Thrond

I don't recall there being many times where Rainbow Dash befriends someone who likes her because she's Rainbow Dash. What do you mean? I didn't see it that way at all. See, I really didn't like that one. I found it rather bitter and mean-spirited, and it didn't seem like a self-contained story. Even "Slice of Life" is appealingly absurd on its own terms; "Fame and Misfortune" doesn't even try to be allegorical. That episode makes some fair points but I don't want to see strangers hijack a children's cartoon to vent about other strangers harassing them.

Look I started watching at the end of season 2, so I wasn't there for the earliest hype, but to me those early seasons have a lot more depth than people give them credit for. Their stories may seem simple, but the characters are three-dimensional and relatable, and often showed unexpected sides of their personalities in one-off gags. And I would argue that, despite all of the worldbuilding and the more ambitious morals, the storytelling never became that much more complex than the early seasons. Even later on, I don't think that stuff is a big part of the series, but I do think that a lot of people who started watching later were attracted by those tidbits of fantasy action-adventure. It certainly seems like a lot of people who post on these forums want different things out of this show from me. To me the best episodes of the later seasons are the same as the best episodes of the early seasons - grounded stories about the ponies coming to terms with their insecurities. But I also wonder if people who got into it later might have been more accustomed to the idea of Twilight as an alicorn princess, so they didn't question it when they actually watch that episode.

That episode does have some neat ideas for dragon culture, but what about the map episodes of season 5? Surely those count as adventures, and they had plenty of world building. I don't understand how you came to that conclusion about season 1, where every episode was about one of the main characters making a mistake, or at least facing a dilemma, and learning a lesson from it at the end. Meanwhile Spike in "Gauntlet of Fire" barely even seems to doubt himself.

Best: Ooh, there's a few really good ones to choose from. I'm really partial to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, whose rivalry only seemed friendlier and friendlier over time, except for that awful season 8 episode. The mane six have very different personalities that are always at risk of clashing, so I've always found it appealing to see them bond over their similarities, which these two were at the forefront of. That said, I've also really enjoyed when characters get along in spite of their differences, or even find unlikely common ground. Every time that Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash are geeking out about Daring Do is great; the season 5 Rarity/Rainbow Dash episode is delightful in large part because we get several scenes of these two very different people being close friends; the season 2 Rarity/Applejack episode is their only good episode together because they bond over the experience of being sisters. The friendship between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash is probably the exemplar of that: I don't think they have a single interest in common, but they bring out the best in each other. Rainbow pushes Fluttershy to be more courageous, and Fluttershy inspires Rainbow to be more sensitive. It's a shame that, by the time Fluttershy episodes started being about things other than her fears, the two stopped hanging out as much. Worst: Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy is probably the right call, in large part because the episode the two shared was so disappointing. They don't spend a whole lot of time together, and their most memorable interactions - "Filli Vanilli," for instance - are clearly negative. To be honest, I wish we got more of these two so we could get a better sense of their friendship; of every mane six pairing, they're the only two whose relationship I don't feel I know much about. Then again, the fact that they spend so little time together leaves room for imagination, whereas Applejack and Rarity hang out all the time even though they bring out the worst in each other. A lot of the time, it seems like the two of them don't really respect each other; people sometimes cite "Honest Apple" as an outlier, but every Rarity+Applejack episode plays that way to me. They always seem actively annoyed by each other's tastes and interests. I've never really understood how they could be friends if that's how they treat each other. Rainbow and Twilight sometimes come across that way to me too, by the way; "Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3" has a lot of those two disrespecting each other.

It's mostly because that's an episode where Spike is noble the entire time, has very little doubt, and doesn't learn anything. And also because we never see anyone other than Twilight and Rarity hanging out with Spike anymore. To me it seems like a very stale, formulaic episode, though not without its charms. After that point there was "Newbie Dash," "Applejack's Day Off," and "Spice Up Your Life," all of which I found a little disappointing. Though in retrospect those are outliers in what was already a pretty strong season; not sure why I was complaining about the show lacking character development after "Flutter Brutter," which was a massive turning point for Fluttershy. By the end, season 6 had pretty comfortably become one of my favourite seasons of the whole show.

The tone of the show has shifted a little bit over time, and I suspect that a lot of newer fans are attracted by the fantasy adventure elements or by the more mature morals, both of which were less prevalent earlier on. Meanwhile I felt that a lot of the stuff the early seasons did well got worse over time and I didn't care enough about the fantasy adventure or mature morals to compensate. That said, I've come to terms with the wings; it's not their fault that Twilight spent three whole seasons as a boring nag, or that her coronation arc never made sense, or that the characterization became really inconsistent by the end. It would be cool to have wings.

I'm not entirely sure which episodes qualify as "meta," because there's a lot of light self-referential humour throughout the show, but I am a big fan of "Stranger Than Fan Fiction." I like how it presents different types of fans, and how it's critical of them without insulting their tastes or interests. Putting aside the meta aspect I think it's really clever, and I like the idea of a Daring Do fan's nitpicking helping to solve a real adventure.

That part in "The Ending of the End" when Chrysalis nearly rips Spike's wings off.

Since I last posted here years ago I totally fell off of shipping, only to make a triumphant return to AppleDash town after that series finale. I thought that pairing was dead; glad to see it back stronger than ever.

To be honest I'm way less violently opposed to this than I was to the trailers for My Little Pony: The Movie, which this somehow still seems more subdued than. The videos linked by @VG_Addict suggest to me that this series may be a little more grounded than I expected, but then again I have no experience with Teen Titans Go! or any of the other shows like that. It doesn't really seem like what I want out of My Little Pony but an (even more) exaggerated slapstick version of this series is still more appealing to me than some of the serious stuff in the later Friendship is Magic seasons. Maybe I'll try an episode or two of this, but I just can't get over the art style, which I'm really not into. Those shorts have such a cute art style. I wish I liked them more.

Not really; I was never turned against the Wonderbolts like a lot of people did, and for all its problems I still think that "Newbie Dash" is a fairly unique and satisfying way to end her arc. It was always exciting to see Rainbow get one step closer to that dream - "Rainbow Falls" was weak, but it also didn't really seem like a forward step in her career; meanwhile, "Newbie Dash" has her accomplish that and then makes its entire story a metaphor for the journey. In the first season, we saw her in their shadow, looking back to a past where she was called "Rainbow Crash" as an insult. In season 6, we see her a member of them, and the name "Rainbow Crash" is instead a reward for her accomplishments - exactly the opposite of what it was before. My Little Pony was never really set up to tell long-running storylines; it's the kind of show where the characters should have found a new, smaller goal to work towards every so often. And yet we had a run where, every year of the show, Rainbow Dash got a little closer to her goal, and then finally achieved it. And then we got a bunch of neat episodes out of her career and her relationships with her coworkers, if only in broad strokes - "Top Bolt," "Parental Glideance," "Grannies Gone Wild," "The Washouts." Wish we had gotten more of that in season 9 instead of that dumb cheerleading episode. I was never really a fan of the military motif - it added a lot of baggage that the show never addressed. It never really seemed like being a soldier was Rainbow's goal, even though by season 6 she had already saved the world numerous times without the Wonderbolts. But I liked that her goal, the reason for her goal, and her progress towards her goal were always well defined - Rarity was similar, to the extent that their careers intersected in "Rarity Investigates." Careerism was their "thing" in a way it wasn't for other characters, and I was always excited to see their progress.

I watched all of Friendship is Magic, including the shorts, the specials, and the movie, for better or for worse. Though I haven't seen those clip shows yet; how much original material is even in them? I watched all of Equestria Girls, be it in short form or movie form, and I wish there was more. I did not watch all of the weird stuff they put on YouTube. It's not for me.

Were I in charge I wouldn't have added a seventh (or, lets be real, eleventh) main character in the first place. Not convinced there was a need for it.

I really like the animation in these so I wound up watching a whole bunch of them, but the writing is clearly pitched at very young children and I couldn't really get into it. But oh my god that animation is adorable.

Aw man if only

He's sincerely trying to teach them things but he's a jerk with bad methods of doing so.

the same eldritch consciousness that underlies all magic in Equestria

I don't have any strong feelings about how plausible this idea is but I think it would be a really uninspired storytelling decision. So Twilight opens her school to the entire known world, even allowing foreigners from countries that had until recently been closed off to Equestria to study there, but her student just happens to be the child of one of her closest friends? I'm not saying it's impossible or even unlikely, but it has a whiff of favoritism that doesn't follow from literally everything else we saw in the show. Surely some random nobody managing to become the princess' personal apprentice is a more inspiring possibility.