Lessons Learned

by RoyalBardofCanterlot

Pinkie's Tale

Pinkie slowly crept down the stairs, not daring to make a noise that might disturb the other members of her household. The chores were done for the day. It was winter. Outside, a thick carpet of snow blanketed the ground and a fierce wind howled from the north, knocking away the last brown leaves fighting to hang onto the branches. Very little work was done in winter after the late morning. Nopony, not even her industrious parents, wanted to face the wintry weather to mine for gems. As long as they saved wisely during the productive part of the year they didn't have to.

What little chores they did have during this season were practical things like chopping wood for the fireplace or keeping the house clean. So, most of the day was spent with the family doing whatever they felt like. For Daddy, that meant sitting and staring into the dancing flames of the fireplace. Mommy was sewing with Granny Pie and whispering. An occasional giggle would pop up as they remembered things that had happened long ago or discussed village gossip. Pinkie's sisters were outside throwing snowballs at each other. Pinkie had been playing with then for a while though the snow on her mane had long melted.

Pinkie was nearly on the last step. She hesitated and then scampered onto the floor and headed straight for the kitchen which had a decidedly holiday theme as did the rest of the house. Evergreen needles hung from the walls and mistletoe hung from the ceiling.

The sweet scent of sugar cookies wafted from the stove. Pinkie felt her mouth watering. She quickly shook her head as she pounced on top of the counter (a punishable offense, but nopony was paying attention to her.) She quickly balanced herself and reached for the cabinet. She frowned as she flailed her forelegs in the air and huffed in annoyance. She just wasn't big enough to reach the top shelf!

She grinned. A thought had latched onto her brain, a solution to her present conundrum. She couldn't help but chuckle. Her tail proved capable of reaching the cabinet door and sliding it open. Unfortunately, what she was looking for was not in that cabinet. She closed it, feeling thankful that the door didn't squeak. That was mainly because Granny Pie was always oiling the doors.

She walked across the counter and turned around, snaking her tail up to another counter and opening it. This time, she found the glass bottle of ketchup. She wrapped her pink, fluffy tail around it and very carefully set it down. It didn't make so much as a clink as it was set upon the counter. She unscrewed it and lifted it up. The red, gloopy liquid slowly made its way towards the opening of the bottle.

Pinkie put it right above her head, waiting for the first drops to lose itself in her mane. At last, the red liquid splashed onto her forehead, nearly dripping into her eyes. She rapidly blinked. The ketchup was cool and thick. She reached up a hoof and smeared it all across her face like it was Buffalo war paint.

She could barely suppress her giggles as she screwed the bottle back up and slid it back into the cabinet. When that was done, she hopped off the table. The cool floor made her shiver so she hopped onto a blue rug. The warmth from the stove made her yawn. It was nice and toasty. She could almost stay right there forever.

Pinkie shook the thought away. This prank was going to be so funny! She affected a pout and rushed into the living room. "Mommy, Daddy, Granny! I hurt myself!"

Her dad jumped up from the couch and let out a curse. Her mom and grandma threw down their sewing projects and darted over to her.

Her dad managed to reach her first, the names of several deities on his lips as well as general invocations for those deities to bring condemnation. Her mom and grandma were next to reach her. Her mom took one look at her and ran into the kitchen proclaiming that she was going to get a band-aid.

Her grandma and dad began frantically wiping away what they thought was blood.

Granny Pie was the first to notice. "W-Where's the cut? I ain't seein' no cuts!"

Her dad's face had shifted from concern to confusion. He lifted up an eyebrow. "Pinkie, how'd you hurt yourself? Did you fall? Maybe it's a shallow cut."

"Might be."

Igneous Pie's eyes traveled from the supposed blood on his daughter's face to the blood on her hoof. "Pinkie, lift your hoof."

Pinkie bit her lip, holding in a burst of laughter. She raised her hoof. Igneous inspected it and touched it. He raised the "blood" to his sensitive nostrils.

Granny caught it at the same time he did. Igneous's mouth crossed into a tight, thin line. Granny's eyes narrowed. Pinkie took several steps back. Why weren't they laughing? It was just a funny prank. She wasn't really hurt!

Cloudy rushed back into the room, a packet of band-aids in her hand. She looked at her daughter's most certainly not bloodied face. Her face took on the same expression of anger as her kin. "Pinkie...you weren't hurt? You was just pretendin'?" The question came out as a low growl.

Pinkie shrunk down. "It was just a prank." Her ears wilted, pinning down tight against her mane. "Hah-hah?" She offered.

Nopony in the room laughed.

Igneous stomped his hoof. "By Tartarus! What do you mean this was just a Celestia-forsaken prank? You think that's funny! It ain't funny, I can tell you that! You being hurt is the least funny thing I can think of!"

Pinkie took more steps backward, bumping up against the wall. Her eyes filled with tears and her bottom lip trembled. "Sorry?"

Igneous stomped another hoof and snorted. "You ought to be sorry! I gotta good mind to-to-if you were my son I'd get my belt!"

Pinkie gulped. Granny put a hoof on her son's shoulder and glared at Pinkie. "Pinkie, I think you need to go to your room."

The filly hung her head and looked up at her stony faced elders. Her puffy mane went flat. "M-Mommy? Daddy? Do I have to?"

Granny pointed up the stairs. "Your room. Now."

Pinkie turned and slowly trudged up the stairs. Her heart felt heavy with each step she took. The grainy wood scraped her hooves. The house had fallen eerily still. The only sound that could be heard was the crackling of the flames and the screech of the northern wind as it beat against the little farmhouse.

Pinkie stopped at her door and opened it. She slumped over to her bed and plopped down into the softness of her pink blankets, resting her head onto the pillow. Two little tear tracks rolled down her cheeks. Not sure how long her imprisonment would last she nuzzled her pink pillow and rested for a while.

She noticed a pile of toys in the corner which she had been playing with earlier and hopped off the bed to go pick them up. There was no need to get herself in even more trouble. She picked up a green Pony doll with a yellow mane and placed it on her shelf next to her window. She placed a donkey doll next to her and then a grey doll that reminded her of her sister.

Once all her toys were picked up she plopped back down on the bed. Outside, the sun went on its way, steadily going west. It was shrouded today in thick clouds. Pinkie stared out as her sisters got bored with their winter games and hopped inside. She sat back and stared up at the ceiling. There was sprig of holly atop her door. She stared at the red berries. Her family had spent last week decorating the house.

Boredom crushed her and she longed to run out the door, but leaving time-out would get her in trouble. Or maybe it wouldn't. She was having a hard time figuring out what would or wouldn't get her in trouble today. She curled into a little ball. Outside, the clouds broke and little stars came out.

Panicked thoughts raced through the pink filly's mind. What if her family had forgotten her? What if they had decided she was more trouble than she was worth and had decided to keep her permanently in her room?

Those thoughts vanished when her mom opened the door. Pinkie shot up. Cloudy held a hairbrush in her hoof. She sat down on the bed and laid the implement next to her. Pinkie avoided her gaze. Cloudy wrapped her in a hug.

Pinkie blinked and hugged back. Cloudy let her go. "That was a mean thing you did today. We all thought you were really hurt."

Pinkie focused her attention on the floor. Cloudy continued. "Did you really think it was funny?"

"I-I didn't mean to. I just, I was reading this prank book and..." She trailed off.

Cloudy shook her head. "It isn't funny if you're the only one laughing."

Pinkie looked up, jutting her lips out. "But I thought you would laugh once you saw I wasn't hurt."

Cloudy sighed. "Pinkie, you got a lot to learn before you truly come into your mark. It isn't just today. You scared your sister half to death the other day with that fake snake. You've put up buckets of water everywhere to fall on our heads. It was funny the first few times. It's getting mean."

Pinkie sniffled. She felt as if a brick had lodged inside her stomach. "I...I..I haven't wanted to be mean. I was trying to make you smile."

"A party once in a while makes me smile. I'll even laugh about a whoopee cushion. Don't you dare tell your daddy I told you that."

Pinkie filed that one away for future reference.

"There is nothing funny about you or your sisters getting hurt. When I thought you were bleeding, I was terrified. You can't understand how scared I was. Don't ever pull a prank like that again."

Pinkie nodded. "Yes Ma'am."

Cloudy picked up the hairbrush or as it was occasionally called, "the attitude adjuster." Pinkie tried to squirm away, but Cloudy caught her in a practiced grip. She laid the kicking filly across her lap and raised the hairbrush high into the air. It came down with a loud crack across the filly's behind. Pinkie kicked and cried out. Cloudy fell into a practiced rhythm with her hairbrush, the spanks cascading down across Pinkie's bottom.

Pinkie buried her face in the sheets and unabashedly cried. The hairbrush continued bringing down the terrible whacks across her tushy. The slap of wood meeting rump filled her bedroom along with Pinkie's wailing. Her rump burned as the smacks from the hairbrush fell across it. Her behind hurt from the relentless spanks, but her conscience was in agony. Nausea filled her gut.

She had betrayed her mark, her purpose, her destiny. A stinging slap fell across the direct middle of her bottom and a second fell in the same spot.Cloudy firmly smacked the crying filly's sit spot and followed through with a flurry of stinging swats.

"I'm sorry, Mommy!"

Cloudy didn't slow down the smacks of the brush. The spanks peppered Pinkie's posterior, the relentless paddling painting her posterior a darker shade of pink. Cloudy had had many years of experience doing this. She began to slow down, pausing between the swats and letting Pinkie catch her breath.

She landed three final spanks and stopped. The dreaded implement was set aside. Pinkie cried over her mother's lap until tears would no longer come. Cloudy pulled her up and wrapped her forelegs around the child. Pinkie sniffled, buried her face into her mother's chest and embraced her. Cloudy rocked her from side to side, cooing over her and brushing her mane, using the hairbrush for its more gentle purpose. "You need to apologize to your dad and grandma."

"I know. Can I stay like this?"

Cloudy patted Pinkie's back and put down the brush. "For as long as you need to, Sweetie. For as long as you need to."

Pinkie smiled. The nausea was gone. She basked in her mother's forgiveness and her hair poofed back up. At last the cuddle came to an end. Cloudy led her down the stairs where Granny was knitting a sock and Igneous was reading a copy of Miner's Monthly.

Pinkie wasted no time in hopping on her daddy's lap and looking up at him with the saddest expression she could manage. "I'm sorry for the prank, Daddy. Forgive me?"

Igneous drew her close and kissed the top of her head. Granny went over and also hugged her. Pinkie's stomach audibly growled. Cloudy chuckled. "C'mon, let's get something to eat."

Pinkie jumped off Igneous's lap and the family trailed off into the kitchen.

...
Pinkie yawned and leaned back into her pillow. "And that's how I got my cutie mark!"

Twilight blinked. "What? No it wasn't."

"Well, I had some kind of mark on my butt after!"

Even Luna laughed as they all burst into giggles.

Pinkie sat up straighter. "But in all seriousness? That's how I learned the most important rule of pranking. Pranks are for laughs not tears."

Fluttershy hid behind a wing. "Oh my. I also got in trouble because of a prank."

Dash cocked her head. "Alright. This I got to hear."

Comments

[Inferno demon Dash]

One question...do they move their tails out of the way before they spank them? Also I'm guessing if you're going to re make this chapter with all the canon created you might have to change some things, huh?

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

8450766
...Whoops. I never mention it, but I din't think the tail offers complete protection for their rumps.

Thanks for commenting.