Lesson Zero

Lesson Zero is the third episode of the second season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, and the twenty-ninth episode overall. The episode is the first to use the remastered theme song, and the first to dispense with the "educational and informative" e/i rating.

Summary
The episode starts off as Twilight and Spike are walking, collecting items for a checklist for a picnic. Twilight needs some cupcakes, and finds out Mrs. Cake added an extra cupcake. She disarranges them, claiming the frosting is not fairly distributed with the extra cupcake, until there is only a tiny bit on each cake, and Spike is covered in frosting, which he licks off. Afterwards they head home, their checklist complete. Spike points out that they haven't written a letter to Princess Celestia that week and Twilight panics, realizing they haven't. Spike then wonders why Twilight is panicking, and she panics even more.

"Bad? BAD!? It's worse than bad!"

- Twilight Sparkle

She then checks her calendar and finds out they really haven't sent a letter to the Princess that week, and claims they'll be tardy. She is afraid to take the chance of being late, then panics even more, saying that the Princess will give her a test that she'll fail and be sent back to Magic Kindergarten. Spike believes Twilight is over-exaggerating, saying that the Princess would never send her back to Magic Kindergarten. Twilight becomes determined to solve a friendship-problem and have a letter written to Celestia before sundown.

Twilight then proceeds to ask all of her close friends if they have any problems, starting with Spike. Spike says he has nothing, resorting to Twilight finding a friend in need. Spike groans over how badly this will end.

While looking around Ponyville, Twilight overhears Rarity crying at her shop after she lost her ribbon she requires for a dress. Before Twilight can help her, however, Rarity finds the ribbon she needed, much to Twilight's disappointment.

While searching for her other friends, Twilight finds Rainbow Dash destroying an old barn on Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight, thinking that Dash and Applejack are fighting with each other, stops Rainbow Dash. However, Rainbow Dash informs Twilight that she was given permission to destroy the old barn and finishes off the job by diving into the barn and creating a colorful mushroom-cloud explosion.

Still determined, Twilight decides to visit Fluttershy believing she will have a problem which can be fixed by her. However, when arriving at her cottage, Twilight sees Fluttershy apparently attacking a bear and decides to back off, exclaiming that of all the days she had to stop being a "scardey-pony", it had to be today. As the unicorn leaves in despair over her timid friend being courageous of all days, it is soon revealed that Fluttershy was aiding the bear with a tense shoulder and giving it a massage.

Twilight, becoming more worried, starts to tearfully talk to her own reflection in a puddle, trying to convince herself she still can get the letter done before the end of the day. However while this happens, she starts imaging small filly ponies laughing at her before Spike intervenes, revealing that the "laughing ponies" are just some fillies playing jump rope nearby. Spike then reminds Twilight about the picnic and she proceeds to head off to meet up with her friends.

Twilight then arrives at the picnic, clearly agitated and explains to her friends that she needs them to help her find a lesson about friendship to write about to Princess Celestia. When her friends laugh and insist that she has nothing to worry about she runs off.

With the sun about to set soon, a mentally teetering Twilight decides the only option left is to create a problem so she can solve it. She spots the Cutie Mark Crusaders playing with a ball, and approaches them to try and get them to take her doll, Smarty Pants. When they don't immediately fight over the doll, she casts a "want it need it" spell on it, making the Crusaders want the doll and begin fighting over it. She tries to break up the fight but is unable to. She then asks Big McIntosh, who was passing by, to get the doll. However, upon retrieving it, he becomes enchanted with the doll and runs away with it. Eventually, nearly  all of Ponyville  falls for the spell and begins to fight over the doll. The day finally ends and, to Twilight's fear, an angry Princess Celestia intervenes to undo her student's spell, returning all of the ponies to normal. She instructs Twilight to meet her at the library. Twilight bids farewell to her friends, who realize they may never see her again.

Once in the library, Twilight explains her actions while Spike overhears. Celestia shows her immense faith in her student, and says that she does not require a letter every week. Twilight's friends stumble in, and plead to the Princess to be merciful to her student, explaining that they were wrong for denying Twilight help when she most needed it. In lieu of a punishment for Twilight, the Princess requests that all of Twilight's friends write her letters about friendship from now on, but only when they actually find one. Before she leaves, she tells Twilight that Spike made her aware of Twilight's fears getting the best of her, and after she left, Twilight gave Spike a loving hug.

The episode ends with them offering a collaborative report, showing that they learned of taking a friend's worry seriously, even if it does not always seem as serious and as a companion to that, not to blow your problems out of proportion.

Quotes

 * Twilight Sparkle: Bad? Bad? Of course it's bad! I'm supposed to send Princess Celestia a letter every week telling her a lesson I've learned about friendship! Not every other week! Not every ten days! EVERY! SINGLE! WEEK!


 * Twilight Sparkle: She's my teacher. Do you know what teachers do to students who don't pass? They send them back a grade! But she won't just send me back a grade. She'll send me back to... magic kindergarten.


 * Rarity: Out of all the things that could happen, this is THE! WORST! POSSIBLE! THING!


 * Twilight Sparkle: Now, why don't you tell me all about your issues with Applejack.
 * Rainbow Dash: I don't have any issues with Applejack.
 * Twilight Sparkle: Then...why are you destroying her property?
 * Rainbow Dash: Because she asked me to.


 * Twilight Sparkle: How could this be happening? Of all the days she had to stop being such a scaredy-pony, she had to pick today! What am I going to do?
 * Fluttershy: [to bear] You really should have come to me sooner. You were carrying so much tension in that shoulder.


 * Twilight Sparkle: Big McIntosh! Thank goodness! You gotta help me get that doll away from those girls!
 * Big McIntosh: Eeyup.
 * Twilight Sparkle: Oh, thank you so much! Now, if you could just give her to me—
 * Big McIntosh: [muffled] Nnope.


 * Princess Celestia: Looks like you all learned a pretty valuable lesson today.
 * Twilight's Friends: Uh-hm.
 * Princess Celestia: Very well. I'll forget Twilight's punishment, on one condition: from this day forth, I'd like you all to report to me your findings on the magic of friendship, when, and only when, you happen to discover them.
 * Twilight's Friends: [cheer]

Trivia

 * This is the first episode where Celestia is visibly upset for Twilight's irresponsible use of magic.
 * This is the first episode to feature a new introduction scene with a slightly altered theme song.
 * In one scene, Derpy and the Mayor fight over Twilight's doll. When Princess Celestia breaks the spell that Twilight cast on the doll, Derpy goes back to her familiar wall-eyed expression.
 * Cheerilee's name is mentioned by Spike; this is the first mention of the name on-screen.
 * In Twilight's imagination of Magic Kindergarten, there is a winged unicorn filly at the back of the class. The combination of having wings and a unicorn horn is an animation error.
 * This episode marks the first time the Mayor appears since Winter Wrap Up.
 * Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia have new colors for their magic horn glow in this episode. Twilight's magic glow has changed from purple to red and Princess Celestia's has changed from light blue to gold.
 * This is the first episode where it's mentioned that Spike writes a letter to Princess Celestia of his own volition.
 * The scene in which Princess Celestia confronts Twilight and her friends shares a musical score similar to The King's Speech from the film of the same name.
 * This isn't the first time one of the main characters loses her mind over some little problem. Pinkie Pie went crazy in Party of One when she thought her friends didn't like her anymore.

Gallery

 * Lesson Zero image gallery