Hardest scene to watch?

[Orablanco Account 3,707]

It's a tie between that one scene in A Canterlot Wedding and that really awful third act of "Ponyville Confidential" where the little girls are shunned by their friends, family, and pretty much everyone in town for something that really isn't that much their fault.

[Stellafera 3,836]

Personally I find it hard to watch when the ponies act out of character. I realize there would be no episodes if they didn't act differently but it still bugs me.

 

That awkward moment when all of those episodes were character defining moments for me. 

 

For example, the usually rational and intelligent twilight starts flipping out about not having anything to write to Celestia about, and then there was that thing where she was visited from her in the future telling her to stop worrying about everything. Hello?! Twilight?! Are you smart or aren't you?!

 

Twilight is a character obsessed with organization and perfectionism, especially towards her mentor Celestia. Anxiety is a major flaw of hers, and as a fairly smart person who shares Twilight's anxiety issues, anxiety gets you to think really stupid thoughts with your smart brain. Even outside of the defining episodes for those traits, episodes like Winter Wrap Up, A Bird In The Hoof, and Swarm of the Century all display these qualities of her. And she never got the part in the end about not worrying about everything due to Future Twilight being cut off. 

 

Then there's applejack who refuses to accept help from twilight and her friends. Why? When did AJ become this 'world on my shoulders' type character? Her element is honesty, surely she knows deep down that she needs help from her friends, why not just ask them?

 

 Howabout "every Applejack episode" as an illustrative example?   Applebuck Season, The Last Roundup, Apple Family Reunion... She constantly feels a sense of immense obligation and responsibility, and she feels like it's part of her sense of integrity/honesty to fulfill those imagined responsibilities. AJ is a touch workaholic in nature. 

 

And then there's pinkie pie, in party of when where she goes insane for not having all her friends show up for her 2nd party in a row. Why even have another party already? You do realize it's your birthday right? Didn't you suspect for one second that your friends might be avoiding you because they're planning a surprise party?

 

She was being irrational, yes, and that was the point of the episode. Pinkie Pie immediately jumped to the worst conclusion (her friends hated her and didn't want to be her friends anymore), which is somewhat understandable due to it being a major worry of hers (just look at the Discord two-parter!).

 

One more, rainbow dash being scared to perform. This is probably the most egregious breach of character, since when is rainbow dash afraid of anything? She faces everything head on! She's abrasive, athletic, brave, and she's all of sudden afraid to perform? Why?

 

This is the most important facet of character, I would say.   

 

Rainbow Dash, while courageous, is a terribly insecure mare that looks to the approval of others to feel confident about herself. At least until her character development in Season 3, that is. Just like AJ, this basically appears in every episode of hers; Read it and Weep and The Mysterious Mare Do Well are only two of the more direct examples.

[Celli 4,339]

I'd have to say in Hurricane Fluttershy when she was laying in the grass crying, and near the end of Ponyville Confidential when everyone in Ponyville were being total A**holes to the CMC because of diamond tiara.

[Dusknight Haze 161]

I haven't finished the show yet, being so new, but so far the only thing that really made me flat out cry was Rarity scolding and abandoning her sister in Sisterhooves Social. I don't even have siblings and I felt it deep down. I mean, it was obvious that they were going to make up (and I was actually surprised at how they did it, for once) but gosh it's so hard to watch.

 

It comes back a little worse in a sense when Apple Bloom splashes the smashed grapes on AJ, and AJ leaps up into vat to rough-house with her, but Sweetie Belle clearly thought she was going to hit Apple Bloom because she yells "Please Applejack, she didn't mean-" before seeing what was actually going on. That broke my heart.

[Commander Bubbles 1,343]

Honestly, I thought the scene in the Cutie Chronicles where the whole town basically says "eff you" to the CMC was not easy on the eyes. I mean, how often do you see Big Mac losing his shit on his younger sister? But it wasn't hard to watch just because it was a rather sad scene, but also, due to the fact that it didn't really add up at many parts. I mean, how did the ENTIRE town find out about Gabby Gums' identity in, what, a few hours? Did Rarity tell everyone who it was? Plus, if Diamond Tiara was such a tyrant, why didn't any of the other schoolponies tell Cheerilee about what was going on? I'm sure someone would have been pushed beyond his or her edge, broke down, and told Miss Cheerilee on her. It's minor nitpicking, it seems, but I had a lot of questions running through my head during that episode. Basically, it wasn't hard to watch in the sense that it was "oh boo hoo X is being Y'd by Z," it was hard to watch due to the "wait... what?" factor hindering my enjoyment of the episode.

Edited September 4, 2013 by Ragin' Red Talon

[Shawn Parks 1,798]

One more, rainbow dash being scared to perform. This is probably the most aggregious breach of character, since when is rainbow dash afraid of anything? She faces everything head on! She's abrasive, athetic, brave, and she's all of sudden afraid to perform? Why?

 

She was afraid to perform because she had failed at every practice attempt to do a Sonic Rainboom.  (I am assuming that is the episode you mean.)  It seems to me that Rainbow Dash is usually confident because she knows that she is great and loves to show it off.  In this case, she had reason to doubt herself and was worried about being humiliated.  I think it was perfectly in character, and I loved seeing her more vulnerable side.  It made me like the character more.