Chapter 18: The Prodigal Son

Gearhead spent the rest of the day providing repairs and touch-ups to equipment and buildings around the farm, working quickly with a practised hoof and just a little Geomancy. As long as he wore his shoes zipped down, Gearhead did not have to be concerned about doing damage to the fields, as he had as a foal.

He would prefer not to take the chance.

In the evening, Father asked Gearhead to accompany Roselle on a supply run to Hoofington. The siblings grabbed a spare wagon and headed out. Gearhead’s modifications, and the small distance to the city, made the trip an easy one: just as Sweet Apple Acres was just outside of Ponyville proper, so was the case with Verdant Fields and the more heavily-populated town of Hoofington.

Going about the ordinary activity of making purchases quickly became more complicated through a notoriety Gearhead had not realized he possessed. On reflection, he should have realized he had some fame, although not this much: Hoofington was the place where he had started selling his wares. It was the town where Gearhead’s Gadgets had first built the foundation for his reputation as a skilled work- and saleshorse. For him to return to the place where he started turned out to have inspired a large gathering of old customers and those who had since heard about him.

Gearhead thought ruefully about the lost opportunity that came from having flown straight to Verdant Fields without much of a chance to bring any of the gadgets with which he had become so famous, however Rose quickly reminded him that he was not in town to make sales: he was in town to make purchases. So with a few quick words about his new location, and some additional words of acknowledgement and praise, Gearhead pressed forward to complete the task that Father had sent him and Rose to do in the first place.

It was while the siblings were packing the last of their purchases onto the wagon that some old not-quite-admirers of Gearhead’s caught up with him. “Hey, not-so-long-time no see, Gear,” Dusk Shadow said.

“You’ve seen each other recently?” Rose asked.

“At the Gala,” Dawn said.

“Of course you two got to go,” Glimmer, the Conclave’s own third-born progeny said. She had a slate-grey coat and a dark blue mane of straight hair cut short. “But how did he end up there?”

“I was there as part of the Ponyville contingent,” Gearhead said.

“Speaking of, how’d it work out with that white-coated Unicorn? Rarity, was it?” Dawn’s comment sparked looks of intrigue from Rose on one hoof and Glimmer on the other.

“Miss Rarity are friends, and occasionally—“

“Yes?” The two busybodies chimed.

“Business partners,”

“Aww,” the younger mares deflated visibly.

“Wait, how do you two contribute to each other’s businesses?” Dusk asked.

“Sometimes I make wearable gadgets, and I need pointers on how to make them look appealing, to potential consumers. Sometimes Miss Rarity needs the convenience of a gadget, or transportation, and I can help there.”

“So sometimes you two work closely on designs?” Dawn asked.

“She is a friend,” Gearhead said. “As are you, Glimmer, and Prism, Autumn, and Winter.”

“We just happen to also be mares,”

“Exactly. Wait, what? Listen, you know what my position is, and why I cannot afford romantic involvement of any kind.”

“Until you get rid of your unwanted title, yes we know. Besides, I’ve heard rumours of you being close to a Pegasus mare in Ponyville. Truth or just rumour?”

“I cannot do such a thing, not really,”

“Ah, but you like her,” Dawn half-turned away. “That makes it more difficult to steal you away,” she said as though to herself.

“And again, not something I can really do,” Gearhead said, deadpan. “You know all this, so why all the teasing?”

“Because it’s fun,” Glimmer said, equally deadpan. “Don’t you know anything?”

“I know plenty, but dealing with a filly is obviously not one of them,”

“Obviously,” the others said in unison.

“Anyway, we have to get these back to the farm,” Gearhead said, nodding to the full cart.

“Aww, leaving so soon?” Dawn said.

“It was just getting fun, too,” Glimmer said.

“It was,” Rose said, “but my brother’s right. We’ve gotta get back for dinner.”

“Alright then, safe journey,” Dusk stifled his sisters’ objections and steered them away.

“You too,” Gearhead said, and then he and Rose mounted up and drove back to Verdant Fields, although not without some more obligatory ribbing.

The next day brought a flood of ponies who wanted Gearhead to take a look at this or that piece of equipment, gadget, or toy. Since he did not have any real reason to refuse, he set up shop in one of the lesser-used barns and started his inspections with a set of hastily called-up tools.

Toward lunchtime, Hoofington’s mayor came in curiously empty-hooved and without any saddlebags. Clearly he was not there to have something repaired, but on some other business. Gearhead gave him a steady look to let him know he had the younger stallion’s full attention.

“Gearhead, how’d you like to be in a race tomorrow morning?”

“What kind of race are we talking about, Mayor? You know that I will be needed in Ponyville soon. I am aiming for two days from now, and have already filed my flight plan through the Azure.”

“That’s just it, son: a flying race. It’d do the town proud to have somepony as distinguished as you demonstrate that Pegasi aren’t the only ones with speed on their side, and I’ve heard you’re quite something with your whatchacallit on.”

“It is just a race, from Point A to Point B? Not some sort of demonstration?”

“More like Point A to Point D, but yes. No demonstration, I promise.”

“What are Points C and D, if I may ask?”

“Just a set of magical obstacles. All you have to do is get through them, and you’re done. Simple, right?”

“I find it depends upon the obstacle. Also, I do not see how exerting myself in a race will benefit me the day before I am due on a long flight.”

“Hoofington is offering a small monetary prize to the top two winners, plus a trophy, of course. That, and if you won your reputation would be greatly strengthened.”

“How long is the course, and who would be my opponents?”

“We haven’t completed the course yet, but I’ll have my office contact you with the specifics later today. As to your competition, we’ll have Pegasi from the area enter, along with some Unicorns to set up the obstacles for you.”

“I still do not understand why I should enter.”

“Because, dear boy, this is an event to celebrate you, and it wouldn’t be much without its star. If you participate and win, other ponies’ll say great things about you, but refuse and the best they might think of you is that you’re a poor sport.”

“That could be putting it mildly,” Gearhead said, realizing that the mayor was more correct on that point at least. “Very well,”

“You’re in?”

“I am in,”

“I’ll go inform the planning committee to get into high gear immediately!” The mayor cantered off, leaving Gearhead to wonder what, exactly, was going on.

The next morning’s race was set up with all the fanfare Hoofington could muster, or so it seemed to Gearhead, as well as anypony who came out that day, whether they were participants or spectators: flags and pennants waved everywhere, with pylons, ribbons, and coloured clouds marking out the start of the course.

The Start Line, or Point A, was situated on Main Street in the middle of town, so everypony could see the start. From there, the contestants would have to fly in widening circles until they were at the town limits. They would then climb to cruising altitude and turn toward Verdant Fields, which they would overfly. Coming about, they would dive and enter a tall maze that they would have to navigate at ground level, and this was where the magic obstacles were supposed to come into play. Once outside the maze, the contestants were to climb into a long cloud bank and make their way over, until they were right over  Hoofington again. Then they would have to dive straight to whatever point was below them, and then make their way to the Start, which would, at that point, have become the Finish.

The race seemed simple, on paper, but Gearhead knew from his experience running as a Crusader that even simple things could quickly become complicated. And here he would be running solo, with nopony to draft behind, or to draft him. Not that any of the Pegasi would be so open about wanting to cooperate with the Earth Pony who was coming right into their territory.

When Gearhead saw some of his competition, he knew he was in for a rough time: included among them were Prism, Contrail, and Rook with Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring rounding out the Azure siblings, complete with their own sets of wingponies. It became obvious then that somepony had intended this to be a bit of a less friendly competition than Gearhead had originally been told: Pegasus honour was on the line.

The mayor explained that there were over a hundred checkpoints interspersed throughout the course. The checkpoints were offset from each other so no racer could skip to specific points on the course and be assured of going through to the next point. Any of the sixty racers to cross the finish line without going through all of the checkpoints would be automatically disqualified, no matter how well they performed.

As soon as he saw Prism and the others, Gearhead knew that this race would be intrinsically different from the one in which he had participated in Ponyville: not only were these participants more mature, and thus capable of bringing off far more complex racing strategies, but they were far more disciplined than the foals. This would be especially true for the Azure’s representatives, each of whom would be driving as hard as Rainbow Dash to be admitted to the Wonderbolts. In fact, there was a blue mare with an orange and gold who reminded Gearhead very strongly of the headstrong athlete. Gearhead was beginning to regret placing a 65% power limiter on the Alicorn Engine to prevent over-strain before his return flight to Ponyville. Still, 65% of the Engine’s current total power might be enough… to place in the top ten.

The starting order was chosen by lots, and placed Gearhead in the last ten competitors, so he would start in fiftieth place, and have to move forward as best as he could. With the racers quickly organized, the mayor took his place to signal the start of the race.

On ‘set’ the Pegasi lowered their goggles and started to flap their wings in preparation for takeoff. Gearhead pulled his hood and goggles into place, and on his thought his Engine spooled up with a comforting whine, dispersing a thin spray of light turquoise particle energy around him. While those arrayed around Gearhead stared, the major called ‘go’ and a town functionary blew a horn. The races all took off, climbing at various degrees while they struggled to overtake each other within the confines of the buildings surrounding the streets. Gearhead kept up a rapid gallop, propelled along with his Engine’s power, much as he had on his way to Canterlot to help deal with Discord.

The announcers and spectators might have some disparaging words for Gearhead’s strategy of staying low to the ground, however the other racers were all so blind to the possibility that somepony might stay low to the deck as a strategy, that they were all too busy contending with each other to notice he was passing them by running under them, free and clear. In addition, he had an easier time springing off the road or buildings on the turns, a factor which helped him greatly when it was time to switch to one of the city’s wider rings.

Once the Pegasi flying the race got through the last checkpoint within the city limits, many of them resorted to a hard climb to achieve cruising altitude as quickly as possible, a feat that was not easy for those already fatigued by their many circuits of Hoofington prior to the climb. But there were other Pegasi on-station to provide hydration and a quick, energy-boosting snack, and so the race continued. Some of the more daring Pegasi, like the blue mare, Prism, and Contrail ascended quickly just after passing under the checkpoint’s top bar. Gearhead slowly increased his climbing glide as he approached it, and then rotated so his legs would come close to brushing the bar. He kept increasing his grade to forty-five degrees, spun right-side-up, and then hit maximum power.

The climb reminded Gearhead somewhat of the one he had made at the beginning of his trip out of Ponyville. Then, too, he had been pressed for time. This time was different because he had an audience, and also because of the limiter he had placed on himself. Still, once he started catching the more fatigued flyers just ahead of him, Gearhead transitioned quickly to a full takeoff grade and kept his thrust up, rocketing up to cruising altitude.

While in his climb, Gearhead spotted something glinting in the sunlight, and used his goggles to magnify his view to see what it was as best he could. It was a large ring, being held to a cluster of small clouds – Pegasus magic. It seemed that somepony had decided to place a checkpoint high up as a gag, or perhaps to catch the unwary who might have fallen into a rhythm. Gearhead changed his angle of ascent, and when he got high enough, made sure to flip himself through the checkpoint even as he oriented on Verdant Fields from memory. Climb completed, he could devote all his power to forward thrust.

Gearhead was far from the only pony to spot the half-hidden loop: those around and behind him quickly realized what the floating object was and also went for it. Those who missed it the first time looped back to avoid disqualification, aware that the mayor could have the checkpoints placed where he could not get to himself.

The leg to overfly Verdant Fields was peaceful, at least at first. Nearly all the way there, Gearhead felt the flow of his particles, as well as that of the wind, shift before his goggles flashed a warning. He diverted some power from thrust to his protective field, and dropped back enough that when the blue mare charged at him, she only brushed him slightly. Ironically, she went more out of control than he did, although she quickly regained control and continued onward, as wary of Gearhead as he was of her. Of course, he could have taken her out with a spell, but he did not want to play her game, or at least not her way.

The racers overflew Verdant Fields still heading roughly westward, then came about to spot the maze, which had been camouflaged with the ground from the other direction. Most of the Pegasi went into power-dives as soon as they saw their next target, but then they had to climb back up to hit the checkpoint which, like the one at the end of the climb out of Hoofington, was suspended from clouds. The leading Pegasi flipped or rolled into their dives, but those who had to climb back up merely transitioned in right away out of frustration. Gearhead flew through the checkpoint inverted again, released his power so he would fall, and then poured the power back on once he was oriented toward the maze’s entrance. Everypony else was more direct in their approach.

Gearhead braked as he approached the maze’s entrance so he would be able to notice anything out of the ordinary. A sign beside the first arch read ‘obstacles ahead,’ and the glint on the entrance revealed another checkpoint hidden within: if anypony did not go in through the arch, she or he would be disqualified. That would prevent any serious racer from diving in beforehoof, despite the maze being open to the sky.

Gearhead had captured a map of the maze during his descent, both in his own memory and on his HUD. This meant that when he spotted a three-way crossroad just inside of the entrance, he knew that the right fork was the correct one, just as he knew it would lead to a passage with a leafy wall. He focused on defence again and leaped right on through. The path curved slightly to the left, and then there was a brick wall directly ahead. No, not a brick wall, but a pile of bricks without any mortar to cement them in place. To pass through, a Pegasus would have to have high durability and speed. This was not the type of obstacle that Fluttershy could easily get through, although sometimes Gearhead had to wonder at her strength, never having seen her throw a kick of her own accord.

Even as Gearhead approached the pile, he drew his dagger and called upon Spirits of Light to come forth and aid him. He blew the pile apart with a single blast focused on the pile’s center, and flew between the falling bricks. Ahead was a straightaway, so Gearhead glanced back to see the bricks being telepathically replaced. The mayor definitely had some Unicorns on-call.

Two left turns and a slight climb later, Gearhead came upon a stretch defended by a pair of armoured Unicorns. They fired shot after shot of magic blasts at him, but after dodging just a few from each, Gearhead had their measure. He had his defensive barrier up, and these Unicorns lacked the power to knock him for a loop with their normal blasts. A focused blast might do it, however, so Gearhead remained on guard, and even expected it. But as soon as he was past the Unicorns, he dropped his shields in favour of thrust. He powered around the next right-angle corner so quickly the guards did not have time to properly target him.

Gearhead came to a two-way split, and paused because he did not remember it being there. He rechecked his memory and his HUD display, and realized that while he was in the part of the maze he thought he was, this fork-in-the-road had originally been elsewhere. Magic, he thought, and remembered the way Discord had changed the Garden Maze on the Elemental Six. Apparently somepony was pulling something similar here, making any memorized maps from the descent into the maze nearly useless. And the only marker to help the racers figure out the correct way was another hidden checkpoint within the arch at the beginning of the fork – in other words, before it even split. Gearhead muttered a spell and marked the path behind himself and the left fork with small inscriptions of his cutie mark before proceeding. If this was a dead-end, at least he would know where he had been.

Crossing pitfalls and avoiding missiles were things most practised flyers would barely notice, being able to deal with such things instinctively while they continued to scan the ground and sky for other obstacles and events of interest. The illusion wall, however, would have thrown most Pegasi for a loop, which was how Gearhead caught up to Prism’s flight as they were heading up the passage he was taking. They were flying at a pace Dash would have probably called ‘lazy.’

“There’s no point going that way,” Prism said. “Wall’s too thick to press through. But you came down this way, so how many branches are there up ahead?”

“You came from another path just ahead, then?”

“Yeah,” Prism said, realizing she had just given her game away.

“There is one other path beside this one. The one across from them is the one I used – however are you certain you explored this wall of your fully?”

“As much as I thought I could. Why?”

“I have encountered some magic here already, so why not some compulsion magic as well?”

“You think the mayor would do that?”

“I do not know, and that is why I would like to take a look.”

“Alright, we’re with you,” Prism said, and despite some eye-rolling from Contrail, they led the way back to the wall.

The wall certainly did look impassable, as thick as it was with thorny vines and underbrush. Gearhead was uncertain that he wanted to even get close to the plants, but then he shifted focus, and saw the magic aura, which let him get a read on the type of magic that really was being used. He grinned as he casted one of the spells he had learned studying with the Conclave, dispelling this one.

Gearhead led the way quickly through the revealed passage. No sooner was the group through than the illusion was back in place, together with the feeling that what he really wanted to do was get out of there. Gearhead made a mark beside the wall, and together the four friends continued to walk along the path.

Between Rook’s deliberation, Contrail’s daring, Prism’s leadership, and Gearhead’s knowledge of magic, the friends navigated the ups, downs, twists, and turns that remained in the maze. Gearhead even provided the magic cover to get past Dawn and Glimmer when they showed up as guards.

Gearhead was just as surprised as the others when they strode through another checkpoint only to have the tall hedges give way to the normal fields and orchards of his family’s farm. Everypony sighed with relief, then Gearhead turned to Prism.

“Race you to the clouds!”

“You are on,”

“Three. Two…” Contrail started counting down.

“One!” They called together, and leaped into the air, ascending not directly upward, but on increasing angles. Contrail took the lead in his group, with Rook directly behind him. Prism flew in Rook’s shadow, conserving her strength while Gearhead flew solo.

At the top of the climb, Rook launched Prism into Contrail’s contrail, which catapulted her forward, giving her the lead. Contrail then fell back to draft behind Rook, who was no slouch himself when it came to speed. Gearhead saw them look over at him as they slowly ate up the distance between them and Prism. Gearhead himself was at full power, and likewise catching up, but he knew that if Prism’s flight kept using their manoeuvre, he would fall behind. All he could do, though, was to keep the pressure on, just like he was already doing.

They hit the cloud bank. Gearhead’s plan was to head directly toward Hoofington only after he confirmed there was not a checkpoint hidden up here. That trick had been used so many times already, he had his doubts it would be used here. Simply planting the thought that a checkpoint might be here would be enough to have many racers searching the skies for at least an hour. Gearhead zipped up two of his shoes so he could use Read through the clouds. As he did so, he again spotted the sun glinting off of several somethings high in the clouds. His scan came back positive: there were three checkpoints, hidden in the top of the clouds, so that anypony who tried to go directly to Hoofington would get themselves caught. Gearhead continued to ascend, and noted how the last ring was high enough to push most Pegasi to exhaustion. Upon closer examination of the area, he saw a group of relief Pegasi on stand-by, and decided to go on with the race.

Flying in the clouds was equivalent to flying blind to anypony who could not get a good, instinctive feeling for her or his surroundings. Gearhead not only had his HUD and a memorized map, but he could also call upon his Geomancy and read the minerals and elements in the air and clouds around him and get a complete picture of what was out there. As long as he could shift focus and detect any meddling by nearby Unicorns, it was full-speed ahead for the Earth Pony.

Despite this, there was one thing Gearhead could not tell with absolute precision: when he came out of the cloud bank, he would already be in his dive and unable to tell where, exactly, over Hoofington he would be. If he miscalculated, the worst he could do was end up outside the town or on the outer ring. But hesitation would cost him valuable time – an advantage which Prism would not hesitate to take, despite, or perhaps, because of their old friendship. It was time for Gearhead to put his bit where his mouth was, and take his dive.

Through and out of the clouds he came, full visibility coming slowly. Ahead and below, Gearhead saw he had erred on the side of caution with his calculations, but he had still erred: he was going to come in mid-ring, and still have to gallop in the rest of the way. At least he was not near the edge, there was that. He looked around, and still did not spot any of the other racers. He was about to start pulling up when Prism passed by flying under his hooves. The other two passed him on his left and right. Gearhead had to focus to keep from crashing, but he recovered. How did they get behind me?

Soon Gearhead was struggling to keep from losing the three flyers from the Azure. Somehow they knew when he was trying to sneak past them to the inside or outside of the road, and juked to block his attempts. Gearhead grit his teeth and focused on trying his hardest to regain the lead over Prism’s flight, but they knew his strategies and themselves too well. With Rook blocking and Contrail using his ability to boost the others’ speed, Gearhead did not have any choice left but to come in over the line fourth.

That turned out to be fourth place overall, as they were the first racers to even pass through the maze. It took two more hours for more frustrated racers to beat the maze, and even then more than a dozen of them remained stymied by the maze’s riddles. At mid-afternoon, the mayor declared the race to be over, with those still out on the field placed as ‘DNF.’ He sent crews out to bring the lost ponies back in to Hoofington for the awards ceremony.

Although Gearhead had placed fourth, he did not receive any money or a trophy, however his reputation still rose because he had proven his capabilities. He assured the ponies in attendance that he would make some form of the Alicorn Engine to benefit everypony, but he would not release any one-horse versions to the public due to safety concerns – all of which were true.

That night, the mayor held a great feast, the first in quite some time to have members of Herd Verdant, the Third Conclave of Flowing Shadows, and Azure Wing all in attendance.

Later that night, as they rode together back to Verdant Fields, Vines sidled up next to Gearhead. “You know, you could have left those others behind in the maze and won that way. I mean, if you’re going to compete in some inane contest, at least win, right?”

So he was watching. I had a feeling my family had their hooves in that maze as well. “And by ‘those others,’ you mean members of the Azure, themselves member of the Alliance? The one that dates back to the days described in the Hearth's Warming Eve celebration, right? I would think that doing what you suggest would go against both the spirit of that celebration and the spirit of the alliance.”

“I’m telling you for your own good, little brother, that you should try not to associate too closely with the Crown, or those tied to it. If some disaster happens, every link in the chain will drag the next pony in after them. It won’t be good for you, and what isn’t good for you, isn’t good for the rest of the family, or the Herd.”

“I know how important ‘the good of the Herd’ is to you, Vines, but do you not think your current train of thought is a little over the top?”

“Not at all. As Successor, I’ve studied the history of many a kingdom and empire. When one goes down, they take everything that’s still linked to them down too. The ones who survive are those who separate themselves from the power of Church and State. And as you said, I’m doing my best to look out for us. Our family. Our Herd.”

“I understand your concern, and it is fine: the Conclave and the Azure are not the Canterlot elitists, and there are very few of those with whom I associate.”

“But you do associate with that Fancypants, the princesses, and even Princess Celestia’s prize student and her friends. And listen there: that Celestia lies to her subjects even in her title, not having the fortitude even to use the title of ‘Queen,’ which is what she is. But then, our top title is ‘Patriarch’ and not ‘King.’ In all but name, our own monarchy. If only we had the courage to recognize what we are.”

“Mister Fancypants is the most reasonable of Canterlot’s Unicorns. That said, he does have his prejudices against others as ‘quaint.’ As for Princess Celestia and her sister, Luna, they are doing their best first to avoid dire circumstances, and second to resolve them when they cannot be avoided. Twilight Sparkle and the rest of our friends play an important role in that. In fact, they have saved Equestria from various threats already.”

“Spare me. I’m sure they’re threats which Celestia provoked herself. And having others clean up your messes for you is simply despicable.”

“Some of the threats were leftovers from thousands of years ago, but if the Princesses lacked the power to ensure they were forever resolved, at least now there is more ability gathered to take care of it. Do you not want the peace of Equestria to continue?”

“Of course, but we have to be realistic. After all these threats, somepony is sure to ask questions about how they were allowed to happen – no, how the Princesses allowed them to happen. It always starts as whispers, but soon enough more and more ponies shout for open rebellion. That’s when the Crown falls, usually together with the head upon which it sat. Very dangerous times. I suggest you distance yourself from the Princesses while you can.”

“I still have much to learn about my powers, despite the headway I have already made. Maybe once I have learned all I can I will take your advice, but not until then, if that is okay with you.”

“That’s up to you. I have once again fulfilled my duty as demanded by blood and delivered my warning to you. Herd Verdant supports the ponies, not the Princesses or the land of Equestria itself. The ponies are more important than either.”

“That is funny, considering it is the land from which Herd Verdant grows the same products that we feed the ponies.”

“You know what I mean,”

“You mean to say that if it comes down to a crisis, you intend to recommend to the Council that the Herd separate officially from the Crown. But the Council rarely moves quickly, or quickly enough.”

“They did on the Black Sheep Clause,”

“That was, indeed, an emergency, although the Herd was already separated from Discord’s rule. But it shall never come to a situation where Council will have to vote on a motion to abandon the Princesses and Equestria, because we will resolve the crises as they come.”

“For all our sakes, I hope you’re right.” Next Chapter: 19. A Second Homecoming Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 32 Minutes