I didn't like the episode much either. Twilight just casting the spell like that without knowing what it did made it seem like an Idiot Plot to me.

It is indeed a step above the usual Sorcerer's Apprentice fare, which tends to involve "Gone Horrily Right" or "Gone Horribly Wrong", not "Didn't seem to go at all and then had a completely unpredictable effect".

Alternate hypothesis for the Gödel, Escher, Bach readers: Starswirl knew about Friendship, and simply wrote an incomplete version of his spell so that only someone worthy and/or clever enough to figure out how to complete it would have access to its immense power. Like what Bach did with his fugues, but way, way cooler.

My guess is that it only works if the element of magic attempts to use it; when you see the effect kick it it starts with Twilight's Big Crown Thingy.

Also, Pinkie's leg wiggle in this shot cracks me up.

edited 16th Feb '13 2:56:48 PM by JapaneseTeeth

I wanna know more about Star Swirl the Bearded. There needs to be an episode about him.

I still haven't seen the YouTube upload yet. My second reaction will have to wait until after church.

Sorry ladies, but I'm not free until at least Wednesday.

She's just falling apart without you.

Truth.

It wasn't a spell, it was just Celestia's credit card bill.

Spike gets into the political commentary.

He seems like a Mad Scientist of sort, messing with the fundamental laws of the universe like that. Trying to manipulate destiny (as it is an existing force in this universe) is a dangerous idea.

@ The Handle: To make a numbered list, just put a pound/number sign at the beginning, put in a something, and skip a line.

I've heard some people ask what Pinkie Pie brings to the table. I guess "Magical Mystery Cure" answers that question. Without her, every pony would get restless, cranky and get into fights.

Oh, and you know how the intro in Season 1 changed to the intro in Seasons 2 and 3? I bet Season 4 is going to change the intro again, because it would be weird to show a wingless Twilight when she has acquired wings.

Hey I'm back.

It'll be a while before I watch this one again. It's too emotionally powerful to handle lightly.

Hay Guise, after the episode I had a gigantic ordeal with my car getting towed for the first time ever.

What did I miss?

Has there been a deliciously chaotic fallout from the dumber fans yet?

Also, look Crystal Derpy was found!

Hi Applelight!

edited 16th Feb '13 3:42:59 PM by MousaThe14

Everybody's just sort of gone home. I think the past couple of weeks has drained most of the drama out of people.

Hi Mousa.

Sorry to hear about your car though.

Yeah, we're all drama'd out. Luckily we have time to build up our drama reserves before next season.

Or just save the energy when official info/video/images of Equestria Girls is released. :P

But no really everything turned out better than expected. The worse complaints I've seen have been "Should have been longer".

We need a trope for when a fandom cries Ruined Forever, only to like the final product. Do we have a trope for that?

Just watched again. Honestly the pacing bothers me still. A lot of the episode just doesn't feel like it has any weight to it and the two stories never feel like they have time to breathe. We see brief snippets of the mane cast being unhappy, Twilight briefly sad, and then her fixing it. Call it being spoiled from Return to Harmony, Canterlot Wedding, and Crystal Empire, but they each really made the rock bottom moment and/or rising tension from the threat meaningful.

Granted this episode has no real antagonist, but there's no real sense of panic or danger when Twilight realizes she can't reverse it. Throw in a third act which really seems disconnected from the tone of the first two, and everything feels really disjointed.

Songs were great, fun character bits, and nice to see Twilight as an alicorn, but it make take a while before I'm able to see beyond the nature of the plot.

Well, you should probably stop focusing so much on the plot, then.

So...M.A. Larson is Neo, apparently.

Useless fact: I've noticed that Bon-Bon was in like every other scene for most of the episode. (And when Lyra finally showed up, I imagined Bon-Bon asking her "Where have you been all day?")

Sorry to hear that your car was towed, Mousa. Do you have it back now?

And I'll repeat something I asked earlier. Do you think Twilight "died", in order to be reborn as an acorn alicorn? That place she met Celestia in had a definite "astral plane" feel.

Also: Now we know the entire My Little Pony Friendship is Magic show was actually live footage watched by Celestia.

Nah, that was just a bit of a twist to build some false tension/get some cheap lulz.

edited 16th Feb '13 3:58:02 PM by Mio

@ Syd

Maybe one of the writers will reveal it on twitter. They did with AJ's parents.

It's a sobering though...though maybe death is the wrong word. Maybe she was just disembodied?

@Syd, I wouldn't have gotten home without it, I sort of went to visit my girlfriend and that's a 4-5 hour drive and there is no way in hell I'm letting myself getting stuck in the southern area of Virginia.

And I would like to think she didn't die, she was teleported into an astral plane where only Alicorns can go.

@Applelight

I actually read that as "disemboweled" o_O