TV.com

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Season 1 Episode 22

A Bird in the Hoof

Favorite

Watched It I've Watched This 1

Next
Episode Previous
Episode

9.1

User Rating

24 votes

Your Rating: 10
Your Rating: 9.5
Your Rating: 9
Your Rating: 8.5
Your Rating: 8
Your Rating: 7.5
Your Rating: 7
Your Rating: 6.5
Your Rating: 6
Your Rating: 5.5
Your Rating: 5
Your Rating: 4.5
Your Rating: 4
Your Rating: 3.5
Your Rating: 3
Your Rating: 2.5
Your Rating: 2
Your Rating: 1.5
Your Rating: 1

Rate Now

EPISODE REVIEWS
By TV.com Users

Write A Review

Episode Summary

EDIT

AIRED: 4/8/11

During a visit by Princess Celestia, Fluttershy notices that the princess' pet bird isn't looking very well. So without the princess knowing, Fluttershy takes the bird back to her house in hopes of making it feel better. But Fluttershy soon gets herself into trouble when the princess finds out that her bird is missing.moreless

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (3)

Harry Potter spun out

9.0

By Naylte, Jan 17, 2013

The writers made brilliant use of cultural references. Fluttershy and Angel's charades with a homage to Alice in Wonderland, Fluttershy's misunderstanding of Philomena's nature making Twilight and herself believe that she (they) are in trouble, and Princess Celestia's reassurance and possible forgiveness.

This episode made me compare Celestia to Dumbledore, Gandalf, Aragorn and Galadriel. Which leads to nicknaming her 'Gallopdriel'. XD
DO YOU AGREE?
0 0

Flag
Share Hide
A great episode for Fluttershy

10

By That_TV_Dude, Aug 11, 2012

Out of all the episodes I've seen that focused on Fluttershy, this has to be the best one yet. It begins with Fluttershy taking care of some animals around her cottage. While she does so her bunny friend, Angel, informs her through charades that she is supposed to be at Sugarcube Corner to be at the gathering of Princess Celestia. At the gathering, Rainbow Dash is making fun of the guards and Fluttershy comes and is scared of the guards. Twilight Sparkle shows up and allows her in. Fluttershy sees that Princess Celestia has a bird named Philomena who looks rather ill. In an attempt to cure the bird, Fluttershy takes the bird without the princess knowing. She tries everything to make Philomena better from pills, to a bath, and to medication cream, but nothing works. Twilight shows up and sees what Fluttershy has done and is horrified. Twilight warns that her friend will face banishment for her deed and advise to return Philomena before it's too late. The Royal Guards of Celestia though show up and ask where the bird is. Twilight convinces them that the bird is not here and she and Fluttershy will look for it and the guards leave. Fluttershy explains to Twilight that she wanted to help the bird and Twilight agrees to help her friend. Twilight emphasizes on tough love and forces Philomena to take the pills and the baths as well. The bird escapes though which causes Twilight and Fluttershy to run around town looking for the bird. Eventually the pair run into the other friends and the Royal Guards find Philomena. Fluttershy tries to get it to come down, but then Philomena falls to the ground bursting into flames and dying. Princess Celestia pops up and asks what's going on. Fluttershy explains what she did and the princess goes over to the ashes of her bird telling it to stop playing around. Philomena's ashes rise and it's revealed that the bird is actually a phoenix. Princess Celestia explains about Philomena and tells her phoenix to apologize for causing trouble. Fluttershy learns that she should always ask about things before jumping to conclusion. Our episode ends with Rainbow telling Philomena to make the guards laugh by tickling them and the whole group laughs. This was an excellent episode for all to enjoy. While the plot was predictable, it's made up with multiple funny things. I loved how Rainbow was fooling around with the guards, the Benny Hill music being used again in the chase scene, and how Twilight's friends were acting around the party. This was a great episode overall and one of the best of season 1.

FINAL SCORE: 10/10moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
4 1

Flag
Share Hide
Fluttershy takes Princess Celestia's pet bird (without Princess Celestia knowing) and she takes the bird to her house so she can make the bird feel better

10

By tigerdude22, Aug 18, 2011

I thought that this was an excellent episode of "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic". It had some very funny moments and the story seemed to be very original and clever. Definitely considered one of my favorite episodes from this cartoon now. Also, what makes this episode awesome is that it's a "Fluttershy" episode. An episode that focuses on Fluttershy while the other ponies have short roles. Although, Twilight's had a bigger role in the last 8 minutes of the episode but this episode mainly focused on Fluttershy and I thought it was awesome since Fluttershy is my favorite character. Princess Celestia visiting Ponyville was good to see. This episode probably showed Princess Celestia's biggest role which I really enjoyed. Applejack's short role at the party scene when she wanted to eat but didn't want to show bad manners in front of Princess Celestia was very funny. Pinkie Pie's short role was funny when she is jumping around at the party. Rarity's short role was also funny when she didn't want anyone to step or spill on her clothes. Rainbow Dash wasn't shown at the party scene but she was shown in the last 5 minutes of the episode with only one line. Rainbow Dash's one line in this episode was good and her line kinda went "Are you guys racing? I'll beat you first" (something close to that) but that was Rainbow Dash's only line in this episode. Even though the other ponies had short roles in this episode, they were still funny and it was handled well. Fluttershy trying to heel the bird was very funny. Twilight helping Fluttershy with the bird before Princess Celestia finds out that Fluttershy took the bird was good. The scene with Fluttershy and Twilight chasing after the bird all over town really had me laugh hard... best part of the episode. Princess Celestia's bird turning out to be a Phoenix bird was awesome. Overall, an excellent episode of "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic". 10/10moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
4 0

Flag
Share Hide

See All Fan Reviews

Cast & Crew: STARS

EDIT

Tara Strong	Twilight Sparkle
Tabitha St. Germain	Rarity
Ashleigh Ball	Applejack, Rainbow Dash
Andrea Libman	Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie

See All Cast & Crew

Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

EDIT

Nicole Oliver	Princess Celestia	Recurring Role
Brian Drummond	Mr. Cake	Recurring Role
Tabitha St. Germain	Mrs. Cake	Recurring Role

See All Cast & Crew

Watch Online

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

FILTER BY TYPE

TRIVIA (4)
ADD TRIVIA
- When Mrs. Cake first approaches Princess Celestia, she has Mr. Cake's cutie mark.
  EDIT SHARE
- The song that Fluttershy and her pet hummingbird hum together is the original My Little Pony theme song.
  EDIT SHARE
- Princess Celestia's guards' behaviour is similar to the Queen's Guard at Buckingham Palace. They are famous for being trained to stand motionless and remain expressionless unless they face a threat to either themselves or the palace occupants.
  EDIT SHARE
- During the party, Applejack is not wearing her hat, but it does appear when she is seen walking out of the room with all the food.
  EDIT SHARE
QUOTES (4)
ADD QUOTES
- Twilight Sparkle: She might banish you from Equestria! Or throw you in a dungeon! Or banish you and then throw you in a dungeon in the place that she banishes you to!
  EDIT SHARE
- Twilight Sparkle: (pretending to cough) It's that dry night air.
  Fluttershy: But it's daytime.
  Twilight Sparkle: Well, day air is even drier!
  EDIT SHARE
- Princess Celestia: A phoenix is a majestic, magical bird.While it appears healthy and happy most of the time, every so often, it must renew itself by shedding all of it's feathers and bursting into flames. Rather melodramatic, if you ask me...
  EDIT SHARE
- Twilight Sparkle: Did you give (Philomina) any kind of medicine?
  
  Fluttershy: I tried to, but she wouldn't take it.
  
  Twilight Sparkle: (groans) Then you have to make her take it! You can't be such a pushover Fluttershy! Show this patient who's the boss! Make her straighten up and fly right!
  
  Fluttershy: But she can't fly.
  
  Twilight Sparkle: No excuses!
  EDIT SHARE
NOTES (4)
ADD NOTES
- According to Lauren Faust, this was originally going to be a sad episode that talks about the loss of a pet.
  EDIT SHARE
- The title of this episode, "A Bird in the Hoof", is likely a reference to the idiom, "a bird in the hand (is worth two in the bush)", which means it is better to have a small, certain advantage than a larger, more uncertain one.
  EDIT SHARE
- Friendship Report: Fluttershy learned that she must ask permission first before taking matters into her own hooves.
  EDIT SHARE
- This episode revolves around Fluttershy.
  EDIT SHARE
ALLUSIONS (1)
ADD ALLUSIONS
- Alice in Wonderland: Fluttershy's "I'm late for a very important date" and her pet bunny Angel's clock hints are an obvious reference to this classic Disney movie in which the rabbit in that movie states "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date. No time to say hello. Goodbye, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late."
  EDIT SHARE