lightcycle (and leave a sweet rainbow trail to boot).

The Mysterious Mare Do Well

• The Mysterious Mare Do Well using her incredible agility and reflexes to effortlessly dodge the falling debris and save the construction workers. ^{secret identity spoilers}It's actually Pinkie Pie using her Pinkie Sense to predict incoming danger and reacting accordingly.
  • Pulling each piece of the dam perfectly back into place in ten seconds flat while holding back megatons of water from pouring through. ^{secret identity spoilers}It's Twilight using her magic.
  • Stopping a runaway carriage from careening off a cliff using only her hind hooves.^{secret identity spoilers}Nopony else but Applejack, of course.
  • The flight scene after the dam incident. ^{secret identity spoilers}Oh, Fluttershy.
  • And of course, a great-looking costume that conceals their identities without getting in the way. ^{secret identity spoilers}This must be the work of Rarity!
• For all her ego, Rainbow Dash does actually rescue a filly from the bottom of a well, saves a baby carriage from tumbling off a cliff (same cliff as above, they should really put up some guardrails or something), and catches an entire balcony of senior citizens. If she wasn't such a braggart she'd make a heck of a super hero.
  • Incidentally, during the building rescue she successfully dodged a ton of debris almost falling onto her — the same way she wasn't quite able to the previous episode.
  • Though an in-Universe case of Mundane Made Awesome, it is sort of impressive that Rainbow Dash was able to mow the whole lawn in five seconds flat.
• Mare Do Well's theme music, particularly during the final chase scene, is a Suspiciously Similar Song version of the theme from Batman: The Animated Series.
• Rainbow Dash pursuing the Mare Do Well and actually capturing her. After an entire episode of being outdone, ostracized, humiliated, and depressed thanks to her, it was awesome finally seeing her take the Mare Do Well down. Well, one, anyways. The others revealed themselves after Rainbow took down the first. Still, it was pretty awesome on Rainbow's part.

Sweet and Elite

• Fancy Pants' entire character of a Nice Guy and Uncle Pennybags. A fashionable, aristocratic pony who's actually an open-minded good sport, and not a snooty, pretentious jerk like the other Canterlot elite? Is it any wonder that he's a trendsetter, while the other ponies are merely Yes Ponies? The show's subverted the "high society is evil and filled with haughty jerks" before with other celebronies who turn out to be reasonable people, but Fancy Pants' character—and in direct opposite to the more typical Jerkass high society ponies, who are noticeably less important than he is—is the most blatant yet.
• Pinkie Pie has a party cannon.
• "Yes. Yes, I do know them. They may not be as sophisticated as you Canterlot ponies, but they are my very best friends and they are, without a doubt, the most important ponies I know."

Secret Of My Excess

• One of the Wonderbolts' wings slices through Mega!Spike's spikes. Since dragon skin is tough, that's really impressive.
  • That the Wonderbolts are apparently the Equestrian Air Force.
• It may be counterproductive, but Pinkie Pie defending the bakery the only way she can from a giant dragon she doesn't know is Spike was pretty darn brave.
  Twilight: Pinkie Pie, stop giving him cake!
  Pinkie: I'm not giving him cake! I'm assaulting him with cake!!
• Rarity losing the Damsel in Distress attitude and talking down Giant!Spike (even though she has no idea it's him), knowing full well he's a rampaging beast who's easily twenty times bigger than her.
  • Regarding a couple scenes later, she is completely right that Spike was able to put the kibosh on his own problems and pull himself together after he's seen what he's done.
• Applejack staring after Spike (with a mustache of leaves, no less), uttering nothing but a simple: "Twilight, get my rope."
• Despite the soft purple and green color scheme, giant Spike still looks pretty badass. He also has the potential to completely curbstomp everyone in the show (including Equestria's air force and its more potent magic users).
• Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash saving Spike and Rarity's lives. Even more impressive on Fluttershy's part because, once again, she keeps pace with Rainbow Dash to protect her friends.
• Scootaloo manages to keep her grip on her scooter despite being opposed by a dragon easily twice her size. Also, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle anchoring Scootaloo so she doesn't get dragged off. Who'd have thought that the CMC had that much strength between them?

Family Appreciation Day

• Granny Smith wowing Apple Bloom's class with the story of how her family founded Ponyville, and was even responsible for the success of Diamond Tiara's family. The story includes Granny's painstaking recording of all the silly little tasks that would make the zap apples as good as possible, over a period of what has to be several years.
  • Figuring out some of these silly little tasks in the first place. Who would ever come up with the idea, and test it, and learn if it actually did anything? Granny Smith, apparently.
• Back when there wasn't a proper Ponyville settlement to retreat to, the young Granny Smith braved the dangerous Everfree Forest in the middle of the night and completely alone, all to find food for her family. She didn't even have any idea of what to look for beyond "something edible" (and even that's hoping that ponies and wild Everfree denizens can eat the same stuff).
• Silver Spoon, of all ponies, gets one by being the very first to start clapping at the end of Granny Smith's story.
• Filthy Rich making his spoiled daughter join Granny Smith and the other youngsters in wearing rabbit ears and singing to the water instead of giving into her selfish demands.

Baby Cakes

• Pound Cake having the strength to drag the full-grown Pinkie Pie around the whole house, and Pinkie hanging on through the whole thing.
• Pumpkin Cake demonstrating unicorn magic that's never been seen before: levitating herself, and walking through walls.
• Pound can fly and Pumpkin can use magic when they're just one month old. The fact that some fillies, like Twilight, had to wait until Rainbow Dash formed the first Sonic Rainboom to see her more impressive magic abilities and Scootaloo still not able to fly, is actually a pretty awesome accomplishment. Rarity and Rainbow Dash's comments about baby unicorns and pegasi respectively suggested that foals don't have much control over their skills, which the twins did.
• Carrot Cake changing diapers lightning-fast. With his mouth. Guy just earned his Dad Card.
• Pinkie's response to Twilight telling her that she just doesn't have it in her to be a caregiver. She shoves her out, slams the door in her face, goes back to the twins, and ultimately pulled it all off. Crowning Moment of Politeness, no. But awesome all the same.
  • She didn't need to be polite in that situation. Twilight does have a tendency to be unintentionally condescending and, while she's a very likable character, it is nice to see when she's called out on this flaw (for another, if smaller example, there's Spike's little irritated cry of "MY lectures!?" in "It's About Time"). Pinkie deserved to get this moment.
• Pinkie took a page out of Fluttershy's book by staring them into submission. Granted, not as awesome as Fluttershy's uses, but still, the fun-loving Pinkie Pie scolding the kids is pretty awesome.

Hearth's Warming Eve

• Clover the Clever's Avatar State magic being able to fend off the Windigos, a magic that previously had never been done before that involved setting the Windigos on fire.
  • It must be mentioned that not only did this act save the world, it also was without the Elements of Harmony or anything else. It was pure Power of Friendship with nothing powering it up.
• The three tribes warming up to each other on their own.
• It's not as obvious, but give the mane cast credit, they put on the biggest play in Equestria and did very well. Especially true for Fluttershy, who was pretty much scared to death of performing, but did excellently all the same.

The Last Roundup

• Applejack's impressive rodeo moves at the beginning.
• Derpy speaks and is addressed by name. Just take a look at the reaction from the streams during that moment.
• Even though she didn't win any blue ribbons at the rodeo, Applejack still did very well considering this was a national competition. Jubilee's comment implies that not only did she compete in more events than anypony else, but that she also managed to get in the top five for all of them.
• Fluttershy once again proving that she can keep the pace with Rainbow Dash. Not to mention she's the one who rams AJ's transportation.
  Rainbow Dash: Come on, Fluttershy!
  • For that matter, her and Rainbow Dash managing to fly over a train while pulling a wagon with Twilight in it.
• While Rainbow Dash isn't really known for being the voice of reason, she does a decent job trying to pry the truth from Applejack (who's usually the more responsible of the ponies) and getting her out of her stubborn self exile (eg. utilising Pinkie Pie's Motor Mouth as method of torture, chasing down and finally catching her in a chase out of town). Like the other ponies she plays her part in getting AJ out of her Heroic BSoD as well.
• Pinkie's Motor Mouth being weaponized, and her seemingly Unstoppable Rage at broken Pinkie Promises. Fortunately for Applejack, she turns out to be fairly easy to appease.

The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000

• Applejack becomes the first character to actually not need to learn a lesson, as she'd spent the whole episode already knowing it.
• Twilight gathering the rest of the mane cast to help out the Apple Family with Twilight choosing the appropriate pony for each job. With their help, they end up turning out five cider barrels to the Flim Flam brothers' three, forcing them to forgo quality control for the sake of quantity.
  • All of the mane cast while helping the Apples. Rainbow Dash keeping up with Big Mac on the treadmill, Pinkie Pie's backwards-somersault mid-air apple catch, Twilight simultaneously barreling the cider and calculating both teams' production rates, and Fluttershy speeding from tree to tree, knocking down apples as fast as—or faster than—Applejack, who's been doing this her entire life.
• Rainbow Dash's reaction to the Flim Flam Brothers' Kick the Dog moment, even if Applejack stopped her before she could beat the tar out of them:
  Rainbow Dash: I oughta press you into jerk cider!
• It's clear that the entire town is visibly upset by their Kick the Dog moment and that the Apples just lost everything. They didn't just chase the Flim Flam Brothers out of town for rotten cider, but for how rotten of ponies they were to some of their own, giving the entire town one of these.
• Applejack refusing to rise to the brothers' bait of trying to make her upset and holding true to her word. She could have easily let Rainbow Dash mess them up, but she refused to fall to their level.
• Applejack lassoing the Flim Flam brothers' cider barrel in the blink of an eye when they try to take over the local cider business.

Read It and Weep

• Rainbow Dash as Indiana Jones. That is all.
• The gauntlet that Daring Do, the Indiana Jones Expy that Rainbow imagines herself as, runs through upon first entering the temple. And showing the benefits of owning a nice hat.
• Another one for the writer for mixing three different aesops into one episode and doing it very cohesively.
• That the show included an Ahuizotl, a mythological creature most of the fans wouldn't even know what it was. The writers really did their homework on this one!
• Rainbow Dash sneaking into the hospital so easily, despite her multicolored tail sticking out of that Spy Catsuit.
• And finally, Rainbow Dash reading!

Hearts and Hooves Day

• Big Mac is able to drag two bulls carrying a cartful of anvils and even an entire house by a rope just to get to Cheerilee. Note that he's happily doing the Pepe Le Pew bounce through most of it. The house is the only one that gives him any trouble and even that only slows him down for a couple of seconds before he continues on his way.
• Michelle Creber gets an entire song to herself, switching effortlessly between Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom's voices.
• Cheerilee smashes through the blockade Sweetie Belle set up for her in her attempt to reunite with Big Mac. She also destroys the front doors of both Sugarcube Corner and the Carousel Boutique, wiping out most of the latter building's front wall for good measure.
• The Cutie Mark Crusaders keeping Big Mac and Cheerilee apart long enough to undo the effects of the poison. What we have here are two juggernauts magically compelled to stare into each other's eyes and these three fillies kept them apart for exactly an hour. The Mane Six themselves couldn't have done better.

A Friend in Deed

• It may be a bit mundane, but Pinkie managing to remember even the smallest details about everypony is pretty impressive, especially since she does it in order to make people smile and be happy.
• The whole "Smile" sequence, and not just for the music.
• When Pinkie Pie achieves her goal, she blasts off into the sky like a firecracker.
• When he's trying to get away from Pinkie Pie, Cranky performs some impressive athletic feats considering his age.

Putting Your Hoof Down

• It was cool to see Fluttershy finally standing up to those pushing her around, for a while, at least.
  • She tipped two giant carts over with a kick. This is coming from a pony who formerly couldn't even knock over a vase when angry.
  • And then she stood up to Iron Will in the end.
• Pinkie Pie's Duck Season, Rabbit Season on the tomato seller, and Iron Will. To give Will some credit, he did eventually see through it when Pinkie tried it on him.
• Fluttershy using The Stare to put Angel back in his place.
• Iron Will himself, given that he did things like stretch a fence as if it were the ropes of a wrestling ring when frustrated, riled up an entire crowd of ponies with his Hulk Hogan-esque Showmanship, and made Fluttershy a bully with nothing but a few pamphlets and catchy slogans. Did we mention he's also a minotaur?
  • And one for the writers for not taking the easy way out and making Iron Will an all out villain, instead opting to make his antagonistic nature mainly one of values, or rather, methods of upholding them. Iron Will does not at any point do anything truly malicious just for the sake of being a villain, and though Pinkie and Rarity do blame his teachings for what happens to Fluttershy, the episode itself makes it clear that the flaw is mostly in Iron Will's teaching methods, and Fluttershy getting it wrong in the first place. Iron Will backs off and keeps his deal when it's brought up, and even when at his "meanest" (tearing off door barricades to get to Fluttershy), he actually mentions that she was overdue for payment in the first place. All he did was his job the way he figured it should be done, and try to get paid for it.
• While heartwarming as well as awesome, Rarity and Pinkie Pie standing up to Iron Will, a minotaur several times the size of either of them, to try to protect Fluttershy from his demands. Turns out that they were wrong about his intentions (he respectably backed down after Fluttershy stood up to him), but they had no idea that would happen. Bonus points for Pinkie, who not only put herself between Iron Will and Fluttershy's door multiple times, but got in his face a couple of times as well to try to put him off.
• When defending Rarity, Pinkie Pie still brings her own unique flair to the argument, complete with rhymes and poses.
• Even Derpy got one in this episode. While it may not just be her not quite getting everything, when Iron Will silences everyone at the seminar, Derpy is the only one who showed no fear towards Iron Will, even though he wasn't a villain.
• More towards Iron Will, considering a lot of ponies look down on him, it gives the impression he had to claw/pull himself up by his own bootstraps towards being tough and competent on his own.

It's About Time

• Fluttershy managing to tame Cerberus by treating it like a real dog is a mix of this, CMoH, and CMoF.
  • Even better, right before that, Twilight just saunters up to Cerberus like it's no big deal as her horn starts glowing as if she's preparing to cast a spell. Too bad it didn't take.
• Twilight's able to take a few seconds to read a spell about one of the most powerful forms of magic for the first time, and then casts it without a hitch (it was only her plan of warning her past self that wasn't fool-proof). If anything, this shows how apt she is at magic.

Dragon Quest

• The Mane Three head off after Spike on the dragon raid, setting us up to think they'll show up just in time to talk Spike out of smashing the egg. Instead, he has his epiphany completely on his own, and tells the other dragons off.
• The two phoenixes saving their kids, showing what a bird of fire can really do.
• Even though they ran away afterwards, the three willing to go Mama Bear on the teen dragons. Especially Rarity.
  Rarity: Fighting's not really my thing, I'm more into fashion, BUT I'LL RIP YOU TO PIECES IF YOU TOUCH ONE SCALE ON HIS CUTE LITTLE HEAD!
• Spike finally being accepted into the dragons' group. He even wins the "King of the Hoard" competition momentarily under his own power.
• Right in the beginning, it's clear that Fluttershy still has her new assertive attitude. When Rainbow Dash pulls her through the door to see the dragons, Fluttershy bounces back, knocking back Dash before hopping off her and racing for the window...
  • ...which she very gently opens before flying away.
• Twilight teleporting not only herself but three of her friends away from the pursuing dragons, and managing what seems to be the longest-distanced (intentional) teleport she's done in the series yet.
• Blink-and-you'll-miss-it: the three ponies tackling a dragon in the 'king of the hoard' event.

Hurricane Fluttershy

• Upon learning that the present pegasi might not be able to create a strong tornado to bring the water up to Cloudsdale much less break the wingpower record, Rainbow Dash decides to go through with it anyway, saying that while they won't be able to break the record, Cloudsdale still needs that water. Expect no less from the Element of Loyalty.
  • When the tornado fails, Twilight urges Rainbow Dash to give up since somepony could get hurt if they fail to make another strong tornado. Her response:
    Rainbow Dash: No! One more time! I gotta know we gave it our all! If I'm going down, I'm going down flying!
    • That not a single pegasus sided with Twilight on this counts as a CMOA for the whole town.
    • It's especially carthartic considering Rainbow's frequent role as the Leeroy Jenkins and Commander Contrarian (particular in her Butt-Monkey level previous appearances). For once the hot blooded pony goes against advise and takes a worthy gamble, and it works!
• When Fluttershy was in the second tornado, images of the fillies who picked on her flashed in her head. Instead of letting it get to her like it did throughout the episode, she screams "NO!" and speeds up, giving the tornado the proper velocity needed to send the water to Cloudsdale.
• Fluttershy sucks an about-to-fall tear right back up into her eye.
• Fluttershy motivating herself to start her own training regimen to increase her wing power. She may not have seen it as much of an improvement, but numbers don't lie: she increased her wing power by 360% entirely on her own. She either did it in less then a day to a few days tops. Impressive for a non-athlete like Fluttershy.
  • Even after she did that, she only got 2.3 wingpower. The tornado got stuck at 5 wingpower short of the minimum needed amount. Then Fluttershy joins in, and the tornado succeeds. So she actually managed to do 5 wingpower minimum. Everything combined, Fluttershy went from 0.5 to 5 wingpower, which is a factor of 10 more powerful.
• A very minor one: When the pegasi take off to preform the second tornado, Bulk Biceps is the only one going without goggles. Considering how much, how strong and how fast that wind must be blowing inside the tornado and he still chose to go without, that's pretty dang impressive. YEAH!
• A comparatively small one: Rainbow Dash's flying power on the first day of training is sixty-five percent higher than everyone else's end goal. We've always known she was the best flyer in Ponyville, but this episodes shows just how far she outclasses every other pegasus in town.

Ponyville Confidential

• Big Mac giving the CMC a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. It proves that when pushed enough, Big Macintosh is definitely not a pony you should mess with.
• In one of the rare instances where Miss Cheerilee takes authoritative action, it's very cathartic to see Diamond Tiara getting her karmic retribution at the end of the episode.
• Yes, it may be overreaction towards the CMC, but still, Twilight putting a force field around the whole library and is implied to maintain it for an extended period of time. The next Nightmare Moon or Discord is going to have a tough fight on their hands with magic like that.
• Watch Rarity's shadow when she goes into Sweetie Belle's room to confront her about being Gabby Gums. She kung fu kicks the door open.
• Angel Bunny's eloquent Death Glare when the CMC come to talk to Fluttershy (who is sobbing uncontrollably).
• Featherweight deserves a little credit for having the nerve and the skill to sneak an embarrassing photo of Princess Celestia herself.

MMMystery on the Friendship Express

• Seeing parodies of a silent film villain, James Bond, and a ninja movie was pretty awesome and it all came out of Pinkie's mind.
• Twilight solved the mystery, completely on her own, and identified all three culprits, in five minutes tops.
  • Topped by Pinkie figuring out the secondary mystery in just seconds, once she knows to look for clues.

A Canterlot Wedding Part 1

• Remember when Twilight erected a force field around herself and her friends and later around the library? Shining Armor did same thing for all of Canterlot. Apparently, incredible magic potential runs in their family.
• Luna flying through Canterlot's force field and landing on a balcony near Celestia. "Rest, my sister. As always, I will guard the night". Truly the royal pony sisters as they were meant to be.

A Canterlot Wedding Part 2

• The entire episode for everyone involved at Studio B. When you have fans saying that the two parter was comparable to Disney Renaissance era films, you know they really hit one out of the park this time.
  • All this even moreso when everyone, on hearing there would be a wedding episode to push new toys, the expectation was for something incredibly campy. That changed very quickly once it was clear that Chrysalis-as-Cadance started showing her true colors.
• The incredible Beam-O-War between Princess Celestia and Queen Chrysalis. Unfortunately, Celestia is defeated thanks to Chrysalis feeding off of Shining Armor's love for Cadance.
  • What Princess Celestia says before she starts fighting Queen Chrysalis, that shows that Celestia would be damned if Chrysalis were to succeed in her plan..
  Princess Celestia: No. You won't. You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self, I can protect my subjects from you!
  • Want to know something even more awesome? Even after that massive power up she'd gotten, Chrysalis was still visibly straining against Celestia's power. She thought she was going to lose, thus Celestia's power without any artifical boosting, is greater than the Changelings' queen boosted by days of gorging on true love. In light of that, Celestia, even if she lost, still managed to make Chrysalis sweat a bit before she did.
• Cadance the real one gets a minor one when she and Twilight face off against the brainwashed bridesmaids, simply by distracting them with the bouquet and tossing it into a ditch, luring them away.
  • She gets another one when she casts her Love spell just once and immediately breaks Chrysalis' sway over Shining Armor. To put that into perspective, Chrysalis has been regularly blasting Shining Armor with a brainwashing spell for days.
• The Mane Six's all-out brawl against the Changelings ending with a Powerpuff Girls-style beatdown montage.
  • Pinkie using Twilight as a gatling gun and weaponizing her party cannon deserve a special mention.
  • Also, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash using trickery and deception against the changelings.
    • Fluttershy emerges from the battle untouched despite not having raised a hoof against an opponent.
  • Rarity continues to be an oddly effective fighter by punching out a changeling with a solid right hook.
    • Speaking of the Seamstress, notice how throughout the fighting montage we see everypony else fighting against one or small groups of Changelings with Rarity missing throughout most of the montage except during the final minutes. Is that dustcloud in the background throughout most of the fight her doing?
  • Rainbow Shoryukens one of her clones when she saves Fluttershy.
  • Twilight pinning down one of her clones and then blasting it point blank with her magic beam.
• Cadence and Shining Armor's love for each other is enough to rekindle his Magic and get the forcefield back up and running, expelling the entire Changeling Army from Canterlot and foiling Queen Chrysalis' Evil Plan in the process. Sure, the mane cast could've curbstomped Queen Chrysalis and her entire army with the Elements of Harmony (if they could've gotten to them without the Changelings intervening), but all that was needed was the love of two Ponies for each other. Heart Is an Awesome Power indeed.
• They may have been horrifying, but the designs for the Changelings (especially Chrysalis) were absolutely incredible.
  • When Queen Chrysalis transforms into her original self, complete with Aku-like transformation.
• The boldness of Queen Chrysalis' Evil Plan. As she says in her Villain Song, she had fooled everypony, even Celestia.
• Rainbow Dash pulls off a Sonic Rainboom at a moment's notice and against gravity!
  Rainbow Dash: Best wedding ever!
• Real!Cadance and Twilight crashing the wedding.
  Princess Celestia: Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you...
  Twilight Sparkle: STOP!
  [everypony looks over at Twilight and rolls their eyes, facehoof and even mutter about her actions earlier]
  Changeling!Cadance: Ugh! Why must she be so protective of her brother? (talking about Twilight while sobbing dramatically) Why does she have to ruin my special day?
  Real!Cadance: Because it's not your special day! It's mine!
• When Cadance is trapped in the crystal cave with Twilight trying to find a way out. They see a light that's far away and Twilight stops but Cadance pushes a heavy mining cart with everything she has because she knows she needs to find to save Shining Armor.
  • Look at Twilight's expression when Cadance charges past her. She's stunned at the other pony's strength and determination.
• When the minecart goes flying and Cadence and Twilight are left floating in the air, Twilight grabs her, not sure of what will happen. Then Cadence's wings flare out. Keep in mind that she's probably been in in the caves for several days with no food or water and still manages this!
• After trapping Twilight in the underground cave, Changeling!Cadance gloats about having her brother wrapped around her finger. Twilight instantly goes from cowering terror to zapping mass beams at her in a frenzied rage. You do not threaten her big brother. It's always been assumed that Twilight was capable of powerful offensive magic but this is the first time we get to see it onscreen.
  • Keep in mind, this takes place immediately after the end of the previous episode where she and said brother have had a serious falling out in which he straight up tells her not to bother showing up to the wedding at all. The sheer amount of devotion to her brother that shows is awesome in and of itself.
• This one's easy to miss. When the Mane Six are captured and brought back to Chrysalis, they are led in by a changeling escort. Except for Rainbow Dash, who's dragged in, still airborne, by two changelings restraining both her forelegs. Even when obviously outnumbered, she's not going anywhere without a fight. Just what you expect from her.
• Princess Luna attending the wedding reception. Now both the royal pony sisters can attend great major events for the first time in 1,000 years as they were truly meant to be.
• While it's a more skewed case, Chrysalis more or less mocking Twilight's friends over how easy they were to deceive into condemning Twilight. The Jerkass Realization this caused was considered quite gratifying to many fans.
• A bit of a minor moment compared to most others, but Twilight gets a small one against Chrysalis even as she and her friends are captured. As Chrysalis mocks everyone for not listening to Twilight about her, she lifts her chin up in mock affection as fake praise for being suspicious of her. What does Twilight do? She simply slaps her hoof away, refusing to let Chrysalis touch her. Note that Chrysalis only a little while ago demonstrated she was already more powerful than Celestia thanks to the love she drained, and Twilight still stood up to her without fear.

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