I thought the Mare-Do-Well episode was one of the weakest in the series, largely because of the glaring problem of how the rest of the Mane Six were reacting to Rainbow Dash, how harebrained and sloppily they tried to handle it, and how inconsistent the moral was, given how they themselves were acting, so basically I agree with all the complaints in that episode.

So why make a strip defending it? Well, basically because even though I agree with these complaints, I’m still amazed by the sheer amount of hatred the fandom seems to have towards the episode. Yeah, it’s not great, but it’s not THAT bad, or even particularly bad at all. If anything, I’m surprised Rainbow Dash herself isn’t criticized more, since she was acting the worst of the bunch. Trying to publicly destroy the person who had just saved her, simply because she was doing a better job than she herself was? That’s as petty as you can possibly get!

Anyway, regarding the Return of Harmony Episode, I thought the scene where Spike is handed the Element of Loyalty was one of the funniest moments of Season Two. I love it, and have no complaints about it at all. If anything, I’m including it here to show how having the ponies act horribly out of character doesn’t have to be the huge dealbreaker everyone seems to think it is.