All Bottled Up, various thoughts · 7:38pm Apr 15th, 2017

It seems like for now we're back the daily lives of ponies and related parties. As such, we'll be getting sweet moments. Full disclosure; this one had some questionable choices that I don't really appreciate, but it's a suitable counterpart to the previous part. I've some few thoughts for now.

—Trixie doesn't seem to have been taught magic properly. That must be the reason she can't use "real magic". She does however seem to have a bit of potential as a mage.
—Twilight said it, so far this is the first premiere which features personal drama over some supernatural threat or terrorism.
—I was right, Starlight really is the seventh ranger and new protagonist of the series as a whole in general. It's nice to see how the sword is passed and the story continues. Although I'm sad that it seems to mean Twilight's story ends, at least for now.
—Heart songs are in fact an in-universe event, good to know. Quick, magical theorists analyse the properties of this witchcraft! On that note, apparently magic is fueled by emotions and by intentions. Heart songs must be the same, thus their influence!
—Twilight's reaction to Starlight only being able to provide them with pretzels suggests Starlight's another someone living with her who cooks for her. I don't believe we've seen Twilight make food or bake much, but I imagine she likes Starlight's cooking. So she probably was a little disappointed it wasn't something she made. Which as such now makes my mum radar ping an awful lot.
—Escape the room puzzles. Sounds potentially super interesting to read about in that sort of world, albeit in a more non-consentual type of story. XD
—Trixie's utter obliviousness to how much distress she's putting Starlight into is... odd, and not consistent with the previous time she ruined her friendship. It's like she suddenly lost all social skills ever. My guess is ambient magic similar to that certain time of the month, or something. I mean, in the first place, anger manifesting magically and being capable of possessing ponies is certainly not usual. I wonder if that will come into play later? It does correlate to the talk of dark magic being powered by hatred and fear, and the magic of the Crystal Heart being fueled with otherwise positive emotions and sentiments. How does that factor into this, and intentions in spells?
—Bulk is an odd-job-pony, it seems. I'd kind of like to see what his life is like.
—The song itself is pretty all right, though I usually prefer solo songs. Otherwise, Twilight and the girls' enthusiasm and enjoying their time together is a rather nice contrast to Starlight and Trixie's suffering, showing them they have a bit more to learn yet, or at least Starlight feels so. Trixie certainly appears to have room to grow still.
—In turn, Starlight's past and her present issue are still very much things she had to deal with. She might sometimes make jokes, but it's not something she'll ever become entirely comfortable with, or at least not for now. The "no offense"-level of awkward foot-in-mouth tendencies the rest have certainly don't help. It's so tantalising and keeps making me want an explanation proper. There must be something more to her past that made Sunburst abandoning her so devastating.
—"The Starlight I love." Did you just