//------------------------------// // 23. A champion for the placebo effect Part 1 // Story: The Tale of Lord Barleycorn // by Blue Cultist //------------------------------// The Tale of Lord Barleycorn - - - - - - Chapter 23: A champion for the placebo effect Part 1 --- Lightning bugs had long since disappeared with the encroaching cold, but the crickets had continued their nightly song without concern. This invertebrate concert had begun much earlier than usual, as the sun bathed the the sky in one final flare of red and orange before it sank below the horizon. The stars quietly winked into existence in clusters as as the moon rose on the opposite end of the sky; a bright crescent blade of silver that was starting to glow as a sign of its heavenly sovereignty. It was a sight lost on most of the ponies that lined the main street of Hollow Shades. Nearly all were bored parents, who stood by while their foals waited the best way that foals can. Hollow Shades rarely saw much in the way of traffic, so the foals were in no danger as they ran and played in the streets as they waited; their chatter seeming all the louder against the dead silence of the forest. Among this throng of weary adults was Summer Harvest, and like the rest of the grown mares and stallions he was doing what he could to patiently pass the time. He had not only found the Sprouts in this eclectic attendance, but many others whom he hadn't had time to chat with in what felt like years. This conversation had managed to get Summer to relax a little, but his wife had been chatting with the other mares since their arrival. He felt some measure of embarrassment when he overheard his wife proudly bring up the subject of forest spirits. All Summer Harvest could do was roll his eyes and hope for more mature topics among his neighbors. A quick glance found Corn Crib was playing in the neglected streets with her schoolmates, and Leadfoot was talking with some colts his age. It seemed like everypony was here to socialize rather than wait for whatever was supposed to happen. Turning his head, Summer came to realize that some of his houseguests had wandered off. Golden Harvest was still here, meeting some of the town's out-of-work lumberjacks who had come at the behest of their own children. Summer couldn't say where the flower vendors had disappeared to, but this was a big crowd. Summer wasn't particularly worried, they were grown mares and Hollow Shades was a small town. If they got lost it wouldn't be difficult to ask for directions back to the Harvest farm, or even back to Ponyville if they so desired. From what Bean Sprout had told him, the other farmer had to promise to come to shut his colts up about forest spirits. No longer just his youngest, but the older colts too. His other neighbors told similar stories, of their foals outright pestering them into coming. Across the street, Hollow Shades' only physician was sitting on his haunches. He yawned and patted his front pocket for something that wasn't there, which gave rise to a sour grimace. Summer wasn't sure what he was doing here; Cherry Nova had no foals of his own, and he usually only attended social gatherings when the mayor virtually dragged him there for insurance reasons. Summer still would have preferred to have been in his fields, but while he was here he didn't see the harm in catching up with his friends and neighbors. --- "Where is he?" Thistle Bloom whined as she stamped her hooves on the dirt road, "The moon's up already!" "He'll be here," Corn Crib placated, "He said he would come and he keeps his promises." "Any much longer and my dad might take me home," Wedge whimpered as he glanced over at his father, who was looking rather desperate to keep himself entertained. "Don't worry, if he does take you home we'll be sure to tell you all about it." Thistle Bloom snickered, earning her an irritated scowl from her friend. Corn Crib sighed. Why did Thistle always like to harass Wedge like this? "The moon's barely 'up' anyway, he's probably arriving right now." Thistle Bloom snorted and kicked a small rock down the street. "You think he'll show up in that old cart again?" Wedge blinked, "I thought a king would come in something fit for Princess Celestia, like a big pumpkin shaped carriage pulled by a team of those rag ponies." "Yeah, but I don't think you'd say that if he was right behind you." Corn Crib smirked. Wedge's ears folded back as he carefully looked over his shoulder, huffing in relief when he did not see the violin-playing scarecrow behind him. "I'm more surprised that Mr. Stockholm's not here," Thistle Bloom said pointedly, "He's the first adult to see Barleycorn and all he did was stand there. You'd think he'd want to make a better impression." Wedge shrugged, "Maybe the pressure was just too much. I heard the Canterlot ponies have to shine their hooves and wear the fanciest clothes if they want to be at the Summer Sun Celebration when Princess Celestia raises the sun." Thistle Bloom gave her friend a skeptical look, "And who told you that?" "Ragweed, but she's been to the Summer Sun Celebration." Wedge defended, "She said anypony who was shabby was lead away where they could get cleaned up." "Didn't Ragweed once tell you that there's a dragon living in Ponyville?" Thistle Bloom rolled her eyes, "A big, scary, purple dragon?" Corn Crib tilted her head, "First time I've heard of that. 'Sounds made up if you ask me." "What's so fake about it?" Wedge puffed out his chest. "If a dragon was living in Ponyville, or any town for that matter, wouldn't it be a burning cinder by now?" Thistle Bloom pointed out. Wedge opened his mouth to respond, but instead he sat down in the road with a cowed look on his face. "Yeah... that sounds right." Corn Crib just shook her head, why did Wedge always believe things that just weren't so? --- Nopony had come up to Cherry Nova the entire time he had been sitting and waiting with the rest of the pedestrians. It was more than he could have hoped for. He credited this to everypony either being too busy minding their foals or simply being too tired from slaving on their farms to have the energy to bother him. A yawn escaped Cherry's lips as he glanced up and down the street. He saw many familiar faces, but nopony that was out of the ordinary. He had taken two long walks around the stores, using a flashlight to look for fog machines and other common stagecraft toys. Cherry was certain that was the reason this conpony wanted everypony in the main street. The buildings provided excellent cover for all manner of props and special effects. Although nopony in town knew, Cherry knew what to look for... the problem was he hadn't found anything. "Granted, I've been out of the loop for a while but not that long!" Cherry grunted, going over his previous search in his mind, "I'm certain I didn't see any wires or cables... no cart tracks, no ponies hiding on the roofs..." A burst of laughter suddenly had Cherry on edge, but he quickly brushed it off when he saw it was just some foals playing with an old tin can. "I'm starting to get paranoid. Yeah I haven't flown in years but that's my fault. It's not like anypony would recognize me, of all ponies, being so weak-winged that I flew like a drunk turkey. Besides, I only flew for a second to peek over the rooftops and it was behind the stores. Nopony saw me." Cherry scowled down at the ground, "Where was I? Oh yeah, I didn't see anypony up there, no unicorns for magic or pegasi for conventional effects... I'm starting to think this is just some runaway rumor that the foals concocted. There's no time to set up effects with any precision now that it's dark." "Ah, doctor, I'm glad to see you decided to attend this unscheduled event, and without me having to pay you." The moment Cherry recognized that voice he let out an annoyed grunt. The stallion that was talking to him like he was a foal was the mayor of Hollow Shades, Silver Lining. The mayor stood with a slump in his barrel and a mild droop of his head, both signs of his many decades of hard labor combined with his fast-approaching old age. His pale-gray coat did a fine job of hiding the scattered silver hairs that were cropping up, but his mane only had a peppering of his original daffodil-yellow amid the silver. The wrinkled, white collar that Silver Lining wore around his neck was the only thing that gave any hint to the old stallion's mayoral station. In all the years Cherry had been living in Hollow Shades he never seen Silver Lining do anything to correct his haggard condition. Rumor had it that he gave most of his paycheck back to the town treasurer, but Cherry would bet his entire annual income that Silver was just doing it out of desperation. Hollow Shades was sinking and their elected official was just bailing water at this point. Cherry lifted his hoof out of habit to reach for the flask he kept in his breast pocket. He found only an empty pocket, and Cherry quickly remembered he had left it on his deck back at the clinic. Cherry quickly recovered from his mistake by pretending to brush something off the front of his coat, "Just... curious about all these rumors that have been floating around." The old stallion stood beside Cherry, close enough the doctor swore he heard Silver's joints pop and crack as the old pony sat down. "I didn't put too much faith in it, myself. Housewives and children have a habit of seeing unbelievable things." Silver Lining said plainly. Cherry blinked, he hadn't expected an air of skepticism from Silver Lining, "I... am inclined to agree with you." "However," Silver Lining continued, "I haven't seen so many smiling faces in a long time. It may very well be an idle rumor, but if it takes a rumor to get everypony out and forget their worries for a little while, I think rumors might be what this town needs." Cherry raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that what the upcoming festival is for?" "If it was Hearth's Warming Eve or the Lumberjack Games I'd say 'yes.'" Silver Lining said, "But the Summer and Fall Harvest Festivals are only fun if you're there as a customer. If you're a farmer, then those festivals are more like deadlines than holidays." Silver Lining gestured toward the foals playing in the street, "If hearsay and gossip can get..." Silver glanced about as if he were actually counting the ponies around him, "Almost all the town here for a friendly chat or a game of tag, then maybe this town could use a lot more gossipy old nags." "Ah, a champion for the placebo effect..." Cherry yawned, "So you don't think there's any entertainer that's coming?" "I'm willing to grant whoever this pony is another fifteen minutes." Said Silver Lining, "The other ponies might be a little more generous but the cold cuts me deeper with each year." The obvious thing was to tell the old stallion to put on a sweater, but Cherry kept his mouth shut. A casual look to his right spotted somepony that Cherry avoided at all cost, a plump chatterbox of a mare named Mayberry, and she was coming his way. "Erm, if you don't mind I think I... um, think I see somepony with a nasty cough. Could be contagious..." Cherry stood and began to slink away, keeping his head low for fear of being spotted. "Excuse me..." The abrupt nature of Cherry Nova's departure left the mayor scratching his head, but he shrugged his suspicions off and put on a good-natured smile. "'Seems he's worked on improving his work ethic. Good for him." "Oh Silver Lining, there you are!" All the sudden Silver Lining knew why the doctor had left like he had. A slow turn of his head saw Mayberry approaching, her mane done up and her pearls around her neck like she was at the festival rather than some unofficial gathering like this. Mayberry began to talk, but Silver only really caught her friendly platitudes before he started to tune her out. It wasn't that Mayberry was poor company, it was just that she had nothing worth listening to. The mayor's attention wavered further as he looked up the street past Mayberry. His smile wilted as the rising moon cast its light against the pale, bare wood of the buildings. The entire town looked like a bleached skeleton, left half buried in some forgotten, shallow grave. Silver sighed through his nose and nodded his head at some half-listened to question. The continued river of empty yammering told him that Mayberry was still going on about whatever had gone on in her life. Something about the pie contest for the festival... Silver's eyes came to rest on the water tower that stood in the center of town. It was something he felt was his biggest failure in his tenure as the elected official of Hollow Shades. Being such a staple of the town's identity, he always thought it should have been kept looking decent for visitors, a standing welcome mat that showed that the ponies here were clean and decent. The tower was very similar to the one that stood just outside of Ponyville. It was built to resemble an old milk can, but like the rest of Hollow Shades it had seen better days. Rust had settled on the outside where the paint had been worn away by wind and time, and the wooden frame on which it stood had begun to sag from groundhogs undermining the foundation. Much like every other building in Hollow Shades, the town didn't have the finances to do any meaningful repairs. All Silver had been able to do was use his own funds to hire a few ponies to put some patches where the metal was thinning. Mayberry had just starting going on about her grandfoals before Silver Lining thought; "Doc, the least you could have done was warn me..." The continuous flow of blathering from Mayberry came to a jarring halt, making Silver Lining fear that Mayberry figured out he wasn't paying attention. No frown or glare laid bared at Silver, instead of anger there was a look of confusion on the fat mare's face as her ears tilted this way, then that. It was a look shared by many other ponies around them. This confusion spread to Silver's own face, as what in Equestria and beyond could have silenced Mayberry so completely? That's when he heard it. There was music on the wind. --- To be continued... ---