History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E2PrincessTwilightSparklePart2

->'''Discord:''' [[PassThePopcorn I'm going to need more popcorn!]]

** Princess Celestia has to confront her sister, who has turned evil due to her fears and anger, and only by letting go of her attachment to her sister, she is ultimately victorious... where have we seen this before?

!!Continued from "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E1PrincessTwilightSparklePart1 Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1]]".

->Special Guest Star: Creator/JohnDeLancie as Discord
->Written by Meghan [=McCarthy=]

** Princess Celestia has to confront her sister, who has turned evil due to her fears and anger, and only by letting go of her attachment to her sister, she is ultimately victorious... where have we [[Film/Revenge Of The Sith seen this before?]]

* BerserkerTears: In the flashback, Princess Celestia is crying while unleashing the Elements of Harmony's power against Nightmare Moon.

* CombatTentacles: The more dangerous Plunder Vines act as these, attempting to ensnare unwary ponies. They also attempt to constrict and smother Twilight when she tries to save the Tree of Harmony.

* OffModel: Just when Twilight hovers into the air to remove the elements, her wings become pegasus wings until the elements spin around her.

* SealedGoodInACan: Luna and Celestia are wrapped up in Plunder Vines for most of the episode, unable to do anything to escape.

* SheatheYourSword: Celestia initially refuses to raise a hoof against Nightmare Moon, though a bolt of magic to the face makes her rethink this strategy.

* BigBad: [spoiler:Discord, although not directly]. It's revealed that he created the Plunderseeds long ago before his first defeat as a contingency plan to steal the Tree of Harmony's magic and trap Celestia and Luna. However, the Tree still had excess magic to create a barrier to prevent the seeds from growing. It wasn't until after thousands of years later that the Tree ran dry of magic and and the Plundervines were able to flourish.

* BeamSpam: Nightmare Moon indulges in this, her first act after transforming being to start blasting everything in sight. She also uses this as he main method of attack against Celestia.

* HelpingWouldBeKillStealing: Discord claims as such when he admits he was the one who planted to seeds, stating he wouldn't be a good "friend" by telling Twilight about them without her learning a lesson from the whole ordeal first.

* BeamOWar: Celestia and Nightmare Moon engage in this briefly. [[ForegoneConclusion Celestia wins since she has the Elements backing her.]]

** This is averted however when the two princesses face down Discord, with both appearing rather beaten up and dishevelled.

* BroughtDownToBadass: The Mane Cast give up the Elements to save the Tree of Harmony, though naturally they've shown themselves to be pretty badflank ''without'' them already. Of note, Fluttershy effortlessly cows Discord out of trying to take advantage of them losing the Elements.

* FailedASpotCheck: See AchievementsInIgnorance.

* HijackedByGanon: DoubleSubverted. When vines from the Everfree Forest started invading Ponyville and the princesses went missing, everyone assumed it was a new threat or villain causing all this. At first it seems to be because of Luna becoming Nightmare Moon again, when it's revealed that it was all a flashback. Then it gets double subverted at the end. It turned out that it was caused by seeds that the recently reformed villain [[MadGod Discord]] planted right before his defeat by Celestia and Luna over a millennium before. The Tree of Harmony's power managed to keep them from growing for that long.

* IntangibleTimeTravel: Caused by Zecora's potion. Twilight is able to move around within the visions it creates freely, she just can't seem to interact with anything there.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone[=/=]NiceJobBreakingItHero: Twilight and her friends all kick themselves over thinking it was a good idea for Twilight to back out of the search for the Tree of Harmony, realizing that they don't have any clue what to do to save the tree.

* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: The Elements of Harmony, one of Equestria's most powerful defenses, and the Mane Cast's fall back for all emergencies to date, have been returned to their source, which produces a mysterious box that no one knows anything about.

* MetaphoricallyTrue: Last episode, Discord insisted that he "couldn't possibly take responsibility" for the Plunder Vine invasion. This episode it's revealed that ''he'' planted the seeds back when Celestia and Luna defeated him the first time, centuries earlier. He may not have caused them to sprout ''now'', but he ''did'' plant them in the first place, and he didn't do anything to stop them from spreading when they did. Twilight calls him on this, but being a [[TheTrickster trickster]], he's used to ponies' indignation.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Twilight and her friends all kick themselves over thinking it was a good idea for Twilight to back out of the search for the Tree of Harmony, realizing that they don't have any clue what to do to save the tree.

* YouWereTryingTooHard: Twilight complains that she can never get her wings to work the way she wants them to, and Rainbow Dash tells her that it'll just come to her eventually. In the climax, when Twilight is more focused on fixing the tree than flying, she's able to fly up and hover with ease, after which she no longer has any trouble with it.

* GenreBlind: Until she sees the orrery rise up out of the ground holding the Elements of Harmony in their original gemstone form, Twilight doesn't realize she's witnessing past events and Celestia and Luna can't see or hear her.
* GenreSavvy: Rainbow Dash quickly and correctly guesses as to what the Tree of Harmony is like at the point the group decides that Twilight has to go back to Ponyville.
-->'''Twilight:''' But I'm the only one who has seen the Tree of Harmony!\\
'''Rainbow Dash:''' Big tree, cutie marks on it, probably being attacked by [[EldritchAbomination something hideously awful]]... I think we'll know it when we see it.

* MoralityChain: Fluttershy shows she is this to Discord when he considers recreating his world of chaos until she scolds him and tells him to help clean up if he wants to stay her friend.

* NothingCanStopMeNow: With the Elements of Harmony back in the Tree of Harmony, Discord feels he can do anything he wants now, only for Fluttershy to remind him of [[Recap/KeepCalmAndFlutterOn his promise to her]].

* MultiPartEpisode: This episode continues the tradition of [[Recap/MareInTheMoon two-]][[Recap/ElementsOfHarmony part]] [[Recap/TheReturnOfHarmonyPart1 sea]][[Recap/TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 son]] [[Recap/TheCrystalEmpirePart1 open]][[Recap/TheCrystalEmpirePart2 ers]]. WordOfGod, however, [[https://twitter.com/MMeghanMcCarthy/status/302576012804366336 considers]] this episode to be the third part of a three-parter, with [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E13MagicalMysteryCure "Magical Mystery Cure"]] being the first part, and stories set between seasons 3 and 4 like ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls Equestria Girls]]'' being interludes.

** Discord briefly appears to be sticking out of Twilight's ears while doing his TricksterMentor spiel. That is to say, he's giving her a [[StarTrekTheNextGeneration Q]]-Tip. Naturally doubles as a VisualPun and triples as an ActorAllusion.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Did Applejack just forget that all six Elements of Harmony needed to be together in order for them to be used when she came up with the idea to send Twilight back to Ponyville?

!!Tropes present in this episode (YMMV tropes for the episode can be found '''[[YMMV/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E2PrincessTwilightSparklePart2 here]]'''):

* AchievementsInIgnorance: Pinkie is the first to find the stairs leading down to a precarious cavern, ''by falling down them''.

* BadassInDistress: Twilight gets surrounded by magic-sapping plants and is incapacitated while she's trying to reach her friends inside the forest. Once they get the plants away from her, Twilight helps zap them into oblivion even while groggy.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Even after being briefly knocked out by Nightmare Moon, Celestia doesn't look any worse for wear after she recovers. This is averted however when the two princesses face down Discord, with both appearing rather beaten up and dishevelled.

-->'''Rarity''': A valiant effort on both your parts, but the tree remains in jeopardy.\\
'''Applejack''': And I suppose ''you'' have any better ideas?\\
''(Rarity thinks, but can't come up with anything)''\\
'''Applejack''': ''(fixing Rarity a bad look)'' That's what I thought.

** ChekhovsSkill: When Twilight returns from the Everfree Forest, Discord is seen watching some ponies getting attacked by the plants, then casually makes them vanish at Twilight's insistence, showing he is perfectly capable of removing them.

* ContinuityNod: "Does anypony think that this is a lost cause?" - Rainbow Dash to Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. It turns out to be said once before in "TheCrystalEmpirePart1".

* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Not once does Spike attempt to use his dragon-breath to fight off the vines. Twilight likewise forgets her teleporation ability when they get attacked by an alligator.

-->'''Twilight:''' But I'm the only one who has seen the Tree of Harmony!
-->'''Rainbow Dash:''' Big tree, cutie marks on it, probably being attacked by [[EldritchAbomination something hideously awful]]...I think we'll know it when we see it.

* HeroicBSOD: Twilight has one when she thinks Nightmare Moon has killed Celestia.

* ManipulativeBastard: It looks like threatening Discord with the loss of her friendship is now Fluttershy's [[SignatureMove go-to move]] for reigning him in.
* [[MenacingStroll Menacing Trot]]: Nightmare Moon briefly performs a rather awesome one towards Celestia.

* MultiPartEpisode: This episode continues the tradition of [[Recap/MareInTheMoon two-]][[Recap/ElementsOfHarmony part]] [[Recap/TheReturnOfHarmonyPart1 sea]][[Recap/TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 son]] [[Recap/TheCrystalEmpirePart1 open]][[Recap/TheCrystalEmpirePart2 ers]]. WordOfGod, however, [[https://twitter.com/MMeghanMcCarthy/status/302576012804366336 considers]] this episode to be the third part of a three-parter, with "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E13MagicalMysteryCure Magical Mystery Cure]]" being the first part, and stories set between seasons 3 and 4 like ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls Equestria Girls]]'' being interludes.

* NoodleIncident: Very little of Celestia's and Luna's quest for the Elements of Harmony is shown, but it can be inferred to be rather harrowing given that the Princesses are visibly dirtied (if not outright injured) by the time they collect the Elements and confront Discord. Luna seems to be particularly the worse for wear. Considering these two have been portrayed as [[PhysicalGod Physical Goddesses]] so far in the series, this would have to be intense, indeed.

* [[ManEatingPlant Pony-Eating Plant]]: The Plunder Vines have mobile Venus Flytrap-like parts that spray spores that cause anypony that's exposed to them to lose consciousness. They subdue and almost eat Twilight before the rest of the Mane 6 show up to save her.

* ShoutOut: Starting with this episode, Season 4's all-encompassing story arc (of finding the six keys to fit the locks on the box sprouted by The Tree of Harmony) bears a resemblance to "The Key to Time" story arc from ''DoctorWho''; both arcs even take place over 26 episodes. Perhaps someone at Hasbro saw the connection, and ''that's'' why they made the conscious decision of making Season 4's premiere coincide with ''Who's'' 50th television anniversary.
** The way that Princess Celestia conjured up her moon-banishing beam (five beams radiating from the Elements of Harmony into the Element of Magic to create an apex before firing) is similar to the way the [[StarWars Death Star]] fired its planet-destroying laser.

** At the conclusion, Twilight performs her "Twilight Sparkleboom" between the setting of the moon and the rising of the sun--right where one would expect twilight to occur.

* [[ThatManIsDead That Mare Is Dead]]: Within the first flashback, when Celestia pleads with Luna to lower the moon:
-->'''Nightmare Moon''': Luna? I am... ''Nightmare Moon''!

* WhatTheHellHero: Rainbow Dash calls out Applejack the moment they realized they needed Twilight right after Applejack's idea to send her away. Applejack flips it around, saying they ''all'' agreed to the idea.

* WorldHealingWave: When the Elements of Harmony are returned to the Tree of Harmony, it lets loose one of these that obliterates the Plunder Vines. Justified as...well, it's the source of the Elements of Harmony and they're capable of producing one of these.

* FrenchMaid: Discord dresses as such to help clean up, but he doesn't do windows.

* ShamefulShrinking: Discord shrinks when Fluttershy angrily warns him not to try anything just because the Elements of Harmony have been returned to the Tree of Harmony.