>>8891
This episode I think is where the series starts to show some of the ways it stands out.

I'm going to do something a bit different here. I want to go through each of the Mane 6‘s manifestations of their elements:

Honesty
Applejack, arguably the weakest and weirdest. Her line, ‘’Now listen here. What I'm sayin' to you is the honest truth. Let go, and you'll be safe.'’ feels... odd. Why couldn’t she just say that Twilight Sparkle would be caught by Fluttershy? Feels more fitting for her to have been the Element of trust, faith, or as I have heard Faust wanted, integrity. Even then, this test felt like they could’ve built something a little better here. She would’ve had no reason to lie here. It doesn’t really show her character other than prove her general competency and being a dependable friend and ally.

Kindness
Fluttershy’s moment was much stronger. The ponies were all ready to fight. Though she was shy and timid to a fault Fluttershy asserted herself to stop the fighting and help the Manticore with a nightmare thorn in his paw. Overcame her stereotype some.

Laughter
Pinkie Pie’s too was a strong character moment. I always liked her song here but her actively helping organically and defeating the “nightmarified” trees with laughter I feel is underappreciated. Why I mean by that is...

Generosity
Rarity, as vain and looks obsessed and she could be (and certainly played up later in the show) was willing to cut off her tail to restore the sea monster (whom we’d later know as Steven Magnet). This moment might be a bit weird and oddly specific in a similar way to Applejack’s but I think it works better because Rarity defied her archetype and did so selflessly.