DM: Aaaaaanyway. I'm sure you wouldn't… well, not all of you want to get into the minutiae of fantasy-grade-school life…
Ocellus (TS): Oh, I wanted to ask about core classes versus electives…
DM: But there is one important facet that I want to emphasize. All eyes are on the School of Friendship in its first year of operation, not least of which from the pony side of things. The presence of the five foreign students is under intense scrutiny. There are ponies who are fearful about the effects of sharing the secrets of friendship power with other nations. And the leaders of those nations are directly concerned with the well-being of the students who have been sent there. If anyone messes up, if anything goes wrong, it's at best an international incident. And at worst, war.
Smolder (RT): Let's be fair here. In any other world, "School of Friendship" would sound like a front for indoctrination.
Gallus (RD): The kind of place that has a secret lab in the basement.
And it's the equivalent of nuclear weaponry - it's THAT powerful. When six magic-deprived ponies can defeat the magic of ALL Equestria, including four alicorns, using nothing but the power of their friendship, the other countries around should be very nervous.
(Why, yes, I did add the "Friendship Option" to the Ponies with Pikes entry on TVTropes, why do you ask?)
Huh, you're right. At first I thought he was flipping the dragon off (being that sort of character, but that's a little extreme for MLP - unless that was a deliberate "getting it past the radar").
You know, that does sound like it could be an alternate-Our Town fanfic.
Instead of the map sending the group to Our Town, they find themselves sent to <insert name here>, home of the School of Friendship, as run by Starlight Glimmer...
Disagree that it’s for indoctrination in canon. You could maybe convince me that they are political hostages, but they would still be hostages voluntarily given by the other nations. Moreover, they are allowed to leave, and have a fair amount of influence over the curriculum. The worst that could be said of the school is that it is heavy-handed diplomacy that assumes cultural superiority
I'm... Actually rather curious about core classes versus electives. But I suspect it follows the Medieval format more, where the concept of 'electives' isn't really a thing.