No Second Prances review

Well here I am again; doing another Friendship is Magic review. I honestly thought that Season Five would be my swan song for reviewing this show, but special circumstances have brought me back, for a particular episode that demands attention. Yes, I had planned to finish reviewing Friendship is Magic Season Five after a break, a break during I’d review at the very least Spongebob Squarepants Season 1, as well as the first season of both The Loud House and Ruby Gloom. However, this is a special occasion, important enough to move up my schedule. Today, I’m taking a look at a glorious little number from Season Six, called No Second Prances.

I can’t find the notes I took, so I’m mostly going by memory. For a quick recap, our heroine, Twilight Sparkle, is preparing a special dinner party where she and her student, Starlight Glimmer, meet up with Twilight’s mentor, Princess Celestia. As a special assignment, Twilight tells Starlight to make a new friend and bring them to the dinner party to show Twilight and Celestia how her lessons are progressing. Between her villainous past and inability to go into a situation WITHOUT using magic, Starlight has a rather rough time of it, and drops in at the spa to relax, and it is there that she meets her new friend: The Great and Powerful Trixie. Yes, the fandom’s favorite Base-Breaking character is back, and a major focus.

Due to Trixie’s villainous past, Twilight worries that she may be a bad influence on Starlight, and warns her, gaining complaints from Starlight that Twilight doesn’t trust her to make her own friends like Celestia trusted Twilight. Unable to refute this statement, Twilight attempts to stay on the sidelines as Trixie and Starlight bond. Trixie confides her issues to Starlight, that ponies aren’t willing to give her a second chance, something she and Starlight have in common according to Starlight, and more advocates behavior that Twilight doesn’t allow, such as jokes about brainwashing ponies. Trixie asks Starlight to be her assistant for a trick she’s never pulled off, shooting herself out of a cannon toward a manticore, and teleporting herself away just as she’s being eaten. Starlight hesitates, as that’s the time of the dinner party, but soon finds herself unable to deny her new friend due to guilt. When Starlight is VERY late to the dinner party, Twilight leaves a visibly bored Celestia to find her and angrily points out to Starlight that THIS is why she thought Trixie and Starlight being friends was a bad idea. This confirms Trixie’s suspicions that Twilight didn’t trust her, and revealed that she befriended Starlight specifically to spite Twilight. Starlight is stunned and crushed by this revelation and runs off, ignoring Trixie’s pleas, causing the stage pony to angrily blame Twilight for chasing Twilight off.

Guilty ridden, Twilight apologizes to Starlight and convinces her to make amends with Trixie’ saying she was wrong to control who Starlight is friends with, and assures her Trixie is the real deal, really truly Starlight’s friend. Trixie launches herself from the cannon, hoping against hope Starlight will be there for her, and is proven right. Starlight and Trixie are reunited, and Twilight apologizes to Trixie.

This episode is…pretty controversial, not as much as it should be, if you ask me, but to my relief there ARE people who side with Twilight against Trixie this time around, and she remains a Base-Breaker.

I normally try to be tactful and polite in my criticisms, but I’m not going to mince words: This episode was TERRIBLE, easily one of the worst I’ve seen in this series, and proves I was right to get out of dodge. Why? Well, I will gladly explain, and as is the case in my Trixie reviews, I will be as objective as possible, trying to stick to the facts, which I’m sure the Trixie fans will ignore in favor of ignoring all of Trixie’s negative traits, and warping the way morality itself works to make Trixie the victim. Still, I will be as clear as I can be as to why this episode PROVES the writing in this show is beyond redemption, even if Trixie herself didn’t need to be.

Now to be fair, this episode DOES get off to a good start, as Twilight advancing Starlight’s lessons by sending to her make a friend on her own DOES seem like a good premise, although I honestly found Twilight’s arrogance (Saying Starlight has a really great mentor, meaning herself) rather out of character for her. Beyond that, Starlight, while walking around Ponyville says that Ponyville is the friendliest town around, and if she can’t make friends here, there must be something wrong with her. While she is being rather hard on herself, I can appreciate the self-reflection, actually considering that what happened might be HER fault and not someone else’s. See, Trixie’s fans want Trixie’s actions to be excused because she’s, like, tragic, or something, never mind that Trixie’s actions are her own decisions, and what she does of her own free will can’t be blamed on others. Trixie’s fans will make claims about fleshing Trixie out and making her a more complex character, yet they won’t allow Trixie the complex characterization of OCCASIONALLY BEING IN THE WRONG and having to take responsibility for her own actions. I know she supposedly does during this episode, and I’ll get to that. Starlight continually used magic to do everything instantly rather than working with the other pony, and while it got grating, I can at least understand WHY she’s making this mistake, as she’s not used to doing things any other way, so I can give the episode credit for that at least. On the other hand, in hindsight, one could argue it was a contrivance to prevent her from connecting to anyone until she meets Trixie, thus giving her an excuse to “relate” to Trixie. Funny how she keeps making the same mistake over and over no matter how many times she gets called out on it…my already miniscule respect for the episode has just slipped.

One Trixie appears however, everything goes downhill, and from there just gets worse.

First off, the episode portrays Twilight as in the wrong for not trusting Trixie and fearing she might be a bad influence on Starlight. Thing is, the thought that two former villains might be a bad influence on each other is a very valid concern! These two have not truly changed for the better yet (Although in all fairness Starlight is at least TRYING) and neither has someone on hand to reign in their worst impulses, as shown by Trixie laughing at Starlight’s joke about brainwashing ponies. Yeah yeah, “it’s a joke”, I don’t want to hear that excuse, not every joke is actually funny, just like not every horror movie is actually scary. Not finding certain jokes funny doesn’t mean you don’t have a sense of humor, it just means you have standards, and brainwashing IS generally a very serious matter. For another, despite her Heel-Face turn back at the end of “Magic Duel” even bringing up the “Humble and Apologetic Trixie” thing, she’s behaving more like her “Boast Busters” self, being snide and arrogant. Why is Twilight supposed to trust Trixie when Trixie isn’t showing she’s worthy of trust? What entitles Trixie to blind trust, when most individuals have to EARN trust? Despite the way her fans act, Trixie isn’t exempt from standard morality.

Then there’s Starlight accusing Twilight of not trusting Starlight to make her own friends .the way Celestia trusts Twilight. This has…SO many problems. For starters, considering Twilight sent Starlight off on the assignment in the first place, she DOES trust Starlight. Acknowledging someone made a mistake is not the same as not trusting them, and being a mentor DOES tend to involve pointing out someone’s mistakes and helping them fix said mistake…like Celestia SHOULD have done for Twilight back in “Canterlot Wedding”, I believe I addressed that point in that review.

No, I’m NOT letting go of that episode.

Next, why is Starlight accusing Twilight of not trusting her when it’s TRIXIE Twilight doesn’t trust? It’s not that Twilight doesn’t trust Starlight, it’s that she doesn’t trust Trixie to be a good friend to Starlight. Next, Starlight wants Twilight to trust her, but it’s kind of hard to see Starlight’s point about trust when she herself is the one shooting down informed advice from an acknowledged expert on the matter. Starlight wants Twilight to trust to her befriend Trixie, yet she herself won’t trust Twilight, a well-known expert on matters of Friendship, and someone who has MET Trixie before, on whether or not Trixie is a good choice. Once again, Trixie isn’t automatically entitled to trust just because she’s Trixie. I know she’s doing the whole “Humble and Apologetic” thing…in PUBLIC. Many people pretend to be nice in public but are cruel in private, and Trixie, for all her complaints about not getting a second chance, isn’t really proving she’s changed for the better. Maybe if she’d been friendlier to Twilight, it’d be easier to believe she’s changed, and be more believable that Twilight is wrong for not trusting her. On that note, people say it was out of character for Twilight to be so untrusting of Trixie, especially considering she’s FORGIVEN Trixie.

Yeah, that is weird, and doesn’t make a lot of sense…almost as though this was a forced attempt at conflict, almost like the writers WANTED Twilight to be in the wrong, but couldn’t come up with a way to do that and keeping it in character. Other people have said Twilight typically is untrusting of former villains. Having only watched up to the halfway point of Season Five at this point, the only other villain I know of that she was untrusting toward was Discord. Considering Discord was a mind-raping psychopath who got his jollies mentally torturing and emotionally manipulating others, I’d say she had VERY good reason not to trust him. With other past instances like Zecora, Twilight has shown to be quite trusting and willing to give the benefit of a doubt towards others, as long as they haven’t EXPLICITLY shown to be completely evil. Not trusting a former villain who clearly hasn’t changed isn’t Twilight’s “untrusting” nature, it’s just common sense. I know this fandom is unhealthily obsessed with ignoring the villainous qualities of villains, but common sense dictates that villains are, by their very nature, untrustworthy!

Finally, we have the fact that Starlight compares her situation to Twilight’s. Here’s the thing though: Twilight was a kind pony who was simply too shy to make friends, whereas Starlight is a former villain with a history of lacking empathy or even basic decency, so their situations are completely different!

I’ve heard of a later episode that contradicts this, but that’s AFTER this one, and therefore irrelevant to what was wrong with this episode at the time of the airing. I will say however that Hasbro is apparently determined to remove everything that was heartwarming and endearing in the early episodes. Twilight’s likability, Celestia’s likability, their loving relationship, stuff like that. I personally think Hasbro shouldn’t own this show if they’re going to deliberately retcon what made the show good originally.

Starlight ends up conflicted when she finds that Trixie’s performance is at the same time as the dinner party, and Trixie proceeds to GUILT TRIP Starlight into ditching the dinner. By moaning about how she might not survive her performance without Starlight, she’s forcing Starlight to either abandon a previous obligation, or stand by and allow someone to endanger her own life. Now, a GOOD friend would, at this point, try to find a compromise, maybe rescheduling either of the events, or working out whether Starlight can attend both. But Trixie being Trixie, naturally wants everything to be about her. Remember “Sweet and Elite” when Rarity had the decency to TELL Twilight she couldn’t make the party? Instead of simply not showing up and causing Twilight to wonder where she is? Yeah, Twilight’s legitimate point is conveniently overlooked.

Starlight also launches into one of her yawn-inducing rants about how Twilight “doesn’t trust her”, but I’ve already covered that this is a load of crap. If Twilight didn’t trust Starlight, she wouldn’t have given her this assignment in the first place. Trusting someone doesn’t mean blindly letting them make obvious mistakes. Considering Starlight is hanging out with an established untrustworthy pony AND ignoring advice from someone who has her best interests at heart, Starlight’s not really showing she’s WORTHY of the trust she’s whining she doesn’t have. Starlight is making a blanket statement that never actually addresses Twilight’s point, that Trixie is the untrustworthy one.

To show where I’m coming from, if Starlight were doing a math test, and said that 2 + 2 = 5, is Twilight not allowed to correct her mistake, or would Starlight complain that Twilight doesn’t trust her to do basic math, when Starlight’s basic math is clearly off? Starlight’s poor judgment in trusting Trixie means that Twilight is justified in “not trusting” Starlight, even though it is TRIXIE that Twilight doesn’t trust. Now blowing off a prior obligation is bad enough, but Starlight doesn’t even have the decency to TELL Twilight about this, which Twilight rightfully calls her out on! The episode promptly ignore that this is actually a very valid complaint, especially as Twilight points out that this is why she didn’t want Starlight hanging out with Trixie, as she knew something like this would happen. Twilight is treated as in the wrong for not trusting Trixie and “not trusting” Starlight, yet they’ve just proven her mistrust was pretty well-founded, which the episode AND the Trixie fans conveniently ignore. Why, exactly, is Twilight in the wrong for her mistrust when what she was afraid would happen is EXACTLY what happened?

Trixie then reveals that she KNEW Twilight didn’t trust her, and that she only made friends with Starlight to “beat Twilight”. I guess Twilight is supposed to be in the wrong here? I can’t really see where the episode is coming from considering Trixie just proved Twilight was RIGHT not to trust her! Twilight is concerned that Trixie may not be a true friend to Starlight…which is EXACTLY what happened! WHY. IS. TWILIGHT. IN. THE. WRONG? Starlight is crushed to learn Trixie was just using her and runs off, with Trixie frantically claiming she really does care about Starlight…which I guess we’re supposed to take a face value, as there’s no chance that Trixie is merely lying in an attempt to cover her slip, I mean, it’s not like Trixie is an established liar or anything…oh wait…

I’m sure the Trixie fans will be like: “Well, *I* trust her, and believe she’s sincere”. Yes, because the people who have ignored Trixie’s bad behavior and negative traits while making up positive traits that don’t exist are totally qualified to be objective regarding Trixie’s motives. You can choose to believe that, but you don’t make a convincing argument when there’s no hard evidence to show she’s sincere, and her behavior outright shows the opposite. In fact, remember that now that their friendship is broken, Trixie has no longer “beaten” Twilight, so she has every reason to lie at this point and pretend to be Starlight’s friend. She ADMITTED she was using Starlight to get at Twilight, and then tried to back pedal when said admission cost her the victory she sought. At that point Trixie being, well, TRIXIE, naturally turns around and blames Twilight for chasing Starlight off, despite the fact that not even thirty seconds ago Trixie ADMITTED that she was USING Starlight! This glosses over the fact that this whole situation VALIDATED Twilight’s concern MEANING TWILIGHT WAS RIGHT NOT TO TRUST TRIXIE. Trixie is, quite naturally shirking responsibility for her own actions. News flash Trixie fans: Trixie is NOT immune to morality, she has to follow the same standards as everyone else!

Another problem is the motivation that Trixie gives Starlight. Remember what I said about Trixie “Taking responsibility for her actions?” She states that she did what she did (Notably she never clarifies WHAT she did) because she was jealous of Twilight for being good at EVERYTHING. Putting aside this removing Twilight actually having believable flaws to make her a more relatable character, this claim doesn’t match up with either “Boast Busters” or “Magic Duel”. In the latter, she explicitly stated she was getting revenge for Twilight “humiliating” her (Which doesn’t make sense, as Twilight had nothing to do with Trixie being exposed as a fraud, that was Snips and Snails, who I remind the Trixie defenders believed Trixie’s claim and were trying to prove it was true), and in the former she had never even MET Twilight before and couldn’t possibly know that Twilight is “good at everything”. So her claim clearly contradicts her first two appearances, and given that she’s already a known liar (She was lying about being able to defeat an Ursa) AND she was later shown to have been manipulating Starlight, odds are pretty good she’s lying here to get Starlight on her good side. Either that or it’s just really clumsy writing due to the writers no longer giving a crap about continuity. Trixie never actually clarifies what she did wrong AND she was later shown to have been manipulating Starlight.

Another thing to address, not about the episode itself, but complaints made by the fans regarding Twilight’s behavior. It has been stated that as the Princess of Friendship, stemming from having been the Element of Friendship (Magic actually, but Friendship *is* Magic), should have been more supportive of a would-be friendship instead of discouraging it, and thus was unworthy of her position. This is actually completely wrong, and what Twilight did was in no way a bad representation of the Princess / Element of Friendship. Why you say? It’s actually rather simple if you take note of the role Twilight took in giving each episode their Aesop. Tell me: Did Twilight ever ONCE, in the entire run of the show, state that everyone should be friends with whomever they want, and no one should discourage friendship in any form? No, as a matter of fact she didn’t. What she DOES do is state and portray the virtues that MAKE one a good friend. This show has NEVER been about being friends with whomever you want, and has ALWAYS been about being a good friend yourself. Need evidence? Take the moral from “Griffon the Brush-Off” which was about being able to tell the difference between TRUE AND FALSE FRIENDS. The point I’m trying to make? Trying to warn against a potentially toxic friend like Trixie is EXACTLY the sort of thing the Element of Friendship SHOULD do! Remember, Twilight was the one giving the moral of each episode, including “Griffon the Brush-Off” so this is well in line with her lessons!

Ever seen “As told by Ginger”? Many fans agree the show would have been much better had Ginger permanently cut ties to Dodie after the umpteenth time Dodie stabbed Ginger in the back, and had her replaced with Courtney in Ginger’s circle of friends, due to being a much better friend.

About the “Twilight didn’t live up to her role” thing, I have no idea if the writers did that deliberately or not, but if they did, it just goes to show you how bad the writing in this show has gotten when they not only intentionally go against the entire point of a character, but somehow manage to FAIL at it because said character was totally in the right!

At the end, Trixie still goes through with the trick, despite not being able to perform it, with the very real possibility of dying. Some have seen this as a suicide attempt, though writer Nick Confalone has stated he never intended it to be seen that way. Give that Trixie quietly pleads for Starlight to come through for her, I think it’s safe to say she never intended to die. Seeing as Trixie isn’t accepting responsibility for her own behavior, and is blaming others, I think it’s safe to say remorse, often a motivation for suicide, isn’t a factor here. I meanwhile have come up with a darker interpretation for this scene, one that far from making Trixie more sympathetic, shows that in fact she is awful beyond redemption.

Had Starlight not acted, Trixie would have died. Trixie would have died because of Starlight’s actions, because Starlight had no intention of saving her. You know what it’s called when you knowingly let some die when you could have saved them? Murder. Had Starlight not acted, she would be a murderer. Legally the terminology is kind of messy, but morally and ethically Starlight would be a murderer if she hadn’t acted.

Trixie put her in that position. Knowingly.

The position Starlight was in was either let Trixie off for her behavior, or be a murderer.

You don’t have to be someone’s friend to not let them die, that is simply your moral and ethical duty as a sapient being. Starlight was in no danger and was not being coerced or prevented from acting by any outside force. Even through the argument that Trixie wasn’t thinking along those specific lines, the fact is she and Starlight both knew Trixie’s life was in Starlight’s hands, and therefore Starlight was guilt-tripped into giving Trixie a “Get-Out-Of-Responsibility Free Card” for lying to and manipulating her.

It works, Starlight saves Trixie and everything Trixie did wrong is simply ignored. Before that Twilight is the one to convince Starlight to do so, saying she, Twilight, was wrong to control who Starlight is friends with.

NO YOU WEREN’T TWILIGHT. NO. YOU. WEREN’T. Making sure your friends don’t fall under toxic influences is EXACTLY WHAT A GOOD FRIEND WOULD DO. Blindly letting your friends fall in with the wrong crowd, like someone who would manipulate them for selfish purposes is something a BAD friend would do! You were COMPLETELY justified showing concern for Starlight and trying to look out for her!

The REALLY weird part is when Starlight wonders if Trixie WAS just using her, and Twilight assures her that Trixie is: “The real deal”. Uhh, citation please. Trixie has ALREADY ADMITTED she was using Starlight, and then IMMEDIATELY turned around and blamed Twilight instead of recognizing fault for her own behavior. Trixie has done NOTHING to show she actually cares about Starlight, so where is Twilight coming from!?

To top THAT off, Twilight apologizes to Trixie for doubting her despite Trixie’s own actions PROVING Twilight’s suspicion completely justified! As if THAT wasn’t enough, Twilight says she couldn’t have pulled off “Teleport out of the Manticore” trick herself.

Twilight Sparkle. Who has been seen teleporting with ease several times, couldn’t pull off a trick involving teleporting.

Stupid! This episode is made of STUPID! That’s like saying Rainbow Dash couldn’t pull of a Sonic Rainboom, or Applejack couldn’t harvest a bunch of apples, or Fluttershy couldn’t win over an animal! Why are these writers so obsessed with removing every single ounce of competence and ability from Twilight!?

Okay…getting a little too worked up here…I guess I just feel insulted that the writers seem to care so little about the quality of their work, and so little respect for their audience that they would make obvious slips like this. Besides, the message is harmful in real life, despite what this episode says, you should NOT let people who use and take advantage of you off the hook. It may be ”Just a cartoon”, but considering it actually tells morals applicable in real life, a bad moral could cause legitimate harm in real life. Besides, do the Trixie fans not get overly worked up themselves?

Then we come to the Manticore, where suggestions from the viewers that the Manticore was tame and no one was really in danger, seeing as even Fluttershy wasn’t THAT worked up, and the Manticore even bowed afterward. So I guess Starlight saving Trixie is that much less meaningful, huh, since Trixie wasn’t really in danger.

Oh yeah, this whole time Celestia has been waiting back at the dinner party, bored out of her mind, which everyone seems to have forgotten. Speaking of which, Celestia was uncharacteristically rude, making no attempt not to look bored and rather ignoring Twilight while she’s talking. I’ve heard explanations for this, like for example Celestia has lost patience with Twilight’s obsession with pleasing her. You know, that’s an interesting point, but NOT in this episode’s favor, as once again the writers have abandoned a chance for ACTUAL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT by having Twilight grow out of said obsession. But hey, who needs an actual Three-Dimensional personality! It’s not like this fanbase originally loved Twilight for actually having a fleshed out and relatable personality and actually growing as an individual! Another problem with this scene is that it’s still CELESTIA, even if she’s annoyed, she still would have been polite! She still would have been patient! Still, the writers have been shredding her character since a full season before they started with Twilight. Not to mention that considering Twilight’s guest hasn’t shown up, she’s rather justified being nervous and awkward.

You know, my friend and associate yodajax10 contrasted this episode with The Lion King in regards to quality, love, and respect. Quite frankly I can see where he’s coming from, as while The Lion King was made to tide audiences over until Disney’s *real* masterpiece, Pocahontas (Remember the reception to that one?) it’s simply not possible to make a movie as good as The Lion King unless you honestly care about the quality of your work. THAT movie was a labor of love for animation, respect for your audiences, and pride in one’s own work. This episode on the other hand, was the result of shameless pandering to a section of the fanbase that was handling their stance wrong from the get-go. The “writing” in this episode doesn’t care about the continuity of the world they live in, the established personalities of the characters, or even basic storytelling.

It didn’t have to be this way, Trixie could have turned out great if the writers had made her gradually less abrasive over the course of a few appearances and have her actually admit fault for her behavior, and BAM, a properly developed Heel-Face turn. Instead, this episode feels like it was actually written by a Trixie fan, ignoring established fact in order to make Trixie the victim in any given situation. It kind of reminds me of “Turnabout Storm”, a Friendship is Magic / Ace Attorney crossover that tries to make Trixie sympathetic while she’s trying to get Rainbow Dash convicted for murder, not because she had a connection to the victim or because she thinks Dash did it, but in a petty attempt to hurt Twilight over something that was much more Trixie’s fault, and over something Twilight had no harmful intent toward Trixie over. It then tries to play her up as tragic, with the “tragedy” coming COMPLETELY out of nowhere, with no prompt or explanation whatsoever, and tries to give her a redeeming quality in being opposed to liars…despite being an established liar herself. The mishandling of Trixie’s character, along with Twilight’s EXTREMELY sudden Character Derailment and Apple Bloom’s SEVERE Flanderization is what caused me to drop what was a VERY promising project.

Another example is the fanfic “To Forgive is Equine”, where Trixie IS portrayed tragically, but accepts responsibility for her actions and changes for the better. It’s fairly rushed and does kind of gloss over Trixie at her worst, but it’s better than most of what I’ve seen. Particularly because Trixie maintains the “Great and Powerful” thing, but isn’t nearly as arrogant or mean about it, keeping the over the top personality people liked but making her much more likable as an individual.

Alternatively, Trixie could have been an interesting concept for a recurring comedic villain, one who is no actual threat to the main characters, but maintains what fans found so entertaining. Example?

https://www.deviantart.com/ohthatandy/art/Epic-Battles-315545538

So yeah, I guess my point is that had the fans reacted more maturely, and the writers cared more about the quality of their work, Trixie could have either been a very interesting character who gradually changed for the better while keeping the traits fans enjoyed (I.E, Iago from “Return of Jafar”, who was treated as a villain until he PROVED he had changed in terms of moral decency, while still remaining an entertaining loudmouth) or become a fun reoccurring villain, either way the ugly mess that is the arguments over each episode she shows up in would be averted. It’s already frustrating to see how much this once loving fandom became so divided and hostile over seemingly EVERYTHING, and this is one of the bigger examples. This episode is bad not just because it’s badly written, but because it, however unintentionally, feeds on one of the most controversial issues the show has had even in the early days, while showcasing one of the biggest killers of a good show: The tendency to STAGNATE by not advancing the characters in any meaningful way and actually has them REGRESS in some ways. The complex, fleshed out personalities are gone, and things are too simplified. Certainly there is nothing wrong with a simple plot every now and again but simple plots should keep what we already know intact, and the reason is because we can’t like the characters if who the characters are change from episode to episode to the point we no longer know WHAT their full personality is.

Suffice to say, this is an Atrocious episode and is exactly why I always wanted the show to end while it was still good, instead of dragging out where it reaches the point where it stagnates and regresses.

Comments

[Starlight Fan]

Starlight isn't a sociopath, she didn't want Trixie to be eaten, even when she was "evil" she never tried to kill anypony. If she saw Trixie get eaten by the Manticore I don't think she would've been happy about it, she was sad not vengeful and blood thirsty, she probably didn't know if Trixie told the truth about her not being able to survive the Manticore or not and given her heartbroken state I don't think she was aware that Trixie was in danger until Twilight talked to her. Also I can't be mad at Starlight because like you said Trixie put her in that position, while I don't think Trixie had any malicious intentions while performing that trick and she was just being reckless, she still put Starlight in that position.