Author's Note

Due to a continuity error being made apparent to me after the chapter "Life as a Filly" was uploaded, I feel the need to account for it by re-writing it and making it more consistent. While writing it, I didn't take into account the fact that Cloudy Quartz was telling the story, so having most of the flashback through Pinkie's perspective doesn't make sense. I really should have caught this in the writing process, so this is a re-written version with that in mind. The original version won't be deleted, but this, as far as I'm concerned, is the fixed version.

Starting with the night of Igneous' fate, the ending is kept largely the same, though you'll notice that the diagnosis given to Pinkie is "insanity" rather than "split-personality disorder". This is because, upon further research, what Pinkie's experiencing doesn't constitute as the latter. This has also been accounted for.

And for those who have been wanting to see other characters get the spotlight, the next few chapters should satiate your appetite. ;)

Chapter 7: Father-Daughter Troubles (Life as a Filly Re-Written)

If there was one thing that Cloudy Quartz understood more than anything, it's that Igneous Rock was not a stallion to be talked back to.

The two had been married to each other for roughly fifteen years by now, and the time when they felt happy with each other felt like a lifetime ago. She could faintly remember the flowers he sent her, the love letters she would write him, and the songs they would sing to each other. It truly was a romance straight out of fairy tales and love stories.

But as their lives went on, it became clear to Cloudy that Igneous prioritized work above everything else. Even if it didn't end up accomplishing much in terms of changing the world, as far as Igneous was concerned, work was the most productive way to live life, and anything to get in the way of it was to step in the way of further for a better world.

With each daughter they birthed, every one of them was raised the same way: work all day and don't question authority. From Limestone all the way to Pinkamena, this philosophy never failed to prevail in the family. Cloudy didn't show it, but she was against this mindset on a fundamental level. Yes, work is important, but it shouldn't take all priority over family, love, relationship-building, and everything important on a personal level. If it were up to her, she would actively object to this belief and try to help her husband see her side of things more clearly.

Unfortunately, he tended to get rough when talked back to in any way.

Given no other option, Cloudy resolved to fighting back in her own subtle ways, those that her husband had remained ignorant to through the time they've had fillies to take care of. Sure, Igneous was deadset in trying to teach his daughters the value of work and how it betters the world, but when she was sure he wasn't aware, Cloudy did her best to instill, no matter how subtly, to her daughters that personal relationships are also important, and that it's the choices you make that matter just as much as the work you put into your job. She did so by telling them stories before bedtime, singing songs, and trying to give positive lessons about life and how to treat each other. Though it wasn't quite enough to get out of Igneous' dominant circle, it was better than nothing.

If only it kept Pinkamena from committing such an infamous crime.

--

One particularly dreary day was going about as normal as usual. The family had been tasked with either moving rocks or mining for more. About midway through the day, it was time for her and her daughters to head to the nearby cave to start the mining process. Due to feeling sleep-deprived from being forced to wake up early today, Cloudy treated the process as just another day, not really paying much attention to the fillies that followed her. As such, when they heard a massive booming sound from across the world, the mare felt herself shake out of her trance-like state and looking back at her daughters. It was then that she noticed something missing.

"Wait. W-Where is Pinkamena?!" she cried, panic starting to creep its way up her body. Limestone, Marble, and Maud all tried to find her in their immediate vicinity in the vain hope that they just foolishly missed her among them, failing to do so. Cloudy gathered all of them onto her back and began sprinting back to the farm. The terror going through her dissipated almost immediately when she saw Pinkamena standing in the field with a huge smile on her face. She didn't even care that the filly had big poofy hair rather than the limp, straight hair that she normally had. For Cloudy, just the fact that the filly was safe was enough for her. It sounded like a bomb had gone off somewhere, and to think that she had lost one of her daughters because of a horrible mistake...she didn't think she could take it.

--

Throughout the rest of the day, Igneous, Cloudy, Limestone, Marble and Maud were all aware that Pinkamena had been very busy lately. Igneous was under the assumption that she was still out there working, and was proud that she was taking after her father. Cloudy nearly wept at such a concept happening despite all her hard efforts. But when daybreak hit the next morning, they heard raucous sounds emerging from within the farm's silo. As they went outside to investigate, Cloudy yelled over the noise, "Pinkamena Diane Pie! Is that you?" Right after she finished her sentence, the pink filly popped her head out of the door, lively and upbeat music trailing out from behind her.

"Mom! I need you and Dad and the sisters to come in! Quick!" she shouted, quickly going back inside. The others were all visibly confused aside from Maud, and they headed inside to see what the matter was. Right upon opening the door and the light being turned on, they were shocked at the sight. "Surprise! You like it? It's called...a party!"

The shock that everypony felt was evident on all their faces. Igneous' mouth hung open, his pipe falling to the ground. Cloudy's eyes were as wide as it was possible for them to be. Marble and Limestone had both happening at once. Even Maud's eyelids were brought up a bit, a rarity for a pony as stoic as her. In what felt like no time at all to them, the little pink filly had decorated the inside of the silo with tables with party covers, paper plates and cups, a pitcher of punch, streamers that hung from the ceiling, and balloons of various colors tied to each chair.

Cloudy was peering warily at her husband, aware of his history with ponies going against his line of thinking. Sure enough, in a matter of seconds, her prediction had come true. Igneous' face slowly adopted more of an angry expression, until with nothing more than a grunt escaping him, he began tearing all the party decorations down.

"Stupid...ungrateful...disrespectful..." he grumbled, visibly upset at the very prospect of such an abomination as a party coming to his house. As he tore everything down, Pinkamena was cowering away, her ears down and fear visibly growing in her heart the more dilapidated the place became. Finally, he turned around and glared down at her with white-hot fury in his eyes. "Why did you put all this up?" he growled.

"I...I-I just wanted to-"

"Where did you get all these decorations?"

"I, uh..."

"Did you have to spend our money to get them?!"

"W-Well..."

With that, he nearly roared, and he smacked her cheek with his tough hoof. The filly let out a short scream, and reaching up to her cheek, felt a bruise starting to form where Igneous had struck her. Tears starting to fall from her eyes, Pinkamena looked up at her domineering father, who was now breathing heavily to calm himself down.

"W-...Why...?" the filly squeaked out.

Without a change of expression, Igneous brought his face as close to hers as possible, the stale smell of rock soup making the filly's nose wrinkle slightly. "Let me explain something to you, little filly. I have enough trouble to deal with trying to keep our farm running without wasting our money on frivolous things like this. We barely make enough to pay the bills, much less for food. I'm just stopping a problem before it even starts. If you do this again, we could go bankrupt and our family will be ruined."

With every word he spoke, Cloudy could see her daughter looking more and more broken, her poofy hair reducing back to its naturally limp and straight fashion, making the deflating sound of a balloon that has its air going out. Without another word, Igneous went back outside and headed back to the farm. The mare couldn't help but silently sob and comfort all her daughters in her usual fashion, trying to reassure them that things were going to be okay, though even she was losing faith in that at this point.

As she gathered them all in an embrace filled with anguished tears and tangible love for one another, Cloudy became faintly aware of a change in Pinkamena's expression. Seconds ago, she seemed just as depressed as the others, but now it was more blank than anything else. As if she had something else on her mind far away from what was going on right now.

--

As the day went on, work went on as if nothing had ever happened, every member of the family trying to repress what occurred that morning, but it was simply impossible, just like every other time Igneous Rock had gotten rough. Cloudy Quartz valued all the times that she could comfort her daughters in the face of such malice, and she took it upon herself to fix up Pinkamena as best she could, making the bruise as invisible as possible, though even her best efforts did little to accomplish anything. That's how it had always been, and until tonight, that's how it would always be.

Once night fell upon the land, the landscape was hit with a hard thunderstorm, rain pouring down and thunder booming in their ears and making the place at least a little bit more miserable than usual. Cloudy Quartz, in her own bed in her own room, tried her best to go to sleep despite all the noise, but it proved to be impossible.

It wasn't too long into the night when she heard Igneous make a strangled scream past the thunder crack.

She had heard him scream before whenever he got rough, but it was always with anger, never with such...terror and pain. Cloudy got up to her hooves to investigate what was going on. If she were honest with herself, she couldn't care less for what happened to her husband. But if an intruder made their way into the house, then it would be her duty to protect her daughters in a desperate time.

She ran to Igneous' bedroom, where the scream came from, and she herself felt more terrified than she had ever been in her entire life.

Standing above Igneous' body was Pinkamena, her silhouette apparent against the moonlight pouring in through the window. Due to the rain, the scene was given an eerie wave, as if it were a ghostly apparition that was about to fade. But it was too real to be such a thing.

Pinkamena had killed her father.

She stood above him with a knife in her hoof, the instrument of death dripping with blood, and Igneous' throat slit cleanly across. A pool of blood was spreading out across the floor, his eyes open with cold dread, no longer any life in them. The filly that committed the deed looked around at her mother, her pupils dilated and an innocent smile on her face.

"P-Pinkamena...what have you done...?" Cloudy whimpered, falling to her haunches with her legs shaking.

"The voice told me to kill him, Mom." the filly replied, as casually as if one were discussing the weather. "He's dead now. The pain can finally stop."

--

"...and so, we had to send her to the nearest psychiatrist we could find. I knew it would be a good amount of money, but I didn't care. We needed to get her as much help as possible. She was eventually diagnosed with insanity, and she had to be kicked out because of how dangerous she was. Not even the best medications could help her."

Twilight and Spike were left aghast at the story they had just heard. Of all the things they had expected, this was the furthest from their mind. Pinkie, willing to murder? It seemed like a stretch, but with all the evidence piling up...it certainly started to seem plausible, no matter how much they didn't want to believe it.

"So...she's murdering ponies and other creatures now?" Twilight asked.

"Considering what you hath told me, it certainly sounds like it." Cloudy replied, looking down in sadness.

"Well, Igneous deserved it...right?" Spike questioned.

Cloudy opened her mouth as if to refute this claim, but stopped herself, sighing. "I...I guess so. But still, I didn't think one of my own daughters would resort to something like that." With that, she fell silent, sipping her drink and clearly not wanting to discuss it anymore. Twilight noticed this and stood back up to her hooves.

"Well...thank you for the information. Don't worry. We'll try our best to help her. Come on, Spike. Let's go." Twilight said, and when she turned to the dragon, he was holding his arms up for her to carry him, his face showing genuine terror. Twilight forgot that he wasn't the type for scary stories, real or fictional. He was just a baby dragon, after all. Twilight levitated him onto her back, his claws digging into her back, and began heading out the door.

"Ms. Sparkle?"

Twilight turned her head to peer at Cloudy Quartz, who was holding her head up slightly.

"...Be careful." Cloudy said.

Though a little taken aback at first, Twilight nodded her head and headed out the door.