History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E26ShadowPlayPart2

* {{Envy}}: Starswirl incorrectly assumes this to be the reason why Stygian took the Pillars' artifacts, believing that Stygian had grown jealous of them, and was going to use the artifacts to steal the Pillars' powers for himself. While Stygian ''did'' want comparable powers, it was to fight alongside them so he could help them more actively.

* TheArchmage: Starswirl is confirmed once again to be an extremely powerful wizard, indeed the greatest in pony history. Over the episode, he is seen creating a DeflectorShield (a spell that only alicorns or specially gifted unicorns like Shining Armor are known to master) and, in a flashback, open a portal to another world (something that only Discord or Tirek where ever seen doing). The Pony of Shadows thinks that Twilight, an [[PhysicalGod alicorn princess]] [[UpToEleven with a special talent for magic]], is ''almost'' as powerful as Starswirl is. Let that sink in for a moment...

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: This is probably the biggest pony team ever assembled in ''Friendship Is Magic''. The Mane Six and the Pillars of Equestria -- combined with Starlight, Sunburst, and Spike -- make a total of fifteen characters fighting for the side of good. Then these characters are joined by Stygian, Celestia, and Luna in the final scene, making eighteen main characters together in the same scene.

The Pony of Shadows cackles with glee at his freedom and Star Swirl the Bearded is too weakened to repel him. Sunburst frantically tries to find a solution in Star Swirl's journal but the Pony of Shadows destroys the journal along with the rest of the Temple of Ponehenge. With Star Swirl weakened from the sealing (as for him no time has passed) the Pony of Shadows attempts to destroy him but Twilight Sparkle pushes back his dark magic with her own. He remarks in surprise that Twilight is almost as powerful as Star Swirl. He tries again but this time Starlight Glimmer also fights back by adding her magic to the beam war. Finding that he is at a stalemate and still weakened from the sealing, the Pony of Shadows decides to retreat and teleports away.

Everypony reconvenes in the map room of Twilight's castle. Star Swirl says he recognizes the magic that powers the map (and the castle itself) and casts a spell on it, causing a projection of the Tree of Harmony to appear in place of the map. The magic that spawned the map and castle is a result of the seed of hope that the Pillars of Equestria had planted over a millennium before, prior to sealing the Pony of Shadows. This in turn means that the Elements of Harmony were originally spawned from the Pillars of Equestria's own elemental alignments; hope, strength, beauty, bravery, healing, and sorcery and over time these elements became the spirit of the land itself.

Star Swirl surmises that, despite the loss of Ponehenge, the Tree of Harmony has enough magical potential to re-seal the Pony of Shadows with the original spell, though at the cost of losing the Elements of Harmony. Star Swirl rallies the ponies to seek out the Pony of Shadows in the dark corners of Equestria but Twilight wants to find a solution that won't re-seal the Pillars of Equestria along with the Pony of Shadows. However, Starlight wishes to go one step further where they won't have to seal anyone at all, including the Pony of Shadows, but Twilight believes her method is the only way forward and works to craft an improved sealing spell.

Meanwhile, the remaining ponies travel to Manehattan only to find that the land is not nearly as dark as it once was, thanks to the advancements and spread of civilization. Returning to Twilight's castle, Star Swirl concedes that the Pony of Shadows isn't as likely to find a place to recharge as he would if he were living in his own time. Fluttershy asks Meadowbrook if they can find a solution that won't involve sealing the Pillars of Equestria, but she doesn't believe so until Twilight arrives with her own sealing spell.

Star Swirl blows off Twilight's spell, due to his lack of confidence in Twilight, following her recklessness that resulted in the release of the Pony of Shadows, but her friends come to her aid and back her up, insisting Star Swirl at least read the spell before disregarding it. Star Swirl concedes the point, but Sunburst points out that they still don't know where the Pony of Shadows is. However, he speaks too soon as the map calls all of the Mane Six to a region known as the "Hollow Shades". Once more, Starlight raises her concern that there must be a less harsh way to deal with the Pony of Shadows, but Star Swirl says that talk will not be the solution to their predicament and works with Twilight and Sunburst to improve Twilight's initial work while the rest ready themselves to battle the Pony of Shadows.

Star Swirl continues to insist that the darkness that consumed Stygian has no rational mind and must be banished for the good of Equestria. Starlight counters that the map wouldn't summon the six to resolve anything except a friendship problem, questioning how this instance is any different. Star Swirl refutes the claim, causing Starlight to lose her respect for Star Swirl. As part of the improved sealing spell, the ponies visit the Tree of Harmony in order to reclaim the elements they surrendered to it.

The team travels to the Hollow Shades to confront the Pony of Shadows, who traps them inside his underground lair, the "Well of Shade", which is where Stygian originally found the power that would transform him into the Pony of Shadows via a deal he made with said power. Star Swirl accuses the Pony of Shadows of jealousy and greed, but he counters by saying the same of Star Swirl, which prompts Starlight to once again question the Pony of Shadows' motives. Star Swirl, with the help of the Elements of Harmony and their corresponding Pillars of Equestria, open the portal to Limbo to push the Pony of Shadows back inside.

Star Swirl orders Twilight (who is hesitating) to finish the job but just then, a pony emerges from inside the Pony of Shadows' black body. Twilight pursues the pony inside and finds Stygian within. Stygian explains that he only sought the Pillars' respect. Despite being the founder of the group and the tactician behind the Pillars' strategies, his lack of magical ability or physical strength caused him to be overlooked. He did not intend to steal their artifacts but rather copy them, drawing strength from his duplication and becoming able to assist them on the battlefield. But when the Pillars threw him out of the group, he came to believe that they only cared about keeping the glory all to themselves. This misunderstanding was what drove Stygian away and, in his despair, a mysterious evil force spoke to him, offering him power, and it came at the cost of corrupting his mind. Starlight, Sunburst and the rest of the Mane Six hear and listen to everything Stygian is saying, as do Star Swirl and the Pillars, who soon realize their mistake -- Stygian was trying be one of them and they should've listened before he was corrupted.

Starlight joins them inside the Pony of Shadows in order to reason with Stygian that she too had corrupt magic and was vengeful towards Twilight and her friends before she changed, but he rejects it (or rather the shadows possessing him do) as the darkness will not give in. Not willing to give up, Twilight attempts to forcibly separate Stygian from the Pony of Shadows in order to save them. Together with Starlight, they try to drag Stygian out by his hooves but require more magic energy to do so. Star Swirl, finally seeing his error and now wanting to save Stygian instead of banish him, has everypony redirect their magical energy to forcing Stygian and the Pony of Shadows apart instead of pushing them both through the portal. They succeed and the shadowy energy creature gets sucked into the portal without Stygian.

Star Swirl pulls Stygian out of the hole, reconciles with him and expresses his regret for believing Stygian betrayed him and the Pillars. He also gives an apology to Twilight for not seeing the magic potential of friendship, which goes a long way toward repairing the damage Star Swirl did by treating Twilight so brusquely and angrily putting her down over the course of the adventure.

Star Swirl also is called out for dismissing and disrespecting Starlight's suggestions that there was a solution other than banishment and the map only ever calls for solving friendship problems. Star Swirl admits he owes many apologies and has the good grace to look abashed for dismissing Twilight and Starlight, insisting only on his "my way or the highway" approach.

The Mane Six's cutie marks glow, signifying a successful friendship problem solved and everypony returns to Canterlot, where Star Swirl reunites with Celestia and Luna. Princess Celestia invites Star Swirl to stay in Canterlot and resume teaching, but Star Swirl declines, wanting to explore the vastly changed Equestria before deciding where to settle down; Stygian and the Pillars also feel this way. Before they go, the rest of the ponies all join in a group hug.

Twilight herself thanks Starlight for reminding her of the Magic of Friendship when her idolization of Star Swirl blinded her to all else, and the two happily hug.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Star Swirl is very skeptical of the Mane Six's claims to have saved Equestria from so many threats. Flash Magnus, on the other hand, believes them right away.
* TheArchmage: Star Swirl is confirmed once again to be an extremely powerful wizard, indeed the greatest in pony history. Over the episode, he is seen creating a DeflectorShield (a spell that only alicorns or specially gifted unicorns like Shining Armor are known to master) and, in a flashback, open a portal to another world (something that only Discord or Tirek where ever seen doing). The Pony of Shadows thinks that Twilight, an [[PhysicalGod alicorn princess]] [[UpToEleven with a special talent for magic]], is ''almost'' as powerful as Star Swirl is. Let that sink in for a moment...

'''Twilight Sparkle:''' I just unleashed ultimate evil and doomed Equestria because I was obsessed with meeting my idol. Why ''wouldn't'' I be okay?!

* BeamOWar: Twilight and The Pony of Shadows engage in one near the start of the episode when Star Swirl proves to be too drained to fight. She wins the first exchange, and the Pony of Shadows is surprised at how powerful Twilight is (stating she is almost as strong as Star Swirl), but she isn't strong enough when he tries again. Luckily Starlight adds her own beam to support Twilight and the two overpower him.
* BeyondRedemption: Star Swirl believes that the Pony of Shadows is so corrupted by evil ambitions that he can no longer be reasoned with, and that villains are beyond redemption (which hits Starlight where it hurts). He finds out the situation is more complicated than that.

* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: Star Swirl's black and white worldview is shown to be the root cause of the entire mess: he wrote off Stygian as a lost cause too early and all of Equestria nearly paid the price for it. He grows out of it.
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Star Swirl firmly believes in "once a villain, always a villain". He scoffs at Starlight's suggestion that Stygian could be reasoned with, stating that Stygian has gone down a path "from which there is no return".
* BreakTheHaughty: Star Swirl's ego takes a major hit when Starlight turns out to be ''right'' about Stygian and that this whole mess was because he and the other Pillars acted too rashly and harshly towards him, and he's notably humbler in his interactions afterwards.

* BrokenPedestal: Twilight has idolized Star Swirl the Bearded for years and wanted to free him and the Pillars partly to meet him, but he is [[UngratefulBastard grumpy and angry with her]] for putting the world in danger by also freeing the Pony of Shadows. He is also distant, a bit arrogant, and dismissive of her improved spell, tossing it aside without even reading it, and doesn't seem to believe villains can be redeemed through [[ThePowerOfFriendship friendship]]. [[RebuiltPedestal It is reversed later]] as he comes to respect her knowledge and skills and is grateful for reuniting the Pillars with their friend Stygian. It is averted entirely with the rest of the Mane Six, who get along with the Pillar they represent and the legend they idolized from the start.

* TheCameo: [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks All three Sirens]] appear in a flashback, using their voices to spread chaos before being defeated and banished by Star Swirl and the Pillars.

* CirclingMonologue: The Pony of Shadows walks around the group of heroes under a dome of force while doing his evil rant, having done a full circle when Star Swirl responds.

* CommonalityConnection: With the exception of Twilight and Star Swirl, each of the Elements bonds pretty fast with her Pillar equivalent.

** When Star Swirl concludes that the realm has been safe for all the thousand plus years that he and the other Pillars were absent, Pinkie quickly rattles off all the major battles the Mane Six fought since they came together, reading out of Twilight's friendship journal before pulling Starlight Glimmer over when referencing [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E25TheCutieRemarkPart1 the Season 5]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E26TheCutieRemarkPart2 finale]].

** Starlight's usage of Star Swirl's time travel spell in the Season 5 finale is brought up, as is Twilight earning her wings by finishing one of Star Swirl's own spells in Season 3.
** The Sirens from the ''Equestria Girls'' series appear in a flashback that shows Star Swirl banishing them with the help of the Pillars.

** In the end, Star Swirl admits to Twilight that he never accounted for the Magic of Friendship. Princess Celestia stated that Star Swirl didn't understand friendship like Twilight does in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E13MagicalMysteryCure Magical Mystery Cure]]".

** And, of course, the Sirens pull this off with their MagicMusic during the cameo in Star Swirl's flashback.

* TheCynic: Star Swirl scoffs at the idea of saving Equestria "with a [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath conversation]]", and firmly believes that there is no turning back from the path of evil. Fortunately, he starts to see things differently after Stygian is saved.

* DeflectorShields: Star Swirl the Bearded creates a white dome of force over the whole group when confronted with the Pony of Shadows at the start of the climax. The villain doesn't do anything about it at first, too busy gloating, but then his dark magic slams against the shield, first cracking it and then blasting it to pieces.

* DeusExitMachina: The episode ends with Star Swirl and the Pillars departing to explore the modern Equestria because heavens forbid [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017 anything happen]] that the greatest unicorn wizard ever and heroes of their time could help resolve otherwise.

* {{Envy}}: Star Swirl incorrectly assumes this to be the reason why Stygian took the Pillars' artifacts, believing that Stygian had grown jealous of them, and was going to use the artifacts to steal the Pillars' powers for himself. While Stygian ''did'' want comparable powers, it was to fight alongside them so he could help them more actively.

** Starlight to Star Swirl. She became terrified, bitter and eventually became a fascist from fear of losing more friends, but was eventually redeemed and became better by learning real friendship. As opposed to Star Swirl who didn't understand friendship, didn't consider understanding it important to the pursuit of magic, and treated any opportunities for more friends as distractions.

* {{Forgiveness}}: After over a millennium (though to him it hasn't been near that long), Stygian forgives Star Swirl and the Pillars for misunderstanding his actions and they forgive him for stealing from them.

* GoodIsNotNice: Star Swirl is revealed to be this, as he is willing to banish the Pony of Shadows to Limbo rather than consider other alternatives. He's also very grumpy and not very subtle about letting his criticisms be known. When Celestia told Twilight that [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E13MagicalMysteryCure "he did not understand friendship like you do"]], she wasn't far off the mark.

* HeroicSacrifice: Star Swirl thinks sacrifice is necessary to deal with the Pony of Shadows, given that he and the others committed one initially. Twilight manages to get a way around it (seal the Pony of Shadows but not the Pillars of Old Equestria) while Starlight thinks they can TakeAThirdOption.

** Mistmane's actions are even moreso, considering her own story showed her helping her old friend Sable Spirit. In spite of the wicked deeds Sable had committed, Mistmane sacrificed her beauty to help her. This act of deep compassion convinced Sable to [[HeelFaceTurn change her ways]]. In the present, Mistmane shows none of that compassion to Stygian, going along with Star Swirl's belief that he is irredeemable.

* IntergenerationalFriendship: The Mane Six befriend their respective counterparts in the Pillars of Old Equestria, all of whom are from a thousand years prior, even if Star Swirl takes time to warm up to Twilight.

* IWarnedYou: Star Swirl disagrees with Starlight's thoughts that the Pony of Shadows can be reasoned with, claiming he was driven by envy and is beyond reasoning. When they learn that Stygian never wanted to steal the Pillars' magic, Star Swirl is shocked and Starlight just silently glances at him with an unamused look.
* JerkassRealization: Star Swirl and the other Pillars realize that their pride was what drove Stygian to become the Pony of Shadows. Star Swirl in particular has this for his dismissive attitude towards Twilight and Starlight when it turns out they were absolutely right.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Star Swirl.

* KnightTemplar: Star Swirl. He genuinely wants to protect Equestria, but his gung-ho willingness to ShootTheDog rather than attempt another, more peaceful solution is quite concerning. In fact, this is revealed to have caused the PoorCommunicationKills moment that led to Stygian's StartOfDarkness in the first place — which finally forces Star Swirl to eat some HumblePie and reconsider his outlook.

* LightIsGood: Unlike other unicorns who have ColorCodedWizardry with their magical auras, Star Swirl's magic manifests in pure, white light.

* LoyalPhlebotinum: Star Swirl reminds us that the Elements of Harmony are attuned to the Mane Six (something that Celestia had already stated before). It doesn't change a thing that he and the Pillars were the ones to plant the seed that grew into the Tree of Harmony. Even if Star Swirl's sorcery can affect the Tree itself thanks to his familiarity with the magic it contains, the Elements still need to be worn by the Mane Six for their power to be called upon.

** Star Swirl and the other Pillars all assumed Stygian stole their artifacts to steal their powers for himself and banished him without listening to him. He really just wanted to make himself strong to stand by his friends and be noticed like them, and feeling betrayed he turned evil for real (or rather was possessed by something evil).
** Further, Star Swirl, in his arrogance, seems to have ''Banishment'' as his go-to spell when he encounters overwhelming, malevolent evil. All this does is make the evil somepony else's problem. Because of this, the Sirens ended up on the ''Equestria Girls'' world and tried to take over there (admittedly only because of something he could not have foreseen, Sunset Shimmer bringing an Element of Harmony to that world).
* NoNonsenseNemesis: When he escapes from Limbo, the Pony of Shadows wastes no time making sure a new banishment isn't possible, by destroying Star Swirl's journal as well as the standing stones of Ponehenge. Then he attacks Star Swirl with clear intent to kill. It's only because of his weakened state that he's thwarted by Twilight and Starlight, and opts to flee to regain power first before a new confrontation.

* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: For Star Swirl and the other Pillars at least; now that they are back, they have to deal with the fact that the Equestria that they knew is gone.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Star Swirl, the other Pillars, and Stygian were all sealed in Limbo for over a thousand years--all because Stygian didn't tell the others that he was feeling excluded, and Star Swirl didn't bother hearing Stygian's side of the story before assuming he'd gone evil. Of course, the shadow force that possessed Stygian being truly evil muddled things, as before this the Pillars hoped Stygian would return to reconcile, but before this they also still apparently refused to listen to his reasons for the theft (or he refused to give them). Also, Stygian ''stealing their artifacts'' instead of him simply explaining what he was planning and asking if he could borrow them for his spell did ''not'' help his case.

* ThePowerOfFriendship: At first Star Swirl does not believe it can apply to the situation they are in, thinking that the only solution is to banish the Pony of Shadows. However, upon learning that the Pony of Shadows only exists because of the rejection felt by Stygian, he has a change of heart and comes to understand its magical potential.

* {{Pride}}: Star Swirl's (and by extension the rest of the Pillars') FatalFlaw, as it was pride that clouded their judgement on Stygian's actions.

** ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFiendshipIsMagic'' said that the Sirens were defeated by Star Swirl alone, after he challenged them to a BattleOfTheBands. Here, the Pillars of Old Equestria defeat them as a unit by fighting and distracting them to trick them into entering the portal Star Swirl created.
** ''Literature/TheJournalOfTheTwoSisters'' had the Tree of Harmony present along with Star Swirl. Here, the Tree had not yet grown when Star Swirl was sealed away.

** The reveal that Star Swirl and the Pillars planted what they learn grew into the Tree of Harmony before their disappearance creates one with "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E2PrincessTwilightSparklePart2 Princess Twilight Sparkle]]", where Celestia and Luna knew about the Tree and its properties despite the only ones who would even knew about its existence disappearing before they had a chance to tell anyone.

* ShippingFuel: While all the Pillars get along fine with their corresponding Element bearer (Star Swirl and Twilight being the exception), Rainbow and Flash Magnus become particularly friendly; he repeatedly compliments her bravery and heroism, the two share mugs of cider, and have a smug hoofbump as Rainbow Dash boasts about how good they are at beating villains.
* ShootTheDog: Star Swirl's assumption of Stygian doing something evil ended up leading the Pony of Shadows to take control of him and ''turn'' him evil, and he is all too willing to simply banish Stygian rather than try to reason with him. Once Star Swirl finds out what Stygian was really doing, he realizes he went right into this trope without thinking.

** Star Swirl's viewpoint of "once a villain, always a villain" mirrors Agent Olympia's ArcWords from ''Series/OddSquad'', word for word.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Star Swirl has a very black-and-white view of the world, believing Stygian to be a lost cause once he became the Pony of Shadows. Twilight, normally more idealistic in approach, starts to adopt some of Star Swirl's thinking due to her guilt over freeing the Pony of Shadows, and Starlight has to try to convince her that Stygian is worth trying to save. Twilight is conflicted about what to do, but what clinches it is when Twilight sees that Stygian still exists inside the Pony of Shadows.

** The Pillars of Old Equestria are revealed to be the PrecursorHeroes to the Mane Six. Twilight manages to figure out a spell capable of locking away the Pony of Shadows without sacrificing the Pillars to do so, something Star Swirl couldn't accomplish, and it's shown the Mane Six do not give up as easily on anypony as the Pillars did, which is a pivotal reason that Stygian is saved rather than banished back to Limbo this time around.

* ThatManIsDead: The Pony of Shadows was once a regular unicorn named Stygian, who was friends with the Pillars. Star Swirl says that he gave up that name once he became the Pony of Shadows. Stygian himself states that "he once was" the pony named Stygian. Luckily the Pillars and Mane Six are able to save Stygian and banish the shadow that was controlling him.

* WhatNowEnding: How will Star Swirl and the Pillars of Old Equestria be able to live now with the knowledge that the world they used to be a part of more than 1,000 years ago is simply gone and replaced by many things that are completely unfamiliar to them? For Star Swirl at least it means going on a long journey to learn about the Equestria of the present. The others express they want to see what has become of their homes.

** Starlight calls Twilight out for listening to Star Swirl rather than her, and more to the point going against the principles Twilight taught her about seeking reconciliation and forgiveness when possible. Twilight is visibly conflicted about this.

** The Mane Six call out Star Swirl on being too stuck in his ways to listen to Twilight and being too harsh on her. This prompts the other Pillars to encourage him to listen.

** Star Swirl states that the Pony of Shadows cannot be reasoned with or convinced to stop and that Stygian turned evil simply because he was jealous of the Pillars, going so far as to say "once a villain, always a villain". Note that he says this to Starlight Glimmer, a reformed villain, and the Mane Six have reformed many previous villains. If that wasn't enough, Pinkie actually told him about Starlight's previous attempt to re-write the timeline and saw how close she is with the Mane Six, ''yet he still kept believing villains couldn't reform''.

* WronskiFeint: Somnanbula pulls this on the Dazzlings in the flashback. By circling around the Sirens, she annoys them enough that all three give chase to her. Thus Somnanbula leads them toward the interdimensional portal that Star Swirl just opened, and swerves at the last moment by flying up. The Sirens, bigger and less agile than a pegasus, can't stop in time and fly straight through the portal.

** Stygian’s corrupted form inside the Pony of Shadows bears a noticeable resemblance to [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames Midnight Sparkle]], including birdlike black wings and a gnarled horn.

* NotSoDifferent: Starlight tells Stygian that she wasn't so different from him once, and that Twilight helped her, just as she could help him.

* ContinuityCavalcade: A lot of dangling plot threads get tied up in this episode as well as a lot of continuity references.

** The Elements of Harmony return, and the Tree of Harmony has its origins revealed. That the Tree spawned Twilight's castle and the Cutie Map is a major plot point as well.

** Star Swirl states that the Pony of Shadows cannot be reasoned with or convinced to stop and that Stygian turned evil simply because he was jealous of the Pillars, going so far as to say "once a villain, always a villain". Note that he says this to Starlight Glimmer, a reformed villain, and the Mane Six have reformed many previous villains.

** A more subtle nod happens in the same scene, as Rainbow Dash notes the map is like a detector of villains, before turning to Starlight and saying "No offense". This really calls back to how the Rainbooms and Princess Twilight unintemtionally brought up Sunset Shimmer's evil deeds in a negative light while in presence of a reformed Sunset in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks''.

** And, of course, the Sirens pull this off during their cameo in Star Swirl's flashback.

* {{Adorkable}}: Twilight has a gleeful smile when Star Swirl the Bearded compliments her on her spell.

** The reveal that Star Swirl and the Pillars planted what they learn grew into the Tree of Harmony before their disappearance creates one with "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E2PrincessTwilightSparklePart2 Princess Twilight Sparkle]]" where Celestia and Luna knew about the Tree and it's properties despite the only ones who would even knew about its existence disappearing before they had a chance to tell anyone.
** It's stated this is the first time the Cutie Map has summoned all the Mane Six for a friendship problem since [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E1TheCutieMapPart1 Starlight's village]]. But the ''Equestria Girls'' special "[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsMagicalMovieNight Mirror Magic]]" had all the Mane Six "called away to solve a friendship problem" when Starlight was referred to as "You're Twilight's student" implying it's before she graduated prior to this episode. This could be Starlight's studenthood being past tense or someone other than the Map sending them off, but it lacks the context to verify and no-one but the Map had sent them to solve friendship problems. Unlike other contradictions with the ExpandedUniverse where [[CanonDiscontinuity where the show overwrites it]], ''Equestria Girls'' was confirmed this episode by ContinuityNod and WordOfGod to be of equal canon status.

* TheSymbiote: The entity Stygian merged with is one because it bonds with its host and gives them incredible power, but also seems to influence them negatively. At least the first time around it seemed to require someone to find and merge with it to cause any trouble, though the second time its sealed in Limbo before what happens when it lacks a host can be seen.

* WorfHadTheFlu: The Pony of Shadows is implied to be severely weakened by his long imprisonment just like the Pillars, hence why he loses the BeamOWar. It's unclear whether or not he'd regained his full strength by the end of the episode, though he does manage to resist the Elements surprisingly well.

* SeriesContinuityError: It's stated this is the first time the Cutie Map has summoned all the Mane Six for a friendship problem since [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E1TheCutieMapPart1 Starlight's village]]. But the ''Equestria Girls'' special "[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsMagicalMovieNight Mirror Magic]]" had all the Mane Six "called away to solve a friendship problem" when Starlight was referred to as "You're Twilight's student" implying it's before she graduated prior to this episode. This could be Starlight's studenthood being past tense or someone other than the Map sending them off, but it lacks the context to verify and no-one but the Map had sent them to solve friendship problems. Unlike other contradictions with the ExpandedUniverse where [[CanonDiscontinuity where the show overwrites it]], ''Equestria Girls'' was confirmed this episode by ContinuityNod and WordOfGod to be of equal canon status.

->''Fight the darkness, Stygian! You don't need it anymore! Revenge isn't what you want! Friendship is!''
-->--'''Twilight Sparkle'''

->'''Twilight Sparkle:''' This is all a misunderstanding! If the Pillars knew how you felt, I'm sure they wouldn't have turned their backs on you. The shadow isn't who you really are. Let me help you be Stygian again.
->'''Stygian:''' Even if my friends did still care, what makes you think you have the power to help me?
->'''Starlight Glimmer:''' Because it's what she does. I wasn't so different from you, and Twilight helped me change. If there's one pony in Equestria that can save a friendship, it's her.

->'''Twilight Sparkle:''' The shadow isn't who you really are. Let me help you be Stygian again.

%%IdiotBall: This trope was removed per the discussion page.

* ContinuitySnarl: It's stated this is the first time the Cutie Map has summoned all the Mane Six for a friendship problem since [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E1TheCutieMapPart1 Starlight's village]]. But the ''Equestria Girls'' special "[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsMagicalMovieNight Mirror Magic]]" had all the Mane Six "called away to solve a friendship problem" when Starlight was referred to as "You're Twilight's student" implying it's before she graduated prior to this episode. This could be Starlight's studenthood being past tense or someone other than the Map sending them off, but it lacks the context to verify and no-one but the Map had sent them to solve friendship problems. Unlike other contradictions with the ExpandedUniverse where [[CanonDiscontinuity where the show overwrites it]], ''Equestria Girls'' was confirmed this episode by ContinuityNod and WordOfGod to be of equal canon status.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Star Swirl believes that the Pony of Shadows is so corrupted by evil ambitions that he can no longer be reasoned with, and that villains are beyond redemption (which hits Starlight where it hurts). He finds out the situation is more complicated than that.

* TakeThatAudience: For a long time, a sizable part of the audience has been vocally against [[HeelFaceTurn redemption]] or [[EasilyForgiven forgiveness]] for certain villains. Here, we get {{Jerkass}} Star Swirl, who stubbornly espouses this same view -- "once a villain, always a villain" and they need to be taken down -- before being proved utterly wrong.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Paying close attention to the expressions of the ponies in the flashback about the Pony of Shadows/Stygian suggests that maybe the Pillars' view of events isn't 100% correct. After all, while Star Swirl ''says'' Stygian was "jealous", he looks more upset and doesn't sport a hostile expression until he is already possessed.