- For the animal and the song within this episode, see Creatures#Vampire fruit bat and Bats (song).
| Bats! | |
|---|---|
| |
| Season №: | 4 |
| Season episode №: | 7 |
| Overall episode №: | 72 |
| Original airdate: | December 28, 2013 |
| Written by: | Merriwether Williams[1] |
| Storyboard: | John Young and Corey Toomey[2] |
| Song: | Bats |
| See also | |
| credits • transcript • gallery • allusions animation errors • statistics • speculation | |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous Power Ponies |
Next Rarity Takes Manehattan |
Bats! is the seventh episode of the fourth season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the seventy-second episode overall. In this episode, Applejack asks her friends to help stop an infestation of vampire fruit bats at Sweet Apple Acres, though they accidentally create a new apple-eating menace in the process. The title could be a pun on the interjection "rats", which expresses disappointment or frustration.
Production and development[]
On April 1, 2013, Meghan McCarthy wrote as part of an April Fools' Day joke that the eleventh episode of the fourth season would be titled "Bats" and that "It's just like the musical 'Cats', but with, you know, bats. And ponies. But mostly bats."[3]
The episode's premise was originally pitched to be a musical episode by Amy Keating Rogers[4] and its script was locked in October 2012.[5] The original opening credits of the episode incorrectly credited Meghan McCarthy as the episode's writer instead of Merriwether Williams.[1] This was corrected in reruns.
Summary[]
Apple Bucking Day[]
Something weird's goin' on here.
One morning at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack watches dawn break over the apple orchard and excitedly declares the advent of Apple Bucking Day. When the first tree she bucks yields only mushy, wilted fruit, however, Applejack cries out in dismay as a swarm of bats passes overhead:
- "They're back!"
- — Applejack
Applejack summons her friends for a "Sweet Apple Acres code red" and tells them that vampire fruit bats are swarming the apple orchards and sucking the fruit dry. She shows off a massive apple that she plans to enter into a produce competition and asks for their help in warding the bats off. Fluttershy proposes asking the bats nicely to stay away from the apple, though her attempt to communicate with them proves unsuccessful.
Stop the bats![]
Which side would you pick?
In a song, Applejack insists on removing the bats and rejects Fluttershy's suggestion of letting them inhabit part of the orchard, despite her point that the apple seeds spat out by the bats grow into more fruitful trees. The rest of the Mane Six end up agreeing with Applejack, though while trying to find a middle ground, Twilight Sparkle comes up with an idea to deter the bats from eating apples in the first place.
The friends regroup at the Golden Oak Library, where Twilight finds a spell to stop the bats from eating apples so long as she has their undivided attention. Pressured to use her Stare for this purpose, Fluttershy expresses discomfort with the idea of altering the nature of the vampire fruit bats but ends up acquiescing.
A seamless operation.
Back at Sweet Apple Acres, after the Mane Six round up the vampire fruit bats onto a single apple tree, Twilight casts her spell while Fluttershy stares them into submission. The spell succeeds in making the bats no longer interested in apples, and Applejack thanks her friends for their help.
An orchard stakeout[]
The next morning, Applejack begins harvesting apples only to once more find them sucked dry of their juice. She assumes Twilight's spell failed and calls her friends over again for help, though upon locating a group of vampire fruit bats nearby, they find them wholly disinterested in eating apples. Unaware of what other animal could be responsible, Twilight proposes the group hold a stakeout to catch the culprit.
Fluttershy has transformed into Flutterbat!
The ponies return to the orchard that evening and split up to search for unusual activity. Applejack soon signals the others to her location, where they find Fluttershy sucking the juice from apples while perched upside-down on a branch. When they try to intervene, Fluttershy hisses and flies aggressively by them with bat-like wings. Twilight theorizes that her spell on the vampire fruit bats ended up transferring their nature into Fluttershy as she used her Stare on them.
The group determine to catch Fluttershy so they can reverse the spell, though after several failed chase attempts, Applejack agrees to use her prize apple as a lure by slicing it open. Attracted by the smell, Fluttershy flies over only for Applejack to kick the apple aside and reveal a mirror behind it. As Pinkie Pie and Rarity cut off Fluttershy's escape with their own mirrors, Twilight casts a spell that reverses their friend's transformation and restores her to normal.
[]
A place for the bats.
In the end, Applejack agrees to section off part of the orchard for the vampire fruit bats and apologizes to Fluttershy for not listening earlier. The two join up at Fluttershy's Cottage to dictate a journal entry to Spike recounting what happened and reflecting how you shouldn't let others pressure you into doing something you don't think is right.
Quotes[]
- For more quotes, see the episode's transcript.
- Applejack: Attention! This is a Sweet Apple Acres code red! I need all hooves–and claws–on deck!
- Applejack: Well? What'd he say?
- Fluttershy: Um... yes.
- Applejack: Huh?!
- Fluttershy: But... it could've been a no.
- Applejack: Oh.
- Rainbow Dash: What about the cider? There was still cider, right?
- Applejack: Not... a... drop.
- Rainbow Dash: No cider?! No cider?! We need to round up these monsters, and we need to do it now!
- Fluttershy: That apple... It looks... so juicy... and sweet...
- Rarity: Uh... Fluttershy, sweetness, please come down, and... do stop being a vampire bat.
- Fluttershy: What happened to me?
- Pinkie Pie: You turned into a vampire pony!
- Fluttershy: I tried to eat ponies?!
- Pinkie Pie: Of course not!
- Fluttershy: So I wasn't a vampire?
- Pinkie Pie: Yes!
- Fluttershy: Yes I was, or yes I wasn't?
- Pinkie Pie: Yes, you were!
- Fluttershy: But I didn't try and eat ponies?
- Pinkie Pie: Yes!
- Fluttershy: I did?!
- Pinkie Pie: No!
- Fluttershy: I'm confused...
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 That credit for BATS! is wrong.. Twitter (2013-12-28). Retrieved on 2013 December 28. Archived locally
- ↑ Jim Miller (2013-12-28). @TheBiggestJim: Whoops, slept in! Today's.... Twitter. Retrieved on 2013 December 28.
- ↑ MMeghanMcCarthy: Episode 411: "Bats" It's just.... Twitter (2013-04-01). Retrieved on 2013 November 25.
- ↑ #MLPSeason4 Fun Fact! BATS.... Twitter (2013-12-28). Retrieved on 2013 December 28.
- ↑ @MMeghanMcCarthy If BATS! had a Nightmare Night.... Twitter (2013-12-29). Retrieved on 2013 December 29.
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