Who Is Pinkie Pie? · 2:11am Jan 2nd, 2015
Bookplayer has a nice series of articles entitled ‘Who is’ that I’ve been trying to keep up with, and since I’ve been working on Changelings, Love and Lollipops, which is a sometimes silly, sometimes serious Changeling/Pinkie shipfic a little like the Tutor series, and Book’s latest prompt is Who Is Pinkie Pie, this is perfect timing.
With no more delay, let’s get to it.
Briefly describe Pinkie Pie as you see her.
Pinkie Pie sees herself as an ambassador of good cheer, a cheerer-upper of grumpy grumps, a bringer of joy to those who need it most. Wherever Fear rears its ugly head, Pinkie will be there, with cupcakes and lemonade, because even Fear needs a little attention sometimes to remember all of the good times, and before Fear realizes what happened, it’s trotting on down the road with a party hat on its horn and a smile on its face, feeling a little less ugly and a little more happy.
Other ponies tend to only see the surface, the pony who throws the most amazing parties and who always seems happy. Or perhaps the one pony who they can go to when things haven’t gone the way they want, and who need a reminder of the good things. Like cake. And muffins. Somehow, things just aren’t as bad when you have sugar and Pinkie in your life.
What is essential to remember about her that people might forget?
That there is a sensitive button marked ‘Alone’ deep in her heart. Without her friends, without other ponies laughing and playing, she’s like a popped balloon. It’s that pain inside that drives her to bring out the joy in everypony else, which for example is why she was trying so hard with Cranky. The largest danger Pinkie has is in giving so much of herself to make others happy that she forgets about being happy herself. Good thing she has friends.
With that in mind, she set off as a newly-marked filly to Ponyville, away from her family, and her rocks. She faced that ‘Alone’ button in order to bring joy to others.
What do you like to add to her character that’s a stretch from canon, or totally your own invention?
Laughter: Out of all of the Elements, it is the only one that deals directly with pleasure. Since the show deals strictly with childish and innocent pleasure absolutely exclusively with her, it makes one wonder (well, me at least) if she’s ever dated, or had a romantic relationship (other than Gummy), or plans on settling down and having a whole herd of laughing little ponies of her own. After all, they’ve shown she is able to foalsit the Terrible Two, and can recognize the joy and love in Maude. Why not motherhood?
How does it affect Pinkie’s character that other ponies often have a hard time understanding her? Does she notice?
One of the most frustrating things in the world is to tell a joke and have it fall flat. Most people would be intimidated by the idea. Pinkie flings herself straight into a second joke, or a third, or a twenty-third. Take a look at Foalsitting Pinkie. The highest level of stress she had was when the little ones were crying and she couldn’t do anything about it. Of course, she notices, but one of the worst things you can do in comedy is to react to a failed joke. Laugh it off and keep going.
Besides, it can be fun to have something nopony else has. Look at what happened when she ran into Cheese Sandwich, who seemed to out-Pinkie her in every way. She was jealous, to the point of a montage song and a confrontation song, and wound up finding her place in throwing the double-best party ever. Do they understand her abilities? Who cares, it’s their happiness that counts.
Do you include meta-humor (fourth wall breaking, genre savvy, etc) or cartoon physics when writing Pinkie? How much is too much?
Yes and no. A little goes a long way, and if you’re going to break the fourth wall, it has to be funny. The cartoon has it much easier, because visual fourth-wall breaking can be here and gone in seconds, and writing takes extra work because you have to pull the reader out of his little bubble of belief, give them a non sequitur, and try to wrap that bubble back around them again. With that in mind, it can be easier to spring one of her random bits at the very end of a story or a chapter. Besides, she’s the perfect pony to use when you need a plot device to just show up, particularly if it’s a silly one.
And I still don’t get the banana joke.
What real world comedian or style of comedy would be Pinkie’s favorite?
Tiny Toons from Acme Looniversity, of course.
From Dstears at Deviantart
I could see her in episodes of Tiny Toons without any problem, or even Rainbow Dash. The rest would be difficult. Twilight nearly blew a fuse with the things Pinkie could do, after all.
I can see her with a watermelon and a sledgehammer. I can’t see her with Penn and Teller. There’s no blue in her humor. Having the show match her with Weird Al was perfect.
Anything else?
Nope, that’ll about do it. Keep an eye out for Changelings, Love and Lollipops, coming to FimFiction soon.
Excerpt: (Background - Pinkie Pie is watching the captured changeling)
It took an amazingly short time before the pink mare was snoring, a soft whistling that covered any noise he made by using his magic to untie the ribbon and set it to one side. The pain and fatigue made it hard to slip away with his usual style, but it still carried him out the door and down the familiar staircase he had just traveled up an hour or two ago. A few fireflies dancing in the main room night light of Sugarcube Corner allowed the changeling to avoid any noisy chairs or other obstacles in his path to freedom, but he paused with one hoof on the front doorknob.
What if she’s waiting outside with her cannon?
It was a stupid idea. Impossible. Still, he removed his hoof from the door and slipped back upstairs into the bedroom. She was still there, in exactly the same pose. Even her snoring was perfectly regular.
See, it was a stupid idea.
Slipping back downstairs like a ghostly shadow and this time taking a few minutes to eat the last few pastries that would not be missed out of the ‘Day-Old’ box, he again moved up to the front door and paused, one hoof on the doorknob.
You know she’s out there.
The silence was deafening, but try as he might, he could not hear the whispering snores of Pinkie Pie from upstairs. Ever so slowly, he took his hoof off the doorknob and slipped back upstairs, this time headed to the window at the end of the hallway. A few limbering up exercises with his stiff wings and he reached for the window latch with hesitant hooves.
What if she’s downstairs outside of the front door and outside this window?
There was a faint breeze whistling outside, with just the smallest hint of a regular thumping noise, much as a hoof-driven flying machine might make, or even a flapping shutter somewhere in town. For just one moment, he considered how much he wanted to be able to open both this window and the door downstairs at the same time, except for the sinking feeling that Pinkie Pie might have found some way to also be in both places at the same time, and he was just starting to get used to the wonderful feeling of breathing through his nose again. Besides, there had not been a single sign of that infernal cannon inside her room, and it had to be somewhere, so why not just outside the window?
Ever so slowly, he lifted his hoof off the window latch and put it back on the carpeted floor, then slipped soundlessly back into Pinkie’s bedroom to vanish into his own sleeping bag, feeling just like a little grub again. He twisted a little to get as comfortable as his aching gut would let him, then reached outside to grope around until he found the loose piece of ribbon, tying it back onto his leg and resting his head on the cotton-candy scented pillow.
Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage. Still, this has to be something.
In the darkness, surrounded by pink, the tired changeling faded slowly into blessed slumber.
I'm tempted to do one of these, but last time I did, I seem to recall Obselesence rumbling something about meme blogs and smiting the unworthy.
In any case, loved the application of Schrödinger's Pony in that excerpt. Also, I'm unfamiliar with the banana joke in question.
Aww, I really like all of this, especially your answer to the first question.
Also: Oh my gosh, YES, Tiny Toons is the perfect answer to the comedian question, and I am very jealous that I did not think of it myself.
Really nice analysis of Pinkie. And that excerpt is incredibly in-character for Pinkie, even though she's asleep the whole time.
2696061 Well, in context, he's been blasted in the face by her party cannon five times at that point.