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

• Ascended Fanon:
  • One of the more popular fan theories about Fluttershy's characterization is that she's a nature-loving hippie. Tree Hugger's debut appearance as one of Fluttershy's other pony friends seems to strongly imply, if not outright confirm, this tendency.
  • Discord can sneak around like Solid Snake from Metal Gear.
• Long-Runners: The airing of this episode officially made Friendship is Magic the longest-running Hasbro TV show in history, surpassing The Transformers.
• What Could Have Been:
  • According to Jim Miller at 2015 Everfree Northwest, their original idea of the world behind the portal that Discord opened would have been Stock Footage of real horses. Jim said that Hasbro thought that was too weird.
  • In an interview with M.A. Larson, he revealed that the original idea of Tree Hugger wasn't one of a stereotypical hippie, but more like Martha Stewart.
  • A later interview with Larson showed that the tone of the ending where Discord threatened to banish Tree Hugger to another dimension was going to be much darker and tense. The original setting wasn't in the ballroom, but atop the castle where Discord straddles closer to reverting to his old ways while Fluttershy desperately talks him down, in a similar vein to Vertigo. This was ultimately rejected because the higher ups felt this went against Discord's character development up to that episode.
• Word of God: Like the live action Boneless from "Pinkie Pride" or the felt-based Imagine Spot from "A Friend in Deed", the sock-pocket was created by Jayson Theissen, performing over backgrounds drawn by Jim Miller, and filmed in Theissen's mother-in-law's bedroom, according to Miller. Per Jayson, the puppet name is Señor Huevos ("Mr. Eggs" in Spanish).

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