No smiling, no talking, no playing….No smiling, no talking, no playing…No smiling, no talking, no playing…Every day it was the same thing, and every day she wished that the stupid rocks would just be gone. Living on a rock farm wasn't exactly where she planned to spend the rest of her life, but if her parents could have their way, all of their children would stay near and do as they were told. It wasn't that they were bad parents; they were just stubborn as mules and stuck in their ways. Had she ever seen either of them smile before…? Just knowing that it was such a trouble and toil to even try and remember back to seeing their lips upturn was more strenuous than the constant push push push of the rocks.

No sunshine…No laughter, hardly any talking other than formal pleasantries and requests meant only for necessity. How much longer would she have to do this? Set the rocks down for a moment...your hooves have to be exhausted…They were exhausted! This would be the second shoe replacement this week alone, and she didn't know how much longer she could keep it up. Her daily quota was hardly even halfway met, but her sisters were already inside cooling their hooves…she couldn't help that she was the slowest worker.

What time was it…? Leaving her rocks behind, she carefully trotted over to the sundial whose existence seemed to only be one of irony and mockery since the sun rarely ever showed itself. Still, she could make out the slightest shadow, and with a light narrowing of her eyes she could tell that it was just past midday. Midday already? She'd be here all night at the rate she was going! But she couldn't help it; she was exhausted, and not even just in body…Maybe some water would help.

With another careful trot, she made her way to the water trough that was set up for all of them, wanting nothing more than to just submerge herself and not care about dirtying it. But that would count as fun, and fun wasn't allowed…Maybe just a little dunk of her head wouldn't be too much, right…? She peered into the water and inhaled sharply at what she saw: it was her, but she looked different…her hair was curled and her eyes were bright. She raised a weary hoof up and touched through her hair, but it was still bone straight.

No matter what face she made at her reflection, the same smile stayed present and those unfaltering bright eyes stayed locked with hers. What was going on…? That was it, she'd been working much too hard today and this was an obvious sign that she needed to stop and rest for a little while, maybe even the rest of the day. Oh…but her parents would be so upset with her if she did.

"Hey! What are you doing silly? You look concerned, serious, too concerned and serious!"

It was talking to her! How could her reflection be talking to her? Still, it was rude not to answer back, even if you were just talking to your reflection,

"Well…at first I was concerned about being so far behind, but now…I think I have more things to worry about."

Like talking to her reflection! And what was worse was she was expecting it to talk back, as if seeing it talk the first time wasn't enough. It did more than that, it giggled, raising its hoof to its mouth in an attempt to keep the laughter suppressed,

"Oh silly head! You should loosen up a little bit! Turn that frown, upside down!"

As if to emphasize on this, she frowned herself and turned her head upside down to show the process of an upside down frown made into a smile. She looked like her, but there was no way that this was her…this person was a little on the "off" side.

"I can't just loosen up: there's too much work to do."

The reflected Pinkamena turned her head right side up again and cocked it slightly,

"Work for what?"

How could someone that was supposed to be her, know so little about the responsibilities that she held? Unless this was just someone that looked like her…

"Work on the farm. I'm supposed to be done in six more sun dial marks, but I'm not even halfway done yet…"

Her ears went back with that realization. And what was she doing wasting her time talking into a pool of water anyways? This was a waste of time!

"Working on a farm? That sounds boooring."

Both of their noses wrinkled. At least they agreed on something. And she really was sick of pushing all of these rocks all day long. But what else was there other than work? She'd never even been allowed to leave their farm, so she really had no idea what else there was to know about the world other than work and…rocks. Boring, gray, heavy, dirty, dull, rocks…!

"It is boring, but it's work…and mom and dad say I have to do it. It's a pony's responsibility."

The other Pinkamena looked both unmotivated and unconvinced. She could tell that she didn't really believe this was what the other thought she was supposed to do with the rest of her life, but how could she get her to see that?

"Well there you go, your parents sound like the problem if you ask me. But! That's something easily fixed!"

Easily fixed? What was she talking about? Her parents were so stubborn that she had no idea where to even begin in trying to get them to let up on their many many rules and forced obligations.

"It's not as easy as you'd think. They're both so stubborn and determined that I wouldn't even know where to start to try and convince them otherwise…"

As if on cue, she heard her father call out to her,

"Pinkamena! What are you doing? You need to be getting back to work, the harvest time is now and all of these rocks need to be moved."

Her father! She couldn't let him see her talking to someone while she was supposed to be working, but when her eyes went back down to the pool, all she was met with was her true reflection…She didn't even hear his approaching hoof steps,

"Pinkamena…? Pinkamena what are you doing? Stop dallying by the water and get back to work."

Never moving her eyes away from the water, she nodded to him, though she hadn't been listening enough to know what she was agreeing to. It was enough for her father though, and he soon turned and went back to their house. Being careful, she lifted her hoof up and dipped it into the water, expecting more than ripples but being met with only that…how disappointing.

Well, at least she'd had something interesting, if only for a few minutes out of her day. Her father was right; she needed to be getting back to work, but each hoof step seemed to be heavier than ever and her work at most would be continued at a trudging pace. As her nose touched another rock to push push push it onward, she heard a giggle so faint that for a moment she wondered if it was the wind rushing through the rocks…or if maybe it meant it was time for her to take another drink…