YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S5 E7 "Make New Friends but Keep Discord"

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Tree Hugger is often portrayed as being on drugs by fans. Her New-Age Retro Hippie personality and Dreadlocks contribute.
  • Discord's general behavior for the episode. Is he acting like this because of how close he and Fluttershy are or because he secretly likes her and became a Crazy Jealous Guy as a result?
  • Celestia suddenly discarding the graceful mask we have always seen her maintain. Given that she's always bored at the Gala and has no real obligations other than showing up, more than a few people have theorized that this may be the one night of the year she allows herself to go overboard on drinking, and that makes her uninhibitedly cheerful. It also makes everything a lot funnier for her.
  • The Smooze either is attending the gala with Discord as a replacement friend to make Fluttershy jealous or assumes that attending the gala was actually a date with Discord. Given the look of abandonment on its face when Discord ditches him, he was clearly hurt by his rejection. He also gives Discord a forgiveness kiss when he apologizes for his cruelty.
• Base-Breaking Character: Some G1 fans took issue with the Smooze's Adaptational Heroism, feeling it dilutes what made the creature so memorable in the first place. Some others along with general FIM fans liked it just fine, and some were just glad to have anything from the early franchise getting acknowledged at all.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Tree Hugger was already becoming popular in the fandom even before the episode aired thanks to preview clips.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • How exactly does Discord know the Smooze? And where did the Smooze come from and what is it, anyway?
  • There's a universe with humans, a Mirror Universe if we count the Reflections arc from the comics, and now one with Sock Puppets. How many other universes are there?
  • Wait, Discord can open portals to other worlds? Looks like we got an alternate way to get back to the human world other than Twilight's portal.
  • Discord's jealousy in response to Tree Hugger has spawned more Fluttercord art and stories.
• Fanon:
  • Tree Hugger's constant mellow tones of speech, relaxed mannerisms, and Cloud Cuckoolander tendencies made it an easy jump for fans to portray her as The Stoner.
  • Celestia being drunk for the whole evening, or at least by the end when she's all giggly with Twilight, is another popular assumption.
• Genius Bonus: The line about Discord using his right paw to catch his left leg. His right paw is clearly panthera-based, while his left leg is from a hoofed animal, and the former tends to be a natural predator of the latter in nature.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Given how Friendship is Witchcraft depicts Fluttershy as the leader of a Smooze-based cult, it's fitting that an episode involving the G4 version of the Smooze has her as a main character.
  • Many fanartists have depicted Fluttershy as a hippie due to her love of nature. Now she has a new friend who fits the hippie stereotype to a T.
  • Back in 2013, one fan cosplayed as Discord in a cardboard box. Almost two years later...
  • Ironically, this is not the first time hippie ponies are shown, as Wheat Grass and Flax Seed from the comics long predate Tree Hugger. However, Tree Hugger's attitude more or less is just like how they were portrayed.
  • Watch this and then try to watch Discord's failed stand up without laughing.
  • This picture was made two years before the episode.
• Ho Yay:
  • Given that Discord is acting like a jealous boyfriend, Tree Hugger and Fluttershy hanging out looks a lot like they are dating. Not helping matters is the two always hugging and Fluttershy giving Tree Hugger a couple rather adoring looks.
  • Discord and the Smooze attend the gala together to make Fluttershy jealous. However, it seems like the Smooze might have feelings for Discord, considering the kiss he gave Discord at the end of the episode (though The Smooze is frequently referred to as an 'it', so this might qualify as a Ship Tease between Discord and a genderless entity).
• Jerkass Woobie: Yeah, Discord was being a prick in trying to sabotage the Gala if it meant getting Fluttershy's affections and abused the benign Smooze just so he could try to make Fluttershy jealous. But it's shown Discord has never had a friend prior to Fluttershy so he doesn't know how he should act for her and even that his friends are allowed to have other friends besides him. Many YouTube commenters have sympathized with him especially since he's been excluded from things before. Not to mention that, even if the other ponies forgave him, this episode lightly implies he's still on not fully good terms with Twilight and the other Mane Six. It probably would've helped if Fluttershy explained this better as well when Discord was clearly showing signs of jealousy before he practically had to spell it out for her.
• Memetic Mutation: Fluttershy's smile as she finishes saying "We went to the store and bought two cakes◊" has received several spin-offs on Derpibooru and renditions among MLP fan artists.
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  • Happy Princess Celestia at the end of the episode.
  • Celestia's genuine laughter at Discord's joke about Twilight's flying abilities.
• No Yay: Discord waking Spike up getting very close in his personal space, demanding to know where Twilight is. The scene does have rather awkward undertones, especially since Spike is still considered a child in this universe.
• One-Scene Wonder: Despite her very limited screen-time, most fans thought Maud's blunt jab at Discord was one of the funniest things in the episode. Most ponies respect or fear Discord, but she treats him the same way as she would anypony else.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat: As the first Episode to show that Discord and Fluttershy were starting to become closer to each other, fans of the Pinkie Pie/Discord pairing were either disappointed or angry at this development, believing that Pinkie Pie and Discord would've complimented each other much better.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Twilight takes on the responsibility of organizing the Gala in order to give Princess Celestia a break. However, none of her new responsibilities are shown onscreen; she still spends the evening helping Celestia to greet the guests, and the pressure she's under to keep things under control is only briefly mentioned.
  • The Cutie Mark Crusaders attend the Gala for the first time, but the episode only uses them as background characters at the actual event.
• The Woobie: Of all characters, the Smooze. The ponies spend most of the night frightened of it just because it's a blob (granted, it's attacking people to steal and eat their shinies), and Discord is constantly pushing it out of the way and ignoring it so he can focus on Fluttershy, when Discord was the one who invited it in the first place.

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