History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E1SchoolDazePart1

** Real friendship is something you can't record into or acquire from a book. And it's definitely something that can't be taught and learned in a formal classroom and curriculum that conforms to strict EEA standards.

** Although it's important to observe rules in most cases, if the end result of those rules result is harmful instead of beneficial, then maybe the rules are flawed or they're being observed too strictly with inflexibility.

* {{Facepalm}}: Angel Bunny face-paws at Fluttershy's rehearsal of greeting for her students, since she's, as usual, not terribly assertive.

* ThinkingUpPortals: Instead of the teleporting seen by various skilled unicorns and the princesses, Chancellor Neighsay opens portals and then walks through them.

* ContinuityNod: She may have got over her issues at reading books, [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E16ReadItAndWeep but Rainbow Dash still doesn't want to look like an egg-head to others]].

* ContinuityNod:
** She may have got over her issues at reading books, [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E16ReadItAndWeep but Rainbow Dash still doesn't want to look like an egg-head to others]].
** The events of [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017 the movie]] are recounted. It's revealed that instead of staying in Ponyville, Tempest is spreading the news of the Storm King's defeat -- and sharing what she learned about friendship -- across Equestria.

* HypocriticalHumor: During the fight in the hallway, Smolder says that maybe dragons and griffons are just too tough for friendship before sharing a fist bump with Gallus, which is a sign of strong friendship between others.

** Locations well outside the bounds of Equestria, introduced in the movie, expands into the show; this also includes the introduction of the hippogriffs/seaponies as yet another new species.

* BowledOver: Gallus, while carrying Sandbar, accidentally drops him, causing the young Earth Pony to crash into the world leaders, knocking them over like bowling pins.

** The School of Friendship now exists next to the Castle of Friendship in Ponyville.

Twilight prepares her plan for the school and presents it to the EEA, led by Chancellor Neighsay. Neighsay is concerned about the ability of Twilight and her friends to run the school given their regular adventures, but Twilight convinces him that the school is an important part of defending the realm and parts beyond. Neighsay grants preliminary approval on the basis that the school will help teach ponies how to protect themselves from threats outside Equestria, ignoring Twilight's insistence that it's meant to help them get along. Neighsay provides her with a detailed EEA rulebook to follow.

The school seems to start off okay, with Twilight and her friends teaching the students, but Twilight gradually recognizes that their ways of teaching are against the EEA book, and makes sure both teachers and students conform to the rules. This quickly sours the mood at the school, but Twilight insists they need to do this to get EEA accreditation. Many of the students begin to doubt that Twilight and her friends are the apparent heroes of Equestria they claim to be, since they are so boring as professors. On the Friends and Family day, during which Chancellor Neighsay plans to review Twilight's efforts, Gallus and Smolder convince their friends to ditch classes. This leads to some panic by Twilight, Starlight Glimmer, and Rainbow Dash when they find they've gone missing while under the eagle-eye of Neighsay. The six students, having spent enough time to relax at a local lake and get to know each other better, decide to fly back to the school; this leads them to ask Ocellus what forms she can transform into, which she demonstrates by becoming a giant insect just as they near the school where all their family and friends have gathered. This creates a mass panic, quickly ruining the ceremony. Neighsay is outraged by it, and is even more livid when he finds that there are non-ponies enrolled at the school. His angry outbursts at the non-pony students anger the various non-pony guardians, such as Prince Rutherford and Dragon Lord Ember, who decide that the school is not helping teach their students friendship, and take them away, while Neighsay immediately closes it, placing a magical lock to prevent anypony entering it.

* WorldBuilding: The School of Friendship now exists next to the Castle of Friendship in Ponyville.

* {{Irony}}: The Equestria Education Association, which is responsible for providing learning and training opportunities for young ponies, is so close-minded that it considers "interspecies cooperation" a foreign concept that doesn't deserve to be contemplated or understood (ignorance and xenophobia) and is clearly against the idea of welcoming and educating non-ponies. So much for Equestria being a proud and great nation built upon ''friendship and harmony''.

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: Concerning the guardians of the non-pony students, you have Prince Rutherford, Princess Ember and Thorax, each their respective species' leaders, Seaspray, who is a general in the hippogriff navy, and [[GrumpyOldMan Grandpa Gruff]].

** Twilight going up against the council is reminiscent of ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix]]''.

* {{Hypocrite}}: The Equestria Education Association, which is responsible for providing learning and training opportunities for young ponies, is so close-minded that it considers "interspecies cooperation" a foreign concept that doesn't deserve to be contemplated or understood, and is clearly against the idea of welcoming and educating non-ponies on the stated basis of wanting to protect Equestria and its ideals against outside influence. So much for Equestria being a proud and great nation built upon ''friendship and harmony'' and overcoming prejudice and distrust. Of course, the series has never been shy about showing that ponies were the main races to embrace friendship and harmony and mostly between each other, and were typically naive or fearful toward other species (just as other species were often antagonistic toward ponies).

** Twilight initially wants to follow the EEA's guidelines for a school to a tee, which bores the students and the teachers alike (not to mention Pony-centric). After just a few days, the students start skipping class to get away from it.

* SeriesContinuityError:
** The pirate ship is added to the Cutie Map, even though Tempest should've destroyed it.
** Season 8 acknowledges the events of the Movie, which took place between Season 7 and Season 8, but significantly changed the recap of the story by stating that Equestria was not taken by a surprise attack on Canterlot.

* JerkassHasAPoint:
** Neighsay sneers about Twilight and friends running a school, asking her if she won't run off on some adventure. This is a good point, since the Mane Six have to go on quests to save Equestria on a regular basis.
** His concern about ponies needing to better prepare against eventual threats from outside Equestria is also rather understandable considering this is shortly after the Storm King's attempted invasion that saw three of its Alicorn Princesses [[TakenForGranite turned to obsidian statues]] while the rest of the ponies were locked up or enslaved.

* ShrinkingViolet: Ocellus is initially so nervous about being at the school that she takes on the form of a pony rather than show her true self.

** Twilight initially wants to follow the EEA's guidelines for a school to a tee, which bores the students and the teachers alike. After just a few days, the students start skipping class to get away from it.