YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S2 E10 "Secret of My Excess"

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• Accidental Aesop: You need to control yourself and realize when to stop, before things get worse for you, and maybe for your loved ones too.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Did Spike give Rarity the fire ruby out of his own generosity, or did Rarity seduce it out of him? Related to that, was her biting her hoof her trying to resolve the moral dilemma of exploiting his crush or her trying to get ahold of herself before speaking again (given that it's his, even if she doesn't like what he plans to do with it)? Was her gushing afterwards about his generosity further manipulation, or just her being happy about it and thanking him? (The episode's writer weighed in, giving support to the "she wasn't trying to take it from him" side.)
  • Did Spike's maturation cause his greed or did his greed jump-start his maturation? The debates started raging before the episode even ended. Some people assume his lack of wings, something all adult dragons have (excluding a few background extras in Dragon Quest), is an indicator of the latter and it was an imperfect adult stage. Much later, the show makes clear it’s different from the Molt in which dragons get their wings.
  • Another thing worth adding to the above is that Spike wasn't used to receiving gifts; prior to this episode, the only gifts he'd ever gotten were from Twilight, and they were always books. Now, suddenly gifts are being heaped on him, and his Draconian instincts start to kick in as he realizes "Hey, this feels pretty good. I wonder who else I can get stuff from?" And it just snowballs from there.
  • On that note, is Twilight really a bad gift giver by always giving him books and not trying to branch out, or is it actually a pragmatic method of keeping his dragon greed in check?
• Faux Symbolism: Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash trying to convince Spike to calm down, the sweet and gentle Fluttershy over his right shoulder (angel) and brash, impetuous Dash over his left (devil).
  • One of the first things Spike obsesses over is a globe. Which, y'know, represents ''the world''.
• Genius Bonus:
  • Most people in the target demographic won't know the connection between the aforementioned airstrike siren and the Wonderbolts' appearance.
  • It can be noted that several details have been changed in Spike's flashback. These changes are actually a very accurate depiction of how memories can change on their own. It was also a mix of the main details of an event colored by the emotions experienced during said event and changed by Spike's current emotions, which makes it a very accurate depiction of how the mind handles memories.
• Harsher in Hindsight: "Owl's well that Ends Well" where Spike becoming dangerously jealous of Owlowiscious and becoming a villain was played for laughs.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • It's kind of funny that this is the second time that the Wonderbolts attempt to perform a heroic feat and fail (the last one being rescuing Rarity in "Sonic Rainboom"). Now they try to take on a giant Spike but they still get beaten. Maybe the Wonderbolts are better off being performers instead of being a rescue team.
    • Or Rarity is bad luck for them...
  • This was made a good 2 months before this episodes airing.
  • Spike's "embarrassing" gratitude towards Applejack's birthday present almost seems to foreshadow his actions in "Spike at your Service".
• Narm: In one line uttered by Zecora, she put the Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: "He is going to turn into a monSTER," distracting from the serious tension in the scene.
• Narm Charm: Say hello to "Gangsta" Twilight◊!
• One-Scene Wonder: The Wonderbolts swoop in to try and stop Spike, get defeated and trapped under the water tower, and fly off afterwards with nary a word.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The background music that plays during Twilight's organizing of books and luring Spike with a broom sounds very similar to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". The second measure of the piece can be heard when Twilight was trying to control Spike.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The iris zoom probably had to be manually done in Flash, and the fact it doesn't look like a wreck shows how far these guys have come.

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