Pinkie Pie

Pinkie Pie is a bright pink Earth pony from Ponyville and one of the main characters of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. Pinkie's mother calls her Pinkamena Diane Pie in The Cutie Mark Chronicles. She resides and works at Sugarcube Corner as a baker, assists Mr. and Mrs. Cake at work, babysits their babies, holds parties for the various ponies of Ponyville, and goes on adventures with her friends. She is a very exuberant, enthusiastic, happy, silly, talkative, jolly, and giggly pony. She writes and performs many songs, and she also has a toothless pet baby alligator named Gummy. She frequently serves as the comic relief of the show and performs impossible, logic-defying feats, such as her seemingly inflatable hair or even sometimes "breaking the fourth wall"; the Season 1 DVD commentary for Winter Wrap Up said that Lauren Faust had dictated that "only Pinkie Pie could do certain crazy gags and other characters wouldn't do it". She represents the element of laughter.

Development
Pinkie Pie is based on the G3 pony of the same name. The G3 pony's coat is pink, with her mane and tail a lighter shade, and her cutie mark is three balloons with curved strings. The current Pinkie Pie's cutie mark matches that of a Pegasus pony from G1, Surprise. Lauren Faust had published of Surprise which bears a strong resemblance to Pinkie Pie, only with a white and yellow color scheme and Pegasus wings, and Hasbro published a recolor of the image in their "Style Guide for Pinkie Pie", complete with Pegasus wings. Pinkie Pie ultimately remained grounded and her wings were given to Fluttershy, who was back then called Posey.

According to Lauren Faust, she "used to have a 'power' of sorts when she ate too much candy", which she called "a Sugar Rush". She'd plow through doors in a fit of speed, which would cause the Cakes to have to replace their front door on a weekly basis.

Pinkie's mane and tail "poofing up" when she's happy and going flat when she's sad was conceived by Jim Miller for The Cutie Mark Chronicles, and repeated in future episodes by James Wootton.

Exuberance
"Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of LAUGHTER."

- Twilight Sparkle

Pinkie Pie is an outgoing, energetic, happy, and hyperactive pony who loves sweets and often speaks and acts in non sequiturs. Loving to make ponies laugh and put a smile on their faces. She has a fondness of parties and a tendency to throw them on a whim. Pinkie Pie plays many instruments and frequently breaks out into song. She also tends to hop rather than walk, usually accompanied by a springing noise. She is often not taken seriously even by her closest friends, who call her out on her seemingly illogical behavior in Swarm of the Century, among other instances. She is almost always excited, and manages to keep her excitement after winning thirty-five consecutive games of tic-tac-toe against Rarity in Dragonshy while they wait for Fluttershy to catch up.

Pinkie Pie teaches the other ponies to laugh at their fears in Friendship is Magic, part 2 through an impromptu musical number, and helps Twilight accept things even if she doesn't understand them in Feeling Pinkie Keen. She plays a series of pranks on the residents of Ponyville with Rainbow Dash throughout Griffon the Brush Off, saying that she loves to have fun. She is very conscientious about this, though: when she pranks someone it's in such a way that no harm is done and the victim gets a laugh from it too. As an example, she once painted all of the apples on Applejack's trees. Applejack was originally furious until she found that the paint was water-soluble. She'll never prank someone if she knows it might hurt them, such as Fluttershy, because of her extreme sensitivity. When Gilda lashes out at Fluttershy and makes her cry, she decides to take measures against her "Pinkie Pie style" by throwing the griffon a party. Rainbow Dash set a number of different pranks for the guests at the party. Unfortunately, Gilda manages to become a victim of all the pranks. She assumed that Pinkie Pie had set all the pranks for her in particular, and was shocked to find that Rainbow Dash did it. When Rainbow Dash refused to leave with her, she left by herself in a rage.

Insecurity
Pinkie Pie shows an insecure and somewhat deranged side of her personality in Party of One. After her friends give her feeble excuses for missing Gummy's "after-birthday" party, she breaks into a fit of paranoia which "deflates" her hair and causes her color to fade to a grayish pink. She abandons her friends for inanimate objects and pretends they are real, even having an argument with them, complete with several nervous spasms. Rainbow Dash eventually intervenes, forcefully pulls her out of her unhinged party, and drags her back to her friends. When she finds out her friends did not abandon her, she promptly returns to her usual cheerful self and her hair bursts into its normal shape.

Pinkie Pie tries to prove that she is responsible in Baby Cakes by begging Mr. and Mrs. Cake for the opportunity to babysit their children. When the other main ponies refuse to help, the Cakes ask Pinkie Pie dejectedly if she could do it. Pinkie Pie becomes overjoyed; however, the Cakes warn Pinkie Pie that babysitting requires "responsibility" and she may be overwhelmed by this task. In response, Pinkie Pie insists, "I can be responsible!" Why, responsibility is my middle name! Pinkie 'Responsibility' Pie!" Inevitably, the responsibility of taking care of the foals turns out to be more than she expected. Twilight Sparkle, having expected as much, shows up at the door and asks if Pinkie Pie would like any help since "some ponies just aren't cut out to handle the responsibility." Pinkie Pie takes this as an insult and promptly shuts the door, determined to prove Twilight Sparkle wrong. Pinkie Pie eventually manages to properly care for the babies and take control of the situation.

Pinkie Pie does her best to befriend Cranky Doodle Donkey in the episode A Friend in Deed, denying most of his rejections. After she accidentally burns one of his scrapbooks, Twilight tells Pinkie she will have to make an exception and not be his friend. Pinkie Pie agrees, but continues to hound the donkey until he accepts her apology. Eventually, when Pinkie Pie makes amends after reuniting Cranky with Matilda, Cranky does accept Pinkie Pie's apology and calls her his friend, leading Pinkie Pie to literally skyrocket with joy like a firecracker.

The Return of Harmony
Pinkie Pie's personality is magically altered by Discord in The Return of Harmony Part 1. Pinkie finds herself in a balloon garden filled with laughing balloons. At first, Pinkie enjoys it, calling it "the greatest balloon garden [she's] ever seen". However, one of the balloons latches on to her leg and lands her in a mud puddle, so the atmosphere changes into a menacing one. A bunch of other balloons surround her and laugh, and afterwards Discord appears and tells her that her friends were never laughing with her, they're laughing at her. The balloons, formerly sporting benign, smiley faces, distort themselves into the familiar faces of the main cast, even developing their voices and colors, and close in on Pinkie Pie, still laughing. Pinkie's eyes swirl in a "hypnosis" effect and her coat and mane become much grayer. She becomes cynical, and gets angered when anyone laughs or shows signs of pleasure, suspecting it's at her expense. Near the end of the next episode, Twilight restores her previous color and demeanor through a "memory spell". Afterwards, she is seen being carried away in a wheelbarrow, giggling and remarking, "I turned gray! Can you believe it?"

Partying
Pinkie Pie is first introduced as a talented party-thrower. She runs off to plan a party for Twilight Sparkle immediately after seeing her for the first time, and throws many more parties throughout the series; Her first party ever was thrown for her family, which is how she got her cutie mark according to her own telling in The Cutie Mark Chronicles. She throws Gilda a welcome party in Griffon the Brush Off and Gummy a birthday party in Party of One. In Sweet and Elite, she organizes a birthday party for Twilight on very short notice, putting up decorations in very little time with the help of her "party cannon".

Singing, dancing, playing music

 * See also all songs in the series

Pinkie frequently sings songs of her own writing, but the other ponies' reactions are not always favorable. Her friends react skeptically when she begins singing for the first time in the show, and her audience reacts very negatively to her song-and-dance routine in Over a Barrel. Similarly, Twilight Sparkle is not impressed with Pinkie's little ditty in Bridle Gossip, and the ponies attending the Grand Galloping Gala in The Best Night Ever don't take to her song at all. In A Friend in Deed, she renders Cranky Doodle Donkey even more annoyed with her singing.

Pinkie spends much of the episode Swarm of the Century collecting numerous musical instruments, and uses them all at the same time at the end of the episode to lead the parasprites out of town.

Songs that Pinkie Pie leads:
 * Laughter Song
 * Pinkie's Gala Fantasy Song
 * The Ticket Song
 * Hop Skip and Jump song
 * Evil Enchantress song
 * Cupcake Song
 * You Got to Share, You Got to Care
 * Pinkie Pie's Singing Telegram
 * I'm at the Grand Galloping Gala
 * Pony Pokey
 * Happy Monthiversary
 * Piggy Dance
 * Smile Song
 * You're a Cranky Doodle Donkey
 * Welcome Song
 * Cranky Doodle Joy

Baking
Pinkie Pie works at Sugarcube Corner, a confectionery in Ponyville. The shop is run by Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who also let the residence above the shop to Pinkie. They "love her as a daughter", according to the show's creator.

On occasion, Pinkie bakes highly unappetizing batches of cupcakes and muffins, though both were the fault of her temporary assistants: Apple Bloom, who has no experience with baking; and Applejack, who is otherwise an excellent baker, is at the time half deaf and heavily disoriented from overworking and sleep deprivation. When working on her own in Green Isn't Your Color, Pinkie Pie decorates cupcakes that appear perfectly fine. At Twilight Sparkle's welcoming party she enjoys cupcakes with hot sauce, though the spiciness of the rainbow in Sonic Rainboom overwhelms her.

Pinkie also creates other edible treats and the like. An example of this is described in the first issue of the official comic; for the royal wedding in A Canterlot Wedding, she provided "Tutti-Frutti sherbet sugar punch", with seven parts sugar to every one part tutti. Rainbow Dash comments that after having it, the rest of the day became a bit of a blur.

Ice-skating
Pinkie Pie is an exceptional ice skater, stating that she's been skating since she was "an itty-bitty liddle-widdle twinkie-Pinkie". She shows off to Twilight with spins, jumps, and skating in a variety of poses during Winter Wrap Up, where her skill earns her the task of scoring the ice on frozen lakes to make it easier for the rest of the weather team to break said ice; though coordinating the other ice skaters seems to be difficult for her, as shown later in the episode where the ice chunks have been scored too large.

Pursuit
While more a cartoon gag than an actual skill, Pinkie Pie is very apt at appearing right next to her target. Pinkie can evenly match Rainbow Dash's flying speed in both Griffon the Brush Off and Party of One, where she pursues the Pegasus and comically appears right next to her at her destination, sometimes being present even before Rainbow Dash reaches the destination. Pinkie pursues Cranky Doodle Donkey in much the same way in A Friend in Deed.

When Pinkie keeps Twilight to her word in Green Isn't Your Color, she pops out of a basket of sponges, a basket of apples, and even from the reflection-side of a mirror every time Twilight is about to slip up on her promise.

Pinkie Sense
Pinkie Pie has a strange ability to predict the future through various twitches and involuntary motions made by her body in Feeling Pinkie Keen. Her Pinkie Senses are an obvious reference to Marvel Comics' Spider-Man. Applejack explains that the ponies in Ponyville pay heed to Pinkie Pie's "Pinkie Sense", even going so far as to catalog them, especially given that her twitches may just as easily end up affecting them. The ability goes largely unquestioned by Pinkie Pie and the others. This annoys Twilight Sparkle to no end, and she insists on finding an explanation for this ability. First she hooks her up to some sort of measuring apparatus that produces no results, then she follows her and makes notes of her various twitches and the ensuing events. When Spike comes across Twilight, she tells him what she's doing and says Pinkie's scientific name is Pinkius Piecus.

Later in the episode, Twilight literally bursts into flames with anger after spending the day following Pinkie around and learning that the "doozie" she predicted wasn't the hydra attack that they underwent. However, she ends up accepting the Pinkie Sense anyhow by the end of the episode, and this acceptance is the "doozy" they were expecting. In The Mysterious Mare Do Well, Pinkie Pie's sense returns again when she uses it to save a team of construction workers from a collapsing building. After Pinkie mentions her Pinkie Sense in the episode, her tail twitches, and she pushes Rainbow Dash out of the way of a falling pot. In It's About Time, Spike tries Pinkie Sense as an option to find out what disaster happens in the future. However, Pinkie Sense could "only predict immediate events", not the actual future, and at the same time, her tail twitches and a flower pot falls on Twilight's head.

Memory
In various episodes, Pinkie is shown to have an Eidetic memory. In the episode A Friend in Deed, it is stated that Pinkie Pie has a very strong memory, enough to "remember everything about everypony in Ponyville" according to Matilda. This becomes evident with Pinkie Pie mentioning Cheerilee's, Zecora's, and even Matilda's birthdays. Additionally, she is able to remember the contents in both scrapbooks belonging to Cranky Doodle Donkey and Matilda, which conveniently assists Pinkie Pie in bringing both her donkey friends together. In MMMystery on the Friendship Express, albeit Pinkie Pie was initially depicted as a terrible detective based on the fact that she was directly reaching to conclusions and accusing suspects due to her wild imagination, her elaborate memory of the events that transpired during the night when the cake was eaten did assist Twilight Sparkle to find the proper clues and lead them to the real culprits. In Too Many Pinkie Pies, earlier in the episode Pinkie Pie was able to instantly recall the exact words of the rhyme/magic words that were mentioned to her once by her Nana Pinkie, which consequently led her to find the legendary Mirror Pool and be able to create duplicates of herself.

However, it was hinted at before that Pinkie Pie was able to remember every single citizen in Ponyville. In the very first episode, Friendship is Magic, part 1, Pinkie Pie claims to Twilight Sparkle that she "never saw [her] before" (when Twilight Sparkle was a newcomer to town at the time) and that she "[knows] every pony, and [she really meant] every pony in Ponyville." Pinkie Pie reiterates her statement about knowing every citizen of Ponyville in the episode Party of One, after Rainbow Dash bluffs about a local resident called "Harry", and states that she does not "know him."

Family and cutie mark
Pinkie Pie tells the Cutie Mark Crusaders in The Cutie Mark Chronicles that she was raised on a rock farm with her two sisters and her parents. Her father wears a pilgrim's hat, her family's coats and manes are Earth-colored, muted browns and grays, and they all wear somber expressions until Pinkie Pie discovers her special talent.

When Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom clears the clouds and paints a rainbow across the sky, the shock wave frizzles Pinkie Pie's hair giving it its distinctive curl, a visual gag that was conceived by Jim Miller. The sonic rainboom that she witnesses makes her smile, and she then decides to dedicate her life to making people happy and throwing parties. When she invites her family to their first party ever, her mother calls her Pinkamena Diane Pie. The family joins Pinkie, and they all shakily start to develop smiles, and eventually merrily participate in Pinkie's party.

An animator on the show, John Irving L. Prudenciano noted that Pinkie Pie's name is Pinkamena Diane Pie a few months prior to the airing of The Cutie Mark Chronicles. The Cutie Mark Crusaders end up unsure whether Pinkie Pie's story is true or not, especially since she concludes by stating, "...and that's how Equestria was made... Maybe someday I'll tell you how I got my cutie mark!" It is later implied in the episode Magic Duel that Pinkie did indeed live on a rock farm, when Trixie complained about working on one and Pinkie shouted "Hey, you're lucky a rock farm would take the likes of you!". Also, Trixie's flashback included Pinkie's father on the rock farm.

A filly sharing young Pinkie Pie's character design is present during Rarity's play in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, standing third from stage left, dressed as a chocolate cake with a purple and blue color scheme. Another re-used asset is the music that plays in Pinkie Pie's first party, which is the same music that Pinkie Pie plays for the parasprites in Swarm of the Century and A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1.

Pinkie Promise
Pinkie Pie has her own special kind of oath, a variation of "Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." Her version is "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Twilight recites this promise in Green Isn't Your Color, and Applejack in The Last Roundup. Pinkie takes these promises very seriously, stalking Twilight in the former to make sure she doesn't slip up, and angrily pursuing Applejack in the latter when she believes Applejack has broken the Pinkie Promise. When she screams at Applejack because of it, her voice gains a near-demonic echo. During close-ups, her pupils are golden yellow and scarlet red, in sharp contrast to her normally blue eyes.

Gummy
Gummy is Pinkie Pie's toothless one year old pet alligator who is introduced in Feeling Pinkie Keen. Pinkie Pie confides in Gummy many times about her feelings and what's going on in Party of One. She celebrates her birthday one day after Gummy's birthday in the same episode. In the same episode he appears by Pinkie's side in various costumes through her singing telegram number.

Reflexivity and cartoonish gags
"How do you do that?"

- Rainbow Dash

There are several instances when Pinkie Pie shows awareness of the cinematic and cartoon elements of the show, so-called "breaking the fourth wall" between the stage and the audience. She reacts to fade-outs and iris-wipes, and often looks directly "at the audience." Many scenes in the series are set to directly face the audience, among them the Winter Wrap Up song where most background ponies look at the viewers, and Hush Now Lullaby where Sweetie Belle actually stretches her neck to the screen, but Pinkie Pie performs these actions more frequently than other characters. She frequently performs cartoon-staple feats such as eye-bulging, wild takes, and unusually angled cuts into the frame. Lauren Faust, the series' developer and show-runner for the first season, encouraged the crew to keep the "wacky gags" exclusive to Pinkie Pie.

Her merry skips resemble Pepé Le Pew's, particularly in Griffon the Brush Off where she pursues Rainbow Dash and comically appears right next to her wherever she goes. Her costume and waddle in Dragonshy are reminiscent of Daffy Duck's four-legged body in Duck Amuck. She runs in the air in Feeling Pinkie Keen, and runs at full speed backwards in Swarm of the Century and Hearth's Warming Eve. She appears in the same frame multiple times in the Cupcake Song from Call of the Cutie. She twists her neck around two full turns in Read It and Weep, then her body spins while her head remains in place to undo the twisting. She is depicted as being aware of the cinematic elements of the show in the ending of Over a Barrel, where she holds back the iris-in in order to have the last line of the episode; she repeats this process in Magic Duel before the episode can end with her mouth still missing - in this occasion, she ends up on the screen side of the iris-in, and Twilight joins her there. She dresses up as a chicken in Luna Eclipsed and lays an egg when frightened.

Pinkie Pie performs many cartoon gags in the episode A Friend in Deed, which are a mix of new and repeated gags. Some of them include spontaneously having six hooves to count with, opening her mouth wide enough to swallow a mass of cake sized and shaped like her in one gulp, and pulling out a green felt check symbol from nowhere. She also stands on Cranky's door upside down without falling. In Too Many Pinkie Pies, Pinkie's duplicates show a similar ability, one sprouting fingers from a hoof, another pulling a 'crazy face' that resembles the face of a G3 pony.

While other characters seem to either not notice or ignore her gags, in Too Many Pinkie Pies, after Pinkie Pie halts herself mid-freefall and silently descends into the lake, Rainbow Dash deliberately draws attention to how strange it is.


 * Gallery of Pinkie Pie being cartoonish

Other depictions
Pinkie Pie is featured in several commercials.

Hasbro.com description
''To say that Pinkie Pie marches to the beat of her own drum is certainly an understatement! Giggly, playful and brimming over with energy, it's not unusual to find this pink pony prancing and skipping joyfully through the streets looking for fun, doing cartwheels, singing a song in a silly voice and making up her own ridiculous lyrics. By far the silliest pony around, nothing makes her happier than evoking a giggle and a smile from her friends. She is the freest of free spirits, always acting on her whims, following her heart, talking your ear off and getting a laugh or two along the way.''

Hubworld description
''Pinkie Pie is a free spirit who prances to the beat of her own drum. Actually, she prances to the sound of her own singing. She's playful and full of energy. She can talk till the ponies come home. She loves to invent silly songs, giggle, skip, and make her friends laugh.''

Teacher for a Day description
''Pinkie Pie keeps her pony friends laughing and smiling all day. She believes everyday is worth celebrating and loves to throw parties with her pony friends.''

''The only thing Pinkie Pie loves as much as her friends and parties are SWEETS! She loves to visit the Sugarcube Sweet Shop.''

''She is always positive and helps the ponies see the bright side. You can count on Pinkie Pie for Lots and Lots of fun''

My Little Pony mobile game description
Pinkie Pie represents the Element of Laughter and loves to make everybody happy, throw parties, eat sweets and talk and talk and talk!

My Little Pony magazine description

 * Giggly
 * Fun
 * Chatterbox

''What a ball of energy! Pinkie Pie is super girly and loves to make everybody happy, throw parties, eat sweets and talk and talk and talk!''

Other uses
A contestant in two Google Chrome security vulnerability contests used the alias "Pinkie Pie" in order to hide his participation in the contest from his employer, and won a total of $120,000 in the contests. At a contest in March 2012 he exposed three yet-undisclosed ("zero-day") security vulnerabilities in Google's web browser, earning him $60,000 as a bounty from Google. At a second contest in October 2012, "Pinkie Pie" won $60,000 again for exposing another such security vulnerability.

Merchandise, commercials, cameos

 * Main articles: toys, merchandise, commercials

Pinkie Pie is featured in many commercials and her likeness is used for many toys and other merchandise.

Pinkie Pie makes a brief cameo in the seventh episode of season one of The Aquabats! Super Show!. She is one of many background elements during a musical number of one of the Aquabats.

Quotes
"What kind of welcome party would this be if it were quiet? I mean, duh, bo-ring. You see, I saw you when you first got here, remember? You were all, hello, and I was all, [gasp], remember? You see I never saw you before, and if I never saw you before that means you're new, 'cause I know every pony, and I mean every pony in Ponyville, and if you're new, then it meant you haven't met anyone yet, and if you haven't met anyone yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don't have any friends then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad, and I had an idea, and that's why I went [gasp], 'I'll just throw a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everyone in Ponyville'. See? And now you have lots and lots of friends!"

- Friendship is Magic, Part 1

"Hey, you know what this calls for? A party!"

- Friendship is Magic, Part 2

"I, Pinkie Pie, declare that these treats are fit for a king, or a queen, or a princess!"

- Swarm of the Century

"Me? Ruin? I'm not the ruiner, I'm the ruinee! Or is it ruinness? Ruinette?"

- Swarm of the Century

"She's ahead of the litter all right. The pick of the litter. The cat's pajamas. Oh wait. Why would Applejack take some poor kitty's pj's? That's not very sporting of her."

- Fall Weather Friends

"More balloons! No, that's too many balloons. More candy! No, less candy. Ooh! I know! Streamers!"

- Suited for Success

"Okey-dokey-lokey!"

- Feeling Pinkie Keen

"Forever!"

- Green Isn't Your Color

"She's not a tree, Dashie."

- Over a Barrel

"Oh, no... My friends don't like my parties and don't want to be my friends anymore..."

- Party of One

"Enough chit-chat, time is candy!"

- Luna Eclipsed

"Too old for free candy? Never!"

- Luna Eclipsed

"Well, duh."

- Luna Eclipsed

"Sometimes it's just really fun to be scared."

- Luna Eclipsed

"No I'm not! I'm a chicken! [cluck]"

- Luna Eclipsed

"Oh, I never leave home without my party cannon."

- Sweet and Elite

"Oh my gosh. Hold on to your hooves – I am just about to be brilliant!"

- Hearth's Warming Eve

"In the name of the Earth Ponies, I think I'm gonna call this new place...uh...Dirtville!"

- Hearth's Warming Eve

"This is a crib. It is only to be used for napping, sleeping, and on occasion with permission, as a pretend old-timey Western fort. It is not a trampoline, so stop your jumping right now, mister!"

- Baby Cakes

"Nopony breaks a Pinkie promise!"

- The Last Roundup

"You Pinkie promised!"

- The Last Roundup

"Oh, silly me! I must've put the confetti in the oven and the cake in the confetti cannon! Again!"

- A Friend in Deed

"Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness! You've really outdone yourselves, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. This is sure to be the winning entry of this year's national dessert competition!"

- MMMystery on the Friendship Express

"This mystery gets more mysterious every minute."

- MMMystery on the Friendship Express

"Best wedding ever!"

- A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1

"Let's get this party started!"

- A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2

"DON'T FORGET TO WRITE!!!!"

- Wonderbolts Academy

"Help me? The only thing that could possibly help me right now is a letter from Rainbow Dash! It's been three days already. By now, she probably doesn't even know our names anymore! She probably can't remember our faces! 'Pinkie Pie? I never heard of a Pinkie Pie! Who is Pinkie Pie?'"

- Wonderbolts Academy

"I'll wear this mustache."

- Spike at Your Service

"Alicorn party!"

- Magical Mystery Cure