The Best Night Ever

"NO! I waited all my life for this moment! And I'm not going to let it slip by! If it's the last thing I do, I'm gonna make this... THE BEST NIGHT EVER!"

- Twilight and Friends

The Best Night Ever is the twenty-sixth episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and currently the final episode of the first season. In this episode, Twilight and her friends attend the Grand Galloping Gala, but it doesn't meet with their expectations as shown in The Ticket Master, much to their disappointment.

Notable story points

 * Twilight Sparkle and her friends finally attend The Grand Galloping Gala.
 * It first appears that the gala will go precisely as the ponies expected it, but their expectations are soon dashed.
 * The six main ponies destroy the gala in an absurd chain of events:
 * Applejack only manages to make one sale at her apple stand during the night, so she decides to cart a cake into the ballroom and sell it there. Pinkie Pie, in her continuous attempt to add flair to the boring festivities, accidentally catapults the cake into the air. The cake flies right towards Blueblood, who uses Rarity as a shield to save his clothes from being tarnished. Rarity finally loses her temper and shakes off the cake pieces onto Blueblood. He retreats and accidentally bumps into the room's centerpiece statue, which begins toppling over. Rainbow Dash tries to use this opportunity to get noticed by the Wonderbolts and successfully catches the statue. Unfortunately, it is too heavy for her and she dropps it, causing a set of stone columns to topple over as well. Celestia and Twilight enter the ballroom, and Twilight mutters that things couldn't get any worse. At that moment a stampede of the royal gardens' animals bursts through the door with Fluttershy behind them, enraged and ordering the animals to love her. The ponies run for safety and leave the gala.


 * The episode concludes with the six main ponies, Spike, and Celestia sitting at a diner, realizing that even a terrible night such as this can be enjoyable with friends.

Notable events

 * Two of The Wonderbolts members were named in this episode: Soaren and Spitfire.
 * Princess Celestia's nephew, who was mentioned in one of Rarity's fantasies in The Ticket Master, is formally introduced here as Prince Blueblood. To Rarity's shock, he's nothing like she expected him to be.

Summary
Canterlot's Grand Galloping Gala was about to begin in just a few hours, and Pinkie Pie was already hopping for joy and excitment. In fact, she was using a trampoline to show her excitement. Rarity came by to stop her, not wanting the pink pony's dress to be stained with sweat. Once Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash met up with the rest of the ponies, Twilight had put her latest spell into action. She transformed an apple into a carriage to load them all in, and turned a group of mice into horses to pull it. Thanks to Rarity's cat, however, the "horses" were scared away. Rarity convinced two male ponies to pull the carriage instead. Along the way to Canterlot, Spike was already making plans to show Twilight's friends the highlights of their hometown. They claimed they were going to be busy, but promised to hang out with the dragon later.

The event went underway and the fully-dressed ponies split up to achieve their dreams, while Spike was left in the dust. Twilight met with Princess Celestia, who was glad to see her star pupil and was hoping they could spend the time catching up. Rarity saw what she believed was "him", Celestia's nephew, and went after him. Fluttershy followed the beautiful sound of a stray meadowlark into the private gardens. AJ finally opened up her booth filled with all kinds of apple snacks, and had already sold her first pie to a Wonderbolt named Soaren. However, as he dropped it on the way to his partner, Rainbow Dash arrived to save the confection. Recognizing the blue Pegasus from Cloudsdale's competition, the Wonderbolt known as Spitfire asked her to hang out with them. Pinkie Pie arrived in the ballroom and was instantly taken in by the shiny floors, the guests, and the band.

She sang and danced in her own usual fashion, expressing her love for the Gala. However, she saw that the attention she was getting was more of a strict and stern look, and she awkwardly became quiet. Rarity finally met her dream pony named Prince Blueblood. Introducing themselves, she showed him a rose in the garden. The unicorn prince saw this and placed it on his suit, saying that it complimented his eyes. Rarity was surprised by this, but because her prince charming did not offer her the flower. In the gardens, Fluttershy quickly followed the whistle, but it led her to an elderly groundskeeper who loved to whistle while he worked. She apologized for interrupting and went the opposite direction before finally gazing a set of exotic animals. She approached them, only to see them scurry off. She remembered these were not like critters she had taken care of back in Ponyville. No matter how polite or quiet she was, she could not get close to any of them. Rainbow Dash was not faring much either, as her idols were too busy talking to other recipients of the party. Twilight attempted to converse with the Equestrian ruler, but she was busy greeting more guests. As for Applejack, she was unable to sell her wares since the start of the Gala.

Overall, though things had started out nicely, their hopes, dreams and expectations were fleeting. They were not about to let the night go to waste, and so they took matters into their own hooves.

Rather than wait to talk to the princess, she instead joined in greeting the arriving guests, but was tiring and aching from constant hoof-shaking. Pinkie Pie proceeded to liven up the party by any means necessary, convincing the orchestra to play a peppy song of the "Pony Pokey". Dash decided to stage a save for the Wonderbolts to see by butting an unsuspecting party guest in the air. In a speedy fashion, she caught him, but failed to get the flying troupe's attention. Applejack used some of her apples to trip a party attendee. After helping him up, she quickly advertised her snacks. The... victim refused. Rarity was hoping to see Blueblood's chivalrous side emerge. As she had hoped, the stallion stopped her in front of a stray puddle of punch. She thought he would cover it with a handkerchief, but he used hers instead. As they reached the exit, she gestured him to open it for her, but it was vice-versa. Fluttershy tried to catch the animals, to the point of actually trapping them, but they continued to escape her grasp, and her annoyance and surprising anger was slowly rising.

As the gala continued, Rarity and Blueblood approached AJ's booth outside. Rarity ordered two apple fritters. She once more tried to get her dream pony to do the polite thing and pay for both of them, but he expected her to. AJ saw this and decided to give them the fritters on the house. Blueblood was less than pleased, even horrified, at the many snacks he saw was of "common carnival" quality, and so he returned to the party for food of his preferred tastes.

AJ saw this as a chance to bring an apple cake to the ballroom, but the dessert was accidentally catapulted by Pinkie Pie in her continuous attempt to add flair to the boring festivities. Rarity and Blueblood walked in. As the cake flew right towards him, he used Rarity as a shield to save his clothes from being tarnished. Rarity finally lost her temper and berated him for his lack of manners and non-chivalry. Seeing him back away from the cake-covered mare to protect his ensemble, she shook off the cake pieces and dirtied him. Blueblood toppled over to the room's centerpiece statue, causing to it fall. Rainbow Dash found this the perfect opportunity to be noticed and successfully caught it. Unfortunately, it was too heavy for her and she dropped it, causing a set of stone columns to topple over as well.

The dust cleared before Twilight and Princess Celestia walked in to see the ballroom a huge mess. The very moment the student muttered that things could not get any worse, the garden's animals rushed into the room, scared by an insane and enraged Fluttershy who ordered them all to love her. With the ballroom in total chaos, Celestia told her student to run, prompting Twilight to call her friends to follow her. On the way down the stairs, Rarity dropped one of her glass slippers. After Pinkie told her that her prince would find her with it, the horrified unicorn instead destroyed the slipper, hoping to leave behind her fantasy once and for all.

Exhausted and their gala dresses a complete mess, they meet Spike at a nearby donut shop, explaining to him everything that had transpired. Their time at the party was so terrible, they had no choice but to start laughing. Twilight had hoped that Princess Celestia was not too mad about the party being crash. On the contrary, she arrived saying that it was the best Gala in a long time. According to her, the Grand Galloping Gala was "always awful", but the Twilight and her friends' involvement was able to liven up the party, even if it wasn't what they expected. What had mattered was that they were together now, hanging out as friends as suggested by Spike before the start of the event.

Quotes

 * Rarity: Heavens no! We're getting dressed!
 * Applejack: Dressed? Uh, beg your pardon Rarity, but we don't normally wear clothes.


 * Rarity: You, sir, are the most uncharming prince I have ever met! In fact, the only thing "royal" about you is that you are a royal pain !


 * Fluttershy: *enraged* You're... going to LOVE ME!!!

Trivia

 * The predictions that the ponies made in The Ticket Master is shown during the musical sequence of the episode.
 * The musical in the episode is the second biggest and most elaborate yet, featuring parts for all six main pony characters. The other one is from Winter Wrap Up.
 * A picture referencing this episode appears in the game My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: Discover the Difference, which debuted on Hubworld two weeks before the episode's premier. The image shows the ponies wearing the dresses from Suited for Success, seated around a modest table with a plate of half-eaten donuts and they appeared untidy.
 * The whole episode has a lot of fairy tale references. One is the horse maintaining the garden says he likes to "whistle while [he] works", a reference to Disney's Snow White. The whistle is also the same tune Snow White sings into the well. The magical apple carriage, the mice being turned into horses, and Rarity accidentally leaving her glass slipper are elements from Cinderella.
 * Fluttershy's freakout scene is reminiscent to Darla Dimple from the movie Cats Don't Dance.