Lesson Zero

Title card.

**Lesson Zero** is the first episode of The Friendship Continues and the nineteenth overall episode of *LEGO Ninjago & My Little Pony: Masters of Friendship*. It is based on LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu episode, *Darkness Shall Rise*, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode of the same name.

## Synopsis

In this episode, Twilight realizes that she has not written her weekly letter on friendship to Princess Celestia. She struggles to find a friendship problem and decides that her only option is to create a friendship problem herself. Just as the rebuilding effort in Ninjago begins, the four ninjas come to realize that evil has started to resurface with Lord Garmadon forging the ninjas' lost Golden Weapons into a Mega Weapon with unspeakable powers.

### Changes in magic

Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Princess Celestia have new colors for their magical horn glow in this episode. Twilight's magic glow color has changed from purple to light raspberry, Rarity's from blue to vivid blue, and Princess Celestia's from light blue to gold. The new glow colors more closely match the colors of the characters' cutie marks, instead of using their eye color, as has been done in previous episodes.

## Summary

### Checklist: Check!

The episode starts off with Twilight and Spike walking through Ponyville, collecting items on a checklist for a picnic. Twilight goes to pick up her order of cupcakes and finds out that Mrs. Cake added one extra cupcake whose icing was touching another cupcake's icing. Worried that her friends might get jealous of whoever gets the cupcake with the "extra" icing, Twilight hastily tries to "fix" the icing problem, leaving only a tiny amount of icing on each cupcake. Spike is left covered in frosting, which he licks off. Afterwards, they head home to Golden Oak Library, with their checklist complete. Spike points out that Twilight has not written a letter to Princess Celestia this week, causing the unicorn to panic.

> "*Bad? BAD? Of course it's bad! I'm supposed to send Princess Celestia a letter every week, telling her about a lesson I've learned about friendship! Not every other week, not every 10 days, every single week!*"
> ― Twilight Sparkle
>
>

Twilight checks her calendar and finds out it has been exactly one week since her last letter to the Princess, and is terrified of the possibility of being tardy. In a state of extreme anxiety, Twilight speculates that the Princess could punish her with an exam to prove she has been taking her studies seriously, which Twilight fears she would fail, prompting the Princess to send her back to Magic Kindergarten. Twilight envisions herself sitting in a classroom surrounded by mocking fillies, but the thought is 'popped' by Spike as he reasons that the Princess would never allow such a thing to happen. Ignoring her assistant's words of wisdom, Twilight becomes determined to solve a friendship problem and have a letter written to Princess Celestia before sundown. She first drills Spike on his problems, but when he is revealed to have none, Twilight goes out to find a friend in need. An exasperated Spike groans and states, "This won't end well."

### Off to find a problem

While looking around Ponyville, Twilight overhears Rarity crying at her shop, having lost some diamond ribbon she requires for a dress. Before Twilight can help her, however, Rarity finds the ribbon she needed, much to Twilight's disappointment. While searching for her other friends, Twilight finds Rainbow Dash, destroying an old barn on Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight, thinking that Rainbow Dash and Applejack are fighting with each other, stops Rainbow Dash. However, Rainbow Dash informs Twilight that Applejack asked her to destroy the old barn to make room for a new one, which Applejack confirms before Dash finishes off the demolition by diving into the barn and creating a colorful mushroom cloud explosion.

Still determined to find a problem, Twilight decides to visit Fluttershy. However, when arriving at her cottage, Twilight sees Fluttershy fighting a bear and decides to back off, exclaiming, "Of all the days she had to stop being such a scaredy-pony, she had to pick today?!" As Twilight leaves in despair, it is revealed that Fluttershy was actually aiding the bear with a tense shoulder and giving it a massage.

### Crazy picnic

Twilight, growing more worried and rapidly becoming unhinged, starts to tearfully talk to her own reflection in a puddle, adopting two separate tones, one terrified that she will not make the deadline, the other insisting that it is still possible to solve a problem in time. She starts hallucinating small filly ponies laughing at her before Spike intervenes, revealing that the "laughing ponies" are just some fillies innocently playing jump rope nearby. Spike then reminds Twilight about the picnic and she heads off to meet up with her friends.

A very agitated and slightly crazed Twilight arrives at the picnic and explains to her friends that she needs them to help her find a lesson about friendship to write about to Princess Celestia. The other five ponies brush off her issue as nothing, laughing and claiming Twilight has nothing to worry about, and she angrily runs away to continue her search for a problem.

### Clock, is, ticking!

> "*If I can't find a friendship problem... I'll make a friendship problem!*"
> ― Twilight Sparkle
>
>

With the sun about to set, Twilight, now sporting a disheveled mane and an insane-looking grin, decides the only option left is to *create* a problem so she can solve it. She spots the Cutie Mark Crusaders playing with a ball, which begins growing until it pops with Twilight inside it, a visual gag added by Raven M. Molisee. Twilight approaches the Crusaders to try and get them to take her old toy, Smarty Pants, in the hopes that the fillies will argue over who gets to play with it first. When they instead react negatively to the doll, she casts a "want it, need it" spell on it, making the Crusaders want the toy so badly they resort to physical blows. She tries to break up the fight, but is unable to. She asks Big McIntosh, who is passing by, to get the doll. However, upon easily retrieving it, he too falls under the spell and runs away with the doll. Eventually, nearly all of Ponyville falls for the spell and begins to fight over the doll. The sun finally sets as Princess Celestia intervenes to undo her student's spell, returning all of the ponies to normal. She sternly instructs Twilight to meet her at the library before leaving. Twilight tearfully bids farewell to her friends, who realize they may never see her again.

### Apology to the Princess

Once in the library, Twilight explains her actions to Princess Celestia while Spike overhears. Princess Celestia shows her immense faith in her student, and says that she does not require a letter every week. Twilight's friends barge in and plead for the Princess to be merciful to her student: they admit that they were wrong for denying Twilight's help when she needed it most, and they apologize. In lieu of a punishment for Twilight, Princess Celestia requests that all of Twilight's friends write her letters about friendship from now on, but only when they actually find one. Before she leaves, she tells Twilight that Spike made her aware of Twilight's fears getting the best of her, and after she leaves, Twilight gives Spike a loving hug.

> "*From this day forth, I would like you all to report to me your findings on the magic of friendship, when, and only when, you happen to discover them.* "
> ― Princess Celestia
>
>

The episode ends with all the ponies, as well as Spike, offering a collaborative report, showing that they learned about taking a friend's worries seriously, even if it does not seem so, and not letting problems go out of proportion in order to fix them.

The Falcon flies through the air, watching the ninja help rebuild Ninjago City when Sensei Wu and Nya ride up telling them they found a new home. Meanwhile, Skales is attempting to convince the Serpentine to let him be their leader, when Lord Garmadon appears and tells them they should follow him. After reconstructing the destroyed *Destiny's Bounty*, creating the *Black Bounty*, and threatening the Serpentine should they not follow him, they agree. However, instead of flying the *Bounty* to Ninjago City, Garmadon flies in the opposite direction to the Golden Peaks, to unlock the full potential of the Four Golden Weapons. He tells the Serpentine that he doesn't plan to destroy Lloyd, but rather, the ninja and Wu so that Lloyd won't reach his True Potential.

Meanwhile, the ninja are house-hunting. The only place they can afford turns out to be a one-bedroom, one half bath apartment without lighting. Jay and Kai argue that they need a better place to train Lloyd, and the ninja agree to buy an expensive hero suite that's out of their price range. To make enough money for rent, they each search for jobs. Jay takes up a job delivering pizzas, Cole becomes a security guard at the bank, Zane becomes a chef at a restaurant, and Kai works as a party entertainer. However, the jobs end up being so difficult that when they return home, they're too tired to train Lloyd and they are nowhere close to making rent.

The Serpentine generals are not about to let Garmadon lead the Serpentine, and they brainstorm on a diabolical plan to convince the Serpentine to follow them. While delivering a pizza to them, Jay overhears their plan but is captured by Acidicus before he can alert the other ninja.

The first step of the plan is for the generals, excluding Skales, to rob the bank. Since Cole was too busy napping, he is unable to stop the generals before they get away, but he overhears them saying they're heading for the Ninjago Metro. Kai and Zane are instantly alerted but are fired when they leave or are distracted from their jobs. After Cole is fired for sleeping on the job, the three ninja head off to stop the Serpentine. They head to the subway and manage to infiltrate the Serpentine's train and fight the Serpentine, but they have difficulties without their weapons. The Serpentine reveal their plan wasn't to steal the money, it was to distract the Ninja so Skales could kidnap Lloyd.

In the apartment, Lloyd is alone playing a video game when Skales breaks in. Although Lloyd attempts to get out, the door is locked and he can't unlock it. Just before Skales could get Lloyd, they both hear Sensei Wu and Nya on the opposite side of the door.

Back on the subway, Zane shows the others the makeshift weapons they can use to fight the generals off. The ninja manage to corner them, but before they can defeat them, Cole notices the train is heading straight for Jay. They find that the train is automatically controlled and pull the break before it can hit Jay, which gives the Serpentine time to get away.

The ninja head back to the apartment to find it empty. They instantly regret taking the jobs and agree that losing Lloyd was their greatest loss. However, Sensei Wu and Nya appear in the doorway with Lloyd. The ninja realize they didn't need all of the fancy stuff and only need each other. Upon realizing this, they move to the crowded apartment they were first shown so they won't be distracted and can train Lloyd. When Kai asks what happened to Skales, Sensei Wu reveals that he's been thrown in jail. In prison, Skales swears to return.

On the Golden Peaks, Garmadon successfully manages to merge the Four Golden Weapons into the Mega Weapon. Although it appears to be painful, he tells the Serpentine he's never felt more powerful, stating he will destroy the ninja once and for all. Garmadon releases an evil laugh that is show to ring throughout Ninjago. Meditating, Sensei Wu says that he fears "there is a great disturbance in the force."

## Cast

* Acidicus - Paul Dobson
* Applejack - Ashleigh Ball
* Apple Bloom - Michelle Creber
* Bank Boss - John Novak
* Big McIntosh - Peter New
* Bon Bon - Tabitha St. Germain
* Child - Paul Dobson
* Chokun - Ian James Corlett
* Cole - Kirby Morrow
* Cook - Unknown
* Customer - Brent Miller
* Dizzy Twister - Cathy Weseluck
* Fangtom - Mackenzie Gray
* Fluttershy - Andrea Libman
* Garmadon - Mark Oliver
* Jay - Michael Adamthwaite
* Kai - Vincent Tong
* Lasha - Vincent Tong
* Lloyd - Jillian Michaels
* Masked Thug - Kirby Morrow
* Mayor Mare - Cathy Weseluck
* Mrs. Cake - Tabitha St. Germain
* Nya - Kelly Metzger
* Passerby - Brent Miller
* Patty Keys - Cathy Weseluck
* Pinkie Pie - Andrea Libman
* Postman - Michael Adamthwaite
* Princess Celestia - Nicole Oliver
* Rainbow Dash - Ashleigh Ball
* Rarity - Tabitha St. Germain
* Scootaloo - Madeleine Peters
* Security System - Paul Dobson
* Skales - Ian James Corlett
* Skalidor - John Novak
* Spike - Cathy Weseluck
* Subway Controller #1 - Vincent Tong
* Subway Controller #2 - Michael Adamthwaite
* Sweetie Belle - Claire Corlette
* Twilight Sparkle - Tara Strong
* Unrelenting Mother - Jillian Michaels
* Woman - Cathy Wesluck
* Wu - Paul Dobson
* Zane - Brent Miller

## Trivia

* This is the first episode to use young Lloyd in the intro.
* Sensei Wu's line "I fear there is a great disturbance in the force" at the end of the episode is a reference to the *Star Wars* movies.
* Jay was the only one of the four ninja to not wear shoulder pads or his hood in this episode.
* Jay's boss looks like Bolobo.
* A segment of the song "Ninja-Go!" was played while the ninja were doing their jobs.
	+ The track "Day Jobs" was originally composed for this montage but was mostly cut from the episode.
* This episode, "Firstbourne," and "The Beginning of the End: The Darkness Comes" are the only season premieres with "Previously on Masters of Friendship."
	+ "Firstbourne" recapitulates all the events of Season 8, where the recap here summarizes the previous episode's events.
* Kai wears his ZX mask without the armor crown. This version would later physically appear in 70739 Airjitzu Kai Flyer and 891501 Kai.

## Errors

* Zane says, "Venom can't affect me", despite it affecting him in "The Best Night Ever."
* When Jay started screaming right before he was almost hit by the train, his mouth wasn't open.
* Garmadon has both Shurikens of Ice despite only being given one of them.