Though it isn’t always known for it, MLP does have moments where it will subvert our expectations, and do it rather pleasantly.
 
Take, for instance, this fellow here.
 
Fancy Pants, introduced way back in season two in “Sweet and Elite” as Rarity’s idealised Canterlot noble.
 
Now, the way that episode runs, you’d be forgiven for thinking you know exactly how things will turn out with this guy.
 
After all, in the realms of animation, aristocrats like him will often turn out to be snooty, looking down on others or dismissing them entirely.
 
And when the time comes for Rarity to choose between her Ponyville friends or the nobles she’s come to associate with, we fully expect Fancy to be among those forcing Rarity to choose them.
 
Instead, Fancy actually takes a liking to Rarity’s friends, and does not look down on her when it’s revealed she’s from Ponyville.
 
The conflict we and Rarity feared would happen?
 
It never came to pass.
 
He actually turns out to be a decent sort of guy, and has continued to be so in all his subsequent appearances.
 
I wasn’t expecting it at the time, but MLP really got me that day