List of My Little Pony comics issued by IDW Publishing

Neigh Anything: Shining Armor and Princess Cadance relate the story of how they meet as high-school students at Canterlot Academy to Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Shining during school is a nerd who is stricken by Cadance's beauty and kindness and, with his other nerdy friends, vows to ask her to the upcoming dance before the top school's athlete Buck Withers can. Shining and his friends try to win Cadance over with a rock song, and then try to sabotage Buck during the championship polo match, but both plans backfire. Shining watches heartbroken when Buck asks Cadance to the dance. Cadance, who is also infatuated with Shining on the chance meeting, ditches Buck at the dance at the first chance she gets to catch up to Shining and affirm their shared love. Cadance and Buck are crowned the dance's Queen and King, but as Buck brags and openly humiliates Shining, Cadance, their friends, and the rest of the student body reveal how much of a bully he has been to them, and to cheers from the crowd, Buck is hoisted to the rafters while Shining and Cadance share their first dance and kiss.

Issues 15-16: Twilight finds her books are being eaten by a magical bookworm, while the rest of Ponyville find strange pods around the town. Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity magically enter the books to try to stop the bookworm and repair the damage but become sidetracked when they find themselves enacting various stories and over-embellish the original tales. Eventually, they are trapped in a white void, believing that the worm has completely eaten all their books. Meanwhile, in Ponyville, Applejack and Fluttershy find that the fictional characters from the books are emerging from the pods and plan to take over their world. Twilight and her friends realize they can create their own stories to lure the bookworm to them, while Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike, trapped by the evil characters, send a message via a comic book to Twilight about their plight. Twilight shows the bookworm the damage its voracious eating has done to their friends, and the bookworm offers to help fix everything. Twilight, her friends and the bookworm return to Ponyville, and the bookworm's recollection of the stories returns the library to normal and wipes the fictional characters away.

Issue 23: Angel Bunny wakes to find Fluttershy missing and the rest of her animals running wild in the cottage. Getting no help from them or the woodland creatures, he goes to Ponyville only to find it empty of ponies. Angel finds the pets owned by the rest of the Mane Six, and Winona follows Fluttershy's scent and leads the group to the town's dam. There they discover a water sprite, whose singing has hypnotized the ponies into doing its bidding to tear down the dam. In order to prevent Ponyville from being flooded, Angel organizes the pets to lead an attack on the sprite. Winona and a growth-enhanced Opalescence scatter the ponies so that Angel and Gummy - flown in by Owlowiscious and Tank - can distract the sprite long enough to break its spell on the ponies. The sprite apologizes, explaining that it was only trying to help weaker sprites reach the ocean. As the ponies start working to find a new way for the sprites to make their journey, the pets are grateful for having had the chance to work together.

Discord in Time: As Fluttershy is getting ready to take the Cutie Mark Crusaders on an animal-watching field trip, a meteorite lands in her front yard. Discord emerges from it to visit her, but he has arrived one week ahead of their scheduled time. Tagging along with the group, he quickly becomes bored and offers to take them into Equestria's past so they can see much more exciting creatures. Their first stop is the civilization of Anugypt, very similar to ancient Egypt, whose ruler Anubis captures the group over an old grudge against Discord. They escape with the help of an army of cats, whose leader is a friend of Discord's, and flee through several other time periods before arriving in the prehistoric era. Here, a roc snatches up the Crusaders before Discord can react, and Fluttershy chastises him for always using his powers just to have fun, rather than to help others. Realizing his mistake, he calls in a favor from an animal friend of his in this time and saves the fillies. Discord understands that he still has much to learn about being a good friend and returns the group to the present day, first making sure that Fluttershy gets to see the beauty of the prehistoric creatures.

The Root of the Problem: When Ponyville is threatened by creatures and plants from the Everfree Forest, the Mane 6 enter it to find that the sentient deer, led by King Aspen and Prince Bramble, have taken to using the forest to take over Equestria. King Aspen points out how part of the forest is being razed by the minotaur business tycoon, Well-To-Do, for the construction of a theme park, and his activities have rendered the plants nearby unable to grow, and so they see their actions as taking back what is rightfully theirs. Twilight and her friends offer to try to negotiate with Well-To-Do, but the minotaur assets his activities are all within Equestrian law, if not morally suspect. One night, Bramble sneaks off to try to figure out what is going on, noticing that a smoothie mix used for the park has plant growth powers, but he is kidnapped by Well-To-Do. The minotaur forces King Aspen to agree to work for Well-To-Do as a park mascot to return Bramble, and Blackthorn, Aspen's second-in-command, decides it is time to fight back, and with help from Fluttershy convincing the creatures of Everfree and the other deer and ponies, they lay an attack on the construction site. Bramble sees more of the smoothie mix and directs their army to knock it over. The mix causes the forest to quickly grow back, ravaging the site, freeing Aspen, and quickly ending the battle. Well-To-Do asserts that he will be back with more equipment, and Aspen realizes that he can't stop him, but the Everfree creatures might, upon which the minotaur is eaten by a hydra. With the situation resolved, the deer apologize to the ponies and offer to help restore Ponyville and other areas affected back to normal.

Ponyville Days: As Twilight takes an overnight trip to Canterlot on royal business, the Ponyville residents gather to prepare for the annual Ponyville Days festival celebrating the founding of the town. Mayor Mare announces that a commemorative plaque will be placed at the site of the town's first structure and that the youngest filly in that family will be crowned Ponyville Days Princess. An argument quickly springs up between Applejack and Filthy Rich over which family should receive the honors. Granny Smith had cultivated the unique Zap Apple strain at Sweet Apple Acres, but Filthy's grandfather had opened a shop to sell the fruit, causing the new settlement to prosper. Since the Carousel Boutique now stands on the site of that first shop, Rarity takes Filthy's side; the town quickly splits into two factions, with Applejack's faction threatening to secede from Ponyville. By the time Twilight returns from her trip, the argument has deteriorated into a melee of flying pies and pioneer outfits. She had spent her time in Canterlot raising interest in the festival but is now ready to cancel it due to all the strife. However, a crowd of tourists is already on its way to Ponyville, leaving her at a loss as to what to do. She decides to visit her friends and other leading citizens individually, persuading them to each focus on one aspect of the festival and work separately from one another. The sheer size of the crowd quickly overwhelms the town, throwing all the events into chaos, and Twilight begs everypony to help each other out as best they can so that the visitors will be happy. The advice works, and even Applejack and Rarity put their differences aside and turn Sweet Apple Acres into a campground for the visitors, using Rarity's unsold pioneer outfits to make tents. As the festival draws to a close, Twilight presents a plaque to each of them - one to mark Ponyville's first residence at Sweet Apple Acres, the other for its first commercial building at what is now the Carousel Boutique.

Night of the Living Apples: After Celestia banished Nightmare Moon from Equestria, the latter sent debris from their battle into space in a fit of rage, vowing to return. In the present day, the debris, now tainted by Nightmare's magic, lands at Sweet Apple Acres and affects the apples there, making them sentient. When Applejack goes outside to investigate, she is attacked by them. The next day, the rest of the Mane 6, Spike, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders discover what has happened and are quickly captured despite their attempts to escape. The apples prove impervious to magic and easily conquer Ponyville; not even Luna can stop them. The Apples soon make plans to conquer all of Equestria, starting with Appleoosa. In hiding from the apples, Twilight temporarily turns Pinkie Pie into an apple to infiltrate Sweet Apple Acres and rescue a captured Spike. Pinkie also discovers an apple prisoner, named Good Apple, who does not share his fellow apples' desire for conquest. Pinkie is forced to leave both Spike and Good Apple behind after her cover is blown. Upon learning of this, Applejack wonders if the vampire fruit bats could be of any help, but Fluttershy expresses doubt of being able to communicate with them. Fortunately, Twilight has a solution. Using hypnosis, Twilight reawakens the thirst for apples Fluttershy gained during the period she was a pony/vampire fruit bat hybrid within her, causing her to transform back into Flutterbat.

However, as she is still unstable, they secure Flutterbat under the watchful eyes of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Twilight uses a spell to transform herself and the other Mane 6 into vampire bat ponies, with more control of their sense. They fly off and begin to fight against the apples, freeing Spike and Good Apple. They learn that while they might be able to get rid of the meteor, that will not stop the sentient apples. While they are gone, Flutterbat, still struggling to keep control of her Fluttershy self, manages to break her bonds. As the other Mane 6 struggle against the mass of apples, Flutterbat arrives, having successfully contacted the vampire fruit bats, and they begin sucking the apples dry. With the tide turning against them, the lead apple has the others form a giant Spike-like monster to destroy Ponyville, Twilight, Pinkie and Spike let the others tackle the monster while they seek out the meteor. Twilight senses the magic from Celestia and Luna's battle centuries ago and uses some of it to super-charge Spike's fire breath, which he uses to power Pinkie's party cannon to launch the meteor into the depths of space. Meanwhile, as the giant apple monster ravages Ponyville, Rainbow Dash manages to put on a burst of speed to crash through the monster, replacing the bad apple leader that powers the apples with Good Apple. Good Apple is able to convince the others to stop attacking, and the situation is quickly resolved. With Celestia and Luna's help, the apples are relocated to a remote part of Equestria to allow them to develop their own society hidden away from other beings. Good Apple insists that the bad apple leader come with them, and Celestia reflects that everyone can have a bad side but it is knowing how to overcome that is what makes a pony a better being.

Issue 40: Twilight tells the Mane 6 how she first met Spike. On her first day as a student at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, she was introduced to the same baby dragon she had hatched during her entrance exam. Celestia asked Twilight to take care of him when she is unable to, which soon proves to be a difficult task. Taking care of the baby resulted in a bad shift in Twilight's grades and making her feel overly stressed. Things came to a head when the dragon disrupted an open house banquet. Twilight took the dragon back to their room and after venting out her frustrations in a rant, the dragon began talking to her and Twilight ended up bonding with him over it. Twilight's parents came to check on her and Twilight decided to name the dragon "Spike" due to his attempts at saying "Smarty Pants", the name of Twilight's doll.

Rainbow Dash and the Very Bad Day: Rainbow Dash eagerly wakes up one day, excited for the next Daring Do book to be released. But on her way to the book's opening in Ponyville with Tank, she runs into a wall of cloud bricks, which gets her angry with the construction worker on duty. Her newly acquired bad mood soon spreads all around Ponyville and even to Shining Armor, his old group of high school friends, and the Royal Sisters. Zecora, the only one unaffected by everyone's bad mood, urges Tank to try and snap Rainbow out of it. This results in Rainbow yelling at Tank and making him cry. Seeing Tank cry snaps Rainbow out of it and she apologizes to him and her friends for her bad mood. Soon, everyone starts apologizing to each other, erasing their bad moods, and the Mane 6 hold a book reading party in the park.

A Pinkie Pie Story That Pinkie Pie Kinda Sorta Remembers: Pinkie asks Rarity to help her write a children's book as a gift to someone, the book itself being a parody of The Emperor's New Clothes. They both set to work, but their conflicting ideas for how to make the story from the art style to how it originally was written begin to irritate Rarity. They are eventually able to finish the book and much to Rarity's shock, Pinkie reveals that it was for her as a way of celebrating the day they met. Rarity is touched by the thought and gladly accepts, though Pinkie admits she may have had more fun making it.

Election: The playground Mayor Mare opened is destroyed by an earthquake. After many complaints from Ponyville, Filthy Rich decides to run for mayor, promising to make some changes when he's elected. The Mane Six (joined by Starlight Glimmer) realized they haven't had an election in years, and decide it's right to finally have one. Twilight decides to help Mayor Mare and Rarity decides to help Filthy Rich but both decline. At the debate, it's also revealed that Cheerilee, Time Turner and Lyra Heartstrings decided to run for mayor too. Unfortunately, their method of improving ponies live's were not all that inspiring. In the end, Filthy Rich is elected as mayor, but things don't go well for Ponyville. More earthquakes are happening, Fluttershy's cottage is full of noise from nearby construction workers, taxes are raised, and the new playground falls apart. The Mane six try to go to Ms. Mare for help but she says she's retired. At a town meeting, a stressed out Filthy Rich is pummeled by tomatoes. Ms. Mare comes and tells everypony what it really takes to be a mayor. Suddenly, a Tatzlwurm appears, revealing itself to be the cause of the earthquakes. Ms. Mare develops a plan use noise vibrations to get rid of it. She then helps Filthy Rich with his resigning papers so she can be mayor again.

From the Shadows: After returning from a film with her friends, Twilight Sparkle and Spike return to her castle to find a strange unicorn stallion rifling through her books. Before she can stop him, the unicorn teleports away with three books. As her friends help her to reshelve the books, Twilight finds that three of the books are seemingly ordinary books about Equestria's history. The Mane Six have their doubts as to his intentions, so decide to track them down. Using an enchanted map, the Mane Six and Spike travel to another town before the path of the stallion disappears. The group splits up to try to find info. From the various townsponies, they find that the stallion is Shadow Lock, a unicorn with the ability to erase the text from books and make anyone that had read those books forget what was in them, and now is headed for the town's library. The group race there, disrupting Shadow Lock as he pursues more books. In response, he uses his magic to bring to life monsters from the various books. Shadow Lock explains to Twilight that there is an ancient evil from Equestria's past so dangerous that it cannot be spoken of. Ergo, he is trying to erase its memory from present-day existence. After Shadow Lock flees, Twilight manages to send the monsters back into the books they came from. The Mane 6 decide to split up and protect various places that Shadow Lock could strike next: the Ponyville schoolhouse, a Canterlot newspaper, and a Colonial Whinniesburg re-enactment. Shadow Lock strikes all but the re-enactment, erasing the history articles in each other location. Twilight later explains that Spike has prepared a backup plan: luring Shadow Lock to the Canterlot Museum where a History of Equestria exhibit is on display. Twilight leads him into a trap in the archives and acknowledging that Shadow Lock doesn't want to hurt anyone, she offers him a truce, unaware that Shadow Lock has imprisoned Spike and the rest of the Mane 6 in different eras in the past based on the museum exhibits. Confronted, Shadow Lock admits that about a year prior he discovered that he was related to a villain from a thousand years in Equestria's past. Not wanting to have that known, he studied magic that would allow him to erase that name (and any memories associated with it) from books around Equestria to avoid having to face that past. Meanwhile, the rest of the Mane 6 and Spike figure out that Shadow Lock's magic has stuck them in short, repeating time loops based on the museum exhibits, and find ways to escape the magic. They join Twilight and Shadow Lock as he is revealing his faults, and they give him the idea from when they were trapped that if he doesn't face his history, he will be doomed to repeat it. Shadow Lock admits the error of his ways and promises to try to research his ancestor, in case that should ever come to pass. As the ponies start to return home, Twilight reveals that Shadow Lock never shared with her the name of this villain.

Wings Over Yakyakistan: Since Pinkie became an honorary yak in Not Asking for Trouble, Prince Rutherford has become more interested in learning about other cultures. After the Wonderbolts perform a stunt show for the yaks, the dragons begin attacking Yakyakistan. Taking cover in a nearby cave, Spitfire shows reluctance to fight back, but Rainbow and her parents use a story about Rainbow's first flight competition to inspire her to be brave. With renewed confidence, Spitfire leads the Wonderbolts, Rainbow, and Pinkie in aiding the yaks against the dragons. However, even with the rest of the Mane 6, Spike, and Starlight showing up as reinforcements, the yaks are outnumbered, forcing everyone to retreat. Spike expresses confusion over the situation; he thought that with Ember now leading the dragons as Dragon Lord, the dragons would become kinder. However, much to everyone's shock, they discover that Ember herself is leading the invasion. As it turns out, Ember is angry with the Yaks for breaking a "sacred bond" between them, but she refuses to reveal what that is. With everyone else not willing to talk to the dragons about it due to the dragons having a mostly bad reputation among ponies, Spike goes to Ember and convinces her to tell him what the sacred bond is. As it turns out, long ago, the dragons and yaks fought over the land which would become Yakyakistan, causing damage to it. Eventually, yak Prince Ulysses and Dragon Lord Scintilla made an agreement and Ulysses helped Scintilla find what became the Dragon Lands, while he took the land which became Yakyakistan. In return, Ulysses made Scintilla an honorary yak. Now that Pinkie Pie is an honorary yak, Ember feels that this bond has been violated. The next day, Spike manages to stop the two sides from fighting and calls out the ponies for making generalizations about the dragons, the dragons for reinforcing that view by attacking Yakyakistan, and the yaks for breaking the sacred bond. Prince Rutherford admits that he didn't understand the ancient scroll recounting Ulysses and Scintilla's conflict because of the lousy artwork. Apologies are made and the dragons help to rebuild Yakyakistan. Pinkie offer to give up her honorary yak title, but Ember lets her keep it, commenting that it's time to let go of the past and look to the future.

Apinkalypse Now: Following the episode "Discordant Harmony", Fluttershy takes Discord to visit her animal sanctuary. Unknown to either of them, Pinkie chases Gummy through the portal to Discord's realm and begins to enjoy herself. Eventually, the dimension begins to change to suit Pinkie's style. Back in Equestria, Discord finds that he isn't able to use his powers, so Fluttershy takes him to Twilight and Starlight for help. Twilight and Starlight eventually get the idea to open the portal to Discord's realm by using Discord himself as a conduit and learn about what's happened to Pinkie. Twilight rounds up the rest of the Mane 6 and with Discord, they head into Discord's realm with Starlight acting as an anchor so they can get back. They find that in Discord's absence, the Chaos Dimension locked onto Pinkie's creativity and mischief, explaining why everything is so different. They eventually find Pinkie and learn that she's gone mad with power as a result of her taking over the Chaos Dimension. Pinkie turns herself into an alicorn and prepares to turn Equestria into a land of eternal partying. Realizing that Pinkie's not strong enough to keep her chaos powers outside of the Chaos Dimension, Discord challengers her to a "Cuckoo Cook-Off", where the two conjure up random things to fight each other with and the first one to run out of ideas loses. Discord ultimately wins and Pinkie goes back to normal before Discord sends them all home.

The Vines That Bind: Following the episode "A Health of Information", Twilight, Fluttershy, Zecora, and Cattail discover a series of love notes between Mage Meadowbrook and a pony named Aqua Vine, written around the time where Mage was looking for a flower called the Magenta Bloom, which can possibly cure almost any ailment. They head to Fillydelphia, where Aqua Vine lived, to deliver the notes to the Fillydelphia Hall of Records and learned that a descendant of Aqua's runs a local greenhouse. The descendant reveals Aqua was looking for the Magenta Bloom along with Mage but did it through research instead of directly trying to look for it like Mage did. Now the descendant has started to narrow down where it is and that it will be in bloom within the next couple of weeks. During the search, Cattail is asked about his family history and he tells a story about how Mage cured an entire town of a plague. They eventually make it to where the flower is located: the Coastal Cliffs, where fierce winds prevent Twilight from flying up to retrieve it. Fluttershy and Zecora start to note that Twilight is heavily fixated on the possibilities that the Magenta Bloom could bring, with Fluttershy suggesting that Twilight might want to leave something lasting the way Mage did. Mage was obsessed with finding the Bloom, as well, but she never found it prior to her disappearance. Once the group reaches the top of the cliffs where the pollen and salt blown from the waters are worse, Twilight falls off and is unable to see. After the group pulls her back up, Twilight berates herself for her foolishness, but the others assure her that she has something Mage didn't: friends to help her. The next morning, the group makes a more coordinated attempt to reach the flower and Twilight manages to grab it off the cliffs. As they head back home, Fluttershy assures Twilight that she only had the best of intentions at heart for finding the Bloom and that she can always count on her friends.

The Stars on Our Ponies: The Cutie Mark Crusaders prepare for the first overnight camp-out they've planned for the Cutie Mark Day Camp they opened in "Marks and Recreation". Rarity informs the fillies that Fancy Pants is bringing his niece, Gilded Lily, to the camp, which Rarity sees as an opportunity for the CMC to expand their client base and make business in Canterlot. During the camp, the CMC take notice of Lily's lack of enthusiasm in outdoor activities. They figure that Fancy Pants is putting a lot of pressure on her to represent her family in Canterlot. During a stargazing activity, Lily helps the CMC in pointing out several constellations, resulting in her getting her cutie mark. Lily is horrified by this and privately explains to Scootaloo her fear that her cutie mark will not help her represent Canterlot's social elite as Fancy Pants wishes. When Scootaloo argues that she should learn to do things for herself, Lily points out who Scootaloo always defers to what Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle want to do. The following day, Scootaloo tells her friends that she wants to start a new branch of the CMC dedicated to extreme sports. When Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle think she's leaving the CMC, Scootaloo explains that while she loves being a crusader, it doesn't mean that they have to do the same things together all the time. Later, the CMC help Lily talk to Fancy Pants about her cutie mark, but Fancy Pants assures Lily that her mark will help make her influential in her own way. Weeks later, the CMC are invited to a fundraiser at the Canterlot Observatory hosted by Lily and Fancy Pants, while Scootaloo prepares for the first Extreme Sports Cutie Mark Camp, accompanied by her fellow crusaders.

Convocation of the Creatures!: Princesses Twilight, Celestia and Cadance, and Celestia's aide Raven attend the Convocation of the Creatures, a gathering of delegates from Equestria and the neighboring lands. As the Convocation begins, Raven and the aides to the other species' leaders go to work updating the extensive document archives in the library of the meeting hall, choosing to ignore what they see as a boring political summit. Twilight, however, enjoys the cultural events and persuades the archivists to take a break from their work and join the festivities. The archivists do enjoy themselves, but one of them has found an ancient treaty stating that a large portion of what is now Equestria (including the site of Canterlot) had once belonged to the griffons. Since Equestria apparently never paid for the land under the terms of the treaty, it is technically griffon territory again. With the Equestrian delegation at a loss as to what to do, griffon delegate Goldstone offers two choices: Equestria can either cede the land to Griffonstone and relocate all the ponies who reside there, or pay the agreed-upon sum plus interest – a total that would bankrupt the government. Celestia agrees to return the land, but asks for a brief delay so that Twilight, Raven, and the other archivists can search the files in hopes of finding an alternative. They discover an addendum to the treaty stating that Equestria did indeed pay the griffons for the land, but Goldstone – eager to increase his personal land holdings by forcing Equestria to cede the territory – tries to seize and destroy it. They escape past him and his guards, passing the document among themselves and using the events of the Convocation as distractions, and Raven brings the document to Celestia and the chief griffon delegate just in time. With the crisis resolved and Goldstone arrested on charges of treason, the Equestrian delegation returns home; Raven promises to keep in touch with the other archivists and decides to leave the adventuring to Twilight and her friends.

All in Marederation: A party at Sugarcube Corner is broken up by the arrival of a group calling itself the Anti-Sugar League. Their leader, Temperance Flowerdew, proclaims that sugar is a danger to public health and public morals and wants to ban all sweets. The movement begins to gain ground in Ponyville, with boycotts and protests cropping up all over town; sales at Sugarcube Corner plunge, and Sweet Apple Acres is also affected because Applejack sells her pies in Ponyville. Pinkie Pie tries to throw Temperance a party to change her attitude, but Temperance convinces her that her parties have added to the problem by making ponies sick. Twilight Sparkle receives a letter that leads her to a secret speakeasy at Sweet Apple Acres, where ponies are now gorging themselves on sweets. Returning to town, she is shocked to find that Pinkie has joined the Anti-Sugar League. Pinkie explains that Temperance grew up in a home where sugar was forbidden; she gave in to temptation one day and ate herself sick, and ever since then she has crusaded to ban sugar as bad for ponies' health. Twilight shows Temperance the unhappy ponies around town who have either over-indulged or gone without sugar, and tells her that health is a matter of happiness as well as nutrition. Temperance dissolves the Anti-Sugar League, now understanding the importance of moderation, and enjoys some of the treats at the party Pinkie throws for her.

Queen for One Less Day: In preparation for her annual trip around Equestria, Princess Celestia dons a magical amulet that allows her to transform herself into a Pegasus so she can go about unrecognized. After a number of stops, she arrives in Ponyville, only for her amulet to be stolen by a filly named Scarlet Petal, leaving Celestia trapped in her powerless Pegasus form. Scarlet takes the amulet to her "aunt" Shadowfall, who employs both Scarlet and her brother Winter Comet as thieves, only to discover the amulet's properties; she then flees Shadowfall after being ordered to surrender the amulet. Celestia goes to Twilight for help, and after convincing her of her identity they set off to find Scarlet before the amulet's changeling magic corrupts her. In an ensuing confrontation with Shadowfall, Scarlet realizes that her guardian was just using her and her brother and returns the amulet to Celestia. With her true form and powers restored, Celestia arrests Shadowfall and takes in the youngsters, and decides to travel Equestria in her true form from now on before destroying the amulet.

Applewood Follies: Rarity informs her friends at the Castle of Friendship that a movie is being made based on their Friendship Journal and arranges for them to attend the premiere, though Twilight is unable to attend due to running the School of Friendship. Wormer Horsehooves, the film's director, is frustrated in his efforts to make the film seem true to the events described in the journal, and asks Rarity and the others if they will help to direct it. However, Rarity's recollections of various events clash with those of the others, and in the end, the five each decide to direct their own film. The end result is a horrendous hodgepodge that is received as a comedy by the audience.

Tempest's Tale: Some time after My Little Pony: The Movie, Tempest Shadow bids farewell to Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville and sets out to find a place for herself. After traveling across Equestria, receiving mixed receptions from its inhabitants and doing her best to offer help where she can, Tempest takes the suggestion of a new acquaintance and travels to the Crystal Empire. Following an awkward meeting with Princess Cadance, Tempest agrees to help the arctic patrol with a series of disturbances on the Empire's borders. Her assigned partner proves to be Glitter Drops, one of the two childhood friends who were with her when her horn was broken. While Glitter is ecstatic to see Tempest, Tempest is less enthusiastic; the tension between them continues to build until Tempest accuses Glitter of abandoning her. Discovering a trail that seems to lead to the perpetrator of the recent troubles, Tempest pursues it on her own only to run into an Ursa Minor, the same type of creature that broke her horn.

Confronted with the Ursa, Tempest finds herself unable to move, but Glitter Drops quickly acts to scare the creature away. Enraged to be saved by the pony she feels abandoned her, she nearly attacks Glitter Drops, who then tearfully admits to having carried the guilt for Tempest's broken horn for years. Tempest apologizes for her own anger, and the two rekindle their friendship as they trail the Ursa, which they discover has been separated from its mother, an Ursa Major. Glitter Drops is able to use her magic to lure the Ursa home, but admits to Tempest that both she and their other friend Spring Rain struggled at Princess Celestia's magic school and that she eventually dropped out. Tempest then returns to Princess Cadance, whom she realizes intended for her to reunite with her old friend, and thanks her.

Extreme Bingo: The Golden Horseshoe Gals (featured in the Season 8 episode "Grannies Gone Wild") invite Rainbow Dash to a game night, which proves to be a bingo game that Applejack has been hosting for years. Seeing how bored everypony is, Rainbow invents a variant called "Extreme Bingo," hiding the number balls all over Ponyville for the Gals to find so they can fill out their cards. The Gals have fun searching for the balls, over Applejack's objections, but Rainbow begins to realize that some of her hiding places were a little too extreme. The last few balls are hidden in the Castle of the Two Sisters, and as a storm moves in, Applejack insists that they need to end the game for their own safety. However, Granny Smith sneaks away to keep playing; when she falls from a crumbling staircase, Rainbow flies in to save her. Rainbow and Applejack apologize to the Gals, respectively for not thinking of their safety and for not treating them as grown mares capable of deciding how to spend their time, and the group decides to plan smaller adventures in the future.

Happy Haunts

Pie in the Sky: Following the events of the episode "The Perfect Pear," Applejack comes across an apple pie recipe devised by her mother, Pear Butter (a.k.a. Buttercup) while cleaning out the attic with Apple Bloom and Granny Smith. Granny says it was the best pie she ever had, and Applejack recruits Pinkie Pie to help her re-create the recipe even though they are puzzled about the last ingredient being listed simply as "love." When their first attempt falls short of Granny's recollection, Mrs. Cake suggests that Applejack get her ingredients from the same sources Buttercup used. These merchants share their fond memories of Buttercup and her husband, Bright Mac, with Applejack and her siblings. After the next attempt also comes up short, Applejack mulls over the stories and figures out the last ingredient. She successfully re-creates the pie for Granny, but keeps Buttercup's final touch a secret: a pear mixed in with the apples, symbolizing her love for both the Apple and Pear sides of her family.

Copycats: A mysterious amulet winds up in Fluttershy's animal sanctuary and she unknowingly steps on it. Soon enough, she begins to act like the animals she comes into contact with, soon attracting the attention of her friends and all of Ponyville. Realizing that she's being affected by magic, Twilight goes to the library with Spike for research, while Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow head to Fluttershy's cottage, where they find Zephyr Breeze and tell him what is happening. They find a timberwolf with a broken paw at the sanctuary and find that it's acting like Fluttershy. Furthermore, they deduce that Fluttershy is now acting like a timberwolf and head into town to find her. There, they stop her from attacking Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and give chase. Twilight deduces that Fluttershy is being affected by the Animalulet, a long-lost relic created by Star Swirl the Bearded and she and Spike ask Rarity to help find it. Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie corral Fluttershy back to the sanctuary just as Rarity finds the gem. Twilight notes that the only way to free Fluttershy from the amulet's influence is to destroy it, but doesn't know-how. Spike then eats the gem, causing Fluttershy and the animals she swapped traits with to return to normal, although Spike temporarily starts acting like random animals as a side effect caused by the amulet. One week later, Fluttershy releases the timberwolf into the wild back to its family, commenting that the experience gave her more insight into caring for her animals, but she wouldn't want to do it again.

Issue 75: Centuries ago, Discord and another draconequus named Cosmos created chaos together. When Cosmos began to show an obsessive love for him and take her love for chaos too far, Discord turned to the Royal Sisters, Queen Novo, King Aspen, and the King of Abyssinia to help banish her from Equestria and then erases their memory of her existence. In the present day, Rarity finds a mysterious necklace with a purple star on it and gives it to Twilight. After she puts it on, Twilight begins to hear a voice telling her to "find the rest". Later, the necklace projects an image to the Mane 6 and Spike of a heart-shaped constellation called the Andalusian, an arrangement of stars that appeared and disappeared centuries ago. Twilight realizes that her necklace is one of the six stars that made up the constellation and the others fell to Equestria years ago. She becomes obsessed with finding the rest of the stars and the Mane 6 decide to recruit some of their friends to help find them. Unknown to all, however, Cosmos is possessing Twilight through the necklace, and she plans to gather the stars together so she can regain her true form and be with Discord again.

To find the remaining stars, scattered in different locations in and out of Equestria, the group splits up. Pinkie and Big Mac head to Klugetown, Rainbow, Rarity, and Spike to the Crystal Empire, Zecora and the Cutie Mark Crusaders to Griffonstone, Fluttershy to the Everfree Forest, and Applejack and Twilight to Canterlot. At Canterlot, Twilight ignores Applejack's suggestion at telling Celestia and Luna about what they're doing and heads to a secret underground chamber housing several forbidden artifacts, one of which is the second Andalusian star. Applejack soon realizes that Twilight is being controlled and with her cover blown, Cosmos attacks and fights Applejack, eventually locking her inside a cage made from Earth using Twilight's magic. Meanwhile, Fluttershy tells Discord about the quest and Discord informs Fluttershy about who Cosmos is and that the Andalusian stars fell back to Equestria because a shooting star knocked them out of the sky. Discord found one of the stars and buried it to ensure Cosmos would never come back.

Fluttershy convinces Discord to dig up the star he found and take it to Celestia, since he knows more about Cosmos than anyone else. However, once they get to Canterlot, Discord and Fluttershy find that not only is Twilight being possessed by Cosmos, but so is Celestia. Cosmos then steals the third star and uses it to possess Luna, speaking through all three princesses at once. Cosmos wishes to reunite with Discord and keep causing chaos, but upon learning that Discord has been reformed, Cosmos turns Fluttershy into a pony/butterfly hybrid to distract Discord and keep him from warning the others. Discord escapes with Fluttershy while Cosmos waits for the remaining three stars to be found.

Issue 76: In a flashback, Cosmos, while spreading chaos across Equestria with Discord, set a school full of foals and fillies on fire. Discord rescued them, which earned him Cosmos' wrath. It was this incident that compelled Discord to turn to Celestia, Luna, and the other rulers to help him banish Cosmos. In present-day Klugetown, Pinkie and Big Mac meet up with Capper and retrieve the fourth Andalusian star after Pinkie drags Big Mac through a local tournament. In Griffonstone, Zecora and the CMC find the fifth star, but Zecora begins to suspect that something is not right about their mission. When both groups return to Canterlot, the Cosmos-controlled princesses are waiting for them. In the ensuing struggle, Capper is turned into a kitten, and he and the CMC are imprisoned in the same cell as Applejack. Cosmos then uses the two stars the two groups found to possess Big Mac and Zecora. Almost back at full strength, Cosmos decides to go after the final star herself.

Issue 77: In the chaos dimension, Discord tells Fluttershy how he first met Cosmos. More than a thousand years ago, Cosmos fell out of the sky and landed in front of Discord. The two quickly bonded over their shared love for chaos and wreaked havoc across Equestria, with Discord keeping the princesses busy with illusions so that they wouldn't interfere. Over time, however, Discord came to realize that Cosmos was too chaotic even for his liking and helped the royal sisters banish her back to the stars. Fearing that someone may want to use her power, Discord erased everyone's memory of Cosmos and took the fall for her actions, which eventually resulted in his imprisonment. Although she understands why Discord now fears Cosmos, Fluttershy nevertheless convinces him that they have to go back and help their friends, to which Discord reluctantly agrees. When they return, they find Canterlot castle transformed by Cosmos' magic and Applejack, Pinkie, and the CMC imprisoned. After freeing them, they head off to the Crystal Empire, where Rarity, Spike, and Rainbow have teamed up with Cadance to find the final star - they are still unaware of what is happening. They find the star in a market, but as soon as Cadance touches it, she becomes possessed by Cosmos. Cosmos arrives moments later and merges together with the four princesses, Big Mac, and Zecora into a more powerful form. Discord, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie, and the CMC arrive quickly afterward and Cosmos expresses delight in seeing Discord again.

Issue 78: As Cosmos rampages across the Crystal Empire searching for Discord, he and the ponies reason that the only way that Cosmos can be defeated is by removing the Andalusian stars from her. They decide to have Spike eat the stars since they don't seem to affect him like they did the princesses. Pinkie Pie takes control of the attack plan as Cosmos finds them. Over the course of the battle, the ponies succeed in removing all but one of the stars, but the ponies are incapacitated by Cosmos one by one until only Discord, Fluttershy, and Spike are left. Cosmos insists that Discord could never hurt her, but Discord reveals that he intentionally sold her out to Celestia and Luna because he was afraid of her. Realizing how much Discord has changed, Cosmos turns Fluttershy into a statue and Spike a dog before revealing that she is not just a lover of chaos, but the very embodiment of malice. Discord manages to seize the final star and feeds it to Spike, depowering Cosmos and freeing those who were controlled by her. Discord banishes Cosmos to the moon and everything Cosmos affected with her magic turns back to normal. Later, Celestia and Luna award Discord and his friends for their efforts, while Twilight tries to interview everyone about their latest adventure.

Live-Action Role Pony

Pretty Fly: Rainbow Dash has invited Rumble and Scootaloo to attend Foals and Friends Weekend at the Wonderbolts Academy. During a rehearsal for an aerial parade, Rumble suffers a midair collision and ends up in the infirmary with a sprained wing. Scootaloo volunteers to keep him company since she cannot fly, and the two sneak into the campus museum to pass the time. They are surprised to find a statue of an earth pony wearing a Wonderbolt flight suit, and an officer enters the museum to tell them about Wind Sock, the only earth pony ever to join the team. Hired as a janitor, Wind Sock endured mockery from the pegasi as he worked on designing a machine to let him fly. When one Wonderbolt, Dauntless, became stranded at the bottom of a canyon filled with winds too strong for any pegasus to navigate, Wind Sock built a glider that allowed him to reach Dauntless and airlift him out. Wind Sock was officially inducted into the Wonderbolts for his ingenuity and bravery. The officer telling the story turns out to be Dauntless himself, now a general; he explains that some of Wind Sock's inventions are still being used and that his determination can serve as an example. Inspired by the account, Scootaloo and Rumble build a replica of the glider so Rumble can fly in the parade.

Dog-Dog-Dogged Determination

The Strange Case of Silver Blaze

Jealous of Celestia's faster progress, Luna steals a spellbook and uses it to create a dimensional portal to a parallel world. A force pulls her through, accompanied by a voice promising to make her stronger than Celestia, and the portal closes. Once Star Swirl re-opens it, Celestia races in ahead of him and rescues Luna from a group of rock creatures who are trying to turn her into Nightmare Moon. The creatures merge into a giant monster, and Star Swirl arrives to battle it so the sisters can return to the portal. All three escape to Equestria, and Celestia apologizes to Luna for making fun of her instead of watching out for her.

Sunburst gives the book to Celestia and Luna so they can remember Star Swirl's old lesson on the importance of compassion in a leader. He then reaches for a different title, Rockhoof and the Mighty Helm.

Rockhoof is invited to join the "Mighty Helm", a team of ponies tasked with protecting the town. He has trained for years in the hope of joining them, and he carries this dedication into his formal duties at first. However, he spends night after night celebrating with the other members, and he steadily falls out of shape. When the volcano threatens to erupt again, Helm captain Steela Oresdotter sends Rockhoof and two other ponies to investigate. They find a crab-like creature called a Cherufe at the peak, muttering and throwing fireballs; Rockhoof tries to fight, but he is no match for the Cherufe and all three return to the town.

Steela relieves Rockhoof of duty for angering the Cherufe, and he resumes his old training regimen on his own. Once he gets back into shape, he and Steela climb the volcano again and find that the Cherufe always throws its fireballs at the same point within the crater. Rockhoof digs at this spot and unearths the creature's baby, which has been trying to make its way home from underground. The volcano settles down, and Rockhoof learns to take his work seriously but make time for occasional relaxation with friends.

Luna asks Sunburst to tell her another story later, but he decides that he should perhaps read the next one by himself.

While traveling with several animals, Mistmane discovers that something is interfering with the construction of Canterlot Castle by damaging the crew's equipment and dismantling their work. She persuades the crew to take the day off and let her stay for the night, promising to find the cause. That night, she encounters a young Princess Luna and the two discover that the local animals are trying to tear down the castle. Luna tries to confront them directly, but Mistmane suggests that she observe their body language instead. The two learn that the animals are afraid of losing their homes to the castle construction. With their help, Luna re-designs the castle to accommodate their concerns, unaware that Mistmane has already left, and Celestia and Star Swirl approve the plans the next morning. Much later, after the castle is completed, Star Swirl sees a figure walking in the gardens and believes it to be Mistmane, but the figure suddenly disappears before he can be sure.

In the present, Sunburst thinks he sees Mistmane in the gardens, but it turns out to be a group of animals. Reminding himself that Mistmane is only a legend, he returns to the library to read another story, Flash Magnus and the Royal Legion.

Flash is a member of the Royal Legion, a pegasus brigade tasked with protecting Cloudsdale. His commander, Captain Ironhead, brings news that an accident at the weather factory has created a massive storm that is currently drifting over griffon territory toward the city. Ironhead and his four fastest soldiers, including Flash, depart to stop the storm but are intercepted by the griffon Blackbeak, who accuses the pegasi of creating it as a weapon and insists that the griffons will stop it themselves. Ironhead orders his team to retreat back over the border, but Flash defies him and leads the other three in a rescue effort to save the young griffons in a village about to be hit by the storm. When the griffons' efforts prove futile, Ironhead and his troops work together to break up the storm. Flash and his colleagues are honored for their bravery, and Flash becomes a hero to the griffons.

Sunburst explains that this incident led to pegasi and griffons taking flight training together. Not entirely convinced of the accuracy of Star Swirl's account, Starlight decides to do a little research of her own once she returns to Ponyville. Sunburst offers to take her to dinner as a way of making up for ignoring her, and she happily accepts.

Somnambula, a pegasus, had become famous for saving Prince Hisan, the son of a kingdom's ruler, from an evil Sphinx. Years later, Hisan asks for her help in dealing with an enormous snake, big enough to eat his palace. It swallows the last of Hisan's guards, then Somnambula herself when she tries to reason with it. Leaving a piece of her luminous glopaz necklace inside the mouth, she ventures deeper into the snake's gut and finds several groups of survivors. From their successive descriptions of its size, she realizes that it has been growing. She gives each group a piece of glopaz and sends them toward the mouth, then finds a bitter old wizard at the tail. He explains that he had tried to stop an ordinary snake from eating his potion ingredients by putting a curse on a stone; when the snake swallowed this, it began to grow out of all proportion and swallowed him. Somnambula finds the stone, brings the wizard up to the mouth, and levers the snake's jaws open wide enough to throw the stone out and let everypony escape unharmed. The snake shrinks back to normal size, and Hisan learns to trust Somnambula and never give up hope in a dire situation.

After Pinkie finishes the story and goes on her way, Sunburst decides to read the next story by himself once his nerves have settled down and selects another book, Mage Meadowbrook and the Abandoned City.

While traveling throughout Equestria to help ailing ponies, Meadowbrook enters the town of Mareidian only to find it seemingly empty. She takes shelter from a storm at an inn, but discovers a horde of shambling zombie ponies inside and flees into the streets again. Grabbing her bag of supplies, she flees to a frog-infested barn that houses the town's food supply. Meadowbrook realizes that a poisonous secretion from the frogs' skin, intended to deter predators, has contaminated the food and caused the zombie affliction. She brews a potion using the secretion, lures the zombies into the barn, and douses them with the potion to return them to normal.

As Sunburst's train reaches the Crystal Empire, he notices a book set with Star Swirl's cutie mark in his luggage. Upon reading a passage about the virtues represented by the ponies of legend, Sunburst flies into a panic and decides that he needs to see Twilight Sparkle in Canterlot.

Later that night, Stygian goes out searching for the pony he was assisting and the finds that the town is deserted, all the inhabitants having been drawn to a concert and ensnared by the Dazzlings' music. Blaming himself for not warning the townsponies, he decides that-as he cannot defeat the invaders himself-he needs to seek out help. To that end, he sets out to find the most legendary ponies in Equestria, and begins by traveling to the island home of Rockhoof.

Grateful to Stygian, Rockhoof agrees to join his quest, and the pair set out to gain the aid of Mage Meadowbrook. However, upon arriving in her home, the pair are attacked by unusually aggressive animals. Meadowbrook saves them by luring the animals into a trap, and a comment by Stygian gives her a clue as to the cause of their aggression. Only the plant-eating creatures have been affected, leading her to conclude that a newly arrived fungus is responsible. As she begins to brew an antidote, the affected creatures begin to close in on the trio.

The trio then set out in search of Flash Magnus, hoping that his speed will be an asset in the battle with the Sirens. They eventually arrive at the training camp of the Cloudsdale Royal Legion, only to learn that war with the dragons is imminent and that Flash Magnus is at the front.

The party makes its way into a desert region where they are attacked by what appear to be mummy ponies, but the behavior of the creatures seems off. Somnambula then arrives and reveals that the majority of the mummies are in fact illusions produced by a cursed object. Working together, the five ponies are able to destroy the artifact and free its victim, Prince Hisan, and Somnambula eagerly joins the group. Unbeknownst to them, their next intended recruit-Mistmane-has come under attack from her own greenhouse plants.

With the guidance of Mistmane, the group then sets out to recruit the final member of their group: Star Swirl the Bearded. Finding him in Canterlot, Stygian is overawed to meet his idol, and the two quickly bond over common interests. After revealing the situation of his home village, Stygian acquaints Star Swirl with his new teammates.

Stygian reluctantly agrees to Star Swirl's plan to banish the Sirens, and remains on the sidelines while they engage the enemy. After Star Swirl sends them to another dimension (leading into the events of Rainbow Rocks) Stygian resolves to find his own way of becoming a hero. Back in the present, Sunburst tracks down Stygian and refutes his assertions that he wasn't a hero, given all that he did to bring the Pillars of Old Equestria together to save his homeland. Grateful, Stygian offers Sunburst the chance to read his second journal, while Sunburst questions whether or not Equestria's greatest villain may not be Star Swirl himself due to his failure to comprehend friendship.

Neightingale suspends him on their recommendations, but another theft occurs the following day leading to Redheart's suspension as well. While visiting Fluttershy, however, the Crusaders learn that it is nesting season for the Equestrian social weaver bird, and between this and feathers seen near a small window in the supply closet deduce the truth. Redheart and Distemper are soon cleared, and Neightingale and the Crusaders both apologize for their rash actions. The Crusaders then decide to start a detective agency, and quickly receive their first clients in the form of several bowler ponies.

At school the next day, the tired Crusaders notice that their classmates Snips and Snails are equally fatigued, just before Jeff arrives to report another bowling-pin theft. They visit the alley again and meet Kingpin, who says that although he is happy to see somepnony try to break his record, his grandson - Snips - thinks otherwise. The Crusaders discover that Snips stole the pins with Snails' help in order to keep Kingpin's record intact. With the mystery solved, the tournament goes on as planned and the alley is renamed in Kingpin's honor.

They question Diamond Tiara, whose father Filthy Rich wants to put up a hotel on the site, and resident Sand Trap, who had criticized the Retirement Village in the past. Both deny any involvement in starting the fire, and the Crusaders question other residents but make no headway. Fire Streak, the town's fire chief, warns them not to enter the lucnchroom where the fire started, but they ignore him and sneak in during the night. There they find the remains of a campfire and residue of prickly pear and peanut butter.

The next day, when Holiday and Lofty tell Scootaloo that Filly Guides used to make Sumyums using peanut butter, she realizes who is responsible. Pearly Stitch, a resident who had been a Filly Guide in her youth, admits to setting the fire to make Sumyums because she missed the taste of them. Fire Streak berates the Crusaders for risking their safety, but the residents thank them and Holiday and Lofty organize a "throwback" Filly Guide outing with Pearly as their guest.

Getting no answers from the Apples as to the water, the Crusaders talk the case over at Sugarcube Corner and inadvertently spread the news that the Apples are suspects in the case. This leads the townsponies to treat the Apples with suspicion, refusing to buy their products. The Crusaders discover that Flim and Flam are in town selling hybrid fruits, and another check of the pipeline reveals an additional buried section that leads to their tree. The brothers hurriedly leave town, the Apples' family name is cleared, and the water flow to the spa is restored.

Humdrum frees the Power Ponies, who fear that they will be unable to stop the gang from ravaging Maretropolis in a crime spree. He tells them of a television show that teaches the strength of friendship and puts them through an intensive training course to help them become friends with each other again. When they go up against the gang, though, they are captured just as easily as before. Once they escape this trap, they rewire the power-transferring machine and trick the villains into distrusting each other. The villains, caught off guard by their own infighting, lose their stolen abilities to the Power Ponies and are quickly subdued and arrested. The Power Ponies ask Humdrum about the show that gave him the idea about friendship, and at the tower, he shows them an episode of the animated series My Little Donkey.

In a short side story, the Mane-iac escapes from prison and finds her old lair and hair-dryer superweapon in ruins. Amid the rubble, she unearths a magic mirror that transports her to the human world seen in the Equestria Girls film. She retains her pony form in this world and soon encounters her human counterpart; the two do not recognize each other at first and fight briefly, but they soon realize that they are identical except for the species difference. They reminisce over their past criminal schemes and agree that they can work together in their separate worlds to achieve their evil goals. After Pony Mane-iac returns to her own world, this entire story is revealed to be part of a comic book that Human Rainbow Dash is reading; she is puzzled over the existence of Pony Mane-iac.

• The Flying Reindeer: In this story, all the ponies are reindeer instead. Rainbow Dash's flying skill leads Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to ostracize her. Princess Luna crashes into Rainbow while hauling a cartload of gifts and injures a wing, so she presses a less-than-enthusiastic Rainbow into helping finish the deliveries. Luna urges Rainbow to appreciate the uniqueness of her flying ability.
• The Toy and the Mouse: Rarity receives a gift of an ornate, soldier-shaped nutcracker doll and falls asleep with it next to her Hearth's Warming tree. The doll turns into a real prince at midnight, but when the Mouse King shows up, Rarity becomes disgusted and storms out of the story.
• 'Twas the Night of Hearth's Warming Eve: A poem narrated by Big McIntosh. He settles down to bed on the night before the holiday, but is awakened by a noise that proves to be Applejack and Apple Bloom trying to build a present for him. The sisters ineptly carry the end result across the farmyard and drop it down the chimney, leaving Macintosh barely enough time to extinguish the fireplace in the living room. The present turns out to be a scale model of the farmhouse, which touches him deeply.

The rest of Twilight's friends break through the snowdrifts around the station, having had no word from her. She has missed Pinkie Pie's Hearth's Warming Eve party, so they have brought the party to her.

• Shadowbolts: Rainbow Dash plans to spend time distracting Pinkie Pie so that Cheese Sandwich can plan a party for her. Applejack arrives with news that Queen Chrysalis and her changelings are attacking the Crystal Empire. Rainbow starts off toward Canterlot to rendezvous with the Wonderbolts, but two Shadowbolts intercept her and challenge her to a race. They try to knock her off course, but she uses their own tricks to trap them in a log. Finding that they are actually changelings sent to distract her, Rainbow hurries to Canterlot.
• Pinkie Pie: In Ponyville, Cheese goes to work planning a birthday/anniversary party for Pinkie at Twilight Sparkle's request. He is surprised at the arrival of Pinkie, who was supposed to meet up with Rainbow, and the changelings abduct and replace him as she looks over his party cannon. The duplicate Cheese attacks Pinkie, but the real one warns her of the deception and she uses his cannon to free him and knock the duplicate out. The two team up to drive the changelings back, then get to work on planning Pinkie's party together.
• Shining Armor: In the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadance tells Shining Armor to stay in the castle and keep Flurry Heart safe. He comes across a book about Princess Amore, who created many powerful spells and hid them in the caverns beneath the castle, and goes looking for them. In the caverns, he finds an injured Fluttershy and insists on helping her rather than look for the spells, saying that everypony's life deserves to be protected. The image of Fluttershy is replaced by one of Amore, who had set up this scenario as a test; having passed, Shining gains access to her laboratory and finds a potion with a dragon's image swirling within.
• Twilight Sparkle: In Ponyville, Sweetie Drops tries to get Lyra to safety, but Lyra calls her a terrible friend and says she has always hated her. This Lyra is a changeling impostor; the real Lyra drives her away, and Twilight takes her and Sweetie Drops back to the Castle of Friendship. Twilight's cutie mark summons her to the Cutie Map, which sends her to the top floor and a door that can only be opened by two ponies whose friendship has survived the harshest of tests. Lyra and Sweetie Drops are able to open it, behind which Twilight finds the Armor of Friendship to use in saving Ponyville.
• Wonderbolts: In Canterlot, Princesses Celestia and Luna have summoned Spitfire and Soarin' for a meeting. They are assigned to take the Wonderbolts north and defend the Crystal Empire. Soarin' rounds up the rest of the team but cannot find Rainbow Dash, and Spitfire equips them with a set of glider prototypes that will let them reach the Empire quickly. As soon as they arrive, though, they find themselves severely overmatched.
• Big Spike: In Ponyville, the Mane Six and Spike gather just as a letter from Celestia arrives, warning them that Chrysalis and her forces are coming their way. Shining Armor arrives with the potion he took from Amore's lab; after sampling it, Twilight casts a spell to equip him and the rest of the Mane Six with armor. Spike insists that she needs to cast it on him as well, but she ignores him as the others prepare to fight. They are quickly overwhelmed, and Twilight grants Spike's request. The spell turns him into a giant, and he is able to rout the changelings with ease and save Ponyville.

After filly Twilight Sparkle takes her entrance exam to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, Princess Celestia decides not to mentor her, since she is already showing great magical talent. Instead, she takes on Prince Blueblood as her personal student in order to help him overcome his struggles with schoolwork and socialization. However, he becomes even more arrogant over the years, to the point that Celestia hurriedly sends him to Ponyville to oversee the plans for the Summer Sun Celebration and make some friends. Blueblood takes an unscheduled side trip to Manehattan first; by the time he arrives in Ponyville, Nightmare Moon has already escaped from the moon and is threatening the town. He antagonizes Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity and disrupts Rainbow Dash's efforts to contain Nightmare Moon, allowing her to break loose. When Pinkie Pie tries to defuse the situation with a joke, Blueblood derides her humor, annoying her to the point that she tells Nightmare Moon to be quiet so she can scold him. Nightmare Moon comes to see how disagreeable Blueblood really is and, not wanting to be compared to him, abandons her plan for eternal night and reverts to Princess Luna. The Mane Five befriend her, and she launches both Blueblood and his pet dog Bunny to the moon.

In a short side story, Blueblood quickly grows bored with being alone on the moon and orders Bunny to construct a society for him. Bunny surreptitiously arranges the buildings to spell the word HELP, which Celestia can see from Canterlot. She arrives on the moon and is greatly surprised to find Blueblood "ruling" over crowds built from moon rocks as a self-proclaimed emperor.

Angry at Twilight and Applejack for ruining the festive mood, Pinkie, Spike, and Apple Bloom leave. Twilight and Applejack wander to Sweet Apple Acres, where they see the three enjoying the company of Granny Smith and Big McIntosh, and realize that their insistence on tradition and factual correctness has caused the rift. Both sides apologize to each other, now understanding that ponies can appreciate the same holiday in different ways, and go inside to rejoin the Apples' gathering. As Twilight and Applejack privately admit to each other that they are starting to believe in Windy, snow begins to fall – courtesy of Rainbow Dash.

The Pony of Shadows reveals that Luna and Celestia became Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker in this world, and he intends to bring about the same corruption in the kidnapped princesses and use their power to conquer all worlds. He also recognizes all the Pillars-having previously destroyed his world's Star Swirl-but is confused by the presence of Stygian. While the Pillars fight against the Pony of Shadows' monsters, Stygian is able to rescue the princesses due to an inexplicable ability to command those same creatures. Returning home, the Pillars celebrate their victory, and Star Swirl promises to be more careful in future interdimensional studies. Meanwhile, the Pony of Shadows, having heard Stygian's name prior to his foes' escape, sheds his dark cloak and is revealed to be an alternate Stygian, so long immersed in darkness that he had forgotten his former identity.

Wearing the Elements of Harmony, the Mane Six are in Canterlot to greet a visiting Abyssinian delegation and watch an airshow by Rainbow Dash. A lightning strike during her Sonic Rainboom finale transports them into the past, at the moment when each of them got their cutie marks (see the Season 1 episode "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"). They meet their younger selves and gather in Ponyville, where they discover a sealed portal that can take them back to their own time; however, it can only be opened with the Elements, lost in the time jump. Twilight and Rarity sense their presence in two different directions, and the twelve split up to find them, with three mares and three fillies in each group. As they collect the Elements, the mares tell the fillies about some of their adventures and emphasize the importance of friendship and teamwork. All twelve are able to open the portal by working together, whereupon Princess Celestia arrives and casts a spell to erase everypony's memories of the day in order to avoid any damage to the timeline. The spell wears off as soon as the Mane Six return to the present, allowing them to remember meeting their filly selves and the start of their friendship.