After many years away from the rock farm, Pinkie Pie returns home to spend a month with her family. However, she has changed, just like her sisters. But...could she still call them family after so long?
After many years away from the rock farm, Pinkie Pie returns home to spend a month with her family. However, in all those years she has changed a lot, and probably so have her sisters. But, how much?
Will she be able to still see in them the ponies she spent her childhood with?
* * *
NOTE: This story was written far before Maud appeared for the first time. That means she is absent from this story, and the personalities of these Limestone and Marble Pie do not match canon.
It was a nice day of spring in Ponyville. After a particularly cold winter, the good weather seemed to be determined to make the ponies forget about the snow and the ice. The temperature was pleasant, and various random clouds offered coverage from the sun. Here and there some pegasi worked on the skies, making sure none of the cumulus drifted too far away of the town. The streets were filled with ponies enjoying the excellent weather, chatting and walking around aimlessly and without worries.
In contrast with the rest of the town, the Ponyville library was bursting with activity. The librarian was re-shelving every single book, scroll and paper in the building, like she did after every change of season.
“Spike!” called Twilight Sparkle. “Where is the checklist?”
“I think you just shelved it.” pointed out the baby dragon. It was the fourth time today the librarian had accidentally stored the list.
“Oh? Well, go get it.” she said, scanning the pillars of books with her lavender eyes. “What book goes after Mood Wings? I think I’m missing one here!”
The dragon climbed the ladder and picked the checklist from one of the upper shelves. The scroll was so long it rolled on the floor and almost reached the opposite wall. “No, according to this we haven’t skipped anything.” Spike suppressed an annoyed grunt. This would take the whole day. At least four times each year, a whole day was wasted in going over all the books of the library, an effort that, in Spike’s humble opinion, was rather pointless.
In that moment, somepony knocked at the door. Without even turning around, Twilight used her telekinetic grip to open it. “I’m sorry, but we’re very busy at th-” She couldn’t finish the sentence, as a pink blur tackled her into the floor.
“Twilight!”
“P-Pinkie?!”
“Well, duh! Hello! What’s up?” The pink pony had her face at mere centimeters from Twilight’s, with her mouth contortioned in an impossibly big grin.
“Uh…well, I was re-shelving the books, and then you tackled me.” slowly replied Twilight, still confused by Pinkie’s entrance. “Do you need anything?”
The pink mare got off Twilight and started hopping around the library. “I just wanted to say hello to you and Spike and tell you something great!” She looked very excited, even more than usually.
“Uh-hu.” The librarian hopped back onto her hooves and continued with her task, knowing that Pinkie would not mind. “Tell me, then.”
“Well, Derpy just delivered a letter from my family.”
“Your family?” Twilight’s ear gave a twitch as she looked to her friend. This caught her attention. Despite how talkative Pinkie was, she barely spoke about her family. Everypony knew she used to live in a rock farm with her parents and two sisters, but that was all.
“Yeah! We’re having a family reunion, finally! It won’t be as big as Applejack’s, but I’m sure we will have much fun as well!” she tapped her chin thoughtfully. “But we don’t have a barn to destroy.”
Twilight giggled “I don’t think that’s part of the standard family reunion, Pinkie. Anyways, I know little about your family, but if I’m not wrong, none of your sisters still live at the rock farm, right?”
“Yep! Me, Inkie and Blinkie. I was the first to leave, and then some years later Inkie and then Blinkie. They are very important and busy ponies, you know? That’s why I haven’t seen them in veeery long.” explained Pinkie.
“I see.” Twilight couldn’t help but smile. “Then you must be excited, huh?”
“Excited? I could walk on the walls!” replied Pinkie, bouncing once again.
“I believe you.” whispered Twilight to herself. She turned to her friend. “So, when are you leaving?”
“In a week! I am staying with my family for a month, so I have a lot to pack.” She stopped hopping in mid-air. “Which reminds me, I should prooobably tell the Cakes I’m leaving!”
Twilight rolled her eyes yet again. “Have you told the girls already?” she asked.
“I’ve told Rainbow Dash, I bumped into her on my way here.” explained Pinkie. She made a pause to extract a piece of paper from her puffy mane. “Almost forgot! I wanted to get some presents for my sisters. Do you think you could get these books by then?” she tossed the note to Twilight, who caught it on her telekinetic grip.
The librarian took a moment to read the titles of the books, and her jaw dropped. “Pinkie? These are very advanced books. I’m sure I don’t have them here, maybe I could request them to…Pinkie?” The mare looked around, but the other pony had disappeared without a sound. “Spike? I’m going to write a letter.” she told her assistant after a moment, who had remained silent for the whole visit. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
***
“Think you can do it?”
“Why, of course! I have plenty of time to make a pair of scarves. I wish I could make something a little more impressive.” replied Rarity, shaking her head slowly. “But I can’t do anything without their measures.” Pinkie had appeared in her boutique a few minutes ago, speaking very quickly about clothes, gifts and visits. After she calmed down a bit and explained everything properly to the fashionista, she had quickly accepted to help.
“Nah, it’s fine. I just want to give them a little something, a dress may be a bit too much.” assured Pinkie rummaging through the multicolor fabric rolls that Rarity had on exposure. “This one is pretty!” she said, pulling out a pure white sheet.
The seamstress trotted to her. “Yes, I think this ivory white would work perfectly for Inkie.” she said, grinning. “I already have a design in mind, and I think she’ll like it.”
“Sweet!” Pinkie pulled her into a hug. “Can I make some suggestion?”
“No” replied curtly Rarity, backing a bit from the contact. After that disaster with the dressed for the Gala, the mare had sworn to never let her friends interfere so much in her designs. And Pinkie was probably the worse of her friends in that sense. Only Celestia know what the pink pony could do to a scarf if left alone with sewing equipment.
“Awww, fine.” her smile faltered just for an instant. “Alright, I have a ton of stuff to do, so I’ll see you later! Bye!” Pinkie left the boutique, waving a hoof, not even letting Rarity say goodbye.
Rarity shrugged, closed the door with her magic and turned back to her fabrics. “The way Pinkie speaks about her sisters…it seems they are very different from her.” she said to herself. “I wouldn’t mind meeting them, actually. They sound like very polite and upper class ponies. And Celestia knows is always a good idea to get on with them!” With that, the seamstress started working, singing a small tune as her tools flew around her in a precise dance.
***
Six days later, Pinkie found herself in her room in the second floor of the Sugarcube Corner, checking her packages for the fourteenth time that evening. The last days had been a rush of excitement, concern and preparations. The rock farm was quite far way from Ponyville, so she wanted to be absolutely certain she wouldn’t forget anything. And thus, she had packed and unpacked her luggage so many times that the Cakes were starting to wonder if they should start to worry about her.
Pinkie pulled out one of the books, carefully wrapped in wool to protect it from any damage. The title read ‘An illustrated guide of gems and jewels’. It was not the book Pinkie had asked Twilight, but that was the closest she had managed to get with so little time to work. Still, Pinkie was satisfied with her present. While her sister would probably know everything in the book, the drawings and pictures were so beautiful she would probably enjoy it anyways. The pink mare absently flipped some of the pages, reading the names under her breath.
“Dragon eye, griffon’s pride, Celestial tear, midnight stone, fire ruby…”
Pinkie stopped on that page and studied the picture of the heart-shaped gem. Under it there was a long description of the characteristics, value and formation of the stone. Curious, the mare started reading.
In that moment, somepony knocked at the door and startled her. The mare let out a yelp and leaped into the couch. “Pinkie Pie?” called Mrs Cake’s voice from the other side. “Can I come in?”
“Sure.” replied Pinkie, running a hoof on her mane. She was so focused in the book that she didn’t even hear Mrs Cake’s hoofsteps coming upstairs.
The older mare opened the door and peeked inside. Her jaw dropped at the sight of the chaotic disarray of the room. “Unpacking again?” she said with a sigh as she crossed the door and carefully walked to Pinkie, carefully avoiding the obstacles.
“Uh…yeah. Sorry about that…” Pinkie replied, smiling sheepishly. “It’s just that I don’t want to forget anything. I-It’s been a very long time since I saw my sisters, and I really, really want everything to be perfect.”
“Have you thought of making a checklist?” suggested Mrs Cake.
“Yeah, but…” Pinkie extracted a piece of paper from her mane and hoofed it to Mrs Cake. The mare looked at it and grimaced. It was a checklist, indeed, but every item had been checked at least a dozen of times before, and there were a lot of tiny annotations and reminders in the blank spaces. The pink mare let out a sigh and sat on the floor, the concern plain in her expression.
The older pony smiled kindly. “Pinkie? Come here.” She sat next to her and pulled the mare into a hug, which she returned. “I know you’re very nervous, dear. But I think you’re worrying too much.”
“Maybe…” she sighed. “But I really don’t want my family to get angry with me if I mess up something!”
Mrs Cake smiled and shook her head. “Oh, Pinkie. It’s your family we’re talking about. They love you now, and I know it doesn’t matter what you do, they will still love you.” She backed to look Pinkie on the eyes. “Really now, do you sincerely think they’ll turn their backs to you if you don’t bring a present to all of them?”
“Well no, but…” she glanced to her packages and nervously tangled her mane on her hooves. “You see…I know my parents are the mostly the same. They have always lived in the rock farm. It’s my sisters why I am worried.”
“What do you mean?” asked Mrs Cake, frowning.
“You see, they are very important and high-society ponies now.” she explained very quickly. “And I am worried because maybe they have changed and they no longer like the rock farm and our parents and I, and maybe I won’t see them again because they won’t want to spend time with us, so I want everything to be perfect, I want to give the right impression and all that. What if they don’t like me now? I’m not like I used to be, or maybe I am too similar to their taste! I don’t know, and I really need to-” The torrent of words stopped when Mrs Cake put a hoof on her lips.
“I understand how you feel, Pinkie. But there is no point on thinking about that now, you’ll cross that river when you reach it.” She nodded to the luggage. “It’s clear you’re making a very big effort on this. The best you can do is sleep well tonight and wish for luck. You’re a great pony, and if they don’t see that it’s their loss. Also remember…” she dropped her voice to a quiet whisper. “It doesn’t matter how high-society a pony is; a cake is always a great way to get a good start.
Pinkie giggled and got up. “You’re right, Mrs Cake.” she said, her cheerfulness restored once again. “Thanks for this, I really needed it.”
“You’re very welcome, Pinkie.” she replied, smiling. “Now pack your things for the last time and go to bed. We will take care of the rest.” She gave Pinkie one last squeeze before disappearing downstairs.
***
The time had finally come. After a week of preparations, Pinkie and her friends were standing at the platform of the Ponyville train station. The train to Pinkie’s town was rather dull and plain when compared with the Friendship Express. It was an undecorated machine of steel and iron, pure efficiency and power. The passengers cars were painted in many hues of gray and brown, and there were also a couple of freight carriages. The sight was, in Rarity’s words ‘A monstruosity of steam and noise, with no elegancy or style.’
Because of all the presents and other luggage Pinkie was carrying with her, she had to borrow a small cart from Applejack. A porter had already taken it to one of the freight carts, leaving the six friends on the busy platform.
“Ah still can’t believe you’re gonna be gon’ for a whol’ month!” said Applejack. “Will the Cakes manage withou’ you?”
“Yes, they told me not to worry.” assured Pinkie. She looked to all her friends and smiled. “I’m going to miss you soooo much, girls.”
“We are going to miss you too, darling.” replied Rarity, putting a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “But don’t think too much about that; just have fun with your family, okay?”
“And don’t forget to write!” joked Rainbow Dash, winking an eye.
“Don’t try to go too fast with your sisters.” added Fluttershy. “It may be hard for them to get used to something new. Or…or old, I’m not sure.”
“And whatever you do, remember that you are who you are.” said Twilight. “You don’t have to change to be accepted by them.”
“I’ll remember.” said Pinkie, grinning and pulling them all into a group hug. When they backed, Spike walked to Pinkie, seeming nervous.
“Hum…hey, Pinkie? Do you think you could maybe…uh.” he rubbed the back of his neck. “Fetch some gems from your rock farm? It-it’s just that I’ve heard that gems from there are specially tasty!”
Pinkie giggled and pulled him into a hug. “Of course, Spike! Why were you so nervous?”
“Because I didn’t want to sound like I only cared about the gems.” explained the little dragon, rubbing his forehead. “Hum, have fun in the rock farm, okay?”
“I will.” Pinkie backed and smiled to her friends. “Thanks for coming to the station, girls. I wish-“
“All aboard!” shouted the stationmaster. “The train is leaving in a minute!”
“Oh! Bye girls!” Pinkie rushed to the closest door and looked for an empty seat. The train came alive and started whirring and spitting clouds of steam that covered the platform. The machine started moving, very slowly at first but quickly accelerating. Pinkie waved goodbye to her friends until they were five barely visible points on the horizon.
Pinkie let out a sigh and dropped in her seat. Being busy with the preparations gave something to think about other than how the visit would go. But now, alone in the train, the worry came back once again. She tried to get comfortable and enjoy the views from her window, but her mind was somewhere else.
“-Ponies always get confused when I tell that that I grew up in a rock farm. They say ‘But Pinkie, there are rocks everywhere! Why would you grow rocks? And how do you even grow rocks?’. Well, actually we don’t grow rocks, we just grow gems. You see, there are some places where the magic of the earth comes from the core to the surface. It’s a very, very powerful magic, but very different from pony magic, or any other kind! It’s like savage and dangerous and stuff! It’s the same magic that made the Old Worm so big and angry and dangerous! Anyways, those places are called Blooms, which is a funny name because nothing really blooms there. Gems are not flowers; it’s a very silly name.”
“Miss…”
“-but I kinda like it, it makes me feel like we grow flowers, which are very pretty. Well, gems are also pretty but flowers are different pretty I guess. So, that earth magic does something very cool to the ground. It-it-it” Pinkie struggled to find the right words. “It like, makes gems appear from thin ground. Thin ground? Can you say that? I’ve heard ‘thin air’, but I’m not sure-”
“Miss?”
“So the gems sloooowly grow, and we collect them and sell them. Dad said that the slower part is waiting for the seed to grow, which is the tiny gem from which the big gem grows. So we had to plant very little pieces of gems, the deeper the better, because that’s where the earth magic is stronger. Now that I think about it, gems do bloom! I wonder who was the first to think of that name, it must have been a really clever pony-”
“Miss!”
“Yes?” The pink mare finally looked at the young stallion seated in front of her. He had a closed book on his hooves and his expression was a mixture of confusion, annoyance and surprise.
“Look, miss. All that you’re saying is very interesting.” he said, waving a hoof at her. “B-but I don’t know you, and I didn’t ask you anything about rocks or farms. I just said the weather was nice! That’s…that’s all.”
“Oh!” Pinkie smiled to him. “Oh, well. I wasn’t talking to you, it was an exposition.”
“An…an exposition?”
“Yep. Anyways, the weather is very nice, yes. I am friends with the weather manager of my town, and they are working a lot to get it right.” she said, waving a hoof to the landscape.
The stallion blinked, confused but pleased by the sudden change of topic, and shook his head. “Yes, weather managing is a very complicate job. I do not think they get the credit they deserve.” he said, pushing his glasses up on his nuzzle.
“I know, right? And when everything is not perfect, bam! Ponies start complaining. Rainy days are the worst, she says.” Pinkie let out a giggle. “Every time they have to make it rain, what they get a flood of complains.”
Pinkie continued chatting with the stallion for the rest of the trip. It was exactly what she needed; something to keep her mind busy and not think of what may or may not happen. The conversation came to a sudden end when the conductor announced the next stop. Her stop. Pinkie said goodbye to the male pony and walked to the closest door. The train reached the platform, stopped with a deafening whirr and an attendant opened the door. Pinkie stepped down and took a deep breath.
The station was bursting with activity. Small groups of ponies unloaded the cargo from the freight carts and substituted it with different boxes, barrels and packages. A few passengers went down from the train, and a bigger number stepped inside it. The air was full of noises, shouts, voices and smelled like steam, dust and sweat. Pinkie was not used to it, and just for a moment she felt lost. She looked around and managed to find her cart among the crowd. After a short walk and several pushes, she put on the yoke and pulled the cart out of the station.
The town itself started several meters away from the station. A weathered wooden read ‘Welcome to Gravelpit’, greeting any visitors of the humble town. That was a new addition, Pinkie did not remember it from the last time. And everything else seemed…different. On the years the mare had stayed in Ponyville, her birth town had grown very little. However, in her memories her village was a rather gray and brown place, much like the train that had taken her to there. Now, however, it seemed a little bit more colorful. There were more ponies walking on the street, enjoying the cloudy but pleasant weather. Here and there some foals played tag and laughed, which brought a nostalgic smile to Pinkie. She missed her sisters.
Pinkie walked aimlessly through the streets for a while, enjoying the memories that they brought back. While she had lived mostly at the rock farm, Gravelpit and its surroundings were not unknown to the pink pony. Her thoughts were interrupted when somepony called her by her name.
“Pinkie? Is that you?”
The pony turned her head and grinned. “Agatha!” she galloped to the elder mare and gently hugged her. “You haven’t changed at all!”she said, looking at the other pony from head to hooves. Agatha was a very old unicorn with light blue coat and multihued blue mane, which Pinkie found amazing when she was a foal. Atop of her muzzle sat a pair of glasses and she wore an agate necklace. Her CutieMark was a golden scale.
Agatha let out a laugh and eyed Pinkie critically. “I haven’t, but I think you have.” she said. Her voice was polite and carried a certain feeling of knowledge. She smiled and ruffled even more Pinkie’s mane. “It’s been ages since I saw you. Look at yourself, you’ve become such a nice lady! What brings you to old Gravelpit, dear? Visiting your parents, I assume?”
“Yep!” Pinkie nodded a few times. Agatha was the town’s gem appraiser, and so she was a good friend of her parents. She was also her Granny’s best friend before she passed away. “I haven’t seen them in ages, and I’ve missed them and my sisters, and you too! How are you doing?”
“Oh, the usual.” she replied, smiling and waving a hoof. “Same business, same ponies, maybe a few more ailments; nothing too important.”
“Have you seen my sisters arrive?” asked Pinki, hopefully.
Agatha tapped her chin for a moment. “I don’t think so, dear. Marble and Limestone, was it? I never remember their names; I always called them by their nicknames.”
“Yeah.” Pinkie smiled. She was the one who came up with those nicknames for her sisters and herself. They had used them so often than most of ponies on the village though they were actually named like that. “If you see them, could tell them that I’m here already? They are supposed to arrive today”
Agatha nodded. “Sure, dear. Now tell me, how long are you staying here?”
“I’m here for a whole month.” replied Pinkie.
“Ah, very good. Make sure to visit me some day, dear. I would love to chat with you over a cup tea.” she made a gesture to the general direction of the rock farm. “Now go. I’m sure you’re impatient to see your parents again.”
“I will Agatha, I promise.” Pinkie traced a cross over her crest and pulled the blue pony into another hug. “I’m happy to see you again.” She backed and started pulling the cart down a different street, straight to the farm.
“Bye, Pinkie!” Agatha waved a hoof, smile on face. When the pink mare disappeared around a corner, the elder pony let out a happy sight. Such a short encounter with Pinkie had already brightened her day, and possibly her week. She would be looking forward to see her again.
***
As Pinkie walked down the path to the rock farm of their parents, she gazed at the sigh. The farm was located almost two kilometers away from the town, in the middle of an empty plain of rocks and gravel. But for Pinkie’s knowing eye, that bare land had a hundred stories to tell. She recognized the stone formations where she used to play tag with her sisters, the pillar of granite that she tried – and failed – to climb so many times when she was a foal, and that was barely taller than her now; and one particular spot where she faceplanted while running away from Inkie.
In the center of the plain sat a humble house made of wood. It was about the same size as Applejack’s, but the unpainted walls and dark hue of the wood gave it a much somber look. Still, seeing the house where she grew made Pinkie’s heart speed and a grin spread on her face. She forced her pace, her worry completely overcastted by pure excitement and joy.
After a few minutes of trotting, the pony reached the house and gave it a good look. It had barely changed in all those years. Pinkie unleashed the cart and climbed the few steps in front of the door. She took a deep breath, gave a shake to her mane and knocked. After a pause, the door opened to a small creak and a gray head poked out. “Yes? What can I- Pinkamena!” Cloudy Quartz swung the door open and hugged her daughter. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re here.” she whispered, a small smile on her lips.
Pinkie returned the hug and smiled. “I wasn’t going miss this chance, mom.” she said, crossing the threshold and looking around. Once again, everything was still the same. She let out a happy sigh. “It’s nice to be back.”
“Cloudy? Who is it?” asked a low male voice from the kitchen. Igneous Rock poked his head and grinned broadly. It was an expression Pinkie had seen a hooful of times. A very small hooful. “Pinkamena!” The old stallion trotted to her and gave the pink pony a hug. Pinkie felt stunned for a second, unused to that kind of displays of affection from her father, but returned the hug nonetheless.
Pinkie backed and looked at their parents with attention. Cloudy Quartz had a few white strands of hair on her mane, while Igneous Rock’s coat was slightly more grayish in hue. But once again, it seemed that time had stood still in the rock farm. Pinkie felt a rush of warm on her heart. Everything was just like in her memories. With a little of luck, her sisters wouldn’t have changed too much either.
Igneous cleared his throat, catching Cloudy’s attention. They exchanged a look and nodded. “Pinkamena…Pinkie.” said Cloudy with a small smile. “There’s a surprise for you in your old room.” she pointed to the stairs. “We think you may want to see it now.” Pinkie blinked, completely caught off guard. Then a broad grin spread on her face. “A surprise? Oh, I love surprises!” chanted Pinkie, bouncing up the steps in threes. The room she had shared with her sisters took most of the second floor, and it was also used as a storage room. To anypony else, that may sound like an awful place to sleep, but truth to be told, the three sisters used to play in that room for hours, building cardboard fortresses or simply hiding from the others.
The pink mare opened the door and peeked inside. The room was in darkness, but even in the dim light, Pinkie managed to see a lump on the closest bed. Her bed. Grinning, she took some cautious steps and noticed something very odd. The lump was very irregular in shape and was under the covers. That was clearly not a present. Confused, she crawled closer, her eyes slowly getting used to the low illumination. And then she saw it. A head resting on the pillow, and a silky mane sprawled on the mattress. Pinkie suppressed and excided squeak and creeped closer, like a cat on the hunt for a bird. She reached the bed and sat on her back legs, slowly rising her forelegs, a maniac grin plastered on her face.
She took a very deep breath and released a deafening shout as she dropped all her weight on the bed. “MARBLE ‘INKIE’ PIE! WAKE UP!”
The impact sent the other pony bouncing to the other side of the bed, landing on the floor with a loud ‘thudd’. “W-what? How many times have I told you to not do that, V-” She stopped in mid-sentence when she saw her sister. For several second she just stared at her, jaw open.
Pinkie giggled and hopped onto the bed. “What? It’s like you’ve seen a ghost!”
Inkie shook her head and grinned. “Is it really you?”
“Of course!” replied Pinkie, tackling her sister onto a bear hug and making them both fall to the floor again as she nuzzled her neck. “I’m so happy to see you’re here!”
“P-pinkie.” choked out Inkie. “A-air, please.”
The mare released her sister and let her sit straight. Despite having just suffered a full pounce, she was smiling. “Me too.” she said, giving her a gentle hug and a nuzzle. “I didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow.” She backed and stretched her back, causing a small ‘pop’. “Ow…you’ve gained a bit of weight.” she said casually.
“WHAT?!” shrieked Pinkie, a exaggeratedly hurt expression on her face.
“Oh!” Inkie blushed and covered her snout with a hoof. “Me and my big mouth. I’m sorry Pinkie, I didn’t meant to-”
“Well, I may have just a teeny-bitty more of weight, but you…” She made a pause to study critically her sister, trying to find an imperfection to return the – accidental - sting. Clean and smooth dark grey coat. Long, silky mane. Nicely-shaped body. “…I give up, you’re perfect.” she said, pouting.
Inkie let out a laugh, but shook her head and spoke again. “Sorry Pinkie, I-”
The other mare held up a hoof to silence her. “Ah-ah! I have gained some weight. Living in a bakery tends to do you that.” she said, shrugging and sitting on the bed. After a moment, Inkie did the same. “And I know you didn’t mean to insult me, I kinda…jumped on you so it was easy to notice. So it’s fine.”
The gray mare looked at her for a second and smiled. “Thank you Pinkie.” She reached onto the bedside table and grabbed a pink bowtie. “I arrived to the farm very early in the morning.” she explained as she put the lace around her neck. “I took the night train from Canterlot, so Father and Mother decided to let me sleep until you and Blinkie arrived. She’s not here, is she?” she added, suddenly worried.
“No, she’s not.” Inkie let out a relief sigh at that. “So, what’s up, Inkie?”
“Octavia.” whispered the other sister.
Pinkie blinked. “The what now?”
“Octavia.” The gray mare looked at her sister and smiled sheepishly. “After getting my CutieMark I decided to change my name, I think I mentioned it in the letter I send you talking about the news.” She fidgeted with her hooves. “But I never managed to take a decision until a couple of years ago.” She made a pause, and smiled. “Do you like it?”
“Yes!” replied Pinkie, nodding and making her mane bounce up and down. “It sounds very…refined!”
Octavia smiled, but then sighed and looked down. “I can’t believe I have neglected you for so long.” she whispered, covering her face with her hooves. “It’s like for years I have not cared for you at all…And I’m sorry…I’ve really missed you all, but…” She let out a dry laugh. “I suppose I never took the time to prove it.”
Pinkie put a hoof on her sister’s shoulder. The gray mare raised her head and looked her in the eyes. “I won’t say you didn’t, that would be lying.” said Pinkie softly. “But I am sure you had a reason…and besides, you’re here to fix that aren’t you?”
Despite herself, Octavia managed to smile. She leaned in and nuzzled her sister. “You’re right, Pinkie. Thank you.”
“Don’t mention.” giggled the other mare, returning the gesture.
The two sisters stayed like that for a few minutes. Octavia’s regret for ignoring her family was still there, but now she was completely determined to make up for it. When she arrived to the farm that very morning, her parents had welcomed her with glee and joy. After a short chat, they had understood how tired she was and let her sleep for the rest of the morning. And Octavia was extremely thankful for that. It had proven that, despite all the time separated, that was still her family. However, there was one last sting in her heart, something that she was not yet ready to tell.
Pinkie, on the other hoof, could not be happier. So far, everything had gone as nice and smooth as silk. In just the half an hour she had been in the house, she already knew all her fears and worries were just silly.
Both sisters jumped when a knock on the door interrupted their thoughts. For a brief second, the two ponies exchanged a glance and smiled.
“Blinkie!” they shouted at the same time, hopping from the bed and rushing downstairs, Pinkie barely touching the steps and Octavia forgetting her well-practiced good manners.
An avalanche of fur and hooves slammed against the floor. At some point of their hurried descent, one of the sisters had tripped over the other and made both of them fall into a mess of limbs. Later they would blame each other, but at the moment they were too busy trying to get up.
“This is not a good way to wake up.” grumbled Inkie, finally managing to get on her hooves. “If every day is going to be like this, I may never return to Canterlot.” She turned around and offered a hoof to her sister, which she accepted.
“I agree with you there.” said Pinkie as she rubbed her forehead, still smiling.
“Are you two okay?” asked Cloudy with worry, trotting to them and quickly checking for injuries.
“They’re fine, Quartz. They’re tough gals” said Igneous, walking to the door. After a small pause, he pulled it open.
On the other side of the threshold there was a pony. A mare of gray mane and coat, golden eyes and a pair of saddlebags draped over her back. Blinkie Pie smiled and spoke with a thick Canterlonian accent. “Father, mother! Sisters!” She trotted inside and gave each one a hug.
Pinkie was the last one, and when her turn arrived, she clamped her sister into a rib-crushing hug. “OhMyGosh, I am just soooooooo happy to see you again!”
Blinke grumbled. “P-pinkie…Air.” she managed to choke out.
“Oh, sorry!” the pink mare apologized, quickly releasing her sister.
“For heaven’s sake.” muttered Blinkie in annoyance, rubbing her pained ribs. “I expected you to have stopped doing this.”
“I’m sorry!” said Pinkie with a culprit smile. “I just couldn’t help myself.”
Her sister gave a small eye roll but smiled. “It’s fine. I am just as excited to see you all again.” she said, looking at her family reunited once again. An idea seemed to pop in her mind. “Oh, just one second!” She rummaged inside her saddlebags and extracted an elegant camera with a shutter connected with a long wire. “I bought this specially for this moment. Could you please stand over there?” she said, making a gesture to the middle of the dining room.
The other four ponies obeyed and formed a compact group, with the two parents standing behind and Pinkie and Octavia sitting on the front. Meanwhile Blinkie put the camera on a shelf and set it up. Then she trotted to her family, holding the wire on her mouth and sat next to their sisters. “Alright, say cheese!” she said, dropping the shutter and stepping on it with a hoof. The camera flashed, and for a moment the word went white.
***
“-And then the queen was gone, and they married, and lived happily ever after. Well, I guess they are happy. Twilight would have told us if things had gotten wrong.” finished Pinkie. She had started telling the story at the beginning of the dinner, and had finished just before the desserts.
“I was out of Canterlot that day.” added Blinkie. “So we didn’t know anything about that pink wall of light until some days later.”
“Me too.” said Octavia. “I was shopping in Manehattan, and when the wall of light went through it felt…” she made a pause as she rubbed her hooves together. “It was weird, yet nice.”
Igneous grumbled something under his breath. “Are we really so in the middle of nowhere that we didn’t know what had exactly happened until now?” he complained, slamming a hoof against the hardwood table. “That day, a messenger came to the town and said that Canterlot had been attacked, but they have dealt with them already. But that’s all! Anything else were just rumors.” Cloudy Quartz put a hoof on his shoulder. “Ingeous…” she whispered with worry.
The stallion let out a sigh. “Yeah, yeah. It’s just that I think we deserved to know what exactly had happened, darn it.”
There was a moment of silence, that ended when Cloudy got up and walked to the kitchen. “I’ll bring the desserts.”
“Yay, desserts!” Pinkie hopped on her seat. Even before going to Ponyville and starting working in the Sugarcuber Corner, Pinkie had always loved helping her mother make sweets. The Cakes were better bakers, but there was something special about the way her mother made chocolate pudding.
Cloudy also let her lick the chocolate bowl, which was a plus. The Cakes usually told her to wash it immediately. Party poppers.
Both Octavia and Blinkie smiled as well. “I don’t know when was the last time I felt so full.” commented Blinkie. “Don’t let anyone fool you: Canterlot cuisine may be over the top, but it will cost you a fortune to actually get full. It’s just not worth it.”
“So, what do you do now, Blinkie?” asked Pinkie, resting her chin on the table and looking at her sister.
The gray mare raised an eyebrow. “Really, Pinkie?” she said with amusement. “I thought you were old enough to have stopped with those names.”
“Actually,” responded Pinkie, smiling. “I changed my name some years ago. I am legally called ‘Pinkamena Diane Pie’.”
Her sister just stared at her for several second before frowning. “Huh. Well, it is your choice, I suppose.” She leaned back on her chair and looked to the ceiling. “As you know, I got into the Canterlot University shortly after leaving Gravelpit. I don’t like to brag, but I finished my studies with excellent marks.” A small smile of pride spread on her face. “After that, I found a job as a geology teacher in the University itself. My colleagues say I am one of the youngest professors in the story of that institution.”
“Whoah.” muttered Pinkie. “That’s awesome!”
Limestone let out a chuckle. “Not the word I would have used, but thanks nonetheless.” She gave a flick to her light gray mane. “It is a nice job. Boring at times, but the check at the end of each month makes it worth.”
“I don’t mean anything by it, but…” Octavia fidgeted with her hooves before speaking again. Pinkie looked at her with surprise. That was a habit she didn’t have before. It was cool seeing how her sisters had changed over time, and yet were still the same. “Isn’t it somehow a waste of your talent, finding gems? And I do remember you liked working on the mines.”
Limestone let out a sigh and closed her eyes. “Yes, you are not mistaken, sister. I miss being on the mines. Just look at me!” She extended her forelegs and studied them with a frown. “I have lost so much muscle mass.”
“You were the strongest of the three.” nodded Pinkie.
“But yes, things are like they are now, and I am not going to change them now.” Limestone shrugged and crossed her forelimbs.
“Well, I think you are wrong there, Lime.” grumbled Igneous, who had been silent for the conversation. The three sisters had almost forgotten about him. “Money is always good to have, but it ain’t the most important thing. Doing what you like is much, much more important.”
The mare let out an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes. “Look dad, I am not-” However, she was interrupted by Cloudy walking back to the dining room with a silver tray on her mouth. On the plate, there were five bowls of dark chocolate pudding. She placed one in front of each pony, and then took a seat next to her husband.
“Have I missed anything?” she asked, completely oblivious to the conversation that had just taken place.
“No, nothing.” replied Limestone as she grabbed a spoon and dunked it on the dessert. After a moment, Octavia decided to imitate her and let it go. Pinkie was already busy tracing circles on the dense substance with her spoon. She was postponing the moment just a little more to enjoy the smell and texture of the pudding.
Cloudy blinked and looked at the stallion, who just shrugged and proceeded to attack the dessert.
“Yummy!” said Pinkie through a mouthfull of chocolate. “I don’t care what anypony may say. This is the best pudding in Equestria!”
***
After the dinner was over, Limestone went upstairs to unpack her luggage, while Pinkie and Octavia helped her to clean the dishes. Igneous had left the house, saying something about checking the tool shed.
“I hope you find your old beds comfortable.” said Cloudy Quartz. “We have moved some of the boxes so you have more space.”
Octavia seemed to freeze for an instant. “A-actually.” she stammered. “I was going to stay in an hotel, in Gravelpit itself.”
“Oh? Why’s that, dear?” asked Cloudy.
“Yeah! I wanted to make a pillow fort with you!” lamented Pinkie. “And just with Blinkie, it will be half the fun!”
Octavia rubbed her hooves together. “W-well, it’s just that I…I rented a room in Gravelpit and-and…” the mare’s voice dropped to a whisper.
Pinkie and Cloudy shared a look. “And what, dear?” asked the older mare.
“Well, I paid in advance because I-I though there wouldn’t be beds for all of us, so…I will have to sleep there.” she muttered, her lavender eyes fixed on her hooves.
Cloudy smiled and shook her head. “Oh, I am sure you can ask for a refund, dear. Nopony here is going to-”
“No!” interrupted Octavia, perhaps a bit more loud than necessary. She hurried to amend her slip. “S-sorry. I mean, it is fine. I’ll sleep in the town, and be back in the morning.”
Cloudy looked at her in confusion. “Uh, well if that is what you want, then sure.” she said after a moment. “But I don’t see why-”
“Thanks!” interrupted Octavia, rushing to the front door. “I love you mom, bye!” She waved goodbye and slammed the door shut.
The two mares stood there, trying to process what exactly had just happened. “Well, that was weird!”said Pinkie, crossing her front hooves over her chest. “She didn’t even finish her dessert!”
Quartz let out a sad sigh. “It was very unusual, yes. I wonder what got onto her.” After a few more seconds, the gray mare shook her head. “Let’s not think more about it, alright? We’ll ask her tomorrow. Now, go upstairs and help your sister. I’ll take care of the rest here.”
“Yes ma’am!” saluted Pinkie before bouncing to the upper floor.
As she climbed, however, her prancing went slower and slower, and she was merely walking as she reached the door and peeked inside. There was Limestone, carefully unpacking her stuff and neatly placing it on the mattress. The camera, two dresses, one ivory brush and a wooden mane comb; a small sack of coins, a two books and a couple of packages of unknown content. The gray mare noticed Pinkie and smiled to her, while grabbing the packs and placing them inside a drawer with a smooth movement.
Pinkie tilted her head. “What is that?” she asked, walking closer.
“It’s a secret.” replied Limestone with a small smile. “And you better not rummage in my things; I will know.” she warmed as she took the comb and started brushing her mane.
It was true. Since they had always lived in the same room, it was very hard for one sister to keep anything hidden from the others. While Octavia had preferred the use of locks and Pinkie simply managed to find amazing hiding spots, Limestone somewhat just always knew when any of the sisters were trying to uncover her secrets.
Pinkie pouted. “Fine then.” She walked to her bed and lacily draped on the cold sheets. “Octavia is gone.”
Limestone’s hoof froze. “What now?”
“She just left.” explained Pinkie. “She said she had already paid for a room, so…” Pinkie shrugged. “I was really looking forward to spend this night with the two of you.” she lamented.
“How strange.” commented Limestone, resuming her brushing. The room fell into silence for a few minutes, the only sounds the soothing brush of the wood against her mane and the muffled breathing of the pink mare. For a mare so used to activity, that moment of silence was surprisingly pleasant. However, it didn't last long.
Pinkie raised her head “Limestone?” she muttered.
“Mmh?” hummed the gray mare, not looking up.
“Do you wanna build a pillow fort?” she started singing softly.
“What now?” Limestone looked at her, confusion plain on her face.
“Come on let’s go and play. I haven’t seen you in ages. Come to have fun” Pinkie rolled to her back and grinned. “You have been away so long. We used to be best buddies. And now we’re not. I wish you would tell me why.”
“Pinkie, that’s enough.” said Limestone, frowning.
“Do you want to build a pillow fort?”
“No, I don’t!” said curtly the older sister. Pinkie’s ears went flat on her skull. “The three of us are grown-up mares now, and while both Octavia and I have matured, you’re still a child.” she made a pause, disapprovingly shaking her head. “We’re too old to be horsing around, Pinkie. I don’t know how you’ve managed to know, behaving like that.” With that, she turned around and continued brushing her mane in silence, a frown still on her face.
“Oh.” whispered Pinkie. “Then I guess I will…go to sleep. Like a grown-up mare. Yeah.” Feeling rejected, the pink mare slided under her covers and went to sleep. Some minutes later, Limestone turned off the small oil lamp and went to bed too.
When the sun rose the next morning, it was greeted by a very foggy Gravepit. Last night, the cold air from the mountains had descended, covering the small mining village in a thick layer of mist. It was one of those days that remembered ponies all across Equestria that winter may be over, but the cold was certainly going to stay for a while, to appear when it was most unexpected.
The upper room of the rock farm was still shrouded on darkness. A small moan signaled that some pony was awake. From under the heavy covers of a bed, a disheveled straight mane poked out. The pony rubbed her eyes and got off the bed with the elegancy of a manticore in a glassware store. Despite being so peppy, Pinkie was not a morning pony. In fact, she needed something very specific every morning to get that energy.
The mare dragged herself downstairs and into the kitchen. Then she opened a single eye and scanned the room for the fuel she needed so desperately. There, in one of the cupboards on the left, was the bag of coffee. With a huge effort, she grabbed the bag and poured three spoons of that dark powder. After a moment of hesitation, she added a fourth one. Today was going to be a long day, and she needed full power. She managed to light the fire and put a kettle on it. After a few minutes, she poured the hot water on the coffee.
‘There’s something I am forgetting…’ mused Pinkie in silence, stirring the coffee. Her brain was screaming something, but she was too sleepy to understand it. After a few second, it finally hit her. She opened both eyes and looked downwards. ‘That’s right. I forgot the cup. Again.’
***
One hour later, the rest of the family had already had a full breakfast. It was probably the most boring meal of the day. Since she was a filly, Pinkie remembered just having simple, plain oatmeal for breakfast. Cloudy usually stayed up until very late at night, because she didn’t worked in the mines and thus did not have to get up early. That only left Igneous, but the brown stallion never cared too much for cooking and preferred to spend that time in mining instead.
With the passage of the years, the three sisters had gotten so used to eat oatmeal for breakfast that they refused to have them in any other moment. Suggesting the opposite was complete craziness.
“I have some business in the town.” stated Igneous after finishing his oatmeal. “I will be back in the afternoon.”
The old stallion got up and stretched his legs, letting out a small groan. Pinkie suddenly wondered her father still worked on the mines. Back when they were fillies, they helped him in the galleries, usually pulling carts while he mined with his heavy steel pickaxe. Despite not being as valuable as natural gems, the ones grown in the rock farm were still valuable enough to let them life without any problem. However, Pinkie was not sure if they still exploited the underground.
When the front door closed, Pinkie turned to her mother, but apparently Limestome was wondering the same thing, and asked first. “Mother? Does father still work on the mines?”
“No, dear.” replied the gray mare as she placed her dishes in the sink for Pinkie to wash. “Your father retired some years ago. We live now from the savings.”
“Hum…” Limestone seemed to ponder something for a moment. “How big are those savings? If you need money, I could give you some.” she offered. “My paycheck is more than enough to cover my needs.”
Cloudy let out a small chuckle. “There is no need. We had quite a sum of money saved, enough to life comfortably.” she paused for a moment, and her smile went slightly broader. “Besides, we did sell the mining rights of the bloom. There is now another family living on the other side of the valley.”
“Oh-oh! There are new ponies on the valley?” cheered Pinkie, hopping in place and splashing washing water everywhere. “How many? Are they nice?”
“Pinkie, be careful.” asked Cloudy Quartz, her voice hardening just for a second. “I think they were four ponies. I am afraid I don’t know them personally. They moved a few months ago, and I didn’t have the time to go there.” She tossed a dry washcloth to her daughter. “There, clean that mess.”
Pinkie quickly obeyed. “Limestone, the three of us should go meet them some day!”
Her sister shrugged. “I don’t see why not. By the way, where is Octavia?”
“She’s in the town.” replied Cloudy Quartz. “She wanted to sleep in one of the inns there.”
“Huh.” Limestone frowned a bit at that. “That’s odd. When will she come back?”
“Oh, I am sure she will be here any second now.” assure Pinkie, crossing her forelegs and leaning on the table. “Aaaaany second now.”
There was a knock on the door. “Whoah.” Pinkie blinked slowly “Am I a psyker?”
***
Three ponies marched to the northern side of the valley. The first two were carrying two saddlebags, while the last pulled a cart with three sets of pickaxes and magical lanterns. Each lantern contained a magically-charged quartz crystal that emitted light when a knob was turned. It was an absolute need for non-unicorn ponies that needed to go underground.
“Whose idea was this again?” asked Octavia. She had pulled her long mane into a braid, to avoid it from getting stuck while she worked. “I didn’t mind mining when I was a foal, but I don’t see much point on doing it just for fun.”
“It’s not the same, Octavia.” replied Limestone with a small frown. She was the one pulling the cart, and who had suggested going back to the old mines. “Don’t say you don’t miss the old galleries?”
“I don’t think I do, Limestone.” said Octavia, letting out a sigh. “Mining is a hard and tiring work, and I don’t think anything good can come out of this.”
“I am excited! Maybe we could dig some gems!” chimed Pinkie Pie. “Just think about it: How big will have gotten the ones we burrowed the last time we were there?”
Octavia blinked and then smiled. “Alright, you got me there.” she admitted.
“That was my idea in the first place.” grumbled Limestone. That was half true. While the overgrown gems had passed her mind, she actually wanted to mine just for the sake of it. Octavia was right; it was a very tiring work, but the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment after a hard day of exhausting exercise was very worth it.
After some minutes of walking, they reached the entrance to the underground galleries. Limestone grabbed the pickaxes and lanterns from the cart and distributed them. The saddlebags they had had a special pocket for the pickaxe and a hook for the lantern, allowing them to walk oh all four while having light to see.
“Hey, what is that?” Pinkie Pie was pointing to a small wooden house, almost hidden behind a rock formation.
“Mother mentioned another family living in the valley, remember?” replied Limestome. “That must be their house.”
“Ooooh…can we visit them?” asked Pinkie with a hopeful smile. “They may be nice!”
“Maybe later.” responded the other sister, turning around and descending into the caves. Pinkie quickly trotted after her sister. Octavia remained outside for a few seconds, and then hurried after the other two.
“Wait! Why didn’t I know about that?”
***
The galleries of the mines were narrow, barely enough to allow two ponies to walk side-by-side, but were unusually tall, enough for a pony to stand on its back legs. The caverns connected by those galleries were even taller and much wider. While steam and magic-powered drills had existed for many years, Igneous was a very traditional pony when it came to mining. No explosives, no magic and no steam, just old and reliable raw muscle power. It made the extraction of the gems much slower, but assured that they wouldn’t be damaged by excessive force.
Limestone turned the knob on the side of the lantern, and the magically charged crystal light up with a bluish glow. She held it up and studied the three galleries that opened in front of her. If her memories were correct, the one on the center was the one she was looking for.
“So, are you going to tell me who were those?” came Octavia’s words from behind Pinkie. Limestone ignored her and walked to the gallery.
“Mom said they sold the mines to another family of ponies.” explained Pinkie, following her sister. “Mom and dad are living from the savings now.”
Octavia nodded. “Good. I was worried father could still be working on the mines. He’s too old for that already.”
“Father is stubborn enough to work for forty more hears.” added Limestone with a chuckle. “And mother would probably not argue.” That caused a laugh on the other two sisters.
“Talking about father.” said Octavia. “I have noticed he has softened a bit.”
Limestone shook her head. “I doubt it. He’s just happy to see us, after so long. In a few days, he will be back to his old self.”
“Yeah, dad has always been a grumpy-pants.” added Pinkie Pie. “I think the first time I actually saw him smiling was the day I got my CutieMark.”
Octavia let out a sigh. “I wish you were mistaken, but I am afraid you’re not. He barely played with us at all. It was mostly mother and Agatha the ones we spend more time with.”
“He has been a good father, though.” added Limestone, looking back and smiling to her sisters, who nodded. “I wonder how he spends his time now.”
The exit of the gallery was close. The tunnel opened into a small natural cavern. From the ceiling hanged dozens of multi-hued stalactites, creating a sigh that seemed to be taken from a fairytale. The air was cool and had a musty smell that anypony else may found annoying, but for the three sisters was familiar. Limestone took a few steps forward and took a deep breath. She had missed that underground smell much more than her two sisters.
“I do remember this cave!” chirped Pinkie Pie, taking a good look at the cavern.
“In that case,” Limestone turned around and extracted her pickaxe. “do you remember where you buried the gems? Because that’s what we’re doing today.”
“This may be difficult.” Octavia scanned the walls and floor. She did remember the place as well, but the memories were blurred and the places were obscured. Recalling the exact points where she had buried the gems so long time ago would be…absolutely impossible. “But I am up for it.”
Pinkie grabbed her magic lantern and pickaxe and hopped away. Limestone trotted in a different direction. “I trust you know your way, sisters. I wouldn’t want to lose you here.” she called out.
After a moment of hesitation, Octavia lighted her lantern and held it high, trying to remember. As no memories came, she shrugged and took a random path. Luck would decide if she was successful or not.
Time seemed to slip. The dark gray mare wasn’t sure how much time she had been underground. The only sounds were the drops of water falling from the ceiling and the hits of the pickaxes of her sisters, the latter barely an echo now. On those moments when her sisters stopped mining, the silence was almost deafening. More than once, she found herself holding her breath for some reason. Did being underground cause her anxiety? Perhaps. Or maybe it was just the absolute silence.
Her skills were rusty, too. In all the time she’s been there, she had barely found two gems. One was a big magenta ruby, that unfortunately had a huge crack on the middle. The other was not a gem per se, but the cubic crystal of pyrite was nice enough to be worth collecting. The two of them were now on her saddlebags.
Octavia studied the walls, searching for any spot on the stone. They were rare and very easy to miss, and the lack of practice certainly didn’t help. Maybe behind that stalagmite? She trotted forward and ducked. Yes! She had found another. She grinned and grabbed her pickaxe.
She was so focused in her task that she didn’t noticed the pony creeping closer from behind until she felt a hoof poke her shoulder. Octavia let out a massive shriek and turned around, suddenly face-to-face with Pinkie Pie.
“Gee, thanks!” whined the pink pony. “I wanted to talk to you in private.”
Octavia stared her sister for a second, not sure if she should feel more angry or surprised. She opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Limestone. “Octavia?” she called out from another gallery. “Octavia, are you okay?”
Pinkie grimaced and shook her head. “I am not here.” she mouthed.
“I am fine!” Octavia shouted back. “Sorry!”
The two mares sat down in silence for a few seconds, until they were certain that Limestone was not coming. Octavia was the first to break the silence. “What is up with you and your stealth attacks?” she hissed, annoyed. Her heart was still racing in her chest. “I am sorry.” Pinkie wore a sheepish smile. “I just didn’t think I would scare you so badly.”
Octavia let out a sigh and facehooved. “Next time try not to give me a heart attack.” she took some deep breaths. “What do you want?”
“I want to talk to you.”
“What is so important that Limestone can’t hear about?” Octavia asked, raising an eyebrow.
Pinkie grinned. “It’s about yesterday.”
The gray pony went stiff like a plank. “W-what do you m-mean?” she stammered.
Octavia huffed. “I am not hiding anything.” She tossed her mane and looked away, closing her eyes and trying to look displeased.
Her sister giggled and leaned forward. “Say…who is him?” she whispered on her ear.
Octavia’s eyes shot open and her heart skipped a beat. She slowly turned around to face her sister, who seemed to be making a huge effort to holding back the laugh. “Er…t-there is not him.” she assured.
Pinkie waved a hoof. “Pff, yeah. And I am Princess Celestia. You are dating a stallion.” she added, poking her chest with a hoof. “I am not!” she countered as she blushed.
“Do you-”
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake on my eye.” recited Octavia, making the proper gestures. “I am not dating any stallion.” Of course, there was a hole in the promise. It was perfect! Pinkie wouldn’t suspect a thing, and with a little bit of luck, she would leave her alone.
Her sister stared at for several seconds. Enough to make Octavia feel uncomfortable and wonder if she had somehow seen what she was trying to do. “Okay!” she eventually said as she got up to pick up her saddlebags. “You Pinkie Promised, so it must be true.”
Octavia let out a sigh of relief and grabbed her bags. When Pinkie put hers on her back, the stones inside clattered. ‘Wait, how many gems does she have?’ Octavia wondered. She shook her head and followed her sister. It was time to go home.
“However.” Pinkie spoke up, looking back at her with a mischievous smile. “I think you’re not actually telling me the truth.”
Octavia gulped. “But I Pinkie Promised!”
“You did.” Pinkie conceded. “But one of my friends said she would explain why she had disappeared while we had breakfast. And she simply left before that. It’s not that hard to do, saying something true while hiding the rest of the reality.” she pointed a hoof at her sister. “I’ll be watching you, Octavia.”
The next morning, Pinkie Pie woke up as a pile of limbs on the floor.
When she opened her eyes, she briefly wondered why her mattress felt so hard, which was quickly forgotten when she realized she was lying on the floor in such a position that would make Blossomforth herself cringe. She had somehow managed to sleep on her belly, but with her rear legs crossed over her back and her hind legs pointing backwards.
Pinkie Pie blinked and pondered her situation. She raised her head and looked to the other bed. There was Limestone, still sleeping. And of course, Pinkie didn’t want to wake her up. So with silence and care, she proceeded to untangle herself. One pull from here, one unnatural movement there, and the usage of joints that ponies should not have and…tah-da! Good as new! Satisfied, Pinkie hopped back into the bed, determined to sleep a little more, hopefully in a more comfortable position.
However, her brain decided it wasn’t the time to sleep. For starters, Pinkie was no longer tired, and thus there was not much reason to stay in bed. And while last night the pony was just too tired to think about anything but her bed, at the current moment that impediment was gone.
So then Pinkie thought about everything. Her parents were the same as always, and words were not enough to describe how much she had missed them. And it was obvious the feeling was mutual. When she was in Ponyville, she didn’t think much about them, but now…she was actually realizing how long it had been, and how much it had happened since she left Gravelpit. Suddenly, Pinkie understood how Twilight felt when she went back to Canterlot to assist in his brother’s wedding.
Then there was Octavia. She had clearly changed, both in appearance and in personality. Octavia had grown into a beautiful mare that made Pinkie want to go on a diet. Or at least cut out some pastries. Maybe. Her manners were polished and her speech careful and well-mannered from her contact with the high-society. That same high society that had no idea about having fun, and could be the most awful ponies that ever existed. But Pinkie could tell that Octavia was not like that. While talented, she had a very humble opinion of herself, and didn’t think she was better than anyone else.
Finally, there was Limestone. She had always been Pinkie’s favorite sister. Or…maybe that was Octavia? Were the twins even that different back when they were foals? Pinkie could swear they were not. However, now they were. While both Octavia and Limestone were more serious mares, Lime seemed to be…serious-er. She seemed less willing to have fun with small or silly thing. And that was just not nice. Pinkie pouted just thinking about that. It made her sad to see a pony who just seemed to not want to have fun, especially if said pony was her sister.
Pinkie Pie sighted and poked her head from under the covers. Too much thinking, it was getting boring. She glanced over her sister’s bed, where she was still sleeping peacefully. What hour was it anyways? The weak beams of the morning sun were filtering through the blinds, so it was almost time to get up. But time just seemed to not pass fast enough.
The pink mare groaned and rolled inside the covers until she completely undid the bed and the sheets were a twisted mess. After what seemed like hours, Pinkie finally ran out of patience. She crawled out of her bed and walked to her sister’s, not even bothering to free her body from the sheets.
“Limestone?” she whispered very gently to her sister, hoping to wake her up to finally do something.
The eyes of the gray pony fluttered open. But instead of the plain wooden ceiling, what Limestone first saw just after opening her eyes was a figure towering upon her, with its face hidden under the shadows of a cowl.
Limestone got up with a leap and clumsily took some steps back, whimpering some uncompressible sounds and tangling her legs with her sheets. When she reached the other edge of the bed, she let out a yelp and collapsed on the floor with a muffled ‘thump’.
Pinkie Pie blinked twice at her sister’s reaction. “Limestone?” she called out in a whisper. “I know I just got up, but I don’t think my mane is that terrible. Or is it?” She raised a hoof and felt her mane. No, it was fine.
A gray head poked from the other side of the bed. “Pinkie Pie? Why did you do that?” she hissed through her teeth. She didn’t look hurt at all, just a mix of surprised, annoyed and scared. After all, she had landed on the covers of the bed, so no harm.
“I’m sorry!” her sister replied, trotting around the furniture and aiding her to get back on her hooves. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Well you sure did achieve that.” said Limestone, getting up by herself. “Don’t do that, ever again.” she said curtly as she grabbed the covers and dropped them on the bed.
Despite her harsh tone, Pinkie couldn’t help but find this whole situation absolutely hilarious. “You got really scared just for that.” she said, trying to not burst into laughs.
Limestone opened her mouth and glared at her younger sister. “I can’t believe you’re making fun of me like that.” she muttered.
“It’s not making fun.” replied Pinkie, giving up and exploding into fits of bubbly laughter. “It was actually funny. All I did was come over here and you – oh, you should have seen your face. It was the best.” Pinkie’s legs gave up and she fell to the floor with severe laugh spasms.
Limestone glared her for one more second, before turning around and walking out of the room in a very outraged way. Pinkie didn’t even notice she was gone until she heard the door closing after her sister.
“Limestone?” Pinkie called out as she got up, her laughter disappearing. “Come on Limestone, you can’t be mad at me for that. Blinkie!” she called out as she ran downstairs.
***
A couple of hours and several apologies later, the two sisters were walking through the streets of Gravelpit, in search for the other gray mare.
Even though Pinkie had assured and repeated to the infinite that she didn’t mean any harm, Limestone had not quite forgiven her. It was just a small barb on her pride; would probably heal soon enough. Acting like she was mad would probably be enough for Pinkie to not do it again.
However, her plan had a small flaw: Pinkie seemed to have completely forgotten about the incident, and was acting exactly as if it had never happened. The bubblegum mare was cheerfully hopping – not walking – through the streets, waving at every pony she passed by, and sometimes making funny comments and asking questions to Limestone, who was just half-listening to her sister’s rambles.
It was plainly irritating. Limestone needed quite a bit of willpower to not yell her sister to walk and act like the grown-up mare she was. She didn’t mind the odd cheerfulness, just the immaturity. Granted, she was the younger sister, but…come on now, she was old enough to be more mature. And the way she had told them the changeling attack to Canterlot…it was like it all was just a huge game for her.
Thankfully, Limestone didn’t have much time to think about the subject, as they were approaching the inn where Octavia was staying for some reason. The gray mare frowned. That was another thing: Why wasn’t Octavia staying with her family, and instead wasting money by renting a room? I didn’t made sense.
“Pinkie Pie.” she spoke. Her sister stopped mid-air, spun around, and fell to the ground again. “Go get Octavia. I will wait here.”
“Oki-dokey!” replied Pinkie before barging though the door. Limestone grimaced and facehooved. Why did she have to be like that?
Pinkie asked the receptionist for the number of Octavia’s room, and hopped stairs up, chanting a song. She knocked three times the door, following the rhythm only she could hear.
There was the sound of a body falling to the floor with a muffled ‘thump’, then the clatter of hooves over hard wood, and finally, after almost a minute of silence, the door creaked open and a head poked out. Pinkie Pie covered her muzzle to stop a snort of laugh.
Octavia looked absolutely dreadful just after waking up. The mane of the three sisters was naturally silky and straight, falling over their necks like a curtain. Pinkie’s frilled and extremely tangled mane had first appeared back when she got her CutieMark and had been almost ever-present since then. The other two sisters always kept their manes almost completely straight. But now, Octavia’s mane was a complete mess, with hairs poking out in all directions. It looked like someone had just electrocuted her with a thunderhead cloud.
“Uh? Is there anything wrong?” muttered Octavia as she rubbed one of her amethyst eyes.
“Noooothing~.” responded Pinkie Pie with a broad grin. “It’s just that it looks like you just got zapped.” Despite her best efforts, Pinkie burst into laughs at her sister’s horrified expression.
“Is…is it really that terrible?” asked Octavia, feeling her mane with her hooves.
“It’s worse!” giggled Pinkie.
“I’ll be back in a second, I need to make me look presentable.” quaked the gray pony before closing the door, not even giving Pinkie the chance to say anything.
Almost thirty minutes later, the door finally creaked open again and Octavia emerged from her room, with her mane once again straight and perfect. At some point, Pinkie had given up standing and decided to lie down, and now raised both her head and an eyebrow.
“A second?” she deadpanned. “I almost had my grandfoals while I waited.”
“Oh hush.” replied Octavia, blushing slightly. “I didn’t take that long.”
The pink mare was about to reply, but then noticed that her older sister was wearing a pink bowtie around her neck. “What’s that?” she asked as she got up.
“Oh this?” Octavia looked down and readjusted the bow. “Concerto, the pony I work for, suggested that I should wear it to make me look more…classy, so to say.” she explained as she trotted down the hall, with Pinkie next to her. “I’ve gotten used to it, and now I feel weird when I’m not wearing it.”
Pinkie nodded, understanding that feeling. She had a similar issue with her mane; a single strand of hair hanged just before her eyes. In those rare moments when it wasn’t there, she felt very weird. “But, why are you wearing it today, and not yesterday and the day before that?” she asked with curiosity.
Octavia suddenly went very stiff and blushed. Pinkie stopped and regarded her. “Octi? You alright?”
The gray pony didn’t answer. Instead, her cheeks went a deeper shade of red. Just when Pinkie was starting to worry, Octavia managed to speak. “I-It’s just that I left the bowtie here, and didn’t have the chance to wear it again, until today.” she explained in a faint whisper.
Pinkie Pie eyed her for a moment, before apparently accepting the answer and continuing on her way. Octavia let out a relieved sigh and followed her sister.
***
In harsh contrast with the previous day, today the sky was clear and the sun was shining over Gravelpit. As soon as Octavia crossed the door of the inn, she covered her eyes with a hoof and looked upwards. “Ah, good. It seems the weather team had sun scheduled for today.”
“I don’t think there is a proper weather team in Gravelpit.” said Limestone as she got up. She had been sitting next to the door, waiting for her two sisters to come. She eyed her twin with irritation. “What took you so long, Octavia? I’ve been waiting here for quite a while.”
Octavia blushed and gracefully coughed on her hoof. “I’m sorry, but I just woke up. And I know for a fact that you spend more time in front of the mirror.” she added with a small smile.
Limestone opened her mouth to reply, but conceded her point with a nod. “So, did any of you have any plans for today?”
The other two mares shook their heads. “There is not much to do in Gravelpit, is it?” commented Octavia as she started trotting down the street. Limestone followed her in the same manner, while Pinkie decided to bounce, as usually.
“Not really.” replied Pinkie Pie with a smile. “In Ponyville, there is always something happening, so it’s kind of boring here. But it doesn’t matter, ‘coz I have you two to have fun!” she stopped her hops for a moment to give her sisters a nuzzle, and then resumed them.
The three mares walked in silence for a moment, until Limestone spoke again. “Talking about that, I don’t think you’ve told us what you do for a living. I am a professor, Octavia is a musician and you…” she waved a hoof to Pinkie.
“I’m a baker!” happily chirped Pinkie. “I make cakes and pies and cupcakes and candy. Well, not really candy, that’s more Bon Bon; but sometimes I make my own candy instead of buying it from ‘er, so I guess you could say-”
“So you have your own bakery?” interrupted Limestome, who looked at her sister honestly impressed. “That’s really good. And I thought you were a featherbra-”
“My own bakery? No, silly.” giggled Pinkie. “Mr and Mrs Cake own the bakery, I just work there, I’m still learning.”
“Still learning?” questioned Limestone, raising an eyebrow. “Pinkie, you’ve been living in Ponyville for years. How long have you been working there?”
“Oh!” Pinkie tapped her chin. “They hired me almost the first day I showed up, so I’ve been working for the Cakes for-”
“You can’t be serious.” interrupted again Limestone, who had stopped walking and was staring at her sister in disbelief. “THAT long, and you’re still an apprentice? Come on now it’s baking, not a university degree. It doesn’t take that long.”
“Hey!” Pinkie took that affirmation as a personal attack, and her smile disappeared. “I’ll let you know that baking is serious business! Much serious-er than you could ever imagine.”
“It’s just baking.” repeated Limestone. “You have an amazing memory, Pinkie. By now, you should have mastered your job. That, or you’re not as clever as I remembered.”
“I used to think baking was easy too!” replied Pinkie. “Until I started working in the Sugarcube Corner, that is. Then I discovered it’s as complicate as…” Pinkie struggled to find a good comparison for a few moments. “Geology!”
Limestone’s jaw dropped. “Are you seriously comparing geology with baking?” The mare spoke that last word with raw revulsion. “How dare you to compare something as important as the degree I chose with mixing ingredients on a bowl.”
Octavia could only watch as the argument grew in hostility and volume. How had it even started? “Girls?” she muttered, with little success. “Girls!” she repeated, this time louder, managing to get their attention. “What in Equestria has gone into you, Limestone?”
“Me?” she replied with a hurt expression. “It’s her who is speaking ill of my studies!”
Pinkie tried to respond, but was interrupted by Octavia. “Maybe, but you started, talking about what she does.”
“That’s not-” Limestone interrupted herself when she saw Pinkie’s devastated expression. She realized what she had just said about her smallest sister, and her ears folded back. A wave of guilt hit her. “I am sorry.” she muttered, looking to the cobblestone of the street. “I shouldn’t have said those things.” she said, taking a step to her sister and opening a leg for a hug. After an instant of hesitation, Pinkie smiled lightly and returned the hug. Octavia let out a sigh, satisfied because the dispute was over.
‘Even if they were true.’ though Limestone as she frowned. As soon as the hug broke, the frown disappeared and was substituted with a small smile. ‘Maybe my memory is betraying me, but I am sure Pinkie was very inteligent for her age. When she left Gravelpit, I expected she would be very successful. And yet, she’s just…a baking apprentice.’
“So…” started Limestone weakly, shaking away those thoughts. “Why don’t you tell us something about your career, Octavia?”
“Presto once asked me out.” said Octavia with a small smile as she stirred her tea. “But unfortunately for him, I had to decline. He’s just not my thing.” For the past hour, the three sisters had exchanged all kinds of small stories and anecdotes.
“How come?” asked Limestone, taking a sip of her coffee. “I thought you said he was a nice stallion.”
Octavia shrugged and lied back on her chair. “He’s handsome too, if I am completely honest. But he just wasn’t my thing.” She made a pause to drink from her cup. “Ah, delicious.” she said, letting out a small sigh of satisfaction.
“Hey, Octavia.” interjected Pinkie. “Do you know a pony called Lyra from the Music Academy of Canterlot?”
The gray pony frowned in thought. “I don’t think so.” she replied, shaking her head. “Could you describe her, please?”
“Uh…green unicorn. Green-and-white mane. Yellow eyes.” said Pinkie. “Oh! And casts magic hands! She uses them to play her lyre, it’s so cool! I wonder how she manages, with so many fingers.” Pinkie looked to her hoof for an instant. “Now that I think about it, I wonder if Twilight had to untangle Spike’s finger at some point.”
“Oh, I do remember her.” said Octavia, ignoring the last sentence. “I barely know her, but she’s friends with Beauty Brass.” she made a pause and tilted her head. “I’m not sure if she’s the kind of pony I would like. Last time she visited Beauty, they spent the night together, and both ended in a random motel with a massive hangover, and not remembering anything of the night.”
Pinkie waved a hoof. “Nah. I know Lyra, and she’s a really fun pony to be around, and great at parties. Especially if Bon Bon manages to keep her sober, which happens most of times, unless Berry is also partying. Then no pony gets off sober!” she ended with a giggle.
“How do you know so many ponies?” asked Limestone. “In the last hour, you’ve mentioned quite a number, and Ponyville is a small town.”
“I know every pony in Ponyville!” happily chirped Pinkie.
“You do?” Limestone raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
“Yep!” nodded Pinkie. “And they’re all my friends.”
Limestone smiled slightly, knowing for sure that her sister would be exaggerating. Many ponies called ‘friends’ just anypony. “Well, I wish I knew so many ponies. I bet they would be helpful for my career.”
“Friends are not for that!” said Pinkie, poking her sister on the chest.
“I know, I know.” replied Limestone, gently pushing her hoof away. “But they would help, right?”
“…right.” conceded Pinkie, giving a hesitant nod.
“Anyways.” interjected Octavia, trying to get the conversation going again. “I suppose you don’t hang out with all of them at the same time, right?”
“Well, duh.” replied Pinkie. “To do that, I would have to clone myself.” She made a pause and her ear flickered. “Don’t do that. I’m dead serious now. I will go badly.” she added.
“Uh…okay?” The two sisters exchanged a glance and shrugged. “So, about your friends…”
Pinkie shook her head and smiled. “Oh, right! I forgot!” she leaned back on her chair and took a sip to her coffee. “There’s Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Dashi- I mean, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle.” she enumerated, taking another sip after each name, and ending with an empty cup on her hooves.
“Uh, wait a second.” interjected Octavia, frowning slightly. “Twilight Sparkle? THE Twilight Sparkle?”
Pinkie glanced to her sister in confusion. “There are more than one? I didn’t know!” she gasped. “Ohmygosh! She has a long lost sister!”
“You are friends with Princess Celestia’s personal student? You?” asked Limetsone, opening her eyes wide. “You’re joking, aren’t you?”
“No I’m not.” chimed Pinkie. She grinned internally. Back when she and her friends became the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Celestia asked them to keep it under a relative secret. It was up to them deciding who to tell who they were, but the newspapers would not give names nor descriptions. Thus, most of Equestria knew about the Elements, and that there were ponies that could wield them; but very few ponies knew who they actually were. Granted, most of Ponyville knew, and with time the rumors would spread the information around. But that would take quite long. Rumors spread quickly, but have a tendency to be extremely inaccurate.
Twilight, on the other hoof, was a different matter. Almost everypony had heard the name of the brilliant student of Princess Celestia. However, most didn’t know how she looked, or how she was like. The vast majority would probably assume she was a badass and awesome archmage, completely different to the humble librarian of Ponyville. In fact, Pinkie wondered how many of Ponyville’s habitants didn’t know who Twilight actually was.
“But how is it possible that someone like her is friends with someone like…you.” asked Limestone. After a moment, she noticed what she had just said. “No offense. But you’re just a regular pony.”
“And so is Twilight.” replied Pinkie. “She’s not like you would expect, I can tell you that. She says a lot of smart things, reads a lot – and I mean a LOT – and all that, but for the most part, she’s just another pony.” explained the pink pony. “Well, except when she decides to use a brain-controlling spell to solve a friendship problem, or almost blows up the library.”
“Oh, hold on.” Octavia seemed to suddenly realize something. “Does that means you are…” she looked around nervously, and then added in a whisper. “A Bear-” she was interrupted by a pink hoof pressed to her muzzle.
“Yes.” confirmed Pinkie with a nod and an unusually serious expression. “But I would rather tell you over dinner, okay? I don’t wanna explain the same twice.” she asked with a small smile.
Octavia and Limestone looked to each other, then back to Pinkie and nodded. “I can’t believe it.” muttered the musician.
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake on my eye.” recited Pinkie, doing the proper gestures and bringing the empty cup to her eye. When she put it back on the table, she had a perfectly circular stain around her eye.
“Wait, just one more thing.” added Limetsone. “You mentioned five ponies. I suppose your other friends are also…”
“Yep!”
“But then-” Octavia started, but stopped when Pinkie raised a hoof.
“I already told you.” said Pinkie, still smiling. “I’ll tell you tonight at home. No more questions, please.”
Octavia reluctantly nodded and turned the conversation into the other sister. “Hum…what about you, Limestone? Can you tell us about your friends?”
“Uh?” caught by surprise, she didn’t know what to say. “Oh, right! Eh, well…I don’t really have any friends right now.”
Pinkie gasped very loudly. “How is it possible? What about the other ponies that work in the University?”
The other shrugged. “I don’t know. I work with the other professors, yes, but there is nopony that I can actually call a friend.” she explained, waving a hoof as she leaned back on her chair.
“But what do you do in your free time?” asked Pinkie, raising an eyebrow.
“I don’t really have much free time.” said Limestone. “My job takes up most of my day, and then all I want is to go to bed. Maybe I read, if I have time, but I don’t spend time with anypony.”
“B-but….but…” stammered Pinkie, trying to process the words of her sister. She let out a sigh and looked to her sister. “And you like that?”
“Yeah, sure.” replied the other pony, not really wanting to continue discussing that. Her job was tiring and kept her very busy, yes. But it was important. She was important. She had money, and by the time she got tired of teaching, she could retire and live from the savings. That’s all she needed to be happy.
Octavia and Pinkie looked to each other, perplexed. “Well…” started Octavia. “If you are okay…”
“I am, don’t worry for me.” grumbled Limestone, drinking the rest of her coffee and getting up. “Shall we go for a walk?”
“Sure.” responded the other two at the same time. Octavia drank the rest of her tea and got up as well. Pinkie remained on her seat for one more moment, looking to her cup.
“No friends?” she said in a quiet whisper.
***
After the sharp end to the conversation, none of the sisters felt like talking for a while. They just wandered together in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Pinkie was still unable to wrap her mind around what Limestone has said. Did her sister really just live to work? What’s the point on that? If you don’t have time to spend with your friends, time to have fun, time for yourself, then what’s the point?
The pink pony looked up. In front of her was Limestone, her tail waving with each step. ‘Maybe I could help her.’ she thought. A smile slowly creeped into her face, and she raised her head. ‘Yes, maybe I could! I just have to show her how to have fun again!’ she frowned. ‘She doesn’t want to have fun anymore, but she was like that when we were small too.’ her frown turned into a determinate expression. ‘Yes! I can do it. I did it once; I just have to do it one more time. And she will be happy again! I just have to find out what will be fun for her now.’ she pondered, tapping her chin.
Pinkie’s train of thought was interrupted when she felt the texture of the ground has changed. She looked downwards and saw a path of gravel. She raised her head again, and realized they were heading back to their house. “Are we going back already?” she called out to her sisters.
“I’m tired.” replied Limestone, stopping and looking back. “And my knees hurt.” she lied. Actually, she just wanted to lie on her bed and not think for a while.
“But it’s not even midday.” whined Pinkie. “Can’t we stay for a little longer?”
The other sister let out a heavy sight. “You can do whatever you want, Pinkie. I’m going home.” without any other word, the gray pony turned back to the path and continued on her way.
Octavia looked to Pinkie, then back to Limestone, equally confused and helpless. It didn’t matter which sister she followed now, the other would probably be on a foul mood later because of it. And while Pinkie could be annoying, Limestone was always moody. She let out a sigh and turned around, back into the town. “I’ll see you later, Limestone.” she mumbled.
Pinkie and Octavia went back to Gravelpit, while the other sister went down the path to the farm. And with each step, she grew more tired. Of walking. Of being in the farm. Of her family. Of her job. Of her life. Without knowing, Octavia had brought up a topic she had been mulling over for some weeks. Some days, many days, her house felt awfully empty after work. She just sat on her bed, her very expensive bed, and read. Alone. She really needed somepony on her life. A friend, at least.
Octavia looked back to her twin without stopping. “Are you sure we should leave?” she asked Pinkie.
“No.” mumbled her. “But if she wants to be alone…well, I learned a while back that sometimes you have to give ponies some space.”
Octavia looked to her sister and bit her lip. “I feel bad for her. I think we could do something to help.”
“Me too.” responded Pinkie. “But if she doesn’t want to be helped, doing so will just make her sore.” she made a pause and perked up. “That reminds me, I still haven’t given you your presents! I’ll give ‘em tonight. That will sure make her happy!”
Octavia raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think that’s what she needs.”
“I know.” replied Pinkie. “But a gift is a good way to start.”
Pinkie Pie and Octavia returned to their house just as the Sun was hiding behind the mountains. Then they learned that Limestone had locked herself on her room and would not let anypony in. Worried, Cloudy Quartz asked her daughters of what had happened, and Octavia replied that they’ve argued for some silly thing.
That seemed to relief Cloudy a bit, trusting that her daughter would be in a better mood by the time all gathered to have dinner. And indeed, Limestone came down just as she was called, but it was obvious she was still moody.
It was simply impossible to try to keep a conversation with her. All her answers were as minimal as necessary and always in a dry, tired tone. After a while, the rest of the ponies had given up, and a gray cloud had settled over the table. No one spoke, each one paying attention just to his plate.
Pinkie felt terribly sorry, as she saw herself as the only cause of the depressing atmosphere of the dinner. But then again, there was not much she could have done to change the situation. She had tried! It was Limestone the one that wanted to be in that depressing mood.
Only when the dishes were dessert of food and the dinner was over that a spark of activity appeared. “Oh!” smiling, Octavia got off her chair and trotted to the stairs. “I’ll be back.” The other four ponies exchanged glances and Pinkie shrugged. A moment later, Octavia was back, with a black case hanging off her side, so massive that it seemed a miracle the gray pony could keep her balance. “Would you like me to play the cello?” she asked.
That seemed to rouse Limestone of her gloomy state. She raised her head and looked at her twin with interest, though didn’t say a word. Cloudy Quartz clapped her hooves together. “Oh, I would love to hear you playing!” she said, delighted. Both Igneous Rock and Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement, though the first in a rather stoic fashion, while the second was enthusiastic enough to make herself dizzy.
“Um…shall we move to the sitting room?” suggested Octavia, tilting her head to the door. “You will be more confortable.”
Every pony hopped of their chairs and went to the other room. Igneous and Cloudy sat on the couch, leaning on each other, while Pinkie sat next to them, sprawled over the armrest. Limestone sat on the other armchair.
Octavia put the black case on the floor and opened it. Inside there was her beloved cello, its dark polished surface reflecting the lights of the lamps. The sigh of her instrument was enough to make her smile and send a wave of warm through her. Even though she had been only a few days without playing it, it felt like an eternity. She pulled it off its case and took a moment to carefully tune it. Once she was satisfied, she grabbed the bow, rested the neck on her shoulder and slided the hairs against the strings. She was ready.
She looked at her family gathered in front of her. “Uh…any piece you’d like to hear?” she asked softly. It was strange, but she felt more nervous right now than in front of a crowd of unknown ponies.
“Play the Pony Pokey!” chimed Pinkie.
Octavia raised an eyebrow at that, but smiled in amusement. “Anything else?” she said.
“Why not the last piece you played?” suggested Cloudy Quartz.
The gray mare nodded. “Much better. Thanks mom.” Octavia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, held it, and released it slowly. It was a very simple exercise to help her calm down just before a concert. Her mind focused on the melody she had played just a couple of weeks ago. The music would lose part of the beauty with just a single instrument, but it would have to do.
The bow started dancing over the strings, producing a calm and melancholic melody that stretched just a few minutes. It was originally meant as part of a bigger piece, where Octavia didn’t play a big role. But this part by itself was already a great composition.
When the mare opened her eyes again, she saw her whole family smiling at her. Pinkie was leaning forward, almost losing her balance. Limestone seemed to have escaped her foul mood, at least for now, and her parents had a very noticeable gleam of pride of their smiles. “That was marvelous.” muttered Cloudy. Igneous nodded in agreement.
Octavia felt her face go red. “It’s just a little melody I played a while ago. My colleagues had much more to do. They really shone that night.”
“Don’t push away the compliment, Octavia.” said Limestone, who leaned back on her armchair, still smiling. “It plainly reflected the truth. You’re fantastic.”
Octavia waved a hoof. “Oh, stop it. You’ll make me blush!” she said.
“You’re already blushing!” giggled Pinkie Pie. “Your whole face is red! I didn’t know you blushed so easily!”
“Okay, enough to teasing your sister.” interrupted Cloudy, although she was repressing a smile herself. “I would like to hear another, dear.” she asked Octavia.
“Sure.” nodded the gray mare. She made a pause to think of another piece. One popped in her mind, and she started to play. This one lasted for a bit longer, and when it was over the last note lingered for a moment in the air.
Pinkie used this chance to speak. She decided to drop the matter bluntly. “Mom, dad? I have something to tell you.” she took a deep breath. “I am g- I mean, I am one of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony.”
Silence. Limestone moved in her chair to look at Pinkie. Octavia rested her head on the body of the cello. Igneous and Cloudy didn’t move, just turned their heads to Pinkie.
“A Bearer.” repeated the stallion. Pinkie nodded. “Like the ones that faced Nightmare Moon?”
Pinkie Pie nodded again. “Nightmare Moon. Discord. King Sombra. Chrysalis.” enumerated the pink mare. “I was there at all times. I helped defeating them.” She suddenly became aware of how dangerous all those situations were. She smiled sheepishly. “Maybe I should have told you before…”
“Tell us what?” asked Cloudy Quartz.
Pinkie’s ears folded back. “Well, it’s dangerous. Um…We all were lucky and never really got hurt badly…but we could.” She made a pause. “I guess I never told you what really happened at the wedding.”
“What do you mean?” asked Limestone. “It was not the Elements what defeated the Changeling Queen.”
“No, but we did try to use them.” explained Pinkie. “We…the other Bearers and I had to fight through the swarm of changelings to try to retrieve them.” She heard her mother’s horrified gasp. “We were fine, don’t worry!” she quickly added. “But yeah. We didn’t run away. We were in the middle of the fight, like the Guards. We were luckier than many of them…”
“Oh Celestia…” Cloudy scooted closer to Pinkie and wrapped her forelegs around her. “My poor dear.”
Pinkie gave her mother a nuzzle. “I just want you to know that…well, being a Bearer is cool and all that…it gives you phenomenal cosmic power… and itty bitty risk of death.” she pushed her mother back and looked into her eyes. “I don’t want you to be all worried about me, okay? But I also want you to know what I am in.”
Cloudy looked into her eyes, then nodded. “Alright dear. I would tell you to stay safe, but…I guess you already know, don’t you?” After giving her daughter one last squeeze, she went back into her husband’s arms.
“But I made it look awful!” suddenly started Pinkie. “When you’re there, it’s not actually that bad! We keep each other safe and make sure all make through the day unscratched.” Pinkie’s mouth twisted into a smile. “You’d like them, they’re really cool mares. Specially Dashie, if you ever meet her, make sure to tell her how awesome she is.”
“Tell us about the other Bearers.” suggested Octavia.
“Sure! First, there is Twilight Sparkle. She’s the Element of Magic, and the personal student of Princess Celestia.” explained Pinkie. “She’s like the leader when we’re out on a mission, mostly because she’s very intelligent and clever and knows what is going on better than any of us.”
“Then there’s Rarity.” continued Pinkie. “She’s the Element of Generosity. She’s a tailor, and can make amazing dresses. She even made our dresses for the Gala! Which…we kinda ruined afterwards.”
“I remember that name.” commented Limestone. “She appeared one day right in the middle of Canterlot’s High Society and became very popular, but then disappeared. I thought something had happened to her.”
“Not at all!” responded Pinkie. “She just realized that she likes Ponyville better than the nobles.”
“Fluttershy is the most gentle and timid of ponies, and she’s the Element of Kindness.” continued Pinkie. “She’s absolutely perfect for that, if you ask me, because you will never find a pony as nice and kind as her.” Then she added in a whisper. “Except when she gets into her weird grumpypants moments.”
“Applejack is the Element of Honesty, and she’s the hardest working and most trustful pony of the town. She lives with her family in a farm, where they grow apples.” said the pink mare. “She’s very friendly, but can also be a bit too stubborn when she wants to.”
“Das- Rainbow Dash is the Element of Loyalty. She’s the coolest and most awesome pony around, and she likes to be told so. She’s also very brave, and won’t doubt for a moment before jumping into a fight.” continued Pinkie. “Have you really never heard of her? She’s the fastest Pegasus ever! She won the Best Young Flyer Competition with her Sonic Rainboom.”
“The Sonic Rainboom?” Octavia said. “Oh my. Do you really know the pony who does that?”
“Uh…yeah? Why?” asked Pinkie.
“Because I saw the Rainboom once.” replied Octavia, as a huge smile slowly spread across her face. “I was traveling to Manehattan with my company and the train was going right under Cloudsdale when it…exploded.” Her smile turned dreamy for a moment. “It was amazing.”
Pinkie couldn’t help but grin. “That’s right! I forgot you didn’t see the Rainboom back then!”
“How do you mean?” asked Limestone.
Pinkie clapped her hooves together in delight. “The first time I saw the Rainboom, it was the same day when I made that party for the six of us and I earned my CutieMark.” chirped the mare. “I was outside playing with rocks, but I think you were all inside the house, so you didn’t see it. I was feeling pretty down that day, but the Rainboom made me smile, and inspired me to try to put that same smile in as many ponies as possible.” Pinkie made a pause. “Which reminds me, I have something for you!”
Before any pony could ask, the bubblegum mare darted out of the house and returned almost instantly, carrying over her back an unstable pillar of boxes closed with ribbons. She carefully placed them on the floor and beamed at her family. “I got presents for you!”
“Oh, Pinkie. You didn´t have to.” said Cloudy Quartz as she got on her hooves. She stopped when she saw her daughter raise a hoof.
“But I wanted to.” responded Pinkie, waving a hoof. “Sit-sit again, I’ll give them myself.” Cloudy hesitated for a moment, but did as Pinkie said. “Alright, so…” She took the first package and rolled on her hooves until she found the tag. Then she trotted to the elder mare, and hoofed her the box.
Cloudy studied the present. It was small enough to sit inside the frog of her hoof. She had a general idea of what it was, and as she opened the lid her suspects became true. Inside the box there was a pair of simple earrings, made with a circular piece of some polished black stone and decorated with a small silver filigree. “It’s beautiful.” she said, picking up one of them and studying it carefully. She looked at her daughter and smiled. “Thank you, Pinkie.”
Pinkie grinned as well, and grabbed the next box. “For Octavia, I got this.” she said, tossing it to her sister. This time it was about two times larger, but very light. The dark gray mare pulled the ribbon with her teeth and found a plain piece of gray cloth. “Oh?” She pulled the object out, and it uncoiled into a full-sized scarf. “Oh!” Her expression instantly changed from confusion to delight, and she pulled the scarf around her neck. It was a slightly lighter shade of gray than her coat, and was completed by an embodiment of her cutiemark in purple thread. “I love it!” she said, grinning. “Thank you, Pinkie.”
“The pleasure is mine.” replied Pinkie, bowing. She picked up the next present and gave it to her father. Igneous Rock looked at the pickaxe-shaped package and raised an eyebrow to Pinkie. He tore open the wrapper and found a liquor bottle. “…oh.” he muttered, not really sure of what to make of the sudden transformation. He turned the bottle and read the tag. “Oh, nice! Dodge Junction Scotch!” he said with a laugh. “Thank you, Pinkie.”
“Glad you like it, dad!” chirped Pinkie. “And finally, last but not least…” she tossed one last box to Limestone, who caught it mid-air. Excited, the gray mare tore open the wrap paper and found a book. “Uh? Gems of Equestria?” She flipped over the pages. A quick look was enough to know it was a rather basic book centered on gems and other semi-precious stones, filled with drawings. Limestone forced herself to smile. “Thank you.” she said, hoping her tone wouldn’t give away how disappointed she was.
“There’s something else.” said Pinkie with a small smile, as she pointed to the broken wrapper.
“Huh?” Limestone dug on the colorful paper and felt something hard. She raised her hoof and saw a delicate chain with a pendant hanging from it, decorated with a yellowish gem. “Chalcopyrite.” she muttered, looking at her sister. “How come you added this?”
“I felt like the book was too little, so I decided to toss in something else.” replied Pinkie with a sheepish smile. “Something small, that wouldn’t make it unfair.”
Limestone looked at her for a moment, and smiled. “Thank you, Pinkie.” she said as she slid the chain over her head.
“I looks good on you.” commented Cloudy. “It matches the golden of your eyes.” Limestone looked at her mother and her smile grew a bit more. That sole remark made her value the gift much more.
The family started chatting about unimportant things once again. Octavia never left her place next to her beloved cello, and Pinkie remained sit on the floor, being comfortable enough with the old rug. However, it didn’t took much until the topic of the Elements popped in once again.
“I don’t think you said what was your Element, Pinkie.” commented Cloudy.
“I didn’t?” Pinkie tapped her chin in deep thought. “I suppose I did not. I am the Element of Laughter, which I think is appropriate.” giggled Pinkie.
“Laughter?” Limestone raised an eyebrow. “Is that really an Element?”
“Yup!” replied Pinkie. “Twilight says that being optimistic is very important, and can help you solve your problems, and makes ponies around happier. And I know it’s true! There’s nothing worse that being a grumpy-pants all the time.”
Limestone frowned, feeling that last sentence was a barb directed to her. “And say, how did you become a Bearer?” she asked, not letting her annoyance tint her voice.
“Not much, really.” replied Pinkie. “When we faced Nightmare Moon, she broke the old Elements, but Twilight knew we were the new Bearers, and they just appeared from thin air. Or something like that.” she pointed a hoof to her family. “I told you Twilight was very clever, and that’s a proof! She figured out we were the Bearers, even if she had learned about them a few hours after.”
“So, there was no test, no task to do, to prove that you were worthy of it?” asked Limestone. Pinkie shook her head. The gray mare’s frown grew deeper. “So basically, any other optimistic pony could have been the Bearer of Laughter, one that was not such a buffoon.”
The sitting room fell into silence. Every pony stared at Limestone, except Pinkie, who apparently had not noticed the poison on her voice. “Maybe.” she admitted. “But I was the first to friend Twilight. She had just arrived to Ponyville, and decided to talk to me of all the ponies. I saw she was new, and decided that she needed a welcome party to make more friends! So I left to make sure everything was ready.” chirped Pinkie. “Too bad she decided to spend most of her party in her bedroom, for some reason.”
Limestone just stared at Pinkie, slowly shaking her head. “You are a disappointment.” she muttered.
Pinkie’s ears flickered. “What?” she asked, looking at her sister, utterly confused.
Limestone’s expression hardened. “What you just heard. You are a disappointment. When we were foals, I used to think you were the most intelligent of the three of us.” admitted the gray pony. “But it’s obvious that all that talent has completely gone to waste with you. Look at me, look at Octavia. We’re both successful and important ponies, with important jobs. You? You’re a baker. No, sorry. not even a baker, you’re a mere apprentice.”
“I-I…Limetsone?”
“And let’s not even talk about being a Bearer." continued Limestone, ignoring her sister. "It’s your biggest accomplishment, and yet, it’s still ridiculous. Judging by what you said, basically any pony could have been the Bearer. And, seriously? Laughter? Not even a quality that could be appreciated by everypony, like Generosity or Honesty. No, just laughter.”
“But…why do you suddenly say those things?” whimpered Pinkie, who seemed to be at the edge of the tears.
“Sudden?” frowned Limestone. “I think I’ve made very clear in these last days how absurd I find you, Pinkie. Not only you have not matured, you also have a poor job, and your biggest achievement is just as stupid. You don-”
Limestone was cut when a hoof slammed hard into the wooden table. All eyes turned to Igneous Rock, who had raised from the couch and was glaring her daughter. “That’s enough!” thundered the brown stallion. Limestone took a step back and ducked her head. “I think somepony is forgetting that we also have a humble and hard profession, and it is as good as the Princesses’.”
There was a pause, in which Limestone looked avoided her family’s eyes, knowing she had crossed a line.
"There is no reason to disrespect Pinkie just because of that, Limestone." said Igneous. "I thought I taught you better than that."
“Yeah.” added Pinkie Pie. Everypony looked at her. Her puffy mane now fell limp on one side of her head, and her expression had turned into one of contained fury and contempt. “And if you have a shitty life and nopony loves you, remember that you brought it to you with that attitude, and you don’t have to make other as miserable as you.”
Limestone opened her mouth to reply, but words didn’t come. Pinkie’s words had hit her much harder than she would ever care to admit. Instead, she took a step back, ripped the pendant off her neck, threw it to the floor, and trotted upstairs, making sure to step on the necklace and trying to keep what little of her pride remained.
The slam of the door seemed to arouse Pinkie from her sudden outbreak. Her mane puffed up again, and for a moment she regarded at her family, feeling even more confused than them. “I…I…” she managed to choke out, feeling a twist on her heart as she realiced what she had just said.. “Blinkie…I'm...I'm sorry!” she called out to the room above.
Pinkie Pie carefully settled the tea cup. “And that is what happened.” she concluded. The mare in front of her leaned back on her chair, meditating about what Pinkie had just told her.
After the family outbreak last night, Limestone had refused to open the door for her sisters or even to come out in the morning. As far as Pinkie knew, she was still there, with the door locked and the blinds shut. Cloudy Quartz had left her a tray with breakfast next to the door, and it had disappeared inside the room. The family was still worried, but decided to give her a bit of time to come out herself.
Pinkie had left the house early to get some fresh air and hush away the grim thoughts. Why she had responded in such an awry way to her sister was something that completely escaped her. She very hardly ever blew up like that. Or maybe…maybe it was just that she wasn’t used to ponies talking to her like that? Either way, it was bad, and probably one of the causes of Limestone’s refusal to talk to her family.
She was just arriving to Gravelpit when she remembered she had a pending appointment. Agatha! She had promised the elder pony to give her a visit as soon as she had a moment, and this was a perfect chance to do so and ask for some advice.
And that is why the two were now having a tea on Agatha’s sitting room. The blue pony had greeted Pinkie with a broad smile, offered her tea and some treats, and then patiently listened to her whole story.
“It seems you have quite a big mess in your hooves, dear.” muttered Agatha, taking a delicate sip from her cup. Even if she was old, she carried herself with a grace and elegance that would rival to Rarity. “Have you asked your parents for advice?”
“No,” admitted Pinkie, folding her ears back. “I just wanted to ask somepony outside of all this, you know?”
Agatha nodded. “I understand. It is probably for the best. Ponies directly involved tend to be biased. Your father is probably equally furious with both you and Limestone, considering what you two said to each other.”
Pinkie’s expression grew more remorseful. “I really messed that up.”
“You did.” agreed Agatha. “But again, it would require an iron will to not lose your temper, after the way she talked to you.” Her eyes narrowed in amusement. “I would have never guessed you would be a Bearer. I am very proud of you.”
Pinkie let out a chuckle and rubbed the back of her head. “Aw, don’t be.” she said. “It’s just something I got in a way I am not completely sure.”
“Oh, don’t say that, dear.” replied Agatha, waving a hoof. “It doesn’t matter what Limestone say. You may not have gone through terrible tasks to prove you’re worthy, but you did face odds most of ponies could not imagine.”
“How do you mean?”
“You said it yourself. Nightmare Moon. Discord. King Sombra. Queen Chrysalis.” listed the blue pony. “You where there. Not me. Not Limestone. You were, and you helped defeat them. I think you deserve at least some credit for that.”
“You’re right…” said Pinkie, tapping her chin. “Why didn’t I think of that last night?”
“Don’t worry about it, Pinkie. That doesn’t matter anymore. What is important now is fixing up things, don’t you think?”
“Yep!” enthusiastically nodded Pinkie.
“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Agatha made a pause to refill her cup and Pinkie’s “Now, who do we start with?”
“Limestone.” replied Pinkie, tossing a butter biscuit into her gaping mouth. “What’s up with her?”
“Hum…” The other pony carefully though her response for a full minute. “I could be wrong, but I would say she is jealous of you.”
“Jealous?” repeated Pinkie, crooking an eyebrow. “But she hates everything about me! She said it herself.”
“Oh, I think she’s just attacking you to make herself feel better.” replied the unicorn with a small smile. “She feels like you have something she can’t have, so she insults you and points your flaws so she feels better about herself.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Imagine there is a jewel you really want.” suggested Agatha. “But it’s too expensive and you can’t have it. So you decide that you actually don’t want it, because it’s actually not the exact color or hue you wanted.” noticing Pinkie’s confused expression, she added: “Don’t be so surprised, dear. A lot of ponies do it, now and always. It’s like the fable of the pony and the grapes. ‘Any fool can despise what he can not get’, as said the famous fabulist, Aesop.”
“That…makes sense.” admitted Pinkie. “But still!” she quickly added. “What would Limestone envy from me?”
“Happiness.” replied Agatha, her lips turning into a sad smile.
Pinkie felt her shoulders sink. “Happiness?” she whispered. Her mind quickly went over the last days. Limestone’s hesitance to talk about her job and personal life. The lack of anecdotes and happy or funny moments to tell her sisters. And over all that, the absence of something as basic and important as friends. “But…if she wasn’t happy…why did she say she was?”
“Oh, Pinkie.” Agatha leaned forward and put a hoof over hers. “There are a lot of ponies that just seem happy, but are actually miserable or rotten inside. They just continue doing whatever they do, not because they like it, but because they think they don’t have the chance to get something better, or because they believe they are bound to it.”
Pinkie slowly gave a nod. It made sense. But it still didn’t give her an answer. “So what do I do?”
“I don’t know, dear.” admitted Agatha. “You know your sister better than I do. I’m sure you can think of something that really makes her happy.”
Pinkie leaned back on her chair and tapped her chin. The answer came a few seconds later. “In our second day here, we went to the old mines.” said Pinkie with a small smile. “Limestone was so excited about that! And even when we came back home, tired and all that, she was still smiling.”
“Is that so?” asked Agatha. “Then I suppose she had missed it a lot, considering what her job currently is. That’s a good point to start, Pinkie. Though I am not sure how you’re going to use that.”
“Oh, I think I have a little idea. Just leave everything to aunt Pinkie Pie.”
“Didn’t you use to call me that when you were a foal?” questioned Agatha.
“So that just leaves Octavia.” said Pinkie, taking a sip of her tea. “What do you think about her?”
“Well, it’s quite obvious she’s hiding something. You said it yourself.” replied the unicorn, levitating a biscuit. “Have you tried directly asking her?”
“Yeah. But she just starts talking about something else.”
“Well, in that case…” Agatha smiled mischievously. “You can just follow her and ask for explanations when you’ve caught her red-hoofed.”
Pinkie Pie frowned. Had she head that right? “You’re really telling me to spy on her? Really? You?” It stuck her as something extremely unusual for the polite elder unicorn.
“Well, yes.” responded Agatha. “I am suggesting it both because I think it’s the easiest and the fastest way to hide it.”
“B-but what if it’s something really, really bad, and she gets really, really angry?” asked Pinkie. The least she wanted now is being hated by half of her family.
“Oh, I highly doubt it will be something big. If she really wanted to keep it hidden, she would act more naturally. I mean, she’s not even sleeping on your house, but on an inn. She could be more obvious only if she was holding a sign that read ‘I don’t want you to know something’.”
Pinkie Pie giggled at that. “Any idea what she’s hiding?”
“I am going to take a wild guess.” Agatha made a dramatic pause. “But I would say she’s hiding a pony. More specifically, her lover.”
Pinkie’s jaw dropped. Of course! It totally made sense! That’s why she wanted to sleep with him rather than with her family. “You think so? You sure?”
“Absolutely.”
“But then…why is she hiding him?” questioned Pinkie, grabbing another biscuit and balancing it on her nuzzle before chomping down on it. “I mean, why don’t just introduce him to us?”
“Maybe she believes your parents – or maybe even you and your sister – aren’t going to approve her relationship, and is just delaying it.” replied Agatha. “That’s not rare at all. A lot of young ponies date another for very long before they even mention it to their parents.”
“But, why?”
“Perhaps because their couple is unusual in some day or another, perhaps because they want to make sure what they have is going to last at least for a while, perhaps because they have very uptight family who may not approve but a few ponies.” Agatha raised a hoof to stop Pinkie’s words. “I know your parents are not like that. They may be stoic, but are humble and open minded…specially your mother.”
Pinkie took a sip of her tea. “Alright then. That’s the plan: Find out who is Octavia’s lover, convince her to introduce him to mom and dad, and find a way to make Limestone happy again. It would he easy-peasy.”
Agatha let out a chuckle at that. “Oh Pinkie. Your optimism is infectious. You make it sound easy.”
“It will!”
“Will it?”
“Yeah! If everything goes as planned, it will be fine and we will be a big happy family again.” Pinkie drank the rest of the tea in one swig. “I am gonna do it tonight, the spying on Octavia thingie. Too bad I left my sneaking suit in Ponyville.”
Agatha blinked, but decided to not ask. “Just make sure you don’t overreact when you meet him.” advised the unicorn. “Remember that she is hiding her lover for a reason, and you don’t want to prove that her worries and fears were correct.”
“Aye-aye ma’am!” saluted Pinkie Pie. “Now I am off for a mission.” she said, getting off her chair.
Agatha accompanied her to the door. “Thank you for the visit, dear.” she said, with a small smile. “I hope to see you again soon, to hear about how all went.”
“Sure!” nodded Pinkie Pie. “And thank you for the tea. And the biscuits. And the advice. And your company.” she frowned and tapped her chin. “I guess that’s all.” She took a step forward and gave Agatha a small hug. “I will come back to tell you how well things went, Pinkie Promise.” After that, the pink mare turned around and trotted back to the path to her house.
Agatha let out a chuckle as she watched Pinkie leave. That pony was sure one of a kind. “I feel like I am going to hear of her sooner than know.” she muttered before closing the door.
Nighttime in Gravelpit was different than nighttime in Ponyville. In contrast with the fresh air of Ponyville, that often carried the smell of the Everfree forest and the gardens and patches of flowers that covered so many places of the small town; the air here was dry and filled with the smell of dust and sand.
However, what worried Pinkie the most was the scarcity of hiding spots. In Ponyville, you almost always could hide behind something, or spy around a corner. In Gravelpit, however, buildings were much more separate, which meant she would be in plain sight for much longer. And she couldn’t risk being seen by Octavia.
Speaking of which, where is she?
Pinkie looked up from her script and scanned the street. Indeed, the street was completely dessert of ponies, the only living thing was a lone tumbleweed. For a moment, Pinkie pondered using the dry plant as a cover, but quickly rejected the idea. It would be itchy, not to mention how hard it was to roll in a convincing way.
In any case, Octavia was nowhere to be seen. Pinkie hurried to the next corner and carefully peeked around it. She briefly saw her dark gray tail, crossing the door of one of the inns of Gravelpit. Pinkie switched back to her sneaking manner and walked to the door. ‘The Badlands House’ read the sign on the front. The mare knew nothing of this particular place, so she decided to be careful, just in case she was entering some sort of bandit hideout. Better safe than sorry, always.
Pinkie Pie carefully opened the door and jumped inside, and slided under a table. Once she was hidden again, she too a moment to scout her surroundings. The inn looked safe enough, at least at first view.. There were about a dozen tables scattered around in a rather chaotic fashion, each with one-to-four chairs. There weren’t a lot of ponies, oddly enough. Pinkie was expecting to see the place completely full, being almost time for dinner. Instead, there were only seven ponies, not counting herself, Octavia, or the couple of waiters that strolled around serving the clients.
From under her table, Pinkie could see the hooves of her sister clopping against the hardwood floor, walking around the tables and disappearing behind a wooden panel that divided the dining area in two. The pink mare frowned. Now she would have to move! But at the same time, that same panel gave her a perfect spot to spy on her sister without being seen. Great!
Pinkie crawled across the floor and stopped under the last table, just before the panel ended. Slowly, she peeked around the corner and backed almost immediately. There she was! Agatha was right, Octavia was with another pony! Pinkie had to cover her muzzle with a hoof to suppress a giggle of excitement.
The pink mare waited until her sister started chatting with her companion before looking again, this time taking enough time to actually see who she was talking with. The pony seated across the chair was a unicorn of white coat and red eyes, with a cream-colored mane done to the side and a pair of square glasses on her muzzle.
Most importantly, though, the pony was clearly a mare.
Pinkie felt her ears folded back. “Aw…” she whispered under her breath. “It’s just a friennnn..n…” her voice faded and her jaw dropped as she saw the white pony pull Octavia closer with a hoof, only to give her a kiss on the lips that lasted for several seconds. It took Pinkie’s brain twice as much time to recover from the shock and order her body to back, just in case any of the two happened to turn around.
Pinkie was wordless for a minute, trying to wrap her mind around what she had just seen. “Huh." she finally muttered. "I didn’t see that coming. Octavia is into mares.”
“Is there something wrong with that?” Pinkie grumbled to herself.
“Of course not!” she replied. “It’s just so….so…”
“So what?”
“Unexpected, I guess.” she said, tilting her head. “I mean, Octavia is like super-duper feminine, isn’t she?”
“She is. But that doesn’t have to do with anything.”
“I know, I know. But it does make it more surprising.”
“It does? Oh, please.”
“Hey.” Pinkie poked herself on the chest. “Don’t act like you’re not surprised yourself, grumpy-pants. You’re as surprised as I am, and If you-”
“Excuse me? Miss?” interrupted a third voice. Pinkie raised her head and saw a small stallion on a waiter suit. He was looking at her with concern. “A-are you okay?”
“Yep! Nothing to worry about.” chirped Pinkie, smiling and seating up, which caused her head to slam into the table. The caramel stallion grimaced. “N-nothing to worry about.” she repeated, this time with a less convincing smile.
“Uh…In that case, could you come out from under the tables?” politely asked the stallion. “You see, you’re creeping out the rest of the clients.”
“Oh! I’m so, so, so sorry.” quickly apologized Pinkie, getting up and looking around. Indeed, the closest pony was staring at her, very confused, and another one a bit further away was doing all he could to look anywhere but to her. “I’ll just…go over there.” she said before trotting to her sister’s table, who had not noticed her yet.
Deciding she may as well throw subtlety out the window, Pinkie grabbed a chair, plopped it next to the table and sat on it. “Hiya!” she greeted her sister, waving a hoof next to her face.
Octavia’s smile instantly turned into a mixture of shock and anxiety. “W-what are you doing here? H-how long have you b-been here.” she stammered.
“Oh, not too long.” replied Pinkie. Octavia let out a sigh of relief. “Just enough to see you two share that twisting kiss with this mare here. And I mean, wow! It was clearly not the first time!”
Alarmed, Octavia grabbed her sisters by the shoulders and shook her. “You can’t tell this to anypony else! You hear me? Anypony!” she pleaded.
“O-ka-y, o-ka-y!” replied Pinkie, who seemed to not be bothered at all by the shaking. “I Pinkie Promise I will not to tell.”
Octavia let her go and sighed again. “Thank you.” she said weakly as she rubbed her eyes. “I’m not ready for this. Oh Celestia, what I am going to do.”
“About what?” asked Pinkie.
“Well, about her.” Octavia put a hoof over the other mare’s. “I wanted to tell mother and father, but…I don’t know. I don’t know how they will react.”
“Well, there’s only way to know.” chirped Pinkie. “And that is introducing her to them.”
Octavia didn’t answer, just rested her head on the table. The other mare, who had been mute for the whole exchange, took that moment of silence to speak. “What are you doing here, Pinkie?”
Pinkie looked at the white mare and blinked. “Are you a psychic?”
“Uh, no.” replied the other mare, shaking her head. “You don’t recognize me?”
Pinkie squinted and studied her, resting her head on her hooves. “I know a few white-coated unicorns, but none as white as you. You’re like the whitest pony I’ve ever known.”
The other pony let out a chuckle, and Octavia raised her head at the sound. “Come here,” said the white mare as she extended a foreleg and pulled Pinkie closer. “I am Vinyl Scratch.” she whispered.
“Vinyl?” Pinkie backed and scrutinized her. Now that she had said it, Pinkie could clearly see it was her, except for a little detail. “Who bleached you?” she asked, honestly curious. Octavia let out a snort of laugh.
Vinyl’s jaw dropped, unsure if she should feel offended or amused. “Nopony bleached me, Pinkie. I’ve always been like this.”
“But your mane is blue! Well, not anymore.” countered Pinkie.
“Listen.” said Vinyl. “I have always been like this, completely white. I am albino, y’know? I used to dye my mane blue, to not look so bland. But then I started playing as DJ-Pon3, and got a lot of fans everywhere. And that’s great and all, but there are moments where I just want to be good ol’ Vinyl again. When I want to have a nice, tranquil day, I undye my mane so nopony can recognize me.”
“And the glasses?” asked Pinkie.
Vinyl chuckled. “I’m actually quite nearsighted, Pinkie.” she explained. “The shades I usually wear are also corrective.”
“I see…” nodded Pinkie. “So you have like a double personality. I mean, a secret identity.”
“…kinda.” admitted Vinyl, tilting her head. “But I feel so weird like this. Is like it’s not me, you know? I like my mane blue and undone.”
“I honestly think you look much better like this.” mumbled Octavia, looking down and tracing figures on the table with her hoof.
Vinyl grinned. “Hey Octi.” the gray pony looked up. “You say that now, but I know you really, really like dying my mane.” she purred, crooking an eyebrow. “We can do it tonight, if you want.” she whispered into her ear.
Octavia blushed violently and felt a shudder go down her spine. “Stop it.” she muttered, pushing her away half heartedly. “Pinkie’s here.”
“I’m not sure if she swings that way, but she can join.” replied Vinyl with a devious smile. She let out a laugh when Octavia turned an even deeper shade of red and covered her face with her hooves.
Pinkie giggled as well. “It’s very weird, because you look all fancy with that manedo and those glasses, and you’re still the same.” she said to Vinyl. “So, how long have you two been dating?”
The waiter that had asked Pinkie to come out from under the table came in that moment to take their orders. After asking for a bottle of cider and three mugs, Vinyl replied to Pinkie. “We’ve been like this for…almost a year, I think?” she looked to Octavia for confirmation, who nodded in response. “Yeah, a year. But we’ve know each other for much longer, y’know?”
“I met Vinyl for the first time at the Canterlot Music Academy.” continued Octavia. “We were there to apply for a place, so we started chatting and she invited me for a tea the next day. Back then, I still considered myself straight, so I thought it would be just an amicable lunch.”
“But it wasn’t.” grinned Vinyl. “Like a hunter, I had seen my prey, and I was determined to get her. So I used all my tactics and knowledge in seduction to succeed.”
“And you didn’t.” interjected Octavia with a small smile.
“I didn’t.” admitted Vinyl with a nod. “But it didn’t matter, because I asked her for a date the next day.”
“And when she couldn’t get the message across, she tried again the next one.” completed the gray pony. “This continued for a week, until one day you she asked me out for a drink.”
“You two got drunk?” asked Pinkie. It was obvious the couple had told this story before, seeing how easily they allowed each other to speak without interrupting the other.
“Not drunk, just a little tipsy.” replied Vinyl. “Just enough to help me get some courage and subtly suggest her to go to my apartment.”
“That was probably the only time you’ve been actually subtle, thought.” commented Octavia, earning a brief glare from Vinyl. There was a pause on the conversation as the waiter left the bottle and the mugs and served some cider on each of them. The three ponies grabbed their mugs and took a sip. “But it worked. We went to her apartment and continued chatting over a bottle of wine. As the night went on, the conversation drifted into more personal topics. And then-”
“Let me guess, she kissed you.” said Pinkie.
“A-actually, I kissed her first.” admitted Octavia, blushing. “I don’t know what was going through my mind then, I just-”
“Obviously, nopony can resist my charm.” replied Vinyl, earning a half-hearted slap on the shoulder. She let out a laugh and leaned in to kiss Octavia on the tip of the muzzle.
“And…what happened next~?” cooed Pinkie with a knowing smile.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but nothing.” replied Octavia. “By that point, we were so stumped that we just fell asleep on the couch.”
Vinyl smiled and nodded. “So the next morning I woke up with this gorgeous gray mare on my legs, and I knew I had just done it. Bam! Success!”
“It was weirder for me.” admitted Octavia. “Most of the night was a blur. I somewhat remembered the kiss, but I wasn’t sure if it had been real or a dream. But when she confirmed it had happened, I needed some time to wrap my mind around it.”
Vinyl turned to Pinkie and covered her mouth with a hoof. “What she means by that is that she freaked out badly and ran away.” she said, loud enough to be heard by her marefriend.
“I didn’t freak out!” said Octavia, embarrassed.
“You started stammering and fell off the couch.” smirked Vinyl. “And then you ran away. I decided to give her some time, but as days passed, I lost hope of it. She came back eventually, though.”
“How come?” asked Pinkie, taking a sip of her drink.
“She couldn’t live without me.” replied Vinyl with a smirk.
“I left my bowtie.” corrected Octavia. “And…well.” she rubbed her hooves together and looked away. “After a few days, I really started to miss Vinyl. We may not have the same tastes in music –in fact, they could not be more different- but I really enjoyed every single moment with her. I thought that maybe the kiss was just something that happened because I was drunk, and she wouldn’t think too much of it.” she whispered. “So one day I finally got enough courage to knock on her door again.”
“I didn’t expect to see her there at all.” admitted Vinyl. “I’ve given up on her completely. So I didn’t know what to do, and the two of us just stared each other in silence. Very awkward.”
“After a minute or so of just staring, I finally managed to talk.” continued Octavia. “I was so nervous I was stammering all the time as I asked her to go for a walk some other day. Then she asked…she asked me of it was a date. And…”
“And you said it was.” completed Vinyl with a dreamy smile as she looked into Octavia’s mauve eyes. “And we’ve been dating ever since.” The pair stared into each other’s eyes and seemed to lose contact with the rest of the world.
“Did you made in into the Academy?” asked Pinkie after a minute.
“Uh, what?” asked Vinyl, awaking from her trance.
“The Academy. Did they accept you?” repeated Pinkie.
“Oh. No.” grunted Vinyl. “Apparently my music is too crude and noisy for their high and noble standards.” she said in an affected tone. She gave her mug a glare and chuckled up the rest of the cider.
“The Canterlot Music Academy is a very traditional institution.” explained Octavia. “I may not like Vinyl’s music as much as other ponies, but I am sure they didn’t consider her even for a moment, despite the fact that she obviously has talent.”
“But then why did you want to get in?” asked Pinkie, tilting her head.
“It’s more official.” replied Vinyl. “Even among those that have music as their talent, there are different levels. Some ponies are generally good at music, while others are just really good with an instrument. So having a signed document that says everypony that you’re a good compositor helps a lot when looking for a job.” she finished in a grunt, as she traced a G-clef on the table. Octavia extended foreleg and put her hoof over hers. Vinyl relaxed visibly and smiled. “It’s just so frustrating.”
“I have it easier.” commented Octavia. “While Vinyl just gets hired once in a while, I usually have a steadier source of income. We don’t have economical struggles, though.”
“But I feel like I am contributing with nothing…” grumbled Vinyl with a pout.
“You contribute enough.” assured Octavia, giving her hoof a soft squeeze. Vinyl looked at her for a moment, then smirked. The gray mare tilted her head. “What is so funny?”
Vinyl’s smile grew broader as she leaned forward, pulled Octavia closer with her free hoof and kissed her cheek. “I’ll make sure to contribute a lil’ more tonight.” she whispered on her ear, before giving her a gentle bite. Octavia shuddered and let out a shaky breath. “Sounds good, babe?” insisted Vinyl. The gray mare slowly nodded, feeling her cheeks burn.
“Well, if you’re gonna do that, I suppose I should go” interjected Pinkie, as she drank the rest of her remaining cider. She gave her mane a flicker and grinned to the other two ponies. There wasn't much pont tostick around. She wanted to see Octavia's date, and she had done it. She still had to tell the rest of the family, but that could wait 'till another day."Have fun you two!” she said, before getting up, tossing a few syzygies on the table and bouncing out of the inn.
“Huh.” muttered Vinyl as she watched Pinkie go. “Well that went quite well.”
“Yes.” mumbled Octavia, still flustered. “I-I hope it will go half as good when I introduce you to my parents.”
Vinyl let out a nervous laugh. “I am so not looking forward to that.” she confessed.
“You knew it was going to happen at some point.”
“Yeah, yeah. But back when I met you, I wasn’t thinking ‘bout that, you know? I was thinking about other things.” Vinyl replied. “Things like…tonight.”
Octavia felt she was blushing again. “I swear if you don’t stop it, I will-”
Vinyl grinned. “I bet in a lil’ while you will be saying exactly the opposite of that.” she cooed, dropping some money on the table and getting up. She slowly made her way to the stairs, giving her waist a slight swagger and knowing Octavia’s eyes wouldn’t stop following her body. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
It had taken Limetsone one full day, but she had finally decided to leave her room, thought it was obvious she was still in a foul mood, as she has only responded to direct questions, and just giving short answers.
Well, at least she was out of her room. In Pinkie’s mind, that was an improvement. At least now she would be able to try something she had planned since her visit to Agatha’s house.
Despite her best efforts, Limetsone completely ignored all her inquiries and pleads during the breakfast. Not that she had insisted too much. An ever-angrier Limestone was exactly the opposite of what she needed.
So after her sister gave up on her, Limestone had gone to the sitting room and draped on the couch, with a book in hooves, determined to have a tranquil morning, just reading and with no annoying pink sister to make her question her life decisions.
The tranquility didn’t last for too long. About an hour later, she suddenly felt her legs sink. She looked at the other side of the couch, and found her sister sitting next to her hooves, with a small smile. Ugh, can’t she see I am busy? she thought. “What do you want now, Pinkamena?”
Pinkie felt a pang of pain. Since her outburst, Limestone had refused to use her usual name. It wasn’t a big deal, of course, but Pinkie knew her sister was trying to get some reaction for her. What exactly, was a complete mystery for the pink mare. Was she just trying to be hurtful? Perhaps, but it didn’t seem likely. “So Octavia suggested something, and I though you may be interested.” she lied. It was actually her plan, but she had talked to Octavia and asked her to play along.
That got Limestone’s attention, although she didn’t close the book. Octavia was much more level-headed than her sister, so she wouldn’t suggest some stupid waste of time. “Oh? What’s it?”
“She thought about visiting that other family. You know, the one that now digs on the mines? The ones that live on the other side of the valley? You know, we saw them a few days ago when we went to the mines?” said Pinkie. “You know who I mean, right?”
“Yes!” harshly replied Limestone. She made a pause to take a deep breath, release it and let it go. She needed to relax. Not let Pinkie have any effect over her. Be neutral about her. “But why would I want to go there?” she questioned.
“Well.” Pinkie poked one of Limestone’s hindlegs, which she quickly drew away. Pinkie had to bite her tongue to not say anything about that reaction. “I…just thought you’d like to meet new ponies…Who knows, maybe you’ll make friends and you’ll have someone else to spend time with, apart from us…” she slowly said, hoping Limestone wouldn’t understand it the wrong way.
That actually perked her curiosity. “That…Alright, I’ll...” said Limestone. She looked at her book, pondered her situation for a moment. Pinkie seemed to have understood that she didn’t like her childish behavior, and was holding herself. And at the same time, having somepony else to talk to wouldn’t be so bad…specially if said pony was not Pinkie. “I’ll go.” she nodded, closing her book and getting up.
“Great!” said Pinkie, who quickly trotted to the kitchen. “I made us some sandwiches. I hope you’re not allergic to lettuce. I don’t think so, because it’s quite common, but just in case you are, say it now.” There was a pause. “Okay, I’ll wrap them up.”
Limestone let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. No matter what happened, Pinkie would always be an annoyance. “Where’s Octavia?” she asked.
“She’s upstairs.” responded Pinkie, poking her head through the door. “She told me she just needed a moment to groom her mane.”
That got a small smile from the gray mare. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take as long as the last time.
***
Ten minutes later, the three mares crossed the main door of the house, locking it after them. Cloudy Quartz had gone to the market that morning, and Igneous Rock had to sign some papers on the town hall, so they left a note behind.
The three sisters parted on their way, each with a saddlebag draped over their backs. They trotted in silence. It wasn’t exactly awkward, but none of them seemed to have anything to say or the will to start a trivial conversation. Even Pinkie was more silent that usual, just trotting instead of bouncing all the way to the other house.
As the three ponies came closer to the building, they could observe the house with more detail. It was a two-story home, much like their own, but built with dark bricks instead of wood. It was about the same size of their house, with a small barn next to the main door and a chimney poking from the top. A snail of steel tracks wriggled from the entrance of the mine to a small platform next to the barn. There was nopony in sight, but there were voices coming from the mineshaft.
“Are they…singing?” wondered Limestone out loud.
“They are.” responded Octavia, wrinkling her nose. “But they better not try to get a career out of their singing.”
Three stallions emerged from the tunnel, each one pulling a minecart covered with a cloth. The three were singing in full voice, caring little about tempo and harmony. And yet, they were clearly having fun. Pinkie couldn’t help but grin, and she would have surely joined them, if she had known the song.
Muscles achin’, back near breakin’ Eggs and oath is what we need. Fore-man houndin’, keep your poundin’ For your bed and for your feed There ain’t no let-up, must get set up Pull that minecart, drive that stake. Want to doze off, take the yoke off But must keep awake Swing that sledge and sing that song! Work and laugh the whole night long!
The trio stopped next to the platform and shared a laugh as they took off the yokes. It was then when they noticed the three mares standing just ten meters away. The first stallion, a bright red stallion with a dark ash mane, took a couple of steps forward and grinned. “Hella! Is it mah birthday and Ah didn’t remem- ow!”
He was interrupted by a shark jab on her ribs, provided by a second pony, smaller and with darker fur but lighter mane. “Sledge, we don’t talk to mares like that!” he reproved him. “Ma taught you better, and if she saw you do that, you’d earn yourself a big slap.”
Sledge ignored his brother and just gave him a hard shove. “Excuse mah brother, gals.” he said with a smile that pretended to be charming. He had a very thick accent, that would have made Applejack proud. “He just never knows when to get the stick of his butt, ya know?” His smile faltered when he noticed that the mares where looking at him in a rather cold way. Except Pinkie, who just wore an amused smile.
“Just-just-just go away!” stammered the other pony, giving him a push and waving to the minecarts. He shared a similar accent with the other pony, but not as strong. It actually gave his voice a charming touch. “Do something useful and start unloading the carts, will ya?” Grunting, the bigger pony turned around and walked back to the platform, from where the third pony was observing the conversation. The stallion let out a sigh and turned to the three mares. “Sorry ‘bout that.” he apologized. “My bother Sledgehammer can be so dense as his namesake, you know? But he meant no offense.” He trotted forward and offered a hoof to Limestone, which she shook after a moment of hesitation. “I am Flint ‘n’ Steel, but everypony calls me Steel.”
“That’s not true!” called out Sledgehammer from the minecarts. He had a pair of saddlebags around his waist and a heavy steel hammer resting on his back. “Everybody calls him Flint, ‘cause he’s dumb as a rock.”
“Shut up, Sledge!” shouted Steel, turning around and waving a hoof menacingly. “Go on your business.”
“Okay, okay. No need to yell me…Flint.” replied Sledge before bursting into laughs.
Steel let out a deeper sigh and rubber his temples. “Don’t mind him he’s just a dumbbell.” he muttered. “Where was I? Oh, right! I’m Flint ‘n’ Steel, he is Sledgehammer and that stallion that’s inside the cart is Gunpowder.” He said, pointing to the last brother, a small pony with dark brown coat and garnet mane. When he noticed that he was in the spotlight, the small stallion ducked inside the minecart. “Don’t mind him, he’s kind of shy.” chuckled Steel. “So, who are you?”
“I am Limestone.” responded the light gray mare.
“My name is Octavia.” replied the musician.
“I’m Pinkie Pie!” happily chirped the party pony. “We’re sisters! We came to visit our parents about a week ago, but we’re staying here for a month, so we decided to give you a visit. We didn’t know there was another family living here now, but mom told us and I thought it would be a great idea to meet the ponies that are working now in the mines, but we didn’t have the chance ‘till now.” she recited, without stopping to breath.
Flint ‘n’ Steel needed a second to process the barrage of words. “Okay, so you must be old Igneous’ daughters, right?” he asked, surveying each mare’s face. “You sure look different from him or his wife. Specially ya.” he said, nodding to Pinkie.
“Her name is Cloudy Quartz.” stated Octavia. “What do you know about our family?”
Steel shrugged. “Not much, honestly. It was ma who signed the contract for the purchase of the mine, y’know? She said Igneous is a very stern and serious stallion, much like Father; and mentioned she was married and had three daughters that didn’t live there anymore, but that’s it.”
“That is right.” commented Limestone. “We left the rock farm some years ago. We liked living here, but…we wanted more.”
Steel nodded. “Of course. Three mares as pretty as ya need to see world, not be stuck in this bowl of dust.” He winked an eye to Limestone, who just rolled her eyes, amused.
“Hey lady killer!” came the voice of the bigger brother. He had finished unloading the minecarts into a small carriage, and had left a small pile of tools on the ground. “We done here. Grab yer gear and let’s go before you actually kill one of them with your blabber.” Both stallions turned around and pulled the cart towards a barn.
“Just go away, Sledge!” replied Steel, raising his voice as well. “But he is right. We gotta go to have lunch.”
“What, already?” asked Pinkie. “But it’s just midday!”
Flint grinned and trotted to the platform. The three mares followed him. “Well, yeah.” he muttered as he fastened a broad belt around his waist. It had several pockets where a small array of hammers and chisels could be fitted, along with a leather pouch. “But we have to go back to the mine later, at least just for a while, just a couple of hours.” he explained as he slid each tool on its place. “Freakin’ Sledge. He took the time to pull out each piece.” he muttered under his breath.
“Aw…” Pinkie’s ears dropped. “I…suppose we will be back another day?”
“Oh, not at all!” said Steel, shaking his head. “Would ya like to stick around for lunch?”
The three sisters shared a look. “Well, we would like to.” admitted Limestone. “But we wouldn’t want to be a hassle.”
“Nah, don’t worry ‘bout that!” replied the stallion with a chuckle. “Mom always makes food for a whole battalion. It will be fine.”
“Well then…I guess we’re staying for lunch, then.” said Octavia, uncertain. The other two mares nodded. Even Limestone seemed quite enthusiastic.
“Grand!” said the young stallion with a charming smile. “Now let’s go.” he said, nodding to the house.
Inside the building the air was hot and damp, but full of the delicious smell of some kind of vegetable stew. When the three sisters crossed the threshold, they couldn’t help but take a deep breath, hold it, and let out a deep sigh. The scent was simply amazing. It took them a moment to realize they were standing on a sitting room, not too different to the one on their house, although this one had a quite elegant grandfather clock made in dark wood.
“I’ll let her know you´re here.” said Steel before taking a deep breath and bellowing. “MA! I BROUGHT VISIT! She’s a bit deaf, y’know?” he explained.
“I’m in the kitchen!” replied voice from a door at the back of the room. A head peeked out and looked at the four ponies in front of her with obvious surprise. “Oh! Why didn’t you say you brought visit? And where are your brothers?”
Steel looked at the sisters and rolled his eyes as if saying ‘See what I meant?’. “Sledge and Gunpowder are still in the barn, mom. They’ll be back in a moment.”
“Give me a second, sweetie.” The head of the mare disappeared inside the kitchen, only to be followed by several seconds of loud clanking and racket. Limestone was wondering if she was tearing apart the kitchen when the pony re-emerged again. The three mares were instantly reminded of their mother. While this pony had a reddish coat and black mane, she had exactly the same manedo and carried herself in the same way. Her cutiemark was an argand lamp. “I was just taking the pot from the fire.” she said as she studied the three sisters. “You must be Igneous’ daughters.” she guessed.
“Yep!” piped Pinkie, nodding with enthusiasm.
“How did you know?” asked Limestone, raising her voice to make sure she would be heard.
“Oh, your mother showed me an old photograph, and you look exactly like when you were a child.” she explained with a small smile. Her expression suddenly turned to worry. “Your parents are fine, are they?”
“Uh…yes.” responded Octavia, surprised by the sudden change.
The old mare let out a sigh of relief. “Thank Celestia. For a moment I thought something had happened to them.” she shook her head and her motherly smile returned again. “In that case, what brings you here?”
“Oh, we just wanted to visit the new inhabitants of the valley, but we just learned you were about to have lunch.” responded Octavia. “Your son insisted that we should join you, but we wouldn’t want to be a nuisance.”
“Oh, not at all, dear!” she responded, waving a hoof dismissally. “You’re more than welcome to stay with us. It will be nice having somepony else for lunch. The table will be a lil’ bit crowded, but that’s all.” She made a pause and tapped her chin. “I feel like I’m forgetting somethin’.” After a moment, she shrugged and went back to the kitchen. “Flint, can you be a dear and prepare the table?”
The red stallion flinched one of his ears. “Okay ma.” he replied. “He never calls me Steel.” he complained as he turned around and opened a cabinet full of tablecloths, sheets and towels. “She also forgot to introduce herself. Her name is Warm Light.”
***
When Warm Light said the table would be crowded, she wasn’t exaggerating. Seven ponies surrounding a table clearly meant for four, plus the dishes and cutlery of the three extra ponies. To make the situation worse, Steel’s family was clearly excited of having visit, and they were talking very loud. There were at least four conversations going on at the same time, and Pinkie Pie was participating in all of them.
Octavia was trying to keep her manners, because they with a family they didn’t know, and that would be the proper thing to do. But it quickly proved impossible, so she decided to relax. Besides, it was nice to have a lunch where etiquette didn’t matter. In the end, however, she was content just with listening to the other conversations.
Gunpowder was almost completely mute, only talking when asked directly, and always shooting sideways glances to the sisters. He almost jumped off the chair when Pinkie reached over the table and touched her hoof to catch his attention and ask about his mark. The small stallion meekly explained that his talent simply involved making a explosive powder that was usually considered military equipment, but they used to help them mine the harder stones.
Sledgehammer kept a somewhat civilized conversation with Pinkie, both of them happily chattering louder than strictly necessary. Every joke of the pink mare sent the large stallion into a fit of laughter, each laugh punctuated with a slam of his hoof on the table.
Warm Light, Limestone and Flint ‘n’ Steel talked during the whole lunch, the older mare asking Limestone about her life on the city, while Steel usually tried to ask more about her tastes and the meaning of her mark.
“Well, it’s quite straight-forward.” she said, looking at the gold ore that decorated her flank. “I am good with rocks. I can remember and recognize proprieties of minerals, sometimes even guessing them.”
“How did ya earn your mark?” asked Steel, resting his chin on a hoof.
A small smile creeped into the mare’s face. “It’s not a very interesting story...Pinkie’s or Octavia’s is better.”
The stallion grinned. “You’re only making me more curious.”
Her smile widened. “Alright, alright.” She made a pause to take a sip of her glass of water. “We were in school, and the teacher as a surprise had brought her golden pendant. I don’t really remember why, I think we had brought gold into a conversation the previous day, so she decided to show us how real gold looked like. I looked at the jewel, and I suddenly realized I knew that it was a soft metal, resistant to acids and oxidation, and that was an excellent conductor of electricity and magic.” She let out a small chuckle. “I recited it out loud, and the teacher just stared at me, completely puzzled and she just nodded. I was confused, because I didn’t understood why suddenly everypony was so quiet, until Pinkie screamed that I had just gotten my mark.”
“As I said, nothing too special.” added Limestone, shrugging. “Most foals get their marks in a similar way.”
“It was still nice to hear.” replied Steel. “And it sounds like a great talent.”
Limestone gave her head a shake. “I disagree. Maybe in the past it would have been useful to learn about new proprieties. But now? Now any mineral on Equestria has a long list of well-known proprieties. There is nothing new to discover in that regard. It just meant I had an advantage when studying geology.”
Steel pondered her words for a moment. “Who knows, maybe you’ll discover something new.”
“I agree.” added Warm Light. “You never know what you may find out.”
The gray mare let out a chuckle. “Odds are against me, but sure, why not?” She made a pause before asking. “What about you? What’s the meaning of your mark? How did you get it?”
Steel grinned and casted a glace to the open chain link on his flank. “This one’s not so obvious.” he replied. “My name is the key, the mark is…not-so-clear, we could say.”
“So I guess…you’re good with flint and steel?”
The stallion let out a chuckle. “More or less. My talent is lighting fires. I always had much more luck than my brothers when trying to light one, but I never considered a very big deal, ‘till one day I managed to light on fire a pile of wet wood at the first try.” he explained with an amused smile. “Sledge was so mad at me.” Warm Light smiled as well, possibly remembering the scene.
“How come?” asked Limestone.
“It’s like a very simple talent, but it’s very handy. Specially with these.” Flint ‘n’ Steel turned his hoofs upwards, revealing a pair of horseshoes attached with steel nails.
Limestone frowned. She grabbed his left hoof and pulled it closer to her face. No, her eyes were not deceiving her. While his right horseshoe was made of shining steel, the other was clearly made of a very unusual material: It was unmistakably flint.
“How is this possible?” asked Limestone, gently rubbing the polished surface of the horseshoe. If she had been paying more attention, she would have noticed that Steel was blushing.
“W-we order them to a unicorn from Canterlot.” explained Steel, grateful because nopony else was paying attention to them. His mother was the only pony that could be listening to them, but she had gone to the kitchen a moment ago. He felt a knot on his throat, and took a sip of water. The knot stubbornly decided to stay.
“That makes more sense.” muttered Limestone, letting go of his hoof. The stallion relaxed visibly. “I suppose they’re not very expensive.”
Steel didn’t answer immediately. He looked at his hoof, then gave his head a shake. “Naw, not that much.” he replied, waving a hoof. “Besides, they last for quite a while, so I don’t have to order them that often.”
Limestone nodded. “I see. So, what about Sledge?”
“What of him?”
“What’s his talent? And, how did he get his mark?” explained Limestone.
“Oh. That.” Steel rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh…I think it’s better if he tells you himself.”
“Alright, I will.” conceded Limestone. She then turned her attention to another conversation, leaving Steel with one last question pending. A few minutes later, the stallion had the chance to talk to the other pony again.
“So, what do you do for a livin’?” he asked.
“Oh, I am a professor in Canterlot.” she replied, frowning slightly. The mention of that topic reminded her of the conversation of two nights ago. She let out a sigh.
Steel noticed the sudden change of mood and bit his lip. Had he said something wrong? “Uh…is everythin’ okay?” he asked gently.
“Yes.” she lied. “It’s just that…I have been thinking. And I’ve realized…I don’t really like my job.”
Steel didn’t know what to say. To him, the solution to that problem was so obvious that Limestone had most likely considered the possibility. “Then…look for a new job.”
Limestone let out a tired sigh and shook her head, making her long mane wave. “I can’t do that. It’s just…my job is…”
“You’re the only one that can do it?” guessed Steel.
“No. I am sure there are plenty of ponies who could do what I do, perhaps even better. It’s…it’s hard to explain, okay? I can’t just leave my position, not after how much I worked to get there.”
“Oooh.” Steel smiled knowingly. “I think I get ya.”
Limestone looked at him, and frowned. “What do you mean.”
“You are like Father.” responded Steel, poking her lightly on the chest with a hoof. Seeing her expression, the stallion explained himself. “Ma was born here, in Gravelpit. Father was from Canterlot, and they moved there after the married.”
“There are a lot of couples like that.” commented Limestone.
“Yah, that’s true. But the thing is that Father…got too much into his work.” he continued. “To the point that I barely saw the fella. He was a businesspony of some sort, ya know? I never really knew a lot about what he did. Anyways, the problem is that, even when out income of money was enough for us to live well, Father was always trying to get into a better position. ‘It’s for the future’, he always said.”
“But what’s so terrible about that?” asked Limestone, frowning.
Steel gave her a sad smile. “One day, he suffered a heart attack and he dropped dead before anypony could do anything.” he muttered, his cheerful voice gone. The mare gasped and covered her mouth with a hoof. “With our savings, we moved back to Gravelpit and bought this mine from your father. After so much work, all of father’s effort went to waste. He left behind a pregnant wife and two sons that barely knew him.” Flint went silent for a while, with a bitter expression on his face.
Warm Light placed a dish with a piece of cake in front of each pony. Limestone blinked and looked at the table. She had’t noticed that the older mare had taken away her and Steel’s dish to serve the dessert. On the other side of the table, Pinkie was standing on her chair, waving her hooves on the air and chirping some song. Sledge and Octavia were listening to her, the first laughing out loud while the second tried to hold back her giggles.
“But I am not in the same situation.” muttered Limestone, locking her golden eyes on Steel’s purples. “I would not leave behind anypony.”
“Exactly.” replied Steel with a sad smile. “Father sacrificed his happiness and time for us, to give us a better life. But, who are you doing it for?”
Limestone opened her mouth to reply, but no words came, as she simply had no good answer. She looked to the floor, trying to push away of her mind the despair that for the last two days had been her sole companion. “I don’t know.” she confessed in a whisper. “I really don’t know.”
She closed her eyes tightly, in an attempt to contain the tears that were about to treason her. Then she felt a hoof gently pushing chin upwards, and opener her eyes, only to see Flint ‘n’ Steel smiling at her. “Well, perhaps it’s time for a change.” In smite of herself, Limestone smiled and even managed to choke out a laugh.
“Hey!” called out a voice from the other side of the table. Limestone and Steel turned their heads and saw Pinkie, waving both hooves at them. “Maybe we should leave you two some privacy!”
“Damm ya, Flint!” added Sledge, slamming his hoof against the table. “You gosh darn conqueror!”
Limestone blushed and leaned away from Flint, while the stallion slapped the cake into Sledge’s face, but was intercepted by Pinkie.
“Pinkie.” Octavia lowered her voice into a warning growl. She didn’t want to discuss this right now, and it’s not like Pinkie had any word in the matter. “I am not introducing Vinyl to father and mother yet, and that’s the end of it.” she turned around and walked to her bed. She took a moment to search for her bowtie and put it on. “Now, if you excuse me, I have to go to Gravelpit.”
“Awww, you can’t go now!” mused Pinkie, folding her ears back.
Octavia stopped next to the door, her hoof hovering over the handle. “Why not?”
“Because you’ll miss the show!”
The shadow of a suspect downed on Octavia. “What do you mean?” she asked, frowning.
A massive grin slowly spread on Pinkie’s face. “Well, I talked to Vinyl on yesterday evening, and she said she would pay a visit today.”
Octavia’s right eye twitched. “She…she wouldn’t dare.”
“I’m not so sure.” chirped Pinkie, tapping her chin. “I mean, we’re talking about Vinyl.”
Octavia grimaced. “She would completely dare.”
***
Waiting for Vinyl was like waiting for a disaster to happen. Octavia sat on the couch with her two sisters, fidgeting with her hooves and biting her lower lip all the time. Pinkie was behind her, gently brushing her mane with a comb while she hummed a little melody. Limestone was completely oblivious to her twin’s distress, busy as she was with a book. Meanwhile, Cloudy Quartz did crocret on her chair and Igneous read the newspaper on his armchair. On the table, right on the reach of his hoof, there was a glass filled halfway with the scotch Pinkie had given him as a present.
It was a perfectly normal and comfortable scene, but it didn’t help to calm Octavia. In fact, it may be making her get even more on her nerves. She shot glances to the door every few seconds.
Right after Pinkie had told her about Vinyl’s plans, Octavia had scrambled downstairs and made a run into Gravelpit, followed by Pinkie; only to find that Vinyl had left the inn, and the keeper had no idea of where she could be. After an unsuccessful search around the town, the gray pony gave up and decided to go back to her house, just in time for lunch.
That had been three hours ago.
As the white mare hadn’t specified when exactly she was going to come, Octavia was left with nothing to do but just wait…and hope. Granted, she could just wait for Vinyl on the path to the house and ask her to wait for another day, when at least she had talked to her parents.
However, she wasn’t going to do it. Because, deep inside, she knew Pinkie was right: The sooner her Igneous and Cloudy knew, the better. So, instead of stopping Vinyl on her tracks and make her turn around, she decided to wait.
‘Celestia’s mane, when is she going to come?’ Octavia though. Her anxiety was slowly turning into impatience. It was a fine evening, but she couldn’t enjoy it because she had no idea of when Vinyl would knock on the door.
She was suddenly startled when she felt a tug on her mane. “Pinkie?” she muttered. “What are you doing?”
“A ponytail.” she replied in a whisper. Octavia turned her ears a bit at the sound. It was extremely unusual to hear Pinkie speak in such a gentle tone. “I just thought it would look good.” she added, as she slid a band into her mane.
Octavia nodded. “Thank you.”
“Would you like me to brush your tail too?” she suggested.
Octavia hesitated. Because of its position, the tail was considered more private than the mane. There were some ponies that couldn’t stand if anypony that was not a lover touched their tail too close to the base. Octavia wasn’t one of those ponies, but it still felt weird to have it brushed by a pony that was not Vinyl. “Um…sure.” she responded.
Pinkie hopped off the couch to give Octavia space to lie down comfortably, although Limestone scooted away a few centimeters from her, as the first was almost burying her nuzzle on the tail of the second. ‘Perhaps Limestone is one of those ponies.’ though Octavia as she closed her eyes. She felt the teeth of the comb tracing lines on the dense hair of her tail, and suddenly her anxiety vanished. Her shoulders slumped and she let out a sigh of content. For a few minutes, there was only bliss, her worries completely forgotten.
That is, until Pinkie Pie decided that she wasn’t comfortable enough on the floor, and decided to sit somewhere else. Since the couch was completely overtaken by the gray twins and the other two seats were occupied as well, she decided to sit on the inmediatly softest object: Octavia’s bottom.
The mare’s eyes shot open. This no longer felt like her sister brushing her tail. There was just a single pony in the entire world that had done something similar to what Pinkie was doing at that very moment…and that had been in private, and it was bounded to very personal memories.
Octavia stop upright, sending Pinkie back to the floor with a loud ‘thudd’ before she even had time to let out a yelp. The three other ponies looked up in alarm, but quickly relaxed when they saw Pinkie was grinning. “Oh, I didn’t know we were doing a rodeo!” she chirped. Igneous, Cloudy and Limestone didn’t understood what she meant, but they didn’t question it either. The three of them quickly returned their attention to their activities.
Octavia stared at her sister, wanting to reprove Pinkie, but being unable with her family there. She was thankful her family was focusing on Pinkie, or they would have noticed the massive blush on her cheeks. Instead, she just shot her sister a glare that hopefully made clear her point.
Pinkie covered her mouth to suppress a giggle. “Sorry.” she mouthed, stashing the brush inside her mane. She hopped back on her hooves and went to the kitchen, just because she fancied a snack.
The pink mare opened and, after a quick scan, grabbed a peach and tossed it upwards, in a perfect parable to fall into her open mouth. But then, she felt it.
Knotty throat, butterfly belly, shuddery spine!
Somepony that loves a pony close to you is approaching!
Pinkie Pie bolted back to the sitting room, leaving the luckless peach hovering mid-fall. She stopped in front of Octavia, and nodded to the door. The gray pony barely had time to understand the message when Vinyl knocked the door.
Cloudy Quartz looked at the door and got up with a little grunt. “I wonder who could that be.” she said as she trotted to the door. She stopped on her tracks when Octavia quite literally jumped on her way, holding up both hooves and with a panicked expression on her face.
“Wait, wait!” the gray pony begged. “I was, uh, expecting a visit and…and here it is!” she said with a nervous smile. She could feel a drop of cold sweat making its way down her forehead.
“Oh? Well, then let’s not make that pony wait, hm?” said Cloudy with a smile.
“Y-yes, it is just…” Octavia fidgeted with her hooves and looked down. There was no way this was going to go alright, was it? She had to breathe deeply three times before continuing. “Father, mother, sisters…I want you to meet my special somepony.” And with that, she trotted to the door and flung it open.
On the other side there was an all-white unicorn mare with her mane combed to a side and a pair of square glasses sitting on her nuzzle. Around her neck she wore a dark gray scarf with a pair of treble clefs embrodied on it. She was standing in a rather awkward way; much like a Guard would, with her forehead up and her pose quite stiff. Unlike a guard, however, she seemed to be at the edge of collapsing in a pile just by sheer anxiety. After a few seconds of deafening silence, Vinyl slowly raised a hoof and waved it to the other four ponies inside the house. “Hello.” she said weakly.
Everypony just stared at her for a few more seconds, except Pinkie, who waved back and even replied with a ‘Hai!’
Cloudy Quartz was the first to react. She gave her head a shake and smiled, trotting the small distance that separated her from the unicorn and offering a hoof. “Hello. I am Cloudy Quartz.”
Vinyl shook her hoof with uncertainty. “I’m…I’m Vinyl Scratch.” she stammered.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” continued Cloudy. “It’s so nice to meet you. Octavia never told us she had a special somepony! Please, come inside.” She waited for the mare to cross the threshold, and closed the door after her.
“Y-yeah.” replied Vinyl. She knew the older mare had not meant it that way, but that felt like a sting to her. There was a small part of her mind that wondered if Octavia was ashamed of dating her because she was a mare. “She doesn’t talk a lot about me.” She took a moment to check the sitting room.
“I am Limestone.” said the other sister, hopping down from the couch and offering a hoof to Vinyl, who shook it without hesitation. “I am Octavia’s twin, and I can’t believe she hasn’t told me about you.” she said well-mannered, shooting a glance to Octavia.
“And I’m Pinkie Pie!” chirped the pink pony. “But you already know that because-” Octavia cringed at the incoming disaster. She was going to speak about their encounter a couple of nights ago. “-I hired you to play in Shining Armor and Princess Cadenza’s wedding!”
Seeing Pinkie and the mention of the event immediately drawn the DJ side into Vinyl, and her expression turned into a confident and cocky grin. “Heck yeah! And what a night it was!” she said, slapping Pinkie on the shoulder. One second later, what she had just done downed into her, and Vinyl cleared her throat and quickly tried to mend her slip. “I mean. Yes, I remember.”
Octavia facehoofed and shook her head. ‘Well, at least mother and Limestone had reacted well.’ she thought, relieved.
However, there was one last impediment to face, and that was Igneous Rock, who had not moved since Vinyl had crossed the door. The two ponies crossed sights, and the unicorn couldn’t help but gulp under the stern glare of the old stallion.
“Igneous?” gently said Cloudy. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
Rock looked at her wife, then back at Vinyl. He carefully folded the newspaper and dropped it on the table. With a groan, he got up from his armchair and walked to the unicorn, each step resounding in the silent room. Igneous was a small stallion, so he was at the same eye level as Vinyl. However, his glare made her feel very small.
“So you´re a mare.” he stated.
“Y-yes sir.” replied Vinyl. It seemed like the proper way to address him.
“And you´re dating mah daughter.”
“Yes sir.” repeated Vinyl.
Igneous gave a sharp nod, and started to slowly circle around the mare, assessing her. Vinyl audibly gulped. The stallion stopped again in front of her and made a pause before speaking again. “So, are you like the stallion of the relationship?” he asked.
Octavia gaped and felt her cheeks warm. “Dad!”
“Uh…y-yes. Sir.” replied Vinyl, both embarrassed and confused with the question.
“Alright then.” Igneous moved to Vinyl’s side and put a foreleg over her back. “Do you see that pick over there?” he asked, pointing to his old pickaxe, that decorated one of the walls of the sitting room.
“Y-yes, sir?”
“If you break my daughter’s heart, I’ll make a mine to your brain.” he growled, loud enough for all the ponies to hear. He gave Vinyl a gentle tap on the shoulder and let her go. “Got it?”
Vinyl just nodded, her mouth hanging open and feeling paler than ever.
Igneous let out a chuckle. “Hey, don’t worry too much. Just be good, and yer skull will be safe.” He gave Vinyl a good-hearted slap on the shoulder. “Welcome to the family, lad…eh, no.” The stallion tapped his chin. “Gal! Yes, welcome to the family, gal.”
***
“…and we’ve been dating since then.” finished Vinyl. She levitated her glass and took a sip. Her throat was dry after so much talking. For some reason, Octavia had remained completely silent, letting the white unicorn do all the telling.
Shortly after Vinyl’s arrival, Cloudy Quartz had started to prepare the dinner. The unicorn, not expecting them to dine so early, had tried to excuse herself and leave, but the old mare insister otherwise.
About thirty minutes later, the dinner was ready. Carrots, peas and beans, accompanied with buttered bread and mashed potatoes. Vinyl felt her mouth watering the very instant the smell reached her nostrils.
The six ponies sat around the table of the kitchen. It was crowded, but not as much as the three sisters were in Warm Light’s house yesterday. The closeness also helped Vinyl to feel part of the family, and even if she had just introduced herself, she felt quickly accepted inside the little familiar circle.
“So, what is the exact meaning of your mark?” questioned Limestone, chewing a carrot. “You said you play music, but what exactly is your specialty?”
“Well.” Vinyl tapped her hoof on the table. “Most ponies assume it is being a DJ, but that is just what I do for a living, and I am good at it, but that is not my talent.” she explained. “Just like Pinkie’s talent is not baking, my talent is not disc jockey-ing. I am a composer.” Her lips twisted in a small smile of pride. “And I am especially good at using discordances.”
“What she means with that is that she will destroy your ears and you will enjoy it.” muttered Octavia with a small smile. Vinyl shot her a glare, but then smiled.
“That’s more accurate than I’d like to admit.” said Vinyl, taking a scoop of her mashed potatoes. “That’s probably the reason why I’ll never be admitted in a ‘serious’ music academy. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know my stuff.”
“I’d like to hear some of your compositions some time.” stated Limestone. “Do you think Octavia could play it?”
The gray mare stared to her twin in disbelief, while Vinyl let out a chuckle. “If you wanna stay in good terms with your sister, I wouldn’t suggest anything similar in front of her like, ever.” she said, making a cutting gesture with her hoof. “But…nah. It wouldn’t work. I need something that can make louder and higher sounds. The cello is just too much in the bass side.”
“So, what do you use to play?” asked Limestone.
“You’ve never seen a mixing table?” asked Pinkie, raising her eyebrows in surprise. “I’ve seen them a couple of times, but Vinyl is the only pony I’ve seen using one.”
“They’re quite rare.” explained Vinyl. “And very few ponies actually know how to use them. The first was made, what, fifteen years ago? Around that. I am just the second generation of DJs.”
“Oh, so you´re a pioneer.” spoke Cloudy Quartz, who had kept her attention in the ongoing conversation, despite not having a clue about that specific genre of music. “What do your parents think about that?”
Vinyl hesitated a moment before answering. Octavia bit her lip. “They’re okay, I guess. Not that they have much to say about my decisions. I don’t know, it’s been a long time since I actually talked to any of them. It was my big brother who mostly took care of me when I was a foal, and it was thanks to him how I got my cutie mark.”
Silence reigned for a moment in the table. “I’m sorry I brought that.” Cloudy apologized. “I didn’t meant to-”
“Oh, don’t worry.” interrupted Vinyl with a sad smile. “I am over it already. My parents were quite careless with my brother and I. They enjoyed being together and alone too much, so they often left us with friends and family while they traveled around Equestria. So when my brother got enough money to get himself a house, I moved with him.” She made a pause and shook her head slightly. “I dunno, I guess they didn’t really think though the whole thing of having kids.” She was thankful the question was asked so late in the dinner, because every other pony seemed to have lost its appetite, except Igneous, who was still eating, apparently unaffected.
“Well don’t worry about that anymore.” interjected Pinkie Pie. “Because now you have a family that cares about you.” There was a round of nods and agreements on the table, and Vinyl perked up clearly. “Now, who wants a dessert?”
Not waiting for an answer, Pinkie hopped from her chair and bounced to the kitchen. She opened the door of the fridge and rummaged inside until she extracted half a cake that was left from another day. She also grabbed six small dishes and the same number of forks. Before she left the kitchen, however, Pinkie trotted back to the fridge, leaned her head back and opened her mouth, catching the peach and chomping it down.
***
“It’s been a pleasure to meet you.” said Cloudy Quartz as she embraced Vinyl Scratch. She let the unicorn go and smiled at her. “I’d like to see you again before you two return to Canterlot.”
“Oh, sure.” replied Vinyl, mirroring her smile. “It’s been a nice evening.”
With the dinner finished and over, Vinyl and Octavia decided to leave, as both of them were feeling exhausted and wanted to get some sleep. Limestone and Cloudy tried at first to convince them to stay a little longer, but it was to no use. It was obvious than none of the mares would be able to stay for longer and walk all the way to Gravelpit.
“I will see you tomorrow.” said Octavia, suppressing a yawn. She gave her mother and sisters a nuzzle. “It’s likely that we will sleep until late tomorrow, just so you know.”
“Same goes for me.” added Vinyl, trying and failing to suppress her own yawn. “See? I’m gonna fall sleep while standing.”
“Well then we won’t hold you anymore.” replied Cloudy. “Goodbye!”
“Bye mother.” “Bye, miss Quartz!” said the two mares, before turning around and starting their way towards Gravelpit and the bed they needed so much.
The rest of the family gathered once again on the sitting room, much like they had been that evening, before Vinyl arrived. Pinkie, with no Octavia to brush her mane, decided to do the same with Limestone, who hesitated at first but then presented no objections. In fact, she seemed to enjoy it even more than her twin, as Pinkie felt the gray pony almost melt under her hooves.
“She was very nice.” casually commented Cloudy. Igneous let out a hum of agreement. “But I was surprised. A mare? I would have never guessed it!” The stallion emitted a sound of agreement. “And Igneous? You were very silent during the dinner. Is anything wrong?”
The male pony looked up from the book and eyed his wife. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked to the floor. “No. It´s just…I fergot her name and I didn´t feel like askin’.”
Octavia let out a small grunt and her eyes fluttered open. The light of the Sun slipped through the blinds, filling the room with a gentle and warm glow, enough to see the back of the pony that slept right next to her.
Vinyl Scratch was still sleeping. The gentle sounds of her breathing was soothing for Octavia, and she closed her eyes and just listened to it for a little longer. When she opened her eyes again, she couldn’t tell how much time it had passed. Perhaps it would be a good moment to actually get up and do something productive.
But on the other hoof, the bed was so comfortable and warm…
The previous night, the pair was so tired they both crawled into the bed and fell asleep almost immediately. They didn’t even have the will or mind of spoon each other. That had left Octavia hungry for Vinyl’s touch…and she was sure it was the same for the unicorn.
The gray pony scooted closer to Vinyl and carefully set aside her mane, and slid her lips across the neck of the unicorn. That simple gesture was rewarded with a shudder and a low moan. “Nnnng…what are you doing?” whispered Vinyl as she stretched her limbs.
“Shhh, don’t move.” responded Octavia, wrapping her forelegs around the waist of her marefriend and pulling her closer until their bodies were in direct contact. She kissed her neck while gently caressing her side. Vinyl relaxed and let out a long sigh of pleasure.
A few minutes later, the unicorn slid out of the embrace and rolled over her back to face Octavia. “You’re more touchy than usual.” she whispered with a impish smile. “Are you okay?”
Octavia let out a soft chuckle. “Oh, I don’t know. I may feel a little ill.” she replied.
Vinyl’s smile grew broader. “I may have the solution for that.” she whispered as she stood up on the bed and moved above Octavia. She light up her horn and drawn the other pony into a kiss that lingered for a few seconds. “Better?” she asked.
“I’m not sure.” responded Octavia, feeling her face warm and the beating of her heart in her ears. “I may need another one. Just…to be sure.”
Vinyl grinned. “I thought so.” she whispered, leaning in for another kiss, more hungry and intense.
***
“You´re weird today.”
Limestone let out a heavy sigh and turned her head to her younger sister. “Remind me why are you following me.” she deadpanned.
“Well, I don’t wanna stay home.” replied Pinkie, shrugging. “Because dad is always quiet and mom is always busy. So I decided to go to Gravelpit with you, just to do something. It will be fun.”
Limestone groaned and rolled her eyes. “Just because I have been tolerating you these last days, doesn’t mean I have forgiven you for what happe-”
“That doesn’t matter, because I have forgiven you.” replied Pinkie. Her serious tone completely threw off Limestone, who opened her mouth to try to reply, but no words came. “It’s just…” Pinkie sat down on the dirt of the path. “I know I hurt you, and I am really, really sorry for that.” The pink pony traced a cross over her heart. “But I don’t want that night to rise a wall between us, like Twilight would say. So I forgive you for what you say…But, will you forgive me for what I said?” she asked, looking at her sister with hope.
Limestone found herself lost at words. She stared to her sister on disbelief, half of her wishing to say she was sorry too, and half of her wanting to say ‘no’, just to punish her sister for making her feel so miserable.
After a pause that seemed to stretch too much, Limestone closed her mouth and turned around, resuming her trot towards the town. “Maybe.” she merely responded, not even waiting for her sister.
Pinkie smiled and hopped back on her hooves. Maybe it wasn’t Limetsone’s intention, but the way she spoke that single word, the tone she had used, make it very clear for the party pony that her sister would forgive her, just with a little more time. And that was enough for her.
When the two sisters arrived to Gravelpit, Limestone went straight to one very specific store. “What is this place?” asked Pinkie Pie, watching in awe the devices that covered every shelf in the shop. She didn’t know what most of them were. Others, such as the pair of night vision goggles, were well-known to the pony. She even had one in her house, although these seemed to be a bit more advanced.
“It’s a clockwork shop. They sell small machines.” responded Limestone, walking directly to the counter, where dust gray stallion was reclined on a chair, with his eyes closed. She hit the small bell on the table, and the pony went straight like a spring. “Hello. I am looking for a-”
While Limestone tended her business with the ashen pony, Pinkie decided to explore the shop. There were so many tinkery things, so many shiny parts and ticking cogs! Pinkie was quickly absorbed by the tiny machinery that clicked, tickled and chimed. Here, a small pocket clock with a transparent face that allowed her to see the flurry of cogs that were the insides of the diminutive machine. There, a strange device resembling a spinning top with an energy crystal inside spun over its spike, always pointing in the same direction. Pinkie raised a hoof and gently poked the top, which quickly regained its previous position.
It was like a party of tiny machines! Pinkie could barely contain an excited squeal as she started hopping from one shelving to the next.
“But yer an earth pony.” responded the pony standing on the other side of the counter. Limestone was starting to lose her patience with him. For some reason, the gray stallion had decided to argue with her and point objections to a very simple request.
“Listen.” she said, putting her hooves on the counter and leaning forwards. “I just need a petroscope.”
“But petroscopes need a magic flow to work.” he replied. “And ya don´t have that.”
“I’ll just use a magic capacitor. I have a few of those.” said the mare, gritting her teeth.
“And what will ya do when they run outta power?” he drawled, rubbing his messy mane. “You know an unicorn to recharge ‘em?”
The attention of the pony was suddenly caught by something behind her. “Hey, miss! Don’t touch dat!” he called out. Limestone looked behind her and saw Pinkie Pie tinkering with a small machine. When she heard the voice of the stallion, she gave a startled jump and let go of the device, which fell to the floor with a loud clang. The machine tickled for a few seconds before suddenly shooting a small cog, which flew direct to Pinkie’s eye. Limestone had to double-take when her sister didn’t even flinch.
“Um...Pinkie? Are you okay?” she asked.
“Why would I not be okay?” she chirped, grabbing the machine and putting it back to its shelf. She gave a hop and disappeared into a different aisle.
Limestone let out a groan and rubbed her temples. She was going to get a headache at any minute. “So, about that petroscope…” she started, hoping the shopkeeper would get the message.
He gave her a long look before drawling. “But yer an earth pony.”
Limestone gave up and slammed her head against the counter. She was clearly surrounded by idiots. Pinkie, and now this guy. How could any pony be so dense?
Just when Limestone was about to give up and leave, she heard a third voice. “I need a third-grade quartz petroscope with a three-point-five eyepiece.” it said. Limestone looked to the side and saw a dark red chest. Her eyes followed the neck and found the face of Flint ‘n’ Steel, who was looking at the other pony.
“Aye-aye!” replied the shopkeeper, disappearing into the backstore.
Steel let out a sigh and looked at Limestone. “Don’t mind him.” he said with a small smile. “He likes to annoy foreigner customers, ya know?”
Limestone raised her head. “Is he really taking the risk of losing a sale just for that?”
The stallion shrugged. “He gets enough sales anyways, so he doesn’t give a buck.”
Limestone shook her head, annoyed. “Did I tell you that you´re all crazy in this town?”
Steel raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? I dunno, you tell me. You were borned here, weren’t you? Wouldn’t that make you crazier?”
Limestone huffed, but smiled. “It should, but Pinkie took with her all the craziness, and left nothing for me or my sister.”
“Hey Limestone!” called out Pinkie’s voice from behind both of them. The two ponies looked back and saw Pinkie half-hidden under a cardboard box, wearing an eyepatch and a bandana. “Have you seen any metal cogs?” Without waiting for an answer, the pink pony dropped the box over her and scurried away.
“…you know, I think I get what you mean.”
The sound of the hoofsteps signaled that the shopkeeper was coming back, and both ponies turned their attention to him. He was holding a small box on one of his forelegs, which he placed on the counter and opened. Inside, carefully wrapped in cloth, was an object that resembled a small telescope with many small knobs and levers, and several additional lenses at the front, plus a leather strap to wear it around the head. “Anything else, ma’am?” he asked Limestone.
“Uh…I am the one that asked for it.” interjected Flint ‘n’ Steel.
The other stallion let out a chuckle. “Aye, sure. Ya think I woun’t put two ‘n’ two togetha? Ya obviously wanted to do sumethin’ for the lady.”
Limestone and Steel shared a look and shrugged. “Anyways, how much it it?” asked the mare.
“Tsk. Yer not gonna pay, Steel?”
“Just say how much it is so I can leave already.” cut off Limestone, frowning.
The shopkeeper was taken aback by her words, and decided he had pushed her buttons enough already. “It’s un-hundred and twenty-five bits, ma’am.”
The gray mare rummaged inside her saddlebags and put five identical brass coins. The stallion dropped them in a burlap bag and gave her a sharp nod. “Okay ma’am. It’s been a plesu’e doing business with ya.”
“I wish I could say the same.” snarled Limestone, as she put the box in her saddlebags and turned around and walking to the door, followed by Flint. Once they had left the stone, the gray mare let out a sigh and her shoulders slumped. “Thank you.” she muttered.
“Oh, it’s been nothin’.” replied Steel with a small proud smile. “Anyone would’ve done the same.”
“Except for that featherbrain, apparently.” she grumbled under her breath. She gave her head a shake and smiled as well. “Let’s just forget about that. How come you are here?”
“Eh, I’m just walking around.” he replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ve always liked that store, you know? They have all sorts of small bits there. I saw you having troubles with Dustpan an’ decided to lend a hoof.” he finished. A moment later, his ears flinched. “Sorry, I went back to that.”
“Oh, don’t worry.” replied Limestone, resuming her walk.
“So, um…What are you doing here?” asked Steel as he followed her through the streets of Gravelpit. There were not many ponies around, as usual. Gravelpit had never been a very lively city.
“I needed a new petroscope.” replied matter-of-factly Limestone. “My old one just broke before coming here, and I need it for my job. That, and it’s a device I like having.”
“What exactly does it do?” asked Steel. The name was quite self-explanatory, but he wanted to keep the conversation going.
“Exactly what the name says.” replied the mare. “It’s a device that allows you to see the minerals inside a stone. It’s basically a very complex and magical-powered magnifying glass.”
“And what’s so interesting about that?” asked the stallion, tilting his head.
Limestone looked at him and smiled. Steel gulped. The mare didn’t smile very often, but when she did… she could be charming. “Remind me to show you one day. Trust me, it’s amazing.”
“I-I will.” stammered Steel, feeling his cheeks warm. He was grateful the mare was not looking at him anymore. The two ponies continued walking in silence for a while.
“Anyways, I am going back home.” suddenly said the mare.
“What, are you leaving already?”
“Yes.” Limestone shrugged. “I just came to town for the petroscope, and now I have it. I don’t really have anything else to do here.”
“Oh…” Steel’s ears fell flat on his skull. He took a moment to gather courage and spill the words he had been holding back since he had run into Limestone. “Uh…would you like to have dinner sometime?”
“Oh? Sure, why not.” replied the mare, tossing her mane over her neck. She didn’t see Flint biting his lip or nervously pawing the ground. “Anyways, I´ll see you later.” she said, turning around in the direction of her house.
Steel let go a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “…wow.” he muttered to himself.
***
It was a few hours after lunch when Octavia and Vinyl Scratch finally crossed the main door of the inn and were blinded by the sun. Both mares covered their eyes with a foreleg and waited a moment to get used to the intense light.
“Wow, I guess we’ve been in all the day.” muttered Vinyl.
“You speak as if you regretted it~” purred Octavia, giving her a sideways smile. Vinyl let out a nervous laugh and blushed.
Sometimes, there were those very rare moments when their roles reversed for a mere second. It was usually Vinyl the one to make the sensual comment, and Octavia the one to blush and spill her drink. However, the white unicorn had come to enjoy these swaps, as they always appeared under very determinate circumstances.
Namely, either Octavia was aroused, or Vinyl had done an especially work in a recent banging session. Either way, it meant something good had happened or was about to happen.
“So what do you want to do?” asked Vinyl after a moment, starting to trot down the street with Octavia after her.
“I don’t know.” replied the gray mare. “We have been in bed for so long that is quite late already.”
“Maybe we should have a late lunch-slash-dinner.” suggested Vinyl. She was not particularly hungry, which was strange, after so much exercise.
Octavia seemed to ponder the suggestion for a moment, and finally nodded. “That actually sounds lovely. I am starving!” she confessed, which made Vinyl grin. “What?”
“Nothing. It’s just that I’m not hungry and apparently I am more used to this kind of exercise than you.”
Octavia let out a very loud laugh and slapped Vinyl on the shoulder. “Oh, hush!” she chided. “Come on, let´s go somewhere.”
A few minutes later, the couple was sitting on the outside of a nice-looking restaurant. The place was almost empty, as it was not a usual time for a meal, and the staff seemed rather pleased to have something to do. After a short delay, Octavia had her plate of pasta with onion and tomato and Vinyl her bowl of fruit salad and a stack of apple fries; along with a pair of glasses of water.
“So, was it good?” asked Vinyl, using a fork to study the composition of the fruit salad. Pear, apple, pineapple and carrots. Nice!
“Oh, you were fantastic.” replied Octavia with a broad smile as she rolled the pasta around her fork in a tight coil.
“Was I? I’m glad to hear that, honestly! I was worried I would mess something up.” admitted the white mare.
“Well, you won’t have to worry any more. You were great.”
“I was so nervous…but hey! It worked, and now we’re over it.”
“Indeed.” agreed Octavia.
“Will we do it again some of these days?” asked Vinyl.
“Certainly!” said the other mare. “I will be looking forward to it.”
“Alright then.” Vinyl made a pause to chomp down a few fries. “So, do you think they were okay?”
Octavia tilted her head. “How do you mean.”
“With us. You think they were okay?” repeated Vinyl.
Octavia frowned. “Vinyl, I don’t think I follow you.”
“Your parents, duh.”
Octavia’s jaw dropped, and she stared to her marefriend, unable to understand. “Sorry, what? Are we talking about the same thing?”
Vinyl shrugged. “I’m taking about when I meet your parents yesterday. You?”
Octavia’s jaw dropped and her cheeks went red. “I t-though we were talking about w-what we tried today!” she replied, covering her face with a foreleg.
Vinyl let out a snort of laugh. “Oh, that! Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it, but that’s not what I meant.”
The gray pony lowered her leg just enough to look at Vinyl with a single eye. “Did we really hold two conversations at the same time, one about my parents, and the other about sex?”
“We totally did!” replied Vinyl, bursting into a fit of breezy laugh. It got even louder when Octavia rested her head on the table and hid behind her forelegs in shame.
As the laugh died, Vinyl noticed something on the corner of her eye. There, standing a couple of meters next to them was a stallion with a light gray mane and dark red coat. The stallion was looking at the two mares with an expression of both confusion and awe. Vinyl could swear he had a slightly brighter hue of red around his cheeks. “Uh…can I help you?” she asked, looking at the stallion over her glasses.
The pony seemed to break from his trance. “Ah! Uh…yes, sorry! I am Flint ‘n’ Steel.” he nervously said. Octavia’s ears perked up at the voice and the name, and she raised her head, smiling at the stallion. “Oh, hello Steel! How are you?” she said, genuinely happy to see the pony. Vinyl raised an eyebrow and shot a questioning glance to her.
“All’s good, all’s good.” he replied, rubbing the nape of his neck. “I just saw you here and…uh…mind if I sit with ya?” he meekly asked.
Octavia let out a giggle. It was amusing seeing the stallion being so shy. “Sure, go ahead.” she said, gesturing to one of the empty seats. Once the stallion had claimed one of them as his own, the gray pony introduced him. “Vinyl, this is Flint ‘n’ Steel. He is one of the ponies that now work at the mines.”
“Oh.” Vinyl’s expression turned into a smile. “Sup? I’m Vinyl Scratch.” she said, holding out a hoof that the stallion shook after a moment of hesitation.
“Pleasure’.” he replied, giving her a polite nod.
“So, what brings you here?” asked Octavia.
“Uh…Ah’m not interruptin’ anything, am I?” he asked, avoiding Vinyl’s eyes. When Octavia had greeted him, the white unicorn had shot him a venomous glare that he wouldn’t like to receive again.
“Not really.” replied Octavia. Steel looked at Vinyl for confirmation, who just shrugged and shook a hoof as if saying ‘go ahead’. Steel took a moment to think and put his thoughts in order.
“Okay, so…there’s somethin’ I wanted to ask ya…” he said, biting his lip. “It’s about Limestone.” he finally said, suddenly finding something very important on the lines of the wood of the table.
“You want to date here, don’t you?” said a fourth voice. Everypony turner their heads and said Pinkie Pie, sitting on the last chair of the table, opposite to Steel. “Hai Steel! Hai Octavia! Hai fancy Vinyl!” she cheered, waving a hoof at each pony, despite the fact that they were not even a meter away from her.
“Wait, when did you-” started Vinyl.
“I was here the whole time!” replied Pinkie, looking at the DJ in disbelief. “You didn’t see me?”
Vinyl opened her mouth to reply, but though twice and decided to not question the bubblegun pony. Instead, she proceeded to attack her food, almost forgotten due to the conversation. Octavia gave her head a shake and faced Steel. “Is that true?”
“Y-yes.” he stammered. “But h-how did ya know?”
“Well, you were pretty heads over hooves with her last night.” replied Pinkie matter-of-factly.
“I was?” Steel asked to Octavia, who nodded in confirmation. The stallion gulped and felt a streak of panic. “And does she know?”
“I don’t think so.” replied Octavia, tapping her chin. “She would have probably said something.” The red pony relaxed and let out a sigh of relief.
“Thank Celestia.” he muttered to himself. “So yeah, I wanna ask her out, like Pinkie said. And I kinda…uh…wanted to ask for a suggestion…or sumethin’.” he said, his voice dropping into a mutter at the end.
Octavia crooked an eyebrow, while Pinkie let out a giggle. “Are you really asking us, their sisters, for advice?” asked the gray pony.
“Uh…I suppose?”
Octavia let out a sigh. “Well, let’s see what we can think of.” she rested her head on her hoof and raised her eyes to the sky. “Each pony is an entire different world when talking about romance. What works for me or for Pinkie, may not work for Limestone. In fact, it will most likely not work, as the three of us are very different.”
“Still, confidence is something that will never hurt.” added Vinyl with a smile. “Not pushy, not brash, just enough confidence. Make her see that you know what you are doing.”
Octavia nodded in agreement. “I think Limestone is the one of us that has changed the least, so I would suggest to not overdo it.” Seeing the confusion in the face of the stallion, the mare explained further. “Go for simple, especially for a first date. Something as normal as a dinner together where you two have fun may be the best.” Octavia made a pause and bit her lip. “It is such a shame Gravelpit has no park or anything like that where you can go for a walk after dinner.”
Vinyl let out a chuckle. “Oh, she knows what she is talking about.” she said. “Dinner, walk on the park, kiss. That’s a very brief summary of the date where I actually earned her! I’d tell you what happened afterwards, but that is more private.”
Octavia stared her with an amused expression for a moment, and let out a sigh. “She has a point, though. I don’t think there is any good place for a walk here.”
“Well…I actually know somewhere.” muttered the stallion. “Do you think Limestone will mind walking a heap?”
“Naah.” responded Pinkie, waving a hood dismissely. “Well, as long as you don’t end stuffed with food, like I usually do. Also, mane.”
Three pairs of eyes blinked in confusion. “Uh…excuse me?” asked Octavia.
“You know. The long hair that grows on your head?”
Vinyl and Steel held back a laugh. “I know what the mane is.” said curtly Octavia. “But what does that have to do with anything?”
“I think Limestone likes when somepony touches her mane.” said Pinkie. “I know most ponies do, but when I was brushing her mane yesterday, she went all ‘floop’ on the couch. I think she even fell asleep!”
Vinyl grinned. “That sounds great for foreplay.”
“I know, right!” chirped Pinkie. “Like Octavia and the frog of her hooves!”
The gray mare’s jaw dropped and she stared her sister with a mortified expression. “H-how do you know that?”
“Aha! Then it is true!”
“It...is true.” admitted Octavia, blushing. “But why do you know it?”
“Vinyl told me.”
“What? That’s not true!”
“Oh? Then I guess I knew already.”
“Well, in that case, could you please not spill my private secrets in front of anypony else?” asked Octavia with a snarl.
“Okey-dokey!”
The gray mare let out a sigh and rubbed her forehead. “Sorry about that, Steel.”
“It’s fine.” he replied weakly. He was blushing heavily and he wore a shocked expression, probably because of what he had just learned. “I’ll just...go on my way. Thank you. For everything.” he muttered as he got up from his chair.
“Dawwn, are you leaving already?” asked Pinkie, flopping onto the table and extending a foreleg, as if attempting to stop him.
Octavia gave him a nod and a smile. “Good luck, Steel. You are a nice pony. Who knows, maybe you will be the one that finally makes Limestone happy.”
“Yeah.” he muttered, looking upwards. “Ah realized that the day before yesterday. The way she spoke. It was so…depressed, I guess.” He made a pause and looked back. “But I’ll do mah best to change that!” he added with a smile, before trotting off.
“Do you think he has a chance?” asked Vinyl after the stallion turned a corner and disappeared from their sights.
“Maybe.” replied Octavia, eyeing her remaining pasta. It was cold, but she decided she was too hungry to care. “I am not sure. It’s all up to him now.”
“I’d like to see them together.” added Pinkie, tapping with her hooves one of the glasses. “Limestone needs somepony to make her happy.”
The door creaked open. Pinkie and Octavia turned their heads and saw their sister trotting to her bed and dropping her saddlebags on it without saying a word. “Hello.” she quietly said after a few seconds, her mind clearly somewhere else.
Octavia leaned on her cello and smiled. “Hello Limestone. Where were you?”
“Oh, I just wanted to take a walk.” replied Limestone, picking up her brush and proceeding to comb her mane, even though she had done it right after waking up, just a few hours ago.
“You’re back on time for lunch!” chirped Pinkie Pie, rolling on her back to face her sister, with her usual large smile. “Mom is making stew and carrots!”
“Yes, she told me we would have lunch shortly.” replied Limestone with her eyes closed. Octavia looked at Pinkie, wondering how right would her little sister be about her twin’s fetish. “What have you been up to?”
“I was telling Pinkie about my cello.” replied Octavia as she put her beloved instrument inside its case. Limestone opened her eyes and gave her sister a questioning look. “I’ve had a few cellos during my career, too many for my taste, and there is a story behind all of them.” she explained with a small smile.
“Vinyl broke one of them! She literally dropped the bass!” said Pinkie with a giggle. “Did you do something interesting, sis?”
“No, not really.” she replied. After a pause, she tilted her head and added. “Well, Steel invited me for dinner tomorrow.”
The gray pony gave a startled bounce when two very loud and simultaneous ‘WHAT?!’ boomed inside the room. She looked to her sisters, eyes wide open and the brush stuck on her mane. “What? What did I say?”
“Steel asked you out?” asked Octavia, who suddenly was much closer than a second ago. “Flint ‘n’ Steel?”
“Uh…no?” mumbled Limestone, confused. “He didn’t say anything of that; he just wanted to have dinner.”
“Then he is!” gasped Pinkie Pie. Limestone turned around and saw her little sister behind her, looming over her with a smile so unnaturally big that the gray pony leaned back, feeling very uncomfortable by her twisted grimace.
“No!” replied Limestone, frowning a bit. “He asked me for dinner, not a date!”
“Oh, sister.” said Octavia, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “You are so naïve. Now, do you know what a date calls for?”
“Uh…it’s not a date.”
Octavia gave her mane a shake. “Answer the question.”
“I…don’t know?”
“A makeover!” said Octavia, chapping her hooves together and barely able to contain her excitement.
***
“Please remind me why we are here.” repeated Limestone for the ninth time since they had left their house.
“Octavia told you two lines ago, silly.” replied Pinkie as she bounced next to her. “A makeover! Which, by the way, it’s a very funny word. I wonder who came up with it.”
“I don’t see why I need a makeover. As soon as we finished lunch, you dragged me here.” grumbled Limestone. That wasn’t even an exaggeration. The instant the gray pony had left her dished on the sink, Octavia had grabbed her hoof and forcedly pulled her towards Gravelpit, with Pinkie bouncing along. “Can’t we do this later? Or, not at all?”
“Of course not.” replied Octavia, gently but firmly. “You must be dashing for your date.”
Limestone huffed. “Again with that. I don’t know what gave you that idea, but I am not dating Steel.” she said with a hint of annoyance.
“Fine, then. You must be dashing for your dinner.” conceded Octavia with an eye roll that Limestone didn’t see. “Still, this is happening.”
“Oh, oh!” Pinkie waved a hoof towards the inn where Vinyl and Octavia was staying. “Can Vinyl tag along?”
The light gray mare let out a relieved sigh. “Yes, please. Maybe she will be able to put some sense into you.” she muttered under her breath.
Octavia gave Pinkie a nod. “Great idea. She’d probably be composing. Go get her, Pinkie. I’ll stay here to make sure Limestone doesn’t run away.” The other mare huffed as an answer.
A few minutes later, two mares emerged from the inn. The first was Pinkie, hopping as usual, but the second wasn’t Vinyl. At least, Limestone didn’t recognize her until she stood in front of her and greeted her with a smile. “W-what?” she stammered. “But-your mane is blue!”
“Ah, yeah.” Vinyl gave her head a shake and smiled smugly. Her messy mane radiated around her head like a cobalt explosion. “I decided to change my look a bit, coz’ nopony is gonna recognize me here.”
One of Limestone’s eyes twitched at her accent, which was missing the time she had dinner with her family. She’s not the same pony. She can’t be.
“Oh, almost forgot.” Vinyl pulled out a box from her saddlebags and extracted a pair of purple shades, which she propped on her muzzle. “There! My look is now complete.” she tilted her head forward and looked at Limestone over her glasses. “Whaddaya think, huh?”
She absolutely is not!
“You can’t be Vinyl.”
The white mare let out a chuckle. “Aha, yeah. Works perfectly. And my brother says I don’t look that different at all.” She walked to Limestone and draped a foreleg over her shoulder. “So, Pinkie told me you have a date.” she said, poking her chest.
“I am just having dinner with a stallion!” fumed Limetsone.
“Sure.” replied Vinyl, nodding. “And, let me guess, he is having you for dessert.”
Limestone’s jaw dropped and she turned a deep shade of crimsom.
***
“It’s been too long!” commented Octavia as the four ponies walked through the streets of Gravelpit. “I barely recognize any store. Everything is in a different place now. For example, I think that used to be a boutique, but now they sell hardware.” she nodded towards the building where she was intending to go. Of course, seeing the purpose of the shop was so different now, the walk had been completely pointless.
“It’s so much easier in Ponyville.” said Pinkie. “You just have to ask anypony where is the Carousel Boutique, and they will tell you. Or, you can just look around, because it actually looks like a carousel. It’s funny how many building in Ponyville have odd shapes!”
“I think Pinkie is right and we should ask somepony.” muttered Vinyl.
“You don’t know any place? You’ve spent in town more time than I.” asked Octavia, looking to her marefriend.
“Nah. I haven’t been buying clothes, y’know?” she replied, shrugging.
Octavia conceded her point with a tilt of her head and trotted forwards to ask a mare that was taking a walk with her foal. After a few questions, the gray pony gave the rest of the group a nod and directed them to the right location, with Limestone lagging behind them.
The shop had a large window that allowed the ponies to see the rows of mannequins and hangers filled with clothes and dresses. If they had happened to walk by, they would have immediately recognized it as a clothing store, if it wasn’t because it was located in a rather untraveled street. However, the mare had enthusiastically recommended the place and Octavia though they wouldn’t lose anything by taking a look.
The four mares crossed the door and entered the sea of clothes, though Pinkie fell behind to poke the small bell that hung over the frame. Octavia almost immediately slided between the racks, carefully studying each piece of clothing, in search of something good for her sister. After a moment of hesitation, Vinyl followed her, well aware that her usefulness would be more humble. She couldn’t remember the last time she had worn a dress that Octavia had not chosen. Limestone let out a sigh and surveyed the clothing, not really paying any attention.
Lastly, Pinkie decided to find the owner or manager of the store. The absence of a shopkeeper was very odd, and the bubblegun mare wondered if maybe they were playing hide and seek. After a brief search through the racks, Pinkie concluded they were alone in the shop, and there were no backdoors. Weird.
“Hellooooo.” she called out, putting her hooves around her mouth. “Is anypony here?” Pinkie gave a bounce and swirled around mid-air when she heard a soft ‘thudd’ right behind her. There stood a pale yellow pegasus with pink mane. At first, she reminded her of her friends Fluttershy, but this pony was completely different.
Her mane was a very dark shade of pink, almost purple; and she was clearly older, perhaps around forty or fifty. She was wearing a delicate but simple vest and a silver chain around her neck. That enough set her far apart enough from Fluttershy, but her eyes were the biggest difference.
The stare of this mare was inquisitive and intelligent, taking apart every detail of Pinkie Pie with a single glance and giving her a rather dull glare with, perhaps, the smallest hint of hostility, as if she didn’t want to be disturbed.
“Guten tag.” she said with a slight tone of impatience. “What brings you here?”
Pinkie was taken aback a bit by her stare, and she didn’t answer right the way. Instead, it was Octavia the first one to reply to the pegasus. “Oh, hello.” she said, smiling. The yellow pony turned her glance to her and Pinkie could see her eyes smiled while her mouth stayed the same. “We are looking for a dress for Limestone, my sister.” she explained, pointing with a hoof to the gray pony, who gave a nervous wave.
The pegasus turned around and studied Limestone for a moment, before trotting towards her and offering a hoof to shake. After a moment of hesitation, the gray earth pony responded to the gesture. “Pleased to meet you. Mein name is Kitzelt, but you can call me Swift Needle.” She spoke with a very thick accent, that Pinkie had heard somewhere else.
“Uh…hi” responded Limestone, feeling very small and naked under the stare of that pony. The way she was looking at her made her uncomfortable. Especially when she started to circle around her, like the ravens around the carrion.
That is not a very nice comparison. though Limestone, praying that the pegasus wasn’t somehow able to read her mind too.
Vinyl Scratch emerged from the racks of dresses and saw Needle stopping in front of Limestone again and making a pause before speaking. “Ja. You’ll be good to work with. Now, vhat do you need, mein Liebe?” she gently asked.
“I…I…” muttered Limestone, looking at the other mare with uncertainty. Her sudden change of mood was…strange, to say the least.
“She needs something to wear for a date.” replied Octavia.
“It’s not a date!” hissed her twin. Seeing the smile on the face of her two sisters, Limestone scrunched her nose, sat on the floor and crossed her forelegs.
“Is there anything wrong, mein Liebe?” asked Swift Needle.
“They are getting annoying.” grumbled Limestone under her breath. “They keep saying I’m going on a date, when I’m clearly not.”
The seamstress raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. After a pause, she turned around and cleared her throat. “Ordnung! I want everypony that is not going to have a dress out of here!” she commanded. “I need a silent, calm ambient to work well, and I don’t think that is going to be possible with all of you here.”
“Aww…Can’t we stay, pretty please?” requested Pinkie, giving Swift Needle her best puppy eyes.
“Are you going to be quiet?”
“Uh….well…” Pinkie Pie rubbed the back of her neck and looked away.
“I thought so. In that case, nein.” Needle offered them a small smile. “Don’t worry, though. You’re leaving her in good hands.”
“Alright, we will leave you to work in peace.” replied Octavia, smiling as well. “And don’t let her worry about the price. It’s a present.” Needle nodded as an answer.
Octavia, Vinyl and Pinkie turned around and walked to the door, but the latter stopped and looked back at the pegasus. “Say, what’s the meaning of your mark? I’ve never seen one like that!”
“I bet you haven’t.” replied Swift, looking at the mark that decorated her flank: Four vertical feathers with a fifth, shorter one on a side. “It’s a rather uncommon talent.” The pegasus extended her right wing. The limb gave a twitch and a sickening snap, and the joints folded in an unnatural position, as if somepony had bent her wings to the opposite direction. Her five flight feathers bent in three different places, as if they were fingers. Swift Needle gave Pinkie a smile, who was staring at her in awe.
“That’s so cool!” she cheered “Is that why your actual name means ‘tickles’?”
“Ja, that is why.” replied Needle with a pleased smile. “I didn’t expect you to know that word!”
“Heh, I’m full of surprises.” replied Pinkie, shrugging. “Well, see you! Bye, Limestone! Have fun!” she chirped before disappearing through the door.
Swift Needle let out a chuckle and shook her head. “She reminds me to mein little sister.” she muttered under her breath, before turning back to Limestone. “Now, back to you, mein Liebe!”
Limestone didn’t say anything. She was pale, staring at the unnaturally-bent limbs of Swift Needle and her unnaturally-bending feathers.
***
“I think we should have stayed.”
“I’d like to argue with that, but I really can’t.” replied Octavia, looking to her marefriend as she walked. “But Swift Needle wanted us to let her work in peace, and I think we should respect that.”
Vinyl huffed. “If at least she had told us when she would be done…”
“You can’t ask her to know when she’s going to finish.” said Octavia, smiling as she added. “You wouldn’t be able to know how long a new composition is going to take, right?”
“…I guess you have a point.” muttered Vinyl. “It’s just that I’m bored, sue me.”
Octavia let out a sigh. “I’m in the same situation. I’m really not used to this…this…”
“Boredom?” suggested Vinyl.
“Not quite, but yes. I’m used to Canterlot, where is always happening something, or you always have somewhere to go. Here? Not so much.”
“I think you’d like Ponyville!” interjected Pinkie Pie, who had been hopping along the other two ponies since they had left the boutique. Vinyl was certain that, if she tried to hop for so long, her legs would give up after the first minute. “There’s always something happening, but ponies are not snippy and boring like in Canterlot.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Octavia, frowning at her sister. “You don’t live in Canterlot.”
“But it is like I say, right?”
“It…is. To a certain point.” admitted the dark gray mare. “But for the most, ponies are just as nice and friendly as anywhere else.”
“Just take me and Octi as an example.” said Vinyl with a smile. “I think maybe you ran into the wrong ponies.”
“How do you mean?” asked Pinkie.
“How many times have you been in Canterlot, actually talking to ponies?” asked Vinyl.
“Oh! Many, many times! I’m always talking to ponies when I’m in Canterlot. Well, I’m always talking anyways, but in there is usually just by best friends, because I don’t know anypony else-”
“And in Ponyville?” interrupted Vinyl.
“In Ponyville? I talk to everypony!”
“Ah, that’s what I thought.” pointed Vinyl. “You’ve never really chatted with a Canterlot pony, have you? Apart from us, of course. Just, in some social event, having a simple, calm chat.”
Pinkie paused and actually thought about the question. Not counting Vinyl, Octavia or Limestone, when had she talked to a pony from Canterlot? When had she tried to befriend one of them? “I suppose just in the Gala.”
“And?”
Pinkie shrugged. “They were boring. All they spoke about was money, dresses, how bad other ponies were compared to them and that kind of stuff. It felt like they cared more for what other though of them than anything else!”
Octavia let out a sad sigh. “The Canterlot nobility is like that. They are in a very comfortable position, and all they have to do is try to reach a little bit higher in society. Most of them are so fake. Fake words, fake smile, fake love.”
Vinyl rolled her eyes. “Fine, maybe some ponies in Canterlot are like that, but not all of them, I can promise. And not all nobles of course. Usually those of lesser families are quite nice, ‘coz they don’t really see the point of trying to reach higher.”
“What are lesser families?” asked Pinkie Pie, crooking an eyebrow.
“They are noble families that are not powerful anymore. Or they never had power to begin with.” replied Octavia, looking to her sister. “Families such as the Oblivion, Oranges, Heartstrings, Blazing, to name a few; have actual jobs and don’t care for their titles.”
Pinkie actually paused at that. “Hearthstrings?”
“Yes, they are a family of musicians.” explained Vinyl. “I know a few of them. They have this very weird hand-shaped magic.”
“Lyra Heartstrings is a noble?” questioned Pinkie.
“Wait, you know Lyra?”
“Of course! She lives in Ponyville!” chirped Pinkie. “She plays the lyre all day long, and she’s really good at it!”
“Damn she is!” grinned Vinyl. “I know her from the academy. How is she doing?”
“She’s all good. She lives in the centre of the town with her roommate-slash-marefriend, depends on how you want to see it.”
A few minutes later, the three mares were locked in an excited conversation, each sharing their own stories and listening to those of the other’s. At some point during their walk, the three mares had decided to take a sit on a bench and continue chatting. Vinyl almost fell asleep in Octavia’s arms when the gray mare was telling one of her anecdotes, her soft voice soothing her. She only roused when Octavia looked at the large clock of the town and saw that almost two hours had passed. They gray mare got up without warning, causing the unicorn to slam her head against the wood.
“Oh my, I am so sorry!” Octavia apologized, while the other mare rubbed the back of her head. “But we should go back to the boutique. I am sure Swift Needle is done with Limestone.”
“Can we have something to eat after picking her up?” suggested Vinyl.
“Sure.” nodded Octavia. “Now, let us go.”
A few minutes later, the three mares were back to the doors of the store. Oddly enough, the curtains were draped and darkness filled the place. Suppressing the urge to gulp, Octavia opened the door and peeked inside. “Hello?” she muttered, scanning the dim-lighted room.
“Yes, come inside, mein Liebe.” replied a voice from the ceiling. “Give me a second; I’ll turn on the lights for you.”
There was the faint sound of hooves over stone, the snap of switch, and a dozen lights blossomed on the chandeliers of the store. There, peeking through the one on the centre of the ceiling was Swift Needle. “Ah, it is you. Come up, schnell. You’ll find the stairs on the back of the store.” Without waiting for an answer, the pegasus disappeared from their view.
The three ponies shared a look and got inside, crossing the room full of mannequins and hangers. Vinyl paused a moment to inspect the lights. On the tip of each chandelier, a small glass globe contained a tiny flame that flickered. Gas illumination, she mouthed in amazement.
The stairs were hidden behind a false wall, and they were now uncovered. Octavia and Pinkie reached the top floor, shortly followed by Vinyl. They made a pause to take in what seemed to be to be Swift’s home. They were in what obviously was a sitting room, with a sofa at the back, a table surrounded by four chairs in the centre, and the walls covered in paintings and shelves full of books. The hole on the floor that connected with the store, however, was rather unusual, and made the room feel smaller than it actually was. In the back there were two doors, one leading to a kitchen and the other most likely to a bedroom.
Sitting on the chairs were Swift Needle herself and Limestone. On the table sat two teacups and a tray with a few pastries and crumbles. Pinkie had to double take, because gone was the stern expression of the pegasus. Instead, she wore a very satisfied smile.
“You were taking very long, so I decided to invite her for a tea.” explained Swift Needle. “I finished with her an hour ago!”
“Yes, we are sorry.” said Octavia with a sheepish smile. “We started talking, and time flew by. I should have paid more attention. After all, making a concept and maybe a quick sketch wouldn’t have taken you too long.”
The seamstress crooked an eyebrow. “Who had said anything about a sketch, mein Liebe?” she grunted with a small smile. “You came here for a dress, and by my mane I’ve made you a dress. I am not called Swift Needle for nothing!” she got up from her chair with a jump and pointed her hoof to Limestone. “You, Kalkstein! Go downstairs and put it on so your sisters can see it. Schnell!”
The gray mare nodded and did as she had been told. As the clops of her hoofs faded into the bottom floor, the pegasus took a sip of her tea and let out a pleased sigh. “I decided to go with something simple. It may not be my talent, but I can give a pony a look and know what they need to be dashing, and Limestone doesn’t need something over the top or flashy to look absolutely amazing. She is a simple mare, and I gave her a simple dress to go with her. You’ll see.”
Swift made a pause to finish the last of her tea and give the three ponies a look. All of sudden, her contemplative mood disappeared. “Oh, but where are my manners. Take a sit!” she ordered, pointing the three empty chairs. “Would you like some tea?” She waited until the other three ponies had complied and served two cups, which she put in front of Octavia and Pinkie Pie. “Would you like something else, mein Liebe? No? Alright, where was I? Oh yes, the dress. There is another reason I decided to go for simple. From what I understand, this is going to be a first date, ja? So, while she will want to go somewhat more elegant, she should save something better for the really special occasions, am I right? Besides, it’s not like a lot of ponies in this place understand a lot of haute couture.” she finished, almost as if she was lamenting living in Gravelpit.
“You don’t sound very happy about living here.” commented Pinkie, gaining a look from her sister because of her lack of tact.
Swift Needle let out a long sigh. “My career was over the moment I put a hoof in this town, and I knew it. There is no way of going back now.”
“Go back to what?” cautiously asked Octavia. She was very curious herself, but didn’t want to be too insistent. At the same time, however, the pegasus didn’t seem to have any problem on talking to them.
She replied with a small, sad smile. “Many years ago, I was a professional designed in Canterlot.”
“That reminds me of something I wanted to ask you.” said Vinyl, carefully depositing her shades on the table. “Are you related in any way to Photo Finish?”
The simple mention of the name made Swift’s face twist in disgust. “Ugh. Don’t mention that verasbscheuung in front of me.” she said flatly. She took a moment to refill her cup and empty it in a single gulp. “Photo Finish was one of my colleagues, and the one that eventually caused my fall in the world of fashion. While I preferred to give each pony what they needed to look good, she just made them look catchy. It’s not the same, oh no. I can make you attractive, enhancing those qualities that made you already interesting enough, and making you the pony. Photo Finish? If I had to use a single word to describe her, it would be flamboyant. She doesn’t make you look better, just striking, showy and gaudy! But those featherheads don’t know the difference. For them, being the centre of attention if all that matters. If you have to rub your face in pink makeup to get it, then you do it.”
The waterfall of word stopped when Swift tried to take a sip of her empty cup, and realized that the other three ponies were awkwardly looking at her. She let out a sigh and rubbed eyes. “I apologize about that.” she whispered. “Photo is not a bad pony, but she sometimes doesn’t see what her actions may imply to others. Her rise caused my fall, even if that was never her intention.” She let out a long sigh and leaned back on her chair. For a moment, the pegasus was the vivid image of defeat. It didn’t last long, however, as she suddenly hopped from her chair and trotted to the hole. “Verdammt! What is taking her so long?” she wondered out loud, before diving through the floor.
The three ponies shared a look, and Vinyl and Pinkie shrugged at the same time. “Well that was interesting.” muttered the unicorn, not really sure what to make of Swift’s sudden outburst and her mood swings.
“The world of fashion is a cruel one.” added Octavia with a shake of her head. “Much more than many would imagine.”
Pinkie Pie though of the problems Rarity had in Manehatten, how close she had been of losing the competition because of that meany-pants pony. And how difficult it had been for her to cope with Photo Finish choosing Fluttershy over her. And how Twilight lost Spike’s trust by telling everypony of his crush on Rarity. Come to think of it, did Spike ever know what Twilight had done?
Pinkie’s train of thoughts was interrupted by the sound of hooves on the stairs. Swift Needle came first, cleared her throat and pointed to the door. “Dear ladies. For your consideration, I present you mein demütig kreation.”
A second later, Limestone came to their view, with an expression of uncertainty on her face. She took a couple of steps and turned to the side, to allow the three mares to see what she was wearing. It was a dark gray sleeveless dress with a low neck, that ended right before her gaskin. Her barrel was wrapped on a golden sash that matched the color of her eyes, and the neck was decorated with a band of the same hue. Like Swift had said, it was a simple yet flattering piece. Finally, her mane was done to a side and made into a braid.
Pinkie was the first to break the silence. “Ohmygosh! You look great!”
“Totally!” added Vinyl, letting out a whistle of appreciation. When Octavia raised an eyebrow at her, the unicorn quickly amended. “Not as good as Octavia here, but good enough.”
The gray mare let out a chuckle and shook her head. “I must agree, you look really good. An impressive work, Swift Needle, especially in such a short time.”
The pegasus gave her mane a toss and grinned. “Thank you, mein Liebe. I am very glad to see you are satisfied.” She gave Limestone a long look. “And I am satisfied myself. I think it fits you perfectly.”
Limestone let out a sigh. “I want this to be clear: I really like it, but I am only going to keep it so you two shut up.” she said, pointing to her two sisters.
“We would gladly pay double, if it means you are successful in your date with Flint ‘n’ Steel.” cooed Octavia.
As soon as the firsts beams of the Sun touched Pinkie’s face, she hopped on her hooves and galloped towards the window, which she swung open. She put her front hooves on the frame, threw half of her body out, and started singing. “Good morning, Equestriaaa!”
She closed the window, ran to Limestone’s bed and pulled the covers, revealing a very sleepy earth pony. “Uh? W-what?” she muttered, a single eye creaking open.
“I’ve got a feeling that it’s gonna be a wonderful day!”
Pinkie then trotted to the other bed and proceeded to repeat the same action. Octavia let out a grumble and covered her ears with her hooves. Limestone threw her pillow, hitting Pinkie on the face. The bubblegun mare, however, continued singing unfazed. “The Sun in the sky has a smile on her face, and she’s shining a salute to the Equestrian race!” she sung, galloping to the stairs and sliding down on the hoofrail. She opened the door, jumped outside and raised her hooves to the sky. “Oh boy it’s swell to say ‘Good morning Equestria’!”
“Pinkamena Diane Pie!” rang the voice of Limestone from upstairs. “You shut up this instant, or I’ll make myself a new pillow with your mane!”
***
“I really, really don’t know where you get all that energy from.” muttered a very sleepy Limestone as she stirred her coffee. She took in a deep breath of the smell and let out a satisfied sigh. “I need this just to be half awake.” she said, taking a sip.
Octavia, on the other side of the table, emitted a grumble of agreement. Last night, she had decided to sleep on her house for a change. Now, she deeply regretted it. She could be cuddling with Vinyl right now, but she had made the wrong choice.
“It’s just a matter of taking things the right way.” explained Pinkie as she gobbled her way through the second serving of oathmeals. Traditions were traditions, after all. “You just have to think of as the chance to make new plans and fun stuff! Not like ‘Ugh, I have to go to work again and I don’t wanna’.” she said, mimicking Limestone’s voice.
“That works better than you’d think.” added Igneous Rock. The brown stallion had finished his frugal meal a while ago, and was currently reading the newspaper. “Ever since I retired, that’s how I’ve been taking things. And it’s worked well.”
Limestone gave her father a glare with a single eye, as the other had stubbornly decided to remain half closed. “If only it was that easy…” she whispered. Once she was done with her coffee, she slowly got up and served herself some oatmeals.
When the twins were almost done with their breakfast and Pinkie was just having a fifth bowl, Cloudy Quartz trotted inside the kitchen and proceeded to open every cupboard and take mental note of its contents. “Igneous, I have to go buy some groceries.” she said to her husband. “Do you want to come?”
The stallion pondered the question for a moment and nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.” he replied, folding the paper and dropping it on the table.
“Wait, you’re leaving again?” asked Pinkie Pie, tilting her head.
“Yes.” replied Cloudy, looking at her daughter. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, it’s just you’re all day out and we barely see you except at breakfast, lunch and dinner.” replied Pinkie Pie, putting her chin on the table. “We don’t see you that much…”
“She’s got a point.” muttered Limestone. “We came here to see you, and we barely do that.” she said, looking at her parents. Again, Octavia agreed with a simple hum.
Cloudy smiled and walked around the table to give a hug to each of her daughters. “What you say it’s true. But it’s just…There’s not that much happening here in Gravelpit. There is not much we can tell you, nothing interesting, nothing exciting. This is what we do every day, every week. And we are happy.” She made a pause to offer a bigger smile to the three sisters. “But that is not the case for you. There are a lot of things happening to you, around you. And we want you to have time to enjoy with each other. Because at some point, your sisters will be your only family.”
“Cloudy, you make it sound as if we were going to die the day after tomorrow.” commented Igneous.
“Oh heavens! I didn’t mean it that way!” she tried to amend. “Celestia forbid me for saying that. What I mean is that we think it’s more worth if you spend your time with somepony of your age, instead of your old parents.”
The three sisters shared a look. “I suppose you have a point.” Limestone conceded with a small nod.
“Perfect! In that case, we’ll see you at lunch.” cheerfully said Cloudy Quartz, waving a hoof at them. She and Igneous left and closed the door behind them. The three sisters shared a look and let out a sigh.
“And off they are…” muttered Limestone, idly poking her food.
There was a silence that stood over the three mares of a minute, until Pinkie Pie hopped from her chair. “Don’t worry, we will find something fun to do ‘till lunch, and they will be back by then.” she cheerfully said as she put her dish on the sink and scrubbed off the remains of the oathmeal.
***
Limestone slowly climbed the stairs, pondering about the options she had for the morning. Once again, there was the problem of not having anything to do. If at least the area was nice they could simply go for a pleasant walk around Gravelpit. But no, the name of the town was quite literal, as it was right on a dry valley completely devoid of green except for the abundant tumbleweeds.
Huffing, the mare crossed the door and went straight to her bed, not even saying anything to Octavia, who was cleaning her cello. At least she had her marefriend to keep her ‘busy’, and Pinkie…well, she was Pinkie. She could just play with a stone or something.
The slam of the door made her jump. She raised her head and saw Pinkie stranding next to the door, a hoof still resting on its surface. What was she up to? “Uh…anything wrong, Pinkie Pie?”
Suddenly, the pink mare was over her, her hooves pressed against her shoulders and her weight pinning her down. “Okay young lady. You’re gonna tell us what we want to hear, and you’re gonna speak no matter how tough you are. You can do this the easy way, or my way.” she commanded.
Limestone just looked at her in utter confusion, incapable of processing what was going on. Behind her, she heard a giggle. “You can drop that off, Pinkie. When I said we should interrogate her, I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Oh. Then how?” asked Pinkie. Limestone tried to wriggle her way out of her pinning, with little success.
“First, get off her.” instructed Octavia, sitting on the other side of the bed. Pinkie obeyed and lay next to Limestone. “Now, we can simply ask her. There is no need for a third-degree interrogation.”
Grumbling, Limestone sat straight and shot a glare to Pinkie. “So, what is this all about?”
“We just want to know about yesterday’s date.” explained Octavia, smiling.
“Yeah!” added Pinkie. “What did he say about the dress? Tell us, tell us, tell us!”
“Oh. That.” Limestone smiled and shook her head. “It was just as I expected.” she said, making a pause for dramatic effect. “That is, not a date at all.”
There was a moment of silence. “It wasn’t?” asked Pinkie, clearly disappointed.
“Yep.” replied the other. “We just had dinner, chatted a bit, and then he walked me home. No romantic stuff, no kisses, no…you know, nothing of the kind of stuff you’d expect to see on a date. He didn’t actually see the dress. It’s nice and all, but I didn’t want it to get dirty just for this.” She let out a sigh and tilted her head. “It was a rather nice night, actually. I had fun. Wouldn’t mind doing it again.”
“Wait, you mean he didn’t take you to the place?” asked Pinkie Pie, crooking an eyebrow.
“Uh…no?” replied Limestone. “What are you even talking about, Pinkie?”
“Maybe he didn’t had the chance.” said Octavia to her little sister. She let out a sigh of disappointment. “Oh well. I guess you were right. That wasn’t a date, after all.”
“Just like I said.” added Limestone, puffing her chest in pride. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie got up from the bed and slowly walked to the door. “Where are you going, Pinkie?”
“I have some…business to do.” she grumbled without stopping.
Pinkie closed the door behind her and the two twins shared a look. “Any idea what got into her?” asked Limestone.
“I…honestly don’t have a clue.” admitted Octavia.
***
Clang
The sound of metal against metal echoed through the galleries.
Clang
The smash of the sledgehammer drove the chisel deeper with each strike.
Clang
Sledgehammer raised his steel maul over his head and hit the chisel with all the strength of his muscles and weight combined. The metal spike dug deeply into the stone, almost disappearing into the rock. The large pony grinned and pulled of the string that went through the head of the chisel, pulling it off and leaving a perfectly round hole.
The stallion took a moment to clean the sweat off his brow with a very dirty cloth towel. “Oi!” he belched over his shoulder. “Ah am dun ‘ere. Move yer plots here at once!”
“There is no need to scream, Sledge.” replied Flint ‘n’ Steel, poking his head around the corner of the gallery. “We’re right here. Gunpowder is almost done, you can rest of a bit.”
Sighting, the bigger brother let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. He was usually a patient pony, except when it came to his job. He liked to go, see, hit whatever he had to hit, and go back home. He would rather be busy an entire day than just one morning with continuous interruptions. Was that weird? Perhaps, but it’s the way he liked things.
Sledgehammer put the maul over his shoulder, grabbed the oil lantern and walked over his brothers. The two ponies were sitting on the ground one in front of the other, with a second lantern for illumination. Between them sat a complex assortment of bottles, jars and a brass mortar. Inside the latter sat a harmless-looking dark powder. “How’s it going?” idly asked the stallion.
“Just a little bit more.” replied the smallest pony. He had a frown on his brow, and seemed to be very focused in his task. Sledgehammer let out a sigh at that. Gunpowder had done that one and a thousand times before. By that point, he was just feigning to be nervous. However, even he backed away slightly when the younger brother carefully poured a foul-smelling liquid inside the mortar. He made a pause, grabbed the pestle, raised it over his head and slammed it on the brass recipient.
Instead of detonating, the gunpowder liquefied. Satisfied, the pony grinded it for a few seconds until the explosive had turned into a dark gray paste, which he poured into one of the steel vials. After adding a piece of string and sealing it, the pony gave a nod and placed it on the ground. “There. Finished.” he said, giving it a gentle tap. “Your turn, Flint.”
Grumbling, Steel grabbed the vial and one of the lanterns, and walked back to where Sledgehammed had been working. Behind him, he could hear the hoofsteps of his brothers as they walked away to a safe distance. The stallion carefully placed the vial inside the hole, feeling a cold drop of sweat scurry across his forehead. Working with explosives was not his talent, and he could easily mess things up.
Or maybe not, and the liquid gunpowder was perfectly safe. Still, better safe than sorry. He would rather play it carefully than blow up one of his legs.
After putting the vial on the hole, Flint ‘n’ Steel clapped her hooves together a few times. As expected, each time a spark flew off his horseshoes. It was a very weird habit he had, especially considering that was his special talent. Testing if you talent works after failing made sense, but he had never failed. Ever.
The stallion took a deep breath, held it, and released it after a few seconds. Biting his lip, he drew his hooves next to the wick and scraped one against the other. The spark flew directly into the string and ignited it. “Fire in the hole!” he screamed as he turned around and stormed away from the explosive, feeling the lamp smacking into his side with each step.
The pony only stopped when he reached his two brothers, who were lying on the ground with their hooves on their heads. As he ducked next to them, Steel noticed with amusement that the bigger stallion had a protective foreleg over his little brother. Gunpowder, however, was grinning and didn’t seem to be worried at all by the incoming explosion.
A moment of tense silence. There was always this awkward second in which it was hard to tell if the explosion was still going to happen, or the wick had fizzled out. Steel would never forget the time he though the spark had faded; only to find out he was mistaken as he made his way back to the charge.
The three ponies felt the rumble of the ground through their hooves, and a split second later the blast reached them, covering them in dust and making their ears ring. They were too far away from the explosion for any serious damage, but the middle brother made a mental note of going further away the next time. Steel sat up straight and shook his head, but it took him a minute to fully recover. Sledge needed a little more time, while Gunpowder showed off his connection with explosions by getting up after a brief pause to shake off the dust.
“Come on, you two.” he cheerily said, trotting down the gallery.
“W-wait for us!” stammered Steel. Casting a glance to his bigger brother, he decided let him rest and go after Gunpowder alone. A brief trot later, he found the small stallion standing very still and eyes wide open, looking through the newly-opened hole.
“What’s it? Anything good?” asked Steel, walking to the hole and raising the lantern. The light that poured it reflected on a dozen crystals of various sizes and colors. The stallion let out a whistle of appreciation. “Well, ain’t that a nice cave? It sure beats the one we’ve been working on ‘till now. Gunpowder? Are you okay, dude?”
The other pony blinked and shook his head. “U-what?”
“Are you okay?” asked Steel with concern. “You’re a tad pale.”
“I saw something moving.” said Gunpowder, pointing to the semidarkness.
“Pft. Yeah, sure.” he said, chuckling and giving him a pat on the head. “Nice try, but that ain’t going to work on me. You can try with Sledgehammer, he’s far more gullible.”
“I am not lying!”
“Well, then you saw wrong, ‘coz it’s as clear as diamond that there can’t be anything here. This cave has been sealed ‘till now.”
“I swear to Celestia I saw something moving!” insisted Gunpowder, stomping his hoof on the stone. His brother was starting to get on his nerves.
“…maybe it was a bat.” said Steel, shrugging. He really didn’t want to argue over something so pointless.
“I am not a bat, silly!” echoed a voice from the dark, followed by a ghastly giggle.
The two brothers shrieked in harmony, so perfectly one would think they were prepared and had been training. From the depths of the darkness, a shadow emerged. As it came closer to the source of light, the shadow turned a pinkish blur, which then became Pinkie Pie.
“Hello!” she cheered, waving a hoof and with a huge smile plastered on her face.
The stallions closed their jaws and shared a look, then looked back at Pinkie. “What in tarnation are you doing here?” asked the older one.
“I was waiting for you.” replied Pinkie, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Did you…just get in, or…?” asked Gunpowder, tilting his head.
“No, I’ve been here all along.”
Steel’s eye twitched. She was obviously playing with them, but he decided to just not question her silliness. “Sure, let’s go with that.” he said, sighing and rubbing his eyes. “What did ya want?”
“It’s about yesterday.”
Flint’s ears went flat on his head. “Oh. That.”
“The date didn’t work as planned, huh?” quietly asked Pinkie. The stallion shook his head.
“Wait, you were in a date yesterday?” chimed in Gunpowder, looking to his brother with his eyes wide open. “You left late at night, but you didn’t say anything of that!”
Steel let out an annoyed sigh. “I’ll tell ya about it later, okay? We’ve done progress, so we’re done for today. Got fetch Sledgehammer and go home.”
“Alright.” nodded Gunpowder. For a second, he seemed to ponder insisting a bit more, but then he turned around and went back through the gallery. Flint ‘n’ Steel waited until her hoofsteps faded into silence before speaking again.
“What did Limestone tell ya about yesterday?” he asked as he sat on the stone.
“Not much.” replied Pinkie. “She said she had fun and it was nice to hang out with somepony that wasn’t us. And that it wasn’t a date. And when I asked her if you had taken her to ‘the place’, she had no idea what I meant.”
That drew half a smile from Steel. “She had fun, huh? I’m glad to hear that.” he muttered as he scratched his mane. “I don’t know. I enjoyed being with her and all that. But after the dinner was over she said something like ‘It’s getting late, I should go home’, so I offered to walk her there. Maybe I should have told her to stay a lil’ longer, I don’t know. I was afraid it would be too…forced, y’know?”
“Maybe next time you should make it clear that it’s a date.” plainly stated Pinkie.
“Howdja mean?”
Pinkie blew a lock off her face before explaining. “Yesterday she was all like ‘it’s not a date’. And today, she was still saying that. So maaaybe that’s why she decided to leave more-or-less early, because she thought she was just spending a night with you.”
Steel let out a sigh. “I guess that makes sense. But, how? Do I just walk to her and say that we’re having a date?”
Pinkie let out a giggle. “Nah, that would be weird. I don’t know, give her a present. A flower. Everypony likes flowers.”
Steel looked at Pinkie. “You know? That’s is actually a very good idea. I’ll do that. Any idea what she likes?”
“Nope.”
“Dangit.” grumbled Steel. “Well, I’m not gonna complain about that. You two have already done enough for me. It’s up to me now.”
“That is what I wanted to hear!” cheered Pinkie Pie. “Now, when will you ask her out again?”
“As soon as I have the chance!” replied Steel with confidence. He got on all four and stomped a hoof on the stone. “Hopefully I’ll see her today in Gravetpit. I’ll ask her out then.”
“I’ll make sure she wears her dress this time!” added Pinkie Pie. “Now I have to go, my sisters need me. I’ll see you later. Bye-bye!” The bubblegum mare turned around and crossed through the hole and into the darkness.
Steel blinked. “What, Pinkie? Where are ya going? The exit is not over there!” Worried, the stallion grabbed the lantern on his mouth and scanned the cavern with its beam. It was completely empty, the gleams of them gems the only specks of color on a homogeneous stone gray. “P’hinki? W’er ‘ahr ya?”
The gray mare stopped idly pushing her food around the plate and looked to the pony in front of her. “I am sorry, what?”
“Are you okay?” repeated Flint ‘n’ Steel. He pointed with his fork to the mare's plate. “Is the food not good?”
The other pony looked down and glared with disapproval at the mess she had made of her food. The mashed potatoes, peas and caramelized onion slices that the cook had placed so carefully and neatly on the dish were now a strange and rather unpleasant mix of green, yellow and orange. She let out a sigh and rested her head on her hoof. “No, it’s delicious. It’s just that…”
The stallion waited expectantly for a few seconds. “Just that what?” he asked, taking a sip from his drink.
Limestone raised her golden eyes to the ceiling. “Steel, is this a date?”
Flint barely managed to seal his lips to avoid spilling his drink over the table. “W-why do you ask?” he choked out after swallowing. Suddenly, his clothes felt very itchy and the seat was no longer comfortable.
“It is just something my sisters have been saying non-stop for the last two days, since you suggested having dinner together.” explained Limestone, idly tapping her hooves together. She didn’t see Steel trying to gulp through the knot on his throat, with little success. “And today, for some reason, you showed up with your coat brushed, your mane combed, and wearing a shirt that looks rather good on you, if I am completely honest.”
On top of the itching and discomfort, Steel now felt his cheeks burning. He opened his mouth to reply, but words just didn’t come. He just looked to Limestone, his brain wrenching for a good answer.
His silence and awkwardness were the answer the mare needed. Her mouth was dry when she spoke. “So, then it is?” she asked, her heart beating like a hammer inside her chest.
Steel slumped on his seat and closed the eyes. “Is there a good answer?” he muttered, his voice trembling. “W-will ya get up and leave if I say yes? If I say no, will you get mad because you know I am lying?”
That drew half a smile from Limestone. “Oh goodness gracious, no. I am having a great time with you, and I have no intention of throwing that away, no matter what you say.” she said.
Steel let out a sigh of relief and relaxed visibly. He took a minute to calm down, trying to breathe slowly so his voice would stop trembling and he would stop making a fool of himself. Once he spoke again, works came steady and firm. “In that case, yes. This is a date.” he said, giving a small nod. 'Well, that was easy to say. So much worry for that?' he thought.
Limestone took a sip from her wine and studied Steel for a moment. “I am glad you decided to be honest, Steel. It’s just that…I don’t know. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around somepony showing that kind of interest towards me.”
“Why? I think you’re mighty pretty.” said Steel without thinking. Less than a second later, he was covering his mouth with his hooves and feeling his cheeks burning. 'Someday, this bigmouth of me is gonna get me into trouble'.
However, he wasn’t the only one, as Limestone herself was having a similar reaction to the compliment. She smiled and looked away. “Ah…why, thank you.” she muttered, twisting her braided mane on her hooves. She looked back at Steel, and let out a giggle. “I don’t know what to say, sorry.”
Steel peered over his hoof. “Do that again.”
“Do what?” asked Limestone, a broad smile on her lips.
“Laugh.” replied the stallion. “You don’t do that very often. I wouldn’t mind hearin’ it more often.”
Limestone blushed, but laughed nonetheless. “Honestly, I would have never imagined you saying something like that, it was so sweet. There is a lot hidden under that rough miner look, huh?” she said with a sly smile.
Flint gulped. Again, his cheeks heated up and he felt his coat itchy. He shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention to the food. In front of her, Limestone observed him for a few seconds before imitating him. The mixed mesh was still good, much to her surprise.
The two ponies finished their meal in silence, just enjoying the presence of the other. Sometimes, Steel would shoot dissimulated glances to the mare. One time, he found her looking back at him. She raised an eyebrow and gave him a smile, and the two shared a laugh.
It wasn’t until the desserts were served that Limestone spoke again. She poked a piece of her apple pie, and it reminded her of Pinkie Pie. “Why me?” she whispered.
“Hmm?” grumbled Steel through a mouthful of orange cream.
“I was just wondering…” she said, making a pause to eat the pie slice. “Why did you decide to ask me out?”
The stallion frowned and swallowed. “Howdya mean?” he asked after cleaning his snout with a napkin.
“Why are you dating me and no, let’s say, Pinkie Pie or Octavia? Or any other mare on this town.” she said. “What makes me different?”
The stallion pondered his answer for a moment. “Okay, the answers one by one.” replied Steel, leaning back on his chair. “For starters, yer little sister is completely nuts. She’s nice and all that, but she is just not the mare for me. As for Octavia, I do believe she has a marefriend.”
Limestone nodded. “Yes, she does. But you never were interested in her. You didn’t, did you?”
“I didn’t.”
“That is what I though. So then, answer my question. Why me?”
Steel gave her an amused smile. “I thought you were having a good time, and now yer questioning my choices.” he said with a chuckle.
“And I am! Having a good time, I mean.” she replied, smiling as well. “I am just curious.”
The stallion let out a sigh and glanced upwards. “Ah really don’t know what to say, Limestone. Sometimes you fall for a pony and you’re never sure why. Have you ever felt like that?” Limestone shook her head. “It’s hard to explain. Sometimes you’re with a pony, and the time you spend with her is…worth more than the time you spend with others. They are just a normal pony, but for you they’re special. And you want to make them happy and be with them. You get what I mean?”
The gray mare looked down and pondered his words. ‘Is it that simple? Is that what being in love is like?’ she wondered. ‘And, is that what he feels for me?’ Limestone looked to Steel, who smiled shyly. “I think I do.” she replied, smiling back.
***
The cool air of the night sent a chill down Limestone’s spine. Muttering something under her breath, she tried to get some warmth out of her dress, with no success. She should have brought a jacket. Every single spring she made the mistake of believing temperatures would drastically rise since the very beginning of the season. But weather didn’t work like that, and now she was cold.
The mare almost gave a jump when she suddenly felt something on her shoulder. She whipped her head back and saw Steel carefully placing a scarf over her neck. “Oh goodness. Don’t do that again, Steel. You scared me out of my bones.” she said, feeling her heart beating like a jackhammer.
“M’sorry.” muttered Steel with a sheepish smile. “Didn’t mean to scare ya.”
“Don’t worry.” replied Limestone, wrapping the scarf around her neck. There was a pause, in which the two ponies stood in silence for a moment, until the mare spoke again. “The dinner was great.” commented Limestone, letting out a sigh of satisfaction, “This has been a great night.”
“Are you gonna leave already?” asked Steel, stepping next to her.
Limestone glanced to the clock of the town hall. “Well, it is rather late already. But, no. I am having such a good time.”
Relieved, Steel smiled and started walking down the street. “I’m happy to hear that. I was worried that I’d mess something up.”
The mare let out a chuckle. “Why should you? This is your second date with me.” she said.
Steel looked at the other pony, and found her looking back at him, with a very goofy smile plastered on her face. “I think you’re drunk.” he said, amused.
“I’m not drunk!” she pouted. “I’m just a little…light headed.”
“You just had a single glass of wine. You’re such a lightweight.”
“Oh, hush!” she said, giving him a little push. “Where are you taking me, by the way?”
“You’ll see. It’s a secret.”
“Alright. But you better not be walking me home.” she said, noticing they were going in the general direction of the valley.
“Ah won’t.”
The couple walked in a comfortable silence for a while, with no hurries or worries, simply enjoying the night. High on the sky, the Moon watched the valley and bathed it in its silver light. A soft breeze picked up; gently playing with their manes. As they walked, Steel couldn’t help but notice Limestone was walking quite close to him. Her mind seemed to be somewhere else, as she was staring into the black shroud of the night sky.
Neither of the ponies said anything until Steel suddenly stopped on his tracks. Limestone took a few more steps before noticing her companion was no walking alongside her anymore. She blinked and took a glance around. A short distance in front of her was the entrance to one of the tunnels to the underground, on the slope that enclosed the valley. She had crossed the entire esplanade without even noticing. Granted, the area was not that large, but she seemed to have dozed off into daydreaming, so to say.
“What are we doing here?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder.
Steel gave her a cryptic smile. “You’ll see.” The stallion dug inside his saddlebags and extracted a magic lantern. He fidgeted with the knobs for a moment and the device emitted a soft light. “Alright, follow me.” he said, walking to the cave.
Limestone felt the proper thing to do was arguing. Why was he taking her into a mineshaft? But curiosity won over confusion, and she trotted after the stallion.
The mine was dark, dusty and smelled like…well, a mine. It was a smell that made Limestone feel at home. She let out a small sigh of satisfaction as she walked alongside Steel. She patiently waited for him to say anything, but as they walked deeper and deeper into the earth and the stallion remained mute, the mare just couldn’t stay quiet. “Alright, you win. I have no idea where are we going. Can you tell me?”
“Nu-hu.” muttered Steel through the handle of the lantern.
Limestone let out an aggravated sigh. “Can you please tell me? It’s getting cold.” she repeated, giving him a charming smile.
Steel let out a muffled chuckle and shook his head. “J’st ‘n b’tt m’re.” he insisted.
The mare sighted again, but didn’t stop walking. A minute later, her patience was rewarded when the mineshaft opened to a bigger area. Steel raised the lantern over his head so the beam of light would illuminate the cave. Limestone let out a mutter of amazement as she took in the hundreds and hundreds of prismatic crystals that spread over the ground, the walls and the ceiling, every single one colored in a slightly different hue of brown, yellow and violet. Translucent pillars shimmered under the light of the lantern, each in a different angle, and breaking the space irregularly.
“We discovered it by accident.” whispered Flint ‘n’ Steel next to him. Limestone closed her mouth and looked at the stallion, feeling silly for forgetting about his presence. “It is just calcite, so it’s not worth much. Ah suppose that is why nopony ever bothered to mine it, so it grew into this.” He smiled, gazing the crystals. “Pretty cool, huh?”
Limestone nodded in silence. “It’s beautiful.” she whispered, walking to the closest pillar. She saw her reflection repeated on all the facets of the crystal, each with the same amazed expression she wore. “I didn’t even know it was possible for calcite crystals to grow so large.”
Steel shrugged. “Ah suppose it’s because this is a very good Bloom.” he replied as he walked to Limestone. “Not sure if there is anything close to this anywhere else.”
“Probably not.” said the mare, looking to her reflection. Much to her surprise, her manedo was still perfect and the braid was tightly woven. She would have to thank her sisters later for it, and for the dress. If she was completely honest with herself, it was the best purchase she had done in a while. Correction; the best present she had received in a while.
Her train of thought was interrupted when she felt Steel’s hoof poking her shoulder. She turned around and saw him grinning widely. “Um…what?” she asked, crooking an eyebrow.
“You ain’t seen the best yet.” said Steel. “Come, follow me.” he said, grabbing her hoof and directing her deeper into the cave. Limestone caught herself clenching his hoof more than she intended, but he didn’t seem to notice. A minute later, the stallion stopped and looked at her, expectantly. The other pony looked around, but failed to see anything unusual.
“What is so special about this area in particular?” she asked, studying the crystals.
“This.” was Steel’s answer. He placed the lantern on top of a sideways pillar, and slowly twisted one of the knobs. A set of metal sheets closed, reducing the cone of light into a single, focused beam. At first the cave fell into absolute darkness, but them Steel turned the lantern a bit to the left, and caused the beam to go inside one of the pillars.
Light erupted from the crystal. The column emanated a soft brownish glow. A dozen smaller beams shot in every direction, reaching a different crystal and breaking into more lights, colors and shimmers. The cave became a play of light, with hundreds sources of light, each with a different hue, and beams of light that traveled from one crystal to the next.
Limestone’s jaw dropped and she opened her eyes wide. She had said the crystal was beautiful before, but that paled in comparison to the spectacular show before her eyes. For a long minute, she was unable to look away from the crystals and the lights, merely taking in the view. “How?” she weakly whispered.
“It is not the first time I’ve been here.” responded Steel, stepping next to her. Much to his surprise, he felt Limestone leaning onto him. “Took me a while, but eventually I found where to aim the lantern.”
“It must have taken you so long.” muttered Limestone, shaking her head in disbelief.
“A couple of months, yeah.” said Steel. “I thought I should share it with you.”
“…thank you, Steel.” whispered Limestone, nuzzling his neck.
One of Limestone’s eyes fluttered open. Her brain, still full of cobwebs from the sleep, briefly pondered getting up, but quickly decided she was far too comfortable to even try. The bed was too warm, and the covers were so warm and…
And she didn’t really have any reason to get up yet. Equestria could do without her for a few hours. With a small groan, the gray mare pulled the covers around her body, sunk her face on the soft pillow and let out a moan. Everything was perfect in the world.
Well, it was perfect until the door of the bedroom creaked open and two sets of hooves silently made their way across the room. That could only be her sisters. But Limestone wanted to sleep, so she decided that maybe if she stayed still, the two mares would pay no attention to her and just leave.
“Is she still asleep?” asked Octavia’s voice in a whisper.
Maybe not.
‘Stay still, stay still.’
“I don’t know.” answered Pinkie Pie, in a volume that was completely unsuitable when there is a sleeping pony in the same room. “Let me check.” Limestone heard the sound of hooves getting closer. Under the covers, the gray mare gritted her teeth and wished for Pinkie to leave. Perhapsif she didn’t move at all, she would think she was asleep and both sisters would leave her alone.
However, her plan broke into pieces when, instead of just checking, Pinkie decided to jab her hoof on her side. Despite her determination to feign sleep, that was something that couldn’t be tolerated. Limestone let out a yelp and sat up with a leap. “Wha-? What do you think you are doing?”
“Oooh, she was awake!” cheerfully said Pinkie Pie, pointing a hoof to Limestone. “What did I tell you, Octavia?”
“She may as well have been sleeping.” muttered the gray mare, amused. “But I think it was about time you got up, Limestone.”
“What? Why?” asked the other pony, annoyed. “What time is it?”
“Almost midday.” replied Octavia.
“What!?” repeated Limestone, searching for a source of sunlight. The angle of the sunbeams that got through the blinds told her that her twin was saying the truth: They were almost vertical. “Oh heavens. I’ve been sleeping for too long.”
“You had any plans for today?” asked Pinkie Pie, leaning in with interest.
Limestone shook her head. “No, not really. It’s just that I don’t like sleeping ‘till this late.” she said, letting out a sigh of resignation. There was not much she could do now.
Octavia and Pinkie shared a look and nodded. Both sisters sat on Limestone’s bed, one on each side. “So,” began Octavia. “Don’t you have anything to tell us?”
“Hm?”
“You know,” added Pinkie. “The date. The date with Steel. The date you had specifically with Steel. Steel’s date.”
Limestone let out a grumble. “I was hoping to get a cup of coffee before talking about that.” she said.
“There. I made you some already.” said Pinkie, pointing to a smoking cup of dark coffee sitting on her nightstand, which Limestone could swear was not there a second ago. However, the need for coffee got over her need for explanations, and she just grabbed the cup and took a sip of it.
The other two mares patiently waited for Limestone to finish her beverage. This time, it was Pinkie the one to break the silence. “Soooo…” she said, dragging the word for a few seconds.
“Alright, alright.” said Limestone with a sigh of annoyance. She placed the cup on her nightstand, sat on her bed and started caressing her mane. For a minute, she stayed in silence, trying to put order to her thoughts. “The night started like the other day. Go to the restaurant, order the food, chat for a bit while we wait, eat. Nothing special” Limestone’s lips turned into a smile. “Believe it or not, I had been thinking a lot about what you told me. You know, that Steel was in fact trying to arrange a date. And today he was wearing clothes, with his mane and coat brushed. He looked great, and it was obvious he had put a lot of effort in his appearance. So, I decided to ask him.” said the mare. She stared the floor in silence.
Pinkie and Octavia waited for a minute for her sister to resume her narration, but she seemed to be in deep through. It was Octavia’s polite cough what awoke her. “And?”
“Oh, I am sorry.” quickly apologized Limestone. “Well, um…I asked him if….if that was intended to be a date, and…” The pony blushed and let out a giggle, which only served to embarrass her further. “Turns out you two were right! He intended it to be a date. Oh, Celestia.”
The other two ponies shared a knowing smile. They couldn’t help but lean forward as Limestone continued with her story.
***
“…and then he bid me goodbye, and gave me one last kiss, this time on the cheek.” finished the gray pony, letting out a dreamful sigh.
“That sounds like a night to remember.” muttered Octavia, who was sitting next to her twin with a small smile. “If only Vinyl was that romantic sometimes.”
“It was fantastic.” agreed Limestone weakly.
Pinkie Pie, who was draped on the pillow like a sack of potatoes, nodded approvingly. “Was it your first kiss?” she asked.
“Eh…h-honestly, it was.” admitted the mare, blushing slightly.
“Aaaand?” insisted Pinkie, crooking an eyebrow and giving her sister an impish smile. “How was it?”
Limestone blushed yet again. “It was…it’s hard to describe. Amazing would be a good word. Passionate. Awkward, too. I suppose you know what I am talking about.” she said, with a small smile on her lips. “It was not what I imagined. It was much, much better.” she said in a dreamy tone.
There was a short silence, that was interrupted by the pink mare. “I’m just a bit disappointed.” muttered Pinkie, pouting.
“How come?” asked Octavia.
“I kinda expected that Steel would hit the third base on the second try.” admitted the younger mare.
***
Dear Elder Scrolls
I hope this letter finds you in good health and…
No...it needs to be more direct.
Dear Elder Scrolls
I am writing you to present my formal resignation as professor of the University of Canterlot. As you are well aware, I never found myself too comfortable at teaching. It was a job I could do, but not as good as many other ponies. I was doing it because it as a source of income, and I thought it would open new paths for me to follow. And maybe, just maybe, it would be a job I would end liking. But as time went on, I found myself less and less prepared to it. I am just not made for teaching. I felt sloppy when teaching, and I always found my answers to the students were lacking something only true professionals could add. And there is nothing worse than a teacher that doesn’t have any passion on what she is doing.
However, I continued, Celestia knows why, until today. I don’t regret it, as I didn’t really have anywhere else to go. But this has changed. I have found something – and somepony – I truly feel passion for. And I am going to stick to this path. I don’t know if the change will be for better or for worse yet, but it is certainly is a positive change.
I hope you have no problem on finding a new geology teacher before the holidays end. I certainly hope not to cause too much disturbance. If that is the case, I am very sorry. Please say goodbye to my colleagues. I will probably visit all of you at some point. May an alicorn fly above you.
Limestone ‘Blinkie’ Pie
The gray mare dropped the pencil and re-read the letter once. Then a second time. With a sigh of annoyance, she crumbled the paper into a ball and tossed it over her shoulder. It bounced on the floor and rolled a short distance, ending its path next to another four discarded letters.
Limestone slumped on the chair. Three days had passed since his date with Flint ‘n’ Steel…the one where she learned about his feelings, and discovered her own. The idea of resigning from the University had been in her mind since that night when Pinkie Pie had pointed her – in a rather rude fashion – that she didn’t find much pleasure in her current life. It was time for a change.
However, it wasn’t until that night with Steel that she saw another possible path she could take. Why not come back to the farm where she was born, to do the same job Igneous Rock did until he retired? Why not stay with Steel?
That idea had gotten stronger with each day since the date, as Limestone found herself thinking about Steel all the time. At first it was just a tingle on the back of her mind, that insisted on remembering that first kiss. The second day, she had tried to meet with Steel, but he was busy on the mines. The third, today, she had walked to his house, only to find it devoid of any stallions. Limestone had a brief chat with Warm Light, and asked her to tell Steel to go to her house whenever he was available. After that, she had made her way back to her home.
That was six hours ago. Limestone was a patient mare, but even she had a limit. What was taking him so long? He didn’t seem to be that busy the previous days. What was different now? In dire need of something to keep her mind busy, the pony decided to prepare her resignation letter. However, even this had proven fruitless.
The problem was clear to her: She was completely certain she wanted to stop working at the University. However, she was not so sure if her relationship with Steel was going to work on the long round. But a pony had to take risks, right? And when it came to love, nothing was safe.
But then, why did she feel like she was making excuses and avoiding her responsibilities?
Limestone let out another sigh and slumped further on her chair. She needed to talk to somepony. She turned her head back and scanned the room, which had a distinct lack of sisters. Octavia had left about half an hour ago to take a stroll. She even suggested Limestone to go with her, arguing that a bit of fresh air could help her clear her mind. Now the light gray mare regretted her decision to stay.
And Pinkie Pie…well. Limestone was desperate enough to rely in her younger sister for advice, but she was missing too. The bubblegum pony had disappeared after lunch, who knew where she was, or what she was doing.
“What am I going to do with my life?” asked Limestone to the ceiling. She got no answer, as expected. “And when did my life become a mess? I take my time to think of my actions, and plan ahead. How did this happen?”
But the planks of the ceiling still refused to give her an answer, or even acknowledge her questions. Defeated, Limestone decided that maybe a walk across the valley would be just what she needed.
Limestone lazily got off the chair and dragged herself to the door, almost literally. She felt burn out, both physical and mentally. But she couldn’t just sit on her chair for the rest of the evening, so she used all her determination of climb down the stairs, cross the sitting room, put on the saddlebags and open the door.
Steel stood on the other side, visibly surprised and with a hoof raised, ready to knock. There was a brief moment of silence. “Uh…hello.” started the stallion, with half a smile. “Mom said you wanted to see me.”
The gray mare needed a second to react to his presence. “Oh, yes!” she sputtered. “Come, I need you now.” She grabbed his hoof and pulled the surprised stallion into the house, up the stairs and into her room. Then she pushed him onto her bed, and locked the door. Only then Limestone paused and let out a sigh.
“Um…H-hey, Limestone?” stammered Steel behind her. “M-maybe you’re taking things a tad too fast for my taste.”
The mare turned around and frowned, not understanding the reason for that comment. “What are you talking about? I just need to talk to somepony.”
“Oh. Jest talk.” repeated Steel in a tone that conveyed both disappointment and relief, but mostly the latter. He let out a sigh and relaxed visibly. “Sorry, I just though…um…nevermind…” he muttered, waving a hoof dismissely.
Feeling confused by his reaction, Limestone pondered insisting on the matter, but decided to let it go. She made her way to her bed and sat next to the stallion, giving him a nuzzle on the neck. He tensed for a moment, but then returned the gesture. It felt nice, to bury her face on her neck. Warm. It was something so simple and small, and yet, carried so much meaning.
Where to start? She knew what worried her, but she wasn’t sure how to say it to not sound crazy. After all, it was a silly concern, wasn’t it? Even she knew she had no responsibility, no obligation to stay in the university. But she couldn’t shrug off the feeling that she was doing something wrong, and needed somepony else to tell her that everything was fine. And Steel would be perfect for it.
“What are those?” asked Steel. Limestone opened her eyes and followed his hoof. Of course, he was pointing the collection of discharged resignation letters.
‘I guess that solves it’ though Limestone, biting her lip. “I…am going to resign from my job in Canterlot.” she confessed.
“Ah, so you took a decision.” said Steel with a small smile. “How come?”
“U-hu.” nodded Limestone. “I’ve wanted a change for a while now, even if I didn’t realize it. I guess you made me take a decision.” she whispered.
“Uh…does that mean-?”
“It means I am going to stay here, in the rock farm.” interrupted Limestone, looking at him with a smile. “With you.”
Steel looked at the mare with a perplexed expression. “Wow, you’re dead serious.” he muttered.
“What do you mean?” asked Limestone, confused by his tone.
Steel shuffled awkwardly in the bed. “Eh…um…I wasn’t sure how serious you were with me. Like, I didn’t know if we were going just to be a small affair or something more…more serious.” admitted the stallion, his eyes affixed in his hooves. “That’s why I’ve kinda…avoided you. We were busy on the mine, but not that busy. I ain’t event told my family about you either, but I think my brothers suspect.”
Limestone backed away from him. “Steel, are you saying-?”
“No, no!” interrupted the stallion, shaking his head in panic. “I want us to be a thing. I really, really like you.” He said, feeling his face warm as the words left his lips. “But I wasn’t sure if you wanted the same. You’ve got your fancy life in the fancy capital, why would you want to stay with somepony like me for more than a few days? I got nervous and started overthinking, so I focused in my work.” Steel continued speaking without thinking, stammering and fidgeting with his hooves. “My brothers say they think a lot when they mine, but I don’t, I just go blank. So I gave myself a couple of days, and if you didn’t show up, I’d assume you didn’t really care about me, and end of story. But then I went home today, and mom told me you were there and asked about me, and I was like ‘What the heck am I doing?’, and I came over.” he finished. Slowly, he raised his head and his eyes meet Limestone’s.
“Who gave you such a stupid idea?” whispered Limestone, slightly shaking her head.
“That’s how Father met ma.” muttered Steel, shrugging.
“And what if I had decided to use the same strategy?”
The red pony opened his mouth to reply, but promptly closed it. “You know?” he finally said. “Now that you mention it, I can see how it could backfire very badly.”
“You featherbrain.” chuckled Limestone as she dug her face on his neck. “You could have messed everything up.”
The stallion nuzzled her back, and wrapped a hoof around her waist while he caressed her mane with the other. “So you’re not mad?” he asked after a minute.
“Maybe I should.” said Limestone, looking at him. “But I can’t be mad at such a sweet featherbrain.” she whispered, leaning forward and stealing a kiss from Steel’s lips. The stallion was caught by surprise and tensed at first, but then responded to the kiss with passion.
The mare broke the contact and snuggled against his body, enjoying the heat that he irradiated. The stallion wrapped a foreleg around her body and pulled her closer. For a while, the two ponies just sat there, blissfully absent from the rest of the world, just with the presence of each other.
Several minutes later, Steel spoke up. “So, um.” he started with a whisper. “As much as Ah like snuggling, that is not why you called me.”
Limestone let out a groan and once again buried her face on her neck. She didn’t want to worry him. She just wanted to stay like that, forever. But at the same time, he was right. Letting out a defeated sigh, the mare backed away and gave him a smile. “I am concerned.” said the mare. Steel nodded but said nothing, inviting her to continue. “I feel like I shouldn’t be resigning.”
“How come?” asked the stallion.
The gray mare shrugged her shoulders. “I can’t stop having the nagging feeling that I will be failing everypony in the University of I leave.” she said. “I know it is silly, but…I can’t stop it. I can’t bring myself to finish the letter. Every time I write it, I re-read it and suddenly why reasons are like the silly dreams of some little filly.”
Steel pondered her words for a moment, and took her hoof in his. When Limestone looked at him, she found a warm smile. “I think I know what yer going through. Some ponies don’t want to disappoint anypony, and get very anxious when they have to take a decision that is going to cause a problem to one side or the other. But sometimes, you just have to.” The stallion shrugged his broad shoulders. “Such is life.”
The gray mare blinked and her eyes fell into her hoof, the one the stallion was holding in his. She could feel the warmth emanating from him. Steel was right, but…he made it sound so plain, while the whole matter was a complete mess in her head. Had she been worrying over something so simple? Perhaps. It all came to a single point: She had to choose between one or the other, between Flint ‘n’ Steel or the University. There was no way she could follow both paths. And for Limestone, the choice was easy.
“I will stay.” she said in a barely audible whisper. She looked at Steel, and couldn’t help by blushing. He was looking at her so intensely. “I will stay.” she repeated, this time loud enough for him to hear.
The stallion grinned, and once again their lips met.
Everything good has an end, and holidays are not an exception. If anything, holidays are exactly the kind of thing that always seems to end too soon. After a month away from Ponyville, the Sugarcube Corner and all her friends, it was time for Pinkie Pie to return home.
Had it really been a month? So much had happened that it felt like it had been much, much longer. She missed her friends more than she would have ever expected, she missed the scent of the baked goods she made every day at the Corner, and she missed…well, everything.
If only she could skip the train travel to be directly on the Ponyville platform…
But as much as she was looking forward to go back to the place she called home, she couldn’t block the tingle of sadness that came with departing from Gravelpit. Years had passed since the last time she had seen her mother, her father, and Agatha. Who knew how long it would be until she would see them again. And Gunpowder, and Flint ‘n’ Steel, and Sledgehammer, and Warm Light. And even Swift Needle!
…and Limestone.
Pinkie stopped randomly stuffing things in her bags and eyed the other two beds. On the closest one, Octavia was cleaning her cello with care as she hummed a little song. She had finished packing all her stuff almost an hour ago. Mostly because she had less things to pack anyways, but also because Pinkie had undone her progress at least twice, driven by pure nerve.
The second one, however, was empty. Limestone was spending some time with his new coltfriend, Steel. Pinkie Pie couldn’t be happier to see them together, but at the same time…The pink mare considered Gravelpit to be her past, where she came from and where she returned from time to time. To have one of her big sisters living here…it felt strange, to say the least.
Granted, she was barely going to see her sister anyways, no matter where she lived. They would probably exchange more letters than before, and that was enough for Pinkie Pie. As long as she knew her family was okay, everything would be fine.
And she couldn’t be happier for Limestone. She had found somepony who loved her and could make her happy. She and Flint ‘n’ Steel had been dating for a while now, and even though at the beginning neither of them was entirely sure how it was going to turn out between them, it was obvious now they were meant to each other.
About a week after their first date, Limestone had decided to make it ‘official’ and tell her parents, much to Steel’s dismay. Pinkie Pie and Octavia had enjoyed the same scene as when the latter had introduced Vinyl to them, although Igneous had expressed his annoyance because threatening with the pickaxe was not as amusing as the first time.
The next day, it had been Limestone’s turn to be introduced to Steel’s family, where Sledgehammer insisted to the mare that she was making a mistake, and that she would regret dating the featherbrain of his little brother. However, a quick jab on the ribs, delivered by a red hoof, was enough to keep him quiet.
And since then, everything had been fine for the couple. Limestone had spent a lot of time with his now coltfriend, often leaving after lunch and coming back late at night. Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but wonder what exactly they were doing with all that time.
Little did Pinkie Pie know how much time a couple can spend together without getting bored, especially on the beginning of the relationship.
There was a knock on the door that interrupted Pinkie’s train of though. Both she and Octavia turned their heads and saw Cloudy Quartz entering the room with a pair of boxes hanging from her mouth with a string, which she carefully placed on one of the beds. “Is everything okay? Did you finish packing up?” she asked, smiling to her two daughters.
Pinkie Pie shot a glance to her pile of belongings that still had not found its way to her bags. “Hummm…Almost!” she chirped. “I’ll finish in a wizzie.”
“I made you something for the trip.” said Cloudy, opening one of the boxes. Inside sat half a dozen of muffins, still warm from the oven and emanating a delicious smell. Pinkie Pie needed all her will to not leap forward and bite a particularly tempting one, covered in blueberries. “Since you are going to leave today, I figured I could make something nice for you.” she said.
“Thank you very much, mom.” said Octavia, opening the other box and taking a deep breath of that smell. Then she noticed the three extra baked goods, and gave her mother a questioning look.
“I made a few more, in case you want to share with your marefriend.” explained Cloudy Quartz. For a few seconds, she contemplated her daughters with a smile. “Marefriend.” she repeated, her voice quavering. Her smile turned sad. “I remember when you left Gravelpit. First Pinkie and then you. Both barely an adult. And now each of you have friends, job…a whole life of their own.” Cloudy blinked and made a pause. “Has it really been so long? What happened with my three little girls?”
Octavia smiled and trotted to her mother to embrace her. “We are here.” she whispered. Behind her, Pinkie Pie got off her bed and hugged the elder mare from the other side. “We are not gone; we will just be somewhere else. And we will keep I touch. Right Pinkie?”
“Yes-indeed-ly!” replied the other mare. “I Pinkie-promise I will send letters. We will keep in touch.”
“And you will still have Limestone around.” added Octavia.
There was a brief silence, only interrupted by Cloudy’s sniffle. “Limestone has this Steel stallion now, she’s not a filly anymore either.” She muttered. The mare then let out a half-hearted chuckle. “I am sorry about that.” she said, wiping one of her eyes. “I don’t know what got onto me. I should be happy for her, and for you. I-I suppose I am just sad because you’re leaving so soon. This month flew by.” she said, letting out a small sigh.
“I’ll just leave these here.” added the pearl mare, giving the boxes a gentle tap. “I’ll be downstairs.” she gave her daughters a little smile, this time more honest, before disappearing through the door.
After a moment, the two sisters returned to their tasks. Octavia pulled one of the muffins from the box and took a bite of it. “You know?” she muttered. “As much as I want to go back to Canterlot, I am going to miss being here.”
“Me too.” admitted Pinkie Pie. “But I miss Ponyville so much, and I am so happy to be back to my normal life again. It’s been nice to be with you all for a little while.”
Octavia mumbled an agreement. Almost an hour later, Pinkie Pie finished packing her stuff, just in time for catching the train. She and Octavia crossed the door of their room, the latter pausing for a moment to give it one last glance, before going to the bottom floor. There, sitting on the couch, waited Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz. Octavia felt relieved when she didn’t see any sigh that could imply that her mother had been crying. Pinkie, on the other hoof, simply knew the smile on her mother’s face was honest.
Cloudy Quartz got up from the couch and embraced the two sisters, lingering for a few seconds. “I love you two.” she mumbled.
“I love you too.” said both mares with one voice. They looked to each other and shared a laugh, that helped ease the moment. They gave Cloudy one last nuzzle before stepping back.
Then Igneous Rock got up with a grunt and made his way to the two mares. He gave each a brief look, and his stern expression broke into a small smile. “I am proud of you.” he said. “Both of you. Good luck and…um. Yeah, good luck.” he finished awkwardly before hugging his two daughters.
With nothing else to say, the two young mares made their way to the main door, made a pause, and pushed it open. The dirt path to Gravelpit greeted them, inviting. But before definitely leaving the house behind, they couldn’t stop but give each of their parents one last hug, and then they parted, Pinkie Pie pulling her small cart, and Octavia with her cello draped over her back. Cloudy Quartz and Igneous Stone watched them walk away until a hill hid them.
The train station was not nearly as busy as the day when Pinkie Pie arrived. Still, it was crowded for Ponyville’s standards. Dozens of ponies hurried to take a seat on the passengers wagons, while a small amount of wooden boxes, probably full of minerals and other goods, were being loaded on the freight cars.
Octavia and Pinkie Pie craned their necks, trying to get a glimpse of Vinyl, Flint ‘n’ Steel and Limestone. The unicorn would be at the station for certain, as she had to go back to Canterlot with Octavia. Limestone, on the other hoof, had told her sisters she would meet them at the station to bid them goodbye. She wouldn’t just not show up, would she?
It was the older sister who finally located the white unicorn. She wearing her mane the same way as Pinkie had first seen her, done to a side and not dyed. On her nuzzle sat the same square glasses that gave her such a distinguished appearance. She was sitting on one of the stone benches, patiently waiting for the sisters, her back hoof waving at the rhythm of a melody that only she could hear. When she saw them trotting in her way, she grinned and walked over them.
“Hey Octi.” she said, giving her marefriend a kiss on the lips. Then she noticed Pinkie standing behind the gray mare, and acknowledged her with a nod and a sheepish smile. “Uh, hello there, Pinkie. Have you seen the other two yet?”
Two heads shook. “They should be here already.” replied Octavia, taking a glance to their surroundings and failing to locate them. “If they don’t hurry up, we’ll miss the train.”
“They’re there!” cheered Pinkie Pie. Vinyl and Octavia looked upwards and saw the bubblegum mare, perched on top of a lamppost, pointing with her hoof across crowd of ponies. The three mares pushed their way through the colorful mass of ponies, and reached the couple.
Steel was the first to notice them. “Hello there!” he greeted them. “Just in time. I though ya were going to miss the train.”
Limestone was standing next to Flint ‘n’ Steel, her sides touching his, and her head resting on his neck. She wore an absent, blissful smile. Pinkie couldn’t help but grin at that. She had not seen her sister so at ease since she had arrived.
“We had some problems.” replied Octavia, smiling as well. “Pinkie Pie insisted in shoving her things into her bags, so we had to unpack everything and start again. Sorry about that.”
“It is okay.” muttered Limestone, nuzzling Steel’s neck. She let out a sigh and stepped aside, almost reluctantly, to give each of her sisters a hug, and bump Vinyl’s hoof. “I am going to miss you.” she said to her sisters. “It is weird. I’ve barely seen you for years, and I’ve been fine. Now, after just a month together, having fights and bad times, I feel like you are suddenly a big part of my life.” She shrugged her shoulders. “We’ll keep in touch, at least.”
“Sure we will!” replied Pinkie Pie. “And I’ll make sure to reply, always, and as soon as possible.” she said, tracing a cross over her heart.
“I wish the best for you two.” added Octavia. “Make sure to-”
The sound of a steam whistle interrupted her. Somewhere, a stallion gave the last warning. The train would part in any moment. The five ponies shared a single wide-eyed look, before Pinkie, Octavia and Vinyl galloped to the closest cart. The three went into an empty compartment, just as the train initiated its movement with a shudder. Outside, Flint ‘n’ Steel and Limestone waved their hooves at them, smiling widely and once again standing very close. The mares waved back at them as the train accelerated and left the platform behind. Pinkie Pie kept waving at the couple until they were nothing but a pair of dots, gray and red. She only stopped when the train turned and she couldn’t see them anymore.
