Owl's Well That Ends Well

Dear Princess Luna..

Earlier today I added a section to the right for future/episodes I haven't seen ideas as well as a section to try and gather my analysis of the characters. I should definitely have started up the latter much earlier, but c'est le guerre. I also learned that I have very few solo pictures of Applejack, even though I thought I took some. I have tons of Pinkie Pie pictures though, I guess since she's had a bunch of episodes about her and is usually doing something crazy enough to warrant screenshots.

We start off in Twilight's library, where Spike is packing a wagon full of food and supplies. A meteor shower that only occurs once every 100 years is going to take place. Twilight says Spike is her 'number 1 assistant' and Spike plays the 'I can't hear you, do what now?' routine. I'm pretty sure Spike is her only assistant, so, yeah.

Twilight says she wants to bring an astronomy book and Spike runs off to get it. He stifles a sneeze, caused by all the dust on the book, then opens it, where he then sneezes and scorches the book. Twiilight yells from the other room, asking what's taking so long, and Spike just puts the book (which is just a burnt out husk) back on the shelf.

"It's just a little burned, it's still good, it's still good..."

We then see Spike and Twilight climbing a hill, where Spike has apparently lied and claimed the book Twilight wanted wasn't there. Twilight is sure she put it back, Spike says she doesn't need it because she's so smart she probably knows everything anyway. That may be true, Spike, but it doesn't excuse destroying a 'really old' book and trying to cover up your crime against knowledge.

Spike sets up the blanket and food, Rainbow Dash is there and comments that she wishes she had an assistant that would do anything she asked. Hah, when I was writing that 'cast' page I put that Scootaloo wants to be like/idolizes Rainbow, and here we have proof of that as she volunteers to be her assistant.

"Why, yes! I would like to be your dogsbody, Rainbow! I mean, I'm a little girl and obviously look up to you, but hey, why not force me to do humiliating tasks instead of just spending time with me!"

Other members of the 'mane 6' plus Sweetie Belle and Applebloom arrive, all the ponies are impressed with the food Spike has prepared. Rarity made him a bowtie studded with gems (so he'll probably eat it) and uses magic to put it on him. Spike then asks Twilight to compliment him as well, but she says enough is enough.

"You're lucky we're out in public Spike or you'd be getting the Magic Slam again!"

The meteor shower begins, and the Crusaders especially are impressed and awe struck.

Twilight orders Spike to get them some more food after the gluttonous Pinkie Pie gobbles it all up, but he is asleep in the punch bowl. Pinkie says the punch has been Spike'd and they all laugh. Twilight brings him home and puts him in bed, then begins writing a paper about comets. A strange sound outside gets her attention, she investigates and sees nothing, but leaves the door unlatched. A dark shadow is shown flying around outside, and eventually a gust of wind blows Twilight's meteor paper out and it goes sailing into the night.

Twilight is upset, saying this is a job for Spike, and turns around to see an owl has recovered her scroll. SPOILERS I'm pretty sure that Twilight had an owl pet in, ugh, May the Best Pet Win, so this is probably where she gets it.

So the owl distracted Twilight, causing her to investigate and leave windows/doors open, which then caused her paper to fly out, which the owl conveniently retrieves, and Twilight doesn't think it's a set-up?

Twilight thanks the owl and invites him to stay inside with her since it is so cold out. The next morning,  Spike has overslept and races downstairs, hoping Twilight isn't going to beat him. Twilight says it is okay, and that they have a new junior assistant, Aloiscious (or more likely, Owloiscious). Spike is upset, asking why they need another assistant, Twilight says it's so he isn't so tired all the time.

Spike gets enraged as all Owloiscious says is 'hoo?' and dismisses him as a 'man of mystery.' Spike thinks Owloiscious is after his job as number 1 assistant, and starts working to take him out. Later, Twilight is showing off the owl to all her friends while Spike is reading a book on owls to find any weaknesses.

"So it says here owls are weak against lightning! Oh, crud, why are they staring? Did I say that out loud instead of thinking it?"

Rarity must have just met Owloiscious, and has already made a gem-studded bowtie for him, which seriously enrages Spike. That owl is not only after his job, but his crush as well? Twilight's friends say they think Spike is jealous of the owl and fears he may be replaced, Twilight foolishly believes that Spike knows he can't be replaced. Which is true, sort of, since Spike is essentially her slave, and Twilight would be hard pressed to find someone willing to get smashed into walls for incompetence and all the other BS Spike goes through.

Inside, Twilight starts asking for a book and Spike tries to step up his game, going to Radar O'Reilly levels of personal assistantness. However, Owloiscious, somehow is able to find and bring back the book before Spike sets up his precarious book ladder to reach the shelf.

So in Party of One, and other episodes, we saw Twilight just snatch books with magic, why isn't she doing that instead of sending Spike/the owl.

Twilight requests another book, which turns out to be in Spike's book ladder, Owloiscious snatches it and Spike tumbles to the ground as Twilight tells him to get down before he falls.

"I told you so."

Twilight's last writing quill breaks, and Spike sets off to find one, trashing the house. I didn't mention it earlier, but this episode has given some insights into Ponyverse meals. Spike asked Twilight if she wanted him to make her oatmeal, a sunflower smoothie or grass pancakes for breakfast. Now we see a sandwich made of daisies and something else.

Wait, wouldn't Spike have probably made this sandwich anyway, since he seems to prepare most of Twilight's food? You'd think he would have known there was no quill in there.

Spike runs off into town to find a quill, ignoring Twilight's yells for him to stop. He goes to Quills and Sofas, which is sold out of quills. He then stupidly asks Pinkie Pie for one. That's akin to asking Bugs Bunny for two lumps for your tea. She gives him a quince, a quail, a quilt, a quesadilla, a quince, then says she's all out of quills.

He then breaks into some pony's chicken coop and gets his ass whooped by the chicken.

"Chicken...gave me a bad coupon."

One feather fell off the chicken and Spike returns triumphantly, only to have it be revealed that Owloiscious gave Twilight one of his feathers to use. Spike is not pleased, clenching the feather so hard it bursts into flames. Spike gripes that he'll go do his chores, if Owloiscious hasn't done them already, and Twilight cheerfully says nope, there's still quite a lot of them. Spike then passes out on the stairs.

You would think Spike would have tried to rip out the owl's feathers himself, instead of going after a chicken.

Spike wakes up to see the book he trashed in the intro slammed next to him and a really pissed off Twilight. Owloiscious found the book. Spike says he just didn't want to disappoint her.

"Have you ever seen a dragon sneeze?" "I've seen a dragon die."

Spike blames Owloiscious for setting him up, even though it was completely his fault the book was trashed in the first place. He then wanders into Ponyville trying to find a way to get payback. He sees a mouse run past and gets an idea. He busts out a tophat, cape, and moustache like a true villain.

"Where's that damn owl? Someone needs to be tied to the railroad tracks."

Spike apparently did absorb the knowledge of that owl book he was reading. He breaks into Rarity's and steals Opalescence's mouse toy. Spike's plan is to rip it up and put it on the floor so Twilight thinks the mouse-eating owl did it.

He trashes the toy and then dumps ketchup on it to look like blood. Okay, this would probably work if it was Pinkie Pie he was trying to fool, or a filly, but Twilight? One of the smartest ponies around? I don't think so.

This is probably giving Spike too much credit, but do you think he chose Opal's toy to get a double whammy, getting Twilight upset at the owl, and Rarity as well?

Not enough, he then grabs Twilight's pillow and rips it apart, also leaving ketchup footprints across the floor. Unfortunately we don't get to see Twilight's reaction, as she enters while he is in the middle of setting up the scene.

"Uh, a wizard did it."

Spike tries to play it straight, acting like he didn't just set it all up. Twilight says she doesn't know what is worse, the fact he tried to set up the owl, or that he thought she would be fooled. She says he isn't the Spike she knows and loves, Spike thinks that means she doesn't love him anymore.

Spike packs his hobo stick and heads out into the forest, it starts to rain and he seeks shelter in a cave. Inside, he finds a huge hoard of gems. So, either he just found a Unicorns secret stash, or he's in a dragon's lair. Either way he will probably end up getting beaten or killed.

"Am I dead? Is this heaven?"

It is a dragon's lair, and the dragon is not pleased that Spike is in his cave and eating his gems. Spike tries to act like a tough guy, despite the dragon being like 200 times his size, and flees as the dragon tries to kill him.

Look how big this thing is, even the massive mountains of gems looked like they would only be a mouthful for this thing.

Spike is cornered, when suddenly 'hoo' echoes around the cavern. Owloiscious flies in and starts wrecking up the dragon, using his agility to dodge the attacks and cause the dragon to smash himself on the head with his spiked tail. Twilight yells for Spike and they run out of there.

The Crown Prince said, "Me kingdom for an 'orse!" So I gave him the one me missus dries the clothes on, and he gave me me old Iron Cross!

The dragon isn't giving up and gives chase, Twilight says it is too dark, and instead of using magic to light the way, Owloiscious becomes her eyes, flying in front and guiding her through. The dragon gets ensared and they escape.

Look at the range on his breath, you're telling me he couldn't have smoked them if he tried? He wasn't that far behind.

Twilight says they were so worried about him and asks why he ran away. Spike says he thought she didn't love him and didn't need him anymore. Twilight explains she only got Owloiscious so he can help her at night, and that she'll always love Spike.

"Oh, Spike, you know you'll always be mine, because you're my property."

Spike asks how they knew where he was, he apparently left a ketchup footprint trail. Spike comments how the ketchup blood looked pretty real, Twilight just stares and he awkwardly laughs.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

Back at home, Twilight is about to write to Princess Celestia, but lets Spike write for himself. Spike writes that being jealous and telling lies gets you nowhere in friendship, and that there's plenty of love for every friend to share. As he begins writing about something he promises to do or not do, he falls asleep. He probably just has narcolepsy.

Twilight falls for the hoo?/who? bit, then laughs as she realizes her error. Owlowiscious turns to the 'camera' and winks, and the episode ends. So he was probably 'trolling' Spike the entire time.

"Hoo." "The guy playing first." "Hoo." "The first baseman." "Hoo." "I'm asking you who's on first!"

What I learned from this episode:

• You'd think Spike would have improved for Season 2, but I'm seeing he's still pretty much the same terrible 'person' in Season 2 that he was in Season 1.
• Spike is just a complete failure of a dragon, getting bitched out by ponies, upstaged by an owl, and beaten up by a chicken.
• Owloiscious is a boss, but one must question his motives. Consider that he had been at the library a very short time and already knew exactly where to go for books, along with his super convenient way to get introduced to Twilight. He is probably a Changeling or polymorphed rival Unicorn trying to get some secret info.
• Update: I just came back to this episode and read the above, we know Trixie is coming back, wouldn't it be crazy if Owloiscious was her spy/herself transformed? =]

Party of One

Dear Princess Celestia (CC: Princess Luna)...

Still not really feeling all that hot, and it's still daylight, so Celestia gets another one. =]

Alright, we start out with a tranquil sweep through Ponyville and Twilight Sparkle's library. This tranquility is ended by Pinkie Pie, who is performing a 'singing telegram' to invite all her friends to her pet lizard's (Gummy) birthday.

Damn! Check out Rainbow's hacienda.

Pinkie is exhausted by the time she finishes inviting the 'mane 5' and collapses, saying next time she'll just pass out invitations.

Does Pinkie live in the Cake's shop? It looks like the party is taking place in that building. Applejack and Rainbow Dash are trying to show off to each other in bobbing for apples. Pinkie says there are other surprises in there besides boring old apples. Rainbow and Applejack eagerly search: Applejack finds a trap (an apple on a spring that drags her into the water) and Rainbow gets bit by Gummy.

"Then we are agreed. Pinkie dies tonight."

Rarity was enjoying some punch, until she saw Gummy in the punch bowl. Twilight and Fluttershy were dancing and Pinkie joins them. They seem to be having fun until Pinkie slams her body into them and sends them hurtling into walls.

"Don't worry, I'm alive...I think.."

The party continues into the night and they all head home, Twilight foolishly says they should 'do this again soon' which gives Pinkie an idea. The next morning, Pinkie is delivering invitations, because, as Twilight said, it is now 'soon.' It's for an After Birthday Party that afternoon, Twilight uses magic to enhance her lie, claiming she's behind on her studies and dragging a bunch of books off the shelves.

"Oh, okay, Twilight. Although if I didn't know better, I'd say you just piled all those books with magic, since your horn was just glowing..."

Wait a second, wait a second! Wasn't there a whole thing in The Return of Harmony about Applejack being honest and never lying? When Pinkie jumps out of a hay bale to invite her, Applejack is seen hauling 3 carts full of apples. She stumbles for an excuse, finally saying she needs to pick apples. Pinkie stares at her, trying to psych her out, then gives up, saying 3 party guests is fine.

Was she lying? It is still morning, so she should still have tons of chores to do around the farm. Not sure why she was so nervous if it was true.

Not only is Spike forced to do labor for Twilight, he, likely willingly, does odd jobs for Rarity too. Pinkie tries to invite Rarity, she says she needs to wash her hair. Pinkie doesn't think it looks dirty, Rarity runs over to the trash and puts her head in it. At least Twilight might have been moving those books out of sight, this was just blatant but Pinkie doesn't seem to care.

"Any more disgusting tasks, madam?"

Fluttershy and Rainbow are conveniently together, and claim they are house sitting and can't make it. Pinkie keeps interrogating them about it, their lie escalates into them house sitting for a bear, but it's really a cave, that's vacationing at the beach because he loves to play volleyball/collect sea shells/play sea shells/collect volleyballs. After that last bit, they take off.

That's some pretty impressive detail for something hastily drawn.

Even Pinkie is able to realize something is afoul. The only story she believes was the cockamamie bear-house sitting one, and she comes to the conclusion that the others were excuses. As she comes to this conclusion, she sees Twilight sneaking into the Cake's store. So Pinkie does apparently live there.

"Excuses? More like 'excuse me' while I beat your brains in!"

Twilight conspires with Mrs. Cake, telling her not to tell anything to Pinkie as she picks up an order. Pinkie listens in with cans and a string, confused as to why Twilight wouldn't want her to know about something.

Uh, ouch.

Twilight sneaks through Ponyville, Pinkie stealthily tries to follow her, using Groucho Marx glasses as a disguise. Twilight ends up at Rarity's, where she drops the package and they comment about not wanting Pinkie to ruin everything.

Rule #3: "Don't open the package"

Pinkie is now disguised as a hay bale with Grouch Marx glasses and an overcoat. She follows Rarity, who meets with Fluttershy. They both talk about how whatever the 5 of them have planned will be obviously better than Pinkie's After Birthday Party, so long as Pinkie doesn't find out. Rarity drops the package for Fluttershy, who sees the disguised Pinkie and flies away in terror. Rainbow walks by, immediately identifies it as Pinkie and greets her, then realizes what she just said and she too flies away in terror.

"Any rags? Any bones? Any bottles today? There's a super creepy Pinkie Pie coming this way."

Rainbow is pursued by Pinkie. She thinks she escapes, but Pinkie uses her Bugs Bunny powers to appear inside a barrel, then inside a bell, and then on top of a mountain. She demands to know the real reason Rainbow didn't want to go and what is in her bags.

"Just give up, Rainbow. I can be any where, I can be any one, I can be any thing."

Rainbow just flies off, heading towards Applejack's barn, with Pinkie hot on her heels. She flies in and Applejack slams the doors shut. Pinkie smashes her head against the door until Applejack opens. Once again, the 'super honest, she would never lie' Applejack tells an obvious lie, claiming they are renovating the barn and Rainbow brought supplies.

"Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?"

After Pinkie leaves, it's shown that all 5 of the 'mane' ponies are in the barn. Back in Ponyville, Pinkie vows to find out whatever it is they are hiding, and knows just what to do.

She lured Spike to her room, offering him a feast of gems. She then busts out a high power lamp, has gummy pull him back against the chair by grabbing his tail, and tells him to talk.

"You would prefer another target, a military target? Then name the system! I grow tired of asking this so it will be the last time: Where is the rebel base?"

Spike doesn't understand what is going on, Pinkie says she wants him to talk about their friends. Spike just starts saying general facts, like that Twilight is a brainiac unicorn that uses magic. Pinkie says she wants him to confess.

I haven't said it in quite some time, but my first assessment of Spike seems to have been accurate. He really is just the worst kind of person. He confesses that he ruined one of Twilight's tomes and that he took a 7 hour bath and used up all the hot water in Ponyville. He also does this when no one is around:

"Don't worry, Spike! Everyone loves you! When you think they are all laughing at you, they really just remembered a joke they heard one time."

Pinkie rages, Spike asks what she wants to hear, she says she wants him to say that all her friends are lying to her, don't like her parties, and don't want to be her friend anymore.

"You're far too trusting. Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration - but don't worry; we will deal with your rebel friends soon enough."

Spike, fearing for his life, repeats what she just said. Pinkie is momentarily pleased, then suddenly heartbroken. Even her hair reflects her deep sadness.

Aww.

Something broke inside Pinkie. She hosts a party for her new friends: a pile of rocks, a bucket of turnips, a ball of lint, and a sack of flour.

Nothing insane about this...

She descends further into madness as the 'guests' begin talking to her, telling her how all her old friends are losers.

I kind of like her mane like that.

Rainbow arrives, and tries to get Pinkie to go with her to Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie wants nothing to do with her, and pushes her new friends in Rainbow's way while talking as them. The pile of rocks calls Rainbow a chump, and that enrages her.

"We'll see who's the chump, chump!"

Rainbow knocks over the rocks, realizes she was trying to fight inanimate objects, then resumes trying to get Pinkie to go. She starts shoving on her from behind (a pegasus trying to move an Earth Pony) and ends up getting her head sat on.

"Rocky, thou art avenged!"

Pinkie chooses to 'do it the hard way' and Rainbow drags her by the tail all the way to Applejack's barn. Inside, Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy all yell surprise.

"Who should I kill first? Fluttershy, because she would run away? Twilight, because she has magic? Rarity, because she's always so smug? Rainbow, for dragging me here? Or Applejack, because she turned my After Birthday Party into a house of lies!"

Pinkie starts raging, saying how it's her farewell party, everyone is confused. It turns out it is Pinkie's birthday, and, of course, it is a surprise party they've been planning, so they had to make excuses. Pinkie, as we have seen in A Friend in Deed, knows everyone's birthday, but she seriously forgot her own?

Pinkie looks around, sees her birthday cake, birthday decorations, realises they are telling the truth, and her hair springs back to its normal form. Pinkie, somehow, really did forget her own birthday. Rainbow is glad she wasn't replaced by a bucket of turnips. They start enjoying the party, Twilight narrates her letter to Princess Celestia, where she says she learned to always expect the best from friends, never assume the worst, and that a good friend always has your best interests at heart. Pinkie asks if they can celebrate Gummy's After Birthday Party since it got cut short and he's upset about it, and Twilight says, 'why not.'

What I learned from this episode:

• Not something new, but Pinkie Pie is one crazy pony. Her friends were conspiring against her, but man, she hit rock bottom. Talking to herself, making imaginary friends, even her hair went crazy. (Or would that be, her hair went sane, since its default form looks pretty crazy)
• Hmm, trying to think of anything else, but mostly the episode was focused on Pinkie's descent into madness, not really any cool things discussed or shown beyond that.
• Season 1 seems to have the same quality as Season 2, as so far both episodes I've watched have been pretty good. I just hope there aren't more May the Best Pet Win type episodes lurking.

The Best Night Ever

Dear Princess Celestia (CC: Princess Luna)...

Feel so good, I do not. Actually starting this at midday, so in keeping with the spirit of the show, I had to 'address' it to, oh boy, Celestia instead of our beloved guardian of the night. =]

For Season 1, I am going to try and watch it in reverse order. Easier to keep track of, so I don't have another Hearts and Hooves getting under the radar deal-y. So, as was my introduction to the series, we are also starting Season 1 with the season finale. Interesting, it appears to only be one episode and not a two parter.

Pinkie Pie is bouncing around, extremely excited. The Grand Galloping Gala, which we have seen references to in Sweet and Elite and at least one other episode, is about to take place. Holy spades, do we have a new record? Twilight Sparkle, from 0 to enraged in 7 seconds.

"If I teleport that trampoline away when she's at the apex of her bounce...."

Twilight yells at Pinkie to be silent so she can read. Rarity exits her boutique, and enrages faster than Twilight(!), apparently the 'mane 6' are going to the Gala.

"I will most certainly not have you ruining your dress with sweat! Odds are you will have it stained with chocolate and Celestia knows what else by the end of the night, but it shall start clean!"

Twilight is studying her book still, Pinkie asks what she is doing. Reading a book, perhaps? It turns out to be a spell book, and Twilight is going all Cinderella for the Gala, transforming an apple into a carriage, and mice into horse....things.

Score some more points for magic/unicorns, even though those mice-horse things are creepy as hell.

Rarity's evil cat, Opalescence, attacks the mice-horses and they run away, even though they are like 5 times the size of the cat and could wreck her. Twilight is upset that her plan has fallen apart. Rarity uses her charms to get some male ponies to pull the carriage instead.

The mane 6 are getting prepared for the Gala, Spike wants to enter, Rarity bars the door because they are 'getting dressed.'

"Rarity, you realize Spike has seen all he needs to see, on a daily basis, including the goods of the gol darn monarch of the realm."

So this Grand Galloping Gala, which if I recall is like the social event in Equestria, is going down, and Spike thought they were all just going to hang out with him all night. He gets made sad, but perks up as Twilight says they will still hang out with him at some point. They then use him as the coach driver, even though it's being pulled by 'human' ponies.

In Season 2, they were going to Canterlot quite frequently. It sounds like this was the first time they ever went there in Season 1.

Spike whips the reins and gets glowered at by the pony pulling the carriage. Spike would probably be dead if he didn't know Rarity, as the two males are not pleased and only refrain from leaving his battered body in  a ditch somewhere because of his relation with Rarity.

"Uh, sorry. I mean, I've only spent my entire life around talking ponies, I forgot you were one too."

Interestingly enough, as they arrive in Canterlot we see many other carriages also being pulled by males. The 'mane 6' disembark, and we see their Gala gowns.

How cute. Wait a second, Rarity, you magnificent bastard! You wore that same outfit in Sweet and Elite!

Twilight says this will be the best night ever. A musical piece begins, each pony singing about what they imagine the Gala will be like.

Fluttershy plans to spend all her time in the castle gardens with the animals.

At the Gala, in the garden

I'm going to see them all!

All the creatures, I'll befriend them at the Gala! (at the Gala!)

All the birdies, and the critters

They will love me big and small!

We'll become good friends forever

Right here at the Gala!

Applejack is going to use the Gala as a means to make money, selling apples.

At the Gala (it's amazing!), I will sell them (better hurry!)

All my appletastic treats! (yummy, yummy!)

Hungry ponies (they'll be snacking!), they will buy them (bring your money!)

Caramel apples, apple sweets! (gimme some!)

And I'll earn a lot of money for the Apple family!

This does seem to give more evidence to the Rarity = gold digger aspect, as her dreams of the Gala are to meet the nobility and find her Prince Charming. On one hand, you could say, well, that is just a dream for girls to find a prince. On the other, this is Rarity we're talking about, so it's probably safe to say she is after something else.

At the Gala, all the royals

They will meet fair Rarity

They will see I'm just as regal at the Gala! (at the Gala)

I will find him, my Prince Charming,

And how gallant he will be,

He will treat me like a lady, tonight at the Gala!

Oh no, the ever-useless Wonderbolts. Rainbow's Gala goal is to show off to the Wonderbolts so they'll recruit her.

Been dreaming, I've been waiting

To fly with those brave ponies

The Wonderbolts, their daring tricks

Spinning 'round and having kicks

Perform for crowds of thousands

They'll shower us with diamonds

The Wonderbolts will see me right here at the Gala!

Pinkie plans to enhance the Gala parties, saying the one thing it was missing was a pony named Pinkie. She's kind of full of herself me thinks.

I am here at the Grand Gala, for it is the best party

But the one thing it was missing was a pony named Pinkie

For I am the best at parties, all the ponies will agree

Ponies playing, ponies dancing, with me at the Grand Gala!

Twilight's Gala goal is just to talk to her magical mentor, Princess Celestia.

At the Gala (at the Gala), with the Princess (with the Princess)

Is where I'm going to be (she will be)

We will talk all about magic and what I've learned and seen (she will see)

It is going to be so special as she takes time just for me!

The () lyrics above are sung by the random ponies also en route to the gala, there are also a bits in between each of the 'mane' characters' pieces. What's interesting in they are talking about the Gala like it's the Don's daughter's wedding and they're going to get a free wish granted by Celestia.

At the end of the song, the 'mane' characters reiterate their goals. Fluttershy: Meet new friends. Applejack: Sell some apples. Rarity: Find my prince. Rainbow: (Prove I'm great) As a Wonderbolt is. Then again, Fluttershy: To meet! Applejack: To sell! Rarity: To find! Rainbow: To prove! Pinkie: To woo! (woot?) Twilight: To talk!


So, Fluttershy is using this huge event just to go find animals, ignoring all the ponies that will be gathered. Applejack is using the large amount of ponies to get money from, not even interested in the event itself. Rarity is looking for love and/or money. Rainbow just wants the Wonderbolts to recognize her talent. Pinkie is so full of herself she thinks they don't know how to party unless she is there. And Twilight just wants to talk to Celestia.

Not exactly super interesting goals, but at least they are probably attainable. As they enter the gates of Canterlot castle (or Canterlot itself? not sure but it showed them in front of a draw bridge and moat) Spike says it will be the best night ever since they are all together, they all run off in different directions.

They seem off to a good start, Twilight finds Celestia, who says she wants Twilight by her side all evening so they have plenty of time together.

Aww, Twilight looks pretty happy. =]

Rarity spies a prince and is smitten.

A Unicorn, of course.

Fluttershy sees a meadowlark fly by, and they sing to each other as she tries to follow it.

"It's exactly what I wished for!"

Applejack moves into a large group of ponies and deploys her apple stand. A Wonderbolt buys an apple pie within moments.

So she brought two pies, two cartons of apple fries, two cupcakes, two apple fritters, and then a bunch of caramel apples and normal apples. It also looked to cost two bits for a pie, the same price as one mug of cider.

Everyone else is all gussied up, except the Wonderbolts that showed up in their flight suits. The guy that bought the pie (carrying it in his mouth) goes to respond to Spitfire and drops it, Rainbow flies over and catches it before it hits the ground. Spitfire recognizes her from some Season 1 event (saving the Wonderbolts (go figure) at Cloudsdale and winning the best flyer competition) and invites her to hang out with them. Rainbow gets to go into the VIP section.

Yet again, the Wonderbolts are useless, not even able to save a pie.

Pinkie is really excited about the dance floor, fancy ponies, fancy band, and starts singing about how being at the Gala is all she's ever dreamed while going crazy. The 'fancy ponies' are not amused.

"See my dress, see my dress, see my dress!"

Pinkie's cold reception seems to have set a downward trend. Rarity wants Prince Blueblood to pick a rose and give it to her, instead he takes it himself, because it compliments his eyes.

"B..but I wanted that...."

Fluttershy finds her 'meadowlark' is really a groundskeeper. She sees a bunch of animals but they flee as she approaches.

This is a 'meadowlark.'

The Wonderbolts, Spitfire and Soarin, are in the middle of conversations in a big crowd of ponies. Rainbow gets upset they aren't paying attention to her.

"Hey! I mean, I was cool with you not knowing my name, even though I saved your lives and won a flying competition...but I saved your pie, man! Pay attention to me!"

So Princess Celestia said she was so eager to spend time with Twilight, but she is personally greeting all the ponies arriving at the Gala, she may technically be spending time with Twilight, but like the others, not what Twilight dreamt.

Hmm, those two look like they were in Sweet and Elite's music bit as Rarity's gal pals.

Applejack hasn't sold a single apple in an hour.

Aww.

It's official, nothing is going as they hoped.

Even the ever perky Pinkie Pie is downhearted.

Prince Blueblood is proving to be a prima donna, taking a cushion for himself instead of offering it to Rarity. The endless line of ponies continues, depressing Twilight. Rainbow is ignored by the Wonderbolts. The animals continue to flee from Fluttershy.

They all are fed up and want to take matters into their own hooves to make it the best night ever.

"Everybody's pickin' on me, gettin' sick of it as can be, a friend's a friend when a friend's in need, but everyone helps everybody else but me! My friends have treated me awful bad, borrowed every cent that I had, I got this gun to hide behind that tree and pick off everybody that's been pickin' on me!"

Fluttershy decides if she can't get the animals to come out, she'll lure them out with food and trap them. That groundskeeper ends up in the trap, one of those box-propped-up-with-stick traps.

"That's strike two, bub."

Rainbow says if they won't notice her, she needs to make them notice her. She attempts to do so by assaulting some poor pony, launching him into the air and catching him. The Wonderbolts don't even notice.

Where are all those royal guards that were pretty much all over in Season 2's Canterlot?

Rarity tells herself to give the Prince a chance, surely his 'princely' side will come out eventually. That pony that Rainbow attacked had a drink, it is now spilled on the floor. Instead of, I don't know, walking around it, Blueblood stops Rarity, she is impressed at first, then it ends up being her garment used to cover the puddle.

I guess Rarity expected him to pull off his tuxedo thing? Or in the words of Bill Cosby, "Go around, idiot, go around!"

Pinkie gets an idea, giving a request to the band and starts singing the 'pony pokey.'

We see Twilight, endlessly shaking hooves.

You reach your right hoof in

You reach your right hoof out

You reach your right hoof in

And you shake it all about

You do the Pony Pokey meeting lots of folks with clout

That's what I'm talking about

Next, Applejack is trying to get sales by tripping a pony on apples. He is not amused, and doesn't buy anything.

You step your left hoof in

You pull it right back out

You step your left hoof in

But you better help him out

You do the Pony Pokey but should find a different route

That's what it's all about

Rainbow impresses Spitfire and Soarin by kicking her drink into the air and catching it on her back leg. Spitfire and Soarin are dragged away to take a photo with someone, enraging Rainbow.

You kick your back left in

You pull your back left out

You reach your back left in

Just be brave and have no doubt

You do the Pony Pokey feeling like you're gonna pout

That's what I'm singing about

Rarity and Blueblood have a Mexican Standoff over who opens the door. Hmm, should Blueblood open it for her, because she's a woman, or should she open it for him, because he's royalty? Blueblood, shocked at her insolence, ends up opening it in a huff, and it smacks her in the rear.

You tilt your head in

You tilt your head out

You tilt your head in

Then you shake it all about

You do the Pony Pokey even though your date's a lout

You're better off without

Fluttershy is enraged, trying to tackle animals, stomping and yelling 'Come out!' as the animals cower in the trees.

You stomp your whole self in

You stomp your whole self out

You stomp your whole self in

And you stomp yourself about

You do the Pony Pokey and you give a little shout-COME OUT!

That's what I'm talking about

As Pinkie finishes the song, one of the ponies yells at her, telling her it's 'not that kind of party.' Pinkie thinks that means they want a 'par-tay' instead.

Applejack is still moping, Rarity and Blueblood order two apple fritters. Applejack pulls some out from behind the stand, so I guess she does have more in stock, not that it matters, apparently. Rarity and Blueblood 'argue' over who is going to pay, Rarity gives up and starts looking for money, but Applejack gives them to her on the house.

Blueblood takes a bite then spits it out, he freaks out, apparently seeing what Applejack is trying to sell for the first time, complaining that his 'royal lips have touched common carnival fare.'

Gee, Rarity, figure out why this guy's single yet?

Blueblood says he's going to get some hors d'oeuvres at the buffet, and Applejack thinks that is the reason no one is buying her apples, that they are all eating them there fancy vittles.

Fluttershy has gone off the deep end, setting up a net trap and laughing maniacally. She ends up caught in the net herself.

"Storm, earth, and fire: heed my call!"

Back inside, Pinkie is trying to start up a 'par-tay' and starts smashing into ponies and throwing them into the air.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?!"

Applejack wheels in a cake she somehow just whipped up, Pinkie jumps off the stage and hits into Applejack's cart, sending the cake flying, which goes on a direct course for Blueblood and Rarity, that just walked in. (Rarity had to hold the door for him) Blueblood uses her as a 'human' shield, cowering behind her.

Two Unicorns right there, and an unknown number in the room, and no one used magic to grab the cake?

That was the last straw, Rarity flips out on him, telling him the only thing 'royal' about his is that he is a royal pain. He cowers from her, afraid of getting dirty since he was just groomed. Rarity shakes herself off like a dog and gets cake all over him, he staggers back and hits into a statue's pedestal, which makes the thing fall over. Rainbow says 'This is my chance!' and darts over to catch it. (That's kind of risky, since the thing was making metallic groaning sounds as it leaned over, she could have been crushed)

"Get this through your head you royal fop, I'm what counts out here!"

The statue is too heavy, Rainbow loses her balance, and hits into a pillar, this starts a chain reaction, knocking down several other pillars. The statue then falls apart. Pretty crappy statue, wasn't even anchored and breaks that easily?

"Hey Spitfire, you see me right?"

Princess Celestia and Twilight enter the room, shocked at the devastation and forlorn look of her friends. Twilight makes the mistake of saying 'It couldn't get any worse' and immediately after, the doors to the garden burst open as all the animals come charging inside. What could have caused that you wonder?

"YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE ME!"

All hell breaks loose, Celestia tells Twilight to run, Twilight whistles for her friends and they all run out like it's Halloween. (Or Nightmare Night I reckon.) Rarity loses one of her glass slippers, Pinkie says 'Now your prince will be sure to find you!' Rarity smashes it.

We cut to Spike at Donut Joe's (hey, it's that guy we saw in MMMystery) who apparently didn't even try to be at the Gala and has been eating donuts all night.

"Diabetes is future Spike's problem, not mine!"

Twilight and co. arrive. For comparison, the second image is from when they first arrived inside the castle.

Aww.

It's the Grand Galloping Gala! Anything could happen! (But what does happen, sucks.)

It cuts to just after Twilight and co. talk about the Gala, and Spike says it sounds more like the worst night ever. Twilight is saying she hopes Celestia isn't mad at them for ruining the Gala, when Celestia herself enters, saying it was the best Gala ever.

"Sorry for all the damage, Princess, and the future therapy bills for all those animals."

It turns out Celestia always finds the Gala to be 'awful' and purposefully invited Twilight and her Ponyville pals (which we know are considered rednecks/hillbillies to Canterlot ponies) to liven it up.

Spike can't help but doing an 'I told you so!' as the mane 6 realize that as terrible as their Gala was, being together at the donut shop makes it the best night ever. (Somehow.)

Rarity: Found a dud of a Prince, didn't find her true love. Pinkie: No one liked her idea of a 'party.' Rainbow: Was ignored, attacked and nearly killed ponies trying to show off. Fluttershy: The animals didn't want anything to do with her, she reached new levels of insanity. Applejack: Sold one thing, had her cake wasted without anyone even trying it.

So, it looks like Twilight, Spike, and Celestia were the only ones that got their Gala desires fulfilled. Twilight gets to talk to Celestia now, Spike gets to hang out with them, and Celestia got her Gala 'livened up.'

What I learned from this episode:

• I get the feeling that a chunk of Season 1 was dedicated to leading up to this episode, I may have made a mistake starting here. Season 2 had continuity but the order you watch those in doesn't matter too much. Especially since the season finale comes out of no where with pretty much 0 mentions of any of the events previously.
• I've probably said it before, but why does Rainbow want to be a Wonderbolt so badly? They are pretty much beyond useless in every episode we see them. Except, from a certain point of view, Sweet and Elite, where Rainbow's knowledge (and prattling on about them to Rarity) helped Rarity further her social standing with Fancypants.
• I ended up with a ton of screenshots here, 46, and there were many more opportunities. Lots of good scenes I guess. It was a pretty good episode. watching their hopes get destroyed until the whole thing descended into chaos.
• So the 'mane' characters' dreams all fell flat, what about the other random ponies that were all singing about their desires for the Gala? And, if it is always awful as Celestia said, why is there so much hype for it? Or does everyone just act like it's awesome even though they know it sucks.
• Update! It turns out Rarity hangs out with Prince Blueblood in Sweet and Elite, so maybe there weren't 'hard feelings' between them. Or he was really interested in her because of her rising social status and wasn't acting like a jerk like in this episode. 

Update -  This episode ended up being in my top 10 overall favorites, write-up copied from my Triumphant Return post:

The Grand Galloping Gala had long been in the dreams of all the 'mane 6.' Princess Celestia gave them all free tickets in the 3rd episode, but it wasn't until the end of the season that the Gala takes place. All of their hopes and dreams end up falling flat. The Wonderbolts largely ignore Rainbow Dash. Rarity's Prince Blueblood is a selfish fop. Fluttershy frightens the garden creatures and freaks out when they won't be her friend. Twilight Sparkle doesn't really get to talk to Celestia, instead having to shake hooves all night. The Gala 'party' is not what Pinkie Pie envisioned at all. And Applejack manages to make one sale, then later has the cake she whipped up ruined by Pinkie Pie. They still declare it the Best Night Ever, because at the end of the night they were all together, and had Princess Celestia personally visit them at Donut Joe's.

A song from this episode also made my top 5 song list:

At the Gala - In retrospect, this is actually a really sad song if you've seen the rest of the episode. Each pony, including random citizens of Equestria, all imagine their hopes, wishes, and dreams will be fulfilled at the Gala. Later in the episode, Celestia states that the Grand Galloping Gala is always 'awful,' which makes you wonder why every pony thought it was going to be super amazing.