Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1

Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1 is the first episode of the fourth season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the sixty-sixth episode overall, being the first episode to take place after the film My Little Pony Equestria Girls. It is the first half of a two-part episode.

Production and development
The script for this episode was locked in August 2012.

On July 20, 2013, an animatic clip of this episode was shown at San Diego Comic-Con International. In the clip, Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon and Princess Twilight Sparkle appear, and Princess Celestia is mentioned. In early November 2013, the Hub Network released a preview of the episode's script on both Twitter and Facebook.

Meghan McCarthy considers the season four premiere to be the second and third parts in a three-part story following Magical Mystery Cure.

The ending shot of the My Little Pony theme song was replaced by a shot of Princess Twilight surrounded by the Mane Six with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Zecora, Snips, Snails, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, Mayor Mare, Big McIntosh, Granny Smith, and Photo Finish.

There was originally a scene showing how Pinkie Pie dealt with the strange weather patterns.

Opening in Canterlot
The episode opens in Canterlot with Rainbow Dash helping Twilight Sparkle practice flying while their friends watch. Despite her best efforts, Twilight ends up crashing into the ground. Twilight feels uncomfortable about her friends calling her "Princess", and with the Summer Sun Celebration approaching, she also expresses nervousness about doing her part. Rainbow Dash encourages Twilight to start her "big finish". Twilight takes off again and keeps herself airborne for a few moments before crashing through some clouds and barreling into the ground.

The scene then cuts to the stained glass hallway of Canterlot Castle; Twilight and her friends stand in front of Twilight's new portrait. Fluttershy and Applejack mention that they need to catch the train back to Ponyville so they can finish the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. Twilight is visibly sad that she has to stay behind in Canterlot while her friends go back to Ponyville because the Summer Sun Celebration is what brought her and her friends together in the first place. Rarity tells Twilight that they understand her royal duties must come first, and Applejack assures her that nothing will change the connection they share through the Elements of Harmony.

At the train station, Pinkie Pie tells Twilight that she and her friends will write to her so often with so many details that it'll be like she's in Ponyville with them. Her friends seal the deal with a Pinkie promise, and Rarity reminds Twilight of her appointment with her to confirm the "royal upgrades" to her loft decor. After a departing hug, Twilight's friends board the train and depart from Canterlot, waving as they travel into the distance. Twilight immediately remarks to Spike that she already feels like she is missing something. As she does this, a pink letter arrives addressed to her from none other than Pinkie Pie, telling her that she is not missing anything. Twilight, however, still feels that she is missing something.

Royal duties
In Twilight's room, Spike checks off some boxes from a long list and remarks that they are ahead of schedule, and credits her "extremely competent assistant". Spike calculates that they could have time to make a quick trip to Ponyville and still be back to Canterlot in time to finish up preparation. Twilight however begins to hypothesize about other things coming up, like losing the list on the way to Ponyville, eventually freaking herself out. She tells Spike that these are the first royal duties Princess Celestia has assigned to her, and that she can't let her down.

Princess Celestia then appears at the door, and having heard what Twilight said, reassures her that she's sure she won't let her down. Twilight and Spike bow at her presence, and Celestia reminds Twilight that she no longer is required to do so as a princess. She tells Twilight that she is looking forward to the Summer Sun Celebration, and gives her own view of it, saying that while her subjects viewed it as a day of celebration over the vanquishing of Nightmare Moon, she viewed it simply as a reminder of having to send her sister to the Moon. This time though, she is happy because of her reunion with her sister and Twilight's participation in the celebration.

Another letter arrives for Princess Twilight, and when she opens it, confetti bursts out. Twilight tells Spike that they should go over the checklist once more before bed, and Princess Celestia leaves them to it. As she walks down the corridor, a root appears out of the floor and moves in her direction. When it grabs onto her, Celestia is heard gasping.

Disappearing princesses
As Twilight wakes up after falling asleep on her desk, she notices something outside of her window. She wakes up Spike and brings him to the window, showing him that now both the sun and the moon are visible, splitting the sky into day and night. Twilight and Spike quickly go to find out what is going on, and outside there is a crowd of Canterlot residents equally eager to know what is going on. As soon as Twilight steps outside, she is flocked by ponies eager to know why the sky is divided. As she struggles to explain what is going on, a royal guard leads her inside and tells her that both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia are gone.

The guards do not know where the two princesses are, so they came to Twilight in the hope that she could give them commands. The guards explain the formalities of their job to the new princess, and although she is unsure at first, she confidently gives the two guards orders to continue the search for the missing princesses and to notify her immediately of any findings. Another guard then bursts in through the doors with news from Ponyville: the Everfree Forest is invading.

Problems in Ponyville
The scene cuts to Fluttershy's cottage, where a large crowd of animals have gathered. Fluttershy wonders why they are all worried, and opens her door to see what is happening. On opening the door she is greeted with the nearby Everfree Forest growing roots towards her cottage, and screams and slams the door shut in response, telling the animals that they indeed should be worried.

At Sweet Apple Acres, the Apple family are trying to fight back an invasion of "weeds" on their land by trying to pull them out of the ground. None of the "weeds" budge, however, one of them manages to hide from Big McIntosh as he attempts to bite it. Applejack, on closer inspection of these roots from the Everfree Forest,, mentions that she's never seen that type of "weed" before. As a few spiky clouds pass by, she questions what's happening to the sky.

At Ponyville's town center, which is now enveloped in the same roots, Rainbow Dash attempts to remove the spiky clouds that are moving around above the town. When she tries to fly into one of these clouds, however, it absorbs her impact and sends her plummeting straight down. As she approaches the cloud again, more clouds surround her and begin flashing lightning at her.

Meanwhile, the roots approach Carousel Boutique. Rarity opens her curtain not noticing them, and remarks about "something strange with the sky". The roots grow up the wall by the window and emit a form of magic that interferes with Rarity's own from her horn, making the tea she was pouring move around in a zigzag and the teapot move around her boutique on its own, spilling its contents on a hat and chasing Opalescence around the room. Rarity puts out the corrupted magic and the teapot falls to the floor. She explains to Opalescence that it wasn't her causing the teapot to behave like that, and asks if Sweetie Belle and the rest of her crusader friends are pulling a prank. Sweetie Belle then comes bumping down the stairs, affected by the same corrupted magic that Rarity was. The corrupted magic spreads to a piece piece of fabric that begins to chase Sweetie Belle around the room, catching her and Rarity as they run to the door.

Rushing back to Ponyville
On hearing the news of the happenings in Ponyville, Twilight rushes to get back to Ponyville to stop the invading Everfree Forest. While rushing to the train station, she tells Spike that she knows she and her friends will need the Elements of Harmony in order to stop whatever is going on. Spike reminds Twilight that she doesn't need to take the train back to Ponyville, and that she can simply fly there now. She carefully takes off with Spike on her back and begins the journey to Ponyville.

Back in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash is still being chased around by the spiky clouds, and the roots and plants are becoming more and more dense. Twilight's friends collect outside the Mayor's office and discuss what is happening, but they quickly realise amongst that the speed of which the forest is expanding is too difficult to fight back against.

Approaching Ponyville, Twilight has to dodge the spiky clouds that dot the sky. In doing so, Spike almost falls off of Twilight more than once, prompting him to pull up a seatbelt and strap himself to her back. As Twilight makes her final approach to Golden Oak Library, she realises she is coming in at too great a speed to land safely, so she teleports herself into the library, leaving Spike to fly through the air, eventually hitting a window.

As Twilight crash lands inside her library, Spike comes through the front door, rejoicing at his repatriation with the ground. Twilight's friends tell her about the Everfree Forest and it's rapid expansion, just as a large root breaks through a window. Rarity inquires if Princess Celestia has sent her to dispel the expanding forest, and Spike and Twilight explain that she and Luna are both missing, leading to a gasp from her friends. Twilight then gives out the Elements of Harmony to her friends, and Applejack tells Twilight that the Elements of Harmony would indeed keep the band of friends together. Twilight thinks about who to aim the Elements at, and as Pinkie Pie explains how she hasn't found anything in the coloring books she has been looking through, Twilight comes to a conclusion of what to do with the Elements.

Summoning Discord
After Twilight has come up with who to summon, the ponies head outside to use the Elements. Twilight initiates the process, and after each Element is connected with a rainbow, Discord appears, in the process of taking a shower and singing Winter Wrap Up. Discord tells Twilight that she should have notified him before summoning him with the spell Celestia gave her, but Twilight ignores what he has to say and immediately tells him to release Princess Luna and Princess Celestia and stop the Everfree Forest from expanding like it is.

Discord wraps himself around Twilight and asks her what she's talking about. Applejack continues to accuse him of causing everything, and Discord continues to deny it, claiming he enjoys the new style of Ponyville while taking pictures of it, but that he can't claim responsibility for it, mentioning that he is reformed. The ponies continue to place the blame on Discord, with Rainbow Dash claiming that it has his "cloven hoofprints" all over it, and when Discord asks them if he would lie to them, an immediate "yes" follows from all except Fluttershy who replies with a timid "maybe".

With Discord still claiming innocence, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash get ready to turn Discord back into stone. Fluttershy stands up the trio and gets them to stand down by mediating that he might not be lying after all. Discord thanks his friend "Shutterfly" whilst embracing Rainbow Dash, before Fluttershy corrects him on the name and the pony. Twilight asks Discord to help them find out who caused the princesses to disappear and the Everfree Forest to being growing at a fast rate, but after showing a disapproval of the way he was treated, he points them with a large arrow to Zecora instead.

Flashing back
Zecora emerges from the forest just as Discord mentions her, explaining that the growth of the forest is too much to handle, even for her. Applejack asks her why it is happening, but Zecora too does not know. However she pulls out a purple potion from her belongings that she claims could help, but it may only be activated by alicorn magic. She tells Twilight to turn the potion from purple to white, and then after a sip she might be able to see why the sky is day and night.

Twilight aims a beam of dark magic similar in aesthetics to that used by King Sombra in The Crystal Empire - Part 2 at the potion, and it turns white. She then drinks some of the potion. After a small delay, the potion kicks in and her eyes emit a bright light. Twilight then finds herself in a flashback set in a hall in front of two thrones, as Princess Luna walks out from behind the blue throne. Twilight asks her where they are and why she and Celestia disappeared, and Luna replies by telling her that she was not going to sit "idly by" while the rest of Equestria basked in Twilight's "precious light", and then exclaiming that there will be only one princess in Equestria, and that princess will be her.

Luna breaks down the wall behind her and raises the sun in front of the moon, causing an eclipse. The resulting shadow envelops her and circles around her, transforming her into Nightmare Moon, from the Season 1 premiere. As she cackles loudly, the shot zooms in on Twilight, in disbelief of what she has just seen.

Quotes

 * Rarity: Don't be so modest. It's everypony's dream to someday wear a crown and have their coronation ceremony preserved in stained glass for all to see.
 * Rainbow Dash: I don't know if it's everypony's dream.
 * Pinkie Pie: Most of my dreams are about frosting. [drools]


 * Princess Twilight: I can't help it, Spike. They've only been gone a minute, and I already feel like I'm missing something.
 * Messenger Pony: For the Princess.
 * Spike: "Dear Twilight, You aren't missing anything. Your friend, Pinkie Pie."
 * Pinkie Pie: THAT'S ME!!!


 * Applejack: Now that I think about it, I've never seen these kinds of weeds at all!


 * Discord: I'm reformed. Don't you remember?


 * Discord: Ladies, ladies, I'm innocent. Would I lie to you?
 * All but Fluttershy: Yes!
 * Fluttershy: Um...maybe?


 * Discord: The rest of you could learn a lot about friendship from my dear friend, Shutterfly.
 * Fluttershy: It's Fluttershy.
 * Discord: Whatever.