My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E26 A Canterlot Wedding Part 2

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Continued from "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1".

You should see what happens before this...

This day has been just perfect~
The kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small.
Everypony I'll soon control!
Every stallion, mare and foal!

Who says a girl can't really have it all?
—Queen Chrysalis

Written by Meghan McCarthy.

Twilight finds herself in a dark cave, magicking up a light from her horn, wondering where she is.

Cadence's evil laughter fills the air heralding her appearing and vanishing in faceted reflections overhead, mocking Twilight and saying there's nothing she can do to stop her—and that Twilight will be forgotten and imprisoned forever. Twilight, undaunted, gives chase and attacks with magic, before breaking through a wall and tumbling into—Cadence?!

The truth is revealed: Twilight was right about Cadence being evil—but the truth is it's not actually Cadence. The real Cadence proves her identity by greeting a suspicious Twilight with their Secret Handshake and explaining that the Cadence above is an impostor seeking to take over Canterlot. Twilight and the real Cadence fight the bewitched bridesmaids, then make their way back to the surface of Canterlot. Just before Princess Celestia can complete the ceremony, Twilight and the real Cadence storm in to expose the deception.

When the jig is up for the fake Cadence, she reveals herself as Chrysalis, the frightening queen of the Changelings, a race of parasitic beings with the ability to copy the shape of a loved one and then eat the love feelings directed to the fake. Chrysalis has decided to take over Canterlot because as the capitol of Equestria, the country with the most love in the world, it can feed her subjects—the other Changelings. She smugly announces that since she took Cadence's place, she turned Shining Armor into her puppet and has weakened him so much that soon he will be unable to keep Canterlot safe inside of his protective force field.

Celestia rises to challenge the evil impostor, but after a short (yet intense) struggle, she is beaten by Chrysalis. Among everypony in the room, Queen Chrysalis herself is the most surprised: Having fed on so much of Shining Armor's love for Cadence, she has become even stronger than Celestia!

Celestia urges Twilight and the others to get the Elements of Harmony, just when Chrysalis's army finally manages to destroy Shining Armor's force field and begin attacking Canterlot. The Mane Six end up in a pitched battle against Changelings magicked to look like them. But in the end, they are overwhelmingly outnumbered and captured before they can get to the Elements. Chrysalis's victory is absolute: Canterlot is invaded by her army, Celestia is imprisoned inside of a cocoon, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony have been neutralized and Shining Armor's power has been completely drained, leaving him incapable to recast his energy barrier. When the Evil Queen stops to gloat, Twilight frees Cadence so she can go to the side of her love. She not only breaks the Changeling hold on him, but together, their love is strong enough to give Shining Armor the strength to once again perform his protection spell and banish the Changelings, not only from Canterlot but from all of Equestria. The day is saved!

The real wedding can finally take place. Twilight's organizational skills pull the whole thing together with dazzling speed, with Cadence enthusiastically participating. The ceremony is sweet and beautiful, especially for Twilight when Shining warmly tells her that he persuaded Cadence to accept his proposal with the fact that she would gain Twilight as a sister-in-law. As night falls, Princess Luna arrives, and the reception begins in earnest. Everypony dances, and as the couple departs, Shining thanks his sister for everything she has done with a warm reaffirmation of their love. As the carriage leaves, Rarity makes a spectacular dive for the bouquet, and Spike announces his intentions for the bachelor party.

And everypony lives Happily Ever After.

The end.

*Cue epic cred......Tori Spelling.*

Tropes present in this episode and/or the preceding episode: YMMV tropes here.

  • Abandoned Mine
  • Adult Fear: In the Dark Reprise, a terrified Carrot Top being cornered with Dr. Whooves by the Changelings and trying to protect her foal.
  • All There in the Script: Her name is never mentioned on-screen, but the Changeling Queen's name is, according to the script, Chrysalis.
  • Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny: Apparently, not even the Brainwashed and Crazy bridesmares can resist the allure of a wedding bouquet. All Cadence did to "vanquish" them was to use one as a distraction.
  • Award Bait Song: "Love is in Bloom," the final song of the two-parter. It's very Disneyesque, and even bears some resemblance to "Ever After" from Enchanted.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Subverted, Applejack does this with Twilight, only for Twilight to turn out to be one of the Changelings.
  • Badass: When Queen Chrysalis places her hoof on Twilight mockingly, our Adorkable heroine brushes her off and never loses her furious glare towards this rather imposing evil.
  • Badass Damsel: Cadence.
  • Ballroom Blitz
  • Battle Couple: This is what happens when the Magic Knight Captain of the Royal Guard and a Love Goddess (which is surprisingly badass) Badass Princess get married. Just ask Queen Chrysalis, if you can find where she landed.
  • Beam-O-War: Celestia and the main antagonist engage in a brief one of these. Celestia loses.
  • Beam Spam : Used by Twilight, with a little help from Pinkie Pie.
  • Berserk Button: As soon as Fake!Cadence mentions that her plans involve her brother, Twilight gets pissed—to the point where she tries to fire a high-energy blast of magic at her and almost lays waste to the real Cadence a few moments later.
  • Big Bad: Queen Chrysalis.
  • Big No: In Big Bad tradition, Queen Chrysalis lets one off right before Shining Armor and Princess Cadence's spell hits her and blasts her out of Canterlot.
  • Blown Across the Room: Queen Chrysalis and her army are blown across Equestria by Cadence and Shining Armor's The Power of Love enhanced spell.
  • Body Horror: The changelings, dear Celestia. They just generally look twisted and warped, but special mention goes to the Swiss-cheese holes in their wings, their tails, their manes, their legs...
  • Book Ends: The preparations of the wedding have to be redone, but this time with the real Cadence who deeply appreciates the Mane Six's efforts with the grace, charm and exuberance you'd expect from a bride worthy of Twilight's brother.
    • And the end credits theme is the same one we got for "The Return of Harmony pt 2".
  • Bouquet Toss: Done twice, first as a way to distract a group of brainwashed bridesmaids, then for real in the end, which Rarity pounces on.
  • Brick Joke: After being conspicuously absent for almost the entire episode, Princess Luna shows up at the very end and asks if she missed anything while she was away.
    • Applejack sneaks her cowboy hat onto her bridesmaid dress once again.
    • At the very end, Spike still doesn't know what a bachelor party actually is.
  • Bug Buzz: The Changelings have wings, but they're dragonfly wings that drone creepily when they fly.
  • Bug War
  • Call Back: Fluttershy directing a chorus of birds.
  • The Cavalry Arrives Late: Luna doesn't appear until well after her presence would have been useful.
  • The Cameo: Vinyl Scratch, Fancypants, Soarin', and Twilight and Shining Armor's parents all make an appearance at the end.
    • Derpy appears several times in the wedding crowd scenes, with her signature derped eyes.[1] This is most notable when Queen Chrysalis is staring down Cadence in the wedding hall.
  • Changeling Tale: Cadence is kidnapped.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Spike planning to have the bachelor party after the wedding.
  • The Combat Pragmatist: Pinkie's party cannon makes a return during the battle with the Changeling Mooks and is used successfully in an offensive manner. Yes, that's right, Pinkie Pie weaponized partying.
    • Along with that, Fluttershy prevents herself from being targeted by other Fluttershies by pretending she's a changeling and sending them forward, only to be stopped by several Rainbow Dashes... with one of them in the group revealing she is the real one by bucking off the ones to her side.
  • Combination Attack: Cadence and Shining Armor's love-powered spell. Shining Armor provides the spell, which she charges since he's not strong enough to recast the shield spell unassisted due to having been drained by the fake Cadence.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Cadence and Shining Armor pick up one introduced half a season prior. "Hearth's Warming Eve" showed the bond between ponies could be used to power up an extremely strong spell. Cadence and Shining Armor do a similar technique, except with another bond in place of The Power of Friendship.
  • Conservation of Ninjutsu: Zig Zagged Trope. The Mane Six defeat a huge herd of changeling impostors all by themselves, but even they can't take on the entire army.
    • Possible Fridge Brilliance: The Changelings are fierce, but Chrysalis claims that she came to Equestria hunting for food for them. They were only weak individually because of malnourishment.
  • Critical Research Failure: In-universe: Spike was supposed to host the bachelor party... but did not get that it was supposed to happen before the wedding.
  • Crocodile Tears: Like in part 1, Cadence cries when Twilight crashes the actual wedding. It fails this time as Twilight had brought with her the real Cadence.
  • Cute Monster Girl: Although the Changelings are nightmarish, the relentlessly cute art still depicts their Queen as sort of cute.
    • To elaborate, she has a beautiful face, butter body is terrifying
  • Damage Discrimination: The Heart Beat-Down only hits the Changelings, leaving everypony and everything left completely untouched.
  • Dance Party Ending: The episode closes on the wedding reception.
  • Darkest Hour: Queen Chrysalis has defeated Celestia, captured the Mane Cast before they can get the Elements, and her Changelings now run rampant in Canterlot. It takes The Power of Love channeled into a spell to finally defeat her.
  • Dark Reprise: The reprise of "This Day Aria" is even darker in tone than the original Villain Song.
  • Dark Secret: The Princess Cadence in Canterlot is a changeling queen. The real Cadence has been imprisoned beneath the castle.
  • Deflector Shields: Shining Armor's gigantic bubble shield around Canterlot comes crashing down as the Changelings break through and invade the city.
    • The same spell is used to defeat the Changelings in the end, only supercharged by The Power of Love.
  • Didn't See That Coming: Nopony, villain included, expected Celestia to be overpowered in the Beam-O-War.
    • It's safe to assume that Cadence and Shining Armor blasting her out of Equestria with a Heart Beat-Down was not a part of Chrysalis' plans.
    • Then there's the popular idea that Chrysalis attempted to manipulate Twilight into killing the real Cadence. This probably might have worked if Twilight and Cadence didn't have a close history together, something that Chrysalis had no idea about.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Changeling Queen, did you just defeat Princess Celestia in a one-on-one magic fight? Even she herself was surprised to have been able to beat her.
  • Distant Duet: This Day Aria, sung by Cadence and Chrysalis
  • Distracted By the Shiny: The brainwashed bridesmares are distracted by the bouquet.
  • Downer Beginning: Leftover from the previous episode's Downer Ending Cliff Hanger: The Queen imprisons Twilight in a diamond mine, and the rest of the cast are clearly very bitter over Twilight's actions in part 1.
  • Dramatic Irony: Until Twilight and Cadence burst into the wedding, nopony knows that the bride is a horrible monster, but the viewers know. This makes putting the Cutie Mark Crusader Flower Girls (yay!) in front of "Cadence" as she walks down the aisle particularly horrifying.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: You'd think that everypony would take something Twilight's risking her very reputation on as more than a jealous accusation, given her track record.
  • Duet Mood Dissonance: "This Day Aria", sung by Chrysalis and Princess Cadance, is about Chrysalis's evil plan to use Cadance's guise and ruin both Shining Armor's happily ever after and Equestria's future. Of note is that Chrysalis and Cadence have the same voice actor.
  • Dynamic Entry: The first thing the Changelings do upon breaking Shining Armor's barrier is dive-bomb Canterlot, then get right back up and continue wreaking havoc.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Princess Cadence, all things considered, really had to work to finally get the happiest day of her life.
  • Economy Cast: While the Changelings were overwhelming you'd think the background ponies would have helped out a LITTLE bit more.
  • Emotion Eaters: Queen Chrysalis and her brood.
  • Everypony Laughs Ending
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Despite feeding off of love, Chrysalis outright admits feeling none for Shining Armor and in the end doesn't consider the possibility The Power of Love can be used against her.
  • Evil Gloating: Big mistake on the Changeling Queen's part as it gave the heroes the opportunity they needed to turn the tide. Even Celestia lampshades how foolish it was for Chrysalis to reveal her true self. Though she's more savvy than most villains, she actually waited until it looked like she'd already won before gloating.
  • Face Hoof: Rarity gets one when Twilight bursts in on the wedding.
  • Forgot I Could Fly: Twillight once again forgets she can teleport. Cadence also fails to use her wings at first, though she spreads them at last second. It is possible, though, that the cave Twilight is trapped in in the beginning may have been anti-teleport.
    • So does Twilight when Spike announces his plans for the bachelor party after the wedding.
  • The Fair Folk: The Changelings, which are the chaotic and fearsome variety.
  • Fandom Nod: DJ-Pon3/Vinyl Scratch's appearance is more than likely this, considering she's a massive Ensemble Darkhorse who was a 5 second One-Scene Wonder in the first season. She even takes her shades off, showing that her eyes are magenta—not quite the bright red fans had decided they were, but pretty close.
    • The changelings' designs have quite a lot in common with the antagonists of the fan-made online game Story Of The Blanks.
      • And the bloody hooves from Super Filly Adventures bad ending.
  • Flung Clothing: The Mane Six do this with their bridesmaid's dresses when they go charging out to the Elements of Harmony vault, though Rarity is a little more reluctant to do so at first. Rainbow Dash does it again at the end when she prepares to pull off a Sonic Rainboom for the reception (hey, she did complain that the dress wasn't very aerodynamic back in Part One...)
  • Foreshadowing: When the Queen defeats Celestia, she comments on how strong Shining Armor's love for Cadence is. See Hoist By Her Own Petard.
    • It was also established in "Hearth's Warming Eve" that the bond between ponies can be utilized for a Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu? moment even without the Elements.
    • A blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, when Queen Chrysalis, still in the form of Cadence, sings "This Day Aria", the camera spins around pointed at her shadow on the ceiling. Pay close attention, the lamp on the ceiling overlaps her shadow for a few moments, causing it to more resemble her true form.
  • Fauxshadowing: The Elements of Harmony have been previously used in similar situations, explicitly mentioned in the chapter, and in fact the Mane Six are going for them before the fight scene, but they are captured before they can get them.
  • Gatling Good: Pinkie grabs Twilight and uses her as a gatling gun.
    • However, in an unusual inversion of this trope, Twilight's head does not spin - but Pinkie turns her tail like a crank to fire, just as with the original, manually operated Gatling guns.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: The Big Bad is pretty much as close to a succubus as a G-rated show can possibly get!
  • Giant Changeling Queen From Nowhere: Even though an attack on the wedding is foreshadowed in the previous episode, it seems odd that such powerful force as The Changeling Army, which apparently has been a menace to the world this whole time, is only mentioned now. Unlike previous major antagonists, they don't have the excuse of being trapped on the moon or in stone. Of course, they used that to their advantage.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: After the first scene of the Aria everything fades but Chrysalis's eyes, with their true form.
  • God Save Us From the Queen: The Changeling queen, naturally. May double as a Hive Queen, seeing how all the other Changelings we see are apparently her children.
    • One of the rare instances when a god does try to save them from the queen, only to fail.
  • Hall of Mirrors: the mine.
  • Hammerspace Where Pinkie Pie appears to pull Vinyl Scratch/DJ Pon-3 from at the end.
  • Heart Beat-Down: Courtesy of Cadence and Shining Armor.
  • Held Gaze: Shining Armour and Princess Cadence after they return to earth having completed their Heart Beat-Down as they gaze into each other's eyes passionately.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Kathleen Barr, who provided the voice of Trixie, also provides the voice of Queen Chrysalis.
    • Also Shining Armor is voiced by Andrew Francis, who voiced Braeburn, although it's pretty hard to tell. More noticeably he is the voice of Yukimura from the Sengoku Basara Macekre Devil Kings.
    • Interestingly, Princess Cadence is voiced by Britt McKillip, who voiced Lola Bunny on Baby Looney Tunes (and Tra La La in G3 My Little Pony videos).
  • Hoist By Her Own Petard: The Changeling Queen sending Twilight to the caves, and then taunting her to blast the crystals, allowed Twilight to find and free the real Cadence. Furthermore, the queen's plan worked because of the love of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. Guess what leads to her defeat?
  • Hope Spot: When the Mane six reach the room with the Elements of Harmony. Except it's destroyed in the next scene, where you see that they couldn't get by the changelings.
    • Another one happens earlier when Twilight and the real Cadence are escaping the mines. They see a light in the distance and race towards it. They take a mine cart down a track to launch themselves, Cadence spreading her wings to fly them up to the light... only to discover a dead end. Cadence breaks down crying at the sight of this.
    • In addition, the fight between Celestia and the Queen, for a brief moment the Queen is visibly being overpowered until she suddenly gets a super charge and knocks the Princess down flat. Even she looks surprised she managed to Yank That Dogs Chain.
  • Idiot Ball: The Changeling army faces off with the Mane Six... and promptly turns into look-alikes of them, resulting in a Needle in a Stack of Needles situation. While it does cause the heroes some trouble, it's ultimately to their benefit. May be justified by the fact they're essentially drones in a massive swarm of insects, and thus likely not that intelligent individually.
    • One of the Changelings rolls her eyes at Pinkie's request to do an impersonation of her; this implies that the individuals are sentient in themselves.
    • Then again, a group of false Fluttershies was going to beat up the real one, but it took for her only to acting as one of them to fool them, even if they had her in front of their eyes all the time. So yeah, not so intelligent perhaps.
    • Their forte is shapeshifting into someone their target loves and draining their love for them; not physical combat. They probably shapeshifted because it was what they were comfortable doing, rather than for a tactical advantage. They didn't try to get into character because this wasn't a situation for deception and weren't sure how to handle it.
  • It Got Worse: Twilight is trapped on some underground caverns where she discovers the real Cadence. Then the impostor is revealed to be Chrysalis, the queen of a demonic race of emotion eaters, who had Twilight's brother under her control all along. And her army of emotion eaters is already surrounding Canterlot to feast on everyone there. Then Celestia is defeated. Then Canterlot's magic shield is destroyed and Chrysalis's army invades the helpless city. And then Twilight and her friends are defeated and captured before they could use the Elements of Harmony.
  • Improvised Weapon: Pinkie Pie uses Twilight as a magic-spewing machine gun during the battle with the Changelings. She also uses the Party Cannon later in the battle.
  • Irony: The Damsel in Distress ends up rescuing the Knight In Shining Armor.
  • Ironic Echo: In Part One Twilight chastises her friends for not noticing (fake) Cadence's behavior towards them because they were too busy planning the wedding. In Part Two, after the Mane Six are captured, the Changeling Queen points out that Twilight was the only one who noticed the change, because every others were too busy with their wedding plans (leading Applejack to apologize for not believing her).
    • "This Day Aria" contains several, considering Cadence and Queen Chrysalis are singing the same song but with opposite ideas about the subject. The biggest one is "The kind of day of which I've dreamed about since I was small." Cadence is referring to her wedding, while Chrysalis is referring to her conquering Canterlot.
    • The wedding preparations. Fake!Cadance went through them perfunctorily and was nasty about all of them. Real Cadence went through them with grace and joyous enthusiasm.
  • Kamehame Hadoken: Twilight Beam Spams them trying to hit Chrysalis Cadence's illusions while trapped in the caves.
  • Kick the Dog: In addition to the previous episode, while fake!Cadence is singing about how she does not love Shining Armour, she also playfully disintegrates a bowler hat.
  • Meaningful Name: The name of the insect-like changelings is Queen Chrysalis. A chrysalis is what a caterpillar uses to undergo metamorphosis (change) into a butterfly.
  • Mind Control Eyes: The bridesmaids and Shining Armor have green eyes, glowing in the former's case, when under the control of Chrysalis.
  • Minecart Madness: In order for Twilight to get from the caves under Canterlot back to the world above.
  • Mirror Routine: Rainbow Dash does this with the first Changeling to take her appearance. There is even a slight lag in the latter's movements.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Queen Chrysalis takes pleasure in pointing out how the other ponies' rejection of Twilight assisted in her taking over, with the expected reaction.
  • Mordor: The direction the Changelings are flung towards appears to be rather barren. More specifically, it might be the desert region that has been occasionally seen.
  • Musical World Hypotheses: The two-part episode as a whole has more songs than any other episode of the series thus far, and none of them were by Pinkie.
  • Eucatastrophe: Queen Chrysalis only lost because she put the wrong two prisoners in adjacent caves. And then underestimated the very power that she used to get so far.
    • She also probably didn't know that Twilight Sparkle was capable of blasting through layers of solid crystal.
  • Needle in a Stack of Needles: The Mane Six uses it to their advantage when fighting the Changeling army impersonating them.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: From the heavy promotions for this two-parter, you got the impression that it would be a standard wedding hijinks plot that would end with the typical send-off. This finale also in part serves to promote a wedding-themed toy line starring Princess Cadence. Then the army of Emotion Eaters descends upon Canterlot in the second half. Also, one preview screenshot turned out to be different from the actual episode, with Shining Armor looking happy and not having Mind Control Eyes.
  • Nice Hat: The Mane Six's hats—both in the episode(s) and in promotional material (see, for example, the billboard image). Spike wears a top hat that's bigger than his own head.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Queen Chrysalis was set to win if she only hadn't tried to act against Twilight at all. Nobody believed Twilight's accusations, and she was ready to have a Heroic BSOD right there. She was already neutralised as a threat... until Chrysalis tried to make sure she that was, only bringing her back into the game.
  • No Hugging, No Kissing: A notable aversion as not only do Shining Armor and real Cadence get married but by first time in the series they share two kisses on the lips, with the second one lasting a couple of seconds.
  • Non-Standard Character Design: Princess Cadence has black-rimmed eyes like Celestia (probably as a result of using eyeliner, or the limned eyes are a family trait) and gradient wings. And is an alicorn.
    • The changelings certainly count, as well as their queen.
  • Nothing Can Stop Me Now: Queen Chrysalis after the Mane Cast have been recaptured.
  • Oh Crap: Queen Chrysalis has one right before she gets sent hurtling into the distance by The Power of Love.
    • She has a brief one earlier when the real Cadence shows up.
    • Celestia herself gets two: One before the tables turn and Chrysalis defeats her, and the other is when she awakens inside of her chrysalid prison.
  • Off-Model: During the Changeling attack, Applejack is randomly depicted with and without her hat.
  • One-Winged Angel: Queen Chrysalis assuming her true form after being revealed at the wedding.
  • Outside Context Villain: Seriously, who saw the Changelings coming? This was what made them so dangerous, as Chrysalis was Dangerously Genre Savvy enough to take full advantage of this fact.
  • Pinball Projectile: Twilight nearly fries herself casting a spell in a cave full of reflective gemstones. She at least learns her lesson, though; all of her subsequent spells just blow up the crystals.
  • Police Are Useless: Canterlot is protected by a magic shield and a small army of Royal Guards who, despite being on high alert, are overrun by Changelings as soon as the shield collapses.
  • The Power of Friendship: It's what got through to an enraged Twilight to realize the Cadence in the cave wasn't the fake Cadence who'd imprisoned her.
  • The Power of Love: It's what the changelings feed on. Shining Armor's love for Cadence gives the Queen enough of a power boost to overpower Princess Celestia. However, it's also what sends the changelings packing in the end.
  • Power Floats: Happens to Shining Armor and Princess Cadence as they power up to let loose their Heart Beat-Down on Chrysalis.
  • Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: Pinkie, when a changeling shifts into her form (on her own request).

Pinkie Pie: I've seen better. *grabs Twilight and uses her to shoot clones with magic*

    • Celestia delivers an amazing one to Queen Chrysalis.

Princess Celestia: But now that you have foolishly revealed your true self, I can protect my subjects from you!

    • Subverted in that Celestia loses.
  • Redshirt Army: The Canterlot Royal Guard. Again.
  • Rule of Symbolism: As Shining Armor and Princess Cadence use The Power of Love to repel the Changelings, their silhouettes are curved to form a heart shape.
  • Schizo-Tech: Vinyl Scratch's Sound system and the Mic.
  • Season Finale
  • Secret Hoofshake: See Something Only They Would Say below....
  • Send in the Clones: The Changeling Queen's minions become clones of the Mane Cast and they have an all-out battle with each other.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: The real Cadence goes from scruffy and battered to elegant and magically flowing once she has a chance to properly prepare for the wedding.
  • Ship Tease: In the wedding pictures, Rarity's making flirty eyes at Fancy Pants, Rainbow Dash is squealing over Soarin, and Sweetie Belle's dancing with Spike.
  • Shout-Out: On the billboard image, Pinkie is wearing the same ridiculous hat that Princess Beatrice wore for the British Royal Wedding. In fact, all six of the Mane cast are wearing various hats photographed during the wedding.
    • The way that the Queen of the Changelings disguises herself as the bride and enthralls Shining Armor is similar to how Ursula disguised herself as Vanessa in The Little Mermaid and enthralls Prince Eric. And her Villain Song even brings to mind the song that Vanessa sings when talking about her own plans.
    • Queen Chrysalis' transformation into her true form is very reminiscent of Maleficent complete with green flames erupting from the ground.
    • The montage of the Mane Six beating up all the Changelings is very reminiscent of The Powerpuff Girls, particularly the battle against the Chemical X infused monkeys from The Movie.
    • Pick a sci-fi or fantasy bug race and the Changelings will probably remind you of them. StarCraft II fans in particular will think of the Zerg's "Changeling" unit, which is also a shapeshifter.
    • The coach Shining Armor and Cadence leave in after the wedding is very similar to the one in Cinderella that was made from a pumpkin.
    • A reference to The Shining is made when Twilight and Cadence encounter a brainwashed Lyra, Twinklestone, and Colgate talking in unison.
    • The swirling aura that surrounds Cadence and Shining Armor as they invoke The Power of Love may possibly be a reference to Decker and Ilia merging with V'Ger at the end of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
    • A musical cue from The Matrix is heard when the Mane Six initially defeat the changelings en route to the Elements of Harmony.
    • In a crowd shot near the end of the episode, a pony-version of [dead link] Harry Potter can be seen in the upper right corner.
    • Speaking of Harry Potter, The force field around Canterlot, the way it is maintained and (especially) the way it shatters are very reminiscent of the force field set up around Hogwarts in the film version of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows".
    • The way the changelings scamper down the columns in the room where the Elements of Harmony are kept is the same as the way the orcs scamper down the columns and walls in the Mines of Moria in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
  • Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Trailer: While the finale was heavily promoted, The Changelings and their Queen came as a complete surprise to everyone.
  • Skewed Priorities: As the rest of the Mane Six go running off to find the Elements of Harmony, Rarity stays behind to carefully pick up their discarded bridesmaid's dresses. It takes the others shouting her name in unison for her to get herself into gear.
  • Solo Duet: "This Day Aria", as sung by Princess Cadence and her doppelganger, Queen Chrysalis.
  • Something Only They Would Say: Cadence uses her Secret Hoofshake to prove to Twilight that she's the real deal.
  • Spanner in the Works: Twilight and Cadence being friends since Twilight was a filly is this to Queen Chrysalis' plot. It was literally the only reason Twilight became suspicious of her in the first place.
  • Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Twilight and the real Princess Cadence. However, the "Speak now..." line itself is not said by Celestia.
  • Spot the Impostor: Averted since Queen Chrysalis blows her cover the second the the real Cadence appears at the wedding. Quite likely she concluded that since Twilight Sparkle's previous suspicions about the bride now have the real Cadence's support, too much reasonable suspicion as to who is the impostor would focus on her for any further bluffing to deflect.
  • Stealth Pun: The combination Villain Song and "The Villain Sucks" Song is called "This Day Aria", with The Other Wiki describing an aria as a song for one voice. Technically it's one voice...
    • Daniel Ingram used chord progressions known as "authentic cadence" and "deceptive cadence" in the songs "BBBFF" and "This Day Aria". According to him, it was meant as an "inside joke".
  • Suspiciously Similar Song: "Love Is In Bloom" sounds a tad like "Last Friday Night" by Katy Perry.
    • It wouldn't be the first time that FiM has taken a cue from a Katy Perry song. (See: "Equestria Girls")
  • Today Canterlot, Tomorrow Equestria!: Declared by the Changeling Queen when she reveals her plans.
  • Took a Level in Badass: All of the mane six, but most noticeably Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie Pie has been shown to be creative with weapons and Twilight Sparkle learned a new spell. She also, it seems, improved not only in magical prowess but also in physical prowess as well. Although she did not show it much during the fight scene with the Changelings, preferring to Kamehame Hadoken them.
    • When Rainbow Dash first used the Sonic Rainboom, she could only do it heading downwards, at incredibly high speeds, and was probably being fueled by her desire to save a friend. But now she can do it heading upwards, and practically from a standing start. In addition she subverts her usual Leeroy Jenkins role by acting as The Combat Pragmatist in battle to save Fluttershy.
    • Also of special note is Rarity - with no objects to throw, her magic was unsuitable for combat, she had no special tricks like Pinky nor was she a sportsmare like Dash and Applejack. Yet she apparently got through the entire fight scene, beating several changelings with Good Old Fisticuffs.
  • Transformation Sequence: When Twilight shows up with the real Cadence, the fake Cadence surrounds herself in a column of green magic. Her pretty wings become holey bug wings. Her horn becomes a twisted and crooked one. And when all is said and done, she stands revealed as the Queen of the Changelings!
  • Trust Patty Cake: Twilight and Cadence's Patty Cake Expy is what convinces Twilight that the real Cadence is... well... the real Cadence.
  • A Twinkle in the Sky: The last seen of Chrysalis after she and her changelings are thrown out of Canterlot with Shining Armor and Cadence's Power of Love.
  • Underestimating Badassery: Celestia underestimates Chrysalis, but Chrysalis even underestimated herself there. Chrysalis seemed to have underestimated Twilight and Princess Cadence, as she's clearly startled they managed to get past her three mind controlled bridesmaids and escape the mines.
  • The Vamp: Queen Chrysalis, lampshaded in "This Day Aria." Also, despite not loving Shining Armor at all, a Yandere.
  • The Voiceless: Once again, Fluttershy appears prominently but is absolutely quiet - well, moreso than usual. Once again, Pinkie Pie does receive a speaking role, however minor. Especially odd since both received lines in the first half of the episode.
  • Voice of the Legion: Chrysalis.
  • Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Cadence. Or rather the Changeling Queen, Chrysalis.
  • Villain Song: "This Day Aria," with the initial song as a villain/hero duet.
    • Notably the first song in the show from an actually evil villain (as opposed to the just mean Flim Flam brothers). In accordance with the trope, it's awesome.
  • Violence Is the Only Option: For the second time in the series the whole mane six is forced to fight. They do surprisingly well but get overwhelmed by sheer numbers in the end.
  • Walking Spoiler: For the purpose of this page: The Changelings and their queen, Chrysalis, due to them secretly being the villains of the two-parter, and Chrysalis being the impostor Cadence from part 1.
  • Wedding Day: Shining Armor to Princess Cadence.
  • What The Hay, Hero?: Chrysalis gives a smug villainous variation to Twilight's friends, after ignoring (and practically disowning) her allowed her plan to go forward. Applejack at the very least is pretty remorseful over this.
  • Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: The look on Chrysalis' face as she's blasted out of Equestria with The Power of Love.
    • Twilight, as she realizes that the fake Cadence really is evil and is casting the banishing spell on her. Of course Twi didn't know the Cadence was a fake at the time.
    • Celestia, waking up in her cocoon-prison.
  • The Worf Effect: Princess Celestia faces off against the Changeling Queen, only to be defeated because the Queen had gained enough power from Shining Armor to overpower her. Though it should be noted, Chrysalis was clearly struggling during the Beam-O-War, meaning even as powerful as she had become, Celestia wasn't a push over.
    • Worf Had the Flu: Even Chrysalis herself was surprised she won, considering it a testament to just how powerful Shining Armor's love for Cadence was that it'd powered her up that much.
    • Similarly Rainbow Dash is the first to fall victim to an attack from the Changelings, though she manages to Beat Them At Their Own Game afterwards.
  • Parody: The ending fight parodies fight scenes from comic books.
  • Your Costume Needs Work: Pinkie Pie is all excited at the idea of seeing one of the changelings turn into her, only to be disappointed with the result, despite the mirror-perfect imitation.

Pinkie Pie: Meh, I've seen better.

  • Zerg Rush: The Changelings' primary advantage, at least against the Mane Six. The girls, even Fluttershy, fight admirably to get to the Elements of Harmony but are delayed long enough for more Changelings to surround them and get inside the building where the Elements are kept. Faced with overwhelming numbers, the Six have no choice but to surrender.
  1. ↑ Most of the time, anyway
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