//------------------------------// // Beneath // Story: A Second Chance // by nimaru //------------------------------// Crystal stomped angrily through the streets with Snow trailing behind. I don’t know what Glacial Drift is trying to imply, she fumed. I’m just protecting Snow from getting her heart broken by those vain and selfish colts! She grumbled as she walked, so engrossed in her thoughts that it took several moments before she became aware that she was walking alone. Stopping suddenly, she looked behind her, then turned and glanced around, trying to see where Snow had gone. She finally spotted her a few lengths away, sitting in the middle of the street with… Luau. *SIGH* Crystal furrowed her brow and reluctantly started towards them. Due to her various quirks, dealing with Luau could be challenging, especially if one was in a bad mood. And by the look of things, today would be no different. Though she’d never seen it first-hoof, she had heard the stories. Luau almost never slept, and when she did, it was without warning; sometimes mid-step. Because of this, there were rumors of her being found floating down the river, hanging from construction scaffolding, or, as in this case, standing in the middle of a bustling city street. While most ponies had learned to leave her be, it certainly wasn’t unusual for a first-timer like Snow to be concerned. Except that wasn’t concern on her face, it was confusion. And as Crystal neared, the reason became clear: Luau was standing on Snow’s tail; leaning so heavily that Snow couldn’t have moved even if she wanted to. It was Crystal Quarry’s turn to be confused. It was said that Luau only moved in her sleep if she was in harm’s way… or if somepony else was. But glancing around, Crystal saw no dangers. The streets were calm, the skies were clear, and the ground was stable… there appeared to be nothing that would have set off Luau’s protective instincts. She laid her ears back. It was bad enough that she had to deal with Luau today, but to have to do so for no reason at all? “Luau, let Snow go,” she said tersely as she reached the two ponies. Mid-snore, Luau came back to life, opened her bright blue eyes, and smiled, “Hello Crystal Quarry. Good morning!” “It’s afternoon,” Crystal replied impatiently. “Yes, yes, of course,” Luau said dismissively. “Well, I have a lot to do so I’ll be off!” That’s it? Crystal thought, shocked. Interactions with Luau are never this easy. Luau flipped her hair into place before walking briskly towards them. Crystal eyed her warily, relaxing only when Luau started to pass her by. But the instant she was within earshot, Luau imperceptibly leaned in and whispered two words: “Look beneath!” Crystal whipped around, but Luau didn’t stop or look back. In a few breaths, she’d disappeared down a side alley and was gone. Beneath what? Crystal wondered. She turned to Snow who was watching the alley with a mixture of confusion and amusement. There was no doubt in her mind that the warning referred to the white pony, but what could it mean? Crystal had spent quite a bit of time with Snow; enough to be sure she was precisely what she appeared to be. But maybe that’s not ALL she is? Crystal wondered. For the rest of the walk home, having completely forgotten her frustrations from the park, she pondered those two words. ******************* Inspiration is a fickle thing. It’s a recipe of concentration, timing, luck, and a good deal many other factors. Under the best of circumstances, any commissioned artist will still struggle with fatigue and frustration as they do everything they can to create work that’s both personally satisfying and acceptable to the customer. But on this, her most important and daunting task to date, Crystal was constantly assaulted by interruptions and distractions. Just like so many other days since her houseguest arrived, applying her talent was a constant struggle. She stared at the lumpy stone; concentrating until she could just begin to make out the shape of what was inside… Look beneath! the words rang out again. She threw her tools angrily on the bench, turned on her hooves, and headed towards the garden fountain where Snow was bathing. Not that Crystal had any idea what to do or say... all she knew is that Luau’s warning would not be ignored and Snow was somehow the key to making it stop. As she stepped outside and took in the scene, Crystal snorted with frustration. Despite the difficulties and challenges Crystal had faced throughout the day, Snow looked as peaceful and innocent as always. She rested blissfully in the cool fountain water; her whole body submerged except for her head which rested on the edge of the basin. The water, full to the brim, was flowing lazily past her fuzzy snout and splattered to the ground where it disappeared down the overflow drain. Crystal scowled in confusion. Why is it doing that? she wondered. The bathing pony noticed her approach and smiled, but Crystal stepped past her to the other side. There, in the over-flow channel she’d cut into the wall, she found a strange clump blocking the water’s normal path. “What’s this?” she asked, magically pulling the object out and pulling it close enough to examine. Cleared of obstruction, water ran and tumbled down the channel. “Whoop!” Snow exclaimed, hopping splashily out of the bath. Crystal nearly dropped the… thing… in surprise, but Snow caught it with her magic and lifted it back up. “I made it,” she said. “To stop the water.” She passed it over to Crystal who reached out to hold it in her hooves. It was heavy like a rock, but covered on all sides by tightly woven grass. Crystal turned it over and over, trying to understand what she was seeing. It wasn’t art, but it was elegant in its functional simplicity. Snow made this!? Crystal stared at her and blinked slowly, baffled. Then she set the “water plug” down on the basin’s edge and snorted. “Why would you do that? It’s supposed to flow. That’s how the garden gets watered!” “Well sure,” Snow said disarmingly. “Displaced water fills the channel and flows into the beds; anypony could see that. But you only planned on one pony bathing in here. If I didn’t block it, the gardens would get twice the amount and the plants would drown.” Drown? Crystal thought back to the time that Rose Petal had walked through the garden complaining about “overwatering the plants”. But that was ridiculous… everypony knew that plants died if they were too dry so naturally: “the wetter the better”… or so she’d thought. “And when it rains, the beds get rain water AND fountain water which is just way too much,” Snow continued. “See? Don’t they look healthy now?” Snow made a sweeping arc with her hoof indicating the whole garden and all the plants in it. Crystal looked them over with confusion. Snow’s talent surely wasn’t gardening… but she had to admit, the plants were much thicker and greener than before. “Not that your design wasn’t great!” Snow quickly added. “I just love how you cut the spouts for each bed so they’d get water based on the size of the plot!” She noticed that!? Crystal thought, whipping her head around; her eyes wide. Standing before her was a white pony; blank from head to hoof except for her clear blue eyes. She still had an ever-present little smile and looked as innocent and sweet as the day they met. It was definitely the same pony she knew, but somehow she’d missed something important. Look beneath! What was there to see? She’d been living with a pony who didn’t have the sense to stay out of the rain. A pony who played like a little filly for hours in the park. Who had to be taught everything ranging from simple magic to using an outhouse! And yet, she not only recognized the function of Crystal’s channel design, she improved it. She helped a young pony earn his cutie mark. She sang in a way that made the whole world stand still to listen. Though Crystal had been blaming her for being a distraction and a bother, hadn’t Snow dedicated nearly every waking hour to supporting her work? She cleaned, she cooked, she tended the garden… all so Crystal didn’t have to. But that wasn’t all. Crystal had never thought to keep the windows clean for better light. And drawing outlines of each tool on the desk so they could be quickly and easily organized at the end of the day; that was Snow’s idea. And now that she thought about it, all the ponies in the square were reacting to her differently. She wondered… could Snow’s socializing be creating a bridge between her and the other craft-ponies? Hadn’t just about everything become better now that Snow was with her? Why did it take so long to see this!? Snow suddenly tilted her head as if to say, “why are you staring at me?” Crystal coughed and averted her gaze. She felt strange… unstable. There was an odd pressure in her chest and throat and she felt an uncontrollable urge to blink repeatedly… but then Snow opened her snout wide in a large, long yawn. “Oh, sorry!” she apologized. Taking the opportunity to regain her composure, Crystal glanced to the sky quickly darkening sky. It was still pretty early for them, but Snow had run herself ragged in the park and Crystal felt pretty ragged herself… if for entirely different reasons. “Why don’t we turn in early?” she said, careful to avoid looking directly at Snow. “It’s been a long day.” “Okay,” Snow agreed with another little yawn. Crystal grabbed the water plug and placed it firmly back in the channel. “Uh… Thanks” she started. “… for that,” she awkwardly finished as she walked past the white pony towards the shop. Though she couldn’t see her, and it was probably just her imagination, she could have sworn she felt Snow beaming… and was that… singing she heard? She shook her head. “Why don’t you dry off and I’ll meet you upstairs,” she said while floating a drying cloth back to the white pony she knew was just behind her. “Okay!” Snow chirped happily. The response was as normal as could be, but still filled Crystal with conflicting emotions. She shook her head again and walked quickly up both flights of stairs, not slowing until she was safely in the bedroom. Finally out of sight, Crystal sighed in relief. The sounds of cleaning coming from downstairs told her she’d have a minute or two of peace before having to face Snow again. Crystal turned solemnly to her pile of blankets and fluffed them as she pondered. Had Luau really known something or was it just a coincidence? Either way, Snow was much more than Crystal had given her credit for. She wasn’t just a pretty featherhead; she was smart, dedicated, hardworking, patient, and… She opened her eyes in mild surprise. Without realizing it, Crystal had walked to the bed mattress and started fluffing it as well. It had been so long since she’d slept here, she’d almost forgotten that it was hers. As she stared at the bed, bemused by her mistake, the words whispered in her mind one more time: Look beneath. “Ha!” She said as, feeling suddenly whimsical, she lifted up the mattress to literally “look beneath”… and then she saw it. Oh no! NO! Snow! Why!? ************ The mattress trembled in her magic’s grasp as she clasped her hoof to her mouth. There, in plain view, tear stains ran down the mattress. In places, the stains ran deep enough that Crystal could practically see a silhouette of the pony who’d made them. “There’s so many!” Crystal squeaked. In her line of work, it wasn’t too uncommon to take a stray stone to the gut. But as painful as that could be, this felt much worse. She couldn’t breathe and her heart skipped beats. Her legs shook so badly that she had to sit down. How did I miss this? How!? The realization that Snow had been crying nightly and then flipping the mattress every day to hide it made her magic falter. The mattress plopped back into place bare moments before Snow walked in. “You’re still up?” she asked. Crystal was startled, but grateful her back was to the hall. “Moonrise,” she choked out; hoping Snow didn’t notice the crack in her voice. “Hmmm,” Snow replied; clearly considering. “I think I’m going to go ahead and lay down. But I’d love to watch it with you sometime.” Crystal nodded, not trusting herself to speak again. She fumbled with the doorknob a bit before walking out to the balcony. She threw her hooves over the rail and looked off to the skyline in case Snow changed her mind. But thankfully, the white pony never came. Crystal spent the next minutes focused on breathing and getting her heart rate under control. By the time she felt a little like herself again, the moon had already climbed above the distant mountains. She turned and walked slowly into the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. Snow, having heard her come in, half-opened one sleepy eye. Seeing Crystal, she smiled before resting her snout again and letting out a satisfied sigh. Crystal winced. In the bright moonlight, she saw how Snow had been carefully laying her hooves to keep the stains hidden. With a heavy lump in her throat, Crystal set herself down in her blanket pile and tried to sleep in vain. ***************** Crystal didn’t know how late it was when she heard a noise that roused her from her fitful rest. She perked up her ears, Twisting them slightly to and fro as she listened closely. *Whimper* She snapped her head up and looked to where Snow was sleeping. Though she’d curled in and buried her face into the mattress to muffle the noise, Crystal knew. Feeling a little like she was floating, almost as if it were a dream, she walked to the bedside and looked at the balled-up pony who had been suffering every night in silence, all alone. Snow twitched with a tiny cry and Crystal twitched in kind. How did I miss it!? Crystal berated herself again. At her hooves lay a pony who was… what? A friend? Surely that. And if she were honest, Snow was her only real friend; her best friend. And that friend was suffering. She knew what she had to do. She magically pulled her blanket pile over and used them to extend the mattress. Then, gently, she lay next to the white pony; so close that they were connected from flank to shoulder. Snow stiffened slightly at the touch, but didn’t wake. Crystal could feel her trembling. Crystal extended her neck and nuzzled Snow’s forehead with her snout. “It’s ok, Snow,” she said softly. “I’m here.” Snow whimpered again and buried her face in the crook between Crystal’s foreleg and the mattress. Then her whole body shuddered once before relaxing. Snow let out a stuttered sigh and relaxed; her eyes still moist, but now with the barest of a smile on her sleepy face. Relieved that she’d calmed down, Crystal allowed herself to relax. She set her head down on the mattress’s edge so she could watch Snow. Snow’s face twisted briefly as if she were in pain, but then she sleepily rubbed her snout on Crystal’s side, and her expression returned to normal. Crystal stared at her with deeply furrowed brows; wracked with guilt. Why didn’t I notice? Snow looked peaceful, but Crystal didn’t feel any better. She agonized over every night of tears she hadn’t been there to stop. Why didn’t I see? Snow giggled lightly in her sleep; the noise like daggers in Crystal’s heart. Why didn’t I protect you? Unable to hold it back any longer, she turned her head away from the white pony, buried her snout in the mattress and then, deep into the night, added some stains of her own.