Hello everyone! This is the beginning of a project that I’ve wanted to do a long time now. I just had to wait for the exact moment I wanted to start planning that. What is that moment? That is when the show reached over 100 episodes. Welcome to my personal Top 100 FiM list. This show has been and still is my favorite currently running show. And I am so glad it made it over 100 that I thought the best way to celebrate them is to reflect on every single one. And I’d like to share where I think each episode stand with one another. Show what episodes I feel are among the greats as well as those that I feel kinda fall off the wayside at times.

Each part for the exception of the first one (Which I will explain soon) will cover 5 episodes. Counting down from 100-96, 95-91, etc. all the way down to 10-6, and 5-1. I have even gone the extra mile to go a little fancy with short intro videos that contain a piece of music I like that goes along with Screenshots of at least one of the episodes contained in the part (Note: In these videos they don’t necessarily had to have screenshots for each of the 5 episodes. They could have only screenshots from one particular screenshots, just a few, or they could have something from all 5 after all). There will be 21 Parts in all. Most weeks will have 3 put up but for the first week I’m putting up just this one. And maybe I may have to do two instead sometimes.

By the way, I did not rewatch the series for this. And I understand that may make it sound like I have preconceived notions at times. But I assure you I have watched every episode at least twice and can give enough of a familiarity that I can remember what I liked and/or didn’t like in each episode. Rewatching the series would take a while (We’re at the point where if you marathoned the entire series nonstop including the trilogy of Equestria Girls movies it would take nearly 2 days to watch it all). And I might actually be ponied out if I tried marathoning even if I paced it around at a few episodes a day. With a combination of this and with so many episodes to cover you can say there’s a bit of a margin of error. And also some placements may not be permanent cause if Season 6 follows up on any previous episodes it is possible for Season 6 to improve a previous episode placement cause I do like to factor a bit of impact into the ranks. For the most part important episodes that introduce things for the future have an advantage over episodes that never got followed up on anything.

As a side note, Two-Parters are going to count as One episode. I feel it would be complicated to have the Part 1’s and Part 2’s separate. Another thing is the Equestria Girls films are eligible to be on the list as well. This brings the total amount of episodes/movies to 112. Now I’m sure your first question is what to do with the 12 that don’t make the Top 100. Do I simply just not mention them at all? Nope, the Bottom and/or Unranked 12 is actually what I’m covering first. So we can get the weakest out of the way before gradually getting stronger and stronger (In my opinion at least, I don’t expect nor do I think everyone will agree with me. I will try my best to be at least a little objective. But all-in-all this is still a personal list, you may still see a lot of Bias from my side. If you disagree with me on anything at all, I’m willing to talk it out but I’d like it if you do not flame me for putting a favorite episode of yours too low or a least favorite too high. Respect my opinions, and I’ll respect yours.). So how about we get started shall we? Bad news first, then nothing to go but up from there.

*I hope the video editor watermark isn’t too annoying as it will be on every video in this project. The point is just the audio and the images that pop up. Also this is not on Youtube because I don’t trust the site’s copyright system enough for this to stay there for very long, especially recently

As much as Friendship is Magic is a a great show. It’s far from perfect, there are quite a bit of times they mess-up on, whether it’s characterization, writing, and/or bad ideas to begin with. The episode has had it’s fair share of controversy as many episodes have a love it or hate it tag to them where it’s hard to find middle ground. It’s quite possible one of my Bottom 12 could be in someone else’s Top 10. Or one or even multiple episodes of my Top 10 would be in someone else’s Bottom 12 if they were ranking the episodes.

I do want to put a bit of a disclaimer. I’m one of the most positive Bronies you’ll ever meet. Most of the Bottom 12 I don’t even dislike personally besides maybe 1 or 2 of them. There’s usually one thing to like about every episode. And some of these Bottom 12 would be average or even good episodes in other shows. As Friendship is Magic sets a pretty high bar. These 12 are just those I don’t feel quite qualify for a spot in the Top 100. If you love any of the 12 mentioned to pieces, I do apologize in advance. But I promise you, even the worst episode of FiM would not be anywhere near one of the worst animation episodes in all of history. But speaking of which we’re starting at the very bottom of my barrel. The only episode I have a hard time thinking of a legit thing to like about it. 

(On Tumblr just click below the break, for the forums I’m also posting this on just scroll down.)

*This is just a quick explanation for the banners. Each episode/movie will get one and shows general information on each episode, as well as the cutie mark/symbol of the character(/s) the episode is associated with. Sometimes I may want to make an extra footnote or witty comment under something regarding the banner card that will be put here in italics. For fun I added images from each episode to the banners for each episode that either may have a funny moment or face from the episode or a particular significant moment from the episode.

*Sorry Bulk Biceps and Fluttershy, nothing against you two. Just look at Derpy, she shrugs it off like a boss.

Oh boy… Rainbow Falls is just a complete mess for me. It surprised me because the previous episode that the writer Corey Powell wrote was Sleepless in Ponyville. Which I would say was a pretty damn good first Scootaloo episode. But I don’t know what happened during the development for this episode but they really drop the ball. Characters feel out of character, there’s unforgivable continuity errors, and all-in-all is not a fun episode to watch. What is that continuity error you ask? Bulk Biceps (The buff muscle pony who’s catchphrase is YEAH) can hardly fly in Rainbow Falls. Now this would be fine if this Buff Bicep’s debut episode or at the very least it was implied in previous episodes. But it’s not, there’s two episodes he made a noticeable appearance in. His debut episode Hurricane Fluttershy where he flew just fine helping with the Tornado that Rainbow Dash wanted, and the other? Freakin’ Wonderbolt Academy. He was invited to the Wonderbolts, I apologize for the oncoming all caps but… HOW THE HELL DOES A STALLION WHO CAN’T FLY THAT WELL GET INVITED TO TRYOUT FOR THE WONDERBOLTS?! The beginning of Wonderbolt Academy implies that it’s not that easy, as Rainbow even jokes that she was denied. Even if the other ponies at the tryouts were way below Lightning Dust and Rainbow. You’d think they’d have some degree of flight skills. The Wonderbolts are the best of the best, and there may be many good flyers in Equestria. It’s just the difference between a Freshmen College Sports star and a Veteran in the Professional league of the same sport. Rainbow Falls nerfs Bulk Biceps to the point of not being any better then Fluttershy. If the tryouts didn’t need that much known skill, why didn’t they invite Fluttershy too? And that’s only a problem with a side-plot. The main plot isn’t executed any better either. Soarin’ gets injured, and what is Spitfire and Fleetfoot’s reaction? They immediately ask Rainbow to replace him instead of feeling concern for their supposed teammate. Which makes some begin to question why Rainbow should even join the Wonderbolts. Which is something you should not do. I would feel if the episode was written more competently, Rainbow would of called out Spitfire for what they did. Honestly there is a much better way they could of executed this episode. Forget the Soarin’ injury completely, maybe the relay now needs four ponies to relay. The problem for the Wonderbolts is their fourth member is being delayed by unforeseen circumstances and may possibly be late by the time the qualifying rounds start. So in a rush, they ask Rainbow if they’d like to join in the name of her birthtown and her heroes. But Rainbow also has fans and/or friends in Ponyville who’d like her to represent them as the clear leader of the relay team. The dilemma is as simple as fly with the Wonderbolts in the Equestria Games for assured glory, or represent her current place of residence and be the leader even if it means a smaller chance at winning the gold. The episode would of course end with Rainbow picking to represent Ponyville, but not have to go through any fake injury nonsense in order to delay her decision further. She would pick Ponyville because while flying with the Wonderbolts in the Equestria Games would be awesome to her, she’d rather race against them just to see how she stacks up. She would believe her competitive spirit would impress more then give in to the temptation to fly with her heroes. Which I think would work wonderfully. This episode would at least be in my good graces if the episode had been executed like that. But unfortunately it wasn’t and the mess we got is what we have. What perhaps makes it even worse is we can’t exactly ignore this episode unlike other lackluster episodes of the series. Because of two reasons. The Equestria Games arc, as well as the fact this is one of the Rainbow Key episodes leading up to the Finale of Season 4. So unlike most of the other weaker episodes you can’t ignore the episode whatsoever as you won’t understand how Rainbow got her key otherwise. For me Rainbow Falls is not only the huge blemish on an otherwise great Season 4, it bothers me more then any other episode in the series. And that’s why it’s directly at the bottom here.

Poor Rainbow, she’s still currently my 2nd favorite pony in the show. But it’s unfortunate that she has two episodes infamous enough to be in the Bottom 5 of the show. Mare-Do-Well is practically the most well-known example of a near universally disliked episode of the show. For many who were around in Season 2 it was the first time the show had a very obvious below average episode. Practically everyone is out-of-character, Rainbow’s cockiness is taken too far, and there’s contrived parts of Ponyville that have barely or never saw again since Mysterious Mare-Do-Well. This was written by new writer at the time Merriwether Williams, which started to make people wary about new writers coming into the show. Meaning many got cautious when a name popped up on an episode if it’s not one they’ve seen before. Perhaps sometimes a bit unfairly, that led to certain expectations amongst seeing the writer name. Merriwether Williams often was the one name no one wanted to see pop up in the Written by section in the opening credits perhaps even worse then it was for Dave Polsky back in Season 1. I have to say personally I have no beef with the episode, but I can’t deny the infamy of it’s quality. And it’s why at least the 2nd-to-last worst in the rankings. Mare-Do-Well is more infamous then Rainbow Falls I think, but Rainbow Falls personally bothers me a lot more. And there is a scene I do like from Mare-Do-Well even if it’s kinda short. The scene where Rainbow is alone on her cloud and lamenting about it, it’s a short nice moment where you can actually feel a little sympathy for her despite her ego throughout the episode. But otherwise, there’s no escaping the hypocrisy that the moral teaches and the many contrived scenes that would work in a show that’s all about Super Heroes. But not in a slice-of-life episode of this show. Mare-Do-Well does not do so well.

This is the other episode I mentioned I have a bit of personal problems with. It’s better then Mare-Do-Well though because Applejack and any of the others of the Mane 6 in the episode are actually written quite well. The problem is with the character this episode is generally about. And it’s Spike. He gets this dragon code (Possibly made up given the card he shows) that makes him believe he’s gotta swear his life to Applejack. Sort of like Chewbacca’s Life Debt for Han Solo in the Star Wars Universe. If that was all he wanted to honor, I’d think that’d be pretty ok. The problems comes when he thinks now he must no longer be with Twilight in order to fulfill it. Going back to the Life Debt in Star Wars, there are moments in the Original Trilogy where Chewbacca agrees with a plan to split up, Chewie not even expressing worry Han might die when he’s not there. Like in the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi where Chewbacca works with an Ewok to hijack an AT-ST while Han is working with Leia to destroy the shield generator. And while Equestria is full of dangers for sure, it’s certainly a lot more peaceful especially in Ponyville compared to living in the galaxy of Star Wars where piss off the wrong guys and you get disintegrated by blaster rifle lasers. Spike could still honor his supposed life debt, but not have to completely abandon Twilight. Who is his Sibling/Mother/Boss/Best Friend/etc. It doesn’t help that this was in Season 3, and in Season 3 the opener had it that Spike’s biggest fear was being sent away from Twilight. If he cared that much about Twilight, why is he so willing to throw that all away because of the one time Applejack saved his life? To me, it’s like if a child wanted to live with a Fireman or Police Officer that saved his life instead of their mother who’s taken care of them their entire life (And very well I might add, it’s not like Twilight’s abusive towards him. Before you bring up the door slam’s and such, not purposefully I mean). Aside from that personal issue of mine, some of the chores he failed at he should actually be able to do. He’s even been shown being able to cook just fine prior to Spike at your Service even, yet he ruins the kitchen. A funny thing about this episode that in some ways it’s a collaboration between the two writers who got the most flack for their episodes in the first two episodes. The story, and the episode was originally going to be written by Dave Polsky. When Dave wrote it though, Spike was going to have his life debt to Rarity. But that script was scrapped because apparently Rarity was too mean to Spike in the episode so they had Merriwether Williams write it with Applejack instead. It worked in getting a much nicer interaction, but it does make me want to see the original script to see what they meant by Rarity being too mean. I mean they still let in Putting Your Hoof Down Fluttershy just fine, was it really going to be so much worse then that? Well anyway, as a big fan of Twilight and Spike’s relationship this episode just bothered me in so many ways. It’s only saving graces are again how the Main 6 are characterized, Spike’s part is just too much to overcome. And it’s the absolute lowest Season 3 ever gets.

Now I know what you’re thinking. How is Apple Family Reunion in the Bottom 12? It seems harmless enough don’t it? From a point of view I can definitely see that, if Applejack were one of my top favorite ponies and/or I was big into the Apple Family (Though I don’t hate either, don’t misconstrue my words) the episode probably would at least be somewhere in the lower parts of the Top #100. My main problem is with this episode is something that can arguably be worse then having an episode be bad. It’s utterly boring. I like Applejack and the Apple Family enough, but there’s hardly anything entertaining about the episode besides maybe the Raise This Barn and the cheap laugh of hearing the Wilhelm scream from Apple Bloom. A part of my dislike may also because of the timing the episode came at. As at the time when the episode came out. Season 3 for me was on a roll. There was Magic Duel, then Sleepless in Ponyville, then Wonderbolt Academy. All amazing episodes that made my hype in full thrusters mode. Only to be burned by a really dull episode. I get that string of consistently great episodes is not a guarantee, but it definitely felt to be a let down. There was hopes that there would be confirmation of what happened to AJ’s parents. And while they technically did do that subtly, it still felt disappointing as it was expected to be a more clear answer like what was mentioned in Crusaders of the Lost Mark. It felt like the Episode 8 curse had struck again (Prior to Season 4 and 5, every Episode 8 felt pretty lackluster). I’ll say that entertainment value is important to some of my rankings, the episode could overall be sound but if I wasn’t entertained too much I’m not giving any favors. And if a much more flawed episode entertained me overall, that tends to outweigh the flaws for me. I don’t watch FiM for episodes that are objectively good but otherwise are boring to watch. I want to laugh, I want to be wowed, I want to have feels, etc. I barely get anything from episodes like Apple Family Reunion. And that arguably to me makes it less then a lot of episodes in the show.

*While all CMC were involved, because the plot centers around a cousin of Apple Bloom’s. It’s considered a Apple Bloom episode

Bullying is a rather strong subject in children’s cartoon. But it sometimes gets awkward for cartoons aimed at kids to really get right. Unfortunately for FiM, this is one case where they did it wrong. To be honest, there was an episode they had bullying involved before they did a better overall job and even somewhat a mature look at it. Ironically by the same writer too, that was Hurricane Fluttershy. Where we find out Fluttershy’s meekness in flight ability comes from when she was bullied as a filly. In One Bad Apple though, they try to explore into why bullies become bullies. Though it can come out as really awkward, as just going along with Diamond Tiara and SIlver Spoon to avoid being bullies again for her blank flank just makes her seem jerkish herself. Although this episode is definitely not good enough to crack the Top 100. I do admit there’s a few things I do really enjoy from the episode, the Babs Seed song is just way too catchy. And this is one of those episode where I really like a lot of Sweetie’s lines (Ex: “WHY DOES LIFE HAVE TO BE SO IRONIC?!”). It even plays out with the cliche tell an adult about the issue even though that doesn’t always work out as some may be oblivious. And you could get bullied worse for being a Tattletale. Reaching out to an elder is still a good idea don’t get me wrong, just make sure the person is capable of putting a stop to it. Because of this, it’s the worst ranked out of any CMC related episode. Like I said though, I’ll always have a soft spot for that catchy song.

*If only those pillows knocked some sense into her right then and there

Well ok… I know that people who are RariJack shippers tend to adore this episode. As to some degree this episode could influence those towards that direction. The problem is I see more petty bitching between the two then any shipping chemistry. But believe it or not the main problem I have with this episode is Twilight. She may be my favorite pony, but if there is one episode you asked me where Twilight was flanderized. I’d say this is the one. Thankfully it’s a temporary one that was early on in the series. The problem is just 7 episodes before this one which was the Pilot, Twilight rejected friendship. But now she claims she’s always wanted a Slumber Party? And as amusing of Twilight going by the book, I can’t help but feel that if Twilight went to the Mirror Pool from Too Many Pinkie Pies. The Twilight clones would act a lot like how Twilight did in this episode. Look Before You Sleep is also one of those episodes I feel is part of a flaw with Season 1 regarding Twilight. The episode could have at least been a lot better without Twilight. Instead of having them hang at Twilight’s house have them forced to take shelter in a cave or at the very least an Old barn of Applejack’s. The only reason they need Twilight is to give the friendship lesson in the end, and unfortunately because of that limitation. Twilight just has to have a role. This becomes a problem in a few other Season 1 episodes too. Twilight’s my favorite pony, but that doesn’t mean I like her being shoehorned. It’s why I don’t mind it if Twilight doesn’t appear in an episode every so often. Which is what Season 2 started not too long after Lesson Zero broke the show out of the Season 1 limitations. Even besides the petty bitching and Twilight in the episode, the episode as a whole is dull. As much as this started the idea of Adorkable Twilight which I do like. Later episodes would do it much better.

*Fluttershy! That is not what I meant when I asked you to give me the bird!

Let me get the elephant out of the room first. I know part of the development of this episode is that Charlotte Fullerton’s husband died at around the time of the episode’s writing. In grief she couldn’t write the episode herself and it was handed to Merriwether Williams. It’s very sad, and Charlotte should probably be given less of any blame towards this episode. As there’s no way she could of seen this coming. We can however at least look at Merriwether’s execution of Charlotte’s story. And unfortunately wasn’t quite up to snuff. While I do like Iron Will as a character as he’s a businessman that actually does take no for an answer and doesn’t threaten Fluttershy when she gets firm enough to say she’s not satisfied. But the parts with “New Fluttershy” is still a bit much especially the scene where she insults Pinkie and Rarity. But besides that the whole town of Ponyville is mean at the beginning as if to justify Fluttershy’s actions. What happened to the happy town that just an episode before this one was singing along with Pinkie in the Smile song? There’s just too much cruelty that comes out of nowhere. We can’t tell how the episode would have been if Charlotte had written it in full, but this is why I asked just how cruel Rarity was to Spike in the original version of Spike at your Service if this passed. Cause when you really start thinking about the scene she confronts Rarity and Pinkie she basically calls their very livelihoods useless. And keep this in mind that Fluttershy isn’t mind twisted, this isn’t a case where Discord made her mean again. (Heck even when that did happen Fluttershy didn’t do anything near as bad as she did in Putting Your Hoof Down. Let that sink in) Bad assertiveness advice isn’t going to suddenly turn a shy person into a violent person that says their friends lives are meaningless. Admittedly, I did kinda laugh a bit on the first viewing regarding Fluttershy’s assertive behavior. But since then I have started to see just how sudden it is and how bad of a set up the episode had. What I enjoy from it is enough to keep it from being the absolute worst as you can see at least six episodes are below it. But it’s definitely one episode that feels goes against the grain of this mostly positive message sending show.

I apologize if anybody who reads this is a huge fan of this episode. Since Trixie tends to be a fan favorite, her debut episode tends to be tied to her. Trixie’s grown on me since. But the problem was it only took till’ Magic Duel (As well as a good friend of mine in the fandom who was a huge Trixie fan himself) for Trixie to become one of my favorite occasionally recurring characters. When all I had of canon Trixie was Boast Busters, she was far from one of my favorite characters. She was better then Gilda, but for a long while I didn’t quite get why Trixie was so popular to the point there was fanart of her going toe-to-toe in Magic with Twilight when the episode clearly showed Twilight far outclasses her. When Magic Duel’s synopsis was first revealed it said nothing about the Alicorn Amulet so it made me scared that the show forgot that Trixie is not actually on Twilight’s level. Luckily they eased my fears with the Alicorn Amulet. Even keeping in mind that performers usually have to act boastful, there’s a bit of a hint that even outside of acting Trixie was still a bit of a jerk. If it all was an act, it would have been a little more clear then it was. That said, Trixie isn’t my only problem with this episode. Rainbow, Applejack, and Rarity weren’t much better in the opening scene. Trixie may have not needed to show her jerk side so much if they hadn’t heckled her and also pressure Twilight into showing Trixie up. That said, Twilight’s part is a real saving grace of this episode. Even though this episode as a whole is outside of the Top 100, the scene where Twilight takes care of the Ursa Minor is still one of my favorite scenes in the show. As I think it’s the first time we see Twilight’s magical prowess on a huge scale. She also makes the smart decision not to listen to her friends on showing up Trixie. Unfortunately it’s just about everything else from Trixie, Twilight’s friends, and the annoying Snips and Snails that drags it down to the point it’s the lowest ranked Twilight episode

I have to admit, this episode is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I know that Applejack’s protectiveness is taken too far and the moral could be seen as more destructive. At the same time though, I really did enjoy the comedy, characterization of the CMC, and the utterly awesome Fire Swamp scene at the end. At the very least it’s problems still kept it out of the 100. But some I know would argue it should still be lower then it is right now. But I just don’t feel affected by this episode that much. The Canceled song, and the double helmet joke always makes me laugh every time. And as I said the CMC were actually characterized quite well. I suppose the problem with this episode is a little bit of a South Park syndrome though, where the children are more mature or in turn with things then the Adults. I will admit it’s one of the few weak episodes of Season 4, but compared to Rainbow Falls it’s a masterpiece. So honestly even if this is the 2nd worst episode of Season 4, I’m generally ok with that. I think one of the things I must say is I feel Applejack being a little over protective is a good idea in practice because for the longest time it’s stubbornness that was mainly the character trait AJ had to overcome. I feel the Season 4 opener is where they got her overprotectiveness right. She was still in the wrong, but there was a solid argument behind it. It’s just that Somepony Watching Over Me’s execution of it takes it a little too far. But I like the idea of Applejack being a bit overprotective of family and friends. It could be tied quite easily to the fact that it seems that it’s been all but confirmed AJ’s parents are deceased. It’d make sense for a character with a personal tragedy to have those most close to her safe and sound. If you can read this and understand why I don’t hate this episode as much as some others might. It would be appreciated. It just shows how much I do like this show when a Guilty Pleasure episode is still within the Top 10 Worst of the show

Ok, quick disclaimer first for any EQG fans who may read this. The series has grown a lot on me. Rainbow Rocks was actually good, and I absolutely adored Friendship Games. And I’m sure you should be satisfied later on where I put the other two films on the list. But I cannot for a moment forget just how messily the introduction to Equestria Girls was handled. The best part of the movie was the opening scene where they were still in Ponyville and when Twilight has trouble sleeping with her new wings. But after that I just don’t enjoy it that much. There’s just so many things that hardly make any sense, and you could run a checklist of High School movie cliches and you’d find Equestria Girls would have them all. Sunset may be a lot of people’s favorite characters after Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games. But she showed none of the promise that she showed in the sequels in the first movie. She not only seemed like the atypical High School bully character, but she comes off as an idiot when she becomes a demon cause exactly how is an army of teenagers going to overpower the Main 6 in addition to Celestia, Luna, and Cadence in the Crystal Empire no less where if worse comes to worse the Crystal Ponies still have the Crystal Heart that was their last resort against King Sombra. Don’t even get me started on Flash Sentry, he’s utterly useless in the film but there was enough focus on him that there was immense worry that he’d play a huge part in either more EQG films and/;or the worst case scenario of him becoming important in the Main show. Luckily none of that panned out as with each new EQG film Flash has been less and less relevant. And Flash has already been confirmed via Interview with Jayson Thiessen that there was never plans to bring him into the show anything beyond the cameos we saw in Season 4. The one thing Flash Sentry did that was important in the first film could of literally been done by anyone else, not to mention it ended a conflict in like only a minute or two after the conflict was first introduced. It also seems so weird that Twilight could just come into a High School and become the Prom Queen for only being there for a few days. I know that could probably be explained by she’s the only one brave enough to challenge Sunset (The School Bully remember?) for it but the students hardly know her regardless. From the looks of the pictures of the Prom Queen Sunset photos it even looks like Sunset seemed like the nice candidate in her first year (Which BTW I gotta say is one of the so bad it’s funny visual stuff. She gets ever so gradually more evil…). Just so many problems that account for all the cliches they have to include, working in an entirely new universe, and just dragging Twilight into all of this that won’t matter in the show whatsoever. (I dare you to come up with one thing in the show where Twilight does something that could be said as something she learned and/or remembered from being in the Equestria Girls world). That said, there are some silver linings in the first movie. One of those being Spike, despite Celestia’s rather silly reasoning for Twilight having to go in alone. Spike rushes in anyway, and he does what he does best especially in Meghan McCarthy episodes involving him: He supports Twilight through and through. While I had issues with him being a dog, he definitely shows up solidly in the first Equestria Girls movie. As I said earlier the opening scenes were also plenty good, the scene where Twilight is fighting with her wings to get to sleep is probably really the only time other then the Trixie Peanut Butters Cracker scene that I got a good laugh out of. Lastly is the Cafeteria song, Helping Twilight Sparkle Win the Crown. Just another of those songs that are too catchy to pass up. But I have a hard time coming up with any more and that’s why Equestria Girls falls short of the Top 100. As it is, it’s at least not the absolute worst that’s happened to G4. But I hope you can understand it took two good films to change my mind on this subseries. Thanks to better executed plotlines in both Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games I am excited for what they bring in next in EQG4, but if you told me there would be three more EQG films back when I saw the first one for the first time. I would be wondering just what in god’s name is Hasbro thinking.

This is the episode where Spike episodes probably started to get their reputation as usually a pretty lackluster episode. As before Dragon Quest the only true Spike episodes were Owl’s Well That Ends Well and Secret of my Excess. Giving many mixed messages. But after Dragon Quest there wouldn’t be a really worthwhile Spike episode until Season 4. Unfortunately being too little and too late. Doesn’t help now that in Season 5 Spike literally only had one Spike episode and it was Princess Spike (Which actually did make it into the 100. But just barely, you’ll see it in the next part.) But anyway, Dragon Quest to me is another one of those episodes that had potential but they squandered it pretty quickly. We could of gotten a greater look at how Dragons operate in the world of FiM. There was a fantastic chance for some solid worldbuilding. But instead we get Spike getting in trouble with teenagers. What I think personally would of been a much better idea is to have the dragons Spike meet up with actually are decent dragons. Not only would it have Dragon characters that would be well-liked in the fandom, but it would add more weight to the possibility of Spike leaving the Ponies for the Dragons. When you see how the dragons are in the actual episode, no one is convinced Spike actually will chose to stay with them forever. This would lead to a really interesting and rather sad part at first when Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow actually consider leaving Spike with his kind since he seems so happy. Twilight especially would be heartbroken but thinks if Spike truly wants this then she’d let him, not without having what looks to be a tearful goodbye. But Spike nonetheless chooses to go back. Cause as nice as the dragons he met were, he would miss Twilight and everyone else too much. At the same time, the Dragons as a whole get the respect of the Ponies and opens up the future for a return of the friendly dragons later in the show in this hypothetical scenario. But instead the dragons reputation to ponies worsen in the episode we do get. Giving also the unfortunate implication that the Ponies are well and above the other species in the world. Now there’s room for Spike to just have found the wrong crowd of dragons, but since we’re not going to see other dragons then Spike for a long while the only impression we get is the ones we see in Dragon Quest. It just doesn’t look good. People like dragons on fantasy creatures, but many would like it more if they had dragons that weren’t the complete monsters they are stereotypically. Spike is the only recurring dragon we’ll get and we should want him to get into the role of being the dragon amongst a cast of ponies. Not just considering himself one of them when he’s not a pony. Another disappointment is Pee Wee the Phoenix doesn’t go anywhere, if Pee Wee had stayed from then on like the end of the episode might have implied was the original plan there might of been a saving grace to the episode because the idea of Spike having a Phoenix pet would of been an awesome idea. But upon Season 3 we just get photographs of them bringing Pee Wee back to the Phoenix parents. I know technically that’s kinda the right thing to do, but it would have been far better if we had a recurring Phoenix character. As such Dragon Quest remains an episode with unfulfilled potential, unfortunate implications, and the beginning of a dread for future Spike episodes.

*Just be glad you finally have it now after the hell you went through, Apple Bloom

While Friendship is Magic isn’t really a show with any real sagas. As a majority episodes are standalone plots restricted to their own episodes. This is one of the closest you can get to a filler episode in this show. The CMC hardly learn their lesson as they even have the fakeout where they act all like they learned something but end up rather spiting that and continue to come up with random ideas to get their Cutie Marks. It’s just for that that it just manages to be one spot shy of the 100. There are some enjoyable parts of the episode though the several cutie marks popping up and Apple Bloom having to do them all at once was fun. The french-speaking Cutie Mark in particular was good for a laugh as well as Pinkie’s attempt to open the truth flower regarding the many Corn Cakes she ate. That and other then some nice Zecora and Apple Bloom interaction is why it’s the best out of the Bottom 12. But this is an episode you can skip and not feel bad about it for sure. The only important mention is in Magical Mystery Cure when Spike suggests if it might cure the switched mark stuff. Though it’s obvious enough the Cutie Pox was way different.

See you guys next week for the beginning of the Top 100!