And it’s time for another review. Surely this one will not end in tears… We hope.

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And its…#1! Wow, our first two-part episode! Let’s get ready to look at the show's pilot, imaginably called “Friendship is Magic.” Or, if you want to be technical, "Mare in the Moon" and "Elements of Harmony."

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TECHNICAL SPECS:
Season: 1
Episode: 1 and 2
Written By: Lauren Faust
First Aired: October 10, 2010 (Episode One), October 22, 2010 (Episode Two)

SUMMARY:

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, a purple bookworm was reading a book that said that once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two royal sisters who ruled together. Both were in charge of one-half of the day; the elder ruled during the daylight hours, while the younger was in charge of the night. However, as time wore on, the younger sister became bitterly jealous over how everypony loved her sister’s days and slept through her beautiful nights. Finally, she could take no more, and the darkness in her heart transformed her into the evil Nightmare Moon, who wished to inflict eternal night upon the land. To stop her, the elder used the Elements of Harmony, the most powerful magic in Equestria, to banish her sister to the moon. And thus, peace has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.

The pony reading it book is Twilight Sparkle, the personal protégé of the nation’s ruler, Princess Celestia. While a heavy studier and a very intelligent pony, she also has no time or inclination to make friends, especially after she remembers reading about the Elements somewhere else. She brushes off a few ponies trying to reach out to her and runs into the local library just in time to inflict some slapstick on Spike, her baby dragon assistant who, unlike her, likes friendship. The two manage to locate the book, which says that on the longest day of the thousandth year, Nightmare Moon will escape and bring about eternal night. That date perfectly matches with tomorrow’s Summer Sun Celebration.

Alarmed, Twilight dictates a warning to Princess Celestia, warning her of the upcoming disaster. She responds, however, with a letter telling Twilight to get her nose out of her books and head down to the village of Ponyville. Her main objective is to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, but she also has a secondary objective: make some friends. Unfortunately, Twilight flat-out refuses to do this, and just wants to get the celebration set up quickly so she can go to her temporary home in the Ponyville library and start studying for ways to prevent Nightmare Moon’s return. This isn’t helped when the first pony she tries to talk to, a pink puffy-haired mare, gasps and runs off when she says hello.

The first stop is Sweet Apple Acres, where Twilight meets Applejack and, by extension, the entire Apple Family. She tries to escape, but alas, little Apple Bloom’s stare penetrates into her soul and she reluctantly agrees to stay for brunch. By the time she leaves, she’s so stuffed that she can barely walk. Next up is checking in on Rainbow Dash, a pegasus who was in charge of clearing the sky. But not only is the sky not clear, but Dash is introduced by slamming Twilight right into the mud. Her attempts to clean her back up only end with Twilight’s mane looking like a frazzled mess. After laughing at the new acquaintance’s misery, Dash goes back to nap and be lazy, until Twilight says something that allows her to steer the conversation to her heroes, the Wonderbolts, and her dream of joining them. Twilight counters that they wouldn’t want a Pegasus who can’t keep the sky clear for one day, prompting Dash to clear the entire thing in ten seconds flat.

Next on the list is Rarity, who is in charge of decorating the stage. Spike is instantly enraptured by her beauty, but Rarity is more concerned with Twilight’s mane. Once again, the lavender Unicorn is dragged off against her will, this time to try out an assortment of outfits to compliment her restored hair. When Twilight reveals that she’s from Canterlot, however, Rarity freaks, as she has always dreamed of living in such a city. When she tries to get some other gems to compliment her outfit, Twilight grabs Spike and runs to the last stop on the list.

Outside of town, a yellow Pegasus is very politely directing a choir of birds, and is doing a good job until Twilight shows up and startles her. She tries to introduce herself, but all the Pegasus can do is say that she’s Fluttershy and then squeak. Twilight takes this as a chance to leave quickly, but when Fluttershy sees Spike, his overwhelming cuteness breaks her out of her shell completely, and she ends up following Twilight and Spike back to the library so she can hear his entire life’s story. Once there, though, Twilight fakes Spike being sleep, throws him into the library, and slams the door in Fluttershy’s face. Spike calls her on this, but she responds that she needs to study to find a way to stop Nightmare Moon. And then she turns on the light.

SURPRISE!

And so enters Pinkie Pie, the same pony that had gasped and run away earlier. As it turns out, she had basically deduced Twilight’s entire backstory from just looking at her, and had set up the welcome party to try to help her make friends. Twilight responds by pouring herself a drink…of hot sauce, which sends her running upstairs in agony. As the night drags on, Twilight laments that she hadn’t been able to discover anything about the Elements of Harmony, and hopes that Nightmare Moon’s return is just a myth.

Finally, the time comes for the Summer Sun Celebration. Everything seems to be coming together perfectly…except that the big, mare-shaped shadow on the moon just disappeared. And when the curtains pull back to reveal Princess Celestia, she’s nowhere to be seen. Instead, a formless, shadowy mass descends into the room, eventually reforming into Nightmare Moon herself. She announces that the night shall last forever and lets out her maniacal laugh, and finishes the display by effortlessly smacking down some guards that try to capture her before leaving. Dash tries to give chase, but thanks to being delayed by Applejack she loses track. She does, however, see Twilight racing back to the library.

Spike is put to bed (since he will be of no more use to his cruel caregiver) and she returns to searching for anything on the Elements, but is stopped when the five ponies she met earlier arrive to ask her what’s going on. Pinkie immediately locates a book (under “EEEEEEE”) that outlines fives of the six Elements: Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty. The sixth Element will only appear once the other five have been activated. Even worse, they’re stored at the abandoned palace of the Royal Pony Sisters, deep within the foreboding Everfree Forest. Twilight tries to ditch the group again, but everpony refuses to leave; they’re going in together and that’s it.

Along the way, Nightmare Moon’s shadowy mist form tries to kill or impede the party, and Twilight (and the others) soon learn more about each other. When a cliff falls from under them, Applejack catches Twilight, and then convinces her to let go. She does, and is caught by Dash and Fluttershy. When the group runs into a manticore, Fluttershy defeats it by removing the thorn in its paw (which is actually Nightmare Moon), and it leaves them alone for the kindness. When they run into a forest filled with menacing trees, Pinkie teaches them to laugh off the danger, and thus have the courage to go on. When they run into a crying sea serpent who’s making a river impossible to cross, Rarity cuts off a part of her own tail to help fix his moustache. And when Dash is given the choice between fixing a broken bridge for the others and joining the Shadowbolts, she chooses to stick with the party.

Finally, the team reaches the palace, where the Elements of Harmony are just sitting about to be used. Before Twilight can try and activate them, however, she and the Elements are whisked away to another tower by Nightmare Moon, who has finally had enough of these meddling foals and attacks Twilight directly. The Unicorn fakes a charge to get Nightmare away from the Elements, then teleports over and tries to activate them. But it doesn’t work. Nightmare Moon just teleports back over and smashes the things, ending any possible chance of her being defeated.

Until Twilight hears her friends approaching and finally realizes the truth. The Elements of Harmony aren’t just some big rocks, but are inside her friends. Applejack is Honesty, Fluttershy is Kindness, Pinkie Pie is Laughter, Rarity is Generosity, and Rainbow Dash is Loyalty. The “spark” the book spoke of was her realizing how much these new ponies meant to her, and thus, the sixth Element of Magic is released. The shards reform into necklaces for the five, while Twilight gets a tiara, and their power forms a rainbow that slams into Nightmare Moon, enveloping her completely before vanishing in a flash of light.

Soon after, the sun finally rises, and Princess Celestia appears to congratulate the team, saying that she knew Twilight had the power to defeat Nightmare Moon all along and that the entire trip was her way of making sure things happened. Meanwhile, the stripping of her power has reduced Nightmare Moon back to Princess Luna, and when she hears her sister’s voice, the younger Alicorn tenses up in preparation for more punishment. Instead, Celestia says that they were meant to rule together, and offers her friendship once more. Luna responds by going on for a pony hug as the thousand-year-feud comes to an end.

Back in Ponyville, Pinkie throws a party to celebrate Celestia’s return and Luna’s redemption. Twilight, however, is sad because she now has to leave her friends behind to return to Canterlot. Celestia gives her a different task, however; she must now study the magic of friendship and report her findings to the princess. And so Twilight, the pony who never had time for friends, sets out to learn what she’s been missing, while five ponies who barely knew each other must learn to get along.

THE BEGINNING…

REVIEW:

Looking at a pilot episode of anything is always an interesting experience. The entire goal of the pilot is to pitch the series to the network, to convince them that the series will be a success both in ratings and additional sales, and will be able to be produced on time and within the available budget. Some pilots are just a few minutes long, serving more to provide a proof-of-concept, while others are whole episodes that can be used as the series premiere. Obviously, this one is in the latter category.

One of the key things a pilot like this has to do is sell the show not only to the executives, but to the viewers as well. In order to do that, it has to establish the setting, show who the characters are, and then create something genuinely entertaining. After all, our time as customers is precious, and if it seems like they’re wasting our time, much like I’m wasting yours with this pointless review, then people will not be coming back for the next week. So, how well does this one perform? Actually pretty well, all things considered.

The opening legend of the two sisters is a very well-animated piece, even if it is kind of misleading to have something so different appear in literally the very first scene. However, I love the little touches, such as the glint in the younger sister’s eyes as she sees how neglected she’s become, and the narration is very well-done.

And then we’re introduced to Twilight Sparkle, our heroine for the pilot and most of the first season. Much of the first act of the first part is spent setting up her character, while everypony else gets their development shipped to the second half. This works because Twilight is supposed to serve as our surrogate for this first season; we’re learning about Ponyville, Equestria, and the other characters mostly through her eyes, and she’s the one that learns the lessons about friendship.

Anyway, the groundwork for Twilight’s character is set up when the three ponies invite her to a party. Her response is to quickly make up an excuse and gallop away rather rudely. Granted, she really was looking into something, and if she had gone to the party, Equestria would have been doomed. (Seriously, someone make a fic of this now.) Still, she was being a bit of a jerk there, and it helps establish her main traits for this episode: she studies a lot and doesn’t have (or want) any friends. While the former will remain with her for the rest of the series, the latter will be dropped once she starts developing here.

The next character on our list is Spike, and he’s introduced doing the same thing he’ll do for the whole series: suffering eternal pain at the hooves of his cruel mistress, Twilight. The library scene is mostly there to provide more exposition and establish the episode’s conflict, but we also get key bits of Spike’s character as well. Unlike Twilight, he actually wants to be sociable, but she doesn’t allow any such cavorting on her watch. He’s also a pretty dutiful assistant here, but also rather snarky. Oh, and he’s also a baby dragon, although given the way dragons age he acts more like a ten-year-old boy would. I actually really like the character he has here, and it’s a shame that he’ll be gradually reduced in significance until he’s barely a supporting character by the end of the second season.

And yes, you can see Nightmare Moon’s face in the hourglass. We all know it. It’s good foreshadowing. Let’s continue.

The ride to Ponyville is mostly there to provide more exposition, establishing why Twilight is going to the show’s main setting and her primary goals once there. However, it also gives some more character to Twilight and Spike. She’s obviously torn up about being effectively banished after giving a warning to her mentor, so he tries to cheer her up by saying they’re staying in a library. This works for the wrong reasons, and she decides to blow off Celestia’s order to make friends and just finish everything really fast so she can find a way to stop Nightmare Moon’s return. Again, we see that Twilight is adamant about not making friends, since they just get in the way of her study time. She’s even willing to defy a command from her sovereign and mentor, albeit so she can save the land.

And then we meet Pinkie Pie, only we don’t know it yet. When I watched this episode for the first time, I found most of it fairly entertaining, but nothing spectacular outside of the animation. This scene, however, forced me to pause the video because I was laughing so hard. While the scene has two narrative functions (to reinforce Twilight’s belief that friends are stupid, and to establish Pinkie’s reasons for the party), it’s just a gloriously funny moment. It also sets up that Pinkie isn’t bound by the same laws as the rest of the cast; she can gasp so hard she floats off the ground for a few seconds before dashing off without any momentum whatsoever.

The next character is Applejack, who is in charge of the food preparations. The main traits we’re introduced to here are all part of her…well, Southerness. She has a Southern U.S. accent, wears a cowboy hat, runs an enormous farm, and has a gigantic extended family. This bit is just okay, although it does introduce us to Big Mac and Apple Bloom, albeit briefly. I just love AB’s little blinking eyes here. Naturally, though, this led to a bit of a story problem a few episodes later, so they had to handwave why the rest of the family wasn’t there when Applejack was bucking apples.

Rainbow Dash’s introduction is, again, rather funny, but also really goes the deepest of them all. The other characters get mostly surface scrapings in this first half, but here, we get Dash’s attitude, ambitions, and general personality in one scene. She knocks Twilight into a puddle by accident, tries to rectify it twice, and then laughs at the damage she’s done to Twilight’s mane. Then she lounges on a cloud, all while bragging about how awesome she is and how she’ll impress the Wonderbolts. (Actually…that never gets resolved. The Wonderbolts don’t show up to the Summer Sun Celebration. I guess they canceled when Celestia got kidnapped, hence why Dash was even more desperate to get the Gala ticket in the next episode.) We also see that, as lazy as Dash is, she’s still super-competent, and manages to clear the sky in ten seconds flat, thus creating our very first meme. Yes, this meme was the first one to show up, even before Derpy.

Next is Rarity, who honestly has the most rushed introduction of any of the characters. Heck, the first time I saw this, I didn’t even catch her name. It just flies by too fast. We also get Spike’s romantic infatuation with her, which isn’t touched on again until much later in the season. Here, though, it’s mostly about Rarity being prim and proper, screeching in horror when she sees Twilight’s mane, and then her taking time out of her day to fix Twilight back up. Unfortunately, she’s also a bit too forceful in this scene; she practically squees when she hears that Twilight is from Canterlot, and almost chokes her when tightening a saddle. Personally, I think this was the weakest of the introductions, and it won’t be until the second half that we can really get a solid feel for Rarity’s character.

And then we have the most famous scene of all: Fluttershy being shy. If you’ve ever talked to a shy person in your life, then you’ve had this experience. Fluttershy is quiet, then gets quieter, and finally reduces her voice to a few mouse-like squeaks. Twilight’s reaction is hilarious, from her shifting her eyes nervously to just backing away slowly. And of course, there’s her reaction to Spike, where she just flips in the most adorable way and practically huggles the little guy. It’s a very funny scene, and establishes Fluttershy’s key characteristic.

The party scene…is just okay. Granted, Pinkie talking Twilight’s ear off about nothing was funny, and I loved her “I need a freaking drink” reaction, but other than that, it’s just…okay. Still, this is where we first see Derpy, our favorite little accident, and Spike wearing a lampshade is funny, as is Twilight’s reaction to the town’s insanity. Really, though, the important bit here was Twilight lamenting how she couldn’t research anything because of this stupid friendmaking.

The final scene of the first half is where the story shifts gears completely. We see the culmination of everypony’s contribution to the Summer Sun Celebration, but that’s not important. What is important is that, when Twilight looks up at the sky, the stars have booked it over to the moon, with the Unicorn-shaped shadow disappearing soon after. And right after, Princess Celestia disappears and Nightmare Moon makes her appearance. This scene is just wonderfully set up, and the animation here is very well-done. It’s a shame, though, that the best bits really went into the first half and not the second.

Nightmare Moon’s introduction is…mostly played for laughs. None of the ponies there can recognize her, and Pinkie takes time to give her insulting nicknames in a vain attempt to guess who she is. This causes a bit of a plot hole when Nightmare Night is introduced next season, but I already crossed that bridge, so let’s continue. The scene ends with her giving her villainous laugh, which then segues right into the second half. She smacks down some guards to show she’s a badflank, and then flies off to go do her evil plotting. Because she’s evil. And plotting what evil ponies do. I have no idea where I’m going with this.

There is, however, one question that this scene raises: what happened to Celestia? She doesn’t appear in either episode until the very end of the second, and everything up to that point is a mystery. A lot of fans contend that she was banished to the sun, but…that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Celestia had to use the Elements of Harmony to trap Nightmare Moon into the moon. There’s nothing in the episode to indicate that NM is more powerful than her “sister.” Still, this is a fairly minor point in the grand scheme of things.

The scene at the library is where the differing characters finally come together. It’s somewhat disappointing to see Spike written out so early, but I guess he really wouldn’t have contributed much. Dash immediately confronting Twilight about being a spy is perfectly in-character for her, as is Applejack yanking her back down. And of course, there’s Pinkie finding the right book just by looking alphabetically. We get our exposition about the Elements of Harmony, our reason to go to the Everfree Forest, and the glue that holds the party together. Twilight tries to break off again, but this time she has five ponies to stop her, and has no choice but to go along.

The Everfree Forest is also introduced here, as it will be an important set piece for future adventures. It’s established that it doesn’t work like the rest of Equestria (although exactly how doesn’t come up until “Bridle Gossip”), and Dash tries to scare the group by acting like nopony ever escapes. By the time Season Two comes along, the forest is actually not that scary anymore, but here, the inherent danger is played for all it’s worth.

Unfortunately, the next several scenes are where the second half ultimately stumbles. Up to this point, most of the characterization has been very organic, save perhaps for Rarity. But from this point on, the party keeps running into one forced encounter after another, with each scene serving only to demonstrate which of the Elements each character embodies. Still, I suppose I shall go over them one at a time:

- The cliff scene is probably my least favorite of them all. It drags on a little bit too long, and is just a basic “let go and you’ll be fine” scene. To date, the only show I can think of that pulled this off well was Deep Space Nine, and that was because in the scene in question, the rescuer was trying to kill the rescuee. Still, I liked the delivery of AJ’s line about the “honest truth,” and the music was pretty good here.

- The manticore was a much better scene. It’s nice to see Rarity actually kicking flank, even if she backs down once it musses up her mane. The AJ and Dash bits are fairly predictable given their character archetypes. As for Fluttershy’s resolution…it’s the “thorn in the lion’s paw,” only with a manticore. It’s basic, but it works.

- The fanged trees were kind of an “eh” threat, especially since they aren’t even moving or trying to attack the party. I loved the first Pinkie song of the series, though; it not only sets up her character, but the confused reactions from everypony else just make this scene golden. The song itself is pretty decent, as well.

- The sea monster scene strikes me as rather odd. The creature itself is funny, especially with him throwing a fit over his moustache. What makes this scene work, though, is that it finally establishes Rarity’s character when she cuts her own tail off to make a replacement. Granted, his facial hair is now split into two colors and doesn’t really look too impressive, but hey, it works.

- The last bit is the one I find the most interesting. Nightmare Moon directly trying to tempt one of her adversaries is a lot more clever than just outright killing them with death traps and monsters, and using Dash’s own ambitions against her ramps up the tension. Interestingly, Dash was willing to go along with the Shadowbolts until they turned it into a “Friend or Idol” moment. If she hadn’t done that, Nightmare Moon would have won.

And so we arrive at the end, with Nightmare Moon and the Elements on one side of the room, and Twilight on the other. Granted, teleporting the one weapon capable of stopping you to the other side of the same palace your enemies were already in wasn’t exactly a stroke of genius, but in case you haven’t figured it out by now, Nightmare Moon is a lame villain. She makes a big first appearance, but she has not only failed to stop the six from finding the Elements of Harmony, but as we’ll see in a minute, she’s actually made Twilight’s job easier. The only interesting thing about NMM is her backstory, and that only makes you sorry for the pony who became her.

Anyway, Twilight’s plan is actually pretty clever. She draws Nightmare Moon away from the Elements by blindly charging her, then when she’s too far away to retaliate, teleports behind her and uses her magic to jump-start their engines. Of course, this doesn’t work and Nightmare Moon just smashes the things, but still, it’s a clever plan. I actually really like how panicked the villainess looked when it seemed like she was about to take another trip to the moon, only to revert to her usual confidence when the spark failed.

Of course, this is where Twilight’s new friends arrive and she has her epiphany about the real power of the Elements of Harmony. This scene is handled pretty well, although again it’s fairly generic. We get to see the scenes we saw ten minutes ago, hear how wonderful friendship is, and see Twilight discover the Element of Magic (aka Friendship). She assumes a bunny rabbit pose, everypony gets sucks into a big ball of power, and Nightmare Moon gets to taste the rainbow. It is interesting, though, that the Elements all changed into each pony’s Cutie Mark; well, except for Twilight, who got the best gear because she’s the party leader and Needed everything.

And then we meet Princess Celestia. Her appearance is played up for the wonderful thing that it is, and I loved that cute little hug she gives Twilight, as well as the explanation for her schemes. But then we get to the best part of the episode: Princess Luna. This entire minute-long scene with her and Celestia reconciling is surprisingly moving given how quickly it came up. I enjoyed the little movements Luna made when Celestia approached, like she was afraid that her sister was going to do something far worse in retribution, only to become confused and then overjoyed when she was offered friendship. And of course, there’s her apologizing and saying how much she missed her big sister. It’s very lovely and beautifully done, which is why I’m so angry that nobody on YouTube has actually uploaded the entire scene so I could share it here. And on a personal matter, this is where I really became interested in the show, and in many ways, a brony. There is a lot of emotion here, even with Pinkie being a moment killer, and unlike a lot of other shows where it’s just pure sap mixed with more sap and a touch of molasses, here it’s full of heart and love.

The last scene is mostly there to show to show that the day has been saved, and celebrations are in order. And of course, Celestia allows her student to stay, as long as she sends in reports about the magic of friendship. Granted, she should have probably told her there was no hard deadline, but I’m sure that won’t come to bite them in the flank anytime soon…

Oh, and Pinkie breaks the fourth wall. The end.

CONCLUSION:

As a pilot, this episode is a success. It sets up Equestria and its inhabitants, giving us enough information to know what this place and show is about while also allowing plenty of room for future stories. The Mane Cast are all established, as are the key traits of their personalities. We get some history, a plot device to justify the episodes (in the form of the friendship reports), and finally, the production team proves that they know what they’re doing.

But as an episode? Well…it’s kind of in the middle of the road. While there’s a lot to like her, a lot more of it feels rather dry and formulaic. Mostly, this is because it’s the first episode; with a few exceptions, those are the ones that hold up the worst. And to be honest, Lauren Faust is a wonderful show designer, animator, producer, and anything else, but her writing isn’t always the best. A lot of the dialogue is rather clunky, the second half is horribly rushed in the middle, and Nightmare Moon is just a lame starter villain.

Believe it or not, my opinion of this episode has actually gone up thanks to Season Two. Back when we only had the first season, the sudden removal of any “Magical Girl” elements and epic villains in favor of the slice-of-life episodes was very jarring, leading rise to the (untrue) rumors that Faust had planned a much longer, more epic series of episodes before having them whittled down to two. Since then, though, we have had the Elements return in “Return of Harmony,” and they were mentioned again in “A Canterlot Wedding.” Both episodes were very action-focused, with big supervillains launching various schemes to conquer Equestria. Just having a couple such episodes makes the first fit the rest of the series even more, and thus makes it a stronger episode as a whole.

That being said, it’s not one/two that I’ll rewatch over and over again. It was good for a pilot, but average for an episode.

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Well…thanks for reading all that. I hope you enjoyed this horrible review of the very first two episodes. Beer is available in the lobby. Be sure to drink up; you’ll need plenty to numb the pain from reading all this.