//------------------------------// // Contemplation // Story: Someone You Can Trust // by Jhoira //------------------------------// Autumn Blaze gazed over the moonlit rock farm levitating another small stone and sending it careening off the Pie’s back porch. The kirin had a lot to process at the moment. Apparently, the ponies of the town had some kind of magic rock that decided their marriages. Said magic had demanded that she and Marble Pie get married. If Marble Pie had been another kirin Autumn Blaze would have jumped at the possibility of a relationship. The kirin did not take most relationships as long term plans. They were meant to be fun and short. If Marble had been a kirin they'd have just been mates. Among the kirin only the most devoted of couples got married or had foals. However, to ponies, especially earth ponies marriage was a ”’til death do us part” proposition. Autumn Blaze liked to think she was one of the nicest kirin around but this was far more to ask of a stranger. In the defense of the Pie family, they hadn't demanded that she participate in their traditions but they had explained, in exhaustive detail how wise and perfect the pairing stone plans always are. Autumn Blaze had been as kind as she could be when she said that was the most insane thing she'd ever heard! Autumn Blaze was thankful she was more subtle than that, but she did say that she would have to think on the subject, which obviously to everyone meant no. Autumn Blaze let out a long drawn out sigh, looking to the side as she checked on her rock pile. The good thing about the rock farm, she had plenty of rocks to throw. As she tossed another out over the rock farm she shook her head. The only real bad part about this event was that she was pretty sure she was breaking the adorable Marble Pie's heart. Marble hadn't been crying when she left but it looked like she was near it. Autumn Blaze had a small part of her saying that she should just fake it for the rest of her life. Now she wasn't about to do so, but it assuaged her conscious just the tiniest amount, she didn't want to hurt Marble Pie, but she wasn't about to do something some stone said. She wouldn't alter her entire life for someone she'd just met! As much as it might hurt the poor Pie it wasn't her traditions that had trapped the poor earth pony mare. Autumn Blaze stared at the large pile of stones for a few moments before she raised the entire pile up with her magic and tossed them out over the rock farm in a large fan, letting out a loud huff. This was really starting to irritate her... She was really getting annoyed over this... She sighed and got up, hopping down off the back porch and trotted out amongst the large boulders to hide and let off some steam, in a literal sense as she was going to take on a Nirik form within a few minutes since she kept thinking about the way that she had to either trap herself in a risky arranged marriage with a stranger, or break the pretty Marble Pie's heart and quite possibly doom her to a life alone? Autumn Blaze picked up the pace as her hooves started to catch fire. Marble Pie sighed as she stared out the window of the room, sighing as she knew that tomorrow would bring disappointment. The pretty kirin was being kind but she didn't expect Autumn Blaze to say yes, that would be expecting everything from a practical stranger. She wouldn't technically be saying yes to the marriage immediately, there was a courting period but that would require them to stay together. Autumn Blaze was traveling to see her friends in Ponyville, she might be willing to stay here if that was all, but her home was far away, she couldn't just stay here for weeks! She shook her head and sighed, that danged pairing stone finally gave her what she wanted, in the cruelest way possible! Her family and she trusted the pairing stone, she was sure that it did actually know that she and Autumn Blaze would do well together, but there was no way to get there. She couldn't just skip all the middle parts, not only would father have a heart attack if they skipped the courting process, she was pretty sure Autumn Blaze would too. There was almost no possible way that the pretty kirin would just agree to marry a mare she'd just met! Marble Pie wouldn't actually be willing to do so either now that she thought about it. Courting? Absolutely! She'd jump at the chance to get to know the Kirin better but despite her impulsive obsession with new things, her trust in the pairing stone, she couldn't legitimately say she'd marry a mare she'd known for a day. Marble Pie sat up a little straighter, grinning wider at herself. She really was a little proud of herself for admitting to herself that she wasn't about to marry a mare she just met, no matter how new, interesting, and pretty the mare was. She sighed, she supposed she could try to do what Pinkie Pie did, find a mate on her own. After all, not everyone in the town obeyed the pairing stone, and they tended to be fairly successful, it didn't have an unmatched perfect success rate like the pairing stone, but they were fairly successful so long as they were cautious. Marble started to think of the mares and stallions that she would have the options of dating. There was that pretty mare Wheat Stalk from the farm down the road, her chosen mate had died young and the pairing stone didn't often pair the same pony twice so she'd started seeking others. There was also the very nice Gold Archer from town, he ran the local bakery and he had always said he could find his own way without needing the stone to tell him. Her mind was still wandering when she let out a cry, the bright strange flash of blue-red light from the farm surprised her. She blinked and looked down, what was that? Was there a pony out there? Should she get Limestone...? She shook her head, she could handle it!... Maybe she was just feeling reckless from her issues but she was fairly certain there wasn't anything actually dangerous to her out in the farm.