“Thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty…”
The counting voice was audible in the clearing, its only audience being the sole pony listening to it as she went up and down with her forelegs, the push-ups burning the muscles in her limbs. She grit her teeth and pushed, raising back up even as her body protested the action. Sweat gathered and fell down her neck and shoulders, dripping through the grey-tone fur as well as seeping into her long mane tied back in a loose ponytail.
“Forty-one, forty-two. C’mon now, lassie, little bit more!”
Her muscles burned but pressed herself to carry on, grunting as she lowered herself down to the ground and then rose up in a loose pacing akin to the count she was supposed to be following. The number wouldn’t grow until she moved, an ever-present reminder in the back of her mind that itched between stubbornness and irritation. The grass beneath her would shift and sway as the air blew by her, the cool wind a brief but sustaining balm to her heated form. She yearned for water, and to just outright collapse. But she couldn’t yet. Not yet.
“Forty-three, forty-four, aaaaand forty-five!”
As soon as she heard “five”, she outright collapsed to the ground, inhaling deep breaths as her whole body laid in a spread heap on the grass. The sun beamed down from above, marking the afternoon hour she found herself in. Her eyes squinted shut to avoid any burning of the sweat getting in her eyes, rubbing at her forehead to get at the excess there. A shadow fell across her, prompting the mare to look up.
The face that greeted her was a stallion of legend and tales from foalhood. Though half of his face was obscured with a orange beard, the cyan fur and blue eyes that peered down spoke of strength and vigor aplenty. Broad and muscled as if cut from stone, the stallion wore the tunic of his old era still, if perhaps patched up a little here and there from the occasional rough-housing he got up to. A boot covered hoof reached out to the mare, turned upwards.
“Well done. That’s ten more than yesterday, Marble. It’s good to push yourself to improve.”
Marble Pie rose up with the aid of his hoof, her legs still wobbling a bit but keeping her upright as she nodded and tried to speak, only to cough as her lungs burned for air she inhaled in deep breaths. When her airway was clear again, only then could she be heard.
“T-thank you, Rockhoof. You’re a good teacher.”
“Ha! More like a good counter. Given what we started with, you’re doing quite well. We’ve come a bit of ways in two weeks time.”
Marble’s gaze cast itself to the side as she recalled the memory. Two and a half weeks ago, she told the family she wanted to take a vacation away from the farm for herself. The rock farm was doing quite well now, after a positive season of harvesting stone for the surrounding towns and provinces. Having the popularity boost of an Element of Harmony sibling tended to help with the business negotiations. So, seeing no need to stop her, Igneous and Cloudy saw her off at the train station as she rode for Ponyville. The blanket idea was merely to “visit Pinkie and mingle with the townsfolk for a month”, she’d told them.
What she hadn’t told them about was her overhearing the talks between Limestone and her parents, and how every time her name came up, there was nothing to be said but of her weakness. Limestone made it painfully clear how much more brawn she had than Marble, and the sting was worsened from neither of her parents denying it. It was crushing to the quiet mare, and made it evident where she presently seemed to stand in the household. Getting away from them seemed the only recourse, and so to Ponyville she went.
What followed on her arrival was a little mingling, but hardly with much of the populace. Instead, Marble had come to Ponyville with a purpose in her heart, one that had led her straight to the Crystal Castle to speak to Rockhoof. She had been shaking where she stood when she came to his door, but mustered the courage to bring a trembling hoof to knock on his door rapidly. Seeing the living legend before her, the real and true Rockhoof, might have jumbled her circuits a little.
“HihelpgetstrongmeMarbleplease?”
“Come along, Marble. Let’s get you some water and rest yourself. No need to turn yourself to mush now,” Rockhoof urged her, making his way towards a nearby pond. She followed behind him, still needing to go slow after the workout routine. His energy never seemed to fade away, always able to press on even after vigorous exercise. When they had first started, there were some hurdles to work through. Her soft-spoken voice made him strain to hear her until he outright told her to speak up. Her nerves made her wary of going into the gym and being surrounded by so many ponies, so they changed the idea to something more outdoorsy instead.
The clearing in the Everfree Forest was one Marble knew the path to by heart now, an area unused by predators and surprisingly safe compared to the rest of the spooky woods. Rockhoof assured her that the area was safe as he himself trained there, and after an encounter or two with the local beasts, had made it clear this area was never to be taken by any being but himself. It wasn’t exactly amazing, but the open space surrounded by trees that hid the town in the distance and the mountains peeking from above the treeline made for a feeling of isolation that the mare was comfortable with. On top of that, there were several various rocks Rockhoof had gathered to bring for her to use in place of the standard weights and dumbbells others would’ve used.
Taking her bottle of chilled water, Marble drank a healthy swig of the ice cold water, letting the chill run down her throat and throughout her body before sitting down across from her teacher. Rockhoof did so likewise, settling in and resting his back against a boulder with a light trace of moss growing on the top of it.
“That pretty much covers everything today we aimed to do. Y’know, at this pace, I’ll have to go and carve out some heftier stones for you to lift.” Rockhoof pointed out.
Marble nodded, a small smile gracing her lips. “You think so?”
“Well, considerin’ you were able to chuck them clear over the pond the other day? Aye, I’d reckon so.”
“Mmhmm.”
There was a quiet between them for a time, and Rockhoof kept his eyes on his would-be protege as she looked to the mountains beyond. The snow-capped tops were the kind far and beyond the ones near the farm, a type she always had daydreamed about exploring. But she had to be strong enough first. She needed to be stronger.
“There’s still one thing I’d like to do today. If we have time.”
Rockhoof squinted up at the sun and clicked his tongue in thought. “It’s about two in the afternoon now, going off Her Majesty’s sun.” He noted before looking back to the mare. She was clutching her bottle with both forehooves, and at his glance, her grip tightened. “The big one then?”
“Mmhmm.”
The “big one” as Rockhoof called it wasn’t really that overly big. When you call a rock a big one, it brings to mind a real behemoth of a boulder, something you’d need a team of ponies to move or enough dynamite to blast it to smithereens. This particular one though, what it lacked in size, it made up for in tenacity. Rockhoof had identified it the first time Marble saw it as something as old as him: Magical Quartzite.
“I still don’t get it.” Marble commented as they approached the rock in question. It wasn’t far from the clearing where she trained with Rockhoof, convenient enough that the trek to it was almost as habitual as her morning routine of brushing her mane or the light stretches she did when she got out of bed.
“What’s that, lass?”
“How did this Quartzite get here? How long has it been here? Why hasn’t anypony tried to move it?”
Rockhoof chuckled. “Well, I cannae speak for how long it’s been here. Might even be older than me. You can move it if you want, but to what end? Magical Quartzite can’t be reforged or repurposed. And as for gettin’ here, well...maybe Lady Faust one day simply chucked a stone from the heavens just a wee bit too far?”
She shook her head, making her ponytail sway behind her as she moved. “But can’t it be broken?”
“Maybe. Though I’ve yet to see anypony do so. But to be fair, I was out of reality for a good long while. For all I know, lil’ Rarity in Ponyville’s got a chest full of the stuff.”
Which would be a miracle, in Marble’s eyes, because Magical Quartzite was one of the hardiest known materials in the world. Her eldest sister Maud had once told her how some of the most ancient fortresses and castles from before the time of Celestia and Luna’s ascensions were carved from the material, some of which remained standing to this day. The ponies of the ancient world were behemoths all their own, she reasoned. And here she was, diminutive and smaller than they and she was trying to fight the same fight on her own.
She shook her head to try and do away with the negative thinking. No! Today would be different! She could do it! A sound of a shovel digging the earth in front of her brought her back to the present, as she saw Rockhoof place his shovel before her to take.
“Remember: swing with both hooves. If you let go with either one, you’re likely to bounce yourself away like before.”
“R-right.” She said before taking up the shovel and approaching the bulky rock in question. If you’d asked anypony else to pick it out from a lineup, Marble imagined that few could tell the difference between a common rock and Magical Quartzite. The olden rock had moss and a rough greenish-grey coloration to it that could make you think it was just freshly dug from the lawn. But closer inspection lets you see the truth: there was a sheen to the rock that others lacked, like a permanent polish no rain or ice or wear and tear could take away. The surface was unbroken as well: sure, it had odd lines and bulky points like any untampered stone, but those other stones would have cracks, breaks, chips in their surface. Hours of study by her own eyes showed not one break in the stone’s surface.
Marble took her spot to the right side of the stone, the wind blowing a breeze over her left and ruffling her mane as she stared it down. Removing the shovel from her mouth, she rose on her hind legs and held herself up. When she first tried to do this, her hind legs had wobbled a little. Now they were more solid, more stable. Her hooves dug into the earth and she exhaled through her nose. Rockhoof said nothing from his seat, watching her with a firm stare and an almost unnerving quiet. Her forelegs gripped the shovel tighter around the wooden length of the ancient tool.
‘You can do this. You can do this!’ She chanted to herself. The voice was quiet in her mind, the sole cheer for her morale. Marble clung to it, and reared the shovel back enough that her upper torso turned with it. She held there, and inhaled a breath.
‘Can you?’
The voice who asked wasn’t hers. She tried to ignore it. She swung around, a wide arc that would bring the metal end of the shovel to collide with the boulder’s side. Marble knew she aimed it the right way this time, she wasn’t going to rebound off it or be deflected and fall to the ground. The wind seemed to shift as she threw what she had into the swing. Her muscles flexed. Her teeth grit together in determination.
CLANG!
The metal-on-rock collision rang through the clearing, as much as it echoed throughout Marble’s body. From her forehooves to her head to her rump down to her hind hooves, she felt it. But she held her spot and only relented when the echo of sound had rang its way past the trees and beyond her and her teacher. She lowered the shovel carefully, and opened her eyes to inspect it first. No damage or harm to the ancient tool, as one might expect of an artifact imbued with such magic. Her eyes lifted to where she struck, hopeful yearning looking for what she wanted to find.
The hopes dimmed as not one iota of change was noticeable. Not a single shift in the surface of the stone was present, no cracks or unexpected breakage in the Quartzite. Marble lowered the shovel, and sighed as she let it rest limply on the ground. Her gaze fell to the grass, where her gray hooves now rested. Hoofsteps came up alongside her, and a gentle if broad forehoof rested on her shoulder, making her look up.
“That one started out strong. Better than before.” Rockhoof commented.
“It’s still not enough. I’m still...I’m not there yet,” Marble replied.
“Not yet, mayhaps. But not yet is not never. And if you never say never, well, then yet is just down the road,” Rockhoof offered. He took up the shovel and hoisted it over his shoulder, fitting it into a leather strap to keep it on his back. “Come on. Let’s go get some well-deserved food, shall we?”
Marble nodded, but kept quiet as they trekked away from the Quartzite to move back towards Ponyville. Her limbs were starting to ache now that the adrenaline was done coursing through them, the toll of her exercise coming to make itself known again. They had been working hard at helping her build her strength up, and she’d persisted every time Rockhoof pushed her boundaries a little further, a little harder. But a look over her shoulder only let her see the imposing stone remain unyielding in the distance.
‘Can you?’ The questioning voice still echoed in her ears, making them flick down against her head as she trudged alongside Rockhoof to go back to Ponyville.
“Mr. Rockhoof?” Marble spoke for the first time since the pair had sat down to eat in the castle’s cafeteria, one of the newer additions given that it was now housing more ponies than just the Elements of Harmony. She had been nibbling on a salad for the better part of some minutes, while Rockhoof had delegated himself to the business end of a hayburger. One of the modern era’s better ideas, he had tried to argue, compared to things like plumbing or established trade routes between nations.
“Mmhf?” He mumbled through a bite before properly swallowing the mess down and clearing his throat. “Sorry, lass. Yes?”
“How did you know you were strong? When it happened to you?”
The stallion seemed to chew on a bite of hayburger to consider this question. “Do ye mean when I saved my village?”
“I guess so?”
“Well. To be frank with you, Marble, it kinda just...happened. I didn’t think about it or try to will it to happen. I was too driven with worry for my family and my people. They were more important to me then than me own life was,” he answered her. “By the time I realized I was standing over the top of me ma’s head, I might’ve had a thought then about it. Does that answer your question?”
“...kinda,” Marble replied. Her fork continued to swim among the leaves of her salad before finally fishing up a few pieces for her to eat. She chewed on them as if they were her own thoughts trying to take shape. “I wish I knew. It just seems like...like I don’t have any way to know.”
“How so?”
“It’s like…” Marble’s fork clinked against her plate as she thought before setting the utensil down finally. “All of my siblings knew what they could do when they found their way. Pinkie found her talent for parties and making ponies happy. Maud found her knowledge of rocks and geology and she’s the strongest mare I know. Limestone works the rock fields back home like they’re her bread and butter. I always follow her lead. And then there’s...me.”
Rockhoof nodded as she continued. “I have my cutie mark. I should know where to go. What to do. But I can’t...I just can’t figure it all out. I’ve just been...I’m always the one told what to do. And that’s worked, but it also hasn’t.”
“You’re not entirely happy, are you?” he pressed, and Marble nodded.
“No. And they haven’t said it. But I know my parents, my sisters, they’re waiting. They want to see what Marble Pie comes up with. What can little Marble, quiet Marble, shy Marble, do with her life? And so far, all I can show them is just...what they’ve told me to do.” She lifted her head up to look at the living legend’s countenance. “I want to feel strong. Like they do.”
Rockhoof finished his meal and wiped away his mess with his napkin - which was almost a towel for a pony his size - before he spoke again. “You yearn for strength, because you believe strength is the key. A lot of ponies thought the same way you did. I did. My villagers did. Yer not the only one to think that way.”
Marble nodded. It made sense, coming from Rockhoof. After all, the whole entirety of his legend was based on him getting the strength he needed to save his village. And he found his way after. So she just needed to get strong like him, and -
“Course, beings like Tirek thought the same as well.”
That thought made her stop and nearly blanch, and Rockhoof managed a chuckle at her reaction. “Strength is only simple at its surface, Marble. There’s much more to strength than what ponies may think, and sometimes, it goes a way that leads you away from what you wanted. Tirek thought his strength would get him to be the top centaur: now look at him. I’m sure you don’t want that kind of strength though, do you?”
A brief mental image of a rampaging, massive Marble, eyes alight in fire and rage as she stormed through Ponyville crossed the rock farmer’s mind.
“N-no! Never!”
Rockhoof laughed. “Of course not! That isn’t you. I know we have been training together these past two weeks, Marble, but I’ve learned some things about you. You’re kind. You are a good-hearted mare. Your sister cherishes you, if her consistent bouncing about you tells me anything,” he listed off before leaning forward, “you’re better than most ponies who’ve come asking me for help.”
“Really?”
“Well, considerin’ I haven’t seen you try to pass me off as lesser than you, or try n’ hock me shovel off to the markets, I’d say so!”
Marble shook her head immediately in the negative at both ideas. “I’d never do that! That’s not what friends do.”
“And friends we be.” Rockhoof agreed. “But this isn’t what you were askin’ about. Sometimes, strength comes to us in moments we don’t expect it. We yearn for it, beg for it, plead for it to come to us. Some get it, and some don’t. But strength is more than just raw might.” Rockhoof yawned lightly then and covered his muzzle with a hoof. “Forgive me, missy. I didn’t sleep the best last night. But don’t you fret; you’ll find your way for your life. For now, have a rest and we’ll see about tomorrow. I might have a go with you on trying a new obstacle course!”
Marble nodded, only half recalling the soreness from the last obstacle course. Her present thinking was still lost in the fog of her emotions. Even after Rockhoof had left her to her own devices, the grey-toned mare felt her question was only half answered. She needed to be stronger. She had to show them all she could stand on her own. To take what she wanted in life. A new way of life. A new home. A partner.
The partially-eaten salad was abandoned at the table, Marble seeking out her own spare quarters granted to her in the castle to rest for the time being. Maybe some sleep could provide the answers she needed and quell the self-tugging and pulling within her spirit.
Marble’s eyes opened hours before daybreak, a night sky with Luna’s moon well lit and high in the sky above. The window was open, allowing cool air to flood the room on an otherwise warm night. A look at the clock nearby told her it was a quarter past midnight. Had she been that tired after all? Was her stamina still so low that a nap was turned into such a long rest? She closed her eyes and let her head flop back against the pillow she’d been laying on, but sleep wouldn’t return. The itch of her thoughts came back to scratch and taunt at her mind.
“What a weakling. She can’t even look after Holder’s boulder! How can she run the farm at all?”
“Dearest daughter, thou knows better than to try and go above your station.”
“You could’ve tried harder. Done more. But you’re too scared.”
Her eyes opened again. Marble threw the bedsheets aside and got on her hooves again. The habit of tying her mane back made for a brief pause. Once settled, she went out the door, exiting the room with a destination in mind. Her steps were quiet enough that there was not even an echo in the crystalline halls, Luna’s moonlight illuminating enough to let her travel without much difficulty.
Navigating the path to the training clearing like she always had was different at night, she noted. Where Celestia’s sunlight banished the darkness, Luna’s moonlight only seemed to keep it partially at bay. The creatures of the night were more present, more observant. Birds slept while bats chirped and screeched, rats squeaking by behind her through the bushes. The greens and browns of the forest now gave way to gloomy blues and blacks, overcast by the twinkling sky above. Were she at home watching the sky, she could almost call it lovely. But walking through a forest alone, unarmed, Marble felt almost exposed.
When she got to the clearing she desired, she stopped walking and stared. The Quartzite stone stood defiant, a clear and present marker in the field that nothing else seemed willing to approach. But approach it she did, coming to a stop only when she was within hooves reach of the durable rock. Marble inhaled through her nose, exhaling slowly and trying to let her emotions out through her breath. It eased her but only just, as her thoughts ran onwards.
“How can we count on little, quiet Marble? She can’t even go to the markets alone!”
“Perhaps one day, our daughter will find somepony. They are bound to take notice eventually.”
“Weakling.”
“Limestone...Momma and Poppa,” she whispered to no one, “I-I’m...I’m trying…”
“You think that’s good enough? You’ve got nothing to your name!”
“I said I’m trying!” Marble struck at the rock in frustration with her hoof, the impact doing little harm to herself or the Quartzite either. “I’m trying, and I’m trying! I’m trying so hard!” Her voice rose as she struck again at the rock. The sound of her declarations began filling the clearing, the air quieting from the noise rising from the pony. “I want to try! I want to be better! I have to be better!”
She was panting as she hit the Quartzite, again and again. It wasn’t enough to hurt her, but the pang of pain that would shoot up her foreleg seemed to only invoke more of the pent-up emotions she’d kept pushed down so long. “I’m sorry I’m so weak! I’m sorry I’m such a coward!”
Whack. Whack.
“I should’ve done more! I could’ve fought for him!”
Whack.
“I could do more for the family! I could be like Maud! Or Pinkie!”
Whack.
The impacts were getting to her now. She lashed out one final time at the stone before she sank down, her hoof dragging down the surface of the Quartzite to fall to the ground with her. She crumpled there, sobbing into the dirt, as the immovable monolith towered over her like the mental shadows she could hear in her mind.
“I can be worth something! I can!” She wept. “Please...please…”
There was quiet in the clearing now, all silent but for the sniffs and tears of the mare lying on the ground. She could hear nothing but herself and her sorrows as Luna’s moon looked on overhead.
“You are worth something, Marble Pie.”
Marble’s eyes shot open, and she lifted her head. Tear-blurred eyes blinked away the sadness to see Rockhoof sitting beside her, watching over her. He held her gaze even as she fumbled to lift herself up.
“R-Rockhoof?”
The giant of a stallion nodded, and reached out to her. She flinched and ducked her head, but found only an embrace bringing her to him. He held her close, her head easily nestled against his firm chest while his foreleg kept her there, the other soon joining its brother to better support her.
“It’s alright, lass. I’m here. It’ll be alright.”
The tears began anew, and she cried. But now instead of the cold earth drinking up her tears, they were shed upon Rockhoof’s coat. He didn’t let go of her, seeing fit instead to continue to support her. It all continued to pour out from her, until it felt like there was no more to give. She breathed, sniffed, and tried to clear her nose and throat. When she pulled away from his chest, he held up a towel to let her use it. Only when she lowered it did she try to speak, her voice coming out as a croak.
“How did you-?”
“I’m an adventurer, Marble. We know how to listen. And we know how to sneak.” He told her with a small smile. “When I saw you leaving the castle in the middle of the night, I thought somethin’ was wrong. And here you are, tryin’ to pummel the earth with yer bare hooves.” He tilted his head and regarded her with a genuinely curious look. “You were shouting at somepony. Other ponies. Who?”
“...E-everypony.” Marble admitted, giving a light hiccup after. “My parents. My sisters, but not Pinkie. I couldn’t...yell at Pinkie. Myself.”
“Did they make you believe you’re not strong?”
“Limestone’s said it. My parents haven’t. But I can feel it. They look at me sometimes, and they won’t say it, but I see it. In their eyes. I’m no Pinkie. I’m no Maud. I’m certainly no Limestone.” Marble said, ducking her head down.
“No. No, you’re not.” Rockhoof replied. “You’re Marble Pie.”
Marble nodded.
“So what’s so not great about that?”
It took Marble a moment to hear what he said before looking up at Rockhoof. The large stallion easily settled her on the ground before him before continuing.
“You came to me to ask for help in being strong. And up til now, you’ve been made to think that being strong is just in how mighty somepony might be.” He pointed out. “How they can break rocks and move mountains, fight monsters and be brave. All of that, aye?”
“Right.”
“And if I, Rockhoof, the Greatest of the Mighty Helm ponies,” he lifted himself up, puffing out his chest for a moment before smiling and looking down to Marble as he relaxed, “told you that I know personally that such an idea is as much rubbish as a cartful of rotten apples?”
Marble’s confusion must’ve shown on her face, as Rockhoof only managed a quiet chuckle before nodding. “Oh, they all like to remember the big moments in our legends and stories. The valiant battles, the victories, the celebrations. Because they always make for a grand show, don’t they? How the hero struggles against their enemy, they fight for honor or love or conquest, and by the tale’s end, you believe that the strongest ponies are the ones who have more muscles than what they can work with. But they don’t tell you the real truth. It’s buried away.”
“What’s the truth?” Marble questioned.
Rockhoof brought himself closer and sat himself beside Marble, looking towards the Quartzite before speaking.
“We’re not strong because of our might. We’re strong because of our choices.”
“...I don’t understand?”
Rockhoof looked to her, and in her eyes, it was as if the legend felt the years surge upon him as if forced by a spell. In his stare was a stallion who had bore more weight and might than she could ever dreamed, the look of aged wisdom and experience.
“When I wanted to save my village, I knew I was a weak pony. I was a nothing to my fellow kinsmen. Mockery and jokes were slung to my name. But I, like my fellow villagers, faced a dire choice when the volcano erupted near my home: I could flee, run and escape to preserve my own life. And perhaps we should have; could anypony be blamed for fleeing Nature in its might? But I chose another path. I chose to put myself in harm’s way. I told myself that if my efforts could save even one life, even just one single life, then that is more good done than no good done at all.” Rockhoof paused to bring out his shovel, the metal end showing in the moonlight despite light touches of darkened rust along it’s edge.
“I stuck to that choice, even with all the failures and weakness others lobbed onto my name. Because in that moment, it was my choice. My decision to act. I am sure it’s obvious they were grateful for it. But I never forgot who I was before, for I am still him. Still Rockhoof, the pony who was once the frailest colt.”
Marble nodded when he finished speaking. “But...what does that have to do with me? My choices...my choices haven’t been heroic. Or helpful. Or...good. I’m still pitiful, weak Marble Pie.” Her ears flopped down as her eyes moved to the grass between them, only to be made to look up as Rockhoof’s broad hoof lifted her chin back up.
“A word’s weight in stone is only as heavy as you carve it to be.” Rockhoof declared. “From the sound of all I hear, it’s only been the wee naggin’ voices of those who don’t know ya so well that tug at your heart. So you’ve made mistakes in your life? Don’t you think we all have done the very same? Ponies big and small, weak and strong, alicorn or mule. No Marble, those mistakes don’t make you weak. Not if you don’t let them do it to you.”
“Then what can I do? I can’t smash rocks like Maud. I can’t plan parties like Pinkie! I’m not like either of them!”
“Did I say you had to be either of them? Best either of them?”
Marble paused and searched for a reply, while Rockhoof lowered his hoof from her chin and continued. “You’re allowin’ them to define who you are. But Maud Pie and Pinkie Pie don’t make up a lick of Marble Pie’s self. Sure, you’re sisters in blood. But you each live a life outside the others. Which means you do too. You can, if you choose to. That means decidin’ on your own terms what is good by your own self.”
“Even if all my choices...led to nothing good?”
“You’re limitin’ yourself with that kind of thinking, lass.” Rockhoof insisted. “You made your choices, and they didn’t go the way you hoped. That is that. But the question now is, what will you do about it? Are you gonna let those be the only choices that define your whole life? Is that all that’s there for Marble Pie? Or can you brave the next step forward, even if you dunno where it’ll go?”
Marble sat and thought in silence for a time. Rockhoof didn’t interrupt her, or offer anything further. The heartbeat that had been pounding in her ears slowed, the drumming going quiet. Luna’s moon brought an almost ethereal light to the clearing around them, reflecting off the Quartzite’s surface and Rockhoof’s shovel. His advice washed through the currents of her thoughts, quelling the waves of negativity that had been slamming around her subconscious until the waters were still. And now she stood among them and stared at a mental picture of herself. The other her looked hopeless, frail, confused. The her she thought she was. The Marble that Limestone, her parents, and even her own thoughts considered her to be.
“...I want to do better.”
It came out softly from her lips, but there was an iron-like force behind it. The frail version of herself cracked in her mind’s eye, and cracked further still as her voice picked up in tone.
“I can be better. I can. I will! I’m...I’m Marble Pie!”
CRACK!
The unhappy Marble began to fracture, as Marble’s voice rose and carried in her mind. A piercing echo through the looming quiet.
“I don’t have to be another Maud, or another Pinkie, or Limestone! I should be me!”
The image shattered, and Marble opened her eyes to look at Rockhoof’s waiting expression.
“I choose...to keep going. I choose...I choose me. Myself.”
Rockhoof nodded. “And why yourself?”
Marble held his gaze before speaking again. “Because being strong...can be more than just strength. And being myself...being strong for myself, is more important than being strong just to hear somepony else say it. Because it’s not what others say that make up who I am,” she smiled at him for the first time that evening, “it’s what I decide that makes me who I am.”
Rockhoof beamed at her and laughed. “Well, now! I daresay the lass has got some kick in her legs now that you got your head square upon your shoulders again.” He replied, earning a wider smile from Marble. “You’re standin’ on all four legs now, are ya?”
“Mmhmm!” Marble hummed before catching herself. “I mean. Yes. Yes, I am.”
“Good! But uh, while this all means of good and happy, I do admit I’m missin’ the bed back in the castle. Let’s head on fer home, and come back tomorrow fresh and good.”
Marble nodded and followed him back, sticking to Rockhoof’s side as they left the clearing to return to Ponyville. The mare who returned with Rockhoof may have bore the same coat and mane coloring, the same colored eyes, even the same cutie mark. But a closer observer would see that she stood a little taller now. A little straighter. Her shoulders squared and her head lifted higher from the ground. Like a flower given its first burst of sunshine after a cloudy day.
As the Ponyville Express began to restart its engine, Rockhoof was smiling up at the passenger car he was next to. Or rather, smiling towards it, given his height. Only a couple feet away, looking out through the open window, Marble Pie smiled back at him, having just settled in on her seat.
“I’ll be sure to write, Rockhoof, when I get home. Thank you so much for everything,” Marble told him.
“You’re always welcome to visit us here, lass. Besides, you’re a valuable exercisin’ partner! I need somepony on the ground like you to shake things up!” Rockhoof said, making the mare smile. “And remember -”
“To be strong for myself. I remember,” Marble got out before the train horn cut off any further words with a loud burst of sound. “Take care, Rockhoof!”
“You as well, Lady Marble! Be safe!” He called back, waving at the departing train before heading on his way away from the station. The two weeks that had followed that evening of discussion between the two ponies had blurred by Rockhoof’s eyes like Magnus in his prime. Marble seemed to take a new shine to her time with Rockhoof, and to everypony else as well. There was still some of the old habits in her, the occasional head duck or non-vocal replies, but she was improving.
Rockhoof let himself wander along the roads, soon following the old and familiar path to the clearing in the Everfree Forest. The Magical Quartzite still looked as solid as ever, untouched and resolute. Rockhoof allowed himself to smile at it, but stopped his walk as he heard a voice calling to him from the way he came. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Pinkie Pie bouncing towards him, the mare making the distance in as many bounces and skips as a normal pony might jog.
“Rockhoof! Did Marble head on for home already? I was gonna throw her a surprise 'So Glad You Visited See You Back Home' surprise party!”
The older stallion chuckled and resumed trekking to the Quartzite as Pinkie kept pace in her bouncing fashion. “Aye, that she did. I saw your sister off just a little while ago. She’ll be well on the way back to the farm now.”
“Aww...oh well! I can still mail her cards! She told me she keeps them for the color in the house,” Pinkie noted. “Y’know, she was doing lots and lots of training with you, right?”
“That’s right, Miss Pinkie.”
“But to be honest, Rocky, she didn’t look all that blocky! Or stocky! Not even chunky!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I was thinking she’d be as big as you!”
“Nay, lass. Your sister wasn’t yearning to bulk herself up like a golem. But she is strong.”
“She is? Really? But she told me about this Quartzite you showed her. She couldn’t ever break it! Not once!” Pinkie jumped ahead of Rockhoof, making circles around the monolith as the Pillar approached.
“Strength can be more than what’s on the surface, Pinkie Pie.” Rockhoof told her. “What we see on the outside,” he paused to press his shoulder against the Quartzite, and with a forceful shove, rolled it over onto its side in an awkward flop and thud of heavy stone on earth, “doesn’t always show the full picture.”
“Oooooh…”
The underside of the Quartzite boulder shined, as solid as the day the glacier calved it off its mother mountain before depositing it in Ponyville of the past. But underneath where the boulder had laid, the ground was pulverized. Stone and rock and earth were devastated almost into a fine grain, one that Pinkie pressed her hoof into and easily brushed through. It was as if a giant had brought it’s limb down upon the earth, the force of a strength to make mortals wary. And Rockhoof knew that only one pony had been trying to bring that strength out there upon the Quartzite.
“Marble can be tougher than she looks, beneath the pretty face.”
Author's Note
How do you define strength?
I hope you enjoyed this story as you read it, and I thank you for taking the time to sit down with it. I have another story for these two I may write in the future, once I get the details figured out properly. Until next time!
