Pinkie Pie’s goal in life is mostly to make other laugh. And if she can have fun too while doing it, she wouldn’t really mind at all. But it is remarkable to notice how good Pinkie Pie is at understanding others and how to treat them and lead them to have fun together.
It is good to keep in mind that, even for Pinkie Pie, making other laugh is no small feat at all. And, in fact, it so happened that she once almost lost her confidence in her capacity to bring a smile to everyponies faces.
All it took was one joke. Only a little, very simple joke.
And Pinkie Pie had found it to be hilarious. Just thinking about it had had her laugh for hours and she just couldn’t wait to tell all her friends about it and have the opportunity to laugh with them. There was, however, a little problem that Pinkie Pie’s instinct saw. The joke could be misinterpreted. It wasn’t the most conventional one and would probably take some precautions to be enjoyed as Pinkie Pie expected the joke to be.
The good thing was, Pinkie Pie trusted her friends. She was sure they would understand that a joke is nothing more than a joke. And that how unconventional a joke can be, its goal stays to have fun.
That’s why Pinkie Pie decided to tell the joke around her, beginning, due to the nature of the joke, with Twilight. So she went straight to the library.
On the way, she rehearsed the joke, to be certain not to tell it wrong. And she imagined their reactions. Twilight would certainly compliment her on how smart the joke was. Rainbow Dash would probably be thrilled about how twisted the joke was. She hoped for Fluttershy to appreciate the simplicity of the joke and for Rarity to find it delightfully refined. Not forgetting Applejack who would probably just very honestly laugh about it.
She was a little disappointed to find only Spike in the library as she arrived. Not that she couldn’t find Twilight, even if she had hoped so, but because that made her notice she had forgotten about him. How would he react about the joke?
She saw no reason not to tell him, so she began to discuss with him and let him agree to hear the joke out.
The door opened before Twilight just as she was going to enter the library. She saw Spike coming out, with a very concerned face. As he saw Twilight, he told her that Pinkie Pie was here and that they may have been something wrong with her, because she was even weirder than usual. Having said that, he just left, leaving Twilight wondering, as well as a surprised Pinkie Pie.
In fact, the pink pony didn’t expect that kind of reaction. But maybe it was just because Spike was a dragon. Didn’t make much sense, but she still believed in her joke – she had found it funny, why wouldn’t everypony else? – and was ready to find any excuse to keep on believing in it. She welcomed Twilight and told her she had a joke to tell her. Twilight wasn’t really in the mood for jokes, but told her she would hear it out.
“Okay” said Pinkie Pie, “But first, you’ve got to understand, this is a joke”.
Twilight agreed to understand. But she didn’t laugh at the joke. In fact she looked even more concerned than Spike was just before her. She asked Pinkie Pie if she was feeling alright, which brought her friend to wonder what was going on. Until then, everypony had always laughed with good heart with every joke she had made or told.
Pinkie assured Twilight she was feeling well, told her it was no big deal that she didn’t like the joke and rushed out of the library to go look for another one of her friend and try the joke once again. She had lied, she wasn’t feeling that well. In fact, she was suddenly beginning to feel an emotion she didn’t really knew and that was perturbing her.
She found Rainbow Dash and Applejack who were once again trying to prove to the other one that she was the best. In that case, the best at pushing up. And Rainbow Dash was beginning to suffer as it seemed that Applejack could do more push up with her sole legs than she could with both her legs and wings.
But Pinkie Pie rushed in their little competition and interrupted them, in a big hurry to try her joke once again. They finally accepted to hear her out, after concluding that they would have to begin the competition again later.
“Okay” told them Pinkie Pie, “But it’s very, very important that you understand. This is a joke.”
They both nodded their heads to show that they agreed to understand. But they didn’t react to the joke the way Pinkie Pie expected. Rainbow Dash began to get angry and Applejack, who had looked very embarrassed on how to lie to Pinkie Pie about how she didn’t like the joke, finally began to laugh, but only at Rainbow Dash for getting all worked up, which, evidently, made Rainbow Dash even angrier.
Pinkie Pie began to panic a little. Her mind couldn’t think fast enough to understand what was going on. She had done everything as she normally did, but it just wasn’t working. At all.
She left her two friends without even taking the time to say goodbye and rushed to Fluttershy’s cottage, and hammered at the door. Fluttershy opened the door, just to have Pinkie Pie grasp her with her hooves and telling her that she had a joke that she needed to tell her. Poor Fluttershy was a little scared by her friend, but finally found out there was no danger and told Pinkie Pie she would like to hear that joke.
“Good” began Pinkie Pie, “But it’s very important, it’s crucial, it’s superduperhyperultramega important that you understand, okay? Right? This is a joke, okay? Yes?”
Pinkie Pie was hardly able to catch her breath. Fluttershy, feeling concerned for a friend, agreed to be very comprehensive. In a way, she wasn’t sure why Pinkie was taking all those precautions.
And she didn’t laugh. Not that she had found the joke bad or anything: she just didn’t get it. Pinkie repeated the joke ten times in row, each time faster and with a little more despair in her voice, but Fluttershy just… didn’t get it. And felt sorry not to get it.
A part of Pinkie’s mind was crumbling, leaving a big unknown void that began to fill itself with madness. In other word, panic was slowly taking the best of her, she felt disoriented, even lost and, altogether, needed to find a way back to reality. And the only way back she thought of was to make one of her friend laugh with her joke. And as there was only one of her friend left, she appeared in front of Rarity.
We won’t even try to understand how she got there. But we can say Pinkie Pie startled Rarity when just coming out of nowhere, with craziness all over her mane, tail, eyes and entire body.
“Rarity!” said Pinkie Pie, “I’ve got a joke and you’re going to like it and laugh, laugh, laugh!”
Rarity was ready to do almost anything to help a friend, so she just went along and signified she would hear the joke and laugh.
“Alright.” began Pinkie Pie, “But please, please please pleeeeeeease try to understand, okay? You’ve just got to understand!” she begged, “This is a joke!”
Rarity assured Pinkie Pie she was a very understanding pony and she wouldn’t get upset whatever the joke would be. And for a moment, Pinkie Pie still had some hope left. Rarity even got it. But, as all of her friends before, she didn’t laugh.
Well, she tried to. As a lady and a friend, she thought it would have been very impolite not to laugh to someone else joke. But the inquisitive look Pinkie Pie was giving her made things so awkward that she was unable to fake her laugh good enough even for a very laugh hungry Pinkie Pie to believe it.
“I’m really sorry Pinkie Pie.” tried to apologize Rarity.
“Oh, it’s nothing” tried to convince her the pink pony, “After all, you’ve got the right to not find me funny at all.”
And Pinkie left before Rarity could add anything. For once, she felt like she wanted to be alone. Well, she did want to be with her friends, which meant about anypony in town, but at that moment, she felt like she wasn’t fit to be with them anymore.
In other words, Pinkie Pie felt broken.
She kept wondering why, tried to understand, but it was such an odd feeling for her that she finally just gave up. She had arrived to the conclusion that she had just lost it. Her talent to make other ponies laugh. She must have changed somehow.
She headed to the everfree forest, moaning about who she had become and how much she hated it. She thought that in the forest, at least, there would be nopony to make a fool of herself.
It was counting without Zecora, who bumped into her in the middle of nowhere.
The zebra was pretty surprised to see Pinkie Pie, as the pink pony didn’t come very often in the woods. She invited Pinkie to come to her house and offered her some tea. Then, after a little while, she asked Pinkie Pie what she was doing in the everfree forest.
“I’m going away. I’m a no-good pony who can’t make other ponies laugh anymore.” answered Pinkie Pie. “And if that was all, but Spike and Twilight both thought I was ill, Rainbow Dash got all angry, Applejack laughed at her, Fluttershy didn’t even get my joke and Rarity had so much pity for me that she tried to fake her smile.” She sighed and added: “I’m pathetic. I’m of no use if I can’t make other ponies laugh.”
Zecora heard her and believed she had understood what it was all about. But just to be sure, she asked to hear that famous joke that had brought so much trouble in Pinkie’s life.
“Oh no!” responded Pinkie, “You’ll just think I’m crazy, or get angry or even laugh at me! I won’t tell any joke any more in my whole entire life…”
But Zecora insisted and finally persuaded Pinkie Pie to tell her the joke.
“If you wish.” sighed the the pink pony. “But I’m not responsible of the consequences anymore.” She added. “You’ve got to understand. This is a joke.”
A silent followed. And Zecora laughed. She very honestly laughed at Pinkie Pie’s joke.
“You’re laughing? Why are you laughing, everypony else thought it was just the worst joke ever!” asked Pinkie Pie, suddenly very eager to know.
So Zecora told her that her joke wasn’t a bad one. In fact, she thought it was a pretty good joke – she didn’t tell her it was actually one of her favorite – and that all the troubles she had experienced with it before was just the result of ponies having different way of seeing humor. And to prove her point, she convinced Pinkie Pie to hear a Zebra joke.
It was the story of a zebra who was on a tree when another Zebra came by and asked what he was doing there. The first Zebra answered that he had heard other animals used tree to go on tree to protect themselves, to which the second Zebra answered that it only worked if you actually “climbed” the tree.
Pinkie Pie didn’t get it. And she didn’t laugh. But on the other hoof, she understood Zecora’s point.
“I get it!” she said with joy, “Not every joke will make ponies laugh, it’s just a matter of humor.”
Zecora added that it was a little more complex than that, but Pinkie Pie didn’t hear it as she was thrilled to know she hadn’t lost her talent to make other ponies laugh, she had just had bad luck with one of her joke. But she had plenty others that she could try and use.
She thanked Zecora and left to go back into Ponyville and have fun with her friend, which she actually did. And since then, when one of her joke didn’t work, she just passed to another one, not taking it too personally.
And for Zecora, she just sighed a little, because she actually liked the story of the zebra on a tree.
THE END
Author's Note
The story isn't meant to be funny. Just a reminder that you can't be funny everytime you try.
Put a warning, because I've already one hidden story, don't want to hide all the controversial ones (I'm not much for hiding). But I thought the "dislikes" would be enough to warn about the story.
Pinkie's bad joke is:
1) "You have to understand" (because the joke need you to think about it)
2) "It's a joke"
The point of the joke is that it is a joke (by definition, a joke is a joke), but it isn't (it's not funny, no story, no play on words, etc...). It only makes people like me laugh (which probably means dumb people, don't care) and mocks the fact that, in humor, you have to tell the others you're joking almost everytime you try and tell a joke (I'm kidding, it's a joke, you know it's a joke, I'm just joking, etc...).
Well, the point of the story wasn't to tell a joke, but to point out that:
- you can't please everybody
- what you feel is great is always seen otherwise by other people
In some extent, I say that there are some things that you can't share, because they won't see what you see.
