Friendship is Magic, part 2

Friendship is Magic, part 2 is the second episode of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. In this episode, Nightmare Moon is freed from her imprisonment and begins to shroud the world in eternal night. Twilight and her new friends must find the Elements of Harmony to stop Nightmare Moon. The episode is referred to as Elements of Harmony on Hasbro's viewing guide.

Introduction: the Elements of Harmony
The episode starts with a recap of the previous episode, and resumes where it left off, with Nightmare Moon creating a lightning storm. The Mayor commands the royal guards to attack Nightmare Moon, suspecting her of kidnapping Princess Celestia. She repels them with lightning and turns herself into mist before whisking out into the night. Rainbow Dash breaks free of Applejack's hold and pursues the mist, but it's too quick for her and it disappears into the distance. Dash sees Twilight running outside, and wonders aloud what she's up to.

At the library, Twilight puts Spike to bed and starts frantically looking through the bookshelves for information about the Elements of Harmony. Rainbow Dash flies in and confronts Twilight Sparkle, accusing her of being a spy because she knows about Nightmare Moon. Dash is pulled back by Applejack, who warns her to simmer down. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy join them and they listen to Twilight's explanation of the Elements of Harmony. Twilight admits that she doesn't know what the Elements are, where to find them, or what they do. Pinkie promptly finds a book on the Elements of Harmony which was alphabetically sorted, much to Twilight's embarrassment. Twilight, reading from the book, names the five known elements: kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty, and loyalty. As she names the elements, the camera pans over the pony that will come to represent each element. According to the book, the sixth element is a mystery, and the elements' last known location is in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters in the Everfree Forest. The friends are unaware that Nightmare Moon was eavesdropping the whole time.

The cliff
Twilight Sparkle asks the other ponies to let her go into the forest alone, but Applejack tells her they won't let "any friend of ours" go into the forest by herself. Walking through the forest, Applejack mentions the forest doesn't "work the same" as those in Equestria. Meanwhile, a purple mist seeps into the cliffside under them. Dash tries spooking the other ponies by telling them no pony who has entered the forest has ever come out. Suddenly, the cliff collapses and the purple mist whisks off.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash stop Rarity and Pinkie Pie from tumbling down, but Applejack and Twilight continue to slide down towards another steep cliff. Applejack grabs a root, but Twilight slips to the very edge. Seeing her friend in trouble, Applejack lets go of the root to help Twilight and inexplicably tells her to let go. Twilight protests, but Applejack promises that she's telling the truth and if she lets go, she'll be safe. Twilight lets go and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy carry her to safety. As Applejack makes her way down the cliff like a mountain goat, the purple mist watches the ponies, then zooms off towards a monstrous silhouette, which roars.

The manticore
"Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness."

- Fluttershy

Rainbow Dash proudly recalls how she and Fluttershy saved Twilight when an angry manticore bars the path. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash fail to stop the manticore. Fluttershy's quiet protests go unnoticed by her friends, but when they desperately charge at the manticore, Fluttershy finally raises her voice and stops them. She gently approaches the manticore, who, after a moment of hesitation, shows her a purple thorn stuck in its paw. She removes it and wins the beast's affection, and the six ponies continue their journey. When Twilight asks Fluttershy how she knew about the thorn, Fluttershy reveals that she didn't, saying, "Sometimes we all need to be shown a little kindness."

The forest
The extracted thorn turns into purple mist and snakes between the ponies' hooves before seeping into some trees. The moon sets and darkness surrounds the ponies, who are now faced with monstrous-looking trees that seem to growl at them. They all scream except Pinkie Pie, much to their surprise. She makes funny faces at the trees and starts to laugh."HA! HA! HA!"

- Pinkie Pie

Pinkie Pie sings the Laughter Song, the first musical number of the show, and shows her friends how to conquer your fears through laughter. The other ponies overcome their fears and turn the trees back to normal, concluding the song by rolling on the ground and laughing.

The sea serpent
The ponies come to a turbulent river. A purple sea serpent is lamenting the loss of half of his mustache, torn off by a "tacky little cloud of purple smoke". Applejack and Rainbow Dash are unsympathetic to his plight, but Rarity is impressed by his looks and cannot leave his mustache in its current state. She yanks off one of his scales, uses it cut the hair of her own tail, and magically attaches it to the torn part of his mustache. The sea serpent is extremely pleased and lets the ponies cross the river by coiling his own body to make stepping stones.

The Shadowbolts
Twilight sees the ruins of the castle through the foggy mist and runs towards it, but she almost falls over the edge of a cliff. They see a rope bridge attached to the other side of the gorge, and Rainbow Dash flies down to raise it and tie it to their side. When she lands, a faint voice calls her name and the purple mist slithers underneath her. The voice says they've been expecting the best flyer in Equestria. The Shadowbolts, whose name and appearance are similar to the Wonderbolts, offer the position of Shadowbolt captain to Rainbow Dash. She accepts and asks for a moment to tie the bridge's rope, but The Shadowbolts give her an ultimatum: "It's them or us." Twilight warns Dash not to listen to them, but the fog thickens and muffles Twilight's voice. Dash politely declines and ties the rope. The Shadowbolts turn into purple mist and slither away. Dash returns to her relieved friends, saying "See? I'd never leave my friends hanging." The friends cross the bridge and continue towards the ruins.

"I'd never leave my friends hanging."

- Rainbow Dash

The Elements of Harmony
The ponies enter the castle ruins and come to five stone orbs on a pedestal, which Twilight Sparkle assumes to be the Elements of Harmony. Dash and Fluttershy fly up to retrieve them and place them carefully at Twilight's feet. Pinkie notices there are only five of them. Twilight explains that when the five are present, a spark would cause the sixth to be revealed. The rest of the ponies leave the room to give Twilight some quiet as she tries to use her magic on the orbs, but the purple mist appears and envelops them in a whirlwind. Twilight jumps in and disappears with the purple mist. The other ponies, who are too late to save Twilight, see glowing lights in another tower. Meanwhile, Twilight and Nightmare Moon re-appear at opposite ends of a large hall, with the stone orbs placed around Nightmare Moon. Twilight stamps her hoof and the unicorn and alicorn charge at each other.

Right before they collide, Twilight teleports and reappears next to the orbs. She tries to create a magic spark, but Nightmare Moon materializes in front of her and blasts her away. For a moment the orbs sparkle and frighten Nightmare Moon, but they soon stop, allowing her to shatter them by stamping on the ground. Nightmare Moon triumphantly declares victory.

Twilight Sparkle hears her friends calling for her and something sparks inside her. She confidently declares that the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here. The stone fragments glow and float around each pony as Twilight explains which element each friend represents based on their actions during their journey. The fragments of the orbs float up and start to circle the ponies to which the orbs belong."Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of... honesty! Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of... kindness! Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of... laughter! Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the spirit of... generosity! And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire represents the spirit of... loyalty!"

- Twilight Sparkle

Nightmare Moon protests, saying they don't have the sixth element, but Twilight tells her a different kind of spark revealed the sixth element: the spark that ignited within her when she realized the five other ponies are her friends. "I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all are...my friends! You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of... magic!"

- Twilight Sparkle

A bright ball of magic appears above the friends and the orb fragments of the five friends come together to become jeweled necklaces, while Twilight's orb takes the shape of a crown. The gems glow and the ponies are lifted into the air. A rainbow shaped like a double helix explodes skywards and envelopes a screaming Nightmare Moon. Twilight opens her eyes and floods the room with white light.

Once the light fades, the ponies discover that Rarity's tail is restored, and that they all have gems that resemble their cutie marks. Applejack admits she thought Twilight was "spoutin' a lot of hooey", but now she reckons they "really do represent the elements of friendship."

Conclusion
As the sun rises, Princess Celestia appears and explains that she knew Twilight had the magic to defeat Nightmare Moon, but she could only unleash it by letting true friendship into her heart. They see a smaller Pegasus unicorn that was once Nightmare Moon, and the pieces of her armor around her. She is wearing a dark blue crown and a coat and mane in a lighter shade of violet and blue. Recognizing this strange pony, Celestia approaches her, calling her Princess Luna, and offers her sister the friendship they were meant to have all along. The ponies react with surprise to Celestia calling Luna her sister, even though both books that Twilight consulted earlier mentioned that the royal unicorns were sisters. Luna emotionally accepts Celestia's offer, telling her she missed her dearly. Happy to see her sister again and forgiven for her misdeeds, she embraces Celestia in a joyously tearful reunion. The scene is so beautiful Pinkie Pie bursts out crying, but she abruptly stops and asks, "Hey, you know what this calls for?"

Twilight's new mission
Back in Ponyville, Pinkie throws a joyous party to celebrate the reunion of the two Princesses - but Twilight looks crestfallen. When asked why, Twilight tells Celestia she's sad at the prospect of leaving her new friends and returning home, so Celestia issues her with a new mission: to study the magic of friendship in Ponyville and report her findings. Twilight is elated and promises to study harder than ever before.

Quotes

 * Twilight Sparkle: "I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her, but I don't know what they are, where to find them... I don't even know what they do!"
 * Pinkie Pie: "The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide".
 * Twilight Sparkle: "How did you find that?"
 * Pinkie Pie: "[sing-song voice] It was under "E"!"
 * Twilight Sparkle: "Oh."


 * Applejack: "We're stickin' to you like caramel on a candy apple."
 * Pinkie Pie: "Especially if there's candy apples in there. What? Those things are good!"


 * Fluttershy : "Oh, you poor, poor little baby..."
 * Rainbow Dash: "Little"?!


 * Rarity: "Urghh... my eyes need a rest from all this icky muck."
 * [trees blot out the moonlight, making it darker]
 * Rarity: "I didn't mean it literally."


 * Rarity: "Such lovely luminescent scales."
 * Sea Serpent: "I know."
 * Rarity: "Your expertly coiffed mane."
 * Sea Serpent: "Oh, I know, I know!"
 * Rarity: "Your fabulous manicure."
 * Sea Serpent: "It's so true!"
 * Rarity: "All ruined without your beautiful mustache."
 * Sea Serpent: "It's true, I'm hideous"!


 * Twilight Sparkle: "Oh, Rarity, your beautiful tail!
 * Rarity: Oh, it's fine, my dear. Short tails are in this season. Besides... it'll grow back."
 * Rainbow Dash: "So would the mustache."


 * Rainbow Dash: "What is it with you and falling off cliffs today?"


 * Nightmare Moon: "You're kidding. You're kidding, right?"

Gallery

 * Friendship is Magic, part 2 image gallery