Nov
5th
2017
Points of Canon: S4x18 - Maud Pie · 11:11am Nov 5th, 2017
I see a drop in readership, I guess I’m writing too fast. Well, so there.
I honestly don’t get why Maud is so popular. Based on this episode alone, I wouldn’t find her particularly notable.
- The cold open of this episode is, I think, our only shot of the back entrance of Sugarcube Corner. Even if it isn’t, the place comes up exceedingly rare.
- “Has anypony heard from Pinkie Pie since yesterday?” “I don’t see what’s so important we had to meet her here this early. Celestia hasn’t even raised the sun yet!” Actually, why is the question even posed? What would be the chance of having heard from Pinkie if she called for this meeting yesterday and the meeting is at dawn?
- Pinkie is wearing eye protection. Polycarbonate.
- Pinkie cooked at least half a metric ton worth of rock candy for Maud. The Mane 5 haven’t even made a dent in the amount.
- “My teeth hurt.” Rainbow has relatively weak tooth enamel, nopony else is complaining about teeth.
- “Oh, but you’ve only tried half of the flavors, and we have to choose the perfect ones before she gets here so I have time to make more!” That would require hundreds of distinct flavors.
- “She taught me the Pie family rock candy recipe! It adds a secret ingredient - It’s rocks!” I wonder which particular rocks. Pinkie says “But these are a special kind of rock that Maud discovered” but does not tell us what is it, and nopony actually detected rocks in the candy, so I expect it’s some kind of water soluble mineral, if not outright prehistoric sugarcane.
- “And she showed me how to string the pieces to make them into a necklace! And once we were done, we’d trade! Maud and I have been trading necklaces back and forth since I moved to Ponyville.” Rock candy never comes up again in this context, even in The Gift of the Maud Pie. And as a side note, stringing rock candy without getting the pieces shatter is a bit nontrivial. I think you’d have to make the holes with a hot needle…
- “Now that Maud is heading out to get her rocktorate in rock science, this may be our last chance to trade them for a really long time.” Chronology alert: We know that Maud has encountered Starlight Glimmer after she has left for her rocktorate, as described in Rock Solid Friendship. This is important for dating the emergence of Our Town.
- “She expresses herself through fashion just like Rarity, and she’s really smart and loves reading just like Twilight! And she’s honest, and loves forest things, and is good at games, and… Well, oh, she’s awesome!” Pinkie is of course describing Maud from her unique Pinkie point of view, but I don’t think we caught anything about Maud that can be interpreted as “loving forest things,” did we? Everything else can be observed, except this.
- Tank, Owlowiscious and Winona turn up for the picnic with Maud. Haven’t seen them in a while. I’m actually not sure if we’ve seen this picnic location before. It certainly has never been used for a picnic before.
- I do wonder what those stones on Rarity’s hat are. She never says. Maud, who eats one, doesn’t either.
- “Hm. Sedimentary.” Unless she’s sniffing for some entirely different reason, Maud identifies the type of rock by the smell.
- According to Rarity, Maud’s dress is a “frock.”
- “Oh, you have a pocket pet? Like a tiny mouse? Or a baby bird? Or a trained butterfly?” Ponies have been known to train butterflies. Or at least, Fluttershy believes one can train a butterfly. Well, we knew from May The Best Pet Win that a dragonfly is a viable pet choice…
- Maud gets a two-bread-slices daisy sandwich, and we haven’t seen ponies eat daisies in sandwiches for a long time. Notice how she is holding it: She is balancing it on her right front hoof.
- “I believe that is a dishtowel.” What exactly is a dish towel doing in Rarity’s bedroom workshop? For that matter, how is it so incredibly dirty, did she use it while disassembling her sewing machine?
- “Hello there, Hummingway.” So that’s the name of a hummingbird.
- “I wish I could speak hummingbird.” See other numerous cases where ponies refer to animals as speaking an actual language.
- “These spiders only live in Ponyville, and even though they may look a teeny bit scary, they’re actually very sweet and help keep other, more dangerous insects away!” There is a species of large spiders unique to Ponyville area, though Fluttershy never tells us what it is called.
- “I’ve got lots of poetry. Do you read anything by Quilland Ink? Or Flourish Prose?” Here we have two names of poets – more likely to be contemporary. I’m not sure if “Quill and” has a space in it or doesn’t. This episode is actually the first statement that ponies have poetry, rather than just song lyrics.
- “You ‘bout done peelin’ them apples for the cider, Maud?” The cider made in Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 did not involve peeling apples. This time, however, Applejack is tending a pot on the stove, which suggests mulled cider instead.
- There’s a vegetable peeler on the table next to the rock that Maud pulverized the apple with. It’s a Y-peeler, of the kind which seems to start popping up since 1947.
- As Maud tosses a ~50kg rock some stupid 500 meters or further, the shockwave that results remains entirely unexplainable without earth pony magic. It’s actually a more impressive feat than smashing a rock that Maud does later, in terms of physics breakage.
- “If anypony needs me, I’ll be in here trying to figure out what to do with two hundred pounds of rock candy.” Either Pinkie has plans for the remaining rock candy, or she tasted it all already – because I’m sure there was a lot more rock candy to start with than 200 pounds.
- “Nope. I mean igneous. It’s a kind of rock. Ask me how I know that.” Well, what do you know, Rainbow can be taught!
- The poster with the Chest of Harmony research first observed during Twilight Time is once again seen in the library.
“Applesauce tunnel for Applejack, pretty shiny stuff for Rarity, reading material for Twilight, critter time for Fluttershy…”
- Reading material includes a copy of “Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.” Actually, two copies.
- Critter time has all the critters (and Pinkie) holding five playing cards each, implying poker, or a very similar game – everyone folds once Pinkie reveals four aces and a 3♠. The rabbit holds a carrot in his teeth in the manner of a cigar. Animals are sufficiently smart to play poker, it seems. This is not the first look at pony cards, the first one was in The Return of Harmony, and I still see no kings, queens or jacks and cannot confirm or deny their existence.
- Cupcake bubble involves floating cupcakes on a stream of air. This actually requires a very powerful fan to happen, either electric or straight up turbine.
- Pinkie gets her leg stuck between the rocks. Actually, in this particular case, I can imagine how this happens and why can’t she get out: The entire pile shifted, pinning the leg down with the weight of all the rocks above and locking around the joint bones. Being an earth pony, Pinkie doesn’t have her leg crushed entirely, but can’t get out at least until she can set up appropriate leverage.
- Among the clothes Pinkie prepared for this activity is a Pickelhaube-style helmet, and that’s the one Maud picks. Notice these were actually made of boiled leather, rather than steel. That said, we have no clue what this particular one is made of. Another costume is the first case of bubble wrap in the series. That was invented in 1957 in our world and is typically made of LDPE.
- Maud digs through and eventually shatters in the manner of a jackhammer a rock that is at least two, possibly three meters thick (and weighs well over a metric ton) in about six seconds. Which is actually a lot better than what you can do with a jackhammer. The feat particularly impresses Rainbow, who does not initially appear to believe it is possible at all, as well as Rarity, who wonders about the mechanics of the feat. Applejack is the least surprised.
- “I only wanted my friends to get to know my amazing older sister.” Maud is Pinkie’s older sister. Yet she somehow managed to get a cutie mark later.
- “What are you doing here?” As of the beginning of this episode, at least someone in the Mane 5 knows the location of the Pie rock farm exactly enough to beat the Pie sisters there with seven huge sacks of rock candy, even though they left earlier. Teleporting would have to be involved.
- Something I only noticed this time around: The train station closest to the Pie family rock farm appears to be hewn out of a single piece of rock, with the exception of signage.
- Rainbow’s single piece rock candy is solid enough to scratch the stone of the train platform. Notice that this had to have been made specially, after Maud has left, since it’s shaped like Rainbow’s lightning bolt. So they had to beat the Pies to the farm and cook this new special candy.
- Pinkie maneipulates the rock candy necklace she got from Maud so that she can lick it as she walks.
- “I don’t really like candy.” Maud doesn’t like candy.
Dating this episode correctly is very important for investigating Starlight’s career – we can be reasonably sure that at the moment depicted in this episode, Starlight’s village contains at most Starlight’s own cottage, if it exists at all, and there is still no cult. We can be sure that it stays within the endcaps of Season 4, because the Chest of Harmony research poster in the library provides a solid lower bound, and the library itself provides a solid upper bound, but I don’t think we can place it within the season with a higher precision than that.
Was Maud explicitly in the midst of her 'rocktorate' studies when she met Starlight? Or was that her undergrad wanderjahre? (And I just noticed, Maud Pie to Rock Solid Friendship has to be long enough to complete a doctorate. Which is usually about two years, I think?)
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Haven't had the chance to read (or read any of your blogs lately, I'm afraid...) but I saw the intro blurb and couldn't resist giving my thoughts on it.
Aside from the fandom's love of latching onto characters that aren't particularly significant?
I couldn't possibly say all the reasons, but autistic fans tend to like her because she's very obviously autistic. She's practically a caricature of autism, which I probably wouldn't like in most settings, but MLP being a kid's show makes that easy to overlook (most of the characters are kinda caricatures). And in general, a positive representation of autism, with other characters accepting her without trying to change her, is incredibly cool to see.
4717669
I would say yes:
Depends on the country. Seeing how she’s the only student at the ceremony, it might be that she’s ahead of the curve.
4717670
Strangely, she did not remind me of any autistics I personally know.
4717674
Maud hits about four or five of the symptoms for Aspergers:
Actually, seven, now that I look at the list. Although Maud's nonverbal communication issues are more about her total lack of mirroring, than an internal challenge, so that's a 'maybe'. And the one-sided conversation thing is... eh, a matter of opinion I guess?
4717675
So do I, for that matter, and I don’t have Aspergers, unless adult onset Aspergers exists. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t. :)
At least in the feed from folks I follow, this past week has been a busy one on FIMfiction, lots of blogs and some chapters out. Easy to miss a few. Nevertheless, I enjoy these posts and they often send me back to read other parts of your series or rewatch episodes to see the things you mention.
My personal reasons for loving Maud:
• atypical behavior that, aside from being considered odd, is not seen as something to be changed by the ponies.
• a dry sense of humor sorely missing from the show's usual repertoire, which makes her jokes stand out more.
• speaking as an autistic fan, I can confirm I strongly identify with Maud's struggle to convey emotion and to find lasting friendships.
• her feats with earth pony magic as demonstrated in this episode are so... overt, shall we say, in contrast to the usual earth pony magic that I often refer to her as 'the Twilight Sparkle of rocks'.
• she can teleport, sense where you are if she's looking for you, and she is, in-universe, utterly terrifying. She's all of Pinkie Pie's crazy abilities once you think about their implications, except this time nopony's laughing.
• Until her grad ceremony, Maud was a university student. As a first-year, consider me a tapped demographic.
There are a whole bunch of reasons, but I think the main one is that she's just a walking subversion of what a character should be. She's so uninteresting that her uninterestingness is actually interesting. That she's Pinkie Pie's sister only makes it all the more absurd.
And I just love the idea of a character who cannot emote. I would agree with Krickis that she has a lot of appeal for fans on the autistic spectrum; while I don't think I'm on that spectrum myself, I do see a lot of myself in Maud. I don't always know how to react with appropriate emotion to things, and to see that a character like this can make friends without having to change who she is, is quite heartening. The show has generally done well by Maud; while they do play her up as a gag quite a lot, they have taken care to show that she is a pony, not just a joke.
Also, Ingrid Nilson might have a lot to do with Maud's appeal, since she very much embraced the character, and is of course nothing like Maud in real life. ^^
I don't think we have to say Starlight founded her cult and the town after this episode. As I said in the comments on "The Other Sith", it's possible a village previously existed on the site of Our Town, and during her reign, Starlight was called the founder of Our Town because it was re-founded under her teachings - sort of like how we can call Lauren Faust the creator of MLP. What Maud saw - and what we saw in the flashback - could've been rebuilding the buildings of the town to align with Equalist philosophy after Starlight's already converted all the ponies to her philosophy.
4717804
So when did the underground escape tunnel appear, if so?
4717818 Any time after Starlight came. It doesn't need to be concurrent with building the houses.
(Wild idea: Any chance it was Maud who dug the tunnel?)
4717819
Actually, it needs to be done before there are witnesses to stay secret…
Not really.
4717824 Look at how POW's were able to dig tunnels in prison camps. It's more difficult to do it in secret, but it can happen. Being able to actually get real shovels, and being a unicorn who can teleport away the dirt, take out the two most difficult parts.
4717827
Only, Starlight can't teleport at that time. :)
The episode that made me believe earth pony magic really was as powerful as the other tribes'.
I'm not a fan of Maud episodes in general, but Maud doesn't really bug me. What I realized bugs me is Pinkie: In Maud episodes Pinkie always comes off as extremely annoying. Is that what prevents you from enjoying her Oliver? It is for me. I look forward to Starlight-Maud episodes in the future where Pinkie has a minimal role.
Again earth pony hooves being trapped in a rock seems to rob them of their magical strength, like a strange version of Antaeus (who probably shares some similarities with earth pony magic).
4717669 I was wondering the exact same thing. I mean, the doctorate on its own usually takes 2 years, and Maud probably had to go back to the school after her wanderings to actually do all the research, write a dissertation, defend her thesis, etc, so it could take 3.
4717675 This may be doylist, but I would wager good money one of the writers said "hey, remember Daria? Let's make her a pony."
4718452
That’s my one issue with Maud really. She’s not written to be witty enough to be pony Daria, in a close-but-no-cigar fashion, in most (but not all) of her episodes. The result is a character that I can’t fault, but can’t be particularly interested in either.
Pinkie coming off as especially pointlessly annoying by contrast doesn’t help.