Hello & welcome back to Trotting Towards Nightmare Night. Today, we are taking a look at what introduced us to Nightmare Night, Equestira's version of Halloween. This is Luna Eclipsed. My thoughts on this episode, it's pretty good and I know that it's considered a fan favorite. With that out of the way, let's begin. But
Episode Title
Luna Eclipsed
This title is twofold as it is both a reference to a lunar eclipse but more in line with the episode, I feel it deals with Princess Luna's feelings towards the celebration of Nightmare Night as she finds it rather insulting in the beginning of the episode but with the way, the citizens of Ponyville were treating her (especially Pinkie), I can't say that I blame her.
The Plot
We start this episode off in Golden Oaks Library with Spike pacing back and forth waiting for Twilight to come, so they can get to the Nightmare Night celebrations. She finally comes down revealing her costume.
She's Star Swirl The Bearded but Spike has no idea, who she is. Which becomes a running gag throughout the episode, that no one know who her costume is supposed to be. I know the feeling, I dressed up as The Lego Maniac (the former Lego Mascot) and no one at my school knew who I was. Back on topic, Spike thinks she is a kooky old grandpa from the Ponyville Retirement home Which leads into Twilight asking Spike, if she read a book that she gave him. Thankfully, Spike is saved by some trick-or-treaters being chaperoned by Granny Smith. Okay, why isn't Apple Bloom with her. We are then introduced to Pipsqueak The Pirate reporting for duty. It's his first Nightmare Night ever and his last appearance in the show as of right now. I'll touch that, when I get to the characters but his inclusion bugged me this time. And we also see that Pinkie is with the trick-or-treaters.
And yes Spike is dressed as a dragon. Kinda disappointing if you ask me, at least Twilight put some effort into her costume. Pinkie is with the kids not as a chaperon but a fellow trick-or-treater and it is in my opinion that she is the antagonist of this episode. We will get to that some more down below but anyway Pinkie as a chicken is just so darn funny and I will admit that I did get a chuckle when she called Twilight, a "Weirdo Clown". We later see Twilight and Spike heading to the Nightmare Night celebrations and there, wee see Rainbow Dash as a Shadowbolt (nice callback to the pilot) pranking Pinkie.
Okay, Dash gets the award for best Mane 6 costume. Well Fluttershy and Miss Rarity are out of the running as Fluttershy doesn't like Nightmare Night and Miss Rarity doesn't appear in this episode. Even though there is a deleted scene of her from this episode, I believe that she was supposed to interact with Princess Luna. She was supped to have a scene with Derpy as well and here's the storyboard for it as well as a description for her deleted sequence with Luna from the MLP Wiki.
In the script, she is still working on her costume when Twilight takes Luna to her to get a makeover and help her look less intimidating. Rarity overdoes Luna's outfit so much that she tears it off. Pinkie, seeing Luna with a piece of dress in her mouth, leaps to the conclusion that she ate a princess and runs off terrified
A little bummed that we didn't get to see this as a scene with these two characters would've been awesome. Back to the episode at hand, Spike and Twilight meet up with AJ and she reckons with the beard that Twi is some sort of country singer. Also, a cute Derpy moment where she pulls the drain from the tub that was being used for the bobbing for apples.
Later on, we see Mayor Mare dressed as a clown (why does the embodiment of evil have to invade a wholesome and good natured cartoon?) telling the children to follow Zecora to the statue of Nightmare Moon and tells them the tale of Nightmare Night and to offer some of their candy so that Nightmare Moon won't gobble them up and bad timing, because who should show up but Luna.
Luna's arrival causes all of the kids and Pinkie to run off screaming. This is where my issue comes in, the first time I watched this episode I thought that Pinkie was legitimately scared of Luna but the resolution proves otherwise and makes her look like a jerk. We later see Princess Luna going through town with people fearfully bowing down to her.
However Twilight is not fearful but it doesn't help the citizen's fears, when Luna decides to deliver a speech in the royal Canterlot voice. Hmm, I wonder. Ah, here we go, found the royal Canterlot voice setting on my keyboard.
IMAGINE SOMEONE SHOUTING EVERY WORD AND THEY USED THE ROYAL WE WHEN REFERRING TO ONE'S SELF. AND THAT IS THE ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE. IT CAN BE QUITE HURTFUL TO THE EARS! I THINK THAT I SHOULD TURN THIS OFF.
I may have that button removed. Don't really see much need for it outside of dealing with trolls. On second thought. This doesn't really help with Ponyville's view of Princess Luna. Twilight after reassuring a scared Spike goes to confront Luna. And Luna is the first and only person to know who Twilight is supposed to be for Nightmare Night. Twilight explains that the reaction might have something to do with her tone and volume. Luna protests saying that the voice is tradition. Twilight gets an idea to take Luna to Fluttershy thinking that the soft-spoken mare could help and this goes over as well as you might expect. As in not very well. Though to be fair, Luna starts to get the idea of lowering her voice. There is a cute moment where Luna hugs Fluttershy as a sign of gratitude, Pinkie and the foals see this and they are "scared" by this. Though just call it unfortunate timing.
Later on, we see Twilight taking Luna back to Ponyville and decides that she needs to learn how to have fun. Luna does not know what fun is.
"Fun? What is this "fun" thou speakest of?"
They go to AJ and Applejack suggests that Luna try some carnival games. And Twilight thinks that AJ is the right mare and at first, it goes well as we see Luna playing many different carnival games such as one, where she has to toss spiders. And a pumpkin catapult game and then at one point, we see Pip about to fall into the tub for Bobbing For Apples but Luna saves him but Pinkie says Luna gobbled his behind and this leads to to Luna getting really angry and declaring this the last Nightmare Night ever. And such a shame too because the fun had been doubled.
Bringing spiders to life may not have been the best idea. And recall, what I said about Princess Luna cancelling Nightmare Night.
"Since you choose to fear your princess rather than love her and dishonor her with this insulting celebration, we decree that Nightmare Night shall be canceled! Forever!"
Twilight that she needs to go find Luna and do what she does best, lecture her. And this is where my anger with Pinkie Pie comes in. Twilight lures Pinkie to Luna with a trail of candy, so that she can talk to Luna. She tells Pinkie, no screaming or running off. Instead she clucks and lays an egg. Of Course, Dash plays a part in this. And Pinkie reveals that she wasn't actually scared of Luna but that sometimes it's fun to be scared. Twilight says that Pinkie is a genius, and then Pinkies says "No I'm not, I'm a chicken". And Twilight gets the idea to set up a prank for the foals to be frightened by Luna but I'm sorry, I can't stand Pinkie in this episode. So much so, that I feel a certain tone of voice is needed right now.
DOESTH THOU REALIZE HOW RUDE THAT IS? WE FIND THAT QUITE INSULTING TO DEAR PRINCESS LUNA!!! SHE HAD NO IDEA THAT IS WHAT WAS TRULY GOING ON! WHY IF WE WERE THE NOBLE PRINCESS, WE'D ALSO BE OFFENDED AT THIS PINK MARE'S ACTIONS. MAYBE A LITTLE SAD AS WELL, FOR AFTER 1000 YEARS IT IS HARD TO TRY AND FIT INTO A NEW SOCIETY THAT IS NOT VERY ACCEPTING OF YOU. WHY IF WE WERE A CANTERLOT ROYAL, WE WOULD HAVE BANISHED PINKAMENA DIANE PIE TO THE MOON FOR HER ACTIONS AGAINST ROYALTY IN THIS EPISODE!
Really, just really!!!!! That revelation makes Pinkie look like a grade A+++ Jerk. I'm all for having fun.
Not exactly, what I'm talking about but go listen to Some Nights. Back to what I was saying, I have no issue with wanting to have fun and with Nightmare Night being the Pony equivalent of our Halloween, I get that some people or ponies have fun being scared but the issue, I take with Pinkie in this episode is that her revelation comes off as a little rude and hurtful towards Princess Luna. I mean it's okay to have fun this way but at someone else's expense. See that just doesn't sit well with me and that is what makes Pinkie look like a jerk. Now, I know what you may be thinking, Pinkie is a prankster along with Dashie and we see Dashie pull a prank on Pinkie in the beginning of the episode but for the most part, their pranks are harmless and Pinkie usually knows not to cross a certain line unlike in this episode where her actions were visibly upsetting Princess Luna. Pinkie should've stopped at one point and taken notice of the way, her actions were upsetting Princess Luna but she continued on and not to mention, while I believe that Pinkie is the youngest of the Mane 6 (her actions in this episode help in that argument), that is no excuse for her to be setting such a poor example for the foals that were with her. Yes, I know I said she wasn't there as a chaperon but Granny Smith wasn't seen the rest of the episode and that pretty much made Pinkie the de facto chaperon. And also, she WAS THERE when Nightmare Moon was defeated. Of all ponies, she is one of 6 that would know the difference. But no, she thought it was okay to treat Luna this way. And y'know what makes this really frustrating, two things. Pinkie is one of my favorite characters but this just makes me despise her and other then the way, Pinkie was acting, I liked this episode. It was cute watching Luna trying to adapt to modern society and it was cute, when Pipsqueak said that Luna was his favorite princess. Yeah, I also take a little bit of an issue with Pip following Pinkie's footsteps but at least, he was upfront with Princess Luna. And it was fun watching Dash get pranked by Luna.
All in all, this was a decent episode save for the subplot involving Pinkie Pie.
Characters
Now this'll be broken down into Main & Supporting. With that out of the way, let's get started.
Main Characters
Princess Luna voiced by Tabitha St. Germain
I really liked Luna in this episode as it was fun watching her try to adapt and I really felt bad for her as it seemed like no one was giving her a chance. She just wanted to learn how to fit in and have fun. Can't blame for her that. And it makes sense to make her an outcast from society because of how long her banishment was.
Twilight Sparkle voiced by Tara Strong
Twilight was the perfect pony to use to teach Luna how to fit in and make friends and have fun as she had to learn this lesson herself back in the pilot. So having someone that had gone through something quite similar made perfect sense for Twilight to serve in a mentor role.
Supporting Characters
Now I'm not going to touch on the other characters like Dashie, AJ, or Fluttershy because there are truthfully only two supporting characters that I wish to talk about.
Pinkie Pie voiced by Andrea Libman
I've said all that want on Pinkie. She just came across as a jerk to Luna in this episode and that truly bugged me because it was just so rude of Pinkie to be acting this way.
Pipsqueak voiced by William Lawerson
Pip is an all right character and I don't mind having new characters but with this being his only appearance, I feel as though his role could've been served by any foal character. I get the idea of showing a young one enjoying their first outing of something but here's the deal, the episode still could've used Pipsqueak but put greater use in their other foal characters. I mean the CMC are in this episode but they don't get any lines and why not use them for Pip's role or something. It's just a thought. I don't hate the character but I hate the fact that he is just pretty much a one and done.
This is my just my opinion, I don't know why they wouldn't have used the CMC for Pip's role or at the very least, give Pipsqueak something more to do in future episodes rather then relegate him to appearing in the background in Putting Your Hoof Down.
It's a little disappointing when fanficitons do more with this character then the show proper.
My Final Thoughts
All in all, this episode is fine, other then my big issue with Pinkie and issue with Pip, which isn't so much an issue with the episode but rather an issue with how the show has handled him. I would love to see another Nightmare Night episode. I guess that I'll just settle for the Halloween comic.
Hopefully, Pinkie is less of a jerk here. I'd say give it watch. It's fun. Join me next week as Magic Dust joins me to answer some questions about Nightmare Night. Though I have to wonder why he wanted a Pinkie Pie hat, Rainbow Dash sunglasses and a Fluttershy tee shirt for his costume. Well, the latter doesn't really surprise me knowing Dustie but I may not give it to him. Peace!
