The Best of the Worst

* Part 1
* Part 2

**"The Best of the Worst (Parts 1 and 2)"** is the second episode in season 1 of *My Little Pony: Pony Life*.

## Synopsis

"Rainbow Dash's competitive spirit is put to the test when a new pony challenges her to a contest unlike any other. Rainbow Dash faces off against Dishwater Slog in loser-take-all race to finally prove which pony is truly the worst."

## Characters

* Rainbow Dash
* Smallfry (debut)
* Twilight Sparkle
* Pinkie Pie
* Rarity
* Fluttershy
* Applejack
* Dishwater Slog (debut)

## Plot

### Part 1

The episode begins with Rainbow Dash having just won a racing trophy; when asked by little Smallfry what her secret to winning is, she says hard work, natural talent, and a desire to be the best, adding that she does it for her fans, not the trophies. When she goes to Sugarcube Corner, she finds Pinkie Pie putting her picture on the "Employee of the Month" wall (even though she does not work there).

A pony named Dishwater Slog challenges Rainbow Dash to a "fail-off", in which the objective is to be the worst instead of the best. When Rainbow questions why she would take part in such an odd challenge, Dishwater stokes her competitive spirit, and she accepts. In accordance with Dishwater's terms, the two will be judged in contests of athleticism, creativity, and emotions.

In the first contest of athleticism, Rainbow Dash lifts up a large building while Dishwater Slog struggles to pick up a tomato can, making Dishwater the winner. In the second contest of creativity, Rainbow decorates a cake as poorly as she can, but Dishwater scrawls a terrible drawing on Pinkie's "Employee of the Month" photo, and he wins again. When Rainbow Dash starts to gets angry, Dishwater warns her to control her emotions or else she will lose the third contest.

### Part 2

In the third contest of emotional restraint, Rainbow Dash tries to keep a straight face as Fluttershy tests her resistance to cuteness and Applejack tests her resistance to rage. When it appears as though Rainbow might win, Dishwater Slog trips Smallfry to the ground and makes him cry when he comes running up. This gets both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy angry, but Dishwater is unfazed, taking pride in being the worst.

Rainbow Dash gets an idea, and she points out that Dishwater is being the best at being a jerk in his callousness toward Pinkie Pie and Smallfry. Though this was not a criteria of her competition with Dishwater, Rainbow considers the score to be tied, and Dishwater challenges Rainbow Dash to a loser-take-all race at sunset as the tie-breaker. Rainbow Dash fears she will be unable to lose a race, even with the help of Pinkie's potions, and her friends question why she would want to go against her very nature of being a winner.

That evening, Rainbow Dash and Dishwater Slog begin the final contest of their competition. When the race begins, the two of them crawl their way around the course in order to get the other to cross the finish line first. When Rainbow hears Smallfry cheering for her, she decides to stop defying her winning nature, and she races to the finish at top speed. Though she lost her competition with Dishwater Slog, she still feels like a winner, and she reminds herself that she does what she does for fans like Smallfry, not for personal glory.

## Broadcast

*Main article: Episode Guide/International*
* Canada: June 21, 2020 on Treehouse TV
* Australia and New Zealand:
	+ August 1, 2020 on Boomerang
	+ September 21, 2020 on 9Go! (Australia only)
* France: August 29, 2020 on Gulli
* United Kingdom: September 1, 2020 on Tiny Pop
* Poland: September 8, 2020 on MiniMini+
* Finland:
	+ September 25, 2020 on Ruutu (VOD)
	+ October 21, 2020 on Nelonen (TV)
* Russia: September 29, 2020 on Carousel
* Southeast Asia: October 3, 2020 on Boomerang
* Germany: October 11, 2020 on Disney Channel
* United States: November 7, 2020 on Discovery Family

### Title in other languages

* Finnish: *Paras huonommuudessa* (Best in inferiority)
* French: *Les meilleurs amis de l'homme*
* German: *Schlecht-schlechter-am besten* (Bad-worse-best)
* Polish: *Najlepszy z najgorszych*
* Russian: *Лучший из худших*

## Trivia

* This episode is paired with "Princess Probz" in broadcast order.
* Art director Alex Vetter confirmed on Twitter that Dishwater was originally meant to be a unicorn. He is credited twice in the credits for part 1 under his original name, "Mysterious Unicorn".
* In this episode, Applejack breaks the fourth wall where she explains to the audience that the worst Rainbow Dash has ever done was forget to give her book back.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://cf-media.press.discovery.com/ugc/highlights/2020/10/18/172933/DFC\_Highlights\_-\_November\_2020\_-\_Final.pdf
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20200619215305/https://www.tvpassport.com/tv-listings/stations/treehouse-hd/11285/2020-06-21
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20200815135123/https://programtv.naziemna.info/program/audycja/Pony+Life
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://www.fernsehserien.de/my-little-pony-pony-life/episodenguide
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://tvlistings.zap2it.com/overview.html?programSeriesId=SH03525491&tmsId=SH035254910000&from=TVGrid&aid=gapzap
6. ↑ https://twitter.com/sprane\_swetry/status/1275172770217889793