Chapter 15: Family Jams

“Apple Bloom, if you don’t stop jumping so much you can call me ‘Dizzy’ instead of ‘Dusty!’” The Cutie Mark Crusaders had gathered to discuss their next strategy at the clubhouse. From the looks of things, though, at least one of their members was getting too excited to focus on the task at hoof.

“C’mon, you can’t tell me you weren’t excited to have a part in the Hearth's Warming Eve Pageant!”

“Not to mention that business with Prince Blueblood afterwards,” Scootaloo said.

“That wasn’t on the schedule,” Dusty said dryly.

“But you handled it like a pro,” Scootaloo said. “Almost as cool as Rainbow Dash. Almost.”

“Alright, I won’t argue against everyone being entitled to getting excited about something. What is it in this case?”

“Zap Apple Harvest is coming!”

“What’s a… Zap Apple?”

“You’ve never heard?”

“As your brother’d put it, ‘nope!’”

“They’re just the most amazing, delicious apples in Equestria! They only appear for a couple of days, and only Granny Smith knows how to pick ‘em. This’ll be my first time helping with the harvesting, since I was too young to do it the last time.”

“Sounds magical,”

“Oh, it is!”

“No, I mean that it sounds like magic’s involved, if the apples can only be picked for a couple days.”

“There’s that too, so there’s definitely magic about the apples.”

“I’d be interested in seeing that,”

“I’ll have to ask Granny if it’s alright, but I don’t see why not as long as you don’t see any of her secrets.”

“Considering my lack of farming knowledge and experience, that shouldn’t be a problem. Now,” the colt held his head between his hooves to try to keep his eyes from screwing up, “are you gonna put a pause on the jumping, or do I have to land?” It was not a peculiarity of the situation with Apple Bloom jumping around, but Dusty was practicing how to fly without additional help from his Alicorn magic. He still had to flap his wings much faster than he should have to, but it was an improvement over Scootaloo’s ability to hover in place, if only barely.

A couple mornings later, Apple Bloom found Dusty during one of his early training sessions. He was controlling balls of earth, fire, water, and wind as they slowly orbited him. The sight stopped the filly in her tracks for a moment, clearly uncertain as to what might happen if she so much as spoke up. In answer to the unspoken question, Dusty raised both forehooves from his sides and drew the elemental orbs into his body, one at a time, until he had recovered all four, at which point he opened his eyes and looked at his unexpected visitor.

“Oh, um… the first sign was Timberwolves howling.”

“That could happen anytime,”

“Except that if it happens at this time, it means the Zap Apples’ll be ready for harvest in four days, as long as all the signs come, like Granny says. It’ll probably take awhile, but she says you’re welcome at the farm anytime.”

“Well, thank you for coming all this way to tell me so early, Apple Bloom.”

“’Welcome. Er… what exactly were you doing?”

“It’s an elemental spirit control exercise where I summon and focus elements, and then see how long I can stay in control.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“No more so than any of the attempts at gaining cutie marks, or so I’ve heard. Besides, I have defensive spells at the ready. And if I try to summon anything beyond a certain level, I’m sure it’ll end up waking Miss Twilight up.”

“Were you done?”

“Nope?”

“Can I watch you finish?”

“I suppose there’s no harm in it, as long as you’re not too close, in case I lose control. I do need the time to raise a shield to be safe.”

“Just tell me where to sit,”

Once Apple Bloom was seated a fair distance away, Dusty resumed his meditative posture, and hooves held out once more, started summoning the elements. The first ball to collesce was made of fire, and it compressed until it looked solid before Dusty moved it away enough to make room for his next summon. Orbs of earth, wind, and water soon followed, that last being the least well compressed of them all. Dusty reached out to all his summons, thinking to put them into formation around his position as before. An idea interrupted him, though, and he decided to make two more summons.

The first new summon started out looking like the wind orb, but as Dusty continued to compress more magic into it and make it more intense, it started to spark. Blue lightning overtook silver whisp, and then the ball was lightning. Dusty set it aside. Next he summoned a ball of fire and focused it until it became brilliant white light.

Now Dusty sent the six balls into formation and set them spinning, slowly at first and then increasing speed. He would have gone up to a trotting pace, but he felt a slight buzzing from his glasses. He had to focus on a different task then, once again dismissing the orbs of energy. He did not get to the wind orb, but that one practically tore itself apart escaping the bonds of control, and scattered itself in harmless ribbons. The earth orb, which Dusty also did not have the time to deal with, merely solidified. Dusty tossed it aside, where there was a small pile of similar balls.

“I thought anything you made with your magic disappeared when it ran out,” Apple Bloom said.

“So did I, but lately anything I make solidly enough seems to stick around. I’m still experimenting with the limits.”

“Well, okay then. Coming to the farm?”

“Very well, but I’d better tell Miss Twilight first,”

“Oh, I already know,” Twilight called from her window. “Go ahead, Dusty.”

“See you later, then,” Dusty said, and began following Apple Bloom.

Later, at school, Dusty thought that it was amazing how thoroughly farming families followed certain rituals and practices. It should not have surprised Gearhead, considering the fact he had grown up in such a family. He guessed that he had been away for so long that he had forgotten, especially given how little his work relied on a schedule: he could gather and refine his materials almost anytime he wanted, with the exception of during business hours. Farmers like the Apples and the Verdant were hide-bound to nature’s rhythm, only sowing and harvesting in the proper season – and woe indeed to the farmer who forgot or missed a season! From watching the Apples, Dusty knew that the signs for Zap Apple season were well-spaced, as each member of the family went about her or his business in preparation at a measured pace. None of them were overly-rushed, but they were not taking their time either.

Filthy Rich might have been taking his time explaining to the class how, under his management, Barnyard Bargains maintained the lion’s share of the market in Ponyville. It was not that hard, when your competitors could not provide the same services or products. Like how Barnyard Bargains could not approach Gearhead’s Gadgets for quality or innovation. If Rich’s profits were unusually high, it was because of Gearhead’s absence from the market. Which reminded a certain stallion-turned-colt that he would probably have to deal with not having any profits to send home for the past several moons. Well, there was nothing to do about it just then. Gearhead would do what he could when that happened. In the meantime, Dusty would enjoy his time at ‘play.’

Cheerilee thanked Rich for his time (and wasn’t the only one to call him ‘Filthy,’ she would be relieved to know), and then looked to her records to see who would have a family member present next. “We don’t have much time left in the day, so… Dusty?”

“That’s okay, Miss Cheerilee. She did say she could only pop in for a short while.”

“Okay, but how were you supposed to reach her to let her know?”

Dusty had already been reaching out to alert his contact with his mind, boosting his thought with a little magic. He glanced over to the door, which had closed behind Rich just moments before. The others followed his gaze, and were suitably startled at the loud thump that shook one of the windows. Dusty was just as surprised, and joined the others in looking the other way.

“Oh my,” Cheerliee said, and crossed the room to open the window in front of the newcomer. “Are you alright, Princess?”

“Yes,” Princess Luna said, dusting herself off after recovering her hooves. “I just missed by a tiny bit.”

<That’s no ‘tiny bit,’>

<They need not know that,> the Princess responded. “Lets try that again, shall we?”

“I’m not so sure—“ Princess Luna cut Cheerilee off, teleporting from outside and ending up at the front of the classroom. “Oh, okay then.”

“Shall I begin?”

“Please do, Princess Luna. And might I say it’s an honour to have you,”

“Thank you, Cheerilee. My sister and I both recognize how precious these foals are to the future of Equestria.” Princess Luna turned her full attention to the class. “Well then, who here knows what it is that I do? Yes, you.”

“You’re the Princess of the Night, so you guard against the dangers of the night,” Tiara said.

“A good start. What else?” Most of the class looked confused, as though to say ‘there’s more?!’ Silver Spoon hesitated, but raised a hoof anyway.

“You come scare us on Nightmare Night?”

“Indeed, and what a fun time that is,” Princess Luna said. “What you perhaps were not aware of is that one of the most important aspect to my duties is that I help ponies protect themselves in their dreams.”

“In our dreams?” Apple Bloom blurted.

“How d’you do that?” Scootaloo asked.

“That would be the question to ask, wouldn’t it? I enter ponies’ dreams. Once there I can change portions of the dream, providing the dreamer with hints, or even intervening more directly should the situation demand it of me. It all depends on the dreamer and the dream. I leave normal dreams alone, for example, but guide ponies through their nightmares. It is part of my job that is ongoing, for as long as there are nightmares to have and overcome.”

“What about daydreams?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I could intervene in those if they ever got that bad, but they don’t usually do that. On the other hoof, I can warn ponies away from harmful action if their inclination is strong enough, and the action bad enough.”

“Can anypony else dream-walk?” Dusty asked.

“So far, nopony else can do it, and that is because in order to ‘dream-walk,’ one would have to be a Night Mare.”

“So Princess Celestia can’t do it?” Tiara affected a shocked tone.

“My sister is a Day Mare, but on the other hoof she has guarded both night and day for a thousand years. It’s much more like it takes more effort for her to do it, than not being able to do it. Of course, now that I’m back, she doesn’t have to do it.”

“Could you dream-walk when you were Nightmare Moon?” Dusty asked.

“I was not myself at that time, and too self-absorbed to dream-walk properly. Not to mention not being close enough to do it. No, Nightmare Moon cannot dream-walk, not even as well as my sister. Is that all?”

“Thank you, Princess Luna. It was an honour.”

“The pleasure was all mine,” Princess Luna said, nodding to the others before teleporting away.

“Okay,” Cheerilee glanced out the window. “Before I send you all home, lets see who hasn’t had a family member visit us yet. Apple Bloom?”

“Sorry Miss Cheerilee, Big Mac and Applejack’ll be busy with the Zap Apple harvest, so they won’t be able to come.”

“But Granny Smith isn’t on harvest duty, right? She could come in,” Tiara said in a manner that reminded Dusty more of a vulture than a pony. That, and Apple Bloom’s grimace showed him well enough that the youngest Apple considered Granny Smith coming in to be a very bad idea. It was not that Dusty did not have some understanding of why, given that the elder pony was not always all there mentally, however she was an elder pony, and that gave her a certain amount of respect automatically. Moreover, she was the pony who had raised the Apple siblings ever since their parents’ untimely deaths. And any mare who pulled that off deserved a far greater amount of respect than Tiara’s sniping. But it was more likely than not that Tiara’s teasing would come back to bite her in the flank, and sooner rather than later if Apple Bloom agreed to get this over with.

“Then it’s settled,” Cheerilee said when Apple Bloom could not come up with a good reason to excuse Granny from coming in. “Granny Snmith will come in on Monday.” And again, Apple Bloom made that face, while Tiara and Spoon sniggered.

“Are you sure you can’t come in for Family Appreciation Day on Monday?”

“Nope,” Big McIntosh said to Apple Bloom.

“Sorry, A.B., but we’ll both be busy on Harvest Day. But you know, Granny’s got no shortage of entertaining stories to tell your class,” Applejack said.

“I know. That’s what I’m afraid of,” Apple Bloom said.

“Now don’t you fret. I’m sure everything’ll go just fine!” Despite Applejack’s reassurance, Apple Bloom was clearly still ‘fretting.’ The elder sister cast a questioning glance Dusty’s way, and he gestured with one hoof over his head, drawing points in the air. Applejack made a ‘get to it’ gesture with her own hoof, moving it toward her little sister. It seemed she was leaving this to Dusty to mediate, as somepony closer to Apple Bloom in physical age. Dusty was not certain there was anything he could do, considering how worried Apple Bloom was about Tiara’s verbal barb. Maybe if Apple Bloom could see Granny as something other than an ‘old coot,’ as Tiara might put it, she would not be anxious anymore.

Unfortunately, even as the crows circled and the leaves sprouted on the Zap Apple Trees, Apple Bloom’s anxiety seemed to grow. Rather than coming to terms with her situation, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle tried to help her get out of it. The latter, in particular, was on fire with her plans. Bad plans, Dusty might add.

Of particular note was the plan to feign illness by heating a thermometer and applying green goo to Apple Bloom’s face. Watching from the far side of the bed, Dusty rolled his eyes. “This’ll never work,” he said.

“Oh, don’t be such a pessimist, it’ll work!” Sweetie Belle said.

“I thought I told you to stop using words I didn’t know the meaning of,” Scootaloo said, which made the others roll their eyes.

“That’s not why it won’t work: Granny’s old-school, so the application of heat and some discolouration’s unlikely to fool her. I knew a colt once who tried to fake an illness to stay home from school. He ended up having to deal with his mother’s homemade remedy, so you’d best be prepared to weigh the pros and cons of succeeding against those of failing.”

“I’ll take Granny’s medicine over the embarrassment I’d suffer on Monday any day,” Apple Bloom said, just before Sweetie Belle thrust the heated thermometer into her mouth. “Ouch!”

“What’s goin’ on up there?” Granny called.

“You’d better come up here, Granny Smith,” Scootaloo called back. “Apple Bloom’s come down sick!”

As Granny Smith made her way up the stairs and to Apple Bloom’s room, Dusty got up to lean against the window. He had his Poker face on before Granny even came through the door, and watched her peer at the thermometer before touching Apple Bloom’s forehead. “Right as pear pudding,” Granny pronounced her verdict, and then she left.

“Don’t say it,” Sweetie Belle glared across the bed.

“Don’t have to,” Dusty said, coming back over to the bed. “Apple Bloom, wouldn’t it be easier to just roll with it?”

“No way am I letting this happen!”

Dusty rolled his eyes again. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. “So what’s next?”

“Don’t you have some spell that could help?”

“None of my spells or skills will help you fake ill, get Tiara out of the room during your presentation, or get Granny out of whatever portion of senility is affecting her. I’m sorry to say that you’ll have to play this one straight, especially if you don’t want your plans backfiring in front of the class.”

“Oh, Monday’s gonna come too soon,” Apple Bloom moved to the window and looked out at the trees. Sparks started to fly again, and soon there were grey, round apples hanging from the branches.

“We may not be able to move your presentation,” Sweetie Belle said, “but maybe we can move Harvest Day,” and she led the way out to the orchard.

“I don’t know about this,” Apple Bloom said. “They don’t look ripe yet.”

“Oh, early harvest never hurt an apple,” Scootaloo said. “How hard could it be?” She carried over a basket, and Sweetie Belle turned around to aim a kick at the trunk.

“Zap Apples aren’t normal apples, though. Granny says they got magic and magic rules.” But Sweetie Belle was already kicking.

The instant blue electricity started arcing up the trunk and into the branches, Dusty yelped and leaped ahead, activating both his magicks together and enacting a defensive barrier. “Fulgoriens Rubra,” he muttered as the blue lightning traveled back down, and directly at him since he had pushed between the tree and Sweetie Belle. Red lightning ripped forth from his horn and intercepted the stinging missile, but it only held it off for a moment. The lightning smashed into Dusty’s shield, and as it shattered, he sent out another red bolt at the same inverted frequency as the tree’s blue lightning, which finally dissipated on Dusty’s second-skin barrier, which he barely managed to erect.

“Definitely magic,” he said, shaking it off as best he could.

“Alright, smart guy, have you got a spell that’ll help here?”

“No I don’t, because as you’ve already seen, these trees have their own magic, including defenses.”

“Maybe we can pick the apples,” Scootaloo suggested. Dusty sighed, and since his magic was already active, he flew up, and grabbed an apple by the stem. He braced his hooves against the tree, and pulled with his full strength, including with wingpower.

“Did you enhance your strength with magic?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Won’t be able to fend off the lightning,” Dusty said before giving it one last shot. In the end, however, he had to concede that the apple was staying up in the tree until it was time for it to come down. “We’re not moving harvest,” he said when he was the one on the ground instead.

“I wish I could run away,” Apple Bloom said.

“You can’t, but maybe Granny Smith can,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Gonna try to stop this one too?” Scootaloo asked.

“Not if your plan is less harmful than dealing with lightning,” Dusty said, folding his wings, which had returned to normal size.

“I promise nopony’s going to be hurt by this one,” Sweetie Belle. “It’s foolproof!”

We’ll see, Dusty thought.

Sitting in class, Dusty thought about the viability of Sweetie Belle’s latest plan, and since it was the one they were rolling with on the day of the event, it was also her last plan, and Apple Bloom’s last hope that Granny Smith would not come and embarrass her. Conceptually, sending the trigger pony away was sensible enough, however Granny was not really the trigger for Apple Bloom’s embarrassment: Diamond Tiara was. And then there was the fact that the plan’s success depended upon all the parts moving below a certain rate.

As a gadgeteer, Gearhead knew that the more moving parts there were to a mechanism within a gadget, the more wear and tear it would suffer through its own use, and the more likely it was to break down, no matter the materials used. It also took time for moving parts to get up to speed or slow down, so any change or need to change would take time. And whatever one’s plans, they rarely survived from start to finish without changing at all.

In the case of Sweetie Belle’s plan, there were four or five moving parts that Dusty could see, depending on where he was looking. There was, of course, Granny Smith, whom Scootaloo's false telegram sent away by train to visit Uncle Strudel. The other two highly-visible factors were the train on which Granny would be riding, and Uncle Strudel, who at any point could try to contact Granny, generating confusion when he finally told her that he had not summoned her. The last moving piece was Tiara, who could easily initiate another embarassing offensive against Apple Bloom even with, or because of, Granny Smith’s absence. This would initiate a reaction by the class as a whole, and by Cheerilee in particular. Check that, Dusty thought, there’re six moving parts. That’s a lot of potential break-down points.

That was not to say that it was bad plan, overall. Dusty definitely liked it better than using Granny as a puppet while she was napping, a plan that depended upon Granny not waking up, and on Cheerilee not looking too closely. With the plan to play sick, Granny had been the one to look too closely. Finally, in trying to harvest the apples too early, the Crusaders had encountered a factor they could not have predicted: the trees’ magic. By comparison, sending Granny away on a wild goose chase was a stroke of genius, assuming she did not question the telegram or her ticket before she got on the train.

As it turned out, moments after Apple Bloom ‘apologized’ for Granny being called away ‘on a family emergency,’ the mare in question pushed open the classroom door, and came in to be followed by a stallion Dusty assumed was Uncle Strudel, which Granny confirmed. Yes, he’s a moving part too, Dusty thought. This plan was an ingenious failure, with Uncle Strudel being on the train to Ponyville! The two had clearly met somewhere along the way, and fairly close to Ponyville at that, for Granny to be able to make it basically on time. Dusty watched with some amusement as Strudel set a chair for Granny, only to have it get tossed out behind her as she sat down and started to tell her tale.

Glancing around out of the corners of his eyes at his classmates, Dusty marked their reactions as Granny regaled them with the tale of Ponyville’s foundation. It was definitely an interesting and entertaining story, not only on a general level, but also in seeing how the Apples had come to the area. Gearhead had not had any idea that the land had been bequeathed to them by Princess Celestia herself, and purposefully the land right next to the Everfree Forest.

It would be interesting to ask Princess Celestia why she had directed the settler ponies to such a dangerous area. Princess Celestia had only moved her seat of power to Canterlot after banishing Nightmare Moon, at which point she had abandoned the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest. In the first place, the Everfree Forest was an odd place to build a castle, especially when there were not any other habitations nearby.

While there was no question that the princesses had lived at that castle, the reason was not so clear. If the princesses had to be nearby to keep the creatures of the forest in check, surely they could have done so from Ponyville’s position on the outside, rather than inside. If it wasn’t just to guard Equestria from the things that go ‘bump’ in the forest, maybe it was to guard something in the forest. Dusty thought, in particular, about the dragonstone the Witch had been hoarding. If there were more precious resources, or items of power, they could just as easily be put to dark purpose as to good.

Guarding some super-precious, super-powerful resource would be reason enough to build a castle for just the two horses and a select staff, and to keep things secret, but of the magical items that Gearhead knew were connected to the princesses in the past, the foremost example that he could think of were the Elements of Harmony: The sisters had used them together to seal Discord into stone, and Princess Celestia had used them to banish Nightmare Moon. Beyond any other use by Princess Celestia that were not recorded in history, the Elements had spent the next thousand years hidden in the Castle of the Two Sisters, abandoned and known only to Princess Celestia herself, who probably had not wanted to use them again anyway – not after using them to send her own sister to the moon. Of course, Gearhead would not know for certain unless he asked, and he had no idea how to go about such a sensitive topic.

In any case, the Apple family building their homestead and farm on that specific plot of land, and their ‘luck’ in young Smith finding the Zap Apples when the family was so sorely in need of both food and income, attracted more ponies to the area. While the Smith family could be credited with being the driving force behind Ponyville’s foundation and the beginning of Rich’s Barnyard Bargains, Dusty wondered if Princess Celestia could not be credited with a certain hunch that that was exactly what would happen, placing a town of loyal ponies right on the entrance to the Everfree Forest, to guard whatever the princesses had previously guarded – whether they were simply guarding the Elements of Harmony without knowing it, or there was something more at the castle. Gearhead respected the princesses enough to give them time until they felt comfortable enough to tell anypony such information would affect. Admitedly, more fore-warning than with Nightmare Moon or Discord would be preferable.

Granny Smith came to the end of her tale, the school foals still completely rapt and following her every word. Dusty brought himself back to the present just as Silver Spoon began applauding. “This is outrageous,” Tiara wailed. “She’s just an old coot!”

“She’s not an ‘old coot,’” Apple Bloom said, coming to Granny’s defense. “She’s my Granny, and the most special pony I know!”

“But! But!—“

“I guess you’re lucky this isn’t a competition,” Dusty said softly enough so that only Tiara and those close enough to him could hear.

“What do you know?”

“I’m not sure,” Dusty said, “in fact I’ve no idea why you choose to be so confrontational with others. Given what we’ve just learned about what ponies can do when they pull together, it’d be an unfortunate choice to push them away. But you’re still so young, so you can learn and change. You don’t have to set yourself up for refusals for favours later on simply because somepony you want to help you holds a grudge for something you’ve done in school.”

“My daddy’s the wealthiest pony in Ponyville, so what do I have to worry about some grudge?”

“All due respect to Mister Rich, as he works hard to maintain your family’s wealth, what have you done, and what can you do? Not your father or mother. Not your butler or anypony else on your parents’ payroll. You.”

“I don’t need to do any of what you commoners do: I’m rich, and I’ll still be rich when I’m a mare.”

“Maybe, maybe not. I hear a certain gadgeteer’s putting a serious crimp in business, although not for the last few months. He’s bound to return, though. You may not always have your father’s resources upon which to call, but don’t worry: as I said before, you’re young yet. You can learn the skills you’d need to live without borrowing your father’s resources – if that’s something you’re interested in doing.”

“Why do you keep saying ‘you’re young?’ You’re just as young as I am, you know?”

“I’m older than you, actually. It was Princess Celestia’s idea to put me here while I visited in Ponyville, and I’m not sure why she wouldn’t put me in my proper grade. Maybe she wanted me to meet and interact with certain ponies. It’s really not for me to try to fathom the Princess’s mind, not when she’s lived so much longer, and is so much wiser, than me. Anyway,  I think it’d be wise to consider what I said about learning things to support yourself. You never know what you’ll need, nor when you’ll need it.” Dusty saw the others leaving, and moved to follow. “Caio.”

When the Zap Apples became ripe for picking, one became rainbow-coloured in stripes before becoming more square, like a red delicious, before a rainbow light shot out and jumped from apple to apple, colourizing the whole orchard. It was harvest time, and the Apple family leaped into action.

Applejack had agreed to let Dusty help gather the apples, so he leaped into the air, calling upon his Pegasus magic to enable faster and stronger flight. He ricocheted between the trees that already had baskets underneath them, sending apples cascading down as he flipped and spun and rolled with ease. When all the baskets were full, he landed, put his Pegasus magic on hold, and activated his Unicorn magic to carry the Zap Apples to a bigger collection hopper. He emptied the baskets he was lifting magically, and carried them back out to the trees to catch more harvested apples. The baskets in place, Dusty switched his magicks again, and went back to harvesting-by-flight.

Later, the Crusaders were together as they tasted some of the Zap Apple Jam. “This has got to be the best Zap Apple Jam I’ve ever tasted,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Must be because you had something to do with it, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said.

“That’s right,” Granny Smith said, coming up. “Apple Bloom there is one humdinger of a Zap Apple Jammer! Now, who wants to help me sing to the water?” Unsurprisingly, every foal jumped at the chance to help. It was unsurprising given Granny’s story earlier, as well as the great-tasting jam. Rich even brought Tiara to help, complete with a bunny ear headband, despute her obvious resistance. The stallion might be a wealthy business man, but he had not kept his business by being poor of mind. He was shrewd and tough but fair. He knew just as Dusty did that if Tiara did not learn some humility, she would get into worse trouble for it, and soon.

“You gonna join ‘em, son?” Rich asked.

“Oh, I’m no singer, sir. Besides, I’d rather not get in their way.”

“Got your eye on somepony special, do you?”

“Not at all sir. I’m a colt still, so I’m not interested in fillies yet.”

“But you will be,”

“I’ll be back home by then,” and still in no position to court anypony, Gearhead did not add. Being a Black Sheep came with protection, true, but it also put him lower on the social ladder than anypony else. He was not fit for marriage until he won free of the title, and being a false prince certainly did not count. Next Chapter: 16. The Keys of Return Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 41 Minutes