The two-parter that started the series may have been very adventure-focused, but it’s episode 3, ‘The Ticket Master’, that sets in stone what exactly the core focus of “Friendship is Magic” is: a slice-of-life show that focuses on interpersonal relationships between the various characters. As far as this first attempt at it goes, it’s not amazing by any stretch, but it is a good enough episode that also manages to set up the season’s story arc.
The story focuses on Twilight getting a gift from Princess Celestia: two tickets to an event called the Grand Galloping Gala, one for herself and one for a guest. Naturally, this leads to her trying to decide which of her friends she would most want to take with her, and each one has their own reasons for going, making it even harder for her to decide.
I really do like how Twilight is written here. She’s clearly conflicted as to who she wants to take with her, considering alternative options as potential solutions, and her neuroticism gets cranked up further and further as time goes on, leading to the inevitable blow-up. The highlight for me in the whole episode is the ending, where Twilight decides to give her tickets back to Celestia with the idea that if they can’t all go, she’s not gonna go either. It’s the kind of plot that keeps intact her personal character flaws while maintaining her likability. While some may see her getting six tickets for all of them by the end as a cop-out, I see it as her earning it through her sacrificial act.
That does lead me to an interesting point about Celestia. We never see her directly in the episode, only communicating with Twilight through the letters she sends. Once Twilight gives her tickets away and tells her that she’d like all of them to go, she gives them all six tickets right off the bat, saying “Why didn’t you just say so in the first place?” I’ve seen people argue that this was just Celestia being stupid, or even just straight-up trolling Twilight. I’d say it’s…closer to the latter, but not for the reasons you’d think.
Celestia hits me as the kind of teacher who would rather guide her students towards the proper direction while still allowing wiggle room for said student to make the decision themselves. She is still acting as a teacher in that she’s providing them wisdom, but she’s also giving her pupils the chance to prove that they’ve learned their lesson. By giving Twilight only two tickets at the start, she’s giving her the chance to prove that she doesn’t want to play favorites, that she’d want all her friends to be happy, come hell or high water. It’s a small detail, but one that adds so much. Celestia may not have had any screentime here technically, but she’s still awesome.
But you can’t talk about this story without taking the rest of the Mane Six into account, and this is where I think the episode falters a bit. Don’t get me wrong, their characters are remained intact, it’s the story itself that suffers. The structure of the episode is pretty repetitive; the first act features each of the Mane Six giving their reasons to go once they hear about the ticket, the second act consists of each of them trying to goad Twilight into giving them the extra one, and each one plays out in basically the same way. Twilight will try and get tricked into giving them the ticket, discover what’s going on, and refuse to do so as she hasn’t made her decision yet. It can make the episode a little tiring at times, not gonna lie.
That being said, I also have to give a bit of praise to Spike, as he gets a little arc of his own here. Once the news of the Gala reaches them, Twilight asks if he’s ever been there, only for Spike to refuse to go, period, saying that it’s way too girly for him. He keeps up this little facade until the very end, where as the Mane Six are walking away with their tickets, he expresses disappointment that he didn’t get one too, only for Celestia to give him one immediately after. Essentially, the episode gives off the idea that Spike does secretly like girly things and has always wanted to go, but he just wanted to keep up appearances in front of the others. It’s a humbling sight to see him get caught by Applejack as he’s giddy over getting to go, and it’s an intriguing side to his character that we may see get expanded on in future episodes.
While ‘The Ticket Master’ is far from perfect and it suffers from a repetitive structure, I give it credit for being a good enough story on its own and having a great ending that does wonders for Twilight’s character. Oh, and special props to the Benny Hill homage. Funniest bit there.
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