Review by FSin
Previously on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic…
Discord, the spirit of chaos, was freed from his stone prison, and began to cause chaos on Equestria. Princess Celestia called upon Twilight Sparkle and friends to wield the elements of harmony again and put a stop to him. However, the elements were nowhere to be found. Believing the elements were in the royal labyrinth, they would participate in Discord’s game. However, after being quickly separated from one another, they would each be easily manipulated by the devious trickster, and be turned into the opposite of their respective element. All but Twilight Sparkle. When a now disloyal Rainbow Dash would exit the labyrinth, the ponies would end up losing, and Discord would promise a storm of Chaos. Can Twilight fix her friends, find the elements, and stop Discord? Let’s find out.
We open part 2 with Discord still laughing over his victory, and the other ponies still corrupted. Twilight angrily asks Discord how they even have a chance of finding the elements when he removed labyrinth, to which he points out to her that the elements were never in the labyrith. He tells her that they were back where she began before leaving to corrupt Ponyville. Believing that the elements are in her library, Twilight and the other ponies head back to Ponyville…
Which has been literally turned upside down by Discord.
The group make it to the library, however the others continue to give Twilight a hard time, all the while turning even greyer. Twilight gets Spike to find the reference guide to the elements of harmony, but the other ponies begin to play keep away with the book. Twilight eventually manages to get it back, and opens the book. Finding the elements inside. Twilight puts the elements on the others, however Rainbow Dash is still nowhere to be found. So, she appoints Spike as the new Rainbow Dash.
They quickly square off with Discord, who’s willing to let them use the elements on him. However, the elements don’t work. With the elements failing, and the corrupted ponies leaving her, Twilight begins to lose hope, and begins to turn grey. Heading back to the library, she tells Spike to start packing, as she plans to leave Ponyville. However, a sick Spike tells her that Princess Celestia keeps sending letters. The letters are all of Twilight’s friendship reports from the past year. Twilight becomes cured, and realizes that Discord is trying to keep them from realizing the importance of their friendship. Restored of hope, Twilight sets off to put a stop to him once and for all. She uses a memory spell to cure the other ponies. However, one pony is still missing, and that’s Rainbow Dash.
Unable to convince the now disloyal Rainbow Dash to help them, the five of them use Twilight’s Balloon to chase after her. After a pretty exciting chase scene, they manage to tie her down, as Twilight cures her. With the mane 6 back to normal, all that’s left is defeating Discord. The six confront him, and he once again willingly lets them use the elements on him, believing that it won’t work. However, that becomes his downfall as the elements of harmony work in full effect by turning him back to stone, and restoring Ponyville to normal. The episode ends, in a near shot for shot parody of the ending to Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope, with Princess Celestia congratulating our heroes for defeating Discord, and unveiling a new painted window showing their victory. The ponies of Equestria cheer them as the episode ends.
This was a great episode, and a solid conclusion to the 2 parter. It was fun to see our favorite ponies corrupted and acting unlike they normally do. Especially a cruel and mean Fluttershy, who easily stole the show. The chaotic Ponyville was also a great sight to see. With its upside down buildings, strange sights, and characters acting against the norm, even eating food backwards. One particularly funny scene involves Discord pouring chocolate milk, which pours upside down in the glass. He drinks the glass, and throws the milk behind him, which explodes. It would’ve been fun to see more of this version of Ponyville, but for what we got, it still had a lasting effect.
The only downsides to this episode were how everything felt quick fixed by the end. From curing the ponies, to the defeat of Discord. It really suffered from the pressure of getting everything done on the third act, and in the end it hurt the episode slightly. Also, while Discord continued to be an awesome, insane, and charismatic villain, his defeat was rather lackluster. Having his own ego be the source of his downfall really felt like it was done due to a lack of time for any other solution. Despite these problems, the episode still remained entertaining, funny, and action packed, as well as a far better 2 part premiere than the previous season.
I give this episode a 7 out of 10.
Now that Ponyville is Discord-free, what other adventures await our heroes? We’ll find out on the next episode.
Until next time Bronies.