Friendship is Magic, part 1

Friendship is Magic (Part 1): Mare in the Moon is the first episode of the first season and first aired October 10th 2010

Writer: Lauren Faust

Episode Summary
The episode opens with a book telling the tale of two royal sisters who ruled the land of Equestria together. The elder sister was responsible for raising the sun while the younger would bring out the moon at night.

Seeing the ponies of Equestria enjoy the day but sleep through the night, the younger sister grew jealous and resentful, refusing to lower the moon. This bitterness transformed her into Nightmare Moon, forcing her sister to use a set of magical artifacts known as The Elements of Harmony to seal her away in the moon. Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn who was reading the book, remembers having read about The Elements of Harmony somewhere else and sets off home to read up on it, brushing off a friends party on the way.

She reads that "The Mare in the Moon", or Nightmare Moon, is to be freed from her imprisonment on the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration which occurs "the day after tomorrow". With the help of her friend Spike she sends a letter to Princess Celestia, to whom she is an understudy, warning her about the return of Nightmare Moon.

Celestia tells Twilight that there's more to life than studying and gives her the task of checking up on the preperations for the festival in the town of Ponyville, as well as making some friends. Twilight is less than thrilled at the idea but goes along with the order despite not seeing how making friends is important. This is not helped when the first pony she meets gasps loudly and runs away.

Twilight and Spike arrive at Sweet Apple Acres, an apple farm where the food for the celebration is being prepared. There they meet Applejack, as well as her large family which includes her brother Big Macintosh, sister Apple Bloom and Granny Smith. Eager to get on with the job, Twilight initially turns down the offer to stay for brunch but the disappointed faces cause her to begrudgingly change her mind.

Next, they meet Rainbow Dash, a pegasus pony in charge of keeping the sky cloud free. After accidentally crashing into Twilight and sending them both into a mud puddle. Dash's attempts to clean her up result in messing up Twilight's mane, which Dash and Spike both find hilarious. Dash informs them that she wants to join The Wonderbolts, an aerial acrobatic team. She then proceeds to clear the sky in just 10 seconds, a feat which leaves Twilight astounded.

Next on the list is decorations, which is under supervision by a unicorn called Rarity with whom Spike is immediately infatuated. Seeing Twilight's messy mane she drags her off to give her a makeover. Hearing that Twilight is from the royal city of Canterlot, Rarity insists that they will be friends.

The final item on the list is music, which is being taken care of by a pegasus pony conducting a choir of birds. Twilight's attempts at conversation are met with muffled words and nervous squeaks until she sees Spike. Having never seen a baby dragon before, Fluttershy is full of questions and Spike ends up regaling her with his life story, much to Twilight's dismay.

Arriving at the library where she is to stay while in Ponyville, Twilight is greeted by a surprise party organised by Pinkie Pie, the pony she had met when she first arrived in town. Not in the mood for partying, Twilight retreats to her room until the start of the celebration.

As the Mayor introduces Princess Celestia, the crowd is shocked to find she has vanished. Instead, Nightmare Moon appears from a cloud of smoke, announcing that she will cover Equestria in eternal night...