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Season 7, Episodes 3-4
Sorry this post took so long! Admittedly, I procrastinated on it in favor of writing Eurovision reviews. My latest review is 1990, so I have 33 posts left to write. I wonder which blog post series I’ll finish first: Eurovision or MLP?
Season 7 Episode 3: A Flurry of Emotions
In five words: Twilight’s turn to attempt babysitting.
Premise: To prove herself as the Best Aunt Ever, Twilight Sparkle tries to squeeze time into her busy schedule to babysit Flurry Heart, whose parents are attending an art show.
Detailed run-through:
Obligatory mention that the nurse pony’s cutie mark was redesigned because her old one violated the Geneva Conventions.
This episode begins with the nurse pony telling Twilight she will have to spend the day with a group of sick foals, which she eagerly agrees to do.
This scene was probably meant to redeem the criticism that last season, Cadance didn’t look exhausted from taking care of Flurry Heart.
I still don’t get why Cadance and Shining Armor decided it was a good idea to drop in unannounced and tell Twilight Sparkle she has to watch over their baby. Wouldn’t it make more sense to leave her with a Crystal Empire resident, like Sunburst? And why did they just assume Twilight had nothing better to do? The best explanation I can think of is that it was a hasty decision because they were sleep deprived.
Shining Armor: Surprise!
Twilight Sparkle: Oh my gosh! (approaches Flurry Heart)
Twilight Sparkle: How’s my favorite niece? Mmmm!
Shining Armor: (baby voice) I’m good! I was hoping my favowite aunt could watch me fow a few houws.
Cadance: I hope you’re not too busy.
Flurry Heart is only a baby, yet Shining Armor and Cadance already represent the “silly dad, serious mom” archetype—very much like the parents in Bluey. Even though Flurry Heart doesn’t have much of a character, she brings some depth to both her parents.
Spike: Actually, we kind of are—
Twilight Sparkle: Busy?! Psh. Would the Best Aunt Ever be too busy to spend time with this adorable little one?
(Spike points to the checklist)
Twilight Sparkle: No!
I’m sure Shining Armor knows his sister well enough to know when she’s lying to herself. If he doesn’t, then he’s either sleep deprived or a terrible brother. I think Cadance can also tell when Twilight is denying something, but she’s too polite to question her sister-in-law. They learn to give Twilight further notice at the end of the episode, but you’d think they would already know that.
Twilight and Flurry play together, the parents provide tons of backup peas and diapers, an important toy that Flurry calls the Whammy… what’s the next interesting thing that happens?
Twilight Sparkle: Where are you guys headed, anyway?
Shining Armor: You remember my friend from the royal guard, Spearhead?
Twilight Sparkle:
Spike: Honestly, all of your friends’ names are very similar.
Shining Armor: Well, he has a pop-up art show at the Ponyville Café, and we decided to go at the last minute.
I love this subversion of the “remember the new guy?” trope, a trope that the royal couple themselves were subject to in their debut. Some fans didn’t like that they were introduced abruptly, so you could argue this scene is a self-deprecating jab at their own introduction. It’s also a jab at the many other “hey, remember this character who has never been mentioned before?” scenes. It makes sense that the Mane 6 would already know about Zephyr Breeze or Countess Coloratura, even if they hadn’t been mentioned in previous episodes, but Twilight and Spike have no reason to be familiar with Spearhead.
Spike tries to remind Twilight of her duties, but she’s very distracted playing with her baby niece, who apparently knows how to make magic shields. That’s only something the most advanced unicorns can normally accomplish—Starlight Glimmer, Moondancer, and Rarity if she tries hard enough. I would speculate on how Flurry’s magic skills progress when she gets older, but baby characters aren’t that fun to theorize about. There’s not much to work with.
“Is this art or a mistake?” is such a wonderful line.
In this episode’s side plot, the first painting Spearhead presents is called “A Thousand Nights in a Hallway”, which consists of pure black. When Shining Armor mistakes a trash can for art, Spearhead says it can be art and goes off about the true meaning of art. He’s a cheeky parody of the “true art is incomprehensible” mindset, but I think there’s some realism to his portrayal. If you’re friends with a lot of artists and musicians, you likely know at least one who loves to analyze meaning in the weirdest, most frivolous pieces of media. Maybe that’s exactly what I’m doing right now, taking some time to analyze this silly little gag.
Twilight Sparkle learns the hard way that mashed peas aren’t Flurry’s favorite food, but her favorite thing to throw at others. She could have been informed about this if Shining Armor and Cadance hadn’t made this impulsive decision. This is clearly meant as an episode where Twilight learns a lesson, but I want to say the royal couple are the real lesson learners here.
What’s the most interesting thing about the toy store scene? Oh, that’s easy: Lyra and Bon Bon are standing together, begging for fans to speculate on what they’re doing here. I’m going to guess that either Lyra is showing Bon Bon her favorite store from when she was a filly, or they’re planning to adopt a baby pony and want to get all the toys they can well in advance.
(Who am I kidding. There’s probably like a thousand fanfics of Lyra and Bon Bon adopting a baby.)
Twilight Sparkle: Thanks for helping us out, Cheerilee. Sorry we were late.
Cheerilee: Oh, no problem. But I gotta say, I’m surprised you came to me for a book. Don’t you have a huge collection?
Twilight Sparkle: Yes, but,
(baby noises omitted)
Twilight Sparkle: I didn’t think the foals would be interested in the unabridged history of amulets in Pony Latin.
I refuse to believe Twilight’s library doesn’t have any books accessible to foals. In fact, we know that her old library had some—remember when she lent the Cutie Mark Crusaders a book about love potions? Spike has been reminding Twilight to stay on schedule, but if Twilight really cared about getting things done on time, she’d have searched her library for a book first. Unfortunately, Flurry Heart has been eating up all her attention.
Twilight doesn’t listen to the actual kid’s suggestion on what would make a good book for kids. Fortunately, she lets Spike borrow it anyway, and it turns out to be the right choice to entertain the foals. Cheerilee suggests a book about Gusty the Great, which establishes the other one of season 7’s recurring motifs, the one I didn’t mention in the premiere: Equestria’s historical figures. This historical figure arc gets plenty of attention throughout the season and builds up to the season finale.
Spearhead presents another strange painting called “A Kitchen Guard’s Journey”, which consists of hoofprints on a floor. The royal couple is reminded of the time Flurry Heart got into the chocolate pudding. I think Spearhead’s intention behind his eccentric artwork is to make the meaning deliberately vague, so that the viewers decide which memories the works evoke. Kind of like this scene itself, whose meaning is just as vague.
Twilight just dropped off Flurry Heart to spend some time with the Cake twins.
Are you ready for me to overanalyze Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie’s dynamic?
Twilight Sparkle: Hi Pinkie, how’s it going? I need to pick up the cupcakes for the foals at the hospital and can you do apology treats?
Pinkie Pie: I’m good, here they are! Of course I can!
Notice the way Pinkie Pie perfectly understands Twilight’s ultra-fast recap of her situation and responds just as rapid-fire. Any other Mane 6 member would have asked Twilight to slow down or requested more details, but not Pinkie Pie. These two girls may clash sometimes, but when it comes to memorizing everything about everyone, they just get each other.
Twilight Sparkle: Do you still have a giant file with everypony’s favorite treat?
Pinkie Pie: In my secret party planning cave! B.R.B.!
Twilight Sparkle: (squee) Remind me to tell you later how amazing you are.
Pinkie Pie is persistently kind to Twilight Sparkle and gives her tons of affection, but when the two are together, Twilight often expresses annoyance with her. However, Twilight makes it clear in this scene that she loves Pinkie Pie just as much. She just keeps her composure too much to show it. I think their differing willingness to be affectionate is their biggest contrast.
Is this baby squabble worth analyzing earnestly? Probably not, but I may as well. Pound and Pumpkin Cake fight over a toy balloon, Flurry Heart uses magic to split it in half, and neither of the babies are pleased. Flurry Heart just solved a friendship problem! Or at least she tried to. Why isn’t Twilight Sparkle tearing up in auntly pride?
Not shown: Twilight and Spike hurrying to the hospital.
Ah, here’s another obligatory mention. The story that Twilight Sparkle reads to the foals is the first time Grogar’s name comes up in the show. He’s another villain originating from G1, just like the Smooze and Tirek. However, unlike other historical figures mentioned in this season, we won’t see what Grogar looks like until season 9.
Twilight Sparkle misplaces Flurry Heart’s snail toy and the baby teleports around the hotel in search for it, then throws a magical levitation tantrum that rivals even Twilight’s magic. I’m not convinced that a baby alicorn should have the same magic powers as an adult unicorn, let alone an adult alicorn. Twilight lashes out at Flurry, the baby cowers in fear, and then comes their reconciliation. The problem with baby characters is that they’re very difficult to analyze, because it’s impossible to give them any real personality. And because unless they have kids or heavily remember a baby sibling, viewers won’t have much of a frame of reference.
The real question is: at what age does Flurry Heart’s mischief start being her own fault?
Her parents will have to figure that out.
Shining Armor and Cadance can’t take seeing so much art remind them of their baby and head back to Twilight’s house… yeah, let’s just skip to the friendship lesson.
Twilight Sparkle: Flurry got into some mischief. But it wasn’t her fault. I shouldn’t have agreed to watch her with such a jam-packed schedule. It was too much to juggle.
Twilight Sparkle: But Flurry taught me an important lesson today.
Twilight Sparkle: It turns out, being the best aunt ever isn’t about spending the most time with your niece, but spending quality time with her. And she taught me a really cool bear game. So I guess I learned two things.
This episode’s main lesson is intended to be about spending quality time with relatives, not the most time possible. However, it seems to me that Twilight didn’t intentionally scramble to spend as much time as possible with Flurry. She just got distracted by the fun of playing with a baby. The “most time, quality time” moral might have been better suited for an episode about adult relatives, which we have quite a few of in this season, including one about Twilight’s own family.
Shining Armor and Cadance learn a lesson too: that you should give adult relatives a heads up before asking big favors of them. In contrast to Twilight’s lesson, this is a perfectly normal and agreeable moral, so it’s strange that it’s the secondary one.
Spike doesn’t seem to notice or care that Twilight left him behind.
To finish off this episode, Spike reads his dragon book to all the foals in the hospital, plus the nurse because adults can enjoy kids’ stories too. He was right all along: this was the perfect book to read to the kids. They’re roughly the same age as Spike, so it makes sense that their tastes would align. He then offers the foals to some more cake, which shows that he could have been assigned to watch the sick foals all on his own (but then the plot couldn’t have happened).
Overall thoughts:
This is basically just one of those mid-to-late seasons’ slice of life episodes that I can enjoy watching like any other but barely ever think about. The whole story is kind of contrived and the ending proves that Twilight could have let Spike handle the sick foals while she babysits Flurry. Plus, I don’t know of any adult fans who actively enjoy the baby characters—certainly not me. At least it’s nice to see more of Shining Armor and Cadance beyond their royal duties.
Grade: D
A C grade usually means there’s something I love about the episode (true for the vast majority of them) but some significant flaws weigh it down. On the other hand, an F is reserved for the very few episodes that I can’t stand to watch. There’s nothing I really love about this episode, but it’s overall tolerable and has a few good moments, so it gets a D.
Miscellaneous notes:
- Lyra and Bon Bon’s cameo makes me realize that even though we saw them as foals together in Pinkie Pride, Slice of Life reveals that Bon Bon only became friends with Lyra because she was sent to Ponyville as a spy. I am going to headcanon that Bon Bon has been a spy for Canterlot ever since she was a filly, because that would be funny and also badass.
- Twilight Sparkle calls herself the B.A.E. (Best Aunt Ever) before arriving at Sugarcube Corner, and shortly afterwards, Pinkie Pie uses an acronym of her own: B.R.B. which the viewer is trusted to know means “be right back”. Those random acronyms are another thing they have in common.
The next episode features another Mane 6 member’s sibling, this time the biggest fan favorite of them all: Maud Pie.
Season 7 Episode 4: Rock Solid Friendship
In five words: Pinkie overly pushes new friendship.
Premise: After graduating from rock college, Maud Pie has to decide whether to move to Ghastly Gorge or Ponyville. Pinkie Pie badly wants her sister to choose Ponyville, so she pushes Maud into making a new friend.
Detailed run-through:
I love the design of the rock college very much. It’s made entirely from rocks, except the hay roof.
The very beginning of the episode shows Maud Pie earning her rocktorate in rock studies. Already, we have a few inexplicable details that match the Pie family absurdity we’ve come to love. First off, Maud Pie’s graduation cap is made of stone but rests comfortably on her head. It may seem odd, but Maud Pie (the episode) established that she’s freakishly strong. This pony caused a tsunami just by throwing a rock really far.
The professor pony addresses his students as “each and every one of you” before realizing he has only one student, which implies that his graduation ceremonies are usually more populous. I think that Maud purposely enrolled in a college with no other students because she likes being solitary. However, this entire episode tells viewers that no one truly wants to be isolated all their lives. It’s not the first episode to spread such a message: how about Amending Fences with Moondancer, or the very beginning of the show with Twilight Sparkle? Given that so many of its viewers are introverted nerds, it’s great that the show has this many characters for them to relate to.
The orchestral arrangement of Pomp and Circumstance, the archetypical graduation song, is lovely too.
Here is Maud Pie’s graduation speech:
Maud Pie: I’m Maud.
Pinkie Pie: Yeah, you are! Brilliant speech! Encore, encore!
Maud Pie. There’s more, Pinkie.
Maud Pie. I’m Maud. (flips the card) Pie. Thank you.
To Maud Pie, there’s no point in a lengthy heartfelt graduation speech. The audience all knows who she is and knows that she loves rocks. I like to think that she predicted ahead of time that Pinkie Pie would exuberantly cheer her on before she’s finished, so she made that part of her speech.
After the theme song, Pinkie Pie screams the name of a mathematical constant equal to 2.718281828-something. I can’t blame her, because e is quite a fascinating number.
Nick Confalone wrote surprisingly many episodes featuring Maud Pie. Which is good, because Maud Pie is wonderful.
Pinkie Pie’s ability to imitate her sister so closely demonstrates their tight sisterly bond.
Pinkie Pie: You’re moving to Ponyville!!! We’ll live together and get bunk beds and I’ll make us fuzzy slippers that say “Best Sister Friends Forever”, although I probably can’t fit all those words on a slipper, so maybe just BSFF, but we don’t have to decide right now because we’ll be together all the time, since when it comes to Ponyville, the doctor is in!
Maud Pie: Slow down, Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie Pie: Yoooooou’re moooooooviiiiiing tooo Pooooooonyyyviiiiillllle.
Maud Pie: I’m not definitely moving to Ponyville.
Pinkie Pie: Of course you are, silly! You said, “There’s nothing left to study back home on the rock farm. So I might move to Ponyville.”
The only thing that excites Pinkie Pie more than irrational numbers that aren’t defined by geometry is spending time with her beloved big sister. She loves Maud Pie so much that her brain translates “I might move to Ponyville” to “I will move to Ponyville”. To her, the idea of Maud not wanting to spend time with Pinkie Pie and all her wonderful friends is as unthinkable as a human moving to Antarctica.
Maud Pie: I’m also considering Ghastly Gorge.
Pinkie Pie: Hahahaha! Classic Maud sense of humor! You should do standup!
Maud Pie: I do. But that wasn’t a joke.
Pinkie Pie: Ghastly Gorge? The terrible awful no fun all alone canyon in the middle of nowhere?
Maud Pie: There, or Ponyville.
Pinkie Pie: But, Ponyville is so, EEEEE!!! Hee-hee-hee! And Ghastly Gorge is so, blehhhh.
Maud Pie: It’s a rock-based decision.
I love the line “it’s a rock-based decision” so much. Maud Pie could have said “it depends on which has better rocks” or “it comes down to the gemstones”, but Nick Confalone understands Maud Pie’s character well enough to write this much snappier and much funnier line. Maud then admits that her love for Pinkie Pie is why she’s giving Ponyville a chance.
Good to see Maud and Rarity interacting again! They’ve always had an especially funny dynamic.
Rarity: Maud, darling! It’s lovely to see you again. Oh! Congratulations on your rocktorate. What are you doing now?
Maud Pie: Talking to you.
Rarity: Um, y… Right. (laughs)
Rarity: Well, if your trained eye happens to see a chartreuse gem, I’m desperate to find one.
Maud Pie: I found one.
Rarity: Oh, you’re an absolute darling!
Every time I watch this scene, EVERY SINGLE TIME, I expect Rarity to say “you’re an absolute gem”, only to be smacked in the face with a “darling” instead, as if a bird pooped on me. Seriously, it’s amazing how much this simple line keeps throwing me off.
Rarity: This will surely make my gown stand out at Countess Coloratura’s album release party. Do you know how rare this is?
Pinkie Pie: Just another day in Ponyville! (wink)
Pinkie Pie says events like this are just another day in Ponyville, and she’s 100% right. As I said in the previous episode, Slice of Life showed that the town’s citizens are used to crazy things happening. I like to think that to the rest of Equestria, Ponyville has a reputation as a place where anything can happen. Imagine a GIF of Twilight Sparkle and Tirek’s anime battle captioned “Most normal day in Ponyville”.
Rarity looks like she just learned Santa Claus isn’t real.
Maud Pie: That’s actually a really common gem.
Rarity and Pinkie Pie: Huh?
Maud Pie: These are all really common gems.
In Maud Pie (the episode), one of the traits Pinkie Pie showcased about her sister is that she’s super honest, and that was later demonstrated when she, uh… said that apple cider tastes like apples? That episode was a great introduction to this delightful character, but I’ve always found its honesty portion a bit lackluster. I think this scene is a much better demonstration of Maud Pie’s brutal honesty.
Pinkie Pie very poorly pretends everything is going as planned, then takes Maud to the next place.
Pinkie Pie: Tada! It’s a castle, made of rocks!
Pinkie Pie: WHAAAT? Did I just blow your mind? I think I just blew your mind.
Maud Pie: A lot of structures are made from rocks, Pinkie. They’re a very stable building material.
Pinkie Pie: But this place grew out of nowhere after a magical key-filled gem followed a rainbow and buried itself in the ground! I mean, have you ever seen rocks like THIS?!
Maud Pie: Yes.
Pinkie Pie: No, you HAVEN’T!
Maud Pie: We literally just saw hundreds of them in the gem cave.
Maud Pie and Pinkie Pie wouldn’t be believable as sisters if they didn’t drive each other crazy sometimes. Unlike many other pairs of siblings, they never purposely annoy each other and are a commendable example of sisterly love, but they can still push each other’s limits because that’s how siblings work. Also, it makes sense that Maud Pie wouldn’t be that amazed by the castle’s origin story. She already knows about Pinkie and friends’ crazy adventures.
Pinkie Pie desperately tries to convince Maud Pie that other things are rocks: a bunch of sting bush seeds, Tank the tortoise, and even Lyra Heartstrings. As absurd as these gags are, Pinkie Pie’s motivation is clear. She wants her sister to live a vibrant fulfilling life in Ponyville, not a dreary isolated life in Ghastly Gorge, and she knows it comes down to rocks. It’s all because she loves Maud Pie and wants her to be happy.
Maud Pie admits in this scene that she finds rocks exciting. She just doesn’t show it in the way Pinkie Pie does.
Maud Pie: Actually, rocks aren’t the only reason I’m considering Ponyville.
Pinkie Pie: You said it’s a rock-based decision.
Maud Pie: I’m obviously passionate about exotic rocks. But I’ve always studied them alone.
Maud Pie: I could handle some less exciting rocks if it meant I’d have somepony to talk to besides Boulder.
Awww, this line tugs at the heartstrings. Maud Pie opens up to her sister that she would love to have a new friend but doesn’t know how to find one. This puts her in a similar situation to the other most introverted characters, like Cranky Doodle Donkey and Moondancer. And in a similar situation to many fans of the show.
Pinkie Pie: Are you saying you want… A FRIEND?
Maud Pie: I wouldn’t mind one.
Pinkie Pie: (gasp) Maudalina Daisy Pie, this will be easy!
Pinkie Pie: What are you looking for in a friend? Give me six qualities, assigning each one a numerical value between 1 and 7, 7 being essential, and 1 being ehh… (burp).
Maud Pie: It isn’t hard to meet somepony I like. It’s finding somepony who gets me.
Pinkie Pie: I get you.
Maud Pie: You’re my sister. It’s different.
Maud Pie’s line about finding someone who gets her hits me so hard, because I’m exactly the same way. She’s completely right about two things. First, there’s a difference between liking someone and feeling like they truly understand you as a person. For me, the first is common, but the second is very rare and precious. Second, there’s a difference between your sibling who you’ve known your whole life getting you and a new friend getting you. The first is special for sure, but the second is special in an entirely different way.
Pinkie Pie: Maud, you are the best! You never know when the lightning of friendship will strike.
Pinkie Pie: Somepony could come barreling through that door at this very moment and become your best friend!
Pinkie Pie speaks from experience: something very similar happened to her in the first episode. Remember when she was suddenly greeted by a nerdy purple unicorn and quickly became one of her best friends? The same thing will happen to Maud.
Expectations are subverted when no one bursts out of Twilight’s door, but then they’re un-subverted (superverted?) when Starlight Glimmer walks out the door, her vision obstructed by a book. Already, it’s clear she and Maud Pie have something in common: they both can lose sight of someone else right in front of them.
I love Maud Pie so much.
(Somehow, I had never said this sentence on my blog before. Now I have.)
Starlight Glimmer: You look really familiar. Have we met before?
Maud Pie: Yes.
Starlight Glimmer: I knew it!
Pinkie Pie: WHAAAAAT?????
I love Maud Pie’s blunt “yes” so much. Aside from being an extremely Maud thing to say, it also tells us that she shares Pinkie Pie’s extremely sharp memory of everyone she’s encountered.
In all fairness, if you consider that she probably was solitary through most of her rocktorate dissertation, an encounter with a random pony is likely to stick out.
Starlight Glimmer: Psst. Do you know a lot about rocks?
Maud Pie: Yes.
Starlight Glimmer: Have you ever come across some kind of super powerful stone that can store the cutie mark magic of… I don’t know, an entire village?
Maud Pie: Yup. In the big cave. (points her hoof)
I like that this flashback shows us a gullible side of Maud Pie, which makes perfect sense knowing the traits she shares with Pinkie. Pinkie Pie almost never judges anyone for anything, and neither does Maud. This is normally a positive trait, but here it made Maud an unwitting instigator of doom. Her difficulty reading Starlight’s emotions matches the common headcanon that she has autism. Actually, it’s weird to say it’s a headcanon. Maud being autistic is like Applejack’s parents being dead: it’s not outright stated, but everyone can tell it’s true.
Really, it matches Maud’s character in so many ways that she’s indirectly responsible for Starlight’s cult. She’s very honest, has trouble reading emotions, and knows the absolute most specific facts about rocks. Let me tell you: when someone with autism is obsessed with something, their knowledge about it runs crazy deep.
In the background, you can see that the residents of Our Town already have grayed palettes, straightened hair, and forced smiles. This suggests that Starlight had already begun enslaving ponies, perhaps to help her build the village, but she was running out of room to store their cutie marks. That’s why she consulted Maud Pie.
Pinkie Pie: Hahahahahahahaha! Hey, I got an idea. Let’s not tell anypony that part where you maybe for sure accidentally helped Starlight enslave a town! Hahahahaha!
Pinkie Pie: Tell nopony.
I love the way Pinkie Pie goes protective sister mode, much like Maud does with her. She worries that if anyone finds out about Maud Pie’s embarrassing secret, everyone will hate her forever. She wants the best for Maud, which includes her making friends.
Maud’s only response is that Starlight hasn’t enslaved anypony lately, which already shows a spark of friendship between them. It also shows that like her hyperactive sister, Maud is quick to forgive.
After a nudge from her sister, Maud Pie gets spends some time one-on-one with Starlight and provides a surprisingly sweet scene.
Starlight Glimmer: So, other than rocks, what else are you into?
Maud Pie: Minerals. Plate tectonics. Oh, and stand-up comedy of course.
Starlight Glimmer: (nervous) I like… kites.
(pause)
Maud Pie: Kites are cool.
Starlight Glimmer: (sigh of relief)
Maud Pie’s line about her interest in stand-up comedy is so self-demonstrating, I love it. Meanwhile, Starlight Glimmer has a seemingly childish interest and is worried others will mock her for it. What could this possibly be an allegory for, other than bronies themselves? When someone doesn’t just not judge you for something you’re embarrassed to admit, but tells you that interest of yours is cool, that creates a real spark of friendship.
Look at Starlight’s adorable smile.
Starlight Glimmer geeking out about kites once lured out of her shell yet again reminds me of bronies. She even uses acronyms common to real-life kite enthusiasts. Next up comes the controversial part.
No, not Derpy getting smacked in the face with pizza, or the conspicuous absence of her name. Although her enthusiasm to eat the pizza provides a nice message to see the good side of annoyances.
I mean Pinkie Pie meddling in this new friendship and pushing them to the next level, like talking about their feelings. To some people, Pinkie Pie’s pushiness weighs down this episode. I used to feel that way, but now I accept it’s not that extreme and is necessary for the episode’s moral. In real life, there is such a thing as trying to force people to become friends.
Starlight Glimmer: Why do you find rocks so fascinating?
Maud Pie: Each one has a different story to tell. Like Boulder here.
Maud Pie: This tells me he’s over 2000 years old. You don’t look a day over 600.
Starlight Glimmer: Wow. You can tell that from a line?
Maud Pie: I didn’t get a rocktorate because I can shred on guitar like nopony else.
Starlight Glimmer: (laughs)
Maud Pie: Another reason I like rocks: They don’t exclude you if you’re… different than other ponies.
I love this explanation of why Maud Pie likes rocks so much. Previously it was portrayed as an absurd obsession, but now she displays a genuine reason to find comfort in them. Her reason for loving rocks can be applied to plenty of other inanimate objects: they’re full of rich, interesting stories, but they never look down on you. This especially holds for rocks because they weren’t created by people, but exist out in nature.
Starlight Glimmer: They’re beautiful and strong, but they don’t judge you or make you feel less than in any way. I think I’m starting to like rocks too.
Maud Pie smiles right after Starlight says this line. This is exactly what she meant by finding someone who gets her: someone who hears Maud’s opinions on her strange interests and completely understands them. Sounds like a friendship is brewing up, right?
Not according to Pinkie Pie. She never takes the time to see Maud and Starlight bonding and instead assumes they need some more intervention till they become besties. The reason I don’t mind Pinkie Pie’s annoyingness that much is because it doesn’t take up much of the episode. Most of the time is spent on this new friendship blossoming.
Inventing words is so much fun.
I wish there was a word for “transparently pretending to be accidental”, like the staged underwear incident at a certain song contest in 1985. Actually, wait, I got one! How about “pseudoaccidental”? It’s not a very creative word, but the important part is that any English speaker can look at this word and deduce what it means. Good old Greek roots, you never fail me.
Anyway, Pinkie Pie pseudoaccidentally sets off a bomb to block the cave’s entrance, hoping this would make Maud and Starlight bond better.
Bet you didn’t think Boulder of all characters could have a moment of awesome, did you? Well, now he did.
Knowing Pinkie Pie, she didn’t think through what would happen if Starlight and Maud weren’t able to escape. But knowing Starlight’s versatile magic and Maud’s freakish strength, it’s impossible to imagine them not escaping.
Pinkie Pie pulls cowbells out of thin air and attaches then to her two friends’ necks, in case she loses them again. As I said, this episode is careful to devote no more time than needed to Pinkie Pie hassling her friends.
Maud’s smiles are so cute.
Starlight Glimmer cuts the nonsense and pseudoaccidentally takes off the cowbells, which leads to Maud’s second smile. She admires that Starlight Glimmer is firm with Pinkie Pie when she needs to be. Plus, she enjoys spending time with her new friend.
I’m almost certain that the number e has helped Pinkie Pie with her calculations.
It shows up in a lot of places you wouldn’t expect!
Pinkie Pie: Tomorrow’s brunch is gonna be the scrumptiest brunchiest munchiest brunch ever!
Maud Pie: Yeah. About that.
Pinkie Pie: The problem is, while you two were alone, I couldn’t get data points on your friendship probabilities. Were you making Starlight smile? How was Starlight’s smile-to-frown ratio? Anything over 5 to 1 is great!
There is only one other pony who would make calculations to determine if a friendship is working, and that is Twilight Sparkle. The difference is, Pinkie Pie doesn’t have a Spike to tell her when she’s missing the point. It would be nice because she’s missing the point so hard here.
Pinkie Pie: Oh, and how many times did you smile like this?
Maud Pie: Zero times.
Here is Maud Pie again being too literal-minded for her own good. She didn’t technically smile the way Pinkie Pie did, but we saw Maud’s equivalent of that smile twice in this episode. This means Pinkie Pie assumes their friendship isn’t working out.
Maud Pie is a sweet girl deep down, just like Pinkie Pie. Which is why this is hard for her.
Maud Pie: Pinkie Pie, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but…
Pinkie Pie: Buuuuuuuuuut?
Maud Pie: (sigh) Never mind.
This passage hurts quite a lot. When you’re annoyed by a sibling or friend who normally doesn’t annoy you, it’s not easy to admit how they’re making you feel. And since Maud Pie knows what happens when Pinkie’s feelings are hurt, she keeps her annoyance to herself.
Maud Pie: Pinkie Pie, thank you for trying so hard to help me make friends. But my decision has to be rock-based. And Ghastly Gorge has such great rocks. I won’t even have time for friends. It’s better this way. Sorry it didn’t work out. Maud.
The “rock-based decision” line was hilarious the first time, a little heavier the second time, and a gut punch the third time. This is such a perfect example of the rule of three. Pinkie Pie sets off to catch the train that Maud headed off on, but it’s too late now.
Pinkie Pie wakes Starlight Glimmer up from a dream about kites, then breaks the news to her.
Pinkie Pie: Maud left in the middle of the night!
Starlight Glimmer: Oh… I guess Ghastly Gorge really does have the best rocks.
Pinkie Pie: (sniff) Why couldn’t you two just be friends?
Starlight Glimmer: Pinkie Pie, I like Maud.
Pinkie Pie: You do?
Starlight Glimmer: Yeah! She’s weird—
Pinkie Pie: HEY!
Starlight Glimmer: No, in a good way. She sees the world in a totally different way than anypony I’ve ever met. She accepts me for who I am. She taught me that a rock is never just a rock, and she can make anything funny. We never had to say it, but… we got each other.
Starlight Glimmer gives an absolutely perfect summary of what makes Maud Pie so great. I agree with every word she says here. It’s really heartwarming that Starlight Glimmer gets along with Maud so much. She’s developed a much deeper understanding of Maud Pie than any of the rest of the Mane 6 have.
Pinkie Pie: You really were becoming friends?
Starlight Glimmer: I think so, but you kind of, sorta… got in the way.
Pinkie Pie: (loud gasp)
Starlight Glimmer: You’re right, too harsh. Let’s go with… you ruined everything all the time?
Pinkie Pie breaks at this line and darts out the room. It’s harsh, but it’s exactly what she needed to hear.
You might think that Pinkie Pie has forgotten her lesson from A Friend in Deed, which is that not everyone expresses friendship as exuberantly as her and some prefer a bit of privacy. But it’s easier for her to realize this about a random donkey than about her own sister. She thinks she and Maud Pie fundamentally get each other, and they do in a sisterly way, but not the same way that Maud and Starlight get each other.
A hat can protect Maud from many things, but not getting swallowed by an eel.
When Pinkie Pie warned Maud Pie that Ghastly Gorge was terrible and no fun at all, she likely meant it not just out of distaste, but out of concern. Remember, way back in season 2, Rainbow Dash got her wing injured in Ghastly Gorge and it took a slow but loyal tortoise (who we saw earlier in this episode) to bail her out.
Think about it for a moment: Maud Pie was so focused on rocks that she didn’t notice she was inside an eel. The parallels to Rainbow Dash’s injury are clear: in both cases, a pony interested in Ghastly Gorge is focused on her interest (winning races, examining rocks) for one moment too long and nearly gets killed, so it takes a very loyal friend to rescue her. Maud Pie and Rainbow Dash are both known for hyperfocusing on their interests.
Maud Pie: You didn’t need to come. I’m having a great time on my own.
Maud Pie: I even made a new friend.
Pinkie Pie: Is it a rock?
Maud Pie: Yes.
Don’t let this (perfectly placed) lapse of humor distract you from Maud Pie’s state of mind. She’s gone back to thinking rocks are the best types of friends, because she thinks it isn’t worth making pony friends if Pinkie Pie keeps interfering.
Maud Pie: I don’t belong in Ponyville. It only proved I’m better off all by myself. Like I always have been.
Pinkie Pie: Don’t say that! It was all my fault! I— AAAAA!
Pinkie Pie: I thought I knew everything about making friends, but I didn’t even know my own sister! I forced you to do things my way, but my way isn’t your way!
Maud Pie may seem like she’s hanging from a steep cliff, but the next scene shows it’s not much taller than a pony. She sure made it look like she was in great danger! It’s possible that she did this on purpose, so that Pinkie Pie would realize under a dramatic backdrop what she did wrong. Maybe she realized Ghastly Gorge isn’t viable the moment she plopped out of the eel.
See? Maud Pie is such a troll and that’s why we love her.
Pinkie Pie: Maud, I thought you couldn’t make a friend without my help. But it turns out, you couldn’t make a friend with my help. I underestimated you, and I’m sorry.
Maud Pie: I know you did it out of love. You’re my Best Sister Friend Forever.
Pinkie Pie: (cries) Oh, Maud, I love you bigger than all Equestria!
Maud Pie: And you melt my heart more easily than sodium-rich plagioclase feldspar.
I love the way Maud Pie bookends this episode with the phrase “best sister friend forever”. She and Pinkie Pie have the strongest, closest relationship of any pair of siblings on the show. They’re a role model example of sisterly love. Pinkie Pie pleads for Maud Pie to give Ponyville another chance, and she agrees.
After flying kites together with Starlight Glimmer, Maud Pie reveals her new home to be right outside the cave near Ponyville, and boy is it stunning. It’s a location that suits her well and helps to integrate her with the cast of the show. Now, she no longer needs to be on vacation to hang out with her new friends. Pinkie Pie butts in one last time, excited to see that Maud Pie is wearing her BSSF slippers, then finally leaves them alone and the episode ends.
Overall thoughts:
It’s always a delight when an episode focuses on Maud Pie, but this is on a different level from anything before. It’s the first episode that shows us there’s more to Maud Pie than her eccentric sense of humor or her deep love for Pinkie Pie. With a minimal cast of Pinkie Pie, Starlight Glimmer, and Maud Pie, plus a few lines from Rarity and the rock college professor, it gives Maud Pie a fresh new dynamic and a new home that both allow so much more to be done with her character. Maud Pie and Starlight Glimmer are a good match as friends when you think about it. Both grew up introverted, both have a special connection with one of the Mane 6, and both have nerdy interests. So really, this is a perfect episode for Maud Pie fans like myself.
Grade: A
This is a perfect example of an episode I appreciated much more after reviewing it in depth.
Miscellaneous notes:
- Rarity mentions she’s making a dress for Countess Coloratura’s album release party, apparently having forgotten she dropped the “Countess” part of her name. You can argue this shows that Coloratura stopped being so overly popular after her episode ended and didn’t make a big deal of her rebrand, and that she likes it better this way.
- When taking a photo of Maud Pie and Starlight Glimmer, Pinkie Pie pulls out a camera identical to Photo Finish’s: the same camera that her father snapped a photo from in the opening scene. I think Pinkie Pie brought the same camera to the graduation and the cave and grabbed it out of her hammerspace (though in her case, it’s more accurate to call it cannonspace).
The next episode introduces another new, meticulously designed location that we’ll see a lot in later seasons.
See you in probably two weeks for two Character Development™ episodes.
>> Part 79: Fluttershy Leans In + Forever Filly
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