Why Pinkie Pie is not a POV character · 7:24pm Mar 30th, 2015
Hey guys, new chapter's out, as you can all see. First thing first, I will no longer do status update blog posts unless something really big comes out. I'll keep track of it on my home page for those of you who actually care about it.
Shining Armor as a POV character might seem surprising to some. I assume a lot of you expected the chapter to follow Pinkie Pie. Initially, it was supposed to follow her, but after thinking about it for a while and discussing it with my proofreaders I decided Shining would be a better choice. I'll go ahead and say it right now, Pinkie will not have a POV chapter. It doesn't mean she won't be an important character, quite the opposite. What it means is that I believe her to be more entertaining when we don't know what goes on in her head.
Let's take a moment to look at Pinkie Pie, specifically her strengths as a character. The more obvious one is her constant enthusiasm. From what we see of her in the show, we know it's genuine. We also know she's willing to go all out, even force herself to party when she might not be in the mood, for the benefit of other ponies around her. What we don't know is just how much. This is, at least to me, part of the appeal to her character, just how much of her attitude is legit enthusiasm, and at which point does she "fake it" for the benefit of others around her? This is something that I might have liked to explore, but it might be more interesting to do in a one shot.
Pinkie also has an incredible sense of observation. How many times in the show do we see her being aware of stuff she really shouldn't know? This is funny because we don't know how she does it. It's almost kinda like watching a magic show. A magician does stuff that shouldn't be possible, and yet he's doing it. Of course, there's a trick to it, but knowing it would ruin the fun. Pinkie's awareness works in the same way. We don't want to know how she guessed all of Twilight's backstory in the first Equestria Girls, or how she can find the one book that's needed in a disorganized library.
There are a lot of fan theories on how Pinkie is aware of the fourth wall, how she can see through parallel dimensions or other such things. In all honesty, I've only seen one story that manages to explain all this stuff in a way that doesn't cheapen her character. Most of the time, it's better to keep Pinkie surrounded in a certain mystery while still having her be the friendly and recognizable character we've all come to love.
A Dream of Sunny Days will require Pinkie to be very observant and to use her unique perception of the world. The same way Rarity's social skills and ability to navigate high society will be tested in Canterlot, or Rainbow Dash's leadership skills in Cloudsdale. For the drama to be effective, the characters have to make use of their full potential. I felt that in order to make full use of her weird perception, I had to show Pinkie through an outsider's point of view, in this case Shining Armor.
As for Shining himself, he has potential to bring something unique to the story. He's older than the mane six and the only male POV character. For a story of this complexity, I felt it was important to have both sexes represented. I also considered Spike as a POV character, but for the plot points I have in mind, I needed a more mature character. This brings us to the other point, Shining's age. Just like Captain Silvermane, he presents a less idealized view of the world. I actually find it interesting that he's in a position where he has lots of political power and would like nothing better than to return to military life, while Silvermane is in the military and keeps trying to gain more political power.
All good points. One thing that I'm excited to see more of, as the story progresses, is how Pinkie Pie and Shining Armor interact and play off each other's strengths and weaknesses. They might bring a sort of balance to each other, or they might get on the other's last nerves.
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It's something I'm both looking forward to and dread. I have a good amount of notes on how I want their relationship to go, but actually writing it will certainly prove an interesting challenge.