What is the grayest episode of the show?

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

Two fold question here.  Which episode do you think is the morally grayest,(ie not a clear cut good guy/bad guy divide) and which episode is the grayest color-wise/least colorful episode? 

 

For the first one I'd say Keep Calm and Flutter On.  Main reason is that we have three sides, Discord, Fluttershy, and the rest of the Mane 6.  Discord wants to be free and cause mischief mostly to the detriment of others, but can you really blame him for not wanting to be set in stone or mind controlled? Fluttershy wants to befriend him and help him see the ways of friendship but risks letting the demigod of chaos free. And the rest of the Mane 6 try to restore to mind control and a existence in a stone prison but because they know of the potential devastation Discord could reign on to Equestria. Basically each side has a valid reason for acting the way they do.

 

As for the second question: I'd go with either A Dog and Pony show (the caves are not very colorful) or Magic Duel (Trixie run Ponyville seems to be a rather dower place), though you could also argue the desert episodes aren't particularly colorful. That being said, the upcoming season 5 premier does look set to potentially take the title of least colorful episode. 

[baba_booey 4,303]

Return of Harmony. After all, the Mane 6 turned gray, so technically, it's the grayest episode of the show!

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,165]

One that comes to mind would probably be "A Bird in the Hoof." In that we have Fluttershy essentially taking Philomena without permission; however her reasons were innocent enough. Along with that we have Philomena who essentially scares Fluttershy into tears at one point.

 

Considering the actions, I submit that episode as one of the grayer ones in the sense of morality.

[Sugar Cube 4,843]

Bats!

 

I think what doesn't sit right with me is the fact that the narrative portrays Fluttershy's solution to the vampire bats situation as what is fair and just, even though Applejack's approach honestly had some merit to it. After all, Applejack's farm helps feed all of Ponyville, and the Apples had some dangerously close encounters with pests in the past. While I don't necessarily condone AJ's "stomp them out" mentality, I can understand why she would have no tolerance for them, and I think the well-being of Ponyville should take priority over that of the vampire bats. Maybe it's the Applejack bias in me talking, but I sympathized with AJ's losses and sacrifices in the episode more than I sympathized with a few hungry bats. I do think Fluttershy had the right idea, and ultimately the two ponies were able to reach a solid compromise, but I just wish Applejack's perspective wasn't as "vilified" as it was. Fluttershy's lesson of "not letting anyone pressure you into doing something you don't think is right" only serves to make AJ even more more in the wrong.

[Steel Accord 6,660]

Maud Pie simply for the rather subversive idea that some people just aren't going to be friends even if they try to be. On the one hoof is it right to deny your close friend the happiness of those she holds closest to her heart being together for the sake of your own comfort? On the other is it right to exist in an awkward limbo of not quite friendship with someone just to complete your friend's idealized reality?

 

Color wise probably Over a Barrel. The Wild West setting has a color palette all it's own, even the earth pony settlers aren't the typical bright menagerie of Ponyville residents. While the earthy tones aren't always bad, they are much more subdue than central Equestria's rainbow of shades.

[CC_Maud_Pie 6,431]

First question: I agree with you. I feel that the episode confused me on who is truly the bad guy.

 

Second question: Owl's Well That Ends Well: Since the episode's overall watching experience and setting bored me for the most part, it makes it the least colorful.

Edited March 24, 2015 by CC_Maud_Pie

[Wind Chaser 4,769]

For morally grayest episodes, I'll say "Bats!" is one for the reasons @Sugar Cube mentioned. I'd also put "Feeling Pinkie Keen" and Twilight's subplot from "Trade Ya!" as having morals so fuzzy that they're pretty much all but broken. These tend to be due to a heavily biased portrayal of the episode's intended moral that fails to properly characterize any considerably sound opposing views.

 

I really don't have much else to say about "Pinkie Keen" that hasn't already been said. The episode was written in a way that walks the show into the faith vs science debate, which really is something this show has no business commenting on.

 

In "Trade Ya!", Twilight is led to keeping her books for sentimental value, only to have her library blown up in the season finale. While it makes for an interesting use of continuity, I have a couple of beefs with the way this moral was presented which contributed to me labeling "Trade Ya!" one of the worst episodes of Season 4. Particularly, the way in which Pinkie Pie drove Twilight to this realization was by scaring off potential customers with her borderline deranged aggressive behavior towards them. That goes without saying that the episode simplified the opposing argument into "just giving her books away" instead of considering the rationale of the opposing argument: selling her books carries just as much or more sentimental value than keeping them because she may be helping other ponies become skilled at magic as she was, using her methods. In other words, helping other ponies obtain their life goals. In short, when Twilight's library was destroyed, think of how many potential futures were lost to the one-two punch of this broken moral and Tirek's rampage.

 

As for the visually grayest episodes, I remember "Maud Pie" having a somewhat muted color palette. The opening scene is set before sunrise, there are lots of indoor scenes throughout the first act, the "fun time" scene is set on the edge of the forest, and the episode ends with scenes on the cloudy rock farm and at sunset. All of that, plus the new character's color scheme reinforce that visual theme.

 

Similarly, "Dragon Quest" was visually dark as compared to the rest of the show, but was more a mixture of gray, black, and orange. It was a direction that was almost tonally opposite to the norm of the show because of the fundamentally different setting, evoking a sort of passionate raging masculinity in the land of the dragons as composed to the warmth and serenity of the land of the ponies.

Edited March 24, 2015 by Wind Chaser

[TheJLeeTeam 914]

I'm going with Return of Harmony Part 2 because the ponies turn gray and Maud Pie because Maud is gray and her personality is gray.

[Shanks 10,817]

Bats without a doubt, though Applejack's solution may have been a tad more brutal and she may have come off as a bit cold to some people I think she as a farmer realizes just how much damage an invasive species can do and wants to deal with the problem as quickly and with as little damage to her farm as possible. Applejack wasn't just thinking of herself she was thinking of her family because she realized if the farm went down that it would threaten her families livelihood. Fluttershy understood Applejack's fears and desire to get rid of the bats but was also concerned about their well being as well as any potential unintended ecological consequences that might arise from removing them and even made the case to Applejack that their presence might be beneficial in the long run because they will spread the seeds and there is the unstated reason that bat guano is a very potent fertilizer that I address in my comedy fanfic Sweet Guano Acres.

[Pastel 7,630]

Return of Harmony. After all, the Mane 6 turned gray, so technically, it's the grayest episode of the show!

Nahh I wanted to say that! D:

 

I'd say Bats! as well, both Applejack's and Fluttershy's points of view were relevant, and it's pretty hard to say which one was better.

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

Mysterious Mare Do Well, an episode of which I was quite fond and very few others are in agreement, I know. I'll concede that Rainbow's friends should have spoken to her honestly about their feelings and tried to make her see how she was hurting others and possibly damaging relationships, rather than sticking it to her directly as their first course of action. Ultimately though, I don't have a problem with what they did at all, simply taking issue with the order of events. An explanation of what Rainbow was doing wrong came at the end of the episode when it should have preceded her friends' "vengeance." Although, I do seem to be one of exceedingly few people who don't totally pan the episode, so to me it looks remarkably gray.

[Felix 1,363]

Personally I was thinking the cutie mark chronicles. It's nothing but backstory, which is fine and it was interesting, but it's not an episode I watch all the time.

[WriteCodes46 178]

I've never really understood what the moral of Boast Busters was (It's OK to show off, but only to your friends?)

Return of Harmony. After all, the Mane 6 turned gray, so technically, it's the grayest episode of the show!

 

It seems the Season 5 premier will outdo it in this regard (gray town, gray Cutie Marks and the Mane 6 will turn gray again).

 

[Empty Room 512]

Morally, in terms of fanon, would have to be Double Rainboom. The message at the end is essentially saying "You can get away with murder if you realise what you did was bad". Canonically, however, would have to be Somepony to Watch Over Me. 

[Prince Firemane 309]

Morally, I'd have to say Boast Busters. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Spike took a much more antagonistic role in this episode. Trixie came to town and started boasting about her abilities for her stage show. Our mares show up and start talking smack because they didn't like her boasting. She issued the challenge, they accepted and she beat them at their own game. Except for Rarity, that was kind of a catfight. Spike was the one who was most antagonistic as he outright demanded that Twilight show Trixie up with her magic, after Twilight repeatedly told him she was not comfortable with that sort of thing. It's also worth noting that the Ursa Minor incident was not Trixie's fault. She outright lied about defeating an Ursa Major, yes, but she didn't tell Snips and Snails to go antagonize a giant bear. Yeah, they wanted to see her defeat it, but to put fault on Trixie for that incident is like actually blaming J.D. Salinger for John Lennon's assassination. Yet the episode treated the situation just like that, as if everything was Trixie's fault because she boasts. Let's see here; Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash got mad because Trixie beat them in her challenges, Spike outright demanding Twilight to show Trixie up despite Twilight's repeated protests, the dipshits that are Snips and Snails going out and finding a giant bear to antagonize; or a little bit of boasting for a stage performance. Which sounds less moral in that situation?