The Return of Harmony, Part 2

Dear Princess Luna..

I don't know if I'll finish this one tonight, getting tired, but since the last one just left off on a cliffhanger, might as well get it started.

Episode starts with a quick recap of past events. Discord, an ancient? demigod thing of Disharmony escapes thanks to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The 'mane' 6 are their only hope, as they are attuned to the Elements of Harmony, while the previous vanquishers of Discord, Princesses Celestia and Luna, are unable or unwilling to help. Lo and behold, Discord stole the Elements so he could set up a game to play. They end up losing because of Rainbow Dash, and the first part ended as Discord was gloating.

We pick up immediately where we left off. Discord is laughing at them. Pinkie Pie, having been infected by a spell, now hates laughter and confronts him.

"You laughing at me, freak-o?"

Pinkie is refering to herself in the third person, Fluttershy says "Oh, yeah?" and starts laughing at her, driving Pinkie to insanity. Applejack either also sees Rarity's rock as an actual diamond, or is just trying to start trouble, as she lies and says Twilight Sparkle told her to split it 6 ways, since they all found it. Wait, what? Rainbow Dash flew off, shouldn't that be five ways? Rarity doesn't fall for her bunkum and does a flying kick to her face.

"Anyone else want some?!?"

As Rarity pursues Applejack, trying to kick her teeth in, Twilight tries to rally her friends. Discord speaks up and enrages Twilight.

You have your magic back, Twilight, blast him!

Discord has conjured up a seat and some popcorn, enjoying the chaos he has sown. Twilight protests, saying he's not playing fair. Discord laughs, and reiterates that he is the spirit of chaos and disharmony. Twilight complains that he took away the labyrinth  before they could find the Elements, Discord laughs again. He uses his magic to show a flashback of the first part 1 riddle, which was "Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the Elements back where you began" meaning the Elements were never in the labyrinth.

Discord mocks her once more, telling her maybe the 'magic of friendship' can help her, before teleporting away. The cotton candy clouds and chocolate milk rain return, Pinkie says she hates chocolate milk. Applejack is still trying to steal Rarity's diamond, and Fluttershy decides to egg her on by touching it too.

*sigh* "My friends are idiots."

Twilight is feeling really downhearted, especially with her friends' antics, and says she just wants to go home. Eureka! Home! Twilight thinks she discovered the second part of the riddle.

"That's it, home! I'll go and take out my frustrations on that little pain-in-the-mane, Spike!"

Things in Ponyville have really gone to hell:

Situation Normal: All Fouled Up

Twilight has somehow managed to get her friends to follow her. On the way, a herd of those freak bunnies run her over. Fluttershy commends their leader(?), her pet rabbit Angel.

It immediately turns to night, then day a short while later. The roads have turned into soap, for some reason, and the ponies slip on it. Discord 'skates' up and begins talking trash, saying how these are but some of his planned changes, and he will make Ponyville the chaos capital of the world.

They get to Twilight's home, and each pony does something before entering that worsens the spell Discord put on them. Applejack says she refuses to enter, but does anyway. Fluttershy tramples a flower bed. Pinkie says she hates libraries. Rarity refuses to enter without Tom, the 'diamond.' Twilight is forced to haul it, again.

Inside, Spike was sleeping after, or instead of, mopping. Fluttershy dumps the bucket of water on him.

"I never thought of using my wings for evil before! This is awesome!"

Hah, I like this 'evil' Fluttershy. She asks Twilight, "What's soaking wet and clueless?"

"Your face!" (and just for good measure, she slams the bucket on her head, too)

Spike pleads for some kind of sanity, while Twilight searches for the reference guide for the Elements of Harmony.

"What if I was to beat the ever-loving shit out of you? Do I get my book back?"

Spike knows exactly where it is, and quickly gets it. Fluttershy nails him in the face with a scroll and takes the book. They then play 'keep away' from Twilight.

Uh, Twilight, you have your horn back, just restrain them with magic (or slam them into a wall like you do with Spike) and grab the book.

Rarity, the not-as-magical-minded as Twilight pony uses magic to grab the book. Twilight asks if she even knows what she just took, Rarity says she doesn't care, the fact that Twilight wants it is enough reason for her to want it.

Fluttershy swoops in and helps Rarity elude Twilight, causing her to run into the rock. She asks where Rarity is, Applejack makes the mistake of using the expression 'beats me!' Twilight accepts that challenge.

"Feel my wrath!"

In the furious melee that ensues, Twilight gets the book back. Spike points a scroll at the approaching corrupted ponies as Twilight declares "This is my book, and I'm going to read it!"

She finally uses magic, to open the book, and inside are the Elements of Harmony.

Too bad Rarity didn't escape, she would have made a fortune selling those on the black market.

None of the other ponies even care that they found them.

I'm not sure if that's the angriest I've seen Twilight, but it seems like it would be up there in the Rage Scale.

Exasperated, Twilight uses magic to put them on them all, they are apparently necklaces, and the one for magic is a 'crown-thingy.' Spike informs her Rainbow Dash is missing, and Twilight, at the end of her rope, gives the Element to him and proclaims him the new Rainbow Dash.

"Whatever, you're loyal enough, let's go!"

Twilight uses magic again to move Tom, the 'diamond' by hurtling it through a wall. Outside, Discord appears, and taunts them to attack him. They try to engage the Elements, and fail. Fluttershy throws her Element away, Rarity snatches it. Spike is really worried about Rainbow catching him being the new Rainbow Dash, and immediately sets his Element down and tries to run away. Fluttershy trips him, calling him 'Rainbow Crash.' Is it bad that I am really enjoying the antics of Evil Fluttershy? =]

"Hah hah!" "He might really be hurt!" "I said hah hah."

Discord, laughing and applauding, approaches and tells them harmony is dead, Discord rules, and Celestia drools.

Good. Use your aggressive feelings, Twilight. Let the hate flow through you.

Twilight's friends leave, she makes a 'with friends like you, who needs enemies' comment, and Discord's trap is complete. She cries, and her tear forms a broken heart on the ground.

Aww, poor Twilight. =[

As Twilight is walking through the chaos ravaged Ponyville, Discord appears to taunt her. He says she should cheer up, this is her new home. She says 'not anymore' and he is very pleased. Twilight walks home and orders Spike to pack his stuff, throwing the Element of Magic into the trash. Spike is lying on the ground near a huge pile of scrolls, Celestia has been sending back all the letters Twilight has written her while in Ponyville.

I like how the first thing she apparently declared after their exile was that her having friends wouldn't matter in the big picture. Because I'm sure Twilight being lonely and possibly miserable would really help her reach her destiny.

As she reads, Discord's spell is broken and she realizes that Discord was scared of how powerful their friendships are. Oh, this also confirms that Celestia just teleports scrolls inside of Spike, I remember writing about that in some other episode.

She confronts Applejack, using magic to force her to see visions of the good times they've had. Applejack breaks free of the spell and apologizes for lying.

Next, they get Fluttershy, who was apparently struggling a lot, as she is hogtied.

"Oh, Twilight, I had this terrible dream! Why, why am I tied up? What is going on here???"

Rarity is freed next, and she pushes Tom out the door and asks them to never speak of it again. Pinkie is also rescued, and for some reason is being pulled in a cart by Applejack. They seek out Rainbow, who is found just lounging on a cloud. They tell her they need her to beat Discord, Rainbow doesn't care, because Ponyville's gone to hell and she's happy in Cloudsdale, aka one little cloud. Rarity comments on that fact and gets teased by Applejack.

"Just like that rock you-" "Shut up."

Twilight implements another Plan B. Fluttershy will hold Rainbow, while Applejack lowers Twilight from their hot air balloon with a rope so she can do the memory spell. Hmm, in Baby Cakes we saw that a unicorn can fly with magic, maybe Twilight doesn't know how, or most likely, just wants to involve all her friends.

Plan B goes FUBAR, fast. Fluttershy asks permission to hold Rainbow down, Rainbow takes off. Applejack lassos Rainbow, Pinkie forgot to anchor the line and it loops around her and Rarity, so they are now being dragged by Rainbow.

If you want something done right, do it yourself, Rarity. Especially if you are delegating it to Pinkie Pie of all ponies.

They beg Fluttershy to fly faster, she is straining enough as is. Twilight tells her that if she can't go faster, Discord wins. This enrages Fluttershy and she gets a burst of speed. They lasso Rainbow again and get her grounded. Rainbow struggles and snorts, for some reason extremely against being cured. Twilight zaps her and their team is regrouped.

Hang 'Em High

Discord is enjoying the chaos in his new seat of power, the remains of Ponyville, and catches himself a glass of chocolate milk. The regrouped 'mane 6' arrive, ready for battle.

"There is one great thing that you gals will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. You may be thankful that twenty years from now when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandchild on your knee and she asks you what you did in the great Discord Reign II, you WON'T have to cough, shift her to the other knee and say, "Well, your Grandmammy ballet danced with bison while Ponyville suffered." No, you can look her straight in the eye and say, "Honey, your Grandmammy rode with the great Elements of Harmony and a Son-of-a-Goddamned-Bitch named Twilight Sparkle!"

Discord uses a 'force grip' to drag all but Twilight towards him via their Elements. Twilight finally is using magic regularly now, and teleports amid them and sets up a forceshield.

Finally, the embodiment of the Element of Magic uses magic.

As Twilight's bubble hits the ground, it de-chaosizes the affected area. Discord seems concerned, but is still confident, inviting them to do their worst. As they prepare to attack, Pinkie hollers 'Wait!' and is drinking more chocolate milk.

"Bring it on, you're only wielding the one thing, apparently, that can beat me, I'm not afraid. (Hmm, maybe I should have just destroyed the Elements instead of playing games with them...)"

"Mmm, chaos chocolate..."

The Elements apparently attack by shooting projectiles based on the necklaces' gems, then charge up a super powered attack, that manifests as a rainbow which arcs over to the target. Discord gets turned to stone again, and the elements form a bubble shield that detonates, restoring the land to its normal state.

"NO! Who would have thought my one known weakness would be my downfall, again!"

We then have a parody of the A New Hope award ceremony I'm pretty sure, and the six friends are honored for beating Discord and saving the day. It's been a while, but I think that would make Twilight Luke Skywalker, Applejack Han Solo, Celestia Princess Leia, and Spike R2-D2? Which means one of them would have to be Chewbacca, were the surviving Rebel pilots also there? I almost think they weren't, but if they were that means one is Wedge Antilles, probably Rainbow.

"I knew doing almost absolutely nothing myself would work out!"

Another stained glass window is put in, of them beating Discord with the Elements.

All of No Man's Land is ours, dear, now I've come back home to you, oh honey true! Wedding bells in Juney June, all will tell by the tuney tune: the victory's won, the war is over, the whole wide world is wreathed in clover!

What I learned from this episode:

• Discord was just trying to be happy, he revels in chaos, they could just find a couple acres of land somewhere for him to live in peace, but no, they had to turn him to stone. He actually didn't seem that bad as far as villains go. He gave back Twilight's horn, which ultimately led to his 'death.'
• Despite causing this, the Cutie Mark Crusaders apparently got off scot-free, and are never seen again in either episode, that I noticed.
• If the Elements are 6 things, how did Luna and Celestia use them? Do they each possess the traits, so Celestia may be Kindness, Laughter, and Magic, while Luna was Loyalty, Honesty, and Generosity? It seems like the 'you represent one element' thing is kind of thrown in there, although if it really does have that it would limit the artifacts' potential to be misused, since you need 6 (or less) ponies true to each Element.
• These episodes were pretty good, I like how some of my observations from later episodes were showing up here. I'm pretty sure I should just have Luna Eclipsed left now for Season 2, yay. =]