//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Uneventful // by QrV //------------------------------// I dedicate this story to my mother. I hope she never reads it. Chapter 1 Maud Pie was traveling to Rok-kon. For the fifteenth time in a row she was going to be attending the largest convention for geology enthusiasts and their relatives (i.e. guardians) in all pony inhabited lands (and possibly the universe). The convention has always been held in a small mountain village called High Haven. Located in a remote valley, it's a tranquil, sleepy little cottage for fifty one weeks of the year. During the remaining week and a bit it is a crowded festival town, full of ponies who argue about layers, densities and crystal structures, while struggling to express emotions properly and being generally uncomfortable, as well as various attractions that appeal only to the aforementioned ponies. Panels about innovatory igneous rock classification methods? 'Sedimentary (v)alley'? The Crystal Garden? Guess the protolith? Yeah, me neither. But that’s what’s there. To reach Rok-kon one must take the train. The only train line reaching High Haven travels through almost the entire length of the mountain range it’s located in, which means for most of the journey it rides on an incline so steep, the entire line has been dubbed ‘The Slide’. It also famously goes through the longest rail tunnel in Equestria, passing straight through the base of Mount Loom. The train spends almost fifteen minutes in the tunnel without any load, and hundreds of convention attendees lugging their merchandise with them almost triples that time. As the train moved towards the entrance of the tunnel at the pace of stalagmite climbing to meet a stalactite, Maud Pie was looking out the window to admire the young extrusive igneous rocks, barely touched by the tooth of erosion, resting majestically on the side of the mountain. There were still two more stations left before High Haven, but all one could see there were some boring, nearly extinct coniferous trees, found only in that valley. Why would anyone bother with something that can stop existing entirely within one's lifetime? It's just a waste of time. Rocks will outlast all of us and deserve everypony's respect for that single reason. Not that it's the only reason to respect rocks. The magical lamps that light the train while inside the tunnel flickered on. Their light, completely unnoticeable while in bright daylight, was a sure sign the train was about to enter the tunnel. Maud noticed that fact only through their faint reflections in the window, as she was enjoying the last glimpses of igneous she was going get in the next few hours. The train's lamps were unfortunately nowhere near bright enough to light the walls of the tunnel, to despair of many of its passengers, turning what should be a relaxing experience deep in the safety of earth's womb into a torture of knowing, that something exciting is out there, but you are not allowed to see it. -Excuse me, is this seat free? - A quiet voice asked. Without ever seeing whoever asked, Maud looked at the seat in front of her, where a stallion slept with his face covered by a newspaper, snoring from time to time. She did not look at the seat next to him, as he slouched into it a bit and shifted her view straight to the seat beside her. There she saw her tail intruding ever so slightly on the seat's designated space. She removed it and went back to delighting in the view from the window. She did not look directly at the pony who asked, but she did manage to see his T-shirt with a very telling 'Gneiss to meet you!' on it, with a lovely banding pattern all over it. It was obvious he also was attending Rok-kon, possibly to try and 'shed the crust'. -Thank you! - he said, quickly realizing he won't get a verbal response, and sat down keeping as much distance between himself and Maud as possible without it looking weird - I had a seat lower in the train - he added, feeling a need to justify his intrusion - but I had to go check on my attuned almandines in the baggage car. They really shouldn't be anywhere close to those lamps - he looked up to the ceiling and gave said lamps a very concerned look - They didn't let me inside, but promised to check... He had more things to say, but was interrupted by a loud, booming voice demanding the attention of every passenger. The owner of the voice must have really known what he was doing, because even Maud turned her head slightly to listen. -The crew of this train would like to request our passengers to, under no circumstances, put their heads, or any other body parts, outside the windows, or even open the windows at all while in the tunnel - For inexplicable reasons, many ponies loved to experience the rush of air from a moving train directly on their face. Even some pegasi indulged in this practice. One would think they'd be used to that already - We know the ride through the tunnel can be rather dull - the conductor continued speaking - but we assure there is nothing but darkness and rocks outside. The speech has obviously not been adapted for the current passengers of the train, for many of whom rocks can be a good enough reason to risk serious injury, or, in some cases, even death. Luckily for the rail company, they aren't the kind to break the rules. Or break anything whatsoever. And they were especially not the ones who broke the famous across all of Equestria stalagnates in the Southern Dragon Caves for a bet. No, no, definitely not them. As the conductor was thanking everypony for their attention and cooperation, a pegasus walked by, carrying a large package between her wings, and asked: -Is this space taken? - she motioned to the seat next to the sleeping pony with her head. -I just got here… - muttered the freshly arrived unicorn and looked towards Maud. -It's free - said Maud, this time not even bothering to inspect the space. The train was about to go dark and the view out the window was nearing its at-some-point-hot-as-magma climax. -Wonderful! - said the pegasus and threw her package under the seat with seemingly little care for its contents, which were heavy judging by the thudding sound it made hitting the floor. She sat down and sighed - I had to carry this thing up the mountain on my back because the baggage car was full of rocks! They said they wouldn't be able to fit anything more in there no matter how hard they tried -  she shook her head in disbelief - Next year I'm just flying over the mountain and mailing the gift a week earlier, the trains are getting worse and worse every year... At that very moment the train entered the tunnel with a loud woosh, the normal sounds accompanying a train ride changed their tone completely and everything started looking pale in the dim light of the lamps. Maud turned her head away from the window and started staring at the space in front of her. It looked like she was reading the newspaper covering the stallion in front of her, but she already did that hours ago. The newspaper's front page was trying to convince her that the Princess of the Moon was not only not reformed, but also responsible for the recent changeling attack on Canterlot. Maud had to admit that the staggering amount of self-destructiveness on display, as the claims were made completely invalid, no matter how much conclusive evidence could have been presented in the related article, by the fact that they shared the front page with the following sentence: 'My husband was a batpony weredragon!', intrigued her on a level she thought was impossible for something made out of paper. It's a good thing her father would never allow the newspaper to exist within the bounds of their farm, or Maud might have even considered subscribing to it for the chance of this sensation occurring again. For a few moments, nobody around said anything, but as the conversations around started picking back up, the freshly arrived pegasus cleared her throat. -So - she said - since we are going to spend quite a bit of time with each other in this romantic lighting, how about we introduce ourselves? She looked around with a friendly smile to see if anyone has anything against it. The unicorn didn't say anything, but might have had the facial expression of a pony who just got kicked in the stomach. Might have - it was too dark to know for sure. -Sure - replied Maud, with a voice perfectly devoid of enthusiasm. She then went on to stare at the pegasus with her face equally lacking of any hints of support for her idea. -I'll start then! - she continued, louder than necessary, thrown off a bit by their reaction - My name is Rain Shadow and I'm going to visit my family in Galloping Brooks! And you? - she pointed to the unicorn with an encouraging smile. -Uh - he groaned. He looked to around in a desperate search for help. Unfortunately, the only other ponies around were either asleep, or Maud, and the dark interior of the train car offered little in terms of a distractions. He let out a resigned sigh and reluctantly introduced himself - My name is Red Beryl. Friends sometimes call me Bixi. I am going to attend Rok-kon in High Haven - he sounded tense, but he still managed to deliver the joke about having friends perfectly. He quickly turned to Maud, as if he was playing social hot potato. -I'm Maud Pie - she said - You might know my sister Pinkie. I am barely containing my excitement about getting to attend my favorite convention, the Rok-kon. -Look at you, making friends before even getting there! - Rain Shadow clapped her hooves together - I assume this isn't the first time for either of you? -Yes, I've been to one before, two years ago. I wanted to go last year too, but something came up and I couldn't… - Bixi hung his head low. -Aww that's too bad. And how about... -I've been to all of them - Maud interrupted her. -All thirteen of them?! - Bixi's eyes widened. -All fourteen - Maud replied - They started counting at zero - Bixi's eyes and mouth all turned into the digits she's just mentioned when she said that - I assume this isn't the first time you're visiting your family? -No, no it isn't - Rain Shadow chuckled - I visit them a couple times every year for as long as I can remember. But I only started noticing you con goers like four years ago. -Rok-kon has been growing faster than stalagmites in a limestone cave under a river - replied Maud very poetically. -Wow - was all Rain Shadow had to say. Despite Maud simplifying the matter significantly, that mountain of a metaphor flew right over her head - Can you tell me why that is? I don't want to be rude but I really can't imagine anything interesting somepony could do there? - she looked at both of them and quickly realized just how rude she'd just been - I mean, maybe if you tell me what your favorite parts are, I'll be compelled to come over next year? How about you start, Maud? - she turned her head towards her, relieved she saved the situation. -My favorite - replied Maud, but not before all of that relief evaporated from Rain Shadow's mind - are the quizzes. Seeing the surprise on Rain Shadow's face and already recognizing that Maud is unlikely to elaborate, Red Beryl took over: -Rok-kon has almost ten different quiz panels! - he sounded different than the first time he spoke, his enthusiasm for the matter was very clear - They start at simple ones for little fillies, where all you have to do is guess whether a rock is sedimentary, igneous or metamorphic. Other get more difficult as you have to be more and more accurate. For the master quizzes, you can't do certain things when identifying the rock. The hardest one only lets the participants smell and taste the rocks. They can also listen to the sound of somepony else hitting the rock with a wooden hammer -It's actually a gentle tap - interrupted Maud. -Well, I don't know, I just read the description and decided it's not really my thing - admitted Bixi - So I just went to wander the vendor area instead. I still had some bits left... -Wait a second - it took Rain Shadow a moment to fully realize they were serious - First thing, that's gross. Second thing, how can you even recognize a rock by tasting OR smelling it?! -First - Maud answered - the rocks are washed in special rock cleaning solutions, created specifically for the purpose of the quiz. They do not harm the rocks or the ponies who might ingest them. You can smell what kind of liquid was used for cleaning. Or taste the salts that are in the rock. Or use your tongue to check its structure - she turned her head towards the dark window - I prefer it to looking - she added after a pause. Having heard all of that, the pegasus started to not feel very well on her stomach. A rock is a rock, and no amount of scrubbing and bathing will make it clean enough to, by the sound of it, lick them like they are rock candy or something similar. She quickly tried to change the subject. -How about you, Red Beryl? What is your favorite? -Oh, Celestia, I don't know! There's so much I guess the quizzes were cool - as he said that something did an acrobatic flip inside of Rain Shadow. She almost managed to hide it on the outside. Almost - I really liked the volcano panel, even though I didn't really learn anything new from it. The rock concert was surprisingly fun, I don't usually like such loud noises... The food stalls had some delicious and exotic stuff... What else - he muttered - Oh! I know! - he raised his hoof in triumph - it has to be the cosplayers! -What - Rain Shadow, whose head was still full of visions of blind folded ponies very methodically licking exotically colored rocks, struggled to imagine what Rok-kon cosplayers would look like - What do they cosplay as? - she was so desperate to get rid of the mental image of rock 'tasting' she suddenly became very interested in anything else anypony ever did. Anywhere, anytime. -Well - said Bixi, blushing a little - there was this one pegasus who dressed as white marble last time I was there. She had such beautiful wings...  - his eyes became empty for a moment as he daydreamed - I almost asked her about her name! - he added proudly. -Her name's Heavy Cloud - said Maud, still staring into the window - She’s gypsum this year. Bixi looked at her and his ears perked up as she spoke the name, but as soon as he heard 'gypsum' he looked down with a really conflicted expression on his face. -Sedimentary - he muttered to himself - Oh well - he said louder, raising his head back up - I'm sure she can make it work! -I'm sure she will - assured him Rain Shadow, still fighting against the nightmares of unconventional rock identification - You said you went to the vendor area. What can you buy there? T-shirts? - she said and looked at his shirt. -You can get shirts there - he said dismissively, not noticing her look - but mostly the place was full of the craziest possible applications of rocks, gems, and minerals imaginable. I can tell you what I brought this year, if you want an example - he offered with a coy smile. -Sure! - encouraged him Rain Shadow. Red Beryl straightened his back, cleared his throat and started talking with a much more confident voice than before. His pride made him sound like a skilled speaker. This either wasn't the first time he told this to somepony, or just not the first time he has ever said it out loud. -I've been working on this little project for a couple of months. I used some ancient unicorn magic to attune a cluster of almandines to emotions. -Emotions?! -Yes! - as he spoke, his confidence grew slowly and he ascended into lecturing - I found this old book my mom bought before I was born and read about emotion magic in there. Most of it was super complicated stuff about affecting the emotional state of ponies depending on their age, gender, race, social position, eye color, natural mane style and preference in ice cream, but the part about just sensing them was pretty straightforward. So I decided to make a little 'thing' that would use gems, specifically almandines, as they were mentioned in the book as very fitting for that task, to show emotions with the objectivity only magic can provide. It turned out the attuning part was the easiest. It was finding enough compatible gems and testing out all of the emotions that took the longest. -What emotions are we talking about? - to her own surprise, Rain Shadow was genuinely interested. -The book said the five basic emotions are: anger, fear, joy, sadness and surprise. -Surprise? -Quite surprising, isn't it - he smiled in the characteristic 'I've made this joke too many times' way - It's the neutral emotion caused by the unexpected. Its beauty is in how self- explanatory it is. I told you about this emotion, and here you are feeling it as a result! Of course, surprise is usually combined with the other emotions, but that depends on what caused the surprise. But being told about the existence of the emotion is a pure surprise, as you don't really feel any particular way about it, it was merely unexpected. But I wasn't really sure about surprise at the start so I decided to work on it last. I started with joy, which has to be the most common emotion in Equestria. As I said, the attuning magic wasn't really that complex, testing and adjusting the glow resulting from the emotion being detected was the real challenge. I quickly realized testing for joy is really hard, as I would only really feel it after the test was a success, and I had to feel it for the test to succeed, a textbook paradox. Same would be true for surprise probably, I would be really surprised if it worked first try for example. I really should have started with any of the other three, it would be really easy to feel them before the spells started working. I'm sure I'm not the only one getting angry, or sad, when the thing they are working on isn't working. And don't even get me started on fear... His monologue was interrupted by familiar woosh and blinding light pouring in through the train's windows. Rain Shadow has found herself with her mouth slightly ajar. She never thought about emotions in that way before and now her mind was ever so slightly blown off its hinges. -Wow. Time flies by when you talk about interesting stuff - she said. Everywhere in sight ponies were peeking through windows and looking at each other surprised - It seems I am not the only feeling like the tunnel got shorter recently - she added, raising an eyebrow. Thrown off by the surprisingly early end of the cozy mood, the ponies in the train car were slow to pick up their conversations. Red Beryl was trying to remember where he ended his story, Rain Shadow was thinking about a witty joke about the shrinking tunnel to tell her family in Galloping Brooks. And Maud? Maud was looking out the window, at the solid wall of ancient, moss-covered tree trunks outside. There really was nothing interesting to see out there. A minute or two had passed, when the door towards the end of the train burst open and a pegasus in a conductor's uniform started flying up the car. Even though flying inside the train required some impressive wing gymnastics, it was still much faster and easier than climbing up the train, even though at the moment the incline inside was nowhere near close the steepest it gets on The Slide. And going outside is probably illegal when the train is in motion so don't even think about it. As soon as he reached the doors on the opposite end, a second conductor appeared in the ones he just came through, a whizzing earth pony with an impressive mustache glistening with droplets of sweat, making his way up the train slower with each step. Despite barely being able to breathe after galloping up the mountain for over half of the train's length, he still had enough strength to huff out a quiet 'Stop the train!' every couple steps. The eyes of everypony in the train followed him with strange fascination as he traversed its length. The moment he reached the top door, a loud scream could be heard through them, coming from the front of the train: 'We've been robbed!' It traveled down the train with an accompanying echo of shocked gasps. Seconds later, the train ground to a halt with a loud screech. The journey to Rok-kon just got significantly longer.