Tom was a normal rock, in all ways but one. He was fairly large, bulky, heavy and gray, but there was one thing that was different about him.
He could feel emotions. He could see. He was ALIVE! So when the strange, floating creature brought him the beautiful white mare that fateful day... he could feel nothing but bliss.
When she dug him out with her soft, beautiful hooves, and hoisted him upon her back, he thought he would simply die right then and there, his life complete.
But, alas, it was not to be. That accursed purple pony, the one who refused to acknowledge Tom’s worth, finally convinced his love that Tom was worthless.
Needless to say, Tom was devastated. To have loved and lost... he’d rather have died.
But, alas. He was a rock, and doomed to live for eternity. So when the one who introduced him to the beautiful alabaster mare joined him in stone, he found his way out - join the beautiful rainbow, leave the cruel, cruel world behind.
But it was not to be. After experiencing the most wonderful of sensations - Tom believed that likely a tiny pebble that had made its way into a crack in his side had finally been knocked loose by the rainbow - he felt that he was deposited somewhere new.
Somewhere untested. Somewhere that desperately needed him to test it. But what was he to do? For all his uniqueness, Tom was a rock. Therefore, unable to move. At least, unable to move on his own.
For an indeterminate amount of time, Tom waited. And waited. And waited. And finally, he found movement. At first, it was only bipedal creatures that visited him. He knew not what they were, but knew that they were not harmful - they didn’t so much as scratch his surface. After a longer amount of time, loud, annoying behemoths entered the area, tearing the surface of the ground and flinging tons and tons of dirt away from its original resting place.
Tom didn’t know what to do. Should he wait? Should he join the dirt, after so long of waiting, in glorious death? But he decided to wait after all, thinking that perhaps things would get better. It’s what the glorious mare with the violet mane would have done.
After quite a long while of noise and ground being unearthed, Tom was knocked from his place among the other rocks. He fell a long while, bouncing along the side of a wall. He wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not - not sure if something positive could come out of this. But there he waited. Waited, as more bipedal creatures arrived and began erecting structures. Artificial rock and stone and things he didn’t know about. Eventually, Tom forgot what the Sun felt like.
And then, after so long of noise, there was nothing. Not a single hum, whirr, or voice. Just... darkness. He waited, as Tom always had. Tom was a rock, the most magnificent thing nature had ever produced. Though he missed the liveliness of his previous locations, the silence was nice. It let him rest.
Eventually, though, even the silence was broken. From far above, there was the hum of machines. The whirr of life returning to whatever the creatures had built. He awaited the things, but nothing came. Eventually, a large explosion was heard, and all fell silent again.
However, this silence was not to last. Again, the facility came to life, this time with greater noise. Greater action. But even this was not to last. Soon, a creature came by him, seeming to be on a mission. He did not question it, nor did he care about it. For Tom was a Rock, the greatest thing to ever come of nature.
The greatest jar to his existence, however, came scant hours later. As he lazed against the ground, the creation above him shook with such force, shone with such heat, that he could not ignore it. He perceived it in what he believed were its last throes of life. However, when the thing was about to take its last moments, it shuddered. Pieces of it fell all over, and it stopped moving.
He was afraid that it might come down on top of him, might stifle him for nigh forever. Tom needed ROOM! Tom needed space to be able to feel himself.
But that no longer concerned Tom. For one of the things had fallen next to him. And it was the most beautiful thing he had ever perceived.
It was a beautiful cube, perfect edges with little indentations all around it. In the middle of each side was a faded pink heart, something that gladdened Tom. Here, in this mess of darkness and destruction, was something of this beauty.
But how to keep it around? Tom knew if he didn’t do something, it might leave. But what? The beautiful cube, his first companion in a long while, might not even be interested in him. What could he do?
The one thing he could do. Something that he did even better than the creatures that had
ignored him.
Tom waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And as all fell apart around him, the beautiful cube never left. It stayed by his side, and he was glad. Tom had finally found something that could take his hard heart, something that would be deserving of him.
That beautiful cube stayed with him, waited with him, just as well as he did. It did not complain, it did not desert him. In fact, they seemed to be two kindred spirits, ready to wait out the end of everything in each others’ presence. They would ride among the stars when it happened, just to two of them, together.
The cube, his companion cube, did not change. It did not run away, abandon him like the white mare. It remained by his side, resolute against time.
And Tom was truly content.
