13 Horrible Life Lessons My Little Pony Tries To Teach Our Kids

The Horrible Life Lesson: It takes a huge act of kindness to inspire a small one.

Made In Manehattan wants you to learn that small acts can make a real impact, a decent lesson in its own right. The problem is that, according to this episode, major undertakings such as building a stage and producing a play are considered small acts.

It begins with Rarity and Applejack trying to help Coco Pommel bring a sense of community to Manehattan by resurrecting Charity Kindheart's Midsummer Theatre Revival. When nopony in the city agrees to help, Applejack must spruce up the park on her own. Unable to finish renovating the old stage in time for the play, she compromises by building a new stage in the square.

This new stage becomes the crux of the episode's moral lesson. After the play, two Manehattan locals tell Applejack that they never thought small contributions such as pulling weeds or planting flowers could make a difference. Now they know better, having seen the good produced by Applejack's small act of building an entire stage by herself.

Small acts do matter, and the Manehattanites are right to believe that they should feel good about doing what they can. Building a stage, however, is far from a small act. If the ponies in Manehattan can't be bothered to pull a few weeds without first witnessing an amazing feat of last-minute carpentry, don't expect that park to get tidied up anytime soon.