TOM THE ROCK
FROM A NON-LIVING OBJECT'S PERSPECTIVE
"Are we done yet?"
"No, I just started! In fact, a large portion of my life was inside a hole, waiting to be-"
Ugh, Twilight thought. Who knew casting a come-to-life spell on a rock would be so... boring?
Rarity's "diamond" had landed in Twilight's cellar, and she had no intention of moving it, and a come-to-life spell seemed like the best way to get it out without much effort.
The come-to-life spell didn't make it move, but instead, talk! It began spewing its life story and forced Twilight to stay with it by crushing her tail under its immense ten tons of weight.
Guess I have no choice but to listen, she thought.
"Hey, uh... Tom, can you start over?"
"Anything for you, creator no.2! Now, let's see... Where was I?"
It all began when I was brought into existence. I was born, like all the other rocks, by a team of scientific ponies cloning a new substance they called "hard terra", and what you now call rocks. I was subject number #11941231245192, and was very special, as I was the smallest made so far. Everyone was awed by my ability to get picked up by air, and I was put in Discord's Royal Petting Zoo. In there, I was given food, water, and a fully-functional erosion chamber. The petting zoo was right next to His chamber, so Discord visited me often. I was his favorite hard terra.
As time went on, the erosion chamber made me bigger and bigger. The other pebbles got absorbed into me and I became so big, I needed a new cage. After that, they shut off the erosion chamber and left me to my own resources. But not for long.
Two alicorns came rushing in, and turned His Majesty into stone. I saw the entire thing. I wanted to scream, as loud as I could, but rocks don't have lungs. They harnessed the power of 5 rocks and a tiara, then sent my beloved master into eternal stone. The next thing I knew, they threw me out of His- no, their castle onto the street, and I was cast into oblivion. Who knew I was in the petting zoo for 1000 years?
The world had changed. No longer was it a place for labs and slaves, but instead a road to freedom. Wherever I looked was terra and hard terra alike.
Was I no longer the smallest?
Was I no longer special?
Dejected, almost for forever I sat on that side of the street, being ignored by all of Canterlot.
The next year, the Rockerra Protection Program began, and I was moved to a wildlife preserve, now called the "biggest" rock. It wasn't that much of a change, and I was still happy. Once a week I was washed with rock shampoo, and towed by magic because of safety hazards.
Onlookers now shared a glance with me, and it was almost as good as the petting zoo.
Almost.
The preserve closed, along with the protection program, because rocks were no longer endangered. Instead, it became a rock farm, where I sat on top of the rubble watching others like me get pushed around by mere ponies. There were 5 inhabitants to it: 4 gray ones and a pink one. The pink one would stay up all night in the newly-built lighthouse making others feel... joyful, which rubbed off on me a bit.
Eventually the farm closed, leaving this rock still on that hill.
Life went on, and I stood there, motionless, until one day I had a visitor. A filly.
A white unicorn rambled on about how useless I was, and I almost cried, until a sonic boom broke me in two. Inside me were diamonds, and the mean white unicorn immediately took it back, but stole my precious innards.
Not only was I no longer diamond-encrested, but had been split in two and shamed. It couldn't get any worse.
And, as melodramatic as it is, it did.
A ray of light hit directly into the small slit of stone that kept my two halves together, which instantly broke, leaving a trail of rainbow out of the liquid that was hidden deep in the crack, and illuminated by a single ray of light.
And this all seems impossible, I know, but the current me is only half of the old me, and I was lucky to be the part of me that retains the memories.
Time flew by. I was still on the hill, and it was really boring. There was the occasional jumper-off-the-hill, and the bungee cord was always attached to me. I didn't fall off the hill, though. Then, one day, I was summoned to a grassy maze, and saw Master preparing the details. I practically jumped in joy, but rocks can't do that. Again.
"Why, Tom, you've practically lost yourself! Let me restore you," my master added.
He cast a spell on me to enlarge me, hence the current size, and to appear as a diamond to one with a pale coat. After that, I was sent into a wall made of dirt and soft terra; what you ponies call "clay"; and waited like a rock should; keeping your mind off the subject, because slow and steady wins the race.
Soon, the clay surrounding me faded away; to find my nightmare standing right in front of me;
That white unicorn who had been mean to me once before.
But something had changed this time; she treasured me and called me a diamond.
My master's power is certainly overwhelming, no?
So we headed out of the maze with the white unicorn's five companions constantly nagging a purple unicorn, and I was left at the library. At the next moment, I was inside a fashion boutique, and then pushed out by the same white unicorn. From the outside of the boutique, I saw the entire thing;
My master was put back into his eternal slumber again, and discord in Equestria was forever lost; 1,500 years ago, this scene was the same.
It's your fault.
But through 10,000 years of rest, I learned to forgive.
"But Tom, how did you end up here then?" came Twilight's sympathetic voice.
"Oh, the force of your magic rainbow blew me into here. It's dark.
And I think this spell's fading.
Thank you, my second master...."
With his last word, Tom turned back into stone, and left with his departure...
A single pebble tear; left by the caring boulder with a huge heart.
And Twilight cared for a moment about the lost rock, then found a more important problem:
How do I get my tail out?
