THE RETURN OF HARMONY—PART TWO
Written by M.A. Larson
Produced by Sarah Wall
Story editing by Rob Renzetti
Supervising direction by Jayson Thiessen
Directed by James Wootton
Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)
Prologue
(Opening shot: fade in to a “Previously on My Little Pony” title card, then to black, then in to a scene from Part One, Act One: Twilight Sparkle and her friends racing to meet Princess Celestia on the staircase in her palace’s entrance hall.)
Twilight: Princess Celestia! We came as fast as we could!
(Close-up of Celestia, now standing outside the Canterlot Tower doorway that protects the Elements of Harmony.)
Celestia: I need you to wield the Elements of Harmony once again and stop Discord!
(Snap to black, then fade in quickly to a close-up of the lockbox that had held them and zoom out slightly. It lies open and empty on the floor before the group. This shot is from the start of Act Two.)
Twilight: (from o.s.) The Elements! They’re gone!
(Cut to Discord, laughing wildly and standing up to full height under a sky full of black clouds and lightning. After he quiets down and the clouds fade to gray, he leans over to address the ponies.)
Discord: Everypony has to play, or the game is over—and I win.
(Cut to Applejack in the Grove of Truth, within the massive hedge maze outside the palace.)
Applejack: Our friendship…over?
(Cut to Twilight as she trots up behind the farmer, whose washed-out color now tells that she has fallen under Discord’s influence. This is now Act Three.)
Twilight: Who were you talking to?
Applejack: Nopony! Nopony whatsoever! (She cuts her eyes away and clamps her mouth shut.)
Twilight: (with great disbelief) What?
(Cut to the two at an opening in the hedges.)
Twilight: Pinkie Pie! (galloping in) Are we glad to see you! (She finds Pinkie, also gone wrong.)
Pinkie: Why? (trotting past) Need a good laugh?
(Cut to Applejack, a corrupted Fluttershy, and Pinkie as they walk away, Fluttershy hip-checking Pinkie into the nearest wall and Applejack laughing at the hit.)
Twilight: (from o.s.) What is happening to my friends?
(Cut to Discord, standing under a freshly overcast sky and unfurling his upside-down, meowing umbrella after collapsing the entire maze into the ground.)
Discord: Looks like we might be due for a big old storm of chaos.
(Lightning tears through the sky as he laughs triumphantly. Fade to black.)
OPENING THEME
Act One
(Opening shot: fade in to Discord laughing and falling all over himself before a confounded Twilight. Zoom in on her, ears drooping and face ready to hit the floor; Pinkie pops up in front to address the camera very sourly.)
Pinkie: And what are you laughing at?
Discord: (wiping a tear from one eye) Oh, you ponies are just the most fun I’ve had in eons! (She gets in his face.)
Pinkie: Well, quit it! (poking him with a hoof) You’d better think before you laugh at the Pink…ie Pie!
(Cut to a close-up of her and pan slightly to one side; Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity are behind her, the last still guarding the boulder she thinks is a diamond.)
Fluttershy: Oh, yeah? Well, ha, ha! (Pinkie zips over to her.)
Pinkie: Quit it!
Fluttershy: No. Ha, ha!
Pinkie: (covering her ears) QUIT IT!!
Fluttershy: No. Ha-ha-ha, ha, ha!
(Pan away from them during this taunt to frame Rarity; Applejack sidles out from behind the boulder.)
Applejack: Uh, Rarity? (Rarity wheels to face her.) This here diamond of yours? (tracing along its surface) Twilight said we should split it six ways since we, uh, found it together.
Rarity: (hitting her with a flying kick) Hai-yah! Try it, punk! He’s mine! All mine!
(She throws herself at the dishonest pony, forcing her to back up past Twilight before a flurry of strikes.)
Twilight: Girls, why are you all acting like this? (She moves to Fluttershy and Pinkie.) We need to stick together! (Next four lines overlap with her words.)
Pinkie: (under previous) Quit it!
Fluttershy: Ha.
Pinkie: Would you just STOP IT!
Fluttershy: Ha, ha, ha. Hah.
(Zoom in on the violet unicorn as Discord’s chuckle is heard from o.s., then pan to him on the start of the next line. He is now sitting in a row of movie theater seats and has a box of popcorn.)
Discord: It’s just too entertaining. (He eats.)
Twilight: Stop it, Discord! You’re not playing fair!
Discord: I’m not playing fair? Perhaps we haven’t met. (He stands up.) I’m Discord. Spirit of chaos and disharmony? (leaning into her face) Hel-looo? (He backs off.)
Twilight: How are we supposed to find the Elements of Harmony when you took away the labyrinth before we could get to the end?!?
(Back to him on the end of this; he has sat down again and is examining the claws on his lion foreleg. Her query brings a slightly surprised look.)
Discord: Oh, wait. Did you… (guffawing) How funny! You thought the Elements were in the labyrinth?
(He disappears with a flash. Cut to the open Canterlot Tower doorway, where ghostly images of himself and Twilight appear, and zoom out. The “real” ponies and their ruler are watching Discord’s stained-glass form in the windows, as seen in an overhead shot in Part One, Act Two.)
Window Discord: Twists and turns are my master plan,
(Back to Ghost Twilight, dumbfounded; he continues o.s.)
Then find the Elements back where you began.
(Tilt up to Ghost Discord’s smirking face on the end of this. Another flash, and the pair have returned from this flashback to the present time. The seats and popcorn are gone, and Discord leans down to his adversary.)
Discord: I never said they were in the labyrinth. (He backs off.)
Twilight: But—but—
Discord: (walking away) Keep trying, Twilight Sparkle. (mockingly) Maybe the magic of friendship can help you. (normal tone) Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some chaos to wreak.
(A snap takes him away from the barren earth that used to be the hedge maze and brings in a blanket of thundering pink cotton-candy clouds. Right on cue comes the chocolate-milk rain, which does not please Pinkie in the slightest when she stands up to take notice.)
Pinkie: Chocolate milk? I hate chocolate milk!
(The perplexed unicorn lets off a frustrated groan as Rarity starts to lug her “diamond” away.)
Twilight: (tapping forehead with hoof) Think, Twilight, think! “Find the Elements back where you began.” (Applejack jumps on the boulder.) “Back where you began”…
Rarity: (to Applejack) Don’t touch my gem! (Fluttershy flies over.)
Fluttershy: (to Rarity, touching it) I’m touching your gem, Rarity! Ha, ha! (Pinkie slides up.)
Pinkie: (to all three) What you laughing at?!
Twilight: (groaning loudly) I just want to go home! (Pause.) Wait a minute! (Brainstorm.) Home! “Back where you began”! The Elements must be in…
(Quick pan to a long shot of…)
Twilight: (from o.s.) …Ponyville!
(Which is now in a state that would make Salvador Dali swear off anything stronger than orange juice. Trees and buildings on floating midair islands; the town square pavilion completely uprooted and hovering upside down; bright pink water in the stream at the border; separate pastel blue and pink checkerboard patterns covering different stretches of ground; houses plunked on crazy-quilt hills; clouds over the whole town, but only one section getting rained on; a faded lime-green sky.)
(Cut to Twilight, on the road for home weird home and leading four reluctant traveling companions. Things are normal here, and the sky is clear.)
Twilight: Come on, girls! (trotting ahead) I’m certain this is what Discord’s riddle really meant! If we get back to the library, I have a book that I just know can give us a clue!
(She is immediately trampled silly by a stampede of the rabbits who grew their legs out far too long after eating the giant apples in Part One, Act One. Fluttershy’s pet Angel leads the charge.)
Fluttershy: Good boy, Angel! Mama’s so proud.
(Three things happen in short order, the sun sets, the moon rises, and the road turns into some bubbly goop.)
Applejack: (sarcastically) Wow, I can see so much better now. (trying to walk, but skidding instead) Whoa!
(She takes down the other three corrupted ponies, who are standing in one line amid the slop, and slides to a stop near Twilight.)
Applejack: Uh—I meant to do that.
Twilight: (standing, but losing traction and falling again) Wha—? Eww…whoa!
(As she starts to peel herself up from the roadbed, the sun quickly rises to illuminate the situation fully for both her benefit and the viewer’s. Zoom out on the next line; the sky has gone green here as well.)
Twilight: Discord’s turned our dirt roads into soap! (He skates past on his hind legs.)
Discord: Beautiful, isn’t it? (He stops and gestures toward the town.) This is the new and improved Ponyville, and these are only my first changes.
(Now the vexed unicorn is upright again, just in time to watch Pinkie glide past with ease.)
Pinkie: This may look like fun, but it’s not!
(Loud groan from Twilight; Discord’s lion foreleg pops up from behind her to drape over her back. His head emerges next to hers, and the rest of his body quickly materializes to lift her clear of the ground. Blue sky here.)
Discord: Picture it—the chaos capital of the world!
(He holds her out at arm’s length while the sun and moon quickly trade places. Twilight squints ahead.)
Twilight: I can’t picture anything. It’s too dark. (He drops her back into the soap.)
Discord: Well, wait a few minutes and you’ll see it in the beautiful light of day—or not.
(He leaps nimbly over her and disappears in midair; now she gets up again. Cut from her to a long shot of the flipped-out town proper and back as she continues.)
Twilight: Ponyville, the chaos capital of the world? Not if I have anything to say about it!
Fluttershy: (skating past) Don’t worry. You won’t.
(Her nasty giggle is followed by a fresh groan from Twilight. Dissolve to the exterior of the library as its resident leads the other four toward the front door. The lights in the windows go out when the moon sets and the sun rises in a blue sky.)
Twilight: (wearily) Okay, we’re here. Everyone please, please, please just go inside, please? (Now the sky has gone green again.)
Applejack: (trotting in) I absolutely refuse.
Fluttershy: (flying after her) With pleasure. (She tramples a flowerbed before going in.)
Pinkie: (trotting in) I hate libraries!
(As each one enters, the faded remains of her color vanish from the head down to leave her in grayscale. The one properly tinted pony groans to herself, then looks back to see Rarity trying to bulldoze her stone toward the door with no luck. Twilight turns back to her.)
Twilight: Pleeeeease? We gotta hurry!
Rarity: (sweating from the effort) Forget it, Twilight. I know what you’re up to. The second I go in, you’ll have your little minion Spike come and take Tom!
Twilight: (bewildered) Tom?
Rarity: Well, it’s not going to work!
(She strokes Tom—the boulder, that is—lovingly as her own color drains out; Twilight tries to cook up a really crushing response but comes up empty.)
Twilight: (dryly) You’re not going in without him, are you?
Rarity: (shaking head) Mmm-mmm! (Twilight hoists it on her back with a groan.)
Twilight: Fine!
(She lugs the burden toward the door, Rarity following. Cut to inside the reading room, the camera positioned somewhat above the entrance, and pan/tilt down to the sound of snoring. Spike is asleep on the floor at the opposite side, holding a mop and lying near a bucket of water—a short break from cleaning up the place. In close-up, a pair of gray hooves grabs the bucket and dumps the contents over his head, startling him awake; he shakes himself dry and glares upward. Cut to the culprit—Fluttershy, hovering near the ceiling with the bucket.)
Spike: (from o.s.) What’d you do that for, Fluttershy?
Fluttershy: ’Cause you just looked so peaceful. (Back to him, wringing out his tail.)
Spike: I…uh…huh?
(Comes now a great crash from o.s. Pan back to the door—or what remains of it—where Tom has just made his entrance by being plowed through the wall. All but Applejack are gathered around.)
Rarity: Careful, Twilight! You’ll ruin his beautiful finish.
Twilight: Oh, for the love of— (Spike crosses to her.)
Spike: Twilight, what’s going on? Why’s everybody look so…
(Quick pan to the four sullen monochrome ponies. The rock had hidden Applejack from view in the previous shot.)
Spike: (from o.s.) …gray? (Back to the pair.)
Twilight: Don’t ask. (ducking head low, scooping him onto her back) I need you to help me find something.
(She enters the reading room; now Fluttershy is airborne with the bucket again.)
Fluttershy: Hey, Twilight. What’s soaking wet and clueless? (Ground level; Spike off Twilight’s back.)
Twilight: Fluttershy, I’ve had just about enough—
(The little dragon dives away just before a fresh bolt of water comes down on the streaked dark blue mane and tail, leaving a soaked curtain of hair over her eyes.)
Fluttershy: Your face! (She slams the bucket onto Twilight’s head.)
Spike: What’s happened to everypony? (Applejack passes behind him.)
Applejack: I guess you just bring out the worst in us, Spike. (Twilight groans and moves to the shelves; the bucket is gone and she is dry.)
Twilight: No time to explain. We’ve got to find the reference guide to the Elements of Harmony before somepony does something she’ll regret!
(The last five words are directed toward the others and delivered through gritted teeth.)
Spike: The Elements of Harmony? (eyes pop; zipping away) Oh! I know exactly where that book is!
(It takes the number-one assistant almost no time to climb the ladder and pull the needed volume—the same one that Twilight consulted in “Elements of Harmony.”)
Spike: Found it!
(A scroll is flung into view, knocking it from his hands; zoom out slightly as a hovering Fluttershy makes the catch.)
Fluttershy: Ha!
Twilight: (menacingly) Fluttershy, you better give me that book!
Fluttershy: Keep away! (She throws it; cut to Applejack, who balances it on her nose.)
Twilight: (from o.s.) Hey! (rushing over) Applejack, gimme that book!
Applejack: I don’t have any book.
(She heaves it over to Pinkie, who catches it on her rump and flips it away.)
Twilight: Pinkie! (Fluttershy gets it again; Twilight leaps.) You guys! (It goes back to Applejack.) Stop it right now!
(On the end of this, pass back to Pinkie, who aims it back up to Fluttershy; this time, though, Spike lays a flying tackle on the intended receiver and the book ends up sliding across the floor. Twilight races to it, but before she can get a hoof in play, it is levitated off the floor and plowed away by the charging Rarity.)
Rarity: Mine!
Twilight: Hey! Do you even know what you just stole?
Rarity: (galloping across) No, but if you want it, I want it!
(The supremely annoyed unicorn dives for the book, misses, and comes up with a sore head and a rising scream that is only slightly stifled by her gritted teeth.)
Twilight: GIVE ME THAT BOOK!!
(Rarity pays no mind, floating it along as she continues her dash and knocking the horse-head bust off the center table. Twilight leaps over it as she gives chase; here comes Fluttershy to airlift the grayed-out thief into the clear and let her pursuer smash headlong into the rock.)
Twilight: (woozily) Where is she? (She shakes her head clear.) Where’s Rarity?
Applejack: Beats me. (Twilight jumps her.)
Twilight: LIES!!
(These two, along with Pinkie, get into a knock-down drag-out brawl that rapidly throws up enough dust to fill the screen. As heads and body parts emerge from odd angles, Twilight hurls herself free and hits the floor with the book in a death grip. Cut to her perspective of Fluttershy and Pinkie, closing in.)
Twilight: Get back! (Back to her.) All of you! (Spike rushes up to defend her with a scroll.) This is my book, and I’m gonna READ IT!!
(With the stolid baby dragon standing guard, the camera shifts to a head-on view and she magically opens the volume. A few quick page turns bring a pop-eyed gasp; cut to a close-up of the book, which has had its pages hollowed out to provide space for…)
Twilight: (from o.s.) The Elements!
(They are all here—the five gold necklaces and the tiara that the group acquired during their confrontation with Nightmare Moon twenty-six episodes ago. Snap to black.)
Act Two
(Opening shot: fade in to Twilight regarding the Elements in their hiding place.)
Twilight: The Elements! They were here all along! (Spike runs over.)
Spike: This is great! (as she magically closes it) Now you guys can defeat Discord and put everything back to normal!
(She runs to the center of the room, while Spike carries the book.)
Twilight: See, girls? We did it! We found the Elements of Harmony, together!
(On this last word, cut to the other four. Applejack yawns while reclining on the overturned horse-head bust; Fluttershy hovers sullenly overhead; a bored Pinkie leans against Tom; Rarity runs a cloth over the surface. Twilight moves a bit closer to them.)
Twilight: You don’t even care, do you?
Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity: No.
Twilight: (sighing sadly) I never thought it would happen. My friends… (with sudden anger) …have turned into complete jerks!
(In time with the next line, she telekinetically slaps four necklaces onto their owners and then floats the tiara onto her own head.)
Twilight: Necklace…necklace…necklace…necklace…and…big crown thingie! (Zoom out to frame all five.) Come on, everypony, let’s go! (She trots resolutely ahead; Spike catches up.)
Spike: But, Twilight, aren’t you missing somepony?
Twilight: Nope. (She stops.) We got the liar, the grump, the hoarder, and the brute.
(Cut to Applejack on “the liar” and pan to Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy in turn, then cut back to Spike.)
Twilight: (from o.s.) That just about covers it!
Spike: But what about Rainbow Dash? (Cut to frame both; an idea hits her.)
Twilight: (hastily) Congratulations, Spike. You’re the new Rainbow Dash. (Last necklace lands around his throat.) Now let’s go! (She gallops across the room.)
Spike: Me?! (running after her) B-b-but what if she finds out I’ve been impersonating her? Ugh…that won’t end well.
Twilight: Too bad. You’re Rainbow Dash. (trotting away) Now let’s go defeat Discord so we don’t ever have to talk to each other again! (The other four gallop by, trampling him.)
Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie: Yeah! Woo-hoo!
(The avaricious unicorn is last to cross the floor, pushing Tom along with her head. Twilight zips around behind her.)
Twilight: Move!
(She hits the boulder with her magic; cut to outside the library.)
Twilight: (from inside) Look out! Here comes Tom!
(Straight through the hanging-lantern window and down to the blue checked ground. She steps out to where the railing used to be as Rarity peeks around the former front doorframe. On the start of the next line, zoom out to frame Discord hovering and watching from a short distance. The smug mockery of his tone and manner is that of a foe who still has the upper hand and knows it because he stacked the deck.)
Discord: Well, well, well, I see you’ve found the Elements of Harmony. (Cut to Applejack and Pinkie; he continues o.s.) How terrifying! (To Twilight.)
Twilight: Discord! I’ve figured out your lame riddle! You’re in for it now! (He drops to the ground.)
Discord: I certainly am. You’ve clearly out-dueled me, and now it’s time to meet my fate.
(He conjures up a pair of sunglasses and puts them on as he finishes this line.)
Discord: I’m prepared to be defeated now, ladies. Fire when ready. (He wipes a bullseye onto his midsection. Back to Twilight.)
Twilight: Formation! Now! (The other four ponies trudge up behind her.)
Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity: Eh.
Twilight: (addressing herself o.s.) Rainbow Dash, get over here!
(Cut to the rock during this line; the pegasus’ stand-in peeks out with a loud, scared gulp and hurries over.)
Twilight: All right. Let’s get this over with!
(Cut to a slow pan across the equine quintet; all eyes squeeze shut and the six-pointed star jewel atop Twilight’s tiara begins to glow. She rises into the air, her eyes blazing white as they did when the magic manifested itself through her against Nightmare. One by one, her Element and those of the other four ponies throw off brilliant white auras, the wearers floating clear of the ground. Discord lowers his shades briefly in surprise, there is one last flash—and then the power is gone. The five Element wielders thud to the ground next to Spike, who never left it; Twilight is first to sit up on her haunches.)
Twilight: What’s going on? (Applejack sits up.)
Applejack: Mine’s workin’. There must be somethin’ wrong with yours.
(Cut to Pinkie, now up all the way; Fluttershy floats down to her, holding her own necklace in one hoof.)
Pinkie: I hate the Elements of Harmony! (Fluttershy throws hers aside.)
Fluttershy: Huh! Garbage! (Rarity scoops it up…)
Rarity: MINE!! (…and zips away. Spike has now taken “his” off.)
Spike: (to Twilight) Sorry, Twilight. (laying it down, running off) I guess I better get back upstairs and clean up the library. Good luck with all this—
(The sentence comes to an abrupt end as he meets the ground face first, thanks to Fluttershy floating down and tripping him with her tail. The hit leaves him dazed for a second.)
Fluttershy: Oops. Sorry, Rainbow Crash. (Venomous giggle.)
Discord: (crossing to them, applauding; shades/target gone) Bravo, ponies, bravo! Harmony in Equestria is officially dead. Discord rules, Celestia drools.
(He puts a talon to her nose; cut to a close-up as he laughs from o.s. while she grimaces as if he has just hurled a bucket of manure onto her. Now he skates away along the soapy road, doing a jump and midair twirl and chortling throughout. Back to Twilight and Pinkie; the latter addresses herself straight ahead.)
Pinkie: It’s your fault it didn’t work!
Twilight: Who are you talking to? (Zoom out to frame all five.)
Pinkie: Any of you! (hopping away) All of you! I’m outta here! (Applejack follows.)
Applejack: I better go too. I got new, better friends waitin’ for me at the farm!
(Cut to Rarity, who starts to push Tom away, and zoom out to frame Twilight nearby. Fluttershy is no longer here.)
Fluttershy: (from o.s.) Yeah. (swooping away past Twilight) I’m sick of you losers.
Twilight: Fine! Leave! See if I care! I don’t need you guys either! With friends like you, who needs… (dejectedly, hanging head low) …enemies.
(Now, after so much time staving off the corruption that laid her friends low, it takes root in her own mind. Her color fades to gray, starting from the tail/hind legs and working forward; only the jeweled tiara on her head retains its original hue. One tear falls from her closed eye, the camera zooming in as it splashes on the ground to form a heart that splits in two.)
(Dissolve to the faithful, finally beaten student trudging back to home base through the surreal lunacy that Ponyville has become. Long-legged bunnies stampede past; three tutu-clad buffalo dance by; a stallion gallops upside-down along the top edge of the frame, then down the left edge and out of view; pies float up from nowhere; a googly-eyed mare flicks her bottom lip with a hoof while floating by with help from the propeller beanie she wears. On top of all this, Twilight’s very own personal pink cloud floats overhead to shower her with chocolate milk. Discord winks into view, laughing like an idiot, but Twilight just keeps plodding on.)
Discord: Oh, my stomach! (Vanish; reappear next to her.) Twilight, you’ve got to see what I just did!
(During this last, he runs past her, body parallel to the ground, and stops with his tail end in view—only now his head has moved to this end. Cut to Berry Punch, who has had the bad fortune to find herself directly underneath a giant pepper shaker. The downpour of flakes soon causes her to sneeze, whereupon all the buildings around her fall over as if they were scenery flats. Back to the crazed joker.)
Discord: (guffawing) It’s priceless!
(Zoom out slightly; he eyes Twilight with some worry, then winks away from her side to reappear in front of her so that she has to stop.)
Discord: Come now, Twilight Sparkle. (He gathers the cloud on a paper cotton-candy cone.) You’ve got to get into the spirit of things. (Big bite.) After all, this is your new home.
(Cut to the glum unicorn on the end of this. She looks over her shoulder, taking in the full view of this madness, and lets her head drop.)
Twilight: (softly) Not anymore. (She walks off.)
Discord: YES!!
(He lets off a nasty, triumphant laugh and floats off the ground, and she slowly makes her way to the smashed front door of the library while the day quick-changes into night. Cut to inside, the camera pointing out her bedroom window; a door closes o.s. and she walks into view.)
Twilight: (no-nonsense) Pack your things, Spike. We’re leaving.
(A cut to floor level in the loft frames the baby dragon curled up on the rug, with the edge of a pile of scrolls visible to one side. He can only manage a weak little moan. During the next line, Twilight levitates a suitcase onto the bed and opens it.)
Twilight: And don’t ask where we’re going, ’cause…I don’t know yet. (She floats her tiara off and brings a couple of books over.) Just not here.
(Close-up of a trash can as the accessory clatters into it, then pan to Spike.)
Spike: (twitching badly) Can’t…move! The Princess…has been sending these… (Zoom out to frame Twilight and the scrolls.) …since I came back upstairs!
(He belches up a fresh scroll while she levitates one of the many others for a closer read.)
Spike: (sobbing) Make it stop! (Cut to the pile; another is lifted away.)
Twilight: (from o.s., wonderingly) These are all the letters I’ve written to the Princess since I’ve lived in Ponyville.
(Back to her; this one joins two others that have already been opened.)
Twilight: But why would she send them back?
(One scaly violet hand reaches into view, accompanied by another queasy moan and a burp of green fire that washes across the screen. When it clears, Twilight stands against a black field and begins to read, her voice echoing slightly in the stillness. What follows are the most prominent of several overlapping excerpts.)
Twilight: “Real friends don’t care what your cover is. Friendship is a wondrous and powerful thing…And like the path cut through the orchard, there’ll always be a way through. The best thing to do is to stay true to yourself…Everypony everywhere has a special magical connection with her friends, maybe even before she’s met them.”
(As she reads, the view dissolves to frame her from different angles and images from her memory play out behind her: the six ponies enjoying their herbal bath at the end of “Bridle Gossip”…hauling home cartloads of gems during “A Dog and Pony Show”…their group hug at the end of “The Cutie Mark Chronicles.” Slowly but surely, her natural color begins to restore itself, spreading from her tail and hooves to cover all of her, and she finally smiles in close-up as the bedroom fades into view behind her.)
Twilight: Spike…Spike, it’s all so clear! (She levitates the groaning dragon up for a hug.) Can’t you see? (jumping, floating him in a circle) Discord’s trying to distract us from what’s important! He knows how powerful our friendships are—
(Close-up of Spike, whose nausea has him ready to barf up breakfast from a week ago.)
Twilight: (from o.s.) —and he’s trying to keep us from seeing it! (Back to her; she hugs him again.) Do you remember what I said the first day we arrived in Ponyville? I told you that the future of Equestria didn’t rest on me making friends. (She tosses him aside.) But the opposite is true! The friendships I’ve made since I’ve been here are what saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon. (levitating him into his basket) And now they need to save it from Discord!
(His only response is a barely audible moan. Back to her.)
Twilight: You’re right, Spike. I’ve got to fight for my friendships. (Zoom in.) For them! (Again.) For me! (Zoom out.) For Equestria!
(She dials down the fire a bit upon finally taking notice of her severely ill assistant.)
Twilight: Oh…uh… (walking to stairs) …why don’t you just stay here and rest? I’ll take care of the whole “fighting for friendship” thing myself.
(Spike’s woozy rest is interrupted by yet another flaming belch after she zips away. Fade to black.)
Act Three
(Opening shot: fade in to Sweet Apple Acres. A herd of fat, happy pigs flies across the screen, over farmland that has gone two different shades of green in the areas that are not done out in pink checks. In one cornfield, a faded Big Macintosh tunnels into the dirt like an overly enthusiastic dog digging to bury a bone, then pops up with his tongue hanging out and a cornstalk balanced on his head. Pan to the barn; an equally washed-out Granny Smith does a high-speed tap dance on her hind legs, needing no help from the cane she carries, and Applejack reclines against the wall. She has an apple core balanced on one hoof and makes as if to take a bite—but when she does, a hunk of apple reappears on the core. Discord’s corrupting influence has made the stallion forget his species, the matriarch her arthritis, and the farming mare the normal flow of time and causality. The last is not wearing her necklace; this will be true of each of the other corrupted ponies when they are seen next.)
Applejack: (tossing apple away) And so I tried to defeat Discord, but none of my so-called friends would lift a hoof to help me.
Twilight: (from o.s.) Applejack! (Surprise; cut to her at the gate.) I’m here to fight for our friendship!
(The dramatic moment is ruined when Macintosh pops up out of the dirt to give her face a big friendly lick, then drops out of sight again.)
Applejack: Oh, now you want to fight. (standing on hind legs, throwing punches) Where were you when I was battlin’ Discord? (Twilight tackles her.)
Twilight: Snap out of it! (She pins Applejack, face up.) This isn’t you! You’re not a liar!
(Fire up the horn. Touch it to the colorless workhorse’s forehead as the camera zooms in to an extreme close-up of her eye, which opens wide. As soon as her pupil fills the screen, the view flashes to a series of scenes from past episodes, all in soft focus and darkened around the edges as if they were old, worn color photographs. Applejack offers apple juice to the other five ponies after their help with the harvest in “Applebuck Season”…Twilight’s five new friends welcome her to Ponyville at the end of “Elements of Harmony”…Applejack holds Twilight at the edge of the cliff earlier in this same episode…she, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash celebrate the successful beginning of spring in “Winter Wrap Up”…she and Twilight trade a high five, having sorted out the plant team during that episode’s snow cleanup effort…she and Rainbow gallop side by side under a shower of falling leaves in “Fall Weather Friends.”)
(Fade to white, which resolves into an extreme close-up of Applejack’s pupil before the camera zooms out to frame her wincing face. Normal color washes over her from the hat down, and she stands up rubbing her head.)
Applejack: Wh… (Hard head shake.) …what happened? (Cut to Twilight, then to both as she continues.) Twilight! Oh, I saw a vision of us feudin’ and fightin’.
(Back to Twilight, who smiles in gentle understanding.)
Applejack: (from o.s.) I couldn’t face the truth, so I started tellin’ lies. (Back to her; she removes her hat.) Can you ever forgive me?
Twilight: I already have. (galloping off) Come on!
(The restored blond pony allows herself a fierce smile and follows, donning her hat. Wipe to a close-up of the uncooperative Fluttershy’s face; Twilight puts her horn to the gray forehead as the latter struggles on the floor of her own cottage. The magic quickly takes effect, turning her back to yellow and pink as the camera zooms out. Applejack is here as well, having hogtied the pegasus and with the rope’s free end in her teeth.)
Fluttershy: Oh, no! Twilight! Applejack! I just had the worst dream!
(Twilight smiles at her slightly bemused co-conspirator. Wipe to the exterior of the Carousel Boutique, whose roof—amazingly enough—is an exact match for the pink checkerboard hills that now surround it, and zoom in.)
Rarity: (from inside) What do you think you’re doing? Get away from my gem! Get away!
(On the second half of this, Twilight’s horn is heard kicking into gear and its glow spills from the ground-floor windows. There is a long pause once these die away, followed by the front door swinging open so the proprietor—now restored to her original splendor—can push Tom the boulder out of the place. Once it begins to roll downhill on its own, she turns to address the other three over her shoulder; Fluttershy is untied and back upright.)
Rarity: Let us never speak of this again.
(Wipe to the four on the move through Ponyville proper. Applejack, at the back of the group, is hitched up in a cart harness; a burst of giggling from the o.s. Pinkie, and she is towed into view, riding in the cart and tinted true to her name.)
Pinkie: (between giggles) Oh, and I…I turned gray! Can you believe it?
(Wipe to an open window of Rainbow’s cloud house. Fluttershy hovers here for a good hard look inside, then pulls her head back out. The sky here is its normal blue.)
Fluttershy: Huh…she’s not here!
(Cut to the other four, looking up from the ground, and zoom out as she lands on the next line. The landscape here is also normal.)
Twilight: Without Rainbow Dash, we can’t use the Elements! (Close-up of her and Applejack.)
Applejack: She could be anywhere by now! We’re never gonna find her.
Pinkie: (from o.s.) Yeah, we will— (Cut to frame her in the foreground.) —’cause she’s right there!
(She points into the sky on this last word. Cut to behind her; she has spotted a small cloud on which a totally grayed-out Rainbow is taking it easy, her back to the camera.)
Twilight: (from o.s.) Rainbow Dash! (Zoom in.)
Rainbow: (bored, not turning around) Hey, guys. (Cut to the others.)
Twilight: We’ve been looking everywhere for you!
Rainbow: That’s nice.
Twilight: Discord’s still on the loose! We need you to help us defeat him with your Element—loyalty!
Rainbow: Pfft. Loyalty, schmoyalty. (rolling over to face them) Have you guys seen Ponyville? It’s a disaster! I’m staying here in Cloudsdale where everything’s awesome.
(She delivers the last word in a singsong tone while flipping onto her back.)
Rarity: How in Equestria can she think that tiny patch of clouds is Cloudsdale?
Applejack: (smirking) The same way he got you to think that cheap rock was a bona-fide diamond. (Rarity’s eyes pop.)
Rarity: (under her breath) I thought we agreed never to speak of that again.
Twilight: Time for Plan B.
(Dissolve to the indolent pegasus, now asleep on her cloud and snoring mightily. Behind her, the hot-air balloon that has proven so useful to the group in the past floats up into view. Applejack is riding on top of it; Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity in the basket; Fluttershy flying separately and checking to make sure Rainbow is not faking. She then flies up to the balloon, which has stopped a short distance above.)
Twilight: (whispering) Okay, Fluttershy. You grab Rainbow Dash and hold her down. (A rope end tied in a loop is lowered to her.) Applejack will lower me down from this rope so I can cast the memory spell on her.
(During the second half of this line, cut briefly to Applejack, who waves vigorously while holding the other end of this rope, then back to her.)
Fluttershy: (saluting) Got it!
(She drops into a fast dive and brakes to a stop alongside the cloud, her whole body tensed for a pounce onto the sleeper. Just as quickly, she relaxes and prods Rainbow gently.)
Fluttershy: Um, I’m just wondering if it’s okay if I hold you down against your will for a little bit?
(Realizing that her friend’s timid nature has come back at the worst possible moment, Twilight groans and claps a hoof to her forehead while Rarity rolls her eyes. The query does, however, bring Rainbow out of her nap in a hurry; she lets off a disdainful little snort.)
Rainbow: Nice try! Ponyville’s your problem, not mine.
(She drops back onto her cloud, wrapping all four legs around it, and zooms away in a gray/white blur. Cut to the perplexed Fluttershy as a doubled-up rope is dropped to her.)
Twilight: (from o.s.) Come on, Fluttershy! (Cut to her, one end tied to each hoof.) We gotta catch her!
(The yellow flyer clamps her teeth around the rope and gets her wings going, but it soon becomes clear that she is trying to fly above her weight class.)
Twilight: (snapping rope reins) Hyah!
(With plenty of room to spare, Rainbow pulls a vertical turn and rockets back past the balloon, then zips in other directions. Twilight now throws the end of another rope upward.)
Twilight: Applejack!
(The workhorse catches the coiled end in her teeth and starts to twirl it as a lasso while Rainbow flashes past. Her throw is dead on target, the loop cinching around both the fugitive and her cloud, but a close-up of Rarity and Pinkie reveals a minor technical hitch. Namely: the remaining length is not tied off to anything, but each has her rear hooves within its loops. In an instant, the slack is gone and both ponies are yanked screaming out of the basket, lashed together by their hind legs.)
Rarity: Pinkie! You were supposed to secure the rope!
Pinkie: (sheepishly) Oops.
(Their combined weight drags Rainbow off the cloud, leaving the lasso tied around only her.)
Applejack: Rarity, Pinkie, hold on! Y’all are slowin’ her down!
Rarity: Oh, Fluttershy, would you be a dear and fly faster, please?!?
Fluttershy: (shuddering, eyes streaming) I can’t! (Cut to Twilight.)
Twilight: If you can’t catch her, Discord wins!
(Back to Fluttershy on these last two words; the meaning of Twilight’s statement hits her like a feedbag filled with lead shot, and the blue-green eyes narrow in fury.)
Fluttershy: That big…dumb…MEANIE!!
(After the briefest pause, she hits the gas so hard that the rope in her teeth nearly rips Twilight’s forelegs out of their sockets. The latter gets a fresh one ready as the gap begins to close.)
Twilight: Okay, Applejack! Last rope! Make it count!
(Toss up; catch in teeth; twirl; throw the lasso—and it too hits its mark on Rainbow’s midsection. The monochrome escapee finds herself stopped dead from the tension on both ropes, and Fluttershy starts to bring the balloon down to earth. Rainbow’s struggles to drag herself back up are for naught. Dissolve to her in a clearing under a yellow-green afternoon sky. Twilight approaches as she bucks and pulls against the four ropes tied around her, held one in each of the other ponies’ teeth.)
Rainbow: Let me go! I don’t need you guys! (Cut to the smiling unicorn; she continues o.s.) Leave me alone!
(Twilight just warms up her horn and puts it to Rainbow’s forehead as the latter scowls and snorts out steam. The screen flashes white for a moment, then clears to show the vivid colors returning to her mane/tail and body. Now fully restored to her usual self, she rubs her head woozily.)
Rainbow: Wh…what happened? (She snaps to, suddenly panicked; the ropes come free.) How’s Ponyville? (zipping to Pinkie) Where are the Elements? (She tackles Applejack, knocking her hat off.) Did we stop Discord?
(The four upright ponies gather around them with a chorus of laughs and cheers, but the sight of the three ballet-dancing buffalo from Act Two put a damper on the festivities. The camera angle now reveals that the balloon is parked nearby.)
Twilight: Maybe it’s a little early for a group hug.
(Dissolve to a bizarro stretch of Ponyville, now under a violet sky in early evening. Long-legged rabbits stampede past a house built of giant playing cards and the buffalo dance by again. Discord sits on a horned throne atop a hill in the distance; cut to him as pies tumble down from the sky. As if on cue to his crazed laugh, a small, raining cotton-candy cloud zips up; he conjures a glass out of nothing and holds it underneath to fill with chocolate milk. The action is normal enough, except for the fact that the glass fills from the top down rather than the bottom up. Now the cloud moves away.)
Discord: Chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing. (He gets ready to drink.)
Twilight: (from o.s.) Not as wonderful…
(Cut to just behind the throne, the camera aimed at the six approaching mares—four on the ground, two in the air—and zoom in as she finishes. They are wearing their jewelry and ready to throw down; Applejack has her hat back where it belongs.)
Twilight: …as friendship!
Discord: (groaning loudly) This again?
(He drinks—also a normal action, except that the milk retains its cylindrical shape and the glass disappears as if draining down his throat. The chunk of milk is thrown back over his shoulder, exploding after it lands somewhere o.s.)
Applejack: That’s right! You couldn’t break apart our friendship for long! (Discord lifts a glowing lion-paw digit.)
Discord: Oh, Applejack, don’t lie to me.
(Cut back to her during this; his power drags her ahead by the necklace she wears and hoists her up for a face-to-face chat.)
Discord: I’m the one who made you a liar.
(Lifting his eagle forearm, he gives all the others but Twilight a dose of the same to leave her standing alone.)
Discord: Will you ever learn?
(The supremely exasperated unicorn teleports herself to the center of the midair ring formed by the other five. Her next move catches the unbalanced tyrant completely off guard: a spherical pink force field that encloses all six, breaking his grip, and floats them gently down to ground level. The field flexes slightly like an inflated rubber ball, and its lower portion flattens out upon making contact with the ground. This patch turns from blue checkerboard to ordinary green grass as the energy dissipates and they touch down or hover within its perimeter.)
(Cut to Discord’s slightly puzzled—but still amused—face.)
Twilight: (from o.s.) I’ll tell you what we’ve learned, Discord. (Back to them, stepping/flying forward.) We’ve learned that friendship isn’t always easy, but there’s no doubt it’s worth fighting for! (He leans down to them.)
Discord: Ooh, gag! Fine, go ahead, try and use your little Elements, “frenemies.” Just make it quick.
(A flash takes him back to his throne, where the flying pigs from Sweet Apple Acres are passing.)
Discord: I’m missing some excellent chaos here.
(Head-on view of Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity, with Fluttershy and Rainbow hovering down to them on the next line.)
Twilight: All right, ladies. Let’s show him what friendship can do!
Pinkie: (from o.s.) Wait, wait, wait!
(Surprise all around; quick pan to her, standing under a raining pink cloud with mouth open to catch the sweet brown stuff. Her happy little gargle draws five confused/embarrassed/fed-up stares, but she quickly joins the squad with a fierce snarl, her face and mane now clean. Pink light spreads outward from Twilight’s tiara to encompass the others, who actually mean business this time, but Discord’s only reaction is a bored yawn. Now, though, the cutie-mark jewels begin to throw off their own radiation, followed by beams that fly past Discord’s head and leave him really bewildered.)
Discord: Huh. What’s this? (More shots.) No.
(Twilight’s eyes blaze white, as do those of the other five as the entire group rises into the air, and a multicolored blast wave similar to that from a Sonic Rainboom explodes outward from them. In addition, a broad rainbow shoots skyward, reaches the peak of its arc, and thunders down toward the incredulous whatever-the-heck-it-is that has turned Ponyville upside down and inside out.)
Discord: NOOOOOOOOOO!!
(As he screams, the rainbow engulfs him and he slowly freezes into solid stone, working from the tail up; his disbelieving, openmouthed face is the last to go. The rainbow splits into two copies that fold out and down to either side toward the ground, similar to the behavior of a domed stadium’s cover being opened. The hemisphere described by their movement grows in brightness until it has gone pure white; this in turn swells to fill the screen.)
(Fade in to a perfectly normal-looking stretch of Ponyville. Grass, sky, houses—everything is back as it should be, and the group descends gently to it. Discord, on the other hand, takes a rather faster and less pleasant trip down when his petrified form topples onto the grass.)
(Dissolve to a long shot of Canterlot, tilting up toward its uppermost structures, and cut to a set of closed double doors within Celestia’s palace, guarded by two pegasi. These open to admit Twilight and company, no longer wearing their gold finery, and a cut to behind them reveals that they are proceeding down the length of a packed hall, with Celestia waiting at the far end. Floor-to-ceiling stained-glass windows adorn the walls on both sides. Warm, joyful smiles pass between teacher and student, and Applejack tips a wink to the latter as she does her best to contain her own emotions. Twilight follows the general direction of her look; cut to Spike, now relieved of his stomach trouble and waving bashfully from his spot near Celestia. The young unicorn bites back a silly little grin of her own before the sovereign addresses the crowd, without a hint of the fear or urgency that affected her so badly when she sent the group out on this mission in Part One.)
Celestia: We are gathered here today to once again honor the heroism of these six friends who stood up to the villain Discord and saved Equestria from eternal chaos.
(During this line, cut to a slow pan across said friends, then back to her; after she finishes, the hall breaks out in wild cheering. While it dies down, she acknowledges their bows with a smile, then aims her horn off toward one wall and magically opens a curtain. Behind it is a new window that shows Discord transfixed in the Elements’ power. A tilt down to its base frames the ponies giving him his just deserts—a new decoration installed to commemorate their valor. Applejack, however, is not wearing her hat. A fresh round of cheering begins, and the camera cuts to the group and zooms out through the hall while confetti and streamers shower down over the scene. “Iris out” to the credits, without any intervening black screen.)
(The usual closing theme does not accompany the credits. In its place is an extended version of the majestic anthem that accompanied the window unveiling—full orchestral instrumentation, brisk 4. However it is performed in a different key from that scene: F major rather than C major, transitioning to D major at the end.)