Princess Cadance was not in a good mood.
There wasn't any particular reason for it. Rather, there was a whole pile of little reasons adding up to a great, big, looming, sun-blocking mound of misery.
Her daughter's horn had hit another growth spurt, which meant a lot of crying and a lot of misfires. Her husband, bless his heart, was doing everything he could to help… while leaving a great mess in his wake. The Crystal Empire's weather team was changing hooves, and the resulting pressure dysfunction had given her a non-stop pounding headache for weeks.
And, to top it all off, Twilight Sparkle was in love.
It shouldn't have frustrated Cadance. It really shouldn't have. She knew that.
But to see the way Twilight was walking on air, while she herself felt as if she were trudging through quicksand, made Cadance's temples threaten to explode in frustration.
"Y'know, I feel like I'm really getting in touch with my earth pony magic," Twilight said wistfully, running her hoof in circles around the rim of her coffee mug. "Just… really grounded."
"You don't say?" Cadance grumbled. Her own mug was empty-- she had found it hard to get by without several cups of coffee first thing in the morning, and they were going by faster and faster.
Twilight let out a long, humming sigh as she stared out the window. The light of the rising sun streamed over her gentle smile, and she looked quite like an angel ringed in a halo of golden light.
Cadance slumped into the shadows. They did a bang-up job of disguising the dark circles under her eyes.
Twilight giggled and fluttered her eyes closed. "Yeah… Applejack knows so much about earth pony traditions and magic," she continued. "I just feel like I'm really becoming the alicorn I was meant to be!"
Cadance made a low sound of disgust and disinterest.
"Anyway." Twilight paused to sip daintily at her coffee. "I'm sure you felt the same with Shining Armor."
Cadance arched an eyebrow. "How so?"
"Oh, you know." Twilight waved an almost dismissive hoof in Cadance's direction. "I'm sure he helped you get in touch with unicorn magic."
Cadance recalled a morning during which Shining Armor had coached her on using her magic to hold his mane while he vomited up a stomach full of bar food into a hotel toilet.
"Oh, yeah," she muttered. "Definitely."
Twilight smiled, oblivious to the disgust lurking in Cadance's eyes.
"I bet there's a lot I could learn from you about being a pegasus," she chirped.
Cadance actually had to laugh out loud at that one. "Yeah… I don't know about that," she said. "I wasn't exactly the world's best pegasus. I'm sure Rainbow Dash could teach you a lot more about pegasus magic than I ever could."
"Oh, come on!" Twilight took another gulp of coffee. "I'm sure you know tons of stuff. Stuff you don't even know you know… y'know?"
Cadance struggled not to roll her eyes. "Well, if I don't know it, I'm not quite sure how you'd expect me to teach it."
Not waiting for an answer, Cadance grabbed her empty coffee cup in her magic and slid out of her seat.
Twilight's mouth gaped one like a trout for one unflattering moment before snapping shut. She watched quietly as Cadance buzzed about the room, whipping up another cup of coffee before the last one wore off. Though it was a practiced dance, Cadance still managed to look haggard and aggravated as she performed it.
Cadance grabbed the bag of coffee beans and shook them into the top of the coffee maker. She paused, examined the max fill line, and decided to throw caution to the wind by shaking in the rest of the bag.
She chucked the empty bag over her shoulder, and it rolled over the kitchen floor like a lonely tumbleweed.
Twilight cleared her throat. "Well… have you ever tried exploring earth pony magic?"
Cadance jammed the coffee pot into place with a bit too much vigor. "I really can't say that I have, Twilight," she snapped. "Frankly, I'm not convinced there is such a thing."
"I'm telling you, there is!" Twilight said. "I mean, the academic studies alone show that--"
"Well, academic and practical aren't the same thing!" Cadance argued. "There's-- there's a time and a place for academia, and this isn't it!"
Twilight's eyes narrowed. A single eyebrow crept up her forehead, almost imperceptibly
It was a different quiet than it had been some years ago. In the past, had Cadance snapped like that, it may have been quite a blow to her fragile and foal-like ego. Now, however, Twilight was more than accustomed to putting up with rowdy, misbehaved students.
As Cadance turned her back to the coffee maker to star Twilight down, she was met with a glare that made Cadance feel guilty in an instant. The glare of a teacher preparing to lecture a student.
"You know, one aspect of earth pony magic is resolution," Twilight said, her voice bright as ever despite the darkness shimmering in her eyes. "Weathering hardships, standing your ground. Those sorts of things."
"Mm-hm." Cadance folded her forelegs over her chest. "Well, then, maybe you're right. Maybe I have tapped into some of that. I'm certainly weathering my fair share of hardships lately."
"With grace," Twilight corrected.
Cadance's eye twitched. "I'm plenty graceful."
Twilight shrugged. "Okay. Maybe you're right. Maybe you don't need earth pony magic." She giggled. "What do I know? I'm just a simple alicorn!"
With that, Twilight slid out of the breakfast nook, being sure to ruffle her wings as she did.
Cadance ground her teeth as Twilight all but floated across the room on a cloud of superiority.
"I'll see you tomorrow, big sis," she said, adding a rather condescending pat on the head.
Cadance growled under her breath.
It wasn't until Twilight was gone that Cadance thought to shout, "I was an alicorn way before you, y'know!"
Arriving at the Pie family rock farm wasn't unlike being dropped off at the edge of the world itself.
Sure, there were mountains on the horizon. Trees lined portions of the property like obedient sentinels. The cottage, despite its sagging roof, seemed cozy in its own way. This place felt like home-- at least for somepony.
It was everything that surrounded it that looked like a blown-out wasteland.
Cadance wasn't sure exactly what she thought the phrase "rock farm" had meant, but these endless flatlands pocked with dark lumps… that wasn't it. It certainly wasn't making her feel any better about her choice to come here.
Despite the sinking feeling which tugged at her chest (as well as the eerie echoes of chain gang chanting which rattled about in her mind), Cadance climbed the creaking porch steps and stood before the beat-up screen door. She searched for a doorbell, but turned up nothing, and settled for tapping gently on the warped wood of the door's frame.
From deep inside the house, Cadance heard a long, rasping moan. "I'm comin', I'm comin'!"
"Um… no hurry!" Cadance called back, polite as she could muster.
The alicorn did her best to settle herself as she waited for somepony to come to the door.
For a moment, she reconsidered trying out a disguise. Luna and Celestia were always bugging her about using a cloaking spell to take vacations-- apparently it was the only way they could go out in public without being hassled.
But Cadance wasn't very good with her unicorn magic, either. She doubted that anypony would be fooled for more than a quick glance if she attempted one.
In fact, now that she thought about it, she wasn't great with any of her magic.
Just as she was rethinking this whole excursion, the heavy interior door of the farm house clicked open.
Cadance perked up, and did her best to look approachable. "Um… hello!"
The door froze open at barely a crack, and one mossy-green eye peered out at her. Or… perhaps glared was the more appropriate description.
The eye looked her up and down. "Who the hay are you?" the voice behind it asked, raspy and low.
Cadance blinked.
As worried as she was about being recognized, she hadn't considered not being recognized.
"I'm…" Cadance paused, trying to think about the best way to introduce herself. "I'm Princess Cadance?"
The voice snorted. "You askin' me or tellin' me?"
Cadance narrowed her eyes. "I'm Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire," she announced, as royal and poised as she could muster. "I'm here to--"
"Well, who are you to me?"
The pony behind the door, at last, pushed it all the way open.
She was small, but the kind of small that was somehow even more intimidating than being large. Her mane cut was as severe as it was silky-soft and shimmery, hanging like a heavy curtain beside her head. Though she was relatively colorless, her eyes sparkled in the early-morning light.
Cadance cocked her head. "Excuse me?"
The pony chuckled lightly. "Who are you to me?" she repeated. "Y'know. How do I know you? Why should I care?"
"Uh…" Cadance's mind ground to a halt as she tried to call up a reason for her visit.
The pony at the door slumped to the side, leaning coolly against the frame and smirking as Cadance tried to jump start her mind.
"Any time, now," she said.
"I'm Twilight's sister-in-law," Cadance spluttered out.
The stranger's eyes narrowed, almost imperceptibly. "Uh-huh."
"She's friends with Pinkie Pie?" Cadance continued, her frustration growing by the second. "She used to live here?"
The mare chuckled. "That's not exactly a point in your favor, Cady."
"My name is--"
"I love Pinkie like a sister," the mare continued, a hoof over her heart. "Mostly because she is my sister. But she's got some pretty annoying friends."
Cadance thought back to the few times she had been caught alone with Pinkie, and nodded sympathetically.
"What exactly are you doing here?" The mare tossed her mane, then tucked it behind her ear with one hoof. "If you're lookin' for Pinkie, she's not around."
"Well…" Cadance looked down at her hooves. "Actually, I would prefer it if Pinkie didn't know I came here."
This, at last, seemed to pique the interest of the mare behind the screen door. "Oh, yeah?"
Cadance sighed wearily. "Yeah."
"Huh." The mare arched a single eyebrow, looking Cadance up and down a few times.
Cadance crossed her forehooves and looked up at the porch roof.
"Name's Limestone," the mare said, pushing open the screen door and stepping into the porch. "Pinkie Pie never has any drama, so this oughta be good. Fill me in."
"Well--" Cadance had to stumble back a few steps as Limestone pushed past her. "Well. It doesn't have a lot to do with Pinkie, per se…"
Limestone lowered herself into the wood floor of the porch, her hooves dangling above the top step. For a moment she didn't say anything, just surveyed the farm with a night emotionless stare.
"What I mean is-- well, if Pinkie finds out, it'll definitely get back to Twilight eventually." She sighed. "I've done the keeping-secrets thing with Pinkie Pie before, and it's… not a pretty sight."
Limestone made a small grumbling sound, as if disappointed that her sister wasn't a main player in this particular scandal. "And why exactly are we keeping secrets from a princess?"
Cadance rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated groan. "She's driving me nuts!" she exclaimed, gesturing strongly with one hoof. "Going on and on and on about earth pony magic this, resolution that-- it's just so-- so-- ugh!"
"So… what?" Limestone looked back over her shoulder at Cadance. "What is it you want?"
Cadance visibly deflated. "I… want to learn about earth pony magic."
"To make your annoying younger sister shut up?"
"Well… sister-in-law, but--"
"Deal," Limestone said, getting to her hooves. "We start now. Drop your stuff on the porch."
Limestone brushed past the princess again, not the least bit intimidated, and snatched a saddlebag from a hook just inside.
Once the bag was settled on her back, Limestone leapt down the porch steps and set off at an easy trot down the little dirt road. Her hoofbeats were oddly harsh, not unlike those of a royal guard, and tiny clouds of dust followed her closely.
"Um…" Cadance took a few steps forward, leaning out from under the porch roof. "I didn't bring anything!"
Limestone scoffed. "Whatever, Princess," she said, tossing a glance back to the porch. "Step to it."
For a moment, Cadance was frozen to the spot.
In the one hoof, it was rather hard to believe that this total stranger would drop everything to help her out. Especially when the mission statement was so vague.
On the other, this was Pinkie Pie's older sister.
She supposed some things were universal. In-laws or not.
The porch steps also managed to produce a significant cloud of dust as Cadance pounded down them. She broke into a light canter across the dirt and caught up to Limestone in a few strides.
Limestone did not slow down. "You sure came to the right place. Nothin' more earth pony than rock farming."
Cadance cocked her head towards Limestone. "Is that so?"
"Heck yeah, it is," Limestone said, flashing a proud smile. "And you can feel free to rub that all up in Twilight's face."
"Oh, I…" The defense died in Cadance's throat as a private smile spread over her face.
Limestone returned the grin, but only in a brief glance. "Turn here."
She took a sharp left. Cadance scrambled to keep up.
"This field is scheduled to be sown today. It'll be quartz. A few different color varieties," she explained, gesturing to the barren land on her left and right. "Colors come later, though. Today we're just planting the seeds."
"Um… seeds?" Cadance repeated.
Limestone shifted her hips and allowed her saddlebags to slide into the ground. "Yeah. Duh." She tipped the bag towards Cadance. "You plant seeds to grow vegetables, don't you?"
Cadance leaned forward to peek inside the bag.
Inside was a pile of what looked like small, jagged pebbles. Little chips of quartz all piled in together, running over each other as the bag tipped further and further. They made a soft rustling sound as they did.
"Huh." Cadance reached into the bag and lifted a hoofful of pebbles out. "But how does--"
"Plant it like this," Limestone said. "One length apart."
She picked out a quartz and, without much thought, jammed it into the dirt with a powerful blow.
Cadance looked down into the hole. There didn't seem to be anything all that special about it-- it was just a bit-sized hole in the ground with a pebble at the bottom.
Although she didn't understand it, Cadance pounded her own pebble into the ground.
Limestone sniffed. "Okay. Come back tomorrow."
"What?! But I just got here!" Cadance gestured wildly. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to--"
Limestone put a hoof to Cadance's mouth. "Hey. Patience is a big part of earth pony magic," she said. "So be patient. Come back tomorrow."