Friendship is Magic, part 2

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

Summary
The episode starts with a recap of the previous episode, and resumes where it left off, with Night Mare Moon creating a lightning storm around Twilight Sparkle. The Mayor commands the royal guards to attack Night Mare 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 face to face, accusing her of being a spy because she knows about Night Mare Moon. Dash is suddenly pulled back by Applejack, who warns her to simmer down and asks Twilight what's going on. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy join Dash and Applejack, and they all 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, sorted in its place alphabetically, much to Twilight's embarrassment. Twilight declaims from the book, naming five of the elements: kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty, and loyalty. As she names the elements, the camera pans over each pony that will come to represent each respective element later in the episode. Twilight reads on, finding that 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. Unbeknown to the ponies, Night Mare Moon, in her purple mist form, listens to their conversation before flying off to the forest.

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 "don't work the same as Equestria." While they're talking, the purple mist seeps into the cliff side underneath them. Dash tries spooking the other ponies by telling them no pony who's ever come into the forest has ever come out. As soon as she finishes the sentence, the cliff collapses, and the purple mist whisks off, apparently undetected.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash instinctively go airborne to hover above, then stop Rarity and Pinkie Pie's forward momentum, but Applejack and Twilight continue sliding down towards another steep cliff. Applejack manages to grab onto an exposed root, but Twilight nearly slides completely over the edge. Her momentum under control, Applejack carefully slides to her and holds down her hooves, and after glancing above her, tells her to let go. Twilight protests, but Applejack promises that she's telling the truth, and tells her if she lets go she'll be safe. Twilight acquiesces and plummets down the cliff but suddenly stops, now carried down to safety by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. 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
Rainbow Dash repeats her exploits from a moment ago, when an angry manticore appears in front of the group. After Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash try to stop the manticore under the quiet protests of Fluttershy, the five other ponies start charging at the manticore, but Fluttershy finally raises her voice and stops them. She gently approaches the manticore, who, after a moment of unsure hesitation, shows her a purple thorn in its paw. She removes it and wins its affection, and the six ponies go about their journey. When Twilight asks Fluttershy how she knew about the thorn, Fluttershy simply states that she didn't. The scene with Fluttershy taking the thorn out of the manticore's paw is loosely based on Androcles and the Lion.

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

- Fluttershy

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 her friends' surprise. Pinkie Pie makes funny faces at the trees and starts to laugh.

"HA! HA! HA!"

- Pinkie Pie

Pinkie Pie starts singling the Laughter Song, which is about conquering your fears through laughter. This is the first musical number on the show. The other ponies are hesitant at first, but soon join in, laughing away the scary faces. They conclude the song rolling on the ground laughing.

The sea serpent
The ponies go on their way until they come to a turbulent river. The turbulence is caused by a purple flamboyant sea serpent, deeply upset by having his half of his mustache torn off by a "tacky little cloud of purple smoke". Applejack and Rainbow Dash are unsympathetic to the serpent's plight, but Rarity is impressed by his looks and cannot leave his mustache in its current state.

"I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!"

- Rarity

She yanks off one of his scales, uses it as a sword to cut the hair of her own tail, and magically attaches it to the torn part of his mustache to restore it. The sea serpent then calms down and rather than allow the ponies to get their hooves wet, insists they cross the river over his coils.

The Shadowbolts
Twilight spots the ruins of the castle in the distance through thick fog. She runs towards the castle, but trips on the edge of a cliff and gets pulled back by Rainbow Dash.

There's a rope bridge hanging over one side of the gorge, and Rainbow Dash flies down to raise it and tie it to the other 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 then "offer" Rainbow Dash, the position of captain of the Shadowbolts. Their name and appearance is similar to the Wonderbolts whom Dash idolizes.

Dash accepts and asks to tie the bridge's rope for a moment before joining, but The Shadowbolts' leader poses 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's 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 stand in front of several stone orbs perched on a pedestal, which Twilight Sparkle assumes are the Elements of Harmony. Dash and Fluttershy fly up to retrieve them and place them carefully at Twilight's feet, and 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 her some quiet as Twilight tries to use her magic on the orbs, but the purple mist appears and envelops them in a whirlwind. Twilight jumps in and disappears along with the purple mist. The other ponies, arriving too late to save Twilight, see glowing lights in another part of the ruins and head to it. Twilight and Night Mare Moon re-appear at opposite ends of a large hall, with the stone orbs around Night Mare Moon. Twilight stamps her hoof and charges at Night Mare Moon, leading her to do the same.

Right before they collide, Twilight teleports, then reappears next to the orbs. She tries to use her magic to create a spark, but Night Mare Moon turns into mist and materializes in front of her, and blasts her away from the orbs. For a moment the orbs sparkle and frighten Night Mare Moon, but they soon stop, allowing her to shatter them by stamping on the ground. Pleased with this, Night Mare Moon declares victory, swirling her purple mist around herself.

Twilight Sparkle hears her friends calling for her with reassuring words, and something sparks inside her. She gives Night Mare Moon a confident speech about the Elements of Harmony, declaring the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are "right here", as the other five ponies arrive behind her. The stone fragments glow and float around each pony as Twilight explains which element each of them represents based on their actions during their journey. Night Mare 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, and at this point gets emotional enough that she cries tears of joy.

When Twilight concludes the speech, the fragments turn into jewels, and the six ponies glow and float in the air as a rainbow emanates from them and envelops Night Mare Moon. Twilight opens her eyes, which flood room with white light. The scene is reminiscent of the Rainbow of Light from the 1984 My Little Pony pilot episode Rescue at Midnight Castle, where Megan defeats Tirac in a similar fashion.

Once the light fades, the ponies discover that Rarity's tail is restored, and that they all have jewelery that matches 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 Night Mare Moon, but she could only unleash it by letting true friendship into her heart. They soon see a smaller Pegasus unicorn that was once Night Mare 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, naming 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 heartwarming scene is so beautiful Pinkie Pie bursts out crying, but she abruptly stops and returns to her accustomed self after getting an idea.

Twilight's new mission
Back in Ponyville, Pinkie's idea is shown, namely throwing 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: study the magic of friendship in Ponyville, and report her findings. Twilight is elated about being able to stay with her friends. She promises to study harder than ever before.

Quotes

 * Twilight Sparkle: I read all about the prediction of Night Mare 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?


 * Night Mare Moon: Your kidding. Your kidding right?

Gallery

 * Friendship is Magic, part 2 image gallery