It's Nightmare Night and everyone is celebrating, but Opaline threatens to ruin the fun when she discovers a way to reach Maretime Bay.
Tropes:
- Added Alliterative Appeal:
- In thinking about the mystery prize for finding the Golden Pumpkin, Jazz Hooves hopes it's "a treasure trove of treats" while Rocky Riff leans toward "a gourd dipped in gold."
- Pipp has the "fear/fun factor," which she uses to describe the enjoyment of scary things.
- All Part of the Show: Opaline has the misfortune of invading Maretime Bay on Nightmare Night, so everypony just thinks she's in costume and putting on an act.
- Asshole Victim: Even after her remorse over her actions in the premiere special, Posey has always been one of the biggest jerks in the series (including the sister series My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale), having a habit of being snippy and catty with people and clearly enjoying and reveling in the embarrassment of others. She's the first of all the ponies to lose her cutie mark at Opaline's hooves.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs:
- While describing the Nightmare Night events, Hitch mentions trick-or-treating, a costume contest, and trick-or-treating while competing in a costume contest. He then realizes that this last item was a typo in his notes.
- Jazz and Rocky combine their ideas about the big mystery prize (see above) into "a treasure trove of treats dipped in gold."
- Brick Joke: After the pumpkins start disappearing from around the Maretime Bay tree, the stallion who delivered them wonders where they've all gone (answer: into Opaline's throne room). Once she figures out the connection and starts sending them back, he gets clocked upside the head by every single one of them.
- Call-Back:
- Opaline threatens to banish ponies to the moon, not that anyone takes her seriously. (One pony even thinks she's dressed up as Nightmare Moon.)
- Opaline has a cutie-mark stealing spell like Starlight Glimmer's from her premiere episodes in Friendship is Magic.
- Winter Wishday is briefly mentioned.
- The Cameo:
- Sugar Moonlight and Sprout are among the ponies celebrating Nightmare Night.
- Señor Butterscotch is briefly seen as Sunny and friends prepare the Brighthouse for Nightmare Night.
- Chekhov's Gun: The lesson about the Together Trees becomes important here, as it's revealed that Opaline's castle is also built around one, making it a backdoor past the cloaking barrier Twilight set up to shield Equestria from her.
- Competition Freak: Both Jazz and Rocky get very competitive about being the first to find the hidden golden pumpkin.
- Epic Fail: Pipp tries to scare Misty by hiding in a closet and jumping out when she comes near, only to get her hoof stuck.
- Long List: Sunny reels off a list of her favorite Nightmare Night treats (all apple-based) while working in the kitchen.
- Mistaken for Exhibit: Seeing the Crystal Brighthouse kitchen full of cobwebs, dirty dishes, and huge containers, Misty thinks Sunny has decorated it as a mad scientist's lab. Sunny admits that this is just how it normally looks when she's cooking.
- Mysterious Past: Opaline grew a Together Tree of her own at some point in her past and built her castle around it.
- My Beloved Smother: Pipp mentions that she always wanted to dress up as a scary witch for Nightmare Night, but Queen Haven never let her.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The tree that the Mane Five unwittingly grew back in "Growing Pains" turns out to be a Together Tree connected to the one in Opaline's castle, allowing her to bypass the magical barrier Twilight Sparkle placed around Equestria by using the link between the two.
- Pirate Parrot: Hitch dresses up as a pirate for Nightmare Night, and has Sparky don a parrot costume to complete the look.
- Power Parasite: Opaline is able to steal Posey's Cutie Mark and imprint it on a leaf in her castle. She plans to do the same on a mass scale once she's drained the dragons of their power.
- Record Needle Scratch: Opaline's gloating over having found a way into Maretime Bay is interrupted by one as a pumpkin appears, frightening her.
- Sequel Hook: Sparky's magical fire alters the map Sunny and Zipp found, revealing the way to the dragons' home, the Isle of Scaly. At the same time, Opaline makes plans to travel there herself and drain the dragons' fire.
- Supreme Chef: Sunny is one when it comes to making desserts and treats, turning out a whole kitchen full of delicious-looking goodies all by herself. The only criticism Pipp can offer is that they need a little nutmeg.
- Wham Shot: The final scene has Opaline viewing living dragons through her magic pool, showing that there are indeed other dragons in the world even though the group failed to find any when they first visited.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Posey is last seen running off after Opaline steals her cutie mark, and isn't seen again when time passes to the following day. Since Opaline returns to the castle soon after and imprints the cutie mark on a leaf, Posey is presumably still running around without it. You'd think she would have thought to inform the one group of ponies who are supposed to deal with this sort of thing.
