Only Human

"Either god laughs or god cries."

-My college Anthropology teacher

The sun's ray's shimmered off the green waters of the bay a few miles away from Point Reyes. It was a rather clear day for the region even for spring, so as the only shelter available was under the various Monterrey Pines scattered across the Monastery's property. The last Abbot an almost skeletal Caucasian man whose snow white beard nearly touched the ground had wanted to try importing Bodhi Trees from India but after a few attempts it became clear that they wouldn't take in the cool wet climate save for the one in the center of the courtyard, which was nicknamed Oshbacher. Even from the rock gardens at the edges of the compounds it's top was still visible. A testament to a lot of love, and even more hard work put into keeping it around. The tree even acted as a sundial for one of the few places in first world which didn't allow smartphones, and tended to look down on ostentatious watches. The general consensus was that strict artificial time tables and constant stimuli weren't good for spiritual attainment or the soul in general.

Pinkie wiped her forehead after a few gentle but determined rakes which made little waves through the rocks before her. She liked Oshbacher, she'd even talk with him from time to time but she definitely liked the rock garden better. Maybe it was because of the solitude it afforded, maybe it was because it reminded her of a home she couldn't go back to. The thought of that home caused her arm to involuntarily shake, causing her to give a very unzen-like harrumph, she thought she had gotten so good at using them. She wondered if all humans had to deal with all these sudden jerks, after all they had so many joints. She'd send a letter to Twilight about it, she'd know not that she'd reply to her anytime soon. Nah, it was best to ask another one of the other members, probably Chen or Kaylie. They'd always indulge her with these requests, maybe she could even find a funny way to deliver it though props would be hard to come by and she doubted they'd let her near the art supplies unnoticed after what the Abbot referred to as her 'yama series'. All of which she personally requested be taken away as they reminded her of a very dark point in her life.
Pinkie didn't choose to come here, this wasn't even community service like what Twilight or Rarity were doing or at least not actually. In theory it was supposed to be but as Twilight would once say "Theory and reality are two very different things". When the judges got to poor Pinkie she was broken and largely nonverbal, alternating between fits of manic laughter and feeble sobbing. The Psychiatric institutes didn't help, the nurses weren't nice, they didn't even give her lollipops after her injections just more injections and pills. Shoved into her mouth without consent, some of them worked but a lot of them just made the hurt worse. She was only sent here because she was too sane to be stuck in a straitjacket in San Jose, and too broken and controversial to return to normal life.

Little wonder that her first set of paintings here were rather gruesome. Blood, gore, and darkness shrouded images of humans being stepped on by massive hooves and little pink ponies being ripped to shreds. As she regained her sanity they got more complex, more symbolic culminating in a parade of equine shadows swimming through an upside down river of blood which poured into the upturned mouths of various wrathful deities. A lot of the other people there said she could keep at it, sell them and get more funding for the monastery but she didn't want anything to do with them. Even the thought of them caused her to frown.

Frown.
She didn't like that word, never did and most likely never would. In her mind unless art had a message worth telling then it shouldn't make you frown, the world was sad and scary enough. She especially didn't want to add to that anymore. Crying and screaming sure, Pinkie was an unabashed fan of Pixar and Sam Raimi flicks were a guilty pleasure, but there were always laughs to be had too. A little smile permeating all the darkness and terror. She liked her rock art, it was a lot more simple and a lot less impressive but it was nice, calming, people smiled when they saw it even if it was mostly over the fact she was smiling. It made her feel productive even if it was at most a mental exercise designed to encourage discipline and meditative states of mind.

Pinkie knew this but it was still very easy to pretend she was supplying rocks to all those hungry earth ponies in Equestria. She wondered if her sisters were among those hungry ponies, from what little news she got things weren't looking too great there outside the cities. The EFF were everywhere and were doing constant raids on the citizens leaving whole towns afraid to leave their homes after dark. The Crystal Empire still had enough radiation to make Fukishima Daiyo look like an Amish Hamlet, the weather was going more and more haywire, and Ponyville was still under forty feet of rubble.
Maud was fine, she was working as a contractor in some Geology work for what was left of S.M.I.L.E near mount Everhoof, she sent her a letter once a month. Usually talking about various samples she'd found or diagrams of the tunnels she'd dug. If anypony else sent her these Pinkie would skip them and politely pretend to pay attention, but for Maud she read each with rapt attention. Marble was a different story, from what little personal information Maud gave it appeared Marble had ran off to Baltimare and changed her last name. She couldn't live with being a Pie with the connotations the name now held in both Equestria and earth, dad was crushed. Limestone disappeared off the face of the earth, not even Marble knew where she was. All Pinkie could do was hope she didn't join the EFF, and more importantly that she was safe... wherever she was. None of them deserved this, especially when in her mind she was getting off relatively light. Other ponies shouldn't be caught up in another pony, or person's Karma.

With a few noisy scrapes Pinkie was done, allowing her to step back and enjoy her masterpiece as the sun's rays just reached it. In her mind it was her greatest work yet, a smiley face complete with cheeks turned up as if to give it a slightly chubby appearance. The light of morning causing shadows which gave an almost tired look to the once gormless eyes of the face in the eastern rock garden. She knew her time was up, in more ways than one. That eventually she'd have to leave the safety of the monastery and try and work off some of her bad Karma before she kicked the bucket at the farm she just bought. It would be sad, and many would try and persuade her to stay. Almost everyone here was her friend, and they kept telling her how much brighter she made things around here, how inspiring she was, and how infectious her disposition was. But she needed to do more, sorting food donations every weekend and raising funds for the nearby children's hospital wouldn't cut it. She wasn't sure what would but she definitely knew that those would definitely not cut it. War Orphans, rebuilding cities, redeeming every last member of the EFF personally. Those are the kind of things that she needed to do or at least die trying.
Who knows, thought Pinkie as she turned away from the face to stare at the waves which rolled beneath the cliffs, maybe she'd get to reincarnate as a pet alligator.