(Song Used: My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion)

Love is in the air in as we reach the Top 15. We have two different weddings, my favorite of the Dreamwalker Luna trilogy, and the best episodes of the two tomboyish characters according to the list. These episodes may not be in the Top 10. But they’re no slouches in any department from my point of view.

This is a pretty special episode, I’m not saying that just because in this list it’s the best Applejack episode. But it’s also Amy Keating Roger’s final episode for the show before she headed off to work for Disney. She’s one of the writers who have been there since the show began, and it’s super cool that her last episode also proved to be a really good episode. Kinda fitting too since her first episode solo (Since she also worked with Faust a bit on Ticket Master) was an Applejack episode that also was very good (That was Applebuck Season). And I think this episode already even far surpasses that first episode of her’s. Cause this is definitely one of the most heartwarming episodes you could find.

And lots of talent being put in from the music side of things. As the new character is voiced by a proven singer who went all out for this episode. Even the song based on the autotune kind of music these days felt at least a little bit catchy even if lacked any real depth to it (Though that’s on purpose to show us what Sven Gallop has forced Rara to do to her music). One thing I like about the episode is it doesn’t drag out Rara being angry at Applejack for having suspicions on Sven Gallop. There’s a moment where it’s like that it first, but Rara at least gives Applejack a chance to prove what she means. And in no time, Rara confronts her controlling manager and fires him. Though because Rara initially had trouble getting her talent out there without him, she initially worries that despite Sven being the big jerk he is. She’s afraid he was right that she might be nothing without him. But thanks to some reassurance from her old friend, she just goes out there and sings her heart out. For probably one of the best singing performances this show has ever seen. The song she sings I think is by far the best song of all of Season 5 and a good candidate for best of the series too.

After which, she sings another song which is a reprise of the song she sung in a flashback with AJ and Rara as fillies (Which I still think should be Equestria’s national anthem) and even brings the CMC in to sing with her feeling like a proper sendoff for Amy because of course the episode previous to this one was Amy writing the episode the CMC finally got their Cutie Marks. While this was Amy’s last episode for the show, this certainly isn’t her last in this countdown

I don’t think anyone after Season 2 finished would ever think Merriwether would ever be able to write an episode worthy of being in the Top 15 of the show regardless of how many episodes there would end up being in the series. But here we are, it’s funny. Merriwether William’s first episode in the series is one of the worst episodes of the series, and it if it weren’t for Rainbow Falls it would be the worst Rainbow episode in this countdown. But now getting to a Season 3 episode of her’s where while she would kinda mess up again with Spike at your Service. At the very least she did perhaps the best job she ever did for the show in Wonderbolts Academy. If you asked me which episode gets the most ideal characterization for Rainbow for me, this would be the episode I’d say in a heartbeat. No other Rainbow episode captures the essence of the Element of Loyalty then this episode does. It’s extremely poignant when we see Rainbow almost give up her dream of being a Wonderbolt, after she sees the organization seems to be favoring results over the safety of other ponies.

I also see Lightning Dust as a bit of a mirror of Rainbow in terms of Rainbow could of easily become something like her had she never gotten into friendship. A reckless pony who is not only vain about themselves, but their tricks don’t put into account any sort of safety of innocent bystanders, not even one hint of regret either. It shows that while not everybody is a fan of Rainbow Dash’s character sometimes, it really shows it could be much, much, MUCH worse. Even in the worst Rainbow episodes, you see Rainbow have some degree of regret or sadness, like for example the scene I mentioned for Mare-Do-Well where Rainbow is alone on the cloud. The scene where Rainbow confront Lightning Dust could almost be seen as Rainbow Dash looking at her dark side that by now she’s learned to not listen to most of the time. Lightning Dust is literally what Rainbow Dash would be if she had none of her redeeming qualities.

My only nitpick with the episode would be that the ending is rather weird where it really left it vague on whether Rainbow was closer to being a Wonderbolt or not. But I suppose that was left for Season 4 and beyond to answer. And it seems Rainbow Dash is still ever so slowly getting there. In Season 4 she takes an important test on the Wonderbolts and in Season 5 she’s part of the Wonderbolt Reserves. Not an official Wonderbolt, but in the case of an accident or as in the case of Rarity Investigates, an arrested Wonderbolt, she flies in their place. In Season 6 it’s possible Rainbow could very well finally get to Wonderbolt status. If Twilight could become an Alicorn Princess, and the CMC get their Cutie Marks. I sure wouldn’t doubt the possibility. And the journey towards that point would have started here, where Rainbow Dash could be seen as exorcising some old demons through her confronting Lighting Dust the way she does.

I don’t think I stated this already in the countdown, Sweetie Belle is far and away my favorite of the CMC. Even in some of the weaker CMC episodes she tends to have at least one line that makes me laugh. IMO she also has the cutest design and voice out of the three. And while her relation with Rarity often gets tenuous as in both of Sweetie’s episodes, she had some big disagreement with Rarity, we can see Rarity and Sweetie care very much for another. One especially cool thing about the episode is it’s very much a Christmas Carol kind of situation where Sweetie even travels back with Luna to see her Past, something that will come the next day, and the future regarding a bad decision from Sweetie. But *gasp* this isn’t even a holiday special, they took a pretty overused concept but made it fresh by applying to something other then a holiday.

This is also the 2nd of the Dreamwalker Luna trilogy, and as I imply with where I rank I think it’s the absolute best out of all of them not only because of Sweetie Belle’s part. But Luna feels more involved then she was in the other two, it’s also really fitting for Luna to help out Sweetie given Luna has also been in a situation where she was upset at an older sister. Not that Sweetie would turn evil or something, but nonetheless Sweetie and Luna feel like they can have a natural bond of both having been the frustrated younger sister who feels overshadowed by their older sibling. Luna doesn’t want Sweetie to make a similar mistake in doing something to spite her sister. Add in some fun imagery they use while in the dreamworld, and you have a pretty awesome episode.

This is also Dave Polsky’s highest ranking episode. I think this is why I can’t see myself overreacting whenever a so-called lackluster writer’s name comes up in the opening credits. Cause writers can improve or at the very least at least for once give us some honest to goodness gems. Dave Polsky and Merriwether Williams were once perhaps the most disliked writers on the show staff, but at least in this list. They managed to both get at least one within the Top 15. Which is an amazing accomplishment for a successful show like this.

I can already kinda feel a bit of a controversy with this being this high. Though the thing is, I was afraid when making my list that the Top 10 would literally just be the episodes I’ve always listed as my Personal favorites. But at least two episodes that still are great, but not amongst my personal favorites was able to push it out. But #12 is still a really good spot, and I’m sure if any people who despised this episodes saw my countdown they would heavily disagree on so many levels. Cause this episode has been nitpicked perhaps more the any other episode that it’s gotten to the point where it’s just as easy to love this episode as it is to hate it. It’s arguably considered one of the more overrated episodes of the show, but nonetheless I can’t help but love it. I do concur that Shining and Cadence should have at least been mentioned prior to this episode so their introductions aren’t as rushed as they are. Doesn’t really help they haven’t done a lot with Shining, though at least Cadence has gotten some good use by now.

It’s easy to admit that had Canterlot Wedding been a fanfic instead of an episode it probably wouldn’t be loved much at all considering it has some obvious cliches of bad fanfiction. A new character that is a family member of a main character, as well as an Alicorn other then Celestia and Luna which was considered impossible at one point. At the very least they didn’t combine the two and in a relationship with a different main character as that probably would of got everything off the checklist on Friendship is Magic Mary Sues. But I don’t know, despite the glaring similarities I’m not sure I count either Shining nor Cadence as Mary Sue’s even if you only cover Canterlot Wedding. Cause for one, Mary Sue’s don’t make mistakes. And technically even if it’s offscreen, both very much did. It’s obvious Chrysalis as Cadence acts quite differently from the real Cadence, but I suppose like everyone else Shining thought it was the pressure of the wedding getting to her and by the time he could do anything about it he was already under Chrysalis’ control. And obviously there had to be a time Chrysalis fought against Cadence and won, otherwise she wouldn’t have been imprisoned in those crystal caverns. And it’s not like Cadence and Shining didn’t need anyone else’s help to defeat the Changelings.

Twilight was still needed to get Cadence out of the caverns in the first place, and the fight scene the Mane 6 get involved in gives some hope that the Changelings can be fought back. Even when the Mane 6 can no longer continue the fight, it just proves to make Chrysalis overconfident as Twilight manages to free Cadence long enough for Shining and Cadence to what seems to be combining their talents (Shining’s shield powered by Cadence’s love magic) to expel all the Changelings out of Canterlot. There’s a lot of media in the past where the villain’s only big mistake was getting overconfident, heck even Discord had that problem in Return of Harmony. So regardless of how many nitpick Chrysalis’ plan, it for the most part still worked until her overconfidence became her downfall. And no just because they’re changelings and feed off love doesn’t mean they’d be unaffected by the spell, if they’re not sucking it dry from an effected pony that love energy is still energy that could hurt them. And technically by the same logic Chrysalis could of just eaten Celestia’s laser too, cause if it’s true that friendship/love is what powers magic in well… Friendship is Magic, then Chrysalis could of been able to absorb that too since that blast could qualify as Celestia’s love for her subjects.

The Romantic type of love probably powers up a changeling faster and much stronger, but has it ever been said that a Changeling only gets power from that type of love? Anyway, Canterlot Wedding is the first time we had a real big boom in a Finale. Hasbro actually managed to hide a lot of the Changelings existence so that we were legitimately surprised when Chrysalis was revealed. Even if you don’t consider that great of a villain, she definitely had a very unique design, and it didn’t take long for her and the changelings to get a following. So much so the very first issue of the MLP Comics from IDW focused on the return of Chrysalis. For a long while it was hard for anyone imagining any future episode topping this one in every possible way. But believe it or not, the episode has made episodes that vastly improve upon Canterlot Wedding. Regardless where you stand on this episode, this episode has had immense impact since it aired through the introduction of characters, challenging the staff to surpass the bar they raised with this episode in terms of epicness, music, and total grand scale.  

There may be people out there that despise this episode perhaps more passionately then I do with Rainbow Falls even, but I also think there’s still more people you’d find who love this episode like I do more then you’ll find people who absolutely adore something that’s in my Bottom 12. And I think just making it into the Top 12 is an excellent spot for such a big episode like this.

*Remember this following picture is your fault, yes you, no matter who’s bothering to read this. But we love you nonetheless for it.

Canterlot Wedding isn’t the only wedding related episode in this part. Just one outside the Top 10 is the episode that is the reason I can even make a Top 100. This is Episode 100 itself! An episode full of love letter references to the fandom as for the exception of the final few seconds, none of the Mane 6 have any lines and we get a focus on popular background Ponies. You could even call the ponies focused on in the episode the Background 6 if you will. You have Derpy, Doctor Whooves, Lyra, Bon Bon, Octavia, and Vinyl Scratch. And even with all these fandom references, IMO this episode also hits it off well as a regular episode even if you weren’t big into fandom characters just because of how the moral is represented. Though no doubt if you’ve been in the fandom long enough the episode feels all the more special. Of course given this was all for the fandom there were or still are people who never thought this was a good idea at all. But I’m pretty sure this is one case where we can lighten up on things for once.

Because it is thanks to us that the show could have reached it this far. The show might of likely ended after Season 3 had we not helped it be the success it was (There was a time in Magical Mystery Cure’s development where they thought (including the writer M.A. Larson himself) it was going to be the Series finale). So for sure we can see this episode as a huge thank you from not only the staff but even Hasbro itself (The staff has even said it was Hasbro’s idea to have Episode 100 be a love letter to us). And again, beyond just the fandom stuff I think even the kids who are not aware of the popular background characters (Though there are kids who do notice them sometimes, I have heard stories of little girls who absolutely love Derpy for example) can enjoy them as well because to them they’re just introduced to vaguely familiar characters, I wouldn’t be surprised if the episode raised awareness of the characters for the younger fans who hardly know about the fandom on the internet so there could be a lot more younger fans who enjoy the likes of Derpy, Vinyl Scratch, and Lyra. I do think this episode got the right balance of bringing in fandom popular characters and still providing a fun episode for all ages. Moments like Gummy’s inner monologue as well as the entire insane scene where Vinyl and Octavia ride some sort of music speaker automobile that goes on around the same time is certainly one of those unforgettable hilarious moments.

Whether or not you’ve paid attention to the fandom there’s something for everyone in this episode and that’s not the easiest thing to do. While the episode itself isn’t going to have much impact since I doubt we get much more episodes like this, this episode does have a lot of impact in terms of that it is us that resulted in it’s creation. Both from that it would never have come to pass without us, and that it’s the tons of fandom content for the characters focused on that gave the staff at least a vague clue on what would make most people happy to see them do. And the show even provides a few new things of it’s own such as Bon Bon being a secret agent. There’s no doubt that this was a special episode, and certainly is a highlight of this show’s history.

Coming on Thursday is the final stretch of the countdown! The Top 10 is close at hand. If you’ve been at all keeping in mind which episodes haven’t been covered yet you’ll know what episodes made it, you just won’t know the exact order I put them in.