If there was one thing that Limestone Pie hated about being a rock farmer, it was having to make cart deliveries. She knew that it’s an important job to do, but she preferred to stay at the rock farm mining for rocks, collecting rocks, and making sure that things were running the way they should. However, with Maud Pie still at school, her parents starting to have trouble making long cart deliveries, and Marble Pie being a nervous wreck around other ponies, it pretty much left Limestone to make the cart deliveries. Unfortunately for her, that was exactly what she was doing right now.
She was making a delivery of a large shipment of granite for a countertop, which was in the cloth covered wagon she was pulling along with her tent, sleeping bag, fire wood, food, and water, to Ponyville. She knew that the trip was going to take her two and a half day’s walk there, but she also thought that Ponyville was too close to warrant paying for both a train ticket and the cost to load her cart onto the train. By the end of the day yesterday, she realized that she would have been better off taking the train.
However, there was one thing that she was looking forward to that was making the trip more tolerable for her. Being able to see her sister, Pinkie Pie, again. In spite of what other ponies thought, she truly did love and care for her sister. She even wrote to her sister to let her know that she was going to make a delivery to Ponyville. Pinkie responded back by insisting that they have their annual sister day while she was there, since Limestone had never been to Ponyville before. Pinkie even went through the extra effort of having a confetti cannon hidden in the envelope. It was a proposal that Limestone easily accepted and saw it as a chance to finally unwind. She even had her present for her stored in the cart in a way that the granite wouldn’t accidentally crush it. But even that couldn’t stop her from feeling alone in the almost barren wasteland she was traveling through.
She’ll easily admit that she’s not the most sociable of ponies and that she has problems trusting other ponies that she meets. Then again, it probably didn’t help that she comes across as overly grumpy and always has a bit of a frown on her face, even when she’s smiling. But at the same time, she wasn’t used to being all alone either. She was used to having her parents and at least one of her sisters around her almost all of the time. Even if they didn’t talk a lot when they worked, she still felt comfortable having them around. Being on a trip for multiple days by herself just felt unsettling to her.
It also didn’t help that there wasn’t much around to distract herself with. The surrounding area was just a dry wasteland with the occasional boulder and tree, both alive and dead. If she was in a forest, then she would have been able to entertain herself by watching and listening to the wildlife, but she wasn’t even going to see the forests that surrounded Ponyville until tomorrow morning and any wildlife that was living in this wasteland was probably making sure that she wouldn’t be able to spot them. As it was now, all of her attempts to find a way to distract herself just reminded her how alone she was.
“This trip is beyond boring!” She angrily yelled out loud. “It’s the mid afternoon and I’ve been sick of this trip since yesterday. I wish Maud wasn’t in school right now, then maybe I wouldn’t have to make this delivery.”
“Hey, who’s out there?” She thought she heard a distant stallion’s voice call out.
“What was that?” She said to herself as she stopped to face the direction she thought she heard the voice from. After a few seconds of silence, she began to relax a little and said, “I guess I’m so angry that I’m beginning to hear things.”
“Hey, whoever’s out there, I need help!” She heard the voice call out again from the same direction.
“Okay, now I know I’m not hearing things!” She exclaimed when she realized she didn’t imagine the voice and undid the wagon from her barrel. “Hey.” She called out. “I’m on my way! What’s wrong?”
“My right leg is broken and I don’t know where I am. Please, help me!”
“Okay, I’m on my way. Just hold on.” She called out as she detached herself from the wagon trotted quickly, yet cautiously, to where she heard the voice from. She wanted to believe that there was an injured stallion out there, but she also couldn’t help but think that it might be a thief using the empty environment to his advantage. After about a few minutes, she called out again, “Hey, where are you?”
“I think you’re close by. I’m behind a group of large rocks.” The stallion called in relief.
Limestone turned to where she heard the stallion’s voice call from. Sure enough, there was a group of large rocks, keeping her from seeing the stallion she was looking for. “Okay, I think I see the rocks. I’m coming around, okay?” She informed him.
“Oh, thank you! I’ve been here for hours. I never thought anybody would find me.” He happily replied.
Anybody? Doesn’t he mean anypony? Limestone thought to herself. She started to walk around the rock cautiously, prepared to defend herself in case it was a trap. But when she saw who was behind the rocks, she widened her eyes in surprise. The ‘pony’ behind the rocks was somepony she wasn’t expecting to see, mostly because he wasn’t a pony.
He was like nothing she’d ever seen before. He reminded her of some of the apes she’d seen at the zoos that Pinkie Pie dragged her into, but she noticed a few differences about him. One was that he didn’t have any fur covering his light-colored body, with the exception being a brown patch of hair on the top on his hair. It also looked like he was about five and a half feet tall, which was about a foot and a half taller than she was. She also easily saw that he was fully clothed, as he was wearing a red, collared shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He also had black colored footwear on his feet that reminded her of some sort of boot, but much more fragile looking. She scanned the area with her eyes to see if anyone else was around, but found nobody else. This realization caused her to realize that the individual she found was the voice’s owner. After recovering from her surprise, she pointed a hoof and grumpily demanded, “Alright, what in Tartarus are you?”
The individual reared back a little bit before suddenly asking in a surprised tone, “Wait, you can talk?!? You’re the person I was calling out to?!?”
Limestone hardened her glare. “Of course I can talk!” She yelled feeling slightly insulted. “Now answer my question. What are you?”
He frowned at her as he said, “What do you mean, ‘Of course I can talk.’ Last time I checked, ponies can’t talk.”
“Well, not only can this pony talk, but this pony can also leave you here to suffer.” Limestone said bitterly. “So tell me, what are you?”
He scoffed at her before answering, “Fine, if you really need to know, I’m a human. My name is Christopher Ayers, but you can call me Chris for short. So, what’s your name?”
Limestone softened her glare as she said, “My name’s Limestone Pie, I’m a rock farmer.” She pointed a hoof at his injured leg and asked, “Can I take a look at your leg?”
“Yeah, go ahead.” He responded.
Limestone walked up to Chris and took a look at his leg. It looked like a bone in his calf was misplaced and was trying to break through his skin., “Well, I hate to say this, but you might have a fractured bone. I can probably find a way to keep it still, but you’re definitely still going to go to a doctor.”
“Gee, ya think?” He sarcastically said. “So, where’s the closest hospital?”
“Probably in Ponyville, but we wouldn’t be able to get there until tomorrow morning.” Limestone responded.
Chris scoffed at her before he amusingly said, “There’s a town called Ponyville. You’re kidding me, right? I mean, what else are you going to tell me, that the town’s filled with a bunch of ponies like you?” Limestone’s deadpanned stare caused him mood to change from amused to worried. “You’re serious, the town’s actually called Ponyville.” She nodded. “And it’s populated with talking ponies.” She nodded again. “Jesus, where the the hell am I.”
Limestone scoffed at him before saying, “How can you not know where we are? We’re in Equestria. What the hay were you doing before you broke your leg?”
“I was just taking a walk around the neighborhood before I suddenly ...fell ...through ...something.” Chris said, his voice beginning to trail off as his eyes widened. “No. No. No, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me?!?” He suddenly exclaimed.
“What is it?” Limestone asked, beginning to feel worried.
“I’m in another world. I’m in fell into another fucking world.” He yelled in a panic, accidently moving his injured leg. “Ow, god dammit!” He yelled as he winced back.
“Hey, calm down! You’re just going to injure your leg further if you move it around!” She yelled as she tried to keep him still.
“And why should I?!?” He yelled back before wincing in pain from moving his leg around again. “I should have known something was wrong when I suddenly found myself in the middle of a wasteland, but I just assumed I was somewhere else on Earth. Hell, that’s what I was hoping for. But I never wanted to imagine that I was in another world entirely! Ow!” He yelled after he moved his leg again.
“Hey, I said calm down.” Limestone angrily yelled at him.
“What the hell am I going to do know?!? Everything I own is back at home. My family’s going to think that I’m dead. Hell, I might as well be dead now! Ow, god dammit.” Chris yelled.
“That does it!” Limestone yelled as she used both of her hooves to grab his head and headbutted Chris as hard she could. The impact of which knocked Chris unconscious almost immediately. She let go of his head so she could massage her forehead. “Damn, his head was harder than I thought it was going to be.” She said to herself as she looked down at Chris’s unconscious body.
Damn, now what am I going to do. Pinkie would never forgive me if she found out I let somepony out in the wasteland. She thought to herself. She sighed before she thought to herself. Guess I’ll have to load him onto the wagon so that I can bring him to Ponyville. But first, I’ll have to do something about that leg.
Limestone searched around the area until she noticed a couple of rather large branches about thirty yards away from her. She trotted out to the branches and picked up two of them in her mouth before trotting back over to her wagon. She then tossed the branches on top of the wagon. It’ll probably be better to bring the wagon to him before loading him onto it instead of dragging his body to it. She thought to herself as she hooked herself to the wagon and pulled it over to Chris.
When she made it to Chris, she unhooked herself from the wagon and walked behind it. She pulled the branches off of the the wagon and placed them next to Chris’s injured leg. She then ripped off three pieces of cloth off of the wagon’s cover before walking over to Chris. At least he’s not moving around right now. She thought to herself as she placed the two branches on either side of his leg. Both of the branches went from his ankles to the halfway point of his upper leg. She then took one of the cloth strips and carefully tied tightly around the branches at his upper leg. Next, she tied another cloth strip around the branches at his ankle, being slightly more careful about this knot than the first one. The last cloth strip she tied around tightly around his knee.
She tested the splint to see if it was taut on his leg. Once she was satisfied with his splint, she used her forelegs to pick him up from under his arms and carefully dragged him to the wagon. To get him on top of the wagon, she first lifted him up as high as she could so that the top half of his body was resting on the wagon. She then quickly climbed up on top of the wagon and carefully dragged him across it until his entire body was resting on top of the wagon. Once she was done loading him up onto the the wagon, she jumped off of the wagon and walked towards the front of the it. She the hooked herself back onto it and continued down her path.
So, helping a ...human, I believe he said, from dying out in the wasteland. Didn’t think that was going to happen today. At least I don’t have to worry Pinkie Pie giving me an earful if ...or more like when she found out. Limestone thought as she looked back at her passenger. Her eyes suddenly widened when she realized something. Wait, I only made sure that I had enough food and water for dinner and breakfast for me. Dammit, what am I going to do about him?!?
About three hours of walking later, she suddenly heard Chris groaning. She looked back to see him sit up and placed a hand on his forehead. “Ugh, what happened?”
“You were panicking and moving your leg around too much. So, I had to knock you out.” Limestone explained.
“Damn, so that wasn’t a dream?” He said disappointingly as he layed back down.
“Afraid not.” Limestone simply replied.
“Damn.” He muttered. He then looked around as he asked, “What the hell am I sitting on?”
“You’re sitting on my wagon, stupid.” Limestone harshly replied. “What did you think you were sitting on?”
“Oh give me a break, I just woke up after getting headbutted by a certain short tempered pony.” He shot back, causing Limestone to roll her eyes. “Besides, why are you even pulling this thing? Don’t tell me you pull this thing everywhere.”
She scoffed before she yelled back, “Of course I don’t pull this thing everywhere. I’m using it to deliver some granite for a counter somepony’s making. You should be happy I had this wagon with me, otherwise that leg of yours would be dragging all the way to Ponyville.”
“...Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” Chris said as he layed back down on the wagon. “Hey, who are you delivering that granite to?”
“Why do you even care?” Limestone harshly asked.
“Just curious mostly.” He relied. “Are you delivering them to a stuck up rich pony?”
“I don’t know, though their last name is Rich.” Limestone replied.
“Yeah, sounds like the name for a stuck up rich pony.” Chris said. He then sat back up to face her and said, “Hey, if you bring me to hospital, can you do me a favor and tell me whether or not I was right about the pony.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Limestone half-heartedly replied as she turned her head forward to face the trail. She then looked up toward the sun to see that the sun was beginning to set. She then turned back to Chris and said, “Hey, it’s starting to get late. I think now’s a good time for me to set up camp for us.”
“Whatever, you say Limestone. I’m just along for the ride.” Chris replied.
Limestone nodded as she looked around the area to see if there was a good spot for her to set up camp. When she saw a group of rocks that was about thirty yards to her left, she turned towards them and began to walk to them until the wagon was about ten yards away from the rocks. She then unhooked herself from the wagon and walked behind it and said, “Alright, now get off of the wagon so that I can get to the supplies.”
Chris gave her a confused frown as he said, “Okay, where am I going to go?”
“To one of those rocks, obviously.” Limestone harshly replied as she pointed a hoof at the rocks.
Chris looked at the rocks before turning to Limestone and said, “Alright, but you’re going to have to help me over there.”
“W-what?!?” Limestone replied, surprised by his comment. “You’ve got to be kidding me. They’re not that far away, so just limp to them.”
“I’d rather not accidently put too much pressure, so you’re going to have to get me to them. Like you said, it’s only for a few feet. Besides, it’s not like I’m asking you to let me ride you.” Chris said.
Damn, he’s got a point. Limestone thought as she scowled up at Chris. She then gave a frustrated sigh before replying, “Alright fine, I’ll help. But don’t do anything weird, got it?!?”
“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dream of it.” Chris said as he carefully scooted himself towards the edge of the wagon until his good leg was able to make contact with the ground. He then stood up on the one leg for a second before leaning back onto the wagon and reaching his hand out to Limestone. Limestone moved until she was on Chris’s right side and allowed him to place his hand on her back. He had to lean over in order to touch her back, but when he was able to put some of his weight on her, Chris said, “Alright, I’m ready to limp to the rocks now.”
Limestone nodded as she began to walk forward and Chris started to limp beside her. He winced whenever he moved his right leg, but he didn’t complain about the pain, which was fine as far as Limestone was concerned. After about seven minutes of walking, they managed to get to the closest of the rocks and Chris began to sat down while still using Limestone Pie as support, albeit putting a lot more weight on her. When he was finally sitting down, he took his hand off of her and said, “Thanks for the help.”
“No problem, Chris.” Limestone replied. “Now relax, I’ll go get camp set up.”
“Yeah, because I was totally thinking of going for a jog right now.” Chris sarcastically said.
Limestone rolled her eyes as she said, “Oh, shut up.” She then turned back towards the wagon and walked up to it. When she got to it, she pulled the tarp partially off and dug around the wagon until she pulled out all the supplies she needed. The supplies consisted of her tent, sleeping bag, a small pile of firewood, and a box that held all of her food and water. Once she had everything, she put the part of the tarp she took off of the wagon back on and began to set up camp.
First, she set up the tent. It was a simple a-frame that was large enough to hold at most four ponies. She set it up so that it was a few feet behind Chris so that he wouldn’t have to go far to get to it. Once the tent was set up, she threw the one sleeping bag she had into the tent. Then she carried the firewood she had left over to the center of the rock group and began to make the campfire about three feet away from Chris. She decided to make a log cabin that was about a foot high for the campfire and grabbed two small rocks that were close by. Then, with little effort, Limestone struck the rocks together once which caused a few sparks to fly towards the firewood and ignite the firewood instantly.
Chris’s eyes widened in amazement as he said, “Woah, how did you learn to do that.”
“From my pa. It’s an old family technique.” Limestone proudly replied as she tossed the rocks aside. “Now I need to grab the food. You hungry?”
“Hell yeah, I’m starving right now!” Chris excitingly replied.
She sighed in frustration a little bit as she walked back over to the wagon for the crate holding her food and water. She had hoped that his answer would be that he wasn’t hungry and could go a little bit longer without food. Not out of spite towards the human, but because she knew how much food she had left for the trip. She knew that she only had three cinnamon rolls and four red delicious apples from Sweet Apple Acres in the box. She intended to eat them for dinner tonight and then breakfast tomorrow, but now it looked like she was going to have to split the food between Chris and herself for tonight and go the rest of the trip without breakfast tomorrow.
Once she had a hold on the box, she lifted it onto ther back carried it over to the campfire. When she reached the campfire, she carefully placed in onto the ground and opened it to get the food out. She pulled out two cinnamon rolls and two apples and turned to Chris. “I hope you’re not expecting breakfast tomorrow.” She said in a frustrated tone as she passed the food over to him.
“Why do you say that?” Chris asked as he accepted the food.
“Because,” she said as she pulled the rest of the food out of the box, “this is the last of the food that I have.”
“…Seriously?” He asked with slight concern.
“Afraid so. I wasn’t exactly planning on having more than one mouth to feed on this trip.” She said as she took a bite out of one of her apples.
As she ate, Chris just sat there staring at his food as though he was in deep thought. He then suddenly perked up and asked, “Hey, can you push that box over here?”
Limestone gave Chris and surprised and questioning look as she asked, “Why do you want me to do that?”
“Because I’m going to set aside some food for you to eat tomorrow morning.” Chris simply replied.
Limestone was caught off guard by what he just said. Normally she wouldn’t argue about somepony setting aside food for her to eat, but this was somepony she just met today setting aside parts of his dinner for her to eat for breakfast and leaving nothing for himself. That was something she wasn’t expecting to happen tonight. “W-what about you?!? You’re going to need something to eat too.” She tried to protest.
“But you’re going to need the energy to get the both of us to town tomorrow.” Chris argued. “Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time I skipped breakfast.”
Limestone, seeing that Chris wasn’t going to back down from his decision, reluctantly passed the box over to him and said, “Fine, but I better not hear you complain about how hungry you are tomorrow!”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Chris replied as he opened the box, put one cinnamon roll and an apple back into the box, closed it, and moved it aside as he began to eat the food he still had out.
The two ate their meal in silence. Limestone didn’t want to stop eating just to strike a conversation with Chris that would result in the two of them yelling at each other. Besides, she figured that Chris felt the same way. After about thirty minutes, the both of them were finished eating so Limestone got up to place a fairly large rock onto the food box to keep any animals from getting into it. She then turned to Chris and said. “I think we should get some shut eye. Do you need help getting to the tent?”
“Will you leave me here if I say no?” Chris jokingly asked.
“Yes.” She simply answered as she kicked dirt into the campfire to extinguish it.
“Well, in that case, yes I would love some help to the tent.” Chris said as he struggled to get up, using Limestone as support once she was done extinguishing the fire.
Once Chris was up, the two of them used the same tactic as before to get him to the tent and turned Chris so that his back was facing the tent when they reached it. Chris entered the tent first by sitting down and using his good leg to push himself into it and Limestone entered once he was inside. Once she was inside, she noticed that they had another problem. There was plenty of room in the tent for the two of them, but she only had one sleeping bag with her. She looked over at Chris and noticed that he was probably the least equipped for the cold weather. So, she unrolled the sleeping bag and said, “Here, you’re getting the sleeping bag.” And passed it to him.
“Are you sure?” Chris asked in concern.
“Oh, relax and get to sleep.” Limestone exclaimed. “I’m the one with a coat of fur, I’ll be fine.”
Why is it so cold! Limestone thought angrily as she shivered violently and her teeth chattered. ‘You’re getting the sleeping bag’ I said. ‘I’ll be fine’ I said. I swear, the next time I see somepony on the side of the road, I’m leaving them there if it means avoiding this torture again. She turned her head to look at Chris to see that he was sleeping comfortably in the sleeping bag and scowled at him. Oh Celestia, look at him. If only if I had the sleeping, then I’d be the one feeling warm. Then again he’d probably suffer from hypothermia faster than I would, but I’m the one that has to get us to Ponyville tomorrow. There’s got to be a way for me to get warm without having to take the sleeping bag away from him, but how?
Then an idea formed in her head, one she was hesitant to use. I could share the sleeping bag with him, but I can’t do that! I mean, what would he think. All of a sudden, a cold breeze managed to blow into the tent that not only caused her to shiver even more, but also caused her to change her mind about the idea. Screw it, it’s a better idea than just laying here to freeze to death. She then got up and began to poke Chris with her hoof. “Chris. Hey, Chris. Wake up.” She whispered.
Chris began to stir before he groggily opened his eyes and asked, “What is it?”
“Make some room in the sleeping bag, we’re sharing it. I’m freezing my butt off right now.” Limestone explained.
“W-what?!? I thought you said you were going to be fine.” Chris exclaimed.
“Well, clearly I’m not. So, make some room in there or I’m going to make to make some room.”
Chris groaned in frustration as he started to make an opening on the left side of him large enough for her to enter. “Alright, get in.” He said.
“Thanks.” Limestone said as she carefully entered the sleeping bag with her hind legs first, being mindful of Chris’s injured leg. Once she was inside, she positioned herself so that she was laying down comfortably without stretching out the sleeping bag too much. This, however, meant that she was practically cuddling Chris with her head resting on his chest. As embarrassed as she was, she wouldn’t deny that she was much more comfortable and warmer than she was a few seconds ago.
“You comfy?” Chris slyly asked when Limestone stopped moving around.
“As a matter of fact, I am. And if you do anything weird to me while I’m asleep, I’ll break the other leg. Got it?” Limestone harshly replied.
“Wouldn’t even dream of it.” Chris answered back. Then, after a few seconds of silence, he suddenly said, “And...thank you, by the way.”
“For what?” Limestone asked.
“For helping me. I know I’ve kinda been an ass to you, but I really do appreciate you helping me. There’s not a lot of people where I’m from that would have done what you did for me.” Chris said as his breathing become more steady, causing Limestone to assume that he drifted off to sleep.
Regardless of that, Limestone still gave him a small smile. “Glad to hear that, Chris.” She said before she too drifted off to sleep.