| May the Best Pet Win! | |
|---|---|
| |
| Season №: | 2 |
| Season episode №: | 7 |
| Overall episode №: | 33 |
| Original airdate: | November 19, 2011 |
| Written by: | Charlotte Fullerton |
| Storyboard: | Joel Dickie and Emmett Hall |
| Featured characters: | Tank |
| Song: | Find A Pet Song |
| See also | |
| credits • transcript • gallery • allusions animation errors • statistics • speculation | |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous The Cutie Pox |
Next The Mysterious Mare Do Well |
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 wants to own a pet like her friends do and decides to hold a competition to determine which animal she should pick. The episode title is a play on the idiom "may the best man win".
Production[]
The episode was conceived of and written almost a year prior to its November 19, 2011 premiere.[1] On April 21, 2013, Lauren Faust stated regarding Tank, "Hasbro paired RD with a tortoise[sic] for the first batch of toys & I liked it and rolled with it. I think Rob came up with the name."[2] Charlotte Fullerton stated in 2015 that Hasbro had "wanted each of the ponies to have their own pet";[3] pets owned by the rest of the Mane 6 had been introduced in the first season.
The episode was #5 in the We Heart Ponies Fan Favorite Mare-a-thon, in the leadup to Hearts and Hooves Day.
Summary[]
Pony Pet Playdate[]
Rainbow Dash seeing the Angel-Gummy-Owlowiscious hybrid in her dream.
In a dream, Rainbow Dash encounters Owlowiscious while flying and challenges him to a race. His head and body soon become replaced by those of Winona, Gummy, and Angel before Opalescence suddenly leaps from his mouth, scaring Rainbow awake. She looks around to find the animals she just dreamed about next to her napping spot in a clearing near Ponyville.
The Mane Six playing with their pets.
Moments later, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle show up and begin playing with their pets. They tell Rainbow that they meet weekly for a pet playdate and didn't inform her simply because she doesn't have a pet. Rainbow tries to go back to sleep, though when the sound of her friends' mirth keeps her awake, she tells them that not having a pet now doesn't mean she never wants one.
Thrilled at the implied interest in owning a pet, Fluttershy brings Rainbow to her cottage to showcase her various animals. Together, they sing a song wherein Rainbow decides to hold a contest to determine the best choice of pet.
Let the games begin[]
Animals preparing to show off their speed.
- "So! You all think you've got what it takes to be my pet, do ya? Well, we'll just see about that! If any of you don't think you can handle it, bow out now before you humiliate yourself in front of your peers. This competition isn't for the weak. You'd better be prepared to step up your game!"
- — Rainbow Dash
After selecting a handful of flying animals for the contest, Rainbow begrudgingly obliges Fluttershy's request to allow a tortoise to compete. She conducts a series of games to evaluate speed, agility, bravery, and style, along with vague qualities of coolness, awesomeness, and radicalness. While the other animals perform well in different areas, the tortoise proves unable to keep up in any of the contests, and after failing the radicalness test, Rainbow advises him to stop participating altogether.
The final competition, at the starting line of Ghastly Gorge.
Having narrowed her choices to an owl, a bat, a falcon, and an eagle, Rainbow unveils the final challenge: a race through Ghastly Gorge. She specifies that whoever crosses the finish line with her will be selected as her pet. The tortoise joins them at the starting line but is quickly left behind when the race begins.
The rest of the contestants struggle through the gorge's various obstacles but manage to keep up. When Rainbow looks back at them after dodging through a group of quarray eels, however, she accidentally flies into a wall and triggers an avalanche. The flying contestants pass by in a rush to finish the course and fail to notice when a large boulder hits Rainbow and pins her wing to the ground. As she begins to panic when her calls for help go unanswered, the tortoise appears and, despite Rainbow's initial misgivings, manages to lever the boulder off the ground with his head.
Crossing the finish line[]
It was all worth sticking around in the "dreadful dust".
Spike and the rest of the Mane Six excitedly await Rainbow's arrival at the finish line but grow confused when the flying contestants, led by the falcon, show up without her. They notice the distant avalanche and begin to worry, whereupon the tortoise comes into view heading toward them with Rainbow sitting atop his shell. Seeing their slow pace of travel, Twilight carries the finish line over to them as the rest of the group celebrate and congratulate Rainbow on gaining the falcon as her new pet.
Now even Tank can fly!
Rainbow appears hesitant to accept the outcome, however. She notes that even though the falcon is what she wanted in a pet, the winning animal had to finish the race with her, leading her to declare the tortoise as her new pet instead. Asking Spike to take a letter to send to Princess Celestia, Rainbow reflects how the most important quality in a pet or friend is a never-give-up, can-do attitude, rather than just physical competitive ability. She decides to name her new pet Tank to reflect his steadfastness.
Later, Rainbow joins her friends as they commence their weekly pet playdate. Tank follows close behind her, flying through the air by means of a magical propeller strapped to his shell.
Quotes[]
- For more quotes, see the episode's transcript.
- 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?
- Rainbow Dash: Otters and seals do not fly.
- Fluttershy: Maybe not, but I've seen this particular seal catch ten feet of air when he breaches the water!
- Rainbow Dash: That's it. I'm outta here.
- 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: Listen, turtle...
- Fluttershy: Tortoise.
- Rainbow Dash: Whatever! You've had your fun, but I think you and I both know who made the cut and who didn't.
- Rainbow Dash: : You're all outstanding competitors, but there can only be one of you who's number one. So the final tie-breaking contest is going to be... pause for dramatic effect... a race against... me! Through Ghastly Gorge! Dun dun dun!
- [eagle cries]
- Rainbow Dash: Gesundheit.
- Rainbow Dash: Wahoo! My prayers have been answered! Oh, thankyouthankyoutha- You?! Oh no! Now I'm not only going to be stuck here forever, I'm gonna be stuck here with the most annoying turtle in the world! Gyh, I'm doomed. DOOMED, I tell you!
- Pinkie Pie: Wait! Look!
- Fluttershy: It's the turtle!
- All: TORTOISE!
- Fluttershy: Oh, whatever...
- Twilight Sparkle: Tenacity!
- Rainbow Dash: Gesundheit.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Lauren Faust (2011-11-19). Comment on fyre-flye's profile. DeviantArt. Retrieved on 2012 October 14.
- ↑ Lauren Faust (2013-04-21). Lauren Faust on Twitter: "@KTonarella Hasbro paired RD with a tortoise for the first batch of toys & I liked it and rolled with it. I think Rob came up with the name.". Twitter. Retrieved on 2017 May 20.
- ↑ Ponyville Live! (2015-04-08). BABSCon 2015 - MLP Show Writers' Panel. YouTube. Retrieved on 2021 May 24.
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