History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E4SparklesSeven

* AnAesop: Take heed of ''all'' your family members. You might be missing something important without even knowing it.

* AmbiguousSituation: Lampshaded. Rainbow Dash straight up asks Applejack if her story about having a country singer alter-ego is true or something she made up. Applejack's reaction to this does little to clear things up.

* NiceHat:
** In the Shadow Spade scene, Rarity has the expected fedora while Rainbow Dash wears a bowler hat.
** Applejack dons a fancy Stetson as part of her "Apple Chord" persona.

* AbsenteeActor: Princess Cadance does not appear in this episode. This marks the first and only time that Shining Armor appears in an episode where Cadance does not.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Even a BadGuyBar has to adhere to opening and closing times like any other normal bar and won't always be conveniently open when the plot calls for it. Sure enough, when Rarity and Rainbow Dash try to relive their Noir fantasy, it gets squashed because it's closed.
** Downplayed for the AirVentPassageway. While they were shown to be wide enough to crawl through, it is shown that crawling through it is very noisy unlike most fictional works that have it be very quiet.
** Zephyr is quickly fired for abandoning his post and letting someone manage to get into the sealed up passageway he was guarding. Though this was revealed to be part of Spike and Luna's plan, with the former likely suggesting him to Luna knowing he would mess up.

** Zephyr's gloating to show off his armor to Rainbow Dash mimics the same moves used by Kuzco in ''Film/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', which is unsurprising given the egocentric nature of both characters.

* FemmeFatale: Poor Rainbow Dash is forced to lead Zephyr astray by using her feminine charms (or lack thereof). To say she doesn't enjoy this would be an understatement.

To their surprise, this plan goes out without a hitch, but just as Twilight gets to the throne room to get the crown, Shining Armor, Celestia and Luna appear, having been waiting for them. Twilight complains as Shining Armor taunts her, but then Spike reveals to all that he has the crown. Spike reveals that he had been working with Luna as an inside man, as Luna was also taken aback that Celestia didn't take her input into account. Luna had taken steps to assure that Twilight's original plan would work, getting everyone in the throne room at the same time so that Spike and Luna can make the big reveal. As Celestia goes off and half-heartedly apologize to Luna, Twilight and Shining Armor agree that Spike is properly the Sibling Supreme and give him the crown.

** As in "Rarity Investigates!", the ImagineSpot with Rarity as Shadow Spade and Rainbow Dash as her [[{{Mooks}} henchpony]] is in black and white.

* FemmeFatale: Poor Rainbow Dash is forced to lead Zephyr astray by using her feminine charms (or lack therof). To say she doesn't enjoy this would be an understatement.

* CrazyEnoughToWork: Since Shining Armor can predict any kind of ''competent'' plan Twilight would dream up, Rarity gets the group to come up with one too outlandish and insane for anyone to expect. It spectacularly.

* CrazyEnoughToWork: Since Shining Armor can predict any kind of ''competent'' plan Twilight would dream up, Rarity gets the group to come up with one too outlandish and insane for anyone to expect. It [[RealityEnsues fails spectacularly]].

* RealityEnsues:
** Due to the ease with which Sombra previously [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E2TheBeginningOfTheEndPart2 took over the castle]], Celestia decides to increase security to prevent future intrusions.
** Even a BadGuyBar has to adhere to opening and closing times like any other normal bar and won't always be conveniently open when the plot calls for it. Sure enough, when Rarity and Rainbow Dash try to relive their Noir fantasy, it gets squashed because it's closed.
** Downplayed for the AirVentPassageway. While they were shown to be wide enough to crawl through, it is shown that crawling through it is very noisy unlike most fictional works that have it be very quiet.
** Zephyr is quickly fired for abandoning his post and letting someone manage to get into the sealed up passageway he was guarding. Though this was revealed to be part of Spike and Luna's plan, with the former likely suggesting him to Luna knowing he would mess up.

* TranquilFury: Luna has it in the beginning, while she says she thought she and Celestia could make the security improvements themselves but Celestia overruled her. Celestia and Luna both have it at the end after the BigReveal shows that Luna helped Spike win, with Celestia agreeing to improve the security further and Luna snarking if she feels it is worth discussing, with both wearing forced smiles. Looks like Twilight and Shining Armor weren't the ''only'' ones with a sibling rivalry.

To their surprise, this plan goes out without a hitch, but just as Twilight gets to the throne room to get the crown, Shining Armor, Celestia and Luna appear, having been waiting for them. Twilight complains as Shining Armor taunts her, but then Spike reveals to all that he has the crown. Spike reveals that he had been working with Luna as an inside man, as Luna was also taken aback that Celestia didn't take her input into account. Luna had taken steps to assure that Twilight's original plan would work, getting everyone in the throne room at the same time so that Spike and Luna can make the big reveal. As Celestia goes off to apologize to Luna, Twilight and Shining Armor agree that Spike is properly the Sibling Supreme and give him the crown.

* HumblePie: Luna helps Spike with his plan to steal the crown due to Celestia not listening to her about the castle defenses. Once Spike explained how he won with Luna's help, Celestia begrudgingly apologizes to Luna for not listening to her and agrees to improve the security further ''after'' discussing it with her.

* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: Shining Armor sends Twilight a letter warning her that he knows her so well, he's predicted ''exactly'' what type of plan she'll come up with, and in the letter he lays out an explanation identical to what Twilight just finished thinking of. This freaks her out so much she lets her friends come up with a completely different plan; when that fails, they go with Twilight's plan anyway. And then Twilight's plan works because Shining Armor had presumed that after he warned her he knew what she would be planning, she wouldn't dare try any of it, and even then he knew that after their original plan failed Twilight would likely take over and get to the throne room without a fuss, where he'd be waiting. Then it is revealed that [[OutGambitted this was actually all part of Spike's plan]] from the beginning, who accurately predicted everything Shining Armor and Twilight would do and played them both to get the crown himself.

** TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry between Celestia and Luna, with Luna upset that Celestia felt her security measures weren't up to par.

* TranquilFury: Luna has it in the beginning, while she says she thought she and Celestia could make the security improvements themselves but Celestia overruled her. Celestia and Luna both have it at the end after Luna helps Spike win, with Celestia agreeing to improve the security further and Luna snarking if she feels it is worth discussing, with both wearing forced smiles.

* AesopAmnesia: One would think that Celestia would take concerns about a hypothetical inside job more seriously, given that ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E25ACanterlotWeddingPart2 it already happened]]''.

* BackhandedApology: Celestia half heartedly apologizes to Luna for not taking her earlier concerns seriously.

** The scheme between Luna and Spike plays this straight. Their plan to get the crown to Spike happens entirely off-screen, and it goes off without a hitch. It turned out the plan worked after all.

* DidntSeeThatComing: Everyone is shocked when Spike reveals he has the crown, and thus beat both Twilight and Shining Armor, and are even more surprised when it is almost immediately followed by the reveal that Luna helped him.

* TraitorShot: Luna is revealed to have helped Spike by petting one of the guard geese with her FaceFramedInShadow.

** The scheme between Luna and Spike plays this straight. Their plan to get the crown to Spike happens entirely off-screen, and it goes off without a hitch.

** Twilight's {{Flashback}} of her and Shining Armor's rivalry involves them [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E25ACanterlotWeddingPart1 flying kites and sharing an apple]].

* FishbowlHelmet: Pinkie's ImagineSpot has her and Gummy wearing spacesuits with the helmets looking like fishbowls. Later, she put on actuel fishbowls on her head and Gummy's as she's planning to go to space on the Friendship Balloon.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:

* MythologyGag: Rarity dressing Rainbow up in a fancy outfit hearkens back to her [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3 G3 counterpart]], who "always dresses in style".
* NeverMyFault: Zephyr Breeze blames the guard sergeant relieving him of duty for not telling him exactly what 'guarding' entailed, infuriating her.

* MonochromePast: Applejack's ImagineSpot, which she introduces as a flashback, is sepia-tinted.

** The title itself is a reference to ''Film/OceansEleven''. While the episode is not quite a WholePlotReference to the film, a handful of other nods to ''Ocean's Eleven'' are dropped. For example, Rarity asking if she rushed her speech is similar to dialog Clooney (as Ocean) gives early on after, and part of the scheme requires Twilight to remain visible to the castle guards so that she doesn't appear to be part of the heist.

** The title itself is a reference to ''Film/OceansEleven''.

* ApocalypseHow: Implied Class Six in Pinkie's ImagineSpot, as the baobabs are on the verge of shattering Literature/TheLittlePrince's planetoid.