Chapter 6: Marching Forward

Over the past few days, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had been taking turns escorting Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle around Canterlot. They visited all sorts of shops, from candy to textiles, and even went to the Princesses’ favourite spa.

Princess Celestia admitted directly that much of what she and her sister knew about Rarity and the others came from Twilight’s letters. It was more incredible that the Princesses had seen more of Rarity’s work than she had first thought, and therefore they were taking a direct hoof in helping out in her budding business. Not only were they taking her and the rest of their party places where they could see how the ponies of Canterlot lived, but Rarity was seeing a lot that was inspiring her. The Unicorn was in the habit of taking a sketchpad along with her whenever she went on journeys, and that was coming in useful now: anytime she got any inspiration, Rarity would take out the sketchbook and for the next few minutes all that could be heard from her was the furious ‘skritching’ of her quill or pencil.

The other girls were enjoying their time with the Princesses as well. Both Pinkie and Sweetie looked in awe at all the new sights and sweets. Pinkie quickly showed that Rarity wasn’t the only one being inspired by Canterlot, saying that this or that would make a great candy or confectionary for Sugar Cube Corner to sell. Sweetie was looking for ideas of what she and her friends could do to earn their cutie marks, even while she indulged her sweet tooth.

When Rarity was not sketching or basking in awe at the Princess who was their escort or at some Canterlot specialty, her thoughts often strayed back to Gearhead. If he was exerting himself in training as fully as he seemed to be by his state at previous mealtimes, he was most probably not having the ball that the girls were having. On the other hoof, Rarity understood what he had said before about the danger represented by somepony with unbridled, uncontrollable power. She didn’t think Gearhead had to worry overly much about it at this stage, considering he had already spent the majority of his life gaining control over his geomancy – and most of that time he hadn’t even known what it was. Of course, his personal brand of magic was new, so maybe this and that required different controls as well.

This train of thought brought Rarity around to Gearhead’s promise to help Sweetie look into her difficulties with magic. Rarity knew that not all Unicorns were gifted magic users, and that most Unicorns had a very limited set of magic skills. Rarity’s own gifts were limited to the usual telekinesis (although her control was more precise than that of some other ponies), gemstone detection, illusions, and material meshing. When it came to magic skills, nopony except the Princesses themselves could possibly outshine Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity was proud to be one of her closest friends.

She did not know if she would be more grateful than Sweetie if Gearhead could unravel why she couldn’t cast spells yet. It was possible that this was just normal for Sweetie, considering Unicorns came into their magic at different times in their lives, although it usually activated before they matured – and certainly there were uncontrolled fits when they were still foals.

When Princess Celestia and her entourage returned to Canterlot Castle, they came across Gearhead as he was finishing loading their luggage onto his wagon in the courtyard. Looking inside, Rarity barely saw even one of the Earth Pony’s trademark gadgets. “It looks like you’ve been doing well here,” Rarity said, smiling.

“Here and at home, my stores are practically bare. I have also made considerable progress in research and training. I would like to stay longer and continue, however I do believe we have stayed away from Ponyville for too long already.” Gearhead took a letter out of one of his bags and gave it to Rarity. In it, Twilight and Fluttershy said that their efforts in the shop had been highly successful, and that they were missing their traveling friends.

“I think you’re right,” Rarity said. “Time,” she smiled, knowing that Gearhead tended to choose his words very carefully, “to go home.”

“Aww,” Sweetie and Pinkie said.

“Not doing everything means we’ll have more to do if we get invited back,” Rarity said.

“When you get invited back,” Princess Celestia said, “my sister and I will have much for us to do together.”

“Thank you very much, Princess,” Rarity said, and they all bowed.

The wagon was trundling swiftly along when Sweetie Belle poked her head into the cabin from the cargo section where she had been lounging with Pinkie Pie. She looked at Rarity, who was sitting in the front passenger seat beside Gearhead, and said, “Hey, what about teaching me magic?”

“But Sweetie, we’re on the road,” Rarity said.

“It should not be a problem to at least go over the basics,” Gearhead said, “and then Sweetie Belle can practice independently.” That made Sweetie Belle smile. “Miss Rarity, please switch with me.”

“If you’re sure,” Rarity said, uncertain herself.

Gearhead put on a reassuring smile. “You would not have been watching me drive for nothing, Miss Rarity. I assure you, this is easy.”

“Okay,” Rarity moved over, closer to Gearhead, and took the steering column. As he slid back and out of the seat, she moved in, taking over control of the wagon. When they did not careen off the road, Rarity let out a breath she had not been aware she had been holding, and looked surprised. Gearhead patted her reassuringly on her right shoulder for a moment, then moved over to where she had been sitting and indicated that Sweetie Belle should take the middle seat.

“Magic,” Gearhead started, “is the gathering, shaping, and release of the energies inside and around us.”

“Lemme guess: ‘it surrounds and binds us?’” Sweetie Belle asked, looking sceptical.

“That would indeed be one way to see it, yes. And regardless of exact method or result, it is the ability to sense and gather the flow of energy that is most crucial to spellcasting. Energy, you see, is a dynamic thing. If we can attribute any living characteristic to it, it is that it likes, and wants, to change. That is why it is easier to get the energy to move than to stay in one place.”

“I like to move it, move it!” Pinkie said, sticking her head into the cab with a smile.

“Precisely,” Gearhead said, and the ponies chuckled. “Now, imagine energy as something you can see moving and flowing around you.”

“Flowing?”

“Yes, like…” Gearhead thought a moment. How could he describe the magic auras he could see in the air, especially when it was thick? “Like water, fog, or a sort of soup.”

“Yay, soup! I hope it’s Hot and Spicy.”

“Pinkie, we’re not stopping for soup,” Rarity said.

“Aww,”

“Anyway,” Gearhead said, although he could not keep a bit of a smile from his voice at Pinkie’s antics, “if you can imagine the energy flowing around you, you can also imagine gathering it in to a single point in front of you. When you have gathered the energy, you can use your horn to focus it into, say, a single flame or point of light, which is a fairly basic spell. Basic as it may be, though, it is the perfect way to show whether you are capable of manipulating magic energy. This is because magical flame can even be summoned in places like underwater, since it does not require the usual three factors to burn.”

“It doesn’t? Wait, what three things?”

“Air, heat, and fuel to burn. But magic flame can exist in the cold, can burn without wood, and even in places with little air, or none at all -- Aperite portas quoniam tempor elit. Inveniet tua potential. Parva ignis.” Gearhead held up one hoof, and a single candle’s worth of orange flame lit just above it.

“Wow!”

“As I said before, it takes some time to get used to the words if that is your method. All but ‘parva ignis’ is the practice activation key.”

“But that’s still amazing,” Sweetie Belle said. “Most Unicorns can only levitate stuff and do one or two other things. You made fire appear!”

“Yes, well, my magic is different, after all,” but Gearhead was pleased, and his flame intensified to a blue hue, which made the others ‘ooh’ in appreciation. “Anyway, this sort of focusing through an incantation is just one method of casting. Some ponies can cast better using other methods, and most Unicorns do not use incantations at all – at least not aloud. Maybe just picturing it happening works, or maybe you have to sing or dance your spell.”

“Ooh, a magic song!”

“That is not a joke, Pinkie Pie. And given your propensity for spontaneous singing, together with your ability to pull all of Ponyville into the song, I do believe you can appreciate the power of a spellsong the best out of all of us.”

“I never thought of it that way before,” Pinkie said, pondering. “Nah!” They had another good laugh.

“Do you want to give it a try, Sweetie Belle?”

“Okay!”

Despite her enthousiasm (at least to start), Sweetie Belle did not produce so much as a spark, and became discouraged. Gearhead had to admit that she went to a lot of effort to try to learn the practice activation key, which was extremely long and difficult. He zipped a shoe up and patted her on the head to reassure her. “You will only be able to get it if you do not give up, and keep trying.”

“I know,” Sweetie Belle’s sour expression faded, apparently enjoying the attention. When they entered Ponyville, she was smiling again. “Parva ignis,” she said, and giggled even though nothing happened.

Upon his group’s return to Ponyville, Gearhead all but vanished from the outside world in order to build up a stock of items to sell. He quickly exhausted his stockpiled gemstones, wood, and metals, which meant he had to mine more. This was when the mares came to him offering their assistance, in order to speed up the process. Gearhead not only realized that he did not have the luxury of turning them down, but that because they were unlikely to listen to his objections, the process would only end up chewing up more time without changing the outcome.

Twilight Sparkle and Applejack searched one quadrant of the Everfree Forest. Twilight made good use of both Gemfinder, which she had learned from Rarity, and Read, which she had seen Gearhead do often enough. While she lacked Gearhead’s knack with geomancy, the spell itself proved useful enough. And what Twilight found, Applejack dug up and carted back to the shop.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie took the fields around Ponyville, looking for both gemstones and metals. Rarity had the original Gemfinder spell. Pinkie Pie was just good at finding things without seeming to be looking for them. Plus, she had grown up on a rock farm, so rocks were still very much her thing – mostly in the context of how they might make parties more fun.

Fluttershy asked her animal friends if they might know where there might be some wood, gems, or metals Gearhead could use. Sometimes asking nicely worked just fine, but other times she had to resort to The Stare. Once she had gleaned the locations of these possible deposits from the wildlife, Fluttershy gave Rainbow Dash a vector to follow. Dash had recruited several of Ponyville’s flyers to help out. Not only could they fly to and confirm the deposits’ presence, but they could fly small amounts directly back to the shop. Volunteers for this duty included the always-together Flitter and Cloudchaser, Thunderlane and Snowflake, and Blossomforth.

All of this assistance allowed Gearhead himself to range further from Ponyville than before. He took his wagon and ventured to the other side of the mountain again, gathering what he could before returning with a full load of usable resources, including some diamond and dragonstone – more of the supplies he needed for his new core system.

When Gearhead returned to find a large pile of each of his needed resources waiting and available for use, he immediately thanked those nearby and got to work replenishing the store’s stock so he could be ready to open back up for business that much sooner. The others, meanwhile, continued to scavenge for as long as they were able to do so. They would all return home fatigued but satisfied.

The sun was setting when the main group gathered just outside the shop “I would like to thank everypony for their efforts in helping me to get my shop into ship-shape for sales again that much sooner,” Gearhead said, raising a mug of apple juice. “So truly, thank you all.”

“Aww, we’re always ready to help out a friend,” Dash said.

“And I see again that I am fortunate to be able to count you as my friends,” Gearhead said, raising his cup again. “Some of you helped me to keep up with sales while I was away. Some others were by my side during that time. And the rest of you pitched in whole-heartedly so my business would barely miss a beat. Tomorrow morning, Gearhead’s Gadgets opens for business as usual, all thanks to all of you.” The others raised their cups and cheered at that.

“Hey Gear,” Dash said, “Nightmare Night’s in just a couple more days. Got yourself a costume yet?”

“What is Nightmare Night?”

“Seriously? It’s only the most awesome night for dressing up and getting free… oh, I see you’re joking.”

“I admit I am only partly joking, Miss Dash: I have never been able to participate before, however I do have a costume in mind. I am told that it is something that everypony in this town can appreciate.”

“Told by whom?” Twilight asked.

“That is a secret,”

“And wait, you’ve never dressed up and gone door-to-door for candy before?!” Pinkie Pie asked.

“The tendency for my feet to spark, and then my business, always pre-empted such things before. Now things are different, again thanks in no small part to you.”

“Ooh,”

“So you can all look forward to my costume in a few days. Nights, actually. In the meantime, I think it would be wise for us all to get some rest: it has been a busy day.”

Although he had told the others otherwise, Gearhead remained sceptical regarding his participation in the Nightmare Night festivities until that very day. Fortunately, with their help, operations and sales at Gearhead’s Gadgets had indeed returned to normal. The only remaining wrinkle was that Gearhead had to design a few custom gadgets for some of the costumes, which, when they were not designed by a pony’s parents, Rarity made.

It was fairly good business for both Gearhead’s Gadgets and Carousel Boutique, not to mention all the individually-wrapped candy from Sugar Cube Corner, and the fruit from Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was even planning on hosting some of the game booths herself.

Among the custom builds that Gearhead had on his plate was the more complicated one for his own costume, which he was careful to keep secret until it was time to put it on and pick up the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Gearhead had agreed to participate as a chaperone for the fillies and colts, lending a hoof to Granny Smith and Pinkie Pie.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were meeting at their clubhouse, which would probably make things a little easier for Gearhead, since they would all be in the same place. He drove his wagon over so Applejack could use it to bring the last of the festival’s supplies for the last of the set-up in the main thoroughfare. Gearhead helped Applejack and Big McIntosh load up some fresh fruit for the stands, and then he donned his costume to go get the fillies.

Once he reached the foot of the clubhouse’s ramp, Gearhead called out “Hullo up there!” Almost immediately, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo poked their heads out the window. The former broke out in a fit of giggles at the sight of him, while Scootaloo just arched an eyebrow.

“What’re you supposes to be?”

“Hm, it is something I gathered the citizens of Ponyville had all seen before, but was I mistaken?” He hovered a bit, using his core system to fly. His costume consisted of a light blue, furry ball with short, stubby insect wings. He had a set of extra-large goggles with thick green lenses. The way he had designed the costume’s body, the particles the core generated came out around the wings, causing them to flap as he flew. But that was not the ‘trick’ it had taken him the longest to incorporate: when Gearhead clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth, a much smaller version of his costumed self, this one brown with blue eyes, popped out from his left shoulder, its spring having been released. It bobbed about wildly before settling down, but continued to bob again when Gearhead moved.

“Oh wow, you’re a Parasprite!” Apple Bloom squeeled.

“Just one?” Gearhead wiggled his right ear and another sprite ball popped out of his cap.

“How many of those ya got?” Scootaloo asked.

“Keep your eyes peeled, and perhaps you will find out by the end of the night. But more importantly, are we missing a number?”

“If you mean Sweetie Belle, she’s in here too,” Apple Bloom said.

“Yeah, just having trouble with her costume,” Scootaloo said.

“Shall I lend a hoof, before another sprite poofs in?” Gearhead saw the two fillies at the window look inside, and a moment later they gestured for him to come up. “What seems to be the problem?” He asked as he came through the door.

“It won’t stick,” Sweetie Belle said around the object in her mouth, which muffled her words slightly. Now that Gearhead was inside, he could see that Apple Bloom was wearing something that had heavy, intentionally-jagged stitching and spots, Scootaloo was wearing grey fur, and Sweetie Belle had a cape with a clearly nocturnal theme to it. It was safe to say that she was struggling with a set of false fangs.

Gearhead rummaged in one of the pouches hidden in his costume and produced a small tube.

“Glue? Seriously?” Scootaloo asked.

“You sure that’s safe?” Apple Bloom asked, while Sweetie Belle turned the false teeth around with her tongue and then spat it out of her mouth and onto her waiting hoof.

“I figured my sprites might fall off, and do not know when or where. Without knowing whether somepony might eat them, I had to turn to edible materials.” He paused, as though thinking, although he already had tested it rather thoroughly without any lasting after-effects. “Just do not eat too much of it,” he said, carefully applying a thin layer of glue to the false fangs while Sweetie Belle held them up. “Open please?” He said, the took hold of the fangs with his Light Magic. This had the side-effect that when he moved them into Sweetie Belle’s mouth, the teeth seemed to illuminate her cheeks from the inside, which made the others laugh. But more importantly, they allowed Gearhead to draw a sight on where he should affix the teeth. “Close, please,” he said when he was done. “Three times.” Sweetie Belle chomped three times as instructed, and then poked at her false teeth with her tongue for a bit before smiling through them. “All set?” Gearhead asked, deploying another sprite. Sweetie Belle giggled the loudest, since this was also the first time she’d seen it done.

“Just a few more details,” Scootaloo said. She climbed up on a table, what looked like a sack with tall black hair balanced across her back. Apple Bloom stood with her back to her friend and waited. Sweetie Belle turned to a full-length mirror and started to slick her hair back.

“Oh, this cannot end well,” Gearhead muttered, and prepared to catch either of the fillies with his magic.

Once the fillies were all ready, Gearhead led them off, and up the road toward Ponyville. On the way, they inevitably turned to batting at his sprites, so he turned it into a game: how hard could they strike the sprites while avoiding having them fall off? Scootaloo was the first to strike just a little too hard, but even then Gearhead felt validated as he glued the errant ball back on. And he inspected the costumes his charges were wearing.

Apple Bloom’s costume was a Bride-of-Frankenpony variant. What he had seen Scootaloo helping Apple Bloom with was the head, a complete mask with the trademarked white-shot hair (and another on the other side of the suit for her tail). It was even thought through far enough that Apple Bloom’s usual pink hair bow had the same stitchy look as the rest of her costume.

The main feature on Scootaloo’s werewolf costume was the snarling head. If she was up to a little acting, Scootaloo could even pretend the wolf was eating her, because her head was in its mouth.

Sweetie Belle’s vampire cape and batty broach was probably one of Rarity’s designs. Gearhead gave Sweetie Belle credit for not being too proud to ask her big sister so the costume could be done right: if anything, the Crusaders’ entry in the town talent show had shown that their talents matched up elsewhere – if only they had not switched their jobs around quite so much. It had taken Sweetie Belle almost an hour to comb her hair back into a slick widow’s peak, and that had only happened so quickly with a little help from the others, including Gearhead.

But the effort on these three did indeed show, so that when they arrived at Sugar Cube Corner, everypony congratulated them on their costumes.

Granny Smith and Pinkie Pie were waiting with their own charges, which included a smaller colt, Pipsqueak, who was dressed as a pirate pony. It was his first Nightmare Night, and like the rest of Ponyville, he was not about to go halfway on this.

“Now what in Sam Hill are you supposed to be?” Granny asked Gearhead.

“Are we in need of a clue?” The Crusaders’ giggles turned to delighted gasps as some slight twitching and ear-wiggling later, sprites popped out of the ones that Gearhead had already deployed, on top of four new ones.

“Parasprite swarm!” Pinkie Pie jumped up and ran ahead. Heads swung around in all directions, pure terror on everypony’s faces.

“And here I thought they were just cute,” Gearhead said. Hearing his voice made those in the area look at him, and they realized, when they saw the fillies and colts around him pawing at his sprites, that it was just a clever costume. The relief was palpable.

“Oh hey, I thought I heard somepony shout ‘parasprites,” Twilight Sparkle said, Spike at her side.

“That was Pinkie Pie,” Scootaloo said.

“Ah, of course. Nice costumes, girls.”

“You make a great Beardo the Clown too, Twilight!” Pinkie said, clucking. She was wearing a chicken costume.

“Clown?!”

“I have never seen Starswirl the Bearded depicted so accurately before,” Gearhead said.

“Thank you! And you must be the swarm,” Twilight said.

Gearhead deployed three more sprites. “What gave me away?”

“Seriously, how many of those do you have?” Scootaloo asked.

“The size of the costume ought to provide a clue,” Gearhead said.

“But not the whole inside,” Apple Bloom said.

“Right, I needed room for some supplies –“

“Like the glue,” Sweetie Belle said.

“And also for this,” Gearhead flew a short distance, which made his wings flap a bit. It also made his growing collection of sprites dance.

“Very nice costume,” Twilight said.

“It’s so bobbly,” Spike said.

As they made their way over to the main area together, Gearhead spotted Rainbow Dash flying around in a dark flying suit. “What do you make of that?” He asked softly.

“If the Wonderbolts are Princess Celestia’s elite guard, then the Shadowbolts belong to Princess Luna, I think. Rainbow said that when we went to get the Elements, some of them invited her to join the group, but since we were on a quest and everything, she turned them down.”

“I did not know any of that,”

“Well, since Rainbow is one of my closest friends, I figured I should know a thing or two about the organization she’s trying to join.”

“Howdy Twilight,” Applejack said as they approached her stands. “Wanna try your luck at bobbing for apples?” Applejack was dressed as a straw scarecrow, which was appropriate for a farm pony. Twilight again tried to get a compliment on her own costume, but Applejack was too focused on the beard to understand it fully.

Gearhead clicked his tongue. “Not everypony is going to know about Starswirl,” he said as more sprites sproinged! into view.

“Clever,” Applejack said, and then Major Mare started making a speech. Dressed as a clown. In a rainbow-coloured afro. Gearhead raised an eyebrow at Spike’s comments, but the larger effect was lost because his goggles made his eyes look oversized compared to the rest of him.

And as for bobbing for apples, Derpy Hooves put a hold on that until Applejack could refill the tank, simply by pulling the plug. Zecora saved the mayor whatever dignity she might have left by taking over with a guided (and rhyming) narrative explaining the legend of Nightmare Night. Gearhead listened carefully with the others, then turned to Twilight.

“I guess the more general legend of Nightmare Moon and the myth surrounding Nightmare Night were created at different times and with separate beliefs.”

“Notwithstanding the fact that the Elements of Harmony released Princess Luna from being Nightmare Moon,” Twilight answered in equally hushed tones. “But why, in particular, do you say that?”

“One says that Princess Celestia banished Nightmare Moon, and that her release from her lunar prison would only take place one thousand years later on the Summer Solstice. The other says that once a year, Nightmare Moon roams free, looking for candy, or ponies, to eat.”

“I guess it’s just a way to explain the tradition,”

“And get free candy!” Pinkie added.

“Hmm,” Gearhead half-turned toward the darkening sky. His goggles, while modified for his costume, still had some of the functionality that his normal pair carried. They detected a larger-than-normal object moving toward the group. “I wonder what she would say about that,” he said, just before lightning and thunder, rather fortuitously, struck.

The chariot was outlined in light and darkness, pulled by a team of Night Pegasi. They did one loop, then landed. The rider barely dismounted before Pinkie Pie shrieked “it’s Nightmare Moon!” and ran off, leading the children in panic.

“Somepony certainly knows how to make an entrance,” Gearhead said. The newcomer removed her hood, and as she advanced on the petrified group, her cape became bats and flew off. It was, of course, not Nightmare Moon but Princess Luna. Gearhead clicked his tongue again, and several younger ponies stopped and turned to watch as five more sprites sprung into position. And thus the evening’s fun truly began.

Gearhead was all set to simply watch as Princess Luna interacted with the citizens of Ponyville, but then Twilight started interceding on the princess’s behalf. He guessed she did not know that she was taking the situation rather seriously, especially considering the town’s welcome for the princess after Nightmare Moon was vanquished. In other words, everyone already knew they were not dealing with Nightmare Moon. Instead, everyone from Pinkie Pie to Pip was set to play a role: the role happened to be set by the legend of Nightmare Night: It was that of the terrified villager.

And then, as though to complicate matters, the princess seemed to forget her own role in all this, when a momentary slip brought back the mock terror. But since Nightmare Night was about the princess’s darker half, Gearhead figured she was entitled to suspend the festival, until things cooled down.

There was a moment, after Princess Luna went off to sulk, when she was free of company, even that of Twilight Sparkle. Gearhead took the opportunity to sneak in for a few choice words. “Is Her Highness certain she is not pushing her role too far?”

“What do you think, clever Gearhead, about those games?”

“They are fair, and you are a natural.”

“I have played many such games and pranks with my sister,” Luna grinned. “I am enjoying your execution of the costume idea, by the way.”

“It was an excellent suggestion,” Gearhead said, the costume itself punctuating the statement with a ‘twang!’ Princess Luna giggled.

“Too clever by half, my young friend. Oh, here comes my cue,” Princess Luna spotted Twilight making her way to their place in front of the Nightmare Moon statue.

“Then I had best make myself scarce,” Gearhead moved as quickly as he dared away from the statue, and looped around. He would rejoin the Crusaders, and make it look like he had done nothing more than go looking after them after Pinkie caused that panic.

After rejoining the Crusaders and the rest of the fillies and colts, all Gearhead had to do was watch and wait. It was not that he enjoyed watching his friends being yanked around for one or two assumptions, but it was good to see Princess Luna having fun, because it seemed like it had been ages since she had, the way she spoke about the pranks she and Princess Celestia used to pull. Near the end of Nightmare Night, Princess Luna really got into the spirit of the occasion, surprising other ponies from within the apple bobbing tank, and even one-upping Dash on her scare streak.

And of course, after Pinkie had explained that sometimes getting scared was fun, both Twilight and Princess Luna came to realize that the whole night had been ‘all in good fun.’ Naturally, however, Granny had headed back to the farm for a well-deserved rest long before that point.

It was late when Gearhead noticed that even the Crusaders were beginning to weave a bit as they walked. He decided that they had had enough for the night. He brought Apple Bloom to Big McIntosh to take home, then delivered Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to Carousel Boutique to sleep off their own sugar crashes.

“Consider me impressed that you stayed with them for so long,” Rarity said as the two of them put the fillies down for bed. She had been working the entire time, so she had been unable to make an appearance of her own.

“Ah, but I have a little brother and little sisters of my own. One of the things I could do was to help take care of them when they were foals.”

“You’ve spoken about Vines and Ivy before, and they both made quite the impression at the Gala. But I’ve never heard you talk about your younger siblings.”

“They were still very young when I left, so I barely knew them for who they were then, and they most probably changed since then. I am afraid there is not much I could tell you about them. Except that I always felt happy when I was helping out. So I do not mind looking after the fillies on occasion.”

“I see. Well then, how about as a reward, I show you the costume I planned on wearing tonight?”

“If you insist, at the very least the occasion will not have gone unmarked.”

“Trust me: waste is the furthest thing from my mind.”

Minutes later, when Rarity put her devil-mare costume on for Gearhead, the only appropriate way he could think of responding was by springing another set of sprites from his own costume, which made her giggle.

"How many mini-sprites do you have?"

"The same number as there is in a swarm." Next Chapter: 7. Small Problems Estimated time remaining: 11 Hours, 60 Minutes