Pinkimena Diane Pie
“Alright, I suppose that would be enough for now,” Celestia said after ending the dream sequence. It always takes me a moment to adjust to the real world when we come back from one of those. As most of us expected, Twilight has been completely taken off the team for the week while she recovers, and though most of us thought she didn’t do much, that became very clearly untrue in the last few simulations.
“Well. Damn. Ah guess Ah underestimated how useful havin’ magic barriers has been up till now. No magic platforms for vantage, no magic siphon, no elemental fire power… Ah’m gonna have ta adjust my plans fer a while…” Applejack remarked. She then turned to Celestia and asked, “How long am Ah gonna be without my defense unit? She’ll at least be able ta help out the Sunday after next right? Uh… Ah think that’s the 13th if it helps.” Celestia shook her head.
“The would be unlikely. Unless we can bypass her anti-magic powers, I doubt we can enhance her healing process enough to send her back out,” Celestia explained.
“But what about when you fixed her wing?” Goose asked after joining the conversation. He took the most strain out of all of us during these last simulations since he effectively had to take up Twilight’s role in keeping us from getting killed. Celestia shook her head.
“Believe it or not, the only magic I used then was to enhance my vision. The rest of it was purely fine technical skill with my hooves and tools.” Celestia explained. Goose took on a confused look and tilted his head.
“So wait. You can do bone surgery on the fly?” He asked. Celestia shrugged.
“When you live for two thousand years, you get the chance to learn a vast variety of vocations. Live through a few wars and you learn a lot about fixing a broken body. Of course, with the world rapidly advancing so quickly over the last century, I’ve fallen behind in keeping up with the cutting edge. For the most part though, I try to be well versed in everything I can. One simply can’t rely on magic to solve all their problems after all. Setting bones however, is older than I am. I’ve simply taken it to an extreme over time.” I guess it makes sense that she can do all this, but I can only wonder how she manages to stay in practice with it all. You would think that skills like that take a lot of effort to keep up. Then again, there’s no real way for any mortal pony to test that theory…
“That makes sense I guess. Well, we should clean ourselves and get ready to go, huh Pinkie? We probably should hurry over that way so we don’t end up at your house after dark,” Goose said. My ears perked up at my name and I was hit with a sudden wave of dread. Yep. Today is my turn, isn’t it?
“Ah, that’s right! How did it go, by the way? I haven’t had the chance to speak with you all since Monday afternoon,” Celestia asked.
“Hmm? What’s this now? Have I been left out of the loop?” Rarity asked.
“Oh right. The three runaways have been visitin’ their parents ta try and make amends before somethin’ kills us. Scraggly and Gimpy have already done their visitation, so all that’s left is Twitchy.” Twitchy? Do I have a nervous tick I don’t know about?
“I see. Well, I would offer to come along for moral support, but I’ve had a lot of orders recently. Ever since the Sachiel battle, I’ve had more work than I know what to do about. I’m selling out of my easier to make clothes, and with every day comes in a new pony asking to replace half their wardrobe.” She has looked extra tired lately. I just figured it was all the fighting and the simulations though. I forget that she actually owns her own business sometimes.
“Bah, you don’t need to worry about it. Between the six of us, we can handle just about anything. Well, anything in the realm of ‘normal’ anyways,” Goose said, putting a hoof around Applejack. I looked at them, and for a minute there, I almost thought I felt jealous.
“Ooh, and just what do we have here? I certainly have been out of the loop…” Rarity looked like she was going to question further, but then she checked her wrist, which happened to have a near coat matching white banded watch hiding on it. Were it not for her fetlocks turning purple toward the tip, I doubt I would’ve noticed it. “… But I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you to it today. You’ll have to share the story with me another time, and I expect to see one or both of you in my shop in the next few days. Au revoir everypony.” And with that, Rarity headed up the staircase. Celestia brought a hoof to her face.
“Hmm… perhaps this is an unintended consequence, though not an unwelcome one from these kaiju attacks. Even though this city is usually rather liberal as a whole, the economy has been better here in the past few weeks than it has in decades. I’ll have to look into this a bit more… But, back to the matter at hoof, what was your visit like? To be quite honest with you, I had no real inclination as to how any of your parents would react to you returning home.”
“Oh you know. Dad pulled a gun on us and tried to arrest Rainbow. I’d say it went pretty well,” Scootaloo chimed in. Rainbow scoffed and elbowed her in the stomach.
“Well, yeah, that happened, but the issue was resolved and nopony got shot. My parents are… eccentric, to be sure, but I think we’ve just about cleared the air. They plan to move up here after this all blows over, provided I make it through. I’m uh… I’m also really glad you were there, Applejack. If… if you hadn’t stepped in when you did, I don’t think I could’ve pulled rank on my dad like that.” Applejack moved over and brought the little mare into a hug.
“That’s what friends are for, right?” She said with a big grin on her face. Then she must’ve remembered something because she tapped her hoof twice on the ground. “Oh, and this’ll surely interest ya, Rainbow’s powers come from her mom. She’s got the exact same set, and she was a first generation in the first year.” Applejack added. Celestia put on a smirk and raised an eyebrow.
“Is that so? You know, I’ve been putting together a theory, and I believe that I’m going to need parent child pairs in order to prove it. Your father doesn’t have powers, does he Rainbow?” Rainbow sighed and rolled her eyes.
“My dad doesn’t even have a left hind leg. I’m pretty sure that previous to yesterday, he hated power ponies, and for… really valid reasons. He made a good argument against the VBTA, and now I’m starting to think it isn’t such a good idea after all…” Celestia nodded.
“In all truth, that act came as a desperate attempt to offset the rise of power abuse back in the early 2000’s. These days it’s terribly outdated, and since the fallout with Red Hoof, I’ve been meaning to fix it, but I simply haven’t had the time to have a new bill drafted. I know what I want to do, but I highly doubt I can get it passed in the senate. As you know, Luna and I serve as commander general of Equestria’s armies and the leaders of this country, but our role in the governmental side of things is to act on the will of the ponies. Aside from the power to deny a new law being passed, we can’t really do much aside from talk to the current political leaders for new legislation. All of that power resides in the senate in an effort to make sure the corruption stays to a minimum within our little oligarchy.
In all honesty, I personally, should not be drafting bills at all. It’s technically illegal, and during the times when it wasn’t, things got messy very quickly. Bills I made would get passed instantly because my name was on it, bills Luna made would get passed instantly because her name was on it, and when those two things conflicted it left the ponies in a poor state. Most of it ended up in heated debates across the country, one of which started a civil war, and that I think, is the worst mistake I’ve ever made in my lifetime.”
“Uh, I stopped being schooled in like, second grade, so I didn’t know any of that,” I noted. Celestia frowned and sighed.
“Right. When we get out of this, that is going to be rectified. For all of you without associate’s degrees, concerning that matter.”
“Ugh, I really have to go back to school? I get mistaken for a twelve year old enough as it is, and I barely interact with ponies anyways,” Rainbow complained.
“Ah, ah, ah, no complaining. I own you, remember? You don’t have a choice anymore,” Celestia said.
“Damn it,” Rainbow huffed.
“Well… wait a minute, why is the act bad? Ah mean, Ah guess Ah can see where Mister Flare was comin’ from, but Dad was exceptional at what he did, even if he didn’t do it fer more than a few years. Lots of good heroes came outta that,” Applejack argued.
“Ah right. First I suppose I should explain just what exactly the Vigilante Bounty Trade Act entails since most of you likely haven’t read it or understand what it says. First, the act establishes the government run agency that sets and rewards for the capture of bounties. Second, this allows for a new position at every police station where a bounty may be read, assigned, and awarded for the capture of specific criminals, power pony or otherwise. The third part of the act allows anypony to turn in said bounty, and this is where most of the problems with it come into play.
Thanks to the outright poor grasp on the scope of powers and how much they would spread over these last thirty years, we thought that the first generation users might simply die out and that would be the end of it. Regular ponies would then be dealt with by regular ponies and the world would go back to normal. This of course was completely off base, and in around two hundred years, regular ponies will easily be a single digit percentage of the population of ponies around the world, let alone Equestria.
So there’s that issue. The second issue is that there was never an age restriction put into place because we assumed, wrongly of course, that the virus couldn’t infect children as there were practically no cases of that in the first five years. After about ten years since the virus arose, it became very apparent that foals could be passed the virus, and suddenly anypony that had mated with the virus would pass on the virus, Twilight being your living proof of that. So far as we know, ponies can have powers at birth if they’re born with them, and a first generation infected can have powers as early as five. Oddly enough though, children are much less susceptible to an infection the younger they are. Normally this makes absolutely no sense, but then again, the virus doesn’t conform to normal rules.
So there’s issue two. The final nail in this coffin would be the wide varieties of powers that we couldn’t take into account for. Most of the early powers modified a pony’s body, usually enhancing it or causing abnormal growth. Elemental powers, and the more rare ones like space and time distortion and manipulation in Goose and Rarity’s case, were completely unheard of in the beginning. Were they to put their minds to it, they could easily use their powers for evil without so much as batting an eye, and likely never suffer consequences for it. We had not the slightest idea what we were dealing with.
But that just covers the issues with the act itself. On to issue four, the social view of power ponies. Thankfully, you two have a conscience and don’t use your power for evil… anymore, I would hope.” She eyed Goose who then reared his head in disbelief. Offended, possibly even hurt, yet she ignored him and continued all the same. “But there are many, many others who do, and did in the early days. Robberies, murders, destruction of property, ponies could and would commit felonies and atrocities just because they had the power to do it easily, and our police force couldn’t deal with it. Because of that, looking down on power ponies as a blight to society became the norm, and further outcast the new minority, pushing what would have been normal citizens with extraordinary abilities into becoming criminals. As the population grows and having powers starts to become the norm, that will change over time.
In the current moment however, the general public still sees them mostly as a problem to be dealt with, and heroes failing to rise to the challenge only makes it worse. As much as it pains me to say it, Red Hoof exposed a great number of these problems simply by taking advantage of the act. He did a great job for the most part, but inspiring the youth to follow in his hoof steps increased the teen mortality rate by nearly two percent across the country, and that number has only grown since. I only hope that what we’re doing now doesn’t cause a similar uptick since I’ve willingly recruited you all to deal with a threat that spawns from somepony who may not even be a power pony to begin with.” Celestia finished her lecture and gave us some time to think about that. Rainbow was the first to respond.
“Uh, I can assure you that that is not the case. Persona is most definitely a power pony, but what his powers are, we’re not completely sure of. We have a theory, but we can’t say exactly what that is until we get more info.” Celestia scowled.
“I rather wish your ‘partner’ wouldn’t withhold information from me right now. Being in the know is kind of my thing,” She responded. Rainbow shrugged.
“Now that I know you, I trust you. It’s your sister that I don’t trust, and with that stunt she pulled the other day, I gives me even less reason to do so. If I can’t guarantee that she won’t screw things up for us, then my partner for sure can’t.” Celestia rolled her eyes and sighed.
“I certainly can’t fault you for that, but after hearing about it, I will admit that you hit on a rather sore spot between us. I have warned you about it in the past, but… we can just let that be for now. Continuing on, my proposal to fix the problem and why it may never see the light of day, was essentially to establish a new branch of the military specifically for power ponies, and you eight are my guinea pigs for it. My first hurdle to clear is the fact that this would violate Equestria’s constitution. You have certain rights to privacy in your life, and your medical history is specifically not allowed to be discriminated against to prevent being hired by a company if you say, had a disability or a physical impairment in Rainbow’s case.
Were I to implement this, that right would have to be taken away, and ponies would be forced, by law, to have their powers recorded, registered, regulated by the state, and be added as grounds for hiring. Using powers that are potentially dangerous outside of work or private property would then have to become a misdemeanor, and everything would have to be taken on a case by case basis because a blanket law would simply be asking for trouble. We would have to have new agencies in every city for this new set of laws that would have to be enacted, and that would increase spending, and then destroy the budget I have carefully crafted over all these years. On top of that, ponies would then have preferential treatment in the hiring process based on their powers, and that would create uneven competition in the market and quite possibly start some unhealthy practices of eugenics provided my current theory is proved true.
Oh, and normal ponies would basically be forced out of the job market. A power pony is likely to be able to do the job better if their powers coincide with the job, which suddenly makes being normal a massive disadvantage in the event it already wasn’t apparent that was the case. Or to put it another way, a power pony with the right powers will always outclass a pony without. Cutiemarks already have made this sort of a thing, but in the very least it is very rare for one not to appear, less than one one thousandth of the population suffers from blank flank after a certain age. Powers on the other hoof… we simply just don’t know enough to see the long term consequences of having them.
And all of this is just one issue. Our diplomatic relations would be shot through the heart and Equestria would be seen as even more of a threat than we already are. The creatures that knew Luna and I during our war days are all dead by now, hopefully, so only the stories about us remain. But a weaponized force of ponies that can potentially do anything at our disposal? There’s not a government in the first world that wouldn’t immediately realize this is a massive advantage for Equestria.
Hell, I doubt even third world countries wouldn’t take notice of how dangerous this makes us to them. I can guarantee that the moment I put this into action, we will go to war with Zvyr. Tzar Medved would instantly see it as a challenge to his power, and I would spend the next few years trying to prevent nukes from going off around the world and destroying the ecosystem. It would absolutely start World War III.”
I didn’t quite know what all of that meant, but ‘World War III’ was definitely not something anypony misunderstood. Taught very early in schools, the first two world wars were where Equestria was established as as the most powerful force on the planet. Both wars started in the wake of genocide, and left millions dead on almost all sides… save for ours. Thanks to Celestia and Luna’s brilliant tactics, the enemy forces were crushed and their governments were practically rebuilt in Equestria’s image, but with a rotating elected leader in place of our princesses.
These wars were horrible and caused a lot of death, but also drove technological developments into high gear, creating rapid advancements into today’s world unlike any age seen before, as the two princesses can attest. It drove many places to fear us, and even more to hate us. So we either have countries bowing at our hooves, or trying to start a fight in a struggle for power, desperately polarizing the world and forming a tribal view of with or against Equestria. The older countries that have experienced war with us are smart enough to know better. But the new dictatorial upstarts that have popped up in the last century don’t, and many of those have grown in size and scale since then, Zvyr being one of them. Celestia shook her head.
“Hmm… I’m afraid I’ve taken up even more of your time than I’d expected with my problems. Please, go visit your parents like you’d planned to, and the rest of you should recuperate and relax while you can. Whether or not you realize it, making it though Persona’s monsters alive is simply the beginning for you all. The future… is questionable for the next decade. For all of us. And if nothing else, we’re all in this together.” With those parting words, the sun herself flashed her brilliance before us, then vanished, leaving nothing but golden sparkles behind. I giggled to myself.
“Huh? What’s up Pinkie?” Rainbow asked. I shook my head.
“Earlier I thought my problems were serious. But after hearing that… Me facing my parents is nothing.”
While I was showering, I couldn’t get my mind off of what Celestia said. A third world war, a power pony infantry, regulations on powers, removal of rights… These are the kinds of things she thinks about all the time. She manages the country, and instead of days or weeks, she looks years into the future before she takes an action that might affect the populace. Powerful beyond belief, thoughtful enough to plan years ahead of time, and considerate enough to… comfort somepony like me as if she were my mother. If her going crazy over her daughter is the worst she does, she might as well be a goddess. Just… how many times did she have to fail to get to where she is now? Could I even imagine the mistakes she’s made over time? All the things she’s learned, all experiences she’s had. Even now, she says she’s behind in the current world. I could only hope to be like that one day.
I finally shut off the water and used my powers to vibrate until I was dry. One of the nice things I can do for myself is to shake like a dog so fast that I air dry my coat and mane in just a few seconds. It keeps my mane and tail all poofy and tangled, but I like it better this way than when it was straight. The last time it was like that was… back when I lived at home. She used to brush it for me. She was two years older than I am, and we spent so much time together. Why… did she get mean? Why did it reach the point where I hated her? Why did I get so angry that I…
“P-pinkie? Are you okay? Y-you’ve been in there for a long time…” I heard Fluttershy say, probably from inside my room. Sigh. I don’t have to think about starting wars. I don’t have to remember two thousand years of history for ruling a country. I have less than two decades to think about, and to Celestia, she could blink and see that pass by. My problems are insignificant by comparison. I… I need to grow up. I need to face my demons and move on with life. I could never be like her if I don’t. I took a breath and stepped into my room. Fluttershy and Rainbow were there waiting for me, and Rainbow had picked up my- AAAAH! As fast as I possibly could, I grabbed the box before she had the chance to open it and threw it between the bed and the wall.
“Please don’t touch my things without asking.” I said with a nervous smile on my face. Rainbow backed away slowly.
“Uh… sure. Was that a-”
“Hey! Wow, it’s getting late and we still have to get directions and then probably walk all the way to the mine, so we should go ahead and get out of here, shouldn’t we? Yeah, let’s go grab everypony else!” I said as I very quickly lead them out of my room. I didn’t give anypony a chance to say anything else and then slammed the door on them. Why would she touch that? Why is that the first thing she thought to look at and pick up!? Nopony can ever know. Oh, who am I kidding? With Fluttershy’s nose, she probably already knew and was just waiting for Rainbow to open it and laugh at me. I swear to the goddess, I’m locking the door every time I enter and leave this room from now on.
I grabbed the box and put it back, checking the contents to make sure I didn’t damage it, and then sighed when it was fine. It’s like… silicon or something, isn’t it? Well… it’s been treated worse than that before. I hid the box away this time, and then headed out the door, making sure I locked the damn thing. Everypony else, Applejack, Goose, Scootaloo, Rainbow, and Fluttershy, were all waiting on me at the main table in the living room. Most of them were talking to each other, but Goose was scratching at his cheeks and neck like he hadn’t had his meth in a long time. Just about every hair on his body was sticking straight out, and he looked almost like one of those shag carpets.
“You uh… okay there, fuzzy?” I asked, making everypony take notice of me. His scratching hoof moved to his left ear as he stood up.
“Am I okay? Do I look okay!? You were in the shower for an hour! I’ve done three laps around the castle, which is a lot bigger than it looks by the way, and I’ve had enough static charged to go for fifteen minutes now! Do you know how far away Salt Lick is? I have to have over two thousand miles worth of static charged! I feel like I’m about to explode here! We need to go, and we need to go now.” Goose demanded.
“Geez, fine, I’m sorry. Let’s go then.” I apologized. Everypony gathered around the unusually fluffy stallion, and after feeling like lightning had traveled up my foreleg, the scenery of the castle was gone. Now, we were standing in front of a Carcha in what I can only assume was Salt Lick City. Lots of buildings everywhere, but nothing like what was found in Manehattan. The thing that really hit me the most were the mountains. The Dragon Spine mountain range cuts through Neigha and several other provinces along the mid western side of Equestria, and at this time of day, they were gorgeous. The snow that capped them reflected the sunset in all of its warm hues, and the clouds above were catching striking oranges, golds and violets. This little city, with its ‘skyscrapers’ if you could call them that compared to what we have at home, was breathtaking. Manehattan is such a concrete jungle that you would never see colors like this in the clouds. The little mountains we have in the western part of Manehattan province, and even Canterlot Mountain, are nothing compared to the ones in Dragon Spine. Applejack whistled.
“Whew, ain’t that pretty. The air around these parts must be just as filled with dirt as it is in northern Palomino. Certainly won’t see a sky like this in Manehattan, that’s fer sure.” This Carcha happened to be on a hill a little closer to the edge of the shopping district as far as I could tell, and the view from here was great.
“W-well, this is pretty and all, b-but we should probably start heading wherever we need to go. I-it’s almost six thirty, and I-I doubt the Pies want guests this late,” Fluttershy said. I nodded.
“My parents are very… routine based ponies. They worked almost like clockwork from what I remember, and lights out was at ten PM sharp, on the minute,” I explained. Of course, it’s been ten years though. That might’ve changed. They also lost two workers…
“I see… well, let’s go in and talk to Alto. She manages this Carcha, and she knows just about the entire province. I had her rent a van yesterday while we were in Ponyville, so it shouldn’t take very long to get where we’re going.” Goose said. You know, between the mob boss and the rulers of the country, we have it pretty good. And all I had to do to get here was…
“Pinkie?” Applejack asked. I looked back up and everypony else was already in the store. I shook the thought away.
“Sorry,” I said as I caught up with her. We entered the store last, and it was pretty identical to the ones in Manehattan. Based on the owner’s words, there’s a very specific design plan that was made back in the mid 2000’s when his dad started up this business as a front for all of his ‘other activities’ in Manehattan. The front however, ended up being a money maker in its own right and more popular than the ‘less than legal’ stuff, so it expended well beyond anything they expected. After Shark Tooth was arrested by Red Hoof the first time, he still ran the company from his cell. Apparently, there’s a Carcha in every major city in Equestria, and even one in the Miyako Islands. Goose has been to all of them in person, so he can just warp to and from any of them whenever he needs to. Must be nice.
“Ah, there you are. I was beginning to think you wouldn’t show.” A very, very tall, slender mare said as she moved to the marble topped front counter of the storefront. Her coat was a shade of white that made me think of cream, or eggshells, and her mane was a golden blonde that may or may not have been the same shade as Applejack’s. Like a… buttery yellow? No, wait, isn’t it kinda sparkly, and that makes it gold? Oh damn it. She’s a tall white and blonde earth pony with light blue eyes. Why is it that everypony else so good with color? I swear to the goddess that I must be partially colorblind or something. ‘Oh no dear, this is scarlet, and that is crimson.’ They’re both fucking red! You might as well speak to me in hex codes, I know those better! Sigh. Goddess damn it, Rarity.
“Yeah there was a bit of a hang up, but we’re here now and ready to go. How long is it gonna take to get there?” Goose asked, giving me a quick look at the beginning there. I said I was sorry, geez. What more do you want from me?
“You said the Pie family mine, right? By car, that’s only about half an hour drive from here, though the road there is a little… iffy. None of you are afraid of heights, right?” Everypony shook their heads, save Rainbow, who took a moment, then followed suit. Then everypony stared at her.
“W-what?” She stammered.
“No way! Really!?” Scootaloo asked, getting excited.
“Shut up! I’m not afraid of heights! It’s being strapped in a thing that could crash that I don’t like. I also get car sick.” Rainbow explained, her face a bright red violet. Scootaloo sighed.
“Ah, damn it. I thought that was something new I could rag on you for.” Scootaloo complained. Rainbow rolled her eyes.
“O-oh, right, I knew that. B-but as long as she’s near a window not f-facing open air, she should be fine.” Fluttershy remarked. Alto laughed.
“Ha! You found yourself some interesting mares Lamni.” She then walked over to Applejack and lifted up her chin, tilting her head side to side to check both sides of her face. “but it’s gotta be this one, right? Something green, I’m thinkin’… Alright, I’ll start working on it when I get back. Anyways, the car’s out by the back. Follow me.” Not even bothering to explain what she was doing, Alto walked away.
“Uh… ya wanna explain that?” Applejack asked. Goose just smiled and shook his head.
“Nope! Let’s go.”
The car ride there was about as lively as any of our gatherings are, but with Applejack nagging Goose and Alto to tell her, and I quote, ‘What in the hell’ that was in various flavors of southern and vulgarity. And every time she would ask, Goose would redirect everypony but Rainbow to look at the mountains as we passed through them. I guess I never remembered this very well, since I went north after I first ran away, but the mine is at the base of the mountains by Neigha Lake. I think I remember that, but I’m honestly not too sure. I’ve been a lot of different places, especially after I started to work for Trans Equestria. A few lakes and some mountains describes this province and half the ones up to the northern border.
But as we got closer, more and more memories started to come back. My parents were big fans of hiking, and if there’s anything to do around here, it’s hike up a mountain. I started to see paths that I remember walking with them, some that mom carried me up back when I as real little, others that I walked with… all three of my sisters.
I don’t want to do this. I don’t deserve to be here. Well, tough shit. Grow up. But what if they call the police on us? That didn’t go so well last time. But… but what if… What if what? This is just like Sunday in the training room. You’re too scared to move even though you have every security in the world around you to keep you safe. But what if they reject me? Then that’s what happens, and you move on with life. It’s not like living without your family has hurt you much in the last few years. But I’m not strong enough to keep going after that… If that’s what you think, then you will never live up to her expectations.
Damn it! This is the problem with spending time with all these... these logically minded ponies, I can’t just… ignore my reason for my emotions anymore. I’m not the scared little filly that ran away from home. I’m too smart to not think about the consequences of what I do now. Because if I don’t… then that makes me the only pony on the team who’s still ruled by their emotions. I did it. It was my fault, and I ran away from the problem instead of facing it. It’s time to face the problem.
“Y-you okay there?” Fluttershy asked. She’d been mostly uninvolved in the conversations in the car, sometimes making a comment explaining the balance of whatever game Scootaloo and Rainbow were playing each other in at the time, or asking Alto about the sights that we passed. She and I were in the third row of seats in this van, whereas Rainbow and Scootaloo were in the middle, and the ‘adults’ were at the front. I shook my head and planted my face firmly against the window.
“No. I know what needs to be done, but I’m not sure I can actually do this,” I said as I watched the scenery pass me by. The sun had gone further down, and the world was bathed in a violet-blue hue, the spaces between roads in these mountains covered in trees and grass getting ever darker. Sunset is so pretty here. Why did I ever leave? I felt a hoof gently rub my back.
“I-it’s okay. I think we all t-thought the same thing right before,” Fluttershy said. I pulled away from the window and leaned on her.
“But I’m not like you two. You’re both stronger than I am,” I complained. She sighed.
“M-maybe, but you have much less to be ashamed of, and even m-more to be proud of than we do. W-we didn’t go out and try to be super heroes, w-we just sort of lucked into it. Y-you made a conscious effort to try and change yourself, a-and you keep doing it, even if you n-need a little… kick in the ass f-from time to time.” I let out a breath and rolled my eyes.
“You ponies and your logic. How am I supposed to wallow in my self pity if you won’t let me? Besides. I think it’s more like, ‘removal of a limb,’ all things considered,” I joked. She giggled and patted my head.
“T-there’s the Pinkie I know. This is just your moment. G-get in the robot, Pinkie. As the commander would say,” Fluttershy said, imitating the voice and putting her hooves together to hide most of her face. I scowled.
“Eww. I don’t want to be his son. And I know better than to actually get in that robot, I would much prefer to not be fourteen for the rest of my life,” I retorted. Fluttershy laughed and nodded.
“W-well, at least you remember. But sometimes, you do h-have to get in the robot. S-swing the bat and hit a home run, e-even if you’re scared to hit the ball. S-stand shoulder to shoulder with your comrades and shout, ‘W-who the hell do you think I am?’ I-if nothing else, I wanted you to take that away f-from all those series we watched together. B-because just like those kids, I-I think you have the potential to be better than you are.
I-if you hadn’t suggested this the other day, I m-might never have visited my family again. N-now I know they don’t hate me for it, and m-my little brother doesn’t think I wanted to eat him all those years ago. I-it might not be all gone, but I f-fixed a lot of the damage I caused, and now I m-might even start trying to reconnect with them. I-I know a certain somepony was happy to meet my family too♥” Fluttershy cooed. There is no way. That has nothing to do with any physical senses… does it? Can she discern smells that we don’t even realize are there? It’s either that or she looked at my phone… which is also very possible since she was in my room earlier. Fuck.
“Huh. Interesting, that’s very interesting. You’re an interesting pony. Gosh, we’ve been on the road for a while, haven’t we? I think I know this area pretty well, are we almost there?” I asked Alto to get away from Fluttershy’s smug stare.
“I-ignoring the implication is a little self incriminating~”she whispered in my ear, to which I promptly pushed her away. Alto nodded up in front.
“Should be… Ah, there it is. Check the road to your left every pony, that is what we call the ‘rock farm’ or the Pie family mine in other words.” Nestled between the mountains and sitting on a high ridge was a large plot of flat land that had been cleared of trees and grass, and on it stood a very tall, round boulder. This rock, or Holder’s boulder, is what marked the entrance of our family mine. To the right of that was the yard that held all of our large, uncut stones ready to be sold, shaped, and shipped off to wherever it may go to build whatever it was that needed to be built. At the back of that, in a lane between where all these neatly piled stones were aligned, was the farmhouse that one of my ancestors had built that my family has lived in for generations. The very place where I was born.
Stonemasons, gem cutters, jewelers, blacksmiths, architects. Anything that can be pulled from the ground my family made a profession with and then branched off into the world, usually leaving the farm behind for better prospects. Being the youngest of the previous generation, Dad was the one who got stuck with this land, and promised his parents that he would pass it on and continue our ‘tradition.’ Luxury wasn’t a word I knew when I was growing up, and this place always loses more than it makes just trying to keep afloat. Somehow it’s still here though, so I guess they must make enough to get by. The windmill was still spinning, the silo was still standing, and the garden still looked green even in October, so somepony must be doing something right.
“Huh. Do they pull stuff up from that quarry by that big rock? Ah assume that’s where they’re gettin’ all this raw material anyways. But there ain’t no heavy equipment anywhere. How in the hell would ya get half these rocks up here?” Applejack observed. Manual labor, that’s how.
“Ah yes, that’s an interesting story. Apparently the owners here simply cart up the materials they excavate. A small family of four lives here, husband, wife, and two daughters, and they all run the mine together. Supposedly there’s a unique talent to the Pie family line that allows them to excavate rock as if they sculpt it to the shape and size they need without destroying the rock face around it. It’s unusually efficient for basic steel tools.” Alto explained as we pulled into the yard.
“Oh, I get it. It’s just like what your family does with apples… but with rocks, I guess,” Rainbow said.
“Somethin’ like that. Well, at least the lights are on inside. Though, Ah suppose it’d be weird if they weren’t home, all thin’s considered. They run the business from here, don’t they?” Applejack asked. Goose nodded.
“Most of the stone we used to build Salt Lick’s Carcha came from here. Dad was impressed with the quality of what we got, so we often order from the Pie mine when we can afford to move it. I think we have about… three Carchas built with the stone from here?” Goose said. Alto nodded.
“Yep. I would know, I’m the one who made the orders,” Alto confirmed.
“So, what are you, like, his sister or something?” Scootaloo asked. Alto shrugged.
“I guess you could say that. My family had very good ties to mister Carcharodon, and we’ve been helping him run Carcha since he started it. My younger sister works at the east Manehattan one, it’s not too far from the harbor if you’ve never been. My brothers are district managers in Applewood and Fort Withers, and I kind of float around making sure everypony has what they need. I was a, um… ‘supplier’ in my early days for the boss man, and my job hasn’t really changed much since then. I brought Lamni here with me on a few of my jobs so he could learn the trade. He’s like a little brother to me.” Goose rolled his eyes.
“Remember girls, those are the words you use when you friendzone a guy.” Goose huffed as he unbuckled his seatbelt.
“Come on Lamni, that was like ten years ago. You were thirteen!” she protested as he exited the van. Goose shrugged.
“Doesn’t mean a kid can’t try, right?” Goose said as everypony started to exit the car. “Find a boyfriend yet? By my calculations, you’re a little older than the hearth’s warming cake, no?” He asked.
“Listen here, you little shit. I will get married when I am damn well ready. You are not your dad, and you certainly aren’t mine. I have half a mind to cancel your order.” Her face formed a pout and she turned her head away from him. Goose shrugged.
“Ah, what a shame. I guess I’ll have to go visit the younger, prettier model and have her do it for me instead.” Alto scowled.
“Uh huh. Yeah, we’ll see about that, you womanizer. Hey, Blondie!” Alto called out. Everypony had gotten out of the van by now, and Alto was just about ready to leave. We all kind of stared at each other, and then drew our attention to Applejack, the only one other than Alto that ‘Blondie’ could refer to. She looked around like she was caught in headlights.
“Who? Me?” she asked. Alto nodded.
“Keep this prick in check, alright? There isn’t another pony in the world who can do that but you. Good luck with whatever business you guys have here, and I’d better see your green ass in the next few days, got it?” She said, then pointed at Goose. He nodded and waived.
“Yes, mom. I’ll see you later.” She huffed and drove off.
“Ah am so confused. Tell me what in the hell she was on about, damn it!” Applejack demanded. Goose smiled and licked her nose.
“No♥” Then started to head to the door. Applejack fumed and wiped her nose off, then ran after him.
“Come’ere ya piece of shit!” She yelled before she started to chase him around the yard.
“W-well. No turning back now, huh?” Fluttershy said as we watched those two play ass tag around the rock piles.
“Nope. Let’s get this over with,” I admitted in defeat as we started to head toward the farm house. Well, we being Fluttershy, Rainbow, Scootaloo and I. We’d just about made it to the porch before Applejack finally caught him and tackled him to the ground.
“I love you-” we heard before a good, loud smack echoed across the hills. “Oww!”
“So uh… You gonna knock on the door?” Rainbow asked.
“Stop lickin’ me, damn it!” Applejack yelled.
“That’s the plan. Just… give me a minute, okay?” I said, trying to mentally prepare myself for this.
“That’s not what you-” Goose started, but then it sounded like he was trying to talk with something in his mouth.
“Will you two quit screwing around!? I’m trying to concentrate here!” I yelled at them. Applejack took her hoof out of his mouth, then quickly got off of him. Her cheeks started to turn rosy, and she pulled her hat down over her eyes.
“Uh… sorry about that,” She said then slowly started to make her way over. Geez. I can’t even focus. What do I tell them? Apologize. But then what? Well, what happened after you left? I wandered around, stole to live and then… Yeah, that. You haven’t even told anypony else about what happened before you came to Manehattan. I mean, how often do you hear about an eight year old that survived mostly on her own for ten years? Huh… yeah. But what if they pity me? I don’t really want that. Well, if they do, then just say it was your own damn fault. The truth is what we’re after here. Besides, killing your sister is probably gonna be kinda hard to look past if you don’t have something else to tell them. Ugh. I have to say it, don’t I? Without a doubt. Well… here goes nothing… I took a deep breath and knocked on the old wooden door. A little rustling and a few hoof steps later, the door opened.
“Oh. You’ve returned. And I see you’ve brought guests,” Dad said, completely emotionless as usual. A middle aged earth pony with a short, muscular frame and sideburns that would make Rarity cry, my father was a stallion of few words. His mane and tail were a few tones of gray, his coat was a dark tan, and his eyes were amber gold. He was wearing a long sleeve white button up shirt and a black tie that matched the black felt stetson on his head. “Very well. Come inside and have a seat.”