//------------------------------//
// 10. Respite 
// Story: The Rock Farmer's Daughters 
// by Sketcha-Holic 
//------------------------------//

The Pies had waited a while before Pinkamena kicked the front door open and walked in, carrying Cheese on her back. Their attention had snapped from Cloudy's bandaged foreleg and Marble and Limestone's various cuts to the pink Pie sister. They were all silent and stone-faced as she bent down and slid him onto the rug before announcing, "He lives."

Cloudy leaned from her spot on the couch and asked, "Did he break a leg?"

"No, he collapsed when we were halfway back."

Cheese shot her a glare. "I told you I was tired."

Igneous wrinkled his muzzle. "From what? Running from the Diamond Dog chasing you? I'm surprised he didn't catch you."

"Exactly what I was thinking," Cloudy said. "Getting Hank to chase you like that was a fool thing to do. You could have been killed."

Cheese sighed and rubbed his temples. "Don't you think I know that? It's a good thing he was an idiot."

"How'd you get rid of him, anyway?" Marble asked.

"Oh? I tricked him into running into a boulder and then he floated down that river in the forest. The way he just drifted downstream was actually kind of amusing."

The Pies gave him the exact same incredulous look that Pinkamena had given him when he told her that, just as he expected. The only one who didn't was Maud, who held her usual inexpressive look. Cheese couldn't help but wonder if the oldest Pie sister could even feel anything. The way he saw it, all she ever did was blink whenever he said something.

After a few minutes that seemed like hours, Cheese asked, "Can I take a bath?"





That night, after taking extra precautions to prevent a repeat of what had happened the night before, everypony decided it was best for those involved in the fight to retire early. It was plain to see how tired they were from driving the Diamond Dogs away. They had their baths—especially Cheese, who had been covered in dirt and smelled like dog slobber. They were to pull extra weight in the coming days to fix the damage to the fields, especially to patch the large, gaping holes in the middle of the fields.

Igneous, however, was still a little wary about the whole thing, and he sat outside that night to keep watch. Even though those dogs had not much in the way of brains, they still managed to come up with a plan to get him and two of his daughters off the rock farm. He figured that they meant for all to leave, but he did leave his wife, two other daughters, and the hired hoof to watch the farm for a reason.

However, even with the combined strength of the three girls and whatever the stallion had that was useful, Cloudy did get hurt. Marble and Limestone took a big risk in going to the lair to retrieve the stolen rocks. Cheese burned himself out in leading the biggest one away. All turned out well, but each of those scenes could have turned out differently.

Things were hard enough when he and Cloudy lost their mothers, especially for their fillies. Igneous didn't know just how he'd handle it if he lost his wife or any of his daughters. Would he become harder, as he did when his mother died, or would it be different?

The hired hoof was another matter. Cheese had only been with them for a couple of weeks. For Igneous, at most there would be guilt for letting somepony he employed get killed. He didn't know his daughters' views on the lean stallion, and frankly, he didn't care unless there was some sort of attraction between him and at least one of them. How'd they react to his death would depend.

It would be right to inform Cheese's family should he die, but there was a problem: Who were they? Where is he from? Did he even have a family?

Igneous had not been interested in his background—other than his former jobs. But considering the close call he had, and his shy demeanor compared to other drifters, it was a bit of a curiosity. Realizing where his mind was taking him, Igneous rubbed his chin and snorted. It wasn't his place to pry into his employee's life.

"Are you sure you want to be out here by yourself?"

Igneous turned to the source of the voice, who was none other than his wife. Cloudy Quartz hobbled to his side and sat down next to him. Igneous stared at her for a few moments before turning away and sighing.

"Cloudy, go back to bed."

"Not happening as long as you're out here, you old coot."

"Cloudy, you need your rest. Besides, I can handle any intruders on my own."

Cloudy didn't move from her spot. She looked up at the dark sky and inhaled the cool night air. She didn't dare look down and see the mess of rocks from the battle. Her foreleg stung just thinking about the fall that had cut it.

"Cloudy—"

"No, I'm not going back inside," Cloudy retorted.

"You've been through a lot."

"Considering that Limestone and Marble fought an army of them by themselves, and Cheese nearly ran himself to death, I think I'll be fine. My leg will heal, those three will recharge, and then all of us can go back to business as usual." She stamped her hoof on the ground. "Or are you worried because neither of us are getting any younger?"

Igneous shook his head. "Why did I even marry you?"

Cloudy rolled her eyes. "Well, I couldn't read your mind then, and I can't read it now. You tell me."

Igneous closed his eyes and took a deep breath. There appeared the picture of a younger Cloudy Quartz, who had long, silky, teal hair that stood out nicely with her pale coat. He remembered first seeing her as he moseyed along the streets of Nickerlite with his father, and was struck dumb by the very sight of her. He remembered the warm tingling feeling when she looked at him with radiant blue eyes. He remembered the joy he felt when they had talked and found common ground with rocks.

He remembered their acquaintanceship had become friendship, and their friendship had blossomed into love. He recalled the courtship that had followed, and the things that sprung forth from that. Their first kiss. The warmth they felt around each other. Their engagement, which in turn led to marriage. And then came their daughters.

Igneous sighed contentedly. "I feel really comfortable around you."

Cloudy nodded. "I see. It's good to know you still hold concern for us."

"Yes, I do. I want to say I'm happy, but… I…"

Cloudy put a hoof on his. "I know. There's something missing."

"Our crazy mothers?"

"Well, yes, and whatever it was they had that made us… well, smile. I can't remember the last time I did that, much less you or the girls."

"Yeah…" The event that popped into his mind was when the fillies were taught to laugh at their fears by their Granny Pie. The one who had taken it most to heart was Pinkamena, who had been a strange, giggly, bouncy foal from birth until both of her grandmothers' sudden deaths. After that, she was just sad, up until she developed a grumpy streak in adolescence. Where she had got that from, he had no idea.

He looked at his wife, and said, "Cloudy, please go back to bed."

"Nope. Not happening."





Cheese laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, despite it just looking like a blur to him. His limbs all felt like rubber, and he couldn't suppress the awful joke of him being boneless in those poor legs. After having whispered it aloud and chuckling in self-derision, he felt a little disappointed that he couldn't tell another story to Limestone and Marble. Of course, after their adventure that day, he didn't need to.

Still, he was planning on telling the one with the minotaur.

Oh, well, he thought. Guess it'll wait until tomorrow.

Of course, he was now worried that they wouldn't believe that any of the stories really happened, given the simultaneous raised eyebrows in his direction when he told them what happened to Hank. Whether they believed him or not, all his weird misadventures happened. After all, for some reason, he tended to attract weirdness like a magnet.

He felt like rubbing his eyes, but he didn't feel like moving any of his limbs. No matter about the Pies taking his stories for fiction, especially the Hank thing. He felt a bit of pride in having survived an encounter with that behemoth and outsmarting him. He just wished he had more proof other than his own word. If there had been cracks on the boulder where Hank hit his head, perhaps Pinkamena could have believed him.

"Pinkamena," he whispered. That was a mouthful. If he could, he would just call her "Pinkie." It was as cute as a button, however, and while her face was cute, her general demeanor wasn't. Perhaps if she were to smile, then the little nickname would fit.

But, then again, she might not welcome the nickname "Pinkie." Perhaps "Mena" would be more suitable. Of course, that could bring on the implication that he thought she was mean and was giving her a nickname to reflect that. And he was pretty sure that would not end well.

Why was he even thinking about her name?

Sleeping was what he should be doing. Shutting his eyes, he could feel his body ache with the prospect of fixing up the fields once morning came. As his breathing fell into a slower rhythm and his eyelids unable to open, an image of the pink mare sleeping in the other room arose in his mind.

And she donned the most adorable smile.