>>/12155/
> obviously it’s incongruent with how we see trains moving with the use of their own engines later in the series, and the immediate solution that comes to mind is that it’s broken down so it’s being pulled. I also considered that they might be doing it to avoid attracting attention from the buffalo, so the sound of the engine is not a factor, but they blow the whistle so that doesn’t work.
enchanted whistle? :D I just checked and wrote this in my handwritten notes for the episode but had forgotten. Yeah, it's odd trying to pair that to canon in a way that makes sense. 

 >>/12157/
> To me I'd say the issue is less so offensiveness, and moreso that there's a very direct comparison being made - that is, ponies to white Americans. I like white Americans, and ponies are clearly in many other ways a sort of mirror to the United States (not least of which being that literal mirrors from Equestria lead to the EQG USA), BUT in most of those cases it's clear that these are just similarities.
I just might agree that the comparison is too direct. Though I do wonder if the root of any awkwardness is because of the fact that this particular setting became a touchy subject. Because other comparisons do arguably exists that are just as strong, maybe... I have to think on that.I do agree that I like my ponies to be more outside of our world and actual dislike Equestria being too much of an American stand in. Less romanticized of a setting.   

As for Pony culture. Yeah, heavily american influenced but I'd make the argument that Earth Ponies are the only true American analog directly and that the Pegasi and Unicorns have more going on that sets them apart.   

> Probably our most disparate ratings difference so far.
> But even that is my subjective opinion of what it's objective quality would be. I don't know, it's complicated. I wouldn't want to go so far as to say I actively disagree with anybody who likes the episode, I think I'd just want to leave it at, I didn't like it, personally.
Believe me, objectively verus subjectivity is something I've struggled with myself in the past. Back in the reviews in Season 8 and 9, a lot of times I thought a lot of Episodes were executed okay but if I rated my enjoyment it probably would affect my ratings significantly. Now I lean more into my personal enjoyment. One area where I am still split on that is lessons. A bad lesson is arguably a thing that makes something bad regardless of if I enjoyed it. In the past I really cared if lessons were "bad" because I thought people extremely oversold the importance of TV shows and morals. Also I considered some things to not be as bad as people would often be freaking out about. This was based on my own experiences as a child and with how I see others talk about lessons like this I think I was in the minority, lol. I still lean this way but have been giving more considerations to lessons and the influences they could potentially weld.