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. In this episode, Rainbow Dash decides to start a competition to discover what's the best pet for her after realizing how she's the only one of her friends without one.

Dream sequence
The episode starts with Rainbow Dash in a dream flying around in the sky, when suddenly Owloysius comes up and starts flying with her. Strangely, Owloysius' head turns into Winona's head. 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 falling, which wakes her up.

Pony Pet Playdate
When Rainbow Dash wakes up, she is met by Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Twilight, all of whom are in the park 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, after hearing the noise from the ponies playing with their pets, 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, dubbed the Find A Pet Song, as Fluttershy shows Rainbow her wonderful choices of pets. The song sequence features the only appearance of background ponies in the episode, specifically Derpy Hooves who pokes her head out of the chicken coop at the end of the song. Rainbow insists she wants a "cool pet that will be able to keep up with her". Rainbow Dash selects a group of flying animals but is unable to decide. To make a firm decision, she holds a series of contests to determine which pet will be hers. As she prepares to begin, Fluttershy brings in a tortoise who she says wants to compete. Rainbow reluctantly agrees.

The first test is that of speed, a race around a track which a falcon wins. The second test is a test of agility across an obstacle course in which a hummingbird wins. The third test is of guts to get Opal's favorite mouse toy away from her, a butterfly passes. The fourth test is of style, which is done by having Rainbow pose in a snapshot with each of the animals. It is not revealed which animal passes this test. The fifth test is of coolness, where Rainbow judges the animals by their calls. An eagle passes. The sixth test is of awesomeness. An owl wins because of his ability to rotate his head. The seventh test is of radicalness, in which the bat plays the My Little Pony theme song on a glass harmonica, among other feats by the other contestants. By this point, the tortoise has completely failed every test and Rainbow urges him to go home.

Ghastly Gorge
Still unable to decide, Rainbow holds a race in Ghastly Gorge. Pitting the last four contestants, the eagle, the falcon, the owl, and the bat, against her. Somehow, the toroise tags along. The other birds are together, while the tortoise is last, sweating as he tries to catch up with Rainbow. During the race, a re-arrangement of Ride of the Valkyries plays in the background, and Rainbow Dash whistles a few bars of the tune to herself. The falcon gets stuck in bramble bushes, but the bat, eagle, and owl make it. 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 rock slide, and the racers suddenly get ahead of Rainbow and her wing is stuck underneath a large rock.

She desperetly calls for help. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, there is no one to help her. But soon, 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 digs a small hole under the rock and sticks his head in it. A now crying Rainbow Dash completely gives up hope. The tortoise, however, lifts up the rock with his head, 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 a rock slide through Twilight's binoculars, but also spots Rainbow Dash riding on the tortoise, with her right wing 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. The sad falcon shakes hands (so to speak) with the tortoise and leaves. Rainbow then asks Spike to take a note for Princess Celestia, telling her that she learned the most important quality in a pet, or in any friend 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 Fluttershy points out that Rainbow Dash wanted a pet that can keep up with her, and she names him Tank.

Quotes

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


 * Twilight Sparkle: Well we had initially planned on inviting Rainbow, of course, except–
 * Pinkie Pie: We were totally gonna invite you, Rainbow, then Twilight remembered that you don't even have a pet, and Rarity remembered that you really like to take naps in the afternoon, so Applejack figured you wouldn't be missing out on anything anyway, and Fluttershy and I nodded our heads in agreement like this.
 * Fluttershy: Oh, please don't be mad at us.
 * Rainbow Dash: Oh, I'm not mad. You all are right. Not much point of a pony-pet playdate for me if I'm a pony without a pet, right?
 * Applejack: Exactly.


 * 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: Pause for dramatic effect...


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


 * Rainbow Dash: Dun dun dun!
 * [eagle cries]
 * Rainbow Dash: Gesundheit.


 * Pinkie Pie: Wait! Look
 * Fluttershy: It's the turtle!
 * All: TORTOISE!
 * Fluttershy: Oh whatever...

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 words "bullet" and" tank" were used in this episode. This brings up a minor controversy whether Equestria has an army or not.
 * The episode title is a play on the idiom "may the best man win", which is said in the spirit of sportsmanship.
 * The kitten Fluttershy offers to Rainbow Dash resembles the cats from Hasbro's Littlest Pet Shop toy line.
 * This is the second episode that the ponies mistakenly call a rock slide an avalanche, the first being in Dragonshy.
 * 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 Owloysius since Owl's Well That Ends Well, and the first appearance of Winona since Applebuck Season. This is also Gummy's first appearance in Season 2.
 * The rainbow-colored trail made by Rainbow Dash, complete with sharp turns, is similar to the race sequence from Tron.
 * Some of the pets seen at Fluttershy's house are originally from the episode The Best Night Ever, where Fluttershy met them in the garden of Canterlot.
 * The episode was #5 in the We Heart Ponies Fan Favorite Mare-a-thon, in the leadup to Hearts and Hooves Day.