Marble Pie walked down the dirt streets of Ponyville, a spring in her step, for today, she was finally going to ask Big Mac out on a date! She had spent months building up the courage to even consider such a proposition, but the hole in her heart kept growing, and it was forming in the shape of a particular large red stallion with an apple for a cutie mark. The trip to Ponyville had been long, but she knew it would be well worth it. She had even made reservations for a fancy restaurant, using a few bits her mother and father had lent her after telling them about this! It was going to be perfect, a nice wine, a candlelit table by the-
Marble came to a stop, her heart skipping a beat.
She had come around a corner, and there he was.
Big Mac.
Nuzzling another mare.
Marble stood there, mouth agape, for what seemed an eternity, just staring at the two, only to turn and run with tears in her eyes as soon as she could. Never had she hurt so much, the hole in her heart deforming into nothing. She just wanted to have a nice night with a stallion, only for it to be dashed quickly away by the sudden realization that Big Mac had chosen somepony else.
But of course he had! She hadn't seen him in months! Why would he have waited that long for a mare who he didn't even know had feelings for him? How could she have been so stupid?...
She ran all the way home, never once looking back with her soaked eyes. Smashing through the door and crawling into her bed, she stammered,
"How could I have been so stupid... so stupid to believe anypony would... could love... me?"
---
5 Years Later...
---
Pinkie Pie had given birth to a beautiful little colt, and promptly named him Lil' Cheese after his father!
She was ON TOP OF THE MOON!
Though, I might want to ask Luna if that's okay with her...
But of COURSE it was okay with her! Why wouldn't it be!? She had a foal!
I will go around town, throwing "Say Hello to My Foal!" parties, and NOPONY will be excluded! I will tell EVERYPONY about this! First (Of course), Cheese Sandwich, then Twilight and Rainbow Dash and Applejack and Rarity and Fluttershy and-
Pinkie gasped loudly, scaring a few nurses around her bed.
Out loud, Pinkie thought "My family!"
As soon as possible, I will jump out of my bed, foal and Cheese Sandwich in-tow, and hightail it towards the Rock Farm! They HAD to be the first to find out! The only issue was keeping Cheese Sandwich in the dark... oh wait, he is my husband!
Pinkie let out a gleeful screech as she stared into her newborns blinking eyes, Lil' Cheese giving a cute giggle and smile in return.
"Best. Day. EVER!"
---
A few days later...
---
Marble crushed another rock underhoof, revealing... nothing. Yet again, a rock revealed nothing inside of it. This years harvest was not going smoothly.
A piercing noise ripped Marble from her thoughts
She could hear.. squeaking? A bit odd, considering nopony on the farm owned anything that squeaked in such a manner. Maybe in was a gate? Maybe it was-
"MAAAR-BLE!" Suddenly, Marble had found herself on the ground, staring bewildered at a starkly pink colored pony with a smile as wide as
the Great White Cliffs of Pover.
"Hey, Pinkie."
"Eeee! Guess what!"
"What, Pinkie?"
"I had a foal!"
Marble didn't like the mentioning of a foal. Lately she had been thinking about what could have been, about how she would be having a foal around this time if... if...
No. She had moved on. She didn't need to dwell on things that occured over 5 years ago. That was foolish.
"I don't care."
Pinkie Pie's face drooped, wearing her disbelief as obvious as a neon dress. She hopped backwards, allowing Marble to rise. "You... don't care?"
Marble's face scrunched up in anger. "No! I don't care about your stupid foal or your stupid happy relationship or ANY of that basalt!"
The rest of the Pie family had rushed over, having heard the commotion. The patriarch of the Pie family, having heard the words spoken, fiercely gazed at Marble.
"Go to your room, young lady!"
"Augh!!!" Marble turned hoof and stomped off towards her room, slamming the door behind her and plopping down on her stone mattress.
How DARE they!? Who cares whether or not Pinkie had a foal? It was so unimportant! If I had a foal, then I wouldn't go parading it around everypony like they were the Princesses!
Marble lowered her head, looking at nothing in particular.
If I had a foal...
The floodgates had opened, and Marble found herself uncontrollably sobbing. No longer could she hide her sorrow, even in private.
I wasn't ready to let you go Big Mac... I wasn't ready...
She sat there for a few minutes, mellowing in her woes, before she heard voices coming from the other room.
"Once again, Pinkie, I am sorry. Your sister... she isn't the same as when you last saw her, oh, 4 months ago was it?" Called out Father Pie
"That's one way to put it. I would say she has been downright unbearable." Limestone's disembodied voice scowled. Lowering into a more subdued, caring tone uncharacteristic of her, she added "Pinkie, um, could you talk to her? It's... been difficult not having her, as her. Somethings wrong, and your more the kind of pony who is good at cheering up other ponies, or whatever."
A bit of a silence ruled the air, striking deep daggers into Marble's pained heart, thinking she had gone to far.
"Um, yeah. I mean, of course! What am I thinking? I'll do anything for my sisters!"
Marble let out a groan as she heard Pinkie bounce up and down through the hallway to her room, eventually culminating in a rapid-fire knock.
"Marble? Can I come in?"
Marble sniffled a bit. "Yeah. Go ahead."
The creak of the door made Marble want to hide under her blanket, as if she was in trouble, but she stuck through it, meeting her eyes with a very distraught looking Pinkie. This only made her tears well up more. Pushing herself out of bed, she jumped onto Pinkie Pie, giving a firm hug that she held for a long minute.
Strained, Pinkie pleaded, "Mar-ble. I. Can. Barely. BREATH."
"Oh!" Marble released her stone grip, probably built up over the years of smashing, well, stones.
"Pinkie?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I don't expect for you to accept it, but truly, I'm sorry." Marble tried to open her mouth once more, only to be cut off by Pinkie's hoof.
"Sit. It's easier to talk that way."
Following orders, the two sat down on the stone bed.
"Wow. I do NOT envy you. These beds are FIRM."
"Hehe, yeah, they are." Marble looked out her window, away from Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie. How did you ever find such a nice stallion as Cheese Sandwich?"
Pinkie smirked, pulling her sister into a hug of her own, "Hmmmmm. Weeeellll, I guess it was just happenstance! At first, I saw him as a rival! As if everypony would stop wanting me now that Cheese was there, doing my job! Buuut, eventually, I saw he wasn't such a bad guy when I realized he just tries to make everypony happy, like me! And that makes me happy!" Pinkie released Marble from her grasp. "Huh. You know, we only really ever started to be romantically involved after I went and helped him at his gag factory. One thing led to another, and eventually, we got married! Second best day ever, for sure."
"You two are very happy together." Marble mused.
"Oh yeah! Me and him, like two confetti cannons in a parade, two streamers at a birthday party, two balls in a s-" Pinkie abruptly cut herself off, growing a wide smile and raising an eyebrow towards her sister. "Wait a minute... Marble!"
Marble jumped a bit at the tone shift. "Y-yeah!?"
"Do you have a crush!? Whoisitwhoisitwhoisit!?"
This time, Marble put up her hoof to her sisters muzzle. "Had a crush." Marble sighed. "It was Big Mac. You know, that strong, handsome stallion..."
"But Big Mac's married to Sugar Bell... so that means..."
"Yeah." Marble started to well up again. "I wasn't good enough."
Pinkie Pie gently caressed her sister, reassuring her by saying "Marble, you were good enough. Heck, your good enough now! Big Mac just chose somepony else, that's all, no need to beat yourself up about it."
"But I loved him!" Marble screamed in pain, holding her sisters arm.
"Oh Marble, I'm sorry!"
Pinkie joined Marble in crying, not understanding her relationship woes, but in knowing her sister was in pain. They cried all night, their father having to leave their stone soup by the door. As they attempted in vain to eat, Marble elaborated on her sadness.
"You know, I never knew I needed somepony else in my life until I met him! I just wanted to be happy!"
"I know!"
"And then how he would say 'Eeyup!'!"
"Why!?"
The two weeping sisters cried themselves to sleep, forcing Cheese Sandwich and the newborn Lil' Cheese to sleep alone in Pinkies old room. Though neither of them got much sleep. As it turns out, solid stone beds with rock pillows are not very comfortable. Who knew?
---
The next morning...
---
Pinkie let out a great big yawn as she hopped out of bed, the sun peaking over the horizon having woken her up. Marble was gone, probably having already started work for the day.
"Pinkie."
"Ah!"
Maud had ninja'd to the door in the split second Pinkie had been looking out the window, scaring her with her uncanny ability to say just about everything in a deadpan voice.
"Thank you for helping Marble."
Pinkie Pie smiled, "Well of course I helped her, but I'm not done!"
Pinkie took the silence from Maud as a plea to go on, despite nothing about her demeanor or expression changing in the slightest.
"I have and idea! What if we found the perfect stallion for Marble?!"
As stoic as ever, Maud just blinked. "Pinkie, I don't think-" But before Maud could complete her sentence, Pinkie had already ran out the door, looking for one of the Pie family's most important documents.
Pinkie checked the house, under a few decorative rocks, and around the stone slab that made up their table until she found it:
The Rock Farmers Dating Guide - Mare Edition, the flavour text adding 'Not Everypony Likes Rocks!'. The guide had been written by one of Pinkie's ancestors from one of Fillydelphia's many rock farms. If anything could help, it would be this.
Pinkie hoofed the massive book (Which was, interestingly enough, half made of stone) onto the dinner table, turning
to the 42nd chapter. It read
Heartbroken: Learning to Love (Again)
If you have found that the previous chapters weren't enough to find your true love, look no further than this page. In this chapter, we will work through the hardships of love, as well as the ways to remedy such unfortunate circumstances as rejection, the rock farmer way...
Pinkie read the chapter all the way through 13 times, taking notes and memorizing every word. By the time lunch was to occur, Pinkie was ready.
She was going to find her sisters soulmate.
---
Just outside...
---
Marble felt a lot better after her conversation with Pinkie, now she could just focus on her work, and that was fine with her. The sun was just a bit brighter today, as if Celestia herself was smiling down on them. The pain wasn't completely gone, but it didn't hurt as much, and that was enough for her. She once again heard the squeaking noise, and barely had enough time to prepare for the tackle her sister was about to perform, but instead, she just felt a gentle nudge.
"Hey Marble!"
"Uh, hey Pinkie."
"You wanna come to Ponyville with me?"
"Not really... why?"
'It's a surprise!"
"I don't really have a choice, do I?"
"Nope!"
"Who's gonna do my job?"
"Gummy!"
"But isn't he just a crocodile?"
"Yeah, you silly filly! But He can do your job if he really tries!"
Pinkie pulled the reptile from her mane, but the only response he gave was a resounding lick of his eyeball.
"Seeeee!? He has been practicing!"
Marble let out a sigh, capitulating to her sisters demands. "Alright. I'll go..."
"Weeee!!!"
Pinkie and Marble made their way to Ponyville. This time of year was fairly temperate, and Pinkie was doing circles around Marble telling
her all about how the Winter Wrap-Up had been going, and how they should be done by now, so it was perfect timing!
---
An hour later, around 7PM...
---
"We're here!"
The two sisters stood outside Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie holding out her hooves as if presenting the sweet-looking building. Marble was unimpressed.
"Pinkie, you could have told me about a halfway birthday party."
Though her sisters semi-permanent smile just got wider. "No, you silly filly! Thats next month!" She turned around, motioning for Marble to follow. Pinkie presented a sheet covering a tall object, the lights dimming in the pastry shop. Pinkie's voice took on a mysterious reverb effect, calling out to a crowd that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, scaring Marble a bit.
"Come one, come all! For today, we have a VERY Important Pony! Give it up foooooor..." The crowd started clopping the ground as Pinkie pulled the sheet from the object, revealed to be a sign. Reading along, Pinkie said with the crowd "Marble Pie's Speed Dating Bonanza!"
Marble's ear receded to the back of her head, falling on her haunches. It was at that moment Marble recognized that the overwhelming majority of the participants in the 'Bonanza' were male, with a few mares sprinkled about the crowd.
"P-p-pinkie wh-why?" Marble stuttered as her sister bounced on over in her usual way.
"Weeell, you and me were all down-in-the-dumps about Big Mac, so I wanted to get you somepony else to think of!"
Marble knew her sister well enough to know that she wasn't really thinking this through, and just rolled with it. But there was something
nagging her mind.
"But how? We've been walking together the whole way!"
Pinkie stopped her bouncing, "Timeline splicing!"
"What?!" Instead of an answer, Pinkie just grabbed Marble, and before she knew it, Marble had found herself seated at a small table, across from a yellow-ish stallion with a cowcolt hat on. Pinkie then slammed a timer on the table, yelling: "30 SECONDS, GO!"
"Howdy, names Braeburn, nice ta meet ya Marble." he said, with a dip of his hat.
Marble locked up, not being able to respond, Pinkie nudging her a few times to coax a reaction out of her.
"Hi, nice to meet you-"
"TIMES UP. NEXT!"
"Shucks. Well, have yourself a fine day, Marble."
"You too..."
Pinkie waved her hoof at Marble, getting her attention. "Line 10! It may be hard to accept love back into your life, but just stay headstrong! Your bound to strike lovin' gold eventually!"
The next pony to take the hotseat wasn't even a pony at all, it was a Minotaur!
"BEGIN!"
"Iron Will extends his appreciation to you, Ms. Marble, for allowing a loveless despot as himself to possibly find what he has been looking for his whole life: a partner!"
"Oh, your really big!" Marble observed, blushing a bit.
"Iron Will knows this!" he said with a flex.
Iron Will's tendency to speak in the third person was gnawing at Marble. "Why do you talk like that?"
Iron Will flexed again, this time giving a small wink to Marble. "It is very simple, Iron Will-"
"TIMES UP! NEXT!" Pinkie fiddled with the timer, resetting it once again to 30 seconds, holding it until the next person arrived
"Iron Will says goodbye!"
"Bye..."
Pinkie turned to her sister, "Line 43! Don't let stigmas hold you down! Who knows? Your soulmate might be a bison!"
Marble rolled her eyes and giggled a bit. "Maybe."
The next in line for the hoof of Marble was equally as big as the hunk that was Iron Will, but this time happend to be more pony-shaped, if you could call bulging veins and oversized muscles like his pony-shaped. Marble thought she knew who this pony was, opening up and asking him a question first.
"Your... Bulk Biceps, right?"
"YEEEAH!" The volume in which the massive pony spoke scared Marble a bit.
"S-so... you like to...work out?" Marble spoke with a stutter
Bulk Bicep's neck lunged out as he flexed, reminiscent of Iron Will. "YEEEAH!"
"Do you like rocks?"
Bulk Bicep's demeanor mellowed out. Lowering his voice to more acceptable levels, he said "Well, I never really thought of it, but rocks are HEAVY. WEIGHTS are heavy! So YEEEAH!!!"
"TIMES UP!!!"
Bulk exchanged polities as the previous suitors had before, cycling out for another one. As the night went on, the 'dates' became less and less interesting. It was all really boring, if Marble was being honest with herself, because none of the many bachelors or bachelorettes were really clicking with her. There was this one slate grey mare with a brown mane who she kinda liked, but not enough for a full-on relationship or anything like that. Pinkie's now-unforgettable chant of the words of the Guide rung in her memory.
"Line 54! You might see a few ponies who might tickle your fancy, but don't settle for anything less than what your heart tells you!"
Near the end, when all the suitors had left, and only Pinkie and Marble remained, Marble sank in her chair,looking at Pinkie
with sullen eyes.
"Maybe I'm just meant to be alone, Pinkie..."
"Oh, don't say that, Marble! There are plenty of people out there for you!"
A creak of the door let in some moonlight and a cool night breeze, a short, yet thin, white and grey colored stallion lurching through the opening. He looked over to the sisters sitting at the table, and around the empty sweets shop, his eyes widening at the realization that he was very late.
"Oh, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude, ma'am. I'll just be on my way..."
Marble didn't rightly know why, but she felt obligated to stop him. "Wait! Please, come sit down. Tonights kinda been... unsuccessful." She
scratched the back of her neck
"Um, alrighty then." The stallion took the small walk to the table and sat down, staring at the siblings nervously.
"START!"
Marble started off this conversation. "So, what's your name?"
"It's uh... Stone Cold." The stallion fell back, apparently not prepared for the simple question. "Y-your Marble, right?"
"Yeah..." Marble blushed a bit. She found Stone Cold to be oddly attractive. "... What do you do? I work on a rock farm outside Ponyville."
The stallions eyes lit up, ignoring the awkward air that had culminated. "You work on a rock farm? That's awesome! I'm a stonemason!"
"Really!? What are you working on right now?" Marble squeaked excitedly.
Stone Cold smiled widely at the opportunity to talk about his latest creation, Marble not even noticing how her sister had neglected to cut
them off at the thirty second mark. Pinkie quietly excused herself from the table, leaving the two to their devices. As Pinkie trotted up
to her bedroom, she smiled a bit more, whispering,
"Line 67: It may take ages, heck, I would be worried if it was immediat, but you will find somepony for you. Even as the wee hours of twilight threaten to take your consciousness away, at your most desperate time and leaving you on the edge giving up, they're they'll be. Lady Love works in mysterious ways, a menagerie of complicated checks and balances that can leave the average pony as confused as ever, but if you stick through, holding your head high, she will reward you."
FIN