With the change from analog to digital television some years ago, I lost the ability to watch PBS, and in turn, every Sunday night at 8pm The Lawrence Welk Show, which was one of my favorite things to do with family. That being said, the first half of this chapter is just me gushing over polka music and why the accordion is an amazing instrument.

In other news, I finally got one of them converter box thingies, and go it hooked up to the old rabbit ears. Now I can watch Jonny Carson at 11pm if I get home from work on time, or Perry Mason at 1130, if the guests on Carson are kinda boring. I've found true happiness once again. Now if only PBS would bring back Lawrence Welk...

In other news, upon the posting of this chapter, keep an eye on my blog posts, for in the next day or two I will be making a couple of announcements regarding my writings, both past and future.

It all happened so fast, Twilight wasn’t sure why she was even surprised. She’d turned around to say bye to her group of friends, and join Thomas in his… vehicle when he just up and left in it without her! Sure, his shop was just down the road, but it was still a bit rude of him! After all, he’d let Applejack and Rainbow Dash ride in it, and getting any useful data out of those two was only helpful if the contraption ran on apples or clouds, which she highly doubted.

Then Pinkie Pie was gone. It wasn’t an unusual occurrence for her pink friend, but still, it would have been nice if either of them had waited for her. She trotted up the steps to Thomas’ shop, the doors still locked from when the sheriff had locked them the night prior on Thomas’ behalf. The CLOSED sign hung in one of the glass planes. Walking around the building, she found a neat little driveway with two long wheel tracks going along the side. If Twilight had to guess by the many scraps along the side of the human’s shop, his vehicle barely fit in the gap.

Twilight approached, cool and under control, spying quickly Thomas’ vehicle as she came around the back. He was just stepping out of the thing himself, closing the door with a slam that was just on the edge of annoyed and teetering towards anger. Twilight trotted around the opposite side, towards a large set of double doors, easily big enough for his vehicle to fit through.

“You could have at least waited for me,” Twilight said, blowing a bit of her mane out of her face.

Thomas shrugged his good shoulder, then quickly undoing the latch opened one of the double doors. Twilight peered inside, and what she found… was pretty much exactly what Rarity and Fluttershy had explained. An ordinary looking wood shop, half a dozen benches held near completed or just started projects. With a flick of a switch, the hum of lights came on overhead, the bulbs taking their time in warming up.

“God how I miss fluorescent lights,” Thomas said with a shake of his head.

Twilight looked at the lights. “Well, considering you don’t have them covered with any shades to help direct the light, they’re not going to be very bright.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Twilight raised a brow.

“Never mind, too hard to explain, and honestly I don’t know enough about them myself.”

“Well, try.”

Thomas reached for the handle of the back door on his vehicle, pausing a moment at Twilight’s words. “See, back home, we had lights in tubes that were called fluorescent lights because they were super bright, and came on instantly.”

Twilight blinked. “Wait, instantly? No warm up time?”

Thomas shook his head. “They were a bit more energy efficient too, although prone to flickering when they got old. Just, if you broke one, you had to be cautious ‘cause they had mercury in them.”

“What’s so dangerous about mercury?” Twilight asked.

Thomas stared at the mare like her height matched her age. A wicked smile came across his lips, remembering the one time he broke open a thermometer to play with the shiny liquid in his hands when he was a dumb, naive child. The good ol’ days, he fondly remembered.

He patted Twilight on the head with his hand. “Nothing, nothing at all.”

Twilight frowned at his attitude shift, like he was holding something back on her expense. Again, Thomas went to open the van door, when suddenly they both swung open at him, and Pinkie Pie leaped out.

“I did it! I figured out how to open the doors!” Pinkie cheered to herself, bouncing in place on the ground.

Twilight shook her head at Pinkie’s antics. When she looked over to Thomas, she found instead a empty spot where he had been. Turning around further, Twilight found the human hiding behind the open door, a hammer in his good hand.

Oh right, this is the first time Thomas has interacted with Pinkie, I should probably have warned him… although, turnabout is fair play I suppose. A smile coming back to Twilight’s lips.

“Thomas, I know I introduced you to Pinkie Pie at least once.” Twilight pointed to the mentioned mare, who smiled even bigger.

Thomas came out from behind the door, claw hammer still firmly in his grasp. “How in the nine depths of Hell did she get in there? She was with you when I left, and the doors were locked. There’s no way she-” Thomas stopped talking, noticing the silly smile on Twilight’s face. “This is more of that magic crock, isn’t it?”

At that, both mares looked to each other, and back to Thomas with a shrug.

Thomas tossed the hammer back onto the nearest bench. “I swear, you ponies…” He then grabbed his wheelbarrow, although struggled to use it one handed, and brought it to the back of the van where he began unloading chair, stool, and table parts.

“Would you like some assistance, Thomas?” Twilight asked, feeling like she had to at least offer, but already knowing the-

“Yeah, just pick up all this junk, and put it over there.” Thomas walked away from the van, and into his shop and pointed at a bare spot on the floor.

-Or, you know, he’d actually take her up on the offer.

With swift motion of her head, her horn lit up and she picked up all the broken pieces, and some of the furniture that she’d put back together, and put them in a pile as gracefully as she could.

Thomas looked at the pile of his destruction with a shake of his head. “I always told Sunny she needed better chairs and tables, and this just proves my point.”

Twilight rose a brow, while Pinkie wandered into the shop and began snooping around at each workbench.

Thomas went on, picking up the back of a chair. “I mean, I know she was trying to be cheap, but I could have even reinforced this junk a little and they would have held up better.”

“So you didn’t make them?” Twilight asked.

Thomas blew a raspberry. “No, had I, we’d maybe broken a couple chairs and a stool or two. No, she had this stuff ordered when me and Mister Fixit were busy building the Mayor’s office.”

“Mister Fixit and I,” Twilight stated.

Thomas slapped a hand on his face, dragging it down slowly.

“Well whatever. I need to get to work, so you two can-”

“Ooooh, what’s this?”

At Pinkie’s excited words, Thomas and Twilight turned to the mare, now studying the covered bench that Rarity had mentioned the other day, holding…

“Hey, don’t-” Thomas began, but was cut off by a dirty sheet being tossed over him.

As Thomas fought to get the sheet off of himself, Twilight walked closer to join Pinkie Pie in studying the baby crib. It was, without a doubt, a work of pure carpentry art. So much ornate work was put into each baluster, carving on every flat surface. It was impossible for Twilight to judge how many hours it must have taken to do all this ornate work. More so, she couldn't tell if it was stained to be that dark of a wood, or it was already that dark of a wood, which if her memory served her correctly…

“Is this Peruvian Walnut?” Twilight asked, looking back to the human.

He’d finally gotten the sheet off, and was glaring at the two mares. At Twilight’s words, however, he let out a sigh and stepped over.

“Yes, actually. How’d you know?”

“Somepony I know has furniture of the same kind. I only recognized it because I’d asked her.”

Thomas rested his hand on the crib. “Yeah, I had some left over from a project I did a few years back. Didn't know what to do with it, until recently…

Twilight followed Thomas’ gaze to the vintage photograph, tacked onto the back of the bench. Using her magic (and without asking Thomas noted) Twilight levitated the photo over, inspecting it.

“Is this the same crib?” Twilight asked.

“No. That original one was destroyed.”

“How?” Pinkie asked, looking over Twilight’s shoulder.

“Tirek.”

Both mares looked up to Thomas, his face fighting a scowl as he tried to look neutral, his eyes still focused on the photograph.

“It was a family heirloom to a friend here in town, and when her house got destroyed… so did the crib.”

“You’re trying to replicate it.” Twilight stated, already noticing the very same markings and detail in the photo against the crib in person.

“Yeah, just one thing missing, and it’s a real pain in my ass,” Thomas said, grabbing one of his own stools and taking a seat.

Twilight looked from photograph to crib, then realized something.

“Is that paint work?”

“Gold leafing, actually,” Thomas said with frustration clear in his voice. “I’ve been practicing it for weeks, and for the life of me, I can’t do it.”

Pinkie Pie took the photograph from Twilight’s magic, inspecting the image carefully. Twilight ignore her friend, turning back to Thomas.

“Don’t you know anypony that can do it?”

“In Equestria, not offhand; the only person I knew was my father’s friend Butch. Did custom motorcycle work, but he died years before I came here.”

“You know, as you mention that, I’ve been reading your book, but yet have I read anything about how you came here. I was wondering, if you would-”

Twilight was cut off by the slam of a hoof on the work bench holding the crib. Both Thomas and Twilight stared at the pink mare, who’s face was stern and concentrated.

“Was this pattern done on both sides?” Pinkie asked, looking to Thomas.

The human blinked, adjusting himself on the stool. “As far as I know, yes. Wait, why?”

Pinkie reached a hoof into her mane, pulling out a small tackle box covered in little heart and cloud stickers. Thomas fought the urge to scream, while Twilight rolled her eyes.

“What is it now, Pinkie?”

The mare looked from the crib to Thomas, her expression still emotionless. “Five hours.”

Twilight blinked, looking to Thomas who was staring at the pink mare, completely lost.

“Five hours?”

“I need five hours.” Pinkie opened the tackle box, and what was inside made Twilight cock her brow.

Small, fine little paint brushes, along with small jars of what looked like gold specks and small sheets of gold paper.

Twilight gasped in shock. Thomas grinned from ear to ear.

“Are you telling me, you can gold leaf?” he asked.

“I’m a baker. Of course I can,” Pinkie replied, running a hoof through the tray of brushes, all of which were very small with only a few bristles.

Twilight looked to her friend with a new appreciation, before something came to mind.

“Pinkie, gold leaf on cakes is a lot different than paint work. Are you sure you can do it?”

Thomas stood from his stool, deciding bend down onto one knee to stare at the pink mare. “Yeah, what she said. This wood is very rare, and expensive. If you screw up, then I gotta sand down and do it again, or take chemical’s to it and hope it doesn’t ruin the wood finish.”

Pinkie Pie, party pony extraordinaire, master cake baker and cupcake chomper, grinned at the two like she was holding a full house.

“Oh yeah, but on one condition.”

Thomas glanced to Twilight, who shrugged, then returned his gaze back to Pinkie. “Fine, what?”

“You owe me a rootbeer float…”

“Oh, is that all?”

“... at your party.”

Thomas went silent.

“You’re still hell bent on throwing me a party, huh?” Thomas stood, kicking his left leg to shake away the numbness.

The pink mare responded with a single nod, placing her hoof on the lid of the tackle box, threatening to close it.

“It’s a party, or nothing.”

Thomas ran his hand through his hair, deep in thought.

“No ban on alcohol.”

Twilight looked from Pinkie, who’d never done anything like this before, back to Thomas.

“You allow booze, then it’s a deal.” Thomas kneeled down again, on his right knee this time, and reached his good arm out, hand open.

Pinkie stared the human down, her eyes half-lidded as she studied him. After what felt like agonizing hours to Twilight, the pink mare let show a sly smile and placed her hoof into the human’s hand.

“Deal.”

“Wait, just like that?” Twilight protested. “Pinkie, you can’t seriously be thinking of-”

“Relax, Twilight! I’ll have it all under control, don’t you worry your pretty little face.” Pinkie tapped Twilight’s cheek with a hoof, then turned to face the crib. “I need a stool.”

In a blur, Thomas grabbed the stool he had been using prior and placed it before the pink mare. She took a seat. Without even asking, the human then grabbed the tackle box off the floor and placed it on the bench surface.

“You said five hours, right?” Thomas asked.

Pinkie only nodded her head.

“This could work. I can get a majority of the furniture done, then we can take the crib over to Golden Amethyst's, check and see if the roofing materials are there, and seeing they probably aren’t still come back and call it a day!”

At Twilight’s knowing glance, Thomas rolled his eyes and added. “And you two can ask me invading questions while you watch me work.”

“Thomas, I’m not sure how much work you can do with one arm in a sling,” Twilight noted.

Thomas rolled the injured shoulder, then carefully removed his arm from the sling with a small hiss of pain. “I’ll be fine. Growing up in Detroit, I was in way worse fights than that.”

Twilight eyed the human skeptically, but with a toss of the sling with the bad arm, Twilight let out a sigh. “Okay, fine. But I insist on helping.”

Thomas walked over to the pile of scraps, picking up one of the chairs Twilight had put back together. Lifting it up a couple of feet, he dropped it, the chair landing perfectly on all four legs. Twilight blinked, and within seconds the chair crumbled to pieces. The mare’s jaw dropped.

“Magic can do wonderful things, but unless you actually know what you are doing, you might as well be using spit as lube.”

Pinkie let out a snort of laughter. Twilight looked to her friend, now wearing, of all things, a pair of glasses that resembled Rarity’s sewing glasses. The only difference was the corners were decorated with little balloons matching her cutie marks.

Then she looked back to Thomas, brow raised.

“At least she gets that kind of humor,” Thomas gestured to the pink mare.

Pinkie Pie carefully removed some items from her tackle box. “Oh please, when it comes to innuendo jokes, I’m the queen. Most ponies don’t even know it when it happens, but I do.”

Thomas snorted a laugh. For some reason, Twilight felt like these two were ignoring her presence in the room.

“Oh, Tommy, one last thing,” Pinkie asked, blinking her eyes rapidly at the human.

“Only if you promise to never call me that again. I had an ex that called me that, wasn’t a pretty break up.”

Twilight saw Pinkie’s right eye twitch, knowing very well that her friend like to give anyone she knew little “pet” names.

“Okie dokie, lokie. But, I need one last thing. I need music.”

It was Thomas’ turn to raise a brow. “That it?” He went towards his stereo.

“But alas, for my entire heart to be in a project, I need something more than boring old country, or even soft rock, I need something with a little more, spring in it,” Pinkie said, winking at Twilight.

Twilight looked to Thomas, who was frowning. “But, the only other station you said you get was-”

Then it clicked, and Twilight smiled. Oh Pinkie, you crafty, crafty mare you.

“Fine. Just, don’t start dancing around my shop.” Thomas pressed a button on his stereo, then flipped a switch and the sound of country music began, but he quickly turned a dial, and before long, the static was replaced with the joyous sound of clapping and singing, and a catchy tune that made Twilight want to tap her hooves with the beat.

Thomas looked at the stereo like he wanted to punch it.

And Pinkie Pie… closed her eyes, letting the music go through her entire being. Her mind, heart, and soul absorbed the music of her people, and she let out a content sigh, steadying her hooves, holding a brush and small can. Pinkie Pie smiled, gentle and sincere.

“Here we go.”

----------

Twilight couldn’t figure out what made her more uncomfortable given her current situation. The fact that Pinkie Pie was being so still and meticulous with her work, or how much complaining Thomas Baker could do. Truly, Rarity should be worried he could out complain her in any argument with how much he grumbled and moaned on about his work.

And the once joyous polka music in the background now made her want to put a claw hammer through her temple.

Twilight swore the clock on the wall before her was wrong. It just had to be, and yet, there was no denying it. It had only been thirty minutes in, and she was already going insane.

“I mean, come on, look at this! Barely any effort put into this seat. Just pitiful.”

Thomas, in his excitement, waved a brush around with glue on it and splattered some onto Twilight’s coat. It matched well with the other globs already hanging from her mane and tail. For such a skilled carpenter, the human loved his glue.

The song ended, and as Twilight braced for another, she found her ears perking up as a voice came over the radio.

“Hello, Equestria. How are you this perfect day?”

The voice was almost alien, how she, and it was a she, practically dripped with sarcasm at the mention of “Equestria” and “perfect day”, like the two things didn’t belong in the same sentence together.

“Oh, but who am I kidding? You all know me well enough by now, that it’s Celestia who’s kidding you all. That’s right, as she sits up there in her castle of marble and gold, while the rest of you toil and work for what little scraps you can get.”

Twilight had her full attention on the radio, and didn’t notice Thomas picking up a rubber mallet until he slammed it against the leg of a chair.

“We are all ponies of Equestria, are we not? As far away as Canterlot is, we are still within Celestia’s borders, and yet we’re ignored. Left for dead, to decay along with her promises she made our ancestors. I ask you, as ponies, as friends, should we stand for this kind of behavior? Should we stand around, idle as our lives just drain away into nothing? Or should we fight back! Get mad, and show that sun butt of a queen who she’s been ignoring for all these years? I say yes.”

“Who is this?” Twilight looked to Thomas, her ears flat and fear in her eyes as she struggled to reign in her emotions.

“I dunno. She never gives herself a name, but for some reason she’s really into polka music.” Thomas put a clamp between two legs, and set the now complete chair away from the pile. “Okay, one down… a lot more to go.”

“I just can’t understand what would drive a pony this mad to want to go against Celestia! It makes no sense!”

“You know this would go faster if you helped…”

“I mean, she’s dripping with sarcasm every time she mentions Equestria or Celestia’s name, and everything else she says is so full of spite… I can’t even imagine what she must be going through.”

“Like, all you gotta do is help separate the different chair parts so I can go through them easier… literally that’s it.”

“... and how she makes other ponies do her dirty work for her. Those insufferable six are tasked with cleaning up her messes of her past, and for what? What do they get out of it?”

“And she also talks about us!? This is crazy. This mare is crazy!”

“By how your hair is literally splitting apart at the ends, I think this was a very bad idea. Maybe if you did something to distract yourself, oh say, helped me, then maybe it would help keep your mind off this crazy ass mare.”

Twilight was now breathing heavily. “What does she say about everypony else? Does she go after our families too!? What’s her-”

Thomas placed his hands on the mare’s shoulders. Twilight looked up to Thomas with panic in her eyes. In a quick motion, he slapped the Princess of Friendship on the face, not hard to leave a mark, but enough to snap her out of it.

“That bitch is crazier than candy bar shit. Always has been. She’s been spewing garbage out of her mouth since before I came here. I think if she was a serious threat, the princesses would have dealt with her by now. So chill the fuck out, she’s almost done with her bullshit, then the music will go on again for a couple more hours and we can maybe get most of this shit back together, okay?”

Twilight rubbed her cheek. “You slapped me.”

“I have slapped many-a-pony cheek in my time.”

Pinkie let out a snort of laughter.

“So just chill the fuck out, okay? Because if I gotta slap sense back into you then by God almighty I will just do that.” Thomas waved his hand. “These hands were made for slapping, and slapping’s what they do.”

Twilight blinked.

“That was a parody of a song… that you probably don’t even know, so never mind. Now please stop giving me that insane pony look, I get that enough from Short Circuit.”

Twilight’s ears perked up, the mare’s voice gone and now replaced with music once again.

“I’m sorry, it’s just… wow you slapped me… that mare sounded so… vile, so… evil.”

“I wouldn’t call her that. She’s passionate about what she believes in. In ways it’s admirable. Also I could always slap you more if you’d like.”

“Das lood,” Pinkie said, not taking her concentration away from her work.

“Admirable? How could you say that? She sounded-”

Thomas placed a finger over Twilight’s lips, shushing her. “It takes some brass balls to be able to go on an open radio wave, every day, for hours each day, and belittle a country ran by two ponies who move celestial bodies. Is it right? Eh, not for me to say, but the fact that she can wake up every morning and be able to do what she thinks is right in her mind and be ready to face the consequences… that takes a lot of strength.”

Twilight was quiet for several long seconds. Enough time for Thomas to stand up and return to the chair parts.

What Twilight heard over that radio boiled her blood. She wanted to find that pony, and shove enough rainbow power down her throat to fix whatever had happened to her to make her hate Equestria so much.

And then, she began to think about the words Mayor Billfold had told her before… about how all these ponies in this town came here to escape Equestria… Her focus turned to Thomas.

“Is what Mayor Billfold said true? That the ponies in this town came here to escape?”

Thomas stopped what he was doing. “For the most part, I guess yeah. Now-a-days, most of them are just here because they grew up in this town.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Are you here to… escape?”

Thomas stared at Twilight, his eyes piercing her very skin. Even Pinkie had stopped working, watching the two with attention only rivaled by Twilight herself.

“If I’d been trying to escape anything, there are better places I would have chosen,” Thomas said slowly.

“So you didn’t choose to come here?”

“I thought we went over this the other night.”

Twilight blinked. “You… remember that night?”

Thomas raspberried. “I may be a drunkard, but I still know what’s going on when I’m blitzed.” Thomas clamped two halves of a chair seat together, the glue oozing out of the crack. “But yes, I did not come here on my own volition, and before you ask no, I don’t know what did.”

Twilight closed her mouth, her question already answered… though not the way she wanted.

“Now, just help me with separating these chair parts so that maybe I can have these all together by the end of the day, and they’ll have all day tomorrow to cure.”

----------

Once they found a steady rhythm of work, the remaining four hours went by relatively fast, with only one more interruption of the music by the crazed mare. Pinkie was done with her work quicker than she’d estimated, but was good because it gave time for it all to dry properly.

As Thomas loaded the crib into the back of his vehicle, he couldn’t help but continue to gawk at the work. He let out another long whistle.

“Man, you did a damn good job.”

Pinkie rubbed a forehoof on her chest, faking enthusiasm, “I get that a lot.”

“I bet.”

Both Pinkie and Thomas giggled. If Twilight wasn’t the Princess of Friendship, she’d have found their quick bonding to be disgusting… but she couldn’t help but smile as the two conversed and got along surprisingly well.

Then again, Pinkie wasn’t trying to pry or get info out of the human. She was just being friendly, talking and joking with the human.

Maybe she needed to take a step back, and actually follow her own Friendship Reports, and try to be friends with Thomas before she expected any sort of answers. Wow, that only took, what, four days Twilight. Good job, using that brain for once.

Twilight slapped her forehead, shaking her head.

“Alright, hop in you two,” Thomas said, holding open the front door on the right side of the vehicle.

“Pick me up, Tom!” Pinkie sat before the human, forelegs extending up high.

“Really?”

The mare nodded. “You picked up Applejack! Me next! Me next! Me- whee!”

Thomas grabbed the mare under her arms, and hoisted her into the van. “I swear, you’re like little kids sometimes.” Thomas placed Pinkie in on the seat far enough to leave an open spot for Twilight.

Twilight stopped at the open door, looking in and studying with a twinge of both curiosity and fear.

“What, want me to pick you up too? You’re all sick in the head.” Thomas reached down to grab the mare, but she quickly backed away.

“N-no no, I’m just, trying to study it is all.”

“Well you can study it from the inside. Hurry up, we’re burning daylight.”

With a sigh, Twilight flapped her wings and hopped in, sitting beside Pinkie who was poking at random things on the dash. Thomas shut the door, walked around, and entered on the other side. Twilight watched in wonder as he reached around and turned a knob, or key; something she couldn't see well, and the vehicle roared to life. Pinkie bounced between the two, excitement all over her face.

“Dashie said you have a radio on here! Music! Music!” Pinkie cheered.

“No polka,” Twilight begged.

“No worries. The antenna broke in here years ago, and I only have two CD’s.” Thomas reached over to a rectangle device, glowing different colors, and pressed a button. It flashed even brighter, and after a whirring sound music began to play through the speakers. Crisp, clear, and pleasant.

Grabbing a lever and pulling down, the vehicle lurched forward, and after a narrow miss on the side of his building they were out onto the main street, passing ponies slowly. Occasionally somepony would wave, and before long they were leaving town, the opposite direction of the dam Twilight noted.

Before long, they were out of town proper and so Thomas increased the vehicle’s speed. Twilight had opted to trade places with Pinkie so she could stick her head out the open Window. Thomas had instructed her how to use it, and before long Pinkie’s tail was wagging and her tongue was hanging out as she enjoyed the wind.

“Easily amused that one is,” Thomas said, lowering the volume on the radio to where they could talk.

“Yeah, but I can’t say I’m also not as excited to be in this vehicle. I have so many questions.”

“I’m sure you do, but let me just get out of the way that I don’t really know how everything works and what’s all happening at a mechanical level other than a few basics. My father was a lot more handy with vehicles than me or my brothers. He did the engine swaps on these vans after he bought them, something about being more reliable or something, I dunno.”

“Well, how does it work? What powers it?” Twilight poofed her magic, and a pencil and notepad appeared before her.

Thomas gave the mare a single glance, and after a groan to himself focused back on the road and began explaining what he could.

----------

“... and the drive shaft goes to the rear end, and that moves the rear wheels. This van is also four wheel drive, so I can press this button here, and have better traction because it’s making all four wheels spin versus just the rear two. Sometimes, however, I gotta go outside and spin the center caps on the front wheels to get the four wheel to really engage.”

They’d only been driving for ten minutes, and already Twilight had gone through an entire notepad, and was on her second. Even impressing Thomas, she had two pencils going at once on seperate pieces of paper.

“Man, I can’t write when riding in a vehicle. I used to get car sick if I wasn’t looking outside all the time.”

“I used to ride around in sky carriages a lot, it never phased me because I was reading or writing something.”

“Heh, book nerd I take it?”

“Oh yeah, the nerdiest of nerds,” Pinkie called out from her seat, having returned from her adventures out the window minutes ago.

Twilight clicked her mouth shut, having been cut off before she could speak.

“Eh, relax. Someone’s gotta be smart for the rest of us dummies,” Thomas said with a laugh, and Pinkie joining.

Twilight ignored the two’s laughter, and flipped through her pages.

“One thing I’d like to ask about a little more, it’s something I read in your book.”

Thomas let out a long sigh. “Fine. All that time spent on that damn book, and all it does is just bring up more questions. Should never have let Bob talk me into writing it…”

Twilight ignored Thomas’ grumbling. “You mentioned the fuel this uses is called diesel, right?” Thomas nodded his head. “I’ve never heard of it before, and you said this gets a limited range before it needs to be filled again. So how are you powering it?”

Thomas bit his lip. “That’s, kind of a tricky answer.”

“Try me.”

“Okay, but no more questions afterwards, we’re almost there.”

“Fine.”

“Okay, so when my brothers and I were younger, we lived near an airport. Back then, security wasn’t a huge deal, you could just walk through the field, and as long as you weren’t stupid about it, stick to the buildings and watch the airplanes, or in Richard’s case, take his dates out and bang them on the low wings.”

Pinkie let out a snort.

“Hush, anyway, back then my father also owned a different kind of vehicle than this, a truck, and it was also a diesel. We found out through talking with the airport guys, that diesel and jet fuel were kinda similar. Jet fuel was a type of kerosene, and diesel in simple terms is just a dirty kerosene.

“So, whenever we wanted to go joy riding in our dad’s truck before we’d gotten our licenses, we’d just go to the airport and steal some jet fuel from a jet or refueler and fill it back up. He was none the wiser. Got away with it too, although he could never figure out why his exhaust had a strange smell to it.”

Twilight tilted her head. “So wait, what are you saying?”

“Matchbox dropped off a barrel of kerosene for me. That’s what I power this on. I just tell him to throw some petroleum oil in it to dirty it up, and that’s how I power this.”

“So, you’re using a substitute fuel that’s similar enough to what this was designed for?”

“In a nutshell, yeah, it’s… what the fuck?”

Twilight and Pinkie looked out the windshield, noticing they were approaching a small house. Outside that house, sat several large crates.

“I’ll be damned, that bastard came through.”

Thomas parked his van next to the crates. Getting out, he opened the other door for the two mares, then walked over to investigate. Taped to the side of one was an envelope, so Thomas tore it off and opened it.

“What’s it say?” Pinkie asked, bouncing in place.

“These supplies were intended for an orphanage. Now they’re yours. We’re even. Shanty.” Thomas read aloud, crumpling the letter and putting it into his pocket.

Pinkie visibly deflated. “W-what? Why?”

“He’s bullshitting me. He’s just pissed that he knows I can kick his ass, and is being petty.”

“Um, this crate says Nanny Belle’s Orphanage for the Unfortunate.”

Thomas looked to Twilight, pointing her hoof at the paint.

“They’ll be fine. Those kids went a while without a roof over their heads once, they can survive again.”

“That’s horrible!” Twilight shouted.

Before Thomas could rebuttal, the door on the little house opened, a mare stepping out. “Well, well, if it isn’t Thomas the wonder worker.”

Thomas raised a finger at Twilight, then marched over and knelt down to hug the mare, which she returned eagerly. “Hey Goldie, how’s the tyke?”

“She’s sleeping, took several hours. You know I just don’t have the singing voice like you.”

“You’ll get there someday.”

The two broke the hug, then with a cough from behind him Thomas turned to face the mares. “Goldie, this is Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie. You two, this is Golden Amethyst, wife of Gilded Top, a long time friend of mine. He’s currently serving the crown, so I’ve been helping out in his absence.”

“Oh please, you make it sound so official,” Golden said with a shake of her head. “And of course I know who Princess Twilight is.”

“You’d be the first…” Twilight grumbled under her voice, and Pinkie let out a giggle-snort.

“I guess you would if anypony, since Gilded’s been in the service for, what, four years now?” Thomas tapped his chin.

“Something like that. I lose track of time badly. He’s been gone on this latest tour for almost a year. He only got some time off to come home when Betts was born.”

“Then right to the Crystal Empire.”

“The poor stallion, he works himself too hard.”

Thomas patted Golden on her head. “Goldie, it’s fine. He’s fine. Right now, we got more important things to worry about.”

“Oh oh! Let me guess! Is it the cri-mph?” Pinkie was silenced by Twilight’s magic.

“Yes, that’s correct. It’s the crying of Betts if she wakes up from this work,” Thomas glared at the mare, who returned a sheepish expression.

“Oh, it’s almost time for her feeding anyway. I’m sure by the time you get ready to work I’ll have her up.”

“Sounds good. You two can go in and join her, I gotta get my ladder from around the house.”

“Don’t you want any help?” Twilight asked.

“If I do, I’ll hollar.”

With that, Thomas walked around the small house, and Golden opened her door gently to allow the ponies entrance.

Before long, Twilight and Pinkie were seated comfortably on a small couch, admiring the inside of the house. While the walls were still not painted, there were already paintings and photographs hanging up all around them.

Golden walked out of the kitchen with a tray on her back. “I hope you two don’t mind coffee. I’m out of tea.”

“That’s fine,” Twilight said, still looking around at the unfinished walls.

As Golden approached the table between the couch and two lounge chairs, Pinkie stood to remove the tray off her back and placed it on the table.

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure!” Pinkie said, taking her seat again.

Golden sat in one of the chairs, and reached over to take a cup of coffee. “I know it’s not much to look at, but Thomas insisted that there was no point in painting the walls until the roof was done, in case we got a heavy rain and anything leaked in. Rather paint over the water stains than the water stain the paint, or so he says.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be staring. I’m just trying to wrap my head around how one being could do all this by himself.”

“Well, he did have some help. My father-in-law would come by whenever Thomas knew he needed a hoof.”

“Does he live in town?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, yes. I’m sure you’ve met him. Copper Top.”

“Whoa now, you’re saying the sheriff is your father-in-law?” Pinkie leaned her hooves on the table, pushing her face near Golden.

Golden nodded her head, then took a sip of her coffee. “I should see if Thomas would like a cup. I’ll be right back.” With that, Golden stood and walked out the front door, left ajar from earlier.

“I guess this is a small town… right Twilight?” Pinkie grabbed a cup, downing the liquid within seconds.

Twilight had distracted herself, staring at a painting on the wall to her right. Pinkie followed her gaze, and tilted her head. “Hey Twilight… isn’t that…?”

Ignoring Pinkie, Twilight stood and walked over to look at it better. It was a lone tree, with only a couple buildings around it. What stood out, however, was the little red door at the base of the trunk, a sign above it, and a couple windows here and there.

She ran her hoof along the frame, unable to look away. The painting was so vibrant and felt so alive, and the tree looked so young, the sign above the door not showing any wear yet.

“Golden Oaks Library.”

At those words, Twilight turned around, and standing in the doorway was Golden. “Misus Fixit had painted that a long time ago, said that she’d never seen anything like it. Earth ponies, taking a tree and, with the help of a unicorn, hollowed it out to turn it into a library, all without killing it.”

Twilight looked back to the painting.

“Twilight? Are you okay?” Pinkie asked from the couch, ears low.

“What’s the matter, Princess?”

Pinkie leaned over to Golden. “She preferred it if ponies called her by her name,” then pointed to the painting, “also, that’s where she used to live back in Ponyville.”

Golden blinked, then looked to Twilight. “You… you lived in Golden Oaks?”

Twilight nodded her head.

Golden set down the steaming cup of coffee intended for Thomas, then walked up to the mare and stood beside her, staring at the painting.

“My grandmother and grandfather built it, as the town was being founded. Some years later, after some dispute between the Apple and Pear family, they moved because the Pear family went where my grandfather couldn’t go because of bad blood, so they moved out this way. My grandmother, Golden Rule, brought with her most of the books that are now in the town’s library here.”

“You have a library?”

Golden nodded at Twilight. “It’s not much, but gets by for anything general.”

Inside, the house was silent for several long minutes until a loud crash resounded from outside, followed by cursing from Thomas and a foal’s wailing.

Golden swore, “Damn it Thomas… I gotta get to Betts. Could you see what Thomas just did?” Golden trotted into another room, leaving Twilight staring at the painting.

“Hey, Twilight?” Pinkie stood from the couch, touching Twilight’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s go check on Tom.”

Twilight wiped away a tear on her right cheek, then nodded her head. “Okay, let's go make sure he didn’t hurt himself.”

----------

“Honestly, I thought the whole ‘baseball injury’ story was a rouse,” Twilight commented.

Pinkie stood beside a sitting Thomas, rubbing his shoulder with her hooves on either side.

“Contrary to my lying nature, no, my shoulder was actually injured, and I guess I pushed it too far,” Thomas replied.

“Again,” Golden added, holding her foal.

“Right.” Thomas rolled his eyes.

“Well, you should have known better than to try and pick up an entire box of shingles like that.” Golden sighed. “Well, what can we do to help?”

“Oh no, Goldie, you’re busy as it is! I’ll make the strong alicorn help before that.”

“Strong alicorn?” Twilight queried, but was promptly ignored.

“What about me, Tom?” Pinkie asked, removing her hooves from his shoulder.

Thomas rolled it around. “You have any experience?”

“Back home I helped my dad do our roof! Since we had lots of rocks already we just had to buy the tar, then heat it up which took a lot of our firewood for the winter, then-”

“Stop right there. I’m not doing a gravel roof. I’m going with a more modern approach.”

Twilight studied the broken-open box. “These are those asphalt shingles, correct? I’d heard of ponies using these in Manehattan.”

“New for you ponies. My home we’d been using these for fifty plus years. It took a while to get Shanty to get what I was saying, and he was skeptical at first. After some test runs he was impressed enough and started to market them.”

“Is that the favor he owed you?”

Thomas shook his head. “No, I kicked his ex-husband in the balls for him after they’d broken up. I had a horseshoe shaped bruise on my chest for a month.”

Both Pinkie and Twilight stared at one another, then to Golden who shrugged.

“Relax, these are relatively simple. Hardest part is keeping your balance on the ladder. You gotta-”

Thomas was interrupted by Twilight levitating the entire box worth of shingles around her, circling in a little dance.

Thomas frowned. “This is why I prefer you earth ponies. You’re more subtle about your abilities,” he said, patting Pinkie on the poof of her mane.

Pinkie nodded. “Buuuuuuuut, hey, maybe this will get done in no time at all!”

----------

“Ooooooooor not,” Pinkie said, followed with a sigh.

Thomas was up the ladder, straightening a sheet. “Okay, now you can tack it down.”

Down below, Twilight’s horn was lit with magic as she moved around a hammer and roofing nails, tacking the shingle into place.

“So now, do you see what I mean?” Thomas called down.

“Yes, Tom, I do. I said I did the last row of shingles, and the one before that.” Twilight growled.

“Well you sure don’t seem to be understanding, since I’ve had to come up here and correct your work twenty-thousand times.”

“It was more like five!”

“Whatever! This is the problem with unicorns. You think you’re so good, and then you go and mess it all up. What’s next, gonna flood the gem market or rig a football game?”

“I’m an alicorn, thank you very much! And no, I’d never do something like that.”

“Do you even know what football is?”

“My guess? The same as hoofball, from all your complaining.”

Thomas turned on the ladder, and with a quick hop he’d fully turned around on the ladder. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

Golden marched over, foal still in her leg, “Alright you two, simmer down now. No need to get heated over a little thing like… whatever this is suppose to be about.” She sat down next to Pinkie.

“My guess is compensation!” Pinkie said.

“I’d believe it.” Golden hoof bumped Pinkie.

“Hey Goldie, hows that look for ya?” Thomas asked, turning himself back around to look at the roof.

“You know more about this than I do, Tom. You’re the judge.”

Thomas stepped down the ladder, joining the mares, and sat down on the ground beside Golden.

“Hmmmm…” Thomas rubbed his chin.

Twilight set down the hammer and box of nails and joined the group. “Well?”

“It’ll pass.” Thomas slapped his hands onto his knees.

“You’re welcome,” Twilight said with a huff.

“Sorry. Thank you for the help, you did good.” Thomas patted Twilight on the head.

“Don’t patronize me.”

“I’m being serious! For this being the first time you ever shingled a roof, you didn’t do bad. Hardest part is making sure they’re lined up… and not falling to your death, but mostly that they’re straight.”

“There! All is right in the world now!” Pinkie grabbed Thomas and Twilight, bringing the three together by the shoulders.

“Bad shoulder, Pinkie, bad shoulder!” Thomas groaned.

“Oops! Sorry, my bad!” Pinkie let them go.

“Well, I think it’s about time to get out of this sun. I could use a glass of lemonade, how about you?” Golden asked, standing.

“Oh yeah, for sure!” Pinkie jumped up with a spring, following Golden.

“That does sound good, after all that hard work,” Twilight followed next.

“You all go on ahead. I’ll be in in just a sec.”

Twilight looked back to Thomas, and he raised a finger up to his lips and hushed. Twilight nodded her head, then followed inside the house.

It was hard to not be drawn into the painting again, but Twilight did her best to give her host the most attention possible. Pinkie, already having the skill set, was tasked with holding the foal while Golden went to prepare lemonade in the kitchen.

“Who’s an adorable little filly? You are, yes you are!” Pinkie played with the foal, the later giggling all the while.

“I’m glad you’re gotten so good with foals, Pinkie,” Twilight said.

Pinkie nodded. “If I ever expect to have my own, I need to make sure I’m up for the task.”

Twilight blinked. “Wait, when-” she was cut off by a shout of alarm and glass shattering from the kitchen.

Both mares rushed into the room, careful not to step on any of the broken glass shards.

“Sorry, Goldie, I thought you were in the living room.”

Thomas was standing in the open kitchen door leading outside, holding the completed crib in his hands.

“Well, it was gonna be a surprise, so… surprise?”

Ignoring the glass, Golden stepped over to Thomas and placed a hoof on the wood.

“It’s…. This is…” Golden stuttered.

“I wasn’t able to really salvage any of the original, so I did my best. Pinkie did the paint work.”

Twilight spotted a broom, and quickly swept the broken glass into a pile. Taking the cue, Thomas walked past all three mares and into a small room off of the living room, where a modest sized bed sat.

He set down the crib, retrieved the small blanket on the bed, and placed it inside. Giving it a quick test rock, he looked back to the doorway where a teary-eyed Golden stood.

“Thomas, you never cease to awe me.”

“That’s because you’re married to a royal guard,” Thomas said with a smile.

Golden walked up to Thomas, and at a signal with her hoof he kneeled down. She wrapped her legs around the human, hugging him tight.

“Thank you, Tom.”

“Hey, I’m her Godfather. It’s practically my job.”

Suddenly, the foal began to cry, and the two broke their embrace so Golden could take her from Pinkie.

“Thank you too, Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie hoofed over the foal. “No problem, Goldie!”

Golden began rocking the foal, humming all the while.

After solid minute of crying, Golden turned to Thomas. “I think this is another job for her Godfather.”

Thomas turned around, looking for something .“Yeah, where’s the-”

He saw what he was looking for. A small box on the end table. Grabbing it, he began cranking a little knob on the bottom, then set it back down. Twilight watched as music began to tinkle out of the box, although it was hard to hear with a foal crying.

Thomas took her from Golden, and held her in his arms and began rocking as her mother had tried. Then, Thomas began to sing.

“Where are you going, my little one, little one.
Where are you going, my baby my own.
Turn around, and you’re two.
Turn around, and you’re four.
Turn around, and you’re a young girl, going out of the door.”

Both Twilight and Pinkie were slack jawed as they watched Thomas, and heard as he sang along to the music box. While his voice wasn’t anything special, how he sang was something else. He never broke eye contact with the foal, who, after a short time, began to quiet down and suck on her hoof.

He had on his face a smile that instantly brightened up the room, and yet, his eyes were sorrowful, longing, like he was missing something from his life.

“Turn around, and you’re tiny.
Turn around, and you’re grown.
Turn around, and you’re a young wife, with babes of your own.”

By the time Thomas was done singing and the music box going silent, the foal was asleep in his arms. He gently lowered her into the crib, and Golden began rocking it gently to keep up with Thomas’ pace.

Golden nodded to the human, and he quietly walked away, brushing past the two mares still in the doorway.

Pinkie wiped away a tear, then turned around to follow Thomas.

Twilight walked into the room gently, and gave both mother and foal a look, then looked over to the music box.

Her horn came to life as she went to touch it, but stopped. Something in her mind warned her, almost natural instinct, that using her magic on the box would be a bad thing.

She held it between her hooves, and realized that it had an opening lid. Gently, she raised it up, and inside, taped onto the lid, was a photograph of another human with long blonde hair, holding what she assumed to be a human foal.

At the bottom of the photo, written on the thick white border, was Betty and Thomas, Summer ‘80.