Help! My Heart is Full of Pony! - Responsibility (Baby Cakes)

Baby Cakes is a great episode that only gets better as the years go by. For those who don't remember, in this story, we are introduced to Pound and Pumpkin, the twin son and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cake. Pinkie Pie is called upon to babysit, (after Mr. and Mrs. Cake exhausted every other option), and ends up learning the hard way that playing with small children, and caring for them are two very different things. 

Apart from the moral, the driving force of this episode is foalsitting hijinks - well-paced comedy that depicts a gradual escalation from Pinkie simply struggling to keep the twins happy, to her struggle to feed them, change them, physically keep up with them, (and of course it's impossible to forget Pumpkin Cake's burst of unicorn magic, and Pound Cake's walk along the ceiling, which turned the whole episode into a horror movie parody for a few minutes). 

This story uses a lot of familiar tropes common in family comedies. One could argue that they have been done to death, but the fact of the matter is: it's an extremely familiar situation, especially for kids with younger siblings. Furthermore, Baby Cakes is a step above its ancestors simply because of how much heart Pinkie Pie brings to the story. 

Her determination. Her love. That touching ending where she bursts into tears, and the Cake Twins dump flour on themselves to cheer her up (just like she had done for them countless times when they were upset). The fact that Pumpkin and Pound both say her name in their sleep. [SO SWEET! AHHHH!]

It was powerful. 

However, for me, Baby Cakes also has one of the most satisfying, and unintentionally triumphant moments in the entire series. About halfway through the day, Twilight Sparkle stops by to offer her help. At first, Pinkie Pie is relieved and overjoyed to have assistance, but when Twilight says, "I thought you could use the help, not everyone is cut out for responsibility," Pinkie throws Twilight out on the street and slams the door in her face.

When you're something of a goofball, being taken seriously can be a real struggle. This moment - this assertion of pride - is joyous. It is not to be mistaken for hubris, or compared with Applejack's stubbornness in Applebuck Season. 

Taking on this level of responsibility is a defining moment for Pinkie Pie. She can do this. She has to. If, in this moment, Pinkie doesn't believe in herself, nopony else will.

***

Given the benefit of hindsight, and having now watched the entire series, I find this moment to be even more powerful than ever. You see, five seasons (107 episodes later), Twilight Sparkle, in A Flurry of Emotions, finds herself in a similar predicament when she is tasked with watching her neice, Flurry Heart.  The difference, however, is that Twilight fails. 

Twilight Sparkle is so obsessed with multitasking that she drags the poor kid all over town, (including to a pediatric infectious disease ward in Ponyville General Hospital). She ignores Flurry Heart every step of the way, not because she can't take proper care of her niece, but because she won't.

When you compare these two episodes, Pinkie Pie was actually a lot more responsible. Yes, she struggled to keep up with the twins, (and her new duties were a major crash course in things that she didn't know how to do), but Pinkie still gave the twins 100% of her effort, 100% of her energy, and 100% of her love for the entire time that they were under her care. 

As a stepfather, I ended up falling head-first into my children's lives when I was only 22 years old. It was absolutely terrifying - the idea that there was no safety net - that human lives depended on my judgment calls. But that's the only way that anyone ever really learns - by being appropriately terrified of what a high-stakes, high-pressure responsibility childcare can be. 

Pinkie Pie nailed it. As unprepared as she may have been for the details of her duties, Pinkie Pie, from the very beginning, deeply understood childcare in a visceral way that Twilight did not. 

Pinkie put the kids first.

-Sprocket

If you enjoy essays like these, please consider supporting my work on Patreon. You can also follow Heart Full of Pony on Tumblr

Comments

[TheJediMasterEd]

I couldn't have said it better myself. And I'm pretty damn vain about how I say things myself.

[Reese]

And as usual, you shine light on facets of these I had not known were there; thank you. :)