Set in Stone

by ImmaChangeling

Morning in Ponyville Square

More than eight long hours had passed since Pinkie had left her old home and a new day was dawning upon Equestria. The clouds that were blanketed over the wastelands behind Ponyville had been long since kicked away by the pegasi workers and the sun coated the land with soft warm rays. In a quaint, dilapidated little cottage just out of sight from the small town, the creatures inside were beginning to stir. In the only window facing the rising sun, a brilliant sunbeam illuminated the dusty glass and lit up the room inside. The two small fillies that were sleeping peacefully seconds earlier began to stir, and one of them lazily opened an eyelid. She groaned halfheartedly and turned towards her sister lying next to her, kicking the thin pink blanket on the bed off of herself with a restless back hoof.
"Blinkalilly, are you awake?" she asked. The light grey filly nudged her sister sleeping beside her. Blinkalilly buried herself deeper in the rough pink sheets and pretended to snore in a futile effort to ignore her.
"Blinkalilly?" She repeated in a louder tone. The only response she received was an annoyed grunt.
"Shut it, Inkaline." The ashen-purple pony with a light grey mane mumbled and rolled her still-closed eyes, her left hoof covering her face to block out the early-morning light.
"Come on, wake up. It’s time to work the fields." Inkaline whined loudly in response and began to rock the bed by wiggling her body. The poorly-crafted wooden bed creaked under the stress.
"Stop it."
"Blinkalilly…"
"Shh, I'm sleeping."
"But Blinkalilly..."
"..."
Inkaline growled and crawled up to her stubborn sister's face. She slowly inched closer and closer, up to the point where her muzzle was almost touching Blinkalilly's ear. "Wake up!!" she barked as loudly as she could. The shout startled the resting filly and she instinctively jumped off the bed. She then clutched her aching ear in an effort to calm the waves of radiating pain that Inkaline had inflicted upon her. Now that she was forced awake, the pony stretched by arching her flank in the air and stretching her hoofs out in front of her. A satisfying click was heard and now that she was limber, she leapt onto the bed and attacked her sister. Inkaline was taken by surprise and she let out a little squeal. It quickly grew into a growl as their harmless argument escalated into a fight. For a bitter few minutes, the two sisters fought angrily together, getting tangled up in the covers of the bed they were forced to share.
They soon grew tired of expressing their hostilities towards each other. Both fillies knew that their energy should best be spent outside on the farm, and their depressed moods made it hard to keep spirits high. Inkaline sighed as she flopped clumsily off the bed and trotted around the room, her hoof steps echoing in the darker pony's ears. She turned and smiled apologetically at her sister with sadness glistening in her small, delicate eyes. Blinkalilly only shook herself in an effort to rid her small body of the excess adrenaline still coursing through her veins. Suddenly, Inkaline noticed something missing; there was no insatiable laughter, or hyperactive pink ball of energy bouncing on the bed. There was no… happiness in the room. The light grey filly’s ears flopped and her frown disappeared, replaced with an expression of confusion.
"Where's Pinkamena?"

Suddenly, the tension was broken with a knock at their door. The two siblings sat in silence, staring at their hooves and thinking about the missing emotion. They could hear murmured voices in the next room over, and hoping to find Pinkie outside, the two siblings left their bedroom. They were confronted with a white unicorn filly and presumably her father, another white stallion with brown hair and a moustache, talking to their mother.
“What’s happening, mama?” Blinkalilly asked timidly, wary of the strangers standing in their house. Their mother stopped and turned coldly to her daughters, a cruel expression on her face and anger hidden behind her thick, old glasses.

“They want our farm.”

~

Under the cold cover of night, the bright colours of Granny and Pinkie Pie’s coat were somewhat hidden; now as the sun rose, they were not so lucky. The early-morning moisture clung to their fur and glistened in the light, making their coats glimmer as the delicate sunlight became entrapped in the water droplets. Unsuccessful in finding a place to stay for the night and not wanting to disturb any other ponies in their own homes, the two had taken refuge under a muddy picnic table, underexposed to the elements and yet still susceptible to the dew of morning.
Pinkie stirred, nestled in under her grandmother’s wing. She slowly opened her eyes and licked her lips, tasting the sweet spring air. Without wasting another minute resting, she scurried out from under the table to explore her surroundings, and in the process accidentally kicked Granny Pie in the snout. The old pony awoke at once with a start and whacked her head against the picnic table. She groaned loudly as two small blue bruises began to appear on her head.
“Oh Granny, I didn’t see you there! I’m so, so sorry for kicking you.” She apologized enthusiastically, and delicately prodded the bruise at the end of her grandmother’s snout that she had made.
“It’s fine, dear.” She brushed off the small pink pony’s apology and crawled from out of the table. Her bones creaked and her joints ached as she made her way out, and she cursed under her breath. Why did she agree to spend the night underneath a park bench? She cast a glance at Pinkie Pie, wide blue eyes glistening with wonder. Seeing the tired expression on her grandmother’s face, her ears flopped and her eyes turned to the ground. Granny Pie realized that the young filly had been hurt by her actions and grabbed her delicate head in one of her orange hooves. Pinkie turned to look her in the eye and she noticed that her lips were quivering. Unintentional tears began to sting the old pony’s eyes at the sight of her young grandchild so forlorn and she embraced her, whispering in her ear that it would be okay. This seemed to make Pinkie happy, and she instantly regained her previous composure.
“C’mon Granny, there’s an entire town out there to explore! No time to lose, so many ponies and so little time…” Pinkie laughed somewhat forcefully and skipped out of the park and out of sight. Granny Pie sighed in frustration and ran after her, using her large feathered wings to propel her body forward. When she had caught up with the precocious young pony, she scolded her for galloping off. Pinkie only muttered a small, insincere apology and dashed off again in the direction of the town hall. Granny Pie could only cry out in frustration and continued to chase her down in a futile attempt to calm her down and control her.

Soon enough, Pinkie arrived at the center of Ponyville. Her tail and mane was completely wild, eye-catchingly unkempt. Her bright colour-scheme along with her messy fur caught the attention of several ponies trotting through the town, and they eyed her with some suspicion and amusement. One particular dark-blue stallion couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh at the ridiculous sight as he made his way through the crowd and into a small bakery shop. She could feel their eyes on her, and she felt increasingly nervous. Living on the rock farm her entire life, she’d never been exposed to crowds like this, and she decided that she didn’t like it. She shrunk down in an effort to make herself smaller and spotted the cutie mark on her flank. For the first time since it appeared, she really considered what she was doing. “Does this mean that my cutie mark is…” She paused and her small blue eyes glistened with tears as she took another glance at the ponies around her, “wrong?” She thought harder. “Maybe this isn’t my destiny, to make the ponies around me happy. How did I get into this mess?”
Suddenly, she remembered the rainbow that shook the sky and made her feel so much joy. She remembered how she felt, and how badly she wanted to make other ponies feel the way she did. The memory brought a smile to her face and she wiped away the tears. With this new burst of confidence, she clambered back onto the stone pathway and made her way to a tall stone statue of Princess Celestia frozen in flight. She climbed onto the top of her head and grabbed onto her horn for balance, and noticed that other ponies were now giving her much more attention.
“Come on, ponies,” She shouted to the bundles of tired, obscure ponies below, “I want to see you smile!” she threw her hooves back and giggled. The crowd around her stared in amusement and before long began to snicker, laughing at the out-of-place pony.
“What a friendly town,” Pinkie thought happily, oblivious to the intentions of the laughter that she had inspired. Suddenly, she was picked up off the statue and found herself dangling, hundreds of hoofsteps above the ground. It took her by surprise and she foolishly swiped at the hooves now wrapped around her stomach. She glanced up to challenge her attacker and came snout to snout with her grandmother.
“Sorry sweetheart, but you should never leave my sights.” Granny Pie growled, flying higher out of the sight of the ponies below. She settled on a low-hanging cloud, still holding the small filly in her arms. “It’s a tough world out there. I don’t want you learning that the hard way.” She gently chided Pinkie as she wiggled helplessly. Eventually, she sighed and realized that her grandmother would not let her go.
“Okay, Granny.” She relented. Satisfied, Granny Pie stretched out her wings and glided gracefully back down to the ground. They settled down once again in the middle of the throng of ponies. Granny Pie spotted the bakery on the other side of the street.
“How about some breakfast?” She smiled warmly at Pinkie, and she grinned back in return. They walked together to the small colourful building, and Granny Pie put one wing over the filly’s shoulder. Pinkie sighed contentedly as she trotted to the bakery, unaware of the dark blue stallion staring confusingly at the two travellers through the bakery window.

Author's Note:

You have no idea how much I disliked writing this chapter. I can never seem to just get it right. That's why it took so long to publish; sorry about the wait!

Comments

[Crimson Dawn]

I see you changed to using spaces between paragraphs in the latter chapters. Good idea as it helps with reading the chapters. I would encourage you to add indentations where appropriate such as at the start of a paragraph. This will also enhance the reading experience.

[ImmaChangeling]

2283296 Thank you very much for the feedback; I'll definitely take your advice on indentations for the next chapter. When I get the time, I think I'll also reformat the previous chapters the same way.

[InactiveAccount]

Wow. What a wonderful story. I enjoyed it, truly I did. I can not wait continue and read future chapters. ^_^

[ImmaChangeling]

2290539 Thank you very much!

[InactiveAccount]

2292194 You are very much welcome

[Summer Dancer]

I like this very much! Pleeeeeaaaase continue