Sana Sana Sana

Chapters

Planted seeds
Marble
Bond
Kahl

Planted seeds

“So, where would you like to begin?”

The room was dimly lit, two lamps shining behind a camera. It gave the room a warm atmosphere , not that the interviewee minded, reminding the interviewee of the love of her family, or what she hoped was love. The interviewee was Limestone Pie, daughter of Igneous and Cloudy Quartz Pie. She wore a black T-shirt with her band’s logo. Scars and deep ran from her upper shoulders to her hands.

“From the beginning, where else?” she asked with an annoyed tone. Limestone didn’t mean to come off as annoyed; everything that had happened over the past four months took a toll on her.

“So, it was January 21st…”

It was 2 A.M. on the Rock Farm, the pie household, within it lived four residents, Marble, Igneous, Cloudy Quartz, and Limestone Pie.

In the downstairs bathroom lied face down in the toilet Limestone Pie, age 24, She was the eldest of the Pie family, and heir to the farm. A revolting bile hit the porcelain throne, the taste of fear strong and the stench of a coward pugnant.

I don’t want to do this!thought a pained Lime.

I don’t want this to be my life forever. The bile rose up again.

Another round of repulsive sludge rose from her stomach and found it’s exit from her mouth.

Dammit! I don’t want this shit, I just want to be free! I don’t want to feel this way forever! Dammit! Dammit! Dam-

“Limestone?”

Limestone’s ears perked up at the sound of her name. She looked up and saw her baby sister, Marble, standing in the bathroom doorway.

The young woman looked at her sister keeling on the floor, tears flowing out of her eyes, and her lower jaw covered with vomit.

“Limestone, a-a-are you ok?” Marble asked with a quivering voice.

Limestone wiped her eyes and proceeded to get up. She flushed the toilet, attempting to rid any of the evidence of the vile filth she had emitted.

“Nothing’s wrong Marble; go back to bed.” Limestone told her sister, trying to hide any pain in her voice.

“But I heard—“

“YOU HEARD NOTHING! NOW GO BACK TO BED!” yelled Lime.

Normally, someone yelling at the shy Pie would break her, but Limestone she was used to. Marble knew her sister well, knew when she was hurt and when she was truly angry.

Marble approached her elder sister, whilst Lime tried to back away, only to bump into the wall.

Marble embraced her sister and held her tight as Lime broke down and cried.

“Good one, my Eldest child!” praised Igneous.

It was Monday afternoon. Limestone was doing her job, breaking rocks down and searching for minerals to sell. She already broke twenty-five that day more than any other Pie could.

Igneous walked up towards his daughter, pickaxe in hand. His eyes were stern yet warm.

“Twenty-five in one day? You put me to shame, young one.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Limestone grunted. “Not even I at your age was able to achieve such a feat. You really do make me proud, Limestone!”

Igneous placed his hand on her head, patting it affectionately. Igneous was not always good at expressing emotion, hence why Maud’s the way she is. Yet, ever since Pinkie’s first party, he tried his best to convey how he feels. This didn’t always work out in his favor, but how would he know? With no one telling him, it led to other issues.

“Now, how about you take a break? You’ve been at it all day.”

“No need Pa, there’s thirty more rocks to break.”

“You sure? As I said, twenty-five is quite a lot for one day. You also need to get ready for our meeting with our business associates later tonight.”

“I got this dad,” Limestone said whilst focusing on the next rock.

Igneous chuckled.

“A very headstrong gir—I mean, woman. You make me proud, Limestone, you and all of your sisters.”

As Igneous walked off, Limestone focused on breaking down the next rock. She gripped her ax so tightly veins bulged from her arms. She swung her ax down with such force it was like she was avenging some wrong the rock had done on her.. Her gaze intensified upon the rock; the outside world was tuned out. All she could think about was getting the work done, since they were already behind. She knew that most clients had already invested in other companies, and that getting it from the source was quite old fashion, but her family still managed to live up to the expectations of their clients. She knew if they even miss one day, slip one time, they will all pull out, and her family will go broke. Pinkie and Marble would have to forgo college, unable to achieve their dreams. Maud would have to drop out and return, giving up on her geology degree. Soon, they wouldn’t be able to afford the medication for Pinkie’s ADHD, Marble’s anxiety pills, and Cloudy’s kidney medicine. And without Cloudy’s medication… Limestone couldn’t bring herself to think about the possibility of losing her mother.

“Lime!”

Limestone snapped out of her trance, and looked up to see Marble standing in front of her.

“Oh, hey Marble. How was school?”

“Good. Pinkie and her friends say hello.”

Lime just grunted and went back to breaking down the rock.

“Uh... Lime.”

Lime didn’t hear.

“Lime…Limestone!”

Limestone swung her ax to the ground and fixed a fierce gaze upon her sister.

“WHAT!?”

“That rock’s already broken down.” Marble pointed out.

Limestone looked down at the rock she was working on. It was shattered and she didn’t see it. Was it her thoughts on the possibility of losing everything, or did she know, and just wanted to get rid of this painful feeling she was harboring within herself?

Limestone spat on the ground. “I am going inside to get something to eat, I’ll do this later,” she announced, dropping the ax.

As she turned around and headed back to the house, Marble called out to her. “Hey, Lime, about earlier this morning—”

Limestone stopped but didn’t bother to look back to her sister.

“—do you want to talk about it?”

There was a minute of silence between the two Pie siblings. It was soon broken with the gruff tone of the eldest child.

“Marble, please, stay out of my business. Don’t you have homework or some shit to do? Focus on that or else you’ll fail.”

Lime then continued her trek back to the house, leaving Marble standing there in the cold field.

It was 6:30 pm. Igneous and Limestone were at the Joseph Star Hotel’s meeting room, waiting for their clientele. Lime and Igneous were dressed in a prim and proper attire, Igneous sporting a traditional 1800s suit with a stiff tie over a tall collar, black pants, and black suede shoes. Lime on the other hand was wearing a more modern grey dress, with high heels and her hair was tied into a bun. She wore white gloves that stretched up to her forearms, little scratch marks of an indeterminate color marking them. Despite her family saying she should get new ones, Lime ignored them. She didn’t favor these gloves; hell, she didn’t like wearing them in public, but there was something about these gloves that called to her.

At around 6:45 the clientele arrived five in all. There was Better Sort, a tall lanky man with pale skin and yellow teeth dressed as if he were attending a funeral, his hair slicked back and black as night. He reeked of cheap cologne to cover the strong Latakia-smelling tobacco that clung to him.

Next was a middle-aged man of average build, Haunt Monde. Light blue skin, and dawning a tweed attire, and a bowl cap. He had a brown Dallas mustache, that shined like a horse’s coat.

Thirdly there was a man with spring green-gray skin, azure eyes, short dark grey hair, and square glasses. He was dressed in a white ascot, with a green sweater draped over it, with stylish dark blue dress pants, and pointed black shoes. His name was Smart Set.

Next was a green skinned woman clad in an elegant yellow gown, with jewels bedazzling on her collar, while also wearing a dark green gem necklace. Her black hair complemented her dress. Her name is Crème de la Crème, but she would often go by Cream.

Last, and certainly least, was a portly gentleman with pasty pink skin. His attire was similar to that of Igneous in the sense that it was quite retro: a black top hat to cover his shiny dome, a tall white collar, and black suit with a red tie, and black pants. His shoes were black and suede like the ones worn by Igneous. His name was Porky.

“Good evening folks.” Igneous greeted.

He and Limestone both got up and shook hands with their clients. When they sat down, they went straight to business.

“Now, Mr. Pie,” Better Sort began, “I understand this is your eldest child’s first meeting?”

Igneous smiled proudly. “Yes, indeed it is so.”

Limestone didn’t bother to smile, but neither did she have her usual scowl.

“Hmm. Nice to see another young lady coming to power.” Cream said.

“Well, this will be an exciting night for you, and hopefully you will learn something valuable,” stated Haut.

“Indeed, it shall,” Igneous answered for his daughter.

The meeting started off lightly, but that soon changed. It wasn’t even thirty minutes before things got heated. Talks of long waits, threatening to pull out, and passive insults at their background was all that came up.

“What do you mean you ran out of beryl gems, I have five stores demanding more!” yelled Porky.

“Mr. Porky,” started Igneous, “you must understand that these gems are already rare on the farm. If we ran out of the sources, then we ran out. We can, however, provide you with other rare gems you don’t have yet.”

“I want the beryl gems, dammit! What kind of a rock farm are you running?”

“Now, Pigsly,” Smart Set began.

“Porky!” the portly gentleman corrected.

“Whatever. Surely you cannot be too picky, especially when we are dealing with people of…traditional background.”

“That being said,” started Huat, “we each lose something to our competitors waiting for their family to produce. Yes, while we do get more positive income in the long term, in the short term we lose more and more, and the lowly consumer can’t wait.”

“We are working as hard as we can,” stated Igneous.

“Well, clearly not hard enough!” retorted Cream. “You would think with all your children, they’d be able to help instead of wasting their time educating themselves. And throwing ridiculous parties.”

“WE’VEWORKED OUR ASSES OFF SINCE WE WERE KIDS!” screamed Limestone.

The room went quiet. Limestone breathed heavily, her head banging with pain. Her heart pounded at an alarming rate. Limestone was not blind to this, she took a deep breath, and exhaled.

“Listen,” she began in a calmer, but still annoyed, demeanor. “We are working hard as we can. I’ve been putting in hours upon hours of work, more than what the law allows for a business to give their employees. Just today, we have gathered twelve percent more material than we normally do. All we ask is patience and understanding. For years, our family has yet to fail any of you, so please, just know that we are working hard and will get you what you need.”

Better Sort was the first to respond. “I understand, and thank yo—“

“I don’t give a damn about patience! I’m on a schedule!” Porky interrupted

“Yes, and my god, a lady putting more in a shift than needed?” Smart Set questioned. “How ghastly, perhaps life isn’t all farm hands and teaching the ‘youngun’s,” he jabbed.

“Oh, come on Smart; clearly you could tell from her more masculine features, clearly she is one that plays for the same team,”sneered Haut.

Lime knew what he meant; she always presented herself as a masculine figure but she wasn’t gay. She was teased as a kid for appearing masculine. Memories of childhood bullying flooded back.

“Gentlemen, please,” pleased Cream. “You must commend her for her bravery; she might not be the most beautiful flower amongst the patch, but after years of hard work she’s become a hard-working person. Her attire speaks volume of such.”

“W-what?” Lime asked, pain creeping into her voice.

“Such drab attire, broken and beaten; clearly she has forsaken years of womanhood and any chance of... well I shouldn’t say,” Cream giggled.

“Could you please excuse us?” Igneous asked.

Igneous pulled Limestone out in the hallway. When she saw her father’s face, she saw the ire in his eyes.

“Limestone, what in God’s name are you doing?”

“Standing up for our family! They all kept mocking us and threatening our livelihood. You can’t tell me you can just stand there and take it!”

“Limestone, listen. I don’t like what they’re saying anymore than you do—“

“Do you?”

Igneous breathed out a heavy sigh.

“Limestone, when it comes to things like these, you must learn to take it. They mock me all the time, make fun of you and your sisters, and even make comments on your mother.”

Limestone’s eyes turned to a color reminiscent of brimstone. “What did those bastards say about Mom?”

“Limestone, calm yourself, or I will keep you out here. You are twenty-four years old! Act like an adult!” commanded Igneous

The two Pies stared at each other, before Limestone gave a huff. “Fine, I will.”

Igneous’s face lightened. He wanted to say something encouraging, but he opted not to. The two then returned to the table with their guest.

“Sorry about that,” Igneous said.

“We have something to s—” Porky said before Smart interrupted him.

“Let me tell them.” He cleared his throat before beginning. “Mr. Pie, and daughter, the five of us have talked, and in a vote of four-to-one, we have agreed that we will give you until the end of this month to fulfill our needs.”

“What!?” both Igneous and Lime exclaimed.

“With accommodations of course. Beryl gems will no longer be needed, and instead, rubies are what he now requires.”

“One hundred ruby gems!” bellowed Porky.

Lime blanched. “A hundred? We barely get twenty.”

“Not our problem!” Porky said with a grin.

“Now, if you fail, we will all invest our money elsewhere,” Smart declared.

Lime’s world turned bleak, the air thinning and her blood running cold. A small ringing filled her ears and her stomach felt like it was being squeezed by a boa constrictor.

By the end of the meeting the terms were agreed upon. There were a few bright sides; the beryl gem order was canceled and Better Set agreed to extend the deadline to the end March. The car ride home was tense; there was no talking but Limestone could tell her father was irritated not only by the order but her behavior as well.

When they got home, Lime went straight to her room, ignoring her mother and sister. Busted open the door and threw herself on the bed and buried her face in the pillow.

Dammit Dammit Dammit! I fucked everything up! WE WILL NEVER MEET THEIR DEMANDS!

“Limestone.”

Limestone lifted her head and looked at the entrance of her room. It was Marble.

“Lime, do you want to talk?”

Limestone sniffed and her face softened before hardening further.

“Not now Marble. I just want to be alone.”

“I understand, but-“

“No! Please, just leave me alone.”

Marble didn’t like seeing Lime like this, but she left.

After a couple of minutes of sobbing, Limestone fell asleep, only to be awoken by an unfamiliar voice.

“WaKe uP!”

Limestone woke up, turned on her lamp and looked around. All she saw was her sister sleeping in the other bed, and the rest of their room.

Before Limestone could brush it off and go back to sleep, the voice returned. “Don’T SleEp!”

“What, who’s there?” Limestone demanded in a panic.

“You hurt us! You are the reason Mom is dying!” It sounded like Pinkie.

“Pinkie?”

“Lime, don’t speak to me!” This one sounded like Maud.

“Maud?” Lime’s voice cracked with a trace of sadness.

“I hate you. I know I am not good at expressing myself but listen to me when I say this. Don’t speak to me again. I had to break up with my boyfriend and quit my job. Never talk to me again, you selfish bitch.”

“Limestone, my eldest.” It was Igneous’s voice, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Limestone got up and ran to the bathroom while the voice continued to berate her.

“My wife, your mother, has died. She meant the world to me.”

Limestone turned on the sink and splashed water on her face, as she made sure the water didn’t drain.

“I know what you are thinking but know this: I will never forgive you.”

Limestone’s heart broke, and she screamed as she plunged her head into the water, to drown out the voices.

With that, they were gone. Limestone took her head out and turned around and sunk down to the ground as she began to cry. All that she could feel now was pain, a mental pain that is stabbing continuously, molesting her mind. She wanted it to end.

She felt something in her pocket. Her Italian stiletto knife. She unsheathed it and looked at her left arm.

Everything was crystal clear. She then proceeded to free the stream of darkness inhabiting her body. Five cuts, each freeing her from her captors’ grips. It was serene.

“LIMESTONE!?”

Limestone snapped out of it and looked at the doorway. It was Marble again, standing there in her pajamas. Fear was written on her face as she witnessed her sister engaging in self-mutilation.

Limestone looked at her baby sister. She stood up, and tried to talk to her, but a vicious cat held her tongue. Nothing came out of her lips.

Marble, shaking, slowly approached her sister, and like the previous night, Lime stepped back.

However, unlike that night, this night had a different outcome.

When Marble was going to embrace her sister, Limestone grabbed her by the collar and said, “Leave me alone, you clingy, annoying bitch!”

She threw Marble to the floor.

Everything went red and black, but when it simmered. Limestone looked at her sister, tears streaming from her eyes, her body shaking. Limestone couldn’t stand to see Marble like this, but nor could she believe she did such a thing to her own sister. She dropped the blade and ran back to their room.

She slammed the door behind her and cried.

After a minute or two, she picked herself up and knew that she had to apologize to Marble.

Limestone walked slowly back to the bathroom, she noticed the door was closed but the lights were on.

“Marble, I—I’m sorry I hurt you. I love you, I... I don’t know what’s wrong with me...” Lime sobbed, choking on her tears.

“I understand if you hate me.”

Limestone opened the door.

“But—“

Limestone froze when she saw her baby sister dragging the Italian knife over her skin. Blood ran down her left arm, and from the look of it, these weren’t her first cuts either.

Marble

“So, where would you like to start off, Miss. Marble?”

Marble sat in the same room her elder sister sat in, but she was alone with the interviewer. Something was different though. Unlike usual she had the pose of a person with a bit more confidence, as opposed to her normal shy demeanor.

Like her sister, she too was dressed in black, with her T-shirt having their band logo on it. Visible cuts also ran down her arm but were were deeper than Lime’s. Her hair was tied to a bun and had black dyed tips. Her nails were painted black, which was unusual for her, as she often refused to ever get them done.

“Well,” began the young woman, “let me start where I first got my social phobia, and I will jump back to the night where my sister found me cutting myself with her knife.”

Marble Pie was eighteen years old, the youngest of the Pie sisters, with Lime being the oldest. She had a twin sister, Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was three minutes older than Marble.

All throughout their childhood, Marble was known for being quiet, but that was not always the case. She wasn’t born with social anxiety, but like any other social phobia, she developed one after a bad experience. Truth be told, she was just like Pinkie but this soon changed when she was a lad in 1st grade.

Pinkie and Marble had separate classes at that time. For the first time in what seemed like ages to them, they were separated. Pinkie, as per usual, was making friends wherever she went. Marble on the other hand, was struggling a bit. She had, at first, nice interactions with the other students, and some of them would even play with her during recess and talked to her during lunch.

This all changed one day. It was a muggy grey day, an odd atmosphere. It was during German class. The region the school was located had a hefty German population, and even though English was slowly but surely replacing it, the young children were still taught German. Now, the Pie sisters were often quick learners when it came to languages; Pinkie herself managed to become fluent in Mongolian during a one-month student exchange program to Mongolia in 10th grade.

So it was no surprise that both Pinkie and Marble had an advanced understanding in German, as their parents and grandparents taught it to them. Everyone in class was amazed.

Well, almost everyone.

A boy by the name of Bӓrenfang Knackwurst was envious of Marble’s grasp on the language. He grew to be annoyed by her semi-bubbly attitude, her good grades, and the fact that her sister was quite popular.

During the gray muggy day, Marble and Pinkie were playing at the school playground. When Pinkie went inside to use the bathroom, Marble encountered Knackwurst.

“Hallo, Knackwurst,” the smiling Pie said. “Want to play in the sandbox with me?”

The young black-haired boy looked at her. His stomach infested with butterflies, and his palms coated in sweat. His breathing was off-beat. Marble noticed he looked off; usually he was more open. She got up and approached the boy.

“Knackwurst, Geht es dir gut?”

With that phrase, something in the young boy snapped, and he punched Marble. The punch connected to her face and knocked her down to the sand box. Marble slowly looked up, rubbing her jaw with tears slowly swelling up in her eyes.

“Knackwurst… Warum?”

He kicked her in her abdomen, causing Marble to gasp out painfully.

“J-JUST STOP IT!” yelled the boy. “STOP BEING SO GOOD! I HATE YOU! YOU’RE SO GOOD AT EVERYTHING! AND I’M NOT!”

Marble slowly got up and looked at her classmate. She was used to anger like this; Limestone and Maud would often get angry at each other or their parents and lose their temper. Marble knew he didn’t mean it, so what she did next was what she would’ve normally done with her older sister’s. She slowly approached him for a hug. Knack just looked at her, waves of shuddering spindles tickling him, mixed with the intense burning boiling in his soul.

“Knack,” she started, “you are a good person. I like you; I want to be your friend.”

That is when it went red for Knack, he pushed her on the ground and kicked sand on her. “I don’t want to be your friend! I hate you! Everyone in class only likes you because you’re smart; they all secretly hate you! I should know, they tell me!”

Knack was lying but to Marble that seemed like the truth; she would often hear kids whispering behind her, and she had a sneaking fear that they were gossiping about her.

“We all hate you Marble! We only like Pinkie! Everyone hates how you speak German so well! They all call you a kiss up! So stop it!” Knack yelled.

Both kids looked at each other. Marble was starting to cry and Knack, well he was holding it back but he wanted to break down too.

Marble started to talk once again “B-but, I wan—“

“Just shut up!” yelled Knack. “If you keep talking, I’ll, I’ll… I’ll keep beating you up! And all the kids will stop pretending!”

Marble was confused and immensely frightened; before she could say anything, an opening door was heard, Knack and Marble looked at the general direction and saw Pinkie skipping out. Knack hightailed it out of there while Marble was left lying in the sand crying. From that day she would speak little and become very wary of people talking behind her back. She feared talking to others and would think people were easily annoyed by her. The only time she felt safe talking was with her family. Even Lime’s harsh exterior wouldn’t hurt her; well, not at first.

“Hold on,” began the interviewer, “isn’t Knack your—?”

“Yes.” Marble smiled. “But we will get to that part later.”

“So, this is where you think it started? Your social anxiety?”

“Yes, and it got worse as time went on.”

Marble’s anxiety grew worse overtime and with it came consequences. Her grades faltered and she withdrew from socializing. A nothingness began to grow in the pit of her chest, eating at her. She became isolated and estranged, even to her family. Pinkie, Maud, and Lime would do their best to help her but to no avail.

The sisters would even try to ask the young Pie what made her so isolated but Marble wouldn’t reveal why. The older sisters made a vow; Pinkie, Maud, and Lime concluded that someone bullied Marble to isolation, and if they ever met that person, one of them would teach them a lesson. Yet they would never know that the bully was right under their noses—that is until high school.

By then things started to change for the better. During winter break, the Apple family came to visit the Pie family after a discovery of them being quite distant relatives. Even though things were rocky at first, they ended up getting along with one another. The black void within Marble’s chest felt as if it went away.

She even formed a crush on one of the Apples, Big Mac. Both were people of few words and both seemed to have some chemistry. Despite him being three years older than her, they seemed to have formulated a bond that was seen in only fairy tales. From then on, Marble started to slowly come out of her shell. All seemed good in the world, until…

Marble and Pinkie were in their senior year and it was again winter break. This time the Pies visited the Apples on their farm. White snow covered the emerald grass. The cool atmosphere was welcomed as it healed the people’s souls from the infestation of the wretched humidity that had plagued the citizens of Equestira.

When the Pies arrived, they were welcomed by the Apples along with new faces such as Grand Pear, Babs, Sunflower, and Sugar Belle, Big Mac’s girlfriend.

When Marble witnessed them kissing, her heart felt it had been ripped out and stabbed by the Ripper himself. She was devastated; she spent the rest of the day alone in one of the Apples’ rooms, crying. The one time she felt like she had a connection with someone outside her immediate family was snuffed out. And with that, a familiar feeling returned.

Every time, she thought. Every time I feel like a connection is building, it turns out I was wrong. I hate feeling this empty. I thought this went away years ago.

“Marble?” a deep voice asked. The gray girl looked up and saw it was Big Mac.

“Marble, are you ok?”

Big Mac approached her, but Marble just stood up and ran past him, crying. The young man grabbed her arm before she could leave the room. Marble turned around to meet his concerned gaze and broke down. “FUCK OFF!”

“W-what?”

“You heard me. Fuck off! You have your whore and I see how much she makes you happy. I was a damn idiot thinking anything could’ve happen between u—”

Marble was cut off by Big Mac’s embrace. She broke down crying as he gently brushed her hair. “I know we had something, but things change,” he said softly. “You’re a beautiful young woman Marble; you’ll find someone. Someone better than me.”

“But what if I don’t?” she asked, choking on her tears.

“You will,” he assured her. “If someone as quiet as me can find someone, I’m sure as hell someone like you will meet the perfect gal or guy. Just keep your head up; it’ll get better.”

On the surface, this should have cheered her up. She stopped crying and returned to her family, but at the back of her head the anxiety kept telling her that she would always be alone and that no one will like her.

On the same night at the hotel, Marble, Pinkie, Maud, and Lime shared a room while their parents stayed at another one on the floor above them. When they were all asleep, Marble was in the bathroom, crying.

“Please, please just go away,” she cried softly to herself. “Please, just leave my body. I don’t want this feeling to stay.”

Marble continued to cry. She thought music would help, so she took out her phone and looked up sad songs. All of them looked the same to her until one perceluiar song came up, a foreign one. The song was titled “Du er Alene” by Make a Change… Kill Yourself.

Marble could easily translate the title as “you are alone”but this band had a strange name, so bleak and forward, yet oddly welcoming. She listened to the nine-minute song and it was like a warm blanket had been wrapped around her brain, hugging her tightly as if the music was speaking for her. She looked up this band and found that they were part of a subgenre of another subgenre of metal, DSBM, or depressive suicidal black metal. She learned that bands of this elk often wrote songs of hopelessness, self-hatred, sex, depression, and other things. She began to listen to other DSBM bands such as Silencer, Sterbend, Bethlehem, and Forgotten Tomb.

Each song eased Marble’s mind but drew her closer to a darker place. Time flew as she delved deeper and deeper into the dark alluring pit, listening to the bleak music of pained people, taking note that one of the common things they would do was self-mutilation. Canterlot High students would talk about how people cut themselves to free them from the pain. Marble was curious if that were the case; she knew Lime had a stiletto switchblade in her traveling bag for protection.

Marble exited the bathroom and looked in the closet for her oldest sister’s handbag, making sure to keep quiet so as to not wake the other girls. Upon finding it, she ran back to the bathroom and locked the door. She activated the knife, releasing the shiny metal blade. She looked at Lime’s stiletto, contemplating.

Her vision blurred and her legs went numb as the blade inched closer and closer to her arm. Placing it on her wrist, Marble slices at her skin twice. There was a stinging sensation but it soon subsided, and what leaked out next was the crimson liquid that traveled through the stream of her arm. Marble’s vision cleared and the emptiness within her chest slowly withered away. She had finally found a way to fend off the darkness, but as with any other form of addiction to free oneself from pain, she soon found herself doing it repeatedly. Everyday after school, she would use either her father’s razor blades or her sister’s knife to slice into her flesh.

The cuts started off light but soon progressed deeper and deeper. With each injury came the liberating sensation of leaving the pain of life. Marble was now enthralled with DSBM, purchasing CDs from the record store. She would soon find a job, tending animals with Fluttershy, and she would use money to buy more CDs. Marble would find sites and message boards that would talk about the music. Through them she learned about shoegaze and blackgaze and got into other bands. Even Fluttershy took note of her taste in extreme music.

One Friday, Marble and Fluttershy were in the break room talking. “So,” began the yellow skinned girl, “Deicide released a new album. Despite the vocals being better than the last one, I really wish they did more than sing about blasphemy. Hell, I haven’t heard them sing about anything else since their debut, and that was back in 1990.”

“I’m not really into them,” Marble replied. “I’m not a big fan of death metal in general, except for bands like Deathand Paranorm.”

“Oh, that’s right, I keep forgetting you’re more into black metal and shoegaze.”

“Yeah. Speaking of which, do you know any good bands that sing about depression?” asked Marble.

“Sorry Marble. I like black metal but I’m not a huge fan of DSBM. While I like some songs from that genre, I’m not into the whole depressive atmosphere. It reminds me of my past. Before Twilight came,” Flutter explained.

“I see,” said Marble.

“I’m not saying you can’t like it,” said Flutter, “but it's not my cup of tea… Actually, there is a shoegaze band I like that often sings about depression.”

“Really?” Marble asked, eager to hear.

“Yeah! They have an odd name though, but then again, most of the bands I listened to also have… creative names,” Fluttershy chuckled. “They’re called An Autumn for Crippled Children.”

Marble laughed. “That’s an interesting name.”

“They don’t post their lyrics, they don’t allow photos of the members, and they never perform live. But from what Encyclopaedia Metallum says, they talk about anguish, depression, anger, and love. Their music is quite beautiful, I think you would like them,” said Flutter.

“Interesting,” replied Marble.

Fluttershy’s phone buzzed. “Well, our break’s over. I’ll talk to you after work.”

“Alright, thanks for the recommendation.”

After work, Marble went down the street to the record store and looked for any album by Autumn for Crippled Children, and with luck she found one, Try Not to Destroy Everything You Love.

When she got home, she went to her room, put the CD in the DVD/CD player, and plugged in her headphones. She was taken away by the angelic tones mixed with the depressive atmosphere of the instruments. Each song hit differently and filled her with a pleasure she hadn’t yet experienced. Again, the pit within her chest filled back up and had remained filled for quite a while. Marble began to feel a little happier; she even started to talk to some of the people at school. All seemed right again.

It was 1:59 am, January 21st. Marble was fast asleep but was soon awakened by a strange rumble. Something wasn't right. Was this the legendary sense that ran through her family? She turned over to see that Limestone wasn’t in her’s. She thought Lime had gotten up to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water until she heard someone retching downstairs.

Marble went to investigate. Perhaps her mother had gotten sick. Worried, she looked through the open doorway and saw not her mom but Limestone.

“Limestone?” Marble asked nervously. Limestone turned to look at her sister. Traces of the bile dribbled from her lips.

“Limestone a-a-are you ok?” Marble nervously asked.

“Nothing’s wrong Marble. Go back to bed,” said Lime flatley.

Obviously, Marble knew that she was lying. “But I hear—”

“YOU HEARD NOTHING, NOW GO BACK TO BED!” Lime demanded.

Usually yelling would break Marble but knowing that this was a cry for help, she held her ground. She slowly approached her big sister. Lime got up and slowly backed away only to hit the wall. Marble embraced her, Lime breaking down and crying. They soon went back to bed, but that event stayed in Marble’s mind. All throughout the night and at school.

Marble’s thoughts drowned out all other noises; even the boisterous voice of her older twin wasn’t strong enough to snap her out of it. For hours, the scene replayed through her head, each time leading her to a darker place than before. This is when the familiar foe began to molest her once again.

“Marble,” came a voice. “Marble. Marble. MARBLE!” The yelling snapped her back to reality. A young woman with bacon-colored hair called her name. They were in German 3010, doing a group assignment. Marble doesn’t remember being paired with her, but it so seems like this familiar face was her partner.

“Sorry,” Marble said sheepishly. “I was miles off.”

“I’ll say; you’ve been like that almost this entire class. Are you alright? You seem more out of it, more than usual,” the orange woman asked.

“Yeah, just… stayed up a bit late last night.”

“Ah, I understand that feeling. I used to do that until last year. Trust me, you don’t want to get into the habit of staying up too late, unless you’re Twilight or Wallflower,” she explained.

“You know Twilight and Wallflower?” Marble asked.

“Yeah, Twilight’s my best friend and Wallflower’s my girlfriend. I thought you knew; I’m Pinkie’s friend after all.”

Marble realized whom she was talking to: Sunset Shimmer, the once infamous bully at her school.

“Oh yeah, you’re Sunset. Sorry, today’s been an off day for me.”

Sunset’s expression went from cheerful to empathetic. “Yeah, I hear that. It’s been a rough couple days for me too. Just been having these dreams…but I don’t want to bother you with the details; we have to focus on our regional project.”

Marble had a quizzical look on her face. “Regional?”

“Geez, you’ve been out of it. So, each group has a region to pick from a German speaking country. We got Austria and our region is Styria and…”

As Sunset continued to explain the project, Marble’s breath began to go shallow, her heart’s pace picked up, and her palms grew sweaty.

“Yeah, I know it's nerve wracking,” Sunset continued, snapping Marble out of her trance. “It has my heart up too; I’m not so big on history.” Marble just gave a weak smile and nodded her head. The two did their work and traded phone numbers so they could keep each other updated for the project.

After school, Pinkie drove Marble back to the rock farm. “You sure you don’t want to live with Maud and I? Having three sisters will be the bestest thing ever!” Pinkie said.

“No, I’m sure; I don’t want to be a burden, plus Maud, Ma, and Pa are already paying for the house's expenses.”

“Aw, PSHH! It’s no big deal, Maude even said she wishes you and Limey could stay with us!”

“Really?” asked Marble.

“You should’ve seen her face Marble! She was happy thinking about you and Limestone living with us.”

Marble would have loved to live with her sisters, but she felt as if she and Lime were responsible for helping their parents on the farm. When they arrived at their destination, they were greeted by Igneous. “Pinkamena, Marble, Meine Kleinen.” He embraced each daughter, planting a kiss on their foreheads. “How was school?”

“Oh my God oh my God oh my God! So, today…” As Pinkie rambled on, Marble took note of Lime, and saw her breaking down a rock. She wanted to talk to her about last night but

—the shivers held her tongue, and the demon within taunted her—

didn’t know how to go about it. She approached Lime, but as she came closer, Marble noticed that the rock she was picking at was already broken, and all that Lime was hitting was the ground. Each hit shook the earth under their feet, and the eyes of the woman that held the pickax resembled ones of someone on edge, just waiting for the next poor soul to poke them.

“Lime,” Marble said, but she got no reply. “Lime…Lime. Lime!”

Limestone snapped out of her trance and looked up at Marble.

“Oh, hey Marble. How was school?” Lime asked.

“Good. Pinkie and her friends say hello,”

Lime grunted and went back to work, still not noticing the rock was already obliterated. “Uh, Lime,” Marble timidly said. Limestone didn’t hear. “Lime…Limestone!”

With a fierce swing, Limestone struck the ground with her pickaxe, and looked up to her sister with a foreboding gaze.

“WHAT!?”

A cold force ran through Marble’s back as she slowly moved away.

“That rock’s already been broken down,” she pointed out.

Limestone looked at the rock and spat on the ground. She turned around and headed for the house. “I’m going inside to get something to eat. I’ll do this later,” she said as she dropped the ax.

Now’s the chance, thought Marble.

“Hey, Lime, about earlier this morning?” Limestone stopped but didn’t bother to look in her sister’s direction. Marble gulped, her arms felt like noodles, and she felt like she was underwater, as her vision blurred. Nevertheless, Marble forced the question out of her mouth. “Do you want to talk about it?”

There was a moment of silence between the two. The anxiety picked away at her mind, infecting the young woman’s brain once more, but momentarily stopped as she heard Lime give a gruff, “Marble, please stay out of my business. Don’t you have homework or some shit to do? Focus on that or else you’ll fail.” And with that, she continued heading back to the house.

Marble stood there, frozen. The void in her chest slowly grew and the anxiety crept ever so slightly through her brain, whispering to her about the horrible things that Lime really meant. In a futile attempt, Marble tried to push the demons back, and went inside the house.

For the rest of the evening, Marble worked on her project and texted Sunset about her progress. She ate dinner with Cloudy as Lime and Igneous were out on a business meeting. After dinner she had a shower and lied in bed trying to push away the negative thoughts that were trying to control her.

Please, stop. I don’t want to be bothered anymore. She looked at her CD set at the tail end of her bed. Music usually helps. She reached for her music stand and pulled out her recently bought An Autumn for Crippled Childrenalbum. She got up from bed and went to the closet to get out a pair of headphones. She then went to her side of the room and turned on the CD player as she sat down. Please, help me fight this, Marble desperately thought as she hit the play button.

As the music played, the nothingness and anxiety slowly retreated. Her eyes closed, her breathing in rhythm, and her noose feeling warm. Forty-four minutes of pure bliss embracing the soul. At the end of the album, she noticed it was ten o’clock, and the bags weighed heavily on her eyes. She slowly got up and walked towards the heavenly mattress, but was soon interrupted.

“Marble! Igneous and Lime have returned!” Cloudy called. “If you’re still up, how about you come down and greet them. I’m sure after a long meeting they would be incredibly happy to have their loved ones back!”

Marble’s heart dropped as the anxiety came back in full force. Ok, just go down and say hello and then you can go back to bed.

Marble put on a fake smile and headed downstairs, only for her sister to run past her. “Lime?” Marble asked but she got no response.

The young one continued her trek downstairs to ask why Lime was upset, but when she arrived at the great room, her father looked at her and already knew what her inquiry was.

“Youngest one, your elder sister acted out of turn, albeit she did say what I was thinking. It would probably be best if you go up and comfort her; we have been given a task, and I am sure she is indeed immensely stressed,” Igneous said with a nervous look on his face.

His uneasy tone was a dead give away. Rarely had Marble ever heard him use that tone, but when he did dire consequences were involved.

“Jawohl,” was all that Marble said. She crept back up the stairs and opened the door to their room where Lime was in bed crying into a pillow.

“Limestone,” began Marble.

Limestone looked up and met her sister’s gaze with teary eyes. “Not now, Marble. I just want to be alone.”

The pit within Marble’s breast grew.

“I understand but—”

“No! Please, just leave me alone.”

A sharp knife went through her chest, piercing her heart; not only were the demons molesting her soul and forming a bleak nothingness within her essence, but the demons stuck their forked tongues down her noose, whispering that she’s the reason Lime is upset. Her sister was breaking down and had been for awhile. She hated seeing Lime like this; she was the tough one, the protector. Yet here she was, broken down by the forces of life.

Marble sat outside of their room for about fifteen minutes. When she no longer heard crying she went back in to find Lime fast asleep. Marble placed a blanket on her and kissed her forehead before going to her own bed and falling soundly asleep. However; like the night before, she was again awoken by a trembling. When she looked across from her, she saw her sister’s bed was empty and it didn’t take long for Marble to know where Lime was.

The young one went downstairs and bolted straight to the bathroom, and when she finally arrived, she was met with a horrifying yet a familiar sight that sent a warm wave through her being.

Five opened wounds on Lime’s left arm, each leaking crimson bile. In her right hand was her tool of choice to open the wounds, the stiletto switchblade.

“LIMESTONE!?”

Limestone looked at the entrance and in Marble’s eyes was a scared young woman crying for help. Marble’s feelings of emptiness and anxiety all but disappeared; finally she could relate to someone and perhaps free her from her own demons of anxiety and self hatred, and no longer be a slave to self-mutilation.

Marble crept forward to her frightened sister, her breathing even, her vision full of hope and a burning light that offered a way out of the dark hole she was trapped in. Lime slowly backed away, trembling like a cheaply built building, her hearing slowly being deafened by the dark seeds that were now planted within her psyche. Things were growing black and all Lime could feel was cold wind blowing on her flesh. Sadly, unbeknownst to Marble, a different outcome would occur tonight. Lime reached at Marble and grabbed the collar of her shirt. Marble felt her heart sink , her teeth tap danced, and her arms stiffened.

“Leave me alone, you clingy annoying bitch!” Lime yelled before throwing Marble to the floor before running away.

As Lime ran off, Marble’s flimsy glass psyche shattered. CLINGY ANNOYING BITCH! repeated over and over in her mind as the black void took a firm grasp on her heart, and the anxiety raped the young one's mind, a mental pain perpetually stabbing her essence. Her only thoughts that weren't her sister’s stinging remark were ways of getting rid of the pain, some of which involved an eternal rest. Those thoughts briefly subsided when she saw Lime’s blade, the same illustrious blade she first used to free herself from the internal pain.

You caused all this! she thought as she got up and picked up the blade. You are the reason why I can’t be happy! You kept teasing me with little hints of freedom, but you could never finish the job and end my life! Perhaps it is me that is the fool, lying to herself, knowing full well I can’t end it like this.

She activated the blade and held her left arm over the sink. Light, or deep, I cannot end my fucking life! I want this pain to end. I want to fucking die, but like always I’m too weak to do so! I hate myself; I hate the pathetic woman I’ve become.

She flayed her arm, severely damaging her gray flesh and causing a considerable amount of blood to leak from her arm. Big Mac has Sugar Belle, Maud has Mudbriar, Pinkie has Cheese, Mom has Dad, Sunset has Wallflower, and I know Lime fucked at least once in her life!

She stabbed her arm once again and pulled back, ripping away at her skin. I can’t even whore myself out! I’ll always be alone, I’ll always be useless, I’ll always be a fucking subhu—”

“Marble,” came a voice.

Marble stopped; she was inches away from another vein.

“I-I’m sorry I hurt you. I love you. I…I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” It was Limestone.

Marble panicked. Shit! Shit! SHIT! was all she could think. There was too much blood to cover up and her wounds were too noticeable to hide. As the door opened, the atmosphere became chilling and bleak. Her heart stopped, her hearing faded, and her breath ceased.

“But—” Lime stopped mid-sentence as she saw her sister engaging in the same horrific act that she was doing a few minutes ago. Marble and Lime looked at each other, eyes locked, both filled with utter terror in the cold, soulless environment.

Author's Note

Thanks to my editor Sonya for helping me out
2.The bands listed are indeed real.
I will try to do more showing than telling, but for each characters background there will be more of a tell aspect.
I will not upload for awhile, as I am finishing another project on AO3, my profile is called Imaginative man 69 (Don't ask why i chose that name.)
Thanks for reading.

Bond

Silence filled the room as the two young women stared at each other, with horror inscribed in their eyes. Marble’s mind raced as she kept darting her eyes to her open wounds and back to her elder sister. Limestone, on the other hand, was stunned to not only see the open flesh, but the other scars upon her baby sister’s grey arm. Some ranged from minor cuts that could be written off as being scratched by a small cat to major inflictions that screamed death's name begging to be set free from this material world. Compared to Marble’s, Lime’s cuts were a baby’s first steps.

A loud ding sounded throughout the bathroom which snapped Lime out of her trance. Marble dropped the knife in the sink, a salty stream flowing from her eyes; the youngest Pie tried to utter a word but couldn’t bear to do so. Her throat felt as if an accursed parasite was choking her; choking gasps were all that passed through her lips.

Limestone swallowed the lump in her throat and sighed. Removing her gray dress, leaving her only in her underwear, she gently tugged at Marble’s arm and held it out. She then proceeded to wrap her dress around the young one’s wounds and tightened it. The makeshift bandage was tight enough to apply pressure to the wound.

Marble looked as the grey fabric soaked up the crimson liquid spilling from her being. Her thoughts began to ease, the pit in her breast began to fill, and all senses of sheer terror left. She looked up at her sister, but quickly averted her gaze as she realized Lime was near-nude. Yet the awkwardness was being drowned out by the feeling of anxiety.

“L-Lime, I-I-I wa—“

Marble was interrupted by her sister's calloused finger on her lip.

“Shh,” was all the eldest said.

Lime pulled Marble in for a hug and kissed her forehead, causing the young Pie to break into tears again.

The two of them headed back upstairs to their room. When they arrived Limestone again gently tugged at her younger sister to her bed. Marble looked at Lime’s bed and was confused, but as she met her sister's gaze all was revealed. A spiritual string connected two weary souls that felt flushed by the greater realm where they resided.

Marble laid in the bed first and scooted over to make room for her big sister. Lime followed and wrapped her arms around Marble’s waist.

“Gute Nacht, Marble,” was all Lime said, to which the purple-eyed youth responded, “Mm-hmm.”

For the next week the two sisters carried on with their daily lives. Lime mined for minerals and Marble focused on her school and part-time job. Not once did either sister bring up what happened that evening. The silence between them was deafening for Marble. Each day the sisters didn’t talk about that night a piercing scream grew. Day after day, night after night, the pit within Marble’s breast grew.

Friday, 28th of January, Marble and Limestone were tasked by their mother to help cook the rock carrot stew. Marble cut the carrots, while Lime organized and mixed the spices. Each cut Marble made brought with a rumble that reflected the beat of her heart. What started off slow soon picked up an even and steady pace, from right to left, and each time the knife headed left, the view of opened flesh covered by a long-sleeved shirt interrupted the pace. The smooth rhythm transformed into an erratic motion, butchering the root vegetable. Her heart raced, sweat dripped from her face, her mind slowly picking up speed, the room spinning and blurring. Pressure within her stomach caused the acid to want to free itself from her, the cold sweat coating the palm of her hand. Her arms felt like wet noodles, yet she persevered and kept cutting despite the risk. Thankfully she yielded to the last rational part in her brain as the silver blade hovered over her gray digit.

“Lime!” Marble exclaimed while turning around.

Lime halted the stirring but didn’t bother to look back at her sister.

“Why haven’t we talked about it?” Marble asked.

Lime turned her head. “Talked about what? The new spice I’m using? Look, ya gotta mix things up every once and awh—“

“No! What happened last week, in the bathroom!” the young pie growled.

Lime’s heart sank to her stomach. She had tried to push that awful day to the back of her mind, for that event in the bathroom was not the only thing she tried to repress, but the awful dinner she had with the most repugnant filth imaginable that constantly ridiculed not only her but the ones she loved. Memories of being told to sit down and take the abuse towards her ilk boiled her blood and caused a sharp pain within her soul. Now, her baby sister wished to bring up that awful night once more despite Marble being ignorant of what caused her anguish to avoid said topic.

Lime just turned her head back to the pot. “We just pretend that didn’t happen, ok?”

A loud dinging sound permeated through the room, filling Lime’s mind with memories of that night, but the mood of Marble was the exact opposite.

Marble grabbed Lime’s arm. The firm grip of a leathery palm reminded her of Maud’s, something that filled the eldest with near unbearable dread. Marble spun Lime around with a force that rivaled her father’s and fixed her amethyst eyes on Lime’s.

“I refuse to let this pain we are feeling rape us every night, making us its slaves!” Marble growled through her clenched teeth, holding back tears. “I caught you doing something I did ever since the 23rd of December in that hotel bathroom! I used the same knife to free myself from this inner demon!”

Lime’s ears perked to the mentions of her blade being the first thing Marble used to mutilate herself, with the date being the second thing that took the breath out of her.

“You used my blade? You did that to yourself while the four of us where in the same room?” Lime’s tone was one of sadness mixed with anger, but not directed towards Marble.

The fact the eldest of the four sisters failed to realize this sooner made Lime feel like an awful sibling, one that couldn’t even protect her sister from the predatory darkness that surrounded her.

“Yes!” cried Marble, no longer able to hold back her tears anymore. “I felt like this for months! High school seemed so promising! I was doing well again, I was beginning to socialize a little bit each day, I fell in love, and I finally felt like a woman! All that came crashing down when I saw Big Mac kissing Sugar Belle and the fucking realization, of not only how much I would be forever alone, but that everyone looks down upon you! Never being able to have the same amount of friends, ever have someone falling love with you, or if they do, would want to abandon you for being different, or knowing that everyone thinks you’re a sad little thing that will die alone!”

Marble’s body started to tremble. “I lie to myself every fucking day, lying to myself saying it will get better, lying to myself that I will find someone, telling myself I have a future, lying to myself that despite years of doing the right things, that I am truly not a w—“

Lime smacked her sister across the face. Marble let go of Lime and stepped back, rubbing her cheek. She looked at Lime with tears leaking from her eyes.

“Don’t,” came a low growl from Lime. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” Lime looked at her baby sister with the same salty stream flowing from her eyes.

“You have a life, you have a future, Marble! I’m the one that should be breaking down, apologizing to you and the others. I failed you as an older sister, I was too much of an idiot to not notice the pain you were in. I had grown numb to the constant anxiety you were in, that it ended up causing you to harm yourself. I am sorry I wasn’t there, it’s all my fault.”

Marble was surprised to see her sister act like this; never had she broken down like that. Even last week was nothing compared to this.

“You’re a woman that has a chance at life, beautiful, intelligent, kind; you’re everything I’m not, and will become everything that I’ll never be!” It didn’t take long for the tears to come out as Lime slowly began to break down her collected composure.

“I haven’t brought this shit up because I don’t know how to deal with this crap! I’m no better than Maud when it comes to expressing emotions! I constantly want to scream! I want to cry! I want to—“

“Kill yourself?” Marble interrupted.

Lime looked at her sister with the shattered visage of a terrified and depressed child. She nodded slowly to Marble’s question.

For a solid minute there was a silence that shook the world, so violent yet encompassed with a serene sensation. For what felt like ages a foreboding weight was finally lifted off Lime’s chest. And for Marble, another link was now connected with her sister’s soul.

“I-I have that feeling too,” was all that Marble said.

For a fraction of a second there was a wave of warmth within Lime as she smiled to hear she wasn’t alone, but the cold wave of doubt flooded back in.

“How,” Lime began, “how do you deal with this shitty feeling?”

Marble took Lime’s hand and met her gaze.

“After dinner, I’ll show you.”

“Jesus Christ!” was all Lime could say.

“Yeah, these get pretty intense,” Marble replied.

Marble had showed Lime her music collection in their room.

“I mean some of these band’s suck, but Jesus Christ, the names, the lyrics, the whole imagery. No wonder you’ve been doing this to yourself. I only started cutting because of something unrelated to this crap!” Lime said.

Marble sighed and had a look of defeat on her face.

“So, I guess you don’t like this. Not surprising; it’s an obscure genre within even obscurer one.”

“What?” Lime asked with a raised eyebrow. “I never said I didn’t like this.”

“Really?” asked Marble, perking up.

“Y-Yeah. I can feel the energy from some of these bands. Forgotten Tomb, Bethlehem, Apati, Totalselfhatred;it all feels like it matches the constant mood I’m in.”

Marble smiled; it had been forever since she and Lime bonded over anything. Pinkie and Marble bonded on almost everything, and she and Maud would often write poems together, but with Lime it was always akin to a blue moon for whenever they bonded. The last time they did was when she was five, during a time when she needed her sisters the most.

“I’m glad you like these.” Marble said in a warm tone.

For the next two days the sisters would share solace in the bleak music. Talking about what hurts the most, their dreams, their fear of the future, and nostalgia.

On Sunday night the two sisters were listening to Forgotten Tomb’s “Disheartenment” as both sat silently. Marble took note of how Lime had this offbeat step in her mood. All day the eldest one looked distracted, and uncomfortable. Was she nervous? Was she coming down with something? Or perhaps she was already growing tired of the music and wanted to stop hanging out with her baby sister. Perhaps she found it too weird and was starting to think Marble crazy for being into this. Or even worse, Lime probably thought Marble was a freak and that she needed to be shunned for her behavior. Each thought crossed Marble’s mind, one after the other causing her bones to tremble and her palms to sweat.

When the song was over, Marble looked at the time. Nine o’clock.

“Oh dear, look at the time. I need to be in bed,” Marble said nervously.

Lime with a perplexed look on her face checked her clock.

“Uhh, Sis, it's 9.”

“Yep, and I should be off to bed. It’s a school night after all!”

“But you usually stay up until twelve and wake up at six looking like you slept for a millennium. Something's up.”

Marble chuckled as she got off the floor. “Nope. Just really tired is all.”

Lime grabbed her ankle firmly causing an electric current of uneasiness traveling throughout Marble’s body.

“Marble, I’m not stupid You’re trying to avoid something. What?”

Marble sighed and turned around looking down at her sister.

“I’ve noticed you have been acting weird all day, and I was scared that you thought I was a werido, and a freak for liking this stuff, and that you got tired an-“

“Ok, ok” interrupted Lime. “You can calm down, I don’t think any of that.”

Marble sighed in relief.

“I mean, you’re weird, but who isn’t in this family?”

Geez, thanks Lime, Marble thought sarcastically

“But,” with that singular word Marble flinched, “you’re right. I’ve been distracted. It’s… listen, I’ve been thinking. Since the two of us have these shitty feelings, I was thinking that…that…” Lime trailed off a bit.

“That what?” asked the young one.

“That, would you like to start a band of some sort?” What followed that was an awkward silence. Both sisters just stared at each other with looks of uncertainty.

“Ugh!” Lime started. “Fuck me, I knew that was a stupid question. Forget I as—“

“Yes!” Marble blurted out.

Lime felt relieved yet shocked at the same time.

Marble reached under her bed and pulled out a small binder filled with notes.

“I wrote these poems over time; I only have four that I want to turn into songs but I don’t know how.”

Marble handed the papers to Lime, who began reading. “These are good,” said Lime. “You know, I could help you with the music. I’ve been toying around with some rhythms in my head and I have a few song ideas of my own.”

A boisterous bliss and soothing warmth overflowed within Marble, along with Lime’s wave of sunshine beaming within her.

“Is this really happening?” asked Marble.

Lime got up from the floor and placed her hands on her sister’s shoulders.

“Better believe it, Sis!” Lime replied with a smirk of confidence.

All throughout the night the sisters wrote down tabs and signatures for Marble’s poems, and even wrote down lyrics for Lime’s song. They eventually went up to the attic to find instruments.

“It's nice that Uncle Jürgen left these behind before he moved to Essen,” said Lime.

“We should call him sometime,” Marble suggested.

The girls had everything they needed: guitars, amps, drums, and even a synthesizer.

“Great!” cheered Lime. “And the insulation in here is perfect since the noise won’t escape the attic when we record.”

Marble nearly tripped over herself as her sister’s statement.

“Uhh, we’re recording in here?”

“Well duh, we don’t want Mom and Dad knowing we’re making depressing music.”

“But, Lime, surely we can find some other place to record?” countered Marble.

Limestone shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t have a car, I don’t want Pinkie or Maud knowing about this either and how can we sneak all this shit out during the day? We have no choice but to record here.”

Lime could tell by the way Marble bit her lower lip and averted her gaze that she was still unsure about this.

Limestone sighed. “Listen, Marble, I know it’s not glamorous, but until then, this is what we have to put up with, plus it will be even better since I have a talented lyricist for a sister.”

Marble’s cheeks burned at the compliment.

“I guess you’re right,” Marble sheepishly said. “Also, Lime, what should we call our band?”

The two stood there for the next five minutes thinking what name they should choose. Lime wanted their name to mean something, not something run of the mill like the previous bands her and Marble have been listening to, but she also didn’t want it to sound like they’re begging for attention. Lime looked at her younger sister who was sitting on one of the antique chairs. Marble looked out into space, her trademark purplish dark hair covering one of her eyes. The emotions of warmth overwhelmed Lime as she looked at her baby sister, memories of mischief and determination mixed with a side of compassion. What was once sweet as candy had over time lost the sweetness inside. Cold, dark, trembling, something that turned the warmth within Lime to its opposite as the cold abrasive winds assaulted her naked skin. Cutting, self-loathing, suicidal ideation was all that the youngest emitted, and outside of the emission were false waves of tenderness; moreover, Lime was now the only one to be exposed to the true side of Marble. What came with it was an ungodly self-reflection showing what was borne deep; dark sludge covering the trenches of Lime’s soul, all of what once shined with hope, fairness, and integrity was now being eclipsed by the odious presence of despair.

Both girls had truly gone through a phase that neither were sure they would ever come back out of, both girls had become…

“Kahl,” Lime uttered.

Marble turned her head towards her sister and raised an eyebrow. “Did you say something?” she asked.

Lime walked towards Marble, and clasped her sister's left hand with hers, and proceeded to lift it up.

“Wir warden unsere Band Kahl nennen!”

“So you called your band Kahl, which means “bleak” in German, correct?”

The warm lights pulled Lime out of her memories. She rolled her eyes, knowing full well that the interviewer knew the question.

“Yes,” was all she replied.

“So, from the 31st of January to the 11th of February, you two would upload a total of three songs on YouTube?”

“That is correct,” answered Lime.

“These songs are said to be very raw, and even held in high regard in some circles. But I’m curious as to what you had to go through when recording in that attic? And when did you meet Vi—“

“Well, if you let me continue, I’ll answer both of your questions,” Lime firmly corrected.

The interviewer nodded his head.

“Jesus, you interviewers were always the weird ones,” Lime chuckled. “Sometimes ya gotta be quiet and let the person in question answer whatever you’re curious about.”

Author's Note

Thanks again to my editor Sonya, for helping me with this.

Can you guess what band their uncle is in?

Kahl

Author's Note

So here is how the songs will be done. Most of these songs will either have custom lyrics or the same lyrics for the music I will link. Note, not all the songs will match the music I will have linked, (these three are perfect examples) but to give you an idea how the girls would sound, and how the song would've sounded like. I will like google docs of the lyrics, and the YouTube link for the music. I hope you enjoy.

Kahl

“Did you ever ask your sister why she wanted to call the band Kahl?” the interviewer asked. It was the same room Lime was interviewed in, but now Marble was the interviewee. Dawning a more confident pose and a somewhat chipper attitude, she was less agitated by the interviewers’ questions.

“I did. I remember asking her…”

“Why that? Won’t they know that it's us?” Marble was still sitting in her antique chair, as both Pie sisters were in the attic on a late evening after discovering their uncle’s old instruments.

Lime looked at Marble and gently raised her up, with her hands clasping the younger one’s. “Because it’s what I feel whenever I’m around you and how I feel when I’m alone with no one else,” Lime said softly. “I want to turn this feeling into a weapon against the shit we go through. It can be our swords and not theirs.”

Marble had rarely seen this poetic side of Lime; Maud, she was not, but nonetheless she still had a creative side.

Marble smiled and embraced her sister.

“Ich liebe es!’ Marble whispered.

The girls took no time in hesitating in recording music. From the 31st to the 4th of February, the girls had recorded one of Marble’s songs, called “Unspeakable”, which was recorded in German. Recording their first song was more of a bother than they expected; they had to get the time right on each recording so the music could be in sync. They mainly worked late at night when their parents were asleep, and the warm attic made recording unbearable.

When it came to guitars and base, Marble was the one to make the strings create the bleak atmosphere of their music. Marble knew how to play the guitar since she was in the fourth grade, but momentarily stopped during high school. Luckily, she was still blessed with making beautiful rhythms from the stringed instruments.

Drums was Limestone’s territory, as her younger sister Maud taught her how to play back when they were both in middle school. The percussion reminded Lime of picking rocks, knowing just how hard to hit the beat and when to go in for the kill. This helped Lime become an immensely respectable drummer.

When it came to the vocals, the sister’s split it. On Lime’s songs she would be the one singing, but if it was Marble’s, it was her time to shine. Marble and Lime could sing in a clean tone, but both used the screeching and screaming technique when it came to the songs, with Marble also utilizing some death growls.

Lime was the one to establish their YouTube and later Bandcamp during the day. She had even gone out of her way to give them nicknames.

“Verlorener and Nutzloser?” Marble asked while looking on their bandcamp on her sister’s laptop.

“Yeah, I’m Verlorener, and you’re Nutzloser,” answered Lime.

Marble was unsure how to feel that her sister chose her name for her before asking if she had even wanted to go by a different alias. Lime could tell Marble was not exactly pleased by her actions.

“Ok, look I can tell that you aren’t pleased, but it fits. I constantly feel like I suffer alone, and you told me that you often feel—

“‘Useless’?” Marble asked in an exasperated tone.

“Yeah,” replied Lime.

There was an awkward silence between the two as Marble’s amethyst eyes stared daggers into Lime’s soul. Lime was uneasy as that was the only thing she could think of. The last time Marble looked this annoyed, Lime had to sleep with one eye open.

“Ok,” started Lime, “I can tell that was a dumb idea to give you a name without asking.”

“Oh, really?” Marble asked sarcastically. “Give me a name that makes me feel like shit—“

Lime raised her finger as she tried to counter by saying what music the band was making.

“—and yes, Lime, I know what we are making,”

Lime closed her mouth and put her hand down,

“And giving me a masculine name. Lime, our father is a man in his late fifties; he grew up in a quasi-traditional family—some of whom still think that jazz music is the devil—and even he doesn’t call me, or even gives me, a masculine nickname since I was five!”

Lime knew she would bring that up and despite being ready for it, she still felt the wind was knocked right out of her when Marble made the statement.

“Y-yeah,” Lime said meekly, “I should’ve at least made it feminine. I forgot that you—“

“Transitioned back in fourth grade and still have dysphoria since I didn’t want…” Marble coughed as she pointed down “…down there surgery.”

Lime swallowed a lump in her throat. She sweat bullets.

“So,” Lime started off, “what would you like to be called then?”

Marble placed a finger under chin, thought for a moment, and then had a brain wave.

“Midnight,” decided Marble. “It sounds feminine, it reflects the fact that I stay up late until the nights, and it’s when I usually record this music.”

Limestone was impressed with her sister's reasoning and smiled“Ok, now, before we make this song public, is there anything you want to say?” Lime asked.

“New adventures, here we come,” Marble said sheepishly.

With that, Lime clicked on the public button.

“Midnight, we just uploaded our first song,” Lime said with a smile.

Marble experienced a range of emotion; anxiety, excitement, glumness, happiness. It all was like a wave that over-stimulated her soul. “I created black metal,” she said under her breath. “I am a musician now…”

Lime looked at her baby sister with a warm smile on her lips, chuckling at the young one’s realization of what they had accomplished.

“So,” Lime started, breaking her sister out of her trance, “want to get started on your next song?”

Marble was somewhat put off by this. Their song just took what felt like years to her, up all night in the hot attic, sweating profusely like a child stranded in the Sahara.

“Now?” Marble finally asked.

“Yeah! It’s a Friday night, Ma and Pa are out doing… whatever second gen ex-amish people do for date night, and we can be as loud as we want!” said a vigorous Lime.

“Uhh, it's just…” Marble wanted to choose her words carefully so as to not offend her sister. “When we record… we tend to have—what is the word I’m looking for—disagreements. So to speak.”

Lime rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. So we get into small fights, what bands don’t?”

“Most bandmates don’t threaten to stab one another,” Marble pointed out.

“Oh, just because I did it once—“

“Three times!” interrupted Marble. “You threatened to stab me three times!”

Again, Lime gulped a knot in her throat, realizing that it was most definitely not normal for bandmates, especially if they are related, threatening to shank one another.

“Ok, so I should work on that. But hey, you’re not always nice either!” she countered.

“How do you mean?” asked Marble.

“Well, every time you come in too early with your guitar and I tell you to hold off, you give me this demonic look!” Lime tried to recreate the look her youngest sister gave her, but to Marble she just looked rather odd and childish.

“Oh, don’t be a baby. I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” Marble chuckled. “You three always tell me that I make these ‘scary faces’ whenever I’m mad or in the zone, and honestly I think you gir—“

Lime got out her phone and showed Marble what she meant by “scary.” And sure enough, Marble did present a very ominous face. The light in the photo made it look as if her eyes were red as the brimstone of hell, and her teeth covered in drool, and her back canine teeth revealed themselves as if she was snarling. Her furrowing brow didn’t help her case either as it only contributed to making the timid Marble into a shewolf.

Marble averted her gaze and cleared her throat. “Ok, so I can get a little too into it, but that doesn’t mean you can threaten to stab me!”

“Then are we not doing this?” asked Lime.

Marble thought for a moment, despite the tedious process of recording songs it did feel great to be able to release a song and even better to help rid her body of the poison that infected her mind.

She looked up at Lime and gave her an innocent smile. “Sure.”

“No, no, no, no!” Lime stomped.

The attic was a muggy space to be in for a recording session and made working there a more… eventful experience to say the least. Four hours in and each sister had threatened physical harm to each other around one hundred times. Lime, while keeping her word to no longer threatening to stab her sister, had moved on to more conventional threats, such as strangulation and punching.

Marble, in return, made sure to act like a rabid she-demon, but instead to get up in Lime’s face in an ominously calm manner, whispering threats to her senior, threats that made Lime’s blood run cold and her sweat even more so. The guttural yet elegant sound of Marble’s threats made Lime feel as if she was living with a serial killer. Despite this scaring the oldest half to death, she still tempted the lion.

“You keep coming in too fucking early on the second guitar. Do you need a smack upside the head to get it through your thick skull?” Lime berated Marble while also poking at her chest.

Marble inhaled and let out an audible sigh, lifting her head to show a stone cold demeanor reminiscent of their father’s, and while the stoic face told one tale, her voice told another. With a cold lifeless glare Marble stared directly in her sister’s Lime green eyes. The stare penetrated through Lime's soul and in the back of her head she was intimidated; yet she held her ground despite the assaulting stare cutting through her flesh.

“Touch me,” began Marble in her demonic tone, “and we will be explaining to Ma and Pa why both of your arms are broken like frail twigs.”

Lime knew her sister had a violent side. She didn’t show it much, but when she got angry, she could throw a mean punch. She knew the best bet was to not test Marble, even though she knew that she was just annoyed given the room they were in.

Lime breathed out a sigh and tried to calm herself down “Ok, Marble, usually when we’re doing something new we’re often afraid we mess up, and we keep thinking about it when we work. It happened to me on my first day of rock picking.” Lime chuckled. “Broke the pickaxe Ma was not happy since it was her brother’s, and dad decided to take the heat for me. Man did he get an earful.”

Marble’s face softened a little as she let the intense hatred inside her subside for a little bit.

“The main point is,” Lime picked back up, “is there something you are worried about?”

Marble’s mood had quickly cooled down as the cold winds and wet rain snuffed the flaming inferno. She sighed and said, “I feel as if I’m not doing it right, that I’m messing up your song.”

Limestone blinked and gave her baby sis a quizzical look. “My song? Marble, this is your song.”

“I know,” she replied, “but you wrote the music, and I don’t want to disappoint you in messing up.” Marble looked down as if defeated.

Limestone sighed and placed one hand on her sister’s shoulder and the other under Marble’s chin then lifted her face up to meet Lime’s gaze. “Marble,” she said in a raspy, but soothing tone, “the music is yours as much as it is mine. This is still your song; yes, you wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music, but this particular song is about how you feel. I’m sorry if I made you feel like you were disappointing me. You’re not; just relax and let your emotions guide you. Only you can make your song sound good.”

Marble closed her eyes and inhaled then let out an even sigh.

“Ok,” she said looking at Lime, “let’s do this.”

Limestone patted her sister on the shoulder and walked over to her laptop. “Ok, get ready.”

Marble again closed her eyes and let out another sigh. “Three, two, one…” Lime pressed start and with a smooth transition Marble began to play her guitar, her eyes still closed as she let herself play, moving the pic across the wiry strings and her calloused fingers dancing across the frets. The room no longer felt muggy; fret by fret, strum by strum, the room grew colder, and the darkness embraced her.

When it was near time for her to begin to sing, she opened her eyes to not her attic but a purple portal with a white center. Without stopping her guitar playing, Marble slowly walked towards the portal and with each step came an enticing feeling from the purple wind touching her skin. When she was in front of the portal a voice called her, but not by her name.

You’re calling me, thought Marble, but by the wrong name. A boiling rage rose within her being. How dare you? How dare you call me BY MY DEAD NAME!

With that came a raspy screech from the young Pie.

My life is a fucking cosmic comedy

So funny for the cruel spirits that haunt me

Given a vessel I reject, having been born with a foreign soul

Born in a reality that forbids me to show my true self!

She stopped as there was a pause between this and the background guitars she recorded earlier, then came the synth Lime was using to emulate cello.

Marble just kept staring at the portal, an intense glare that would put Fluttershy’s stare to shame. She bared her teeth and made a low growl at the anomaly.

When the drums were beat, Marble gave another skin curling raspy screech. What was followed was a brief set of clear vocals:

An eternal ordeal, damned forever

Never asked for it, but the cosmos insists

Despite the motherly tone of her voice, Marble’s visage still displayed her contempt for the god-forsaken portal in front of her. The portal began to shrink, as the synth was dying down, escaping the scornful gaze of the young woman, but before it could disappear, Marble thrust herself into it.

Being denied for my true being

Being forced by a world that wants my soul to suffer

All so my body can stay the same

All so I can be a source for a twisted comedy

As Marble exited the portal, she was greeted by what could’ve been, a happy little boy playing with his sisters, making friends, and having a girlfriend.

“Do you enjoy what you see, Alexandrite?” whispered an ominous voice.

Marble felt a sliver of fear, but it was soon replaced with pure anger.

Eternal, suffering!

A new sensation, but the same rejection

A new vessel, but the same hatred

A new erection, but the same false acceptance!

With that came the synth cello which ushered in the silence of the song.

When the music ended, Marble returned to where she was, the cold air now replaced with an unbearable muggy atmosphere. Sweat covered her gray skin and stung her eyes as it came dripping from her brow; the smell of mildew and salt stung her nostrils. The room was silent and the silence nerve racking.

Oh no, did I fuck up again? Marble thought nervously to herself.

She turned towards her elder sister and was shocked to see her gasp. Lime’s mouth was wide open, her eyes shrunken with her heart beating louder than any drum. Her hands numb and her legs trembling like little twigs as her breath was as shallow as the winds of a dying creature.

A quiver ran through Marble’s body seeing Lime in such a state.

“Lime,” the younger sister began with a hint of sadness, “I am so sorr-“

“Marble,” Lime finally spoke, “that was… fucking awesome! Even better than the last recording!” Lime’s appearance changed drastically within a span of a second, from that of a scared child to an over-jubilated adolescent.

Marble breathed a sigh of relief and blushed at the compliment Lime gave her.

“Like yesterday when you edited out your death growls you surprised me then, but it didn’t feel like I was getting your true feelings. It felt like you were holding back,” explained Lime as she was walking towards her sister, “but today, the shrieking, the hurt in your voice, and the way you played the guitar felt as if I were there with you. I mean, I know the song is about your experience, one that I can never truly understand, but I felt as if I knew what people like you go through.”

Lime stood in front of her sister and gave Marble a hug, but it wasn’t just a hug, it was a tight one, tighter than Pinkie’s. Pinkie’s hugs were always ones of happiness, laughter and pure bliss. Lime’s on the other hand felt… genuine, not to say Pinkie’s weren’t genuine, but this felt different, unique. The embrace started off as a cold feeling, as if her body was neglected, but when in contact with Marble she began to feel Lime’s being grow warm, a link connected between two damaged familial souls that made this embrace more meaningful, more sentimental, more honest. Marble felt encompassed with her sister.

As they parted from each other, Lime went to her laptop and edited the recording. After the process was done, she uploaded the song (Eternal(l1)(m2)) to their Bandcamp and YouTube.

“So…”

Lime turned her head to listen to Marble. “Want to start recording your song, Lime?”

With that question, Limestone’s stomach churned. She had no issue recording Marble’s songs but when it came to hers Lime felt that she couldn’t hold a candle to Marble’s singing. While Marble’s vocals came from a state of pain accumulated from years of anxiety, dysphoria, and self-doubt, Lime had only felt this way for about a year… or she thought.

“I-I don’t know Marble, it's…” Lime looked at her cellphone. “8:45? What the hell? We've only been up here for an hour and a half?”

“Well, we did do most of the recording yesterday; all we had to do was just record my guitar and vocals,” Marble reminded her.

Lime cursed under her breath with her baby sister taking note. Marble removed the guitar from her person and walked towards her sister. “Lime, we don’t have to do this today if you don’t want to.”

Lime looked at Marble. Seeing her sympathetic amethyst irises filled Lime with a dreary wave mixed with a molten sludge flowing through her veins. As Marble was slowly offering her hand on her shoulder, Lime swatted it away and put on a faux grin.

“Nah, we can do this!” she said with a false confidence.

Marble just smiled, buying her sister’s masked expression. The two spent the next four hours recording, trying to get the right tune, and with it came arguments, threats, and swearing. By 12:50 the girls had all the instrumentals recorded. All that remained was Lime’s vocals.

Marble collapsed on the old wicker chair, her body limp and her batteries almost completely drained from the ungodly humid room. “Ok,” she said in an unusual raspy tone, “Lime, it's your turn to sing.”

Limestone wiped her face with a towel she retrieved from the downstairs bathroom, when the reminder of her having to record her vocals again made her heart drop. She lifted her head from the towel and looked at her baby sister, who was nearly nodding off to sleep. Lime just thought of how earth shattering her little sister’s singing was, the utter pain that Lime herself could never replicate, she could never have the same terrifying screams of anguish.

I haven’t practiced, hell, I am not even sure I can do this shrieking crap! Lime thought to herself in a nervous state. Marble was not only accustomed to the vocals long before me, but she has a natural born talent for expressing her pain. But me? What the hell do I have? I’m just a muscled bitch that picks rock for a living. Everyone has a talent when it comes to being creative, Pinkie with her party planning, Maud and her poetry, Marble and her singing.

Lime looked at her feet and saw one of her notes for Marble’s songs. Writing music is one thing, but to take it to the next step and sing is something completely different. Shit! Why did I ask Marble to form this band? Why did I want to get into this crap? Why did I think this could help me!

Lime’s body visibly trembled like a building about to collapse. Her eyes shrank to the size of pebbles, and her even breathing transformed to that of hyperventilation. Everything around her began to close in, breathing became harder, the room began to shrank and a bright light entered her view.

“Lime!”

Limestone snapped out of her mental break, her vision normalized, breathing stabilized. Lime noticed that in front of her was an energized, and concerned, Marble Pie holding Lime by her wrists. “Lime, just breathe… it's ok, I understand it's nerve wracking.”

Lime ceased her trembling and slowly gathered her thoughts.

“Why are you nervous? What’s scaring you about singing?” Marble asked.

Lime’s answer was once again pieced together. “I… I… I can’t sing like… like you… ”

Marble released Lime’s wrist. “I… I can’t sing like any of those people in those bands. I can’t produce the same amount of pain like they, or you, do.” Lime’s voice slightly broke.

Marble let out a soft sigh. “Lime, that’s ok. I was nervous that I would sound weird too. I thought I would sound worse than the bands we listened to.”

“Seriously?” Lime asked.

“Oh yeah, at best I thought I could sound better than that Arschloch from Silencer, but at the same time I felt as if I would capture the pain like the bands we listen to do. But I went with what felt right, and you can do it too, just do what feels right,” encouraged Marble.

Lime looked at her Marble and her warm smile that filled the eldest with reassurance and a real foundation of confidence.

“Ok,” started Lime, “I’m ready.”

Marble gave Lime a hug which made the eldest’s cheeks turn from an uninspired grey to an eye catching rose.

Lime stood in front of the mic and took a few deep breaths.

“Whenever you’re ready Lime,” Marble said standing next to the laptop.

Lime shot her a look and grinned. Marble smiled and pressed start.

The intro guitars played a lovely glum melody, immediately succeeded by a loud wave of guitars that filled the atmosphere with a cold desolate air that was reminiscent of an empty street of a poor urban area haunted by gray skies, streets smelling week old urine, and people walking around aimlessly looking for meaning. At the end of the street stood Limestone, absorbing the area around her. She was barefoot, had on a tattered shirt, and sleeping pants.

As the guitars ended, Lime let out a high pitched shout followed by fast paced music. Lime began to run through the city stepping on broken glass and pebbles, persevering through the pain.

Do you hear the Soundless, Song?

Lime ignored the people she was passing on the street, the beggars, the hurt, the desolate. She just kept running.

Do you hear the, Void

Her heart raced as she picked up the pace as she was now being greeted by a torturous wind that felt like daggers stabbing the young woman repeatedly.

It speaks Constantly

Limestone's breathing began to feel painful, as though the air she inhaled was starting to stab at her lungs.

Filling my head with Lies (Truths)

Limes pace began to decrease, her pained breaths began to catch up to her.

It spoke Constantly

The glass and pebbles in her soles had finally reached her brain, informing her how bad her feet were hurting.

Filled my head with Lies (Truths)

Limestone tripped and tumbled towards the ground, scratching her arm and skinning her knee.

Voices of the night!

Her breathing was now labored as she tried to get back up, she looked up to the sky and saw that it was now night. Street lights shined throughout the city, with people hurrying towards their homes.

Waking me at night!

Lime got back up slowly, rubbing her knees and arms to ease the pain.

Voices of Family!

As she tried to walk Lime once again tripped but managed to catch herself from falling face first on the rugged pavement.

Disturbing me!

The pressure of the wind started to increase once more, pushing lime to the ground.

Tӧte mich!

As the music transitioned to a somber solo guitar strum the harsh wind ceased, allowing Lime to slowly get back up. She limped towards the sidewalk and sat down on the curb, hugging her knees whilst silently sobbing.

This ushered in the spoken word of the song.

Nachtzeiten sind das Schlimmste! Bin ich verrückt, ich fürchte, ich habe niemanden zum Reden! Nicth einmal mein eigense Blut versteht meint Verzweiflung! Stecken! Das ist alles was ich bin. Stecken! Das ist alles was ich bin! Ich stecke einfach in diesem verdammten emotionalen Zustand fest. Niemand kann mich verstehen! Nicht einmal mein eigenes Fleisch und Blut! Meine Fleisch und Blut.

As the drumbeat was reintroduced and the guitars got back into rhythm, Lime got up and proceeded to limp down the street.

Another night of torment

Voices coming from my family

From loved ones

Limestone trudged threw the pain surging through her body as she continued her trek down the street.

They all hate me!

Such weight I cannot bear

I just want out

Dear god just let me free!

Her blood turned to oceans, her tears to rain, her body to an automated machine.

I don’t want to live like this

I’m in severe pain!

The cold sharp she inhaled pushed back out through her vocals as a violent air current.

Tӧte mich!

With that came the closing of the song, and the gray city soon disappeared, returning Lime back to the cramped muggy attic.

As the music ended, Marble pressed stop on the recording and looked at Lime. Lime in turn just stared at the floor, eyes wide as she processed what she had just done. Her breathing was once again uneven, and her vision blurred. She slowly looked up to Marble, who was smiling like her sister Pinkie.

That smile, that same giddy, awestruck, supportive smile was all Limestone needed to know that, not only did she nail it but did something that had fully encompassed her inner pain.

After the two edited the song, they uploaded it to Bandcamp and YouTube.

“Two songs in one day,” Lime said. “Must be some sort of record.”

“Yeah, I’m so glad we managed to get done with both of those songs,” Marble replied.

“Wanna work on the last song tonight?” asked Lime.

Marble yawned and shook her head no.

“Lime, I’m exhausted. Can we do it later?”

Limestone looked at her phone to see it was indeed 1:20 in the morning.

“Yeah, it is pretty late. Tell you what, we can get started on this tomorrow around seven in the evening since Ma will be visiting her friends from out of town, and Pops will be visiting Pinkie and Maud for their two-year anniversary since she and Maud moved out,” Limestone told her sister.

Marble gave a smile as her eyes were closing. The two left the attic and headed to their rooms. While Marble fell dead asleep on her bed, Limestone decided to take a quick shower. Feeling refreshed, she got dressed in her nightgown and exited the bathroom to hear her parents’ laughing downstairs. They had finally returned home; they were talking about the restaurant they ate at and the opera they saw. Limestone gave a small smile. As she headed to her room, the thoughts of her parents being happy kept replaying in her head. She loved to hear Igneous and Cloudy share their love for each other. It wasn’t common for them to be talkative towards one another as they came from a background of small talk. Yet when the two did talk to one another, it was a pure feeling, the energy that emitted from the two conveyed a magical power, but not that of fairy tales, but of a real relationship. Cloudy made Igneous feel whole and he often told Lime that without her or his daughters he couldn’t bear to live in this world. Cloud on the other hand knew Igneous on a much deeper level, from what she told Limestone, his attitude used to be similar of that to Maud’s, but once you broke down rock down, you would get a precious gemstone so rare, that even the God himself would give up his kingdom for it.

Lime laid in bed thinking about the love her parents shared. She envied that feeling. She envied the relationship Maud had with Mudbriar. Yeah, Mud was… odd, and a bit annoying, but she had never seen Maud so happy before. She smiled more, her voice lightened a teensy bit enough to even where a non-Pie could tell the difference, and in a strange way, helped Maud become more open. The only other person to do that was Pinkie. Pinkie, how could she forget that she had been going out with Chester, or “Cheese Sandwich”, for what was about to be a year in two weeks. Whilst the two could be unbearable together from time to time, the love they had for each other was that of a unity built upon improving one another, becoming more aware of each other’s needs and the needs of others. Limestone was often worried for Pinkie, her ADHD life sometimes difficult for her. She would have friends one day, and the next they wanted nothing to do with her, yet Pinkie would pretend everything was fine and still did what she loved. She would often remember hearing Pinkie crying late at night during middle school with Marble comforting her. Things eventually got better after the whole Sunset debacle, but Limestone never stopped worrying for her. Cheese helped put those fears to rest.

Lime turned her head to the baby of the family, Marble. The only other one that didn’t have a special someone, but she knew she could if whatever happened to her in the past hadn’t kept Marble so quiet and riddled with anxiety. Marble has had the most unique life out of the four sisters, being born in the wrong body and having the blessing of transitioning to the one she felt most comfortable in. She would still often feel as if she was never a woman, even though she out of the four sisters was the most beautiful, talented, empathetic, and tough out of the four. Lime knew that, and she knew if she got into a fist fight with her sister, Marble would win. She had so much potential but all of which was unknown to the young one thanks to the vines of self-doubt she was tangled up in.

And then there was Lime. She thought about how much she was damned to be stuck on this farm forever, knowing she would have to look after it. Giving up her dreams to go out and become a teacher to young teens. Memories of her past filled her head with people at Canterlot High and Rockville coming to her for advice, and tutoring, she enjoyed helping others, she felt as if she was meant to educate the young and help them trek through this cold world, Lime was known well for teaching children and teachers would say she had a future for that. But, all that came crashing down when she was told that she would be inheriting the farm. All her dreams were crushed, and day after day the crushing weight of their buyers, her mother becoming sick and having to make money for her medicine, and the constant threat of homelessness. Then came another weight crushing her soul, guilt. Guilt of feeling as if this was nothing to fear. She thought of herself as being selfish. Her sisters had it worse than her; their sadness rose from genuine troubles. Maud and her autism affected the way she interacted with others, often feeling alone growing up. Pinkie and her ADHD constantly have friends and neighbors be attracted and repelled by her. Marble and her anxiety, dysphoria, self-harm, and suicidal ideation, and the only thing Limestone had to worry about was giving up her dream. The thick waves of guilt drowned Lime with no air of relief in sight. Struggling to breath, she thrashed her legs in the wave, struggling to break free. But it was all of no avail, realizing she was indeed a selfish wretch not deserving of any sympathy. When she finally accepted this fact, she opened her lungs to the sea of guilt, and embraced it; completely submitting to the sea.

It was 3:12 AM in a town home in Little Stalliongrad. A pale teen girl sat on her bed, rum in hand, as she hoped the liquor would knock her out or free her from the ungodly pain that stabbed at her essence.

“My body no longer arouses you,” she said under her breath.

“Почему, Oкти?” she whispered somberly before taking another swig of her rum. The sweet water softened the ails of her pain. “I was your first. I was your first! I was the first woman that made you know what bliss was!”

The young white teen yelled as she sat up from her bed, “Твой первый, пиздец! And you were my first love! I fucked different dykes before, but you were the first one that actually meant something before! I loved you, Блядь!” Salty rivers flowed down her cheeks.

“I did everything to be with you, I helped you show that being a dyke was nothing to be ashamed of! I helped guide you as your parents abused you, telling you that it was wrong and degenerate! I helped show you how much your love is valid! I was your first kiss, I was your first fuck, I guided you through that, and told you I didn’t mind it was your first time, and that how it was my first time to do it with someone I genuinely loved. The first woman that showed me love was something real! Showed me that I could trust other women! Told me that you loved me, Told me that you wouldn’t betray me like that! Told me that you would cherish me because you cared for me and wanted to be by my side!” The teen girl cried.

“But I no longer arouse you. Why?” She took one last swig of the bottle of rum. When it was empty, she placed the bottle gently on the table. Fully drunk, she got on her computer. It wouldn't be a sad night without sad music. She got on YouTube and searched through some sad songs.

“No, no, no,n-…” The crestfallen teen stopped at the name of one song. “There (is, was,) Nothing There!”by Kahl? She recognized it as black metal thanks to the girl buying black metal records at the store. Fluttershy and this gray skinned girl they say is the twin of Pinkie would buy these albums, and the gray girls looked more depressing. She clicked on the song, released an hour ago, and there was a link to their Bandcamp. She listened to the song to see how it sounded and was taken off guard by the screaming for singing. She knew about the screeching in black metal but this was honest to God screams. Not any ordinary screams but pained screams, screams of someone hurt, scared, and crying. It felt as if she was there with the person crying. It felt as if someone was crying for her. She loved this feeling, to have a vessel free your emotions for you. She listened to the other songs, “Eternal” and “Unspeakable.” All three raw with not only sound but emotion. The young woman felt entangled by their harrowing cries of pain. She clicked on their bandcamp and saw the names of these two artists. “Verlorner” and “Midnight,” both sisters, both wrote and did the music, and each girl wrote their own lyrics. The white teen looked at the lyrics, and took note how one song was in German, one in English, and one mixed with both.

The way the German was sung in that one song entirely in German rang familiar to the girl’s ear. It had a similar tone to this girl in her trig class. The girl who sat back in the row with her, a gray skinned girl. She always sang what sounded like a Germanic-like song. It sounded hurt, and scared similar to that of the song. The same girl that was with Fluttershy, the girl that was said to be the twin of Pinkie.

“Marble,” said the pale girl aloud. It was Marble.

5th of February, Wednesday, 5:50 PM. Marble and Limestone were at the record store, as they also sold instruments and sound equipment, Limestone had previously deleted her song from YouTube, and removed it from Bandcamp, stating that it sounded too rough, the background of the attic making it sound like crap.

“Limestone, I don’t think we can work with much, we don’t have money for almost any of this,” Marble told Limestone.

“I know, but we need to find a way to make it sound better.”

“Ahem.” A young woman coughed behind the sisters.

The two turned around to see a white girl with blue dyed hair, and purple sunglasses.

“Kahl, I would love to help you with your recording. This store has an old recording booth in the back,” Vinyl Scratch said.

Marble’s heart dropped whilst Limes skipped a beat. How did she know that they were Kahl? Vinyl read it in their eyes as they begged the question.

“Marble’s voice sounded like the song she hums in trig class. German and all.”

Lime shot a look at her baby sister; Marble averted her gaze.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I just have one request,” she asked as the two girls looked at her questioningly.

“I want to join your band,” Vinyl stated.

How "Unspeakable would sound"

How "Eternal would sound"

How "There (is, was) Nothing There" would sound

The lyrics of their songs. Anytime you see this the end of a chapter, that means it has been updated