"Come on, dad! Are we seriously still listening to this thing?"
Five ponies stood around a giant stone, the emotions on their faces varying wildly from pony to pony. Confidence, joy, anger, fear, and utter ambivalence all found a home on the faces of the onlookers as they gazed upon the rock in front of them.
"Indeed so," Igneous Rock Pie responded, his confident smile unwavering. "For it was upon the whims of this very Pairing Stone that the joyous betrothal of thy mother and myself began."
"And we have been happy ever since," Cloudy Quartz added, unable to peel the smile from her face. "And further blessed with four beautiful daughters."
"But that was the old days!" Limestone Pie shouted, her frantic hooves threatening to tear out part of her short mane and shorten it further. "Just because something worked back then doesn't mean we need to do it that way today!" She turned to her sister next to her, setting a state of desperate frustration upon her. "Come on Marble, back me up!"
"Mhm," Marble Pie responded. Although given the way she was cowering, the intent of her response was likely more to get the attention off of her than to actually agree.
"I always listen to rocks," Maud Pie stated. Limestone's gaze now set upon her, clearly uninterested in dealing with her taciturn nature.
"How can you be against me on this?!" Limestone growled. "You're in the same position as Marble and I!"
"And yet they seem unbothered by it," Igneous said.
"Does this look unbothered to you?" Limestone responded, pulling a shaking Marble in her father's field of vision.
"Yes, but you are the only one to react with anger, dear Limestone," Cloudy told her. "For all we know, Marble's trembling could be attributed to nervous eagerness."
"Indeed," Igneous agreed. "Mayhaps the concept of possibly being the Pie sister chosen to wed this mystery stallion intrigues her."
"And to bear his children," Cloudy added, her smile growing. "Do not forget that."
"Yeah, somehow I doubt that," Limestone grumbled, letting her shaky sister go. "And what the heck is up with that anyway? The thing's all precise in pairing you two but it can't decide which of us it wants to marry this guy?"
"The Pairing Stone works in mysterious ways, my daughter," Igneous replied. "It simply stated that a Pie daughter would wed this stallion. And being as Pinkie is already betrothed to that fine Apple stallion, so the burden falls upon one of the three of you. Although one should not look upon it as a burden, of course. Surely, this will be a wonderful and glorious occasion!"
"Yeah, I'm gonna stick with burden," Limestone said, unimpressed. She set her glare on her sisters once again. "Are either of you going to argue here or am I the only one upset about this?"
"Mother and father know best," Maud replied. "And so do rocks."
"It is best for business, young Limestone," Igneous said. "The stallion's father is a wealthy and successful farmer. Perhaps he can impart some wisdom and merge our businesses together." He smiled a warm smile to Marble. "And that sounds very nice and helpful, doesn't it?"
"Mhm..." Marble agreed, although the fear hadn't left her face.
"Well isn't that just perfect," Limestone groaned, whirling around in a huff. "If anypony needs me, I'll be doing my best to avoid all of you and all of this." With that, the perturbed pony stormed off, the frustration in her eyes threatening to vaporize anything that impeded her progress.
"Such a willful pony," Igneous mused as he watched her go.
"She gets it from you, my stallion," Cloudy said with a smile.
"Indeed so," Igneous agreed. Then he turned his attention to his other daughters. "Please go and tend to your sister."
"But the last time she was this upset, we had to pry Maud out of the wall..." Marble squeaked.
"It was nice being one with the sheet rock," Maud said calmly. "However fleeting it might have been."
"I must implore you to heed my word, my daughters," Igneous told them. "Make haste and improve thy sister's mood." The two younger Pies gave each other a look before heading off towards the house. It wasn't wise to disobey Father, after all.
~~~~~~~~~~
Limestone sat in the middle of the bedroom she shared with her sisters, staring angrily at the wall as if it somehow had something to do with all of this. Their bed was an absolute mess, blankets and pillows thrown carelessly around the room. Maud and Marble had made sure to set it neatly once all three were out of it, but the orderly bedspread was the first thing to feel Limestone's wrath upon her blustery arrival. Had the rest of the room sapience, it would have hoped that the bedspread would also be the last victim, but given Limestone's temper, that would have been wishful thinking.
Limestone's death glare at the offending wall was interrupted by the door opening, its hinges creaking almost fearfully as if they knew just how little the room's occupant wished to be bothered. An errant pillow flew from Limestone's hoof towards those who intended to invade, bouncing harmlessly off of Maud's face.
"We nph to talk," Maud said, her stare and resolve far less impeded than her speech by the gentle assault. A fearful Marble peered over her sister's shoulder, and would have been the target of a second pillow if Maud had not intercepted this one with a hoof.
"Do I look like I want to talk?" Limestone growled.
"No," Maud answered matter-of-factly. This acknowledgement did nothing to stop her progress into the room, Marble nervously shuffling in behind her. Limestone glared balefully at her undeterred sisters, but cooler heads thankfully prevailed before an attempt could be made to create another Maud-shaped hole to patch up in the wall.
"What the hay is there to talk about?" Limestone hissed as her sisters had a seat on the bed. "Mom and Dad are forcing one of us to marry some stallion we don't know from the back of our hooves–"
"His name is Caramel," Maud stated, earning a flat stare from her sister.
"...Because of an ancient tradition," the undaunted Limestone continued. "You two seem to be just fine with it, and I'm the only one who's upset about it! I think that covers everything, huh?" She grumbled and sat on the bed as well, refusing to look at the two. "It would be nice if somepony had my back."
"We do have your back, Limestone," Marble said softly. "We're sisters. We always have each other's backs."
"Yeah?" Limestone huffed. "Then why are you siding with them?" It took a fair amount of willpower not to scream at Marble. As upset as she was, she knew how skittish her youngest sister could get, and while she didn't want to be bothered, she had no intent of terrifying Marble out of the room.
"It's not as simple as that..." Marble said, trailing off as she tried to figure out why what she said was true and hoping that it wouldn't be questioned.
"Why not?" Limestone shot back. Marble found herself at a loss, giving Maud a silent plea for help.
"It's tradition," Maud stated. "Mom and Dad barely knew each other before the Pairing Stone chose them for each other and that worked out fine."
"So?" Limestone said. "That was forever ago!"
"If it didn't work, it wouldn't be a tradition," Maud responded.
"Things change!" Limestone shouted. "Ponies don't need a Pairing Stone to find somepony to marry! Pinkie didn't need a Pairing Stone to marry a stallion and get knocked up, did she?"
"N-no..." Marble said, blushing at Limestone's choice of vernacular. "But I think we can all agree that Pinkie's always been a little...different. In a good way, of course."
"Well it's still ridiculous," Limestone said, flopping back onto the disheveled bed. "I mean, it didn't even specifically name one of us! How can we trust a Pairing Stone if it can't even specify a pair?"
"I wish I had a good answer for that," Marble said with a sigh. "But all I can really say is what we said already."
"Well...it's stupid," Limestone grumbled. "And I don't see why we have to go along with it."
"Because we do," Maud said, staring up at the ceiling. Silence filled the room for a good ten seconds before she spoke again. "If neither of you like him, I'll marry him."
"What?!" Limestone exclaimed, sitting up to look at her sister.
"I'm the oldest," Maud said, her gaze at the ceiling unwavering. "If it means stopping my little sisters from being unhappy, then it's my responsibility."
Limestone sputtered a bit as she stared at Maud. As selfless as it was of Maud to offer that, it still didn't sit quite right with her. She turned to Marble and was met with a look of uncertainty. She looked back to Maud, hoping for some visible sign of what she was thinking, and was completely unsurprised to find no such thing. After a bit of frustrated flailing of hooves, Limestone finally sighed.
"Look...we'll see what happens, okay?" Limestone grumbled.
"Sure," Maud replied.
"Right," Limestone said. "I'm gonna go for a run." With that, she rolled off of the bed and made haste out of the bedroom. Marble waited for Limestone to close the door before turning to her sister in awe.
"I can't believe you got her to calm down like that," Marble said. "She almost seemed agreeable...how did you do that?"
"Guilt trip," Maud responded. "It's the same way I got her to eat her collard greens when she was young."
~~~~~~~~~~
"Hurry, hurry girls! Make haste! Everything must be clean, he shall be here any minute!"
Hurrying was practically an alien concept to the Pie family. They were more used to working at a slow but steady pace, one which allowed them to carefully assess problems as they arose and deal with them efficiently. As it stood now, though, there was simply no time for being careful. A miscalculation in lunch planning had left the family with almost no time to prepare, and the fact that Limestone had little to no interest in participating at all didn't help matters. Still, she found herself begrudgingly aiding in the frantic cleaning of the house. Not doing so would make Father upset, and the last thing she wanted to do–other than marrying and having foals with a random stallion because a rock said so–was make Father upset.
"Quickly, girls!" Cloudy exclaimed, pulling Marble in front of her first. The youngest Pie made quiet sounds of protest as her mother fussed over her, fixing her mane. The sisters were more than old enough to take care of themselves, but that didn't stop their mother from interfering and adding her own personal touches. Marble pouted slightly as a blue bow was tied into her mane. She was quickly shooed off as Cloudy moved on to Maud. Maud offered no reaction as a green bow was applied to her mane, and continued to offer no reaction as it silently fell off as soon as her mom moved on. Limestone did her best to intimidate Cloudy out of applying a red bow to her mane with a stare, but Cloudy was a seasoned veteran of such behavior and glared right back. It was Limestone who backed down first, and she too was left pouting at her new and annoying mane accessory.
"There we go!" Cloudy said with a smile, overflowing with pride as she looked over her daughters. "Such beautiful mares...Maud, must you wear that frock?"
"It brings out the colors of my soul," Maud replied. "And it rhymes with rock."
"That it does," Cloudy responded. "Oh, you all look lovely...I can't wait for one of you to marry this Caramel fellow and begin giving me grandfoals..."
"Geez, Mother," Limestone said, rolling her eyes. "Pinkie's already pregnant. Isn't that enough?"
"No!" Cloudy answered, her eyes sparkling. "I want so many grandfoals..." The three sisters gave each other a look, but decided not to offer a response. This was one topic that it wasn't worth fighting with Cloudy on. Not that they would have had time to fight with her on. Not with the very recent knock on their front door.
"That must be him!" Igneous shouted. "Quickly, everypony, come hither! Take your places!"
Cloudy scurried to the front door, joining her husband's side as he waited. The three sisters took their places behind their parents, arranged in a neat little line. As usual, Marble wore an expression of nervousness, while Limestone tried her best to contain her scowl and Maud looked as if she couldn't possibly care less about anything that was going on. Once he was sure everypony was in position, Igneous opened the door.
"Welcome to the Pie Family Rock Farm," Igneous said, looking out to their guest. Or rather, to their guests. Before him stood two ponies, each carrying their own bags. The taller one was a blue unicorn stallion with a pale, wavy mane and a particularly pointy horn. Next to him was a shorter earth pony mare, sporting a yellow coat and brown mane and staring at the ground in front of them.
Igneous looked back to the rest of his family, unsure of what to say. The rest looked equally confused. None of them had been expecting a second pony. Still, hospitality was prudent, especially in an situation as important as this. Igneous quickly turned back to the two ponies, offering a smile.
"I am Igneous Rock Pie," he stated. "This is my wife, Cloudy Quartz, and these are my daughters: Maud, Limestone, and Marble." He nodded politely to the stallion. "You must be the Caramel whom the Pairing Stone has chosen to wed one of my daughters." The stallion smirked lightly before shaking his head.
"My name is Pokey Pierce," he told Igneous. "I'm Caramel's friend and traveling partner."
"Oh?" Igneous asked, looking quite confused. "Then where is Caramel?" Just then, the smaller mare cleared her throat. All attention turned to her.
"Um..." the mare said awkwardly. "My name's Caramel. Sorry about this."