Toils of the Heart

       Sunday morning. Yet it's still dark out. I force myself to get up despite the fact I really want to return to my serene slumber. A stallions gotta work though to make ends meat. I walk over to my brother's room. I see that he is still asleep (as usual) and I go to wake him up. "Hey Pick... Pick wake up... Pick..." I kept on repeating until I unfortunately I had to resort to a more drastic approach. "PICK!" I yell as to finally wake him. I do unfortunately startle him and cause him to roll out of his bed. He falls to the floor with a mighty thump causing the glass of water he keeps at night to fall and shatter on the rug. As he collects himself, he yells at me, "Why in the hay did you do that for!? Have you bucking gone mad!?" "Well you weren't getting up any sooner on your own now were you." I retort, "You need to learn to get up earlier if you want to keep business going, and keep yourself alive with a roof over your head, and food on the table." We both pause with nothing else to say, only just to stand there and exchange looks of anger.

       The silence was then broken by SteelPick saying, "Another wonderful morning we've started off with, eh, brother?" I then look at him with a stiff face at first. I then relieve my tensions and say, " Just the cranky morning mood I suppose. It is what it is, now come on, let's have breakfast. I'll make us scrambled petals." he then relieves a sigh and follows me down the stairs to the residential part of the house. As I start preparing breakfast, Pick prepares our equipment for the mountains. In the background I hear the clanking of clips, the rustling of harnesses, the bonking of hard hats, and other various sounds. I turn on the stove and lay the pan on top of the flame. I then take some petals from the jars of lillies, tulips, and some lavender buds. I butter the pan and mash the petals together into a thick paste. I pour it into the pan and mix as I let it cook. I look behind me and I see that Pick has prepared everything for the day.

       I serve us our breakfast hot and steamy with with some water. "Looks real good today Paramount." complemented my brother. "Thanks I guess." I say in reply. The mood is quite silent for we still feel tired and a bit unsure of what to think about earlier. Again we remain in silence just eating our breakfasts. I hate it when this happens. I despise silence; I find it to be such a torturous realm. Even when I'm alone I usually leave the television on and not even watch it. A friend of mine, Dr. Bill Shrink, told me that it's called pressure of speech. It's not just that it's ominous, but it's awkward especially between two ponies. So I break out in yelling, "So where in the mountains are covering?" Pick looks at me with a startled expression clearly showing his discomfort in how I just yelled.

      "Are you okay Para?" asks the mirrored stallion sitting across from me. "I'm sorry. I'm probably just nervous for today's expedition I guess." I reply. "You better not get drowsy from the heights again Para. Remember last year? It took me an hour to get you out of that spot, and I am not going through that nonsense again." he explains. "I know, I know. Don't worry. I don't know why but today is really offsetting for me. I'm Sure that I'll get over it though." I assure him. Yet he still asks in concern, "What do you mean by offsetting?"

       I answer, "Something just feels out of place, like when you have a gut feeling that something's wrong. Plus I had a strange dream before. I actually woke up from it not too long after I went to bed. I dreamed that I was falling, but I wasn't in the sky. I was in a, sort of, uh-, I'm actually not sure how to explain this but, imagine some sort of a purple background."

       "Well I'm not sure what it means specifically either I can tell you that much, but I do know one thing Para." says my brother.

       "And what's that pick?"

       "I know that you're not going to fall from the mountain because were going to the peridot mines, no the amethyst ones." answers Pick.

       I give him a stern confused face as we stand frim the table to gear up and head out asking, "And what in all of Euestria does that have to do with anything Pick?" He then begins to explain, "Well the amethyst is purple right? So since we're not going to the amethyst mines there wont be this purple background you said." This gives me a little bit of comfort actually. The logic is clear and actually makes sense. Yet I still wonder why we're going to the peridot mines this time of year. So again I ask, but this time I inquire, "Okay that makes feel better, but why the peridot mines? Their not supposed to be prospected and harvested until July and it's early may." He shrugs away slightly and tilts his face towards my way with a coy look about him saying, "Well I ran into Saphire on the way home, so we talked a bit and she said that she wants to do birthstone bracelets for the next month starting with august and we need to build up inventory. I thought that it was a pretty good idea."

       Hmmm. Birthstone bracelets. I think that it would be cutting it close for that especially for this time of year. I'm not so sure if we could stock up and manufacture in time. Especially since the seasons for the peridot stones to form completely and pure arent until next month. It would be a shot in the dark at most and SteelPick knows it too. On the other hoof though, it was Saphire's idea. She always wants to contribute to the business. She always wants to feel imprtant in the decisions. It would be a great deal to her if I pulled this off for her. And who am I to stand in the way of her vision. I would do anything to make her happy. Perhaps it can be done. Sure as hay it'll require much more effort but we'll pull it off.

       "You know what? It's actually not a bad idea. Sunds like the customers would love it. So to the eastern mountains if my memory serves me correctly." I say to Pick as we walk through the dark streets of Ponyville. "Yes. Do you remember that new vein we found last year?" asks my twin. "How could I not, we found at least 50 25 karat chunks at 2 pounds each." I say excitedly rememberring the great emotions of joy that year. "Well I've done some research of he mountain's history and looked at our maps. I think that at 354' altitude a quater around counter-clockwise from the vein, there's another branch that it reaches through the inside of the mountain." says Pick with insane joy. "You have to be insane if you're serious about that. There's barely any stepping room in that region." I say back to his suggestion. "Maybe so, but it will be worth the trouble if we get the entire vein."

      I worry about what I may have just gotten myself into. I just have to keep in mind that this is for Saphire, that's all. Still I worry. I may have a fear f heights but I'm completely fine if I have hoof room to step on, making sure that I'm well founded. But there. How in the name of Celestia are we going to even prospect without any way of getting let alone staying steady there? I pray that I'm just over reacting. By the grace of Celestia and Luna I'll be alright, and my brother for that matter.

       Next thing I know while deep in my thoughts, I find myself at the base of the mountain with Pick beside me. He looks at me with an excited look.

       "Well, here we go. Just gotta climb the first ledge."

       "Right. Now we still have that bin elevator up there right? Or did we take that down?" I ask.

       "It's still there don't worry. The thing is though, is that we have first have to carry the collected gems from the extraction site down to the top of the elevator because we're gonna be higher than we usually are."

       "Dont remind me. So after the this we can just take the elevator up to the highest point and then just continue on from there."

       "That sounds about the best way, yes," replies Pick.

       So we then proceed climbing the first ledge. I half almost lost my footing once or twice. Nonetheless we got up unscathed. Afterwords, we proceeded to the elevator. We rode to the top of its capability and continued on from there. We had a pretty wide path from what we made of it last year. We head into a cave mine that we had also constructed last year. A few feet in, we relit the torches we had placed. As we lit the 5th torch, we simotaniously feasted our eyes on the beauty that was probably the largest peridot gem we both have seen in our lives.

       "Brother, tell me, are or were we blind as to miss such a treasure as this last year? Or are we hallucinating what we are hoping for?" I ask.

       "Perhaps it's one of the runts we left last year Paramount."

       "If so, then I can't wait to see the rest of what we have ahead."

       Both of us just stand eagerly and stare at the light green gem. SteelPick begins to raise his pickaxe and begins the sway of his arms for the first swing. But before he could continue I immediately intercept him with my arm with a loud shout, "NO!" We stand there in shock for second looking precariously above us.

       "I'm sorry but we haven't even tested the gem yet."

       "Okay yea sure, that's fine its perfectly worth killing us!" SteelPick screams in a whisper

       "I know, I'm sorry but we have to make sure it's good."

       I reach into my satchel and pull out a magnifying monacle. I examine the gem thoroughly to see if there are any rough abrasions, scratches, or any internal chasms or bubbles. To my own amazement, there is none. This is remarkably miraculous considering the time of year. Yet there was still one more test. I pull out a tuning fork and gently strike it against the gem. I listen carefully making sure that it's at the right pitch of noise so that its structurally sound and stable so it won't shatter easily.

       "Oh dear Celestia, it's perfect! I can't believe it!" I shout in a joyous whisper.

       "Shall I have the honor of taking the first swing brother?"

       "Why you certainly may."

       And so begins the plentiful harvest of the light green beauties bound to bring me riches. Not of bits and cents, but instead, the golden heart of sweet Saphire.