//------------------------------//
// Filly's First Swear 
// Story: MLP: The Stone in our Hearts 
// by legendary_Jelly 
//------------------------------//

"You're goin where now?" Max said to me.
Said the same thing when I heard it myself.
I trot around my room, scowl on my face, putting stuff in my saddle bags in preparation for the long walk.
"You need to slow down, not 20 minutes ago you were passed out and screaming non-sense to yourself, hay, you should still be at the KC, now your ramble'n on about goin to the other side of the mines."
'sigh' 
"To coal's gate, yep" one of the other Qurrals, set a very long way into the mines, started out as a base camp for the workers, became the first Qurral outside of the Risen Two after ponies started staying.
It had taken a lot of convincing from the Two to get me to go.
"Ledge." 
max put his hoof on mine, stopping me from putting things into my bags
"What happened? you are clearly angry. Are you trying to get away from something? The gang fights?"
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. As I exhale, I rest the scowl that was on my face. 
How do I even explain?
'The Two and an evil god want me to make some friends in the other side of the mines.'
Pfft, like that makes sense.
"No, Max, I'm not running away." I turn my head and look at him.
I've got to say something, but what?
"Then what?" he lets go of my hoof and sits down, pure concern on his face. 
"I... Uh..." Of course, he won't let me go, what sane pony would. 
"Fine" here go's my credibility. I take a deep breath.  
"whenIwasconnectedtotheFallenstar,IwasinthepresentsofThetwo,andanalicorn,theytoldmethattheQurralisindangerandthattheyhavedonealltheycantosaveit,buttheonlythingthatcansaveitisme,apparently,andtodothatIneedtogotocoal'sgatetofinda,'ponyofjoy',whateverthatmeans,ohandthealicornisanevilponythatalmostdestroyedaworldfaraway."
As I proceed to take a breath so that I can continue, a hoof gets shoved into my mouth.
"woah woah woah" Max takes a second to prosses what he heard. "THE Two? the Quarrel's in danger? pony of joy? what are you talking about"?
"And what the hay is a Alicorn."
"ithhh ahh lohhhnm storhhy"
"Oh, sorry" he stated as he pulled his hoof out "what?"
"It's a long story. I guess I can start at the beginning."
"What?"
"Just stay with me here, A long time ago. before the moon had a mare.... 
*****

"Wait a second" I said "We never got those Stonuts!"
"Really Ledge, that's what your concerned about?"
"What do you want from me I'm coping!" the frown on my face told of my contempt.
what was I doing...
It hit me after telling max what I was told to do, of what I was actually doing. packing for a 2-day trip walking through old mines and rickety minecart tracks. Then I would have to go and find that one pony the Two told me about, in a quarry i have never been to. dread started to flow through me. would I be able to make it on my own?
Max apparently read my dread and put a hoof on my shoulder. I snapped out of my blank stare into the floor, and looked at him, my apparent fear shown on my face.
"If what you say is true," max said "then you need to go, I have no clue why or who or what you need to see or do, but it sounds important." 
well crap, that seals it, I have to go.
I look up to max and start with a stutter: "w ww will you come with me? I... I do not want to be alone." 
Max reels back. looks down and thinks for moment. "I.." he starts. Then he shakes his head. "No. I don't think I can." he looks back up into my eyes and says, "but I know that you can complete this on your own."
"Oh, and didn't you say that you need to make some friends on your trip? just walk fast and you'll be Loney no more!"
That still left the trip to be done alone. But he was right. I could do it. But that still doesn't mean I have 100% motivation to go.
Uggh, why am I so contradicting. 
Max, ever-vigilance in the search for emotions, pokes me out of my disassociation and says, "I could always help you prepare though."
*****
The next few hours, Max and I pack essentials, go over maps, and general guides to the undergrounds. All was going well until Max asked a question that I hadn't even considered.
"Oh, hey, have you told your mother about what you're doing?"
Let me tell you about the many points of culture of the underground, specifically the swears we use in times of distress. let's start with 'crack'. As we stone ponies age, our skin dose this thing where it cracks at places that most often comes into contact with other hard things, like our hooves, or knees. At the end of our lives, (that averages around 80 harvests, the time scale we use) our body starts to crumble to dust. 
Death is not pretty. Insomuch that the word 'crack', and those related to death, is perceived by many as taboo. and used by many more as a way to condemn a pony to verbal anger. 
Well, I hadn't thought about my mother since what happened at the temple, so at the time, you can imagine the intensity of Max's face palm, after he asked the question of my mother when I blank faced yelped:
"OH, crack me with a rusty metal spoon and pour me out in a Skrawl's eyes!