Rocky Road

by Midnightshadow

The Straight and Narrow

An MLP:FiM shipfic by Midnight Shadow

***

Caramel trotted through the marketplace with his tail and head held high, a bouquet of flowers held in his mouth. He was practically bouncing in his joyful clip-clopping to his ‘appointment’. He was humming tunelessly as he went, many ponies scrambling to move their wares out of the way of his passage.

He wasn’t a bad pony, but a wee bit clumsy. Sometimes a lot bit clumsy, but today none of that could bring him down. He was going on a date! He’d had his mane cut and coiffured, his almost-ever-present pannier sacks were freshly oiled and waxed and he was in tip-top condition.

“Why if it isn’t young Caramel Apple, out for a stroll!” said a familiar voice, Caramel screeched to a halt and blinked, looking around. Sure enough, there was AJ at her apple stall, hawking for all she was worth. He blushed, he’d...hadn’t he arranged to meet..? Oh no...he’d picked the wrong restaurant, the right one was on the other side of town...

“Whassa matter? Cat got yer tongue? If’n it does, tis prolly Rarity’s cat. I swear, that Opal...”

“Ah, er, hi AJ, ni-nice to see you here!”

AJ blinked, “ooohhhh, I get it!” She click-clicked her teeth and winked, “you’ve up’n got yerself a filly! Hoo-wee I was all gettin’ hot’n’bothered ‘bout you’n’all. Who’s the lucky lady? Fine bunch o’flowers you got there. Mighty purty, mighty tasty. Don’t you eat none!”

Caramel’s ears flicked back in embarassment, “I, er, my date...”

“Caramel?” Said another voice, and AJ watched as a grey earth pony filly trotted up gracefully to Caramel, giving him a quick nuzzle on the cheek, “you made it!”

That’s a mighty deep voice for a... AJ stopped, the apple she was idly polishing falling to the ground and rolling under the table. She quickly followed it, ducking out of sight, our Caramel...with a...does he know? Oh Luna...how do I tell him he...wait...no, he can’t be that dumb can he? But?

AJ stood up, apple in her lips held carefully, she smiled awkwardly, “Caramel!” she said shortly, brightly, “This is?”

Caramel blushed, and looked like he was about to bolt, breathing heavily. He dropped the flowers in panic, looking left and right, “AJ, I, er, this is...I can...explain.”

“Caramel,” said Rocky, “it’s okay, sshhh, it’s ok. Breath, breath you silly pony.”

Rocky turned to AJ, “yes, hi, I’m Rocky...Rocky Road,” he’d decided upon the minor deception a while ago, but hadn’t had much chance to use it, “I’ve been in town a while but we haven’t really met. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”

AJ was flustered, “li-likewise ‘m sure...ni-nice to meetcha.”

“Thank you. We’ll be going now. On our date. Together.” Rocky looked back over his shoulder with every sentence as he alternated between that and attempting to get the petrified Caramel moving. The silly pony was almost hyperventilating, eyes wide. Rocky bent to pick up the flowers and nodded goodbye once again.

AJ blinked, her heavy hat fell off and spilled a whole bucket of apples, but it took several seconds for her to even notice, “Caramel...and Rocky. Rocky’s a sta- a ge-gelding. And Caramel’s a Colt Clopper. OH MY STARS CARAMEL’S A COLT CLOPPER...BBIIIGGGG MAAACCCCC!!”

***

“I’m dead, I’m doomed. She’s gonna kill me. She’ll get Big Mac, he’ll kill me twice. What have I done?”

Rocky sighed, his ears went back. They were sat outside in the sun but it still felt chilly. He looked at the poor fool stallion, and his heart melted again, “Car’mel,” he said around the dandelion leaves from the delicious bouquet, “you didn’t think you could get away with never telling anypony?”

Caramel’s ears went back too, he shook his head, then nodded.

Rocky smiled despite the situation, “what, you were going to keep me as your secret, clandestine lover? Whom you only met in broad daylight for dates in the park and at busy restaurants?”

Caramel nodded, blushing, that adorable silly expression on his face. Rocky sighed, “oh Caramel, what are we going to do, eh? If AJ’s your friend, If Big Mac is your friend - he’s the big red one, right? - Then they’ll understand. A wise pony once said, ‘thems that mind don’t matter, and thems that matters don’t mind’.”

“But...but...I didn’t want it to come out like this!”

“I’m sorry, Caramel, that was my fault,” Rocky turned to the flowers again, they were the first such gift he’d ever received, they were perfect. It broke his heart to even think what he was going to say next, but he said it, “Caramel...if you want...we can go our separate ways. You-you can say it was a trick, a joke.”

Caramel’s head snapped up, and he slammed a hoof on the table, almost sending it flying, “No! No! Don’t you dare! I-I-I won’t let you. I’ll find you. I found y-you before and I’d find you again. I...I want this. With you. Us.”

“Really?” asked Rocky, ears rising eagerly.

“Really.” said Caramel, and he leaned forwards, across the table, his firm stallion lips meeting Rocky’s softer more feminine cheek, their hooves entwined, and they kissed, tenderly...and ended up on the floor, the table-top slipping over and sending the bouquet flying along with the two lovers. They lay there on the floor for a moment, and then both started laughing as they picked up the pieces.

There was a clatter of hooves, “Car’mel! You git on up here and speak with me’n Big Mac this second, y’hear?” came a stern voice. Applejack was glaring down at them, coat lathered from running and cowpony hat cocked at an angle. Big Mac wasn’t far behind her, huffing up a storm and pawing the ground.

“I’ll handle this,” said Caramel, steeling himself. The thought that he could lose Rocky spurring him onwards. He rougishly gave Rocky another peck on the cheek before clambering to his hooves, “I’m listenin’ AJ. Mornin’ Big Mac.”

“What’s all this ah hear ‘bout you canoodlin’ with some Colt Clopper?” said Big Mac to Caramel, angrily.

“He aint no Colt Clopper, Big Mac, an’ I thank yew fer not using them words around me nor him.” said Caramel, lapsing into a thick accent in his anger.

Big Mac blinked, the Caramel he knew was a nervous, clumsy little foal of a stallion. Obviously this Colt Cloppin’ ne’er’do’well had enchanted him with his wily ways, “now you listen here Son, I’ll have none of this. T’ain’t the way things is done ‘round here, y’see, and...”

“Wait, wait...” Caramel tilted his head, looking up and down his forelegs, before checking out his flank. He spun in place first left, then right, “no, no, no...not there...huh...”

“Car’mel,” said AJ, “just what in tarnation are you doin’?”

“Well, way I see it, I’m lookin’ for the brand on my body that says ‘this here pony belongs to Sweet Apple Acres’, but cross me if’n I can’t find it. Can you help look, AJ, cos you ‘n’ Big Mac seem so sure it’s there.” He glared at them, tail flicking angrily.

Big Mac pawed the ground, “don’t you give me none of that lip, Caramel, you might not be my boy nor our ma’n pa’s boy but I reckon I can still give you a whoopin’.”

At that, Rocky sprung up, standing between AJ, Big Mac and Caramel, “you will NOT touch him. I will NOT let you do that. He’s smaller than you, weaker. Hell, I’m smaller and weaker, and you think you can just make him do what you want, give him a beating, split...split his lip and break his teeth?” Rocky shook his head, tears springing to his eyes, “I’ll never let you do that, I’ll die first. He’s...he’s my stallion, he ain’t your punching-bag!”

“Y’all his mare, I reckon!” spat AJ.

He turned to her and glared, “isn’t that obvious?” he hissed, turning his backside and all but cocking his leg to show beneath his haunches, “you don’t get this done if you aint...and I’ll tell you what else ain’t, this ain’t none of your business, or are you going to give me a beat-down in the middle of the street?”

Big Mac stopped pawing the ground and he looked around, there was quite a crowd now, and he shook himself, memories of a time not so long ago, could this really be..?

“You get away from him and come home with us, you-” tried AJ.

“AJ,” said Big Mac softly, then again louder, “AJ, this ain’t right. The boy’s a full-grown stallion. He can make his own mind up, I reckon, even if his own mind says he’s a Colt Clopper.”

“But Big Mac...t’ain’t...”

“AJ, don’t you t’ain’t me none, ya hear? You might run the farm, but you’re still my li’l sister. Hop along there, home. You leave this to me.”

Big Mac watched her go, stamping his hooves and pointing when she tried to stop, before turning back to Rocky, “Mister, I dun rightly agree none with you’n our Caramel bein’ like this, but I swear you this on my gran-mama’s hooves, that if you make our Caramel cry, you’ll wish you’d never been foaled.”

Rocky snorted, “Big Mac is it? I’ve seen you around. I don’t know why you don’t like me, I’ve hardly even met you before, but Caramel here asked me out. I tried my hardest to shake him off, and he wouldn’t leave. Didn’t you see him this morning, if you’re so close?”

Big Mac thought for a moment, and did have to agree that Caramel had had a little something extra in his step the last few weeks, and said as much.

“Aye, that something was me. And I don’t know where we’re going in life, but I do know this, you can’t wrap him up in cotton wall and keep him in the closet.” Rocky looked hard and long at Caramel, then gave him a kiss on the nose. Turning back to Big Mac he said, “I wasn’t the one making him upset this morning, that was all down to you and your sister Applejack, to think he thought he couldn’t count on you to stand up for him. He can count on that, can’t he?”

Big Mac looked from the older gelding to the younger stallion and back again, then he nodded, “I think the boy’s made his mind up. Eeeeyup.”

With that, Big Mac turned around and clopped off.

Caramel’s knees buckled and he dropped to the ground in a crouch, “oh Luna what have I done...”

Rocky shook his head after the retreating red stallion, and turned to Caramel, “taken your first few steps, the way I see it. Now, how about that dinner? After that magnificent bouquet, I think it’s my treat.”

***

It was another fine day, Rocky stepped downstairs in his treehouse coffee-shop carefully and opened the door. He sniffed. Somebody had left him a present again. He sighed, and went to fetch the bucket and mop.

Ever since that day a few weeks ago with the big blowup about Caramel, he’d been getting trouble. First it had been little things, like too much food ordered, or cutlery going missing. then it had moved to rotten vegetables dumped over his terrace. It almost made him want to break down and cry, but every morning he would clean the tiles and sweep the floors, set out his tables and chairs and the customers would come. He even had regulars, and Mister and Misses Cake snuck him a few extra pieces of pie like they did for Bright Eyes, their delivery-mare. He guessed they figured he needed it. It warmed his heart, simple gestures meant a lot.

He figured the negative attention would soon stop, but that day would only get worse. The trouble started around midday - two plain looking ponies from out of town stood outside his shop and handed out leaflets, crude printing jobs. They wouldn’t look him in the eye but would harrass every passer by and it was keeping his customers from enjoying their coffee. It carried on the next day, and the next. Finally he plucked up enough courage to confront them. This would have been so much easier...before, he thought to himself, then again, I probably would have done something stupid. Like this.

As he neared them, he recognized their screed. He’d figured they were with one of the few “Celestia’s Path” type groups, but his heart sunk when he realised it was worse than that. They were with Foals First.

He stopped, the wind quite taken out of his sails. It took the arrival of Caramel, and Big Mac, to snap him out of his reverie.

“Read the good words, sir?” asked one of the two, a lime green female pegasus with a compass cutie-mark, trying to hand Caramel a flier.

Caramel took one look at it and purposefully ate it, “when it comes back out, you’ll know what I think of it.” he said, and barged past the startled filly.

“You can turn back now from this path, to the True Path, to Celestia’s Path, she hasn’t forsaken you. She loves you as she loves all of us, she doesn’t want you to waste your life like this, it’s not natural and it is against Her Natural Law.”

Caramel whirled, and it took Rocky’s sudden leap, grabbing onto his tail to stop him from biting the ears off the second pony, a white earth pony with the cutie-mark of a small island with a single tree on it, “you know nothing of Celestia. How many times have you actually spoken to her? Ever?” raged Caramel, almost spitting with fury, the two were almost struck dumb. Almost.

“Celestia speaks to those who can listen.”

“Celestia damned well speaks to those who go to her fucking castle and ask her to.”

“Caramel, Caramel, hon, simmer down. I’ve got this...” Rocky headed inside, and came out again with a book. It was only a paperback copy, and a new edition at that, but the title was quite clear, “The Sayings of Celestia”. Rocky brandished it, “A long time ago, I’d never heard of this book. Read it. Page five-hundred and twenty-two.”

He held it out for them in his mouth, and the pair crowded around to read. He could see their lips moving as they followed the text - to be fair, it was held in his mouth and not the closest they’d been to such small text.

“What is this heresy?” asked the male earth-pony

“It’s not heresy. I spoke to Celestia herself, don’t you read your own texts? Tell me, what does it say on the very, very first page of ‘Celestia’s Path’?”

“Why it says...it says...”

“It says,” said Rocky, closing his eyes, remembering, though it made him sick that he could still recall such poison, “these are the collected sayings of the great and wise Ecumenical Council of four-hundred-seventy-three of the years After Luna, Goddess of the Night, Protector of the Flock, Guardian of the Way...”

“Enough.”

“Don’t you see? What you’re saying, it’s wrong.”

Big Mac finally spoke up, “way’s I see it, the boy’s got a point, and you ain’t. So git.”

Rocky flipped the book shut and placed it on a table, “and you can take number three with you as well.”

“Number three?” asked Big Mac.

“Eeeeyup,” said Rocky, imitating the large red stallion, “They always travel in threes. They think it’s important.”

“How do you know so much about us?” piped up the stallion earth-pony suspiciously.

“Did ah give yew permission t’talk?” said Big Mac angrily, and the stallion shook his head. There was a meaty solid THUNK as Big Mac head-butted the pony, and the stunned creature fell to the floor, “now git! Don’t let me catch yew talkin’ none to me or mah boy Caramel nor his...mare...again, y’hear?”

“Coco!” said the filly, “Coco Butter, you okay? Speak to me!”

“That is indeed though, a good question,” said a third voice from the other side of the square, the missing part of the trio. He was a unicorn, blue-green of pelt with a pyramidal shape as a cutie-mark, “maybe I can answer that question. What do you think, Rock Breaker?”

Rocky’s ears went back and he gave a little gasp, studying the newcomer in detail.

“Rock Breaker?” asked Caramel, looking with a worried expression at the suddenly recalcitrant gelding, “but you said...you said your name was Rocky Road...”

“Not entirely correct, is it, Rocky? Don’t you recognize your old bud Mandelbrot? I almost didn’t recognize you. It took me a while to find you, you made it hard to find you.”

Rocky hung his head, “MB, go home. I’m not with FF any more.”

“That’s...that’s funny, cos the way I see it, you run the show. You’re fucking Rock Breaker, man! You started the chapter! You used to lead the charge, I remember one time, one time you burnt down a library. Bunch of fucking faggots, you called them. And now look at you.”

“Rocky? What’s he saying?” Caramel was shocked, Big Mac could do little but stare down the still-cockeyed stallion earth-pony and the feathered filly.

“I...I told you, Caramel, I’m not a nice pony. I’ve done some bad, bad things in my time. Horrible things.”

“What happened, man? I find you hear, faggoting it up with this nancy-boy - you even got the goddamn crunch. You’re a fucking fag flake, what happened?”

“What did happen?” asked Caramel, “you never told me!”

Rocky started, stammering, “I-I-I...I can’t tell you...because I don’t know. What I do know...I bucked a filly. She was a whore, I was paying her. I bucked her, broke her jaw, smashed her teeth in, and...and it was the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’ll never get to see her again, never get to apologize because I don’t know who she is.”

Rocky turned to the unicorn, “I didn’t ask for this to happen, Mandy, they took my malehood by force, as retribution. I deserved it, and you know what? I’m better off. I like myself being his mare. I’m a fucking half-stallion colt-clopping fake-filly and I FUCKING LIKE IT, do you hear?”

The unicorn sneered, and spat, pawing the ground, “you’re a traitor, Rocky, a dirty, lying, perverted little traitor.”

Caramel leapt in front of Rocky, circling as the unicorn tried to find an opening, “he’s not. He’s the sweetest, the kindest,” Caramel turned to look at Rocky, who looked up from his own private hell at a sweet, foolish pony who had dared to give him a chance, and then at the unicorn, who was already starting to move.

Time seemed to slow - before anyone else could react, before Big Mac had even turned his head to see what was happening, before the expression changed in Caramel’s face as he realized the urgent sudden look on his lover was fierce with purpose, Rocky leapt.

Mandelbrot had sprung into action, his head lowered, rear legs bent, propelling his massive frame through the air where it would have impacted Caramel in the shoulder, bowling him over and hurling him against the hard tiled floor.

Instead, Rocky gasped. There was a thick, wet sound as Mandelbrot’s head impacted with Rocky’s chest and the unicorn fell to the ground, writhing in pain, his horn snapped clean off almost at the base.

Rocky fell back onto his hind legs and blinked, choking for breath, and then time speeded up again.

Caramel was dazed for a second, thrown back as the sudden unexpected weight of Rocky and the stranger unicorn collided with where he was standing. He was almost knocked off his hooves with the suddenly limp form of Rocky, who was making gagging choking noises, legs unable to sustain his bulk. Caramel looked aghast as he realised the unicorn was rolling on the floor, stunned, but without his horn.

“ROCKY!” screamed Caramel, “Oh Celestia, Oh Luna, Oh by the stars...SOMEPONY, PLEASE, HELP!”

With mounting horror, Caramel looked on in shock at the almost pristine unicorn’s horn projecting from deep within Rocky’s front section, definitely piercing his lungs and worryingly close to where his heart should be. Rocky fell to the floor, gasping for breath and bleeding profusely from the chest-wound, spitting blood from his nose and mouth.

Big Mac, ever the pragmatist, slammed his hooves into the unicorn’s head, who twitched once and stopped moving, knocked out, before setting all four hooves back on the floor, taking a deep breath and shouting, “MEDIC!”

Caramel sobbed uncontrollably, crouched down next to the gasping Rocky, trying to alternately pull out and push in the horn, panicking, trying to save his lover. It took a stoic Big Mac to put a hoof over his friend’s hooves and say, quietly, “stop, Caramel...stop. Help is coming.”

“Who can possibly help? It’s...it must have pierced his heart...he can’t breathe, I’m losing him! I don’t want to lose him! I just found him!” Caramel was choking up, tears streaming down his face to blend hotly with the red lifeblood pooling around the helpless gelding.

thump-thump...

Twilight was suddenly at Caramel's side, carrying books and a doublet bag. She looked very nervous. Every line of her face said this is not good, “I’m here! I’m here...I’m not very good...I’ve only read a few treatises on equine anatomy...”

Twilight Sparkle, all-around hard-working, caring, and at this moment nervous and somewhat frantic unicorn had come at her speediest, armed with what books she’d managed to cram into her bags on a moment’s notice.

“Twilight? Can you fix this?” asked Big Mac, pointing with a hoof to the distraught pair.

“Big Mac? Caramel?” she looked up from the gelding like she hadn’t even noticed the worried stallion, “I...I-I-I don’t kn-know...” she almost went from purple to white when the magnitude of the situation became clear, “I know some magic to knit bones and arteries...normally we’d put the subject under and...and we’d have extra blood...and...”

“Help him! He’s dying! Can’t you see he’s bleeding out?”

thump-thump...

“I’ll try...” Twilight thought for a moment, then made her decision, “on three, pull out the horn...one...two...three!”

There was a fresh spurt of blood, but Twilight was ready. She closed her eyes, ignoring the gore, and her horn started to glow. the gaping wound shrivelled and knitted until it was just fresh scar-tissue, still covered in hot blood but no longer bleeding directly, “Oh no...he’s got massive, massive internal hemorrhaging...” her eyes were still closed, the light in her horn sputtered and spat and she worked tiny, difficult magics inside the now-unconscious earth-pony. “it was in his heart...collapsed his lungs...I’ve never done this before! Celestia help me...”

Rocky coughed and convulsed, spitting up bright blood from his lungs.

thump-thump...thump-thump...

“Something’s not working...” barked Twilight, “he’s...it’s like he’s fighting my healing magic.”

“He, uh, he said he can’t remember...something that happened. Could that have somethin’ to do with it?” said Big Mac, hopefully.

“I don’t know...” her attention wavered for a second as she sought the blocks in the pony’s mind. It didn’t take much to remove, and with a swirl of emotion and insight, Rocky found his memory returning...

...It was strangely dark in his memories, but he remembered the room, the bedsheets, the pony. Snowbell, that was her name, he realised, and she had been pretty. They’d rutted, torrid, urgent, but...he hadn’t. He couldn’t. It hadn’t worked. He’d thrown off in defeat, angry, sullen. She’d turned to him, concerned, but his stupid, arrogant bastard self hadn’t been able to take it when she’d asked, “you know, we do have...colts here too?”

He’d flipped, he’d shouted, he’d sworn, and finally, before she or the bouncers could stop him, he’d whirled on her, and planted both heavy feet in her jaw. There’d been a crack, and a cry, and a sound almost like raindrops as her teeth had bounced off the wall and onto the floor.

Then they’d taken him and gelded him, and taken his memory and hidden it away...

...His eyes snapped open, he was gasping for breath, he gripped as best as he could with his hooves onto Caramel, looked him in the eyes, and said, “I’m...sorry,” then his head lolled back, his body going all too limp.

thump-thump...thump-thump...thump...thump...thump.

His laboured, heavy breathing slowed, then stopped.

Caramel, who had been holding his breath, let it out, and whispered, “Rocky? Rocky? ROCKY!!!” and then collapsed on the still, grey-haired and red-stained body, and sobbed, unable to think, feel, move or do anything. He nuzzled and mussed at the mane, hoping to see a stirring, a smile, a groan, anything to remind him of the mornings in the coffee-shop, the afternoons in the park...but there was nothing.

“Caramel,” said Big Mac, softly, “Caramel!” again, a bit louder, “I think it’s time to go.”

***

Twilight packed her things away that night, and wrote by the light of the full moon herself. Spike was sleeping, she’d washed herself off. It had been quite the day, it would certainly take a long time to get back to normal around Ponyville, she mused to herself. It would never be the same for Caramel.

The “Foals First” trio had been incarcerated, shipped off to Celestia, it was her realm, and murder was quite the charge. Murder. Twilight scribbled on the page, this was going to take quite the letter to talk about the magic of friendship. She wasn’t sure she could manage through the tears, but she tried.

Dear Princess Celestia

she began, as she had began so many times before,

today I learnt a great secret about friendship, a great secret which everypony knows, but few know they know, that in the midst of hardship, great bonds can be forged, bonds which last through life, and maybe death. It began, in a way, with the death of one “Rock Breaker” ...

***

“Caramel,” said Big Mac, softly, “Caramel!” again, a bit louder, “I think it’s time to go.”

Caramel refused to budge from the still body of his lover, he just nuzzled and pawed, shaking him, trying to wake him up.

“Big Mac, he...he needs to say goodbye.” said Twilight, “it’s said, by some, that the shadow ponies come to take the...the you inside away, and they carry the last wishes of the living with them, and if there are enough good wishes, that the...pony inside...gets to the Eternal Fields.”

“You don’t believe that rubbish any more than I do,” said Big Mac, snorting.

“No, but I do believe Caramel should get to say goodbye.”

Big Mac watched impassively, as Caramel whispered about the life they’d have. They’d open a shop together, the best shop in all Equestria, ponies would come from miles around for their coffee, it would be famous, they’d be happy, forever...

Big Mac shook his head, he couldn’t let it end like this, “nope...” He placed a single hoof on his friend, and spoke a single word, “Caramel,”

Caramel glanced up at Big Mac with an empty expression.

“Caramel, move away. If you’ve ever done anything for me, do it now. Move!”

Caramel, mystified, got up and moved away from the still and bloody form of Rocky. Big Mac leaned down, until his big red head was right up against Rocky’s ear, and he said four simple words, then he repeated them. He got up and spoke louder more words, “do you hear me, Rocky? Now you FIGHT son, FIGHT.”

Caramel watched for a second, and then lay down next to Rocky, with his head on Rocky’s barrel of a stomach.

“I...I’m sorry it had to be this way Cara-” Big Mac began

“Shh!” Hissed Caramel.

“Bu-”

“SHH! Dammit, shut up!”

Thump-thump... thump-thump...

Like glaciers moving, like the sun moving across the sky, Rocky’s lungs inflated for a long, long painful breath.

“TWILIGHT! BIG MAC! HE’S ALIVE!”

Twilight turned around and blinked, and immediately dropped to her knees to renew her efforts. Rocky’s eyes flickered open, and focused on first Twilight, and then on Rocky, where they stayed. He smiled.

***

Rocky opened his eyes from the hospital bed - well, he called it a hospital bed, it was really his own bed in his treehouse-cafe where he was waited on to an annoying degree by the excruciatingly overprotective Caramel. Not five minutes would pass without Caramel fluffing a pillow or offering him sweets.

“Car, I’ll get fat. I mean, more fat! Stop it!”

“Well today’s the day,” said Rarity as she bustled in to the room, shooing the other ponies out of the way, “today’s the day the bandages come off those haunches, and whilst they were so delicately coloured to match your hue, dear Rocky, you’ll look better without them don’t you think?”

Rarity - usually the one to make dresses and sew designs - had offerered to help stitch and dress the wounds. Fluttershy and the nurse pony were off seeing to a herd of migrating eel-boars, and Rarity had simply leapt at the chance to decorate.

With a flourish of her magic, she cut the bandages, and smiled, “ah, there we go, all gone. Your cutie-mark even survived intact! I never saw it before, how cute! A cookie!”

Rocky blinked, “no, no...it’s a rock. And a hammer.”

“Nope, I’m quite sure. A cookie. Chocolate chip, I believe...”

***

Twilight smiled, wiping away the tears carefully with a hoof before they could smudge the ink,

...We used to believe that a cutie-mark was set for life, as it denoted the skills and the bearing of each pony individually. I still think that to be true, and can come to only one conclusion.

Rock Breaker, whatever he did in the past, is no more. Let the records show he died this day. In his place, a new pony was given a new life - and a new cutie-mark, whether by his own design, my magic, or something else entirely I may never know - and a new name.

I’m very, very glad to announce the engagement of Rocky Roads and Caramel. We’ve set no firm date yet, but rest assured, my dear teacher, you will get an invitation.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.