>>/10797/
> very little time is being wasted here.
> efficiently establishes future events in the episode
Possibly similar note: >>/10840/
> Something that I rmember thinking when I was watching Season 8 and 9 is that pacing felt off and moments liked that would've felt a little forced sometimes. I wonder if that is just nostalgia glasses or if there is any merit (I hazard the guess that a lot of things in future episode would be detours for fun/cameos for fan service, while this, as I said, did fit). 

> Somehow though I kind of like the slightly mischievous element of Twilight running off to do something more fun while Spike does the work, a likeable character flaw you might say.
It goes with a older sister dynamic, that and her slight snarkyness. Hypothesis yet to be proven: was Twilight Sparkle's anxiety brought up to 11 to give her a charterer flaw because they felt those traits weren't appropriate for her as a princess?  

 >>/10798/
> The episode could have just cut from leaving the library to arriving at the bakery, but it helps establish the preparations that the Parasprites will later destroy, and I also think it establishes a bit of Twilight’s position in Ponyville
It is also one of those things that makes the world feel alive. 

> In fairness, out of all of the Mane 6, hers is the character that is trickiest to get right, I think. It’s always a delicate balance with all of them, but for her this is the case twice over. 
It is because Pinkie Pie is supposed to be carefree, happy, and weird, but the archetype is hard to not reduce to  random, stupid and annoying. I wasn't personally annoyed by her antics here but I can understand that. 

> anticipating what will happen - an early example of her mysterious depth of knowledge and abilities. In my mind, Pinkie’s abilities are a manifestation of Earth-pony magic
Always been split myself of whether I considered those traits relatively unique to her or some sort of manifestation of magic like that. I could go both ways but that would fit well here.

> Perhaps Twilight’s attitude in both cases is prefigured with this urban scholarly perspective that Earth-ponies, particular of the rural variety, are superstitious – and perhaps the real explanation for this is that Earth-ponies observe the effects of their passive magic without understanding themselves as the cause.
I like this idea. Neglected feild and Earth Ponies being the most industrial meaning that Earth Pony magic gets relegated to superstition among rural populations.

>  you have to be unaware to use these abilities, such that Pinkie Pie’s odd degree of obliviousness and ignorance most of the time could instead be part of her method to maximise her abilities by remaining unaware of them. 
I don't know if that is stupid or genius. Never heard that argument before. Honestly kind of like the idea... feels like a way to soft canonize the cartoon gags in a way that fits. If I am making sense.

 >>/10799/
> And it led straight into the fantastic gag where the Apple family are defending their apples, only to have the Parasprites go and eat the barn. 
Seconded!