So, this week, we come to “Boast Busters”, by Chris Savino.

Not sure if I ever noticed that the title was a play on “Ghostbusters” before now. The original concept for this particular episode had it starring a male unicorn named “Presto”, from what I’ve heard in interviews. I’m satisfied to have gotten Trixie instead, though.

I bet they had no idea Trixie would ever return.

“Twenty-five types of tricks, and counting!” I wonder what the other twenty-four were?

Spike with a mustache never fails to be fun. That’s what they should have done in the last episode instead of making him all big. They should have made him look just like normal, but with a mustache.

Spike: "Twenty-five, Twilight. Twenty-five different kinds of tricks and counting. I thought unicorns were only supposed to have a little magic that matches their special talents!"

Twilight Sparkle: "True, for ponies whose talents are for things like cooking or singing or math. But what if a unicorn's special talent is magic?"

Spike: "Like you, Twilight, and you know a ton of magic."

Twilight Sparkle: "Oh, Spike, stop. I'm sure there are lots of ponies right here in Ponyville that know just as much magic as me."

Spike: "Are you kiddin'? I don't think there's another unicorn in all of Equestria with your kind of ability, Twilight.”

Interesting world-building here. From a later show perspective, there are definitely more unicorns in Equestria with Twilight level magic than Spike thinks.

Of course, that was the spot Snips and Snails are introduced. “There’s a new unicorn in town”? Maybe early on there were supposed to be less unicorns in Ponyville than there were later?

Trixie makes her typical flamboyant entry.

Rarity immediately goes off on Trixie about boasting, too. Um, Rarity? This is a show. Boasting is kinda normal in a magic show.

“Spike: Hey, Rarity, I… Mustache!” Bad bad pun…

And according to Applejack, there’s nothing wrong with being talented unless you go showing it off. Not exactly an argument I’m fond of. Showing it off tends to translate to using it at all.

And they all go off about how magic doesn’t make you better than everyone else right in front of Twilight, who’s probably feeling like this is all partially directed at her at this point.

Trixie notices them loudly arguing and decides to work her hecklers into the show.

“Well, well, well. It seems we have some neighsayers in the audience” Trixie, naturally, is trying to steal the show back.

And Twilight and Spike talk about how Twilight doesn’t want anyone to think she’s showing off. Which is natural, because the others were being pretty rude.

Seems like the cmc should be here. Well, there wouldn’t be a cmc at this point, but you know what I mean…

Trixie does some impressive fireworks, and Rainbow flies on stage and confronts her in the middle of her show!

Of course, Trixie starts fabricating a story about vanquishing an Ursa Major. I’m guessing this was already part of her show, since she had fireworks of them, and she may have just moved it up, since she had an opportunity.

And Snips and Snails are obviously very gullible and buying right into it.

“Anything you can do, I can do better!” I can do anything better than you…

I’ll admit to not being totally clear at this point what Trixie’s show is actually meant to involve, beyond fireworks, but I’d assume more along the line of magical tricks rather than challenging everyone in the town to find something they can do better than her. Maybe she decided this was more interesting, or just isn’t taking the criticism well.

Spike really seems to want to have a Twilight vs. Trixie magical showdown, and Trixie seems to agree. She is rather crossing the line at this point by calling out individual ponies.

Applejack decides to intervene, though. She does have pretty good rodeo skills with that rope.

Crowd shots are still rather a weakness of the early seasons. You are always seeing copy and pasted ponies, for example.

Trixie tying up Applejack with the rope and levitating an apple into her mouth was rather mean-spirited, and doesn’t really show the finesse Applejack did with the rope. Oh well.

And Rainbow Dash shows off with some aerial tricks that end with a rainbow over her… which Trixie than ties around her and whirls her off the stage with. The early series really was more Looney Tunes than later on…

And she also makes a cloud appear over Rainbow and zaps her with a lightning bolt. It’s funny how with Gilda being the negative sides of Rainbow Dash last episode, it feels like Trixie is also being the bad parts of Rainbow Dash, dialing her boasting and arrogance up to 11.

Spike: "What we need is another unicorn to challenge her. Someone with some magic of her own."

Rainbow Dash: "Yeah! A unicorn to show this unicorn who's boss."

Applejack: "A real unicorn to unicorn tussle."

Did the number of unicorns in Equestria just shrink or something?

Or maybe not, since Rarity takes that as her cue. Seems like no Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy this episode.

“Enough. Enough, all of you. I take your hint, but Rarity is above such nonsense. Rainbow Dash and Applejack may behave like ruffians, but Rarity conducts herself with beauty and grace.” Rarity was also the first one that started in on Trixie, before Rainbow and Applejack, but still, have to love Rarity.

“Oh. It. Is. On.” Again, classic Rarity.

“It’s fine.” “It’s gorgeous.” “It’s green. *glares* What?” I love it.

That was a cheap shot, but Rarity is now having a bad mane day.

And Trixie puts Twilight on the spot, and she claims to be a run of the mill unicorn and bolts… with Bon Bon and Lyra staring at her from right behind her.

And Trixie’s being waited on by Snips and Snails. It’s surprising that we’re halfway in already, and just finally getting to this part.

And Spike tries to talk some sense into Snips and Snails, and inadvertently gives them the idea to go bother an Ursa Major. With a “Pinkie and the Brain” reference worked in, of course.

And Twilight and Spike talk. Spike thinks she needs to come to the defense of her friends, while Twilight is still scared of being seen as boasting or being seen as a braggart by her friends. This won’t be the last time we see her being this insecure. I like her summoning a door in front of Spike.

Snips and Snails are off Ursa hunting, and Snails apparently can do some magic, as he’s able to light his horn up. Sort of. Cue an Ursa chase.

And they go right past Spike. “Can’t talk now. Got a major problem.” “Ursa major, to be exact."

Love Trixie’s reaction on seeing the monster. And it stamps on her cart, crushing it. Which is a pretty big deal, as that’s actually her home as well…

So many “major” jokes…

And Trixie goes off on Snips and Snails for bringing the ursa, as well she should. “Are you out of your little pony minds?”

Trixie at least tries to stop it. Her attempt with the rope was great! Suppose it goes back to her vs. Applejack, too.

Snips and Snails are kinda the worst here, though.

That shot from inside its mouth…

Trixie admits she made up the whole story. Fortunately, Twilight is nudged by Spike into action. Twilight really does need Spike around at her side…

Twilight actually does some pretty impressive magic. Using the wind and reeds to play a lullaby, filling up a silo with milk from some rather surprised cows, and preventing the Ursa from falling on Trixie, before giving it the milk and sending it back into its cave. Wish we saw this sort of magic more often, rather than just blasting things.

And of course Twilight’s friends don’t actually hate her for showing off her magic. Trixie is “just a loudmouth”, according to Rainbow Dash. I have noticed people are more likely to complain about their own traits when seeing them in others.

Twilight also defeated the Ursa (Minor) by reading up on it which is something I like.

And Trixie uses a smoke bomb and runs out of town, presumably abandoning her home and belongings.

“Just let her go. Maybe someday she’ll learn her lesson.” I think she has more important things on her mind. Hopefully she snuck back into town and got her stuff, at least.

And everyone gets mustaches, because of course they do. Snips has a great mustache.

Dear Princess Celestia,
I have learned a very valuable lesson about friendship: I was so afraid of being thought of as a show-off that I was hiding a part of who I am. My friends helped me realize that it's okay to be proud of your talents, and there are times when it's appropriate to show them off... Especially when you're standing up for your friends.

The moral is good. How much her friends helped with it is dubious when they were the reason she was hiding part of who she was.

Still, fun episode. There were bits that bothered me, especially in the scenes when Trixie's show was going on, and I feel like the Trixie challenges ponies section was a little long, but it was still overall a fun watch.

That's this week's episode, anyways. Next week comes "Dragonshy". Since Fluttershy wasn't in this episode, it makes sense to give her a focus episode next...

--Sweetie Belle

Maybe early on there were supposed to be less unicorns in Ponyville than there were later?

When they heard that Princess Celestia's Star Pupil moved to a Podunk like Ponyville, it became all the rage for young Unicorns to slum it with the mudponies.

Yeah, I will say, the one thing that rubbed me wrong about this episode was the actions of some of the Mane 6. While I understand that the creators were trying to do an episode on not bragging, this is a really bad example. Trixie is a magician in a sense, a show pony.

And according to Applejack, there’s nothing wrong with being talented unless you go showing it off. Not exactly an argument I’m fond of. Showing it off tends to translate to using it at all.

One could even argue that this makes her a hypocrite later on when she goes on stage.

Trixie notices them loudly arguing and decides to work her hecklers into the show.

Yes, and it's funny when magicians do this in real life.

In the end, mustache spike is... well... an awesome variant of Spike (still haven't seen season 9, so...)

7055431
Well Ponyville is predominantly populated by earth ponies if we look at the background. And later turns out that Lyra, Minuette, Lemon and Twinkleshine are from Canterlot and three of them just happened to visit Ponyville a lot. Anyway, I am sure first season operated under "earth ponies are most numerous" guideline.

Guess Pinkie wasn't in the episode because she would enjoy Trixie's show and Fluttershy would be too shy to complain. Also Fluttershy grew up with Dash so I am guessing she is used to constant showing off and bragging.

In the end I find it weird that Trixie wasn't shown to be the main source of problem. AJ, Rarity and Dash were not sympathetic at all and it was Snips and Snails that actually brought a monster with them. While Trixie sure isn't sympathetic because of how she retaliated at her hecklers, she never quite reached the level of antagonism that episode wanted her to be, at least enough to make us think that loosing her home was her deserved punishment instead of an overkill.

The best part still remains Trixie because she knows how to ham it up so no wonder that she returned and that she was one thing that made episode memorable.

7055457
Yeah. Trixie was good enough to make up for the flaws, but the way the mane 6 were acting initially was pretty annoying.

And Applejack, a hypocrite? Maaybe...

7055446
7055486
It could easily be that everypony followed Twilight to Ponyville....

And yeah, Pinkie would have had a lot of fun with it. Trixie trying to outdo Pinkie would've been pretty fun to watch, actually.

And yeah, losing her house does feel like way overkill, while Snips and Snails got off with just mustaches, which isn't really a punishment. It's one of these areas where I think when writing it, they didn't really think things through all the way.

But Trixie hams it up so gloriously it's all worth it.

Could you imagine if G5 was announced, and it was all about Trixie?

--Sweetie Belle

7055491
I can imagine Trixie announcing Gen 5 and saying it is all about her. Oh and about some purple pony who isn't Trixie and thus not as important. And image would be Trixie spreading her cape in all her glory while Twilight is peeking from behind her.

7055431

This episode gets even odder when you consider the fact that Rainbow wants to join the Wonderbolts, Applejack routinely earns blue ribbons at rodeos, and Rarity is building a career in high-end fashion. All three of them are showponies, in careers that rely on the practitioner's ability to make themselves seem as important and successful as possible. The fact that they were the ones to get bent out of shape over some unicorn busker and her one-mare magic show seems rather foolish.

I'll grant, Trixie helped them along, she's very good at that. And creatively sending off hecklers can certainly add a bit of flair to a performance. But honestly, I don't recall the rest of the audience minding her presence. if not for that ursa I think she probably would have overnighted in her wagon, perhaps done another afternoon performance, and then gaily been on her way. Rainbow would have griped for a while whilst practicing stunts, and nopony would have particularly cared.

Remember when Twilight stopped Rainbow from going after Trixie because teaching others to be better people isn't your job and self-growth ought to come from yourself because some lessons must be learned on your own, which is actually a pretty good moral to teach children? Yeah, good times.

7055431
What makes this episode somewhat annoying is the fact that:

1) in 2011/12 when this episode aired, there were already a lot of well known incidents of heckling in the news, accompanied by the responses of the comedians/performers in question. Public opinion of heckling was already very poor. In fact, the most imitable act (remember, the target audience is very young girls) is the heckling - or, as it will translate on a personal level, verbal harassment.

2) Self-aggrandizing performances are especially common in magicians and this is not considered bad form in the real world. In fact, I would venture that most magicians who talk during their performances do this.

3) Applejack/Rainbow/Rarity all explain why being a show-off is wrong, and then proceed immediately to show off. Then they repeat how bad showing off is at the end.

4) Even if showing off is wrong, the correct response to someone who claims to defy death, for instance, is not to try to kill them.

Twilight is the focus of the episode and her response to everything that happens is reasonable and correct, but the way the story is constructed around the moral is completely skewed, especially the reactions of Rainbow/Applejack/Rarity/Spike. The writer deliberately left Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie out of the episode, which was necessary because neither would feasibly join in (maybe Andrea Libman was taking the day off). Then there is a disproportionate retribution to Trixie for boasting, not to mention the ridiculous way circumstances are constructed to force her to concede and force Twilight to show her up. And all the issues I mentioned above.

Full disclosure, one of my first stories on FIMfiction was a story of this episode from Trixie's perspective. For my research I watched the episode like four or five times. Amusingly, Trixie refers to herself as "I" instead of "Trixie" (the way she normally talks, off the stage, which isn't otherwise shown until much later episodes) when she admits she made up the Ursa Major story, giving a hint that her stage persona is not her real self. In later episodes, which likely were not planned when this aired, we see that Trixie is more clueless and scatterbrained rather than inherently arrogant, though it may be that she learned her lesson.

Also, I fully concede that I love Trixie simply for being a Large Ham and chewing the scenery. I suspect this is partly because of the voice talent of Kathleen Barr, who displayed similar levels of hamminess as Queen Chrysalis.

7055431
I remember being really taken with the Ursa design when I first saw this episode. Coming back to it now, I still find it an arresting design.

Much like Gilda in Griffon[...], I personally felt that this was a flawed episode elevated by a great guest character. Trixie is all kinds of fun here, the type of stage performer persona exaggerated into monstrous levels of genuine hubris. She'd be a great foil had the moral of the story been more along the lines of Twilight's friends having to reflect on their own attitudes and behaviour falling in line with what they railed against at the start; as it stands she's actually less of an antagonist and more of a supporting strut for what the narrative becomes. I didn't enjoy much of that narrative, but I did enjoy Trixie being unapologetically Trixie. I also liked her actually standing her ground with the Ursa (at least, for a moment) despite knowing she had made the original story up.

As it often seemed to during this season (at least for me personally) the moral of the story, more specifically the execution of that moral, was off-kilter and grating.

7055431 After going back and looking at Ticket Master I wonder if the interpretation of 'the main cast discover they actually don't like each other' strikes again...

Look Before You Sleep is up soon, and Fall Weather Friends isn't too long after that, so this particular trio hasn't had much opportunity to sit down and appreciate one another yet. One thing I wonder about Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity getting snide about showing off and find interesting is that at this stage in the game, they're probably all quite unsympathetic to each other's forms of showing off and may have been projecting that onto Trixie. Applejack in particular I can imagine as finding both Rainbow's very obvious boasting and Rarity's extravagance very grating...

It's interesting to think that perhaps Trixie was more a reflection of their own flaws, and not a true villain. The way she responds to the heckling, to me, strikes me as pretty much exactly how I'd see early seasons Rainbow Dash respond to heckling (she'd get defensive and probably challenge them to do aerial tricks), and Applejack and Rarity wouldn't take criticism from either of the others lying down either.

That would have been an angle I'd liked to have seen taken here, actually. In many ways, Twilight being there lessens that idea somewhat; I would have liked it if the way to defeat the Ursa Minor would have involved Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity needing to stop trying to show off their own methods and instead work together to send it back home. But ah well.

The main cast become more supportive of Twilight learning magic later on, and I like to think that this episode was a learning experience for them.

7055508
Wonder if AJ, Dash and Rarity put aside their differences because there was common target.

I spent the entire Season 1 - Season 2 hiatus listening to this song:

Needless to say, when she came back in Magic Duel I just about did a damn back flip.

And then again when she returned in No Second Prances,
I did jump so high that I actually hit my head on the ceiling.

7055509 Very possible...

They may not have even put their differences aside all that much though either. One way of looking at it would be that they weren't competing with Trixie, they were actually trying to show of their methods of stealing the show as being better than the other's. Applejack goes first, because I'd argue she's the one who struggles the most with boasting (she has to exist near Rainbow Dash after all, and seems the most familiar with her...), and then Rainbow tries to one-up Applejack. Rarity even tries to rub her superiority in her friend's faces too...

I rather like the interpretation that in early seasons the main cast rather disliked one another, mostly because it explains a lot of their questionable behaviour early on... Not 100% sure whether they legit disliked Trixie or whether they were just reacting to each other at the time, but either way it seems plausible to little old me.

7055512
I am certain that main cast was getting to know each other in first season and weren't quite good friends just yet. Like Dash running away from Pinkie in Gilda episode because she found Pinkie to be annoying, or when Dash is being competitive with Applejack, or when Dash feels out-shined by Rarity, or when Dash is angry at Fluttershy for not cheering hard enough or being too scared when they were hunting dragons or...ok maybe it is Dash that is a problem. Oh and AJ and Rarity certainly clash more early on. Certainly they were getting to know each other as viewers were getting to know all of them.

And why can't it be both? Trying to one up each other and not being too fond of Trixie. At the end they certainly didn't like Trixie, Dash even wanted to chase her.

7055515 No reason it can't be both! As a scientist though I always end up trying to look for the dominant factor, even when there isn't one...

I do kinda like looking back and seeing how dysfunctional the group is in early eps. For some reason I had always kinda remembered them being bad at being together, but I seem to have glossed over a lot of the fun details and forgotten the extent to which they were a walking disaster crew...

Wanting to chase Trixie at the end might have been slightly coloured by having a giant bear stomp around, though. I can't say I really feel Trixie is in the wrong here in the whole ordeal, but I can also forgive folks for being a bit hot-headed in the face of giant star-bear stomping...

7055518
I think Trixie dislike is more dominant on the count that she is really good at capturing attention and had a stage. Trixie stood taller than AJ, Dash or Rarity and thus had earned the ire of the ground ponies.

I'd argue that they kinda never stopped being dysfunctional. Only stopped being as hostile to each other as they used to be, though it still can surface now and then.

7055519 They seemed to need reason to become dysfunctional later on, I found... They'd be fine until something drove a wedge in there, whereas here it's just being in their nearby vicinity that triggers 'em... That might just be an impression of mine, though. More watching required!

Certainly Trixie was a flashpoint, but it still seems a bit unfair to me that they'd turn on her that badly unless they had some kinda baggage going on... I can get it after Trixie returned with the Alicorn Amulet, but I like to think that they were just sick of dealing with their own boastful personalities (especially considering none of them could take Trixie on properly, so it was all talk on their behalf...) and turned on a pony who exemplified all of that...

Although I do like the interpretation that they were angry at Trixie not just for boasting, but also beating them. Those three are the most competitive of the bunch, and I daresay they wouldn't have liked being shown up, even if it was their fault...

7055520
Well it makes sense that they did get used to being near each other.

Although I do like the interpretation that they were angry at Trixie not just for boasting, but also beating them. Those three are the most competitive of the bunch, and I daresay they wouldn't have liked being shown up, even if it was their fault...

That is very certain. Think they started mostly annoyed but were actually pushed when Trixie made her challenge "anything you can do, Trixie can do better!". And after they got bested they were more focused at her than at others. Though you are right, they seem initially to have been trying to best each other and not just Trixie who was more of an excuse.

You know, I am kinda sad we never had an episode with Trixie but focused on other characters besides Twilight and Starlight. Did they ever stopped holding their grudges?

7055525 One would imagine so, considering how they seem to be more chill about their own weaknesses later on and Trixie did take part in saving everyone's bacon from the changelings...

Then again, just because they're not holding grudges might not mean they still don't want to prove their own superiority... particularly in Rainbow and Applejack's case...

Fanfic idea, bois?

7055431 I'm glad to see others are taking note of the hypocrisy displayed by half of our main cast here. But something I wanna point out is why did none of them leave? At no point was Trixie holding them against their will or forcing them to watch? If you don't like the show you're not obligated to watch it and I don't think Trixie would've cared if three ponies in a crowd walked away rather than keep heckling her.

Really, the only thing truly antagonistic Trixie did was run away at the end instead of telling her story. It was an honest misunderstanding and she actually tried to help even after the town treated her so poorly. Because of that she had basically her home and her only companion destroyed, and no one ever bothered to go after her and make sure she was okay. Is it any wonder she turned to the alicorn amulet in her next appearance?

7055577 Well one thing that's worth remembering as well is that whilst the Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity trio might have gone to upstage Trixie, but in the end, it's Twilight who is the only one who succeeds in upstaging Trixie. Later when she comes back, she's not looking for revenge against the ponies of Ponyville (not in particular, I feel they're more the audience to her revenge scheme...), but Twilight. That speaks volumes, in my opinion.

Trixie revels is beating her challengers, and it strikes me as really cool that even though she wasn't the one who started the conflict between the ponies and herself, she never proved herself above their ways; she enjoyed them, and turned that negative heckling into just another part of her show she benefited from, same as each of them was trying to do. She heckled right back at their performances and taunted them, enjoying her apparent superiority. She at no point rose above RD, AJ, and R's attitude, but eventually when the Blade of Irony turned to point towards her, she found herself no better than them.

It's what I find particularly interesting in this episode. There's no proper villain; in a sense all the ponies except Twilight is the villain for falling prey to trying to be the centre of attention at the expense of others. Trixie is simply the avatar of this, as she is the best at it. It's especially telling that she is eventually defeated by the only pony who never wanted to steal attention from her, and that Twilight, the only character of pure intentions, was the one she sought particular revenge against when she had the Alicorn Amulet... Poetic stuff, in my opinion at least.

7055598 Except Twilight only upstaged Trixie to save Ponyville, Twilight didn't declare herself better than Trixie or brag about it. In fact she was hesitant and afraid of the crowd's reaction. Twilight saved Trixie's life, and Trixie repaid her by spurning Twilight and running away and turning to revenge. And it seems she never let go of that jealousy from what we saw.

7055599 She still upstaged Twilight, and I reckon that to Trixie, at that time, that was all that matters. That's why it's ironic to me that Trixie fixated on Twilight; she was the only one in that whole affair who had pure intentions.

One wonders if Trixie even saw it as revenge, or if she just saw it as making sure ponies knew Trixie was better in the end. She's a reflection of people wanting to be better than others at other's expense; at the end of the AA episode, Trixie finds she loses herself to that and that's when she finally learns her first actual lesson... That's when she finally apologises for the first time, if I remember correctly (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...).

7055577

Really, the only thing truly antagonistic Trixie did was run away at the end instead of telling her story.

I disagree, she had one more antagonistic thing. Her retribution was disproportionate when she actually dealt with three hecklers. In challenge where she was supposed to out stage them she instead opted to humiliate them directly, in case of Rarity not even bothering to outdo her. Applejack, Rarity and Dash sure weren't innocent, but two wrongs don't make a right. Of course other than that Trixie still isn't a villain, she is just same as the rest but better at it, just as she advertzed.

7055609 That's a fun little thing to note. 'Everything you can do I can do better'... and what the rest of them were doing was being self-centered and attention-grabbing.

The one thing she couldn't do better was be humble, as Twilight was...

I wonder if that was meant as foreshadowing or if it was partly just an interesting accidental parallel...

7055612
I chose to believe that it was intentional.

I'm pleasantly surprised this rewatch is still happening. I debated joining in since I didn't believe it'd last. Good to see people are keeping it strong and alive. I figured I'd do my part and try to come up with some critique. It's hard to believe how long ago I'd watched these episodes.

The fact this episode comes straight after Griffon the Brush-off really shows how awful Trixie is, and that her eventual "reformation" isn't even justified.

Trixie is a character that I absolutely have no love for. She's a narcissistic, egotistical, boastful unicorn, whose main talent isn't magic. Instead, it's lying. She's a liar. Gross. Of course, magicians are basically liars, so that makes a whole heap of sense. She's written to be so exaggerated that it makes her completely unlikable - and how anybody grew fond of her when the show first began is beyond me. To this day she still remains one of the worst to me.

But this episode also highlights how completely awful the later seasons became. After her "reformation", her magic seems dumbed down. Not once would I claim Trixie to be stupid or an idiot. It's proven how smart and resourceful she is in this episode. Levitation of rope, changing hair color, creating a gust of wind and twirling literal light prisms around Rainbow Dash. She even creates lightning clouds. For all intents and purposes, she is the best unicorn in Ponyville, aside from Twilight. And she even gives it her best shot to defeat the Ursa "Major" with the knowledge that she'd never done so. Props to her for that, and for admitting she was lying.

Speaking of Twilight, she gets dragged into this through no fault of her own. Trixie, in all of her terribleness, picks out Twilight from the crowd for being a unicorn. It could be argued that AJ, RD, and Rarity all were interrupting her show, so Trixie sought to silence them with her tricks. But Twilight wasn't even wanting to be part of the conversation. This is also the first episode we really get to see her talent.

It's odd that she was chosen as the "Element of Magic", yet we barely see her cast magic until this episode. Creating hair, levitation, a gust of music, milking. The different types of spells she casts aren't really ever seen in later seasons. A lot of lasers and blasts and teleportation. Watching for so long like I have, I tend to forget that there is a case for the later seasons. In Season 6, I always felt it a joke that there would of course be a spell to fix the Crystal Heart. Some deus ex machina spell to fix everything. Yet this is Season 1, and there's 25 spells Twilight has command of! Perhaps a pass can be given to those later seasons for their successful magical wins.

Back to the intense egotism of Trixie - it should be pointed out that she starts her show with her boastful nature. The first words out of her mouth are about her magnificent feats, and how nopony has ever witnessed magic like hers before. Even though one princess raised both the sun and moon for a thousand years. After the chatter between AJ, RD, and Rarity, she makes another proud boast: "Do they not know that they're in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria?" Ironically, she was right, since Twilight is there.

There are ways for Trixie to have started her show without being this annoying. Of course, we wouldn't have an episode if she wasn't. But if you take away the actual idea of it being a cartoon and put it as a living world, Trixie gets what she deserves. A destroyed home. "Don't throw stones if you live in a glass house".

It's also interesting to see how egotistical Rainbow Dash is this episode. Aside from the show premiere, I hadn't thought of her being this way truly until Fall Weather Friends, and the Season 2 episode The Mysterious Mare Do Well. Seeing it here really emphasizes my later distaste for her from Fall Weather Friends. The arrogance is annoying, and there's not much of a contrast between her and Trixie. Both of them are completely arrogant. It's justified - since they're both talented - but it's also not a good personality trait.

There's a guy at my job that reminds me of Trixie and RD. He's loud, obnoxious, and constantly comments how good he is. Sometimes to the point of berating others for not being as good as him at the job. Yet he has a lot of friends, and people enjoy being around him. And I think that's the splitting difference between Trixie and RD.

Rainbow Dash claims herself as awesome, but her other personality traits keep her grounded. She's loyal. Friendly. Caring. She asks for help. And she's not willing to allow others to stomp all over her friends.

Trixie doesn't get that, because she only gets this one episode. When Season 1 ended, that was all of her. She doesn't get the chance to show off her other traits, or just be a regular person. She's a caricature. An exaggeration of the narcissistic. It's completely played up, while Rainbow Dash's egotism is there inherently. Rewatching this episode, I actually feel bad for the amount of hate I give Trixie. This episode doesn't warrant such animosity, because she got what she deserved. Comparing it to the previous episode, Gilda stormed off, she didn't get what she deserved. There's no closure like there is for Trixie.

I think she's earned a little less of my hatred. I'm glad this rewatch is happening. I wouldn't have thought my opinion on Trixie could've changed. Yet here we are. I hope this continues. I'd like to see what other opinions of mine might change, but I wouldn't want to go through the tedious process alone.

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Spike with a mustache never fails to be fun. That’s what they should have done in the last episode instead of making him all big. They should have made him look just like normal, but with a mustache.

But... reptiles... hair... oh well, I suppose that ship sailed with Steven Magnet.

The convo is interesting - I recently had a thread that basically questioned it's premise, and I was pretty much the only poster in favour of it being more or less accurate. And while Spike's claim might fall a bit short, Twilight's modesty is a bit excessive too - I doubt she seriously believes it.

Rarity immediately goes off on Trixie about boasting, too. Um, Rarity? This is a show. Boasting is kinda normal in a magic show.

Rarity just finds her way too blunt about it - she would never shill her dresses in such plain language, no matter how highly she thinks of them. And she also has Opinions on proper unicorn behaviour.

And according to Applejack, there’s nothing wrong with being talented unless you go showing it off. Not exactly an argument I’m fond of. Showing it off tends to translate to using it at all.

Applejack does sue her own talents everyday without showing them off... but she also competes in rodeos.

And they all go off about how magic doesn’t make you better than everyone else right in front of Twilight, who’s probably feeling like this is all partially directed at her at this point.

An earthpony town might be more easily impressed by magic than a unicorn one, but they're also more easily offended by it.

I’ll admit to not being totally clear at this point what Trixie’s show is actually meant to involve, beyond fireworks, but I’d assume more along the line of magical tricks rather than challenging everyone in the town to find something they can do better than her. Maybe she decided this was more interesting, or just isn’t taking the criticism well.

Show off various fancy magic and stage tricks, and one-up any locals who think they can compete. If no-one had spoken out, she'd probably have asked if anyone though hey were up to he challenge.

Trixie at least tries to stop it. Her attempt with the rope was great! Suppose it goes back to her vs. Applejack, too.

This is Trixie's hero potential moment - where it's solidified there's more to her than a mere braggart.

That shot from inside its mouth…

Huh, it has gums.

Twilight actually does some pretty impressive magic.... Wish we saw this sort of magic more often, rather than just blasting things.

You and me both. Boast Busters was clearly meant to be the formative episode for "unicorn magic" in the show, and it's sad that later stuff rarely measures up. (One thing that will is Trixie's next appearance.)

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Remember when Twilight stopped Rainbow from going after Trixie because teaching others to be better people isn't your job and self-growth ought to come from yourself because some lessons must be learned on your own, which is actually a pretty good moral to teach children?

And then Trixie came back a much worse pony and took over the town. Because sometimes people left alone just double down on their personality flaws.

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I also don't give her a free pass for telling the Ursa story - perhaps because I think she expected it to be believed, if not acted on.

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I also don't give her a free pass for telling the Ursa story - perhaps because I think she expected it to be believed, if not acted on.

I really can't call that an antagonistic act. A tall tale or maybe a childish behavior, but certainly not an act done out of malice. She couldn't have expected someone to actually be dumb enough to bring an ursa for her to defeat. I don't hold it against her.

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The edge of the Everfree is not a place where monsters are just stories.

I don't consider it an evil act or anything - just one that invites the karmic punishment she receives, especially if she's been telling he same tale from town to town.

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Guess I just don't see things that way.

Boast Busters and Mare Do Well were shit that teaches the false "virtue" of humility (humility is actually a vice rooted in cowardice.) Remember children, never take pride in your accomplishments. Garbage slave morality.

Trixie still lied though. Making the episode about honesty would at least have presented a good moral.

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Well not exaggerating your abilities is a form of honesty. Of course, so is not understating them (as Twilight learns here) but most people tend to overestimate themselves, so erring on the side of humility is best.

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just one that invites the karmic punishment she receives, especially if she's been telling he same tale from town to town.

Considering her profession, she is justified in telling such high tales. Old time storytellers would tell tales of places they visited or foes they vanquished in their 'youth', and there are tons of stories where you have the character tell outlandish tales of things they did, like Baron Mynhauser or how he's called. Even in modern day, this happens exactly as is with stand-up comedians of the story type. Almost none of the stuff they say happens to them. Instead it's all made up or exaggerated to a fantastic degree to make them funny. Not to mention that at many shows, hecklers are actually treated exactly as the main characters were treated by Trixie here. The main idea is that "there are a ton of people wanting to watch the show and you are trying to make it about you because you don't personally like it or just want to put yourself on stage." Let's not forget that one thing the characters could have done if they didn't like Trixie's show or what she did was to leave. And exactly like most modern standup comedians, Trixie did humiliate them (in fact, modern standup comedians are way harsher. Jimmy Carr, for instance, will keep bringing up the heckler's mom at every chance).

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A public performance is IMO, different to one in a closed venue. And I don't approve of claims that imply heroic deeds - like when people who dodged the draft talk about their "war stories". Especially since her audience included children who were obviously easily misled.

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The moral here was...confused.

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Whether it is open or closed, whoever doesn't like it is free to go, not destroy the fun for everyone else. If someone's giving a speech you personally don't agree on, is it right to go and take the mic off their hands and such? It's not Trixie's responsibility whether ponies—or children—believe her stories. She is there to entertain, not provide morality or take over the parenting role from the children' guardians.

For some reason, I don't see people claiming that comedians shouldn't tell fake stories on stage or on specials that children might believe and copy (like, doing something funny—but mean—to someone and instead of reaping laughs like the comedian's story they get consequences).

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Only if you insist on picking unambiguously right or wrong sides.

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I'm pretty sure taking on challengers is half the fun Trixie gets out of her acts. IMO, she has a deep need to prove that she's better - that she's Great and Powerful.

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she has a deep need to prove that she's better - that she's Great and Powerful.

Sure. Though nowhere in that episode did she start anything or go and make claims over anyone. In fact, she immediately said that her story was all made up instead of trying to "prove" anything.

Don't get me wrong, I get she was showing off and lying, but that's the actual job description.

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Well, yeah.

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But pretty much everyone is wrong here to some degree, so...

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Lying may be in a magician's job description in our world, but where magic is real? Not so sure. And she so makes a claim - anything you can do I can do better - and then doesn't even properly live up to it.

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Lying may be in a magician's job description in our world, but where magic is real?

Again, back to my previous example, standup comedians lie about social situations and interactions, that ARE real, and whose outcomes are vastly different than reality. Trixie didn't lie about being a good magician. She's a good portion above average and Spike's comments in the beginning of the episode shows us that due to the number of tricks that Trixie knows. She didn't lie about the existence of Ursa Majors either—what she lied about was her INTERACTION with one.

and then doesn't even properly live up to it.

Yes, that's part of being a performer. An actor playing a sincere man doesn't have to be sincere himself.

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That's the point - she doesn't need to lie to put on a good show, She needs to lie to establish herself as Greater and more Powerful than everypony around her. And it's a performance she puts on for herself as much as anypony else.

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She needs to lie to establish herself as Greater and more Powerful than everypony around her

That's the show. It's the difference between a talent show and spectacle. She doesn't go on to show "look, I can do this dance," she goes on to pretend, "look, there are ponies that can do wonders beyond your normal life, living adventures and casting mighty spells, and one of them is here to tell you personally about them!"

And it's a performance she puts on for herself as much as anypony else.

So? Is there something wrong with, say, writing for yourself as well? She enjoys what she does.

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I think that barring direct contradiction - say, an Ursa in her face - she really thinks she's better than just about anypony at magic. Or at least, she just doesn't think about anypony that could possibly do better. It's a narcissistic and unhealthy attitude that also makes her plenty obnoxious to anyone who challenges it.

Now, she's not the only pony who makes mistakes in this episode - her challengers were driven by their own egos to a degree, Snips and Snails are gullible idiots, and Twilight tries too hard to be humble. But of the adults Trixie's flaw is he most egregious.

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she really thinks she's better than just about anypony at magic.

Barring very specific ponies (Twilight, Starlight AFTER studying in order to beat Twilight, the alicorns, and very, very few others) she is right. She is WAY ahead of the curve. We don't know how she would have acted if she knew about Twilight and being a protege of Princess Celestia, and we don't know if part of the reason that she later felt so antagonist against her was because, from her point of view, a unicorn who was far better just watched her, waited till she faced something she possibly couldn't, and then humiliated her outside the confines of her show.

It's a narcissistic and unhealthy attitude that also makes her plenty obnoxious to anyone who challenges it.

It is a NECESSARY attitude. Remember, this is her livelihood. If she doesn't upkeep the image, she simply fails, and a single fail might mean permanent damage (as we see it does). Again, this is the same with standup. A standup comedian will make a point of how much smarter and wittier they are than the heckler, constantly putting them down, many times across the show and not just on the heckling occasion.

But of the adults Trixie's flaw is he most egregious.

She came to town, made a show, she was heckled, actually did better than the hecklers, and told tall tales as part of her repertoire. What did she do wrong?

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Well, I suppose how good you think she is is also a factor - I think she's flexible but no more powerful than, say, Rarity. And as I said, she never actually outdoes her challengers, just humiliates them.

Imagine a version of Trixie's show about building others up - inspiring them to greater feats. Where she congratulates those who can outdo her and is self-effacing when she does better. I don't think that show would be less popular than her existing one, and I do think that Trixie would be better to be around when not performing. (She also, of course, would be almost totally unlike Trixie.)

And if you go around telling Ursa tales on the edge of the Everfree, you're just asking to meet an Ursa, young idiots or no. Monsters are a thing that happen sometimes in Equestria, and pretending to a competence you lack can get you (or others) killed.

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And as I said, she never actually outdoes her challengers, just humiliates them.

And we have established that even so this is actually the usual reaction to hecklers by most live performers.

Imagine a version of Trixie's show about building others up - inspiring them to greater feats. Where she congratulates those who can outdo her and is self-effacing when she does better.

She's under no obligation to do a show that you'd prefer or would be morally superior, and that choice doesn't turn her into a bad guy or being wrong.

Monsters are a thing that happen sometimes in Equestria, and pretending to a competence you lack can get you (or others) killed.

If I tell a story of how a truck went driving for me and I stopped it with my hands before hurting anyone, and some idiot thinks it would be a good idea to reenact it, it wouldn't be my fault, even though trucks ARE a real thing. What's more, Trixie didn't advertise herself as a monster hunter nor did she say that if someone brought her an Ursa Major she'd do the same. She didn't go around asking for anything. The actions of others are not on her. She told a tall tale, but if some idiot believes it and gets himself killed then that's on them; if they are kids, then that's also on their parents. Trixie isn't responsible for other kids' actions.

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Imagine a version of Trixie's show about building others up - inspiring them to greater feats.

--Sweetie Belle