Not really sure how or why they thought this reference would really…
fit. I couldn’t help but laugh at it at that point, which is probably not what it was going for (especially since the context was “petrify Shining Armor right there”).
Other notable peeves with that whole thing are Sombra ROFLstomping the Princesses in an instant, and the whole minor antagonists working together, when the only one that’d remotely fit was Lightning Dust (and even then it’s questionable).
@Brass Beau
Regarding self-levitation, aside from the oft-cited S3 premiere case where she caught herself, Twilight also did it in Magical Mystery Cure, which was a probable indication she was gonna keep at doing it, were she not to get the wings shortly thereafter. I think her
mother (Twilight Velvet) doing it was quite possibly a bit of a nod to MMC, come to think of it. Probably worth noting that it seems generally less second-nature than flying is for pegasi, and that it seems like ponies have basically meditated while doing it, between Star Swirl and Snails, is by implication dependent on focus/skill not to go wrong.
The artificial wings spell that appeared about twice (the one where Rainbow Dash pulled a Sonic Rainboom to save Rarity and the Wonderbolts, and in S9’s Buckball episode where you see also see Snails self-levitate, as DoctorWTF brings up) seemed to have a rather bad case of Icarus Syndrome.
@DoctorWTF
It does seem somewhat likely judging from
the flashback that Sunburst gave Starlight some inspiration in regards to magic, in the past.