The Mare in the Moon

Twilight Sparkle knows who is Nightmare Moon

**The Mare in the Moon** is the first pilot episode of *LEGO Ninjago & My Little Pony: Masters of Friendship*, and thus the first episode of the entire series. The episode is referred to as **Mare in the Moon**, another title for Nightmare Moon, on Hasbro's viewing guide.

Under Princess Celestia's instructions, Twilight Sparkle goes to Ponyville and Ninjago to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration and make some friends when she meets Kai, a 15 Year Old teenager, who owns a blacksmith shop along with her sister, Nya.

## Plot

The episode starts with Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn who has strong intelligence, walks by Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and Minuette, who invite her to Moon Dancer's party. Twilight says she has to study and runs off.

She enters a library atop an ivory tower and instructs Spike to find a book called *Predictions and Prophecies*. Twilight realizes that Nightmare Moon will return on the day of the Summer Sun Celebration, which is the day after tomorrow. She sends a letter to Princess Celestia to alert her. Celestia's reply to Twilight says that she trusts Twilight completely, but she has to stop reading "those dusty old books".

Spike continues to read Celestia's letter on the way to Ponyville. Celestia tells Twilight that there's more to life than studying, and tasks her with supervising the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville. The letter ends with one other task for her: make some friends.

At first, she saw the Four Weapons Blacksmith, and ran towards it, as Celestia arranges the Weapons for the Royal Guards for the Summer Sun Celebration. Four Weapons Blacksmith, Kai and his sister Nya are hard at work crafting weapons when Sensei Wu comes by. The old man explains that he knew Kai and Nya's father, but Kai then drives him off after an exchange of insults.

Moments later, a dark cloud appears over Ignacia, which signals that the arrival of the Skulkin. Atop the Skull Truck, Nuckal begs to lead the attack, claiming that he's "dying to go down there"—beside him, his fellow General Kruncha irritably reminds him that they're already dead. Nevertheless, the Skulkin commander, Samukai, orders his troops to attack, and the Skull Truck races towards the blacksmith shop, surrounded by skeletal motorcycles.

Seeing the approaching skeletons, Nya wonders what's going on, but Kai simply tells her to stay in the shop while he confronts the invaders. Donning armor and taking up a sword, he challenges the Skulkin forces, doing surprisingly well despite the undead warriors' physical and numerical advantages. Wielding a bamboo staff, Nya joins in—despite Kai's warnings—and the two of them manage to fend off the Skulkin soldiers. Unnoticed, Kruncha and Nuckal sneak into the store, searching for something. After a scuffle with each other, the Generals find what they seek on the back of the shop's sign—a large piece of parchment.

With the soldiers defeated, Kai challenges Samukai himself, but the four-armed skeleton quickly overwhelms him. Kai is eventually knocked down and disarmed, but Princess Celestia and Sensei Wu intervene before Samukai can deliver the finishing blow, knocking the Skulkin General around with a strange golden tornado of energy. After exchanging a few taunts, Samukai throws his daggers at a nearby water tower, forcing Sensei Wu to save Kai before the structure collapses. Retreating to the Skull Truck with his fellow Generals, Samukai tells Kruncha to "take the girl!" In response, Kruncha fires the truck's bone hand, snatching Nya as the skeletons retreat to the Underworld.

Kai thanks Sensei Wu and Princess Celestia for saving him, but demands to know what just happened. Sensei Wu explains that the Skulkin were acting on the orders of Lord Garmadon and Nightmare Moon, the evil older brother of Sensei Wu himself and the evil younger sister of Princess Celestia herself. They have been battling for most of their lives, with Garmadon constantly seeking a means of escaping his prison in the Underworld. Celestia tells Kai and Twilight Sparkle describe two royal sisters who ruled over the magical land of Equestria. The elder sister used her powers to raise the sun, while the younger sister brought out the moon at night. The younger sister became resentful because the ponies of Equestria relished daytime but slept at night. One night, she refused to lower the moon. She transformed into Nightmare Moon, a "wicked mare of darkness," and vowed to shroud Equestria in eternal night. Her sister used the Elements of Harmony to banish her to the moon, and took on responsibility for both sun and moon and harmony has been maintained in Equestria ever since. Wu then tells Kai that he sensed the "Fire" within him, while Celestia tells Twilight to find the magic by making new friends, which will allow Kai to save Nya—but first, he must train to become a Ninja. Confused but determined to save his sister, Kai agrees. Twilight Sparkle, Kai, Princess Celestia and Sensei Wu went to the Monastery of Spinjitzu.

Sensei Wu and Princess Celestia immediately put Kai and Twilight Sparkle through the training course in the courtyard. After a few tries, Kai successfully completes the course, prompting Master Wu to tell him that his final test will be tomorrow. Satisfied with his progress, Twilight Sparkle brings Kai to Ponyville. Once they reach Ponyville, Twilight, Kai and Spike visit Sweet Apple Acres to check on the catering for the Summer Sun Celebration first. Applejack cordially greets Twilight, and members of her family offer her food samples. Twilight wants to leave, but she grudgingly accepts the family's invitation to stay for brunch.

## Major Events

* Twilight Sparkle knows about the legend about the origins of Ninjago and Equestria, and the battle between brothers and sisters.
* Twilight Sparkle and Spike went to Ninjago to make new friends, and then headed to Ponyville, in preparation for the Summer Sun Celebration.
* Twilight Sparkle saw Kai undergoing his training to become the Ninja.
* Twilight Sparkle, Spike and Kai meet Applejack for the first time.

## Debuts

* Twilight Sparkle
* Spike
* Kai
* Nya
* Sensei Wu
* Princess Celestia
* Kruncha
* Nuckal
* Samukai
* Skulkin Generals
* Lord Garmadon (flashback)
* Nightmare Moon (flashback)
* Applejack
* Apple Bloom
* Big Mcltosh
* Granny Smith
* Goldie Delicious

## Characters

### The Mane Six

* Twilight Sparkle
* Applejack

### Ninja

* Kai
* Nya
* Sensei Wu

### Supporting Characters

* Spike
* The Apple Family
* Twinkleshine
* Lemon Hearts
* Minunette
* Moon Dancer (mentioned)

### Villains

* Nightmare Moon
* Lord Garmadon
* The Skulkin Army

## Cast

* Applejack - Ashleigh Ball
* Garmadon - Mark Oliver
* Kai - Vincent Tong
* Kruncha - Brian Drummond
* Nuckal - Brian Drummond
* Nya - Kelly Metzger
* Pinkie Pie - Andrea Libman
* Princess Celestia - Nicole Oliver
* Samukai - Michael Kopsa
* Spike - Cathy Weseluck
* Wu - Paul Dobson
* Twilight Sparkle - Tara Strong
* Twinkleshine - Tabitha St. Germain

## Trivia

* Parts of this episode—along with parts of "The Elements of Harmony" and "Queen of Shadows"—appeared in the Season 2 episode, "It’s About Time!."
* In Sensei Wu's story, the First Spinjitzu Master's hair is different than its appearance in the episode "Dragonshy," and a few other flashback episodes. The designs of the young Garmadon and Wu are also different.
* Vincent Tong released an image of the first page of this episode's script on Twitter on January 14, 2016 to celebrate the five year anniversary of Ninjago.
* The plot of this episode came from the first scene of "Friendship is Magic - Part 1".
* The episode is based on Ninjago Pilot episode, "Way of the Ninja".
* Some versions of the episode place it and "The Elements of Harmony" together as a single episode, due to the combined time length being 20 minutes, the normal length of an episode.
* This is the only two-part season (series) premiere written by developer Lauren Faust.
* First time in the series where Meghan McCarthy isn't credited as a writer for a two-part season (series) premiere.
* This episode marks Big McIntosh's first (non-speaking cameo) appearance.
* This is the first episode a villain (Nightmare Moon, in this case) appears.
* Lastly, this is the first episode without a song.
* This is the first of only a handful of episodes to show text. The words "Once upon a time..." are clearly written inside the book.

## Errors

* When Sensei Wu corrects Kai when he failed to say "Spinjitzu," his staff shortens in length.
* As Twilight runs up towards the Canterlot library, her animation snaps from moving diagonally on the screen to moving vertically, with no intermediate turning animation.
* The first book Twilight pulls out of the bookshelf in the library is upside down.
* At brunch with the Apple Family, Applejack shoves an apple into Twilight's mouth it is green. When Twilight spits the fragments of apple out, they're red.