Favorite Mane Five character arc

[CommanderPonyShep]

Note, that when I say "character arc," I mean an arc that is spread through multiple self-contained episodes, not just the key episodes and the way they were spread throughout all of Season Four. The arcs I've mentioned in my poll list are amongst the examples, because even though the individual episodes told their own self-contained stories, it was the Mane Five and their respective personal stories that were spread through multiple episodes.

For me, it's Rarity's arc of becoming a famous fashion designer, and even a Canterlot pony. Hell, I liked her in the Nightmare Rarity arc, where even though she was a damsel-in-distress at the time, she still had a character-arc of learning to not fear rejection. Besides, she had no Season Three episode of her own, because one episode meant for her, Spike At Your Service, was given to Applejack. So, it was appropriate that she had a character-arc of learning to not fear rejection, even if she was kidnapped and possessed for her fear of being rejected by her friends.

[RarityDash]

Rarity is best pony, so she wins.

And even if she wasn't my favorite, she does seem to have the most arc to her in a lot of ways. Applejack has exhibited very little growth throughout the series and Fluttershy seems to have to learn the same lessons over and over. Dash and Pinkie have had decent arcs, but they haven't seemed quite as consistent to me as Rarity.

[QuickLime]

Rarity is best pony, so she wins.

And even if she wasn't my favorite, she does seem to have the most arc to her in a lot of ways. Applejack has exhibited very little growth throughout the series and Fluttershy seems to have to learn the same lessons over and over. Dash and Pinkie have had decent arcs, but they haven't seemed quite as consistent to me as Rarity.

Yes, this, all this

Also Fluttershy is worse pony

[CommanderPonyShep]

Rarity is best pony, so she wins.

And even if she wasn't my favorite, she does seem to have the most arc to her in a lot of ways. Applejack has exhibited very little growth throughout the series and Fluttershy seems to have to learn the same lessons over and over. Dash and Pinkie have had decent arcs, but they haven't seemed quite as consistent to me as Rarity.

Don't forget, the Nightmare Rarity arc.

Again, even though she was a damsel-in-distress who was kidnapped and possessed for her personal demons, she still received more focus there than she did in Season Three, where Spike At Your Service deliberately went to Applejack because the fashion horse was too mean to Spike. It was in this story arc, that Rarity eventually learned the same lesson Pinkie Pie did in Party of One: That her friends would never abandon her, no matter what she thinks.

Also, take notice of Rainbow Dash and Applejack's story-arcs. They almost seem the opposite of their respective Elements of Harmony. Rainbow is supposed to be about loyalty, but has been more about honest hard work and dedication when it comes to becoming a Wonderbolt. Meanwhile, Applejack is supposed to be about honesty, but has been more about loyalty to her family.

[QuickLime]

You asked for opinions and you're getting them, people arn't forgetting to take notice of the other story archs, they just like other ones better, also I think you're just quoting Digibrony (Or who I forget said this) about the elements being switched, is that your own opinion or recycled ones again? =/

[MetalBronyATL]

Twilight Sparkle becoming the Princess of Friendship is the best arc in the show.

[CommanderPonyShep]

You asked for opinions and you're getting them, people arn't forgetting to take notice of the other story archs, they just like other ones better, also I think you're just quoting Digibrony (Or who I forget said this) about the elements being switched, is that your own opinion or recycled ones again? =/

It was from Digibrony, yes, but it was also from my own observations without seeing his video first.

But other than that, yeah. People were perfectly aware that the Mane Five had character-arcs just like Twilight and her quest to reach full princessdom, and that they like some arcs better than others, e.g. Rarity's arc of becoming a famous fashion designer as compared to Fluttershy overcoming her fear of everything. They were never going to abandon them for the sake of the Twilight/Tirek fight scene. Sure, they liked the fight because of its flashy, over-the-top nature, but they would never become so consumed by it, that the other Mane Five and their character-arcs are rendered meaningless.

[MetalBronyATL]

Wow, you took me seriously. Why am I not surprised?

[CommanderPonyShep]

Wow, you took me seriously. Why am I not surprised?

How did I take you seriously?

[MetalBronyATL]

Because I knew if I mentioned Twilight on a poll where her arc wasnt an option, you'd respond to me.

[QuickLime]

And the DBZ thing gets brought up AGAIN

Dude seriously stop, nobody cares :I

[CommanderPonyShep]

Because I knew if I mentioned Twilight on a poll where her arc wasnt an option, you'd respond to me.

Sorry if I'm going burst your bubble, but there was a reason why I didn't add Twilight Sparkle's character-arc as an option, and it's not just because of the Twilight/Tirek fight.

You see, every time there is a season opener or finale, or an Equestria Girls movie, Twilight is constantly the main-focus, to the point that she renders her friends' character-arcs meaningless. Sure, the Mane Five's arcs are still there and constantly present, and are spread throughout multiple self-contained episodes. However, these arcs are rendered meaningless once we get to Twilight Sparkle at the beginning or end of each season, or in an Equestria Girls film.

It's like when you look at Mass Effect 2's suicide mission and compare it to the Arrival DLC. The former was the final payoff to all of those loyalty missions, where each of the individual teammates played important roles in the mission after having their story-arcs resolved by Commander Shepard. The latter, on the other hand, disregarded the squadmates by making itself an entirely solo mission for Commander Shepard. And the MLP season openers, finales, and Equestria Girls movies border on the Arrival DLC more than the suicide mission.

[QuickLime]

Ugh...

[MetalBronyATL]

Oh my God, how can you be so dense?

Twilight Sparkle is the MAIN CHARACTER OF FiM! Get that through your concrete block of a head. TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS FiM. Yes, the other characters and their arcs are important, and yes, Twilight be nothing without them, but that doesn't change the fact that the entire purpose of this show is TWILIGHT LEARNING AND TEACHING FRIENDSHIP. How hard is that to understand?

Also, please shut up about the fight scene. Literally nobody on this site cares even the slightest about your backwards, asinine, and downright stupid justifications about why you're butthurt over a two minute scene in a 44 minute episode.

[CaptainMcDerp]

Oh my God, how can you be so dense?

Twilight Sparkle is the MAIN CHARACTER OF FiM! Get that through your concrete block of a head. TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS FiM. Yes, the other characters and their arcs are important, and yes, Twilight be nothing without them, but that doesn't change the fact that the entire purpose of this show is TWILIGHT LEARNING AND TEACHING FRIENDSHIP. How hard is that to understand?

Also, please shut up about the fight scene. Literally nobody on this site cares even the slightest about your backwards, asinine, and downright stupid justifications about why you're butthurt over a two minute scene in a 44 minute episode.

Alright now. I understand that CommanderPonyShep has been consistently expressing the same opinion and everyone's had their belly full and all, but that doesn't warrant personal insults. Acting that way isn't going to make your point any better. If you haven't already noticed from previous experiences, It's just going to start yet another infinity circle of endless and silly arguing about a silly and unrelated thing. This was a pretty interesting topic and I was hoping it wouldn't plummet into the whole Twilight VS. Tirek thing again. I understand that no one wants to hear this anymore and he should really let it go at this point, but this might've not happened here if you didn't initiate in the first place with this remark among others.

Because I knew if I mentioned Twilight on a poll where her arc wasnt an option, you'd respond to me.

If you don't like it so much, then please don't provoke him into discussing it. Especially on a completely unrelated topic.

As for the actual discussion at hand, I find Pinkie Pie's arc to be the most fun and think Rarity's is technically the best. As others have already said, her's is the most established and well developed.

[MetalBronyATL]

*Cadence breathing trick*

I'm sorry. I'm not talking about this anymore.

[starswirlthebearded]

Alright... So I've put some thought into this, so I'm going to go through all of them [yes including Twilight, but will exclude her in my conclusion]

So it is pretty safe to say that Twilight's arc is tantamount and extremely well developed due to her being the main character. She was to learn about the magic of friendship and grow as a pony, and it was evident that she was to become princess. The fact that all of this came to pass, and is still developing past her ascension to alicornhood. Her's is clearly the most developed and most focus of all six. Because of this it is understandable that you do not want hers included.

That said...

Rarity... She has had the second most development. From making her friends costumes, to becoming the favorite designer of Sapphire Shores and designing the dresses for the royal wedding/Twilight's coronation. She is still not the pony of fashion she envisions herself as, but she is still developing in that fashion (and aside from the writers/designers having no idea about fashion in S4) has developed nicely.

Rainbow Dash follows suit after Rarity as the only other who has made any significant progress (and there is a reason for this which I will explain later) But she has impressed the Wonderbolts, saved them twice, joined their academy, and been offered (poorly) a position on their Equestria Games team. Even her character personality has been developed more so than others, and she has had some lasting changes. From making a friendship with Fluttershy, whom she ragged on for being too scared (and frankly being somewhat mean) to supporting Fluttershy later. Still, when the plot calls for it her personality reverts.

Now the other three... Well there is a slight problem with their "arcs"... They are basically done (Pinkie is the least so, but has an issue all her own which causes her arc to be somewhat stalled), but Fluttershy and AJ are at the point where they are essentially where they want to be!

Let's look at Pinkie first... She wants to be a baker so that she can plan parties better. Therefore she is an apprentice to the Cakes. They really can't move her much from that without moving her either to her own business in Ponyville or out of Ponyville. This won't happen. And she can't really improve party planning if she sticks to the small scale in Ponyville (As seen in Pinkie Pride). Had she traveled around more she probably would have more grandiose parties, but in some ways her parties are better as they have more passion in them and more love. You can tell she has an impact with her parties, they aren't parties for the sake of being parties. That said, she really can't progress in her arc without something really changing. All she can do is develop in her personality. Which she has, but the writers have shown an ineptitude of knowing what her personality should be, which makes her peronality development very uneven. Throughout season 4 I had no idea what they wanted of her and felt of all the characters, Pinkie was the most often out of character.

Next would be Fluttershy. She has an animal shelter and what I would assume to be a clinic and grooming for pets. She is really where she wants to be in life. All she has after that is her personality arc of overcoming shyness. However, that is all she has going for her, and because of how they are doing it, she makes no progress because it suits the plot. So she is essentially stalled because they really can't do anything.

AJ... Same issue. She runs her family farm. The only step she can take is find a stallion and start her own family. As for her personality arc. She is the element of honesty, and the loyalty aspect is really not in question. Really she is the most stuck. There isn't much they can do, which is why I was rather happy with S4. She didn't really develop so much as had good episodes that worked with what we already knew of her. Her key episode, of course, developed her honesty somewhat.

But yeah... it is pretty clear that Rarity has the most engaging and dynamic story arc both in personality and in overall development. It is just a no brainier really.

[CommanderPonyShep]

Alright... So I've put some thought into this, so I'm going to go through all of them [yes including Twilight, but will exclude her in my conclusion]

So it is pretty safe to say that Twilight's arc is tantamount and extremely well developed due to her being the main character. She was to learn about the magic of friendship and grow as a pony, and it was evident that she was to become princess. The fact that all of this came to pass, and is still developing past her ascension to alicornhood. Her's is clearly the most developed and most focus of all six. Because of this it is understandable that you do not want hers included.

That said...

Rarity... She has had the second most development. From making her friends costumes, to becoming the favorite designer of Sapphire Shores and designing the dresses for the royal wedding/Twilight's coronation. She is still not the pony of fashion she envisions herself as, but she is still developing in that fashion (and aside from the writers/designers having no idea about fashion in S4) has developed nicely.

Rainbow Dash follows suit after Rarity as the only other who has made any significant progress (and there is a reason for this which I will explain later) But she has impressed the Wonderbolts, saved them twice, joined their academy, and been offered (poorly) a position on their Equestria Games team. Even her character personality has been developed more so than others, and she has had some lasting changes. From making a friendship with Fluttershy, whom she ragged on for being too scared (and frankly being somewhat mean) to supporting Fluttershy later. Still, when the plot calls for it her personality reverts.

Now the other three... Well there is a slight problem with their "arcs"... They are basically done (Pinkie is the least so, but has an issue all her own which causes her arc to be somewhat stalled), but Fluttershy and AJ are at the point where they are essentially where they want to be!

Let's look at Pinkie first... She wants to be a baker so that she can plan parties better. Therefore she is an apprentice to the Cakes. They really can't move her much from that without moving her either to her own business in Ponyville or out of Ponyville. This won't happen. And she can't really improve party planning if she sticks to the small scale in Ponyville (As seen in Pinkie Pride). Had she traveled around more she probably would have more grandiose parties, but in some ways her parties are better as they have more passion in them and more love. You can tell she has an impact with her parties, they aren't parties for the sake of being parties. That said, she really can't progress in her arc without something really changing. All she can do is develop in her personality. Which she has, but the writers have shown an ineptitude of knowing what her personality should be, which makes her peronality development very uneven. Throughout season 4 I had no idea what they wanted of her and felt of all the characters, Pinkie was the most often out of character.

Next would be Fluttershy. She has an animal shelter and what I would assume to be a clinic and grooming for pets. She is really where she wants to be in life. All she has after that is her personality arc of overcoming shyness. However, that is all she has going for her, and because of how they are doing it, she makes no progress because it suits the plot. So she is essentially stalled because they really can't do anything.

AJ... Same issue. She runs her family farm. The only step she can take is find a stallion and start her own family. As for her personality arc. She is the element of honesty, and the loyalty aspect is really not in question. Really she is the most stuck. There isn't much they can do, which is why I was rather happy with S4. She didn't really develop so much as had good episodes that worked with what we already knew of her. Her key episode, of course, developed her honesty somewhat.

But yeah... it is pretty clear that Rarity has the most engaging and dynamic story arc both in personality and in overall development. It is just a no brainier really.

Which was why it shamed me to see Rarity lack an entire Season Three episode of her very own, because that went to Applejack.

At the very least, she had an interesting arc in the Nightmare Rarity comic book arc. She may have been reduced to a damsel in distress for her fear of being rejected by her friends, but she eventually overcomes that fear with help from her friends, so that she could eventually fight off Nightmare Rarity and free herself.

[RarityDash]

To be fair, I don't think that episode could have ever worked with Rarity in the main role instead of Applejack (though I'm aware that some say it didn't work anyway). It would have taken heavy rewrites and likely would have covered ground already tread and relying on the the overplayed crush Spike has. Even in season four with Inspiration Manifestation, Spike's role I think was the least interesting part of the episode. I actually really think it was good for Spike that they decided to devote an episode to him and a pony who wasn't Rarity or Twilight even.

Of course, the entire lack of Rarity in season three was still inexcusable. They were right to rewrite that episode for Applejack, but they still should have given us a Rarity episode somewhere.

[CommanderPonyShep]

To be fair, I don't think that episode could have ever worked with Rarity in the main role instead of Applejack (though I'm aware that some say it didn't work anyway). It would have taken heavy rewrites and likely would have covered ground already tread and relying on the the overplayed crush Spike has. Even in season four with Inspiration Manifestation, Spike's role I think was the least interesting part of the episode. I actually really think it was good for Spike that they decided to devote an episode to him and a pony who wasn't Rarity or Twilight even.

Of course, the entire lack of Rarity in season three was still inexcusable. They were right to rewrite that episode for Applejack, but they still should have given us a Rarity episode somewhere.

So what? Remember Nightmare Rarity? Better to utilize Rarity as a damsel-in-distress than not utilize her at all, right?

And before you argue, she still had a story-arc. She had to learn to not fear rejection from her friends, a la Pinkie Pie in Party of One.

[RarityDash]

I just think it's important that the writers come up with something good that actually works as opposed to forcing something or repeating themselves too blatantly. As I just said, I really think they should have given her an episode in season three. I just don't think it should have been that episode.

[QuickLime]

Stop saying "Remember NightMareity" It's getting condescending and rude, not everyone READS the comics and the comics arn't the same as an actual episode

[CommanderPonyShep]

Oh my God, how can you be so dense?

Twilight Sparkle is the MAIN CHARACTER OF FiM! Get that through your concrete block of a head. TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS FiM. Yes, the other characters and their arcs are important, and yes, Twilight be nothing without them, but that doesn't change the fact that the entire purpose of this show is TWILIGHT LEARNING AND TEACHING FRIENDSHIP. How hard is that to understand?

Also, please shut up about the fight scene. Literally nobody on this site cares even the slightest about your backwards, asinine, and downright stupid justifications about why you're butthurt over a two minute scene in a 44 minute episode.

What about when you look at, say, Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Like Twilight Sparkle, Leonardo is the leader of his own team of heroes. However, he's given equal attention with his brothers, instead of hogging all the spotlight at the beginning and end of each season of each Turtles show, as well as each Turtles movie, unlike Twilight Sparkle who constantly renders her friends and their story-arcs meaningless by means of her godlike power levels.

Sure, Leo defeated all three of his brothers in an episode of Death Battle, not through raw firepower like Twilight Sparkle, but rather through strategy and tactics, and having years of knowledge of his brothers. But, if an equal to his own team can defeat it through strategy and tactics, rather than godhood like Twilight, who isn't an equal with her friends because of the openers, finales, and Equestria Girls movies, then there's even more of a problem with Twilight than any of us could ever imagine.

[Adorkable]

I've always been fond of Applejack-focused episodes. Two off the top of my head are Pinkie Apple Pie, and Leap of Faith. Two episodes that have great stories to tell and an awesome song to hear.