The Most Useless Episodes

What episodes would you consider to be completely and utterly useless in the series?
 
By Useless, I mean episodes that don’t seem to go anywhere or seem to have any real purpose other than helping to fill in the Episode Count quota for a season. These are episodes that you can completely skip and not miss out on anything. Also keep in mind that we’re talking about USELESS episodes, not HATED episodes. You might hate Mare-Do-Well or Magical Mystery Cure, but they both had a purpose in either message or story.

Personally, I consider Spike at your Service to be a useless episode. I kinda get what they were going for with it, trying to point out that Twilight’s really the best pony for Spike to be with, but the overall episode just didn’t seem to have much going for it. There wasn’t any character development and not a whole lot learned from the experience and everything just seemed to go back the way it was when the episode started.

I agree with Spike at your Service.  
It was really just the same “you saved my life so I must be your servant but it turns out I’m really annoying”-plot that almost every cartoon has done so far.  
Nothing original about.
 
Not all episodes have to have a mayor character development thing happen in it, but this one was not only that, but its also boring and amazingly overused.

Trade Ya!

The Cart Before The Ponies  
Applejack’s “Day” Off  
Spike At Your Service  
Rarity Investigates!  
The Gift Of The Maud Pie

Appljacks Day Off, no question.

Applejack’s Day Off and Equestria Games are two that come to mind. The latter because it was (IMO) Spike at his worst until the very end, and the fact that we didn’t actually see much of the games itself.

@Background Pony #8B45  
Yeah, I think what really got most fans angry is that it took a subplot that was built up over seasons 3 and 4 and completely ignored it with the exception of two events.

Dungeons and Discords easily. The whole “RPG come to life” thing was pushed back to the very end and it almost entirely consisted of Discord going “No, I don’t want to play your stupid game I want to do what I want to do wah wah bitching and moaning!” Oh, and Discord showing zero remorse and bragging about the time he broke the Mane 6, which kind of includes the one pony he’s hung up on now. All this thing did was badly set his character back.

Most episodes could be included if we’re talking about episodes that don’t alter the status quo or have any significant development. Doesn’t mean they’re not worthwhile though.

Spike at your Service  
Applejack’s day off  
Celestia Advice  
Where the Apple Lies  
Castlemania

None; even the worst episodes still have some salvageable moments:
 
 

 
_{But i’m surprised nopony mentioned Princess Spike. Why is that?}

@Corrderio  
Castlemania established the Journal entries and brought the old Castle from the first episode back into the series. It honestly had me thinking that it would end up as Twilight’s castle for a while.
 
 
@Magma_ERuptiOn  
An episode doesn’t have to change status quo, it could have a purpose in character development and giving a message.
 
 
@09MurphyM  
@Background Pony #8B45  
Spike being at his worst during the Equestria Games was kind of the whole point. I liked the message it had about how sometimes the only one that can lift your spirit is yourself. Though I admit you do have a point in that it sucked that the Games themselves were kind of shoved to the side for the story. Perhaps it should have been one of those double episodes where we saw both parts of what was happening like they did with Just for Sidekicks and Games Ponies Play.
 
@pixel  
Yeah, this was a mostly useless episode, though I kind of liked that it showed a little slice of life in Equestria and one of the mundane tasks that all the Princesses have to participate in at some point.
 
 
@Background Pony #A4EB  
Rarity Investigates was fun, but I can see why it’d be considered useless. The only defense for it I got is that it adds some more history to the Wonderbolts and actually gives them some credit for defending Dash against the living legend.

@Gemstone  
Journal?

@Corrderio  
The Journal that the girls write in at the end of episodes in Season 4. They pretty much replaced the Friendship Reports and played a role in them realizing the importance of the items given to them.

Yeah, Applejack’s Day Off really didn’t do anything…but the part in the steam room was hilarious.

@Applejack007
 
And:
 

@Gemstone  
Ooooooooh. Yeah I forgot. Feels like a lifetime ago

@Gemstone  

@Usagi-Zakura  

@Background Pony #A4EB  

@Corrderio  

 
… Well then.
 
Given the number of comments that have included this episode so far, I feel the need to offer some modicum of defense for “Spike at Your Service”. While I don’t feel it necessarily falls into the category of a good or great episode (I mostly think it was ok), I do think it contains an important bit of development that, per the rules of this discussion, elevate it out of the “useless” category. To wit, Spike’s dragon code.
 
Consider for a moment something Spike says in the season two episode “Dragon Quest”.  

It’s an important moment in the show because, while Spike has always been a bit different from his pony friends, that was arguably the first time we got to see him express an interest in the much more complicated issue of personal identity. Spike asked who he is, and, finding no satisfying answer, decided (with his closest friend’s support) to find out on his own.  

Cut ahead to season three, and we see him attempt an answer.  

Now, that doesn’t mean his attempt at a code is necessarily good. A life debt is not the most well thought out system of ethics ever, and probably reflects his somewhat “romantic” mindset, influenced as it is by ideas of chivalry and knighthood and noble adventure. Still, it indicates his heartwarmingly optimistic attempt to find a place in a world he’s always been noticeably different in, and as such elevates the episode a bit in my eyes.

@Background Pony #6F17  
For me it’s simple: Spike still being a complete spazz and now in an unorignal “friend saves friend and becomes their personal servant” story that didn’t even try to do something interesting.

@Corrderio  
Well, if that’s the way you see it, that’s the way you see it. I just wanted to offer a different perspective is all.
 
But really, I’m with @Mildgyth on this one.  

@Background Pony #6F17  
Applejewel was the only good part of…fuck I always forget the name of the episode or get it wrong. The episode with Trenderhoof. Can’t believe how badly they made Rarity act in that one.

@Corrderio  
It also doesn’t help that he is shown to mess up tasks that he was able to do before AND after the episode.

@09MurphyM  
This too.

@Background Pony #6F17  
I see where you’re coming from, but it kind of falls flat considering it doesn’t add much to Spike’s character by the end of the episode. Perhaps it becomes relevent when I get to the episode with the Dragon princess or whoever that is, but for now I can’t see it as being that interesting or essential to watch (unless you’re watching for the Timber Wolves).
 
 
@Applejack007  
The episode’s called “Simple Ways”, and I have to agree. it’s not a “useless” episode, but Rarity’s behavior in it was just…so damn off from how she normally is. I honestly wished that Spike would call her out on her bs in that episode.