Ranking the 7th episodes

[KH7672 1,604]

Onto episode 7 and we've got an interesting selection here especially with four Rainbow Dash episodes (one being of more  *ehem* infamous status) but we'll see how the opinions fair out.

1. Dragonshy- A great Mane 6 adventure story plus great early characterization for Fluttershy. It was just a great chemistry builder for the cast and I love it.

2. Bats!- Another fun Mane 6 ensemble episode with a spooky atmosphere, plus a great contrasting duet.

3. May the Best Pet Win- Then of course you can't forget the other duet song, with plenty of entertainment in the selection process

4. Wonderbolts Academy- A great official showing in the Rainbow Dash story arc, and only this low because I never was as obsessed with Lightning Dust as everyone else, still a good episode.

5. Horse Play- Purely on entertainment value as this episode was just funny, plus the ending lesson was nice.

6. Parental Glideance- Scootaloo's fun, Bow and Windy are fun, but the points are exaggerated a little too much for my liking. Still enjoyable.

7. Newbie Dash- Yes that's right it's not at the bottom. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but this has a "so bad it's good" entertainment value for me. Plus I can still see how it could have worked despite failing in the actual execution.

8. She's All Yak- It's just okay, kinda bland, and I don't think it took advantage of the "My Fair Lady" storyline that well.

9. Make New Friends but Keep Discord- Let's just say after the Season 4 finale, Discord started losing appeal for me fast. And to have his next appearance be a deceptive, almost tantrum moment did not help. Yes, it's in character, yes it makes sense, but it's not fun to watch for me. I'm with M.A. Larson here on being disappointed in Discord the more he appeared.

[bigbertha 410]

1. Wonderbolts Academy- One of the best episodes of the show. Rainbow's conflict is really engaging, Lightning Dust is a great foil, and there's even some good comedy with Pinkie's appearances that don't outstay their welcome (10/10)

2. Make New Friends But Keep Discord- This has some of the best comedy of the show. I usually don't like Discord episodes, but there's such a great energy to this one and the jokes are so great and so numerous that the story problems barely hurt it (9/10)

3. Newbie Dash- I actually really like this episode. I think it works for the same reason Mysterious Mare Do Well works. It has her do bad stuff, but she does that stuff for very relatable reasons that give her more depth. There's also some good cringe comedy that doesn't distract from the point of the episode like in something like Brotherhooves Social. The ending is a problem since it doesn't directly resolve Rainbow's conflict, but I think it implies enough to not ruin the episode (8/10)

4. Dragonshy- The first good episode. There's nothing particularly special about this one, but I think it does everything decently well. I like the comedy, the chemistry between the mane six, and Fluttershy standing up to the dragon is a great moment (7/10)

5. May the Best Pet Win- It has its entertaining moments and the song is great, but I feel like this one's trying a bit too hard to be cool and the structure of the 2nd and 3rd acts are too repetitive (6/10)

6. Horse Play- I really don't like Celestia's characterization, but everything aside from her is pretty good. There's some good comedy and the lesson is a good one (6/10)

7. She's All Yak- Incredibly mediocre. The story is boring, the characters are boring, and the comedy isn't funny (4/10)

8. Bats- This episode seems to want me to side with Fluttershy, but Applejack has a legitimate problem that isn't properly solved. Just having a fence around the trees will not solve anything and if there is a more permanent solution, it's not mentioned in the episode or emphasized nearly enough. And even aside from that the comedy isn't very good and the way Fluttershy becomes a bat is really dumb (2/10)

9. Parental Glidance- The worst episode of the show. The moral is the worst (and most dangerous) that the show has ever put out, the "comedy" is really obnoxious, and oh my god is the story so bad that I have no idea how this episode even got made. What an absolute train wreck (0/10)

 

[Sparklefan1234 162,050]

I LOVE "Bats!" both the song & the episode! 

[cuteycindyhoney 13,284]

I LOVE "May the Best Pet Win" both the song & the episode!

[Oleks 1,983]

@KH7672, I must say I really appreciate these polls. They make me remember how many great episodes MLP FiM has to offer.

As for my personal list of the 7th episodes:

1. Horse Play – my favorite S8 episode, even though initially I had low expectations regarding it. It was hilarious and every main character had their moment.
2. Make New Friends but Keep Discord – the amount of references, well-placed jokes and breaking the 4th wall made this episode one of the most enjoyable of S5 (to me, at least).
3. Parental Glideance – a long-awaited episode where Scootaloo got some love. I really liked it.
4. Dragonshy – back when Fluttershy was scared of her own shadow, but could stand up to a dragon nevertheless. Good times.
5-8. May the Best Pet Win, Wonderbolts Academy, Bats!, Newbie Dash – all solid episodes, I can’t rank any of them higher than the others.
9. She's All Yak – I actually don’t think it was a bad episode, I just think they could have used one of the last season episodes for something more important than a dance and a yak makeover.

[Here No Longer 5,270]

1. Dragonshy

2. Make New Friends, but Keep Discord

3. Wonderbolts Academy

4. May the Best Pet Win

5. Parental Glideance

6. Horse Play

7. Bats!

8. She's All Yak

9. Newbie Dash

 

Nothing bad, but only two were really good.

[Thrond 3,257]

Aww. do I have to chose? I like almost all of these a lot. 

1. Wonderbolts Academy - A perfect Rainbow Dash showcase that finds just the right balance between her charisma, her values, and her insecurities. She clearly takes her role very seriously, but her principles come first - and the episode is smart enough to have her slowly realize that rather than immediately take a stand.
2. Horse Play - Honestly, this is tied for first place to me. I love seeing Celestia given new personality traits, and even more than that, this is just a terrific late example of what this show used to be good at. I love how, even though Twilight does the wrong thing, she does so for a perfectly sympathetic reason. Plus, everyone else is hilarious and perfectly characterized here. 
3. May the Best Pet Win! - On the other hand, this one is a bit more simple, but it's also just irresistibly silly. Dash providing her own music stings for a fast-paced animal race is just an inherently fun idea, and it's great to see her showboating just because she feels like it and not because she's overcompensating. And then it's got a great moral about the value of persistence on top of everything else. 
4. Make New Friends but Keep Discord - In general I just like Discord episodes, and this one is great because his rambling goofiness is essentially let loose, with Fluttershy (and Maud) only occasionally countering it. Tree Hugger doesn't counter it at all - if anything, her own goofiness just heightens it. Funny stuff. 
5. Parental Glideance - I still have issues with the moral here, but I just find Rainbow's parents delightful. They're embarrassing, and yet they're also so earnest and well-meaning, and nobody but Rainbow actually seems bothered by them. Plus, Rainbow and Scootaloo are both characterized perfectly here.
6. Dragonshy - This is one of the more confident episodes of early season 1, but like a lot of the first half of that season, I mostly just find it cute and funny. Fluttershy just getting mad and talking to the dragon is great, as is her various attempts to just go home. It still has the lightweight, non-serious vibe of early season 1, but it also seems like the characters had stabilized by this point. 
7.  Newbie Dash - The impressions sequence basically means I never want to watch this again, and maybe it should have had an anti-bullying message in there somewhere, but I don't see this as an episode about Rainbow being humiliated. I see it as a story about how far she has come, and how scared she is of losing all she's gained. There's some powerful stuff in there. 
8. She's All Yak - I really do love Yona, and she's adorable in this, but I really don't want to see the mane six doing racist things. This takes on a whole lot of baggage for a story that doesn't engage with that baggage beyond "be yourself," and I find it a bit depressing. And besides, I preferred when the mane six were trying to fight racism. 
9. Bats! - I feel like there's a lack of balance here. Sure, fruit bats are an essential part of the ecosystem, and I think everyone would prefer to treat wildlife humanely, but Applejack's livelihood depends on those bats, and the episode never gives her side a fair shake. And then the Flutterbat stuff comes out of nowhere and feels like a distraction. 

[Dark Qiviut 22,177]

This is easy. Parental Glideance has some of the best jokes of the entire show, especially the angelic sound effect on Dash’s trophy-room door. This is also a type of episode that puts Dash in a negative light and deservedly so. I don’t care what “justification” you give. She had no right to snap at them, slap his hoof, and treat their unconditional love and support as meaningless. Her tirade was FS’s from PYHD done right.

And for the rest, y’know the drill! Except those in bold are “loved” episodes instead of “like” in this case.  

1. Glideance
2. She’s All Yak (most underrated episode of S9 so far!)
3. Wonderbolts Academy (the first golden standard of Dash episodes)
4. Horse Play (one of the first episodes of S8 to really show the comedic and dialogue improvements from Shadow Play)
5. Dragonshy (this episode hasn’t aged that well. Not a bad episode, but others are better.)
6. Make New Friends (hippie stereotype, Discord threatening to murder Treehugger. Yet has some great comedy, including Maud’s classic burn and smirk.)
7. Bats! (Animal welfare plot being shortchanged in exchange for a poorly-executed moral.)
8. MTBPW! (S2’s first bad episode, and it’s absolute shit.)
9. Newbie Dash (How to make MMC look Oscar-worthy? Write a status-quo changer a trillion times worse!  Oh, yeah, and include a moral condoning hazing! The worst torture porn episode of the show! Fuck this episode!  )

Edited September 28, 2019 by Dark Qiviut

[Lulaypp 2,554]

This one is bit hard to choose. I don't have a single favourite. 

Bats! - I find this rather enjoyable. I like how they brought it to the end of reserving a part of the orchard for the bats. Instead of, I dunno, killing them? Plus the song is one of my favourites to sing and it is a good duet with fine music. And I like these Applejack episodes. One where she doesn't develop as a character, but more of her mind refusing to accept an idea. All in all, stubborness. True, Applebuck Season dealt with that, but I that as stubborness mixed with pride and tradition. Plus, stubborness isn't something you lose over night. 

May the Best Pet Win - It features a wonderful song and duet. Like Stop the Bats, this song also had a nice music. And an enthusiastic Fluttershy. I also like the whole Rainbow deciding she needs a pet, wanting something fast and flying like her, and in the end she took someone who is slow and flightless but loyal and determined (which is also like her, just not her physical trait). It was interesting. Though, I thought this was season 1 I am horrible at remembering which episode goes in which season.

Horse Play - Granted, some parts of Celestia might be a tad bit childish, but she's excited to play in a play. Plus they placed the "Being honest to your friend from the start instead of making them believe they can do something they are horrible at" lesson well enough. Twilight not wanting to insult the Princess and all. But my favourite part (one that made this episode reach among the number ones on this list), is definitely the marshmallow. Pinkie's brilliant idea of a sun which is the burning marshmallow. And also that background shot of Pinkie and her giant party cannon. So yeah. I mostly like this episode for those ridiculous minor details.

Dragonshy - I love this episode for some reasons. I can't really pinpoint what do I like about it.

 

Though my thoughts on older MLP episodes might be rather inaccurate to how I might see them now. I only reawatch it once and that was two/three years ago? Whenever that Rainbow-and-Twilight-wonderbolt-that-introduced-that-pegasus-called-Vapor-and-another-pegasus map episode was aired.

[Moonlight 7,279]

Bats! I like the song and Flutterbat is neat 

[Sepul-Coloratura 756]

A pattern I noticed during participating these topics is that the 3rd and 4th episodes are way better than the other episodes.

[Cash In 21,597]

Aside from Newbie Dash, these are all great episodes.

1. Make New Friends but Keep Discord (S5) - Great humor and an interesting take on the gala. Discord is a bit of an ass, but I feel that it works pretty well in this episode. 
2. Bats! (S4) - Flutterbat FTW.
3. Dragonshy (S1) - Great episode for Fluttershy. Really made me care about her as a character.
4. Wonderbolts Academy (S3) - Fantastic RD episode. Lightning Dust works incredibly well as a parallel to RD.
5. Parental Glideance (S7) - Wasn't expecting this one to be any good, but they managed to pull it off.
6. May the Best Pet Win (S2)  - Underrated. I liked this one a lot.
7. Horse Play (S8) - Interesting idea for an episode.
8. She's All Yak (S9) - I have a few issues with this one, but I enjoyed most of it.
9. Newbie Dash (S6) - And here's the stinker. I don't hate it as much as most people...but it's still pretty bad.

Edited October 4, 2021 by Cash_In

[Rushing cash 829]

I would say Parental glideance is the best one, while its not perfect but the episode is just so intertaining to me, and boy, do I love RDs parents. 10\10

Wonderbolts academy will be a close second, such a great RD episode, this was also an important episode for her arc and lightning dust is awesome. 

Bats!, horse play and make new friends but keep discord are also fantastic episodes.

Dragonshy, newbie dash and she is all yak are pretty good to, my list favorite episode of the bunch is may the best pet win, which is decent but nothing really special.

[Sepul-Coloratura 756]

1. May the Best Pet Win : B+. I like this episode for showing the best of Rainbow Dash in a fun way. The only part that stops me from re watching it is the musical sequence that I personally don't like that much. But the episode is very true to the character, the situation is very sympayhetic, the conclusion is very satisfying.
2. Dragonshy : B+. The first of 'Fluttershy overcomimg her fears' episodes. I like the simple premise. Back then, her extreme timidity could be considered as a comedic exaggeration. I like Fluttershy in this, I like Twilight being reasonablly grumpy, I like how Pinkie being kind and helpful at the same time. The ending is satisfying.
3. Wonderbolts Academy : B+. I like this because it had an interesting premise and felt intense. In other words, it was more spicy than the episodes above. The lesson and the ending feels too simplified and two-dimensional, but this is when the Wonderbolts academy felt like an interesring place. Lightning Dust is great for what she represents, an evil twin of Rainbow Dash, but how the character works in the story feels a bit unsatisfying considering what she could have been much more as that role.
4. Make New Friends but Keep Discord B. I like Discord being attached to a pony. And reasonablly for such a reformed villain and a trixter, sometimes he gets jealous and gets obsessed. Discord might be the only reformed villain that is true to the archytype in the show.
5. Parental Glideance B-. Nice episode, but not because it's about Rainbow Dash's parents or Scootaloo.
6. Bats! : C+. Most problems in this episode is because the characters are being dumb and their their flaws can be avoided not by being morally good, but by using their brains instead.
7. Horse Play : C-. Being extremely spicy without meat and potatoes. Desteoys a character and rebuilds it for what people want to see instead of what she is. And once again, Pinkie Pie conveniently ruins everything (while being perfectly aware of it).
8. Newbie Dash : D. This leaves a bad taste. I know that closed communities can build toxic traditions in real life. This is an uncomfotably relevant issue. This episode says to be yourself and accept absurdity at the same time. This episode is the pinnacle of negative impressions that the Wonderbolts were stacking up.
9. She's All Yak : F. Characters, premise, story, lessons all fails in this episode. It's hard for me to find a positive thing about this episode.

[ChB 18,532]

Half of these are pretty good, but as far as entertainment goes, May The Best Pet Win took the cake for me. The Ghastly Gorge scene was super fun to see on first watch, and the Find A Pet song remains a fun song to sing to this day.

[Landi 598]

1. Wonderbolts Academy

2. Parental Glidance

3. Dragonshy

4. Make new friends but keep Discord

5. May the Best Pet Win

6. Bats

7. Newbie Dash

8. Horse Play

9. She's all Yak

[Megas 27,098]

1) Wonderbolts Academy - If you know me, you already I love this episode
2) Parental Glideance - First time since S6 started where I was genuinely happy with the show. S7 was off to a good start but after Newbie Dash I really needed this one
3) Dragonshy - This was the first episode that really showed me what the show was capable of and convinced me to stick around
4) May the Best Pet Win - One of the show's more underrated episodes. Fun sequences, a great song, and Tank is a trooper. Also it gets credit for being one of the few morals RD learns on her own instead of treating her like and idiot and spoonfeeding it
5) Make Friends But Keep Discord - I'd say it started the trend Discord acting like a huge dick to everyone because he never had his way. It never got as bad as the future episodes did, but it really doesn't age well especially now
6) Bats! - It's only good for Flutterbat [REDRACTED] and nothing else
7-8) Horse Play and She's All Yak - pretty interchangeable, don't really care for either of them. Though I'll probably give Horse Play the upper hand since it has Celestia being adorable
9) Newbie Dash - I hate this episode. I hate everything it stands for. It takes RD's entire character arc and turns it into a huge joke, and it laughs at you for following it for so long. I refuse to believe anyone wrote it or approved with the intent of making a good episode, it goes out of its way to make you hate it. Fuck this episode, it should crawl back up the asshole it came out of

[DonMaguz 1,023]

'Wonderbolts Academy' with a very close second 'Horse Play'.

[Will Guide 21,326]

None of them are particularly my favorite but I vote for Make New Friends because of Discord's Antics and introduction to his Chaos Dimension

[Astralshy 23,803]

For me this list would look like this and I like all Episodes :>

1. May the Best Pet Win
2. Wonderbolts Academy
3. Newbie Dash - Hate me if you must, but I always liked this episode :>
4. Parental Glidance
5. Dragonshy
6. Make new friends but keep Discord
7. Bats
8. She's all Yak
9. Horse Play

[bigbertha 410]

1. Dragonshy

2. Newbie Dash

3. Make New Friends But Keep Discord

4. Wonderbolts Academy

5. Horse Play

6. May the Best Pet Win

7. Parental Glideance

8. Bats

9. She's All Yak