YMMV / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S9 E21 "Daring Doubt"

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: While the main message is about how there's many different sides to the same story, some have also interpreted it as a cautionary tale of being careful of who you look up to as an idol, as even they're flawed individuals and one day you'll learn that the unfortunate way.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • While Dr. Caballeron's side of the story can be chalked up as Becoming the Mask, how much did he actually care about the ancient sites being destroyed throughout his heists?
  • If Ahuizotl is indeed a guardian beast as certified by the truth amulet, then what was the deal with his Evil Plan in "Daring Don't" and his alleged actions in "Daring Done?" where he was nearly responsible for the destruction of a town that was completely unrelated to his job? Could he be simply lying so that Dr. Caballeron would be more likely to sell the ring to him in the former and was there some context missing in the latter? Or did he used to be a good guy, but years of dealing with treasure hunters and adventurers taking all the artifacts he was supposed to be protecting while not listening when he tried to get them to stop drove him to villainy?
• Ass Pull: Ahuizotl being Good All Along, as it's so completely against how he's been portrayed in every other form of media and the show itself. In his debut episode "Daring Don't" where he was explicitly using an Artifact of Doom to bring about 800 years of scorching heat on the Tenochtitlan Basin (though it could be argued his motives were simply to make it so hot that no more adventurers would want to come and steal artifacts), while "Daring Done?" states he nearly destroyed the town of Somnambula and plunged the surrounding area into eternal night, which are a completely different, Egyptian inspired location from the place he's supposed to be guarding.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: Ahuizotl is revealed to be a good guy and the conflict between Daring Do and her main villains is resolved... but both of her careers are completely ruined due to the events of the episode, with her adventuring being demonized and her reputation as a hero and an author is ruined, with the episode failing to address this.
• Fan-Disliked Explanation: Ahuizotl's motive is this for many fans, as it completely contradicts nearly everything previously told about him in the past (both in the show and in materials outside it).
• Fanon Discontinuity: Fans of the previous Daring Do adventures declared that this episode never happened due to the weak twist that retroactively made Daring Do an Anti-Hero by showcasing her hoarding some of the treasure she recovered, as well as having her raid sacred tombs from otherwise peaceful natives. This is in spite of the fact that the episodes main villains, who the audience is suddenly supposed to sympathize with now, tried to murder her and ruin her reputation on many occasions without even considering the idea of actually talking to her.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • Pickpocket, the mustached stallion from "Stranger Than Fanfiction" and "Daring Done?" was not present in this episode. Where was he at the time? Would he have a Heel–Face Turn like his boss and fellow henchponies?
  • Where was the tiger among Ahuizotl's pets?
  • Peach Tart, the filly who saw that A.K. Yearling reveal herself as Daring Do, is the only minor character who knows the secret. How would this affect her life growing up?
  • Ahuizotl mentions that he is only a guardian, and that there are others. What sort of places and artifacts do they protect? He mentions his job being on the line, so who is his "boss"?
  • When and how did Fluttershy of all ponies become a Daring Do fan?
  • The future of A.K. Yearling's career.
  • Did A.K. Yearling ever win back her fans?
  • What was the book A.K. Yearling and Dr. Caballeron wrote together based on?
  • The story behind the Truth Talisman of Tonatiuh.
  • How are Quibble Pants and Twilight reacting to the news that Daring Do isn't as heroic as they thought?
• I Knew It!:
  • Before this episode aired, viewers predicted Ahuizotl would return in another Daring Do episode. Their predictions came true.
  • Other viewers believed there would be an explanation for Ahuizotl and Dr. Caballeron's beef with Daring Do. They were proven right.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The episode opens up the possibility of A.K. Yearling officially retiring the Daring Do series after more of her misadventures were exposed. Not helping matters is unlike the last time where this happened, it wasn't merely a single town that knew the truth, but all of Equestria, and her fans have turned on her and think Daring Do has actually done all the terrible things Dr. Caballeron's book accuses her of. The episode doesn't actually address any of these issues after the first act, it's just set-up for the main adventure plot; the fallout from The Reveal that Daring Do and her villains are all real, and any attempt she may make to salvage her reputation, are never resolved.
  • The episode briefly touches on how Caballeron offered a partnership with Daring Do but she refused, and also deals with how neither of them gave any thought to Ahuizotl's actions. Despite being prime fodder for an Origins Episode where the beginnings of the three are explored, it isn't utilized.
  • Any potential for a Perspective Flip on past adventures where we see Caballeron's side of things, or even Ahuizotl's, is limited to just the adventure in this episode.
  • Some think the "both sides have a point" aesop would have had more weight if we saw Daring Do did have more pronounced flaws than were apparent, and that Caballeron really was Driven to Villainy by her actions. The episode even sets up such reveals with a talisman that forces the wearer to tell the truth, making it seem like Daring Do will end up wearing it and reveal a villainous dark side, or that Caballeron will wear it and show his benevolent traits. However, there are no such reveals or confessions, Daring Do really is a heroic pony who just acted a bit obliviously, and Caballeron was Only in It for the Money up until this episode.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic:
  • Both Dr. Caballeron and Ahuizotl point out how Daring Do's apparent "good deeds" were really just her stealing artifacts for herself, and caused them a lot of problems, showing how even someone as heroic as her has flaws. Yet during the entirety of the show's run, neither character ever tried to reason with her and on many occasions put not only her, but many other ponies, in life-or-death situations. This makes Daring Do come off as a scapegoat for villains who blame all their misfortunes on her after repeatedly trying to steal from her or kill her and failing, and only A Lighter Shade of Grey at most, considering that the villains have done much worse things than her.
  • Rainbow Dash is supposed to be in the wrong for refusing to consider that Dr. Caballeron may be a misunderstood and tragic figure, with Fluttershy even calling her out for not giving him a chance to speak his peace. However, given his past appearances involved him kidnapping Rainbow (and Quibble Pants in the former episode) to use as bait for a trap for Daring Do, and he's tried a very similar scheme as in this episode before (lying about Daring Do to defame her to the public), it's really not hard to understand why Rainbow wouldn't trust him.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Ahuizotl is presented as having done nothing wrong and Daring Do's theft of artifacts as having been entirely at fault. However, some fans see Ahuizotl as being the one more in the wrong for trying to flat out murder her repeatedly via Death Trap while being comparably far more lax and even willingly working with the far more greedy and villainous Caballeron, especially given it never seemed to occur to Ahuizotl to just tell her about it. All of which gave Daring Do next to no reason to actually think he was anything but an evil monster in the first place.

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