//------------------------------// // The Family Business // Story: Pagemaster/Nathan Quickfic Collection // by Nathan //------------------------------// The Family Business   Gloomy clouds covered the sky in a dark overcast, casting the desolate landscape in a bleak light. Pinkie Pie stood at the top of the ridge, gazing down at the drab, old buildings she had called home so long ago. Setting her face in a grim look of determination, she started down the hill. There was a good reason she had kept away for so long.   Drawing up in front of the house, she rapped on the door with her hoof. It was her sister Inky that let her inside, giving her a long hard look before allowing the pink earth pony to enter. The house was just as plain as Pinkie had remembered. Cobwebs dotted the corners and a thin layer of dust coated everything. The house would never have gotten this dirty while her mom was still alive.   A racking cough drew Pinkie’s attention to the back of the house. Blinky sat outside the door to the master bedroom, delivering her a cold stare as she approached. “He probably doesn’t want to talk to you, you know.”   “He hasn’t wanted anything to do with me since I left the farm,” Pinkie Pie said with a frown. “I didn’t expect that to change now.”   “Then why are you here?”   “Because he’s my father,” Pinkie said angrily. “Why wouldn’t I want to be there for him?”   “You weren’t here when mom died.”   “She died in an accident. How could I have been there, Blinky?”   Blinky stood abruptly and glared fiercely at her sister. “Don’t call me that. Don’t you dare call me that. My name is Blinkella.”   Inky stepped forward to calm the two of them down. “Can we please not do this? The last thing we need in this house right now is fighting.”   Blinkella reluctantly slid back into her corner, glaring daggers at Pinkie all the while. Pinkie just sighed and looked tiredly at Inky. “Can I see him now?”   Inky nodded and ushered Pinky into the room. Hearing the door creak, Pinkie’s father opened his eyes and looked towards her. “And just what the hay do you think you’re doing here.”   “You’re dying, Papa,” Pinkie’s eyes began to water a bit. “How could I stay away?”   “You abandoned us a long time ago when you left the farm,” the old pony snorted. “Why the sudden change of heart?”   “I never abandoned you, Papa, I just—“   “The hell you didn’t,” Papa Pie roared before breaking into a series of wheezing coughs. “You’re the eldest, Pinkamina. It was your duty to take on the responsibilities of the farm after your mother and I when we were no longer fit to tend it ourselves. Instead you up and run off to some fancy town where you can have parties every day and work in a bakery of all things. A bakery!” Another fit of coughing.   “But you loved my parties…”   “Parties don’t pay the bills, Pinkamina. They never did and never will. You are a Pie, and you always will be a Pie. The Pie family have been rock farmers for centuries. We were rock farmers before Celestia locked her sister away in the room! My father, his father and his father before him, regardless of their special talents!” He paused to catch his breath, “Now Celestia was never kind enough to grant me a son, but I did right by you and your sisters. Raised you three the best I knew how to be the best rock farmers you could be. But rock farming just wasn’t good enough for you, was it? Just had to go and follow your dream like some daft little filly with her head in the clouds.”   Pinkie Pie’s eyes narrowed and her hair lost its bounce, falling in straight curtains past her shoulders. “Father, I came here because I love you and wanted to be here for you when you passed. What I didn’t come here for is to hear you lecture me on my life decisions. I’m happy with the choices I’ve made and given a second chance I would leave the farm again in a heartbeat. Now I’m sorry I wasn’t here when mom died. I couldn’t help that. But I am going to be here for you, whether you like it or not. If you want to waste your last breaths telling me how much of a failure I am, that’s your choice. But don’t expect me to stick around to listen to it.” She got up to leave.   As she headed for the door, her father could be heard chuckling between coughs. “Now there’s that stubborn streak again. You got that from your mother I suppose. Don’t worry about the will; I haven’t left you a damned thing. Rotten kid.”   “I’ll be sure to say something nice at the funeral. It’s the least I can do,” Pinkamena spat back, slamming the door behind her.   Blinkella and Inky jumped at the sudden noise and trotted to catch up to Pinkamena as she marched out of the house and towards the road to Ponyville.   “So just like that, you’re leaving again?” Inky asked as she pulled up alongside her older sister.   “Well it’s clear I’m not wanted here, so I’ve got no reason to stay,” Pinkamena growled.   “Well what about the farm? You are the eldest. Are you going to just leave it to rot?” Blinkella called after her as they neared the gate.   “You girls go ahead and take it; I don’t give a horse apple what happens to it.” Before her sisters could call out to her again, Pinkamena was on the road and racing towards home, leaving her sisters standing just inside the pasture.   That night, she cried herself to sleep for the first time in a very long while.