• Published 6th May 2012
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Einhermare - Cosmonaut



A tale of the Earth Pony, Mjolna, discovering the power within her

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An Average Day

BZZZZT! BZZZZZT! BZZZZZT! BZZZZZT! –CLICK!

The blaring sound of the alarm clock was silenced by a heavy hoof slamming on top of it. The hands read a quarter past seven. Very gently, the Earth pony resting in the bed pulled the covers off her form, stifling a yawn as she climbed out. The floorboards creaked under her weight. Those were something to fix later. Pain shot up her rear leg but she ignored it for the moment and hobbled over to her bathroom.

Her golden eyes winced at the harsh yellow light pouring at her from above the mirror. Those bulbs would have to go. Grabbing a brush she started straightening out her moppy, cream-colored hair, cringing when the teeth pulled at a particularly stubborn knot. Satisfied with her hair, she squeezed a generous amount of blue paste onto her toothbrush. Brushing teeth never felt right for her and she rushed through as fast as she could, little flecks of froth landing by the hammer adorning her flanks. Like the mercury rising in a thermometer, she could feel pain climbing up her leg again. Standing was beginning to hurt. Before it could threaten tears in her eyes, shee spat in her sink, filled half a cup with cool water, and ook two small white capsules. Gulping them down caused the pain to immediately recede to a dull throb.

Mjolna sighed. It was time to start her day.

***

The market was in full swing this Sunday morning. Mjolna made her way through the stands at a nice, leisurely pace –at her doctor’s order–no trotting or prancing for another eight months. Her shopping list was never quite that long. Carrying anything heavy around was also advised against from her doctor. There was no arguing over that. Another keen suggestion from her doctor was to not think about it. It was a difficult request to honor. Even now the pain from her leg was already threatening to return, broiling under the surface of her skin…all she needed was fruits, flour and seed. The day was going to fly by.

“Howdy pard’ner,” said Mjolna, walking up to a rickety stand at the very entrance to the market. The colt snoozing behind the stall bolted upright. His eyes blinked a few times before settling on his first customer. He immediately broke into a wide grin.

“Well howdy there, MJ!” chuckled Hayseed Turniptruck. “If I must say, yer looking pretty durned beautiful this morning!”

“Oh stop it Hayseed. I’m boring,” blushed Mjolna. “I just need to get some seeds for my garden.” Fiddling with the latch on her saddlebags, she pulled out her garden outline. “I have to get…tomato seed, onion, and some red pepper, if you got them.”

“Shucks MJ. It sure is nice to see ya taking an interest in gardening! Don’tcha worry none. I’ve got the best danged seeds this side o’ Ponyville. Lemme just wrassle them out of this here bag.”

Hayseed opened up his drawers and produced three bags. Grabbing three of the dozen glass jars sitting on before him, he scooped a helping of each into a different satchel. Mjolna tossed six bits onto into Hayseeds bit jar, plus a few extra.

“Thanks a bundle there MJ! Good luck with yer gardenin’ now!”

Mjolna trotted off. Parting with some spare bits wasn’t a problem nowadays. Probably never would be either.

Down the ways she spotted her friend Tammy at her stand.As she was about to approach she slowed to a stop upon noticing that Tammy was currently in a heated argument with one of her customers.

“Two bits for tomatoes is outrageous!” said the pink pony at the stall, grabbing a bit and pulling it towards her. “One bit is the right price!”

“I say it’s two bits,” retorted Tammy, pulling the gold bit back.

Her customer narrowed her eyes and grabbed the coin. “One bit.”

Tammy pointed to her sign. “Two bits!”

“One bit,” the pink mare pulled up her own sign.

“Two bits!” repeated Tammy.

“One bit!” a slamming of the hooves sent the bit spinning to her side of the table.

“Two bits!” Tammy slammed her own hooves down.

“One bit!”

“Two bits!”

“One bit!”

“TWO BITS!”

“TWO BITS!”

“ONE BIT!”

“I INSIST IT’S TWO BITS OR NOTHING!” said the pink pony, practically panting at this point.

“ONE BIT AND THAT’S MY FINAL OFFER,” growled Tammy.

The pink pony pulled her head off the table. “Have it your way one bit it is!” She zipped away to join her friends. Tammy bent over to pick up her money and suddenly realized what happened.

Mjolna couldn’t hold it in any longer. She burst into laughter at her flamboozled friend.

“Oh sure, laugh it up. A big ha-ha all around,” snarled Tammy.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I just don’t laugh much anymore and that,” Mjolna grabbed her side. “Oh, that was too funny, Tammy.”

Tammy snorted, then smirked at the big grin on her friend’s face. “Well, I guess it’s kind of silly to be mad over losing one bit over three lousy tomatoes.”

“Hey! I’m here to buy some of those tomatoes. They’d better not be lousy!” joked Mjolna.

“I’ve got three of the ripest tomatoes you’ll ever eat right over here,” the cream-colored mare turned around, ducking behind the curtain of her stall. Standing around she let her eyes drift over the rest of the market. The asparagus stall was fresh out of produce. Lily’s Pots n’ Pans was still open, but not seeing many customers. She lifted her hind leg off the ground while waiting. No sense in putting any extra pressure. The dull pain from earlier was beginning to grow into a stronger ache. She tried not to think about it.

“Here you go MJ! Three of the freshest tomatoes I got on me!” a trio of plump, ripe tomatoes rolled onto the purple cloth. The sun’s light bouncing off the skin seemed to make them glow. Tammy leaned on the counter. “I got to tell you MJ. I only save the best for my best gals. That’ll be two bits alright?”

“Two?” Mjolna balked, placing her money on the table. “Here, take three. I think these tomatoes are worth a bit each.”

“I can’t! C’mon we’re friends. I’m not overcharging you…”

Tammy pushed the extra bit back.

“Ohhh it’s okay…I’ve got more than I’ll ever know what to do with. Consider it a…donation to make up for getting gypped five minutes ago.”

Tammy smiled, putting the bits in her apron pocket. “You are just too good! I can’t believe that you of all ponies had to be the one hurt by that big lug’s moving company. Darn shame. How’s your leg anyway?”

“It’s…getting better. Therapy is slow but steady.” Mjolna forced a smile. Tammy listened in rapt attention as her friend explained in detail how the daily exercises were going along, her routine for medicine and how her new garden was coming along. Having a pet was too much work and gardening was supposed to be great stress relief. Tammy nodded sagely throughout, only pausing to handle the occasional customer or two.

“If you wanna know something,” said Tammy. “That bozo lost his business last week. He filed for bankruptcy and everything. The moose is over there right now selling his last cherry.”

Tammy grabbed her head and turned it. There was the stocky Pegasus indeed, ever-present 5 o’clock shadow on his muzzle. The hat, apron and little bow tie made him look almost comical from this distance.

“I didn’t know…”whispered Mjolna. “Now he’s picking cherries?”

“Selling. That dope doesn’t pick the cherries. He picks up the product from Jubilee Farms that get dropped off in the morning. So he sells them here at the stand and gets a cut from the profits. Those cherries are either real tasty or he doesn’t get much. Guy runs out of stock every day.” They watched as a unicorn walked by and grabbed his last cherry. “Never had one, so couldn’t tell you about the taste.”

“I didn’t want to talk to him anyway,” Mjolna placed the three tomatoes in her right saddlebag. The left stayed empty -didn’t want any pressure on her left flank.

“Good! Don’t waste your breath on him. Don’t pity him either. Because of that colt you got really hurt. Didn’t have the right latches on his truck and he paid for it when you paid for it. Now don’t let him ruin your day.”

Tammy reached over the counter and hugged Mjolna, careful to not pat her on the back. “Talk to me later if you want. You always can.”

Pain shot up her hind leg. She had lost her balance and rested most of her weight on it. Mjolna bit her lip as the fierce stinging reached her haunches. It hurt! It was like a knife had stabbed her in the side and started twisting around. Trembling from the pain, she asked Tammy to open her saddlebags so she could take her medicine.

“Damnit! I didn’t mean to get you hurting again, MJ. Here have something to wash it down!” Tammy opened the bottle and handed a cup of water to her. The pain eased away, leaving the heavy numbness she felt earlier.

“Are you going to be okay?” Tammy’s’ voice was soft on her ears. “Do you want me to walk you home?”

“I’m fine,” Mjolna pulled away. “Really, it’s okay now. The doctor says I should really be walking by myself nowadays. One day it’ll fully heal and everything will be back to normal.” The hurt expression on Tammy’s face didn’t go unnoticed. “I know…I know…I’m sorry. It’s the pain talking. Just…come have dinner with me later. It’ll be fun. I can cook stew! It’ll be delicious.”

Tammy smiled. “Sure thing! I’ll go see you later after I get off.

***

The evening sunlight beat down on her neck. Bumblebees and butterflies flitted around her sun hat. Sweat rolled down her coat. Mjolna wiped her brow. The row of tomato seed was freshly planted. A spray of cold water from her pail darkened the soil beneath her hooves. That done, it was time to take care of her corn stalks. Diligently, she handled each ear of corn, checking to see if any were going bad or had missing kernels. The radishes were fine. Those never needed checking. She turned to check on the grapevines, not noticing her tail knocking over the water pail. The soil immediately sucked it up, turning to mud. The vines looked good. Nice and green. Watering wasn’t a problem right now. They could take care of that later. Where were those pepper seeds? Those were going to turn out delicious. Mjolna turned around to grab her seed satchel.

She slipped on the mud beneath her hooves and landed on her rear.

For a split second everything was shear, blinding pain. It grabbed her senses and blotted out everything else. Mjolna squeezed her eyes tight; it felt like her leg had been ripped off. The intensity of it was so great she couldn’t even get a scream out. All she could do for a full minute was sit there, stock still in the mud, waiting for that horrible, intense pain to go away. It finally began to ebb. Mjolna grabbed her pill bottle, shaking, and swallowed two of her capsules.

Gulping them down brought the boiling pain to a simmer. The sun beat down on her still. She was faintly aware of a cool, crushed fruit of some kind beneath her rump. It wasn’t so bad though. It was just fruit. She could always grow more. She could still cook a nice stew. Or she could order out again. There were enough bits in her account that she could order out for the rest of her life!

Mjolna sat in the mud, already beginning to dry around her in the heat of the sun, and started to cry.