Impurity

When you grow up on a farm, you learn patience. You learn to count everything as a blessing, and not to take any of these blessings for granted, especially if you love nothing more than to make others happy, and if the farm in question is actually a rock farm.

Rock farms differ from simple quarries or mining operations in a few key ways: firstly, they are entirely sustainable. To draw an obvious comparison, a quarry is like a massive logging expedition, which, while arguably faster than the sustainable alternative, leaves the area devoid of resources and wreaks havoc upon the environment. On the other hoof, a rock farm draws parallels with an orchard or plantation, whereupon harvesting, the rock—or tree—is replaced, and thus ready to be harvested again come next harvest.

Rock farms are almost always family owned and operated, and operate within their communities. The average rock farm is run by a pious married couple—or rather, a pious husband and an indifferent wife—and staffed by the younger two of their four daughters—one a dropout, and the other a depressive recluse—as well as half a dozen workers for hire that live on the farm. Their other daughters have moved out and found success elsewhere: their eldest didn't fall far from the tree, and is pursuing an education in the studies of geology, petrology, and petriculture. The other took after her grandmother, and became a confectioner and a party planner.

     "That's the ticket." said a clay-brown earth pony as he watched his daughters toil away. "Keep diggin'."

     In small pit below him, three fillies were hard at work, digging with pickaxes and shovels, attacking the ground and occasionally producing hoof-sized chunks of sparkling black rock, which they placed into a pile near where the he was standing.

     The oldest of the three handled her pick with experienced grace, guiding the haft with her front legs while balancing on her rear legs. Watching her, the second-oldest attempted to imitate her technique, and ended up a blur of magenta and dirt, her pickaxe twirling through the air and landing in the dirt next to the stallion, as he recoiled away from it.

     "Watch it, Pinkamena." he said sternly.

     "Sorry, father." said the pink pony, looking up at him with wide eyes through her long, straight mane.

     "Maybe you should just stick with the shovel for now."

     "Yes, sir." she said, ducking her head down as she turned towards the pile of glistening black rocks, next to which a shovel was stuck into the ground. She plucked this from the ground, and went to work next to the younger sister—Inkie, who also had been deemed unready for wielding a pick.

     Together, the pair unearthed three more nodules of the shimmering stone before Pa whistled loudly and called all three of them over to the pile.

     "That's enough." he said as he picked up one of the rock chunks and held it close to his face, examining it intently. "Do any y'all know what this is?"

     The eldest sister, Maud, spoke up. "Is it... onyx?"

     Pa shook his head, at the same time turning the stone and watching the way the light played off its smooth, reflective surface. "Nope. Good guess, though. See how this breaks a certain way, like it has a shape it's supposed to be?" he asked, tracing its polyhedral surface with his other hoof. "Onyx doesn't do that."

     Maud looked on with genuine interest as he explained the intricacies of mineral cleavage, fracture, and diaphaneity, while the other two fillies stood in silent boredom for several minutes as Maud continuously nodded and asked questions. She was the only one of the three that had any particular interest in work on a rock farm, and could spend hours at a time learning about minerals and rocks and crystals.

     "So, if it's not onyx..." she asked, after maybe twenty minutes of explanations from the elder stallion,  "...what is it?"

     "Theurgite. Mage-stone. Really useful stuff for magic-types. It's what goes into things like runite and mithril to make them so special to unicorns. For us, though, it's just a pain in the flank." he said, as he tossed the lump over his shoulder and into the pile. "Probably the pickiest mineral I've ever worked with. Everything has to come together just right, or it turns to some worthless crystal trash. If the purity ain't top-notch, then when they go to refine it, it'll turn to thaumaturgite, which'll kill a pony dead just from touchin' it." he explained, making the two younger daughters to gulp in fright while the eldest continued to gawk in interest.

     "That's all fer now. Finish up the fields, and then I might have a surprise for ya."

     This caused the three fillies to stir with excitement, and begin murmuring to one another as they walked away from the small mage-stone quarry and towards one of the  main fields, where they worked silently, flipping stones, burying some and uncovering others based on production schedules that Pa had been teaching them since they were tiny fillies. After almost two hours of this, the field was done, and the three fillies began making their way towards the house.

I waited outside the bathroom while Maud was taking her shower—she was the oldest, see, so she got to go first—and next to me was Inkie, of course, because we had just come back in from the field doing rock stuff out there, and we were both covered in dust and dirt and ick and so we had to shower to get all that off or else we'd get all itchy and burny later because the dirt would rub us weird like sandpaper and that hurt.

It didn't take long for Maud to be done because she didn't take very long showers—she did most things pretty quickly—and so then it was my turn to get in the shower. I was covered in dirt all over me but that wouldn't be a problem because the shower cleaned quickly because the water was very strong or something. It was nice to just stand under it. I liked to stand under the shower and think. I stood under the shower and began to think.

Those rocks were weird. You gotta grow 'em just right or they go all nasty-spooky and then they can kill ponies. I began soaping up and rotating under the stream of water so that it could get all the dirt off of me.

I wonder if the same thing happens to ponies? I mean, how are we growing? Are we growing right? I think I am. I absent-mindedly scrubbed behind one ear with a sudsy sponge. I know Maud is. She likes rocks a whole lot, and, wouldn't ya know it, she lives on a rock farm.

Pa had mentioned a surprise. I wonder what that could be? I hope it's rock candy again. I like candy. I like surprises.

I just so happened to also be a very quick shower-taker. I would usually get lost in thought for a couple of minutes and then realize that I was done cleaning. So I was done cleaning, and I got out of the shower and then it was Inkie's turn. Maud had probably already left to go to her room to do whatever it is she does in there all the time and it was never a good idea to bother her when she's doing that, and I didn't feel like standing around and waiting for Inkie to finish showering (she would probably stand under the water for hours if you let her), so to avoid being bored I ran off to the kitchen to see Ma.

"Hi mommy!" I chirped as I skidded to a halt right outside the kitchen door.

"Pinkamena, how many times do I have to tell you," mommy scolded. "You're supposed to call me 'mother,' not 'mommy.'" She was too busy doing whatever she was doing at the counter to get actually mad or even care too much.

I just said "'kay." and then turned around to the kitchen table because Blinkie was there. I greeted her in my usual manner.

"Blinkie!" I screeched.

The itty-bitty filly-foal looked up from her drawing and smiled this huge smile and it made her drop her crayon and then she shouted back: "Ping!" She wasn't old enough yet to actually make words but she definitely was pretty talkative.

I returned the greeting again, and this went back-and-forth for a little while, and she got farther and farther from my name each time:

"Blinkie!"

"Ponk!"

"Blinkie!"

"Poni!"

"Blinkie!"

"Bangeh!"

"How did you come up with the name 'Blinkie,' anyways?" asked mommy.

"Well, you see, I'm 'Pinkie,' and that's 'cause of my name and also 'cause I'm pink, and then 'cause Marble's so dark-looking I thought it would be funny to call her 'Inkie' y'know like ink 'cause ink is dark, and then there was Limestone and I couldn't think of anything to call her because she doesn't look like anything that rhymes with 'ink' so I just decided 'Blinkie' for no reason."

"Uh-huh. And what about Maud?"

"Oh, she's just Maud." I said. Maud was an easy name so she didn't need a nickname. Pinkamena and Marble and Limestone were all harder names so we all had nicknames.

"Uh-huh." said Ma again.

"So..." I started, and I walked over to mommy's side, looking over her shoulder. "...whatcha doin'?"

"Baking."

"Oh. So whatcha baking?" I kinda sorta liked baking. I really liked sweets.

"Cupcakes."

That was exactly what I wanted to hear. I started jumping up and down on the spot. "Cupcakes? Oh boy! What kinda cupcakes? Chocolate? Or vanilla? Chocolate and vanilla? Vanilla and chocolate? Marshmallow? Suga—"

"Lemon. Granny's favorite."

"Granny?" I stopped bouncing. "Is Granny coming? Today?"

I don't remember what happened next very clearly. I jumped around a lot and I think broke a plate and the walls got wet and at some point Maud came into the room. It had been ages since I'd seen Granny and I just couldn't wait she was my favoritest pony in the whole wide world she tells jokes and throws parties and—

     "Cupcakes! Oh boy! What kinda cupcakes?" Pinkie was bouncing up and down in place and seemed to physically brighten. "Chocolate? Or vanilla? Chocolate and vanilla? Vanilla and chocolate? Marshmallow? Suga—"

     "Lemon. Granny's favorite."

     "Granny?" Pinkie stopped bouncing and tilted her head to the side. "Granny's coming?"

     Pinkie was now parading around the room, bouncing from the floor to the counter to the table to the cupboard, almost literally bouncing off the walls. Her mane and tail, which had been hanging straight down due to the water from the shower, puffed up almost explosively, misting the wooden walls and floor of the room with droplets of water.

     "Yes. Pinkie. Pink— Calm down. Pinkam—" As Mother Pie struggled to get the ballistic pink horse to calm down, Maud entered the kitchen.

     "What set Pinkie off?" she asked, her voice raised to be heard over her more-energetic sister's continuing exultations ("OhboyohboyohboyGrannyohboyohboy!").

     "Granny is coming over soon."

      "Yeah, father mentioned that." said Maud. “I guess he didn’t tell Pinkie.”

      "Gee, I wonder why…" said Ma Pie, as she ducked down to dodge a blurred pink projectile.

Me and Blinkie and Inkie and Maud stood next to the gate at the farm, watching the horizon for anypony coming this way. Inkie and me were right up next to the fence 'cause we were super-duper excited and wanted to be ready to greet her. Maud was a couple of feet behind us and Blinkie was sitting on her back.

From the gate we could see really, really far, so we could spot ponies coming towards us for miles, 'cause the farm was on a hill.

Blinkie was the first to spot her. "Gwaeeh!" she called, and pointed her hoof towards the horizon.

Sure enough, somepony was just now coming over the opposite hill towards us.

Immediately, I started hopping down the trail, and Inkie was right behind me, and Maud kinda moseyed along behind us with Blinkie.

It took a little while for Granny to notice us approaching her, and then she started walking faster and when I finally caught up with her, I couldn't help but jump on her and give her a super-duper great big hug.

"Granny!" I cried.

"Hello, Pinkie." said Granny Pie. She wrapped a front leg around me and pulled me close. "Have you been good?" She was purple and I was pink and that was weird to me. She had explained it to me once. She drew a square with some letters in it, and told me that it was 'cause of what she called a "resessessive treat" which made me like her even though none of my sisters were and neither of my parents were.

"I threw a pick today." I said cheerfully.

Granny sighed. "Iggie's still got you working in the fields, does he?"

"He says it builds character." said Inkie as she caught up with us.

"That he does." said Granny and then she sighed again and then we all walked together towards the farm.

Granny brought presents!

I mean, of course she brought presents (she always does) but still it's exciting!

She got Marble a fancy pen and apparently she didn't know about the name "Inkie" for her because when I told her about it she laughed and we all laughed really hard together.

Blinkie got a new bib, which is hardly surprising because she's still just a baby and what else are you gonna get a baby? And Maud got a rock, which I thought was funny because for anypony else that would be a really weird thing to get as a gift but for Maud it was perfect. Pa got a book and Ma got some candles.

And me, I got the super-duper coolestest gift of them all! She gave me a packet of balloons and streamers and confetti, and she told me that she knew deep down in her heart that I was going to be a party pony just like her when I grew up! And so she taught me how to blow up the balloons, and lay out the streamers and confetti, and then we had a party! She told me that every party has to celebrate something, so I decided that this one was to celebrate her visit. She visited every coupl'a months but it always felt like longer to me so I thought that was a good reason to celebrate. She said that it most definitely was, and so we blew up all the balloons and laid out the streamers in the old shed and we set all these things up to have a really big, great party.

     The small auxiliary shed on the edge of the farm was currently filled to capacity. It was hardly a roomy building at the best of times, but now it was packed with some dozen ponies; in attendance were Ma and Pa Pie, Granny Pie, Inkie, Blinkie, Pinkie, and Maud, and a half-dozen workers who lived on the farm. Most of the attendees milled about awkwardly in the too-small shed, stepping over balloons and trampling confetti. Ma and Blinkie, Pa, and Maud all sat against the wall on one side of the room, unwilling or uninterested in socializing.

     On the opposite side of the room, atop a small, raised stage, Pinkie and Granny stood, perfectly in their elements, dancing and hollering and having a blast, despite coming up on their fourth straight hour of partying.

     Blinkie, sitting on Ma's back, began clamoring.

     "She wants more cake." explained Ma. "I'll go get it." She stood and wandered into the sparse crowd, with her child on her back.

     "This is ridiculous." said Pa, looking at his watch. "We need to go to bed soon if we're going to get any work done tomorrow."

     "Look how much fun she's having, though." Maud said flatly.

     Pa shot her an angry look. "Enough of this." he said as he stood up and made his way through the crowd and up onto the makeshift stage.

     "Mother." he said sternly, bringing Granny's merrymaking to an abrupt end. "This needs to stop. We have work to do."

     "Aww," said Granny. "You're no fun." She  pouted at her son. "C'mon, Pinkie," she said, getting the boisterous filly's attention. "Listen to your father."

     "Aww man!" whined Pinkie. "I don't want to stop!"

     "It doesn't matter what you want." explained Pa. We need to go.

     "Just as well." said Granny. I need to get going myself."

     "At night?" asked Pa, suddenly looking concerned. "By yourself? Are you sure that—"

     "Iggy," she cut him off. "You know darn well that I can take care of myself." She grinned.

     Pa rolled his eyes. "Whatever. C'mon, Pinkamena." He reached forward and grabbed the child, pulling her way from her grandmother.

     "Party's over!" he shouted, turning heads throughout the room. "Get out. Long day ahead. Chop-chop."

     The workers collectively grumbled and headed towards the single, small door of the shed.

     Pinkie, still being dragged by her father, looked up towards Granny, still sitting on the stage, smiling warmly at her. She offered a weak, sad wave good-bye, which the elder party pony returned.

I woke up bright and early today. Today we've gotta go into the fields again. We usually don't do it more than one day in a row but Pa kept saying something about a-fish-in-sea and rotating crops so we gotta do it today also.

I'm sad that Granny had to leave so soon, of course, but I'm also really happy, too. I don't know why. I think I'm still enjoying the party from last night even though it's over. Everything seems so fun right now. I don't think working will bother me at all today. I might even enjoy it!

My Granny is the bestest pony in the whole wide world and I never want her to stop visiting!