A Love as Steady as Stone

A Marble and Limestone in the Vogonverse Story

Chapter 2 ‘Restore’

Limestone looked at the blanket of darkness surrounding her and Marble. Both of the sisters wanted to be close to each other, but neither of them wanted to sleep in the same room as their parents. So it was decided that they would sleep in the next room over. The bedding issue wasn’t much of one. There was a collection of mattresses, mostly twin sized, and the two of them had a bed apiece, but in the end they ended up scooting them together.

Her ear twitched and moved as she heard the dripping sound of the leaky roof above them. Sure, she was happy that they were out of the rain, more or less, but there was certainly quite a bit that needed to be done to this place. The stallion that had offered them room, shared his food, and even offered a hot bath to all of them when they were ready was kind enough, which bothered her.

She was used to ponies being nice, Pinkamena was nice, Marble was nice, even the Apples were nice, but it just made her wonder if he had alternative reasons for being nice. She touched her sheet covered stomach and blinked. Did… Did he want that? Was he after that kind of favors? He didn’t act like it, but then again what stallion would?

She could talk to Pa about it. Then again, did she want to? They had already walked more than a full day’s journey, and this was where they ended up. It felt right, this place felt right, it felt kind of like home. She could feel, honestly feel, the collection of crystals, precious metals, and onyx in the place. It had potential, she knew that, but what did that stallion want to do with it?

He didn’t seem like a rock farmer or a miner, not really, but why own a place that was obviously ready, and practically full, of everything that a pony could need to bring fortune and good luck if he wasn’t going to harvest it.

“Limestone?”

The meek voice was enough to stop her thoughts, and she turned toward her younger sister, the youngest Pie out of them all.

“Marble, something wrong?”

Marble laid there for a moment, and then she finally nodded, “I… I miss home.”

She scooted closer to her sister, wrapping an arm around her, pulling her in close, and hugged her tightly. Pinkamena, or she supposed she could call her that idiotic nickname Pinkie, did have a point. Hugs seemed to be magical in that they fixed almost anything. She felt Marble shiver for a moment before she backed up against her.

“I know, I miss home too, but we’re going to be okay.”

She was sure that they would. They were Pies, descendants of Holder Cobblestone, and Holder Cobblestone had strong ponies for descendants. She felt Marble relax, and soon her baby sister was sleeping. She lay there awake, glad that she could give her sister some comfort. After all, Earth Ponies shared the burden, and right now she needed to share Marble’s load.

Slowly, the storm outside began to die down, and the wind began to calm, only the rain, the life giving rain continued to fall. Listening to the patter of rain outside, and the drops of the leaks inside she began to relax until sleep found her. Slowly her eyes closed, her mind relaxed, and she found herself in the land of dreams.

The morning found Aaron in the kitchen, and mixing up a family sized portion of powdered eggs, some cornbread, and since he wasn’t sure what the Equestrians could, or would, eat he decided to make a little flour gravy.. He’d only met one of them before, a Pegasus that lived, from what she said, a good hour and a half flight away. Blossom something or another. Still, even then he’d only shared a little water since she was busy helping to gather up clouds. That had been a sight. He’d heard of the Pegasi able to actually touch clouds, mess with them, move them, but it was the first time he’d ever seen it.

That had been maybe two days before his house guests had arrived. He looked out the window to see the rain still falling. His Pegasus acquaintance had told him that all towns with inhabitants, regardless of how small, were going to be getting some massive rain. Apparently someone named Rainbow Dash, or something along those lines, had made the suggestion that all liveable towns needed the extra rain to help rebuild their water reserves.

The massive rain was certainly going to cause a flood in the lower sections just outside of town. He’d walked out that way, noticing the places where dried creek beds, and a small water reservoir had once been. Without a doubt the creek would be running again, and he had to figure that the water reservoir would be holding a good deal of water. If the Pegasi managed to keep a schedule of rain it could be possible to distill the water into clean and drinkable water. There was a few older well houses out by the reservoir, and getting those pumps going would be the first step, but that would have to wait until after the rain stopped.

He finished the breakfast he was fixing, prepared to let his guests know, and before he could get the word out he saw a figure standing near the kitchen door.

“Young master, it was not thy place to make a breaking of the fast for mine family,” the older mare said.

She walked in, giving him a smile, and looked over what he had fixed. Her eyes lingered on it for a moment before she spotted the stone from the beans the previous night.

“Wouldst thou wish for mine help?”

He looked at the already prepared food, uncertain of what was left to make, and then nodded. If it made her feel more at home he wouldn’t stop her.

“If you want to, sure.”

She stepped around him, grabbing the small stone, sniffing it, and washing it off. He watched as she quickly grabbed a small collection of pebbles he’d taken out of the beans and sniffed them as well. She placed some away, but most made their way near the larger stone. Finally, she stopped and grabbed a large pot. She filled it with water, placed the stones into it, and then searched around them. He watched as she added in canned green beans, a couple cans of potatoes, and then to top it off a small canister of vegetable broth.

She placed it on the stove, heating it, stirring it, and when it was done she tasted the soup. He watched as she took what looked like one of the pebbles, bit into it, and crunched it around in her mouth for a moment before smiling.

“Thank thee young master for thy hospitality. Perhaps thou shalt enjoy some of mine rock soup.”

She looked around the kitchen again, finding an old triangle hanging up on the wall. She found a small piece of iron that hung by it and within seconds he watched as she created the ringing sound of the too colliding together. He heard steps above them, and soon they were greeted with the sight, and sound, of the other three Equestrians. Together the two of them placed the food in the middle of the table, and he passed plates and bowls out.

The food was divided quickly, and noticed how the Rock Soup divided among them first. He looked at his own bowl and began to eat it. Soon he found a pebble, small, hard, and he looked around the table as the rest of them crunched down on the rocks they were eating. Not wanting to be insulting he bit down, hearing the mini rock crunch under his teeth, and slowly, but surely, chewed it up before swallowing.

Soon after the Rock soup was gone, the largest rock in it going toward the older stallion, which he was fine with him having it, the other food was soon eaten. The older stallion looked at him for a moment before he nodded toward him, “Young master, pray thee need help in thy home? Thou mentioned that thy had only just moved into it. Me and mine would be at thou service to bring comfort unto thee.”

He looked at him a little confused. He almost wished that he’d studied Shakespearean literature back when he was in college, but it was a bit late now. Instead he looked at the shorter haired one who gave him a slight glare, and then huffed.

“Pa is asking if you want us to help out around here. Which I guess that we can since you’ve invited us into your home.”

She was confident, easy to understand, and seemed a little aggressive. Normally, he’d almost consider responding in like kind, but then again He’d watched them eating rocks with no problem. The older stallion actually taking the larger stone and biting it in half and then chewing it. That in and of itself told him that it would be wise to be respectful.

“I would happy accept any help you want to extend. I’m going to be going through the building, finding the leaks, doing what I can to patch them, and of course just doing some general maintenance to the hotel itself. I’m not sure when the rain is going to stop, but when it does I’ll be seeing about getting some of water pumps going. All of you are welcomed to stay as long as you need to, and like I said, if you want to help, I welcome it.”

Nodding, they began to get up. He started to gather up the dishes, but the older mare stopped him.

“Pray thee, leave this to mine daughter and I. Thou hast cooked for me and mine, and it is only just that we clean thy table. Marble, thou shalt in this,” she said.

“Yes Mama,” the shorter mare said.

Standing up he began to walk upstairs. Both the mare with the short hair and the older stallion followed him and he heard the stallion stop for a moment.

“Thou hast said that naught have stayed within these walls for many a year correct?”

“Yeah, this place has been empty for years. I’ve been working on it, patching as I could, but I just didn’t beat the rain.”

“Limestone, does thou seeth?”

She looked where Pa was indicating, and she noticed it. The roof was leaking, but it was leaking only in a few places. Places where shingles and other things had most likely long since blown off.

“I do, we’ll need to patch the roof. Pegasi normally stick to a schedule, and that means that sometime today, or tomorrow, it’s going to stop raining. When it does we’ll get up there, see where it’s been leaking at exactly, and patch it. What kind of repair supplies do you have?” she asked as she looked at him.

Instead of saying he motioned for them to follow him, and he lead them toward a room at the end of the hall. He opened it and they looked in to see several bundles of shingles, several five gallon buckets of tar, hammers, nails, screws, and what looked like some kind of fancy electric screwdriver. She took a moment to see all of this and then she noticed some of the lumber.

“Okay, there’s more than enough here to fix this building, I say we get started with it.”

Feeling that he should say something, anything, he began to speak up when he saw her glance at him. She seemed to look deep inside his soul, and he swallowed back every word that was about to come out of his mouth.

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Good,” she said as she grabbed a hammer, a package of nails, a saw, and three of the eight foot long two by four planks, “Then what we’ll do first and start doing some of the minor patches this place needs.”

She looked at him a moment before rolling her eyes, “So what are you waiting for? Grab some tools and get started!”

Author's Note

(AN: Sorry for the late update, that said, I do plan on updating this story about every two weeks, if possible, and when I can get a little extra time I'll do more more often. Thanks to everybrony who's been following this.

Love to all of you guys and gals.

RJP)