Chrysalis to Where and Back Again Part 1

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E25ToWhereAndBackAgainPart1

Discord merely plant out Queen Chrysalis has Fluttershy. Prissy knowin' ya, Chrysalis.

"THEY'RE Back!!"

—Starlight Blink

Special Guest Star: John de Lancie as Discord
Written past: Josh Haber and Michael Vogel

While moving boxes of books in Twilight'south library, Starlight Glimmer receives an invitation from her old village to accept in the Sunset Festival for the town. While Twilight encourages her to go, Starlight is all the same haunted by the things she did as the town's leader, nervously wondering if the ponies there volition hold a grudge. At night, Starlight dreams of the ponies from her village mocking her and insulting her, prompting Princess Luna to step in. While Starlight is relieved that it's all a dream, Luna says that the emotions information technology represents are real, and she should talk to her friends about it. The adjacent morning, Starlight confides in the Mane Half-dozen that she's nervous, so they suggest bringing forth a friend to help. To Twilight's disappointment, Starlight chooses to bring Trixie with her, and the two set out.

Once they arrive at the hamlet, the ponies are actually quite happy to see her. In fact, they begin to ask Starlight numerous questions well-nigh how the Sunset Festival should be run. Overwhelmed, Starlight panics, pushing the ponies away with her magic. Trixie uses her smoke bombs to help requite her a hasty exit, with a dejected Starlight saying that she doesn't want to be in charge of anything else. Trixie quietly admits that even she makes mistakes, and the all-time affair to do in that situation is forget well-nigh it and movement on.

Back in Ponyville, Starlight notices everypony acting strangely, with the Mane Six all behaving incredibly snidely and rudely, forth with none of them seeming to remember that Starlight headed back to her old village. That nighttime, some other dream has Starlight confronted by her friends, simply she realizes quickly that it's another dream. Still, a panicked Princess Luna appears and warns Starlight that changelings have kidnapped her and the other princesses, and that she needs to go help. Though frightened, Starlight gets Trixie to spy on the Mane Six in the castle. They use a device to communicate with Queen Chrysalis, the changeling leader, who confirms that the princesses have been kidnapped, and fifty-fifty replaced with phonies. The queen as well says that since they thought "too small" in their endeavour to claim Canterlot last time, they volition now conquer all of Equestria.

Afterwards slipping out of the castle thanks to a cloaking spell, Starlight suggests going to the Crystal Empire to get help from Princess Cadance. However, Thorax the friendly changeling appears, who confirms that Cadance'due south family unit has also been taken. As they despair over who else could perchance help them now with both the Mane Half dozen and the Imperial Family the prisoners of the changelings, the nigh-omnipotent Discord arrives; he is initially quite uncaring about the whole situation, until he hears that Fluttershy has also been taken, and he transports them to the Changeling Hive. Starlight looks on nervously, unsure of how to keep...

TO Be CONTINUED

*cue happy credits music*

Continued in "To Where and Dorsum Again – Part 2".

---

Tropes:

• All There in the Manual: My Picayune Pony (Gameloft) explains how the changelings abducted the Mane Six. One used a fake present to abduct and replace Pinkie Pie, and then threw a party to lure and capture the rest of them.
• All Up to You: Starlight is forced to accept Trixie, Thorax, and Discord with her to rescue the Royal Family unit and Mane 6, and save Equestria.
• Art Development: Starting this episode, Trixie'due south eyes are now rendered with two catchlights like everypony else, rather than a single catchlight in her earlier appearances.
• Badass in Distress: Some of the nigh powerful ponies in Equestria were captured by the changelings, and now they need to be rescued.
• Be All My Sins Remembered: Starlight however doesn't believe she deserves to be forgiven for the things she has done, and peculiarly doesn't want the responsibility of being a leader again.

• Beware the Silly Ones: Discord is normally goofy and mischievous. When he hears that Fluttershy was taken, he gets mortiferous serious.
• Big "NO!": Starlight says this when all the requests for for guidance from the ponies of her sometime village become too much for her.
• Big "WHAT?!": Trixie lets one out when Starlight tells her the changelings are back.
• Brief Emphasis Imitation: Thorax beingness a changeling, he goes beyond but imitating Twilight's mannerisms: he turns into her to repeat the spoken communication she made nigh him in the Crystal Empire, including mimicking her vocalization.
• Wide Strokes: The comic series, which has always had an uneasy relationship with the show regarding its canon status, has its biggest castor with the bear witness's canon so far here. It had depicted another encounter with Chrysalis where she was imprisoned, merely so a later issue had her escape and become her power back. None of this is referenced here, simply given that she ended upwards dorsum where she started, the fans are free to imagine it all happened or not as they prefer. On height of that, the Changeling Kingdom presented in this episode is definitely different from the one in the comics. Given the latter was more a temporary base of operations for Chrysalis and her army, however, it tin can exist assumed that this Changeling Kingdom is meant to be the changeling species' homeland.
• Brutal Honesty: Rainbow Nuance says Starlight was "...pretty awful" when she was a villain, prompting Applejack to admonish her.
• The Omnibus Came Back:
  • Trixie, Thorax, and Discord all make a render later having an episode earlier in the season.
  • Queen Chrysalis and her changeling army make an official return after their defeat during the royal wedding and their timeline during Starlight'southward revenge attempt, this fourth dimension with Chrysalis seeking Revenge by making sure that Equestria's primary defenses in the Royal Family and the Mane Six, the ones responsible for her previous defeat, are out of the style early on then they can't interfere again.
  • The ponies of Our Boondocks make a return after helping finish Starlight from stealing the Mane Six'due south cutie marks and their cameo at the end of flavor 5.
• Call-Back:
  • The ponies from Our Town invite Starlight to the Sunset Festival, leading to some discussion about her previously leading the village, and how they had forgiven her misdeeds in "The Cutie Re-Mark – Part 2".

    Trixie: There it is! The town where you—
    Starlight Glimmer: Magically stole everypony's cutie marks, replaced them with equal signs, and forced them all to hide their natural talents? Yep.
    Trixie: I was going to say "where you came from," simply yours is a more... emotionally traumatic reply.

  • Princess Luna visits the dreams of another pony to give them advice, so uses it later to warn Starlight of the situation with the changelings before she is taken.
  • Princess Luna also mentions to Starlight how the Mane Six accept helped her in the past, and points that they take some backstory in common.
  • Starlight's friendship with Trixie and Twilight'south lingering trepidation over it harken back to "No 2d Prances" earlier in the flavour.
  • Thorax directly quotes Twilight's speech virtually her conclusion to trust him in "The Times They Are a Changeling", even turning into her and using the audio.
• Catapult Nightmare: Starlight Blink springs awake from her second dream, screaming "THEY'RE Back!" Considering the specially chilling alarm she simply received from Luna in said dream, this is no surprise she's having an anguished wake-up.
• The Chains of Commanding: Starlight, after her previous mistakes with leadership, doesn't feel comfortable in a leadership role, as her reaction to the ponies of "Our Town" asking for her advice on the festival shows.
• Changeling Tale: Taken Up to 11 with the changelings ponynapping all the Princesses and their friends and loved ones, so feeding on everypony else's love for the replaced ponies and feeding that beloved to Queen Chrysalis.
• Graphic symbol Shilling: The episode starts with Twilight praising Starlight'southward development and even claiming it's all thanks to Starlight herself. Considering her limited airtime this season and the concluding we saw of her progress she didn't realize heed-controlling her friends was a bad matter until called out, that's either not saying much or she made an implausible corporeality of offscreen progress ^notation the next season premier supports this by having a large pile of Starlight's lesson while just the first three were shown this season, though it might not have been meant to be taken seriously considering only three episodes passed and Starlight'due south unresolved cocky-dubiety over information technology.
• Cliffhanger: Equally is the case with the 2-parters, this episode ends with the changelings having kidnapped several powerful ponies effectually Equestria, including the Mane Vi and the Imperial Family, meaning Equestria is virtually defenseless and leaderless now, and leaving Starlight and her squad outside the Changeling Hive to rescue everyone, with Starlight scared of what to do next.
• Comically Missing the Point: Twilight is hinting that Starlight should invite her to get with her, merely she decides to bring Trixie instead, to the Princess of Friendship's annoyance.
• Commonality Connection: Princess Luna identifies with Starlight, every bit they both succumbed to the dark sides of their nature in the past, and struggled through redemption.

  Princess Luna: I see much of myself in you, Starlight Blink, and I can tell you from personal experience that things practice indeed get better.

• Continuity Nod:
  • Derpy wears the postal service uniform she was seen wearing in "Crusaders of the Lost Mark".
  • In the get-go dream, Party Favor makes the same memetic face he did in "The Cutie Map – Function 2" after he was released from the reconditioning shed.
  • The spell Starlight uses to push the ponies abroad is the same i she used in "The Cutie Map – Part 2".
  • The changeling who had replaced Fluttershy is seen performing a Slouch of Villainy on her throne; Starlight pulled a like pose on the very same throne in "The Cutie Re-Mark – Part 1".
  • While proving his identity, Discord turns the basis into soap, just as he did in "The Return of Harmony - Part 2".
• Cover Identity Bibelot: The changelings replacing the Mane Vi testify varying levels of skill in impersonating them.
  • The worst are the replacements for Rainbow Dash and Spike, who act like directly-up jerkasses and show none of the traits of the characters they impersonate. They seem to hate their task, though fake Spike has expert reason to equally he is the Barrel-Monkey of the group.
  • Applejack, Rarity, and Little finger Pie'due south replacements make an effort to simulated some of the tics of their originals and endeavor to respond politely when Starlight talks to them, only the ruse somewhen breaks down. The simulated Applejack and Rarity burst out in derisive laughter when they hear of Starlight's genuine and painful friendship trouble, while simulated Pinkie doesn't remember Starlight's name and bails apace on their conversation, whereas the existent Pinkie has been repeatedly demonstrated to call back every friend she'due south ever met and is extremely talkative.
  • The changeling taking over Princess Twilight's role does the best chore, successfully faking her way through a conversation with Starlight and hoof-waving away the others' odd behavior. She fifty-fifty offers some confident friendship "advice". The only matter odd most her is the advice itself, in that she tells Starlight to forget her old friendships and simply find new ones to replace them, whereas the real Twilight Sparkle encourages determination and maintaining friendships even through difficulty.
  • Collectively, none of the changelings recognize Starlight or show whatever knowledge that she'south Twilight's pupil. Even the imitation Twilight never acknowledges her name or position. Queen Chrysalis after says she knows exactly who Starlight is and even considered having her replaced, but ultimately deciding that she wasn't worth the trouble (which would explain the lack of a briefing regarding her).
• Darkest Hr: The changelings take returned, and have kidnapped all of the virtually powerful ponies in Equestria, including every member of the Royal Family unit and all of Twilight's friends, replacing them with fakes to pave the way for a full-scale invasion in Revenge for the Royal Wedding defeat.
• A Day in the Limelight: Notably the first two-parter that does not focus on Twilight or the Mane Half dozen.
• Deflector Shields: Trixie freaks out desperately upon meeting with Thorax, forcing Starlight to encase her in a chimera shield that is soundproof. Trixie spends the next few moments floating within, screaming, panicking and slamming her hooves against the barrier to no avail in complete silence.
• Destroy the Abusive Dwelling: When y'all come across the broad shot of Our Town, information technology appears the residents have demolished Starlight's quondam cottage and planted a tree in its place.
• The Elevate-Along: Trixie doesn't feel she's specially qualified to be taking on the changeling horde and would much rather exist somewhere else.
• Dream Walker: Princess Luna, as usual. She appears in Starlight Glimmer's first dream to give her some communication nigh how to handle her anguish of coming dorsum to Our Town. In the second dream, she use her ability to warn Starlight about the changeling assault while struggling to fight off her captors in vain.
• Easily Forgiven: Contrary to her fears and nightmares, the ponies of Our Town don't carry any grudge confronting Starlight Glimmer and want her to join in on their celebration. However, being easily forgiven once over again just aggravates Starlight'south anguish, and she assumes a Troubled Fetal Position before running away.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humour: The changelings replacing Applejack and Rarity bursts into laughter when Starlight tells them she fled from the Sunset Festival in Our Town. This lack of empathy is a big hint of their true nature.
• Evil Laugh: Naturally, Queen Chrysalis indulges in megalomaniacal cackling at the terminate of the communication scene, and her changeling minions follow arrange.
• Evil Belfry of Ominousness: The Changeling Kingdom Castle is a jagged and gnarled spire fortress surrounded by a wasteland devoid of any plant life. Yes, definitely not a very friendly-looking identify to visit. Thorax is terrified when he looks upon it, even though he's from there.
• Eye Am Watching You: The changeling impersonating Spike, who has been the most hostile of the bunch, makes the gesture twice toward Starlight as she comes back to the Friendship Castle. Not suspicious at all, nope.
• Eye Twitch: Twilight has some when Starlight brings Trixie to "Our Town" instead of her.
• Flashy Teleportation:
  • Starlight Glimmer teleports herself and a panicking Trixie dorsum to her carriage after a close call with the changelings replacing the Mane Six and Spike.
  • As soon as Discord learns that Fluttershy is in danger, he teleports himself, Starlight, Trixie and Thorax straight to her location. Or at least he tries — he doesn't expect a Teleport Interdiction to be in place, leaving them outside the Changeling Hive.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Luna struggling to contact Starlight and the group non teleporting direct to the Hive/where Fluttershy is both lead to an of import function of the adjacent episode.
  • Thorax's new wings are also a hint at what's coming.
  • Discord tries to direct teleport himself and the other would-exist rescuers direct to Fluttershy, but to his confusion they terminate up outside of the hive instead. The reason for this is explained next episode.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The "unlikely heroes" that step upwards when the Mane 6 are decommissioned. Starlight Glimmer is melancholic; Trixie is choleric; Discord is sanguine as always; and Thorax is phlegmatic.
• Funny Groundwork Outcome:
  • When Starlight start sees the impostor Mane Half-dozen in the map sleeping accommodation, the changeling disguised as Applejack is eating a pear.
  • When Thorax appears to Starlight and Trixie, Starlight is forced to seal her inside a soundproof bubble when she won't stop screaming. She remains in that location for the rest of the post-obit conversation, pulling hilarious faces.
  • When it's Discord plow to announced, he's knitting a mock-up of Angel Bunny for... some reason.
  • When Twilight is telling Starlight that she should bring a friend when she returns to "Our Boondocks", clearly hinting at herself, Spike wears a Disapproving Wait, considering he knows that Starlight volition chose Trixie over Twilight without any doubt. So we have the Gilligan Cut...
• Gagging on Your Words: When Starlight asks Trixie to repeat what she'd earlier told her to not echo to anypony, to make sure she's non a changeling, Trixie's respond first come up out as unintelligible mumbling between clenched teeth. Simply on Starlight's insistence does she finally acknowledge it was "That fifty-fifty Trixie'south fabricated mistakes!"
• Gilligan Cutting: Twilight is telling Starlight that she should bring a friend when she returns to "Our Town", clearly hinting at herself, and the cut shows that she's chosen Trixie.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: With the Mane Six, Spike, Shining Armor, and the Princesses captured, Starlight gets the help of Discord, Trixie and Thorax. She would like to call for the Crystal Empire but obviously they were hit offset.
• Good Costume Switch: Although non a costume, Thorax has new wings that shine like crystal, something that both Starlight, and Thorax himself observe.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Thorax has new, hole-less sparkly wings compared to his old ones, something Starlight noticed right abroad.
• Hellish Pupils: Discord's goofy, mismatched pupils narrow into snake-like slits when he hears that Fluttershy was ane of the ponies captured by the changelings.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • When the ponies of Our Town bombard Starlight with requests for her guidance, she screams "No!" and pushes them away with her expanding shield spell. Immediately after, she is shown lying on the ground, hooves over her eyes, trembling in anguish.
  • Trixie is terrified of the changelings and panics the moment she hears nigh them. She doesn't even want to be close to Thorax, despite assertive Starlight when she says that he is on their side.
• Hey, You!: These are the fake Pinkie Pie'southward first words to Starlight once she returns to Ponyville.
• Promise Spot: Starlight suggests going to get Cadance and Shining'southward help, but Thorax reveals that they were captured already, and Sunburst sent him to become aid from Twilight.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Discord describes the trio of Starlight, Trixie and Thorax every bit "a combination of secondary characters".
• Let'southward Go Dangerous!: The moment Discord learns that Fluttershy has been captured by the changelings, he instantly drops all pretense of goofing off and becomes deadly serious.
• Letting the Air Out of the Band: When Thorax turns into Twilight to repeat her speech from "The Times They Are a Changeling", the same solemn music from this scene can as well be heard... until Starlight cuts him, at which indicate the music falters and peters out.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Once again: Not the exact phrase Trixie used, merely this is definitely what she was feeling when she admitted that even she makes mistakes. Naturally, it gets brought upwardly for Trixie's Something Merely They Would Say moment.
• Literary Innuendo Title: To The Hobbit, whose total championship reads The Hobbit, or There and Back Again.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Save the Twilight impersonator, none of the Changelings seem to know Starlight exists. Patently they accept not fully followed history since the Royal Wedding. Although the adjacent episode reveals that Chrysalis herself is well enlightened of who Starlight is and considered not the trouble of replacing.
• Lower-Deck Episode: Lampshaded by Discord before the team sets out on a rescue mission to salve the Mane Six and the Royal Family.

  Discord: Well, isn't this quite the combination of secondary characters!

• Mook Lieutenant: The one changeling turned into Twilight Sparkle is ordering effectually the others, and too seems to be more intelligent than the boilerplate drone. He's doing a better job impersonating the princess than his goons are doing with their respective roles — it's still off, but at least he tries giving conceivable pretexts to Starlight for the discrepancies. He's also the only one seen to talk while in changeling form when Chrysalis contacts them, and near sniffs out a subconscious Starlight and Trixie.
• Morality Pet: Fluttershy remains this to Discord; he only reacts to the changeling state of affairs when he learns that she was taken.
• Mordor: The Changeling Kingdom is a dour and barren-looking land surrounding a big spire of dark rock.
• Mythology Gag: Before Starlight wakes her, Trixie is mumbling about peanut butter crackers in her sleep, a snack of which her Equestria Girls cocky is also noted to be fond.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Queen Chrysalis is back, and wasted no fourth dimension at all disposing of not merely Princess Cadance this time around, but Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Shining Armor, Flurry Centre, and the Mane Six as well, the only heroes she believes would stand in the way of stopping her program, and to take Revenge on all of them for her previous defeat at their hooves.
• The Nose Knows: The changeling posing equally Twilight stops for a moment in the castle hallway to sniff around while searching for Starlight and Trixie and follows the trail to where Starlight and Trixie are hiding. Notwithstanding, since Starlight has cast an invisibility spell on them the changeling continues searching somewhere else.
• Not Himself: Starlight is confused when the Mane Half dozen and Spike either don't recognize her or otherwise admonish or insult her for either reason. Information technology's only a matter of time earlier she realizes they were replaced with Changelings.
• No Sympathy Between Mooks: The changelings are seen mocking 1 of their ain (the Spike impersonator) for being slapped around.
• Non What I Signed Upward For: Trixie has a major freak-out when she and Starlight just barely escape being caught by the changelings and says she can't deal with "princess-level stuff" because she is merely a performer.
• Offscreen Moment of Crawly: The changelings somehow capturing the Mane 6 and all of the Regal Family in the time it took for Starlight and Trixie to travel to Our Boondocks and back.
• Sometime Shame: Starlight's opinion of her deportment in "Our Town", which she now deeply regrets.
• OOC Is Serious Concern: The goofy and light-headed Discord turns on a dime when the others inform him that the changelings have taken Fluttershy as well. He becomes utterly pissed .
• Out-of-Graphic symbol Alert: Starlight notices this about the "Mane Six" after coming home, eventually discovering they're not her friends after all — they're Changelings in disguise.
• Overly Long Scream: Trixie is somewhat taken aback past Thorax, to the signal where Starlight has to trap her in a bubble to stop the racket from giving them away.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Trixie gleefully rubs Starlight inviting her to come to Our Boondocks with her in Twilight's face up, while smugly "complimenting" the Princess of Friendship on her "wisdom" and emphasizing how she'due south Starlight's all-time friend.
• Plot Hole: Starlight Glimmer's first dream is strangely upwards-to-engagement nigh the appearance of Our Town, including the verbal banners used for the Dusk Festival, and the fact that her cottage has been replaced by a tree. This wasn't the case during her last visit (at the cease of "The Cutie Re-Mark – Part ii") and she makes quite articulate she hadn't been there back since, and thus she shouldn't have memories of the updated village.
• The Punishment Is the Law-breaking: Despite being Easily Forgiven by all the ponies around her and wanting to be friends with her, Starlight Glimmer is notwithstanding also self-absorbed to accept information technology and doesn't feel she deserves it for all the bad things she did.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Starlight Blink has to save Equestria with her ain makeshift team of onetime villains and social misfits: Trixie, a grandstanding wizard with a bad public epitome as a one-time evil overlord; Thorax, a friendly changeling who has faced prejudice from the very ponies he wants to get along with; and Discord, a not-quite-reformed prankster of nigh-omnipotent power who only helps when he feels like it.

  Trixie: I can't deal with this! I'1000 only a performer! This is... This is princess-level stuff!

• Reality Warper: Discord demonstrates his powers by distorting things when Starlight asks for proof that he'southward the real Discord.
• Red Eyes, Have Alarm: Discord's pupils flash an angry red very briefly when he asks, with a growling tone of voice, where they've taken Fluttershy.
• Red Herring: Trixie's line almost pretending something bad never happened, immediately followed past a scene where Pinkie Pie can't call back Starlight's name, may accept been an endeavour to fool the audience into thinking that the episode was going the way of It'due south a Wonderful Plot.
• Revenge: After her previous defeat regarding the Imperial Nuptials, Chrysalis attempts to conquer Equestria again, this fourth dimension covertly kidnapping everyone involved in her original defeat, the Mane Six and the Imperial Family, so they tin't stop her again.
• Screw This, I'grand Outta Here!: When Starlight has a breakdown at her old village, Trixie notices the problem and uses her trademark fume bomb leave technique to become herself and Starlight out the village.
• Shout-Out:
  • In addition to the Literary Allusion Championship to The Hobbit, the concept of a rag-tag group of heroes and anti-heroes traveling to a mount belonging to their joint nemesis too borrows from The Lord of the Rings, with the Changeling Kingdom being a decent analogue to Mt. Doom.
  • The arrival of Derpy parodies some classic Superman lines:

    Twilight Sparkle: Is it a bird?
    Starlight Blink: Is it a parasprite?
    Spike: Information technology's... it's... incoming!

  • When Discord makes a sit-in of his Reality Warping, he turns Trixie'south wagon into a pumpkin coach.
• Slouch of Villainy: The changeling posing as Fluttershy invokes this while sitting on her throne, putting its rear hooves upward on the map tabular array. Information technology couldn't wait less similar Fluttershy without abandoning her prototype entirely.
• Smoke Out:
  • Trixie uses her trademark exit method to get Starlight and herself out of Our Town, and it actually works: Trixie at present uses a more powerful bomb and then that the smoke stays for longer, both covering the exit much better than earlier and making the other ponies to coughing and close their eyes for a few moments, and therefore Trixie is already far away when they can finally meet once more.
  • Trixie seems unable to Not use her smoke bombs for drama, which gives us one funny moment earlier they reach Our Boondocks.

    Trixie: Not merely a promise, a corking and powerful promise! [fume bombs the surface area, cue some coughing]

• Something Only They Would Say: Starlight asks something from all three of her allies to confirm they aren't changelings: Trixie reveals a secret she shared with Starlight earlier in the episode, Thorax recites the voice communication Twilight made after she accepted him, and Discord shows off his powers.
• So Much for Stealth: Starlight and Trixie manage to spy on the changelings without being noticed while they are contacting Queen Chrysalis, merely at the stop of the magic conference Starlight makes the mistake of pushing the door to the throne room a lilliputian, causing information technology to creak. The changelings are immediately alerted and hiss menacingly.
• Spiking the Camera: When the Changeling impersonating Twilight tries to explain why Spike was acting and then off today, her eyes look directly at the viewer audience when she says "I recall he missed a meal or something."
• Spoof Aesop: What Trixie has taken away from her by misadventures is patently that everyone makes mistakes merely that the important thing is to movement on from them and pretend they never happened. Starlight admits that that'south almost a good lesson...
• Stranger in a Familiar Land:
  • Starlight is afraid to render to Our Boondocks because she fears she won't be accepted at that place anymore.
  • Thorax besides seems terrified to return to the Changeling Kingdom.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: In stark contrast to the Mane Half-dozen facing various threats with gusto, Starlight and Trixie are much more prone to self-doubt and fear, realizing how in over their heads they are at the threat of Changeling invasion.
• Talking in Your Sleep: Starlight hears Trixie talking in her sleep about performing for Princess Celestia for peanut butter crackers.
• Teleport Interdiction: Discord tries to teleport himself, Starlight, Trixie, and Thorax to where Fluttershy is, simply instead only brings them to outside the Changeling Hive. Next episode shows why. This also explains why Luna simply could non teleport away from her captors while warning Starlight earlier.
• Tempting Fate: When Discord appears, Starlight has the "bully idea" to call him out and openly question his identity. While in that location was a massive non-lethal Replicant Snatching invasion of Equestria past the changelings going on, information technology's nonetheless a bad idea to claiming a Mad God to prove himself given Discord'south level of power. After all, if he's an imposter, Starlight, Trixie, and Thorax would be able to handle 1 changeling, but if it actually is Discord, you've simply invited him to mess you up in many weird and impossible ways.

  Starlight: How practise we know you are who you say yous are?
  [cue Discord turning the entire landscape into something from Willy Wonka's nightmares]

• Too Fast to Stop: Derpy's mail delivery system. She crashes through a window of the Castle.
• Tranquil Fury: Discord gives the impression of beingness utterly unconcerned with the changeling invasion... until he hears Fluttershy's been captured. And then he drops all pretense of being bored and demands to know, in a mortiferous serious tone, where she'southward been taken.
• Visible Invisibility: Starlight uses an invisibility spell to hide Trixie and herself from the changeling impersonating Twilight and company. The eyes, and the outline of their bodies, are still slightly visible. It's probable for the audience'due south benefit as the changeling neither sees nor smells anything.
• Song Dissonance: The changelings, in addition to non knowing how the ponies they kidnapped act, don't seem to get the voices correct, either. The most obvious 1 is Rainbow Dash, whose voice is noticeably higher and less scratchy than is normal for her.
• Volumetric Oral fissure: On seeing Thorax, Trixie starts screaming her head off for a comically long time, which is expressed several times by her wide-open mouth occupying the whole face, complete with a total view of her glottis and tongue twirling like a mad snake.
• Wake Upward Fighting: Of a sort. Trixie accidentally sets off several of her magical fireworks while getting out of bed when Starlight wakes her up; luckily, Starlight was outside Trixie's railroad vehicle, so doesn't get hit.
• Weirder Than Usual: Starlight is puzzled by the mode the fake Pinkie is interim, despite reminders that Little finger Pie is always weird.

  Starlight Blink: That was... strange...
  Trixie: Isn't she ever strange?
  Starlight Blink: Yeah, simply... not like that.

• Wham Line: After Starlight has seen all of the Mane Six acting suspiciously for no apparent reason, Luna's appearance in her dream, struggling against her captors, finally gives abroad the game.

  Princess Luna: The changelings have returned!

• Whole Plot Reference: The plot of this two-parter seems to exist i for the premiere of the series, in which the protagonist is a unicorn who leads a ragtag team to fight an evil force threatening the land.
• The Worf Effect: The Royal Family and the Mane Six are put out of commission by the changelings to underscore just how bad the state of affairs is and ratchet upwards the pressure on the 2nd-string heroes. We don't see how but it'due south heavily unsaid to have something to do with The Reveal of Chrysalis having a Power Nullifier throne which tin block their magic that led to beingness kidnapped so easily. Thorax also mentions that a common Changeling tactic is to use a disguise to lure a target into an ambush, and then both were probably used.
• Worldbuilding: The Changeling Kingdom, previously mentioned by Thorax in "The Times They Are a Changeling", finally makes an advent.
• Would Injure a Child: The changelings have kidnapped both Spike and Flurry Centre, both of whom are simply babies to their corresponding races. (To be off-white, it wouldn't have been much better to leave Flurry Eye behind after abducting her parents.)
• You Are in Command Now: Trixie, Thorax, and even Discord look at Starlight for leadership since all four princesses (ane of which is her teacher) have been kidnapped. Information technology's something she definitely doesn't feel comfy with.

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Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E25ToWhereAndBackAgainPart1

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