As is, I feel Twilight. What she did was wrong, but like I get it. Trivia is a very stressful environment and frustration with teammates comes with the territory.
As someone who takes his trivia seriously, I couldn’t agree more.
Honestly I think I would find all the complaints more compelling if Twilight had been outright running roughshod over the proceedings and the only one taking things that seriously, but that’s not really the case at all. It’s clear from the start that the only thing more competitive than Applejack and Rainbow Dash teamed together is the two of them on separate sides, and Sunburst cares so much about his correct answer percentages he tries to pull the same trick Twilight did (albeit less successfully). And while it’s true that Twilight’s characteristic obsessiveness is kind of turned up to maximum, I can’t help but feel the fact that the only stakes at play were ones personal to Twilight (i.e., being extremely knowledgeable) kind of makes the whole situation a bit understandable. This isn’t something like the Running of the Leaves, where the event itself has importance beyond mere competition, and even knowing the lessons on good sportsmanship from that time, it’s still easy to go overboard in situations where there is no larger goal of victory than personal pride.
And on the subject of personal pride, it is a bit surprising that Pinkie herself was not more helpful in this situation. As someone who is herself an expert on the likes and dislikes of pretty much everyone in Ponyville, who as a long time friend of Twilight has seen her get this way more than a few times and knows the importance Twilight would place on a victory like this, she certainly should have know how seriously Twilight would approach this and could have put more of an effort into focusing as well. Twilight did at least put some effort into trying to meet her halfway, providing instructions and giving her the opportunity to answer even when she herself clearly knew the answer. And while it doesn’t excuse her later behavior, it’s not like she threw her under the bus question one and never looked back either. Plus in the end she not only embraces Pinkie’s “let’s just have fun” approach, she willingly throws away any chance she has of achieving the very goal she was out to accomplish by way of apology.
Frankly when it all comes down to it I can see why some people might find the episode a bit off-putting, but I don’t think it was bad by any means. It’s a character study that once again pairs two of the show’s most diametrically opposite personalities together and lets the situation play out, for good and bad. I find it hard to find fault with that.