A tall dark-brown earth pony sporting a white apron and a big afro slowly pulls a large carriage, heaving and sweating as the immense weight of it really works against him. Hot summers in Mid-Equestria can be brutal. The lone earth pony was wandering down an otherwise lifeless dirt road outside of Ponyville. The sun was beating down on him. He was panting loudly, but there was nopony around to hear him. He was pulling a large wooden carriage behind him, as the strong smell of coffee beans follows him wherever he went. He was about to collapse out of exhaustion, when he suddenly thought to himself, 'This seems like a good place to set up shop.' It wasn't, but he needed to take a break from walking, if nothing else.
Romero stopped his carriage on the shoulder of the road. To say that his trip was an exhausting one would be an understatement. He was a quite a long way from home, roughly five days of walking from the western Equestrian shore. Normally he doesn't haul this over-sized cart around. It's heavy, and is big enough that he can't even bring it with him on the train. He's done all his traveling thus far on hoof. The good thing was he was close to Ponyville, and he could make some quick cash. Ponyville was never a cash-cow, but a bit earned here or a bit earned in Canterlot is still a bit. Every bit counts.
He unhooks the harness from his tired shoulders. Every muscle burns in agony. Even worse, there is a deep pain in his stomach and it grumbles loudly. Romero was so focused on getting to town as soon as possible that he’d completely forgotten to eat. This mental lapse was costing him now. A desperate look overcomes his face. He places a hoof on his abdomen, he can’t stand it. He deliberates eating some of the grass if he has too. He tries to think of the last time he’d eaten something... anything. It had to have been yesterday morning at the hotel in Canterlot. He was close to 30 hours without eating. He had to think fast.
Then he looks up. His mouth suddenly waters as he spots an apple tree. He slowly trots to it. He raises two hooves and plucks a juicy looking apple off the branches. He can’t believe it. He was never this lucky. He promptly takes a bite. He feels like crying as soon as the mix of sweet and tart hits his tongue. If he didn’t know better, he’d say that this tree was producing the perfect apples. He plucks off a few more. The next apple looking better than the last. They all looked so close to ripe too. After he plucked that tree clean, he noticed another tree that was just as good, and another, and another, and another. He’s hit the jackpot.
“I can feed myself for days” he mutters to himself as he picks several trees completely clean. He loads them up into a large tweed bag he had pulled out of his carriage. He knew he was going to save a lot of money on not buying food, if he harvested as many apples as he could. He slowly worked his way into the welcoming shade of his carriage, taking his food with him. There was barely enough room for his large 'fro in the small space due to all the bags of coffee beans he's been lugging around. Still, he was able to find a spot to place his new cargo, and he promptly sat down on his plot. He ate a few more apples until his stomach was finally satisfied. The sudden influx of food overtook him as he quickly became tired. The tried to stay up and maybe motivate himself to get to town, but before he knew it, he dozed off into a nap.
A few hours later, Romero is awoken by a sudden, loud pounding at the carriage door. He is still fatigued from his travels, but he forces himself up anyways. His muscles fight him the whole time. Maybe this was a customer. When he opens the door; he was greeted by a young mare, her coat was a bright pastel orange and a light brown Stetson hat adorned her head. Her bright green eyes stared back at the stallion with fury. Romero’s eyes widen as he was taken aback by this mare aggressive stance. Before he can utter a word, the mare speaks up, loudly.
“So yer tha’ one who’s been pickin’ mah orchard clean?!” Romero hesitates and struggles to come up with a polite response. He didn’t want to escalate the situation, but he wanted to acknowledge what he did. The brown stallion stammers and trips over his words. Before he can string together a coherent statement, the angry mare cuts him off again. “What a minute…” She looks him up and down, her eyes slowly go all the way down to the tip his hooves and back up again. “That wardrobe… that coat color… that ugly mane…” Romero’s heart drops as the mare slowly puts it together. “Yer Cavallian, ain’t ya?” He puts he head down and breathes a heavy sigh.
“Yeah.” He reluctantly answered, he wasn’t going to lie to her. Despite telling the truth, he knows his situation was only going to get worse now. He closes his eyes, not wanting to look at the Equestrian mare that was now shaming him.
“Yeah, yer Cavallian. I can tell by that dull, ugly shade of brown yer wearin’. Looks like somepony left you out in the sun all day an’ yer color all faded away.” Romero knew that this was the norm for ponies like him. Almost all the ponies he knew back home in Cavalla had the dull washed-out color schemes as opposed to the bright vivid pastel colors of Equestrian ponies. “Not gon’ say anythin’ fer yerself, dull boy?” He really didn’t like this mare's tone of voice especially when paired with her thick rural accent. It was intimidating. “WELL FINE, THEN!” The mare suddenly slams the wooden door right on his face. He’s so afraid to move now. A still silence takes over the carriage now. In the distance, he hears the hoofsteps of the mare galloping at a rampant pace off to the distance.
Once the sounds of galloping fade off, Romero springs into action. He opens the door and quickly jumps out of his carriage. He’s clearly in a panic, but he knows he’s going to be in big trouble if he doesn’t move quickly. He’s already sweating again, by the time he straps on his shoulder harness. His heart is pounding against his chest like it’s trying to escape. Romero is trying to make an escape of his own and escape he did. He follows the dirt road in front of him in the direction of Ponyville.
“I need to get out of this mess.”