Friendship is Card Games: The Maud Couple · 11:29am Apr 1st, 2018
Happy Easter Fool’s Day! I suppose this involves trying to convince people you’ve discovered the Easter Bunny and hope they don’t notice you’ve put rabbit ears on a platypus. Not that that has anything to do with the episode; just reminding you to put even less trust in what you read on the Internet than usual today.
Nice to see Ponyville has some kind of nightlife.
Maud raises an important note with her stand-up routine: Alicorns do have an earth pony aspect. A lot of canon sources seem to forget that.
I can’t tell if making jokes about earth ponies to a mostly earth pony audience is advisable or not. At least it’s an earth pony telling them; a unicorn or pegasus saying that stuff would probably get a table thrown at them.
I admit, the “clastic rock” pun made me smile.
The new intro’s interesting. I feel like it has some sync issues in the beginning, a few audio cues from the theme that go unacknowledged. Still, nice to see them work as many faces into it, especially in the throne room. What’s most interesting to me is how it simultaneously acknowledges the Mane Six’s greater accomplishments even as it tries to establish a premise that ignores them: Dash is with the Wonderbolts, Rarity’s at Canterlot Carousel with Sassy Saddles, even Fluttershy’s at Sweetfeather Sanctuary with Discord. But the School of Friendship is still front and center for much of it, including the “tons of fun” “and “faithful and strong” bits.
I knew the timing joke was coming. Again, still made me smile.
The “best sister friends forever” line stings all the worse when Marble and Limestone are actually in the episode.
So… Did Ditzy volunteer to be a walking wanted poster, or did that just kind of happen?
Only two things bother me about the “searching for Maud” sequence, and neither of them are the range of the search. (If Pinkie can access Discord’s dimension, she may be able to use it as a hyperspace bypass to other parts of the world. And she doesn’t need to blow up the planet!) One, the montage overstayed its welcome, going into Pinkie’s more obnoxious character space. Two, since when did Granny Smith have a wax museum? I knew she had an in with the bees, but I didn’t think she’d have the time or artistic inclination for that sort of things.
Why is Pinkie going to a baking supply shop? I suppose she doesn’t want to use Sugarcube Corner inventory for a personal project… this time. Maybe the Cakes finally cut her off.
Good Lord but I wanted to punch Mudbriar in his first scene. And a lot of future ones. Mostly because I used to be him, more or less. Learning basic social interaction was rough but well worth it… even if I do still find myself reciting rote responses now and again. 
But yeah, I get that they wanted to convey someone roughly as socially capable as Maud, but while she came off as simply eccentric and awkward in her premiere episode, Mudbriar seems almost aggressively annoying. That stick-in-the-mud cutie mark is certainly there for a reason.
That being said, the way the couple makes each other smile? That I like. Especially the way they get the grins while discussing the technicalities of classifying petrified wood, as though this were a discussion they’ve had so many times that it’s become a running joke between them. It’s actually an impressive bit of perspective work; when we don’t see Mudbriar through Pinkie’s eyes, he’s a lot more tolerable.
At first, I thought we’d be getting a Season 6 Glimmer Dichotomy with the school, wherein it either served as the crux of the episode or didn’t exist. But we do see it in an establishing shot of the castle as Pinkie discusses Mudbriar with Starlight… which raises the question of whether Pinkie has classes to teach right now. Yeah, I’m going to keep asking that question for the foreseeable future.
It is fascinating to see how Pinkie’s rose-colored glasses do and don’t apply. Without years of familial love and familiarity with the subject tinting her perspective, a personality diametrically opposed to her bothers even her. Also, I do appreciate how Starlight proposes the resolution to “Maud Pie.” The problem is, Pinkie can’t bond over a shared connection to Maud when she’s so focused on trying to figure out how the connection between Maud and Mudbriar ever came to be.
Mudbriar slowly grew on me over the course of the episode, but it was still satisfying to see his rough entry in to the party cave. Cavern. Whatever.
Hmm. What if Pinkie found non-wood-based piñata bludgeons?
I genuinely liked the mind palace moment. I’m sure people are going to make Sherlock comparisons, but the muttered mantra made me think more of Dune. "It is by pedantry alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the sticks of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by pedantry alone I set my mind in motion.”
Technically, Mudbriar, Pinkie never said anything about you saying that you knew Maud better than she did, only that you were acting like it. A key distinction, I think you’ll agree.
Told you all I used to be That Guy.
Do kites count as stick abuse?
That Mudbriar says “See you later” as Pinkie runs off says a lot. Even as she runs off, he anticipates seeing her again soon. Possibly even looks forward to it.
Pinkie always has the best nervous breakdowns. Especially happily illiterate Twilight.
I really did not expect Pinkie running back to the rock farm, but I am glad that she explained in fairly short order. (Complete with Marble glaring holes into Limestone when she’d rather focus on work; lovely bit of subtle character work there.) And it is a good reason; Marble and Limestone have spent even more time with Maud with Pinkie, so if she doubts how well she understands one sister, who better to ask than the others?
Still, poor Limestone. Between her instantly professed definitely-no-jealousy of one of her younger sisters finding somepony before she did and her admitted constant feelings of misery, that mare needs a hug. At least she shows commendable wisdom with her practical metaphor.
Also, while I do like the idea of Pinkie happening to have a fairly comprehensive knowledge of geology through osmosis, her being the least well-versed Pie sister in that regard also works. And no one said the two couldn’t be mutually exclusive; knowing less geology than a rock farmer is like knowing less human anatomy than a surgeon.
All that being said, where were their parents? If Limestone and Marble don’t know about Mudbriar, then it’s probably news to Igneous and Cloudy as well. They’re probably interested in the subject.
I knew that wasn’t going to be an actual olive branch the moment Pinkie offered it, both because of the setup and because I know what olive leaves look like. Still, the “I love a good Quercus” line was a good turnaround. And Mudbriar’s difference-splitting solution with the Paper Maud-io cutout was ingenious.
So. This makes the third Mane Six sibling to get a canon significant other, and the second one who didn’t pop into existence with said special somepony. Certainly an unexpected trend, though I suppose when the main characters themselves are off the romantic table, this is a reasonable alternative. As for the episode itself, this will probably be one that’s easier to watch the second time, knowing when the jokes that overstayed their welcome will be leaving. Still, I hope I never hear “Technically” again for the next week.
Stay sharp today, folks. On to the cards:
Wax Museum 2W
Enchantment
Whenever a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, create a 0/1 colorless Construct artifact creature token that’s blocking that creature unless attacking player pays 2.
”Madame Terskaude's just something I called myself to sound mysterious.”
—Granny Smith
Skip to Tomorrow U
Sorcery
Draw two cards. You skip your next turn.
”Pinkie Pie and time magic go together like peanut butter and artichokes.”
—Ditzy Doo
Spell Stutter U
Instant
Exile target spell. That card’s owner may cast it without paying its mana cost at the beginning of the next upkeep.
Timing is everything.
Pedantic Objection 1U
Instant
Buyback 2 (You may pay an additional 2 as you cast this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.)
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 2.
”Technically…”
Stoic Observer 2U
Creature — Pony Citizen
Soulbond (You may pair this creature with another unpaired creature when either enters the battlefield. They remain paired for as long as you control both of them.)
As long as Stoic Observer is paired with another creature, each of those creatures has “Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability for the first time each turn, counter that spell or ability.”
2/2
Tandem Illusionist 3U
Creature — Unicorn Wizard
Soulbond
As long as Tandem Illusionist is paired with a creature, each of those creatures can’t be blocked.
2/1
Mind Palace 4UU
Enchantment
When Mind Palace enters the battlefield, exile all cards from your hand, then draw that many cards.
At the beginning of your upkeep, exile any number of cards from your hand, then put that many other cards exiled with Mind Palace into your hand.
Made to store the most precious treasures of all.
Increasing Regret 2B
Sorcery
Target player loses life equal to the number of creature cards in their graveyard. If Increasing Regret was cast from a graveyard, that player loses twice that much life instead.
Flashback 4BB (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
Hired Hunter 3B
Creature — Pegasus Mercenary
Flying
When Hired Hunter dies, each player may search their library for a card and put it into their hand.
”Have you seen this mare? How about this one? Hang on, I have a list…”
2/1
Split Open 3B
Instant
Target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn.
Draw a card.
It’s amazing what you can discover when you look beneath the surface.
Stick Abuse R
Sorcery
Attach target Equipment to target creature. That creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is that Equipment’s converted mana cost. Destroy that Equipment at the beginning of the next end step.
Very few things are made to withstand an enthusiastic Pinkie Pie.
Crush to Gravel 1R
Instant
Crush to Gravel deals 3 damage to target creature. If that creature is an artifact, Crush to Gravel deals 6 damage to it instead.
”Even Pinkie can break some crummy hydroxylapatite.”
—Limestone Pie, rock farmer
Increasing Enthusiasm 3R
Instant
Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn. If Increasing Enthusiasm was cast from a graveyard, those creatures get +4/+0 until end of turn instead.
Flashback 4RR
Scour the Globe 3R
Sorcery
Choose a card name, then reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal one with that name. If you do, exile all cards revealed this way and you may play those cards this turn. Otherwise, shuffle your library.
Accretion 1G
Enchantment
G, Exile two cards from your graveyard: Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Everything joins with the earth eventually. Magic just speeds up the process.
Pet Stick 2
Artifact
As long as you control no nonartifact creatures, Pet Stick is a Construct artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to half the number of lands you control, rounded up.
”Her name is Twiggy. She’s a bit shy.”
—Mudbriar, xylologist
Promising Geode 2
Artifact
Promising Geode enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add C.
T, Sacrifice Promising Geode: Add two mana in any combination of colors.
Rock farms bear unusual fruit.
Inverted Image 1WU
Instant
Cast this spell only during the declare blockers step.
Create an X/Y white and blue Illusion creature token that’s blocking target creature attacking you or a planeswalker you control, where X is that creature’s toughness and Y is its power.
Petrified Zendikon 3(gw)
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant land
Enchanted land is a 4/4 green and white Elemental artifact creature with vigilance. It’s still a land.
When enchanted land dies, return that card to its owner’s hand.
Impatient Mentor 3(ur)B
Creature — Pony Advisor
At the beginning of your draw step, draw an additional card.
At the beginning of your end step, if you didn’t cast a spell this turn, Impatient Mentor deals 2 damage to you.
”No slacking off! These are practical lessons.”
2/2
Public 3W//Private U
Instant//Instant
Public: Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn. Untap them.
Private: Target permanent you control gains hexproof until end of turn.
CANON ACCEPTED
I am mesmerized by that comedy club scene. Note that the only visible non-earth pony in attendance is Lyra, who is there with her
girlfriendBest Friend and clearly has no idea how to respond to this.I find it extremely easy to think of reasons to dislike Mud Briar that go beyond what the episode seems to want to say. But seeing Maud smile is amazing.
Glad to see not everyone is jumping on the "Mud Briar is a jerk" band wagon because clearly he's not, he's just annoying (there is a difference) and the fact people on this website don't understand that is... not all that surprising to be honest.
Still at the end of the day those two are cute together and that's all that matters.
Failure to create a dedicated Limestone card shall be punished by some fool doing the job
s Americans won't doin your place.>splitting time between teaching and working
Obviously, they just pressganged all those honorary apples that wouldn't leave.
I want skip to tomorrow for the stasistog deck.
BAZINGA/10.
It was alright.
The instant Mudbriar spoke, I knew what the reveal was going to be. I also was constantly saying "what a pedant" because, while I'm a stickler for proper language, I'm not that literal (except for one little joke when someone asks me what up is).
Honestly, instead of "I'm talking to this pony" he could have said "I'm debating the best parting phrase to use." Still would have been off the wall, but it probably wouldn't have bothered Pinks quite so much. That bit annoyed me because I figured the pony he was referring to was Pinkie, rather than the clerk.
Funny. I said almost the same thing when I saw him. I do not miss being that guy. He really grew on me over the episode, though, especially once I saw how he makes Maud smile.
I found this episode really relatable. The writers do a surprisingly good job of writing autistic ponies.
I, too, really liked that well-placed "see-you-later" when Pinkie stormed off.
Did anyone else laugh when Pinkie was all "Great idea, Limestone! Murder is the best solution!"?
The best thing about the episode, though? Maud's smile. I couldn't help but smile with her.
Wax museum is interesting. It's basically a W version of Kazuul, with all the changes that implies.
I like Mind Palace. It appears appropriately costed, and it does cool things. I wish it were an official card.
I cast Scour the Globe and name Labratory Maniac... (Bonus points if I tuck him on the bottom of my library first.)
I feel like you missed an opportunity by not having that last card ordered Private//Public.
4830054
The question we must ask is how long she's been able to get there. Access to chaotic hyperspace could explain a great deal about Pinkie.
4830068
"Do I laugh? Do I not laugh? Should I not use magic for the rest of the night? Help me out, Bonnie, I'm navigating a minefield here."
"It's okay, Lyra. I know you don't think any less of me for being an earth pony, just like I don't think any less of you for being a unicorn."
"Okay. Good. Wait, what?"
"Exactly."
4830103
Well, Mudbriar might want to tone it down when he meets Maud's family. If he drove Pinkie up the wall that quickly, I imagine Limestone will have to be physically restrained around him.
4830155
Limestone, Stony Tsundere 4RW
Legendary Waifu Creature — Pony
(When this waifu enters the battlefield, sacrifice all other waifus you control.)
Lifelink, trample
Whenever an artifact or land you control becomes the target of a spell or ability you don't control, Limestone, Stony Tsundere deals 5 damage to that spell or ability's controller.
You'll touch her heart long before you can touch Holder's Boulder.
5/5
4830187
Wasn't he? I figured he was answering by describing the action he was taking at the time of speaking. He does say he's speaking to a pony at a baking supply shop, so technic—
Dammit.
4830210
Somewhere between laughter and "Pinkie, no!"
As much as I love Sheep in the Big City, split cards usually go for the "X and Y" naming convention, so I went with "legal tender for all debts public and private." (Though in Equestria's case, it might be nearly all princess labor.)
These were some of my favorite parts of the episode, like the bit where Mudbriar corrected Pinkie on her party cave being technically a cavern and then added that Maud had taught him the difference. I loved the way he smiled when he said that -- he looked so proud to be showing off what his girlfriend taught him.
Ooh. I hadn't noticed that -- that's very clever.
I have to say I also really liked Marble and Limestone getting the opportunity to be fleshed out a bit more. This episode did a good bit to make them more complex, three-dimensional characters and more sympathetic (in Limestone's case specifically) and to expand on the dynamic between the Sisters Pie. Plus, the gags with Marble glaring and Limestone's "You look as miserable as I feel all the time" were suitably amusing too.
So I looked up the cave vs cavern thing, and... the results are mixed. Mudbriar is correct that the two things are not identical, and that the Party Planning Cave is a cavern. However, "cave" is the more inclusive term. All caverns are caves, so calling it a cave is still correct, and he was being a condescending negging jackass "correcting" Pinkie when she wasn't wrong
I'll be totally honest – if a brony had made that earth pony joke, I would have jumped on them. The only reason Maud gets a pass is because she's an earth pony, and she added “I'm being sarcastic.”
So will I. Does this episode happen to take place on a weekend? This episode also made me realize that Starlight and maybe Spike are the only members of the main cast who don't already have full time jobs, meaning that they should take on the most responsibilities at Friendship School.
Anyway, I enjoyed this episode. One or two of the gag sequences overstayed their welcome, but the episode made me laugh out loud a few times.
It's actually an accurate portrayal of race comedy staples. Race comedy only works if it's in the form of "Y'all Know We Be Like". Regardless of the audience (which is usually mixed but tends to skew toward the same race as the comedian delivering the routine), race comedy is only "safe" if the comedian is making jokes about his/her own race. Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor did black jokes. Jewish comedians do Jew jokes. Margaret Cho does Asian jokes. Fat women do fat woman jokes. George Lopez does Latino jokes. And so forth, and so on.
It takes...exceptional skill and balls to work race comedy if you're not in the group you're riffing on. Miss the mark, and it just comes across as racist (see also: the portrayal of whites and Muslims in Soul Plane.)
I don't think it's that unusual for a large sibling group to have two siblings that bond more closely to each other than to the rest. The only thing "off" about Pinkie and Maud in that dynamic is that usually the BFFs bond happens with your fraternal twin, and in this case, Pinkie HAS a twin sister--Marble--but Maud is the one she's got the strongest bond with.
"Huh? Is there something on my butt? ...it's not Tuesday, is it?"
Mud Briar must HATE baseball.
I'm gonna be honest: the only fan works I want out of this episode is a shit-ton of new porn of EG Maud.
...oh come on, I am NOT the only one thinking it...
4830364
Pretty much, yeah. It's one thing for someone to deride the group they're part of, and quite another for them to deride a completely separate group. If anything, self-derogatory comedy is generally quite popular when done right -- speaking from personal experience, no one makes quite as many cracks about Italians as we ourselves do.
See, my thought after I watched the piñata scenes was "couldn't they just use one of those metal baseball bats? There there are no sticks involved and Pinkie still gets her piñata. Win-win."
4830268
Definitely agreed on the other Pie sisters. I doubt we'll get another episode that focuses on them even to the degree of "Hearthbreakers," but it's still nice that they got to be in the character depth splash zone this time around.
4830294
If I'm being charitable, I might go with what Frustration in Excelsis noted and say that he wanted to show off the geological knowledge he picked up from Maud.
The question, of course, is whether I want to be charitable...
4830364
Very good point about the "Only X should make X jokes" staple. I was aware of it, but I usually don't even get near this sort of issue. (Still, given how Lyra is literally the only non-earth pony seen in the club, this must have been one of the most awkward moments in her life. And this is a mare who's friends with Twilight Sparkle and Moondancer.)
This was alright, not amazing, but not bad either. Mudbriar was annoying as fuck and basically just Pony-Sheldon and I would not be upset to never see him again. Maud is awesome, this guy is just a pedantic annoying git. Though do gotta give them major props for creating a character that you can actually believe Pinkie would find annoying and not want to be around, who isn't a huge jerk. But yes, Limestone stole the ep.
As to the school, I figure best thing is to look at it less like a regular high school type deal of the same classes everyday and them having to be there all the time, more like a collage type set up where they might only have a few classes a week to teach.
4830338 Well, Starlight is the guidance counselor, so is the one without any sort of set schedule and is around the most to interact and help out ALL the students. So good spot for her. Spike... Still a little kid so not much he can do, besides you know if they tried to give him a job there beyond Twi's assistant, he'd end up being the janitor or something.
Wow, you too? I'm starting to wonder if a disproportionately large fraction of Bronies have autism, like me.
I forget, what does 4UU stand for? I though U meant Uncolored, so why put it next to itself for cost?
Did anyone sense the writers were poking fun at the whole 'psycho killer Pinkie' concept? They have her reference killing Mud Briar, then she immediately says "No, that wouldn't make any sense."
4830689
U stands for blue mana, since black uses B and L is taken up by lands on pre-art cards during the design and development cycle. Colorless mana, like the kind produced by Promising Geode's first mana ability, is represented with C. And there actually have been a few cards that require colorless mana to cast.
Friendship adjuncts? It makes sense, if they're calling them "professors." Maybe they bring in the ponies involved in the various friendship problems they've addressed over the years as guest speakers. For that matter, stuff like Fluttershy's phylogenetic tree suggests the school has regular lessons in addition to friendship stuff, so maybe part of the post-EEA redesign was to hire more regular teachers to cover other subjects and reduce the amount of time the mane 6 themselves spent teaching.
4830780
Yeah, unless it's explicitly jossed away, I'm assuming Pinkie and others are recurring guest lecturers.
Judging from the look of bewilderment and mild fear, the constructionpony whose hard hat Pinkie emerges from isn't a Ponyville native.
Also I'm pretty sure I spotted Moondancer's sister at the party and now I'm wondering why.
Technically, you're missing a period at the end of the flavor text.
Sorry, but I couldn't resist.
4900899
I kind of want to claim I did that on purpose, just to see if anyone would make that joke.
I didn't, but I'm tempted.
In any case, fixed.