The Mane Six split up to defend their homes from Opaline, while Sunny prepares to confront the villain directly.
Tropes:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Both Zipp and Sunny cry out "Please!" as Opaline takes their cutie marks.
- Blatant Lies: Opaline claims to Misty that she has friends, but Misty points out that she only forces others to pretend to be her friends.
- Car Fu: Izzy throws her scooter at Opaline during the clash in Bridlewood.
- Chekhov's Gun: Sunny's locket, when in the presence of enough friendship magic, releases a rope of rainbow light that temporarily binds Opaline, buying time for Sparky to break her control over the Dragonstone.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Izzy being transformed into a glittery new form by the portal in the full-grown Together Tree.
- Collapsing Lair: Justified when Opaline's Together Tree is purified. Since she literally built her castle around it, the whole place gets torn apart when it is revitalized and grows to full size.
- Comically Missing the Point: After the portal in the new Together Tree gives Izzy a glittery appearance, Sunny and company stare in awe — and her first thought is that she has something stuck in her teeth.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Unicorns' classic "Bing-bong" chant can be heard when they are hiding from Opaline.
- Izzy dresses Senor Butterscotch up like her to deceive Opaline.
- Opaline winds up with a tennis ball stuck on her horn during the Bridlewood assault.
- Crowd Song: The song "Magic in Us".
- Curb Stomp Cushion:
- Just like Hitch, Izzy is no match for Opaline by herself, but she gets plenty of hits with several levitated objects and help from the other Bridlewood unicorns, and even outsmarts Opaline with a fake cutie mark before getting captured.
- Sunny makes an admirable effort against Opaline, but Opaline is even stronger now than in their previous battle and she doesn't have her friends with her to give her a boost, so Opaline ultimately brings her down after a short battle.
- "Eureka!" Moment: When looking over the mural that seemingly depicts the Together Tree draining magic from the ponies, Pipp realizes the ponies are being depicted as happy, meaning they're empowering the tree, not the other way around.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Opaline rationalizes that she and Sunny are similar because Sunny also has more power than other ponies and keeps the Unity Crystals locked up in the Brighthouse. Putting aside how Sunny got her powers, the fact that the Unity Crystals are specifically being protected from her seems not to register.
- Family of Choice: When Hitch decides that Sparky should grow up among his fellow dragons, Sparky makes it clear that he sees his home as being with the ponies.
- Heroic Bystander: Seashell, a young filly and one of the Pippsqueaks, starts to sing "Magic in Us" and gets ponies all over Equestria to turn it into a Triumphant Reprise of Pipp's earlier version.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Opaline's Together Tree ends up defeating her when Sparky removes her corrupted dragon magic from the roots, allowing the Unity magic of the other trees to flow in and purify it. It then steals her Cutie Mark before sealing her in its roots.
- I Choose to Stay: Hitch offers Sparky the chance to be with the dragons, but Sparky chooses to stay with him.
- Internal Reveal: Misty tells Opaline that she has joined the heroes.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Big time for Opaline. Not only does she lose her cutie mark after stealing everypony else's, but the Together Tree she twisted to serve her own purposes traps her within its roots.
- Moral Myopia: Opaline screams at Misty to give back her stolen necklace, angrily calling her a thief. Misty immediately points out that Opaline herself was the one who taught Misty how to steal.
- Mythology Gag: The rainbow emerging from Sunny's heart-shaped locket to restrain Opaline is identical to the Rainbow of Light and its locket from G1.
- Near-Villain Victory: Opaline comes close to total victory, taking every cutie mark in Equestria for her own. But a combination of everypony standing together in unity and Sparky reversing the effects of her magic causes her plan to fall apart.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Mane Six splitting up to fight Opaline separately probably wasn't the smartest decision, justified as they wanted to protect their homes, but splitting up and Sunny choosing to face Opaline alone made it easier for the evil alicorn to overpower them and steal their cutie marks.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Once she's obtained all the Cutie Marks, Opaline casts a spell that dispels all protection magic in Equestria... including her own barrier which is holding Spike and Sparky. Spike, having been freed from her brainwashing by Sparky, then transports Sparky to the Dragonstone, allowing him to drain Opaline's stolen dragon magic.
- Not Afraid of You Anymore: Misty finally stands up to Opaline, not only revealing that she's been working against her, but doing her best to stand in Opaline's way.
- Not So Similar: Opaline tries to compare herself to Sunny, reasoning that they both seek power and hoard it for themselves. Sunny counters that she never asked for her Alicorn powers and only wants to learn about magic and spread it around for everyone.
- The Power of Friendship: Thanks to Pipp realizing that unity magic empowers the Together Trees, the ponies all come together and channel their magic into the trees just as Opaline has seemingly won.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Sunny sees her locket glowing in response to the ponies coming together, and confidently asks Opaline "And what is friendship, Opaline?" just before it activates and binds Opaline.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Opaline's ultimate fate is being trapped within the roots of her own Together Tree.
- Series Continuity Error: In the previous episode, Opaline seemed to be aware that Misty had helped grow a Together Tree in Zephyr Heights. But here, she is taken completely by surprise at Misty calling it her tree.
- Stating the Simple Solution: When Pipp, Zipp, and Misty figure out that unity among ponies powers the Together Trees, Misty worries that they won't be able to tell Sunny before Opaline comes for her. Pipp pulls out her phone and suggests that they just call her.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Despite all the pain Opaline brought her, Misty admits that she feels sorry that the evil alicorn has no real friends.
- This Cannot Be!: Opaline is flabbergasted that Spike broke free of her control, not realizing that Sparky was able to break her spell while she was distracted fighting Sunny.
- We Need a Distraction:
- Misty gets Opaline and the brainwashed dragons to stop attacking the Brighthouse by stealing Opaline's necklace that contains Hitch's cutie mark and running off with it, forcing them to chase after her.
- Pipp leads Opaline to the old Zephyr Heights waystation and distracts her with a song while Zipp covertly drops a giant tarp on her and the dragons. Unfortunately, Opaline just blasts through it and steals their Cutie Marks.
