Mane Eight Ranking, Version 7.2 (The Best Gift Ever Version) · 4:17pm Nov 2nd, 2018
I don't want to do a completely new version of this ranking, but after "The Best Gift Ever" I feel like it's only fair to re-examine the list and make a few updates. Did the number one spot change back to its previous champion, stay the same, or did somepony who's never been at the top before claim victory? Here's the previous version, from just after Season 8, let's see what changed.
8. Starlight Glimmer
Why she moved down: After a really rocky season that had Starlight mostly just there, her being completely absent from "The Best Gift Ever" outside of a cameo with Trixie meant she didn't have a chance to redeem herself. She basically became a ghost, never seen or mentioned. I understand that the special wanted to focus on the mane six and Spike, but they could've at least given Starlight and the student six a proper send-off.
7. Applejack
Why she moved up: For the first time since the end of Season 5, Applejack is no longer on the bottom. "The Best Gift Ever" gave her the occasional chance to shine, but largely it just demonstrated why she's a good straight man/voice of reason and why she needs to have someone else to share the spotlight with. She's already set in her ways and is exactly where she wants to be, so you need to make her the one teaching someone else what to do in order for her character to work. Even then, you can overdo it as I feel the Flim and Flam subplot did (by the end Applejack seemed to become almost pretentious, like how she came across by the end of "Leap of Faith".
6. Spike
Why he stayed the same: Even though he had his wings, he almost never used them for the enterity of "The Best Gift Ever" and while it was great to see some acknowledgement of his crush on Rarity his subplot revolved solely around swapping for Rarity and that was it. We didn't get to see him do much else until the climax, and even then he was just there to be monster bait, even Shining Armor ended up doing more than him. I would've really liked to see Spike interact with Shining Armor, Cadence, and Flurry Heart. Obviously he couldn't be in Twilight's pudding plot without thwarting Flurry's unintentional sabotage, but there had to be a way to include him instead of just tossing him aside once he got what he wanted.
5. Fluttershy
Why she moved down: While Fluttershy did get a chance to do something in the climax of "The Best Gift Ever" for the most part she seemed to revert back to being a pushover, letting Spike, Flim and Flam, and even Applejack push her around or tell her what to do. It's not the most insulting reset of her character growth, but when she only managed to reach the number two spot last time by staying quiet and not doing much when others ultimately got a bit of a chance to redeem themselves that meant she had to move down. I did consider swapping her and Spike, but Spike was weighed down by the baggage he carried from the end of Season 8 and so he stayed where he was.
4. Pinkie Pie
Why she stayed the same: "The Best Gift Ever" was a fine outing for Pinkie, but it wasn't quite the outstanding performance she needed to make up for "Yakity Sax". In fact, her plot felt the most out there of them all (why she did need to go to Yakyakistan to learn about the magical reindeer? Why not just have it be a family legend she remembered, like with the mirror pool?) and while we got to see her sisters and even her parents in a cameo, they didn't contribute much of anything to the special. I feel like as good as "The Best Gift Ever" was, there were at least twice as many stories they could've focused on if they'd really wanted to. Like say, Mudbriar meeting the rest of the Pie family, or the Pies and the Apples interacting with their expanded family circles (including Grand Pear, Sugar Belle, and Mud Briar). Even Discord admitted that Pinkie's resolution to the climax was a bit of a dues-ex-machina (albeit one they did foreshadow, so it wasn't an outright last minute solution out of nowhere). Surprisingly, her and Twilight being each other's Hearth's Warming Helpers is the biggest boost to TwiPie I've seen since the end of Season 4 (though to be honest I'm glad they stopped putting Twilight into Pinkie Pie episodes just so Pinkie would have someone to bounce dialogue off of). And speaking of Twilight...
3. Twilight Sparkle
Why she moved up: If not for what became of her character in Season 8, I'd probably put her at number one because of what "The Best Gift Ever" did for her. It started out as a typical stressed Twilight plot, and they could've easily run with it for the entire length of the special with Twilight's friends all just being dragged along for the ride and trying in vain to get Twilight to stop. But they instead decided to change it up, give Twilight a chance to move beyond her freak outs. And in the climax, when you'd expect her to freak out about everything going wrong, she doesn't. She instead remains calm and works to solve the problem (though I don't see why she needed to use Spike as bait, there had to be a better way of leading the monster along until Fluttershy remembered she could communicate with animals). And yes, it seems that Twilight's pudding face is poised to become a meme.
2. Rarity
Why she moved up: "The Best Gift Ever" was a great reminder of why Rarity is the Element of Generosity. Even when she could easily demand the hat back due to the mix-up, she instead lets Pastaschio keep it and even invites him to fashion week. There's also the whole scene with Derpy at the post office, which is basically Tabitha St. Germain talking to herself and doing so quite splendidly. Were it not for "The End in Friend" she might have actually made it to number one as well. But "The Best Gift Ever" can unfortunately do only so much to make up for some of the harshness we got in Season 8.
1. Rainbow Dash
Why she stayed the same: Ultimately, it was a tough call to say whether Rainbow Dash should remain number one in place of a resurgent Rarity and Twilight, but Rainbow narrowly squeaked out a win due to her strong performances in Season 8 that put her in a stronger position compared to everyone else. Heck, her subplot with Discord was an enjoyable one up until the end when it was revealed that Discord intentionally set up the whole thing just so he could one up Rainbow Dash as a friend (even though he has no reason to do so, Fluttershy is the only one who ever truly befriended him since the rest of the mane eight treat him as an accquaitance or a partner). I'm not sure whether she'll stay in this position next time around, because she got pretty lucky in the second half of Season 8, being able to bounce back from "Non Compete-Clause" with episodes like "The End in Friend" and "The Washouts".
And there you have it. Come back tomorrow, when we'll update the Top Ten Earth Ponies list.
4962163 It's a Mane Eight ranking, not a Mane Nine ranking. Who could possibly be added to make it so? The CMC and Trixie are reoccurring characters but not directly part of the mane cast, and Discord and Sunburst are occasional returners (though oddly, at the end of Season 7 Sunburst seemed to become more or less the sixth ranger of the mane eight).
For me, it became;
Starlight
Twilight
Pinkie
Spike
Applejack
Fluttershy
Rarity
Hey there. Thanks again for sharing the list AND the reasoning.
Anyway, just sharing a couple of modified "re-write" ideas:
"Friendship University": The first part of the re-write involves using Gladmane as the main antagonist for the episode instead of the Flim-Flam Brothers. Another part would be Rarity basically doing the investigation solo (since, as one of only four adult alicorns in Equestria, Twilight would be completely useless in a stealth investigation) with Twilight only contributing when it comes to getting the warrant needed for the search (she IS one of the rulers of Equestria now) and working to get info from Gladmane after he is exposed and captured. And I'm sure you can think of some other stuff to add if you like the idea enough.
"Marks For Effort": Re-written into a two-parter. It has Diamond meeting Cozy first. Her instincts about Cozy cause her to get just suspicious enough to ask Twilight and Starlight for permission to do a discreet investigation for proof one way or the other (i.e. "I can't quite put my hoof on it, but I'm basically getting a vibe off her that makes me think she is a more subtle Pegasus version of my old self. As such, I feel she is up to something. If I am wrong and my discreet investigation turns up nothing, then nobody needs to know except the three of us. However, if I am RIGHT, then I have a chance to stop her BEFORE she does anything REALLY bad."). It takes Diamond (with eventual help from the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the Student Six) most of parts one AND two to get the evidence, but she ultimately succeeds and Cozy is thwarted BEFORE she has a chance to put ANY plans into action (thereby almost completely averting pretty much half a season worth of Idiot Ball).
"The Mean Seven": This re-write would basically involve this being re-written into a 50-minute special taking place at the EXACT SAME TIME as "School Raze". It STARTS OUT with the Mane Six and Starlight getting arrested for a series of daring crimes (even though they could easily break out of most jails, Twilight refuses to let them - insisting that "'jailbreaking is lawbreaking'" [meaning that Wrongful Arrest Insurance {or however the trope is named} is completely averted] and breaking out of jail would indicate that they had absolutely no faith in Spike, Shining Armor, Big Mac, Sunburst, Trixie and the Crusaders to clear them). From there, Spike, Shining Armor, Big Mac, Sunburst, Trixie and the Crusaders all work to find a way to clear the Mane Six and Starlight from the charges against them (Discord can't help with the investigation as he is busy dealing with an escaped Tirek). After a bit of extensive investigation, Spike, Shining Armor and the others ultimately discover that the crimes were really committed by clones of the Mane Six and Starlight created by Chrysalis and trained for nearly a year. It takes A LOT of brains, courage and teamwork to defeat Chrysalis and the clones (ESPECIALLY against the Twilight and Starlight clones) as well as get the evidence needed to clear Twilight and the others, but Spike, Shining Armor and the others ultimately succeed.
"School Raze": Tirek is of course, the main villain in the re-write (having absorbed all the power from every OTHER villain and monster held in Tartarus in order to have enough power to fight Discord on equal footing). As aforementioned, this takes place at the EXACT SAME TIME as "the Mean Seven", meaning that the Mane Six and Starlight are stuck in jail for pretty much the entire two episodes and the majority of the secondary cast is focused on trying to clear the Mane Six and Starlight. As such, the majority of part one of the "School Raze" re-write involves Discord fighting Tirek directly (Tirek has enough power from the other Tartarus inmates to be able to fight Discord evenly, but NOT enough to drain Discord outright) and Celestia, Luna and the Pillars trying to fill in for the Mane Six and Starlight at the Friendship School. Speaking of the Friendship School, it gets destroyed around the end of part one (though Discord is able to keep Tirek busy long enough for Celestia, Luna and the PIllars all working together to get everybody safely out before the school is destroyed. Part two opens with Tirek absorbing the abilities from Celestia, Luna and the Pillars and then from Discord. At this point, the de-powered Discord, Celestia, Luna and Pillars work with the Student Six to try to stop Tirek armed with nothing but their courage and wits, which pretty much takes up the entirety of part two.
4962668 Not in my rewrite of "Magic Duel". Plus, it's been years since that ordeal, Trixie has already saved Pinkie and the others once. I think Pinkie would agree that it's time to let bygones be bygones.
4962672
Thanks. So, what do you think of the re-write ideas?
4962676 I actually really like the idea of using Gladmane in "Friendship University", I hadn't considered that. I could probably even have him bankrolling Neighsay in secret.
4962704
Thank you very much.
'
And, yeah, thanks for the thought of Gladmane secretly bankrolling Neighsay. I have to admit I didn't think of THAT.
4962168
A part of me can't help but get Bluethunder25 vibes from this comment. The only thing missing is a rant about how Twilight "verbally chastised" Sunset Shimmer.
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, Bluethunder25 is a contributor on the MLP Wiki who has a bit of a reputation on said site for spreading inciteful comments and blog posts about how much he utterly despises Twilight because, get this, he didn't like the moment from the first Equestria Girls movie when she told off Sunset for her wrongdoings after defeating her. Oh yes, you heard me right. This guy hates Twilight just because he disliked seeing her mildly berate the film's ANTAGONIST for her misdeeds, claiming that it was "out of line" and he will "never forgive Twilight until she apologizes to Sunset".
Some of BT25's defenses to Sunset's bad behavior is a throwaway line of her saying she isn't a monster and stating that Sunset didn't know she would turn into a demon when she put on the Element of Magic. I think we can all agree that neither of these statements doesn't automatically excuse all the trouble she caused throughout the film, as she still WILLINGLY chose to enact them. He also believes that Sunset should've gotten pissed at Twilight for kicking her when she was down, even though I'm pretty sure Sunset (as well as anyone in her position) is just grateful she got off with a talking to and community service instead of, you know, being sentenced to life in prison, or worse getting the electric chair.
I will say this much; if it turned out Sunset was being forced against her will to be mean by someone worse than her and she expressed some guilt for her actions like Sci-Twi in Friendship Games, then BT25 might have a point in his criticism of Twilight's "Reason You Suck" Speech to her. But as it stands, I can only see BT25 being a butthurt Sunset Shimmer fanboy whose in denial that his "waifu" was a horrible person before she got reformed.