//------------------------------// // CH3 - A rocky conversation // Story: A rocky affair // by FallenLaughter //------------------------------// The walk to the living room, where Blinkie’s father was waiting for them, proved more difficult than expected. While at first only minor, the pain in Sonar’s hoof grew with each step she took, forcing her to limb most of the way rather than walk. On a few occasions,  the pain even got so bad that she  threatened to fall, and only a quick intervention from Blinkie saved her from doing so. Yet, despite the added help of Blinkie, they made slow progress. Once they had reached their goal, Blinkie waited a moment for Sonar to catch her breath, then she knocked and opened the large wooden door leading inside the living room. They were greeted by a small, spartan room. A large oak table stood in the center of the room, surrounded by two small couches on either side and a large armchair at the head end. A few shelves lined the walls, filled with equal amounts of books, folders and rocks. One of the shelves also held what seemed to be an old family picture. Except for that, the room was completely barren of any decorations. Two ponies, one mare and one stallion, were sitting at the table, one on the couch to its left, the other in the armchair at the head of the table. The first one, the mare sitting on the couch, Sonar identified as Maud, yet she had never met the other one. Considering why she was there though, she figured that he must have been Blinkie’s father. He was an older, light brown stallion with an impressive looking pair of sideburns that ended into an equally impressive looking beard. A black hat rested on his head, it’s wide brim partially hiding his piercing golden colored eyes that seemed to look right through her. He quietly nodded at them as they approached him and gestured for them to sit down. He waited until Blinkie helped Sonar sit onto the free couch, then he turned towards her. “So, you must be Sonar.” he began in a deep gravelly tone that was just as unreadable as his daughters. “My name is Igneous Rock, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” he said with a slight bow. “I would have liked to meet you sooner, but unfortunately I had work to do that couldn’t wait. I still do technically, but my wife was nice enough to take over for a while so we could talk.” He paused and stared at her for a moment, then he shook his head ever so slightly. “I must say though, now that I see you for myself, I must say you aren’t exactly what is was expecting. When Limestone told me that a strange mare had caused an rockslide in the fields, I would have expected you to look a little less …fragile.” At the mention of the rockslide Sonar glanced at Blinkie, yet the mare didn’t return her gaze and instead quickly averted her eyes. Meanwhile Igneous observed her quietly, his eyes wandering over the different scratches and bruises covering her hide until they came to rest on her leg. “I see you haven’t gotten off scotch free either.” he continued, drawing her attention back from Blinkie to him. “How bad is it?” “Oh this?” Sonar asked and casually gestured to her body. “That’s nothing, just a few scratches. See?” Quickly she performed a quick row of movements to prove her point, yet, as she moved her injured hoof, a sudden bolt of pain jolted through her leg, making her gasp in pain. Trying her best to ignore the seething pain, she quickly stopped and looked up at Igneous to see if he had noticed. Unfortunately for her, his face was still the same unreadable mask it always seemed to be, so she couldn’t tell for sure. “I see,” Igneous simply said. He paused for a moment, apparently lost in thought, then his eyes suddenly narrowed and he gave her a slight nod. “Well then. For the time being you can stay in Pinkie’s room. It’s empty at the moment anyway and I already talked to my wife about it. “Once your leg is healed,” he said, causing Sonar to wince at being caught lying, ”we will bring you to the next train station. From there you can go wherever you want. Any questions?” Taken aback by the sudden swell of information it took Sonar a moment to find her voice.   “Umm, just one” she began hesitantly, causing Igneous to stare at her expectantly. ”Umm, with all due respect but this is all a little sudden, don’t you think? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be disrespectful but is there a reason for the hurry?” Once she finished she looked at Igneous, yet to her discomfort he was completely silent and for a moment she wondered if she’d gone too far, but then Igneous suddenly spoke up, causing her to sigh in relief. ”Yes,” he said with a slight nod “there is a reason for it. You see, we are rather busy at the moment. We lately received an very important order from Canterlot which requires all of our time and expertise. Yet, despite that we had to sent Marble to Manehattan, because some oaf screwed up a delivery, leaving us one worker short. Normally something like that wouldn't  have been a problem, and we still would have been able to finish everything without much problem, but thanks to your little accident and the time we lost nursing you back up to health, we are currently on a very tight schedule. We simply don’t have time to spent on you more than we already did.” “I see...” Sonar said once he had finished, yet, from the way she said it, it was clear that there was still something else bothering here. Apparently Igneous noticed it too, since he looked at her with a strange gleam in his eyes. “You still got a question?” he asked, causing Sonar to wince. For a moment she thought about denying it, but as she look into Igneous calculating eyes, she knew that he’d probably able to tell that she was lying. “”It’s just” she began slowly causing Igneous to raise an eyebrow. ”I’m a little confused. If you’re all so busy then why did you even bother helping me?  Would it have been easier to just sent me off to an hospital or something? Wouldn't that have been easier than to keep me here and throw of your schedule?” she asked and looked at Igneous, who to her surprise had a look of respect on his face, though it was gone a moment later, as he once again hid behind his stoned faced mask.   “There are actually a couple of reasons why we decided the way we did.” Igneous said after a moment, causing Sonar to perk up. ”The first one is also the most important one. As you should know, the next city, and therefore the next hospital, is miles away. Quite frankly, it would have cost us more time and money to get you there than to let you stay here. “Apart from that, your injuries were only very minor, nothing that we couldn’t have taken care of ourselves.” Noticing Sonar’s sceptical expression he added, “We are rockfarmers Sonar. We are constantly at danger to be caught in a rockslide, a cave in or worse. Us Pies may be tough but we aren’t invincible. We all are trained in first aid and my wife used to be a nurse before she married me and she passed the knowledge on to our daughters. Trust me if I say, we know what we can handle and what not.” “For the last reason… ”  he began, yet he suddenly paused, his eyes flickering over to Maud. He opened his mouth again, but before he could say anything somepony else suddenly spoke up. “I asked him to let you stay," Maud said as she turned to Sonar. Her voice was still  as emotionless as always, yet there was a hint of determination in it that hadn't been there before. “For why I did it,” she continued before any could react, “I had my reasons." "That doesn't really answer my question though" Sonar said after a moment, a little annoyed. “No, it doesn't," Maud simply answered before looking at her father. “ I'm tired. I'll go to my room." With that she stood up and before anyone could stop her she disappeared through the door. A moment of surprised silence followed her leave, then Igneous shook his head. "I think Maud had a good idea," he sighed and stood up as well. "Maybe we should all go to bed. Blinkie, if you please could escort our guest to her room." At his words Blinkie, who was still looking after her older sister, snapped to attention and she quickly nodded. "Will do, dad" she said and stood up. She sounded a little annoyed at the idea of having to  babysit Sonar, but she knew better than to argue with her parents, so she simply turned around and offered Sonar a hoof. “You coming?" For a moment Sonar considered not to. She wasn’t really happy with how the conversation had ended, but after a moment of thought she decided against it. she knew that she probably wouldn’t get anything more out of the Pies even if she tried anyway and besides, it wasn't like she didn't know how it was when you wanted to keep certain things to yourself. "Fine," she finally said and she took Blinkie’s hoof to let her guide her to her room. ********************* Pinkie's room was definitely different from what Sonar had expected. Whereas the rest of the house was designed in cold efficiency, Pinkie's room was rather messy with all kinds of things stuffed into an abundance of shelves and boxes. Posters lined the wall, all of them with different topics and designs. A single bed stood crammed in one corner of the room, with a couple of plushies covering it. ”Well, this is your room," Blinkie said, and walked over to the bed to make room for her. She stuffed the toys into a nearby box, then she turned back to Sonar. “Any questions?" "No, not really," Sonar said as she climbed onto the bed. She paused, carefully stretching her limbs to test them. “Sheesh, I haven’t been this exhausted since I toured through Fillydelphia." "Yeah that's great.” Blinkie said with a roll of her eyes “Anyway, if you need something..." She began as walked over to the door, but suddenly she paused and slowly turned back to Sonar. “Wait, you've been to Fillydelphia?" she asked in disbelief. "Sure I did.” Sonar grinned mischievously “You know it?” “Are you kidding?" Blinkie said, her eyes lightening up in excitement. "I always wanted to go there, but I never was able to. I don’t really get away from the farm often, Inkie and Maud normally take care of anything. The farthest I’ve ever traveled is ponyville. Is it true that they even got  dragons living there?" "Somewhat," Sonar said smiling. "Yes, there are dragons living there, but they mostly keep to their own area of the city called DragonTown. They only seldom interact with the outside." Once she was done,  Blinkie paused, chewing her lip. "Think you can tell me more?" she asked after a while. "Sure, it would be my pleasure," Sonar smiled. She scooted over to make room, then she patted the place besides her, offering Blinkie to join her. "Well then,” she began once Blinkie was seated, “the first thing you need to know is.  . ."