Counting MLP episode references in Fimfiction stories · 8:26pm Nov 26th, 2020
While I was idly sailing through the Fimfiverse, I came across this blog post by Wiimeiser, which asks the question: Is there some way to figure out how many stories exist per episode?
The immediate answer that comes to mind is no, because the question lacks definition - it isn't clear what it would mean for a story to be based upon an episode. To varying extents, all fics derive their influence from episodes of the show, so I don't think this isn't really a question that can be answered meaningfully.
But, I was intrigued by the idea of trying to measure an episode's impact on the ponyfic landscape, and there's a simple way that you can sort of do it - check how many times each episode's name is mentioned in fic descriptions.
This approach has one obvious problem: if an episode's title is something generic, like "Maud Pie", then its appearance in a description is likely a false positive, since it's probably not referring to the episode. Therefore, this approach gives overinflated results for certain episodes. But I felt it would still be interesting to see what we get anyway. More after the list.
Number of times each MLP episode title is mentioned in Fimfiction story descriptions
Friendship is Magic: 4358
The Crystal Empire: 1885
Princess Twilight Sparkle: 1238
Hearth's Warming Eve: 594
Slice of Life: 578
Hearts and Hooves Day: 552
Sonic Rainboom: 243
Maud Pie: 206
Power Ponies: 150
Magical Mystery Cure: 137
A Canterlot Wedding: 117
The Cutie Map: 116
Equestria Games: 113
Magic Duel: 103
Keep Calm and Flutter On: 96
Twilight's Kingdom: 87
Wonderbolts Academy: 81
Crusaders of the Lost Mark: 77
Rainbow Falls: 73
Winter Wrap Up: 58
Apple Family Reunion: 58
The Cutie Re-Mark: 57
It's About Time: 54
The Mysterious Mare Do Well: 53
Luna Eclipsed: 50
Twilight Time: 47
Boast Busters: 40
The Best Night Ever: 38
The Return of Harmony: 37
Sisterhooves Social: 37
Lesson Zero: 35
Bats!: 35
The Beginning of the End: 35
The Last Problem: 34
The Ending of the End: 32
Sleepless in Ponyville: 31
Three's A Crowd: 28
Leap of Faith: 28
Games Ponies Play: 27
Newbie Dash: 27
Common Ground: 27
Party of One: 26
Shadow Play: 26
Inspiration Manifestation: 25
Amending Fences: 25
Tanks for the Memories: 24
Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?: 24
School Raze: 24
Too Many Pinkie Pies: 23
The Washouts: 23
The Last Roundup: 22
Dragon Quest: 22
Gauntlet of Fire: 22
What Lies Beneath: 22
Simple Ways: 21
Applebuck Season: 20
Family Appreciation Day: 20
The Crystalling: 20
To Where and Back Again: 20
28 Pranks Later: 19
The Mean 6: 19
Best Gift Ever: 19
The Cutie Mark Chronicles: 18
Daring Don't: 18
Rarity Takes Manehattan: 18
School Daze: 18
Look Before You Sleep: 17
Flight to the Finish: 17
A Royal Problem: 17
Putting Your Hoof Down: 16
Ponyville Confidential: 16
Spike at Your Service: 16
Make New Friends but Keep Discord: 16
Canterlot Boutique: 16
Dragonshy: 15
Secret of My Excess: 15
Pinkie Pride: 15
What About Discord?: 15
No Second Prances: 15
Frenemies: 15
Hurricane Fluttershy: 14
Filli Vanilli: 14
Rarity Investigates!: 14
A Hearth's Warming Tail: 14
Sweet and Elite: 13
Read It and Weep: 13
Somepony to Watch Over Me: 13
Honest Apple: 13
The Perfect Pear: 13
Triple Threat: 13
Uprooted: 13
The Point of No Return: 13
The Last Laugh: 13
Call of the Cutie: 12
The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000: 12
One Bad Apple: 12
Pinkie Apple Pie: 12
Trade Ya!: 12
The Mane Attraction: 12
Viva Las Pegasus: 12
The Ticket Master: 11
Over a Barrel: 11
The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone: 11
Brotherhooves Social: 11
On the Road to Friendship: 11
The Last Crusade: 11
Griffon the Brush Off: 10
Bridle Gossip: 10
Stare Master: 10
Princess Spike: 10
Party Pooped: 10
Every Little Thing She Does: 10
All Bottled Up: 10
Fame and Misfortune: 10
Fall Weather Friends: 9
Baby Cakes: 9
Just for Sidekicks: 9
Celestial Advice: 9
Daring Done?: 9
Father Knows Beast: 9
May the Best Pet Win!: 8
Castle Mane-ia: 8
Castle Sweet Castle: 8
The Times They Are A Changeling: 8
Rock Solid Friendship: 8
The Hearth's Warming Club: 8
Sounds of Silence: 8
A Horse Shoe-In: 8
Suited For Success: 7
A Dog and Pony Show: 7
A Bird in the Hoof: 7
MMMystery on the Friendship Express: 7
It Ain't Easy Being Breezies: 7
Made in Manehattan: 7
Flutter Brutter: 7
Parental Glideance: 7
Molt Down: 7
Marks for Effort: 7
A Matter of Principals: 7
Student Counsel: 7
Swarm of the Century: 6
Owl's Well That Ends Well: 6
The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows: 6
Hearthbreakers: 6
Scare Master: 6
Spice Up Your Life: 6
Dungeons & Discords: 6
The Fault in Our Cutie Marks: 6
Hard to Say Anything: 6
Marks and Recreation: 6
She's All Yak: 6
Between Dark and Dawn: 6
The Cutie Pox: 5
The Hooffields and McColts: 5
It Isn't the Mane Thing About You: 5
Secrets and Pies: 5
Horse Play: 5
Non-Compete Clause: 5
Green Isn't Your Color: 4
Applejack's "Day" Off: 4
The Cart Before the Ponies: 4
A Flurry of Emotions: 4
Discordant Harmony: 4
Campfire Tales: 4
The Break Up Break Down: 4
Sweet and Smoky: 4
Dragon Dropped: 4
Feeling Pinkie Keen: 3
A Friend in Deed: 3
For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils: 3
Bloom & Gloom: 3
On Your Marks: 3
The Saddle Row Review: 3
Stranger Than Fan Fiction: 3
P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View): 3
Fluttershy Leans In: 3
Forever Filly: 3
To Change a Changeling: 3
Once Upon a Zeppelin: 3
Uncommon Bond: 3
Fake It Til You Make It: 3
Grannies Gone Wild: 3
The Parent Map: 3
Friendship University: 3
Going to Seed: 3
Daring Doubt: 3
Growing Up is Hard to Do: 3
The Big Mac Question: 3
The Show Stoppers: 2
Testing Testing 1, 2, 3: 2
Appleoosa's Most Wanted: 2
Buckball Season: 2
Where the Apple Lies: 2
The Maud Couple: 2
Surf and/or Turf: 2
Yakity-Sax: 2
2, 4, 6, Greaaat: 2
The Summer Sun Setback: 2
The Gift of the Maud Pie: 1
Not Asking for Trouble: 1
A Health of Information: 1
A Rockhoof and a Hard Place: 1
Sparkle's Seven: 1
She Talks to Angel: 1
Top Bolt: 0
The End in Friend: 0
A Trivial Pursuit: 0I tried to be flexible in allowing common variants of episode names, to account for differences in formatting or spelling. "Friendship is Magic" obviously takes the top spot since it's the title of the show (also, the second part of that episode is alternatively called "Elements of Harmony", which also appears a lot as a phrase). There isn't really any way to truly know when people are referring to that episode. The same is true for most titles in the top ten, which are all ambiguous and likely overinflated.
The highest-ranking title on the list that is unambiguously an episode is "Magical Mystery Cure", so we can confirm that that is the most referenced episode for which we have accurate data. This is perhaps not too surprising given the episode is a landmark in the show, separating the Unicorn Twilight and Alicorn Twilight eras. I also believe the alicorn drama around that time also boosted it, with many people wanting to write their own versions of the episode. Premieres and finales tend to do well in this list overall, with the lowest-rated one being "Celestial Advice".
Another factor confounding the data is that in many cases an episode is mentioned not because the fic is based on it, but rather to specify when the timeline branches. There's also plenty of instances where multiple episodes are mentioned to provide a time range in which events take place, without specifically being based on any of those episodes.
To think about it, I'm pretty sure there was a fic called The Times Are a-Changeling before the episode.
Also, I guess Jay David wrote a fic about every episode. Or at least the later seasons.
Should I be surprised Growing Up is Hard to Do got mentioned more than The Show Stoppers?
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It is a little surprising when you consider that one is from the first season and the other is from the last - I'd definitely have expected The Show Stoppers to rack up a few more mentions over the years.