) I can safely say that My Little Pony: A New Generation was great! 
And here are my random thoughts:
Top 15 Best MLP Episodes · 7:35pm Jul 5th, 2020
Told ya I’d have this ready soon.
After much consideration of the order and which ones had the most valuable morals aimed at the target audience, I've managed to narrow it down.
Here are my picks for the top 15 best episodes of the show. And after this countdown, I'll move onto the best and worst show characters next.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Simple Ways
This episode is so fucking ridiculous and it’s amazing.
Oh, and the moral of how you shouldn’t change yourself just to try and get someone to like you is important too but hoooly shit, is this episode amazingly ridiculous!
Sparkle’s Seven
Hey, look, it’s a good version of Slice of Life that focuses on the main characters this time! You know, the characters that the target audience know and like!
The Last Roundup
No, I don’t care about Derpy, I care about the actually important stuff. As in, the moral of how you can’t run away from your problems and that not coming in first place doesn’t mean you’re a failure.
Alright, now onto the countdown!
15
Sleepless in Ponyville
The comedy and adorableness is on-point in this episode, complete with the message of how denying your fears and not confronting them is not a healthy mindset to be in.
14
Inspiration Manifestation
Nothing like a Spike episode showing him at his best, along with the lesson that being a supportive friend doesn’t mean not speaking up when you believe your friend is doing something that may be making themselves happy but is coming at the expense of others. If anything, speaking up is the most supportive thing you can do because it shows how much you care about their well-being.
13
Hurricane Fluttershy
As annoying as it was how the writers always repeated the same “Fluttershy learns to stop being timid over something” plot line before setting her back to square one in the first three seasons, the number of leaps and bounds she made and the sheer effort she put into overcoming her challenges were still commendable, especially in this episode. You can see the determination in her eyes during the training montage as she works to fight through her anxiety, coupled with a valuable lesson of how even if you don’t think you’re making a difference, every little contribution helps.
12
Sisterhooves Social
Rarity and Sweetie Belle have one of the most engaging and touching sibling dynamics in the show. And nowhere is it displayed more perfectly than here, along with the lesson that being a sibling means compromising, making sacrifices and taking time for the other.
11
Brotherhooves Social
(holds back sobs) That ending tho...
10
Fluttershy Leans In
Fluttershy applying her assertiveness to a situation in order to ensure her passion project comes out the way she wants it to when it risks being ruined by the so-called professionals who go behind her back?
Bless this horse! Just… BLESS THIS HORSE!
9
Flight To The Finish
Without a doubt, Scootaloo’s strongest episode.
Seeing her get knocked down by Diamond Turd and Silver Scum’s mocking of her disability yet find the confidence to get back up again is so admirable. Along with the lesson of being yourself and not being concerned about what others can do that you can’t, because while you may have a disability, you also have your own strengths that make you awesome in your own way.
8
Equestria Games
No, this episode wasn't automatically ruined because "Waaah, Spike's song was so criiiiiiinge!". And no, I never gave a shit about the games themselves.
I cared about what the episode was actually about: Spike having to learn that you are your own worst critic and all the praise in the world doesn’t mean anything if you don’t feel it inside yourself.
7
Discordant Harmony
Now this episode was an absolute delight from start to finish. Make New Friends But Keep Discord was still a very entertaining Discord episode but this one had the better moral of the two.
Discord was at his best by showing how much he cares about Fluttershy’s approval and genuinely wanting to make her feel comfortable, along with Fluttershy being adorably excited for the chaotic nature of his home and showing how well she knows him, coupled with a touching lesson that your friends are your friends for a reason and you shouldn’t conform to a preconceived notion of "normal" to try and impress them because they already like you for you.
6
Sounds of Silence
Undoubtedly the best Season 8 episode, thanks to Rachel Bloom’s stellar performance as Autumn Blaze and its lesson.
It's extremely important for kids to know that anger isn't a horrible, evil thing to be scared of. It's actually a very healthy emotion to have and you shouldn’t fear it or force yourself to not feel it. It’s important to experience all your emotions equally so you know how to deal with them in a healthy manner.
Also I now ship AppleShy thanks to this episode.
5
Griffon The Brush Off
When I first saw this episode in 2013, I didn’t think that much of it. But looking back at it now, especially with how much the show’s later seasons pushed the notion that you should always remain friends with someone even if they’re cruel to you, this episode was practically a godsend.
The moral about the importance of recognising when a friendship or relationship has become toxic and cutting the toxic person out of your life, whether they’re mistreating you or the people close to you, is an extremely vital one that every child should hear. Don’t be concerned with how many friends you have, be concerned with having good friends. Just because you ended a bad relationship doesn’t mean you failed in some way, it’s completely valid to want to be happy.
And before you ask, Rainbow and Gilda becoming friends again in The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone could've been less sloppy but no, that episode didn't diminish the moral here. Because A, Gilda fixed the behaviour that made Rainbow end their friendship to begin with. And B (most importantly), Rainbow wasn’t harassed, guilt-tripped or pressured into forgiving Gilda.
4
Amending Fences
An extremely touching episode that shows how far Twilight’s come as the Princess of Friendship and the path she would have ended up going down if she hadn’t been forced to unite the Elements of Harmony.
Also Moondancer is every post-Rainbow Rocks villain done right, seeing how she was slighted in the past but didn’t turn into a bitter genocidal monster hell-bent on destroying the world as a result of it.
This atonement story works because the stakes are lower and because Twilight reaches out to Moondancer, not because the fate of Equestria is on the line, but because she genuinely feels terrible about what she did to her in the past.
3
Gauntlet of Fire
An exciting adventure with humour and heart? Check?
Showing off all Spike's best qualities? Check.
Not making him the source of the episode's conflict? Check.
Teaching Ember and the kids watching that you don't need to conform to the toxic masculinity ideology that the dragons follow to be considered strong? Cheeeeeck.
2
It Ain't Easy Being Breezies
Now this is Fluttershy at her best.
Because the writers stopped recycling the same tired “Fluttershy learns to stop being timid” formula for her episodes, Fluttershy’s character development finally stuck and she became more assertive and witty while still keeping her empathetic nature.
And this episode gave one of the best lessons in the entire series; a lesson Fluttershy took to heart of how an act of kindness can potentially do more harm than good and some people will take advantage of your kindness, so there are times where you need to put your foot down for someone’s own good. That always being unconditionally nice and placating people is an extremely unhealthy thing to do. It may not make you feel warm and fuzzy inside but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.
To have the character who embodies the very spirit of kindness learn this lesson, and on a show aimed at kids, was an extremely ballsy move on the writers’ part, as well as the most important episode for Fluttershy's character.
1
Twilight's Kingdom
Still the absolute best finale to date.
I admit it, I'm cheating here. It Ain’t Easy Being Breezies is technically the better episode in regards to the lesson so this is purely a subjective pick, but I can’t help it; it really is just that great.
The villain is hammy yet genuinely threatening, the stakes are incredibly high, the season arc with the keys gets wrapped up in a satisfying way, that kickass battle between Twilight and Tirek is a big plus, and it provides a touching conclusion to Discord's redemption, Twilight’s worries as a princess and Season 4 overall. It's such a grand finale to the season that I honestly wouldn't have minded if the show had finished here. It just seemed like the most satisfying note to end on. And for that, to this day, I still consider it the number one best episode.
And that's it for the best list. Keep your eyes peeled for my top 15 worst MLP characters list in future (again, saving the positive stuff for last).
This was a nice list to read. I definitely approve of ones like Sisterhooves Social (one of my all-time favorites from the early years) and Sounds of Silence. Lovely stories with, in the case of the latter, a surprisingly smart lesson too!
My one, little regret is not seeing The Perfect Pear on this list, but I also admit that one is very subjective to me. (My own parents, while they didn't come from two feuding families, still had a lot of drama surrounding their marriage, so seeing AJ's parents having faced a lot of struggle and resentment from their own parents *really* struck a chord with me.)
Nice countdown, and I quite appreciated it.
...That being said, I'm gonna be skipping the "worst characters" list. Same reason that I haven't looked at your worst-episodes list... I just don't enjoy that shit. All too often have I seen these "worst of" lists - be they for movies, cartoons, or whatever else - become rants, rage-fests, insults being thrown out; whether at people who disagree or at the creators involved... I just don't want any part of that. I have done only one list of things I hated about something (The Dark Knight Rises, if you really must know) and frankly there's a part of me that really regrets it. So... yeah.
I'll wait for the good stuff.
5301796
Honestly, looking back at The Perfect Pear, it's a really mediocre episode/love story. Not awful, definitely not one of the worst episodes but not really that good either.
5301798
Like I said, I recognize that it's a subjective case. Its story really hit a special chord with me because of some of my own family circumstances, hence why I love it so much.
5301811
Fair enough.