Once again, another home run from DHX!!!! Let's run through what I love, love, LOVED about "Magic Duel"!

(1) Trixie's return certainly did not disappoint, and it was very cool to see another ancient magical object introduced in the Alicorn Amulet (i.e. earlier we had the Mirror Pool), not to mention the fact that Alicorn is officially now a canon term within the show.

(2) Fluttershy was absolutely adorable in this episode, and made more contributions in this episode than she'd made in any other episode in Season 3 up to this point; it was especially amusing to once again see her being helped by her animal friends, especially when she was Flutter-spy, and oh my gosh, those beavers were freakin' hilarious!!! Also, it was nice to see continuity in RD and Fluttershy's closer relationship when RD decided that Fluttershy was the perfect candidate for sneaking outside of Ponyville; if this were Season 1, RD would never have placed that kind of trust in Fluttershy, I'm sure of it.

(3) There was also a surprising amount of tension this episode; you really couldn't wait for Twilight to come back and stop Trixie, especially after all the misery, suffering and hardship that she was causing for the rest of the Mane 6 and all of Ponyville after banishing Twilight.

(4) RARITY AND APPLEJACK AGAIN!!!!!!!!! What the heck was going on this season with those two? Those two were always hanging out with each other or leaning on each other for support, and this episode had the most of that yet in Season 3! Both at the beginning and the end of the episode Rarity and AJ had small and subtle moments together, and I loved every minute of it! It's one of the most consistently alluded to bits of character development, dating all the way back to Season 1, that DHX continues to reference and build upon in this show. Not a shipper myself, but I'll just say that RariJack fans have got to be rejoicing this season with all of the material that the makers have been giving them; it's getting to the point where RariJack might even supersede AppleDash, and that's saying something!

(5) Poor Snips and Snails!! Who other than me wanted to give those poor colts a hug? Those two especially suffered a lot, but I will say, it was nice to see them get some more screen time; not a huge fan of the characters themselves, but their VA's are hilarious, and you can tell they have a lot of fun together voicing those two. Their tag-team effort is reminiscent of famous comedic duos in animation, such as Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella's performance together as "Timon and Pumba".

(6) Very cool to see Zecora return! She's one of the few adult characters that the Mane 6 frequently turn to for advice aside from Celestia, and her maturity and wisdom really shined in this episode. Plus, the Master Yoda allusions during some of Twilight's training scenes were priceless! Overall, it was great seeing Zecora teach the ponies a valuable lesson yet again about teamwork, ultimately overcoming Trixie with a different kind of magic... you know where I'm going with this. I'm talking about the magic... OF FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!!!!

(7) With all of the magic in this episode, the animation was very, very impressive and fluid. There were some extremely cool visuals to see, and DHX did not disappoint in the slightest.

(8) By far the best scene of the entire episode was the duel scene!!! So many laughs, such a great amount of teamwork from the whole gang, and some amazing references!!!!!!!! I mean, we got a Double Rainbow Dash and Rule 63 "spell" for crying out loud, how cool is that?!?!?! The twist afterwards completely threw me for a loop, because honestly, the whole time she was "casting spells," I honestly did think Twilight was doing magic. But instead, it was the combined talents and efforts of her and her friends that saved the day, proving once again that the most powerful magic out there is the magic of friendship. Fantastic lesson, and one that I'm glad to see the show returned to once again, considering, after all, it is the entire premise of the show in the first place.

The only thing I was disappointed in at all was the very end. I would have liked to learn more about the horses from Saddle Arabia, and so I'd hoped they would show up in another episode, and not just oooooo and ahhhhhh at Twilight's magic for 30 seconds. Still, their designs were cool, and it was pretty neat to hear that Celestia was on a diplomatic mission to an entirely different nation. However, what I really cannot forgive so easily is Trixie's apology! It came completely out of left field, and I'm still scratching my head over it. I know that the amulet corrupted her, but still, that doesn't mean she wasn't a jerk before she put it on; honestly, I don't think she'd be too beat up over getting corrupted by it, so long as she got what she wanted. Don't get me wrong, I like seeing some characters honestly redeem themselves, but that's my primary gripe with her apology; as far as character consistency goes, it did not seem honest or sincere at all! There was nothing, I mean, NOTHING, before her apology that would have indicated she'd be inclined to make any apology whatsoever. But whatever, it's done, and I'll accept that she might honestly be trying to change her ways, at least a little bit; maybe she was just especially impressed by the power of friendship she saw displayed by Twilight and the Mane 6, and so now desires to gain some friends of her own.

Overall, this was a great episode that took a direction I certainly did not expect. I came into this thinking that Twilight was going to learn how to increase her own magical ability; what we got instead was one of the best team efforts from the Mane 6 yet, along with a wonderful lesson about the magic of friendship. Kudos to DHX on yet another wonderful episode most definitely worth a rewatch now and then.