Muffins Side Story: All That Glitters

Life on the rock farm hadn't changed much for Inkie and Blinkie Pie after Inkie got her cutie mark. Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz were just as cold as they had been before, but something seemed different about Cloudy. She tended to avoid meeting Inkie Pie's eyes, almost as if she was slightly afraid of her. She never hit her older daughter again, but that was because Inkie Pie hadn't sassed her like she had that day Cloudy found them with the record player. However, even though Inkie Pie didn't talk back, she also did not hide her rage, giving both her parents a murderous stare whenever they angered her. This was enough for the filly to ensure she did not bottle up her feelings anymore.

Blinkie Pie started taking a leaf out of her sister's book instead of shouting like she normally did, mustering up a hateful look of her own. After awhile, Cloudy Quartz would try and do her best not to be in the same room with her daughters. Even so, she still found opportunities to scold them, like when she found they had been selling more of their cupcakes and making small amounts of money. The sisters took to hiding their bits beneath a floor board under Inkie Pie's bed.

One evening, the fillies were finishing up their work on the farm as the sun was setting. They were making their way back to the house, wiping sweat from their brows, when Inkie Pie suddenly noticed their parents talking to an elderly mare who was pink in color. She gasped, nudging Blinkie Pie excitedly and pointing at the pony. Blinkie smiled broadly, and the two of them galloped as fast as they could to the house.

"Granny Pie!" they both squealed in unison, hugging the pony tightly. The pony's wrinkled face split into a wide grin, and she wrapped her arms around her granddaughters happily. Cloudy looked a little surly. Rosie Quartz Pie was her mother, but the two of them were very different in personality. In fact, her behavior and attitude was more similar to little Pinkie Pie, which seemed to suggest that the filly inherited more than just the pink gene from her dear grandmother.

"Oh, good to see you girls!" said Rosie Quartz, her green eyes sparkling with glee. She looked around, and her face fell slightly. "Where is Pinkie Pie?"

"She got her cutie mark, Granny!" Blinkie Pie replied. "She left Rock Country and went to Ponyville! She's a party pony!"

"I got mine too!" added Inkie. "A couple weeks ago, see?" She showed the purple geode on her flank, and Rosie clapped her hooves together in celebration, something that made Cloudy's frown deepen.

"Congratulations, dear!" Rosie sang. "And tell me, how did you get it?"

"I had a mental breakdown and broke a rock that had a geode inside of it!" said Inkie Pie, still smiling. Rosie blinked, looking to her daughter and son-in-law, concern on her face.

"Your daughter had a mental breakdown, Cloudy?" she asked, brow furrowed.

"Do not listen to her," Cloudy snapped, though she didn't meet her mother's eyes. "She is being overly dramatic. Pinkamena put unholy thoughts into their heads before she left, and the two of them have been acting out."

"Oh, horse feathers!" Rosie laughed, waving her hoof carelessly. "You are just like your father! All this talk about 'unholy thoughts' and stuff, not wonder poor Inkie Pie cracked! You know, Muddy was the biggest ball of stress I had ever seen, and that's why he passed away at such a young age! You gotta learn to live a little, Cloudy! Or you'll burst your brain just like he did!"

"Father hated when you called him 'Muddy,'" Cloudy said sternly.

"Yes, well he hated everything, including me," Rosie giggled shamelessly. "If you ask me, dearie, your children have the right idea! You should really let them make their own choices!"

"I think Pinkamena learned a little too much from your questionable lifestyle, mother," Cloudy grumbled. "I ask you to please refrain from tainting any more of my children during your visit." Rosie Quartz sighed lightly, and then turned to the fillies.

"Well, enough of all this negativity!" she told them energetically. "I brought over some of my Super Special Triple Chocolate Fifteen Layer Marjolaine! It's in the kitchen and ready to eat!"

"YAY!!" exclaimed the sisters, and they hurried into the house. Cloudy Quartz and Igneous Rock both looked very disapproving, and Rosie noticed this. She smiled and shrugged sheepishly.

"There's enough for everypony if you want some!" she said.

"Thank you, Rose," said Igneous firmly, "but we have no need for sweets."

"Suit yourselves!" With that, Rosie Quartz followed her granddaughters inside, heading to the kitchen to find them serving three plates of the dessert. She sat at the table, and Inkie Pie brought a plate and fork to her, and then her and Blinkie brought their own plates to the table, sitting across from their beloved grandmother.

"How long are you staying, Granny Pie?" asked Blinkie, who really liked her grandmother because she reminded her so much of her younger sister, whom she missed very much.

"Only a few days, sweetheart," replied Rosie, taking a generous bite of her marjolaine.

"Can't you stay longer?" Inkie Pie whimpered, knowing the farm would be cold an uninviting once again without somepony so cheerful.

"I wish I could," said Rosie, giving Inkie the warmest smile the fillies had seen on a pony's face since Pinkie Pie left. "I know you two didn't know Grandpa Mudstone, for he passed away before you were born, but ever since the two of us divorced, it's been increasingly difficult for me to make a living. I sell the jewelry I make, as well as some of my baked goods, but it's very hard to make a good living in this town without a stallion and family to support you. I don't expect such young fillies like you to understand."

"We understand, Granny," said Inkie Pie darkly. "We try to sell our cupcakes in town. Ponies buy them, but not if they're too expensive. We've had to reduce the price many times."

"And mama and papa confiscate our bits!" added Blinkie Pie. Then she whispered, "now we have to hide them."

"We don't want to stay here forever, so we need to save up for when we wanna leave," Inkie continued. "We'll probably go to Ponyville to join Pinkamena. You should go too, Granny! You'd be so much better off!"

"Oh, these old bones don't do well when it comes to traveling too far," Rosie laughed. "You two are baking? I'm so thrilled to hear that!"

"Pinkamena taught us how," said Blinkie Pie proudly. "We even have a secret ingredient!"

"Ooh! What is it?" asked Rosie.

"Granny, if we told you, it wouldn't be a secret!" The three of them all laughed as they continued eating their dessert. When they were finished, Rosie Quartz eyed the sisters eagerly.

"If you two are serious about saving your money," she began dramatically, "then I have quite a story for you. I heard it when I was a young filly about your age, and I even tried looking for it myself, but I never found it. Would you like to hear the story?"

"Yes!" said Inkie and Blinkie together, curious about what the mare was talking about.

"Well, a long time ago, an old miser lived not too far from here. He was incredibly rich, but the thing was, he lived in a small house that suggested he was poor. He spent very little money, but the ponies in town had seen him make a few purchases that were extravagant! When the church questioned him about it, he admitted to being wealthy, and everypony demanded that he give up his wealth, for greed was a sin.

"But he refused," Rosie went on, her granddaughters hanging on to her every word, "and the town grew very angry. They formed a mob and burned down his small house! I'm sure they were thinking that his money would be destroyed in the fire, but as the stallion escaped his blazing home, he laughed and shouted, 'my source of wealth does not lie in my house, you fools! It is hidden in a place no pony will ever find it unless they are worthy of finding it!' With that, he left Rock Country, never to be seen again.

"Not many ponies in the town bothered to try and find the stallion's hidden treasure, for they had no interest in wealth. However, a few throughout history have attempted to locate it as the story grew into the legend of the Miser's Treasure. There are a few places where it's been rumored to be, but there is only one area near the cliffs that has supporting evidence of the treasure being there. Unfortunately, it's very dangerous, so it is not certain that it is in fact there.

"But I believe it is there!" Rosie's eyes sparkled with excitement. "I myself have tried to climb down to find it many times in my youth, but I was not only unsuccessful, but discouraged from trying once the community found out what I was doing. It was heartbreaking to give up on something I was so passionate about, but... the town was already displeased with the way I acted at times, so I decided to give it up. Maybe it was for the best. The miser had said the pony who finds it will find it because they are worthy. Perhaps it's not mine to find."

"Do you think we could find it, Granny?" asked Blinkie Pie in a hushed voice, but there was suddenly the sound of somepony clearing their throat by the door, and they all turned to see Cloudy Quartz glaring at her mother.

"Do you find it amusing to fill my daughters' heads with such lies?" she snapped at Rosie, and the fillies exchanged worried looks. "You come to my house, feed them sweets, ruin their appetite for dinner, and spin them some farfetched yarn about a treasure that does not exist? And even if it did, it has no place in our family! We must work hard to earn our right to live in this world, not rely on meaningless wealth!" Inkie Pie gave Rosie a look that said, "we told you so."

"Oh, Cloudy!" Rosie Quartz said sincerely, "I did not mean to intrude on your way of life! I was just entertaining the young ones! They always enjoy the nonsensical ramblings of an old pony!" Cloudy scoffed, and then shot a nasty look at her daughters.

"Bed," she spat.

"We don't get dinner?" asked Blinkie incredulously.

"I dare say you have had enough dessert, do you not agree?" The sisters grumbled as they hopped off of their chairs. They both came around the table and gave Rosie a hug, and then trudged off to their room. It was painfully quiet in the kitchen for a moment as Cloudy pursed her lip, staring at the pink mare.

"You and your siblings had a brief period of time where you enjoyed life," Rosie said finally in a very calm tone. "It was short, but the three of you used to smile. What happened, Cloudy?"

"We grew up, mother," Cloudy replied stiffly. "Father showed us the correct path, showed us that yours was not the right one to follow. Igneous and I had a moment of weakness when our daughter, Pinkamena, nearly led us down your path, but since she left, we have been able to think straight once more. I cannot say the same for Marblestone or Limestone."

"Perhaps if you hadn't lost your first child, you wouldn't be so unhappy," said Rosie, but she flinched as Cloudy stomped her hoof on the floor.

"I told you never to bring that up ever again!" she hissed, looking behind her to make sure they were alone.

"Hunny, a miscarriage is nothing to be ashamed of--"

"Silence, mother! We are never to speak of this! I have three children, and that is it!" Cloudy took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly. "I think it is time I make dinner. I take it you are too full of pastry to join Igneous and I?"

"Yes," Rosie said with a nod, seeming a bit sad in her tone. "I'll just turn in. See you in the morning, dear." Before leaving the kitchen, Rosie Quartz wrapped some plastic over the dish of her marjolaine and placed it in the icebox, not exchanging any more words with her daughter as she prepared supper for her and her husband. Rosie wandered down the hall to the only extra bedroom, carefully closing the door. Then she quickly trotted to the writing desk, grabbing a quill, ink, and paper, and began to draw.

"Do you think that story about the Miser's Treasure was true?" Blinkie Pie asked her sister as they sat in their beds.

"Granny said it was just 'nonsensical ramblings of an old pony.' I think she was just playing with us," replied Inkie sadly.

"Imagine if it was real though... then, if we found it, we'd be set to leave this awful place."

"What makes you think we'd find it? Granny said you had to be worthy."

"I think you're worthy," said a voice outside of their door, and the fillies glanced over to see Rosie Quartz pushing it open. She came inside the room, and they both got off of their beds, coming closer to her. "The story is true, little ones. I just had to say something to satisfy your mother."

"Do you think we can find it?" asked Inkie Pie in a whisper.

"I know you can," Rosie said, smiling. She held out a piece of paper with a bunch of scribbles on it. "This is a map I drew. It shows how to get to the cliffs from this house, and where exactly the treasure is rumored to be. It'll be extremely dangerous to climb down the side of those cliffs, so you'll need to be careful, and don't go unless you're willing to risk it."

"What's life without a little risk, huh?" said Blinkie Pie excitedly, and Rosie ruffled her mane lovingly.

"That's my girl! Now, don't let your parents see that map! Your mother is already furious with me for telling you the story!"

"Mama is always furious about something," Inkie giggled, and she took the map from Rosie and hid it under her pillow. Rosie pulled both fillies into her arms and kissed their temples.

"I love you so much," she told them. "I promise you, everything will be alright. Just don't forget how to smile."

"We won't," the sisters said together, and Rosie released them, waving goodnight as she left the room. Inkie and Blinkie crawled back into their beds, smiling at each other.

"We're going to find us some treasure tomorrow, aren't we?" Inkie Pie said with a grin.

"Hell yeah," said Blinkie, and they giggled as Inkie blew out the candle on the nightstand.



Morning came, and the family ate breakfast in silence. It seemed that Rosie Quartz did not want to risk upsetting Cloudy again, so she didn't speak. Even so, she could tell her granddaughters were eager to start their search for the Miser's Treasure, and that alone was enough to distract her from the negative energy radiating off of her daughter and son-in-law.

When breakfast was finished, Igneous Rock set his daughters to work in the front yard while he and his wife worked in the back. Rosie sat in the living room reading, as she was too old and frail to work. She had a view of Inkie and Blinkie Pie out of the front window, and watched as they quietly snuck away from the farm with a long rope coiled around Inkie's neck.

"The cliffs aren't far from here," Inkie Pie said as she glanced at the hoof drawn map. "Should take about ten minutes to get there."

"What will we say to mama and papa if they find out we disappeared?" asked Blinkie Pie.

"We'll just say we didn't feel like working, so we went into town or something," Inkie replied. "We'll be punished, but Granny won't have to endure mama's crap again."

The two of them continued walking to an area that adults always told their foals never to play around, for it was home to the edge of a very high cliff. Below the cliffs were countless rocks and dead trees, and if anypony slipped, it was unlikely that they'd survive the long fall. Rosie Quartz had not been exaggerating when she said it'd be dangerous.

"This is it," said Inkie Pie happily, pointing at a blackened tree trunk. There was a large X carved into the lifeless bark.

"Who do you think marked this?" asked Blinkie, running a hoof over the X. "Do you think it was Granny?"

"Maybe, or somepony before her who thought the treasure was here." Inkie Pie carefully approached the edge of the cliff, and her heart sank when she realized how far down it was. She was terribly afraid of heights.

"It says on the map that the treasure should be somewhere down there," Blinkie said as she stood by her sister's side. "Maybe there's a crevice or something where it's hidden, or maybe it's in one of those dead trees."

"Um... I don't know..." Inkie Pie muttered. Blinkie looked at her quickly.

"You're scared," she stated, and Inkie nodded slowly. The lavender filly looked back down, squinting her eyes to try and make out anything that looked suspicious. She suddenly saw a small hole in the cliff wall directly below them, but it was quite a ways down. "There! I bet that's it! I'll go down there, I'm not afraid of heights."

"You sure?"

"Yeah! I'll be fine!" Inkie Pie nodded, and she took the rope from around her neck, handing one end to her little sister. As Blinkie tied the rope around her waist, Inkie tied the other end securely around the marked tree. Then they both stood at the edge of the cliff, Inkie Pie gripping a segment of rope tightly. "Now lower me down slowly, I'll tell you when to stop," said Blinkie Pie, gently inching over the edge, and then dropping down to hang by her front hooves.

"Be careful," said Inkie Pie, and her sister nodded, letting go. The rope became taut as Blinkie Pie dropped about a foot, and Inkie grunted, trying to keep it from slipping through her grasp. Blinkie gave a light squeak as she dangled above the deadly rocks that seemed miles below her, but she was unharmed.

"You're good, Inkie! Keep going!" she said loudly to her sister. Inkie Pie struggled with Blinkie's weight, but she began gradually feeding the rope to the cliff's edge, and the hanging filly started to slowly descend into the valley. She smiled as she watched the hole she had spotted get closer, feeling certain that that's where the treasure was hidden. She wondered if her grandmother had noticed it too.

Neither filly noticed the rope rubbing against a jagged rock protruding from the wall of the cliff.

"How are you doing, Blinkie?" Inkie Pie called in a strained voice.

"I'm fine, just a little closer!" Blinkie Pie shouted back, the hole being merely a few feet below her. Just then, there was a soft snap, and both sisters froze, Blinkie's gaze shooting upward at the rope. Her pupils contracted when she saw a fray in the strands; one of the sections had broken.

"What was that?" Inkie asked in worry, not daring to lower her sister any further.

"The rope is breaking!" Blinkie Pie yelled, panic filling her as more fibers began to break under the stress of her weight. "Pull me up! PULL ME UP!!" Inkie Pie's mouth was bone dry as she quickly tugged on the rope as quickly as she could, and Blinkie Pie tried to help by grabbing onto the cliff wall to climb up, but there was nothing for her to get a good grip on. Another crack sounded, much louder than the first, and both fillies whimpered in fear.

"Come on!" Inkie growled, cursing her lack of strength as she pulled on the rope desperately. The tear was down to its last few fibers, and Blinkie Pie stared at it, praying to Celestia that it would hold just a bit longer.

"HURRY!!" she shrieked as she reached upward toward the edge that was coming ever closer. Just a few more inches...

A horrendous scream filled the valley as the rope shot back toward Inkie Pie, now shortened and frayed at the end. Inkie hurried to the edge just in time to see her sister plummet to the rocks below, disappearing from her sight.

"BLINKIE PIE!!" she cried, tears filling her eyes. For a split second, she contemplated jumping from the cliff to go after her, but she changed her mind as she turned and ran as fast as she could back to her home.

Blinkie Pie groaned, her eyes flickering open as she tried to make out her surroundings through the darkness. Her body ached, and she felt a few areas of her skin stinging, as there were cuts and scrapes she had acquired during her fall. Then Blinkie became aware that she was soaking wet. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she saw she was lying in a shallow pool of water. Looking up, she noticed a wide fissure in the rocky ceiling, and she figured that's where she had fallen from.

"The water must've softened the impact slightly..." Blinkie Pie muttered to herself, though the pain in her body was enough to make her think all of her bones had shattered. Her worries were lessened when she weakly got to her feet, trembling with the effort of standing. Nothing was broken, but she could feel the warmth of fresh blood spreading through her cold, damp fur. "Where am I?" Judging from her surroundings, Blinkie Pie guessed that she was in an underground cave. There was the echo of dripping water, and massive stalagmites and stalactites protruded from the ground and ceiling.

Stepping out of the water, Blinkie Pie started to limp further down the cave, her lips parted as she stared around her. She spotted glowing dots above her every now and then, and it took her a moment to realize she was being watched by bats who were trying to slumber. Blinkie Pie had to stop herself from apologizing to them.

"How am I going to get out of here?!" she exclaimed, and an angry bat squawked at her in response. "Oh hush, you! You can fly!" Then Blinkie Pie wondered if that fissure was the only opening to the cave. "There's got to be a mouth somewhere... if I can get out, maybe I can find somepony to help me find my way home..." She continued on, trying to ignore the pain in her bruised legs.

It felt like hours had passed as Blinkie Pie traveled through the cold, dark underground, but her determination kept her from losing too much energy. A dim glow could be seen in the distance, and she gasped in excitement, hurrying toward it, thinking she had found the exit. Blinkie's jaw dropped as she came closer, gazing at the ceiling of the cave in awe.

What she thought was daylight was actually thousands of bluish-green lights above her, giving the area a calming and beautiful glow. Furrowing her brow, Blinkie Pie questioned what could be causing so many lights, after all, there was no electricity. She grabbed a small rock and flung it as hard as she could at the ceiling, and a few orbs dropped to the cave floor. Blinkie inched closer to inspect it, but recoiled as she realized the lights were actually some sort of glowing bug.

Then something else caught her eye; a metallic glint in her peripheral vision. Blinkie Pie turned to a group of large stalagmites standing on the ground next to the cave wall. Embedded in the rock were decently large chunks of glittering gold. Blinkie Pie hurried forward, staring at the lustrous nuggets. She didn't even know you could find gold in caves, but here it was.

"The miser knew about this!" Blinkie whispered, running her hoof gently over the gold nuggets. "This must've been here for decades... maybe even centuries!" Her hoof found a smaller chunk, and as she touched it, it shifted slightly, and she blinked. It was loose. With difficulty, Blinkie Pie pried the piece of gold from the stalagmite and held it in her hooves, her eyes glittering almost as much as it was. All of a sudden, there was a flash that made her yelp in surprise, and looking at her flank, she saw a yellow rock cutie mark. It was a gold nugget. "No way!" she squealed, and Blinkie Pie jumped for joy, shouting, "yes! Yes! YES!"

The sound of thousands of flapping wings ceased Blinkie's celebration, and she froze, seeing a black mass flying toward her from the distance. She had disturbed the bats with her shouting. Blinkie Pie gasped, put the gold between her teeth, and tore off in the direction she had come. The bats chased her back to the pool of water she had landed in, and she threw herself to the ground, covering her head as they flew through the fissure overhead and out of the cave.

Panting heavily from running so far, Blinkie became more aware of the pain in her body. She stayed on the ground, closing her eyes and trying to think of a way out. Perhaps she could find a way to get back up through the fissure. Her segment of rope was still tied around her, maybe that could come in handy.

"Limestone Pie!" called a faint voice from somewhere above her. Blinkie Pie opened her eyes and looked up, recognizing the voice as her mother's.

"Limestone!!" The second voice belonged to her father. "Limestone, can you hear me?!"

"I'm down here!" she shouted back, hoping the cave would amplify her voice so that her parents could hear her. "There's a fissure in the rock! I fell through!"

"Don't worry, Blinkie Pie!" came the voice of Rosie Quartz. "Your father is coming to get you!" Happy to finally be rescued, Blinkie watched the fissure expectantly.

"Keep shouting, Limestone!" said Igneous, who sounded a little closer, but still at a fair distance. Blinkie Pie did as she was told, yelling so that her father could find her, feeling certain that the fissure was out of plain sight from outside.

After quite a few minutes, Igneous Rock appeared through the opening in the ceiling, and he was lowered until his hooves came in contact with the ground. Blinkie Pie ran up to hug him, but he tapped her head firmly.

"You are in deep trouble, Limestone Pie!" he shot angrily. He was wearing a durable leather harness around his torso, and the rope he was attached to was a thick metal cord that couldn't be easily broken. Blinkie Pie pulled her ears back and allowed her father to wrap his arms around her, and then he tugged on the cord to signal the others to pull them back up.

It took some time with the added weight, but Cloudy, Rosie, and Inkie Pie managed to heave the two back up to the top of the cliff. Inkie was sobbing as she embraced her sister, repeating the words, "I'm sorry!"

"Oh, sweetie!" cried Rosie, noticing Blinkie's injuries. "You're hurt! Are you alright?" Blinkie Pie took the gold nugget out of her mouth that she had been holding, grinning ecstatically.

"I'm more than alright!" she squeaked, and she showed everypony her flank. "I found the Miser's Treasure and got my cutie mark! It's gold, Granny! Look!" She held up the piece of gold, and Inkie Pie covered her mouth.

"I knew it was real!" said Rosie happily, hugging her granddaughter. "Congratulations!" Just then, Cloudy Quartz grabbed Rosie's shoulder and yanked her away from Blinkie.

"She could have been killed, mother!" she shouted. "And for what? Some gold? What are we to do with gold?!"

"Mama, we could get a lot of money for the gold down there!" insisted Blinkie Pie, but Cloudy snatched the nugget from her daughter and threw it off the cliff. Blinkie Pie shouted in protest, watching the object glint in the sun before it vanished. "That gave me my cutie mark! I didn't even get a chance to figure out why!"

"'Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal,'" Cloudy recited firmly, "'but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' You know this! There should be no question!"

"Wealth is not a bad thing if it's not used for bad things!" Blinkie Pie argued.

"Do not talk back to your mother," Igneous Rock snapped. "Neither of you are to ever come near these cliffs again, do you understand? You are not to go after that gold!" The fillies hung their heads, and Blinkie Pie started to cry. Rosie Quartz watched her, feeling saddened that Blinkie could not have what gave her her cutie mark.

"Let us go home," said Cloudy. "You are injured, Limestone. We need to clean you up."

"You four go on ahead," said Rosie. "I need a moment to say goodbye to the treasure I had tried so hard to find in my youth." Cloudy Quartz glared at her mother, but she and Igneous led their daughters away to return home.

"No dinner tonight for either of you," she hissed as they walked. "You will clean up and spend the rest of the evening in your room. I cannot believe you two risked your lives to disobey me." The sisters didn't respond, feeling heartbroken, their hopes of ever leaving Rock Country crushed.

Later in the evening, Blinkie Pie was sitting on Inkie Pie's bed, Inkie holding her in her arms and stroking her mane. Blinkie was covered in bandages, but her emotional pain drowned out the physical. She kept glancing at her cutie mark, wondering why in Equestria she had received it. The door gently opened, and Rosie Quartz came in.

"I'm so sorry, little ones," she muttered, standing next to the bed and petting Blinkie's head. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

"It wasn't you who caused trouble, Granny, it was our parents," Blinkie Pie sniffled. "They're so caught up in their religious delusions, they don't see the truth about how the real world works!"

"I know," Rosie cooed gently. "I grew up in the same environment. But hey! You found the treasure! That means you were meant to find it!"

"But I don't understand what my cutie mark means," said Blinkie Pie, pulling out of her sister's arms.

"I think it means that you have strong determination that's just as valuable as gold," said Rosie with a comforting smile. "You risked your life to find something that you weren't even sure existed, and you survived a great fall. Not only that, but you found it, Blinkie Pie! You found it! You did what no pony has been able to do since the legend began, and you have something to show from it. When you set your mind to something, nothing can stop you!"

"I just wish mama hadn't thrown that gold nugget away..." Blinkie mumbled, but the sly smile on her grandmother's face made her brow furrow. "What's that look for?"

"Tada!" said Rosie, and she held up the same gold nugget Blinkie had brought back from the cave. The filly grabbed it quickly, her eyes wide in shock.

"What?! How?!" she babbled.

"I saw exactly where it fell," Rosie explained. "In all my years in this world, I've always had perfect eyesight. I used the left over rope tied to that tree to climb down and get it!"

"You could've gotten hurt!" Inkie Pie gasped, horrified.

"I was a little tired afterward, but I'm fine!" Rosie laughed. "Now, you hide that nugget, Blinkie, and you remember where that cave is. When you're ready to leave this place, you will be able to find it again and have enough money to get on your way to a better life!" Blinkie Pie threw her arms around Rosie, hugging her tightly.

"Thank you, Granny! Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome dear. Both of you get some sleep, your parents are probably going to work you hard tomorrow as punishment. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight," the sisters said in unison, and Rosie left the room, walking slowly to the guest bedroom. As she closed the door, she winced in pain, wheezing slightly and closing her eyes. When she told the girls she had been a little tired after retrieving the gold nugget, she had been lying. The climb had put a lot of strain on her old body, and she felt rather tight in her chest. After taking a few deep breaths to regain her composure, Rosie Quartz clambered into the bed and blew out the candle lighting the room, laying down and falling asleep.



"Is Granny still asleep?" Inkie Pie asked her mother as they were eating breakfast.

"Yesterday was stressful," Cloudy replied stiffly. "Too much for a mare her age. I imagine she is extremely tired."

"How about one of you go wake her up," said Igneous.

"I'll do it!" Blinkie Pie said quickly, immediately jumping off of her chair and running to the guest room. She knocked on the door two times. "Granny? Granny Pie, are you awake?" When no answer came, Blinkie Pie gently opened the door, seeing the lump on the bed under the thin blanket. "Granny, you'll miss breakfast!" She walked to the bed and shook Rosie softly, but the pink mare did not move. "Granny...?"

Blinkie Pie pulled back the blanket, seeing her grandmother's eyes were closed, her lips parted very slightly. She shook Rosie again, a little more vigorously, but she still did not wake. Fear rose up in the filly's mind, and her throat tightened, shaking the pony almost violently. Again, no response.

"MAMA!! PAPA!! MARBLESTONE!!" Blinkie screamed, tears welling up in her eyes. Her family rushed into the room, but all froze when they saw that Rosie Quartz was unmoving. Igneous gently coaxed his younger daughter away from the bed and set his hoof against Rosie's neck, feeling for a pulse.

"She's... dead..." he breathed. Cloudy's eyes widened, and she herself nearly stopped breathing.

"NO!!!" Inkie Pie shouted, and both her and Blinkie tried to get close to their grandmother, desperate to prove their father wrong, but Igneous held them back, his lips tight as he kept his mouth firmly closed.

"SHE CAN'T BE DEAD!! SHE CAN'T BE!!!" Blinkie Pie sobbed hysterically.

"Girls, she was old..." Igneous tried to reason, though his voice wavered slightly. "She must've passed in her sleep..."

"YOU'RE LYING!!" Inkie shrieked, fighting her father and crying as hard as her sister.

"Leave," Cloudy Quartz suddenly barked at her children. "Go to your room and wait there for further instructions." Though they didn't want to, Inkie and Blinkie were alarmed at Cloudy's harsh tone in such a tragic situation, so they left the room, still crying as they went. Cloudy stared at her mother's body, her expression completely blank.

"Cloudy...?" Igneous whispered, unsure.

"Go to town," she told her husband emotionlessly. "Inform the priest at the church of my mother's passing. We must arrange a funeral. I will prepare letters to my brother and sister to tell them what has happened."

"Okay..." Igneous agreed, and he too left the room, closing the door behind him. Cloudy continued to stare unblinkingly at the mare that she had disagreed with for most of her life, the happy pony that tried to teach laughter to her own children even though they were discouraged from doing so by their religious father.

Finally, Cloudy Quartz began to cry, kneeling by the bed and burying her face in her arms.