«Feeling Pinkie Keen Controversy»

One of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episodes sparked a bit of a controversy among some of the fans. The moral at the end in the form of a letter:

I am happy to report that I now realize there are wonderful things in this world you just can't explain. But that doesn't necessarily make them any less true. It just means you have to choose to believe in them. And sometimes, it takes a friend to show you the way.

- My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Keep in mind, most of the outspoken fan-base are like me; denizens of the darker side of the internet (4chan). There's a disproportionate number of skeptics and atheists in the community.

Basically, Pinkie Pie had a precognitive ability that manifested itself as involuntary twitches. Twitching tail means something's about to fall, for example. The scientific-minded Twilight Sparkle wouldn't accept a supernatural explanation, and was determined to find the true reason for Pinkie's ability. In the end, she gave up and just accepted it (and thus the moral).

This may seem like an odd thing to become an issue in a cartoon that has regular use of magic and mythical creatures. However, the magic is portrayed in the series as an extension of science. That being specific spells have a predictable and repeatable outcome, and it can be studied and understood. It's not presented as a supernatural thing that "just is". Twilight Sparkle's ongoing studies to understand the literal Magic of friendship shows this.

The general issue with it was that kids are gullible enough as it is. They shouldn't be taught to believe something without proof just because they're told by someone. It was perceived to promote noncritical thinking; a sort of "don't bother trying to understand things" message. And yes, Santa Claus and religion were pulled into the big discussion.

Lauren Faust's response on her DeviantART site was:

Wow. It's so not what I ever hoped anybody would ever take away from that episode. It's a really awful message and I'd never dream of suggesting it.

I'm so disappointed, especially since it's seems to be completely ruining what I thought was one of our funniest episodes.

I'm really sorry and if I could have anticipated such a misunderstanding, I would have revised it.

- Lauren Faust

I think ourimaler summed up quite nicely how I feel about the episode:

Dear Mrs Faust,

I (and several others from rpg.net) have been among those who have criticized the message of "Feeling Pinky Keen". Most of us, however, admit upon further thought that we overreacted:

Part of it, as another commenter has said, probably stems from identifying with Twilight. Part of it, perhaps, is from projection between Pinky Pie's precognition and claims that real-world skeptics debunks. But beside that...I think a large part of it is that some of us have gotten USED to seeing the "skepticism is bad, m'kay?" message in media - to the point that when we watched this episode, we reflexively saw it instead of the intended "hubris is bad".

Does that mean I think there was NOTHING wrong with the episode? Eh...I wouldn't go that far. The chasm scene will always bug me, there was some unfortunate phrasing, and I do believe the message got muddied a bit in the end. I admit, however, that my negative reaction probably stemmed less from problems with the episode than my own defensiveness.

- ourimaler

I have to say the moral in this episode had a very different feel, and I still am left feeling a little unsettled and at odds with it. I wouldn't say it ruined the episode for me though.

Here's the episode, if you are (wo)man enough to watch 22 minutes and 1 second of My Little Pony.

My Little Pony : Friendship Is Magic - S01E15 - Feeling Pinkie Keen - vostfr