Princess Skyla stood at the top of a tall tower spire. This was her kingdom. To the north was Equestria, to the south was the Great Sea. To the east and west were wild, unexplored lands. She looked proudly down at her capital city of Stoneton. Her palace lie directly in the center, so as she spun around slowly she could view her entire beautiful kingdom. Skyla smiled and sat down on the balcony's wooden planks.
"Oh, Adviser?" She called.
"Yes, madam?" Her adviser, The Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon, stepped out onto the balcony. "Do you require assistance, your majesty?"
"Oh, nothing as serious as that, I'd just like some company." Skyla smiled warmly at her favorite subject.
"Ah, well- Err, it's just... You're a princess, and-" Trixie was obviously flustered by Skyla's friendly demeanor.
"Yes, I am a princess. And you're a sorceress. My royal adviser as well, I might add."
"Yes- Of course, your majesty." Trixie removed her star-specked hat as she sat down next to the princess. The two sat in silence, which was eventually broken by Trixie. "Umm, was there anything you wanted to talk about?" Trixie was still shifting nervously.
Skyla laughed, "oh, calm down. Just because I'm a princess doesn't mean that we can't just spend time together. Would you rather we speak of something? How has your day been?"
Trixie took a deep breath, "well... I've been working on that spell-"
"Oh, please, none of this politics, I'd like to hear about your personal life!" Skyla turned and looked at the cloaked unicorn curiously.
"Oh, well... I did meet this colt the other day...
"Oh, do tell!" Princess Skyla clapped her hooves excitedly. She shifted her weight so it was distributed evenly throughout her body, and settled in for her adviser's story.
"Well, we met at the ball last week, but we didn't really-"
Trixie's story was interrupted by Inkie calling Skyla's name. "Skyla! Get down here! Skyla!"
"Skyla, get off of that wheelbarrow and help us turn the rocks!" Skyla was snapped out of her fantasy by Inkie's demand, nearly falling from her perch on the overturned wheelbarrow.
"C'mon, these rocks won't turn themselves," Blinkie grabbed Skyla's hoof and pulled her down, "look, if you don't do a good job, you don't get dessert. Mom said that if you kept on like this she'd stop feeding you lunch too." Skyla lowered her head in shame, trotting slowly toward the large pile of rocks that she was supposed to have moved to the south fields already. Her stomach grumbled, hungry from her having missed breakfast.
Inkie and Blinkie turned a few rocks, getting four across the fields before Skyla could even finish with her first one. "Hurry up slacker!" Inkie pushed Skyla forward as she rushed past her, accidentally knocking her over. "Oops!" Inkie tried to look sorry, but anypony could see that she didn't really care.
Skyla wanted to scream. She wanted to push Inkie back. She wanted to pick up a rock and throw it at her. She wanted to hurt somepony. But she didn't. Instead, Skyla just hung her head and answered, "yes, of course," and tried to be faster.
It went on like that for hours. Skyla would do her best, but it was never enough for the Pie twins. She wasn't fast enough. When she was, she accidentally chipped the rocks, which, at the Pie family rock farm, was a big no-no. When it came time to split the rocks, she could never seem to make it split into two even halves. Not that any of it mattered. She was sure that the Pies would be just as rude to her if she were as good or better than the others. That was how they treated everypony who helped them.
Just last month they had evicted a lovely blue mare named Trixie. Skyla had loved Trixie. She told the most fantastical stories. Stories of an alternate world, where Skyla was a Princess, and Trixie was her Adviser, "The Great And Powerful Trixie!" She called herself. Skyla had laughed, but she half-hoped that the blue unicorn was telling the truth. Sure, it was outrageous, but a filly could dream, couldn't she?
Trixie had been a wonderful inventor, creating beautiful contraptions that were a great help around the farm. Once, she made a machine that split rocks using a laser. With it she could split the rocks into exact halves, or carve little statuettes out of the smaller rocks. She had even made Skyla a figurine that somewhat resembled the foal, saying it was what she looked like in the other world. The one where she had been a princess. Skyla had loved it, going as far as to polish it every day.
But then, one month ago, the Pies found out about Trixie's machine. They were more angry than Skyla had ever seen them before, or since. They shouted things like "Blasphemy" and "Satanic" before destroying the machine. Skyla had cowered in fear as Mr. Pie took the small stone figurine and crushed it beneath his hoof. "Let this be a lesson to you," he had said, "those who meddle with the will of god will burn in hell." Skyla had simply nodded, saving her tears for later.
Trixie didn't come to dinner that night, and she was gone the next day, along with her small amount of luggage.
Skyla was pulled out of her memories by Mrs. Pie's dinner bell. "Inkie, Blinkie! It's time for dinner!" She pointed a hoof at Skyla, "you can eat once you're finished moving the rest of the rocks back to the north field."
Skyla sighed, "of course, ma'am."
