//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: More Than Meets The Eye // by Bandit Blue //------------------------------// In the dusk hours of the day, Limestone found herself in front of a small, two story high house in a calm street in Ponyville. She found this house by first asking a few ponies where a gray coated, blonde, mail mare lived. Two out of the three ponies she asked had no idea who she was talking about until, with an annoyed expression, she said: "The mare with a lazy eye." "Oh! You mean Derpy!" Either pony said, before pointing her in the right direction. Limestone knocked on the door. Suddenly she felt nervous and questioned herself. "Wait, what the heck am I doing here?" Before she could fall into desperation and run away, the door opened, but there was no one in sight. "Hum... Hello?" Limestone quickly looked down at the source of the voice. It came from a little unicorn filly with a gray-ish purple coat and yellow mane, she quickly resembled her of the gray mail mare. "A sister? A daughter?" The thoughts quickly passed through her made as she looked surprised with her mouth slightly opened. She shook her head quickly to regain her composure. "Hey there, little Filly. I'm looking for the mail mare, she looks quite a lot like you. Does she live here?" "Oh, that's my mom! Just a sec." The filly walked away slowly. "Mooooom! Somepony's at the door looking for you." Ditzy's heart skipped a beat. "Oh no, what did I did this time." She thought as she flew out of the kitchen towards the door. "Thanks honey!" She found a pale purple mare with wide eyes staring in confusion. She made a nervous smile and greeted the mare. "Hey there, how can I help you?" "Umm... I'm Limestone... I'm a... friend! Yes, I'm a friend of Snow-" "You're Pinkie Pie's Sister!" Ditzy said, her fake smile turning with a legitimate one. "Yeah. Wait, how did you know that?!" "Pinkie made sure I knew in detail each of her sisters, so I would deliver their mail correctly, even though your place is not in my route." Ditzy giggled. "Yeah, that does sound like Pinkie all right." Limestone smiled a little as the levity calmed her nerves down a little. "Hum... I think it's more because I'm known to... make some inaccurate deliveries sometimes." Ditzy giggled lightly in embarrassment. "it's not you. Pinkie is just intense like that, trust me, never ask to see her family photos." In a rare moment, Limestone found herself giggling again. "Thanks, Limestone. That's actually good to hear. But... was there a reason you were looking for me?" "Yes, I wanted to talk to you about this morning. Is this a bad time?" "Not at all, I was just cleaning some dishes, please come in." Ditzy made way for Limestone to come in. She walked inside and saw the little filly from before in the living room, laid on the ground, holding a pencil using her magic and drawing on a journal happily. "That little filly, is she your..." "She's my daughter Dinky. Dinky, come say hello!" The little filly attention shifted to the stranger and she got up and walked towards her. "This is Limestone, she's Pinkie Pie's sister." The filly eyes widened and her mouth opened wide before quickly shifting her expression to a confused one. "But you look nothing like Pinkie Pie, are you adopted?"  "Dinky!" Her mother shouted, embarrassed by her daughter's words. Her embarrassment didn't last long as Limestone burst in laughter. "I know, right?! Thank Celestia for that." Limestone laughed some more as Dinky was happily confused and Ditzy giggled nervously. "Ah... That was a good one, but no, we're blood sisters. Nice to meet you, Dinky." "Okay, Dinky. Why don't you go upstairs and do your homework?" "I already did it." "Ok... How about reading a book?" "I already read all the ones I have and the library is probably closed by now." "Hmm... How about practicing your magic?" Dinky's eyes widened and glowed. "CAN I USE THE ALARM CLOCK?! I PROMISE I'LL PUT IT BACK TOGETHER AS IT WAS!" "Ugh, fine. But if it doesn't work afterwards, the new one is coming out of your allowance, ok?" Dinky sprinted out of the room and went up stairs with a huge smile. "Bye, Limestone! Nice to meet you!" She then disappeared and a door slam echoed through the house. "Soooorry!" Limestone giggled trying to laugh out loud. "Sorry about that." Ditzy giggled nervously once more. "Don't be sorry, she's adorable and full of energy." "Thanks, she's my little sunshine. So, do you want some tea or... snacks?" Ditzy said making her way into the kitchen, Limestone following behind her. "Nah, thanks. I'm good." Limestone saw a table with a few chairs. "Mind if I sit down, though?" "No, of course, please do." Ditzy said as she sat herself across Limestone. "So, what did you want to talk about? Did I make a wrong delivery again?" "Actually It's about Snowfall and the things you said to him this morning..." Both mares averted their gazes and any levity that was in the air was killed in that moment. "Oh... Is he your friend or...?" "Um... Kinda of. Being honest I came here to tear you a new one because of how you spoke to him but I wasn't expecting... well, you being a mother caught me off guard. And.. I might have been a little jealous." "I see... I don't know what to say but... you're better off without those types. You're a very pretty mare, I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding someone better." "What do you mean by "those types"? Did he do something to you or someone you know?" "Well, no but I know his kind very well..." "What do you even mean by that?!" "..." Ditzy looked sad and words escaped her mind. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout." "It's okay, it's not that." "Well... You don't owe me anything so it's okay if you don't wanna talk. But I think you should apologize to Snowfall. A simple "No." would've been enough, you broke his heart pretty hard." "Ugh... It's probably just an act to make others feel bad for him." "I'm pretty sure that's not the case." "How can you be sure? Trust me, males are pretty good liars." "Well, it's just that after you left a dumb pony tried to make him feel better by insulting you and he got so angry by that he made the stallion piss himself in public for starters." "That's... He was probably just lashing out his anger on the stranger. Just because he didn't get what he wanted as easily as he thought he would." "Well, he also rejected me when I asked him out a little after that." "Oh... Well... That's probably because you're not his type." "Excuse me?!" "I'm sorry, I don't mean it like that! You see, you're super confident and beautiful, those types like weak mares with no confidence so that they can take advantage of them." "Why would he like you then?" Ditzy was dumbfounded by Limestone's question. "Whah? What? What do you mean?!" "You tore him a new one, if that's not confidence or strength then I don't know what is. You clearly can take care of yourself and on the beauty scale I'm sure you got me beat." "Humm... No disrespect but... are you blind?" Ditzy said while pointing a hoof to her slow drifting eye. "You got a lazy eye, yeah. What's the big deal? Do you see yourself as ugly in the mirror because of it?" "No! But it is... was a big deal..." "Was?" "In the past... I didn't have any confidence because of it. I was constantly made fun of because of it and when a stallion showed interest in me... I was always overjoyed." Ditzy's eyes filled with tears as she looked down to try to hide it. "Only for them to use me and throw me away every time. And every time I thought it was going to be different only to get my heart broken again." "I'm sorry, Derpy. I didn't think about that." Limestone averted her gaze feeling guilty and dumb for making the gray mare relieve such bad emotions. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! What was I thinking coming here?" She thought. "It's okay. It was a blessing in disguise. If it weren't for that I wouldn't have had Dinky, she's my everything and I don't need anypony but her. After she was born I promised I would never be taken advantage of again." "Does her father-" "He knows, but he's never ever getting near her." "Don't you think she would want to meet him someday?" Ditzy just pouted with tears in her eyes. "Look, just because a few... many... most stallions are like that, doesn't mean all of them are and it's ok if you don't wanna be with anyone but I still think you owe Snowfall an apology." "Because he's one of the good guys?" Ditzy spoke in an unusually angry tone almost as if mocking Limestone, who in turn giggled and had an evil grin on her face. "No, I wouldn't call him "nice", but at least he's honest. Honest enough to know he's not nice and dumb enough to have believed he was the things you said he were." Ditzy opened her mouth to say something but once again words escaped her grasp. "And you don't have to go out with him or anything, just an apology would be enough I think. But I've gotta say, he really seems to like you for some reason, he mentioned something about you feeling sorry for him... Anyway, I'd hate to pass a chance like that. I'm hoping you do because I have no issue with being the bad mare and you would be pushing him straight into my hooves."  "I..." Limestone waited a few seconds for Ditzy to continue, but she didn't. Limestone got up and started walking towards the door. Ditzy quickly got up and followed upon realizing. "Thanks for having me, Derpy. I'm sorry that you've been through with what you've been through. I loved your little filly so much and as gross as it is to admit it made me feel like having one of my own." She giggled and after a brief moment so did Ditzy. "It has some hard moments but I can easily say every second of them is worth it. Being a mom is... I can't explain it. I just feel like it's the best thing in the world." Ditzy giggled a little more while Limestone smiled. "Well, I should be going. I would love to be your friend, Derpy, but I think until further notice we're rivals." Ditzy giggled again. "I don't think I can win this fight against you." "Hum... The gorgeous and sweet blonde mare, with honey golden eyes and the guy already likes her or the aggressive, rough voiced, butch mare, who lives on a rock farm? I don't like my chances." Ditzy laughed. "What are you talking about? Your voice is a little raspy, sure, but I think it's charming. Not to mention you're super pretty and you have super pretty bright lime eyes!" "Woah there sister!" Limestone gave a little shoulder push on Ditzy. "If you're interested, that's fine, but don't cut the line!" Both mares laughed out loud in unison for a good while. "It was nice meeting you, Derpy." "Same here, Limestone. Sorry I was so rough on your friend, I guess I really could’ve just said no. I'll go to his place tomorrow and apologize. I guess I was somewhat of a meanie wasn't I?" Ditzy had her nervous smile on once again. "You were, but it's okay, everyone makes mistakes. If Snowflake says something mean to you, let me know, I'll break him in half. Tell Dinky I said bye. Hopefully we'll see each other around." Ditzy laughed a little more. "Thanks, Limestone. Will do!" Limestone was halfway through the door while she stopped and stood still. Ditzy was confused. Limestone turned around and looked at her. "Just out of curiosity, how many stallions have you rejected like that?" Ditzy smiled nervously with several sweat drops running down her face.