Mane Smelody is the fifth episode in Chapter 5 of My Little Pony: Make Your Mark and the nineteenth episode overall.
Synopsis[]
Pipp stumbles upon a strange plant that can instantly shine a pony's hoof for a luxury, all-natural hooficure treatment. The only problem? It stinks!
Plot[]
While foraging in Bridlewood for ingredients to use in her beauty line, Pipp stumbles over an "inkthistle," disgruntled until she notices how shiny it makes her hooves. Even though she quickly notices the horrendous smell they give off, causing her hooves to stink, she collects the flower to use in her beauty line.
Back at Mane Melody, Pipp shares her discovery with Jazz, who agrees with Pipp about the unpleasant odor, but realizes their potential to greatly boost the salon's declining sales. After testing it out on Sunny, Pipp immediately starts advertising her new hoof polish on social media, Jazz looking on silently, horrified about what the customers will think about the scent.
Meanwhile, at the Crystal Brighthouse, Zipp has exhausted all of her leads in her attempt to uncover more information about Opaline, including the book about Alicorns she acquired in The Manesquerade Ball. Though annoyed with Pipp about Sunny's smelly hooves, the two search through Sunny's dad's old belongings, uncovering an extremely old and faded map with the word "Scale" on it.
At Mane Melody, Pipp's new hoof polish draw a great deal of business to the salon, much to Pipp's delight. However, Jazz discovers part of the reason they receive so many customers is because the horrific stench has sprouted the "Mane Smelody Challenge," a viral social media trend which sees ponies challenging how long they can endure the awful smell of the new hoof polish.
Jazz fears this trend will reduce Mane Melody to a laughingstock; ponies even begin laughing behind Pipp's back as she basks in immense perceived success. Jazz tries to keep the Mane Smelody Challenge away from Pipp's eyes in order to spare her feelings.
In search of more information on the map they found, Sunny and Zipp venture to the Breezie Night Market]], though everybreezie either does not know anything or is repulsed by Sunny's stinky hooficure. One Breezie, however, gives Sunny a heart-shaped ruby locket, claiming it has long awaited a "special pony," believing Sunny to be that pony, and leaving the two ponies with the words "Nopony is alone who has friends."
Back in Maretime Bay, Izzy, walking into Mane Melody, informs Jazz that the flowers are actually called "stinkthistle" – the worst-smelling plant in all of Bridlewood – and that ponies who are exposed to it for long times risk becoming accustomed to the awful odour, and can no longer notice it. Though Jazz now recognizes the new product to be a considerable public health hazard, she is still afraid to tell Pipp and ruin her feelings of success.
Meanwhile, Sunny and Zipp share their findings with Hitch at the Sheriff Station. Hitch does not recognize anything about the map or locket, but offers to look through the station archives and see if any archived maps resemble the one Sunny and Zipp have. After Sunny and Zipp leave, Hitch notices Sparky's scales shimmering, unaware of it being caused by proximity to the map.
As Mane Melody nears the end of its business hours, Jazz finally confesses to Pipp about the smelly hoof polish and the "Mane Smelody Challenge." While Pipp is not over the moon at being the subject of an online joke, she takes it in her stride and remarks how nice it feels to have a friend to be honest with, thanking Jazz. On cue, Izzy returns with a bouquet of pinkthistle flowers, which prove successful to neutralize the horrendous odour whilst retaining the hoof shining qualities, thus salvaging the remaining hoof polish.
At Opaline's Castle, Opaline reveals to Misty the next phase of her plan, explaining how the Dragons have been in deep magical hibernation ever since magic disappeared from Equestria. Now that magic has returned, the dragons are awakening, and vulnerable for Opaline to invade their land, capture them, and steal their power. Misty, as the Mane 5's double agent, excuses herself and hurries to share with the group what she has learned about Opaline's plots.
Characters[]
- Sunny Starscout
- Izzy Moonbow
- Hitch Trailblazer
- Pipp Petals
- Zipp Storm
- Misty Brightdawn
- Sparky Sparkeroni
- Jazz Hooves
- Posey Bloom
- Toots
- Sweets (no lines)
- Windy
- Shutter Snap
- Dahlia (no lines)
- Sprout (no lines)
- Diggy (no lines)
- Sander (no lines)
- Argyle Starshine (mentioned)
- Rosedust
- Opaline Arcana
Trivia[]
- This was originally supposed to be the fourth episode of the sixth chapter.