Climbing the Mountain 2

by Talon and Thorn

19) Harvest Festival: Day 2, The Meeting

Max’s eyes shot open before squinting at the bright light, which was forcing its way through the side of his tent. His ears twisted back and forth for a moment, trying to locate whatever had rudely awoken him. Judging by the amount of sunlight, it was much later than he’d planned. He could make out the sound of various ponies enjoying their breakfasts and, further away, the sound of the market starting up for the day. Then came a sound of someone tapping a hoof on the side of the tent. He blinked again. “Hello?” he called, his voice croaking a little.

“Morning, dearie,” came Mrs G’s voice. “I brought you some breakfast.”

“Just a minute,” called Max as he rubbed his eyes, and struggled out of his bed roll before stretching and yawning. Then he stuck his head out of the tent flap and enjoyed a deep breath of the fresh morning air, picking up the scent of the pancakes resting on Mrs G’s back. “Thanks,” he said, taking the food from his assistant. “But you didn’t have to. I could have gotten something myself.”

“You’ve been on the road for two months. I don’t know if you’ve been taking care of yourself, you look a little scrawny.” She gently poked at his side. Max actually thought he was in better condition than he’d been for a while; all that good food in Canterlot had meant he’d gotten a little pudgy. Still, he wasn’t going to argue as he started on his meal. Mrs G produced a bowl of milk from somewhere, still warm from the cow. “You’ve got a lot to do today, and I think you need a good start.”

Max took a mouthful of milk. “Yeah, I’ve got quite a few meetings. I need to talk to Doctor House Martin, those ponies from Fisher Agricultural and the Apple Trust, Arctic Breeze, the weather ponies, probably a few of the mayors as well, Piste definitely.” He hadn’t had a chance to talk to his best friend yet, but he knew that as mayor he’d have a lot to do during the festival.

“Plus me and your mother need to talk to you about your finances,” added Mrs G. Max scowled. He wasn’t looking forwards to that. “And you should probably talk to Honeybun as well – she’s still stirring up trouble. You’ll need to deal with her sooner or later.” Max sighed. He remembered Fragrant’s suggestion; hopefully it would help. “She might be in a good mood. It's the drinks competition this evening; she’s looking to place.”

“Well that’s something, I guess.” There was normally a competition where people from all around the province would compare their various home brews; it was really just a chance to get drunk, but some took it very seriously. As mayor, Max had been asked to act as one of the judges most years. Honeybun had won a few times but not for the last few years, and not due to any low scores from Max – he did love her mead. Finishing his pancake, he gazed across the fields and noticed a goat and a pony approaching. “Oh, there’s Conn and Bell,” he said waving a hoof.

“Good morning, Bar... Max,” said Bell, suppressing a yawn.

“Morning, Bell. How was your night? Getting used to the library?”

“Well, I didn’t get much of a chance to sleep, actually,” said the mare. Mrs G raised an eyebrow and looked at her son.

“We stayed up late, reading and talking,” explained Conn quickly. “I was showing Bell around the library and I pointed out a few of my favorites, and one thing lead to another.”

Noble nodded. “It’s not that big a selection, but more varied that I’d thought. We don’t have a library back in Pinegraves. I don’t normally get a chance to discuss poetry with another pon... um goat. It wasn’t what I expected.” She gazed over at Conn for a moment, who grinned back. Then she shook herself and produced a sheet of parchment. “Oh, and we put together the letter for Cal-geo. You can actually ask for quite a bit of compensation, but we decided to lowball it a bit to make sure you get the full report they’re making. it’ll probably be worth more in the long run, particularly if they find anything unusual.”

“Thanks,” said Max, taking the letter and glancing at it before storing it in his tent for later postage. “Ok, I better wash up a bit, then. I’ve got a busy day. Conn, could you find Greenleaves and see if she’s free to help us talk to the Fisher and Apple Trust representatives? Maybe just after lunch,” he suggested. He’d learnt from Fragrant that ponies tended to be more relaxed and more likely to agree with you just after they’d eaten.

“Anything I can do?” asked Noble.

Max thought for a moment. Most of his planned meetings were with ponies he already knew; he probably wouldn’t need any legal help. “Um, could you find something about the role of a representative to the Night Court? We haven't got any at the moment, but the Princess will probably try to recruit some soon, and I have a pony in mind. It might be an idea to show her what her duties would be. See if you can make it seem exciting.”

“I think I can do that,” agreed Noble, peering over Max’s shoulder at Conn as he trotted away carrying the remains of Max’s breakfast. Then she turned back to the baron, her face a little flushed. “Max, can I talk to you about something… um… something about Conn?” she asked.

“Ok, sure,” said Max.

“He’s... well, he’s been very friendly, he gave me his bed, he’s really interesting... more interesting than most ponies I’ve met, but... well, I got to talking about the Academy last night and he just shut me out. He seemed really angry for some reason. Do you know why?”

“The Ambelon Academy? I don’t really know, he’s not...”

“He applied to study there,” said Mrs G, joining the conversation with a scowl.

“It was the Academy he tried to join?” asked Max. Conn hadn’t made it entirely clear which school he was planning to go to, or maybe he had; it had been a long time ago, about the time Max’s father had died. It was a bit jumbled in his mind.

“Yes, tried to get a scholarship. Miss Punctuation managed to get him to sit the exam for a scholarship. He did well, he’s always been a bright boy,” said the nanny with pride. “He did really well, and he had to learn most of that stuff himself, no tutors and the like. Then he got an interview, and they just rejected him.”

“Well, there’s a limited number of places each year. Only the very cream of the crop get in,” said Noble.

“Like you? My boy got ninety percent on that test, better than you. They were ready to accept him with open arms until they met him!”

“Maybe it was a particularly high scoring year?” suggested Noble a little lamely.

“How many goats were in your class?” said Mrs G pointedly.

“Well, um, none; it was all ponies, well, one hippogriff.”

“Exactly!”

“Now, we don’t know that for certain,” said Max, trying to calm the angry nanny. “I did offer to help him pay for tuition.”

“I know,” she sighed, “but he’s a proud billy, he wanted to prove to me, and himself, he could do it.” She looked over towards the retreating figure of her son. ”He’s always been a good boy. They all are in their own ways.”

“You think he didn’t get into the Academy just because he’s a goat,” asked Noble, sounding a little confused. “I’d thought, well, I thought no goat would be interested, but he... he is different isn’t he.”

“He’s hardly the only goat with brains, you know.” Mrs G scowled, then her face softened a little. “But he’s got more than most.”

“But that isn’t right! Why didn’t he say something, do something about it!” she stamped her hoof, then looked around seemingly a little surprised by her own actions.

“Would anypony have listened?”

Max looked around, a little shame-faced. he probably should have helped more back then, rather than spending time feeling sorry for himself. He thought of his investigation into the legislation that kept referring to everypony rather than everyone. He’d just seen it as too big a problem to deal with. Should he have done more? He turned and noticed a group of goats approaching, ladened down with large packs and in one of two cases pulling tents behind them. His eyes widened; it wasn’t all that rare for a few tor to turn up to trade at the festival, but a whole tribe was unusual. They seemed familiar too; most tribes were fairly individualistic, and he was sure he’d seen these before... of course, the tribe from the meadow, where Fragrant had gotten drunk! He had invited them to come, but he just didn’t think they would take up the offer. “Excuse me,” he said to Mrs G and Noble. “I better go and say hi to our new arrivals.”

Mrs G glanced over at the approaching tribe, then gave a double take. She blinked and her mouth dropped. “It... it can’t be!” she stammered, her face paling.

“Mrs G, what is it?” asked Max. He didn’t think he’d ever seen the old nanny react as strongly to anything before.

“Noble!” cried Mrs G as she started to gallop towards the tors. “Find Conn, tell him that Brian needs to be here!”

Noble looked at Max in surprise. He shrugged and nodded before following after Mrs G as quickly as he could. The nanny had come to a stop in front of the group of goats. “Тэр нас барсан байна уу? Та энд байна, яагаад тэр вэ?” she cried in a language Max didn’t understand. It almost looked like she was going to cry. What could be going on?

“Ямар ч эхнэр, би ч үхсэн биш байна,” came a voice from among the tor as the crowd separated, and the tribe's leader, Jurgaghan, strode forwards a little stiffly. Next to him stood Chinua and a few of his guards.

Mrs G closed her eyes and gave out a long sigh for a moment, before opening them again, now burning with anger. Her posture straightened and she took a step forwards towards the old goat. “Why are you here now?” she asked in the local goat dialect. “After all these years?” She took another step forwards and a few of the female guards stepped forwards to intercept her. She glared at them and they backed off again.

“цэцэг, үнэн зүрхний,” stuttered the old goat. “You know I couldn’t stay,” he continued. “I couldn’t live among the ponies, I tried but I couldn’t. I had my responsibilities, I’m khan, but I never forgot you. The pony-khan here told me of you.” He pointed towards Max. Mrs G turned her gaze on him, causing Max to step back, swallowing hard.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked dangerously.

“I... I what? It didn’t seem important, what’s going on?” asked Max in confusion.

“I didn’t tell him about us, it’s not his fault,” explained Jurgaghan quickly. “But he told me about you, about our son.”

Max blinked. He wasn’t sure that he’d heard that correctly. “Wait a minute,” he said, “Did you just say…?”

There was a clatter of hooves, and Max spun around to see Brian, Caoimhe, Conn and Noble galloping up. The commotion had attracted a good number of other ponies who were watching cautiously from around the campsite. “Mathair,” he called. “What’s going on? Who are they?” Looking around suspiciously, the large goat took his place alongside his mother.

“Brian,” said Mrs G softly, “I’d like you to meet somegoat you haven’t seen for a very long time.”

“Brian!” cried Jurgaghan, his mouth dropping and tears starting to fall. “Миний хүү! Миний хүү минь ээ! Та маш хүчтэй өссөн шүү дээ! Уучлаарай!”

Brian’s face furrowed in confusion. “Xүү? I don’t understand, I...”

“Brian,” said Mrs G, resting a hoof on her son’s back. “This is Jurgaghan. He’s your father, my first husband.”

“Father? I don’t, I... you left us, I don’t even really remember...” Looking just as confused, Caoimhe walked to her husband’s side.

“I’m sorry, my son,” said Jurgaghan, tears still seeping from his eyes. “I tried, but the ways of the ponies were just too strange for me to stay. I returned to my people, but I never forgot you or my true love.” He turned to Mrs G. “When your khan told me about... about my grandchild...” He looked towards the bulge in Caoimhe’s belly, and Brian took a step to put himself protectively between his father and his wife. “I had to come. I am sorry for not being in your life. Can you... can you accept me, if not as a father, then at least as someone who wishes you well?”

Brian looked back and forth between his father, mother, and wife; his face likewise betrayed his emotions, flicking between anger, confusion, and joy. He turned to Mrs G, who gently gestured towards Jurgaghan and gave a nod. Brian took a step forwards, then another a little faster before putting a leg around his father, and the two of them embraced somewhat cautiously. Around them a ragged cheer broke out from the tor as well as a few ponies that had understood what was going on, and even some who just wanted to join in whatever was happening.

“He tried to stay,” said Mrs G to Max, keeping her eyes on her ex-husband and son. “We agreed that it was better if he returned to his people, but... I still told myself I would punch him in the face if I ever saw him again.”

“Why haven't you?” asked Max.

“He’s more handsome than I expected him to be after all these years,” she hissed. “I don’t want to mess that up.”

---

After making sure that the tor tribe was settling in well – they had set up a little way from the other camps – Max left the recently reunited family alone. Understandably, Brian still seemed conflicted by the sudden reappearance of his father. The tall goat had, as far as Max knew, never really been bothered by his father’s loss; he had bonded quite well with Mrs G’s other husbands and his brothers, but Max guessed it must have been an issue. Now that he was back, if only temporarily, Brian didn’t seem to be able to decide if he should love or hate his father. He did seem to be able to decide that he was very proud of his wife and future offspring, as was the soon to be grandfather. Caoimhe seemed to be getting a bit annoyed by being poked and stared at by her husband and his rediscovered family, and as Max was leaving Mrs G had stepped in and separated the groups. The old mare seemed to be taking the reappearance of her ex-husband in her stride so far, but Max thought he should give her some time to get acquainted. He probably didn’t need her for the day anyway; Noble, Conn or another of his friends should be able to give him any help he needed.

Max quickly ran through his mental itinerary. There were quite a few ponies he wanted to talk to today, but only a few he had actual appointments with. Deciding to at least make some effort to be presentable, Max quickly popped back to his tent for some cleaning supplies before making a beeline to the river. The banks were fairly crowded with other ponies who had had the same idea and the atmosphere was social, with foals of all ages splashing about and older ponies stopping to catch up on the latest gossip. Trying to find a fairly secluded spot, Max soaped up his coat and tried to work out the majority of the grime from his travels. Apart from a mare flirtatiously asking for help washing her back, most of the crowd left him alone, and after half an hour or so a much cleaner Max had finished toweling himself off and was heading back to his tent to drop off his supplies.

The goats had set up their tent settlement while he was away, and there was no sign of Mrs G or her family by the time he got back. Hopefully things have worked out well, thought Max. He quickly considered who he should go and see first, before deciding on Doctor House Martin. The old stallion probably wouldn’t be too busy first thing in the morning, and he hoped he’d take his suggestion well; it would be good to start his day without an argument. Throwing his towel into his tent, Max oriented himself towards the Doctor's cottage and set off.

---

Taking a deep breath, Max knocked on the door of the large cottage that acted as Doctor House Martin’s house and surgery. Their talk last night had managed to soothe away some of the awkwardness between them; he knew the old stallion really did care for his mother, but he was still uncomfortable around the doctor. He sighed. He guessed he’d just have to get used to his mother and House Martin being together; it really wasn’t his business. He knocked again. It wasn’t that early; surely the Doctor was up? Maybe there had been some sort of emergency and he was out.

“I’m comin’,” came an angry cry from inside. “Knock the whole place down, why don’t you!”

Max couldn’t help but smile. That was the Doctor Martin he knew.

The door was thrown open. “What in Tartarus do you want?” shouted the Doctor. “Oh, morning, Max. Good to see you.”

“Morning, Doctor. Are you busy?” he asked.

“Not so much,” replied House Martin, stepping back so Max could pass. “Just these two at the moment.” He gestured to two older fillies slumped down on a pair of beds. Despite their natural colouration, both looked distinctly green and clutched buckets to themselves. One just about managed to raise a hoof to wave, while the other, overcome with nausea, vomited messily into the bucket before lying back with a groan. “Seems these two decided that now they’ve got their marks, they were old enough to try some big pony drinks, and finished off most of a bottle of Moonshine’s rot gut before their parents found them.” Both girls gave another pitiful groan. One of them mouthed something that looked like ‘kill me!’ before leaning over the bucket again.

Max winced. It was something of a local tradition to let newly marked foals have a shot of hard liquor to celebrate, which often led to an uncomfortable morning after, from what he could remember of his own party. “Are they going to be alright?” he asked as the doctor escorted him into his rather messy sitting room.

“Better out that in,” Martin explained. “They’ll feel like death warmed up for the morning, but I’m sure they’ll bounce back. The resilience, and stupidity, of youth. He gestured to a seat. “Now, what do you want to talk to me about?” Max sat down and shuffled around a bit to get comfortable. He reached under a cushion and pulled out a stethoscope. “I wondered where I put that,” muttered House Martin, taking the instrument in his aura.

“I was thinking about the red lung outbreak over in Sharpside,” started Max.

“Like I said, a bad thing, but nothing I could help with at the time. Too far away.”

“I know, but they didn’t have a proper doctor out there. Most of the settlements don’t.”

House Martin nodded. “True, not much to draw a doctor out here. Not somewhere you can make much of a living after spending all that time training. I just wanted a quiet place to retire after... well, never mind that. I don’t see that changing much.”

“You’re probably right, but most settlements have someone. A herbalist, or somepony with a mark for healing. But it’s not enough, they fall back on whatever they can, even if it’s just hope.”

“Like those snake oil peddlers last night!” snarled House Martin. “Preying on the foolish like that. It’s practically murder, letting idiots think that their horseapples will protect them from something like red lung. You never know what they put in that stuff: quicksilver, lead… the Princess should do something about it!” he yelled, waving his hooves around angrily. “Anyway,” he panted, calming slightly. “What do you think you can do about it all? Like I said, not many doctors are going to want to come here, even now that Nulpar’s been formed, and I doubt you can afford to pay many of them. You were probably lucky to just get me the money for an apprentice.”

Max flinched a little. “Actually, it’s about that,” he said cautiously.

House Martin glared at him. “Let me guess. You’re using that for something else?”

“Not exactly. We really do need more medics, but not just in Sadlzburg. The rest of the province needs help too.”

“You want to get somepony for another settlement?” asked House Martin, leaning back in his chair. “Well, you’re not going to get much for the amount you were talking about. Maybe it’ll train an apprentice, but it wouldn’t get you a real doctor. Besides, I’m not getting any younger. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep up the pace by myself.”

“I don’t want you to go on alone! I want you to teach other ponies! Lots of other ponies!” exclaimed Max. “I said most settlements have somepony they can rely on. Well, I want you to make them more reliable, make sure they know what to do in an emergency. Not only them, but other volunteer ponies too!”

“I’m not going to be able to just magic up doctors from a few volunteers, you know,” said House Martin sharply. “This land needs real medics, properly trained, not just having spent a few hours with me.”

“I know that,” said Max, slumping down slightly. Was this really a workable idea? “But surely something’s better than nothing. If there had been someone in Sharpside who’d recognised the red lung straight away, then they could have gotten proper medicine from you or Neighvosibirsk. Nopony needed to die!” He slammed a hoof on the arm of the chair with more force than he’d meant. “I’m sorry. I know it’s probably just a pipe dream, but I need to do something with what I’ve got!”

House Martin raised a hoof for a moment. “No, you might be onto something, lad. It won’t be perfect, but, well, I might be able to manage something.” He paused for a moment, thinking. “Maybe, if you can get me some students. Ponies who aren't afraid of some hard work, and with at least half a brain. If you can manage that, I’ll give it a go. Take them on for a few months and see what I can make of them. At least it’ll lighten my load a little. Maybe give me a little more time with your mother.” He grinned as Max squirmed.

“Thanks,” said Max, starting to stand. “I know it won’t be easy, but please, can you try? I promise I’ll do what I can to get you some proper help, but I need time, and I don’t want people to die on my watch if I can help it.”

House Martin nodded. “I understand, Max. I’ll do what I can, maybe talk with any herbalists and what not in town. See what they need to bring them up to scratch.” He escorted Max back to the door. The two fillies on the beds seemed to have recovered a bit while they had been talking; their coats were returning to their normal colour. One of them was even starting to look around the room a little apprehensively.

“Feeling better?” asked the doctor. The two fillies made somewhat positive noises. “Good! We’ll be able to have you back to your parents soon enough. I’m sure they’ll like to talk to you about last night. Moonshine might want a word as well,” he said with a smile. Looking at each other, the patients seems to suffer an almost immediate relapse, starting to groan again. “Still feeling peaky?” asked House Martin, “Well I’ve got an old secret treatment for that. Ginger!” He levitated a sample off a table. “It’ll make you feel like a new pony.” One of the fillies cautiously opened her mouth. “Oh, you’ll only wish it went in that end!” exclaimed the Doctor with a chuckle.

---

Stepping out of the cottage, Max considered where to go next. It was still several hours until his meeting with the business representatives. Maybe he should catch up with Conn or Noble, wherever they had gone to. Or maybe he should look in on Piste. He didn’t really have much to say to his friend, but it would be polite to see how he was doing. Maybe offer him a bit of advice on being mayor. Max certainly knew how busy the festival could get. Nodding to himself, Max set off towards the town hall.

His journey took him through the centre of the marketplace itself. As expected, it was packed with traders of all species: local farmers selling vegetables, lumberjacks peddling building supplies, griffins from the Eyrie selling tools, ponies from Snowtown selling coal, wool from Herdstone; the whole province was represented. It made Max feel good to see how prosperous and productive his people were.

He was pushing past a unicorn selling candles when he caught sight of somepony he knew. “Hey, Arctic!” he called.

The pegasus mare turned to face him as he approached. She was wearing her armour from her time in the guard, although Max suspected that, after her first foal and with a second on the way, a few of the straps might have been loosened a little. Despite that, she was still a fairly intimidating sight, though it was somewhat nullified by the sight of her filly, Chill, standing on her back. Judging by her outfit, she was probably helping Lone Star deal with policing the festival. Most of the festival goers were law abiding, but you always had a few bad apples. Last year they had found a pickpocket amongst the crowds, and sometimes haggling got a little too heated. Most of the trouble they did have wasn’t at the market but later in the evening, when after a few drinks rivalries between settlements would sometimes get out of hoof and lead to a brawl. Normally all that was needed was to separate the combatants and give them a chance to cool down or sober up, but that was where the sheriff and his deputies like Arctic were needed.

“Hi Max,” said Arctic with a grin. “I heard you were back in town. How did things go?” she asked. On her back Chill looked at the baron with a slightly cross-eyed expression as if she didn’t quite know who he was. It was quite likely she didn’t remember him; after all, she was very young and hadn’t seen him for months. The thought made Max feel a little blue, but he quickly pulled himself together.

“Fairly well, Breeze. I made it to most of the places I’d planned to...” he gave a quick run down on his journey, the ex-soldier listening patiently until he came to his time in the village of North Town.

“Max!” she exclaimed, before taking a deep breath. “Chill, dear, can you go see your father now? Mummy’s got some bad words to tell the baron.” On her back, the little filly screwed up her face.

“Want to stay!” she proclaimed.

“That was an order, soldier!” barked Arctic, causing Max to jump. Still looking unhappy, the foal gave a surprisingly crisp salute before hopping off her mother, her little wings flapping instinctively, and trotted off towards her father, Sunbeam, who was talking to one of the store holders nearby.

“Were you bucking crazy!” cried Arctic once her foal was out of hearing range. “Of all the feather-brained, pony-apple ideas I have ever heard, that had to be one of the stupidest!”

“Well it seemed reasonable at the time...” started Max, taking a step away from the angry mare.

“Reasonable! Taking on a whole squad of bandits by yourself was reasonable! You were insanely lucky that they didn’t just kill you as soon as they saw you, that you actually managed to beat their leader, and that the village rallied to help you at just the right time... that’s Tirek’s own luck, Max.”

“I couldn’t just leave them, I’m responsible for them, what if something had happened to the foals? I couldn’t have forgiven myself.”

Arctic slumped a little, some of the anger going out of her as she glanced over towards Chill who was happily gnawing on a carrot her father must have given her. “If something happened to Chill, I don’t... I don’t know what I’d do,” she mumbled, before straightening again. “But it would be my duty to try and get help, not just charge in by myself. I couldn’t help her if I was dead.”

“They were so far away from everywhere,” protested Max. “It’s not like we have any military in the province yet. It would have taken two, maybe three weeks for me to get to somewhere in Rushia or Ambelon to get help. Even if I had found a pegasus to make the trip, it would have still taken over a week. Once I got there it would still take time to get things organised.”

“The military has units for that type of thing,” explained Arctic. “Fast response air chariots and the like, particularly if a baron was asking for help directly. Still, yeah, it wouldn’t have been much less than a week at best before they got there, but when they did a few bandits wouldn’t have stopped them,” she said with some pride.

“If we had a good road network,” said Max. “Or even railways. It could be so much quicker...”

“We don’t have that for the biggest towns yet,” interrupted Arctic. “Somewhere like Norton... well, it’ll be lucky to get anything in our lifetime even if most of your dreams come true.”

“If only the village had been willing to get help from the rest of the province...”

“If wishes were chariots,” said Arctic. “Anyway,” she took a deep breath, “I have been working on a province guard like you asked.”

“Is that working out?” asked Max hopefully, his ears pricking up. it would be good to hear that one of his ideas was going without a hitch.

“Not that well. Me and Lone Star put our heads together and came up with a list of ponies who might be interested. Most of them weren’t much more than foals really, one of two older ponies as well. We came up with a dozen or so and invited them to some drills, and, well… about half dropped out when they realised that the military’s not just about glory and getting to wear cool uniforms, but lots of hard work and standing around with a few moments of utter terror.” She shivered a bit. “I expected that, really, I’m actually surprised so many of them stayed on. We’ve run them through some training, and, well, they’re pretty lousy for the most part, but they’re trying. Still, they’re so... so...” Her eyes flicked towards Chill again. “So young.” She sighed. “I know I was only a few years older when I first enlisted, but...” She shook her head. “Anyway, they’ll need a lot more training before I’d take them off to battle.”

“I’m not planning on them fighting a war, you know,” said Max, putting a leg over Arctic. “Just to help out in an accident like Innsbuck.”

“But if we did have more bandits, they’d be the front line,” she stated. “I’ve got them helping to police the festival for some practice.”

“That’s good,” agreed Max. “You might want to ask around the other settlements to see if they have anypony who’d like to sign up.”

She nodded. “We’re not much more than a club so far. All voluntary. If you want an actual guard here then you’re going to need to spend some money for equipment and the like. If you were actually offering a wage, we might get more ponies interested.”

“Well,” sighed Max, “I’ll see what I can do, but there are a lot of other projects that need money as well. I doubt the province guard will ever be more than part time at best. I just want to make sure my people are safe.”

“I know,” agreed Arctic, nodding her head. “So any other death defying feats you want to tell me about and ruin my blood pressure?”

“Well, there was a rock slide. Oh, and the dragon,” said Max awkwardly.

Arctic facehoofed. “A dragon?” she asked wearily.

“Well you know the legends about Old Smokey? Well, I always thought it was just a volcano so I decided to climb it and there was this crack in the top so I roped down and...”

---

“There is a reason why the dragon task force only accepts veteran guards into its ranks, you know!” growled Arctic. “And to use her hoard as a library!”

“Is that Zephyr?” asked Max, looking away from Arctic’s disapproving frown and glad for the distraction.

“Yes,” said the ex-guard, following Max’s gaze. “I thought she was with Piste and Lone Star in the town hall, he’s adjudicating.”

Max glanced up at the sun. It was later than he expected, and much of the market had cleared out to avoid the tyrant's gaze. “Isn’t it a bit early for that?” he asked.

“Bigger market than normal means more disagreements,” explained Arctic brusquely. Max thought she might want to get back to her foal while the place was quiet.

“I should probably talk to her, then. Maybe she can arrange a meeting with Piste.”

Arctic nodded. “We can talk more about the guard later. Try not to declare war on the griffins or anything while I’m gone,” she snarked.

Smiling, Max turned and galloped off towards Zephyr. He hoped Piste was enjoying the role of adjudicator more than he had. He’d hated having to try and settle disputes at the market. Literacy was quite low in Nulpar - another thing he’d need to deal with - and many agreements were verbal, meaning most disagreements were one pony’s word against another. It was even worse when a contact was drawn up, but only one of the parties could read and the other was too proud to ask for help, even though people like Conn or Zephyr were on hoof for such services. “Zephyr!” he cried as he got near. The mare had a plate of sandwiches and a drink carefully balanced on her back between her wings.

She looked back over her shoulder. “Hi, Max,” she called with a slightly icy tone. Max tried not to flinch. He’d hoped that she’d forgiven his rather hasty words the last time he’d seen her.

“Hi, how are things?” he asked.

“Busy,” she said with a sigh, sounding tired. “Biggest festival ever, so much to organise, but I think it’s going well.” There was a touch of pride there too.

“Good! It looks like you and Piste are doing a great job!” Max grinned. “I’d like to have a chat with him later. Do you know when he might be free?”

“The Lord Mayor,” she highlighted the title, “is going to be busy for most of the day, Baron. There’s a lot for him to do while the festival is taking place. I just popped out to get him some refreshments. He’s had to adjudicate disputes all morning so far.” She glanced over to the town hall, where there was a line of ponies waiting rather impatiently outside. “He should be available for your meeting with the other town leaders tomorrow.”

Max’s ears dropped. He wished she wouldn’t be like that. “Zephyr, the baron doesn’t want to talk to the Lord Mayor. Max wants to talk to Off Piste, his best friend!”

Zephyr slumped a little. “I’m sorry, Max, but Piste really is busy. He’s got to adjudicate for most of the day, then he’s got to judge the contest tonight. Once the market slows down tomorrow he’ll probably have a ton of ponies wanting to pay their taxes and he needs to meet with the other mayors and the like. He really is very busy. I’m proud of how well he’s taking it, all things considered.”

Max sighed. it would have been nice to have a bit of time to chat with his friend, given that his announcement tomorrow might hurt him, but he did know how busy he would be this time of year. “I understand Zephyr, just tell him I asked about him will you?”

“Of course,” she nodded, and turned to go.

“Oh, before you go,” said Max remembering something he’s meant to ask her earlier. “How many permanent teachers are there in Nulpar, that you know?” Zephyr acted as part time teacher in the rather cramped school which taught the foals of Sadlzburg.

“Um... me, Black Board over in Sharpside, somepony over in the Folly, I think, and maybe half a dozen travelling tutors covering the smaller settlements, why?” she asked.

“I think we need more. while I was traveling I met some Tor, they asked for somepony to help them with Equestrian and in turn they could teach some ponies their language. On top of that we need a more literate population, if nothing else it would cut down on these disputes if both sides could understand a contract.”

“We could use a whole lot of things, but yes, teachers are one of them,” agreed Zephyr.

“I really think I can do something about that at court,” said Max, “It shouldn’t be that hard to get funding for schools, at least not in the larger settlements, but the smaller and nomadic communities will be harder. Are there any of the tutors in town?” he asked.

Zephyr cocked her head. “A few I think, what do you have in mind Max?”

“A few ideas, I might be able to learn something from them, I’ll tell you more once I’ve got some things sorted out.”

Zephyr looked like she’d like to ask more but she glanced over towards the town hall again. “I better get Piste his food.” Max nodded he was feeling a bit peckish himself. “Oh, before I go, Iron Trotsky wished me luck in tomorrow’s competition earlier, he said you knew about it, what’s up?”

“Competition?” asked Max trying to think back to what the mayor might be talking about. “Oh! Um... well you see I think I might have agreed to a dance competition between Nulpar and Sharpside while I was visiting...”

Zephyr frowned for a moment then her eyes went wide. “Max!” she cried, “What were you thinking! We’re not prepared!” Zephyr was the leader of the town’s dance troupe and often arranged competitions within or between settlements.

“Well he was going on about how their dance hall was so good and they were better than us, I wanted to prove otherwise, you can put something together right?” He grimaced.

“In a day! With them having months of notice! They’ll hold this over us for years!” Her wings shot out in anger, almost dislodging her cargo.

“Sorry I meant to tell you earlier, but well I forgot,” mumbled Max.

Breathing deeply Zephyr tried to rein in her temper. “We did plan for a display for the festival but a competition... well we can’t lose, it’s the town reputation on the line, Corona take me if I’m going to lose to Sharpside. I’ll see what I can do, but you’re going to owe me for this Max. Now get out of here before I strangle you!”

Max nodded and trotted off as quickly as he could. He certainly didn’t want to hang around Zephyr while she was in this mood, even though it was all his fault.

---

Max quickly made his way to the library hoping to find Conn to discuss the meeting in a few hours. However, he found the building empty but unlocked, not an uncommon situation, Sadlzburg had little in the way of crime. There was no sign of the goat or Noble, they must be out somewhere, maybe Conn was meeting with his, well what was his relationship with Jurgaghan? His stepfather? It must be very odd to just have a new family member drop in on you unexpectedly.

A quick search of the library revealed a note addressed to him attached to a book. The note indicated the meeting had been arranged and gave details, they would meet up here and the meeting would take place in one of the meeting rooms in Mounty Hall. Max pondered the book for a moment then remembered the request he’d made to Noble earlier. It was some sort of text book laying out the structure of the Equestrian government and the role of various officials in it. It might be a bit complex for what he wanted but it should give Honeybun and idea of what a representative to the night court did, actually he should probably have a look through it himself if he ever had time. He was surprised Conn hadn’t mentioned it before actually, flipping through it Max noticed that despite being well used it was only a few years old, which was unusual for any of the texts in the town's library. maybe it was one of Noble’s textbooks, it was rather generous of her if it was.

Standing there skimming the book for a moment Max decided there was no time like the present, he wasn’t keen on meeting his enemy but he needed to deal with her sooner or later and now was the best time he had before the meeting with the mayors tomorrow. Hopefully Fragrant’s idea would work, plus he could probably get something to eat as well.

When he got there the pub was packed and both customers and temporary staff had spilled out into the town square outside. As he struggled through the crowd he heard several shouts of greeting from both friends and strangers, which he tried to reply to as best he could until he made his way to the bar. He looked around for the landlady but there was no sign of her. however, he did noticed Sealbhach behind the bar, apparently helping out. “Is Honeybun around?” he cried over the sound of the crowd.

The goat passed a mug of something frothy over to a mare with a wink before turning to Max. “She’s out back, tending to the hives,” he explained, “She’ll probably be out there until evening.” Not waiting for a reply he moved on to his next customer.

Max nodded and considered. Maybe he should call the meeting off, Honeybun was annoying, but surely she wouldn’t be that much trouble. Maybe he could talk to her after the meeting tomorrow? He shook his head, no, he had to deal with her sooner or later, she was one of his people and she had issues with him, he needed to do what he could to arrest her fears. Pushing his way back through the crowd he made his way out of the bar and circled around the building to the large field behind it. This was where Honeybun got the raw materials to make her famous mead from, dotted across the field were two or maybe three dozen wicker hives. Even from here the sound of humming could be heard, and a few drones buzzed by causing Max to instinctively whip his tail around. Two sets of protective clothing hung next to the gate, and Max considered putting one on, he wasn’t keen on getting stung but he decided that the time taken to put one on would just be another excuse to delay meeting Honeybun.

Taking a deep breath Max stepped into the field and scanned around for the yellow mare. After a few seconds he spotted her next to a nearby hive. Max’s mouth dropped as he saw, to his surprise, Honeybun was dancing, hopping around the hive in a very strange manner swinging her flanks around as she went. Whatever was she doing? As he watched, a dark cloud erupted from the hive in front of her and flowed over her; she wasn’t wearing any protective gear and Max flinched expecting a cry of pain as she was attacked, but instead the swarm passed by, leaving only a few stragglers hanging onto the mare’s mane before settling onto another nearby hive.

Carefully, Honeybun tipped the hive off of its pedestal and, taking a knife in her mouth, started to hack at the contents, scooping out wax and honey and placing them in nearby buckets. It was interesting to watch but Max knew he couldn’t spend all day here. He cautiously trotted towards Honeybun, managing to get within a dozen or so lengths of her before one of the bees took objection to him being so close to their homes and he cried out as he was stung. Jumping in fright, Honeybun spun around to glare at Max, a large cloud of bees forming up behind her apparently at her command.

“What are you doing here, Baron?” she asked almost spitting the last word.

Max rubbed at his stung flank. “I wanted to talk to you,” he said, eyeing the cloud of insects wearily.

“Really? And what did you want to tell me? I’m very busy you know,” she snapped. “Wait are you here to bribe me baron?” she asked tilting her head.

“No, of course not!” said Max, “Why are you doing this Honeybun? What have I ever done to you to make you dislike me so much?” he asked. “I know your mother wanted to be mayor, but that was up to the voters not me.”

“I couldn’t care less if your father was more popular than my mother,” said Honeybun. “I don’t trust you, I know what a bad leader can do!”

Max cocked his head. “What do you mean? You’ve never even left Nulpar! What leaders have you met?”

“Look around you,” she gestured at the hives surrounding them. “Each one ruled by their own queen, the other bees do what she tells them to they live or die for her.” She pointed a hoof at the hive she had been harvesting from. “I’m harvesting honey now and the only way I can do that is to destroy most of their home. So I just ask the queen, offer her a new home and off she goes, and the rest of the hive follows her blindly, even though it probably means most of them will starve over the winter. All the queen cares about is herself, the rest of the hive can die.” She looked up at him seeming almost guilty. “It’s not a good idea to blindly follow a leader, they might end up being a queen bee.”

“Honeybun,” said Max, blinking a few times at her comparison, did she really think he’d do that? “I’m not a bee, you’re not a bee, I’m not going to let any of our people starve.”

“Aren’t you? People trust you Max, they listen to what you say, you dream of something and they take on that dream. That’s very dangerous.” She shut her eyes for a moment. “You’ve got stars in your eyes Max and I don’t think you always see the real world.”

“What do you mean? What have I missed?” asked Max, genuinely interested.

“Your road building plan.”

“What about it? It helps everyone if we can get to other settlements easier, makes trade easier too.”

“Yes, but where did the money come from?”

“Well, I paid for some of it, others out of the town funds and some others donated as well, almost everybody chipped in.”

“Yes, and where would that money have gone to if you hadn’t built those roads?”

“I don’t know, this and that, the town hall, grain silos...”

“Yes, food! Places to store it, with the roads we trade more and keep less for ourselves and have less stored anyway. What do you think would happen if we had a bad harvest? If a big wild storm came in? It’s happened before, and you can’t eat paving stones, Max.”

Max swallowed, it wasn’t entirely an unknown idea to him, he had considered the possibility but he hadn’t thought it was likely. “We’d survive, everyone would chip in to help each other.”

“Are you so sure?” she asked staring at him.

“Yes,” said Max, stamping the ground agitatedly. “I believe in my people, all of them, I want the best for them!”

“Really? So why did you just leave us as soon as you got your new role, just run off to Canterlot?” She snorted.

“I didn’t have a choice, it’s my job, I represent the ponies of Nulpar to the princess.”

“And how do you know what we want!? You haven't been here!” she said stamping a hoof on the ground. The cloud of insects behind her seemed to condense into an angry blob.

“You're being irrational,” snapped Max, pawing at the ground in response before trying to bring himself under control. “I can’t be in two places at once, but I’m doing my best to listen to Nulpar. I wrote to Piste all the time, I’ve gone out and talked to the people from all the settlements to find out what they wanted.”

“Yes, you ran away from your own people as soon as you could. you’ve spent what, three nights in Sadlzburg?”

Max, looked down, maybe she was right about that. he’d felt he needed to get away, but was that just due to Piste and Zephyr? “I know Sadlzburg already,” he mumbled. “Besides,” he said with more conviction, “I represent more than just Sadlzburg now, I’ve got to do what’s best for all of Nulpar.”

“And what have you done so far!?” she asked angrily.

Max sighed, this wasn’t an argument he was going to win. still, he had to make his offer to her. “Look I didn’t come to argue, I came to make you an offer.”

“You want to buy me off?” she asked.

“No, I want to tell you something. You don’t like what I’m doing, you think you can represent the Sadlzburg better than me, well there’s a job you can take up to do that.”

“Like you’d let anyone working for you criticise you!”

“Not working for me, for the princess,” explained Max, “Have you heard of a representative to the Night Court?” He opened his bags and took out the book Noble had left for him earlier. “This tells you all about it.”

Honeybun cautiously approached and took the book in her hoof. “Representative to the night court? Never heard of it,” she said. The mass of bees behind her had started to disperse back to their hives, but there was still enough around to look very threatening.

“It means you represent the people of Sadlzburg directly in court. you can tell the princess how things are going, and if I’m doing anything wrong you can report me.” He didn’t mention how much paperwork was needed to do that, and how much evidence needed to be gathered, he felt a little dirty following Fragrant’s suggestion, still it wasn’t a lie, Honeybun could do a lot, but she’d have to work hard at it. “The post isn’t open yet but it should be soon, you’ll have to apply, but I don’t think anypony else will be interested.”

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked suspiciously as she flicked through the pages of the book. It occurred to Max he wasn’t sure how literate she was, it wasn’t all that uncommon for his people to not be able to read, education was a rather rare commodity. Still, she shouldn’t have too much difficulty finding somepony to read it for her if needs be.

“Because I’m not as bad as you think I am, and I want to make sure I never am. You have a point about not storing as much food as we used to and I’ll think about it. I’ve never been afraid of having my friends point out if I’m doing something wrong.” It was annoying and sometimes hurtful when they did, but usually once he calmed down he did realise that others generally had his best interests at heart.

“I’m not your friend!” snapped Honeybun, but apparently surprised by his suggestion. her heart didn’t seem to be in it.

“No, but you’re one of my people, and I have to try and do my best for you, even if I don’t like you much. Just think about it,” said Max as he started to turn away. “Anyway even if I don’t agree with you I still like your brew, I hope you do well in the contest tonight.”

“Yeah, well, thanks,” mumbled Honeybun. “I’ll see you there.”

“Bye,” called Max and he trotted away from the field glad to be away from the stinging insects. As soon as he was out of sight he let out a sigh. That could probably have gone better, still he’d done what he’d planned to do. he had offered an olive branch, and told Honeybun of the representative role. It was up to her what she did now. He really did hope that she had some ideas rather than just arguing with him for argument’s sake, that she could help him. Still only time would tell now.

---

After leaving Honeybun’s field, Max headed back towards the library. His meeting with the farming representatives wasn’t far off now, so he took a detour through the market which was back in full swing now. He stopped briefly and purchased a rather overcooked carrot dog from one of the vendors before devouring it on his way. He was glad to find the library inhabited now, both Conn and Noble were present. the latter had changed into a rather severe business suit at some point, making Max feel distinctly underdressed, still at least Conn was naked as well.

“Max,” cried the goat as the baron entered. “Glad you made it. Did you get the note? We’ve arranged the meeting to take place in your manor.”

“I thought it was full?” he asked.

“We managed to at least clear a room for a few hours,” explained Noble grabbing a folder and already heading to the door. She stopped for a moment and looked Max up and down, ”You could have put some effort into looking like a Baron!” she exclaimed making Max shuffle uncomfortably.

“Sorry, I’ve had a busy day,” he explained.

“I guess you’ll have to do,” she complained brushing a hoof over his coat to apparently remove some dirt. She paused seeming to fear she’d gone too far but Max only grinned and ran a hoof through his mane trying to flatten it down. “Hurry, we don’t want to be late!” She continued before striding off through the town leaving the baron and the Conn to canter to keep up.

“She’s all business isn’t she?” muttered Max to his companion.

“Yeah,” replied Conn with a grin. “Very focused, I like that.”

Max nodded, he was glad the two of them were getting along well. “Where’s Greenleaves? I thought she was going to be with us?”

“She’s due to meet us at the hall,” explained Conn.

Max nodded. “So... what do you think of Jurgaghan?” he asked.

Conn stumbled in his stride for a moment, turning quickly to Max. “I... I don’t really know. I don’t know much about Tors, and it’s not like he’s really anything to me. Mum seems taken with him and Brian, well Brian’s been thrown but it all, he never really had a dad before, you know my father was never the paternal type and he was already grown by the time Sealbhach’s father was on the scene. I think he likes the idea, but he doesn’t know what to do about the reality... I’m sure he’ll get used to it sooner or later.”

“So,” said Noble slowing slightly to allow the stallions to catch up with her. “How are we going to work this meeting? What’s your plan?”

“Plan? I thought I’d just listen to what they have to offer and decide what’s best for Nulpar. I’m sure you two and Greenleaves can help me with that.” said Max.

“That’s it! No plan to play them off against each other? No research into what they’ve offered in similar situations before? You don’t even know what they’ll likely want from us?” she facehoofed. “Could you be less professional?”

“Well I actually did some research,” offered Conn, “Fisher Agriculture is the largest supplier of farming equipment in Equestria; they more or less dominate the magic side of the market, but they also sell more conventional stuff as well. Their prices aren't that bad compared to their competitors, mostly due to economy of scale, but their high end stuff is expensive. They prefer to sell in bulk if they can. That might be an issue given how small most of the farms around here are.”

“And the Apples?” asked Max as he glanced up. Mounty Hall was getting close very quickly now, making him wish he’d thought of this earlier. Noble was right, it wasn’t professional of him, Fragrant would have researched everything before going to such an important meeting.

“They tend to work differently, rather than supply tools they prefer to either set up farms themselves, or if there’s a company in place already doing well, buy it up. Like Fisher they prefer to work on larger scales if possible. They’re a big employer, but they tend to bring in their own management when possible and they take a lot of the produce out of province, which can be good and bad. We grow enough in town for most of the province as it is, any extra we can export, but we do want to make sure we keep enough to keep feeding the other towns.”

Max nodded as the doors of the manor house loomed in front of him. He remembered Honeybun’s words. “We do have to make sure we have enough to survive an emergency.” Well, it was too late to find out much more now. “Ok, thanks for that, Conn. Yes, I know I should have done more research Bell, but I have had quite a bit on my plate,” he said a little huffily, “I’m just going to need to do better next time and to rely on you two to help me if you can. If you have anything to say, say it.” Given how blunt Noble could be that might not have been the wisest thing to say, thought Max as Conn quickly led him through the still not entirely explored interior of the mansion and to a meeting room. A good chunk of the room was taken up by a large solid looking table which Max thought was probably more suited for a kitchen, and may well have come from it. Several chairs were set up around it, the place would be quite cramped once everypony they were expecting arrived. Indeed two of the other guests were already present.

Max’s cousin Greenleaves was already sitting at the table looking over a number of catalogues, pointing out various things as well as probably helping her read them was a pony Max didn’t recognise. He was a short stallion, probably only coming up to Max’s chin although his long flat topped horn added considerably to that height. His mane was pure black and his coat a dark green, a beard graced his face, neatly trimmed to a point. Max glanced along his flank to note that his mark was a star surrounded by a circle of cogs. Max wasn’t sure what that symbolised but it probably meant he didn’t get his hooves dirty much.

Looking up, the stallion hopped from his seat and gave a deep bow towards Max. “Baron,” he said with a faint Rushian accent. “I am pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Mechanized Harvest, I have the pleasure of representing Fisher Agriculture.”

“Oh, thank you, I’m sorry I’m late,” said Max holding out a hoof. Mechanized looked at it for a second before taking it and giving a firm shake.

“No, it is I who was early. I was just showing your representative the equipment that Fisher Agriculture can offer your people.”

Greenleaves looked up from the catalogue, excitement flickering in her eyes. “There certainly is a lot of useful stuff Max, things I didn’t even know were possible.”

“Fisher Agriculture is at the cutting edge of farming technology,” said Mechanized with some pride, “We can offer you things no other company can. As no doubt you are aware Baron, our current chairpony, Archduke Fisher, is very keen on improving farming efficiency, the largest production per pony possible.”

Max nodded, trying not to frown. He and the Archduke had not gotten off to the best of starts, hopefully their personal relationship would not affect any agreements he might come to with Mechanized. For a moment he worried that the Fisher Agriculture representative might be working some scheme directly for Fisher, but Fisher Agriculture was a huge company, there was no reason to think the Archduke even knew about this meeting... right?

Max was about to ask Mechanized to take a seat again when the door behind him opened and another pony rushed in. He too was a stallion with a yellowy brown coat and a two tone brown mane, slicked back with gel. “Howdy folks!” he called flashing a perfect set of teeth. “Sorry I’m late, I lost track of the time enjoying your town.” He grabbed Max’s hoof and shook it with enthusiasm, “Max, name’s Hayseed Turnip Truck, Apple Trust representative, I hope you and I are going to get along famously, baron.”

Max was a little taken aback by the strength of the greeting and found his hoof pumping in the air even after his guest had released it. “Oh, um Hello Mr Truck, pleased to meet you. This is Miss Noble Fir, my legal adviser, Mr Conn Grobhar my, um, assistant and Mrs Greenleaves, my farming advisor.”

“Pleased to meet you all,” said Hayseed giving a nod to each of Max’s team.

“And this is Mr Harvest, of Fisher Agriculture,” he nodded towards the last pony in the room.

“Oh, me and old Mechanised know each other quite well,” said Hayseed with a wide grin. “We sort of share the same territory after all.” The Rushian pony’s gaze looked rather less cordial.

“Maybe we should get the meeting started without taking up any more of the baron’s time?” suggested Mechanised.

“Of course,” said Hayseed settling down in a chair and taking a few papers from his saddlebags. The room’s other inhabitants likewise took their places and in moments silence spread over the table as Max wondered how he should start the meeting.

“I will be taking the minutes,” explained Noble after a few moments, taking a pencil in her mouth. “If you could make your proposals to the Baron one at a time, we will discuss them as we go.”

Max, was very glad she was present to make the whole thing look at least slightly organised. He really should have put more effort into this.

Hayseed gave a grin. “I’ll go first, unless anypony minds?” He looked around, “No? Good. Thank’s for inviting me here baron, when your representative, Zephyr wasn’t it? First contacted the Trust we just expected to talk to the local mayor, we weren’t expecting to meet the local noble as well. Still we have been meaning to talk now that Nulpar exists and all that. No idea how you can just lose a place as pretty as this,” he shrugged, “Still, bureaucrats, am I right?”

Max grinned, he liked the Apple Trust representative’s relaxed attitude, and he’d had the same thought himself in the past, although he supposed he was technically a bureaucrat himself now.

“Now the Trust takes its duty to feed the whole of Equestria very seriously and we’ve been considering expansion in this area for a while. Your lands aren't the easiest to farm but nothin’ the Trust can’t handle. I’ve been chatting with a few of the local mayors, very handy most of them are here at the moment, and we’ve worked out a few possible locations for a new Trust run farm to be set up.” He pushed over a rough map of the province with a few locations marked out in red. It didn’t surprise Max much that most of them were near Salzburg, it did have the most fertile soil in the area, however, there was one up towards Herdstone and another close to the Eyrie. What did surprise him about the plan was the scale.

“They’re big,” he stated, raising an eyebrow and passing the map to Greenleaves who looked just as surprised. The plots of land marked out were bigger than any of the local farms, easily twice the next largest, maybe three times.

“Well the Trust don’t like doing things by halves, plus there is a certain economy of scale in play. The Trust may have started off as a conglomeration of small farms but that sort of thing doesn’t pay the bills any more.”

“Is this correct?” asked Greenleaves pointing to a spot on the map, “That’s old Hollyhock’s place!”

“Well, the land is well sited near the river to help with irrigation. We’d offer a good price for it of course, if it does become our favoured site.”

“Hollyhock’s family has been there since Sadlzburg was founded, I don’t see him selling up for any price,” said Greenleaves shaking her head.

“Well I spoke to your mayor and he thought it might be possible, and well you can use your authority baron, if it looks like it’s going to be a problem.”

Max looked confused for a moment, he wasn’t sure what Hayseed meant, then Noble leaned forwards. “If you believe a development such as this is essential for your province, they you can put a compulsory purchase order on the farm and force the owner to sell at the market rate,” she said quietly.

Max’s ears drooped, he supposed that made sense and he guessed the new farm might be essential, still it wouldn’t be a decision he’d like to make. He liked the Hollyhocks, the family were pillars of the community and had helped his road building projects.

Picking up on Max’s reaction Hayseed leaned back in his chair. “It’s the preferred site at the moment, but as you can see there are others, we’d need to carry out a more in depth survey before a final decision in taken. We’ll of course cooperate with you and the local authorities to come to the most mutually beneficial solution.”

Max slowly nodded, he wasn’t entirely happy about the situation, but at least the Trust seemed to be flexible on the issue. “We can talk about the exact details later, but I think we can probably accommodate you,” he said cautiously.

“Good,” said Hayseed with a smile. “You won’t regret this baron, a Trust farm will mean hundreds of new jobs for the town, plus it’ll probably encourage more investment, ponies will know the Trust is behind you.”

Mechanised snorted. “Of course what my fellow representative won’t tell you is that most of those jobs will be low paid sessional day labourers. Most of the managers and specialists will be brought in from out of province.”

Max looked over towards Hayseed who shrugged. “The Trust pays a fair wage for a fair day's work, from what I’ve seen most of your people make less than the Trust will pay. Sure most of your local ponies won’t have the skills we need, but the specialist staff we bring in will still be living locally, and bringing their families with them, we like to keep families together in the Trust. It’ll bring in more purchasing power for your towns. Plus the Trust does value loyalty, sure a lot of work might be temporary but not all, your people do right by us, and we'll do right by them.”

Max considered the proposal for a moment. Sadlzburg already had a fair number of day labourers, many of them owned their own plots of land they subsisted on and hired out any spare time they had to other larger farms. What the Trust was saying didn’t seem very different from that.

Greenleaves raised a hoof to speak, and Hayseed turned to her. “Some of the farms already have trouble getting the help they need during harvest times, won’t your farms just make that worse?”

Hayseed seemed to ruminate on the issue for a moment. “Maybe ma’am, but it seems to me that if there aren’t enough ponies around to do all the work then word will get around and you’ll find more ponies moving in, I’m sure some of the ponies in your smaller villages will appreciate the facilities in town.” Greenleaves brow remained furrowed but she didn’t say anything further.

“Excuse me Mr Hayseed,” said Conn politely, “But so far I don’t see why you need to bring this up with the baron. Sure he can help you with obtaining the land you need, but a local mayor could do much the same. What else do you need from Max?”

Hayseed blinked a few times as if surprised by the goat speaking. “Well, there were a few other things I was going to raise.”

“Of course there are,” muttered Mechanized crossing his front legs.

“First thing is transport baron, as things stand it’s gonna be mighty expensive to get our produce to market, maybe enough to make the whole venture unprofitable.”

Max tried to stifle a groan, it always seemed to be about transport. “I have been trying to build up a road network, but it’s not something I can do overnight,” he said.

Hayseed raised a hoof. “I understand that baron, it would be a few years at least until a new farm got up to speed anyway, but before we start we’re going to need a personal assurance that you’re going to do something about it. A good road to Praris would be a good start, rail would be better, some of the crops we’re hoping to produce are perishable, we don’t want to lose them in transit if we can help it.”

Max quickly ran over his plans in his head. “I don’t think I can promise you rails in the next few years, that’s going to take time, but I’m fairly sure I can offer you a road, in a reasonable time scale.”

“That sound good baron, I’ve heard of your bill to increase road building in the more rural provinces, I’m only a local representative but I think I can tell you in confidence,” he glanced over to Mechanized, “That the Trust’s high ups are with you a hundred and ten percent, we’ve got quite a few projects all over the country held up by the lack of good roads and the like.”

Max was a bit surprised to hear that the Apple Trust was aware of his proposed bill, he hadn’t formally submitted it yet. Still it wasn’t really a secret, he’d mentioned it to several of his colleagues, one of them must have mentioned it to one of the Trust members. “I’m glad to hear that Mr Truck. If it passes I should be able to really speed up the plans I’ve made.”

“Good, now there’s one more thing. Even with the transport problem outta the way, your lands are not great for farming, and it’s gonna cost the Trust quite a bit to get a farm started. As it stands it’s gonna be quite some time until we start making a profit. Before we start anything we want to cut that time to a minimum. Now, so far you haven't set any taxes at the province level, which is very welcoming of you, but we guess it ain’t gonna last.” Max nodded, taxation was one of the issues that he’d planned to raise in tomorrow's meeting. “So, before we set up here we’re gonna have to ask for an exemption from any taxes you levy for, well let's say, twenty years.” Again Max nodded slowly, it seemed a long time but he hadn’t really included a possible Trust farm in any of his budgeting so it wouldn’t make that much difference. “And,” continued Hayseed, “we’d need a half percent off the crown tax as well.” Max’s brow furrowed, he didn’t know he could change the Equestria wide taxes as well, but surely the Trust representative wouldn’t ask if he couldn’t deliver, he looked back and forth between his assistants. Bell’s face was scrunched up in concentration and Conn was chewing his lip.

The goat leaned forwards towards the baron and whispered. “The tax has to be paid, if you agree to reduce the tax for a company then the province becomes responsible for paying any shortfall, I think, I don’t know all that much about tax law.”

“He’s right,” said Noble a little louder, before turning to Hayseed. “But there have been instances of larger companies taking advantage of such agreements by using various accounting tricks to move their profits to small operations in provinces where such agreements have been made, thus making the province hoof a significant bill.”

The stallion looked offended by the insinuation. “The Trust has never been found to be carrying out such practices young mare. Any formal contract between the baron and the Trust would lay out what is considered profits made in-province, it would be up to the lawyers to sort that out.”

Max looked over at Noble, she was the closest to a lawyer he had, so it would likely be her who would draw up any such contract, but she seemed so young and inexperienced, he had faith in her but it seemed quite a bit to put on her plate. “Maybe we could sort out something more at the local level, rather than complicating things at a national level?” he suggested.

Hayseed seemed to think things over for a moment. “Maybe if we increase the local tax exemption to thirty years?” he suggested. “I’d have to talk it over with head office, but I think they’d go with it, plus there might be a few bills coming up at court which the Trust will need some support with, we could certainly do with a few favours then, you could pay us back that way,” he concluded with a smile.

Max slammed a hoof on the table, shocking the whole room. “I will have none of that!” he cried, “We’ve only just been warned by the princess to tidy up our acts at the court, I will not take part in any corruption!”

“Whoa, whoa there!” said Hayseed holding up his hooves, “I didn’t mean anything untoward like that, the Trust has never done anything like that, never will neither. I just meant that farming's important to your province, and the Trust is a farming company, what’s good for us is good for your people as well. We’d just like to make sure you’re aware of the impact on farmers of some of the bills you vote on. Not putting any pressure on you to vote one way or another.”

“Oh, right, sorry,” said Max blushing a little, maybe he’d overreacted a bit there, but he was a bit uneasy about the idea. Still, when Hayseed put it that way, he could do with all the help he could get, and Fragrant often discussed upcoming legislation with her brother’s and other weather companies, so it couldn’t be immortal or anything. “As long as everything is above board I don’t see any harm in that then.

“Fisher Agriculture also has no wish to attract the princess’s ire, Baron.” said Mechanised, “But it has to be said that you have very little coin to spend, either in the form of bits or any other power, apart from your position at court. Now, unlike Mr Truck here my company is not looking to start new farms to compete with your citizens, we only wish to make it easier for them to do their jobs. Our tools and equipment are the best in the market, with them a single pony can do the work of three, or more, boosting your people’s output, and their income.”

“Which won’t create any more jobs,” pointed out Hayseed.

“Our equipment can clear previously unusable fields, we have breeds of crops which can grow on previously infertile land. Your farms will be able to grow and as they do, employ more ponies,” added Mechanised sounding a little annoyed. “See,” he said levitating a catalogue over to Max’s side of the table and pointing with a hoof. “As I was showing Miss Greenleaves, our new plows can break up even the hardest of soils and the ‘come to life’ spells on them mean that a single unicorn can charge and control as many as three of them at a time.”

“It looks very impressive,” said Greenleaves, “But, well we don’t have all that many unicorns in town really, and even less of them are farmers.”

“Yeah, only about one in five of my people are unicorns,” said Max glancing at the pictures in the catalogue. “They’re a bit more common over towards Sharpside but they don’t farm much over there, Iron might be interested in some of your stuff, but he’s more into manufacturing mostly.”

Mechanised blinked a few times, apparently the town demographics were a surprise to him. “Well, even so our equipment will be useful, I’m sure you could pay your unicorn citizens to donate energy to power them,” he rallied, “Plus not all of the things we sell are magic powered, we also produce manual tools and specialised breeds of plants.”

Max nodded, he remembered him and Fragrant meeting a few small farmsteads and Fragrant mentioning new crops which could grow in the province’s harsh environments. The farmers had certainly seemed keen on the idea, but they had worried about the cost of the new seeds. “And how much would these be?” he asked.

“I was about to ask that,” added Greenleaves.

“Well, they are not cheap, it takes a lot of time and pony power to create and test the new seeds. However, as the work is for the good of all Equestria we do sell them for as low a price as possible, we prefer to sell in bulk to reduce the price per unit. However your provinces size means that none of the farms really meet the minimum size for our orders, under normal circumstances...”

“That suggests this isn’t a normal circumstance?” said Conn raising an eyebrow.

“After talking to the local mayor we have agreed to sell to the Sadlzburg as a whole in this situation, it still barely meets our minimum order size but Fisher Agriculture are willing to be flexible given the situation.”

Max was a little surprised, it was the first time he’d heard of this, still he was glad to hear of it, Piste had clearly thought the situation through and came up with a solution, good on him. “I’m glad that was sorted out,” he said.

“Piste mentioned it to me yesterday,” said Greenleaves, “He’s trying to organise communal ownership of some of the gear as well, most farmers just don’t have the space to need one of those fancy automated thresher machines, but if we share it around everypony will benefit. I can see the arguments when it comes to who uses it first, still I think we can sort something out.”

“Good,” said Max with a smile. “Although as Conn asked Hayseed earlier, it does bring up the question, why do you need to talk to me about this? Hasn’t Piste already sorted things out?”

“Well, as I said, Fisher Agriculture is willing to deal with a smaller order than normal this time, but we cannot keep offering this option, our overheads are simply too high and we have the rest of Equestria to think of. Your mayor’s idea of bulk purchasing by the whole community is a good idea, maybe you could try to organise the same thing at the level of the whole province?” Max rubbed a hoof against his chin, that seemed a reasonable idea; he’d have to raise it at the meeting tomorrow. “In addition, a small favour in return for our generosity...” Max winced a little, this was it, this was the trap that the Archduke had laid for him... “Fisher Agriculture may be the best supplier of farming equipment in Equestria,” Hayseed snorted a little, but didn’t say anything. “But we are far from the only one, there are many other companies who produce cheaper, but poorer quality merchandise. Many in your province may prefer to buy from other suppliers, probably to their detriment, however, we feel that a personal statement from yourself approving our products would be very useful to our marketing team.”

Max’s brow furrowed, that wasn’t what he expected, it seemed... well it didn’t seem like much really... quite reasonable really. There had to be some sort of ulterior motive behind it, didn’t there? He looked back and former between Conn and Noble, the former looked like he wanted to say something but stopped. The latter looked towards Mechanised.

“We will of course get first view and veto of any literature produced including the baron’s name, image or mark?” she said.

“Of course,” said Mechanised, “Nothing will be produced without his say so and he will be fully involved in writing any statements.”

Noble nodded. “That seems fair.”

“Is there anything else?” asked Max, he needed to think the offers through and probably discuss them with his team before he wanted to make any promises.

“On this matter, yes,” said Mechanised. “However, I do have a request to pass on from my colleague in Fisher Mining. due to an increase in iron and steel demand in western Rushia, she would like to arrange a meeting with you about investigating the deposits in the east of your province.”

Max’s ears pricked up, that sounded like a good opportunity. He wondered if the geologists he’d discovered a month ago had something to do with that? Regardless it was certainly a meeting he would like to set up as soon as possible, he might even be able to get them to help invest in Iron’s rail plan. “If you leave me the representative’s details I’ll have my assistant arrange a meeting. I’m returning to Canterlot in a few days, would your associate be fine meeting me there?”

“That should be acceptable baron,” said Mechanised with a bow, he scribbled some details on a piece of paper and pushed it across the table to Noble.

“If that’s all then?” asked Max. Both representatives nodded. “I’m afraid, I can’t agree to either of your proposals, as generous as they may be, straight away, I’ll need some time to discuss the situation with my friends, but I hope I’ll be able to get back to you before I return to the court.”

“That’s fine with me,” said Hayseed, “I’ll be in town for the rest of the festival. I was asked to judge a vegetable competition, and I’m looking forwards to it.” He grinned.

“That is acceptable to me as well Baron, I am waiting for Lord Mayor Piste to finalise his order,” said Mechanised.

“Good!” said Max standing up and moving to shake his guests hooves as they left.

---

“So what did you think of their offers?” asked Max. The representatives had just left and he, Noble, Conn and Greenleaves were clustered around the table. Noble turned back to the front of her notebook and started to run her hoof across the minutes of the meeting.

“I’m not sure about the apple plan,” said Greenleaves interrupting whatever the younger mare was about to say, “I might be a bit biased, but I don’t know if we really need any more competition, particularly if they’re going to just be able to buy up the best land.”

“But they would be paying a lot back to the community in wages,” pointed out Conn, “It’ll be better for the town as a whole.”

“Tell that to the farmers forced out of business,” said Greenleaves crossing her forelegs. “Or forced to sell their land.”

Max glanced over the map that Hayseed had left behind, each of the possible farm sites required them to buy up some land, but some more than others. “What if we look into each of the possible sites and see who’d be willing to sell up?” he asked.

“I suppose,” mumbled his cousin, “I’m still not happy about the competition.”

“Well,” said Conn, “Most of your produce is sold within the province, right? To Sharpside and the like?” Greenleaves nodded. “Well the apples are mostly planning to export, it’s why they want the roads, it probably won’t affect you all that much.”

“Maybe,” said Greenleaves brightening a little. “It still doesn’t seem all that fair.”

Max nodded, he knew how hard the local farmers worked. Still, it looked like the apple plan would create a lot of new jobs and his people wouldn’t have to fork out for expensive equipment like from Fisher Agriculture. “What do you think Bell?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know much about farming really. the extra income for your ponies would be a bonus, although the loss of any taxable income from the apple farm could be significant. I’m still not sure about reducing the crown tax; even if they play fair that could add up to a lot, and you haven't even collected any of your own tax yet.”

Max frowned, he’d never had that good a head for money, but he could certainly see that the Apple plan could get expensive. It was monies he’d need to build the roads they were asking for as well as some of his other plans. Still it was hard to miss monies he didn’t have in the first place, if he turned down the apple plan he wouldn’t be collecting any taxes from them anyway. “What about their other suggestions, about helping them at court? I don’t want to be making any shady deals.”

“Well, lobbying isn’t illegal,” said Conn.

“But you’ll have to be careful the relationship doesn’t seem too cosy, particularly given the recent events at court,” said Noble, “Nothing's been finalized yet but they’ll probably be introducing new legislation to tighten things up.”

Max felt a little guilty. he’d helped Fragrant and Wallflower put together that very legislation – he probably had a copy of the draft somewhere in his bags – but he hadn’t given them more than a cursory glance, he’d just assumed the mares knew what they were doing. Maybe he should look it over and show it to Noble. “Ok, so what about the Fisher offer?”

“It seems more clear cut to me,” said Noble looking down at her notebook. “Trying to get the various settlements to agree on large scale orders shouldn’t be that hard.”

Harder than you might think, thought Max, thinking of the various rivalries between the different towns and villages in Nulpar. Still he agreed it probably wasn’t insurmountable.

“And endorsing their products is hardly a big cost, it’s quite a common occurrence really, and as long as we check the wording it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’ve got to admit I don’t entirely trust Archduke Fisher,” said Max, “We’ve had a few disagreements.” And he beat me up that one time, though Max, and threatened to attack the Ayrie.

“You might have to put aside your personal opinions in this case Max,” said Noble.

“I can see a few issues,” said Conn, “The smaller companies he referred to, that our farms currently get their supplies from, they’re mostly local companies in Sharpside, the Eayre or Snowtown. By supporting Fisher Agriculture you’re working against them.”

Max bit his lip, that sounded like it would be a problem.

“It might not be that bad,” said Greenleaves, “Most of the stuff Fisher’s selling us is top of the line, the day to day stuff would probably still come locally, particularly if we have to buy it all in bulk; you’re still going to have to go local if your sythe breaks in the middle of the harvest.”

“I’m not sure the local companies will feel that way if it looks like you’re supporting Fisher against them,” said Conn.

“They’ll just have to accept it,” said Noble, “They don’t make the things the province needs to increase productivity.”

“What about the loss of jobs?” asked Max, “If the farms need less ponies to work them?”

“Like Hayseed said, I think most farms will use any increased profit to grow bigger if they can,” said Greenleaves, “I certainly would.”

“And of course, it’s not like we only have to choose one of the two of them,” pointed out Conn, “If Fisher’s tools mean the farms need less workers, then they can work for the Apples.”

Max nodded. he had gotten into thinking it was one option or the other, of course they could take up both offers. “Ok,” he said, “I think we should look into both options, Greenleaves please look into which of the possible sites will make the smallest number of angry ponies, and see if any of the other farming settlements would chip in to order things from Fisher. Noble, see if you can figure out how much revenue we’ll lose offering the tax break.”

“You’ll need to tell me what you intend to tax first,” pointed out the mare.

“Oh, right, I’ll talk to you about that later,” once I’ve decided myself through Max. “And Conn, see if you can talk to a few people from Sharpside and the like, try to find out how much they’ll hate me if I support Fisher’s ponies. We’ll meet up again tomorrow after the mayor’s meeting and come to a decision.” Each of his assistants nodded and started to file out of the room. For a moment Max felt like a real courtier; he’d given orders, hopefully good ones, and now his people were going off to do his will. It almost seemed professional, not bad for a province at the edge of Equestria which everypony had forgotten about.

Then it occurred to him that his next meeting was with his mother and Mrs G about his personal finances and that he’d been spending rather lavishly recently, and he felt like a colt about to be told that he’d spent all his allowance. Oh well, he couldn’t have everything.

---

“So,” said Max’s mother setting aside a sheet of paper, “Do you want the bad news or the really bad news?”

Max squirmed a little in his seat. he, Early and Mrs G were setting in the kitchen of his mother's cottage. It might have been his imagination but it seemed that his chair was significantly shorter than theirs, it made him feel like a foal. “Um, I guess the really bad news? Better to get that out of the way... Am I going bankrupt?” His mother had always dealt with most of the family finances. Max didn’t really know what he actually owned, he knew a good chunk of the farmland around town was held by his family and the farmers paid rent to him, but how much he didn’t have a clue.

Early glared at him for a moment then her face softened, and she rested a hoof on his shoulder. “It’s not that bad dear, but you do need to watch your spending. you’ve bought two houses, paid to supply half a village, plus paying to run the Nulpar government out of your own pocket.”

“Not that the Nulpar government is all that much,” pointed out Mrs G.

“It’s still more than you can afford. most of the tenants pay their rent this time of year so you should be fine for a few months, but we have had to sell off a few plots of land to make ends meet so far. Now that’s gone it doesn’t pay an income any more.”

“So, um what can I do? I need to have somewhere to stay in Canterlot, I suppose I could get a smaller place, move down a tier or two?”

“That might help a bit, although the crown did subsidise that,” said Mrs G. “But no, mostly you need to actually run things properly.”

“You’re in charge of the province,” explained his mother, “But that doesn’t mean you have to pay for everything yourself.”

“I need to start charging taxes,” said Max looking down.

“Yes,” said Mrs G, “If the people want roads and guards and the like they need to pay for them.”

“That won’t be popular.”

“Paying taxes never is,” said Early, “But if ponies want all the benefits they need to pay for them.”

Max sighed. “I know I’ve got some plans but... I know most of my people don’t have a lot to spare and they’re not all going to benefit, at least not right away.”

Mrs G reached out and rested a hoof on Max’s back. “I know you don’t find that sort of thing easy.”

Early likewise reached out to her son resting a leg on him. “But I know you’ll do the right thing.”

“You have to make the hard decisions sometimes, not everybody will like it.”

“But I trust you to do the right thing. I’m very proud of you. Your father would be so very proud.”

“Thanks,” said Max drawing the two old ladies into a hug. “I’ll do the best I can.”

“You can’t do anything more,” said Mrs G.

“I’ll alway be here for you regardless of what you decide to do,” said Early.

Max let go and leant back in his seat. he felt boyed by the support from two of the mares he trusted most of all. “Ok, so no more trying to fund the whole province by myself. Hopefully we’ll be able to get something from Vorel’aurix-levethuix Maekrix-book-rasvim or at least ponies who want to see her books.”

“Maybe,” said Early uncertainly, “I’m not sure how many ponies will be willing to go into a dragon’s den just to read a few books.”

“That depends on the books!” snorted Mrs G, “There are a lot of foolish people out there, ponies and others who have done very stupid things over a few books. Still you can’t rely on that for your budget.”

“No, there’s a lot of things I want to bring to my people and it’ll cost, although I do have some idea how I can get them to them cheaply and show them that paying taxes is actually worth it. You see...” he began to unveil his plan.

---

Max trotted out of the cottage and into the dusk. Both his mother and Mrs G seemed quite positive on his plans, and Mrs G at least would point out if she didn’t think they would work.

After the meeting he’d asked Mrs G about the reappearance of her husband after so many years and the old nanny had been uncharacteristically coy about it. Jurgaghan had apparently made it clear that his return would only be for a few days and that he would be leaving after the festival. Mrs G, Caoimhe and Brian had made it just as clear that none of them would be going with him and that the new couple intended to raise their kid in Sadlzburg. The tor chieftain had eventually accepted that with somewhat poor grace and the family were trying to arrange ways for them to meet each other more frequently than once every thirty or so years.

With a sigh Max looked around, most of the stalls were shutting down for the day. From now on the market part of the festival would start to wind down and it would be more about people enjoying themselves, competitions, drinking, dancing and the like. He’d more or less finished his plans for the day so maybe he’d get a chance to join them? A quick trip back to his tent to freshen up a bit then he could decide how to spend the evening, a pint of two certainly wouldn’t go amiss, although he should probably keep it in moderation, he had to meet with the local leaders tomorrow and a hangover certainly wouldn’t make it any more pleasant.

Setting his course Max was surprised to hear someone call him name. He turned to see Silver Fir and Noble Pine standing by the credit union stand. Silver’s family had run the closest thing Nulpar had to a bank for several generations now, offering insurance and allowing farmers to borrow money to buy new equipment and the like. Max guessed they must have arrived recently. “Max!” cried Silver again, a touch of worry in her voice. “Have you seen Noble? we’ve been looking for her since we arrived.”

“I saw her an hour or so ago, she’s staying over at the library, have you looked there?” he asked.

“The library?”

“Yes, Conn Gobhar, Mrs Gobhar’s middle son agreed to take her in.”

“A goat?” asked Silver paling slightly, “Well I suppose that was rather nice of him but now that we’re here I’m sure Flaky,” she gestured to her brother standing behind the credit union stall, “Will have room for her.”

“Um, ok, she seemed quite happy the last time I saw her, she and Conn make a good team really,” he shrugged. “I’ll show you the way, I need to thank them for their help anyway. She’s been very helpful, she really does know her stuff. If she’s interesting in staying I certainly think there’s a space on my staff for her.”

“Thanks Max,” said Chip with a proud smile. “I knew she’d do well.”

“I’m glad my family could be of help to you Baron,” added Silver, a little stiffly.

Wincing slightly, Max led Silver and Chipboard through the closing up market and towards the library, flickering light could be seen from within. Max knocked on the door and then opened it. Firefly lamps lit the parlor which contained the few shelves of books the town had managed to put together. it was less tidy than its owner normally kept it, with a few stacks of books leaning against the walls. Conn and Noble were seated together on a small bench leaning forwards over a book. They looked up as the party entered, Noble’s eyes widened. “Mum! Dad!” she cried as she scooted aside from Conn before standing. “When did you get here? I was just going over some stories with Conn, I’m going to help him with a reading tonight!”

Max grinned, Conn was known for giving dramatic readings of various books. Both for foals, and given Sadlzburg’s relatively low level of literacy, often adults as well. He knew the goat often felt a little self conscious about them but Max through his performances were quite good.

“That sounds nice dear,” said Noble as her daughter trotted over and gave her a rather stiff hug, before moving over to her father and repeating her gesture with a bit more enthusiasm. Conn stood and paced on the spot, looking awkward. “But I was hoping we could spend some time together, given we haven't seen you for a few days. Then we can help you move into your uncle’s place.”

“Uncle Flaky? I’m fine to stay here, it’s perfectly fine, Conn has let me use his...” she blushed slightly, “I mean the bed, he’s been very kind to me.”

Chip looked between the goat and his daughter, and his eyes narrowed. “I’m sure he has,” he grumbled, “But you should be staying with ponies, with your family.”

Noble frowned. “I am happy here.”

“I’ve... I’ve been taking good care of your daughter,” said Conn stepping forwards. “Bell’s very talented.” He glanced towards the mare who smiled coyly.

“She’s been very useful,” said Max. “Actually, after the meeting this afternoon I’d like to offer you a permanent job on my staff Bell, if you’re still interested. You can be my legal advisor. I can’t exactly pay you that much, but I’m sure we’ll work something out. You can have a few days to think about it, if you want.”

“Thank you Max,” said Noble, “I think I’d like to stay, and help run Nulpar,” she gave a cheeky grin, “With you as Baron I think the place needs all the help it can get.”

Silver looked horrified for a moment before Max gave a chuckle. “You’re probably right, you’ll just going to have to work extra hard.”

“I think it’ll be worth it though,” she added.

---

Max had stood there a little awkwardly as Noble had argued with her parents about her plans for the evening. They eventually agreed that she’d help Conn with his live reading but that they should have a family supper together. The goat had suggested that he could do it alone if she wanted to spend more time with her parents but she had shut him down, insisting she had offered to help him and she would do so. She also insisted that she would spend the rest of the festival staying in the library unless Conn asked her to leave. Silver had transfixed the younger goat with a harsh stare but he had still managed to mumble out that he was happy for Noble to continue to stay with him. Once things were decided, Max made his excuses and trotted back into town while trying to decide what to do with himself. He ended up purchasing a bowl of thick mixed grasses stew from Welcoming Hearth’s kitchen, and followed it up with a bowl of chocolate ice cream from one of the vendors at the fair, which was a real rarity in Nulpar.

After he had finished his meal, his wanderings took him to Honeybuns’s bar where the annual drinks competition was taking place. Although it was hardly an official industry, each village and town in Nulpar had at least one family, and often several, who produced some sort of alcoholic beverage: beers from barley, mead from honey, wines from gooseberries, vodka from potatoes and other even stranger mixes. Most producers were quite proud of their work and brought at least a sample to the festival to show their rivals. over the years the custom had become a formal contest with various local leaders being chosen to judge the offerings.

Betting on the outcome of the competition was fairly common, and beyond that the winners could look forwards to selling the rest of their products at a premium. Max looked back fondly to his times as judge, although it had normally caught up with him the next day. He’d been to a wine tasting at Canterlot and he’d been surprised at the idea of spitting out the drink after tasting it; that certainly wasn’t the norm in Nulpar, although any judge with half a brain did take as small a sip as possible from each drink rather than pass out less than half way into the contest.

The area around the contest was packed with ponies and other species, both those interested on the outcome of the contest, and those just hoping for some freebees. Rearing up, Max tried to look over the crowds at the judges and the scoring. A large blackboard had been erected, showing the competitors’ cutie marks for easy recognition as well as the scores. It looked like Honeybun was doing well in the mead class, although her score was lower than last year’s and she had not won yet, not by a long shot. Max sort of hoped she did win, it would at least put her in a good mood and probably make her more likely to go along with his plan.

He heard loud, and rather off key singing from nearby and turned to see a large crowd of pegasus he didn’t recognise. The tune, however, was familiar, some variation of ‘Hurricane's Hundreds Strong Harem’, he was glad that it was late enough that most of the younger foals had been put to bed, or they would no doubt have a few questions about the lyrics of the bawdy ballad. Max frowned for a moment, not at the song itself – it was the time for his people to let off a little steam – but at the singers, he wasn’t sure who they were. They might be from one of the smaller settlements but there were a lot of them, well over a dozen and they harmonised quite well, suggesting they were close.

“Not just one, but over a dozen could be found – in Hurricane's Hundreds Strong Harem,” sang the strangers, ending up the song to much stamping and cheering. One of the nearby pegasus got to his hooves and only a touch unsteadily began to head towards the row of outhouses set up a short distance from the bar. On his way the stallion turned and looked oddly at Max.

“Excuse me,” he said, “Are you Baron Mounty Max?”

“Um, yes,” said Max, he hadn’t been mobbed quite as much as Noble had suggested he might over the last few days but he had found privacy a little difficult, he hoped the stallion wouldn’t take up that much of his time.

“Good Evening, sir,” said the pegasus giving a unstead bow. “I’m weather patrol manager Barometer. The duchess left her regards, sir. I meant to talk to you earlier, but I hadn’t heard you were back in town.”

Max nodded with a smile, he had meant to talk to the new weather ponies Fragrant had left but he hadn’t had the time yet. “Only got back yesterday, I’ll probably be busy for most of tomorrow.” Max thought for a moment. “How about I buy you another drink and we can chat about it now? We can probably do something more formal later.”

Barometer looked taken aback for a moment, then smiled. “That’s very decent of you Baron, I just need to--,” he pointed towards the outhouses, “--you know.”

“Of course, I’ll see you in a minute,” said Max starting to make his way through the crowd towards the bar. It took longer than he’d hoped to be served, but the place was very busy. He had to be very careful making his way back with the drinks on his back not to be jostled by the mob. Eventually he made his way back to Barometer who was standing at the edge of the pub. Max couldn’t see any empty seats so the two of them just slumped down outside the building along with many other patrons.

“Your health,” said Max passing over one of the drinks before taking a sip of his own. He sighed. For all her flaws Honeybun made a darned good mead. You couldn’t get anything quite like it in Canterlot. Barometer copied his although with a little less enthusiasm. “I’m sorry, would you have prefered something else?” asked Max.

“No, it’s not my usual tipple, a bit sweet, but it’s growing on me,” said Barometer taking another sip. “It’s not like you can get rainbow beer down here easily.”

Max nodded, although he hadn’t heard of that drink. “So how's the weather situation?” he asked.

Barometer blinked a few times and frowned. “Baron, don’t take me the wrong way, but you’re not much like the other nobles I’ve known, not that I’ve known many, just the Duchess and her brother I guess.”

“How so?”

“Well, she’s a perfectly nice pony, but she’s sort of distant, he, well he’s alright but it’s very clear he’s the boss right? You, well, you’re just like a normal pony.” Barometer took another sip of his drink.

“Thank you,” said Max with a grin. He wasn’t sure if the other pony would have been telling this to him if he hadn’t already had a few drinks in him. “So the weather teams?”

Barometer stared off into the distance for a moment before shaking his head. “Oh, right. Well, we’ve been here observing for a few months now and, well, your local weather teams... they’re a disgrace.” He glanced at Max expression. “Well, maybe not that bad, but they’re mostly part time, their techniques are a century out of date and their training’s non-existent!” He took another sip of his drink. “Still I’ve seen worse, far worse, actually your manager’s have show me a thing or two about weaving cloud from vapour. It’s getting to be a lost art you know, almost everything comes from factories these day, still it hasn’t got quite the same feel as real hoof made stuff,” he wiggled his wings a little.

“Sunbeam’s had a lot of practice over the years, it’s not easy to get cloud brought all the way up here, although I hear the Cloudmunger technique has reduced transport losses by over fifty percent.” Max smiled at the weather pony’s surprise at his knowledge. He was glad he’d managed to retain something from listening to Fragrant’s explanation of her cloud export bill.

“Anyway, the weather teams already in place we can work with, we can set up proper certification and fast track your managers at least, we should be able to increase productivity quite a bit if they’re willing to co-operate. Now the rest of the province will be a bigger job, it’s mostly wild weather out there at the moment. We’ll need to set up a lot of weather stations to get is all under control.” Max’s ears drooped, another drain on the province finances. “Still that’ll be good for you mostly, the ministry will have to pick up the bill, as long as your people pay their taxes, plus it should mean a bunch of new jobs for your pegasus at least.” Max’s brown furrowed for a moment, then he recalled that the weather ministry had to provide a minimum weather for the whole of Equestria unless an area, like a town, decided to take over ownership.

“That sounds great!” said Max, some good news was very welcome.

“Yeah, well we haven't worked things out yet, I’ve still got a dozen survey teams out making measurements and deciding where it would be best to set up weather posts, we prefer to use small settlements if possible, but it’s not always convenient. We’ll report back to the ministry when we’re finished, they’ll crunch the numbers and put out some plans, you know how the quill pushers can be, could be years until they finally start getting something done. Still the duchess herself seems to have taken an interest in you,” it might have been his imagination but Max thought Barometer might have winked at him, “I mean, your province, so she might get things moving quicker.” The stallion shuffled closer to Max. “How did your little ‘fact finding’ trip with her go? She seemed very disappointed when she got here and you’d already gone, wasn’t too happy that she had to come back to look into those missing scouts either.”

Max felt a little surge in his chest at hearing Fragrant had wanted to spend more time with him, also a bit of worry at how much the weather pony seemed to know. “Missing scouts?” he asked.

“A few of the lads and lasses got lost, nothing to really worry about. I told Saltpeter not to call her ladyship back, but he does worry. We found them soon enough, still you could do with better maps.”

Max nodded, he’d found that out from his own trip, he could probably make a few corrections based on his own notes. “Maybe your people could help me with that? You’ve got to be keeping some record of where you’ve been?”

“Aye, but we’ve mostly been skywards, we’ve got maps of the currents and the like, not so much the ground. still, I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks,” said Max. Glancing over at a nearby table he noticed Conn, Brian and Sealbhach chatting with a group of the local goats. The town librarian looked a little glum, he’d almost certainly done his live read by now, maybe it hadn’t gone down very well. “Excuse me,” said Max to Barometer, “There’s some goats over there I want to have a few words with.”

“Of course baron,” said the weather pony who stood and stretched for a moment before trotting back to his fellows in the tavern who had started singing again.

Max finished the last of his drink and headed off towards his friends. “How did the show go Conn?” asked Max, “I’m sorry I missed it.”

“It was ok,” said Conn with his eyes locked on something behind Max. He was sipping something from a shot glass, which was odd because the goat rarely drank. Maybe things really did go badly for him. Max turned slightly to follow the gaze, there at the opposite side of the bar Noble and her parents were talking. Max couldn’t make out what was being said but there was certainly lots of gesturing involved.

“Ok?!” said Sealbhach, “He knocked it out of the park, standing ovation and all that.” Several of the other goats around nodded, Max noticed a few of the local lumberjacks amongst them.

“It wasn’t all that,” said Conn looking over towards Max for the first time. “But it did seem popular.”

“It was good, really good,” said Brian slowly, showing his weakness at the Equestrian tongue. The large goat was laid out next to his brothers, curled around his wife. He passed a piece of food from his plate to her mouth via a kiss. Caoimhe’s abdomen was already starting to swell with the life within, Max knew from his mother that goat pregnancies were only about half the length of those of ponies, she’d be kidding in only a few more months. Max grinned, it looked like married life was treating both of them well.

“It was great Conn,” exclaimed one of the other goats around the table. Max thought his name was Croabh, a bit of a hot head, certainly not somegoat he would have thought would have been listening to Conn’s story. “It’s just a shame that Fir mare tried to hog the limelight, that should have been your moment, you didn’t have to share it with her.”

“It wouldn’t have been half as good without her,” said Conn, glancing back over at the nearby table again.

“Look, you don’t have to be polite, you know what her family’s like. No one over in Pinegraves ever cared about us goats. They started that town just to spite us!”

“Bell isn’t like that!” exclaimed Conn.

“Come on Conn, Baron, she just turned up and she’s acting like she runs the place, don’t tell me you’re both taken in by her?” he snorted.

“She’s worked hard and has been very useful so far,” said Max, “She’s got my confidence. She’s got the kind of skills I need to get Nulpar up and running.”

“Oh yeah, she could go to a big posh school and get all that training thanks to her parents’ money! What do you think she was going to be before you became baron, eh? She’d have been off getting a job somewhere else, she’d never have been back to Nulpar again, she wouldn’t want to help us, but now that she might get to be important here she comes back and acts like she owns the place.” He slammed a hoof on the table causing several drinks to shake.

Conn held out a calming hoof. “Look, there’s no need to get all worked up about this!” Max nodded in agreement.

“All those ponies up in Pinegraves are the same,” muttered the goat, “Looking down on the rest of us.” There was a general mutter of support from the other lumberjacks around him. “Can’t even bear working next to us, so like kids they run off and take their toys with them, and they have the nerve to complain that we charge them too much for the use of the saw mill, they didn’t think of that when they left did they?” A ragged cheer went up.

“Look, if you have any grievances I’ll look into them,” said Max trying to calm down the situation, “I’m holding council tomorrow.”

“Yeah and they’ll be there as well won’t they?” asked the goat loudly pointing towards Nobel’s family. “Why should they get a say in how things are run?”

“Everybody gets a say,” said Max sharply.

“But some get more of a say than others,” sneered the goat, “Money talks louder than hard work! Or are you getting something else out of the deal baron? An extra sweeter, a certain little titbit at your beck and call? A little raipseach to raise her tail and let you...”

Max’s indignation was about to burst loose when he found himself shoved aside and, to his surprise, Conn, his eyes flashing, leapt over the table and slammed head first into Croabh, sending him flying back head over heels with a bleat for distress. However, despite his inebriated state, the other goat was back on his hooves in a second and rushed forwards. The two billies collided again with a cracking sound, and their horns locked as each tried to overpower the other.

Max struggled back to his hooves and looked around. A circle was rapidly clearing around the fight as ponies and goats tried to distance themselves from the wresting pair. To Max’s surprise, Brian was not moving to help his brother, instead he had positioned himself between the fighting and his wife. As he watched one of the other lumberjacks took a step forwards to help his colleague; Brian stared at him and shook his head gently and the other goat stepped back with his ears lowered.

“Come on Conn, you can take him,” yelled Sealbhach stomping on the table, not helping the situation at all.

Max was surprised by Conn’s reaction. the librarian had always been even tempered, he would have expected it to take more than a few harsh words to set him off. Still, he certainly seemed enraged as he struggled against his larger opponent, the lumberjack was pushed back a few steps before he got his hooves fully under him and his greater strength came into play slamming into Conn and starting to force the still struggling goat back. Max began to push forwards to try and break up the fight before things got further out of hoof. There was a quiet thump off to one side before a voice barked, “Ok, break this up now!”

Max turned aside to see Arctic Breeze, still in full armour and looking less than pleased. At the sound of her voice the fight seemed to go out of Conn and he stepped back. His opponent was not as affected and took the opportunity to lash out his horns, catching Conn on the side of the head knocking him down, blood spilling from a cut. With a flap of her wings Arctic was there between the two fighters, looking up at the larger goat in front of her. “Stop Now!” she ordered. With a snarl, the still enraged lumberjack lowered his head and began to charge. One of Arctic’s front hooves shot out, catching the goat on the side of the head and redirecting his charge. Arctic seemed to flow in a way Max was certain he couldn’t do even without armour, spinning around her attacker and pivoting on the spot before kicking out with both hind hooves against the goat’s flank, sending him flying to one side before landing in a heap. In another second she had a hoof resting on the fallen goat's neck. “Stay down!” she snarled, panting slightly, and this time he obeyed her.

“Right,” said Arctic, looking between the two goats, “Now what’s going on...” she paused. A gap had opened up in the circle of quadrupeds gathered to watch the fight and Mrs G passed through it, not looking at all happy. In fact, Max thought she looked more angry than he’d ever seen her before, her eyes were tight slits and energy seemed to almost be cracking off of her. As one the surrounding mob decided to take a step back, two if they could manage it.

“You!” she intoned, glaring at the large lumberjack. He swallowed painfully and seemed to try to look for a way out without breaking the older goat’s gaze. He took a step towards Arctic as if she could save him. “What is the meaning of this? Attacking my son! How dare you!” she somehow thundered without raising her voice in the slightest. “What would your mother have thought of this Croabh? She’d be spinning in her grave!” The lumberjack lowered his gaze.

“Mum,” said Conn quietly trotting up to Mrs G, “I started the fight.”

Mrs G’s eyes widened. “You what!” she gasped looking truly surprised for one of the first times Max could remember. “How?! Why?!”

“I shouldn’t have done it, but he shouldn’t have said what he said,” said Conn gritting his teeth and glancing over at the lumberjack who shuffled nervously.

“Yeah, sorry,” he mumbled.

“You’re hurt,” said Mrs G reaching out and touching the cut on her son’s face.

“It’s nothing, just a scratch,” he said, “Look I’m sorry about this...”

“It’s not going to be nothing when I get you home my boy,” snarled Mrs G. “Brawling in public like a common thug, I thought you had brains!”

Conn didn’t say anything, he just looked out in the crowd and blushed a little. Mrs G followed his gaze and seemed to deflate a little. “Oh, you’ve got too much of your father in you.”

“Um,” said Arctic picking at her armour, “I should take them both to the jail house for the night.” The town jail didn’t actually have any cells just a few rough beds for any drunks to sleep it off. Normally Lone Star or the mayor would sentence any trouble makers to some community work or a small fine once they recovered.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll make sure he’ll be there to see any punishment tomorrow, and I’ll make sure he’ll be very sorry for what he did,” said Mrs G snapping her jaw around her son’s ear. He gave out a gasp of pain as she started to drag him through the crowd. “‘ust you wait until I ‘et you ‘ome” she mumbled with her mouth full. Arctic looked like she might have argued for a moment before shrugging and leading off the other goat towards the jail. The immediate excitement removed, the crowd started to disperse.

“See!” grumbled a voice nearby which Max recognized as belonging to Silver Fir. “That’s why we don’t want you staying in the library. He could have snapped at any Time.”

“We just want you to be safe,” agreed Chipboard. Max turned to see the two of them standing nearby, Noble between them. The younger pony looked very worried and a little frightened, less certain than he’d ever seen her before.

“But I don’t understand,” she said, a little whine in her tone. “He seemed so civilised, I... I really liked him, I don’t understand...” her voice petered off.

“It’s in their nature dear,” said Silver putting an arm over her daughter's back. “Now, we better help you settle into your uncle’s place, it will be a bit of a squeeze.” She started to trot away towards the edge of town. Noble took a few steps after her mother, then stopped. A look of determination starting to come over her face.

“No!” she said stamping a hoof on the ground.

“What did you say?” asked Silver looking back.

“I said No!” proclaimed Noble again, “I’m not going to go anywhere until I know what was going on,” she swung her head back and forth finally coming to a stop on Max. “Baron, you were there,” she dashed over to him. “What happened? Why did Conn attack that other goat?”

“Um,” said Max, he’d been thinking more or less the same himself. Conn had always been one of the most levelheaded people Max knew, he would be the last goat he thought would just attack someone. although what the lumberjack had been saying had been fairly inflammatory, it hadn’t been about Conn or any of his family. “Well, the other goat he, um, well he wasn’t very complimentary about your family or me really. He, well, he suggested that there was something going on between, um, me and you. I think Conn might have been trying to save my reputation, or yours I guess.” He dropped his gaze, squirming a little.

“Oh,” said Noble her cheeks colouring a little, “Oh!” she said again louder. “The idiot!” She turned and started to gallop off into the town.

“Wait!” cried Silver after her daughter, “Where are you going!”

“To be next in line to deal with that idiot once his mother's finished with him!” came the answering cry. Looking confused, her parents took off after Noble leaving Max by himself.

He frowned, feeling as if he’d missed something there. He sighed, he’d just wanted a quiet night and maybe a few drinks, now things had gotten even more complicated. He’d had high hopes for Conn in his new government but should he change them now that the goat had gotten involved in a public scuffle? And it happened just before he planned to meet all the other leaders, given the way gossip worked everyone in town would know about it by then and now something seemed to be up with Noble as well. Hopefully this was the worst thing that would happen to him.

Author's Note:

Thanks to Grass and Clouds 2 and Rainbow Double Dash for suggestions and to Docontra, Georg and Mooncalf for editing.

The whole of the Nulpar arc is now ready and I'll be publishing it weekly on Tuesday until the end of the year (barring technical issues)

Comments as always are welcome.

Comments

[kelirabbi]

He's tempting fate there.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

Farms are a small business. As President Hoover said (when Secretary of Commerce) "Any business that buys retail & sells wholesale is in trouble from the start" His solution was to form farms into co-ops. His point being they could eliminate the middle man & keep more of the profits

As to the business tax breaks. Dude, somebody has got to pay. You let the big guy off, you are in essence forcing small businesses to subsidize a competitor that already has an edge because they are getting economies of scale. For the Apple Trust, I might offer tax free on out of province sales & pay the same taxes on local sales as local farmers do. This would arguably be fair because of transport costs on out of province sales.

[Walabio]

Taxbreaks and TIFs can really screwover the community. Here is an article about creationists screwing over a community for tax-backed interest-free loans for opening an ArkPark, which not likely to attract many tourists, and will not hire locals unless they are Young-Earth Evangelical Creationists and will get a break on property-taxes for 30 years, which is unconstitutional:

What Ken Ham Isn’t Telling You About Ark Encounter Funding

[Nodikus]

Wow, MAx really seems over his head when it comes to the business matters doesn't he?

Lokking forward to the council, I'm sure it will go absolutely perfectly.

Great Work

[Talon and Thorn]

6737482
6740844
6750503

All I can claim is that neither me nor Max are any good at economics.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

Well, to be fair Max is assuming the Apple Trust is planning on shipping their produce out of province & not competing w local producers. I'd just put it in writing. Otherwise, they are going to put the small farmers out of business.

If he realizes he's in over his head & gets Posey to recommend a business advisor to handle it, he'll be OK. Otherwise, Hayseed is going to take him to the cleaners. It's basically the same reason the car dealer gets the best of you -experience vs newby

[djthomp]

Man, one single day of a five day festival, and it somehow merits a 21k word chapter. It may be justified, but the length pretty solidly kept me from reading it for a good long while, just didn't have the time to commit to it.

“I think I can do that,” agreed Noble, peering over Max’s shoulder at Conn as he trotted away carrying the remains of Max’s breakfast. Then she turned back to the baron, her face a little flushed. “Max, can I talk to you about something… um… something about Conn?” she asked.

Oh yeah, my new OTP of Conn and Noble seems to be progressing nicely.

I feel like I should have guessed (maybe I did? don't remember) that Jurgaghan was Mrs. G's long lost tor husband.

Around them a ragged cheer broke out from the tor as well as a few ponies that had understood what was going on, and even some who just wanted to join in whatever was happening.

"I don't know why we're cheering, but I want to cheer too!"

“He tried to stay,” said Mrs G to Max, keeping her eyes on her ex-husband and son. “We agreed that it was better if he returned to his people, but... I still told myself I would punch him in the face if I ever saw him again.”

“Why haven't you?” asked Max.

“He’s more handsome than I expected him to be after all these years,” she hissed. “I don’t want to mess that up.”

Hah!

Both girls gave another pitiful groan. One of them mouthed something that looked like ‘kill me!’ before leaning over the bucket again.

A learning experience that is sure to build character.

They definitely do need more medics and doctors for the province, just one more issue among dozens.

“Still feeling peaky?” asked House Martin, “Well I’ve got an old secret treatment for that. Ginger!” He levitated a sample off a table. “It’ll make you feel like a new pony.” One of the fillies cautiously opened her mouth. “Oh, you’ll only wish it went in that end!” exclaimed the Doctor with a chuckle.

Bwhahahahaha!

“Were you bucking crazy!” cried Arctic once her foal was out of hearing range. “Of all the feather brained, pony apple ideas I have ever heard that had to be one of the stupidest!”

Amen.

“The military has units for that type of thing,” explained Arctic, “Fast response air chariots and the like, particularly if a baron was asking for help directly. Still, yeah, it wouldn’t have been much less than a week at best before they got there, but when they did a few bandits wouldn’t have stopped them,” she said with some pride.

Exactly.

I dunno, Artic, I thought that the horde library was actually a pretty inspired idea. It even fits into the issues brought up in RDD's recent Spike fic and provides another avenue for a dragon to learn about being paid for services.

Teachers, yet another thing they need more of. Is there anything they don't? Rocks?

Zephyr frowned for a moment then her eyes went wide. “Max!” she cried, “What were you thinking! We’re not prepared!” Zephyr was the leader of the town’s dance troupe and often arranged competitions within or between settlements.

Somehow, I feel like this is karma for something.

Jumping in fright, Honeybun spun around to glare at Max, a large cloud of bees forming up behind her apparently at her command.

Now that's just slightly terrifying.

Geeze, Honeybun's philosophy on government is really kind of silly. In spite of Fragrant's suggestion, I'm not so sure it's a good idea to put someone who logics like that in the governmental position that Max is intending for her.

Max slammed a hoof on the table, shocking the whole room. “I will have none of that!” he cried, “We’ve only just been warned by the princess to tidy up our acts at the court, I will not take part in any corruption!”

“Whoa, whoa there!” said Hayseed holding up his hooves, “I didn’t mean anything untoward like that, the Trust has never done anything like that, never will neither. I just meant that farming's important to your province, and the Trust is a farming company, what’s good for us is good for your people as well. We’d just like to make sure you’re aware of the impact on farmers of some of the bills you vote on. Not putting any pressure on you to vote one way or another.”

Heh.

Yeah, I can't find it in myself to trust either Mechanized or Hayseed's intentions, though the latter's land acquisition and tax credit requests rub me the wrong way the hardest. On the other hand, I do like the news that the Trust is backing Max's rural road building plans, that can't be anything but helpful for them and it can't hurt to have more allies lined up behind the idea to push.

“I need to start charging taxes,” said Max looking down.

“Yes,” said Mrs G, “If the people want roads and guards and the like they need to pay for them.”

Yep, time to start being the Man.

These new weather pegasi stationed in the province might just also really be helpful for the farming, especially since Max doesn't have to directly employ them himself.

Max’s indignation was about to burst loose when he found himself shoved aside and, to his surprise, Conn, his eyes flashing, leapt over the table and slammed head first into Croabh, sending him flying back head over heels with a bleat for distress. However, despite his inebriated state, the other goat was back on his hooves in a second and rushed forwards. The two billies collided again with a cracking sound, and their horns locked as each tried to overpower the other.

Yeah, that was due, that goat was really asking for an ass kicking.

“Wait!” cried Silver after her daughter, “Where are you going!”

“To be next in line to deal with that idiot once his mother's finished with him!” came the answering cry. Looking confused, her parents took off after Noble leaving Max by himself.

[Talon and Thorn]

6867901

Man, one single day of a five day festival, and it somehow merits a 21k word chapter. It may be justified, but the length pretty solidly kept me from reading it for a good long while, just didn't have the time to commit to it.

The size was a bit of a surprise to me as well, the original plan was for the whole Nulpar arc to take about three months to write and be maybe 3-4 chapters long probably not much over 20K words and you can see how that's ended up.

[CrowMagnon]

6867901
Yeah, same here. I usually read fics during my work breaks, and 15 minutes is nowhere near enough time to cram in 20k+

Now that I'm through it, though, I'm glad to be able to enjoy the rest of it at my own pace.

[j-grizz]

“Oh, before you go,” said Max remembering something he’s meant to ask her earlier.

he'd