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Pinkie Pie is prone to depression. You might not know it to look at her, or to talk to her, or to attend one of her parties, but Pinkie’s exuberance? It’s fragile.

It always has been.

Like many comedians and clowns, she cheers herself up by making others smile. There are countless examples of this in the show. The best one might just be in A Friend in Deed, during her famous Smile song. Not only does the inspiring tune sum up Pinkie’s core philosophy - not only does it introduce the idea that smiles and good cheer are actually something of an addiction for Pinkie - an altruistic high that she actively craves - the musical number also dramatizes Pinkie Pie’s inner struggle with a striking visual.

It’s a powerful image, and one that I don’t think gets enough credit or attention. I’m talking of course about the image above. Where Pinkie Pie literally picks herself up and rescues herself from gloom and sadness using the healing power of smiles.

Could anything else sum up her modus operandum so completely?

The thing to remember about Pinkie Pie is that she is like a Warrior of Joy. Long ago, when Dashie’s rainboom caught Pinkie’s eye and lifted her out of a fillyhood that had hitherto been characterized by gloom, Pinkie Pie made a personal mission out of laughter. It is a passion, not only for experiencing all the joy that life has to offer, but to actually become that rainbow - to be the force that brightens others’ spirits and lifts them out of that quagmire of sadness.

For Pinkie Pie, life is a spiritual battle between joy and sadness. 99% of the time, she is victorious.

Then there’s Yakkity Sax. It is well-established that, while Pinkie may be full of manic jubilance, when crashes, she crashes hard. This latest episode was a prime example of that.

A friend of mine argued that a flaw in this episode was that, after giving up the yuziphone, Pinkie Pie lost all interest in absolutely everything else, and that that characterization was somehow too drastic.

I respectfully disagree.

This is how depression works. If an act of discouragement triggers someone into a spiral of depression, they’re not only going to be depressed about the subject which originally upset them. Depression robs you of joy in all things. It numbs you.

In real life, when somebody starts giving away their most valued possessions, it’s a sign that they’ve lost all hope, and a great big red flag warning sign that they may be contemplating suicide. Now obviously, the show isn’t going to a place as dark as that, nor should it, but this was still a powerful way of showing how far Pinkie Pie had fallen.

It’s not that the yuziphone was the only thing giving Pinkie’s life meaning. It’s that her passion for the yuziphone was, at that stage, fueling the super frantic Pinkie-energy that she needs every single day to give her the strength and courage to engage with the world.

She runs on momentum.

Here’s the thing: Pinkie is frequently used to insert random jokes into any scenario; often times she is characterized as a never-ending positive-energy machine who shrieks a lot. In reality, however, she has a wide emotional range, even if we don’t always get to see it, (especially in episodes that are not her own).

Her desire to make everyone smile is, at its core, existential. Her passion for making others happy - for becoming that rainbow that lights a spark in the lives of those who know her - it is a noble exercise, and an example we all can learn from.

However, the downside of this is that Pinkie requires constant positive feedback. She is paradoxically the most resilient character in My Little Pony, and the most fragile.

Side note: I just want to take a moment to give a shout out to anyone here who wrestles with, or has wrestled with depression. The solution may not always be as simple as it is in MLP. Life seldom is. For what it’s worth though, you’re all warriors too.

-Sprocket

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