Ranking the 12th episodes

[KH7672 1,604]

Oh ho, I'm excited for this one we've actually got some tough competitors for that top spot and even the lowest of the lows might not even be that low for some. So let's go with episode 12 where the CMC reign supreme and we journey outside Ponyville for almost all the others coincidentally 

1. Pinkie Pride- The hands down best Season 4 key episode! Not only is Weird Al great, but Pinkie absolutely sells it. She's fun, she emotional, she's extreme, she's what makes this episode great along with five amazingly memorable songs, I can't get enough of this episode.

2. Discordant Harmony- This episode should honestly be a complete enigma to me. It's late season Discord at his most Discord-y and late Season Fluttershy at her most saccharine, but the heart is in just the right place for these characters. Maybe it's because their both confined to each other but they really do play off each other so well.

3. Call of the Cutie- The first Crusaders episode and while Apple Bloom may not do much in terms of growth in the episode it really is the greater context that earns it's place, introducing Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon it's a wonderful friendship and rivalry that will carry these characters for the next five seasons

4. Family Appreciation Day- Apple family values. Like I said I'm a sucker for 'em, but I think the greatest thing about this one is not just the appreciation Apple Bloom gets for Granny Smith but by providing context and background to her character wonderfully that gives the audience appreciation too. Plus Diamond Tiara is hammy fun here.

5. Marks for Effort- I just enjoy when the CMC act like kids so the first half doesn't bore me, plus the second half has Cozy Glow and despite some questionable characterization by Twilight, give us the highlight of Counselor Starlight's first session.

6. The Last Crusade- Only the lowest of the CMC episodes just because of the conflicting moral viewpoints going on here. Scootaloo's parents seem fun but the implications of neglect are there, plus it meanders a lot and that's saying something for a CMC episode. The highlight really is just the ending as it also provides a wrapping up point for their arc

7. Spice Up Your Life- I do like the unique pair up of Pinkie and Rarity and I especially enjoy the characters of Saffron Masala and Coriander Cumin but it gets a little muddled in the shared execution on Rarity's part plus Zesty Gourmand is kinda strawmaned as a crritic.

8. Amending Fences- Unpopular opinion I know, but Moondancer has always rubbed me the wrong way in this episode. I would've love to see more of her honestly to get a better impression but alas it barely happened. However I know that's mostly subjective opinion and absolutely recognize the strenghs of the episode on Twilight's part and the emotion despite me not feeling it. Plus I adore Twilight's Canterlot friends, especially Minuette.

9. Games Ponies Play- Only ranked the lowest not because I think it's bad, but definitely pretty bland in most of the characters. Ms. Peachbottom (the wrong inspector) is probably the most entertaining part of it but she does wear thin near the end. Not bad but I prefer "Just for Sidekicks" more of the dual episodes.

[Will Guide 21,365]

In retrospect, I don't really rewatch most of these episodes. But I agree that Pinkie Pride is the best of the bunch

[Here No Longer 5,281]

1. Amending Fences (By and far the highlight of Season 5)
2. Pinkie Pride
3. Discordant Harmony
4. Spice Up Your Life (A phenomenally underrated episode)
5. Family Appreciation Day
6. Call of the Cutie
7. Marks for Effort
8. The Last Crusade (The aunts were literally the only reason this isn't in the red and worse than GPP)
9. Games Ponies Play

Most of these episodes were actually really good in retrospect. Wow.

Edited October 5, 2019 by Spider Demon

[Sparklefan1234 174,334]

Amending Fences & Pinkie Pride are my favorite twelfth episodes!

 

Amending Fences: Because it took a throwaway line from the pilot episode & gave it more of a purpose. Minuette is Best Pony!

 

Pinkie Pride: Because of all of the great songs. (My favorite Pinkie Pie episode.)

Edited October 13, 2021 by Sparklefan1234

[Dark Qiviut 22,500]

Some episodes of the show are synonymous with “greatness.” Amending Fences is pure greatness. Best Twilight episode of the show, one of the most gut-wrenching moments of the show (Moondancer’s tirade), almost perfectly paced, one of the most tragic secondary characters of the show (Moondancer) with a believable reason to equate friendship with trauma, and three other excellent side characters (Minny, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts). It’s one of the three platinum episodes of the season.

1. Amending Fences
2. The Last Crusade
3. Pinkie Pride (watched it continually back in the day, and I still never get tired of it!)
4. Discordant Harmony
5. Family Appreciation Day (Marks and Call are better, but the backstory of Ponyville and DT’s punishment are really entertaining.)
6. Marks for Effort
7. Call of the Cutie
8. Spice Up (If Twi replaced Rarity and Zesty isn’t a straw critic, then it’ll be much higher up. One of Rarity’s worst appearances.)

Never watched Games Ponies Play, so unlisted. If I did, probably dislike.

Edited October 5, 2019 by Dark Qiviut

[Thrond 3,263]

I actually like most of these, but one of the ones I don't like is potentially my most contrarian My Little Pony opinion.  

1. Pinkie Pride - This is just so joyous and energetic. I find the escalating silliness of Pinkie and Cheese's competition absolutely delightful, and it's jam-packed with great songs. Better yet, it does that while being genuinely introspective, exploring Pinkie's fear of abandonment, and even implying that she directly associates her title of "Equestria's premiere party pony" with people's approval of her. It's wonderful. 
2. Marks for Effort - This has an even more gentle atmosphere than the show's usual slice-of-life episodes, and I like how it took the Friendship School and used it to tell a story that would not have been possible in earlier seasons. I like that the CMC get to subtly learn to understand how much they know about friendship just by teaching Cozy Glow, and in this early appearance they did a really good job of hiding the latter's evil by making her almost too cute. Plus it has my favourite Starlight appearance ever. 
3. Discordant Harmony - That one time Discord tried to be nice. I actually think this tones down his usual absurdity slightly as a result, but I find Discord politely riffing to be almost as funny as Discord trolling, and this is the only episode where I can sympathize with him at all. It would have been interesting if they had continued trying to make him just a little nicer. Plus it's a pretty good showcase of later-season Fluttershy. I just wish it didn't suddenly raise the stakes at the end. 
4. Call of the Cutie - Cute, though I feel like nobody really learned anything here. 
5. Family Appreciation Day - I was already pretty bored with Diamond Tiara making Apple Bloom self-conscious by this point, but Granny Smith being awesome makes up for a whole lot. She's pretty silly, but she's also so confident in all of her silliness that I can't help but admire her. 
6. Spice Up Your Life - I think the balance of this story is off; Rarity's characterization doesn't seem out-of-place to me, but I wish she was written with a little more nuance, and I think this doesn't do a good enough job of having both Rarity and Pinkie be to blame for the Tasty Treat's bad showing. And I'm annoyed by the whole idea of Zesty Gourmand as a character. But there's also a unique flavour to this that I find appealing, and I really like Coriander and Saffron. The producers really should have gotten actual South Asian voice actors to voice them, but it's a breath of fresh air nonetheless. 
7. The Last Crusade - This meanders a bit and presents the most idyllic version of its story possible, but I generally like how this presents Scootaloo's family life, and I find it satisfying to finally learn about that. I feel like Scootaloo should have resented her parents for neglecting her, and I find it underwhelming that this episode doesn't dig into that. But it still gets to the idea that her parents need to do a better job, and I guess that's good enough for me. 
8. Amending Fences - I thought the entire point of the show was that Twilight didn't have friends in Canterlot. Even here, her relationship with them doesn't seem very close, to the extent that I genuinely don't believe she owes Moondancer anything. As far as I can tell, Twilight barely knew her. And it's even harder for me to sympathize when it seems like Moondancer's real friends did show up, and did try to reassure her of her self-worth. I don't understand what point this episode is trying to make, so all of the high emotion leaves me cold. Plus, Twilight is entirely in the right from start to finish and never doubts herself, which bores me stiff. 
9. Games Ponies Play - I find this one really contrived and unfunny, mostly, and it doesn't even seem to have a very strong moral. I think it's one of the show's most annoying episodes. 

[Oleks 1,993]

1. Amending Fences – my favorite MLP episode that introduced my favorite MLP character.
2. Marks for Effort – I like that they made an episode about a villain without actually revealing that she’s a villain. And it’s just a fun episode.
3. Pinkie Pride – it was bit over the top, but what else would you expect?
4. The Last Crusade – all I can say about this one is “finally! 
5-6. Call of the Cutie, Discordant Harmony – the first CMCs episode and the chaotic Fluttershy, equally good episodes on my list.
7-9. Family Appreciation Day, Games Ponies Play, Spice Up Your Life – all OK episodes.

[Cash In 22,705]

1. Amending Fences (S5) - Amazing that they took a throwaway line from the pilot and turned into one of the best Twilight episodes.
2. Pinkie Pride (S4) - I'm a big Weird Al fan, so I have to like this by default. Al aside, this was a great episode.
3. Spice Up Your Life (S6) - Very underrated episodes.  I have a few issues with Rarity here, but it's great other than that.
4. Discordant Harmony (S7) - Reformed Discord at his finest. I like reformed Discord, so it makes me happy when he's handled well.
5. Games Ponies Play (S3) - Simple misunderstanding plot, but I enjoyed it.
6. Family Appreciation Day (S2) - Decent. Ponyville history was by far the highlight of this episode.
7. Marks for Effort (S8) - Fine. Had the famous Starlight meme face.
8. Call of the Cutie (S1) - Eh. It sets up the CMCs at the very least.
9. The Last Crusade (S9) - Did not like this one. I like Scootaloo's aunts at the very least, but the rest of the episode felt so off. I'm glad this wasn't the final CMC episode.

Edited October 3, 2021 by Cash_In

[bigbertha 415]

1. Games Ponies Play- It doesn't do anything great, but it does everything well. I really like the comedy, I like the bits with Twilight showing her development, and I like the general charm that this episode has (7/10)

2. Call of the Cutie- Just a very cute and charming episode (7/10)

3. Pinkie Pride- What it lacks with the story, it makes up for by having Weird Al guest star (7/10)

4. Family Appreciation Day- Most of the episode is just kinda okay, but the Ponyville backstory brings it up (7/10)

5. Discordant Harmony- I don't think this episode is very memorable. It's a lot of slow scenes of jokes that sometimes work, but not often enough. And that third act is way too mild and slow for how high stakes it is (5/10)

6. Marks For Effort- An extremely boring episode. Starlight's scene is good, but that's it (4/10)

7. The Last Crusade- It not only contradicts Parental Glidance, but it's such a boring episode on its own since there are no stakes once you know Scootaloo isn't leaving (4/10)

8. Spice Up Your Life- Yet another boring episode, except this one also screws up the moral (3/10)

9. Amending Fences- It contradicts the point of the series, it proves Twilight right that her leaving messed up her "friends" when it should be teaching her a lesson, and it's so surface level. I guess it's all Twilight's fault that Moondancer is the way she is, but that doesn't make much sense. Did Moondancer not care about her other friends who did come to the party? Did she never learn why Twilight left after all this time? Why don't we dig into these questions to make the episode more interesting? Oh right, because this is season 5 and nuance isn't allowed (2/10)

 

[Rushing cash 836]

A pretty good line up of episodes, I liked them all.

1. Amending fances- 10\10, one of the best episodes in the show
2. The last crusade- 10\10
3. Discordant harmony- 9\10, cute fluttercord episode
4. Pinkie pride- 8\10, I liked this episode but it was a bit to over the top for me to give it more.

5-8 are Games ponies play, Call of the cutie, Family appreciation day and marks for effort- 7\10

and spice up your life is my least favorite but it was okay too.

[Megas 27,876]

1) Pinkie Pride - Because it’s Pinkie Pride

2) Amending Fences - one of those MLP episodes that gets unexpectedly emotional in all the best ways

3) Discordant Harmony - Fox Bros only good episode and the small glimmer of hope that Discord, both the character and his episodes, could really improve 

4) Call of the Cutie - A good introduction of of the CMC

5) Games Ponies Play - Another episode based entirely on a dumb misunderstanding. Unlike On Your Marks though it’s actually funny and entertaining. Also, a really under appreciated moment, towards the end where RD willingly takes the fall for everything going wrong, really sad they never let her have more moments like it

6) Spice Up Your Life - An almost good episode that gets dragged down by having Rarity go completely against everything she stands for half way through. I’ll be nice since it has a catchy song 

7) Last Crusade - This is kinda hard for me to talk about, as a CMC episode and a (should be) send off for them it’s pretty good, what drags this down though is Scootaloo’s parents are genuinely awful and the episode doesn’t address this and act like their lifestyle and “””””parenting””””” is fine when it’s not 

8) Family Appreciation Day - I’d say it was around here I was sick of Applebloom getting all the CMC focus(especially when Scootaloo hadn’t even gotten one up to this point). Learning about the history of Ponyville was neat I guess but it’s otherwise a dull episode 

9) Marks For Effort - Is just really lame and boring 

[DonMaguz 1,023]

'Amending Fences' just above 'Discordant Harmony' are my favorites episodes of this bunch.

[ChB 18,562]

Most of these episodes are at least decent. I liked Spice Up Your Life and Amending Fences, and loved Discordant Harmony and Family Appreciation Day. 

But the biggest for me will be Pinkie Pride, if only because it's the most memorable Pinkie Pie episode in the series. An iconic milestone in her character development, some great songs, as well as the introduction of my favorite singer.  

[Sepul-Coloratura 762]

1. Amending Fences : A. Very emotional episode. The whole story flows naturally and the situation is very real. Really feels like an episode of a cartoon show called 'friendship is magic'. I still consider Moondancer is a better Starlight Glimmer and should have been replaced her. The slight downside is that they tied the episode with S01E01 too specifically, that part feels too much like a fanservice.
2. Discordant Harmony : A-. Two characters interactions and difference made the episode. The relationship felt very heartfelt, maybe the best in the whole show, and it has a satisfying ending as well. Discord is one of the only villains of the show who stays true to it's character while still being reformed.
3. Pinkie Pride : B+. It is a great episode and an entertaining episode, but without the bells and whistles, the basic story isn't as good as A Friend in Deed. I think most jealousy related episodes unfairly manipulates the audiences emotionally in a certain degree to make us feel a certain way.
4. Family Appreciation Day : B. Granny Smith is awesome. Diamond Tiara gets what she deserves at the end. What can I say.
5. Call of the Cutie : B. I think the early episodes of CMCs members especially understood better about children. The idea of finding a cutie mark was good, but it feels overused over time. This episode is the first one, and it's free from that.
6. Games Ponies Play : B. A nice episode with humor.
7. Spice Up Your Life : B-. I liked the episode, the story, characters, but I can't help cringing to the Indian inspired song.
8. Marks for Effort : C. A silly attempt to put a twist villain in a show like MLP. This episode explores the School of Friendship, but the more we get to know about it, the more it feels shallow and not so well thought out coherently.
9. The Last Crusade : C. "Here's Scootaloo's parents!" Such an afterthought and didn't have interesting story.

Edited October 11, 2019 by Sepul-Coloratura

[Astralshy 28,069]

This is getting really hard now, there are a lot of great episodes on 12th spot xD The first six entries are hard to sort, but I'd do like that:

1. Amending Fences 
2. Pinkie Pride
3. Call of the Cutie 
4. Spice Up Your Life 
5. Discordant Harmony
6. Marks for Effort
7. Family Appreciation Day 
8. The Last Crusade
9. Games Ponies Play 

[Lone Traveler 91]

1: Amending Fences

2: Pinkie Pride

3: Discordant Harmony

4: Games Ponies Play

5: Family Appreciation Day

6: Call of the Cutie

7: Marks for Effort

8: The Last Crusade

9: Spice Up Your Life

[Landi 601]

1. Pinkie Pride - This is such a fun, memorable episode with an equally great story and concept, that all comes together very well. Add on the plethora of songs and Weird Al's performance as Cheese Sandwhich, and you have an amazing episode.
2. Discordant Harmony - This episode did a great job and giving discord some great character developement along with really allowing Flutteshy to shine. Combined with all the fun humor and memorable scenes, this episode is overall very good. It's just too bad Discord was ruined as character in the last two seasons.
3. Amending Fences - This is a deep, well loved episode with intresting characters and an intricate story.
4. Spice Up Your Life - This fairly forgettable episode never really stood out to me, but I still think it did a decent job at giving the one-off characters personality along with giving Pinkie and Rarity something to do.
5. Call of the Cutie - While this episode is remarkable in that it was the first episode to form the CMC group along with give cutie marks a purpose, it is a bit on the lackluster side when it comes to story and humor.
6. Family Appritiation Day - I appriciate how this episode builds and developes the family relationship between AppleBloom and Granny Smith, but unfortunately it was done in a very bland and unmemorable way for me.
7. Marks for Effort - This episdoe actually made me intrested in Cozy Glow and even like her as a character. After watching it, I thought that she could have the potential to be a decent side character and friend to the CMC, but then School Raze happened and stopped all that from happening. When I first watched this episode, I actually thought it was a pretty decent episode, but knowing what I know now about Cozy, I can't really enjoy this episode anymore.
8. Games Ponies Play - A very bland, dull episode with a generic concept and story.
9. The Last Crusade - The way they excecuted this episode's concept was really bad, and the whole thing just felt pointless at the end. I think Scootaloo's parent's being introduced is a conce[t that cold work, but as previously stated, it's execution here was very dissapointing. For instance, in Parental Glidance Scootaloo implied that she wished she had her parents were there for her, but here, she doesn't even really her feelings regaurding their general lack of support for her. Plus, the parents themselves were writen as being unitresting, and even a bit unlikable. On top of all that, nothing really happens or changes by the end of the episode. The parents just leave again without resolving or even discussing their relationship with Scootaloo.

This is a pretty balanced set of episodes for me. It can be broken up into three teirs: the top three are the great teir, the middle three are the average teir, and the bottom three are the bad teir. Due to those top three all being so good, I'd say this set altogether is above average.

[bigbertha 415]

1. Pinkie Pride

2. Spice Up Your Life

3. Call of the Cutie

4. Family Appreciation Day

5. Discordant Harmony

6. Games Ponies Play

7. Marks For Effort

8. The Last Crusade

9. Amending Fences