THE ISLE OF SCALY
Written by Jim Martin
Executive producers: Olivier Dumont, Randi Yaffa, Cort Lane
Story editing by Gillian Berrow
Supervising direction by Will Lau
Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)
Prologue
Opening bars of Pipp Petals’ song in Chapter One, Act Two
Energetic pop melody with synthesizer/drums and brass accents, fast 4 (D minor)
Shouted “Hey!” on the fourth beat of the first three bars
(Opening shot: snap to black after the “A Netflix Series” card, then to the Marestream in flight through a daytime sky. Its rainbow contrail stands out among the puffy clouds it is punching through, and Sunny Starscout and her friends are in the cockpit. Zipp Storm is at the controls, her favorite sunglasses socked firmly in place, and both Misty and Sparky Sparkeroni have accompanied the group.)
Shift to chorus after fourth bar (F major)
Shouted “Hey!” on fourth beat of second and sixth bars
(Close-up of the older pegasus, the younger one’s vocalizations drifting in from o.s. and getting on her nerves in a hurry. During the next line, zoom out to frame Pipp with cell phone in hoof.)
Zipp: (voice raised) Could you turn that down, Pipp? I can barely hear myself navigate!
Pipp: (ditto, gesturing at phone) What? I can’t hear you over this “Intense Music for Our Trip to the Dragon Lands” playlist I made!
(Sunny shuts off a dashboard-mounted speaker to restore silence.)
Zipp: (tipping shades) Thank you.
Pipp: (needled) Hey-ah! I was just trying to keep the mood light. It’s so tense in here. (Zoom out to frame Hitch Trailblazer and Sparky on the following.)
Hitch: That’s ’cause last time we visited the Isle of Scaly, there were no dragons. This time, who knows what we’ll find?
Misty: I just hope we get there before Opaline.
(Referring to the group’s visit to the Dragon Lands in Part Two of “Family Trees,” and to its proper name as revealed in “Nightmare on Mane Street.” The Marestream bears down on an uncomfortably small opening in a cliff face, bringing a round of gasps/yelps from the equine occupants; even Zipp is rattled enough to take her sunglasses off for a better look. Sparky, on the other hand, is loving every second of this. A determined smile creases Zipp’s cheeks, the camera cutting to a close-up of the steering yoke as she twists it left and her grunt floats down. The vehicle performs a lightning-fast barrel roll and zooms into the gap, wingtips barely clearing the side walls before it rockets into the darkness. Within a fraction of a second, though, the ponies are voicing awestruck reactions to the clusters of brightly gleaming gems that now line the tunnel along which they are traveling.)
Zipp: (suddenly puzzled) Uh?
(Close-up of the dashboard control panel, with a map laid out over it—the one that Sunny and Zipp found in “Mane Smelody,” and that Sparky restored with his fire in “Nightmare on Mane Street.” The image begins to flicker and fade during a slow zoom in.)
Zipp: (from o.s.) Spark alert! (Back to her.) We have a map situation again! (Izzy Moonbow hustles across and scoops up Sparky.)
Izzy: Step back, step back! Dragon magic incoming!
(She gets the little guy pointed forward in time for him to belch a spurt of fire onto the sheet, revitalizing it as he had previously done. The midair mad dash continues for a moment and brings the group to a fork in the path.)
Zipp: Whoops! It’s gonna be a hard left!
Sunny: Hold on to your cutie marks!
(Zipp twists the yoke and leans in that direction, the others copying her gesture and yelling in terror as the Marestream veers down that passage. Misty finds herself sandwiched forcefully between Sunny and a side wall, and screams ring out through the bejeweled bore as the Marestream takes another turn and is lost to sight. Snap to black.)
OPENING THEME
Act One
(Cut from the title card directly to the craft hurtling through the tunnel, all within shouting and being roughly bounced off their hooves/feet. A few more seconds bring a patch of vivid pink sky into view; Zipp hits the gas, and in short order they emerge into clear air. This end of the tunnel is cut into a mountainside studded with crystal formations. Zipp gasps in disbelief, then Izzy, who proceeds to mash her cheek against the windshield.)
Izzy: (muffled) We made it!
(Long shot of the Marestream cruising over the tropical foliage of the Isle of Scaly.)
Misty: (voice over) It was so much easier when we just trotted through a magic door last time.
(Cut to her and Izzy during this line, the latter giving a good-natured poke to the former, then to Pipp bringing up her phone on the next one. She does not immediately notice the device’s warning beeps or “low battery” graphic on the screen.)
Pipp: At least we can snap some great aerial shots!
(She voices a giddy squeal, only to shift to a dismayed gasp once she sees the status readout. Cut to her perspective of it on the next line.)
Pipp: (sighing) My battery is dead!
(Back to her; she smiles and plugs one end of a cable into it, quelling the tone, then sets it on the floor. One quick pan shows the other end of the line attached to a charger that is plugged into a crackling, overcrowded power strip, and a slower tilt up reveals this item to be connected to the Hope Lantern on the dashboard. The map has been taken down. The Lantern sputters fitfully under this new demand; an instant later, the Marestream’s exterior lights flicker and go dark. The craft coats along soundlessly for a tick, bringing uneasy mumbles from the crew before it drops from the sky like a foil-wrapped brick. Screams ring out all over the cockpit as the seven find themselves floating off the floor due to the effects of free fall. Mixed in with them is a laughing “Yahoo!” from Izzy; Hitch, meanwhile, finds himself fighting not to redecorate the area with his breakfast. Long shot of the Marestream, cutting to Sunny on the next words.)
Sunny: Everypony take their stations! This could be a crash landing!
Izzy: I have an idea! It might work, but it might not. (putting on safety goggles) But I like those odds!
(Moving almost too fast to follow, she slides open a window in the cabin and starts to blow up a balloon. Cut to the cockpit.)
Zipp: Everypony, hold on!
(Overhead shot of the plummeting craft, screams coming through loud and clear, then back to the cockpit where Izzy has rejoined the others. Hooves and feet thud to the floor much less roughly than might be expected after a fall from several hundred feet, and the bodies recoil upward just a fraction before coming to rest. An exterior shot and quick zoom out tell the rest of the story: the Marestream has landed atop four enormous balloons, one under each corner and nearly as wide across as the rig is tall. These pop in a shower of rubber scraps, leaving it to thump down to the hardpan.)
Izzy: (sighing with relief, holding up a fresh balloon) You never know when you’ll need a really, really big balloon.
(One good exhalation inflates it so she can tie it off.)
Izzy: (passing to Sparky) That’s why I have ’em at all times. Whoo!
Hitch: (out of breath) Great landing, everypony. Best yet.
(He collapses to his haunches with a woozy groan; Sparky gets there just in time to position the balloon as a cushion. It bursts under the Sheriff’s weight, prompting a snicker from his ward. Sunny is first to open the cabin door and step out, followed in due time by the others. Izzy has done away with her protective eyewear.)
Sunny: Well, we’re back! I can’t believe we did it! (Cut to Hitch on the next line.)
Hitch: Now let’s not pat ourselves on the back too much. These dragons have been asleep for ages. They still could be.
Izzy: Let’s wake ’em up!
Pipp: (hovering, singing) We’re he-e-e-ere!
(The sound of a quiet, hard-edged female voice jolts her back to the moment and brings her down to earth again, throwing a bit of a scare into the others for good measure.)
Female voice: But why are you here?
(Close-up of a broad, clawed, light yellow-orange foot slamming into the dirt, then zoom out quickly. It belongs to one of five dragons who have arrived on the scene and are regarding the group with expressions ranging from interest to suspicion to near-hostility. The females, of which there are three, have a shock of hair that falls down the left side of the head to stop near the ear; males are bald. All have horns streaked with colors different from those that shade from base to tip, and their wings display various colors shading from base to outer edge. Far left is Fountain: female, dark blue hide, light blue-green underbelly, blue-violet eyes, dark blue hair, blue/blue-green wings, dark blue horns. Second from left is Tumble: male, pink hide, light pink underbelly, blue-gray eyes, blue/blue-green wings in lighter hues than Fountain’s, light blue horns shading to darker blue. Center is Blaize: deep pink hide with light yellow-orange “sock” markings on each leg, underbelly matching the latter hue, blue-green eyes and hair, pink/orange/blue wings, deep pink horns shading to light yellow-orange. Second from right is Luxxe: female, yellow-orange hide with red socks, pale yellow underbelly, blue-violet eyes, red hair shading to orange and then yellow-orange from scalp to ends, purple/red/orange wings, orange horns shading to purple. Far right is Leaf: medium green hide with darker green around nose/mouth and matching socks, pink underbelly, light green eyes, green/red wings, deep pinkish-red horns fading toward the tip. The names of Blaize and Luxxe are pronounced to rhyme with “days” and “ducks,” respectively.)
(All are quadrupeds, and Blaize moves forward and lowers her head to stare down Sunny, who hurriedly back-pedals from the approach. The dragon stands fully erect on the next words, showing herself and the others to be at least double the height and length of the average pony.)
Blaize: You are trespassing on the Isle of Scaly. Who are you?
Sunny: (nervously) I’m Sunny. (gesturing to others) This is Hitch…
(Close-up of the stallion, who laughs weakly; pan quickly to each of the others in turn.)
Sunny: (from o.s.) …Izzy…
Izzy: (waving, laughing) Hi!
Sunny: (from o.s.) …Pipp…
Pipp: (waving timidly) Hi.
Sunny: (from o.s.) …Zipp…
Zipp: Hi!
Sunny: (from o.s.) …and Misty.
(Who can only manage a half-strangled squeak and avert her eyes.)
Blaize: Okay…why are you here?
Sunny: It’s…to help.
Blaize: (turning away) Pretty sure we don’t need your help.
(The others make to follow her, but Sunny steels herself and speaks up.)
Sunny: Actually…
(Ground-level view of the dragons, who pause as the mare’s forelegs plant themselves.)
Sunny: (from o.s.) …you do. (Back to her as she continues.) There is an evil alicorn that wants to steal your dragon magic. (Cut to Fountain/Tumble, panning to Blaize; she continues o.s.) We want to stop her.
(This last shot picks out a blue-green streak in Fountain’s hair, not previously visible due to the camera angle. The deep pink dragon wheels to face Sunny, adopting an imperious air.)
Blaize: Pony leader, I’m Blaize. Let’s speak in private. (Cut to frame Sunny, with one of Blaize’s legs in the fore.)
Sunny: Oh, uh, Blaize! (Nervous laugh.) I’m not the—
Blaize: (from o.s.) This way!
(The massive limbs stride away, leaving Sunny to toss another weak laugh to her friends and plod ahead. The other four dragons have gathered for a bit of talk among themselves, but find Izzy hopping merrily up to interrupt. The camera angle briefly frames a large, gleaming scale on Tumble’s right haunch; the same will be seen on the others later on.)
Izzy: (hopping in place) Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Izzy. We flew here on the Marestream, which might be broken.
(She stops and levitates four dragon-size bracelets into view, each accented by a horseshoe-shaped charm in a different theme. One is floated onto the foreleg of every dragon, the camera briefly cutting to a bemused Fountain and Tumble as she speaks.)
Izzy: I wanted to make a good impression, so I crafted these charms for you. They have our names on ’em, so you can remember who your new friends are.
(The last word is barely out of her mouth before she utters a huge gasp and darts away, circling to insert herself between Leaf and Luxxe.)
Izzy: What are your names?
Luxxe: (young, energetic) I’m Luxxe. You made this? I love it!
Izzy: (touching own chest, extending foreleg) Hoof to heart, Luxxe.
(Luxxe thumps a foreleg against the limb, inadvertently pushing Izzy back so that she bumps into an unimpressed Leaf.)
Izzy: Whoa!
(She topples to the ground as the green male sniffs and licks at his bracelet, the taste clearly disagreeing with him.)
Leaf: (petulant; shuddering, shaking foreleg) Yuck! (Cut to Izzy/Fountain/Tumble on the next line, Fountain shaking her bracelet. Izzy is upright again.)
Tumble: (easygoing; reprovingly) Leaf, be nice to them. (holding his up) They brought presents! (Back to Leaf on the following.)
Leaf: I want a good one! Are they all the same, Tumble? (Luxxe launches herself off his head with a shout and swipes his bracelet.) Hey!
(Over by the Marestream, Pipp has risen to a hover and is glaring daggers at her phone. Fountain lands on one extended metal wing to peer over her shoulder.)
Fountain: (inquisitive) I’m Fountain. What are you doing?
Pipp: Hi, I’m Pipp. (moving phone around; it buzzes) I’m just trying to find a signal. (Frustrated groan.) My phone is really acting up! (Cut to Fountain on this last.)
Fountain: Um, signal? Uh, I don’t know if we have that here. (whispering) Also, what is a phone?
(A horrified gasp from the pop star’s direction; cut to her, squealing and sputtering out her disbelief at this admission of technological ignorance.)
Pipp: What did you just say to me?!?
(The beep of another phone cuts in; on the next words, cut to Zipp holding her FlyPad and ready to record.)
Zipp: Okay, so. Name—Tumble. Age—dragon age. Current questions—these.
(Longer shot. Leaf and Luxxe lounge off to one side, watching the detective address her subject. Leaf has recovered his bracelet.)
Zipp: When did you all wake up?
Tumble: (sighing) When the Evil One came!
Zipp: Evil One? (Her eyes pop and she sucks in a huge gasp.) Opaline! (Cut to Pipp/Fountain.)
Fountain: Her magic shook the Isles, and she captured Lava and Jade! (Back to Zipp on the following.)
Zipp: Opaline captured two of your friends? How?
Tumble: It takes us dragons weeks to awaken from a magical hibernation that deep. (Growl; Misty steps up.)
Misty: She attacked when you were half-asleep? That sounds like Opaline.
Leaf: (lowering head into view) Our shimmers haven’t been too bright since then. Look!
(A moment’s grunting strain sends a brief, weak pulse of light along the green scales from head to tail, similar to the effect Sparky has manifested at times. He huddles into himself with a defeated moan, while Izzy pops up behind him with an incredulous gasp.)
Izzy: That is very bad. (The scale on his haunch shows two leaves.)
Fountain: (glumly) Well said, pony. (She and Tumble sigh.)
Tumble: How strong is this Opaline?
Luxxe: Do you think Lava and Jade are okay?
Misty: (hesitantly) I hope so.
(Cut to a long shot of Opaline Arcana’s castle, zooming in slowly as lightning tears through the cloud-choked sky, then dissolve to the dimly lit upper reaches of a cavernous room. The camera rotates to point down toward the floor, revealing this area as a large circular chamber illuminated by violet-flaming torches and a few meager candles on ledges that run around the circumference. The floor is covered with a mosaic in yellows and browns, with a gray-tinted central section, and contorted lengths of trunk and branches snake along the walls from floor to ceiling—part of the Together Tree incorporated into the castle, as Opaline noted in “Nightmare on Mane Street.” She stands facing two fiercely struggling dragons who cannot break free of the horn-conjured collars around their necks or the tethers running from them to the floor. She is idly floating something around herself, and a close-up on the next line picks it out as the Dragon Stone she stole. One dragon is male, with deep red hide/wings, green horns, and dark green eyes; the other is female, with pale blue hide/wings and horns, pink hair, and light blue eyes. These two are Lava and Jade, respectively.)
Opaline: There’s my sleepy little scalies. (Lava throws out a foreleg to block her from reaching Jade…) How are we today, minions?
(…and, now in a proper rage, blows a jet of fire toward the pair’s captor. She just laughs contemptuously and creates a momentary shield to block it, then lets it fall and sashays slowly toward them. Cut back and forth between them and her on the next words.)
Quiet, minimal, foreboding guitar melody with bass synth and pizzicato strings
Slow 4 (G flat minor)
Opaline: Ohhh! Looks like somebody needs a lullaby. Well… (She brings the Dragon Stone up to Lava’s face; his pupils constrict.) …let me give you one.
Guitar/strings out; sparse percussion in
(Her next move is to bring out a compact identical to the ones Misty has used to communicate with her and help spy on Sunny, pop its lid, and regard her image in its mirror.)
Opaline: When I walk past a mirror, I scare myself
I’m the queen of mean
(Snap it shut; pull Lava’s leash down so she can look him straight on. Both he and Jade are in the thrall of the Dragon Stone.)
Don’t care about anypony other than me
(Fly across the chamber and land before Jade.)
Isn’t that lovely?
(She has to dodge a few flaming spits and throws back a wave of magic; Jade lifts a wing to shield herself.)
Don’t ask me to be nice, I don’t want to
I don’t play fair
I’m giving you the heat you can’t handle
Strings in; percussion out for next line only
(spoken in rhythm) And I don’t care
Spoken background lyrics in square brackets
Opaline: I’m a villain [Glamorous and mean]
(The Dragon Stone subdues Lava and she perches on his head.)
I’m a villain [Evil as can be]
(She launches herself across to balance on Jade’s noggin.)
Darling, I’m a villain [Make you shiver through your teeth]
(Hang upside down to stare at the female, then bound off to the floor.)
(spoken in rhythm) Don’t you cry now, it will all be fine, I’m a villain
Strings out; guitar in for two bars only, then out again
Opaline: I’m a villain
Vocal harmonies behind lyrics
(She flies back and forth across the screen, leaving a wake of fire that subsides to frame her and a pony-shaped mannequin against a blue background.)
Opaline: Hush, little pony, don’t say a word
(Flames kindle in her eyes, matched by spots that flare up on the fabric head and grow to fill the screen.)
Or you’ll get cursed
(Her wings ignite for a moment; next she conjures and dissipates a fireball.)
Can you feel the flames getting closer?
Ain’t that the worst?
(Dummies of Sunny’s friends disintegrate into wisps of flame, followed by one of the orange mare; the Unity Crystals float in its place.)
Don’t ask me to be nice, I don’t want to
I don’t play fair
(Her reflection plays across them before the three gems pull apart and she banishes them with an incendiary wing wave.)
I’m giving you the heat you can’t handle
Percussion out for next line only
And I don’t care
Percussion/harmonies out; strings in
Background lyrics are now sung, not spoken
(A wash of fire shifts the action back to the chamber.)
Opaline: I’m a villain [Glamorous and mean]
(A stomp shakes the whole place, and a violet glow settles onto both dragons’ eyes to match the power wreathing the Dragon Stone.)
I’m a villain [Evil as can be]
(They are yanked to the floor, Jade returning to her senses.)
I’m a villain [Make you shiver through your teeth]
(spoken in rhythm) Don’t you cry now, it will all be fine
Percussion in
(transition to singing) I’m a villain
Ooh, I’m a villain
(Now her own eyes take on that eerie violet aura.)
(spoken in rhythm) I’m a villain
(A malicious laugh rings out as the magic takes hold of Jade’s eyes again in extreme close-up. The Dragon Stone drifts past, the view wiping behind it to one of Opaline’s eyes and zooming out quickly to frame her from the chest up as the light fades from her pupils.)
Song ends abruptly
Opaline: (flaring wings) Oh, I’m so scary.
(The feathers are folded forward and rippled in a gesture of command. Cut to ground level, Jade and Lava having bowed so low that their chins nearly scrape the tiles, with one of Opaline’s hooves in the fore. The magical collars and tethers vanish.)
Opaline: (from o.s.) There we are. (Longer shot, framing her; the dragons stand up.) Now, let’s have some of that dragon fire.
(Two streams lance into the Dragon Stone she is now levitating above her head; cut to a close-up of it. A stream of pale blue light issues from the artifact, dividing into streaks and curlicues that spread throughout the surrounding air. Cut back and forth between her and the display during the net line.)
Opaline: My plan is growing. (Giggle) And nopony or dragon is going to stop me.
Act Two
(Cut to an overhead shot of the six ponies and five dragons gathered near the Marestream and zoom in slowly.)
Blaize: Okay, then, ponies. (Close-up.) You say that you aren’t with this evil dragon-napper pony. (Cut to Zipp on the following; she has put her FlyPad away.)
Zipp: May the record show that Opaline is an alicorn.
Sunny: (hastily) But not all alicorns are evil.
(She throws an amiable foreleg across the white shoulders to make her point.)
Leaf: (skeptically) Mmm-hmm.
(Comes now the muffled sound of Sparky’s cheerful babbling. Sunny and Zipp glance toward the Marestream; cut to just inside the cabin door, which slides open to frame all eleven. The ponies smile, Luxxe gasps sharply, and the other dragons follow suit as a drowsy Sparky hops down, leaving his McSnips-a-Lot doll in the cabin. He clambers up onto Hitch’s back; before Blaize can get even one word out, Luxxe lands on her shoulders and drives her flat.)
Luxxe: (excitedly) A hatchling?!? (Blaize throws her off, her old suspicions flaring up.)
Blaize: If you aren’t dragon-nappers, then why do you have a baby dragon?
(Cut to said dragon on the end of this, Izzy crossing to him and Hitch as she speaks.)
Izzy: That’s Sparky. Hitch found his egg back in Equestria and took care of him. (Hitch’s ears have pricked up in alarm by this point.) He’s sort of Sparky’s dad now.
(Hitch promptly gets the everloving daylights scared out of him twice over—first by Blaize’s foot slamming into the earth much too close for comfort, then by her irate countenance growling softly and snorting smoke into his rattled one. He swallows hard and forces a placating smile onto his lips.)
Hitch: His pony dad, but really he’s my best friend and little deputy— (Cut to Sparky on his back; he continues o.s. with a shaky chuckle.) —and so much more!
(A soft gasp from the o.s. Tumble; cut to him and Leaf, both instantly captivated.)
Tumble: Fry my tail, there hasn’t been a baby dragon around here in a volcano’s age! What?
Leaf: (shaking him) It’s like a miracle! A hatchling could restore shimmer to all of Scaly!
(Sparky laughs and delivers a kiss to the back of Hitch’s head; behind Blaize, the other adult dragons peek out to either side.)
All dragons except Blaize: Awww…
Luxxe: (to Blaize) I don’t think these ponies are our enemies.
Blaize: (sighing heavily) You’re too quick to trust, Luxxe. I still don’t understand why they came all the way out here. (Tilt down to frame Sunny standing between them on the next line.)
Sunny: Because we want to stop all of Equestria from falling into a darkness so dark that we may lose the light of friendship forever!
Pipp: (hovering by Fountain’s head, whispering to her) That would be bad, like, super-bad.
Sunny: So, please, dragon friends. Band together with us.
(Close-up of her cutie mark, which flares up in a burst of sparks.)
Sunny: (from o.s.) Help us stop Opaline— (To Fountain/Tumble and then Leaf/Luxxe, all starting to come around.) —restore the magic shimmer and kindness in all of Equestria— (To her, then Blaize on the next words.) —and rescue your fellow dragons that Opaline has taken.
(The grimacing pink face tells of its owner’s mental struggle, which quickly tips the wrong way when Izzy’s magic whaps her upside the head with a fifth charm bracelet.)
Izzy: (from o.s.) Ta-daaa!
(The unicorn is lifted giggling into view on the end of the tail, only to have it yanked brusquely away; she drops o.s. with a yell, the jewelry going with her. Blaize sighs resignedly as Izzy straightens up into view with another bubbly laugh.)
Blaize: We must first request approval from our leader, the Dragon Lord, to form a partnership with ponykind.
Zipp: Well, where can we find him? We don’t have all day!
Misty: Technically, we do, because the Marestream is, well, broken. So we are kinda stuck here.
Zipp: (deflated) Oh. Yeah.
Blaize: (disdainfully, turning toward forest) Follow us, little ponies. We will lead you to our ancient, much larger, much wiser, and much more secretive leader.
(As she finishes, cut first to Hitch/Pipp/Sparky and then Misty/Zipp, all of whom tentatively follow her lead. The camera then shifts to a short distance behind the departing dragons and zooms out just far enough to frame Izzy’s foreleg being raised into view.)
Izzy: (from o.s.) Excuse me, Blaize. Might I make a suggestion? (Cut to her, Sunny, and Zipp.) I was thinking maybe it would be-hoove us—
Misty: Clever!
Izzy: Uh, thank you.—to have some of us stay here to try and get the Marestream fixed in the meantime.
(Cut to Blaize/Fountain/Tumble on this last, a few knowing looks and cocked eyebrows passing from one scaly face to another, then back to Sunny and Izzy.)
Sunny: Great idea, Izzy!
Pipp: (flying across, touching down alongside) Yes, yes, yes! Izzy can craft a fix for the power source on the Marestream— (holding up Zipp’s FlyPad; it buzzes and shows a “no service” icon) —and I will find some residual pegasus wi-fi to make a call for help! (She cheerfully throws the gadget skyward.)
Misty: (with a touch of fear) Um…I’ll stay too.
(Blaize whispers briefly to Luxxe behind one set of claws.)
Luxxe: And Leaf and I will stay here with you ponies—not because we’re keeping an eye on you or anything—
(Blaize claps a foot to her forehead at her compatriot’s utter failure to keep a secret; pan to frame Leaf on Luxxe’s other side as he speaks.)
Leaf: —but because we love making jokes while others do work! (Laugh.)
Hitch: Great! Let’s get going! No reason for this to drag on.
(He laughs heartily at his own pun, but all others within earshot just roll their eyes and clear the area.)
Hitch: “Drag on…” (Sparky coos his own disapproval…) Seriously? Nothing? (…and hops off Hitch’s back.) Come on, that was a good one.
(Dissolve to an overhead shot of Sunny/Hitch/Zipp moving along a path through the jungle and accompanied by Blaize/Fountain/Tumble. Sparky is riding on Hitch’s back again, and Zipp has donned her foreleg pouch and shoulder plate. Close-up of Tumble, walking point, on the start of the next line.)
Tumble: Everything on the Isle of Scaly used to shimmer. But ever since we woke up, the magic keeps fading. (Pan back to the rear half of the group.)
Sunny: (to Blaize) I really appreciate this. I know it can be difficult to trust newcomers, but I want to assure you that we are on your team.
(The camera cuts back and forth between the two on her second sentence. Now the scale on Fountain’s haunch can be discerned as a water wave.)
Blaize: (chuckling; all stop) And we will see when we meet the leader if we are on yours.
Sunny: I hope you are, because I just know we’ll be better together. I can feel it!
Fountain: (hunching down to Sunny) So what are you? The leader of the ponies?
Sunny: No, um…I-I just like to plan what we do and support my friends and be an ally for anypony who needs it.
Blaize: Whatever. Here’s the thing. When we meet the leader of dragons, you’re the leader of ponies.
(Cut to Sunny on this last, face falling and ears drooping as the meaning sinks in, then back to Blaize.)
Blaize: Got it?
Sunny: (smiling) Uh-huh.
(Cut to the Marestream and zoom in slowly; Izzy, Pipp, and Misty are in the cockpit. In close-up, Izzy steps across to the Hope Lantern on the dashboard, her crafting glasses balanced on her nose, and flips the control panel up on a set of hinges.)
Izzy: Okay…
(Close-up of a tangle of now-exposed wiring, festooned with several unhooked connectors.)
Izzy: (from o.s., levitating two up) …so if I connect this wire— (Cut to her and Misty; she snaps them together.) —to this wire, and I turn this knob, it…
(She is rewarded with an angry electric crackle.)
Izzy: (magically closing panel) …well, that’s something, at least.
Misty: I don’t get it. No matter what we do, the Hope Lantern just gets dimmer and dimmer.
(Cut to/from said Lantern as she speaks, its miniature Pris-Beam rainbow guttering like a candle in a breeze.)
Pipp: It’s not just the Lantern! All my devices are drained, too—and I’ve had them plugged into the Marestream’s outlet all day!
(Misty’s glance toward the floor on one side and a cut to that area fill in all the details. Laptop, phone, boom box, speaker—all wired to the same stuffed power strip seen in the prologue. Both the laptop and phone are displaying “low battery” warnings.)
Pipp: (from o.s.) It’s so weird, right? (Cut to her and Misty.)
Misty: (holding up strip) Uh, maybe your stuff is draining the energy from the Lantern.
Pipp: Yeah, that’s not really how the Lantern works. Plus, if they were, don’t you think they’d at least be a little charged?
Izzy: (leaning into view, exerting field over strip) Let’s just unplug this— (Pop all the plugs out.) —just in case.
(Cut to the Lantern and zoom in; it continues to flicker, accompanied by a gasp from the o.s. amateur repair-pony. Back to her.)
Izzy: Even dimmer? What is this, Opposite Day? Oh, spark my horn, none of this makes sense!
Luxxe: (from o.s., muffled) Uh…
(A new camera angle picks her out, peeking over the lower edge of the windshield from outside. The next three lines are muffled by the glass.)
Luxxe: …we weren’t trying to eavesdrop. (Leaf leans smugly into view.)
Leaf: We were actively doing it.
Luxxe: (tapping windshield) But it sounds like the Marestream isn’t draining the Lantern.
Misty: Of course! The Lantern is the problem! (Cut to it and zoom in slowly; she continues o.s.) It’s losing power on its own! (Back to her.) But why?
(Gears begin to turn within the blue cranium. Cut to a slash of pink sky, seen from between the walls of a ravine, and tilt down to frame the group on the move along its floor. Sparky is on Hitch’s back.)
Hitch: (to Tumble) So all dragons have different kinds of magic? (They stop. Tumble’s haunch scale can now be seen—a wind gust.)
Tumble: That’s right! Watch this, dude.
(One deep breath later, he is breathing a jet of fire that strikes a patch of ground in close-up. The fragments of plant debris scattered here do not ignite, but are instead swept up into a small, glimmering mass of air that whirls wildly in place. A stunned gasp from the o.s. Hitch; back to him, Sparky, and Tumble. The ball of wind bounces away like a tumbleweed in a desert.)
Hitch: (laughing) Whoa! Is that why they call you—
Tumble: —Tumble? (laughing) You got it! Luxxe can illuminate with her light magic, Fountain can bend and spray water with her fire. Ah! It’s so cool! (All move on.)
Sunny: This must be where the Dragon Lord lives?
(Cut to the end of the ravine and zoom in slowly as she finishes; they are approaching a stronghold carved out of the rock face. On either side of the path is a large, scaly-surfaced rock carving that thrusts upward from the earth, cut by curling, green-glowing curves—very similar to the ones Sunny and company found during their visit in Part Two of “Family Trees.” Two more grooved sculptures sit atop the elevated entrance as a pair of horns, and two basins filled with green flames flank the approach. A window is cut into each side wall, while an immense horn is aimed directly at the entrance.)
Blaize: (from o.s., softly) Where he hibernates.
(Cut to a suitably impressed Sunny/Hitch/Zipp on this last, Sparky burbling his opinion. All stop before the horn, where Blaize pulls in a colossal breath and lets it rip through the mouthpiece. The result is a bellowing, ground-shaking bass tone that ejects clouds of dust—and a few rudely awakened flying critters—from the bell and causes the grooves cut along its length to blaze up green. This sequence picks out Blaize’s haunch scale as a fireball. As the thundering blast dies away, the camera cuts to a close-up of the end of a violet tail, hanging over a ledge in a dimly lit space. It twitches slightly to the sound of a cavernous snore…the ponies watch, anxiety running high…the tail is lifted away and its male owner begins to stand up, showing green eyes, a pale yellow-green underbelly, green spines spotted/ringed with violet running from the crown of the head down its back, and violet wings shading to green…ponies and dragons stand awestruck…and the newly awakened dragon emerges into the light with a humdinger of a yawn and sniff, squinting against the brightness.)
(Cut to his perspective as he grunts softly and the adult dragons bow. Zipp follows suit, the camera shifting to the ponies’ level.)
Zipp: (to Sunny/Hitch) It’s probably a good time to bow. (So they do.)
Sunny: (to Hitch) Mmmm…he looks familiar. Right?
Blaize: (from o.s.) Ponies from Equestria… (Cut to frame her, now upright.) …behold our exalted leader of dragons…
(Tilt up to put her out of view and frame the violet male, standing at the entrance.)
Blaize: (from o.s.) …Dragon Lord Spike!
(The little dragon who had served as Twilight Sparkle’s number-one assistant in Ponyville, and who became one of her top diplomats once she assumed the throne of Equestria, is definitely no small fry anymore. He is more than a match for any of the other dragons in height and length. Another yawn; now Sunny has stood up out of her bow. The others will have done the same when seen next.)
Sunny: (completely floored) Spike?!?
Act Three
(He leaps nimbly down to the ground, yawning out a stream of his signature green fire, and shakes his head clear. He speaks in a slow deep voice with a slightly goofy tone.)
Spike: Whoa! (Laugh.) ’Scuse my breath. Just woke up.
Sunny: We are honored to meet such a legend as the Spike! I-Is it okay if I call you Spike?
Spike: It would be weird if you called me Fred or something— (laughing) —because that’s not my name.
(More laughs, accompanied by a poke at Blaize—who shoots him a dirty sidewise look and finds exactly no humor in the situation.)
Sunny: I-I just want you to know that I am a big fan. When I was a foal, my father told me stories of you, o-of the legends of Equestria’s past!
Spike: (smirking) Legend, huh? I don’t know about that. (The smirk drops.) Seriously, I don’t know about that. My memory’s a little foggy after all these centuries of magical hibernation. Uh, what moon is this?
Hitch: (laughing, not noticing that his badge is gone from his sash) I know how that is. I can’t remember anything when I wake up. It’s a miracle I can remember to put my badge on in the morning.
Blaize: (dryly) You’re not wearing a badge.
Hitch: (glancing at sash) Huh?
(And now Sparky clambers up on top of his head, laughing and holding the missing item. The infant drops it for Hitch to catch with a laugh, and it is quickly clipped back into place.)
Tumble: (from o.s.) Your Spike-ness… (Cut to him.) …they have a hatchling!
(The Dragon Lord lets a breath rumble softly through his nostrils as he leans down to put his nose in reach for Sparky to nuzzle contentedly.)
Spike: So this is why you came to find us.
Zipp: No, actually. We came because you’re in danger. Two dragons have already been captured by an evil alicorn. (Spike straightens in close-up.)
Spike: Evil alicorn?
Zipp: (from o.s.) Yes! (Cut to her.) Equestria is in danger as well. She’s trying to take over, and she’s gaining power! (To Hitch/Sparky on the next line.)
Hitch: She wants to steal all the magic for herself! (Back to Zipp on the next.)
Zipp: Which is why she’s also draining your dragon shimmer.
Sunny: We know that she’s been trying to take over Equestria since the days of—
Zipp: Twilight Sparkle! She protected our land somehow, keeping her out all this time!
(Cut to Spike, who utters a soft gasp as the name hits home.)
Spike: Twi? (Back to Sunny on the following.)
Sunny: But the spell has broken down, and now Opaline is back. We just want to stop her and keep our magic.
Spike: Come inside. I have a lot to tell you ponies.
Blaize: Are you sure, Your Spike-ness? We don’t know anything about ponies.
Spike: (authoritatively, turning to her) Well, I do, Blaize.
(He strides toward the cave, brooking no argument, and all others fall in behind him. Sparky has shifted from Hitch’s head to his back.)
Fountain: (mockingly) Blaize got burned! Ooooh!
(She trails off into a derisive little giggle, to which her target responds with a fed-up growl over her shoulder. Cut to the group walking through an interior stone passage.)
Sunny: Wow!
(Sparky gabbles out his wonderment as they move on through a stretch whose walls glisten with embedded gems.)
Spike: (sighing deeply) Meeting you takes me back. My best friends were ponies. (Cut to Sunny.)
Sunny: That’s what I’ve heard. (Back to Spike on the following.)
Spike: I haven’t thought about it in so long—uh, mostly because I was sleeping. (To the rest of the group; he continues o.s.) But I do remember my adventures with them. (Sigh; back to him.) But my mind feels so fuzzy since I went into that magic hibernation.
Hitch: When was that?
Spike: Hard to say. The spell was so strong.
Sunny: (nudging Hitch) Hitch, can you believe this? This is the baby dragon from the stories my dad used to tell me! (Cut to a pensive Spike; she continues o.s.) Spike was there with Twilight when Opaline got banished! (They emerge into a broader area.)
Spike: It all feels so foggy, like a dream.
(This proves to be a cavern with an elevated stone seat at the far end for a throne, lit by the gems and glowing grooves in the walls as well as a scattering of small windows that let in the sunlight. In the center of the floor is a broad, low basin that fills itself with green flames at Spike’s approach; a smaller basin burns on either side of the throne.)
Spike: But Twilight knew she had to protect magic from her somehow. (He takes the seat of power; cut to Fountain and Tumble.)
Tumble: That’s why us dragons have been on the Isle of Scaly, magically hibernating for all this time. (sitting) It was part of the plan. (As Spike speaks, cut to him and zoom out slowly.)
Spike: Her plan saved us all. She helped us work together against darkness. See, there were these crystals.
Sunny: The Unity Crystals? (Cut to Spike.)
Spike: You know them?
Sunny: (from o.s.) Know them? (Back to her, Hitch/Sparky, and Zipp; she bounces in place.) We are the keepers of the Crystals!
(This gives the big guy pause; now Zipp whips out her FlyPad and activates its voice recorder.)
Zipp: Sorry to interrupt this, uh…moment, but what is the real story of the Crystals and Opaline? Who is she, really?
Spike: She’s dangerous. She’s the reason I had to part ways with my friends.
Zipp: Because she wanted the Unity Crystals? (Zoom in slowly on Spike.)
Spike: No. She wanted magic—all of it.
(Fire from the basin washes upward to fill the screen and clears to present a scene rendered somewhat like a cave painting: Twilight hovering with spread wings above a small crowd of ponies. Zoom out slowly to put a string of hills in the background, marked overhead by a setting sun and a crescent moon.)
Spike: (voice over) Twilight’s reign was peaceful for many moons— (Pan to frame Opaline charging in on the wing, from a city nestled among the clouds. Zoom in slowly.) —until Opaline Arcana appeared. She’d been banished from Skyros.
(Recall that Opaline had mentioned this location in “Sunny Side Up” as being her home during her youth. Cut to a gobsmacked Sunny in the present.)
Sunny: The alicorn land? (Zoom in slowly on Spike.)
Spike: She wanted to rule all ponies. She thought that alicorns were superior. But my friends were strong.
(On the start of this last sentence, the view shifts back to the cave-painting style, now showing a group of three dragons, and his words shift to a voice over. Zoom out slowly as a wave of violet magic washes over them; a laughing Opaline stands her ground and casts a spell to drain power from their mouths into her body.)
Spike: (voice over) Our friendship had created such powerful magic that Opaline had to resort to dark ways to overthrow Equestria. (Her laughter echoes over the scene as fire wreathes her.) She even attacked the dragons to transform into a fire alicorn!
(Back to the here and now.)
Sunny: That’s what she’s done again!
Blaize: That’s why she came for Jade and Lava!
Tumble: For their fire!
(Cave painting: a close-up of the separated Crystals, zooming out slowly to frame one pony of each tribe beneath, as well as a dragon and the Dragon Stone.)
Spike: (voice over) The Crystals were created to hide the magic of Equestria in them—all of pony magic, and all of dragon magic inside the Dragon Stone. (Pan away from the group to the fiery Opaline.) Twilight sent us here to protect us— (The flames flicker out; a shield forms around the assailant, set with Twilight’s cutie mark.) —and put a spell around Equestria to hide it from Opaline.
(The present: a slow zoom out from Sunny/Hitch/Zipp.)
Sunny: The spell was damaged when we brought magic back, when the three pony kinds reunited again after centuries.
Spike: You lost magic? All by yourselves? (moaning) I’m going back to sleep. (He turns to depart as Zipp puts her FlyPad away.)
Sunny: Wait! We still have a chance. (Spike halts.)
Blaize: (defeated tone) Do we?
Sunny: (galloping up to balance on one side of the basin) Yes, because the truth is, you’re strong! (stomping for emphasis) You are dragons! (She hops down to face Fountain and Tumble.) Yes, your shimmer may be fading and you may be tired and scared— (Her magic horn and wings begin to emerge.) —but that’s not who you are! (Cross to Blaize.) You can still turn this around! You can still help!
Blaize: It’s already over.
Sunny: No!
(As she continues, the phantom appendages take full shape and she lifts off into a hover, a flash of brilliant white light enveloping her for a split second and vanishing her saddlebag.)
Sunny: When you have hope, it’s never over! (Amazed smiles from Fountain/Tumble; she descends to land between Hitch and Zipp.) And I know you still have a shimmer of it.
(Extreme close-up of the scale on Tumble’s haunch. It comes alive with a bright golden glow in time with his gasp from o.s.; cut to frame all of him, circling in place for a better look at himself.)
Tumble: I see what you mean!
(Now a gasp is heard from the o.s. Fountain; pan quickly to her regarding the scale on her own haunch doing likewise.)
Fountain: The sunny pony is right!
Blaize: (sighing bitterly) You sound delusional.
Fountain: So are we to just give up instead, Blaize? Forget about our friends? Let evil win?
Blaize: (sputtering a bit) Maybe?
Spike: I am leader of the dragons. (jumping off throne, approaching Sunny/Hitch/Zipp) And I remember my pony friends. I never want to forget them.
(Sunny’s hopeful, grateful smile is accented by Sparky’s cheering jump down from Hitch’s back. He totters forward and spits fire onto a loose rock, turning it into a pile of marshmallows—one of which he proceeds to scarf down. Blaize gasps in disbelief alongside Spike’s astonished gape.)
Blaize: Transformation fire?!
Hitch: Sparky, now is not the time for snacks, buddy! (Sparky lets off a flaming belch.)
Fountain: I thought it was just a myth!
Blaize: Me too.
Spike: (hunching down to Sparky) This little one is special. (A confident gurgle; Spike straightens up to address the ponies.) And so are you. You remind me a lot of somepony I once knew. (They trade smiles.) Twilight.
Sunny: So you’ll help us? You’ll join our team to defeat Opaline for good?
Spike: I’m in.
Blaize: (pointedly, but smiling) Don’t you mean “we’re in,” Your Spike-ness?
(The scale on her haunch flares up gold and the dragons all smile. From here, cut to the group exiting the stronghold, accompanied by Spike. The scales have quieted down, but Sunny’s horn/wings are still present. Zipp is flying, while Sparky toddles along between Fountain and Tumble.)
Sunny: We have to hurry!
Hitch: Come on, Sparky!
(He glances back over his shoulder, only to see that Fountain and Tumble are using the laughing baby dragon as the ball in a game of catch. Hitch smiles, knowing that neither adult will let him come to any harm, but the mirth rapidly drains from his face as a new thought takes hold.)
Hitch: Um, Your Spike-ness? (Spike leans down to his level.) Do you think Sparky might belong…here… (Cut to Sparky nuzzling Fountain and being held by Tumble; he continues o.s.) …with other dragons?
(Back to the Dragon Lord and the stallion on the start of the next line.)
Spike: Some of the best times of my life were with my pony family. If I could be there again, I would. (He straightens up.) You two are a team. You belong together for now.
Hitch: (brightening) We do? (Spike hunches down again.)
Spike: Like a peanut butter and crystal sandwich!
(He snickers at this bit of draconic culinary humor; now Sparky runs laughing back to Hitch and is promptly swept into a hug. Cut to a close-up of the erratic Lantern on the dashboard of the Marestream, which is shaking to the sound of laughter from the o.s. Leaf and Luxxe. A longer shot from outside shows the two dragons rocking the vehicle from side to side while Izzy, Pipp, and Misty sit dejectedly in front of it. Now Luxxe’s haunch scale is visible as a spiral.)
Misty: This is awful! We’re stuck, and they’re going to be back soon!
Izzy: (smiling) At least we had fun while we didn’t fix anything.
(She laughs along with the scaly pair but fails to raise the spirits of the other two mares.)
Izzy: (standing up) I love laughter.
Sunny: (from o.s.) Good news, everypony!
(Cut to frame her and the rest of the traveling contingent, approaching the Marestream, as she finishes. Sparky is on Hitch’s back.)
Sunny: Ponies and dragons are now working together!
(Varied sounds of triumph from Izzy/Pipp/Misty as they fly/gallop across, followed by Leaf and Luxxe. Cut to Sunny and Hitch.)
Hitch: Now let’s go get that Dragon Stone and stop Opaline!
Zipp: (from o.s.) Izzy… (Pan to her.) …fire up the Marestream! (Cut to Izzy/Pipp/Misty.)
Izzy: Um, when you say “fire it up,” like, should we burn it? Because it is toast! (Back to Sunny and company on the following.)
Sunny: We’re stranded?
(The next words are marked by a tilt up to the faces of Spike and Tumble.)
Spike: (knowingly) I wouldn’t say that.
(He spreads his wings, as do the other five adult dragons, and Pipp voices an ecstatic gasp as Misty beams.)
Izzy: Yeah!
Hitch: Woo-hoo!
Zipp: Wow!
(Sunny smiles; Sparky blabbers joyfully. Dissolve to the throne room of Opaline’s castle, the camera trained on the portion of the Together Tree growing up through the space. Where it had previously had a single leaf emblazoned with a white copy of a cutie mark stolen from a pony—Posey, to be precise—there are now dozens of them hanging from the gnarled limbs. Evidently she has put the fire of Jade and Lava to good use in stealing them as previously planned. Zoom out slowly, then cut to Opaline seated on her throne on the start of the next line.)
Opaline: The seeds of my reign are finally sprouting!
(A spot of blue/violet light kindles on her chest, and she hops off her seat and lifts off with horn/wings glowing as she continues.)
Opaline: Welcome to the Era of Opaline Arcana. (Blue fire washes out from her wings.) Without their cutie mark magic, they cannot shine. (Pluck a leaf.) Then their unity magic will wilt and die on the vine.
(A burst of venomous laughter yields to a sharp gasp and glower.)
Opaline: Those miserable do-gooder ponies will never be able to stop me now!
(Cut to an overhead shot of the room and zoom out as she cackles madly, then to a stretch of clouds in the sky over the Isle of Scaly. Four winged silhouettes rise from the misty masses and resolve into a diving Spike, Blaize, Fountain, and Luxxe; varied shouts/whoops/laughs mark the ponies’ presence on their backs even before they can be clearly seen. Sunny is riding on Blaize, Pipp and Zipp on Fountain, Hitch and Sparky on Spike, Izzy and Misty on Fountain. Sunny’s horn and wings have dispelled themselves, the Lantern is in her grip and glowing brightly, and her saddlebag is strapped on. Zipp has shed her foreleg pouch and shoulder plate. Spike is now wearing a bracelet in the style of those brought by Izzy, and Blaize has donned the one she was offered in Act Two.)
Sunny: (to Blaize) I don’t know how to thank you!
Blaize: Save it! We’re a team now. (She glances down at her bracelet.)
Fountain: (to Pipp/Zipp) You think we can do it? Save Equestria and the Isle of Scaly?
Zipp: Well, it’s not gonna be easy.
Sunny: But if we all work together, we can do anything! Who’s ready to take down Opaline?
Misty: I am!
(Sparky shouts his assent, drawing gentle laughter from the rest of the party that is cut short when an electronic blip is heard from Pipp’s general vicinity.)
Pipp: Hold on, hold on! (She whips out her phone.) My phone just turned on! (waving it) Can you say all that inspiring stuff again, pleeeease?
(Hearty laughs all around as the dragons continue to beat their wings into the distance through the tranquil sky.)
Izzy: (amid the noise) Whee!…Higher, higher! Woo-hoo!…Oh, you can really fly!
ROOTS OF ALL EVIL—PART ONE
Written by Gillian Berrow, Tony Fleecs
Executive producers: Olivier Dumont, Randi Yaffa, Cort Lane
Story editing by Gillian Berrow
Supervising direction by Will Lau
Directed by Randi Rodrigues
Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)
Prologue
(Opening shot: a long shot of Zephyr Heights Palace, seen among the clouds during the day, followed by a dissolve to an overhead shot of the garden containing the tree that Sunny Starscout and her friends planted/grew in Misty’s honor during “Cutie Blossom Bash.” Recall that Elderflower identified it as a Together Tree in “Father of the Bridlewood.” Zoom in slowly and cut to a ground-level pan through the verdant space, stopping on one of Opaline Arcana’s steel-encircled forelegs as it stomps into the grass. She aims a malevolent little grin around herself and pivots to the arboreal behemoth, then cranks off a wild laugh and fires a broad beam from her horn into its heart. A lurid purple aura suffuses the bark, and tendrils of blinding violet-white energy whip upward from the ground and lash through the air in all directions. Within seconds, the purple has spread to cover every square inch of the Together Tree.)
(One tendril lashes past the camera in extreme close-up, the view wiping behind it to a stretch of Mane Avenue in the city proper. Yelling, panicking ponies get wings and hooves in gear to avoid being snagged as Thunder and Zoom touch down from above. Close-up of the guard mare on the next line.)
Zoom: Everypony, please stay calm! Do not panic! Everything is under—
Thunder: (now o.s.) Zoom! (She turns toward the voice; pan to frame him.) I forgot my shield! (A tendril zeroes in on his right haunch; close-up.) Do you have one?
(A brief flash from the vicinity of his hindquarters.)
Thunder: Hey, something feels funny.
(An over-shoulder glance informs him that his cutie mark—a knight chess piece—has been removed and encased in a magic bubble. He lets go with an ear-splitting scream as it is whipped away, then dives for cover behind a trash can.)
Thunder: Oh, no!
(With pandemonium taking hold up and down the block, Zoom warily backs up toward her partner and pulls out a tennis ball—the “shield” that was supposed to guard against unicorn magic as deployed in A New Generation.)
(The cackling Opaline continues her assault in close-up, after which the camera cuts to the Wishing Tree in Bridlewood. That unhealthy purple tinge has taken hold of it and sent the locals into a stampeding panic. The up-and-coming tyrant is now here, firing into the gargantuan trunk but cutting the flow after a moment. Dapple, Elderflower, and Onyx watch with clear consternation.)
Elderflower: It can’t be!
(But a longer shot of the mighty growth and a slow zoom out prove her wrong; the magical appendages have sprouted here as well and are hissing through the air wherever they can reach. Opaline just throws a smirk toward the madness she has unleashed, opens a portal on the trunk, and steps through. The instant it closes, a tendril lashes toward…)
Dapple: Elderflower! Look out!
(Cut to a brief extreme close-up of the old mare’s face on these words, eyes widening in purest shock. The ribbon sings past, scoring a glancing strike against Dapple’s cutie mark and causing it to glow for an instant, and all three race behind a crystal outcropping and peek out.)
Dapple: (to Elderflower) Ah! Are you okay? What was that?
Elderflower: (shuddering) I-I don’t know! (A flash from his haunch, which is just o.s.)
Onyx: Dapple! Look!
(The camera pans to frame his rump as he looks back toward it and finds only a patch of unmarked hide.)
Dapple: (shuddering) My…my…
(The heart-shaped bongos float free in a bubble and are snatched away in time with his horrified squawks. Elderflower and Onyx are stripped of their marks next.)
Onyx: Oh, no! What’s happening to us?
(Close-up of the two captive images as she finishes; the heart-tipped quill and trio of blossoms are reeled in to the sound of the o.s. Elderflower’s long gasp. Cut to the trio, then to/from the haywire Wishing Tree during the following exchange.)
Elderflower: Our cutie mark magic—it’s being stolen!
Dapple: Everypony, RUUUNNN!!
(Screams tear the air as they and every equine within earshot bug out. In Maretime Bay, the sky has become overcast with eerie blue clouds, and the same degree of fear and disorder is playing out here. Zoom in slowly and cut to a stretch of Mane Street, then pan to frame Toots jittering in place.)
Toots: Oh, my hoofness! (Jazz Hooves skids to a stop alongside him.) What do we do?
Jazz: (shaking him) RUUUUUUNNNNNN!!
(Both earth ponies peel out just ahead of a group of colossal shadows flitting over the road. The source turns out to be the four dragons who gave Sunny and her friends a ride home in “The Isle of Scaly”—Spike, Blaize, Fountain, Luxxe. They pass over the head of a sunglasses-wearing Sugar Moonlight.)
Sugar: (removing shades) Now dragons?!? What’s next?!?
(The flyers come in for a landing—Fountain on the bridge over Mane Street, Luxxe atop a trolley, Spike and Blaize on the road itself as a terror-stricken Lily watches, wearing her own sunglasses. All four are still wearing the charm bracelets that Izzy Moonbow gave them in the previous episode.)
Lily: (sobbing) Leave us alone! Please!
(She pulls the tinted lenses off and hurls them at the Dragon Lord, scoring an ineffectual hit on his chest that does not faze him one bit.)
Spike: Whoa, what kind of welcome is this? It’s me, Spike! Friend to ponykind since forever? Royal Advisor to—
Sprout Cloverleaf: (from o.s.) DRAGON!!
(Cut to the former deputy, who cranks off a shrill scream and gallops across Mane Street to bound over the railing that overlooks the shoreline. The nearest onlookers go into full freak-out mode even before he hits the water, and Lily chooses this moment to pitch over in a dead faint. Profile close-up of Spike.)
Spike: (sighing heavily) Never mind.
Hitch Trailblazer: (from o.s.) It’s cool, everypony!
(On these words, the camera zooms out slightly and one broad wing shifts to frame the Sheriff standing on Spike’s back, with Sparky Sparkeroni sitting on his own and playing with a leaf.)
Hitch: He’s with us!
Dahlia: (slowing down from her gallop) Hitch? Sheriff Hitch? (Sprout climbs up to the railing, seaweed draped over his head.)
Sprout: Wait. What?
(His former boss jumps down from the scaly violet back. Next Fountain lowers her wing to show Pipp Petals and Zipp Storm as her passengers, and Luxxe does likewise for Izzy and Misty. Lily comes to thanks to Sparky’s energetic fanning with the leaf he holds. Sunny jumps off Blaize’s back. The hullabaloo has quieted down by this point.)
Sunny: (producing/setting down Hope Lantern) Now can somepony please tell us what’s going on here?
Glory: We don’t really know— (She, Peach Fizz, and Seashell emerge from behind an overturned table.) —but it’s bad!
(All three fillies have lost their cutie marks.)
Seashell: (on verge of tears) Our cutie marks are all gone, and—and…the pony who took them all…she was an alicorn!
(Sunny gasps softly, the news hitting her like a ton of bricks. Snap to black.)
OPENING THEME
Act One
(Cut from the title card directly to an overhead shot of the gathering, just outside Mane Melody. Pipp and Zipp are hovering above the rest of the group, who have all dismounted, and Jazz and Rocky Riff have joined the group. Zoom in slowly.)
Rocky: Uh, Jazz, are you seeing what I’m seeing? (Close-up of the pair, their marks gone.)
Jazz: (rattled) Our friends just rode into town on flying dragons?!
Rocky: And Pipp’s hair is still fabulous!
Jazz: (as both cross to the group) Where have you ponies been?
Rocky: Who would do something like this?
Sunny: Her name is Opaline, and she’s—
Izzy: (with sudden recognition) Oh, Opaline! (laughing) Yeah, yeah, of course, of course. You know, I was really racking my mind, like, “Who really would do something like this?” Okay, yeah. Now that makes sense. Continue. (Pan to Pipp on the next line.)
Pipp: Izzy, who else did you think would do this? (Cut to frame both as Izzy speaks.)
Izzy: Honestly, uh… (whipping over to Hitch) …I’ve always been a little suspicious of Hitch’s crab friend, McSnips-a-Lot.
(Pan quickly to the crustacean in question, doing nothing of any importance.)
Izzy: (from o.s.) He’s just so pinchy!
(A couple of innocent blinks later, the pan reverses itself.)
Hitch: (needled) Heeey!
Sunny: Rocky, Jazz, show us what happened.
(The two stylists nod resolutely. Cut to a long shot of the tree at the base of the hill on which Canterlove Studios stands—a Together Tree, as identified by Opaline in “Nightmare on Mane Street.” It is now wreathed in the same queasy purple energy that Opaline exerted in Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood, and Rocky moves into view but stops at a considerable distance.)
Rocky: (pointing) There! They disappeared through there! (Head-on shot of him, Sunny, and Jazz.)
Sunny: But how is Opaline doing this?
Jazz: She had these magical vines that followed her through town, and they stole the cutie marks! (Sunny gasps; Hitch joins them.)
Hitch: And where is she now? (Sound of beating wings.)
Zipp: (from o.s.) The trees!
(On the next line, cut to frame the investigator looping above the others’ heads to survey the Together Tree. Izzy and Misty arrive at this point.)
Zipp: She must be using the trees like portals, just like we did when we went to the Isle of Scaly.
Sunny: But to open a portal…you’d need a key. Right? Without one, Opaline would need so much more than pony magic.
Misty: But she has fire alicorn magic. And she has the Dragon Stone. (Cut to Pipp, now here as well.)
Pipp: And actual dragons!
Jazz: (showing bare haunch) And she has all of our cutie marks!
Zipp: So she found a way into Maretime Bay through the tree. (Gasp.) If she broke through Twilight’s protection spell, that means…she could be back to finish the job at any moment!
Rocky: Everypony and everything could be in real danger!
Sunny: You’re right! Even the Unity Crystals!
(Pan quickly in turn to Izzy/Misty, then to Glory/Peach/Seashell, then to Toots and Sweets. The two unicorn mares gasp in unison, then the three fillies—but Toots stares in mute horror while the gum-chewing Sweets blows and pops a bubble.)
Jazz: (quietly) I’m just gonna say it. (Pause.) WE’RE DOOOOOMED!!
(Her pelting retreat is the cue for the locals to resume their screaming race for shelter in every conceivable direction.)
Hitch: Wait, everypony! Come back! We need all hooves on deck here protecting this tree!
(Toots slams on the brakes during this last, showing in close-up that he has lost his mark.)
Toots: But without our cutie marks, we’re not ourselves! We can’t protect anything! (He collapses with a moan.)
Misty: (from o.s., extending a foreleg toward him) Yes. (Cut to frame both.) You can.
(After a moment’s uncertainty, the heavyset stallion holds a hoof forward and allows her to pull him upright. On the start of the next line, cut from a close-up of the linked appendages to their owners.)
Misty: I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but…you all have something to offer. (Her confidence builds as ponies gather to listen.) Y-You’re all smart, and brave, and kind. I’ve seen you.
(Cut to Posey, Sweets, and a spectator mare.)
Misty: (from o.s.) Any of you would do anything to help your fellow pony— (They smile; back to her.) —even you, Sprout. (He puts his head up from a barrel in which he has hidden.)
Sprout: Really? Awww…
Misty: Look. I know Opaline. She’s awful. She kept me locked in her lair for moons. But…I survived all of it. (Slow pan across the crowd, gradually warming up to her words; she continues o.s.) Even without a cutie mark. Yes, your cutie marks are special, but they’re not the only thing that makes you special. And nopony can take away what makes you special on the inside.
(Her last two sentences are punctuated by a brief cut back to her, then to Glory/Peach/Seashell. Back to her and Izzy once she finishes.)
Izzy: Yeah! You’re powerful ponies! (bucking at air) Any one of you could kick a door off its hinges in two and a half tries! (Pipp touches down.)
Pipp: (a touch puzzled) That is…oddly specific.
Izzy: Thank you very much!
Rocky: We’ll do our part. But…how are you gonna stop Opaline? Do you have a plan?
Sunny: A plan? Uh, of course! Absolutely!
(She utterly fails to notice the poleaxed looks coming her way from Hitch/Zipp/Sparky—the equivalent of “has this mare lost her mind?” Cut to the six ponies’ heads leaning into view for a huddle, the camera aimed straight up at them from the ground.)
Sunny: Okay, who has a plan?
Izzy: Oh, oh! Me! I do! Here’s what we’re gonna need. (Close-up.) Two bathtubs full of glimmerberry jam, a stick of bubble gum, and exactly sixteen cases of assorted craft supplies! This ain’t gonna be easy, but if we time it juuuuust right, then we’re gonna— (All six again on the start of the next line.)
Sunny: (forcing a smile) That is…an option. (Strained laugh.) Any other ideas?
Zipp: We need to figure out how Opaline is stealing the cutie marks. (The huddle breaks on the next line.)
Pipp: And we need to do it before she comes back here and finishes the job! (She glances toward her own mark with a whimper.)
Hitch: What if Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood are in danger too? This is too much! How are we supposed to do this on our own? (Pan to Sunny on the next line.)
Sunny: We’re not on our own. (smiling determinedly) Opaline’s not the only pony with dragons on her side.
Toots: (from o.s., voice raised) So, uh…
(Zoom out to frame him, Sweets, and a couple of other ponies watching from several yards behind her. She swivels to face them.)
Toots: …what’d you come up with?
(Sweets pops another bubble just before Spike abruptly goes flat on his face with a grunt and woozy moan, landing near the Lantern.)
Act Two
(He tries and fails to raise himself, the other dragons watching with heightened worry and the ponies hustling over.)
Sunny: Spike! What happened?
Blaize: He just…collapsed!
Luxxe: (moaning, claws to head) I’m not feeling so great either. (Cut to Fountain.)
Fountain: (weakly) This must be some kind of pony spell. Is this a-a trap?
Misty: (from o.s.) No! (Cut to the ponies.) It’s the Dragon Stone! It has to be! If Opaline has dragons under her control, she’s using the Stone to do it!
Sunny: If she uses up all of the Dragon Stone’s magic, that could—
Spike: (slowly getting up) That could put dragons back to sleep for another thousand moons! We can’t let that happen! (moving forward) Dragons, come with me! That stone doesn’t belong to this Opaline, and if we’re gonna have any chance of stopping her, we’re gonna need all the dragon power we have left!
(Cut briefly to the other three during this line, steeling themselves and following his lead, then to a close-up of him.)
Luxxe: (from o.s.) Spike… (Zoom out to frame her keeping pace.) …what about the One?
(Both stop and look toward Sparky, on Hitch’s back and goofing around with the leaf he brought.)
Luxxe: The hatchling?
(The Sheriff finds himself on the receiving end of their intense attentions in short order.)
Hitch: What?! No! Y-You can’t! He’s just a baby! (Spike leans down to face him.)
Spike: (softly) He is stronger than you know.
Misty: Hitch, he’s right. Sparky’s the one who filled up the Dragon Stone in the first place. He’s why Opaline’s fire alicorn magic is so powerful.
(Cut to the little fellow cooing over his leaf during this last.)
Sunny: And if she got her magic through Sparky… (Spike stands up.)
Spike: …maybe he’s the one who can take it all back! (Sparky chews the greenery.)
Hitch: He is strong, but he’s still my…my little—
Spike: Believe me, he always will be. (holding out a foot) But trust us.
(Hitch reluctantly lowers his head, allowing Sparky to somersault over it and land among the splayed-out claws, then removes his badge and looks the toddler square in the eye.)
Hitch: (softly) You got this, bud.
(Sparky throws aside the leaf he has been playing with and takes the insignia with an overjoyed blub, but the celebratory mood vanishes as quickly as it came. He babbles tenderly to Hitch as the two lean their foreheads into each other, and Spike lifts him away in time with an understanding nod and sad smile from the stallion. The dragons lift off, Sparky riding on Spike’s head.)
Sunny: Spike! Be careful!
Spike: Don’t worry about me, Princess Sunny. This isn’t my first rodeo. (as the group flies away) Protect your ponies! (Cut to Sunny on the next line.)
Sunny: (sputtering a bit) I’m not…I-I’m not a princess!
Spike: (now o.s., chuckling) If you say soooo!
Hitch: (sighing) I’m gonna gather everypony by the tree!
Sunny: We’ll meet you back there as soon as we check on the Crystals. And, Hitch? Promise me you’ll be careful too.
Hitch: (raising a hoof to his chest) Hoof to heart.
(He starts away. Cut to a slow pan across the town square, littered with capsized furniture being used as shelter by more than a few blubbering ponies, and stop on a long shot of the closed front doors of Hitch’s office. He bursts out to the sidewalk, the members of his “squad” scattering around him, and the camera zooms in quickly to a close-up. He is carrying a bullhorn and has donned the red, star-badged cowboy hat he and Sunny shared in “The Cutie Mark Mix-Up.”)
Hitch: (amplified, through bullhorn) Everypony, listen up! (A few peek out from their cover; he walks down Mane Street.) I know you’re scared. (Cut to one risking a glance around a building corner; he continues o.s.) But we’re stronger together. (Back to him.) We’re safer if we’re together. Everypony, to the Together Tree!
(Swallowing hard, Sprout fearfully steps out from behind a gate and starts after him. Several others follow suit, and Hitch leads them toward the Together Tree. Cut from this group, having halted several yards away to face it, to Sunny and the rest of her crew gathered around the Unity Crystals in the lantern room of the Crystal Brighthouse. Everything is quiet on this front, to Sunny’s visible relief.)
Sunny: Phew!
Misty: She must not be able to enter the Brighthouse still. She never could do that.
Sunny: Good. That means the protection spell is still intact— (Zipp thinks a bit.) —at least here. (Brainstorm.)
Zipp: WAIT!! (She gallops away; Sunny follows.)
Pipp: Wait for what? (as Misty follows) Where are we going?!?
(All five gather on the central lift platform.)
Pipp: Zipp… (They are carried down and away.) Zipp…
(The ride ends in the shared bedroom.)
Pipp: (singsong, muffled by the shaft’s closed doors) Equestria to Zi-i-ipp…
(Once the doors open, the athlete is the first one out, beating wings to her desk; the other four pile after her, Pipp also flying.)
Pipp: (laughing nervously, with increasing insistence) Zipp, Zipp, Zi-i-ipp!
(Who is, by this point, rummaging frantically through the items scattered around her laptop.)
Pipp: (touching down) What are you doing, studying?!? (Zipp retrieves a photo.)
Zipp: Showing you…
(Within easy reach is a bulletin board covered with the fruits of her investigation into Opaline’s plans; close-up of one spot as she tacks the image up. It depicts a stylized tree whose roots and branches are equally broad; a spot of golden light gleams at the center of the trunk, and the roots stretch downward and terminate in six large fruits, each containing a miniature pony. Nestled among these are the Crystals, topped by a heart.)
Zipp: (from o.s.) …this! Hah!
(Zoom out on the next line to frame the entire group, and cut briefly to/from Sunny and Misty as she continues.)
Zipp: Ever since Elderflower told us about the connected roots, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this picture!
(The screen flashes white and clears to show her walking through the library of Zephyr Heights Palace during “The Manesquerade Ball.” Wearing the winged lightning-bolt half-mask she has brought for the titular event, she halts her hooves and aims a curious glance upward. During the next line, cut to her perspective of a stained-glass skylight dome overhead; the central panel presents the tree. Tilt slowly along its length.)
Zipp: (voice over) It’s from the library back home in Zephyr Heights! (Snicker.)
(Back to her past self, who pulls out her FlyPad and snaps a photo; the flash whites out the screen and clears to show Sunny and Pipp in the present.)
Pipp: (sighing) So, what am I looking at? (Close-up of the photo, tilting down slowly from top to bottom.)
Zipp: (from o.s.) Underneath the tree. (Zoom in.) Roots that look like they power the ponies’ cutie marks, right? (Cut to Sunny/Misty on the next line.)
Sunny: Oh, I think I see where you’re going.
Zipp: (coaxingly) Three trees…
(Close-up of a sketch of the Together Tree in Maretime Bay.)
Zipp: (from o.s., tapping it) …the Maretime Bay Together Tree… (The same for…) …Misty’s Together Tree in Zephyr Heights… (Once again for…) …and the Wishing Together Tree in Bridlewood! (Zoom out to frame the entire board.) Three trees!
(Overhead view of all but Misty, the camera leaning slowly toward them from the top edge of the board.)
Zipp: (pacing) Somehow she tapped into the connection between the three, but— (Close-up; she scratches her temple.) —I just can’t figure out how—
Misty: (from o.s.) It’s not three trees.
(Cut to the blue unicorn, seen from between Sunny and Pipp, and zoom in slowly.)
Misty: It’s four. (Cut to the others; zoom in quickly.)
Other four: WHAT?!? (Back to Misty, pacing to the board, on the following.)
Misty: There’s a fourth tree. Opaline has her own magic tree in her throne room. But it’s not beautiful like the Together Trees.
(Close-up of a winged-unicorn silhouette drawing affixed to the board, rotating and zooming in slowly.)
Misty: (from o.s.) It’s dark and twisty.
(A flash of white shifts the view to a long shot of Opaline’s castle; the rotation and zoom continue while lightning strikes split the sky. During the next line, cut to the side of the throne room filled by the Together Tree’s growth and tilt down to frame a young Misty sitting glumly by the door built into the wood.)
Misty: (voice over) It’s supposed to feed on unity magic, but... (laughing softly, bitterly) …it never worked because Opaline never found unity with anypony.
(Dissolve to an extreme close-up of Opaline’s wickedly smiling face, then back to the Brighthouse bedroom.)
Misty: She’s never had a friend like—
Zipp: (excitedly) Elderflower!
Izzy: (gasping, shocked) She’s not friends with Elderflower?
Zipp: (caught off guard) Uh, no! (moving to board) Elderflower said they’re all connected. If our cutie mark magic is flowing through the roots of the trees—
Sunny: (moving closer) —then Opaline must be able to reach them through her own tree! (Brief close-up of Zipp’s picture on this line, zooming out quickly to frame the group again.)
Zipp: So she can travel through the trees and she’s using the trees to steal the cutie marks? (Cut to Izzy on the following.)
Izzy: (hooves to temples) Whoa. This is a lot! (suddenly very uneasy) Um, hey, where did Hitch say he was gathering all the ponies again?
(That question hits the other four mares like a two-by-four to the back of the head. Cut to the upper reaches of the afflicted Together Tree at the base of the Canterlove Studios hill and tilt down, bringing Hitch and a knot of spectators into view on the next line.)
Hitch: See? It’s cool. We’re safe here together. Everything is—
(He trails off into a horrified gasp, duplicated by Sprout, at the sight of those ethereal tendrils lashing up from the ground.)
Sprout: (galloping away) Not good! Everything is not good!
(The beet on his haunch glows an instant before it is wrenched away; he cries out and slides to a stop.)
Sprout: My essence!
(He whirls and leaps after the stolen mark, but gets only a hard belly flop for his trouble. More shrieks ring out from the crowd before a cut to an extreme close-up of a hurrying Zipp’s mouth, seen in profile. During the next three lines, the camera shifts to frame all three speakers head-on; Pipp and Zipp are both flying.)
Zipp: It’s not safe!
Izzy: Get away!
Pipp: We were wrong!
Hitch: (to himself, unnerved) Oh, this is not good. (to crowd) Okay, opposite plan. Everypony split up! (They do so, screaming.) Get away from the tree!
Dahlia: But—but you said to go— (Cut to Sprout on the next line.)
Sprout: My cutie mark! (shrilly, leaping onto his mother Phyllis’ back, drumming hooves on her flanks) Mommy! I want it back!
(The mare just rolls her eyes in supreme disgust and gallops away. Cut to Pipp/Zipp on the start of the next line, now both in midair above the thoroughfare. As Zipp speaks, cut from them to the tree and its flailing appendages, then to her visage and the horror slowly dawning on it.)
Zipp: If the tree here in Maretime Bay is doing all this, then what about the one in Zephyr Heights?
(Cut to the empty throne room, or Grand Hall, of Zephyr Heights Palace and zoom in on the dais. Something is visible on Queen Haven’s central seat, propped up against a cushion, and the tinny quality of the following sound and the buzzing vibrations that accompany it pick it out as her cell phone even before the camera shifts to a close-up. Pipp’s winking face is shown on the screen as a notice of an incoming call.)
First verse of Pipp’s song in Chapter One, Act Two
Energetic pop melody with synthesizers/drums and brass accents, fast 4 (D minor)
Pipp: I know you’re feeling like there’s something wrong
But don’t you—
Song ends abruptly with the click of a voice mail system picking up
(On the next words, cut to the Together Tree in the garden, its vines whipping through the air, and zoom out slowly. Haven and her dog Cloudpuff bound madly past to keep clear of one, while Thunder and Zoom hang on to it for dear life. The sky here has gone as dark as in Maretime Bay.)
Haven: (voice over, on phone) You’ve reached Her Royal Majesty Queen Haven of Zephyr Heights’ voice mail. (Other guards and civilians dart every which way before the assault.) Please leave your message after Cloudpuff’s bark.
(She giggles, followed by two yips from the winged pooch and a beep. Back in Maretime Bay, Pipp sighs and stares at her phone, landing in time with Zipp.)
Pipp: No answer!
Zipp: Did you leave a message? (Pipp stashes the gadget.)
Pipp: She doesn’t know how to check her messages! We have—
Hitch: (racing to them) We have to warn Zephyr Heights!
Zipp: We’re on it!
(Before she and Pipp can so much as shift a hoof, a distant squeal of tires cuts in, followed by a crash and a horn honking out the first five notes of the My Little Pony theme/jingle.)
Zipp: Izzy?
(Sure enough, the expert crafter barrels in on her Izzy Does It scooter, wearing a starry orange crash helmet.)
Izzy: (slewing to a stop) Okay, I’ve got Bridlewood. Hitch, you’re in charge of here! (whispering urgently) You listen to me. Can you handle this as a solo Hitch mission?
Hitch: (sputtering, badly unnerved) I don’t know! Uh, I mean, uh…where are Sunny and Misty?
Zipp: They’re at the Brighthouse on the lookout. (looking skyward) At least we know the Crystals are safe.
(During this second sentence, the camera tilts up to follow her gaze, past the rooftops to frame the Pris-Beam shining upward from the Brighthouse hidden behind them. It undergoes a momentary glitch, then another in a closer shot that frames the lantern room.)
Sunny: (voice over) Oh, no, not again!
(Close-up; she races around the balcony.)
Sunny: Not now!
Misty: (circling into view, carrying Lantern in her magic, passing it to Sunny) It…it doesn’t make any sense! The ponies are frightened, but they’re still working together.
Sunny: It’s Opaline! It has to be! (Gasp.) She’s figured out a way inside!
Misty: That’s not possible! She’s not strong enough to break through the protection spell yet!
(That last word trips a lever in the brain under the streaked magenta mane, and Sunny slowly pivots to face Misty.)
Sunny: (levelly) What do you mean, “yet”?
Misty: If Opaline gets enough cutie mark magic, she’ll have enough power to break any spell— (as Sunny sets Lantern down) —and take all the magic.
Sunny: (groaning loudly) That can’t happen! We can’t let Equestria lose their cutie marks and their pony magic too! (The Pris-Beam falters.) What defense would we have then?
(Cut to a long shot of Opaline’s castle, zooming in slowly as four airborne specks approach its tallest tower. Closer shots pick them out as Spike with Sparky on his head, Blaize, Fountain, and Luxxe. The face of the youngest one betrays his clear trepidation as they close in on the structure, and Blaize latches claws onto the stones so she can peer into the windows. She scopes out the ritual chamber that Opaline used to drain Sparky’s power in “Missing the Mark”; cut to within the uninhabited space, the camera rotating to frame the flying squad, then to Blaize.)
Blaize: (softly) Looks like nopony’s home. (Sparky burbles worriedly; Spike takes note with a gasp.)
Spike: (ditto) The Dragon Stone! Do you sense it too?
Luxxe: It’s definitely inside there, but…it…it feels distant. Like she’s keeping it somewhere…below. (Close-up of her as she finishes.)
Fountain: (from o.s., wearily) Oh, no. (Cut to her.) Come on! Not a…
(A rattle of metallic lockworks interrupts; cut to a close-up of her somewhere inside the castle.)
Fountain: …dungeon!
(Longer shot: Spike is leading the group along a passage lined with barred cells.)
Fountain: (groaning) You know I hate dungeons! (to Luxxe) You know what happens to a dragon in a dungeon?
Luxxe: They chain us up?
Fountain: They chain us up! Correct! I’ve been chained up in a dungeon before, Luxxe! Have you? It’s not cool! It’s not cool at all!
Spike: (softly) Shhh! Opaline could return at any moment!
(They continue their exploration, Blaize throwing dirty looks from side to side. Cut to a close-up of the fully charged Dragon Stone, supported by a stand on a pedestal in the center of a large circular chamber. The mosaic on the floor, and the torches/candles at the walls, give it away as the one in which Opaline brought the dragons Jade and Lava to heel in “The Isle of Scaly.” The camera tracks around the pedestal just enough to frame the quintet at an entrance directly behind it.)
Spike: There! (Close-up of it, zooming in slowly; he continues o.s.) It’s just been charged. (Back to him and Blaize.)
Blaize: Oh, no. Lava and Jade. She has them! That means she must have—
Luxxe: —chained them up!
Spike: Once we retrieve the Stone, we can rescue them and set everything right.
(He crosses to the artifact and reaches for it, but a violet force field shimmers briefly into being to block his grasping claws. Its surface curves toward him.)
Spike: It’s got some kind of magic shield around the Stone.
(An aura in that same color wreathes it and whisks it away; cut to a close-up of Opaline with horn aglow. On the next words, zoom out to frame her now in the chamber, flanked by the two dragons-turned-servants. Her wings have lit up as well, and a spot of energy glows on her chest.)
Opaline: Oh, that’s where you’re wrong, Spike. (Oily chuckle; she brings the thing to herself.) I didn’t put a spell around my Dragon Stone.
(Cut to Spike and company, who all too quickly find themselves caught within a hemispherical barrier of her power.)
Opaline: (from o.s.) I put a spell around my dragons!
(Back to her on the last word, zooming out as she lets go with a full-throated laugh.)
Act Three
Fountain: (supremely fed up) Aw, come on! I told you guys! (Attempts to bash their way out ensue.)
Spike: (snarling) You can’t keep us in here forever!
Opaline: Oh, hush.
(The magic flares in her eyes; cut to the bubble as it takes hold of Spike first and then the other adults, instantly pacifying them.)
Opaline: (from o.s.) You’d be surprised how long I can keep somedragon in here. You’re mine now.
(She begins to pace the floor, not noticing Sparky huddled on Spike’s back and still in possession of his own faculties.)
Opaline: My own little scaly army. How lovely. See? I can make friends too. (scornfully, setting Dragon Stone on its stand) Friendship. Hah. They used to tell me that was magic. (Chuckle.) You know what I think is magic?
(She lifts a few feet off the floor; Sparky cowers away from the sight of her.)
Opaline: Power! (Blue fire washes out from her wings.) And soon I’ll have all of it. Dragon Stone? Right there. Cutie mark magic? Incoming. Pris-Beam? Soon enough. Together Trees? Did you see my tree upstairs? Poor little thing.
(Cut to the throne room and pivot slowly upward toward the ceiling, picking out the contorted limbs that stretch from the trunk and the multitude of cutie-marked leaves sprouting from these.)
Opaline: (voice over) I tried and tried to make it grow, but you know what feeds a Together Tree, right? Did you guess “unity”?
(Back to her.)
Opaline: That’s correct. It’s always unity. So my little tree would always just wither up and die.
(Dissolve to a flashback of her holding a filly-aged Misty in the throne room and setting her down by the woody structure.)
Opaline: (voice over) Why, even when I found it a real live friend, it wouldn’t grow.
(Dissolve to the young flunky-in-training in her bedroom. During the next line, two dissolves advance her age and add various personal possessions to the floor and walls. As for Misty; she moves from bed to floor and back, cuddling her Madame Taffytail dummy and then regarding the picture of herself and Sunny’s crew that she swiped in “The Jinxie Games.” Her mane shifts from its original blue/green coloration to its current shades during this sequence.)
Opaline: (voice over) No matter. My little fake friend brought some real unity magic back to me whether she meant to or not. (Misty shifts away from the bed, revealing a drawing of Sparky.) And all it took was one tiny spark to activate my tree.
(On these last four words, dissolve to a close-up of Sparky in the present, peeking uneasily out over Spike’s wing. The next shot frames Opaline facing away from the dragons and toward her Together Tree, having landed.)
Opaline: And once my tree woke up—well, it made friends with the tree in Maretime Bay, and another tree in Bridlewood, and then my friend Misty—do you know what she did?
(Cut to a slow pan across the Together Tree in the Zephyr Heights Palace garden. Its phantom vines are harrying Thunder and Zoom, and one has snagged Haven and is holding her aloft as Cloudpuff hurtles to her aid.)
Opaline: (voice over) She grew a brand-new one for us in Zephyr Heights.
(Haven cries out as her mark is ripped away; the dog doubles back to chase after it. On the next line, cut to a slow pan along the length of one limb in Opaline’s throne room and stop on one bare leaf, which glows brightly as the royal crown and wings are imprinted onto it.)
Opaline: (voice over) So maybe my little Misty really has been a true friend after all. (The garden tree again; the vines have grabbed two more.) Now all of the cutie marks come to me…
(Close-up of her in the here and now.)
Opaline: …one by one. Bing-bong. (floating a small pumpkin onto her upturned front hoof) But I’m saving my favorite cutie marks for last.
(It is the Golden Pumpkin that Hitch scrambled to hide in “Nightmare on Mane Street,” and is disappears in a puff of deep blue dust.)
Opaline: And once I have those…
(The cloud drifts toward her chest and, on the next line, dissipates to reveal an ornate gold necklace now clasped around her throat. Worked into its contours are five circular depressions in the rough shape of an upside-down arrow.)
Opaline: …nothing will stop me from total domination!
(Zoom in quickly to an extreme close-up of this new bauble, then out just as quickly to show her, and all of her captured dragons save Spike and Sparky hovering outside the tallest tower of the castle.)
Opaline: Then Equestria is mine!
(She flies off with an exultant laugh, Jade/Lava following and Blaize/Fountain/Luxxe hanging back to stand guard. From here, dissolve to the upper reaches of the chamber in which Opaline got the best of them and tilt down to floor level. Spike has lowered his head to the tiles, with Sparky standing on the bridge of his nose and trying in vain to get any reaction from the unseeing, bewitched eyes. He turns away with a piteous whimper.)
(Cut to Sunny and Misty in the lantern room of the Brighthouse, watching the Pris-Beam get the hiccups all over again.)
Misty: Oh, this is all my fault! I never should’ve come here! If I hadn’t helped Opaline, she never could’ve done all this!
Sunny: You can’t think like that. What were you supposed to do? (smiling, crossing to her) Stay in that creepy lair forever by yourself? (Smile fades.) Besides, I’m the one who made us all leave. We never should’ve gone to the Isle of Scaly. We should’ve stayed here and protected Equestria.
(A fresh hitch in the multicolored magic snaps her out of the self-pity party.)
Misty: But then you wouldn’t have helped the dragons find their courage again. (smiling) You’re a leader, Sunny. You always help everypony.
Sunny: (softly, bitterly) I’m not the leader. I’m just a pony. A pony who can’t ever stop stirring up trouble!
Misty: Sunny, you know that’s not— (A sudden, horrified gasp.) —she’s back! (voice trembling) Opaline’s here!
Sunny: How do you know? (Zoom in slowly on Misty.)
Misty: (raising a hoof) I can feel it in my hooves—see it in my mind.
(That awful laughter rings through her memory as she squeezes her eyes shut and the camera zooms in quickly. Fade to black, then in to the foliage of the Together Tree outside Canterlove Studios. An eerie silence accompanies a zoom out that frames Hitch facing it from several yards off; no other ponies are nearby, but a head-on shot reveals that quite a few have taken shelter behind crates, barrels, whatever they can find.)
Hitch: Everypony, keep away from the tree! This is the Sheriff’s responsibility! I won’t let any more of you be in danger!
(During this line, the view shifts to a couple of stallions gasping softly and pulling themselves out of sight behind a stack of barrels, and to a third ducking behind a crate. His “squad” promptly assembles, Kenneth cheeping out an update.)
Hitch: Kenneth! Guys! No! You can’t be here either!
(A portal opens near the trunk, and three figures hurtle through it to hover in the open air—Opaline with horn/wings lit, then Jade, and finally Lava.)
Opaline: (voice raised, as all three land) Don’t try to hide, ponies! I will find you!
Hitch: Not as long as Sheriff Hitch is around!
(Both front hooves hit the paving stones and send glowing green vines along their surface toward the interlopers. As soon as these reach Opaline, they erupt upward as actual vines that loop across her back, fastening her to the ground. However, she disintegrates them with an almost effortless snapping of wings and a contemptuous little chuckle.)
Opaline: Earth pony magic? Oh, what’ll they think of next? (The “squad” charges her.)
Hitch: Wait! Kenneth! Steven! McSnips-a-Lot!
(The camera cuts to Opaline during this line; the critters’ bum-rush catches her off guard and all four tumble back through the portal, McSnips-a-Lot hanging on by the pincer he has clamped onto her nose. This sequence exposes the large scale on Lava’s haunch—a cluster of flaming rocks. These words establish the name of Kenneth’s bareheaded counterpart for the first time.)
Hitch: No!
(The violet haze in both dragons’ eyes disappears and they cast puzzled looks around themselves.)
Hitch: (weakly) Nooo…
(And here comes the winged unicorn all over again, “squad” and all; she throws them off to scramble for safety wherever they can find it, and she gets Jade and Lava back under her influence as soon as she hits the deck. Jade’s scale can now be seen as a cluster of gems. Two throats project two jets of fire skyward, an infernal counterpoint for the magical vines now snaking up from the tree’s roots. Opaline looks this way and that, her smirk giving way to mild bewilderment—not a pony in sight from here to the town square. Hitch has thrown himself behind a makeshift barricade and is shuddering mightily; he risks a glance over its top edge toward the three.)
Opaline: (singsong, pacing) Come out, come out, wherever you are!
Hitch: (to himself) Not in my town.
(A green-glowing front hoof makes contact with the street and sends up a vine that lashes toward her from behind; she is caught around her midsection and yanked off her hooves with a shout. This assault is neutralized as easily as the last one, and she laughs out her mockery while hovering.)
Opaline: Your weeds are no match for a fire alicorn! (A rattle from o.s. snaps her out of her reverie.) Huh?
(Cut to the source of the disturbance—a few apples falling out of a full barrel, caused by a shift in position of the first two stallions who were trying to hide. She locks eyes with them.)
Opaline: Well… (Cut to them; she continues o.s.) …look at that!
(Zoom in quickly to an extreme close-up of one cutie mark—an ice cream bar on a stick—and cut back to her on the next words.)
Opaline: And I thought I’d collected all of the other cutie marks. (She sends two vines from the three toward the pair.)
Hitch: Not today!
(A seemingly impossible leap brings him squarely into their path, and he is ensnared and dragged away.)
Hitch: Run! Get outta here! (The stallions bolt.)
Opaline: AFTER THEM!! (Jade and Lava lift off to give chase.)
Hitch: No!
(While he struggles to break the hold, the camera zooms in to a close-up of his cutie mark, which begins to glow.)
Opaline: (from o.s.) There it is. (Cut to her.) Ripe for the plucking!
(He manages to clap both front hooves onto stone and conjure two thick vines.)
Hitch: (straining on every word) Not in my town!
(His growths wrest him free of hers, leaving him free to charge at her; she counters by creating a ring of magic and projecting it toward him. The construct scores a direct hit; he and his hat go flying in different directions, and he crashes down to find himself hogtied. Even so, he is still able to channel magic into all four hooves and touch ground, allowing him to grow two more vines. Opaline has to do some fancy dodging and weaving in midair to stay ahead of them, but she successfully burns them away with a ringing laugh of triumph.)
(Cut to the balcony outside the lantern room of the Brighthouse, where Sunny and Misty are watching the free-for-all in terror.)
Misty: She’s got Hitch!
Sunny: We have to help him!
(They hustle inside, where the Pris-Beam is still on the fritz, but Misty’s fear stops her cold at the doorway.)
Misty: (dropping to haunches) Sunny! I…I can’t!
Sunny: Misty, we have to!
Misty: I don’t think I can face her.
Sunny: (gently) You don’t have to. Stay here. Somepony needs to protect the Unity Crystals.
(Down on Mane Street, Hitch wrenches his body this way and that but cannot get any slack in the bindings Opaline has slapped onto him. She lands before him with a savage little grin and pours power into her horn; the glow that had suffused his mark before is now replaced by the unwholesome glare of her magic. A final flash, and the horseshoe-emblazoned shield and its two hearts have been separated from his haunch and caught in a bubble. He can only watch in mute horror as she floats it up to her eye level.)
Hitch: (weakly) Not…in my…town…
(The band dissipates, freeing his legs to flop down; up in the lantern room, Sunny and Misty see one portion of the beam go dark.)
Sunny, Misty: Hitch!
(Opaline laughs exultantly, shifting the mark to float above a front hoof as one of her vines swipes the ice-cream bar mark seen earlier. Jade and Lava fly across the open space and land on either side of her, adding their roars to her jubilation, and the camera tilts up to frame the dark, threatening storm clouds that have begun to gather. The laughter is heard in Bridlewood, where Izzy has arrived to deliver the warning; she and Alphabittle Blossomforth look to the sky, in which bursts of sick yellow light are now flashing among the ominous cloud cover.)
Izzy: Hitch!
(The same terrible weather conditions and light show are playing out in Zephyr Heights, Pipp and Zipp having gathered with Haven and Cloudpuff.)
Pipp: (horrified) No! (All three stare at the clouds.)
Zipp: Hitch…
(The effect has now spread to Maretime Bay; tilt down to frame Jade and Lava standing at attention on Mane Street.)
Jade: (as she and Lava bow) Now, Mistress Opaline, all of the cutie mark magic in Equestria is yours.
Opaline: Not quite.
(Zoom in on her necklace as Hitch’s mark floats toward it. Upon making contact with the circular depression at the point of the downward-oriented arrowhead, it becomes a miniature yellow copy of the image that fills the space. Extreme close-up of this, zooming out slowly.)
Opaline: (from o.s.) Four little ponies to go.
(Thunder rumbles in time with a yellow flash from above. Snap to black.)
ROOTS OF ALL EVIL—PART TWO
Written by Gillian Berrow, Tony Fleecs
Executive producers: Olivier Dumont, Randi Yaffa, Cort Lane
Story editing by Gillian Berrow
Supervising direction by Will Lau
Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)
Prologue
(Opening shot: a slow tilt up the height of the Crystal Brighthouse, seen in a long shot under a blanket of ominous dark clouds. The horizon is lost behind a thick fog bank. The gap in the structure’s Pris-Beam—triggered by Opaline Arcana’s theft of Hitch Trailblazer’s cutie mark at the end of Part One—stands out sharply against the remaining vibrant colors. Cut to a panicked Sunny Starscout and Misty in the lantern room, the Hope Lantern resting on the floor.)
Sunny: Hitch! No! (Misty gasps sharply, eyes widening.)
Misty: Opaline! She’s here!
Sunny: (picking up Lantern) We have to protect the Crystals. (The Unity Crystals, that is.)
Misty: (as both move toward the balcony) No! I think she’s here for our cutie marks!
(Three flying figures emerge from the clouds, resolving into Opaline and a hypnotized Jade and Lava; Sunny sets the Lantern down.)
Misty: Sunny, I don’t know if I can face her.
(The intruders land on the front walk with enough force to shake the entire hill, Opaline with horn blazing and wings aglow. As she laughs richly, the two dragons lift off again and are soon circling at balcony level. Opaline’s chest is marked by both the spot of light previously seen there and the gold necklace she created in Part One, the latter carrying Hitch’s mark.)
Sunny: Lava and Jade!
(They exhale streams of fire as one, only to see them stopped by an invisible force field whose presence is marked by a rainbow gleam playing across its surface.)
Sunny: If they get through Twilight’s protection spell—
Opaline: (rising into view) —there’s no place left to hide! Once I have you and your friends’ cutie mark magic, nopony in Equestria will be able to stop me.
(Cut briefly to/from a defiant Sunny and a scared-silly Misty on this line; she finishes with a lazy, cackling drift toward the Brighthouse, but is also brought up short. This time, the barrier manifests both the rainbow and a giant copy of Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark for a moment. Opaline snarls in frustration, her necklace falling off to clatter on the stones below. Cut to Misty peeking downward through the windows, her eyes widening, then back to Opaline on the start of the following.)
Opaline: That spell can’t protect you forever! Dragons, light it up!
(Her mad cackle splits the air as the flames surge toward the camera, Twilight’s mark again flaring on the shield to block them. Fade to white, then snap to black.)
OPENING THEME
Act One
(Cut from the title card directly to a long shot of the Brighthouse. The onslaught continues, the shield’s presence marked by rainbows and the familiar pink/white stars. Zoom in slowly.)
Opaline: More! MORE!
Sunny: The dragon fire is so strong, I don’t think the spell is gonna hold much longer! Misty, I need you to promise me, if I can’t stop her, you have to take the Unity Crystals and—
(She cuts herself off with a gasp upon realizing that the blue unicorn has cleared out. Opaline’s laugh echoes through the space.)
Sunny: M-Misty?
Opaline: (to Jade/Lava) Don’t stop until you break through!
(She has failed to notice the loss of her necklace, and a magical aura envelops it and slowly lifts it away from where it has fallen.)
Misty: (from o.s.) HEY! OPALINE! (Opaline glares downward; cut to Misty, now wearing the jewelry.) Is this necklace new? It’s pretty!
(Back to the big boss on this last; only now do the facts sink in, and she gasps in shock.)
Opaline: Misty?
(Ground level; Misty giggles and bolts down the hill.)
Opaline: (from o.s.) MISTY!! (Back to her; she addresses Jade/Lava.) AFTER HER!!
(All three dive for ground level, where Misty is now pelting through the community garden in a desperate search for any cover she can find. She darts out of sight an instant before Opaline lands in the middle of the plot.)
Opaline: You little thief! Give it back! (The dragons conduct aerial surveillance.)
Voice of Misty: Wasn’t it you who taught me how to steal, Opaline?
Opaline: (pacing) Quit hiding! Show yourself!
Voice of Misty: (as a bush shakes in time) Awww, but I thought you liked it when I was sneaky.
(Opaline zeroes in on the source and pounces toward it.)
Opaline: Gotcha!
(But she uncovers nothing more than a wayward rabbit.)
Voice of Misty: So… (It squeaks and scampers away; cut to her, behind some barrels and not wearing the necklace, as she continues.) …I guess now’s a good time to tell you that I’ve been sneaking around behind your back? (Back to Opaline.)
Opaline: (floored) You what?!? (She begins to move.)
Voice of Misty: I’m not on your side anymore, Opaline!
(By this point, the camera has shifted to the winged unicorn’s perspective, sweeping across the garden and locking in on a single shaking barrel.)
Opaline: Aha! (Zoom in quickly on this, then cut back to her; Jade/Lava close in at her gesture.)
Voice of Misty: I’ve got friends now! Real friends!
(Two blasts of fire torch the barrels, blowing them to scrap and scattering their contents all over the garden. The smoke slowly clears to reveal not Misty, but one of Zipp Storm’s drones—hovering in place with the necklace tied to it as a decoy. A supremely annoyed growl is heard from the o.s. Opaline before the camera cuts to Misty, hunkered down behind a different stack. She has been using a cell phone to steer the machine.)
Misty: And you can’t take that away!
(A snarl, a sizzling burst from the horn, and Opaline has cut the tow rope. The drone bounces uselessly across the dirt as she levitates the necklace back to its intended position at her throat. Misty risks a look, then gasps and ducks away in close-up, having put the phone away. The camera cuts between Opaline and her on the next line, Jade and Lava descending to hover on either side of their mistress.)
Opaline: Little traitor. I’ll show her. (hovering) Once I have the last of the cutie mark magic, I’ll come back here and show everypony!
(Once she and the dragons have lifted off to take flight, Misty abandons her refuge and barges out through the garden gates.)
Sunny: MISTY!! (Opaline and company flash along Mane Street.)
Opaline: To Zephyr Heights!
(All three hurtle through a portal she has opened at the base of the Together Tree standing near Canterlove Studios. Misty has made it to the area as well, narrowing her eyes, she voices a resolute little grunt and gallops in after them, the portal snapping shut afterward. Cut to a long shot of Zephyr Heights Palace under a foreboding sky of its own, zooming in slowly, then to the throne room or Grand Hall. A very nervous Thunder and Zoom are on duty before the dais, and a few equally jittery locals have gathered as well.)
Zipp: (from o.s.) Everypony! (She and Pipp Petals come in for a landing.) We know this is scary!
Pipp: But we’re going to be okay!
Zipp: No matter what happens, we’re Zephyr Heights. And Zephyr Heights never—
Opaline: (from o.s.) —never had a chance.
(Those four words throw a king-size monkey wrench into each sister’s brain; on their end, cut to Opaline, Jade, and Lava touching down on the gold/marble floor. There follows a screaming panic, with pegasi scrambling for whatever cover they can get.)
Opaline: Are you ready to surrender?
Zipp: (small voice) Uh-oh.
(Thunder and Zoom snap into position in front of her and Pipp, wings fully extended and ready to throw down. Pipp voices a quiet little shudder, green eyes flicking toward the crown and notes on her haunch—and then a calculating smile works its way onto the pink face.)
Pipp: I’ve got an idea! (She rises to a hover.) Hey, Opaline! You want our cutie marks? You can have them! (Zipp joins her, properly bewildered.) But if you want to capture the most potent cutie mark magic, you should let my sister and I sing you a song.
Zipp: What?!
Opaline: (incredulously) Oh, come on. A song?
Pipp: That’s when our sparkle shines the brightest!
(As she does a quick bit of vocalization, Opaline gasps upon seeing her mark flare in a burst of sparks.)
Opaline: So sing.
Pipp: (laughing) Not here! This room has terrible acoustics!
(She gets support for her assessment in the form of her words echoing back and forth through the immense space. Close-up of a rather irritated Opaline, whose mood is not helped by an airy giggle from the o.s. Pipp, then back to the sisters. Zipp’s is trying and failing to ease the tension with a grin of her own.)
Pipp: Awful, huh? Okay, follow me!
(She flies away past Opaline. Cut to the transit station or hangar that figured in A New Generation and “Father of the Bridlewood,” the camera angled up at the stained-glass windows set into the far end wall. To the sound of Pipp doing some vocal warm-ups, the camera tilts down to frame her, Zipp, and the three intruders. Pipp is the only airborne one of the five.)
Zipp: (to her, behind a wing) You do have a plan, right? Are you gonna let me in on it, or—
(Younger sister carries on, throwing the barest of nods to the perplexed elder.)
Opaline: (growling, spreading wings) Hurry up! It isn’t wise to test a fire alicorn’s patience!
(As she finishes, cut to Pipp now fiddling with her phone.)
Opaline: (from o.s.) Or we’ll just skip the song and dance and—
(A tap at its screen, and the view fades to white and in to her rising toward the uppermost portion of the windows. Opaline’s rant yields to a soft gasp.)
Quiet, echoing synthesizer line, fast 4 (D flat major)
Percussion in once Pipp begins to sing
Pipp: Hey, ponies, listen to me
You gotta hear what I’m saying
(Zipp starts to groove a bit as Pipp swoops down and pulls her into the air.)
You’ve got the sparkle deep inside
You’ve got a talent worth displayi-ing
Sometimes it feels a little hopeless
But things aren’t always what they seem
(Smiling, they twirl together upward and then separate to loop past a puzzled Opaline.)
Can you feel it, the energy?
Yeah, the power is growing
E flat major
Background lyrics in square brackets
(Pipp angles away from the windows and Zipp, coming briefly to rest near a curtain hung on a side wall. A flick of one wing toward this item causes Zipp to smile in response—she is slowly tuning in to whatever her sister has in mind.)
Pipp: Don’t look now, things are getting better
So hold my hoof, ’cause we’re growing together
(Pipp hovers by the windows, her mark blazing up…)
We’ve got the strength to take on whatever
’Cause we’ve got the magic, we’ve got the magic in us
(…while Zipp works on undoing one of the ropes holding the curtain up.)
[Don’t look now]
(Pipp descends to the floor as Zipp gets the mass of cloth free and hurls it, blacking out the screen for an instant. It settles over Opaline and the dragons, Pipp and Zipp getting clear just in time to avoid becoming entangled themselves.)
We’ve got the magic, we’ve got the magic in us
Song ends
(A moment later, they have grabbed up the rope and taken a couple of turns around the bulky, squirming bundle.)
Zipp: We did it! (They trade a double high five.) Let’s go and—
(Their celebration is abruptly curtailed by a mare’s snarl from floor level and an eruption of blue fire that burns away enough of the curtain for Opaline to emerge. Pipp and Zipp pivot to bail out, but each sister gets a magical binding clapped onto all four hooves; they hit the floor with all the artistry of two overstuffed sandbags.)
Opaline: (stepping toward them) I must admit, you two put on a pretty good show. But you forgot the first rule of performing. (They stare helplessly up at her.) Never turn your back on the audience.
Zipp: Please!
(Pale violet magic suffuses Opaline’s eyes and plucks the marks off the white and pink haunches.)
Pipp: No!
(The bubbled images float across to the purple thief and snap into the two openings that form the side barbs of the downward-arrow configuration on the necklace. Zipp’s mark appears in red to screen left, Pipp’s in pink to screen right. Cut to them, the bonds vanishing, then back to Opaline on the start of the next line; her eyes are back to normal.)
Opaline: Not so confident or courageous now, are we, Princesses?
(She lifts off. In the lantern room of the Brighthouse, Sunny boggles at the fading out of another portion in the Pris-Beam.)
Sunny: Oh, no! (The station; Pipp/Zipp stand up.)
Pipp: (stomping) You’ll never get away with this! (Opaline pulls the curtain off Jade and Lava.)
Opaline: I’ve heard that one before.
(All three wing their way out through the central opening in the stained-glass windows, missing the royal siblings’ heads by an uncomfortably close margin. Opaline turns to face them.)
Opaline: Maybe try a different tune next time.
(She and the dragons take their leave, her malevolent laugh hanging in the air as the camera slowly zooms out from the defeated, despondent Pipp and Zipp. In the palace garden, a portal opens at the base of its Together Tree and Opaline and the dragons come in for a landing. Head-on view as they touch down on the grass.)
Opaline: To Bridlewood!
Voice of Misty: (icily) Get away from my tree!
(The camera tracks around Opaline to pick out the former flunky standing a few yards behind.)
Opaline: (turning to her) Your tree?
Misty: I won’t let you do this to me, or my friends! (The two move to face each other point-blank.)
Opaline: Your friends?
Misty: They showed me what it means to care about somepony.
Opaline: (glancing past Misty) Huh?
(Close-up of the blue haunch and its vividly colored butterfly, zooming in quickly to a gasp from the o.s. Opaline, then back to her.)
Opaline: (snarling) There’s so much you’ve been hiding from me. (pacing around Misty) Your tree, your friends—and your cutie mark! (She flicks it with a contemptuous wing.) And all this time, I thought we were friends!
Misty: No! We weren’t! (more gently; zoom in slowly and cut between the two as she continues) It’s so sad. You’ve got all the power in Equestria, and you still haven’t ever felt true friendship. (Opaline pops up to a hover.)
Opaline: Ha! I have friends! (Jade and Lava growl softly at Misty.)
Misty: You have to force others to pretend to be your friends! (Cut briefly to a glowering Opaline on this last, then back.) Like me! That’s control!
Opaline: (dropping to face her) You ungrateful little pony!
Misty: You were by yourself for so many moons, all alone. I actually feel really sorry for you.
Opaline: (mockingly, rolling eyes) Wow, Misty, all grown up. (rising) So empathetic, so kind.
(The sap yields to an enraged snarl and a spell that leaves Misty’s hooves tied; she gasps in fright as it hoists her up to Opaline. The deep blue eyes go violet with magic and the butterfly lights up; close-up of this as it is pulled free and toward Opaline.)
Opaline: (from o.s.) I always told you. (Cut to frame both, her eyes normal again.) If you want your cutie mark, you have to do what I say. You used to be a good and loyal helper. (To/from Misty as she continues.) You can do that again, hmmm?
Misty: You didn’t give me my cutie mark, Opaline. (Cut to Opaline and back as she continues.) I earned it by helping my friends—and that’s something else you can’t take away from me!
Opaline: Is that so?
(The purloined image drifts down toward her necklace and attaches itself as a light blue copy, the point below Hitch’s mark forming a sixth circular indentation to hold it. In close-up, Misty voices a stunned gasp that turns into a squawk once Opaline frees her hooves and drops her unceremoniously to the turf. Back to the hovering mare on the next line.)
Opaline: I can take whatever I want! (waving) Ta-ta.
(She flies through the portal, Jade and Lava close behind, and it snaps shut; zoom out slowly from the heartbroken unicorn.)
Act Two
(In Bridlewood, the terrible trio arrives via portal in the trunk of the Wishing Tree, which closes behind them. Not another living creature is present in either the clearing or the forest beyond its edge.)
Opaline: (tauntingly) It’s almost as if nopony wants to see us. (They advance slowly across the hardpan.) Come on out, little ponies!
(The silence is broken by a single hyphenated word—“bing-bong”—softly and eerily repeated over and over, by multiple voices in both genders and a wide range of ages, pitches, and cadences. Opaline and the dragons continue their wary approach as mist begins to shroud the ground; she spots the dimly lit figure of Izzy Moonbow in the hazy distance, facing away from her and into the trees.)
Voice of Izzy: Bing…
(She trails off into a stutter before the camera cuts to a close-up, framing “her”—now seen to be a dummy—from behind. It cocks its head on the next word.)
Voice of Izzy: …bong!
Opaline: (unimpressed) Is this how you’re going to do this, unicorn? All creepy-like?
(She flaps toward the creation, approaching its hindquarters.)
Opaline: Is that what your sparkle comes from? Spookiness?
(A shove causes it to pivot on a hidden mount as the light comes up fully—Señor Butterscotch, given a color overhaul to match its builder.)
Opaline: Huh?
Voice of Izzy: Noooo… (Opaline growls.) …let’s jam!
(Something large and heavy is propelled out of the bushes in her aura; Opaline has only time for one popeyed gasp before it scores a direct hit and plows her away. Once the magic fades, the projectile is revealed as a bathtub full of red paint, which traps her underneath when it thumps upside-down onto the ground. She gets upright with a growl and hurls it aside, showing the vivid gunk splattered all over her body.)
Opaline: YUCK! (Various small art supplies are thrown her way, causing her to cry out.)
Izzy: (from o.s.) My sparkle…
(Now she can be seen standing on a boulder a few yards uphill, no longer wearing the starry orange crash helmet that she sported before wheeling out to Bridlewood in Part One.)
Izzy: …comes… (Zoom in quickly.) …from creativity! (producing/throwing a bucket of glitter) And glitter!
(One yell from the winged unicorn latter, the container has clanged down on target and is dangling from her horn, its contents spilling over her.)
Izzy: (pumping a hoof) Yes!
(Opaline snarls to herself as the half-crazed crafter makes a laughing, somersaulting escape into the undergrowth.)
Opaline: (to Jade/Lava, flipping bucket off head) CATCH THAT UNICORN!!
(The dragons have barely lifted off before they find themselves being pelted with all manner of fresh fruit, hurled by every unicorn who can find any way to get it into the air. A few winged critters even take part in a bombing run, and two unicorns gallop through the clearing with opposite ends of a stout rope in their mouths. The effect of this last maneuver is to sweep the legs of Jade and Lava out from under them and dump them flat.)
Izzy: (from o.s.) Yeah!
(Having had quite enough of all this silliness, Opaline utters a loud groan and lets a wave of fire wash over herself to burn away all the mess on her. Now, though, she is promptly hit by a barrage of thrown yarn balls, and a tennis ball mixed in with them impales itself on her horn. On the next line, cut to Izzy, who has returned to her boulder and is slinging these objects with her magic.)
Izzy: We could be using all this yarn to knit cool stuff if you weren’t such a big mean jerk!
Opaline: (under previous line) Huh?
(After taking a few more hits, she flares her wings to full extension and projects a flaming wave to repel the bombardment.)
Opaline: ENOUGH!!
(Voicing a savage yell, she throws out a hex that ties Izzy’s hooves together in close-up and drags her off the hill.)
Opaline: (now o.s.) I don’t have time for arts and crafts!
(She steps into view on this last word.)
Opaline: Now give me what I came here for!
(As she finishes, her eyes flare violet and the camera cuts to an extreme close-up of Izzy’s mark—whose colors are a bit off and whose central button is missing. The magic encapsulates it and lifts it away in time with its owner’s whimpering.)
Izzy: NOOOOOO!!
(Opaline’s eyes return to normal as the surrounding bubble fades away to leave an actual physical cop of the mark floating above her hoof, button and all.)
Opaline: (flabbergasted) What—what is this?!?
(Extreme close-up of the item during this line, then cut to a smiling Izzy.)
Izzy: Felt, hot glue, and a really big button.
(She is whirled in midair to give Opaline a clear view of her haunch and the real mark still affixed to it; now exposed due to the ersatz one having been peeled off. Opaline vents her frustration as a loud growl while Izzy kicks her horn into gear; in response, the first five notes of the My Little Pony theme/jingle are heard being honked out on a horn. Opaline barely has time for one bewildered look around herself before the source comes flying out of the trees and straight at her head—the unicorn’s Izzy Does It scooter, gripped in her aura. Screaming in terror, Opaline dives aside at the last possible moment and lets her spell dissipate, freeing Izzy to land neatly in the driver’s seat and let her crash helmet drop onto her head.)
Izzy: There’s always time for arts and crafts!
(She hits the gas, but is forced to slam on the brakes with a scream when Jade and Lava land dead ahead. A madly cackling Opaline descends from above to cut off any retreat, and Izzy gets her hooves bound all over again the instant she tries to make a break for it.)
Opaline: If you insist!
(A burst of violet energy across the deep blue pupils is all it takes to relieve Izzy of her real mark; the latter voices a gasp and shaky moan, but can only watch as it is plugged into the topmost aperture on Opaline’s necklace. In the lantern room of the Brighthouse, Sunny gasps to see another portion of the Crystals’ power wink out, leaving only one band of the Pris-Beam still up and running.)
Sunny: (hefting Lantern; it too is nearly out) I’m the only one left.
(The Crystals float within the badly depleted spectrum. Cut to a closed set of doors within Zephyr Heights Palace, which are thrown open from behind to expose a freaked-out Pipp and Zipp.)
Pipp, Zipp: Misty!
(Zoom out quickly. They have arrived in the garden, where a dispirited Misty sits with head bowed.)
Misty: (standing) She took my cutie mark.
Pipp: She took everypony’s.
Misty: What are we gonna do without them? (The sisters smile gently.)
Zipp: Cutie marks aren’t the only thing that makes us special.
Pipp: And nopony can take away what makes us special on the inside.
Zipp: You said that.
(So she did—or words to that effect, in Part One, Act Two.)
Misty: But I just feel so helpless.
(Pipp puts a comforting hoof to her shoulder before the now-closed doors are thrown open again to mark the arrival of Dazzle Feather, Skye Silver, Thunder, and Zoom.)
Zipp: H-Hey! Get away from the tree! You’ll make Opaline stronger!
(Pipp, meanwhile, turns her attention to some of the glimmering blooms nestled among the diseased purple foliage of the Together Tree.)
Pipp: Zipp, are you sure about that?
Zipp: Of course I’m sure! (pulling out her FlyPad) We know that the trees are connected!
(Close-up of the screen as she finishes; it displays the skylight photo she showed to the group in Part One—tree, with Crystals tucked in among roots that are connected to six pony figures. Zoom in slowly.)
Zipp: (from o.s.) And then the roots— (To Pipp, thinking very carefully.) —they’re leaching the power from the ponies!
Pipp: (smiling) I think we might have it backwards.
(The screen again; she taps a spot to bring up an extreme close-up of one pony and shifts to others—each one smiling.)
Pipp: (from o.s.) Do those ponies look like they’re losing their powers? No! (Zoom in on the last one.) They look happy! (Both sisters again.)
Zipp: (catching on) Like their happiness is what gives the trees their power?
Misty: Their friendship!
(As she continues, tilt slowly up along the Together Tree’s height to put her o.s., then cut back to the group.)
Misty: This tree right here—it grew out of the true friendship you ponies showed me on the day of the Cutie Blossom Bash!
Pipp: And the tree in Maretime Bay! It grew when all of us worked together!
(The lower portion of the FlyPad screen, zooming in slowly and shifting to the golden light at the center of the trunk.)
Zipp: (from o.s.) The ponies’ unity powers the trees! (Back to her.) We have to tell Sunny before it’s too late!
Misty: There’s no way we can get there faster than Opaline! How are we gonna tell her? (Pause.)
Pipp: (pulling out her phone) We could just call.
Misty: (laughing, chagrined) Oh. Right.
(Close-up of Pipp’s face on the screen. A smaller viewing window pops up in the top right corner, showing Hitch.)
Hitch: Hello? Hello? (The “squad” joins him; Izzy appears at bottom right, her helmet gone.)
Izzy: Hey-y’ello! (Sunny appears below these two, all three windows shrinking to fill the right edge.)
Sunny: Pipp!
(Respective locations: his office, Bridlewood, the lantern room of the Brighthouse. Cut to the orange mare.)
Sunny: Are you all okay? (Pipp’s image fills her phone screen.)
Pipp: (giddily) I sang a song to distract Opaline and it almost worked! (Zipp muscles her way in and takes it.)
Zipp: We have a new plan. Instead of staying away from the trees, we need everypony in Equestria to join together at them.
(This last sentence is marked by a cut to her, Pipp, and Misty, then a slow tilt up the height of the Together Tree that puts them o.s. Back to the three once she finishes.)
Misty: (pulling the phone toward herself) We might not have cutie mark magic anymore, but Opaline can’t take our friendships. (Zipp pulls it back.)
Pipp: And that’s true pony magic.
(Cut to Sunny’s screen on this last; she smiles warmly in the main image, with windows for Hitch, Izzy, and these three down the right edge. The view then shifts to a head-on shot of her.)
Sunny: Zipp, I trust your instincts. (Close-up of the Lantern; she continues o.s. and grabs it.) Hitch…
(Cut to him at his desk, “squad” gathered into his forelegs and with phone propped against his stapler.)
Voice of Sunny: …gather the Maretime Bay ponies. (He salutes; back to her, trotting onto the lift platform.) Zipp, Pipp, and Misty, you round up Zephyr Heights.
(Cut to them on this last, trading confident smiles/nods, then back to her descending the lift.)
Sunny: Izzy… (The unicorn sits with phone propped against a jutting crystal.)
Izzy: (standing, hopping in place) Bridlewood ponies to the Wishing Tree. On it! (Sunny reaches the shared bedroom, the shaft doors sliding open.)
Sunny: I know you ponies can do it.
(A quick survey of the area discloses the ruby locket she was given in “Mane Smelody” lying on the nightstand by her bed.)
Sunny: (firmly) I’m going to Opaline— (Her phone screen.) —alone. (Great consternation from the others; next three lines overlap.)
Hitch: What?!?
Pipp: It’s too dangerous!
Misty: No! (Cut to Sunny, now smiling.)
Sunny: Nopony is alone who has friends. I’ll be okay— (raising a front hoof, touching it to her chest) —hoof to heart. (The screen again.)
Others: (copying gesture) Hoof to heart.
(The phone is lowered to frame the jewelry; a moment later the front doors fly open and she gallops out, locket around neck and one foreleg crooked around the Lantern. One nimble leap is all she needs to conjure up her magic horn and wings and take to the air, her saddlebag disappearing.)
(Cut to the upper reaches of the throne room in Opaline’s castle and tilt down slowly along the height of the Together Tree growing through it and the plethora of cutie-marked leaves on the branches.)
Opaline: (voice over) The time has come!
(Dissolve to an overhead shot of her, Jade, and Lava in the circular chamber where she bested the dragons in Part One. Spike sits immobile within the force field she cast around him. The tilt down continues in time with her next words; she stands before the Dragon Stone on its central pedestal.)
Opaline: I have nearly all of the magic in Equestria! (Close-up; she laughs wildly and paces around it.) And once I take down Sunny Starscout, I’ll have the last of the cutie mark magic and the Unity Crystals at once!
(Close-up of Spike’s expressionless face, her laughter heard from o.s., then of Sparky Sparkeroni huddled under one of his broad wings and cooing worriedly. Opaline glances off to one side, toward the sound of an opening door; pan quickly to a boiling-mad Sunny, who has just arrived and pulled into a hover. She is no longer carrying the Lantern.)
Sunny: Opaline!
Opaline: And here she is now, right on schedule.
(She uses the British pronunciation for this last word, with an “sh” sound in the first syllable rather than “sk” as an American would say it. Cut briefly to/from the glowering orange mare on this line, surprise registering on her face as she takes in Spike’s predicament, and zoom in briefly on the two captive dragons. Sunny’s soft gasp is met by a sly giggle from Sparky.)
Sunny: (to Opaline) You have to stop this!
Opaline: (laughing mockingly) Stop this?
(With a grunt of exertion, she fires off a spell to bind Sunny’s hooves and pull her to the floor. The latter throws back a snarl.)
Opaline: (crossing to her) It’s already over! (spreading wings) I have all the magic in Equestria— (circling to eye Sunny’s cutie mark) —except this little bit right here.
Sunny: You don’t have to do this. And you don’t have to be alone. We can all live in unity.
Opaline: (pacing) Oh, I’m not alone. You’re here. And you’re just like me. You want power too. It’s what all alicorns want.
Sunny: (scoffing) You don’t know anything about me.
Opaline: Oh, don’t I? You don’t study magic and collect powerful artifacts? You don’t keep the Unity Crystals in your lair, locked away behind a magic spell? I’ve watched you.
(Cut briefly to/from Sunny on this last; she gasps softly as the accuracy of these words strikes home.)
Opaline: You reawakened all the magic in Equestria— (raising Sunny’s chin) —and look at you! (rising to a hover) You got more of it than any of your friends!
Sunny: That’s not what I wanted! (Cut to a whimpering Sparky and back as she continues.) I just want to protect my friends and understand magic! (To Opaline on this last word.)
Opaline: (chuckling softly) You seek knowledge. I see. (She drops closer to Sunny’s level.) And tell me, little pony, what is knowledge? (Horn ignites.) It’s power!
(With a savage growl, Sunny gets her own magic in gear to burst the hogtie. Opaline responds with a sustained blast, but Sunny counters with a shield around herself. The stalemate continues for some moments before both mares let up, but Opaline almost immediately goes on the offensive with shot after shot. Her deranged laughter hangs in the air as Sunny dodges each one and goes airborne to put up a new barrier. The deadlock resumes.)
Sunny: I’m not like you!
(She and Opaline cut their magic and engage in a lively dogfight, the former dodging or blocking everything the latter throws at her. Down below, Sparky retreats fearfully into the shelter of Spike’s wing. After a string of misses, Opaline snags all of Sunny’s hooves in a new hex and reels her up with a derisive laugh. Cut to Sparky, who leaves his refuge and begins to clamber up one violet leg.)
Opaline: (from o.s.) Fine! (Back to her and Sunny.) If you really don’t care about power, then watch me take it all! (Her eyes flare violet.)
Sunny: No!
(Close-up of her mark as the spell tears it away to the tune of her anguished cry, then cut to frame both again.)
Sunny: Please! (grunting) No!
(Her horn/wings and Opaline’s binding disintegrate at the same time, sending her into a screaming plummet. She hits the floor in a hard belly flop, her locket jarred away and clinking to the tiles, and struggles to raise herself even a fraction. Her saddlebag is back on. Meanwhile, Sparky has made it all the way to the bridge of Spike’s nose and nuzzles it sadly, finding himself at a loss as to how to snap the Dragon Lord out of his stupor. Opaline’s triumphant cackle rains down from above.)
Opaline: Now I’ve got the full set!
(Close-up of her necklace on these words, the mark snapping into place to fill the one empty spot directly below Izzy’s, then cut to frame all of her again.)
Opaline: I win!
(A blinding white light kindles in the bauble for a moment and subsides; now each flap of the purple wings leaves tongues of multicolored pastel flame.)
Opaline: I am the fire alicorn! I AM POWER!!
(Cut briefly to/from Sparky and Spike on this last pronouncement, then back to them after she has finished. A fresh gale of mad laughter drifts down from her as Sparky’s horns begin to glow, answered by the green spines on Spike’s head, and in extreme close-up one violet-hazed eye blinks back to its natural green. Spike comes the rest of the way back in short order, the light fading from his spines and Sparky’s horns, and the camera zooms out on the next line to frame Sunny and Opaline.)
Opaline: And nothing can stop me from taking your precious Unity Crystals either!
(Close-up of a furiously snarling Sunny on these words, then of the two apprehensive dragons.)
Opaline: (laughing) I’ll shut down every protection spell in Equestria!
(A wave of power surges outward from her horn, forcing Sunny to shield her face behind a foreleg and obliterating the force field that has penned in Sparky and Spike. It spreads over the countryside in short order, knocking out the shield around the Brighthouse and shaking the entire structure. Up in the lantern room, the Crystals come apart into their three component pieces and clatter onto the lift platform as just so much inert mineral matter, the very last of the Pris-Beam having winked out. Cut to Opaline and zoom in slowly.)
Opaline: AND I’LL RULE OVER YOU LITTLE POWERLESS PONIES FOR ALL ETERNITY!!
Act Three
(Her laughter rebounds throughout the chamber and is heard as far as Maretime Bay, where ponies are slowly, cautiously gathering around the Together Tree outside Canterlove Studios as lightning cracks across the sky. Among them is Seashell, who aims an uncertain glance up toward the corrupted branches, smiles, and starts to tap out a slow beat against the concrete curb built up around the roots.)
Same melody/key as Pipp’s Act One song, but played on piano/strings only
Slower tempo, half-time feel
All previous singers continue as each new one joins in
Seashell: Hey, ponies, listen to me
You gotta hear what I’m saying
You’ve got the sparkle deep inside
You’ve got a talent worth displayi-ing
Hitch, Glory, Peach Fizz: We just need a little hope
(Izzy and other unicorns gather around the Wishing Tree in Bridlewood.)
Izzy: We just need a little unity
Unicorns: We just need to find the ma-agic
(In the Zephyr Heights Palace garden, Pipp, Zipp, Haven, and Misty smile at the Together Tree as Thunder and Zoom hang back.)
That’s inside of everypony
Vocal harmonies behind lyrics
These six: Sometimes it feels a little hopeless
But things aren’t always what they seem
(Wings are slowly unfurled and suffused with golden light, which streams into the trunk; Misty’s contribution is a pinkish rivulet from her horn.)
Can you feel it, the energy?
Yeah, the power is growing
Harmonies out
(In Opaline’s castle, Sunny heaves up from the tiles to face her.)
Sunny: You can take my cutie mark— (Zoom in slowly.) —but you can’t take what makes me…me.
Opaline: (bored) Uh-huh?
Sunny: (crossing to her) Hope. Hope for a better future, for all ponies to make their mark. (Cut to/from Opaline as she continues.) That’s why you and I are never going to be the same, Opaline. Because I have hope. And I have friendship.
Light percussion in
Ponies: (muted, distant) Don’t look now, things will get better
(Sunny gasps at the sound; in Bridlewood, Izzy takes Alphabittle Blossomforth’s hoof as pinkish magic pours from every raised horn and into the roots of the Wishing Tree. Its natural colors are swiftly restored.)
(heard clearly) So hold my hoof, ’cause we’re growing together
We’ve got the strength to take on whatever
(The same happens in Zephyr Heights; Haven and her daughters cut their streams and rise to watch the tree glow warmly, followed by Haven’s dog Cloudpuff.)
’Cause we’ve got the magic, we’ve got the magic in us
Percussion out; harmonies in
(Pipp describes a graceful midair somersault before the view shifts back to Maretime Bay, where energy is flowing into the Together Tree from the hooves of the gathered earth ponies and restoring its true colors. Unicorns and pegasi add their bit from horns and wings, respectively.)
Ponies: So everypony everywhere
Now is the time to raise your voices
You know it’s time to show your courage, yeah
And nopony’s gonna stop us, no
Percussion in
’Cause there is hope when we’re together
And it grows stronger when you sing
So raise our voices in unison
Raise our voices in harmony, yeah
Last two words sung a cappella
(The last line above is marked by a cut to a wondering Sunny and a thoroughly irritated Opaline. The earth pony casts an eye toward the floor and discovers that her dropped locket has come to life, a pastel-rainbow heart outline radiating from center to edge. She wheels to face Opaline, a new edge of unassailable determination in her voice.)
Harmonies out
Sunny: And what is friendship, Opaline?
(The locket trembles on the tiles and pops open to release a sparkling streamer of pastel rainbow light, which loops this way and that around her before lancing upward toward Opaline. The hovering mare can manage only a series of startled squawks and grunts as it wraps her up. Sparky and Spike boggle at the display, the former’s horns and the latter’s head spines no longer glowing.)
Spike: (whispering) Now, Sparky!
(A carefully angled fire breath washes over his own nose and teleports the baby dragon onto the pedestal holding the Dragon Stone so he can grab it. Opaline makes an incredulous sound somewhere between a gasp and a squawk.)
Opaline: But…but…you’re under my spell!
Following five lines are sung under the previous dialogue/actions
Ponies: Don’t look now, things will get better
So hold my hoof, ’cause we’re growing together
We’ve got the strength to take on whatever
’Cause we’ve got the magic, we’ve got the magic in us
’Cause we’ve got the magic, we’ve got the magic in us
(Spike just stands up and throws her a king-size smirk.)
Sunny: (overjoyed) Spike!
(A cheerfully gurgling Sparky bathes the Dragon Stone in his own incendiary exhalation, causing it to fire a pale green beam directly into Opaline’s necklace.)
Opaline: What?!
(She can only gasp as it disintegrates and releases the six ill-gotten cutie marks to rise away; at the same time, the power in her horn/wings/chest winks out.)
Opaline: NOOOO!!
(Sunny’s sigil peels off from the other five, which pass through the chamber’s bark-covered wall and are lost to sight. It resumes its proper place on her haunch, triggering a gasp and giggle and allowing her to call up her horn/wings as her saddlebag disappears.)
Sunny: (jumping up into a hover) Yeah!
(Now Sparky hits the Dragon Stone with a higher-intensity flame, in response, it shoots beams that snap first Lava and then Jade free of Opaline’s control. Their now-former mistress gasps in shock and then snarls down at the infant, who laughs mockingly up at her and puts his fire to the artifact once more. This time, his target is the mess of snarled limbs; a bright green glow races along their length from the impact point, a few loose ends beginning to slither of their own accord, and quickly spreads to the throne room.)
Following four lines are sung under Sunny’s “Yeah!” and subsequent actions
Music builds slowly; harmonies in
Ponies: ’Cause there is hope when we’re together
And it grows stronger when you sing
So raise our voices in unison
Raise our voices in harmony, yeah
A cappella for last two words of previous line only, then full instrumentation returns
(E flat major)
(The marks come away from the leaves and drift down to vanish through a newly opened, intensely glowing rift in the trunk that closes behind them.)
Ponies: Don’t look now, things are getting better
So hold my hoof, ’cause we’re growing together
We’ve got the strength to take on whatever
(In Maretime Bay, a similar opening forms in the trunk of the Together Tree and marks come soaring out by the dozen. Hitch smiles as he recovers his.)
’Cause we’ve got the magic, we’ve got the magic
Don’t look now, things are getting better
So hold my hoof, ’cause we’re growing together
(Tilt up to follow a cluster of others into the sky, then dissolve to a different street and tilt down to follow them reuniting with their jubilant rightful possessors.)
We’ve got the strength to take on whatever
’Cause we’ve got the magic, we’ve got the magic
Take another look, things are getting better
(The Together Tree in the Zephyr Heights Palace garden disgorges a batch to the wonderment of those assembled here; Zoom regains her mark, then Thunder.)
We’re growing stronger, growing together
We’ll always have each other forever
’Cause we’ve got the magic, we’ve got the magic in us
(Misty reclaims hers, twirling exuberantly in place; the three hovering royal pegasi are next.)
Pipp: Don’t look now
Ponies: Yeah, we’ve got the magic, we’ve got the magic in us
(Izzy’s mark makes its way through Bridlewood and pastes itself back onto the grateful unicorn’s haunch.)
Pipp: Don’t look now
Ponies: We’ve got the magic, we’ve got the magic in us
(She and the other locals smile up at the rejuvenated Wishing Tree before the view dissolves to the fallen, separated Crystals on the lift platform in the lantern room of the Brighthouse. These jitter and rise to their former midair position, reassembling as the glimmering Pris-Beam wreathes them in all its splendor.)
Pipp: Don’t look now
Ponies: We’ve got the magic, we’ve got the magic in us
Pipp: Don’t look now
(Dissolve to a long shot of the Brighthouse and zoom out slowly; the gloomy clouds and fog both dissipate, leaving a bright blue daytime sky.)
Ponies: We’ve got the magic, we’ve got the magic in us
Song ends
(In Opaline’s castle, the effect of Sparky’s last blast has set the entire place shaking and dislodged chunks of stone to tumble from the ceiling. Spike gasps, then Opaline.)
Spike: We should go!
(He dips his head so Sparky can scramble onto his nose with the Dragon Stone, and all four adult dragons beat feet for the exit. Sunny makes to follow them, but doubles back to pick up the still-open locket, which is no longer emitting its rainbow. A fresh flare of light from within brings a gasp from her lips; the thing snaps shut on its own, the pastel heart flaring out from its center as before. When it clears, though, the locket has noticeably changed; the gold frame is more ornate, the facets shine more brightly, and a pale pink copy of her cutie mark can now be seen within the ruby. Smiling at this new development, she gallops after the dragons.)
(Opaline struggles against the spectral ribbon holding her in place, then gets dumped to the floor when it abruptly vanishes. She snarls toward Sunny and company, who have paused their retreat and are glaring at her with unmitigated scorn.)
Jade: And, Opaline, we are not friends. (Opaline stands and growls.) Just wanted to clear that up.
(Spike underscores her declaration with a mighty blast of fire that consumes him and the crew and teleports them all away. Opaline, now alone, screams out her frustration as the tendrils awakened by Sparky’s hotwiring job curl toward her from all sides and stop her from reaching the exit. She lets off a dumbfounded gasp when one of them relieves her of her own cutie mark and swiftly carries it away.)
Opaline: NOOOO!!
(She races after the bubble, which is being reeled toward a floor-level opening in the trunk.)
Opaline: My mark! My power! Come back!
(All too quickly, she finds herself jammed between the thickening growths and unable to move.)
Opaline: NOOOOOO!!
(Zoom out as they fully encircle her and knit together, hiding her from sight entirely and muffling the end of her shout. Debris and dust continue to rain down from the ceiling for a moment before the camera cuts to a long shot of the castle—most of which ceases to exist when the Together Tree bursts upward in a massive growth spurt and rends stone from stone. Bark, leaves, and blooms are now as lush and vibrant as those of the other three, and the green light suffusing it fades away as the sky above clears for the very first time.)
(Blaize, Fountain, and Luxxe fly onto the scene, now free of Opaline’s mind control as well; cut to the six adult dragons gathering on the remains of the walkway leading to the castle.)
Sunny: (from o.s.) Spike?
(She and Sparky walk up, the former wearing the locket and the latter toting the Dragon Stone.)
Sunny: I thought you were under her spell! How did you do that?
Spike: Come on, Sunny. You think this is my first run-in with an evil villain? (snickering) Just kidding. (hunching down to Sparky) It was Sparky here who broke the spell and saved me.
(The youngster hands over the magic rock, which is swiftly disintegrated or teleported away in a whiff of flame.)
Spike: (standing, gazing at Together Tree) Seems like he transformed her spell into one of his own.
Sunny: It’s just so beautiful! I just wish my friends were here to see it.
(The Dragon Lord says nothing, but blows a fiery jet onto the stones ahead of himself. Once the glare clears, the rest of the Maretime Bay crew find themselves sitting/sprawled on the walkway and very confused as to just how they got there. The following six lines overlap somewhat and are accompanied by the ponies slowly getting themselves upright.)
Zipp: Huh?
Misty: Hmmm.
Pipp: (gasping, hovering) Yay!
Izzy: (hopping in place) Oh, look! We’re here!
Hitch: Huh? We’re here! (Laugh.)
Zipp: Yeah!
(Sparky whoops as the new arrivals cross to him and Sunny.)
Hitch: And it worked!
(He and Sunny laugh; he scoops Sparky into a foreleg, and the next lines overlap.)
Pipp: Woo-hoo!
Zipp: Uh, yeah, it did!
Izzy: (laughing) Yeah! (Cut to the dragons.)
Misty: (from o.s.) Yay!
Izzy: (from o.s.) Woo-hoo! (Back to the ponies; all but Sunny/Pipp separate.)
Pipp: Sunny, I still cannot belie-e-eve you went and faced Opaline alone! (“Believe” is sung.)
Sunny: I wasn’t alone. You were all with me in my heart. (Her perspective of the other ponies and dragons.) And you never lost hope.
(Long shot behind them all, tilting up slowly along the height of the Together Tree.)
Sunny: We did it together.
(Ground level; Izzy crosses to Jade and Lava with two bracelets held in her field—counterparts of the ones she brought with her in “The Isle of Scaly.” Each holds up a leg to receive one on the next line.)
Jade: Again, we are so sorry we fell under the spell of an evil villain and terrorized you ponies like that. That’s our bad. (Embarrassed chuckle; cut to Sunny/Misty.)
Misty: Happens to the best of us.
(A soft sniffle from o.s.; cut to Hitch hunkering down by Sparky.)
Hitch: (nudging him) Hey, buddy, I heard you were very brave in there.
Spike: Not just brave… (Back to the pair; he continues o.s.) …a hero. (Hitch sits and lifts Sparky.)
Hitch: I know he’s supposed to grow up with the dragons, but I’ll miss you every day, Sparkeroni. (The two embrace.)
Spike: You know what, Hitch? Sparky knows better than us.
(These words give the Sheriff pause; he gets back to all four hooves, steps forward, and places his ward on the walkway between himself and Spike. Sparky burbles confusedly, purple eyes flicking from one to the other…stubby legs take a few tentative steps…and then he pulls out Hitch’s badge, given to him in Part One, and regards it for a long moment as a gleam of light plays along one edge of its central star. Hitch cringes in silent dread while Spike cocks a knowing eyebrow. Sparky smiles and gurgles to himself, having figured it all out; cut to Hitch from the chest up, shaken by a mild jolt from just below the bottom edge of the screen. A sound of contentment from Sparky tells the tale even before the camera tilts down to frame him blissfully hugging one sock-marked foreleg. He holds up the badge and speaks his first fully intelligible word.)
Sparky: H…home.
(Hitch gasps in delight and drops to his haunches, cuddling the little guy with a hum of profoundest contentment.)
Spike: (chuckling) See? I know that he’s in very good hooves with you, Hitch. We have always had a lot to learn from each other.
(On this line, he backs away and the camera cuts to/from Sunny/Hitch/Misty, Hitch now standing again.)
Sunny: I guess that means we’ll be seeing you soon?
(Back to Spike as she finishes; he tips her a wink, after which the adult dragons take to the sky. The ponies turn to the Together Tree, Zipp hovering and Hitch with his badge clipped onto his sash.)
Zipp: Who would’ve ever thought that Opaline’s creepy old lair could turn into something this beautiful?
Misty: With true unity magic, everything looks beautiful.
(All but Izzy turn to start for home; cut to them.)
Izzy: (from o.s.) Everypony, look!
(They stop and glance back toward the woody behemoth; cut to the unicorn, who is standing before an oval portal of swirling pale blue energy that had definitely not been there a few seconds ago. Large snowflakes drift out and past her.)
Izzy: It’s like glitter, but snow!
(An instant after one settles on her upraised front hoof, the screen fills with a pale blue flash and clears to frame the other five, Sparky riding on Hitch’s back.)
Other ponies: (awed) Wow/Whoa…
(Zoom out slightly to frame Izzy from behind. This camera angle picks out the glitter that now speckles her forelegs and mane, the former now shading to a slightly darker hue above her hooves.)
Izzy: What is it?
(Head-on shot, zooming out to frame all of her. The glitter job has affected all four legs, her eyelids, and both her mane and tail, each leg darkens above the hoof, and she is now sporting a necklace studded with crystals in shades of blue and violet—including a kite-shaped one front and center. The string of beads she normally wears threaded through her mane, visible only from behind, has been augmented with one of crystals that can be easily seen from any angle. Worked into it is a piece fitted around the base of her horn; a four-pointed star pendant is attached to this. Her horn and hooves are now formed of translucent blue crystal.)
Izzy: Do I have something in my teeth?
MY LITTLE PONY: SECRETS OF STARLIGHT
Written by Leore Berris
Executive producers: Olivier Dumont, Randi Yaffa, Cort Lane
Story editing by Gillian Berrow
Supervising direction by Will Lau
Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)
Notes: Background song lyrics are in square brackets; any marked with an exclamation
point are shouted rather than sung.
Prologue
(Opening shot: a black screen, against which “Netflix Presents” fades into view. A kaleidoscopic snowflake pattern in blues and purples fades in behind these words, which disappear in a gust of wind to allow the title card to appear as if it were being uncovered by the air currents. The entire view dissolves to the upper reaches of the Together Tree that rose from and destroyed Opaline Arcana’s castle in Part Two of “Roots of All Evil,” seen during the day. Tilt down to frame Sunny Starscout and company gathered before it; Pipp Petals is hovering just above the broken walkway. The glowing, bluish oval portal that had opened in the trunk at the end of the previous episode is gone, but Sunny’s magic horn and wings are still present after she and Sparky Sparkeroni helped bring Opaline’s master plan down around her ears.)
(Cut to a head-on shot of the group during the following words, revealing that Pipp is checking her cell phone and Izzy Moonbow is still sporting the bejeweled, glittery appearance she gained after catching a snowflake from the portal. Sparky is riding on Hitch Trailblazer’s back, and Sunny is still wearing the ruby locket whose magic turned the tide against Opaline and is not wearing her saddlebag due to her power-up.)
Zipp Storm: (impatiently) We’ve been waiting here for three hours, Izz! Nothing has happened!
Izzy: (slightly crazed) Yet! Nothing has happened yet! (cheerfully) But you can bet your sparkles it’s going to. (Pipp flies to her, having stashed her phone.)
Pipp: I hope so. I mean, I would love to transform into a stunning crystal version of myself.
Sunny: Maybe we should take a break from staring at a tree. (laughing) Just for a bit?
Pipp: (to Izzy) We’ll come back, okay?
(The unicorn aims a pensive look after the others as they clear the area, only to gasp softly as a wash of pastel rainbow light reaches her from the broad trunk. Cut to her perspective; the radiance subsiding to leave the portal in full view, then to her pointing enthusiastically at it on the next two words.)
Izzy: Everypony, look! (They gather in, eyes widening.)
Pipp: (singsong) Pretty!
Zipp: Whoa…I guess you were right! (Cut to Izzy/Pipp on this line; snowflakes are now blowing outward.)
Pipp: (dryly, rolling eyes) Ahem. Yes, we were. (gleefully) Crystal snow! (Gasp; stare at a flake.) Oh, how pretty!
(The instant she touches it, the screen flares pale blue as when Izzy did likewise and clears to show Hitch, the other three mares, and Sparky—now cradled in Hitch’s foreleg—gasping softly and marveling toward the camera. Cut to a close-up of Pipp’s hooves and zoom out; she has received a sparkly makeover similar to Izzy’s on her mane/tail/legs, and her hooves have also become translucent blue crystal. Around her neck is a necklace of crystals, with an eighth note as the most prominent.)
Pipp: (squealing, giggling) It happened! (hovering, pulling out phone) I’m stunning!
(She snaps a photo of herself with a more composed little laugh.)
Sunny: (moving toward her) I think this is another magical Together Tree, like the ones we have in Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights, and Bridlewood!
(During this line, cut to her perspective of it and tilt up slowly toward the thick limbs, then back to her.)
Zipp: Be careful, Sunny.
Hitch: Relax. It’s not like it’s gonna suck us into a portal.
(Another flare of palely multicolored radiance chooses this moment to envelop Sheriff and dragon and pull them both in, leaving only his surprised yell. The others react similarly as they too are caught up and reeled through.)
Act One
(Cut to a close-up of a very knocked-out Izzy lying on the ground, a glimmering snowy landscape visible around her. She slowly blinks her way back into the world.)
Izzy: Huh? (A snowflake flutters past her nose…) Wow.
(…and settles squarely onto it, triggering a violent sneeze that jerks her up to vertical. Zoom out to frame the whole bunch, Sparky again on Hitch’s back and Misty taking a bit longer to get up than the others. Their legs/hooves/manes/tails have been overhauled in the same manner as Izzy and Pipp, with cool blue/violet shades added to the legs, and Sunny and Zipp wear glittery eyeshadow. Crystal necklaces rest at all six throats; Sunny’s incorporates the body of her locket, while the central pieces of the others are a shield for Hitch, a lightning bolt for Zipp, and a butterfly for Misty. Even Sparky has been affected, his horns now violet to match the sparkly shading at the end of each leg and his tail, and he is wearing a small necklace of his own. Misty’s horn is now made of blue crystal to match Izzy’s, but with darker streaks running along its surface. The portal stands open behind them amid a wintry forest panorama. Izzy groans woozily, letting her head clear. Sunny’s horn and wings have dispelled themselves, and her saddlebag is strapped up in its usual spot.)
Hitch: Wow!
Sunny: Whoa!
Izzy: Ooh!
(An upward glance shows Sunny a starry night sky suffused with a blue-green aurora that seems to issue from the obscured horizon. She gasps delightedly.)
Sunny: Look at all those stars!
(The group begins to venture out from the portal and across the snow; next two lines overlap.)
Zipp: (gasping softly, mind blown) Whoa.
Misty: Where are we?
Hitch: (eyeing his foreleg) Uh, better question. (Misty twirls in place.) What are we?
(Sparky gabbles out his own bewilderment. Sunny and Zipp look themselves over, while Pipp deploys her phone and Izzy yells and scrabbles to keep her legs beneath herself on the slick surface.)
Pipp: Who cares? We’re so glamorous! (Strike a pose.)
Zipp: Sunny— (Cut to her and Sunny.) —what do you think this is?
Hitch: (from o.s., anxiously) Yeah— (Cut to him.) —and how do we fix it? (Pipp has stowed her tech.)
Sunny: I have no idea. I’ve never seen anything like it before. (She smiles toward the portal; zoom in slowly on it.) But the new Together Tree wouldn’t have brought us here for no reason. Right?
(Assorted uneasy/puzzled reactions from the others. During the previous exchange, the center crystal in Sparky’s necklace is clearly seen for the first time as a fireball.)
Sunny: If we’re here, then it must be for something special. (Cut to just behind her.) We just have to figure out what it is. (It begins to contract, very slowly.)
Hitch: (from o.s.) Uh— (To him and Pipp.) —is it just me, or is that portal thingie shrinking?
Zipp: (from o.s.) Nope.
(She descends in front of it, FlyPad in hoof.)
Zipp: Not just you.
(Once she lands, the view shifts to a close-up of its screen, which presents a camera-eye view of the passage that is outlined in green to match a full bar graph displayed above. As she continues, the graph abruptly half-empties itself and goes yellow, and a matching smaller oval appears within the first, concentric with it to mark off the reduced area.)
Zipp: (from o.s.) It seems to be moving pretty slowly, though. (She puts the device away; cut to her on the next sentence.) I think we have enough time to do a little digging and investigate—
Hitch: (crossing to her) Well, then, let’s hurry, so we can still get out of here—wherever “here” is!
Misty: We did just finish defeating Opaline— (stretching, yawning) —and I was sort of getting ready to take a nap— (Cut to Sunny/Izzy, who nod to each other, then back as she continues.) —buuut I could muster enough energy for another quick adventure. (jumping, kicking at a drift) Plus, I’ve never been in snow before. (Scoop up a bit.) Hmmm. I thought it would be colder.
Izzy: (from o.s.) This snow is different.
(Cut to her and Sunny on the end of the previous line; she yells as her hooves lose traction and drop her gracelessly into a pile of it. Almost as soon as she regains her balance, another slip puts her down again; this time, she comes up a bit more carefully and laughs all the while.)
Izzy: It’s extra-extra-slippy. (Legs slide out; she belly-flops.) And extra-sparkly! (Sunny helps her up; she collects a sample.)
Sunny: You’re right! What a fascinating place! Let’s find out what brought us here.
(A bit of blabbering from ground level draws her focus; cut to frame Sparky waving to get the attention of her, Izzy, and Pipp. He scampers away eagerly.)
Sunny: (following him) I guess Sparky’s leading the way.
(Laughing, all six fall in to follow their scaly guide. Cut to an extreme close-up of a snowy patch, part of which crumbles away—it has built up on a treetop, and a pan brings the group into view in a long overhead shot as it falls free. They are following a path through the forest, Sparky riding on Hitch’s back; at ground level and Izzy bringing up the rear. Ground level: Izzy looks around herself with amazement.)
Izzy: Ooh!
(She slips and falls with a yell, then sits up with a weary groan and shakes the loose snow off her head.)
Izzy: (brushing her chest clean) All this slipping is making it… (Spit out a mouthful.) …very hard to “ooh” and “ahh.”
Hitch: Need a hoof? (He offers one; she uses it to pull herself up.)
Izzy: I feel like I’m gonna be slipping in this snow forever!
(Sparky gives a happy cry and dives off Hitch’s back into a drift; in close-up, he lands on his back, swings all four legs to make the dragon equivalent of a snow angel, and jumps up to show off his work. A chuckle from the o.s. Hitch; cut back to him and Izzy standing over Sparky.)
Hitch: Sparky seems to love it. (Cut to Sunny/Pipp/Misty on the next line.)
Pipp: (petulantly) We’ve been searching a long time! Will we ever find anything?
Zipp: (from o.s. above) Found something!
(Tilt quickly up to the white mare circling overhead, then cut to ground level as she lands.)
Zipp: This way!
Izzy: (starting ahead) Come on, everypony!
(She laughs her way through a brief sliding fumble, and the rest of the crew sets off after her. Very soon she is galloping to the top of a ridge.)
Izzy: (slipping a bit) W-Whoa!
(A quick application of haunches against ground allows her to make a controlled stop, and she voices a soft gasp at the otherworldly colors playing through the expanse of sky above her.)
Izzy: Wooooow…
(She looks over the edge and gasps, Sunny/Zipp doing likewise as they and Misty reach her.)
Misty: Whoa…
(Cut to just behind their heads and zoom in slowly to the sound of further quiet exclamations. They are overlooking a cluster of circular, gold-trimmed blue/violet buildings with snow-dotted, crystal-domed roofs lined up on either side of a short street that has been swept clean. Standing at the far end is a larger structure in the same style, on the far edge of an expansive circular plaza decorated with a giant snowflake pattern on its surface. A translucent awning stretches down and forward from the roof to shield its main entrance from falling snow. The camera shifts to an overhead shot and slow zoom out, marked by a wondering gurgle from the o.s. Sparky and picking out a few walking trails that thread between the buildings and out to the surrounding hills and cliffs. One arm of a lake reaches between the cliffs and the rear of the main building. The whole place—the village of Starlight Ridge—shows no sign of equine life.)
Pipp: (from o.s.) Ooooh! (Cut to her and Hitch; she whips out her phone and snaps a picture.)
Misty: Whoa…
Zipp: Wow!
Sunny: Wow! It’s so pretty under the starry sky! This place is incredible!
Zipp: (peering ahead, shading eyes) More like “incredibly empty.”
(Cut to/from their perspective on these last two lines, tilting up from village to sky, then back to Zipp and Misty.)
Misty: Where is everypony?
Hitch: It’s like the whole place has been completely deserted.
Misty: But it can’t be because of Opaline this time.
(Dissolve to a long overhead shot of the group advancing along the street toward the plaza. A frigid wind whistles among the buildings. At ground level, the camera zooms in on the main one, putting them o.s.; on the next line, cut to an overhead shot of them entering the open area. Pipp has put her phone away by this point.)
Pipp: Why would anypony abandon a fabulous place like this?
(They continue their move across the plaza, but stop short at the sound of a series of muffled thumps. They are evenly spaced out in groups of three, the third with a slightly different timbre from the first two, and each group is followed by a brief silence to form a fast four-beat pattern.)
Misty: (fearfully) What is that? (She hangs back briefly as the others close in on the entrance.)
Sunny: It sounds like it’s coming from in there.
Misty: (pointing behind herself) Why is everypony trotting towards the scary noises when there is perfectly good silence in the other direction?
Sunny: Don’t worry, Misty. We’re all going together. We’ve got your back.
Misty: (slightly chagrined) Oh, right. (Weak laugh.) I keep forgetting.
(Her face still betraying a degree of unease, she joins the advance and is soon standing before the closed double doors with the others. Cut to their other side as they swing open to frame the group, the beats now heard clearly—two thumps and a clap. As Sunny and company smile broadly and voice a range of surprised reactions, the camera zooms out slowly to frame row on row of crystal-horned unicorns sitting at long tables within that run from front to back, on either side of a broad central aisle. They are styled similarly to the visitors and wearing headbands fitted around their horns to match Izzy, and all have mugs of hot cocoa. The first two beats and the third are made, respectively, by banging these vessels and a free hoof against the tables, and heads bob in time. Cool blues, violets, and greens dominate in the ponies’ color schemes, and the horns appear a bit more roughly shaped than those of Izzy and Misty. Expansive windows run the length of the side walls.)
(One figure steps slowly along the length of this meeting hall toward its far end, the camera shifting to pick out blue-shaded legs, a pale blue-green mane/tail and light violet coat, and a necklace with a six-pointed star. Tilt up from this last to frame the walker’s face: a stocky mare with medium green eyes and purple brows, who lifts a flute in her magic and begins to play. This is Violet Frost. Unlike the Equestrian unicorns seen to date in the series, her field does not completely envelop her horn and the flute, but instead spirals around both in a thick rope of light. The same will be true of other villagers, known as “auroricorns.”)
Light, peppy drum/synthesizer/bass melody with flute accents; brisk 4 (B flat minor)
Background lyrics muted; banging/stomping stops
Violet: [Everypony, come on!]
(She prances in the aisle near a model mountain peak ringed by a spiraling, slowly rotating set of shelves loaded with mugs. Star-shaped lamps hang from the ceiling.)
[Da, da, da, da-da]
[Da, da, da, da, da-da] [Time to shine now!]
[Da, da, da, da-da] [You gotta shine now!]
(Off to one side is Comet, a stallion licking his chops as he glances at the fully loaded tray balanced on his back. Pale blue-green coat; purple eyes with dark blue-green brows behind hexagonal glasses; long straight mane/tail shading from pale blue to purple at the ends, the former containing one kinked lock; blue shading on his legs; necklace with a four-pointed star; blue-green horn. Violet puts her flute away, snags two mugs and stacks one on the other, and slides them along one table in opposite directions for spectators to catch. When she winds down her magic, her horn is revealed to be green.)
Violet: Hey, put those working hooves away, it’s time to hit the beat [Hit the beat!]
The sun is down, the stars are shooting far as the eye can see [Whoo!]
(Comet exerts his field to plunk the last three mugs from his tray onto the table and slide them to a waiting trio, who nimbly pass them back and forth without spilling a drop.)
Come on over, join the party, just have fun with me [With me!]
(The new arrivals start to get into the groove.)
There ain’t nopony here that’s watching, use your magic to believe
(The camera descends from the ceiling to frame her dancing amid a ring of auroricorns.)
Violet: [Oh-h-h] The stars align, the moon is shining
[Oh-h-h] [It’s shining, yes, it’s shining!] And can’t you feel the night sky
humming?
(The others gallop away; she spins to join them by the shelves.)
[Oh-h-h] It’s like it’s up there, calling out to me
[It’s calling out to me!] To me
(She leaps onto a table and trots its length as others pound/pass/chug their mugs, while Comet pulls two beaming, giggling mares away.)
Violet: Starshine Time, we’re only getting brighter
We’re glowing up together, we shine, shine, shine [We shine!]
(Now she leads a skipping procession along the tabletop, including Comet; he stumbles and falls, leading the next colt back to run into him. Both quickly get up, smiling and unhurt.)
Starshine Time, we’re only getting brighter
We’re glowing up together, we shine, shine, shine
(Some auroricorns circle the mug display, while others bob their heads in time and Violet walks the hall, flute to lips; she leaps up to balance atop the model summit.)
Violet: [Da, da, da, da-da]
[Da, da, da, da, da-da]
[Da, da, da, da-da]
We shine, shine, shine [We shine!]
Song ends
(The performance garners hearty shouts of approval from Sunny and company, ending with an “Encore! Encore!” from Izzy. Instead of obliging the request, though, all the auroricorns freeze in place, eyes bugging out and jaws falling open in mute shock. After perhaps one second of dead silence, they peel out screaming in every possible direction and are gone almost before their mugs can hit the tables or floor. Most of them charge out the side doors, one takes cover under a bench, and a hapless colt yells and flails his forelegs wildly before clearing off. A mare doubles back just long enough to drain her mug before rejoining the evacuation. Within just over five seconds, the hall is bereft of any auroricorn presence; Sunny stares in through the doorway as a stunned Misty turns to the others outside.)
Sunny: Was it something we said?
Misty: Where did everypony go? (Long shot of the group; zoom out slowly.)
Sunny: (voice raised, echoing) Uh, we’re really sorry! We didn’t mean to frighten you ponies! (Behind them, panning along their line.)
Izzy: (voice raised) We’re friendly, we promise!
Sunny: Please come out!
Hitch: Yeah, and we ended up here by accident! (shakily, under his breath) We don’t even know where we are.
Voice of Violet: Hello!
(Izzy steps aside and looks behind herself to find the speaker at the doorway, hidden from view by the unicorn’s body. Violet has put away her flute, and a fair bit of nervousness comes through clearly when she speaks.)
Violet: Sorry about the sudden disappearance. We…shouldn’t have panicked like that.
(Cut to her perspective of them on this first sentence, then back to her for the second. Sparky’s amazed cooing reaches her just before he does, prompting a giggle.)
Violet: We’re just not used to new faces around here, and…you know, it’s kinda hard to know who to trust or what is real… (under her breath) …because of the trance.
Sunny: Trance?
Violet: (forced casual tone) Trance? (laughing, trailing off) Who said—who said that? Not me.
(Pipp and Zipp exchange unsettled/suspicious glances; now Violet slaps on a big grin.)
Violet: (stepping out, turning to face group) Anyway, we’re very glad to meet you. (addressing surroundings) Right, everypony?
(Her movements expose a patch of blue crystal on her right haunch, not unlike the large and prominent emblazoned scale worn by each of the adult dragons Sunny and crew have met to date. This will be true of the other auroricorns in the village. Violet’s depicts a flute overlaid on a starburst. She brings up the genuine article in her magic and plays a quick shower of notes, prompting auroricorns to peek warily out from their assorted hiding places and gather in the plaza. However, they make a conscious effort to avoid eye contact with the out-of-towners. Comet, on the other hand, bounds out from behind a snowdrift with a laugh. His voice and movements broadcast a high-strung energy, and he adjusts his glasses from time to time. Violet has stashed her flute by the time he reaches her.)
Comet: (skidding, nearly falling) Our mistake…whoa! (Laugh.) We love visitors! Not that we’ve really ever had any, but I think we love visitors. I mean, at least I do?
(His hooves give way and he slides over to Violet on his belly, then gets up. This sequence shows the streaking meteor emblazoned on his haunch.)
Comet: We just can’t really invite anypony here because of— (Her pointed throat-clearing stops him short; he drops to his haunches, clapping hooves to mouth.)
Violet: (crossing to group) Uh, what Comet here is trying to say is…“Welcome to Starlight Ridge!”
Comet: (whispering) I’m sorry, Violet. I-I didn’t mean to say that. (Violet’s perspective of the group.)
Zipp: Say what?
Violet: (offering a hoof to shake) I’m Violet Frost. (Side view; Sunny takes it.)
Sunny: I’m Sunny. And this is— (Izzy barges up.)
Izzy: Izzy! (shaking hooves with Violet) Izzy Moonbow! (Pan to bring Pipp/Zipp into view on Violet’s other side during the next line.)
Zipp: Name’s Zipp. (Shake.)
Pipp: (doing likewise) Pipp. Lovely to meet you.
Hitch: (shaking Comet’s hoof) Hitch.
Misty: (stepping in, shaking the other one; Comet’s forelegs end up crossed) Hi. I’m Misty.
Sunny: (gasping, holding up Sparky) And this is Sparky. (He sneezes fire, just short of Violet’s face.)
Violet: (stroking his chin) We’ve never met any ponies that aren’t auroricorns before.
Sunny: (setting him down) And we’ve never met any that are! We’re so happy to be here.
Izzy: (beaming, laughing) I have never seen anypony flute-jam like that before.
Violet: (laughing sheepishly) I got a little carried away. (under her breath) But I had to have some fun, while I still can. (Gasp; hoof to mouth.)
Zipp: “Have fun while you still can”?
(She lifts off and cuts a tight arc to bring herself nose to nose with Violet.)
Zipp: What does that mean? (Izzy hops over.)
Izzy: Yeah! I like to have fun all the time!
Violet: (forcing a grin alongside Comet) So do I, Izzy.
(Both Sunny and Izzy are placated by this statement, but Zipp is definitely not buying it.)
Comet: (whispering) Violet! Violet, I have an idea! Be right back!
(He gallops across the plaza to the meeting hall and almost immediately comes out with a tray of full, steaming mugs on his back as the doors close behind him. The return trip is at a more sedate pace, but a sudden loss of traction drops him flat with a shout, sending his freight toward the sky. He fires up his horn just in time to catch the lot with his aura rather than his head. Every mug ends up right back on the tray, with no spillage.)
Comet: (laughing) Sorry about that. Sometimes my hooves can’t keep up with my brain.
Violet: (laughing) Comet is our Starlight Ridge cocoa specialist. (He stands up.)
Comet: Mmm-hmm! Here.
(He lifts the tray in his forelegs: six mugs, one of which is frozen solid.)
Comet: Try a few of our favorite flavors. Okay, let’s see. We’ve got, uh… (Cut to Sunny; he continues o.s.) …apple-oat cocoa, razzleberry cocoa, hay-milk cocoa, jumping-jellybean cocoa…
(As he reels off the flavors, one mug each is floated to Sunny, Izzy, Zipp, and Misty in turn. The titular ingredient in this last one leaps upward from the surface and is caught in Izzy’s mouth on its second trip.)
Izzy: (chomping it down) Mmmm! Jumpy!
Comet: (from o.s.) …salty cinnamon cocoa, snowflake-shaped marshmallow cocoa, and…
(Marked by the giving of mugs to Violet, Pipp, and Hitch, who gets the frozen one. Back to Comet.)
Comet: …my personal favorite—super-ice-cold frozen cocoa!
(Back to Hitch/Sparky as he finishes, the Sheriff giving the drink a hairy eyeball and trying unsuccessfully to pour it out.)
Hitch: Oh…uh…thaaanks.
(He holds it back over his shoulder, perfectly positioned for Sparky to melt it with his fire breath and take a sip. Cut to Violet, pacing the plaza.)
Violet: You ponies are in luck, because today is Starshine Time!
Izzy: (from o.s.) YES!!
(Cut to her and Misty, sitting to enjoy their beverages. She guzzles the rest of hers, stands up, and spikes the mug.)
Izzy: Woo-hoo!
(hopping in place, singing tunelessly) Starshine Time is my favorite
It’s my fa—
(spoken) Quick question for you. What is it? (Comet has put his tray aside.)
Comet: Starshine Time is our special day of fun!
Sunny: Oh, my hoofness! (Gasp.) What great timing!
Hitch: (to Comet) Give us a second, would you?
(He hustles her away with a placating chuckle, Zipp following; the three gather in for a private chat, all with mugs gone.)
Hitch: While fun does sound fun, let’s not forget that there is a shrinking portal that we have to get back to.
Sunny: I totally hear you— (glancing at passing auroricorns) —but these are ponies we’ve never, ever met before. This is our chance to make friends with them.
(A smile and wave from one sparks her and Izzy to trade nods of silent agreement; meanwhile, Zipp pulls out her FlyPad and studies its screen intently.)
Zipp: Hmmm…eh… (Put it away.) …I guess we’ve got some time to hang. (thumping Hitch’s chest) But after that, we’re definitely going back.
Hitch: Starshine Time does sound pretty cool.
Pipp: (singsong, pulling him aside) And they do musical numbers! (Zipp looks to the sky.)
Zipp: Plus, Sunny’s probably right. If we’re here in Starlight Ridge, it must be for a reason.
Sunny: (pulling Izzy close; the other mares gather around her) And, what better way to find out what it is than having fun with new friends?
(Hitch regards them impassively, but a cheerful bit of babble from ground level informs him that Sparky has tipped out the dregs of his mug and gotten a bit of cocoa on his cheeks.)
Mares: (pleadingly, with big soulful eyes) Awww…
Hitch: (smiling, relenting) Okay. Starshine Time it is. (Cheers all around.)
Izzy: (pumping a hoof) Yeah!
(Violet smiles at Comet, who responds with a worried little grin. Cut to the top of the cliffs overlooking the rear of Starlight Ridge and tilt down to frame the group gathered at the edge of the lake that reaches behind the meeting hall. A close-up picks out the ice skates worn by all the ponies—the lake is frozen over—and Comet and Violet are first to glide out, the latter giggling to herself as their blades leave brief showers of crystalline sparks. The same will be true for all other skaters. Izzy, a few steps back, is the only one to show any trepidation.)
Sunny: (rearing up briefly) Oh, I’m so excited! I love skating! (She hits the ice.)
Izzy: Uh-oh. I’m not so sure about this.
Pipp: Don’t worry, Izzy. You’ll do great.
(Off she goes, building up speed and launching herself into a twirling leap. Curlicue patterns in pale blue fade into view on the ice as she does her thing.)
Pipp: Whee! I could do this all day! (Zipp whisks past, adding to the design.)
Zipp: This is pretty awesome! Aw, yeah!
(She laughs and cuts a sharp turn, throwing a curtain of ice crystals over the screen. These clear to frame Sunny pulling off a few moves of her own and making her own contribution to the swirling curves, which now cover much of the surface.)
Sunny: I feel like I haven’t skated in forever! I’ve missed it so much!
(Here come Hitch and Misty side by side, each holding a giggling Sparky up by one foreleg so that his hind limbs can graze the ice. He is the only one without skates. The pattern embellishes itself a little more as they pass. Izzy has remained on the shore throughout, anxiety running wild under the bright blue mane.)
Izzy: (to herself) Okay. Come on, Izzy. (stepping gingerly ahead) You’ve got this.
(As soon as she puts one blade on the frozen surface, she turns into a flailing, scrambling tangle of limbs.)
Izzy: I DON’T GOT THIS!!
(Down she goes, smacking her chin hard and sliding to a most undignified stop amid the others.)
Izzy: I can’t even do it for a second.
Sunny: (circling around her) It’s okay, Izzy. It’ll just take some getting used to. Just go slowly.
(Izzy heaves herself up only to immediately find herself in danger of another tumble.)
Izzy: Whoooaaa! (Sunny catches her.)
Sunny: Okay, maybe not. (Chuckle.)
Izzy: (sighing) I’m no good at trotting on this crystal ice, and I’m even worse at skating on it!
Comet: (crossing to them, nearly falling) Don’t woOORRY!! Whoa!
(He spins himself to a stop with an embarrassed laugh.)
Comet: I have never been good at trotting or skating, either.
Izzy: Huh? You haven’t?
Comet: (shaking head) Mmm-mmm. I’ve got my own way of doing it. I call it— (Brief stumble.) —whoa!— (Laugh.) —trip-skating.
Izzy: Well… (Giggle.) …the name sounds fun.
Comet: (nodding) Mmm-hmm! Follow my lead!
(He proceeds to describe a very wobbly oval, punctuated by assorted yelps and at least one mostly-intelligible “whoa!”, and gets a big smile from Izzy.)
Izzy: (laughing) Aw, yeah! Trip-skating looks more my speed!
Comet: (offering a hoof) Well, let’s do it together.
(She takes it and the two glide away, each wavering and bobbling and exclaiming in his/her own time.)
Comet: (amid shouts) Hey! You got it! Whoa, you’re a natural!
(Hitch and Misty join in Sparky’s laughter as they continue their leisurely cruise, while Pipp and Zipp carry out a two-part study in angular motion—the former twirling in place and vocalizing, the latter laughing and circling her. Sunny and Violet join in the merriment as they weave back and forth. High above, a spot of yellow light kindles in the aurora-tinged sky and blossoms into a giant eight-pointed star, with pulses emerging from the points to rotate slowly around it. The entire display cycles through a spectrum of glimmering pastel colors.)
Sunny: (dumbstruck) What was that?
Pipp: (flaring wings) It was absolutely stunning!
Violet: (forced casual tone) Oh, it’s nothing. Just an aurora flare.
Zipp: Um, nothing is ever just nothing.
Sunny: Is that why today is called Starshine Time?
Violet: Yep!
(Two other auroricorns who have ventured onto the ice stop short and gasp upon seeing the light show, catching Zipp’s attention when they grimace and avert their eyes.)
Zipp: Hmmm…
Sunny: (to Violet) So, what activity is up next?
(Izzy loses her balance, then Comet, and both go down in a yelling heap. From here, cut to a first-person perspective of a bobsled run, the camera racing uphill along the slick surface and veering back and forth through the turns. It stops on the group at the top end, all of whom have shed their skates. Convex metal platters are piled up here for use as one-pony sleds; Hitch eyes them distrustfully, while an auroricorn mare stands ready to take the plunge. A stomp from Violet dislodges one sled to skid over the edge, and the mare leaps onto it and is off with a joyous whoop, having landed in a sitting position.)
Violet: The ice slide is my absolute favorite thing to do during Starshine Time.
Hitch: (shakily) As an earth pony, I prefer keeping all four hooves on the ground.
Izzy: (walking to launch, crouching) I can’t slip and slide by accident if I slip and slide on purpose!
(Not bothering to grab a sled, she flings herself onto the run and soon attains a ludicrous speed, remaining upright as she yells her way through the curves.)
Izzy: Whee!
(The track is interrupted by a frozen creek; she sails off the top end of the ramp on one side and comes neatly down on the other with a laugh. Pipp, Zipp, and Misty are close behind, but riding on sleds rather than hooves.)
Hitch: Maybe Sparky and I will just sit this one out—
(The little fellow gives the lie to his words by jumping off his back and leaping onto the run, riding it in a sitting position with no sled.)
Hitch: (deflated) —or just me.
Violet: Don’t worry, Hitch. (horn flaring briefly) We’ve got auroricorn magic. We promise we won’t let you get hurt.
(Now she pushes a sled to the brink, hops on, and is gone with a laugh.)
Violet: Whooooooo!
(Laughing, she takes the jump over the creek. Sunny, Hitch, and Comet are the only ones still up top; the law-pony gathers his nerve.)
Hitch: (puling a sled to himself, stepping on) Okay. If Sparky can do it… (easing himself onto run) …so can IIIIIIIIII!!
(His last word trails off into half-crazed laughter as he rockets down the course and over the creek.)
Hitch: This is so much fun! (Gleeful yelp.) Here we go!
(A contented sigh escapes his lips as he reaches the bottom, letting the sled go and sliding to rest on his belly. Comet and finally Sunny come down after him, both keeping their hooves under them as they abandon their vehicles; the others have already done likewise, and all laugh merrily over the experience. Cut to the sky, where another eight-pointed aurora flare bursts into being, and tilt down to the group on the following line.)
Sunny: Wow! Another one!
Misty: They’re so gorgeous! (Comet winces; cut to it again, then to Pipp as she speaks.)
Pipp: I wish aurora flares would happen in Equestria.
Zipp: It seems like the aurora flare happens whenever everypony is having a good time. It’s clearly connected to—
Comet: (excitedly) Equestria? I—I’ve never heard of it.
Izzy: (flabbergasted, gasping deeply) You’ve never heard of Equestria?
Pipp: (sputtering) Neigh way!
Comet: Oh, I have always dreamed of traveling, but…I-I’ve never been allowed to leave Starlight Ridge.
Sunny: Wait, what do you mean, allowed?
Comet: (suddenly startled) Um—
Violet: On to the next activity!
(She walks away, keeping her face turned to hide her slightly scared expression.)
Sunny: Huh.
Zipp: Uhhh…
(Comet and the gang follow, Pipp lifting off.)
Act Two
(Long overhead shot of the plaza, zooming in slowly as the ponies and dragon work on an assortment of snow/ice sculptures. During the first sentence of the following line, the camera cuts/pans here and there to pick out some of their individual efforts: an eighth note for Pipp, a drone for Zipp, a butterfly for Misty, the three “squad” members standing one on top of the other for Hitch, an egg for Sparky. The second sentence is accompanied by a cut to a raptly listening Comet and a humoring Violet, then to Sunny putting the finishing touches on a sculpture of the Unity Crystals and crossing to them. Comet is lying down, Violet standing.)
Sunny: And when we finished counting, we realized there were exactly thirty-five lampposts in the whole area! And, um, that’s basically every single fact I can think of about Equestria. (Chuckle; Comet stands up.)
Comet: Wow. Equestria sounds incredible! I would love to go. Wouldn’t you, Violet Frost?
Violet: It does sound amazing, but I could never leave Starlight Ridge. It’s my home. (scooping up a bit of snow) It’s special, don’t you think? (scattering it in air) Even the snow here is known for having magical healing properties.
Sunny: Wow!
Pipp: That is special.
Sunny: Starlight Ridge is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. You all are pretty lucky to live here.
Violet: (momentarily downcast) Yeah, we are. But Equestria sounds like a wonderful place to visit. (Chuckle.)
(In close-up, Izzy turns away from the product of her labor, a likeness of the entire Maretime Bay contingent.)
Izzy: It is! It’s our home! And it has…
(She mimics a drum fill as the camera zooms out slightly to frame the sculpture in full detail, as well as a snow arch framing it.)
Izzy: …all of us there! Ta-daaa!
Violet: (laughing) Whoa, Izzy! Those are some skills. (Sparky waddles to his duplicate…)
Izzy: You know, at first I didn’t like the snow. (…and hops up on its head; she scrabbles briefly for purchase) It’s slippy and stuff. But now it’s really starting to grow on me.
(The infant chooses this moment to sneeze fire, which melts and dislodges a portion of the arch. It comes down on Izzy’s head as a deluge of slush.)
Izzy: And now it’s starting to melt on me.
Hitch: (hurrying over) Oh, Sparky, buddy, gotta be careful with your magic. (Sparky whimpers sadly; Izzy leans toward him, now clean.)
Izzy: It’s okay, Sparky. It’s a quick fix.
(A bit of singing to herself, a deft application of horn-power, and the arch is good as new. Hitch has taken Sparky up in a foreleg.)
Izzy: (sitting) Ta-daaa! Again.
(Tilt up into the sky, an amalgam of laughs and cheers drifting upward from o.s. as a fresh aurora flare decorates the heavens, then cut to Sunny and Zipp.)
Zipp: I knew it! Every time we finish doing something really fun, the aurora flare blasts across the sky!
Sunny: You’re right. I-It makes perfect sense! (Cut to the flare and tilt down to Violet as she continues.) The flares are attached to the auroricorns’ special kind of cutie mark magic!
(The local mare watches the patch on her haunch with some consternation as it gleams brightly, but does her best to conceal this reaction in her next words.)
Violet: (laughing) Wow! What a day! I’ve had so much fun. Have you ponies had fun?
Zipp: Why won’t you talk about the aurora flares? (Violet’s haunch has gone quiet now.)
Comet: The aurora flares? Yeah! They’re super-special and sooo unique, right? (sitting, then standing again) Like, wooow! When I first saw one when I was a colt, I couldn’t believe my eyes! They’re incredi-mazing. Did you know that—
Violet: (abruptly, cutting him off) They sure are! (Laugh.) Now for our next activity, we should…uh…
Zipp: Okay, hang on one second. Something isn’t adding up about this. Why is everypony acting so funny every time we bring up the aurora flares?
(Cut briefly to/from a pair of auroricorns standing nearby on these words, eyes flicking warily to and fro. Comet and Violet copy this behavior before Sunny offers a placating laugh and extends a foreleg to block the pegasus from getting any closer.)
Sunny: Will you excuse us for one second? We just have to go… (ushering Zipp away) …look at that patch of snow, uh, over there.
(The gang gathers near Izzy’s sculpture; cut to ground level, the camera pointed straight up at all seven heads as they come in for a huddle.)
Sunny: (whispering) I agree with Zipp. Something strange is going on. I know the Together Tree portal brought us here for a reason, but what is it?
Izzy: Maybe the reason we were brought here was just to have some fun. (Close-up of Misty, the huddle broken.)
Misty: Yeah, we really did need it after everything we’ve been through.
Sunny: Mmmm—maybe, but could the reason really not be bad for once?
Zipp: Hmmm…seems sketchy.
(A bell begins a doleful tolling, drawing gasps from all who hear it. Cut to Hitch/Izzy/Misty/Sparky; behind them, auroricorns can be seen filing into their homes.)
Hitch: What’s with the bells? (Expansive yawn from the o.s. Violet; cut to her and Comet.)
Violet: Oh, you know what? Today has been so great, but—
Comet: Uh, right, yep! (yawning) Time for bed! (Sunny and Zipp trade bewildered looks.)
Zipp: Bed?
Sunny: Now? (chuckling weakly) What about all the other activities?
Violet: (laughing) You ponies are hilarious! (hastily) The bell’s ringing, so we have to go to sleep now. (yawning, normal cadence) It was so great meeting all of you.
(A brief cut to/from Sunny/Hitch/Zipp on this last sentence tells just how much trouble they are having with this explanation. Comet and Violet walk off.)
Comet: (calling over shoulder) Bye! Thanks for visiting! (Violet stops.)
Violet: You should really go home now. But…we did have a really great time with you. (Off she goes.)
Sunny: (crushed) Aw…
(Doors are slammed shut up and down the street; Violet pauses at hers, throws a regretful look back toward the plaza, and steps inside, letting it close behind her. Long overhead shot of the plaza, framing the Equestrians, their snow/ice creations, and a whole lot of empty space. One final stroke of the bell dies away in the still air.)
Izzy: (crestfallen) That’s it? (Cut to her and Misty.) We’re done? (Deep breath.) It was so sudden.
Hitch: (crossing to them, Sparky on his back) It’s probably for the best. The portal… (laughing shakily) …must be pretty small by now.
(Sunny turns her eyes searchingly across the plaza.)
Sunny: (softly) Huh. Yeah. I guess you’re right.
(Tilt up to the latest aurora flare fading away among the stars, then cut to the group on the move through the surrounding forest and toward the portal that brought them here. It has contracted to roughly the height of an average pony.)
Misty: Wow. Look how small it is.
Hitch: Good thing we came back.
Sunny: (with sudden resolve) No. I really wanted to believe that maybe the portal brought us to Starlight Ridge to have some fun and make new friends. But something tells me that’s just not the case.
Zipp: I agree. My detective instincts are tingling. The auroricorns were acting really strange.
Pipp: Yeah, and they went to bed so suddenly. I mean, I love my beauty sleep, but that is just, like, too much.
Hitch: The portal is getting really small. If we don’t leave now, we might not make it through at all!
Misty: That would be bad. (She takes a breath through clenched teeth.)
Izzy: What do we do?
Sunny: We go back and find out what’s really going on.
Hitch: But we could get stuck here!
Sunny: It’s a risk that we’re just going to have to take. The auroricorns are our friends now. And if they’re in trouble, it’s our responsibility to help. If one of us was in trouble, we would do anything we could to help, right?
Misty: I may just be getting used to having friends, but I want to be a good one. And that means going back and making sure everything is okay with the auroricorns. (Cut to Pipp/Zipp.)
Zipp: You’re right. Nopony is going to be in trouble on my watch!
Pipp: Mine either! (To Hitch/Izzy/Misty/Sparky on the following.)
Hitch: Or mine! (Sparky blabbers his agreement.)
Izzy: (slipping/yelping briefly) Also, me.
Sunny: The auroricorns are our friends. If they need help, then help is what they’ll have.
(There follows a collective about-face for the walk back to Starlight Ridge. Upon reaching the vantage point from which they first surveyed the village in Act One, they find a fresh aurora flare lighting up the cosmos—and Comet and four other auroricorns standing in the plaza with horns aglow and wide-eyed grins fixed on their faces. Zoom out slowly from these ponies, then cut back to Pipp and Zipp.)
Zipp: Uh…what are they doing?
Pipp: Well, they’re certainly not sleeping, that’s for sure. (Zoom out to frame Izzy alongside as she speaks.)
Izzy: I guess they wanted to keep having fun without us? (Anguished gasp.) But why? We’re a super-duper good time!
Zipp: Let’s go take a closer look.
(Down below, the five on the plaza raise their horns, triggering small, gleaming, lozenge-shaped projectiles—think of the diamonds on playing cards—to hurtle toward them from among the stars. Comet is first to catch one in his magic and trot across the plaza with it, followed soon by the others. Sunny and company watch the bespectacled stallion pass the snowdrifts they are using for cover, then begin following him across the frozen landscape. Sunny only speaks up after several dozen yards.)
Sunny: Comet! (All stop.) Comet? Can you hear me? What’s going on?
(He moves off in a new direction, paying no mind, and only stops to avoid colliding with Izzy when she slides across to intercept him. A series of goofy faces and yells does absolutely nothing to bring him back to himself.)
Izzy: Huh. (Pipp/Zipp approach.) Even my Izzy boinks and bonks didn’t snap him out of it. (Comet starts on a new heading.) That usually works.
Zipp: What do you think he’s doing?
Pipp: I’m not sure, but he’s definitely acting odd.
Izzy: Uh, I know odd. This was even odder than that, which I normally love—but not this time! (Cut to frame Hitch on the next line.)
Hitch: Do you think this is why they wanted us to leave?
Zipp: Yeah, not so sure this fits into their fun Starshine Time. (Pan to follow Comet past her and frame Sunny on the next line.)
Sunny: Then why do they all look so…happy?
(Misty spots Violet standing before a gazebo not far away. A winged shape with a long tail hovers inside, most of its features blocked by the domed roof and columns.)
Misty: There’s Violet Frost! Should we go talk to her?
(Sunny, Pipp, and Zipp have no immediate response. In a closer shot, the occupant of the gazebo flies out—a large female leopard with a shock of purple hair streaked in light blue that falls down the right side of her face. Her coat is purple, with a lighter hue appearing around her nose/mouth and the spots that run down her body, and the paws/underbelly shade to light blue. The base of each wing is purple, shading to dark blue and then light blue along the feathers. A spiked carrier made of dark blue ice and containing some gleaming object floats nearby, and a small, medium blue rabbit with purple-tipped ears rides on her back. These two are Allura and Twitch, respectively; Allura purrs softly, waves of blue-green energy radiating outward from her mouth and washing over Violet, who hurriedly backs up a step or two. The camera angle frames Allura and Twitch in profile from their left, showing a broad metal ring that runs through a piercing in the tip of the former’s ear.)
Pipp: (from o.s.) Oh, my hoofness! (Cut to her and the others.) Who is that?
(A close-up of the pair reveals Allura’s light brown eyes and a second ear piercing. Back to the group on the next line.)
Hitch: I have no idea, but I think we can all agree that she does not look friendly.
Izzy: (shuddering audibly, pointing ahead) Neither does he!
(Cut to a long shot of Twitch and zoom in quickly to a close-up; now his near-white underbelly is in plain view as he snickers to himself.)
Zipp: I knew something was off about this place!
Sunny: They’re clearly in trouble. Maybe if we get closer to Violet Frost, we can hear what they’re saying.
(She leads the gang slowly and cautiously toward the gazebo.)
Violet: (with effort, grunting) Let go of me, Allura!
(The airborne feline’s voice is low, gravelly, and unmistakably menacing.)
Allura: Don’t try to fight it, Violet Frost. (The waves stop.) Find me the star that I desire.
(Twitch laughs nastily as the flow resumes; the auroricorn straightens up and stares blankly ahead, a violet flicker playing across her eyes.)
Violet: (placidly) Yes, Allura. (Allura cuts it again.)
Allura: Don’t forget to smile.
(The haze clears from Violet’s eyes and her mouth stretches into a wide, immobile grin to match those of Comet and company.)
Allura: And have fun.
(She flies off, taking the carrier with her and leaving behind only another unpleasant laugh from Twitch. Violet quickly brings a shining lozenge down from the sky as Comet had done and heads into the forest, to the great dismay of the seven watchers during a slow zoom in on them. Dissolve to a stretch of snowy treetops and tilt down to them at ground level.)
Misty: What do we do?
Zipp: Clearly this Allura has got all the auroricorns under her spell.
(A laughing Comet and Violet pass, each levitating a lozenge projectile from the sky.)
Sunny: We have to snap them out of it!
(They waste no time in getting after the pair, who continue in their joyless mirth.)
Sunny: Maybe if we can get Violet Frost and Comet far away from Allura— (galloping ahead) —we can get them out of the trance. (She plants her haunches and slides to a stop near…) Violet Frost! (raising forelegs) Stop! Violet, no!
(But the entranced mare just keeps plodding along with her payload, knocking Sunny aside. Hitch and Izzy fare just as poorly when they try to impede her forward progress; Sparky falls off the former’s back, while the latter gets spun in place before collapsing in a heap.)
Izzy: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!
(Across the way, Pipp and Zipp come out on the wrong end of a brief wrestling match with Comet and find themselves toppled onto the snow. Now Misty gets into the act, trying to grapple with Violet and getting thrown off, and Hitch—with Sparky on his back again—seizes a hind leg.)
Misty: Wow. They are being really difficult. (Violet pulls loose.)
Hitch: And happily! (Sparky jumps off his back and onto hers.)
Pipp: (hovering, spreading forelegs wide) You do not want to go that way!
(When Violet pays no attention to the airborne roadblock, Sunny leaps in and tries to push her back, only to go flat on her face. Sparky jumps clear and scrambles over to her.)
Sunny: (standing) We need to be organized. Let’s link up.
(Five mares and one stallion plant themselves in the path of Comet and Violet, standing shoulder to shoulder, and succeed in bulldozing them back several yards. Comet’s eyes briefly flicker violet before he returns to reality, letting his lozenge drop.)
Comet: (dazedly) Huh? (Violet comes to as well.)
Violet: (dropping hers) Sunny? (Overhead shot of the gathering on the next line.)
Comet: What are you all doing here?
Sunny: Huh! (Ground level.) It worked! Finally! (galloping ahead with Hitch; Sparky jumping on his back) Hurry! Over here!
(All race down a trail and stop a distance away.)
Violet: (sadly) I guess you discovered our secret.
Zipp: Violet, what’s going on? You can tell us.
Pipp: Yeah, we just want to help.
Sunny: (patting Violet’s shoulder) It’s okay. We’re friends.
Violet: We didn’t want to tell you because we didn’t want to risk you all getting hurt too.
Hitch: Violet, who is that? What does she want? (Sparky gabbles impatiently.)
Violet: That’s Allura. She’s an evil tyrant that showed up one day with her little sidekick Twitch. She completely took over Starlight Ridge by force. (Cut to Sunny on this last word.)
Sunny: By force?
Comet: Yeah. Allura claimed the most important thing in our town.
(During the previous line, the view dissolves to a frost-edged flashback of the interior of the meeting hall, Comet’s words shifting to voice over. Allura bursts in through the closed front doors with Twitch on her back, finding the place almost deserted except for Violet and another auroricorn. Instead of the rotating mug display seen in Act One, the aisle is set with a small shelf at its far end on which a glowing object stands. Zoom in quickly to a close-up of this: a brass-trimmed crystal urn with a purple/white body and faintly gleaming, pale blue-green stopper. A far stronger, nearly white light emanates through the side wall, intense enough to
give a vaguely lozenge-shaped outline of its source. Allura grins wickedly and hefts it in a nimbus of purple magic.)
Comet: (voice over) A special relic called the Nova Charm.
(The leopard uncorks an exultant laugh before the view dissolves back to the present.)
Pipp: That must be what we saw earlier! It was so sparkly.
Violet: (drawing a design in the snow with her flute, held by magic) The sparkliest. It’s a special charm that our town has possessed for thousands of moons. Town law says that whoever holds the power of the Charm rules Starlight Ridge. Allura managed to steal it and possess it— (hanging head dejectedly) —so she’s leader.
(Cut to/from her sketch on this line, a rough depiction of the urn or Nova Charm, then to Izzy and Misty.)
Izzy: Awww, this is no fun at all! Allura sounds like a real bully!
(Her attempt to stomp for emphasis turns into a yelling tumble when her hoof slides out, but Comet is quick to pull her back up.)
Izzy: You should stand up to her.
Comet: I wish we could, but she’s very powerful.
Violet: (from o.s.) And persuasive. (Cut to her.) She’s able to get us to do whatever she wants just by talking. (To Comet on the next line.)
Comet: If we try to stand up to her, she could destroy our whole village without us even realizing it! That’s how much her powers can trick our minds. (shaking head) It’s no use.
Sunny: But what does she want?
Violet: Allura forces us to use our magic to make the aurora flares.
(Dissolve to another frost-edged flashback on this line, her words shifting to voice over. With the Charm floating close by in the spiky ice container seen earlier, Allura purrs a spell onto Violet, making her grin with a half-choked giggle and turn away. Twitch snickers in a close-up of him and Allura, showing beady green eyes; from here, cut to an aurora flare shining across the sky amid a shower of lozenges, which descend and are caught by Violet and two others.)
Comet: (voice over) Then she makes us steal the stars out of them!
(Violet carries the one she has snagged through the forest as Allura and Twitch smile contentedly down on the stellar looting operation.)
Violet: (voice over) She believes that one of the stars in the sky is special and contains the magic to open a portal that will lead her to another realm.
(Dissolve to the here and now.)
Violet: She wants to control more than just Starlight Ridge.
Comet: And until she finds the right one, she’s making us steal them all.
Pipp: I can’t believe that anypony would be so cruel! Plus, the stars are stunning! That bully does not deserve any of them.
Hitch: Maybe we need to get everypony away from Allura?
Izzy: (hopping in place) You could all come back to Equestria with us!
Misty: If we figure out how to get back, that is.
Comet: That’s a great idea!
Violet: We can’t just leave our home like that! Starlight Ridge is special.
Comet: But…what else can we do, Violet Frost? (with sudden determination, galloping toward village) We have to get the auroricorns away from Allura!
Sunny: Comet, wait!
(But by the time he reaches the gazebo, the purple cast of Allura’s magic has flickered across his eyes and his mouth has stretched into an immobile grin again. He manages a strained laugh as the camera pan/tilts up to a hovering Allura, Charm at side and Twitch on back; she voices a quiet purr and lands before him.)
Allura: Comet, there you are.
(The Maretime Bay contingent, sans Sunny, peeks out from behind a tree trunk and voices a collective gasp. Pan quickly from them to a snowbank, behind which the heads of the missing mare and Violet pop up.)
Sunny, Violet: Oh, no! (Back to Comet/Allura on the next line.)
Allura: (pacing around him) Almost got lost in the woods, did you?
Comet: (placidly) Happy to be back, Allura.
Allura: That’s right. We need that happiness alive and well. Now go. (He trots away.) Join the others.
(The spies duck out of sight an instant before she and Twitch can train suspicious eyes on their area, the rabbit voicing a puzzled grunt. The two turn away, and Allura takes flight.)
Misty: (to Zipp) What are we going to do?
Zipp: There’s no way we can get everypony away from Allura long enough to remove the trance.
Violet: (nervously) There has to be another way. There has to be!
Sunny: Well, if whoever has the Nova Charm is in charge of Starlight Ridge, then there’s only one thing to do.
Violet: (resolutely) We’re getting that Charm back!
(Two pairs of green eyes stare intently toward the village from under lowered brows as a lozenge-shaped star is brought down from the night and levitated away. Allura and Twitch keep watch, flying slowly over the plaza as the leopard keeps that quiet purr going. Sunny risks a glance from behind her ice sculpture of the Crystals, Violet from one end of the arch encompassing Izzy’s group pose, and both zero in on the Charm held in its icy case and Allura’s magic. Now Izzy puts her head out alongside Violet; zoom in slowly on them.)
Violet: (softly) Wait for it…
(Misty, Hitch, Zipp, and Pipp in turn risk looks from behind their respective creations. By the time Allura shifts her focus back to the plaza, though, all seven have taken cover again; they peek out only after she has cleared the area, Sparky doing likewise from the egg he sculpted.)
Violet: (whispering) Now!
(They begin to slide their statues across the plaza and toward the meeting hall, but Pipp freezes up with a panicked gasp after some seconds.)
Pipp: (softly) Hide!
(They do so with almost no time to spare before Allura/Twitch make another lazy pass, and they go unnoticed even though several body parts are in plain sight. Once the coast is clear, they gallop into the building and slam the doors behind themselves. Inside, they advance toward the far end of the deserted hall, Pipp/Zipp now flying and Sparky up on one of the tables to check the discarded mugs for traces of cocoa. He mumbles disconsolately at finding the first two empty, but tips a single drop from a third onto his tongue, smacks his lips appreciatively, and runs off carrying it. Sunny and Violet pace the floor, while the other ponies sit at the tables.)
Sunny: There’s got to be a way to stop her.
Violet: Well, everypony has a weakness.
Sunny: Exactly! We just need to figure out hers. (They pace near the shelf that had held the charm in Violet’s flashback. Zoom out slowly.) What does Allura care about?
Violet: The portal… (looking up at overhead lamps) …the stars…the aurora flares…
[Continuity error: The shelf was not present during the Equestrians’ arrival in Act One.]
(Cut to Pipp/Zipp on the next line.)
Zipp: Is this why you were being so strange about the aurora flares earlier? Because of Allura?
Violet: Yeah, sorry about that. But when we’re happy and having a great time, the aurora flares blast across the sky. We can’t help it. Allura uses her powers to trick us into feeling happy. She forces us to make the flares against our will.
Hitch: That’s horrible.
Izzy: Normally I’m all about being happy. But being tricked into it does not sound right. (Cut to Sunny/Violet and zoom in slowly on the following.)
Violet: That’s why whenever she leaves, we celebrate Starshine Time—a time when we make the flares happen by choice. Our real happiness.
Sunny: Everypony deserves to be happy.
Izzy: (hopping away from table) Mmm-hmm! Real happy.
Misty: Why does Allura want to do such bad things? (Sparky carries his mug to her.) Has she always been this way? (She tips a drop into his mouth.)
Violet: (turning to empty shelf; zoom in slowly) All I know is that Allura’s determined to find that other realm by any means possible. And she has the Nova Charm, so she’s in charge.
Sunny: Then we are just going to have to find a way to make Allura give it back.
(Nods and sounds of assent from the rest of the gang.)
Violet: (stomping in frustration) We’ve tried to steal it from her, but it’s impossible!
Sunny: Then it’s time to get creative.
Izzy: (popping up between them) Did somebody say “creative”? (smugly) That’s, uh, kinda my thing.
(She bounds across the floor with a giggle and fires up her horn, exerting her influence over a row of storage cabinets built into the side wall under the windows.)
Hitch: Huh?
(The doors burst open and a hailstorm of mugs and supplies comes flying out toward her. Cut from them to her on the next line.)
Izzy: Come on!
Energetic pop melody with synthesizer, drums, staccato guitar; fast 4 (D major)
(With the items circling overhead, she hops onto a table and brings up three stray mugs.)
Izzy: [Oo-ooh] I got a good feeling
[Ah-h] In my so-o-oul
(Pop up between Hitch and Misty; stack these up and add the one held by the blue mare.)
[Oo-ooh] Let’s put our manes together [Uh-huh!]
[Ah-h] Let’s lose contro-o-ol
(Sparky tumbles across, knocking the tower down and bringing laughs from all three. One mug falls past the camera and is pulled back in Izzy’s magic to frame her standing amid a cloud of floating items. Some of these are set down before a perplexed Violet.)
Izzy: [Oo-ooh] Oh, yeah, I got that vision
[Ah-h] Told you befo-o-ore
(Two pieces are fitted briefly together as a replica of the Charm; the auroricorn smiles, starting to catch on, as the lot is slung toward the ceiling.)
[Oo-ooh] I’ll make something out of nothing
[Ah-h] So here we go, whoa, who-oa
(Up above, Pipp detaches a lamp and throws it down to Zipp, who is now carrying a string of lights; both items are dropped off at Sunny’s seat.)
Izzy: (spoken in rhythm, falsetto) Can you see it?
(sung) Oh, yeah, I can see it
Just follow my vibe, no, we don’t need a blueprint
[Uh-huh!]
(Sunny picks up a nearby multicolored beach ball and tosses it to Misty, who catches it in her field; it becomes an umbrella once Sparky breathes fire onto it.)
(transition to speaking in rhythm) Life is random, sometimes it’s chaotic
(It pops open and she frantically grabs the handle to keep it from blowing away, tilting it so that its canopy fills the screen. Here comes Izzy, wielding a paintbrush in her aura to sloppily cover the entire lens with a dark blue-green.)
(sung) But in a bit of time, oh, pony, it’ll be lit [Whoo!]
(Snap to a mishmash of objects being levitated from a box, then cut to Izzy jumping onto a table and collecting various from Sunny/Hitch/Misty/Sparky.)
Izzy: Every little thing, yeah, has got a purpose [Oh-h]
Oh, pony, can you feel me?
Every little thing yeah, just needs a pla-a-ace [Oh-h]
Oh, pony, can you hear me?
(She jumps to the floor and crosses to Violet, who is painting a bottle stuffed with lights, then sends her own load up.)
Every little pony has got their own destiny [Oh-h]
And I’m gonna live mine with a little creativity-y [Oh-h]
With a little creativity [Creativity-y-y]
(The lights are draped in a rough star pattern onto the upper surface of the umbrella, now painted blue-green, and a snowflake is attached to the end of each support rib as bottles and sticks are moved into position.)
Izzy: With a little creativity [Oh, pony]
(She and Violet trade grins and a high five.)
[With creativity]
With a little creativity
Song ends abruptly
(She throws a hoof-load of glitter into the air, filling the screen.)
Act Three
(When the view clears, the scene has shifted back to the hypnotized auroricorns’ star collection campaign going on outside. Allura flies overhead, purring away with Twitch on her back and the Charm in easy reach.)
Allura: Smile, ponies, smile! We need that cheer to get what we want.
(Cut to/from one squad of frozen-faced searchers during this line, after which Allura shifts direction and Twitch chitters urgently while pointing downward.)
Allura: You’re right, Twitch. I haven’t seen Violet Frost in…forever. Where is that pony? (Another pass over the plaza.) You fool!
(Cut to her perspective of the mare in question, walking among the workforce, and zoom in. Something small, round, and whitish protrudes from one ear.)
Allura: She’s right over there!
(But her grin slips away as she looks furtively around herself; back to the two usurpers, Twitch resuming his frantic yammering and gesticulation.)
Allura: (wearily, rolling eyes) Fine.
(She makes an abrupt landing, exposing a violet starburst against a near-white spiral on her right haunch, and purrs energy over Violet for a moment. The latter has only time for one startled cry before succumbing, grin and all.)
Allura: (circling around Violet) Violet Frost, what are you doing?
Violet: (placidly) Hi, Allura. Happy to see you. (lighting horn) I’m just looking for that special star.
(One comes down from the night and is carried away; a wing-assisted bound brings Allura closer to watch her go.)
Allura: (to Twitch) See? She’s in the trance. (He protests.) What do you want? You’re annoying me.
(She strides away; cut to Hitch and Izzy observing from within a nearby stand of trees, Sparky on Hitch’s back, and zoom out to frame Misty with them on the next line.)
Misty: How is Violet resisting the trance?
Izzy: Oh! I made her some special crystal snowball earplugs.
(Extreme close-up of the blocked ear; now the item in it is visible as a wad of the sparkly snow—she is faking hypnosis in order to work undercover, with a little help from Izzy’s crafting.)
Izzy: (from o.s., whispering) Just enough to muffle the spell.
(Tilt down to the captured star, now resting on Violet’s upturned hoof; she tucks it away and brings out a string of lights knotted into a wad to replace it. She continues in her ersatz-brainwashed tone for her next two lines.)
Violet: (floating it up) The special star! (That gets Allura’s attention.)
Allura: What did you say?
Violet: The special star! I found it!
Allura: (to Twitch, whispering) Protect the Charm.
Twitch: (nodding) Mmm-hmm!
(He jumps down and she flies toward Violet, leaving the Charm suspended in her magic just above ground level. The nefarious little rabbit begins marching back and forth in front of it as she lands to inspect the find.)
Allura: I don’t believe it! Show me.
(Violet tips a wink toward the trees; Zipp, on the receiving end, ducks behind the one she, Hitch, and Sparky have been using as cover. With a grunt of mild effort, the two ponies start pulling at ropes that run up and over pulleys in the branches; out in front, a snowdrift disperses to reveal the end product of Izzy’s work at the end of the previous act. The open, light-festooned umbrella is open and pointing outward from the trunk, sporting a plethora of buttons and sparkles. Violet’s light-filled bottles hang to either side, and more light strings have been placed as further decoration. The umbrella is rotating in place, actuated by the pull of the ropes.)
Allura: (from o.s., dumbfounded) A portal! (Back to her.) I did it! I finally did it! (hovering, grabbing “star”) Give me that! Now I can use this star to open any portal and go to whichever realm I desire!
(As Twitch continues to guard the Charm, Sunny, Pipp, and Misty watch from the nearby gazebo. Close-up of the earth pony and unicorn, who speak in whispers for the next two lines.)
Misty: What do we do now?
Sunny: We’ve gotta distract him!
(They are interrupted by a yawn from the o.s. rabbit; cut to him, stretching and leaning drowsily against the Charm, his weight supported by the one foreleg he is using to prop himself up. Pipp’s gasp is heard from o.s.; over by the gazebo, she flies down for a better look.)
Pipp: Or lull him!
(Sunny and Misty smile at the suggestion, and she begins to hum the lullaby she wrote and sang for Sparky in “Have You Seen This Dragon?”—in E flat major, rather than its original key of D flat major. Twitch’s eyelids begin to close…he shakes himself awake…Pipp shifts from humming the melody to vocalizing it…and the blue-furred flunky nods off, leaning against the Charm and snoring heartily. Sunny and Misty laugh appreciatively.)
Sunny: You did it!
Misty: Way to go, Pipp! (She and Sunny give Pipp a double high five.)
Pipp: Nopony can resist falling asleep to my lullabies, especially that one.
(Now Misty revs up her horn to pull the Charm away from Twitch, leaving him to thud into the snow but not waking him up. The three mares smile as it drifts within their reach. Meanwhile, Allura stalks toward the portal mockup with a soft growl of triumph, accompanied by Violet as Hitch and Zipp keep working the ropes to spin it. Their grunts give away the toll that the job is taking on them, and Sparky is hanging on to one line.)
Zipp: How much longer do you think we have to pull these for?
Hitch: I have no idea, but my hooves are getting tired!
(Allura grumbles to herself when the “star” she is holding flickers a bit, sensing that something is amiss; her suspicions are confirmed when she picks a snowflake off the umbrella’s edge.)
Allura: A fake!
(She crushes it with a growl; Izzy, looking on, utters a fearful moan and waves madly to signal the trio at the gazebo. Allura gasps sharply upon spotting her.)
Izzy: Oopsie!
(She bails out; Allura snarls at Violet, who can only work up a sheepish giggle at having been bowled out, and the “star” is flung down as she gives chase. Violet drops her pretense of being under the trance.)
Violet: Double oops!
Hitch: Uh-oh!
(He and Zipp join in Izzy’s evacuation, Sparky having dropped onto Hitch’s back by this point, and Twitch comes out of his nap as the ponies pelt past. Violet is with them, the Charm held aloft in her aura.)
Violet: We got the Charm!
(Allura slews to a stop just long enough for Twitch to climb aboard, then takes off flying toward the plaza in pursuit of the group. They halt as Comet gallops across to them, his faculties restored.)
Comet: I can’t believe you got the Nova Charm back! You saved us! (Violet has shucked her earplugs.)
Violet: We’re finally free!
(A frigid gust of wind blows the relic out of their reach, generated by the wings of a boiling-mad Allura as she hits the deck.)
Allura: (slowly backing Izzy/Pipp up) Six little ponies wandered into my territory and tried to destroy my plans? (She wheels into Sunny’s face.) Who do you think you are?
Sunny: I know who we are. We’re the auroricorns’ friends, and we’re not going to let anypony—or not-pony—hurt them!
(Cut briefly to Allura’s smirking face and Twitch’s skeptical one and back during this second sentence. The orange mare holds her ground in the face of some predatory circling, then lets her horn and wings shimmer into being once she finishes, her saddlebag vanishing in time.)
Allura: (chuckling derisively) An alicorn! How cute. (Twitch adds his own commentary; cut to Violet on the following.)
Violet: It’s too late, Allura. You lost! We have the Nova Charm now!
Allura: Lost? You think I need that pathetic Charm to have what I want?
(She purrs, throwing power into Comet’s face when the camera cuts back to him. Reduced once again to a grinning, laughing automaton, he clamps his jaws around one of the spikes protruding from the Charm’s icy holder and carries it away. Cut to Allura/Twitch on the next line; he lets it thud to the ground near them.)
Allura: I don’t need the Charm to do anything. (Twitch adds a mocking sound.) I can have whatever I want. All I need is the power of… (purring out a spell; pan away to follow it) …purr-suasion.
(Izzy sees it coming and dives away with a gasp, but Misty takes the brunt and falls into Allura’s power with a dopey laugh. When Izzy straightens up, she too has been enthralled—evidently she failed to get clear in time. Hitch and Sparky are the next to go, then Pipp; Zipp throws her wings into high gear and manages to shake the flying jungle cat.)
Zipp: Hah!
(Her celebration gets no far than a chuckle before Allura pulls up and hits her point-blank; she touches down with that same awful wide-eyed grin.)
Zipp: (placidly) This place is so great! (Allura lands.)
Allura: (to Sunny/Violet) Maybe I’ll let the auroricorns have a little fun with you two before I make you join them.
(During this line, cut to/from the two unaffected mares, who find themselves uncomfortably ringed in by Comet and the rest of the Maretime Bay bunch. They peel out ahead of their laughing pursuers.)
Violet: What do we do, Sunny? (Both stop and face the others, now marching steadily ahead.) We can’t lose our beautiful Starlight Ridge to Allura!
Sunny: And you won’t.
(The mirthless giggles and the crystal hooves continue to close in—but a misstep by Izzy sends her stumbling against Comet and knocks him away to fall face-first into a snowdrift.)
Comet: Huh?
(He blinks his eyes clear of Allura’s magic, gasps softly once this fact sinks in, and sits up.)
Comet: Hmmm…
(Just as quickly as her control broke, it re-establishes itself.)
Sunny: Huh. That was weird.
(Cut to a close-up of one snowy patch, zooming in slowly, then dissolve to one of Violet while she was pretending to be under Allura’s influence. The camera zooms in on the plug stuffed into one ear, showing the snow’s characteristic colorful sparkles. From here, dissolve to Sunny, who gasps as a mental connection falls into place.)
Sunny: Violet Frost, didn’t you say the snow here had healing magic?
Violet: Yeah, but I’ve never actually seen it used.
(Close-up of a spot as Sunny’s hoof scrapes away the top layer of snow, exposing the glittery particles. Her sharp gasp is heard from o.s.; back to her on the next line.)
Sunny: That’s it! That’s why Izzy’s earplugs worked! (She passes a newly made one to Violet.)
Violet: What?
Sunny: (holding up more snow) They’re made of snow! (Close-up of the chunk; she continues o.s.) The snow here is special! (Back to her.) Very special!
(It is thrown across the plaza, scoring a bullseye on Comet’s chest and snapping him back.)
Comet: Huh?
Violet: It’s a cure!
(Seeing that the other Equestrian conscripts are still bearing down on them, Sunny and Violet get to scooping and throwing. Izzy and Zipp take the first two hits and come around.)
Izzy, Zipp: (dazed) Whoa.
(Dirty looks from Allura and Twitch, and an outraged squeak from the latter, do nothing to stop the two throwers from letting Hitch, Sparky, and Pipp have it in turn.)
Pipp: Sunny, you did it!
Allura: But how?
Hitch: The snow here is special— (Sunny pelts Misty, who snaps to and gasps.) —just like the auroricorns.
Allura: What are you going to do? (She lifts off.) Keep throwing snow at everypony?
Sunny: That’s exactly what we’re going to do!
Izzy: (stepping into view, with several snowballs in her field) CRYSTAL SNOWBALL FIGHT!!
(She lets fly, striking two mares and bringing them back around; now Violet grabs up a ball of her own.)
Violet: Come on, everypony! (pitching it) Keep throwing snowballs!
(It proves to be a subzero wake-up call for a third, seen in a cut on the end of this lie; the ones Izzy hit speak up next.)
Mare 1: But she’s been controlling us for so long.
Mare 2: Can we really beat her?
Violet: Yes, we can! I know we can! Sunny made me remember how special of a place Starlight Ridge is!
(Sunny flies past, levitating a snowball, and Pipp stops to address the group while carrying two more.)
Pipp: And it doesn’t stop there. Starlight Ridge is special, but what makes it extra-special is all of you! (Cut to two revived auroricorns, who smile at each other; she continues o.s.) You are the auroricorns! (Back to her.) You’re amazing!
Misty: It’s true. I know how you all must feel. Being under the hoof of somepony that’s angry and wants to control you…
(As she starts into this third sentence, the view shifts to Allura purring to put the two mares Izzy hit under her control again and watching Pipp cancel her out with two well-placed throws.)
Misty: …but it doesn’t have to be this way. (Zipp flies into view.)
Zipp: The only way to get what you want is to have the courage to defend yourself! (Pan to Hitch on the next line.)
Hitch: They’re all right! Nopony deserves this!
Allura: Quiet! Your plan will never work! I’ll just entrance you all again.
(Cut to Sunny/Izzy/Comet/Violet on the next line. The two mares who were born with horns have a salvo of snowballs floating overhead, and their stallion counterpart is holding one.)
Sunny: Well, that won’t stop us from trying!
(Comet tosses his up, nearly loses his balance on the slick ground, and pegs a nearby stallion to break him free. Enough snow scatters from this hit to do the same for an adjacent mare.)
Stallion: (laughing) Whoa, that—that was kind of fun!
(He whips a fastball across the plaza, hitting one of the mares Izzy hit and breaking her free of the trance once more. She and her friend laugh and pop each other, and the crystal patch on one’s haunch—itself showing a cluster of crystals—flares brightly. Across the way, Twitch finds himself having to do some fast ducking and weaving in order to avoid being caught in the crossfire. Sparky turns toward the rabbit, hurls up the snowball he is holding in a high arc, and blasts it with his fire breath to turn it into a cupcake. Twitch takes the sugary impact right between the ears and makes a noise of disgust—followed by one of delight once he tastes the mush plastered across the side of his brain bucket.)
(Allura’s own agility is put to the test as she leaps and dives to stay ahead of the laughing barrage, but one throw finally connects with a leg and works her last good nerve. She purrs in Comet’s direction, brainwashing him as he crosses the plaza with a batch of ammunition floating overhead. A loss of traction drops him on his belly with a yell, but his grin does not shift until the snowballs splat down on and around his head to break him free. As a new aurora flare draws itself in the sky, Allura suffers a two-pronged assault consisting of not only snowballs, but laughter from the o.s. Sunny and Zipp. Snarling, she whirls toward the direction of the last hit to find them flying away. The crystals on other autoricorns’ haunches begin to light up as they get in on the fun.)
Sunny: (flying overhead with Zipp) Wow! (Gasp.) Look at that!
(She glances toward the plaza and voices another happy gasp; cut to Comet and a mare, both laughing as their haunches glow.)
Sunny: (from o.s.) That’s it! (She drops to hover above the pair.) When you’re happy, you’re powerful!
Comet: So…we need to have real fun, a-and be truly happy, in order to take back our town! (Cut to Violet on the next line.)
Violet: That’s a great idea! I now declare today… (Hold up her flute.) …Super Starshine Time! (Her own crystal fires up amid a round of cheers.)
Comet: (laughing) All right!
(Summoning an empty mug to himself, he flips it over and begins the same rhythm that preceded Violet’s song in Act One. Two beats of banging the mug against the ground, a third from stomping his free front hoof, then a fourth of silence. Other auroricorns join in, but not using mugs.)
Same tempo/style/key as Violet’s Act One song
Background lyrics muted; banging/stomping rhythm stops
Violet: [Everypony, come on!]
(She accompanies herself on flute.)
[Da, da, da, da-da]
[Da, da, da, da, da-da] [Time to shine now!]
(Allura growls threateningly.)
[Da, da, da, da-da] [You gotta shine now!]
Stomping rhythm only
(Violet trots across the plaza, seeing spots of light kindle on every haunch and no longer carrying her flute.)
Hey, put those working hooves away
Violet, Mare 2: We’re getting in the groove
Bass, percussion in
(Comet’s throw returns a mare to herself.)
Violet: We’re out here shining brighter than the stars above the moon
Synth, flute accents in
(Sunny/Pipp/Zipp fly overhead, framed by the celestial light show as they weave past each other.)
[Oh-h-h] Feels like I’m one with the aurora
(Hitch/Sparky dodge a few throws; the dragon breathes fire on one, changing it to a stuffed toy.)
[Oh-h-h] [We shine!] The magic’s here, it’s shining on us
(Allura subjugates a stallion, but immediately takes the plaything upside the head; as she glares around herself, a well-aimed snowball counteracts her work.)
[Oh-h-h] [So bright, it’s shining on us!] It’s like it’s up there calling
out to me
(Twitch pulls his ears down in a futile effort to block out the music, having cleaned the cupcake residue off himself; the camera tracks around a jubilant Violet.)
To me
(shouted) Yeah!
(Auroricorns up and down the plaza prance proudly, joined by Sunny/Violet as Hitch/Sparky gaze wonderingly up at the sky.)
Violet: Starshine Time, we’re only getting brighter
We’re glowing up together, we shine, shine, shine
[We shine!]
(Snowballs fly playfully this way and that.)
Starshine Time, we’re only getting brighter
We’re glowing up together
Comet, Violet, Equestrians: We shine, shine, shine [We shine!]
Song ends
(The mighty aurora flare grows a few more sizes as Allura uncorks a feral snarl; extreme close-up of her narrowed eyes.)
Allura: NO!!
(Violet and a squad of auroricorns defiantly stomp out the three-beat rhythm, snowballs held in their magic; Allura swoops across and snags the dropped Charm, Twitch on her back.)
Allura: Stop singing! Listen to me! I am your leader!
(She is swiftly relieved of her ill-gotten relic by an expertly placed knuckleball, then gets the rest of the salvo square in the face. Leopard and rabbit describe separate and utterly dignity-free arcs into the snowdrifts; they stand up, Allura shaking herself clean with a fed-up growl and letting most of that snow tumble off Twitch’s head.)
Allura: I’ll get you back, ponies! I want out of this realm, and I always get what I want!
(Cut to/from a slow pan across Sunny/Comet/Violet during this line, all smiling fiercely and not a bit intimidated by these words. She lifts off after she finishes, Twitch hanging on to the end of her tail and adding something in his language that would probably be unrepeatable in mixed company if translated. Violet retrieves the Charm with her magic and brings it back to the center of the plaza. The auroricorns’ haunch crystals have gone quiet by this point.)
Comet: (sighing with relief) I can’t believe we’re finally free!
Sunny: And now you know your secret weapon— (spreading wings) —fun, singing, and lots of snowballs. (Pipp moves toward the Charm.)
Pipp: (tapping its casing) Hmmm…now how do we get the Nova Charm out of its ice cage?
(A happy gurgle from Sparky is all the prompting Hitch needs to aim him straight ahead; he burps out a stream of fire, which melts enough of the holder to let it fall free. The Charm floats intact where it was, to the sound of cheers from Sunny and company, and is taken up by a grateful Violet.)
Violet: You ponies are incredible, and it’s only right that you all become our new leaders.
Sunny: (laughing, crossing to her) We can’t lead Starlight Ridge. We have to go back to Equestria.
Pipp: (nodding) Hm!
Violet: Buuut…if not you all, then who?
Sunny: Why, you, of course! (Cut to Violet.)
Violet: (taken aback) Me? (To Sunny on the next line.)
Sunny: You’ve proven to be an incredible leader today. (Back to Violet.)
Pipp: (nodding) Hm!
Violet: I’m not special enough to lead…am I?
Comet: (from o.s., chanting) Vi-olet Frost! (Cut to him.) Vi-olet Frost!
(The call is quickly taken up by every local within earshot, some of them raising mugs of cocoa in a toast, and Violet smiles at the encouragement. Sunny speaks up once the crowd goes silent.)
Sunny: Being a leader isn’t about possessing a charm, Violet. It’s about doing the right thing. (spreading wings) Having hope. (Slow pan across the others.)
Pipp: (hovering) And having confidence.
Zipp: (spreading wings) And courage.
Misty: Empathy.
Hitch: Kindness.
Izzy: (levitating snowballs in a slowly turning circle) And don’t forget about creativity!
Sunny: You’ve proven to have all of that.
Violet: Okay! I’ll do it! (holding up Charm) I’ll lead Starlight Ridge!
(Hearty cheers and shouts of support from all angles, including a fervent “You got this!” from Misty and a hovering spin from Zipp. Pipp has landed.)
Violet: Now what? How will you get home?
(The white pegasus touches down to trade uncertain glances with her fellow travelers, none having any immediate answer to that rather pertinent question. Cut to a stretch of the surrounding forest and zoom in slowly.)
Sunny: (from o.s.) There must be a way to get back.
(Cut to the Equestrians, Comet, and Violet gathered at this spot; Pipp and Zipp are both hovering; Sunny’s horn/wings have dispelled themselves, and she is wearing her saddlebag.)
Hitch: I’m not so sure. The portal’s closed. We’re lost. (petulantly, sitting) And now we’re stuck.
Misty: Allura couldn’t figure it out. What makes us think we can? (Pipp lands.)
Pipp: (patting Misty’s shoulder) At least this isn’t the worst place to be stuck.
Violet: We are all so thankful that you ponies helped us.
Comet: But it was at the expense of you getting home.
Violet: We’re so sorry.
Izzy: Hey, it’s okay.
(The laws of friction get the better of her and she goes into a shouting scrabble that leaves her sliding toward Violet. A foreleg is thrown up to arrest the unicorn’s motion, but the collision dislodges the Charm from Violet’s grip; the stopper pops off when it hits the ground, ejecting a star to skitter across the snow.)
Izzy: Oopsies. I’ll get it. (She ponders its intense glow.) Hmmm. Sometimes you just have to be creative.
(She rolls the R in this last word while floating the thing up; it has now begun to emit sparks.)
Sunny: What are you talking about, Izzy? (It is maneuvered to a certain midair spot.) Wait a second. You don’t think…? (Izzy nods to her.)
Misty: (pointing at star) What’s going on?
(With no warning, it expands to form an exact duplicate of the portal that brought them here in the first place. Cut to a thunderstruck Violet on the next line.)
Violet: The Nova Charm was the star! (Zipp lands next to Hitch.)
Zipp: You mean Allura had it the whole time?
Hitch: (laughing) I guess her greed and anger stopped her from seeing the special thing right before her eyes. (He and Zipp move toward the portal.)
Comet: (a bit dejectedly) I guess this means you can go home now.
Zipp: Equestria, here we come!
(A fragment of the star drifts free of the portal, settling onto Izzy’s raised hoof and extinguishing itself before she, Misty, and Comet gather in and Sunny/Violet regard each other warmly.)
Sunny, Izzy, Misty, Violet: Awww…
(Comet laughs and sighs with them; now Hitch, Pipp, and Zipp join in the tender moment, the sisters hovering. The two sides then step back from each other.)
Violet: (taking fragment offered by Izzy) Thank you for everything. We will never forget you all.
Sunny: (hesitantly) Well, I guess we better get going, then.
(The out-of-towners turn away and approach the portal.)
Comet: (shakily, with great indecision) Uh… (abruptly, after a glance at Violet) …I’m coming with you! (All stop.)
Pipp: I’m sorry, what did you just say? (Zoom in slowly on Comet.)
Comet: I have been dreaming of seeing the rest of the world for as long as I can remember. (Another look at Violet, who smiles warmly.) A-And I couldn’t be happier to call Starlight Ridge home, but…
(The new leader nods in silent acceptance.)
Comet: …I am ready for my next adventure. (spinning in place) I want to see what else is out there! And what better way to do it than with new friends? (with slight hesitation) So if it’s okay, I would like to come with you.
Zipp: (scoffing) Are you kidding?
(These words and their tone set the stallion to cringing mightily. Long silence.)
Pipp: (beaming) Of course you can come! (All smile.)
Zipp: Right!
Misty: Join the team!
Sunny: Yeah!
Hitch: We’d love to have you! (During this line, cut to Izzy crossing to Comet; they rear up and dance, clapping front hooves together.)
Izzy: New friend, new friend, new friend! Ooh!
Violet: I’m so proud of you, Comet. (dropping to a whisper) You’re gonna have the most amazing time. I know it. (to the group, normal volume) One more thing! (offering the star fragment to Izzy) I want you to have this.
(The blue-maned mare takes the spot of light and ponders it carefully.)
Izzy: But don’t you need it?
Violet: (holding up urn, then putting it down) I think it’s time we did away with the old rules and started making some new ones. It belongs with you, Izzy. That way, you can always find your way back to Starlight Ridge. Plus, now I know that the Nova Charm isn’t what makes a leader. Caring about what your fellow ponies is.
(Izzy removes her necklace, does a bit of quick work, and laughingly holds it up with the stellar bit attached in place of the original kite-shaped jewel at its center.)
Pipp: (singsong) Love i-i-it! (Izzy puts it on again.)
Izzy: (as she and Violet touch each other’s chest) Hoof to heart.
(She vanishes into the portal; Sunny turns back to give Violet a final hug.)
Sunny: You’re gonna do great.
(Now she takes the big step, the last of her contingent to do so, and Violet smiles contentedly after them and at an aurora flare playing above the horizon. Cut to a portal open at the base of the Together Tree where Opaline’s castle used to stand; the six ponies and one dragon leap/fly out of it and back into Equestria amid a babel of laughter and whoops. They have returned to their normal appearance, with the exception of the necklace Izzy is still wearing. Comet emerges a few seconds later.)
Comet: Oh! (Laugh.)
Sunny: We’re so excited you came with us, Comet!
Comet: (laughing) Whoa! You ponies look different now. (He looks from Pipp to Zipp.)
Zipp: (catching on) Oh, yeah! This is what we really look like. Surprise!
Comet: (laughing) Oh, I’ve been in Equestria one minute and I’m already learning so much!
Pipp: (landing next to him) I have a feeling you’re gonna super-love it here. (Cut to Sunny on the next line, pacing before the portal.)
Sunny: And if you ever do miss home, we know exactly how to get back. Speaking of home, I think it’s time we head back to ours.
Misty: I think we’ve finally earned ourselves that nap. (All set off laughing, Pipp/Zipp taking wing.)
Comet: Oh, uh, I am one of the best nappers at Starlight Ridge. It is amazing. (fading out) Sometimes I can nap for, like, hours on end and…
(Dissolve to the snow/ice sculptures clustered outside the meeting hall in Starlight Ridge, zooming in slowly, then to the interior of the building. The rotating display of full cocoa mugs has been set up again in the center of the floor, and quite a few auroricorns have come in for a drink. Two of them clunk their mugs together, and Violet uses her magic to serve a third from a tray. The enthusiastic slurp that follows would seem to suggest that it sits well with the imbiber.)
Mare 1: (waving) More razzleberry cocoa for me, please!
Mare 3: I’ll take another apple-oat!
Violet: You got it!
(Two fresh mugs are slid down the table to them, lifted and tapped together in auras, and tasted. Here comes Violet.)
Mare 1: You’re the best leader ever, Violet Frost.
(Her empty mug is floated onto the tray. Cut to just outside one side window, where Twitch is listening through the glass as best he can. He turns away, voicing a string of gibberish meant as a mockery of these words, but starts paying attention once the next ones hit his ears.)
Mare 1: (slightly muffled by glass) I’m so glad Comet and the others made it through the portal—
(He gives a yelp of surprise; cut to just inside, framing him mumbling curiously to himself, then to a longer shot framing the conversation during the next line.)
Mare 1: (heard clearly) —but they definitely made Starshine Time a little bit brighter.
(During the second half of this line, the camera cuts to inside—first a close-up of Twitch mumbling curiously to himself, then a longer shot framing the conversation.)
Violet: Yeah, Equestria is very lucky to have them.
(The fuzzy little eavesdropper quits his post. Dissolve to a tilt down from the snowy forest treetops and stop on him hopping frantically toward a rather annoyed Allura.)
Allura: What is it?
(His quick bit of miming gets her dander even further up.)
Allura: What did you say?!
(After a few more gestures, he hops onto her back and points emphatically in a particular direction. She lifts off to follow that heading, after which the view dissolves to a close-up of the still-open portal. Zoom out slowly.)
Allura: (landing; Twitch jumps down) What? Those ponies found the portal?
(Twitch’s affirming chitter is followed by an echoing, scornful male voice.)
Voice: You fool! (Wide-eyed gasp from Allura.) You had the star the whole time!
Allura: Don’t worry, brother. I’ll get it back.
(Her teeth bared and a dangerous purr bubbling in her throat, she steps through the portal with Twitch hopping after her. Dissolve to a long shot of the Crystal Brighthouse during the day, zooming in slowly, then to Sunny and company just inside the front entrance. Pipp and Zipp are hovering, and Comet is so excited that he might jump out of his skin at any moment. Zoom out slowly as he makes his way through the space.)
Comet: There’s so much to see! (passing arts-and-crafts corner, twirling near fireplace) So much to learn! I can’t… (stumbling, nearly falling) …whoa!…wait!
Sunny: We are so happy you’re here, Comet.
Hitch: Yeah! We’re gonna show you all there is to see in Equestria.
Misty: And with Opaline and Allura gone, there’s nothing but fun to be had! (Izzy gasps.)
Izzy: Let’s start right now! Comet! (levitating three balls of yarn) How do you feel about a game where we balance yarn balls on our heads?
(She gets them stacked up on her own noggin and holds her position well enough for a moment before gravity starts to get the better of her.)
Izzy: (wobbling) Whooaa!
(Down she goes in a heap, drawing concerned looks from the others—that is, until she bounces right back up with one ball impaled on her horn and several yards of it tangled around her body.)
Izzy: Ta-daaa!
(All laugh as the camera zooms out slowly and the view fades to black.)