The Return of Harmony Part 1

The Return of Harmony Part 1
Season №:	2
Season episode №:	1
Overall episode №:	27
Original airdate:	September 17, 2011
Written by:	M. A. Larson
Storyboard:	Tom Sales & Sabrina Alberghetti
Featured characters:	Discord
See also
credits • transcript • gallery • allusions animation errors • statistics • speculation
Episode guide
Previous The Best Night Ever	Next The Return of Harmony Part 2

The Return of Harmony Part 1 is the first episode of the second season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the twenty-seventh episode overall. It is the first part of a two-part episode.

When strange phenomena start occurring across Equestria, Princess Celestia tasks the Mane Six with wielding the Elements of Harmony to defeat Discord, though they must first contend with his manipulation tactics.

Production

The show's director, Jayson Thiessen, has stated that while the two episodes were produced at the tail-end of the first season, they were always supposed to be part of season two. This was done to shorten the production hiatus and to keep on as many of the show's staff as possible. Lauren Faust notes that the episode's writing was completed before the series premiered, and was not created or altered as a reaction to the fanbase. The two episodes' writer M.A. Larson has stated that Applejack was to have said a line that was cut from the episode, "Hope everything's ok back in Ponyville. I don't know if Big McIntosh and Granny Smith have enough butter for all that popcorn." A line that "got cut early on, and with good reason" ("Doesn't really fit 'in universe.'") was Rainbow Dash saying "Get off that cloud and put 'em up! I'm not afraid of you! Come on, Marquess of Queensbury rules! Let's go!" instead of "Get off there and put 'em up! Come on! Let's go!"

The scene when Discord manipulates Rarity and discovers her "diamond" reappears in A-Dressing Memories.

Summary

The statue

The friends fight in front of the statue of Discord.

Cheerilee takes a group of students on a field trip in the world-famous sculpture garden in Canterlot. While Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo bicker with each other, Cheerilee stops in front of a statue of a draconequus and explains that the various mismatched body parts represent discord. The girls argue with each other over the nature of the stone figure until Cheerilee assigns them extra work as punishment. As they walk away from the spot, an evil laugh emanates from the statue as a large crack forms on its surface.

The first signs

Chaos descends upon the field.

In Ponyville, Rainbow Dash encounters pink clouds made of cotton candy that precipitate chocolate milk over Sweet Apple Acres. Bewildered, Applejack asks Rainbow about the rain as the corn she had just been harvesting begins to pop into popcorn all across her property. Rainbow mentions that strange weather is occurring throughout Equestria while Pinkie Pie jumps around eating the popcorn with delight. Just as Rarity shows up to help, the apples on nearby trees become enormous to the point of sagging the trunks. The fruit attracts squirrels and rabbits, but when Fluttershy tries to dissuade them from eating it, the critters' legs suddenly elongate to impossible proportions.

Twilight Sparkle arrives with Spike and declares she has a new fail-safe spell to reverse the strange phenomena, though it ends up having no effect. After a moment of thought, she tells Rainbow Dash to corral the cotton candy clouds and Applejack to lasso them to the ground. Twilight then instructs Fluttershy to coax the animals into eating the clouds instead of the apples. As the friends celebrate their success, Spike receives a letter from Princess Celestia telling them to come to Canterlot immediately.

Discord returns

Princess Celestia summoning the Mane Six.

When the Mane Six arrive at the Canterlot palace, Princess Celestia explains that the strange occurrences are being caused by Discord, the spirit of chaos who ruled Equestria in a state of eternal unhappiness long ago. She and Princess Luna defeated him with the Elements of Harmony and turned him into stone, but the spell they cast to contain him broke after the two princesses became "no longer connected" to the Elements. Celestia tasks the ponies with stopping Discord once more and goes to retrieve the Elements from behind a magically sealed door, only to discover that the box that contained them is empty.

As Celestia tries to make sense of the theft, Discord's disembodied voice suddenly echoes around the room. He animates the stained glass windows in the hall to taunt the ponies, showing off his familiarity with their connection to the Elements of Harmony before offering them a clue as to the Elements' location in the form of a riddle:

"To retrieve your missing Elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan, then find the Elements back where you began."

— Discord

Convinced that Discord has hidden the Elements inside the castle's outdoor hedge maze, Twilight and her friends determine to search there.

The maze

Enter: Discord!

When the group reach the maze, Rainbow Dash starts flying up to get a bird's eye view but ends up crashing to the ground when her wings suddenly disappear. Fluttershy's wings vanish moments later alongside Twilight and Rarity’s horns. As the ponies panic, Discord suddenly appears among them and tells them that there are two rules to the "game": no flying or magic, and everyone has to play or else Discord wins. The friends determine to proceed through the maze together but become immediately separated when hedges suddenly spring up between them. Calling out to each other, they agree to meet in the center before heading out along their own paths.

Applejack the liar

Applejack stares into the dark future of her friends.

As Applejack makes her way through the maze, she spots three apples rolling on the ground and follows them to an apple orchard. Three piles of fallen apples form in front of her and, identifying themselves as "keepers of the grove of truth", tell her to look into a nearby pool to learn how their journey will end. In the water's reflection, Applejack sees a vision of the six friends agreeing to never speak to each other again before parting ways. As Applejack looks on in dismay, Discord uses the apples to hypnotize her with the idea of telling lies to mask painful truth. The hedges behind her open up to reveal Twilight Sparkle, who finds Applejack staring directly into a wall. Twilight asks her who she was talking to but is confused when Applejack denies speaking to anyone at all.

Pinkie Pie the grump

The spirit of chaos uses Pinkie's love of balloons against her.

Pinkie Pie comes across a clearing filled with smiling party balloons that she can hear laughing. She starts giggling and hopping among the balloons before getting tripped by one of their ribbons and landing in a puddle of mud. The laughter she hears suddenly becomes derisive, and when Pinkie questions what's going on, Discord appears and claims that her friends regularly laugh at her in a similar manner. Pinkie initially denies it, but when Discord makes her friends' faces appear on the jeering balloons, she pleads with them to stop laughing. Hypnotizing her with a distain for laughter, Discord disappears just as the balloons pop to reveal Twilight and Applejack on the edge of the clearing. Twilight eagerly greets Pinkie but is angrily dismissed, even as Applejack tells her she doesn't notice anything amiss about Pinkie's behavior.

Rarity the hoarder

Rarity becomes obsessed with a shiny giant diamond, but looks can be deceiving.

While complaining about having to do "outdoor sport", Rarity runs into a large stone wall through which appear three diamond faces. Discord appears in the diamonds' reflections and attempts to hypnotize her with the beauty of the gemstones. Rarity initially resists and tries to talk herself into finding her friends, but she soon runs back to the rock and starts frantically digging at it. After some time, she unearths what she sees as a huge diamond and determines to carry it back home. Just then, the remainder of the stone wall breaks apart to reveal Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie. Twilight asks Rarity why she is hefting a large boulder, but Rarity insists it's a diamond and refuses to share it with anyone.

Fluttershy the brute

Discord's words fail to corrupt Fluttershy, so he resorts to force.

As she struggles to find courage to progress through the maze, Fluttershy encounters three butterflies fluttering past her and rushes to join up with them. Discord, in the form of the butterflies, approaches her in a clearing and tries to provoke her to anger against her friends, but Fluttershy responds with only positive assumptions in their regard. Frustrated, Discord reveals his true form and hypnotizes her to be cruel by simply prodding her head. A nearby hedge lowers to reveal the other ponies, but when Twilight expresses her relief over their reunion and concern about the maze, Fluttershy responds with only ridicule. Confused about what is happening to her friends, Twilight obliges Rarity's request for help carrying her boulder, though she warns Twilight against taking it for herself.

Rainbow Dash the traitor

Discord tests Rainbow Dash's loyalty by giving her a tough choice.

Moving quickly along the maze's corridors, Rainbow Dash spies a small cloud with rainbow lightning floating ahead of her. She chases it around a corner only to come across Discord lying on a hammock made of clouds. She challenges him to a fight, but Discord tells her he is only there to deliver a message. Hypnotizing Rainbow with a vision of Cloudsdale collapsing without her, he presents her wings in a box and tells her she can either take them and leave or continue aimlessly wandering the maze.

Discord wins the game

"Looks like we might be due for a big old storm of chaos!"

As the rest of the Mane Six plod through the maze, Twilight, now the sole carrier of Rarity's boulder, tries to assure herself of the group's eventual success. Her hope turns to disbelief when she sees Rainbow Dash flying off, and moments later, the entire maze suddenly lowers into the ground. Discord appears and declares the game over since Rainbow Dash broke the "no wings, no magic" rule, snidely predicting a "big old storm of chaos" as Twilight looks on in dismay.

Quotes

For more quotes, see the episode's transcript.

Scootaloo: How cool would it be to have that for a cutie mark?

Apple Bloom: Cool, if you were actually victoryful at somethin'.

Sweetie Belle: That's not a word!

Scootaloo: What are you, a dictionary?

Rarity: I heard about your troubles, Applejack, and I came to see if there's anything I can do without getting wet. Or dirty. Or out from under my umbrella.

Pinkie Pie: Hold on a second! Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys! Chocolate! Rain!

Princess Celestia: That chamber is protected by a powerful spell that only I can break! This doesn't make sense!

Discord: Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?

Discord: You see, this is the first rule of our game: no flying, and no magic.

Rainbow Dash: The first rule?

Discord: The second rule is everypony has to play or the game is over, and I win. Good luck, everypony!

Applejack: That just can't be the truth...

Discord: When all the truth does is make your heart ache, sometimes a lie is easier to take.

Discord: What's the matter, Pinkie Pie? I thought you appreciated a good laugh.

Pinkie Pie: It's different. They're laughing at me.

Discord: It's hardly different. Your friends laugh at you all the time.

Pinkie Pie: My friends laugh with me, not at me.

Discord: Oh, really?

Rarity: Little help here! Thanks, Twilight.

Twilight Sparkle: You're welcome–

Rarity: But don't get any ideas about my gem! I know where you live.

Discord: Looks like we're in for a big old storm of chaos!

Gallery

The Return of Harmony Part 1 image gallery

References

v • e Episodes, films, and animated shorts

Make Your Mark
Episode 1 Izzy Does It	Episode 2 Growing Pains	Episode 3 Portrait of a Princess	Episode 4 Ali-Conned
Episode 5 The Cutie Mark Mix-Up	Episode 6 The Traditional Unicorn Sleep-Over	Episode 7 Hoof Done It?	Episode 8 Have You Seen This Dragon?
Episode 9 Top Remodel	Episode 10 The Jinxie Games	Episode 11 Sunny Side Up	Episode 12 The Manesquerade Ball
Episode 13 A Little Horse	Episode 14 Missing the Mark	Episode 15 Cutie Blossom Bash	Episode 16 Family Trees Pt. 1
Episode 17 Family Trees Pt. 2	Episode 18 Father of the Bridlewood	Episode 19 Mane Smelody	Episode 20 Nightmare on Mane Street
Episode 21 The Isle of Scaly‎‎	Episode 22 Roots of All Evil Pt. 1‎	Episode 23 Roots of All Evil Pt. 2