# Boast Busters > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Boast_Busters > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Boast_Busters.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boast_Busters > Source revision: 1353195107 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 6th episode of the 1st season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic "Boast Busters" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode The Great and Powerful Trixie (center) performs her magic show on stage in Ponyville. Episode no. Season 1 Episode 6 Directed by Jayson Thiessen James Wootton Written by Chris Savino Original air date November 19, 2010 (2010-11-19) Running time 22 minutes Episode chronology ← Previous "Griffon the Brush Off" Next → "Dragonshy" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic season 1 List of episodes "**Boast Busters**" is the sixth episode of the [first season](/source/My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_season_1) of the [animated television series](/source/Animated_series) *[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic](/source/My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic)*. It originally aired on [The Hub](/source/Discovery_Family#As_Hub_Network_(2010–2014)) on November 19, 2010. The episode was written by creator [Chris Savino](/source/Chris_Savino). In this episode, [Twilight Sparkle](/source/Twilight_Sparkle) faces a dilemma when a boastful unicorn magician named [Trixie](/source/The_Great_and_Powerful_Trixie) arrives in [Ponyville](/source/Equestria#Ponyville), and Twilight must overcome her fears about revealing her own magical abilities to help her friends and the town. ## Plot External videos Boast Busters (full episode) — Official upload of the episode onto YouTube My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Equestria Toyline Cutie mark Elements of Harmony Pony Spin-offs My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (2013–2020)(List of animations) My Little Pony: Pony Life (2020–2021)(List of episodes) Characters Mane Six Twilight Sparkle Rainbow Dash Pinkie Pie Applejack Fluttershy Rarity Supporting Spike Princess Celestia Princess Luna Princess Cadance Shining Armor Discord Starlight Glimmer Trixie Zecora Antagonists Queen Chrysalis Lord Tirek Cozy Glow Minor Derpy Hooves Background Six Cheese Sandwich Quibble Pants The Wonderbolts Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty Equestria Girls Sunset Shimmer Seasons & episodes Season 1 (2010–2011) "Friendship Is Magic" "The Ticket Master" "Applebuck Season" "Griffon the Brush Off" "Boast Busters" "Dragonshy" "Look Before You Sleep" "Bridle Gossip" "Swarm of the Century" "Winter Wrap Up" "Call of the Cutie" "Fall Weather Friends" "Suited for Success" "Feeling Pinkie Keen" "Sonic Rainboom" "Stare Master" "The Show Stoppers" "A Dog and Pony Show" "Green Isn't Your Color" "Over a Barrel" "A Bird in the Hoof" "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" "Owl's Well That Ends Well" "Party of One" "The Best Night Ever" Season 2 (2011–2012) "The Return of Harmony" "Lesson Zero" "Luna Eclipsed" "Sisterhooves Social" "The Cutie Pox" "May the Best Pet Win!" "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" "Sweet and Elite" "Secret of My Excess" "Hearth's Warming Eve" "Family Appreciation Day" "Baby Cakes" "The Last Roundup" "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" "Read It and Weep" "Hearts and Hooves Day" "A Friend in Deed" "Putting Your Hoof Down" "It's About Time" "Dragon Quest" "Hurricane Fluttershy" "Ponyville Confidential" "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" "A Canterlot Wedding" Season 3 (2012–2013) "The Crystal Empire" "Too Many Pinkie Pies" "One Bad Apple" "Magic Duel" "Sleepless in Ponyville" "Wonderbolts Academy" "Apple Family Reunion" "Spike at Your Service" "Keep Calm and Flutter On" "Just for Sidekicks" "Games Ponies Play" "Magical Mystery Cure" Season 4 (2013–2014) "Princess Twilight Sparkle" "Castle Mane-ia" "Daring Don't" "Flight to the Finish" "Power Ponies" "Bats!" "Rarity Takes Manehattan" "Pinkie Apple Pie" "Rainbow Falls" "Three's a Crowd" "Pinkie Pride" "Simple Ways" "Filli Vanilli" "Twilight Time" "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" "Somepony to Watch Over Me" "Maud Pie" "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils" "Leap of Faith" "Testing Testing 1, 2, 3" "Trade Ya!" "Inspiration Manifestation" "Equestria Games" "Twilight's Kingdom" Season 5 (2015) "The Cutie Map" "Castle Sweet Castle" "Tanks for the Memories" "Slice of Life" "Amending Fences" "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" "Made in Manehattan" "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" "The Hooffields and McColts" "The Cutie Re-Mark" Season 6 (2016) "A Hearth's Warming Tail" "The Times They Are a Changeling" Season 7 (2017) "The Perfect Pear" Season 8 (2018) "Grannies Gone Wild" Season 9 (2019) "The Last Crusade" Series finale Media Films & specials My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever (2018) My Little Pony: Rainbow Roadtrip (2019) Music Theme song "This Day Aria" Movie Soundtrack "Rainbow" "Off to See the World" Games My Little Pony: Twilight Sparkle, Teacher for a Day Gameloft video game Collectible card game Other media Home video releases IDW comics Issues My Little Pony/Transformers Brony fandom Fan works (list) 15.ai Voiceverse NFT plagiarism scandal A Brony Tale Bronies (documentary) Derpibooru Equestria Daily Fimfiction Fallout: Equestria Friendship Is Witchcraft Legends of Equestria Love & Ponystep Ponysona PONY.MOV Them's Fightin' Herds Fandom people 15 hotdiggedydemon Jenny Nicholson Odyssey Eurobeat Sethisto The Living Tombstone Vylet Pony Fan culture Analysis Brony music Bronyspeak Charity Criticism Fan art Clop Ponysona Fan fiction Military bronies /mlp/ Online communities My Little Pony conventions BABSCon BronyCAN BronyCon Czequestria Everfree Northwest GalaCon Ponyville Ciderfest RuBronyCon TrotCon UK PonyCon Vanhoover Pony Expo v t e As [Twilight Sparkle](/source/Twilight_Sparkle) and [Spike](/source/Spike_(My_Little_Pony)) venture outside for a stroll, their conversation is interrupted when [Snips and Snails](/source/List_of_My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_characters#Ponyville_characters) announce that a powerful new unicorn has arrived in [Ponyville](/source/Equestria#Ponyville). The duo joins their friends at the town square to witness "[The Great and Powerful Trixie](/source/The_Great_and_Powerful_Trixie)" performing a magic show for the gathered crowd. Trixie boasts that she is the most magical unicorn in all of [Equestria](/source/Equestria) and claims that she once saved the town of Hoofington from an ursa major (a gigantic, partially translucent magical bear) by banishing the creature to the [Everfree Forest](/source/Equestria#Everfree_Forest). Fed up with Trixie's arrogance, [Applejack](/source/Applejack_(My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic)), [Rainbow Dash](/source/Rainbow_Dash), and [Rarity](/source/Rarity_(My_Little_Pony)) each demonstrate their own talents to challenge the newcomer's claims. Applejack performs an impressive rope trick, Rainbow Dash shows off her aerial acrobatics, and Rarity creates an elegant costume from stage curtains. However, Trixie responds to each display by using her magic to humiliate the three in front of the entire crowd. When Spike urges Twilight to demonstrate her superior magical abilities, Twilight becomes afraid of appearing to [show off](/source/Boasting) and quickly makes an excuse to leave the scene. After the show ends, Snips and Snails pester Trixie for more details about her encounter with the ursa major, but she dismisses them due to exhaustion. When Spike tells the two colts they shouldn't believe Trixie's story unless they witness such a feat themselves, Snips gets an idea that leads him and Snails to venture into the Everfree Forest. They accidentally awaken what they believe to be an ursa major and provoke the massive bear-like creature into chasing them back toward Ponyville. The creature turns out to be an ursa minor—smaller than an ursa major but still enormous and dangerous. Trixie attempts to stop the rampaging beast but is unable to do so, and admits that she fabricated her story about defeating an ursa major. With the creature threatening the town and its residents, Twilight uses her magic to create a soothing [lullaby](/source/Lullaby) by blowing wind through [cattail](/source/Cattail) reeds, then levitates a [water tower](/source/Water_tower) and fills it with milk from a nearby barn to feed the creature. After the ursa minor falls asleep, Twilight magically carries it back to its cave in the Everfree Forest. Her friends reassure her that she should be proud of her talents and that using them to help others isn't showing off, while Trixie refuses to acknowledge Twilight's superior abilities and flees town in a cloud of smoke. ## Reception Sherilyn Connelly, the author of *Ponyville Confidential*, gave the episode a "B-" rating[1] and wrote that it was another example of an episode where "outsiders come in to Ponyville, cause trouble, reject the efforts of certain characters to befriend them, and leave without having learned any lessons at all."[2] In her review of the episode in *[SF Weekly](/source/SF_Weekly)*, she wrote, "I appreciate the fact that neither Gilda nor Trixie change their ways at the ends of their respective episodes. That's called *life*, y'all."[3] In a critical analysis of the episode, author Jen A. Blue praised "Boast Busters" as a *tour-de-force* and declared it "easily the best episode we've looked at so far" in the series. Blue emphasized writer [Chris Savino](/source/Chris_Savino)'s effective use of [visual storytelling](/source/Visual_storytelling), particularly in Trixie's design, who combines the behavior of a [stage magician](/source/Stage_magician) with the visual trappings of a "real wizard" like [Tolkien](/source/Tolkien)'s [Gandalf](/source/Gandalf). Blue analyzed Trixie as an excellent [foil](/source/Foil_(narrative)) for Twilight Sparkle: Trixie is "confident and confrontational where Twilight is [neurotic](/source/Neuroticism) and [avoidant](/source/Avoidant), a dominance-seeker where Twilight seeks approval, and a liar where Twilight is honest." Blue observed that the episode cleverly uses Spike as the point-of-view character in this episode, which allows viewers to "detach from [Twilight]'s actions and interrogate her character" while avoiding focusing too heavily on Twilight's "crippling [self-esteem](/source/Self-esteem) issues" and fear of [tall poppy syndrome](/source/Tall_poppy_syndrome)—her paradoxical conviction that she must excel to impress [Princess Celestia](/source/Princess_Celestia) while simultaneously hiding her superiority from other ponies.[4] Brendan Kachel of *[flayrah](/source/Flayrah)* called "Boast Busters" a "pretty terrible episode." He also defended Trixie, as she was a stage performer being [heckled](/source/Heckler) by the [Mane Six](/source/Mane_Six), and "hecklers are considered fair game."[5] ## Home media The episode is part of the Season 1 DVD set, released by [Shout Factory](/source/Shout!_Factory), on December 4, 2012.[6] ## See also - [List of *My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic* episodes](/source/List_of_My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_episodes) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Connelly (2017)](#CITEREFConnelly2017), p. 76 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Connelly (2017)](#CITEREFConnelly2017), p. 165 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Connelly, Sherilyn (2012-02-22). ["My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Season 1, Episodes 5 and 6"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120416140502/http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2012/02/my_little_pony_recap_season_1_episodes_5_6.php). *[SF Weekly](/source/SF_Weekly)*. Archived from [the original](http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2012/02/my_little_pony_recap_season_1_episodes_5_6.php) on 2012-04-16. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Blue-S1_4-0)** Blue, Jen A. (2013-08-31). "These two ponies have a bit of a grudge match they're trying to settle (Boast Busters)". *My Little Po-Mo: Unauthorized Critical Essays on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Season One*. pp. 74–79. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Kachel, Brendan (2014-05-25). ["Review: 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' Princess Twilight Sparkle DVD (with bonus 'Equestria Girls' review)"](https://www.flayrah.com/5639/review-my-little-pony-friendship-magic-princess-twilight-sparkle-dvd-bonus-equestria-girls-revi). *flayrah*. Retrieved 2025-06-11. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Season 1"](https://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friendship-Magic/dp/B0096W47NO). [Amazon.com](/source/Amazon.com). 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2012-12-04. ### Bibliography - Connelly, Sherilyn (2017-04-01). [*Ponyville Confidential: The History and Culture of My Little Pony, 1981-2016*](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ponyville_Confidential/E3VPDgAAQBAJ). McFarland. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4766-6209-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4766-6209-1). ## External links - ["Boast Busters"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1768145/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) v t e My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episodes Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Season 1 "Friendship Is Magic" "The Ticket Master" "Applebuck Season" "Griffon the Brush Off" "Boast Busters" "Dragonshy" "Look Before You Sleep" "Bridle Gossip" "Swarm of the Century" "Winter Wrap Up" "Call of the Cutie" "Fall Weather Friends" "Suited for Success" "Feeling Pinkie Keen" "Sonic Rainboom" "Stare Master" "The Show Stoppers" "A Dog and Pony Show" "Green Isn't Your Color" "Over a Barrel" "A Bird in the Hoof" "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" "Owl's Well That Ends Well" "Party of One" "The Best Night Ever" --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Boast Busters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boast_Busters) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boast_Busters?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.