A new day has begun with Maud knocking on the old barn door. Another day of hard work for the Pie Family and the Spellbind Brothers. They're now waiting for ponies from Canterlot to arrive and take the black stone in for examination and hopefully find out why the Spellbind Brothers were inside the rock in the first place.
Gust answered Maud's knocking with a yawn, "Good morning, Miss Maud...!" Even after just waking up Gust is as energetic as ever.
"Good morning. Are your brothers awake yet?"
"Oh, they'll be awake. They're just heavy sleepers." They look inside to see Sparx, and Chilly still sleeping. Ashes gave a deep yawn as he just started waking up.
"Be sure to wake them up. We have lots of work to do today." Maud began heading back to the house.
"OK! Hey, brothers...! Wake up!" Gust began to kick up a storm inside the old barn. He then got zapped by a cranky Sparx.
"Shut the f@$% up, Gust!" He then went back to sleep.
Chilly woke up with a yawn, "C'mon, guys.... We got work...." He stumbled out of bed and his way out of the old barn.
"Yeah...!" Ashes stumbled after Chilly with the top of his head on fire.
Gust back up, "Sparx...! Wake up! We have work to do! And Maud will get mad if you're late!" Gust began shaking Sparx awake.
"Ugh...fine. Just get me some coffee...." Sparx left his bed and the old barn to get to work. The Spellbind Brothers got their coffee, stretched their muscles, and began eating breakfast with the Pie Family.
"Good morning, Sparky...! Did you sleep well?!" Pinkie had just brought out warm cow's milk and placed it on their table.
"Agh...! Lower the noise! You're killing my ears!" Sparx clamped his ears shut. Pinkie's voice rang like bells in his ears.
"Oh...I'm sorry...." Pinkie left the table and lowered her voice.
"So, did you guys remember anything yet?" Limestone started eating her toast.
"Nope."
"Not a thing!"
"Don't care...."
"These grits are great!" The Spellbind Brothers didn't remembered a thing and Ashes was too hungry to even listen.
"Thank you, Ashes." Cloudy Quartz blushed at the compliment. This lack of answers was starting to bother the Pie Family. They knew this wasn't going to be easy, but now they're just running around in circles.
"Maybe...we can find somepony...to help?" Marble just finished her plate and took it into the kitchen.
"Maybe Twilight can help...! She's really smart and she knows lots about magic!" Pinkie's friend, Twilight Sparkle, is not only the Element of Magic, but also the Princess of Friendship. She and her friends have done many heroic acts throughout Equestria such as defeating evildoers and protecting the land. Their friendship is their strength.
"Pfft! Please! My magic can beat whatever she's got any day!" Sparx began bragging about himself after finishing his plate.
"Sparx, we're fighting anypony.... Besides, we don't fight unless we get a reason to." Chilly began drinking his coffee with an ice cube in it. The Pie Family then gave them worried expressions.
"You shouldn't have to fight. This is a peaceful land. Why would you need to fight at all?" Maud's question immediately got the Spellbind Brother's attention.
"Oh, that's easy. We would fight beca-" Sparx then stopped himself mid-sentence. He had the thought, then it suddenly left him without a trace.
"Uh...what?" Sparx was really confused. To the Pie Family, this was starting to sound familiar.
"C'mon, Sparx...! We fight because we-" Ashes then stopped mid-sentence just like Sparx.
"Wait...huh?" It was starting to become very obvious that something was going on with them. The Pie Family were starting to not only worry, but they were also starting to get suspicious.
"Uh...hey, we have work to do today, right?! We can talk about it after work!" Gust began to direct their attention away from the topic.
"He's right. We got the black stone out of the mine, but now we must get it ready for the ponies from Canterlot. We need to build a wagon. A large one." Igneous finished his plate, placed his hat on, and then made his way to the front door.
Chilly sighed, "No rest for the busy...." The Pie Family and the Spellbind Brothers had finished their coffee and breakfast and left the house to begin working on the wagon.
"So...what's step one?" Sparx and his bothers began examining the black stone with the Pie Sisters to determine how big the wagon should be for carrying. It would have to be both large and sturdy enough to carry such a large and heavy stone.
"Alright, we will need lots of wood, nails, rope, and your magic to lift it onto the wagon once it is built. After that, we'll call it a day." They all knew what to do and started working. Per Igneous' instructions, they began gathering wood from the nearby forest, lots of rope, lots of nails, and then began building the wagon. The Pie Family were in charge of making the wheels out of stones while the Spellbind Brothers were tasked with keeping the foundation from collapsing. As they were doing it, the Pie Family nailed down the foundation as instructed by Igneous Pie. They then made the carrier in no time and it was large enough to carry the black stone.
"Alright everypony, let's take a break!" They then stopped working on the wagon. They were nearly done.
"Ugh...this is a serious waste of my power." Sparx left the group feeling unsatisfied.
"Don't be like that, Sparky! You're doing a great job!" Pinkie skipped after the annoyed Sparx.
"Don't call me that, Pink Pony...." The two left the group to wait.
Limestone sighed, "How can Pinkie deal with that guy? He's such a jerk." She gave Sparx an angry look without him knowing.
"Heh...Sparx is a jerk, but he's not that bad. You just need to chill out more." Chilly began to rest from working so hard. Limestone then gave a annoyed groan from Chilly's bad pun.
"Working is so much fun!" Ashes felt accomplished with how much work was getting done.
"I'm glad...you're enjoying yourself...." Marble was happy to see Ashes happy.
"Hey Marble, maybe I can get a job in building things! I'm gonna go back to building my tower to the sun!" Ashes then ran off to do so.
"Oh no...." Marble ran after him to make sure he doesn't kill himself...again. Gust then sat down after all the hard work and was quite worn out.
"Are you alright?" Maud walked up to him and presented him a cup of water.
"Oh, I'm fine, Maud. I'm just not used to working so much." Gust gave a large gulp from his cup of water. Maud continued to give Gust her usual stare without blinking. It was starting make Gust uncomfortable.
"Um....do you need something...?"
"No." Maud kept staring unblinkingly at Gust. Gust felt like she was looking into his soul.
"Uhh...." Gust didn't know what to really say to a pony like Maud.
"By the way, I've been wanting to ask you this. Your wings are really large. I've read that Pegasi are relatively smaller than most ponies so they can fly better. Were you always so large?" Maud began examining Gust and was even more surprised to be right.
"Uh...maybe...? I don't remember." Gust felt even more uncomfortable from Maud's examining.
"It seems you're wings must fit your large size so that you can fly. And the fact that you can summon strong winds without effort is impressive. How fast can you fly exactly?" Maud finished her examination.
"Oh, wanna see? Ok...!" Gust then grabbed onto Maud and spreads his wings ready to take flight.
"Wait...what?" Suddenly, she was taken into the sky by Gust without wasting any time. The others noticed Gust flying off with Maud through the thick clouds.
"That idiot...."
"That's not cool...."
"HOLY CRAP...!" The Spellbind Brothers were not expecting Gust flying off like that.
"Wow...! They're so high up!"
"Will Maud...be alright?"
"What did your brother do with our sister?!" Limestone began strangling Chilly out of anger.
"Isn't Maud still afraid of heights?" Cloudy Quartz became very worried.
"Maud is not going to be happy when she gets back down...." Igneous felt dread at the thought. Gust and Maud got above the clouds in no time and Maud held onto Gust with her eyes closed tight out of fear. She was indeed very afraid of heights.
"Wow...! Look, Maud...! The sky looks so pretty!" Gust was above the thick clouds that covered the rock farm.
"Putmedownputmedownputmedownputme-" Maud kept her eyes closed, squeezed Gust tight, and repeatedly begged Gust to put her back down on the ground.
"But you gotta see this...! The sun is so bright and the sky is so blue!" Gust was really excited to see something new. Maud didn't have much of a choice, so she slowly squinted her eyes open and was then amazed at what she was seeing. The sky was so blue and beautiful, and the sun was so bright. Even she couldn't deny it.
"Hey Maud, maybe I should remove these clouds and show everypony the sky too! That would be so coo-AAGH!!!" Suddenly, Gust was being pulled back down to the ground with Maud. They plummeted through the thick clouds and back to the rock farm.
"Here they are...." Chilly pulled them back down. He was still being strangled by Limestone.
"Aaw....and it was so pretty up there too." Gust then placed Maud safely back on the ground. Maud took many deep breaths out of relief.
"Are you...alright, Maud?"
"What did you see up there?! What was it like up there?!" Marble and Pinkie wanted to make sure Maud was alright.
"Chilly, make sure your brother never does that again!" She released Chilly's neck and walked over to make sure Maud was alright.
"It was so pretty up there! I wanna show you guys!" Gust was about to kick up some wind to clear the sky. His wings were then frozen solid.
"Gust, I know you mean well, but I'd like to keep Limestone from choking me again.... So no more crazy stuff today." Chilly was scared at the thought of Limestone strangling him again.
"What was it like?! Did you see the sun?!" Ashes was really excited.
"Yeah...! It looked like a ball of golden light! And the sky was so clear!" Gust and Ashes were so excited.
"So you saw a ball of light. Woopee...." Sparx said sarcastically.
"Alright, enough messing around. We're almost done with our job and the ponies from Canterlot will be here any minute." Per Igneous' call, they went back to work on building the wagon. They finished building the wagon without wasting time. They then tied up the black rock to the wagon with all the rope they gathered. They then heard the sound of the train arriving at the nearby station. Many Unicorns from Canterlot arrived to pick up the black rock.
"Welcome, all of you. We have the black rock ready for transport." Igneous presented to them the result of their hard work.
"Like always, you never disappoint. Your payment is right over there." The leading Unicorn pointed at a big bag full of bits.
"HOLY F@#$!!! That's a lot of money!!!" Sparx and his brothers were amazed by how much money they got.
"I see you've hired some...rather tall helping hooves. I don't think I've ever seen them before."
"Oh...! They're visiting! They're our friends!" Pinkie happily hugged Chilly and Sparx.
"Well, if you say so. It has been a pleasure doing business with you. We'll take it from here." The leading Unicorn pointed at the black stone and his co-workers began loading it onto the wagon. The wagon was strong enough to carry the black stone and they began making their way back to the train station.
"Before you go, sir, would you perhaps give us a copy of your research on the black stone? For personal reasons."
"I suppose, Miss Pie. I'll be sure to have a copy sent over when we're done." The leading Unicorn and his team left with the black stone before the train left the station.
"Hey Mister Pie, what are you going to do with all this money?!"
"Well Gust, we're going to use most of it to pay our bills and the rest to pay for our food expenses. Especially since we have four more mouths to feed...." The Spellbind Brothers couldn't really object to that.
"Well, I suppose that is enough for today. You've all done well today. You all deserve the rest of the day off. My wife and I will head out to pay our bills and get groceries." Igneous grabbed the large bag of bits and began heading to town.
"Behave yourselves while we're gone!" The two left the rock farm to do so.
"Ugh...what a day. I want a nap." Sparx left to get a nap.
"I'm making cookies!" Pinkie dashed off to the house to make some cookies.
"F@#$ the nap! I get first dibs!" Sparx ran after Pinkie in a hurry.
"Sounds good to me...."
"COOKIES!!!" Chilly and Ashes followed them to the house in hopes of getting cookies.
"Wait...!" Marble chased after them out of worried.
Limestone sighed, "These guys are nuts...." They followed them back to the house. Maud and Gust were the only ones alone.
"Um...Maud, you're not mad about me taking you into the sky like that, are you?" Gust felt guilty about suddenly taking off without Maud's permission.
"No, I'm not. I thought it was...a fun experience. That being said...." Maud then knocked Gust out.
"Don't ever do that again." Maud then left for the house, leaving Gust behind with a bump on his head.
"Ok...." It was at that moment that Gust knew...not to make a pony as strong as Maud angry again.