Born From A Rock

Rocks.

Boulders.

Crystals.

Gems.

And, hey! Would you look at that: more rocks.

These were the ingredients that made up Limestone’s life, day in and day out. For the foreseeable future, it will be her life. The only difference being that, sooner or later, her parents were going to get too old to work and she would inherit the farm as the oldest sibling. Which meant more responsibility than before.

She would need to start managing the farm’s finances, picking up the slack her parents would usually do, and forfeit the one holiday she had off a year. If things got too bad, there was always the rainy day couch fortune Igneous showed her recently.

Limestone could say a lot of things about rock farming, but damn if it wasn’t lucrative.

It was the main reason they were able to afford Maud getting a Rocktorate and for Pinkie to go off and ‘befriend Equestria’ with a bag full of bits. Just for her to go on and become one of six saviors of Equestria and for Maud to inevitably end up moving to the same town and finding a coltfriend.

Limestone got to hear every detail via the letters Pinkie sent Marble. Every adventure, every friendship problem, every encounter with her coltfriend Cheese Sandwich who she fawned over.

Not that Limestone was jealous or anything; she could get a coltfriend if she wanted to. She just found herself so busy preparing to be in charge of one of the most successful rock farms in Equestria.

Yet there she was, checking the fields for basic gems like a grunt.

“Somepony’s gotta do it.” She whispered to herself, the same way she’d done so many times before. “Might as well be me.”

While the necessary work on the farm was constant, it was all mindless and required as much effort as pushing a bowl full of soup across the table. Which left her with time to think, far too much time. No one to talk to, either. There was Marble, of course; the sister who hadn’t left her. Unfortunately, she was also the sister who never really talked above a whisper. A conversation with her was akin to Limestone pressing her ear against a door while someone sat in the corner and murmured something.

She let out an exaggerated sigh, rubbing the dirt out of her eyes as she peered up at the gray, fog-filled sky she’d spent her entire life waiting to open. The one time it did, that ‘sonic rainboom’ or whatever Pinkie occasionally gushed about, she’d already gone inside and missed it. Not a day went by where one of her many thoughts wondered how things might have changed had she taken just a minute longer to go inside, if she saw the same thing that turned Pinkie into who she was.

Then, Limestone would smack herself and repeat the same mantra she’d told herself each time; there was no point in thinking about what could have been.

The sun, shining brightly but not brightly enough to pierce through the layer of depressed clouds littering the sky above their farm, was halfway to the horizon. Which meant it was roughly time for supper. After Pinkie left and they got older, Father stopped announcing when it was time and just waited for them. It took Limestone a few days to figure out that it always had to do with how far along the sun was, but she felt the tiniest prick of pride when she did.

Looking back on it, it shouldn’t have taken her even that long. Maybe she was just a dumb kid.

Supper was a wordless conversation. Sometimes, Father would ask her if the mining was more plentiful than usual, and she’d answer. That was the extent of what they discussed. Marble said a lot with just her eyes and body language, not that their parents ever bothered to pick up on it.

Limestone could tell at a glance if something was on her mind; if her sister was more angsty than normal, or if she was more upbeat. The latter was always because it was the day when Pinkie’s letter would come in. Like Limestone, Marble had read every book in The Pie Family household at least twice over to better understand the outside world. For Limestone, they were a way to pass time.

Time.

The thing she had far too much of, and yet it never, ever seemed like enough.

“Limestone, supper!”

She flipped over her umpteenth rock, sighing as she heard the voice of her mother.

“Finally.”

She made her way to the glorified shack she called a home, not even a gust of wind from the disgrace of a windmill they owned.

Dinner was, surprise surprise, rock soup! A little more soup than rock this time around, but that was about as much variety as she’d started to expect.

The Pie Family, in their unsworn vow of silence, said nothing at the table.

That being said, Limestone was observant enough to notice the glances between her parents. Which meant one of two things; they were having marriage troubles, which was par for the course, or there was something they had to tell her that they didn’t want to.

It wasn’t their anniversary, so the former wasn’t likely.

With a grunt, Limestone finished her supper, slamming her bowl on the table with a bit more force than usual.

“What? What is it?”

Igneous and Cloudy knew it was directed toward them; Limestone would never talk that way to her sisters.

They exchanged one more glance, and then Cloudy nodded as she adjusted her glasses.

“Limestone, are you aware of The Crystal Empire?”

Limestone raised an eyebrow, crossing her hooves.

“Yeah. I’m depressed, not miserable. What about it?”

“Well, as you know, they’re from an entirely different age; which includes their technology and equipment. Not their techniques, however.”

Igneous lifted his hat, retrieving a piece of paper that he then passed to his wife.

“The Crystal Empire has access to not only their own land, but deposits, veins, and ores all in mines they either created in the past or can create again. Equestria has also had the methods, but never the know-how. With their return, that is no longer an issue.”

Cloudy looked down from her daughter, skimming over the paper and once more adjusting her glasses.

“Ok, that’s cool, I guess. What does that have to do with me?”

“Come now, Limestone. We raised you to be smarter than that.” Cloudy remarked, placing the paper on the table. “The Crystal Empire requires the expertise of a mining family who can use modern methods and has more experience than any other family.”

“Are you…” Limestone scowled, recoiling as realization decked her in the schnozz. She stood up so rapidly her stool fell over, slamming her hooves against the table with a crack. “No way, no fucking way. You know I hate the cold!”

“It’s already set in motion, daughter.”

Igneous spoke for the first time, his voice not raising an octave yet as firm as ever.

“But…how did you…why would they even want us specifically? There’s dozens of other mining families closer to them.”

“Indeed. But there’s only one who has a daughter that’s an element bearer and is close friends with the princess of the kingdom.”

Limestone grit her teeth so hard they nearly chipped.

“Pinkie suggested me?”

“No.” Cloudy stood up, starting to collect the bowls in various states of empty on the table. “She suggested Maud at first, who’s already exploring Equestria. However, for one reason or another, she refused. And so, as the heir to our farm, you have been selected.”

Marble muttered something, so quiet even Limestone could hear it properly.

“Again: why me? Why not one of you two go? You have decades more experience than me!”

Cloudy took the last bowl, making her way to the kitchen as she peered in Igneous’ direction.

“While true, you lack experience and skill in negotiation and trading. We will pass one day, and you will be in charge of all the duties we handle. That includes making sure our relations with others that benefit us remain intact. Considering your relationship with your own blood, this is a field you need much more time in.”

“I...”

Limestone sat down, body trembling as she tried to contain her irritation. If she was half as good with words as the protagonist in her books, she could talk herself out of the situation. Come up with some horseshit excuse for why she couldn’t go.

She was not, however, a charlatan of any kind. That talent went to her sister.

“Can I at least bring some of my books?”

“You may bring whatever you can fit in one suitcase. Your expenses and such will be paid for by the princess herself. Your train leaves in the morning.”

Limestone sighed, picking up the stool and placing it back under the table.

“I’ll start packing.”

Trains were bumpy, and loud, and full of other ponies.

The only thing she liked about them was the fact that no one tried to be social to anyone but their immediate neighbors.. Limestone could go to her own little booth in her own little corner, read a book, and no one would bother her for hours.

Just like home.

Before she knew it, she was in The Frozen North.

The sleek, snow-covered land filled her with more dread than the passage she read in Anger by Steedphen King. Before she even got off the warm train, she felt a shiver go down her back.

As she put her book away, placing her rock in between the pages, she pulled out a coat and three scarves, wrapping herself like a burrito in a desperate attempt to stay warm.

She hopped off the platform, having to shield her eyes from the sheer light from The Crystal Empire. It shone brighter than any gem she saw, it and the ponies who lived there, which were practically see-through. Even the very ground was reflective.

The center, which was a palace of gems and crystals, was a bright beacon in a sea of already glowing lights.

It was colorful, so terribly colorful. There were ponies everywhere, all kinds of different food she could smell. Not a single rock in site.

“Oh fuck me.”