To Where and Back Again Mlp

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

Discord just found out Queen Chrysalis has Fluttershy. Dainty knowin' ya, Chrysalis.

"THEY'RE BACK!!"

—Starlight Blink

Special Guest Star: John de Lancie every bit Discord
Written by: Josh Haber and Michael Vogel

While moving boxes of books in Twilight'southward library, Starlight Glimmer receives an invitation from her old village to take in the Sunset Festival for the boondocks. While Twilight encourages her to go, Starlight is still haunted by the things she did as the town's leader, nervously wondering if the ponies there volition agree 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'southward all a dream, Luna says that the emotions information technology represents are existent, and she should talk to her friends near it. The next morn, Starlight confides in the Mane Six that she's nervous, and so they suggest bringing along a friend to help. To Twilight's disappointment, Starlight chooses to bring Trixie with her, and the two ready out.

Once they get in at the village, the ponies are actually quite happy to see her. In fact, they begin to enquire Starlight numerous questions near how the Sunset Festival should be run. Overwhelmed, Starlight panics, pushing the ponies abroad with her magic. Trixie uses her smoke bombs to help give her a hasty get out, with a dejected Starlight saying that she doesn't desire to be in charge of anything else. Trixie quietly admits that even she makes mistakes, and the best thing to do in that situation is forget about it and move on.

Back in Ponyville, Starlight notices everypony acting strangely, with the Mane Six all behaving incredibly snidely and rudely, along with none of them seeming to recollect that Starlight headed back to her one-time hamlet. That night, some other dream has Starlight confronted by her friends, but she realizes quickly that information technology's another dream. Even so, a panicked Princess Luna appears and warns Starlight that changelings accept kidnapped her and the other princesses, and that she needs to get help. Though frightened, Starlight gets Trixie to spy on the Mane Six in the castle. They employ a device to communicate with Queen Chrysalis, the changeling leader, who confirms that the princesses have been kidnapped, and even replaced with phonies. The queen also says that since they thought "likewise small-scale" in their endeavor to merits Canterlot concluding fourth dimension, they will now conquer all of Equestria.

Afterward slipping out of the castle thanks to a cloaking spell, Starlight suggests going to the Crystal Empire to become help from Princess Cadance. Nevertheless, Thorax the friendly changeling appears, who confirms that Cadance's family has also been taken. Equally they despair over who else could peradventure assist them now with both the Mane Half-dozen and the Royal 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 continue...

TO BE CONTINUED

*cue happy credits music*

Continued in "To Where and Back Once more – Part 2".

---

Tropes:

• All There in the Manual: My Little Pony (Gameloft) explains how the changelings abducted the Mane Half dozen. 1 used a fake present to abduct and supercede Pinkie Pie, and so threw a political party to lure and capture the rest of them.
• All Upward to You: Starlight is forced to take Trixie, Thorax, and Discord with her to rescue the Imperial Family and Mane Six, and salve Equestria.
• Art Evolution: Starting this episode, Trixie's eyes are now rendered with two catchlights similar everypony else, rather than a single catchlight in her earlier appearances.
• Badass in Distress: Some of the most powerful ponies in Equestria were captured past the changelings, and now they need to exist rescued.
• Be All My Sins Remembered: Starlight still doesn't believe she deserves to exist forgiven for the things she has done, and specially doesn't want the responsibleness of existence a leader once more.

• Beware the Empty-headed Ones: Discord is normally goofy and mischievous. When he hears that Fluttershy was taken, he gets deadly serious.
• Big "NO!": Starlight says this when all the requests for for guidance from the ponies of her former village become besides much for her.
• Large "WHAT?!": Trixie lets ane out when Starlight tells her the changelings are dorsum.
• Brief Accent Simulated: Thorax beingness a changeling, he goes beyond but imitating Twilight'southward mannerisms: he turns into her to echo the speech she fabricated nigh him in the Crystal Empire, including mimicking her vocalization.
• Broad Strokes: The comic series, which has e'er had an uneasy relationship with the show regarding its canon status, has its biggest castor with the show'due south catechism so far here. It had depicted another see with Chrysalis where she was imprisoned, but so a later upshot had her escape and get her ability back. None of this is referenced here, but given that she ended up back where she started, the fans are gratis to imagine it all happened or not as they prefer. On top 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 can exist assumed that this Changeling Kingdom is meant to be the changeling species' homeland.
• Brutal Honesty: Rainbow Dash says Starlight was "...pretty awful" when she was a villain, prompting Applejack to admonish her.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Trixie, Thorax, and Discord all make a return later on having an episode earlier in the season.
  • Queen Chrysalis and her changeling army make an official render afterwards their defeat during the royal wedding and their timeline during Starlight's revenge attempt, this time with Chrysalis seeking Revenge by making certain that Equestria'due south principal defenses in the Imperial Family unit and the Mane Six, the ones responsible for her previous defeat, are out of the way early on then they tin can't interfere once more.
  • The ponies of Our Town brand a return subsequently helping stop Starlight from stealing the Mane Six's cutie marks and their cameo at the stop of season 5.
• Call-Back:
  • The ponies from Our Town invite Starlight to the Sunset Festival, leading to some discussion about her previously leading the hamlet, and how they had forgiven her misdeeds in "The Cutie Re-Mark – Part 2".

    Trixie: There it is! The town where yous—
    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," but yours is a more... emotionally traumatic answer.

  • Princess Luna visits the dreams of another pony to give them advice, and so uses information technology afterward to warn Starlight of the situation with the changelings before she is taken.
  • Princess Luna also mentions to Starlight how the Mane Half-dozen have helped her in the past, and points that they accept some backstory in common.
  • Starlight's friendship with Trixie and Twilight'due south lingering trepidation over it harken back to "No Second Prances" earlier in the season.
  • Thorax direct quotes Twilight's oral communication about 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!" Because the peculiarly chilling warning she but received from Luna in said dream, this is no surprise she's having an anguished wake-upward.
• The Chains of Commanding: Starlight, subsequently 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 Upwardly to Xi with the changelings ponynapping all the Princesses and their friends and loved ones, so feeding on everypony else'southward beloved for the replaced ponies and feeding that beloved to Queen Chrysalis.
• Character Shilling: The episode starts with Twilight praising Starlight'southward evolution and even challenge it's all thank you to Starlight herself. Because her express airtime this flavour and the last we saw of her progress she didn't realize mind-controlling her friends was a bad thing until called out, that's either not saying much or she made an implausible amount of offscreen progress ^note the side by side season premier supports this by having a large pile of Starlight's lesson while only the outset 3 were shown this season, though it might not have been meant to exist taken seriously considering only 3 episodes passed and Starlight's unresolved self-incertitude over information technology.
• Cliffhanger: As is the case with the two-parters, this episode ends with the changelings having kidnapped several powerful ponies around Equestria, including the Mane Six and the Royal Family, meaning Equestria is nigh caught and leaderless now, and leaving Starlight and her team outside the Changeling Hive to rescue everyone, with Starlight scared of what to exercise next.
• Comically Missing the Signal: Twilight is hinting that Starlight should invite her to go with her, but she decides to bring Trixie instead, to the Princess of Friendship'south annoyance.
• Commonality Connection: Princess Luna identifies with Starlight, as they both succumbed to the dark sides of their nature in the past, and struggled through redemption.

  Princess Luna: I run across much of myself in you, Starlight Glimmer, and I can tell you from personal feel that things do indeed get improve.

• Continuity Nod:
  • Derpy wears the post uniform she was seen wearing in "Crusaders of the Lost Marking".
  • In the first dream, Political party Favor makes the same memetic face he did in "The Cutie Map – Function ii" after he was released from the reconditioning shed.
  • The spell Starlight uses to push the ponies abroad is the aforementioned one she used in "The Cutie Map – Part ii".
  • The changeling who had replaced Fluttershy is seen performing a Slouch of Villainy on her throne; Starlight pulled a similar pose on the very same throne in "The Cutie Re-Marking – Part i".
  • While proving his identity, Discord turns the ground into soap, just as he did in "The Return of Harmony - Part 2".
• Encompass Identity Anomaly: The changelings replacing the Mane Six bear witness varying levels of skill in impersonating them.
  • The worst are the replacements for Rainbow Dash and Spike, who act similar straight-up jerkasses and show none of the traits of the characters they impersonate. They seem to hate their task, though fake Spike has good reason to equally he is the Butt-Monkey of the grouping.
  • Applejack, Rarity, and Little finger Pie's replacements brand an try to fake some of the tics of their originals and try to respond politely when Starlight talks to them, but the ruse eventually breaks downward. The fake Applejack and Rarity flare-up out in cheeky laughter when they hear of Starlight'south 18-carat and painful friendship problem, while simulated Pinkie doesn't remember Starlight's proper noun and bails quickly on their conversation, whereas the real Pinkie has been repeatedly demonstrated to recall every friend she's always met and is extremely talkative.
  • The changeling taking over Princess Twilight'south role does the all-time task, successfully faking her mode through a conversation with Starlight and hoof-waving away the others' odd behavior. She even offers some confident friendship "advice". The only thing odd most her is the advice itself, in that she tells Starlight to forget her former friendships and simply detect new ones to supervene upon them, whereas the real Twilight Sparkle encourages determination and maintaining friendships even through difficulty.
  • Collectively, none of the changelings recognize Starlight or prove any noesis that she's Twilight's pupil. Even the fake Twilight never acknowledges her name or position. Queen Chrysalis subsequently says she knows exactly who Starlight is and fifty-fifty considered having her replaced, merely ultimately deciding that she wasn't worth the trouble (which would explain the lack of a conference regarding her).
• Darkest Hour: The changelings accept returned, and have kidnapped all of the most powerful ponies in Equestria, including every fellow member of the Regal Family and all of Twilight's friends, replacing them with fakes to pave the way for a full-scale invasion in Revenge for the Royal Nuptials defeat.
• A Mean solar day in the Limelight: Notably the first 2-parter that does non focus on Twilight or the Mane Six.
• Deflector Shields: Trixie freaks out badly upon meeting with Thorax, forcing Starlight to encase her in a bubble shield that is soundproof. Trixie spends the next few moments floating within, screaming, panicking and slamming her hooves confronting the barrier to no avail in consummate silence.
• Destroy the Abusive Home: When you run into the wide shot of Our Town, information technology appears the residents have demolished Starlight's former cottage and planted a tree in its place.
• The Drag-Forth: Trixie doesn't feel she'due south specially qualified to be taking on the changeling horde and would much rather be somewhere else.
• Dream Walker: Princess Luna, as usual. She appears in Starlight Glimmer'south first dream to give her some communication about how to handle her anguish of coming dorsum to Our Town. In the second dream, she apply her power to warn Starlight about the changeling set on while struggling to fight off her captors in vain.
• Easily Forgiven: Contrary to her fears and nightmares, the ponies of Our Town don't bear any grudge against Starlight Glimmer and want her to join in on their celebration. Still, existence easily forgiven once over again only aggravates Starlight's anguish, and she assumes a Troubled Fetal Position before running away.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: 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 truthful nature.
• Evil Laugh: Naturally, Queen Chrysalis indulges in megalomaniacal cackling at the end of the communication scene, and her changeling minions follow arrange.
• Evil Tower 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 place to visit. Thorax is terrified when he looks upon it, fifty-fifty though he's from in that location.
• Heart Am Watching You: The changeling impersonating Spike, who has been the virtually hostile of the agglomeration, makes the gesture twice toward Starlight equally she comes back to the Friendship Castle. Not suspicious at all, nope.
• Heart Twitch: Twilight has some when Starlight brings Trixie to "Our Town" instead of her.
• Flashy Teleportation:
  • Starlight Glimmer teleports herself and a panicking Trixie back to her wagon 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 wait a Teleport Interdiction to be in place, leaving them outside the Changeling Hive.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Luna struggling to contact Starlight and the grouping not teleporting direct to the Hive/where Fluttershy is both lead to an important part of the next episode.
  • Thorax's new wings are also a hint at what'southward coming.
  • Discord tries to directly teleport himself and the other would-be rescuers direct to Fluttershy, merely to his defoliation they end upwards outside of the hive instead. The reason for this is explained next episode.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The "unlikely heroes" that step up when the Mane Six are decommissioned. Starlight Glimmer is melancholic; Trixie is choleric; Discord is sanguine every bit always; and Thorax is phlegmatic.
• Funny Background Event:
  • When Starlight showtime sees the impostor Mane Six in the map chamber, the changeling bearded as Applejack is eating a pear.
  • When Thorax appears to Starlight and Trixie, Starlight is forced to seal her within a soundproof bubble when she won't stop screaming. She remains in that location for the rest of the following conversation, pulling hilarious faces.
  • When information technology'south Discord turn 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", conspicuously hinting at herself, Spike wears a Disapproving Await, because he knows that Starlight will chose Trixie over Twilight without whatsoever doubtfulness. Then nosotros have the Gilligan Cut...
• Gagging on Your Words: When Starlight asks Trixie to repeat what she'd earlier told her to not repeat to anypony, to brand sure she'due south not a changeling, Trixie's reply first come up out as unintelligible mumbling betwixt clenched teeth. Only on Starlight's insistence does she finally acknowledge information technology was "That even Trixie's 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 cutting shows that she's called Trixie.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: With the Mane Six, Fasten, Shining Armor, and the Princesses captured, Starlight gets the help of Discord, Trixie and Thorax. She would like to call for the Crystal Empire only plainly they were striking first.
• Good Costume Switch: Although not a costume, Thorax has new wings that smoothen similar crystal, something that both Starlight, and Thorax himself notice.
• Adept Wings, Evil Wings: Thorax has new, hole-less sparkly wings compared to his old ones, something Starlight noticed right away.
• Hellish Pupils: Discord's goofy, mismatched pupils narrow into snake-like slits when he hears that Fluttershy was one of the ponies captured past the changelings.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • When the ponies of Our Boondocks bombard Starlight with requests for her guidance, she screams "No!" and pushes them away with her expanding shield spell. Immediately later, 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 believing Starlight when she says that he is on their side.
• Hey, You!: These are the simulated Pinkie Pie'southward first words to Starlight once she returns to Ponyville.
• Hope Spot: Starlight suggests going to get Cadance and Shining'south help, but Thorax reveals that they were captured already, and Sunburst sent him to get help from Twilight.
• Leaning on the Quaternary Wall: Discord describes the trio of Starlight, Trixie and Thorax as "a combination of secondary characters".
• Allow's 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 Ring: When Thorax turns into Twilight to repeat her speech from "The Times They Are a Changeling", the same solemn music from this scene tin can too be heard... until Starlight cuts him, at which point the music falters and peters out.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Non the exact phrase Trixie used, but this is definitely what she was feeling when she admitted that even she makes mistakes. Naturally, it gets brought upwards for Trixie's Something Simply They Would Say moment.
• Literary Allusion Title: To The Hobbit, whose full 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. Apparently they accept not fully followed history since the Imperial Nuptials. Although the side by side episode reveals that Chrysalis herself is well aware of who Starlight is and considered not the trouble of replacing.
• Lower-Deck Episode: Lampshaded past Discord before the team sets out on a rescue mission to save the Mane Six and the Royal Family.

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

• Mook Lieutenant: The i changeling turned into Twilight Sparkle is ordering effectually the others, and also seems to exist more intelligent than the average drone. He'south doing a better job impersonating the princess than his goons are doing with their respective roles — it's withal off, but at to the lowest degree he tries giving believable 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 merely reacts to the changeling situation when he learns that she was taken.
• Mordor: The Changeling Kingdom is a bleak and barren-looking land surrounding a large spire of dark stone.
• Mythology Gag: Earlier Starlight wakes her, Trixie is mumbling about peanut butter crackers in her slumber, a snack of which her Equestria Girls self is besides noted to exist addicted.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Queen Chrysalis is dorsum, and wasted no time at all disposing of not only Princess Cadance this time around, only Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Shining Armor, Flurry Center, and the Mane Six as well, the but heroes she believes would stand in the way of stopping her plan, and to take Revenge on all of them for her previous defeat at their hooves.
• The Olfactory organ Knows: The changeling posing as 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. All the same, since Starlight has cast an invisibility spell on them the changeling continues searching somewhere else.
• Not Himself: Starlight is confused when the Mane Six and Spike either don't recognize her or otherwise chide or insult her for either reason. Information technology's only a matter of time before she realizes they were replaced with Changelings.
• No Sympathy Between Mooks: The changelings are seen mocking one of their own (the Fasten impersonator) for being slapped around.
• Not What I Signed Upwards For: Trixie has a major freak-out when she and Starlight just barely escape existence caught by the changelings and says she can't bargain with "princess-level stuff" considering she is just a performer.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The changelings somehow capturing the Mane Half dozen and all of the Royal Family unit in the time it took for Starlight and Trixie to travel to Our Boondocks and back.
• Old Shame: Starlight's opinion of her deportment in "Our Town", which she at present deeply regrets.
• OOC Is Serious Business concern: The goofy and silly Discord turns on a dime when the others inform him that the changelings accept taken Fluttershy equally well. He becomes utterly pissed .
• Out-of-Character Alert: Starlight notices this about the "Mane Six" later on coming home, somewhen discovering they're not her friends after all — they're Changelings in disguise.
• Overly Long Scream: Trixie is somewhat taken ashamed past Thorax, to the signal where Starlight has to trap her in a bubble to stop the dissonance from giving them abroad.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Trixie gleefully rubs Starlight inviting her to come up to Our Boondocks with her in Twilight's face, while smugly "complimenting" the Princess of Friendship on her "wisdom" and emphasizing how she's Starlight's all-time friend.
• Plot Hole: Starlight Glimmer's starting time dream is strangely up-to-date near the advent 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 terminal visit (at the end of "The Cutie Re-Mark – Office ii") and she makes quite clear she hadn't been there back since, and thus she shouldn't take memories of the updated village.
• The Penalty Is the Crime: Despite beingness Easily Forgiven past all the ponies around her and wanting to exist friends with her, Starlight Glimmer is however also self-absorbed to accept it 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 former villains and social misfits: Trixie, a blowhard sorcerer with a bad public image as a one-time evil overlord; Thorax, a friendly changeling who has faced prejudice from the very ponies he wants to get forth with; and Discord, a not-quite-reformed prankster of nigh-omnipotent power who just helps when he feels similar it.

  Trixie: I tin't bargain with this! I'one thousand 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's the real Discord.
• Red Optics, Have Warning: Discord'southward pupils flash an aroused reddish very briefly when he asks, with a growling tone of phonation, where they've taken Fluttershy.
• Red Herring: Trixie's line about pretending something bad never happened, immediately followed by a scene where Pinkie Pie can't remember Starlight'south proper noun, may have been an try to fool the audience into thinking that the episode was going the way of Information technology's a Wonderful Plot.
• Revenge: Later on her previous defeat regarding the Purple Hymeneals, Chrysalis attempts to conquer Equestria once again, this time covertly kidnapping anybody involved in her original defeat, the Mane 6 and the Royal Family, so they tin can't stop her over again.
• Screw This, I'one thousand Outta Here!: When Starlight has a breakup at her old village, Trixie notices the problem and uses her trademark smoke bomb exit technique to go herself and Starlight out the village.
• Shout-Out:
  • In improver to the Literary Innuendo Title to The Hobbit, the concept of a rag-tag group of heroes and anti-heroes traveling to a mountain belonging to their articulation nemesis also borrows from The Lord of the Rings, with the Changeling Kingdom being a decent counterpart to Mt. Doom.
  • The arrival of Derpy parodies some classic Superman lines:

    Twilight Sparkle: Is it a bird?
    Starlight Glimmer: Is it a parasprite?
    Spike: It's... information technology's... incoming!

  • When Discord makes a demonstration of his Reality Warping, he turns Trixie'southward wagon into a pumpkin passenger vehicle.
• Slouch of Villainy: The changeling posing equally Fluttershy invokes this while sitting on her throne, putting its rear hooves upward on the map table. It couldn't await less like Fluttershy without abandoning her image 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 flop so that the smoke stays for longer, both covering the exit much improve than before and making the other ponies to coughing and close their eyes for a few moments, and therefore Trixie is already far away when they tin can finally see once again.
  • Trixie seems unable to NOT use her smoke bombs for drama, which gives us i funny moment before they reach Our Town.

    Trixie: Not just a promise, a cracking and powerful promise! [smoke bombs the 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 surreptitious she shared with Starlight before in the episode, Thorax recites the spoken language 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, but at the stop of the magic conference Starlight makes the mistake of pushing the door to the throne room a picayune, causing it to crepitate. The changelings are immediately alerted and hiss menacingly.
• Spiking the Camera: When the Changeling impersonating Twilight tries to explicate why Spike was acting so off today, her optics wait directly at the viewer audition when she says "I recall he missed a meal or something."
• Spoof Aesop: What Trixie has taken away from her past misadventures is plain that everyone makes mistakes just that the of import thing is to move on from them and pretend they never happened. Starlight admits that that's almost a skillful lesson...
• Stranger in a Familiar Land:
  • Starlight is agape to return to Our Boondocks because she fears she won't be accepted there anymore.
  • Thorax likewise seems terrified to return to the Changeling Kingdom.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: In stark contrast to the Mane Half-dozen facing diverse 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 nearly performing for Princess Celestia for peanut butter crackers.
• Teleport Interdiction: Discord tries to teleport himself, Starlight, Trixie, and Thorax to where Fluttershy is, merely instead but brings them to outside the Changeling Hive. Next episode shows why. This too explains why Luna simply could not teleport away from her captors while alert Starlight earlier.
• Tempting Fate: When Discord appears, Starlight has the "great idea" to call him out and openly question his identity. While there was a massive not-lethal Replicant Snatching invasion of Equestria by the changelings going on, it'southward still a bad idea to claiming a Mad God to testify himself given Discord'southward level of ability. After all, if he's an imposter, Starlight, Trixie, and Thorax would be able to handle one changeling, but if it actually is Discord, you lot've just invited him to mess you lot up in many weird and impossible means.

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

• Likewise Fast to Stop: Derpy's mail delivery organization. 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. Then he drops all pretense of existence bored and demands to know, in a deadly serious tone, where she'due south been taken.
• Visible Invisibility: Starlight uses an invisibility spell to hide Trixie and herself from the changeling impersonating Twilight and company. The optics, and the outline of their bodies, are all the same slightly visible. It's likely for the audience's benefit as the changeling neither sees nor smells anything.
• Vocal Dissonance: The changelings, in addition to non knowing how the ponies they kidnapped human activity, don't seem to get the voices right, either. The virtually obvious i is Rainbow Nuance, whose voice is noticeably higher and less scratchy than is normal for her.
• Volumetric Oral cavity: On seeing Thorax, Trixie starts screaming her caput off for a comically long time, which is expressed several times by her wide-open rima oris occupying the whole face, complete with a full view of her glottis and natural language 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 striking.
• Weirder Than Usual: Starlight is puzzled past the manner the fake Pinkie is acting, despite reminders that Pinkie Pie is always weird.

  Starlight Glimmer: That was... strange...
  Trixie: Isn't she ever strange?
  Starlight Glimmer: Yes, but... not like that.

• Wham Line: Subsequently Starlight has seen all of the Mane 6 acting suspiciously for no apparent reason, Luna's advent in her dream, struggling against her captors, finally gives away the game.

  Princess Luna: The changelings have returned!

• Whole Plot Reference: The plot of this two-parter seems to be one 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 Regal Family and the Mane Half dozen are put out of commission by the changelings to underscore just how bad the situation is and ratchet upwardly the pressure on the second-cord heroes. We don't run across how but it'south heavily implied to take something to practice with The Reveal of Chrysalis having a Power Nullifier throne which can cake their magic that led to being 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 past Thorax in "The Times They Are a Changeling", finally makes an appearance.
• Would Injure a Child: The changelings have kidnapped both Spike and Flurry Centre, both of whom are just babies to their corresponding races. (To be fair, it wouldn't take been much better to exit Flurry Middle backside later abducting her parents.)
• You Are in Command At present: Trixie, Thorax, and even Discord await at Starlight for leadership since all iv princesses (one of which is her teacher) have been kidnapped. Information technology's something she definitely doesn't feel comfortable with.

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

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