YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S9 E11 "Student Counsel"

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation:
  • As Starlight's constantly glowing bracelet has shown, put your phones/game consoles down during social events.
  • There is no shame in asking for additional help or replacements while setting an availability schedule if you are unable to balance your work-life.
  • Keep track of time while doing an assignment at all times. Don't be so busy that you didn't know how much time has passed, especially if you have to meet someone afterwards.
  • If you keep bugging your teacher with minor problems that you could easily solve yourself, they just might brush you off when you actually DO need their help. You are much more likely to get help when you only ask it for real problems. Though as Silverstream points out, being always available makes it easy to come to Starlight with a trivial problem.
• Accidental Innuendo: Maud is quite impressed by Mudbriar becoming, well, rock hard.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Mudbriar getting turned to stone? Scary. Maud preferring him that way? Hilarious.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • What did the Mane Six and Spike do in Canterlot for the Spring Solstice?
  • Cockatrices along with their petrifying gaze can be tamed. Anyone looking for an exotic or Action Pet?
  • Was Mudbriar conscious during his petrification?
  • Ocelus’ identity crisis, especially with how it can tie into LGBT issues like this fandom loves to do.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: To anyone who disliked Mudbriar from his first appearance, this episode goes out of its way to smooth his rougher edges. He suffers multiple Break the Haughty moments, from getting glares over his greater interest on his party sticks than the missing Silverstream to being turned to stone by a cockatrice. He also manages to make his focus on trees useful instead of simply annoying, using his knowledge to find the cockatrices' roosting spot.
• Take That, Scrappy!: Mudbriar's corrections prompt the rest of the group, even Maud, to give him Disapproving Looks, and then he gets turned to stone by the cockatrice.
• Unexpected Character: Terramar hasn't been seen since Season 8's "Surf And/Or Turf", and Mudbriar was last seen in "The Maud Couple" (apart from a brief, voiceless cameo in "The Break Up Break Down"); both were expected to be one-shot characters. Terramar's even more unexpected given Mudbriar is at least with recurring character Maud Pie, while the Hippogriff's residence is in Seaquestria/Mount Aris and only tangentially related via Silverstream. Even more surprising, aside from a cameo alongside other monsters in "School Raze", the cockatrice hasn't been seen since Season One.

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