Cold Hooves - Warm Heart

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Stone Dust
Chapter 2 - Dust Devil
Chapter 4 - Details of the Devil
Chapter 5 - A Pregnant Pause
Chapter 6 - The Eyes Have It
Chapter 3 - Devil in the Details

Chapter 1 - Stone Dust

Cold Hooves - Warm Heart by RandomGreymane (Mike Hebel)

Chapter 1 - Stone Dust

Dear Princess Celestia,

It feels strange to write you again. Not so much unfamiliar, just different.

The train arrived in Dodge Junction in record time. The trip was actually quite tiring. You’d think with all the magick that goes on in Equestria a talking stone pony would be no big deal. Instead I spent the entire trip either reassuring everypony that I was no threat or answering questions about “Do you go to the little ponies room?” (For the record - I don’t. And that in and of itself is a little weird to me still.) Your letter of declaration of my independence as a sentient being helps with the former. My keen sense of humor helps with the latter.

Also for the record, writing with my mouth is more difficult than I recall. I remember, a lifetime ago, learning how to do it at the academy. Thankfully I took that elective. While this body does not cramp up for obvious reasons it’s still mentally exhausting holding my focus on a manual task for so long. If you will take a suggestion from a simple stone, make the class mandatory. In fact I’d go so far as to suggest a whole semester of capped magick so ponies learn what to do without their horn being involved.

I miss donuts. I miss eating. The simplest things sometimes...

I’m currently staying in a freshly built boarding house for the week while I get settled. (No one would tell me what happened to knock down the old one.) Ms. Jubilee will be meeting with me tomorrow and we’ll take that one hoofstep at a time. I did hear from a local that the accident prone pony has left so Ms. Jubilee is definitely looking for help

This all seems so surreal. To go from a princess of Equestria to...whatever this is. There are times I am grateful I can’t shed tears. I cried inside when the train set off from Canterlot. It was all I could do to keep smiling while talking to the other ponies.

Raw emotions. I’ll get over them. In truth they do seem to be the one thing that I never did get a handle on. So it’s not unexpected that a change of bodies would fail to make any difference.

Some part of me is soooo angry! I’m furious that instead of being joined back to myself I’m stuck in this stone body. And yet...in some ways it’s a relief.

I have, in even this short time, come to terms with a nasty partial truth. A truth I impart to you now with no small hesitation. A truth I could not bear to keep from my faithful teacher...and friend.

I wanted Twilight to cast me out so I could live as myself. It’s not that I didn’t want to save you but rather that I saw a chance to both save you and free myself. I feel terrible about it still but at least I’ve acknowledged it. The rest is just emotional cleanup.

Speaking of cleanup would you believe that I produce dust? It’s not a great amount but I had to apologize when I got off the train because I left a cloud of it on the floor where I had sat. I’m hoping that it’s just temporary. If not then I’m going to have someone fasten a whisk broom to my tail!

This body has so many surprises. Whoever designed it was closer than they know to creating a replacement body for ponies. Being slightly detached from it gives me a perspective that I’ve never had before. I suspect that will change with time. I can already feel myself bonding further to it. I estimate by the end of today I won’t even remember my old body any more.

And just when I was getting the hang of having wings too. Phooey.

There are of course upsides. For one I don’t feel pain. At least I don’t think I do. I need to do more testing.

My biggest concern though...will I sleep? My body obviously doesn’t need it. But mentally...

Even more importantly...will I dream?

I suspect I will but nothing about this experience is familiar to me. When I was transformed from a unicorn to an alicorn there was at least some sense of familiarity. And I had my magick. Now all of that is gone.

I had time to talk with Applejack before I left and as expected she provided an honest opinion and even suggested farming. The few days I spent at her farm before returning to Canterlot to take my leave were the most peaceful and enlightening I’ve experienced in some time. But they left me with more questions than answers.

And as you know I hate having unanswered questions.

So, as I said before, more testing is needed. I don’t expect doing a hooves to horn...

Oh yeah. I don’t have a horn any more. Again...the little things. Easier to accept additions than subtractions. One direction you feel more complete, the other you feel less complete.

I must admit I long for that completeness. It feels very empty in here.

I have another confession. I thought about it. I thought about going to sleep and not waking up. Not for long. But I thought about it. It would have been easy at that time. Just a flick to separate myself into the aether.

All in all living is still better. If that changes I’ll get back to you on the subject.

Tomorrow it all starts again. A fresh start. I got that once with my entrance to the academy. And again when I came to Ponyville. And yet again when I became a princess. Now...

I’d Pinkie Pie Promise that I would do my best but I tried that earlier and promptly showered Twilight with stone dust. So...yeah...not doing that.

Luna’s moon is rising. It’s a comforting sight.

I hope I dream of all of you.

Your faithful pebble,

Alabaster

Chapter 2 - Dust Devil

Cold Hooves - Warm Heart by RandomGreymane (Mike Hebel)

Chapter 2 - Dust Devil

Dear Princess Celestia,

What a day!

In no particular order I met Miss Jubilee, the sheriff (I’ve quite forgotten his name), several friendly ponies, and started bucking cherries!

Let me take a hoof-step back here...

As it is when I’m excited, I couldn’t sleep in. I rose before you rose the sun, and just stood outside the boarding house listening to the sounds of night as they faded. I watched the sun come up with no obstacles!

It was so beautiful! I never believed seeing a sunrise could mean so much.

And you know what? I did dream. In fact Luna and I had a long talk. And cups of tea. It was tempting to stay there... But as is her temperament, Luna made sure I woke up. She said strangely that there is only one being who dreams endlessly and it lives in another universe.

Anyways I was standing out in front of the boarding house when a cart hit me! It actually just ran right into me! It turns out the driver was on his way through town and didn’t see me. Of course that cost him a cart. It pretty much shattered when it collided.

Fortunately under the circumstances carts are a dime a dozen here and he’ll be able to replace it without too much burden. In embarrassment and apology I helped him carry the undamaged portion of his cargo to it’s destination at the other end of town. The ponies we met paid him for the boxes and we all went on our way.

It was so strange to just carry those crates without so much as a strained muscle. I don’t know what my limits are yet but I’m a whole hay of a lot stronger than I used to be. But then again this body did batter down your projected shield so...

Why do I feel guilty about that? I shouldn’t. I mean it wasn’t me in this body when that happened. I didn’t have any control and in fact I was the one who brought the whole situation under control. So why can’t I escape this feeling of lingering guilt?

On my way back I noticed the sheriff and a posse of ponies headed the direction I’d just come from. Not thinking anything of it I continued back into town to get directions to Miss Jubilee’s farm. (Applejack navigates wonderfully but most of the time it’s landmark based and instinctive. I prefer something a little more precise.) Without magick to guide me I needed a map.

Entering the general store I immediately put my right hoof through the floorboard. I spent several minutes calming the shopkeeper while backing out onto the street. Fortunately he was still willing to deal with me after that. To wit: “Floorboards ‘round these parts ain’t built fer walkin statues!” But he did give me the map for a reasonable fee of 10 bits. (At least I think that’s reasonable. I don’t know rates of exchange around here yet.)

Let me tell you – reading a map with stone hooves? Difficult at best. Folding one back up? Darn near impossible. On the way to the farm I just crumpled it into my saddlebag best as I could. Miss Jubilee was kind enough to fold it back up for me. She says I'll get the hang of it eventually.

It wasn't all that long a trot to the farm. 5 or 6 miles at most. It was relaxing being out in the open air and I found out something else about myself – I still have a sense of smell! It's a little focused for tracking, (I could smell where three different creatures were within a mile of me but think I could smell a flower? Noooo.), but is otherwise serviceable. I never thought I'd be grateful to be able to smell animals but at this time I'll take anything I can get.

As I rounded a bend I saw the orchard. It was massive! Almost as big as Sweet Apple Acres! It made me homesick in ways you can not believe.

But I could smell the cherries. And that was good. Darn good.

As I approached the farm Miss Jubilee waved. When I got there she bowed. And said “Welcome Alabaster! Princess Celestia sent word ahead that you'd be headed here. And just about time ta harvest another crop. I could really use the help!”

“Glad to help!” I said “As much help as a stone pony can be that is.”

Miss Jubilee simply smiled at me and placed a comforting hoof on my knee. She held it there a moment before her eyes focused behind me and she craned her neck to look. “What in Dodge Junction could that be?”

Carefully so as not to step on her, I turned and looked. A cloud of dust was fast approaching. As it got closer it resolved itself into the sheriff and his posse which I'd seen earlier. They came to a halt just shy of a couple of lengths in front of me.

“Miss Jubilee?” the sheriff spoke up once the dust had settled. “My apologies ma’am but we're here to arrest this stone pony thing.”

Great! I thought to myself. What have I gotten myself into this time.

It was Miss Jubilee that spoke up before I could. “What in the hay could you be charging Miss Alabaster here with?”

“Miss...Alabaster was it? Miss Alabaster was firmly identified helping old Touched Tom carry two crates of locoweed to a deal on the outskirts of town.”

Now if you're wondering if a pony made of alabaster named Alabaster can faint. No. I can't. And if I did I'd have likely landed on top of Miss Jubilee. Which is a poor way to begin a friendship if you ask me!

“This is some sort of mistake!” I told him “That pony ran into me! I was carrying the crates because I broke up his cart!”

“Ran inta ya...broke his cart...” said the Sheriff as he kept an eye on me. His deputy was mulling it over and said to him “We did find that broken cart with the damaged 'weed in it sir.”

The sheriff mulled it over some more, I've never seen a Western pony do an imitation of 'The Thinker” but this colt came pretty close. After some time he looked up and asked “Got any papers?”

I managed to pull the scroll you'd written for me out without damaging it and handed it over. Reading the scroll, the sheriff's eyes widened before he handed it back. “My apologies Miss Alabaster. Please do yer best not to let any more carts run inta ya.”

“Thank you.” I replied.”I'll certainly try.”

Grinning, the sheriff said as he turned away “Just remember. I play a fair game. Good day ma'am.”

Watching the posse leave I sighed mentally. Not here a full day yet Alabaster and you're under suspicion of drug trafficking. Good one girl.

Miss Jubilee just chuckled a bit and asking if I was tired.

Strangely, despite all that had happened, I wasn't. I asked her if she could show me the basics of bucking cherries. I explained that Applejack had shown me how to buck apples but had said that cherries were a little different.

“Indeed they are Alabaster.” Jubilee said “Fer one they require a lighter touch than apples. Let's head over to one of the trees and we'll get ya started.”

I spent the next few hours learning how to buck cherries. And by that time I WAS exhausted. This body could go without stopping but mentally I couldn't raise a hoof again.

My strength almost got me into trouble again. I put a deep hoofprint into the side of one of the trees when I bucked too hard. Have to learn to control that. In some ways it's worse than when I was learning to use my magick as a princess. At least there I could refrain from using it. With this I have to be careful with every step!

Fortunately Miss Jubilee is very understanding. She says that she will pay to have some shoes fashioned for me so I don't have chip my hooves while I buck. I tried to explain to her that the construction of this body makes it darn near impervious to anything but she wouldn't hear of it.

By the way - I had Twilight change one thing before I left – I had her make sure I was permanently waterproof. Alabaster is semi-water-soluable after all. I mean the Beater is a magick construct, and is almost impervious to anything, but the last thing I need is to melt in the rain.

When it was time for bed I found, as expected, I was too large to easily fit in Jubilee's house. Fortunately the barn is well constructed.

As I said it's been quite a day! I'll drop this letter in the post to Canterlot tomorrow morning when we go into town for my shoes.

Your rolling stone,

Alabaster

Chapter 4 - Details of the Devil

Cold Hooves - Warm Heart by RandomGreymane (Mike Hebel)

Chapter 4 - Details of the Devil

Dear Princess Celestia,

Sorry for how long it’s been since my last letter. Been a little occupied.

First there was the fall harvest which kept us all busy. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this body CAN get tired but it just takes a whole hay of a lot longer.

While I would love to take the credit for getting all the cherries bucked, it truly was a team effort. As I st here in the barn with the bright and warm light of a lantern I can see the snow falling outside through the window. Miss Jubilee says she’s never seen anything of the like, however the store shop-keep said that it had snowed one winter a long time ago. Even the local weather team is confused. Fortunately the townsponies were all freshly built and stocked after having to rebuild the town. One of the ranch-hooves has a bit of weather sense about him and said that this shouldn’t last more than a couple weeks. Even the holes out behind the property are completely obscured.

Regardless, bare cherry trees stretch for as far as I can see and I can take no small amount of satisfaction in making that happen, but not all of it.

We managed to get the harvest complete just in the nick of time. There was an early frost here that pretty much put everypony in a panic. Not having someone skilled in earth pony magick, we had to take drastic steps. If the leaves hadn’t fallen yet we bucked them off so that we could mulch them and pile them at the base of the trees to provide the right soil conditions throughout the winter. (Not having magick, how to mulch the leaves puzzled me a bit as I didn’t see a mechanical device around to do it. Turns out the answer is as simple as a large wooden barrel half and a bunch of hoof-stomping.) Normally out here in the desert climate it isn’t necessary but obviously this weather necessitated the extra work.

The poor trees will never recover from the hoofprints we put in them I fear.

Still, definitely worth it. Miss Jubilee says that the trees all appear healthy and the harvest got off to the clients without any damage. Now, while it snows, we wait.

No doubt about it that this quick winter is cause for much introspection. From time to time one of the other ranch-hooves comes out to visit me but, as I’m always in the barn and they stay in the house and ranch quarters, for the most part I am alone.

I think about many things now. My mind wanders and strays like a drunk staggering from one saloon to the next. I think what I think about most is the loss of my magick.

It’s hard losing something that was such a large part of myself. Conceptually I know there was no way around it and my logic obviously dictates it was necessary. But the loss still leaves me hollow and empty, like there is a cavern inside me where something else should be. Echoes in my heart.

Even when I was so weak, as “the other me”, I still had my magick. It was still there if greatly diminished. Now...nothing.

It’s taking some getting used to.

If my life has taught me anything though it’s that I’m more adaptable than I feel I am sometimes. It will help as I make more friends here though that is slow at the moment.

What else...oh! The holes!

Turns out they are the result of an old diamond dog named, of all things, Bob. I haven’t met him yet. Miss Jubilee says he’s “a bit off” if you know what I mean. Still I plan to introduce myself to him once the snow lets up.

Miss Jubilee got a bit quiet when I asked about him though. She says he has seen too much and it’s best to leave him be. When I mentioned going to see him she just smiled sadly and shook her head as if I was the one “off” instead of him. She said it was my choice so I’m going to take it as such and see him once weather permits.

Friendship. I guess I still am tied to it. But then everypony is tied to it as well. See? I can learn things sometimes! (That was a joke in case you didn’t get it.) I came here to find myself and what I seem to have found is that I miss the other pieces of myself...my friends. I’m sure that if I’d stayed in Canterlot or Ponyville they would have come to know me better. But honestly it would have been incredibly awkward and I’ve had far too much of that in my life already to put them in that position. Not to mention myself.

But then that brings me back to the present. I have found that I have to remind myself that I’m not the Princess of Friendship any more. All that confidence I picked up is just fine...except that a fair chunk of it was focused on my role as a princess. So now, on top of the body issues, I have to keep my “inner princess” at bay. Somepony in town insulted me when they thought I’d clipped the edge of their hoof with mine. (I hadn’t but they didn’t accept that.) I got so intensely angry that I almost spouted off at him for treating a princess as such. (Yeah, I know. Not like me at all. Repressed anger much?) Then I recalled that I’m not only NOT a princess any more but not even an everyday pony. In the end, when the pony in question wouldn’t back down, I just leaned over him and snorted a bit. He quickly apologized and made a beeline out of site as fast has his hooves could carry him.

Unarguably not my best moment.

And it will happen again if I don’t get all this under control. Whatever all this is...

I miss all of you sooo much! I promise that I’ll come back to visit once I sort everything out. But for now I don’t even know what I am, let alone who, and it’s going to take a long time before I’m comfortable coming back...home.

I keep thinking about that too. Home. Where is my home now? Canterlot and then Ponyville were the only homes I’ve ever known. Now...I’m not sure where I belong. Nothing feels right and I’m not sure it ever will.

Sorry for the emotion. I’m...not myself...whoever that is.

Yours in cold stone,

Alabaster

Chapter 5 - A Pregnant Pause

Cold Hooves - Warm Heart by RandomGreymane

Chapter 5 - A Pregnant Pause

Dear Princess Celestia,

It’s been an unbelievably long time since my last letter. And an equally unbelievable winter.

Miss Jubilee, not to mention the other farm hands, have never seen the like.

For starters we experienced a record snowfall. All. Winter. We had so much snow that nothing arrived or left Dodge Junction for several MONTHS! (This is, as expected, why you received no mail from me. Nor I from you or anypony else.)

For all my stony bulk, I was effectively useless. No matter how much snow I moved, more fell. There was little point in clearing it as it was almost immediately filled in. This occurred to the point that each house, farm, and building became an isolated island in and of itself. If not for my ability to ignore the cold to a large degree, I would have been stuck in the barn for the entire ordeal.

Which brings me to something special. I am no longer losing memories. There are many I can not reach but I am no longer losing any.

The isolation and the calm of the snow, for all it’s isolating properties, was exactly what my mind needed. The extreme solace and relative quiet allowed me to go through my mental corridors and clean house to speak. We once spoke of constructing mental castles and I joked that mine would be a library. Well I managed to stand up all the shelves and re-stack all the books. (Though a few are a little worse for wear.)

The end result is that I now know where the gaps are and they are no longer a frightening fog of the unknown to me.

The bittersweet result of all this is that I am missing a great number of memories from my childhood. Indeed it seems that anything having to do with my family directly contains great swaths of emptiness. I can feel them but no longer remember them. Oh I know their names, but they are now strangers to me. Perhaps this is for the best. I am somepony else now. But it is still hard to accept that. Some stubborn part of who I was remains, yet I am undeniably Alabaster. *sigh* Someday I’ll get this all sorted out I promise.

Regardless of all that, the snow has finally stopped falling! The town, as well as the farm, is a flurry of activity. The stores have finally gotten their long delayed shipments in and the town is in motion again. Thankfully this town is made up mostly of common sense folk who store things for harsh times. Miss Jubilee told me a story of one summer that almost completed wiped out the local crops due to drought. It was only the ingrained preparation of the town folk that saved them as they had enough stored food to last out the following winter and spring.

Interestingly in the wake of the “lending” troubles Miss Jubilee experienced, the majority of the banking and lenders have scaled back any loans they hand out. One banker even forgave all the existing loans, closed up shop, and left with nothing but the contents of his saddlebags. (I believe this had more to do with an investigation by the sheriff than anything to do with altruism. Still a good thing.)

The upshot is that there is no farm that currently owes enough to put them completely out of business. And many managed to sell their crops before the snow came. They made more than a tidy profit and paid their bills. If not in complete then at least up to snuff.

The sudden winter and extreme snow does have me puzzled though. While Miss Jubilee said that she’d heard of worse, I find it hard to imagine. Perhaps when Twilight...

I forgot she was coming. I completely forgot. With all the mental cleaning and re-shuffling I forgot.

I forgot! I forgot! I forgot! I forgot!

Pardon my enthusiasm about actually forgetting something but you must understand - I have had the name Twilight Sparkle roaming around my mental library since I was thrown into this body. Forgetting that name...it’s truly something special because it means I’m starting to feel completely separate!

This is definitely a good thing. :-)

Perhaps that “someday” is closer than I thought possible.

Still, she was supposed to be here. With the winter I can certainly understand why she didn’t appear at that time, but she was supposed to show up before then. Please could you send her my regards? (I’m fairly certain you share my letters with her from time to time. I do wonder what she says sometimes.)

There are still many things I don’t understand. Some about my new body, some about my mind, and some about my spirit. It’s all well and good to have knowledge about the mechanics involved in moving one’s being from one body to another, it’s quite another to experience it raw and unvarnished. It was barely moments during the conflict in the magick testing chambers but for that moment...I was something...bigger. It was as if a part of me expanded to fill the entire universe, then was unceremoniously forced through a tiny funnel into the most confined space imaginable. I don’t experience the feeling now but the memory of it is extremely strong.

Perhaps it as we have discussed in the past, we are all much greater than the sum of our parts and indeed perhaps universes unto ourselves.

A universe trapped in a stone statue. I’m not sure how to regard that. Nor am I sure which viewpoint to pursue. Am I simply a stone statue with a spirit moving it about the world, or am I something beyond knowing that has a statue stuck to it’s side and is dragging it about in amusement at its antics.

Either way, I am more of myself now than I’ve been since the separation. And that matters to me a great deal.

More than perhaps even I am aware.

Your ocean in a pebble,

Alabaster

Author's Note

Well I'm moving forward again. Going to do my best not to stop again. It's been a long time but at least I got things moving again. Sorry it took so long!

Chapter 6 - The Eyes Have It

Cold Hooves - Warm Heart by RandomGreymane

Chapter 6 - The Eyes Have It

Dear Princess Celestia,

I have eyes! Wonderful green eyes!

Let me take a few hoofsteps back here.

Twilight came to visit finally. (Spike as well!) During the visit we caught up on a number of things and she was able to adjust several things about my body. (Turns out she’s been reading up on this in her copious amounts of spare time. Ha!)

Regardless she set about dealing with a few problems that I didn’t really realize I had. For instance I couldn’t understand why other ponies wouldn’t face me when they talked to me. As you know, from our previous exchanges when I was first bonded with this body, I don’t “see” in the usual way. Oh it comes across more and more as the same visual perception I’m accustomed to, but I’ve never had actual eyes to speak of. Not any more than carved shapes that is.

Twilight was kind enough to create me a pair of eyes that not only look fairly normal but track the direction I’m “looking”. The process took some time, a few days in fact, but was well worth it. I have the most spectacular green eyes! (The rest of the farm crew is still getting used to it, but it turns out they’re pretty flexible.)

The other change was one of color. While we were enjoying one of your morning sunrises, Twilight was almost blinded by the white reflection from my polished flanks. I was mortally embarrassed but Twilight shrugged it off.

She did remark that, after recalling several afternoon tea sessions with Rarity, a white coat could be like Tartarus to keep clean. And, no surprise, I was quite in agreement. I’d been trying like hay to keep my flanks free of any dust or dirt but usually to no avail.

It took us a day more to get the coloring right but I am now a slightly less white color. It is all sorts of awesome! And best of all when I get dirty the veins in the stone accentuate the overall look rather than stand out.

She also took the time to do something else for me at my request.

Since moving here I’ve been bucking cherries and pulling carts, but the one thing I have had a serious problem with is entering anything but the barn.

We discussed the issue and, while she couldn’t make me any lighter without altering the hardness of the stone, she was able reduce my size to something closer to a large draft pony rather than an enormous behemoth.

The experience was similar to one time in my youth. You had a tutor instructing me in volumetric expansion spells and I was occupying a large section of the royal garden as a giant pony. You emerged from the castle to tell me that it was mealtime and I shrunk myself so quickly that I didn’t have time to blink. It was as if the world instantly grew up around me. This current experience was similar to that but in miniature. Very strange yet familiar at the same time.

On other topics, Twilight agreed with me that the snowstorm did not appear to be of natural causes. After several walks around the orchard she told me that she sensed something but couldn’t pin it down. She said, strangely, that it somehow felt familiar. She said that if I’d felt it....

(...)

I was stopped in my tracks. Twilight as well.

Twilight looked up at me and apologized. I looked down and all I could see was, not a princess, but another uncomfortable pony. Another pony I’d made uncomfortable just by existing.

I told her it was okay even though a small part of me was crying inside.

We continued walking until we reached the barn again. By this time you were once again setting the sun so we both took our leave and Twilight headed into the house.

The new eyes...they still can’t cry.

I think I’m grateful for that because sometimes I feel like I could drown the entire world with my tears.

I’m me. I’m Alabaster. I know that. I FEEL that. But there’s so much missing that it feels like a hole burnt through my heart. And I don’t know if it’s even possible to fill it.

So much lost...I’m going to step away for a moment before continuing this letter...

I’m back. My apologies for that delay. Sometimes it takes time for me to get the emotions under control.

It’s weird. I’m both more formal with you and more casual at the same time. Part of me is still in awe of just being able to speak to you - especially after being transformed. And yet you’re one of the people I’ve been closest too all my life. The dichotomy is confusing to say the least.

Aside from that - Princess Twilight Sparkle (I think I’m going to secretly call her Sparky in my mind) has given me...a task! (You can’t hear it but I’m imitating trumpet noises as I write this.)

Twilight (Sparky) has told me that as I am less in danger than the other ponies here, it is my duty to investigate the cause of the odd weather. And, because I have started to grow attached to this place, I can hardly disagree.

The length and intensity of the winter is indeed something that we don’t need here next year. I don’t think the town could take another one like it to be honest.

So, once our dear Sparky (I’m liking that name!) departs, Alabaster The Intrepid shall venture forth to uncover the Mystery of the Snowpocalypse!

Or at the very least I’ll start with something that was already on my list - the holes behind the orchard and the Diamond Dog within.

All things being what they are, this has been a welcome visit and I welcome the return of Princess Twilight Sparky...er...Sparkle at a future date.

Who knows? I might have something nice for her someday.

Your Thrown Stone,

Alabaster (The Intrepid)

Chapter 3 - Devil in the Details

Cold Hooves - Warm Heart by RandomGreymane (Mike Hebel)

Chapter 3 - Devil in the Details

Dear Princess Celestia,

I’m beginning to understand why your task of raising the sun in the morning is so important. It’s not just keeping things to a cycle, it’s getting things started. The morning is when everything begins! Without you raising the sun that just wouldn’t happen.

I studied magick and not a little philosophy but some things you just don’t think of until you change your perspective.

Today was a good example of that in fact. Miss Jubilee and I went into town to get some supplies. I offered to just carry them for her but she said the amount she needed was too large for me to do that. (Farming implements for the rest of the ponies that would be arriving this week.)

In a corner of the barn she uncovered what looked for all of Equestria exactly like the collar Big Mac uses to plow the fields with. It was easy enough to put on. (Even if I did leave a slight cloud of dust doing so.)

Once the collar was on we went outside and she hitched me to a beam on a brand new wagon. With that, she and I set off into town.

We didn’t talk much on the way in. Both of us lost in thought. Last night she had told me some of what had happened here before I arrived. She said that she’s still planning what to do next.

As for myself it was an odd introspection. Was there a particular way I was supposed to pull the cart? Would I ever have to plow a field? I wondered what it was like for Big Mac. What did he think about? I mean a pony of so few words has to think about something right?

By the time we arrived at the store I’d developed a fairly complex theory about the thoughts of ponies doing manual labor...then discarded it. Truly it was, even with my strength, hard not to think of just the task at hand. Every creak of the cart and bump in the road brought me back to the here and now.

Maybe that’s why Applejack is so focused most of the time. I suspect her being tied to the land as she is helps that.

It took a while for the shopkeeper to get us all loaded up. During that time I took in the town. I could see repairs made from the recent mine explosion as well as the trolls. All in all though the town looked as if it was standing tall. It had that kind of feeling you get when you take shelter from a storm and emerge afterwards to find everything the same as before you hid.

Loaded to the brim we set off back to the orchard.

The cart was heavy. HEAVY. I’m a strong pony and all now but this felt like when I threw Tom out of the library in Ponyville. It wasn’t until we got back that Miss Jubilee explained she usually has to make a couple of trips or have a team of four ponies pull the load!

By the time we got back and started unloading, the other ponies had arrived. Miss Jubilee introduced them in a whirlwind of names. Wood Ward is the one I remember. He had a tree in a circle as his cutie mark. The rest laughed as I got their names wrong. I’m sure we’ll get to know each other in time. (My memory is still a bit...fuzzy.)

After the unloading was finished, Miss Jubilee said that we would start tomorrow and that the rest of the day was ours to do with what we pleased. I chose to wander the orchard and eventually found myself along the furthest edge which backed up to a portion of the desert.

I noticed that this portion of the desert was filled with hole after hole after hole. In a flash I recognized that they were the same kind of holes I saw the diamond dogs use near Ponyville!

I tried to get an accurate count but by the time I’d gotten near the end you were starting to set the sun and I had to get back to the ranch. I know it was more than a couple hundred at least.

Back at the house, Miss Jubilee had set up a large pot in a tripod over a fire pit. Inside was some of the most delicious smelling vegetable soup ever. (It had, like most things at the ranch, a faint smell of cherries to it.)

One of the other ponies offered me some and I felt bad seeing his expression when I had to once again explain that I didn’t eat.

Not being a social butterfly, I talked to the one pony I could recall the name of - Wood Ward. In talking to him I noticed that he, as well as the other farm ponies, weren’t the least bit afraid of me. I asked him why.

He shrugged and said “You’re the muscle.”.

“Pardon?” I asked.

“Most ranches and farms have a few general ponies then a coupl‘a specialized ‘uns. Dere’s tha handpony, tha animal whisperer, and usually...” he said as he pointed to me “tha muscle. The pony that is da strongest. Dats you.”

I am almost positive that this body doesn’t possess capillaries but Wood Ward swears I was blushing.

After everpony finished with their meal we all sat around the fire pit. Everypony insisted I tell my story and I was more than happy to indulge them. I saw bits change hooves when I told them I’d been a princess before this. I asked them how they knew. They said it came down to one thing - bearing. I carried myself like a princess.

Oh that’s rich. I spent all that time doubting myself and being nervous in my past life only to have it all settle in now.

Late into the evening we all headed to our respective bunks to get some sleep. I am writing this letter by lamplight before I settle in.

Miss Jubilee saw me writing the last letter and who I was writing to. Much to my embarrassment she has arranged to have daily postal service to the ranch so I don’t have to run into town all the time. Not sure how often I’ll write but...yay?

Yours in Calcite,

Alabaster