Equestria Games
Spike struggles with stage fright at the Equestria Games.
The fourth season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic wraps up with its twenty-fourth episode, "Equestria Games," which Dave Polsky wrote. Airing May 3, 2014, on The Hub, the story has Spike selected to ignite the torch during the games' opening ceremony.
Quick Facts
- Series
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Writer
- Dave Polsky
- Air date
- 3 May 2014
- Length
- 22 minutes
Facts from the source article.
Plot
The Ponyville delegation traveled to the Crystal Empire for the Equestria Games. There, Spike discovered he was widely hailed as a hero for his part in defeating King Sombra, earning the title "Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious." Princess Cadance requested that he light the ceremonial torch at the opening ceremony, an honor Spike gladly accepted due to his dragon fire. But when he faced the enormous crowd in the stadium, stage fright struck him hard, and he could not produce even a tiny flame. As the audience grew restless, Twilight secretly used a spell to ignite the torch, letting the games proceed. Later, when she told him what she had done, Spike felt he had failed all of Equestria and fled in shame. Hoping to make amends, he offered to sing the victory anthem after the aerial relay, unaware that the Wonderbolts had won, meaning he needed to perform Cloudsdale's anthem instead. His clumsy, made-up version with wrong lyrics left the stadium in an awkward hush. During the final ice archery event, an archer's stray arrow turned a cloud into a huge block of ice that threatened to crush the audience. With pegasus guards unable to move it and security spells blocking unicorn magic, Spike jumped onto the backs of flying pegasi and blasted the ice with fire, turning it into harmless water and steam. Although others celebrated his bravery, Spike felt no pride, as he had only done what was necessary. Princess Cadance then asked him to light the closing ceremony fireworks, and this time Spike performed with confidence.
Broadcast and reception
The episode "Equestria Games" first aired on May 3, 2014, via the Hub Network. Nielsen ratings indicated that 413,000 viewers tuned in, representing about 0.2 percent of U.S. households. Sherilyn Connelly, who wrote Ponyville Confidential, assigned the episode a "B" grade. Critic Jen A. Blue noted that the episode accomplished what she called the "rare feat of a Good Spike Episode," as Spike confronts his own issues instead of mistreating others; she observed that he "manages to not be a jerk to anyone else for an entire episode." Blue explored how the episode contrasts saving with helping, drawing a comparison to "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" but centering on the character being rescued. She pointed out that Twilight initially harms Spike by lighting the torch for him, then later helps by speaking with him about his needs. Blue argued that Spike learns the difference between saving and helping through his experiences, aiming to become a helper rather than a savior, and she described the episode as almost a key moment for Spike because it examines the fail-state of Helping, his closest parallel to an Element of Harmony. Daniel Alvarez of Unleash The Fanboy rated the episode 8 out of 10, calling it "solid." He expressed disappointment that the actual Games were sidelined in favor of Spike's personal story, but praised the message that compliments hold no value if you lack self-belief. He also found Spike's invented Cloudsdale anthem "priceless," suggesting it might be "the funniest thing of the season."
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