A Friend in Deed

A Friend in Deed is the eighteenth episode of the second season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and the forty-fourth episode overall. A newcomer, Cranky Doodle Donkey, moves into Ponyville, and Pinkie Pie is intrigued and confused after he refuses to accept her friendship, so she tries several attempts to befriend him.

Production
The felt cutout animation during the episode was originally supposed to be animated normally, but showrunner Jayson Thiessen suggested they use felt instead. The shapes were cut out by supervising director Jayson Thiessen's wife, and animated by Thiessen himself in their basement. He had already shared a then-cryptic photograph of the stop-motion setup with his Twitter followers in October 2011.

Summary
The episode opens at Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie Pie is seen turning on exercise music, and donning a workout outfit. She proceeds to exercise while making silly faces and generally being silly. As she pauses for a moment, it is revealed she is entertaining Pound and Pumpkin Cake who are unimpressed by her antics. She tries to sit down, but sits on a set of jacks, making her leap into the air in pain, get caught in the ceiling fan, and thrown into a pile of stuffed toys. This amuses the babies, who giggle at her antics, and she proudly pumps the air, claiming to have "Nailed it!".

Later, she goes through Ponyville being friendly and amiable to everypony she meets, complimenting Rose on her flowers, an elderly stallion on his bow tie, wishing a happy birthday to Cheerilee, a happy day-after-birthday to Zecora, and a happy birthday 132 days in advance to a donkey named Matilda, who is amazed that Pinkie can remember everything about everypony living in Ponyville. Pinkie explains that everypony is her friend, and above all, she loves to make her friends smile, leading into the Smile Song, gradually growing into a crowd song until the end, where she ends up face to face with a grumpy looking donkey hauling a large wagon.

Pinkie gives her usual greeting to the donkey and tries to befriend him, who shrugs her off initially. Reluctantly, he reveals that his name is Cranky Doodle Donkey. But when Pinkie refers to him as Doodle, he angrily tells her to never call him that and moves on. Pinkie is bemused by this turn of events, having never had anypony reject her offer of friendship before (Her thought process shown in stop-motion with felt-cutouts of the characters). However, she resolves to befriend him by any means necessary.

As Pinkie tries to strike up a conversation, Cranky reveals that he has moved to Ponyville to "be alone with his memories". Pinkie proceeds to look through all his things in his wagon, annoying the donkey even further. She then brings out her own wagon, with which she apparently greets new ponies. Cranky reluctantly lets her get on with her greeting.



One brief song number later, both of them end up covered in cake dough (Pinkie had mixed up the confetti cannon and the oven again), and Cranky's toupee is knocked off. Pinkie mistakes it for a spider and tramples it, before realizing her mistake. Pinkie loudly proclaims Cranky's baldness as she asks if anypony may have a spare toupee, infuriating Cranky even further. To make it up to him, Pinkie takes him for a spa treatment, followed by a new toupee. She is overjoyed when he thanks her for it, but still resolves to keep trying when he still does not smile.

Later that day, Cranky is busy unpacking his things at his new house when Pinkie drops by to see him. As they talk, Pinkie learns that Cranky has traveled all over Equestria, including Fillydelphia and Manehattan, looking for a 'special friend' who Cranky lets slip to be a lady. Pinkie then discovers a scrapbook and flips through it. Something she sees intrigues her and she tries to ask Cranky about it, but through a series of mishaps sets the book on fire and ruins it by dousing the flames with water. Cranky is naturally furious at Pinkie for ruining his scrapbook and throws her out, telling her that he will never be her friend, 'Never ever ever ever EVER!'

Cranky's rejection leaves Pinkie feeling dejected and sad, and she goes to Twilight for some advice. She, and Rainbow Dash, who is reading a Daring Do book titled "Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone" (though the cover page suggests it's the next book in the series, titled "Daring Do and the Griffon's Goblet), explain that she just has to accept that Cranky just wants to be left alone. Pinkie agrees and decides to leave him alone, as soon as she makes him accept her apology.

As she tries to apologize, Cranky flees her, afraid that she will just cause more trouble. She chases him around town, trying to get him to accept her apology. She tries everything she can to get him to accept her apology, but he refuses, saying that nothing she can do can replace the book, which was his only reminder of 'her'. As Pinkie leaves in defeat, she is suddenly struck by an idea. Speaking through the door, Pinkie tells Cranky that there is still one more thing she wants to give him. He turns her down stubbornly, and hears a new, familiar voice in reply.

He opens the door to see Matilda (The donkey Pinkie had greeted previously), and it is revealed that she was the special friend Cranky had been looking for. Pinkie explains that she figured it out from the items in Cranky's scrapbook: A flower, a ticket and a menu from the Grand Galloping Gala, which she had also seen in a scrapbook owned by Matilda.

It turns out that Cranky and Matilda met and fell in love at the Gala, but Matilda had to leave early, leaving a note behind for Cranky. But Cranky never found the note and so spent his life searching through Equestria for her. Meanwhile, Matilda had been living in Ponyville the entire time, hoping to see him again one day. They reunite and Matilda kisses him, causing Cranky to smile for the first time in years. Cranky gladly accepts Pinkie's apology and finally accepts her friendship. This causes Pinkie to literally explode with joy, bouncing about rambling about everything she and Cranky can do together as friends, but she calms down as Cranky tells her that he and Matilda just want some time to be together. But he promises her that he will always be her friend.

As Pinkie leaves, she muses on her note to Princess Celestia: She has learned that while some friends may enjoy playing and laughing together, some may just like to be left alone, which is fine too, but whatever the case, one of the best things about friendship, is being able to make one's friends smile.

Quotes

 * Pinkie Pie: Let's do this.
 * Pinkie Pie: Nailed it!


 * Pinkie Pie: Absolutely! [chomps] Looking fit as a fiddle, Mr. Waddle, and you're wearing my favorite tie!
 * Mr. Waddle: Aw shucks Miss Pinkie, you flatterer you.


 * Pinkie Pie: I've never seen you before.
 * Cranky Doodle Donkey: Kid, you're smarter than you look.


 * Cranky Doodle Donkey: Nopony calls me Doodle!


 * Pinkie Pie: What just happened? Meet somepony new: check. Introduce myself: check: sing random song out of nowhere: check. Become instant best friends: ...un-check?


 * Pinkie Pie: Oh, silly me! I must've put the confetti in the oven and the cake in the confetti cannon! Again!


 * Pinkie Pie: Oh. Was that your wig?
 * Cranky Doodle Donkey: [growls]
 * Pinkie Pie: I can fix this, I can fix this! [through megaphone] Hey, everypony! Does anypony have a toupee?
 * Ponies: [Huh?, Toupee?, etc]
 * Pinkie Pie: [through megaphone] This donkey is really, really, bald!


 * Pinkie Pie: Ladies, this is a spa emergency. Cranky needs help, STAT.


 * Pinkie Pie: That's four 'ever's. That's like... forever!


 * Twilight Sparkle: I know this is hard for you, Pinkie, seeing that you're friends with everypony, but you just have to accept that Cranky is gonna be an exception. He just... doesn't want to be bothered.
 * Rainbow Dash: Yeah, he doesn't want to be bothered by your over-the-top super-hyper antics.
 * Twilight Sparkle: Rainbow!


 * Pinkie Pie: [explodes like a firework] Woohoo! This is just fantastic! Ooh, now we can hang out together, and chat, and sing songs, and [gasps] party! Oh, I can throw you guys a big party! It'll be called a 'Welcome to Ponyville, I found my lost love, I'm BFF's with Pinkie Pie Party'! ...Or maybe something less over-the-top and not so super-hyper.

Gallery

 * A Friend in Deed image gallery

Trivia

 * The title is a play on the saying "A friend in need is a friend indeed."
 * The name Cranky Doodle Donkey is a reference to the song "Yankee Doodle Dandy", a song sung by the British to mock American revolutionaries during the American Revolutionary War. Coincidentally, Pinkie sings about Cranky in the same tune twice in the episode.
 * This also becomes Cranky's motif, though played by low instruments.
 * Derpy can be seen inside Cranky Doodle's snowglobe.
 * This episode sets the record for having the most songs in the series with four songs.
 * Even though Pinkie compliments Rose on her Calla Lilies (Zantedeschia aethiopica), the flowers on the cart are true Lilies (Liliaceae) which have a completely different shape than Calla Lilies. Mostly because Calla Lilies aren't Lilies at all.
 * This is the second episode not to use the show's theme song instrumentals for the credits, after The Return of Harmony Part 2, instead, it is a piano version of "Yankee Doodle".
 * The wig that Pinkie Pie gives Cranky after he leaves the spa is similar to the sea serpent's hairstyle from Friendship is Magic, Part 2.
 * This is the second episode where Pinkie Pie sent Princess Celestia a friendship letter, the first time being in Baby Cakes. Coincidentally, both Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake appear in these episodes.