Fallout: Equestria, by KKat, with a foreword by SkelePone

Chapter Forty-Three: The Kingdom of the Blind

"Are you not happy that your quest is complete and you can return to your studies in Canterlot?"

"...rocks.

"I can't believe this whole war has been about rocks. Gems. Coal. Rarity said something about a meteorite, but she got all evasive when she realized I had overheard. Whatever. (Like it was hard to figure out. Sometimes I'm slow, but I'm not stupid.)

"Dumb rocks.

"I used to think rocks were cool. I mean, my big sister has gems for a cutie mark. And Pinkie Pie once lived on a rock farm. We even used to play a game, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom and me. We found the rock that Rarity had gotten her cutie mark from, and I made Twilight Sparkle enchant it so that we can make it open and close (she kinda owed us for that whole Smarty Pants thing). We called it the Rock of Destiny, and we'd pretend that when it opened up, it would give us our cutie marks. Twilight made it so each of us could set a pass phrase to open it. Mine was 'Dumb Rock' so I could pretend I was just like my sister. (I changed it to 'Apple Pie' for a while, but then changed it back. Just as well. My sis and I haven't been apple pie in a long time. Not since the Ministries.)

"I hope you don't mind me using your place. I mean, of course you can't mind, but I hope you don't anyway. Sometimes, I just have to get away from all the noise. It's so nice and peaceful here. And I really love your flowers.

"Anyway, I guess I'm thinking about rocks because we found chunks of that meteorite when we dug into Luna's old foundry under the castle last week. It was all broken up because they'd taken all the ore out of it, and they'd sealed up the pieces. I felt kinda sorry for it. Ponies and zebras blame it for all sorts of stupid stuff. It's not the rock's fault. It's just a rock. And I kinda know what it's like, being blamed for stuff. (Seems, sometimes, everything I do just makes things worse.) So I had them make one of the bigger chunks into a cornerstone. As an apology or something, I dunno. Make it feel useful. Yes, I know that's stupid; it's just a rock.

"So... I guess not dumb rocks. Just dumb ponies and zebras.

"I came up here yesterday. Building the last Stable in Everfree was my idea, so I wanted to be here. Especially after we started having problems. (Rarity said that Everfree Forest is the one place she was sure the zebra's wouldn't attack; so I thought, 'Why are we putting all the Stables in places we think they will attack? Doesn't it make sense to put at least one somewhere they won't?' Yes, the forest is dangerous, but it can't be that dangerous -- you lived here, and my sister and her friends used to go into it all the time. Well... just another of my ideas that ended up a mess.)

Apple Bloom had warned me about the poison joke, but was it always this... aggressive? It's been really bad the last three days. Moonbeam said it's like the excavation is attracting it. He thinks that either it's vibrosensitive (which isn't even a word) or it wants to be near people, but that doesn't make any sense. It's a plant, right? But then, Apple Bloom says you told her the plants want a laugh. How can a plant want something?

"I'm sorry. I know I'm rambling. I guess my thoughts aren't too coherent. I'm just trying to work things out.

"I think...

"I think we've lost our faith.

"Does that make any sense? It's like everything we're supposed to believe in has gotten dark and crumbled. Like the air is heavy. No... that doesn't make any sense. Like... I dunno. Like everything is too real. You know, like when you're just a filly and you look up to someone and they're your idol? But then you learn they're not perfect like you imagined? That they're flawed, just like everypony else? Maybe that's just growing up though.