Welcome to my first fanfiction of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. As you indubiatly will notice, I do not have English as my first language, so I probably will have several flaws in this work of mine. As such all constructive criticism, so I know what to change, or constructive compliments, so I know what to keep, are appreciated.
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Rocky Slopes, a town located on the side of Mt. Silverhoof. Hardly a quiet place as it is a mining town, gathering ore from a natural cavern that runs deep, to bring it up and down to the refinery at the foot of the mountain. The town is over a century old and some of its inhabitants are accused of the same. During the day, there is a constant supply of miners and stone going in and out of the mine, by night it is mostly miners getting thrown out. Out of the bar to be precise. But always there is the wind, there is always a breeze blowing. But now it wasn’t a breeze anymore. There is a storm brewing.
“–and fold,” ends SilkShine her sentence as she folds the top part of the bedsheet. She tugs at the corner a little bit until she is aesthetically satisfied with the presentation of the bed, and the rest of the just cleaned room in general. She has a few guests staying with her at the moment, a couple of miners who come by every week. They are generally a clean bunch except for the dust, gravel and beer bottles they bring with them in. But those are the troubles of running an inn in a mining town.
SilkShine bought the old place about fifteen years ago. It needed a few planks of wood and some new paint, but she got herself an inn. Named High on the Top for obvious reasons, she often has a couple of miners staying, those who came from far to work in the mine to support their families. Less common is family from anypony who lives in this town, or a mining official from either the mining company or the Royal administration.
Those who stay for a long period of time, like the miners, get treated like family. The guests can decide if they have their meal in their rooms or in the living room, but she has noticed often that guests who stay for a short while tend to eat in their rooms, while the miners know her for a long time already and gladly join in at the dinner table.
She had spent the majority of the morning preparing breakfast for her guests and cleaning the rooms. Although she would like to have some time for herself, it was a Monday and groceries were in order. She put away her cleaning agents in the storage room and took off her apron. Placing her saddlebags on her back, she was ready to head out the front door when it was opened for her. On the other side stood a stallion looking at her surprised.
The stallion was a blue unicorn with a orange mane, with a grey streak of age going through it. He must have come from far away as he was carrying several bags and pieces of clothing on his person, each and every one worn down. Even the pony in question seems worn down, but as of now he has regained his liveliness as the two ponies stare at each other.
“Oh dear, uhmm…you first madam,” he uttered out.
SilkShine, being startled as well, intended to take the stallion’s suggestion, but after she stepped forth something dawned on her. “Pardon me, but could you be looking for a room here at the inn?” she asked.
“Yes!” he answered lively, “Somepony directed me to this place, so I was hoping to be able spend the night here.”
SilkShine stepped back through the door and made her way to the counter. “Please, come in! I am the proprietor, my name is SilkShine.”
The unicorn followed her inside, but had some trouble getting his bags through the door frame. After a good yank the doorframe released him from his awkward situation. “My name is Lapis Lazuli, pleased to make your acquaintance,” he replied while lighting his horn to fix the jumbled baggage and clothing on his person.
With such a name, he is probably here for the mine, SilkShine thought.
“Well Mr. Lazuli, I have a room for you. Will you be staying long?” she asked to her guest.
“Just a night, I am leaving town tomorrow.”
SilkShine frowned, what she would be saying now could cost her but it would not be done if she didn’t. “Mr. Lazuli, today until the day after tomorrow we are expecting a storm. The mountain path becomes quite dangerous during one.” Her chest felt heavy, she disliked fiercely to be the bearer of any bad news.
Lapis Lazuli was startled and abashed at this news. He muttered a few sentences, seemingly holding a troubled argument with himself. SilkShine had never seen a customer holding an argument with himself, but apparently he managed to reach a rapid decision with himself as Lapis straightened up. “Very well,” he started, “I will be staying until the day after tomorrow,” a small smile decorates his face as he ends his sentence.
SilkShine smiled in return. “Alright mister Lazuli, here is the key,” She took the little key from its hanger on the wall and hoofed it over to the blue unicorn. “I hope you have a pleasant stay here.” She smiled her classic smile, from a businessmare to a customer.
As Lapis Lazuli picked up the key, she added; “Shall I take you bags, Mr. Lazuli?” This might not be a big, fancy hotel, but SilkShine shall be damned if she doesn’t at least try to give the same level of service, not too mention those bags he is carrying look rather heavy.
“No, I shall carry them myself,” he responded quickly.
Lapis secured the backpack and turned the corner when SilkShine’s mind flashed to the groceries, and to the dinner she always makes for the whole inn. “Oh Mr. Lazuli, dinner is at six, will you be joining us tonight?”
Lapis halted in his tracks, lifted his eyes, staring at the ceiling to give the suggestion some thought. “I would gladly join, but first I must inquire, what do we eat?”
SilkShine walked from behind the counter and responded. “Once I have done the groceries, it is going to be vegetable stew, unless something else comes up.”
Lapis nodded in response, “That will do, thank you.” and made his way to his designated room, fumbling to get through the doorway again.
A few minutes later was SilkShine on her way with her saddlebags under her wings. Leaving her inn High on the Top behind her, she made way to the Rocky Slopes’ town centre. She felt a strong gust of wind blowing over her coat, through her mane. She made a note that this was probably the forebode of the oncoming storm. Looking at the sky, gray clouds were making place for darker ones, all while the shadow of the mountain was sliding over the village.
Despite the incoming bad weather, a young colt was playing outside with his brightly colored ball, with his mother holding a sprightly conversation with the neighbours. In a blur, two blue ponies speeded past her revealing two blue Pegasus fillies, Azure Bliss and Cerulean Gale, coming to play with the colt. SilkShine walked further into town as children’s laughter arose behind her.
She decided to go to the hospital first and to the grocery store as last, as she didn’t want for the products to get spoiled. Crossing the town’s centre she saw a group of miners going to the mountain’s cavern, where the mine was located. “Good afternoon, ma’am,” greeted one of them, upon she replied teasingly; “Good day, colts.” Even though she wasn’t the youngest anymore, she didn’t quite liked being called ma’am. She missed the days when she would still be called lil’ miss, the time when she got her cutie mark for liking to make herself and other ponies look clean and presentable.
Crossing a wooden bridge, she stood before the hospital. It was not a huge white stone block like in the big city, but a small humble building. It didn’t seem as much but it had everything Rocky Slopes needed; An apothecary, an operating room, a few hospital wards and of course the staff needed to run the place.
She opened the doors of the small hospital and almost collided with another pony. “Oh, miss SilkShine, didn’t see you there,” an old dark yellow stallion spoke to her surprised.
Her heart brightened up a bit by the use of that word. “Mr. Fact, what are you doing here?” She wondered her question out loud.
The dark yellow stallion raises his leg showing a white bandage. “I hurt myself when I was busy with my tools, so since I live nearby I thought to just get it treated professionally.”
She looks at the small bloodstains on the otherwise pristine white bandage, her stomach turning one-hundred and eighty degrees. “Is everything fine, Mr. Fact?” She asks while looking at the bandage.
“It hurts a bit and I need to put not much weight on it. Or not any at all. Put please, Miss SilkShine, call me Arty.”
“Okay, Arty. Let me make room for you to come through,” she says as he backs up.
“Oh, no miss SilkShine, allow me.” The stallion takes a few steps sideways and shows a painful expression when he accidently puts his weight on his wounded leg.
A bit worried, SilkShine mumbles a small goodbye as she walks past Arty Fact while he nods a goodbye and leaves through the hospital doors.
She turned around and made a beeline for the apothecary. A week ago one of her guest miners had been injured and thus the inn’s medicinal supplies were used when it was time to replace the old bandages for new ones. Some new herbal medicine and stomach tablets might be necessary as well.
A few minutes later, SilkShine left the hospital. The wind had grown stronger as darker clouds gathered. This started to prove to be difficult for SilkShine, as Pegasi are lighter then the other two races of ponies. As she made her way through town she got attacked by a strong gust of wind every now and then making her sway off her intended path. As she was going past the hardware shop a particularly strong gust blew her off her hooves.
“Hey there, girl!” A stallion yells as he catches SilkShine from tumbling. “Are you okay?”
SilkShine plants her hooves steady on the ground and looks up in the big brown eyes of the stallion. “I am fine, Honey, thank you. These gusts of wind have been pestering ever since I left the hospital,” she sighs.
Honey Rock leans in closer to SilkShine as he bellows; “Hospital?! You are not wounded are you? Or somepony you know?”
SilkShine snorted, quickly holding her hoof to mask the noise. “No no no Honey, nothing like that. I was just there to get some medical supplies I needed.”
“So… no illnesses or anything?”
“None of that, Honey Rock. Everyone is healthy. Well, except Arty Fact who has hurt himself, but the wound has been taken care of by the hospital,” SilkShine explains. Just then another gust of wind comes and strikes the unprepared mare causing her to fall against Honey Rock. “That blasted wind, does it have to be scheduled to be that strong?!” she yells irritated. Normally she would fly through this as she can withstand the wind better in flight, but due to her saddlebags inhibiting her wing flap she can’t fly as good as normal. “I hope the foals are alright in this storm.”
“Speaking of them…,” Honey exclaims.
As Honey Rock and SilkShine stare on, the two Pegasus sisters come crawling past them on their bellies, like commando ponies. Their mother, Sky Blue, hisses at her foals that they should behave normally while she passes by the two ponies. Swiftly she utters; “Stormy weather we are having, hé?”, before she goes back chasing the sisters.
After that scene, Honey Rock scraped his throat and started up the conversation again. “So…where are you heading too?”
“Uhm, I was on my way to the grocery store.” She nods in the general direction of the store.
“Alrighty, I need something from the hardware shop. Take care and keep steady!” he yells as he walks inside the store.
With a creepy sense of timing another gust of wind came, testing Honey Rock’s advice. Unfortunately, she had not taken it yet.
“Are you okay, SilkShine?” comes a call from an increasingly closer distance followed by a loud thud. A reddish Pegasus carrying a crate on a chariot behind him hovers in front of the fallen mare.
“Hello, Lofty, I would be wishing you a good day, but it is not,” she says when she lifts herself from the ground. She turns her head around and checks the contents of her saddlebags. “Luckily, nothing got broken.”
The pony known as Lofty Dreams stares up to the sky and frowns upon looking at it.
“The storm is picking up. This is the last package I gonna deliver, it is too much of a hassle to do any more today,” the young stallion says as he turns to SilkShine. “But I need to fly again, so take care, SilkShine,” he yells when flying back into the stormy winds.
Another gust of wind later and SilkShine manages again not to heed somepony’s advice.
A few minutes of conquering mother nature later, SilkShine finally arrived at the grocery shop. Looking around her, she saw ponies making hastily their last purchases and shopkeepers hauling the goods in front of their stores indoors. Not a bad idea to go home as soon as I can.
Looking through the store, only one other pony besides the store owner, Golden Greens, was present, namely the sheriff, Long legs. It was not often that one saw the sheriff on this hour of the day at his office. It was the quiet time of the day for the sheriff, as he was more active during the later hours when the miners stared to get drunk in the pub. As such he would spend time doing groceries and cleaning his house, office and occasionally on a boring day, the town as well.
Golden Greens was a very busy pony, he loves his business and being busy. He and SilkShine knew each other since foalhood and were actually quite competitive. The primary sport of the two would be racing to get their cutie marks. After a harsh and dirty race it was SilkShine who won after cleaning herself and Golden Greens up to be somewhat presentable, and thus gaining her mark. Immediately after, during the argument due to SilkShine’s newly gained cutie mark, Golden Greens got his cutie mark after he went on a rant about how hard he worked in trying to get his. A big Cute-ceañera party was held after, and the two shared their first kiss. Too bad it never became a lasting relationship.
“Good day Golden, hello sheriff, rough weather we are having, ain’t it?” SilkShine says. “You sure do look like it, filly,” the sheriff says, “Normally I see ponies like that after they went tussling with one another.”
SilkShine takes a close gander at herself, finding herself to be in a more terrible mess then she thought. Her curly brown mane is now a tangled mess, several feathers are crooked and her beige coat has dirt spots all over. “That will take a good bath to clean.”
“Let me help you on your way then, Silk,” Golden Greens speaks up to her. “What do you need?”
SilkShine started to search for her grocery list in her saddlebags while mumbling “Moment, moment,” until she found it. “Alright Golden, what I need is a onion, two garlic cloves, some celery, a bell pepper, a sizeable cabbage, two zucchinis, three carrots, cauliflower, portabella mushroom, spinach, a bit of broccoli, two rolls of biscuits, two apples, two bottles of milk, no make that three, a small amount of pepper and some lemons to make juice out of,” she ended her list.
Golden Greens stood behind the counter astounded after bagging half the items. “Eh, could you repeat that again?”
After repeating her list once more, SilkShine went out in the growing storm, her saddlebags filled to the brim and a third bag clenched between her teeth, ready to brave the storm once more. And this time she didn’t get blown over.
As she walked on her way back home, she saw ponies making the last preparations for the storm, bringing items inside that could be hurled away by the oncoming storm. Bzzzt. Even through the gushing winds she could hear a small buzz, but she could not directly place where it came from, until she looked down. Two blue Pegasus fillies crawling over the ground flapping their small wings rapidly trying to hold their own against the wind. She halted when she saw them, the fillies using her as a shield against the wind. They looked pitiful. “Come wiff me,” she mutters with the bag clenched between her teeth.
She imagined the two fillies escaping their mother’s watchful eye to get to play with the young colt some more, but now in the increasing strength of the wind, they were starting to regret their decision. It would be up to SilkShine to bring them back to their home again.
The three Pegasi were nearing High on a Top, with SilkShine wishing the sisters never had left their home, then she could have stayed inside for the rest of the day. Suddenly a scream pierced through the howling of the wind. SilkShine and the sisters hurried past the corner towards her inn and the direction where the sound came from. She thought the worst, that a stray piece of debris hit somepony or that the wind tore a piece of a building and that somepony lay bleeding on the ground.
She could have saved herself the worst case scenario images. Instead of some horrible accident instead she was hearing cries of joy. In front of her she saw the two Pegasus sisters joining the group of ponies, celebrating around the young colt with a shiny new cutie mark, while the mother is shrieking how happy she is. That will mean there will be a Cute-ceañera soon, but with this weather it is doubtful it will be today.
She wanted to congratulate the little foal but unfortunately that would mean removing the heavy bag from her mouth, and be sent tumbling over by the wind again due her reduced weight. So she pulled her grin into an actual smile and nodded to everypony who noticed her as she passed by. Suddenly she does hear a sickening crack, followed by a scream of a familiar voice. As SilkShine turns around, she sees the colt’s mother lying on the ground, grasping at her oddly bent leg.
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