History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E1MareInTheMoon

->'''Nightmare Moon:''' Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night... will last...''forever!'' MWAHAHAHAHA!

** There is a lot more incidental music and MickeyMousing - almost to the point of LullDestruction - compared to later episodes, which go for more dynamic and specific background tracks. Even "Applebuck Season" three episodes later has much less of both.

* TheVoice: Aside from seeing Princess Celestia in the StorybookOpening, her voice is only heard and she doesn't appear in person until the second episode.

* PutOnABus: This was the only time that Princess Luna appeared for Season 1.

* HeartSymbol: On seeing Rarity for the first time, Spike gets a heart symbol first as WingdingEyes, and then they start floating from his head and popping like bubbles.

* TheNightThatNeverEnds: The EvilPlan of Nightmare Moon.

* SealedEvilInACan: The can, in this case, is the Moon.

* WeirdMoon: The Sun and the Moon can not be up at the same time (see phases part of the article). The moon also functioned as [[SealedEvilInACan a can for Nightmare Moon]]. When Nightmare Moon escaped, the "Mare in the Moon" disappeared off the face of the moon.

->'''Nightmare Moon:''' Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night... will last...''forever!''

* CostumeTestMontage: Courtesy of Rarity naturally.

* ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes: Domwplayed; Twilight and Spike, when they're standing in the near-total-dark library, have clearly visible eyes, although the rest of their bodies can still be seen in the obscurity.

* StealthPun: When Granny Smith is first introduced she's sitting in a rocking chair with her front hooves on the rockers, making her a living rocking horse.
** "Mare in the Moon" is obviously a play on Man in the Moon, but mare is also Latin for sea, and is used to refer to the dark plains on the moon that form the illusion of a face.

* HairReboot: Notably {{Averted|Trope}}. Twilight's mane and tail are a poofy mess after Rainbow Dash got her wet and dried her with a whirlwind. They stay that way in the next scene, until Rarity notices and fix Twilight's coiffure.

* GettingCrapPasttheRadar: While the crowd is cheering in the city hall at the announcement of the Summer Sun Celebration, you can vaguely hear someone saying, "Yeah, hell yeah!"

* MagicCountdown: Played with:

->'' "OnceUponATime, in the magical land of Equestria..."''

-->'''Twilight:''' Aw; wook at that. He's so sweepy he can't keep his wittle bawance.

-->'''Twilight:''' Spike, do you know what this means?\\

** During the party scene, when Twilight is pouring herself a drink, a gray pegasus up in the corner has crossed eyes and a goofy smile. "And so the legend of Derpy Hooves is born" said one poster on [[ImageBoards 4chan]], and [[EnsembleDarkhorse born]] it ''was''.

* VertigoEffect: On Twilight when she sees Nightmare Moon.

* ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes: Twilight and Spike when they're standing in the near total dark library.

... and that's the story of my entire life. Well, up until today. Do you want to hear about today?"

** The Cutie Mark Crusaders haven't met yet, but Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle picked the same table as Apple Bloom under which to hide from Nightmare Moon.
*** This was actually an oversight by that scene's layout artist. The ponies under the table were the CMC in storyboarding, but were changed to other ponies because they wouldn't meet until [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E12CallOfTheCutie later in the season]]. The layout artist wasn't informed of this and reverted it to the storyboard version, and this scene was approved and ended up as accidental foreshadowing for the three fillies.

* HeartSymbol: On seeing Rarity for the first time, Spike gets a heart symbol first as WindingEyes, and then they start floating from his head and popping like bubbles.

* InadvertentEntranceCue: There's a bit of a delay between the cue and the entrance, but Pinkie Pie says "I've never been so excited! Well, except for the time I saw you walk into town and I went {{GASP}} but really, who could top that?" before the build-up to Nightmare Moon's entrance.

* PuppyDogEyes: Used by Applebloom when asking Twilight to stay for brunch.

* VisualPun: When Granny Smith is first introduced she's sitting in a rocking chair with her front hooves on the rockers, making her a living rocking horse.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: At the beginning, Celestia and Luna are referred as "unicorns". The show later establishes "alicorn" as its canonical term for winged unicorns.

!!Continued in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E2ElementsOfHarmony "Elements of Harmony"]].

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: In the Russian dub, Twilight calls Nightmare Moon "Lunyia Poni" twice in a succession. As of now, this mistake, along with many others in season 1, has been redubbed by voice actress ''herself'', though it wasn't official.

* JumpScare: Twilight peers into a cave, wondering what kind of animals will greet her from hibernation...only to see snakes popping in her face.