History Sandbox / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicNightmareFuel

* While Ahuizotl is too LaughablyEvil to be scary, the fact that hired thugs OnlyInItForTheMoney exist in Equestria is a sobering thought. The beatdown they gave [[WouldHitAGirl A.K. Yearling/Daring Do]] is pretty disturbing, and the fact you don't know she's a badass adventurer at the time makes it scarier. (Before TheReveal, it looked like TheMafia were breaking into an innocent author's house to beat her to death)

** Judging from past villains, it was expected he'd [[EvilIsHammy ham it up]] but he doesn't. He attacks the group as a giant monster made of shadows that becomes an AdvancingWallOfDoom, the only noises are his terrifying roars or a few lines spoken in a [[EvilSoundsDeep deep]], [[GutturalGrowler growling]] tone.

* Discord's home: a PocketDimension with warped gravity, EldritchAbomination beasts flying around, and a sky resembling a black [[VideoGame/{{Earthbound}} Giygas]].

* The ending of the first half. [[TwistEnding Specifically,]] [[DiabolusExMachina the]] [[WhamLine last]] [[SurpriseCreepy 20-odd]] [[DownerEnding seconds.]] Seriously, the only thing that kept fans from freaking out completely is the fact that the second half of the plot started almost immediately.

* The moment where Twilight was trapped in the abandoned mines of Canterlot, and Chrysalis!Candance showing herself on the crystal walls, taunting her and telling that [[AndIMustScream nopony would ever find her.]] Also her face when she reveals herself to Twilight!
* As Twilight and Cadance make their escape, they run into Chrysalis' mind-controlled bridesmaids. As they close in, the screen [[SmashToBlack goes to black,]] [[ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes their glowing eyes the only thing visible.]]

** Pinkie Pie is next, and her balloon garden provides a particularly horrifying example of UncannyValley, with her friends' faces plastered onto balloons. Plus Discord decapitating himself to put his own face on a balloon. While Pinky begs him to stop. It's also yet another example of bullying, as a crowd this time, very reminiscient of real life.

** More terrifying than anything else is his being CrazyPrepared. The Crystal Heart is the one thing, aside from direct intervention from two god-like beings, that could stop him. What does he do to prevent others from getting it? Aside from [[LaserGuidedAmnesia making everypony who knew about it forget it existed]] and removing any record of it's importance, he put defenses around it. What kind? First, he puts it in a secret passage that a spell only he knew could open. Had Twilight not seen that spell from Celestia, it would be impossible to reveal. Second, he puts a door in the way that, if the same spell is used to open it, traps the intruder in a nightmare that is inescapable unless someone else wakes them up and the door itself is a jerk and will toy with anyone who tries to enter it. Last but not least, at the top of the tower where he hid the Heart, there's a spell that, when triggered, traps the intruder in a barrier that will pull the victim back in if a teleport spell is used. More importantly, it tells Sombra that someone has reached the heart. Unlike some villains, he took every reasonable step to ensure that no one could get the one thing that could stop him, since it couldn't be destroyed (said object having the power to aid him in conquering the world probably has something to do with that a [/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic/recap/TheCrystalingPart1 later episode]] provides an additional reason he wouldn't have wanted to destroy it). Not bad for a villain with only a couple of minutes of screen time and very little dialog.

* The entire premise of these two episodes: [[VileVillainSaccharineShow Tirek]] is back, and he's [[TookALevelInBadass worse than ever]]. The massive {{HSQ}} of these two episodes brought a lot of terrifying imagery and ideas with it.

* The Parasprites. Tiny insect-like creatures with the ability to eat anypony out of house and home while reproducing like rabbits. Twilight becomes so scared of them that she imagines them being powerful enough to kidnap Celestia.
** And they're apparently a wide-spread problem in Equestria.
** Twilight makes that problem ''worse'' by making them eat everything except food. Meaning the plate, the table, the house, the town...

** Pinkie was starting to hear voices in her head, and believing they were coming from inanimate objects, signs of schizophrenia (and FunnySchizophrenia is averted as much as possible on a kids show). After one day of being alone. Still not bad enough? The voices in her head were telling her that her friends were losers and she shouldn't speak to them ever again.
*** In addition, Pinkie notices that her imaginary friends are getting more and more mean-spirited towards her friends, and disagrees with them. Her own imagination is turning against her.
** It's bad enough when you see the build-up. Put yourself in Rainbow Dash's shoes for a second. This is one of your best friends, and you go to get her for a surprise party. You expect her to be her usual, cheery self, and instead she's gone crazy. Not the fun kind of crazy she usually is, but scary crazy. You don't know what happened, but your best friend is suddenly not herself, in a very disturbing way. And she's replacing you with a bucket of turnips that she thinks is talking to her. How do you react to that?
** Pinkie Pie smashing Rainbow Dash with her butt. Rainbow Dash's [[OhCrap look of horror]] really seals the deal.
** Fans have left comments on Youtube saying they believe this episode inspired the infamous {{Fanfic/Cupcakes}}. In actuality, this episode was written ''before'' "Cupcakes" was written, but aired after said fanfic was released.

* Fluttershy losing her mind after getting rejected by the animals. Eep.
** Screaming "COME OUT!" during the "Pony Pokey" song. This happens while Pinkie is singing, no less, so you can't see it coming.
** The DramaticThunder during her EvilLaugh.
** She bit a squirrel!
** Freakiest part is near the end, when she bursts through the door, the animals running away in terror and her giving a look of absolute pure rage.

** And of course, the majority of the episode's second half is taken up by Discord slowly, one at a time, [[MindRape mind-raping]] the Mane 6 to be the opposite of themselves. Each has a claim as being the most disturbing for a number of reasons:
*** Applejack is hit first, with something she has no defense against: the truth. Their quest to stop Discord will result in the Mane 6 parting violently. Applejack doesn't want the truth to happen, so she begins lying. The horrible part is that this all sounds perfectly reasonable. A white lie can sometimes be easier than a painful truth. Who might be lying to '''''you''''' right now?
*** Pinky Pie is next, and her balloon garden provides a particularly horrifying example of UncannyValley, with her friends' faces plastered onto balloons. Plus Discord decapitating himself to put his own face on a balloon. While Pinky begs him to stop. It's also yet another example of bullying, as a crowd this time, very reminiscient of real life.
*** Rarity's takes a different approach: it shows us that Discord can create long-lasting illusions in ponies' minds that have nothing to with their personality change. What if he had convinced Rarity that one of her friends was a dangerous beast that needed to be killed?
*** Fluttershy's is the most immediately disturbing, since it is the most [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape-like event.]] Discord tries to convince her to turn willingly... but when she doesn't, he forces her to change. Seeing a pony who is normally gentler than a summer breeze go out of her way to emotionally hurt her friends is unsettling. Perhaps the worst part is that it shows Discord doesn't have to play his games with the Mane 6. He's just doing it because [[ForTheEvulz he thinks it's funny.]]
*** Rainbow's gives us more insight into Discord himself- he has no morals. No qualms about cheating or bending the rules ''he'' established. And so he combines body horror, an illusion of Rainbow's home, and good old manipulation to turn the most loyal pony in Equestria into a traitor.

* Last episode we got to see the Mane 6 get brainwashed by Discord. But in this episode we get to see the ''results.''
** After fighting with her friends and failing to use the Elements against Discord, Twilight is ''broken''. She turns grey like the others, and gives up on friendship entirely.
** Worse, it's not something Discord directly effects. It implies his power can spread like an infection.

** We saw a glimpse of it in previous episodes (the biggest perhaps being ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E10SwarmOfTheCentury Swarm of the Century]]'', where she ordered the citizens to ''rebuild Ponyville'' off to the side, with only seconds before the Princess arrives), yet here it is the entire purpose to the episode!
*** The most effective thing is that no one would have expected it. ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E25PartyOfOne Party of One]]'' gave us a breakdown for Pinky Pie. Now Twilight. [[TemptingFate Are we going to see the others of the Mane 6 undergo this, too?]]
*** Speaking of that episode, Twilight's SlasherSmile surpasses Pinky's. Hell, it makes that one look ''tame''.
*** Actually, most of this episode is horrifying because it takes place right after Discord appears. It gives us vibes of HeWhoFightsMonsters and makes us think that the villain had a more lasting effect...
*** Remember that this pony is always under a considerable amount of stress, and she is the wielder of the most powerful Element of Harmony. We've already seen the type of damage she can do when trying to be helpful. Insanity, by definition, blurs the line between "helping" and "hurting". As a final point, [[MaskOfSanity how long before this happens again?]]
** The longer it goes on, the more PowerIncontinence she displays. [[TeleFrag Telefragging]] everywhere, random bits of magic coming out of her horn...

*** There's an extended version somewhere out there. Sweet dreams!
* Special mention must go to the plot towards the end, where Twilight tries to ''create a problem''.
** Her [[http://i.imgur.com/WxwFS.jpg crazy faces]] reach the level of [[WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow Ren Hoek]]. At one point, she wears a bird nest on her head, which in itself doesn't sound so bad, until you see it (top tier, second left in the collage above) and realise ''where Twilight's horn is supposed to be at the moment''.
** [[MadnessMantra Clock is ticking, Twilight.]] [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Clock. Is. Ticking!]]

*** She teleports into their beach ball. And since no two objects can occupy the same space, it explodes outward.
*** '''[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything "Hi, Guuuuurls!"]]''' *ear twitches* Bonus points if you've seen Film/FullMetalJacket.
** Then she casts the spell on Smarty Pants. It causes [[EyeScream the eyes of those effected to slowly roll back into their heads.]] And as shown with Rainbow, this effect is the real source of the obsession.
*** That spell affects almost all of Ponyville. With one spell, Twilight almost destroys a whole town. Without even trying.

** It does not help matters that Opal in that scene reminds some of [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Charlotte]].

* To some, Celestia's final line can be pretty unsettling. This isn't simply disappointment like back in ''Lesson Zero''. Its clear that Celestia is enraged by Twilight's apparent screw up.

** For those with trypophobia (the fear of clustered holes and/or holes in bodies), her limbs and horns can be downright horrifying, on top of her already-unnerving appearance, she just looks downright ''wrong''.

[[AC:Too Many Pinkie Pies]]
* Similarly to "Lesson Zero", the thing that made this episode so effective was how it blew our expectations away. It was advertised as a very silly and lighthearted episode and it was! Until the climax.
* Twilight dispatches the Pinkie clones by zapping them with magic that inflates them into bizarre fleshy balloons that then pop into pink sparkles. It's very sudden and freaky, and the real Pinkie was in danger of being transformed by accident.
* The slightest show of distraction from a featureless wall and BOOM! Headshot. One right after another until only one remains. As mentioned below a couple pinkies distract the others in ways that you would be very hard pressed to ignore.
* One clone goes straight into the UncannyValley by turning into [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3 G3 Pinkie Pie]], which has a jarringly different art style.
* Another clone blows into one hoof, and the other sprouts small, alien-like fingers. It'd be enough to freak Lyra out, if not thrill her to some degree.
* Twilight misfiring her transmutation spell and turning a bird and a frog partly into oranges. The former was especially disquieting because when it gets hit we don't see the final product until the next scene, just a shower of feathers, making it look like it straight up exploded.
* Put yourself in Pinkie's shoes for a second. There's a swarm of hedonistic maniacs on the loose and they all look and sound exactly like you. And there's literally no method of differentiating them from you in any way. So no matter how hard you try, you can't possibly convince your friends that you're the original. If you fail to do so, your friends will have no problem rejecting you for one of your clones. In Pinkie Pie's case, the real her could have been gone for good!
* Pinkie Pie tilting her head to the ticking of the clock while wearing a totally blank expression on her face. It's creepier than it sounds.

* Seeing Trixie magically fuse Snips and Snails' horns together. The scene itself may be PlayedForLaughs, but there's just something really disturbing about it.
** She then follows it up by [[AndIMustScream deleting Pinkie's mouth from existence]].
* Trixie's [[RedEyesTakeWarning red glowing eyes]].
* The Alicorn Amulet in general. It has the appearance of a dark, glaring alicorn, and it corrupts Trixie into wanting to take over all of Equestria.
** The Alicorn Amulet made her go DrunkOnTheDarkSide. The idea something like that exists in this world is rather terrifying to say the least and it's sold in a shady shop similar to [[Literature/HarryPotter Borgin and Burkes]] for anyone with money to buy.

* Most of the show's creepier aspects were relegated to implication aside from rare instances. The return of a Generation 1 villain however, brings back the [[EvilOverlord older flavor of villains]] and the [[SugarApocalypse threat that comes with it]] to the franchise's roots.
** Tirek's ManaDrain not only drains a pony of their magic, but also [[YourSoulIsMine erases their cutie marks]] and leaves them so powerless that most ponies he drains are left to lie limp and helpless. Particular mention to when he's shown draining a group of pegasi -- when he's done with them, his magic aura fades and they just drop to the ground.
** The draining effect sounds like screaming.
** His initial introduction is terrifyingly dark: A pony, walking the streets at night runs into a cloaked figure, who in a raspy, hissing voice, warns "I am no friend". He then proceeds to drain the pony's magic, the pony's eyes go dull, and his groceries fall to the ground beside him followed by him, weak and unable to move. Then we see Tirek [[MagikarpPower grow larger from the power he's consumed]] and let out an EvilLaugh as we see his GlowingEyesOfDoom within the shadows of his cloak.
** Tirek drains Discord, allowing the possibility that this villain gained his RealityWarper powers. Said draining provides us with [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/9812fa0c95d774e0870a22f89564b1d6/tumblr_n5dcmjTp4W1sdfbpjo1_1280.jpg this]] [[NightmareFace lovely image.]]
** The final battle with Tirek suddenly sees the environs outside Ponyville suddenly transformed into a hellish red wasteland, not entirely unlike the image at the top of the page.

** There are also [[CreepyChild children]] in that town.
* In short, the portrayal of Starlight's town is about as accurate a portrayal of a cult as you could possibly get away with in a G-rated cartoon.
** It's also eerily reminiscent of the USSR, almost hitting too close to home. Stray from the party line nd it's off to the gulag for you! [[note]] In other ways, the USSR was a polar opposite of this. All sorts of talents were encouraged, but only if you used them to further the Party's cause. [[/note]]

->''"We go places that, perhaps, other candy colored TV shows won't go. And that's part of what I love about this show, is that we're allowed to explore those areas. [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E4LunaEclipsed Kids love to be scared.]]"''

* Starlight Glimmer, the episode's BigBad. She [[FauxAffablyEvil puts on an air of cheerful kindness]], but is ruling what can only be described as a totalitarian society wherein she [[HappinessIsMandatory forces ponies to be equal]]. She steals ponies' cutie marks, brainwashes them in creepily realistic ways (trapping them in a room and forcing them to listen to an audio track with messages like "to excel is to fail") and guilt trips anyone who shows a desire to go back to their special talents. And then it's [[WhamShot revealed]] that she [[StrawHypocrite still has her cutie mark and plans to use Twilight's power to force her cause on Equestria]].

[[/folder]]

--->'''Daybreaker:''' ''[to Nightmare Moon]'' I never should've banished you to the moon! ''I should've destroyed you''!