THE CRYSTALLING—PART ONE

Written by Josh Haber

Produced by Devon Cody

Story editing by Josh Haber

Supervising direction by Jim Miller

Directed by Denny Lu, Tim Stuby

Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)

Note:                Unless otherwise indicated, all mentions of Crystal Empire ponies other than

previously established characters refer to crystal ponies in their brightly colored,

non-crystalline appearance.

Prologue

(Opening shot: fade in to an overhead shot of a corridor within Twilight Sparkle’s castle—the Castle of Friendship, as named by Spike at the end of Part Two of “The Cutie Re-Mark.” Starlight Glimmer walks slowly down its length, turning her head back and forth to eye the sets of identical double doors that line both walls, and sighs to herself. Even from this distance, a marked change in the style of her mane can be discerned since the end of that earlier episode: her forelock curls past one side of her horn instead of hanging in straight bangs divided by it.)

Starlight: Okay. Library, library…where did they put the library?

(In close-up, she peeks through one open door. She looks to either side of herself, the camera alternating between the unicorn and her perspective of each stretch of this new corridor—nothing but closed, unmarked doors reaching into the distance—and lets off a mildly irritated sigh.)

Starlight: This castle looked a lot smaller from the outside.

(She walks up to one set of doors at random and exerts her magic over them. Cut to a close-up as they swing open to reveal a bathroom; Spike is in here, standing on a stool to reach the sink and brush his teeth. A towel is wrapped around his waist—fresh out of the shower—and a band of cloth around his head keeps his spines back. His next two lines are slightly garbled by his mouthful of toothpaste foam.)

Spike: (waving) Morning, Starlight! (Zoom out to frame her, staring popeyed.)

Starlight: (averting gaze) Whoops! (Her aura yanks the doors shut.) Sorry, Spike! I guess I’m still trying to find my way around. You don’t happen to know where the library is, do you? (He opens the door and points with his toothbrush.)

Spike: Next door on the left.

(Duck back in. Slam the door. The camera pans slightly to follow Starlight’s eyes in the direction he has indicated—to yet another pair of undifferentiated doors.)

Starlight: Oh. (calling over shoulder) Thanks!

(Cut to Twilight standing at a table in the library, levitating the top end of a scroll that rests among a couple of books and marking off items with a quill. As she speaks, the camera zooms out slightly and one of the closed doors swings open under Starlight’s influence to admit her.)

Twilight: Acceptance, mmm-hmm…altruism, definitely. (seeing her, lowering quill/scroll) Starlight! Good morning! Come in!

Starlight: (walking in) Sorry I’m late. I got a little turned around. I still can’t believe you’re letting me stay here— (losing steam; Twilight crosses to her) —as your pupil…after everything I did.

Twilight: Well, I’m not one to dwell on the past, and neither should you. (Both cross to the table.) The Castle is your home now. (floating up quill/scroll) And as far as being my pupil goes, I was just trying to figure out what your first friendship lesson should be.

(Said pupil is more than a bit caught out by the sheer number of entries that she can easily see on the unrolled portion. Twilight lets everything drop to the table.)

Starlight: Oh! Well, it looks like you’re really narrowing it down.

Twilight: (briefly floating it up again) Oh, these are just the A’s. (gesturing to one side) After this, I move on to the B’s.

(Pan quickly in that direction and stop on another table stacked high with documents and practically ringed in by other piles on the floor. A few scrolls are scattered among the plethora of paperwork. Pan slightly to bring a grinning Twilight into the fore, then cut to Starlight, whose blue eyes shrink almost to panic-stricken points. Her teeth have joined in on the act, nibbling fearfully at her lower lip, but she somehow forces the lower half of her face into a terrified approximation of a grin at the thought of what this first lesson might entail. Zoom in slowly and fade to black.)

OPENING THEME

Act One

(Opening shot: fade in to a long shot of the Castle, seen from a distance near the edge of Ponyville during the day. Zoom in slowly past the equines going about their business.)

Starlight: (voice over) I know I’m just learning about friendship—

(Cut to the piles of documents in the library.)

Starlight: (walking into view, floating several up) —but I didn’t think there were this many lessons for anything. (stacking them) How do we choose? (Here comes Twilight to take this bunch; Starlight levitates some others.)

Twilight: Maybe I should pare things down a bit before we go through them.

(A split-second grimace gives way to a quick zip across the way so she can put a foreleg across Starlight’s shoulders with a grin and take hold of the latest floating set of pages.)

Twilight: Why don’t you join the others in the throne room? They’re planning our trip to the Crystal Empire— (setting them down) —when Shining Armor and Princess Cadence have their baby.

Starlight: Throne room. Got it!

(Recall that this upcoming birth was the secret that the royal couple revealed in “The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows.” Out goes Starlight at a full gallop, only to put her head back in the doorway with great puzzlement a second later.)

Starlight: Um…which way is the throne room?

(Her sheepish chuckle is followed by the Princess’ indulgent sigh and eye roll. Dissolve to an overhead shot of the throne room and its central map table, now bare. All of the seats are occupied except those of Twilight and Spike. Zoom in slowly.)

Rainbow Dash: Well, I think we should leave ASAP.

(Pronounced “A-sap.” One door swings open under Starlight’s magical grip and she enters.)

Rainbow: I don’t want to miss the Crystalling. (Cut to table level.)

Fluttershy: But, um, shouldn’t we wait for the invitation?

Applejack: Frankly, I’m not exactly clear on all the customs and traditions of the Crystal Empire, especially when it comes to a Crystalling. (Starlight crosses to her.)

Starlight: What’s a Crystalling?

Rarity: Well, that’s just it, darling. Princess Cadence and Shining Armor’s baby is due any day, and we’re still not sure. The Crystal Empire was gone for a thousand years. A lot of their customs are a bit murky.

Applejack: We know it’s got somethin’ to do with the new baby— (Pinkie Pie pops up at point-blank range.)

Pinkie: And a party! (Huge grin.)

Fluttershy: —and the Crystal Heart— (Pinkie pops up behind her; she cowers away in her seat.)

Pinkie: And a party! (Rainbow flies over to Applejack and Starlight.)

Rainbow: —and some kinda cool energy. (Pinkie steps into the fore to face them, standing on the table.)

Pinkie: Aaaand… (Head-on view; she throws confetti.) …a party!

(Her go-to idea thoroughly fails to impress either Rainbow or Starlight; the pegasus gives the unicorn a “what are you gonna do?” smile and shrug.)

Spike: (from o.s.) It’s not hard to understand.

(Here he comes into the throne room, fully in order after his morning ablutions; the towel and cloth are gone, and he carries a scroll under one arm.)

Spike: Most things in the Crystal Empire aren’t.

(Hopping onto his own small throne, he unrolls the document on the next line to reveal a ruby-eyed drawing of himself standing proudly beneath the floating Crystal Heart.)

Spike: (smugly) Like how I’m a big hero there, for example. 

(Cocksure grin; cut to his perspective, panning slowly across the table. Varied reactions of subdued amusement, annoyance, and confusion, with Rarity desperately trying to stifle a guffaw. Pinkie pops up in the fore to give him a very hairy eyeball; cut back to the baby dragon, who suddenly thinks better of stroking his own ego and stows the drawing away again.)

Spike: (scratching back of neck) Eh, plus I’ve had to help Twilight do a lot of research on Crystallings.

(Now he reaches down behind the table and brings up an ornately decorated, two-handled ceramic urn, which he sets on the table. It is colored in shades of light violet, purple, and ice-blue, and the portion turned toward the camera depicts a unicorn stallion and winged unicorn mare with a newborn foal, against the backdrop of the Heart and flanked by two armored guards. Close-up of this.)

Spike: (from o.s.) Whenever a baby is born in the Crystal Empire, the parents bring it before the Crystal Heart.

(A turn; the new father stands alone, horn aglow as he inspects four crystal fragments floating before him. He faces one row of guards; a second row is behind him.)

Spike: (from o.s.) They get the purest shard of crystal they can find—

(Turn again; father and mother, with the Heart as backdrop, stand before a winged unicorn princess mare as she bows to them.)

Spike: (from o.s.) —then pick a Crystaller to present the baby—

(Turn again; backed by the Heart, the princess holds the infant up before a jubilant crowd.)

Spike: (from o.s.) —to everypony who comes.

(As he continues, he turns the pot again to reveal the entire tableau: parents, child, princess, bowing subjects, all under the Heart’s gleam.)

Spike: (from o.s.) Then they all share the light and joy they feel, feeding it into the crystal—

(One more turn; now the Heart glows even more brightly and the onlookers rejoice.)

Spike: (from o.s.) —that joins with the Heart and increases its power. (Zoom out to frame him.) And this is gonna be a royal Crystalling, so pretty much the whole Empire will show up. That hasn’t happened in a millennia [sic].

(He sets the pot out of sight behind the table edge as Starlight crosses to him.)

Starlight: What do you mean, it increases the Crystal Heart’s power?

Spike: The energy it uses to protect the Crystal Empire, I guess.

Starlight: Protect it from what? (Overhead shot of the group. Zoom out slowly; Rainbow now stands next to Applejack.)

Spike: I…didn’t help Twilight with that part.

(He manages a weak little grin. Dissolve to a close-up of one stack of documents on a table in the library. Twilight’s magic floats the topmost one away; a longer shot frames her seated at the table and running a critical eye over the page. She brings up another one from a second stack as Starlight tentatively enters through the open doors.)

Starlight: Hey, Twilight, can I ask you something about the Crystal Empire?

Twilight: (crossing to her, bringing three sheets along) Oh! Funny you should mention it, because I just narrowed your first friendship lesson down to three options.

(On the end of this line, she separates the documents in midair and turns them to face Starlight.)

Twilight: And one of them is in the Crystal Empire!

Starlight: (eagerly) Really? (Twilight nods, stacking the papers and turning them toward herself.)

Twilight: I found out that’s where the first pony you ever cared about lives! (Huge grin; focus shifts to Starlight.)

Starlight: (to herself, puzzled) Sunburst?

(“The Cutie Re-Mark,” Part Two: this was the colt she knew in her youth, whose discovery of his talent set her on the path to trying to eradicate cutie marks. Zoom in slowly on her increasingly worried countenance, which begins to slide dangerously close to a nervous breakdown as the sweat begins to pour down.)

Twilight: (walking o.s., voice fades away slowly) Of course, that’s just one idea. We could also go to Griffonstone. Making friends with a griffon is a challenge all by itself! Or we could tag along with the CMC’s the next time they try to help a pony who can’t figure out why they’re special.

(By this point, her words have been almost totally drowned out by a high-pitched ringing in Starlight’s ears. The unicorn snaps back to herself at the next word, delivered at normal volume and with full clarity.)

Twilight: (from o.s.) Starlight?

(Zoom out quickly to frame both. The Princess has rested one front hoof lightly on her student’s chest.)

Twilight: Is something wrong?

Starlight: (hastily) What? O-Oh, no. (Chuckle.) Those all sound great. (Big strained grin.)

Twilight: I know! I guess you were right. (trotting away) It is gonna be hard to choose one!

Starlight: (chuckling weakly, to herself) Yeah.

(She worries her lower lip for a moment before the view dissolves to her in a corridor. Opening one set of doors with her magic, she is immediately buried under a tumble of brooms and cleaning supplies—a janitorial closet. Putting her head up from the mess, she levitates it all back where it came from and slams the doors shut before trudging glumly across to a different doorway. Cut to the other side as her field pushes them open, then zoom out quickly to show Spike standing on a stool and flexing his muscles in a mirror. She reacts with silent shock; once he takes full notice of her, he drops the pose and gives her a sheepish grin and wave.)

Starlight: (groaning, walking off) I am never gonna find my way around this place! (Cut to her walking along the corridor.)

Spike: (catching up) Gee, Starlight, what’s wrong?

Starlight: I don’t know, Spike. Twilight’s figuring out what my first friendship lesson is, and…I guess I’m not exactly thrilled with the options… (Profile close-up.) …well, with one of them.

Spike: (from o.s.) Which one? (Cut to frame both again.)

Starlight: Reuniting me with my first friend. (He stops; she moves on.)

Spike: What’s so terrible about that?

(Now she comes to a halt and lets go with a heavy sigh, looking toward the ceiling as the camera tilts up to follow her eyes. The view blurs and undergoes a wavering dissolve to her and Sunburst as foals, sitting on a blanket under a tree in their village. Colt SU reads from a book held easily in his telekinetic grip, while Filly SG struggles to lift one of several toy blocks. Neither one has a cutie mark yet.)

Starlight: (voice over) When we were foals, Sunburst knew everything there was to know about magic.

(Her power fizzles out and the block drops away; a split-second later, Colt SU has shifted his book in front of her face. A quizzical glance from her is met with a big grin that quickly brings one to her face, and he moves the tome back to himself as she gives the blocks another try and manages to get all of them circling above her head. Wipe to a close-up of a full glass falling onto a stretch of floorboards and spilling its contents, then cut to the two friends seated at a kitchen table. Filly SG’s mouth wobbles at the mess she has made.)

Starlight: (voice over) He always knew just what to do.

(Without missing a beat, Colt SU maneuvers a cloth down to sop up the spill. Filly SG gives him a grateful smile, replaced by a look of surprise as Colt SU shows her the scroll he has been reading. The rag ends up wadded into a floating ball; now the filly strains her magic and catches Colt SU off guard by kicking a bevy of cleaning supplies into gear. The kitchen quickly fills with soap suds, which float upward past the camera and clear away to show the entire room now squeaky clean. Every dish washed, every surface sparkling and free of splatters, every item now neatly put away—including the supplies and the dropped glass. The two foals exchange warm smiles at this display of gonzo scrubbing.)

(Wipe to a close-up of Filly SG, backing up fearfully across a living room as a tower of books topples toward her—the run-up to Colt SU gaining his cutie mark, as in Part Two of “The Cutie Re-Mark.”)

Starlight: (voice over) And he was always there to help me.

(His magic seizes the tomes and sets them circling around himself as he floats in midair, golden light shining from his body in a brilliant corona. They are slotted home on the shelves, the sparkling sun appears on his haunch, and she stares dumbstruck as he bumps her aside in his gleeful race out the front door. Out in the street, his father levitates him off the ground so all the onlookers can get a clear view and Filly SG moves a bit closer.)

Starlight: (voice over) I guess it’s not surprising that Sunburst got his cutie mark in magic and went off to Princess Celestia’s school.

(On the latter part of this line, the entire crowd sets off to celebrate, leaving the filly standing dejectedly alone on the stoop.)

Starlight: (voice over) But when he left… (Spike steps into view, surprising her past self.)

Spike: (rapid fire) …you blamed cutie marks and stripped a whole village of theirs, and when Twilight and the others stopped you, you went back in time and almost destroyed Equestria.

(A poof of smoke behind him, and the scene has shifted back to the corridor in the Castle.)

Starlight: Not really stuff I’m super-eager to tell Sunburst about. I mean, he’s probably some big important wizard now, and… (Long shot of the pair.) …I can’t even find my way around Twilight’s castle. (She hangs her head.)

Spike: Well, if Sunburst is that good at magic, maybe he’d appreciate your, uh… (Clear throat.) …exploits. (Close-up; he steps closer.) You should talk to Twilight about it. I’m sure she’d want to hear what you have to say.

Starlight: I know. (slightly panicked; close-up) But I don’t want her to think I’m not ready to learn, or that I’m not grateful for everything she’s doing.

Twilight: (from o.s.) Spike! (Zoom out quickly to frame Starlight and Spike.) Come quick!

(Dragon and unicorn trade a slightly puzzled look. Cut to the smiling Princess on a balcony, front hooves propped on the railing as a breeze toys with her mane. The other two move to the doorway leading out here; Twilight’s smile becomes a beam, and she raptly watches something making its way over Ponyville on the strengthening air currents. It resolves into a single large snowflake, and she stretches out one wing to catch it as the wind dies away and Starlight and Spike step out. In close-up, the flake proves to contain a sheet of paper at its center, folded into a hexagon; the flaps unfold one by one to reveal a written message tucked inside.)

Spike: It’s a Crystalling invitation! (Twilight now has it in her magic grip.)

Twilight: Shining Armor’s a father! I’m an aunt! (She cuts the spell and crosses to him and Starlight.) Well, this settles it. Since we’re going to the Crystal Empire, your first friendship lesson is going to be… (Starlight’s face falls at the inevitable knowledge of her next words.) …reuniting with Sunburst!

(She and Spike head blissfully back into the Castle, the Princess completely oblivious to the unease that has settled onto the blue-eyed face. Zoom in slowly.)

Starlight: (smiling weakly) Great.

(The smile turns into a shaky grin, then a fresh bout of lower-lip chewing. Snap to black.)

Act Two

(Opening shot: fade in to a long shot of a train chugging through the snowy outlands of the Crystal Empire during the day. Zoom in slowly, then cut to a close-up of a very uneasy Starlight watching the scenery roll by, seen from outside one window. Inside, she and Twilight’s contingent of friends are on the padded bench seats: Twilight sitting with Starlight and reading a book on baby care held in her aura, Applejack sitting next to a large cloth-covered bundle topped with a bow, Fluttershy looking out the window, Pinkie slumped down next to a couple of gift boxes and bored out of her skull, Rainbow napping, Rarity sitting next to Fluttershy and across from Applejack. Starlight turns away from her window to look them all over, after which the camera cuts to Fluttershy and Rarity. This shot frames the stuffed doll that the pegasus has brought along, a copy of her rabbit Angel, and the horseshoe decoration that the unicorn is stitching onto a blanket. Pan from them to the seats that Applejack and Rainbow are sharing, back to back; the daredevil is now half-sitting up, and she lets go with a yawn and stretch.)

Rainbow: Um, Applejack? (pointing to the bundle) What is that?

Applejack: Oh, just a little somethin’ for the young’un.

(She gets teeth on the cloth and backs o.s., nipping it away to expose a wooden cradle with a cloth canopy built over the head end. The material has an apple pattern, and one more fruit is carved into the footboard.)

Applejack: (from o.s.) Made from genuine Sweet Apple Acres apple trees. (Cut to frame it and her; Fluttershy/Rainbow/Rarity gather around.) We make ’em for all the Apples, and anypony related to Twilight is practically family. (Twilight smiles warmly at this, having put her book down.)

Rainbow: (flying slowly past, nonchalantly) Yeah, it’s okay—but it’s no Cloudsdale mobile!

(Applejack pronounces a long “I” on the last syllable of “genuine,” and Rainbow does the same with “mobile.” Dipping a hoof down to floor level, the blue flyer produces a mobile hung with rainbows, clouds, and lightning bolts. Twilight has put her book away.)

Rainbow: Bam! (Pinkie darts over to a look.)

Pinkie: Ooooh! Pretty!

(She gives it a nudge, which is all it takes for one piece to fall off, a sound of shattering glass floating up from below o.s. to mark its unfortunate encounter with the floor. The pink party pony gives a big dopey grin; cut to Applejack. She pronounces “mobile” as Rainbow did.)

Applejack: Well, a mobile is real nice, as long as you have somethin’ to lay in so you can look at it. (She rocks the cradle a bit.)

Rarity: (floating its quilt away, replacing it with her blanket) And a fetching blanket to keep you warm.

(The farmer’s eyes pop at this unexpected change of bedding, but she quickly shifts into a humoring smile. Cut to Twilight and Starlight.)

Twilight: I’m sure Shining Armor and Princess Cadence will love all our gifts, but I think they’re more happy we’ll be attending the baby’s Crystalling.

Pinkie: (from o.s.) Ooh! (Zoom out; she hops in front of the pair.) I can’t wait to see all that light and love make the Crystal Heart even more sparkly and shiny!

Twilight: Actually, Pinkie— (Close-up of her.) —the Crystal Heart is an ancient and powerful relic. Without its magic, the Crystal Empire would be lost to the frozen north. (Zoom out slightly to frame Starlight.)

Starlight: (fake worried tone) Wow. This Crystalling sounds pretty important. I’d understand if you wanted to…you know…wait to do a different friendship lesson when we get back. (Big placating grin and shrug.)

Twilight: Are you kidding? This trip is perfect! Not only do I get to see the baby and take part in the ceremony that helps maintain the magic of the Crystal Empire— (Foreleg around Starlight’s shoulders, unnerving her all over again.) —but I’m starting my new pupil off with the most amazing friendship lesson ever! (pulling her close) I can’t wait!

(After a very long, very awkward moment, the pupil extricates herself from the embrace with a shaky smile.)

Starlight: Right. Me neither.

(As Twilight brings up her baby-care book, Starlight glances desperately across the way; cut to Spike sitting in front of her, previously hidden from view by the camera angles. He gestures impatiently toward Twilight—“just spit it out already!”—and she works up the nerve to speak.)

Starlight: Actually, Twilight, I am a little worried about meeting Sunburst.

Twilight: (putting book away) Oh, trust me. I know what it’s like to see old friends, but I’ll be right there to help things along.

(A reference to the events of “Amending Fences.” Cut to a less-than-reassured Starlight, then zoom out to frame both mares on the start of the next line, Twilight unrolling a scroll that stretches for yards along the aisle. None of the other seven passengers can believe what they are seeing.)

Twilight: I’ve broken the whole lesson down into a few easy steps to ensure this reunion goes off without a hitch.

(To which Starlight can only voice an uneasy chuckle in response. Cut to the Empire’s train station as the gang pulls in; a slightly fuzzed-out Shining Armor stands among a scatter of ponies on the platform. Once the train has come to a stop, the nearest car door slides open and the Ponyville bunch starts to emerge; Pinkie hops along with gift box on back, while Rainbow flies out carrying her mobile. Twilight floats her scroll along as a very down-in-the-mouth Starlight keeps pace. Fluttershy hangs back inside the car.)

Twilight: Step one—head to Sunburst’s house and get you two started on the right hoof. (Profile close-up of the pair.) Step two—get to the castle with enough time to visit the ba—

(She is so caught up in her checklist that she does not notice Shining Armor standing directly in her path until she has run flat into him. He is absolutely fried: mane/tail in disarray, face covered with stubble, eyes and voice betraying a major-league lack of sleep. Both shake their heads clear as her scroll hits the platform; she is first to come up with a happy gasp.)

Twilight: Shining Armor!

Shining: Twilight! (They embrace.)

Twilight: I didn’t know you were meeting us!

Shining: Of course I am! (Applejack steps up behind him, without her cradle.) It’s me, right here. Here I am. (Rainbow ditto; mobile gone.) Why wouldn’t I come meet my sister? (Applejack smiles; Rainbow stifles a laugh.) Though we have met before. (Chuckle.)

Twilight: Are you all right?

Shining: (a bit unhinged) Never better! Being a father is amazing, and wonderful, and amazing! And confusing, and amazing! But surprising too, you know? I mean, not that you’d know…you wouldn’t know, I know…you know?

(He ends this mental belch with a half-crazed grin that does absolutely nothing to reassure any of the travelers. Fluttershy and Rarity have now joined them on the platform. When he continues, the manic tone is gone from his voice and only exhaustion remains.)

Shining: Sorry. I haven’t really slept since Cadence had the baby. (Pause.) Come to think of it, she hasn’t either. It sure would be great to get a break. (Grin.)

Twilight: Oh, of course! I-I don’t know what I was thinking! You two probably need all kinds of help. (turning to Starlight) I’m sorry, Starlight, but I guess combining your first lesson with this visit wasn’t such a good idea.

Starlight: (forcing a smile) Oh! Uh, don’t be ridiculous! You’re an aunt now. That’s way more important than some friendship lesson. (Grin.)

Twilight: I just wish there was a way to do both.

(A rattle of parchment interrupts right about now; cut to the source—Spike, rolling up the scroll.)

Spike: Maybe there is! (to Twilight) You’ve already done the work for Starlight’s lesson with this list. (glancing at Starlight) All we have to do is follow it.

(One pinkish-violet hoof claps to her face in disgust, and one blue eye shoots daggers at the overly helpful number-one assistant from behind it.)

Twilight: Spike! You’re a genius!

Starlight: (laughing) Yeah! (under her breath, very snarky) Genius. (All gather around; Pinkie no longer carries her present.)

Twilight: Then it’s settled. Shining Armor and I will head straight to the castle, and you two can head straight to Sunburst’s.

Spike: (saluting) Aye-aye, Princess! (Cut to Twilight and Starlight.)

Starlight: (weakly) Uh-huh. (An encouraging nod from Twilight sets her on her way.)

Twilight: (turning to look behind herself) All right, big brother. Let’s go see this amazing baby pony.

(A loud snore causes the purple eyes to pop in confusion, and a longer shot tells the tale: he has fallen asleep on his hooves. His drowsy mumbling brings gentle smiles to the six mares’ faces. Dissolve to a street within the Empire proper; Starlight and Spike walk along, the former having opened the scroll to full length so he can look it over.)

Spike: I know you’re a little worried about this reunion, but I’m sure Twilight’s got everything covered.

Starlight: Everything except how I’d rather do absolutely anything else.

Spike: Well, I bet she’s taken that into account too. (reverently, tapping scroll) It’s all part of the lesson. Trust the lesson.

Starlight: (not convinced) Right.

(A sudden smile whips across her face, followed by a calculating look. As the little guy reaches the statue built in his honor, she hustles up to it.)

Starlight: (pointing at it) Hey! I-Is that…you? (He stops.)

Spike: Oh! Yep. It sure is. (eyeing scroll, walking on) Now, according to the list, Sunburst’s house is— (The next words stop him again.)

Starlight: Why is there a statue of you in the Crystal Empire? (A mare zips up to her.)

Mare 1: Because Spike the Brave and Glorious saved all of us from King Sombra! (Another one gallops over.)

Mare 2: And then again during the Equestria Games!

Starlight: Really? (Now a stallion pipes up.)

Stallion: Really. (to Spike) Big fan.

(The half-pint hero takes a front hoof in both of his hands to shake, after which the stallion goes on his way. The entire display of adulation has put a sneaky smile on Starlight’s face.)

Starlight: (laughing a bit) Um, when were you gonna tell me about this?

Spike: Nah, it’s no big deal. (Four ponies quickly cluster around him.)

Ponies: It most certainly is!

(They clear out just as quickly as they arrived, leaving Starlight to cock a knowing eyebrow toward the dragon. During the next line, she floats a stool into view to sweep him off his feet so that his rump lands on it, then telekinetically rolls up the scroll.)

Starlight: That’s it! We’re not going anywhere until I get the whole story.

(The parchment drops into his hands, and she maneuvers a box of popcorn into her grip and sits down on her haunches for a good listen. A crowd quickly congregates around them. From here, zoom out and tilt up to frame the upper reaches of the Crystal Castle a short distance behind the nearest row of buildings.)

Shining: (voice over, fully awake) Before we go in…

(Cut to him and the Ponyville mares gathered outside a closed set of double doors in one corridor.)

Shining: …I should probably tell you—seeing the baby might be a bit of a shock.

(Cut to the other side of these doors; his sister’s field takes hold. The start of the next line is heard from outside and muffled slightly until she gets them open and walks in.)

Twilight: Come on, big brother. I’ve met babies before.

(As the others follow her in, the camera zooms out to frame more of this room—a nursery, whose walls are painted with clouds and stars. A wardrobe with butterflies on the doors stands to one side. Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence are on hand, the new mother looking about as wiped out as her husband.)

Twilight: I expect meeting this one won’t be any different.

(A close-up of the bed picks out the newborn, a white unicorn filly with a gently curling mane shaded in blue and violet. She is sleeping peacefully, swaddled so that only her forelegs and the front half of her head are exposed. Of note is the fact that her horn is considerably longer than that of the average baby unicorn. This is Flurry Heart. After a couple of seconds, the camera cuts to just behind her head , framing six female faces brimming with warmth and tenderness for this new life. It all goes straight out the window when the wrappings fall away and two broad wings, white shading to pink, unfurl themselves from within. Of the six flabbergasted mares, Twilight is the only one to get out any audible reaction, in the form of a shocked gasp. A head-on shot frames Flurry in full detail: light blue eyes, matching diaper, a wingspan that is easily double her body length. Her eyes are not solid-colored like those of other newborn ponies seen to this point, but rather have a distinct sclera/iris/pupil to match those of older ones. The winged unicorn neonate gurgles happily.)

Twilight: Of course, I could be wrong.

(Snap to black.)

Act Three

(Opening shot: fade in to an extreme close-up of Flurry and zoom out slowly as she works herself up to complete wakefulness and cheerfully gets to work sucking on a front hoof.)

Twilight: (incredulously) The baby is an alicorn? (Cut to Shining and Cadence standing next to the bed.)

Cadence: (tiredly) It looks that way. (Cut to Twilight/Fluttershy/Rarity.)

Rarity: But—but—but I thought alicorn wings had to be earned by accomplishing some great, princess-worthy deed! (Twilight nods.)

Applejack: (from o.s.) Yeah. (Cut to her.) How can you just be born with ’em?

Celestia: The birth of an alicorn is something Equestria has never seen.

Luna: It is beyond even our understanding.

Fluttershy: (aside, to Rarity) That’s not very reassuring. (Pinkie pops up between them.)

Pinkie: Wow! A unicorn and a pegasus! (zipping over to the bed) So she could be a super-strong flyer and have crazy baby magic! (Flurry burbles up at her.)

Rainbow: (doing a loop-the-loop) Well, I know all about super-strong flying.

Twilight: And I can help keep tabs on her magic.

(The baby goes into the windup for a sneeze; when it comes, though, not one pony in the room is ready for the result. A wide-angle pink/yellow beam hurtles straight up from her horn, shaking the room; its glare bright enough to dim the rest of the nursery until it cuts off. A few fragments of masonry clatter down from above as twenty stunned eyes turn toward the ceiling; cut to a point in midair, the camera pointing up toward where it used to be. The blast has ripped a hole through the next several floors up, and a very scared mare peeks down over one edge. Zoom out to ground level, putting the Ponyville crew in the fore as the focus shifts to them. They stare down at the camera, absolutely floored by this very weird turn of events; now Flurry yawns and settles herself back down for another nap.)

Celestia: (stroking her mane) It appears her magic is more powerful than that of a newborn unicorn. (Cut to Luna, looking out a window, on the next line.)

Luna: The crowds have already started to gather.

(They have indeed, making their way in ones and twos toward the Crystal Castle. Comes now the sound of a deep inhalation, followed by a balloon expanding to fill most of the screen. It is the work of Pinkie, who ties it off and grabs the string to let it lift her off the floor.)

Pinkie: This Crystalling is gonna be some party! (Pop; she thumps down on her haunches.)

Cadence: (as Flurry sucks on her front hoof) Do you think we should call it off?

Rainbow: (flying to her, scoffing a bit) Um, we’ve all faced a lot worse than baby magic.

Rarity: I can’t imagine canceling such a beautiful and important ceremony over something so potentially adorable.

(All her friends except Twilight quickly group up around her, voicing assent.)

Celestia: In light of the little one’s abilities— (Luna crosses to the bed.) —this Crystalling might be more important than ever. (to Cadence) Perhaps you should address your subjects and remind them of that.

Cadence: (nodding) Hmm.

(She plants a kiss on Flurry’s forehead, prompting her daughter to wake up and gurgle a bit, and then makes for the door with Celestia and Luna right behind. Pan from them back to the bed, where Shining has zonked out half-slumped over the headboard and is snoring vigorously.)

Twilight: (poking him, waking him up) Shining Armor! Do you have everything you need for the ceremony?

(A half-asleep huff, and full consciousness hits him like a two-by-four to the head. The blue eyes shrink to freaked-out points.)

Shining: Huh? Oh, no! (He flashes away and starts trotting madly in place and pacing.) I still have to interview the honor guards, choose the Purity Crystal, and pick a Crystaller!

(Dropping to his haunches, he looks about an inch away from going into the worst crying jag of his life.)

Twilight: (calmly, touching a shoulder) All right, take it easy. Pinkie can stay here with me and keep an eye on the baby.

(If the fact that Flurry has gleefully latched onto Pinkie’s squeakily grinning face is any indication, these two have already hit it off like gangbusters.)

Applejack: (indicating Fluttershy/Rainbow/Rarity) And we’ll all help you with everythin’ else.

(Another snore drifts across to them, due to Shining now passed out on the floor under the eye of one very concerned little sister. He goes right back to mumbling in his sleep.)

Rarity: (dryly) That is, if you can stay awake long enough to tell us how.

(Dissolve to an overhead shot of the Spike statue and zoom in slowly on its subject addressing the crowd that has come to hear his tale. Starlight has procured a lounge chair and is relaxing in it with her popcorn, and he is now sitting on Twilight’s scroll while perched on his stool.)

Spike: And that’s how we found the Crystal Heart, defeated King Sombra, and saved the Empire. (The colts and fillies cheer; cut to two of them.)

Fillies: We love you, Spike!

Filly 1: Yeah! Tell the one about the Equestria Games!

Spike: Well, as much as I love reliving my heroic deeds— (pulling scroll out from beneath himself) —Starlight and I have an important lesson to do— (She forces down her mouthful.) —by order of the Princess of Friendship.

Fillies: (crushed) Awww…

Starlight: Aw, come on, Spike. I want to hear about the Games too. (Lip-nibbling grin; Spike autographs a picture for a filly and she gallops off.)

Spike: I know you’re nervous about seeing Sunburst. (unfurling scroll) But it says right in Step Three to, uh… (reading) …“deal with your fears by facing them, not by putting it off.” (She shoots him an irritated look and sighs, throwing her popcorn aside.)

Starlight: Let’s go get this over with.  

(One hop takes her down off the lounge chair. Dissolve to a house that stands at the end of a path running between two buildings. Its roof is styled as an orange wizard’s hat that has taken a few good hits, and a stylized sunburst design is worked into the front doors. She plods toward it, followed by Spike with the rolled-up scroll in hand. Cut to the door and zoom in slightly as she mounts the stoop and raises a hoof to knock.)

Spike: Wait! (She stops short with a soft gasp.)

Starlight: What?

Spike: (opening scroll) Knocking on the door isn’t the next thing on the list!

Starlight: Seriously?

Spike: I know Twilight can be a little nitpicky, but this is your first lesson as her pupil— (holding up scroll) —and it’s important that we do it right.

Starlight: (rolling eyes wearily) Fine. What’s the next thing on the list?

Spike: (clearing throat, reading) “Before they see each other, make sure to highlight the importance of the meeting.”

Starlight: I’m pretty sure we can skip that.

Spike: I don’t know. I mean, if we skip it, the whole lesson could go south. (increasingly panicked) And then you might end up taking a giant step backwards instead of forwards! Maybe you’ll never be able to learn anything about friendship at all!

(She cringes at the thought, and he jumps up the stoop to grab her cheeks.)

Spike: (hushed, ominously) It’s almost like your whole future depends on this moment. (He backs off, then eyes the scroll with a smile.) “Highlight the importance of the meeting.” (marking a box) Check! (laughing a bit) I can’t believe you wanted to skip that.

(Realizing that she has at last run out of dodges, Starlight moves a step closer to the doors in the manner of one afraid that they might suddenly fall on her, eat her, or do something else extreme. She taps a front hoof against the wood once, twice, thrice, and backs off to await a response. None is forthcoming for some seconds; she glances down at Spike, who just shrugs helplessly. As Starlight turns to descend the stoop, one door swings inward by just a fraction.)

Starlight: (hesitantly) Sunburst?

(The outline of a head extends itself partway into view from the dimly lit interior. Although the illumination is not enough to make out all details, a disheveled mane can be discerned, along with a pale “blaze” stripe down the nose to match the one Colt SU had and the gleam of two round lenses before the eyes. The inhabitant speaks up with a slightly apprehensive male voice.)

Sunburst: Yes?

(The stallion moves a bit farther into the light, confirming his identity. Same yellow-orange coat; same red-orange mane grown out longer and gone a little scruffy at the forelock, with a long goatee; same blue-green eyes behind pince-nez eyeglasses. A clasp styled after his cutie mark is fastened across the throat, holding a cloak in place.)

Sunburst: What can I do for you?

Starlight: (fumbling for words) It’s…it’s me, Starlight. We used to be friends?

(The mental gears under the unkempt mane hit overdrive for a long moment, after which he steps out to the stoop with a smile. His cloak is dark blue, with lighter trim and star decorations.)

Sunburst: (stammering a bit) Oh, of course! Starlight! (Chuckle.) My goodness, it’s been a long time! What, uh, what have you been up to?

Starlight: (laughing, trying to play it off) Me? Oh, you know, some of this, some of that. Different…stuff? Right now I’m sort of Twilight Sparkle’s new pupil. (His eyes widen.)

Sunburst: The Princess of Friendship?

Starlight: (chuckling) Yeah. That’s actually kind of why I’m here. I-I mean, I know you’re probably very busy.

Sunburst: What do you mean?

Starlight: W-Well, I figured after magic school, you’d go on to do important wizard work, but—

Sunburst: Oh! No. (catching himself) Y-Yes! Uh—uh, yes, that’s me, yep. (Chuckle.) Important wizard. Really busy with lots of, uh, w-wizarding stuff.

(He nudges his glasses with a hoof. Long pause.)

Sunburst: Right. Uh, well…good to see you.

(Duck back into the house. Shut the door. Leave Starlight to trade a hopelessly bewildered look with Spike.)

Spike: Huh. Maybe we should’ve skipped highlighting the importance of the meeting after all.

Starlight: (hurrying down stoop, forced cheerful tone) Well, I guess that’s that. (He stops her.)

Spike: Starlight, come on! We have to at least explain what Twilight wants.

(Letting off a loud, resigned groan, the mare finds herself being pushed back to the doors. The bulldozing baby dragon leaps down the stoop as she knocks again; out comes Sunburst, just in time to be on the receiving end of Starlight’s very tentative grin.)

(Dissolve to an overhead shot of a small stage set up in front of one of the arches that form the supports for the Crystal Castle. Its backdrop is a heart-shaped frame carved from light blue crystal and topped by a six-pointed gold star, and a curtain is drawn behind it to close off the area beyond the arch. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence stand up here to address the small crowd that has gathered; Cadence is now properly groomed. Zoom in slowly.)

Cadence: (echoing slightly) Dearest citizens, I am sure you are all just as thrilled and ready for this Crystalling as myself and Shining Armor.

(Cut to just behind the group at ground level on the end of this. Cheers rise from the spectators once she finishes, and the camera pans slightly away from the stage to frame Shining—still a complete mess—having pushed the edge of the curtain aside so he can peek out. He lets it drop with an almighty cringe and turns to six armored, buzz-cut, stolid pegasus stallion guards standing at attention. None wear helmets, and except for the mane/tail colors, they are completely identical. Only after he hitches in a huge breath does he find his power of speech.)

Shining: I’m not ready! (Down comes Rainbow, holding a pair of helmets.)

Rainbow: Take it easy. Just pick whoever looks the most like honor guard material.

Shining: (taking them in his magic) Right…right.

(He makes his choice by ramming the helmets onto the heads of two pegasi at random—with the minor technical hitch that they come down backwards. The chosen guards stumble haphazardly away, and the others back off with expressions to suggest that they would rather pull latrine duty for a month than accept this assignment. Throwing them an apologetic grin, he plods away.)

Shining: I’m sorry. (Stop in front of Applejack/Fluttershy/Rainbow.) Fatherhood is way more stressful than I ever thought.

Fluttershy: I can only imagine.

(On the start of the next line, pan slightly to frame Rarity here as well; she levitates a small flat case in front of herself.)

Rarity: Now I know choosing the Crystal of Purity is a very important decision. (Case opens, revealing five identical ice-blue ones.) So…

(Cut to a slow pan across an extreme close-up of the five gleaming pieces.)

Rarity: (from o.s.) …I have gone through the trouble of arranging them in order from “incredibly pure” to “outrageously pure.” (Back to her; Fluttershy takes a step closer.)

Fluttershy: Um, Rarity? Don’t they all sort of look the same?

Rarity: (nudging case down) Oh, well, to the untrained eye, perhaps. (floating it toward Shining) What do you think, Shining Armor?

(As it reaches him, a close-up betrays the panic and worry and panic and nerves and panic and terror and utter, soul-smashing panic playing at top volume through his mind. He gibbers incoherently for a moment before the camera zooms out quickly to frame all five as he rises to his hind legs and claps front hooves to temples.)

Shining: I DON’T KNOW!!

(He collapses into a shivering heap, and Rarity closes her case.)

Rarity: (whispering, to Fluttershy) I hope Twilight and Pinkie are having better luck with the baby!

(Wipe to an unoccupied stretch of the nursery. Flurry’s happy gurgles are heard just before Pinkie passes the camera back and forth in close-up, seen from the shoulders up with forelegs extended up and o.s. The visible flapping of wings suggests that she is holding Flurry overhead to play “airplane.”)

Pinkie: Well…at least she’s having…fun!

(Which she is, as seen in a close-up—but said fun is also accompanied by a few errant magic shots. Twilight cancels one out with a diving blast from her own horn, and the extent of the game becomes clear; Flurry is flying under her own power and taking Pinkie along for the ride.)

Pinkie: Whee!

(Filly and passenger laugh their way through another circuit of the room, with Twilight shooting down the beams that lance every which way.)

Twilight: Pinkie, hold her still! (Pinkie is dragged across, now standing on her hind legs.)

Pinkie: I’m tryyyyiiinnng!

(The full-grown Princess can only duck the latest shot and gnaw her lower lip as sweat begins to run down her face. Dissolve to Starlight and Sunburst seated on stools at a table in his house, with a teapot and cup/saucer set out. Every shelf is crammed with books, and many more are stacked up in nearly every available square inch of floor area. Other magic-related items take up whatever bits of storage space they can find. Zoom in slowly as the two sit in silence, Starlight avoiding direct eye contact as she pulls the teacup toward herself. Roughly seven seconds pass, feeling like a month and a half before Sunburst speaks up.)

Sunburst: So…the Princess of Friendship wants you and I to be friends again?

Starlight: (chuckling airily) I know. Weird, right?

Sunburst: Mmm—I don’t understand. Did something happen to you after I left for magic school?

Starlight: What?

(In a fit of panic, she bangs the table but gets the cup and pot under her magic control before either can overturn. She pours herself some tea.)

Starlight: No! (trying to calm herself down) I-I don’t see what that has to do with anything. Why would you even ask that?

(Probably because the tea has begun to slop over the side of the cup. He says nothing.)

Starlight: I-I mean, did something happen to you after you left for magic school?

(On “you,” she whirls the pot to point the spout toward him, then sets it down hard enough to shake the cover loose.)

Sunburst: (caught off guard, shaking head clear) What? Uh…no. (stammering) Like you said, I’m a… (Clear throat; adjust glasses.) …i-important…wizard.

(Pan away from this uneasy reunion to frame Spike, hiding out of sight behind a pile of books.)

Spike: (very worried, going over scroll) I’m sure there’s something on Twilight’s list that can help here!

(Wipe to a close-up of the Heart, spinning between its upper and lower anchor points in the square directly beneath the Crystal Castle. All of the arches leading into to this area have been curtained off. Shining is off to one side in the background, with Rarity levitating a brush to get his mane/tail sorted out. She has put away her case of crystals. Pan slightly to bring these two, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow into view, the focus shifting to them; Shining takes a few deep breaths to get himself under control. A close-up reveals that he has had time to get a proper shave and rest up a bit. Once the three-tone blue hair is in decent shape, the sound of a door opening is heard and the camera pans to frame Celestia, Luna, and Cadence emerging from the royal residence. Shining gallops over to meet Cadence as she reaches the bottom of the steps.)

Shining: Okay. I chose the honor guard, picked the Purity Crystal, and I know exactly who I want to be our Crystaller. (scratching chin) So, all we need is…

Cadence: (dryly) The baby?

(Bingo. Hubby dearest lets go with a panicked neigh…)

Twilight: (from o.s.) We’re here!

(…then shifts into a relieved sigh and smile at the sound of Flurry’s laugh. Out comes his little sister, floating both Pinkie and Flurry along within a bubble of magic. The pink pony is still hanging on for dear life and having no luck whatsoever bringing the filly down to earth.)

Pinkie: She’s a reeeeeally strong flyer!

(Cadence warms her horn up and pulls them apart into separate bubbles, letting Twilight keep  Pinkie as she gets a grip on Flurry. The filly begins to whimper piteously at being separated from her caregiver/playmate, who gets set down and released. All four Princesses, one stallion, and five Ponyville fellow travelers gather with clear concern over the impending meltdown—and it comes in the form of a top-of-her-lungs wail that bursts Cadence’s bubble and sends shock waves over the entire square. Manes are blown back, eardrums resonate as hooves are clapped over them, and the ponies strain to keep their position in the face of this sonic battering.)

(As her cry dies away, the Heart spins down to a dead stop; cracks spread in every direction over the surface, and the relic shatters into a rain of glittering splinters that tinkle to the pavement. There follows a round of stunned gasps as a sadly burbling Flurry descends to rest on her mother’s outstretched foreleg. Applejack is first to step over to the ruined relic in close-up.)

Applejack: I’m guessin’ that’s gonna make it hard to do the Crystalling.

Twilight: (from o.s.) It’s worse than that.

(Cut to her, standing next to the curtains over one arch, and zoom in slowly.)

Twilight: (magically opening them) Without the Heart, the Crystal Empire’s about to be buried under a mountain of ice and snow!

(Beyond the aperture, the locals stare dumbfounded at the dark storm clouds and strong winds that have begun to roll in from the horizon at alarming speed. Cut to a long overhead shot of the Empire, the menacing weather slowly closing in from all sides, then back to the entire group save Twilight. Amid the stares that betray shock and fear and completely blown minds, the camera zooms in quickly to an extreme close-up of Flurry held close to Cadence’s chest. She gurgles placidly, totally oblivious to the apocalypse she has just inadvertently let off the leash. Cut to a “To be continued…” title card, then directly to the closing credits.)

(The usual closing theme does not accompany the credits. In its place is the madcap melody that played while Twilight and Pinkie were trying to get Flurry under control in the nursery. B flat major, lively 4, cheerful woodwind/brass/strings with light percussion.)

Continued in Part Two

THE CRYSTALLING—PART TWO

Written by Josh Haber

Produced by Devon Cody

Story editing by Josh Haber

Supervising direction by Jim Miller

Directed by Denny Lu, Tim Stuby

Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)

Note:                All mentions of Crystal Empire ponies other than previously established

characters refer to crystal ponies in their brightly colored, non-crystalline

        appearance (see note at beginning of Part One).

Prologue

(Opening shot: fade in to a “Previously on My Little Pony” title card, then cut to Starlight Glimmer in the library of the Castle of Friendship—Part One, prologue.)

Starlight: I still can’t believe you’re letting me stay here— (losing steam; Twilight Sparkle crosses to her) —as your pupil.

(The Castle balcony, Act One: Twilight turns joyously to Spike, having received her invitation to the Crystalling ceremony for the new baby of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence.)

Twilight: Shining Armor’s a father! I’m an aunt! (She addresses Starlight.) Your first friendship lesson is going to be…

(Act Three: Starlight and Sunburst sit uneasily in his living room over a pot of tea. Zoom in slowly.)

Twilight: (voice over) …reuniting with Sunburst!

(Earlier in the act: he peeks nervously out from the front entrance.)

Sunburst: (stammering) Uh—uh, yes, that’s me, yep. (Chuckle.) Important wizard.

(Act Two: the newborn Flurry Heart coos happily in her bed, wings and horn fully exposed for the first time.)

Twilight: (voice over, incredulously) The baby is an alicorn?

(Act Three: Flurry tows Pinkie all over the nursery in midair, firing off random spells that Twilight has to shoot down on the fly.)

Pinkie: (voice over) So she could be a super-strong flyer and have crazy baby magic!

(On the second half of this line, cut to the square beneath the Crystal Castle as Flurry lets go with an epic tantrum that nearly overpowers Twilight, her friends, and the royals from both here and Canterlot. The Crystal Heart shatters to pieces.)

Twilight: (from o.s.) Without the Heart— (Cut to her at one of the arch curtains and zoom in as she magically opens it to show winter on the way.) —the Crystal Empire’s about to be buried under a mountain of ice and snow!

(Long overhead shot of the Crystal Empire on the end of this, the black storm clouds inexorably advancing from all sides. In the square, all gasp before the view snaps to black.)

OPENING THEME

Act One

(Opening shot: fade in to a close-up of the wrecked Heart and zoom out slowly.)

Rarity: (from o.s.) So…not only can we not take part in a fabulous ancient ceremony…

(The camera motion frames her and the rest of the group in a semicircle around the mess on the end of this.)

Rarity: …but we’re also about to be frozen solid!

Twilight: Without the Crystal Heart’s magical protection, the entire city’s about to become a winter wasteland.

Applejack: But…what about when King Sombra ruled the Crystal Empire and the Crystal Heart was missin’? The city wasn’t covered in snow then. (Rarity nods; Cadence moves closer, floating Flurry along and followed by Shining.)

Twilight: The Heart wasn’t missing. It was still in the castle. King Sombra had just hidden it.

Princess Celestia: I’m afraid Twilight is correct, and the storm clouds are already forming.

(Cut to a curtain being held open with her magic. Snow and black clouds are on their way through a threatening gray sky, and lightning starts to crackle among them. Rainbow Dash flies up into view.)

Rainbow: I can totally fly up there and bust those puppies, no problem!

(She readies for a fast takeoff, but gets only a faceful of fabric when the curtains close to block her off.)

Celestia: (from o.s.) I wouldn’t advise it, Rainbow Dash. (Cut to her and the others; Rainbow wings back to them.) Those storm clouds are not like the ones you know.

Princess Luna: This far north, the weather has a will of its own. And now it will only grow stronger, enveloping everything in its path.

Cadence: Including the Crystal Empire!

Twilight: (crossing to her) And us along with it!

(Her grimace is matched by the one on Pinkie’s face when the perky pink pony zips over to wrap both forelegs around her neck and shiver mightily. Terror begins to write itself across the faces of the other four from Ponyville. Wipe to Spike at a table in Sunburst’s house, running a concerned eye over the very long scroll that Twilight put together as a plan for Starlight’s first friendship lesson.)

Spike: There’s gotta be something!

(Pan from him to the long-estranged friends, Sunburst sitting on a stool before a book stand.)

Sunburst: I-I know Princess Twilight is keen on the two of us rekindling our friendship, but…i-it’s been so long. I don’t see how anything on that list is going to help.

Starlight: (smiling) I know, right? It’s not like there’s some spell that would magically compel us to pick up where we left off.

Sunburst: (smiling, adjusting glasses) Hm. Actually, there’s several. (climbing off stool, levitating/opening several books) Mistmane’s Material Amity, Rockhoof’s Rapport… (seeing Starlight unimpressed, losing steam) …Flash Prance’s Fellow…ship…

(Letting one book slam shut, he clears his throat softly.)

Sunburst: But I-I get the feeling the Princess isn’t looking for a spell.

Starlight: (giggling) Definitely not.

Spike: (from o.s.) Got it! (Cut to him, now wrapped up in the coils of Twilight’s parchment and reading from it.) “And if all else fails, ask them to share an embarrassing moment from their past, maybe even something they regret.”

(Wrong answer, judging from the looks on both unicorns’ faces.)

Sunburst: (stammering, sweating, adjusting glasses) I don’t see how that would help.

Starlight: Uh…y-yeah! (Weak laugh.) We should just get out of your mane. (walking past him toward front doors) It’s pretty obvious this isn’t going how Twilight hoped, and I’m sure you have plenty of important work to do.

(Her field opens the door on the end of this, while simultaneously towing a very puzzled Spike along. Sunburst turns toward them with a trace of bewilderment.)

Sunburst: What?…Oh! Right. Yes. (He floats and opens a book with a laugh.) No rest for the wizardly.

Starlight: (aside) Come on, Spike!

(She backs out, taking the groaning dragon with her, and shuts the door. A few trailing feet of parchment end up being yanked out through the gap between the bottom edge and the floor. Cut to a long overhead shot of the Empire, the foreboding black clouds continuing their advance, then to an extreme close-up of the bottom edge of one arch curtain. A frigid gust of wind stirs the heavy textile, sending a few snowflakes in for good measure; pan to Twilight cringing before the arctic blast.)

Twilight: There must be a spell that can restore the Crystal Heart!

Celestia: Perhaps.

Luna: But it isn’t something that either of us know.

Cadence: The library here at the castle is nearly as extensive as the one in Canterlot. (She uses her magic to pass Flurry over to Shining.) There’s a good chance we can find something there.

Twilight: (to Celestia, Luna) Can you hold off the storm?

Luna: Yes, for a time, but…even our magic will eventually succumb to the power of the frozen north. (Celestia rises into the air.)

Celestia: We will do what we can— (Luna ditto.) —but you must hurry.

[Continuity error: In “The Crystal Empire,” the library was in a separate building from the Crystal Castle.]

(Outside the curtains, the crowd that had gathered to hear Cadence’s remarks in Part One, Act Three has not dispersed—if anything, it has grown a bit despite the blowing snow. The stage she used is still in place, with its heart-shaped frame as backdrop. Pan/tilt up slightly to follow Celestia and Luna taking flight into the teeth of the oncoming blizzard, over the rooftops that are already accumulating drifts, then cut to the older sister as she shifts to a hover. A golden beam from her horn blasts away the nearest clouds, and Luna is quick to reach her side and kick in a blue beam of her own. The immediate vicinity is now clear, but as soon as they fly o.s., the clouds begin to move in again.)

(Cut to Twilight, who peeks out through the curtains for a moment before dropping to ground level to face the others.)

Twilight: I don’t know how long it will take to find the right spell, but you should probably tell the crowd outside to get somewhere warm.

Cadence: (walking up through them) And try not to mention the Crystal Heart. We don’t want to start a panic.

Applejack: Yes, ma’am. (to the others) Come on, girls!

(She and Fluttershy gallop for the exit, with Rainbow on the wing.)

Twilight: (crossing to the rest) I’m gonna need all of your help. The Crystal Library is enormous.

Shining: You can count on us, Twilie.

(He and Pinkie grin confidently, with Flurry adding a cheerful blabber of her own—and then her horn glows and she teleports out of sight. An instant later she reappears to clamp all four tiny hooves firmly onto the pink face; Pinkie rears up with a yell, instinctively yanks her off, and throws her aside. Both new parents’ brains seize up, and Shining goes into a diving catch with forelegs outstretched. It would be a perfect save, except for the fact that Flurry winks out just short of making contact with the two reaching hooves. He stands up, incredulously regarding the empty space where his daughter should have ended up.)

Shining: Where’d she go?!?

(He and Cadence look frantically around themselves; no luck until a distant squeal from the o.s. Flurry gets their attention. They, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity cast eyes in all directions, trying to get a fix on the source; Cadence is first to zero in on its general area, indicating a staircase.)

Cadence: This way!

(She leads a charge back into the Crystal Castle. Wipe to Spike and Starlight, trudging despondently along a snow-blown street; Spike has extricated himself from the overlong scroll and wound it up.)

Starlight: Well, Spike, looks like my biggest fears came true. I wouldn’t be surprised if Twilight decides to give up on me entirely.

Spike: Aw, it’s not your fault. I’m the one who said all we needed was this list.

(Shooting it the dirtiest look he can drum up on no notice, he blows a burst of fire and torches it to ash.)

Starlight: It’s not the list, Spike, or you, or Twilight. I’m the one Sunburst doesn’t want to be friends with.

Spike: I don’t remember him saying he didn’t want to be friends.

Starlight: He didn’t have to say it.

(Both stop and she lets her head dip even lower toward the crystalline street surface. Spike circles to face her straight on.)

Spike: Well, Twilight obviously thinks you’re worth being friends with— (winking, hugging her) —and I do too.

Starlight: (smiling) Oh, thanks, Spike. At least I have two friends, even if one of them has dragon breath.

(Her answering wink is met with a mildly puzzled look from the reptilian green eyes. Spike exhales a couple of times and sees the clouds of mist that form due to the plummeting air temperature.)

Spike: Uh, that’s not dragon breath. It’s freezing!

(Only now does the unicorn fully comprehend the big chill coming through the realm.)

Starlight: Oh. You’re right! But…I thought the Crystal Heart was supposed to keep the cold weather out.

Spike: It is—unless something’s happened! Come on!

(During the end of his line, a nearby mare who has been watering some flowers is more than a bit surprised to discover that the water pouring from her can has frozen solid. Starlight and Spike race off as the camera tilts up to frame the Crystal Castle nearby; the clouds have spread to the point that the patch of sky above it is the only clear area. As they continue to thicken, the camera cuts to the stage and its crowd of spectators. Applejack and Fluttershy stand on the street to address them, with Rainbow hovering above.)

Rainbow: (echoing slightly) We’re just saying that it might not be the best idea to stay outside. (A mare in a lawn chair speaks up.)

Lawnchair: (indignantly) I camped out all night for this spot. I’m not about to just give it up! (Others nod agreement.)

Fluttershy: Still, when you think about it, the view is just as good a little further back, like…inside your house?

(This sets off confused murmurs among the throng, at least until a stallion wearing a cap and shirt covered with souvenir patches leaps in.)

Patches: The Crystalling ceremony is one of our most sacred traditions. And when that foal is held before the Crystal Heart, I plan to be as close to the action as possible!

Applejack: Honestly, I don’t know if there’s gonna be a Crystallin’. (Long profile shot of the area; pan slowly toward the crowd.) The truth is, the baby’s an alicorn and her magic’s plumb crazy, so…y-you might not want to be that close after all. (Cut to Lawnchair.)

Lawnchair: (impressed) A baby alicorn? (Soft gasp.) Wow! I can’t wait to see that!

Patches: Oh, those little wings are probably so cute! (A stallion with a red cap and an ornate, doubled handlebar mustache pipes up.)

Mustache: I know, right?

Rainbow: (no echo) Look. I am a hundred percent sure the Crystalling isn’t happening.

(The glare from a not-too-distant blast washes over the scene, scaring the daylights out of the three out-of-towners. All yes turn upward; cut to their perspective of the Crystal Castle, which gets repeatedly perforated when bursts of Flurry’s magic punch out holes in the walls from within. At ground level, the crowd watches in awe at the impromptu light show.)

Mustache: (skeptically) No Crystalling, huh? Then why are they starting a fireworks show?

(Wild cheering breaks out, prompting Rainbow to clap a front hoof to her face in disgust and drop into a huddle with eyes covered. Fluttershy pats her head consolingly. Cut to within the massive Crystal Library; Twilight is going through books at a table on the ground floor, while Cadence hovers at a higher level and is floating others off the shelves.)

Shining: (from o.s., exasperated) Young filly… (galloping after Flurry as she flies across) …come back here!

(The wayward tyke emerges from an aisle several yards back for another pass, prompting Rarity to peek out after her and Pinkie to start a hopping pursuit.)

Pinkie: Come to your Auntie Pinkie Pie!

(Close-up of Twilight, magically opening/closing books in time with the following list and skimming their contents A few scrolls litter the table as well.)

Twilight: Bridle Buck’s Boat Chants… (Flurry flies past behind her.) …Hayhoof’s Intonements… (Shining gives chase.) …Mystic Maps and Mazes… (Groan; she addresses herself overhead.) …anything up there? (Flurry teleports up next to Cadence and flies off.)

Cadence: Not yet! (moving along one shelf) I’m not even sure how these are organized!

(Whatever system might once have been in place, “having one’s daughter suddenly materialize among the books” was surely never meant to be part of it. This, however, is exactly what happens before Cadence’s eyes; the worried mother reaches for the filly, only to see her sneeze off a blast that she barely ducks in time. The recoil drives Flurry back into the shelves, wiping out a decent chunk of them, and a pop of magic from within the hole marks her teleporting exit. She poofs back in, right behind Twilight, and starts flying circles around the beleaguered bookworm. After a couple of circuits, she peels out to stay ahead of the charging Shining.)

Cadence: Shining Armor? I thought you were taking care of the baby!

Shining: (skidding around a corner) I’m trying!

(Another sharp turn, another pair of arcane pops, and the rambunctious filly has transported herself back to the corner she just took. She veers gleefully along the aisle for several dozen yards; suddenly her face registers surprise, and a cut to her perspective picks out Rarity jumping into her path with a levitated butterfly net.)

Rarity: Gotcha!

(Back to Flurry, who continues her headlong flight toward the net and then pops out of being.)

Rarity: Oh! (Reappear behind her, get moving again.) Or not.

(Cut to just inside an open set of double doors, the camera pointing out into a corridor of the Crystal Castle. As Spike and Starlight walk in, a squealing Flurry zooms past with Pinkie galloping madly after her. After both have passed o.s., an errant magic blast lances across the screen and Shining peels out to keep ahead of the flying filly. The unicorn and dragon stare mutely at a scene of chaos that would make Discord very proud indeed: Cadence using her magic to sling book after book off the shelves, Twilight reading at top speed as the literature piles up on her table, Flurry doing the backstroke behind her and diving down a flight of stairs. Pinkie hurtles down after her, but loses traction with a yelp and skids into an o.s. crash. An instant later, the pink pony is upright and chasing Flurry all over again; now a runaway magic shot rips across, forcing Spike and Starlight to hit the deck so they can keep their heads on their necks.)

Starlight: What is going on? (Here comes Flurry, towing Pinkie by one hind leg.)

Pinkie: You want the long or the short version?

Starlight: (really puzzled) Short?

Pinkie: (rapid fire) The baby’s an alicorn and she accidentally destroyed the Crystal Heart, so Twilight and Cadence are looking for a spell to put it back together and save the Crystal Empire from turning into a giant wasteland of ice and snow. (Starlight shoots upright.)

Starlight: (floored) Oh.

(Spike stands up next, his mind equally tied in knots. Now Shining gets into position and leaps up to catch Flurry, but she gives him the slip and lets go of Pinkie so that all he gets is a couple of pink hind legs to the chin. The two adult ponies tumble senseless to the floor as the foal who made fools of them glides away. Up above, Cadence gasps softly and magically pulls a book from the shelves—gold accents on cover and spine, held shut with a locking clasp, cover depicting two unicorn horns crossed behind a shield marked with a horseshoe.)

Cadence: What about this? (She brings it down to Twilight.) Trotter’s Tome of Reliquary?

(Exerting her field to replace Cadence’s, the violet Princess effortlessly pops the clasp, opens the book, and flips pages. One particular passage brings a smile to her face, and she whirls it to face Cadence.)

Twilight: I think this is it!

Cadence: (reading) “Spell of Relic Reconstitution”! (Gasp.) I can’t believe we found it! (Twilight pulls it back and closes it.)

Twilight: It’s a good thing, too. Without this, I don’t know what we’d do.

(Flurry teleports onto the table, laughing merrily and scattering one stack of books everywhere. She clears out with barely any time to spare before Pinkie vaults across, both of them very nearly wiping out the venerable volume. The agile earth pony finally brings the flyer down, only for the latter to sneeze both of them backwards and shoot off a beam; cut to Rarity, a hand mirror in her magic grip. She shifts it just enough to reflect the spell…and then Shining throws up a quick shield to bounce it away again…and Starlight does the same to protect herself and Spike…and it scores a perfect bullseye on the crucial book. Twilight saves herself by diving under the table, but the beam bores through from front to back and singes the spine of one tome on the shelves behind her. She straightens up with a horrified gasp; cut to just behind the back cover, the camera pointing through the very new and very large hole. Pinkie has come up to a haunch-sitting position with Flurry gathered under one foreleg, and Cadence and Starlight move closer to deliver a pair of gobsmacked stares.)

Pinkie: Oops.

(Snap to black.)

Act Two

(Opening shot: fade in to an extreme close-up of the wrecked book, still floating in Twilight’s magic with her disbelieving face framed through the hole.)

Twilight: That spell was the only thing we found in the whole library that was even close to what we needed!

Starlight: (crossing to her) I’m so sorry, Twilight!

Twilight: It’s not your fault, Starlight. (flipping pages; ashes fall out) None of us were expecting any of this.

Cadence: Do you think you can remember the spell?

Twilight: I only read it through once! (Here come the others; Shining floats Flurry from Pinkie’s back to his own.)

Rarity: Well, if anypony can exactly remember something she read for the first time two minutes ago, it’s you, Twilight.

Twilight: I’ll try, but I’m not sure how long it’ll take.

(She has barely opened the trashed trove of magical know-how when a frigid gust blows through the area. It is coming in through a large hole in the wall—the one created by the recoil from Flurry’s sneeze near the end of Act One. Clouds start to blot out the visible patch of sky as Pinkie straightens up into view.)

Pinkie: Is “quickly” an option?

Cadence: I’ll help if I can, but we should evacuate the city just in case. (floating Flurry onto her back) You need to lead everypony to the train station before the tracks freeze over.

Shining: We will. But between you and Twilight— (lifting her chin) —I’m sure you’ll remember the spell.

(After a shared tender smile and crossing of horns, the view cuts to just outside the library’s closed doors. They burst open, a determined Shining charging toward the camera with an equally single-minded Pinkie and Rarity right behind. Just before the stallion’s form can completely fill the screen and black it out, cut to Twilight at her loaded table. She lets the book drop in favor of a scroll.)

Twilight: (unrolling it, floating up a quill) I only hope this spell is the one we need.

(As soon as the parchment touches the tabletop, she gets her quill in motion, thinking carefully over every word.)

Starlight: Is there anything I can do?

Twilight: I don’t think so. I’m just sorry about your lesson.

Starlight: (sighing) That doesn’t matter now. Sunburst and I don’t have anything in common anyway. He’s a big important wizard, and I’m re-learning everything I ever thought I knew.

(She ends this line with her head propped dejectedly on her front hooves at the edge of the table. Zoom out slightly as Cadence crosses to her.)

Cadence: (puzzled) Sunburst? I don’t recognize the name, but…if he’s an important wizard, you should bring him here. Maybe he’ll know what to do if the spell fails.

Starlight: (gasping, perking up) Of course! (She gallops off.)

Twilight: You better go with her, Spike.

(One quick nod later, the fired-up baby dragon is hustling out after Starlight. The sound of distant thunder causes Twilight, Cadence, and Flurry to cringe; through an upper-story window, Celestia and Luna can be seen still fighting off the encroaching storm clouds and slowly losing. A flash of lightning hides them from view for a moment; when it clears, the last sliver of visible sky is overrun, and them with it.)

(Wipe to just inside the front entrance of Sunburst’s house. One door flies open to admit Starlight, Spike, and quite a bit of snow, and they have to put real effort into forcing it shut against the relentless wind.)

Starlight: Sunburst! (He is levitating several books.) Haven’t you looked outside?

(He does so, the camera cutting to a window and panning slightly to frame him as the sound of tumbling reference works drifts up from the floor.)

Sunburst: Snow? Uh, that’s not right. (Celestia and Luna fly past.) Uh, the Crystal Heart—

Starlight: (from o.s.) —is gone! (Cut to frame all three.) The baby—Shining Armor and Cadence’s baby—it’s an alicorn!

(That throws him for about three loops and almost makes him disregard the glasses sliding down his nose.)

Sunburst: (pushing them up, smiling) Really?

Starlight: (freaking out) Really! And her magic is a little berserk and, well, I guess she destroyed the Heart! But Twilight thinks she can fix it and Princess Cadence thought you could help! (His eyes pop; he glances nervously around himself.)

Sunburst: Me?

Starlight: (smiling) Of course! (advancing on him) You’re an important wizard in the Crystal Empire! It just makes sense!

(He backs up before her steps until his rump hits a very full bookcase.)

Sunburst: (very unsure, shelving/rearranging books with magic) Right…right…right, right, right. You know, I’d like to help, I-I really would. I-I just have so much, um, important wizard work to do around here.

Starlight, Spike: Huh?

(Cut to a long shot of the stage and zoom in slowly. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow are still down in front and facing a crowd that has stubbornly refused to disperse. Zoom in slowly.)

Applejack: (voice raised, echoing slightly) You can’t stay here! (Front row.)

Mustache: (with increasing fervor) Did I mention this was a royal Crystalling? When the Crystaller holds the young one aloft, all of the Empire will share their joy and light— (Pan slowly toward Lawnchair and Patches.) —and the Crystal Heart will beat stronger than it ever has before!

Patches: (tearing up) It really is a moving ceremony. (He wipes his eyes dry; Rainbow shivers.)

Fluttershy: I really don’t think it’s going to happen.

Rainbow: Come on! It’s freezing out here!

Lawnchair: (irritated) Uh, this is the Crystal Empire. We’ve seen snow before. (Nods from Mustache and Patches.)

Shining: (from o.s.) Not like this!

(General alarm from the crowd. On the start of the next line, tilt up from the Ponyville trio to frame him stepping to center stage.)

Shining: We don’t have time to argue! Princess Cadence has decided to evacuate the city! (A round of gasps.)

Mustache: But—the Crystalling!

Shining: I don’t know if we’ll ever have another Crystalling again! The Crystal Heart…is shattered!

(Now they finally start to understand just how far from perfect this day is turning out, and shocked gasps and murmurs ripple from front row to back.)

Lawnchair: It’s not safe here!

Applejack: (sighing exasperatedly) That’s what we’ve been tryin’ to tell you!

(Shining leads the spectators in a full-speed bug-out, with Applejack/Fluttershy/Rainbow bringing up the rear. Wipe to a close-up of a rather irked Starlight.)

Starlight: Sunburst, I know you’re busy, but did you hear what I said? (He is still rearranging his books.)

Sunburst: (disdainfully) Oh, I heard you, but—but like I said, when you’re an important wizard, the work just piles up. (Several end up in one neat stack.)

Starlight: Sunburst! 

(With a sigh, the stallion floats his glasses off and brings up a cloth to polish them, abandoning the high-handed tone of voice.)

Sunburst: Look, Starlight. I want to help, I do. But I can’t. (Glasses on.) I wish I could. (Starlight rests a front hoof on his shoulder.)

Starlight: What do you mean?

Sunburst: Fixing an ancient relic? I-I can’t even come close to doing something like that!

Starlight: But I-I thought you were an important wizard!

(The strain on his face gives away the pitched battle roaring through his mind, and the ragged outburst that is his next line tells the result all too clearly.)

Sunburst: Well, you were wrong, okay?!? I’m not an important wizard! (tears running from eyes) I’m not even a wizard at all!

(He gallops further into the house, seeing nothing of the world-class grimaces that weld themselves onto the faces of his two visitors. Snap to black.)

Act Three

(Opening shot: fade in to a long shot of the path leading to Sunburst’s house, now half-buried in snowdrifts. Zoom in slowly, then cut to Starlight and Spike peeking worriedly around a corner inside. A zoom out frames a very despondent Sunburst in the fore behind his table, his back turned to the pair.)

Sunburst: I know it’s hard for you to understand, but not all of us end up achieving greatness. (Starlight’s eyes pop.)

Starlight: What? (She and Spike step toward him.) Why wouldn’t I understand that? (She hops onto a stool to sit across from him.)

Sunburst: (bitterly) Really? (He turns to face her.) You’re the protégé of the Princess of Friendship! I don’t think she picks just anypony for that! (Cut to Starlight; Spike pops up next to her.)

Spike: Technically, she’s more of a student that a protégé.

(A slightly dirty sidewise look from the blue eyes makes him think better of any further wisecracks and duck away again.)

Sunburst: (from o.s., sighing) Whatever. (Cut to frame both ponies.) I’m sorry I’m not the big important wizard you were expecting.

Starlight: Sunburst, I-I don’t care if you’re a wizard or not, I’m just surprised. You always knew so much about magic. I mean, look at all these books!

(He spares them a glance, then turns a very jaundiced pair of eyes back toward her.)

Sunburst: Yeah, well, reading about magic is one thing, but you don’t know what it was like at magic school! (thumping table, jostling teapot) To know so much and not be able to do any of it!

(Now it is Starlight’s turn to fight a brief, fierce war in her own mind as the camera zooms in slowly. It too ends with a torrent of barely controlled words, this one tinged with irritation and anger.)

Starlight: (pointing) Well, you don’t know what it was like to be left behind, and then getting so bitter that you steal the cutie marks from an entire village, and then get defeated by Twilight and her friends! So you travel through time to get back at them, but they beat you again and teach you about friendship, but… (voice breaking, tears running freely) …you’re so terrified ponies will find out what you did that you can’t make any friends!

(A deafening silence takes hold as she wipes her eyes and Sunburst just stares, his power of speech completely wiped out by this confession. His glasses slide slowly down to the end of his nose; he takes his time getting them settled, then finally restarts his tongue.)

Sunburst: Did you really travel through time?

Spike: (to Starlight, elbowing her in the side) See? I told you he’d be impressed. (She grins hesitantly; Sunburst gets down off his stool.)

Sunburst: I’m sorry we lost touch. (She does likewise.) Maybe if I had reached out, you could’ve helped me at magic school and I could’ve helped you to…

Starlight: …not become totally evil?

(That bit of self-deprecation earns her a genuine grin from her old friend, coupled with yet another nudge at his glasses.)

Starlight: (sighing) Let’s just say I know what it’s like to have something you’re not exactly proud of.

Sunburst: When you showed up thinking I was some big wizard… (Close-up; he sighs.) …I’m sorry. (She steps closer.) I should’ve told you the truth.

Starlight: (smiling, touching his shoulder) It’s fine. At least we worked it all out. I think Twilight would be proud of us.

Spike: (from o.s.) Well… (Cut to him, looking out the window.) …if you ever want to tell her about it, we should probably leave now!  (Starlight gasps sharply, panic setting in.)

Starlight: (to Sunburst) I forgot to tell you! They’re evacuating the city! (pushing him toward the door; Spike follows) You need to get to the train station, unless you’ve got a spell here that will drive back the frozen north and fix the Crystal Heart so the baby can have her Crystalling?

(A moment’s thought touches off a brainstorm under the messy red-orange mane.)

Sunburst: The Crystalling! (galloping back to bookshelves) Of course!

(It is the work of only a moment for him to levitate half a dozen books, open them, and get them floating around himself in a circle for a lightning-fast cram session. A skeptical Starlight and a flummoxed Spike watch from the doorway.)

(Wipe to a patch of whirling black clouds. A beam from Luna’s horn slashes the gloom to connect with one spot, but it has no visible effect; zoom out to show both her and Celestia pouring power into the blizzard. The elder sister is having just as much luck as the younger, and both are speckled with snow from head to tail and grunting with exertion.)

Celestia: Push them back, my sister!

(The Herculean effort is for naught, as the clouds swiftly expand to engulf them bodily. Tilt down to frame a long overhead shot of a street intersection; Applejack’s orange-tan speck and Shining’s white one head up a mad dash to get the heck out of Dodge. At street level, these two stop briefly amid the frantic exodus.)

Shining: (pointing ahead) THIS WAY!!

(They get their legs working again. Losing traction on the ice-slicked roadbed, one mare skids and slides across to go face-first into a snowbank. Fluttershy comes in for a landing to help her get upright, and both go straight into a full-tilt gallop. Up above, Rainbow is zipping here and there, knocking out every cloud she can lay a hoof on; the area is soon clear, but the ice building up on her coat/mane/wings is giving her bad trouble. Grunting and straining, she gives up on the whole flight thing and drops into a gallop with Applejack and Shining.)

Applejack: Just a little bit further, y’all! The station’s just ahead!

(Her eyes widen a bit in surprise as she looks ahead down the road; cut to her perspective. Three hazy figures are approaching along the frost-glazed street, which quickly resolve into Starlight, a saddlebag-toting Sunburst, and Spike. The trio, the royal sisters, and the fleeing equines meet in the middle of the road.)

Starlight: (voice raised) We have to go back!

Sunburst: (ditto) I know how to stop this!

(The camera cuts to Celestia and zooms in slowly as she smiles serenely and Luna throws her a quizzical sidewise glance. From here ,wipe to Twilight and Cadence standing over the shards of the Heart; the violet Princess has her quill and scroll floating at eye level and is scribbling notes, while the pink one paces fretfully. Zoom in slowly, then cut to a close-up of Twilight as she finishes writing and sends the quill away.)

Twilight: (very unsure) Uh…I think that’s everything? (Cadence’s magic takes hold and she skims the page.)

Cadence: It looks right to me, but… (She passes it back.) …there’s only one way to find out.

(A few quick steps, and she has backed off to a safe distance so that Twilight has room to crank up her horn and fire a beam into the crystal stalagmite that had supported the Heart from below. The glittering fragments rise slowly into the air, arranging themselves into its rough shape between the points of the stalagmite and the stalactite that extends down from above, and Cadence lets fly with a bolt of her own. The power of the combined spells slowly forces the pieces together; they are lost under a moment’s glare, which fades to leave the pieced-together Heart ringed in a two-layer aura. Zoom out to show both Princesses smiling up at the end product of their repair—which promptly flares out and goes to pieces again, running the happy mood. Twilight has put her scroll away.)

Twilight: The spell failed. (hanging head) I don’t know what else to do! (Sound of curtains opening.)

Celestia: (from o.s.) An old student of mine believes he does.

(On the end of this line, cut to her and Luna leading the rest of the gang in—the other five Ponyville mares, Spike, Shining, and Starlight and Sunburst just visible at the back. Both sisters and the flying Rainbow are still crusted with snow. Celestia has parted the curtains with her magic to admit the group, and lets them fall together afterward. She and Luna step aside so that Sunburst can approach the broken Heart and give it a good close look.)

Sunburst: (incredulously) The baby did this?

Twilight: (floating scroll up to show him) I’ve tried putting it back together with—

Sunburst: (floating it closer, now all business) —the Spell of Relic Reconstitution. (crumpling/tossing it) That won’t do it. (floating a book from his saddlebags) The Crystal Heart’s been around for millennia. (Open; flip pages.) Restoring a relic like this is magic way beyond one spell. You need to combine it with something else. (Pass to Twilight.) Something unique to the relic itself.

(He smiles; she gets her magic onto the book and reads closely.)

Sunburst: (encouragingly) Something that strengthens it and provides it with power?

(The gears under the striped dark blue mane spin at several hundred thousand RPM for a long moment, after which she eases the book down and puts on a beaming smile.)

Twilight: The Crystalling! (All gather closer; Rainbow, Celestia, and Luna are now thawed out.)

Sunburst: Combining that spell with the light and love of everypony gathered for the ceremony, together with… (stepping to Starlight/Spike with two scrolls, showing her the book) …Somnambula’s Weather Abjuration to clear away the snow…

(Her field takes the tome from him; now he pivots to Shining and Cadence, the latter cradling Flurry, and offers them one of the scrolls.)

Sunburst: …and a little Fledgling’s Forbearance for the parents…

(As he speaks, his field pops the seal and unrolls the scroll, and Shining takes hold so he and Cadence can read it over. Sunburst chuckles a bit and bends down to stroke Flurry’s cheek, eliciting a happy babble.)

Sunburst: …that should curb the little one’s power fluctuations. (She squeals and grabs his nose; pan to Cadence.)

Cadence: You must be Sunburst. Starlight said you were a powerful wizard.

Starlight: (backing off) Oh, I’m no wizard. (Adjust glasses.)

(Varied reactions of shock and puzzlement from the others, including more than a few jaws that suddenly go slack. Starlight even goes so far as to drop the book Sunburst passé to her.)

Starlight: But he’s studied magic his whole life! You should see his house! And since nopony has any better ideas— (smiling uneasily) —what do we have to lose?

(There follows a very long pause, during which Celestia nods and Cadence telekinetically trades Flurry for the re-rolled scroll Shining was given. The tension ends with his smile and nod.)

Shining: (to Sunburst) I had planned on asking Twilight to be our Crystaller, but since it seems like she’ll be busy…

(Flurry is floated over into the sock-marked forelegs.)

Sunburst: I’d be honored. (He enjoys having his glasses pulled on.)

Twilight: Well, what are we waiting for?

(With the exception of Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and Starlight, all gallop/fly/run for the nearest set of curtains, which Cadence and Shining pull open with their fields to let them out into the snow. Sunburst has ditched his saddlebags. Once they are gone and the gap is closed, pan back to the other four at ground zero; Starlight has the book in her aura again. Once they have taken up positions around the Heart, Twilight lets a new spell surge into the stalagmite support and the pieces begin floating off the ground. Just as before, they assemble into a roughly correct shape between the upper and lower crystal points. She groans and sweats with the strain, sparks dropping from her horn, and two panels slide in from opposite sides to fill the screen. Celestia is on the right side, Luna on the left, and both let one rip; cut to a close-up of the Heart as their beams strike home with Twilight’s. It has drifted slightly out of position, but the triple whammy nudges it back and sets the entire area vibrating. After a final moment’s perusal of the pages, a very apprehensive Starlight lets the book drop and cuts loose with a blinding beam of her own, causing the tremors to intensify.)

(Cut to street level outside the arches. Despite the efforts to get the locals to safety, they have gathered right back in front of the stage. Tilt up slightly to frame it fully as the rest of the crew emerges up here, Sunburst carrying Flurry in his forelegs, then cut to a close-up of the filly. Her parents lean down into view from opposite sides to put a tender kiss on each cheek and touch their horns together over her head. A spark kindles at the points and grows into a brilliant yellow gleam that surrounds her form and causes her to float, giggling, out of Sunburst’s hold. She stops a few feet up as Rarity advances while levitating the case of crystal shards she presented for Shining’s inspection in Part One, Act Three. She opens it, and the glow of Sunburst’s horn lifts one free—the Crystal of Purity she had intended to have Shining select.)

Sunburst: Citizens! May I present the newest member of the Crystal Empire!

(Tilt up quickly to said citizen, who spreads her wings to full extension and laughs merrily, then zoom out quickly to a long shot of the stage and the crowd. Cheers and whoops from high and low alike. Lawnchair has done away with her seat and is standing upright.)

Mustache: (voice breaking) She’s beautiful! Oh, it’s just so moving!

(Spectators bow one after another, each sending a bright blue glow radiating out from his/her position across the crystalline pavement. Within seconds, the energy races through every main road and side street in the Empire; a grinning Sunburst floats the Crystal of Purity down and touches one end to the road. It slowly absorbs every last scrap of the new power, and the camera cuts to within the arches as he gallops in with it riding overhead. All four horned mares still have their spells going full blast and keep at it as he goes up for what must surely be the highest and longest jump of his life. He slam-dunks the supercharged shard into the indentation at the top of the Heart, causing it to blaze white, and the four on the ground cut their spells. When the radiance fades away, the Heart can be seen to be once again whole, unblemished, and spinning in its proper place. Gleaming with a renewed light, it sends out a pulse that washes over all five ponies to bestow the translucent cut-crystal appearance manifested by the locals when they are in their highest spirits. It does the same to the group on the stage, then Flurry hovering above it—the yellow glow having faded from her body—and finally the crowd in the street, now standing up again. The snow, ice, and storm clouds are instantly swept away, and the citizens cheer and cavort in celebration.)

(Cut to a screenful of clouds. A multicolored beam flashes upward through the miasma, causing it to retreat and evaporate so that a long overhead shot of the fully restored Empire is visible. At stage level, Flurry descends slowly into the waiting hooves of her parents, who nuzzle her joyfully.)

Lawnchair: Best Crystalling ever!

(Mustache and Patches nod. Cut to within the arches; the onstage delegation comes down off the stage and is met by Twilight as Spike holds the curtains open. Pan from them to Starlight and Sunburst, watching from a short distance.)

Starlight: For a pony who isn’t great at magic— (turning to him) —you did pretty well.

Celestia: (from o.s.) Indeed. (Cut to her and Luna. The Heart’s glow has faded out.) I’m glad to see you found a way to share your unique gift, Sunburst. You may be more of a wizard than you think.

(He and Starlight share a silent laugh. Dissolve to a long shot of the Empire’s train station under a sunlit blue sky and zoom in slowly on the platform. The Ponyville contingent is here, as are Cadence, Shining holding Flurry, Starlight, and Sunburst; all have reverted to their normal appearances. A train has just pulled in, and two new arrivals are crossing the platform—the parents of Twilight and Shining.)

Mr. Sparkle: You would not believe the crazy weather that delayed our train. (Close-up of the couple; he chuckles.) Came out of nowhere.

Mrs. Sparkle: (crossing to Cadence) But it was all worth it to see this peaceful little angel. (peering at a napping Flurry) Aww, so sweet. (reaching toward her) Come to your grand-mare.

(The angel in question cracks one eye opens and copies the gesture with a giggle. Cut to Twilight and her five friends.)

Applejack: (knowingly) Yeah. Peaceful now, anyway.

Twilight: I suppose that spell really did the trick.

(Their reverie is cut off by the sound of Flurry winding up for a sneeze; cut to her, then back to the six as they cry out and dive for cover. The sneeze is a lulu—except unlike the one that touched off the whole mess in Part One, Act Three, this one does nothing worse than make a lot of noise and cause Flurry’s wings to flare. She immediately tucks them back in and settles down again, and the panicked mares pull themselves back together with some disbelief. Even Cadence and Shining have winced away in expectation of a catastrophe, but they relax upon figuring out that it has not come.)

Shining: We have Sunburst to thank for that.

Cadence: I hope he takes his role as Crystaller seriously. Something tells me the baby will need a pony like him to look to for magical advice.

Mrs. Sparkle: (floating Flurry to her foreleg) Cadence, darling, aren’t we gonna name the poor little dear, or are we gonna spend the entire visit just calling her “the baby”?

Cadence: We were thinking…Flurry Heart.

Shining: (glancing toward others) You know, to remember the occasion.

Rarity: (giggling) Goodness! How could anypony forget? (Twilight leans close to Flurry.)

Twilight: I think it’s lovely.

(Kiss on the cheek, bringing a gurgle. Cut to a longer shot of the platform and zoom in on Starlight and Sunburst, who hang back on the far corner as the others gather around the filly. The mare rests a front hoof on her old friend’s shoulder.)

Starlight: Well, I think you’re the Crystal Empire’s big important wizard— (removing hoof) —whether you like it or not.

Sunburst: Well, I don’t know if I’ll have time for any wizarding. I’m a Crystaller now. That’s a big responsibility.

Starlight: I can’t think of anypony more qualified. Just promise you’ll stay in touch?

Sunburst: Hmph. Like I’d ever lose touch with my oldest friend.

(They embrace, the camera zooming out to frame the train’s first few cars. Twilight has already boarded and is looking on from a window. She pulls her head in quickly, a disquieting thought having occurred to her; cut to a close-up of her on a seat.)

Spike: (from o.s.) What’s wrong, Twilight? (Longer shot; he sits across from her.)

Twilight: (hanging head) I don’t know, Spike. I think I have a lot to learn about being a teacher.

Spike: What are you talking about? Your lesson went perfectly! (Close-up; he counts on his fingers.) Starlight and Sunburst got over their past and rekindled their friendship.

Twilight: (from o.s.) No thanks to me. (Both again.) I know a lot happened. I just wish I could’ve given my pupil the attention she deserves.

(On the end of this line, the sound of a door opening is heard and the camera pans to the end of the car, where Starlight has just come in through its entrance. She takes a seat facing Fluttershy.)

Spike: Well…I know she needed to be put on the right path. (Whistle sounds; engine revs up.) But giving her the space to make her own decisions worked pretty well. (smirking) Isn’t that how Celestia taught you? (Twilight mulls this over a bit.)

Twilight: You know… (smiling, laughing a bit) …I never thought about it. But I guess it is. (The train starts to roll.)

Spike: Maybe you’re a better teacher than you thought.

(Both glance in Starlight’s direction; cut to her. She sees Sunburst waving to her from the platform and responds in kind, and she, Twilight, and Fluttershy trade warm smiles at the thought of this long, strange trip having come to a successful conclusion on multiple levels. Cut to a long shot of the Empire, the Heart’s variegated beam of good vibes still shooting skyward as the train rolls away, and fade to black.)

 (The usual closing theme does not accompany the credits. In its place is a portion of the background score, beginning with the presentation of Flurry to the crowd and ending with Sunburst’ use of the Crystal of Purity to absorb their light. However, it has been transposed down one half-step. Majestic orchestral feel, strings/brass/light percussion, brisk 4; starting in D flat major and modulating to B major, with the final chord in A major.)

THE GIFT OF THE MAUD PIE

Story by Josh Haber, Michael P. Fox, Wil Fox

Written by Michael P. Fox, Wil Fox

Produced by Devon Cody

Story editing by Josh Haber

Supervising direction by Jim Miller

Directed by Denny Lu, Tim Stuby

Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)

Prologue

(Opening shot: fade in to a train rolling through the countryside during the day. Zoom in and cut to a couple of passengers reading inside. Pinkie Pie pops up between the pair, startling them and several other riders considerably as she hops about.)

Pinkie: (singsong, with growing excitement) We’re going to Manehattan, we’re going to Manehattan, we’re going to Manehattan!

(She ends with a bend-over-backwards maneuver that brings her face to face with Rarity, who is using her magic to work a file across one hoof.)

Rarity: (nonchalantly) Yes, yes, Manehattan. The height of sophistication, elegance, culture. (She sets the file down and blows away some dust, then smiles.) Since my boutique in Canterlot has been doing so nicely, it only makes sense for me to open one there as well. (Up with the file for a moment; Pinkie bounds upright with a squeal.)

Pinkie: We’re almost there! Why doesn’t your face look like this?

(She demonstrates “this” by stretching her own cheeks back until every tooth is exposed in an ear-to-ear grin, adding another little squeal to drive the point home.)

Rarity: Oh, Pinkie, dear, this is just a business trip for me. (Pinkie rearranges her face into a frown.) I need to scour the city for the most perfect location for my new shop. (Another pull, and the frown becomes a bored one.) And while it’s lovely how excited you are, there’s absolutely no chance of me getting swept into the—

(Any further words are lost under a lung-bursting gasp as she catches sight of Manehattan’s high rises passing by her window. Cut to just outside, the reflections playing across the glass as she stares raptly out with a new enthusiasm of her own.)

Rarity: —energy! The beauty!

(Long shot of the skyline, panning slowly along the bridge over its river or bay as the train chugs across it.)

Rarity: (voice over) The majesty of the greatest city in all of Equestria!

(Cut to just outside the glass doors of the train station. Rarity, visible through panes, flings them open with her magic and sighs contentedly as Pinkie catches up to her.)

Rarity: This city is simply amazing!

(She delivers this last word in a singsong tone, the camera zooming out quickly across the busy street in front of the station.)

Rarity: It’s just…everything…ever! (Back to the pair.)

Pinkie: And it’s about to get “everything-ever”-er! (pointing down the steps) Because guess who I see!

(All four eyes turn toward street level and lock onto her sister Maud, standing stolidly and solidly on the sidewalk to gaze back up at them.)

Pinkie: (hopping down steps, forming each letter with her body) M! A! U! D! (now next to her; close-up) You know what that spells?

Maud: It spells “Maud.”

(Pinkie cranks off a big squeaky grin, and the camera zooms out quickly to show that Rarity has descended the steps as well. The trusty party cannon is now down here with them, its barrel pointed skyward, and Pinkie sets off a blast of confetti and streamers that catches every equine in the vicinity off guard. Every one, that is, except for her older sister.)

Pinkie: (jumping up, hanging in midair) Maud, Maud, Maud! (She touches down and pulls both Rarity and Maud into a hug.) Yay!

(Her goofy grin is met by a hesitant one from Rarity and not a flicker from Maud. Fade to black.)

OPENING THEME

Act One

(Opening shot: fade in to a close-up of the horse-head sculpture that has appeared prominently atop the city skyline in past episodes. On the start of the next line, tilt down to the three mares making their way along a sidewalk. The cannon is out of sight.)

Rarity: Oh, you Pie sisters have just about the sweetest family traditions. (to Pinkie) Every year, you set aside a special day to spend with each of your sisters?

Pinkie: Yep! I do separate trips with each one. (Hop.) And we make it super-fun by picking a different location every year.

(A colt on a skateboard rolls by in the foreground; behind him, the view wipes to them walking past a theater.)

Pinkie: We see the sights all day and then swap gifts at sunset. And since Maud’s getting her rocktorate nearby, we figured this would be the perfect spot for PSSSD.

(Pronounced as “pssst,” but with a D sound on the end instead of a T. Misinterpreting it, Rarity leans in toward Pinkie in close-up.)

Rarity: (whispering) Okay, what’s the secret?

Pinkie: Huh?

Rarity: (normal volume) You just said “pssst.” (Stop; Pinkie puts a hoof to Rarity’s chest.)

Pinkie: No, silly. Not “pssst,” “PSSSD.”

(She emphasizes the D to make the distinction clear.)

Pinkie: P-S-S-S-D. Pie Sisters’ Surprise Swap Day.

(Throwing a foreleg out to her other side, she is more than a little surprised to find it resting on the shoulders of a rather large, beefy, grumpy stallion. He snorts out steam, and a longer shot picks out the fact that Maud is no longer walking with the pair. She removes her foreleg with a sheepish giggle; Rarity glances back the way they came, the camera panning slightly to stop on the third mare, who has taken an interest in a rack of postcards at a newsstand. Her pet rock Boulder rests on one upraised front hoof.)

Rarity: Maud!

Maud: Boulder promised his cousin a postcard.

(She lifts it a bit higher, as if to let it get a better view of the uppermost portion of the display.) 

Rarity: (to Pinkie) Well, I’ll just leave you two to your PSSSD. (Same emphasis that Pinkie used.) And now I am off to scout possible locations for my new boutique.

Pinkie: Before you go, can I ask you a quick question?

Rarity: Oh, of course.

Pinkie: (begging, throwing herself down to grab Rarity’s foreleg) Will you please help me?!?!? 

(The spectacle attracts the attention and silent disapproval of a couple of passersby.)

Rarity: (uneasily, singsong) Only if you let go of my leg and stand up. (Pinkie does so; the others disperse.)

Pinkie: Every year, Maud’s PSSSD gift always blows mine away, but this year is going to be different. For the first time, I’m finally getting her a gift that’s as good as the one she always gets me.

(She fishes around in her mane; cut to Rarity as a sheet of paper is pulled out and shown to her. During the next line, cut to her perspective and tilt down. It is an advertising flyer for various styles of small bags and topped by a graphic of a stone.)

Pinkie: (from o.s.) There’s a specialty store here in Manehattan that sells nothing but rock pouches. (Cut to frame her and Rarity.) A rock pouch would be perfect for Boulder, and I know Maud will love it. (She pulls the ad back.)

Rarity: Why, Pinkie! That really is the perfect gift for Maud!

Pinkie: (tucking it into her mane) I know, right? Problem is…

(Cut to Maud, still giving Boulder the grand tour of the postcard rack. On the start of the next line, zoom out quickly to put Pinkie and Rarity in the fore.)

Pinkie: …I still need to buy one and the store’s downtown! (Rarity puts a thoughtful hoof to her chin.)

Rarity: Hmmm…and you want to get a pouch for Maud without ruining the surprise. (An idea hits.) Well, luckily for you, I know exactly what you should do. Why not sightsee on a path that leads right to the pouch store? That way, Maud won’t get suspicious. I’ll come with you and distract Maud so…

Pinkie: …I can sneak away to pick out a rock pouch! (Gasp.) And if you’re coming with us, you can look at boutique locations along the way! (Zoom out slightly; she bounces up off the sidewalk.) IT’S THE PERFECT PLAN!!

(As her hooves hit the concrete, those last two words echo up and down the block, prompting a few surprised/angry/annoyed reactions. Pinkie hastily claps her front hooves over her mouth until the closest onlookers have cleared out, then drops back to all fours.)

Rarity: Y-Y-Yes, yes, let’s not get too excited until you actually get a pouch for Maud.

Pinkie: Of course. Got it. Absolutely. (Maud rejoins them, no longer carrying Boulder.)

Maud: Nothing moved him.

(After a long, silent moment, the pink pony breaks out in a gigantic smile and stretches out her forelegs to encircle Maud’s neck.)

Pinkie: Maud, I’m giving you the greatest PSSSD gift in the history of ever!

(She ducks o.s. for a split second and comes back with her cannon, shooting a salvo over the street. Dissolve to a simplified Manehattan map with several key landmarks picked out; a red line traces a path through the streets from the train station to the shore, then becomes a dotted line as it goes into the water. It stops at the pony equivalent of the Statue of Liberty, whereupon the view dissolves to a long shot of the actual site and zooms in slowly.)

Rarity: (voice over, sighing blissfully) What a spectacular view!

(Close-up of the crown; Rarity and Maud are visible at the windows of its observation deck, and Maud is holding Boulder.)

Rarity: You really can see everything from here.

Maud: Especially the glaciation of the sloping strata. It’s breathtaking.

(Zoom out quickly on the start of the next line to frame Pinkie rising through the air with the help of a bunch of balloons. Her cannon is a few yards below and getting a lift of its own.)

Pinkie: But not half as breathtaking as the gift I’m giving you!

(Fire. Dissolve to the map; a dotted line doubles back to the shore, and it goes solid again to trace out a path that stops at an image of Rarity’s face. Another dissolve shows the three mares wedged into the extremely narrow aisle of an empty store. Boulder rests on the floor.)

Rarity: I-It certainly is…ugh!…cozy, but this simply won’t do. Working in a space this small would make me lose my mind!

Pinkie: Just like Maud’s gonna lose her mind when she sees the gift I’m giving her!

(The cannon’s muzzle extends up into view behind the trio, and Rarity winces away from it in fearful anticipation. Cut to the street outside the store, which is jammed tightly between two other buildings; the door is open, but the block-shaking explosion hides the mares inside from view behind a cloud of confetti. Dissolve to the map, where the line snakes over to the pony counterpart of Rockefeller Center and its large outdoor ice skating rink, then to a long shot of the building. Tilt down slowly to the rink itself, populated by skaters and hockey players who clear out to give a view of Rarity and Maud approaching from opposite sides. The unicorn has donned a dress over a sparkly full-body leotard, but the earth pony is still wearing only her plain frock and is not carrying Boulder. Rarity takes a breath to speak, but she is cut off when Pinkie skids into view and stops, showering her with ice shavings kicked up by the blades. The peppy pony has donned a short-sleeved winter coat and knit cap. As she speaks, her cannon slides backwards into view and stops in front of her.)

Pinkie: Whatever you were about to say isn’t nearly as good as the gift I’m giving Maud!

(Here comes another shot, whose recoil sends the artillery piece skidding back and o.s.)

Maud: You’ll be pleased with yours too.

(She skates off and, as Rarity shakes herself clean, does a jump with a half-turn that brings her down to glide backwards on one hind leg. The fashionista’s mouth falls open at this display of her prowess, but Pinkie just smiles and takes it all in stride. Dissolve to the map; now a pink crayon reaches into view and draws a path from the rink to an icon of a portly stallion dressed in a chef’s white toque and apron—a restaurant.)

Rarity: (voice over, crossly) Pinkie, put down that crayon!

(Cut to one side of an outdoor table at this establishment. Pinkie and Rarity are seated at it, Rarity having defrosted herself, and the map and crayon are being used by the curly-maned goofball. These two have changed out of their skating duds, and Maud will be seen likewise in a moment.)

Rarity: The Cantering Cook isn’t that kind of restaurant!

(Pinkie hastily spits the crayon away; there is the sound of it splashing down somewhere o.s. Zoom out quickly to show all three at this table, one of several on a rooftop patio decorated with ivy-covered arches and strings of paper lanterns. Boulder rests in front of Maud, and the crayon has landed in another customer’s bowl of soup.)

Rarity: (sighing happily) A pony could get used to eating at places like this.

Maud: I know. It’s the only restaurant in the city with nepheline syenite in their bathroom tiles.

(Caught hopelessly off guard by this bit of geological esoteric, Rarity tries to hide her befuddlement behind a big grin and stammering giggle.)

Rarity: Well, isn’t that something? (stilted) You know what, Pinkie Pie? (floating a menu up to block them both from Maud’s view) Uh…uh, maybe you could help me figure out what to order.

(Cut to their side of the impromptu barrier. The next three lines are spoken in hushed tones.)

Pinkie: We’re so close to the pouch store! It’s just a block away! I can practically smell it from here—if I knew what a pouch store smelled like.

(Maud’s side: Rarity risks a quick glance over the top edge, then ducks down. The gray mare’s demeanor betrays no hint that she has caught on.)

Rarity: (from behind menu) Okay. Remember the plan. (Cut to her and Pinkie.) I will stay here and distract Maud, while you go get a pouch.

Pinkie: Gotcha! (Down goes the menu; she grins fixedly.)

Rarity: (stilted) Oh, why, thank you for the kind assistance, Pinkie Pie. (winking, poking her) And now I know exactly what to order.

Pinkie: (ditto) You are very welcome, Rarity. (backing away from table) Now pardon me whilst I go wash my hooves.

(She bumps into a unicorn stallion waiter, knocking down both him and the covered tray of food he is carrying in his magic, and completely freaks out.)

Pinkie: Sorry!

(And with that, she bugs out fast enough to bash a pony-shaped hole through the double doors leading into the kitchen. The customer who got the crayon in his soup, also a unicorn stallion, levitates it out with some consternation. Cut to a close-up of Maud and zoom out slightly as Rarity leans across to get a look at Boulder.)

Rarity: So, Maud— (pointing at it) —that Boulder of yours is such an interesting… (Clear throat.) …character. You must tell me—how did the two of you first meet? (Grin.)

Maud: It was a dark and stormy night. (Cut to Rarity; she continues o.s.) Little did I know that my life was about to change forever.

(The grin becomes noticeably strained as its wearer realizes that she is about to get a lot more than she bargained for. Dissolve to the map, a red line tracing from the Cantering Cook to a drawstring pouch icon—the store whose ad Pinkie showed to Rarity earlier. It shakes to the sound of a ringing cash register, and another dissolve brings up a close-up of a purple pouch with yellow stars/dots and trim on display. A gasp from the o.s. Pinkie; zoom out to put the camera just inside the store window, with her peering at the item from the sidewalk. Her next words are muffled slightly by the glass, and she briefly mashes her face against it as she speaks.)

Pinkie: Look at that hand-stitched, ten-thousand-thread-count, velvet-lined rock pouch! Maud will love it! I need it!

(Out on the sidewalk. This pouch is one of many up for sale, and there is a small sign hanging on the door. She slides over her and tries to enter, only to end up mashed spreadeagle against its surface when it fails to open. An instant later she is up on her hooves.)

Pinkie: Hm. Must be stuck.

(Only now does she take notice of the sign, and she leans in to run a critical eye over the text.)

Pinkie: (reading) “Took a sudden vacation to Canterlot with my grand-niece. Back in a few moons.” (small voice) Oh, no. (Straighten up; panic grows.) Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

(She gets herself under a vague semblance of control.)

Pinkie: Well, maybe, just maybe, he’s already back from vacation and just forgot to take the sign down.

(The second half of this line is delivered up close to a couple of passersby, first a filly whose mother does not approve of the interruption, then a mare who gallops off in fright. Pinkie has dropped to her haunches by this point; cut to inside the store, the camera pointing out through the door’s glass panel as she stands up to pound on it with enough force to shake the shelves.)

Pinkie: (muffled by glass) Hello, Mr. Pouch Store Owner! I’d love to hear all about your sudden vacation to Canterlot with your grand-niece while buying a pouch for my sister, please!

(During this line, cut to the sidewalk, where the mother and daughter have flagged down a police officer, an earth pony mare, and the mother is telling her of the incident. The muffled tone ends at this change of camera angle. The officer glances toward the store, as do a couple of passing stallions; from here, cut to Pinkie and zoom out as she steps partly into view.)

Officer: Miss! (Pinkie turns toward her…) The store’s clearly closed. (…and leans over.)

Pinkie: But it can’t be! It just can’t be! If I can’t get that pouch, then not only am I not getting my sister the greatest present in the history of PSSSD— (shaking her) —but now I have no PSSSD present for my sister at all!

(Her ears droop in brain-crushing terror before the view snaps to black.)

Act Two

(Opening shot: fade in to the kitchen entrance of the Cantering Cook. The doors have been repaired, and the stallion with the soup has set Pinkie’s crayon aside and is enjoying his meal again. Out comes the waiter she knocked out, floating a fresh tray and looking rather out of sorts. On the start of the next line, pan to Rarity and Maud still at their table.)

Maud: And Boulder’s been by my side ever since.

Rarity: (woodenly) Wow. What a surprisingly suspenseful and compelling story. I completely get what you see in him now. (She gasps as Pinkie trudges over, then works up a big smile.) Pinkie Pie! You’re back! (Sit.) Oh, your hooves must be sparkling clean!

Pinkie: Huh?…Oh, right.

(Setting her knees on the table edge, she props her head on her front hooves and lets out a loud groan. Maud stares impassively, while Rarity smiles and addresses herself o.s.)

Rarity: Garçon! (Longer shot; she is calling the waiter.) One super-deluxe, two-mile-high, hot fudge sundae, stat!

(He hurries toward the kitchen, darts back a moment later, and uses his field to slam the requested dessert onto the table. It is a monstrosity of ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce, studded with cherries and whole unpeeled bananas, and it stands several feet tall in a bowl as wide as the table. Just as with the menu dodge, Pinkie and Rarity take advantage of it for a conference.)

Rarity: (hushed) What happened? Did you get a pouch for Maud? (grabbing Pinkie’s cheeks) Tell me everything!

(As soon as she lets go, the party planner sucks in every molecule of air her lungs will hold, then several hundred trillion more on top of that, and opens the floodgates.)

Pinkie: (rapid fire) The door to the rock pouch store was locked because the owner’s on a sudden vacation to Canterlot with his grand-niece for a few moons, and so there’s no way I can get the perfect present for Maud and now I don’t have any present for her at all, so it’ll be the worst Pie Sisters’ Surprise Swap Day ever!

(With the torrent of words at an end, she hitches in a huge breath and buries her face in the colossal sundae. The mound of sugary goodness does very little to muffle the ensuing sobs. Rarity glances around the periphery, sees Maud deadpan as always, and throws her a placating little grin before giving Pinkie’s head a telekinetic yank out of the ice cream. The crying stops.)

Rarity: Oh, not to worry, dear. I’ll just have to help you find a new present for Maud. We have plenty of time before your gift exchange at sunset, and all of Manehattan to explore. We’re bound to find something Maud would like, maybe even more than a rock pouch.

Pinkie: (smiling) You’re right! Thanks, Rarity!

(Dissolve to an extreme close-up of a stretch of piano keys A couple of hooves reach into view from above to step on these, causing them to light up and play the opening bars of the show’s theme. The relative scale indicates that this is a giant instrument, and a longer shot reveals that it is a keyboard laid on the floor of a toy store. A stallion and filly are playing the music, but get knocked down when Pinkie slides across on her hocks. She has cleaned herself up.)

Rarity: (from o.s.) Maud…

(Pan to these two, standing near a group of giant stuffed animals. Maud has put Boulder away.)

Rarity: …I can’t help but notice you’re staring at that marvelous giraffe. I was just wondering—any chance you could see yourself with it?

Maud: Only if I had a mirror.

(The unicorn uses a fixed grin to hide her disbelief at the earth pony’s literal-mindedness. A rain of gems tumbles over the screen, the view wiping behind them to show them in a jewelry store. The designer has donned a dark gray dress, pearl necklace, and tiara and re-styled her mane.)

Rarity: Now, Maud… (magically lifting her necklace higher) …I know you’re a big fan of rocks. So get your camera ready—

(Zoom out to frame the entire showroom, filled with all manner of expensive baubles in display cases that have caught Pinkie’s attention. Rarity’s outfit can be seen to include opera gloves now. As she continues, the camera cuts to close-ups of various merchandise.)

Rarity: —because these are the most spectacular rocks in all of Manehattan! (Cut to within one case, pointing out at Rarity and Maud.) Surely there must be something here that catches your eye.

(As a fully bedecked Pinkie leans in close, her sister pulls Boulder out and holds it up to one ear for a moment, as if listening to it whisper. She lowers it before speaking.)

Maud: (hushed) Boulder says they’re all too…stuck-up.

(Rarity rolls her eyes in mild disgust at this assessment. Dissolve to a close-up of a string of pennants stretched overhead and tilt down to ground level. They span the air above a busy expanse of outdoor market stalls. Maud stands in the foreground, holding Boulder and not doing much of anything else until Rarity leaps into view some distance back and gives a shrill whistle. Once all eyes turn toward her, the camera cuts to a slow pan across Rarity’s figure—hooves planted wide, grim determination writ large on her face, her finery and outfit gone and her mane back to its usual style.)

Rarity: All right. You and me, Maud— (Close-up.) —you and me.

(The view narrows to a horizontal slit that frames her narrowed blue eyes, and a similar transition picks out Maud’s half-lidded blue-green ones. She has put Boulder away again. Fullscreen: the camera rests just behind the latter, pointed down the aisle toward Rarity.)

Rarity: What do you think about…this? Or this? Or this?

(Each “this” is accompanied by her dash to a stall and telekinetic showing of a different item, zigzagging toward Maud. The camera then cuts to a close-up of the unflappable mare, whose eyes just flick back and forth to follow the items being flung about.)

Rarity: (from o.s.) Or this? Or this? Or this? Or this? (Extreme close-up.) This? This? This? This? This? This? This? This? This?

(She speeds up into a machine-gun tempo, the rattle of flying objects matching her for a while before dying out. Maud’s eyes turn toward the ground at this point.)

Maud: I like…that.

(Cut to frame both. Rarity has collapsed at her hooves, in front of a mountain of assorted items.)

Rarity: (frantically, snapping upright, hooves to Maud’s chest) What is it? You have to tell me! (floating a scooter out) Was it this bike?

(Close-up of Maud. Each named item is presented in quick succession.)

Rarity: (from o.s.) This lamp? This grappling hook? (She zips into view.) What do you like?

Maud: (pointing) I like that fissure in the sidewalk.

(Blue eyes turn toward the ground; cut to a close-up of the crack in question, with a few tufts of grass growing through.)

Maud: (leaning down to it) It’s an elegant example of thermal expansion and soil settlement.

(By the time she stands upright, two things have happened. One, she has a camera at the ready, attached to a holder around her neck, and she snaps a picture. Two, Rarity looks about one good push away from a full-scale major mental malfunction. The glare from the camera flash clears to give an extreme close-up of the crazed blue eyes, and Rarity backs away to present her contorted face in vivid detail. Incoherent mumblings escape her lips and she claps front hooves to temples as a steam whistle builds in pitch within her mind. Finally she manages to get a word out.)

Rarity: WHAT?!?!? (Maud walks off, her camera packed away.) But I—all of this, and she likes a crack?!?

(She keels over in a faint just before Pinkie sticks her head out of the mass of discards.)

Pinkie: Did she like anything? (Rarity stands up.)

Rarity: (hushed) That sister of yours is simply impossible to shop for! There’s nothing she needs or wants!

Maud: (from o.s., calling out) Boulder! (Cut to her, hoof cupped to mouth.) Boulder! (Pinkie and Rarity look her way.) Where’d you run off to? (Pause; she looks off to one side.) There you are.

(Cut to a close-up of the missing stone, on a counter with several silly-faced pet rocks. On the start of the next line, she reaches into view to scoop it up and the camera pans slightly to frame her.)

Maud: Sure wish I had something to carry you around in.

(Now it is Pinkie’s turn to flip her lid, bounding up out of the junk pile and hanging in midair as items go flying in all directions.)

Pinkie: A ROCK POUCH WAS THE PERFECT GIFT FOR MAUD!! (She comes down to earth with a moan.) And I know she would’ve loved the one I saw in the window! It had double stitching, a red drawstring—

Rarity: (looking away, smiling) —and ochre-flecked velvet lining with reinforced triple-crosshatched seams?

Pinkie: (glumly, nodding) Yep. That’s the pouch.

(The unicorn’s smile has become a grin. It takes a second for her words to sink in through the layers of magenta mane and pink–coated skull.)

Pinkie: Wait. How’d you know?

Rarity: (pointing) Because I’m looking at one just like it!

(The lighter blue eyes pop in surprise. Cut to just behind the pair and zoom in quickly on a figure at the far end of the aisle, moving at a leisurely pace along the sidewalk. Light yellow earth pony stallion; unshaven; two-tone gray slicked-back mane and short tail; blue eyes; gold tooth, medallion, and ear stud; short-sleeved reddish-pink shirt; brown belt; cutie mark of several gold coins. The very pouch that Pinkie noted in the store window is hooked onto the belt like a saddlebag, the camera cutting to a close-up of it and then back to Pinkie and Rarity.)

Rarity: Maybe if you catch up with him, you could ask—

(The rest of the suggestion dies on her lips as the pouch hunter disappears in a pink blur and whips over to intercept the stallion.)

Pinkie: Excuse me, sir. (bending to eye the pouch) I couldn’t help but notice your nifty rock pouch. Is there any chance you’d be willing to part with it? (Straighten up partway.) I really need it. Like, really, really, really! 

(“Goldie” speaks in the manner of a sleazy street hustler.)

Goldie: So, uh, let me get this straight. (holding pouch up) You, uh, really, really need this pouch, huh?

Pinkie: I believe I said “really, really, really.” (She stands up to full height.)

Goldie: (bouncing it on hoof) Well, you know, pouches like this are really hard to come by these days. (It goes back on the belt.) But I might be able to part with it—for the right price.

Pinkie: (eagerly) So you’ll sell it to me, and I’ll finally be able to give my sister the perfect Pie Sisters’ Surprise Swap Day present? (hopping in place) Ooh, thank you, thank you, thank you!

(She demonstrates her gratitude by wheeling the party cannon into view and letting him have it point-blank.)

Goldie: (shrewdly) Hmmm!

(Cut to inside the barrel, the camera pointing toward the muzzle as he peers in.)

Goldie: (echoing slightly) That’s one sweet party cannon you got there! (Outside; he removes the pouch from his belt.) Tell you what. I’d be more than happy to give you the pouch for the low, low price of…that cannon.

(At the mention of those last two words, Pinkie’s face twists into a paroxysm of horror and she hugs the firing piece reflexively to herself.)

Pinkie: My…my…party cannon? (He takes a step closer.)

Goldie: Well, if you really want to give that sister of yours the perfect present— (Her eyes go big and shiny; face goes slack.) —then you’ll have to give up your party cannon. (He backs up o.s.) So, what do you say? (Cut to him, holding the pouch.) The pouch for the cannon.

(He sneers, knowing that he has his target hopelessly over a barrel, and his gold tooth gives off a sinister little gleam. Pinkie’s chin quivers like a jackhammer, her teeth threatening to chew her lower lip to shreds. Snap to black.)

Act Three

(Opening shot: fade in to a close-up of the sidewalk crack that fascinated Maud so much.)

Maud: (from o.s., pointing at it) Do you see the exposed chalcedony in the fissure?

(Cut to her, hunched down over the fault, and a thoroughly bemused Rarity.)

Rarity: (looking closer, hesitantly) Probably? (Zoom out as a thoroughly dispirited Pinkie joins them.)

Pinkie: Whatcha guys looking at?

Rarity: (sighing with relief) You’re back! (to Maud) Darling, I want to get one more picture of you with that astounding fissure in the sidewalk. (floating up camera) And the inspiration just struck me for the perfect shot! Uh, be a dear and…go stand behind it.

(The geology nut takes up the indicated position, accompanied by a zoom out as Rarity brings the camera up to her eye.)

Rarity: Okay! Now just, uh, back up a little bit. (Maud does so; another zoom out.) Little more. (Again; cut to Rarity.) And now just a little, eh…twenty yards more.

(Cut to Maud, who complies with this request; she is nearly to the sidewalk at the other end of the row of stalls.)

Rarity: (from o.s.) Perfect! (Long shot of all three.) Hold that pose! I think we’ve found your new holiday card!

(Leaving the camera hanging in midair, she turns to her downhearted fellow traveler.)

Rarity: (hushed) So, how did it go? Tell me, tell me, tell me!

Pinkie: Well, I got the rock pouch for Maud, and…that’s really the only thing that matters.

Rarity: (normal volume, touching Pinkie’s shoulder) Oh, I am so glad to hear that! She’s going to absolutely love it! (Pinkie turns away and rests her forelegs on a counter.)

Pinkie: Yep.

Rarity: (dryly) “Yep”? That’s it? You got your sister the greatest PSSSD present in the history of ever, and all you have to say is “yep”?

Pinkie: Yep.

Rarity: But…you’re Pinkie Pie. You’re supposed to be all…

(The following is delivered in her best impression of the pink wacko, trotting energetically in place and bouncing wildly about like a four-legged Superball.)

Rarity: …“Oh, I’m so excited I got the rock pouch! And I know I say ‘excited’ a lot when I’m actually just kind of excited, but this time I’m really excited about how excited I am about being this excited over the rock pouch!” (Normal tone, all four hooves back on the ground.) And then you fire off your party cannon. (Pause.) Say, where is your cannon? (Another pause; she gasps sharply.) Did you lose it? (pulling Pinkie around to face her) Is your party cannon lost somewhere in the big city?

Pinkie: Well…I wouldn’t say it’s lost. (turning away) I mean, I know where it is, it’s just… (She trails off into a crushed sigh.)

Rarity: I can clearly see that something’s bothering you, and I want to help. But I can’t help you unless you tell me what the problem is.

Pinkie: Oh, there’s no problem. It just turns out that the going rate for a rock pouch in Manehattan is one party cannon. Who knew? (Rarity’s eyes pop at this bit of news.)

Rarity: You gave away your cannon?!? But—but that party cannon is your everything! You absolutely love that cannon! (turning Pinkie to face her) How could you possibly part with something that means so much to you?

(The gloomy-faced trader pushes the white hoof down from her cheek.)

Pinkie: (smiling sadly) Well, I finally got Maud a gift that’s just as good as the one she always gets me. And that’s all that really matters.

Rarity: Well, I guess I understand—maybe.

Pinkie: (brightening a bit) Maud’s going to be so excited. (rising to hind legs) I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she sees the pouch.

(Zoom out slightly as the older sister joins them, carrying Boulder.)

Maud: I know. The camera loves Boulder.

(Pinkie and Rarity trade a smile. Wipe to a pan through a park, in which ponies are amusing themselves in various ways, including rides on the swan-shaped boats floating along a stream that runs through the green space. The three mares have spread a picnic blanket at the bank and are sitting on it; both Boulder and Maud’s camera have been put away, and Pinkie is back to her happy self. Stop on them.)

Rarity: After the day we’ve had, I’m probably looking forward to the swap part of the Pie Sisters’ Surprise Swap Day even more than the two of you. (Giggle.) And I’m not even a Pie sister. (to each in turn) I can’t wait one more second to see the wonderful gifts you’ve gotten each other!

Pinkie: Well, you’re going to have to. We don’t just swap, silly. We always sing the Pie Sisters’ Surprise Swap Day Song first. (Rarity’s smile slips a bit.) Ready, Maud?

Maud: As I’ll ever be.

Cheerful piano melody with cymbal/snare drum, brisk 4 (C major)

Pinkie: (trotting behind Maud)                 It’s the Pie Sisters’ Swap Day Song

Song ends

(She gestures toward her sister; zoom in on the latter.)

Maud: Hey.

Pinkie: Okay, time to swap presents!

(Reaching out of view, she brings back a box wrapped in striped paper that bears a pattern of little Maud-faces. This is set down on the blanket in front of Rarity, and Maud counters with a tall cylindrical gift wrapped in plain brown paper and tied with twine. Each sister then picks up the gift meant for her, and Pinkie stands up to eye hers critically.)

Pinkie: Hmmm…

(Look at it high and low, pick it up, give it an experimental shake; meanwhile; Maud just gives hers the barest nudge. Rarity’s anticipation yields to apprehension as she glances from one side to the other, seeing Pinkie run her tongue down the full length of her gift that is now lying on its side. When the stress finally gets too much, Rarity voices a rising growl and the camera zooms out quickly from an extreme close-up of her face to frame all three. Pinkie’s gift is upright again.)

Rarity: JUST OPEN THEM ALREADY!!

(Maud goes first, tearing off the paper and pulling out the treasured pouch.)

Maud: Thanks.

Pinkie: (tearing up) I knew you’d love it! It was all worth it! Look how happy she is!

(Cut to the stoic sister on the end of this; she places Boulder into the pouch.)

Pinkie: (to Rarity) And I couldn’t have done it without you. (They embrace.) Thank you, Rarity.

(The tender moment ends abruptly when she shoves the unicorn aside.)

Pinkie: Okay, time to open your present to me!

(One deft motion strips away the paper and twine, exposing a cardboard canister with a lid on its upper end. She pops this off and squinches one eye shut to peek inside, then lets both eyes run over the contents with a surprised little yelp.)

Pinkie: You did it again! You got me the best present in the history of PSSSD! (Gasp; Rarity looks in, clearly not catching on.) This is perfect! This is amazing! (trotting/jumping in place) This is incredible! I love it, I love it, I love it!

(Once she settles back to all fours, she too registers some confusion.)

Pinkie: What is it?

Maud: It’s little pieces of cupcake-scented paper. You know—

(Close-up of the open container, showing the multicolored bits inside.)

Maud: (from o.s.) —confetti, for your cannon. (Pinkie tears up all over again at the sight.)

Pinkie: (wiping eyes) Maud, you know me so well. (She stands up…) You really are the most thoughtful gift-giver in the world! (…and bounds across to deliver a monster hug.) I’m gonna love it five-ever! That’s even longer than forever.

(Pronounced with emphasis on the first syllable to make the numerical pun. The hug tightens a notch, with an ecstatic little hum for good measure, and Rarity cannot help but smile warmly at the sisters. Dissolve to a stretch of unoccupied park land; Rarity and Maud walk into view, the latter with her new pouch hooked on her belt, and look upward.)

Rarity: You’re right.

(Zoom out quickly to a long shot. They have arrived at a collection of boulders half-buried in the ground, surrounding a massive monolith that resembles a mountain summit flipped over and rammed into the grass at an angle.)

Rarity: That is impressive. But it’s no fissure in the sidewalk.

(In close-up, Maud leans down with Boulder in her teeth and sets it on the nearest rock.)

Maud: Play nice.

Rarity: Oh, I’m so relieved to see that you like the pouch, especially considering what Pinkie Pie had to give up for it.

(Realizing that she has just spilled part of her friend’s secret, she sucks in a sharp gasp.)

Rarity: Oh! (Hoof to mouth.)

Maud: What?

Rarity: (hastily) I mean, forget I said that. I mean, I-I’m-I’m-I’m glad to see that you like the pouch. You can remember that part. Just forget the second part. You know, the—the second part where I said that Pinkie Pie had to give something up and—

(This time, she cuts off her indiscretion with a shocked yelp and shudder.)

Rarity: (hastily) I should just stop talking now. Nothing!

(She catches her lower lip in her teeth as Pinkie’s laugh from o.s. wipes the tension away, and the party mare bounds into view to scatter confetti from her canister.)

Pinkie: Yay! I love my sister and my new confetti! (Off she goes.)

Maud: (to Rarity) Why isn’t she using her party cannon?

(The mare on the wrong end of this question stammers a bit, trying to think of a way out, and finds one by scraping a front hoof over the dirt to sully it.)

Rarity: (stilted) Ooh, wow! Look how filthy my hooves are! I really should go wash them.

(Off she goes at a full gallop away from Maud, the camera following—only to stop dead upon finding the unsmiling mare standing in her way.)

Maud: Where’s her cannon?

Rarity: (backing fearfully away) No, no. Stop…stop giving me that look. I can’t take it!

(Cut to a close-up of Maud on the end of this; “that look” is no different from her usual flat expression. Rarity promptly caves in with a pained moan.)

Rarity: (rapid fire) Pinkie Pie feels badly that the gifts that she always gives you are never as good as the ones that you give her!

Maud: What?

Rarity: (more normal cadence) That’s why she was willing to give up her party cannon for the pouch! (Maud glances at it.)

Maud: She gave up her party cannon?

(A look behind herself leads into a quick pan that stops on Pinkie, sitting on her haunches in the grass and halfheartedly taking a pinch of confetti to blow off her hoof.)

Rarity: (from o.s., voice raised) Pinkie Pie! (Pinkie looks up; cut to a long shot of Rarity and Maud.) You might want to come over here for a second!

(Her front hoof is clean now. The cannon-free mare trots across, a knowing smile on her face and no longer toting the confetti container.)

Pinkie: I think I know what this is about. You guys want to ride the swans. Well, there’s swan boats— (winking) —but there are real swans here we can ri—

(One older sister gets into her face, close enough to touch noses with her.)

Maud: You gave away your party cannon?

(One younger sister averts her eyes to look at Rarity, standing a few paces back and doing her best to keep her dignity.)

Rarity: She broke me.

(If there is any hint of disapproval on the gray face, it is a model of subtlety and imperceptibility.)

Pinkie: (stammering) It’s just…it’s just…it’s just…you always give better gifts than me! That’s why I had to get you the perfect gift.

(Maud lets her head dip and walks off as Rarity returns.)

Pinkie: (calling after Maud) Are your hooves dirty?

(Cut to behind the aspiring rock scientist, who keeps moving steadily away from the camera along the path.)

Pinkie: (from o.s., shrilly) Where are you going?!? (Stop; glance over shoulder.)

Maud: To get your cannon back.

(Off she goes, leaving the other two to trade hopelessly puzzled glances and trot after her. Dissolve to a stretch of the skyline, the sky having deepened into late afternoon, and tilt down to street level. Maud walks point for the trio on the sidewalk, but stops after a few steps; the others follow suit.)

Maud: (pointing across street) There.

(Pan quickly to Goldie on the opposite side, covetously running a polishing cloth over the cannon barrel, and zoom in to a close-up.)

Pinkie: (from o.s.) Yep, that sure is the pony I got the pouch from. (The three again.)

Rarity: That’s amazing! (to Maud) How did you know where he’d be?

Maud: Maud Sense. (Rarity is left totally bewildered as she crosses the street.)

Pinkie: (to Rarity) Runs in the family.

(As the sleazy stallion continues his polishing job, one gray hoof taps his rump to get his attention. He shoots an irritated glare behind himself and spots Maud.)

Maud: (holding up pouch) I’d like to return this pouch for my sister’s party cannon, please.

Goldie: Sorry, missy. All sales are final.

(The camera pans to follow him as he trundles the device along the sidewalk—but it and he stop short upon finding the implacable mare now standing right in front of him at the street corner.)

Maud: (a tiny fraction more insistently) I’d like to return this pouch for my sister’s party cannon, please.

Rarity: (stepping into view, playing along) Oh, I’ve never seen her like this. (pointing toward Maud) Look at the fire in her eyes! (Cut to Maud; she continues o.s.) You’d better do what she says! (Back to her and Goldie.)

Goldie: (confused) “Fire in her eyes”?

(The drama queen utters a panicked little squeak and clutches at him for protection.)

Rarity: Did she just clench her jaw? I think she clenched her jaw!

Goldie: I didn’t see. (A slow blink from Maud sets her off all over again.)

Rarity: Oh, no! When she clenches her jaw— (ominously, turning his face to her) —you know what that means!

Goldie: (scared) W-What? What’s it mean? (She lets go.)

Rarity: Trust me, you do not want to know!

Maud: I’d like to return this pouch.

Goldie: (stammering, making the trade) Here! Take it! Take it! Please! (He hunches down, covering his eyes and sweating.) Just relax that jaw of yours and turn down that fire in your eyes!

(The gibbering, sobbing hustler is in no position to see either Rarity’s satisfied smile or Pinkie’s hopping, bubbly approach. Dissolve to a different sidewalk on which Maud is walking; the party cannon rolls up next to her, ridden by Pinkie. Goldie’s polishing cloth, which he left on the barrel, has been discarded.)

Pinkie: Maud! (hugging cannon) I’m so happy you got me my party cannon back! (firing) Yay!

(The recoil has tossed her into the air, where she hangs for a moment, suddenly worried.)

Pinkie: Uh-oh. I just realized something. (She lands.) ’Cause you gave back the pouch for my cannon, this is now the second gift you’ve gotten me today— (Close-up.) —and it’s something I really, really wanted. (Smile.) You did it again. Your gifts are always better than mine. Next year I’m gonna have to really step it up and— (A gray hoof corks her mouth.)

Maud: (from o.s.) Pinkie— (Cut to frame both.) —gift-giving isn’t a competition. (She takes the hoof away.) It’s an expression of love, and you always make sure to give your gifts with lots of love. That’s why I’ll always love them— (Pinkie smiles.) —and you, five-ever. That’s even longer than forever.

(Same “forever” pronunciation that Pinkie used in the park. Maud’s mouth curves up into a faint smile, which is all the prompting Pinkie needs to voice a contented little squeal and wrap her up in a hug. Here comes Rarity.)

Pinkie: There you are! You’ve sure been washing your hooves for a long time. We’ve got a train to catch here!

Rarity: I know, but there is one more sight you two simply must see before we leave.

(Dissolve to the map on which the trio’s previous journeys had been charted out. The Rarity-face icon has been crossed out—a rejection of the cramped shop as a location for her new boutique—but a second one has appeared between the shore and the park. A red line traces to it from a nearby intersection as the camera zooms in, and the view then dissolves to a close-up of the entrepreneur standing before a locked wrought-iron gate set in a stone archway. The door behind it, and the windows to either side, have been boarded up.)

Rarity: Voilà! Welcome to the future home of…Rarity for You! What do you think of the place? Is this the right location?

(Cut to Pinkie and Maud, looking on and without the party cannon in evidence.)

Rarity: (nervously, leaning toward them) Did I pick a good spot?

Maud: No.

(The white face falls at this judgment; cut to a long shot of the mares. The building in question has three stories and stands on a block marked with billboards advertising jewelry and hats. A second door, positioned near one corner, has not been blocked off. The sun has dipped a little farther behind the rooftops.)

Maud: You picked the perfect spot. (Close-up of them, Rarity now grinning proudly.)

Pinkie: You know, I think this might be my favorite PSSSD ever! But I can’t wait until next year’s PSSSDWR! (Grin.)

(The sounds of these last two letters are individually appended to the pronunciation of “PSSSD.”)

Rarity: (puzzled) Wait. “PSSSDWR”? What’s that?

Pinkie: P-S-S-S-D-W-R. It’s a new tradition that Maud and I came up with. (to her) Pie Sisters’ Surprise Swap Day…

Maud: …with Rarity.

Rarity: Ooh! (Giggle; tear up briefly.) Why, that’s the sweetest… (Panic takes hold.) …oh, no. (Back away hurriedly.) Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I know how good you two are at giving gifts. I’m going to have to get you both something amazing— (hooves to temples) —and I only have a year to do it!

Pinkie: (crossing to her, lifting her chin) Oh, Rarity, it doesn’t matter what you get us. (They embrace.) As long as you give your gift with love, it’ll be perfect.

(She tips a wink to her sister, who returns it in her typical unhurried fashion, and Rarity sighs contentedly as the two pull apart.)

Rarity: Why, thank you, Pinkie.

Pinkie: Buuuut now that you mention it…

(And off she goes to fetch the shooting iron in an instant.)

Pinkie: …I could use more confetti for my party cannon. (winking at Maud) You wouldn’t believe how much of that stuff I go through in a day.

(One final burst rings out, showering the colorful bits over the Manehattan city block at sunset, and the view fades to black.)

(The usual closing theme does not accompany the credits. In its place is an extended portion of the background score, heard during the map-tracing journey from the ice skating rink to the Cantering Cook. Lush, gentle orchestral melody with woodwinds/strings and very light percussion; leisurely 4; played twice, first in G major and then in E flat major.)

ON YOUR MARKS

Story by Dave Polsky

Written by Dave Polsky, Josh Haber

Produced by Devon Cody

Story editing by Josh Haber

Supervising direction by Jim Miller

Directed by Denny Lu, Tim Stuby

Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)        

Prologue

(Opening shot: fade in to the exterior of the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse during the late afternoon. Zoom in slowly to the sound of a gavel banging within.)

Apple Bloom: (from inside) Hear ye, hear ye! (Close-up of her at the lectern inside.) The first post-cutie-mark meetin’ of the Cutie Mark Crusaders is now in session!

(Her big grin slips into bewilderment as the camera zooms out to frame her two best buddies rapturously regarding their own hard-earned cutie marks—Scootaloo standing, Sweetie Belle sitting on her haunches. After a few seconds’ worth of indignant glaring, she clears her throat loudly to snap them out of it. The attempt is only half-successful, though; Sweetie whips her head up, while Scootaloo turns briefly in place to keep an eye on her own haunch.)

Sweetie: O-Oh! I’m sorry, Apple Bloom. (dreamily, standing up) I was distracted by the radiance of my cutie mark. Uh, did you say something?

Scootaloo: (same tone, crossing to lectern) I mean, it’s pretty amazing how the colors just pop off your flank. It’s kinda hard to look aw— (She runs headfirst into it.)

Bloom: Look. I know our cutie marks are amazing, but…is that all we’re gonna do now? (She hops out from behind.) Just spend our days starin’ down at our own flanks?

Sweetie: (sighing sadly) I guess not.

(The blissful expression that steals across her face, and the turn of her eyes toward her own haunch, give the lie to her words. Across the room, Scootaloo has remained firmly in her reverie.)

Scootaloo: (buzzing wings, circling again) Yeah, I suppose that could get real boring.

(The yellow filly finally succumbs to the shared vibe.)

Bloom: Yeah.

(And then she kicks herself out of it with a vigorous head shake.)

Bloom: This is ridiculous! We need to go out and do somethin’! (The others come around.)

Sweetie: Wow! You’re right! (Close-up of Bloom.)

Scootaloo: (crossing to her) Yeah! We need to go try new stuff like we used to!

Bloom: Exactly!

Sweetie: (from o.s.) Like square dancing!

(Cut to her, now decked out in a sparkly cowgirl outfit with boots on all four hooves. She tries out a few steps and tips a wink to the camera.)

Scootaloo: (from o.s.) Or mountain climbing!

(Pan quickly to her, sporting a short-sleeved shirt, lederhosen, and a Tyrolean hat as she lets go with a sonorous yodel. On the start of the next line, a second pan shifts the view to Bloom, clad in a mash-up of the two outfits: Scootaloo’s shirt and lederhosen shoulder straps, Sweetie’s skirt, and headwear with the Tyrolean’s crown and the cowboy’s brim in place of her bow. She wears boots on only her hind legs.)

Bloom: Or square dancin’ on the mountain we just climbed!

(She proceeds to demonstrate both activities at once by dancing and yodeling; when she finishes with a wink, the other two jump over to her.)

Crusaders: Yeah!

Bloom: And the more things we try, the more chances we’ll have to finally get our cutie marks! (hurrying off) Come on!

(The other two stay put, aiming thoroughly puzzled looks after her and then at each other.)

Sweetie: Um… (Bloom stops at the door.) …Apple Bloom?

(As the very weirdly dressed filly pulls the door partway open, Scootaloo and Sweetie pull their clothing far enough back to expose the shields emblazoned on their haunches. Their expressions might best be translated as “are you that flipping dumb?” She catches the hint, drags her skirt up to get a good look at her own mark, and lets a supremely embarrassed grin and blush stand as her response. Fade to black.)

OPENING THEME

Act One

(Opening shot: fade in to a slow tilt down the length of a sheet tacked up on the wall inside the clubhouse. It is the one seen at the start of “Crusaders of the Lost Mark,” covered with drawings of activities that have all been crossed out—failed past attempts at earning their marks.)

Bloom: (from o.s.) Wow. Did we really only ever do things just to get our cutie marks?

(Cut to the trio, now sitting on their haunches and free of their outfits. Bloom’s bow is back in her usual place.)

Sweetie: I don’t know. Maybe?

Scootaloo: Aw, come on. We did lotsa stuff that didn’t have anything to do with getting a cutie mark.

Sweetie: Of course we did.

Bloom: Absolutely!

(All three begin to think back, the view undergoing a wavering dissolve to a white-ringed, softly focused flashback of Bloom’s very brief foray into hang-gliding during “Call of the Cutie.” A flash, and the Crusaders stand over the wreckage of Fluttershy’s table in “Stare Master,” hammers in mouths and doctor’s reflectors strapped to foreheads. Another flash shows them trying their hooves at deep-sea diving in “The Show Stoppers”; from here, a wavering dissolve shifts the action back to a very chastened trio in the present.)

Sweetie: Hm. (Close-up; she stands up.) So now that we don’t have to do stuff to get our cutie marks, what is it that the Cutie Mark Crusaders actually do?

(Zoom out; the others are up, and all three think hard before Bloom breaks out in a grin.)

Bloom: We do exactly what we got our cutie marks in!

Crusaders: Helping other ponies!

Scootaloo: Ponies without cutie marks! (Sweetie zips over to her.)

Sweetie: Or ponies who’ve forgotten their special purpose! (Bloom pops up between them.)

Bloom: Exactly! (She puts a foreleg over each set of shoulders.) We just have to find ponies who need our help!

(The clubhouse exterior; she gallops down the ramp.)

Bloom: Come on!

(The others are quick to follow her through the trees. Dissolve to an extreme close-up of Big Macintosh’s cutie mark, the muscles beneath it flexing as he makes his way across the Sweet Apple Acres grounds, then cut to a wagon piled high with apples. He walks up, a full tub balanced on his head; as soon as he dumps the contents in, Sweetie puts her head up over the rear gate to address him. It is now the following day.)

Sweetie: But are you sure you feel content?

Macintosh: (passing her, smiling) Ee-yup. (He hitches himself up; Scootaloo is now on his head in place of the tub.)

Scootaloo: Not even a tinge of dissatisfaction?

Macintosh: Nope.

(Once he gets the wagon moving, inertia causes her to lose her grip on the orange mane and tumble to the ground. She and Sweetie scramble to pull even with him, and Bloom gets out in front and walks backwards to face him.)

Bloom: Not even the slightest naggin’ sensation that you don’t really know what your purpose is in life, or why you have a big apple as a cutie mark?

(Not paying attention to where her hooves are touching down, she trips on an unseen obstacle and falls to the ground. The other two fillies stop short, and Macintosh rears up sharply to avoid crushing his little sister with a hoof or wheel. The wagon flips forward just long enough to disgorge its entire freight of applies, which bury the red workhorse from top to bottom. He shoves his head up to clear air, spits out the fruit lodged in his mouth, and gives the Crusaders a fed-up glare through narrowed green eyes.)

Macintosh: Nope.

(Cut to the downcast trio, zooming in slowly, then wipe to a slowly turning ceiling fan. The camera is pointing up at it, and Bloom’s determined, smiling face pops into view in close-up.)

Bloom: The important thing to remember is that there is no rush. (Scootaloo joins her.)

Scootaloo: The three of us tried for the longest time, but it just comes when it comes. (Sweetie ditto, between them.)

Sweetie: And it’s totally normal to feel confused and maybe even a little lost. But being a blank flank is nothing to be ashamed of. (Scootaloo pushes them aside.)

Scootaloo: So if you’re having even the slightest problem—

Sweetie: —or concerns or questions—

Bloom: —we want you to know that we are here to help.

(The sound of a new voice catches them off guard; they turn in its direction, and the camera cuts to the speaker at the doorway of this room on the start of the next line.)

Mrs. Cake: I don’t think they’re too worried about it yet.

(The open toybox and the crib at which the Crusaders are standing establish this exchange as taking place in Sugarcube Corner. A few happy coos float up from between the barred sides, the fillies glancing in with some befuddlement; cut to their audience—Pound and Pumpkin, the latter deciding to suck on a front hoof rather than worry about her special talent at this point.)

(Wipe to a close-up of old Mr. Waddle sitting in an exam room as a unicorn doctor walks up, levitating the business end of a stethoscope to place against his chest. The latter’s eyes flick downward, taking note of the hopefully smiling Crusaders seated before him, but a zoom in on the doctor’s haunch picks out the stethoscope cutie mark on display past the hem of his lab coat. All three young faces fall at the sight.)

(Wipe to a busy office in the town hall. Several unicorns are floating scrolls overhead, and one at a time they unroll these for Mayor Mare to sign with a quill held in her teeth, then roll them up and carry them off. Here come the Crusaders, surprising the elected official noticeably; the camera zooms in to a close-up of the tan haunch and the blue-ribboned scroll on display there. Realizing that they have again made a fruitless trip, the little ponies back glumly out the way they came in, Sweetie pulling the door shut with her magic.)

(Wipe to them walking along a Ponyville street. They stop short with expectant grins as Filthy Rich walks by, a bulging money bag held in his mouth, and the camera zooms in quickly to a close-up of the three small ones that make up his cutie mark. General dejection all around.)

(Wipe to the three on the move down another block. They stop short again, finding a unicorn mare blowing a bubble from the wad of gum she is chewing. It pops, leaving a smear of pink goo across her nose and lips, and the camera moves on to her cutie mark—a gumball machine. Yet another round of disappointment.)

(Another wipe brings them to the meadows outside Ponyville proper. This time, the object of their focus is a white stallion whose well-coiffed mane/tail/mustache are dark brown with a few scattered lighter strands. He wears a bow tie striped in red, white, and blue like a barber pole, and a tilt down from his face reveals the crossed comb and scissors of his mark. Crushed at having found yet another pony whose talent is clear to see, they take their leave of him.)

(Dissolve to the exterior of the Ponyville schoolhouse and pan slowly toward the playground. Bloom lies gloomily across one of the swings, Sweetie sits in another, and Scootaloo sits on her haunches facing them.)

Bloom: This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought.        

Sweetie: Who knew there were so few ponies worried about their cutie marks?

Scootaloo: (kicking at the dirt) Kinda makes you wonder why we made such a big deal out of it for so long.

(This remark earns her a pair of quizzical glances.)

Scootaloo: What?

Bloom: (hopping off swing) The point is, helping ponies with cutie mark problems is what makes us special.

Sweetie: But if we can’t find anypony with a problem… (Zoom out to frame the others on the start of the following; Scootaloo now standing.)

Scootaloo: …maybe we’re not special. (Long silence.)

Bulk Biceps: (from o.s.) YEAH!!

(All three heads turn, surprised; pan quickly to the beefy white pegasus, sitting hunched atop the remains of a piece of playground equipment that has buckled under his weight. The Crusaders approach.)

Bulk: I know exactly what you mean. You can’t find a cutie mark problem. I have a cutie mark problem. It’s so confusing, and I feel like the solution is staring me right in the muzzle.

(He points a hoof at his own to emphasize this last, after which the fillies trade a round of smiles at having had an answer dropped into their laps.)

Bulk: (puzzled) What?

(Wipe to a head-on close-up of him, now smiling and with his tiny wings spread out full.)

Bulk: I see why you guys hang out here!

(Zoom out slightly to show him now inside the clubhouse and taking up almost its entire width. Bloom and Sweetie are each jammed in between one muscular flank and a wall.)

Bulk: It’s cozy!

Scootaloo: (with effort, shoving up past his shoulder) The Crusader clubhouse is a safe place, Mr., um, Bulk. (Cut to Sweetie.)

Sweetie: A place where we’ve faced all kinds of cutie mark problems. (Pan to Bloom.)

Bloom:  A place where we’ll go on to solve even more, startin’ with yours! (Scootaloo shoves in next to her.)

Scootaloo: No matter how long it takes!

Sweetie: Or how hard it is.

Bloom: We’ll solve it because that’s what we do!

Crusaders: Yeah!

(Extreme close-up of Bulk’s chest. Three small hooves reach into view from either side, but cannot quite touch due to their owners being pinned against the walls. After a few of their grunts and groans float across, the camera cuts to frame all four again.)

Bulk: YEAH!! (The others back off.)

Sweetie: So what’s your cutie mark problem?

Bulk: Oh! Right. (pivoting to show his mark) Uh, well, my cutie mark is a dumbbell. But I’ve lifted every dumbbell in Ponyville! (Pout.)

Scootaloo: Have you tried lifting other things?

Bulk: You mean, not dumbbells?

Sweetie: Yeah.

Bloom: Yeah.

Bulk: YEAH!!

(An overly enthusiastic stomp causes a good bit of the floor to collapse, dropping him o.s. and leaving the Crusaders stunned at the edges. A thud and grunt mark his meeting with the ground, but he quickly puts his head back up.)

Bulk: I mean, no. I hadn’t thought of that. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!

(Delivered with enough volume to set the structure vibrating. Bulk promptly ducks away again, then punches his head up through an intact patch of floorboards.)

Bulk: But…what happens when I run out of other stuff? (Sweetie thinks for a second.)

Sweetie: I guess you could teach other ponies to lift things?

Bloom: Yeah!

Scootaloo: Yeah!

Bulk: YEAH!! Wow! You three really have a knack for this! (Down again.)

Sweetie: That was easy!

Bloom: Maybe too easy. (She crosses to Sweetie.)

Scootaloo: What do you mean?

Bloom: Well, it’s lookin’ like cutie mark problems are few and far between.

Sweetie: And…?

Bloom: And what if we never find another one?

Scootaloo: Well… (Bloom rounds on her.)

Bloom: And even if we do, we could solve it so quick, it’ll be like it never happened in the first place!

Sweetie: So?

Bloom: So… (Zoom in slowly, her eyes widening in terror.) …then the Cutie Mark Crusaders don’t have any reason to exist!

(Her unease quickly spreads to the orange and white faces, and the zoom continues for a moment before the view snaps to black.)

Act Two

(Opening shot: fade in to a close-up of a crayon drawing tacked up on the clubhouse wall. It presents three interlocking circles, each marked with a different graphic: the Crusaders’ cutie marks, a clock, and a pegasus glancing worriedly over his shoulder at his mark.)

Sweetie: (from o.s.) The problem boils down to this.

(A conductor’s baton floats into view, held in her magic grip, and taps the marks. Zoom out to frame her standing on a platform alongside the diagram; Bloom crosses to her on the next line.)

Sweetie: We don’t need to go out and do things anymore to get our cutie marks. (Toss the baton aside.)

Bloom: Right, and— (Scootaloo jumps onto her back.)

Scootaloo: Ponies with cutie mark problems are hard to find.

(Close-up of the pegasus circle on the end of this; she points to it, then jumps off Bloom. The floor is now seen to be whole again.)

Bloom: Exactly. But even when we find problems— (pointing to the overlap of all three circles) —we’re so good at solvin’ them that most of the time, there’s nothin’ for the Cutie Mark Crusaders to do. So…

(She darts across the room and pulls a cord with her teeth, unrolling a detailed wall map of Equestria. A split-second later she is behind the lectern next to it.)

Bloom: …I thought we should start figurin’ out ways to search all of Equestria for cutie mark problems.

Scootaloo: That kinda seems like a lot.

Sweetie: I don’t think Rarity would let me travel to the far reaches of Equestria looking for cutie mark problems.

Scootaloo: Yeah. I’m sure we’ll come across them in Ponyville. And when we do, we’ll totally solve them because we’re so awesome at it!

(She and Sweetie trade a high-five with an enthusiastic grunt, then turn their grins toward a suddenly dispirited Bloom.)

Bloom: But…what do we do until then?

Sweetie: Maybe whatever we want?

Bloom: What do you mean?

Sweetie: Well, we used to only do stuff to get our cutie marks or fulfill our destiny. But now we don’t have to. (Cut to Bloom; zoom in slowly.)

Bloom: So…we can do things just for fun?

(She comes down from the lectern, instantly all smiles.)

Bloom: Are you girls thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?

Scootaloo, Sweetie: Sure am!

(The next three lines are delivered simultaneously, accompanied by a cheerful jump.)

Bloom: Makin’ potions!

Scootaloo: Scootering!

Sweetie: Singing!

(Only after all twelve hooves touch wood again do they realize just how badly they have their wires crossed. Dissolve to a long overhead shot of Sweet Apple Acres, with a long, looping ramp leading toward the main barn, and pan to its other end as a crash-helmeted Scootaloo rolls up on her scooter.)

Scootaloo: (addressing herself back o.s., miming actions) Just remember—stomp, kick, and roll. After this, you two are gonna love scootering as much as me!

(Cut to the other two Crusaders on this hilltop. She has been speaking to them, and they have their own helmets and scooters in easy reach but are clearly ill at ease over trying this new activity. Bloom dons her headgear with a weak smile.)

Bloom: If you say so. (Sweetie floats hers onto her own head; Scootaloo faces forward.)

Scootaloo: Ready? (performing actions) Stomp, kick, and roll!

(The sequence launches her off the hill and down the ramp, but neither of the others does anything more than watch as she whoops her way through the crazy turns. Entering a loop-the-loop, she jumps straight up and lets her scooter complete the circle, dropping back on as it emerges to continue the run without losing any momentum. Now she enters the final uphill run, which stops several yards short of the upper hayloft window, and launches herself across the gap. She lets go of the handlebars, and she and the scooter—both silhouetted by the sun—hurtle across the empty space in slow motion. Normal speed resumes as she re-establishes her grip, and she makes a perfect four-point landing in the loft and comes to a stop in a cloud of dust. Zoom out slightly until the camera is just outside the window.)

Scootaloo: Ta-da!

(She gives a “your turn” gesture; cut to Bloom and Sweetie at the top of the hill. Both have mounted their scooters, but have much less luck in getting themselves started. The earth pony topples to one side, while the unicorn rolls back and drops out of sight. Bloom, now covered in leaves, pokes her head up from the underbrush with a sheepish chuckle.)

Bloom: I don’t think I did it right.

(To which her winged counterpart responds with a glare and crossed forelegs. Wipe to the exterior of the Carousel Boutique, zooming in slowly to the sound of a note being blown on a pitch pipe—a B—then cut to a close-up of Sweetie inside. She is at a music stand, and she floats the pipe down from her mouth. Her helmet is gone, and those of the other two will be as well when they are seen next.)

Sweetie: (singing, holding each note out) Do…mi…so…

(“Do” rhymes with “so” here, as is customary when singing a musical scale. After the first note, the camera cuts to a longer shot that frames Bloom and Scootaloo before her, at a stand of their own. Sweetie’s three notes are B, E flat, and F sharp—the essential tones of a chord in B major.)

Sweetie: It’s just a simple harmony.

(She levitates a sheet from her stand to theirs. Red-gold and violet eyes pop in perplexity, and a close-up of the stand reveals why: the music they have just received is crammed tight with enough notes to drive any virtuoso performer into a screaming fit. Zoom out slightly to frame them staring at it, knowing they have no chance to make this lot sound good. They trade a fearful glance, then turn toward Sweetie’s beaming grin as she floats out the baton she used at the start of this act.)

Scootaloo: Harmony, huh? (Tap baton on stand.)

Sweetie: (waving it to set tempo) And-a-one, and-a-two, and-a-one, two, three!

(The next three lines are sung and delivered together.)

Bloom: So…

Scootaloo: Mi…

Sweetie: Do…

(Of the three, only Sweetie has managed to hit the correct pitch and a decent tone; the other two are hopelessly out of tune and have all the finesse of a jackhammer breaking concrete. The vocally gifted unicorn grimaces mightily…)

Scootaloo: Wow! That was simple!

(…and then snaps the baton in half. Wipe to the exterior of Zecora’s hut in the Everfree Forest and zoom in slowly.)

Bloom: (from inside) It’s just a dash…

(Close-up of a bowl of dirt on the floor inside. As she continues, one drop each of two different liquids falls onto the surface and is absorbed.)

Bloom: (from o.s.) …and a drop, and a drip.

(Cut to frame all three Crusaders sitting on their haunches. Several bowls, a mortar and pestle, and racks of corked test tubes are laid out here, and the aspiring potion brewer completes her demonstration by spitting aside the now-empty tube she has just used. Zecora surveys a shelf behind them, then turns toward Bloom with a smile as a seedling sprouts from the dirt and grows a shiny red apple. Scootaloo and Sweetie reach to the racks; cut to Bloom.)

Bloom: Just a dash, and a drop, and a drip.

(Followed by a mild explosion from her o.s. pupils’ directions; cut to them. The smoke clears to show them covered with soot and with manes/tails blown straight back. Scootaloo spits out the tube still in her mouth, and Bloom grimaces and drops her head while the zebra stares with consternation. Dissolve to a stretch of clubhouse wall, panning slowly across the numerous taped-up pages showing activities that have all been crossed out, and stop on one that shows a pony plummeting on the end of a bungee cord during the next line. It has not been marked out.)

Bloom: (from o.s.) And even though Scootaloo thinks bungee jumpin’ is the bee’s knees…

(She leans into view to strike it off with a red marker in her teeth, then backs o.s. again. Pan to a second drawing, a beekeeper’s hat and veil surrounded by the buzzing flyers.)

Bloom: (from o.s.) …Sweetie Belle would rather keep bees. (Lean in, mark it off, spit out the marker.) Of course, I’m allergic.

(Longer shot of the interior. The rejected ideas stretch across most of the available space on at least three walls, and a few other candidates are strewn on the floor. Scootaloo and Sweetie are here, both cleaned up from their potion-making mishap.)

Bloom: Who’d have thought it would be so hard to find somethin’ for us all to do together?

Scootaloo: Well, I know this might sound crazy, but…what if we didn’t?

Bloom: Didn’t what?

Scootaloo: Do things together…well, do everything together.

(That comment causes Bloom’s brain to seize up for a fraction of a second; she comes out of it with an indignant scowl.)

Bloom: (stomping for emphasis) But we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders!

Scootaloo: And we always will be. (eyeing bungee-jumping picture) But I really want to bungee-jump! The speed! The height! The fall!

Sweetie: And I know you two aren’t interested, but…I want to try crochet.

Scootaloo: Isn’t there something you’ve always wanted to do on your own?

(The red-maned filly finds herself pinned by two eager grins; zoom in slowly on her as she ponders the question for a moment.)

Bloom: I don’t know. I-I guess I figured we’d always do stuff together. But bungee jumpin’ sounds just as scary as crochet sounds borin’.

Scootaloo: That’s okay. Sweetie Belle and I can do the things we like, and you can do whatever you like.

Sweetie: Just as soon as you figure out what it is. (Both grin again; cut to Bloom.)

Bloom: (uncertainly) I guess. (Sound of hooves moving across floor.)

Scootaloo: (from o.s.) Great!

(Bloom shoots a surprised glance across the room and finds the other two now at the door.)

Scootaloo: (opening it; Sweetie exits) Then we can meet back here and talk all about what we’ve done!

Bloom: But I don’t know what it’ll be! (Sweetie pokes her head back in.)

Sweetie: You’ll find something. (Out again.)

Scootaloo: Something awesome!

(She disappears in an orange blur. Cut to just outside the open door and zoom in slowly on Bloom as she lets go with a heavy sigh.)

Quiet acoustic guitar melody, moderate 4 (D major)

Bloom: Well, I guess now I have to.

(She sits down on her haunches, tail curled around her hind legs and bow drooping glumly.)

Bloom:                I never imagined myself out on my own

(Pan across the pictures scattered across the floor; she pulls an archery sheet aside to expose one of a ballerina mare.)

                        Tryin’ to find out what’s next for me

(Move to the window; Scootaloo and Sweetie are galloping off.)

                        The Cutie Mark Crusaders have always been my home

(Turn away.)                Maybe now there’s more that I could be

(As the camera zooms out very slowly, the background dissolves to a stretch of riverbank and a life jacket appears on her.)

Strings in

Bloom:                I guess as time goes by

(A similarly attired stallion leans down to tighten her jacket’s belt with his teeth, and she boards an inflatable raft. Four others are already in.) 

                        Everypony has to go out on their own

(The raft sets off down the river.)

                        Maybe someday I’ll have to try

(It picks up speed over a set of drops, nearly throwing her clear; she is the only one of the five not enjoying the ride.)

                        Somethin’ new that’s just for me, a little somethin’ that could be

(They reach calm water again.)

                        Just my own, and I won’t feel so left behind

Strings out; woodwinds and glockenspiel accents in

(The next bump does pitch her out of the raft. Dissolve to a close-up of a large vat of grapes. She jumps in, having shucked her life jacket and set her bow back in place, and smiles back at Berry Punch and Cherry Berry across from her. All three put their hooves to work pulping the fruit.)

Bloom:                We used to say that we’d be always side by side

(A few overly exuberant stomps bounce her off the vat’s edge and over the side; once she gets her wits back about herself, she regards her purple-splotched limbs with sad wonder.)

                        Maybe things are changin’ and this could mean goodbye        

Strings, light piano/cymbal accents in

(Zoom in on her and dissolve to a close-up of a stallion standing before a canvas on an easel. He daubs paint from his hooves onto it, and the view cuts a slow pan across an art studio where he and several others are painting their own renditions of Tree Hugger—Fluttershy’s hippie friend introduced in “Make New Friends but Keep Discord”—who stands on a box at the center of the room, balancing on one hind leg and raising her forelegs above her head. Bloom is among the group, having cleaned off the grape gunk.)

Bloom:                 I always thought our friendship was all I’d ever need

(Seeing her own crude depiction side by side with another artist’s more accurate, vividly colored one takes all the starch out of her.)

                        We’ve always been crusadin’, what else is there for me?

(Zoom in and dissolve to a close-up of her mixing a bowl of batter with a spoon held in her mouth. She is now in a kitchen, and several other fillies are working on culinary projects of their own, including Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and Twist.)

Bloom:                 I guess as time goes by

(She looks up with a grin; cut to within an oven, where a pie is baking up. The door opens so she can look in at it; outside, she whisks it out with a potholder in her teeth, sets it on a counter, and brings up three forks.)

                        Everypony has to go out on their own

(No other ponies are immediately ready to share the dessert, but behind her, Diamond is chomping into the pie she has helped make and Silver feeds a bite to the third filly in their group. Zoom out to put the deflated Bloom in the fore, trudging away.)

                        Maybe someday I’ll have to try

(Dissolve to her in the street, walking away from this particular shop and with the forks no longer in her mouth. Crayon-drawn images of pastimes pop into being around her: soccer, fishing, knitting, carpentry.)

                        Somethin’ new that’s just for me, a little somethin’ that could be

                        Just my own, and I won’t feel so left behind

(She stops on a bridge over a stream and sits disconsolately on her haunches, the mental pictures fading away. Cut to a long shot of her, the sun shining brightly overhead, and zoom out slowly.)

Song slows to an end

(Close-up. A mare’s voice with a heavy Russian accent perks up her eyes, ears, and bow.)

Voice: (counting in time) And one-two-three-four, two-two-three-four, one-two-three-four, two-two-three-four…

(During this line, the camera cuts to just behind Bloom, framing a two-story building with a prominent roof skylight and attached house. A sign over the door bears the image of a dancing pony in a tutu—a dance studio. Close-up of this detail, tilting down to frame Bloom now standing below it in wonder and smiling, then, on the last bar of counting, cut to within the studio itself. Three colt/filly pairs are receiving instruction, clad in sleeveless white shirts and dark purple pants; the fillies also wear leg warmers in front and toe shoes in back. Their teacher is a pale violet earth pony mare; two-tone blond mane/tail tied back, the former with a pink ribbon; red-violet eyes with pink shadow; dark purple, short-sleeved top; pink belt; white skirt that hides her cutie mark; leg warmers on all four limbs. She has barely gotten the last “four” out before Bloom barges in, startling the entire class to a dead stop.)

Bloom: Whatever kinda dancin’ y’all are doin’, you’re doin’ it together! And I want in!

(Her high-wattage grin is met by total silence from all seven, and she quickly drops it and tamps down her enthusiasm.)

Bloom: I-I-I mean, uh… (Clear throat; teacher crosses to her.) …would it be okay if I enrolled in this dance class?

Teacher: Well, let’s see what you can do. We have a recital at Town Hall tonight, and a spot just opened up. (whispering) Tender Taps is a little too shy to perform.

(She points across the room, Bloom’s eyes following. Cut to Tender Taps, a colt sitting on his haunches in a corner and dressed as the others in the class. Earth pony; orange coat nearly the same shade as Scootaloo’s; short, two-tone violet mane/tail. He turns away from the wall, showing violet eyes in a very scared face, and manages the barest hint of a wave that Bloom returns.)

Teacher: But if you’re ready to step into a partnered routine…?

Bloom: That sounds an awful lot like friendship! And I’m ready for anything I don’t have to do by myself.

Teacher: Well, then! Dancing with partner will be perfect.

(At a clap of her front hooves, one colt goes into a warp-speed pirouette in the middle of the floor and deftly drops out of it to make a three-point landing, holding a foreleg out as invitation for Bloom to join him. She beams and crosses to him, placing one of her front hooves in his, and finds herself being danced back and forth across the studio. He then sends her into a spin that turns her into a whirling blur of yellow, red, and pink.)

Bloom: Whoooooaaaaa…

(The two end up facing away from each other in opposite directions, he with a foreleg extended to his side. Once Bloom gets her equilibrium back, she seizes it and takes the lead for a few steps. The other students twirl away, and colt and filly do likewise toward different corners, inadvertently chasing them.)

Bloom: Whoa!

(One equine slams into another, with the predictable result that all six students wind up in a semiconscious heap in the middle of the floor.)

Bloom: (from within pile) Whew! (She pokes up behind them.) I feel like that went pretty good, but let’s give it one more whirl, because it’s important that I do a good job partnering with my new group of friends.

(As the teacher approaches, the other six gather behind her and Bloom’s grin goes bye-bye at the general tone of disapproval on every face.)

Teacher: Eh, now I’m think of it, you might be better as soloist.

(The newcomer’s spirits sink another notch or ten at this failure to find a good group activity. Fade to black.)

Act Three

(Opening shot: fade in to the exterior of the studio and zoom in slowly.)

Teacher: (from inside, sighing) Partnering is a little advanced for you.

(Inside, she stands facing Bloom as the other students work on their steps.)

Teacher: But there’s still lot you can do on your own.

Bloom: I’m sorry, but…doin’ stuff on my own is exactly what I don’t want.

(She clumps dejectedly toward the door, not noticing Tender’s glance in her direction from his spot facing the wall. Outside, she opens the door and emerges onto the road as he peeks after her, having shed his practice outfit. It takes him no time at all to pull in alongside her; now his haunch can clearly be seen as unmarked. When he speaks, his voice carries exactly none of the overwhelming timidity that he displayed in the studio.)

Tender: Sorry it didn’t work out.

Bloom: Tryin’ different things with my friends was always fun, even when we were terrible. (Both stop.) Now it’s just terrible.

Tender: (circling to face her) You weren’t that bad. You just need to learn a few things on your own. Being a soloist can be fun.

(He shows off a couple of slow-tempo steps, then leaps to a clear patch of the road and goes into a frenetic tap dance on his hind legs, adding a bit of humming just for the fun of it. His next move is to launch himself toward a lamppost and swing around it, and he wraps up by jumping clear and sliding past Bloom on his hocks with a laugh. In a trice he is back up to all fours.)

Tender: You just have to do it with feeling.

(Now he breaks into a gallop toward a closed door, runs a few feet up its height, and pushes off into a deft backflip. Landing in a hind-leg split, he spreads his forelegs wide with an ecstatic grin; Bloom boggles at the spectacle, but deflates with a sigh.)

Bloom: Thanks, but…without my friends…I don’t think I’ll ever feel again. (trudging past Tender) Good luck at the recital.

Tender: Oh, I’m not gonna do that. (He stands up.) I mean, I want to. It’s kind of all I think about. (eyeing his haunch) I bet someday my cutie mark will even be about performing! (Face falls.) But I-I could never dance in front of an audience the way I do in class. (shivering) That’s t-t-t-t-terrifying!

Bloom: (not stopping) Yeah, okay. Nice meetin’ you.

Tender: (sadly) You too.

(He tap-dances his way off the street. Dissolve to the exterior of the clubhouse and zoom in slowly as Scootaloo and Sweetie gallop toward it from opposite directions. The pegasus wears her helmet, safety goggles, and a vest with harness, and the unicorn’s neck is draped in an overlong, multicolored, ragged scarf. The latter races up the ramp, but stops just short of the top at Scootaloo’s words.)

Scootaloo: Sweetie Belle! You are not gonna believe this, but I think I like bungee jumping even more than scootering! (She starts up.)

Sweetie: Seriously? That’s amazing! (magically lifting scarf ends) Look what I did! (Close-up of Scootaloo.)

Scootaloo: (forcing a smile) Wow! Uh…that’s…um…

Sweetie: (from o.s., cheerfully) Horrible! (Cut to her.) But it was so much fun! Rarity showed me how, even though she says— (mimicking Rarity’s diction, letting ends drop) —“Crochet is knitting’s poorer cousin.” (own voice) But I loved it!

Scootaloo: Awesome!

(They start for the door. Cut to the dimly lit interior of the clubhouse; in the near-darkness, Bloom sits on her haunches facing the walls covered with rejected activity pictures. Quite a few have dropped to the floor around her. A shaft of light falls onto her and widens, thrown by the opening door, and the two adventurers step into view. Scootaloo has removed her helmet and goggles.)

Bloom: (glancing toward them, frighteningly calm tone) Oh. Hello, girls. (viciously) Have fun pursuin’ your own interests?

(They are positively floored by this drastic mood shift.)

Scootaloo: Apple Bloom? What are you doing sitting in the dark?

Sweetie: Yeah. We thought you’d be out looking for things you’d like to do. (Bloom stands up.)

Bloom: (chuckling dementedly) Oh, I did. I looked all over town. (increasingly unhinged, shading eyes) I looked, and I looked, and I looked, and you know what I found?

(The other two can manage only a petrified little head shake before she lunges toward them in undiluted fury.)

Bloom: Nothing!

(One windowshade flies up, flooding the room with sunlight that washes out the screen. Fade in immediately to Scootaloo and Sweetie shading their eyes from the glare; when they dare to look across the space, their eyes bug out at the sight of X’ed-out pictures papering every wall, the ceiling, and most of the floor. One mentally strained earth pony stands at the heart of the disorder; overhead shot as the others cautiously advance toward her.)

Scootaloo: You tried every one of these? (Close-up; Bloom nods bitterly.)

Bloom: And each one just made me feel more alone than the next! I don’t see how I’m supposed to be happy that we’re not hanging out anymore!

Scootaloo: (from o.s.) Wait. (Cut to her and Sweetie.) I never said that. (as Sweetie nods assent) I just said we don’t have to do everything together.

Sweetie: Like when there’s something one of us wants to do that the others don’t.

Bloom: (taken aback) Oh. Well, I guess that changes things.

Scootaloo: I can’t believe you thought we didn’t want to hang out anymore.

Sweetie: I can’t believe you tried all this stuff and didn’t find one thing you liked.

Bloom: Well…

(She turns to the ballerina drawing she had considered in Act Two, now marked out like all the others.)

Bloom: …I kind of liked dancing, mainly because it looked like somethin’ you couldn’t do alone, but…I wasn’t very good at it.

Sweetie: (rolling eyes good-naturedly) Well, you don’t have to be good at something to have fun. (Scootaloo nods.)

Scootaloo: And being good doesn’t always mean you will.

Bloom: (wearily) I know. (smiling) I met the best dancer in the world, but…he was so shy, he couldn’t bring himself to perform, even though he really, really wanted to.

(Scootaloo and Sweetie trade a look at this bit of news.)

Sweetie: I don’t suppose this dancing pony had a cutie mark, did he?

(Bloom finds herself facing a pair of knowing grins. Cut to just behind the heads of these two and zoom in slowly as her jaw drops and her brain latches on to Sweetie’s unspoken suggestion. From here, dissolve to an auditorium in which a stage with a projecting runway has been set up. A stallion and mare do a dance routine under the spotlights for an audience in bleacher-style seats. Tender watches happily from the floor, but a door being thrown open jolts him out of the mood. He has donned his dance outfit.)

Bloom: (from o.s.) You’re here!

(He looks behind himself, the camera panning slightly to frame all three Crusaders at the doorway. Scootaloo has now removed all of her bungee-jumping gear, but Sweetie continues to wear her misshapen scarf.)

Spectator: Shhhh!

(The dance ends and the performers bow for the cheering audience as Tender walks toward the trio. Cut to the backstage area; he opens a door and leads them in. The teacher and her other students are fully suited up, and the ones who just finished their routine come in from the stage.)

Tender: What are you doing here?

Bloom: You told me that you wanted to perform more than anything, but I was too caught up in myself to listen. (grabbing his shoulders) You’re the best dancer I’ve ever seen, and I’m here to convince you to get out on that stage.

(He turns from her point-blank stare to regard the teacher, who is waving her charges toward the stage entrance, and indecision takes hold all over again. This camera angle exposes the mare’s cutie mark as a cluster of horseshoes arranged in a dance-step diagram.)

Tender: Um, didn’t I also tell you that dancing in front of other ponies is t-t-t-t-terrifying?

(Accompanied, as before, by a shiver on this last word to hammer the point home. He eases toward a gap in the curtains, getting a clear view of one audience section.)

Tender: I don’t know if you noticed— (pulling curtain back farther) —but that auditorium is full of other ponies! (He lets it drop back.) I can’t go out there! What if I’m bad?  (Bloom whisks over to him.)

Bloom: We can go on together. No matter what, you’ll look good dancin’ next to me.

(As the crowd begins to cheer again, he risks a peek through the gap and sees yet more of the packed house, then lets the curtains fall shut.)

Tender: (sighing) All right. I’ll do it. (panicky) But I don’t have my costume and the backdrop is all wrong and we don’t have time to change it!

(A calculating look passes between the three fillies in response to his full-body shiver.)

Bloom: Leave everything to us.

(He can only stare at his unlikely rescuers, jaw hanging slightly agape as he tries to sort out this very weird turn of events. The view dissolves to a close-up of him in the same place and position, but his dance togs have been switched for a lumpy, badly crocheted blue shirt—clearly one of Sweetie’s first essays in the craft. An equally lousy hat is settled onto his head thanks to her magic.)

Tender: (very nervous) I don’t know about this.

(On the start of the next line, zoom out to frame Bloom and Sweetie alongside. The yellow filly has been outfitted in a purple top and removed her bow, and the now-scarfless unicorn floats a matching, tall conical hat atop the red mane.)

Sweetie: Don’t worry. You’ll be just fine.

(She directs a wave overhead; cut to a catwalk, on which Scootaloo and a dreadlocked pegasus stallion stand at the ready. Both are wearing safety goggles, vests, and harnesses, and Scootaloo has her helmet on as well. Hanging from the underside of the catwalk is a scenery flat that consists of a sheet of cloth with a hastily drawn sun and clouds over a flower-covered hill. The winged filly returns Sweetie’s wave.)

(At floor level, the three fillies from the teacher’s class trot cheerfully into the backstage area and past Bloom and Tender, having played their part.)

Bloom: Here goes nothin’.

(Overhead, Scootaloo dives off the catwalk, descending on the end of a bungee cord hooked to the back of her vest. She snags the bottom edge of the flat, yanks it up and out of view, and makes a second trip to lower one showing the Manehattan skyline. Once she is back on her perch, she and the stallion trade a high five—doubtless he has been giving her a few lessons.)

(Bloom trots onto the stage and takes up a position just left of center, opposite the side from which she entered. When a whole lot of nothing happens for several seconds, she beckons frantically toward that end; her scared-stiff dance partner hazards the briefest glance around the curtains, then moves on to stand across from her. Violet eyes pop to pinpoints, taking in the spectators arrayed silently in the room, and Tender sweats freely and forces down a swallow.)

(Bloom taps off a couple of beats and points to him, but his hooves remain glued to the stage. Another couple of taps, another gesture, and he finally starts to move—but only a few tentative steps before he freezes in place again. She grimaces toward Sweetie in the wings, gets a hopelessly confused shrug in return, and realizes that she has no choice but to kick the performance off herself. Dancing around Tender in a swift, sloppy semicircle, Bloom advances toward the front of the stage; in close-up, she keeps going for several more feet until the camera zooms out to reveal that she has gone off the end of the runway. Only after she realizes this slip-up does she stop and allow gravity to yank her down to the floor. As she peels herself up off the tiles, she finds the audience laughing heartily at her unintended pratfall. Her next move is to haul herself partly over the runway’s edge and address Tender with a smile.)

Bloom: (whispering loudly) You can’t be any worse than I was!

(The colt fights a fierce internal battle between hooves and nerves, the former winning as one foreleg starts to tap. The other one joins in soon enough, and the hind legs get into the act. All four limbs pick up speed, merging into an orange blur that carries the now-grinning Tender across the stage. He shifts between two and four legs, causing the audience to shift from laughter to awed murmurs, and Bloom allows herself a smirking grin from her vantage point. Just as he did with the closed door while talking with her in the street, he races toward the scenery flat and up it, pushing off into a backflip. He slides to a stop on his hocks and heaves for breath in the sudden complete silence that has fallen over the joint; it is broken just as abruptly when the patrons go into a round of wild cheering.)

(Tender stands up, looking about himself with first disbelief and then gratitude, and spots Bloom hanging on at the edge. A flash of white from his haunch draws his gaze back, and the camera zooms in as it disappears to show a top hat sitting in a spotlight beam—one cutie mark, hot off the press. He jumps for joy and goes into an impromptu victory dance, adding an ecstatic whinny to top it off, and Bloom throws him a joyful grin in close-up. Zoom in slowly on her and dissolve to an extreme close-up of Tender’s mark.)

Tender: (from o.s.) I can’t believe it!

(Zoom out; he now stands outside the town hall and has ditched Sweetie’s dreadful costume.)

Tender: It’s just what I always imagined it would be! And if it weren’t for all of you—

(Cut to the Crusaders, also out here and out of their respective outfits; Bloom wears her bow.)

Tender: (from o.s.) —I wouldn’t even have it.

Scootaloo: No problem.

Sweetie: It’s what we do. (Bloom crosses to him.)

Bloom: I only wish I’d realized what you needed right away, instead of mopin’ around for no reason.

Tender: (lifting her chin) Well, either way, I hope you keep dancing.

(A couple of quick steps and a “take it” gesture, and she tries a few taps of her own.)

Bloom: You know, I just might. It sure is a lot of fun, and…I’m pretty confident I can only get better. (He grins and nods; she turns to Scootaloo and Sweetie.) I’m sorry I was so silly about us all doin’ our own things. (smiling) If we hadn’t, I might have never even tried dancing.

Tender: Or find out I needed help.

Sweetie: With each of us going out and trying things on our own, we’ll be three times as likely to find ponies to help.

Scootaloo: And trying new stuff might even make us better at helping them, like how I used my bungee jumping to change the sets.

Sweetie: Or my crochet to make the costumes. (Tender shows his mark off to a couple of passing mares.)

Bloom: Well, one thing is for sure—the Cutie Mark Crusaders will never be the same.

(This pronouncement leaves the other two-thirds of the triumvirate visibly ill at ease until she pops up between them with a smile, throwing a foreleg around each set of shoulders.)

Bloom: We’ll be better!

(Cut to a patch of sky, with one white, one yellow, and one orange foreleg reaching into view for a three-way high five.)

Crusaders: (from o.s.) Yeah!

(Fade to black.)

(The usual closing theme does not accompany the credits. In its place is the music that played as the background for Tender’s dance routine. Energetic big band jazz on horns and percussion, fast 4, E minor; the final chord adds a harp flourish and holds on B major without resolving into the main key.)

GAUNTLET OF FIRE

Written by Joanna Lewis, Kristine Songco

Produced by Devon Cody

Story editing by Josh Haber

Supervising direction by Jim Miller

Directed by Denny Lu, Tim Stuby

Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)        

Prologue

(Opening shot: fade in to an extreme close-up of several gems embedded in a rock face. These become enveloped in a magic glow and are pulled loose; zoom out to reveal the caster as Rarity, wearing a hard hat accessorized with her cutie mark and a large blue bow. She and Spike are in a cavern; he holds a basket full of precious stones, and the area is only illuminated by the headlamp on her hard hat. She tilts her head upward, the camera following the motion to stop on a cluster of bats hanging upside down from the ceiling. Each has its claws clamped onto a projecting jewel, and Rarity’s beam dissipates just short of reaching them with its full intensity.)

(At ground level, she swivels her head intently to look in Spike’s direction and the gems she has just harvested land in his basket with the faintest clink. He licks his chops at the idea of being able to turn them into a gourmet meal.)

Rarity: The last time I was here, I woke them and ended up with a mane full of bats. (She flicks her mane worriedly and sighs.) Thanks for being my basket holder, Spike.

Spike: (surprised) Basket holder? I thought I was your bodyguard!

Rarity: Wh—? Oh! (chuckling) Yes, yes. That of course, too. (She floats some more gems out of the rock.) Oh, for once I wish unicorn magic wasn’t so…luminescent.

(She looks up; cut to the bats. A bright gleam from somewhere below camera level causes pair after pair of beady black eyes to open.)

Rarity: (from o.s.) Spike! (Back to her.) You’ll wake the bats! Turn that off!

(Cut to the little guy, who has set the basket down and begun to glow over every inch of his body—this was what roused the nocturnal flyers. He scratches madly at himself as the camera zooms in slowly.)

Spike: I can’t!

(A pained groan, a gasp from the mare, and the bats come down in a swarm thick enough to fill the screen. Wipe to black as the last of them pass.)

OPENING THEME

Act One

(Opening shot: fade in to a long shot of the Castle of Friendship during the day and zoom in slowly.)

Twilight Sparkle: (voice over) I’m so glad you two could come!

(Cut to the dining room. She and Princesses Celestia and Luna are seated around the table, on which a spread of pastries and tea has been laid out. The zoom continues.)

Luna: Of course. We so rarely get a chance to relax and just visit.

Celestia: There’s usually some crisis we have to deal with. Somepony always needs our help. But today—

Rarity: (from outside, shrilly) HEEEEEEEELP!!

(Pan quickly to the room’s closed doors, which burst open to admit the prospecting unicorn. She still wears the hard hat and is now good and filthy, with Spike riding on her back. They have disposed of the basket of collected gems, and she has extinguished her headlamp.)

Rarity: (floating him forward) Twilight! There’s something wrong with Spike!

(She gallops in; close-up of a patch of tabletop as her magic clears the dishes and sets him down on his back. He continues to glow and scratch.)

Twilight: (from o.s.) What’s wrong? (Cut to frame all five; he sits up.)

Spike: (between grunts) I don’t know! All of a sudden, my scales just started glowing and burning!

Luna: Little is known about dragon culture, but this is a phenomenon we’ve seen before. It is the call of the Dragon Lord.

Celestia: Dragons glow whenever the Dragon Lord has need of them in the Dragon Lands.

Spike: Great. (Grunt.) How do I make it stop?

Luna: The only way to end the summons is to answer it. You must journey to the Dragon Lands and see what is expected of you.

Rarity: B-But…but… the Dragon Lands are full of…dragons! And they’re ghastly creatures!

(That assessment earns her a very funny look from the one in the room. She shoots him an embarrassed little grin and crosses to him in close-up.)

Rarity: (lifting his chin) Oh, oh, not you, of course, Spikey-wikey. But remember that rotten Garble? (Spike swallows fearfully.)

Spike: How could I forget? He would’ve burnt us to a crisp if you weren’t there.

(A reference to the events of “Dragon Quest.”)

Spike: If I have to go to the Dragon Lands… (Zoom out to frame Twilight as well; he stands up.) …would you two come with me?

Twilight: (excitedly, rearing up for a moment) Ooh! Oh, my goodness, I’d love to! We are sadly lacking any information on dragon culture and customs. I could research them, maybe even write an article! This could be my chance to make a great contribution to the knowledge of Equestria!

(She caps off this bit of aspiratory exposition with a pleased grin, not immediately catching the quizzical looks coming her way from the rest of the group. When she finally takes notice, she shifts down a gear or three.)