WARNING: If you can't handle unpopular opinions, get out now. I'm tired of hiding my real opinions.

10. Castle-Mania

This is the definition of style over substance. It looks nice and shiny with some genuinely good cinematography, but shininess should not be a substitute for an actual story, which this episode barely has. It’s just a bunch of contrivances to get everyone into the same place to do dumb Scooby Doo shenanigans that we’ve seen a million times with no variation, aside from the nice style, I guess. That alone wouldn’t be too bad, but this episode lands in the bottom 10 for two reasons. Number one is the screaming. Everyone is constantly yelling at the top of their lungs and it is so obnoxious. The second problem is Pinkie. She’s barely in the episode yet she’s somehow the worst thing about it. According to this episode, Pinkie can’t keep track of numbers and thinks ringing a school bell means hitting it with her head. Actually, that might explain why she’s so annoying in the rest of season 4. She probably got brain damage from ringing the school bell.

9. The Cutie Mark Chronicles

This lands here because of how much of a waste of potential it is. Instead of fleshing out the mane six’s cutie mark stories, we get abridged versions that aren’t in depth enough to get interesting. It says that Applejack left the farm, but why? Why would she just abandon the place where she grew up and probably loved just to live in the city and come back? Why does the episode waste time on a pointless Fluttershy song that isn’t even that good? Why is the whole thing framed with the CMC being annoying? Seriously, Scootaloo is really annoying in this episode with her insistence to see Rainbow Dash. The only things that keep this episode from being any lower are a couple good jokes and the ending, which is genuinely sweet, even if it’s ruined by Scootaloo. 

8. Lesson Zero

This episode’s lesson makes no sense. Why would the mane six not take Twilight seriously. She looks so messy at the picnic so at least one of them should’ve taken her seriously. I mean, not even Fluttershy takes her seriously? Really? And then there’s the tone of the episode. I know that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a mental breakdown, but at least those were short and mostly more comedic. This is a gradual descent into madness and does not fit in My Little Pony. I do not come to this show to be scared by the main character. I like that Twilight doesn’t have to be shoved into every episode anymore, but was this really the only way to accomplish that?

7. The Best Night Ever

This episode is so boring. The main joke of the episode is that everything goes wrong for the characters. That’s it. And there isn’t even much creativity in making things go wrong. Twilight does nothing. Fluttershy goes crazy in what’s probably the only good subplot in the episode. Pinkie also pretty much does nothing aside from her montage song. Rainbow pretty much does nothing. Applejack pretty much does nothing. And Rarity finds out that the rich snob she likes is actually a rich snob. Shocker. The only things that keep this episode up are the aforementioned Fluttershy stuff and a couple jokes before they go to the gala.

6. Party of One

This is such a slow episode. It’s a cool idea, but the jokes go on and on, to the point where any humor they could’ve had is sucked away. Does Pinkie have to go over to everyone else’s houses to get their excuses? Do we have to see so much of the characters sneaking around? Do we really have to see Pinkie chasing Rainbow around for the second time in the same season? The worst offenders in terms of overly long jokes are Rainbow and Fluttershy’s excuse and that bit at the barn door. They go on forever. And while Pinkie’s mental breakdown doesn’t break the tone as much as Twilight’s in Lesson Zero, that doesn’t make it any better. It’s still a cliché that was blown out of proportion by the fandom. Characters going crazy was not invented by My Little Pony and it’s been done way better in other cartoons. Also Pinkie forgetting her own birthday is dumb.

5. It’s About Time

This is just like The Best Night Ever in the sense that it relies on one joke that wasn’t even that funny to begin with. In this episode’s case, the joke is that Twilight is taking everything too seriously. I appreciate that this episode is trying to do a “Twilight goes crazy” episode that’s more in line with the show’s tone, but I at least give Lesson Zero credit for trying to do something interesting, even if it bombed horribly. This episode just rides its one joke to the end. And no; Adding Pinkie does not make the joke any better. In fact, it makes the joke worse since Pinkie is annoying. The contrast between Twilight and Pinkie was obviously supposed to be funny, but it ended up being really grating.

4. Sisterhooves Social

Sweetie Belle destroys this episode. Like, I get that she’s just a kid, but kids shouldn’t be allowed to get whatever they want just because of good intentions. All of her screwups working out is pure luck and while Rarity overreacted, she shouldn’t have been the only one apologizing at the end. And Sweetie Belle just goes on and on about how Rarity wouldn’t like all the stuff that Applejack and Applebloom are doing. It gets so old. Add all of that on top of a general lack of good jokes and you get a mess of an episode that I never want to watch again.

3. Testing Testing 1, 2, 3

This episode butchers Rainbow’s character. In this episode, Rainbow needs help to study for a test about the Wonderbolts. What? She’s been a superfan of the Wonderbolts since episode 1; it was one of the first things we learned about her. How would she not know facts about the Wonderbolts? She was able to talk about random plot details from Daring Do books in Daring Don’t, but now she doesn’t know facts about the Wonderbolts? I think that alone completely ruins this episode, but the rest of the episode isn’t any better. It’s just a bunch of Rainbow being whiny while the others try to teach Rainbow in either boring or incredibly unfunny ways.

2. The Last Roundup

Most of the episodes here have a running problem: They’re wasted potential. And this episode is no exception. Why is this Applejack episode from the rest of the mane six’s perspective. I don’t care if Applejack disappearing is supposed to be a mystery. Maybe the episode would’ve been interesting if we saw Applejack at the rodeo competition going through a conflict. Literally every other member of the mane six has an episode from their perspective going into one of their main flaws. Hell, Fluttershy has TWO. Yet Applejack can’t even have one? Instead of a compelling Applejack episode, we have to follow the rest of the mane six as they slowly reveal how much more interesting this episode could’ve been. And the ending has no impact because we barely see Applejack and what built up to this. Anything build up we do get to Applejack running away is told to us. Because of this, I can’t connect to Applejack and she continues to be a bland sack of nothing. Thank god season 4 came along to give her an actual personality because this is ridiculous. 

1. Magic Duel

This is the biggest waste of the entire show. It tries to be big and dramatic, but can’t develop anything which makes it seem like a joke. A sad and pathetic joke. Trixie coming back should be cool, but it’s all very silly. Twilight gets thrown out of Ponyville, but then she goes to Zecora and goes through a training montage that ends up meaning nothing. The rest of the mane six try to get to Twilight, but it’s just another Fluttershy is weak and scared joke. It’s too comedic to be dramatic and too dramatic to be comedic. It just doesn’t blend well. And then when Trixie is defeated she just runs off, presumably forgiven which completely deflates any tension that might’ve still existed. So what’s the point here? It tries to be a bunch of different things, but none of those things are developed which makes the episode feel like a giant pile of mush.