Alone Time

by Rose Quill

Rock of a Hard Place

“You have GOT to be KIDDING ME!” Limestone shouted.

Marble ducked a little further behind the cooking magazine while I counted to ten internally.

“I doubt it’s that much of a stretch, Limestone,” I said.

“You stay out of this,” she said, pointing a finger at me. “This is between Marble and I.”

I rolled my eyes and held up my hands. Limestone and I had come to respect each other, but that was about it. Outside of a mutual agreement to make sure Pinkie was happy, we really didn’t see eye-to-eye on much.

“When were you going to tell me about you and Macintosh, huh?” she said, reaching out and pushing down on the magazine, revealing her baby sister’s face.

Marble looked up at her, an eyebrow quirking. “He asked me yesterday, and you were already out at the quarry when I got up today,” she said, her voice soft. She closed the magazine and met her sisters gaze without flinching.

She was an interesting mix, as the Pie sisters went. Maud was taciturn and straight forward, Pinkie was…well, Pinkie. Limestone reminded myself of a less happy me, and Marble was a mix of Fluttershy and Applejack.

Limestone seemed to freeze for a moment, not prepared for the answer. “You should have come told me when you got home last night then! I don’t care that I was in bed!”

“That’ll be a first,” I grumbled under my breath.

“And you!” she growled, spinning on me. “You shouldn’t be here right now. Pinkie isn’t here.”

“I’m aware of that,” I said, mentally counting to ten again. “That’s why I’m here, and the two of you are the reasons.”

Limestone blinked, confused. “Come again?”

I leaned back in my chair. “Maud is keeping Pinkie busy with a scavenger hunt that we set up yesterday so I can get a few minutes to talk to the two of you,” I leaned forward and winked at Marble. She already knew part of what I was doing here. She smiled softly back, picking her magazine back up but not opening it.

“What do you want?” Limestone said, her grump starting to flow back to the fore.

“Well, since you are the eldest Pie on the property at the moment, I wanted to ask if you have any problem with me proposing to Pinkie.”

I thought for a moment I saw steam come from her ears. “What?”

I glanced at my watch. “I intend to propose to Pinkie when she gets to the final spot of the scavenger hunt,” I said. “Which she should reach in about an hour or so if Maud keeps her at pace. And I thought, out of respect, I would let you know what I intended to do.”

Limestone’s face turned red. “You can’t just tell me what you’re going to do with my sister!” she shouted, making Marble flinch. “You haven’t even been dating that long! And I don’t like you.” I sensed rather than heard the hesitation in that last statement.

“Regardless, it’s not up to you,” I said. “Also, we’ve been dating for almost three years, and so far the only person that’s offered opposition to this is you.”

“I’m sure Mom and Pop will have something…”

“They asked if I wanted to use the Choosing Stone,” I said, cutting her off before she got started.

She stared, then glanced at Marble.

“Mm-hm.” she grunted, opening her magazine back up and flipping through it.

“You see, Limestone,” I said. “I know you don’t like me, and I don’t think it’s because I’m dating your sister, or that you’re so absorbed in running the family business that you have to be a hard nose all the time.” I played my trump card. “I think you’re lonely and afraid of being left alone.”

“You don’t know a thing about me,” she growled, spinning to look away.

“I’ve been around a bit longer than you,” I said. “But here’s the thing. Pinkie’s your sister, and just out of her nature she’ll never leave you. Neither will Maud, or Marble. They’re just trying to be happy.”

“Get out,” came a snarl from the eldest Pie sister before she stormed off.

I glanced at Marble, who shrugged. She glanced at her watch. “You’d better hurry,” she said, standing and heading after her sister.

Sighing, I left the Pie house, waving at Igneous and Cloudy Quartz as I passed them on the porch.

It was a fair hike to town, but I managed to make it to the stage where the Battle of the Bands had taken place with time to spare. I kicked at the weathered molding of the stage, knocking some debris and leftover ice off. I had barely gotten my bearings when I heard a humming voice I knew like I knew my own.

Pinkie came skipping around the corner, Maud in tow. She was looking at a piece of paper that she tucked back into her poofy hair when done.

“I wonder what the next clue will be!” she said, animatedly. But let’s face it, everything she does is animated. It’s just her in every sense of the word. “Will it send us to the Everfree Forest? Baltimare? The Neighagra Falls?” She pulled a pith helmet out from nowhere and put it on. “OOOH! The jungle to find the lost Temple of Ahuizotl?”

I rolled my eyes at that one.

Maud spoke up in her no-nonsense voice. “Let’s concentrate on this clue first,” she said.

Pith Helmet gone, Pinkie pulled the note out and re-read the clue out loud.

“Here we finished and will start anew, where you discovered your friendship was true. A bright red gemstone to lead the way, bright as the sunlight from the start of day. Where once there were three, now there is one, and there she will be till the show is done.” She scratched her head, thinking. “It’s got to be the stage here, but this one is longer than the rest.” She started to climb the stage and saw me standing just behind the wing curtains. “HI Ari!’ she exclaimed, bouncing over to give me a hug and peck on the cheek. “Are you going to help with the scavenger hunt too?

“Actually, Pinkie,” I said, smiling. “I set it up. You’re at the final location.”

She grinned. “So what's the big surprise?” she asked, looking around. “Another party cannon? A big screen tv?” she gasped. “An all expenses paid trip to the Smokey Mountains resort for two?”

I blinked for a second. How did she…never mind, it was Pinkie.

“Maybe something else,” I said, pulling a ring from my pocket. While it wasn’t worth much as far as materials, it was invaluable to me. “I wanna know, Pinks, will you marry and old grump like me?”

Pinkie took the ring, her grin threatening to split her face. Even Maud smiled. Well, on the inside. I was started to get good at reading the youngest three Pie sisters.

“Oh, Ari, of course, I will!” Pinkie said. “What’s with the stone?” Her eyes went wide. “I didn’t crack it, did I?”

I patted her shoulder, smiling. “No, you didn’t, Pinkie. I gave it to you with a crack in it.”

At her confused look, I reached out and set my finger on the rubicund stone. It glowed softly for a second. “It’s made from the shards of my old Song.”

Pinkie stared at me. “Ari,” she whispered.

“Just after the Battle of the Bands, we snuck back here and collected as many shards as we could find,” I explained. “We could sense the power in them fading, and they still responded to our presence, but we couldn’t use them anymore, and as gemstones, they were essentially worthless.

“I don’t know what Adagio or Sonata did with their fragments, but I always kept mine, even after we regained our Song,” I lightly touched the blue stone hanging around my neck. “It’s like I was waiting for a purpose.”

“It may not be fancy like what Cadence got, or a family heirloom like Twilights,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “But it is priceless to me, and I wanted to give it to the other precious stone in my life.”

Pinkie looked at me, tears leaking down a cheek. “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” she whispered.

“Yeah, well,” I said, stuffing my hands in my coat pockets. “Don’t let it get around, you hear?”

“What did Marble and Limestone have to say?” Maud broke in as Pinkie busied herself taking selfies with the ring.

“Marble was fine with it, as we expected,” I said. “And Limestone was also what we expected.”

“Of course," she said. “She’s the big sister. She want’s to protect us.”

“Yeah,” I said, thinking. “Thanks again for the help, Maud. I really do appreciate it.”

The laconic woman nodded and turned, heading slowly back towards her families house.

---

There was a pounding on the door to our apartment the next evening. Adagio wasn’t home yet and Pinkie and Sonata were out pricing a catering request, and they all had keys, so I couldn’t possibly think of who it was. I opened the door to find Limestone Pie standing there, hands in the pockets of her coat and a reluctant look on her face.

“What do you want?” I said simply.

She thrust out a hand, a string with small crystals on it in her grasp. “Just take it,” she grumbled.

I took the proffered item and stared at it. “What is it?” I asked.

“It’s rock candy,” she sniffed. “Don’t you know anything?”

I rolled my eyes. “I know it’s rock candy,” I counted to ten again. “Why are you giving me a string of it?”

She shifted on her feet.

“I got to thinking,” she said. “I may not exactly like you, but Pinkie does. And she is my sister and should be happy.” She stumbled a bit, and I saw Marble standing behind her, a smirk on her face. “And, well, just don’t make her cry, you got it?”

She stormed off, Marble smiling at me.

“Did you set that up?” I asked the shy girl.

“Mmm-Hmm!”

I smiled. “Thanks.”

Comments

[MySisterBroughtMeHere]

(exasperated sigh) Limestone, Limestone, Limestone...

That part being said, I really loved the proposal scene in this chapter. It gives off a sense of reaching the end of a circle that had begun with Rainbow Rocks and starting a new one.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

“Maybe something else,” I said, pulling a ring from my pocket. While it wasn’t worth much as far as materials, it was invaluable to me. “I wanna know, Pinks, will you marry and old grump like me?”

an old*