In recent years, we have seen the meteoric rise to fame of Django's mascot, the much-loved Django Pony; with universal acclaim, she has been a guiding symbol, uniting Django developers worldwide.

Yet the turbulent history of this well-known figure is relatively unknown; her past is shrouded in mystery so deep that even our highly underpaid researchers had trouble unmasking it, even with the help of our anonymous source.¹

Django Pony's formative years are the most mysterious of all; there are no birth records for any member of Equus Volatilis from that period; given the rare breed, this is very odd, even taking the species' magical powers into consideration.

Indeed, there have been rumours that Django Pony is not all she appears to be; in a leaked document from late 2008, there are claims that Django Pony is in fact a mechanically-operated exoskeletal animatronic body - while this may seem implausible, after extensive research² we've determined it is indeed possible, provided you have enough funding, and at least two (but possibly three) mad scientists.

(Our attempts to replicate the effect with a cat, cardboard tubes, and fake fur were unsuccessful, although the research department believes this is due to an insufficient number of captions on the cat³.)

To try and verify this rumour, we sent one of our best researchers undercover to try and obtain a DNA sample for analysis, during one of Django Pony's few public appearances. Unfortunately, he returned with only a autographed hoofprint and a moderately brighter outlook on life; we suspect that Django Pony must be equipped with a lower-power version of Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field.⁴

However, while her early years are still mostly unknown, a great deal more is known about her more recent activities. In 2007, Django Pony moved to California in search of a new life. With an image that appealed to the younger generation, she was quickly doing photoshoots for small businesses, and was the logo for My Little Pony's short-lived "My Little Glue Factory" set.

Unsatisfied with small-time adverts and minor branding, she was looking for a big break - a major branding opportunity. Luckily, news came through that the Django community (well known as one of the world's finest social groups) was holding a conference nearby, and that local speaker Cal Henderson was to give one of the keynotes.

Cal is, of course, a master of deception and subliminal messaging. In exchange for a bribe⁵, he wove the idea of the Django Pony into his presentation, leaving subtle⁶ hints everywhere. One man - a certain Bryan Veloso - was particularly affected by Cal's psychological onslought, and succumbed, spearheading the overwhelmingly successful appointment of Django Pony as community mascot.

Drunk with her newfound fame, and pleased at how quickly and easily the community had succumbed, Django Pony toured the country, meeting Django developers everywhere, helping with bug reports and code reviews; the effect was overwhelmingly beneficial, and as the new year came around, a revitalized and energetic Django community headed for PyCon, led by their new figurehead.

Determined to make her first major public appearance holding the new position of Django mascot, she arrived in Chicago buoyed by optimism. However, things quickly turned ugly; a gang of rogue Django developers known only as 'Pinax' decided to kidnap Django Pony for their own nefarious purposes. Thankfully, Django Pony managed to escape with only a minimum of casualties.⁷

Shocked by her hostage experience, Django Pony turned to both alcohol and even one night stands to try and forget the experience, ending up wandering the streets of Chicago in a drug-induced haze. Luckily, she was found by a group of core Python contributors, out hunting the GIL⁸, and taken back to the hotel.

Both hungover and humbled, Django Pony realised the error of her ways, and decided to try and help the community, ushering attendees into Django talks, erasing mentions of Zope and Pylons from the programme, and even making up with a (now reassembled) James Tauber, as well as many other Django developers.

She went on to make appearances at EuroDjangoCon 2009 and then DjangoCon 2009, clearly a reformed character; she was crucial in finally getting Django 1.1 out the door, even flying down to Australia with a copy of the Trac database, allowing Russ to finally download more than five tickets an hour over his cutting-edge Australian internet.

However, there are still many unanswered questions about the Django Pony. How did she get her name? How do those wings fold away when she's not flying? More importantly, is there any substance to the rumour that she stole the magic removed from Django itself four years ago?⁹

Even with these mysteries, though, we can still conclude that Django Pony has definitely been of benefit to the Django community; in a year where so many other technologies were competing, Django has steamed ahead, with new features, new committers, and new releases, and if Django Pony has anything to do with it, this coming year will be even better.¹⁰