The Best Night Ever

Did You Know?

• Sherilyn Connelly of SF Weekly called the episode the best My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic season finale ever.
• Screen Rant ranked the episode the fourth-best season finale according to IMDb.
• The episode was released in August 2012 by Shout! Factory as part of the Royal Pony Wedding DVD.

Plot

The Grand Galloping Gala began with Twilight Sparkle and her friends gathered outside the Carousel Boutique. Twilight cast a spell to turn an apple into a carriage, then transformed four mice Fluttershy brought into large horse-mouse hybrids. Opalescence attacked the hybrids, causing them to run off. Rarity then persuaded two nearby stallions to pull the carriage instead. At the Gala, Spike wanted to spend the evening together, but the friends split up to pursue their own plans. Twilight hoped for a private conversation with Princess Celestia, but Celestia kept being interrupted by other guests. Rainbow Dash tried to get the Wonderbolts’ attention, but they were busy with other attendees. Rarity spent time with Prince Blueblood, Celestia’s nephew, hoping for romance, but found him selfish and rude. Applejack set up a stand to sell her family’s apple products but sold very little. Fluttershy scared the animals in the castle gardens and set up traps. Pinkie Pie tried to liven up the party but realized the Gala was not the kind of celebration she expected. Chaos erupted in the grand ballroom when Pinkie attempted a stage dive, sending a cake toward Blueblood, who used Rarity as a shield. Rainbow Dash tried to catch a wobbling statue to impress the Wonderbolts but smashed several pillars. Animals from the garden burst inside while fleeing Fluttershy. The friends fled to a donut shop with Spike, disappointed by the night. Princess Celestia joined them and explained she had invited them to make the normally dull Gala more exciting, and she was pleased with the result. Everyone agreed it was the best night ever.

Background

The episode was helmed by supervising director Jayson Thiessen and James Wootton, with a script from Amy Keating Rogers. Its first draft ran thirty-nine pages, six longer than the usual My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic script, and contained a longer version of the Piggy Dance that was later cut and reused in the season two episode "Baby Cakes." Rarity’s selfish suitor, Prince Blueblood, was originally a duke, but a reviewer felt the child audience would not know that title. Daniel Ingram composed three songs for the episode: "At the Gala," "I'm at the Grand Galloping Gala," and "Pony Pokey." Several other songs were dropped because they were too long. "At the Gala" was recorded at Bryan Adams’s Vancouver studio with a twenty-person choir, each main character performing a solo, and was inspired by Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Throughout the episode, the ponies wear dresses designed to resemble those of four-legged humans.