Unlike just about every review I wrote, these are micro reviews, and they're going to be listed from most favorite to least favorite in a subjective perspective. This isn't a long, journalistic sandwich where I'm critiquing it from an objective perspective.

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1. Cutie Mark Crusaders (tie)

Pluses:

• The manga-style artwork fits in the franchise with a great contrast of light and dark. Plus, with the comic centering fillies, it has a very juvenile, upbeat feeling that would've looked disastrous if it weren't for the style.
  
• The CMCs are in character and individual.
  
• There are some very funny moments.
  
• Nicely done display of comic-centric continuity, yet not hammered over the head to make it so obvious. The best one was the CMC being frightened of the thought of IMP being a changeling (a reference to the first four-chaptered FIM comic).
  
• Its moral is extremely mature and shown throughout. It isn't told like in Bridle Gossip, Spike at Your Service, or Mysterious Mare-Do-Well.
  
• The character in the story, Imp, is incredible. Even with no dialogue, you can tell how Imp feels just by her eyes, shapeshifting, and actions. A great method of "show, don't tell."
  
• The jokes don't constantly repeat, keeping each panel and page nice and fresh.
  
• Very clever pop culture references that don't hammer the audience (the MST3K reference was extremely clever!).
  
• Rarity and Spike had small moments, but were hilarious as ever and played off each other well. XD
   
  (Thank God Spike wasn't forgotten.)
  

Minuses:

• During the scene where the CMCs search for the runaway Imp, the pace was too quick and too wonky. Extra four pages would've done the trick.
  
• The dialogue between the CMC was a little too samey and had to rely on accent for separation.
  
• Twilight was there simply for exposition. In other words, a shoehorn.
  
• Some of the character humor fell through like a bounced check.
  
• As far as new readers are concerned, they're going to need to research the characters before diving into here. The continuity references and characters will get them lost.
  

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1. Pinkie Pie (tie)

Pluses:

• Pinkie's random and slapsticky with a purpose. She isn't some random idiot without a brain, but rather a really complex, multi-layered character. DHX, if you want to write a great Pinkie Pie, watch Party of One, Pinkie Apple Pie, EQG, and read this comic.
  
• The song is to Ponyacci and is very well-done.
  
• Exposition is kept to a minimum. Much more showing instead of telling.
  
• A huge array of faces keeps the panels fresh.
  
• The humor is very in character of Pinkie and Ponyacci.
  
• Ponyacci is someone I just rave over. A brilliant character with intelligence, competence, and relatability. Cranky Doodle Donkey's antithesis.
  
• Great backstory of Ponyacci…and Pinkie, by association.
  
• Twilight wasn't shoehorned. She was a great foil to Pinkie and contributed to the plot.
  
• Twilight, Pinkie, Ponyacci, and Spike are intelligent and competent.
  
• An excellent balance of humor, sentimentality, and drama. The genre changes flowed swimmingly and weren't out of place once.
  
• Very beautiful art style. It's bright without distracting the eye with a sense of movement and depth. It's its own art style and doesn't copy the animation.
  
• The ending is fantastic, and the plot twist makes so much sense. The retirement, Pinkie's desire to keep him in the business, and Ponyacci's concrit built up to Pinkie's suggestion to build a clown school. It retains Ponyacci's legacy while treating the characters with intelligence.
  
• By association, this comic gave the Fluttershy micro comic a well-deserving kick in the plot!
  

Minuses:

• The anatomy and coloring need some cleaning up hear and there.
  
• Some of the panels lack organization and proper visual hierarchy.
  
• It feels just a little bit too quick, but not so distractingly quick that it hurts it.
  
• Some panels lack shadowing, making the characters appear like they're floating.
  
• "Trollo Lollo"? No!
  

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3. Twilight Sparkle

Pluses:

• About halfway through, the story really picks up and becomes rather heartwarming. One big reason why I like this comic a lot.
  
• Summer Mane (the real-life identity being Jade Singer) is grumpy, yet not stereotypical. She's full of dimension.
  
• Twilight, Summer, Celestia, and Spike are treated competently.
  
• Summer/Jade can be a lot like Twilight as she gets older, just without the Fredrickson-esque attitude and secrecy.
  
• The chemistry between them is great. If it weren't a test and instead voluntary, it would've looked not so contrived.
  

Minuses:

• Very unrefined art style. Thom Zahler tries to replicate the style from the animated series, only to make the characters look ugly and anatomically incorrect too often.
  
• The speech bubbles rely way too much on emphasis. Less is more.
  
• The pop culture references and ponifications are way too in your face. It's basically Double Rainboom in professionally published form.
  
• The "humor" is masked by pop culture gags and jabs. If you want to laugh from intelligent humor, this isn't your comic.
  
• It's a story that's basically told one too many times in the canon, including "A Friend in Deed" and "The Crystal Empire" (without the adventure and peril).
  
• Despite a different setting, Jade's story is extremely repetitive.
  
• The moral is samey and retreads the main theme of this generation.
  

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4. Princess Celestia

Pluses:

• Inkwell Gazette is a marvelous character with a marvelous backstory.
  
• The graphics are very clean and sharp.
  
• Celestia is shown with wisdom, confidence, and competence.
  
• The Gordon Ramsay ponification was hilarious. Fits his TV character tremendously.
  
• The High Tea ceremony is great worldbuilding, fits the Victorian/medieval setting, and tributes the well-known British tradition. (Personally, I'd rather have it called "Afternoon Tea" instead of "High Tea," but that's being nitpicky.
  
• Giddilee is very cute, open, and warm. A nice little break from the typical snooty characterization of Canterlot citizens.
  
• I really enjoy Inkwell's background, from her eye injury (well-shown, I might add) to her close relationship with Celestia.
  

Minuses:

• The Honey Boo Boo reference, not for it being there, but the fact that she was mocked and passively exploited via the walleyes and derogatory "special snowflake" phrase. Very disrespectful of Derpy and HBB!
  
• Many of Canterlot's citizens fall victim to the "rich, snobby, and full of sheep" stereotype that sucks part of the quality out of Sweet & Elite. There's more to Canterlot beyond making the adults look stuck-up and stupid.
   
  I would've liked it far more if the conflict of Inkwll's potential resignation didn't have most of Canterlot crusading against him.
   
  (Giddilee, though, is nicely done.)
  

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5. Rarity

Pluses:

• Well-done gesturing and faces. They never repeat.
  
• Wheat Grass is a really interesting character and is a great foil for both Rarity and Flax Seed.
  
• Nicely done coloring and compositioning.
  
• With such an abundance of info, it was very well-paced.
  
• When the humor was well-done, it was well-done.
  
• The '60s references are abundant, but they aren't intrusive and likely won't age so quickly…I hope.
  
• Derpy as a mailmare is now canon! ^__^
  
• Of the Mane Six micro comics, this one is the most unique and doesn't follow a very strict, typical template of conflicts that the other M6 editions relegate them to.
  

Minuses:

• Flax Seed's "high" personality got funny at first, but then it got repetitive, turning him into a flat butt of jokes.
   
  Reminds me of a little kid dragon in the TV series… *glares at the factually bad Spike at Your Service, Just for Sidekicks, and Owl's Well that Ends Well; glares harder at the tiring Spikabuse in the TV series*
  
• The art style has two tones: really bright and really dark, sometimes black shadows. This sharp contrast makes the colors pop out too much and sometimes clash.
  
• The ending (with Spike being a gigantic asshole to Hayseed) made me headdesk. He may not be so mature, but he's much more mature than that.
  
• Filthy Rich was made out to be a minor antagonist by agreeing to take away the hippies' salon. He's a better businesspony than that and is shown to be compassionate, proud, and fair. Filthy Rich respectful, so show him that respect.
  
• Dash and Pinkie peaking into the stallions' dressing room. It's not funny for males to do it to females, and it's just as unfunny for females to do the same. Not to mention it's out of character of them both to do it.
  

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6. Spike

Pluses:

• Nicely done coloring.
  
• Spike's naivety is aimed at again. This time, when he screws up, he's aware of it and tries whatever he can to rectify it…something Spike at Your Service conveniently ignored.
  
• Great reference of continuity with Pee Wee being returned to his parents. Still wished he was explored more.
  
• Despite his naivety, he showed to be actually intelligent and dedicated. He wanted to do his best and has limits to his patience.
  
• As usual, Angel Bunny was hilarious devilish.
  
• The Sea Beasts were cute and funny. In a way, they reminded me of the aliens from the Toy Story trilogy.
  

Minuses:

• The moral was told near the end. Like Bridal Gossip and Mare-Do-Well, he didn't see the problems and learn from him on his own. By doing this, it showed that the script of the comic was cut back and there was more to cover.
  
• Some of the anatomy (particularly Twilight) looked awkward.
  
• Instead of playing to his strengths, this comic focused on his weaknesses, again. I would love to see one official Spike-centered piece of material concentrating on his qualities rather than exploiting his flaws (and fanderizing them for comedy).
  
• The Rule of Thirds/Three Strikes was very evident in this story and made the outcome pretty predictable.
  

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7. Applejack

Pluses:

• Hilarious reference to Lesson Zero. *points at Big Mac sleeping with Smarty Pants*
  
• The Sass Squash squashing AJ's plans of trapping him was hilarious.
  
• The fact that the Apples had a good reason for harvesting the apples: It was winter, which meant no bucking and no flora-growing.
  
• I like how the family trapped the Sass Squash.
  

Minuses:

• The "Sass Squash" is an extremely cheesy pun and will get old in a couple of years.
  
• It's a complete retelling of every single Apple-centric episode condensed into one. She didn't need to be taught a lesson on stubbornness again. If you don't want a comic version of Applebuck Season and The Last Roundup, skip it over.
  
• Big Mac continued to show low ranges of emotions in what he says. There's more to him than just his one-liners.
  
• The song was completely pointless and merely filled in the pages of the comic.
  
• When Granny Smith was missing in trapping Sass Squash, the resolution became obvious in a hurry.
   
  (The ending panel with the Sass Squash taking the pie and leaving behind a squash was heartwarming, though.)
  

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8. Rainbow Dash

Pluses:

• The coloring and bubble-free compositions were okay.
  
• Unlike the Twilight comic, this one is much cleaner.
  

Minuses:

• Although it's cleaner than Zahler's comic, the art is still very unrefined.
  
• The plot sticks Rainbow Dash into such an obvious setting and has Dash pull a Sonic Rainboom, a key point in three episodes in the past.
  
• The plotline is clunky and poorly paced.
  
• The plot device (the moody cloud and cloud gremlins) is extremely contrived and one-dimensional.
   
  Speaking of which, the ponification of CNN is corny and makes no sense given the primitive nature of Equestria's technology.
  
• Every single brony and pop culture reference is extremely in-your face and sometimes repeated. This is what brony pandering is, and it makes the comic look extremely stupid by nature.
  
• Every character was flanderized or out of character. (Rainbow Dash's character in EQG was shallow; THIS comic was worse in that department.)
  
• Continuity is completely broken.
  
• The moral is hammered in way too bluntly.
  
• Collectively, this has easily the dumbest writing in the Micro Series, but I wouldn't say the dumbest writing at all. The dialogue is corny and out of character. All of the pop culture references are more blunt than Twilight's. But the plot comes across as extremely shallow, much more so than Twilight's because it never had the Jade/Twilight friendship.
  

This comic is factually terrible. You can rank this as possibly the worst of the Micro Series and one of the worst episode of the series (if it was animated). But I don't hate it as much as the next two, starting with the surprise.

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9. Luna

Yes, I loathe this comic.

Pluses:

• Great facial expressions and compositions.
  
• Nicely done and sweet backstory of Luna's pet, Tiberius.
   
  (The Star Trek reference is cleverly woven in.)
  
• Celestia's bed mane and "I hate Mondays" mug are priceless. XD
  
• The relationship and dialogue between them is very organic.
  
• Luna acted competent towards the end.
  
• Kibutz is in character of his name and hilarious. He and Luna really played off each other well.
  
• Most of the pop culture references aren't that intrusive.
  
• Tiberius is cute and funny.
  

Minuses:

• Luna behaved way too juvenilely and was relegated to the "annoying younger sister" role. Until the end, Luna was extremely incompetent. If you know my complaints in the past, I'm not a fan of character incompetence that much.
  
• Like the Rarity comic, the contrast of light and dark is way too severe.
  
• The story is extremely shallow and is basically reduced to character gags that got old very quickly. As it closed, it paced a tad too quickly.
  
• Luna is flanderized and unrecognizable beyond her character design: Her poor characterization and incompetence is relegated to random humor. I like Luna's canon character partly because she's three-dimensional, yet has grown into a strong character. The Day Shift retcons that into an immature scatterbrain.
  
• I was very turned off by Celestia's lackadaisical portrayal, as well as her trick on Luna to have her work on Celly's day shift. Celly knew Luna might have a very tough time, as it's foreign to her, and Celestia takes her duty as Princess of the Day very seriously. I wasn't reading Celestia, but another character instead.
  

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10. Fluttershy

My most hated comic because it's so insulting.

Pluses:

• Okay art and coloring.
  
• The continuity of Fluttershy being a knowledgeable sewer is referenced and exploited rather than be a one-time gag in Suited for Success.
  
• For the most part, the background art and design of the sculpture was quite good.
  

Minuses:

• Broken continuity via poor word balloon placement.
  
• Hell, the fact that Rarity was there for no good reason. Wouldn't she be busy working on her own craft instead?
   
  And even more broken continuity, which I'll get to in a bit.)
  
• Celestia was written as a DEM.
  
• The character anatomy was off at times.
  
• WAY too much info-dumping, showing how short and shallow the plot is.
  
• It's the same structure for every single Fluttershy episode with only the talent and idiotic moral separating them from the other episodes.
  
• Fluttershy is a hypocrite. She dished out criticisms of Rarity's dress in SfS when she suddenly became afraid of criticisms herself.
   
  Broken continuity, anyone?
  
• The whole art gallery show.
   
  a. Rarity being an art judge.
   
  b. Praiser Pan itself. Not only is he a gigantic jackass, but also a straw character (or more appropriately, a straw pony) — a character only written to be proven wrong. The fact that his criticisms are hollow and then did a 180 when P. Celly DEM'd shows exactly why.
   
  c. Fluttershy learned to not only not accept Pan's pretentious criticisms, but every — single — criticism aimed at her work. Anyone who dares to critique her work is an asshole.
   
  This is a terrible moral and an extremely offensive message to deliver to any work of art. And it looks even worse when Ponyacci's concrit of Pinkie's performance was used to help Pinkie create the idea of a clown school! Honestly, it only made the writer look like she has a major ego herself and make me skip whatever FIM issue she publishes next.
  

If this were an actual episode, it would rank as one of the worst in the series because it's not just broken, but godfucking offensive. How the hell this stupid comic with a backwards moral get the green light is beyond me.