Chapter 8: Laughter
Chapter 8: Laughter
Vinyl Scratch sat alone in that room, staring blankly at the remains of her most prized possession. She continuously knocked away a piece of charred metal that refused to leave and came rolling back. The slight "thunk" it made was the only noise in the house.
An unbearable amount of time passed before the DJ moved her head at all. She finally turned slightly; her eye caught a neatly stacked pile of unopened suitcases. After several moments of hesitation, she magically levitated one over. Not caring what she was doing, Vinyl opened the case and slowly began to sort through the objects. The first noteworthy item she found inside was a picture. The carefully carved wood frame held a glass shielded photograph of Octavia. She stood gracefully beside a blue coated mare, and the both of them were between two stallions, one brown, the other dark purple. They had an air of sophistication and wore matching ties. The group of ponies were all smiling ever so slightly, like they didn't mean it or couldn't be bothered to try harder.
Vinyl stared at Octavia for a lengthy period of time.
'It doesn't matter,' Vinyl told herself. 'It wasn't going to be real anyway...' She squeezed a peculiar old top hat tightly. 'It was stupid of me to think it could be different this time.'
Vinyl curled up in a ball and her dry eyes began to wet again. Her horn magically surged and deliberately cracked the glass of the photograph. The jagged lines covered the faces of all the ponies, except for one.
The gray coated mare with the flowing black mane still stared blankly forward.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
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Ponyville Park was a cheerful place that day, if you didn't notice the pony crying under a tree. Octavia Melody was curled up, her face securely planted in between her forelegs as if she could shield herself from the world. Her bottom lip trembled as she bit it fiercely, nearly breaking the skin. A river of tears fell from one eye to the next, down her cheek, to the grass. The past two days had been a rollercoaster of unfamiliar emotions for Octavia, and this was most definitively the lowest point in the ride so far. Unable to help herself, she replayed the fight over and over in her mind.
'How could I let a simple argument escalate so quickly?' Octavia thought. It had been that way on the train as well. When the two musicians disagreed, their stubbornness wouldn't allow either to budge. It was the stubbornness of two ponies who had always gotten their way, even if it was for two very different reasons. The result had been disastrous this time. 'I should not have called her garbage. I should have just given in and let her have her way. It is far too late now. She hates me. I have tarnished the most intimate friendship I have ever been a part of... I should have never come to Ponyville.'
Octavia raised her head and sniffled, "I want to go home." Her voice was soft and pitiful like a little lost filly.
"Go home!? Why in the world would you want to go home, when you can come with me to SUGARCUBE CORNER!?" A jittery pink pony with a ridiculously frizzy mane jumped in front of Octavia and began to bounce about. "It's just about the bestest place to be in all of Ponyville! It's got cakes, and ice creams, and candies and *GASP* I bet Mrs. Cake baked some raspberry rainbow chocolate muffins this morning! She always bakes raspberry rainbow chocolate muffins on Tuesdays! And you know what today is!? It's Tuesday!" The pony finished with her proclamation and stood on her hooftips, stretching her neck to get as close to Octavia's face as possible. With a *squee* she radiated the most cheerful smile in all of creation and her eyes sparkled with the purity of a thousand fillies and colts on Hearth's Warming Eve.
Octavia had watched the performance with surprise, but shook it off. She rose to her hooves and wiped her eyes.
"I am sorry," Octavia said to the pony with a sniffle, "but I simply do not have time to listen to your advertisements, I- I have to catch a train..." With that she trotted away, sure the confrontation was over. (It wasn't.)
"*Gasp*! You can't leave now!" The pink pony bolted with ungodly speed to block Octavia from moving any further, effectively stopping her in her tracks. "Just this morning Applejack told me there was a pony from Canterlot in town that I never met before! And if I never met her before, then she hadn't been welcomed to Ponyville yet!"
"You- know Applejack-?" Octavia tried to interject, but was drowned out.
"And if she hadn't been welcomed to Ponyville yet," the pink pony continued, "then she must not know how great Ponyville is and she might not even know about Sugarcube Corner! And I couldn't stand for that, no-sir-ee bob! But then Applejack said she was staying with Vinyl, so I went to Vinyl's house to see if she was there, but then I realized 'HEY!', maybe since she knows Vinyl, she already knows about Sugarcube Corner and if she knows about Sugarcube Corner, then that's where she'd probably be!"
Octavia couldn't get a word in edgewise as the ravenous pony advanced, forcing her to back up slowly to avoid being consumed by the excitement.
"But she wasn't at Sugarcube Corner, and if she wasn't at Vinyl's or Sugarcube Corner, then there was only one place she'd be! At the park! And so I came to the park to find her. And you're her! And here you are! I found you! So I can finally finally finally give you your welcome to Ponyville!" The pink pony leapt into the air doing multiple back-flips and landed several yards back in an explosion of confetti and balloons. "WELCOME TO PONYVILLE OCTAVIA!!!" she shouted to the heavens while wiggling her arms.
Awestruck and dumbfounded, Octavia's jaw hit the floor. (Figuratively.) Of all the strange things that had happened since the wedding, this was... The most. Absolutely. Ridiculous. But there was something about this pony that nudged a memory at the back of Octavia's mind. A memory long sealed away.
"I- I- do not know what to say," Octavia blurted out. (It was true.)
"Duh! You don't have to say anything, just follow me to Sugarcube Corner where there's a great big party waiting for you!" The pony stretched over to Octavia and grabbed a foreleg. She bolted into town faster than any pony would think was possible, dragging the extremely bewildered cellist from Canterlot behind her.
The doors to Sugarcube Corner burst open and the cheers of party ponies and confetti flooded out. "SURPRISE!" the pink pony exclaimed, presenting the party to Octavia. "Well, it's not really a surprise party since I told you about it, but still: it's a party JUST FOR YOU!!!" The pony pulled Octavia inside and set her down at a table, and with incredible speed produced a piece of cake in front of her, descended from the ceiling (somehow) to put a party hat on her, and then appeared by her side to blow a party horn under her nose, causing a sneeze. "Great party, huh?"
Octavia assessed her situation, her mind far from thinking about Vinyl anymore. She had been captured by a bizarre pony who trapped her in a candy dungeon filled with her sinister minions. (Wait, that wasn't right.) This was no entrapment; it was a party. Octavia looked around and discovered it was very different than Canterlot social gatherings, but it was a party nonetheless. There were bright and festive decorations, plenty of sweet and tasty entrées, dance music and a large crowd of party goers. Only a couple ponies were even looking her way, most were too caught up in their own conversations or dancing to even notice the stunned (and frankly out of place) mare. But it was all for her, as the pink pony said. A large banner, hastily painted, read "Welcome to Ponyville, Octavia!"
"Well this is... wonderful, but why in Equestria would you do all this for me?" Octavia asked flabbergasted. "We have never been introduced. You have never even seen me before." Just as she said that last line, that bothersome memory in the back of her mind kicked at her. She couldn't quite place it, however.
"Because I'm Pinkie Pie, and Pinkie Pie loves to make her friends happy and what better way to make your friends happy then with a party!!!" A chorus of happy cheers and party horns from the party guests erupted in approval of Pinkie's declaration. This pony certainly had quite... a following. Pinkie bolted up to Octavia. "Have you tried the cake yet? It's super dooper delicious!" She then proceeded to snap up the entire cake slice that she had put down for Octavia with her mouth, leaving a blob of icing stuck to her nose that she didn't notice. "Mmmm! Tasty!" she mumbled through chewing. After swallowing, Pinkie gasped at what she had done, then dashed off and returned with another slice of cake for Octavia. "Oops! Sorry! It's just really really good! I couldn't resist!" The pink pony nervously tapped her hooves together. "You're not mad are you?"
"...No... No, it is fine, Miss... Pinkie Pie, was it?" Octavia responded, a smile began to creep onto her lips. That memory kicked a little harder. What was it about that name? What was it about this pony?
"Phew!" Pinkie wiped her brow with relief. "For a second there I thought I ruined everything!" She returned to her cheerful demeanor and smiled brightly at the cellist, icing blob still hanging off her nose. Immediately afterward, Pinkie began to shiver and sweat as her eyes darted back and forth between Octavia and the replacement cake slice. "You gonna eat that?" the party pony asked, pointing sheepishly at the heavenly slice.
Octavia couldn't contain it anymore. She let loose an unladylike laugh, snorted and covered her mouth to hold back the next one. How ridiculous this pony was! Thankfully, Pinkie Pie finished the laughing for her.
"Hahaheeheehee!!! *snort*" Pinkie Pie fell on her back kicking her legs in the air when she realized Octavia was finally having a good time. "Ooooh!" she straightened up and bounced back to her hooves at a change in the music. "Ooh, I love this song! Come on everypony! Let's do the Pony Pokey!"
"Pony Pokey..." Octavia mumbled, wiping away a joyful tear.
'Pony Pokey... Pony... Pokey... Pony Pokey, PONY POKEY!!!' (That memory she couldn't remember? Yeah, she remembered it.)
"YOU!!!" Octavia shouted. Her outburst was so loud it put an end to every conversation in the room and the record player scratched silent. After a couple gasps, all eyes were on her. Octavia marched angrily on Pinkie Pie who backed up in confusion. "I KNOW YOU!!! YOU were at the Grand Galloping Gala last year! YOU ruined my ensemble's performance! YOU made us play that ridiculous Pony Pokey! YOU knocked my cello down and nearly broke it! YOU and your friends ruined the Gala, destroyed the ballroom, and nearly had everypony trampled by woodland creatures! It was absolutely the worst night of my life and it was ALL YOUR FAULT!!!" Octavia had now pinned Pinkie Pie up against a wall and the pink pony shivered defensively on the ground.
"Um... So... you'd rather play Pin the Tail on the Pony then?" Pinkie asked sheepishly holding up the pin and tail.
"UGH!" Octavia just shook her head and began to storm out. "I am going home, I have had enough of the ponies in this town!"
"Wait! Don't go!" Pinkie Pie bolted in front of her and got to her knees begging, "I'm so sorry about the Gala! I really really am!" Octavia just walked past her. Pinkie grabbed the cellist's tail, but Octavia just pressed on, dragging Pinkie along behind. "I didn't mean to hurt anypony, I promise! I'm really really really really sorry! Can you ever forgive me?"
Octavia glanced once at the incredibly cute puppy dog eyes and pouty lip Pinkie was giving her, but just rolled her own eyes and continued on.
"Absolutely not," Octavia stated coldly. Before she could reach the door however, a familiar farm pony trotted through it.
"Woah, Nelly! It's as quiet as a barn mouse in here!" Applejack looked around at all the silent ponies in the store. "Thought you were throwing a party, Pinkie?"
"Applejack..." Octavia said softly, relieved to see a friendly (and level-headed) face.
"Oh, Applejack! Thank goodness you're here!" Pinkie exclaimed as she dashed over to Applejack, got on her knees (again), and started begging (again.) "Octavia was looking really super sad so I threw this wonderific party to cheer her up, and it was about to work but then she got all mad at me for messing up the Gala and I tried apologizing but she won't forgive me and I tried really hard to make her happy and now she doesn't want to be my friend anymore!" Pinkie's eyes swelled with legitimate tears.
"Uh... what now?" Applejack asked, not catching all that. She looked up at Octavia who appeared rather frustrated with the pink pony for intercepting her chance to talk to the one pony in this town she hadn't had a fight with. Applejack sighed, "Alright, just... let me talk to her, okay Pinkie?"
"Okie... *sniff* dokie lokie..." Pinkie whimpered from the floor.
Applejack walked over to Octavia who avoided looking at her out of some sort of shame. The farm pony got beside her and put one arm around the cellist.
"You okay, sugarcube? Did sumthin' happen?" Applejack asked softly, almost whispering.
"Well... yes..." Octavia replied, equally as quiet. She only looked down at the floor. Seeing Applejack made her remember what she had forgotten. The memories of Vinyl's distraught, the anger between them, the destruction. "I... got into a fight..."
"You did? With Pinkie?" Applejack inquired.
"No, it was... with Vinyl..."
"Was it over what we talked about?" Applejack asked with worry.
"No... no it was after that... It was over something... absolutely stupid..." Octavia finally turned, with eyes starting to tear up, to the orange mare. She only saw Applejack's concerned face for a brief moment before a large wad of cake came crashing up against it. The farm pony fell to the floor from the impact and Octavia backed up instinctively.
"Consarn it, Pinkie! Now is not the time!" Applejack yelled from the floor, wiping off as much of the delectable mush as she could. Pinkie stayed sinisterly silent, though the room was filled with gasps once again. Octavia watched as Applejack got to her hooves just in time for Pinkie to launch another plate of cake, directly hitting AJ's face. Pinkie Pie had apparently come to the conclusion that she would cake batter take matters into her own hooves. Applejack shook the mess off. "Okay, Pinkie... you asked fer it... and you can bet yer bottom bits I will oblige!" Applejack reached over to the closest plate of food she could find and, with her teeth, hurled it at Pinkie Pie. The pink mare couldn't dodge it in time and the collision knocked her out of Sugarcube Corner into the street.
After a moment, Pinkie appeared in the window with a pie and launched it inside at Applejack. The farm mare saw it coming and with athletic ease, avoided it. The two began to hurl food at each other, faster and faster. However, one particularly funny collision knocked AJ to her flank, and Pinkie finally broke her silence. She snorted out a burst of laughter.
"*SNORT* HAHAHAHEEHEEHEEHAHA!!!" she wiggled her hooves through the window at the fallen pony.
"Hoo-boy! Yer in fer it now, Pinkie!" Applejack grinned as she pulled out a lasso and tossed it to a large intact cake, securing it in its entirety. With a quick whip, and a "YEE-HAW!", she slung the cake at Pinkie and it collided splendidly into the pink pony. All the party guests in the room watched with awe, unsure what to do. As for Octavia... she watched too.
Her eyes darted back and forth, following the edible projectiles. Each splat of food made the corners of her lips creep upwards just a tiny bit until... she was smiling. Octavia didn't know what came over her, she couldn't explain it... but it happened. All those horrible thoughts, her anger, her sadness, her guilt. All that unpleasantness was shoved aside for an instant as she grabbed some cake and tossed it.... at Applejack.
It hit the unsuspecting farm pony square on the side of her head.
"What in tarnation!?" Applejack and all the ponies in the shop turned in surprise to Octavia, who wore the most ridiculous grin on her face. Octavia, the sophisticated Canterlot cellist, started to giggle and she started to laugh.
Pinkie Pie followed suit, laughing like a maniac at the scene inside. Until, that is, she got hit by Octavia's cake missile too. This time Applejack joined Octavia in laughter. Several other ponies around the store all began to crack smiles and some even started to chuckle as well.
Pinkie Pie jumped inside, wiped off some cake, and shouted, "Come on everypony! Food fight!"
It was chaos. It was joyous chaos. There was a chorus of shouting and laughing as ponies all wastefully hurled cake and cookies and candy and punch and anything they could find at each other. Defending herself from attack, Octavia jumped behind a fallen table, laughing. To her surprise, Applejack was already crouched there waiting for her. She casually shoved a pie right into the Octavia's face. After a moment's pause the two burst into chuckles.
"Aha!" Pinkie Pie peeked over their table shield menacingly. "Found you!" Before she could launch an attack at the two ponies, a rapid barrage of food hit her from behind, knocking her over the table to land on her back between Applejack and Octavia. All three burst into laughter as projectiles soared through the air above them. Octavia had to hold her sides they hurt so much.
"I really am sorry about the Gala," Pinkie said suddenly. She anxiously grinned up at Octavia. "Can you forgive me?"
The cellist looked down at the sincere pony and pondered it for a moment. She proceeded to take the pie that had struck her face, and plopped it straight down on Pinkie Pie.
"Yes," Octavia giggled, "I suppose I can."
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Octavia slowly pushed open the door. The creaking it made alerted the white unicorn inside to her presence.
"Octavia..." Vinyl croaked after seeing her friend in the doorway. "Why are you-? ...You... should've just gone home!" After standing up and wiping her face, Vinyl got a good look at Octavia, who was dreadfully soaked from head to hoof in punch and covered in cake and pie blobs. "What the-!?"
Octavia just chuckled and took a wad of cake and smashed it into her own face.
"Tah-dah," Octavia said as she grinned sheepishly.
Vinyl stared for a moment then, despite herself, snorted out a laugh. "What in the world are you doing?"
Seizing the opportunity, Octavia pulled out the pie she had been concealing. Smiling sinisterly, she readied it to fire.
"Wait... what are you doing!?" Vinyl exclaimed. It was too late, the pie had been launched and into the DJ's face it went. Octavia burst into laughter at the sight of the pie covered unicorn.
"That's it. Now you're gonna get it," Vinyl stated coldly as she magically removed the pie, and returned fire. Octavia had learned some dodging techniques so she avoided it, but she couldn't avoid Vinyl jumping at her. The two collided and did a few rolls before stopping with Vinyl successfully pinning Octavia down. Vinyl was furious and Octavia was shocked at her friend's aggression, but she didn't falter. She wiped off some of her cake and placed it on Vinyl's nose.
"Boop," Octavia said as she did, proceeding to chuckle. After looking at the cake wad (with crossed eyes), Vinyl couldn't help herself: she began to bust a gut. She belted out laughs and, with great relief, the dark thoughts she had endured up to that moment faded from her mind. Octavia joined her and the two laughed together there on the cake smeared floor. It was though the conflict between them never existed in the first place, and they just had the greatest day of their lives. For a while it seemed like laughing would be all they'd ever do, but finally Octavia leaned up and embraced her friend.
"I am so sorry," Octavia said, squeezing tightly with her sticky hooves. "I said such horrible things to you. I did not mean a single word of it. And I am so terribly, terribly sorry about your equipment. If I had not been so stubborn you would not have lost it."
Vinyl blushed brightly and returned the hug; she closed her eyes, squeezed tight and murmured, "Yeah, well... I spit in your food..."
Octavia snorted and laughed a little before responding, "You're supposed to apologize as well, Vinyl."
Vinyl pulled them apart to look into Octavia's eyes. "No! What I mean is- I- I'm sorry too..." The two stared at each other. Vinyl's intense gaze caused Octavia to blush too, but that fact was covered up by cake. "You... look terrible, Octavia," Vinyl smirked, wiping away some of the mush.
"And you look ridiculous, Vinyl."
"What happened, anyway?"
"I took part in a food brawl," Octavia proudly beamed.
"You!? A food fight!? ...You... you met Pinks, didn't you?" Vinyl facehoofed.
"If you mean Miss Pinkie Pie, indeed I did," Octavia said warmly as she went in for another hug (to which Vinyl happily complied.) "Although I must say, I have barely known you for two days, and we have already had so much peculiar trouble just being together. I am beginning to think our friendship is going to take some hard work, from both our parts. Would you not agree?"
"Mmmhmm..." Vinyl mumbled as she dug her face into Octavia's shoulder.
'...Maybe it can be different this time...' Vinyl thought.
-
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-
-
-
"...You're gonna make me clean up this mess, aren't you?" Vinyl muttered.
"Of course," Octavia giggled.
Dude that was some beautiful sh!t right there.
omg writing Pinkie.... is hard. And you can blame her for making this chapter so long.
And also, her Pinkie Powers are canon. Deal with it. /sunglasses
Who here read Octavia's line about 'advertisements' with a British accent! I did!
Also: thanks FiM Fiction for applying some sort of update while I was working, preventing me from saving, and consequently causing me to rewrite a bunch of it.
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Moar, pleez. *pokes the writer expectantly*
aw
Very good. I laught during half the chapter
That is some really well written Pinkie right there.
3633577
I'm- I'm working as fast as I can master! I won't disappoint, I swear! NO! Not the pooookes!!!!
3633604
3633788
That's strange, it was designed to make you rage out and flip tables... I must have done something wrong.
3634115
Uh-oh. Um. LOOK OVER THERE!! A DISTRACTION!!! --------->
*runs away*
3634173
I know, right? I tried to delve into Pinkie's subconscious for inspiration, but the madness nearly consumed me. So I just made up some junk instead.
3635331
Land of magical horses... LOL. It is, isn't it?! Point to you.
Either I didn't notice the narrator "interrupting" the story in the previous seven chapters or it didn't happen (Too lazy to go back and check). Giving the narrator a personality is allright, if that is consistent throughout the story. I might have missed it or it might have been more subtle - probably both. I just feel the narrator intrudes quite a bit in that scene... Whelp, you're the author. You write what you want, I read what I want.
And I want more... Right now...
*Looks around*... Well?! Where's chapter 10?
3635507 Oh noes! :O
Screw it, I'm feeding your ego!
You make it looks so easy, making fights and conflict happen and resolving it moments later. And some of the most important encounters are the simplest thing and still seem completely natural and in character. I'm having trouble with writing encounters right now, so I can't help but envy your skill. And that "boop" was adorable. Just adorable!
I can somehow totally see Octavia doing that.
Kudos once again!
wow i started this fic in the early hours of rhe morning have now caught up with everyone
3640780
That's good! It means you've fallen right into my trap. Now you're tired from lack of sleep, and I can easily slip by your defenses to steal all your forks and spoons.
Also: where did you find that avatar? I want that picture. I want it bad.
3640706
Thanks! I have no idea what I'm doing, but it's nice to know it's coming out alright!
In all seriousness, it might have something to do with how I approach it. I can't speak for other writers, but I certainly have a much more animation influenced background, so that's how I think of my scenes. When I've spent my whole life watching conflicts that appear and get resolved in less than 22 minutes, I tend to think in a smaller scope, then say if I spent most of my time reading books that take a while to come to fruition. (That's also why I kinda skimp out on writing in imagery. Events more important than description in my head. I'm also ridiculously preoccupied with which direction a character is facing! It's not so important in writing but it's crucial in staging animation! )
As for the "boop" that was a little homage to Vinyl and Octavia: University Days (which I love), since Octavia did it in that story. Completely different situation though! DawnFade can't accuse me of stealing! He doesn't own the 'boop'! He'll never catch me alive!!! Muhahahaha~!!!
3643456 yes it would seem so
unless i was waiting for you to steal my forks and spoons so i can steal your knives and other cutlery 
oh and sorta just found it on google 
3644924
And Vinyl's eye color is indeed purple(ish). Magenta is probably the correct term, but I said 'screw it,' I'm writing what I want!
3644127
"My hero! How can I ever repay you?"
"Oh, I can probably... think of a few ways... *wink wink* *nudge nudge*"
3645015
NO! Not the cutlery! How will I eat my hams!?
3645888 you better eat them quick cause im stealing half your cutlery now and the rest later
Yo dude guess what? Favorite! I eagerly await your next literary masterpiece!
3668309
OH CRAP! Somebody call an ambulance! This guy's heart just exploded! AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT!!
What a world!!!
3671520
Thanks! I expect to win at least 7 Pulitzer Prizes for this.
that was probably the best way for pinkie to make up with octavia that I have seen yet. octy being angry with her, she starts a food fight so that octy can get back at her in a harmless but fun way so they can become friends
That chapter... So much fun...
I'm totally just going to sum up a few chapters here and not break it up because lazy/sleepy :P
You know, as soon as you emphasized Vinyl's glasses, I'll bet at least half of us called red eyes XD As soon as they came off, I instantly recalled the line "she has red eyes. Nopony has red eyes...so of course she would." And my personal favorite: staring at each other, garnet reflecting amethyst. I absolutely adored Allegrezza and University Days and I could tell at least one rubbed off well. This is a rather good Tavi/Scratch story so far so keep up the great work!
This story, coupled with those endearingly adorable drawings at the end, is udderly fun to read and I'm going to milk all the pun out of this til the cows come home. *rimshot*
Also, you're only the second person I've seen actually address a reaction from Octavia when she saw Pinkie Pie and recalled the Gala. Congrats XD
That was one of the best written pinkie pies I have ever read
I had just finished watching that John Cena prank call video, and I read this in that wrestling announcer voice.
My good sir/madam, this whole chapter, I swear, is character development gold, it's like, you write these characters better than the very innovators of the characters themselves, DawnFade, psp7master, all of them, mere dwarves in this holy display of natural progression and resolution of conflicts. We must all learn from you senpai...
Great fic, need more o.o
..... and that, mares and gentle-colts, is how the ship was saved.
6829207
...I can't even begin to... just... no.
Pinkie Pie can be difficult, much like writing Applejack or Zecora. Though each have their own unique difficulties.
Still this was certainly NOT the way I expected things with Octavia to go, much less the resolution between Octavia & Vinyl here! THIS is some great unexpected writing!
A good Pinkie is a pony that you can feel wants you to be happy. A good Pinkie is warm, empathetic, and upbeat, even when things are grim.
A bad Pinkie cares only about her own happiness, and usually stems from someone trying to write the equinification of a sugar high, and the biggest moment of joy usually comes when a bad Pinkie exits the scene, not to return for a few chapters.
Unfortunately, the line between 'good Pinkie' and 'bad Pinkie' is subjective.