19. Seeing For Oneself
A few days later, there was an angry pounding at the Apples' door.
As he ate breakfast, Haralson shouted for his oldest son to answer it, to which the younger stallion begrudgingly complied to. When Cortland had opened it, immediately he slammed the door and bolted up to his room. When that had happened, Haralson was out of the kitchen in seconds, looking up the stairs with a frustrated scowl.
"Consarn it, Cortland! You don't slam the door on guests!" With a groan, Haralson reopened the door. "I hafta apologize fer mah—Igneous!"
Although his muzzle was turning red from where the door presumably hit him, Igneous showed no indication that he was in pain. Instead, his golden eyes held a sharp glare that could cut through the hardest of rocks, and the twirling strand of wheat in his mouth indicated grinding teeth. Haralson blinked at the sight of the rock farmer, and then sighed, stepping aside to let him in.
As Igneous walked in, he grumbled, "Stupid ponies… I'm gone for a few days and ponies talk about a wedding proposal…"
Haralson shut the door, and then walked to the sofa. "This is about the rumors again, ain't it?"
"They got worse…" Igneous growled, refusing to sit down.
"Well, what did ya hear this time?"
"I've had ponies telling me that it's a shame that my daughter refused your son's proposal, and that he would make a 'wonderful son-in-law'." Disgust was heavy in his voice as he finished that sentence. "Wonderful? Ha! Pinkamena hates him!"
Haralson groaned. "Those ponies are stubborn. Each time Ah shoot down the rumor for one pony, two more ponies start believin' it."
Igneous snorted. "Well, guess what else I heard? He kissed her!"
"Wait, what? But… Cortland said—"
"Have you considered that maybe your son is not an honest Apple? He kissed her without her consent and humiliated her! I only know because she told Cloudy about it, and then Cloudy told me, and now I'm telling you about it! Do you not see what's happening to your son?!"
Haralson got to his hooves. "He gave me his word that he wouldn't bother her no more!"
Igneous stomped hard on the floor. "Well, he lied! You're being far too soft on him! Why don't you just send him away to one of his cousins so things don't get worse?"
Haralson's face now sported a sharp glare that rivaled Igneous'. "Don't tell me how to raise mah foals, Igneous. Ah can handle Cortland, and Ah am determined to get them darned ideas out of those idiots' heads!"
Igneous snorted once again. "I've met plenty of ponies like him. They make it difficult to trust stallions around my daughters."
Haralson shook his head in disbelief. "Funny that you should say that when your hired hoof is a stallion."
"I scared him straight and made him promise not to try anything funny. So far, he's kept that promise, and he has got the message that we Pies take promises very seriously."
Haralson blinked as he took that in, and then he sighed. "That's a mighty funny promise to have him make. Poor feller's gonna be in an awkward situation if he finds himself fallin' fer one of yer daughters and havin' ta fight it."
"He'll just have to deal with it. Besides, his stay is only until he earns enough to get by while traveling. He's only just received his first payment." Igneous grinded his teeth on the wheat strand and nickered. "At least he has respect for my daughters, which frankly, your son doesn't have."
"And just when Ah thought this conversation was going to turn more pleasant," Haralson huffed. "Look, Ah'll talk to him and let 'im know that kissin' her like that is not polite."
"Be mean about it," Igneous said bluntly. "Because if he goes so far as to brew a love potion for her, I'm going to disregard all the laws of this town and put that colt down in one strike."
"Whoa! Don't go threatenin' my flesh and blood!"
Igneous turned around and stomped his way to the door. As he opened it, he growled, "Well, he needs to quit harassing mine!"
And with that, he slammed it.
Igneous groaned as he left the Apples' farm. "I shouldn't have accepted that dinner invitation… made that darn colt even more entitled to Pinkamena."
He shook his head, unable to believe that he had made a threat against somepony. The last threat he made that was like that was when one of the convicts he had overseen was bothering his wife; that had been years ago, before Maud was born. Since then, he had to remind himself that rock farmer strength was not for hurting ponies.
Still, that colt was getting on his nerves, and he wanted to file a restraining order against him to protect his daughter. Of course, knowing the lousy handling of the law in Nickerlite—having seen too many crooks get away with harassing innocent townsfolk—he wasn't sure that anypony would hear his case or if it would work. And while most of the townsponies were decent folk, they were stupid enough to believe some ridiculous rumors.
For the time being, keeping Pinkamena at the rock farm was the best option.
He found himself walking down the main road, passing by the shops that lined both sides of the damp street. Above him clouds were scattered, and the town was basking in the sunlight during the break from rain. He could smell the fresh wetness of the recent showers, and knew it was going to be a common smell for the next three weeks, much to his dismay.
At least he returned home on a nice day.
"Yanno, if Cortland manages to win over that Pie mare," somepony said. "Then perhaps the other three would be more open."
Igneous stopped in his tracks, and glanced at a group of ponies gathered near the candy shop. Usually he wanted to stay out of other ponies' business, but this group was talking about his daughters.
"That's not what I'm asking!" a blue unicorn shouted. "Honestly, folks, couldn't you just look at Pinkamena before listening to whatever Cortland spews out?"
Igneous had his full attention on the group, especially the unicorn, holding a pencil and notepad in his magic. He hadn't seen that face before, so there was no doubt that the fellow was new in town. The fact that the new pony was not taking the rumor at face value was a breath of fresh air.
"She's obviously not happy," a mare stated. "I bet a marriage to Cortland would solve all her problems."
The unicorn facehoofed, and so did Igneous. The former took a deep breath. "No, it won't. Considering what I saw, she was not very welcoming of his presence."
"Scowling is the only way the Pie sisters know how to show affection."
"Um, what?"
"They're obviously not allowed to smile there. I bet that when they smile, their parents throw rocks at them. Therefore, they have to keep frowning, lest they bring danger upon themselves."
Igneous was stamping his hoof and flicking his tail. What kind of stupid theory was that? As he recalled, the only reason that they didn't smile was that they saw no reason to. Cheese smiled a lot, and they didn't throw rocks at him.
"I'm not so sure she'd be in a hurry to get home if she was being abused. And her words and tone of voice gave away that she wasn't pleased to see him. Also, she smacked him!"
Pinkamena, don't smack ponies. Still, it was very tempting to be proud that Cortland had got what was coming to him. He listened to yet another ridiculous response from one in the group.
"Mr. Bluejinx, you're a nice pony, but you clearly don't understand the situation at hoof. Poor Cortland was denied marriage, and Pinkamena's just confused. I bet that Cheese fellow is poisoning her mind with the tales of fantastic travels that obviously never happened. Pfft, you can't trust a drifter."
Another pony laughed. "Yeah, I bet he told them that he had breakfast with Princess Celestia!"
"And that he performed onstage with a famous musician!" another chortled.
"Let's not forget the time he helped save Equestria!"
The rest of the group laughed, leaving Bluejinx with clear annoyance etched on his face. The unicorn noticed Igneous standing there, and curiously stared as the others guffawed at the made up tales of Cheese Sandwich. Igneous could see the weariness in his eyes, figuring that he had been putting up with this manure for quite some time.
"Anyway, let's give this pony time to absorb the truth. After all, he just recently came to town. Come on, let's get some lunch!"
The group disbanded, leaving a bemused and irritated Bluejinx standing there. Igneous stared at him for a moment, and then tilted his head to beckon him. The unicorn complied, and the two were face to face in a matter of seconds.
Igneous idly rolled his wheat strand in his mouth. "I overheard that conversation you had with those ponies. Frustrating when you're one of the few ponies who doesn't believe a rumor, isn't it?"
"I've dealt with a lot of frustrating things in my life, sir." His face lit up as he asked, "You wouldn't happen to be one of those who don't believe this awful falsehood, would you?"
"I have a very good reason to not believe it. I'm Pinkamena's father."
"Oh…" Bluejinx scribbled something down. "I see. Well, if it helps any, the candy shop owners don't believe it, and I've convinced my aunt that the whole thing is ridiculous."
"Good to know that there are still sane ponies in Nickerlite. I was afraid they died off. Now I do have to ask why you're so interested in this rumor."
"Simple. Your daughter saw me in trouble and helped me out… and then I was an unfortunate witness to a circle of chanting that scared her into a helpless little filly, and a forced kiss that prompted a good smack in the face. Has she told you about that?"
Igneous blinked. "I wasn't told about the circle of chanting…"
Bluejinx rubbed the back of his head. "Ehehe… I guess I wouldn't want to talk about it if it happened to me. Anyway, it really unnerved me that everypony was encouraging the whole thing, even when she was obviously distressed. And frankly, seeing the way that she just ran off after the whole thing and how your hired hoof was nearly ready to kill Cortland over it made me want to help somehow."
The mention of Cheese angry was a bit of a surprise to Igneous. Sure, he had seen him annoyed at a bunch of mice, but angry? It was obvious he cared a lot for Pinkamena; but Igneous wondered if it was like a brotherly protectiveness toward her, or if there were deeper feelings there.
"I believe part of it stems from ignorance," Bluejinx continued. "So, I thought I'd head over to your farm and see what you folks do and take notes. And of course, getting your views on this whole courtship rumor, though I have an idea of what they'll be. That is… if that's all right with you."
Igneous thought for a moment before answering, "I've got no dark secrets to protect; just work to do. If you're going to observe and ask questions, it better be relevant."
"Is that a yes?"
"Yeah. Just try not to ogle my daughters."
Cheese Sandwich felt quite chipper today. Even with double the effort to make up for the rocks' lost ripening time—by moving them to places with higher magic concentration—he was in high enough spirits to be whistling.
Though he and Pinkamena were pretty much grounded for dilly-dallying—not to mention getting the mail wet—at least it wasn't too harsh a punishment, given that they mentioned that Cortland humiliated her and that most of Pinkamena's delay was spent at the grandmothers' graves, while Cheese was looking for her.
Hoisting a rock into the cart that Maud pulled, he noted that the rock felt much lighter than others of its size. He chuckled to himself and threw another rock in. Never had he been so happy to be farming rocks, and he didn't mind being stuck on the farm for the rest of his stay, especially if it meant not seeing Cortland's face again.
The mere thought of him was souring his mood. What was up with that colt? Was he trying to get the Pie family angry at him? If it weren't for the farm and just how important this location was for the rocks, Cheese would suggest moving to get away from the town that was turning more aggressive in the support of a Cortland and Pinkamena courtship. He sighed, wondering why those ponies were so blind to how rotten of an Apple he was; his cutie mark should have been a dead giveaway!
He sighed, pushing Cortland to the back of his mind. Why should he be thinking about somepony who made him angry? He looked at Maud, who was uninterested in him as she always was. He figured that he was paired with her to lessen his small talk and do more work. So, he simply continued lifting rocks into the cart, in order to move them to the next field.
"Igneous Clyde Rock, who is that?!" Cloudy shouted from elsewhere in the field.
Cheese and Maud turned their attention to the path that was far off, where Igneous stood with a blue unicorn with a white mane. Even from afar, Cheese could tell it was that pony from the other day, even though he wasn't wearing the top hat. He curiously raised an eyebrow, wondering what this pony was doing here. And though he was far, there was something vaguely familiar about him that Cheese overlooked the other day due to being in a hurry.
"Oh, I helped him out the other day, Ma!" Pinkamena hollered from another part of the field. "He's friendly!"
Cheese smiled at the sound of her voice ringing over the fields and his mind went back to her smile. He counted himself lucky to have seen such a pure smile from a beautiful mare, which had been one of her most well-kept secrets.
But though she shared that secret, he wasn't sure he could share one of his own.
Bluejinx followed Igneous, being introduced to the older stallion's wife, Cloudy Quartz. He told her his name and shook her hoof, smiling warmly at the confused older mare. It wasn't long before they were joined by Pinkamena, who was just as confused by his presence as her mother.
"What are you doing here, Mr… Mr…"
"Bluejinx."
"Okay, thank you."
"Well, the little… incident, and that ridiculous rumor—"
Pinkamena groaned and rolled her eyes. Her parents' brows were furrowed, and he was sure that they were sick and tired of that mess. Bluejinx took a deep breath.
"…as I was saying, those got me curious about you folks. I assure you I don't believe that gossip, and I want to learn the honest truth about you ponies."
Cloudy blinked and gave him a dull stare. "We farm rocks."
Bluejinx chuckled. "Well… I knew that already. I hope you don't mind if I take a look around."
"Just don't touch anything."
"All right, I'll keep my hooves off your, uh, rocks."
Bluejinx set off on his tour of the rock farm, and looked around at the expanse of a barren field and many rocks. Behind him, he noticed Igneous following him, making sure that he didn't touch the rocks or his daughters. Seeing what happened the other day, Bluejinx could sense that the older pony was wary about his presence.
They came across two other mares, one gray and the other one blue-gray, both sweeping smaller rocks into piles. Though he wouldn't admit it out loud for fear of rubbing Igneous the wrong way, he found them quite pretty. The gray one noticed him, and hid behind her sister, only to peek from barely above her sister's back with wide eyes. The eyes of the blue-gray one were just as wide, and there was a rapid couple of blinks every few seconds.
"Hello, girls," he said. "My name is Bluejinx. What are yours?"
The blue-gray one raised an eyebrow. "Er, Limestone? And the shy one's Marble, just so you know."
Marble glared at her. "I'm not shy."
"You're being shy right now."
Bluejinx scribbled down the names of both the mares in his notepad. "So, might I ask what you're doing?"
"Putting rocks into piles and waiting for our sister Maud to move them to that field," Limestone answered, pointing to a patch of land that was a little far off. "That's where magic gets disrupted the least when it rains. And since it's been pretty rainy this month, the rocks are slow in ripening."
"Um… rocks can ripen?"
"Yeah, in certain places."
"Ripen to… what exactly?"
"Gems, building material, ores, stuff like that. Why else do you think rock farms exist?"
"Well… thank you for enlightening me." Bluejinx wrote down what Limestone had just told him. "Learn something new every day, hm?"
Both mares nodded, and Bluejinx nodded at them before moving on. Though Igneous was silent, he could sense him judging him by the way he interacted with his daughters. He was a little uneasy, feeling as if he was just being viewed as a desperate suitor instead of just a curious pony working for the newspaper. As lovely as Igneous' daughters were, he was not here for a date.
Coming into view was yet another daughter, which he assumed was Maud, was pulling a cart, heading for her mother and sisters. With her was a tall, skinny, orange stallion, which he instantly recognized as Cheese Sandwich.
He bit his lip, a sense of dread forming within him. It had been years since he had seen Cheese, and when Bluejinx had last spoken to him, it was merely to shift the blame for an accident on another colt. He still remembered Cheese's initial shock to what had happened, and the sudden switch from that to pure anger was so frightening that he had sped out of the room with the all the other colts, with the exception of one.
If anything, Tomato should be here to see him, not me, he thought. This is his brother after all.
Seeing Cheese all grown up, Bluejinx noted that the build and facial structure was awfully similar to Tomato's. A closer look reminded him that they had the same eyes, and they both sported the family forelock. Cheese still wore the glasses and the wild mane, and seemed to have acquired a poncho somehow. Bluejinx was curious about the adventures that he had, and assumed that they would make great stories.
Of course, he was unsure how Cheese would react upon recognizing him, and he was terrified to find out. Did he hold a grudge? Would he threaten him like he did with Cortland? Did he become less shy and more aggressive after years on the road? Bluejinx took a deep breath and decided that maybe Cheese didn't recognize him.
Before he knew it, Maud and Cheese were in front of him. Maud had no reaction, while Cheese was obviously curious. Bluejinx was a little hesitant, and the fact that Igneous was looking at him with a face that said, "What are you waiting for?" didn't help his nerves. With another deep breath, he introduced himself, trying hard not to wince when mentioning his name.
The mare blinked, and simply replied, "I'm Maud."
Cheese was tapping his chin, muttering , "…Bluejinx? Bluejinx… where have I heard that before…?" A few tense moments of Cheese thinking ended with him scanning Bluejinx up and down. After this scrutinizing, Cheese's eyes widened, and he backed up as his brow started to furrow. Soon, there was a glare coming from his eyes.
Cheese looked away, and pointed at a rock. "There's another, Maud. I'll get it."
Bluejinx watched as he trotted to the rock and picked it up with one foreleg, grunting as he lifted it. Cheese walked back, put it in the cart, and then let out a sigh. A bitter glance was shot in Bluejinx's direction before Cheese spotted another rock and went to retrieve it.
Igneous blinked. "That was… odd. Usually he's a pleasant fellow, even if a little shy."
Bluejinx winced. He didn't doubt that Cheese recognized him, even after all these years. And just like he thought, he wasn't very happy to see him. He sighed and shook his head.
You've been holding a grudge for an awfully long time, haven't you?
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Ooo, backstory stuff. Where's my popcorn?
What was Cortland's cutie mark again? I kind of forgot what it was
4637240 Brown apple.
You know, slamming the door in the face of the father whose daughter you harassed will just make things worse. Well, it's coming back to bite Cortland now. That Apple is going to get mushed.
Well then, time for Cheese's backstory. I don't think I'm the only one whose hoping for a Tommy scene, or cameo. With Bluejinx around, I'm looking forward to seeing where this will go anyway. He's a nice guy, from what you've shown, but will Cheese see that? Here's hoping he will.
And happy early Independence Day too. I'm English, so I don't celebrate anything. I'm suspecting there might be a few fics for this occasion though. Might watch the film too. Eh, I don't know.
Well. I figured that Cheese would recognize Bluejinx. I wonder though, all about all those questions you just posted. I cant wait for the next chapters. Good luck.
Why are these Ponies so gullible I mean,aren't they a least doubtful about Cortland
4637279 gross, thats a gross way to live.
nice chapter
Hmmm not sure if I'll like the Bluejinx/Tomato thing, but I'll wait and see. Your headcannon for Cheese is completely different from mine. I'm curious to see what you'll do with it. Overall though, I really liked this chapter. I have the same problem writing "fluff chapters," so I understand the frustration. Sometimes you can only see where you want to go with the story, and you're at a loss for how to fill in the blanks. Keep up the good work, you're doing a great job with it.
This is going to sound crazy, but I actually feel sorry for Cortland. It seems pretty clear to me that he realizes now Pinkie isn't playing hard to get, but he's already got the whole town to buy into his BS that the Pies abuse their daughters, and that he will "rescue" Pinkamena. If he backs off now he will be thought a coward and his reputation in Nickerlite will be ruined. He's trapped in his own web of lies. Harrelson shipping him off to a cousin is the best thing that could happen to him. I really noticed the whole "Belle and Gaston" vibe going on.
There's also another shoe still to drop: Igneous and Harrelson know about his harassment, but not that Cortland has been spreading rumors about the Pies abusing their kids, which as family friends the Apples KNOW are false. Can't wait to see how that plays out.
4646208
I bet Cortland would have backed down a thousand times already if the whole damn town weren't prophesying his conquest of the pink one. Not to his credit, he's just not got that much of a backbone. But then everyone says he's being wronged by her spurning and she's just a confused weak female, and he puffs right up like a pigeon.
4649887 I think you nailed it. We saw how brave Cortland is when Igneous came calling. It makes you wonder, something's going to happen to Cortland, the situation is unstable, but how is the Pie family going to reconcile dealing with the citizens of Nickerlite? The Pies have ample reason to dislike most of the townsfolk, and the townsfolk think the Pie daughters are being abused. I'm afraid one of the other Pie daughters will have to marry a Diamond Dog; at least they've been taught to respect the Pie family.
I'm waiting on the edge of my seat for romance to blossom!
4651679 Sure :3
4665759
Wot? It got better.
Chapter 19. I was wrong about Bluejinx... eh. Nevermind, the story is rolling, yes, the past is revealed slowly!
So, let's see how it goes...
-Zeph
I just realized, Igneous warning Bluejinx off reminded me of that great scene in Futurama where the moon farmer warns Bender to stay away from his beautiful robot daughters, especially Crushinator, who is basically a robot version of Maud.
4676656 I agree! Although Crushinator shows off way more emotion than Maud.
Tomato. So is his full name Tomato Sandwich or perhaps Tomato Ketchup?
So, unrelated to this chapter, but could Bluejinx have hidden party pony magic on his mom's side of the family? Purple Prose having the ability to weaponize pencils feels pretty party pony-ish to me.