This happens a few days after the last chapter. part 2 and made after the Episode "One Bad Apple"
Inside the small house Engineer bought the last time he was here in Equastira, the turned human prepares breakfast for both him and his son. It’s quite different from what the ponies eat as they are mostly vegetarians- eggs are the only meat he has seen them eat. Through a bit of testing, Engineer has come to the realization that the form he and Logan were giving can digest meat such as fish but poultry give this kind of creature indigestion. He learned that the hard way.
Bit of a pity that egg is off the table, but at least they can still eat beacon and sushi-- which is Logan's favorite dish and fish is easy to get his... uh claws on: There are a lot of good ponds around Ponyville and that gives Engineer a good excuse to go on future fishing trips with his son. Getting pork or bacon is a bit tricky though, meat from a pig is considered animal food for the ponies. So it's a good thing Applejack is willing to let him get some of the meat from the pigs her family breed, that saved him to only have one akward conversation with a pony that humans such as him eat pork pretty much daily. He rather not have such a talk with the pet store owner.
“Logan, breakfast ready!” He calls and puts the sausages onto a plate.
Logan arrives from his new room, still unsure on his feet but he is fortunately learning. They start eating in silence, broken when Engineer asks his boy. “Are the three girls treating you well?” He has taken notice that Logan hangs out with the three fillies that call themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders and being the partner to one of the girls older sister, well he is aware those three have a habit of getting into trouble in their attempt to get their cutie mark. Engineer is a bit worried about the girls' shenanigans will get his boy into trouble.
Logan nods slowly. “Yeah, they are really kind to me.” But this dad notices that his son does not sound as happy as he should, but he’s not going to confront him about it straight out, at least not yet. “Uh huh? What have you been doing?" Engineer asks calmly, but do keep a sharp eye on his boy's expressions. "Heard from Applejack she has been helping Apple Bloom and her friends to build a float for the upcoming parade.” And he's no longer questioning the ponies habit in doing celebrations all the time. Logan nods again but he refuses to make eye contact. “Uh, yeah, I have been… helping them on it.”
Wow, his son is just as bad as him when it comes to lying. It’s a wonder why he didn’t get the element of Honesty. The signs are clear that Logan is not telling the truth, but he will let his boy have the chance of saying what is bothering him on his own. “I see, what about the other kids in town?” This time Logan does not answers, he waits at first but when it’s clear his son is too afraid to speak for some reason, Engineer decides to push him, gently. “Look son, whatever it is that bothers you; you can tell me. I won’t get mad.” He assures his boy, even if Logan has done something bad, he rather wants to hear it from his son than figure it out on his own.
“… It’s not you I’m worried about…” Logan muses, winches of the skeptic look his father gives him. “Sorry…”
Seems like his boy hasn’t gotten into trouble, more like someone is giving him trouble but he is afraid to tell. Why? Engineer is not sure but intends to find out. “Someone giving you trouble?” He gets no answer and he does not like how Logan reminds him of a trapped animal from how his keep glancing to his room and fidget as if wanting to run away. Letting out a sigh, he leaves his chair and puts himself beside his boy, folding a wing over him. “Logan… I can’t help you if you don’t say anything.”
But if he tells then he will be a snitch… “I can’t… it will prove them right…” Logan whispers tearfully. These past days has been really hard, Babs Seed has really been persistence in making his and the Cutie Mark Crusaders life miserable, and yet, Logan does not want to be seen as a snitch, for that will only show Babs Seed correct.
Sounds like whoever is giving his boy trouble is making sure he won’t talk by bullying him into silence. Sadly Engineer does not have an idea how to get around this, he never dealt with bullying through his childhood. But he knows someone who can help him out with this issue.
After breakfast and Engineer leaves Logan at Rarity's parents along with the three other girls, from how down they look as well, it seems they too have been bullied into silence.
Nothing he can do, but wanting to fix this, Engineer gallops into the Everfree forest and when getting to the spot, he knocks on Zecora’s door. The zebra opens the door. “Is Spy here?” He asks, Zecora nods and steps aside and allows him to see the other turned human doing... Engineer is not sure if he should be in disbelief or roll around laughing at the sight of Spy reading a book with one baby foal pulling his tail and another sitting between his front hooves with a funny expression as if trying to comprehend what’s so interesting about that book.
That very scene is so weird and adorable that Engineer can’t help but stare dumbfounded. This is so different from how Spy was during the War Games- hell in the human world in particular! Zecora helps him to gets Spy’s attention by saying: “Allow me to be the girls' mother, meanwhile, you will speak with our visitor.”
Spy turns to Engineer, face not at all showing his emotions of amusement on how dumbfounded the Texan look. “I see your plan worked.” He remarks and as hoped it snaps Engineer back to reality. The horse hybrid nods. “Yeah, your boy is here as well— you haven’t seen him?” Spy rolls his eyes that Engineer really thought he wouldn't check up on his oldest child. “Of course I have.” Jeremy has been avoiding the hut because he is still unsure about the girls. So Spy decided to give him space, figure his son will come when he is ready to take the role as the big brother for these two girls.
But enough about Scout, he's old enough to do his own thing. “Now, what service do you require from me?” He asks, for that sense of worry and frustration is a huge indication that the turned Texan came to him for help.
Engineer sighs. “Well, I think my son is having trouble with a bully but he is afraid to tell me who.” Spy raises a brow, partly because he wasn’t aware that children won’t tell if someone is bothering them. But the biggest part is that he doubts he is the right one for this job. “You got the wrong changeling for this, I know how to keep secrets and how to reveal someone else’s.” Eyeing Lavernia sitting in between his hooves and think that even with the advantages of sensing others emotions, Dell knows more about children than he does.
“I would appreciate it if you found out who is giving my boy a hard time.” Engineer points out, at least then he can get a proper talk with the kid and set a stop to the bullying.
That he can do, but. “It would’ve been easier is your boy simply told you.” Spy remarks but does leave to find this bully Engineer wants him to track down, outside the door he hears the horse hybrid groan, clearly annoyed. “It sure would… but it’s not like I can make him talk as if he was a prisoner.” Hm, yes, Engineer does make a good point, would've been easier though but that's how it is to be a parent.
Spy disguises himself as a foal and starts wandering around town in search for this bully. He spots the Cutie Mark Crusaders along with Engineer’s son running away from three fillies, one of them he hasn’t seen before but it’s clear she is the head bully from how she is practically hunting the others. He does not interfere in what is going on, instead, he is gathering info and follows the two groups to Sweet Apple Acers. Here the bullies make the Cutie Mark Crusaders slip inside the farmhouse by using banana peels they probably stole and leave their victims laughing. Spy follows them, still in his colt form. The bullies lead him to a tree house, here the head bully declares: “What about we reclaim their tree house for our own?” The pink filly, one Spy knows is bad news from merely walking past her on the streets. “What a good idea Babs, they won’t be needing it.” and they claim the clubhouse.
Spy is about to leave and report his finds but stops as he sees a chance for more information on what Engineer will be dealing with when the victims; quite down from been chased all day head to what they probably think is their safe house. The moment this filly named Babs sees them, she starts shouting at the original owners of the tree house. “Hey! What're you doing at my clubhouse?”
“Y- Y- Your clubhouse?!” The pegasus filly may stutter on her words, but Spy is close enough to sense it’s not out of fear but anger and disbelief. “This is our clubhouse!”
“Well, it was yours, and now it's mine.” The head bully points out and the two other bullies declare the tree house as theirs.
“That's not fair, Babs! We never did anything to you!” Apple Bloom exclaims close to tears on why her own cousin is so mean to them for no apparent reason. Not that Babs Seed cares. “And let's keep it that way. Now scram, crybabies!” and to put salt on the wound, Babs Seed, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara start doing that mocking dance, laughs and head into their clubhouse.
She and Scootaloo glare up to the spot, frustrated by this constant harassment but for Sweetie Belle, this is the last straw and she starts crying loudly. Sungust is not doing much better, he looks really wounded and gone quieter than before.
Spy has seen enough, he leaves the four kids and returns to his home where Engineer is waiting. He finds the turned man having a small chat with Zecora while the girls are investigating his hardhat and pulling his wing. Spy clears his throat so the worried father knows he has returned. Engineer turns to him and does not waste a second. “What did you find?” and Spy tells him everything he saw.
That gives him something to work on. “Thank you, I really appreciate it.” Engineer thanks Spy, carefully removes the small kid from his back and after having retrieved his hardhat, he heads out, does stop to voice this quite startling discovery about these two babies being Spy’s. “When were you planning on telling us about those two?” Nodding to the two half-changeling kids.
Spy smirks. “Why ruin the fun?” Typical spy, Engineer rolls his eyes and heads out. According to Spy, the two groups should be at Sweet Apple Acers, so that’s where he is heading.
Halfway there, he encounters his son and his three new friends. And Logan must’ve realized that he now know from how he winches from his gaze. Engineer must admit that he is annoyed he had to go through all this hassle in order to solve this problem of his son. “We are going to have a talk later.” He tells Logan hard and leaves them, they are not the main issue at the moment.
“You told him?” Scootaloo asks Sungust in disbelief. But the only male of the group shakes his head. “No! Of course I haven’t said anything.” So the question: “Then how did he learn about it?”
But none of them has a clear answer, only that Sungust's father sounded angry and that means they are in trouble.
Noticing the sound the somepony approaching, Babs Seed thinks the crybabies have returned to reclaim their clubhouse, leaves the two others and shouts down to them. “Didn’t you hear me the last time, babies? This is our clubhouse—“
“You are in big trouble missy.”
Babs Seed flinches in her realization this is not the Cutie Mark Crusaders but an adult creature of what Sungust is, which means this must be the father and he does not look happy. “Oh uh… hi mister.” She greets him with a weak smile in hope to deflate the situation but it does not work. All it did was making his frown deepens. “Get down from there, we are going to have a chat.” He tells her in a commanding tone. Babs Seed gulps and glances back to the two others but they are no help, Diamond Tiara shoots her a ‘don’t pull us into your mess’ glare. So Babs Seed has to face this adult’s anger on her own, with head down, she walks down to the waiting and angry father.
“I would be in a more forgiving mood if you haven’t bullied my son into silence and I had to go through all this trouble just figuring out who was bothering him.” Engineer points out, might be biased but he brought Logan here to be safe and barely a week in, he is getting hunted down by this girl. “I’ll darn make sure your parents hear of this and if I ever catch you bully my son or his friends again, stern words is the last thing on my mind.”
Babs Seed eyes this adult scared, she knows she’s caught and if her parents hear of this. She will be in house arrest for a month. “But—“
He won’t hear her excuse for this behavior. “I don’t wanna hear it.” He sternly cuts this filly off and leaves her. “There’s no excuse in what you have been doing.” His anger does fade slightly from how deflated and broken she looks, shows this filly does at least regret her actions. With this girl set straight, Engineer heads over to the farm so he can explain Applejack and her family of what has been going on in their backyard.
Applejack is horrified of what he is telling her. “What? But why would Babs Seed become the very thing she tried to get away from?” She asks which catches Engineer off guard. “Are you saying that girl got bullied?”
Applejack nods. “That’s exactly what I am saying. She came here to get away from all of those bullies, so I do not understand why she would turn into one.” But whatever the case, it has to stop. “I’m gonna have a talk with her and make sure this nonsense won’t continue.”
“I have already had a few words with her.” Engineer points out. “She does look to regret her action.”
That’s at least some good news. “She better, what Babs has been doing is wrong, more so when she knows how much it hurt being the victim.” But at least Engineer stopped it before things got out of hoof. Babs Seed has a lot of redeeming to do with her sister and friends, which reminds her. “Say, while I talk with Babs Seed. Can you look after Apple Bloom and her friends? They seemed to be on good terms with your boy.” Big Mac nods in agreement as he too has seen Sungust spent a lot of time around the three girls.
“Alrighty then, I’ll have them at my house.” Engineer agrees. It gives him a chance to get a serious talk with them too.
With this agreement set, Engineer heads out to find his boy and friends. It’s a bit tricky as they aren't at his home, instead, they are hiding out in town. But fortunately for him, like Pinkie, Engineer is on good terms with pretty much anyone in town and they are more than happy to point him the right direction. He finds the group in the park and tells them to follow him home, they do and look as if they are heading to their funeral. It’s quite pitiful, really. “You’re not in trouble.” He assures the four but will admit. “But I am disappointed you didn’t say anything. All of this could’ve been solved if you just spoke up.”
“That’s what I kept on saying!” Sweetie Belle exclaims and is happy when Apple Bloom apologizes and promise her. “We will do it your way if this happens again.”
Good, they learned something from this. Engineer smiles and thinks it’s about time these kids will have some fun again. “What about we head over to Sugar Cube Corner and get an ice cream. Treat’s on me.” As hoped that cheers the girl and his son up as they all replies with a happy: “Yeah!”
***
After have talked it over and learned that Babs Seed only became a bully so she wouldn’t get bullied again, the Cutie Mark Crusaders decided they can forgive her for the bad behavior as long she promise not to do it again. Babs agreed and thus, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo can finally welcome two new members into their club. They made the capes all members got and their first mission as a Cutie Mark Crusader was building a new float for the fast approaching Harvest Festival.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were both quite annoyed that Babs Seed has sided with the ‘blank flanks’ but this time Babs turned her bad girl attitude against them. “If you do not back off I’m gonna tell your mothers about what you have been doing!”
With Logan adding with way more confidence now he knows he has both friends to back him up and a father to help if things got too tough. “Or I will ask my father to have a firm talk with them.”
Neither Silver Spoon or Diamond Tiara wanted that as they know that would get them in major trouble, so they did the wise choice by backing off and leaves the Cutie Mark Crusaders with their project.
At the day to the parade, the Cutie Mark Crusaders have finished their float which was a huge cornucopia filled with all the fruits and vegetables Applejack allowed them to use for this project. The towns ponies loved it and when the show was over, the towns ponies crowded around it just so they can get a better look, much of the pride of this group of kids. They did, however, soon get enough by the crowd and leaves Applejack to sell the fruit and vegetables from the cornucopia and they run out to play in the park.
Scootaloo is a bit disappointed none of them earned a cutie mark for their hard work on this new float but quickly shrugs it off. “Oh well, there is always next time.”
The others except Logan nods in agreement, Sweetie Belle notices the worried expression on his face and asks confused. “Something wrong Sungust?”
There is, Logan asked his father what a cutie mark is and father told him it’s indeed the marks on the ponies flank, but what they are won’t get a cutie mark. And that worries Logan, this whole club is about getting one. Still, he knows he can’t hide this from his friends… but what if they won’t be his friend anymore because he won’t get a cutie mark. “We’re friends right?” He asks them quietly. The four girls blink but all nod with Apple Bloom saying. “Of course we are. What’s wrong?” She asks worriedly.
Logan lets out a sigh and tells what his father told him. “I… I won’t get a cutie mark… dad says only ponies get one and… I’m not a pony.” The four girl eyes wide in shock and from how they exchanges look with one another Logan fully believes they won’t be his friend anymore. Guess he should’ve seen it coming... So he leaves.
Sweetie Belle doesn't want Sungust to leave, but without the ability to earn a cutie mark… he can't be a member... “I still want to be his friend.” She tells the three others somberly. Apple Bloom agrees but like her is not sure if he can be a member if he cannot earn a cutie mark.
Scootaloo ponders for a moment, then gets an idea. “Sungust wait!” She calls and gallops after him, he stops and she asks him. “Do you know what your special talent is?” He gives her a confused look but as hoped he replies after a moment of thinking. “Umm… everyone expects I will follow my father’s footsteps but…” He sighs. “It’s not what I want...” and that is enough for this young filly. “And that makes you a member! You might not get a cutie mark but that does not mean we can help you find what is your special talent.” Sungust blinks several times, then lives up and gives her a big smile. “yeah, I guess you're right.”
The others beam happy that Scootaloo found a loophole in their own clubs rules, they want to stay friends with Sungust and allow him to be a member, even if he cannot get the same thing they are after.