"The Best Night Ever" is the first season finale of the animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The episode follows Twilight Sparkle and her friends, who try to enjoy the Grand Galloping Gala separately. Each of them finds their expectations disappointed and inadvertently cause chaos through all their attempts to satisfy their wants. The episode aired on May 6, 2011, and was positively received.
| "The Best Night Ever" | |
|---|---|
| My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode | |
 Clockwise from the top: Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle. | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 26 |
| Directed by | Jayson Thiessen |
| Written by | Amy Keating Rogers |
| Featured music |
|
| Editing by | Rob Renzetti (story) |
| Original air date | May 6, 2011 |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Guest appearance | |
| |
Plot
editOn the day of the Grand Galloping Gala, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash gather outside the Carousel Boutique and watch as Twilight Sparkle performs a new magic spell to transform an apple into a fancy carriage. Turning to a group of four mice that Fluttershy brought with her, Twilight uses her magic to transform them into large horse-mouse hybrids. As her friends offer tepid reactions, Opalescence appears and attacks the horses, causing them to flee. Twilight wonders how they'll get to the gala without them, though Rarity manages to charm a pair of nearby stallions to pull the carriage. That night, at the Gala, although Spike hopes to enjoy the Gala together, Twilight Sparkle and her friends quickly separate to enjoy it in their own ways, but each of them soon finds their experience fall well short of their expectations. Twilight intends to talk privately with Princess Celestia, however she is repeatedly interrupted by having to welcome other guests to the Gala. Rainbow Dash attempts to impress the Wonderbolts after their performance, however their time is continually taken up by other attendees. Rarity spends time with Celestia's nephew, Prince Blueblood hoping to fall in love with him, only to discover that he is self-absorbed and obnoxious. Applejack opens a stand to sell her family's apple products to the other attendees, but makes minimal sales. Fluttershy ends up scaring away the animals, tries to set up traps she wishes to see in the castle gardens. Pinkie Pie tries to become the life of the Gala, but learns that the Gala is a different kind of party than what she dreamed it would be.
As events mount, the friends' actions lead to a mass of chaos in the grand ballroom when Pinkie Pie causes the cake to fly on Rarity and the animals bursting in through the door. They regroup with Spike later at a donut shop and express their disappointment with the night's events, but are soon joined by Princess Celestia, who explains that she had invited Twilight and her friends to liven up the normally boring Gala, and is happy with what happened. Everyone agrees the night to be the "best night ever."
Background
edit"The Best Night Ever" was directed by Jayson Thiessen (supervising) and James Wootton, and written by Amy Keating Rogers. The initial draft of the episode was thirty-nine pages long, six more than a typical My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic script;[2] it included more extensive version of the "Piggy Dance", which was removed and instead appears in season two episode "Baby Cakes". Prince Blueblood, Rarity's selfish love interest, was originally meant to be a duke, but a member of the approval process believed the target demographic would be unfamiliar with the term.[3] "The Best Night Ever" features three songs written by Daniel Ingram: "At the Gala", "I'm at the Grand Galloping Gala" and "Pony Pokey". Several songs were cut due to being too lengthy.[4] "At the Gala", recorded at Bryan Adams's studio in Vancouver, includes a choir of twenty people with each main character singing a solo part.[5] The song is also based on Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods.[6][7][8] Through this episode, ponies wear dresses, much of which was designed "almost like" four-legged humans.[9]
Broadcast and reception
editThe episode aired on May 6, 2011, on The Hub. Sherilyn Connelly of SF Weekly called the it "the best My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic season finale ever". She praised the songs, particularly "At the Gala" and "Pony Pokey", finding the former showstopping, and the latter surprisingly deep and "saddest, most poignant song [Pinkie Pie will] ever sing".[10] Screen Rant ranked the episode the fourth-best season finale according to IMDb.[11]
Home media
edit"The Best Night Ever", along with four other episodes, was released in August 2012 by Shout! Factory as part of the "Royal Pony Wedding" DVD.[12] It is also included in the company's complete season one collection and Madman Entertainment's season one boxset.[13][14]
References
edit- ^ Devall, Trevor [@TrevorDevall] (November 21, 2012). "Ok Bronies, time to clear this up once and for all: Prince Blueblood was played by Vincent Tong, not by me. I KNEW that wasn't my voice..." (Tweet). Retrieved November 6, 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ Rogers, Amy Keating [@KeatingRogers] (August 23, 2012). "#MLP:FiM Tidbit: Scripts are generally 33 pages long. But my first draft of 'The Best Night Ever' was 39 pages! Talk about too many words!" (Tweet). Retrieved November 6, 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ Faust, Lauren (March 31, 2011). "He's the great great great great great great great great great great great (and probably even more greats) nephew on Celestia's and Luna's mother's side, about 52 times removed, roughly speaking. I would have preferred to call him a Duke, but someone in the approval process thought kids wouldn't know what a Duke is. Luna and Celestia have no siblings and no children. Also that's a fan name, he has no official name on the show". DeviantArt. Archived from the original on November 6, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
- ^ Keating Rogers, Amy [@KeatingRogers] (June 19, 2012). "@OsakaJack27 @umandsf @dannyimusic I have versions of all my songs including some that were cut from The Best Night Ever! (too long)" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved November 6, 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ Ingram, Daniel (March 23, 2011). "Daniel Ingram Interview has arrived!" (Interview). Interviewed by Sethisto. Equestria Daily. Archived from the original on November 5, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
- ^ Griffiths, Daniel Nye (August 15, 2011). "Colt Success". Wired UK. Archived from the original on November 21, 2011. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
- ^ Weinman, Jaime (September 7, 2011). "Ponies Do Sondheim". Maclean's. Archived from the original on September 9, 2011. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ Rutherford, Kevin (April 20, 2012). "Behind the Music of Pop Culture Smash My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 29, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
- ^ Begin, Mary Jane (October 13, 2015). My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria. Abrams Books. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-419-71577-8.
- ^ Connelly, Sherilyn (May 9, 2012). "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Season 1 Finale and Wrap Up". SF Weekly. Archived from the original on October 5, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
- ^ Olsen, Carly (November 21, 2019). "My Little Pony: Every Season Finale, Ranked According to IMDb". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
- ^ "My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Royal Pony Wedding". Shout! Factory. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
- ^ "My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Season One". Shout! Factory. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
- ^ "My Little Pony; Friendship Is Magic Season 1 Boxset". Madman Entertainment. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2021.