Have a fireside chat with Pinkie Pie

The room is cozy.

You hear the crackling of fire. The camera pans, the mood is set, and you spot Pinkie Pie in a plush armchair by the fireplace.

Come on in.

“Hello,” Pinkie says, and greets you with a hoof. In the other rests a prop skull.

She leans back and smiles contently. “The sun comes in through my window. Comes in and reminds me how wonderful life is. Do you like Shakespeare? I love Shakespeare. I love how prolific Shakespeare was, shaking his spear at everything.” She sighs.

“I think he was a bit existentialist, looking at the absurdity of those things that shake. I can hear the mailmare coming by. But I wanted to use this beautiful time of day, so excuse the noise. I found a skull today in a bush near where I live.” Pinkie holds it up for your gaze. A hoof slowly strokes. “It’s nice to feel it. I wanted to talk today about skeletons in our closet and the importance of being in the moment.

“There is something so intrinsically beautiful about nature that makes everything worthwhile.” She eases into her chair and lazily prods the fire with a poker.

“Now, one foal here in town is often known for being both in the moment and in the way. His name is Snips. Almost oppressively he has cast off all tenses except the present and all protein except the bean. A lot can be learned just by observing how he uses his free time. And the more you focus, the less you worry about the judgement of others. Feeling compassion for other modes of being. If you ask him, he’ll say Pip is the best type of being over present phase Luna, or even hint he was a being who had been a bean, in a past life. This we must take with caution. I mean, I guess his knowledge of beans is mildly impressive for a child, but these karmic musings belong to the realm of certain holistic groups.

“Along those lines, we are also told in western society by holistic groups that we must sit in the moment and be in the moment. I agree with this. I feel that we should work towards being in the moment. However, I think that we should also take time to know our true self. Celestia may be a guidance. We can take all the time to be in the moment that we like, but if we don’t know who we truly are it becomes a tall task.

“The rule of attraction preaches to us that happiness is a choice. You choose to be happy. You choose your feelings, whether to feel happiness or not. To be or not to be. In theory I agree with that, however, and I come back to the skeleton, what the law of attraction does not consider is our environmental socialization.

“There is a neighborhood called Heidelberg, and I think Heidelberg has the highest rate of single mothers. When we grow and develop as ponies, we learn from our environment and our environment affects us significantly. If our parents are divorced, our journey towards staying married is perhaps more challenging. If our parents went to clown school, we are more likely to model upon that. So to ask someone to choose happiness when they have not environmentally experienced it is a tall task. Possible - yet challenging.”

“So sometimes proponents say anyone can have a job, they just need to choose that. I agree, however, I feel that sometimes but not always we need to consider our environment. I brought this little skull today to make a point. We each have a little skeleton in our closet. Sometimes it is best to leave him there, and other times we need to take him out for examination so we know who we are.”

Pinkie places the skull down and reaches behind her chair. “I wanted to do something really special today. I have some brushes. And, I feel that our soul is like a sculpture and today I’m going to use different brushes to sculpture away all the baggage and the debris. Away from your perfect soul. Did you know that you had a perfect soul?

“It’s very important that you know that,” she says as she leans close. “And sometimes we just need to brush away the cobwebs and peel back the damage and baggage and constraints so that we can reveal your perfect soul. Will you let me do that? Will you let me brush away your concerns and worries, the trivialities, so that you can reveal your true self? So that you can shine and radiate the light that is you? Because you are pure light.

“Sometimes like a cabinet may take on dust over time, our souls may become dusty and we forget the importance of cleansing our orifices. I want you to remember.”

A brush is held up. “These are the brushes. I bought these with money that I earned. I feel like it’s very important for you to understand why you should be taking care of yourself every day.

"We all know how early in the morning you have to be up for you schedule. It’s hard enough to wake up on time, let alone to do everything else that needsto be done on a daily basis. But that shouldn’t stop you from forcing yourself to get in the shower. It honestly doesn’t take long to wash yourself. My showers last no longer than 15 minutes each. I manage to completely wash my body, shampoo and condition my hair without messing up.”

The brush grazes along your cheek.

“Look at that face, it’s beautiful. Are you ready for me to brush the dust away from your soul to reveal your private self? I want you to agree that you deserve this time. I want you to be open to your own worth.

“Showering is only one part of maintaining good hygiene. You need to also brush your teeth every day to reduce other complications. If you aren’t a fan of gum, use breath mints or tree sap. If you wear clothes, keep them clean. It is that easy. And please, if you have testicles, take the time to swab them and check for lumps.”

The calming scent of charring wood.

“Like this fire,” the confiding mare then gestures, “we can burn, but only so much and for a limited duration. As we grow, we choose to find more evidence of what we think of ourselves. Now, we can choose to think differently from what we learned as children. That is possible, but it is challenging. I am saying, the statement that we choose our feelings is not as simple as it sounds. I would like you to take into consideration who you are. Every so often we need to take our skeleton out of the closet and look at who it makes us as a pony.

“There are some of us who should not take their skeletons out of the closet. Perhaps you need to keep the door shut. But I do know, for myself to sit in the present moment I need to acknowledge what I am trying to compensate for. For me, when I take my skeleton out of the closet that empowers me to make cupcakes. Then upload that to the computer databank.

“These come from our environment. It helps us to see ourselves more clearly and then we know why we tic in a certain way. You are worth it, you know. There are others like you, I’m not sure of their direction, but there is always a reason to continue."

“It always comes back to the breath. There is something so vital about breathing. When I look at my skeleton, I realize that one of my patterns is to help people too much. People that see the world through pessimistic eyes. One of my learnings is to realize that you cannot help everyone. Sometimes it’s better for ourselves to let go and say goodbye. What are your learnings? Is there something that you can learn?”

Turning to the fire, she inhales deeply. “Ah, the rays of sunshine. They give me so much pleasure. I am the type of person that is very easily pleased via the senses, and likewise I am the type of person who feels pain intensely. I believe that is who I am. But if I see an insect feeling pain, I feel pain. We are each similar to a computer. Every experience we experience from the time of being foals, we store those and we process them. We choose how to process them, but they all go into a databank affecting our journey and who we are. So if a caregiver didn’t hug you enough, you might be more inclined to lie with skeletons. But you must focus on your values and your memories. You can choose how to calculate your sum. I know you are the type of pony who can sit in the present and accept yourself. Breath away your problems.”

A moment passes. Pinkie nods her head once. “Yes, that’s right.”

Thank you. The camera zooms out and away.