| 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[1] |
| 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.[2] 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.[3] 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."[4][5][6] 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!"[7]
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. Pinkie Pie jumps around eating the popcorn with delight while Rainbow mentions that strange weather is occurring throughout Equestria. 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.
Something is different with the ponies.
As Twilight's friends progress individually through the maze, Discord uses various illusions to hypnotize them into behaving counter to their Elements: Applejack lies compulsively, Pinkie Pie becomes grumpy, Rarity hoards belongings, Fluttershy acts cruelly toward others, and Rainbow abandons their cause after being presented with her wings. Twilight eventually finds Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy, though she grows concerned as she notices their changed personalities.
At one point, while struggling to maintain the group's cohesion, Twilight looks up to find Rainbow flying off toward Cloudsdale under the illusion that the city is in peril. Discord suddenly appears and, citing Rainbow's breach of the no-flying rule, lowers the hedge maze into the ground and declares himself winner, 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[]
References[]
- ↑ Raven Molisee's DeviantArt journal (2012-02-23). Retrieved on 2012 February 23.
- ↑ Equestria Daily interview with Thiessen (2011-09-13). Retrieved on 2011 September 15.
- ↑ Lauren Faust (2011-09-20). Completion of season two opener's writing. Retrieved on 2011 September 21.
- ↑ M.A. Larson on Twitter (2012-07-24). Retrieved on 2012 July 24.
- ↑ M.A. Larson on Twitter (2012-07-24). Retrieved on 2012 July 24.
- ↑ M.A. Larson on Twitter (2012-07-24). Retrieved on 2012 July 24.
- ↑ M.A. Larson on Twitter (2012-08-01). Retrieved on 2012 August 2.
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Episode 22 Roots of All Evil Pt. 1 |
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