As Applejack drank in the panorama from the Pies' front porch, she concluded that Celestia must have been in an artistic mood. This Hearthswarming sunset was taking longer than usual, scattering gorgeous pinks and purples everywhere, even reflecting onto the wasteland the Pies called a rock farm, coloring the white snow that covered the mottled stone grey of the landscape. More than once she had seen the same from her own farm, though only from an upper story window or other high vantage point since the apple trees made it harder to see, but here she could just laze about at ground level and take in the view. Sunlight refracting brilliantly through the crystals growing right up out of the ground here and there, more than she had seen in one place other than the Crystal Empire, only added to the beauty. She had to admit, the Pies' homestead had her own beat when it came to sunsets.
The sun had just finally finished dipping behind the mountains when the sound of an argument shattered the tranquility. Sighing, she reluctantly tore her eyes away from the vision and looked to the front door behind her where Pinkie, Maud, and Limestone Pie were emerging. "C'mon," Limestone urged in her anger-laden voice, "don't lie!"
"Pinkie's right," Maud replied in her bored monotone. Applejack knew there were traces of emotion buried in there - her words and actions spoke of somepony who felt just as much as most, even if her voice and expression completely masked it. "Applejack is right there, you can ask her yourself."
Applejack blinked, realizing she had been staring at the sunset a mite long. "Ask me what?"
Limestone rolled her eyes. "Uggh, FINE! Applejack, my sisters CLAIM you're earthblind."
"Now hold on," Maud cautioned. "That's not-"
"Can't sense fissures in the rock?" Limestone interrupted as she looked back. "Can't tell granite bedrock from basalt without seeing it with your eyes? An earth pony who can't even do THAT, that's earthblind." She whipped her head back to face Applejack with a halfway-accusatory look. "Well? Can you?"
Applejack blinked again. "Err...I gotta admit, I don't even know how to tell granite from basalt WITH seeing it with my eyes."
Limestone froze in her tracks, eyes widening. "...for serious? No lie?"
"No lie. What, you can?"
Limestone dashed forward and hugged Applejack tight. "You...you poor THING! How can you LIVE like that? I'm sorry, I take back all those mean things I said about you!"
"Uhh..." Applejack awkwardly patted Limestone. "...apology accepted?" She looked to the other two Pies. "What is she talking about?"
"She thought," Maud replied as if discussing the weather, "you deliberately planted that flagpole on that fault line. She didn't know if you sent Holder's Boulder over the edge out of carelessness or malice. I tried to convince her it was neither."
"Come again? I just put the flagpole where it'd stand up. You..." Applejack's mind whirred. "You're saying you can just SEE fault lines?"
"'Feel' is more accurate, but yes." Maud gestured to her sisters. "We're Pies."
Pinkie smiled her worry-masking smile, which Applejack had long since learned to see right through. Too wide, did not extend to her eyes.
Limestone unhugged, grasped Applejack's right foreleg, and brought up her hoof for inspection. "I'm not seeing any deformity. Is it bone structure, or..."
"Limestone." Applejack could almost swear she heard Maud shouting in annoyance, but on reflection Maud was just speaking as normal. "I told you," Maud continued, "most earth ponies can't. They're not crippled, they're just normal that way. They live on soil. It's a different kind of rock."
"Yes, but...they're EARTH ponies! Like us!" Limestone gestured around. "And Pinkie says they're maybe family! Anyone of our blood should be able to sense things like us!"
Pinkie smiled wider.
"That reminds me." Maud began walking toward the gem mine. "Applejack, there's something I wanted to show you. While we walk, could you tell us what soil feels like to you?"
Applejack fell in behind Maud, and was soon flanked by Pinkie and Limestone. "Umm, like soil?"
Maud did not look back, letting the ground tell her the formation they fell into. "How do you know where to plant?"
"Ohhh, I getcha! Like how I can feel there's life and potential in one spot, a bit less a few feet away, so I put the seed right there?" Applejack tilted her head. "Y'mean to tell me you can't sense that?"
Limestone looked at her sideways. "What are you talking about?"
"No we can't," Maud replied. "And why does the rock we're walking on feel icky to you?"
"Huh?" all three ponies behind her chorused.
"I've been monitoring your tread." Maud turned briefly to avoid a crystal as tall as she was. "Limestone's pressing into the rock, getting a sure footing in case any snow comes between her and it. Pinkie's doing the same; she wasn't at the train station, but she soon remembered. But you're trying to walk gently, like you're afraid your hooves will sink into the ground. Why is that?"
Applejack looked at her hooves. "You got all that just from...oh, I guess you feel our hooves hit the rock, so it's not just listening. But still, you got all that just from that?"
Pinkie's fake grin turned real. "Isn't she AMAZING?"
Limestone rolled her eyes. "Heeere we go again. You're warming up to show off to our guest, aren't you?"
"Guilty as charged." Maud stepped through the mine entrance. "But I'd like to hear Applejack's answer."
"Well, uh. Aheh." Applejack noticed her gait shifting to the rails on the mine track so she would not have to step on the ground. "I...wasn't going to say anything, but your ground just feels so dead to me. Ain't nothing going to grow here, 'cept maybe rock."
"That is correct." Maud made a sharp right and began dragging out some buckets. "And why is that?"
Applejack sat as the group came to a halt. "Well..." She pressed a hoof to the mine floor, tinted pink-purple from the light of the many gem formations standing like pony-tall shrubs. "There's nutrients, sure, but there ain't room for roots to get in and get them. No water, neither. An' most importantly, no worms or bugs or anything living in there. It's just one big solid mass..." She looked back the way they came, squinting.
Limestone's eyes widened. "Wait, wait. You're telling me that you can feel...that when you're out and about on your farm, you FEEL worms and stuff just sliding around underhoof, and you LIVE like that?"
Applejack nodded, still looking back toward the house, senses focused. Suddenly she felt warm nutrients hit the ground nearby, so she turned to look and saw Limestone, head ducked behind a gem-shrub, voiding her stomach.
"I keep telling her she should go out and see Equestria," Maud noted as she set three buckets in a ring around another gem-shrub. "It sure changed my perspective. Do these look familiar?"
"Well, yeah. They're...wait a second..." Applejack walked over and looked close. "This...I mean, they're stone, but...Maud, did you carve replicas of the buckets we use for apple harvesting?"
"When my sister asked if she could invite you, I wanted to give you a special gift." When Applejack began to pick them up, Maud put a hoof on her hoof to stop her. "Not yet. Back up, there's more to it."
"Alright." Applejack let the bucket go and backed away.
"This isn't efficient, or advisable for long. It's better if we chip off larger pieces so we can use the mine cart." Maud began patting the top of the gem-shrub, tapping it just so over and over again, slowly at first then picking up speed. "You're kind of to blame for this mine. After you freed the Crystal Empire, there started being more of a market for gems, and less for other stones. I know we may seem stuck in old ways, but we serve what Equestria wants." The upper part of the gem-shrub began turning opaque under Maud's ministrations, as tiny fractures began to link up. "So we opened up this part of our farm, and started cultivating crystals where they'd grow."
"Well, Twilight's more to blame for the Crystal Empire." Applejack looked around. "Rarity would swoon to be here. So would Spike. They really like gems."
"Please invite them. Even if they just like gems, gems are a type of rock, and I like rocks." Maud stopped working over the gem-shrub, sat facing away from it, and looked over her shoulder.
Limestone, insides now settled, backed up to where she could see the group. "Maud? You're not really going to - WAIT!"
Maud bucked the gem-shrub hard, with both rear hooves. A crack echoed through the mine, and Maud winced.
"Slate!" Limestone ran toward Maud. "I told you, you're only going to break your legs with that stunt-"
The upper half of the gem-shrub shattered into thousands of well-cut small gems which landed in the three buckets, filling them to near-overflowing.
Applejack's jaw hit the floor.
Maud pulled her rear legs back into a sitting position and massaged her haunches. "I'm fine. But I'm not doing that again today. Applejack, did I get it right?"
Applejack continued to stare. "That...that..."
"...that's my super-awesome-tastic amazing-ness super sister/cousin?" Pinkie helpfully finished.
"What she said." Applejack took off her hat and bowed. "If you wanted to show your appreciation for me and my family, you have. Thank you." Returning hat to head, she eyeballed the gems. "How much is all that worth, anyway?"
"A couple barrels of apples." Waving Limestone away, Maud slowly stood up.
"Pardon?" Applejack blinked.
"If you could send them when you get home? I figure this is as much as you can take on the train." Maud slowly pushed the heavy, laden baskets into a line.
"But...you're just...I mean," Applejack tried to protest.
Maud shrugged and started pushing the line out the mine's entrance. "Okay, one barrel."
Quickly regaining her composure, Applejack marched up to Maud. "Three barrels and not an apple less! Do we have a deal?" She stuck out her hoof to shake.
Maud shook it while continuing to push. "You drive a hard bargain."
Maud's stoicness allowed Applejack to maintain her poker face, but Pinkie and Limestone boggled, exchanged a glance, and fell over laughing.
"But seriously." Applejack pushed one bucket out of Maud's way and began pushing it herself, alongside Maud. "Thank you. If there's anything we can do for you, just name it."
"Actually there is - not for me, but for Pinkie." Maud stopped, looking out the mine's entrance in the direction Applejack had looked earlier. "You were going to ask a question. Be honest about it."
Applejack slowed to a halt. Her mouth opened to ask, but then her mind intercepted the question and replaced it with a better one. "How'd you know?"
"You had the same reaction I did the first time I came in here." Maud resumed pushing. "I mapped it out, and it's true. For all the fissures and faults out there, there IS a straight line of good rock from here back to home. See, Pinkie? Even an Apple can sense it, if she tries."
Pinkie's eyes slowly dilated. "Wait...you mean..."
Maud nodded. "Same powers. Same talent. Same blood. Just trained differently."
"YAY! WOOHOO! YIPEEE!" Pinkie bounced like a superball around the cave, dancing mid-air and scooping Limestone up in her frenzied happy panic.
While continuing to push the buckets along, Maud watched her leave. "I don't have the heart to tell her that most earth ponies can do it. Most I've talked to about it, anyway. Which is Apples and Pies."
Applejack could not help but smile at Pinkie's display of euphoria. "Heh. But how'd you know all that?"
Maud gave Applejack a look. Though it was the same neutral expression she always wore, Applejack could tell the intent. "I like rocks, Applejack, and I love my family. You soil may be a jumbled mishmash of rocks ground finer than sand, with other stuff mixed in, but at its heart it's still rocks. As for you...are you your farm, or are you what your farm grows from?"
Applejack looked back into Maud's eyes. "I never thought of it like that."
And then came a moment Applejack would not experience again for a long time. For the briefest of seconds, a smile graced Maud's expression. The moment passed, she patted Applejack and pressed on. "I like rocks."
Author's Note
It was noted that the Pie Sisters tag includes two ponies. One of my prereaders insisted that I include both.
That is why you get this shameless shipping.
2: The Unspoken
Spears of pink-purple sunset light lanced through the forest all around her, like a titanic but thankfully ephemeral jaggle-clawed beast pressing against the trees to claim its final prey before retreating to slumber. Carefully, with the exacting precision she took to most tasks, Marble Pie kept herself in the middle of the shadow of one of the larger trees. It being winter, the trees were devoid of foliage and her hoofprints in the snow betrayed her position, but the sunlight did not bend to intrude on her refuge. Marble had dug out a small patch of bare rock, here in the lee of the tree, and lay down upon it to think.
The forest scared her like nothing else. Rather than rock, it had soil: ground-up rock with things in it, icky things that sometimes moved on their own. But here and there toward the edge there were a few patches of good, solid rock, connecting her back to the farm, and through long exposure - starting with a childhood dare from Limestone, who she noted rarely went into the forest herself - Marble was able to handle being at the edge, just a little ways to gather firewood for the stove or ingredients for soup. Not that it did not frighten her any more, but it was a dull roar, something to drown out her troubles. It scared her just enough to clear her mind and allow her to think, making it a useful refuge when her emotions overwhelmed her.
Such as now. Merely thinking of that big red stallion made her heart flutter and her thoughts muddle. It felt like butterflies in her stomach, but in a good way. Even now, with the forest and all that was wrong with it putting her heart on edge, she could feel the heat of her blush in her cheeks, and could almost swear she could pick up his scent. It was hard to describe how he smelled, other than of easy power and of hard, honest work. He reminded Marble of Maud in that way. She looked up to Maud even more than to the rest of her family. She thought for a moment that the scent might not be just her imagination, but she focused her senses through the rock, and as usual no pony was treading on rock anywhere nearby.
Big Mac allowed himself a small sigh of relief upon reaching the nearest snow, a few pony lengths from the Pies' front door. He was far too polite to say anything, but this mostly-solid plateau of rock the Pies called a "rock farm" felt wrong to his hooves that had tread mostly dirt for years. Not that snow was any less dead than rock, but at least snow was supposed to be that way, and the snow here felt like the snow back home: cold and wet.
Off to one side he saw Maud leading Pinkie, Applejack, and Limestone toward what he had been told was the recently opened gem mine. For a moment it looked like Pinkie and Limestone were herding Applejack, but he quickly put such thoughts out of his mind. They were family, and even if they weren't, Pinkie would never betray Applejack. Some bonds were thicker than blood. If they were herding his sister, he was certain it was at worst to some harmless prank.
In any case, that was not the direction to the forest. If trees were growing, then surely it would have proper, living soil, even in the dead of winter. His imagination had spontaneously suggested that maybe the trees were rock, too: fake creations set up to disguise the extent of the rock farm. While his mind dismissed such notions out of hand, verifying the reality of the trees was an excuse to get off rock and onto soil for a little while. He had of course let Granny Smith and Apple Bloom know where he was going, and promised to be back within the hour.
As he neared the forest he spied a second set of tracks. He did a quick mental census: he had just seen two Apples and the elder two Pies at the house, while four more had headed off to the gem mine. That only left Marble's whereabouts unknown, and the tracks did seem about her size. Indeed, when he poked his head around the tree the tracks lead to, there she was. He allowed himself a small but triumphant, "Eeeyup."
Marble's heart raced as she clung to the tree branch like a cat finding itself dangled above a river, her whole body shaking with fright. Nervously she looked down, and immediately saw her foolishness: she had been surrounded by snow, so of course anypony walking up on her would not be walking on rock. Taking a few deep breaths to calm down, she willed her hindlegs to unwrap from around the branch, leaving her free to swing by her forelegs. Letting go immediately would have sent her tumbling onto her back, so she let the bulk of her body swing through about three-eights of a circle, where it slowed then began swinging back forward. Momentum corrected, she fully let go of the branch and dropped onto all four hooves - still trembling a bit, and not from the cold. She rounded on the pony who had dared sneak up on her, a rock-searing tirade welling up in her lungs...
...only to die on her lips when she gazed into his kind, round eyes. Anger and rage leaked out like air from a punctured balloon, leaving just enough to demand some sort of correction. She waved her hoof and managed a firm, "Mm-mm!" Marble even tried to scowl, to at least frown, but her forehead would not cooperate.
He had startled her. Her impressive leap had made that clear, though getting to watch her athletic dismount from the tree had almost made it worth scaring her...almost. He put one hoof behind his head, grinned, and backed away slightly. Big Mac knew he was big enough to sometimes loom without meaning to, which was useful in some situations but not so much here.
That said, he had been meaning to take a walk and now there was enjoyable company to walk with. He gestured deeper into the forest and awaited her response - only to immediately wonder what he would do if she said no. This certainly looked like a thinking spot...except, she was standing on that rock. Well, perhaps that was what she was used to, so it comforted her; he would just stand on the snow. With Marble right there next to him, the snow did not feel cold or uncomfortable - just a fluffy, crunchy blanket over the ground.
The possibility of going on as planned, alone into the forest, suggested itself but was immediately hammered down. Marble was here. Beauty, grace, and to hear her sisters talk a pony who knew her place in Equestria, just like Big Mac. Why would he want to leave when he could stay with her? Unless she asked him to leave, a possibility that gnawed on his heart as the moments crept by awaiting her decision.
He wanted. To go. INTO the forest?
And he wanted her to go with him?!?
A lunatic. She had fallen for an utter, complete, raving lunatic.
But she had fallen for him, there was no denying that. Her heart sang at his invitation. There could only be one possible answer.
Even if it meant going deeper into that place with icky crawling living soil well there was snow over most of it so it wouldn't be too bad but still there were THINGS in the forest most of them asleep at this time of year but that was not the POINT and...
She stomped the ground to snap herself out of it. He wanted to walk with her, they would walk. "Mm-hmm!"
Stomping was not usually a part of affirmation, but Big Mac heard her undeniably affirmative reply. Maybe it was to emphasize...?
Regardless, she wanted to go with him. Dread and doubt vanished, like shadows caught in a searchlight. With her by his side, nothing could possibly go wro-
Sudden movement above her attracted his eye. The snow on the tree limbs was shifting. With barely a moment to think, he grabbed her and snatched her away just before a large pile of snow fell where she had been.
He was holding her and they were so close and oh the snowfall he had saved her from that but now he was still holding her and they were nose to nose and her heart was beating a million times a minute well maybe a thousand more than one a second she was just focusing on that to distract from how close he was and his forelegs cradling her upside down in front of him like a foal or maybe a kitten in his vast strong grip would it be too silly if she purred yes it would be too silly and he was PUCKERING...!!!
She was here. This close. Her scent filled his nostrils and his mind raced with images and possibilities and worries and reassurances and...
He focused. He was holding her. He needed to make sure she was okay, He had apparently gotten her free from the snowfall, but she just kept staring at him, blushing feverishly.
Did he dare give her a kiss, to reassure? Yes - no - yes - JUST DO IT, he ordered himself. On the forehead...no, she was no mere foal, that would be condescending. On the cheek...no, no, no, his heart insisted it be on the lips. He might not have been as famous for it as his sister, but he valued honesty, and he could either risk this or be certain to kick himself later.
And so he touched his lips to hers.
Bliss.
Pure, endless bliss.
Her body felt alive like never before, as she blotted out the world and focused all her senses on him.
Sweet Celestia, in this life or any other, surely this was her reward for being a good pony. This moment, right now.
This moment, right now. All his trouble and toil, over all his years...winding up being with her like this made it all worthwhile.
Distantly he wondered if he really was related to her. But if so it was a distant relationship, far enough apart that it would violate none of the laws about this sort of thing. He knew enough genetics to know that the scientific basis for those laws - discovered long after the laws had been written: one did not need to know much biology to see the results of inbreeding - did not apply, since he and Marble were probably only about as genetically similar as any two earth ponies. More important was whether their families would accept this, but he had a suspicion they would. He hoped they would.
His lungs began to burn slightly, reminding him that he needed to breathe. Gratefully he did, getting a lungful of air tinged with her scent, and held it as if to hold a little piece of her within his chest right next to her heart.
She exhaled slowly, rapture making her feel like that one time Limestone had left some cider on the roof for a week, sneaking it up and back past their parents and Maud, and they had shared the result just to see what getting drunk was like.
Drunk, was that the right word for it? Then, she mused, pour her another cup of-
That was when the rest of the snow fell, breaking contact.
Immediately she knew what had happened: the snow pushed her out of his grip, or maybe pushed him back. It had mostly fallen on him, leaving her head free, but that was one giant snow pile in front of her and she knew about avalanche victims and how they could be trapped under sudden snowfalls with limited air so she scrambled upright and began furiously digging into the pile...
...oh. It had only been half a foot of snow. She had forgotten for a moment how big Big Mac was.
Still, it was big enough that she planted three hooves against the ground and offered a fourth for Big Mac to hook himself to and pull himself out from under the snow.
Big Mac was big and strong, but the Pies knew rocks. Marble dug through the snow to the rock beneath and latched herself just so, so that even his powerful pull could not yank her off her hooves. Instead, it pulled him free of the snow and into her; she was braced against being pulled forward but had nothing to prevent being knocked over backward. And so she tumbled with him, ending up atop his massive frame. Once they had stopped and her body was certain she was right side up, she looked down and saw Big Mac slightly dazed, so she pecked him: just the tiniest little sip from the well of infinite euphoria.
That had been unexpected, but he had survived worse bumps.
Focusing on the angelic mare above him to clear his head - and because she was very pleasant to look at - he collected his wits, then slowly backed out from under her and got to his hooves. Casing a wary glance upward, he saw no further snow in immediate danger of collapse, but decided it would be safest not to stick around.
He kept an eye on Marble as he set off into the forest, but saw her only hesitate briefly before trotting along at his side. He noticed she kept to the snow for some reason, while he sought out open soil where he could, but that was alright so long as they were side by side. Keeping to the edges of the patches was enough of a navigational exercise to occupy the part of his mind not simply enjoying the surroundings and the companionship.
So they were doing it. Walking into...that. The living forest.
The place with creatures and beasts and where ponies died okay that was more Everfree and this was a fairly tame stand of woods but still this was something she should think about before doing so why were her legs moving of their own accord and oh come on her mind had just completely lost control her heart was running her body okay that was just an excuse she knew she was going to wind up walking alongside the handsome hunk of muscle and heart and not the muscle kind of heart and it really did not matter because she was here with him and rainbows could be covering the sky and they would not be as amazing as what was right here.
Right here, next to her.
Only afterward, reflecting on the walk, did she realize he had navigated so that she did not have to step on the soil once. But for him, she could even do that next time. After all, it was thanks to her that they made it back home after getting lost; he needed her if he was to go in there again.
Slightly over an hour after they had entered the forest, Big Mac and Marble Pie finally emerged from the treeline somewhat winded, with tails twisted gently around one another and a few twigs sticking out of their manes. Sunset had given way to a half moon, which graced the quiet rock farm with serenity and barely enough light to see by, but the two ponies were visible enough, the only moving things on the landscape.
Or nearly so. Maud and Applejack were returning from the train station, where they had secured the baskets of gems in the Pies' private locker to await the train on which the Apples would depart. Maud squinted in the low light, contemplated, and finally noted, "Maybe it's just me, but I think your brother and my sister might have a mutual crush."
Applejack could not help but giggle. "Eeeyup!"
