Random Ramblings CXLII - P.D.P 2-2

IN WHICH THE TRAIN STARTS TO DERAIL
This is the second… point-two… in a six-part series. Here's Part 1 & Part 2-1.

Today is indeterminately rainy. It's warm-ish and sunny, but it could rain again at any moment. In addition, I had a bit of a cold yesterday, which might help explain why I was unable to get yesterday's blogpost written in one go. Gotta love Ozarks weather – Saturday was in the 40's (that's ~8ºC) but tomorrow is set to be in the 70's (that's ~24ºC) but then get colder again through the week. It does a number on your system. I need to get back outside. Incidentally, tomorrow's blogpost ("Part 3") might come later in the day, as I will be busy doing important RL stuff. So anyway, here's the continuation of Pinkamena… past the jump.

When we last left Pinkamena, goons hired by her "husband", Dustbowl Clayhoof, tracked her to Fillydelphia and murdered her adoptive parents, along with Applejack's father. Her adopted sister was absconded away to Manehattan and would become Babs Seed. She herself was taken in by Professor Steel-Gaze.

The second half of 'Mena's backstory is her talking about how she got into the Academy despite being a non-Nobility Earthpony, and then she explains how she only spent one year actually doing classes because she didn't enjoy Twilight's style of studying (though she loved to read). Her very first research paper was compiling her adoptive parents notes on her -- can a child from a fundamentalist culture ever take to modern education? (yes) -- and submitting it under their names. Because of the bounty on her head, she had to submit all her articles under a pseudonym: her initials.

An aside: Ponk briefly explains to Twilight that she tried to find a second deeper meaning in her cutie mark that matched her new way of life (academia rather than parties). Twilight says that's stupid.

Ponk did research into pony psychology and discovered that there were hundreds of ponies all around the kingdom whose cutie marks didn't mesh with society and/or themselves. Those ponies were often shunted away and became bitter and withdrawn, because they literally had nothing to live for. One time she even discovered the suicide of a stallion she had meant to interview. She wrote the very first paper on what would become known as "Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome" (CMFIS). Some P.L.'s ("pony-of-letters", the equivalent of any post-grad degree in Equestria) accepted the idea but others dismissed it.

Ponk also developed an interest in neuroscience and memory, and theorized that CMFIS sufferers could possibly be helped by targeted electrical stimulation to the amygdala (basically heavy-duty ECT). All this theorizing was done care of her mentor, Steel-Gaze, who was blasted from all ends of academia for "crazy". This caused Ponk to become more political and start writing columns attacking Equestrian academia itself. She briefly breaks from her story to go on a mini-rant against Celestia's "perfect" society, the Nobility, and Unicorns in particular, briefly blasting Twilight for her extreme privilege. Then she goes back to explaining herself.

In late 994, she moved to the Everfree Forest to conduct research (barely surviving the first fortnight). She hollowed out the tree that would eventually become Zecora's home. And she eventually created a rapport with some of the Forest creatures, who teach her through demonstration about "latent" magic (I really need a better word for it, but that's what I could come up with in 2013). She learns how to teleport by "utilizing the space between spaces". This all happens over the course of two years.

Ponk wants to share her discoveries about the Forest with the rest of the world, but no one believes her (or rather her presumed-male pseudonym). She states that one of the books she took with her from Fillydelphia was The Elements Of Harmony: A Reference Guide, because -- dramatized though it was -- it was one of the only decent accounts of how the Forest came to be in the first place.

During her trips through the forest, she discovers the Original Equestrian Capital of Everfree (i.e. the Castle from Ep.2), and it turns out there were ponies living in the canyon beneath the castle, known as the Cult of the Moon -- supporters of Luna during the War who fled after her banishment. They spoke Ancient Equestrian (which even Luna has a difficult time understanding) and were terribly inbred due to their low population. I never explain what happened to the cult -- presumably, they fled to a different part of the Forest after Luna's return and redemption.

Also note, I wrote this before the Tree Of Harmony was established to be in that pit, so cut me some slack. My headcanon to fit this is that its alcove was blocked by rocks until Twilight's taste-the-rainbow made it come tumbling down so they could find it a year or so later. The Cult never knew about it.

Ponk also encounters Sunny Town! And unlike Apple Bloom, Ponk learns its entire backstory, which I explain in one long paragraph. During these trips, she also discovers the Mirror Pond and the Parasprites. Unfortunately for her, Steel-Gaze rejects her articles because no one would ever believe them -- this is a recurring theme for most of her scholarship on the Everfree.

In the Spring of 997, Steel-Gaze dies after a brief but serious illness. Ponk is informed about this by his secretary, who tells her to inform his editor, Crowquill, in Canterlot (and also to send any future articles directly). Ponk is despondent for two weeks, but eventually finishes her final big article: the treatise on non-Unicorn magic. This was sent from a postbox in Paddock Village, on the other side of the Everfree from Ponyville. She decided then to start her magnum opus: a scale map of the Everfree Forest, in hopes that it could help Ponies understand it better. Unfortunately, before she can start, she gets a letter from Crowquill saying that the Great Learnèd Ones had decided to have her legally declared a Heretic.

After briefly explaining to Twilight exactly what that means (think arrested on sight), she then admits that the rejection by her peers basically broke her psychologically. She realized that she had Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome and hadn't realized it because she'd been too busy. She snuck into Ponyville and mailed off her last batch of columns and articles to Crowquill along with a note saying she'd be testing out a theory, and bid her farewell.

TL;DR - Pinkamena broke into Golden Oaks Library, knocked out the librarian (Biblion), and set up a bunch of equipment in the basement which she used to essentially hack her own brain and physically seal away her memories. She left herself a short note with useful information (in case she was alive and could still read), including her birth name with instructions to never use it unless necessary. Then she turned on her bizarre contraption and everything went black.

WE know she came out of that library as Pinkie Pie the Party Pony and quickly ended up at Sugarcube Corner. But for Pinkamena, there was literal nothingness for three years (not even any awareness of time). Everything would have been hunky-dory after that… had it not been for the events of "Party Of One". That feeling of rejection caused the dormant Pinkamena to "wake up", so to speak. At least until she was cheered up at the end of the episode.

That caused a problem, though. Pinkamena's original personality was merely suppressed, not gone. From that point on, she could see everything "Pinkie" saw and did but could do nothing about it, only able to take control in their shared dreams, where she met Luna. They became friends in the dreamscape, but had a falling out when Luna refused to help Pinkamena "fix" herself -- i.e. destroy her original dour personality for good. Since that night, Luna did not appear in Ponk's dreams no matter how awful she felt, and Ponk felt awful for driving away the only friend who truly understood her. She also felt guilty for being an "albatross around Pinkie's neck".

Twilight agrees to help her, admitting that everyone would prefer the canon Pinkie Pie back. She goes into the library's basement alone ostensibly to set up the old equipment, and breaks down crying.

END PART 2