Help! My Heart is Full of Pony! - Swarm

I just re-watched Swarm of the Century. For those who don't remember, in this episode, adorable little creatures called parasprites are introduced as pets to various members of the main cast. Everypony goes goo-goo for these cuties...except for Pinkie Pie. She's the one who knows what they're called. She's the one who leaps immediately to action.

Pinkie spends the rest of the episode frantically looking for musical instruments while everypony else ignores her. When the parasprite problem predictably spirals out of control, the rest of the cast even goes so far as to criticize Pinkie for not helping. The twist, of course, is that Pinkie Pie had been enacting a plan all along.

In the end, Pinkie shows up as a one-pony- band, and pied-pipers the parasprites out of town.

Before I go into my personal take on the content, I just want to point out a few landmark "firsts" that happened in "Storm of the Century."

• First time Ponyville gets trashed.
• First time the show lifts a trope from myths/folklore.
• First time the name of a new location in Equestria is dropped. (Fillydelphia).
• First time we really get a glimpse of what it's like to be Pinkie Pie. (And that's what I really want to talk about).

On a personal level, I really feel Pinkie Pie's frustration at not being taken seriously. Pinkie Pie episodes always have tremendous heart because they bring a bit of the unexpected. Throughout the series, other characters in the ensemble get pretty good exploration in episodes that are not their own. Pinkie on the other hoof, lives to make others smile, and is constantly putting on a happy face for the world. So to an outsider, she quite often comes off as a joke machine.

However, Pinkie Pie has an extremely rich inner life, and strong reasons for the things she does. This is explored and developed constantly throughout the series, but only in episodes that are specifically about her. I've written whole other essays about this phenomenon, and on what makes Pinkie Pie tick. But for now I'm just going to focus on the problem at hand in Swarm of the Century.

This episode was foundational because it recognized that Pinkie was different from everyone else around her, and posed a serious question: what challenges do those differences present?

Throughout this episode, she does not effectively communicate her intentions, and her friends conversely make no effort to listen to her. It's a perpetual motion machine. Some folks fault Pinkie entirely for her communication skills, but I think the problem runs deeper than that. Pinkie Pie has probably spent much of her life being dismissed as "random," and frankly, she has gotten used to it. Most of the time, it doesn't matter.

Here, she has advanced knowledge of a highly potent threat, and nopony understands, or even tries to listen. I think episode gives a lot of "silly kids" something to relate to. Even the most serious of children get unjustly dismissed by their parents sometimes, but kids who are on the zanier side tend to be underestimated by everyone around them when it comes to serious matters. As a goofball adult, I've spend decades acquiring certain tools for navigating situations like this, but I have to tell you, the struggle to get there was extremely real.

Pony sometimes uses exaggerated situations to make a point, and that's okay. In fact, it's better than okay. The beauty of My Little Pony is its ability to tell deeply symbolic morality tales.

As for the lesson itself, it actually is applicable on multiple levels. What you see of somebody's behavior is only the tip of the iceberg. You don't know what is motivating it. We should all take time to stop and listen sometimes - try to understand others around us, even when their behavior seems senseless.

In an article entitled Laziness Doesn't Exist (But Unseen Barriers Do), psychology professor Devon Price writes about this very issue. In a society obsessed with productivity, we, all too often, judge those who are unproductive as "lazy," but there is so much more to a person than that. A person is more than their workflow, and more importantly, what, to the outside world, looks like "laziness," is actually a person fighting uphill battles.

Now obviously, I'm not saying that everyone should get a free pass, but we should all strive to be understanding, and help those around us overcome those barriers when we are empowered to do so. Especially our friends.

-Sprocket

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[Reese]

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