S09:E20 - A Horse Shoe In

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Title: A Horse Shoe In
Air Date: September 14, 2019
Written By: 
Synopsis: Starlight decides to hire a Vice Headmare in preparation to take over the School of Friendship from Twilight. But she soon realizes that hiring the right pony for the job is going to be a lot harder than she thought.

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[Cash In 22,323]

...I can already see where this will go. Should be an interesting watch.

[Photon Jet 5,491]

I wonder who would be the new vice-headmare? The Great and Powerful Trixie?

[YoshiAngemon 223]

3 hours ago, Photon Jet said:

I wonder who would be the new vice-headmare? The Great and Powerful Trixie?

I'm thinking more along the lines of Sunburst.

[MangoFoalix 24,961]

I've already seen it, so I know it's great.

[Rushing cash 836]

I watched it in the early releases, and that episode is a very good one.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Rushing cash

[Sphinx-Ara 3,569]

@Dynamo Pad, maybe something you'll be interested in

[Dynamo Pad 11,321]

2 minutes ago, Etched Daydream said:

@Dynamo Pad, maybe something you'll be interested in

If it's an episode that involves my favorite pony, then I'm definitely interesting in the episode.

[Solar Power 302]

Already seen it. It's great. But then I'm always going to love an episode featuring Starlight and Trixie.

[PoisonClaw 8,164]

Watching it for the first time. Hoping it's good!

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

I can all ready tell the star of this episode will be Phyllis.

[Sparklefan1234 170,929]

On 9/12/2019 at 10:02 PM, PathfinderCS said:

 Starlight decides to hire a Vice Headmare in preparation to take over the School of Friendship from Twilight.

 

Hire Trixie or this ship is sunk! 

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

16 minutes ago, Sparklefan1234 said:

 

Hire Trixie or this ship is sunk! 

At this point...Trixie is just not right for the job.

Octavia tho!

[FlareGun45 2,221]

When is Sunburst gonna remove that giant piece of tape between his eyes?

[Early Sunsets 2,106]

It was a good episode. Definitely much better than the last few.

Poor Phyllis.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Excellent episode with an excellent moral and excellent humor.

I think you know my one-worded opinion.

[Will Guide 21,360]

As a guy searching for a more full time paying job, the scene where Starlight had to turn down Big Mac for the job and he respectfully agrees and shook hooves with her really spoke to me.
 

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Okay, so in the future the administrative make-up of the school will be:

Headmare: Starlight Glimmer

Vice Headmare: Sunburst

Counsellor: Trixie

School should be in good hooves now. Kinda bummed Octavia backed out, but oh well.

[Truffles 2,033]

1 hour ago, FlareGun45 said:

When is Sunburst gonna remove that giant piece of tape between his eyes?

But I really like his light markings, especially that one on the bridge of his muzzle. That's what makes him cutest nerd pony. And kudos to this episode for FINALLY moving him to Ponyville! I just wish it had happened back in S7 and not 6 episodes before the end.

 

Starlight was awesome in this episode.

Trixie.... Not so much. This is the episode that made me openly wonder why she has any fans.

Though I did feel bad for her after she got bawled out (even though she deserved it), so by the end of the episode I didn't mind her again. I'm not 100% sure that in real-life she'd be a good fit for student counselor, since she tend to go off on off-topic self-aggrandizement speeches that will have nothing to do with the issues the student she's counseling. Also, she lacks the diplomacy needed to tiptoe around touchy subjects. For example, I could see her blurting out that dragons and griffons are rude while she's trying to make her point, kind of like how she did with Grandpa Gruff.

Her best appearance for me will always be in the S6 finale. They really got her character dialed in perfectly there.

But her attitude here didn't detract enough for me to dislike the episode. This episode is up there as an example of one of the best utilizations of background characters. The audience got to root against Spoiled Rich again in a satisfying way. (Also, at least Diamond Tiara's VA is still getting work on the show, even if it's not as Diamond. ) We got to see a side of Big Mac we haven't before - an interest in being involved in education. I'm not sure where that interest came from, but it should provide for some worthwhile post-series fanon exploration. And it was nice to hear from Octavia and Dr. Hooves one more time before the series ends, though their roles didn't really expand our understanding of their characters much beyond what we already knew.

Plus, several of the Student 6 got some speaking time, something I've missed this season. I felt bad for Gallus, however, as he seemed to get thrown under the bus on multiple occasions. Poor birb.

Lol, I totally forgot Twilight and Spike were even in this episode due to how heated everything became by the end of it. And me getting all caught up in "Dragon Dropped" again didn't help. That Spike hug, though - Starlight, please don't break the poor #1 assistant. 

 

17 minutes ago, PathfinderCS said:

School should be in good hooves now.

All it needs are the new teachers. And there are some fine candidates right there in Ponyville.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Truffles

[ggg-2 3,553]

Wh-Why would you even CONSIDER Spoiled Rich an option!?

[Truffles 2,033]

2 minutes ago, ggg-2 said:

Wh-Why would you even CONSIDER Spoiled Rich an option!?

Eh, if they could redeem Garble.... Pretty much anything is possible.

EDIT: Besides, she's on the town school board (or was? It's not clear anymore since we lost track of the internal goings-on at Cheerilee's school) so I would think Starlight would have to at least give her a chance to prove herself. Which she failed at miserably. Much to my delight.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Truffles

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

4 minutes ago, ggg-2 said:

Wh-Why would you even CONSIDER Spoiled Rich an option!?

To be fair I would assume Spoiled applied on her own merit, and it's likely Starlight hasn't had an interaction with her. Shows on maturity on her part by disqualifying her after the first part of the exam; at least.

[Rushing cash 836]

It was cool to see spoiled rich again, and every starlight x trixie episode is a good one in my book. Happy for sunburst and starlight. The only thing that bothered me is trixie getting to be the consular, I don't think she is fit for the job.

Overall, a really nice episode, 8/10.

[Truffles 2,033]

11 minutes ago, Rushing cash said:

Happy for sunburst and starlight. The only thing that bothered me is trixie getting to be the consular, I don't think she is fit for the job.

One other thing I've seen bothering folks is that Starlight could be considered guilty of nepotism just as much as she would have been had she hired Trixie. But the only pony who might actually raise a stink about it is the first turned-away candidate, Spoiled Rich. She could dig up dirt on him flunking out of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and that he's her childhood best friend - and then try to use that to tarnish the reputation of the new headmare in an attempt to get her to resign as revenge.

But I don't think many will pay attention to any such accusations by her. The rest of Sunburst's resume is fantastic. Who wouldn't want a Royal Crystaller as the vice-headstallion of a school?

[ShootingStar159 2,156]

Anyone else love that Starlight got one last Friendship lesson from Twilight?