History YMMV / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E2AllBottledUp

* AuthorsSavingThrow: This episode addressed a lot of critique regarding Starlight Glimmer, as well as some of the critique regarding the way unicorn/alicorn magic is used.
** The "magic = ImaginationBasedSuperpower" lesson Starlight gives Trixie arguably justifies many ForgotAboutHisPowers[=/=]StrongAsTheyNeedToBe moments in the series: PhysicalGod or not, your actual power's useless without proper focus (which can often be broken (A) by preoccupation(s), (B) in the heat of the moment, etc.). One stray thought, one missed detail in one's thoughts, etc. can cause a spell to go wrong or simply not happen at all.
** Starlight's history of UnintentionallyUnsympathetic-ism via amoral uses of magic on others; this time, her only target is '''''herself''''' (via EmotionSuppression so she can accomplish things without stress), but the other Ponies eventually affected as well are clearly accidents -- and afterward, she even fixes Bulk Biceps's "nut-cart" that got smashed sometime during the mayhem and rejects Trixie's suggestion to alter the spa ponies' memories.
** Starlight being a normal unicorn who possesses alicorn level magical abilities has been one of the main contributors to Starlight's BaseBreakingCharacter status. However, some people were (perhaps more importantly) questioning why there wasn't any given reason as to ''why'' she is that powerful to begin with? This episode alluding that the strength of her magic is more or less [[EmotionalPowers dependent on her emotions]] can be seen as an effort to appease these complaints. It's especially notable how siphoning away her own emotions causes Starlight to get progressively weaker, to the point that by the end she is moving very slowly and it takes her considerable time to summon enough magic to simply take back her own energy that infected the other ponies. It perfectly fits her character too, as Starlight has been previously established as a VERY emotional pony, who grew more powerful as she got crazier. Indeed Starlight even implies to Spike that it was only by channeling her anger that she was able to keep up with Twilight in their duel. It also reinforces Twilight's own skill in that she's quite capable of magic without having to channel her emotions into it (and indeed, her spellcasting is pretty taciturn and focused).
** The reveal that Starlight has channels her magic through her anger and has had a habit of bottling up her anger has addressed some of her problems with her backstory regarding her rise to villainy. The fact that her magic has been dependent on her emotions and has shown plenty of times that she's a very emotional pony who lets her anger get the best of her when stressed or frustrated, and how she resorted to creating a cult grown by her vendetta against cutie marks and then getting revenge on Twilight for ruining her plans instead of resorting to a more smarter idea like patch things up with Sunburst since she now had her cutie mark and was quite gifted with magic. The reason being is that her anger clouded her judgement, causing her impulse control and common sense to go out the window that she didn't think of any smarter solutions because of her anger, and thus tried to do things only her way whether they were bad or good by using magic without thinking of the consequences.
** Twilight's doubts about Trixie being friends with Starlight (which she got a fair bit of flack from) become a lot more reasonable and understandable in this episode. Starlight is now seeing Trixie's faults and it aggravates her to no end, to where she casts the spell to bottle up her emotions on herself. Furthermore, Trixie also shows her tendency to not really learn lessons from her troubles (as she herself mentioned in the Season 6 finale) and combined with her obnoxious behavior and how she kept bringing up Starlight's past actions, it seems that Twilight had very good reasons for doubting Trixie.
** The fact that Starlight's anger issues are the '''''main''''' focus of the episode, after seemingly vanishing despite being one of her big {{Fatal Flaw}}s before her redemption.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: The “Best Friends” song is about the Mane Six singing about how great their friendship is and uses cheesy expressions like "apple of my eye". It is especially sugary when contrasted with the more vitriolic friendship of Trixie and Starlight.

** The reveal that Starlight has channels her magic through anger and has had a habit of bottling up her anger has addressed some of her problems with her backstory regarding her rise to villainy. The fact that her magic has been dependent on her emotions and has shown plenty of times that she's a very emotional pony who lets her anger get the best of her when stressed or frustrated, and how she resorted to creating a cult grown by her vendetta against cutie marks and then getting revenge on Twilight for ruining her plans instead of resorting to a more smarter idea like patch things up with Sunburst since she now had her cutie mark and was quite gifted with magic. The reason being is that her anger clouded her judgement, causing her impulse control and common sense to go out the window that she didn't think of any smarter solutions because of her anger, and thus tried to do things only her way whether they were bad or good by using magic without thinking of the consequences.

** Twilight's doubts about Trixie being friends with Starlight (which she got a fair bit of flack from) become a lot more reasonable and understandable in this episode. Starlight is now seeing Trixie's faults and it aggravates her to no end, to where she casts the spell to bottle up her emotions on herself. Furthermore, Trixie also shows her tendency to not really learn lessons from her troubles (as she herself mentioned in the Season 6 finale) and combined with her obnoxious behavior and how she kept bringing up Starlight's past actions, it seems that Twlight had very good reasons for doubting Trixie.

** The reveal that Starlight channels her magic through anger has addressed some of her problems with her backstory regarding her rise to villainy. The fact that her magic has been dependent on her emotions and has shown plenty of times that she's a very emotional pony who lets her anger get the best of her when stressed or frustrated, and how she resorted to creating a cult grown by her vendetta against cutie marks and then getting revenge on Twilight for ruining her plans instead of resorting to a more smarter idea like patch things up with Sunburst since she now had her cutie mark and was quite gifted with magic. The reason being is that her anger clouded her judgement, causing her impulse control and common sense to go out the window that she didn't think of any smarter solutions because of her anger, and thus tried to do things only her way whether they were bad or good by using magic without thinking of the consequences.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The Mane Six's inclusion was seen by some as utterly pointless {{Filler}} in an episode that might not have needed it, and could've been better off just being its own episode. Additionally, some felt it continually got in the way of the far more interesting Starlight Glimmer/Trixie plot, and that is not even mentioning the song, albeit being a deliberate meta joke.

** The reveal that Starlight channels her magic through anger has addressed some of her problems with her backstory regarding her rise to villainy. The fact that her magic has been dependent on her emotions hints that she's a very emotional pony who lets her anger get the best of her when stressed, and how she resorted to creating a cult grown by her vendetta against cutie marks and then getting revenge on Twilight for ruining her plans instead of resorting to a more smarter idea like patch things up with Sunburst since she now had her cutie mark and was quite gifted with magic. The reason being is that her emotions clouded her judgement that she didn't think of any smarter solutions, and tried to do things her way whether they were bad or good by using magic without thinking of the consequences. Further episodes seem to confirm this and explain more that she may neuroatypical.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:

** Starlight being a normal unicorn who possesses alicorn level magical abilities has been one of the main contributors to Starlight's BaseBreakingCharacter status. However, some people were (perhaps more importantly) questioning why there wasn't any given reason as to ''why'' she is that powerful to begin with? This episode alluding that the strength of her magic is more or less [[EmotionalPowers dependent on her emotions]] can be seen as an effort to appease these complaints. It's especially notable how siphoning away her own emotions causes Starlight to get progressively weaker, to the point that by the end she is moving very slowly and it takes her considerable time to summon enough magic to simply take back her own energy that infected the other ponies. It perfectly fits her character too, as Starlight has been previously established as a VERY emotional pony, who grew more powerful as she got crazier. Indeed Starlight even implies to Spike that it was only by channeling her anger that she was able to keep up with Twilight in their duel.

** The reveal that Starlight channels her magic through anger has addressed some of her problems with her backstory regarding her rise to villainy. The fact that her magic has been dependent on her emotions hints that she's a very emotional pony who lets her anger get the best of her when stressed, and how she resorted to creating a cult grown by her vendetta against cutie marks and then getting revenge on Twilight for ruining her plans instead of resorting to a more smarter idea like patch things up with Sunburst since she now had her cutie mark and was quite gifted with magic. The reason being is that her emotions clouded her judgement that she didn't think of any smarter solutions, and tried to do things her way whether they were bad or good by using magic without thinking of the consequences.

** The reveal that Starlight channels her magic through anger has addressed some of her problems with her backstory regarding her rise to villainy. The fact that her magic has been dependent on her emotions hints that she's a very emotional pony who lets her anger get the best of her when stressed, and how she resorted to creating a cult grown by her vendetta against cutie marks and then getting revenge on Twilight for ruining her plans instead of resorting to a more smarter idea like patch things up with Sunburst since she now had her cutie mark and was quite gifted with magic. The reason being is that her emotions clouded her judgement that she didn't think of any smarter solutions, and tried to do things her way by using magic without thinking of the consequences.