- Twilight no longer asks Spike about the present she wrecked after she knocked him over with the door. It cuts straight from her noticing him on the floor to her looking for books about Nightmare Moon.

That scene was important because it helped establish Twilight's main issue in the first two episodes - namely, that she has zero interest in friends. It also helped establish Spike's role as the one who likes to socialize and thinks Twilight needs to get out more, which is then reinforced by Celestia telling her to stop reading those dusty old books.

- When Twilight is fuming in her room during the party, she goes from ranting about how this friendmaking has ruined her day to the Summer Sun Celebration. The entire scene with her looking at the moon and stars is cut.

This omission sucks since it removes another establishing point for Twilight's character. Throughout the episode we've just seen her as a grumpy gus going from one crazy pony to another, and getting more and more frustrated with having to be there. But this scene shows another side to her, one we haven't seen on display up to this point. Beneath her disgruntled exterior, she's afraid that the prophecy will be true, and hopes that Celestia was telling the truth. It's a somber scene that helps delve into just how low she's feeling, far more than just her ranting about friends.

It's a gorgeous scene as well.

- When the curtain is pulled and Celestia isn't there, it smashes right to Pinkie gasping and Nightmare Moon forming. No Pinkie thinking Celestia was playing hide-and-seek.

This isn't a huge loss, but it helped to establish Pinkie's character, and the sudden move from "our ruler is missing" to "here's the villain" feels far too quick and ruins the mood. Plus, it was an amusing scene and helped me love Pinkie before Season 2 killed her forever and Season 3 tried to fix her but the damage was done and...