5. Starlight Glimmer
"I may have been a tiny bit completely and utterly evil."
As the newest character on this list, Starlight is also the most divisive. Fans seem to either love her or hate her. Me? As you can tell, I'm firmly in the former camp. As George R.R. Martin once said: "There's nothing like a good villain" and Starlight was an excellent villain, arguably the best the show's had so far and definitely the most interesting, chiefly because how different she was from all the villains that came before her: Rather than being some ancient evil, a chaos spirit or a parasitic shape-shifter, Starlight was a seemingly regular unicorn, who also happened to be the leader of a cult. Starlight's brand of evil was also something new to the show; she was a self-righteous fanatic, who believed that her actions and warped ideology were for the greater good and not based on her own experiences in the past. This, to me, made her more compelling than a more stereotypical villain like Tirek. In fact, Starlight was so good in the role of the villain, that after she was redeemed in the season finale, I was a bit concerned that Starlight would lose what made her so interesting. I need not have worried, as season six have handled the character very well. Basically, Starlight is a great addition to the cast and I'm looking forward to see what the show will do with her in the future.
4. Twilight Sparkle
"I'm beginning to think that after friendship, the greatest magic of all, is proper silverware placement!"
Being the main character of a cartoon is not a guarantee that you're going to make it on to my list of favorites. Take Avatar: The Last Airbender, for example; I love that show, but Aang was rather overshadowed by a large part of his supporting cast, including some of the villains. So the fact that I have Twilight on this list should tell you something about how much I enjoy her as a main character. As a matter of fact, there was a time when Twilight was my favorite character in the show. Her smarts and love of reading just made her into an extremely appealing character. in my experience, its rare to have a lead in a cartoon aimed at kids, as brainy as Twilight. I also like the fact that even now, after she has gone from student and protege to a princess with a pupil of her own, Twilight is not presented as infallible; she still has moments where she lets her priorities be skewed or is just plain in the wrong, something that adds to her character. At the end of the day, I don't think Friendship Is Magic could ask for a better protagonist.
3. Maude Pie
"I like that fissure in the sidewalk. Its an elegant example of thermal expansion and soil settlement."
At first, I considered having the two most prominent Pie-sisters share a spot on this list. After all, a lot of Maude's appeal stems from how her stoic, deadpan personality, serves as contrast to Pinkie's exuberance However, I ultimately decided against it. You see, the thing about Pinkie is that I find her a very hit-and-miss character. When in the hands of a writer who gets her, she's great, when not, she can easily come off as grating and obnoxious (granted, this can be true for any of the main six, but I feel its especially notable with Pinkie). Maude, on the other hand, is consistently great, she's one of those characters who makes an episode a bit better, simply by being in it. Definitely my favorite supporting character (by which I mean that she's not one of the main six, a princess, or a villain) in the series. Of course, the fact that the episode she's introduced in is a strong contender for my favorite episode doesn't hurt things either.
2. Princess Celestia
"Now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self, I can protect my subjects from you!"
Praise the sun!
Admittedly, Celestia is one of those characters that I like mostly for aesthetic reasons. Her design, voice and demeanor are simply incredibly appealing to me. She has an undeniable presence, being one of those characters who dominates every scene she's in. Of course, I relish all the little moments where we see the more human side of her, whether its sadness over having been forced to banish her sister (though to be fair, Luna only had herself to blame for that) or the sheer joy on her face, when she tells Twilight that "this has been the most fun gala in years". I should point out, that despite her having the least amount of development out of any character on this list (save for Maude, who doesn't need any), I do find Celestia to be a compelling character: She's a great ruler who puts the well-being of her subjects above all else, but at the same time, she also possesses a mischievous streak and has a bit of the trickster in her. To put it simply, I feel that Celestia is a deeply underappreciated character and an episode that focuses on her is what I want the most from the show at this point.
1. Rarity
"Why, look! There's our friend Rarity, going down in flames! Isn't friendship magic?!"
Unlike Twilight, Rarity wasn't a character that I took an immediate liking towards. However, the more I saw of her, the more I enjoyed her until she eventually became my favorite. Certainly, Rarity has plenty of flaws; she's vain, fussy and a bit narcissistic, the kind of character that could easily (as has been pointed out elsewhere) have been reduced to the role of a minor villain, or antagonist; a nuisance whose only purpose would be to make life difficult for Twilight and her friends on a day-to-day basis. However, Rarity is one of the show's main characters and her flaws are balanced by her many virtues. Time and time again, she has proven herself to be smart, resourceful and deeply caring towards others. At the beginning of this list, I mentioned that the characters in Friendship Is Magic are surprisingly well-rounded. Well, no character in the show demonstrates this more than Rarity and that is why she's my favorite.
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