Luna Eclipsed

Luna Eclipsed is the fourth episode of the second season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, and the thirtieth episode overall. The episode takes place during a Halloween-like celebration called "Nightmare Night" which revolves around the legends of Night Mare Moon. During this night, Twilight Sparkle helps Princess Luna change her frightening demeanor and become accepted by the other ponies.

Summary
The episode begins with Twilight showing off her "Star Swirl the Bearded" costume to Spike. Not shortly after, Twilight and Spike encounter a trio of foals including Pipsqueak trick or treating, and of course Pinkie Pie, who refuses to turn down an opportunity for free candy. Twilight asks Pinkie if she likes her costume, but is disheartened when Pinkie doesn't know what it is.

Twilight, complaining about no one knowing about her costume, and Spike, eating a pile of candy, walk through the market. Pinkie and Pipsqueak meet them, and show off their stash of candy. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash, costumed as a Shadowbolt, drags a thundercloud over Pinkie Pie and causes it to produce a bolt of lightning, scaring both Pinkie Pie and Spike. Twilight and Spike then meet up with Applejack, who is running the apple bob, but this is ruined when Derpy Hooves pops out of the tub and drains it. Mayor then makes an announcement, telling everyone to follow Zecora to the statue of Night Mare Moon, in order for a storytelling.

Zecora tells the legend of Night Mare Moon, and explains to the group that they she requires a donation of candy in order to please her. However, ironically, Princess Luna shows up, in a flurry of dark clouds, which scares everyone off but Twilight.

Pinkie Pie and her group of foals run through town, as Princess Luna arrives at the marketplace. Everypony bows down in respect for the Princess, but also expresses a great amount of fear. Twilight, however, does not display any fear as she shows an eagerness to meet the Princess. Princess Luna makes a speech in which she uses a very strong bellowing voice, which serves to only further intimidate everypony. During this speech, she exclaims that she only seeks the love and affection of her subjects, and wishes to improve the festival and the way it portrays her.

However, as she has accidentally imbued fear into her subjects, they do not wish to have anything to do with her. Feeling rejected, she decides to leave the market, and spend time at the statue of Night Mare Moon, where Twilight finds her. Luna at first, compliments Twilight on her costume, knowing who she means to be costuming, as opposed to everyone else. Twilight explains to Princess Luna that she was badly received due to her speaking tone and volume, and therefore decides to bring her to Fluttershy, who she believes can help her improve the way she speaks to ponies.

Fluttershy refuses to answer her door at first, exclaiming that she has no candy and that she doesn't want visitors on Nightmare Night. When Twilight reassures her there's nothing to be worried about, she opens the door, but once she sees Princess Luna, whom she misidentifies as Night Mare Moon, she runs back inside. Twilight forces Fluttershy out of her home, and Princess Luna begins to inquire about how to improve her tone, but this only further scares Fluttershy. When Fluttershy attempts to go back inside, Twilight slams the door in front of her, blocking her path. When Princess Luna feels that her tone has improved, she thanks Fluttershy by hugging and exhaling her thanks at her, but this scares off Pinkie Pie and her group of fillies once again.

Later on, Princess Luna and Twilight find Applejack in the town centre, where Twilight asks Applejack to give tips on Luna on how to be more accepted. Her top tip is to have fun, which Luna sadly does not know about. After playing on several carnival games, Luna shows her appreciation for the fun and the whole town begins to fear her less then they did before, and she goes as far to tell her subjects to call her Luna, and do away with the formality of "Princess".

However, when Luna selflessly rushes to save Pipsqueak from drowning in the apple bob, Pinkie Pie once again thinks she is doing more evil ("eating" Pipsqueak) which causes the ponies to become scared once again. Luna tries to obtain peoples trust again with fun but goes a bit too far and causes havoc across the town. Fed up, and feeling offended, she declares that Nightmare Night is cancelled forever, out of anger caused by her failure to look good to her subjects.

Twilight once again sets out to find Princess Luna, and finds her walking sadly across a bridge, disappointed in herself for being seemingly unable to win the hearts of her subjects. She rejects Twilight's help at first, so Twilight finds another method, in which she lures Pinkie Pie into an alleyway with a trail of candy, and tells her that Princess Luna is no longer evil, and to stop shrieking in fear whenever she sees her. Pinkie Pie agrees to this, but as she is about to shake hooves with Princess Luna and make peace, Rainbow Dash inopportunely plays her lightning prank, scaring Pinkie Pie, who believes it is Princess Luna who made the lightning. Twilight chases Pinkie Pie down, and pins her down, and Pinkie Pie tells her that she is only being scared, because it is fun to be scared. This sets off a plan in Twilight's mind which will win Princess Luna the hearts of her subjects.

As the ponies clean up the mess in the town centre, the Mayor reminds everyone that they still have to give their offerings of candy to Night Mare Moon. Once at the statue of Night Mare Moon, and once they have given their offerings, Princess Luna, in the form of Night Mare Moon appears in person to the group, and scares them once again. Once they have been scared off, Night Mare Moon transforms back into Princess Luna, but Princess Luna is still afraid that Twilight's plan did not work. However, when Pipsqueak tells her that he loved the way that she scared them, that he wants her to come back next year and scare them, and that she was his favourite Princess, she realises that she is indeed wanted in Ponyville, and exclaims that there will be more Nightmare Nights. Back in the town, Luna participates in more carnival games, and also has fun scaring some more ponies. At the end of the episode, Rainbow Dash once again shows up with her thundercloud, and when she is about to scare Twilight and Spike with lightning, Princess Luna scares off Rainbow Dash with her own lightning before she had a chance to scare them.

Twilight learned that one of the best things about friendship is to give it to others and help it find themselves. Also, everyone in Ponyville learned that even if somepony is a little intimidating or even scary, when you offer them their friendship, they'll discover a whole new pony underneath.

Character appearances
This episode marks the first appearance of Princess Luna since Friendship is Magic, part 2, which premiered the same date a year prior. Luna has undergone a slight redesign that features a flowing mane similar to Princess Celestia's. The episode also marks Zecora's third appearance in the series, not including the flashback in The Return of Harmony Part 2.

This is the first episode in season two where one of the main characters is missing, in this case Rarity. She did feature in the episode's script, but her scene was cut. In the script, she is still working on her costume when Twilight takes Luna to her to get a makeover and help her look less intimidating. Rarity overdoes her outfit so much that Luna tears it off. Pinkie, seeing Luna with a piece of dress in her mouth, leaps to the conclusion that she ate a princess and runs off terrified.

Rating
This is the second episode to air without the educational/informative rating, after Lesson Zero.

Gallery



 * Luna Eclipsed image gallery

Quotes

 * Fillies: [sing-song voice] Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!


 * Granny Smith: I should've been asleep five hours ago.


 * Pinkie Pie: [chicken squawk] Enough chit-chat! Time is candy!
 * Twilight: Pinkie Pie, aren't you a little old for this?
 * Pinkie Pie: Too old for free candy? [chicken squawk] Never!


 * Applejack: Howdy Spike. Hey Twilight. Nice costume.
 * Spike: Thanks, I'm a dragon.
 * Twilight: She means me, Spike.


 * Twilight Sparkle: You kinda sound like you're yelling at me.
 * Princess Luna: But this is the traditional royal Canterlot voice! It is tradition to speak, using the royal we, and to use [booming voice] THIS MUCH VOLUME WHEN ADDRESSING OUR SUBJECTS!


 * Fluttershy: [yelling] Go away! No candy here! Visitors not welcome on Nightmare Night!
 * Twilight: [laughing] Fluttershy, it's me, Twilight!
 * Fluttershy: It is you. Oh, and Night Mare Moon. [gasps] Night Mare Moon? [scream] [door slam]


 * Luna: Ha ha! The fun has been doubled!


 * Pipsqueak: Help! My backside has been gobbled!
 * Princess Luna: 'Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and un-gobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!


 * Twilight: Pinkie Pie! You're a genius!
 * Pinkie Pie: No I'm not, I'm a chicken. [squawk]


 * Luna: [sarcastic] Forgive me if I withhold my enthusiasm.

Trivia

 * The episode's title is a pun on the term "Lunar Eclipse", an astronomical event that occurs when the Moon passes behind the Earth's shadow so that the Earth blocks the Sun's rays from striking the Moon.
 * A billboard referring to the Halloween episode has been put up in Los Angeles. In it, it shows Pinkie Pie with a Spike plushie in front of a TV screen, a parody of the poster for Poltergeist.
 * The episode takes place during the "Nightmare Night" festival, with the ponies donning costumes and going door-to-door to collect candy, which is heavily based on Halloween.
 * Luna speaks using the royal we, at least at the beginning of the episode. In old times, the rulers of countries would speak using this, to signify that they spoke for the country, and all its citizens.
 * During the episode, a few notes from Edvard Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King can be heard occasionally, such as when Rainbow Dash is about to play her lightning prank on Twilight.
 * The aura the emanates from Twilight's horn when she performs magic has changed back from red to purple. Only this time, the color is slightly lighter than in season one. However, it is not consistent over the course of the episode, as it also shows up as red in certain scenes.
 * The day the episode was aired is also known as International Caps Lock Day. Which is ironic, considering the fact that her Royal Canterlot Voice is a pretty much a shout.
 * The aura of Luna's magic is light blue when she pulls Fluttershy towards her.
 * Derpy appears in the episode 'bobbing' for apples. Her costume consists of a large paper bag as a hat, and two smaller ones on her hooves. She is seen looking into the bobbing barrel, but in the very next scene, she emerges from the water with the chain in her mouth which drains the water from the barrel.
 * When Pinkie Pie bolts away from Princess Luna in the alley, she lays an egg, as befitting her chicken costume. The egg looks almost exactly the same as the egg which Spike hatched from in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles".
 * The Cutie Mark Crusaders' costumes appear to be a reference to the classic Universal Horror series with each member representing one of the three main monsters. Apple Bloom is The Bride of Frankenstein, Sweetie Belle is Dracula and Scootaloo is a Wolf-Pony.
 * This is the second time Granny Smith talks more clearly since Griffon the Brush Off.
 * Star Swirl the Bearded is referred to by Twilight as the "father of the amniomorphic spell." The literal Latin meaning of "amniomorphic" is "bowl-shaping," although it could also be a reference to amniocentesis, a medical procedure used to diagnose genetic abnormalities in a fetus still in the womb. This could be a steath pun though as Star Swirl is notable as beared, and is the father of a bowl-shaping spell, making him a "hairy potter". Or the writers could have picked a sciencey-sounding word at random.