The Ticket Master

The Ticket Master is the third episode of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, season one. In this episode, Twilight Sparkle receives two tickets from Princess Celestia to the Grand Galloping Gala, which leads to arguments among her friends, who all want to go.

Summary
While helping Applejack harvest apples on her farm, Twilight Sparkle receives a letter from Princess Celestia regarding an annual ball/party in Canterlot known as the "Grand Galloping Gala". Moments later he produces two tickets, inviting her and a guest of her choice. Spike seems disinterested in the event, commenting that it's too "girly girly fru-fru" for his tastes. Applejack, on the other hand, expresses a keen interest in the second ticket, seeing it as an opportunity to raise enough money from her apple wares to fix up the Sweet Apple Acres farm and its supplies (and even give her Granny Smith a replacement hip). Rainbow Dash, having overheard the conversation after waking from her nap, remembers that The Wonderbolts, a famous aerial acrobatic pegasus troupe, are planning to perform at the Gala, making her want to go as well. She claims that she could show them her recent flying tricks and be part of their group. The two friends hoof-wrestle for the extra ticket and then try to convince Twilight Sparkle whose goal is better than the other; Applejack's chance to support a family or Rainbow Dash's chance to live the dream. Unable to choose between the two, Twilight says she will think about it over lunch.

"Oh, the Grand Galloping Gala is the best place for me! Oh, the Grand Galloping Gala is the best place for me! 'Cause it's the most galarrific superly-terrific gala ever in the whole galaxy!"

- Pinkie Pie's Grand Galloping Gala song

As she enters the town, Pinkie Pie discovers the tickets and, seeing how the Gala is a massive party, is also very excited to go. Rarity and Fluttershy soon learn about the tickets themselves and also wish to go. Rarity dreams of a Cinderella-style fantasy, ending with her marriage of Princess Celestia's "nephew", with the wedding ring being placed on her horn. (The nephew's design was later used for Prince Blueblood in The Best Night Ever.) With some encouragement by her rabbit friend Angel, Fluttershy admits that she is not particularly interested in the party itself, but want to visit the flower and wildlife-filled private gardens outside the castle. All five friends come together and an argument commences over who should get the spare ticket. Twilight Sparkle breaks it up, just as Pinkie Pie continues a conversation involving oatmeal, reminding them that because she is the one is was given the tickets, it is her decision, and promises that she will figure it out. Of course, with five friends, each with their own reasons to go, she can't think of who deserves it most, as four of them would be left in disappointment (three, if she decides to give up both tickets). Her hunger doesn't help much either.

As Twilight Sparkle agonizes over the situation, her friends begin giving her large favors, with varying degrees of subtlety, in an effort to make her give up a ticket. Dash leaves a hole in a rain cloud to keep her dry. Rarity gives her a splendorous makeover. Applejack tempts her with desserts. Fluttershy and her animal friends clean her house (the idea came from her rabbit friend, Angel). Pinkie throws a party of her own for her. The starving unicorn refuses all this. The situation becomes chaotic when Pinkie inadvertently informs the whole town about the extra ticket. Practically everypony begins to ask to do favors for Twilight. One pony goes so far as to shout "I'll do your taxes!". She and the dragon run off and a Benny Hill-esque chase ensues. When they become cornered, the unicorn ends up teleporting both of them away. While Spike is burnt and charred by the spell, Twilight Sparkle isn't.

Managing to make it back home, Twilight Sparkle finds her friends already there and breaks down, telling them she doesn't want to disappoint anyone. They apologize after realizing how much stress they put on their friend for a couple of tickets and chose to forfeit their chance to get the spare. Rainbow Dash celebrates winning the ticket by default, but soon understands what the others are doing (thanks to their glare) and gives up as well. Twilight, after relaying her report on how one's blessing can affect friendship, decides to return both the tickets, saying that she'd rather not go at all then leave out any of her friends. A swift reply letter from Celestia comes moments later, containing six tickets, saying Twilight should have just asked for more in the first place. All of the ponies are now happy to go together, even after they tried to fight over just one. After they all leave, an extra ticket is delivered to Spike, and he gleefully joins the ponies.

Quotes
Rarity: I would stroll through the gala, and everyone would wonder: "Who is that mysterious mare?" They would never guess that I was just a simple pony from little old Ponyville. Why, I'll cause such a sensation, that I would be invited for an audience with Princess Celestia herself. And the princess would be so taken with the style and elegance, that she would introduce me... to him... her nephew! The most handsome, eligible unicorn stallion in Canterlot. Our eyes would meet... Our hearts would melt... Our courtship would be magnificent. He would ask for my hoof in marriage, and of course I would say... YES! We would have a royal wedding, befitting a princess which is... what I would become upon marrying him... The stallion of my dreams!

Rarity: Twilight, I simply cannot believe you would invite Pinkie Pie so she can... party... and prevent me from meeting my true love. How could you?!

Twilight Sparkle: QUIIIET! Pinkie Pie: And then I said "Oatmeal? Are you craz--?!"

Spike: Do you have any rubies? ...No? OK. I'll have the hay fries. Extra crispy!

Rarity: We will be the belles of ball, you and I. Everyone will be clamoring for our attention. All eyes will be on us! And then everyone will finally know the most beautiful, most talented, the most sophisticated pony in all Equestria is Rarity the unicorn! And Twilight Sparkle, of course.

Applejack: I got apple pie, apple fritters, apple tarts, apple dumplings, apple crisps, apple crumbles, ANNND Apple Brown Betty! Uh, the dessert, not my auntie...

Twilight Sparkle: Fluttershy, not you too! Fluttershy: Oh! Well hello, Twilight. I hope you don't mind. We're all doing a little spring cleaning for you. Twilight Sparkle: It's summer... Fluttershy: Oh... Well, better late than never, right?

Twilight Sparkle: You're not doing this for the ticket, are you? Fluttershy: Oh no... I'm doing this because you're my very best friend, right Angel? [Cut to Angel, giving a stern look] Fluttershy: Oh... yes. We are just doing this for the ticket.

Twilight Sparkle: PIIINKIIIE!!! Pinkie Pie: Yes, Twilight? Twilight Sparkle: At least the other ponies tried to be subtle about the ticket.

Gallery



 * The Ticket Master image gallery

Trivia

 * Applejack refers to the apples she and Twilight picked as being "Golden Delicious", however the golden delicious variety of apples are yellow or light green, not red like the majority of apples the ponies were carrying.
 * The episode's plot is very similar to the My Little Pony Tales episode "And The Winner Is..." which involves a pony receiving two tickets to an event and having problems giving one to only one of her friends.
 * Canterlot, Twilight's residence from the first episode, is mentioned again in this episode as the setting for The Grand Galloping Gala.
 * When Rainbow Dash is fantasizing about showing off to The Wonderbolts, a Flash animation error appears in the crowd of ponies. It can be seen when Rainbow Dash breaks through the three smoke trails, as a red box (with the text "THIS FRAME" readable) in the very back of the crowd.
 * While Twilight is at the cafe, she plucks petals from a flower in the centerpiece. She plucks five petals, one for each of her friends. But while the flower is initially shown to have eight petals, it's depicted as being completely lacking any later. The rearrangement of the flowers in the vase is minor by comparison.
 * Spike's "hay fries" are visible on the café's table at first, however, when Rainbow Dash closes up the clouds and rain then pours on Twilight and Spike; neither the hay fries nor the plate they were served on are on the table.
 * When Fluttershy is explaining why she wants to go to the gala, she excitedy explains that there will be "loons and toucans and bitterns, oh my!" echoing the quote "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" of The Wizard of Oz.
 * During the chase scene in the last third of the episode, a sound-alike of Yakety Sax from The Benny Hill Show plays.
 * The argument scene is very similar to the ones from Jim Henson's movies The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppets Take Manhattan, where the title characters stop arguing and Janice talks about herself which is unrelated to the plot.
 * When Pinkie Pie has the ponies tossing Twilight in the air, the ponies doing the tossing change each time.
 * This episode appears in a promotional DVD distributed by Hasbro in multiple countries, which comes with a small, fully-molded Twilight Sparkle toy. Consequently, many of the show's language dubs were introduced via The Ticket Master, instead of the first episode.
 * Just before the argument scene Rainbow Dash says "anybody" instead of the normal "anypony".
 * This episode is the one of the two episodes in season one to feature more than one song, the other being The Best Night Ever with three songs.
 * When Twilight gets her friends to stop arguing and leave, Spike follows them. Yet he shows up at the restaurant with her in the next scene.
 * Even though the Applejack mentioned the barnhouse has a saggy old roof and need money to replace it, in every other episodes the roof is as good as new
 * Clips from this episode were recycled and used out of context in the iPad app Twilight Sparkle, Teacher for a Day. The clips used were the scene where Spike burps out the letter from Princess Celestia from the start of the episode, part of Rainbow Dash's Imagine Spot where she joins the Wonderbolts and flies with them (with Rainbow Dash airbrushed out of the clip), and the ending where Twilight returns the tickets.
 * The Umbrella Rarity is seen wearing briefly is the same one later seen in The Return Of Harmony Part 1
 * The ponies' reasons for wanting to go is similar to their reasons in "The Best Night Ever".