YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S1 E26 "The Best Night Ever"

• Accidental Aesop:
  • For Rarity: "Just give him a chance, his princely side is sure to come out." It doesn't. No, odds are someone's "princely side" won't come out just because you're patient. If someone isn't treating you right from the get-go, don't waste your time with them.
  • For Pinkie: You can't make some pony have fun in the same way you do.
  • For Fluttershy: Just because you're good with animals doesn't mean every animal you come across will take a liking to you.
  • For Applejack: Get to know your audience before you try to sell a product to them. She doesn't have any success selling her apple treats at the Gala because almost all the guests considered such too low-class for their tastes, and it already had free food more to their liking.
• Accidental Innuendo:
  • While talking to the Mane 6 about places in Canterlot, Spike talks about wanting to show Rarity (who he has a crush on) the Crown Jewels.
  • Applejack tells Rarity and Blueblood that "I've got you covered." In equine terminology, "cover" is a term for mating.
  • At one point, Rarity asks Prince Blueblood if he's "afraid to get dirty".
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Was Prince Blueblood really a Prince Charmless or is it a Jerkass act? One viewer posits that Prince Blueblood's behavior isn't him being a Prince Charmless, but a gender role reversal of normal chivalrous conduct to show just how unreasonable the romantic fantasies themselves are in the first place... only for majority of the fandom to side with Rarity instead and spend years using him as a punching bag in fanon. A second, more widespread idea as to why he acts that way would be to stave off Gold Diggers and/or social climbers trying to make use of his status, which, when you realize is fundamentally Rarity's reason for courting him to begin with, doesn't feel quite so outlandish.
• Awesome Music: "At the Gala," which seamlessly combines a different musical style for each of the mane six.
• Catharsis Factor: For some, Rarity going to town on Prince Blueblood for treating her like crap during the Disaster Dominoes scene.
  (Prince Blueblood uses Rarity as a pony shield to shield himself from the flying cake and Rarity... is less than pleased)
  Rarity: You, sir, are the most uncharming prince I have ever met! In fact, the only thing royal about you is that you are a royal pain!
  Prince Blueblood: Ewww...! Uh, stay back! I just had myself groomed!
  Rarity: Afraid to get dirty?!
  (Rarity flings cake at him)
• Ensemble Dark Horse: This episode actually introduces quite a few new ponies, both named and background. A certain cello-playing pony (Octavia) made her debut here. She has quite a few fans, and her popularity resulted in years of subsequent appearances, and enough fan art and fan fiction to rival the main characters.
  • To a lesser point, Beauty Brass (who is also introduced here). She and Octavia happen to be the only female musicians in the band playing at the gala, and she briefly interacts with Pinkie Pie (when Pinkie requests a tune from the band). She was considered an appealing enough character, to be treated as Octavia's best friend/sidekick in fanfiction, and to receive plenty of fan art of her own. She has since made a number of canonical appearances (with Octavia).
• Fan Nickname: "Flutterrage". "Psychoshy" is also common.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: This episode was one of the earliest to highlight Rainbow Dash's goal of joining the Wonderbolts, with her part in the Crowd Song featuring her having an Imagine Spot of being a fully-fledged member of the team. Exactly five years after this episode aired (give or take a day) she ends up achieving her dream.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Fluttershy can do the Royal Canterlot voice!
• Memetic Mutation: Fluttershy's "You're... going to LOVE ME!"
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Contrary to what the fandom might have you think, Psychoshy doesn't actually get a lot of screentime. Heck, it would probably be considered a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment if it weren't so terrifyingly unexpected.
  • Octavia, too, also has very limited screen time but became a massive Ensemble Dark Horse due to her classy look alone, not unlike DJ-Pon3 before her.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: "At The Gala" sounds suspiciously similar to "Ever After" from "Into The Woods".
• Watch It for the Meme: Fluttershy's epic freakout is one of the main reasons a lot of people are attracted to this episode.
• The Woobie:
  • Rarity. The others messed up, sure, but after spending the entire season looking forwards and envisioning Blueblood as her Prince Charming, he treats her like crap and she puts up with it the entire night in hopes he will turn out to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold or that she can change him for the better. While Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were at least partly responsible for their own problems, Rarity did absolutely nothing wrong (except for her unrealistic expectation of Blueblood) and still ended up getting treated like crap. It is rather hard not to feel sorry for her, or cheer for her when she eventually has enough, or both.
  • It is hard not to feel sorry for Twilight Sparkle, as well. She may not have anticipated Celestia being too busy, but she stayed right by her teacher's side and behaved herself like a good faithful student, standing there for two hours while Celestia had to greet each guest. Like Rarity, she did absolutely nothing wrong but got her evening messed up. At least she got what she wanted in the end, to spend time with the Princess.
  • Celestia herself considering that it looks like she has to spend every Gala as the door greeter for hours, every time it is held, for hundreds of years. Furthermore, she is so utterly bored by galas at this point that door greeter seems mild in comparison to spending any more time than absolutely necessary in the company of her guests.
  • Spike just wanted to spend time with the Mane 6 and ended up drowning his sorrows in doughnuts and cocoa at his favorite doughnut shop the whole time while they were all at the Gala. Luckily, that all gets straightened out after the Mane 6 join him over at the doughnut shop, not only to laugh away their troubles but also to acknowledge how in the right Spike was when he intended to hang out with them, especially after Celestia joins them later on.
  • Applejack wants to make money at the event to support her family, and probably puts a lot of effort into baking all her appletastic treats, only to not make a single bit because she didn't realize the rich upper-class ponies at the Gala would be so snobby that they wouldn't want her food.

---