//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: To Soften Stone // by Jmaster //------------------------------// Alone. That’s the way it was most days for him, why should today be different? Aimlessly wandering around some town he hardly knew, with no destination in mind. Alone. He knew where he wanted to go. Well, maybe not, but at the very least he knew where he didn’t want to be anymore. But anyway out of town would take either bits, or four working hooves. Gingerly, he tried to put a bit more weight on his right foreleg, only to recoil it just as fast. So for now, he was stuck here. In this stupid town. Alone. Finally giving up with his staring contest with the ground, he glanced up to see he was close the town entrance. Hobbling forward, he made his way to the sudden shift in terrain that sprung up in the past few days. Green grass and a well maintained road came to an abrupt end at an invisible line only to be replaced by a sea of black stone. A few dark rainclouds still floated above the now-cooled sea that stretched from the mountainside to the village, stragglers that the weather patrol hadn’t gotten to yet. Two days of hard rain had changed the mass of lava into the igneous rock that now dominated the landscape. Reaching a hoof out, he gave it a quick poke and found it cool to the touch. He wondered where the lava had gone to next on its path with the town off limits to its advances, but quickly decided it was far too much work to find out. He slumped down onto the cool grass, far too tired to care. This seemed a good enough place to sleep as any. He shut his eyes and focused, trying to bring up the slanted earthen wall he would normally use as shelter while traveling. It didn’t provide much, just enough to stop the wind or rain. A few moments later a solitary spark leaped from his horn before fading into nothing. Still no magic either, he thought. At least his horn didn’t hurt anymore. He thought about the white unicorn he had just left with a grimace, and for a moment he wasn’t sure if it was from pain or regret. Deciding he owed her at least an explanation, he lifted himself just barely off the ground, only to fall back a moment later. Defeated, he resigned to at least talk to her later, although maybe not about home. Home. He mulled over the word a few times in his mind, until it lost all meaning. Although maybe it never had any meaning; he hadn’t even thought about the word in years, much less the place it was supposed to represent. The faintest of smiles brushed his lips as he closed his eyes and thought of that apartment he used to live in, so long ago. Dad, just getting home from a lecture and plopping down on the couch with a book. Mom grading papers, adding more to the haphazard explosion of page and ink that littered the desk and a few foot blast radius around it. He chuckled to himself, half surprised he could even picture the place anymore. He thought he heard somepony calling his name, and an eyelid barely moved enough to see some pony moving closer before sealing itself shut again. But that didn’t matter. One final sigh and he drifted off away, back to the slumber that dominated his time as of late. Twilight shock her head slowly as she made her way back to the staircase, away from the guest room where she had just laid an unconscious Terra Firma. Again. This was starting to become a regular pattern. She watched her friend wipe off the large table, removing the last bit of evidence of the morning’s meal once and for all. Rarity fretted with the rag nervously a bit, before bursting out, “Well is he alright?” Twilight smiled weakly as she made her way downstairs and farther out of earshot of any sleeping ponies. “He should be fine, he’s just overly tired. Frankly, I’m surprised he even got out of bed this morning, although I’m glad you were able to get him some food.” Rarity concern faded into relief, and she sat down. “Well that’s good at least. Honestly, I just don’t know what to make of him. I’m sorry Twilight; I was only trying to help.” Her friend sat next to her, and gave her a small hug. “I know you were, you don’t have to be sorry. So you said you were talking about Canterlot before he left, did he say anything about why he was there? Did he live there? Was he a student?” “I’m afraid I don’t have much to tell you. He told me about a statue he made before he left if that helps any. Oh, and his parents, although not much about them. I he mentioned their names, let’s see now, I believe one of them was Urim, and the other one I’m afraid I cannot recall.” Twilight’s brow furrowed for a moment while she tried to rack her brain. She knew that name, but from where? Then it hit her. “Oh, Urim! I know who he is! Urim and Thummim were some of my favorite professors in Canterlot! I never knew they had any children though. With both his parents teaching here, I’ll bet he was enrolled in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns!” “Well that certainly explains why he was in Canterlot, but what of this apparent grudge? You’re certain you’ve never met him?” Twilight shook her head, so Rarity continued, “Well there must be something that happened that he blames you for. You don’t remember… knocking over any statues or anything, do you?” “No, but you may be on the right track with that statue. I think I’ve got a few books on modern sculptures, and I think I might even have a Canterlot statuary in this library. Maybe, I can find Terra’s piece in there! Oh, I’d better get to work; I’ve got a whole library to find one statue!” Rarity giggled as her friend bounced up out of her seat toward the shelves, a few books flying off to hover around her eager purple horn. “Well, I think I’ll leave you to your little project then. Be a dear and tell me if you find anything, will you?” Rarity got up to take her leave, watching the purple pony flitting from shelf to shelf, muttering about which volumes might be useful. Terra woke up in a now-familiar room, tucked into a neatly-made guest bed. Again. This was starting to become a regular pattern. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he looked out the window to see Luna’s moon just starting its assent into the sky. He briefly debated going back to sleep, but his stomach had other ideas. This morning’s breakfast had been delicious, and had been his first full meal in a few days. His gut liked the idea of food so much it demanded more. And so, rather reluctantly, he shuffled his way out of bed and downstairs towards the kitchen, and an awaiting snack he hadn’t decided on yet. He was glad the moon was waxing its way towards full, it provided enough light for him to find a fridge he hoped was stocked. Scrounging enough supplies to make a small daisy sandwich he hoped would be enough for his rumbling gut, he shut the door and started his trudge back towards that dreaded, way-too-tall staircase. But just as he started his way up he paused, ears twitching to pick up what he thought sounded like a faint murmur. There, slumped over a book, was a sleeping pony next to a still lit candle. The soft, warm glow gave him just enough light to see the mess of books and notes strewn about, but not quite enough to tell who lay before him. Sleepily smiling, he abandoned his midnight (or whatever time it was) snack and made his over towards the sleeping pony. The mare was draped in a very comfortable looking blanket, comfortable looking enough to make want to get back to sleeping himself. Still, he’d rather go upstairs to sleep than lay here; the book she was using for a pillow seemed less inviting to lie on. Figuring he wouldn’t know her anyways, he shrugged and started gathering up the books lying about then paused finding an volume that looked interesting: Canterlot Forever: An Illustrated Guide to the Statues of our Capitol. With a smile, he sat down and slid the candle away from the napper to the other side of the table and began paging through the guide. So engrossed in his perusal, he never noticed his roommate stir and finally sit up. She sat rubbing the sleep from her eyes for a moment before breaking the silence, “Got some late night reading there Terra?” He recoiled in surprise then found that gravity decided to take over for his now-missing balance, and toppled over. “Oh, man you scared me good!” Sitting back up he smiled at the giggling mare in front of him. “I could ask you the same. I came over to clean up the pile of books, and sort of got carried away in one of em.” “Happens to me all the time. Oh, and sorry about the scare.” She peered over at the book on the table, recognizing her own collection instantly and the image on the page it was turned to. “Ah, Welcoming Dawn. I remember that statue! It used to be right in the center of the University square!” She turned the book closer to her and stared at the photograph in the image. The image showed a large stone effigy of Celestia with one extended wing, looking as if she was beckoning somepony before her to come closer. Terra leaned closer to the page and smiled at the picture. “I miss that statue. I used to sit and read under it all the time. That left wing always made just the perfect amount of shade to sit under.” “It was nice. Celestia just seems so…inviting in it. It’s a shame they tore it down.” Terra fidgeted, his ears hanging a bit lower than they were a moment ago. “I…um…yeah. It’s too bad I… it got broken.” Now it was her turn to be too engrossed in the book, she barely noticed he responded at all. “Yeah. Still, it’s not all bad that its gone. The statue they put in the square to replace it is probably one of my favorites. It’s called the Repentant Foal. Here, it should be in this book too.” She started flipping pages, searching for the newer monument. Terra’s ears shot straight back up at that. “R-really? One of your favorites?” he questioned to the still-flipping pony. “Oh, definitely! Ah, found it!” The images showed the new statue, this one of two characters. The first, a small foal with his head bowed, and towering above the young figure stood Celestia, knees bent to reach down to his level. Her wing extended out towards the meek colt inviting him in for a hug. “I don’t know if you’ve seen it before. Here.” She pushed the book towards him continuing, “The colt in it seems sorry for something, like he did something wrong and he knows it. And Celestia just seems so motherly here. Its like no matter what he did, she would be able to make it better. It’s a really touching piece.” He sat in awe, entranced by the description given to him. He tried to speak, but couldn’t remember what words were supposed to sound like. “Its really quite fascinating actually, apparently parts of Welcoming Dawn made their way into Repentant Foal. See this wing here? The outer section of it is actually just reused stone, magically reshaped and fused to the rest of the piece. Same with the tail and mane, they all have borrowed pieces of stonework. I’ve always wondered why they chose to reuse pieces of it instead of carving out new ones. And did you know they have no idea who carved it? After the old statue was torn down, the new one was almost immediately in its place with no artist name, just the title carved into the base in front of it! It really is a fascinating piece of art, don’t you agree?” She finally looked up from the book at him and smiled, and almost as quickly the smile turned to worry. Terra sat there, tears streaking down his face. “That was… Thank you. Just…Thank you.” He shut his eyes to hold back the tears, and reached over and gave her an enormous heartfelt hug. She was completely taken aback by the sudden outburst of emotion, but returned the hug anyways. The two of them sat there in silence for a minute, locked together for what seemed an eternity, and yet only just a moment. Wiping away some of the saltiness staining his cheeks, he finally opened his eyes. Noticing the blanket had fallen away, he finally got a view of the cutie mark of the pony he had been talking to. There before him, revealed in the flickering candlelight, was a six pointed starbust and five smaller bursts around it. There was only one pony with a cutie mark like that. Her. Twilight Sparkle.