Authors note: I came upon a realization when re-watching the first season of MLP, there are several instances were things about Pinkie Pie do not add up, and not in the traditional “It's just Pinkie Pie” kinda way. Then I started to see things fit together, Pinkie's attitude, her back story, it just made so much sense.
Twilight Sparkle was annoyed, two days research and she had not found anything close to a clue about what a “rock farm” was. There was nothing in the library, she knew, she had turned the place inside out looking for her answers. Still nothing.
It had started with a normal day, normal for helping out the resident cutie mark crusaders anyways. The three fillies had shown up at the library looking for some ideas about what to try next in their quest for their cutie marks. In Twilight's efforts to help, they had started mentioning stuff they had heard of, but where unsure about what they meant.
After a few embarrassing questions about certain adult activities, or what they had misunderstood as something completely different, the infernal subject was broached. Rock farm, they had said that Pinkie Pie had grown up on one as a filly, where she saw the sonic rain-boom that inspired her to throw her first party.
Many hours had been spent pouring over everything in the library after that, and now Twilight was getting frustrated. “If there is nothing here, then I will just have to ask Pinkie Pie then.” she mumbled to herself. Setting her jaw, Twilight's horn lit up, and with a flash she was gone.
A bright flash of light illuminated the bedroom of a certain pink pony, the pop of the teleportation waking her up swiftly. A split second later she covered her head in the covers and spoke, “Uh, Twilight, why are you in my room?” with a slightly nervous tone to her voice.
Said pony watched for a moment as the covers lifted up on the other side of the bed to allow Pinkie to read the alarm clock on the night stand, this time her voice had a hint of annoyance, “Why are you in my room at three in the morning?”
Twilight stared for a moment then shook her head, as if to clear her head. “You have to tell me what a rock farm is Pinkie. I have been trying to figure it out for days now and I still can't find anything.” she pleaded.
Pinkies response was quick, punctuated with a yawn, “I'll tell you later, let me go back to sleep.”
Again Twilight asked, her stubborn and curious nature winning out over logic, “Pinkie, I have to know. I can't sleep as it is. Please tell me.”
In a tone uncommon to Pinkie, in which one could almost see her roll her eyes, “It's a farm that grows rocks, now go home Twilight."
Before Pinkie could continue, Twilight's horn lit up and the blanket was ripped from her bed. The sound of the comforter settling on the floor followed Twilight's gasp.
“Pinkie... Are those scars?” she said with some panic in her voice.
“Yea Twilight, they are...” The pink pony got up from her bed and turned on the light, revealing a crisscross of white lines covering the mare's body. “I usually keep them covered with makeup, ponies don't pity me that way.” she says with her head hanging low, tears started to form at the corners of her eyes.
“What happened?" Twilight asked, with concern in her voice.
“A rock farm is... Well it's what we called the mine, the scars are from the ones in charge.” spoke Pinkie quietly, eyes shifting to the side, as if seeing something farther away.
“Who, and why would they do that to you Pinkie?”
“The diamond dogs that captured us...” tears started flowing from Pinkie's eyes. “They said they didn't like my voice, that it hurt. So whenever I made a sound, they would beat me.” The pink mare curled up on her bed, her voice cracking as she continues, “Everyone was so sad, and they hurt us so much.”
As the resident party pony of Ponyville began crying in earnest, Twilight could only stare on in shock. This was not the mare she knew, and was frightened by the sight of it. “Pinkie, I am so sorry...” The purple pony slowly moved to her friend and hugged her, unable to say any more.
“The worst part.” Pinkie hiccuped, “ The worst part is that I will never see mom and dad again.” At these words she broke down and started crying harder.
After a time Pinkie cried herself to sleep, leaving Twilight to her thoughts.
It all makes sense now, why she is compelled to make other ponies smile, why she is always talking, why she is always eating cakes and sweets, why she is like a young filly in the way she acts. She had nothing but sorrow and pain as a filly, and is living like it could all come crashing down at any moment. Pinkie lives like there is no tomorrow because she came from a place where there might actually not be a tomorrow.
Having come to this conclusion, she realized that Rarity had almost been put in the very same position once upon a time. That a creature could do this to another sickened her. Tomorrow she would write a letter to the Princess, and see what she could do to help her friend, for now she would stay here and comfort her. An apology for bringing up such horrid memories.
She fell asleep with these thoughts, holding on to her friend, with troubled dreams of shackles and cold stone...
This back story also covers why Pinkie could have the Pinkie Sense, earth ponies are more closely connected to nature than the others. In a high stress high danger environment, she could have developed a way to read this connection, so she could survive cave-ins and other strange occurrences. Her story about living on a rock farm felt bogus even in the show, and when watching the episode where Rarity was kidnapped by diamond dogs just made it click. Rock farm, a slang term for slave mine.
There you have it my first fanfic, needs some work, and it could be done so much better, but I have trouble expressing thoughts with spoken word, written is so much harder for me. Any tips on how to make this fic better, or even just easier to read would be helpful. Until then, Stay manly my bronies.