"Pinkie Pie"

Igneous Rock Pie ran to the broken railing and looked down over the cliff. A carriage with one occupant was hanging over the cliff's ledge. The stallion he'd seen pulling it was no doubt at the bottom of the crevasse already. Though that stranger would be in his prayers this evening he had to focus on the one he might yet save. Paying no heed to the fact that lightning had just struck not ten feet from him, causing this terrible accident, Igneous Rock started to climb down the cliffside. Even as the heavy rainfall stang him, threatening his footing he doggedly pursued his goal of the carriage. The ropes he could see tangled in the remaining fence post was currently holding the carriage up. But the strain on them was obvious as the winds buffeted the carriage. Even though time was of the essence Igneous Rock couldn't rush, falling to his own death wouldn't help the mare trapped below.

Finding a semi-flat rock face near the carriage Igneous Rock climbed onto it. Looking nervously back up at the roadside he wasn't sure if he could hear the ropes straining or if it was just his imagination. Either way, he knew he didn't have much time to spare. He climbed atop the carriage, carefully placing his hooves as the entire thing creaked underneath him. Kicking an errant piece of fencing off of the carriage door he pulled it open. Grimacing he could see the mare inside hunched over, one of her hind legs splayed at an odd angle behind her. He'd have to carry her up the cliffside.

Though the roaring wind stole away his first call his second made it through. The orange maned mare looked up in surprise for a moment. He could see her light yellow mane was already soaked through. Her cutie mark was some kind of jar, a detail he'd store away to identify her later to the others in town.

Igneous Rock extended his forelegs into the carriage. He had been ready to hoist the mare out of the death trap. But the mare hunkered back down, causing him to frown in surprise and annoyance. Moments later though she looked back up. Now she was extending a small package up towards him.

Igneous Rock was for a moment furious the mare seemed to be trying to save her luggage. Moments later he was shamed by his feeling as he saw a small, pink, bawling face bundled up. He quickly reached down and gathered the most precious bundle to himself. Looking down and meeting the eyes of the mare. In that moment they both knew the choice she had just made. There was no way Igneous Rock could carry them both up the cliff. After a long second, he inclined his head to her. He might have said something comforting or reassuring. But he couldn't risk any more time on the hanging carriage.

It was a good decision as right as his hooves hit the rocky outcropping he heard the snap of the ropes. He cringed as he heard the crashing of the carriage. And over even the storm he heard a single cry. Though he couldn't say that it wasn't wishful thinking on his part, he thought he just might have heard a hint of triumph in the word, not one of despair.

Turning Igneous Rock started to make his way back up the slick cliff side. Holding a bawling foal. It was hard going and he was concerned for the little one in the storm but there was nothing he could do but climb as fast and as safely as possible. Getting to the top was a treacherous but ultimately successful trial.

The road home was long, wet, and tiring for Igneous Rock. It would have been far easier to carry the foal on his back. But he kept the small foal pressed up against his chest with on foreleg. Sharing what little heat he had with the sleeping baby. It had obviously exhausted itself and now had fallen into unconsciousness.

As Igneous Rock pushed the door of his home opened Cloudy Quartz looked up sharply to reprimand his tardiness. Until she saw the small babe he held. The flurry of activity from his wife left Igneous Rock in a bit of a daze. He wasn't sure how it happened so quickly. But in what seemed to be mere seconds he was wrapped in a blanket with a bowl of warm soup. And the foal he'd carried for miles was dried off and sleeping next to Marble in her crib.

The next few days were a headache of trying to identify the two ponies killed in the storm. But they had been just traveling through town, no one knew their names, destination, or source. Their bodies were too damaged to see cutie marks so the only description was Igneous Rock's recollections from the storm.

Since the search for the two's kin had turned up nothing the topic turned to who would take in the orphaned pony and where the two strangers would be put to rest. One of the mare's brought up a side issue that became another argument. What would the child be called? They hadn't named her for the hope of learning her true name but now...

As the entire council of elders argued about the best course of action, Igneous Rock walked over to his wife. Who was currently tending to both Marble Pie and the as of yet unnamed orphan. The two didn't even need to exchange a single word as he knew the will of his wife well. Turning to confront the council Igneous Rock paused, casting his mind back to that terrible night. He heard once again that terrible crash. But over that, he heard also that single word that was actually a cry of victory, not one of defeat. Igneous Rock stepped forward and with three words brought the arguments to an end. "Pinkamena Diane Pie."

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artofwar77

artofwar77 #1 · Nov 23rd, 2019 · · ·

Not sure this deserves the "Tragedy" tag. As a means of conveying literary genre, it has a more specific definition than simply something tragic.

What I just read felt more like a triumph, tinged with the flavor of loss but no less heroic for it.
Igneous performed a heroic act and so especially did the mare.
The aftermath was a good depiction of the post-adrenaline wrapping up of that single, brief moment of stress.

And it was a nice read, minor spelling errors aside.
Thank you for sharing.

Tael_Spinner

Tael_Spinner #2 · Nov 23rd, 2019 · · ·

I would call this one bittersweet, much like the shelf it will be added to in my library.

Other than the few grammar/spelling errors, it was a good piece. Thank you for sharing it.

Only my reading of possible subtext (something I could easily be misreading) causes me to wonder if this is Pinkie Pie and those were Pear Butter and Bright Mac, how can Applebloom come to be?

Again, I'm probably reading too much into it. Well done.

Jhoira

Jhoira #3 · Nov 23rd, 2019 · · ·

9956055
Right you are, I was on my phone and hit that by accident (apparently, since I obviously didn't notice at the time.)

Hehe, I wrote it all on my phone and only got back to my computer now, but now most those errors should be gone! (There's probably one still hiding in there because that's how these things go.)

9956075
Hehe, I only had my phone writing this. It's better now (though not perfect I'm a random person writing fanfics, not an author/editor :D)

And you're not reading too much and you are at the same time. I actually had the idea partway through to make it Pear Butter and Brightmac but then I too remembered Applebloom. But then I was just "well, I don't say it's Pear Butter, and more than one pony can look like that" so I didn't change the description. :D

Tael_Spinner

Tael_Spinner #4 · Nov 23rd, 2019 · · ·

9956206
Ah, understandable with using phone only. Also glad I wasn't going entirely crazy for reading that into it.

Perfectly Insane

Moderator

Perfectly Insane #5 · Sep 26th, 2021 · · ·

This is pretty well done. I've seen a lot of takes on Igneous as a character, but very few fics from the pov of Igneous. This being by far one of the better ones. I hope you can find the ability to write again.

Rego

Rego #6 · Nov 16th, 2021 · · ·

Another 1K writing prompt down. I felt like I'm read something out of order, but then I remembered the mare probably wouldn't have had time to leave a goodbye letter.

Jhoira