Sushi Pack - No Clowning Around

It's been a while, huh?  I never really meant to stop posting Sushi Pack recaps, though I also never meant to post every single episode, either.  Much as I love the show, there are episodes that I just didn't feel warranted a full write up.  Granted, my feelings have changed by now, in both directions (i.e. some of the shows I wrote up probably didn't deserve it), but this is one I always meant to get to.

No Clowning Around - "There are no small jobs, just small sushi."
It's a typical day in Wharf City: the sun is shining, kids are having fun playing in the park, and lovers are having their romantic interludes interrupted by the sudden arrival of clouds.  No, wait, this isn't a typical onset of clouds, it's the doing of Sir Darkly, the personification of misery.  His very presence causes flowers to wilt, seesaws to break, and makes everyone in the vicinity burst into tears, much to his deadpan delight.
Over at The Green Donut, the Sushi Pack are testing out their new periscope viewer and manage to get it working, thanks to teamwork!  Thanks to the viewer, they catch sight of Sir Darkly, and as this is his first episode, Maguro points out some of his villainous quality, with Tako adding the most important one three times.  They're also aware of his ultimate goal: collecting enough tears of sorrow to seed the clouds, making misery literally rain down on the entire world.  While the Pack contemplates this, Ben calls for them to see the weather report.  Sophia Tucker is on location to report on the strange storm that appears to be moving in, right in the middle of the mayor's annual picnic!  And even this perky reporter is no match for Sir Darkly's gloom.

Seeing Sir Darkly on screen, Ben flashes back to the last time that guy was in town, and how he was carried off by the north wind, vowing revenge on the Sushi Pack.  Though we are not privy to what exactly happened that time (did the Sushi Pack cause the wind?  Was it serendipity?), we get a clue from Ben, who warns the Pack that they won't be able to sneak up on Sir Darkly the way they did last time.  And having jumped into their action pose to do this, he abruptly falls over when they stop to come up with a plan.  Ikura suggests a plan that's all him, but Maguro reminds him that they're a team, and Ben chimes in about teamwork, as he is wont to do.  Tako surmises they'll need a disguise, and luckily, Kani has just the thing.
Down in the basement, she unveils her latest creation: B.O.B. (Being Of Bamboo), a giant robot (giant to them, anyway) that they all operate.  Though impressed, Maguro has a feeling B.O.B. won't exactly blend in, but Kani already has the answer.  With her handy remote, she activates B.O.B.'s disguise mode, turning him into a clown, the perfect camouflage for a party.  Now that that's out of the way, it's time to learn how B.O.B. actually works.  Kani dons her science gear (so cute!) to explain that each member of the Pack controls a different part of B.O.B.: Wasabi controls the right hand, Ikura has the left foot (he isn't impressed), Maguro takes the right foot, Tako gets the left foot, and Kani forms the head!  She instructs everyone to strap in and wait for the command.  With everyone in place, it's time for action!  Unfortunately, no one but Kani takes the whole thing seriously, with Ikura and Wasabi being overenthusiastic and Maguro and Tako not feeling terribly needed, and thus B.O.B. wanders about haphazardly.

Sir Darkly is able to breeze right in to the mayor's picnic, thanks to his cloud of sadness, and continues collecting tears.  The inconsolable security guards also let B.O.B. right in, and so Kani again tries to get the rest of the Pack to follow her instructions, but to no avail.  B.O.B. continues his willy-nilly gambol, catching the attention of Sir Darkly.  Noticing no tears coming from B.O.B.'s eyes, he goes in to investigate.  Kani, as B.O.B.'s voice, introduces the robot as "Bob the Party Clown," then instructs Wasabi and Ikura to wave hello. They overdo it, whacking B.O.B.'s head, so Kani to tell them both to knock it off.  Wasabi gets offended, making his flame shoot up into the cooling chamber, melting the ice.  This causes water to drip on Ikura's head, so he plugs the hole up with a sticky orange ball, which just fills up with water and dumps itself all over him.
Wet and sticky, Ikura quits being the left hand and tries to take Wasabi with him, despite Kani's protests.  This causes B.O.B. to become even more unbalanced than he was before, and he ends up smashing into the cake and collapsing.  Unable to get B.O.B. to lift up, Kani proclaims herself a failure.  Tako quickly points out that it was the rest of them, not her, that failed, and even Ikura begrudgingly admits that teamwork means working together.  Which is all well and good, but what can they do now?
To the rest of the party guests, it appears that Bob the Party Clown is dead, and Sir Darkly seizes upon this opportunity to have everyone shed a tear for the departed clown.  While he collects tears, the Sushi Pack decides it's never too late, and work together to get B.O.B. back on his feet.  With their resolve to act as a team renewed, the others follow Kani's instructions to the letter, and manage to hit Sir Darkly with some slapstick, making the guests laugh.  The laughter starts breaking up Sir Darkly's clouds, and sends the specter himself to the sky, as he and the clouds disappear in a twinkling.  Kani congratulates everyone on a job well done and lesson well learned, and B.O.B. does a little dance.

I'll admit it, my main reason for wanting to do this one was Kani in her scientist get-up.  I love it!
Watching this ep again, I wonder if Sir Darkly's earlier appearance in Wharf City was supposed to be an actual episode, or it was never written on purpose.  You know, kind of a tongue-in-cheek reference to how most superheroes have a Rogue's Gallery.  In fact, it might have been an interesting concept for there to be no recurring villains on the show, but each new one treated as if they had shown up before.  With the only exceptions being Titanium Chef and the Legion of Low Tide, obviously.  I'm glad that they didn't go in that direction, though, since then we wouldn't have gotten the next episode I'll be covering: Yam Yakkers.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Episode 28

The Return of Harmony, Part Two
Picking up where the last episode left off, Discord laughs himself silly over how easily the ponies were defeated, which gets Pinkie Pie all up in his face.  Seeing how laughter sets her off, Fluttershy mocks Pinkie Pie, while Applejack gets on Rarity's case.  Twilight still can't figure out what's going on, and accuses Discord of not playing fair.  Discord points out it's illogical to expect a being of chaos to play by the rules, but Twilight continues to rail against him for taking away the labyrinth before they could find the Elements of Harmony.  So Discord takes her back to when he gave her the original clue, and tells her that at no point in time did he ever mention a maze.  He blinks off to wreak havoc elsewhere, leaving behind only more chocolate rain.
Twilight tries to think of what Discord meant by "back where you began," but her friends going at each other in the background is not exactly conducive to critical thinking.  With chocolate milk trickling down her back, she just longs for home.  Which, she realizes, is the answer!  She leads the others on a charge for Ponyville, only to get trampled by the giraffe-bunnies.  "Good boy, Angel," Fluttershy coos.  Suddenly, day becomes night, the roads become soapy and slick, and night is once again day.  All the work of Discord, of course, who arrives to tell Twilight of his intention to make Ponyville his homebase, then blinks out again.

At long last (or maybe not, who can tell?), Twilight and the others make it to the library.  Twilight begs her friends to please just go inside, and they all do, turning from desaturated versions of themselves to completely grey as they go in.  Rarity refuses to go in without her "gem," now named Tom, certain that the second she leaves him alone, Twilight will sic her "minion" (i.e. Spike) on him.  So Twilight takes it upon herself to drag Tom into the library, which Spike just finished cleaning.  He gets a rude awaking via Fluttershy, and is completely confused by everyone's behavior and lack of color.  Twilight has no time to explain, though, and sets to work finding "The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide."  Or tries to, but is hampered by Fluttershy.  But Spike knows the book's exact location, though the moment he pulls it out, Fluttershy steals it from him and instigates a game of Keep Away.
Her efforts hindered, Twilight's last nerve snaps, and she pounces on anypony who gets near, until finally she gets her hooves on the book.  With Spike standing guard, she flips through the pages, only to find the Elements of Harmony hidden inside!  Twilight crows happily, but her joy is short lived, as the others are incredible blase about this turn of events.  Not quite realizing what this means, Twilight places each Element on the proper pony and calls for them to go defeat Discord.  Spike points out Rainbow Dash is missing, so Twilight dubs him the new Rainbow Dash, complete with matching Element necklace.  Spike shudders to think what the real Rainbow Dash will do to him when she finds out, but Twilight is unsympathetic.  She gets everyone moving with the promise that they'll never have to speak to each other again once their task is over with, and finally thinks to use magic to move Tom.
Discord is already outside the library, waiting for them.  He claims to be ready for his defeat, even giving them a clearly marked target.  Twilight calls for everyone to get into formation, and the Elements appear to be working just fine.  But then the glowing stops and everypony falls to the ground.  Twilight just can't figure out what went wrong, and Spike gets the heck out of there, citing the library needing to be cleaned again.  Discord officially declares his reign and skates off on the soapy road.  Pinkie Pie takes off in a huff, and the other grey ponies do likewise.  Twilight is glad to see them go, declaring, "With friends like you, who needs enemies."  With their friendship completely over, Twilight herself turns grey.

As Twilight wanders a chaos-filled Ponyville, Discord shows up to rub her face in his victory, telling her to get used to her new, improved home.  But Twilight can't see Ponyville, new or old, as her home anymore, which was apparently Discord's plan all along?  At any rate, he's very glad to see her decide to leave.
Back at the library, Twilight tells Spike to get packing.  She doesn't know where they'll go, but they can't stay here.  Spike, however, is in no condition to do much of anything, as Celestia has been sending Twilight letters ever since he got back.  Twilight is surprised to find that they're all the letters she's sent to Celestia over season one, but she rereads them anyway.  As she does, she remembers why she and her friends were friends in the first place, and regains her color.  She finally gets that Discord was responsible for her friends' change in attitude, and that it's friendship that will win the day.  Throughout her whole triumphant realization, she swings Spike around, which he doesn't appreciate in the slightest, so she leaves him to rest while she goes forth to fight for her friendships!
First stop, Sweet Apple Acres.  Discord's touch is apparent, as Big Mac pants like a dog and burrows like a gopher, and Granny Smith tap dances nonstop.  Applejack continues to only be able to lie, so Twilight tackles her and uses a memory spell to remind her of all the good times they all had as friends.  The spell works, and her color returns.  When she comes to, she confesses that she started lying because she couldn't face the truth that their friendship would break up.  Twilight easily forgives her, and the two take off for the next stop, Fluttershy's.  One by one, Twilight works her magic on the girls, returning them to their former selves.  ("Let us never speak of this again," says Rarity, once her eyes are opened to Discord's trickery.)

There's just one problem: Rainbow Dash isn't at her house, and the other ponies have no idea where she might have gone.  Fortunately, Pinkie Pie spots her lounging on a cloud not too far from her house.  It seems that Discord worked a spell similar to the one he put on Rarity that makes her think the cloud is Cloudsdale, where everything is awesome.  Since Rainbow Dash won't come down on her own, Twilight pulls out Plan B: Fluttershy will hold Rainbow Dash down, then Applejack will lower Twilight down from the hot air balloon so she can cast the memory spell.  Of course this hinges on Fluttershy being able to hold Rainbow Dash down in the first place, so the fact that it fails isn't a huge surprise.  Rainbow Dash takes off, cloud in tow, so  Twilight hitches up Fluttershy to chase after her.
Seeing the other ponies following after her, Rainbow Dash switches to displaying some aerial maneuvers too fast for them to follow.  Applejack manages to lasso the pegasus, but this doesn't stop Rainbow Dash for a minute, since Pinkie Pie forgot to secure the rope, leaving her and Rarity dangling behind Dash.  This manages to slow Dash down, but not enough for Fluttershy to catch up.  Twilight reminds her this is all Discord's doing, bringing forth a righteous rage in Fluttershy, which gives her the speed she needs to get them close enough for Applejack to lasso Dash again.  This is enough for them to get her down to the ground, but it still takes four of them to keep her in one place long enough for Twilight to give her the memory spell.  With Rainbow Dash back to normal, the others embrace her in a group hug, but a passing herd of ballerina buffalo remind them that it's too soon to celebrate.
The ponies don their respective Elements and confront Discord once again.  Discord is not impressed, apparently not caring that they've all regained their color and proper attitudes.  Or perhaps not even aware that they've broken off his spell, as he tells Applejack not to lie to him.  He uses his powers to drag all the ponies toward him against their will.  But Twilight is able to create a protective bubble around them, creating a small patch of normalcy in the chaotic landscape.  She also tells him that they've learned friendship is worth fighting for, but Discord still isn't buying that they've actually thrown off his hypnosis.  He's so confident that they'll fail, in fact, that he just sits on his throne, waiting for the their beam to fizzle like it did earlier.  Twilight calls for the others to "show him what friendship can do," but Pinkie calls for a time out so she can get one last drink of chocolate rain.

With everyone in position, the girls start powering up, and each Element emits its own special beam before the powered up ponies come together to emit a sonic rainboom-esque friendship beam.  Much like Night Mare Moon before him, Discord lets out a Big No as the beam works its magic, turning him to stone once more.  The beam also undoes all the chaos Discord created, bringing the world back to normal.
In a scene that is pretty much a shot-for-shot reference to the end of the first Star Wars movie, Twilight and the others are hailed as heroes by Princess Celestia and the court of Canterlot.  Celestia unveils a new stained glass window commemorating Discord's defeat, and the awesome background music continues over the credits.

Like part one, this felt a little rushed, but it was still very good.  I especially love the animation when Rarity says "Fluttershy, would you be a dear and fly faster, please!"  It's just so fluid...
I'm a little surprised that Discord was defeated the same way that he was in the past.  I was expecting something different, since the last time the mane six used the Elements of Harmony, they didn't just repeat what the last user did.  But I guess Discord's reality warping powers are just too powerful to be removed, so he had to be neutralized.  It does bring up the question of what will happen when Twilight and her friends are no longer connected to the Elements of Harmony, either by death or some other reason, but as this is a kids show, I guess we don't really have to worry about actually getting to that point.

Misc. Screenshots
"Friendship"
Power flows
Broken heart tear
Fluttershy can't go faster
Discord drinks a "glass" of milk
Pinkie is satisfied

What I Read - Waking Up in the Land of Glitter

Waking Up in the Land of Glitter gets an endorsement from me just for the very fact that one of the characters finds her salvation through crochet, but it's a pretty good book anyway.  Basically, the plot follows three ladies through the disasters of their lives from August to December: Star, a would-be artist who has six months to get her life on track and sell 347 pounds of glass glitter, Ofie, who dedicates her life to crafts of all kinds even though she has no talent, and Chloe, an up-and-coming TV personality who uses crafts as her springboard, yet hates the very thing that is her claim to fame.  The three come together, along with Benecio, a high school boy with an interest in designing handbags, as part of a craft group thrown together by Star, with the sole purpose of creating the centerpieces for the upcoming Craft Olympics.
When everything was going badly, I couldn't put the book down, eager to see how things would work out, or if they even would.  And of course they do, which is slightly to the book's detriment.  It isn't that I didn't want to see the ladies succeed and come out happy, but everything wrapped up just a little too nicely.  *Spoilers Ahead* Star finally has an art show, and of course everything sells, plus she finally gets the love of her life and doesn't even have to try and make a long distance relationship work.  Ofie discovers she's a natural at crochet, and of course she wins the speed crochet tournament at the Craft Olympics and ends up with all kinds of endorsements and a book deal.  Chloe not only discovers true love, but, despite being completely disgraced on her own news show, gets an endorsement from a Rachel Ray-alike and a potential TV show.  Even Benecio gets endorsements and guest spots, and his dad, a former workaholic, dedicates the rest of his time to his son.
And there's one thing that keeps niggling at me: at various points in the book, Ofie's mother-in-law tells her to take up crochet and offers to teach her, yet Ofie turns her down.  But later, she has Benecio teach her (for no mentioned reason), without the book ever addressing that fact.  The mother-in-law doesn't even bring it up.  Not to mention the fact that Ofie claims to only know one stitch, double crochet.  Wouldn't she have started with single crochet?
So yeah, while I enjoyed reading this book, the too-neat ending keeps me from really loving it.  Still, it is very nice to have a book where crochet plays a good-sized part of the story without it being a mystery.

Cherry Jam Music Video

After discovering WorldScreen, a little poking around revealed that they have Cherry Jam's video for her hit single, Anything is Possible.  I gotta admit, the song is pretty darn catchy, and Cherry Jam is too cute, especially with her hair swept up:

(I wish the video was better quality, though.)  Okay, so when are the new episodes going to air, The Hub?

First look at New Care Bears Series

Over at WorldScreen, a licensing book reveals what the new Care Bears will look like in CGI.  Truth be told, it's a little freaky.
Now, a couple of months ago I stumbled onto two audition videos for the series (which have since been set to private, naturally), but I didn't post about those here, since I didn't know if the info in the dialogue was legit.  But it appears that it was, as WorldScreen also has a video section where you can catch a short clip from (what I assume is) the first episode.

Tenderheart's niece, Wonderheart

From the clip, we learn that the new series will once again focus on the bears helping kids (though whether it'll be just one ala Makena remains to be seen).  And what's up with Tenderheart having a niece, anyway?  The bears look a little better when they're actually in motion, and I like the fuzziness.  But I have to wonder, is the animation supposed to be emulating stop motion, or is it just bad?

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Episode 27 (Season Two!)

And so a new season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic begins.  Technically, this episode and the one after it are part of season one, but they were saved to open season two, most likely due to the Elements of Harmony making a return, harkening back to the two-parter that opened season one.

The Return of Harmony, Part One
As the episode begins, Cheerilee's class takes a field trip to the world-famous sculpture garden over in Canterlot.  While Cheerilee discusses the various statues, the Cutie Mark Crusaders lag behind and get into arguments.  They catch up once the class reaches a statue of a draconequus, a Mix-and-Match Critter who represents discord.  As the CMC scuffle in front of it, the statue begins to shake and something within it throbs, which goes unnoticed by Cheerilee.  Probably because she's too busy assigning the girls an essay as punishment.  As the class moves on, a crack forms in the statue, followed by evil laughter...
Back in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash's flight is interrupted by a strange, pink cloud that turns out to be made of cotton candy.  Despite Dash's protests that it isn't supposed to rain until the next day, the cloud starts pouring down (say it with me) chocolate rain.  Her attempts to corral the cloud only chase it and others like it toward Applejack's farm, where the farmpony is harvesting corn.  She demands to know what's going on, and though Dash doesn't know, she vows not to leave until she has the clouds under control.  Meanwhile, all the ears of corn spontaneously combust, filling the field with corn, much to Pinkie Pie's delight.  Somehow news of this reached Rarity already, and so she busted out her rain ensemble and came over to see if there's anything she can do, but not really.  And especially not when all the apples grow to gigantic proportions, immediately prompting all the squirrels, and even Fluttershy's bunny Angel, to chow down.  Before Fluttershy has a chance to call them off, all the rabbits in the vicinity suddenly sprout giraffe legs.  By this time, Twilight Sparkle has a new spell at the ready that she promises will fix everything, but despite her best efforts, it does nothing.

To aid in Twilight thinking up a new plan, Rarity gives up her umbrella, and the gift sparks Twilight into delegation mode.  She has Rainbow Dash get all the clouds in one spot, Applejack tie them up, and Fluttershy use reverse psychology on the animals to get them to eat the clouds.  Just as Twilight declares victory due to teamwork, Spike belches up a message from Princess Celestia, summoning all of them to Canterlot immediately.
Things must be grim, as Celestia is actually worried.  She silences Twilight's questions with a hoof, and then leads them down a hall of stained glass windows.  She explains that Discord, the trickster spirit, has returned.  It seems that he was the previous ruler of Equestria who delighted in the misery of his subjects, and was ousted by Celestia and Luna using the Elements of Harmony.  They turned him to stone, but now that they're no longer connected to the Elements of Harmony, he was able to break free.  Celestia calls on Twilight and her friends to defeat him this time, since they're the new wielders of Harmony.  Twilight starts to tell her to count on them, but Pinkie Pie has an objection.  She points out that Discord may be bringing eternal chaos to Equestria, but he created (say it with me) chocolate rain, so he can't be all bad, right?  Her objection is denied, so Celestia opens the magical lock on the door to Canterlot Tower, where the Elements are currently housed.  She opens the box, proclaiming her confidence in Twilight and her friends, only to find it empty!  While the others are in shock, Pinkie Pie blithely saunters out to partake once again of the chocolate puddles.  (She's back by the end of the commercial break, though.)

Considering that only Celestia should have been able to open the lock, there's one explanation, which comes in the form of maniacal laughter surrounding the room.  A voice addresses them, one that Celestia instantly recognizes: Q Discord!  She orders him to show himself, and he takes form in the stained glass windows, interacting with them as he banters.  He reveals that he's "borrowed" the Elements of Harmony, and furthermore, he already knows all about the new wielders.  Celestia demands to know what he's done with the Elements, and so he answers with a riddle: "To retrieve your missing Elements/Just make sense of this chain of events./Twists and turns are my master plan/Then find the Elements back where you began."  Twilight takes this to mean the Elements are hidden in the palace labyrinth, and so Celestia sends them off, with the fate of Equestria resting on their shoulders.
Once the ponies reach the maze, Rainbow Dash decides to bypass it entirely by just flying over, only to find her wings suddenly gone.  Fluttershy's, too.  Not to mention Rarity and Twilight's horns.  With a flash of light, Discord finally makes his appearance, and can't help cackling, "You should see the looks on your faces!"  Twilight demands he return their respective wings and horns, but Discord declines, stating that he only took them to even the playing field.  Their finding the Elements is a game, complete with rules, including that if anyone doesn't play, he wins by default.  He wishes them luck and disappears just as suddenly as he appeared.
Despite their setback, Twilight is still optimistic.  After all, what challenge can't they face as long as they're together?  The six ponies enter the maze, and immediately hedges spring up, separating them.  Twilight calls over the hedges for them to head for the center to regroup, and they're off.  Applejack makes good progress until she spots three apples lying on the ground.  The apples start to roll, so she follows after them, and ends up in an apple orchard.  She's soon surrounded by three piles of apples, which form into faces and introduce themselves as the Keepers of the Grove of Truth.  They tell her she may ask them one question, but she may not like the answer.  Though she has her misgivings, Applejack just has to know: what's the outcome of their quest?  The keepers lead her to a lake, and she sees a vision of her friends calling it quits.  Shocked by this, she's easily swayed by Discord, who hypnotizes her through the Keepers, telling her that the truth hurts, but a lie is comfort.   As she turns grey, the orchard disappears, and part of the hedge opens, just as Twilight passes by.  She's glad to see her friend, but confused at AJ's strange behavior.

Elsewhere in the labyrinth, Pinkie Pie stumbles upon an area filled with balloons and cheery laughter.  As she frolics, one of the balloons trips her up and she falls in a puddle of mud.  Suddenly the laughter turns nasty, and Pinkie wonders what's going on.  Discord shows up, since she, like he, appreciates a good laugh, but Pinkie explains that the balloons are laughing at her, rather than with her, and that's no good.  Discord, now also a balloon, doesn't see the difference, pointing out that her friends laugh at her all the time.  As he spins her head around, the laughter swells, and the voices of her friends (as well as their balloon likenesses) join in, until Pinkie just can't take it anymore.  Discord hypnotizes her directly, turning her grey and mirthless.  As the balloons in the background pop, the exit is revealed, with Twilight and Applejack standing right there.  Again, Twilight is glad to see Pinkie, and chalks her odd attitude to stress.
Rarity, meanwhile, literally bumps into three of the most beautiful diamonds she's ever seen.  Discord appears in each one and hypnotizes her with its sheen.  However, she's able to shake it off, probably because there wasn't as much build up as Pinkie Pie and Applejack's.  But she doesn't last long, and as she chips away at the rocks surrounding the diamonds, she, too, turns grey.  The three diamonds turn out to be one enormous gem, which she heaves onto her back just as a nearby column of rock crumbles, revealing Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie.  Which also reveals that Discord's played a particularly nasty trick this time, as what Rarity thought was a giant gem is actually a boulder.  The four ponies continue on, with Rarity warning them all not to touch her "diamond."
As for Fluttershy, she's been having a particularly hard time of it, jumping at every little sound, so when she spots three butterflies, she's relieved, and follows them to a crossroads.  The butterflies, with the heads of Discord, address her, pointing out she's been left behind by her friends, but Fluttershy is not perturbed, certain her friends are looking for her.  The Discord-butterflies continue to needle her, but Fluttershy rebuffs them each time, until finally Discord gets so frustrated that he just zaps her into being grey and cruel, no hypnotism at all.  The hedge wall falls, and Twilight hopes for best as she approaches Fluttershy, but instead gets snide remarks and a tail whip.

Lastly, Rainbow Dash spots a wayward cloud shooting rainbow lightning bolts, and figuring it's a disguised Element, takes off after it.  The cloud leads her to Discord, hanging out on a cloud hammock, and she challenges him to a hooffight.  He claims he just has a message for her: "The foundations of home will crumble without you."  He shows her a vision of Cloudsdale falling to pieces, which is enough for his hypnotism to work on her.  He offers her a box with her wings and tells her she can either take them or keep wandering the maze.  Meanwhile, the other ponies continue to make their way toward the center.  Twilight holds out the hope that once they find Rainbow Dash, their team will once again gel.  However, Applejack spots Rainbow Dash flying off into the distance, and as Twilight wonders how that could have happened, the sky clouds over and the entire maze disappears.  Discord appears before them, complaining that "someone" broke the rules, meaning the game is over.  He returns the remaining horns and wings and crows over his victory.  To be continued....

When The Hub first posted a preview clip of Discord, I thought he was pretty goofy, and while that is true, he's also a lot more menacing than I gave him credit for.  I'm really curious about how Twilight is going to get her friends back to normal and how they'll defeat Discord.  Or even if they'll defeat him.  I've heard rumors of a recurring villain in season two, and he could very well be it.  Well, all will be answered tomorrow.
One thing I will say, this episode felt kind of rushed.  Even as a two-parter, there's a lot crammed into this, what with the CMC bit at the beginning, the teamwork, the exposition, and then the corruption maze.

Misc. Screenshots
Serious Celestia
Creepy Discord is creepy
Discord pulls the strings
Grey Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity

Ponies and Les Mis

Okay, this officially wins Best PMV Ever from me.