Dearest Cherry,
It has been three years since I last saw your beautiful face. Oh how I long to once again sit with you in the park across the way, as we had every Wednesday. How are our children? Sunny should be in the Third Grade this year, correct? Did Lily graduate from college yet? I know she will make a fine doctor. What of grandpa? I know grandma’s death has been hard on him. Is your cooking business taking off yet, as we had hoped it would? I know Ponyville already has great bakeries, but none of the cooks there are as good as you.
Anyways, I should be returning home soon. We have finally set up the third well. With the money we will be making, we can finally marry, like I promised you shortly before I left. The job has been rough, and we lost quite a few people along the way, but it was worth it. In the future, our kids, or even grandchildren may want to learn why we did what we did. So for the next few pages, I will inscribe the events which took place as we discovered the black gems.
It all started, way before I was asked to go into business with my good friend, Black Waters. We had first met in high school, nearly fifteen years ago. Black Waters, as we all know, was an earth pony. Unlike most other Ponies of his kind from our area, he had a very special cutie mark. Water’s cutie mark was of a black barrel. For many years, nopony could figure out what it meant, as nopony had ever seen anything like it before.He was constantly made fun of by other ponies, because they (including me, at first), thought that his marking would lead him down the path to be a barrel painter.
Let me back up further. Black Water’s family was part of the six percent of earth ponies whom lived in the Gallup. The other majority of the town was all unicorns. All his life, he was surrounded by them, using their magic to accomplish all of their daily tasks. Black Waters quickly became jealous at their ability to do everything from use building equipment, to quickly write letters, a task which was hard for any other type of pony. He had told me countless times of how he longed to have been born a unicorn, claiming that they make it the best in Equestria.
For much of his high school career, Black Waters attempted to find other ways to do tasks that only unicorns could perform. Most of his attempts ended in catastrophic failures remember the bulldozer incident, which had nearly ended with the destruction of town hall?)
His professors had always scolded him for attempted to upset the balance of power in Equestria. At the time, I had agreed with them. The delicate balance of power between earth, pegasus, and unicorns, is what held together the fabric of our society. At least... that is what I thought.
It took many months, but I was finally beginning to warm up to his ideas. Being a pegasus, I myself was also unable to control the element of magic. I thought it was unfair that a unicorn could harness the power of not only magic, but of flight using the proper spell. One day, he invited me over to his house after school. Waters had asked me to help him experiment with different chemicals to make an “Edible Magic potion.” Our hopes would be that an Earth pony or pegasus could drink one, and then be able to harness the power of magic.
Upon arriving at his house, I was promoted to follow him to his basement, which doubled as a lab for him. The walls were lined with charts, graphs, documents, and different, complex calculations. If a pony had not known who lived here, they could easily believe that this was the work of a mad pony. I, however, knew exactly who lived here. He quickly gave me a list of different chemicals which he believed would work together, in just the right amounts, to make the magic potion.
I tried to at least make small talk with the mysterious pony, but at the time he was very reserved. To him, work came before socialising. This is why he always seems to have trouble interacting with other ponies.
We worked nine hours a day, only stopping for lunch. We had spent nearly 1,000 bits from our own bank accounts in an attempt to find just the right solution, but one never presented itself. In a fury, Black Waters scolded me, blaming the failed potions on me. That was the last time I had heard from him.
Until three years ago.
I was in Canterlot, visiting my parents. I was on my way back home, when I decided to stop in at a cafe for a bite to eat. I sat at a booth near a window, which offered a spectacular view of all of Eastern Equestria. I was there for two hours, taking my time to sip on a single cup of coffee, when an earth pony entered to cafe, and proceeded to sit next to me. Confused, and partially irritated, I asked him why he sat next to me, and who he was. The stranger completely ignored my question, as he followed with one of my own.
“Ready to get back to work?”
Within a second, I recognised his voice. I was surprised to see how much he had changed in such little time. I cannot pinpoint exactly how he had changed. The only thing I can relate it to, is when you enter an old or historic building, as you get the eerie feeling of the past events which had taken place within.
I proceeded to tell him about you, and our first child, Lily, and of our beautiful new home in Ponyville.
“I’m glad to see that your life is doing good,” he begun, “May I ask you something? Are you happy? I don’t mean about being with a beautiful Mare and a wonderful daughter, but with everything else? Wouldn’t you love to be able to have enough money to propose, or to send you child to college, or ever retire early?”
I wanted to explain to him that the transportation business was paying well, but I knew that would be a blatant lie. I never told you this, but if I hadn’t left when I had, the bank would have repossessed out home. We were so far into debt, that there would have been no normal way to bail us out.
Of course, this was unnatural.
“I think I have finally got it,” he said with pride,”We were walking down the wrong path. We should have been finding an alternative to magic, not a way to control it! Just a week ago, I was wandering through a small western town, in search for a place to sleep for the night. After I found a small hotel, I decided to take a walk through the town. I came upon a river, which cut through the south side of town. With curiosity of where it ran to, I decided to follow it downstream. For several miles, I tracked the water, until I noticed the color began to gradually change. Finally, just before I reached a mountain pass, the water was almost pure black. Large bubbles pierced the surface of the water, meaning that whatever the source of the color change, it was under the ground. Running my hoof through the strange liquid, i noticed that I could skim the strange substance, as it floated on top of the water. I decided to use a hat that i was wearing to soak up a small portion of the liquid.”
Black Waters continued his speech to me, as I ordered another coffee. “The thick liquid which I held before me had a piercing stench. Still curious of what this could be, I quickly ran back into town with the hat. Using what little equipment I had brought with me, I began to experiment with the few drops I had left. There was nothing extraordinary with it, until I tried to heat it. Within seconds, the liquid burnt up, creating a large amount of heat. Don’t you see? If we can find more of this, we can perhaps experiment with it, finding ways to make it applicable to Equestria.”
Stopping to catch his breath, Waters continued, “I need somepony I can trust, as as being one of the only ponies I even know, I would like you to help me find more of this stuff. It should only take a few days at most. If we find enough, we can sell it for a high price. With that money, you can become rich beyond your wildest dreams!”
What else could I say? Black Waters had claimed it would only take a few days, and we needed the money. I was quick to accept. had truly meant to say goodbye, but with extreme anticipation, Waters did not let me return to say farewell. I feel guilty every day for not going home, just one last time, to see you and our wonderful family.
We left immediately.
To be continued...
