YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S8 E22 "What Lies Beneath"

• Accidental Aesop:
  • Don't rely on what other people think about your friendship; it's your choice alone if you think your friendship is worthwhile.
  • As a bonus for standing up to the Storm King, Silverstream learns that you don't have to let the memory of someone bad keep you from living your life.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Was the Tree of Harmony actually going to hurt or keep the Young Six trapped if they failed, or was it just faking the danger as part of the Secret Test of Character?
  • The Tree of Harmony is revealed to be a sentient, intelligent life form; is this a recent development, or has it always been such but has never directly interacted with other beings until now?
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • The Tree of Harmony being sapient.
  • What exactly happened to Ocellus during Queen Chrysalis' rule?
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • After this episode, it's quite amusing to think back to the Viewer Gender Confusion a lot of fans had for Smolder at the start of the season. One imagines the crew knew they'd better clear it up immediately, or else this episode would put them in an uncomfortable position of having to deny they intended any examination of transgender issues.
  • In the Pony POV Series, a major character's original form is the Tree of Harmony meaning that the tree itself is sapient. 3 years later, this episode would reveal that the Tree of Harmony is indeed sapient.
  • In A Matter of Principals, Starlight wasn't thrilled at Discord's idea of having a tree as a teacher. But in this episode, the Young Six learned a friendship lesson from the Tree of Harmony. Guess Discord wasn't too far off, but he was barking up the wrong tree.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Yona becoming "Spider-Yak."
  • Princess Smolder.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Many fans not sold on the Student Six were won over by this episode.
• Shipping: Pairing Gallus and Silverstream really took off after this episode, with the ship even being given the name "Lovebirds."

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