A Copper Cicada, Underground
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Lilac morning comes, she faced it with an eternal glare.
It was a glare she inherited. She assumed she got it from Pa. Or perhaps it was just the result of the deep-seated temper nestled in between the ravines of her ribs, burning as bright as the laws of the universe would allow it. It was truly a chicken or egg question, one which she would contemplate for perhaps a minute or two, only to perish the thought entirely until its eventual return. She wasn't that kind of farmer, after all.
There was a strictly-followed morning routine for the mare who calls herself Limestone Pie: wake up in a grouse after a night of tossing and turning, sauntering off to the bathroom to straighten out her bedhead in front of the mirror, sometimes even heckling at how her mane would resemble Pinkie's, and polishing the glinting curves of her pickaxe for another long day of rock farming. Early to bed, early to rise — such was a farmer's life, and she followed it by the book, as dictated sternly and succinctly by her parents. Yet even as a farmer, the world rewards those who danced to its tune, and as graceless of a dancer as she was, she found the world a homely place to live upon, even if the world did gift her with the curse of everlasting irritation.
Lilac morning goes, Limestone Pie gave one last grumble before leaving the room.
Persimmon sunshine spilled throughout the Pie homestead, still standing proud amid the gravid swirls of the granular nebula tossed up by the coastal westerly winds. Begrudgingly hauling her pickaxe up onto her shoulder, she cantered towards the kitchen table, her creaking hoofsteps announcing her approach to her parents already seated there with four stone crockpots of bubbling rock soup laid out neatly for breakfast.
"A good morrow to thee, Limestone Pie," her father's gravelly voice grunted. "Thy mother and I hadst been contemplating on rousing thee, shouldst thou further slumber."
Limestone snorted. "There's no need for that, Pa. Just a little chip in the pick that needed smoothing out."
"Perchance thou shouldst look for thy sister Marble," her mother suggested, "for our daughter had awakened prior to the rest of us and had begun her share of labor before the sunrise. The family should always gather at the table come morn to say grace, after all."
A disgruntled sigh. "Will do, Ma," she groaned.
Frankly, Limestone Pie never cared much about their many sessions of prayer. She never saw the point, really. All that kerfuffle about divine providence and daily bread never really mattered, for what matters more in a rock farm than the very rocks they were farming? With how uneventful the days usually are, there's really no need for some blessing from some divine figure living somewhere beyond the clouds. Plus, she preferred the peace and quiet— how could she find the time to be irritated when there's nothing there to irritate you? Granted, she'll always head back to bed with something to grumble about, but they never go as far as that one rock that always, always never budges the way she wants it to. How she hated that rock.
"Marble!" she yelled hoarsely as she stepped out of the door and surveyed the fields. "Marble, where are you?!"
Marble Pie was always the earliest bird in the house. Definitely got it from Pa, Limestone sneered to herself with a chuckle. Being incorrigibly shy, Marble always rubbed her the wrong way somehow, sometimes to the point where Limestone would just snap at her out of frustration. Nevertheless, Marble Pie was still a Pie, and being the eldest of the Pie sisters, Limestone cared for each and every one of them as she would care for the family's rock farm. Furthermore, with Maud still midway through her Rocktorate and Pinkie having moved to Ponyville, the only pony Marble could confide in was her. Some part of her fancied being a role model for her sister, but being near polar opposites of each other, not to mention her volatile temper, she had figured otherwise.
"Where did that pony go... Marble, come on out already! We're going to be late for breakfast!"
When Limestone dragged herself towards the edge of the quarry, she was cursing at the devilish winds for throwing up a gust of dust against her mane. With a groan, she cantered down the spiraling pathway, her mind already preparing the thread of words to be hurled at her sister the moment she finds her. Sure, Marble was as diligent of a worker as any other, even more so than her at times, but she knew better than to wander away this far off from the homestead before breakfast. She knew better than to make everyone else worry.
She knew better.
"Marble! Marble, come on ou— there you are!"
Limestone found her at the end of one of the deeper passageways snaking out from the quarry, and though they were already fully searched, with the last valuable rock having been dug out years ago, Marble would find in them her little sanctuary. Like with many other things, Limestone didn't bother to question it, chalking it up to just one of the many eccentricities of the Pie family. What she would question, however, was what her sister was doing right now.
Marble Pie sat at the very end of the cavern, lit up by a crystalline lantern — a gift from Pinkie Pie for her birthday — which flickered with every joyful sway of her tail. Her ear was pressed against the dead end of the passageway, a gleeful smile inscribed on her face. At times, she would be giggling quietly, perhaps even gasp out loud. Throughout it all, she never even noticed Limestone standing there and glaring at her in disbelief until her older sister let out a loud cough.
"Wha— Limestone! I-I— um... I... what are you... doing... here?"
"Uh, breakfast? Ma and Pa? Saying grace?"
"Saying— oh... oh no..."
"Seriously, you know you shouldn't wander off too far until after breakfast. Told you too many times to count." Limestone shot a glance at the wall. "What were you up to down here?"
"Hm? Oh, uh... n-nothing?"
A snark laugh. "Nothing? Really? You're gonna go with nothing?"
"I was..." Marble gulped. "I w-was... l-l-listening!"
"Listening? To what, a wall? Look, I know you don't really like talking to other ponies, but this is getting a little out of hoof—"
"No, there's a... there's something... I can show you!"
A frazzled sigh. "Marble, we don't have time for this—"
"Just for a minute! Come on!"
Another frazzled sigh was all she could conceive as a response. Limestone wanted to open her mouth and castigate Marble with all the strength a mare could have when denied the proper blessing of breakfast, but she stopped herself short when she noticed the expression on the other mare's face: was Marble always that excited? Did she ever look that excited in her life? What could a single wall in the middle of a worn-out cave have that would make Marble Pie, the shyest mare in miles of this boring rock farm, giddy with excitement? With that in mind, however grumpy it may be, Limestone trotted up to her sister's side and knelt down beside her, pressing her ear against the cold, rough surface of the cavern's wall.
Silence.
She perked her ears and shuffled a little closer.
Silence.
Stepping back, she brushed what little dust that had been trapped inside her ears, before listening in again.
Silence.
"Marble, I don't hear anythi—"
A ring. Metallic. High-pitched.
Another ring, similar sounding.
Then another.
Then another. And another. And another. And another and another and another.
It was a swarm of glossy rings, chaotic and dissonant as the wingbeat of a hundred honeybees. It all sounded round and hollow, this mystifying whirlpool of chimes, swirling and warbling closer and further and closer again, almost as if they were swimming right behind the very wall they were listening from. Laced beneath it was a distant rumble, as if the caverns themselves were shaking at the sound. The amalgamation of noises only seemed to multiply, beckoning her closer and closer as they coalesced into a single cry, and it was slowly churning louder and louder, to the point where it began to sizzle into her shattering skull and tunnel through the melting membranes of her—
"Isn't it wonderful?!"
Snapping out of her reverie, Limestone quickly turned, a light gasp barely flying off her lips at the ever-growing, ever-widening grin of Marble Pie staring back at her.
Silence.
Limestone opened her mouth, but stopped herself.
Silence.
"What do you think, Lime?"
She jerked up. "Uh—"
"What do you think? Tell me!"
"I—" Limestone stopped herself with a fidget. "Look, Marble, we really have to go. Ma and Pa's gonna be really mad at us if we stay here any longer."
For a moment, something seized the veneer of Marble Pie, the gray of her cheeks and forehead seemingly blackening further and further, her brows furrowing and her eyes simmering and seething. Something made Marble Pie stomp up to her elder sister and growl at her through gritted teeth, before she suddenly stopped herself and pulled away.
"O-Okay..."
"Yeah, uh... right... okay..." Limestone muttered breathlessly, pulling her gaze from the wall. "Let's... go..."
With a disheveled 'mm-hmm' to sound it off, the two sisters began their trip back to the Pie homestead, where breakfast and likely a light reprimand from their father awaited them. Throughout it all, Limestone strutted forward, every step bringing her closer to her parents and to the comfort of her rickety bed. Throughout it all, Marble sauntered forward, every step reluctantly taking her further and further and further and further and further away, stopping for a moment only to steal a glance back at the wall she was leaving behind, all alone in the darkness of the quarry, wishing only for a little companionship from someone.
A little companionship from her.
"Wait for me."
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Lilac morning comes, she faced it with a tired glare.
Limestone Pie couldn't sleep well that night. Blame the thunderstorms, the voices in her head pleaded. Just blame it on the thunderstorms. Not many knew about her, let's call it, discomfort around thunderstorms, and those that did, she made them Pinkie Promise not to tell anyone else. Nevertheless, the staunch and stubborn Limestone Pie could never rest well with the sound of crashing clouds in the sky, so much so that she was accustomed to blaming a thunderstorm or two if she did not get the appropriate rest for the next day, and she would very much like to this time around as well, were it not for the simple fact that it did not rain last night.
She shuffled about in her bed, hooves tightly hugging her sheets against her chest. Her tired eyes forcefully clenched shut as she burrowed deeper into the darkest confines of her blanket, all the while cussing and growling at the waking world outside. With a tired sigh of defeat, she sat upright and stretched her hooves to the sky, before craning her neck to the other side of the large bed where Marble Pie still slept sweetly and soundly, curling further in her paradise. For the longest time, Limestone's stare lingered at her sister, watching at how she turned about and muttered in her slumber, before she finally tore her gaze away.
Her hooves lumbered along, guiding her out of the front door and into the misty morning, sifting through the dewdrop scarves before perching herself at the very edge of a long drop into the quarry. With no more than a mumble, she clambered down the spiraling path, away from the emerging sunshine and into the depths of the spiraling pit, lead on by nothing more than the memory of the past faintly ringing from afar, gentle as a caress of the cheek. Biting her lip, her trembling pace steadied itself as she soon found herself swallowed again by the darkness of the passage, her heartbeat strangely slowing to a mere lull with her breathing following suit, embraced as she were by the lithe wings of tranquility, until finally, she was there.
The end of the tunnel.
The wall.
Finally, after all this time.
Limestone Pie stepped forward, her back knees shaking so violently, a single push would've sent her falling forward into genuflection. Her lips parted, a quiet, foggy gasp swiftly brushing past them as she gently, feverishly laid her left hoof onto the wall, with her right hoof following suit soon after. Her quivers are maddening, her ears twitching irregularly to the racing drum of her heart. Without any more time to waste, she craned her neck up and leaned forward, bringing her ear closer and closer and closer until finally, it returned to nestle against the cold surface of the wall where it belonged.
Silence.
"Come on, come on..."
Silence.
"Come on, I know you're in there... come on, come on, come on, come on—!"
Then, she heard it.
A ring, as clear as day, followed by another, and another.
Like before, the glorious chorus of rings resounded in a spectacular crescendo, swirling and swiveling in and out of her perceptions. It was like a puzzle cube, shifting and spinning amid the machinations of her mind, all to design the tablature for this subterranean psalm playing over and over and over in her head. Her eyes flickered and fizzled with every poignant chime, her lips stretched with every humming echo until slowly, Limestone Pie felt the world around her being pulled into the wall, the discordant coil of melodies pulling her further and further into a new world of enlightenment, transcending beyond the cadavers of everything she ever knew, everything she ever did, everything she ever loved—
"Lime?"
"Gaah!!" Limestone yelled, jumping at the voice, only to slam her head against the low ceiling of the passage with a loud yelp. Hissing, wincing and rubbing a sore head, she glanced around in the pitch-black darkness, her fractured thoughts piecing themselves back together even as the sonorous choir faded away. "Marble?" she called out. "Marble, is that you?"
Silence.
"Marble? Marble, it's you, isn't it?"
Scrambling about in the darkness, Limestone's hooves soon landed onto the cold, ridged surface of a small knob. Marble must have left her lantern down here, she concurred. Quickly, she gave it a squeaky turn, the beads of sweat dripping down her forehead lighting up at every sprinkle of sparks flickering about in the lantern. With one more desperate tug and a breathless sigh, a gentle veil of azure began to fill the room, the darkness receding to make way for the jagged walls of the rocky tunnel, the low-hanging stalactites dripping puddles on the ground and the glint of something sharp plunging right down towards her—
*THWACK!*
She couldn't even scream; her voice had left her long before she opened her mouth. Her cheeks blanched white, her frenzied stare frozen at the tip of her pickaxe wedged deep into the ground, right between her hooves. Trembling, she drew her gaze upwards, stifling a gasp as she was met with the impassive frown of Marble Pie standing over her, softly caressing and stroking the handle of the very tool that almost split her into half with the tip of her hoof.
"You left your pickaxe behind, Lime."
Her sister's nonchalance made her vocal cords quiver. "I ah... yeah..." she stammered timidly, glancing down at the aforementioned tool. "Th-Thanks..."
"So, how were they?"
Limestone froze. "They?"
"The copper cicadas, of course!" Marble giddily exclaimed, only to be met with a confused stare. "You know! The ringing sounds behind the wall? That's the call a copper cicada makes!"
"The call a copper cicada—" she stopped herself. "Wait, how do you know what they are?"
"Oh, they told me." Her sister's chest swelled with pride, her lips stiffening into a gleeful, innocent grin even as Limestone tried her very best to fathom how she understood them. "It's funny, isn't it? Copper cicadas. I never heard of them before. Maybe Maud might know something about them! Or maybe Pa and Ma knows what they are!"
"Marble, I don't think—"
"Oh, speaking of which, Pa and Ma asked me to look for you for breakfast. We have to say grace, remember?"
Limestone withheld the urge to gawk: had she been down here for that long? With how enthralled she was by the calls of the... copper cicadas, was it? She figured she must've been listening to them for quite some time. She couldn't help it though! There was just something... mystifying about them, as if they needed her to be there! They needed her to listen! Their calls sounded so mangled yet so sleek, so... so otherworldly, as if it didn't belong here. They didn't sound anything like copper— she knew exactly the sound that copper makes. If Maud were here, she would say the same thing! It shouldn't belong here, whatever it is! Not in this little rock farm where nothing ever happens! Hell, she didn't need a Rocktorate when it comes to their rock farm; she would've known if there were such things like copper cicadas living underneath the farm the whole time!
It's not right.
It's not right.
"Marble, I—" she began, stopping dead in her tracks when her sister turned around. "I know I might just be imagining things, but I just... I'm not sure what that was, to be honest. I know, I know, they might just be harmless copper cicadas, but..." she sighed. "Look, I'm really bad at this, alright? I'm sure Maud or even Pinkie would know what to do with this, but until I figure out what it is, I just want you to... to be careful around them, okay? You can do that for me, can't you?"
For the longest time, Marble Pie's stare burned into her skull, brows crinkling as the words sank in. For the longest time, Marble Pie's lips drifted open with a shiver. For the longest time, Limestone Pie stood there, not knowing what else to say, what else to think until, with a smile, Marble approached her and clasped their hooves together, her eyes lighting up with a pleading glint that sank into her flesh and twisted her bones.
"It'll be our little secret, alright?"
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Lilac evening comes, she faced it with a meager stare.
It looked so different somehow. The rock farm she had grown up in, the rock farm she had worked so hard to maintain, the rock farm she had known all her life, ever since she went into that passage a month ago... it was different. Just different. She didn't know how it was different. She didn't know why it was different, but it was just that: different. Even in the fading sunset, with the sun's halos striking across basalt and brimstone, she felt it growing. Simmering. Shuddering. She felt it slowly dragging her into the abyss from underneath, and with it the farm. She could see it slowly swallowing them into the ground, all while encapsulating her in the malignant darkness of its pallid jaws. She knew, however, that she wouldn't be the first.
"Marble, you stupid—"
Glancing out the window, Limestone slammed a hoof against the glass and cursed at the wind. The distant flickers of lightning only snapped back at her, as if ridiculing her for sitting there, for being so hopeless. Much like dread's gaunt claws on her throat, she tightened her grip on her pickaxe, shivering and panting at the swirling world outside. Fires danced before her teary eyes, screaming and shrieking like wraiths against the ringing— the damned ringing! Every day! Every night! It just keeps on ringing and ringing and ringing! What does it want?! Why does it keep doing this?! ENOUGH!
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"Limestone Pie, wherefore art thou yelling in thy bedchambers?!"
"N-Nothing, Ma!" she stuttered, shuffling towards the door. "I just... I was just... it's nothing..."
"If it be true thou art idling, seek out thy sister! Tis time to gather for our dinner!"
A rancid scoff, followed by a determined snarl. "Will do, Ma."
It was hard keeping her pickaxe out of sight from her parents. By the time she sneaked out into the flood of the night, she was galloping down the spiral abyss, beads of sweat flying past her forehead. The world swiveled and stumbled, the ground shook with every approaching step. The dastardly ringing was now a screeching howl loud enough to shatter her joints, yet she muffled the noise in her cracking mind, snuffing out the trembling candlelight threatening to sear through her nerves. The closer she got, the louder it grows, so much so that by the time Limestone reached the gaping mouth of the passageway, she was holding herself upright with her pickaxe. With every chuck into the ground, she yanked herself onward to face the swarm.
To save her sister.
"Marble!"
Limestone found her like she did the first time: seated at the end, trapped in her trance with nothing more than a smile. As she got closer, however, there was a twinge in her gut. Her wary stare darted about the passageway, her relentless panting fogging up the cavern air, before finally her eyes returned to meet her sister's. She stepped back, her convulsing throat unable to even spew out a gasp, her trembling hooves only clutching the pickaxe closer to her chest. Her heart, her lungs, her mind— all of it was blazing in an ocean of disbelief, every vein and artery shriveling into a pale soot when she realized exactly what it was.
All because it looked so different somehow.
"Y-You're not Marble..."
Her sister merely grinned, before she crossed her front hooves and gave a low curtsy.
"What... what have you done to he—"
That was all Limestone could manage to utter before she was tackled to the ground.
Wide eyes of terror clashed with wide eyes of frenzy. The flames died out as soon as they began. The hooves of Limestone Pie scrounged and scratched at the ground, leaving behind cuts and bruises woven across her skin. Her head thrashed to and fro, sending the brightest tears flying off her pupils as her throat was being crushed downward by the innocent hooves of her youngest sister. She weakly hacked and howled even as the tremors reach her collapsing lungs, skewering her voice into pathetic groans and croaky whimpers.
"Magh... aghble... mahgg..." Limestone choked, trembling hooves clawing at the other mare's sides before giving them a rough slam.
The grin only widened around the world as it dissipated into darkness.
"Magha... plagh... pl-plaes dagh... ckaa..."
One more fruitless slam.
The stirring world began to blur.
"Staag... staghhg... Mabggghh, plaggc..."
One last useless slam.
The shaking world ceased to be.
"Mabggh... guh..."
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*BANG*
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Limestone Pie coughed and wheezed, air quickly returning to her lungs as she was thrown back into reality. Panting and sweating profusely, she glanced back to Marble, who had swiped her pickaxe with her teeth and backed herself into the very end of the passageway, her smile completely replaced by a barbaric snarl. Hastily, she turned around, gasping as she saw the smoking barrel of a shotgun directed at the roof, hoisted up as it were by the one pony she did not expect to see.
"M-Ma?"
Before the glaring light stood the divine presence of Cloudy Quartz, her gaze as steady as the grip on her weapon. Slowly, she lowered the shotgun down, pointing it directly at her youngest daughter, who harbored nothing more than a triumphant cackle at the sudden turn of events. Limestone scurried backwards to her mother's side, glancing fearfully between the two mares enveloped in a fierce and fiery standoff, ever patiently waiting for the other to make the eventual first move.
"Ma, y-you can't—"
"Silence, Limestone," her mother hissed, to which she complied immediately, before Cloudy fixed her glare back at the mare who once called herself Marble Pie. "Didst thou think we never noticed?! Ye, who cameth from the bowels! Ye, who soaked in our despair! Ye, who tooketh the life of my dear sister! Didst thou think we wast not expecting thy return, churlish devil?!"
All that came from Marble was a giggle.
"Thou shalt not taketh any more from this hearth! Hear ye, thou shalt not taketh my dearest daughter! Thou shalt return to the depths from whence thou came! Thou shalt be banished back into silence where thou belong! Begone, demon! Leave us be!"
With those words, the darkest, grimmest, most twisted frown graced the veneer of Marble Pie, who crouched to the lowest of low. With those words, the firmest, coldest, most stoic gaze embodied the visage of Cloudy Quartz, who readied her shotgun without even a show of hesitation. Before Limestone could even think of stopping her, Marble leaped up into air, the pickaxe gnashed between her teeth plunging right towards their mother.
A loud scream tore through the roof of her mouth and broke through the clouds, her trembling stare frozen in utter shock at the limp form of her sister lying on the ground. With no more than a sigh of... relief, their mother stepped forward and knelt down, bearing a mere simper. It wasn't until a little later that, within her shuddering reverie, Limestone noticed, apart from the lack of blood, a small dart conspicuously sticking out from Marble's neck.
"How doth our daughters fare?"
The gravelly voice made Limestone whirl around to see her father cantering from behind, wielding a crossbow dangling freely from a belt slung around his body. Her mother responded with only a slight nod as she plucked the dart out from Marble's neck like a flower, her momentary show of severity washed away by the deluge of concern. Slowly, the three elder Pies converged around their youngest member, half-conscious on the ground with a feverish smile, teetering and trembling near the throes of tranquility.
"I... I hear them calling, Pa..." she whimpered. "I hear them calling for me..." Marble then weakly turned to her mother. "The copper cicadas... Ma, you heard them... you heard them too... didn't you..."
Slumber took the last of her words away, her mind setting sail into the distance tides of her dreams. With that, Limestone could finally sigh a grandiose sigh, stifling her choked-up tears as she timidly drew her gaze up to her parents. She opened her mouth, then closed them, then opened again, only to weep openly as she dove into their embrace. Her parents could only chuckle quietly, hugging her tighter than ever and bearing not a single complaint, even after exhaustion took her and she too fell asleep in the cradle of their hooves. For the longest time, silence, thick with serenity, took the center stage, before Cloudy Quartz spoke up.
"T'is fortunate we art prepared this time, Igneous."
"Certainly," her husband replied solemnly, holding his family closer. "Nevertheless, 'twas too close for comfort."
"Agreed."
Silence, once again.
"Our daughters need to know, Cloudy. We cannot keep it a secret any longer."
"I wast afeared this day would arrive." A defeated sigh. "It shalt be difficult."
"Mayhaps, but such shalt not be in vain."
With a nod, both husband and wife carried their sleeping daughters onto their backs, casting one last wary glance at the wall before slowly trotting out of the passageway and emerging into the open. Slowly and surely, they clambered up the curved path of the quarry, laughing occasionally at their daughters' disoriented mumbles. When they finally reached the top, they turned towards the horizon and looked beyond, knowing that when it comes back — and it will come back — they will be more prepared than ever to stop it once again.
Whether lilac morning comes or lilac evening goes, they shall all face it with a hopeful stare.
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