Tear Jerker / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - Season 6

The Crystalling

• Starlight is scared of meeting her childhood friend Sunburst again, afraid that once she tells him about her past that he'll reject her. And on Sunburst's side, he's afraid of telling Starlight that he isn't a great wizard and in fact, can't cast much spells. The two are both too afraid of what the other might think, and so don't rekindle their friendship until they confess near the end of the episode.
• Starlight is feeling insecure about how Easily Forgiven she was after her past actions, and as mentioned above regrets them now that she has a clearer frame of mind.
• Learning what happened to Sunburst after he left Starlight. Despite being a very smart pony, he learned that he had no talent for casting spells and ended up secluding himself with his books.
  • Not to mention that whenever Starlight calls him a great wizard, he speaks like he's about to correct her until he catches himself and agrees with her. After seeing his childhood friend again and how high of an opinion she has of him, Sunburst just can't find it in his heart to tell her the truth that he isn't a successful wizard and is in fact, somewhat of a failure.
  Starlight: But, I thought you were an important wizard.
  Sunburst: Well you were wrong okay?! I'm not an important wizard! I'm not even a wizard at all! (starts crying and runs away)

The Gift of Maud Pie

• Pinkie Pie trading her Party Cannon for the Rock Pouch. The poor Party Pony just isn't her normal overly excited self without her beloved Party Cannon.
  • Even Maud seems genuinely saddened when she finds out. The way she hangs her head when she hears from Pinkie Pie that it's true, it just seems to say "Oh, Pinkie...you didn't have to go that far. I love you no matter what you give me."
• Seeing Pinkie trying to enjoy her confetti without her cannon is a sorry sight.

On Your Marks

• A lot happens to Apple Bloom during the episode like...
  • The final shot◊ of Apple Bloom's song as the camera backs away shows her sad and alone in the middle of a bridge. This possibly symbolizes being between two phases of her life (getting her cutie mark and what the future holds) and is too saddened to go on.
  • For a moment, Apple Bloom's nightmare of the Crusaders drifting apart seems to be coming true and Apple Bloom isn't capable of stopping it.
  • Seeing poor Apple Bloom sitting alone in the dark clubhouse, currently undergoing Sanity Slippage due to being unable to find anything she can do by herself.
• Anyone who suffers from social anxiety can relate to poor Tender Taps about his stage fright preventing him from embracing what's clearly his big talent that he could be a huge success with.

Gauntlet of Fire

• When Ember expresses her disbelief that Spike would risk his life to save Rarity, or that she and Twilight would put themselves in danger just to support him, Spike explains that's just what friends do and asks Ember if she has anyone who looks out for her. Ember just says not really, unless she counts Spike. It's a bit sad that she doesn't even include her own dad as someone who would look out for her.
• Ember flying off and leaving Spike after telling him they aren't friends and it's every dragon for themselves. Luckily she comes back, realizing her mistake.
• Just as it was proven in "Dragon Quest", Spike being treated as a Butt-Monkey is portrayed as funny when ponies do it to him, but with his own species, not so much.

No Second Prances

• Fluttershy's reaction to Starlight leaving unannounced. It seems she was really looking forward to the two spending time together.
• The reveal that Trixie became friends with Starlight so she could get back at Twilight. While Twilight is disappointed, Starlight is utterly heartbroken. Her putting a hoof over her heart and her expression, one could say that she can literally feel her heart shatter.
  Starlight: I should've known. Nopony else in Ponyville wanted to be my friend, why would you?!
  • When trying to justify herself, Trixie says something that probably struck a little too close to home for Starlight: "Beating Twilight is just a bonus!" Not only is this line like a dagger to the poor heart of Starlight, it surely must have reminded Starlight of what she said to Twilight after her second attempt to stop the Sonic Rainboom in the past succeeded: "Stopping the Rainboom was just a bonus!" To be so full of vitriol, so full of spite, Starlight relates all too well with Trixie on this, and she had to have been thinking sadly, "I guess we truly are the same, you and I."
    • Also it can be an example of Harsher in Hindsight as in the season finale when Twilight was trying to change Starlight's ways, commenting that she could always make new friends, Starlight feared that making new friends would not work out. Guess what almost happened here.
  • Even worse Trixie genuinely liked Starlight. But her ego got the better of her and screwed things up. And unlike before where she tried to shift blame, this time she realizes that she was the one who caused the problem.
  • This line really sells just how bad Trixie feels after her selfishness and desire to beat Twilight just messed everything up again.
  Trixie: Looks like the Great and Powerful Trixie is back to a solo show.
  • And when she tries to deny it, this happens.
  Trixie: I'm not sad at all! I definitely don't feel like my heart is breaking into a million pieces!
• During the show, while it's mostly funny, we can see how remorseful Trixie is when she is verbally kicking herself while talking.
• Once again, Starlight has doubts about whether or not her friends have truly forgiven her. Seeing how Trixie is treated by Twilight just makes things worse for her.
• After Starlight leaves her, Trixie goes ahead with her show, all while ruthlessly smashing her own self-esteem to pieces. She then performs the trick of shooting herself into a manticore's mouth, which she needed Starlight's help to escape unscathed. Considering Trixie went ahead with the trick anyway, unsure if Starlight would even come back for her, this could very well be interpreted as a suicide attempt, even though it was denied by the writer.

Newbie Dash

• Dash messing up on her first day as a Wonderbolt and getting saddled with the same embarrassing nickname the bullies in Flight Camp used to use for her. Her desperate attempts to do something impressive to earn a better nickname only make it worse, with her teammates seemingly losing all respect for her. It gets so bad that by the end of the episode Dash thinks she's going to get kicked out of the Wonderbolts for good, having convinced herself she's "not Wonderbolt material".

A Hearth's Warming Tail

• The Ghost of Hearth's Warming Past (played by Applejack) showing Snowfall Frost (played by Starlight) her backstory. Snowfall used to love Hearth's Warming, but her bitter and cruel teacher, Professor Snape—er, Flintheart, treated it as childish. He even breaks one of her ornaments and coldly tells her learning magic is more important than celebrating holidays which makes Snowfall cry and then turn into the pony she is today as a result. It's hard not to feel sorry for Snowfall, having been convinced holidays shouldn't even exist by her professor.
  • The words of that song, though. Many people can empathise with them.
    Then some distress, words so careless,
    Standing there you don't know what to do
    Feeling helpless can't make it hurt less,
    So you go and change your point of view,
    And in that moment through you didn't know it,
    Your defences set up walls you built to last,
    leading to the pony you've become today.
  • Try not crying inside when you hear Snowfall's line of the song. She's even crying!
    The seeds of the past
    We grow up so fast
    Some hurts never go away
• Snowfall standing outside of the Hearthswarming Eve party, alone, looking at everybody having fun within.
• The Ghost of Hearth's Warming Future (played by Princess Luna) showing Snowfall the future that she's doomed to create if she goes through with destroying Hearth's Warming—the Windigos have returned and have created an Endless Winter across Equestria. Snowfall is horrified.
  Spirit: [The Windigos] are all too real, Snowfall, and your actions will allow them to return. The future of Equestria shall be bathed in a blanket of eternal snow!
  Snowfall: No! I never meant for this to happen! I didn't understand! I didn't see how important Hearth's Warming Eve was! Please Spirit! I haven't cast the spell yet! Is there still time? I'M SORRY!
• The following line from Luna's song, which really hammers in how much Snowfall would have ruined the future.
  "Whatever might have been
  All the dreams that ponies share
  Because of you, Snowfall Frost
  Now the future is a cold nightmare..."
• The illusionary ponies that The Ghost of Hearth's Warming Future conjures have tragic effect. A silvery-insubstantial stallion dancing with a similar mare, representing the joy that would otherwise have been present if not for Snowfall's action. Then the images are blown away by The Ghost of Hearth's Warming Future and become one more trail of snow.

The Saddle Row Review

• Rarity breaking down a little because everything is going wrong.
• Even though everything turned out fine, the ponies were still afraid of Rarity's reaction when she learns the full story.

Applejack’s "Day" Off

• Rarity repeatedly being foiled in her attempts to spend time with her friend.

Flutter Brutter

• Zephyr's breakdown when he can't even set up a homeless camp after Fluttershy kicks him out.
• Like Big Mac, Zephyr feels worthless in comparison to a sister who's saved the world several times.
• Flutterdad helplessly chasing after the bits of his cloud collection as Zephyr breaks their jars — bits of cloud he's been saving ever since his first day on the job.
• The very fact that Zephyr is so scared of failing and making a fool of himself the first few times he tries something he decides that it's better to not try at all because then he can never fail can really resound with the "lazy millennials" he's meant to be a Take That! to. A lot of people around Zephyr's probable age were excellent students in their early educational career, then began falling behind and slowly but surely became terrified to try anything because failure to excel the first time meant they couldn't do it at all, hence the development of perfectionist tendencies, complexes, and mental illnesses. And these same people cannot be fixed by a brief pep talk and a song.
  • Considering that statistics show that millennials work harder and for less pay than the generation before them, the very fact that this character exists is rather sad.

Spice Up Your Life

• Saffron's devastated reaction to her once-proud and unique restaurant now another clone in the line of uptight fancy restaurants in Canterlot. Her voice practically rises to a shriek when she sees that the exquisite foreign food she once cooked has been switched out for the same disgusting, bland sushi-like samples and hors d'oeuvres from all the other restaurants.
  • Props to Diana Kaarina's delivery, she genuinely sounds like she's on the verge of tears:
  Coriander: This is what we must cook if we want to succeed here.
  Saffron: This isn't what I wanted! I wanted Canterlot to like us for us!

Stranger Than Fanfiction

• Twilight is unable to go to the convention because of her Princess duties.
  • In the end, Dash couldn't get her book signed.
• Quibblepants is a big jerk about it, but imagine your excitement about a new book of your favourite franchise only to find out it changed and lost its focus on the things you love most about it.

28 Pranks Later

• When Rainbow Dash scares Fluttershy at the beginning, she is shown hyperventilating with tears in her eyes, honestly looking like she nearly had a heart attack. The saddest part? Rainbow doesn't care. She just mocks Fluttershy for being scared so easily and doesn't take into consideration that she scared her friend half to death. It hits home for anyone who has had a cruel joke pulled on them.

The Times They Are A Changeling

• When Thorax's pony disguise fails and Sunburst asks for an explanation, Spike is about to say something... and then he just says "I don't know" in a defeated voice, essentially betraying Thorax by not telling the ponies the truth. Thorax then runs away in tears, and later on lashes out at Spike for not standing up for him. The fact that Thorax felt betrayed by Spike after everything he's gone through is just heartbreaking, not to mention this little scene in the ice cavern:
  Thorax: Leave me alone! [hisses at Spike, who stumbles backwards and nearly falls into the ravine, grabbing onto the edge]
  Spike: Uh... A little help?
  Thorax: Why do you think I'd help you? I'm an evil Changeling.
  Spike: Because you're my friend. I just wish I had been one to you.
  • Really, the fact that Thorax nearly lets Spike fall to his death because he's supposed to be "an evil Changeling." You can tell the guy was just about ready to give up on the whole friendship thing and was willing to become the monster all the other ponies, sadly with justification, saw his kind as.
• Spike doubting himself because what right does he have to be called a brave hero when he can't even stand up for his friend? Thankfully he fixes his mistake.
• Really, Thorax's entire life. Ever since he was born, all he ever wanted was friends, but the Changelings can't give off love of their own and thus he never had one. While he did take part in the Canterlot invasion, he never once personally attacked anypony, and he still got blown out of the city with the rest of the Changelings. He then decided to leave his hive and try to make friends of his own. His broken and self-defeating tone by the time Spike finds him suggests he's tried many times before and failed.
• Twilight Sparkle is the Princess of Friendship, Starlight Glimmer is trying to learn how to be a good friend, and both Shining Armor and Cadance (particularly the latter) have been established as some of the nicest, kindest ponies in Equestria. It can pretty jarring seeing all of them react with hostility (and hypocrisy) the second the possibility of a "Changeling spy" is mentioned and emphatically stating there is no such thing as a "nice" Changeling. Yes, when you take into consideration their past experiences with changelings, their reasons for reacting this way come across as understandable, and they come around pretty quickly by the end, but it's still painful to see such nominally kind and accepting characters turn so hostile against someone just because they're a Changeling.
  • When Thorax's identity is first revealed, Sunburst says that he must've replaced the pony he was disguised as because "there was no other explanation" for why he was hanging out with Spike. Think about that for a minute.
  • Even as he's hissing from starvation, Thorax tries his best to apologize when his identity is revealed. Probably worried he's frightened Flurry Heart.
• Spike's entire performance is beautiful, uplifting and saddening all at the same time. Either way, you've got tears fighting behind your eyes.
  • During the song, there's a subtle but effective moment wherein Starlight looks down in apparent guilt. The meaning is quite clear; she's been where Thorax is now — a former villain, reformed by an offer of friendship but still feeling guilty over the mistakes of her past, and so she not only understands what Spike is saying but likely feels terrible for being so willing to harshly judge Thorax despite the fact that she knows how it feels to be in his shoes.
• While Thorax does wish to teach the magic of friendship to the other Changelings, he still refers to Chrysalis as an "evil queen". This might suggest that she may be too far gone to be reformed like other villains in the show have been. And, unfortunately, future episodes prove this to exactly be the case.
• While it's thankfully brief, the looks of genuine betrayal on everyone's faces when Spike confesses his friendship with Thorax is pretty sombering. Even Twilight looks utterly crushed and betrayed due to how close she and Spike are.

Dungeons and Discord

• Spike revealing the reason why he and Big Mac invited Discord. Because they felt bad that he was all alone with Fluttershy and the rest of the Mane Six gone.
  • Discord's subsequent My God, What Have I Done? moment, followed by his apology and departure in shame. Sure, he brought it on himself, but it's further proof that his reformation is genuine.
• Discord's reaction to learning that Fluttershy is going away, and his subsequent behavior with Spike and Big Mac indicate that, despite all his denials, he really is a pretty lonely person.

Buckball Season

• Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are amazing at Buckball but they both break down terribly when the pressure starts getting to them. They then hide in the luggage compartment of the train, hugging each other tightly until Applejack and Rainbow come to apologize.
• Applejack and Rainbow Dash realizing why Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy don't want to play anymore when it finally dawns on them how overbearing they've been. They meant well when they used hard-training and put pressure on them because that's what normally gets them psyched for playing. But Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie aren't them, they're just two ponies who wanted to play Buckball for fun. Without meaning to, everything Applejack and Rainbow Dash did to help their friends only served to hurt them.
  Applejack: We got so wrapped up in what's important to us, we went and ruined what was fun about the game for them.

The Fault in Our Cutie Marks

• Scootaloo explains why she's so determined to help Gabby, flapping her wings as she says "I know what it's like to want something that's out of reach." It's probably the closest the show will ever get to openly saying she really is disabled.
• Gabby getting all teary eyed when the CMC tell her they can't help her find a cutie mark. After she flies off, the CMC start crying too, thinking that they failed her.

Viva Las Pegasus

• While they're far from likable, it's sad seeing siblings like Flim and Flam, who are usually so in sync, suddenly at each others' throats.
• Generally, seeing the other ponies working for Gladmane fight. There was a time when they used to get along, and now they squabble with each other in frustration. And deep down, they each want to get along with their friends for old times sake.

Every Little Thing She Does

• Starlight gets along magnificently with Twilight due to their similarities, but in front of the rest of the Mane Six, she gets this look of fright. It's easy to see that she wants to be friends with them, if for no other reason than to make Twilight happy, but still doesn't know how to do that. While the episode's hijinks are funny, in retrospect, she was panicking the whole time.

Where the Apple Lies

• It is implied that Spoiled Rich used to be a more considerate pony than nowadays.
• Big Mac's speech on how he should "talk less and listen more", and seeing the two older Apple siblings fighting as adolescent foals.

Top Bolt

• Sky Stinger's desperation to be noticed by his parents in his childhood. He tries so hard for attention and yet he isn't given a single glance from his parents.
• Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail's argument. Seeing two ponies, who have been friends since they were kids, fighting with each other is quite heartbreaking.
  • Listen to Vapor's voice when she says "I can't believe you." She sounds like she's about to cry.

To Where and Back Again

• Starlight suffering a near panic attack when she returns to the Equality Village and reunites with everyone there. Starlight becomes so overwhelmed by everyone being so happy to see her and wanting her to take charge of the festivities, she flat out screams in fear and blasts them away with heavy force. Next thing you know, she's cowering on the ground with Trixie having to create a distraction ala smoke bomb to get the two out of the village.
  • Bonus points when you see as they're leaving, Trixie is covering Starlight with her cape, as if trying to comfort her.
  • It's actually worse when you remember in the beginning, Starlight had a nightmare of imagining the villagers ripping their invitation in her face and mocking her. Even in her dreams, Starlight thinks poorly of herself.
• Even though he knows it's an act, Discord still can't stand the sight of Fluttershy crying. The changelings even twist the knife further by filling the room with crying Fluttershys begging for Discord's help.
  • The look on his face at the end of this scene is particularly heart-wrenching...broken and completely emotionally checked-out.
  • Made even sadder when you realize that, after he'd mind-raped the Mane Cast (and Fluttershy by brute force) five years ago, now he knows what it feels like to be on the receiving end of one.
  • He knows none of them are the real Fluttershy, but just like the changeling says — one of them might be. And that's enough to break him.
• Trixie's Heroic Sacrifice. It is just poignant to see a character who started out as an egoistic, self-absorbed braggart develop to the point of being capable of willingly putting her life in mortal danger so that those she cares about may save their own. By the look on her face during that scene, you can easily see that she is scared out of her life (especially when the tunnel she's in is suddenly lit by dozens of eyes staring at her), but it still doesn't change her decision nor resolve. She holds on, until the very end, in order to give her friends more precious time.
• Starlight (actually Thorax) seeing almost all her close friends trapped in cocoons, suffering and psychologically begging to get out. Her horrified reaction is bad enough, but imagine what the real Starlight was thinking when she first encountered them.....
• Thorax helplessly struggling to hold onto the love inside him, weakly moaning that it's practically slipping away from him. It's the closet thing to a near-death scene we have.
• Queen Chrysalis rejecting Starlight's redemption. Made more so sad by the fact that Starlight is acutely aware that Chrysalis is in the exact same position she was in, during The Cutie Map.
  • Also, if one looks carefully when Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash, and Thorax run over to join Starlight to watch Chrysalis escape, Celestia looks deeply saddened. Either by how Starlight's attempt to get Chrysalis to accept friendship failed, or how, despite the bad blood between her and Chrysalis, the former Queen refused to accept friendship and chose to remain consumed by her dark emotions. As a result, Celestia will probably feel regretful in having to send Chrysalis to Tartarus in the future if she never repents and accepts friendship at all.
• To expand on the above: Chrysalis' situation may now be a case of Alas, Poor Villain. Think about it; she's been dethroned and her entire hive has turned on her, allying with her sworn enemies. She has no home, no friends, and she's consumed by the desire to get revenge against Starlight. She went from having everything to having nothing in the span of a few minutes. Considering that Chrysalis is one of the more (if not the most) popular antagonist in the show, it's a fair bet to say Starlight wasn't the only one saddened when Chrysalis rejected her offer.