History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E4LunaEclipsed

* MassOhCrap: While most of the Ponyville citizens are already screaming in terror on seeing Luna again, they go into StunnedSilence when she cancels Nightmare Night, ''forever''.

** The nature of Luna's problem is that everyone still thinks she's evil and she has problems communicating otherwise.
** Likewise, Pinkie Pie being her usual PoorCommunicationKills self nearly leads to Nightmare Night getting cancelled because she doesn't tell anyone that she's only pretending to be scared.

* AnAesop: Although someone may seem intimidating or scary at first, if you offer them your friendship, you'll discover someone wonderful underneath.

* BullyingADragon: Ponyville accidentally insults Luna by calling her Nightmare Moon and accusing her of still being evil, complete with a holiday centered around her dark alter ego. Insulting royalty is a serious offense; Luna cancels Nightmare Night as a result because, as she points out to Twilight, what is the point of a holiday that's centered around her negative image and doesn't allow her to change it?

* IdiotHoudini: Despite how savvy she turns out to be, Pinkie Pie still incited a riot that trashed the current festival and got all subsequent festivals canceled, yet it is Luna who needs the lesson.

* LickedByTheDog: Just when Luna is convinced she's alienated everyone, Pipsqueak timidly approaches and asks her to come back next year and scare them again.

** Mrs. & Mr. Cake's costumes are of [[WesternAnimation/RaggedyAnnAndAndyAMusicalAdventure Raggedy Anne & Andy]].

* RealityEnsues: Ponyville accidentally insults Luna by calling her Nightmare Moon and accusing her of still being evil, complete with a holiday centered around her dark alter ego. Insulting royalty is a serious offense; Luna cancels Nightmare Night as a result because, as she points out to Twilight, what is the point of a holiday that's centered around her negative image and doesn't allow her to change it?

%% * NeverMyFault: Everyone in Ponyville is sadly cleaning up their decorations after Luna cancels Nightmare Night. No one seems to realize that they insulted royalty, who may have a legitimate reason to want to not continue a holiday that insults her. The younger ponies complain they were looking forward to next year's celebrations, while Pinkie Pie gets distracted by a trail of candy.

* NeverMyFault: Everyone in Ponyville is sadly cleaning up their decorations after Luna cancels Nightmare Night. No one seems to realize that they insulted royalty, who may have a legitimate reason to want to not continue a holiday that insults her. The younger ponies complain they were looking forward to next year's celebrations, while Pinkie Pie gets distracted by a trail of candy.

** Pinkie Pie's behavior towards Luna. She ''knew'' that Luna wasn't evil anymore and was trying to fit in with everyone else, yet pretended to be scared of her because "sometimes it's fun to be scared". This only served to rile up the younger ponies who were genuinely terrified of Luna and needlessly upsetting her in the process.

** Double-subverted when Luna tries, to her credit, to be reasonable. The problem is that she's a FishOutOfTemporalWater with her outfit. It's hard to blame her for snapping cancelling Nightmare Night when Pinkie Pie messes up her efforts to clean up her image. Eventually she mellows when Pip thanks her for coming back to scare them.

* BecomingTheMask: Pinkie Pie gets ''way'' too into character as a chicken. At one point she even manages to ''lay an egg''!

* {{Adorkable}}:
** Luna's rather endearingly awkward.
** Unlike most of the other ponies who dressed up in common costume tropes, Twilight opts to dress up like a historical wizard that she admires, down to the bells, hoof-stitched hems, and '''beard'''. And yes, she looks cute in it. This effectively serves as a bonding moment between the two, when Luna not only recognizes who Twilight's supposed to be dressed as, but compliments her on how well she pulled it off.
** Derpy's paper bag costume.

* TrailOfBreadCrumbs: Twilight isolate Pinkie Pie in an alley with a trail of candies.

* {{Werewolf}}: Scootaloo's costume.

* {{Vampire}}:
** Sweetie Belle's costume.
** Luna adopts a pair of fake fangs when impersonating Nightmare Moon.

* ArtEvolution: Luna now has a mane and tail that flow like Celestia's, instead of the fixed bangs she's seen with in the ending of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E2ElementsOfHarmony "Elements of Harmony"]]. Her fur is also a darker shade of purple. Overall, she looks a lot closer to her Nightmare Moon persona, but without the evil. This ''could'', however, just represent her becoming older, or regaining her power. Creator/LaurenFaust [[http://comments.deviantart.com/4/1603670/2245236163 stated that it represents Luna regaining her power]], [[ShrugOfGod but admitted]], "I just made that up. [[GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld I don't know how the showrunners would explain it]], [[DeathOfTheAuthor but that's how I would.]]" The mane change goes mostly unexplained, but Luna does mention that the Elements of Harmony took away her "dark powers". The idea of a gradual maturation or shift in power is supported when you notice that Luna's forelock is still "solid" rather than flowing, implying the change hasn't been completed yet. And as with the other unicorns/alicorns since "Lesson Zero", Luna's magic is [[ColourCodedWizardry given a darker blue aura instead of generic white]].

** Big Macintosh's costume has the [[http://littlewolfblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/ddgavs3dkqozu2enajudmvmeo1_500.jpg poisoned apple]] from Disney's ''Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' on the cape, placed so as to cover his regular cutie mark.

%%* PanUpToTheSkyEnding

** [[AllThereInTheScript Meadow Song]] wears a ninja outfit that bears a striking resemblance to Ermac from ''MortalKombat''.

[[AllHallowsEve Nightmare Night]] has come to Ponyville, and Twilight Sparkle and Spike are enjoying the spooky festivities (even if nopony recognizes Twilight's costume as the famous unicorn wizard [[WizardBeard "Star Swirl the Bearded"]]). They join Pinkie Pie, Zecora, and a group of young ponies (including Pipsqueak, a young colt whose family had just recently moved from Trottingham) for a walk in the woods to a statue of Nightmare Moon, where tradition indicates that they leave some of their candy to appease the evil goddess so she doesn't gobble them up. But what's that swooping in on a chariot pulled by bat-winged pegasi guards? Is it the ''real'' Nightmare Moon, returned to seek revenge on the Elements of Harmony?

* ThePrankster: Rainbow Dash's prankster tendencies go UpToEleven for Nightmare Night, and she spends the entire night running around pranking everyone with DramaticThunder. Even though it's supposed to be all in good fun, it has some unpleasant consequences.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns The Darkhorse Returns]]!]]

* ScaryScarecrows: [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Absolutely averted a la Applejack's adorable attire]].

** TabithaStGermain briefly slips in and out of her Rarity voice when Luna says "Fine, be that way! We won't even bother with the traditional royal farewell!"

* SerialEscalation: We knew TabithaStGermain was the Queen of Pony Ham as Rarity and [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E20GreenIsntYourColor Photo Finish]], but hot ''damn'' does she go the extra mile in this episode as '''''LUNA, PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!'''''

->'''Princess Luna:''' [[EstablishingCharacterMoment Citizens of Ponyville]]! [[RoyalWe We have graced your tiny village with our presence]]! So that you may behold '''[[NoIndoorVoice THE REAL PRINCESS OF THE NIIIIGHT]]!!!'''

* AbsenteeActor:
** The Cutie Mark Crusaders appear in several scenes, but they never speak.
** Rarity's voice actress, Creator/TabithaStGermain, has plenty of work as Luna, but Rarity herself never shows up (see DeletedScene in trivia).

* MerchandiseDriven: In an unusually drawn-out way -- a playset of the Golden Oaks Library with characters in costumes from this episode became available in 2016, five years after this episode aired, [[spoiler:and three years after the library was destroyed in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E26TwilightsKingdomPart2 "Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2"]].]]