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YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S9 E12 "The Last Crusade"

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  • Base-Breaking Character: Scootaloo's parents both fall into this, mainly from how they aren't really around for her, unlike her aunts and friends. Those who like them think that they are genuinely loving and realize that they're too busy to be physically there for her. Those who take issue with them say that this excuse falls flat since there have been numerous times they could've gone to check up on her, and it's only now, the last season, that they take issue with her safety.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Scootaloo's Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty for being the first canonically same-sex couple in the entire show (although there's been a lot of Ship Tease between certain ponies, they've never been explicitly called a couple).
  • Epileptic Trees:
    • Does Scootaloo being half-earth pony have something to do with her not being able to fly?
    • Have her parents really been away this entire time, or did they make a few quick visits to Ponyville here and there that we just didn't catch?
  • Fanfic Fuel:
    • Shire Lanka and the details of Scootaloo parent's job assignment there.
    • Wyverns are canon.
    • Scootaloo staying at houses of other ponies. For example, imagine her staying with each of the Mane Six.
  • Ron the Death Eater: Several critics of Scootaloo's parents, who were admittedly a bit neglectful, treat them as worse than the Abusive Parent Spoiled Rich or such that Scootaloo would be better off as an orphan. This overlooks they showed enough care and their careers gave such valid reason for their absence Scootaloo held no ill will over it (despite acknowledging it effected her) until this episodes conflict, caused by their desire to protect Scootaloo and things they didn't know about, which they resolved by the end.
  • She Really Can Act: Not that she wasn't plenty impressive before, but Madaleine Peters really goes above and beyond in this episode, especially with her entirely believable performance of talking while crying.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
    • At the celebration for the CMC, numerous past characters they've helped appear, including Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, Babs Seed, Big Mac and Sugar Belle, Troubleshoes, Gabby, Terramar, Pipsqueak, Tender Taps, Petunia Paleo, Skeedadle, and members of their Cutie Mark Daycamp (who have gotten their cutie marks off-screen since then). However, only Terramar and Skeedadle speak about what the CMC have done for them, with the others reduced to The Voiceless. Particularly notable for this is Diamond Tiara, as it was the Crusaders helping her pull her Heel–Face Turn that earned them their cutie marks; and that aside, she hasn't had a speaking line and has barely appeared since Crusaders Of The Lost Mark, which was in Season Five.
    • Babs Seed being a family member and the first Sixth Ranger of the CMC who lives in Manehattan probably would have had some insights to share on living so far away from them. She just gets an unvoiced cameo instead.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Some think that Scootaloo should have been Put on a Bus, as it would have allowed for a moral about long-distance friendships and how friends can stay close even as they grow older and go their separate ways, a particularly poignant idea for the cast and the fandom given that this is the final season. note 
  • Tough Act to Follow: For "Growing Up is Hard to Do" which was well-liked save for falling short of this one as the final CMC episode, dramatically acknowledging all they did through the series while "Growing Up" was originally planned for Season 5.
  • Unexpected Character:
    • After spending the whole series avoiding them, Scootaloo's parents appearing caught everyone off-guard as nothing suggested they'd show up here. The official synopsis even called them "unexpected".
    • Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty appearing was a surprise given they debuted in supplementary material which the show normally steers clear of and their being a same sex couple was thought too controversial to let them be put into the show.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Shutter Snap and Mane Allgood were supposed to care for Scootaloo despite being away for so long due to work to the point of missing most of her accomplishments. But since we've never seen Scootaloo with caretakers until this episode, and even they're not there full time (as seen in "Flight to the Finish", where there's no guardian in sight, and as stated in the episode due to their living outside of town) and according to the novel they debuted in only recently started, it seemed they effectively abandoned her. ("Parental Glideance" already confirmed that Scootaloo has confidence issues due to a lack of support at home.) Their worry over Sombra's recent attack is undermined by the numerous other times the locals have been endangered over the eight previous seasons, the movie, and semi-canon Expanded Universe works without their apparent concern. That and when they're first introduced, one of the first things they do is accidentally release a dangerous animal into the Ponyville schoolhouse. This caused many fans, some of whom questioned why they'd have a child if they'd be too busy for them, to think they crossed forgivably flawed to straight neglect.
  • The Woobie: After years of fans wondering where Scootaloo's biological family has been, they're finally introduced, and it turns out none of them live with her full-time; she's been mostly raised by whatever local adults aren't busy. And then Scootaloo's parents accounce their intent to being her along on their next assignment (fearing for her safety after the events of "The Beginning of the End"), taking her away from the ponies who had actually served as her family.

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