History DethroningMoment / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic

* fluffything: For me, it was the ending of "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E2TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 The Return of Harmony: Part II]]". The beginning and middle were still pretty good with Twilight Sparkle having to get her friends back together to stop [[BigBad Discord]]. Now, you would expect this big epic battle between Discord and the ponies both of them using their powers to create chaos/order. But, nope. It pretty much goes [[spoiler:the Ponies create a giant rainbow of magic with their elements and turn Discord into stone again.]] I'm sorry...what? That is the most anti-climatic thing I have ever seen in my life. You have one of the most entertaining and twisted vilains in WesternAnimation in recent years who has been shown as a serious and challenging threat to the Ponies and yet he's [[spoiler:turned to stone without resistance]]?! No, just, no. Not to mention that it's pretty much the ''exact same way'' [[spoiler:Nightmare Moon AKA Princess Luna]] was defeated in the first season (IE: Villain thinks the heroes don't have the Elements OF Harmony and gloats only to be taken by surprise when the heroes ''do'' have the elements and is defeated). It's just horribly lazy writing all around in an otherwise well-written show.
** Frankiefoster: I agree. The only thing saving the ending was the [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110924194336/mlp/images/6/6d/Discord_defeated.png "I will return" face he makes while being stoned again, possibly promising he'll have his revenge on the ponies sometime in the future.]] The stuff leading up to that? Bullshit in a cup.

* Rahkshi500: I know many people will really disagree with me on this, but I found "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E8TheMysteriousMareDoWell The Mysterious Mare Do Well]]" to be the worst episode of the entire series, and I'm one who actually likes "Lesson Zero" despite its flaws. Okay, so Rainbow Dash is letting her heroic deeds go to her head and needs to learn to be more modest. Fair enough, no problem. But it was done in one of the most dickish ways possible. Her bragging at the beginning was relatively harmless and Ponyville didn't mind it, let alone not being bothered by it. They wanted to take pictures and interview her for crying out loud. Her friends are the only ones bothered by it, but they don't talk to her, console her, reason with her, or even warn her of the consequences. Instead, they decide to take her down a peg just because they were annoyed. All of the following events can be traced back to this fact. If they tried to reason with Dash and she doesn't listen, then the other 5 would be more justified in what they did and Dash would've definitely deserved what happened to her, but that's not what happened. While they did save lives, if they hadn't kept showing her up as Mare Do Well and jerking her around, she wouldn't progressively become frustrated and desperate into doing stuff like breaking the dam and bothering other ponies over trivial matters. After all of this they still think they're showing Dash how to be a real hero and not brag, yet their motivations were not hero-like at all and [[{{Hypocrite}} they were bragging about Mare Do Well's(aka their) accomplishments]] for no reason other than to hammer it into Dash's head. The whole thing was completely unfair to Rainbow Dash and it made the other 5 into arrogant and self-righteous jerks.

* [=CCPrime=]: I realize a lot of people will disagree with me, but I found "Lesson Zero" to be the absolute ''worst'' episode of the entire goddamn series. As for why...well, there are a lot of reasons. First off, the very premise itself is rather flimsy-- Twilight has gone a week without solving some kind of crisis and preparing a lesson on friendship? So, let me get this straight...she's honestly expected to find crazy shit to solve every single week? [[FridgeLogic What the hell does she do in her spare time?]] Does she even ''have'' any? However, that part is nothing compared to my main complaint about the episode, namely the "characterization" of Twilight and the rest of the Mane Cast throughout...or rather, the lack thereof. Practically ''every single joke'' relies on either [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderizing]] the hell out of characters until they're reduced to nothing but ridiculous caricatures or themselves (Twilight's extreme OCD and descent into psychosis, Rarity's one-note couch gag, Big Mac speaking in nothing but "Eeyup"s and "Nope"s), or making them do insane, exaggerated shit that reads like something out of a book of brony cliches and in-jokes (the "Rainbow Nuke" scene, Fluttershy going all Spetsnaz-CQB on the bear). I enjoy watching this show because it ''usually'' entertains me with its witty writing and likable characters; ''this'' episode, on the other hand, resorted to falling back on a bunch of cheap, crass gags that would not look out of place in an episode of ''InvaderZim'' or ''TheRenAndStimpyShow'', not at all like the cute, optimistic series I'd come to love. And that doesn't even cover the ridiculous jumps in logic that showed up later in the episode, like having a bunch of random characters like Mayor Mare and Big Mac just ''happen'' to be hanging around the same park as Twilight. And, no, I did not find "friendly Twilight" funny at all; the disturbing behaviour and fucked up facial expressions just made her look like some kind of deranged stalker, and the latter simply increased the aforementioned resemblance to ''Ren and Stimpy''. Overall, I'm not sure if the episode in general was some kind of hamfisted attempt at appealing to the older brony crowd or something, but if it was...I sincerely hope that future ones attempt it in a different way. MLP should stick to its strengths, rather than try to be "edgy" or whatever.

* Rahkshi500: I know many people will really disagree with me on this, but I found "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" to be the worst episode of the entire series, and I'm one who actually likes "Lesson Zero" despite its flaws. Okay, so Rainbow Dash is letting her heroic deeds go to her head and needs to learn to be more modest. Fair enough, no problem. But it was done in one of the most dickish ways possible. Her bragging at the beginning was relatively harmless and Ponyville didn't mind it, let alone not being bothered by it. They wanted to take pictures and interview her for crying out loud. Her friends are the only ones bothered by it, but they don't talk to her, console her, reason with her, or even warn her of the consequences. Instead, they decide to take her down a peg just because they were annoyed. All of the following events can be traced back to this fact. If they tried to reason with Dash and she doesn't listen, then the other 5 would be more justified in what they did and Dash would've definitely deserved what happened to her, but that's not what happened. While they did save lives, if they hadn't kept showing her up as Mare Do Well and jerking her around, she wouldn't progressively become frustrated and desperate into doing stuff like breaking the dam and bothering other ponies over trivial matters. After all of this they still think they're showing Dash how to be a real hero and not brag, yet their motivations were not hero-like at all and [[{{Hypocrite}} they were bragging about Mare Do Well's(aka their) accomplishments]] for no reason other than to hammer it into Dash's head. The whole thing was completely unfair to Rainbow Dash and it made the other 5 into arrogant and self-righteous jerks.

* fluffything: For me, it was the ending of "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E2TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 The Return of Harmony: Part II]]". The beginning and middle were still pretty good with Twilight Sparkle having to get her friends back together to stop [[BigBad Discord]]. Now, you would expect this big epic battle between Discord and the ponies both of them using their powers to create chaos/order. But, nope. It pretty much goes [[spoiler:the Ponies create a giant rainbow of magic with their elements and turn Discord into stone again.]] I'm sorry...what? That is the most anti-climatic thing I have ever seen in my life. You have one of the most entertaining and twisted vilains in WesternAnimation in recent years who has been shown as a serious and challenging threat to the Ponies and yet he's [[spoiler:turned to stone without resistance]]?! No, just, no.

*** It's not so much an Aesop as it is an Unfortunate Implication.

** Excuse me, but how did this episode flanderize Big Macintosh? For one this was the first time since Winter Wrap Up that he actually said anything other than Eyup (even if it was just "Nope"). Then, this was also the episode where we got a closer glimpse into his HiddenDepths - how he runs off with Smartypants. Big Mac at least has been far less two dimensional this episode than usual.

*** Frankiefoster: I agree as well, but for another reason: the depiction of Fluttershy/Rainbow Dash/Twilight. (Rarity's was sorta hilarious--at first, then the running gag got rather stale). Now, the episode was creepy enough on its own, but did we really have to see CRAZY!Twilight Spahkle's face every 11 minutes? Did NO one ask WHY Fluttershy was snapping a bear's neck or even help Twilight calm down? (the bear neck-snap was a MASSAGE, but no one reminded us that) and was anyone even terrified when Rainbow Dash nuked the ground? Yes, it was meant for "edginess", but I think there were better ways to accomplish that.

* Rahkshi500: I know many people will really disagree with me on this, but I found "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" to be the worst episode of the entire series, and I'm one who actually likes "Lesson Zero" despite its flaws. Okay, so Rainbow Dash is letting her heroic deeds go to her head and needs to learn to be more modest. Fair enough, no problem. But it was done in one of the most dickish ways possible. Her bragging at the beginning was relatively harmless and Ponyville didn't mind it, let alone not being bothered by it. They wanted to take pictures and interview her for crying out loud. Her friends are the only ones bothered by it, but they don't talk to her, console her, reason with her, or even warn her of the consequences. Instead, they decide to take her down a peg just because they were annoyed. All of the following events can be traced back to this fact. If they tried to reason with Dash and she doesn't listen, then the other 5 would be more justified in what they did and Dash would've definitely deserved what happened to her, but that's not what happened. While they did save lives, f they hadn't kept showing her up as Mare Do Well and jerking her around, she wouldn't progressively become frustrated and desperate into doing stuff like breaking the dam and bothering other ponies over trivial matters. After all of this they still think they're showing Dash how to be a real hero and not brag, yet their motivations were not hero-like at all and [[{{Hypocrite}} they were bragging about Mare Do Well's(aka their) accomplishments]] for no reason other than to hammer it into Dash's head. The whole thing was completely unfair to Rainbow Dash and it made the other 5 into arrogant and self-righteous jerks.

* Rahkshi500: I know many people will really disagree with me on this, but I found "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" to be the worst episode of the entire series, and I'm one who actually likes "Lesson Zero" despite its flaws. Okay, so Rainbow Dash is letting her heroic deeds go to her head and needs to learn to be more modest. Fair enough, no problem. But it was done in one of the most dickish ways possible. Her bragging at the beginning was relatively harmless and Ponyville didn't mind it, let alone not being bothered by it. They wanted to take pictures and interview her for crying out loud. Her friends are the only ones bothered by it, but they don't talk to her, console her, reason with her, or even warn her of the consequences. Instead, they decide to take her down a peg just because they were annoyed. All of the following events can be traced back to this fact. If they tried to reason with Dash and she doesn't listen, then the other 5 would be more justified in what they did and Dash would've definitely deserved what happened to her, but that's not what happened. While they did save lives, f they hadn't kept showing her up as Mare Do Well and jerking her around, she wouldn't progressively become frustrated and desperate into doing stuff like breaking the dam and bothering other ponies over trivial matters. After all of this they still think they're showing Dash how to be a real hero and not brag, yet their motivations were not hero-like at all and [[Hypocrite they were bragging about Mare Do Well's(aka their) accomplishments]] for no reason other than to hammer it into Dash's head. The whole thing was completely unfair to Rainbow Dash and it made the other 5 into arrogant and self-righteous jerks.

* Rahkshi500: I know many people will really disagree with me on this, but I found "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" to be the worst episode of the entire series, and I'm one who actually likes "Lesson Zero" despite its flaws. Okay, so Rainbow Dash is letting her heroic deeds go to her head and needs to learn to be more modest. Fair enough, no problem. But it was done in one of the most dickish ways possible. Her bragging at the beginning was relatively harmless and Ponyville didn't mind it, let alone not being bothered by it. They wanted to take pictures and interview her for crying out loud. Her friends are the only ones bothered by it, but they don't talk to her, console her, reason with her, or even warn her of the consequences. Instead, they decide to take her down a peg just because they were annoyed. All of the following events can be traced back to this fact. If they tried to reason with Dash and she doesn't listen, then the other 5 would be more justified in what they did and Dash would've definitely deserved what happened to her, but that's not what happened. While they did save lives, f they hadn't kept showing her up as Mare Do Well and jerking her around, she wouldn't progressively become frustrated and desperate into doing stuff like breaking the dam and bothering other ponies over trivial matters. After all of this they still think they're showing Dash how to be a real hero and not brag, yet their motivations were not hero-like at all and they were bragging about Mare Do Well's(aka their) accomplishments for no reason other than to hammer it into Dash's head. The whole thing was completely unfair to Rainbow Dash and it made the other 5 into arrogant and self-righteous jerks.

* [=CCPrime=]: I realize a lot of people will disagree with me, but I found "Lesson Zero" to be the absolute ''worst'' episode of the entire goddamn series. As for why...well, there are a lot of reasons. First off, the very premise itself is rather flimsy-- Twilight has gone a week without solving some kind of crisis and preparing a lesson on friendship? So, let me get this straight...she's honestly expected to find crazy shit to solve every single week? [[FridgeLogic What the hell does she do in her spare time?]] Does she even ''have'' any? However, that part is nothing compared to my main complaint about the episode, namely the "characterization" of Twilight and the rest of the Mane Cast throughout...or rather, the lack thereof.

//Practically ''every single joke'' relies on either [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderizing]] the hell out of characters until they're reduced to nothing but ridiculous caricatures or themselves (Twilight's extreme OCD and descent into psychosis, Rarity's one-note couch gag, Big Mac speaking in nothing but "Eeyup"s and "Nope"s), or making them do insane, exaggerated shit that reads like something out of a book of brony cliches and in-jokes (the "Rainbow Nuke" scene, Fluttershy going all Spetsnaz-CQB on the bear). I enjoy watching this show because it ''usually'' entertains me with its witty writing and likable characters; ''this'' episode, on the other hand, resorted to falling back on a bunch of cheap, crass gags that would not look out of place in an episode of ''InvaderZim'' or ''TheRenAndStimpyShow'', not at all like the cute, optimistic series I'd come to love.

//And that doesn't even cover the ridiculous jumps in logic that showed up later in the episode, like having a bunch of random characters like Mayor Mare and Big Mac just ''happen'' to be hanging around the same park as Twilight. And, no, I did not find "friendly Twilight" funny at all; the disturbing behaviour and fucked up facial expressions just made her look like some kind of deranged stalker, and the latter simply increased the aforementioned resemblance to ''Ren and Stimpy''. Overall, I'm not sure if the episode in general was some kind of hamfisted attempt at appealing to the older brony crowd or something, but if it was...I sincerely hope that future ones attempt it in a different way. MLP should stick to its strengths, rather than try to be "edgy" or whatever.

-> Practically ''every single joke'' relies on either [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderizing]] the hell out of characters until they're reduced to nothing but ridiculous caricatures or themselves (Twilight's extreme OCD and descent into psychosis, Rarity's one-note couch gag, Big Mac speaking in nothing but "Eeyup"s and "Nope"s), or making them do insane, exaggerated shit that reads like something out of a book of brony cliches and in-jokes (the "Rainbow Nuke" scene, Fluttershy going all Spetsnaz-CQB on the bear). I enjoy watching this show because it ''usually'' entertains me with its witty writing and likable characters; ''this'' episode, on the other hand, resorted to falling back on a bunch of cheap, crass gags that would not look out of place in an episode of ''InvaderZim'' or ''TheRenAndStimpyShow'', not at all like the cute, optimistic series I'd come to love.

-> And that doesn't even cover the ridiculous jumps in logic that showed up later in the episode, like having a bunch of random characters like Mayor Mare and Big Mac just ''happen'' to be hanging around the same park as Twilight. And, no, I did not find "friendly Twilight" funny at all; the disturbing behaviour and fucked up facial expressions just made her look like some kind of deranged stalker, and the latter simply increased the aforementioned resemblance to ''Ren and Stimpy''. Overall, I'm not sure if the episode in general was some kind of hamfisted attempt at appealing to the older brony crowd or something, but if it was...I sincerely hope that future ones attempt it in a different way. MLP should stick to its strengths, rather than try to be "edgy" or whatever.

Practically ''every single joke'' relies on either [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderizing]] the hell out of characters until they're reduced to nothing but ridiculous caricatures or themselves (Twilight's extreme OCD and descent into psychosis, Rarity's one-note couch gag, Big Mac speaking in nothing but "Eeyup"s and "Nope"s), or making them do insane, exaggerated shit that reads like something out of a book of brony cliches and in-jokes (the "Rainbow Nuke" scene, Fluttershy going all Spetsnaz-CQB on the bear). I enjoy watching this show because it ''usually'' entertains me with its witty writing and likable characters; ''this'' episode, on the other hand, resorted to falling back on a bunch of cheap, crass gags that would not look out of place in an episode of ''InvaderZim'' or ''TheRenAndStimpyShow'', not at all like the cute, optimistic series I'd come to love.

And that doesn't even cover the ridiculous jumps in logic that showed up later in the episode, like having a bunch of random characters like Mayor Mare and Big Mac just ''happen'' to be hanging around the same park as Twilight. And, no, I did not find "friendly Twilight" funny at all; the disturbing behaviour and fucked up facial expressions just made her look like some kind of deranged stalker, and the latter simply increased the aforementioned resemblance to ''Ren and Stimpy''. Overall, I'm not sure if the episode in general was some kind of hamfisted attempt at appealing to the older brony crowd or something, but if it was...I sincerely hope that future ones attempt it in a different way. MLP should stick to its strengths, rather than try to be "edgy" or whatever.

* [=CCPrime=]: I realize a lot of people will disagree with me, but I found "Lesson Zero" to be the absolute ''worst'' episode of the entire goddamn series. As for why...well, there are a lot of reasons. First off, the very premise itself is rather flimsy-- Twilight has gone a week without solving some kind of crisis and preparing a lesson on friendship? So, let me get this straight...she's honestly expected to find crazy shit to solve every single week? [[FridgeLogic What the hell does she do in her spare time?]] Does she even ''have'' any? However, that part is nothing compared to my main complaint about the episode, namely the "characterization" of Twilight and the rest of the Mane Cast throughout...or rather, the lack thereof. Practically ''every single joke'' relies on either [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderizing]] the hell out of characters until they're reduced to nothing but ridiculous caricatures or themselves (Twilight's extreme OCD and descent into psychosis, Rarity's one-note couch gag, Big Mac speaking in nothing but "Eeyup"s and "Nope"s), or making them do insane, exaggerated shit that reads like something out of a book of brony cliches and in-jokes (the "Rainbow Nuke" scene, Fluttershy going all Spetsnaz-CQB on the bear). I enjoy watching this show because it ''usually'' entertains me with its witty writing and likable characters; ''this'' episode, on the other hand, resorted to falling back on a bunch of cheap, crass gags that would not look out of place in an episode of ''InvaderZim'' or ''TheRenAndStimpyShow'', not at all like the cute, optimistic series I'd come to love. And that doesn't even cover the ridiculous jumps in logic that showed up later in the episode, like having a bunch of random characters like Mayor Mare and Big Mac just ''happen'' to be hanging around the same park as Twilight. And, no, I did not find "friendly Twilight" funny at all; the disturbing behaviour and fucked up facial expressions just made her look like some kind of deranged stalker, and the latter simply increased the aforementioned resemblance to ''Ren and Stimpy''. Overall, I'm not sure if the episode in general was some kind of hamfisted attempt at appealing to the older brony crowd or something, but if it was...I sincerely hope that future ones attempt it in a different way. MLP should stick to its strengths, rather than try to be "edgy" or whatever.

** Robotnik: The same episode as above, for different reasons. It really calls Pinkie Pie's character into question. No one can be cheerful all the time, but no stable person does..that. She doesn't seem hurt and frustrated as much as ''downright homicidal''; real effort was put into making her look insane, with the music, the disturbing reflection of Applejack in her DeathGlare, and the background changes during her breakdown. To make things worse, it could have had an entirely different, much more appropriate {{Aesop}}; given Pinkie's unintentionally obnoxious behavior at Gummy's party and wanting to throw him another ''the very next day'', the lesson could have been "Sometimes your friends need a break and you need to be a little more considerate. They still like you."

[[caption-width-right:350:These moments need to be [[TwentyPercentMoreAwesome 20% cooler]].]]

* Rahkshi500: I know many people will really disagree with me on this, but I found "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" to be the worse episode of the entire series, and I'm one who actually likes "Lesson Zero" despite its flaws. Okay, so Rainbow Dash is letting her heroic deeds go to her head and needs to learn to be more modest. Fair enough, no problem. But it was done in one of the most dickish ways possible. Her bragging at the beginning was relatively harmless and Ponyville didn't mind it, let alone not being bothered by it. They wanted to take pictures and interview her for crying out loud. Her friends are the only ones bothered by it, but they don't talk to her, console her, reason with her, or even warn her of the consequences. Instead, they decide to take her down a peg just because they were annoyed. All of the following events can be traced back to this fact. If they tried to reason with Dash and she doesn't listen, then the other 5 would be more justified in what they did and Dash would've definitely deserved what happened to her, but that's not what happened. While they did save lives, f they hadn't kept showing her up as Mare Do Well and jerking her around, she wouldn't progressively become frustrated and desperate into doing stuff like breaking the dam and bothering other ponies over trivial matters. After all of this they still think they're showing Dash how to be a real hero and not brag, yet their motivations were not hero-like at all and they were bragging about Mare Do Well's(aka their) accomplishments for no reason other than to hammer it into Dash's head. The whole thing was completely unfair to Rainbow Dash and it made the other 5 into arrogant and self-righteous jerks.

* Rahkshi500: I know many people will really disagree with me on this, but I found "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" to be the worse episode of the entire series, and I'm one who actually likes "Lesson Zero" despite its glaring flaws. Okay, so Rainbow Dash is letting her heroic deeds go to her head and needs to learn to be more modest. Fair enough, no problem. But it was done in one of the most dickish ways possible. Her bragging at the beginning was relatively harmless and Ponyville didn't mind it, let alone not being bothered by it. They wanted to take pictures and interview her for crying out loud. Her friends are the only ones bothered by it, but they don't talk to her, console her, reason with her, or even warn her of the consequences. Instead, they decide to take her down a peg just because they were annoyed. All of the following events can be traced back to this fact. If they tried to reason with Dash and she doesn't listen, then the other 5 would be more justified in what they did and Dash would've definitely deserved what happened to her, but that's not what happened. While they did save lives, f they hadn't kept showing her up as Mare Do Well and jerking her around, she wouldn't progressively become frustrated and desperate into doing stuff like breaking the dam and bothering other ponies over trivial matters. After all of this they still think they're showing Dash how to be a real hero and not brag, yet their motivations were not hero-like at all and they were bragging about Mare Do Well's(aka their) accomplishments for no reason other than to hammer it into Dash's head. The whole thing was completely unfair to Rainbow Dash and it made the other 5 into arrogant and self-righteous jerks.

* Rahkshi500: I know many people will really disagree with me on this, but I found "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" to be one of the worse episodes of the series, and I'm one who actually likes "Lesson Zero" despite its glaring flaws. Okay, so Rainbow Dash is letting her heroic deeds go to her head and needs to learn to be more modest. Fair enough, no problem. But it was done in one of the most dickish ways possible. Her bragging at the beginning was relatively harmless and Ponyville didn't mind it, let alone not being bothered by it. They wanted to take pictures and interview her for crying out loud. Her friends are the only ones bothered by it, but they don't talk to her, console her, reason with her, or even warn her of the consequences. Instead, they decide to take her down a peg just because they were annoyed. All of the following events can be traced back to this fact. If they tried to reason with Dash and she doesn't listen, then the other 5 would be more justified in what they did and Dash would've definitely deserved what happened to her, but that's not what happened. While they did save lives, f they hadn't kept showing her up as Mare Do Well and jerking her around, she wouldn't progressively become frustrated and desperate into doing stuff like breaking the dam and bothering other ponies over trivial matters. After all of this they still think they're showing Dash how to be a real hero and not brag, yet their motivations were not hero-like at all and they were bragging about Mare Do Well's(aka their) accomplishments for no reason other than to hammer it into Dash's head. The whole thing was completely unfair to Rainbow Dash and it made the other 5 into arrogant and self-righteous jerks.

* Rahkshi500: I know many people will really disagree with me on this, but I found "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" to be one of the worse episodes of the series, maybe even worse than "Lesson Zero". Okay, so Rainbow Dash is letting her heroic deeds go to her head and needs to learn to be more modest. Fair enough, no problem. But it was done in one of the most dickish ways possible. Her bragging at the beginning was relatively harmless and Ponyville didn't mind it, let alone not being bothered by it. They wanted to take pictures and interview her for crying out loud. Her friends are the only ones bothered by it, but they don't talk to her, console her, reason with her, or even warn her of the consequences. Instead, they decide to take her down a peg just because they were annoyed. All of the following events can be traced back to this fact. If they tried to reason with Dash and she doesn't listen, then the other 5 would be more justified in what they did and Dash would've definitely deserved what happened to her, but that's not what happened. While they did save lives, f they hadn't kept showing her up as Mare Do Well and jerking her around, she wouldn't progressively become frustrated and desperate into doing stuff like breaking the dam and bothering other ponies over trivial matters. After all of this they still think they're showing Dash how to be a real hero and not brag, yet their motivations were not hero-like at all and they were bragging about Mare Do Well's(aka their) accomplishments for no reason other than to hammer it into Dash's head. The whole thing was completely unfair to Rainbow Dash and it made the other 5 into arrogant and self-righteous jerks.

** Edman24: Being done by a brand new staff writer (Merriweather Williams) may have something to do with it. I can't give this episode too much flack because of this, but I agree it could've been better. It's more disappointing because it premiered right after what was a pretty heartwarming character development episode (May the Best Pet Win) for Rainbow Dash. It's still nowhere near as terrible as "Lesson Zero" (It's going to take a real effort to dive lower than... that), this episode had problems on a few levels.
** ParadiscaCorbasi: I was not pleased with back-to-back Rainbow Dash episodes, but as I said on the YMMV page, the lessons about not showing off, and taking being outshined graciously were offset for me with the unspoken one: It took the other five of the Mane Six to show up Rainbow Dash. It took unicorn magic, pegasus flight, earth pony strength, Pinkie's weirdness, and Rarity's fashion sense. We're just lucky Dash didn't figure this out for herself onscreen, or it'd make her that much more bigheaded. That plus Ponyville seemed okay with a ''masked'' vigilante.

** [=Edman24=]: Some may disagree with you, but I'm not one of those some. I personally call "Lesson Zero" the "Brony Episode" because of the ridiculous things it had that I would expect from a mediocre fan video or something. It's by far my least favorite episode for many of the reasons already listed. Little to no sense of the charm, wit, and personality that made the show so acclaimed. The characters definitely had a tinge of {{Flanderization}} about them, the jokes fell hard and flat, and the attempts to make the show more "badass" (Like the Rainnuke and Fluttershy snapping the bear's neck) came off as more ridiculous and unnecessary than believable and funny. I appreciate the producers' appeal to the older fans, but there are better ways to do it. The older fans fell in love with the show because of its witty writing, the likable characters, and refreshing sense of colorful optimism. Watching this episode left me confused and unfortunately disappointed. I do not disagree with anyone who finds this the worst episode of season 2 (After a great two-part premiere, no less) and perhaps the worst episode in the entire series. "Lesson Zero" can pretty much be summed up as 20+ minutes of Twilight losing her mind, making crazy faces and nothing else but a bunch of cheap throwaway running gags (Rarity). Party of One had a famous character freakout, but at least things of substance happened that led to Pinkie going insane (she was really lead by clues to believe her friends were ditching her), Lesson Zero just said "Let's have Twilight go insane, it'll be funny! The fans will like it!", well with all due respect, it wasn't. Just a wretched and miserable episode.

* MoeDantes: I know I'm in a minority, but ''The Return of Harmony''. Just the whole arc. I've written lengthy texts on its problems, but the short version is the whole premise is just off. The show is about these cute little ponies who get into and out of hijinks and come away learning valuable life lessons, most of their stories involve things that could conceivably happen in everyday life (if you make large allowances for Looney Tunes logic). And then all the sudden we have a two-parter where the mane cast are Celestia's private little superhero team, and they're being tasked with stopping the Equestrian version of Loki? The massive GenreShift this episode does is just off-putting and it feels like it derails the characters and setting too much for me to find enjoyment in it.
** ABRICK: This Troper had a lot of complaints about The Return Of Harmony two-parter in general, but the one moment that really sucked was when Applejack actually bothered to listen to a bunch of ObviouslyEvil talking apple piles. Note that she wasn't under Discord's control at that point, and she knows that Discord is a master of illusion and deceit powerfull enough to take away (or at least create the illusion of taking away) horns and wings from a pony, and yet she does not even consider the talking apples to be untrustworthy or something Discord made. The only way this moment could not be a IdiotBall of ungodly porportions is if Applejack thought Discord wouldn't be stupid enough to make a obvious trap, and even then that's Golden-age Superboy levels of brain fart.

** ABRICK: This Troper had a lot of complaints about The Return Of Harmony two-parter in general, but the one moment that really sucked was when Applejack actually bothered to listen to a bunch of ObviouslyEvil talking apple piles. Note that she wasn't under Discord's control at that point, and she knows that Discord is a master of illusion and deceit powerfull enough to take away (or at least create the illusion of taking away) horns and wings from a pony, and yet she does not even consider the talking apples to be untrustworthy or something Discord made. The only way this moment could not be a IdiotBall of ungodly porportions is if Applejack thought Discord wouldn't be stupid enough to make a obvious trap, and even then that's Golden-age Superboy levels of brain fart.

* Tropers/NovusWulf: I would like to add the ending of "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E3TheTicketMaster The Ticket Master]]" to the currently small list. So we have our "Dear Princess Celestia" outro, and Twilight sends the tickets away...only to have a reply containing enough tickets for the entire group. What particularly irks me about this moment is that it makes it a Broken Aesop. The lesson in the episode was mostly to do with materialism, and making sacrifices for the greater good - a good moral to teach children. This is completely undone by this act, the only thing dampening it a little is it is relevant to the plot arc for that season.
* Tropers/DiscoGlacier: ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'''s "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E25PartyOfOne Party of One]];" that was [[TookALevelInJerkass just plain mean]] of the other characters to [[LockedOutOfTheLoop lock Pinkie Pie out of the loop]], seeing [[HeroicBlueScreenOfDeath the emotional distress it was causing her]]. As much as I’d love a good surprise party, the secret should not be so heavily guarded that it convinces the recipient that they are unwanted. The [[HandWave excuse]] “I’d thought she’d be more excited [about the party]” doesn’t work, as earlier in the episode, the mane cast looked as if they were fearing for their lives when they were defending the secret from an increasingly enraged Pinkie. Worse, [[NoSympathy all of the blame was put on Pinkie for how she felt]], rather than taking into consideration their adamant secret-keeping drove her to this point; a simple “We’re sorry for how you felt” would have worked just fine. If it had one redeeming trait, it did give Pinkie Pie the CharacterDevelopment she needed, but did so in a heart-wrenchingly frustrating way.

** Edman24: Being done by a brand new staff writer (Merriweather Williams) may have something to do with it. I can't give this episode too much flack because of this, but I agree it could've been better. It's more disappointing because it premiered right after what was a pretty heartwarming character development episode (May the Best Pet Win) for Rainbow Dash. It's still nowhere near as terrible as "Lesson Zero" (It's going to take a real effort to dive lower than... that), this episode had problems on a few levels.