# A Friend in Deed

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For the sitcom episode, see ["A Friend in Deed" (*Three's a Crowd*)](/source/A_Friend_in_Deed_(Three's_a_Crowd)).

18th episode of the 2nd season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

"A Friend in Deed" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode Pinkie Pie (left) introduces herself to Cranky Doodle Donkey (right) in her imagination, which is depicted using a felt stop motion animation. Episode no. Season 2 Episode 18 Written by Amy Keating Rogers Original air date February 18, 2012 (2012-02-18) Running time 22 minutes Episode chronology ← Previous "Hearts and Hooves Day" Next → "Putting Your Hoof Down" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic season 2 List of episodes

"**A Friend in Deed**" is the eighteenth episode of the [second season](/source/My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_season_2) of the [animated television series](/source/Animated_series) *[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic](/source/My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic)*. The episode was written by [Amy Keating Rogers](/source/Amy_Keating_Rogers). It originally aired on [The Hub](/source/Discovery_Family#As_Hub_Network_(2010–2014)) on February 18, 2012. In this episode, [Pinkie Pie](/source/Pinkie_Pie) attempts to befriend a new resident named Cranky Doodle Donkey, who repeatedly rebuffs her efforts.

## Plot

External videos A Friend in Deed (full episode) — Official upload of the episode onto YouTube

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Equestria Toyline Cutie mark Elements of Harmony Pony Spin-offs My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (2013–2020)(List of animations) My Little Pony: Pony Life (2020–2021)(List of episodes) Characters Mane Six Twilight Sparkle Rainbow Dash Pinkie Pie Applejack Fluttershy Rarity Supporting Spike Princess Celestia Princess Luna Princess Cadance Shining Armor Discord Starlight Glimmer Trixie Zecora Antagonists Queen Chrysalis Lord Tirek Cozy Glow Minor Derpy Hooves Background Six Cheese Sandwich Quibble Pants The Wonderbolts Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty Equestria Girls Sunset Shimmer Seasons & episodes Season 1 (2010–2011) "Friendship Is Magic" "The Ticket Master" "Applebuck Season" "Griffon the Brush Off" "Boast Busters" "Dragonshy" "Look Before You Sleep" "Bridle Gossip" "Swarm of the Century" "Winter Wrap Up" "Call of the Cutie" "Fall Weather Friends" "Suited for Success" "Feeling Pinkie Keen" "Sonic Rainboom" "Stare Master" "The Show Stoppers" "A Dog and Pony Show" "Green Isn't Your Color" "Over a Barrel" "A Bird in the Hoof" "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" "Owl's Well That Ends Well" "Party of One" "The Best Night Ever" Season 2 (2011–2012) "The Return of Harmony" "Lesson Zero" "Luna Eclipsed" "Sisterhooves Social" "The Cutie Pox" "May the Best Pet Win!" "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" "Sweet and Elite" "Secret of My Excess" "Hearth's Warming Eve" "Family Appreciation Day" "Baby Cakes" "The Last Roundup" "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" "Read It and Weep" "Hearts and Hooves Day" "A Friend in Deed" "Putting Your Hoof Down" "It's About Time" "Dragon Quest" "Hurricane Fluttershy" "Ponyville Confidential" "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" "A Canterlot Wedding" Season 3 (2012–2013) "The Crystal Empire" "Too Many Pinkie Pies" "One Bad Apple" "Magic Duel" "Sleepless in Ponyville" "Wonderbolts Academy" "Apple Family Reunion" "Spike at Your Service" "Keep Calm and Flutter On" "Just for Sidekicks" "Games Ponies Play" "Magical Mystery Cure" Season 4 (2013–2014) "Princess Twilight Sparkle" "Castle Mane-ia" "Daring Don't" "Flight to the Finish" "Power Ponies" "Bats!" "Rarity Takes Manehattan" "Pinkie Apple Pie" "Rainbow Falls" "Three's a Crowd" "Pinkie Pride" "Simple Ways" "Filli Vanilli" "Twilight Time" "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" "Somepony to Watch Over Me" "Maud Pie" "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils" "Leap of Faith" "Testing Testing 1, 2, 3" "Trade Ya!" "Inspiration Manifestation" "Equestria Games" "Twilight's Kingdom" Season 5 (2015) "The Cutie Map" "Castle Sweet Castle" "Tanks for the Memories" "Slice of Life" "Amending Fences" "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" "Made in Manehattan" "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" "The Hooffields and McColts" "The Cutie Re-Mark" Season 6 (2016) "A Hearth's Warming Tail" "The Times They Are a Changeling" Season 7 (2017) "The Perfect Pear" Season 8 (2018) "Grannies Gone Wild" Season 9 (2019) "The Last Crusade" Series finale Media Films & specials My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever (2018) My Little Pony: Rainbow Roadtrip (2019) Music Theme song "This Day Aria" Movie Soundtrack "Rainbow" "Off to See the World" Games My Little Pony: Twilight Sparkle, Teacher for a Day Gameloft video game Collectible card game Other media Home video releases IDW comics Issues My Little Pony/Transformers Brony fandom Fan works (list) 15.ai Voiceverse NFT plagiarism scandal A Brony Tale Bronies (documentary) Derpibooru Equestria Daily Fimfiction Fallout: Equestria Friendship Is Witchcraft Legends of Equestria Love & Ponystep Ponysona PONY.MOV Them's Fightin' Herds Fandom people 15 hotdiggedydemon Jenny Nicholson Odyssey Eurobeat Sethisto The Living Tombstone Vylet Pony Fan culture Analysis Brony music Bronyspeak Charity Criticism Fan art Clop Ponysona Fan fiction Military bronies /mlp/ Online communities My Little Pony conventions BABSCon BronyCAN BronyCon Czequestria Everfree Northwest GalaCon Ponyville Ciderfest RuBronyCon TrotCon UK PonyCon Vanhoover Pony Expo v t e

After performing a [musical number](/source/Musical_number) about the joy of making others smile while traveling through [Ponyville](/source/Equestria#Ponyville) ("Smile Song"), [Pinkie Pie](/source/Pinkie_Pie) encounters a surly [donkey](/source/Donkey) named Cranky Doodle Donkey who responds to her cheerful greeting with complete indifference. Despite his obvious desire to be left alone, Pinkie becomes determined to befriend the newcomer and brighten his spirits. Cranky angrily objects to being called "Doodle" and explains that he came to Ponyville specifically to escape social interaction and live quietly with his memories.

Pinkie's efforts to welcome Cranky to town backfire when her elaborate musical performance covers him in [cake batter](/source/Cake_batter) and accidentally knocks off his [toupée](/source/Toup%C3%A9e), exposing his [baldness](/source/Baldness) to curious onlookers and causing him deep embarrassment. Though she manages to partially redeem herself by treating him to a relaxing [spa](/source/Spa) day and giving him a luxuriant replacement [hairpiece](/source/Hairpiece), Cranky remains unmoved by her gestures. At his house, Pinkie accidentally ignites his precious [scrapbook](/source/Scrapbooking) while examining its contents, destroying what turns out to be his only remaining [mementos](/source/Souvenir) of a lost love he had spent years searching for across [Equestria](/source/Equestria). The pages ruined, Cranky vows to never be her friend and kicks her out of his house.

Devastated, Pinkie seeks comfort from [Twilight](/source/Twilight_Sparkle), who gently suggests that she should respect his wishes to be left alone rather than continuing her pursuit of his friendship. However, Pinkie refuses to give up until she can properly apologize, which leads to a frantic chase through town as Cranky desperately tries to avoid her. During their confrontation, Cranky reveals that the destroyed scrapbook contained memories of a special female donkey he had met at the Grand Galloping Gala years earlier but lost contact with afterward.

Pinkie rushes off and returns with Matilda, a donkey who has been living in Ponyville the entire time and kept her own matching collection of memories from their brief courtship at the Gala. Cranky's attitude changes completely, and he gratefully accepts both Pinkie's apology and friendship. Pinkie writes to [Princess Celestia](/source/Princess_Celestia) about how friendship takes many different forms and that sometimes the best way to show you care is by understanding when someone needs space rather than constant attention.

## Development

Panels from the [storyboard](/source/Storyboard) of "A Friend in Deed"

Pinkie is the most outlandish of the [Mane Six](/source/Mane_Six), so she's allowed to do things that they are not. In "A Friend in Deed," the animators created a [felt](/source/Felt) animation to express Pinkie's feelings about being rejected by Cranky.

— Mary Jane Begin, *My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria*[1]

In October 2011, supervising director [Jayson Thiessen](/source/Jayson_Thiessen) posted two cryptic photographs of a [stop motion](/source/Stop_motion) setup on [Twitter](/source/Twitter).[2][3] This was the [felt](/source/Felt) animation scene from the episode showing Pinkie's imagination.

In November 2015, writer [Amy Keating Rogers](/source/Amy_Keating_Rogers) posted an excerpt from the first draft of the episode's script that was cut from the final episode. The scene involved [Rainbow Dash](/source/Rainbow_Dash) rejecting an advance from a pony named "[Gallop-a-Gus](/source/Gal%C3%A1pagos)" while Pinkie talks to Twilight about Cranky.[4]

## Reception

Sherilyn Connelly, the author of *Ponyville Confidential*, gave the episode a "C" rating.[5]

In a critical analysis of the episode, author Jen A. Blue described "A Friend in Deed" as "highly entertaining, if problematic" and positioned it as a continuation of the theme of love from the previous episode ("[Hearts and Hooves Day](/source/Hearts_and_Hooves_Day)"), contrasting its focus on lost love with the previous episode's exploration of new love. Blue analyzed the "Smile Song" as revealing Pinkie Pie's [pathological need for approval](/source/Attention_seeking), arguing that her happiness is fragile and dependent on the moods of others, which are outside her control. Blue examined Cranky as a strong [foil](/source/Foil_(narrative)) for Pinkie Pie and wrote that while Pinkie suppresses her remembering self and focuses on present experiences, Cranky is fixated on happy memories and suppresses his experiential self through [cynicism](/source/Cynicism_(contemporary)). Blue criticized Pinkie's behavior throughout the episode as "relentlessly thoughtless and self-centered" and stated that the episode teaches the wrong lesson by suggesting one should ignore others' wishes and force help on them. Blue concluded that despite the episode being well-constructed with appealing visuals and music, "apparently no thought was put into what this episode has to say about the supposed core focus of the show: the basics of relating to one another."[6]

Raymond Gallant of *Freakin' Awesome Network* gave the episode a rating of 8 out of 10 and called it "one of the stronger episodes of this season," praising the "Smile Song" as "the best song of the series so far." He noted that while Pinkie Pie was in top form, she could be "a little too random at times" and criticized the episode's lack of focus on the [main cast](/source/Mane_Six).[7] Brendan Kachel of *[flayrah](/source/Flayrah)* wrote that the episode was "a great episode, filled with inventive animation" (likening the Pinkie's imagination scene to the animation of *[South Park](/source/South_Park)*) and praised its hilarious dialogue, though he remarked that the episode was not quite on the same level as "[Party of One](/source/Party_of_One_(My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic))". Kachel found the ending surprisingly touching when Pinkie reunites Cranky Donkey with his lost love.[8] Kieran Hair, writing in *[WhatCulture](/source/WhatCulture)*, remarked that the episode taught a problematic lesson that "if somepony doesn't like you, pester them endlessly until they change their mind," arguing that while the show attempts to teach kids to look past someone's hostile exterior to see underlying pain, it fails to emphasize the equally important value of respecting [personal boundaries](/source/Personal_boundaries).[9]

Rae Grimes of *[Comic Book Resources](/source/Comic_Book_Resources)* ranked the "Smile Song" as the ninth best song in *Friendship Is Magic*. She wrote that it is arguably the best among the four songs featured in "A Friend in Deed", and noted the sharp contrast between the song and the remainder of the episode, in which Pinkie attempts to get Cranky Doodle Donkey to smile.[10] Johnnie Jungleguts of *[Yahoo! Entertainment](/source/Yahoo!_Entertainment)* ranked "A Friend in Deed" the second best episode of *My Little Pony*, praising how the seemingly light story about Pinkie Pie trying to cheer up the newly arrived Cranky Doodle Donkey actually "has [pathos](/source/Pathos)" as Pinkie's meddling exposes Cranky's profound loneliness and pain. Jungleguts wrote that the episode's plot twists make the inevitable happy ending surprising and praised Pinkie's "Smile Song" as recalling "outsider songwriters like [Daniel Johnston](/source/Daniel_Johnston) or the [Polyphonic Spree](/source/Polyphonic_Spree)," calling the episode "a singular, timeless slice of 'Pony'."[11]

## Home media release

The episode was part of the Season 2 [DVD](/source/DVD) set, released by [Shout Factory](/source/Shout!_Factory) on May 14, 2013.[12]

## See also

- [List of *My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic* episodes](/source/List_of_My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_episodes)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Begin (2015)](#CITEREFBegin2015), p. 183

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** @goldenrusset (2011-10-02). ["What could this possibly be? What am I working on tonight? ;-} http://yfrog.com/j2b2pqxj"](https://twitter.com/goldenrusset/status/120688163344752640) ([Tweet](/source/Tweet_(social_media))). Retrieved 2025-06-18 – via [Twitter](/source/Twitter).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** @goldenrusset (2011-10-02). ["Whatever it was that I was doing... I'm done! http://yfrog.com/j2evxhwj"](https://twitter.com/goldenrusset/status/120745116964098048) ([Tweet](/source/Tweet_(social_media))). Retrieved 2025-06-18 – via [Twitter](/source/Twitter).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** @KeatingRogers (2015-11-08). ["The cut Gallop-a-Gus scene from "A Friend in Deed." #mlpfim"](https://twitter.com/KeatingRogers/status/663411611072225280) ([Tweet](/source/Tweet_(social_media))). Retrieved 2025-06-18 – via [Twitter](/source/Twitter).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Connelly (2017)](#CITEREFConnelly2017), p. 79

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Blue-S2_6-0)** Blue, Jen A. (2014-10-25). "But I was just... (A Friend in Deed)". *My Little Po-Mo: Unauthorized Critical Essays on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Season Two*. pp. 159–163.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Gallant, Raymond (2012-02-20). ["My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Season 2, Episode 18 Review"](https://web.archive.org/web/20240118192756/https://www.freakinawesomenetwork.net/2012/02/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-season-2-episode-18-review/). *Freakin' Awesome Network*. Archived from [the original](https://www.freakinawesomenetwork.net/2012/02/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-season-2-episode-18-review/) on 2024-01-18. Retrieved 2025-06-14.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Kachel, Brendan (2014-06-17). ["Review: 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' Pinkie Pie Party DVD (with bonus Season 2 DVD review)"](https://www.flayrah.com/5626/review-my-little-pony-friendship-magic-pinkie-pie-party-dvd-bonus-season-2-dvd-review). *flayrah*. Retrieved 2025-06-19.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Hair, Kieran (2019-03-23). ["13 Horrible Life Lessons My Little Pony Tries To Teach Our Kids"](https://whatculture.com/tv/13-horrible-life-lessons-my-little-pony-tries-to-teach-our-kids?page=3). *[WhatCulture](/source/WhatCulture)*. Retrieved 2025-07-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Grimes, Rae (2022-03-05). ["The 10 Best Songs From My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic"](https://www.cbr.com/my-little-pony-best-songs/). *[Comic Book Resources](/source/Comic_Book_Resources)*. Retrieved 2025-07-03.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Jungleguts, Johnnie (2017-10-07). ["Top 10 'My Little Pony' Episodes, Ranked (Photos)"](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/top-ten-little-pony-episodes-ranked-photos-212741277.html). *[Yahoo! Entertainment](/source/Yahoo!_Entertainment)*. Retrieved 2025-07-07.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Season 2"](https://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friendship-Magic/dp/B00C0YUY4Q/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top). *Amazon*. February 27, 2013. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210404071625/https://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friendship-Magic/dp/B00C0YUY4Q/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) from the original on April 4, 2021. Retrieved March 25, 2013.

### Bibliography

- Connelly, Sherilyn (2017-04-01). [*Ponyville Confidential: The History and Culture of My Little Pony, 1981-2016*](https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ponyville_Confidential/E3VPDgAAQBAJ). McFarland. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4766-6209-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4766-6209-1).

- Begin, Mary Jane (2015). *My Little Pony: The Art of Equestria*. New York: Abrams. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4197-1577-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4197-1577-8).

## External links

- ["A Friend in Deed"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2195243/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

v t e My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episodes Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Season 2 "The Return of Harmony" "Lesson Zero" "Luna Eclipsed" "Sisterhooves Social" "The Cutie Pox" "May the Best Pet Win!" "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" "Sweet and Elite" "Secret of My Excess" "Hearth's Warming Eve" "Family Appreciation Day" "Baby Cakes" "The Last Roundup" "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" "Read It and Weep" "Hearts and Hooves Day" "A Friend in Deed" "Putting Your Hoof Down" "It's About Time" "Dragon Quest" "Hurricane Fluttershy" "Ponyville Confidential" "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" "A Canterlot Wedding"

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [A Friend in Deed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Friend_in_Deed) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Friend_in_Deed?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.