# Equestria Games > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Equestria_Games > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Equestria_Games.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestria_Games > Source revision: 1335135075 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 24th episode of the 4th season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic "Equestria Games" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode Episode no. Season 4 Episode 24 Written by Dave Polsky Original air date May 3, 2014 (2014-05-03) Running time 22 minutes Episode chronology ← Previous "Inspiration Manifestation" Next → "Twilight's Kingdom" My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic season 4 List of episodes "**Equestria Games**" is the twenty-fourth episode of the [fourth season](/source/My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_season_4) 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 [Dave Polsky](/source/Dave_Polsky). It originally aired on [The Hub](/source/Discovery_Family#As_Hub_Network_(2010–2014)) on May 3, 2014. In this episode, [Spike](/source/Spike_(My_Little_Pony)) is chosen to light the torch at the opening ceremony of the Equestria Games.[1][2] ## Plot 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 The [Ponyville](/source/Ponyville) teams arrive at the Crystal Empire for the Equestria Games, where [Spike](/source/Spike_(My_Little_Pony)) discovers that he is celebrated as a hero for his role in defeating [King Sombra](/source/King_Sombra) and is known throughout the empire as "Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious." [Princess Cadance](/source/Princess_Cadance) asks him to light the ceremonial torch during the [opening ceremony](/source/Opening_ceremony), an honor Spike eagerly accepts since he can breathe fire as a dragon. However, when the moment arrives and he stands before the massive crowd in the stadium, Spike becomes overwhelmed by [stage fright](/source/Stage_fright) and finds himself unable to produce even a small flame. As the crowd grows restless from the delay, [Twilight](/source/Twilight_Sparkle) discreetly casts a spell to light the torch for Spike, allowing the games to begin successfully. When Twilight privately reveals that she helped him, Spike believes he has let down all of Equestria and retreats in shame from his heroic reputation. Desperate to redeem himself, Spike volunteers to sing the victory [anthem](/source/Anthem) after the aerial relay event, not realizing he needs to perform [Cloudsdale](/source/Cloudsdale)'s anthem since the [Wonderbolts](/source/Wonderbolts) won rather than Ponyville. His awkward, improvised version with incorrect lyrics creates uncomfortable silence throughout the stadium. During the final ice [archery](/source/Archery) competition, an archer accidentally shoots an arrow into the sky that turns a cloud into a massive block of ice threatening to crush the spectators below. With the pegasus guards unable to divert the falling ice and security spells preventing unicorns from using magic, Spike leaps onto the backs of flying pegasi and unleashes a blast of fire that melts the ice into harmless water and steam. Though others praise his heroic actions, Spike feels no pride because he simply did "what needed to be done" rather than seeking glory. Princess Cadance asks him to light the closing ceremony fireworks, and this time Spike performs confidently. ## Broadcast and reception ### Ratings "Equestria Games" aired on May 3, 2014, on the Hub Network.[1] According to the [Nielsen household ratings](/source/Nielsen_ratings), the episode was viewed by 413,000 people and watched by approximately 0.2 percent of households in the United States.[3] ### Critical reception Sherilyn Connelly, the author of *Ponyville Confidential*, gave the episode a "B" rating.[4] In a critical analysis of the episode, author Jen A. Blue described "Equestria Games" as achieving the "rare feat of a Good Spike Episode" by having Spike address his problems rather than being a jerk to others, and wrote that he "manages to not be a jerk to anyone else for an entire episode." Blue analyzed the episode as exploring the damage of saving versus helping and compared it to the episode "[It Ain't Easy Being Breezies](/source/It_Ain't_Easy_Being_Breezies)" but with the "saved" character as the main focus, and contrasted Twilight's harmful act of saving Spike by lighting the torch with her later helpful approach of actually talking to him about what he needs. Blue argued that Spike [internalizes](/source/Internalization_(psychology)) the difference between saving and helping through his experiences, wanting to become a helper rather than a savior, and positioned the episode as almost like a key episode for Spike since it explores the fail-state of Helping, his closest equivalent to an [Element of Harmony](/source/Element_of_Harmony).[5] Daniel Alvarez of *Unleash The Fanboy* gave the episode a rating of 8 out of 10 and called it "solid". He wrote that he was disappointed because it was not the grand Equestria Games event that was expected, with the actual Games taking a backseat to Spike's story. He praised the great message about compliments being meaningless if you do not believe in yourself and wrote that Spike making up the Cloudsdale anthem was "priceless", calling it potentially "the funniest thing of the season."[6] ## See also - [List of *My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic* episodes](/source/List_of_My_Little_Pony%3A_Friendship_Is_Magic_episodes) ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Busis_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Busis_1-1) Busis, Hillary (2014-05-02). ["'My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic': Where's the fire, Spike? -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140502225658/http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/05/02/my-little-pony-exclusive/). *[Entertainment Weekly](/source/Entertainment_Weekly)*. Archived from [the original](http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/05/02/my-little-pony-exclusive/) on 2014-05-02. Retrieved 2025-07-05. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Snider (2017)](#CITEREFSnider2017), p. 122-123 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Pucci_2014-05-09_3-0)** Pucci, Douglas (2014-05-09). ["Hub Network Ratings Scorecard—Week of Apr. 28, 2014"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140512214631/http://www.tvmediainsights.com/hub-network-ratings-scorecard-week-of-april-28-2014/). TV Media Insights. Archived from [the original](http://www.tvmediainsights.com/hub-network-ratings-scorecard-week-of-april-28-2014/) on May 12, 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-09. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Connelly (2017)](#CITEREFConnelly2017), p. 82 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Blue, Jen A. (2021-12-27). "Let me help you (Equestria Games)". *My Little Po-Mo: Unauthorized Critical Essays on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Season Four and Beyond*. pp. 215–218. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Alvarez, Daniel (2014-05-04). ["My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic 'Equestria Games' Review"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140509024413/http://www.unleashthefanboy.com/news/little-pony-friendship-magic-equestria-games-review/100245). *Unleash The Fanboy*. Archived from [the original](http://www.unleashthefanboy.com/news/little-pony-friendship-magic-equestria-games-review/100245) on 2014-05-09. Retrieved 2025-07-05. ### Bibliography - Connelly, Sherilyn (2017-04-01). [*Ponyville Confidential: The History and Culture of My Little Pony, 1981-2016*](https://books.google.com/books?id=E3VPDgAAQBAJ). McFarland. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4766-6209-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4766-6209-1). - Snider, Brandon T. (2017). *The Elements of Harmony Volume II: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: The Official Guidebook Volume II*. New York: Little, Brown and Company. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-316-43197-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-316-43197-2). ## External links - ["Equestria Games"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3099878/) 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 4 "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" --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Equestria Games](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestria_Games) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestria_Games?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.