| "The Best Night Ever" | |||
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| My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode | |||
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| Episodeno. | Season 1 Episode 26 | ||
| Directed by | Jayson Thiessen | ||
| Written by | Amy Keating Rogers | ||
| Featured music |
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| Editing by | Rob Renzetti (story) | ||
| Original air date | May 6, 2011 (2011-05-06) | ||
| Running time | 22 minutes | ||
| Guest appearance | |||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magicseason 1 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"The Best Night Ever" isthe first season finale of the animated television seriesMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The episode followsTwilight 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.
| External videos | |
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 The Best Night Ever (full episode) — Official upload of the episode ontoYouTube |
On the day of the Grand Galloping Gala,Pinkie Pie,Rarity,Fluttershy,Applejack, andRainbow Dash gather outside the Carousel Boutique and watch asTwilight 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, but Rarity manages to charm a pair of nearby stallions to pull the carriage.
That night, at the Gala, althoughSpike hopes to enjoy the Gala together, Twilight and her friends quickly separate to enjoy it in their ways, but each of them soon finds their experience falls well short of their expectations. Twilight intends to talk privately withPrincess Celestia, but the latter is repeatedly interrupted by having to welcome other guests to the Gala. Rainbow Dash attempts to impressthe Wonderbolts, but 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 but makes minimal sales. Fluttershy ends up scaring away the animals she wishes to see in the castle gardens, and tries to set up traps. 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 causes a cake to fly towards Blueblood, who uses Rarity as a shield against the splatter, and the animals burst in while fleeing Fluttershy. Twilight and her friends flee the gala, regroup with Spike at a donut shop, and express their disappointment with the night's events. However, they 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."
"The Best Night Ever" was directed byJayson Thiessen (supervising) andJames Wootton, and written byAmy Keating Rogers. The initial draft of the episode was thirty-nine pages long, six more than a typicalMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic script;[2] it included more extensive version of the "Piggy Dance", which was removed and instead appears inseason 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 byDaniel 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 atBryan Adams's studio inVancouver, includes a choir of twenty people with each main character singing a solo part.[5] The song is also based onStephen Sondheim'sInto the Woods.[6][7][8] Through this episode, ponies wear dresses, much of which was designed "almost like" four-legged humans.[9]
The episode aired on May 6, 2011, onThe Hub. Sherilyn Connelly ofSF Weekly called the it "the bestMy 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 toIMDb.[11]
"The Best Night Ever", along with four other episodes, was released in August 2012 byShout! Factory as part of the "Royal Pony Wedding"DVD.[12] It is also included in the company's completeseason one collection andMadman Entertainment's season one boxset.[13][14]
