Below are some little drabbles about cloudy and igneous. there is a lot but i was INSPIRED by these amish horses. cw for mentions of the fact that people gotta bone to reproduce.
The ponies of the plains believed in tradition above all. They followed the wisdom of their elders, and prospered. All life on the plains obeyed the will of the ancient Terran magic that ran like rivers beneath the bedrock. Ancient talismans hewn from the precious stones mined from deep within the earth were the final decision makers for all matters. A Harvest Stone for when to reap in the fall, a Dowsing Stone to indicate where best to dig wells and so on and so forth, but most important of all was the Pairing Stone. This most ancient of talismans was said to give wisdom regarding which ponies were best suited to share their lives. Love and chemistry did not often come into play for these decisions, and the ability for the two ponies to work as a team and be successful in farming the land was of utmost importance. Sure, a lifetime together and a small army of foals can foster love and passion, but for many, the Pairing Stone assigns coworkers more than lovers.

Igneous Rock Pie knew this. He had heard the tales of the mining of this precious artifact, spun by his mother beside the fire on a dark night while his father was conspicuously absent. All plain ponies know that the Pairing Stone does not choose lovers, and that the occasional straying of one partner was to happen from time to time. Igneous’s father, Feldspar Granite, was one of these ponies. Feldspar was married into the Pie herd at just barely 17 to his once-widowed wife, Agate Geode, and hated it. While he performed his duties as husband without complaint, all of the ponies in the village knew that Feldspar’s evening strolls were not to be out in the fresh air. Agate, wise by her age and hardships, knew of her husband’s dilliances, but kept her mouth shut as to not disrupt the lives of her foals after the grave loss of her first husband.
Igneous was the youngest son, and living in a society that favored fillies and mares, he knew that the Pairing Stone would select a wife for him that would put him on the straight and narrow path of fatherhood and toil in the field whilst his wife managed the home and dealt in trade and coin. He was a shy stallion of 19 when his mother saw to it that her youngest, beloved lastborn son, was finally ready to be given a wife and sent into the world away from her. As tradition dictated, the parent of the same sex as the foal is to escort their child to the Pairing Stone. And so Feldspar was summoned from his afternoon respite behind the grain shed for this duty. Feldspar was a hill of a stallion, his great strength atrophied into a mighty gut and thick neck now that his eldest daughter was in charge of the farm and her husband did the plowing and reaping.
“Come, colt, upon thee the Pairing Stone shalt select a wife, and thou shalt go forth and be fruitful.” said Feldspar as they descended into the cave in which the talisman was held. “It matters not if thou art contented by the choice made, as thou art male and have duty to the soil and the bedchamber only. The wife given to thou shalt do all that is required of skill and gentleness. Thou shalt be the grindstone upon which her flour shalt be milled. This is the way of the Plains, colt.” Feldspar had only called Igneous by his name once, when he was born. Other than that, his wife’s beloved son was just ‘colt’.
Igneous was silent, his stomach in knots. He followed his father closely, staying in the dusty brown stallion’s shadow. “Pa?” he dared ask. “Dost thou foster feelings of love and devotion for Ma?”
“Nay.” Feldspar responded before finally dipping into the darkness of the cave. Here the eldest unmarried mare in the plains took up residence, reading the signs and omens of the Pairing Stone and arranging marriages and dowries.
“Come forth, Igneous Rock Pie, showest me thine face and mark. Showest me thine purpose on this earth.” Said the decrepit old mare, whose coat of powder blue had gone rainy gray in her old age.
Igneous did what he was told and stepped into the warm light emanating from the Pairing Stone, which he now saw was an enormous pink quartz with veins of magic running through it like silver. He turned to show the elderly mare his flank, which displayed a pickaxe, showing his skill in mining. The mare hummed thoughtfully.
“Stallion, gaze upon thy reflection in the Pairing Stone. What dost thou see?” she asked, her gaze already turned upon the polished surface of the stone.
Igneous stared into the pink-tinted face before him, though it was not his own. Before him was the slender and delicate features of a pale gray mare with a dark green mane. “Igneous Rock Pie, the Pairing Stone hast made a wise choice for thou. Thou art to be wed to the mare Cloudy Quartz, and I foresee great fortunes for thee and thine wife. Go forth and be fruitful, my colt.” And with a wave of her hoof she dismissed Igneous. He turned and walked out of the cave, leaving his father to negotiate dowries and wedding dates.
When he was out of sight, he bolted to a nearby scrub bush and threw up. Gasping and uncertain, Igneous cowered behind the bush and quietly wept until his father emerged from the cave. The stallion looked almost pleased for the first time in Igneous’s memory, probably because the elder stallion was finally ridding himself of the son he loathed.

Just two weeks from his visit to the Pairing Stone, Igneous now stood in the dim underground mine of his betrothed’s inherited farm. The mare from the Pairing Stone, who he now knew was called Lapis Powder, stood in the center of the cave, with a great plowing yoke on the ground before her. She gestured for Igneous to come closer, and when he approached, Lapis lifted the hefty garment up and over the stallion’s head. Once settled, the yoke hung heavily around Igneous’s neck. Lastly, Lapis Powder produced a black silk hat with a gauzy white veil and placed it atop Igneous’s head, and nodded sagely.
“Cloudy Quartz, step forth and meet thine betrothed.” Said the aged mare, producing a small tome and opening it.
Cloudy Quartz stepped out of the shadows, dressed in a white gown with simple piped trim, and a veil drawn over her face. Though Igneous knew Cloudy’s face from the vision in the Pairing Stone, he still felt as if he was marrying a stranger.
“Great Mother Earth, Gaea, Celestia.” Lapis began, reading from the page with refined, practiced diction. “Look upon this mare, and this stallion. Bless thee with bountiful harvests, fruitful coupling, and providence. Before thee stand the devoted and steadfast, bless thee and bless us all. Amen.”
“Amen.” said Igneous, his voice catching and creaking in his throat. He flattened his ears in embarrassment.“Amen.” said Cloudy, her voice new and delicate upon Igneous’s ears.

Many hours after the ceremony, when all parents and siblings were gone, and at last Igneous and Cloudy were alone in their home. It was a fine house, with fresh paint in the parlor, a well cared for hearth, and plenty of bedrooms.
Bedrooms.
Igneous began to sweat. He sat at the kitchen table, his wedding garments put away in their trunk alongside Cloudy’s dress and veil. Cloudy sat opposite him, her mane pulled back from her face in a neat bun between her ears. She is a lovely looking mare, Igneous rationalized, why are you so nervous?
Cloudy looked up at Igneous between her eyelashes. “Husband, I-” she began, faltering and stammering. “I am glad that providence has found us and…” she trailed off.
Igneous sat at attention, ready to heed his wife’s every command, as he had been raised to.
“Igneous.” She sighed. She called him by his name. “I must tell you something. It is of the utmost importance and you must promise to never share this with anypony.” She spoke with a frank manner of speech, dropping the formality of proper plain pony conversation.
Igneous felt like he was staring down a mineshaft with a silent canary. He nodded, too nervous to speak.
“I am so deeply sorry, but I can never love you. I know the Pairing Stone makes no mistakes, and that we are partners until death do us part, but-” she took a deep breath. “I have no interest in stallions. It has nothing to do with you in particular, but I can never love you in that way. I will do my duties as your wife, and we will have children together, as required, but I will never love you, not like that.” By the end, Cloudy’s eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“Oh, I-” Igneous stammered, “That’s alright, I-” he swallowed roughly. “I think I know how you feel.”
“You do?” she asked, a wild, desperately hopeful expression blooming on her face. “I now know why the pairing stone has brought us together.”
Igneous smiled for the first time in what felt like his entire life. He now knew deep down that the paring stone made no mistakes.

In the following moons, Igneous and Cloudy became fast friends, sharing their feelings openly, both coming to a shared understanding of their own unique feelings.
After a long first seeding of their modest crops field, Igneous partook in a rare treat of fermented cider, and spilled a lifetime of secrets to his wife. He shared his first memories of colthood affections, directed towards the suitors of his older sisters, the traveling physician who treated his severe allergy to pollen every spring, the friendly drifter who spoke with a soft and downright feminine tone in his voice that made Igneous feel warm and strange.
Cloudy kept his secrets behind a gentle smile, and shared her own in return. Her fleeting springtime romance with her childhood friend, the romp in the hay with the coltish filly from the next farm over, the eye-opening visit from her ‘spinster’ aunt who plowed her own fields and kept a mangy dog to ward off varmints.

On the longest night of their first winter together, Cloudy shared her most bitter secret with Igneous, plied with a festive drink of buttered rum by the fire. She described her beloved older sister, a beautiful mare with a white coat and gray eyes named Clear Quartz.
“Clear Quartz was always a wild card.” She described, speech slowed by drink and nostalgia. “She was always off entertaining the affections of any young stallion that caught her eye, once Ma caught her rolling in the hay with the neighbor’s eldest and by Gaea I thought she would go deaf from how much Ma hollered at her that day” she laughed, dry and bitter. “When Ma and Pa decided to send her to the pairing stone early, just to make her settle, Clear Quartz was devastated.”
Igneous scooted closer to Cloudy, offering a shoulder to lean on as she laid out her story, which seemed to be heading towards a sour ending.
“The next day she was gone.” Cloudy said, her voice wobbling uncharacteristically. “She left a note and ran off with that stupid stallion from next door. She ran away with him without so much as a goodbye. Rotten bitch.” Cloudy said, but her voice betrayed her grief and she hiccuped a sob.
Cloudy leaned into her husband and wept, continuing her story between sobs. “Ma and Pa forbade us from speaking about her ever again, she was dead to them.” Cloudy said, soggily. “Pa died that spring and I swear by my horseshoes that he died of a broken heart. Clear was always his favorite.”
Igneous hummed his sympathy and rested his head atop Cloudy’s.

Spring came and Igneous and Cloudy’s families began to question why there was no news of pregnancy, or even a firstborn. They both replied that they were having trouble, but children would come when providence decreed that they were ready and worthy. They said that for nearly 4 years, until Igneous’s mother, Agate Geode took it upon herself to call a physician. And without warning, the physician arrived on Cloudy Quartz’s property. She welcomed him and offered him tea, but the middle aged stallion would have none of it, and immediately began to interrogate Cloudy about her relationship with her husband.
“When spring comes, do you and your husband heed the wishes of your nature?” he asked, speaking slowly, showing that he thought all ponies of the plains were stupid. “How often do you call upon your husband to provide in the bedchamber?”
Cloudy flattened her ears, hiding the blush forming on the pink skin within them. “My husband and I have consummated our marriage, yes.” She lied. “I can only assume that there is a flaw in the flesh for one of us.”
The stallion looked unconvinced. “Well if you believe this is true, it may be time for medical intervention.” he produced a thick stack of paperwork from the briefcase he carried. “Here is a list of clinics within a day’s journey that can help you. If the issue persists further, please write to the address given.” he gestured to a business card pinned to the top of the stack.
Cloudy nodded, and the stallion left. Before he was all the way off the property, Cloudy began to pack her bag.

Just as the physician had described, Cloudy and Igneous traveled to a clinic just beyond plain pony territory, a ramshackle building at the edge of a bustling town of ponies. After a few visits, and a short waiting time, Cloudy was pregnant. After what felt like a lifetime, Cloudy and Igneous welcomed their firstborn on a stormy night in late autumn.
“Oh, Igneous look,” Cloudy said, exhausted as she laid on the floor of their barn, their newborn still slick and shining from birth. “She has your ears.”
“By Celestia, she does.” Igneous laughed, laying down close to Cloudy and examining his firstborn. “She’s perfect.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Cloudy said, dreamlike affection in her voice as she leaned in to nose her foal. “Lets call her Maud.”
Igneous hummed his agreement and nuzzled his firstborn.

Cloudy and Igneous found that parenthood was just as wonderful and rewarding as their parents had promised. Maud was a wonder, bright and gentle. She loved to help her father in any way she could, sorting gravel in the front yard, pretending she was big and strong like her Papa. When Maud was 3, they decided to have another.

Their second born came into the world on a blistering day in the middle of summer, and Maud haunted the barn doorway through the entire labor, curious and excited for a sibling.
“By Celestia, she looks like your father!” Cloudy laughed, using a rag to wipe the mess of birth from the newborn’s scowling face. “Look at her pout!”
Igneous laughed and beckoned Maud over to see the baby. “Lets call her Limestone.”Cloudy nodded, and Maud peeked her little head over Igneous’s shoulder.
“Mama why is she all slimy?”
Cloudy and Igneous laughed and were content.

They were less content to discover that their second born was not an easy child like Maud. She had world shaking tantrums, treated every meal like a torture session, and endlessly terrorized quiet little Maud. Cloudy and Igneous decided, unsure of what else to do about their wild, angry child, that they would have one more foal. They hoped being an older sister would soothe Limestone’s cantankerous spirit.

They were right, and after a long and uncomfortable pregnancy, and a lifethreateing twin delivery in the height of winter, they had their twin, lastborn foals. Two more fillies. One was small and frail, the other large and squealing from the moment she entered the world.
Limestone, only 4 years old, was enraptured by the two delicate little foals that lay by her mother’s belly. Maud, wizened by her first round of watching the miracle of birth, let her sister see the foals first, hanging back at the barn door and waiting her turn.
Igneous crowded close, shielding the twin foals from the cold. “Cloudy, they’re so small.” he said, worry in his voice. “By Gaea, I could hold the little one in my hat.”
He gestured to the small, pale pink filly that lay in a tight, fetal, ball. Her breath came in quick little puffs. “She’s so small.” said Limestone, her voice low for what seemed like the first time in her life.
“Let’s call the big one Marble.” Said cloudy, her voice heavy with exhaustion. “ and the little one Pinkie.” She nuzzled close to the twin newborns and prayed to Gaea they would make it through the night.

Defying all expectations. The twins thrived. They grew fast and strong like hearty sunflowers, blooming in the sun of springtime. Igneous and Cloudy looked over their successful farm, four wonderful daughters, and knew in their hearts that their Paring Stone’s promises were all true. Providence had found them.