//------------------------------// // Crazy Mare Part 1 // Story: The Human is Evil? // by Pesoen //------------------------------// Equestria, 19 years before Luna's banishment. (1019 years ago) "So thou is this 'friendly creature' the citizens are conversing about?" Luna asked, looking straight into my eyes. "I am yes" I replied, bowing slightly, having heard of the royals of this world. "I see thou hast manners, so thou cannot be a wild beast" Luna said, looking me over. "Of course, in the presence of royalty, one should always be modest, and kind" I said, looking up at her, still bowing. "Thou may arise, tis not fair to keep thine head down, whilst i keep mine held up high" Luna said, still looking at me. "Thank you, your highness" I replied, standing up straight. Taking in her features, the features of an alicorn. First time seeing one in the flesh, since i had read about them in the various books that Quick and Rose owned, and since i stayed with them, they told me, what most would in that situation. "What we have, you have, what is ours, is yours" They both said with a smile, first time i asked, if they would mind me lending a book. "Now to the matter at hand" Luna said, snapping me out of my flashback. "Of course your majesty" I replied, as i stopped staring at her, and took a more relaxed stand. "How did thou save mine citizens from the falling rocks?" She asked, as i recalled the entire thing. It was dark down in the mine, but it was work, and people had stopped looking at me like i was a freak, after i had mined faster than Deep Digger, who had the record for mining until i showed up. it was another day of work, with good pay, due to the mines stability issues. it payed double of what the other jobs could, and since i wanted to maintain my muscles, i decided it would be a good way to earn enough, to pay back Quick and Rose, even if they always said, it was not necessary. I still felt a bit guilty not having anything to pay them the first few weeks. It started as any other day, i walked over to the tool rack and picked up the pick with my name on it, and started to mine just as i did the day before, and had been doing for a while now. It was nice being down there, we all helped each other out so the boss would not fire any of us, since we became like a family. If one of us had problems, the rest of us helped as well as we could, and in return, they helped us, if we needed it. "Tunnel 23A needs more digging, there are still more minerals to collect" Deep Digger shouted into the mine, when the boss had a plan, Deep Digger was the one to tell us about it. And if we had concerns, we would voice them to Deep Digger, and he would pass it on to the boss. "Just a second, just gonna mine the last piece here first" I shouted back, no reply, as usual. I kept up the work, slowly, getting all the rocks around the mineral out of the way. Until i heard a loud crack from behind me, i looked back, to see a piece of the roof hanging loose, not an uncommon occurrence but it still worried me. I got the mineral, and began to move back up with it, since carts would have been to expensive for the mine to use at this stage, it was all moved by hand, or hoof. "Wait up, nearly done here, lets head up together" A voice said, i recognized it as Tunnel Maker. He was a strange guy, since he preferred to be in the mines, instead of being on the surface. Which was fine by me, since he did his job well enough for me to not care too much. He made sure the mine was safe to work in, by making all the supports for the wall and ceiling. He was a pegasi, who was not too fond of flying, he liked it the most, when he could see something soft below him, or water in case he forgot to flap his wings. i never could remember what the thing was called, but he had some sort of illness, which made his wings lock up at random, and 'unlock' again, after a few minutes. "Gotcha, so how safe is this tunnel?" i asked, starting up some casual conversation. "Not as safe as 23A, but not as unsafe as 12C either" he replied, making me remember it, rocks kept falling down, no matter what we did to secure the ceiling, so we decided to close it off, until we could make it safe enough to work in. "Good enough for me, damn rocks hurt my head" i said, adding a small laugh at the end, which Tunnel Maker joined in on. "Rocks hurts every head they hit, not only yours" he replied, stopping his laugh. "I'm ready to move out now, how far are you going?" he asked. "Up to the junction, then over to tunnel 23A, you?" "All the way, gotta get more supports for the ceiling, really wish i could just ask someone to get it, but most cannot tell the difference between a 4x2 and a 8x4" he said, smiling at his own joke. "One is larger than the other, should not be too hard if you know sizes by heart" i replied, scratching his head a bit. "You really should get in the massage business, you know that?" he said, as he enjoyed my touch, as did most ponies. "Yeah, but for now, this is what i want to do, maybe later on." i said, stopping my scratching. "HELP!" someone shouted up ahead. "WHAT?" i replied "SOMEPONY IS TRAPPED IN TUNNEL 12C!" the voice continued. "WHO WENT IN THERE?" "NOT SURE, BUT SOMEONE IS TRAPPED!" "ON MY WAY" i shouted back, as i started to run, along with Tunnel Maker. since we did not have any unicorns working in the mine, if people where trapped, the strongest where the first to get called over, to get a hole in the blockade so air could get into the sealed area, since i was one of the stronger around, and for some reason the fastest in the tunnels, i was usually the first one there. "ARE YOU OKAY IN THERE?" i shouted. "I'M OKAY, BUT MY LEG IS STUCK!" a feminine voice replied. "HOW FAR DOWN ARE YOU?" "ABOUT 12 HOOVES DOWN" as hooves where the unit of measurement, i found out its the same as a feet, so it was not too hard to adjust to the new term. "HANG ON, WE ARE ON OUR WAY" i said, as i started to dig through the rocks in my way. "Tunnel, get some more miners over here now, this might take a while" i said to him, as i continued to mine the rock away. "On it!" he replied, and ran off as fast as he could. then i heard a sound, i hoped not to hear. *THUD* "Shit!" i shouted, feeling the force of the rock, now blocking my exit. "WHAT HAPPENED?" the voice from in front of me asked. "ANOTHER ROCK FELL, I'M TRAPPED HERE AS WELL" i replied. "I'M SORRY!" she shouted. "IT'S FINE! HOW MUCH SPACE DO YOU HAVE?" "ABOUT 40 HOOVES TO THE END" 40 hooves meant about 15-20 minutes of air left, i had about 3 minutes in my small space. "LISTEN UP, TRY TO GET THROUGH FROM YOUR SIDE! I ONLY HAVE ABOUT 5 MINUTES OF AIR LEFT" i lied, hoping to get her to help me get more air. "I'LL TRY!" she replied, as i heard her slowly dig her way out to me. To be continued