Friendship is Magic (episode)
| Chronology |
|---|
| "Friendship is Magic" | |
|---|---|
| Friendship is Magic episode | |
| Airdate | October 10, 2010 (part 1) October 22, 2010 (part 2) |
| Length | 23 minutes (part 1) 23 minutes (part 2) |
| Network | The Hub/Hub Network |
| Credits | |
| Writer | Lauren Faust |
| Director | Jayson Thiessen James Wootton |
"Friendship is Magic" is the two-part premiere episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. In the episode, Twilight Sparkle travels to Ponyville, meets the Mane Six, defeats Nightmare Moon, and decides to stay with her new Ponyville friends.
Synopsis
Part 1
Well-studied but largely unsocial Twilight Sparkle reads about Nightmare Moon, who was prophesized to return after a thousand years of banishment. Twilight, realizing that the thousandth anniversary of the banishment would be tomorrow, informs her mentor Princess Celestia. Celestia instead sends Twilight to Ponyville, tasking her with supervising the Summer Sun Celebration and making some friends.
Twilight goes around town to meet with those working on the Celebration: Applejack, in charge of food, introduces Twilight to her extended family; Rainbow Dash, in charge of weather, shows off flying tricks and messes up Twilight's mane; Rarity, in charge of decoration, subjects Twilight to a makeover; Fluttershy, in charge of music, is fascinated by Twilight's talking dragon Spike. She returns to Golden Oaks Library to research Nightmare Moon, but is met by a surprise welcome party organized by Pinkie Pie.
Twilight and the residents of Ponyville go to the Town Hall to watch Celestia raise the sun—however, Nightmare Moon takes her place. Nightmare Moon declares that "the night shall last forever."
Part 2
Twilight, panicked, returns to the library to search for more information about the Elements of Harmony, which had been used to banish Nightmare Moon the first time around. According to The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide, the Elements are located in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, deep in the Everfree Forest. She, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie venture to the Forest; Nightmare Moon creates a series of obstacles (a falling cliff face, an injured manticore, a group of scary-looking trees, a distressed sea serpent, and an offer for Rainbow to join the "Shadowbolts,") but the group gets through each in a manner that highlights an element of each pony's personality.
The group makes its way to the Castle, finding five of the Elements. Twilight tries to use magic to summon the sixth Element, but is interrupted by Nightmare Moon. After a brief battle, Nightmare Moon destroys the Elements. Twilight quickly realizes that each of her new friends embodies the Elements (Applejack being Loyalty, Fluttershy being Kindness, Pinkie Pie being Laughter, Rarity being Generosity, and Rainbow Dash being Loyalty) and that she herself embodied Magic.
The new avatars of the elements activate their powers, shooting a beam of rainbow-colored magic at Nightmare Moon. Celestia returns to find that the defeated Nightmare Moon had reverted back to her sister, Princess Luna. At another Pinkie party, Twilight Sparkle decides that she wants to remain in Ponyville, and Celestia tasks her with researching friendship and reporting her findings.
Appearances
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| Characters | Places | Objects | Events | Species |
| Consumables | Abilities | Titles | Organizations | Miscellanea |
Characters
Places
Objects
Events
Species
Staff
Cast
Crew
Behind the scenes
Production
Availability
Adaptations
Continuity
Reception
Music
Errors
Around the world
Quotes
Notes
- Lyra Heartstrings was shown in both Canterlot and Ponyville, and throughout the series, has consistently appeared in both places. In the episode "Amending fences" explained this by stating that Lyra lived in Canterlot, but visited her """best friend""" Bon Bon in Ponyville. This beat of information wasn't respected by other media, and so, Lyra's residence has become somewhat inconsistent over the years.
- Speaking of Amending Fences, in many ways, that episode serves as a sequel or follow up to this episode. The basis of that episode was that Twilight simply turned tail and abandoned her life in Canterlot on a whim, ignoring that she did strke up friendships in the city, albeit not very well-developed ones. While most of her friends understood, Moon Dancer was devastated by the actions and became a shut-in, essentially becoming what Twilight was going to become if she never moved to Ponyville.
- A brief fun fact about Moon Dancer, she actually appeared prior to Amending Fences. In the comic story, "The Fall of Sunset Shimmer", she was seen as a student who was getting bullied by Sunset Shimmer...when they were both adults...Continuity is a mess.
- Speaking of Amending Fences, in many ways, that episode serves as a sequel or follow up to this episode. The basis of that episode was that Twilight simply turned tail and abandoned her life in Canterlot on a whim, ignoring that she did strke up friendships in the city, albeit not very well-developed ones. While most of her friends understood, Moon Dancer was devastated by the actions and became a shut-in, essentially becoming what Twilight was going to become if she never moved to Ponyville.
- The way Twilight and Spike both interacted with events would set up their dynamic, such as him sharing a laugh with Rainbow Dash, falling for Rarity, or striking up a conversation with Fluttershy. However, some of these aspects of his characterization would never truly be followed up on, such as his unique dynamic with Fluttershy or his impish relationship with Rainbow Dash.
- Speaking of early installment weirdness, Spike has a few examples in this catchphrase, "Holy Guacamole!", which has only been muttered twice in the entire series, here and in "Feeling Pinkie Keen", and his running gag of mispronouncing long words like...impossible. No wonder early fanfiction depicted Spike as a bumbling moron.
- The three Cutie Mark Crusaders are shown cowering together when Nightmare Moon appears, despite the fact that they had never met before "Call of the Cutie." A layout artist (going by the name "Nayuki" on the Allspark forum) took responsibility for this error.
- Story time. When I get a scene, it comes with the storyboard, audio and the character/bg files needed. On this particular scene, the storyboard clearly had the CMC drawn there, but the characters sent to me weren't them. I assumed I was just sent the wrong characters and matched the storyboard. I didn't realize until later that I was sent different characters because of the events of the 'Call of the Cutie' episode later in the season. Either way, the scene was approved and ended up playing out as fun foreshadowing for our adventurous trio.[1]
