Ch.1 Tough Love.

"Oh, come on! Are you kidding me!?" I asked in disbelief.

My parents looked sternly at me. It did not seem like they were kidding.

"You heard us, young man," my dad said. Man, he sounded pissed. "If you can't be trusted to use your money in a responsible manner, then you are not allowed to use it at all."

"That's not fair! It's my money, I won it fair and square!" I argued in fervor. "You can't just take it away! There's laws against that, probably."

"Sweetie, we are not taking away your money," my mom says in that caring but firm manner only a mother could do. "We are just putting it on hold until you can learn to learn to use it responsibly."

"And how long will that be?" I groused.

"That's up to you, son," dad said. "You will get access to your money when we are sure you have your attitude under control. Until then, you are not allowed to use any of it."

"And what am I supposed to do then? Just lay around on the house with nothing but TV, computer and video games all day?" Okay, that doesn't actually sound bad. In fact, it's pretty sweet. But when you have millions upon millions of bits to use as you see fit and then all of a sudden you're told you can't use any of it... well, that would get anyone raring mad, wouldn't you say?

"I'm glad you brought that up," dad said with a faint smirk. Ooh boy, I did not like that look. "Because you are not going to stay in this house."

Uhh. "What?"

"Honey, your father and I are busy people and we can't be watching you all day. And given your recent behavior, we cannot trust you to behave in our absence; so your father and I have decided that, for the time being, you are not going to live in this house," mom said softly.

Now, I literally, and I mean literally, recoiled as if she had hit me. "Y-you're kicking me out?!" It actually hurt a bit inside. I mean, I know I haven't always been a model child but this...

My actions probably triggered something in mom, because she was suddenly beside me, snaking her arms around me in a tender hug. "Oh sweetie! I did not mean it like that!" she stroked my back exactly like she knew I liked it in my younger years; and though it hurts my manly pride to admit it, I leaned against her loving, caring warmth.

Damn mom, making me feel all safe and loved.

Hmm, my eyes were starting to feel all prickly. Was someone cutting onions or something? Maybe. Oh well, back to the matter at hand.

"What I meant to say was, you will be staying someplace else; and you can come back as soon as you become a well-adjusted young man!"

Ooookay mom, thanks for ruining the moment. "Again... what?!"

It was dad's turn to speak. "Your behavior has gone down the toilet son. Frankly, I think this city is to blame. Of course, you are not without fault either; but your mother and I believe it would do you good to get away from city life for a while; see and experience new things, understand?"

No, I most certainly did not understand! "B-bu... th... that's not fair!"

Dad nodded sagely. "No, it's not fair. I believe it's called tough love."

That bastard!

I looked hopefully towards mom. "Mom..."

And she looked back at me regretfully. "It's for your own good, sweetie."

That did it. I begged and pleaded and raged and even cursed a couple of times, but my parents' decision was made and although I knew mom was sympathetic to my plight, I also knew from past experience that she would not budge from her decision.

And yes, maybe I did crash my expensive foreign car into the neighbor's living room.

Yes, maybe I did bribe the smartest, nerdiest guy in school to do my homework for me.

Yes, maybe I did use my money to convince the school board into making the cheerleaders' skirts scandalously short.

Okay, yeah. And maybe I did hire a desperate-for-cash clown to stalk my clown-phobic teacher, causing long repressed memories to surface, in turn causing him to revert to a psychiatrist for help in battling his inner demons; but hey, he did give a bad grade on that math homework. I don't know. I do feel somewhat guilty about it.

Whatever the case, my fate was sealed. My father had known this farmer from his college days who lived in some out-of-the-way town. Apparently, the farmer had an apple farm. The biggest in all of Equestria, or so he says.

According to dad, this farmer dude's farm was in danger of going bankrupt and dad, being the swell guy that he is, graciously helped the farmer how he could. Get this, the reason the farm was failing was due to the farmer guy's incompetence in managing his books and finances.

So dad swept in like the proverbial superman and helped the dude reorganize his books(dad's an accountant, by the way. A very successful one). He had to wade through years and years of sloppy financial handling, but in the end, he saved the guy's farm.

From what I can gather, the farmer guy passed away some time ago, may he rest in peace, but dad's heroic actions meant that he was on good relations with the farmer dude's family. So after my money mismanagement, dad called up the apple people and asked if it would not be too much trouble for me to spend some time over and they had readily agreed(I had just finished my last year of high school at seventeen years old).

I would be a guest in their home and dad had made it absolutely clear that I would do whatever was asked of me, meaning chores and hard, unpleasant physical labor(was there any other kind?). It was my parent's hope that by living through more humble means, I would become more responsible and appreciative with the things I had.

And of course, dad would keep in touch with the apple hicks and if he found out I was not doing my part, I would not be coming home until I adjusted my attitude.

I countered by stating that I could just loaf around for a year in the farm, and when I turned eighteen, those forty seven million bits in the bank would legally become mine.

Dad did not back down and said that if that's how I wanted to play, it then he would donate all the money to various charities and organizations. That right there gave me the mother of all mental breakdowns.

So in the end, no matter how much arguing, screaming, pleading and yes, crying I did, it was decided I would be spending the summer at this 'Sweet Apple Acres', where the only option of my return was to become a changed man.

And so one week later, with nothing but a suitcase and the clothes in my back, I departed the city of Manehattan via train, setting course for the fetid, podunk town of Ponyville.

Wow, it literally hurts to say that name.