[TFE] October Prologue Prompt: Chapter One: Earthquake

It was an early Autumn day. Ponyville was bustling with life.. Ponies either hurrying about their shopping, friends chatting in the busy streets, others hurrying to their jobs or enjoying their breaks.. A snippy comment or two - just your average day. Mint Chip stared out the window of the bakery he worked at, waving a hoof at some guards passing by before his gaze lingered on the trees just outside the town where the leaves had just begun to turn the first warm shades of the season.

 

It was a particularly slow day, but the unicorn stallion wasn’t surprised as he let out a quiet yawn, stifling it barely with the back of his hoof before he moved away from the window. Something didn’t quite feel right about today, a feeling that he couldn’t quite shake. Frowning lightly he made his way back to the display case, a rag floating over to him, held firmly in the pink aura of his magic. It didn’t matter if it was a slow day, there was always stuff to do.

 

The day went on, customers came and went - some chatty, some quiet just wanting a spot to read with a cup or coffee or tea, others couldn’t be pleased no matter how hospitable Mint Chip was-

“Wow, do y’go and treat everyone that way?” A female voice hummed from behind a particularly miffed unicorn mare. Mint Chip’s ears perked at the voice and he stifled a groan, fighting the urge to close his eyes and sigh. He knew that voice anywhere.. 

 

Moonstone.

“Excuse me..?” The mare asked, turning to face the one who spoke, coming face to face with a zebra with grayed indigo stripes.. The unicorn couldn’t help but wrinkle her muzzle, squinting at her. “I believe you can wait your turn.” Mint Chip’s eyes widened slightly as his gaze quickly flitted between the two - Moonstone’s growing smirk and his customer’s deepening scowl before his eyes locked with Moonstone’s green ones, giving his head a subtle shake before the zebra spoke again-

“Mmmmmm don’t think I can~” She purred, eyeing the unicorn before raising a brow, her tail flicked gently behind her as she spoke. “Y’see, Mint here’s a friend a mine aaand weeeell..” She smiled, leaning forward to bump her nose against the unicorn’s. “You’re kind of being..” She glanced away in mock thought, rubbing a hoof along the underside of her chin before she gave the mare another smug smirk. “..an ass. And that’s sayin’ something coming from me~”

 

“N-now now~” He chuckled, waving a hoof lightly only to get cut off by his customer letting out a shrill scoff, causing his ears to pin flat as he winced.

“WELL I NEVER!” She scowled, glaring at Moonstone as she stormed past her. “I will NOT tolerate being spoken to this way by the likes of YOU!”

“Take care now!” Moonstone hollered after her with a smile, waving a hoof.

“Have a nice-” Mint Chip’s voice was drowned out by the heavy slam of the door, the two of them flinching at the sound before his tone wavered into a groan, “..day.”

“Wow, seems like someone can give it but can’t take it, huh?~” Moonstone chuckled, breaking into a full laugh at her friend’s sudden glare. “Oh come oooon, that stuffy hoity toity mare had it coming.” She smiled, he was still glaring. And frowning. “You uh..” She gestured at him vaguely with a hoof, squinting lightly with one eye. “That’s not a good customer service face - it might get stuck like that.”

“You can’t just come in here and insult my customers!” He noised, gesturing towards the door as his tail lashed behind him.

“You honestly think she was going t’buy something? I saw how she was eyeing everything!” She scoffed, placing a hoof on her chest before sticking her nose into the air and giving an exaggerated frown. “All of this pales in comparison to the pastries I can get in Canterlot..” She drawled in an accentuated manner and cracked an eye, glancing at the unicorn stallion as he began to sulk.

“Heyheyhey, all of this stuff is way better than t’overglorified biscuits you can get there!”

“You mean that..?”

“Well, I’ve never tried any of it, but come on you make everything from scratch! Who needs all of that fancy crap anyway!” She smiled, coming over and draping an arm over his shoulders. “Your stuff is amazing and she was just too stuck up to try it.” There was a long pause as Mint Chip sucked in a breath, furrowing his brow a bit before giving the zebra a friendly nudge to move her arm.

“Thanks Moon,” he sighed, heading back behind the counter as she happily trotted over to the register.

“Aaaany time, Mint~” She smiled, glancing towards the case then back at him as her hooves lightly danced in place for a moment. “Ah, a vanilla cream berry twist please~” She laughed again when he gave her a look. “What? I have to help support your business don’t I? And these things are the best.”

 

He cracked a smile, gently plucking a pastry from the case and placing it into a small bag, snickering softly as he rang up the sale, Moonstone eagerly passing him some horseshoes. Holding out the bag with his magic, Mint Chip raised an eyebrow at Moonstone’s suddenly confused expression.

“..what?”

“..Do you feel that?” She asked, looking at him. The stallion glanced around and shrugged before shaking his head.

“No..why?” Moonstone’s ears slowly folded back as she moved her legs further apart, hooves firmly on the floor, “ok what are you doing?”

“You really don’t feel that?” She insisted, causing him to chuckle before seeing the look on her face: worry, confusion, and a hint of fear.

“N-” He opened his mouth as he felt a slight trembling in the ground under his hooves, causing him to furrow his brow. “What is that..?”

“I don’t kn-” The cups on the shelves behind the counter began to rattle as the ground’s shaking grew worse.. The tables and chairs shifted and moved and a cup fell, shattering to the ground.

“C-crap!” Mint nooised loudly, quickly moving the cups with his magic to hopefully a safer spot, though in his speed a few more broke, causing the stallion to curse softly under his breath as there was a yelp from behind him. Looking back, he saw that Moonstone had tripped while coming back behind the counter to help.

The shaking grew worse as there was now a commotion in the streets. Guards tried to keep the calm, but ponies had begun to panic as the ground wasn’t so much shaking under everyone, but it seemed to be shifting.. Moving. Mint hurried over to the zebra, though he found his own hooves tripping under him and soon he was on the floor.

“What’s going on?!” Moonstone hollered, the roaring from the ground nearly drowning out her voice as everything in the shop seemed to be moving as if the ground was the ocean, shifting and churning under waves of earth. More glass began to fall from shelves as the windows to the shop and the case exploded from the strain of the earthquake.

“I don’t know!!” He hollered back, quickly shoving himself under the bakery counter and using his magic to pull Moonstone out of the way of flying debris. The next several minutes felt like they stretched into hours. The crashing sounds of splintering wood and breaking glass.. And that ungodly screaming outside-

What followed was an unnerving silence, broken only by the occasional piece of glass or wood falling to the ground as the two perked up. The two were absolutely covered in dust as they could hear the hollering of guards and other ponies a ways away.

“Y-you ok..?” Mint stammered, looking to Moonstone who nodded and poked her head out of their hiding spot before pulling herself and him out into the wreckage of the bakery.. But what caught their attention were the other shops lining the streets that met similar fates.. And the toothy gap of trees in the forest that stretched to the mountains.

“Holy Celestia..” Moonstone uttered, her long ears pinned flat against her skull. “I’m.. I’m fine..” She nodded, looking at him. “You?” Mint nodded as well.

“W-what about the others?” With that the two stared at each other for a brief moment before hurrying out of the wrecked shop to the other shops, hoping no one had gotten buried or stuck.

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Word Count: 1,429