I get to the final two Ponies in the Mane 6.
As of last night, I finished watching the thirteenth episode of the fifth season. This, as far as I am aware, brings me current with all the episodes which have aired, not including any of the spin-off series.
I am not very sure if there is more than one spin-off, but so far I have been avoiding Equestria Girls. This is intentional as I made the mistake of running a search for one of the Ponies on a *booru image board and found my eyes assaulted with more MLP Equestria Girls straight porn than I could deal with. Some of it still remains burned into my brain. Would any of you happen to have some Brain Bleach? No, the anime Bleach is not acceptable.
I wanted to take the time to re-iterate my previous sentiments about Twilight Sparkle. At the time I wrote that blog, I had not yet watched the fifth season, and it once again reinforced my opinions of her.
So, on to the two Ponies of the Mane 6 whom I actually like.
The first is Rainbow Dash. Right of the top, let me say, this one still surprises me. I really did not like her until the 16th episode of the second season, which is technically episode 42.
No, the underlying humour of that point has not escaped me.
Before then I saw her as an annoying tomboy who was hyper-obsessed with speed and looking cooler than any other, no matter who it may have hurt. This was really apparent in the seventh episode of season two, or the 33rd episode overall, “May the Best Pet Win.”
A quick synopsis : Rainbow Dash finds out everyone else has pets by accidentally finding their regularly scheduled playdate. She is told she was never invited because she has no pet, and it is ridiculous for her to join the group for a pet playdate if she has no pet. Obviously she feels she is being left out of something cool, so she decides she wants a pet. She then proceeds to ignore every suggestion given to her by Fluttershy, yes the animal expert Pony, on what would be a good pet for her have. Her reason is none other than they are not cool enough. This leads to a competition in which Rainbow Dash tramples over the innocent feelings of many animals who really want nothing more than to be the best pet they can be. Even though she redeems herself with the pet she chooses, she does so at the expense of other pets feelings.
Now, this may not seem like much, but her element is that of loyalty. Let me say that again. She is the embodiment of loyalty. However, she was always putting herself ahead of all the others. Especially when it had anything to do with the WonderBolts. Equestria’s version of the Thunderbirds, or Blue Angels if you want to use the Navy. Considering they wear blue, you decide.
However, in the 42nd episode she illustrated for the first time, true character growth. Even if it was embarrassing for her to admit it, she grew to start liking to read. A pursuit she had previously considered uncool, or the realm of eggheads. She became hooked on a book loaned her by Twilight about the MLP version of Indiana Jones, by the name of Daring Do. After which she not only wants to read the rest of the series of books, but another aspect of her opens up and she becomes less focused on being 20% cooler than anything else and actually starts to behave like her element.
I am going to skip over her early rivalry with Applejack, as it was told to me as much worse than it really was. I am also going to only mention in passing her love of practical jokes, which seemed to really tame down after her old friend Gilda was introduced. It seemed like it was something conjured for that one episode then almost never mentioned again.
There is another aspect of her which I am very able to relate to, which I think also helped a lot in my starting to like her more than I had previously. It was the episode where I started to soften to her, overall episode 41, the 15th episode of the second season, “The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000″, in which her primary purpose was to just obsess over, and never get, any of the Apple Families fresh, but limited, Apple Cider. In many ways I also obsess over apple cider.
I still do not think she actually embodies her assigned element, but I do believe she has gone through a lot of character growth through the series. I feel she is perhaps the one Pony who started as one thing with one path, but has managed to grow into the same thing, but going down a different path.
So then, if Rainbow Dash is a bad fit for the title of the element of Loyalty, who is the best fit?
I am happy you asked, because now we get to Applejack.
My wife likes to point out, I had not even finished the first episode and I had already, as she says, “... latched on to Applejack and never let go.” I think she is mostly accurate there.
Remember, before starting the series I really knew nothing about the Ponies, other than I liked the design of Princess Luna, and I had read over some of the linked to me Princess Molestia stories. So, I really had nothing to start with. No pre-conceptions to get in the way. Not even any knowledge about the series from the 80′s in which it seems, my wife actually had to look it up for me to verify, Applejack was in as well.
Applejack is the brave, strong, reliable, older sister type Pony. I say the because she is the only one who embodies those features. But, more than anything, she is the most loyal of all Ponies. Even to her own detriment, her loyalty is far beyond what even her assigned element, honesty, is illustrated.
It is true she has a younger sister, Apple Bloom, whom she is constantly worried about, and fawning over in an attempt to make certain she is well cared for, and protected from the evils of Equestria. But, it is not just her sister she is that way with. She has an Older Sister approach to everyone else on Sweet Apple Acres. That includes her grandmother, Granny Smith, and her older brother, Big Mackintosh. This would be expected by most, but it does not stop there. She takes this attitude with everyone. She genuinely cares about them all.
That is not enough to take me in. It usually takes something special, and over many posts through the blogs here, I am certain I have mentioned my weakness for accents. Though I prefer the 80′s [San Fernando] Valley Girl accent most, I am also attracted to the United States Southern Drawl accent, which she has. I also find her mannerism of using the name “Sugarcube” as an affectionate term to be very enchanting.
I have to honestly say, I enjoy listening to her talk.
She is the most rounded character in the series. She is almost a Mary Sue type when you think about it. She is an athlete on equal levels with Rainbow Dash, she is a capable cook, which takes over some of Pinkie Pie’s realm, and she is often shown to be stronger than Bulk Biceps. She is shown to be skilled in playing both a banjo and a fiddle, which is very close to the violin, one of the instruments I loved to play. She was even shown to be capable of stopping a stampede with no help, just her and her pet dog.
She is not all good aspects. She is perhaps the most stubborn of all the cast. Multiple times she has let that stubborn aspect take over. The first time being in the third episode, where her Pride would not let her admit she was not able to buck the entire Sweet Apple Acres harvest on her own. It led to her competing with Rainbow Dash in a competition of who is the most athletic, in which both believed the other was cheating. She ruins a sleepover due to her being thickheaded with Rarity, and she even believes she know vampire fruit bats better than Fluttershy, and leads to an even worse situation.
She is also, in my opinion, the most empathetic of the cast. She is the only one who regularly picks up on subtle clues which show one of the others, Mane 6 or Minor Rest, are in some form of distress. In addition, she is always trying to do things for others. Be it her willingness to take the long way around a mountain with Fluttershy, so the others can stop being impatient, her constant stopping others from acting rash, especially Rainbow Dash, or, even her constant attempts to do things for her sister, even to a fault.
There are two other features of Applejack which I am drawn toward. They are things that remind me of my wife. She is a diligent worker, self employed really, who puts a great emphasis on family. It is true, the definition of family can change from person to person, but I honestly never really knew what family was, or could be, until I married my wife, and it has become important to me. Applejack loves her family, and she would give them all of Equestria if that was what it took in order for them to be safe, healthy, and happy.
Finally, there is a side of her personality I find to be extremely cute. How easily supernatural events can scare her. I know I said she was the bravest Pony out there, but understand, bravery is knowing your fear is right around the corner, and rounding that corner because you have to. She does not run from her fears, but she will let them show. A good example is from the ninth episode of the first season, Bridle Gossip, when Pinkie Pie is singing her song, “Evil Enchantress”. Applejack is shown to be scared six seconds in. This only manages to add to the cuteness factor.
Now I am actually wishing I had a nice Applejack figure.
