This Is A Chapter of Gravity #1 :: Penance

“It hurts,” Lily complained.

“Yes, I know. But you wanted to do this,” Daisy replied, narrowing her eyes.

“But it hurts,” Lily repeated.

“This was your idea!” Daisy retorted.

“But it hurts!” Lily whined.

“Stop that, Lily. Why are you being a child?” Daisy exclaimed, exasperated.

“Oh, I was just trying it out, to see what it’s like. Was it annoying?”

“Very.”

“Thought so! Just making sure.”

Lily nodded to Daisy, who returned a nod of her own, the both of them then turning to face a heavy wooden cart that sat on the pavement next to a tall curb.

She had been standing there on the corner, thinking, listening, and pondering. The complaints had been practice – there was nothing physically demanding being done yet – and she wanted to try out a whine or two in case she needed it during the activity that was to come.

“Do you think I’ll get to use it today?” Lily asked as she circled the cart.

“Use what?”

“The whining.”

“Well… I suppose so.” Daisy shrugged, giving the cart a weary look. “It depends, doesn’t it?”

“On what?”

“On if it hurts or not, I’d imagine.”

“Do you think it will?” Lily asked, shocked.

“That’s what the practice is for, isn’t it?” Daisy pointed out. “You wouldn’t be practicing if you weren’t preparing. And if you’re preparing it means you’re expecting something. So maybe this is a question that you have to answer for yourself.”

Lily scratched her head.

“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” she admitted, poking the wooden slats on the side of the cart.

The boards had been placed firmly along the sides of the cart. They were in place to prevent its cargo from spilling out – in this case, a whole slew of groceries and a couple of apples.

The apples were just for them but had to ride in the cart along with all the other supplies.

It was a solid, little wagon as open-aired transport vehicles went, this one built to be pulled by a pair. It differed from the ones meant to be pulled by a single pony in that only one pony was meant to pull those. This was a two-pony cart, and attempting to pull it by oneself was the most moonish thing ever, in Lily’s mind.

More than ever was a team of two necessary to pull this particular cart. As was stated, the cart sat on the pavement next to a rather sizable curb. It would take their combined efforts to get the cart back onto the road.

But it wasn’t due to a lack of physical ability.

It was not something that Lily wanted to do by herself, which meant that in this very moment the cart was a two-pony one.

“This whole thing about practice makes a lot of sense,” Lily said, inspecting the cobblestones. “We really do only practice for expectations.”

She gestured to the cart.

“For example, how many times have we done this before?” Lily asked.

“Once, Lily. You know that.” Daisy said.

“And that was practice. This time we’ll get it right!”

Daisy nodded.

“And… and we’ll drive the cart and groceries down the road!”

Daisy nodded again.

“And…” Lily trailed off.

Daisy stopped nodding.

Lily was looking at the sky now, staring at the clouds that made their lazy way overhead. The weather was quite fine. The sun was out, and it was shining. There wasn’t any rain. There was perhaps a bird or two flying overhead, but Lily couldn’t be sure what they really were. She could never be sure until she asked, and the clouds were too far away to tell her that they weren’t birds.

“Where… where do we go from there?” Lily asked.

“Don’t you know?”

“I don’t usually think past the road,” Lily pointed at the street.

“We’ll bring the groceries home and have an apple,” Daisy explained.

“Oh.”

Lily scuffed her hooves on the sidewalk.

“What’s wrong, Lily?” Daisy asked.

“Well… I was thinking… maybe we should have bought three apples. Because she’s at home, isn’t she?”

“We can share.”

“How?”

“We’ll cut the apples in half. Each of us gets one slice.”

“Then who gets the fourth half?” Lily asked, turning her face to the floor.

“I don’t know. Whichever of us is still hungry, I suppose.”

“I don’t like that plan,” Lily muttered.

“Thirds, then,” Daisy said. “We’ll cut the apples into three pieces each.”

“Then the pieces will be too small! I don’t like that plan!”

“Then, we could-”

“I don’t like that plan either,” Lily grumbled, cutting her off.

“Lily!”

“What?” Lily perked up suddenly, a shocked look on her face.

“You’re focusing on the wrong thing again. Do you remember what we’re here to do?”

Lily nodded. She did.

“We’re here to see if we can get the cart off the pavement and back down onto the road,” Daisy summarized.

“Yes.”

“Because you want to see if it’s possible.”

“The cart would like to see if it’s possible,” Lily clarified.

“Then stop thinking of Roseluck for a moment. You always do, and you always get distracted.”

“I can’t help it, Daisy. She’s my sister! You above all ponies should know that! We’ve been sisters for ages!”

“Yes, but we have to be patient.”

“I hate being patient.” Lily stamped her hoof.

“Good things come to those who are patient, Lily.”

“I love being patient.” Lily smiled.

She trotted over to the edge and peered over the side. It was a good ten inches high, but it looked a lot taller from where she was standing. The cobblestones looked so tiny from up on the sidewalk, and Lily was so high up that the ants crawling below looked just like ants.

The two ponies had to get the cart all the way down there.

It was going to be a task.

Daisy idled herself by, waiting for Lily to finish checking what was needed.

“Do you think that’s why they’re called that?” Lily wondered out loud, mind jumping from thing to thing, gazing over the edge of the sidewalk, the strong winds mussing up her mane due to the high altitude.

“Who?”

“Patients.”

“I don’t know, Lily.”

“I reckon they are. I reckon they’re called that because they have to wait a lot. But you know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think the doctors should be called ‘patients’. They have to be far more patient than the actual patients, having to see sick ponies all day… having to tolerate their whining… having to eat cafeteria food… Aren’t doctors the most patient ponies in Equestria?”

“Then what would you call the patients?” Daisy asked.

“Oh, I suppose we could call them patients as well,” Lily determined.

“So… everyone’s a patient?”

“Yes. Except for the doctors, of course. You can’t be calling them patients as well or else everypony will get confused.”

“Then what would you call the doctors?” Daisy asked.

“I don’t know.” Lily shrugged. “I suppose they don’t really have a name, do they?”

“You could just continue to call them doctors,” Daisy pointed out.

“Yes. That’s for the best. These ponies… they’ve really thought of everything, haven’t they?”

“They?”

“The ones who get to decide what to name everything.”

“There are… ponies who do that?” Daisy asked. She wasn’t sure.

“They’re all squirreled away in the castle,” Lily explained. “Princess Celestia keeps them there on retainer. Every time there’s something the Princess needs to name, she pulls all of them out, and they have a think over a chocolate biscuit and a lovely cup of tea.”

“That can’t possibly be true,” Daisy said incredulously.

“They’re professionals.” Lily said.

“Oh.”

“And when they’re done, they go back right into the drawer.”

“I see,” Daisy said, seeing it.

Lily looked away from Daisy at that point, turning her attention back toward the curb. Fog had begun to roll over the sidewalk as the sun fell over the horizon. A slight chill dropped over the two ponies while the wind howled in Lily’s ears.

Daisy remained unaffected by the incredibly localized weather patterns.

“I’m going to drop something down there,” Lily said, “just to see how far it goes.”

“Looks about ten inches,” Daisy said.

“Still, it’s best to be safe, right? It’s best to be sure.”

Lily circled around, eyeing the back of the cart like a shark would eye a walrus. With a flick of a powerful tail and a gleam of sharp, white teeth, Lily grabbed one of the two apples from its resting spot atop a mound of paper grocery bags with a hoof, clutching it to her chest as she cradled it like a baby swan.

“This one’s mine,” she told Daisy. “Yours is still in the cart.”

She would never use another’s apple for such horrible purposes – only her own.

Lily bit down upon the stem, hard, carrying it to the edge where she stared past its blood-red skin to the ground below. The wind threatened to pull the apple from her grasp, but she held on tight with gritted teeth.

With a determined focus she released it, letting the apple fall from where she stood, watching it as it plummeted to the ground.

The wind howled its objection.

A minute passed as Lily watched it get smaller and smaller as it fell further and further away.

Lily looked straight.

“It’s gone,” she said.

“Has it hit the ground yet?” Daisy called out, peering over the cart, trying to get a better look at Lily.

“I don’t know! I can’t see it anymore,” Lily cried back, staring at the street.

“Well, come back here, then. It’s no matter. I’m sure it’s just ten inches to the ground. It’s a straight drop, but it shouldn’t take more than a second to reach the bottom. Perhaps the apple just rolled away?” Daisy offered, calling her friend back from the brink.

“There should have been a splat. Or a crunch at the very least.” Lily frowned, walking back towards the cart.

Daisy stared over at her.

Lily stared back.

“Don’t worry,” she said, “I’m not going to take your apple.”

“It’s okay,” Daisy offered, astonished that this was what Lily had to say about it all. “You can have it.”

“No. I don’t need it. One apple is enough. And now it is gone. Can you see it, Daisy?”

“I’m afraid I can’t see anything from where I’m standing. The cart is in the way.”

“Better move the cart, then,” Lily decided.

Another minute passed with Lily looking at the sky.

“You’ve been saying that,” Daisy stated.

“And I mean it,” reassured Lily, “I just have to make sure I’ve not forgotten anything.”

“You haven’t.”

“I just want to make sure, alr-”

“You haven’t.”

“Now, listen,” Lily snapped, glaring at Daisy. She stomped up to her, moving round the cart once again and staring her straight in the eye.

Daisy drew back a little but kept her composure. It was important to remain calm in the face of Lily.

“I just want to make sure that everything is fine, alright? Is that so hard? Can we not just take a few minutes to do so?” Lily stomped around, throwing up her head to the sky in frustration. “It’s not that I’m afraid or scared or anything, so don’t accuse me of being so! And I don’t see why you’re rushing me like that! It’s not like we have anything to do after this! It’s not like you had anything to do!”

Lily continued her barrage, pacing around, heading nowhere in particular.

“In fact, I remember when I asked you to come with me on this, you were doing nothing at all! And even if you were, you’d probably drop everything to come help me anyway!” Lily screamed, her temper rising by the word.

She stormed back to her friend, pushing her face against Daisy’s cheek.

“Wouldn’t you? Because you’re kind and generous and helpful! Aren’t you?”

Lily shook her mane furiously, and her anger fell off like water off the back of a particularly ill-tempered duck.

“I really do appreciate you being here,” Lily said, softly and gently, almost a whisper. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Daisy smiled. “Have you had time to think?”

“Yes!” Lily declared, rushing to the front of the cart, where the yokes were in place. “We should go. We’ll just have to tie ourselves onto these stick things.”

“Tongues,” Daisy said, walking around.

“Pardon?”

“These things.” Daisy pointed to the two long sticks of wood that protruded from the front of the cart. “They’re called tongues.”

“Really!”

“Yes.”

“Why ‘tongues’?”

“I don’t know. That’s just what they’re called, aren’t they?”

“Oh!” Lily exclaimed, stamping her hoof on the ground in sudden realisation.

“What?”

“The princesses’ naming team. They did it again, didn’t they? Given something a name.”

“I suppose so, yes.”

“I knew it. Totally professional.” Lily nodded intensely.

“Yes,” replied Daisy, her patience overflowing.

Lily took a deep breath. She shut her eyes, steeled herself against the wind.

“Alright,” she said. “Let’s go.”

The cart lurched forward, almost by its own volition. But still, it was Lily and Daisy providing all guidance and propulsion. The cart merely took over when the timing was right, and with minimal effort did they get it to the edge.

Lily looked down.

“Come on,” Daisy encouraged. “It’s only ten inches.”

She stepped off, her hoof reaching the ground in under a second.

“See?” Daisy looked back up to Lily, awaiting her next step.

“I have to, don’t I?” Lily gasped, the height causing her to get dizzy. “I have to!”

“Well, you don’t have to.” Daisy shrugged.

“No! I have to!” Lily asserted, closing her eyes and taking the wild plunge off the side.

Lily’s hoof clattered off the cobblestones in the street.

“Oh, you were right,” Lily said, drawing her other front hoof down to join the first. “It is rath- Oh! There’s my apple!”

Lily smilled gleefully, pointing toward the fruit, which had rolled off a little and now lay against the curb a short distance away.

“Aren’t you going to get it?” Daisy asked.

“Mmm… no. It’s served its purpose,” Lily replied. “Besides, we’re nearly at the bottom now.”

The pair plunged ahead, pulling the cart slowly, dragging it by the wheels. As it reached the curb, it fell past the border, toppling down and hitting the street with a bump.

None of the groceries were upended. Nothing on the cart was broken.

The two ponies were left staring at it, one in deeper contemplation than the other.

“Darn,” Lily said.

“Yeah. I’m sorry,” Daisy mumbled.

“It’s possible, huh?”

“Seems that way.”

“It hurts.”

“Yes, I know. But you wanted to do this.”

“But it hurts.”

“This was your idea.”

“But it hurts.”

Daisy paused, words lingering on her lips.

“Yes, it does. I’m sorry,” she finally said.

“I want to go home now.” Lily turned to face Daisy, eyes welling up like an overburdened cloud.

Daisy reached to the cart, pulling out a soft cotton bud from one of the bags.

“Alright,” she whispered. “Alright.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~And Lily Continues To Wait---->

Haiku #XXX(u)

I never wanted

I never asked for all this

But yet it happened