A Horse Shoe-In

"A Horse Shoe-In" is the 20th episode of the 9th and final season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the 216th episode in total. Thinking about her ascension to being the Queen of Equestria, decides to make Starlight Glimmer the new headmare of the school. Realiing she can't do it alone, Starlight begins to scout for a potential vice-headmare.

Story
As Starlight is attending to her plant, Phyllis, Twilight informs her about her eventual promotion. Excited, Starlight eventually realizes she needs a vice-headmare to help deal with the work and begins to scout for a candidate. Meanwhile, believes that Starlight merely created the job for her and believes she's a show in. In the scouting process,, , and Spoiled Rich all volunteer, as well as Trixie of course.

During their first assignment, teaching a class, Spoiled Rich was the first to be eliminated as she used her allotted time of teaching to advertise a book as if she were a public speaker. Big McIntosh, Octavia and Dr. Hooves all used their unique skills and personalities to teach well-structured and engaging classes. Meanwhile, Trixie taught history and ended up taking a nap halfway through class.

Next, they organized a student-teacher conference. Big Mac was the next to go, as his speech pattern made it difficult to convey the nuance of how well Silverstream was doing in her class, something he took gracefully. Trixie on the other hand got into an argument with Grampa Gruff over his overwhelming disrespect for not only Ponyville but for Gallus and claimed that Gallus deserved a better guardian figure. Starlight took note of this and moved on.

Their last assignment was planning a field-trip. Octavia had the students attend her and 's concert in the Concert Hall while Dr. Hooves took them to his lab so they could "time travel". Octavia's trip was well-loved, while Hooves' was a trainwreck as he didn't think it through past a simple explaniation of how everycreature is already traveling forward through time. Trixie's field-trip involved her teleporting in a section of the Foggy Bottom Bogg into her classroom, which endangered the students as Flash Bees got loose. Starlight managed to get the bees away and blew up at Trixie at her constant failures. After this, Twilight explained to her that while not every pony is fit for every job, they still have qualities that could make them useful to the work.

Starlight apologized to Trixie for her behavior, telling her that she was stringing her along for a job she could never get, but she wanted to work with her friend really badly. Trixie forgave her and told her she had the perfect idea for the job....

Sunburst fit all the qualification for the job and was eager to take it. Meanwhile, Starlight realized Trixie was perfect for the job of guidance councilor, as she truly cared for her students enough to get in fights with their caretakers if she felt they weren't good to them.

Characters

 * Starlight Glimmer
 * Phyllis
 * Spoiled Rich
 * Ocellus
 * Ocellus's father
 * Ocellus's mother
 * Yona
 * Yona's father
 * Yona's mother
 * Gallus
 * Grampa Gruff
 * Silverstream
 * Sky Beak
 * Sunburst
 * Yona's mother
 * Gallus
 * Grampa Gruff
 * Silverstream
 * Sky Beak
 * Sunburst
 * Sunburst

Places

 * Ponyville
 * School of Friendship
 * Tranqulity Lake
 * Ponyville Concert Hall
 * Foggy Bottom Bogg
 * Caravan of Hope
 * Crystal Empire
 * Griffonstone

Species

 * Flash Bees
 * Flash Bees
 * Flash Bees
 * Flash Bees
 * Flash Bees
 * Flash Bees

Continuity

 * The episode's overall continuity is inline with the rest of the season, with referencing Twilight's eventual coronation ceremony.
 * Octavia and Vinyl's duet and friendship was carried over from their appearance in "Slice of Life".
 * Dr. Hooves' lab was also seen again, which was first established in "Slice of Life".

Behind the scenes
The episode is a pun on the phrase "a shoe-in", referencing how Trixie routinely believed she was a shoe-in for the job.