History YMMV / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E8TheMysteriousMareDoWell

** If it isn't [[AccusationFic accusation fics]] or [[DeconstructionFic deconstruction fics]], it's stories involving the title character having her own adventures, even in instances where she's played by a different pony. Sometimes [[{{Irony}} even Rainbow Dash herself.]]
* FanonDiscontinuity: For many fans, this episode never happened.

* AccidentalAesop: The episode's events easily support a decent aesop about acting responsibly in a crisis - Rainbow repeatedly put lives in danger by putting her showboating before doing anything to help, which Mare-Do-Well avoided. Unfortunately, the dialogue/the episode's inability to have Dash learn the lesson herself really don't support it, hence a lot of the complaints.

* {{Woolseyism}}: In the Jappanese dub, Mare Do Well is renamed Dark Mare, which fits better as a homage to Batman, the Dark Knight.

* NeverLiveItDown: This was the first episode written by Merriwether Williams, who still hasn't escaped a reputation as the show's worst writer despite several of her later episodes being better received. See especially the episode "Bats!", which was universally loved...until it was revealed the writing credit was a mistake, and it was actually Williams.

* InternetBackdraft: Mentioning this episode can lead to year-long flame wars, even on this very wiki.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: While it’s mostly because of jealously, Rainbow’s comment about Mare Do Well somehow being able to know things before they happen and implying that the latter is intentionally setting up these accidents to pretend to save others, isn’t completely unreasonable. Mare Do Well is an unknown masked vigilante who only recently showed up in Ponyville. She always has the skills or knows exactly what to do to fix the problem at hand, never says a word to anyone and is always quick to leave the scene.

* CounterpartComparison: More than a few fans have compared the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well to ''[[WesternAnimation/SouthPark South Park's]]'' Mysterion. Both of them end up stealing the thunder of characters who enjoy the limelight of being the hero, have similar color choices for the costume, and ultimately turn out to be one of the main characters. Heck, they both have the word "Mystery" in their name.

* IdiotPlot: The episodes entire plot hinges around the Mane Six never directly confronting Rainbow about her boasting until the very end and Dash herself being incapable of figuring out what it means to be a real hero until it has to be spelled out for her.

* TheScrappy: Depending on who you ask, this status is handed generously to either Rainbow Dash or the rest of the Mane Cast.

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->''Back to [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E8TheMysteriousMareDoWell main]].''

* HilariousInHindsight: Pinkie Pie says that "the only thing that should be rubbed in anypony's face is chocolate cake" Guess what happens three episodes later during the birthday party.
* IdiotPlot: The episodes entire plot hinges around the mane six never directly confronting Rainbow about her boasting until the very end and Dash herself being incapable of figuring out what it means to be a real hero until it has to be spelled out for her.

* ShoutOut: Rainbow Dash compulsively getting Granny Smith across the road when she didn't want to could be a reference to CarryOnConstable. Also Rainbow's attempt to fix the leak in the dam could refer to the story of the [[Radar/DadsArmy little Dutch boy]].

* NeverLiveItDown: This was the first episode written by Merriwether Williams, who still hasn't escaped a reputation as the show's worst writer despite several of her later episodes being better received. See especially the episode "Bats," which was universally loved...until it was revealed the writing credit was a mistake, and it was actually Williams.

** Dash's friends were either having some good-natured fun among themselves and dropping hints to Dash that she would be happier and more successful if she just improved her attitude and acted more like Mare-Do-Well (i.e. humbly and without showboating), '''or''' were cruelly mocking Dash and her misfortunes while hypocritically praising Mare-Do-Well (i.e. themselves), fully aware that attacking Dash's competitive personality this way would only cause her grief.

*** [[http://chadrocco.deviantart.com/art/My-Little-Pony-Lessons-Learned-271885281?q=gallery%3Achadrocco%2F93309&qo=0 this fanart from]] [[WebVideo/FamiliarFaces Chad Rocco]]

** And now [[http://yuki-orin.deviantart.com/art/Alone-page-1-277324461 this fanart]] and an attempt at a {{Reconstruction}} [[http://alexwarlorn.deviantart.com/art/TRUE-Harmony-of-Rainbow-Dash-262756035 here]] (a later chapter has [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash as Mare-Do-Well fighting [[Fanfic/RainbowFactory Rainbow Factory Rainbow Dash]] to protect Scootaloo]], ItMakesSenseInContext).

** And now [[http://yuki-orin.deviantart.com/art/Alone-page-1-277324461 this fanart]] and an attempt at a {{Reconstruction}} [[http://alexwarlorn.deviantart.com/art/TRUE-Harmony-of-Rainbow-Dash-262756035 here]]
** If it isn't [[AccusationFic accusation fics]] or [[DeconstructionFic deconstruction fics]], it's stories involving the title character having her own adventures, even in instances where she's played by a different pony.

* ShowDontTell: The main aspect that sevearly harms this episode, we only see the mane five casually commenting on Rainbow Dash's boasting, while the main argument for them assuming the Mare Do-Well mantle is that "she wouldn't have listened anyway" we never ''see'' them actually ''try'' to talk with her or at the very least consider the option. Even if she didn't listen, it would've been a nice gesture of faith they trusted her enough as ''friends'' to try talking with her first before resorting to more drastic measures.

** Spawned three {{Deconstruction Fic}}s in less than a week:

* CounterpartComparison: More than a few fans have compared the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well to ''[[WesternAnimation/SouthPark South Park's]] Mysterion. Both of them end up stealing the thunder of characters who enjoy the limelight of being the hero, have similar color choices for the costume, and ultimately turn out to be one of the main characters. Heck, they both have the word "Mystery" in their name.

* HilariousInHindsight: Pinkie Pie says that "the only thing that should be rubbed in anypony's face is chocolate cake" Guess what happens in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E9SweetAndElite the next episode]] during the birthday party.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy tend to be unfavorably viewed in this episode by a lot of the audience. While they at least saved several ponies' lives as Mare-Do-Well, they were never shown just talking to Rainbow Dash and explaining their concerns about her boasting being a problem, and instead jumped straight into a plan to deflate Rainbow's ego by mercilessly beating her at something she took great personal pride in. Their actions were very thoughtless and hurtful, actually making Rainbow's behavior much worse, and they didn't let up even when it was clear that their friend wasn't reacting well, even deliberately mocking her as being jealous, all of which made them seem like jerks. In the Sugarcube Corner scene, Applejack talked about how modest and humble Mare-Do-Well is, while she and the others bragged about their own accomplishments as the masked heroine, making them all look like massive {{Hypocrite}}s. They directly confronted Rainbow about her bragging problems only ''after'' she discovered Mare-Do-Well's identity, leaving them with no other option but to come clean. For many people, this gives the impression that the other Mane Six just wanted to bring down Dash because of envy at the attention she was getting, and that they failed to think through the effects their plan would have on Rainbow's attitude and only succeeded in making things worse.

* FanficFuel: Spawned three {{Deconstruction Fic}}s in less than a week;
** ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7598776/1/No_Hard_Feelings No Hard Feelings]]''[[note]]although the ending is absolutely adorable, and includes the line "This hug needs more ponies! Stat!" from Pinkie Pie.[[/note]]
** ''[[http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/12/story-whats-eating-rainbow-dash.html What's Eating Rainbow Dash]]''
** [[http://chadrocco.deviantart.com/art/My-Little-Pony-Lessons-Learned-271885281?q=gallery%3Achadrocco%2F93309&qo=0 this fanart from]] [[WebVideo/FamiliarFaces Chad Rocco]]

* FanficFuel: If it isn't [[AccusationFic accusation fics]] or [[DeconstructionFic deconstruction fics]], it's stories involving the title character having her own adventures, even in instances where she's played by a different pony.

* ParvumOpus: With everything that went on in this episode, it's easy to see why the fanbase generally regards this as their least favorite of the series.

* GodModeSue: The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well has the abilities of five ponies of three species! Outrageous! Except this mare is actually five mares.

* GuiltyPleasure: Believe it or not, this episode is this for some, even by those who absolutely hate it.

* CluelessAesop: Contributing to the BrokenBase, it's been repeatedly pointed out that the message of humility would certainly have been stronger if the scene in Sugarcube Corner had Twilight, Rarity and Applejack praising ''each other's'' contributions to Mare-Do-Well rather than their own (fixing the dam, her outfit and her overall humility respectively). You're not being humble when you're talking about how humble you are. [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11kmii_the-mysterious-mare-do-well-experimental-edit_shortfilms This edited version]] even omits the entire Sugarcube Corner scene so as to make the Mane 5's actions seem even less questionable.
* DudeNotFunny:
** Near the beginning of the episode, Rainbow says there’s something wrong with the baby she just rescued. “She’s not cheering for everyone’s favorite hero, Rainbow Dash!” Afterwards, Dash gets distracted by the paparazzi and casually tosses the baby to her mother, who doesn’t look too pleased by such carelessness. It’s not uncommon to find people, even those who sympathize with Rainbow Dash, that consider this joke to be poor in taste.
** At one point, Spike mishears Rainbow as saying Mare Do Well is great and tries to write it down. Rainbow, in a moment of frustration, yells at him for trying to wright down something she didn't say about someone she doesn't like. The other mane six get a good laugh out of this. Unfortunately, this happens during the infamous Sugarcube Corner scene, where the other mane six are often interpreted as hypocritically bragging about their own accomplishments as Mare Do Well. Needless to say, pretty much no one likes it, even people who defend the rest of the episode have been known to find this moment cringe worthy.
** A lot of the humor in the episode is based around humiliating Rainbow Dash in some way. While this is intended to be seen as her getting comeuppance for her reckless behavior, due to the botched up writing of the episode, it instead comes across as very mean spirited and kicking a depressed person while their down for many people.

* ScapegoatCreator: The BrokenBase nature of the episode immediately elevated the new writer Merriwether Williams to the level of TheScrappy of the MLP writers, while she has since written a several more episodes that have had better reception, she still has a sizable hatedom.