On grass
The first days of summer…
A scruffy, disheveled pegasus rolled in the grass, wiggling and thrashing about while kicking his legs up into the air. His back itched, this pegasus, and there was just no good way to scratch the healed-over scars that went from neck to rump. Like a fish out of water, he flopped about. While this was quite amusing on its own, a nearby owl followed his example and also bathed in the dew. There was snorting and chuffing from the pegasus, while the owl hooted with great enthusiasm.
His ocher hide? Smeared with green from the disturbed grass. A mane of noble, authoritative blue? Shaggy, unkempt, and festooned with blades of green grass. He was the baron of this barony, a regal creature, noble, majestic, and dignified—at least when he wasn’t rolling about in the grass with his royal sceptre on display.
With his itch sated, at least for now, he sat up, squinted in the bright sunlight, and peered around him while the owl continued to bathe in the dew. Sundance scratched his lean stomach with his right front hoof, and then began to try and brush the grass out of his mane with his right wing. The breeze was warm, the sun was hot, and the day was glorious. A dusted layer of pollen—yellow and thick—could be seen on everything, and the breeze blew loaded whorls of the stuff in search of sniffly, snotty creatures afflicted with allergies.
Even though it was early in the morning, it was already quite summery. Sitting on his grass-stained rump, Sundance thought about the clime of his barony. It was a boreal-temperate zone, which meant bitter, brutal winters, and fantastically hot summers. The temperature variance here was extreme and quite unique. Summer was upon them like a roaring dragon, and though summer would be short, it would be a productive time.
A time of plenty, or so he hoped.
Water was in abundance, as it was finally warm enough to thaw some of the higher elevations. Creeks swelled, rivers flowed broad and wide, and the barony’s waterfall was now a thunderous monster that bellowed echoing fury. The orchard ravine flooded slightly, and left behind deposits of black mud; once dried, it would be fertile black dirt. This place replenished itself with every turn of the seasons, and Sundance was in awe of how nature functioned, a careful continuation through a phase of cycles.
A bone-white diamond dog wearing a patched pale green smock and a patchwork beanie went running past, barking, and in hot pursuit of a butterfly. Sundance watched his nurse; she was a majestic creature with her tongue lolling and her tail wagging to and fro. Most of the time, she was industrious, hard working, stern, and serious. At other times… she chased butterflies. Such was the way of things.
Sunflowers turned their worshipful faces towards the sun and swayed in the breeze.
“Milord, Carnation and Paradox are squabblin’ again. Thought you should know.”
Sundance heaved a sigh, rubbed his temple with his wing, and replied, “Thank you, Earwig.”
The burly mare grunted, squinted at the smears of green all over Sundance’s ochre hide, and then smirked as she eased in closer. “My sister and I like to bicker. Some ponies like to argue.”
“Do you think it’s anything I should worry about?” he asked. “I mean, should I intervene?”
“Should you stick yer nose in, ya mean?” Earwig leaned in a little closer, her ears pivoted forward, and her smirk turned rather conspiratorial, as did her tone of voice. “It’s a matter of rivalry, that’s what I think. Carnation, she knows more spells… but that’s about all she knows. Paradox might not know as many spells, but she knows more about magic, and she graduated from that fancy school for gifted unicorns. What I think is that Carnation is trying to prove herself. She’s got skill, but not talent.”
“There’s a difference?” asked Sundance.
“Afeard so, Milord. Not sure how to explain it though. Paradox has talent. The magic she does know comes to her like second nature.” Earwig paused for a time, chewed her lower lip, and her ears pricked towards every sound that could be heard around her. “I think… I think it might be a bit like dancing, Milord. A pony might learn one or two dances, and be skilled at them. But that’s all that they do well. Now, a talented pony can do any kind of dance they fancy, Milord.”
“Yes, I think I understand what you mean, Earwig.”
“Old Cucumber had a talent for making pickles, Milord. Why, he could pickle most anything. Sauerkraut, she’s skilled at pickling stuff, and she can make her namesake just fine, but she don’t come close to what Cucumber could do.”
“Hmm.” Now distracted, Sundance thought of Cucumber; fond thoughts, though sad ones. “I never knew that about Cucumber…”
“Cucumber was never one to boast,” Earwig said to Sundance as her ears splayed flat. “There were times when he’d mention just how good his pickles were though. Which reminds me, we’re going to have a load of cucumbers this year. Record season, I think. I can’t recall when the land has ever given us this much, and it’s always had plenty to give.”
“I can’t help but wonder what Cucumber might think of our rival unicorns.”
“Milord, I think he’d be happy just to have more unicorns about. They got precious scarce.”
“Hmm,” he hmmed again, a thoughtful nonverbal acknowledgement.
Carnation Nosegay was the barony’s newest resident and a recent graduate of Canterlot Polytechnic Institute. She studied thaumagenics, a relatively new field that focused on magical bloodlines and genetic inheritance of magical traits. Sundance couldn’t understand most of what Carnation babbled about, nor did he care to learn. It was all stuff beyond his understanding, headache stuff. She often took his blood, or the blood of others, and then studied it. Carnation was fussy, a bit high-strung, and downright bitter after her wholesale rejection from Lord Sumac of Lulamoon Hollow. Sundance guessed that she wasn’t exactly happy to be here, but research was research. She had a roof over her head, food to eat, a place to study, test subjects, and more importantly, she had magic to contribute to the barony.
“A free meal and a place to sleep will bring more unicorns,” Earwig said to Sundance, and her words pulled him from his thoughts. “They want to keep their noses in books, and that’s fine, I suppose, so long as they help out once in a while as needed. Carnation has been a bigger help than Earwax and I thought she’d be.”
“She has?” Try as he might, he could not hide the surprise in his voice.
“Yeah.” Earwig offered up a nod that made her ears bob up and down. “She wants to show off her magic, that one, and she’s eager for a chance to show off. Now, she ain’t a pest about it… she don’t go around bragging or nothing… but she’s real… showy when she does something.”
“A flair for dramatics?” he asked.
“Maybe?” Earwig shrugged her broad withers. “She likes it when she’s praised. Like a foal that ain’t had much kind said about them. Double Helping is like that too. He almost gets weepy-eyed if you say a kind word about him.”
Yet another “Hmm” escaped from Sundance and he spent a moment checking out the swaying sunflowers, which grew taller every day. He valued these chats with Earwig, who was his eyes and ears. She knew everything that was going on, and kept him informed of anything worth knowing in the barony. It’d taken a while, but she had slowly grown into the position of leadership, and no longer had reservations about her duties. Sundance hoped that they had some measure of equality between them, though she still called him ‘Milord’ and other such titles.
“Acceptance is a powerful thing,” Sundance said after some quiet thought. “Ponies crave it. So do other creatures. Friendship, it could be said, is just more advanced acceptance. I think. More thought is required.”
“You know, Milord, Carnation is kind of a cute one—”
“Earwig…”
“—all that pink and white—”
“Earwig.” He shook his head but she kept going.
“—and those big eyes of hers. With a bit of flattery, she’d lift her tail for you. Lots of pink to be found on the inside, to match the outside, I reckon.”
“She’s not my type, Earwig.”
“Well”—exasperation turned Earwig’s voice sour—“bloody buggery, just what is your type? We’re not getting no younger, yer Lordship. Most of us have a keen interest in seein’ you have foals. We’re not picky, and you shouldn’t be either.”
“You deserve the best baroness that I can find.”
Earwig rolled her eyes, and then bit down upon her lower lip with savage ferocity.
“Ah, good… this time you didn’t tell me that I could take more than one wife. I’d rather not have that argument again. Like I said last time, I don’t think I could focus on the needs of the barony and a whole gaggle of mares. I’d end up neglecting something, or somepony, and I don’t want to do that.”
“And yer a good pony for saying it,” Earwig said, her voice still curdled. “We have a pressing need, Sire. A whole lot of us will soon rest our old bones in the ground. They want to know who will look after the barony, because you won’t live forever.”
He sighed from frustration, but then immediately felt better. Earwig could argue with him now. They could bicker and squabble and clear the air between them, and it was obvious that Earwig knew that there were no consequences, no punishments for her disagreement. It was a relief to him—a huge relief that allowed him to relax just a bit, even though he found the subject at hoof more than a little uncomfortable.
Rather than risk silence, Earwig changed the subject: “Milord, the barony is thriving. We have good housing, more than one unicorn around to help us out with magical stuff, and all needs are met, near as I can tell. Honestly, I can’t recall when we had it this good. Not even when I was a filly. Things were run down and dreary even then.”
“Things are nice, but I intend to make them better,” he replied. “Other than Carnation, we have no new residents. I sent the owls out on patrol to find those who travel the vast wilderness. Without numbers, we will not grow. What we need now is an easier way to reach the barony… but I don’t have a solution just yet.”
“You mentioned getting an airship.”
“Yes, Earwig. I have. As of right now, the barony has a clean slate. There is no debt. I intend to keep it that way.”
“What’s wrong with a little loan?”
“No, Earwig. Just no. Rustic stuck his neck out and risked the axe to save us from debt. Things worked out, thankfully. He’s in no danger of losing his own business. Our heads are above water, for the moment. I’ll do nothing to risk that.”
“Seems smart, I suppose, though I don’t know much about it.”
“Rustic handles our finances. If he mentions a loan, and we all agree on it, then I’ll consider it. Until that time, nope.” He felt a curious resolve overcome him, and it made him feel good about life. Sure, he had nothing, but he didn’t have debt, either. He sighed, felt a bit lighter, extended one wing, and slipped it around Earwig’s neck.
“Things are going to be fine, Earwig. I mean, the debt is gone. Princess Cadance is about to build a recovery ward to the north of us, in that patch of land called Tarhollow. Soon, perhaps by next summer, we’ll have tourists. I have a feeling that the transportation issue will sort itself out somehow, one way or another. But right now, there’s no need to worry about it.”
Just as he was about to continue, he saw a flapping paper bird. He’d seen one of these before, an origami paper swan. Without looking, he knew that it had to be from Twilight Velvet. He also knew that the paper messenger would poke him right in the nose, or maybe an eye this time. His last encounter with Twilight Velvet’s messenger bird was now vivid in his memory. Earwig was utterly transfixed by the flying, flapping paper bird, so much so that she failed to even blink.
Before the messenger could impale his face, he touched it with his wing and that caused it to unfold itself. He lifted the paper, flipped it over, held it up, and had himself a good look at the message written on a letter that could deliver itself without a postal pony.
Dear Lord Sundance:
Come to Canterlot at once and seek me out in my office. Ask around, you will get directions. Come as soon as possible and do not delay. Bring your wagon. Please, do try to clean off the grass stains and maybe pull some of the twigs from out of your mane. It is important that you make a good first impression.
Not with me though, I’m already impressed. You have earned my trust and confidence.
Best regards,
Lady Twilight Velvet
“Huh,” he said aloud to nopony in particular. “Looks like I’ll be flying to Canterlot.”
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I'm hearing Twilight time.
And it's good to see that everything worked out and that the place hasn't come back down to ruin.
Also, hooray--chapter 100!
9873629
Twilight Velvet, yes. Twilight Sparkle... later. Much later. She's a busy princess.
Prepare for the next battle.
What could possibly go wrong
this sounds like the beginning of a long arc.
i code move to this Barony and live out the rest of my life easy.
Wonders why Sumac rejected Carnation. Though her area of study has the potential to be abused especially be unicorns who believe they are superior to everyone else
Every now and then, when I read this story, I get an odd feeling that the rest of the Weedverse was written solely as the back drop for this one.
At the same time, I get the same feeling about The Rains of Vanhoover so take that how you will >.>
9874017
I would have to guess it being that she works with the blood of the ponies she is researching. The blood of a sorcerer in the wrong hooves could be a bad thing. Could also do nothing but I don't think Sumac would like that risk or the extra trouble to limit it being a risk.
This just proves to me that Twilight Velvet will become the next head of The EIS. She’s already got eyes and ears everywhere to the point that she KNEW sundance would be grass-stained and twig-headed
9874296
She's already head of the agency she wanted. Splitting her efforts between two agencies would be counter-productive.
9874337
True enough, it’s just she apparently has spies or eyes and ears everywhere already...perfect candidate
Seems like velvet has some scrying eyes or something, to see Sundance covered in grass.
9874566
🎶Scrying eyes... are watching you... they see your every move... 🎵
9874568
lol
Sundance is gonna need a good scrubbing!
Yay more Twilight Velvet.
For some reason she's my favourite weedverse character, despite only having supporting roles so far.
Loans are like hexs, you get a temporary external power source but the price is a steep one, and will twist the careless and unwary.