Bronies love Luna. That is a fact, and while you’re free to not like Luna you can’t deny that her debut episode after her brief appearance in the series opener was met with resounding cheer and applause. With numerous fan theories of Luna’s personality already established, no one was expecting her to be PRINCESS LUNA, SOVEREIGN OF THE CAPS LOCK AND NO INSIDE VOICE!

 

Outside of Luna though, this episode is also one of my favorite from a technical aspect. Very few episodes take place at night, so to have an entire episode at night couldn’t have been easy to animate. If that weren’t enough, one of the cost cutting techniques in animating an MLP episode is to refuse models and just flip them, which is why characters like Rarity look the same no matter which way they facing. However, this is a Halloween episode to boot, so the animators would have needed to make all new and unique models for all the costumes, models that very likely will never be used again. Just imagine how much work that would have taken and it shows in the quality of the animation.

 

However, the reason Luna Eclipsed takes the bottom spot is because the conflict for this episode is kind of stupid, with Pinkie constantly terrifying the town for a cheap laugh at Luna’s expense without telling anyone she’s kidding, Luna included. Way to be a jerk Pinkie Pie.

 

 

I already explained the failings of the third season in my Runner ups, and Magical Mystery Cure is at the very peak of that and still stands as one of the most, if not the most polarizing episode of the entire series. While many have warmed up to or are at the very least are indifferent to the idea of Twilight now being an Alicorn Princess, I have seen MMC cited as the very instance the show “jumped the shark” for some and coined the (hopefully satirical) “Thanks M.A. Larson” meme, blaming write M.A. Larson for Twilight’s new role

 

The main strength to this episode is obviously its wide variety of music. From the upbeat and happy “Morning in Ponyville” that inevitably tempts fate and heralds disaster, to the heart wrenching “What My Cutie Mark is Telling Me” and “I Have to Find a Way”, to the culmination of the very theme of the show in “A True, True Friend” and finally ending with the serene “Celestia’s Ballad”.

 

However, despite my feeling towards the idea of Princess Twilight, I cannot deny that the ending of Twilight’s ascension nonetheless does come off as forced and contrived. While further explored in the season four opener “Princess Twilight Sparkle”, it still detracts from the episode as a whole. Without the rushed ending, Magical Mystery Cure would still remain an enjoyable episode for me and with said ending it doesn’t detract enough that I wouldn’t like it.

 

 

Let me just say that I freaking love Christmas. It’s my favorite time of the year and ever since this episode first aired it has become a new tradition to rewatch ”Hearth’s Warming Eve” sometime around the holidays. The reason for that isn’t just because it’s tangentially connected to the holidays, but because of how much insight and lore is explained through the simple plot device of a play, a play I should point out suffered no issues despite the fact that the Mane 6 are not professional actors.

 

 

Apart from the Castlevania reference in the title, Castle-Mania was, at least in my eyes, a much needed breather episode following the world changing conflicts of Magical Mystery Cure and Princess Twilight Sparkle. The interaction between every member of the Mane 6 here are pure comedy gold (plus a hint of AppleDash never hurts).

 

Not only that, but this episode stands as a testament to how far this show has come from a technical perspective. Here is The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters as seen in the pilot episodes:

 

And here is that same structure as seen in Castle-Mania:

 

Notice the difference? And then…then there’s this:

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, what you are witnessing is a bibliophile in pure bliss. Twilight just exudes adorkableness on such a level, that the first time I saw this I had to physically restrain myself from literally falling out of my chair laughing.

 

 

What’s this, the CMC in an episode that isn’t average at best? What sorcery is this?!

 

But seriously, Rarity episodes have a tendency to be some of the best episodes and this is no exception. But pairing her with my favorite Crusader? That was a recipe for sheer adorable overload.

 

This also gave further credence to my headcanon that Rarity must be trained in some form of martial arts. She kicks a manticore in the face in the pilot and then flying kicks Applejack in Return of Harmony, but the level of physical ability she showcases during the actual Sisterhooves Social peeks into her hidden depths a bit.

 

Also of note is the fact that Rarity, a pony who freaks out at the mere thought of dirt, willingly covered herself head to hoof in mud to prove how much she cares about Sweetie Belle. Even if you compare it to a mud bath, that’s some serious dedication to generosity there.

 

 

I’ve heard this is a fan-favorite even years later, and I can see exactly why. There’s the look into the childhoods of the six characters viewers had come to love (all of which are incredibly adorable!), the CMC are again in a role that doesn’t suck and the moment when Rainbow Dash and the others realise they were destined to become friends ever since they were kids.

 

 

Originally I was against including S5 episodes and Twilight’s Kingdom was here instead, but then I rewatched the latter and realized that while it has a great beginning and end, the middle is where things start to fall apart, largely due to Celestia’s lack of any solid plan outside of “Step 1: Give Twilight all our magic, Step 2: ????, Step 3: Save Equestria!”

 

With that in mind, The Cutie Map completely blows Twilight’s Kingdom out of the water due to its omnipresent dark atmosphere, it’s chilling representation of a cult including indoctrination and forced isolation among other things, the main villain of Aria Blaze Starlight Glimmer and finally the new group of fan favorites, the Friendship Four of Night Glider, Double Diamond, Party Favour and Sugar Belle.

 

 

I’m probably going to get in a lot of trouble for this, but let me get this out of the way first: Pinkie Pie is easily my least favorite of the Mane 6. Now before any Pinkie fans reach for their torches and pitchforks, grant me a moment to explain myself, okay?

 

I won’t deny that Pinkie is basically what would happen if ”Rule of Funny” was a pony, and I also won’t deny that she plays a huge part in a lot of the series’ humor. However, it is far too easy to over exaggerate that trait until funny turns into annoying, insensitive and just plain stupid.

 

Pinkie as a character is more often than not easy to get completely wrong, such as her uncharacteristically antagonistic attitude towards Fluttershy in Filli Vanilli, her already mentioned insensitivity in Luna Eclipsed and her downright stalkerish stupidity in A Friend in Deed, just to name a few. And while Season 5 seems to almost be purposely built to improve my opinion of Pinkie Pie, that still doesn’t exempt all her terrible characterisation in the past.

 

Taking all that into account, Pinkie Pride is an episode that manages to get Pinkie Pie down pat.

 

Sure, the inclusion of the ever popular Weird Al Yankovich as Cheese Sandwich, as well as being yet another musical episode ripe with fantastic songs both help to elevate this episode into the hearts of viewers everywhere, Pinkie Pride manages to cast Pinkie Pie as much more than a two-dimensional walking joke. Here she shows actual depths when she starts to legitimately doubt her abilities to throw parties, before bouncing back and vowing to show everyone “the real Pinkie”. She may be off the wall zany and over enthusiastic, but she’s not stupid like some episodes would have you believe, and for showing that in such a spectacular way is the reason this episode is so high up on my list.

 

Plus, this is also the episode that retconned Pinkie’s sister Maud into the show after she appeared in the novels, and given how popular Maud’s become since, chalk up another point in this episode’s favor.

 

 

Remember when I said I had a hard time not including Rarity Takes Manehattan? This is the episode that just barely managed to surpass it. Up until this episode, I didn’t have the highest opinion of the dress making marshmallow. Afterwards however, Rarity quickly become one of my favorite members of the Mane 6 and has stayed there ever since.

 

This episode is the one that proved Rarity looks adorable in glasses, has possibly the best singing voice of the main cast and exactly why she was chosen to bear the Element of Generosity when she selflessly offered to make dresses for the others while she was still working on her own.

 

And finally…

 

 

This is the closest I have ever seen FIM come to having a perfect episode. Every moment feels necessary and meaningful, all the characters involved feel like they belong, Rainbow Dash is portrayed more sympathetic to offset her often brash attitude, none of the jokes fell flat and the trials Fluttershy endures makes me unable to decide if I want to cheer her on, or give her a great big hug and tell her everything is going to be alright.

 

But more than anything, this episode hits a personal note for me. What Fluttershy experienced, being afraid of being mocked and laughed at by her peers is something I experienced nearly my entire life through school and still do at times to this day. I relate the most with Fluttershy because I’ve gone through what she has, so seeing Fluttershy triumph like she did (through an exercise montage that looks like it was pulled straight from a Rocky movie) makes me want to jump and cheer for her every time.