There was one day every month that Limestone hated.
Her work had always come easily to her. She knew how to work the rocks, like she had a connection with the land. She never felt the strain of the long hours and strenuous exercise, not on the farm. She had always felt like she was destined to run the farm.
That was the work on the farm, though. Not all farmwork happens at home, and the more responsibility she took on over the years, the more she would have to leave to get things done.
She would always put those things off as long as she could, waiting until two or three things piled up so that she could go do them all at once, but she couldn’t put off actually delivering rocks to ponies, and she despised that.
Once a month, in the later days, she would take mountains of stone over to the train station and load them on. Usually well before dawn, just to ensure that she’s able to get back in time to sleep. She didn’t always manage that.
From there, she would ride to every single stop the train made all day, from Ponyville to Vanhoover. At each stop, she would get off, unload the stone meant for that town, and pass it off to the ponies waiting impatiently for their orders. Then it was on to the next town, and the next, and the next, until the work was done.
She would usually try to work with the conductor for the scheduling, picking days when the train isn’t busy so that everything can be done faster, but that left her not knowing exactly when the day would come until it was right upon her. That was just one more reason to dread it.
She mostly hated it because of the ponies, though. Limestone despised dealing with customers. As far as she was concerned, they were whiny, impudent, ungrateful oafs that were lucky to be getting her stone. The worst part of it all, though, was that she was expected to be nice to them. To smile and be charming and to not even raise her voice when they get on her nerves. Doing that was more exhausting than anything she had to do on the farm.
It had to be done, though. She wasn’t going to let Pa do that much work, not at his age, and Marble couldn’t handle the customers. She couldn’t bring somepony with her, though, because without her there they needed everything they had left to make sure the farmwork for the day got done. It used to be Maud who did this work—she was always the best at dealing with customers—but she had moved on to her own life, and Limestone accepted that. After Pinkie left, she had learned quickly that she couldn’t expect any of her sisters to be there forever. Clinging to that wasn’t fair to them or her.
So, unless something changed, Limestone was stuck dreading these days.
She huffed as she pushed the final palette onto the flatcar of the train. “Alright, that’s all of it,” she told the conductor. “You need my help securing it?”
“Oh, I couldn’t make you do that after lugging all that up here,” he told her. “You go and find a seat inside, make yourself comfortable. No private rooms today, I’m afraid, you’re not the only pony with deliveries and we’ve got too many flatcars for that, but hopefully it’ll be a slow day and it won’t get too crowded.”
Limestone groaned. “Yeah, whatever.” She nodded to the conductor, the closest she generally got to a gesture of thanks, and made her way inside.
There really weren’t many seats. There was only enough room for six groups of ponies before some would have to sit together, and she had only seen one other passenger car today, which she assumed was more of the same. It would have to be a very slow day if she wanted to be left alone for the entire trip.
There was nothing to be done about it, though. She made her way over to a seat in the far corner, jumped up onto the bench, reached up to the ceiling and unplugged the light above her. Then she got down, made herself as comfortable as possible, and tried to go to sleep. The conductor knew she was here, after all. If she didn’t wake up on her own, he’d come and get her.
Not that that was much of a concern. She’d taken this route so many times that by now she knew it by heart. When she woke up, the brakes on the train had just started squealing as they rolled into the Manehattan station. She yawned, stretched, grimaced, and walked to the door before the train had even stopped.
As soon as the doors opened, she was outside and pulling the Manehattan-bound palette off the train. Sorting the palettes by destination sped things up quite a bit, but Manehattan was always a slog. There were no big, bulky orders, sure, but the city had more than its fair share of very specific, very small cuts of rock, and artists could be very particular about their materials.
As prompt as Limestone had been, the Manehattanites matched it. She didn’t even have to wait after opening up the plastic holding the loose stones down; there was already a long line of pretentious-looking ponies waiting to harangue her. With a sigh, she stepped up to the first one and started her day.
It was a simple process. Get their name, check the order sheet, give them the order, and move on to the next pony. It was rarely that simple, though. Every single pony had to inspect their package on the spot, and if they found even the tiniest hairline fracture, Limestone would never hear the end of it. Some were just worried, asking “is it going to be a problem if I chisel here,” or “is the inside of the stone porous enough to affect the glaze,” while some got more demanding, wanting a discount or a new order or any number of other inane things. She hated them all.
The line was long this time, too. In the smaller towns, ponies may order huge slabs of stone, but there’s only two or three ponies to deal with. Here, in the city, the process could take hours from pure quantity of customers alone. Today looked like it was going to be one of those days.
The only thing that made the whole thing at all bearable was the rare occasion that Limestone would meet a pony that really made an impression on her. They might be unusually charismatic, or have a strange, memorable laugh, or anything else that might make a pony stick out from the crowd.
In today’s case, the mare that stuck out did so because seeing her made Limestone’s heart skip a beat. Sandstone fur, an aquamarine mane, and nice, simple accessories. Her eyes matched her mane, and they glittered when she smiled.
Limestone cleared her throat to focus her mind back on the work. “Name?”
“Coco Pommel,” the mare said.
Limestone looked down at the list at her hooves. “Let’s see, you’re… Oh, you’re the one that wanted the scraps.” She hopped up onto the palette, grabbed a small sack that rattled as she carried it, and brought it over to Coco, setting it in front of her. “Really don’t get why you’d want em, but hey, you’re paying.”
“Oh, it’s just for a little idea I had,” Coco said. She hooked the bag onto the side of the saddlebag she was wearing, then grinned. “I honestly have no idea if it’ll work out how I’m imagining it, but really, that’s just more reason to try it!”
“Huh,” Limestone said. Then she caught sight of the line, which was only getting longer. “Hey, uh, I kinda have to keep at this, but… Good luck.”
Coco giggled cutely. “Thank you! Maybe I’ll see you around, um…”
“Limestone.”
“Limestone,” Coco repeated. “I’ll remember that.”
Then she trotted lightly away and out of the station. Limestone couldn’t take her eyes off of her until she was out of sight, and even then the image of her brilliant blue mane stayed glowing in her mind.
The stallion at the front of the line coughed loudly. “Uh, hello?” He asked. “I’ve got places to be, you know.”
“What?” Limestone snapped her head towards the pony and glowered at him.
“I said, I’m in a hurry,” he said. “I need my granite, my name is—”
“No.”
“Wh- no?” The pony looked utterly baffled.
“No,” Limestone repeated. “You can go to the back of the line.”
“Excuse me?” He put his hoof to his chest defiantly. “Why should I be made to wait for hours?”
“Because I said so,” Limestone said. “Tough luck, pal.”
It took at least another hour, but eventually Limestone emptied the palette. She sighed in relief as the last pony walked away, then fell backwards onto the palette and sat there for several minutes. Only one stop down, and she was already exhausted, but at least she was probably through the worst of it.
She tossed the empty palette back onto the train and strapped it down. “Sorry about the wait,” she said to the conductor as she passed him on her way back into the train. “Real nightmare today.”
“Think nothing of it,” the conductor said. “We have enough trains to work out the schedule. The system is built for this.”
Limestone nodded at him and slogged her way back to her seat. The light was still out, and she collapsed onto the bench. She knew she probably didn’t look too flattering, sprawled out and staring at the ceiling with a sour look on her face, but she didn’t care. She just needed to relax.
She tried to fall asleep again, but the best she could manage was a zoned out, meditative trance. Staring blankly upwards, she listened to her own breathing and the sound of her heartbeat as the minutes whittled away.
It took long enough for the train to move again that she was beginning to believe somepony else was taking longer to dole out their cargo than she had. She was just about ready to get up and ask the conductor how long the wait would be when a familiar face showed up in the corner of her vision.
“Limestone, right?” Coco Pommel smiled down at her sweetly. “How funny, running into you again so soon. Mind if I join you?”
“Uhh, sure,” Limestone said, rolling over onto her side. Normally she would tell off anypony who interrupted her relaxation, but something about Coco kept the annoyance at bay.
Coco made herself comfortable on the bench opposite Limestone. With the elegant way she positioned herself, paired with her carefully groomed mane and meticulously chosen accessories, Limestone couldn’t help but feel a bit self conscious. Not enough to actually sit up, she was still more tired than she was self conscious, but it was there.
“Scrap lady, yeah?” Limestone said. “Coco, I think.”
She nodded. “Mm-hm! The stones were the last piece I needed for the line I’m debuting in Canterlot today.”
“Yeah, I still don’t get it.”
Coco covered her mouth and giggled. “That’s understandable. See, I was inspired by how Rarity—have you heard about Rarity? Well, she likes to use gemstones in her lines, yes? So I got to thinking about how I might apply that to my own work. Derivation is the soul of art, you see. We all take inspiration wherever it can be found. Anyway, I was thinking about the gemstones, and that got me to thinking about all the other kinds of stones, the ones that aren’t so grand and glittery. The forgotten stones, at least in the world of fashion. I wound up designing a whole line around the idea. I’m calling it ‘what we leave behind,’ and my hope is that incorporating these scraps, the leftovers from what other ponies wanted, I can raise the line to a whole new level!” She smiled proudly.
Limestone just watched her as she talked, noticing little things about her. The way her mane bobbed when she talked, how she gestured more with her head than with her hooves, how she would mess up words when she got excited because she couldn’t keep from smiling as she talked. Limestone found it all mesmerizing.
In the background, wheels screeched as the train lurched into motion.
“I understood about half of that,” Limestone said.
Coco laughed. “I suppose it must all seem rather silly to a pony that works as hard as you do.”
Limestone shrugged. “I just do what comes naturally. Can’t expect anypony else not to do the same.”
“That’s a wonderful outlook to have,” Coco said. “What does come naturally to you, if I may ask? I really know nothing about where rocks actually come from, and I’m afraid your cutie mark doesn’t shed much light on the matter.”
Limestone looked at her own cutie mark and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I guess it’s not that easy to show ‘good at running a rock farm’ in a picture.”
Coco gasped. “You run a whole farm? But you’re so young!”
“The farm ain’t gonna wait around for me to get older, and I ain’t gonna let Pa run himself ragged when I’m perfectly capable of doing the work.”
“It just seems like an awful lot to take on,” Coco said. “It must be terribly stressful.”
“Sure,” Limestone agreed, “but I deal with it.”
“Well, here’s hoping something comes along to help you deal with the stress.”
“Thanks.”
Coco smiled sweetly, then decided to change the subject. “So, are your related to Pinkie?”
“Yup,” Limestone said. “Oldest sister, though I don’t look it.”
“You certainly don’t,” Coco agreed. Limestone thought she might’ve seen a subtle shift in her expression when she said that, but couldn’t tell for sure. “I admit I don’t know Pinkie very well, but you two seem so different! Even down to the color of your fur.”
“That’s Pies for ya,” Limestone said. She shrugged. “I’m always tempted to say Pinkie’s the outlier, but really we all are. She just realized it sooner.”
“How many sisters do you have?”
“Three,” Limestone told her. “Maud, Pinkie and Marble. Together we’re the weirdest family in Equestria.”
Coco chuckled. “I don’t know, I think that’s a pretty stiff competition.”
“True enough.”
Brakes screeched as the train pulled into another station. Coco winced at the harsh sound.
“Geez, this thing’s faster than I remember,” Limestone said. “This’ll be Ponyville. I gotta get off and give out some stuff.”
“I’ll be waiting,” Coco said softly.
The line in Ponyville was short today, and Limestone was thankful for that. She was always thankful for a short line, but today especially, she felt like being out here left her missing out on something better.
She went through the process automatically, getting names, giving orders, but her mind was elsewhere. It was strange. It wasn’t like her to get this way over a girl, especially one she’d just met. Although, that said, it wasn’t like she attracted a lot of attention. Generally, she went out of her way to not attract attention. Maybe she just didn’t know how she was when other ponies showed an interest in her.
Another pony walked up to her. “Name?” she asked.
“Darling, you know my name.”
Limestone snapped back to reality and looked up to see Rarity, wearing a sly grin on her face. “Oh,” Limestone said, “hey Rarity.”
“You certainly seem distracted,” Rarity teased.
“What of it?”
“Oh, nothing,” Rarity said. “I was just thinking that you looked like you might have met somepony.”
“I meet lots of ponies.”
Rarity chuckled. “Of course. I just wonder what Pinkie will make of the situation when I tell her about it…”
Limestone grimaced. “Come on, I don’t need her poking around in my love life.”
“What love life?” Rarity asked.
Limestone groaned. “Okay, fine, I met somepony today. As in, it’s way too early to actually know if anything is there. Not really juicy gossip.”
“Au contraire,” Rarity said, “it’s the juiciest of gossip. You must tell me who it is.”
“It’s just some girl from Manehattan who bought a bag of rocks,” Limestone said. “I kinda doubt you’ve met her, seeing as she was talking about you like some big star she looked up to.”
“Dear, every word of that sentence just made me want to know more,” Rarity said.
Limestone groaned. “Here name’s Coco Pommel, okay? Some kinda designer, I didn’t really get it when she—”
Rarity gasped loudly. “Coco? Oh, I absolutely adore Coco! A true rising star, if you ask me.”
“Great, so you do know her. That’s just wonderful.”
Rarity laughed under her breath. “Oh, I must plan a trip to Manehattan soon, I have to get her side of this.”
“Seriously?”
Rarity scoffed defensively. “Well, I’m just curious, is all. Don’t take this the wrong way, darling, but I wouldn’t have imagined you to be her type. She’s so… Sweet.”
“What, sweet girls can’t like me?”
“It’s not that, it’s just…” Rarity tried to think of anything to say, then sighed. “Okay, I suppose maybe it is that. You’re right, I apologize. Please, don’t let me hold you up any longer.”
“Did you even have an order to pick up?” Limestone narrowed her eyes at Rarity.
“Oh, yes, of course. I ordered an opal. You really can’t get quality opals anywhere outside your farm.”
A few minutes later, Limestone was trudging her way back onto the train. She groaned as she collapsed into her seat, closing her eyes immediately.
“You okay?” Coco asked.
“Huh?” Limestone jumped a bit and looked over to her. “Oh, right. Kinda forgot you were gonna be there.” She pushed herself up into a more dignified position.
“It’s alright. I can tell that this takes a lot out of you.”
“Tell me about it,” Limestone said. The train started rolling out of the station as she talked. “I carry twelve palettes of rock to the train before dawn and don’t break a sweat, but I talk to five ponies and I’m out of commission for an hour.”
“Well, I can’t imagine you break a sweat from much of anything, being as strong as you look,” Coco said.
“Been checking me out?”
Coco covered her mouth and laughed. “Maybe.”
“Stuff can get to me if it’s awkward to carry,” Limestone said. “I just know rocks well enough to know how to carry em.”
“That makes sense,” Coco said. “I imagine even I could lift a lot of them if I knew how.”
“Sure,” Limestone agreed. “I could show you how, if you want.”
Coco smiled. “That sounds lovely. We’ll have to get together soon.”
Limestone nodded, and for just a moment she smiled back.
It wasn’t long before the train pulled into the Canterlot station. Limestone secretly cursed how close it was to Ponyville as Coco got her things ready to get off the train.
“It was really great to meet you, Limestone,” Coco said cheerily.
“Uh, yeah, you too,” Limestone said.
They walked off the train side by side, waved goodbye to each other, and parted ways. Limestone couldn’t quite piece together how she was feeling as she made her way down to grab the next palette, but whatever she felt, it was good.
Once again, she could hardly focus on the work. She got the palette set up, sat in her usual place, but barely processed when the first pony stepped up in front of her.
“Name?” she said dully.
The pony giggled. “Coco Pommel.”
Limestone’s eyes went wide as she looked up and saw Coco, beaming down at her. “Huh?” was all she could think to say.
“Hi again,” Coco said. “I forgot something I wanted to give you.”
“Wha—” Limestone started to ask, but before she got the word out Coco leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek.
“Okay,” Coco said, grinning wide, “bye for real this time. I’ll see you around.”
Coco practically skipped away, leaving Limestone in stunned silence. She was glad to be stunned, though, because otherwise everypony in the station would be able to see her smile.