String quartet
Pinkie Pie couldn't believe she had lost track of her sister.
After Marble had entered the theatre, Pinkie just sat down on the roof she was on, in order to wait for her to get out. It was suspicious that Marble had gone in the theatre with none other than Big Mac... the plot was getting real thick real fast.
Of course, the pink pony couldn't just stand still on the roof for the entire couple of hours of the film's duration: she got bored very fast. She sang to herself a few songs, daydreamed about cupcakes, had a conversation with Gummy through the walkie talkie, waved to passing ponies (who, for some reason she couldn't quite get, seemed weirded out by her being on the roof), played tic tac toe against herself (and managed to win) in the snow on the roof, invented the plot for an award winning sci-fi novel and calculated pi to the five thousand four hundred and twenty fourth figure. She could have gone on, but she overheard somepony in the vicinities commenting on the movie that had just ended. Pinkie realised that it must have been the same Marble had seen, so she looked around. There was no sign of her sister's presence.
Pinkie Pie loudly gasped in panic. "I lost my sister!"
She took her walkie talkie and announced, "Here Pink Lightning, going in reconnaissance. Over."
She jumped off the roof, starting to run around the town at her insane speed to look for Marble, ignoring that her sister had been among the last ponies to get out of the theatre and that, had she waited, she would have very easily seen her exiting from the building.
Marble wanted to sculpt really bad in that moment. It usually helped her clear her mind out when things happened too fast. Unfortunately, she didn't have the tools nor the material to do so. If not sculpting, even just examining rocks, like she would have done if she wanted to pick up new specimens for her collection, would have done the job. Unfortunately, there appeared to be no interesting rocks to look at laying around. She kept on walking through the unfamiliar streets, looking around, feeling somewhat homesick: she didn't miss the community, but she did need, in that particular moment, the peace and quiet of her family's household. If she only could go home and then come back to Ponyville whenever she wanted!
Suddenly, a sound caught her attention. It wasn't close enough for her to clearly recognise it, but it wasn't far enough for her to not notice. Intrigued, she followed the sound to find its source. As she drew nearer, she managed to recognise it as music. It sounded like violins, but there was something weird about it. She arrived in the town's square, where the town hall was, and she saw that there were four musicians: two played regular violins, one played a slightly larger instrument with the same shape. The last instrument was like a violin, but so big that the grey mare playing it couldn't hold it, needing instead to place it on the ground, in a vertical position.
That was the first time she had ever seen a string quartet. She had attended to a few fairs, back in the community, and there she had seen what a violin is, but the kind of music these ponies were playing was completely different from anything she had ever heard. This new music was very elegant and peaceful. The sound was woven in a graceful and harmonious structure, where every instrument would take turns playing melody and accompaniment.
The musicians seemed to be so intimately connected with each other while playing. Sometimes they would exchange brief glances and quick nods, but, most of the time, they managed to play with astonishing coordination without even looking at one another. The end result was beautiful.
Marble found it incredibly relaxing to just lose herself in the delicate harmonies. So much so, that she didn't even know when or how she had walked from the side of the square to just in front of the quartet. That music! It was a bit like sculpting, only it wasn't done with actual stone, but with sounds. The shapes that the music suggested to her imagination were vague and blurred, at first. Then, however, as that state of mind reminded her of that kind of peace she had felt while walking in the orchard with Big Macintosh, she started thinking about natural landscapes, trees, lakes and small animals.
A last phrase led naturally into a prolonged finishing chord. The musicians bowed to a small audience clapping their hooves. Marble found herself applauding too, which she hadn't very often done in the past. They turned a page of the music sheets right on top of the stands they had on front of them, then, after a quick glance to each other, they started playing again. Now the music was noticeably faster, but it was still every bit as elegant as it had been before. Marble still liked it, but she wasn't able to lose herself into it like before.
She looked around herself, just because she felt like it, and she saw a familiar face not far from her. A few steps away, there was Rarity: the white unicorn looked concerned, maybe even a bit angry, as she was looking at the musicians. Marble wanted to wave at her, to attract her attention, but found herself unable to, as she didn't want to be rude either to the musicians or the audience. It didn't matter anyway, as Rarity did look in her direction after a few seconds, maybe feeling observed.
The elegant mare smiled and got closer to her. "Hi again Marble. I didn't expect to see you around here. What drew you here?"
Marble answered, "The music. It's so nice!"
"Yes, it is very relaxing. I needed it very badly right about now. You see, I was working on a commission, but yesterday they put the order on hold. It was kind of a big deal, so I waited for them to give me any new instructions, but they stayed silent all the evening. I was still waiting this morning, when you came, but they still didn't contact me. At last, I received not half an hour ago a letter in which they canceled the order outright, without any real explanation. Now, since I had already done a lot of work and since the models were quite unique and I can't possibly use them for other projects, you could understand that I was a bit... aggravated by this news. Since I knew that there was a public performance today, I came here to get some steam off, which I definitely needed."
She apparently realised that she had been rambling, as she chuckled before continuing. "So much so that I am dumping all this on you right now, you poor thing. I apologise. So, now you know why I'm out here instead of back in the boutique, doing my job. So, how is everything going for you?"
Marble diverted her gaze and said, "Oh, it's all... well... it's alright."
Rarity wasn't convinced. "Come on, dear, I would really like to help you if you have any issues."
"You have done so much for me... how did I deserve it?"
"I don't do it for personal gain, darling. It's just that I have a feeling that you and I could be friends, so I want to help you as much as I can. If you are so concerned, know that you will always be able to return the favour. I don't expect it, but if you are willing and able you can do it whenever you want. That is how friends work, you know? Besides, it takes my mind off my recent disappointing experience."
There was a moment of silence, in which Marble thought about what Rarity had just said, then the white mare continued. "Have you ever had a friend outside your family, dear?"
Marble shook her head. Rarity's expression seemed to say "I thought so."
"Then, Marble, I can be your first, if you so wish."
The grey mare sheepishly smiled and answered, "I woul... I would love it... Rarity."
Both smiled at each other in agreement.
"So, now that we are friends, darling, if you have any problems you should tell me. You know, so that I can help you if I can."
Marble diverted her gaze again, then nodded, adding, "Alright... but not here, please."
Rarity, as an answer, nodded too. They stayed there for a while more, listening again to the quartet.
The Carousel Boutique was almost identical to what Marble remembered seeing that morning, with the exception of a few knocked down mannequins.
The white unicorn looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry for the mess, darling. As I mentioned, I was a bit altered when I received the news."
She lit her horn and the mannequins were restored to their upright position. Even though she had seen magic happening a couple of times now, Marble was still fascinated by it. Also, she had some difficulties when trying to picture Rarity being angry, as she had shown nothing but kindness and generosity to her.
Marble's gaze was once again attracted by the chest full of gems. "Uh... Rarity? Can I ask you something?"
"Why, of course, dear."
"What do you do with all those gems?"
"Oh, I normally use them to embellish my dresses, though none of these you see here feature them. Is there a particular reason?"
"Not re... not really. I just like gemstones. Can I take a look?"
"Uuuh... sure, I don't see why not."
Marble smiled as she approached the chest. She immediately picked up an opal, which was one of her favourite mineraloids. She looked critically at the small silica based stone: it was a fine specimen, with very good light and colours. However, there was a problem...
"You shouldn't keep the opals with the other gems: they are comparatively softer than other gemstones, which means that being in contact with rubies and amethysts and other stones might eventually ruin their polish. That would be a pity, since these appear to be quite good."
Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Huh. Interesting. How much do you know about gemstones?"
Marble, still busy looking at the small gems from the chest, answered, "Well, when you grow up in a rock farm, rocks, stones and minerals are literally your bread and butter, including the precious ones. Also, this ruby isn't very well cut, I would suggest not using it."
"Isn't that so... you know, this kind of competence is highly valued on the marketplace. You could easily make a job of it, especially if you're also able to cut them."
Marble stopped doing what she was doing. She looked at Rarity, as if to ask "are you serious?"
Rarity got the clue and answered, "I'm dead serious, darling: there aren't many ponies with that kind of competence, which means that those few ones are highly sought after. And very well paid, I may add."
"But it's not that... it's not even that hard! Anypo... anypony could do it with a li... little practice..."
"I disagree: it takes a highly trained eye, which you seem to have. If you were ever to consider getting out of the rock farming business, you should definitely try this."
Marble was dumbfounded. She had never even so much as fantasised about leaving the family business, let alone starting one of her own. And, even if she had, she would never have thought that she could have anything to offer. If she did that, she could do like Pinkie and go back to see the family every once in a while... she shook her head. She couldn't possibly be considering such nonsense. The community would never accept it. Keeping Pinkie Pie at bay had proven to be impossible, so they had let her go out of sheer exhaustion. Marble knew that her case would have been radically different.
She was diverted from those thoughts when Rarity asked her, "So, aren't you going to tell me what was bothering you? We came here for that, after all..."
Marble nodded. She was hesitant at first, but she eventually decided to try and open up a bit...
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Well with Rarity finding out, Sandstone is going to be having a visit that will not end well. With Rarity's experience with Starlight Glimmer is going to put her in a mood to stop Sandstone fast.
Rarity freak out in three, two, one...
The Pie Family aren't the only one with gem expertise.
6617612 never said they were. I said "few" experts, not "none".
Yes. YESSSSS. Let the deviant thoughts run through you. Leave your home and your dull little farm. Start your business. Make an independent living, and then take your place at Big Mac's side, and your journey to the Dark Side will be complete!
static.srcdn.com/slir/w620-h320-q90-c620:320/wp-content/uploads/Star-Wars-7-Rumor-Emperor-Returning.jpg
6617896
Wow. I didn't think Marble was that smart on gemstones. I'm not surprised since she works and lives on a rock farm.
Just like Big Mac's... nevermind.
Pie is a pastry.
Pi is an irrational number.
I think it should be "thousand", no "S".
Recognition? Is this sentence meant to make no sense?
These words flow better if switched around.
"to sculpt really bad"
I think "neither" should be dropped from the sentence. Both "didn't" and "nor" cover what it is telling the reader.
I feel this should be a period here.
Period and make the comma disappear.
"Led" is the past tense of "lead"( pronounced "leed").
"Lead" (pronounced led) refers specifically to a metal also called plumbum.
Missed an "a" here.
I guess this doesn't quite match my internal voice for Rarity. But I haven't watched the show recently so I don't know if her vernacular has changed.
"for"
If Marble suddenly became a mock gangster then it should be: "Yo dawg, what yo doin' wit all dem gems?"
If not, then "yo" is missing a "u".
Marble can roll back into her community with a gold plated carriage and some heavy rap playing.
6618586 I lost it at the gold carriage bit
As per usual, thank you for your feedback :)
6619510
I was the middle child of 17. I did anything and everything in order to get some attention from my parents.
I'm not ashamed of what I did to be able to spend time with them. I can only look back in wonder at the fact that I'm not dead.
As it stands, I now live several thousand kilometers away from my childhood home, and though I visit from time to time, I am now content with merely avoiding most of my family. Lord knows that I love them, but I just cannot stand them.
I have kept my self imposed schedule of a chapter every two days up until now... however, this time, the new chapter is going to be released either tomorrow or Friday. You know, real life getting in the way and stuff...
I have written the new chapter, but I feel that it is rushed and inadequate. I don't think I will be able to post it tonight, like I said I would, but I will work on it and, as soon as I am satisfied with the result, I will publish it.
6640824 Gee, thanks
! I went for that specific feel because that is how I personally feel when I am in love...
Edit: I don't know why I'm having such a hard time writing this chapter... no matter what I try, it always feels subpar to me and I'm never satisfied.
I waited some time to begin reading this story from when i first saw it.
....
I'M SORRY! The writing here feels perfect. I would say particularly so for Marbles character, especially in the flow of it all. i can understand her concerns and troubles well, im cheering for her as this story goes on. Wonderful job thusfar!