The Best Night Ever

The Best Night Ever is the twenty-sixth and final episode of season one of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. In this episode, Twilight Sparkle and her friends attend the Grand Galloping Gala but are disappointed when none of their expectations are met.__TOC__
==Production and airing==
According to this episode's writer, Amy Keating Rogers, the show's scripts are generally 33 pages long, but her first draft of this episode was 39 pages. Some additional songs were written for the episode, but they were cut for time. A longer version of Piggy Dance, to the "Chicken Dance," was one of these songs and would have come before the Pony Pokey.
A picture referencing the final scene of this episode appears in the game My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: Discover the Difference, which set its debut on Hubworld two weeks before the episode's premiere.
Brian Drummond voices both of the stallion ponies pulling the carriage.
Pinkie Pie's Piggy Dance song was originally intended for this episode but was cut off due to time. The song was instead used for the season 2 episode Baby Cakes.
This episode was #3 in the We Heart Ponies Fan Favorite Mare-a-thon in the leadup to Hearts and Hooves Day.
==Summary==
===Preparing for the Grand Galloping Gala===
 On the day of the Grand Galloping Gala, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash gather outside the Carousel Boutique and watch as Twilight Sparkle performs a new magic spell to transform an apple into a fancy carriage. Turning to a group of four mice that Fluttershy brought with her, Twilight uses her magic to transform them into large horse-mouse hybrids. As her friends offer tepid reactions, Opalescence appears and attacks the "horses", causing them to flee. Twilight wonders how they'll get to the gala without them, though Rarity manages to charm a pair of nearby stallions to pull the carriage.
Spike joins the ponies while they prepare for the gala inside the boutique and expresses excitement at spending time together. When they arrive in Canterlot, the sight of the gala leads them to sing a song about their intentions for the evening: Fluttershy expects to befriend the critters in the garden, Applejack plans to sell apple treats, Rarity hopes to meet Prince Blueblood, Rainbow Dash looks to impress the Wonderbolts, Pinkie Pie is excited to party, and Twilight wants to spend time with Princess Celestia.
===Following their dreams===
Twilight Sparkle approaches Princess Celestia at the gala entrance and happily accepts her invitation to stay and talk with her while she welcomes guests. Across the room, Rarity finds Prince Blueblood beaconing to her from the garden and eagerly follows. Fluttershy enters the garden and, believing to hear a meadowlark call to her, walks off to find it. Applejack opens a booth in the courtyard and immediately finds a customer in the Wonderbolt Soarin, who buys an apple pie. He accidentally drops the pie upon entering the dining area, but Rainbow Dash catches it just before it hits the ground. Her maneuver catches the attention of Spitfire, who recognizes Rainbow from the Best Young Flyer competition and invites her to hang out with them in the VIP section.
 Pinkie Pie arrives in the ballroom and is instantly thrilled by the scene. She starts singing about her excitement but soon realizes that her energetic display is not appreciated by the guests. In the garden, Prince Blueblood introduces himself to Rarity, who points out a nearby rose. Instead of offering it to Rarity, however, he places it on his suit and remarks that it complements his eyes.
 Meanwhile, Fluttershy follows the call she heard earlier only to discover it was just whistling from the groundskeeper Mr. Greenhooves. She excuses herself and walks a short distance before spotting a group of exotic animals, though she ends up scaring them away when she tries to approach. In the VIP section of the dining hall, Rainbow Dash tries to start up conversations with the Wonderbolts, but the ambient noise of chatter drowns out her voice. Twilight attempts to converse with Celestia but is constantly interrupted by an endless line of guests looking to greet the princess. In the courtyard, Applejack bemoans making no other sales after a whole hour.
When the girls realize their dreams are failing to materialize, they all determine to redouble their efforts:
===Livening up the party===
 As the night continues, the ponies start using new techniques to achieve their aims: Fluttershy begins setting up traps in the garden, Rainbow Dash starts engineering situations to show off her ability, and Rarity tries pushing back on Blueblood's pretentious behavior. In the ballroom, Pinkie Pie convinces the orchestra to accompany her as she sings a lively song highlighting the girls' difficulties: Twilight remains stuck in an endless line with the princess, Applejack's treats are rejected by the attendees, and the other ponies' techniques prove unsuccessful. A guest reprimands Pinkie when she finishes her song, insisting it isn't appropriate for the venue.
Rarity approaches Applejack's booth with Prince Blueblood and orders two apple fritters, which Applejack offers on the house when the prince refuses to pay. Upon tasting the fritter, Blueblood immediately spits it out, complaining that his royal lips touched "common carnival fare" before heading inside for hors d'oeuvres. Realizing the guests have been eating at a fancy buffet the whole time, Applejack determines to touch up her apple treats to appease their "hoity-toity tastebuds".
===The worst night ever===
 Inside the ballroom, Pinkie Pie starts playing electronic dance music and moshing around the room. Applejack enters with a tall cake on a dining cart just as Pinkie accidentally stage-dives into it, flinging the cake across the room toward Rarity and Prince Blueblood. The prince throws Rarity in front of him to block the cake, causing her to lose her temper and shake off the cake pieces onto him. Afraid to spoil a recent grooming, Blueblood backs up into the room's centerpiece statue, which begins to topple over. Rainbow Dash catches the statue to show off to the Wonderbolts but quickly loses balance and bumps into a stone column, causing a domino effect as a row of columns crash into each other. When the dust settles, the centerpiece statue that Rainbow had been holding breaks apart.
 Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle enter the ballroom just in time to see the doors to the garden burst open before a stampede of animals running away from Fluttershy. As the room dissolves into chaos, Celestia advises Twilight and her friends to run. The Mane Six exit the gala and make their way to Pony Joe's donut shop, where they find a dejected Spike sitting alone with a donut and hot chocolate. 
After the ponies tell Spike about the events of the evening, Princess Celestia enters the shop and declares that it was the best Gala ever, explaining that the event is usually "awful" and that she had hoped the involvement of Twilight and her friends would liven things up. The group conclude that friends have a way of making the worst times into something great, and as they reflect on the joy of hanging out together and sharing their experiences, everyone agrees that it ended up being the best night ever.
==Quotes==
:Spike: Come on, you guys. Let me in!
:Rainbow Dash: Sure thing, Spike.
:Rarity: Heavens no! We're getting dressed!
:Applejack: Dressed? Uh, beg pardon Rarity, but, uh... we don't normally wear clothes.
:Rarity: I'm sorry, Spike. Some of us do have standards.
:Spike: Then let's get moving! Hyah!
:Caramel: Excuse me?!
:Spike: Um... I...
:Lucky Clover: If you weren't friends with our neighbor Rarity...
:Twilight Sparkle: I can't believe we're finally here! With all that we've imagined, the reality of this night is sure to make this the best night ever!
:Prince Blueblood: Well, hello. I am Prince Blueblood.
:Rarity: I am... Rarity. Oh my, what a lovely rose.
:Prince Blueblood: You mean... this rose? Thank you. It goes with my eyes.
:Applejack: First minute, first sale. Second... Fourth... Sixth... Sixtieth minute... no sales. [sigh] This ain't what I expected at all.
:Lyrica Lilac: Young lady, this is not that kind of party!
:Pinkie Pie: Ooooohhhhhh... They don't want to "party." These ponies want to PAR-TAY!
:Fluttershy: I'll catch you yet, my pretties... Oh yes, as soon as one of you little birds or monkeys or bears touches this net... you'll be mine! MINE!
:Pinkie Pie: Ooh! Rarity, your glass slipper! Now your prince is sure to find you.
:Rarity: [shriek] No!
:Spike: Hey, Pony Joe. Another doughnut.
:Pony Joe: Don't you think you've had enough?
:Spike: Another doughnut! Extra sprinkles!
==Gallery==
==References==
ar:أجمل الليالي
de:Die große Galloping-Gala
es:La Mejor Noche en la Historia
fr:La Meilleure Nuit de tous les temps
id:Malam Terbaik
it:Una Serata Indimenticabile
ja:憧れのパーティ！
ko:생애 최고의 밤
pl:Niezapomniany wieczór
pt:A Melhor Noite de Todas
ru:Самый лучший вечер
sv:Den bästa kvällen
th:The Best Night Ever
Category:Featured articles