Top Ten Unicorns, Version 5 · 12:19am Oct 26th, 2018
With earth ponies and pegasi out of the way, it's time to cover the unicorns once again. This season was interesting for unicorns, we had some good and some bad. In fact, I might say the good from the new characters added here outshined the bad or forgettable from most of the veterans. As always, this list is purely the result of my personal opinion. Here's version 4.2, from before Season 8. Let's see who moved up, moved down, got added, and got knocked off. And before we begin, there are honorable mentions. (Honorable mentions go to: Twilight Velvet, Night Light, Shining Armor, Stygian, Sassy Saddles, Fancy Pants, Coriander Cumin, Saffron Masala, Skedaddle, Mistmane, Moondancer, Tempest Shadow a.k.a Fizzlepop Berrytwist, and Party Favor)
10. Sugar Belle
Why she was added: I made a mistake by not including her on the list proper last time around, especially since she actually got to do something with herself in "Hard to Say Anything" instead of being reduced to just having her heart broken and becoming Mrs. Cake's baking student in "The Break Up Break Down". So I'm correcting that this time, but I can't put her any higher than the bottom spot since her only speaking role had her do almost nothing of relevance. It's her cameos with Big Macintosh that really did a lot for her.
9. Starswirl the Bearded
Why he moved down: If there was any indication that Season 8 was not a good season for established characters, it would have to be the treatment of poor Starswirl in this season. All he amounted to for "Friendship University" was just being there to be tricked by Flim and Flam. And then he was only mentioned in "School Raze" almost like an afterthought. Him traveling and learning more while helping others is a nice touch, but I'd really like it if Season 8 had found a better way to utilize him instead of just hastily tossing him into an episode and thinking that would be it. After all the build up Starswirl got throughout the years, now that the show finally revealed him to us it seems like they ended up overplaying their hand.
8. Firelight
Why he was added: Firelight probably could've been handled a little bit better, but considering what happened the last time we had a patronizing, overprotective and embarrassing parent, it was nice to have the show correct a mistake and say that this behavior was wrong. Even if you don't believe Firelight is a single parent (which I think there's a lot of canon support for given there was no mention of his wife and supposedly a line implying she was dead), it's still easy to see how he could've adversely affected Starlight's development during a critical phase and caused her to get so drawn to Sunburst.
7. Stellar Flare
Why she was added: We know from flashbacks that Stellar Flare has a husband, but we don't know anything about why he wasn't in "The Parent Map". Stellar has the somewhat more desirable goals of wanting to move Sire's Hollow forward and make sure her son has a plan for his future after he flunked out of magic school. Plus, I can see how she might have left an impression on Starlight in the wake of Starlight having a female parent (sort of like how newborn ducklings will imprint on the first thing they see upon hatching).
6. Starlight Glimmer
Why she moved down: Starlight spent most of Season 8 being as useless as Spike, in fact they seemed to make jokes about how she had nothing to do with her new title of guidance counselor. And when she wasn't in that role she was usually a stick in the mud or otherwise contributing to the problem. Only "The Maud Couple", "The Parent Map", and to an extent "Road to Friendship" really did anything at all to help her stand out and even then "Road to Friendship" had her cross a line by trading away Trixie's wagon (although she did apologize for it). Otherwise she was just the voice of reason because the writers said so, or completely irrelevant. And "School Raze" was a huge disservice to her, rendering her a damsel in distress for the entire two parter who somehow couldn't handle a filly even if she didn't have her magic.
5. Sunburst
Why he moved down: Although it was great to see him in "The Parent Map" that's really the only major appearance I can think of that he put in all season. Otherwise he just went back to being completely irrelevant, largely because Starlight herself became irrelevant and thus he had no one to work with. Yet him being called by the map basically means the map can call anyone for any reason now, whereas before it seemed like there were at least some rules in place.
4. Rarity
Why she moved down: It's a pretty hard drop for her, the biggest since Season 6 when she became the first number one place holder not to retain her position. Season 8 wasn't nearly as bad for Rarity, but her two biggest appearances this season were not exactly her greatest. "Friendship University" mostly had her steal the show but also had her have a really dumb moment where she thought giving Twilight an eyepatch was all that was needed to disguise her. And then "The End in Friend" really dialed up her unlikeability until about midway through the third act. And like with Pinkie Pie, she just never got a chance to recover from there.
3. Sweetie Belle
Why she moved down: Ultimately, Season 8 didn't do much with Sweetie Belle aside from having her feud with Scootaloo in "Surf and/or Turf". The plot of her having a secret admirer in "The Break Up Break Down" could've and should've been saved for a different episode, because it's one that could've actually worked wonders if we didn't already know who the package was really intended for (it could've been the perfect way to tie the Ponyville Mysteries books and comics into the show). Even Apple Bloom ultimately got a little bit more of a chance to shine in "School Raze" (though she compensated by being completely irrelevant to "Surf and/or Turf" and not really doing much else all season).
2. Trixie a.k.a The Great and Powerful Trixie
Why she returned: Not since the original list has Trixie been on it at all, so you better believe it's a big deal she's coming back. Between "A Matter of Principals" and "Road to Friendship" I think it's safe to say that Trixie is more or less living in Ponyville, and it seems like she may finally have learned how to mellow out and not be so arrogant all the time. In a way you even kind of feel bad for her knowing that she sleeps in her wagon and has spent most of her life on the road. If not for the fact that those were the only episodes she was relevant for all season, she'd be number one. As it stands, there's one pony who ultimately tops her.
1. Hoofar
Why he was added: With Hoofar taking the top spot on this list, we now have the first time that none of the mane six have topped the list for their respective species. Not Pinkie Pie for earth ponies, not Twilight for princesses/alicorns (Celestia has her beat there), not Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash for pegasi, and not Rarity for unicorns. Hoofar already garnered attention from the fact that he's a Saddle Arabian who's also a unicorn, so Saddle Arabians aren't just earth ponies. But if that was all he had going for him I don't think he'd have the staying power he has. Basically if you take everything Star Tracker was and tone it down a little, you get this guy. But at the same time, he's never an antagonist or even one causing a conflict, and it could've been very easy to paint him as such. We even got to see in-universe why he might want to trade away his larger wagon (though how he could fix into Trixie's smaller one despite his size is a bit of a mystery). So I have no quarrels putting him at number one.
And there you have it. Come back tomorrow, when we'll rank all the story editors of FiM again to both update Josh Haber and add Nicole Dubac.
My personal list:
1. Starlight Glimmer. She still had the best episodes of the season for me, and she never felt like she was useless.
2. Tempest Shadow.
3. Sunburst. He moved up thanks to The Parent Map.
4. Trixie. She moved up thanks to Road to Friendship
5. Stellar Flare.
6. Mean Rarity
7. Firelight
8. Starswirl
9. Mistmane
10. Shining Armor.
4958123 Hard to really put Shining Armor on the list when he did absolutely nothing all season long. This was in fact the first season where he didn't appear at all, even his wife and daughter got "Road to Friendship" at least.
4958136
True, but this is a case where I don't really think I could personally justify putting any of the unicorns that did appear that weren't already on my list in that spot.
Sugar Belle is such an adorable character, I still need to do a story on her one day.
4958774 Maybe Diamond Tiara or Sweetie Belle becomes her helper when she wants to bake something special for her anniversary with Big Mac?
4958778
DT seems like a good choice since I barely have stories on her, better yet why not both?