A covered bridge was covered for more reasons than just ponies taking shelter beneath the roof. The roof protected the bridge as well, protecting the wooden planks, the trusses, the struts, all of the framework of the bridge was covered, protected from the harsh elements, the weather, and other hazards.
Pinkie Pie had gone home to Ponyville and the past few days had been spent toiling on the bridge for most of the morning, picnicking with the ponies of Rock Haven around noon, and then working at a somewhat more sedate pace in the afternoon for those who cared to keep working.
Tarnished Teapot found he prefered to keep working. His primer for magic control had given him a lot of tips, ideas, and little study lessons to follow through on. Building a covered bridge offered him all kinds of opportunities to experiment. There were nails to pound, heavy support struts to hold up, measuring wooden planks, Tarnish took every opportunity available to learn and he ran with it. While working, he took the time to listen to every single word of advice that Doctor Hedge had to offer.
As it turned out, Rock Haven was filled with some of the strangest ponies… such as the Gaunt family, all of whom were earth ponies. Mortimer Gaunt was one of the several morticians for the region, serving several small towns. His wife, Azalée, was a botanist obsessed with creating perfect flowers. Their son, Sonneur, had a bit of a crush on Marble, but was too shy to do anything about it; Marble meanwhile, was too quiet and suffered too much from her social awkwardness to do anything to acknowledge it.
While picnicking, the two bookworms would sometimes look at one another, freak out, and then return to their books, pretending as though nothing was amiss.
Sitting upon a large flat stone that had been warmed by the sun, Tarnish was glad for a break. His leg itched inside of the cast. The day was warm, but there was a pleasant breeze. Everypony was taking a break at the moment. The afternoon sun was too warm to labour under, but it was not unbearable, at least not for Tarnish.
“You’re sweaty,” Maud said in what sounded like an uninterested, bored monotone. She sat down on the grass and looked up at Tarnish.
“I can’t help it.” Tarnish looked down at Maud from his spot upon the stone.
“Something about it excites me,” Maud said, not sounding at all excited. If excitement was a temperature, the way Maud sounded would measure somewhere near true zero, the place where most of the universe began to go still.
Smiling, Tarnish looked at the one little curl that stood out in Maud’s otherwise straight mane. He saw her blink, the slow way that she blinked, the way her eyelashes lingered together, it drove him crazy. He could stare at her for hours.
“You’re staring.” Maud looked up at Tarnish.
“You’re something to stare at,” Tarnish replied.
“Hmm.” Maud’s ears swiveled forwards. “Tell me more.”
“You are more beautiful than an exquisite chalcedony crystalline formation…”
“You… you are trying to exploit my fascination with cryptocrystalline rocks.” Maud blinked. “You’ve been looking at my study notes again, haven’t you?”
“You left them on the dining table.”
“What am I going to do with you?” Maud’s head tilted somewhat, angling her eyes away from the sun so she could see Tarnish better.
“I could think of a few things,” Tarnish replied.
“I bet.”
“Are we going to go out tonight and watch the stars again?” Tarnish gave Maud a hopeful look.
“I don’t know. I already had a date planned for tonight.”
Tarnish did his best to look wounded. “It’s that book again, that big book with the ten syllable words… you keep going to him… what can he give you that I cannot?”
“Well, to start with, ten syllable words.”
Sitting on his stone, Tarnish tossed his head back and turned his nose up. He sniffed, blinked, and refused to look down. “Not everypony can have a double rocktorate and be twenty years old.”
“You are unbelievably silly. I guess I’ll be standing up Mister Book.”
Opening his eyes, Tarnished Teapot looked down and grinned. “Maud Pie, I can give you something that Mister Book can’t.”
“And what’s that?” Maud asked.
“A kiss that makes your mane explode.”
Using his telekinesis, Tarnish lined up several long, thick wooden pegs and then waited for the earth ponies holding large wooden mallets to drive them in, all while holding up the long beam of wood that served as a support strut. This technique saved a lot of smashed, cracked hooves. Once the strut was secured, locked into place, another long wooden beam was lifted into place, ready to become a rafter that would hold up the tin plate roof. It too, was secured.
It was dull, repetitive work, but Tarnish didn’t mind. It gave him time to think, it gave him a chance to observe his magic, test his limits, and it allowed him to feel useful. As Tarnished Teapot was discovering, he didn’t have powerful magic, at least by the classification system in the guide. But he had practical magic. His telekinesis was quite robust, much to his surprise. Lifting heavy rocks on the farm, lifting heavy beams for the bridge, holding nails and wooden pegs steady, he was giving his telekinesis a real workout.
“I think this bridge will be done before the week is out,” Doctor Hedge said as another wooden beam was lifted into place.
“There is going to be dinner and an ice cream social in Rock Haven tonight,” Limestone announced. “It was just thrown together at the last moment.”
“What’s for dinner?” Tarnish asked.
“I don’t know yet. A few mares are getting together and talking about ideas of what to fix on short notice,” Limestone replied. “Mama’s going to help.”
“Ice cream sounds good,” Tarnish said. After a long day of working in the sun, ice cream sounded very good.
“Quite a few of the mares have already left to go and make it. Fresh ice cream. Hoof churned. No idea what flavour there will be, but last time, the spearmint ice cream was wonderful.” Limestone looked up at Tarnish. “Are you going to canoodle my sister tonight?”
Not knowing what to say or how to respond, Tarnish just stood there. “Um…”
“I’m getting a little jealous.” Limestone leaned forwards and her eyes narrowed. “Now my sister spends all of her time with you and ignores me. Listen up colt, you never come between sisters… you will rue the day you’ve crossed me.”
“I’m sorry?” Tarnish wasn’t sure what to say.
The earth pony filly pulled her head back and began to laugh, a bellowing boisterous laugh. She stomped her hoof. “The look on your face… you’re so easy to lead on… ha ha ha!”
His lips pressing into a straight line, Tarnish glared at Limestone. She was still laughing and her eyes glittered with mischievous glee. Limestone had been teasing him almost non stop over the past few days, an endless stream of pranks, jokes, and jabs.
“So, are you going to canoodle my sister? I think she could use a good canoodling.” Limestone had stopped laughing and was now as serious as a stone. “I like the word canoodle.”
“We’ve planned to look at the stars,” Tarnish said to Limestone.
“At some point, when you are not canoodling my sister, I was wondering if you could help me,” Limestone said.
Guarded, expecting another prank, Tarnish dropped his head down to Limestone’s eye level and stared at her, snoot to snoot.
“Seeing as how Pinkie Pie has a stallion that she likes, even though she won’t tell me who, and how Maud has you, I’m thinking that it is time for Marble to have a chat with Sonneur—”
“Limestone, I know you mean well, but you shouldn’t mess around with another pony’s crush… Marble could end up real hurt. This has bad idea written all over it, please, trust me on this, I know when something is a bad idea.”
Limestone, stunned, stood there, her mouth open, unable to say anything. She looked at Tarnish, pulled her head away, glanced around Tarnish, looked over at Marble, and then her eyes moved back to Tarnish. “Perhaps you’re right. Maybe I should just take the direct approach and encourage her, but not get directly involved.”
Tarnish heaved a sigh of relief.
“You know, as potential big brother material, you’re not bad,” Limestone said.