Marble Pie heard faint giggles echoing in the distance, and she awoke crying.
When the fog of her first tears faded, she made out the dim curve of a granite ceiling looming high above. The sedimentary lines of rock danced in the amber glow of a flickering torch—freshly-lit. The air was chill and sterile: a dull match to the cold dead rock upon which her shivering body lay.
Another fog. She gazed upwards, weathering her sobs. She didn't want to, but she needed to.
She shifted her right rear leg. It wasn't long before the air tingled with metallic percussion, undulating with each movement of her fetlock.
Marble Pie rubbed her face dry, then glanced down her reclining body. An old cuff of rusted metal encircled her lower limb, locked tightly in place. This was attached to an even older specimen of metal: a length of thick chains that ran a serpentine path across the cavern's flat marble floor. There were fine geometric lines etched into the otherwise polished surface: millimeter thin grooves that formed awkward butterfly patterns along and against the grain.
But Marble's eyes didn't fixate on them. They instead followed the length of rusted chain-links that ran from her cuff towards a polished steel loop on the black edge of a sharp precipice looming just three meters away from where she lay. The chain threaded under the space of the loop, rivered across more of the flat grooved floor, then ended at another cuff. This item was shackled to another lower limb with a lighter coat than Marble's.
Limestone Pie—Marble's sister—lay limply just a stone's throw away at the other end of the chain, and despite her fitful jerks and whimpers it was clear that she was fast asleep.
Marble Pie clenched her teary eyes shut. She willed the cold and rust away under the veil of her own familiar darkness. But it was all for nothing. Soon, she heard it again—the giggles. They were slightly less distant this time, and they added a new layer of chill to the shivers already accosting the poor, shackled mare.
With a muffled yelp, Marble forced herself up to her hooves. Standing up, she made out more of the interior: a claustrophobic balcony of flat, finely-etched granite beneath a half-domed ceiling. This bleak platform overlooked a savage drop into dark and fathomless earth, and the steel loop that tethered the chain linking both sisters rested on the very brink.
Marble paced about in tight anxious circles, contemplating what to do. It turned out that she didn't have to ponder for much longer alone.
Limestone Pie let loose a low trilling sound as she stirred—her whole body coming to. It was likely the rattling of chains from Marble's pacing that woke her. Soon enough, the older sibling sat up with thinly-blinking eyes. Then, just as Marble predicted, she rushed into a state of anger and confusion.
“What the hay...?!” She spat. “What the hay?!” She snarled.
Marble Pie took a deep breath and opened her muzzle—only to be jerked sideways by the length of chain going taut.
“What the hay what the hay what the hay?!?!” Limestone was already trotting around on angry, thunderous hooves. She gnashed her teeth as her sharp topaz eyes took in the granite ceiling, the etched floor, and the metalworks imprisoning the two of them. “What's the meaning of this?! Is this some kind of friggin' joke?!? Who in their frickin' rockslidin' mind foalnaps two hardworking adults?! And on Holder's Boulder Day of all occasions?!?!”
Marble Pie stumbled back to her hooves. Clearing her delicate throat, she opened her muzzle once more—only to be jerked sideways again.
Limestone pace sideways, drawing the chain through the steel loop as she angrily marched the edge of the precipice. “Unbelievable! Somepony's gonna get it! I swear! Wait until Mother and Father hears about this! We have connections! We have the Town Mayor on our side! Unless...” She scuffled to a stop, glaring daggers into the penumbra of torchlight as she rubbed her tight chin in coarse thought. “...maybe she's the one who put us here?! What is this anyways?! Some sort of tomb?! Dungeon?!?” She slammed both her front hooves down onto the etched floor. “Grrrrrrr! They're jealous of our rock harvest last season! All the ponies in town are! So what if they don't have the blessing of Holder's Boulder?! They're all jealous! Anypony could be behind this!”
Tiny whimpering breaths issued from Marble Pie as she struggled against the length of the chain. Her sister's angry pacing had pulled her towards the steel loop at the edge of the cliff. Marble's tender hooves fought against the rock as she struggled to keep from outright plunging over the precipice—
“You!”
Marble's nervous violet eyes darted over.
She saw Limestone pointing at her. “Marble! Talk to me!” The older sibling galloped and skidded to a stop at the cliff's edge where the two sisters now precariously stood. “What's the last thing that you remember?!” Her eyes narrowed. “Was it eating stone soup at Holder's Feast?”
Marble took a shuddering breath, then nodded with a meek “Mmm-hmmm” accompanying.
Limestone clenched her jaw. “Were Mother and Father there with us?”
“Mmm-hmmm.”
“And did you see either of them since we were brought here?”
Marble bit her bottom lip. “... … ...Mmm-mmm.”
“Drat...!” Limestone slapped the cliff's edge with an angry hoof. “They must have been taken somewhere else! This must all... be part of some larger scheme! A cruel operation bent on wrecking the farm and ruining everything I've worked hard all these years for!”
Marble simply stared at her sister, her eyes sad and her expression vacant.
Limestone Pie kept rambling: “But... why shackle us together...?” She held up a length of the rusted chains that had gathered slack between them. “Is this some sort of cruel test?” Her angry gaze then narrowed on the steel loop through which the links were threaded. “A method of torture?” She glanced at the etchings in the floor, then the torch on its pedestal, and finally the curved ceiling up above. “...who in quartz's name would go through the length to dig all this out?!?”
The meeker sister fiddled in place, her lowly eyes darting down to her hooves. She followed the swirling etches in the floor with geometric grace.
But before she could answer...
...there were more giggles.
The older of the two gasped, her topaz eyes narrowing to frightened pinpricks.
“Did...” Limestone's muzzle quivered. “...did you hear that?”
Marble Pie let loose a heavy breath. “Mmm-hmm.”
Blinking curiously, Limestone braved a look over the cliff's edge. She stared and she stared and she stared.
Marble Pie didn't.
“There's...” Limestone swallowed, then tongued the inside of her muzzle. “We're not alone in here.”
“Mmm-mmm.”
“Somepony... something is down here with us.” Limestone looked at her sister. “And I think it's getting closer.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“Have you seen it?”
Marble Pie paused for a while before answering. “Mmm-hmm.”
More giggles.
The hair on Limestone's flank stood on end, and she raised a nervous forelimb as she leaned back from the cliff.
Marble Pie watched her. Quiet. Patient.
“We... we need to get out of here.” Limestone gulped again, looking every which way in a circle. “Frickin' jealous psychopaths wanna do us in. Well... we can't let them have the pleasure, can we?”
At long last, her eyes fixated on something—a door. There was an arched frame at the edge of the cavern—directly opposite of the cliff and the steel loop. The torchlight illuminated what appeared to be a complex locking mechanism set within the black metal body of the door.
“There!” Limestone gasped and broke into a desperate gallop. “I see an exit!”
“...!” Marble Pie was too late to say anything. She reached a hoof out towards her older sister, then yelped as she was yanked violently towards the cliff's edge.
Limestone's ears pricked to the sound of savage scraping. “Huh...?!” She turned around in mid-sprint, then forced herself into a screeching halt. “Whoah! Marble!”
Marble had been sliding awkwardly towards the steel loop, being dragged by the lengthier end of the chain attached to Limestone.
Panting, Limestone galloped back along the slacked length of metal links. She squatted low and grasped Marble's limbs, briskly helping the sibling up onto trembling hooves.
“Why didn't you shout or something?!” Limestone frowned. “I nearly dragged you to your death!”
Marble Pie shakily nodded, glancing at the scant centimeters lingering between her shackled hoof and the cliff's edge.
Limestone was likewise eyeing their mechanical predicament. Short on breath, she fumed and looked at the door, then at the cliff, then at the door once again.
“I... I-I think I can make it.” She squinted back at Marble. “I need you to be strong, okay? For us both?”
Marble Pie nodded.
“Get an even hoofing. Brace yourself against this metal... uh... thingy.” She patted the steel loop in question. “It might get tight—even a tad bit uncomfortable. But I have to try and see if I can reach the door. Got it?”
Marble Pie... … ...nodded again.
“Okay. I'll... go slower this time.” Tightening her muscles, Limestone trotted once more across the etched metal, approaching the metal frame on the far side with more caution and grace.
Marble steadied her hooves, bracing herself against the steel loop. She looked down, watching with sad eyes as the rusted chain-links rattled and rivered underneath the polished hook. There was a giant padlock attached to the device, equipped with a dark keyhole. Marble thought of whatever could possibly open the thing, but soon reminded herself that it didn't matter.
Giggles.
With a sharp gasp, Marble's eyes shifted so that she was gazing down into the black abyss. Beyond the kiss of torchlight, she could scarcely make out the hint of a sharp cliff-face knifing its way straight towards the earth's core. Through the fuzziness of encroaching shadows, Marble observed etched lines rivering downward—mirroring the lines on the marble surface of their platform.
And then she saw a splotch of white. Moving. Climbing. Alive. Between every blink, it was lingering closer—if only barely. If Marble squinted hard enough into the onyx depths... she thought she could make out a pair of pink orbs squinting back up at her.
And it continued giggling.
“Ugh!!” Limestone grunted, and she lunged towards the door.
“!!!” Marble gasped as she was yanked towards the loop—more slowly this time. Limestone was leaning the full extent of her body in the direction of the sealed exit, and this put a strain on Marble's trembling figure, tugging her right rear leg deeper and deeper into the hollow of the steel loop.
“Rrrrrgh...!” Limestone hissed and strained. She reached and stretched and waved her forelimbs ineffectually at the doorframe. “I... can... almost... t-touch... it...!”
She couldn't.
Marble gnashed her teeth, fighting the pain of her right leg being bent at the awkwardest of angles. The cuff was small, but Marble's leg was simply too large to squeeze through the eye of the steel needle. This didn't stop Limestone from pulling and tugging with extra gusto—which put a painful amount of pressure on Marble's rear limb.
“I... I-I can see a locking mechanism...!” Limestone's voice cracked as she sweated and stretched. “Grnnngh... but... I-I can't recognize it! Doesn't even look like a key can f-fit through...!”
Marble Pie sweated and shuddered. Limestone's tug on the chain had toppled her over by now, so that she had no choice but to lie sideways and gaze limply down the throat of the abyss.
Her trembling eyes focused on the white splotch below. The thing drew closer and closer between each of Limestone's raspy words. Ascending. Giggling. Smiling. The first of many limbs kissed the edge of torchlight. Marble's gaze caught a glint of gold—brighter than sunrise. Hotter, too.
“Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrgghhh!” Limestone finally gave some slack, slumping backwards. “Buck it! Maybe we could smash our way out with a rock!” She glanced right. She glanced left. “!!!” Her topaz pupils reflected a pile of tiny boulders. “I found some! Hold tight, Marble!” She scuffled and strafed sideways on the taut length of her end of the chain.
Marble had to grip the steel loop to keep from falling over as she repositioned herself—acting as the fulcrum to their living lever. One leg dangled off the cliff's edge, knocking loose a layer of dust that wafted slowly down into the blackness below.
The echoing giggles were briefly permeated by a slurping sound, as whatever was ascending paused to sample the falling sediment. Whatever the dust tasted like—it approved, and then announced its pleasure with an erupting salvo of laughter.
“Heee-heee-heee-hee! Fun???”
Marble Pie's blood ran cold.
Limestone heard it too. She froze in place, despite having victoriously grasped one of the large rocks that lined the edge of the cavern. Sweating, she glanced at the torch-lit door, then back at her precariously-positioned sister. Her eyes finally fell upon the steel loop once again.
“... … ...I'm going about this all wrong.”
With a rattle of chains, Limestone cradled the rock to her fuzzy chest and hobbled back to the cliff's edge on three limbs. Once she had rejoined her sister, she swiveled the padlock until it was resting openly between them and the metal restraints.
“We gotta deal with the biggest problem first.” Licking her lips, Limestone felt the weight of the rock in her hooves and mentally measured it against the padlock. “First, we free ourselves. Second, we deal with the door. And third—”
Bombastic giggles.
Both sisters' pupils shrank. Simultaneously, they gazed down into the abyss.
The abyss stared back—in the form of an equine figure climbing hideously into focus. The thing noticed the eye-contact, and then spread milk-white wings in joyous curiosity.
“Fun????”
Marble Pie whimpered like a foal. She kicked and scuffled at the cliff's edge like a kitten trying to shake loose mud.
“Hey...” Limestone hissed.
Marble yelped and cried, her ears flooding with tears as she thrashed about—
“Hey...!” Limestone dropped the rock and grasped her sister's withers. She forced the two to stare face to face. “Look at me.” Her surly gaze narrowed. “It's going to be alright. You hear me?”
Marble merely sniffed and cried.
“I'm not going to let anything happen to you,” Limestone said. Then her muzzle—so consistently iron wrought with a frown—managed the softest and sincerest of smiles. “Nothing bad is going to happen to my little sister on my watch. You got me?” She squeezed the younger mare's shoulder. “I'm going to keep you safe.”
Marble Pie dried her tears... then slowly nodded.
She understood.
“Good. Now...” Limestone picked the rock back up and positioned herself squarely above the steel loop's padlock. “...give me some space. I gotta smack this thing. Hard. I don't wanna hurt you by accident.”
Marble was already backtrotting with a rattle of her chains. She stood quietly behind Limestone.
“Now... this might be loud...” Limestone clenched her teeth. She raised the rock above her head.
And she was right.
Clang!!!
She smacked the rock against the padlock with all her might. It merely rattled in place, not even scarred.
CLANG!!!
Limestone struck it again, grunting this time. A spark or two flew, but the padlock remained completely intact.
Limestone struck it again and again, snarling and hissing with each violent thrust.
CLANG! CL-CLANG! CLANGGG!!!
Marble Pie watched, her eyes and ears flinching with each impact.
At long last—after two full minutes of pummeling—Limestone collapsed on her haunches, a panting and sweating mess. Her break was awarded with giggles rising from the abyss below, growing closer in their bubblish tonality.
“Okay... okay... okay...” Limestone looked back up at Marble. “Your turn.”
Marble looked forlornly at the rock.
“You don't have to hit it hard,” Limestone wheezed, reading her sister's mind. “We just gotta keep hitting it. This is a battle of attrition. Good ol' rock against feeble metal.” She gulped, wiping her brow. “So long as we take turns, we can keep the pressure on until it breaks. Got it?”
Marble trembled. Nevertheless, she reached forward and grabbed the rock with a hopeful “Mmm-hmm.”
“Good.” Limestone gave Marble space and sat up straight, gesturing towards the loop and its padlock. “Now put your haunches into it! Ready... steady... swing!”
“Httt!' Marble swung with all her meager might.
Clang!
“Thattagirl!”
Cl-clang!
“You got this, Marble!”
Clanggg!
“Keep it up!”
Marble did as she was told. Between each swing, she glanced at the darkness below. A streak of gold flickered in her peripheral, accompanied by rosy eyes. Bone white teeth. A widening smile.
Before she knew it, a full minute of hammering had expired, tearing her muscles to the breaking point.
“Okay—Okay!” Limestone butted in with an outstretched hoof before Marble could continue. She took the rock from her sister. “Allow me again!”
Marble Pie sat back—panting—as her sister took over.
CLANG!!!
The cavernous air filled with grunts.
CLANGGG!
Giggles answered back, causing the torchlight to dance in a sickening sweet breath.
CL-CLANG!!!
Marble Pie shut her eyes. She breathed calmly. The heavy impacts no longer made her ears twitch. A steady ringing sound took over, permeating her to the core.
Somehow, she made out the ragged breath of Limestone Pie at the end of the last salvo.
“Okay... I... I-I think...” Limestone sweated and heaved. “...I think I made a dint in it!”
The rock rolled over and stopped before Marble's front hooves.
“Just a few more...” Limestone tried to smile this time, but it was hallow. She winced through the sweat to say: “We can knock it loose! I'm s-sure of it!”
Marble quietly picked up the rock. She squared herself up and took aim.
Clang!
“That's it, sis!” Limestone shouted.
Clang!
“Just a little more!” Limestone leaned forward to steady the padlock. “We'll have this thing smashed before—”
THWACK!!!
Limestone's skull jerked to the side. Her eyes rolled back into a bubbling curtain of blood.
TH-THWACK!!!
The second strike with the rock sent her collapsing to the granite like a slab of meat. She twitched from head to tail... slowly growing limp—save for a lingering twitch to her rear leg that made the chains rattle like dull cymbals.
Marble Pie exhaled, then put down the stained stone. She sat for a brief speel before what was left of her sister, teetering and blinking as if coming out of a dream. When the moment had passed, she shuffled forward, kneading the space between them with tender hooves.
Soon, Limestone's body was rolling, toppling. It made for the cliff's edge, dragging a loop of chain along with her.
Upon the precipice, Marble paused. She elected to brace herself against the steel loop, gripping it with her forelimbs as though it were an anchor. From the darkness beyond, the rising giggles doubled. She thought she could see a reflective sheen of gold and white peaking over the obsidian edge. Thus, Marble sacrificed all ceremony, and placed her lower limbs squarely against Limestone's tummy.
That's when a pair of cold gray hooves grasped her lower fetlock.
Marble gasped. Gnashing her teeth, she let go of the steel loop and reached down to disentangle herself.
But her sister was clinging tight. Even as Marble Pie tried to peel her away, she slithered her head upwards until they were neck in neck.
“I l-love you,” she lisped, gargling blood.
Marble Pie hissed back, pulling, yanking, shoving.
Loving fetlocks raked her flesh. “I love you.” Topaz eyes. Tearing. Rolling. “I love—”
“Hnnngh!” Marble kicked her sister's bloody face. Limestone toppeled into the great blackness like a dim candle. The edge of rock snuffed her out.
The giggles stopped—only for a victorious explosion: “FUN!!!”
There was a flaring of alabaster wings. Shadows shot across the torchlight, resembling a spinning spider pouncing upon a fly. Then that conjoined shadow sank like a stone, drowning in the deep.
The hideous moment was serenaded by the rattling of chains. Marble Pie caught the rusted links waterfalling over the cliff's edge. She leapt sideways and hugged the steel loop with her whole body in the nick of time.
CHKKKK!
The chain stretched taut. A fishermare's line into nothingness.
“Mmmmmmmmmghhh!” Marble clenched her eyes shut. The sheer weight of death pulled and tugged at her right rear limb until it felt like snapping.
But then a loud SNAP! issued from the chasm, wet and cathartic. Laughter trailed off into the distance, falling into a delicious sleep.
Marble Pie caught her breath. She tried crawling away from the cliff's edge, and she found it depressingly easy. The chain dragged loosely up onto the granite, pulling the full length along with it. At last, Marble Pie had crossed enough ground that she had fished loose the very end of the tether—and along with it a bloody stub of a gray fetlock fastened securely within its cuff.
Tears rippled across Marble's eyes. A familiar fog. Nevertheless, she dried them in a single swipe of her forelimb. There was no time to waste. This—above all—she knew.
Already—as she was standing up—she heard a distinct ringing sound filling the chamber. It was an acoustical phenomenon, courtesy of a long-forbidden black magic. The air smelled with copper, and through the peripheral of Marble's vision, she could see the etched lines in the floor of the cliff filling up with red.
The butterfly patterns filled over scarlet, sweeping in one crimson line from the cliff's edge towards the door.
Meanwhile, Marble fussed and fought and tugged at the full length of the chain. It took a few ardent yanking motions, but she finally plopped her sister's cuffed limb through the steel loop with a minor splatter of blood. After all, most of the juices had gone elsewhere.
And now they were rivering towards the black doorframe. The grooves on the floor converged and—once reddened—produced an audible click from the mysterious locking mechanism within. With a deathly creak, the door popped loose.
Marble Pie was already galloping—hobbling—straight towards the exit. Running under torchlight, she barreled through the door shoulder-first. Waiting for her panting figure was a winding set of stone steps leading nebulously upwards. Marble swiftly ascended, dragging the chain and the stubby scrap of her sister behind her, sobbing with each panicked prance.
At last, she reached the top—and another door. This she opened with slightly more grace... revealing the first floor of a wooden cabin beyond.
But not just any cabin. She instantly recognized the dining table situated before a flickering hearth. Her sad, glazed eyes reflected four place mats set with bowls of soup. Two of the tables had been knocked over, with the meal in question splattered wildly across the table's edge in various places. Wooden spoons lingered on the floor.
There was a blinding sliver of light to her left.
In a solid breath, Marble Pie faced it. She slowly approached the cabin's exit with dignity and grace. Squinting, she opened it to a gray sunrise outside. Across the stone field of her farm, two elder ponies stood within the shadow of an immense round object—holder's boulder.
Immediately upon her appearance, Igneous Rock Pie turned to face the cabin entrance with his unfaltering deadpan. The hatted stallion held a freshly-lit torch in the crook of his hoof. The tone of his voice was still as granite when he addressed his youngest child:
“So... it is you again.”
Marble Pie inhaled. Her eyes shut calmly, squeezing out the last of many tears. She exhaled: “Mmm-hmm.”
“I see it is so.” Igneous Rock looked at his wife.
Cloudy Quartz said nothing, her bifocal'd eyes cast emotionlessly to the ground.
Marble reopened her eyes. She gazed at her mother, her mouth pressed to the front of her muzzle—
“Did she have any shred of understanding this time?” It was Igneous again, pressing. “Any remembrance whatsoever?”
Marble Pie sighed out the side of her mouth. She hung her head. “Mmm-mmm.”
The stallion's nostrils flared into the torchlight. “Then it is as I feared.” His jaw tightened. “The last three weren't any the wiser. It will take many rebirths before she is as strong as you and the other two.”
Marble Pie mirrored her mother; she said nothing.
“But never mind that. Come forth, Three of Four,” Igneous ordered.
And Marble obeyed. She approached her progenitors, dragging the chain and bloody stub along with her.
“Here...” Igneous offered his daughter the torch.
She took it, then watched as the patriarch of the family trotted over, picking up the slack of the chain.
At last, Igneous grasped the dismembered leg of Limestone.
“Long ago... we made a horrible mistake...”
He turned and approached Holder's Boulder.
“...repentance is not enough. That creature comes to claim our blood, and only strength and purity make the key...”
As Marble Pie and Cloudy Quartz looked on, Igneous held his dead daughter's stub like a paint brush and drew a tall oval along the undercarriage of the immense boulder.
“Sooner or later...” His cold amber eyes narrowed as he completed the scarlet circle with Limestone's blood. “...the four of you will be equal to one another. Constructed pure and competent.” He stepped back from his “artistry” and exhaled a firm breath. “Only then will you mares have the strength to defeat it.”
A low rumbling issued across the farm.
As the three Pies looked on, the scarlet oval filled in with cloudy crimson. The affected granite dappled over with pores, like ancient flesh. A vertical slit formed in the center—an inexplicable orifice—and it pulsed from the inside out with the beating of forbidden life.
It was Igneous who first broke the silence. “Beloved.” His eyes looked over to his mate. “As always, if you would do the honors bestowed upon you.”
Cloudy Quartz breathed, nodding. With nary a tear, she trotted coldly forward and thrust her hoof into Holder's Boulder. She stretched and reached until she was puncturing the patch of pulpous flesh. The elder mare's limb stuck in deep, twisted, then caught something. A slight trilling sound issued from her nose as she leaned her full weight back, pulling, tugging.
Marble Pie's eyes shut—but the firm touch from Ingeous' authoritarian hoof forced her to look.
Just as countless times before, a pony-shaped mass emerged from deep within the Boulder, ballooning through the amniotic tissue that now tore from the rock. As the body ripped loose, so did the patch of flesh, peeling off like a latex glove and leaving nothing but a slick coat of blood dribbling off the granite surface of the rock. The adult-sized body shook and thrashed against the farmland, its sinewy suit shrinking and melting away to reveal thin limbs of baby-soft gray fur underneath. It didn't scream and it didn't shout. It merely hiccuped and sobbed—sobbing to be alive once more.
Igneous knelt. So did Cloudy Quartz. The only one who remained standing was Marble Pie. This was the honor bestowed upon her, after all.
Soon enough—like a turtle scuttling towards the surf—the gangly thing stood up from where it was birthed and hobbled in the direction of Marble. Topaz eyes squinted painfully through the effluence of past failures.
“You will train her to become stronger, my child,” Igneous declared.
Marble Pie held the torch in one hoof and held her other limb towards the dizzied birthling.
“And if fate is on her side, it will one day be she who emerges instead of you.”
The creature lunged forward until it was hugging Marble, drenching her in its juices, shivering through each other's bones.
“As Holder's Boulder wills it.”
Marble Pie nodded shakily. Her throat choked, but she managed: “Mmm-hmm.”
Limestone likewise choked, but she too sealed it away, leaning into the heat of the fire and gracing her sisters' ear with a wet kiss.
“I love you.”
