//------------------------------// // First Encounter // Story: Who is our big sister? // by Nesfex //------------------------------// The Pies continued their travel. It took them much more time than expected leaving the city of Fillydelphia, but there wasn't a single drop of regret on them. The sweet music they heard last night will be on the heard for years to come. Marble humble the songs, while Limestone kept the rhythm on her hooves "Do you think she'll still be famous?" Asked Marble "I think we haven't heard the last of Sapphire Shores" answer Limestone. They trotted happily on the road feeling positive then when they arrived there. Next city on the map was Baltimare. The distance marked was very small. An hour if they kept trotting. But that wasn't something that bothered them now. The trip wasn't what they expected, it was better. They remembered Babs Seed and joining the Cutie Mark Crusaders "Even though we accepted without really wanting, we should try something to get a cutie mark later" suggested Marble "Yeah! Or we can visit that filly some time in Manehattan" Answered Limestone. Her sister hesitated when she heard that and said "Yeah... Maybe". Before they knew it, they arrived to Baltimare. A beautiful city right by the sea. Buildings of every kind, a beautiful beach with white sand, and a port for ships to arrived. Tons and tons of hotels, and ponies passing by. The last two cities were much bigger, but this one was more interesting. Street ponies playing tropical music by the street, others dancing, or playing around. Certainly this was a great place to visit, if it wasn't because they had duties to attend. While walking by the streets the sisters were amazed to see what the city had to offer. Before moving on, Limestone went to the her cart, she took a hat she made herself (A simple white hat with a few gemstone devouring the right side of it) to protect herself from the sun, and receipt of the delivery order, and said "Here says that a pony called Lucky Clovers ordered the igneous rocks... Mmh... Looks like his house it's right on the beach" "Then we should move fast, these ponies are going more wild by the minute" said Marble. They trotted faster to move the ponies away, and for them not to get stuck on the crowd. But suddenly they bumped into someone, luckily the could stop before they hit it "Hey watch it, you teo! Don't you see I'm walking over here?!" Yelled the creature. The sisters just stood there, staring at it. They have never seen anything like it before "And what are you looking at?! Huh?!" It yelled again. Then, Marble was the one who spoke first "Excuse me... Miss... I don't want to offend you, but... What are you!" The creature was surprised by the question "what?! Well, what can I expect from a pony? I'm a griffon, part eagle, part lion, and all awesome! Name's Gilda, got it memorized?" After hearing about her the ponies quickly smiled and jumped onto her. The gaze upon her wings, her feathers, her claws, and all of her. Gilda didn't like it at all and pushed them away "What is it with you ponies?!" Limestone took the lead this time "I'm sorry Miss Gilda, it's just that we have never seen a griffon before. And you are so amazing" Gilda blused a little, and tried to look cool, like if she wasn't interested on what they say. Then, the ponies showered her with tons of questions "how fast do you fly? How tall can you go? How much can you fly without getting tired? Do you eat hay? What are other griffons like?" But as much as she like to talk about herself, she was more curious on the things they got on their cart. Gilda moved to the carts and noticed many bags "So... Traveling ponies I see. What are you doing here anyways?" She asked. Marble, being excited, answered fast "We are rock farmers and we are delivering some rocks here. We are Limestone Pie and Marble Pie, miss" Gilda was shoked after hearing their names, she was grunting and her breath became heavy "Did you say Pie?... Do you know Pinkie Pie?" The sisters jumped even more excited "Yes, she is our big sister. Do you know her?" Gilda’s eyes were suddenly full of anger. She was furious, and the didn’t know what they have done “I should’ve known you annoying ponies were related to her! Stay away from me!” She turned her back and got ready to fly “Wait!” Said Marble “Please, what happened? What did she do to you?” Before taking off Gilda hoover in the air, she only turned her head and gave a fierce look to the ponies “She took my best friend away from me” and she left. The ponies didn’t understand what she said Taking a friend away from her? That’s not what our sister’d do The thought. The encounter with their first griffon was not a positive one. But it she might have been confused, or she was just trying to push on their buttons. They moved on and pretended nothing happened. They follow the address noted on the receipt to a neighborhood on the beach. Even though the houses were all in the sand, they were completely clean. Because of the sand it was harder to pull the carts for the Pies. But then, they noticed there weren’t any kind of sign diving the houses, not even numbers, so they couldn’t tell what house was the one they had to deliver the rocks to. They passed by a house, the only house with a sign on the front of it “Jet Set & Upper Crust” it said. And just when they read it, two ponies came out of it. They were very eccentric unicorns, with expressionless face and fancy clothing. Limestone approach them to ask for directions “Excuse me, can you help me?” The fancy ponies came looked uninterested at the two ponies in front of them. They didn’t say anything, but at least the acknowledge the ponies were there. Limestone, being a little nervous, asked “Hi… We are looking for a pony called Lucky Clever… Do you know where does he live?” The mare stuck her nose in the air, while the stallion answered very apathetic “Three houses to the right” Then, the mare noticed Marble hat, it was very simple, but the decoration on the side was pretty and very well done “I say. Where did you get that hat?” “Oh, I made it myself. You like it?” Said Limestone “It’s very simple, but you do have a talent. What is your name?” “Limestone Pie, miss. I’m glad you like it” The ponies were shocked to hear her name “Limestone Pie… Like in Pinkie Pie?” They asked. Again knew her sister, maybe this time their reaction would be different from Gilda’s. Limestone said yes, and she was wrong. But instead of being furious, they were disgusted “I should have known, something so uncouth could only come from a Pie” They said. The sisters were starting to get tired of this, and now they felt insulted. Marble was the one who faced them “Why?! What did our sister do to you?!”. The fancy ponies kept their apathetic face and the stallion answered “Well, she and her friend just happened to ruin the last Grand Galloping Gala. She made a mess on the dance room and cause a chain of events who almost destroy the whole place. Just because she wanted her FUN” After that, and without anything the Pies could say, the fancy ponies went on their way. They couldn’t believe it, but it was some truth on what they said. Pinkie could be very wild when it comes to parties, she broke a wall of the barn when she was a kid because she kept bouncing all over the place. Limestone and Marble looked at each other feeling sad “Could it be that what they said it’s true Limestone asked” Marble looked very sad, she looked down, and she was lost on thoughts. But was able to say something “We have a job to do. Let’s get this over with” They went to the house of Lucky Clovers, thanks of the directions the fancy pony gave them. Once again, Limestone was the one who knocked the door and a gray stallion with black mane came from the house “Hello. We are from the Pie Rock Farm. We have a delivery for Mr. Lucky Clovers” she said, not very enthusiastic. The stallion looking a little bit angry complained “It’s about time you arrive. We couldn’t start the decoration of the backyard without the rocks” Limestone said nothing, she just bowed her head in apology. Then, she went to her sister’s cart to pick the rocks. But she notice the huge bag was gone “Marble, where are the rocks?!” “What?! I -I - I don’t know, they were here. I didn’t touch them” she went to the back to see it for herself. There was only the bag of flat rocks that they had to deliver in Ponyville, but the other one with the igneous rock was missing. Then they remembered Gilda looking at their carts and didn’t turning her back after mentioning Pinkie “Gilda!” they both said at the same time “She stole the rocks from us” Said Marble “What?!” Lucky Clover was listening carefully to them “You lost the rocks?! How couldn’t you do that?!... I’m sorry but without them, not to mention you were late, I can’t pay you. I’m gonna have to change of rocks provider” Suddenly a yellow pegasus with brown mane and a wheel on fire as a cutie mark came from the house. She said “Did I hear that right?... You traveled all the way to her and lost the rocks?! You took two days to come here and tell me that you don’t have NOT A SINGLE ROCK?! AND WE CAN’T EVEN START IMPROVING THE HOUSE WITHOUT THEM?! AAAAAAAH!” She screamed and fire came out of her eyes “Oh no! Run! I’ll hold her!” Yelled Lucky Clevers while holding the pony. The Pies took their carts and run faster than they knew they could. After running 3 miles straight, they arrived to a small park, one of the few quiet places in the city. The sat on a bench, they were exhausted, sad, and not knowing what to do. The quietness of the park helped them to catch their breath and get some of their ideas organized. Limestone looked the sky and sighted, then she said “Well, I guess we are not getting that money. We should get going” she expected her sister to agree and just hit the road, but instead her sister looked very angry “No” Marble said “We are not going yet. We need to get the rocks. Even if that guy won’t pay us, we can’t just let her take away our work” “But we don’t even know where…” “I saw a police station when we entered the city. Let’s start there. Let’s go!” without even taking into account what her sister had to say. Marble took her cart and marched forward to the police station. Limestone was intimidated, she have been seeing her sister act in ways she had never seen before, and she was afraid it would go worst. She took her cart and follower her sister. They arrived to the police station. Just one pony was there, she was answering the phones and ordered other ponies on a microphone. Phones rang and rang, faster than she could ever answer. The sister approached her and Marble said “Excuse me, we’d like to report a robbery” The police pony took a moment on the phone answering and said “I’m sorry, darling. If you haven’t notice it’s spring break and ponies go wild. We can help you, but you’ll have to wait an hour or two… maybe more until another police comes” “What? But by then Gilda will be miles away… if she isn’t now” Limestone told her sister. Before the police pony answered another phone. She turned to see the ponies again “Did you say Gilda? A griffon?” The sisters were starting to get used to ponies know the ponies they encountered, and said yes “We’ve been having many reports of a griffon stealing and many other crimes. According to some members of the police they say that they have seen her heading to the Rock Point. With this amount of work we can’t do much… But if you manage to get her here, considering the amount evidence we have, we could put her in jail. But that is if you could. Sadly, we can’t ask civilians to do anything like that” She turned her chair and got back to answer the phones “Can we leave our carts here for a moment?” asked Marble “Leave them on the room over there. No one goes there” The police tossed them a key, they opened the room and left the carts. They took a map of the city that was on the police pony desk and went to the place marked as “Rock Point”. They arrived to a place where the sand ends, and the beach start to get more rock. Even the water showed some spiky rocks, it was obvious ponies don’t go there frequently. Marble took a deep breath and moved forward, only to be stopped by Limestone “Wait, are you sure about this?” Marble was very confident of herself, not a single drop of doubt was on that face “Yes, we are taking our stuff back… And we are getting some answers” Feeling her sister confidence, Limestone let her go, and accompany her. They weren’t sure what they will encounter, but they were going to face anything.