YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S9 E20 "A Horse Shoe-In"

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Spoiled Rich was the first teacher to get the boot in Starlight’s process of elimination. Was it due to her concern that Spoiled would teach the kids the wrong way of thinking regarding her way of "loyalty", or did Starlight see a bit of Chancellor Neighsay pre-redemption in her and believed she would act unreasonable towards the non-pony and non-cutie mark students given how she raised Diamond Tiara?
• Cargo Ship: Starlight's obsession with "Phyllis" the philodendron has come across as this to some fans, even leading some to jokingly create a new shipping pair between the two.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • Trixie threw out Phyllis at the end, much to Starlight's horror. Would the latter still keep the position of guidance counselor open to the former after the fact seeing how much the plant meant to her?
  • Not to mention, how did Phyllis find its way into Starlight's life in the first place? Why is she so reluctant to let anyone else find out?
  • Sunburst being the vice-headmare. Not to mention his reasoning for being available was that Flurry Heart grew up and no longer needed as much babysitting anymore. What will Flurry do now?
  • What happened in Pre-Equestrian year 1322 with Abraxius the Bold?
  • Twilight's royalty lessons.
  • The way Trixie chews out Grampa Gruff implies that she’s gone through something similar as a filly if it was enough to provoke her so easily.
  • If copyright weren't an issue (for obvious reasons, though IDW has done this in the comics due to comic ownership of both franchises), would the TARDIS have made an appearance?
• Take That, Scrappy!: Seeing Spoiled Rich be the first headmare candidate rejected is very satisfying.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • It seemed as if Octavia was all set to become vice-headmare, since she excelled at all three aspects of the interview process. Towards the end of the episode, Starlight mentions that Octavia told her (off-screen) that she was no longer interested due to it taking time from her music. Thus, Octavia's arc through the episode ends with an Anti-Climax.
  • You got yourself a new vice-headmare and a counselor. Are you going to take this chance to hire more teachers at the same time to ease the workload on the Mane 6? Nope.
  • We finally get to know some Pre-Equestrian history... only for Trixie to skim through it without any major detail. All we know is the year 1322 and a supposedly major name, and that's it.

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