A kreening wail rattled the earth, pebbles shaking as it reverberated through the grey landscape.
"Guh, FINE!" Limestone tossed off her harness, stalking over to the pile of crystals with a dark grumble. "Fine, I was in the middle of moving rocks to the south field, which is a critical part of our work, but sure, whatever, I guess feeding time is now huh?" She took a number of the pink gems and started crushing them into powder. "Whiney fire lizard brat, can't you just let me work for thirty minutes... SPRUCE! DAISY! Get your lazy flanks out here!"
"Oh for..." An orange-coated pony stepped out of the homestead. "We were in the middle of preparing Ametrine's scale soap, Limestone!"
"Can it wait for three hours?"
"Well, yes, but--"
"Then you have that long to get all the rocks to the south field." Limestone pointed at the cart she had just detached herself from. "There's your startup, get that to Dad and he'll tell you what to do next. Don't come back until the job is done, got it? DAISY IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR TAIL OUT HERE TO HELP YOUR BROTHER I SWEAR I WILL MAKE IT A HEARTH'S WARMING ORNAMENT!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" A pink mare galloped out of the house. "Honestly, I know you're a farmer and all, but I thought that there were some basic workplace regulations in place!"
"There are. Harnesses are fully within legal code. I should know, I made them myself." Limestone pointed at the cart. "Now get those over to the south field while I feed Ametrine. You're both ponies born of rock and soil, act like it."
"We're ponies born of tree and vine!" the mare protested. "The rock and soil ponies live in the CRYSTAL EMPIRE!"
"No, those are ponies born of frost and light," Limestone countered. "Real earth ponies have the strength of the mountain and the will of the caves, and don't laze about making soap when there's rocks to be moved!"
"Unicorns never have these kinds of arguments," grumbled the stallion as he harnessed himself.
The pink mare rolled her eyes. "Timber..."
"What? You know it's true!"
"Trust me on this, you go to some scholarly meet with an eastern unicorn, and you'll find them bickering over the details arcana with an equestrian-raised one." The mare hooked herself up to the cart. "At least it's not as crazy as the fights the Pegasi clans get into. Cirrus, stratus, cumulonimbus, they're all clouds anyway!"
Limestone rolled her eyes as the two of them started to trot away, coating her forelegs with crushed crystals. "Honestly, how are those two even experts on dragon care? Why are they even here?" She held out one leg expectantly, giving a resigned wince at the familiar feeling of suction as it was pulled into the dragon's mouth. "It's not like they're doing anything special--I mean, making the soap, answering questions, we could have done the first on our own and the second with a manual. All you do is eat and sleep--you don't even need a diaper, that's just weird you know?"
The dragon slurped on her leg idly.
"I mean, sure, what you plop out is great for growing rocks. But... I don't know, that's weird, isn't it?" Limestone looked toward the south field with a sigh. "I don't know. This is a lot to just... drop on me at once. I mean I can't really blame you, but I wasn't prepared for this. And now I sound like one of those mares you hear about in the news all the time..." She snorted, pulling out one leg and holding out the other. "I just wanted a nice, organized life. I mean, sure, Pinkie's weird, but at least she knows when to rein it in."
A light croon came from the great scaly beast currently engulfing her limb.
"...how does this even make sense?" Limestone grumbled. "I mean, where are you getting the suction instinct from? You're a dragon, chomp and swallow, what is this thing even... I mean do you drink lava normally?"
There was no reply save the continued suction of crystals off her leg.
"I guess this isn't too bad," the mare continued. "I mean sure, you're interrupting my usual schedule. But it's kind of like Pinkie. Her interruptions make sense. At least to me, maybe not the rest of Equestria. And I guess this isn't the first time I've helped to raise a child... well, maybe the first time I've really been responsible... you don't understand a word I'm saying."
"Glrmblprph?" Ametrine opinionated wisely.
Limestone sighed, coating up her forelegs in more crystal shards and staring at the horizon.
"...You know, Holder's Boulder was... my pride and joy," she muttered. "I mean it was the family's pride and joy, but it was there for generations. I thought I'd be showing my great grandchildren that rock, explaining its history and its power. And... now it's gone. Nightmare Moon returned, and Discord burst from stone, and the Crystal Empire returned, and then... Tirek, I guess. But the boulder remained. Even if Equestria had been destroyed, the boulder would have remained. Even if my family had all died, the boulder would have remained. Of the same substance as the mountains and the earth, only slowly battered by age."
Her eyes drifted to the creature sucking on her leg. "And then you. And I can't even really blame you, because you're a baby and this was decided long before the family even took that boulder. If anything, stealing an egg from a nest, we were the ones in the wrong. But... why should a decision made generations before I was even conceived affect my life now?"
"Lrrngmmhpring."
Limestone pulled her leg free, staring at the distant mountains. "Adventures are supposed to happen to ponies that get shaken up. That have to get out of the normal life they have for some reason--even if it's just as stupid a reason as being bored and wandering around. Adventures aren't supposed to happen to ponies living their lives on a rock farm."
The dragon looked at her with curious, uncomprehending eyes.
"...You'd better not make a mess of things," she grumbled. "Any more than you already have."