Chapter 6: In Which Our Hero Meets the Family, the Town, and The Dispute
Ruby sets a firm pace on the road out of town. If anything, she seems to be faster, now that her cart is empty. Blueblood seems preoccupied looking at the town, so I decide to strike up a conversation. “So, Ruby, how do you like Saddlefield?”
Ruby shrugs. “It's a nice enough place. I was born and raised here, so I don't have much to compare it to. There's a lot of mining families in and around town, since the area's pretty rich in minerals.”
Blueblood chimes in. “You said your family are gem miners, correct? Forgive me for my ignorance, but why go to all the trouble of digging a big mine, when you can just mine gems from near the surface? I've seen plenty of ponies dig up plenty of gems with a little magic and simple tools. Well, not seen personally, but heard of.”
Ruby snorts. “Shows how much you know. Sure, you can dig up gems from the surface, but those are the small stuff. It's good for jewelry and decoration, but you get a lot of poor quality stuff mixed in with it. The best and largest gems are found deeper underground. Big part of mining is knowing where to dig to find the good stuff and recognizing it when you've found it. Well, that and a lot of hard digging.”
Blueblood winks. I think it's supposed to be roguish. “I'm sure you must have a lot of war stories, eh?”
Ruby rolls her eyes. “Hardly. Yes, mining is dangerous work. I broke a leg once in a cave-in as a filly, and my father almost lost his life when a gas pocket blew. But if you know what you're doing and take care, it's just... hard work. It's dark and it's cramped, but you get used to that.” She shoots a sidelong glance at Blueblood and smirks. “Not much like working in a Canterlot office, I expect.”
Blueblood splutters something unintelligible. Ruby smirks. “Hey, the great outdoors are pretty nice. The fresh air does you good, washes some of the ink off you.”
I snort. “Only if your hoofwriting is bad. Some of us are good enough to stay clean.”
Blueblood raises an eyebrow. “The pony who works deep underground is extolling the virtues of fresh air?”
Ruby shrugs. “Being underground just makes the fresh air all the sweeter once you get out of the tunnels. It's this way.” She turns off the main road down a smaller dirt path, its surface well-worn and beaten down. After a few twists and turns, the path drops down a hill into a long, flat plain covered in short grass. Ahead of us is a wooden house, its gray paint and red roof somewhat faded with age. The building is surprisingly large, at least three stories high. Behind the house squat a number of small outbuildings, presumably involved in the mine work. Rail tracks lead away from several of them into large tunnels dug into the side of a range of rocky, rolling hills. A breeze whips over the flatland, bringing a slight chill with it. I shiver a little and glance around. This whole place seems rather... desolate.
Ruby stops and sighs appreciatively. “Here we are. Home sweet home.” I think it looks like a horror movie set, but I elect not to say so. Ruby trots down the slope and unhitches herself from the cart before rolling it up to the end of one of the rail lines and pulling a tarp over it. “There we go. Come on in.”
Ruby smacks the door open and strides through without waiting for us to catch up. My jaw almost drops in surprise once we get inside. The interior of the house is surprisingly warm and cozy. Soft, worn carpeting covers the floor of a frankly massive living room. Two large sofas sit at right angles to each other, facing large windows that look out onto the path to the house. A pair of open doorways lead further into the house, and I can see a kitchen through one and a large staircase through the other.
“Hey everypony, I'm home! And I brought guests! Emerald, Iron, Silver, get yourselves out here and say hello!”
“Welcome home, sis.” A stallion trots through the door from the kitchen, and the similarity between him and Ruby is immediately apparent. Same gray coat, same blue eyes. The only difference is in his light green mane and tail. It's only when I see him standing next to Ruby that it hits me just how big Ruby really is. She's taller than either me or Blueblood, and muscular enough that she could probably give Ironback a run for his money in a hoof-wrestling contest. The stallion – presumably her brother – is one of the bigger stallions I've seen, and he's only a little bit bigger than her. He brushes a few crumbs off himself and fixes us with an easy smile. “Well now, it's good to meet you two. What's your names?”
Blueblood steps forward and gives a little bow. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir. I am Scales, and this is my assistant, Ink Blot.” I nod and offer my greetings.
“Oh, I'm a sir, now? I suppose I should ask for higher pay, Ruby?” The stallion chuckles and offers his hoof. “I'm Emerald Vein, but you can just call me Emerald. I'm Ruby's brother.”
I shake the proffered hoof. “It's good to meet you. You can just call me Ink.”
“Well met, Ink. You staying a long time in Saddlefield?”
“They'll be staying with us here, Emerald.” Ruby cuts in, then continues as her brother's eyebrows rise. “And they're paying for the privilege.”
Emerald smiles. “Well then. Dinner's almost ready. We'll eat as soon as you've settled in, assuming that the twins don't hold you up for too long.”
“The twins?” Blueblood queries. “Ah, your younger siblings, I pres-” He is drowned out by the thunderous clatter of rushing hooves on wood.
“NEW PONIES!”
“Oh my gosh, where are you from? You don't look like you're from around here, are you from around here? What's your names? I heard sis say you're staying with us, is that true? Huh? Huh? Tell me tell me tell me!” Blueblood and I are nearly bowled over by a pair of gray-furred projectiles that skid to a stop only inches in front of us. The one with no volume control is a filly with a shiny silver mane, and the chatterbox is a colt who somehow manages to have a two-tone gray mane that is not the same shade as his fur. I didn't even realize that many shades of gray existed. For all I know, there's forty or fifty more.
The two pony cannonballs stare up at us with wide eyes and appear to be about to break into another verbal assault before Ruby cuts them off. “Indoor voices, you two. You know that's not how we greet guests, especially guests who will be staying here for a while. Kids, this is Scales and Ink Blot, and they're from Canterlot-”
“YOU'RE FROM CANTERLOT?!?”
“Oh wow, do you know the Princesses? What are they like? Are they cool and-”
“And they've had a long day and are very tired, so ease up.” Ruby rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “This,” she says, gesturing to the filly, “is Silver Ore, and that's Iron Ore. Now go wash up for dinner while these two settle in. You'll get to talk their ears off at dinner.”
“But Ruby...” The two synchronize their whining impressively.
“No 'But Ruby!' These ponies will be staying here for a while, so you don't need to be in such a hurry.”
“But Ruby...”
“No buts!”
“Okay, Ruby.” The two chorus, before disappearing back through the door to the stairs. Ruby rolls her eyes.
“Sheesh. I love 'em, but the kids can be a real handful. Come on, it's this way.” She leads us through the same door and down a hallway. A series of doors lining both walls lead into individual rooms. They're spare, but surprisingly large, and each has a bed, chest of drawers, easy chair, desk, mirror and sink. A window offers me a lovely view of the hills and an open mine tunnel. I toss my saddlebags onto the bed and spend a few minutes halfheartedly unpacking before I just resort to dumping most of my work material onto the desk. My organizational instincts cry out, but I've had more physical activity today than I usually do in a week, and I'm tired. I roll onto the bed and am just about to close my eyes when a loud call from Emerald rouses me.
“Dinner's ready, come and get it!” I trot down the hallway and emerge into a large room with a high, arched ceiling. It's at least two stories high, and the arch is supported by thick wooden beams that have been sanded smooth. It's rough, but also pretty, in a chapel-meets-log-cabin sort of way. Blueblood's already there, and appears to be regaling the kids with tales of Canterlot Castle.
“Whoa, no way! Are there really dining halls bigger than our house?” If Iron Ore's jaw opens any wider, it's liable to fall off. “That must be like... huge! How many ponies can you fit in there? And they're all like that?”
Blueblood chuckles. “No, not all of them. Just the grand dining rooms. But when they're full of tables, you can fit 50, 60 ponies in there – easily!”
“Wow...”
Emerald lifts a large pot of stew in his magic and sets it on the table. Blueblood leans forward as the unicorn begins to ladle large helpings into bowls. “I must say, this house is lovely. It's... well, don't take it the wrong way, but it's much larger than I would have expected. A house of this size would cost thousands or tens of thousands of bits in Canterlot. I can think of more than a few nobles who would give their left front hoof to have an high arched ceiling like this.”
Ruby drops into a seat at the end of the table, a bottle and several wine glasses held in her own magic. She pours herself and Emerald glasses before glancing our way. “Our great-great-grandfather moved out here because land was cheap. He built this house himself – we've just expanded on it a little bit. Wine? It's local.”
“I'd be delighted.” Blueblood passes a glass to me before taking a sip of his own. “Mmmm... Quite delicious. A bit... livelier than a lot of the wines I'm used to.” He peers at the bottle. “Wild Vine Farm & Vineyards. You said this was a local vintage?”
Ruby snorts. “'Vintage' is probably dressing it up more than it deserves, but yes. Wild Vine lives at the other end of town from the road in. He's one of the sides in that land dispute you were talking about earlier.”
“Ah, excellent. I suppose I will be meeting him tomorrow, then. Do you happen to know anything about the dispute?”
Ruby shrugs. “Not much. It's him and some other guy, uh... What was his name, Emerald?”
“Coal Tunnel. His family mines coal. Rich seams down there.”
I take a break from gulping down the delicious carrot stew to field my own question. “Don't you ever compete for land? Like, trying to get the best mining soil, or something?”
Ruby shakes her head. “We go where the gems are, he goes where the coal is. Around here at least, those are two separate areas. You move where the minerals are. That's just the way mining families live. It's one of the reasons our family came out here, besides the cheap land.”
I frown. “So if the mines run out, will you move? Go somewhere else, where there're more gems?”
Ruby glances at Emerald, then shrugs. “I guess so. This land's pretty rich, so we might not have to move far.”
“I wanna be a miner like Ruby and Emerald when I grow up!” Silver pipes up. “They're the awsomest bestest big siblings ever!”
Blueblood chuckles. “They certainly sound great. I never had any siblings of my own, did you know? I was an only child.” He turns back to Ruby. “It must be a lot of work running a mine with just the two of you.”
Emerald chuckles. “It certainly is, and your body lets you know in no uncertain terms how displeased it is. But we make it work. The two of us probably pull more gems out of those hills than five ponies in a normal mine.”
Blueblood nods. “I imagine it must be harder because... well, I don't want to be rude, but I know most ponies imagine mining as an earth pony career. Though,” he winks and elbows me, “I imagine Ink here might collapse lifting anything heavier than a binder.” I grumble something inarticulate. “It's not typically work that's associated with unicorns. I can tell you that most Canterlot unicorns wouldn't be caught dead in a mine.”
Ruby sits up a little straighter in pride. “That's right, but the Gemcrackers have always been proud of the fact that we're unicorns and can still work just as hard or harder than an earth pony. There's not a pony around here, earth pony or no, who'll challenge me or Emerald to a hoof-wrestling contest. Magic comes in pretty handy in the mine, too – good for working with fine tools or delicate tasks. Makes explosives a lot easier to handle too.”
Blueblood's eyes widen. “Explosives? Like, dynamite and stuff?”
“Yeah! Like, boom!” Iron gives me a broad and slightly disturbing grin. “It's so cool! But Ruby won't let me use any of it...”
“That,” Ruby snorts, “is because you're way too young. Dynamite is dangerous, and not for playing around with. But yeah, we use dynamite. It's pretty good for blasting new tunnels or collapsing tunnels you don't need any more.”
Emerald snorts. “You mean you just like the blast.”
Ruby cracks a grin that does absolutely nothing to reassure me. “Well, maybe a little of that too.”
“You, um...” I gulp, my throat suddenly dry. “You don't store the dynamite in the house, do you?”
Ruby frowns and taps her chin. “You know, come to think of it, I think we did use to keep some down near the guest quarters. We moved it out a while ago, but we never found it all. It's probably gone bad by now. Might be unstable, so don't, you know, roll over in bed. Or snore too loudly.” I croak something unintelligible in reply before I see Ruby cover her mouth with a hoof and start snickering. Before long, she's guffawing loudly and pounding on the table with a hoof. Iron and Silver are cracking up, and even Blueblood is beginning to snicker.
“That's not funny!” I yelp. It might have been more forceful if my voice hadn't cracked partway through. “I have a very healthy fear of being blown into tiny pieces.”
Emerald reaches over and pats me on the back. “She's just giving you a hard time. Don't worry, we don't keep the dynamite anywhere near the house. So what's Canterlot like? The mayor's been there, but I don't think anypony else in town has.”
I glance at Blueblood. “Well, Scales here is the native. I'm from Chicoltgo.”
Blueblood leans forward in his chair. “Yes, well, ah.. It's... big?”
Ruby raises an eyebrow. “Big?”
Blueblood nods. “Big.”
Silver snorts. “You're not very good at this.”
Blueblood frowns. “Well, I don't know how else to describe it! It's just... Picture everything about life, but magnified a bunch of times. That's what Canterlot is like. All of the buildings are bigger and more lavish than any other town. It's one of the biggest cities for the arts – there're more theaters, opera houses, music halls and art galleries per resident than just about any other city in Equestria, except for maybe Manehattan. There's countless different types of cuisine, with chefs from all across the map. There's one Griffon cafe that makes the best seared eggplant I've ever had. The parties are huge, lavish affairs, with dozens or hundreds of ponies and the finest entertainment. Manehattan's got more business, and Los Pegasus has more movie stars, but lots of big companies are based in Canterlot and most major stars have a residence in Canterlot anyways. And then, of course, there's the castle and the Princesses. You can't go far without seeing a Royal Guard, and the castle is visible from just about anywhere in the city. The royalty is just so... ever present, you can't avoid it. It's just so hard to encapsulate so... well, so much everything in a few words.”
There are a few moments of silence when Blueblood finishes, broken only when Iron whistles. “Wow...”
Silver drains her bowl with a loud slurp and licks traces of her soup off her lip before giggling. “What are the nobles like? Are they all snooty and stuck up and selfish like the books say they are?”
Blueblood bites his lip awkwardly. “Well, yes, some of them are like that. But a lot of them are really good ponies at heart. Just like anywhere, you have some good eggs and some bad eggs. It's just not always easy to tell which kind a new pony is.”
Silver snorts. “Nuh uh! I think you're just fibbing.”
Blueblood frowns. “I am not fibbing.” He looks like he's about to continue when Ruby holds up a hoof to cut him off.
“Don't even bother. Silver's more stubborn than a dragon guarding its treasure.” Silver grins in self-satisfaction before Ruby rounds on her. “And you, young miss, will stop accusing our guests of lying unless you want to do extra chores tomorrow.”
Silver pouts before turning to Blueblood. “I'm sorry, Mr. Scales, sir...”
Blueblood chuckles and reaches over to pat her on the shoulder. “It's okay. I got carried away too.”
We finish up dinner quickly – I polish off a second bowl of stew – and Ruby shoos Iron and Silver upstairs to get ready for bed. After showing us to our rooms, she turns in, promising to get us up in time to have breakfast and set out for town. This promised morning comes noticeably earlier than I would have liked. I knew farm families got up early, but I don't see why miners need to. The rocks aren't going anywhere. Breakfast is hash browns and grape juice, which is quite tasty despite its simplicity. Emerald cooked again. He grumbled something about “why not just eat paper” when I asked if he had cereal.
Before long, we're trotting back down the road into town. Ruby is fully awake and chipper, and Blueblood, irritatingly enough, seems to be so as well. If I didn't know better I'd think he was sucking up to her. Ruby gives us a quick tour of town. My initial impressions were, for the most part, correct. This town is not exactly the height of culture and elegance. Its classiest restaurant would probably be a casual eatery in Canterlot. Still, it's got a homey charm to it. Lots of ponies wave to Ruby and greet her as we pass, and several go out of their way to introduce themselves to us. “Hi Ruby!” “How ya doin', Ruby?” “How are things at the mine?” “Who's your new friends?” Blueblood can't stop smiling.
Eventually, Ruby drops us off at the Town Hall, promising to return for us later in the day. While Blueblood gets roped into a discussion of some kind of legal minutiae with Legal Speak, I decide to start collecting and organizing the material the mayor's gathered. It's immediately apparent that there isn't much. I quickly review all of it and finish sorting the documents as Blueblood flops into a chair next to me.
“Well, what do we have?”
I shrug. “Not much. As best I can tell, these two – Wild Vine and Coal Tunnel – are arguing over who owns a section of land. Coal Tunnel claims that it used to belong to his family, and the records show that it does. Wild Vine claims that it was sold to his family some time ago, and just hasn't been used since. The records do show that the land was sold, but it's not really clear as to who bought it, and Tunnel claims that since it went unused and unclaimed for so long, it should revert back to his control.”
Blueblood taps his front hoofs together. “Vexing indeed. This might prove to be challenging. Any sign of our two claimants?” I glance at a schedule at the top of one of my piles.
“Yeah, Wild Vine's supposed to be here any minute to give us his side.”
Slam. Thud-thump. I glance at Blueblood. “Sounds like he's here.” A moment later the door bangs open to reveal a light green earth pony. He thumps into the room and drops into a chair in front of us before blowing a bit of his reddish-purple mane out of his eyes. He leans forward and extends a hoof to Blueblood. “You're Scales?”
Blueblood smiles and nods, returning the hoofshake. “That's right. You must be Wild Vine.”
The stallion nods. “That's me. You're the guy who's supposed to sort all this out, right?”
Blueblood nods again. “Correct. I was hoping you could give me your version, maybe highlight something that's not clear from the documents.”
Wild Vine shrugs. “Not much to say. His great-great-whatever sold the land to my family a long time ago, and now I want to use it and he claims it still belongs to him.”
“Why didn't you use the land before now? It seems like it's gone unused for quite some time.”
Wild Vine thinks for a minute before shrugging. “Either didn't have the money, or the time in the market wasn't right for it. Now I do, and it is.”
Blueblood scribbles something on a piece of paper. “Are you sure that the land was, in fact, sold to you, and not someone else? And that it wasn't sold back at some point?”
Wild Vine leans forward and bangs his hoof on the desk, making my pens jump. “Of course I'm sure! What are you trying to-” He abruptly bites off his words and takes a few deep breaths before he sets his hooves down on the desk and looks Blueblood straight in the eye. “I mean, yes, I'm quite sure.”
I shuffle through a few of the papers on the desk, more to have something to calm my heart down than because it's useful. “Do you have any additional documentation? What we have here is pretty limited, so anything you can add would help.”
Wild Vine shakes his head. “No. Everything I have should be there. Shouldn't need it, though. That land's mine, and I know it.” His jaw is set firmly, and he stares at me as if he's daring me to contradict him. After careful consideration, I choose not to. The three of us dicker back and forth for another half an hour. Blueblood asks a variety of questions and jots a few notes down, but I'm not sure that we come out of it with much more information than we went in. Eventually, Wild Vine rises and turns to leave. He opens the door to reveal a dark gray earth pony. Wild Vine's jaw tightens and his eyes narrow. The two glare at each other as they cautiously edge past each other, never taking their eyes from each others' faces. The gray pony eventually makes his way into the room and strides to the desk before taking a seat.
“I'm Coal Tunnel.”
I give a smile and nod. “Pleased to meet you, Coal Tunnel. I'm Ink Blot, and this is Scales. We just want to ask you a few questions.”
Coal Tunnel nods. “Of course. Ask away.”
Blueblood nods and leans over to glance at the papers on the desk. “Now, the records are pretty clear that the land was sold at some point in the past, but it's not clear who bought it. You don't have any more information to confirm whether or not it was Wild Vine's family who bought it?”
Coal Tunnel shakes his head. “Unfortunately, no. I don't recall ever hearing from my parents or grandparents that his family bought the land, but I don't know who did.”
“And the land's not in use?”
“No, sir. Some old surveys indicate that there might still be good coal there, which I'm hoping to get to.”
“Has anyone else used the land?”
“As far as I'm aware, no. It has remained unused.”
“And why do you think that your family still has a claim to the land?”
Coal Tunnel shrugs. “Well, if he wasn't using it, I don't see why he should get to keep it. And besides, couldn't there be more documentation out there that hasn't been found yet? Maybe some of it would prove that it was sold back to my family or was sold to someone else.”
Blueblood shrugs. “Possibly.” We go through another question and answer section, though this one doesn't last as long before Blueblood thanks Coal Tunnel and lets him go. The Prince takes a deep breath and slowly blows it out once Coal Tunnel has shut the door. “Well. Seems like neither is willing to give up on their claim to the land.”
I shake my head. “Nope.”
Blueblood turns to me and grins. “Well, then, Ink Blot. Sounds like it's time for us to go to work.”
I grin back. “My thoughts exactly.”