Stuck in the Mud
Ponies can control weather and influence crop growth, but they can’t control mud. They can’t—or won’t—pave the roads in Ponyville, and in the springtime that can be a problem.
Hooves damage the sod and ponies quickly learn to avoid the soggy spots. Wagon wheels dig in deeper and do more damage, sometimes squelching through town after a heavy rain. It’s not unusual to see a few ponies pressed into service towing the snow roller through town in an attempt to level off the roads. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
The really bad spots get demarcated with barriers, and a few farmers who are good with grass tend to them. One near the Rotunda stayed blocked off until Summer Sun—for reasons beyond your ken, it took that long to restore it to a walkable surface.
Ponies learn where the bad places are and avoid them.
Mostly.
Sometimes mistakes are made, shortcuts taken, and sometimes it’s just a new discovery. Nopony’s discovered that boggy patch yet, and woe betide the mare who tries to haul a heavy wagon through there.
Fields can be the same way, although most farmers know their fields well enough to not get wagons stuck. Winter and spring are stone-boat season, basically sleds with wooden runners. Not fun to pull, but they’ll make it over snow and soft ground where wheels fail a pony.
You were on your way to Apple Honey’s shop in search of a new shovel—your old one had somehow gone missing. She’s Ponyville’s resident farm supply and repair mare, and if that wasn’t enough, she also writes the Ponyville Express, a newspaper that trades spelling and grammar for enthusiasm.
A pair of tradesmares is coming towards you, both towing wagons. You know both of them—in a small town it’s hard not to know everypony. Ambrosia is hauling a light market cart, while Silver Spanner has a two-axle wagon in harness.
Plumbing supplies are heavy.
Ambrosia finds the soft spot first, but her wagon’s light enough to make it through. Silver Spanner sees the obstruction and you can see her brace her hooves, realize that she’s not going to be able to stop, and then dig in her hooves in an attempt to pull through.
You’d have done the same in her shoes. And like as not, you’d’ve been stuck as well as she got—you watched as the front wheels sunk, then the rear wheels followed; you watched her hooves dig into the squishy ground, kicking mud up on her wagon and her barrel, and then she ground to a stop, her tail dragging in the mud. The wagon was sunk halfway to the axles—at first glance it doesn't look that bad, but you know that looks can be deceiving. It’s not coming out easily.
Silver Spanner realizes that. She mutters something not fit to print under hear breath, and then starts unbuckling herself from her wagon.
Ambrosia has stopped as well; she also unhitches and the two examine the wagon.
You’ve seen your share of wagons getting stuck, and there’s a whole gamut of reactions to it. These two are professionals, they’ve moved past denial and straight into problem-solving mode. They have a quick palaver, discussing the options. Can two mares pull it loose? The footing isn’t good. Ambrosia has some rope on her market cart; they could feed it through the rings on the equalizer and tie it to their singletrees.
Silver Spanner has a few choice words for the road maintenance ponies and the weather ponies who could avoid making wet spots if they so chose. And then the discussion resumes; the wagon could be made lighter by offloading cargo, but that was a lot of work.
Plumbing supplies are heavy.
One of the strange dualities of a small town like Ponyville is that everypony is both fiercely independent and everypony also helps their neighbors. You haven’t been asked just yet, but you know that they know you’re there.
[CHOICE]
>help them, it’s the neighborly thing to do (hero)
>they got stuck, they can get unstuck (villain)
[CHOICE: Hero]
Before either of them can ask, you cross the street. There’s layers of unwritten rules in offering help—for instance, you can’t just start making suggestions right from the get-go. You have to ask what their plan is and then let things unfold from there.
And you need to offer at least one inane question to get the ball rolling. “Stuck?”
Ambrosia nods.
“If both of us pull and you push,” Silver Spanner begins. The inane question, the ask for assistance, and the basic plan are all out of the way.
“It’s still gonna be too heavy,” Ambrosia says. “Look how deep it’s stuck.”
“Maybe if the footing was good,” you add, guiding the plan to the ‘unload the wagon first’ conclusion.
“Shoulda been marked.” Silver Spanner knows she should have been watching Ambrosia’s wagon better and she might have turned and not gotten stuck. “Everypony knows it’s a low spot waiting for a wagon.” She was also coming around to the unloading the wagon plan.
Here was where the conversation could take a turn, where it could veer off into a list of general frustrations. But the two mares are pros; Ambrosia has already circled the wagon once and gotten a look at all four wheels.
Somepony’s got to get the ball rolling, so to speak. Silver Spanner looks on the cusp of fulminating, and that’s no good, she’ll need her energy to pull the wagon loose. There’s a pail near the tailboard and you grab it off, setting it in the middle of the street.
Ambroisa pulls the pins out and drops the tailboard, then reached up and grabs a length of iron pipe. She’s got it halfway off the wagon before Silver Spanner finally gets with the program and starts helping, her magic making the tasks easier. She’s no Twilight Sparkle; she hasn’t got the field strength to just lift everything up and set it on the ground, but long sections of pile are less unwieldy when assisted by a unicorn.
Other passers-by join in, and before too long the wagon is empty. A stack of tools, pipes, and pipe accessories are neatly stacked in the middle of the road.
A few of the unicorns don’t want to get their hooves muddy pushing or pulling, but they can offer their own assistance; by the time Silver Spanner and Ambrosia are in harness together, there are two unicorns ready to lighten the load, three pegasi, and you and another earth pony to help push.
With the wagon empty, it moves easily enough, riding out of the mud and back onto terra firmer. There are plenty of volunteers to re-load it, and although you see Silver Spanner frown every time an enthusiastic pony set something in the wrong place, she keeps her muzzle shut.
A few more minutes, and it’s loaded up again. Both mares hitch back to their wagons and trot off, while you continue your own trek to Apple Honey’s shop in search of a shovel.
[CHOICE B:Villain]
You could volunteer to help, but that’s a lot of work, and you might get muddy.
In a small town, everybody’s furiously independant anyway—they’re not going to ask you. They’ll accept help if it’s offered, but won’t go out of their way to ask a stranger to help push.
It’s going to take more than pushing, you think.
They think otherwise; the rope through the equalizer option is taken. Since Silver got it stuck, she’s the one who gets to rig the rope. And since she’s a unicorn, she can cheat—she doesn’t have to wade in, she leads the free end of the rope through the eyebolts and then ties it off to their singletrees.
With the benefit of good footing they still have no chance; the rope stretches and they strain against it to no avail. The wagon is still as stuck as it was before.
Ambrosia grabs some scrap lumber off her wagon and wades in, jamming boards in front of the wheels, making temporary ramps. You doubt that will work, and even it does, the wagon will fall off the other end and be stuck again.
Once they’re in place, the two ponies hitch back up, and this time you see Silver Spanner’s magic lighting around the wheels for a little extra boost.
It almost works; the wagon pulls forward and you see the boards take the load; three of them do while the fourth slips and the rear end of the wagon tilts over.
Silver Spanner refocuses her magic, but it’s no good. The mud yanks it off-course, and now the rear axle is stuck again.
You figure that at least one of Ambrosia’s boards is lost, but then Silver Spanner plucks it out of its muddy prison.
Another quick discussion, and now Ambrosia trots off to get help while Silver Spanner starts unloading her wagon.
You could help, but you’re content to watch.
•••
Silver Spanner has her wagon half-unloaded when a gaggle of volunteers finally shows up. Heather Rose and Pepperstep and, unfortunately, Apple Honey and her apprentice, True Blue. Odds of you getting a shovel from Apple Honey just dropped. She’ll be ‘sold out,’ or else the price will have gone up.
Whatever, Barnyard Bargains sells shovels, too. In a few weeks Apple Honey will forget that you didn’t help.
Probably.
Many hooves make light work of the task; before too long there’s a pile of plumbing supplies on the road, and the wagon is light enough that Ambrosia and Silver Spanner pulling—while Heather Rose, Pepperstep, Apple Honey, and True Blue all push the back—is all it takes to pop it free.
When it’s back on solid ground, the mares start reloading it. You take your leave and start to walk towards Barnyard Bargains.