Doctor Whooves was walking around Equestria and it was peaceful, Queen Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow have been defeated, and everycreature was living in peace with them gone. Doctor Whooves walks around and was comfortable, he looks and sees Rainbow Dash do the Sonic Rainboom and it filled the sky, Doctor Whooves smiled and he went back to his office, he entered and waited for his patient.
Doctor Whooves hears stumbling outside and his home and saw a male earth pony enter, he was panting and his mouth was dry, he sweated profusely as well, he had a light gray coat, a black shoulder-length mane and a short tail, gray eyes, and his cutie mark was a gray block of stone, his hoofs looked worn out, and he had whip lashes on his back. The stallion sits and pants,
"Are you alright?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"No, where were you guys when me and the others needed you?" the stallion asked,
"Others?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Yes, me and several other earth ponies were enslaved by a unicorn and forced to build him a tower of stone with our flesh and bone." the stallion replied,
"Alright, calm down, first of all, state your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,
"Stone Cutter, former sculptor." the stallion replied,
"Alright, so, what happened?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"Nopony knows? Me and many more earth ponies were slaves for who knows how long. Were we really unnoticed?" Stone Cutter asked,
"Relax, start from the beginning." Doctor Whooves replied, and Stone Cutter does.
Stone Cutter lived in a small town just south of Appleloosa, there was a pony named Stargazer living in the town, he had a black coat, his mane and tail were dark blue with yellow streaks in it, and his eyes were purple, his cutie mark was a white star, he was treated like royalty because he was the only unicorn in the town, everypony else was an earth pony, he watches the sky and sees Rainbow Dash fly by while doing the Sonic Rainboom, he was enamored by the sight of it, and got an idea, he decided that he wanted to try to fly like Rainbow Dash.
A few years pass and Stone Cutter got huge demand to make thousands of blocks of stone by Stargazer, which confused him, but he did it, he made the blocks after a few years and Stargazer called for everypony in the town,
"Alright, everypony, I'm going to need your help, I need you all to move the blocks since I'm too weak to do it on my own, I need you all to carry it for me, now let's go." Stargazer said, and he uses his magic, his magic aura was light blue, he puts chains on every earth pony in the town with Stone Cutter in the front,
"There, now move, all of you, there's too many things in the way here for me to try to fly around here, so we need to go to an area of open space, now let's go." Stargazer said, and everypony began moving the stone blocks with chains, Stargazer used his magic to float above them and held whips with him, Stone Cutter looks up and sees a hot air balloon, he saw Twilight Sparkle and Spike going to Ponyville for the first time, he is hit by a whip and he was startled and he begins walking forward.
Stone Cutter leads the earth ponies while Stargazer floated above them with his magic and whipped them while he was eager to achieve his dream, the ponies go south and they enter the Bone Dry Desert, they all keep walking through the Bone Dry Desert and it was blazing hot with heavy winds, the earth ponies and were thirsty, the colts and fillies collapse from exhaustion and die, shocking the adult ponies, but Stargazer whipped them more,
"Keep going, there will be time to mourn them later." Stargazer said, and they all keep going while the sun was blocked out by Stargazer's shadow. Stone Cutter and the other earth ponies walk through the heat and rain of the desert while Stargazer whipped them and they carried the stone blocks with chains, a lot of ponies die from exposure while Stargazer just told them to keep going, it poured heavy rain from time to time as well as they walked through the desert, Stone Cutter and the others only kept going because they believed in Stargazer's dream to fly.
Stone Cutter and the earth ponies keep going and they come to a spot where nothing was in sight,
"Okay, this looks like a good spot, put the stone blocks here." Stargazer said, and the earth ponies begins building the tower, Stargazer floated in the air and whipped the earth ponies into building, several ponies died in the process, but they built the tower of stone, Stargazer watched with excitement as his tower got built,
"No, it's not big enough, we need more stone blocks." Stargazer said, and he and the earth ponies walk back to town and Stone Cutter got more stone blocks made, he saw Tirek was ravaging Equestria,
"Ignore it, we got a job to do." Stargazer said, and Stone Cutter made more blocks of stone and the earth ponies moved them with chains. Stone Cutter and the remaining earth ponies continue to build the tower of stone while their skin got worn down to their bones, they walk through the heat and rain while whipped and chained, they keep working for sometime and Stone Cutter saw dark clouds in Equestria, he looks and saw the Storm King invading Equestria, he keeps working and they all soon hear panting in the desert. Stone Cutter and the others look and see Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Spike walking through the desert, they call out to them but they do not hear them and go past them to Klugetown,
"No! Wait!" Stone Cutter said, they were whipped again by Stargazer,
"Come on, guys, we're getting there." Stargazer said, and they keep building while sad, Stone Cutter began to feel his back aching as he worked, he panted as he and the others stack the blocks of stone on top of one another, they keep working for who knows how long and he saw Applejack going through the desert to Mount Aris,
"Hey." Stone Cutter said, but Applejack did not hear him and went to Mount Aris, she leaves and Stone Cutter soon saw General Seaspray and Silverstream fly to Equestria, Stone Cutter tried to call out to them but he had no breath, and his throat was dry, they keep working and the tower of stone was finally finished after a long time,
"Yes, it's done." Stargazer said, and he runs inside of the tower and stood at the top of it, it was very high, it reached to the highest star in the sky, Stone Cutter was ready to watch Stargazer fly, feeling that his efforts were actually worth it.
Stargazer puts on a harness with silver metal wings on his front legs, he flaps them and was ready to fly, it was dark and there was a sandstorm going on,
"Here I go." Stargazer said as he jumped off of the top of the tower and tried to fly, he flaps his front legs and thought he was flying, even though the sandstorm obscured his view, he goes through the air but soon sees the ground, his eyes and mouth open widely just before he hits the sand. Stone Cutter looked in disbelief and saw red stains in the sand, he felt crushed since he believed that Stargazer would fly,
"Why? Why? We all believed in him." Stone Cutter said, he looks forward and saw a rainbow to the north, Stone Cutter looked on with his bloodshot and bleeding eyes and watched, he decided that he should head home after sometime. Stone Cutter sat on the sand and looked at the place, he was upset since all of the deaths and work was for nothing, he looks and sees everypony involved in building the tower for Stargazer was dead, and he was the only pony still alive. Stone Cutter looks to the north and sees a white light in the black sky, it felt like it was calling for him, he stands up and walks to it,
"Hang on, Equestria, I'm coming home." Stone Cutter said, and he begins to walk through the Bone Dry Desert while remembering Stargazer's excited and eager face to achieve his dream of flying. Stone Cutter pants and walks through the desert at night while his back ached, and his hoofs were worked to the bone, he wondered if how much time has been lost, and felt his life was a crazy dream, he keeps walking and arrived home after a while, he finds his abandoned home and entered it, he looks down with sorrow and slept. Stargazer wakes up the next morning and was ready to leave town, he drank water for the first time in forever and walked north, he saw Equestria was at peace and heard about a therapist named Doctor Whooves in Ponyville, he heads there to go see him.
Stone Cutter and Doctor Whooves sat across from one another,
"Where were you guys?" Stone Cutter asked,
"We didn't know about it." Doctor Whooves replied,
"How long was I gone?" Stone Cutter asked,
"When did you start building the tower?" Doctor Whooves asked,
"When a hot air balloon was coming here." Stone Cutter replied, Doctor Whooves remembers it and calculates how long Stone Cutter was gone,
"Great wickering stallions." Doctor Whooves said,
"What?" Stone Cutter asked,
"You were gone for nine years." Doctor Whooves replied, surprising Stone Cutter,
"Well, price is usually ten bits, but since you're broke, I'll make your session free." Doctor Whooves said,
"Thanks, I'll go explore Equestria now." Stone Cutter replied, and he left.
Stone Cutter was outside and looked around,
"Hey, what is that?" Rainbow Dash asked, he saw her looking at the tower of stone that he helped build,
"Wow, that thing sure is tall." Applejack said,
"Let's go check it out." Twilight Sparkle replied, and she went to the tower of stone with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Spike, he also the saw the creatures of the other countries going to the tower to look at it as well, Stone Cutter sighs and leaves to go explore Equestria to see what has happened while he was away.