A Continued Discussion on the Best Pony Forever · 5:41pm Feb 23rd, 2012

First off, an announcement! I noticed that there was no Fimfiction group for Pinkie, and as soon as I did, I knew I had to fix this terrible problem. So there’s a group for Pinkie now, with folders for various story genres. (Much against my better instincts, I included folders for “Pinkamena” Pinkie stories and Homicidal Pinkie stories—I know there are a lot of those out there.) So, yeah, go join the group! If you, y'know, wanna and all that.

Second, since I’m still unable to post replies to blog posts and there were so many great comments on yesterday’s blog post, I thought I’d post some replies here so the discussion can continue (if folks are interested in doing so, of course).

ugugg93: “ … First, they took a damn good, and honestly mature, moral, and threw it away like nothing else. Then, they had the chase scene, which while humorous, made me more feel bad for Cranky, and like Pinkie far less (temporally of course) …”

Fair enough! I was definitely cringing a lot during the last third of the episode, that’s for sure. And I know a number of folks really didn’t like how it ended. To tell the truth, I would have preferred the “not everyone will want to be your friend, and that’s okay” moral, but I didn’t dislike the one we got. For me, I think what made it work okay was that it showed off Pinkie’s best qualities and worst qualities simultaneously.

On the one hand, she’s annoyingly persistent, boundary blind, etc. But on the other hand, NOBODY will work as hard as she does to make someone happy, and she has a sometimes uncanny ability to sense what others need in a way that they themselves may not even realize. (I’m thinking of Pinkie’s first party for Twilight, for example—it annoyed the dickens out of Twilight, but Twilight really DID find that she needed friends.) And I’m not sure Pinkie’s great qualities can exist as they do without coming with those downsides; I think they’re opposite sides of one single coin.

Not trying to convince you, by the way. Your analysis just prompted some further musing from me.

Steel Resolve: “The whole apology thing... she needed to at least reach a state of equilibrium. She tried and failed to make him a friend. She came to accept that, but the idea someone hated her... that was too much. I am delving into fanon vs canon here but I can't help but feel the answers to this neediness and fear of rejection come from why she left the rock farm.”

I find it a very interesting question—WHY the neediness, WHY the fear of rejection. Because that’s been a consistent characterization of Pinkie throughout the series—“Griffon the Brush-Off,” “Party of One,” “A Friend In Deed.” I can’t help but think, like you and like others, that it has to be something that traces back to the rock farm.

Professor Piggy: “I thought it was actually more 'if you accomplish the life goal they couldn't by themselves for them while constantly pestering and pleading with them they'll be your friend. Because friendship is a one way street.'”

Ha! That’s funny. And not without a fair share of truth. But here’s my interpretation: Cranky thought he wanted one thing (solitude), and Pinkie was able to give him what he REALLY wanted (his lost beloved). Pinkie’s friendship is a friendship that can grate on the day-to-day level—but on the really big, really important stuff? Pinkie pulls through, and Pinkie proves herself a great friend.

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p.s. The Beloved Spouse is learning American Sign Language and teaching some to me, too. We've already learned the signs for "Twilight Sparkle," "Rainbow Dash," "Pinkie Pie," "Applejack," and "Fluttershy." Haven't been able to determine a sign for "Rarity" yet, alas.

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Professor Piggy

Professor Piggy #1 · Feb 23rd, 2012 · · ·

Hey, I got mentioned! I feel special now. Go me!

I think Cranky knew he wanted his lost beloved. I think it was more that he resigned himself to solitude than thought he wanted it - he seems absolutely aware of the fact he's miserable throughout the episode. My theory is that he didn't want to risk people getting close to him and losing them again, but I get the feeling i'm way off on that one. i've never been good at interpreting things like that, but I see it as sort of the opposite of what Pinkie does - she fears losing her friends so she does everything in her (considerable) power to keep them happy and close to her. Cranky fears losing them so he doesn't have them in the first place, but cares enough about his beloved to keep looking for her knowing he might get hurt.

That said, I kind of feel like he's not really Pinkie's friend. I mean, he openly dislikes her or hates her through the entire episode - at one point running away from her just to avoid having her apologise (Granted that hasn't gone so well so far), and even when he claims to be her friend we never see any actual evidence of it. He never acts like her friend. He says it himself - 'You went way way out of your way to make me happy. Of course we're friends.' That had me staring at the screen for a while.

I'm probably wrong, of course - it'd not be the first time by a long shot and it's a kids show so I doubt it's going to intentionally advocate false one sided friendship. But that's how it came across to me. And that says one of two things about Pinkie.

Either she can't tell the difference between someone who says they're her friend and someone who is, which I don't believe - oblivious as she can be it doesn't seem like the kind of thing she'd be prone to miss in my opinion, with friends being so important to her.

Or she's okay with it. Because even if he's not her friend, she made him happy. Really, amazingly happy. And that's enough for her, even if it's hard for her. Granted, this is contradicted pretty majorly by Pinkie herself at the end of the episode but...well, I don't know. It's just something I can picture from her, somehow. Also, she seems happier that she helps him to me - even sings a song about it - than about winning his friendship.

Wrong or not, I agree with you completely. Pinkie is the best kind of friend - the kind who never gives up on you and just all around amazing for all her many hilarious faults. And she is, undisputably (except by those who disagree) best pony. Also I loved fluffy pink super hero. It made me smile, cause it's so true.

I'm reading way too much into this, but it's make me way too sad if she put in all that effort to win the acceptance of someone who will never really - in my opinion - like her. She deserves to be happy too.

Also, i'm kind of surprised that Rarity is harder to sign than Fluttershy. It seems like it'd be much more commonly used. Good luck.