    Ponies have an innate need to be around each other. They were herd animals, after all. The herding instinct compelled them to be social, to make friends, to seek safety in numbers, and any deviation from that rule was considered taboo. A pony without any friends, or a proper social upbringing would be considered defective, or deformed, and are tragically avoided by others. Rarity was fighting her common sense over the false social stigma, knowing that stepping hoof outside the sanctity of the cave put her at higher risk of encountering danger.