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[DemWalls]

Man, nobody here recommended "Bats!" I guess it's just me being a Fluttershy stan but i thought the episode was cool as hell.

When is the show coming back on Discovery Family, by the way?

This Saturday, 2 episodes.

 

[SigmasonicX]

I didn't vote then (I wasn't registered, duh), but I'm not a fan of Party Pooped. Not a bad episode, but pretty forgettable. Personally I'd swap it for Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? (which, honestly, I'm surprised didn't get more votes), or keep Hearthbreakers in its stead and add The Mane Attraction - if you really think the worst pony derserves an episode of her own.

I insisted on its inclusion because it (1) was a Pinkie episode where she had to deal with major responsibility and (2) showed Twilight doing actual princess stuff. Looking back, I'm not sure how important that really is. I suppose a note saying they establish a diplomatic relationship with the yaks would suffice.

With "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?", one thing to keep in mind is that a lot of people voted under the assumption that every map episode should be recommended (see "Made in Manehattan" getting 4 votes) so some episodes fell through the cracks. I didn't vote for it because there were a lot of episodes that season I liked a lot, and I found it just alright. Plus, "Bloom and Gloom" is already a Luna heavy episode. That said, it does give me pause when I see it isn't on our guide, since it feels important, even if it hasn't come up again.

Perhaps swapping "Party Pooped" with that would be best.

Not looking at NSFW art while at work, haha.

Man, nobody here recommended "Bats!" I guess it's just me being a Fluttershy stan but i thought the episode was cool as hell.

That episode lost a lot of points with people for the conflict between Applejack and Fluttershy not actually getting resolved on screen. It's just: bats are bad, whoops Fluttershy's a vampire, bats are alright.

 

[SigmasonicX]

*looks at DemWall's art*

... Yeah, that is pretty messed up.

About the season 5 guide, no objections to including "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" and excluding "Party Pooped"? No one wants to change "Hearthbreakers"?

I'm also thinking about character tags to add to the guide for previous seasons. Based on characters with central roles in three or more episodes (up through season 7), my suggestions are: Trixie, Rich Family, Flim & Flam, Daring Do, Big Mac, Coco Pommel, and Maud Pie. Also, Pie Family because it's kind of weird that I didn't add that to "Hearthbreakers".

On a related note, rewatched season 5's "What About Discord?" The parts with the in-jokes dragged out more than during my first viewing, but man, there are some grade A Twilight scenes in this episode. This is really underrated for its portrayal of Twilight's character.

Silver Quill reviews Friends Forever #12, where Twilight has to help Pinkie with her addiction to Phenomnomenons. I should reread this, since it really is a fun story with fantastic art.

Fluttershy by StePandy
Cutietongue
Flutter bat

Preen Preen
The Winning Shot
Lights and Music

Octavia by Left2Fail
The Anthromancer - Myke Greywolf art, which I'll go ahead and post. This is a Gravity Falls reference.
Little Nightmare

Twilight by lilfunkman
Wand Thief Trixie
Starlight Glimmer by Wilvarin-Liadon

Last Live2D models from egophiliac. More at the links.
SciTwi
Sunset

Morning Coffee
Out for a walk
Ponky Sketches by Tony-Retro

Dangerous
Twilight's Library
Warming Up

Sweetie Belle by abc002310
Fall of the Empire - Super detailed.
A World Adrift - Also super detailed.

Applejack by Haden-2375
Ultimately Unlimited

Answer Please
Twilight! by MomoMistress
Caught

Trixie Lulamoon by Wilvarin-Liadon
Let's Go a Bit Higher Today
Answers - Future Nerdy Flurry.

Sing Your Heart Out
Twilight Sparkle (Manga Style) by Banzatou
goodbyememories

I should give a long overdue shout out to mirroredsea, whose art has often appeared in my posts. He has a fantastic style and puts out art pretty consistently.

 

[DemWalls]

There's even better (weirder/creepier) stuff among that artist's works. For example the CMCentipede, as I like to call it. Name's robotwo, if anyone's interested.

I have to add that it's not just the creativity I appreciate, but also the technical prowess on display. Regardless of the subject, that stuff's impeccably drawn. I wonder if he's a professional.


As for the rest, you have my invaluable blessing.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Well, if there are no more comments, Let's just go over the remaining seasons all at once.

Season 3
3. "Too Many Pinkie Pies" - SigmasonicX, Rhomega Beta
4. "One Bad Apple" - SigmasonicX, Rhomega Beta, PaulloDEC
5. "Magic Duel" - DrForester, Rhomega Beta, UberTag, PaulloDEC, Jay RaR
6. "Sleepless in Ponyville" - SigmasonicX, DrForester, Rhomega Beta, UberTag, PaulloDEC, Jay RaR
7. "Wonderbolts Academy" - Rhomega Beta, UberTag, Jay RaR
8. "Just for Sidekicks" - DrForester, PaulloDEC
9. "Apple Family Reunion" - PaulloDEC
10. "Spike at Your Service"
12. "Games Ponies Play"

6 votes
6. "Sleepless in Ponyville"

5 votes
5. "Magic Duel"

3 votes
4. "One Bad Apple"
7. "Wonderbolts Academy"

2 or less votes
3. "Too Many Pinkie Pies"
8. "Just for Sidekicks"
9. "Apple Family Reunion"
10. "Spike at Your Service"
12. "Games Ponies Play"

Note that we decided to go for just two recommended episodes (not important) for a total of six this season, so Spike could get an episode in season 2. There was some interest in swapping out "Magic Duel" for something else, but it's in there pretty solidly, and nothing else seems more appropriate.

Season 2
3. "Lesson Zero" - SigmasonicX, PaulloDEC, DrForester, UberTag, Jay RaR
5. "Sisterhooves Social" - SigmasonicX, PaulloDEC, DrForester, UberTag, Jay RaR
6. "The Cutie Pox"
7. "May the Best Pet Win!" - PaulloDEC, DrForester
8. "The Mysterious Mare Do Well"
9. "Sweet and Elite" - SigmasonicX, UberTag, Jay RaR
10. "Secret of My Excess" - PaulloDEC
11. "Family Appreciation Day" - Jay RaR
12. "Baby Cakes"
13. "Hearth's Warming Eve" - Jay RaR
14. "The Last Roundup"
15. "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" - PaulloDEC, DrForester, Jay RaR
16. "Read It and Weep" - SigmasonicX, DrForester, UberTag
17. "Hearts and Hooves Day" - SigmasonicX, UberTag, Jay RaR
18. "A Friend in Deed" - SigmasonicX, PaulloDEC, DrForester, UberTag, Jay RaR
19. "Putting Your Hoof Down" - PaulloDEC, DrForester, Jay RaR
21. "Dragon Quest"
22. "Hurricane Fluttershy" - SigmasonicX, PaulloDEC, DrForester, UberTag, Jay RaR
23. "Ponyville Confidential"
24. "MMMystery on the Friendship Express"

5 votes
3. "Lesson Zero"
5. "Sisterhooves Social"
18. "A Friend in Deed"
22. "Hurricane Fluttershy"

3 votes
9. "Sweet and Elite"
15. "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000"
16. "Read It and Weep"
17. "Hearts and Hooves Day"
19. "Putting Your Hoof Down"

2 votes or less
6. "The Cutie Pox"
7. "May the Best Pet Win!"
8. "The Mysterious Mare Do Well"
10. "Secret of My Excess"
11. "Family Appreciation Day"
12. "Baby Cakes"
13. "Hearth's Warming Eve"
14. "The Last Roundup"
21. "Dragon Quest"
23. "Ponyville Confidential"
24. "MMMystery on the Friendship Express"

Besides "Secret of My Excess", which actually took a slot from season 3 in order to have a Spike episode somewhere in the guide, I mainly just went down the list here. I don't think "Dragon Quest" needs to be included.

Season 1
3. "The Ticket Master"
4. "Applebuck Season"
5. "Griffon the Brush Off" - SigmasonicX, DrForester, PaulloDEC, Jay RaR
6. "Boast Busters" - SigmasonicX, PaulloDEC, Jay RaR, UberTag
7. "Dragonshy" - SigmasonicX, DrForester, Jay RaR, UberTag
8. "Look Before You Sleep"
10. "Swarm of the Century" - DrForester, Jay RaR
11. "Winter Wrap Up" - SigmasonicX, DrForester, PaulloDEC, Jay RaR, UberTag
13. "Fall Weather Friends" - PaulloDEC
14. "Suited for Success" - SigmasonicX, DrForester, PaulloDEC, Jay RaR, UberTag
15. "Feeling Pinkie Keen" - Jay RaR
16. "Sonic Rainboom" - SigmasonicX, DrForester, PaulloDEC, Jay RaR, UberTag
17. "Stare Master"
18. "The Show Stoppers"
19. "A Dog and Pony Show" - DrForester
20. "Green Isn't Your Color" - SigmasonicX, DrForester, PaulloDEC, Jay RaR
21. "Over a Barrel"
22. "A Bird in the Hoof" - DrForester
24. "Owl's Well That Ends Well"
25. "Party of One" - SigmasonicX, PaulloDEC, Jay RaR
26. "The Best Night Ever" - SigmasonicX, DrForester, PaulloDEC, Jay RaR, UberTag

5 votes
11. "Winter Wrap Up"
14. "Suited for Success"
16. "Sonic Rainboom"
26. "The Best Night Ever"

4 votes
5. "Griffon the Brush Off"
6. "Boast Busters"
7. "Dragonshy"
20. "Green Isn't Your Color"

3 votes
25. "Party of One"

2 or less votes
3. "The Ticket Master"
4. "Applebuck Season"
8. "Look Before You Sleep"
10. "Swarm of the Century"
13. "Fall Weather Friends"
15. "Feeling Pinkie Keen"
17. "Stare Master"
18. "The Show Stoppers"
19. "A Dog and Pony Show"
21. "Over a Barrel"
22. "A Bird in the Hoof"
24. "Owl's Well That Ends Well"

Season one had five important episodes, so there were nine recommended episodes. In retrospect, I feel like we should have included "The Ticket Master", since it's the first "normal" episode, but I don't know what I'd cut. I consider "Boast Busters" and "Winter Wrap Up" to be the weakest episodes of the ones we have recommended, but I really hesitate to cut either. Maybe I'll just add a note to watch "The Ticket Master" to provide a baseline for normal episodes.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

May the Best Pet Win has the best musical number/sequence in the entire show, so it NEEDS to be added. I'll rant and rave about this. I will rant.

And The Last Roundup ZERO votes?! Come on guys! That episode is so funny.

 

[SigmasonicX]

May the Best Pet Win has the best musical number/sequence in the entire show, so it NEEDS to be added. I'll rant and rave about this. I will rant.

And The Last Roundup ZERO votes?! Come on guys! That episode is so funny.

I've been thinking about adding a music note icon next to every episode with a song. Since we already note Rainbow's first solo song, I can add a note to that episode that it has the first Rainbow/Fluttershy song, and do that for every other "first" too.

As for "The Last Roundup", (1) season 2 has a lot of competition, (2) it's an "Applejack episode" that barely has her, so "Cider Squeezy" might be favored in that regard, and (3) the entire Derpy thing might still bring up bad memories, especially since the version of the episode on Netflix and iTunes uses the altered version of her scene.

EDIT: Actually, I might just add "why you might want to watch this" notes to every episode. I'm a bit worried about clutter, but I could try it with one season first and see how it looks.

EDIT: Example:
The Ticket Master
* First "normal" episode.
+ Demonstrates character relationships well.
+ Chase scene with Benny Hill style music.

Applebuck Season
* First character focus episode.
+ Sleep deprived Applejack being silly.

Dragon Quest
* Introduces dragon society.
- ... But does it so badly that it takes four seasons for them to revisit it.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Oh hey, PONIES The Anthology VI is out! I'd say it was a bad idea to release on the same day as a new episode, particularly one that's a "return from hiatus" for a lot of people, but it's gotten a lot of views already.
* The opening is a montage instead of an original animation, and I wasn't a fan of the horror part, but it was alright for the rest of it.
* The Twilight Mistake Art is cute.
* I like the anime part with Cadance and Shining Armor.
* The Futurama segment with Brad was great.
* Oh hey, a new Friendship is Manly with actual male characters!
* That Lil' Bits (from Rick and Morty) segment was spot on.
* Yes, Japanese Blueblood into Dio!
* Wow, that Featherweight animation is adorable.
* Rariball will never not be great.
* Dance off between Woody and Applejack was funny in a weird way.
* Surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be a huge animation to finish things off like previous Anthologies. Even the end credits are really basic.
* The small sections were generally all fine, nothing was bad. The Rick and Morty and Futurama segments were particularly nice.
* There are tons of small bits of original animation, besides the large segments, and they're all pretty solid.
* Come to think of it, when was the last Anthology? *checks* Two years ago? Oh, that explains why it feels like this is my first time seeing season 6 clips in one of these.

I think this Anthology is overall more solid than most, but there isn't a big standout.

On the subject of the guide, the more I think about it, the more I feel like "The Ticket Master" needs to be included. As for what to cut, I'm leaning toward "Winter Wrap Up". I think we can agree that the main thing the episode is notable for is the song, and I can just have a note saying to watch it on YouTube. Though that makes me realize, we have "A Friend in Deed" for the same reason, so maybe we can swap in another season 2 episode for it.

I haven't gotten around to doing a visual edit of the guide yet to try out including notes for every episode, but here's what I wrote for season one. This adds a season description and notes for every episode besides important ones. New character tags are added when relevant. I didn't update the descriptions, even if I repeat myself in notes.

Season 1
Where it all begins! The start has some "early installment weirdness", but it's still worth watching, and it quickly gets up to speed anyway.

1. "Friendship Is Magic - Part 1"
2. "Friendship Is Magic - Part 2"
Twilight Sparkle learns of the return of the evil Nightmare Moon, but her mentor, Princess Celestia, tells her to make friends in Ponyville instead of worrying. This story has some "early installment weirdness" and does not reflect the rest of the series in some respects, but is still important to watch.

3. "The Ticket Master" - Twilight Sparkle, Mane Six
* First "normal" episode. This starts a plotline continued by episodes 14 and 26.
+ Demonstrates character relationships well.
+ Chase scene with Benny Hill style music.

4. "Applebuck Season" - Applejack, Mane Six
* First character focus episode.
+ Sleep deprived Applejack being silly.

5. "Griffon the Brush Off" - Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash
Rainbow Dash's visiting friend, Gilda the griffon, starts bullying Pinkie Pie and others behind Rainbow's back. Gilda's unique nature made her a popular (though not well-liked) character in the early fandom.
+ Fun Pinkie / Rainbow scenes.

6. "Boast Busters" - Twilight Sparkle, Trixie
The Great and Powerful Trixie comes to town boasting of her magic skills, but Twilight is unwilling to demonstrate her own. Trixie is one of the most popular one-off characters to come out of season 1.
+ Trixie is a fun character.
+ First big "Twilight is awesome" scene.
- Main Six reactions to Trixie are arguable unjustified.

7. "Dragonshy" - Fluttershy, Mane Six
A dragon is causing problems, so the heroes go to confront it, despite Fluttershy's fear. Often considered one of the best "first episodes" to show someone.
+ Fluttershy gets to be awesome.
+ But before that, she's adorable when she's cowardly.

8. "Look Before You Sleep" - Applejack, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle
+ Great Applejack / Rarity interactions.
+ Twilight being adorably oblivious.

9. "Bridle Gossip"
Twilight is critical of the town's irrational fear of a zebra that lives in the Everfree Forest, until she and her friends all wake up with what appear to be curses. Introduces Zecora and includes the most popular comedy scene of the early fandom.

10. "Swarm of the Century" - Mane Six
+ Tribbles (Star Trek), MLP style.
+ Great comedy.

11. "Winter Wrap Up" - Twilight Sparkle, Mane Six
Twilight is excited to join in on the festival to end winter, but has a hard time finding a place. This is the first episode to include a full-fledged musical number, and it took the fandom by storm.
+ Has the biggest song of the early fandom, "Winter Wrap Up", which is strongly recommended to check out on its own. It is the first group song.
+ Twilight being adorable.

12. "Call of the Cutie"
Apple Bloom, Applejack's sister, realizes that she is one of the few ponies in her class who doesn't have a cutie mark (a symbol on her flank), so she joins two other fillies, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, to form the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Unpopular at first, they grew on fans by the end of the season.

13. "Fall Weather Friends" - Applejack, Rainbow Dash
+ Great Applejack / Rainbow interactions.
+ Pinkie plays a minor but hilarious role.

14. "Suited for Success" - Rarity, Mane Six
Rarity offers to make dresses for her friends, but they quickly start making unreasonable demands. Before this point, Rarity had few fans, but this episode marks a shift in focus that made her more popular, showcasing her artistic side.
* First Rarity solo song.
+ And it's great!
+ Huge insight into Rarity's character, and will connect with any artists watching.

15. "Feeling Pinkie Keen" - Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie
* Introduces Pinkie's ability to predict the near future, Pinkie Sense. The moral of this episode alarmed many people when it aired, due to being perceived as anti-science and pro-religion, but the show crew has clarified that it was not their intention.
+ Lots of great slapstick humor.
- Muddled message.

16. "Sonic Rainboom" - Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Mane Six
Rainbow Dash enters an athletic competition judged by her idols, the Wonderbolts, but gets overwhelmed by the pressure. This is another popular "first episode".
+ First big "Rainbow Dash is awesome" moment.
- Rarity isn't presented well.

17. "Stare Master" - Fluttershy, Cutie Mark Crusaders
* Introduces Fluttershy's hypnotic Stare.
+ Fluttershy being awesome.
- CMC can be annoying.

18. "The Show Stoppers" - Cutie Mark Crusaders
+ Funny song.
- CMC can be annoying.

19. "A Dog and Pony Show" - Rarity, Spike, Mane Six
+ Fun adventure.
+ Rarity shows that she shouldn't be messed with.

20. "Green Isn't Your Color" - Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie
Rarity tries to impress a famous fashion photographer, Photo Finish, but becomes jealous when Fluttershy catches her eye instead.
+ Great Fluttershy / Rarity interactions.
+ Great Twilight / Pinkie interactions.
+ Photo Finish is hilarious.

21. "Over a Barrel" - Mane Six
+ The beginning is fantastic.
- But then it reaches the main story...

22. "A Bird in the Hoof" - Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle
+ Great Fluttershy / Twilight interactions
+ Another Benny Hill chase scene.

23. "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders learn about how the Mane Six all gained their cutie marks. Rainbow Dash's story in particular becomes important much later.

24. "Owl's Well That Ends Well" - Spike, Twilight Sparkle
* Introduces Twilight's pet owl, Owlowicious.
* First Spike focus episode.

25. "Party of One" - Pinkie Pie, Mane Six
When Pinkie believes that her friends are intentionally avoiding her, she goes a bit crazy.
+ Hilarious, with some big unexpected moments.

26. "The Best Night Ever" - Mane Six
The girls are all excited about attending the Grand Galloping Gala, but the night doesn't go as expected. This episode references "The Ticket Master" and "Suited for Success", but they are not necessary to follow the story. Introduces Spitfire and Soarin' of the Wonderbolts.
+ Great song.
+ Funny and interesting to see the girls pushed to the limits of their tolerance.

 

[DemWalls]

I wouldn't show Dragonshy to my worst enemy.

 

[SigmasonicX]

I wouldn't show Dragonshy to my worst enemy.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

Castle Mane-ia is still the best episode to show someone to get them into the show. Lots of fun, good jokes, but doesn't stray too far into being misrepresentative of the average episode; all six ponies are there and you get a good feel for what they're like.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Super sloppy edit of the season one guide to include notes for each episode. I think the actual text isn't cluttered, but the colors are wrong. The big issue is that they distract from the recommended episode colors. Maybe just the plus and minus signs should be colored, while the actual text is just white or gray.

Note that if I decide to go with every episode having notes for the 2017 guide, the episode descriptions would be rewritten to account for that. I didn't do that here.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Decided on a "final" version of the season one guide, below. Paullo, do you have time to make it? If not, can you send me the background you used for it?

The compromise I decided to go with is that notes for episodes can be important (in pink), so I can go with "Winter Wrap Up" not being recommended, but I can still recommend the song in its notes. Also, with so many past episodes coming up in newer episodes, I decided just to note this in the newer episode, not the older ones too. So I'm no longer saying that an episode starts a story arc.

I also decided to start labeling when an episode has a song, with a music note icon next to the episode name. This is actually a bit more difficult in season 1, since there are a ton of small ditties, particularly from Pinkie. I decided to go with what feels right. For notes, I decided to greatly favor positive notes over negative ones, with negative ones only appearing if it was a very common complaint.

Many of the descriptions have been updated. It annoyed me how the images for "Friendship is Magic" and "Dragonshy" are so similar, so I changed the former; I couldn't find a more appropriate image for the latter that didn't spoil how Fluttershy deals with the dragon.

Notes are in brackets.

[Header format is the same, but note the change in text for the recommended section]
Season One (2010-11)
GOLD Episodes are IMPORTANT. PINK Episodes and Text are RECOMMENDED. [SONG] means the episode has a notable song.

[New section, season description, probably can just be centered text]
Where it all begins! There is a bit of "early installment weirdness", particularly with the show crew being unsure how intense the action and how complex the dialogue can be, but everything falls into place pretty quickly. Though things may change as the show goes on, it never strays too far from the base established here.

[GOLD]01-02. Friendship is Magic[/GOLD] [SONG]
[IMAGE=[URL="http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Elements_of_Harmony_light_S1E02.png"]http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Elements_of_Harmony_light_S1E02.png[/URL]]
Twilight Sparkle learns of the return of the evil Nightmare Moon, but her mentor, Princess Celestia, tells her to make friends in Ponyville instead of worrying. Though considered one of the weaker two-parters, it's a charming introduction to the world and the characters.

[PINK]03. The Ticket Master (Twilight Sparkle, Mane Six, Spike)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=[URL="http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Five_friends_and_only_two_tickets_S01E03.png"]http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Five_friends_and_only_two_tickets_S01E03.png[/URL]]
Twilight receives two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, one of the biggest events of the year, and her friends quickly start fighting over who will go with her. This establishes character relationships and the general format for all future "normal" episodes.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Funny, and has a Benny Hill chase scene.

04. Applebuck Season (Applejack, Mane Six)
* First episode to focus on someone other than Twilight.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Sleep-deprived Applejack being silly is quite funny.

[PINK]05. Griffon the Brush (Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash)[/PINK]
Rainbow Dash's visiting friend, Gilda the griffon, starts bullying Pinkie Pie and others behind Rainbow's back.
* Gilda's unique nature made her popular, but not necessarily liked, in the early fandom.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun Pinkie / Rainbow scenes.

[PINK]06. Boast Busters (Twilight Sparkle, Trixie, Spike)[/PINK]
The Great and Powerful Trixie comes to town boasting of her magic, and everyone's negative response to her makes Twilight unwilling to demonstrate her own skills.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Trixie is fun, and was popular enough to eventually become a recurring character. Eventually.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] First big "Twilight is awesome" scene.
[RED]-[/RED] Mane Six reactions to Trixie are arguably unjustified.

[PINK]07. Dragonshy (Fluttershy, Mane Six)[/PINK]
The heroes travel to confront a troublesome dragon, bringing along Fluttershy due to her experience with animals. However, her fear only causes problems along the way.
* First adventure story after the pilot.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Panicky Fluttershy is adorable, and we see what happens when she gets serious.

08. Look Before You Sleep (Applejack, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Strongly establishes Applejack and Rarity's comedic interactions.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Socially awkward Twilight is adorable.

[GOLD]09. Bridle Gossip[/GOLD]
Twilight criticizes the town's irrational fear of a zebra that lives in the Everfree Forest, until she and her friends all wake up with what appear to be curses. Introduces Zecora, and includes the most popular comedy scene of the early fandom.

10. Swarm of the Century (Mane Six)
* Features MLP versions of the tribbles from Star Trek, called parasprites. They sometimes pop up later.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great comedy, including a Blazing Saddles reference.

11. Winter Wrap Up [SONG] (Twilight Sparkle, Mane Six, Spike)
* Reveals that ponies manually change the season.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] [PINK]Has the biggest song of the early fandom, "Winter Wrap Up", which is the first group song, and is highly recommended to watch on its own. All songs are easily found on YouTube.[/PINK]
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Excitable Twilight is adorable.

[GOLD]12. Call of the Cutie[/GOLD]
Applejack's sister, Apple Bloom, realizes that she is one of the few ponies in her class without a cutie mark (a symbol on her flank) and desperately tries to get one. In the end, she joins two other fillies–Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo–to form the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Unpopular at first, they grew on fans by the end of the season.

13. Fall Weather Friends (Applejack, Rainbow Dash)
* Yes, this is a fall episode right after a winter one.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Establishes Applejack and Rainbow Dash's rivalry in a fun way.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Pinkie plays a small but hilarious role.

[PINK]14. Suited for Success [SONG] (Rarity, Mane Six)[/PINK]
Rarity offers to make Grand Galloping Gala dresses for her friends, but they quickly start making unreasonable demands.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] First Rarity solo song, and it's great.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Before, Rarity had few fans, but this episode offers huge insight into her character, which made her more popular.

15. Feeling Pinkie Keen (Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Spike)
* Introduces Pinkie's ability to predict the near future, Pinkie Sense.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Lots of great slapstick humor.
[RED]-[/RED] Muddled message that many thought was anti-science and pro-religion, though the show crew has clarified that was not their intention.

[PINK]16. Sonic Rainboom (Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Mane Six)[/PINK]
Rainbow Dash enters an athletic competition judged by her idols, the Wonderbolts, but gets overwhelmed by the pressure.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] First big "Rainbow Dash is awesome" moment, with the introduction of her signature move, the Sonic Rainboom.

17. Stare Master [SONG] (Fluttershy, Cutie Mark Crusaders)
* Introduces Fluttershy's hypnotic Stare, reveals that Sweetie Belle is Rarity's sister, and has Sweetie Belle's first song.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fluttershy gets to be awesome at the end.
[RED]-[/RED] The CMC can be annoying.

18. The Show Stoppers [SONG] (Cutie Mark Crusaders)
* Establishes more how cutie marks work.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Funny song, the first one by the CMC.
[RED]-[/RED] The CMC can be annoying.

19. A Dog and Pony Show (Rarity, Spike, Mane Six)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun adventure with good comedy.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Rarity shows that she shouldn't be messed with.

[PINK]20. Green Isn't Your Color (Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie)[/PINK]
Rarity tries to impress a famous fashion photographer, Photo Finish, but becomes jealous when Fluttershy catches her eye instead.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Doesn't go the usual route these jealousy stories take.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great character interactions, and Photo Finish is hilarious.

21. Over a Barrel [SONG] (Mane Six)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] The beginning is fantastic.
[RED]-[/RED] But then it reaches the main story...

22. A Bird in the Hoof (Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Panicky Twilight is great.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Another Benny Hill chase scene.

[GOLD]23. The Cutie Mark Chronicles[/GOLD] [SONG]
The Cutie Mark Crusaders learn about how the Mane Six all gained their cutie marks. Rainbow Dash's story in particular becomes important much later. Has Fluttershy's first real solo song.

24. Owl's Well That Ends Well (Spike, Twilight Sparkle)
* Introduces Twilight's pet owl, Owlowicious.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Establishes Twilight and Spike's relationship well.

[PINK]25. Party of One (Pinkie Pie, Mane Six)[/PINK]
When Pinkie believes her friends are intentionally avoiding her, she goes a bit crazy.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Takes the "forgotten birthday" trope and goes in a hilarious direction with it.

[PINK]26. The Best Night Ever [SONG] (Mane Six)[/PINK]
The Grand Galloping Gala has finally arrived, and everyone is excited, but the night doesn't go as expected.
* Introduces Spitfire and Soarin' of the Wonderbolts.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great song.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] The girls being pushed to the limits of their patience has some interesting results.

==

EDIT: Forgot that Sweetie Belle was revealed to be Rarity's sister in "Stare Master", not "The Show Stoppers".

 

[SigmasonicX]

My art backlog is so big that I decided not to include it all here, and will post the rest in a few days. Actually, didn't I say that last time? Well this time, I'll try to remember to actually post it.

Princess Luna Sees You! by HungrySohma16
Celestia Sees You! by HungrySohma16
Ship Quickies 4 by MomoMistress

Bunch of art from Wilvarin-Liadon.
Princess Twilight Sparkle
Princess Celestia

Princess Luna
Applejack

Rainbow Dash
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza (Cadence)

Fluttershy
Pinkie Pie

Rarity
Princess Flurry Heart (adult)
Sunset Shimmer

Princess Celestia by abc002310
Fluttershy doodle by jboppity
Draw ponies since 2012 :"3 by cloudllama - The blog profile says she's 15, so... gah! She's been drawing since she was 10! She's been a pony fan for at least a third of her life! Art comparison at the link.

Chrysalis Cadance speedpaint by minckies
2017natg4 by Madacon

Blending in by VanillaGhosties

Pinkie Has Joined The Game by InsaneRoboCat
Twilight star by WindyMils
Life after School by Duskie-06

Twilight Sparkle Sees You! by HungrySohma
Magic Forest by MagnaLuna
Against Illusions and Reality by mirroredsea

Twilight Day by Bugplayer
AJ by MoonDreamer16
Twily in the sky! by FidsFox

Twilight day: Cutest Princess by Pucksterv - Twilight's dialogue is in response to the title.
Afternoon walk by Sirzi
Relax_time by RacoonKun

What did I just draw? by flutterthrash - Rarity falls in love with her ice cream.
Bird by Holivi - This is an OC.
come over by aosion - Based on the Jurassic World raptor meme.

Celestia by NutellaAkaNutella
In Love by NCMares - Depicts Twilight's first dictionary.
Learning to Relax

Fluttershy Sees You! by HungrySohma
Need of Direction
Luna by White-Pehilim

school girl by jus+ice
Twilight Day sketch by la-ndy
AJ by acb002310

My Little Horse

Videos
NeverLastStanding - Forever & Always (Lycan Dese Beats) - Original song using small show voice clips.
Czequestria 2017 Promo Animation (Virtual Reality) - Con promo with Tron parody.
Protocat - Hope Shines Eternal (Remix) [Drum & Bass] - Funny how after I said that the Legend of Everfree end credits song was unmemorable, two good remixes come out pretty close to each other.
Protocat - Hope Shines Eternal (iblank2apples Remix) - This seems oddly familiar. At first I thought it was in the new Anthology, but it isn't the ending credits song.
PMV | i (Love Myself) EDIT: New link- This is a good PMV, and it mainly uses show clips without added effects, which is rare nowadays.
Play | PMV - Different sort of song, but it has the same qualities I described above, though there's a lot of repeated footage. The song is by Michelle Creber (Apple Bloom) and Black Gryph0n.

PMV | Sad Machine - BronyCon PMV contest winner! Lots of original effects, and it's pretty neat. Fluttershy focused.
[PMV] Skillet - Feel Invincible - Another winner. More show clip usage than the above, but there are a lot of text effects, and cheesy lightning effects. Also, the first PMV I've seen to use a clip from the movie trailer, so that's something. Rainbow Dash focused.
PMV Chained to the Rhythm [BronyCon PMV Contest - 3rd Place Technical] - Like the title says. The different elements don't come together as well as the above, but it's fun.
(MLP Sings) PinkieDash Song "Lovin' You is so Fun!' PMV Animation - Sugary sweet song with some simple but adorable animation. Magpiepony made this as a surprise to celebrate her engagement with TheLostNarrator, and his response is the pinned comment.

EDIT: Oh hey, Children of Everfree has actually updated a decent bit since I checked it last year. Here's around where I left off. Still not much more, but Twilight and Applejack have appeared. I don't know why these blogs always try to have stories when they know they don't update frequently, though.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Eclipse art!

Eclipse by NCMares
Solar Eclipse by ShutterflyEQD
Moody Eclipse by Darkest-Lunar-Flower

 

[SigmasonicX]

Finally made some more progress in the fanfic The Mare Who Once Lived on the Moon. I last left off at Rarity's introduction chapter. I'm enjoying this story a lot more now that more characters are involved. I enjoyed Rarity and Twilight's interactions; it's a shame this story doesn't actually ship them *shipper sigh*, but I suppose this Rarity version isn't right for her anyway. I like Shining Armor here. Honestly, this is probably the first time I've found him interesting outside of comedy comics >_>. Fluttershy is pretty interesting here too. I didn't expect her of all characters to

Spoiler

become friends with Twilight after a fist fight. Well, hoof fight

. Four chapters left now.

Gummy Sack Race by MustachedBain - Love the Twilight duo's faces.

Sunset Shimmer (Manga Style) by Banzatou
One Sunny Day by Seanica
BonBon by mirroredsea

I'm The Princess Now by VanillaGhosties
Sunset Shimmer by freesia - Oddly, the source is deleted, so linking to Derpibooru.
Fluttershy by freesia

Rain buddies by Drawirm
Kissu by PeachesAndCreamated
TS by Lity - Close to avatar material for me, but the eyes are a bit off.

Never give up. Trust your instincts. by dstears - Demonstrates Twilight's growth. Another few years and she'll remember her wings.
Rainbow Dash Gala Dress by dusty-munji

Heart full of fire by Noctilucent-Arts
My Deer Sister - Just here for the pun.
The Brightness of Faraway Life by mirroredsea

Quiet Place by Sea-Maas
I reach as far as I can see by mirroredsea
Beach Twilight by VanillaGhosties

Velvet Reindeer by Maytee
Glim Glam by SourSpot
Trashie by Miokomata

Simple Glam by Jowbean
Princess of the Forbidden by SorcerusHorserus
Gray Mare by Brok-Enwings

Dawn by TsaoShin
masked matter-horn by lilfunkman
Sunlight by Phyllismi

Cutie Rarity by Haden-2375 - Maybe avatar worthy.
Equestrian Cereals by Tim-Kangaroo
Twilight's Hour of Evil by Evehly - Wow, that is evil!

The Star That Shines Brightest by FoughtDragon01
Archaeologist by Noctilucent-Arts
Defy, Decompose, Develop by Noctilucent-Arts

TwiDash by tcn1205
Colours by InsaneRoboCat
Fluttershy by conbundou

Let Me Just... by Tsitra360
Nakie! by Enma-Darei
Mr. Shy by LongMuzzlePony - I think this is the first solo art of this character I've ever seen. Mrs. Shy is more popular.

Royal Family by GloomyMark
Surprise Slumber Party!!! by lumineko - The pony in bed is an OC.
Run! by 0Bluse
Theory of perpetual motion by TheRavenCriss

Videos
Hey It's Derpy!
Nightmare Virus - Song made using clips from "Luna Eclipsed".
Shelter [PMV] - Ponification of that famous anime-style music video. I was all ready for this to be a sad Immortal Twilight video, but it goes in kind of a weird direction toward the end. Still, I like the first part.

 

[Sciz]

You've been busy lately, Sigma.

I enjoyed Rarity and Twilight's interactions; it's a shame this story doesn't actually ship them *shipper sigh*

That used to be a notable void, until Monochromatic almost singlehandedly filled it herself.

 

[SigmasonicX]

You've been busy lately, Sigma.



That used to be a notable void, until Monochromatic almost singlehandedly filled it herself.

If you mean the art, it's really less effort than it looks. For this generic art, I just go through ED's Drawfriends and bookmark any art I like. It piles up over time, but it's only a few extra seconds. Actually putting the post together is a bit time consuming, yes, but it's just time while I'm watching videos that I otherwise would have just spent looking at GAF threads or something.

As for RariLight, thinking about it, the lack of popularity really comes down to the fact that it's hard to write interesting dialogue between them in normal situations. Applejack and Rarity banter, Twilight and Rainbow argue, Applejack and Rainbow are rivals, everyone gets confused by Pinkie. There just aren't many opportunities in the show for Twilight and Rarity to do anything other than exchange pleasantries or say things directly related to the story. I feel that them dating or flirting opens up cute and/or interesting character dynamics, but the show itself doesn't incentivize making the leap to that.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Here's what Paullo made for the season one guide. If it looks good to you guys, we'll go ahead and do this with the other seasons.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Wouldn't usually post again this soon, but egophiliac has unveiled her grimmest AU yet!

An AU where everyone has freckles... except Applejack!
Never thought she would go this far. I don't know what to think.

EDIT: Swapped with DeviantArt version that ego says she prefers.

 

[DemWalls]

Here's what Paullo made for the season one guide. If it looks good to you guys, we'll go ahead and do this with the other seasons.

👍

Spoiler

Except for that episode that I pretend doesn't exist, but who cares.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

There's a song in Cutie Mark Chronicles? Oh yeah, Fluttershy's song. Back when they did smaller-scale stuff. Miss those days.

 

[SigmasonicX]

There's a song in Cutie Mark Chronicles? Oh yeah, Fluttershy's song. Back when they did smaller-scale stuff. Miss those days.

Well, more Sweetie Belle's song. There are a lot of random small ditties in season one, and it didn't feel right to count those as episodes with songs, so I went with ones where the song felt significant to the episode. The lullaby demonstrates Sweetie Belle's singing, has unique visuals and backing vocals, and is what leads to the chickens escaping.

Do you guys think Pinkie's songs from "The Ticket Master", "Bridle Gossip", "Call of the Cutie", "Party of One", and whatever else should count too? I feel having too many would be misleading.

I don't feel strongly either way about the lack of short songs after season one. Their main purpose seemed to be to give Pinkie memorable moments in Main Six episodes, but that was a byproduct of the "let's have each of the Main Six do something one after the other" story structure of season one. Now, they're much more comfortable giving uneven focus to them in episodes.

Wait, I forgot to note that "Over a Barrel" has a song! And there should probably be a part at the top saying that the musical note means the episode has a notable song. Paullo, can you make that change?

 

[Crisium]

Cute pons.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Cute pons.

"No we're not."

Anyway, noticed a few more mistakes with the season one guide:
* First, as I mentioned before, I should have noted that "Over a Barrel" has a song, and I should have added an explanation for the [SONG] symbol
* The character tags weren't updated in a bunch of places. Particularly, I added Spike to "The Ticket Master", "Boast Busters", and "Winter Wrap Up". And I should have added him to "Feeling Pinkie Keen".
* The notes for "Boast Busters" got mixed up with the previous episode's.
* In "Call of the Cutie", the -- being broken across two lines is ugly, so I should have just used an en dash –.

The season one guide post has been edited to fix the mistakes I made. I made changes to the header, "Call of the Cutie", "Feeling Pinkie Keen", and "Over a Barrel". Corrections to the image have to be made for those episodes, "The Ticket Master", "Boast Busters", and "Winter Wrap Up".

With season two, for now, I'll stick to what we already voted on, but with "Winter Wrap Up" as precedence, the "A Friend in Deed" recommendation can be replaced with just a recommendation for "Smile", since I'm pretty sure that's what everyone voted on that episode for. That would open up another slot, but on the other hand, that also would mean no Pinkie Pie episodes in either season 2 or 3. The only Pinkie episodes that could be recommended in its place from those seasons are "Baby Cakes" and "Too Many Pinkie Pies". To explain why season 3 is included, remember that season 2 has an extra episode recommended because it "took" an episode from season 3. So the options are:
1. Keep season 2 and 3 recommendations as is.
2. Replace "A Friend in Deed" with just a recommendation for "Smile", no other changes, there's one less recommended episode total.
3. (2) and recommend "Baby Cakes".
4. (2) and recommend "Too Many Pinkie Pies".
5. (2) and recommend a non-Pinkie episode.

Anyway, the guide draft. To appease Trigonometrize, "Find a Pet" is listed as a recommended song.

[Season description]
Season two advances the way characters are handled, notably no longer requiring Twilight to be in every episode and thus allowing others to take center stage. The first showrunner, Lauren Faust, left halfway through production of the season, but despite fan fears, this proved not to lead to the show's doom.

[GOLD]01-02. The Return of Harmony[/GOLD]
The heroes must face Discord, an ancient spirit of chaos who seeks to sever their connections to the Elements of Harmony. Discord is played by John de Lancie (Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation), and he proved to be very popular with both fans and the show crew.

[PINK]03. Lesson Zero (Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Mane Six)[/PINK]
Twilight realizes she hasn't learned a friendship lesson this week, and fearing Celestia's reaction, she goes a bit crazy looking for one before time runs out.
* Modifies how the end-of-episode moral is handled.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Crazy Twilight is the best.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] The other characters have very memorable moments too.

[GOLD]04. Luna Eclipsed[/GOLD]
Princess Luna visits Ponyville during Nightmare Night, a Halloween-style celebration of Nightmare Moon's original defeat. Properly introduces Luna, in her "fully powered" form, but it still takes another season for her to appear consistently.

[PINK]05. Sisterhooves Social (Sweetie Belle, Rarity, Applejack, Apple Bloom)[/PINK]
Sweetie Belle wants to attend the Sisterhooves Social with Rarity, but after they fight, she decides that Applejack makes for a better sister.
* First episode where Twilight doesn't appear at all.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Establishes Rarity and Sweetie Belle's relationship with fun and emotional scenes.

06. The Cutie Pox (Apple Bloom, Zecora)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Lots of humor mined from Apple Bloom suddenly gaining cutie marks.

07. May the Best Pet Win! [SONG] (Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy)
* Introduces Rainbow Dash's pet tortoise, Tank.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] [PINK]Rainbow and Fluttershy's song, "Find a Pet", is incredibly adorable and worth watching on its own[/PINK], and there are many other cute moments.
[RED]-[/RED] Rainbow is reckless with animals, which rubs some people the wrong way.

08. The Mysterious Mare Do Well (Rainbow Dash, Main Six)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Has some neat moments.
[RED]-[/RED] No one comes out of this episode looking good.

[PINK]09. Sweet and Elite [SONG] (Rarity)[/PINK]
While visiting Canterlot, Rarity becomes popular among the upper crust and puts off returning to Ponyville.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Demonstrates that Rarity can carry an episode without the rest of the main cast.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Good song, and the ending is full of memorable moments.

[PINK]10. Secret of My Excess (Spike, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity)[/PINK]
After his birthday, Spike's desire for more presents causes his dragon instincts to go out of control.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Explores Spike's relationship to Twilight and Rarity.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun sequences with Greedy Spike, including a King Kong reference.

11. Family Appreciation Day (Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, Diamond Tiara)
* Reveals how Ponyville was founded, and introduces Diamond Tiara's father, Filthy Rich.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great flashback sequence with a young Granny Smith.

12. Baby Cakes (Pinkie Pie)
* Pinkie's landlords, the Cakes, have twins, and the episode demonstrates that pony babies are weird.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Lots of Pinkie humor, and we see her having to be responsible.

13. Hearth's Warming Eve [SONG] (Mane Six)
* Reveals how Equestria was founded, and introduces the Christmas-like holiday Hearth's Warming.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Interesting pony history, and we see the heroes play as other characters.

14. The Last Roundup (Applejack, Main Six)
* First speaking appearance of fan-significant background character Derpy. There's a story with this, but let's not get into it here.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun comedy scenes, including an I Love Lucy reference and a chase scene.

[PINK]15. The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 [SONG] (Apple Family, Flim & Flam)[/PINK]
When the Apple Family starts selling their hoof-made apple cider, brothers Flim and Flam arrive with their own cider-making device, leading to a contest of horse vs. machine.
* Flim and Flam become recurring antagonists for the Apple Family.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Music Man style song and the best episode moral.
[RED]-[/RED] Wait, why are they having this contest?

[PINK]16. Read It and Weep (Rainbow Dash, Daring Do)[/PINK]
Rainbow Dash becomes addicted to a Daring Do book while she is stuck in the hospital, and doesn't want anyone to know.
* Daring Do books pop up often after this point.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Dash's book is a fun Indiana Jones story, and the "real life" parts are great too.

[PINK]17. Hearts and Hooves Day [SONG] (Cutie Mark Crusaders, Cheerilee, Big Macintosh)[/PINK]
After the Cutie Mark Crusaders learn that their teacher, Cheerilee, doesn't have a boyfriend, they take it upon themselves to find the perfect stallion, even if it takes a love potion.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun song and great comedy scenes.

[PINK]18. A Friend in Deed (Pinkie Pie)[/PINK]
Pinkie Pie meets Cranky Doodle Donkey, and is shocked that he doesn't want to be her friend.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] "Smile" is one of the catchiest songs of the show, and worth watching on its own.
[RED]-[/RED] Pinkie really rubs a lot of people the wrong way in this episode.

19. Putting Your Hoof Down (Fluttershy)
* Significant for Fluttershy's development, as a lot of her later moments can be seen as her fine-tuning her aggression here to a level she's comfortable with.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Iron Will is a fun character, and has a Rocky style theme.
[RED]-[/RED] Ponyville suddenly fills up with jerks to make the story work, and everyone's treatment of Iron Will at the end seems unjustified.

[PINK]20. It's About Time (Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Pinkie Pie)[/PINK]
Twilight is visited by her future self, who disappears before she can complete her warning. Thus, Twilight goes a bit crazy.
* Though the episode is standalone, details introduced here go on to be relevant to the seasons 4 and 5 finales.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] More Crazy Twilight! Spike and Pinkie have fun scenes too.

21. Dragon Quest (Spike, Twilight Sparkle)
* Introduces dragon society and Spike's pet phoenix... who never returns, outside of a background photo next season showing Spike returning it to its parents.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Starts out with interesting and emotional scenes...
[RED]-[/RED] ... But it drops the ball on dragon society so hard that it takes until season six for them to revisit it.

22. Hurricane Fluttershy (Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash)
All of Ponyville's pegasi have to work together to accomplish a task, but Fluttershy feels she'll just hold them back.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] 80's style training montage.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fluttershy is adorable, and Rainbow demonstrates her character development through interactions with her.

23. Ponyville Confidential (Cutie Mark Crusaders, Diamond Tiara, Rarity)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Features fun gossip about the characters, including a great reaction from Rarity.

24. MMMystery on the Friendship Express (Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Funny imagination scenes and an entertaining mystery.

[GOLD]25-26. A Canterlot Wedding [SONG][/GOLD]
Twilight's brother (just introduced), Shining Armor, is getting married to Princess Cadance (just introduced), but Twilight finds the situation too suspicious to celebrate. The early fandom was dreading this episode, but it turned out to be a sensation. Introduces a recurring antagonist and contains a Disney-style villain song.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Just finished The Mare Who Once Lived on the Moon. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I found the middle part much better than the start or end. That's a huge chunk of the story, mind.

Spoiler

A major weakness of the story is that I found all the stuff with Twilight assembling her friends and them learning to get along far more interesting than Twilight's relationship with Luna and all the stuff with Evil Celestia.

Like I mentioned before, the leap from Twilight being interested in Luna to wanting to jump her was pretty sudden. Them communicating through poetry was sweet, but after they met in person, Twilight and Luna simply didn't spend enough time together before it jumped to them getting engaged. Even the final chapter didn't actually place much focus on their relationship. Early on, Rarity brought up that Twilight could just be feeling this strongly about Luna because she's never been in love before, and demonstrated this by easily seducing her. That never got addressed again. On the ship in general, I actually do like TwiLuna, and I think it makes a lot of sense; if they were to make a lesbian Twilight ship canon, this probably would be the easiest one to do. Plus, it doesn't have the glaring weakness of TwiLestia, where Celestia knew her as a child and was a parent figure.

Celestia as a villain didn't work too well. Yes, she was menacing, but she was presented as someone who would arbitrarily kill Twilight if she annoyed her, and there was nothing actually stopping her other than Good Celestia conveniently breaking through. Since Celestia was suspicious of Twilight ever since she confronted her with Rarity, it didn't make sense that she allowed Twilight to do so much, and then later conveniently left her friends alone after arresting Twilight. Besides Good Celestia making things convenient, I mean. It would have been better if Celestia wasn't so overtly cruel, like she seemed to be before the aforementioned confrontation, but still put Twilight under house arrest and then full arrest, minus the threats to her family. Then those actions would make sense.

The way the Elements of Harmony were handled was... bizarre. I'm not really sure what it was in the end. Just some device Twilight put together after hearing about it from Luna? Made from spare parts in the ship? And it's just a magic amplifier that has to be charged up with lightning? You can't just bring in the Elements of Harmony and not have it involve a group of friends coming together. At least give Twilight an internal monologue about how the device couldn't have been created without the efforts of each of her friends.

By the end, I thought the other girls were presented pretty well. My favorite parts were those that involved everyone hanging out together and being friends, notably that bit where everyone got drunk together. After all the stuff with Rarity and Applejack, I'm pretty surprised the story didn't go for that ship, instead appearing to pair off Rainbow and Pinkie, which I didn't see coming.

Of Twilight's friends, the one handled worst was Fluttershy. I thought her initial characterization was interesting, but after befriending Twilight, it seemed like the author just didn't know what to do with her. Unlike the others, she didn't form any close friendship with anyone. Maybe Rarity, since they share scenes together? But those moments felt more like Rarity talking and Fluttershy being used just to have someone respond to her. And by the last chapter, she's acts like the shy Fluttershy from the show, even though there was no indication in the story beforehand that she was actually shy--the opposite, in fact.

On the subject of Fluttershy, the orphans she took care of were handled oddly. It was just weird to make a big deal out of how they shouldn't be used as labor, due to all of the injuries they've gotten... but oh, it's fine to work on Twilight's experiments, and it's even encouraged! I wasn't a huge fan of the focus they got, but they were alright. I'm pretty sure the story lost track of a couple of them, though, like the violin playing girl, Viola.

And I just realized: the author completely forgot Spike was part of the story. He doesn't even appear in the final chapter! In fact, when was the last time he was mentioned? ...Third to last chapter, helping prepare some food. He isn't mentioned during the launch or when everyone is captured, or at any point after that.

On a smaller note, there's a moment toward the middle where it's revealed that Twilight's laser injured Flash Sentry accidentally, and it's treated as a joke. Then it's revealed he died. But it's just mentioned in passing, Twilight brushes it off, and it's never touched on again. Why do that?

The story made it obvious what the author is interested in (and his name, MrNumbers), and like I mentioned before, the science stuff was all pretty interesting. Having space actually be filled with aether, that can be converted into a huge source of magic, and using that to influence the spacecraft's design was pretty inspired. However, all this detail in certain areas made it more obvious where it was lacking. For one thing, they break open a hole in the wall to make an entrance to the sewer, and they happily just take that route to Fluttershy's home and back. There are really no issues with that? And how did they handle poop on the ship?

Overall, I did think the fic was good, and it was quite engaging. I enjoyed the world building and character interactions, and would have liked more of that instead of the actual main story. But despite my complaints, the main story isn't bad at all, just not as good. I'll probably check out this author's other stuff later.

EDIT: Whoops, forgot to talk about Twilight herself.

Spoiler

I liked her portrayal here, other than her being so dismissive about killing Flash Sentry. She had great interactions with everyone, and like I mentioned, I liked her gathering everyone.

Stargazing by thediscorded
Purple Stars by K1emm
The Day When Fall Comes by LUciferAmon

Collab-Sporkle by SourSpot
Sweets by VanillaGhosties
Space Police by VanillaGhosties

Big Sick Baby by MomoMistress
AJ by acb002310
First Place by VanillaGhosties

Become a pony by Ta-Na
Inside the Hive by Drawirm
Rarity by ServerChan

Hanenone by mirroredsea
limestonepie by mirroredsea
Dreamland of Cake by Shogundun

Drifting Through The Weightless Forest by mirroredsea
To read by Atlass-66

Comic - Solar Eclipse by GlitterStar2000

Collection of BronyCon 2017 PMV Contest Winners, and my favorites are below.
小幸运 (PMV) - Simple PMV that goes through the season bookends and some other episodes with sentimental music, but sometimes that's all you need.
[PMV Final] - Dear My Friends - Another sentimental one, this time using a Sonic song. As an added bit of significance, the PMV maker claims that this is their last PMV.

 

[Sciz]

Just finished The Mare Who Once Lived on the Moon. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I found the middle part much better than the start or end. That's a huge chunk of the story, mind.

*snip*

Spoiler

At least some of this (Luna, the Elements, the ending) is addressed in a comment from the author. In general, he's a better hand with comedy than with drama, and the usual troubles of writing a story serially over the course of years compound that.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Spoiler

At least some of this (Luna, the Elements, the ending) is addressed in a comment from the author. In general, he's a better hand with comedy than with drama, and the usual troubles of writing a story serially over the course of years compound that.

I don't think that link leads where you wanted.

 

[Sciz]

I don't think that link leads where you wanted.

It did, but I also did forget that I could do a direct comment link.

 

[SigmasonicX]

It did, but I also did forget that I could do a direct comment link.

The original link went to a page of comments from 2015, and didn't have what you now link to. Maybe you have the order of comments set to newest first; I don't have an account there, so it's the default oldest first.

Anyway, interesting to see that

Spoiler

he did originally plan for Twilight and Luna to discover they weren't right for each other, with an explicit parallel to Pinkie's relationship with Spark, but as the story went on, he had them communicate too often and too in-depth for it to make sense anymore. I recall that one of the few things I heard about this story, before it ended, was precisely that Twilight and Luna didn't end up together; that was possibly based on the author's old comment.

 

[Sciz]

Maybe you have the order of comments set to newest first; I don't have an account there, so it's the default oldest first.

Oh, no wonder. I'd long since forgotten you even could sort by anything other than newest first. ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

Worth making an account, in any case. Loads of useful tracking features available across the board.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Oh, no wonder. I'd long since forgotten you even could sort by anything other than newest first. ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

Worth making an account, in any case. Loads of useful tracking features available across the board.

At the start, I was only reading one story, and then only stories from that writer, so I didn't feel the need to actually make an account. But now that I'm officially reading random MLP fanfics, I'm really just hurting myself by going account-free, so I suppose I should.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Two more guide sections: a new page describing Equestria Girls (same format as the intro) and season 3.

WHAT IS EQUESTRIA GIRLS?
[Images, in a similar pattern to the Introduction page]
[IMAGE=[URL="http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Twilight_holding_Spike_close_EG.png"]http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Twilight_holding_Spike_close_EG.png[/URL]]
[IMAGE=[URL="http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Better_Than_Ever_group_shot_EG2.png"]http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Better_Than_Ever_group_shot_EG2.png[/URL]]
[IMAGE=[URL="http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Fileerpy_consoles_an_embarrassed_Flash_EG3.png"]http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Fileerpy_consoles_an_embarrassed_Flash_EG3.png[/URL]]
[IMAGE=[URL="http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Sunset_Shimmer_teasing_Twilight_Sparkle_again_EG4.png"]http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Sunset_Shimmer_teasing_Twilight_Sparkle_again_EG4.png[/URL]]
Equestria Girls is a series of movies, TV specials, and online shorts based around an alternate universe where the ponies are all multicolored humans attending high school. Not exactly the most inspiring premise, but like the show itself, it was better than anyone could have expected. Still, it's definitely up to the individual whether it's as good as the show or not. The show itself never acknowledges this spinoff, so feel free to skip all of it if you wish.

The movies all generally follow the premise of the students of Canterlot High getting ready to attend some school event, such as a dance or camping trip, only for a magical threat to cause trouble, and then things go Sailor Moon, complete with transformations. The TV specials and shorts focus more on slice of life stories.

The biggest appeal of Equestria Girls lies not with the main characters of the show, who generally don't get a chance to shine, but rather Sunset Shimmer, the villain of the first movie who turns good and becomes one of the main heroes. Besides that, it has the same writers as the show, so people just enjoy seeing more of the ponies interacting, even if they are humans. It also has the same people handling the music, so there are some great songs, which tend to go more for a pop-style than the show.

Equestria Girls is much heavier on continuity than the show, such that it's not recommended to skip any of them to watch a later one. That said, some are generally considered better than others, notably the second movie, Rainbow Rocks. The first three movies each take place after the finales of seasons 3, 4, and 5 respectively, and directly reference events from them, but it drifts further from the show after that point.

The movies and TV specials will be mixed in with the season guides, but the online shorts will be listed separately. Again, feel free to skip them all if you wish, since the show never acknowledges them.

==

Season three guide. For now, no changes to the recommendations.

[Season description]
Development of season three was tumultuous. Cartoons like this tend to go for 65 episodes then end, and it seems like the answer to whether the show was ending here changed constantly. The most notable effects of this are the shorter episode count and a season finale that acts like a series finale, but is only allowed to be one episode with barely anything leading up to it. Though generally considered the weakest season of the show, there is still a lot worth watching.

[GOLD]01-02. The Crystal Empire [SONG][/GOLD]
When the Crystal Empire returns after 1000 years, Twilight is tasked with protecting it from King Sombra with her friends, but to move on to her next level of study, she's told to stop him herself. The Crystal Empire becomes a recurring location, though they do little to explore its potentially interesting aspects.

03. Too Many Pinkie Pies (Pinkie Pie, Main Six)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Lots of great gags.
[RED]-[/RED] For some, it's right in the title. Also, I guess Twilight is a mass murderer now or something.

04. One Bad Apple [SONG] (Cutie Mark Crusaders, Diamond Tiara)
* Introduces Apple Bloom's cousin, Babs Seed, who the CMC befriend by the end.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] [PINK]The song "Babs Seed" is a lot of fun, and worth watching on its own.[/PINK]

[PINK]05. Magic Duel (Twilight Sparkle, Trixie, Zecora)[/PINK]
Trixie (season 1's "Boast Busters") returns with a magical amulet, and wanting revenge for being shamed, challenges Twilight to a Sword in the Stone style magic duel.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] The magic duels are neat, and there are good gags.

[PINK]06. Sleepless in Ponyville (Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, Luna)[/PINK]
In order to impress Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo hides that she's scared by her ghost stories during a camping trip, only to start getting nightmares.
* Marks a major shift in Scootaloo and Rainbow's relationship, and finally gives Luna something to do, as the guardian of dreams.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Adorable Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash interactions, and Luna returns.

07. Wonderbolts Academy (Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolts)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Wonderbolts training is pretty fun.
[RED]-[/RED] Why does Rainbow want to join the Wonderbolts, again?

08. Just for Sidekicks (Spike, Pets, Cutie Mark Crusaders)
* Occurs simultaneously with "Games Ponies Play".
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun interactions between Spike and the pets.

09. Apple Family Reunion [SONG] (Applejack, Apple Family)
[RED]-[/RED] Doesn't stand out much.

10. Spike At Your Service (Spike, Applejack)
[RED]-[/RED] Spike at his most incompetent.

[GOLD]11. Keep Calm and Flutter On[/GOLD]
Fluttershy is tasked with reforming Discord, which not even her friends believe she can do. Discord becomes a recurring character after this. The ending is rushed, but his reformation is revisited in season 4.

12. Games Ponies Play (Mane Six, Cadance)
* Occurs simultaneously with "Just for Sidekicks". Introduces Ms. Harshwinny, official games inspector for the Equestria Games.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Nice to see Cadance and Shining Armor in a slice of life story, and there are some fun moments.

[GOLD]13. Magical Mystery Cure [SONG][/GOLD]
Twilight discovers that her friends' cutie marks–and destinies–have been switched by a mistake she made. This full-musical episode rushes through story developments clearly intended for a series finale, which it was for a time, but it's filled with great songs, including Celestia's first. The ending is explored more in season 4.

Movie - Equestria Girls [SONG]
After the events of "Magical Mystery Cure", Twilight's Element of Magic is stolen by a thief, Sunset Shimmer. She follows her through a portal to another dimension, where she transforms into a human, and must explore a high school filled with oddly familiar people.
* Nothing Equestria Girls is acknowledged by the show, and all of it can safely be skipped.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] [PINK]"Helping Twilight Sparkle Win the Crown" is a very catchy song, and worth watching on its own.[/PINK]
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Twilight figuring out being human is hilarious, she has good scenes with other characters, and there are a ton of fun callbacks to the first season.
[RED]-[/RED] Sunset is a seriously terrible villain, and the actual story is very contrived.
[RED]-[/RED] They force a romance between Twilight and a human teen, Flash Sentry, though they have the bare minimum of scenes together.

 

[SigmasonicX]

So no feedback about what I wrote for the guides so far? Alright then. Season 4 is coming later this long weekend (US).

In the fanfic realm, I read "Playing With Fire" today, after it was showcased on ED earlier. It has the unusual ship of Rarity and Spitfire, and I thought it was fun to see them flirt in the first two (of four) chapters, but it became less interesting after that. Note that the last chapter gets pretty steamy, though it's still technically just PG-13. I thought the dialogue was written well, so I decided to look at the author's other stories, and hey, wouldn't you know it, there's a RariLight story! And it's adorable! 100% fluff, but it's fluff I enjoyed. It seems like this author exclusively writes romance stories, focusing on TwiDash, which I like too, so I'll read more. Later. I'm not making my long weekend about reading ship fics.

FS by haidiannotes
Can We Fix It? by DocWario
GO! by Marenlicious

Pie Sisters in Summer by kaikoinu
Rarirunrc02 by Plotcore - My headcanon is that Rarity is pretty athletic herself, though not to the level of Applejack and Rainbow, of course.
The Collapse by Katakiuchi4U

fluttercrash by MagnaLuna
Sheeping by thediscorded
Fluttershy by YorozPony

Applejack Profile by Wooxx
It is done. I have read all the books. I know all the things. by dstears
Trixie by osawari_64

Going out for a date by la-ndy
Rainbow and Scootaloo by dawnf1re
Alicorn Rarity by IncendiaryBoobs

View by Miokomata
Fluttersweet by EmbersLament
Jacob by SilFoe

For 6 Seconds, You Don't Blink by mirroredsea - mirroredsea has some seriously weird titles.
Rara blep by FluffyXai
Achieving the Dream by VanillaGhosties - This is Coloratura.

Rarity by GraceBL
Singing in the rain by mauroz - You know, I haven't checked his comic in a while. Maybe later.
My Evil Sister by Rodrigues404

Sun Princess by AnticularPony
The Journey by Phyllismi - It's always a pleasant surprise when comic stuff other than Nightmare Rarity is referenced.
Sunset Shimmer by abc002310

Sunburst by da-Exile
Big Moon by MagnaLuna
Luna by mirroredsea

Diplomacy Ya' Later! by DocWario
Rarity by ChaosAngelDesu
Dobre pomaranczowe by Segraece - This is Luna.

Sugar Belle by Tortya
Applejack by mirroredsea
The Brightest Star by MomoMistress

Caeleste by Crystalleye
A Warm Night at Twilight's by DraconidsMXZ

Comic - Fabulizer by MustachedBain - Comedy comic where Rarity shows her appreciation for a prank.
Video - Crossing Field [SFM] - Pony Art Online - An alright ponification of the first Sword Art Online OP, but what I found interesting was the implication that the real world versions of the characters are the Equestria Girls designs, while ponies are their in-game avatars. I'd say that would make for an interesting fanfic, but I have to imagine someone already did a story like that.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

https://gracebl.deviantart.com/art/Rarity-701520752

 

[Trigonometrize.]

Has anyone read the Daring Do books? I purchased all three physically and they just shipped so I'm hoping for some good news on their quality.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Has anyone read the Daring Do books? I purchased all three physically and they just shipped so I'm hoping for some good news on their quality.

I hear they're good. They have the same writer as the other MLP pony chapter books, G.M. Berrow, who also wrote "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows", "Dance Magic", "Fluttershy Leans In", and "Daring Done". Granted, that last one might raise a red flag, judging from the untagged parts of posts in the OT.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Season 4 guide. This one is a bit rougher than the others, and I could use some feedback. Particularly, my notes on why you'd like a particular episode are pretty vague at points.

[Header]
With the series continuing, the crew was left with the difficult task of keeping Twilight a princess without fundamentally changing her character. The first few episodes assured fans that she was the same pony they grew attached to, but then they barely did anything with her for a while. Thankfully, by the end of the season, they got the hang of writing her again. This season experiments with an overall storyline, with the ponies unknowingly collecting items in standalone episodes that would unlock a mysterious chest introduced in the opening two-parter.

[GOLD]01-02. Princess Twilight Sparkle[/GOLD]
When the Everfree Forest goes out of control, the Mane Six once again must journey into it, but things aren't the same now that Twilight is a princess. Establishes how good Discord acts and begins a season long storyline. It's recommended that you watch at least one of episodes 8, 10, 11, 16, or 21 of this season even if you're sticking to these boxed episodes.

[PINK]03. Castle Mane-ia (Mane Six)[/PINK]
The girls all separately find themselves at the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, unknowingly scaring each other.
* Modifies how the end-of-episode moral is handled.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Back-to-basics story with good character interactions.

04. Daring Don't (Rainbow Dash, Daring Do, Mane Six)
* Reveals that Daring Do is real.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun adventure scenes.
[RED]-[/RED] Major parts of the premise don't make sense.

[PINK]05. Flight to the Finish [SONG] (Scootaloo, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Rainbow Dash, Diamond Tiara)[/PINK]
After taunting from Diamond Tiara, Scootaloo becomes ashamed the fact that she can't fly at her age.
* Continues the Equestria Games storyline started by season 3's "Games Ponies Play", but it isn't necessary for this episode.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Emotional scenes between Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash.

06. Power Ponies (Spike, Mane Six)
* Gives superhero identities to the Mane Six, which sometimes appear later.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Neat to see the characters as superheroes, and much better than season 2's "The Mysterious Mare Do Well".

07. Bats! [SONG] (Fluttershy, Applejack, Mane Six)
* Fluttershy turns into a vampire, which is occasionally referenced later.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Danny Elfman style song, amusing scenes, and Vampire Fluttershy.
[RED]-[/RED] Introduces an interesting conflict between Fluttershy and Applejack, and resolves it off screen.

[PINK]08. Rarity Takes Manehattan [SONG] (Rarity, Coco Pommel, Mane Six)[/PINK]
Rarity helps one of her rivals in a fashion competition, only for her to turn around and plagiarize her designs, making Rarity question her generosity.
* Rarity finds her key to the locked chest here. Introduces Coco Pommel, a then one-off character who surprised everyone with her popularity.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great showcase of Rarity's skills, and a generally pleasant episode.

[PINK]09. Pinkie Apple Pie [SONG] (Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Apple Family)[/PINK]
Pinkie discovers ambivalent evidence that she's distantly related to the Apple Family, and to find concrete proof, they go on a road trip to talk to the Apple Family's historian, Goldie Delicious. Hijinks ensue.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great song and good comedy.

10. Rainbow Falls (Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolts, Mane Six)
* Rainbow finds her key to the locked chest here. Continues the Equestria Games storyline. Prominently features background characters Bulk Biceps and Derpy.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Some cute scenes.
[RED]-[/RED] Why does Rainbow want to join the Wonderbolts, again?

[PINK]11. Pinkie Pride [SONG] (Pinkie Pie)[/PINK]
In this full-musical episode, a new "super duper party pony" arrives: Cheese Sandwich. When he sweeps the town off its feet, Pinkie questions if she's really meant to plan parties. Cheese is played by comedy singer Weird Al.
* Pinkie finds her key to the locked chest here.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Tons of fun musical numbers, including Cheese doing a brief polka cover of a season 2 song.

12. Three's a Crowd [SONG] (Twilight Sparkle, Discord, Cadance)
* Has Discord's first song.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great comedy with Discord being a jerk, and it's nice to see Cadance spend time with Twilight.

13. Simple Ways (Rarity, Applejack)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fantastic voice work for Rarity.
[RED]-[/RED] Rarity acts unusually immature about her crush.

[PINK]14. Filli Vanilli [SONG] (Fluttershy, Rarity)[/PINK]
When a member of Rarity's a cappella group, the Pony Tones, loses his voice, Fluttershy steps up to replace him–provided that she can hide behind the curtain and dub over him while he lip-synchs.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great singing, and even among Fluttershy episodes, this is an incredibly charming and adorable story.
[RED]-[/RED] Pinkie really rubs people the wrong way here.

[PINK]15. Twilight Time (Cutie Mark Crusaders, Twilight Sparkle, Diamond Tiara)[/PINK]
The Cutie Mark Crusaders realize that Twilight is a lot more popular now that she's a princess, and take advantage of their friendship to become cool with the other kids.
* Reveals that Twilight is teaching the CMC different skills.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Twilight as a teacher is nice, and there are other good moments, including Twilight eating a hayburger like a slob.

16. It Ain't Easy Being Breezies (Fluttershy, Mane Six)
* Fluttershy finds her key to the locked chest here.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] The rude Breezy leader, Seabreeze, is funny, and there are cute moments.
[RED]-[/RED] The conflict is resolved early, resulting in clear padding at the end.

17. Somepony to Watch Over Me (Apple Bloom, Applejack)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] There's a neat action scene at the end, and overprotective Applejack is hilarious.
[RED]-[/RED] Or she's incredibly obnoxious, depending on the person.

18. Trade Ya! (Mane Six)
* Has a cameo from a Make a Wish Foundation recipient: the pony with the leg harness.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great character interactions in a fun setting.
[RED]-[/RED] The climax raises all sorts of questions.

[PINK]19. Maud Pie (Pinkie Pie, Mane Six)[/PINK]
Pinkie is excited to introduce one of her sisters, Maud, to her friends, but they have a hard time getting along with her due to her deadpan nature.
* Maud isn't one of the sisters seen in season 1's "Cutie Mark Chronicles", but they do appear later.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Maud is a very charming character, and was an instant hit with fans.

[PINK]20. For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils (Sweetie Belle, Rarity, Luna, Cutie Mark Crusaders)[/PINK]
After a fight between them, Sweetie Belle sabotages a dress that Rarity made for an important client, and she starts having nightmares.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Neat dream sequences, and a good exploration of Sweetie Belle and Rarity's relationship.

21. Leap of Faith [SONG] (Applejack, Granny Smith, Flim & Flam)
* Applejack finds her key to the locked chest here.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Good Flim Flam Brothers song.

[PINK]22. Testing Testing 1, 2, 3 [SONG] (Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Mane Six)[/PINK]
Only one thing stands in the way of Rainbow Dash's goal of joining the Wonderbolts Reserves: the written exam. She is forced to turn to Twilight for help with studying.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fantastic interactions between teacher Twilight and bored student Rainbow.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Pinkie raps in a song parodying 90's educational videos.
[RED]-[/RED] Pinkie raps.

23. Inspiration Manifestation (Spike, Rarity)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Rarity's magic going out of control makes for good scenes.

24. Equestria Games (Spike, Twilight Sparkle)
* Ends the Equestria Games storyline. Reveals that the crystal ponies consider Spike a hero. Technically has Spike's first long song.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Some good comedy, and the parts of the Games we see are neat.
[RED]-[/RED] There's barely any focus on the Games. There is some cringe humor (based on characters embarrassing themselves), notably with Spike's song; listing as a negative because many on PonyGAF innately hate cringe humor.

[GOLD]25-26. Twilight's Kingdom[/GOLD]
Twilight feels that she hasn't lived up to her title as princess. Meanwhile, Discord is sent to track down the evil Tirek. This will decide the fates of both Twilight and Discord, and solve the mystery of the locked chest. Features a great song sung by all four princesses. Tirek is an update to the villain of the original 80's My Little Pony TV special.

Movie - Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks [SONG]
After the events of "Twilight's Kingdom", three sirens from Equestria enter Canterlot High's Battle of the Bands, and while the "Humane Five" are able to bring in pony Twilight for help, it may be up to the reformed Sunset Shimmer to save the day.
* Make sure to watch the after-credits scene!
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Has the biggest soundtrack of anything MLP. [PINK]The villain songs are great, and are recommend to watch on their own: "Battle", "Under Our Spell", and "Welcome to the Show". That last one is also the hypest climax of the entire MLP franchise.[/PINK]
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] People really liked Sunset's redemption.
[RED]-[/RED] But it comes at the expense of every other hero, who is unhelpful at best. Though less so than the other movies, the story is still pretty contrived.
[RED]-[/RED] Still tries to make Flash Sentry and Twilight a thing. Thankfully, they stop after this.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Season 2 guide by Paullo. Give feedback if you can.

 

[SigmasonicX]

After years of development, Legends of Equestria is live! By one definition, since the servers are down right now due to the load.

Throne of the Elements by Shamanguli
Cieri by Crystalleye
Cupcake Eating

Princes Celestia by Clefficia
Sunset Shimmer by GrayPillow
Proud Parents by Chub-Wub - Magical lesbian spawn of Fluttershy and Rainbow.

Snowfall Frost Facing the Frozen Future - Physical sculpture.
Woona by krowzivitch
Twigon by VIIStar - Twilight as a dragon.

by Noctilucent-Arts
AJ by mirroredsea
Spoiler! by freeedon

Crazy Mentor by qzygugu - Discord is looking at Twilight.
The Great and Horny Trixie by Imalou - I don't get it, but the art is funny.
Um, hi Shiny. I know you're at work but... by NCMares

Tea Party-Animals by Drknz13
Earthpony Twi by INowISeel
Is the moon in front or inside the tail? by CutePencilCase

My past is not today by griffsnuff - Old art that got posted by ED recently for some reason.
Sound by griffsnuff - Same as above.
Has Fashion Gone Too Far? by JAEneth - Rarity as Ragyo from Kill la Kill.

Master of the sun by Yakolev-vad
Hello Spider! by ViviWoon
0908 by yukandasama

Couples by Phyllismi

The Perfect Touch by LifesHarbinger
Sweater Pals by Little-Tweenframes
R by mirroredsea

Curious Mane 6 by mysticalpha - They're looking at human gloves.
Dream Duet by Mundschenk85
Twilight Sparkle by yuyusunshine

Unholy Warcry by Shamanguli
Buckball Star by VanillaGhosties
Sweet Apple by thediscorded - You know, I feel like I don't actually see inter-CMC ships that often.

i love this ship so much help me by WanderingPegasus - Oh hey, SunLight3 art. Though it looks like this artist makes a lot of it from the DeviantArt side panel.
Celestia (open collab) by PrettyShineGP

Comic
Friendship is Dragons #955 - As a reminder, this comic adapts FiM as though it was a series of roleplaying game sessions. It's in the middle of adapting "The Best Night Ever", and I wanted to post this because I read the third panel in Fluttershy's voice, and it's seriously adorable how appreciative she is of the GM choosing those animals. Second to last panel, too.

Videos
Otter Pop meme ft. Fluttershy by Firefox5013 - I don't know this meme, but it's decently cute.
[MLP FiM x Sonic Mania] Studiopolis Act 2 (Pony Prime Time Remix) by KingSpartaX37
Austraeoh by Argodaemon - Opening for a 2012 fanfic. Oh, and it has sequels... lots of sequels... and the latest one is still ongoing and has been frequently updating recently. That's a lot of text.
Picture This - This was part of the new Anthology, but it's so well done that I felt the need to showcase it on its own. After seeing it in the best videos of August video.
Bronies Stamp on the Ground by Lightning Bliss - Cute animation with the OCs of various prominent bronies.
Friendship is Musical | Season 5 (First Half) - Nice to have this back.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Fanfic roundup.

First of all, thanks to my new FimFiction account alerting me, I found out that the sequel to "The Enchanted Library", "The Enchanted Kingdom", has started, though as of this writing, it's only two chapters in.

Spoiler

The framing story being Rarity having run away fills me with some dread, but at least from the dialogue, she and Twilight are still on good terms. Biggest disappointment from Twilight and Rarity's interactions is that, given that Twilight has exclusively worn a dress for the past thousand years, we didn't get an, "Oh no, I'm naked :O" from Twilight. Or come to think of it, an, "Oh my, she's naked " from Rarity. Besides that, their interactions are still great. Or wait, was Twilight wearing a dress? *checks last chapter of "The Enchanted Library"* Nope. Hmm, not sure why I thought she was.

There's also a new sidestory chapter, filled with very short stories taking place all throughout the main fic, including after the end. There was one thing I was disappointed wasn't in the first chapter of "The Enchanted Kingdom", and wouldn't you know it, the last vignette has it.

"Winter Wisdom" is a pretty nice story about Cranky of all characters, where he becomes introspective while walking during a winter day. The thing with him thinking Tank was a dead pony friend of Rainbow's was forced, but otherwise, it's pretty good.

"The Destiny Trap" is a neat one-off adventure story with Trixie and Starlight, that goes in some interesting directions. There are parts that seem like they could have come straight from the show, for better or worse.

==

Season 5 guide draft.

Note that I swapped out "Party Pooped" for "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?", as we decided earlier.

EDIT: Changed "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" image, since it didn't seem right not to have Diamond Tiara when the description mentioned her.

[Header]
Season 5 had subtle but significant shifts in how it told its stories. Notably, it fully abandons friendship reports to demonstrate the morals and is heavier on callbacks, particularly in the 100th episode. With Twilight having settled into her role as Princess of Friendship, this comes up more in episodes not specifically about it, and her friends now start making more headway toward their own goals. The season also introduces map episodes, where particular characters are summoned by a map in Twilight's castle to solve an unknown friendship problem.

[GOLD]01-02. The Cutie Map [SONG][/GOLD]
A mysterious map in Twilight's castle activates, leading the heroes to a strange town where everyone has the same cutie mark: an equal sign. This is the first two-parter to not focus on Twilight significantly more than the other main characters. The map sends the heroes on missions periodically from now on.

03. Castle Sweet Castle [SONG] (Twilight Sparkle, Mane Six, Spike)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Sleepy Twilight is great, the ending is sweet, and there's some good comedy.

[PINK]04. Bloom & Gloom (Apple Bloom, Apple Family, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Luna)[/PINK]
After Apple Bloom learns that her cousin, Babs (season 3's "One Bad Apple"), has gotten her cutie mark, she once again becomes anxious about getting her own. One day, she finally wakes up with a cutie mark, but it's one she doesn't want.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun story with many imaginative moments and a nice ending.

05. Tanks for the Memories [SONG] (Rainbow Dash)
* Though Rainbow's pet tortoise, Tank, goes into hibernation, he shows up awake later without comment.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Emotional episode, especially when you consider that Tank's hibernation is meant to be an analogy for death. [PINK]"I'll Fly" is Rainbow Dash's first solo song, and is worth watching on its own.[/PINK]

06. Appleoosa's Most Wanted (Cutie Mark Crusaders, Applejack)
* Introduces the idea that some ponies don't understand their cutie marks, which is important for later CMC episodes.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Some fun slapstick.

[PINK]07. Make New Friends but Keep Discord (Discord, Fluttershy)[/PINK]
The Grand Galloping Gala has arrived again, and Discord is aghast when Fluttershy invites someone else as her plus one. To show that he isn't jealous, he invites a slime monster called the Smooze. The Smooze is an update to the villain of the 80's My Little Pony: The Movie.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Hilarious episode with great character interactions. And Celestia actually wears a dress to the Gala this time!

[PINK]08. The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone (Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie)[/PINK]
The Map sends Rainbow and Pinkie to the griffon city of Griffonstone, where they encounter Gilda (season 1's "Griffon the Brush Off") and a town in squalor.
* Map episode for Rainbow and Pinkie.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Interesting interactions between Gilda and the ponies, fun griffon characters, and a minor but great role for Twilight.

[PINK]09. Slice of Life (Background Characters)[/PINK]
While the heroes fend off a monster, the town prepares for the wedding of Cranky and Matilda (season 2's "A Friend in Deed"). This is the 100th episode, and it chooses to celebrate the various background and side characters that have appeared throughout the show.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Even if you haven't paid too much attention to them, the episode is still an enjoyable watch. And if you are familiar with them, it's amazing seeing fan-popular ponies get focus in the actual show.

10. Princess Spike (Spike, Twilight Sparkle, Cadance)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] More Sleepy Twilight.
[RED]-[/RED] Spike being dumb, and there's some bad writing with the climax.

11. Party Pooped (Pinkie Pie, Rutherford, Mane Six)
* Introduces the yaks of Yakyakistan, and their prince, Rutherford.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Slapstick with angry yaks, great comedy with Pinkie, Twilight having to be diplomatic and revealing her scariest food, and Pinkie having to be responsible.

[PINK]12. Amending Fences (Twilight Sparkle, Spike)[/PINK]
Twilight decides to meet up with her old classmates from Magic School after realizing how bad a friend she used to be. The reunion goes well, until she discovers that one of them, Moondancer, became a shut-in. After "Slice of Life", this was an unexpected second showcase of background characters.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fantastic look at Twilight's character, with great comedy and a nostalgic feeling. Many like this much more than "Slice of Life".

[PINK]13. Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? (Luna, Mane Six)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Tantabus_about_to_escape_the_dream_world_S5E13.png]
Luna's nightmare, the Tantabus, escapes into the dreams of other ponies. She and the Mane Six must track it down before it becomes powerful enough to break into the real world.
* Thus far, the only time the Mane Six's "Rainbow Power" forms have appeared since the season 4 finale.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun dream sequences, particularly at the end, and some surprisingly dark moments.

[PINK]14. Canterlot Boutique [SONG] (Rarity)[/PINK]
Rarity fulfills her dream of opening a shop in Canterlot, but finding success there may require giving up on what she enjoys about dressmaking.
* The Canterlot Boutique becomes a recurring location.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Spiritual sequel to season 1's "Suited For Success", complete with a similar song. Like it, this is a great look at Rarity's character.

15. Scare Master (Fluttershy, Mane Six)
* Believe it or not, this is the last Fluttershy episode to focus on her overcoming her shyness.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun Halloween / Nightmare Night episode with a sweet story of Fluttershy pushing her own boundaries and a pleasantly surprising ending.

[PINK]16. Rarity Investigates! (Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolts)[/PINK]
Rainbow Dash is finally flying with the Wonderbolts, but it proves short-lived when she's accused of a crime against them. It's up to Rarity to prove her innocence, as a film noir detective.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Rarity's goes all in on the theme, and it's amazing. Regardless of there being only one possible culprit, the clues are handled well, with them being subtle but clearly noticed by Rarity.

17. Made in Manehattan (Rarity, Applejack, Coco Pommel)
* Map episode for Rarity and Applejack. Takes place simultaneously with "Brotherhooves Social".
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Charming episode about community service, with some cute moments.

18. Brotherhooves Social [SONG] (Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom)
* Takes place simultaneously with "Made in Manehattan".
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Good beginning and absolutely fantastic ending, delving into Big Mac's character.
[RED]-[/RED] Most of the episode is Apple Bloom being embarrassed by a crossdressing Big Mac, which falls into PonyGAF's hatred of cringe humor.

[GOLD]19. Crusaders of the Lost Mark [SONG][/GOLD]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:CMC_gallop_alongside_Diamond_Tiara_S5E18.png]
The Cutie Mark Crusaders help one of their classmates compete in a class president election against Diamond Tiara, but end up discovering another side to her. This is a full-musical episode, and marks the fifth anniversary of the series premiere. It's a much-watch even if you aren't a fan of Cutie Mark Crusaders episodes.

20. The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows (Pinkie Pie, Cadance, Twilight Sparkle)
* Reveals that Cadance is pregnant.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great reactions from Pinkie as she desperately tries not to spoil the above surprise to Twilight.

[PINK]21. Hearthbreakers (Apple Family, Pie Family)[/PINK]
The Apples visit the Pies to celebrate Hearth's Warming (a Christmas-style holiday), but they are confused by their holiday traditions.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun episode with good interactions. Pinkie's family, especially her other sisters, were instant hits with the fans.

22. What About Discord? (Twilight Sparkle, Discord, Mane Six)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Totally-not-jealous Twilight is great, and it's a good look at her character.
[RED]-[/RED] Scenes with Discord's inside jokes drag.

23. The Hooffields and McColts (Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy)
* Map episode for Twilight and Fluttershy.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Twilight and Fluttershy are adorable, and the warring family parts have good slapstick.

24. The Mane Attraction [SONG] (Applejack)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Guest stars Tony award winner Lena Hall, who sings multiple fantastic songs in this episode. [PINK]The song "The Magic Inside" is worth watching on its own.[/PINK]

[GOLD]25-26. The Cutie Re-Mark [SONG][/GOLD]
Starlight Glimmer, from the season premiere, wishes to demonstrate to Twilight that her friendships aren't important by using the power of the Map to rewrite the past, so that the Mane Six never met. In her attempts to stop her, Twilight finds herself in various alternate futures, each with a different villain winning.

Movie - Equestria Games: Friendship Games [SONG]
The Twilight Sparkle native to the human world finally appears, as a student from a rival school who is curious about the strange events at Canterlot High. When the schools meet for an athletic competition, a device she built to scan magic starts creating dimensional breaches, and the heroes scramble to keep the games on track.
* With no need for pony Twilight to pop by to have a Twilight, Equestria Girls largely separates itself from the show at this point. Human Twilight is nicknamed by fans as SciTwi (Scientist Twilight).
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Strongest overall soundtrack of the movies, but there's no real standout song worth recommending on its own.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great interactions between SciTwi and the Humane Five. Starts the amazing running gag of Flash Sentry getting dunked on every film.
[RED]-[/RED] The villainous principal is lame, and the opening and marketing hyped up how each hero has a rival, but it barely factors into the story.
[RED]-[/RED] Even for Equestria Girls, parts of the movie are absolute nonsense, particularly when it comes to magic.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

I made the mistake of downloading the MLP gameloft app again as I haven't touched it since the first couple weeks after it launched.

They really don't make this game for anyone other than someone that just wants to watch a couple of characters from the show do cute stuff for an hour or two or someone willing to pour in massive amounts of money.

It is kind of cool though how up-to-date it surprisingly is. They've got some of the new characters like Thorax and even reward you for collecting him, Discord, Starlight, and Trixie, for obvious reasons. I would have never expected for it to advance much beyond the initial couple seasons when it launched.

I never put money into these games, so I just try and relax and enjoy the MLP references. And collect Starlight. And get enough gems for Rainbow Dash. And make sure I've collected my apples and pie bits. And...

Fuck this shit. I could be playing Yakuza 0.

 

[SigmasonicX]

There are also movie updates coming up, including the N64 airship. Clearly you have to grind for those!

And yeah, thinking about it, it is pretty surprising that this mobile game is still around, and still up to date. Also surprising is that we still don't have a tie in game from WayForward or someone. What I wouldn't give for an RPG with the premise that some force has turned all of your friends evil, and you have to defeat them to bring them back.

 

[SigmasonicX]

I definitely won't get visual temporary versions of the remaining episode guides ready before Sunday, so I'll just make text versions and put them on pastebin or something.

[Header]
Season 6 controversially adds Starlight Glimmer as essentially a seventh main pony character. Similar to how Princess Twilight was handled, Starlight tends to appear only if the episode is specifically about her. Though the season as a whole isn't that different in quality from the previous, multiple significant episodes unfortunately are on the weaker end. We chose not to recommend them, instead just noting how they're important. This doesn't mean they're bad, so check them out if they interest you.

[GOLD]01-02. The Crystalling[/GOLD]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Flurry_Heart_enjoying_Sunburst%27s_company_S6E2.png]
While the Mane Six travel to the Crystal Empire to meet Cadance and Shining Armor's new baby, Flurry Heart, Twilight convinces Starlight to reunite with her childhood friend, Sunburst. However, Starlight is anxious about how he'll react to what she did since they last met. Flurry is yet another alicorn, but people largely stopped caring by this point. This is the closest the show has gotten to a "slice of life" two-parter.

03. The Gift of the Maud Pie (Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Maud Pie)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun interactions with Maud, and in one scene, Rarity out-Pinkies Pinkie.

04. On Your Marks [SONG] (Apple Bloom, Cutie Mark Crusaders)
* [PINK]Establishes that the CMC now help other ponies earn and understand their cutie marks.[/PINK]
* The first episode to have none of the Mane Six, even as cameos. This appears to chronologically happen right after season 5's "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", unless the CMC really waited weeks for their next meeting.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Has Apple Bloom's first solo song, which is pretty good, and fun individual scenes.
[RED]-[/RED] The different parts don't connect well.

[PINK]05. Gauntlet of Fire (Spike, Ember, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Spike_extends_a_handshake_to_Ember_S6E5.png]
Spike is summoned to the Gauntlet of Fire, where dragons compete for the title of Dragon Lord. When he overhears competitors saying they'll attack Equestria if they win, Spike decides he can't let that happen.
* This follows up on season 2's "Dragon Quest", but all you need to know is that Spike encountered a mean teenage dragon named Garble.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Introduces Princess Ember, who was very popular with fans, and provides much-needed nuance to dragon society.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] A Spike episode where he's competent the entire time, for once.

[GOLD]06. No Second Prances[/GOLD]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Twilight_calling_out_to_Trixie_S6E6.png]
Twilight asks Starlight to make a new friend on her own, but when she chooses Trixie, Twilight worries she'll be a bad influence. Trixie appeared in season 1's "Boast Busters" and season 3's "Magic Duel", but she's finally made a recurring character here.

07. Newbie Dash (Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolts, Scootaloo)
* [PINK]Rainbow Dash finally joins the main Wonderbolts team, with the callsign Rainbow Crash.[/PINK]
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Pretty funny episode, unless you don't like...
[RED]-[/RED] Cringe humor from Rainbow embarrassing herself while trying to get a better callsign. Compared to other goal-achievement episodes, oddly little weight is given to this.

[PINK]08. A Hearth's Warming Tail [SONG] (Starlight Glimmer, Mane Six)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Spirit_of_HW_Past_%22every_little_bitty_choice%22_S6E8.png]
Hearth's Warming Eve is here once again in this full-musical episode. After Twilight learns that Starlight doesn't care about the holiday, she reads to her an Equestrian version of A Christmas Carol.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun adaptation with fantastic songs, including Luna's first solo song. Has a top 10 cutest Twilight moment.

[PINK]09. The Saddle Row Review (Rarity, Mane Six)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Rarity_%22I_just_have_two_other_boutiques%22_S6E9.png]
Rarity has opened a new shop in Manehattan and is ready to read the reviews, but her friends worry what she'll learn about how opening night really went. This episode follows the format of The Office and Parks & Rec, cutting back and forth between the opening night and interviews.
* Starting from this episode, Coco Pommel is only ever addressed as Ms. Pommel, for legal reasons.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] The format makes for an unusual and hilarious story where everyone gets a chance to shine.

10. Applejack's "Day" Off (Applejack, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Some funny moments, and some people like the relaxed pace and lesson about working efficiently.
[RED]-[/RED] When I say relaxed pace, I mean it spends minutes just on Applejack walking around the spa to find out why the steam room isn't heating up quickly.

[PINK]11. Flutter Brutter [SONG] (Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Mane Six)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Fluttershy_confronting_her_brother_S6E11.png]
Fluttershy has had enough of her freeloading younger brother, Zephyr Breeze, and forces him to get a job.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Good showcase of Fluttershy's character development; from this point on, there are no more Fluttershy episodes about her being too shy. We get to see her parents, and Zephyr is pretty funny.
[RED]-[/RED] Though some find Zephyr annoying.

12. Spice Up Your Life [SONG] (Rarity, Pinkie Pie)
* Map episode for Rarity and Pinkie.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun Indian-influenced song, and interesting to see Rarity and Pinkie work together.

[PINK]13. Stranger Than Fan Fiction (Rainbow Dash, Daring Do)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Rainbow_and_Quibble_angrily_face_off_S6E13.png]
Rainbow visits a Daring Do convention and befriends a pony named Quibble Pants, until she discovers he hates everything after book 3. A rift forms between them, but they must work together when they're swept up in a real Daring Do adventure. Quibble is voiced by comedian Patton Oswalt.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Hilarious episode filled with meta jokes, including a fan convention staple you wouldn't expect in a kid's show.

14. The Cart Before the Ponies [SONG] (Cutie Mark Crusaders, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Catchy song, and other fun moments, including Cheerilee as a Cheerileader.
[RED]-[/RED] The adults act pretty dumb, and the cart racing isn't crazy enough.

15. 28 Pranks Later (Rainbow Dash, Mane Six)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Zombies! A pretty neat episode, as long as you keep in mind that...
[RED]-[/RED] Rainbow acts like it's season 1 again, reverting all of her character development. Has the same general story as season 2's "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" of all things, but it's better than that, at least.

16. The Times They Are a Changeling [SONG] (Spike, Thorax)
* [PINK]Introduces Thorax, a mild-mannered good changeling (season 2's "A Canterlot Wedding"), who plays a major role in the season finale.[/PINK]
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Neat to learn more about changelings, and Spike and Thorax have nice scenes together. [PINK]Has Spike's first real solo song, "A Changeling Can Change".[/PINK]
[RED]-[/RED] Rushed resolution.

[PINK]17. Dungeons and Discord (Discord, Spike, Big Macintosh)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Fileiscord,_Big_Mac_and_Spike_LARPing_S6E17.png]
While Fluttershy and the others go on a trip, a bored Discord decides to join Spike and Big Macintosh in their "Guys Night". He's horrified when he discovers they spend it playing a role playing game, Ogres & Oubliettes.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great comedy, not just from the guys, but also from Fluttershy not taking any crap. It's also nice to see Discord connect with someone besides her or Twilight.

18. Buckball Season (Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun episode filled with adorable moments, including Smug Fluttershy. Demonstrates Rainbow's character development, and randomly makes Snails (from season 1's "Boast Busters" and other episodes) pretty cool.

[PINK]19. The Fault in Our Cutie Marks [SONG] (Cutie Mark Crusaders)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Gabby_hugs_the_CMCs_S6E19.png]
The Cutie Mark Crusaders have settled into their new role, but they might have an impossible task when an excitable young griffon named Gabby asks them to help her get a cutie mark.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Good song, nice lesson, and Gabby was an instant hit with the fans.
[RED]-[/RED] Some found Gabby very annoying.

20. Viva Las Pegasus (Applejack, Fluttershy, Flim & Flam)
* Map episode for Applejack and Fluttershy.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Interesting new Las Vegas setting with fun visuals, including clever substitutions for gambling. Good use of characters.

[PINK]21. Every Little Thing She Does (Starlight Glimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Mane Six)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Starlight_Glimmer_%22you_can_take_it_from_here%22_S6E21.png]
Twilight has Starlight spend quality time with her friends while she's away, and wishing to finish this quickly, Starlight uses a mind control spell on them, as you do. Of course, this goes out of control.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Hilarious episode with great character moments, demonstrating how Starlight still struggles with her previous villainous nature.
[RED]-[/RED] If you strongly feel that Starlight was forgiven too easily for her actions, or are concerned about power levels, then I have bad news for you.

22. PPOV (Pony Point of View) (Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Pinkie's story is funny, and Rarity's is hilarious thanks to Salty Sea Dog Applejack.
[RED]-[/RED] Boring Applejack tells her story last, and the explanation for what really happened is weird.

23. Where the Apple Lies (Apple Family, Rich Family)
* First episode besides "Cutie Mark Chronicles" to mostly take place years in a character's past.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Neat to see Ponyville years in the past, it's fun to see young Applejack and Big Mac, and the episode is a good "escalating lies" story with a great climax.

[PINK]24. Top Bolt (Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolts)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Rainbow_Dash_%22two_of_the_greatest_flyers%22_S6E24.png]
The Map sends Twilight and Rainbow to the Wonderbolts Academy, where they find a promising pair of recruits who are holding each other back in their attempts to help the other.
* Map episode for Twilight and Rainbow. Has a cameo from a Make a Wish Foundation recipient: the recruit who tells Twilight and Rainbow that they are her favorite ponies.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Spiritual sequel to season 4's "Testing Testing 1, 2, 3", with great interactions between Twilight and Rainbow. The new characters are likable, and Vapor Trail in particular was popular with fans.

[GOLD]25-26. To Where and Back Again[/GOLD]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Trixie_looks_to_Starlight_Glimmer_for_a_solution_S6E25.png]
Starlight returns to her village to attend a festival, only have a panic attack when they ask her to help organize it. When she returns to Ponyville, she discovers that everyone is acting strangely. She must team up with Thorax ("The Times They Are a Changeling") and other misfits to confront the source of this problem, and overcome her fear of reverting to her old self.

Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree [SONG]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Objects_float_in_Twilight_and_Sunset%27s_tent_EG4.png]
Canterlot High goes on a field trip to Camp Everfree, and the girls hope to take a break from their magic adventures there. Twilight (from the human world) in particular fears that she'll turn into Midnight Sparkle again if they encounter more magic. While there, they discover that the legendary monster Gaia Everfree is supposedly wrecking the camp, and they suddenly gain new uncontrollable powers.
* Doesn't tie into season 6 at all. Gives SciTwi her own love interest, who's better than Flash Sentry, at least. On a side note, oddly depicts Filthy Rich as a pure villain, despite "Where the Apple Lies" this very season presenting him as nice and reasonable.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] This is the closest to a slice of life story the movies get, and it's pretty enjoyable when focusing on that. SciTwi has nice scenes with Sunset, and Flash Sentry gets dunked on even more than last time.
[RED]-[/RED] The Scooby Doo style main story isn't great, characters besides SciTwi and Sunset don't do much of note, and the new powers are amazingly useless.

 

[SigmasonicX]

EDIT: Atop the Fourth Wall - My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #11-12 - The "Neigh Anything" arc, showing how Shining Armor and Cadance met. I really don't know why someone chose that arc for him to read.

And here's the last of it. I realized that instead of hosting text versions of these off-site, why not just post them here and link directly to the posts? And then I realized that some people might prefer the text version, so I should make them for seasons 1-3 too. So get ready for nine posts in a row from me tomorrow or so. Feel free to post between them.

To be clear, Paullo and I will still try to make the image versions, but since I'm making the movie spoiler thread this weekend, I want some version of the guide to direct people to. So, I'm making clean forum post versions of the guide, and I'll link to those.

INTRODUCTION
1 - spike, pinkie [IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Fileinkie_Pie_having_fun_S1E21.png]
2 - applejack, apple bloom [IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Apple_Bloom_on_a_fencing_while_talking_to_Applejack_S2E14.png]
3 - cmc [IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:CMC_Pose_S3E4.png]
4 - mane six [IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Twilight%27s_Kingdom_final_group_photo_S4E26.png]
5 - twilight, fluttershy [IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Twilight_%22we_didn%27t_need_my_friendship_portfolio%22_S5E23.png]
6 - rainbow, scootaloo [IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Scootaloo_hugging_Rainbow_Dash_S6E7.png]
7 - rarity, sweetie [IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Rarity_and_Sweetie_dressed_as_Little_Bo_Peep_and_sheep_S7E6.png]
So with the new movie, you're interested in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, but are intimidated by the 156 episodes on Netflix alone? Then NeoGAF's episode guide is for you! Episodes with titles [PINK]like this[/PINK] are RECOMMENDED to watch, and boxed episodes with titles [GOLD]like this[/GOLD] are episodes with IMPORTANT character introductions or story developments—skip them at your own risk. Some non-recommended episodes also have recommended notes, which indicate songs you should check out even if you don't watch the episodes (easily found on YouTube), and more.

That said, we definitely recommend watching more episodes than those. Every episode lists the major characters involved, and as an update from the previous version of this guide, every episode now has notes showing what people liked and disliked about it, favoring the former. You can use those to see if you'd be interested. It's important to keep in mind that some positive notes are stronger than others, an episode with no negative notes is not necessarily better than one that does, and an episode could have a major flaw but still be great. Plus, even episodes generally considered weak have a lot of things to enjoy.

As for where to start, the best place is the beginning. If you're wondering when the main character gains her wings, as seen in the movie, that happens in the season 3 finale, but that's not a good place to start. If you really insist on starting later, the season 5 premiere is also a pretty decent starting point. Alternatively, this is still a mostly episodic children's show, albeit with increasing continuity as it goes on, so you could just start watching from the latest episode or whatever you catch on TV. Above all else, this guide is designed to let you enjoy the show as you wish!

==

[Season 7 Header]
As of this guide's creation, season 7 is still airing, and will continue to air after the movie premieres, but the first half is on Netflix, so we decided to cover it anyway. Starlight Glimmer is more strongly integrated into the main cast, appearing more often in episodes not specifically about her, but she still doesn't quite form a Mane Seven. Map episodes switch to sending a single non Mane Six character this season, though only one of these episodes is in the first half. Until the finale airs, it's hard to say how the season's story connects, and thus what episodes are important, so currently none are. Due to movie production, there are only five songs total this season, with three in the first half.

[PINK]01. Celestial Advice (Twilight Sparkle, Celestia, Starlight Glimmer, Spike)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Celestia_%22I_had_the_exact_same_fears%22_S7E1.png]
As the ponies celebrate the defeat of Chrysalis, Twilight comes to a startling realization: maybe it's time she sent her student, Starlight, off on her own, like Celestia did for her. As she frets over the risks, Celestia offers a listening ear.
* The first one-part season premiere, and after seven seasons, Celestia finally appears as a character tag!
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Twilight's overactive imagination over what could happen to Starlight is great, and we get to see Celestia's perspective of events leading up to the first episode. Other characters, including Discord and Ember, are pretty fun too.

[PINK]02. All Bottled Up [SONG] (Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Mane Six)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Trixie_wiggling_Starlight_Glimmer%27s_hooves_S7E2.png]
While the Mane Six are out, Starlight and Trixie accidentally teleport the Cutie Map to an unknown location. While they search for it, Trixie's cavalier attitude annoys Starlight so much that she fears she could snap, so she uses magic to literally bottle up her anger.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Starlight and Trixie are a fantastic pair, and the Mane Six subplot is also really fun, with an incredibly catchy semi-self-parody song.

03. A Flurry of Emotions (Twilight Sparkle, Flurry Heart, Cadance, Spike)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Confirms that Twilight is BAE (Best Aunt Ever). Twilight and Flurry's interactions are cute, and we finally see Cadance and Shining Armor spend time together.
[RED]-[/RED] Baby-based humor annoys some people.

[PINK]04. Rock Solid Friendship (Pinkie Pie, Maud Pie, Starlight Glimmer)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Fileinkie_grins_nervously;_Lyra_stands_still_S7E4.png]
Pinkie tries to convince Maud to move to Ponyville, and while the rocks don't interest her, a friend just might. Pinkie does everything she can to make friendship blossom, but she might just be getting in the way.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Expands Maud past her joke nature, making her a full-fledged character. Has tons of charming and funny character interactions.

05. Fluttershy Leans In (Fluttershy)
* Randomly brings back Big Daddy McColt from season 5's "Hooffields and McColts" and assumes you remember him.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Good showcase of Fluttershy's character development, and it has a giraffe.
[RED]-[/RED] We're meant to sympathize with the supervisor with the vague idea and no concrete plans, and be angry at the people she hires for getting it wrong. Also, really padded: a surprising amount of time is spent just on Fluttershy trying to open a door.

06. Forever Filly (Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Cutie Mark Crusaders)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Some fun scenes, including a photoshoot with wacky costumes, and shows Sweetie Belle's character development.
[RED]-[/RED] Some found Rarity treating Sweetie like a young child annoying.

[PINK]07. Parental Glideance (Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolts)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Rainbow_Dash_bangs_her_head_against_locker_shelf_S7E7.png]
Scootaloo is shocked to learn that Rainbow didn't tell her parents that she became a Wonderbolt. When they come back into her life and embarrass her with over-enthusiastic cheering, the reason why becomes clear to everyone—everyone but Scootaloo.
* Closest thing yet to a confirmation that Scootaloo is an orphan.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great comedy, it's neat to finally see Rainbow's parents, and it's surprisingly emotional.
[RED]-[/RED] Rainbow Parents being embarrassing counts as cringe humor for some.

08. Hard to Say Anything [SONG] (Big Macintosh, Cutie Mark Crusaders)
* Big Mac starts dating Sugar Belle (season 5's "The Cutie Map") here.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great song, "Battle for Sugar Belle", and it works as a sufficient summary of the episode. Big Mac's love rival, Feather Bangs, is funny, and some meta-humor comes from him having the same voice actor as Flash Sentry from Equestria Girls.
[RED]-[/RED] Padded, and Sugar Belle herself gets surprisingly little focus, given the show.

09. Honest Apple (Applejack, Rarity)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Fun new side characters, with a standout scene where Applejack meets a pony who hates apples, Strawberry Sunrise. [PINK]Rarity has a fantastic scene that you can find by searching for "mlp honest apple guitar rarity".[/PINK]
[RED]-[/RED] Rarity is an idiot, and Applejack is an idiot and a jerk. Cringe humor from Applejack destroying the dresses she's judging.

[PINK]10. A Royal Problem (Starlight Glimmer, Celestia, Luna, Twilight Sparkle)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Filerincesses_Celestia_and_Luna_look_at_their_switched_cutie_marks;_Starlight_worried_S7E10.png]
The Map sends Starlight alone to Canterlot, where she discovers growing tension between Celestia and Luna. Starlight switches their cutie marks, taking drastic action to straighten things out before Nightmare Moon or something even worse appears.
* Map episode for Starlight.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great comedy. Large chunks of the episode are actually from Luna and Celestia's perspectives, and they're really interesting. Celestia's section in particular has something that threw the fandom into a frenzy. Twilight is intensely adorable here.
[RED]-[/RED] If you don't like Starlight forcing her magic onto others, then I have bad news.

11. Not Asking for Trouble (Pinkie Pie, Rutherford, Mane Six)
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Pinkie is presented well, there's a fun alternate art style sequence, and Yak worldbuilding starts out interesting...
[RED]-[/RED] ... But then you wonder how the Yaks possibly survived this long.

[PINK]12. Discordant Harmony (Discord, Fluttershy)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Fluttershy_%22it%27s_just_not_what_I_expected%22_S7E12.png]
Discord invites Fluttershy to his realm for a tea party, but he worries that she won't be comfortable there and tries to make everything normal. But what happens when a spirit of chaos isn't chaotic?
* First Discord episode to not be about him being a jerk.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] The last third of this episode, when Fluttershy visits, is absolutely fantastic, showcasing her character development beyond just being assertive, and is generally incredibly sweet. Pinkie also has a brief but nice scene.
[RED]-[/RED] It turns out Discord talking to himself just isn't that interesting, and that takes up most of the episode.

[PINK]13. The Perfect Pear [SONG] (Apple Family)[/PINK]
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Bright_Mac_flattered_by_Pear_Butter%27s_song_S7E13.png]
After the mysterious Grand Pear returns to Ponyville, the Apple Siblings wonder why the Apples hate the Pears so much. They talk to several ponies to learn the story of their father, Bright Mac, and the mother they knew as Buttercup, but was born Pear Butter. Grand Pear is voiced by William Shatner of Star Trek fame, and Pear Butter is voiced by actress Felicia Day.
* Closest thing yet to confirmation that the Apple Parents are dead.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] We finally see the Apple Parents. Very sweet episode, for the flashback love story, the present day story of the siblings learning about their parents, and the resolution. It's also interesting to see various characters when they were younger, including Granny Smith.
[RED]-[/RED] The Apple Parents meet as creepy talking babies.

Special - Dance Magic [SONG] (Rarity, Humane Seven, Crystal Prep)
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Rarty_shouting_%22music_first!%22_EGS1.png]
Canterlot High needs money fast to pay for repairs at Camp Everfree, and Rarity has the perfect idea: win a music video competition. But preparing for it uses up all the money they built up, and when students from Crystal Prep steal her idea, she feels cornered.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] A Rarity story that can only be done in Equestria Girls, where she's responsible for the entire group's success, and it's handled well. Has a fun imagination sequence with an alternate art style. [PINK]The final music video, "Dance Magic", is worth watching on its own.[/PINK]

Special - Movie Magic (Humane Seven)
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Juniper_Montage_looking_guilty_at_Twilight_EGS2.png]
The girls are invited to the set of an upcoming Daring Do movie, where they learn someone is sabotaging production and stealing props.
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Some fun costumes.
[RED]-[/RED] A story that Scooby Doo would be ashamed of. Look, I'll just tell you the culprit is the director's niece, Juniper Montage. See image.

Special - Mirror Magic (Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, Humane Seven)
[IMAGE=http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/File:Sunset_Shimmer_standing_on_her_hind_hooves_EGS3.png]
Sunset Shimmer makes a short trip back to Equestria, where she runs into Starlight Glimmer. They become quick friends, and go back to the human world for a tour. But forget all that interesting stuff, the girls must face the worst villain in the entire MLP franchise!
[GREEN]+[/GREEN] Great interactions between Sunset and Starlight, both as ponies and as humans. Pinkie has some funny moments.
[RED]-[/RED] The villain is terrible. Seriously. And you can't even just watch the first half of the episode to avoid her, they intercut the Sunset/Starlight stuff with her scenes.

 

[Sciz]

Fic rec: Nine Days Down

A just completed and criminally overlooked story of Twilight's desperate journey to escape the malevolent realm of strange and forgotten souls that is Tartarus.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Fic rec: Nine Days Down

A just completed and criminally overlooked story of Twilight's desperate journey to escape the malevolent realm of strange and forgotten souls that is Tartarus.

Marked it as "read later" on FimFiction, though I'm usually not keen on dark stories. Oh, and checking my notifications, looks like Monochromatic really liked "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You", haha.

 

[Ogodei]

I feel like the Minus of "Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" is that there's a very obvious lesson for Applejack to learn here that she doesn't learn until "Applejack's "Day" Off." (which was the only redeeming thing about that half-baked episode).

Doing things a certain way because you've always done them a certain way doesn't make them the best way, which was a somewhat troubling theme they kept throwing out with Applejack or Apple family episodes (like the episode that introduced Zap Apples). There was a legitimate problem with them not making enough cider to satisfy demand, and it turns out that it's everybody else's job to learn the lesson that only so much cider can be produced.

In hindsight i feel like the only worthwhile bits out of Season 3 were "Sleepless in Ponyville" and "Too Many Pinkie Pies" (and the latter only really for helping to re-rail Pinkie's character which had become very one-note over the course of season 2).

 

[SigmasonicX]

I feel like the Minus of "Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" is that there's a very obvious lesson for Applejack to learn here that she doesn't learn until "Applejack's "Day" Off." (which was the only redeeming thing about that half-baked episode).

Doing things a certain way because you've always done them a certain way doesn't make them the best way, which was a somewhat troubling theme they kept throwing out with Applejack or Apple family episodes (like the episode that introduced Zap Apples). There was a legitimate problem with them not making enough cider to satisfy demand, and it turns out that it's everybody else's job to learn the lesson that only so much cider can be produced.

In hindsight i feel like the only worthwhile bits out of Season 3 were "Sleepless in Ponyville" and "Too Many Pinkie Pies" (and the latter only really for helping to re-rail Pinkie's character which had become very one-note over the course of season 2).

For the negatives listed in the episode guide, I've tried to stick to major flaws for that specific episode, minimizing the effect of taste, and things that caused a kerfuffle in the fandom. I should probably do some trimming of existing negatives as is. While that is an interesting bit of analysis, I don't think it makes the cut; unless you weren't suggesting to add it to the guide.

I'm a fan of "Too Many Pinkie Pies" too.

 

[SigmasonicX]

The Cinema Snob - My Little Pony: the Movie
The 80's one. Brad Jones is one of my favorite comedic reviewers, and this video was great, though note that there are a lot of in-jokes. He acknowledges the upcoming movie, and doesn't say anything negative about FiM, other than some jokes about spider webs. Note that he did a DVD exclusive review of Equestria Girls a few years ago, as himself and not the Snob, but I haven't seen it.

I said I was going to post the text version of the guide, but only one more post until the next page, so might as well do an art post here first.

Birthday of Luna by 0Bluse
Passing Glances by DocWario
Just DRAW it! by Oksara

All Tied Up by mirroredsea
Zecora the Potions Teacher by bobdude0
PINKIE NO by Lucy-tan - The title is in reference to Pinkie throwing explosive confetti.

What if... appledash was a good ship by Alasou - To explain the title, the artist doesn't like the ship, but drew it anyway.
Princess Luna by Setharu
Desire by Noctilucent-Arts

Twilight as Gandalf by StasySolitude
Scootaloo Guitar by RacoonKun
Cuddles by Miokomata

Chrysalis vs. Luna by Andy Price, as an example of his commissions.
I don't get why people still hate her by squeeesh
Flower Field by Basykail

Sweetie Belle Peacock Thing by VanillaGhosties
Lyr by INowISeeI
Gathering by Shamanguli

AJ by hardbrony
Collab: Precious Letters by EmbersLament
Canterlot Tower at night by Plainoasis

Morning Dash by Madacon
Drown by Petrinox
Sunset and Sonata Under the sea - by Lum and Light

Skirt by conbudou
Bipolar Nightmare by Shamanguli
Giant Twilight 10 by Shieltar - Part of a comic series, but this stands alone well.

Balloons by Emily-826
Mane 6 by Jadekettu
Twilight by kawaiipony2

Videos
Pinkie Box by Tridashie - Short meme video with cute Pinkie in socks animation.
Pinkie's Bizarre Adventures (JoJo season 4 ending credits parody) by Stellarator - Includes both ponies and EQG.
Rainbow Dash vs Black☆Star - Epic Cartoon Made Rap Battle Season 3 - Black Star is really the better one here, but his lines have a lot of pretty specific MLP references. Rainbow Dash just comes off as mean, not clever.
Butterflies by Tre - Song from quickly-cut Fluttershy show clips.
Lollipop by Ponies In Reverse - Animation is nice, but the brief bits of dialogue are bad and I'm not sure explanation at the start really explains anything.