Favorite Episode: FINALS!!

[RarityDash]

In retrospect, you're right: Rainbow Dash had a pretty big drought after her spotlight episode too (Along with AJ): episode 17, 18 and 20 all had her (nearly) absent.

What I was thinking of was Rainbow Dash's fanon rep: she's got a lot of fanfics, music themes, several mini-games after her, tons of art, etc. She's one of the more popular ponies in that area, much moreso than Applejack, at the very least.

Of course, it's a flawed way of thinking to say that a pony's need of an episode should be reflected by both their canon and fanon representation: by that logic, Luna shouldn't even be anywhere near Season 2 due to all the attention she gets outside of the show.

As far as an RD episode goes, I hope it delves on her background more. We haven't even seen the inside of her house yet, not to mention she might actually have a pet for all we know. There's also the Junior Speedster stuff, or just her younger years in school in general. Personally, I'm still hoping for a chance to see her parents. What kind of combination gives rainbow hair?

Just no more Sonic Rainbooms. Anymore would undermine its "rare" status.

I get what you're saying. If you got someone who hasn't seen the show and has only seen stuff from the fandom, they'd probably think Dash was the main character when actually within the series she has statistically the least screen time. But yeah, I just don't think that should have much influence on the show itself. And I couldn't agree more about the need to explore her background more. The point that she doesn't even have a pet yet and all the others do is an important one, I think. I'd really love an episode showing more of her job as a weather pony.

I don't remember implying Pinkie as being in need of spotlight. She gets a lot of attention both inside and outside the show.

Heck, she's given extra spotlight by Hasbro personally: her toy is commercialized way more often and she got to star in the Equestria Girls promo as well as the "Summer at the Hub" commercial.

Unfortunately, at least for the former, I think this has less to do with Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie and more to do with Pinkie Pie being...pink.

You didn't imply she needed the spotlight, but earlier in the post you kind of imply her being in an analogous situation to Rainbow Dash, so I thought it was fair to compare them again.

And yeah... I'm sure the being pink thing gives Pinkie an automatic advantage with the younger audience and thus marketing...

The last thing I want is for the situation to be reversed. What I hope they're aiming for is a balanced cast. That being said, if I had to choose between giving AJ or RD a spotlight episode first, I'd choose AJ, no questions asked.

I think they already have a balanced cast. All the characters are lovable and interesting. Pinkie is my least favorite; I still think she lacks some depth. I still love her and enjoy her episodes a lot. Of course, even in a fairly balanced cast the fans will gravitate toward certain types of characters. I really don't think there's much that can be done about it, or there's much that should be done about it. Even if half the second season was devoted to Applejack, I don't think she could ever hope to overtake Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy in popularity

That said, I'm with you. I'd take an AJ episode before anything else. She's in desperate need of a good episode.