Picking Apart "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", Season 1 Episode 3

"What was I thinking?!  Why did I waste my time watching this garbage?!"

As you can see, the Chazz wasn't quite convinced that animation was my number one for My Little Pony:  Friendship is Magic, so he nearly destroyed himself watching the show with me while I was prepping up for my next discussion.  So while he's off getting his eyes reexamined, I'm gonna take us through the next episode, "The Ticket Master".

So while Twilight and Applejack do morning work, Twilight receives a letter from Princess Celestia, inviting her and one guest to...

Applejack and Twilight Sparkle: The Grand Galloping Gala!

Evidently, Spike doesn't like the sound of it.  Either that, or he can't stand Twilight and Applejack bouncing around like sissy ponies.

Spike: I don't want any of that girly frilly frou-frou nonsense.

Now to shorten things, Twilight's other friends find out about her invitation (of course they see Willy Wonka's golden tickets) and one by one they state their reasons for wanting to go.

So you can imagine all that pressure that Twilight is under.

Oh, and Pinkie Pie does more than just state her own reason, she sings about it.

[Pinkie Pie]

Oh the Grand Galloping Gala is the best place for me

Oh the Grand Galloping Gala is the best place for me

You know, I'm starting to think that Pinkie is hyperactive and is on some kind of massive sugar rush or something.  I mean she mentions all kinds of sweet treats in her fantasy.  But if you ask me, I don't think she needs any more sweets, especially since she bounces around more than simply trotting.

Anyways, all of Twilight's friends end up trying to do favors for her because they want that spare ticket.

And guess what Pinkie Pie does?  She sings again.

[Pinkie Pie]

Twilight is my bestest friend

Whoopee, whoopee!

Twilight Sparkle: Pinkie...

[Pinkie Pie]

She's the cutest, smartest, all around best pony, pony!

Twilight Sparkle: Pinkie.

[Pinkie Pie]

I bet if I throw a super-duper fun party, party...

Twilight Sparkle: Pinkie!

[Pinkie Pie]

She'll give her extra ticket to the gala to meeee–

Twilight Sparkle: PINKIE!

Oh, good grief.

Twilight Sparkle: At least the other ponies tried to be subtle about the ticket.

And Pinkie then mentions the extra ticket out loud, so it isn't long before everyone in Ponyville finds out.  Oh, snap!  Twilight is in trouble now.  I mean, it's bad enough that her friends are going around doing favors, but now everyone is after her!

Well, Twilight manages to retreat to the library after some unexpected Harry Potter magic, but her friends somehow got there first, so she wigs out.

And that's when they apologize for their previous actions and of the five of them, good ol' honest Applejack is not only first to do so, but she comes to Twilight directly and comforts her.  Ah, I just love Applejack. 

It turns out none of them want the ticket after that, so Twilight has Spike send a letter to Princess Celestia, the first time in the series friendship lessons are learned and sent to her, and returns both tickets, saying she'd rather not go if none of her friends can't.  After all, there's no joy in any activity if you can't share it with anyone.

However, Celestia sends a reply, which not only has the two tickets, but five more as well, so it turns out Twilight and her friends can all go, including Spike, who as it turns out secretly wanted to go all along.  Fancy that.

So in this episode, we learn that despite Twilight Sparkle being somewhat of a rookie regarding friendship, she certainly seems to know how to handle it as if doing what comes naturally.  She puts them all on equal footing regarding importance, which is clearly shown when she gives up her chance to go to the gala.  Not to mention, the reason why Spike was never a choice was clearly visible from the start, but at the end of the episode, it's like he changed his mind and wanted to go.  What do you think he would wanna do there?  However, it should be noted that there's actually a reason Celestia is inviting them to come, but we're not meant to find that out until later, and by that I mean the Season 1 finale.  So here's what I think.  The animation is awesome as usual, the plot and story is okay, maybe even slightly above mediocre, and the pacing seems to be on par with the episode as far as the lesson to be learned was concerned.  The continuity seems to be running smoothly as well, at least for now, so for this season we can just expect simple friendship lessons coming out of the plots until the day of the gala arrives.  But one thing's for sure, this show seems to be picking up musical numbers as well and although musicals are ideal bonuses for a television show, we're probably assuming at this point that Pinkie is gonna hog all or most of the musical glory in this series.  What a thrill.

"You know, I don't see anything impressive about this.  It's too fluffy for my tastes!  And I can't believe it's getting a third season this fall!  The show's not even two years old yet!"

Hey, no one said you had to stick around, pal.  Do what you want, but I'm gonna push on through with this just so I can point out what makes this show's animation better than plots and continuity.

"Wait, why did you say continuity?  It was doing just fine as you said a minute ago."

Well, things change, don't they?  Maybe next episode, it's gonna start to break up a bit.

"Hmph.  I don't care what happens to this show.  If it keeps promoting garbage art across the Internet, then either it goes down in flames, or the bronies do!  Lousy scrubs!"

Let's hope it's the bronies then!  Better them than me.