Why Pinkie Pie Fascinates Me

Pinkie Pie is not my favorite character, but I do think she's the most interesting. What follows is a slightly revised version of a short essay I wrote for fun several months ago when I first entered this fandom, and recently rediscovered while cleaning up my hard drive. I understand that this topic has been done to death, but that doesn't make it any less fun to write about, especially when I was a newer brony and hadn't yet learned how overdone this is.

Pinkie Pie is the happiest, most bubbly personality on the show by a long stretch. Her entire life revolves around bringing joy to those around her, and she is willing to go to great lengths to achieve this. She accomplishes it primarily through songs and parties, though she often makes every other effort she can to contribute to a friend's happiness, no matter how minor. However, when she can't pull this off and if those around her aren't smiling despite her efforts, or she is left alone for whatever reason, she immediately reverts to a dark, depressed state of mind.

On several occasions, Pinkie has made it her focus to bring new friends into her ever-expanding circle. The moment she recognized Twilight as somepony she didn't already have a relationship with, she ran off as fast as she could and began planning a party through which she intended to befriend the new mare and help her make friends in town. A little while later, one of Rainbow's old schoolmates came to town; despite this old friend clearly having a bad attitude toward everypony she came across, Pinkie made it her goal to win her over and help her be liked. In yet another episode, a donkey named Cranky was spotted moving into town. He refused to smile, he refused to party, and he wanted nothing to do with Pinkie, attempting to ignore and avoid her as much as possible. Despite this, she devoted herself fully not only to becoming his friend, but to making him happy as a whole, eventually bringing him back together with his lost love, whom he had given up hope of ever seeing again.

One of her goals in life seems to be to bring a smile to the face of everypony around her. If she has a friend who isn't smiling, she considers it a personal matter that it is unquestionably her duty to fix immediately. Since she considers everypony she ever meets a friend, this really applies to nearly every character who has appeared to date, extending even to some of the show's more antagonistic characters. She has outright stated that the smiles of others are what brings her the most joy in life.

To accomplish these tasks of befriending and bringing a smile to everypony, she has taken to two particularly obsessive hobbies: party-planning and singing. Pinkie's parties are widely accepted to be the best in town, and she is often hired to plan gatherings both public and private. She has thrown a number of parties to date, including one to welcome Twilight (whom she had never even previously met) to town, a party celebrating a wealthy filly's cutie mark, not one but two birthday parties for her pet toothless alligator, and the reception for a highly-publicized royal wedding. She once even tried to throw a birthday party for newborn foals who were so young they hadn't even left the hospital yet, only to be reprimanded by a nurse for waking them.

While parties require extensive planning, or at least supplies and effort, singing is something she can do spontaneously to express her desire to spread joy. Often when she feels inspired by the events or emotions unfolding around her, she'll break into song, never writing the lyrics or even humming a tune before-hand. Characters react to this in a variety of ways. Unfortunately, she's not always an expert at timing when it's appropriate to begin singing, and her songs have backfired and caused a few problems as well. She doesn't seem to let this deter her though, as long as she can usually get somepony to smile.

Pinkie Pie seems to be out of touch with reality in a number of ways. It seems as though her mind is so hellbent on spreading cheer that she often isn't aware of the world around her, or of how life actually works. She frequently appears oblivious to the situation at hand, and even when she is aware of what's going on she'll usually go about correcting the situation in a very unorthodox manner, such as approaching a cranky dragon in a costume of balloons and flippers, or allowing her friend to "secretly" stalk her all day while pretending not to notice her. She is so preoccupied with joy and laughter that she often can't tell when it is or isn't appropriate, such as at a very formal ball or, again, in a hospital room full of sleeping newborn foals. She is frequently shown playing with young ponies, fitting in as though she were one of them; despite her age, she is very child-like, and doesn't seem to quite grasp the fact that she's an adult except in circumstances which demand she do so.

In situations in which she can't bring happiness to her friends, she has a predilection toward depression. It seems she can't quite handle being alone for any substantial length of time. In Party of One, when her friends go home at night after a party, she follows them outside and begs each of them to stay a bit longer, despite the event clearly being over. She then retreats dejectedly to her room, her mind already racing to come up with her next plan. It seems that whenever she's alone, she becomes somewhat off-kilter, and if left to her own devices with no social interaction for as short a span as one day, she becomes bitter and angry about it. If she's given any reason to believe her friends might not like her, it seems to eat away at her very core; therefore she does everything in her power to maintain the constant cheer of everypony around her.

She seems almost incapable of generating her own happiness. Instead, she feeds on the happiness of others, having at one point sung "There's one thing that makes me happy, that makes my whole life worthwhile, and that's when I look at my friends and get them to smile." If not surrounded by constant happiness, Pinkie doesn't even know what to do with herself. She describes some days as "dark and lonely," something one might initially think out of character for the bubbly pink mare we usually see, and believes that the only possible remedy for such a day is to make others smile. She also describes the smiles of others as what "fill [her] heart up with sunshine," which leads one to wonder what her heart is like without smiles/sunshine. The episode in which her friends avoid her gives a very good clue about the answer.

Having grown up on a poor rock farm outside town, Pinkie didn't know happiness for the first decade or so of her life. These days were depicted by scenes in faded color, and she spent all day every day miserably toiling about with a frown. One evening, as she was about to head inside, she saw the most beautiful rainbow she had ever imagined, and for the first time in her life she felt real joy. It was there for a moment and then it faded, and she had no idea how to express what had happened inside her just then. It was at that point that she decided she needed to share the warmth she had felt, and instead of going inside for the night, she stayed up until morning putting together a party for her family. She wanted to show them the happiness that she had known for that one instant, and this was the only way she could think to do it.

In spite of what appear to be symptoms of severe manic-depression, Pinkie is usually emotionally stable, if a bit zany. She is a joy to be around and nearly everypony she knows loves her. She is selfless and happy, if a bit out of touch with things, and she is willing to go to extraordinary lengths to bring cheer to even the crankiest of faces. Sometimes her antics get on her closest friends' nerves, and sometimes they may have no idea what she's talking about or what is going on inside her mind, but one thing every other character can count on is that if they're ever upset, they can take the time to share their pain with Pinkie Pie and she will not only share in their emotions but do everything within her power to get them to smile.