Pinkamena set the shovel temporarily on the ground, coughing up the dirt that had found its way in her mouth. It had already been three hours since she'd started working in the fields, and she was now beginning to grow tired. I just don't have the stamina it takes to keep going without any breaks...
She looked around at her sisters, Maudalina and Marble, who were still hard at work digging up and collecting the rocks needed for an order their father had taken. Maud expertly uncovered several rocks at a time, placing them in the wagon that was strapped to Marble's back. The younger sister worked slower, albeit with efficiency.
Pinkamena stared at her with a well-known admiration, wondering how and why Maud was so strong compared to the rest of the family. She looked down at her own hooves, matted and scratched from the constant work, and sighed. Perhaps it was just her that was weak.
Feeling useless, she picked the shovel back up. If her sisters were still going, then she owed it to them to continue helping without wasting any time. She knew she was still breathing heavily, but it didn't matter. Their father needed these rocks tomorrow.
Using her teeth, she pushed against the handle to burrow the shovel blade under a decently sized rock. She kept pushing until it felt like her jaw would break, then crouched down to try and scoop the rock out of its sturdy dirt prison. When it still wouldn't come up, she reached and pressed down on the handle with her hooves. Unfortunately, her limbs were too tired and flimsy, and she was forced to let go of the shovel. She winced, rubbing her cheeks to try and alliviate the pain putting pressure on her teeth had caused her.
Not wanting to take too many breaks, she tried to push down on it again, but the tool wouldn't budge. She growled in frustration, glaring at the rock with the intensity of a pony who'd just spent three hours working out in the fields. That is to say; not very intense. But inside of her delirious mind, Pinkamena thought that she could somehow magically dig up the rock from the ground - simultaneously unlodging the shovel and being useful - if she just looked at it really hard.
"Do you need help?" Maud asked in her monotone voice.
Pinkamena whipped her head around upon hearing the sudden question. It wasn't that her sister had surprised her, but with the shy Marble and Maud being the way she was, very minimal conversation had gone on between them during the last couple hours. Hearing her elder sister offer assistance wasn't very rare though. As a result, the pink mare looked away from her, a pointed "No thanks," given as a response. She could do this without any help.
This time, she attempted to move the shovel around. She figured if pushing down on it didn't work, then digging a bigger hole so she could take the tool out would. She wiggled it from side to side until it was loose enough to potentially be extracted. Narrowing her eyes, she held onto it even tighter and prepared to pull it out...
Maud stomped down on the shovel, the handle slamming to the ground underneath her hoof. In an instant, the previously stuck rock flew out of the ground and straight into the wagon, causing Marble to let out a startled squeak. The other end of the shovel was still under the dirt, but it could now be easily pulled out. Maud did just that, grabbing the shovel with her mouth and spitting it back on the ground beside her sister.
Pinkamena gaped. She'd pulled away her hooves before Maud had stomped on the shovel, so she wasn't hurt. Instead, she was confused, annoyed, and most importantly, angry. I just told her I didn't want any help, so why did Maud just do that?! Why isn't she using her energy to dig her own rocks?
Seeing the glare the younger mare was sending her way, Maud sighed. "Pinkie, you need to know your limits. I saw how much you were struggling with that one, so I came to help. Now I can see why you've been dwindling in performance for the past couple days. Your teeth hurt, right?"
Pinkamena vehemently shook her head, but the aching pain in her molars said otherwise. She clenched her teeth just then, hoping Maud wouldn't notice. She didn't want her sister to start scolding her again. Maud did notice, but refrained from lecturing her. "Why don't you go back inside, Pinkie? I'm sure mom and dad won't mind."
She looked down, "But dad needs these rocks tomorrow... Also, I asked you to stop calling me that."
Maud pushed, "No, you have to stop for now. Anypony could see how exhausted you are. I'm almost done here, so I'll meet you later for dinner."
Pinkamena looked into her sister's eyes, seeing the dull, but firm resolution in them. She was serious. Her anger dwindling away, she nodded her head and went back to the shovel. "Then I'll just put this away."
Maud softened her expression slightly, "Alright. Get some rest, okay Pinkie?"
The pink mare gave a tiny noise of affirmation, ignoring the age old nickname she hated so much. She trotted her way toward the shed, which was only a few metres away from the front door of their house. She gazed at the entrance with a guilty sense of relief. She wanted to help more, but at the same time she was so tired. I guess I'll have to double my work intake tomorrow.
She hung the shovel up on one of the hooks, and then closed the shed without locking it. She knew Marble had the key, so she would lock it later. Traveling along the path to the door, she paused to steel herself. Maud had said that their parents wouldn't mind - but was that really the case? She'd heard her father stress before how important it was that they complete the order by tomorrow. Realizing how much work that meant her sisters would have to do, she started feeling a nagging urge to go back and continue working. She was about to, too - if it weren't for her mother opening the door first.
Cloudy Quartz looked down at her daughter, an expression of emerging indignation on her face. "Pinkamena, what are you doing?"
Her mind raced through several possible answers she could give, trying to choose one that wouldn't make her mom angry. What excuse could she possibly use that would justify her reasons for coming back inside? She narrowed it down to two possibilities - tell her the truth, or come up with a lie. Slowly, she raised her head to look back at her mother. "Um, I wanted to come inside so I could help Limestone with c-cleaning..." A lie it was, but maybe she could turn it into a half-truth. "Maud said I could!"
The older mare stared down at her, making Pinkamena sweat with nervousness. What would happen if she didn't believe her? Would she have to go out and do farm work again? It would be nice to help with the order, but she didn't know how much more her teeth and hooves could take.
Finally, Cloudy responded, "Then you may go. I was just about to head out and assist them in the digging of the rocks." She walked past her daughter without another word, heading toward the shed to retrieve the shovel Pinkamena had just stored away.
After her mom had disappeared, she relaxed and let out the breath she'd been holding. Having passed that hurdle, she went inside the house, closing the door behind her. She'd been lucky - it seemed like her mother was in a good mood today. She couldn't say the same for her father though. From what she'd seen this morning, he was stressing majorly over the order. Even now, she could hear him upstairs, loudly pacing about.
If I want to go back to my room, I'll have to get past my dad first. Pinkamena took note of the fact that her room was situated at the very back of the hallway. The floorboards did get creaky every now and then, but if she was careful, maybe she could do it.
Checking to see if Limestone was anywhere nearby, she gently began climbing up the stairs, hoping none of them would creak. It was more difficult than she'd expected - she had to climb them quickly, while still taking care not to put too much pressure on any of the steps. It was like running a marathon along an extremely thin trail of cloud. She couldn't press down too hard or it would give way and she'd fall deep, deep down onto the ground, or in this case, the clutches of her strict father. Let's hope that doesn't happen.
She tip-hoofed past her father's door, which thankfully was at the front of the hallway, meaning any noises made after that point could go unheard. She still tried her best to walk without making any noise, but when she stepped on a particular board, a loud squeak travelled along the hall. She cringed and in her panic, ran the rest of the way, rushing into the safety of her room.
Pinkamena quickly closed the door, not bothering to check if her dad had heard that or not. She didn't want to, because if she did, that would mean she'd have to face the wrath of Igneous Rock Pie. She shivered at the thought. He was normally very calm - albeit strict - but when he got angry, it wasn't pretty. Both her parents were quite similar like that.
She sighed. It was pathetic. She was a full grown mare, and yet she still got intimidated by her parents. That can't do. I need to be more independent! This was often something she told herself, but it was hard to keep up. As long as she lived with them, she would always be under the mercy of her parents. But perhaps she could take the first step toward her goal; by checking to see if her father was there.
Hesitantly, she opened her door and peered down the hallway. She zoomed in on his room entrance, watching to see if it would open. When at least a minute passed without anything happening, she closed her door again and sat down. So her father hadn't heard the creak of the floorboard. Either he was going deaf, or he'd assumed it was Limestone. Either way, she was clearly experiencing a lucky streak. This is the happiest I've been in a while, she thought, allowing herself a tiny smile.
She couldn't rest yet though. Getting off from the floor, she trotted over to the full-body mirror that was propped up against the wall. The mirror's outer framing was made out of rocks straight from their farm, and the glass had crystals embedded in it. She'd had it since she was a little filly, and she'd always really liked it. It was a shame that she could only see her own, sad reflection in it, but it was useful for getting ready in the mornings, and it was a pretty mirror. It was one of the only items in her room that was of any importance to her.
Grabbing the water bottle from her nightstand, she poured some of it on a cloth and began wiping down her body. She couldn't use the washroom without making any noise, so this was the next best thing. Of course, she didn't have any soap, so she couldn't get everything cleaned - but it would get the job done, and she would be clean enough to lay down on her bed.
She sat down to scrub at her hooves, which were a big problem area when it came to cleaning. Dirt would constantly find its way underneath the ridges of her hooves. She considered wearing shoes, but she didn't have enough money, and they would get in the way of her efficiency, so she didn't bother. Instead, she committed to scrubbing every single day. It usually worked with warm water and soap, but since she didn't have that right now, she couldn't do anything about it. With a grumble, she tossed the cloth aside and closed the bottle. She'd try again after dinner.
Pinkamena didn't get up immediately. She stayed sitting down, staring at her own reflection in the mirror. When had she become so big? She could remember from a few years ago, when she had just reached halfway up the mirror. She'd been so proud of herself. Zoom back to the future, and now, even while sitting, she nearly reached the top in terms of height. Her parents were still slightly taller, but she sure had grown. I guess time flies by quick when you're... not doing anything... Is that how the saying goes?
Shaking her head, she stood back up. It was time for her to take a nap, and perhaps later she could go and actually help Limestone with cleaning the house, like she'd told her mom. It was only fair after all. She was about to head to bed, but something stopped her. There'd been a stray hair that she'd spotted in the mirror. It usually wouldn't matter, but her hair was always straight, so any stray hairs was an anamoly.
She'd only planned to take a look - check to see if there were any more odd hairs strewn about, but as she'd quickly realize, it was a lot more serious than that. Because staring at her in the mirror, was the reflection of a mare with a whole head of poofy hair.
She stared, wondering for a second if her mirror was broken. Then her jaw dropped as she realized the mare in the mirror was her, and she had a poofy mane! She reached up, frantically making sure her straight mane was still there; and it was. So why did her reflection look so different?
Then, she paused. Her reflection stared back at her, mimicking everything she was doing. She reached toward the mirror, feeling for anything that resembled a scratch or crack. When she found nothing, she closed her eyes. Maybe she was hallucinating from how tired she was, or maybe she was already asleep, and this was just some weird dream she was having. Yes, that's what was going on. There was no way her reflection had a different mane style. It was just impossible.
"Hi there!"
Pinkamena snapped her eyes open. Her reflection was no longer still like her. The other mare waved back, grinning with all the happiness of a pony who'd just eaten three whole cakes.
And Pinkamena screamed, completely disregarding the fact that her father was only a couple rooms down.
Author's Note
A new story from me! This is only the second time I'm attempting to write for this show, and I'm trying to write more descriptively. Any feedback is appreciated.
The pink mare slammed her hooves against her muzzle, forcing her to put an end to the screaming. She fell back on her haunches, head hitting the bedpost behind her; however she ignored the pain. Her mouth was agape as she scrambled back up and stared at the mirror in shock.
The reflection didn't move for a while. It peered straight back at her, its head tilted in curiosity. Pinkamena narrowed her eyes, warily moving away from the mirror in case something were to happen. She carefully watched it to see if it would move its head or look at her; yet the reflection didn't even blink, almost as if it were frozen in time. She scrunched her eyes in confusion. Why wasn't it moving?
She raised a hoof and hit herself on the head again, feeling the full physical brunt of the pain this time. She winced, clutching it before realizing, Okay, so it's not a dream. As much as she wanted it to be, because she really didn't want to have to deal with this right now. Plus her scream had most likely alerted her father of her presence, so he was probably on his way right now, which meant she wouldn't even get to use her long awaited resting-time for a nap.
Pinkamena could feel the stress trickling into her, like millions of tiny needles persistently poking at her coat. If she tried to shake them off, they'd only get stronger. She looked back and forth between the mirror and the door, wondering which was going to send her into panic mode first. Usually if her father was heading to her room, she would be able to hear his hoofsteps. This always gave her plenty of time to prepare herself while also freaking out. Right now though, she couldn't hear anything, so she assumed that he wasn't coming. At least I hope so.
Her eyes lingered on the door for a few seconds before she turned back to the mirror. When she checked to see if the poofy-haired reflection was still there though, she was greeted by the usual dull pink pony she'd been looking at for the majority of her life. She let out a choked gasp, WHAT?! What happened to the mirror? Is it back to normal?! She felt it up again, and the mirror felt no different than it had before.
She stepped back, her own shocked face mocking her in the glass. How was it gone? When had it disappeared? The mirror had been in the corner of her vision the entire time! A sudden pang of pain resounded through her head, and she tightly squeezed her eyes. She turned towards the bed with conflicting thoughts. She wanted so, so badly to just go to sleep and forget everything, but she was much too unsettled to rest right now; not to mention she still didn't know if her father was coming or not.
But what I saw in the mirror was definitely real, right? It wasn't just a figment of my imagination? She gazed into the crystal glass of her mirror. If she was going insane, she'd know. Life on the farm had always been dull after all. She couldn't remember a single time in her past where something interesting had happened, and if she tried to remember, she'd always get a really bad headache. Besides, she didn't even know if somepony could go crazy from monotony.
Pinkamena still had to wonder who the reflection had been though. It looked like her, had the same colours as her, but it acted completely different. It was smiling, for Celestia's sake! She barely ever did that.
The image also looked like it had a cutie mark of... three circles? Since the reflection was facing her, she wasn't able to see it fully, but that single feature convinced her that the pony in the mirror had not been her. She let out a big sigh as she looked down at her own bare flank. A full grown mare and I still don't have my mark yet... No wonder my family thinks I'm a failure.
Feeling dizzy from all the questions floating around her mind, she walked over to her bed and sat down. It was fine if she couldn't sleep - she just wanted to rest her body and mind. The only way her rest could be interrupted is if her father came in, and even then she found herself no longer caring. It'd already been twenty minutes of nopony showing up to reprimand her for screaming, so she was probably in the clear.
She pressed an arm to her eyes, acting as a mask to block out the light. She tried to ignore the ache that came whenever she started thinking about her blank flank, instead pushing the worry back down into the dark depths of her heart. There was no use worrying about that kind of stuff now. Pinkamena lifted the covers, crawling under and placing her head on the flat, worn-out pillow.
For several hours, she didn't move. She didn't even fall asleep. She just laid there with her eyes closed, nervously glancing up at the mirror every once in a while.
"Pinkie."
Pinkamena jolted up at the knocking, thinking it was her dad. But upon hearing who's voice it was, she sighed and climbed out of bed to open the door. "Hi, Maud..."
"Did you get any sleep?" The grey pony curtly asked.
She paused, glancing back into her room. "Um, yes." She nearly stuttered, trying not to make her lie seem too obvious.
Maud stared at her for a moment, "...I see. Mom told me to call you down for dinner."
To the untrained eye, it would seem like Maud's expression was the same as always - blank and uncaring. However, Pinkamena had spent a lifetime with the mare, and therefore understood that the look her sister gave her was one of resigned disbelief, and not a look of relief. It was a little sad that Maud wasn't willing to believe her, and Pinkamena would've called her out on it; if it weren't for the fact that it was true. She looked down, avoiding the other pony's gaze. "Okay... Did she say anything about having to work afterwards?"
"Yes. She said that Limestone, Marble and I have to continue working outside, while you stay inside and take up the housework." Maud paused, "She also said that you could stop early and go to bed before all of us."
"She said that?" Pinkamena sounded genuinely surprised. This was their mother they were talking about, after all - she was never this lenient with anything. When she looked at Maud again however, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You didn't tell her about my problem, did you?"
"I told her that your teeth were hurting and that you couldn't use the shovel properly because of it."
"So you did tell her!" The pink mare groaned. "Why? Why would you do that?"
"Because Pinkie, I'm concerned. You can't keep working like that or you'll do irreversible damage to yourself." She could hear the worried tone in Maud's voice, "And you need the rest so you can recover."
Pinkamena tried not to grit her teeth at the nickname, "Maud, you know what'll happen if dad finds out about this... You didn't tell him too, right?"
"No, mom was the only one in the kitchen at the time." The grey mare answered, "Dad won't do anything. Even if you can't use a shovel, it's not like you can't do other stuff to help."
"No, you don't understand!" Pinkamena harshly whispered. Even now, she was keeping control of her volume. Her stress and paranoia wouldn't allow for a similar occurrence to earlier. "I thought you knew already, but apparently not. Dad's told me before that if I don't 'shape up,' he's gonna kick me off the farm."
Maud's eyes widened slightly, "What?"
The pink mare nodded. She wasn't planning on telling her sister so early, but she had to if she wanted Maud to understand that what she did was wrong. Everything the children told a parent, they would always relay to the other. And right now, if things played out the way she thought they would, her father was going to send her on a one way trip out of the farm.
Sure, Pinkamena didn't like being on the farm that much, but what other choice did she have? She couldn't leave her only home, not when she was so... ill-prepared. She rarely got any chances to leave the village, so she didn't know about any of the towns or cities that were out there. In fact, the last time she could remember leaving was taking the train to a place called Appleloosa to pick up some groceries. It was a dry and windy land covered in sand, but from what she had seen, the ponies living there had a lot of fun. There were buildings everywhere with colourful decorations, and cheerful grins on everypony's faces. Despite the climate that she wasn't used to, the place had seemed like paradise to her. When they had to leave, she'd tried with all her might to get them to stay for at least a couple minutes longer.
The memory was fuzzy, as it had taken place years ago, but the warmth she felt at the time never went away. She really wanted to go back and visit other towns, but she was too scared to. The world was a big place after all, and if she didn't know where to go or what to do then how was she expected to survive? The farm was the only place where she was certain of her role. The second youngest daughter of Igneous Rock Pie and Cloudy Quartz, the younger sister of Maudalina Daisy Pie and Limestone Pie, the older twin sister of Marble Pie... and the family's weakest link.
She closed her eyes. It was hard, but she believed that things were supposed to remain this way. It'd been like this for all her life, so changing it now would feel wrong. If her father was truly set on making her leave, then their family's status quo was in danger.
"Pinkie... Did I do something wrong?"
Pinkamena looked back up at her sister. She was peering down at her with worry in her eyes, most likely wondering if the cause for the pink mare's silence was her. How do I put this delicately? "I know you were just looking out for me Maud, and I appreciate it, but telling mom about my teeth was something you shouldn't have done." She placed a hoof on her sister's shoulder, "She's going to tell dad about my problem. And if he was being serious about kicking me out, then..."
Maud's frown deepened, "If all he wants is for you to improve your performance, then an injury shouldn't matter. Your sisters and I have gotten hurt before, and he didn't kick us out."
"But that was you guys. This is me. Besides, when's the last time you've been hurt? Four years ago? I've been getting hurt over and over again during the last few months. Dad's probably fed up with me." Pinkamena sighed, "And my performance will be affected if I can't hold a shovel properly."
"..." Maud seemed at a loss for words. She looked remorseful. "I'm sorry. I don't want you to leave the farm."
Pinkamena pulled her sister in for a hug, "I know you didn't mean to." Even if this spelled trouble for her, she couldn't blame Maud. The grey mare had always been overprotective of their family. Their parents were observant too, so even if she hadn't said anything, they probably would've found out sooner or later. But still, what am I gonna do...?
Maud pulled back from the hug first, "We should go downstairs now. We can talk about this later."
She agreed, and they both went down the stairs with Maud in front. Pinkamena wasn't too excited for dinner, as it was usually the time when one of her parents would bring up a stressful topic and embarrass one of their children. I'm afraid that child might be me today.
The table was already being set up by Marble. Limestone was seated at the corner of the table, usual scowl etched on her face. It got worse when she spotted Pinkamena coming around the table. The pink mare gulped, Uh oh, is she mad at me for something? Perhaps she knew about how she'd been supposed to help her.
Their mother came in holding a large, metal pot in her mouth. She set it down on the table and lifted the lid, revealing the contents inside to be rock soup. Pinkamena paled at the sight of the hard stones and pebbles, her teeth suddenly hurting ten times more.
"D-Does it look good?" Marble mumbled from her side. She turned to her twin, surprised to hear the sudden interjection. Marble bashfully looked away, "I helped make it this time..."
Pinkamena looked back at the rock soup with a hungry gaze. It did look amazing, but... "You did a great job, Marble. I can't wait to, uh, dig in.'
The younger pony peeked out from behind her long curtain of hair, "Th-That's good then."
After a beat of awkward silence, Pinkamena went ahead and sat down beside Maud. Marble took a seat beside Limestone and across from Pinkamena. Igneous chose that time to come downstairs, and he pulled out the chair at the end of the table. When Cloudy was finished cleaning herself off, she too came in and took a seat beside her husband. Each pony began giving their bowls to Cloudy so she could fill them with the soup.
She placed a generous helping of rocks and pebbles in every bowl, making Pinkamena feel as if there was already a rock in her stomach. I can't eat that...
She reluctantly took the bowl from her mother and placed it in front of her. Picking up her spoon, she brushed some of the stones aside and drank the soup. It tastes good though.
Pinkamena spent the rest of dinner dodging the rocks and enjoying the broth, hiding the bowl from her parents in fear they'd notice. She made it to the end without having to chew on a single pebble, but unfortunately when she had to set her bowl down, her mom caught a glimpse of the uneaten ore. "Pinkamena, why did you not finish your food?"
She twitched, "U-Um..." The feeling of relief of not having her teeth mentioned was completely gone now. She looked down at her bowl spitefully, I should've hidden them somewhere.
"Well?" Cloudy arched an eyebrow, her gaze firmly set on Pinkamena. "Do not tell me this has something to do with what Maudalina told me earlier?"
Igneous looked at her curiously.
She started sweating, Oh no, he's gonna find out-
"Mother," Maud interrupted. All eyes at the table turned to her. She tilted her bowl in her mom's direction to reveal that she had also not eaten any stones. "I couldn't help but notice that today's rocks tasted a little different. They weren't as delicious as you usually make them."
"Really now? I had Marble help me with preparing that part..." She slowly turned to her youngest daughter, who visibly shrunk underneath her gaze. "What did you add to them?"
"J-Just some pepper and salt," Marble whispered.
"That is what I normally add." Cloudy said. She grabbed her spoon and picked a rock from the pot to sample. As she chewed, she kept her eyes on Marble the whole time. The mare had a tendency to stare at things she was focused on, and the whole family knew that, but it still worked to unnerve them. Nearly the entirety of Marble's face was obscured by her hair as she tried hard not to break under the pressure.
"I can tell you added too much pepper," Cloudy finally said after swallowing, "About a teaspoon more than the usual amount."
Marble made a slit through her mane to peek up at her, but immediately covered herself again when she realized her mother was still looking at her. "...Mmhm?"
"What did I tell you about the quantities of the seasoning?"
"A teaspoon of pepper and a tablespoon of salt?" Marble quietly recited.
Cloudy nodded, "Yes, and you added two teaspoons of pepper."
The young mare stayed quiet, not knowing what to say to that because it was true.
"May I ask why you did that?"
"...I-I'm sorry? It was a mistake," Marble tried to defend herself, despite knowing it wouldn't work. "And, um, I didn't think it was that big of a deal."
"Yeah," Pinkamena piped up. It was getting hard to watch her baby sister being chided at the dinner table. Especially since it's my fault. "It didn't taste that bad..." She trailed off as she looked down at the rocks, realizing too late that they wouldn't believe her.
"That's rich coming from somepony who didn't even eat all the rocks," A raspy voice spoke up for the first time from across the table. Pinkamena looked up to see Limestone with her arms crossed, shooting her signature glare at her younger sister. In front of her was an empty bowl, "As for me, I thought it tasted good. That's why I finished it."
The pink mare caught Marble sending a meaningful look to Limestone, and a surge of guilt ran through her. "Well— I..." She couldn't say anything. If she did, it was all over for her. But at the same time, she didn't want to leave Marble with the impression that she hated her cooking. "I think that... you could maybe... add a little less pepper next time."
The younger mare nodded without looking at her.
"I could help you with cooking, Marble." Maud suggested, "Maybe I can show you the correct way of preparing them."
Marble looked up, "R-Really?"
Pinkamena glanced back and forth between them, "M-Me too!" She piped up. Marble turned to her with a deer-in-the-headlights look, and she attempted to explain her reasoning, "I mean, I'm not that good at cooking, but I'd like to do it anyway..."
Maud gave her a nod of acknowledgment, "You can join us. What about you, Limestone?" She turned to her older sister.
Limestone scoffed, "Please, I have better things to do than cook rock soup. I'll leave those kinds of things to you and Marble."
"I see, then that's fine. But you can join us at any time if you want to."
"..." Pinkamena couldn't help but notice that Limestone had left out her name. She knew she had no particular prowess in cooking or anything, but it still stung. Slowly, she picked up her bowl and began collecting everypony else's, "I'll go put these in the sink."
"Thank you, Pinkie." Maud said.
Pinkamena was ready to snap at her for the nickname, but since she had covered her for the rocks, she stayed quiet. The pink pony walked out of the dining room, to the kitchen, and placed the bowls and utensils in the sink. She stared at the dirty dishes, I might as well wash them while I'm here. Besides, I haven't helped with anything else yet.
She plugged the drain of one side and turned on the tap. While she was waiting for it to fill with water, she dumped her's and Maud's rocks in the trash. It was wasteful, but they had a whole farm of them. A couple rocks wouldn't matter.
She poured soap on a sponge and began scrubbing them one by one, rinsing them off and placing them to the side to be dried later. She deliberately went slow so as to waste time. Since the kitchen was close to the front door, her family members had to pass by her to leave the house. She watched them out of the corner of her eye as they got ready, shuffling past her and outside to the storage shed. Her mom paused on her way to the door to see Pinkamena washing the dishes, and after another prolonged period of staring she gave a grunt of approval and left the house.
Pinkamena sighed in relief. She was just about done, having only a couple spoons left. She finished cleaning them and began drying every bowl and utensil with a towel. She put them back in their drawers and wiped down the counter with the same towel she'd used to dry the dishes with. Once she was completely done, she rinsed the cloth and draped it over the clothesline they had right in front of their window so it could air out.
She stepped out of the kitchen and stood in front of the stairs, marvelling over the one productive thing she'd managed to do today. Maybe I could convince dad to let me stay by having me be the maid instead, She fleetingly thought. He probably wasn't going to accept the notion of having anypony in their house not working in the fields. "You have four hooves. Use them," She remembered him saying once.
Igneous was already upstairs working away on the order, but she still surveyed the lower floor to make sure he really wasn't there. It was a habit that developed from having her parents constantly hovering over her during childhood. Even if they aren't here, I always feel like I'm being watched.
Left with nothing else to do, Pinkamena began quietly walking up the stairs. Maybe she'd clean her room a little, make her bed before laying down for an actual nap this time. Her mind went back to the mirror, and the strange feeling in her stomach suddenly got stronger. It wasn't like she'd forgotten about it; in fact she'd been thinking about it all afternoon. It was just the fact that it'd appeared so suddenly, only to disappear as soon as it came. Was it going to do that again? Because if that was the case, then she definitely wouldn't be able to sleep.
The farm pony walked down the hallway with relative ease, again walking slower when she passed her father's room; since it was possible he thought she had gone outside with everypony else. She still wondered if he'd heard her screaming or not. He seemed irritated at the dinner table, but that was only due to the order - he never directed any of it towards her. Maybe I should stop questioning it. Don't look a gift... mule in the mouth, as they say.
She went inside her room and closed the door behind her, eyes immediately zooming in on the mirror. To her relief (and surprisingly, slight disappointment), the poofy-haired reflection wasn't there. She picked up the cloth that was on the floor, warily keeping the mirror in the corner of her vision the entire time. I have to stop looking at it, She thought as she forced herself to wrench her eyes away from it. Maybe cleaning would help distract her for a while.
The cloth was still slightly damp, but she poured water on it anyway and went over to the only window. She began wiping the glass and windowsill, taking note of how much dust had settled since the last time she'd cleaned it a week ago. There was only so much furniture in her room, so most of the 'cleaning' she did was limited to wiping and dusting stuff.
Once the window was sufficiently clean, she went to her dresser and started wiping that down. Since it was pressed up against the wall, she had to turn it around to get to the back. The extra physical work made her feel like she was doing something productive.
After putting the dresser back, she stood up and looked around the room. That's about it for my furniture. Well, except for the mirror... Pinkamena stared at it, gulping down her fears before walking up and flipping it over. Perhaps the back needed cleaning, she thought; however, it wasn't dusty. She put one hoof on each end and prepared to turn it back around, when a voice stopped her.
"Heeeey, why's it so dark in here? Don't tell me the mirror broke or something!"
Pinkamena froze. Hearing the more cheerful, high-pitched version of her own voice brought back memories of when it first appeared. The chirpy "Hey there!" reverberated through her mind, and it took all her strength to not drop the mirror on her hoof. She took a shaky, shallow breath and brought it back around. She knew the poofy-maned reflection would be there again, but what she didn't expect was for the mare to have her face pressed up against the glass. Pinkamena gasped in shock, instinctively stepping away.
The reflection blinked and pulled back, cheek no longer distorted by the mirror. A huge smile immediately popped up, "I can see you now! Hooray!"
Pinkamena didn't say anything. Her mouth kept opening and closing again, but the only words she could think to utter in the moment were, "...Y-You're back."
Author's Note
Sorry for the abrupt ending, but I need time to figure out where to take this. Plus I wanted to update before 2018 :P
Sorry for the months of waiting, but Winter vacay’s coming up so a new chapter should come soon.
