It was a warm summer day in Rockville. Two fillies were playing marbles behind a rock silo, hiding from the sun in its shade. They were taking a break from working in the rock fields. One of the fillies, a gray one, grabbed her marble and lined up her shot with the other orbs. In her mind, she could already picture the angle her marble needed to take, how much force she needed to apply, and how it would interact with the other marbles.

Clack!

She took the shot. Her marble struck another, then another, the chain reaction scattering every marble out of the circle. She won the game immediately—again.

“Wow, sis, you’re so good!” the other filly said in amazement. She was pink with a curly mane. The two couldn’t look more different in color and personality, yet they were clearly close. The gray filly gave her sister a smug look of victory and grabbed her personal marble—a purplish one, her lucky marble. Her older sister liked to remind her how marbles weren’t made of actual marble, but of glass.

Marble Pie loved playing marbles. She was good at it—one of the few things she felt she excelled at—but no one else liked playing with her. “You make the game not fun,” the kids at school would say. Even her other two older sisters often found excuses when she asked them to play. “We need to prepare the rockslide for today’s harvest,” they said today. It was always Pinkie who found time to play, who kept going even after losing round after round. Pinkie made Marble feel special, and Marble loved how Pinkie always seemed glad to bring a smile to her sister’s face.

So why, Marble wondered, was she leaving? Things had changed ever since Pinkie got her cutie mark. She had discovered her purpose: to be a party pony. But Rockville wasn’t the place for parties. The people were too rigid, too stone-faced. Even after Pinkie’s first party managed to make the family laugh, she couldn’t spend her life throwing parties just for them. Pinkie needed to spread her wings.

“The Cakes are here,” Marble heard their Ma call from a distance. Marble wished this moment wouldn’t come, or that Pinkie might change her mind and stay. But when she looked at her sister, she knew her decision was final. Marble had already cried all her tears when their parents announced Pinkie was leaving. She’d even pleaded with her to stay, but deep down, Marble knew this was what was best for her party-loving sister.

Even so, Marble couldn’t help but feel betrayed. Defeated, she picked up the marbles still on the ground and stuffed them into her bag. Her once victorious expression had turned into a frown.

“Oh, Marble,” Pinkie said softly, pulling her into a hug. “You know you can always write me letters when I’m in Ponyville. And I’ll visit, I promise!” Pinkie’s words were meant to reassure, but deep down, Marble felt that things would never be the same again.

The two sisters walked back to the family house together. All the Pies had stopped their work to wave Pinkie goodbye as she left with their family friends, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, to start her new life as a baker’s apprentice in Ponyville. Pinkie’s luggage was already waiting outside. Marble was surprised that she didn’t cry, though even her serious older sisters, Maud and Limestone, shed tears as the goodbyes and one last family hug were shared. Once Pinkie was gone, the family returned to work.

“Hey, sis, come help us with the rockslide,” Limestone called to Marble. Controlling a rockslide was a tedious process requiring precise preparation. Maud and their Pa were already searching for a weak spot in the mountain to strike. Marble sighed, annoyed by the slow progress, especially in the heat. Couldn’t they see the fault line near the top of the mountain where the rocks were already gathered? Frustrated, she grabbed one of her marbles and threw it at the fault line.

The moment she let go, she knew she’d made a mistake. The others weren’t ready.

“Get back!” Igneous yelled as the rocks began to fall. But instead of chaos, the slide went off perfectly, with all the rocks settling exactly where they needed to.

“Marble Pie!” her mother shouted. “You could have gotten someone hurt! What were you thinking?”

Marble blushed, overwhelmed with shame. She wasn’t sure what had come over her.

“That was amazing,” Maud said in her usual flat tone, more a statement than praise. “How did you see that fault line all the way from over here?”

Marble glanced at Maud, the only one not glaring at her. She didn’t think what she’d done was anything special—until she felt a strange tingle on her flank. She looked down to see three marbles in a triangle shape appear.

Her cutie mark.

The angry stares turned to wide-eyed wonder. Her father was the first to speak. “You’d better not pull a stunt like that again, missy. Now help us move these rocks to the south field.”

The family returned to work, but Marble couldn’t help feeling… disappointed. She had always imagined she would become a different pony once she got her cutie mark, but instead, it only seemed to reinforce who she already was.

She sighed and tucked her bag of marbles away. She didn’t feel like playing anymore.

The Pies were surprised by Marble’s request to leave the house after work today. She rarely left the house willingly, especially by herself. Marble told her family she planned to go to the library to read some books.

“Oh, my sweetie pie,” her mom said, feeling delighted that her youngest daughter was getting out more. “You’re a grown mare already. You don’t need to ask us for permission if you want to go.”

Really? Marble rarely thought about her age. Technically, she could leave the farm and start her own life if she wanted to... Not that she wanted to, she thinks.

“Just let us know where you’re going and when you’ll be back,” her father added. Marble wasn’t planning to stay out too late—though she could if she wanted. After all, there was no farm work tomorrow.

“Since when are you interested in books?” Limestone asked. Marble shrugged and gave a forced, fake smile. Reading wasn’t exactly her hobby of choice. In her free time, she usually preferred lying in bed or combing her mane—she had a look to maintain, after all.

“Well, whatever. Just don’t wake me up if I’m asleep by the time you get back,” her sister said dismissively. Maud was somewhere else in the farm studying rock formations.

Marble could not concentrate on her work today as many thoughts raced through her mind. Cassie had given her a note with the location of a saloon near the city center, along with a password she needed to use to enter. She had never been to that part of town, so she was scared, but she couldn’t deny that she was also very excited. It all felt so mysterious, so dangerous, so thrilling.

Before she left, Marble grabbed a small purse to hold her copy of The Socialist Manifesto. She also took time to prepare her appearance. She applied makeup, which Maud had taught her to do, and chose a mint-colored sundress to complement her fur, along with a straw sun hat adorned with a black band. Marble wanted to look her best for her new “comrades,” after all.

Once she was ready, she took a trolley into the city. During the ride, Marble reread The Manifesto in case they quizzed her on it. As the trolley approached the city, she began to notice how different it was from the rock farms. The city was new and modern—perhaps not as much as Manehattan—but it was the first time Marble had seen so many buildings packed close together or structures so tall. Beyond that, she noticed the smoke rising from factory chimneys and the dirt that littered the streets.

“We’re arriving at Celestia Boulevard!” the conductor announced, ringing his bell. This was Marble’s stop. She stepped off the trolley, tipped her hat to the conductor, and he tipped his hat back before driving away.

Five seconds later, Marble placed her hooves on her face, blushing furiously as she realized what she had just done. She couldn’t believe how metropolitan she was becoming! But never mind that—she needed to find the saloon mentioned in Cassie’s note before she was late.

“Take a right on Celestia Boulevard, walk down two blocks, then take another right and continue until you see a door with a horseshoe at the top,” the note instructed. Marble followed its directions exactly.

As she walked, she couldn’t help but fantasize about what the meeting might involve. Would they make her swear loyalty to Marx with some kind of blood ritual? Or perhaps they would plan a revolution? (It was in the books, after all.) Whatever it was, Marble felt ready.

She didn’t have to ponder for long, as she soon found herself standing in front of the door with the horseshoe at the top. She knocked on it.

“Who is it?” A slit in the door suddenly opened, revealing two sets of eyes. Marble was starting to get used to sudden interactions with other ponies, so she only panicked a little this time. Deep breaths. Remember the password.

Oh, shoot, Marble thought. She had to speak now. Nothing was actually stopping her from speaking; she just… didn’t feel like it. On the farm, it was easy enough to communicate with just “mh-hmms,” and her family never bothered her much about it. Well, that was over now, Marble decided. It was time for the new Marble to emerge!

“The baker’s cousin,” she said to the door, surprised that her vocal cords were working after so long. Her voice sounded similar to Fluttershy’s but slightly higher and with a hint of a country accent.

“What?” The eyes in the door kept staring at her.

“the baker’s cousin,” she repeated.

“Listen, lady, if you’re trying to sell me something, I’ll let you know that—”

“I said, THE BAKER’S COUSIN!” Marble yelled at the door. She could feel the pony behind it flinch, and passersby turned to stare at her.

“I got it! I got it!” the voice behind the door said hastily. “Geez, we’ll have to change that password now.” The door opened, and Marble was quickly pulled inside.

Marble was ready—she was in the club now! Inside, she saw... a room with a pool table in the middle, several wooden chairs, and a table with various snacks on it. Nopony else was inside aside from the door pony.

“You’re the first one to arrive, so make yourself comfortable,” said the pony who had let Marble in. Now that she got a closer look, she recognized him as one of the goons from the auction—the one without the accent. However, instead of the overalls he had worn at the auction, he now wore a black wool necktie and a pair of glasses, which looked a little funny in contrast with his bulky physique.

Marble sat down on one of the wooden chairs and waited for a few minutes. The other pony was reading a book by the door, which she noticed was not The Socialist Manifesto. Marble felt like something was missing.

That’s right! The pony hadn’t introduced himself to her. She waited for him to do it. Any moment now…

A few more moments passed. Marble began to fear she’d have to do one of the things she hated most: start a conversation.

“So, uhm… what’s your name?” Marble asked. Her voice was still weak but strong enough to make sure she could be heard.

“Oh.” The pony looked up from his book and toward her. “I’m Bell Pepper. Nice to meet you. Although most ponies here just call me Zebrican.”

“Nice to meet you, Zebrican. I’m, uhm…” She fiddled with her hooves. “I’m Marble Pie.”

“Nice to meet you, Marble,” Zebrican said from the door.

“Why do they call you Zebrican?” Marble asked, curious about the nickname.

“It’s probably because of this,” he said with a small laugh. He pulled up a bit of his black turtleneck, revealing a white coat with black spots scattered across it. It didn’t look exactly like a zebra’s pattern but was close enough.

“Oh, wait,” Zebrican suddenly said, his eyes widening in realization. “You’re Pinkie Pie’s sister, right?”

Marble guessed she should have expected the topic of her sister to come up. Pinkie was probably the most famous pony to come out of Rockville, especially after the release of the friendship journal. She remembered how Limestone had to kick tourists off their farm—sometimes literally—in the months after the book’s release.

“Yes, that’s me,” Marble replied. She didn’t like it when the topic of Pinkie Pie came up. She didn’t go out enough to hear other ponies compare her to her sister, but that was fine because she could do that all by herself.

“Well, I’m glad that you support the cause, Comrade Pie. We’re always happy to have new ponies interested in worker’s rights..”

Marble didn’t know why, but she felt a shiver down her spine when Zebrican called her “Comrade Pie.” It just felt… right. It made her sound important.

“Well, uhm, I’m happy to be here, Comrade Zebrican,” she said. He gave her a nod and a smile before returning to his book.

That went better than she expected, Marble thought. She continued waiting dutifully for the other ponies to arrive.

Author's Note

Hello everyone 👋

This chapter went through a couple of rewrites but I'm happy how it ended up.

I splitted up in 2 in order to keep a consistent chapter length. The second part should be coming out in a couple of days.

As always feedback is welcome. Right now I'm looking for an editor if anyone is interested in helping out with the fic :) Feel free to send a DM through here if you're interested.