'What am I doing?'
It had been a couple of months since that ridiculous flying show and that meal with the pies. Limestone scowled as she watched the workers fumble a routine cart filling. "Move faster!" she shouted at them. "Svengallop, you load carts like old ponies rut! Don't make me light a fire under you!"
Two months when her parents took a fortnight. She was a failure alright. Some successor. She should have gone with her initial impulse: sat him down, told him what was going to happen, then set him straight. Yet, she didn't. She played the tongue-tied little fan, and chased him to a show, then went on some kind of date afterwards, then another, then another, then another...
Limestone's scowl deepened, and the workers all around her yelped and moved faster. What was she to Soarin after all this time? Just another swooning fan he could treat like he wanted? He had a boulder to the head waiting for him if that was the case.
She deserved one too for letting things get out of hoof. What was it with his big, stupid-looking grin that made her lose grasp of the situation? He wasn't so special. He was a slacker who couldn't be bothered to upstage his captain when he could have, he rarely took things seriously, he was a feather-back...
She sighed.
...and he was carefree and well-traveled. Everything even she knew she wasn't, but her sisters kept insisting she should be more of. He had a lot of interesting things to talk about thanks to all the cities he had visited. She only had this rock farm. He was probably bored of her already. But was she even allowed to give up? The Choosing Stone couldn't be wrong. She looked up, more as a break from seeing how inept her workers were than anything else. Across the blue expanse above her, a small speck of darker blue flew swiftly in.
'What am I doing?'
Soarin had asked himself that pretty frequently these days. Here he was visiting the Pie Rock Farm yet again, going through the same motions that got him nowhere for years. What did he see in Limestone anyway? She was usually surly, she didn't hold back with the name-calling, kind of racist...
Soarin sighed.
...and very devoted to the things she cared for: family, work, tradition, maybe him? Straightforward, grounded, pays for her own stuff unless he sneaks in his treat, and, yes, very pretty. Those eyes...oh, he'd gaze into them alright. On the several times they'd already gone out, it was always the highlight for him to get a crack on that stony exterior to see the...slightly less hard interior.
The truth was, though, Soarin was tired of the motions. He was tired of the dating, and the flirting, and the will they or won't they. It's been fun. He didn't regret how he had lived during his younger years, but the fun's stopped being fun. He had only realized it recently, but he suspected that he was hedging all his bets now on Limestone.
She was looking up at the sky and straight towards him when he approached her. Oh, damn, that was an unusually deep scowl on her face. Her workers must have really screwed up or something. He put on his best grin, a tactic that ocassionally softened her just a bit, before landing next to her.
"Hey, Limestone," he said.
"Soarin," Limestone replied. She was gruff as usual, and she didn't even look at him. "We're pretty busy today. No dates or anything."
"I wasn't going to ask," Soarin said. "I just wanted to talk about something."
Limestone turned to face him. Thos big, sharp, green eyes wide, genuinely curious and expectant. He swallowed, then looked around. "Maybe somewhere private?" he asked.
She led him past all the workers, past the mines and the thousands of rocks, and in front single, egg-shaped, monolith. At least he thought it was the front. "What is it?" she asked softly.
There was certainly at air of solemnity around this place. The monolith was surrounded by a low wall with large signs warning others not to touch it. Whatever the thing was, it was likely the most sacred thing on this farm. "Limestone, I..." Soarin scratched his head, suddenly aware of how familiar this scene was. Should he go through with it? Maybe he'd just drive Limestone away. Maybe he was being selfish.
Limestone's lips were pressed tightly together. She fumbled over something inside that pouch she was always carrying. "I've got something to say too, to be honest," she said.
Oh, good. Now, it was a race.
"Limestone..." Soarin squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw for a few seconds. "Limestone, I wanted to know--"
"--to get serious," Limestone said.
Soarin stared at her dumbly, an expression she reflected.
"I mean," they both said.
"Will you just let me finish?" Limestone snapped.
"Alright, alright," Soarin replied.
"I'm not here to play around, Soarin," Limestone said. "I love you, and I want to get married." She had turned bright red at this point, and it was clear that she was forcing the anger just to keep from being ovewhelmed. "I mean, first it was just out of tradition, but now, I really..."
The embarassment won out, and her voice trailed off. She turned away, shielding her face with a hoof. "Look, forget what I just said."
Soarin placed a hoof on her shoulder and turned her around. A risky maneuver as she could probably fling him across the farm. "I wanted to know how serious this was," he said. "Pretty serious, it seems."
Her lips quivered a bit. She was about to say something, but he put a hoof to her lips. "I'm pretty serious too," he added. "More serious than I've ever been."
Her warm breath carressed his face when she let out a relieved sigh. Then, she smiled a small, impish little smile. "This is your most serious?" she asked. "Dad tied the knot in a fortnight."
"I'm not Igneous Rock Pie," Soarin replied. "I'm just a stupid feather-back, but I'll get this done. I promise you."
He leaned in closer, taking in those big, green eyes, just before she closed them. She circled her forelegs around his back, with a crushing, barely contained grip, and pulled his lips to hers.