It was the end of the day. Nine days had passed since the Ponies had arrived and the Fellowship Of Leadership was having another meeting on top of City Hall, as had become habit after dinner. The rest of the people were sleeping soundly on the first floor, but the Fellowship Of Leadership was still awake.
"Final count, seven hundred and four." Alex reported, "The influx of Ponies has finally stopped. We have three . . . um, family herds and all the others seem to be single. From the families we have fourteen . . . foals?" he scratched his head, "Yeah, foals sounds about right. R.J. recorded the coloration and markings on each one so we at least have an idea of what they can do and who they are, even if we can't hope to write their names."
Mike Joyner nodded,
"What about any incidents?"
"Those are down from the first couple of days they were here. We had four incidents yesterday, as compared to the seventeen we had on the first day, that's pretty good. The four incidents were: a miscommunication between Mike Spearman and one of the Ponies about where to put discarded branches. It ended with hand gestures. The next was a mishap at lunch, we had left-overs and we wanted to give them away but none of the Ponies would touch it, so we had to discard about two pounds of 'garden garbage special'. Not too big a deal. Third was a little more serious, one of the Ponies walked into one of the latrine where Rachel was putting on one of the menstrual cloths and seemed to be staring at her the whole time. She became upset and yelled at the Pony. And finally, we had an incident where one of the Ponies saw two women in a fight and used magic to levitate them apart. The two women were really upset about that and have been avoiding the Ponies ever since." Alex related.
Mike nodded and turned to Eduardo and Darryl,
"How are the field workers doing?"
"The Ponies seem to do very well by themselves and really don't look like they need any supervision. Eduardo had the idea to have them just eat the weeds and it's working like a charm." Darryl patted Eduardo on the shoulder.
Eduardo nodded with a smile,
"We do have an issue though. That pendejo, Jason. He keeps trying to apologize to every Pony he sees. He's all weepy all the time. I'm no shrink, but I'm pretty sure he's depressed or feeling really guilty. Any time he sees a foal, he looks like he's about to start crying."
Mike nodded,
"That's to be expected. He's starting to emerge from his P.T.S.D. but it's a long process. He'll come around in time, we just need to keep an eye on him." he turned to Morris, "Alright, lay it on me, how many tools are we missing today?"
Morris sighed heavily,
"You want the total or an itemized list?"
"Just give me the total." Mike said.
"The total of missing tools is two hundred and eighteen. I'm all but absolutely certain the Ponies have them. Have you come to a decision about what to do about it yet? We're not in dire straights yet, but I'll give us five more days before we start running low. If we could get the forge up and running, I could start producing more, but it's going to take time." Morris reported.
"Andrew an' me got some good news yall." Kaneesha said, "We found a quarry an' get this, its got iron deposits, not just any iron, banded iron."
"Finally some good news." Chris griped, "It's been nothing but difficult ever since those Ponies got here. I don't really have anything against them, but the missing tools are really starting to bug me."
"No kiddin'" Leo said, "We missin' a bunch o' bandages an' antiseptics an' I'm pretty sure them Ponies got 'em." he leaned forward, "We gotta get our shit back or we ain't gonna have enough when a real emergency hits. I done chased out about fifteen o' 'em who got some sort o' medical tattoo. There ain't no way they know as much as we do about medicine. Hell they prolly still use leeches and blood-letting."
"I agree we've got a problem, but we could use the help. I've never delivered a baby and some o' them probably have. But there's another problem," Richardson said, "We're missin' more than just a few bandages, we're missin' a bunch o' pain killers too, the heavy stuff that I . . . we need."
"Bobby, Cessily, and Leo," Mike addressed, "Try to find out how much they know about medicine. I know you don't like it but we need to consolidate our supplies in one location. The tattoos seem to be symbolic of their occupation. Try for a knowledge exchange instead of chasing them off. Who knows, maybe they know something we don't."
"We seem to have run into a bit of a problem with the foals." Tina said suddenly, "Their Mothers are constantly busy keeping them in line and the Mothers can't get much work done. I'd like permission to try to start up a day care."
Joyner shook his head,
"We can't spare the people. We need you to keep working on a permanent system for the toilets. The Ponies need someplace to go that's not so difficult for them to use." he turned toward David, "Do we have an idea of how many more miles of land we need to cultivate before we become self sufficient?"
David nodded,
"Yeah, about eighteen more square miles. It's going to be a really lean winter. We also need to get going on the lumber mill. If we can clear the land maybe the Ponies can help cultivate. The ones without wings or horns seem to have a pretty good grasp on how to grow crops." David smiled, "Honestly, we're growing a lot more with their help and the longer term benefits could be really great. We need to have them poop in one location and use it for fertilizer. They poop a lot too. The weeds go in one end and rich fertilizer comes out the other. If we can harness it, we might be able to grow a ton more food."
"Next issue, vitamins." Bobby said, "The women who are pregnant are in that time frame where they need prenatal vitamins for their babies to be healthy. Once they start breast-feeding, they'll need extra vitamins too. We need specific supplements for them and we don't have them."
"I think I can help," Rachel said, "My major was in pediatric medicine. I can map out suggested foods for before and after birth. We need more though. The expectant Mothers need a clean place to have their babies. Someplace quiet and most importantly, someplace clean. I'd recommend one of the stone buildings, but the Ponies are sleeping in those."
"Is it just me or do most of our problems seem to revolve around the Ponies. Aren't they supposed to be helping us?" Andrew asked.
"The problem ain't them, it's us." Cessily said, "We been thinkin' that it's Humans an' Ponies. If we tried to work with 'em, I'll bet we'd get a lot more done. We gotta think like 'us' as in all of us."
Mike Joyner rested his head on his right fist,
"Go on."
"We got to get them to organize with us, but we don't share a language. How about we draw up a bunch o' cards with pictures on 'em an' use those to communicate. Hand gestures are good an' all but we need somethin' more concrete an' we need to focus on two things mainly. One, harvesting lumber. Nearly everything we need comes from that. Two, growing food. Erebody gotta eat. If we get those two squared away, I think the rest will fall into place. We take half the people from fishing an' have 'em all chopping wood. The Ponies are all stronger than us, let's use it. We cut the wood, they haul it. Eduardo done cleaned up a few o' them roads leadin' out o' town. We make us some sleighs an' get the Ponies to haul the wood back. We'll need some folks to stay in the woods an' actually make the mill too. We got the tools for that, let's use 'em."
"Yeah, but the Ponies are keeping the tools already. If we start handing out more of them, we'll have lost them all in no time." Morris pointed out.
"Well then we use the Guards!" Cessily exclaimed, "They aren't doing anything else." she turned toward Chris, "You think you can draw up somethin' that's sure to get our point across to the Guards? Something that has them going around and collecting the tools we missing?"
Chris didn't even have to think,
"Yeah, I can have it done by tomorrow afternoon."
Cessily settled down and nodded happily,
"Ain't so hard."
R.J. Brinsin spoke next,
"We got another problem comin' up here soon yall. Some o' the people are wantin' to have some sort o' church service, only problem is, we got a lot o' religions bein' represented. We got Islam, Christian, Judaism, an' Buddhist."
Mike Joyner shook his head,
"This was bound to come up eventually. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting people to want to worship so soon. Religion could divide us just as quickly as racism and we cannot risk the division. We can't tell people not to worship, but we can spread the word that we'll get on it just as soon as we stabilize. There's another problem that's going to come us and I want to address it before it becomes a hazard. Once we get stabilized or at least into a routine, people are going to begin mourning their families and lives. That's going to mean a lot of depressed people. We need to keep everyone occupied until we're stable enough to handle it. Everyone keep an eye out so we can squash the problem before it turns into an issue."
Kaneesha suddenly rose to her feet, pointing with her right hand,
"What's that?"
* * *
Straight Edge sat around the communal fire with the families and the other Ponies who had volunteered to join the community. The foals were already asleep so the adults could talk among themselves.
Steady Hoof, the Pegasus mare doctor was speaking to everypony,
"The Humans don't want us here, it's obvious. I didn't come out here to have them stare at me when I'm trying to do my job. I'm a doctor, why won't they let me do what I know? What's their problem? They actually chased me out of the second floor of City Hall where they keep the medical supplies. They're hoarding everything! How are we supposed to do our part when they're withholding what we need? How am I supposed to examine them when they shy away from me?"
Another mare raised her hoof,
"I'm Green Leaf," she introduced herself, "I think we should just keep doing what we've been doing. It has always worked for us so why change anything."
Long Wind blew out an exasperated breath,
"I'm Long Wind," she said, "The problem with that is these Humans obviously have a different way of doing things. I doubt they want us gone, but I do think we have to meet them on common ground. We need to come to some sort of resolution, a compromise. They have a different way of doing things than we do. There's a lot about them we don't know or understand. I saw one of them using the toilet earlier today and she was wrapping a cloth around her 'feminine area' because she was bleeding."
The statement caused a myriad of gasps from the other mares.
"Was she injured?" one asked.
"Was a male too rough with her?" another queried.
"She wasn't in labor was she?" a third asked.
Long Wind shook her head,
"No. I'm pretty sure it was none of those. The pregnant females are easy to identify and she isn't one of them. You see?" she asked emphatically, "We don't even understand why they do many of the things they do. We can't just go on assuming they mean any harm, that won't help at all. We need to try to understand them."
"That's easy for you to say." one yellow Unicorn mare said, "I stopped two of them from fighting and they got mad at ME for it."
"Did you use magic?" Long Wind asked.
The mare nodded,
"Of course I did! I read the report of how fragile they are. I'm not going to risk injuring one of them by using my hooves!"
"Did you also read the part where seventy of them were slaughtered by Unicorns?" Long Wind asked, "They don't have any magic and because of their experience, they're afraid of it. They're scared of us because their only previous encounters with Ponies have been dangerous. They just don't know how to react to us. We need to try to be understanding with them. We came here to help them, not distance ourselves from them. What we need to do is take as many steps as we can to get close to them. We need to go out of our way to help them, show them that we're friends, not something they have to fear."
"Yeah, but how?" Green Leaf asked.
"How about this to start, tomorrow we bring back all the tools," she held up her hoof to forestall any argument, "Whether or not it's less efficient. They're reluctant to meet us half way, let's take the lead and hopefully they'll get the idea. Starting tomorrow, we should take steps to help them specifically with whatever we can. They have strengths and weaknesses just like we do. They aren't as strong as any of us are, but they have very fine precision with their paws . . . hands. If we compliment them and really put forth some effort into trying to work together with them I think we'll do well." she looked at the dozens of faces illuminated by the firelight, "When I first volunteered for this I thought it would be much more easy. I'm betting all of you thought the same, didn't you?"
A small ocean of nodding heads and mumbled affirmatives met her question,
"So it isn't as easy as we thought. I thought it would be easy raising foals," she smiled, "Was I ever wrong!" her statement brought out a few chuckles, "But having already made the effort, I wouldn't change a thing. My filly is a beautiful and amazing young mare and I'm excited to see what she does in life. I think we're facing the same situation here. It's really tough trying to get along with the Humans but I think that if we're willing to try, REALLY try, that the end result will be exciting. I can't teach them any language yet, but we can all teach them about working together. Equestria is a land of harmony, far above all others, let's show the Humans why."
A Pegasus mare swooped down from the roof,
"There's an air carriage coming this way."
* * *
"You really didn't need to take the time to bring me all the way here Princess. I would have come." Beacon couldn't hide the tremor in his voice.
He sat next to Princess Luna in her air carriage trying not to shiver. He found the moon Princess as intimidating as could be. She made him nervous, but he dared not to show it lest he risk her wrath. He had been on the receiving end of THAT unpleasantness once and once was more than enough for him.
"It is no trouble, Beacon. I wish to see this settlement for myself, besides I have yet to look upon even a single Human and my curiosity is piqued." she turned and regarded the former Royal Guard with a piercing gaze, "Or was there a different meaning to your statement that I am supposed to glean?"
Beacon swallowed and Luna wondered if he might actually tell her. She already knew he was nervous, it was obvious. She wanted to see if he felt comfortable enough or brave enough to speak his mind, 'The only Pony willing to speak with me openly or honestly is Tia.' she sighed gently in disappointment, 'It cannot be helped I suppose. Such is the weight of rule.'
"No," Beacon replied nervously, "I didn't mean anything else by it."
Luna poked her head over the side of the air carriage,
"We are descending. Once we land, I will publicly give you your sword, baldric, and scabbard. Keep them close to you, Beacon. You never know when you may need them." she pondered briefly then decided to be direct, "Are you afraid of me, Beacon?"
The stallion went stiff as a board,
"No," he said, "No, I'm terrified of you."
Luna hid a pleased smile,
"Why?"
"You frighten me," he said, eyes shifting to Luna then back, "Badly."
The air carriage began its descent toward the ground in earnest,
"And why is that?"
"You yelled at me." Luna had to stifle a gale of laughter at Beacon's absurd statement, "I know it was all my fault and I deserved it and worse, but it scared me. I faced down the Recruit Trainers, and I fought against the Changelings, but neither of those even come close to how you made me feel. I felt like an insect, worse than pond scum." he lowered his gaze, "And I knew you were right. It made me feel . . . vulnerable."
Luna extended her right wing and patted Beacon on the head, the contact was brief but it was there,
"You learn. There is hope for you yet."
The air carriage touched down in Town Square, observed by many Humans and Ponies. Princess Luna stepped out of the carriage and every one of the Ponies instantly bowed. The significance of the gesture was not lost on the Humans, however none of them bowed.
Kaneesha casually walked over to Mike's side,
"Ain't that one o' the two we saw in the first field?"
Joyner nodded,
"Yep. I'm all but absolutely certain that's Princess Luna, Celestia's sister."
"I wonder what she doin' here?" Kolo asked.
Beacon stepped out of the air carriage after the indigo Alicorn. His bearing was alert but subdued.
"You may rise." Luna said softly.
The Humans only heard gibberish, Leo grunted,
"What the fuck ever man. I don't think she here for us. Fuck it, I'm goin' to bed."
The Alicorn Princess levitated a sword and scabbard attached to a baldric out of the rear of the carriage,
"Kneel." she ordered the Unicorn stallion quietly, Beacon knelt and lowered his head to the dirt, "You are hereby granted Royal Permission to wield this sword for the protection of the residents of this town, who are already known to you." she lowered the baldric over his neck and fastened it to his barrel, just in front of his hind legs, the scabbard and sword followed, "Keep it clean and sharp as you keep your mind and body clean and sharp. Rise Beacon and go on your way. Your possessions are in the back of the carriage."
Beacon rose from his bow and trotted to the back side of the carriage. Princess Luna slowly navigated her way to the gathered crowd of open-mouthed Ponies. They had seen several things which almost never happened. Beacon had intentionally touched his horn to the dirt. It was an ancient sign of the highest form of submission from any Unicorn. Second, Princess Luna had personally and publicly granted a Royal Permission, not only that but the Royal Permission was for a weapon. The gathered Ponies were utterly confused. The show of submission was considered to be both demeaning and debasing, but Royal Permissions were only ever given to heroes and the fact that it was a SWORD was the most confusing of all. Heroes and veterans were allowed to keep their weapons but only as display. ONLY Guards ever carried weapons. If a Pony was found carrying a weapon, the weapon was confiscated and the Pony was fined ten Bits per ounce of weapon weight. Who was the Unicorn stallion that he should be both so humble and so honored?
The Ponies cleared a path for their Princess of the night, all wondering what was going on,
"How goes everything here?" Luna asked nopony in particular.
The Ponies all looked at each other strangely,
"It's not very easy, your Highness." Steady Hoof said, "The Humans have been . . . reluctant to accept us."
Luna stopped and turned to the older Pegasus mare,
"I shouldn't be surprised." she glanced over her shoulder at the Humans briefly, "They have no reason to be particularly friendly toward you. That is part of the reason my sister asked for volunteers. It was guaranteed to be a difficult task, however the end result, I believe, will prove to be more than worth the effort. I trust there have been no injuries?"
Steady Hoof shook her head,
"A few skinned knees and splinters but nothing substantial, certainly nothing caused by us."
Luna smirked,
"I was referring to the Humans." she said, "They have limited numbers and cannot risk any more deaths. I assume they have been uncooperative, then?"
Steady Hoof nodded,
"And abrasive. They don't seem to be hostile though, mainly just wary and greedy. They've been trying to hoard the tools and medical supplies."
"Food as well?" Luna asked.
"No, in fact they've been more than generous with it." Steady Hoof said.
"Do you see the contradictory nature of the situation?" Luna asked, "They hoard some things while they are generous with others. What do you make of that?"
Steady Hoof shrugged,
"I hadn't thought about it."
Luna nodded and began to slowly pace on circles, looking left and right at her subjects,
"They are generous with the food because they respect you as living things and they know well, the pangs of hunger. They keep the tools and medical supplies for themselves because there is a finite amount of it and they have no way to manufacture more. They are concerned that you will waste or damage it. They withhold the tools and medicine because they don't trust you to be responsible with it." she stopped and looked around, "Have any of you validated their fears by taking tools and medicines? Have you gone and made the problem worse because of a poor response?"
Green Leaf spoke up,
"What were we supposed to do, Princess? Work without tools?"
"Most certainly not, but answer me this, how do you intend to gain their trust if you are playing into their fears and validating their paranoia?"
Steady Hoof had no ready answer for that question, she lowered her eyes at the realization,
"I . . . I guess we can't."
Luna gently lifted the mare's chin with her left fore hoof,
"Do not become discouraged my little Pony. Now that you are aware of the problem you can work to solve it." Princess Luna leaned over and softly kissed Steady Hoof on the forehead, "There is always a solution." she lowered her hoof and turned to the others, "Whenever there is a problem we must always look to ourselves first, for we may well find the fault in a mirror. Twas a lesson hard learned for me and I would not see any of my little Ponies venture down the same path." she turned to leave, "Sleep now, for joy comes in the morning and brings hope of a new day. Goodnight."
The Ponies bowed a second time as their Princess' dismissal. Beacon was waiting for Luna by the carriage. He had retrieved his saddle bags and possessions.
"Why do you wait for me?" Luna asked, "Did I not say to go on your way?"
Beacon nodded,
"You did, Princess. I wanted to say thank you."
"For what?" Luna asked.
"For this chance to correct my mistakes." Beacon replied.
Luna shook her head,
"Twas no decision of mine. I would have left you to finish your sentence. The magic of the world decided your fate. You may curse it before your time is up. An Act Of Magic always works out for the benefit of all, however it does, in no way, guarantee the safety or happiness of the recipient. The Human Emissary is a good example. He is permanently disfigured and may not live a pleasant life. His disfigurement is so severe he may never find a mate. He may very well die alone and unloved, perhaps even forgotten by his own kind. It is not a fate I would wish on any. Go about your life and keep to your convictions. You are dismissed."
Beacon bowed one last time,
"If you ever have need of me in any way, Princess, you need only ask."
Luna nodded,
"Very well." she turned and looked at the Humans who were still watching, "I do believe I should go introduce myself."
"As do I. I intend to attach myself to them. I will sleep among them as one of their own." Beacon said oddly.
Luna was baffled by the stallion's statement, but decided to ignore it. She could see several Humans standing at the entryway to City Hall. She strode toward them in a slow and regal gait. She stopped two Fathoms away from the doorway and inclined her head slightly. The Humans responded in kind, their nods were respectful but not groveling. Beacon trotted up beside Princess Luna and performed a full bow to them. The stallion's actions openly puzzled the Humans.
The moon Princess slowly approached the Humans. When they didn't move aside, she raised her right hoof and prodded one of them out of the way with gentle but firm pressure.
"Why she pushin' me outa the way?" R.J. asked.
"Probably because you didn't move." Mike Joyner snarked, "She wants to come in, move out of the way."
The other Humans followed his directions and let the Princess through. The strange gray Unicorn stallion with the royal purple mane and tail followed her inside. The Princess stopped just beyond the doorway and gazed at the sleeping bodies sprawled all around the floor, 'They look so frail.' Beacon slowly navigated his way around the sleeping Humans, careful not to step on any of them. His eyes carefully scanned the slumbering forms, looking for one specific individual.
The Humans by the doorway watched silently for nearly ten minutes before the stallion stopped. He lowered his head and sniffed a young blond woman's hair for a few seconds before he turned in place and levitated a blanket out of his bags and laid it on the ground next to her. He stepped onto the blanket and laid down. He closed his eyes and stayed still.
"The hell does he think he's doin'?" R.J. asked.
"Leave him be." Cessily said quietly, "He's got his reasons. Leave him be."
Mike looked at Cessily, puzzled,
"What? How do you know?"
Cessily shook her head,
"How do I know what?"
"What you just said, 'he has his reasons, leave him be.' What did you mean?" Mike asked.
Cessily suddenly yawned hugely,
"Sorry Mike, I must be more tired than I thought cause I don't remember sayin' that. Tell me what happens in the morning. I'm going to bed."
Joyner watched Cessily head toward the stairs. The Fellowship Of Leadership all slept on the first floor except Richardson, Leo, and Jewel. The three of them slept n the medical station. The rest of the Leadership watched Princess Luna like hawks as she lit up her horn. Her magic coalesced into sparkling motes that floated down from the ceiling and onto the sleeping Humans. The Fellowship had no clue what she had done but they were honestly too tired to care as long as it didn't cause any problems. The Alicorn Princess turned around and nodded to the Fellowship then took her leave.