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Description
Following up from my other MLP scorecards, we have one focusing on the third season of the show A bit of a controversial season it seems to be, especially for it's much shorter length this time... but let's see if it actually stood up well on it's own

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(A little guide to this grading system here):

A = Fave, an episode that I found SO fun overall that I consider it my personal favorite

B = Good, an episode that I think is entertaining, but not quite "fave" material

C = Okay, an episode that I'm pretty neutral on, but I can still find some positives to say about it

D = Meh, an episode that I'm pretty neutral on, but there's too many negatives to make it "Okay"

F = Bad, an episode that is just SO filled with negatives that I can't give it a positive ranking. Period.

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-"The Crystal Empire, Part 1" = The Mane 6 are all called to help with the unveiling of the new Crystal Empire, but then face some dire troubles with a new threat lingering beneath. A pretty solid premiere overall with some great visuals of the Crystal Empire, the lore behind the Crystal Ponies and the reveal of the villain King Sombra providing a good threat for the main heroes to face. Overall, I'd give it a B.

-"The Crystal Empire, Part 2" = Following up from the last episode, Twilight and Spike venture off to find a way to fight back against Sombra while the rest of the Mane 6 tries to protect the citizens below. I really enjoyed how action-packed this episode got the more Twilight ventured to find the Crystal Heart, and how in an unexpected twist it ended up being Spike as the main savior of the day along with Princess Cadence . Overall, I'd give it a B.

-"Too Many Pinkie Pies" = Pinkie finds herself having WAY too many obligations to fill in one day, so as to not upset any friends by letting them down, she opts to try and clone herself so that she can make all of the appointments. It was pretty hilarious to watch Pinkie deal with such one-dimensional copies of herself flooding the town, the way that the Mane 6 decided to get rid of them by just having them stare at paint drying, and then the whole climax with each Pinkie clone getting themselves too distracted and then blasted by Twilight's magic XD. Plus it also had a pretty heartwarming message at the end with the real Pinkie staying determined to keep staring at the paint, and then learning that just because she has to choose activities between friends that it doesn't mean she doesn't like them any less . Overall, I'd give it an A.

-"One Bad Apple" = Applebloom's Manehatten cousin Bab Seed moves into Ponyville temporarily, but then this leads to a problem of Babs turning on Applebloom and her friends as their brand new bully. Another one of those controversial episodes that people either love or hate... but for me, I'm a bit more on the fence of "neutral but moreso on the negative scale", if that makes sense . I mean, I get what the premise was trying to go for, in trying to tackle the varying sides of bullying and what could be beyond the surface... but I feel like they kind of missed that with Babs here being a bit too over the top in her rudeness towards her cousin . Especially for how quick she was to just immediately ditch and snub her when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came by... even if you could argue she was just trying to defend from being bullied by those two, their actions honestly seemed alot more tame than what Babs grew to throw at Applebloom :/. Throwing stuff at her, stealing both her own bed and the CMC clubhouse, basically chasing around and terrorizing her and the CMC around town... it just really crossed the line more than it needed to. And yet the narrative still tried to make us sympathize with her via-AJ's random remark about Babs facing bullying back at home... and then lowkey painting the CMC as the ones in the wrong for trying to get back at her later on? Ehhh... admittedly I still at least liked the lil song number ("Bad Seed") and some of the visual gags here and rhere were funny... but in terms of it being an anti-bullying kind of episode I just say to give this one a pass tbh. Overall, I'd give it a D.

-"Magic Duel" = Trixie returns with a vengeance as she uses the Alicorn Amulet to entrap Ponyville to lure Twilight into challenging her. Again, while I ain't the biggest fan of Trixie at least here she was alot more tolerable than before, from her impressive and cunning villain portrayal to how cleverly she was defeated by just a show of wits & trickery by Twilight's hand. Overall, I'd give it a B.

-"Sleepless in Ponyville" = Scootaloo deals with nightmares while on a camping trip with her friends and their sisters (plus RD), leading to her trying whatever she can to avoid going to sleep. This was actually a rather sweet episode to me, not just for how sympathetic Scooaloo's plight was here but also for how it painted RD in a much softer light than usual. With her going to save Scootaloo and comforting her while admitting she too experienced nightmares, it really put things into perspective of how strong their sisterly bond is~ . Plus it was a cool twist to have Princess Luna making an appearance here, with her ability to travel through dreams and inform Scootaloo of what's bothering her. Overall, I'd give it an B.

-"Wonderbolts Academy" = RD finally gets the chance to enroll herself in the esteemed Wonderbolt Academy, though begins to face some conflict with her new flight partner Lightning Dust causing lots of chaos. An excellent episode in providing some good character development for RD, proving her undying loyalty to her friends by quitting the Academy once she saw how her own friends were put in danger because of the Wonderbolts' (and Lightning Dust's) actions. Overall, I'd give it a A.

-"Apple Family Reunion" = Applejack is tasked with setting up her family's annual Reunion party, but in her efforts to make this the best party ever she only ends up causing more harm than good. Another solid episode showing both of Applejack's strengths and weaknesses, and how everyone was able to come together to save the day by rebuilding the family's barn. Overall, I'd give it a B.

-"Spike at Your Service" = Spike finds himself indebted to Applejack after she saves his life, but his constant need to help her causes alot of headaches and annoyances for Applejack. Ehhh... while I'll admit it was an interesting change of pace to have Spike share an episode with Applejack instead of Twilight and/or Rarity (plus those Timberwolves shown near the climax were cool to see), the way he was portrayed as such a clumsy idiot really rubbed me the wrong way :/. The poor guy deserved better than just being treated as the butt of the joke here. Overall, I'd give it a D.

-"Keep Calm and Flutter On" = Discord is finally released into the world again, but it's up to Fluttershy to try and reform him. While I'm not really the biggest Discord fan myself, it was kinda cool to see Fluttershy stay so diligent in trying to give him another chance (even if it might've bordered on a bit "forced" at times) despite everyone's worries. Overall, I'd give it a C.

-"Just for Sidekicks" = Spike is tasked with keeping charge of all of his friends' pets, though finds that the job is alot more challenging than he originally thought. While it's definitely more of a step up from the last Spike-centered episode... idk, this episode felt a bit too predictable in the long run for me to fully appreciate it, with how Spike kept getting more greedy and inadvertently losing all of those gems he was trying to save for his cake . It did at least have a good moral about how important it is to be responsible for the care of animals... so at least that helped redeem the episode a bit. Overall, I'd give it a C.

-"Games Ponies Play" = The Mane 6 arrive at the Crystal Empire trying to welcome the Equestria Games inspector... but then find themselves at an awkward position when they realize they got the wrong pony. Another kind of predictable plot like the last one so it's not really all that memorable to me, though I kinda liked how clever they were in tying this up with the last episode by having both events take place at the same time. Overall, I'd give it a C.

-"Magical Mystery Cure" = Twilight finds herself at a loss when she realizes that her friends all mysteriously have their cutie marks switched up, leaving to Twilight to help solve the day on her own. Another controversial episode by many... but for me I found it to be a pretty decent way to wrap up the season, with tons of catchy/meaningful song numbers, great character development for Twilight (both physically and emotionally), and a heartwarming way to bring everyone back together by the climax through crowning Twilight as a princess . Overall, I'd give it a A.

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((Overall Top 5 BEST Episodes of Season 3)):

1) "Too Many Pinkie Pies"
2) "The Crystal Empire" (Part 1 & 2)
3) "Sleepless in Ponyville"
4) "Wonderbolts Academy"
5) "Magical Mystery Cure"

((Overall Top 5 WORST Episodes of Season 3))

1) "One Bad Apple"
2) "Spike At Your Service"
3) "Just for Sidekicks"
4) "Games Ponies Play"
5) "Keep Calm and Flutter On"

(NOTE: I don't necessarily "hate" or dislike all the "Worst" labeled episodes here, but they just happen to be the ones I enjoyed the least/found the weakest overall in this particular season )

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Yeah, it's a bit of a controversial season from what I've seen... but honestly I didn't find it all THAT bad in hindsight It was shorter, yes... but at least the episodes it did provide were fairly solid overall (minus a couple duds here and there). Trust me, there's gonna be way worse to deal with down the line... but that'll be saved for another time.

Description
Following up from my other MLP scorecards, we have one focusing on the third season of the show A bit of a controversial season it seems to be, especially for it's much shorter length this time... but let's see if it actually stood up well on it's own

----------------------

(A little guide to this grading system here):

A = Fave, an episode that I found SO fun overall that I consider it my personal favorite

B = Good, an episode that I think is entertaining, but not quite "fave" material

C = Okay, an episode that I'm pretty neutral on, but I can still find some positives to say about it

D = Meh, an episode that I'm pretty neutral on, but there's too many negatives to make it "Okay"

F = Bad, an episode that is just SO filled with negatives that I can't give it a positive ranking. Period.

-----------------------

-"The Crystal Empire, Part 1" = The Mane 6 are all called to help with the unveiling of the new Crystal Empire, but then face some dire troubles with a new threat lingering beneath. A pretty solid premiere overall with some great visuals of the Crystal Empire, the lore behind the Crystal Ponies and the reveal of the villain King Sombra providing a good threat for the main heroes to face. Overall, I'd give it a B.

-"The Crystal Empire, Part 2" = Following up from the last episode, Twilight and Spike venture off to find a way to fight back against Sombra while the rest of the Mane 6 tries to protect the citizens below. I really enjoyed how action-packed this episode got the more Twilight ventured to find the Crystal Heart, and how in an unexpected twist it ended up being Spike as the main savior of the day along with Princess Cadence . Overall, I'd give it a B.

-"Too Many Pinkie Pies" = Pinkie finds herself having WAY too many obligations to fill in one day, so as to not upset any friends by letting them down, she opts to try and clone herself so that she can make all of the appointments. It was pretty hilarious to watch Pinkie deal with such one-dimensional copies of herself flooding the town, the way that the Mane 6 decided to get rid of them by just having them stare at paint drying, and then the whole climax with each Pinkie clone getting themselves too distracted and then blasted by Twilight's magic XD. Plus it also had a pretty heartwarming message at the end with the real Pinkie staying determined to keep staring at the paint, and then learning that just because she has to choose activities between friends that it doesn't mean she doesn't like them any less . Overall, I'd give it an A.

-"One Bad Apple" = Applebloom's Manehatten cousin Bab Seed moves into Ponyville temporarily, but then this leads to a problem of Babs turning on Applebloom and her friends as their brand new bully. Another one of those controversial episodes that people either love or hate... but for me, I'm a bit more on the fence of "neutral but moreso on the negative scale", if that makes sense . I mean, I get what the premise was trying to go for, in trying to tackle the varying sides of bullying and what could be beyond the surface... but I feel like they kind of missed that with Babs here being a bit too over the top in her rudeness towards her cousin . Especially for how quick she was to just immediately ditch and snub her when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came by... even if you could argue she was just trying to defend from being bullied by those two, their actions honestly seemed alot more tame than what Babs grew to throw at Applebloom :/. Throwing stuff at her, stealing both her own bed and the CMC clubhouse, basically chasing around and terrorizing her and the CMC around town... it just really crossed the line more than it needed to. And yet the narrative still tried to make us sympathize with her via-AJ's random remark about Babs facing bullying back at home... and then lowkey painting the CMC as the ones in the wrong for trying to get back at her later on? Ehhh... admittedly I still at least liked the lil song number ("Bad Seed") and some of the visual gags here and rhere were funny... but in terms of it being an anti-bullying kind of episode I just say to give this one a pass tbh. Overall, I'd give it a D.

-"Magic Duel" = Trixie returns with a vengeance as she uses the Alicorn Amulet to entrap Ponyville to lure Twilight into challenging her. Again, while I ain't the biggest fan of Trixie at least here she was alot more tolerable than before, from her impressive and cunning villain portrayal to how cleverly she was defeated by just a show of wits & trickery by Twilight's hand. Overall, I'd give it a B.

-"Sleepless in Ponyville" = Scootaloo deals with nightmares while on a camping trip with her friends and their sisters (plus RD), leading to her trying whatever she can to avoid going to sleep. This was actually a rather sweet episode to me, not just for how sympathetic Scooaloo's plight was here but also for how it painted RD in a much softer light than usual. With her going to save Scootaloo and comforting her while admitting she too experienced nightmares, it really put things into perspective of how strong their sisterly bond is~ . Plus it was a cool twist to have Princess Luna making an appearance here, with her ability to travel through dreams and inform Scootaloo of what's bothering her. Overall, I'd give it an B.

-"Wonderbolts Academy" = RD finally gets the chance to enroll herself in the esteemed Wonderbolt Academy, though begins to face some conflict with her new flight partner Lightning Dust causing lots of chaos. An excellent episode in providing some good character development for RD, proving her undying loyalty to her friends by quitting the Academy once she saw how her own friends were put in danger because of the Wonderbolts' (and Lightning Dust's) actions. Overall, I'd give it a A.

-"Apple Family Reunion" = Applejack is tasked with setting up her family's annual Reunion party, but in her efforts to make this the best party ever she only ends up causing more harm than good. Another solid episode showing both of Applejack's strengths and weaknesses, and how everyone was able to come together to save the day by rebuilding the family's barn. Overall, I'd give it a B.

-"Spike at Your Service" = Spike finds himself indebted to Applejack after she saves his life, but his constant need to help her causes alot of headaches and annoyances for Applejack. Ehhh... while I'll admit it was an interesting change of pace to have Spike share an episode with Applejack instead of Twilight and/or Rarity (plus those Timberwolves shown near the climax were cool to see), the way he was portrayed as such a clumsy idiot really rubbed me the wrong way :/. The poor guy deserved better than just being treated as the butt of the joke here. Overall, I'd give it a D.

-"Keep Calm and Flutter On" = Discord is finally released into the world again, but it's up to Fluttershy to try and reform him. While I'm not really the biggest Discord fan myself, it was kinda cool to see Fluttershy stay so diligent in trying to give him another chance (even if it might've bordered on a bit "forced" at times) despite everyone's worries. Overall, I'd give it a C.

-"Just for Sidekicks" = Spike is tasked with keeping charge of all of his friends' pets, though finds that the job is alot more challenging than he originally thought. While it's definitely more of a step up from the last Spike-centered episode... idk, this episode felt a bit too predictable in the long run for me to fully appreciate it, with how Spike kept getting more greedy and inadvertently losing all of those gems he was trying to save for his cake . It did at least have a good moral about how important it is to be responsible for the care of animals... so at least that helped redeem the episode a bit. Overall, I'd give it a C.

-"Games Ponies Play" = The Mane 6 arrive at the Crystal Empire trying to welcome the Equestria Games inspector... but then find themselves at an awkward position when they realize they got the wrong pony. Another kind of predictable plot like the last one so it's not really all that memorable to me, though I kinda liked how clever they were in tying this up with the last episode by having both events take place at the same time. Overall, I'd give it a C.

-"Magical Mystery Cure" = Twilight finds herself at a loss when she realizes that her friends all mysteriously have their cutie marks switched up, leaving to Twilight to help solve the day on her own. Another controversial episode by many... but for me I found it to be a pretty decent way to wrap up the season, with tons of catchy/meaningful song numbers, great character development for Twilight (both physically and emotionally), and a heartwarming way to bring everyone back together by the climax through crowning Twilight as a princess . Overall, I'd give it a A.

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((Overall Top 5 BEST Episodes of Season 3)):

1) "Too Many Pinkie Pies"
2) "The Crystal Empire" (Part 1 & 2)
3) "Sleepless in Ponyville"
4) "Wonderbolts Academy"
5) "Magical Mystery Cure"

((Overall Top 5 WORST Episodes of Season 3))

1) "One Bad Apple"
2) "Spike At Your Service"
3) "Just for Sidekicks"
4) "Games Ponies Play"
5) "Keep Calm and Flutter On"

(NOTE: I don't necessarily "hate" or dislike all the "Worst" labeled episodes here, but they just happen to be the ones I enjoyed the least/found the weakest overall in this particular season )

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Yeah, it's a bit of a controversial season from what I've seen... but honestly I didn't find it all THAT bad in hindsight It was shorter, yes... but at least the episodes it did provide were fairly solid overall (minus a couple duds here and there). Trust me, there's gonna be way worse to deal with down the line... but that'll be saved for another time.