My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - 3x05 - Magic Duel

    Trixie returns, and uses an amulet to amplify her magical powers.  She wins a duel with Twilight, which leads to Ponyville being kept under a dome, and Twilight being banished.
    I wasn't expecting this to be a great episode.  I never really got into the first episode with Trixie (but maybe that's since I only saw it once).  But this was one of the best written episodes the show has put together.  It's more complex than most of them.
    The plot has a clear focus - there's no secondary plot going on.  But they still manage to incorporate all of the main characters into the story without it feeling forced.  Twilight should be the primary character, but at times, the focus shifts to Fluttershy.  To a lesser extent, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all have things to do.  Pinkie is muted for most of the episode, but it still plays very well.  This is a tricky type of story to write.  It doesn't come across as being an episode about Twilight, or Fluttershy.  They both have small arcs within the episode.  It comes across as the friends dealing with an adversary, which is exactly what the show is supposed to be about.
    No songs, but it was nice to hear that Pinkie has gotten a different version of 1-man-band music.