Mane Eight Ranking, Version 9 · 4:30pm Oct 15th, 2019

While this isn't where the characters fall overall for me (that ranking can be found on my DeviantArt account in this journal.) after everything that happened in the second half of Season 9 and across those last thirteen episodes, this ranking definitely needed to change. Did the number one spot change and if so who now holds it? Here's the previous version, from just after "Rainbow Roadtrip", let's see what changed and why.

8. Applejack
Why she stayed on the bottom: Although the finale at least had her actually be listened for once, for the most part Applejack was just flat out ignored even when she was trying to be the voice of reason. They didn't do anything with her not even in "The Big Mac Question" where she's revealed to be the one hearing the stories about the dual proposals. And why did she once again leave Big Macintosh to do the hard work on his own, especially now that he's married? That's not right.

7. Rainbow Dash
Why she moved way down: Ouch, what a fall from grace for Rainbow Dash! "2, 4, 6, Greaaat" was a blow from which she never recovered. Rainbow Dash regressed so much as a character it hurt! Gone is the Rainbow Dash who others could look up to and who could in turn inspire them as a good role model. Gone is the Rainbow Dash who could learn to open up to others and share in their plights. In her place is the arrogant Rainbow Dash who thinks she's so awesome she doesn't need to feel anything else. The Rainbow Dash who is the butt monkey that must always be in the wrong. I guess her brief time on the top during the later half of Season 8 and through the first half of Season 9 was just too good to last.

6. Rarity
Why she moved down: Season 9 probably wasn't as bad for Rarity as Season 6 was, but it's still telling that in the two seasons Josh Haber was chief story editor for on his own, Rarity had some of her worst performances in recent memory. It's amazing how Haber could be such a big fan of Rarity and yet be so bad at writing her competently. "Dragon Dropped" really didn't do Rarity any favors because on top of how platonically they treated Spike's bond with Gabby even though it was obviously meant to be romantic, flashbacks only ever saw Rarity appreciating Spike when he was doing favors for her and without him around she somehow couldn't do anything on her own and had to rope all her friends into being replacements. And much like Rainbow Dash she just never recovered, she never got another chance to turn it all around. It was interesting to see how much stronger she'd gotten when it came to magic in "The Ending of the End" but it came on very suddenly, and it was kind of odd that the mane six member most interested in romance appeared to be the only one without a partner (but I like to think she either hooked up with Spike, or her special someone was in Yakyakistan).

5. Fluttershy
Why she moved down: If Fluttershy's final big character outing was "She Talks to Angel" she probably would've stayed where she was, even if that episode made her seem more like Twilight (frazzled mane, long list of chores, getting stressed out and getting mad as a result) it did a good job of showing her character growth. But then came "Daring Doubt" which made her into a complete idiot for the sake of the plot, and it retroactively tainted a lot of her interactions with Discord. Think about it, how many times has she somehow taken no notice of Discord doing bad things behind her back? How many times has she ignored him delibertly doing things to mess with Twilight? Thanks to "Daring Doubt" I can only assume she is blissfully ignorant of any bad behavior no matter what, and Discord intentionally manipulates that to avoid being punished (if Fluttershy didn't take his side all the time, do you think he wouldn't have been turned to stone after "The Ending of the End"?). I'm sure that wasn't the intent of anyone, but it's the ultimate case of not thinking through your implications. And it's still sad that we never got a proper PinkieShy episode (or a proper TwiJack episode for that matter), so I suppose we'll have to settle for stuff like "Buckball Season" and their interactions together in "Rainbow Roadtrip".

4. Starlight Glimmer
Why she moved way up: At least Starlight got something good out of a season that was mostly spent ignoring her (I can kind of understand why but at the same time I don't think they needed to scale back on her as much as they did). I still don't get why they seemed to enjoy putting her into toxic friendships with Trixie and Discord in recent seasons, it feels like both are deliberetly taking advantage of Starlight being new to friendship and not wanting to lose friends again to get away with bad behavior. Again, I know that's not the intent but what we've seen unfortunately leads me to believe that's the case. I'll give props to Starlight for being the only one to put up a real fight in "The Ending of the End" against the Legion of Doom in the initial assaults, she even got a few good one liners in. And maybe it's just me but it seems like she didn't age at all by the time of "The Last Problem" even when all her friends did. It really does feel like she turned the corner in this season, finally put her troubled past behind her and put her skills to good use. She kind of reminds me of Korra in Season 4 of Avatar: The Legend of Korra, she endured a lot of trials and tribulations but it was all necessary in order for her to emerge as a better character with the skills needed to solve the problems she faced.

3. Twilight Sparkle
Why she moved way up: At first we had "2, 4, 6, Greaaat" where she pulled a Celestia and then "A Trivial Pursuit" where her obsessive behavior reached a breaking point for even long time fans. If they had continued down that road her character would've sunk to the bottom. But thankfully they took the high road and turned it all around for her, starting with "The Summer Sun Setback" where she was able to finally overcome all of her defining flaws. Yes it would've been nice to see it happen, but it was great to bear witness to it. And from there Twilight never again obsessed, not even when things started going wrong in the run up to her coronation. It was only when Discord revealed his plan to "help" Twilight gain confidence that she came undone, which can you blame her? Discord basically mind screwed with her unintentionally, and the Legion of Doom rubbed salt in the wound when they revealed how they'd turned ponies against each other. Thankfully, she bounced back from it with the help of her friends and was able to keep them in her hearts even when they didn't move back to Canterlot to rule directly alongside her. If I had one complaint with "The Last Problem" it's that her design as ruler was lazy: They just recolored Celestia's design with Twilight's colors and it definitely didn't look fitting. But I'm willing to bet that was due to time constraints and the fact that it would be pointless to make a brand new character model in the final episode. However, she is weighed down a bit by what happened to her earlier in the season, her not freaking out was something that should've happened much sooner.

2. Pinkie Pie
Why she stayed the same: I was all set and ready to have her take back the top spot after "The Last Laugh" was her triumphant return to the spotlight, especially when it was written by the same writers who had knocked her off her pedestal a season prior with "Yakity Sax" and left her struggling to catch up. But alas, then came "A Trivial Pursuit" that threw all of Pinkie's development out the window for the sake of turning her into a scatterbrain and a threat to Twilight's winning streak. Pinkie Pie is shown unable to focus even for a second, and is stupid enough to fall for an obvious set-up by Twilight. On top of that she is completely oblivious to the fact that Twilight engineered her disqualification on purpose, and she never got a chance to actually prove she could know stuff. And sadly that was the last time we got a big role out of her, from then onward she was part of the group. It was great to see her with Cheese Sandwich in the finale and with a daughter, she probably aged the best out of all her friends (probably because she's so joyful and full of life that she has no time to really age). But unfortunately that can only go so far to make up for how badly they messed up her character in "A Trivial Pursuit", Pinkie Pie is NOT stupid!

1. Spike
Why he moved up to the top: There's no denying it, Season 9 was Spike's season! Once "Sparkle's Seven" came around and confirmed his relationship with Twilight there was just no stopping him. Not even "Sweet and Smoky" could truly bring him down for good. In the second half he was on a roll, even some of his lesser moments felt well intentioned. And him being by Twilight's side even after her coronation was a nice touch, definitely love how beefed up he got in "The Last Problem". Now if only he'd gotten this kind of development sooner. Hey, better late than never. In the final episodes, Spike clawed his way up to the top and never looked back! So for all those reasons I'm putting him at number one.

And there you have it, come back tonight when we'll update the rankings for the CMC (which I also have a definitive ranking for on DeviantArt).

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