RAD: Families Finale - The Pies! · 7:15am Dec 31st, 2019
Howdy, folks! First and foremost, as always, Adorable Applejack:
Don't look at me! I'm naked without my hat...
Now then...
Let's wrap this up before the new year so I can say I at least finished something this year. We're wrapping up our look at the Mane Six's families with the first full family we got a look at. We first saw Pinkie Pie's parents and her two sisters way back in Season One with The Cutie Mark Chronicles. They were pretty much designed to simply be the most boring and humorless ponies in existence. They live on a rock farm, which I assume was invented to again cement them as 100% boring... but I always liked the concept. I sort of decided that "rock farming" had something to do with earth pony magic. Like, they somehow use their innate connection with the Earth to influence how rock and crystal form. Hence why they needed to "rotate the rocks in the south field" as Igneous Rock Pie said, to ensure they grew uniform. I like the idea that the Pies are a major supplier of high-end gems and rocks to most of Equestria.
We didn't get a good look at any of Pinkie's family until Season Four, when they retconned a third sister into the family... for some reason. Seriously, I don't know why they didn't just use "Inky or Blinky" as the fandom had taken to calling them when it came time to introduce Maud. Like, it wasn't until next season with Hearthbreakers that we saw the rest of her family. Was a third sister really needed? Anywho, I didn't like Maud at first. She was just... well, the exact opposite of Pinkie in terms of personality. That was literally her entire shtick. She was purposefully designed to be one note. However, over the seasons... she's kinda grown on me. We learned more about her, and she became a bit more fleshed out. And her relationship with Sheldon Mud Briar further endeared her to me.
As for the rest of her family, they honestly are all different flavors of "Anti-Pinkie." Her parents, Igneous Rock Pie and Cloudy Quartz, are quite obviously Amish, so Pinkie if she didn't enjoy fun. Then we have Limestone Pie, who is Pinkie if she was a bitch. Finally, we have Marble Pie, who is Pinkie if she was introverted. However, there is another very interesting fact about her that I don't think the fandom has done enough with, or anything at all, really: Marble and Pinkie... are twins. Pinkie very specifically says that Marble is, "a few minutes younger than her." Obviously, they are fraternal twins, not identical, but I still think that's a really cool thing that more authors and artists need to dive further into.
As a random aside, remember waaaaaay back in the day, there was that little head canon floating around that the filly who would eventually become Marble Pie... actually grew up to be Octavia? It wasn't very prevalent, I don't think. In fact, I don't think I ever saw it outside of Silent Ponyville. Still, just a cool little thing from way back when.
Anywho, the entire reason why Pinkie's family was designed the way they were was originally to highlight just how different Pinkie was in regards to her upbringing. This hyper, exuberant mare came from a dreary and subdued household. But she didn't stay there very long after the Sonic Rainboom of Destiny. In Pinkie Pride, we found out that Pinkie left the rock farm pretty quickly after the big event. But why? Even in Equestria, where children tend to be a bit more mature and independent than in our world, they wouldn't let a little filly wander the world by herself. Well, I always head canon'd that once her parents saw the outgoing, happy mare she was becoming, they realized that a dark, depressing rock farm wasn't the place for her to thrive. They loved her dearly in their own way, but they knew she needed a different environment. So, Igneous reached out to his cousin... Carrot Cake.
Pie? Cake? GET IT?!
This would explain why Pinkie basically lives rent free in the Cake's home, and why she cares so much for Pound and Pumpkin. They agreed to take her in and give her an apprenticeship. Why else would they put up with the utter insanity that is Pinkie Pie if she wasn't family? Also, totally random note: we found out in The Perfect Pear that Cup Cake used to be "Chiffon Swirl." This implies that when a pony gets married, she not only takes her husband's last name, but will sometimes change her entire name. Very interesting.
What I love about the Pie family is that they are so very different. None of them share common personality traits, and yet they obviously love each other dearly. It just goes to show that you don't have to have things in common to love someone.
Anywho, let's finish this up, shall we? Here's a pretty good sized dump of the most boring family in Equestria who is still probably more exciting and fun than most of our own families, the Pies!
I love the Pies. They’re my favorite family in the show. They are the quirkiest, yet they present themselves as the most traditional. Igneous Rock Pie and Cloudy Quartz introduced the concept of arranged marriages in Equestria as a positive thing, something I never dreamed that the show would dare suggest. Also interesting that the Pie sisters have all taken their father’s name. How oddly patrilineal in this matriarchy.
I like Limestone because she doesn’t take shit from Pinkie and we can see how Pinkie finds it difficult to get along with her, yet I consider her relationship with Pinkie to be the best. Pinkie’s “helping” has clearly severely stunted Marble’s social skills. The constant need to keep Pinkie happy and Pinkie’s obvious jealousy also affects Maud in a negative way. Limestone doesn’t care if she gets on Pinkie’s bad side and doesn’t need Pinkie’s “helping”. It’s this independence that makes them stand as equals in their siblinghood.
Jake’s brother is basically Jake except in all the ways that he isn’t. Quite the coincidence as I have two brothers who are just me except when they’re not.
I liked the little moments that told us so much about the other sisters, like Marble being devastated over Big Mac shacking up, or Limestone clearly bitter about being stuck on the farm where the pickings are pretty slim.
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Before the finale, I imagined Cheese Sandwich hooking up with her as a nod to Amish Paradise.
Speaking of Amish, are you familiar with the Rumspringa? I think that could explain why Pinkie was allowed to leave the farm so early, and why there's no bad blood with her having chosen a different lifestyle. During that, an Amish youth is allowed to step out and go experience the modern world, like watch TV and get a driver's license. Then they can also choose to not get baptized and leave the community, although that's something definitely in the minority. There's also the concept that it's like a year long bachelor party for Amish teens before adulthood, but that kind of hedonism is mostly a myth that got big thanks to some stories that blow up. Now obviously this is undertaken as a teen, but Equestria clearly lets kids perform a lot on their own (fuck Growing Up is Hard to Do), so the Amish version of ponies probably put even more on their kids. We already see them chipping rocks before they have Cutie Marks.
For the record, I definitely made use of the "Octavia is Inkie" concept way back in the day when we called their parents Sue and Clyde. And Pinkie and Marble being twins definitely has a lot of potential. I like to think that Marble is at least somewhat more outspoken when Pinkie's not in the area, but Pinkie basically spoke for both of them as they grew up and Marble easily slips back into "Mmhmm" mode when her twin is in the area.
There's also the fact that ESP canonically runs in that family, which is a rich plot thread in and of itself.
Also, nice nod to the Ultimares universe. One of the more fascinating and underutilized AUs out there.
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If you haven't already, you may want to check out Roam-Springa.
It was a little more prevalent (I just read a story using the idea). I still say it's the best deadcanon ever.
Also, love that Siden AU. :D
I have a story concept that I'm working on. You may be familiar with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the "somebody else's problem" field that makes people look away from things. Working theory is, the reason Pinkie can do things like pop out of flowerpots is not because she can teleport, but because nobody notices her moving.
Of course, she's very in-your-face at all other times. Look at me! We started using the term the SEP/LAM switch.
This helps explain things like how despite her high-profile personality, none of Pinkie's friends notice her having mental breakdowns. It's somebody else's problem.
So then comes further headcanon: Marble as the twin sister has the same switch, but default setting is opposite. She's usually the quiet introvert, but is completely capable of being just as look-at-me as Pinkie. That would have been a fantastic episode, Pinkie's dealing with some stuff so Marble has to step up and host a party.
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The fuck is that?
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The fuck is this?!
The fuck are you people?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
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We're both referring to the same thing. The Ultimare universe posits a somewhat different Mane Six, in a trio of personality swaps. Pinkie got switched with Fluttershy, resulting in Ink Blot, a soft-spoken cartoonist who came from a family of musicians. (Not to say that she doesn't follow the family tradition to some degree.)
I noticed that when I saw Hearthbreakers as well. I also took it potentially to mean that Pinkie and her sisters are quadruplets with Pinkie and Marble being the last two. But of course there's not much else to back that assessment.