"Luna Eclipsed" was... a welcome breath of fresh air. Not that the first three episodes of Season 2 were bad by any means, no no, I consider them to be among MLP's finest episodes, same with this one. But "Luna Eclipsed" was really unlike any episode MLP had ever had before. We had (1) a new pony holiday, the first we'd really seen since "Winter Wrap Up" way back in Season 1 (and no, I'm not counting the Grand Galloping Gala, that's a formal state event, not a holiday), (2) an episode taking place entirely at night, (3) some spectacular animations for the Mane 6, CMC, and pretty much every resident of Ponyville, dressed up in their awesome Nightmare Night costumes, and finally, most importantly of all (4) a princess-centered episode. But this was not just any princess, no no, this was BEST PRINCESS EVER, THAT'S RIGHT, PRINCESS LUNA MOTHERBUCKERS!!! Well... OK, maybe most bronies didn't consider her best princess before this episode, but that all swiftly changed after this little beauty aired! So, let's dive into the awesomeness that is "Luna Eclipsed".

 

First, let's start with the awesomeness that is Nightmare Night. This fun little obviously-Halloween-inspired pony holiday has its own backstory and everything, far more than I can say about Halloween (and yes, I know that there's a lot of history to it with All Hallow's Eve and such, but seriously, the ponies here knew FAR MORE about their little Nightmare Night than pretty much everyone these days knows about Halloween's origins, am I right? Of course I am). So apparently, this night is dedicated to collecting candy and distributing it at the BUCKING TERRIFYING NIGHTMARE MOON STATUE (which I swear changed faces a couple times during my last viewing) so that Nightmare Moon won't gobble the little fillies and colts up. Because apparently Princess Celestia was so torn up after banishing her sister to the moon at some point during Luna's 1000 year exile that she decided the best way to cheer herself up was by creating a holiday devoted to getting terrified at the thought of being brutally devoured by her fallen sister (while also lining the pockets of the candy companies of course!). Ah well, guess that's just Trollestia for ya!!!

 

The thing that really sells me, however, on Nightmare Night isn't just that it's a cool holiday; it's that the ponies costumes are FREAKIN' AWESOME!!! Seriously, how many times have you seen a kids show do a Halloween episode and the costumes ended up being really lazily drawn and half-@$$ed? Here, though, the costumes look simply phenomenal!!! Let's take a look at some of the wonderful costumes worn by the residents of Ponyville:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See what I mean? These are some well-detailed costumes!!! It's a unique look for the entire town, they really bring all of Ponyville to life for the Nightmare Night festivities, and it's just a blast seeing all of these characters we'd spent an entire season growing familiar with in such outlandish garb (plus it's pretty fun trying to recognize who's who; a free muffin to whoever can identify Lyra in this episode!). So, with such a fun holiday, what could possibly go wrong?

 

Well... there is one teensy, tiny little problem, namely... the fact that Nightmare Moon is no more. Yes, having been cleansed in the Season 1 opener by the Mane 6 and the Elements of Harmony, it seems that Princess Luna is not very amused by the holiday that has developed in the 1000 years since her exile, revolving around her evil persona. And so she decides to travel to Ponyville to win over her citizens' love and affection! Now, bronies went into this episode expecting to see this...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOLY BUCK, somepony went through a redesign!!! Yes, it seems that the animators at Studio B decided in between seasons to totally revamp Princess Luna's design (which actually has fit into the show's canon just fine even, as there are plenty of rational explanations for her change in appearance), and boy oh boy did they knock it out of the park! Don't get me wrong, Luna's Season 1 design was nice and all, but here she just looks so much more regal and, well, like Celestia's sister! Her ethereal mane, dark, navy blue complexion, and that AMAZING cutie mark (definitely one of my all-time favorite cutie marks in general) all combine into one awesome design, and as far as character design goes, Luna is to this day my favorite princess out of the four we now have seen on the show! But enough about how awesome she looks, what else makes Luna an awesome addition to the show?

 

Well, honestly, in many ways this episode hearkens back to the very first episode of MLP. There are A LOT of parallels between Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle of all things, at least, in that particular episode. Luna, like Twilight, comes to Ponyville with really no friends (which is really sad when you think about it considering she's probably been cleansed for over a year now; WAY TO BE A GOOD SISTER CELESTIA!!!), no idea how to make any friends (just like Twilight), and on top of it all, she also has a 1000 year gap in her understanding of modern day cultural and social norms (a disadvantage that Twilight NEVER had), and it hasn't translated well in her attempts to interact with ponies. She's loud and intimidating, and refers to herself in the first person plural (all compliments of the Royal Canterlot Voice), behaves in a very stiff, regal manner around her subjects despite the fact that she only has good intentions and just wants to befriend them, and, when you get down to it, just really doesn't have any clue where to begin as far as befriending her subjects goes (again, Celestia had an entire year to make some headway on this. I know she's busy with state affairs and all, but still, she couldn't have taken one afternoon even to explain to Luna that many things have changed in 1000 years? Man, that's a douche move Celestia!!!).

 

Enter Twilight Sparkle; unlike most of the frightened residents of Ponyville, Twilight's just excited to see Princess Luna visiting and wants to help her fit in! This is actually a really great Twilight episode in that from the very get-go Twilight knows what the right thing to do is, sets about doing it, and keeps doing it throughout the whole of the episode, even if her various attempts often fail. She's got the right idea and her intentions are good; she just wants to help someone else who knows as little about friendship as she herself did when she moved to Ponyville discover the magic of friendship, and to that I say, good on you Twilight, major props!

 

Anyways, back to Luna. All of her outdated mannerisms combine to ultimately give us... an extraordinarily adorkable character!!! She's basically Twilight Sparkle from episode 1 of Season 1 as far as awkwardness and adorkableness goes, only she has 1000 year old mannerisms to boot! That's Tabitha St. Germain voicing her (which is why Rarity actually does not make an appearance), and she knocks the awkward characterization out of the park!!! This is what really makes Princess Luna, for me, best princess; unlike Celestia, who's wise, benevolent, kind to all, and practically all-knowing, Princess Luna is... growing as a character. To this day, even though it hasn't been nearly as prominent since this episode, you know that she is still adjusting to a world 1000 years newer from the one she last knew. She's learning new things all the time, making new friends, and always learning new ways to be a better pony, even if it isn't prominently featured. Neither she nor Celestia is flawless, but with Luna it's far more apparent; she's had a tragic backstory, did some awful things, and now she's trying to move on from her mistakes and make up for them, all while trying to rule a nation alongside her sister. That, for me, makes for a well-rounded, three dimensional character, and I think that Princess Luna will always easily be Best Princess for this guy!

 

Alright, well, beyond Princess Luna and Nightmare Night, what else makes this episode work so well. Well for starters, it's very funny! Princess Luna, Chicken Pie and her group of trick-or-treating fillies, Fluttershy in her hilariously adorable scene; they all make for a laugh-riot episode that, while obviously not quite as funny as "Lesson Zero", still gave us some phenomenal one-liners, particularly from Pinkie's randomness and Luna's seemingly never-ending supply of hilarious one-liners ("Haha!! The fun has been DOUBLED!!!" "Very well then... be that way! We won't even bother with the traditional royal farewell!!!" "But this is the traditional Royal Canterlot voice! It is tradition to speak using the royal 'we', and to use THIS MUCH VOLUME WHEN ADDRESSING OUR SUBJECTS!!!" "Tis a lie!! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled thou ungrateful whelp!!!"). In addition, it's an adorable episode! Some of the ponies look just plain adorable in their costumes, Fluttershy's cute as usual in her one scene, and, as I said earlier, Princess Luna is absolutely adorkable in every sense of the word! As I probably indicated already in my praise of the costumes and look of Ponyville, the animation is spot on; it's one of the few episodes that takes place entirely at night (in fact, the first if I'm not mistaken), and has its own unique look and flavor that makes it never get old to rewatch. Finally, the theme of Twilight discovering somepony who has just as much, if not more, trouble making friends than she herself did when she first moved to Ponyville is really delightful and executed real nicely, and it's just wonderful seeing our main protagonist spreading the magic of friendship to other ponies beyond her own group of beloved friends, utilizing the lessons she's learned since coming to Ponyville.

 

In fact, if there was any one complaint I can actually make about this episode, it would be that Rainbow Dash is kind of a douche in this episode! Don't get me wrong, she starts out harmless enough just pulling a few pranks, but then she almost screws things up for Princess Luna right as she's trying to patch things up between her and Ponyville all for a quick laugh!!! That's just... MEAN!!! Don't get me wrong, I'm not too bothered by it, but still, that's just pretty jerky, petty behavior on RD's part. Other than that, I have absolutely no complaints about this episode. It's fun, hilarious, cute, and has a great lesson; Princess Luna couldn't have possibly asked for a better return to the show and I hope we get to see more and more of her in Season 4! If I could describe how I feel about this episode in one word, it'd be... HUZZAH!!!