“Pinkie, how smart are you, really?”
Pinkie set down her mug of coffee and smiled. “Oh, so we're back to this, then?” she asked.
“The last time we talked like this, you showed a wise streak. So how deep does that go?”
“Twilight, you already know how smart I am!” Pinkie replied with a laugh. “Here, let's play a game. How many ponies are there in Sugar Cube Corner right now?”
Twilight tried to count them all, but it was rather busy for a Monday morning, and they wouldn't stay still. “Forty, fifty-odd?”
“Forty-six, but yes. You've met all of them, right? You know all their names?” Pinkie asked.
“I believe so.” Twilight pointed to one of the mares on the far side of the room. “Her, though. Her name is... Sunspot, I think? I've only talked to her once in passing.”
“It's Sunstripe, actually. She's 24, her birthday is on the 18th this month, her favorite food is a rose and Thousand Island dressing salad, and she's afraid of dogs.”
“You know all that about her?”
“I know all that and more about everypony in this room. I know all that and more about everypony in Ponyville. I could probably tell you the birthdays of all of their family members, too.”
Twilight just about laughed at that, were it not for the quizzically serious face on Pinkie Pie. “You can tell me...” She searched the room for a particularly uninteresting-looking stallion. “His birthday, his dad's birthday, and--”
“His birthday is June 4th, his dad's birthday is November 19th, and his mom was born June 11th and died September 30th, 995.”
“How do you know all that? Why do you know all that?”
“Well, the how is easy. I just asked!” Pinkie said with her cheerful grin.
“Why, though?”
“Because it's important to them, of course.” Pinkie shrugged. “If you wanted to, you could do it, too.”
“No way!” Twilight protested. “I may be smart, but even my brain doesn't have room for all that!”
“Can you name all the different types of stars?” Pinkie asked. “All the different spells you've learned? How much could you tell me about Spike; just start with his age and go from there?”
“Okay, so I do know a lot, but still. What are you getting at?”
“It's the funny thing about memory; it's not a finite storage. If your brain deems it important enough, it'll make the connections it needs.”
“So how can you memorize all that stuff about all the ponies you meet?” Twilight asked.
“Because it's important to me.” Pinkie waved her hoof out towards all the other ponies around them. “I need to know all those things so I can be the best possible friend to them.” Pinkie looked away; Twilight thought she saw something like a shadow fall over her eyes. “I have to be the best... It all has to be perfect...”
“Pinkie...” Twilight offered a hoof to her. “You know we all trust you to be the best friend we could ever have. You don't have to know every last thing about us for that to be true.”
“You don't see it, though! By your very nature you don't see it,” Pinkie replied. “If you see a pony moping in the streets, but you don't know it's his birthday and nopony's given him a 'Happy Birthday,' then how can you if you don't know it's his birthday? If you bake a pony a cake, but you don't know that they're allergic to eggs and they eat some just to be polite but then their whole face swells up, what kind of friend is that? If one little fact, one word in just the right place could rescue a pony from thinking that life isn't worth living anymore, then how can I allow myself not to know it?”
“You just do your best, Pinkie,” Twilight said. “Nopony can expect any more than that.”
“Ponies have surprisingly low expectations of themselves and others,” Pinkie murmured. “You'd be surprised how good your best really is.”
Twilight hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether she should say what was on her mind. But eventually, it came stumbling out of her. “So why did you decide to become a party pony, then? Is that... is that really your best?”
Pinkie shook her head. “What would you suggest I do instead?”
“I don't know!” Twilight said. “Become a scientist and make incredible discoveries. Become a politician and fight for ponies' rights. Something.”
“That sounds like what you think is important, Twilight,” Pinkie said simply. “I really don't care about all that. Making ponies smile is literally the only thing that matters to me. And what better way to do that than what I'm already doing?”
It suddenly hit Twilight like a thunderclap. “It's... it's not an act at all, is it, Pinkie?”
Pinkie nodded approvingly. “Now you're getting it,” she said. “I appear energetic because I love ponies so deeply that it bubbles out of me from every pore. I obsess over parties because I know it is the tool to bringing them happiness. The only 'act' is the filtration.”
“...Now you've lost me,” Twilight said.
“I am Pinkie the party pony. That is 100% me. But those personalities I showed you before – the rock scientist, the fashionista, the racer, the magical scientist – those are all 100% me as well. But all those other things? They don't matter to me. The potential is there, but I willingly cast them aside.”
“But if you're smart enough to be all of those, why can't they be part of your character? Why can't everyone see you like I see you right now?”
Pinkie scoffed. “I've said it a half-dozen times already, haven't I?” she asked. “It doesn't matter.”
“It doesn't matter? Of course it--”
“The universe doesn't need another Maud. It doesn't need another Rarity, or Rainbow Dash, or you. It needs Pinkie Pie, the wacky party pony. All this thought and philosophy? It has no place in that world.”
“That... is not an answer, and you know it, Pinkie. It could have a place, couldn't it?”
“What do you want me to say, Twilight?” Pinkie said. “I'm showing you this side of me because it makes you happy. I don't show this side to others because it doesn't make them happy. All I do, everything I am, is to make others happy.”
“And if you're all by yourself? Who are you then?”
“What makes me happy.” Pinkie took another sip of coffee, then added, “Funnily enough, it's pretty similar to how I am normally.”
“I don't… I...” Twilight felt like there was a question, an answer, somewhere inside her that lurked just out of reach. “But then why do you do foolish things for the sake of a joke? Don't you know better?”
“I think you just answered your own question there.” Pinkie laughed.
“I… wait...”
“I think that's enough for today, Twi,” said Pinkie. She hopped up from her seat and seemed to materialize a plate of cupcakes out of nowhere. “I've got to get back to work. Have a super-awesome-terrific day!”
“Oh! Right.” Twilight's own breakfast had sat untouched during the conversation. Even now, she sat utterly still, contemplating their discussion. At last, she made a decision. “Sunstripe!” she said, waving to her.
“Hmm?” She turned and, seeing Twilight, waved back. “What's up?” she asked.
“Would you like to sit and have a conversation with me?”
“Sure!” Sunstripe came over and sat down where Pinkie had been sitting. “What's brought this on?”
“Nothing, I guess. Just think I should know you a little better.”