You've Got a Friend In Need

You've Got a Friend Need is the seventh episode of the first season of Legends of the Multiverse: Friendship is Universe. In this episode, a sleeping dragon's smoke Dragon's keep disrupts the skies of Multitopia and the Mane Six are tasked by Princess Palutena to convince it to leave, much to Spectra Vondergeist's displeasure. The episode's title is a portmanteau of Dragon and Spectra.

Production
This is the first episode to use a bland credit font in the closing credits, as opposed to a fancier font in earlier episodes.

On September 21, 2015, an unauthorized leak of the show's Flash assets revealed an early treatment of this episode. In addition to referring to Princess Palutena as a Queen, the treatment had Spectra Vondergeist defeat the dragon using the Stare, making it the first episode to highlight the ability rather than Stare Master. The treatment also revealed a more violent confrontation between the ponies and the dragon, where the dragon throws the ponies save Fluttershy off the mountain and knocks them unconscious, rather than knocking them to the ground. Besides these changes, no major plot changes were made.

A small part showing Rapunzel in her wacky costumes reappears in Cakes for the Memories.

The scene when Sally Acorn kicks Razer's snout reappears in Deep Tissue Memories.

The smoke
The episode opens with Spectra Vondergeist giving food to some of the animals that live around her home. Spectra flies over to Kiko, who is rapidly eating a carrot, and tells him to slow down or else he'll get a tummy ache. Kiko drops the carrot and runs off. Spectra catches up to him and attempts to convince him to eat more, but Kiko refuses and kicks the carrot away. He runs a short distance and begins to cough, and after several failed guesses from Spectra, he points out the cause: an ominous cloud of black smoke heading towards Multiville. Believing the smoke may be emerging from a possible fire, Spectra rushes over to warn everyone but fails to get their attention due to her soft voice and lack of assertiveness, and because the ponies in town are too occupied with their activities: Sally Acorn trying to break a ball-bouncing record, Rapunzel organizing a celebration for when said record is broken, and other ponies conversing amongst themselves. Only when Kairi arrives are the other ponies alerted to the smoke.

Preparing for the journey
The main characters gather inside Destiny Library, where Kairi relays news from Princess Palutena: The smoke in question is not coming from a fire, but from female a sleeping dragon. Celestia warns that if the dragon is not convinced to leave, the smoke from his snoring could easily blanket Multitopia for the next hundred years. Kairi and her friends are tasked with taking care of the problem.

There's a short montage where Kairi's friends prepare for their journey, which is heavily influenced by 1970s and '80s action television shows and films. Rainbow Dash stripes a red, white and green pattern onto her cheeks, Sheriff Mulan packs money and apples, Rapunzel has sunglasses and balloons exploding from her bag (she giggles then says "I mean GRRRRRRRRR"), Nene Amano puts on a big hat with khaki coloring and Spectra comes out of her house wearing a football helmet, water wings and various other sports equipment, then jumps when the door closes. The group rendezvouses near the mountain the dragon has occupied. Spectra, who has exhibited very little enthusiasm for going after the dragon, tries to back out of the mission, and Rainbow Dash concurs, pointing out Spectra's timidness and worrying that she might slow them down, something she does repeatedly throughout the episode. However, Kairi Sparkle insists that the Pegasus' talent of interacting with wild animals could be useful. Olaf and Navi remains behind to look over the critters that Spectra usually takes care of, over her objections.

The journey
"...I'm scared of dragons!"

- Fluttershy

Initially, Sally Acorn's skepticism seems justified. Upon hearing the dragon's distant snoring, Spectra's limbs lock up, rendering her unable to fly. Another snore makes her stiffly fall to the side, accompanied by a goat bleat, alluding to the tendency of some breeds of goat to stiffen after being startled. Sheriff Mulan is forced to drag her the long way around to catch up to the other ponies. Later, after her ability to move on her own has returned, she still has trouble leaping over a narrow chasm, having to be encouraged by one of Rapunzel's songs; and a leaf falling on her back makes her cry out, inadvertently causing a rock slide that almost buries them and further extends their journey.

Kairi invite the Group Five to come over and help with the cleaning, and after that they can have a party. That night, while the The Group Six were enjoying their party, the Dragon from the film Shrek into the Dragon's Keep themselves to Multiville but were surprised to see that there were people.

They do eventually reach their destination: the cave where the dragon is resting. Kairi wants to go in with Spectra, in the hope that between the two of them, they can convince the dragon to leave. But Spectra says she is scared of fully-grown dragons. After a failed attempt to cheer Spectra on, her friends decide to finish the job without her.

Confronting the dragon
Kairi tries to reason with the dragon, but is completely ignored. Then, Nene tries to use her charm on it, but fails when she tries to lay claim to the dragon's jewels. Rapunzel enters the dragon's cave in a funny costume with balloons, flippers, giant glasses, and a party blower, but exits without success. Her costume is similar to Daffy Duck's body in a scene from the Looney Tunes cartoon Duck Amuck. All Sally Acorn's brute force attempt accomplishes is making the dragon angry: it steps outside the cave and begins attacking the animals. In the process, the animals get knocked over, and Spectra's hiding place is destroyed, exposing her to the dragon.

Looking at her dazed friends, she gains enough courage to fly up to the dragon and admonish him for what she calls his bullying. Cowed by Spectra's tone, the dragon tries to justify his anger by explaining that Sally Acorn kicked him. Much to Sally Acorn's confusion, Spectra apologizes for Sal's attack on the dragon, but also says that the dragon is bigger than the ponies and should be more considerate. She also admonishes him for sleeping in a place where his snoring could endanger the health of other creatures. The dragon weakly attempts to argue back, but Spectra won't let him. After being scolded so harshly that he bursts into tears, Spectra comforts him and convinces him to leave. The dragon leaves the mountain, and Spectra's friends congratulate her for standing up to him.

Closing sequence
The episode cuts to Multiville, where Olaf and Navi is struggling to keep Kiko in check. Kairi Sparkle relays a message to Princess Palutena that the mission was a success, and that she learned to never lose faith in her friends. Outside the library the main characters watch Sally Acorn once again trying to beat the ball-bouncing record. Rapunzel plays a prank on her and imitates a dragon's roar, which makes Sally Acorn briefly lock up in fear in a similar way to Spectra earlier in the episode. Still, the two Pegasi's roles are not entirely reversed; when Sally Acorn blows another stray leaf onto Spectra's back, she freezes up and faints. The episode ends with the main characters laughing at the frozen Spectra.

Song

 * This is the Beat
 * Hop Skip and Jump song

Quotes

 * Spectra: Are you okay? Are you coughing because there's a carrot stuck in your throat? Because you need some water?
 * Kiko: [coughing]
 * Spectra: Because of the giant cloud of scary black smoke? [Spectra is struck by Kiko's carrot] I'll take that as a... Yes.


 * Kairi Sparkle: According to Princess Palutena, he's taking a nap. His snoring is what's causing all this smoke.
 * Rapunzel: He should really see a doctor. That doesn't sound healthy at all.


 * Rapunzel: (imitating a dragon) Welcome to my cave, Nene. Care for a diamond? [roar]


 * Rapunzel: Whoo-hoo! I win again!
 * Nene Amano: Ugh. That's thirty-five games in a row. Best of seventy-one?


 * Kairi Sparkle: You have a wonderful talent dealing with all kinds of animals.
 * Spectra: Yes. Because they're not dragons...
 * Sally Acorn: Oh come on! We've seen you walk up to a horrible manticore like it was nothing.
 * Spectra: Yes. Because he wasn't a dragon...
 * Rapunzel: Olaf is a snowman. not a dragon. You're not scared of him.
 * Spectra: Yes. Because he wasn't a huge, gigantic, terrible, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp scale-having, horn-wearing, smoke-snoring, could-eat-a-animal-in-one-bite, totally-all-grown-up dragon.


 * Nene Amano: I was this close to getting that diamond...
 * Kairi Sparkle: You mean getting rid of that dragon?
 * Rarity: Oh. Yeah. Sure.


 * Nene Amano: Darling, you look ridiculous.
 * Rapunzel: Exactly! Sharing a laugh is a sure-fire way to get someone on your side.


 * Sally Acorn: All right, that's it. We tried persuasion, charm, whatever it is Rapunzel does.
 * Rapunzel: [busted horn]
 * Sally Acorn: It's time to stop wasting time! I'm going in!


 * Spectra: How dare you... How dare you! Listen here, mister! Just because you're big, doesn't mean you get to be a bully! You may have huge teeth, and sharp scales, and snore smoke, and breathe fire... But you do not, I repeat, you do not! Hurt! My! Friends! ...You got that? Well...?
 * Dragon: ...But, that rainbow one kicked me...
 * Spectra: And I am very sorry about that.
 * Spectra: But you're bigger than she is and you should know better. You should also know better than to take a nap when your snoring can become a health hazard to other creatures.
 * Dragon: But I?
 * Spectra: Don't you but I me mister. Now what do you have to say for yourself? I said, what do you have to say for yourself?
 * Dragon: [whimper] [crying]
 * Spectra: There, there. No need to cry. You're not a bad dragon, you just made a bad decision. Now go pack your things. You just need to find a new place to sleep. That's all.


 * Sally Acorn: Rapunzel! You scared me! I mean... uh... You... broke my concentration.
 * Spectra: It's okay, Sally Acorn. Not everybody can be as brave as me.