> Moving emotions > by silentrock > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Moving the cart > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A heavily laden cart inches sluggishly but surely across the bumpy cobblestone streets of Ponyville, the over sized wheels emitting an ear splitting cacophony of squeaks, creaks, and metallic grinding.  Every now and then, a passerby would pause to gawk at the wooden contraption. Each pothole the cart hit let loose a nightmarish noise that set most of the villagers cringing. The thud of the wheel falling into the hole was accompanied by the racket of various objects in the cart colliding into each other.  The contents of the wagon ranged from multiple tiny boxes with disorderly piles of family photos inside of them to a substantial grandfather clock embossed with gold leafs on each of the oak sides leading up to the name ‘Mash’ carved at the top. What stood out the most were definitely pair of ponies inside the cart and the two pulling it. The stallion was lathered in sweat, chocolate hairs clinging to his well-muscled chest. He walked with a proud bearing and swift, determined movements.     The stallion's eyes drifted to the short curvy mare next to him. Her petite tan head constantly darted behind her to check on the two occupants of the cart they were pulling.   The eldest brother had his eyes focused on the guitar he was strumming. His slumped figure strummed each cord very carefully. Each time the strum didn't sound right, the he tweaked the knob with his until he got the sound he wanted. As the cart hit another pothole, the mare spoke to the stallion in a worried tone. “Carful, Gigabit. I don’t want anything falling on the children.” She glanced towards the elder brother then to the younger who continued to be absorbed in a video game on a small handheld device.     “Relax, Milano this cart may creak and groan but the furniture isn’t going to topple over onto anypony,” Gigabit reassured his wife.   Button Mash sighed as he reset his game for the fifth time.He rubbed his amber eyes, focusing on the game in front of him. One of his units died, and he had to make sure that the unit stuck around. He could have always switched to casual mode where his units would come back after the battle, but he saw that as admitting defeat. The characters’ lives were balanced in his hooves. Of course they were just video game characters, but they would always be with him no matter what. So he tried to ensure that none of them died. As he started the battle up again, he felt the cart jolt into a pothole, then right back out. Button’s head pounded with the cart’s incessant squeaking and creaking. I’ll never get used to the noise this damn thing makes. We should fix it up since we use it so much. The colt glanced at the cart while he waited for the battle to load. Sure enough, the bent left front wheel let out the loudest protest, it had been crooked since the day his father brought it home from the dealership. Button’s eyes fell to his father. Sighing, he closed his eyes and he remembered when the stallion brought him the game he was playing . . . It was late on Button’s tenth birthday when he, his brother, and his mother had just finished Button’s favorite dinner; spaghetti and wheatballs. He heard the doorknob turn and saw his father walk in. The stallion’s tie hung loosely around the neck and as soon as he finished finished closing the door, he threw it off. Before his tie hit the ground, he felt something hugging his leg. Gigabit looked down to see his son clinging to him like a leech. “Hey, champ how are you,” he said, ruffling his son’s mane. “Great, Dad! Mom made my favorite dinner and look what Gibson gave me for my birthday,” Button smiled as he showed his father a small toy dragon clad in what appeared to be molten armor. A small surge of pride came over him. It was nice to see his two sons getting along so well. “Well that is a pretty cool gift, but I think you might like what I have for you just a bit more.” Gigabit handed his youngest a small square shaped present. “Go on open it, son.” The colt tore into the wrapping paper and pulled the video game case out. His smile grew as wider as his eyes filled with wonder and excitement. “Thank you, Dad I love it so much!” He nuzzled his leg before bounding off to play his game. The cart wheel falling into a particularly large pothole, breaking Button out of his day-dream. He saw his game was still in the process of loading. He took another look at his father—or more specifically—at his cutie mark of a blue tie and black briefcase  as another memory floated to the surface. Button sat on the couch with his brother. His mother and father were sitting on the couch directly across from them. Button fidgeted with the new game clasped in his hooves.“So . . . Mom, Dad what did you want to talk to me and Gibson about?” Button inquired. “Well, Button, as you know I work very hard at my job so I can provide the things we need and some of what we want.” Button mash nodded in agreement. “Well because I work so hard, I got promoted to manage a team of workers in Fillydelpha.” “Congrats, Dad but how are you going to get to Fillydelpha and back within one work day?” Button questioned with confusion .   “That’s the thing, Button. I can’t. So, your mother and I have decided we’re moving.” Button didn’t know what happened. One second he was sitting on the couch the next he was upstairs crying into his bedroom’s shag carpet after slamming the door. Button looked out the window, dreading what he would have to tell his best friend at school tomorrow.   Button was again broken out of his trip down memory lane, this time by a teardrop falling down his face. He refused to think about his old friend. Just the thought of him made Button’s heart ache like a dagger had been shoved into it. Button had a different, sickening feeling when he thought of his father. Because of how hard he worked, he always got promoted. That meant more work for his father and less time he spent with the family. His promotion also meant that Button would have to leave behind everything he had in the town they were living in. Why can’t he just say no to those stupid promotions? Well at least we can afford a nice house. The cart screeched to a halt as his mom turned to them, pointing to a decent-sized red brick house. “Welcome to the new house, boys.” > Moving the brush > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A small white blur could be seen dashing through the fields of tall green grass. The filly felt every blade of grass scratch her hooves. With every step, a small tuft of grass was kicked up and blown away in the wind along with any worries the filly had. As the filly slowed down, she took a deep breath through her nose and was greeted with the smell of fresh plant life. She felt warmness inside of her it was the same feeling she got after a tasty home cooked meal or when she woke up without the aid of an alarm clock. The sound of running water pounded against her ear drums, it roared and thundered like a stately beast. Taking interest in this, the filly decided to investigate.   As the filly was walking towards the sound, she tripped and fell over a small rock. As she looked at the cause of her scraped knee she noticed the many veins of minerals in lines up the rock. The white veins contrasted very much with gray rock surrounding them. As the sound of the thundering source of water reached her ears, she dusted herself off, stood back up and continued towards her destination. As the young mare looked up at the tree,s she felt dwarfed. The many trees ranged from a small sized spruce to an oversized oak. Almost all of the trees were perfectly straight. The few stumps the filly found littered between the trees were immensely wide. Taking a look at the rings on the stump they were spread far apart and were very numerous. The filly had to be careful not to trip on the roots. They were all stuck in the ground and intertwined with one another. Between the roots were a few green leaves that had fallen off of the branches. As the foal stepped on one, she did not hear a crunching sound between her hooves and the forest floor, but rather a squishy sound. She lifted up her hooves to see them slightly covered in moisture. As she noticed the leaf from which the moisture came she saw the five pointed ends of the leaves were all connected to the steam of the leaf by many veins. The veins here were unlike the veins in the rock because here they had a clear order and path. The filly kept walking the smiled as she finally reached her destination there was a roaring stream. The water splashed over the rocks like waves crashing against a cliff. Every time it did, a few droplets of the crystal clear liquid landed on the shore. The sound was loud, but not defining. Every now and then, there would be movement upstream.  A closer look showed a salmon colored fish parting the waters and pushing its way upstream. The fish would sometimes be pushed back a good few feet, but when this would happen the fish’s next charge up stream would allow him to gain twice as much distance as he had lost. As the filly brought her emerald green eyes up from the fish to the other side of the stream, she held back a small gasp. Across the stream, an albino doe stood tall and with its chest rising slowly as it stood below a short spruce tree. The doe braced her front legs against the trunk of the tree as she ripped a mouthful of leaves off a branch and brought her front legs back down. A small fawn stuck its white head out from underneath its mother. The fawn seemed content to eat the bits of leaves that fell from its mother’s mouth. The foal took a step closer and saw the mother and fawn walk off through a patch of flowers, then disappear behind the trees surrounding the patch. The filly looked at the flowers that produced many bright colors. The daffodils, blue bells, roses and daisies all swayed back in forth. The colors were being swirled together by the brush of constant wind. When the brush stopped, a small blanket of pollen could be seen settling on top and inside the flowers. Because of all the pollen, it was no surprise that the honeybees landed on the flowers and coated themselves in the yellow grains of pollen. As the bees flew from flower to flower the pollen contrasted with the black hairs covering their body but not the yellow hairs. The filly stood still focused on the patterns in which the bees moved to communicate everything from the locations of the flowers with the most pollen to a message of what flowers had already been visited by the bees. The filly was broken out of her trance by a loud croaking noise. She turned her head to see a shiny lime colored blob jump towards the stream. The filly blinked and looked at the small toad on a log next to the bank. The filly looked at the slimy figure of the toad noticing that its back legs were very muscular. The toad bent its hind leg and leaped forward landing with ease. It took a few small leaps towards a patch of the log with much of the bark missing. There it sat patiently waiting for any insect to come out of one of the numerous tiny holes and become a small tasty meal for the toad. A sudden loud banging noise caught the filly’s attention. She looked up and saw a woodpecker moving its pointed beak rapidly back and forth against the trunk of a tree. It suddenly let out a call that the filly barely made out into words. “Sweetie belle,”the bird let out the call, staring at the filly.   Sweetie belle began to back up. How does this bird know my name and how is it talking? Sweetie’s worried thoughts rang in her head. The bird turned its head towards Sweetie Belle and let out its loudest cry of all, “Sweetie Belle! Hey that voice kind of sounds like… Sweetie bell jolted awake from her slumber just in time to see her bedroom door swing into her wall so fast that she was afraid that the door might come off of the hinges. When she looked to the door frame, all she saw were two white nostrils flaring as if smoke was about to come pouring  out of them. Sweetie gulped. If Rarity was looking this furious, she had to be big trouble. Rarity always prized herself on looking her best and not letting her emotions get the best of her. “Sweetie Belle, do you have any idea what time it is you were supposed to get up for school? Twenty minutes ago!” Rarity bellowed. “ I’ve been trying to get you up for the past fifteen minutes.”   “We are going to be late, and I need as much time as possible to work on the gowns the princesses  requested.” Rarity continued in her loudest voice possible, “I planned this out so that you would have plenty of time to get ready and I would have plenty of time to get you to school and come back.”Sweetie noticed that Rarity’s mane had hairs jutting out. Her face had gotten a few wrinkles over the past few months. Rarity had recently received a order to make three different dresses for each of the four Alicorn princesses. The ambassadors from Mexicolt would be staying in Equestria for three days after all. When twilight came to Rarity with the proposition, Rarity immediately accepted. Then she calmed Twilight’s concerns about quesadillas being served.  “Rarity I’m sorry I di—” Sweetie was cut off buy a towel being shoved at her. “You have five minutes in the bathroom.” Rarity turned around and walked down the stairs. After Sweetie had gotten a shower, brushed her teeth, and brushed her hair thoroughly in less than five minutes, she went to apologize to Rarity. But as she turned the knob to the dress studio, she heard sniffles and snorts. As the door opened she saw Rarity hunched over her face staring at the floor, every now and then a tear falling off her muzzle. “Rarity I know that mom and dad  sent me back to Ponville while they work down in Mexicolt because they want me to have the best education I can have, but if I’m really that much of a burden I can see if I could work somewhere down there that way they don’t have t—” Rarity interrupted her sister by wrapping her hooves around her. Sweetie immediately did the same. The pair just sat there in silence. Neither of them having the will to talk nor having the desire. Sweetie could feel the steady calming rhythm of her older sister’s heartbeat. Sweetie closed her eyes letting everything else stop. Her sister was the only thing in her world right now. After what felt like an eternity but had really only been a few minutes, Rarity spoke up “ Sweetie please forgive me, Darling. I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you; I’m just overworked at the moment.” “It’s okay, Rarity I know you’re just trying to look out for us.” Sweetie sighed, “It has to be hard to do with all the work you’re doing.” “Thank you for understanding, Darling” Rarity smiled at her little sister. “You know you are growing into a wonderful young mare.” A sudden chime broke rarity out of her transfixion on her sister. “Oh good heavens, look at the time! We have got to hurry.” Rarity grabbed a scarf to protect her from the autumn chill, going to the door and opening it up for her sister. As soon as Sweetie was out the door, she locked it up tight and the pair set off down the street towards the school.