Unpopular opinion time

@Meanlucario
 
I still don’t much care for the “bottling up anger” concept. The notion that anger is what Starlight draws on as the source of her magic, and that it can just infect other ponies and cause them to act against their will. Plus, it made me feel really sorry for Trixie. I mean, she did get a damn nut cart chucked at her…
 

@Spinny  
It’s her emotions, not just anger. There’s a difference.

@Spinny  
Suffering is her lot - although often well-earned.
 
And it works as a fantasy metaphor.

@Meanlucario
 
I mean, seriously, it wasn’t just the fact that Starlight wasn’t being angry after literally bottling it up, draining it… she was behaving lethargically overall, drained of emotions in general… almost like how depression might be like to experience.
 

 
(As you said, she didn’t say it had to be anger, and it does generally work as a general rule, regarding emotions; if Twilight Sparkle is being determined, her spirits high, she can successfully fight against Sombra, if she’s determined and quite pissed off, she can make “3rd Form Tirek” lose a tooth where Star Swirl failed to leave a scratch; and as cliche as it may be, the tactic of “if you can make them not believe in themselves through fear, they can’t win” is tried and true. Also, dark magic would quite plausibly go hand-in-hand with emotions as well, the negative ones. and no, sorry theorists, “alicorn magic = dark magic” was never having anything point to it outside of Twilight’s aura looking like it exactly once or twice over the course of one two-parter in S4, so having that factor into anything other than an AU is… probably a stretch, isn’t it?)

…oh yeah, I forgot Tirek clowned over the entirety of the Pillars, which did nothing to show how strong Tirek was, it only made the Pillars look absolutely pathetic.
 
Would’ve been cool to see Tirek defeated and Chrysalis and Cozy just shrug and carry on with their attack anyway because they’d already shown they’re stronger than the Princesses and Main 6, so Tirek was already obsolete.

@Vinylshadow  
That describes just about every fight in the series. The writers were really against anything being solved through conflict, so they rushed through just about every battle.

Writers didn’t care for the Pillars except for like, 1 or 2 of them

@RaineV1  
The Twilight va Tirek battle say otherwise.

@Myoozik  
Mane 6 vs Sombra.

@Myoozik  
That’s an exception, not the general rule. Even then Twilight’s attempt to actually defeat him was useless and they only won through the same type of friendship laser they usually do.

@RaineV1  
I don’t know, I thought the fight was cool, even if it didn’t accomplish anything.

@Myoozik  
It was cool, but overdone - especially when Rainbow Power (you know. the thing they’re supposed to be selling) just got the usual one-beam finish. Balance your action budget better!

The Twilight/Tirek fight doesn’t do much for me. It was kinda pointless in the grand scheme of things.
 
Twilight and Tirek had no beef except in the most utilitarian of senses, and Tirek had her friends in his back pocket the entire time. The whole fight only happens because Tirek wanted to try his hand at fighting Twilight. This evenly fought fight that ends with them at an impasse only happened because Tirek felt like not winning instantly. The fight could’ve lasted 1 minute of 5 days. It was completely arbitrary. It didn’t set up or demonstrate much.
 
The fight with the Pillars was definitely a missed opportunity for sure, though. However, I do like how the finale’s fights follow kind of an upwards arc.
 
Tirek wins his fight easily.
 
Starlight briefly catches Chrysalis off guard.
 
The Mane 6 BEAT Cozy, and she had to be bailed out by her allies.

@gingerninja666
 
Agreed wholeheartedly. It was only there to make Twilight look good (which seemed to be Meghan McCarthy’s chief priority, especially in season 4).
 
One of the many, many issues I have with Twilight’s Kingdom.

@Spinny  
Or maybe it was to put her to the test and to really see what being a Princess was about.

@Myoozik  
Giant brawls? Don’t see how a fight helps make her a better princess.

@Latecomer  
Protecting her land and subjects and handling threats, I think.

@Vivace  
Well if that’s the qualification of a Princess, no wonder Celestia and Luna retired.
 
But then, I have mi own opinions about the message of that episode, and how the fight fits in.

I think some of the Slice of Life episodes in S8-9 were actually pretty good. They just suffer from being shown too late and would have been better received if they had aired during S1-3.

@gingerninja666
 
Yeah, tbh, narratively speaking, Twilight’s fight with Tirek didn’t do much of anything besides getting her house blown up and having a later episode or two in S5 pay lip service to “oh, that happened didn’t it?” It wouldn’t have really changed much if Parasprites ate the house instead, or if some dragon burned it to the ground.
 
Good observation, about how the fights went; I don’t think I’d given it any thought until you brought it up. The villains were portrayed as descending in combat prowess, in the order they were shown, culminating with Cozy, who while she did use her brains against Celestia and Luna, had her youthful inexperience with possessing that power bite her hard. Tirek probably is the most overpowered villain in the series; if there had to be one villain it’d take multiple lives (in the video game sense, respawning, like timelooping) to defeat, it’d probably be him.
 
@Myoozik
 
Is it still a 100% crackpot theory to think Celestia sent Discord against Tirek knowing or suspecting he’d fuck it up?

@Latecomer  
Not the fight, the episode as a whole.

@Background Pony #72E7  
Ani examples?
 
 
@AC97  
But she was going to fight him anyway, so it made sense (and one of the closest things the show has ever had to a casualty).
 
And that would destroy her character worse than the finale did for her and Discord put together.

@Myoozik  
Honestly, I don’t see it. Equestria Girls was a better trial of her worthiness.

@Latecomer  
Alright then, suit yourself.

@Latecomer
 
For me personally: “The End in Friend”, “The Point of No Return”, “Between Dark and Dawn”, “A Trivial Pursuit”, and “Growing Up is Hard to Do”. They’d have to changed a bit since stuff like the Friendship Castle, Friendship School, Student Six didn’t happen yet. But for the most part, I think these episodes have fun concepts at least. Maybe “Between Dark and Dawn” could be in S4 so we can get a feel for Princess Twilight, and the added bonus that we’re not just seeing Celestia and Luna’s issues out in the open so late.