With Friendship is Magic now officially over on the new episode front, we've had to say goodbye to some of the best characters to ever hit cartoons. We already know Pony Life will be rockin' the mane 6 thanks to early teasers, but the destiny of so many others is still up in the air! Nine seasons of ponies will be next to impossible to all fit into whatever they do next.
I couldn't not celebrate a few of them. There are too many to fit into a list as small as this, but these ten are definitely the ones I always looked forward to seeing when I saw an episode synopsis coming up that they were involved in.
I'm also a pony connoisseur, so I'm pretty sure this can double as a top 10 best pony list. 100% canon too. Yep.
Get them below~
#10
Octavia Melody
The ultimate proof that your candy colored, exotic maned equine doesn't actually need to be candy colored and exotic to be pure excellence. A gray pony with a grayish-brown mane ended up being one of our most beloved fandom adoptions, and she made every interpretation of her look good.
She didn't get a ton of screentime, but if you like stories about characters involved in music, you can pretty much pick any damn topic you want and find a story with her involved in it. Kindergarten music school? There's a fanfic for that. College mare dealing with the stresses of class while juggling a relationship with their roommate and battling it out with other music horses for first chair on the university orchestra? Loads of fanfics for that one! Weird Japanese squid monster hiding in her chello-
....err don't look that one up.
ANYWAY, good music, good colors, good pony.
#9
Coco Pommel
Is there a pony in Equestria more wholesome than Coco? She lives in one of the most cutthroat, every-pony-for-themselves cities working in an industry that absolutely destroys even the most savvy of business horses, yet she still remains one of the most kind-hearted characters on the show. We probably would have gotten more of her if she wasn't nailed with that legal trouble. I guess parody isn't completely safe or something. Yay copyright law.
Also she has the cutest sit. NO OTHER PONY has that sit. 10/10.
#8
Moondancer
Not only will I miss her, I'll remain disappointed that we didn't really get more of her. Amending Fences in easily in my top 5 episodes. It was our last from M.A. Larson and one of his finest additions to pony. I hope Moondancer escaped her NEET anti-social lifestyle for good and kept active with that old group of friends. She deserved it more than anyone. I know a lot of bronies out there suffer from similar social anxiety as she did, and probably ended up with it for a similar reason. Use Moony as a lesson and go make some friends!
In other news, what the hell happened to MINUETTE?
#7
Derpy Hooves
I don't doubt for a second that Hasbro will include her in absolutely everything involving pony going forward, but she needed to be here anyway. Derpy went from a bored animator giving a Rainbow Dash recolor googly eyes to the closest thing we could call a fandom mascot. When Hasbro wiped our wall-eyed pegagoddess out years ago, we so agressively defended her that they ended up not only re-introducing her to the show, but upgraded her from background pony to fully-voiced side character.
20 years from now when we are reminiscing about the good ol' pony days, I know Derpy will be one of the #1 topics of conversation when it came to major fandom victories.
#6
Lyra and Bonbon
Two ponies in one category? Is that cheating?
It isn't when you make the rules.
How can you mention one without mentioning the other? Lyra definitely stole the spotlight over the years when it came to fan content, but Bonbon was pretty close behind her once they really started pairing them up in the show. What started as a silly fandom ship turned into a 9 season long story about two mares meeting, dating, loving, and eventually marrying, all happening almost entirely in the background.
It's kind of a window on the last decade in general. 10 years ago the idea of a lesbian relationship in a show with the demographic target of pre-teens would have been major news and fire up all sorts of conservative religious organizations to campaign against "this uncalled-for blasphemy being brainwashed into our offspring!!1!11!" Now it barely made a blip.
Lesbian horses aside, the fandom has had a blast with them over the years in a plethora of interesting stories and ideas. Lyra in particular has actual novel-length hardcover books being printed. How crazy is that?
#5
Queen Chrysalis
Inb4 not a pony.
If Changelings don't share at least some common ancestry with ponies, I'd be surprised. I'm betting this race used to be a remote group of nomad horses that fell into a nuclear reactor and gained superpowers or something. Go write a fanfic about it.
Anyway, Chrysalis was by far my favorite permanent villian. Cozy Glow came close, but no one beats THE QUEEN. I'm so glad she never got the redemption treatment. We needed some true evil in horseland, and I don't even want to imagine her as one of these. Keep my crazy Starcraft overmind thing a bad bug and let me enjoy it!
She also looks badass in armor~
#4
Starlight Glimmer
You either love her or hate her, though I think at this point most people in the hate her category already jumped ship seasons ago. Starlight was our Twilight replacement for those of us hoping Twiggy would go more toward the magic than the friendship. We may have lost our arch-wizard to princessdom, but Glimmy swooped in and brought it back.
Personally, I think Twilight threw the school job at her to distract her from getting even more powerful. Glims was getting a little scary after she completely obliterated Discord. Better nip that one in the butt before she slips back into another world domination phase. Without anymore seasons, she won't have her annual "stop casting evil spells" lesson anymore. She does love her some mind control~
#3
Princess Luna
Yes, I realize she has a toy in Pony Life. She's not confirmed for the actual show yet though, so today we praise the moon~
If you've followed me at all over the years, you know I love me some edgy dark mares. Not violent or horrific ones mind you, but anything involving moons and the night instantly gets me interested. I wasn't the only one either. If we put her on a poll back in the early 2011-2014 era she won every time. It almost became a running joke around here. You can't include her or it ruins the entire event. That's how well loved she was, and probably still is.
Turns out she's also a total nerd. For most bronies out there, that's dream girl status right here. Holy grail tier. Gamer Luna wasn't that far off at all. I don't doubt for a second that if they introduced Nintendo to Equestria, she's be first in line and spend the rest of the week marathoning Breath of the Wild or something.
I'll be praising the moon long into the future, and bet I'm not the only one.
#2
The Adorable and Narcissistic TRIXIE!
Trixie is kind of terrible, but she's an adorable version of terrible. 9 seasons later and she's still almost entirely in her own little world where Trixie is #1 and Trixie is the only thing that really matters but Glimmy is definitely #2 even though she's not quite as important as Trixie and Trixie is the best and Trixie is always right and Trixie can run-on sentence all she wants and Trixie needs no commas.
Despite her narcissism, or maybe because of her narcissism, you can always guarantee top tier entertainment when she's involved in something. I can't think of an episode involving her that I didn't like. Best magic mare~
#1
Autumn "Top Tier Kirin" Blaze
Sorry Trixie...
I switched! I couldn't help it. Autumn Blaze is just perfect. Not only are Kirin the best example of "lets slap some stuff on this and call it a new pony race" being a huge success, but her song is one of the most addictive in the show! How could you ever hate this character? She's literally a ball of pure joy.
My only regret is that she was added so late in the lifespan of the show that we didn't get another episode out of her. No story dedicated to Autumn exploring the wonders of modern Equestria after years of isolation in the Kirin village. No accidentally burning down Applejack's barn or setting Celestia on fire. The possibilities fandom... It hurts. Or maybe it burns?
For this reason, she's easily my #1 here on the list. The kirin that could have been. Not only will I miss seeing more of her. I'll forever feel like we missed out on the crazy amount of awesome ideas a character like Autumn could bring to the writing table. One more season would have rounded us out, and it sucks that we couldn't leave it at an even 10. Hopefully the upcoming "season 10" continuation comics revive her. The world needs more dragon-deer-horse-armadillo things.
