>>/12021/
 >>/12022/ 
> Rarity mentions that the robes she’s making are due in Trottingham tomorrow morning, so Trottingham must be fairly nearby, even if it’s going by train or Pegasus. 

I believe it maybe possible for Trottingham to be far away but an episode in Season 2 is where I can best illustrate this theory. Unless I see something that brings it up to the forefront beforehand, I'll wait till there. 

> And it SOUNDS like Rarity even uses the British pronunciation of the -ham suffix, though it was kind of hard to tell even on replay whether she says “Trotting-UM” or “Trotting-HAM”

Nice catch. Are you familiar with a Transatlantic/Mid Atlantic Accent?  That is what I usually see fans put Rarity's accent as. Think an old Hollywood ascent. It can have a lot of features of British accent. I though their was an official source that confirmed this but I think all I see on a cursory search is fandom discussion and the wiki, which links to a video that I don't have time to watch through right now. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_American_Speech
(drat wikipedia, but alas, the articles that explain this all were from sites that felt very blogspammy) 

> The very presence of the Cockatrice in this episode gives me fond memories of a book my mother read to me when I was little, The Talking Parcel, in which the chief villains are the Cockatrices. 

That looks like a neat book. 

> then there must be an element of the Cockatrice’s stare that forces it’s victims to make eye contact, because I cannot imagine Twilight being unable to figure out what was going on,

My explanation was her being caught off guard and inexperienced but I think that inference is equally valid. 

 >>/12023/ 
> Overall, I found myself not enjoying this episode quite as much as the others. I can’t pinpoint anything particularly wrong with it, I just didn’t feel enthused about it, and writing about it was a bit more of a drag compared to previous episodes.

I have a theory, to refer back to your review:
> When the group arrives at Fluttershy’s cottage, the realism continues as they rampage around the house in overexcitement, looking at everything and messing with their surroundings.

> but it’s not so unbelievable to me , 

> The CMC’s flip from cocky disbelief to shrieking panic is both appropriately childlike, and appropriately annoying for Fluttershy

The CMC played a larger roll here than in the previous Call of The Cutie and the writing was relying on them playing off each other and being annoyance to Fluttershy. They're written fairly well as children, especially here in this early season, and their comedic antics were from them being child. Charming, yes, it can be, but there is less personality than the Mane 6. 

> – during evacuation of London (owing to the Blitz), there were evacuee children who were reported to be unfamiliar even with the concept of a cow. 

Did not know that!

> Replies coming soon...ish!

Take your time!