It is wise not to judge a book by its cover.

Another visit by Ponyville’s seemingly least exciting guest had concluded. “See ya Pinkie and Pinkie’s friends. Remember the rocks.” Maud Pie said like a stone as she departed at the train station. Thus her “second” trip to Ponyville was complete.

“Oh don’t you just love Maud? I must have done something right to have a sister like her!” Pinkie said ecstatically to her friends as the train pulled out.

“At the very least I can’t deny the way she crushes dangerous falling boulders is awesome.” Rainbow Dash remarked.

“Well, I’m just glad to let Maud be herself even if she is a little… reserved.” Twilight added.

Truly it’s an enigma to an outside viewer how Maud and Pinkie Pie could be sisters yet be so radically different. Pinkie is a bouncing embodiment of hyperactive happy craziness that never stops moving.

Maud appeared to be a humble rock farmer of limited emotion and unexciting demeanor to everypony. Everything she did seemed to be as if in slow motion unless it was an emergency. Even her poetry showed little sign of liveliness. She really appears to be the closest thing to a living rock. In fact, a typical rock may have even noted her lack of enthusiasm.

~~~~~~~~

That is exactly how she wanted to be perceived. Little did her sister and friends know she led a double life. If she could help it they would never know either.

Part of this double life is directly related to the control and if necessary rehabilitation of rouge elements in Equestrian society. It would seem ironic and perhaps troubling then that one of the potential rouge elements was Pinkie Pie herself. The reasons for her visits to see Pinkie are in fact to evaluate and determine whether further adjustment actions are necessary.

Maud returned to the rock farm house and began writing her report in the office room. It was serious business that didn’t open with “Dear Princess Celestia” for sure. She penned lots of technical jargon that only a hoof-full of ponies would grasp. This biannual follow up with Pinkie was a success as usual.

Counseling agent Maud Pie worked for the Equestrian Security Bureau as a mind washer. She hated to use the powers of the ESB on her own sister and friends, but duty to country calls and you must answer. The ESB answered directly to Celestia. Luna, Cadence, and Twilight Sparkle could only access partially censored documents from this division. It’s that secretive. Twilight doesn’t suspect a thing yet.

Maud’s double life work was a great unknown to anypony without one of the highest levels of clearance. One of her noteworthy cases involved personality adjustment for a Mr. Steven Magnet. His crying over losing a portion of his mustache was causing destructive flooding around Equestria. Celestia dispatched Maud to use hypnosis and convince him that his mustache was intact whether or not it actually was. The operation was a success and the flooding was halted.

In another case she had to convince a stallion who was obsessed with jelly that such behavior was not sociable. In a move to convince him that he won a lifetime supply of jelly, she actually covertly hypnotized him into believing that he was allergic to the very substance of his fetish.

~~~~~~~~

Back in her farm house office Maud concluded her writing and began to review her comprehensive notes of the case from the beginning. The wild and happy Pinkie Pie is the therapeutically altered and controlled version of the pony few know as Pinkamena Diane Pie.

Pinkamena had tendencies at a young age that involved generally subtle aggression against rocks. Sometimes this aggression was less subtle and put rock harvests in jeopardy. One time her entourage of imaginary helper rocks wasn’t working quickly enough. They were given summary executions.

Another instance had Pinkamena overturn a cart full of rocks after complaining their loud music was distracting her from work. Clearly her delusions and aggression against rocks was becoming a cause for concern.

There was finally a day it just happened that Pinkamena’s anti-social behavior was unexpectedly remedied by the sight of a rainbow that accompanied a loud boom.

This was a very useful development to observe. Some ponies can be altered by certain audio or visual stimuli. In Pinkamena’s case it requires the visual aid of rainbows to keep her pacified. Perhaps it is of great help the coincidence of Rainbow Dash being one of her closest friends. The sight of her rainbow colored mane and tail help maintain Pinkie's state of pacification.

The relocation to Ponyville was thus very much appropriate for Pinkie Pie to maintain her socially acceptable persona. Thanks to the presence of a mare with a rainbow colored mane, she didn’t need a weekly rainbow in the sky to keep her from becoming the rock threatening sociopath she once was. Still there was somehow an instance of relapse by Pinkie that brought about an unhealthy cupcake obsession, but Maud stealthily used rainbow visual aids and hypnosis to psychologically stabilize Pinkamena during an emergency visit. Pinkie had no memory of Maud even being there.

The young Maud Pie took great note of how Pinkie was changed by the visual stimulus of a rainbow. It was the study of and desires to correct the behavior of Pinkie that led Maud to becoming an agent. Once she was old enough to do more than rock farm, she began psychology courses at Ponyville Community College. If it was possible to transform the rock endangering Pinkamena into the happy Pinkie, she felt that troubled minds throughout Equestria could be molded into upstanding citizens. In just two years Maud went from being an intern to a full agent. And interestingly enough her own sister became one of her principal cases.

With that Maud wasn’t just an agent; she was the most respected R&D implementer in the field. It was indeed Maud’s personal observation of a visual stimulus having the power to alter the mental state of a pony that made her such a valuable asset to the ESB. This observation and subsequent study gave the organization immense insight into a new tool of behavioral modification.

Returning to her report, Maud looked at the conclusive summary she had written and read it over.

“The success of turning my sister from the anti-social Pinkamena into the jubilant Pinkie seems to validate our hypothesis once again. As this upbeat Pinkie Pie she infects others with her joy. Not only can we improve the attitude and behavior of an individual pony, it seems feasible that we can end dissent and potential insurrection against the state through these possibly contagious behavioral adjustments. These techniques seem worthy of broader application to the general Equestrian public.”

She would reevaluate Pinkie Pie in another six months under the guise of a friendly visit. In the meantime her postal documents may have contained among them something pertaining to another assignment. Unsurprisingly there was a particular parcel Maud knew to be classified but no civilian pony would recognize as such. Maud picked up the letter and opened it. As expected the message within relayed a new case from the ESB for her to work with.

“The subject is a mail delivery pegasus mare with coordination and socialization issues. Her unwitting destruction of public property must be cordoned off via personality adjustment. Establish communiqué by offering her one of her favorite food items: a muffin. She lives at the following address…”

Author's Note

Another EqD WTG submission. It can be a series if viewers find it worthy. The prompt I used for this week:

"While it was nice to meet Pinkie and her friends, Maud Pie must now return to her regular life. She never did let Pinkie know about her other side..."