When the sun rose the next morning, it was greeted by a very foggy Gravepit. Last night, the cold air from the mountains had descended, covering the small mining village in a thick layer of mist. It was one of those days that remembered ponies all across Equestria that winter may be over, but the cold was certainly going to stay for a while, to appear when it was most unexpected.
The upper room of the rock farm was still shrouded on darkness. A small moan signaled that some pony was awake. From under the heavy covers of a bed, a disheveled straight mane poked out. The pony rubbed her eyes and got off the bed with the elegancy of a manticore in a glassware store. Despite being so peppy, Pinkie was not a morning pony. In fact, she needed something very specific every morning to get that energy.
The mare dragged herself downstairs and into the kitchen. Then she opened a single eye and scanned the room for the fuel she needed so desperately. There, in one of the cupboards on the left, was the bag of coffee. With a huge effort, she grabbed the bag and poured three spoons of that dark powder. After a moment of hesitation, she added a fourth one. Today was going to be a long day, and she needed full power. She managed to light the fire and put a kettle on it. After a few minutes, she poured the hot water on the coffee.
‘There’s something I am forgetting…’ mused Pinkie in silence, stirring the coffee. Her brain was screaming something, but she was too sleepy to understand it. After a few second, it finally hit her. She opened both eyes and looked downwards. ‘That’s right. I forgot the cup. Again.’
***
One hour later, the rest of the family had already had a full breakfast. It was probably the most boring meal of the day. Since she was a filly, Pinkie remembered just having simple, plain oatmeal for breakfast. Cloudy usually stayed up until very late at night, because she didn’t worked in the mines and thus did not have to get up early. That only left Igneous, but the brown stallion never cared too much for cooking and preferred to spend that time in mining instead.
With the passage of the years, the three sisters had gotten so used to eat oatmeal for breakfast that they refused to have them in any other moment. Suggesting the opposite was complete craziness.
“I have some business in the town.” stated Igneous after finishing his oatmeal. “I will be back in the afternoon.”
The old stallion got up and stretched his legs, letting out a small groan. Pinkie suddenly wondered her father still worked on the mines. Back when they were fillies, they helped him in the galleries, usually pulling carts while he mined with his heavy steel pickaxe. Despite not being as valuable as natural gems, the ones grown in the rock farm were still valuable enough to let them life without any problem. However, Pinkie was not sure if they still exploited the underground.
When the front door closed, Pinkie turned to her mother, but apparently Limestome was wondering the same thing, and asked first. “Mother? Does father still work on the mines?”
“No, dear.” replied the gray mare as she placed her dishes in the sink for Pinkie to wash. “Your father retired some years ago. We live now from the savings.”
“Hum…” Limestone seemed to ponder something for a moment. “How big are those savings? If you need money, I could give you some.” she offered. “My paycheck is more than enough to cover my needs.”
Cloudy let out a small chuckle. “There is no need. We had quite a sum of money saved, enough to life comfortably.” she paused for a moment, and her smile went slightly broader. “Besides, we did sell the mining rights of the bloom. There is now another family living on the other side of the valley.”
“Oh-oh! There are new ponies on the valley?” cheered Pinkie, hopping in place and splashing washing water everywhere. “How many? Are they nice?”
“Pinkie, be careful.” asked Cloudy Quartz, her voice hardening just for a second. “I think they were four ponies. I am afraid I don’t know them personally. They moved a few months ago, and I didn’t have the time to go there.” She tossed a dry washcloth to her daughter. “There, clean that mess.”
Pinkie quickly obeyed. “Limestone, the three of us should go meet them some day!”
Her sister shrugged. “I don’t see why not. By the way, where is Octavia?”
“She’s in the town.” replied Cloudy Quartz. “She wanted to sleep in one of the inns there.”
“Huh.” Limestone frowned a bit at that. “That’s odd. When will she come back?”
“Oh, I am sure she will be here any second now.” assure Pinkie, crossing her forelegs and leaning on the table. “Aaaaany second now.”
There was a knock on the door. “Whoah.” Pinkie blinked slowly “Am I a psyker?”
***
Three ponies marched to the northern side of the valley. The first two were carrying two saddlebags, while the last pulled a cart with three sets of pickaxes and magical lanterns. Each lantern contained a magically-charged quartz crystal that emitted light when a knob was turned. It was an absolute need for non-unicorn ponies that needed to go underground.
“Whose idea was this again?” asked Octavia. She had pulled her long mane into a braid, to avoid it from getting stuck while she worked. “I didn’t mind mining when I was a foal, but I don’t see much point on doing it just for fun.”
“It’s not the same, Octavia.” replied Limestone with a small frown. She was the one pulling the cart, and who had suggested going back to the old mines. “Don’t say you don’t miss the old galleries?”
“I don’t think I do, Limestone.” said Octavia, letting out a sigh. “Mining is a hard and tiring work, and I don’t think anything good can come out of this.”
“I am excited! Maybe we could dig some gems!” chimed Pinkie Pie. “Just think about it: How big will have gotten the ones we burrowed the last time we were there?”
Octavia blinked and then smiled. “Alright, you got me there.” she admitted.
“That was my idea in the first place.” grumbled Limestone. That was half true. While the overgrown gems had passed her mind, she actually wanted to mine just for the sake of it. Octavia was right; it was a very tiring work, but the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment after a hard day of exhausting exercise was very worth it.
After some minutes of walking, they reached the entrance to the underground galleries. Limestone grabbed the pickaxes and lanterns from the cart and distributed them. The saddlebags they had had a special pocket for the pickaxe and a hook for the lantern, allowing them to walk oh all four while having light to see.
“Hey, what is that?” Pinkie Pie was pointing to a small wooden house, almost hidden behind a rock formation.
“Mother mentioned another family living in the valley, remember?” replied Limestome. “That must be their house.”
“Ooooh…can we visit them?” asked Pinkie with a hopeful smile. “They may be nice!”
“Maybe later.” responded the other sister, turning around and descending into the caves. Pinkie quickly trotted after her sister. Octavia remained outside for a few seconds, and then hurried after the other two.
“Wait! Why didn’t I know about that?”
***
The galleries of the mines were narrow, barely enough to allow two ponies to walk side-by-side, but were unusually tall, enough for a pony to stand on its back legs. The caverns connected by those galleries were even taller and much wider. While steam and magic-powered drills had existed for many years, Igneous was a very traditional pony when it came to mining. No explosives, no magic and no steam, just old and reliable raw muscle power. It made the extraction of the gems much slower, but assured that they wouldn’t be damaged by excessive force.
Limestone turned the knob on the side of the lantern, and the magically charged crystal light up with a bluish glow. She held it up and studied the three galleries that opened in front of her. If her memories were correct, the one on the center was the one she was looking for.
“So, are you going to tell me who were those?” came Octavia’s words from behind Pinkie. Limestone ignored her and walked to the gallery.
“Mom said they sold the mines to another family of ponies.” explained Pinkie, following her sister. “Mom and dad are living from the savings now.”
Octavia nodded. “Good. I was worried father could still be working on the mines. He’s too old for that already.”
“Father is stubborn enough to work for forty more hears.” added Limestone with a chuckle. “And mother would probably not argue.” That caused a laugh on the other two sisters.
“Talking about father.” said Octavia. “I have noticed he has softened a bit.”
Limestone shook her head. “I doubt it. He’s just happy to see us, after so long. In a few days, he will be back to his old self.”
“Yeah, dad has always been a grumpy-pants.” added Pinkie Pie. “I think the first time I actually saw him smiling was the day I got my CutieMark.”
Octavia let out a sigh. “I wish you were mistaken, but I am afraid you’re not. He barely played with us at all. It was mostly mother and Agatha the ones we spend more time with.”
“He has been a good father, though.” added Limestone, looking back and smiling to her sisters, who nodded. “I wonder how he spends his time now.”
The exit of the gallery was close. The tunnel opened into a small natural cavern. From the ceiling hanged dozens of multi-hued stalactites, creating a sigh that seemed to be taken from a fairytale. The air was cool and had a musty smell that anypony else may found annoying, but for the three sisters was familiar. Limestone took a few steps forward and took a deep breath. She had missed that underground smell much more than her two sisters.
“I do remember this cave!” chirped Pinkie Pie, taking a good look at the cavern.
“In that case,” Limestone turned around and extracted her pickaxe. “do you remember where you buried the gems? Because that’s what we’re doing today.”
“This may be difficult.” Octavia scanned the walls and floor. She did remember the place as well, but the memories were blurred and the places were obscured. Recalling the exact points where she had buried the gems so long time ago would be…absolutely impossible. “But I am up for it.”
Pinkie grabbed her magic lantern and pickaxe and hopped away. Limestone trotted in a different direction. “I trust you know your way, sisters. I wouldn’t want to lose you here.” she called out.
After a moment of hesitation, Octavia lighted her lantern and held it high, trying to remember. As no memories came, she shrugged and took a random path. Luck would decide if she was successful or not.
Time seemed to slip. The dark gray mare wasn’t sure how much time she had been underground. The only sounds were the drops of water falling from the ceiling and the hits of the pickaxes of her sisters, the latter barely an echo now. On those moments when her sisters stopped mining, the silence was almost deafening. More than once, she found herself holding her breath for some reason. Did being underground cause her anxiety? Perhaps. Or maybe it was just the absolute silence.
Her skills were rusty, too. In all the time she’s been there, she had barely found two gems. One was a big magenta ruby, that unfortunately had a huge crack on the middle. The other was not a gem per se, but the cubic crystal of pyrite was nice enough to be worth collecting. The two of them were now on her saddlebags.
Octavia studied the walls, searching for any spot on the stone. They were rare and very easy to miss, and the lack of practice certainly didn’t help. Maybe behind that stalagmite? She trotted forward and ducked. Yes! She had found another. She grinned and grabbed her pickaxe.
She was so focused in her task that she didn’t noticed the pony creeping closer from behind until she felt a hoof poke her shoulder.
Octavia let out a massive shriek and turned around, suddenly face-to-face with Pinkie Pie.
“Gee, thanks!” whined the pink pony. “I wanted to talk to you in private.”
Octavia stared her sister for a second, not sure if she should feel more angry or surprised. She opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Limestone. “Octavia?” she called out from another gallery. “Octavia, are you okay?”
Pinkie grimaced and shook her head. “I am not here.” she mouthed.
“I am fine!” Octavia shouted back. “Sorry!”
The two mares sat down in silence for a few seconds, until they were certain that Limestone was not coming. Octavia was the first to break the silence. “What is up with you and your stealth attacks?” she hissed, annoyed. Her heart was still racing in her chest.
“I am sorry.” Pinkie wore a sheepish smile. “I just didn’t think I would scare you so badly.”
Octavia let out a sigh and facehooved. “Next time try not to give me a heart attack.” she took some deep breaths. “What do you want?”
“I want to talk to you.”
“What is so important that Limestone can’t hear about?” Octavia asked, raising an eyebrow.
Pinkie grinned. “It’s about yesterday.”
The gray pony went stiff like a plank. “W-what do you m-mean?” she stammered.
Pinkie’s smile widened. “You’re hiding something.”
Octavia huffed. “I am not hiding anything.” She tossed her mane and looked away, closing her eyes and trying to look displeased.
Her sister giggled and leaned forward. “Say…who is him?” she whispered on her ear.
Octavia’s eyes shot open and her heart skipped a beat. She slowly turned around to face her sister, who seemed to be making a huge effort to holding back the laugh. “Er…t-there is not him.” she assured.
Pinkie waved a hoof. “Pff, yeah. And I am Princess Celestia. You are dating a stallion.” she added, poking her chest with a hoof.
“I am not!” she countered as she blushed.
“Do you-”
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake on my eye.” recited Octavia, making the proper gestures. “I am not dating any stallion.” Of course, there was a hole in the promise. It was perfect! Pinkie wouldn’t suspect a thing, and with a little bit of luck, she would leave her alone.
Her sister stared at for several seconds. Enough to make Octavia feel uncomfortable and wonder if she had somehow seen what she was trying to do. “Okay!” she eventually said as she got up to pick up her saddlebags. “You Pinkie Promised, so it must be true.”
Octavia let out a sigh of relief and grabbed her bags. When Pinkie put hers on her back, the stones inside clattered. ‘Wait, how many gems does she have?’ Octavia wondered. She shook her head and followed her sister. It was time to go home.
“However.” Pinkie spoke up, looking back at her with a mischievous smile. “I think you’re not actually telling me the truth.”
Octavia gulped. “But I Pinkie Promised!”
“You did.” Pinkie conceded. “But one of my friends said she would explain why she had disappeared while we had breakfast. And she simply left before that. It’s not that hard to do, saying something true while hiding the rest of the reality.” she pointed a hoof at her sister. “I’ll be watching you, Octavia.”