Line #93 Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E1MareInTheMoon


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6	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mlp_s1e1_mareinthemoon_727.jpg]]
7	[[caption-width-right:350:Welcome to Ponyville! ''[[{{Gasp}} GAAAAASP!!]]'']]
8	'''Also known as "Friendship is Magic, part 1".'''
9
10	Original airdate: October 10th, 2010.
11
12	-> Written by Creator/LaurenFaust
13
14	->''"OnceUponATime, in the magical land of Equestria..."''
15
16	Our story begins with a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle, who sits alone by a tree, reading up on the history of Equestria and the tale of Nightmare Moon. Long ago, two sisters ruled the land; the elder raised the sun at dawn while the younger raised the moon at dusk. One day however, the younger sister grew resentful of the fact that the ponies played in the day, yet slept through her wonderful night. She became bitter and one night refused to lower the moon. The elder sister was forced to use the power of the Elements of Harmony to banish her sister to the moon. While she is heading home, Twilight ignores her unicorn classmates' request to come to a party hosted by Moondancer, and they snub her aside for being more interested in books than friends. After some further research, Twilight Sparkle is convinced that soon the Mare in the Moon will return for her revenge "on the longest day of the thousandth year"... which happens to be the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. She tells her baby dragon assistant, Spike to send a letter to Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and Twilight's trainer, on the matter and she doesn't like the response:
17
18	->'''Spike:''' Ahem... "My dearest and most faithful student Twilight: You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely... but you simply ''must'' stop reading those dusty old books!"
19
20	Celestia tasks Twilight with supervising the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in the small town of Ponyville, knowing there's more to a pony's life than just studying, and gives her a secondary task of finding and making some friends. Firmly believing that the fate of the world does not rest on her making friends like what the princess said, Twilight arrives in Ponyville to fulfill her royal duty. Spike asks Twilight to attempt socializing with others, directing her to a pink Earth Pony passing by. When Twilight greets the stranger, the pink pony gasps and runs away. Now certain that she's the [[OnlySaneMan only sane pony]] in the village, Twilight grudgingly does her job.
21
22	First, she visits [[CountryMouse Applejack]], an Earth Pony of Sweet Apple Acres, hoping to quickly check on the food preparations and be on her way. Instead she's introduced to Applejack's [[LongList huge]] [[TheClan extended family]] and plied with all manner of apple-based foods. Shortly after leaving with a full stomach, she's [[CrashIntoHello swept off her feet]] by an athletic pegasus named [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Rainbow Dash]] and knocked into a puddle of mud. After a number of futile attempts to clean her up, Twilight is left with a fluffed-up mane and Spike and Rainbow are left in tears of laughter. After they regain their composure, Rainbow reveals what she's doing for the festivities: taking care of the weather. She's the fastest Pegasus in Ponyville and she proves it by clearing the sky of clouds in [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Ten. Seconds. FLAT.]]
23
24	Next on the list is [[TheFashionista Rarity]], a unicorn who's in charge of the decorations. Spike is [[PrecociousCrush smitten instantly]] while Rarity is shocked and appalled by Twilight's messy mane. Insisting that she fix it up, she runs Twilight through a number of costumes (and gushes over her dreams of moving to Twilight's hometown of Canterlot) before Twilight drags Spike from the boutique and out to the edge of the woods where the bashful pegasus [[FriendToAllLivingThings Fluttershy]] is leading a choir of songbirds in rehearsal. Unfortunately, Twilight appears at a bad time and startles both the birds and poor Fluttershy. Despite her best efforts, Twilight can't get [[ShrinkingViolet Fluttershy]] to talk to her... [[CutenessProximity until she sees Spike]]. After Spike literally tells Fluttershy his life story, Twilight brushes her off and drags Spike into the library with her. Hoping to finally get some time to herself, she turns on the light...
25
26	'''''SURPRISE!!!!'''''
27
28	Oh look, [[BrickJoke it's that pink pony from earlier.]] [[GenkiGirl She won't stay still and]] [[MotorMouth she won't shut up either.]] She introduces herself as Pinkie Pie, and while she's explaining at a mile a minute that the reason she dashed off was to set up a surprise welcoming party, Twilight unwittingly [[INeedAFreakingDrink pours herself a drink]] of [[BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce hot sauce]], [[ExtremeOmnivore which Pinkie then eats on a cupcake without a second thought.]] Running to her room, Twilight ponders the idea that these new ponies are her friends and worries over whether or not the Mare in the Moon will really return. Before she has time to fret any further, she's beckoned to the town hall to watch the sun rise.
29
30	Once there, the mayor of Ponyville introduces to much fanfare, Princess Celestia!... Who never appears. She's gone without a trace. However a certain somepony takes her place... the Mare in the Moon, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Nightmare Moon]]. She's going to take her revenge by [[TheNightThatNeverEnds plunging Equestria into eternal night]].
31
32	->'''Nightmare Moon:''' Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, [[PunctuatedForEmphasis the night... will last...]]''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis forever!]]'' [[EvilLaugh MWAHAHAHAHA!]]
33
34	'''''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E2ElementsOfHarmony TO BE CONTINUED]]'''''
35
36	[[MoodWhiplash cue happy credits music]]
37
38	!!Continued in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E2ElementsOfHarmony Elements of Harmony]]".
39	----
40	!!Tropes:
41	* AntagonistTitle: The mythical "Mare in the Moon" is none other than Nightmare Moon herself.
42	* ApocalypseHow: Nightmare Moon's eternal night immediately brings about planet-wide societal disruption. If left unchecked, according to WordOfGod, it would eventually result in planet-wide societal collapse and the extinction of all life due to starvation.
43	* BabyTalk: Twilight does this to get Fluttershy to leave her and Spike alone.
44	-->'''Twilight Sparkle:''' Aw; wook at that. He's so sweepy he can't keep his wittle bawance.
45	* BalloonBelly: Twilight Sparkle sports a bulging stomach after meeting Applejack's family and being persuaded to stay for brunch. "I ate too much pie..."
46	* BeQuietNudge: When Twilight tries to take leave from Fluttershy, she uses the pretext that her baby dragon needs his sleep. Spike starts retorting "No, I don't--", but Twilight (who is carrying him on her back at the moment) shakes her rump and sends him landing on his tush on the ground.
47	* BigEntrance: Nightmare Moon's arrival at the Summer Sun Celebration is accompanied by wind and lightning.
48	* BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce:
49	** Due to Pinkie being... [[GenkiGirl well]], ''[[MotorMouth Pinkie]]'', Twilight decides INeedAFreakingDrink and inadvertently pours herself hot sauce by mistake and drinks it. Due to the hotness of the sauce, her cheeks swell up, ''her mane catches on fire'' and she runs out of the room in pain!
50	** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with Pinkie Pie herself, who puts a whole lot of it on a ''cupcake'', eats it whole but is unaffected by the sauce.
51	* ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes: Downplayed; 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.
52	* CardiovascularLove: On seeing Rarity for the first time, Spike gets {{Heart Symbol}}s first as WingdingEyes, and then they start floating from his head and popping like bubbles.
53	* CharacterizationMarchesOn:
54	** Spike doesn't have difficulty spelling after this episode.
55	** Fluttershy never has ''this'' much trouble talking to new ponies again, which we can be thankful for.
56	* ChekhovsGunman: When Twilight first runs into Pinkie Pie, she gasps, jumps into the air... and runs off, leaving Twilight alone. When Twilight returns home later in the episode, it turns out that Pinkie was planning a surprise party for when she finally returned home.
57	* {{Cliffhanger}}: Not quite as harsh as the second season's premiere, but still relevant. Nightmare Moon has returned. Twilight Sparkle saw it coming, but failed to prepare, and Princess Celestia is nowhere to be seen. The final shot of the episode is Twilight Sparkle watching in horror and despair as Nightmare Moon unleashes [[TheNightThatNeverEnds eternal night on Equestria]].
58	* CopycatMockery: Twilight would rather read than join Pinkie's party, and when Spike says to her, "You should really lighten up, Twilight! It's a party!", she mockingly repeats what he said in falsetto gibberish.
59	* CostumeTestMontage: Twilight has to go through one against her will, courtesy of Rarity, naturally.
60	* CutenessProximity: Fluttershy comes out of her shell after seeing Spike, only to annoy Twilight with her constant fawning over him.
61	* 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 re-dubbed by voice actress ''herself'', though it wasn't official.
62	* DistantPrologue: The StorybookOpening tells of events that occurred 1000 years before the time of the show proper.
63	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
64	** At the beginning, Celestia and Luna are referred as "unicorns". The show later establishes "alicorn" as its canonical term for winged unicorns.
65	** Airdate-wise, this and the following [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E1TheReturnOfHarmonyPart1 season's]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E2TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 premiere]] are the only 2-Parters not to originally air as 1-hour specials. In this case, anyone watching the pilot had to wait nearly 2 weeks to see the conclusion.
66	** There is a lot more incidental music and MickeyMousing compared to later episodes, which go for more dynamic and specific background tracks. Even "Applebuck Season" three episodes later has much less of both.
67	** Spike is shown having difficulty spelling bigger words like "precipice" and "imperative". After this episode, he has no spelling problems with Twilight's letters.
68	** Applejack and Rainbow Dash have more high-pitched voices than they do in later episodes; in addition, Applejack has more of a vocal twang and Rainbow's voice is noticeably squeakier.
69	* EitherOrTitle: This part is subtitled "Mare in the Moon" on Hasbro's viewing guide.
70	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: We get one of these for each of the main characters: we can quickly see Twilight Sparkle is a bookworm too busy to make friends, Spike is her put-upon assistant, Applejack is neighborly and very close to her family, Rainbow Dash is lazy and a jokester but also loyal to her friends and neighbors, Rarity is giving but also obsessed with fashion and glamour, Fluttershy loves animals but is [[BetterWithNonHumanCompany not good with ponies]], and Pinkie Pie is fun-loving and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} more than a little weird.]]
71	* EtTuBrute: Princess Celestia had this realization in the backstory when her sister, Luna, becomes Nightmare Moon.
72	* EvilSoundsDeep: Nightmare Moon's voice is deeper than all the principal characters.
73	* ExpositionCut: When Spike tells his life story, he starts describing his egg before the scene cuts to much later in the day, after he's finished telling the story of his entire life.
74	-->'''Spike:''' Well... it all started when I was a cute little purple and green egg...\
75	... and that's the story of my entire life. Well, up until today. Do you want to hear about today?
76	* EyeAwaken: Done during the prologue when the narrator mentions the youngest sister's transformation into Nightmare Moon.
77	* FaintInShock: Spike faints when Nightmare Moon makes her grand entrance.
78	* FishEyes: Due to an animation error, one shot during Twilight's surprise party shows a grey pegasus whose eyes are pointing in opposite directions; this pegasus subsequently became known as "[[FanNickname Derpy Hooves]]".
79	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
80	** Whilst Twilight is dictating her letter to Princess Celestia and the "camera" is following her, around the 4:50 mark, the huge hourglass in the Canterlot library passes in front of a unicorn head statue, causing it to distort to the profile of Nightmare Moon.
81	** The Element of Magic appears on Celestia's head in Twilight's storybook when Celestia is imprisoning Nightmare Moon. It already matches Twilight's cutie mark.
82	** 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.
83	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Two.
84	** 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 Website/FourChan, and [[EnsembleDarkhorse born]] it ''was''.
85	** When the ponies get excited to see Princess Celestia, a green unicorn is ''very'' excited, jumping up and down and staring straight at the camera with a big grin on her face. Meet Lyra Heartstrings, and this is the first of her many {{Funny Background Event}}s throughout the series, particularly the "Excited Lyra" RunningGag.
86	%% * GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
87	* HairReboot: Notably {{Averted\|Trope}}. Twilight's mane and tail are a poofy mess after Rainbow Dash gets her wet and dries her off with a whirlwind. They stay messy in the next scene until Rarity notices and fixes Twilight's coiffure.
88	* HeliCritter: Upon seeing Rarity for the first time, Spike spins the tip of his dragon tail, although using it only as propeller: the actual lift is provided by LoveFloats.
89	* TheHerosJourney: The episode has Twilight who wants to find a way to defeat Nightmare Moon but receives a CallToAdventure from her mentor Celestia who asks her to leave her hometown and go to Ponyville and make friends; she isn't happy about it but figures she should go along with it. Supernatural aid, Trials and Tribulations, and the Abyss come in the next episode.
90	* ImNotHereToMakeFriends: Twilight decides to play along with her teacher's orders, but is more concerned about Nightmare Moon's return. As she words it, ''the fate of Equestria does not rest on [her] making friends.''
91	* 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.
92	* INeedAFreakingDrink: Twilight's reaction to Pinkie's MotorMouth is to pour herself a drink. Unfortunately, it turns out to be hot sauce.
93	* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: The events of this episode become meaningful five whole seasons later since Twilight blowing off Moondancer's party eventually affects Moondancer herself.
94	* InstantCosplaySurprise: Rarity changes Twilight Sparkle into a half-dozen outfits (ranging from formal wear to cosplaying as the Statue of Liberty) before the latter can break free.
95	* JawDrop: Both Twilight's and Spike's jaws hang after watching Rainbow Dash makes true her boast of clearing the sky in ten seconds flat.
96	* LampshadeWearing: During Pinkie Pie's party, Spike walks into Twilight's room while wearing a pink lampshade that falls over his eyes.
97	* LetMeAtHim: Rainbow Dash tries to have a go at Nightmare Moon when she first appears, but is held back by Applejack.
98	* LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand: When Spike offers to top off telling his whole life story to Fluttershy with recollecting the events of that very day, Twilight quickly cuts him and the peaceful music off before either of them can continue.
99	* LoveFloats: Spike starts floating shortly after laying his eyes on Rarity for the first time, with his [[HeliCritter dragon tail used as a propeller for added thrust]].
100	* MagicCountdown:
101	** {{Averted\|Trope}} when Twilight Sparkle meets Rainbow Dash. She dares her to clear the sky in ten seconds. It takes ''exactly'' ten seconds of screen time for Rainbow Dash to do it.
102	** When Twilight is looking at the moon shortly before the celebration, the four stars around it are approaching it at a steady rate, fast enough that they'd reach the moon in just a few seconds if the camera remained there. They only reach the moon once the camera gets back to them which is at the height of the celebration.
103	* MoodWhiplash: Right after Nightmare Moon appears and plunges the world into TheNightThatNeverEnds... it cuts to the cheery and happy closing theme.
104	* MythPrologue: The pilot begins with Twilight reading out an old story about the ancient history of Equestria and how Princess Luna turned against her sister and was banished. In this manner, the show introduces its basic worldbuilding and sets up the pilot's conflict.
105	* TheNightThatNeverEnds: The EvilPlan of Nightmare Moon is to prevent the sun from ever rising again, giving her power over all of Equestria as Queen of the Night.
106	* OfCorsetHurts: Twilight has this reaction when Rarity is trying to secure a saddle on her.
107	* OhCrap:
108	** Twilight's reaction toward Celestia's reply to "stop reading those dusty old books".
109	** The entire town's reaction to Nightmare Moon appearing. Twilight's reaction starts earlier since she's the only one who knows it's coming.
110	* OrphanedEtymology: After Spike acts all enamored toward Rarity, Twilight tells him "Focus, [[TheCasanova Casanova]]." Later on in the series, any reference to real-life historical figures are going to receive ponified names, but this one slipped through.
111	* PlotTriggeringBook: The episode begins with Twilight reading a book that describes an old legend in which the alicorn sister who had ruled the night had become the evil Nightmare Moon and rebelled against her sister who ruled the day and was banished into the moon. This prompts Twilight to look up a second book, according to which, on the night of that very day, the long-banished alicorn will return and plunge the world into TheNightThatNeverEnds. This spurs Twilight into obsessively trying to find a way to prevent this, which sets off the events of the pilot itself and through that sets up the premise of the rest of the series.
112	* POVCam:
113	** There's a brief shot from Fluttershy's perspective, with her spotting Spike from between her bangs.
114	** We also see from Twilight's perspective when the four stars align and Nightmare Moon is set free.
115	* PunctuatedForEmphasis:
116	** "What'd I say? Ten. Seconds. Flat."
117	** "The night... will last... ''forever!''"
118	* PuppyDogEyes: Used by Apple Bloom when asking Twilight to stay for brunch.
119	* RealityIsUnrealistic: At first glance, one might wonder over the bird that looked like a cardinal but was red on top and brown on the bottom; males are red above and below and females are brown above and below. The closely related [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhuloxia pyrrhuloxia]], also called the desert cardinal, is pied but is gray below, and the two species can hybridize.
120	* RealTime: Exactly ten seconds elapse when Rainbow Dash clears all the clouds at warp speed.
121	* ReflectiveEyes: When Twilight Sparkle stares at the Moon as Nightmare Moon is about to get freed, the Moon reflects on her eyes.
122	* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder:
123	-->'''Twilight Sparkle:''' Spike, do you know what this means?\
124	'''Spike:''' No...?
125	* SealedEvilInACan: Nightmare Moon was sealed for a thousand years. The can, in this case, is the Moon.
126	* SocietyOnEdgeEpisode: Due to the threat of [[TheNightThatNeverEnds eternal darkness]].
127	* StealthPun:
128	** 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.
129	** "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.
130	* StockSoundEffect: Pinkie's long gasp from when she first sees Twilight is used again when everypony is shocked to hear Celestia is gone.
131	* StorybookOpening. Unsurprisingly accompanied by an ArtShift, using quasi-animations based on the illustrations in the book Twilight is reading.
132	* SurpriseParty: Twilight encounters an unexpected surprise "Welcome to Ponyville" party held for her in the library, courtesy of Pinkie Pie.
133	* SurroundedByIdiots: Twilight eventually feels this way about Ponyville after she meets the ponies in charge of the celebration.
134	-->'''Twilight Sparkle:''' All the ponies in this town are '''[[SuddenlyShouting crazy]]!'''
135	* TemptingFate:
136	** "The fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends." Cue the next part...
137	** Pinkie Pie to Twilight while waiting for Princess Celestia to [[CueTheSun raise the sun]].
138	--->'''Pinkie Pie:''' This is so exciting! Are you excited? 'Cause I'm excited. I've never been so excited -- well, except for the time that I saw you walking into town and I went '''{{Gasp}}''' but I mean, really, [[LampshadeHanging who could top that]]?
139	* TurnInYourBadge: When Twilight Sparkle reports her findings about the return of Nightmare Moon to Princess Celestia, the response is that she should stop reading those dusty old books... which Twilight thinks is essentially taking her off the case. This is in fact a {{plan}} meant to ensure that Twilight defeats Nightmare Moon.
140	* VertigoEffect: When they see Nightmare Moon appear, Twilight and Spike are growing closer while the background ponies move further away.
141	* WeirdMoon: The Sun and the Moon can not be up at the same time (see phases part of the article). The Moon also functions as [[SealedEvilInACan a can for Nightmare Moon]]. When Nightmare Moon escapes, the "Mare in the Moon" disappears off the face of the Moon.
142	* WelcomeEpisode: Introduces Twilight Sparkle (and Spike) to Ponyville in general, and the rest of the Mane Six in particular. Has some shades of [[EveryoneMeetsEveryone Everypony Meets Everypony]] in that it is likely that the other five may be acquainted with each other socially, but are not necessarily close friends (with a few exceptions).
143	* WhenThePlanetsAlign: On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will help Nightmare Moon escape her prison.
144	* WhileRomeBurns: Justified. Taking the time to make friends will be what enables Twilight to defeat Nightmare Moon.
145	* YouKnowWhatThatMeans: Used by Twilight after she reads up on the legend of Nightmare Moon:
146	-->'''Twilight Sparkle:''' Spike, do you know what this means?\
147	'''Spike:''' ...No?

Context Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E1MareInTheMoon