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For Truth's and Harmony's Behoof
May. 30th, 2017 11:54 pmAnother day, another friendship puzzle, this time from Pinkie Pie. Her sister, Maud, was looking for a place to move to, preferably somewhere near interesting rock strata to study. She also told Pinkie that having a friend living nearby would be a factor in choosing where to live. Since Pinkie wants her favorite sister to live in Ponyville, she set about trying to find a friend for her. Thus the friendship puzzle, with a complication.
In true Pinkie-style clairvoyance, Pinkie found a friend for Maud, or if I understood the sequence of events properly, she put Maud in a path where Maud literally collided with her friend to be. That friend, surprisingly enough, is Starlight Glimmer. The complication in this affair is that Pinkie decided she would study the pair, evaluate their progress and influence the outcome. That's not quite good science. It's not good anything that I can think of. I mean, she gave them no space to breathe, she hounded them with questionnaires, she even went so far as to put cow bells on them so she could track their movements! It's like observer-expectancy effect gone mad. The effect was that the test subjects fled and were more interested in getting away from Pinkie's scrutiny than exploring their potential friendship.
But Pinkie wised up, backed off, and fortunately for her, Starlight Glimmer has become Maud's friend. So, Maud has moved to a cavern just outside of Ponyville and Pinkie has (hopefully) learned a Friendship Lesson. To wit, you can lead a pony to a friend, but you can't make them bond.
In true Pinkie-style clairvoyance, Pinkie found a friend for Maud, or if I understood the sequence of events properly, she put Maud in a path where Maud literally collided with her friend to be. That friend, surprisingly enough, is Starlight Glimmer. The complication in this affair is that Pinkie decided she would study the pair, evaluate their progress and influence the outcome. That's not quite good science. It's not good anything that I can think of. I mean, she gave them no space to breathe, she hounded them with questionnaires, she even went so far as to put cow bells on them so she could track their movements! It's like observer-expectancy effect gone mad. The effect was that the test subjects fled and were more interested in getting away from Pinkie's scrutiny than exploring their potential friendship.
But Pinkie wised up, backed off, and fortunately for her, Starlight Glimmer has become Maud's friend. So, Maud has moved to a cavern just outside of Ponyville and Pinkie has (hopefully) learned a Friendship Lesson. To wit, you can lead a pony to a friend, but you can't make them bond.
