Chapter 1 - Rocks and Lukewarm Water
Chapter 1
Rocks and Lukewarm Water
The sun. Sun. Always the problem.
It was one thing that many thoughts occurred to her once of flying towards it, which turned out to be an idiotic idea of a week in the time-out room. The sun seemed to hate this particular pony. Its blazing heat would have been sufficient to drive anypony crazy of all things holy and horrid. She shook her head in vain of clearing her thoughts. Might have been the heat or the works, she was in a terrible condition. Dreadful, even.
"Get working, pony!"
Yelling. Certainly they did not have to be so loud. She was simply in a dreadful condition, not a deaf condition. She scuffled her sweaty wings then hauled. Hauling was good. She didn't had any need to think, especially of the horrid heat from the blasted sun, and she also didn't have to commune.
She did not appreciate the smaller arts of communication.
After fourteen rectangular rocks and an oddly bumpy one neatly stacked upon one another, there rang the bell. It was the only form of sound or music that she truly appreciated. Meant refreshments and shade. Most importantly, water. The pony walked while others ran in thirst. But she did not. She well knew there will be plenty. She was a smart pony.
The shaded area was filled with ponies. Unicorns, earth ponies, and a single pegasus. Which was her. All others of her kind flew while the wallow cats were dull enough not to chain their wings. However, this particular one required a little more time to grasp the situation. And wallow cats smartened up faster. Her wings have long felt the fresh vicinity's air, in which the pony sometimes doubted she once had of such ability. The chains felt lighter as days flew by. A very noisy of a limb, in which one of the particular chain always bothered her. Not gripped properly, it always made sound as she moved the left hind leg. It was 667 days of hauling marbles. She was a very good counter.
She carefully stood upon a bucket of water where ponies lost interest after quenching their thirst. She often wondered if she was the only one around who still held an speck of patience and hate of argument. She already heard eight arguments and a fight for today. Possibly more to come.
As much as she hated violence, she used to be quite a major part. When she still was an imbecile, of course. She always won, but it never made the opponent much happy. Or the wallow cats. She hated the time-out room.
The water was smelly and warm.
Another bell. Its logical value of vibration of air might have been identical to the other, but if it asked anypony working for this wallow cats, it held a deadlier tune. This pony agreed.
Then there were rocks. It was heavy, hot, and sharp. Very sharp. Extremely, even. She had to remind herself so much times that it was not even funny anymore. Somepony taught her how to use that figure of speech a long time ago. It must have been a smart pony, seeing that she was not around this place anymore. She liked that verse. It made her feel a lot more intellectual than she was.
She was quite certain that she had enough injuries and scars to make impossible of lending another of such injuries a place to call home. But she apparently did, so a few of the cats came.
They were angry, but they fixed her up.
The rocks were sharp. Very sharp. Extremely, even.
Whatever they were building, she had no idea, but have overheard a small group of unicorns saying that it was an watchtower of some sort. Unicorns were smart, so they must have been right. It held high up, reaching the sun.
It was not too bad of a lifestyle. When the blasted sun finally settled upon the hills for the devious plans for tomorrow, she laid down on her back, cringed a little of the chains pressuring her back, but allowed to see the stars. The stars stood miles away but always as brilliant. Then she gradually fell to sleep where she always failed to determine the exact time when. She led a good life.
===
Then something happened.
Nothing happened around the building site, but apparently, that was wrong.
"Wake up!"
And she did. As she and everyone around her are well aware, she was a good follower of instructions.
Her back hurt quite badly, so she stretched and looked.
There stood an unicorn mare. She was not dirty, unlike everypony around the construction site. She was wearing something that was not ragged or smelly. It smelled distinctly of peppermint, even. But most of all, her horn was illuminating a light. Magic. Even this particular pony knew that it was not possible from wallow cats territory, but there it was. Magic. She just looked at it for awhile, til the unicorn shook her violently from the shoulders.
"Come on, we have to go, fast!"
Was that a challenge? She was violent, that was for sure. Probably hostile. As much as she hated violence, she never backed away from a bad pony. She pushed her back, in which she stumbled quite far away.
"What is wrong with you!"
And now it was angry. But in a quiet way, in which the pegasus thought was due of nighttime and wallow cats were ill tempered when it came to nocturnal lifestyles. She thought for a while how she would approach this fight without waking the cats, which seemed close to impossible. She was loud when there was pain involved.
"Well, of course you would be angry, come to think of it. But I'm not too late, am I? I found this amazing gem in the corridor over at the mansion, and oh, I just could not resist. However, pushing me just because you're angry won't help anypony, you know. Save your stupid strength for the stupid cats. Anyways although I am quite sorry about this dreadful position you're in, I mean, well, look at this place! It's a dump, isn't it? Even New Cathatten is better than... well, this, apparently. Where are we anyways? We WERE supposed to meet up in the back yard, you know."
The unicorn was a fast talker, and talked a lot. It was confusing.
She did not like that.
"No matter. I'm here now, and that's all that matters. Now come on, let's get out of here."
Then it tugged her.
That was not very pleasant.
"Ugh, come on, lighten up! It was just a little detour, I'm sure the cats wouldn't have done anyth..."
Then it stopped talking.
It stopped tugging as well, so pegasus took it as a good sign.
"...What's with the chains? And...ugh, is that... I hope that's dirt on your face. And your..."
It stopped once again.
"I, I thought... Wait... What is..."
It was backing up slowly now. The pegasus was not willing to take any chances of it charging up. So she took the most logically intelligent course of actions of an way for stopping her.
She charged.
The unicorn screamed, and its guard was down, which was unexpected. Her screams stopped immediately as she noticed they were supposed to be quiet because it was night, but that of a pathetic scream was enough to wake the cats. They had one wicked ability to hear. The unicorn looked shocked and immobilized as they seperated her with an odd expression with their face, and led the pegasus to go back to sleep.
This incident mattered little to the pegasus.
There was a noisy unicorn, and it was gone.
As simple as that.
===
She lied.
It bothered her.
It bothered her all day while it worked for the number counters which were mostly consisting of smarter unicorns. At least, that's what she thought they did. And it just stared at her as she hauled the heavy rocks. Nopony stared at her when she hauled the rocks. That was what she liked about hauling rocks, and now somepony did, and it bothered her.
Extremely so.
It approached her as the bell rang, so the pegasus did not appreciate the bell today as usual.
She looked at the unicorn. It wasn't clean like she was yesterday, but still nowhere dirty as this rock hauling pegasus was. It was wearing a worn out ragged clothes so that it looked very much like all the rest of the ponies did around, which made the pegasus feel better, but only a little. It approached very slowly this time, which was good.
"Hot, isn't it."
That was all she said this time. The pegasus understood this one, and knew how to properly answer it like a proper mare would as taught by somepony who was long gone, but she didn't. She did not like this unicorn. So the pegasus just stood there in the sun, waiting for the herd of ponies desperately looking for water to clear out, completely oblivious of two unlikely duo that socialized in the strangest place. The unicorn stayed.
"You don't even remember me, do you?"
This pony looked at the mare.
"Oh Celestia, this is bad. This is really bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad..."
It seemed a little more saner than the pegasus. But just a little bit more.
"I, I am so sorry, but I promise. I will get you out of here. Urgh, Celestia, this is bad... Well, I'll come up with something, okay? Like I always did. Oh Celestia..."
It seemed upset with a great amount, and seemed quite fond of Celestia at the moment.
The bucket was clear of any other ponies now.
So the pegasus lost interest and went for it, while the unicorn mumbled a few more words then did the same.
==
"...Please, tell me. Can you even talk anymore?"
The unicorn was annoying, even at nighttime. Night meant sleep, which this unicorn seemed very vague about the simplest concept of it.
"By the name of... How long was I gone?"
Its words made no sense to this pegasus, and it was plain annoyance, but she gave up for scaring her off. Wallow cats did not like it when she hurt other ponies, and she herself hated the time-out room.
"I, I don't even know if you can understand me anymore."
Its voice was similar to an whisper rather than of speech.
The pegasus lied down as her chains made noise, then stared at the stars. It reminded me of what pleasant lifestyle she was having. It was her precious little time. Then of course the unicorn went ahead to ruin it.
"You seem happy for some reason."
Its voice was bitter and distinct.
Mare with wings kept her silence, and annoyed, turned her back against the unicorn. The unicorn stared for awhile, then carefully threw an question.
"Are you happy here?"
"Yes."
Pegasus grunted roughly, hoping that would shut the unicorn up for a change, and that was the end of the discussion.
The unicorn stayed silently for awhile, and when the pegasus was extremely curious enough to look back, she was long gone. So she slept.
=
It made all the difference.
Day and night were so peaceful back then, but now, there it was. Watching. Observing. And one day, the pegasus realized she absolutely despised being stalked at. So she decided to glare back, and it turned into an funny little staring contest.
She was not sure either to scowl or smirk, so she did a little bit of both, so the unicorn stopped looking at her.
But only for a brief while.
=
"Snow Song."
She said. The pegasus mare looked as if the unicorn was the one with 'mental disabilities', which the unicorn liked to say about her a lot. The unicorn explained.
"That's my name. Snow Song."
Pegasus could not care less, so she drank the murky water. Soon after, realizing she would not get any questions or comments, Snow Song joined in. She herself became adjusted of such horrid form of satiating, as much as it was forced around the particular construction site.
"Do you remember your name?"
That was a funny question. The pegasus, exercising her neck, stopped for a while. She thought. She processed. And she answered.
"I do not have any need for it."
Her longer speech was neither blurred or awkward, which quite surprised both of them. The pegasus did not remembered her voice of such manners. She didn't quite like it, so she drank a little more.
"Well, it's good that you can talk properly, at least. I was afraid all you could say was yes and no."
How strange. The unicorn had this special ability to make her commune. She hated conversations, but this one, strangely, she did not mind.
The unicorn kept on talking on some things. To the extent of what the pegasus took attention and listened and processed of was that they knew each other a long time ago. But of course, the pegasus did not recognize such unicorn. And she was sure. She was a smart pony.
Snow Song rambled on and on, wishing for any recognition of their 'good times' in older days. The pegasus hauled rocks.
The look of desperation of the unicorn was definite.
"I've been trying everything."
She paced around, clattering her hooves.
"I know the pegasus I know is in there, somewhere."
The pegasus was not sure of who she was talking of anymore, and the pegasus just stood and watched.
"You're not like this! I mean, at least you were supposed to be. You know how you love watching those filthy cats in pain, right? Come on, boast to me about it, just like the old times!"
"...I do not understand, unicorn."
The pegasus talked in a very slow, cautious manner. She knew otherwise she would trip on her own tongue, or even worse, talk even further.
"Look me in the eyes and tell me, do you actually enjoy working under this dump?"
Of course.
"Wrong answer."
===
Now the pegasus was not as aggressive of the unicorn with a tendency to ramble on endlessly of how pathetic the pegasus was. However, she was incredibly annoyed.
But then, it stopped complaining, and its purple eyes lit up like stars. It smiled so wide that the pegasus was scared it would fall off.
"I just got the most brilliant escape plan."
Its excitement glistened in the dim sunlight near the shade. Pegasus stared for a while, then decided it would be best to ignore and proceed to the bucket for some water. The unicorn joined her, an unusual bounce on her pace. With a small delay due to mouthful of water, she started to speak.
"First of all, I need you to cause some sort of an riot. Even if you get caught, I'll help you out, so no worries. Oh! Better yet, you have wings, just fly off. I followed the carrier ponies to see what leads to what, so I'll get out no problem. Wallow cats are not the smartest of all, so it won't be that hard. After I slip off, we can regroup somewhere. You can get some high ground and look for me, come to think of it."
After a few sentences from the blabbering mare, the pegasus realized herself was not a very smart pony. So she took another gulp.
"Anyways, let me just get that chain off you first. I was going to do it the first time, but somepony decided to attack me, am I right?"
Then something happened.
First up was the deep regret from the unicorn for taking action without thinking. There was a loud shout from the near wallow cat who yelled in its course voice at the illuminating light from her horn. Next was the crowd of pony's reaction. Almost all who seemed so mesmerized by the majesty of the shade, seemed to notice the magic immediately and gasped. But as the pegasus turned to stop the unicorn, she noticed something.
The clang of chains, then the chains were gone.
There was no more restriction, metal, and heated weight, or the annoying piece of chain that bothered her whenever she walked and made a clanging sound. The pegasus was shocked, and even further when her wings unfolded instantly. Then all her body screamed something, and instinctively, she bolted up the sky.
It was brilliant.
The wind sharply cut through the rusty muscles of her wing, but the pegasus did not have much of a time to worry about such idle matter. She flew upwards, where the unicorn gawked at her speed, then realized she was earthbound and the wallow cats gathering to surround her. Snow Song panicked and looked up, where she saw her pegasus suddenly taking a halt.
The watchtower. What she built this entire time. It was made of rocks. Ones she hauled.
She hated hauling rocks.
The watchtower was a beautiful thing seen upon far. It made her realize that hauling rocks actually led to something of such beauty. Its architecture was unlike any of the mare have ever seen, and it held such majestic value that it would have made any pony partake in its building process filled with pride. Just looking at the tower made the pegasus gather up cold saliva. So she gulped. It was scary. It was so scary that it wasn't even funny. And it was made of rocks. It was majestic. It was grand, it was sturdy, and it was made of rocks.
It surprised the wallow cats where the pegasus suddenly dropped down in such a speed, as they took a step back hesitantly. Also the unicorn, who was half doubtful and half thankful that she did, and all disappointed when the pegasus grabbed the near rock rather than her. It was of extraordinary nature how much a single pony could carry up in such situations. The big rock lifted with not too much resistance, where all stared in awe how supernatural one hauler's strength could lead up to.
The pegasus did not think much of what was happening, but if she did, she would have felt uncomfortable where all individuals stopped and stupidly stare at the pegasus with a rock much bigger than herself in her hooves, flying straight upwards to the vicinity of air.
Then she gripped the rock so tightly and held it back.
Then she retracted.
And so she released.
The rock flew.
She always hated hauling rocks, but seeing it fly with such grace was fantastic. It flew all across from her towards the watchtower, and it collided with all the hundreds of marbles neatly stacked. Then it was not too neatly stacked no more. The force of the rock charged against the clumsily built structure. There was so many beautiful noises and the tower crumbled.
Such noise and destruction followed.
Followed with the destruction, a bigger noise abruptly bursted out from the crowd.
The ponies. They were happy, and they were yelling.
It scared the pegasus as she never saw these ponies happy or yelling in such voice.
The wallow cats tried in vain to stop the great outburst, but the ponies grew angrier of the attempt. There were lots of shouting and arrows, which scared the pegasus mare.
The act of throwing rocks somehow made ponies yell a lot. And some reason, happy. The pegasus was confused, but she was not to question what appeared to make wallow cats confused and angry. She flew downwards towards the ground, and saw the unintentionally hilarious scene of ponies charging against the fully armed wallow cats, scared then ever. Then she realized how much she enjoyed looking at the cats angry and in pain. The unicorn was right after all. She looked at the unicorn. Now she looked her back. For some strange reason, it made her ridiculously calm. However, the unicorn did not share the mutual emotion. She yanked the pegasus downwards and gripped tightly of her bloodied hooves.
She opened her mouth to say a few words, but then she realized there were shouting and arrows. Both of the mares cringed.
They looked upon one another.
"Run for it!"
And that was exactly what they did.
