May the Best Pet Win!

 May the Best Pet Win! is the seventh episode of the second season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, and the thirty-third episode overall.

Dream sequence
The episode starts with Rainbow Dash in a dream flying around in the sky, when suddenly Owlowiscious comes up and starts flying with her. Strangely, Owlowiscious' head turns into Winona's head, and then the body turns into Gummy's body and the head turns into Angel's head. Suddenly, Opalescence pops out of Angel's mouth, scaring Rainbow Dash into waking up.

Pony Pet Playdate
When Rainbow Dash wakes up, she is met by Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Twilight, all with their pets. They tell her that they always come down to the park at the same time every week with their pets to play with them. The ponies try to make Rainbow Dash understand why they don't invite her, but Rainbow Dash, who is the only pony without a pet, exclaims that she understands and sees no reason for them to invite her if she doesn't even have a pet.

However, Rainbow Dash flies back down from her tree to them, and says that she would like a pet at some point. Thrilled, Fluttershy brings her to her home, and shows off her collection of animals. Fluttershy and Rainbow break into song as Fluttershy shows Rainbow her wonderful choices of pets. Rainbow insists she wants a "cool pet that will be able to keep up with her". Unable to decide, Rainbow holds a series of contests to determine which pet will be hers.

The Falcon wins the first contest (speed); the Hummingbird wins the agility course, and the monarch Butterfly wins the "guts" test - trying to get Opal's favorite toy away from her. The Eagle wins the next, "cool sounds" and the Owl wins the next, "awesome moves." Talent is up next, and the Bat wins this one. Rainbow talks to the tortoise, and tells him to go home.

Ghastly Gorge
Still unable to decide, Rainbow holds a race in Ghastly Gorge against her. The other birds are together, while the tortoise is last, sweating as he tries to catch up with Rainbow. The falcon gets stuck in bramble bushes, but the bat, eagle, and owl make it. But the falcon catches up, his wing curled up. Near the caves with the quarray eels, the bat is almost devoured but manages to get away. There is a rockfall, and the racers suddenly get ahead of Rainbow and her wing is stuck underneath a rock.

Giving up, she cries for help. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, there is no one to help her. But suddenly, she spots the tortoise slowly approaching her, and laments that now she'll have to spend the rest of her life with the tortoise as well as being trapped by a rock. The tortoise, however, lifts up the rock, freeing Rainbow Dash.

At the finish line, Rainbow Dash's friends await her arrival. Noticing that only the four racers finish the race, they begin to worry about Rainbow Dash. Applejack spots an avalanche through Twilight's binoculars, but also spots Rainbow Dash riding on the tortoise, with her wings bandaged. Rainbow Dash and the tortoise finish the race, and the other ponies exclaim for Rainbow Dash to meet her new pet, the falcon.

However, Rainbow Dash doesn't feel right with the falcon as her pet, even if it is everything she wanted. She says that her pet would be the one that finished the race with her, and the tortoise is the only one who did so. With this in mind, she accepts the tortoise as her new pet, thanking him for saving her. She then asks Spike to take a note for Princess Celestia, telling her that she learned the most important quality in a pet is not how cool they are or how much they can do, but is a kind of spirit that will stand with her.

Epilogue
At the end of the episode, Rainbow Dash now joins the rest of her friends in their pet playdate. Rainbow Dash's tortoise is then shown wearing a helicopter hat, flying to the park, after Twilight points out that she wanted a pet that can keep up with her, and Rainbow Dash names him Tank.

Quotes

 * Rainbow Dash: Okay, this is officially beyond weird now and moved right on down to freaky town.


 * Rainbow Dash: Any questions?
 * Applejack: I got one. Does she understand what a pet really needs?
 * Twilight Sparkle: Yeah, like care and attention, love and affection- ugh! And breath mints!


 * Rainbow Dash: Alright, now these games will determine which one of you has the most important qualities I'm looking for in a pet. Speed, agility, guts, style. Coolness. Awesomeness. And radicalness.
 * Twilight Sparkle: Aren't those all the same thing?
 * Rainbow Dash: You would think that, Twilight. And that's why you would never qualify to be my pet.


 * Rainbow Dash: Wanna know the opposite of agility? That.


 * Rainbow Dash: Listen, turtle...
 * Fluttershy: Tortoise.
 * Rainbow Dash: Whatever!


 * [eagle cries]
 * Rainbow Dash: Gesundheit.


 * Pinkie Pie: Wait! Look!
 * Fluttershy: It's the turtle!
 * Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Spike and Twilight Sparkle: TORTOISE!!!
 * Fluttershy: ...oh whatever...


 * Twilight Sparkle: Tenacity.
 * Rainbow Dash: Gesundheit.

Gallery



 * May the Best Pet Win! image gallery

Trivia

 * This episode is a reflection of the story of The Tortoise and the Hare, where the "slow and steady wins the race".
 * The episode title is a pun on the idiom "may the best man win", which is said in the spirit of sportsmanship.
 * This is the first episode of the second season that features a musical number and also the first duet song in the entire series.
 * Opal emerging from the 'pet chimera's head during Rainbow Dash's dream is possibly a reference to the Xenomorph's double mouth from the Alien movie franchise, or the painting involving a tiger coming out of a fish by Salvador Dali.
 * The kitten Fluttershy offers to Rainbow Dash resembles the cats from the "Littlest Pet Shop," which is also a Hasbro product.
 * This episode features no background ponies, except for Derpy Hooves, who appears briefly in the chicken coop at the end of the Find A Pet Song.
 * During the race, a re-arrangement of Ride of the Valkyries can be heard playing
 * During the radical competition, the bat plays the My Little Pony theme song on a glass harmonica.
 * The sunglasses worn look similar to the same sunglasses Rainbow Dash wore in Lesson Zero, while the pink scarf is the same one worn by Rarity in Dragonshy and Twilight Sparkle in Winter Wrap Up.
 * This episode marks the first appearance of Owlowiscious since Owl's Well That Ends Well, and the first appearance of Winona since Applebuck Season.
 * At the end of the Find A Pet Song, the view zooms out and a sharp eye will notice that Derpy Hooves pokes out of the chicken enclosure.