A warm winter's night
The town of Ponyville was covered by a sheet of snow, the early winter had brought harsh weather, strong winds and heavy hail storms, but they were past all of that now. Winter was now nearing it's end and snow was slowly falling over the small town, the thin icing dusted over the top's of the houses giving the town the look of a village one might see in a winter postcard. The young fillies and colts had left school and everypony was now spending their time enjoying the frosty weather, taking a walk through the high streets or simply curling up by the fire place with a mug of hot tea.
Yes, Ponyville was peaceful and all were happy, but the ponies however had failed to notice something just west of their perfect little town, there was a large hill that overlooked all of Ponyville, this hill was quite well know for below it was a large supplement of coal. Near the top of this hill was what looked like a raised patch of earth and grass, this small up rise had a circular wooden door built into the center of it, it two small windows and a short chimney which was always puffing smoke.
No pony ever dared to approach this house even thought it had stood there for three years, perhaps it was because the house had certain "aura" around it, it gave off the impression that something menacing dwelled within it, or that the ponies were concerned that whatever creature called this place it's home wanted to be left in peace. Or the villagers found the idea of a house alone on a hill strange, why would any pony want to live alone, detached from the comfort of friends and conversation?
Well the creature had good reason,
20 years ago, Manehatten.
"Hey there blank flank", a sneering voice said, Coal heart turned round, that stupid bullies were on him again. Coal heart starred at the floor, to scared to retort, "what's wrong? Run out of all your lame comeback's have you?" The bully asked. Coal heart simply picked up his school bag and headed out the door back into the streets of Manehatten, he just had to get home, just five minutes down the street and he would be safe. The bully however did not seem to be done with his insults,"come on Coal head", he said slapping the poor pony over the back of the head with his hoof,"I just want to ask you something"
Coal heart turned, "questions? Like what?"
The bully smiled and shrugged,"well, I just really want to know what it's like to not have a mom".
Coal heart's face fell, "I just can't imagine how bad it was to see", the bully carried on in his sneering cold voice," you know, because it was mostly you're fault". Coal heart's knee's were shaking,"your dad was pretty sad, I never thought I would see a grown pony cry, ha, well some great stallion he is", Coal heart clenched his teeth." Well it must be bad back home, but tell me, how do you get on knowing that you caused all those rock to fall right on your mo..."
"SHUT UP!"
Coal heart stamped his hoof,"what did you say?" The bully asked in a low voice,"shut up talking about my mom like that" he yelled,"you don't know anything, I'm sick of you". There was a long, billowing silence, in which Coal heart stared at the bully breathing heavily and with clenched teeth,"what did I tell you about back talk " the bully asked, lowering his voice to a deadly whisper and leaning in close to Coal heart's face,"rude ponies that back talk need a telling off".
And in an instant Coal heart had been swept off his feet and slammed into the ground, he yelled, a surge of pain flowed through his back. Suddenly he became aware of somepony pulling him by his legs,"this should teach you a lesson" the bully cried out, and he stamped hard on Coal heart's face, he felt one of his teeth chip and the sickening taste of something metallic pouring out of his mouth. The stamp came again, then twice more, then finally it stopped.
"Do that again" the bully said,"and you loose all your teeth", huddled on the ground, beaten and bleeding, Coal heart listened to the hoof steps of his adversary fade away into the busy streets of Manehatten, he lay there, just listening to the hustle and bustle of ponies now leaving their workplaces. He prayed for somepony to come and find him, minutes drifted by, but still nothing. Coal heart's eyes began to well up with tears, he shut them and broke down crying.
His mother, the beautiful mare flashed before his eyes, she was kind, caring and loving. Sometimes it felt like she was the only pony that ever understood him, Coal hearts family had a history of mining for jewels and coal. At a young age Coal heart had started to begin work, the conditions were awful, the mine shafts were cramped and smelt horrible. His father had always strived to keep Coal heart working at his best, sometimes he pushed him a little to far, forcing him down deep pits in the ground. His mother was always there though, waiting for him to return home with open hoofs, she mostly cleaned around the house but there was an odd occasion where she would assist with the work. On a warm Summer afternoon she had decided to help Coal heart with his day's work, once down there Coal heart had to use a plank of wood to push up a group of crushed rocks which blocked a passageway.
His mother entered and exited carrying a group of gems each time, but, sadly a small earthquake struck the mine, startled, Coal heart dropped the plank and scrambled up the ladder, only to late did he realize his mother was still down in the mine. Groups of ponies pulled away at the rocks for hours until they found her, crushed under a pile of rocks. She was buried a short way away from the mine, his father had broken down into a fit of tears and family members grouped around the grave placing sunflowers around it.
"It's not fair", Coal heart said opening his eyes, why did all of this happen to him, no pony understood him, no pony liked him, and now here he was, lying crumpled and broken in a back ally. They didn't care for him, he was just a waste of space, a screw up, a blank flank.
Present day:
Coal heat opened his eyes, he been slumped over his desk writing down a report on his workers. He stretched and starred around at what little he had in the small house on the hill. The back of the room housed a handsome wooden fireplace, there was a small bed in the left corner, a stove opposite it and a large desk next to the round door.
He grumbled and looked out of the window, snow was covering up his window, Coal heart shook his head and crouched down next to his fire, rubbing his hoofs together to warm them up. "Winter" he thought to himself, "tsk, all those stupid ponies coming round my house causing a racket, can't trust any of them"
He sat for a another minute, heating himself up, then his ears pricked up. He turned to his window a looked out of it, outside in the semi darkness he could make out the figures of five ponies making their way back into town, they were talking loudly and laughing. He frowned, "wake up the whole bloody town they will with the noise their making" he said. He stared after them for several more seconds until they vanished.
He sighed and glanced over at the stove, he had laid out the ingredients for carrot soup on it, he got up and headed over, he picked up a small knife and began chopping the vegetables, he tipped them into a small pan then reach out for the... Wait a minute, where was it?
He searched around the stove and then sighed exasperatedly, he forgot the herbs, "no matter" he thought,he had a small patch of earth outside his house that he used to grow vegetables and herbs. He pulled on a cloak and headed out into the freezing weather, the wind was non-existent and the snow fell calmly around him.
He trotted over to the patch of overturned earth and uprooted a few herbs, he turned, but then looked back to the patch of earth. He thought he heard something moving just a short way ahead of the soil, he squinted but saw nothing but snow.
SMACK
Coal hearts head jerked forwards as something cold hit him on the back of his head, he spun in a circle,"where are you!" Coal heart roared. He heard the sound of giggling and laughing behind him, he turned but still nothing.
"Come on show yourself!" He yelled again,"O.K" said a voice from behind him. He jumped about a foot in the air and fell face first into the snow. He turned, brushing snow out of his face to face the creature that had ambushed him. He found himself facing a pink mare, she had a mass of frizzy pink hair, a similar looking tail and a pair of wide, kind looking, blue eyes.
'Hi there", she said in an energetic voice,"sorry I scared you, do you need a hoof?". She extended her hoof out to him but he turned from her,"no" he said curtly,"I'm fine". The pink mare drew back her hoof and she looked at Coal heart with polite curiosity.
"Well anyways" she continued,"my name is Pi..."
"I could care less what your name is", Coal heart snapped, the mare drew back slightly, she watched as Coal heart gathered back up his herbs,"you gave me the fright of my life".
The mare looked away from him awkwardly,"I didn't meant to" she said apologetically,"well be sure you don't do it again". Coal heart brushed past her and headed back for his house,"oh hang on", the mare began bouncing through the snow to catch up with him,"I've never seen you before what's your name?"Coal heart stopped at the door, then turned to her,"Coal heart" he sighed,"my name is Coal heart".
"I'm Pinkie Pie", Pinkie Pie said happily,"great, nice meeting you, bye" Coal heart said in a rush. He opened the door and put one hoof in the doorway,"I was thinking maybe we could talk" Pinkie said just as Coal heart got fully inside,"maybe later" Coal heart said without looking at her, and without another word he shut the door and bolted it.
He peeked out through the window, he saw her hopping along down back to Ponyville. "Good" he thought, he shut the blinds and went back to the chopping board and began chopping the herbs,"stupid foal" he thought to himself, his thoughts on Pinkie Pie. "Nerve of her attacking me on my own property", and he was sure those ponies he saw heading down back to town before her were her friends.
"Right little bunch of troublemakers they must be" he thought, that's what they were, the town clowns, but....something about Pinkie confused him, he couldn't put his hoof on it, but something about her reminded him of somepony.
He pushed the thought out of his head, he was acting ridiculous. He continued cutting the herbs then added the into the soup, he laid a few sticks under the pot, struck a match and lit the wood. The soup slowly warmed and soon started steaming, he lifted the pot over to his desk and ladled out soup. He sighed again, sat down and picked up his spoon.
"Carrot soup" he thought,"my evening meal for...how long has it been now, four, five, six years". A boring meal, but, it helped him through the cold nights and got him through till morning. He was about to lower his spoon into the bowl, when suddenly there was a knock at the door.
He looked up, "who in Equestria is that?" Coal heart mumbled to himself as he heaved his heavy bones to the door. He opened the door,"he..."
"Hi there!"
Coal heart jumped back in fright for the second time that day, it was Pinkie Pie. "You AGAIN!" Coal heart yelled, "what do you want?". "We'll it's later" Pinkie said smiling.
"What?"
"Well you did say that we could talk later"
"It's been ten minutes"
Pinkie shrugged,"so can we talk?". "No" Coal hear said,"Pinkies face fell,"why not?". "I just sat down to eat" Coal heart said gesturing to the pot of soup,"oh, what's for dinner?" Pinkie asked.
"It's MY dinner" Coal heart said,"but if you really want to know it's carrot soup". Pinkie pulled a face,"ew, it tastes really bad, my friend Twilight gave some to me once it was so nasty, do you eat it much". "It's the only thing I can afford" Coal heart answered,"so...basically I've eaten it every night for the last six years".
Pinkies jaw dropped to the floor, literally, her mouth fell open and she gasped in horror,"every day!" Pinkie yelled,"why aren't skin and bones?"
Before Coal heart could stop her she had bounced inside the one room house,"you need a something sweet after all that carrot". She bounced inside before Coal heart could stop her, put a hoof behind her back and drew out an iced cupcake from seemingly out of nowhere.
Coal heat starred in amazement,"how did you do that?" Coal heart asked incredulously. Pinkie Pie merely giggled,"go on, try it". Coal heart looked apprehensively at the cupcake for a moment, then took it from Pinkie and cautiously took a bite from it. The flavor exploded in his mouth, his shot wide open at the taste of the cake, he hadn't had a cupcake since he was a foal. "Wow" he said, clutching the table,"wow, that was amazing, Pinkie clapped her hooves together,"I knew you'd like it" she said,"I make sure that I bake a batch for all my new friends".
At the mention of the word "friends" Coal heart looked at her sceptically,"look" he said,setting what was left of the cupcake down on his desk,"this was a really nice gesture and all, but were still not friends". "Well we can fix that" Pinkie said cheerfully,"so now do you want to talk?".
"All right" Coal heat answered, he pulled out the desk chair and sat down,"what about?". "We'll we could talk about friends, family, food, places we've been, oh, do you get to travel a lot?" Pinkie asked,"well I used to live in Manehatten" Coal heart started,"I lived there for abou...."
"Oh, what's Manehatten like, I really, really want to go but the train costs a lot of money and I can't afford it, is it worth it? Is it a fun place? Is it boring? I hope it's not boring." Pinkie spoke each word so quickly that Coal heart had to ask her to repeat what she had just said. "Well when I lived there the only part of the city I saw was the outskirts" Coal heart continued,"my family didn't..well...we didn't have a lot of money, so we could only live in a small house".
He expected Pinkie to interrupt here, possibly to ask him about his family, but she remained silent, wrapped with attention. He continued,"we'll I lived there for sixteen years, then when I was seventeen I moved out, I need somewhere quiet after the hustle and bustle of the city, so I got some supplies and built a house here".
"Why did your parents call you Coal heart?" Pinkie asked,"we, my family owned a coal and gem mine, my parents were great miners, you wouldn't find a better pair anywhere in Equestria". He suddenly looked away from Pinkie, a small smile on his face as if he was reminiscing about his parents and how proud he was of them.
"So where are your parent's now?" Pinkie asked, this question brought Coal heart back to down to Equestria with an unpleasant bump."well" he started, trying to come up with some kind lie,"my dad is still working on the mine and mom is working as a teacher".
"Yes that should be believable enough" he thought to himself.
"Your family sounds like fun" Pinkie said,"yes, well if we're done with our talk you can go now. Coal heart stoop up and placed his hoof on the door handle,"I can't go just yet" Pinkie said standing up.
"Why not?" Coal heart asked her impatiently, "friends need to do more than just talk", Pinkie answered, speaking each word as though she was a teacher correcting a student on a very simple mistake,"they need to have a bit of fun!".
"Well if you think we're playing in here your mad"
"No, silly, not in here, out there"
She pointed to the window overlooking the large frosty hills,"it's freezing out there" Coal heart protested,"a little cold weather never stopped me" Pinkie said, pulling her scarf a little tighter,"come on it'll be fine".
Coal heart gave the outside world one more reluctant look, then he sighed,"fine, but only for five minutes, I don't want to catch something". He took a large woolen jacket down from a hanger, pulled it on and walked out with Pinkie into the darkening world.
It was bitter cold outside, the cold temperatures bit at exposed faces and the wind was starting to pick up causing snow to obscure a ponies vision. Coal heart spat out a mouthful of snow,"Pinkie it's to bad out here, we should go home....Pinkie?".
He looked around him, Pinkie was gone.
How could she disappear so quickly, then he heard laughter under his hooves, he looked down.
Pinkie was lying back down in the snow, she was moving her legs in the snow to make a waving motion. "What are you doing?" Coal heart asked. "Don't tell me you've never made a snow pony before" Pinkie said incredulously,"didn't you get a lot of snow at Winter?"
"If we did it was not nearly enough" Coal heart answered,"it's easy, just do what I'm doing". Pinkie repeated her actions again to show him, Coal heart examined the snow, then reluctantly, he lay spread eagle on his back in the snow. The cold pierced Coal hearts back like thousands of tiny pins.
"Great, now just move your hooves" Pinkie told him, the snow was now becoming quite thick and coal heart had to use a bit of effort to push away at the snow, but he finally managed to move his legs freely.
"you see, fun right?" Pinkie said sitting up and brushing snow off herself.
"Fun, no, bone chillingly cold, yes", Coal heart stood up and shook his short navy colored mane to get the snow out of it, "are we done here" he asked hopefully."sorry but if your bored but I've got one thing you need to try".
Coal heart heaved a heavy sigh,"alright" he said exasperatedly,"let's get it over with". Pinkie Pie smiled, then with unnatural speed she had scooped up a hoof full of snow, shaped it into a sphere and lobbed it at Coal heat's head.
He ducked and felt the ball whiz over his mane, "what's the matter with you!" Coal heart yelled at her "that's twice you've attacked me now". But Pinkie had already started shaping another frozen projectile to fire at him, she threw the ball and Coal heart evaded it once more.
"Stop trying to..." Coal heart started, his sentence was cut off by a large amount of shaped snow shattering against the side of his face, he stamped his hoof in anger,"alright you stupid foal!" Coal heart yelled at her,"take this!"
He quickly formed the snow into a ball and threw it with all his might at Pinkie,it hit her in chest and stumbled from the impact.
Through the slow snowfall he could see her mouth curl into a smile and her eyes narrow, and instantly Coal heart was being bombarded by a storm of snowballs, he ducked for cover and hastily tried to create some snowballs for himself. He slowly peeked out from behind the rock he was crouching behind to see where Pinkie was, she had ceased her attack and waiting with a fresh pile of snowballs primed and ready.
Coal heart seized two snowballs, one in each hoof. He inhaled, and sprinted toward Pinkie, the onslaught of snowballs began again, two of them caught Coal heart in the face one after the other, but he managed to shake them off.
He threw his two projectiles at Pinkie, they both hit her in the face, but she shook her head laughing with glee. And, suddenly, Coal heart burst out laughing to, for the first time in years he felt incredibly happy and lively.
The two ponies continued to pelt each other with snowballs for a whole hour until the sky became so dark they couldn't see each other, they both headed back up to Coal hearts' home joking with each other as they went.
Once inside coal heart placed some fresh coal in the fireplace and lit the fire, "sit down", Coal heart said gesturing to the fireplace,"warm yourself up a bit". Pinkie obliged, and sat down by the fire while Coal heart began brewing up tea.
"I can't remember the last time I had fun like that", Coal heart said from the stove, "listen, Pinkie" he said turning to her. "I'm sorry that I..you know, snapped at you earlier",
"You don't need to say sorry" Pinkie replied,"you were just feeling a little grouchy".
Coal heart gave her a small smile, "you know Pinkie", Coal heart said turning to her, "this sounds a bit weird but, you really remind me of my mom".
"Does your mom like parties and making friends to?" Pinkie asked excitedly, "yeah she di...does" Coal heart said, remembering to act like his mother was still alive,"but nothing really seems to bother you does it?" Coal heart asked.
"Your lively, your crazy and your just fun to be around", Pinkie smiled brightly,"I've gotten through to you Coal heart, so does this mean we can be friends now?'
"Sure", he chuckled,"sure, we can be friends".
Pinkie lept up cheering,"crazy pony" Coal heart thought to himself shaking his head,"here you can take a look around,I'll just finish makeing the tea".
He turned back to the tea while Pinkie started observing several pictures on his wall, she picked up a small rectangular book. "What's in here?" Pinkie asked,"oh, that's an old photo album", Coal heart responded looking up from the stove,"I used to take pictures for a hobby". Pinkie opened it and started leafing through the photographs,"you had mane a lot like mine when you were a foal", she said laughing. She showed him the photo.
Coal hearts' mane was indeed large a puffy in the photo, it was messy and unkempt,"I remember that", Coal heart said smiling,"everypony kept telling me to get it cut short".
Pinkie smiled and turned back to the album, stopping at regular intervals to ask him questions about some of the ponies in the photographs.
"That ones of my great uncle Gem hoof", Coal heart said pointing to a turquoise coloured stallion,"he was the best gem digger in the business", "your family sound super amazing", Pinkie said turning another page,"their a group of characters yeah" Coal heart responded.
He turned his attention back to the unfinished report on the miners still lying on his desk, he headed back over to it and began to finish it off. "I don't see enough of them" he said, "it's been years since I saw any of them", "you could have a family reunion", Pinkie suggested,"my friend Applejack had one she told me it was really....hey Coal heart, what's this picture of?"
"What picture?" Coal heart asked, not turning round,"it looks like a gravestone", Coal heart stopped writing, he whipped round to face Pinkie.
"That's nothing" he said in a rush,
"Did something happen?"
"It's nothing Pinkie, give me the book"
"Is somepony dead?"
"Give me the book!"
Coal heart ripped the book from Pinkie's hooves and bolted for the door, slamming it shut behind him. Pinkie sat, frozen to the chair with fear, slowly she got up and looked out the window, there was no sight of him.
Pinkie opened the door and went outside, the snow had stopped falling, though a thin vail of cold mist still hung in the air. "Coal heart!" Pinkie called out.
No reply.
Pinkie was getting worried, where could he have gone? Pinkie's ear suddenly twitched, she turned her head left, low sniffing noises could be heard a few feet in that direction. She moved closer to the noise and found Coal heart.
He sitting in the snow, the book lay open beside him show the photograph of the gravestone, he had his face in his hooves and he was making small sniffing noises.
Pinkie sat down beside him, at the sound of crunching snow Coal heart looked round at her, his eyes were puffy and red, "go away Pinkie" he said.
"Coal heart, I'm sorry if I did something wrong", she said gently. Coal heart shook his head,"no, no it..it's fine", he said, doing his best to fight back tears,"you didn't know".
"Who is it that..you know"
"My mother", Coal heart said before she could finish the question.
"But, you said she was a.."
"I lied" Coal heart said simply,"I don't really like to bring it up".
Coal heart gave a small sniff again, suddenly he felt something on his shoulder, he looked up and saw that Pinkie had placed a hoof on his shoulder.
"Is that why you live up there? You were so said you didn't want anypony to talk to?" Coal heart looked back down into the snow, then in a shaky voice he answered,"yes".
And before he could stop himself he had buried his face into Pinkies shoulder and began sobbing. Pinkie gently ruffled his mane with her hoof,"it's O.K" she said,"if you want get something out, you can tell me all about it".
Coal heart managed to pull himself together,"right" he said wiping a few stray tears from his face,"I'm sorry Pinkie, what must you think of me, acting like that". "Everypony has problems" Pinkie said,"if you need a friend to talk to I'm allways free".
Coal heart smiled,"reassuring" he said. He got back to his hooves and brushed himself down, "listen Pinkie, thanks". "For what?" Pinkie asked him,"just for tonight in general, I feel a lot better after all this", "were you sick?" Pinkie asked,"no it was, never mind" Coal heart said laughing. Pinkie giggled as well,"oh listen" she said,"I'm throwing a part tomorrow for my friend Raindow Dash, and really like it you would come, there'll be cake, music, games and a tone of other fun stuff".
Coal heart smiled,"yeah, I think I'd like that", Pinkie jumped with excitement,"awesome,see you tomorrow","you sure will, bye Pinkie".
The two headed in opposite directions, Coal heart headed for his small house and Pinkie was happily trotting down the path back to Ponyville, at the door of his house Coal heart turned and looked back at the path. From far way he could see a moving dot enter Ponyville, he smiled,"crazy filly" he thought. He opened the door and entered, leaving behind both the cold and the weight of a death heavy on his continents.