Ink City/Recap/S3/E3 A Discorded Halloween

As the holiday season comes to Ink City, several of its citizens realize that Halloween's coming up fast, and start working on costumes. Inspired, the Painted Lady makes an announcement: there's going to be a Halloween costume party, and everyone's invited! After all the recent drama, surely it couldn't hurt to get together when there isn't something horrible happening! And everyone loves a party, right?

Yes, everyone loves a party... including Discord. In the middle of the festivities, he brings his own stormclouds to provide Dramatic Thunder as he announces:

"Wouldn't it be exciting if it could be real? Well let me cut you a deal! We'll make this a time to remember Your true forms you shall surrender. For this night you shall be something of a fantasy!"

With those words, nearly everyone in the City is transformed into their costume. In some cases, this has even more unusual effects; Yakko had dressed up as a bird, but is abruptly replaced with ! Crow hadn't dressed up at all, but the cold he's been nursing for weeks takes on a mind of its own -- a very nasty mind.

Gloating in the chaos, Discord reassures everyone by claiming he'll change them back... eventually. Maybe in a few months. He then gleefully absconds before the now-rainbowy Mayor or the newly Monochrome Lady can do anything against him, leaving the partygoers faced with the prospect of being stuck in their new forms for quite some time...

Some cope better than others. Souji and Yosuke become their own Personas and discover how difficult it is getting around when you're too tall to fit through most doors. Mordecai, meanwhile, discovers his robotic body can fly, much to his excitement. Him wholeheartedly embraces Her new look, though Her proposed partnership with Discord hits some bumps when he's not willing to let her give him an Evil Makeover.

Making matters worse, several residents start to act more like whatever or whoever they've been transformed into. Rigby, now an exact physical match of Trevor, finds himself compelled to make speeches, even if they aren't quite so grandiose. Cave Johnson, dressed as a devil, becomes unnervingly interested in collecting souls.

And all the while, Discord basks in the chaos he's created... from a safe distance. Taunting his victims via citywide broadcast, he promises more to come... much more. Twenty years' worth of horrible plans -- and that's just his first To-Do list!

This time, though, the Mayor isn't simply wasting time feeling sorry for himself. After consulting with Twilight Sparkle to learn all he can about the draconequus, he privately contacts Discord, pretending he's willing to strike a deal. Discord immediately asks that he hand over control of the City, and the Mayor demurs, admitting he's not really in charge... but if he surrendered his powers to Discord, surely he could use them to rule.

Eagerly, Discord takes the deal and the Mayor's offered hand... And the handshake becomes a death grip as the Mayor drains away most of his power, temporarily taking on the same coloring as his victim. Using the draconequus' own abilities, he reverses the curse and turns everyone back to normal... and Discord's powers take the form of a flying pig. Turns out they can't be destroyed, as they're still a part of Discord and thus of the City itself, but they can be kept separate at least, right...?

This Event includes examples of:
"Discord: What did you do to me?! Mayor: Just a little something that one of the citizens taught me."
 * All Girls Like Ponies: Justified; Ichigo dresses up like her new friends Twilight and Rarity, along with wings to honor the now-absent Fluttershy.
 * Real Men Like Ponies Too: Souji instantly becomes a pony fan after meeting Rarity. When he sees the transformed Ichigo, his first thought is "Damn, I could've been a pony!"
 * All Hallow's Eve
 * And Then Mordecai Was A Robot: And Starscream Was A Human, and Ichigo Was A Pony, and Souji And Yosuke Were Personas, and...
 * Arbitrary Skepticism: The Welcome Wagon Securitron tells Aisling that curses do not exist. While most of the City is dealing with Discord's curse.
 * Becoming the Costume
 * Beware the Silly Ones
 * Blatant Lies: When confronted by Mr. House's security bots, Cave Johnson claims his attempted murder was 'just a smoking accident'. His Look Behind You! attempt is just as unconvincing.
 * Dot assumes she can fix her monochrome costume by changing into a normal dress, and tells Ichigo as much. When she discovers otherwise, she claims she chose to stay in costume 'to show solidarity' with everyone else. (Ichigo completely buys it.)
 * Brick Joke: After all the fuss the growing 9|stitchpunk cast has made over the joke on the Sign ('7: There is no number seven.'), Three and Four finally steal it away and fix it. Immediately afterwards, Seven shows up.
 * Buffy-Speak: This is what happens when you combine Trevor's love of lecturing with Rigby's... Rigbyness.
 * Bullying a Dragon: Ava tries Trolling the transformed Souji, only to be ignored... until she brings up Yosuke. That was a mistake.
 * Call Back: The Mayor's strategy for handling Discord mirrors his past experiences with Bass.


 * Catgirl: Crmsn's costume, which turns her into a kitten once Discord casts his spell.
 * Character Development: Highlights how the Mayor has grown from a self-proclaimed God who enjoyed taunting and tormenting the citizens to someone who honestly cares about their well-being. He even admits as much to Discord, stating that months ago, he might have let his behavior pass unchecked...
 * Cursed with Awesome: Discord's power cancels out Puck's gift for its duration, giving Demona the chance for some stone-skinned power napping.
 * Mordecai takes his robotic transformation a lot better once he realizes he can fly now.
 * Berri attempts to point this out when Shiro is changed into a Chandelure - after all, how many Pokémon Trainers can claim to have had the ability to actively converse with their Pokémon companions?
 * Damned By Faint Praise: Mordecai thanks the Mayor, saying he's glad he took some action for once.
 * Deal with the Devil: Cave Johnson starts offering these after becoming more 'comfortable' in his costume.
 * The Mayor also exploits this to bring around Discord's downfall.
 * Discord himself makes a deal with Him in hopes of reclaiming his stolen powers.
 * De-Power
 * Demonic Possession: Discord's spell causes Crow to get possessed by... something. Something that's hostile towards.
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: Yakko greets Crmsn with the usual "Hello, Nurse!!" routine before learning who she is.
 * Evil Makeover: Her gives Herself one while adjusting to Her temporary form. She also wanted to give Discord one, but that didn't go over so well.
 * False Reassurance: Discord's promise to change everyone back... once he gets bored.
 * Female Angel, Male Demon: Caroline and Cave Johnson's respective costumes.
 * For Halloween I Am Going as Myself: Played with; remember, "Thou art I, and I am thou."
 * For the Evulz
 * Gender Bender: Him becomes Her; Kay becomes a male Jammin' Ninja. Crmsn's a woman for the duration too, but that's actually a case of Mode Lock.
 * Green-Eyed Monster: Cave's jealousy of Kitten!Mordecai was bad enough, but when he walks in on her with Human!Mordecai...
 * Halloween Episode
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: The master of trickery winds up decieved himself.
 * Humanity Ensues: Starscream and Mordecai Heller both get hit by this, and it causes both immediate problems, thanks to GLaDOS' interest in the former and the poor position the latter gets caught in. Inverted by Demona, who temporarily loses her human form.
 * Hypocritical Humor: Discord and Him's potential alliance takes a hit when Discord refuses to let Her mess with his appearance. Her even points out that he'd changed Her against her will.
 * I Am Not Weasel: Cave mistakes Oswald for Mickey Mouse. Oswald takes this about as well as you'd expect.
 * Ignored Expert: Ever since she first arrived in the City, Twilight tried to warn everyone about Discord... but most people were distracted by her being a talking unicorn.
 * I Just Want to Be Special: Maya was in the bathroom and out of costume when Discord cast his spell. She's rather upset about missing out.
 * Impossibly Cool Clothes/Impractically Fancy Outfit: Sure, dressing up like his persona sounded cool, but Souji finds out the hard way how difficult it is to walk on ice skates bladed shoes.
 * I Surrender, Suckers
 * It Amused Me: Dot explains to Ichigo that Discord's reasons boil down to "Because I can." She's self-aware enough to Lampshade how Warner antics often run on Rule of Funny, pointing out there's usually no long-lasting consequences.
 * It's Personal: Discord's curse affected the Mayor and his sister. Not only that, but it affected his friends -- as he'd come to see its residents as more than mere subjects.
 * Late to the Party: Oswald shows up late to the Halloween Party because he was having trouble finishing his costume on time... and as a result, was one of the only residents who didn't get hit by Discord's costume-changing spell. References have already been made towards his luck.
 * Twilight decided to, "just this once", skip out of the Nightmare Night festivities. It turns out, in worlds that aren't Equestria, being unsocial has its perks.
 * Masquerade: Souji tries to keep others in the dark about his Persona, and is alarmed when Ichigo comments that she's glad Yosuke didn't dress up as a Shadow. (He also muses to himself that it probably wasn't a good idea to dress up like something he was trying to keep secret when she idly wonders aloud about how Discord knew they were friends and made them the same size...)
 * Mega Manning: The Mayor apparently learned this trick from Bass.
 * The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body
 * Mutually Exclusive Magic: Ichigo learns the hard way that trying to do magic as a unicorn, or trying to fly like a pegasus, is a lot different than tapping into the powers of the Great Cosmos, and ends up having to get some crash course instruction from Twilight... instruction that ends up initially with Ichigo nearly setting her mane on fire.
 * Never My Fault: Cave doesn't even apologize for nearly burning Caroline alive -- according to him, he was only trying to kill Mordecai, and she just got in the way.
 * Not So Stoic: Souji doesn't deal with the whole 'stuck as a seven-foot Persona who can't enter buildings and can barely walk" thing all that well.
 * Not What It Looks Like: Mordecai's involuntary transformation from kitten to human leaves him and a still-sleeping Caroline in a very compromising position.
 * The Scapegoat: The Rainbow Mayor immediately blames, though he doesn't publicly accuse them for fear of drawing too much attention to their presence.
 * Shape Shifter: Played with;.
 * Slasher Smile: Once he's got a good grip on Discord, the Mayor literally grins ear-to-ear.
 * Speciesism: The devilish Cave Johnson claims Twilight, Oswald and Missile don't even have souls.
 * Rather, he laughs in Twilight's face, claiming that pony souls are hardly worthy of being called souls at all - or, in his words, "I've thrown away socks that have more value than a pony soul.".
 * Stealth Insult: The Mayor actually solved a crisis on his own? Cue The Flying Pig.
 * Twitchy Eye: The Mayor gets one when Discord asks to be put in charge.
 * Unwilling Roboticisation: Happens to Mordecai, Priscilla, and Legato. While Mordi just ends up a robot version of himself, Pris decided to dress as (and subsequently become) one of her own boss Mr. House's Securitrons, and Legato becomes Proto Man.
 * Villain Team-Up: Proposed by Her, though it's immediately threatened when Discord won't let Her alter his looks at all.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: The Mayor furiously calls out.
 * Caroline calls out Cave Johnson for nearly burning her alive. His defense that he was only trying to kill Mordecai and she just got in the way doesn't sit well with her.
 * Winged Unicorn: Ichigo, who isn't aware of the significance, wearing wings to honor Fluttershy and seeing the horn as a handy way to disguise her antenna. Twilight, who is aware of the significance, minorly freaks out upon first seeing her, though she quickly adjusts.