My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E02 The Return of Harmony Part 2: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Discord-popcorn_9398.jpg|frame|He's got the best seat in all of Equestria.]]

 

 

 

When we last left our heroes, Twilight's friends had all fallen under the influence of Discord and become their opposite selves: the honest Applejack is a compulsive (and [[Bad Liar|transparent]]) liar, the generous Rarity is greedily obsessing over a boulder she thinks is a giant diamond, the fun-loving Pinkie Pie is a grump, the kindly Fluttershy is a [[Jerkass]], and the loyal Rainbow Dash has run out on her friends. Equestria is doomed!

Twilight starts to call out Discord on not playing fair in his little "game" by removing the labyrinth prematurely; Discord points out that he never ''said'' the Elements of Harmony were in the hedge maze, and that Twilight misinterpreted his riddle and fell into his trap as a result. He stays around just long enough to mock Twilight and "the magic of friendship" before leaving to cause more chaos.

 

 

Twilight, her patience with her "friends" wearing thin, finally gets her hooves on the book, and finds the Elements hidden inside. She forces the Elements onto the others (with Spike acting as a hasty stand-in for Rainbow Dash) and heads out to confront Discord, who seems resigned to give the ponies a shot at defeating him. Twilight powers up the elements, there's a familiar glow of power, and...

Without the bonds of friendship, the Elements are powerless, and Twilight's former companions leave in a huff. Twilight, utterly dejected, finally falls under Discord's corruption; she despondently walks home through the surreal madhouse that is now Ponyville, convinced that her friends (and any hope of defeating Discord) are lost for good.

 

 

When Twilight gets home, however, she finds Spike in quite a state, nauseous from burping up countless letters from Princess Celestia. They're copies of all the friendship reports she's sent to the princess during her stay in Ponyville. Reading over them, Twilight is reminded of her lessons of friendship, which breaks Discord's corruption and inspires her to redouble her fight. Tracking down Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, she frees them from Discord's influence by using a memory spell to remind them of all their good times. When they find Rainbow Dash clinging to a cloud that she thinks is Cloudsdale, the five endure a harrowing aerial chase before finally returning her to normal.

Once again, Twilight Sparkle and her friends are set to take on Discord, who fails to realize that they've broken free of his influence.

 

'''Twilight Sparkle:''' [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle|I'll tell you what we've learned]], ''[[Shut UP, Hannibal|Discord]]''! [[Kirk Summation|We've learned that friendship isn't always easy, but there's no doubt it's worth fighting for!]] }}

 

Discord remains smugly confident that the Elements of Harmony are still powerless, only to learn otherwise when they hit him head-on, [[Taken for Granite|trapping him in stone]] once more. Back in Canterlot, the bearers of the Elements receive much-deserved congratulations from Princess Celestia...as well as a new stained-glass window commemorating their defeat of Discord.

 

 

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* [[A Glass of Chianti]]: Kid-friendly variation: Discord enjoys a chocolate milk of glass<ref>He conjures a glass, fills it from top to bottom with chocolate milk, and drinks the glass, leaving the chocolate milk intact.</ref> while lounging on his throne. It's non-alcoholic, but his mannerisms give it the same effect as it was.

** Pinkie's growl was more big cat or bearlike than doglike.

*** Regardless of how Pinkie's growl sounded, both she and Twilight are on a human-level of intelligence and are therefore likely making an active choice to growl like that in the way angry humans will sometimes growl or snarl at the target of their anger.

* [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle]]: {{spoiler|1=Becomes a plot point ''twice''. First when Celestia uses all the [[Aesop|Aesops]] [[Chekhov's Gun|Twilight had sent her]] to break Twilight out of her [[Heroic BSOD]] and inspire her to fight back. Twilight turns the Aesop of this episode into a [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]/[[Kirk Summation]].}}

* [[Anti-Magic]]: The protective bubble Twilight creates against Discord's telekinesis also turns the portion of the ground it lands on back to normal. Her own telekinesis still works inside it, allowing her to lower everyone down to the ground.

* [[Asskicking Pose]]: Subverted twice. Once with the apathetic corrupted ponies, and another when Pinkie decides to have one last sip of chocolate milk rain.

* [[Astral Checkerboard Decor]]: creepy checkerboard ground in the scenes where the mane cast confront Discord on his throne.

* [[Badass Boast]]: Parodied.

* [[The Bad Guy Wins]]: {{spoiler|Subverted. Discord's belief this is true is ultimately what leads to his downfall. [[Discussed Trope]] by Twilight, who uses the threat of this to trigger a [[Let's Get Dangerous]] moment in Fluttershy.}}

* [[Bad Liar]]: In addition to Corrupted Applejack, Corrupted Pinkie Pie turns out to be this. She's tries very hard to be taken seriously, and as such denies when she's having fun.

* [[Big No]]: {{spoiler|Discord lets out one when he realizes the Mane Cast has regained use of the Elements Of Harmony, which are about to be used to ''blast him right in the face.''}}

* [[Big Yes]]/[[Victory Pose]]: Discord shouts "YES!" and does a celebratory fist pump after [[Heroic BSOD|Twilight dejectedly says she's leaving Ponyville]], [[Break the Cutie|broken completely thanks to his actions]]. [[Moral Event Horizon|This is perhaps one of the cruelest acts in all of Animation.]]

* [[Book Safe]]: The Elements of Harmony turn out to be hidden in a book in the Ponyville library.

* [[Break the Cutie]]: {{spoiler|Twilight is fully broken after the first failed attempt of fighting Discord. Unlike the others' corruptions, ''she wasn't hypnotized.''}}

** From the same episode, Pinkie Pie's love of the chocolate rain, {{spoiler|enough to get one last mouthful before the mane six put an end to Discord's reign.}}

* [[Buffy-Speak]]: Twilight descends into this...mostly due to frustration.

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Twilight, as usual (and maybe even worse)...

** Also, Spike. {{spoiler|Celestia decided to mail back every letter Twilight ever sent about friendship, which means he spent the better part of the day coughing up letters over and over. In Celestia's defense, she had no way of knowing when to stop sending them, since Twilight was off saving Equestria and didn't try to send a return letter.}}

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: {{spoiler|Those Friendship Reports she keeps writing to Celestia? She sent them all back to Twilight, which inspires Twilight to shake off Discord's corruption and get her friends back.}}

* [[Closest Thing We Got]]: "Congratulations Spike, you're the new Rainbow Dash!"

* [[Continuity Nod]]

** Twilight's [[Exposition Beam]] contains flashbacks to numerous episodes.

** The first time the girls ([[My Friends and Zoidberg|and Spike]]) try to use the Elements, their poses are surly/apathetic versions of the way they posed when defeating Nightmare Moon.

** A subtle one in one of the old "friendship reports": "And like the path cut through the orchard, there'll always be a way through" isn't from any episode, but it still recalls "Over a Barrel", where the solution involved a literal path cut through an orchard, and where the actual report contained a close paraphrase of some lyrics from Pinkie Pie's song, the same song that ended with "and there'll always be a way through."

* [[Crap Saccharine World]]: Discord's reign pretty much turns Equestria into this. While it ''looks'' silly on the surface, ''everyone'' seems to have gone insane and it's getting progressively more chaotic by the moment.

* [[Cruel Mercy]]: {{spoiler|Discord doesn't break or [[Mind Rape]] Twilight himself and leaves her be... so that the crushing weight of the situation she's in can break her slowly and more completely than he did to the others.}}

* [[Darkest Hour]]: {{spoiler|Carried over from Part 1. Discord turns Equestria into a [[World Gone Mad]] that's getting progressively worse by the minute, the Mane Cast try and fail using the Elements Of Harmony to stop him, causing them to break up for real, and Twilight crosses the [[Despair Event Horizon]] and gets ready to pack up her bags and leave. Thankfully, things start looking up from there.}}

* [[Defeat Equals Friendship]]: Discord sarcastically tells the heroes to "friend me" with their Elements of Harmony. He knows as well as we do that that's not what they do.

* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: {{spoiler|After seeing the Elements of Harmony fail to work and her friendship completely shattered, Twilight Sparkle pretty much gives up hope. She was preparing to ''pack up and leave town'' before Celestia returning her letters renewed her hope.}}

* [[Exposition Beam]]: How Twilight undoes her friends' brainwashing, by reminding them of all the good times they'd had together.

* [[Face Palm|Facehoof]]: Done by Twilight when Fluttershy actually ''asks'' Rainbow Dash if she can restrain her.

* [[Final Exam Finale]]: {{spoiler|Twilight is only able to overcome Discord's corruption thanks to being reminded of everything she's learned about [[The Power of Friendship|the magic of friendship]] throughout the first season by her own [[Once Per Episode|letters to Princess Celestia]].}}

* [[Flaw Exploitation]]: {{spoiler|Discord exploits Twilight's love of her friends to [[Break the Cutie|break her]] by turning them against her. In the end, it's ''[[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|his]]'' [[Smug Super|flaws]] that enable them to defeat him.}}

* [[He's Back|She's Back]]: All the mane ponies. Princess Celestia [[Invoked Trope|encourages]] this in Twilight with the letters.

* [[Hollywood Darkness]]: When the night randomly comes.

* [[I Meant to Do That]]: Corrupted Applejack is still a [[Bad Liar]].

* [[It's Personal]]: By the time all is said and done, Discord has pretty much done everything he possibly could to make his confrontation with the Mane Cast personal. Case in point, Fluttershy actually ''insults him''. Sure, calling someone a "BIG. DUMB. '''MEANIE!'''" isn't exactly the worst thing you could call someone, but getting [[Shrinking Violet|Fluttershy]] to say something insulting about him at all shows just how far Discord has pushed everypony.

* [[Jerkass]]: All of the corrupted ponies, but corrupted Fluttershy deserves ''special mention''. Her [[Fan Nickname]] is Flutterbitch for a reason.

''(Fluttershy slams the bucket on Twilight's head)'' }}

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Discord does this a lot, but his [[Big Yes]]/[[Victory Pose]] when he sees he's [[Break the Cutie|broken Twilight completely]] is the most notable. It stands out because out of all the horrible things he does, this is the only time he doesn't use his [[Faux Affably Evil]] act to hide the fact he's taking sadistic glee in the act.

* [[Kirk Summation]]: {{spoiler|Twilight gives one when confronting Discord, telling him that no matter what, friendship is worth fighting for.}}

* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: ''Fluttershy'' is able to {{spoiler|catch up to Rainbow Dash}} when Twilight reminds her that the fate of Equestria is at stake.

* [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again]]: Rarity, post-corruption, word for word. Quickly subverted by Applejack.

'''Rarity:''' ...I thought we agreed never to speak of that again. }}

* [[Little No]]: {{spoiler|Discord says one just before a [[Big No]] when he notices he was ''very'' wrong about the Elements Of Harmony and [[Oh Crap|realizes what is about to happen.]]}}

* [[Mind Screw]]: Nearly every aspect of Discorded Ponyville, though it's to be expected.

* [[Mood Dissonance]]: After her failed attempt to defeat Discord, Twilight sadly walks back to the library, her head hung low...while all sorts of madness goes on around her.

** Also done in-story when Twilight realizes her "friends" aren't interested in helping her stop Discord.

'''Twilight Sparkle:''' ''(angry)'' ...have turned into COMPLETE JERKS! }}

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: {{spoiler|Twilight's guess that Discord's riddle meant the Elements were in the maze was dead wrong, meaning she led her friends on a wild goose chase and right into Discord's trap. Discord reveals this to her and [[Kick the Dog|then openly mocks her for it]].}}

* [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]]: At the end of part 1 when Discord {{spoiler|gives everypony their horns and wings back.}} Discord actually gave Twilight the means to defeat him by doing this, as {{spoiler|Twilight uses magic to bring her friends back to their senses and bring back the Elements of Harmony.}}

* [[No Ontological Inertia]]: {{spoiler|Everything goes back to normal pretty quickly after Discord gets re-[[Taken for Granite|petrified]].}}

* [[Nothing Can Stop Us Now]]: Discord pretty much gives one of these speeches after {{spoiler|the Elements Of Harmony fizzle out when the Mane Cast try to use them on him and gets the mentality to go with it. Naturally, this comes back to bite him in the end.}}

* [[Not Quite Flight]]: Unicorn Twilight Sparkle appears to use this when teleporting directly into the air and projecting the force field around her friends.

* [[Painting the Medium]]: During a pan of Ponyville in chaos, a pony runs along the edges of the frame.

* [[Pass the Popcorn]]: Discord finds the ponies fighting most entertaining.

* [[The Power of Friendship]]: Even Twilight had forgotten just how powerful this could be.

* [[Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner]]: {{spoiler|Twilight gives one to Discord right before the Mane Cast lets him have it with the Elements Of Harmony.}}

* [[Putting the Band Back Together]]

* [[Reality Is Out to Lunch]]: Ponyville under Discord's influence.

* [[Running Gag]]: Corrupted Pinkie Pie angrily declaring [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLZhjATT3_o&feature=channel_video_title "I '''hate''' ___!".]

* [[Sarcasm Mode]]: Some of Applejack's bad lies veer into this territory.

** And directly before that {{spoiler|Discord attempts something quite similar to a Force Choke on the Mane Cast.}}

*** All of this is a bit ironic, considering the guest star of this two-parter is a [[Star Trek]] actor.

** Additionally, Discorded Equestria seems to take a whole lot of cues from [[Looney Tunes|Wacky]][[Tiny Toon Adventures|land]].

*** In one "nighttime" scene, we see several buildings in Discorded Ponyville on [[Floating Continent|floating islands]], including a floating [[The Gorillaz|windmill]].

*** When the ponies unite using the Elements Of Harmony, their power forms a rainbow that turns Discord back to stone. It then turns into a double rainbow that restores Ponyville ''all the way'' back from what Discord had done to it.

**** Yes, that's a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI double rainbow]...and eternal chaos comes with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA chocolate rain]. Yay, memes!

* [[Team Mom]]: Twilight takes the position for most of the episode. Considering the [[Corrupt the Cutie|circumstances]], it's no wonder it's not working out at first.

* [[Tempting Fate]]: {{spoiler|Discord telling the Mane Cast to take their best shot at him with the Elements Of Harmony. [[Oh Crap|He's quite surprised when they actually do.]]}}

* [[That Liar Lies]]: When Twilight wants to know where Rarity took the book on the Elements.

'''Twilight:''' ''{{smallcaps|Lies}}!'' }}

* [[That Poor Cat]]: Lets out a yowl when Twilight begins fighting with her friends.

* [[Wasted Song]]: The end credits use a modified sequence meant to go with the ''[[Star Wars]]'' shout out above... but The Hub's standard credit squeeze blocks it out. Some repeats and the iTunes version use the full sequence.

* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]]: "This is ''my'' book, and I'm going to READ IT!"

* [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle]]: {{spoiler|The Main Cast are all back to normal, everypony is in a [[Group Hug]]... and bison ballerina dance across the foreground, indicating that there is still Discord to deal with. Twilight even lampshades it.}}

* [[X Must Not Win]]: Where in this case, "X" refers to Discord. It's a major driving force for the main ponies, especially Fluttershy.

'''Twilight:''' [[It Makes Sense in Context|If you can't catch [Rainbow Dash], Discord wins!]]<br />

 

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