Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that I can get things done much faster if I do them in a musical montage. Truely there is no force in Equestria more powerful.

@ Blue: Pretty sure it was only once. And that was by Discord.

@Blue: The problem there is that she literally only spends about ten minutes searching for a solution before finding it. There wasn't much tension because she figures out how to solve the problem almost immediately after it manifests. That, and once she gets the swap to work on Fluttershy, it's just "rinse and repeat" from there. She never really has any difficulty. Compare it to, say, Return of Harmony pt.2, where she spends a good chunk of time dealing with the fallout.

Also, the elements were only stolen once; the other time was Chrysalis prevents the ponies from ever getting to them.

edited 16th Feb '13 10:05:21 AM by JapaneseTeeth

My favorite gag was when Pinkie took a drink for the purpose of doing a Spit Take. It added some levity to an otherwise ridiculously dramatic moment.

I burst out laughing, LOUDLY, at that moment.

Don't ever change, Pinkie.

What the hell just happened?

How... this episode was almost nothing but FLUFF. The plot was downright stupid, the conflict was contrived, the narration was choppy, even the animation had potholes rather than bumps.

And yet... they made it work. I spent the entire episode with an overwhelming sense of Waff. How did they do that?

PREDITCION: NEXT SEASON WILL BE ABOUT ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE.

It may probably be the first instance ever in fiction of an invoked Spit Take. And it's gonna have imitators.

edited 16th Feb '13 10:06:52 AM by TheHandle

Well, yeah, either way, it worked, and was so full of the feels.

Would have loved more but, that's what season 4 is for

And, don't see any of that. Yes it was rushed, but that was it, it was overall, amazing.

edited 16th Feb '13 10:06:47 AM by Seraphem

@Handle What was stupid about the plot? Everything made sense as far as I could tell.

Yeah, that was a simplification. They were stolen once by Discord, and once the safe was broken into by the Changelings and the Mane 6 were captured before they could get them. So yeah, the Changelings could have stolen them, but they had no need to.

edited 16th Feb '13 10:07:42 AM by Bluespade

@ Blue: Pretty sure they didn't get in the safe. They merely stopped the Mane Six getting there.

Compare it to, say, Return of Harmony pt.2, where she spends a good chunk of time dealing with the fallout.

Yeah, ROH, Part 2 devoted a considerable chunk of time dealing with how to capture a super-speedy Pegasi who was Discorded into not giving a fig.

@JT: I knew waiting for someone else to respond was a good idea. I couldn't have explained that on my own.

Emotional torque. That's what the sequence was lacking. We were whisked along too quickly for it to have any punch.

The safe was open and they were waiting inside.

Oh, now I know why they brought back Discord.

So that the Elements would be in glass case in library for this episode.

Poor Discord, just a plot device to make sure more important plot device is around for finale episode.

@ Blue: No they weren't. They were inside a hall. The safe was further still.

MY VIDEO EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT you are correct. Okay.

@Kyler: Yeah, basically it just shows each pony sucking at their job, then getting fixed. I wanted to get stuff like Fluttershy feeling like an outcast because of her terrible parties, or Applejack having to deal with the fact that she can't contribute anything to the town, or see the Apple Family trying to put up with Pinkie Pie. I wanted to see how the switch would affect everyone beyond "okay, they're bad at this". The only one that really did that was Rarity sucking at weather.

edited 16th Feb '13 10:13:06 AM by JapaneseTeeth

huh, apparently Derpy actually appeared multiple times in this episode. like in the intro and the corronation

Well, if anyone wants to steal the Elements now, they're going to have to find a way to steal the one on Twilight's head. The others are a bit more exposed, though.

It made no sense whatsoever. The characters getting stuck in roles that weren't theirs? Their "true selves" being changed? With an inexpensive, easy spell? The condition to become an Alicorn is to take the step from magic user to magic hacker? [Which leads to the hilariously redundant concept of "magic wizard"].

No, it was much worse than "rushed", it was going at Ludicrous Speed, so much that Twilight broke through Spacetime at some point

Also, it may just be me, but I find "I know for absolute certain" to be incredibly awkward phrasing.

@ Zombie: I thought it was a new crown. Even still you only need to steal one to make the set worthless.

If it had been a two parter they could stretch out the time between twi moping and discovering the solution. Maybe have her make a few attempts at solving things that don't work, and have the town fall apart a bit more gradually.

@Handle Considering that the spell required the Elements of Harmony to function, I wouldn't call it inexpensive or easy. I still don't see how that's a plot hole that ruins the whole plot, though, or even a plot hole at all.

@Irish Wait... The Element of Magic was on Twilight head when she disappeared, but it wasn't there when it returned...

edited 16th Feb '13 10:20:31 AM by PerpetualLurker

My headcanon is that the elements help determine the Equestrian line of succession.

@Handle: It's hardly a cheap, easy spell, given that it was written by Star Swirl, who's been implied on multiple occasions to be the wizard pony in Equestrian history and it requires the elements to work. That and while the spell took effect rather easily, it was also resolved rather easily. There's no aspect of the spell that doesn't really fit in the canon.

edited 16th Feb '13 10:22:29 AM by JapaneseTeeth

@Lurker: Maybe Twilight absorbed her element? The wings had to come from somewhere.

Instant wings, just add big crowney thing.