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."