Chapter 18: Meet The Ponies
R.J. Brinsin straightened up, wiped the sweat off his forehead, and leaned back, cracking his back,
"How long do it take to chop up a damn tree? I'm sweatin' like a fifty dollar hooker on 'nickel night' an' we ain't even halfway done with our tree." he aimed a tired kick at the foot-thick trunk he stood next to.
Mike Spearman looked up, sweating in equal amount to his friend,
"It takes a while. We just have to keep at it. At least we don't have to work scouting out the areas to the North and East. Let Andrew and Kaneesha handle that. I just wish we knew when those civilian . . . I can't believe I'm saying this, Ponies going to get here to help. It's been over a week."
Brinsin shrugged and took a deep swig from his canteen,
"I don't know man, but as far as I'm concerned they can take their time." he paused for another drink before capping the canteen, "I still ain't comfortable with the idea an' the L.T. ain't either."
Mike chuckled in response,
"What, are you afraid of a bunch of Ponies? Civilian Ponies?"
R.J. spun toward his friend intensely,
"Your damn right I am! A bunch o' those Ponies done killed a whole gaggle o' us! Who's to say they ain't plannin' on doin' it again?"
Mike chuckled more heavily,
"You mean after they had the perfect chance to and decided to let us go?"
R.J. picked up his short axe, the larger axes hadn't arrived yet,
"Wasn't no perfect chance," he said as he leaned over to hew another branch off the tree, "They woulda lost a bunch o' they own doin' it."
Mike stopped and straightened up regarding the shorter man,
"How much of a 'last stand' do you think we would have made? Those shields were no bigger than bucklers on us. We don't have magic and we don't have any way to bring down their Pegasi en masse."
"We Humans, man. We damn near impossible to get rid of." R.J. replied.
"Normally, I might agree with you, but here, in this place? Naw, they would have swatted us like a bug." Mike leaved back over and continued chopping, "Besides, if the . . . Ponies are any good, we could use their help."
* * *
"Good God." Ludwig said, it was the closest he had ever come to yelling, "I never imagined these Ponies could eat so much. These fifty Guards eat as much as a hundred of us."
Calvin chuckled heartily,
"Yeah, these cats can really pack it away! Ya gotta remember though, they don't eat no fish or meat. They gotta expend a lot o' energy to keep they brains workin'. Higher intelligence means more energy. Meat packs a lot o' energy, but they bodies can't digest it so they gotta make up for quality with quantity."
The two men were watching the fifty armored Guards eating their second breakfast at what was estimated to be ten in the morning. The fifty were a mix of fifteen Pegasi, fifteen Unicorns, and twenty Earth Ponies. The bunch of Guards were chowing down on some grilled weeds from the fields. The two hundred people set to tending the fields had been horribly concerned that they wouldn't have any place to pile all the weeds they were pulling, but the Ponies had been the answer. The idea had come from Leo, of all people. He had half jokingly said that if there wasn't any place to toss the weeds the Humans could feed them to the Ponies. Jason, who was under constant surveillance and guard, had overheard the comment and added that it was a solid possible solution, albeit a temporary one.
Alex and Kolo had been somewhat enthralled by the way the Ponies ate. They laid down on the cobblestone street in full armor, set down their plates and just lowered their heads and ate like normal equines. The two men had already been surprised when the armored Earth Ponies and Pegasi had picked up their plates with their mouths and carried them. The plates were clean but it had still been surprising. The biggest surprise had been when the Unicorns had used magic to levitate their plates. Alex and Kolo had initially thought the armored equines planned to attack, which had led to a lengthy and unintelligible explanation by one of the Unicorns which, as far as the two men could tell, could be paraphrased as 'it has more purposes than warfare'.
Ludwig had been the one to use the idea of 'grilling' the weeds. He had used a wide, flat griddle, heated it, and just plopped the weeds down until they were just a tiny bit crispy then served them on plates. The Ponies LOVED it. Alex was calling it the 'garden garbage special'. An Earth Pony Guard rose from where he had been laying and trotted up to Alex holding his plate in his mouth.
Alex and Kolo had been making semi-educated guesses as to what the Ponies wanted based on their actions. So far it had been relatively successful. The Earth Pony tapped his plate gently against the griddle, which Alex took to mean, he wanted more of the 'garden garbage special'. He had the weeds in hand when a stern voice from one of the other Earth Ponies suddenly barked out a few harsh syllables. The Guard holding the plate wilted in a way that was ridiculously comical. He looked fierce and intimidating in his armor, but his sad expression and posture lent him a look that was more akin to a Military Working Dog in uniform who was begging for scraps. The effect was so strong that Alex and Kolo nearly reached out to scratch him behind the ears.
The Guard however straightened up and instead carried his plate over to the 'to be washed' pile. The pile of plates and so forth were washed after every meal to keep them clean but the time it took was already becoming evident. The people who had volunteered to serve and clean up breakfast were still down at the stream washing up.
The Guards had been in the town for the past three days, ever since Princess Celestia had made the agreement with Joyner. They had arrived around noon the same day and had been loaded down heavily with equipment. They had chosen one of the empty stone buildings as a sort of 'head quarters' and the Earth Ponies and Unicorns had been sleeping there every night. The Pegasi had jaw-dropped everyone when they took to the sky and began pushing clouds all around then forming them into simple buildings. The Pegasi tended to stay in the sky almost all the time. One thing that Darryl had noticed right away was that the Guards were very lightly armed as compared to the Guards the Humans had encountered previously.
The only weapon any of the Guards had were short shafted, long bladed spears, similar to the assegai spears the Zulu warriors used except the blades were thicker and wider. That was it, there were no other weapons. No one knew what to think. Everybody had expected the Guards to arrive bristling with as many weapons as a porcupine has quills. The Guards had just moved in, they practically ignored the Humans for the entire first day. They ignored most of the Humans on the second day as well. The only time they had even made any sort of motion indicating they were even aware of the Humans was on the second day when two people got into a fist fight. It was on that day that the Humans realized exactly why the Guards had brought so few weapons. One of the Earth Ponies had come upon the two men who were fighting and simply stomped on the ground. The end result had been a literal ripple of rocks and dirt beneath the feet of the two men which sent them face first into the cobblestone road with bloody noses. He then casually walked over and simply stood between the two men. He didn't say a word, he didn't restrain them, and he didn't even glare. He just stood between them silently. Eventually both men picked themselves up and parted ways.
By that evening every Human had heard what happened. No one wanted to mess with the Guards and they all had a new found respect for the Earth Ponies. The Humans had been extra wary of the Ponies after the incident, but once night fell the Guards emerged from their building and began moving about with the Humans at dinner time. They ate with their new 'neighbors' and were honestly rather personable but strictly maintained their silence. Any sort of vocalizations from the Guards was brief and clipped and always directed at each other.
The rest of the Guards finished their meals and Alex and Kolo counted the plates that were left,
"Hey yo Alex, I gotta go check on my peeps down under City Hall."
Alex nodded,
"Go ahead, I can handle the plates."
* * *
Kolo entered City Hall and headed over to the trap door in the floor. He pulled it open and descended down the narrow stairs in the dark. The Humans had received an old blueprint of the sewer system of the town as well as the location of the town's water supply. None had been expecting the well to be buried under a pile of rubble on one of the empty foundations that littered the city. Kolo and his group had excavated the rubble and found the well that same day. The system was an odd pump. It was mechanical beyond any reasonable doubt and Morris had easily confirmed it, but there was no apparent power supply for it. Morris and Vacca had been overcome with excitement once Mike Joyner assigned them the task of disassembling the device and discovering how it worked. The two men had spent the entire day fiddling with it. The tools Morris had in the saddle bags he stole happened to fit the odd screws and bolts that held the pump together. Once Morris and Chris had the machine dissected they found, to their surprise, that its power source was a type of wind-up motor on an incredibly tight spring. They reassembled the machine and found the port that the winding mechanism was inserted into, however they had no device with which to crank it. They spent nearly the entire night pouring over the tools and pieces of metal Morris had been carrying and by morning had a working crank key.
The Humans gathered in anticipation, watching as the two men grunted and strained against the crank. The thing finally popped loose and from that point they wound up the mechanism. They released it and the machine began running. After a full minute water began pouring out of the spigot mouth attached to the side. The Humans had rarely cheered so loudly.
The other parts of the blueprint detailed the sewage system which was accessed from the trap door in City Hall. The stairs led down in a spiral style that the Humans had to crouch to access. Kolo nearly had to crawl. At the bottom of the stairs was a colossal and vast reservoir into which hundreds of pipes drained. Kolo had guessed that the pipes connected to the various buildings and their respective bathrooms. The reservoir was colossal. He guessed it to be at least half a mile deep, but only the last four feet were filled with old sewage. The urine and feces had been there so long it had effectively turned to fertilizer and had solidified. The eighty people who had participated in the attack on Flankfurt had been assigned to digging out the solidified poo and loading it into wheelbarrows. Kolo was in charge of it.
The reservoir was sloped so a person could just walk down to the bottom. It was quite a walk. Torches had been lit after the tops of the sewage pipes had been cleared so the air could circulate enough that the people didn't die from asphyxiation. The big man was mighty proud of his new group, they worked good and hard.
He passed Ron'del pushing a wheelbarrow full of solidified sewage,
"How you holdin' up?" Kolo asked.
Ron'del shrugged as he continued on without stopping,
"Ain't the end o' the world, but it sucks ass."
Kolo laughed,
"Naw man, what you're haulin' got sucked FROM an ass, a horse's ass. Just remember to take it to the orchard before you dump it."
Ron'del grumbled but kept pushing the wheelbarrow. Kolo lapsed into thought as he descended the gentle slope, 'I can't help but wonder what the big cities do when this thing gets filled up. Do they dig a new one?' he admired the dimensions of the reservoir as he kept on heading downward, 'Gotta be close to a quarter mile across and about that long too. These dimensions is mind-blowin', hard to imagine a bunch of colorful Ponies did all this.' On a sudden whim he pursed his lips and began whistling a jaunty tune. It was looking to be a good day.
* * *
Amber Eyes re-read the flier that her Mother had given her. The family of five mares, one stallion, and five foals was packing all of their physical belongings into a heavy cart. The caramel colored and gold maned filly was unhappy. Her family had been looking for a new place to live and her Mother, Long Wind had been close to giving up hope of ever finding any city, town, or village that needed a teacher. They had moved nine times in the past four years and Amber Eyes was just beginning to make friends. They had only been in Las Pegasus for two months.
Her Father, Straight Edge, could always find work. Construction Ponies were always in high demand, especially carpenters who specialized in house framing. Her non-blood-Mothers were also highly skilled Ponies. Quick Patch, her Earth Pony Mother, was a seamstress. Wind Whisper and Gale Force, her Pegasi Mothers, were weather Ponies, and High Note, her Unicorn Mother, was a fabulous singer and actress who could adopt to any style of music and had performed in front of Princess Celestia on two separate occasions.
Amber Eyes frowned down at the flier in her hoof,
"Greetings to all Ponies from their Royal Highness, Princesses Celestia and Luna. A new settlement is being founded in Equestria, to the East of Flankfurt. This Royal Invitation goes out to any and all Ponies who wish to settle in this new town. Please send a written letter to the Royal Census Bureau stating your name, breed, marital status, occupation, cutie mark, and age. The Princesses are looking for adult individuals who are willing to work in this new settlement. Entire families are eligible but discouraged as the community does not yet have a designated teacher nor any location in which to teach. Seven hundred applicants will be selected to be colonists." the filly looked up at her parents, "You sent the letter didn't you Mom."
Long Wind looked away from the abacus she had been stowing and gazed down at her daughter,
"Yes, I did. We all discussed it and everypony was amiable to the idea, so I sent the letter. The Princess responded back stating that ours would be one of the first full families in this new settlement." she trotted toward the rear of the house, "Come along Amber. There are a few things you and your sisters need to know and I would rather tell all of you at once."
Amber Eyes followed her Mother to the rear of the house where the play room was. Amber Eyes' sisters: Rose Thorn, a blood red Unicorn filly, Tender Touch, a dark pink Pegasus filly, Chatter Box, a white Earth Pony filly, and Whip Lash, a sky blue Pegasus filly were all playing in the play room when Amber Eyes and Long Wind entered.
Long Wind cleared her throat,
"Ahem," the fillies instantly stopped what they were doing and listened, they had learned long ago that Long Wind, despite her name, always had something neat to talk about, "Alright girls I have an announcement to make. We are moving again."
The fillies cheered excitedly, except for Amber Eyes. Her sisters were all between the ages of five and seven, whereas Amber Eyes was nine. The younger fillies loved moving, it was an adventure for them. They got to meet new Ponies and see new places. Amber was different, she wanted friends she could play with, friends who would be around for more than six months at a time. She hated moving.
Long Wind continued with a smile, glad to see her daughters so happy,
"This time we're moving to a very special place. It's a secret new community way off to the East. It's so new and secret, it doesn't even have a name yet. We can't tell anypony about it, but we'll be leaving soon anyway, so you should know now." the gathering of fillies all 'oohed' at the statement, "Now here's the exciting part, there's going to be more than just Ponies there." at those words, Amber Eyes began paying attention, "These beings don't look like Ponies though, they walk on their back legs like Minotaurs and Diamond Dogs. They also don't have coats or even tails, they do have manes. According to Princess Celestia, these beings have had a really hard time recently and they're all very sad . . . "
"Why are they sad Mommy?" Chatter Box asked.
"They're sad because they got lost and can't go home. They are stranded in Equestria and some of them got hurt. So we need to remember to be super duper nice to them. They may look strange and act strange, but Princess Celestia says that most of them have good hearts. She said they're lonely and scared so we all have to show them how nice we can be. The Princesses have offered them a home in Equestria and we have to make sure they feel welcomed. The Princess was so happy to hear we were coming, that she sent a private air coach for all of us."
"Tell us more about the . . . the um . . . what are they called Mommy?" Rose Thorn asked.
"They're called Humans. It's a new word. Well, they don't talk like we do, they have their own language. The Princess said she has a really good friend of hers trying to teach one of them how to talk like we do. Oh, and they're really tall, almost as tall as Minotaurs. Princess Celestia also said they're scared of Unicorns."
The fillies looked at each other, puzzled to no end,
"Why are the Hoomans afraid of Unicorns?" Chatter Box asked.
"Humans dear," Long Wind corrected gently, she shifted her weight nervously, "Well, a bunch of Unicorns were . . . confused . . . and scared of the Humans and ended up . . . hurting a bunch of them. That's part of the reason the Princess is asking Ponies to go help them. The Humans are scared and we need to show them there's nothing to be afraid of." a sudden thought occurred to Long Wind, "Oh there is one more thing. The Humans eat the same foods we do, but they need one more. They have to eat . . . fish."
"Eew!"
"Gross!
"Yuk!"
"Poor fishies!"
"Settle down please girls." Long Wind said soothingly, "I know it seems strange to us, but the Gryphons need to eat fish too. Remember, just because somepony is different, doesn't mean they are bad. Almost every time, different is actually a good thing. Different species means variety and variety is always good. Imagine eating nothing but hay for your entire life. It would get boring and dull, but if you add all the yummy foods we eat all together, it gives us a good variety. The Humans bring a different type of variety to Equestria, a world full of nothing but Ponies would get boring, that's why any being can live here. The Humans are as welcome as Gryphons, Miontaurs or any other being."
"So, we're going to go live in a strange new place with strange new creatures who don't even speak our language and they eat living things!?" Amber Eyes asked.
Long Wind shifted her weight from left to right nervously,
"Y . . . yes."
Long Wind was secretly nervous. She had made Amber move around so much and she was afraid her daughter might grow to resent her. She hated hurting her little girl but she had to find someplace to go so she would have a good job. Long Wind was constantly concerned that she was being selfish and that it wasn't fair to Amber.
"That's so cool!" Amber squeaked excitedly.
Long Wind breathed a sigh of relief,
"Alright girls, it's time to pick up and pack your toys. You know the routine. Your Mothers have already packed your things from your bedrooms, so your toys are the last things to go before we start cleaning."
"Long Wind." Straight Edge called from the front door, "There's a doctor and a bunch of maids at the door asking for you."
Long Wind came out of the play room and headed toward the front door. The doctor was an orange Pegasus mare with a black mane and tail, dressed in a white lab coat and there were four identical Unicorn mares dressed as maids standing right behind her. The doctor had a heavy black bag on the ground next to her.
"Long Wind?" the older Pegasus mare asked.
"That's me." she answered, "I wasn't told to expect a doctor or maids."
"No indeed, the Princess wants to make sure you and your family are well taken care of. I'm here to double check the health of every member of the family as well as to provide standard immunizations. The maids behind me are here to clean your home."
Long Wind was speechless,
"Oh my, I had no idea the Princess thought this was so important. I cannot help but to ask, why us?"
The doctor smiled warmly,
"I'll explain, but may we come in?"
"Oh yes of course, how silly of me." she stepped aside, "Please come in."
The maids never said a word. They just entered the house and began cleaning. The doctor looked around the front room. It had already been cleared of furniture along with everything else. She smiled and lay down on the floor.
"I'll explain as I work. Your letter stated there are five fillies and six adults in your household. Two Unicorn mares and two Unicorn fillies, two Pegasus mares and two Pegasus fillies, one Earth Pony stallion, one Earth Pony mare and one Earth Pony filly. All members of the household are in reasonably good health. Is all of that correct? I'm Steady Hoof by the way."
"Yes, that's right." Long Wind turned and called over her shoulder, "Girls, come here please."
A small stampede of tiny hooves rumbled the floor as five fillies more or less tumbled into the front room in a blur of excitement and colors.
"Settle down please, girls." Long Wind said quietly.
The fillies did indeed settle down, well enough so that Steady Hoof could count them,
"Which one is the eldest?"
"Amber Eyes come here please." her Mother asked.
The caramel colored filly trotted up to her Mother,
"Yes?"
Steady Hoof motioned her over,
"Come over here Amber Eyes, I need to check you out and make sure you're healthy."
Amber looked at her Mother for reassurance. Long Wind nodded and nudged her daughter toward the older Pegasus mare with her muzzle. Amber walked over to Steady Hoof and stood in front of her.
"Alright dear, I'm going to be listening to your heart and lungs first." the doctor said as she put on a stethoscope, "Long Wind, the reason for my presence and the presence of the maids is to provide you and your family with as much service as we can. The only ponies to have interacted with the Humans so far have been Royal Guards or the Princess herself. The Princess wants to do everything in her power to ensure the health of every Pony who has volunteered to be part of this new community."
She turned to Amber briefly,
"Breathe deeply in and out several times for me dear."
She then turned back to Long Wind,
"You just happen to be the only Pony out of seven hundred who is a teacher AND the only teacher who applied. Apparently several of the Human females are pregnant so a teacher is going to be a very important position very quickly. Princess Celestia is expecting her linguist to have a method of translation in just a matter of months. That means YOU are going to be teaching more than seven hundred Humans how to speak Equestrian Common. Then when the children grow up enough to go to school, you will be teaching them as well."
She turned back to Amber,
"Alright, everything sounds good so far. Next I need to check your blood pressure. Put your right fore hoof into this cuff please."
She turned back to Long Wind as she began pumping the cuff,
"There is a lot to be done in this new community," the elder mare noticed the other mares and stallion entering the front room, "The Humans need homes. They have been sleeping on the floor of the old stone City Hall. They have no magic at all and they need weather Pegasi for their crops. They need a lot of things. Now it might sound like they are helpless but the Princess is certain they have something to offer us too. She hasn't said what it is, but she is absolutely certain of it."
She turned back to Amber,
"Alright dear, I'm going to be feeling around your barrel and checking out how your insides feel."
She turned back to Long Wind,
"According to the Princess, the Humans are as intelligent as we are, but their society is very different. Be prepared for culture shock. The air coach should be here within the hour." she looked up at the family, "You will be some of the first Ponies to arrive."
* * *
Morris was absolutely giddy,
"So much stuff!"
He was standing in front of a large crate that a group of armored Guards had just dropped off. It was the most recent, but certainly not the first. With the inclusion of the most recent, there were nearly six hundred crates. Teams of eight Pegasi had been arriving for the past three hours in an almost steady stream. Morris had more stuff than he knew what to do with. Axes, awls, old fashioned manual drills, heavy framing hammers, more than a literal ton of nails . . . the list went on.
Mike Joyner, on the other hand was not so happy. Four ponies had arrived within the previous two hours. They were mostly mares, but they were carrying heavy loads in their saddle bags. He had been trying to figure out sleeping arrangements for the Ponies, but the language barrier was just as stubborn as ever. Darryl and Bobby had been pulled away from their duties to assist with trying to figure out a way to communicate with the Ponies.
Bobby had already figured out that the 'tattoos' on the Ponies' flanks were symbolic, but some of them were just outright confusing. The three mares and one stallion had seemed confused and cautious but friendly enough. The first mare who had arrived was a mustard yellow Earth Pony. Her mane and tail were a brilliant shade of grass green and her 'tattoo' was of an ear of corn. Bobby guessed that she probably knew something about corn or perhaps farming in general. She had arrived from the West on hoof and had gone straight to the City Hall. Alex had been the first one to see her so he had sent a runner to go get Mike.
The mare was just standing around outside City Hall when Joyner arrived, 'What, are WE supposed to organize them?' he wondered. The mare, upon spotting him and apparently noticing he was headed right toward her, extended her hoof. Mike was puzzled for a second before he reached out and shook her hoof. She shook back and began chattering away in her native language.
Mike saw the armored Guards out of the corner of his eye. They were continuing on with their patrol as normal, apparently not instructed to interfere. The mare seemed to understand that Joyner had absolutely no idea what she was saying. About that same time, a light purple Pegasus mare flew in and landed in the ground next to the first mare. The Pegasus' mane and tail were turquoise with a dark red streak and her 'tattoo' was of a raining cloud. The other mare and the stallion had arrived shortly thereafter.
"Yeah, I don't get it either." Bobby said, "You would THINK they'd be given instructions on what to do once they got here."
Two more teams of eight Pegasi carrying two more crates flew up from the West, Joyner watched with a grimace,
"Oi. Why do I get the feeling we're about to be overwhelmed with management details?" he turned to Morris, "Get a crew together and haul these crates into City Hall then catalog them. I don't want the natives stealing anything. Bobby, you have anyone in the medical station?"
"Nope, already checked out all the little scrapes and bruises and the pregnant ladies aren't due for any checkups for a week. I got Richardson and Leo up there too, want me to get them down here?" Jewel asked.
Joyner rubbed his right hand down over sides of his mouth,
"Richardson yes, Leo no. We need someone up there who knows enough to get by. Go get Cessily and get back here."
"I'm on my way down, Mike." Cessily yelled from the second floor of City Hall.
Darryl tapped Mike on his left shoulder,
"Hey, L.T. what is that?" he asked pointing.
The object he was pointing to was roughly five times the length of the crates and it had twelve Pegasi pulling it. It looked to have windows set into its sides and a door near the front of the left side.
Mike cupped his hands around his mouth,
"Clear the road!" he turned to the people nearby, "We need to get this courtyard cleared out. Darryl go get the folks in the fields. They're close and we need manpower A.S.A.P. Once they're here, get these crates inside City Hall."
Darryl saluted and ran off,
"Bobby, see if you can round up some of the folks cleaning up those foundations and get them here. We need the crates out of the way or else we're going to have a hell of a mess. I'm going to see if I can figure out where to put all these damn Ponies."
Mike watched the long windowed . . . thing land then groaned in near despair when six more Ponies got out. His groan nearly turned to a howl as five tiny Ponies followed them, 'Families! What, is that three, four families? We weren't expecting families!' he glanced to the side, looking at one of the stone buildings, 'Well, it's not pretty but it's something.' he turned back toward the newest arrivals and shook his head, 'Good grief.'
"Oh my God! They're so CUTE!" Richardson said in the single most girly voice Mike had ever heard.
Joyner shook his head just as something occurred to him. His head whipped back up and he narrowed his eyes, 'Wait a second, there's only one male?' he nearly spat, 'Is Celestia dumping broken families on us?' his thoughts came to as screeching halt as each of the mares nuzzled the stallion, as a group.
". . ."
". . ."
". . ."
"Wut?"
He watched in disbelief as the children circled around the adults making adorable squeaking sounds, 'Dear god. Once the women see them, we'll NEVER get any work done.'
"Woo!" Richardson yelled, "You go player!"
Michael Joyner put his head in his hands and groaned.
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"The human's intro to Herding" By Straight Edge
Eeyup.
I don't get it. Why is Celestia sending so many ponies to the town? The humans have enough problems already with farm establishment and general repair without 700 ponies that can barely communicate with them suddenly arriving.
And another thing, with so many families they'll out-breed the humans!
I would have thought the answer was blatantly obvious. But you will see in time.
Alright, I REALLY like the idea that sapient herbivores need to eat more to support themselves. It's a point I've never seen in other stories, so kudos.
And Joyner's reaction to the herd...
I enjoy when stories use the herd concept and actually go into how that would affect their society. Given your penchant for details, I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with it. 
These humans are so gullible.
4886768 And how, exactly are they gullible?
PPPFFFT!
... forget Celestia, let this mare rule Equestria!
Joyner.exe has stopped working.
I have the perfect background music for the ponies, and the adorable little fillies, arriving in town:
Folk music works best for such adventurous circumstances, and the first civilian ponies arriving there, it kind of makes it sound like the town starts to flourish, like when you are in the beginner stages of an Anno game.
Cliffnote: That song really reminds me of Fairy Tail O_o.
I'm still pissed at White Bitch (Celestia) for being so fucking self-righteous for judging the people like that.
I'm waiting for the shitstorm when ponies learn that we need meat. Ugh, I can just imagine it...
There is a difference between respect and fear. Also, separating a fight by causing someone injury, even if it is just a bloody nose, is basically police brutality (or equivalent for guards I suppose)
Every time I think of the earth p0ny guard who broke up the fight just standing in between them silently, I think of him with this face:
tse1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=OIP.M80c578979244317228835af79be47b8bH0&w=300&h=213&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0&r=0
HOOHAHAHAHA!
That reaction! Hilarious!
On the other hand, that's one HELL of a lot of mother-in-laws!
*Cringe*
7018827 my ex in-laws were very good to me but yes ouch indeed.
ya see that's where he's wrong... Humans are able to adapt. As the great siatama once said: Human beings are strong because they have the ability to change themselves"
also, I'm kind of freaking out about how families are moving into the town.
9448653 Oh don't you worry. Luna explains to them why they are more powerful than they think... and they are forced to prove it later on.
BTW, wasn't Jason's ribs fucked up by the filly's dad when they tried to attack Flankfurt? But he's well enough to now be helping out (albeit digging out the old sewers). When did he get the medical attention needed to heal him up?
Bahahaha! Two very different reactions to herding in Equestria, and I love it lol