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// Painting the House 
// Story: The Perfect Baker 
// by Harmonator 
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Igneous Rock was still livid at his youngest daughter for neglecting her work, and going off to decorate the storehouse, which he called "a waste of hard labor."  However, Pinkie still was determined to impress her father and make up the little "scheme" she pulled that day, by working extra hard.  She would push rocks faster now than she would before, still not at the pace her sisters would move their rocks, but it was a start.  She would still try to carry rocks on her back, which proved to be most difficult for her, but she still managed to carry little ones on her back.
It took a while for Pinkie to actually notice her new cutie mark, which was three balloons, with two yellow and one blue.  She had often wondered when or how it got there, but she soon figured out that it must have been when she had that little party with her two sisters.  While Limestone would always try to tease Pinkie over her limited strength to lift rocks, her father's neglect towards her, and several other things that  bothered Pinkie whenever they were mentioned, Maud and Marble always tried to support her whenever she was down or just needed some cheering up.  Pinkie's mother would try to be there for her youngest daughter as well, but she was always wrapped up in her husband's affairs, that she could barely spend any time with Pinkie.  So most of the time, when Pinkie wasn't working, she would be left with her thoughts and imagination for entertainment.  Sometimes she would pretend that her father and sister, Limestone, would actually say nice things to her and would play games with her.  She would make up their dialogue and make it so that they seemed real nice, but it hurt Pinkie knowing that it wasn't the same way in real life.  Her father would continue to be unimpressed, and Limestone would continue to be cruel, but there was one point when she took her cruelty a little too far, and it ended with a major consequence.
It was a late afternoon, and the Pie sisters were painting the house.  Igneous Rock got the idea in his head that their house could use a fresh coat of paint.  The house used to be white, but over the years it began to fade, and Igneous Rock wanted to repaint it with a new coat of white paint.  He left his daughters to their work, while he went back inside to wait for dinner, for Cloudy Quartz had been in the kitchen cooking.  Maud and Marble painted a wall of the cottage where there were no windows or doors, and Pinkie and Limestone had the one wall with the front door and two windows.  This meant they had to be extra careful when painting to make sure they didn't get any paint on the windows, for their father would be furious if they did.
Pinkie Pie painted the bottom-half of the wall, while Limestone was on the roof of the house painting the top-half.  Pinkie and Limestone didn't talk to each other, let alone looked at each other.  Pinkie just wanted to get this job done so she could get away from her sister, while Limestone had already finished her part of the job and stood at the top of the cottage staring down at her younger sister.
"Be sure to not get any paint on the windows, Stinkie Pie!" Limestone yelled from up above.  "Stinkie Pie" was the nickname she gave her little sister and Pinkie Pie hated it so.
"If you're done painting, then why don't you just go inside and leave me to my work." Pinkie said, not even bothering to look up.
"I would, but I wanna stick around, just in case you make a mistake and I have to report it to Dad." Pinkie began to brush harder.
"You know, I think Dad's been disappointed with you a lot recently." Pinkie began to tense up.
"It must be hard knowing that your such a disappointment in your father's eyes." Pinkie's eyes hardened and she began to shake with fury.
"Oh, are you gonna through a little hissy fit? Oh boy, I'm sure Dad will get a real kick out of that." And with that statement, Limestone literally kicked with her back leg and knocked the can of paint that she had on the roof, and it splattered all over the windows and finally fell on Pinkie's head as it came down, covering her in white paint.  Limestone looked down to observe the mess that she had just caused.  She climbed down from the ladder and saw the paint splattered all over the windows.
"Wow! You got paint all over the windows. Oh boy, I'm sure Dad will get a real kick out of that." Pinkie mockingly said, as she took the paint bucket off her head.  Limestone was just about to ream her little sister out when they both heard the door of the house spring open.
"What's going on out here!" Their father yelled looking at his two daughters stricken with fright.  Igneous Rock turned around and observed the catastrophe on the wall.
"Who did this?" he said turning to the two little fillies.
"Why don't you ask Pinkie, she's the one covered in paint."
"It was all her Dad, she knocked that paint bucket over!" Igneous Rock looked at her with a stern face, then turned to Limestone.
"Is that true?" He asked her in a serious tone.
"Of course not Dad, you think I would make a stupid mistake like this?  It was your clumsy younger daughter that caused all this mess." Limestone said with a straight face.
"That is such a lie! I didn't do it Dad, I swear!" Pinkie tried to plead.
"I think I've heard enough out of you, young lady.  You're grounded. Now go to your room!" Igneous Rock yelled.
"But it wasn't my fault, you've got to believe me!" and after she said that, her father smacked her across the face, causing tears to flow from her eyes.
"That's for talking back, now go to your room, or else!" Pinkie looked at both her sister and her father with a face that couldn't decide whether it was angry or sad, or a mixture of both.  She ran away screaming and crying until she came to her room and slammed the door shut behind her. She just wanted to cry in her pillow and stay there for a long time so that she wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore.  She knew that this little mishap would result in another argument between her parents and she knew that it wouldn't end pretty.  She could hear them from her room upstairs, the muffled screaming, the sounds of things being broken, the whole thing.  Pinkie just waited upstairs until the whole thing was over.


Pinkie heard a knock on the door of her room, she must have fallen asleep.  The door opened, and it was her mother standing there with agitated eyes, which were probably caused from her crying.
"Hey sweetie, are you okay?" Cloudy Quartz asked.  Pinkie just looked down at the floor and didn't give an answer. Her cheek was still sore from the smack that she had received from her father, and it was beginning to bruise. Cloudy Quartz quickly saw this right away, and her face somehow became more grief-stricken than it already was.
"Did he hit you?!" Cloudy Quartz asked, attempting to hold back her tears of rage. Pinkie refused to look directly into her mother's eyes, for she knew that if she did, she would start crying. Instead, she just continued to stare at the floor, and slowly nodded in response. Pinkie then heard her mother take in a deeply agitated breath before speaking.
"I am so, so sorry about this, sweetie. This is not what was supposed to happen..." Cloudy Quartz's voice began to trail off at the end of this statement, as she felt that she would start crying at any moment. Pinkie Pie watched curiously as her mother turned away, so that her youngest daughter wouldn't see the pain in her eyes. Finally, after Cloudy Quartz had taken a moment to compose herself, she turned back to face her daughter. She then pulled Pinkie Pie close to her bosom, and began to gently stroke her perfectly straight, dark pink mane.
"I'm sorry about what happened, and about many other things."  Pinkie could hear the sorrow in her mother's voice, and it pained her very much to listen to it.
"I don't know why your sister acts the way she does...but...I think...it might be because of your father.  He never really seemed to notice the way she was treating you, and I just wanted you to know, that I've finally decided to do something about it." Pinkie listened intently, as she felt her mother gently stroke her mane lovingly.
"Unfortunately...your father and I...disagreed on what should be done..." Pinkie waited patiently for what her mother would say next, but instead, she felt her mother's grip on her grow tighter, and listened as she began to sniffle. There was a moment of silence, before Cloudy Quartz continued.
"So...so your father and I have...made a decision."  Pinkie's head perked up, waiting for what she would say next.
"We're getting a divorce."