Like my Micro-Series and Season 4 (first half) ranking blogs, this is my list of my three most loved and most hated episodes for each of FIM's first three seasons. I'm not ranking it from an objective quality perspective, but more how they impact me personally.

Time to begin!

(In case you're wondering, Equestria Girls is NOT on this list because it's not episodic. I would if I wanted to, but that'd be cheating.)

1. Party of One: Prior to Magic Duel and Sleepless in Ponyville (respectively), this was my most favorite episode by far. Although the ending was one we've seen before, the path leading up to the ending was top notch. Each moment of comedy was hilarious without beating a dead horse over it. Although Pinkie Pie is the main star here, all seven main characters shared the spotlight and genuine characterization without exaggerating anything nor going over the top. But Pinkamena Diane Pie's appearance and third act that followed really took the cake. It was both funny and VERY creepy, a mixture of the deliciously dark humor featured in both Return of Harmony and Lesson Zero. Her tandem with the hardheaded Rainbow Dash really nudged the rest of the conflict along.
   
2. Winter Wrap-Up: My all-time favorite Twilight-centered episode outside of Magic Duel and the best episode Morrow has written so far. (I'd also argue that this episode, not Lesson Zero, is the best Twilight-centered episode of the series.) It's also the episode where FIM really took off. Twilight's conflict in getting involved in Winter Wrap-Up felt very organic: After each humorous screwup or moment of sympathy, none of the sequences didn't pace itself way too quickly or way too slowly. The adorkable unicorn apparently lived in Ponyville for some time there, but still evidently felt like a stranger amidst the rest of Ponyville. With her using her ability to use her wits and attentiveness, she was able to figure out how to work into the town without having to abandon what she loves most: magic. It also transcended every other moment after, adjusting into Ponyville permanently and becoming more self-confident. And I didn't talk about the fantastic song, which addresses the great worldbuilding of Ponyville, Canterlot (by association), and Equestria as a whole, meanwhile addressing the WWU's main conflict.
   
3. Suited for Success: Easily Fullerton's best episode and the one that really explored Rarity's three-dimensional, creative character the best (until GIYC and later RTM). There's so much to admire. The creativity of the concept. The way the Remane Five bounced as varying failed clients (each of whom that match themselves to a "T"). Art of the Dress is beautiful. The episode's conflict was resolved wittingly with the Remane Five learning the lesson the hard way. It's also a sideswipe at both the creative design process and how bigger companies tend to meddle in their noses where they don't belong. (EQG, I'm looking at you! )
   

1. Owl's Well that Ends Well: One of the most assured bad episodes from season one beside Feeling Pinkie Keen (which is second on this list) and Boast Busters (which isn't). The plot is a classic retread of the main character being the antagonist in order to scapegoat the other he or she's jealous with. While Owlowicious has personality, it's so hidden, "subtlety" doesn't describe it. It can easily be missed. Spike's treatment as a butt of jokes is really exploited and makes him very out of character. The others reward the owl despite never seeing him before. And the plot is too damn slow. In all, a really bad episode. If you want to watch a more plausible and better overall story of jealousy, watch Green Isn't Your Color instead.
   
2. Feeling Pinkie Keen: When the slapstick got extreme, it got way too mean-spirited and out of place for the show. Twilight's stubbornness against the Pinkie Sense went on far too long. Every single sequence was as subtle as an anvil being dropped on the head. The Pinkie Sense is cluttered and confusing (not to mention a stupid excuse for "comedy"). And the dialogue used to drive the conflict (and, by association, the accidental false debate between creationism versus science) proves to the audience and DHX how important language, subtlety, subtexts, and double entendres are and to properly address them if you can figure it out. It also accidentally promoted faith over science (not bad science, as it's subtly dictating, but science, period), which will annoy your audience.
   
3. A Dog & Pony Show: Structurally, it's rather good. The pace is strong. The comedy is timed well. Rarity is very in character and uses her strong wits and intelligence to her advantage. The moral is strong conceptually. But incompetence (especially if meshed with stupidity) makes for terrible entertainment. The Diamond Dogs are both incompetent and stupid, whose only purpose is for Rarity to play her mind games. When you portray one side shallowly in order to make the other half appear better, that's a shallow conflict, and you offend both sides from a creative standpoint. "Just because she's ladylike doesn't mean she's helpless or weak" is an excellent moral and uses the right character for it, but the poorly written conflict underminded both Rarity's character and the moral it was trying to relay.
   

1. Return of Harmony, Part 2: Yes, not the first part, which surprisingly didn't interest me so much despite being very well written for the most part. But this episode is one of the few where I constantly rewatch and love it more each time. The reason: Discord. He was a splendidly hilarious bastard and all the more proves how dangerous a villain he was. He had a very simple goal, but his lack of end goal and unpredictability is his appearances makes the humor so dark in subtext and him so dangerous. Without question, he was the best villain in the entire series because he's three-dimensionally evil. The only part to reign this back really was the anticlimactic ending, but it doesn't stop it from it being the best two-parter in the series so far (and one of two personally where I like the second half more than the first, the other A Canterlot Wedding).
   
2. Luna Eclipsed: The episode to reintroduce Luna and make her into an even bigger character in popularity. Not only is it beautifully animated, but the visuals are scary and breathtaking simultaneously. Luna herself was given a fresh start with a brand new design and fully fledged personality that makes sense given the context of the episode and conflict. Pinkie's behavior can be put into question, but the fact that she was aware of it all and only saw Luna at the moments of confusion created the misunderstanding that drove the conflict further. Also, the karma Dash suffered at the end was deserving.
   
3. Putting Your Hoof Down: The first (and only) non-good episode to enter this list. (I would've put in A Canterlot Wedding, but that's fourth or fifth on my list.) The plot is contrived. Several plot points are nonsensical. Angel is extremely out of character. Continuity's disregarded. Iron Will was wrongly portrayed as an antagonist when he really wasn't one. And the episode was extremely mean-spirited — *stares at Mare-Do-Well* — just to drive the moral. But I still can't help but love it. The little details (a.k.a., looking at the story from 'Shy's POV) are breathtaking. There's plenty of great animation, especially the slow camera move that rotates Fluttershy's head in Act 3. The background score is fantastic. At this point, I shouldn't love this episode because it's quite bad (it doesn't matter how well-done the little details are; if you can't hone in the bigger ones, they're moot), but I still do, and I still rate it as my favorite Fluttershy episode. (The best one so far is either Hurricane Fluttershy or Green Isn't Your Color.)
   

1. The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well: Very expected to be on this list. Rushed pacing. Very contrived plot. Poorly executed moral and being told into Dash's face b. It's extremely predictable. And every one of the Mane Six is out of character. Rainbow Dash OOC for being an even bigger jerk than what she's capable of (even bigger than May the Best Pet Win!, another horrid episode) and being way too dumb to figure it out despite it being blatantly in her face, the others for being extremely hypocritical and vindictive in their approach to teach Dash a lesson (without suffering any consequences themselves). The visuals and score were the saving graces, but not enough for it to be on my dislike list. (It's actually one of few I hate.)
   
2. Hearts & Hooves Day: A bad episode, but nowhere near as atrocious as, say, Rainbow Falls. The humor was cringeworthy and often plain random and/or stupid. Twilight was extremely stupid and out of character of her to actually hand over the book about the love poison to them (despite it being in her face) along with the suggestion to hand over the guide to the EoH. The ending itself is extremely mean-spirited and out of character of Cheerilee, Big Mac, and the show itself. You don't rub salt in the wound of kids, especially if they underwent a major tailspin to rectify those mistakes. That alone ruined any enjoyment I had for the episode because it was that insulting.
   
3. Sweet & Elite: Rarity was shown to balance out her life in Canterlot and Twilight's party, but her lies and deception were way too cruel and, if you ask me, very out of character of her, even in her S2 state. Fancy Pants, Fleur de Lis, Becoming Popular, and Twilight's adorkable dance were great, but the Liar Revealed trope was not subtle one bit. The portrayal of Canterlot as full of upper-class, stuck-up sheep besides a spare few is stereotypical and one-dimensionalizes the city. It also doesn't help when Rarity is immediately forgiven, not punished, and basically rewarded for her dumb stunt. Learning the lesson doesn't excuse her stupidity! The pace, Remane Five (where the hell was Spike?!), and Opal were good, too, but that doesn't save a crappy conflict. Give me Sisterhooves Social (which actively punishes Rarity for her jerkish behavior and then has to rectify herself to complete the conflict) over this any day of week.
   

1. Magic Duel: I love so much about this episode, and it's my most favorite in the show. The fantastic animation. The unique blending of famous references (including clever callbacks). Very hilarious wit in the form of Corrupt!Trixie's lack of trust in wheels. A great pace that resolves the conflict nicely. Zecora was used in a way that didn't devolve her into a plot device, instead treating her as a character. And the broken fourth wall was classic Pinkie (with Twilight in the fold). Even better, Twilight has to use the magic of her friendship with the others as well as her intelligence to resolve the conflict. And that's refreshing, as sometimes Twilight is dumbed down a bit just to create the story in other episodes. Fluttershy's flanderization and holds MD back from making it too solid, but I love so much of it for it to begrudge me.
   
2. Sleepless in Ponyville: My second-most favorite episode in the show and easily the best in season three. None of the characters were shoehorned, only allowing the character to spend a specific amount of time needed. Scootaloo was given the character development she richly deserved. Apple Bloom and Applejack played off each other nicely. The relationship between Rarity and Sweetie Belle was teasingly funny, but never crossed the line into Rarity being out of character. The G3 meta-reference — Dash cutting off Scootaloo's story — made me laugh out loud. Each scene impacted the story beyond simply the humor perspective and focused a lot on timing, punctuality, action, and drama. Luna's inclusion really expanded the world of herself and the alicorn sisters as a whole, opening plenty of questions into their psyche and way they behave and act beyond the typical Equestrian perspective. The fact that Powell actually went forward to put Scootaloo into a life-or-death situation as a result of her frights eating her up alive was fantastic and showed how she isn't merey a Dash clone. Lastly, the bonding between Dash and Scootaloo cemented the growth between the two and Dash's character development up to that point There was so much heart poured into the dialogue and writing, and I love every bit of it.
   
3. Wonderbolts Academy: The last of the Big Three and my most favorite Dash-centered episode to date. It's also easily Merriweather Williams's best episode. (I rank this as the secone-best episode last season, behind SiP and in front of both Magic Duel and Apple Family Reunion.) Pinkie's worry might've lasted a bit too long, but made sense because of the situation Dash is in. Spitfire's blunt, commanding characterization and objective behavior made perfect sense given the environment, for it demonstrated respect and integrity of herself, the passion she prides, and every single cadet in the Academy (Dash including). Lightning Dust painted a really nice foil of Dash and perfectly demonstrated how much Dash grew since the pilot. Moreover, WA has Dash's characterization presented in the best balance since Sonic Rainboom, a classic episode in its own right. Dash's morale was put to the test thrice, each being built to the last when she had to rescue the Remane Five from an accident. The fact that she put down her wing pony bade and said, "I quit!" perfectly demonstrated how much she's grown and how much she loves her friends family. Although the ending is very ambiguous, it makes perfect sense because it continues to build on her quest to be a Wonderbolt and provides the consequences of Dust's selfish behavior.
   

1. Just for Sidekicks: Not close to the worst episode last season, but for a while was my most hated episode in the entire show. (Rainbow Falls is now.) While the CMC were fantastically characterized, there were three problems. Fluttershy was out of character. There was no railway and geography realism, thereby making the latter half of the conflict implausible. And the biggest: Spike was extremely out of character. While Spike at Your Service made him out of character for making him too stupid and incompetent for no good reason, he was just as badly characterized from the other side of the scale by becoming way too evil and selfish for his own. JfS sacrificed his character development up to this point for humor at his expense and artificial conflict. Yes, he learns his lesson, but the fact that he learned his lesson beforehand made the conflict redundant.
   
2. Spike at Your Service: Although it's second and easily one of the worst episodes in Season 3, I actually don't really hate it. It was very funny, but sacrificed good characterization and continuity for it. Spike's stupidity, incompetence, and carelessness don't fit him at all and is extremely overplayed. Continuity was sacrificed to drive the conflict forward. Applejack was out of character (in Act 3). Too often, the animation of the Timber Wolves was very out of place and demonstrated the limitations of Flash.
   
3. One Bad Apple: A new addition to the list and will certainly climb the more I read the transcript, watch the episode, and understand the implications better. Babs Seed (the song) was great. The visuals were great. The animation was spectacular, the music video nostalgic. The CMC were okay. But that's all the good. DT and SS are flat, one-dimensional bullies again, nullifying the character growth from past seasons. Babs Seed suddenly turns to them and becomes an even bigger, physical bully by terrorizing them and doesn't give a good reason to associate herself with the Disasterly Duo. Applejack and the rest of the Apple family are incompetent because the bullying resulted in AB sleeping on the floor; if they had the competence and intelligence, they would've spotted it immediately and get to the bottom of things. The pace in itself is sloppy, going way too fast. Pinkie was flanderized and acting stupid. The fact that Babs Seed became a bully because she was bullied was excused in the script; that's NO excuse for bullying! There's a one-size-fits-all method, which is to come to AJ (or any other adult) in case of bullies (something SB suggested several times earlier!). That doesn't always work because some don't care, while some adults enable the bullying or are the bully. And Babs Seed not only wasn't punished. She was basically rewarded for her immoral behavior. You don't screw up a very sensitive subject. You know what happens if you do? You could cause a reverse effect and enable this kind of behavior.