Also, actually CHASING Rainbow Dash was a bad idea on Pinkie's part. Using Offscreen Teleportation she was able to get to wherever Rainbow Dash was flying BEFORE her. If she'd just continued to do that, then she would've been able to warp into the barn when Rainbow Dash ran in there.

How would you have gotten Pinkie out of there then?

edited 16th Jul '11 2:46:46 PM by gingerninja666

I have a theory about that (actually commented about it on a Youtube video). See, this show actually takes place in a dystopian society where, among other things, the concept of friendship has long been forgotten; any hint of friendship or kindness is superficial at best, just like Rainbow Dash's friendship with Gilda. That's why Twilight's letters are important - because the world actually has to completely relearn these concepts.

"Call of the Cutie, " for one. During the Cupcakes song, she twice appears twice on the screen.

Pinkie knows pretty much everypony in Ponyville, and she's at least on conversational terms with most of them, I'd imagine - some of them no doubt see her as the town eccentric, but they all know her. It's also likely that some of the mane cast knew each other before Twilight came to town and looped them into a coherent group; I don't think any of them introduce themselves in the pilot except to Twilight, for instance, though I might be wrong.

Am I the ONLY one who thinks that Rainbow Dash's friendship with Gilda was genuine? XD

It was probably a true friendship... albeit a highly possessive one.

I am gonna be a horrible person and say that things like friends or relatives (even parents) turn up when there is a reason for it. Its cast economy, people. Gilda as an old friend of Rainbow Dash (yeah, I also think that was a genuine friendship) makes sense because that's what the episode is about. While there are some people who might have been loners (it would make sense for Twilight, since the whole point with the show is that she is on a sacred quest to stop being asocial) or have say parents who are dead (it seems shady that Applejack is in charge of a farm that holds her grandma and siblings but not her parents - farmers tend to stay on their farms) I assume they have friends and family, and they will turn up when the writer need one.

^^I think they were really friends, yeah, when they were ten; Dash just happened to change and grow up, while Gilda... really didn't, in the end. Gilda couldn't really accept that Dash had changed, which isn't the healthiest type of friendship. Like I've said before, if Gilda comes back in the second season having learned her lesson (about harassing random bypassers, as well), I'd welcome her back.

^Naturally, the characters who appear will fit into cast economy, but we're discussing in an in-universe sense.

edited 16th Jul '11 3:40:43 PM by RedSavant

Rainbow Dash didn't change as far as I can tell. Gilda was just selfish and wanted Dash all to herself, or at least, didn't want to share her, or accept that Dash had other pony friends.

Also, presumably Fluttershy and Dash were close enough for Dash to be upset enough to defend Fluttershy's honor, though some of that was also being insulted herself.

But yeah, it's a matter of things existing as the plot demands.

Did Rainbow Dash really change that much though? She still seemed happy to be hanging out with Gilda and was enjoying their time together. All that changed were the friends she had really

edit: Fuckin NINJA!!!

edited 16th Jul '11 3:43:30 PM by gingerninja666

We don't know what Dash was really like as filly (we saw what, a minute or two?), so we can't really say if she changed or not. But Dash never saw a lot of the worst things that Gilda did. But Dash likes her pranks, so its not hard to imagine her going a bit too far when she was younger too. A grown woman scaring an old lady is cruel, but a kid scaring an old lady is just...well, not good, but forgivable.

Pinkie is cool, I guess everyone is getting used to StepfordSmilers. But I am sure pinkie is genuinely happy.She is crazy but in a cool way.

Now Gilda I agree that she liked genuinely Dash as her friend

edited 16th Jul '11 3:52:58 PM by FallenLegend

Thing is, I can forgive Gilda for scaring Granny Smith, as it was just a harmless prank. Stealing and roaring at Fluttershy less so, but Gilda doesn't seem inherantly bad, just a griffon who's never been taken down a peg once in her life. Humble pie is exactly what the doctor ordered, and I reckon that if she wasn't in front of all those ponies when RD stood up to her, then she might've repented (she was embaressed and got really hurt by RD's betrayal, plus, look at the way she stammers before calling RD a flip flop, she clearly didn't want to say anything TOO mean)

Good points. Gilda seems more misguided than evil.

^Yeah, that's true. I don't have anything concrete to base my claim that Dash grew up on - just a feeling that filly Dash wouldn't really have been opposed to the snake prank, but Dash today would have a Dude, Not Funny! reaction. It's pretty weak, I admit, but I don't like thinking of Gilda as maliciously selfish rather than (admittedly severely) misguided.

Gryphons are very rare in Cloudsdale and no one wanted to be friends with Gilda at Flight School, so she clung to the one person who did - Dash - and never really got used to the idea that she could want other friends.

^^Good eye. Yeah... confronting her there might have been a mistake. Gilda is nothing if not prideful.

edited 16th Jul '11 3:57:41 PM by RedSavant

Let's not forget that Dash was about to prank Fluttershy if it wasn't because Pinkie intervened.Do it isn't far fetched that she matured.

edited 16th Jul '11 4:05:28 PM by FallenLegend

Gilda's still a bitch, though.

Pranking Granny Smith==Iffy, but not beyond the pale. Really lame anyway, it's not like she had a snake sock on her tale or anything.

Stealing==A crime, but not something you don't see pretty often, it gets rationalized a lot of the time.

Screaming at Fluttershy==Obnoxious, but reflective of her being more of a predator than the ponies, and not that unusual, I've had somebody scream at me for bumping into them.

She's got a few personality issues, but she's not villainous, just not friendly in her attitude, which Pinkie tried to remedy, but Dash messed that up.

edited 16th Jul '11 4:05:18 PM by blueharp

Granny Smith's something like eighty. You just don't do that to someone that old.

bitch is a bit strong I'd argue. I don't even know why I defend he so much. Guess it's just because she's the only villain with ANY kind of Morality Pet

Pinkie said to herself that she found the prank somewhat funny.

edited 16th Jul '11 4:08:25 PM by gingerninja666

The reason I say Dash and Gilda's friendship was superficial is simply that Dash wasn't aware of Gilda's personality issues, which was at least in part because she was actively hiding them (by, for instance, sending Dash off somewhere before wrecking Pinkie's flying machine). It's the level of misdirection involved in the core of the relationship that makes me question it.

Best not tell some senior citizens I know who prank each other all the time.

To be honest, I wouldn't do most of their pranks to anybody anyway.

Gilda's not socially blind.

edited 16th Jul '11 4:11:18 PM by blueharp

Maybe it's because Gilda is easily the most reviled character in the series with little reason? Okay, there are reasons, sure, but for a group of people who tout 'love and tolerance' we're waaaaaay to hard on her as a fandom.

That may actually be a sign of Gilda's fondness for Dash. It was obvious that Dash liked Pinkie a fair bit in that episode. Gilda's intentions were by no means pure, she wanted to keep dash from getting mad at her, not spare dash's feeling on the matter.

Most, if not all of the 'villains' we've seen aren't bad, by any stretch of the imagination. They just suffer from character flaws. Pride, in fact, seems to be the common factor. Blueblood was proud of his heritage, and so believed himself superior to the 'common' Rarity, as well as proud of his appearance. Trixie was proud of her skill as a magician, and reacted poorly to those who questioned it. Gilda was proud of her 'strength', and lorded it over those who were weaker than herself, as well as becoming angry when that image of strength was tarnished (Via pranking).

edited 16th Jul '11 4:14:28 PM by kegisak

I just hope that Gilda and RD make up. If for no other reason than just because RD represents Loyalty, and I don't think she'd give up hope on ANY of her friends old or new.

I'd say that Blueblood is hated more than Gilda, but it does seem that most Gilda-hate comes from that incident with Fluttershy

edited 16th Jul '11 4:14:09 PM by gingerninja666

I don't really even have an opinion on Gilda herself (except to say that you probably shouldn't write off the whole "theft" thing, that's generally frowned upon for good reason). I just question, as I said, the nature of her friendship with Dash.

What does that even mean?