Princess Celestia walked through the topiary bushes taking in the natural splendor of Canterlot Castle’s famous gardens, she enjoyed the feeling of soft grass beneath her hooves as she went about her morning walk. Her ear pricked up at the familiar sounds of furious scribbling. With a knowing smile she walked through the topiary garden and into the Canterlot sculptor garden. As quietly as she could manage she walked up to a small unicorn filly taking detailed notes.
“Good morning my faithful student.”
“Whaa!”
The alicorn smiled as the purple filly panicked offering profuse and sincere apologies.
“P,p,p,princess! I mean, your royalness, I mean your highness!”
“Are you enjoying the sunny morning Twilight? I myself love walking through the garden in the mornings, especially while the cool morning dew is still on the grass.” The princess offered with a smile.
“I, I, I do too your highness, and I know I need to be studying, and, and I was, really! I was looking over these statues until the guide gets here, I promise!”
“Please Twilight, it’s OK. If you make studying your life, you’ll miss everything right in front of your nose. You said you were looking for the guide?”
The purple filly nodded, “I had some questions about these statues, but she still hasn’t shown up. Usually she beats everypony here in the mornings. “ The unicorn said dejectedly.
Celestia smiled down at the tiny pony, “She came down with a rather nasty case of the trots. The poor dear’s stomach has been giving her fits the entire week so I let her take the day off. Luckily for you I know more about these statues than anypony else. Feel free to ask me anything.”
“R.Really? OK…. Ummm, this statue here, ” Twilight said pointing to a large statue of the princess herself, “There is a crack in the front legs and at the neck and the marble looks newer at those spots, furthermore, the styling of the artist seems to be different than the artist that made the original piece, has this statue been damaged?”
Celestia smiled again, this time bittersweet memories pulled at her heart taking her back to the past, “Twilight, this statue is very, very special to me. I’d like to tell you a story if you want to hear it?”
“I would love to your highness!” Twilight replied with a huge grin.
With careful and deliberate movements, Celestia lowered her belly to the ground enjoying the cool feel of the moist grass on her stomach.
“Very well then, this story takes place one hundred and seventeen years ago, I was hearing audiences in the throne room when-
~
“So you see your highness, the mountain pegasi clearly-“
A loud crash echoed through the open windows of the throne room. Celestia’s ears perked up. She could tell that the sound came from the courtyard gardens, though she still had no clue what could've caused such a racket.. “Excuse me everypony, I shouldn’t be but a few moments. “ Princess Celestia left her seat at the throne and walked to the back of the throne room, her ears still trained on the disturbance.
“Get offa me! I'll break you!”
Despite still being inside she clearly heard a struggle taking place outside. Pushing open the rear door she saw the statue of herself, the front legs and neck broken off and four royal guards struggling with a clearly agitated earth pony. The attacker who was significantly smaller than the guards had a coat of yellow and a blue mane, upon his flank he bore a chisel cutie mark. Outnumbered and out-muscled, he still gave the guards as good as he was getting.
“Lemme go you jack booted ironflanks!”
Celestia knew from countless years of experience that cooler heads would always prevail in situations like these. Calmly, she walked right up to the disturbance.
“What exactly is going on here?” The alicorn asked in an authoritative tone.
“There you are! Just who I was looking for!” just the mere presence of the princess seemed to reignite the fire in the angry pony. He struggled again with the guards clearly making them strain to keep him in check.
“Is there something I can help you with……”
“The name’s Chisel Hoof, and I’ll make sure you never forget it!” The earth pony struggled again with the guards.
“Threatening the princess! Are you daft? We’re gonna lock you up for so long you’ll beg to see the sun again!” One of the guards shouted.
“Release him.”
The guards jaw dropped, “But your highness, he’s dangerous!”
“Do it.” Celestia ordered.
The guards let go of the pony who stood there dumbfounded for a moment before rage overtook him again. “What? Am I supposed to thank you or something?”
“I would like to know what I’ve done to earn your ire Chisel Hoof.” The princess stated plainly.
Again the earth pony looked taken aback for the smallest moment of time, “You…. You let her die!”
“I assure you sir, I have no idea who you’re referring to.”
“You with all of your alicorn powers and magic and you mean to tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about? You’re lying! I know you let her die! She was too young!” The earth pony screamed.
Celestia closed her eyes wearing a solemn look, “So that’s what this is about. I am no angel of death. I don’t call upon the living to leave this world.”
The earth pony shrank back slowly just a bit, “Surely you have to know something about death, or her….”
Celestia lowered herself to the ground slowly, keeping her eyes trained on the angry pony. “Sit with me please.”
Chisel Hoof moved slowly over to the alicorn, his anger seemingly drained from him by the calmness of the princess. He stopped mere inches from her face, looking into his face she could see the pain in his eyes and the matted fur beneath them where tears trailed down his face.
“Please, tell me about her.”
“I….. I don’t know where to begin.”
The princess touched his hoof gently, “What was she like?” She could clearly see the anger dissipating inside him, replaced by fond memories.
“Her name was Feather Dancer, and she was the most important pony in the world to me. We were on our way back from Hoofington when a stor-“
Celestia placed her hoof over his mouth gently. “Let’s not remember that. Let’s remember who she was, not how she left us.”
Chisel Hoof nodded, “She was the kindest pony I’d ever known. When the local school caught fire and had to be rebuilt, she started a bake sale to raise the funds to open it back up. She always listened to other ponies problems, always made the time to be there for others.” Tears formed at the corners of his eyes. Seeing this, Celestia spread her wings open and forward slowly enveloping him in her soft touch, her head craning over his. “She had this weird thing that if you grabbed her tail as she took off, her wings would lock up, so of course I did it anytime I got the chance.” Chisel Hoof said, half laughing through his tears.
“She sounds wonderful. Losing her hurt didn’t it?”
From any other pony such an inane question might’ve seemed like an insult, coming from the princess, it only elicited a nod from the distraught earth pony.
“That’s why you came here isn’t it? You knew I didn’t have control over the lives and deaths of my subjects, you just wanted to be heard.” She said gesturing to the broken statue.
Another nod.
“How dare the world go on without her, without you, “ The princess continued, “ Doesn’t everyone know you lost the most important thing in your life?”
Chisel Hoof jerked back a bit, he felt something wet hit his head. Looking up at the princess he saw the telltale streak on her face where a tear had fallen. “You…. You do understand.”
“Of course I do my little pony. Loss is something everyone faces at some point in their life. We always assume it’s about the one we’ve lost when, in reality, it’s about the ones left behind. Death is a reminder to enjoy life to its fullest because it will never come again.” At this point Chisel Hoof lost it completely, sobbing into the ground before the princess. Where there once stood an angry and violent pony, now sat a broken and crying foal. They sat like that for a few minutes, each taking in the other's sorrow before Chisel Hoof stood up again.
“I’m ready to receive my punishment your highness.” He said proudly, but still fighting tears in his eyes.”
“I don’t have a punishment for you Chisel Hoof.” Celestia told him.
“But, but, your highness, I broke your statue, I attacked your guards and threatened you, surely that’s worth some form of punishment.”
Celestia thought for a moment, clearly a proud pony like him wouldn’t leave without some form punishment or payment.
“Why do they call you Chisel Hoof?”
~
Celestia looked down at Twilight, she could see tears playing at the corner of her pupil’s eyes.
“That’s…… so sad.”
Celestia smiled down at the cute filly, “In a way it is, but if you look over at that corner of the garden, you’ll see he is as present here as he was a hundred years ago. Each piece you see in this section of the garden was hoof chiseled by him. He made several prominent pieces still envied and enjoyed by thousands of ponies every month.”
“He made all of these statues…. And fixed the statue he broke?” The filly asked in wonder.
“Indeed he did my faithful student, but out of all the pieces on display here, this is my favorite.” The alicorn gestured to a statue off to her right. The purple unicorn approached it cautiously. The statue was clearly that of a Pegasus pony with a poofy mane and beautiful smile.
The little filly read the inscription on the pedestal out-loud, “Feather Dancer, beautiful wife and beloved daughter.” The unicorn smiled at the statue in a sweet yet sad way, “It’s wonderful. You let him have a place in the gardens?”
Celestia rolled her eyes, “Let him? Heck, I had to practically FORCE him to display it here. He seemed intent on keeping this tall statue in his tiny home. I told him it would be better off where everypony could see her.”
“Whatever happened to him?” asked Twilight
“He lived a long life making statues not only for the garden, but for the castle as well. Every year in his wife’s memory he would auction a piece off and donate the proceeds to a local school in her honor, and now she even has a scholarship in her name.”
“That’s amazing! The Feather Dancer fund for greater education is actually based his special somepony? I never knew!”
Celestia smiled down at the eager filly taking in the knowledge like a sponge takes in water. “This is why we live Twilight, every little thing we do has repercussions and ripples into the world we live in. This is why we can’t give up. No matter how small or insignificant we may seem, we have a lasting impression on countless lives every day we’re alive. Never forget that our actions will outlive us all, my faithful student.”
“I won’t your highness! I can’t wait to research Chisel Hoof and Feather Dancer some more, Thanks for the lesson!”
Celestia watched as the energetic filly ran back into the schoolyard with her notebook, eager to continue her Studies.
“She’ll never be forgotten, old friend.”