Pretty sure most of you are already aware, but I spent the better part of a day watching all of that Pony stuff.
I more or less got what I expected from it -- a good, cute, funny series. Probably the best praise I can give the show is that despite its origins as a vehicle for toys, it is clearly made with care and regard for its audience. The moral lessons, while obvious to a man of 25, aren't patronizing. The characters are allowed to be complex, with both good and bad aspects to their personalities that don't disappear or shift based on the whims of the stories. The stories themselves, despite the moral lessons, aren't merely didactic in nature; they have a sense of fun and adventure to them.
Oh, and puns. Lots and lots of puns. Made me jealous that I couldn't have written some of them.
My immediate favorite was Pinkie Pie, which surprised me considering what I'd heard about her beforehand. Normally that character type irritates me, but Pinkie Pie is the one-in-a-million whose brand of chaos is hilarious and genuine. She won me over immediately with her vision of what the Grand Galloping Gala would be like. From there, she amused me more and more, culminating with my favorite episode of the series, "Party of One", in which Pinkie Pie had me simultaneously dying with laughter and sympathizing with her. No mean feat!
My second favorite is Fluttershy, which also surprised me. But she is representative of one of the show's main points: That people (and ponies :P) are not merely what they appear to be on the surface. Fluttershy appears to be a timid pony afraid of action, but she rises to the occasion when her friends are in danger. Plus, it's always hilarious when she breaks out of her default personality. (My favorite Fluttershy moment is when she goes bonkers cheering for Rainbow Dash at the tournament in Cloudsdale.)
I like the others around the same, but in the basic order of Rainbow Dash > Twilight Sparkle > Applejack > Rarity. I enjoy that Rainbow Dash has kind of an asshole streak to her. Reminds me a bit of Tomo from Azumanga Daioh. She obviously can't be a total unrepentant douchebag, because kids show and all, but the moments where she is kind of a jerk are hilarious to me. (And even being kind of a jerk at all and still being sympathetic is relatively unheard of in a series like this.)
Twilight Sparkle might actually be the best written character, I think, mostly because her type is difficult to nail. She's obviously supposed to be the stand-in for the audience to a certain extent (because, after all, the whole point of the show is Twilight Sparkle learning lessons about the nature of friendship), but she is allowed to have a personality of her own rather than being a blank slate. Those two aspects of her character are balanced pretty damn well. Plus, she has the best sarcastic reaction faces.
Applejack is enjoyable all around. I like that the writers avoid having her fall into the slow hick stereotype and call it a day, and that she also has some genuine entrepreneurial spirit to her. Hell, she practically runs the apple farm already, even with Big Macintosh around.
With Rarity, it took me a while to warm up to her for various reasons. But I started to like her by the time of "A Dog and Pony Show", and after that, she won me over totally. A glorious episode for Rarity, I say. And with Rarity around, there's more chance of amusing caricatures of folks from high fashion showing up, too. (My favorite is Photo Finish. Dat accent, man.)
Oh, and I also can't forget Spike. He is cool, too. Like Rainbow Dash, I enjoy that he is such a blatant dick. His crush on Rarity leads to amusing moments, too, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention how wonderful his brief Snidely Whiplash bit is, too. Never stop being the man, Spike.
