The Mask of Deception - Part II

Because Friendship always wins.

**The Mask of Deception - Part II** is the second episode of The Overlord Sons and the one hundred sixteenth overall episode of *LEGO Ninjago & My Little Pony: Masters of Friendship*, being the second episode to take place after *LEGO Ninjago & My Little Pony: The Movie*. This episode is based on the second half of LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu episode, *The Mask of Deception*, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode, *School Daze - Part 2*.

In this second part, Twilight Sparkle, Lloyd, and their students try to save the School of Friendship and the Academy of Spinjitzu from being shut down by the Equestria Educational Association.

## Plot

### Buck the rules

Following the closure and discrediting of her School of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle falls into a depression and refuses to get out of bed. After upsetting her friends and making enemies out of Equestria's allies, she feels like a failure as the Princess of Friendship. Her friends enter to try and cheer her up, but Twilight says she needs time to be alone and think.

Outside the closed-down school, Starlight Glimmer appears before Twilight, but instead of trying to cheer her up, she tells Twilight what she did wrong. Starlight tells Twilight she gave up too easily and should stand up for what she believes in, regardless of what anyone says. Twilight is unsure about going against Chancellor Neighsay and the E.E.A.'s rules, but Starlight says, as the Princess of Friendship, she should write her own rules.

Taking Starlight's words to heart, Twilight meets with the rest of her friends in the castle throne room and declares she is reopening the school. After the lack of success in their lessons, the ponies are nervous about trying again, but Twilight allows them to teach their own way this time instead of the E.E.A's way. While Twilight deals with the school's discrediting, her friends go to get their students back.

At Yakyakistan, the Dragon Lands, the Changeling Kingdom, Mount Aris, and Griffonstone, the Mane Six attempt to make peace with the creature representatives that Neighsay offended in the previous episode and ask to enroll Yona, Smolder, Ocellus, Silverstream, and Gallus at the school again. Unfortunately...

> "*...Our student is gone!*"
> ― Prince Rutherford, Ember, Thorax, Seaspray, and Grampa Gruff
>
>

### Where did the students go?

With the students missing, the leaders of the different races of Equestria gather at Canterlot Castle. According to Seaspray, the students left notes saying they didn't want to say goodbye after the school was closed and ran away to stay together. Believing someone helped them accomplished this, the leaders all start accusing each other of hiding the students. Princess Celestia tells Twilight to find the students quickly before war breaks out between all the races.

Back at Sugarcube Corner, the Mane Six, Starlight, and Spike try to figure out where the students have gone. Sandbar enters to buy a large quantity of cupcakes from Pinkie Pie. Upon realizing the ponies are looking for his friends, he immediately gets nervous. Applejack and Rarity recall Sandbar picking up a large amount of apples and pillows earlier that day and deduce they'll find the other students if they follow him.

### Hiding out at the castle

Gallus, Smolder, Ocellus, Yona, and Silverstream hide from their students and leaders at the Castle of the Two Sisters. When Sandbar returns with the supplies he picked up in Ponyville, the six friends eat cupcakes together and have a pillow fight. However, their food draws the attention of a small porcupine creature called a puckwudgie.

Ocellus transforms into a puckwudgie herself to try and befriend it, but the creature turns feral and calls other puckwudgies to its side. When Yona attacks them, they shoot their quills at the six friends, forcing them to take cover. Before the puckwudgies can attack again, the six friends are rescued by the Mane Six, who round up the little creatures and send them flying with Pinkie's party cannon.

The six students are impressed by their teachers' skills, and the Mane Six are relieved to see their students unharmed. Now that they have been found, Ocellus fears their teachers are going to send them back home, but Twilight has another idea. Impressed that the students have already learned about friendship outside of their school lessons, Twilight asks them to return to the School of Friendship. The students agree under the assurance that their lessons won't be as boring as last time.

### Back in session

The Mane Six and their students return to the school in time for the arrival of Princess Celestia and the race leaders. The students decide to stay at the school, much to the surprise of their leaders, and Twilight uses her magic to break Chancellor Neighsay's seal on the doors. When Neighsay appears to investigate the broken seal, Twilight and her friends tell him to step aside so they can resume classes. Neighsay angrily refuses to allow the school to be reopened, insisting that its closing was for the greater good.

Twilight declares that even though the School of Friendship is not E.E.A.-accredited, it is an independent institution with its own set of rules that do not need the E.E.A.'s approval. Neighsay insists that changing the rules for such a diverse group of students will not work, but Celestia says the same thing was once thought about Earth ponies, unicorns, and Pegasi. With the belief that Twilight's school could one day destroy Equestria, Neighsay leaves in a rage.

With the School of Friendship officially reopened, Twilight and her friends sing the song Friendship Always Wins, ending with a group shot of the Mane Six and their students. In the end, Ember, Rutherford, and the other leaders allow the students to remain at the school. Grampa Gruff refuses at first, but after enough of Gallus' begging, he relents. As Celestia and the other leaders leave, Twilight and her friends head inside the school to begin their lessons.

Hutchins takes the Ninja on a tour of the palace after they agree to protect the Royal Family. They meet the family who greet them in a kind manner before Harumi herself greets them, stating she was fans of all of them, even changing Nya's cynical attitude to a happy one. They visit the royal buffet and Hutchins states that they have access to eat anything like assorted fruits, assorted vegetables, scones and cake. Jay then states that Cole "gave up sweets" due to the fact that Master Wu is gone. Proceeding on the tour, Hutchins tells the Ninja there are many secret passages in the palace that only the Royal Family know. After hearing this, Kai starts pulling books off the shelves, trying to find one of the passages, but only succeeding in making a mess. The Ninja are now lead into the main room where the Oni Mask of Deception is being held. Hutchins starts to explain about the mask, but while he is, Lloyd sneaks off to a room to find Harumi doing her makeup. Harumi notices Lloyd through her mirror and she quickly hides her face. Lloyd backs away awkwardly and rejoins the group.

During the night, all the Ninja are on guard. Kai and Nya are outside the castle when they notice Hutchins suspiciously walking away from the palace. He then notices them and walks back inside. Jay, Cole, and Zane are in the royal buffet room. Jay is trying to convince Cole to eat some cake but Cole refuses. Cole then proceeds to tell Zane what a "party pooper" is. Meanwhile, Lloyd looks at the Mask of Deception, but after calling out for Harumi, he notices she is missing after checking her room.

## Cast

* Andrea Thomson - Tabitha St. Germain
* Applejack - Ashleigh Ball
* Caralisa Todd - Dewyn Dalton
* Cole - Kirby Morrow
* Damien Crystalrock - Cole Howard
* Ed Walker - Colin Murdock
* Edna Walker - Marcy Goldberg
* Ember - Ali Miner
* Emperor of Ninjago - Richard Newman
* Empress of Ninjago - Ellen Kennedy
* Felix Flame - Giles Panton
* Fenwick - Paul Dobson
* Gallus - Gavin Langelo
* Grandpa Gruff - Richard Ian Cox
* Harumi - Britt McKillip
* Hutchins - Alan Marriott
* Jay - Michael Adamthwaite
* Kai - Vincent Tong
* Kimberly Walker - Shannon Chan-Kent
* Lil' Nelson - David Reynolds
* Lloyd Garmadon - Sam Vincent
* May Robson - Kelly Sheridan
* Michelle Norton - Mariee Devereux
* Neighsay - Maurice LaMarche
* Nya - Kelly Metzger
* Ocellus - Dewyn Dalton
* Pinkie Pie - Andrea Libman (Shannon Chan-Kent as her singing voice)
* Prince Rutherford - Garry Chalk
* Princess Celestia - Nicole Oliver
* Rainbow Dash - Ashleigh Ball
* Rarity - Tabitha St. Germain (Kazumi Evans as her singing voice)
* Sandbar - Vincent Tong
* Seaspray - Christopher Graze
* Selma - Shirley Millner
* Silverstream - Lauren Jackson
* Smolder - Shannon Chan-Kent
* Spike - Cathy Weseluck
* Starlight Glimmer - Kelly Sheridan
* Thorax - Kyle Rideout
* Twilight Sparkle - Tara Strong (Rebecca Shoichet as her singing voice)
* Yona - Katrina Salisbury
* Zachary Nison - Gavin Langelo
* Zane - Brent Miller

## Transcript

* The Mask of Deception - Part II (Transcript)

## Locations Visited

* Ninjago
	+ Ninjago City
		- Royal Palace
		- School of Spinjitzu
* Equestria
	+ Ponyville
		- Castle of Friendship
		- School of Friendship
	+ Canterlot

## Differences between this episode, a Ninjago episode "The Mask of Deception" and MLP episode, "School Daze - Part 2"

* The Royal Family and the Ninja helped Lloyd to locate the lost students.
* The Ninja apologize to Michelle about the School of Spinjitzu and the lost students.
* Michelle breaks the contract for Ninjago Education Authority (N.E.A) divestment with the Equestria Educational Association (E.E.A)

## Trivia

* This is the final episode to have "part" in the title.
* According to songwriter Nicole Dubuc, Friendship Always Wins was "vaguely" inspired by a song from the 2003 mockumentary, A Mighty Wind.
* Animatics of the episode were broadcast during Discovery Family's Pony Palooza marathon from March 17-24, 2018.
* This is Michelle Norton's last appearance until "The Last Crusade", as she was talking to the mayor.
* The Ninjago Education Authority (N.E.A.) is divested against the Equestria Educational Association (E.E.A.) in this episode, allowing Twilight and Lloyd become the independent institutions outside EEA's purview.
* Lloyd was seen peeking in on Princess Harumi doing make-up, which is hypocritical of him given the situation in "Only One Can Remain," where Kai and Jay were spying on Skylor and Lloyd called it an invasion of privacy.
* List of the things Lloyd have cheered up but failed:
	+ Kai: Painting
	+ Jay: Playing *Lava Zombies*
	+ Cole: Eating a chocolate muffin
	+ Zane: Reading
	+ Nya: Meditation
	+ Harumi: Her fashion looks
* Lloyd narrates the episode title in this episode. This episode marks a cycle of two characters narrating the episode title, until the season finale.
* This is the only episode to use the Season 7 intro, except it uses the movie faces on their Fusion Armor.

## Errors

* When the leaders arrive at the School of Friendship, Spike is absent despite being seen between Applejack and Rarity in one of the previous shots.
* In one scene, Yona's braids are missing.
* In one shot when fighting against the puckwudgies, Rainbow Dash's right hind leg very briefly appears detached from her body.