A father should always be there for his children...his daughter...

He should always make sure that his children have the best lives possible, even if that mean sending them away from home...possibly forever.

Monotonous, now that was a very good word.

Monotonous, he sounded the word out again in his head. Four syllables, a definition that meant boring, even pretending to say it in his mind made him feel bored.

Yes, it was almost the perfect word to describe Rock Farming.

Of course, one hardly got into the business of farming rocks expecting volcanoes and explosion of excitement, and they were pretty well off compared to other farms. Their fields were very plentiful and the sun looked absolutely beautiful rising over their little home, casting the rocks in vibrant shades of yellow, orange and red.

And since they had to start work very early they saw it quite a lot, but even with all of that...when you came right down to it moving rocks on a farm, even as your special talent, was boring.

"So are we working on the east field today dear?" his wife asked as they stepped out of the house, the early morning air making him shiver slightly.

You know what sounds like a good idea? A day off. Just a whole day of doing nothing but relaxing in the house.

Maybe the south field, it's a bit smaller and would go faster meaning we can all relax sooner.

What if, instead of rotating the rocks, we shaped them all together into one big smiley face? I know nopony has ever tried it before, but it might be crazy enough to work! Imagine how jealous the other farmers will be if it does!

"Yes, right on schedule," he replied in a calm easy voice, pushing the other thoughts in his mind aside. He used to be much more open with those silly thoughts of his when he was younger, but nopony ever wanted to listen to him. In fact, some of them would even avoid him after hearing some of his 'odder' thoughts.

It hadn't taken very long for him to realize that the less he said, the easier it was to integrate into the crowds, to be unnoticed. So he learned to ignore his thoughts, those silly bursts of creativity that would randomly pop up in his head.

At first he hated doing it, hating ignoring that part of himself, but he'd been able to silent that part of himself too.

Until a certain little pink pony had broken open that barrier he'd spent so much time building up, and now those silly thoughts were even louder than ever.

"Come on sisters! The sooner we start the sooner we're done, and the sooner we're done the more time we have to do something fun!" his daughter skipped through the door, followed by her rather more tired looking sisters. He was still amazed at her new bubbly personality, and her new puffy mane to match.

He still didn't know what happened to her, but she seemed so happy now, so ready to break the monotony of their farm lives.

"Do you have another party planned for us today Pinkamena?" his wife asked, looking down at their daughter over her spectacles.

"What? What would make you say that? I was just being...uh...hopeful, you know," seeing Pinkamena stumble over her own words, trying desperately to hide her party brought a smile to his face, another thing that had resurfaced because of her.

"I think we have a party to get ready for girls," his wife smiled at their other two daughters who responded with huge twin smiles, though still staying silent. Those two seemed to almost always stay quiet and it sometimes go to the point where would simply imagine what they were saying.

Oh boy, I can't wait Marble! Limestone whispered to her sister.

Me too, let's work as hard as we can so the party can start sooner! Come on! She would reply, racing her sister to the fields.

"Aww, you ruined my surprise party," Pinkamena pouted at them.

"Don't worry Pinkamena, just because we know it's coming doesn't mean we'll enjoy it any less," he quickly consoled her. Her smile was something they all needed on this farm.

"Yeah, you're right about that!" Pinkamena bounced back up, her temporary grief completely forgotten. With a little skip she sped off into the rock field. Watching after her for a moment he turned back to his wife and gave her a little nod.

It was time to work.

Now most ponies, when watching rock farmers, simply saw a group of strange ponies moving random rocks around in a field. It was a bit more complicated than that. The process involved finding the right rocks, those too small, too big, or too valuable, and shifting them into the proper positions in the neighboring fields. Following through on this method would bring out more valuable stones for them to harvest in later months.

Though for the life of him, he could not explain why. Nopony, not even the farmers, knew why moving the rocks helped out their farms.

He'd heard theories of course, hundreds and hundreds of theories on why the rotation of rocks was absolutely vital for the farms.

Moving the rock across the various fields would agitate the natural magic in the ground, bringing up rarer, and more valuable, rocks for the farms.

By ordering the separate rocks together you would create an imbalance in nature. To rectify this, more rocks would be sent to the surface to return everything to its natural order.

It was actually based on an old earth pony tradition that by arranging the rocks on their farms in certain orders would bring favor from the magic races that lived above the clouds. Today it dealt with the magic of the princesses. As they traveled through the sky in their forms of Sun and Moon their blessings would fall on the farms with the best organization of rocks.

The list went on and on, but he himself had a personal favorite.

He'd heard it a year or two ago during a particularly difficult day of work.

"I just don't get it!" that had been one of the instances where he heard Marble speak aloud. She was try to move a very large, and stubborn, boulder from the hard packed ground. The harsh sun beating down on her certainly wasn't helping the mood. "Why do we even need to move these rocks around?" He was not having the greatest day himself, even adults get tired, though they try their best not to show it, especially to their kids.

"Well, why do you think we need to do it?" he'd asked, a sharp tone to his voice.

"Oh! C-can I guess?" a certain pink pony suddenly appeared on top of the boulder, staring down at them. That had been a surprise for him. Back then, Pinkamena had rarely spoken up to offer any opinion, simply going through the work and retiring to her own room. Perhaps it had been a sign of things to come.

"Go ahead Pinkamena," he shrugged.

"Is it because...the rocks get bored just sitting out the field all of time, so to help them out we move them around? This way they can see more of the world and get some exercise! This makes them happy and when they're happy they bring some of their friends over so we get more rocks?" she tilted her head quizzically to the side, while he and her sister could only stare.

"Well...I suppose that explanation is as good as any other," he finally said. Pinkamena just nodded before jumping off the rock and going back to work, leaving her family members still slightly stunned.

"Come on Marble, let me help you with that rock?" The gray maned filly smiled at him as he trooted over, bracing with his shoulder against the large rock. With a few tough shoves it finally gave way and began to roll.

And as it did he found himself imagining the rock talking to him, a calm and happy tone to its voice.

Thanks for helping me move, that view was really starting to get on my nerves. You can only stare into the sky at that angle for so long.

A soft chuckle escaped from his throat, and he realized that he wasn't alone. Marble was laughing too, a lighthearted thing that reminded him of birds in the spring.

"Think the rock is happy we gave it a new view?"

Marble just nodded at him, an embarrassed smile on her face, then quickly scampered off with new found energy.

That silly little theory had gotten them through the day, and if it could do that, then no idea could ever best it.

Bringing himself back to reality, he gave a quick gaze around the field to see that quite a bit of work had been accomplished. Apparently the promise of a party was one of the greatest incentives a worker could ask for.

In fact, with just a few more rocks they would be-

"Okay everypony! Follow me to the grain mill!" Pinkamena announced, running over to the building. That made him sigh a little. If there was one thing he could never keep up with, it was his daughter's speed.

"Well, let's go," he said before beginning his slow walk over to the party, far behind his other two children.

He had been worried when Pinkamena had begun throwing her parties, not that he didn't enjoy them, far from it. No, he worried that if she kept doing them they'd grow old, monotonous, and wind up just as boring as rock farming itself.

He really should have known better, it was her special talent after all.

Every party would have something new thrown in, nothing fantastic, but just enough so that everypony would always have a great time.

She was so dedicated to her talent, and he could never guess why, why she worked so hard at this.

He had never shown the devotion to farming that she showed to her parties.

A devotion that had brought something great to this party in particular.

He heard it even before he entered the building, something joyous, something wondering, something...very very familiar.

Limestone and Marble were patiently waiting by the door for him, their ears perking up as they noticed the sound as well. He gently pushed the door open, and his suspicions were confirmed.

"Surprise! Well...sort of!" Pinkamena stood in the middle of the mill surrounded by her normal party decorations; balloons, confetti, sugary treats, but off in the corner she had something new.

It was an old phonograph, or to be more precise, his old phonograph. That in itself was not that big of a surprise, the old thing had been sitting in the back of the living room for ages. No, what shocked him was the music coming from it, an old melody that brought back wonderful memories.

Behind him, his wife stepped through the door, a look of wonder on her face. She recognized it too.

That song, their song, the one they always used to dance to. When things were bad, or even when things were good, he'd set up the old record and they would simply dance together, completely content with each other.

But then had come the children, and the farm, and the time they once had for dancing became swallowed up.

He couldn't even imagine how many old boxes Pinkamena must have dug through, searching for the perfect finishing touch of her party.

He was so glad she had.

Dance, while the moment is still here!

Without any pause, to ensure that his courage stayed strong, he reached out and boldly grasped his wife's forehoof. She started, momentarily shocked as he dragged her to the middle of the room, but quickly caught on to what was happening. Happily, they swayed around each other, falling into their old steps and motions.

They were a little rusty of course, but it didn't matter, they were finally able to dance again. Moving around the mill he was able to notice Pinkamina and her sisters all happily dancing together.

The party had started, and it was perfect. It was full of joy, of love, of life!

And it was all for them...

Only for them...

That's not right.

The dark thought in his thread threw off his rhythm, making him stumble slightly across the mill floor. His wife managed to catch up to him, pulling him back into the flow of things.

Back in the dance, he began to regain his focus, but that simple thought refused to leave his head. With a final twirl he released his wife's hoof and pulled himself to the side of the party.

Pinkie Pie did all of this, all this work to make other ponies smile, just for them.

Thinking about it, it seemed so...selfish...

Even with a lifetime of farming he knew that parties weren't supposed to be hoarded by just one family...but in a place like this, who else was Pinkamena going to celebrate with?

The farms in this area were few and far between, theirs especially so, and his daughters rarely had the chance to be with other ponies. In fact, the only meet up with other farmers was at the rock market, which only happened every few months.

Not nearly often enough.

How had he never really thought of this before?

You were too focused on farming.

You were too busy having fun.

You didn't want to stop having fun, you want to keep her here.

Another thing that bothered him about that little voice in his head, it had the habit of showing him uncomfortable truths. This was something he needed to talk to Pinkamena about.

But not now, not in the middle of the party.

He would do it later.

It seemed that 'later' was going to take much longer than he thought.

Every day when the work was done he would try to catch Pinkamena for a quick talk, but he was never quite fast enough. She would rush off at a speed he couldn't hope to follow.

He tried asking her sisters where she was hiding from him, but all they would do was shrug at him.

Sorry dad, we'd help you if we could. Was what he hoped that shrug meant.

It's a secret and you'll never ever ever find out! We are the steadfast keepers of all secrets within this world! Was what he worried it meant.

Either way they were of no help to him.

The fact of the matter was he would have been completely lost if he hadn't decided, one late afternoon, to relax in the back room of the house.

Sitting in a dusty chair, going over just what is was he would say to Pinkamena if he managed to find her, when something caught his attention.

The noise of construction.

Following the sound back outside, he found himself drawn to a small little shed alongside the house. It was a small thing built when they had first gotten the farm, though he could honestly not remember the last time they had used it.

It seemed somepony had finally found a use for it.

Gingerly, he tapped the shed which gently slid open.

Only for him to immediately duck in order to avoid a massive blast of confetti from colliding with his face.

"Oh no! That's not right at all, the confetti is supposed to come out of the other cannon," he mustered up the courage to look back into the shed to see a strange amalgamation of wood, nails, and paint haphazardly thrown together into something that resembled...well he really wasn't sure what it resembled.

Pinkamena walked around the creation, a hammer held in her mouth, when she managed to catch sight of him.

"Oh...hi dad," she said after placing the hammer down. "I guess this surprise is ruined too..."

"I think you may have had more luck if you you tried hiding somewhere not right next to the house," he said to her, taking a small walk around her construction project. There were four round-ish pieces of wood he guessed would turn into wheels, a thick sturdy base placed on top of that, and at least five strange cannons which were all covered in various shades of pink and purple paint.

"I was hoping it was one of those 'crazy enough to work' ideas," Pinkie gave a bashful smile.

"Well it was working for a little while, I had no idea where you were running off to," he reassured her. "So how about you tell me exactly what you're working on here?"

"Sure thing!" she bounced on top of her creation. "Once I can figure out how all this stuff goes together this'll be the most splendiferous party wagon you've ever seen! It'll be like an instant party wherever you go! I won't need to sneak around to set up decorations anything, I'll finally be able to surprise you!"

She stood up on her back hooves, proud and beaming.

And he smiled at her, a deep laugh bursting from his mouth. He laughed and laughed and laughed.

"A party at anyplace and anytime, what will you think of next?" he offered up his hoof and helped her down. "What keeps you so dedicated?"

"Smiles!" her answer was almost immediate. "I just want to make everypony smile!" She paused for a bit, looking down at the ground.

"Especially you and mom," that part was quiet, almost a whisper.

"Oh," he was silent for a moment. "Why us in particular?" Pinkamena shuffled her hooves a bit, doing her best to avoid looking directly at him.

"Well...I was worried that..." she took a deep breath. "I was worried that you didn't know how to be happy!" The last part came out in a great rush, as if his daughter feared what his response would be.

"Didn't know how..." he found himself repeating. "Was it that bad?"

"It was just...nopony ever smiled here. Not you, or mom, or Limestone and Marble. All we ever seemed to do was work...sometimes I was afraid that there was a rule that we weren't allowed to smile..." hearing this, he didn't know how to reply, but he remembered.

He remembered Pinkamena simply trudging through the dirt with her sisters, listening to her list of chores with a simple nod before turning away from him.

He remembered her downcast looks as the sun would travel across the sky, day after day.

And he remembered how he would simply shrug and continue his work.

"That's why you make all of these parties so wonderful," he realized. "You're afraid things will go back to the way they were..." Pinkamena didn't say anything, so he stepped forward, wrapping her up in a massive hug.

"For you to ever think something like that...means that I have made far too many mistakes as a father." he whispered to her. "A daughter shouldn't have to worry for her family like this, shouldn't work so hard to bring happiness only to them."

He let her go, and they smiled at each other.

"We could never go back to that Pinkamena, not after your parties," he said.

"Hooray!" Pinkie shouted, jumping up into the air, her exuberance seeming to lighten up the entire shed. "I was hoping that was true...but I just wanted to be super duper sure...so I thought I would throw a few more parties, just in case."

"Of course, and the party wagon was another 'just in case' measure?"

"Well...something like that, you never know," she admitted.

"Well no use in letting all your work go to waste, do you think you could let an old pony like me help you finish this?"

"Of course! I could really use some help, especially with the cannons," she immediately directed him over to her project, instructing him on how he could help her.

Partway through the construction, he asked an innocent question.

"Pinkamena, you remember Granny Pie, don't you?" an idea had begun to form in his head.

"Of course! She's the one who taught me how to bake those yummy sweets, why?"

It had been quite the trek to the train station, especially pulling the finished wagon behind them, but he knew it would be worth it.

Now they stood by the tracks, waiting for the train that would take his daughter away.

"So how long am I going to be staying with Granny Pie?" Pinkamena asked, perhaps for the twentieth time.

"As long as you want, just think of it like a little vacation from farming. She has a small little bakery and you can help her out while you're there," he explained again.

"And remember, you can come back anytime you want," his wife added. Limestone and Marble nodded happily at this.

Yes, you don't have to stay away too long. Marble gave her sister a hug.

We'll miss you so much when you're gone! Limestone quickly joined in.

Pinkamena's visit to his mother had been easy to set up, just a few letters and it was ready to go. If things worked out, this journey would allow his daughter the chance to meet other ponies, to spread her joy to others.

To see the world.

The fact of the matter was, if this worked...he wouldn't be seeing her for a long, long time.

But that was okay, things at home would be different now.

Marble and Limestone would be happy, he would make sure that they would be happy. Part of him hope they might come to love rock farming as Pinkamena loved her parties, but if they found different paths, he would let follow them with no restrictions.

Things would be better.

"Oh! Is that the train?" Pinkamena said. Staring down the tracks, he saw it was true. The train was here, right on time.

"Get your things ready dear, the staff will put your wagon in one of the end cars," his wife told her.

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkamena replied, though he could tell she was a little nervous. The train slowly came to a stop in front of them and together they helped Pinkamena load up all of her things into a cabin.

As a family they stood together for a little while longer.

"Now remember, you can send us a letter every few days if you want. We want to make sure you're doing well," his wife said, giving her a strong hug.

"Okay mom," Pinkamena smiled in her mother's forehooves.

"And try to be on your best behavior, no crazy projects unless you get Granny Pie's permission first," he reminded her.

"I know dad," her silly smile grew wider.

A few more moments they were together, and before he knew it, it was time to leave.

They were back outside the train now, waving to Pinkamena from the window, who's forehoof was nearly a blur, she was waving back so fast.

"Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!"

Their chorus of farewells blended together as the train began to move, gaining speed as it pulled off into the horizon.

He still waved, though he couldn't tell if the rest of the family was.

He didn't care.

This was what was best, for everyone.

Goodbyes don't have to be sad.

"Dad?" a very quiet voice, Marble, had moved alongside him. "Are you crying?"

Just the sun in my eyes.

Of course not, the train's just kicking up a lot of dust.

That's just an optical illusion caused by the refraction of light through my pupil which-

"Yes..."

Author's Notes:

Do you know some people write fics where Pinkie's family kicks her out of her home because of her special talent? Those stories really make no sense to me. Not at all.

The next chapter I'm looking forward to. Mainly because it is very different from the others. Different in tone I suppose. Can you guess whom it is for?