Season 10 Episode 10
- Story by Celeste Bronfman, Art by Akeem S. Roberts, Colored by Heather Breckel
"When a painting brings up memories of the past, Celestia and Luna must confront their fears in order to move on—which means coming face-to-face with the kraken, that terrible creature that attacked their ship so long ago! But things aren't always as they seem in Equestria..."
This issue contains examples of:
- An Aesop: You should always look for the best in someone instead of assuming the worst.
- Big Sister Instinct: Luna plays to Celestia's when she refuses to join her in finding the dolls, claiming there's a good chance she could end up captured or killed if she's on her own. Celestia quickly changes her mind.
- Brick Joke: At the beginning of the issue, Rainbow Dash is unnerved by the portrait of young Celestia and Luna with their dolls, believing the dolls' eyes are following her. When the sisters reclaim the actual dolls, Rainbow complains that the eyes are still following her.
- The Bus Came Back: After being absent in the previous nine issues, Celestia and Luna return in this issue.
- The Cameo: Star Swirl the Bearded briefly appears in the Flashback.
- Continuity Nod: Daring Do is briefly mentioned by Rainbow, with a filly's Daring Do doll being returned to her by the Kraken at the end of the story.
- Cute Giant: The kraken is a gigantic squid-like creature, but she has heart-shaped markings, and heart-shaped irises.
- Flashback: Seeing the portait of herself, Luna and the dolls prompts Celestia to have a flashback of the day they lost the dolls.
- Good All Along: As Fluttershy had guessed, the Kraken wasn't really malevolent. It was actually protecting the passengers of boats by removing them from their crafts and taking them to shore, before the boats were caught in a whirlpool and destroyed.
- Kraken and Leviathan: The whole plot of this issue has Celestia and Luna dealing with a kraken.
- Lampshade Hanging: When Celestia apologizes to the kraken for misjudging her, Luna notes that she's usually the one doing the apologizing.
- My Greatest Failure: Celestia sees the loss of her and Luna's dolls as this; the dolls were given to them by the royal court of Canterlot, to protect as they would one day protect the citizens of Equestria. Celestia believes losing the dolls was a great failure. After all, if you cannot even protect your own toys, what makes you think you can protect your own citizens?
- Never Say "Die": Averted when Celestia believes Luna's plan involves getting them both killed.
- Psychoactive Powers: Celestia loses the ability to use her magic after her anguish over the encounter with the Kraken becomes too much to bare, with Luna following suit when Celestia plays up the horror of that day.
- Series Continuity Error: As the sisters search the ocean floor for their dolls, Celestia claims she doesn't like swimming. In "Between Dark and Dawn", one of the activities Celestia chose for the sisters was a dive into the ocean, which she seemed to enjoy very much. It is possible though that Celestia's claim was merely because of the trauma she experienced when she first met the Kraken and this dislike only applies if it's involved. Likewise, Luna was nervous during their ocean dive in the show, due to the presence of sharks, but shows no fear of it here, and eagerly dives in both for the search and while celebrating at the end.
- Skewed Priorities: The filly who has her Daring Do doll returned by the kraken thanks her for returning it. Luna points out that the kraken also saved her life, to which the filly adds, "Yeah, that too, I guess".
- Squee: Rainbow is overjoyed to hear the story from Celestia and Luna's past.
- Trauma Button: Luna believes the portrait of herself and Celestia with their dolls will make Celestia happy. Instead, it just reminds Celestia of the day they lost the dolls.
- You Monster!: Celestia believes the kraken can only be a monster after the encounter with it cost the sisters their ship and their dolls.
