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Yeah, that's the biggest factor in this whole scene for me. She (most likely) can't teleport. What was her plan after entering the Manticore's mouth? There's no doubt about it, she wouldn't have survived unless somepony interfered. She was really counting on Starlight to help her out. I mean, otherwise how could have that turned out alright at all?

I don't think Trixie can teleport. I mean, we've never seen her do so. And whenever she makes an escape, she sends out a poof of smoke and runs away. Teleporting would be a lot more practical, and especially cooler looking. Not to mention performing magic under extreme stress and fear is probably difficult for the average unicorn. Heck, we've seen Twilight fail to use her magic in certain cases.

You know, as much as we knock on Snips and Snails, I feel if there was some more time in the episode a moment with Trixie treating them both as actual ponies and not slaves, and Snips and Snails making Trixie feel good about herself (in a non-egotistical way) would have actually been really sweet.

I knew Trixie's words sounded familiar!

Friendless, poor, pretty much homeless, a laughingstock, inferior to other magic users, and a failure in your own special talent (as a result of circumstance, as Trixie's performances are pretty darn spectacular)... It's no wonder why she was so quick to break.

Well, I'm not usually one to try and come up with episode ideas, but it seems fun, so.. what the heck? :3 Fly Me to the Blue Moon Part 1 Princess Celestia notices that Luna hasn't been herself. Whenever Celestia tries to speak with her, Luna denies that anything has been wrong. For the next few nights, Celestia sees that Luna has gazed toward the moon at the exact same time each night without fail. Finally, Celestia decides to stay behind the fourth night and secretly watch her. As Celestia watched Luna, she sees Luna activate her horn and let out a glow, and shortly after for a few seconds a glow appears on the moon as well. Celestia confronts Luna, who is surprised. After some gentle convincing, Luna decided to tell Celestia what has been going on. Since her return, Luna has been doing this. During her banishment as Nightmare Moon, she had discovered life on the moon. Although she would yell at them and attack them, their curiosity got the best of them and they would always come out to investigate Nightmare Moon. Eventually, Nightmare Moon gave up on trying to drive them off. And soon she even began to enjoy their company and curiosity. Years have gone by, and so have generations of this species. A thousand years provides a lot of time to get to know others and even grow to respect them. Nightmare Moon was soon a respected outsider to this species and eventually became a normal part of their life. She got along with them just fine, and even vented to them about the incident with Celestia. Having no interest in the world of Equestria (and other countries) since they weren't from it, they didn't fear Nightmare Moon or even dislike her as Equestrians would have. And Nightmare Moon had no reason to terrorize these people, especially since it's always night where they're from and they've grown to quite like it. Anyway, more story stuff, etc. etc.; After a thousand years were up Nightmare Moon had escaped. Even after being defeated, Luna still remembers the moments she's shared with this species. Although she can't see them again, she lets them know that she's okay each night by shining her horn. In turn, they shine back. However, on this night, they didn't shine back... (That's all I have right now. Maybe it could possibly be a 2-parter? With Celestia and Luna finding a way to travel to the moon to find out what's happened to them? I know, I was vague on the species and interactions between NMM and the aliens, but I had a hard time of thinking of much for them.) What do you guys think? Pretty amateur I know, but I wanted to try and come up with something. :3

Yeah, I saw that as well. It's safe to say Starlight was Trixie's only real friend, and once she lost that she obviously broke down. And her huge ego didn't allow her to talk to Twilight or tell anyone else how she felt. I mean, the only pony she could have vented to and be listened to by had just renounced her friendship. Other people have said that we're just looking too much into it, and that while MLP has touched some dark themes before they wouldn't go this far. Alright, let's look at it from a non-grim standpoint. Trixie was ready to perform a trick that she knows she's incapable of performing. There's no denying it definitely could have led to her death. I'm pretty sure she realized that too, especially given her final words, and her "please" just sounded so helpless. If she wasn't doing this because she was do distraught, and was doing it because she felt the "show must go on".. that's just insane and moronic. And even though Trixie has never shown any extreme intelligence, she's definitely not a moron. We also know she's a coward. Why would someone as competent and afraid as Trixie do this? Heck, we've seen her flee rather than try and prove herself and her words on more than one occasion. Why would this be any different? I really believe Trixie saw it like this: Either Starlight would save her, and it would prove that they really were friends.. or that Starlight wouldn't save her and she would meet her demise. And if that happened, at least she wouldn't be around to reflect on her trust being shattered. I really felt for Trixie and Starlight this episode.

Alright, now that I'm on a laptop, I could type a bit more instead of relying on a pesky phone touchscreen. I really enjoyed this episode, though I could see why some people wouldn't. Most of you guys probably already know I'm a HUGE supporter of Starlight's, so of course I enjoyed it. However, I really can't defend her joking about her misdeeds. I mean, I know why she did it, if she can laugh off the bad situation it could downplay it and get her past it, and while I agree it could do that I feel it wasn't quite time for jokes yet. I guess in two words I'd say "too soon." But other than that, I loved her just the same in this episode, as well as Trixie. I think the scenes between them were really impactful, and it was almost meta in a sense that it addressed issues with redemption. Of course there is always going to be that nagging feeling of distrust, no matter how hard you try to give someone the benefit of the doubt. As much as it was regarding Twilight, it felt like it regarded some fans as well. There has been a lot of talk about the reformations of Trixie and Starlight, even before we knew about this episode. They pretty much said it, "Everypony always says they'll give you a second chance, but deep down, they never forget." Another aspect that's hardly taken into consideration is how genuine someone may be. There are obviously those who will continue to make the same mistake, but there are also people who really do feel guilty. Guilty and remorseful enough that they genuinely do want to change themselves for the better. I think we've clearly seen that Starlight wants to be. There are parts of her old self that slip up, but she's been trying her darnedest not to revert back. I know what she did was definitely disastrous and completely and utterly wrong, but like it or not, she's on the road to redemption now, there's no retconning that. "Please, Twilight! I know you're trying to help, but I need to make friends on my own if I'm going to become a better pony." Yup, she's definitely making an effort. I think this episode did a great job establishing post-Cutie Remark Starlight. There's no going back now, unless Twilight decides to go back on her word and punish her at this point, but that wouldn't look very good on her, now would it? Not to mention how much of a jerk move it'd be to do that to someone who is giving their best efforts. I actually think this was a better pairing than the Starlight/Discord ideas that have been going around, and that's coming from someone who wanted an episode between those two. Trixie is definitely more sympathetic and pathetic (can I use those two words like that in the same sentence? XP) than Discord. All in all, great episode!

Does anybody else get a Doctor Strange vibe from Trixie's magic show poster or is it just me?

I'm not sure if Trixie's last moment in the cannon was intentional or not.. I mean, I don't think it was because otherwise there were some pretty dark implications there, but after seeing Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep I wouldn't put it past them. That whole last five or so minutes hit very close to home for me. I loved it, though. The episode definitely started off slow, but I think it picked up about halfway through.

Season 1: 7/10 Season 2: 9/10 Season 3: 8/10 Season 4: 8.75/10 Season 5: 10/10 Season 6 (so far): 9/10 --- EG: 6/10 RR: 10/10 FG: 9/10

Super Colorful Immersive Equines Nominated Cause Eggplants. S.C.I.E.N.C.E. Ehh, 6 outta 7 ain't bad.