- Alternative Character Interpretation: Princess Celestia as "Trollestia" (see Memetic Mutation below). Since the original "Plus one guest" invite for the Gala has standard royal greetings and a more formal tone than Celestia's personal letters to her "most faithful student", it is much more reasonable to interpret as a mass "from the desk of" mailing sent to everyone on Celestia's contact list. The moment she is informed that all of Twilight's friends want to attend, Celestia sends them their own tickets without any hesitation ("Why didn't you say so in the first place?").
- Spike not acting jealous when Rarity speaks of Prince Blueblood. This could be because he loves Rarity enough to let her choose which person she wants to date or because he was too shy to reveal his crush.
- Harsher in Hindsight: Given how the "stallion of [her] dreams" turned out to be, it's easy to say that viewers will either laugh at or pity Rarity when she's going off on a tangent with her Imagine Spot. Knowing how the Grand Galloping Gala turns out does this for everyone's hopes for the Gala minus Twilight (whose dream isn't spelled out in this episode).
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Applejack's Humiliating Wager to Big Macintosh—where if she wins, he has to wear one of Granny Smith's girdles—becomes even funnier after two Season 5 episodes feature him dressed in drag.
- Spike secretly wishes he could go to the Gala even though he dismisses it as "Girly Gala Gunk". The show would end up spawning one of the most famous Periphery Demographic, with boys and men (and teen girls or adult women) enjoying the show, and many of them trying to keep their love for it hidden because it's "for little girls".
- Les Yay:
- Rainbow Dash hovers over Twilight, resulting in this exchange:
Twilight: Rainbow Dash! Were you following me?
Rainbow Dash: Yes-I mean no-I mean, maybe!- Rarity attempting to butter Twilight Sparkle up. She rubs her head against Twilight's neck rather lovingly, saying, "After all, we are the best of friends, are we not?" before forcing her into a dress.
- Memetic Mutation:
- This episode first started the "Trollestia" meme, with her initially only sending one extra ticket despite knowing full well that Twilight had just made five new friends.
- This episode also had Pinkie sing how Twilight is "best pony", which eventually had fans labeling all different kinds of characters as "best pony".
- Suspiciously Similar Song: The music during the chase scene
is a bluegrass-style sound-alike Boots Randolph's "Yakety Sax," aka the theme to The Benny Hill Show, aka the song you're expected to play in every chase scene ever.
