History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E2TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2

* IKnowYourInThereSomewhereFight: Twilight has to find her friends, subdue them, and then remind them of who they really are in order to purify them of Discord's corruption.

* DefeatEqualsFriendship:
** 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.
** Twilight has to find her friends, subdue them, and then remind them of who they really are in order to purify them of Discord's corruption.

* FloatingContinent: Discord suspends several buildings in Ponyville on top of floating islands in the air.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: You'd think we'd see what became of the Crusaders, considering they contributed to the release of Discord at the first part, right? Well, Apple Bloom doesn't even show up at the barn.

* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: The Mane Cast are all back to normal, everypony is in a GroupHug... and bison ballerinas dance across the foreground, indicating that there is still Discord to deal with. Twilight lampshades it.
-->'''Twilight Sparkle:''' Maybe it's a little early for a group hug.

* ImperfectRitual: Twilight tries to use the Elements of Harmony as embodied in her and her friends to defeat Discord, but Rainbow Dash is missing so she substitutes Spike, and between this and the remaining five being corrupted it doesn't work.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: It's brief but when Discord's offer to just enjoy his chaos are snubbed by Twilight, he gives a rather dejected look. He very quickly celebrates when he realises that means he's won however. The same occurance happens next season, but only then will he be able to put it all together.

* OffModel: During the pan shot of Twilight and the others during their first attempt at defeating Discord, Pinkie Pie can be seen wearing Fluttershy's necklace.

* PreAsskickingOneLiner: Twilight gives one to Discord right before the Mane Cast lets him have it with the Elements Of Harmony (which briefly gets interrupted by Pinkie enjoying the chocolate rain).

'''Pinkie:''' WAIT WAIT WAIT!!! ''(Is shown enjoying the rain before Twilight [[DeathGlare glares]] at her, then she comes right back)''

** Twilight has to find her friends, subdue them, and then re-befriend them in order to purify them of Discord's corruption.

* CruelMercy: She is on the receiving end of this in "The Return of Harmony". [[GodOfEvil Discord]] [[spoiler:[[BreakTheCutie breaks]] and {{Hate Plague}}s five of the mane cast, breaks apart their friendship, and plunges Equestria into a WorldGoneMad, driving ''everyone'' insane... but never touches [[TheHero Twilight Sparkle]]. No, he merely lets the fact she's lost everything she cares about drive her over the DespairEventHorizon and cause her to lose all hope. Thankfully, she finds a way to turn this around.]]

* PreAsskickingOneLiner: Twilight gives one to Discord right before the Mane Cast lets him have it with the Elements Of Harmony.
--> '''Twilight:''' All right, ladies. Let's show him what [[ThePowerOfFriendship friendship can do]]!

(later, after Twilight's KirkSummation, in an unenthusiastic tone): [[TastesLikeDiabetes Ugh, gag]]! Fine, go ahead; try and use [[YourLittleDismissiveDiminutive your little elements]], [[TemptingFate friend me]]. Just make it quick.

* SpannerInTheWorks: Surprisingly, it's ''Celestia'' who manages to free Twilight from Discord's mind control and realize what's going on, with thanks to the friendship reports she sent back to her.

When Twilight gets home, however, she finds Spike in quite a state, nauseated 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.

* FailedASpotCheck: You would think Twilight would have noticed her friends acting weird and opposite of their usual selves.

* TemptingFate: Discord telling the Mane Cast to take their best shot at him with the Elements of Harmony. [[OhCrap He's quite surprised when they actually do.]]

* CallBack: Twilight recalls her attitude on friendship when she [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E1MareInTheMoon first arrived in Ponyville]]: "The fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends." She of course realizes now how wrong she was.

* IronicEcho: Twilight quotes that "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E1MareInTheMoon the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends]]" after recovering from her HeroicBSOD, realizing how wrong the statement was.

* {{Gaslighting}}: As Twilight more-or-less [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] in her EurekaMoment, Discord [[MindRape mind rapes]] her friends into behaving in the opposite way of their Element so that she may lose faith in ThePowerOfFriendship so that the Elements can't work on him.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Played straight for the viewers, teased in-universe. Upon arriving back in Ponyville, Spike notes that the corrupted ponies appear gray, and Pinkie Pie has a good laugh about her odd coloring after she's been redeemed. Yet for some reason it never occurs to Discord that the mane cast are a serious threat when they show up fully-colored again, just as Twilight didn't notice anything physically odd about them earlier. It's worth nothing that those two are the resident [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth-wall breakers]], so it may be them breaking the fourth wall per RuleOfFunny as usual.

** Pinkie Pie represents cynicism;
** Fluttershy represents spite/cruelty;
** Applejack represents deceitfulness;
** Rainbow Dash represents betrayal and aloofness;

* DarkestHour: Carried over from Part 1. Discord turns Equestria into a WorldGoneMad that's getting progressively worse, 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 DespairEventHorizon and gets ready to pack up her bags and leave. Thankfully, things start looking up from there.

* KarmaHoudini: The Cutie Mark Crusaders in the previous episode receive ''no'' punishments for releasing Discord with their arguing.