Future secured
The rotten, dilapidated train depot was not deserted. After a soft landing on the flat, spongy ground, Sundance had himself a better look at the mare and two foals waiting for him at the stop. They avoided the splintery bench and the decaying lean-to shelter, opting to wait in the grass instead. Never once did the mare take her eyes off of him, and Sundance studied her as he approached.
One thing was for certain; she was pregnant, and very much so.
She was wary, this mare, and so was the earth pony filly hiding between her front legs. A much smaller unicorn colt peered out from behind mare’s hind legs. The little unicorn colt made a valiant effort to appear bold, fierce, but his stubby little horn kept fizzling out. Sundance could only imagine what sort of embarrassment a fizzled-out horn must cause.
A fine strong breeze blew northward, bringing with it the musty, somewhat dank smell of the Everfree. The scent of forest loam, the smell of decay transitioning into life on the forest floor. It was a new scent for Sundance, who for his whole life had lived in a city, and he wasn’t sure if he liked it.
“Mister,” the mare said while doing a complicated dance to secure her foals beneath her.
“Miss.” It only seemed proper to respond in kind.
“I was told to come here, wait for you, and explain myself to you.” The earth pony mare shuffled a bit and tail-slapped her colt when he tried to step out from beneath her. “My name is Hollyhock… and you, you must be Sundance?”
“That I am,” he replied.
“I don’t know how to begin.”
“Typically, one begins from the beginning.”
Peals of laughter escaped from the mare, nervous, barking laughter, and with great rapidity she brought herself back under control. Her eyes were bright, but fearful, and there was something else as well, something that Sundance couldn’t quite make out. At least he had made her laugh, and he felt as though that counted for something.
“Twilight Velvet trusted me to come here and wait,” the mare began, and her expression became one of shame. “She said it was the first big step in my rehabilitation. I got in some trouble, you see… a lot of trouble, I guess. My circumstances got bad and I did stupid stuff. They were gonna take my foals away from me and send me to a correctional colony up north somewhere, but Twilight Velvet fought to keep me and my little family together.”
Saying nothing, Sundance unhitched himself from his sky truck and sat down in the grass.
“I stole.” Ducking her head down, the distraught, shamed mare avoided Sundance’s gaze. “I stole, and I kept stealing. I couldn’t find work because I couldn’t afford a foalsitter and I couldn’t afford a foalsitter because I couldn’t find work and I’m a single mom and things got desperate and so I stole. I turned to pilfering what I needed and after I became homeless I decided that there was no point in being honest anymore, I had to provide somehow. The world screwed me over and so I was gonna screw the world right back.”
The light grey earth pony filly laid down near her mother’s front hooves but never once looked away, keeping her focused stare on Sundance. A moment later, the unicorn colt, her brother, joined her, and she pulled her smaller sibling closer. Hollyhock continued standing and her sides heaved in such a way that it was obvious that she was holding in some powerful sobs.
“I was stupid, and I stole.” Ears drooping, the mare shook her head and looked down at the two foals resting in the grass near her front hooves. “Twilight Velvet told me of a place where I could go with my foals… a place where I wouldn’t have to worry about money, or rent, or an electric bill, and there’d always be food on the table, and I thought she was lying to me… pullin’ my leg, but I was desperate. She promised me that I could keep my family together. The judge ruled on the side of mercy, and so here I am. I was made the property of Sundance, which is you, and the first act of my rehabilitation was coming out here to the middle of nowhere and waiting for you.”
Sundance almost said something, but held his tongue. It bothered him that the ponies living in his demesne were his property, but he understood the legal sense involved. It took some mental gymnastics on his part, but he refused to see it as ownership, and more as absolute responsibility on his part. Guardianship. Protecting. Anything but ownership, because if he owned another pony, his mother would twist his ears off. He liked his ears—they were a fine set of ears and a pony only ever got one pair of ears.
“I feel scared and crazy, because I’m about to go off to a strange place with a strange stallion that I don’t know, and this guy, he owns me now, and he’s sitting in the grass staring at me, and I’m really scared out of my mind, which is funny and crazy, because I kept thinking about easing myself into prostitution… which is even funnier and crazier, because the idea of turning tricks scared me and made me panic, but I’m really just a stupid, stupid mare, because all three of my little ones have three different daddies, all of them almost strangers, and I was fine with one night stands, but the idea of turning tricks for bits scares me and going off with some guy to some strange place has me terrified, and nothing in my life makes sense right now, and I really don’t want you to see me crying, and my emotions are a mess, and I’m hormonal!”
Reaching up, Sundance scratched behind his left ear with his left front hoof.
“Twilight Velvet promised me that you’d take care of me, but I don’t rightly know what that means, I’m terrified to find out. I don’t know what I’m doing here. And you.., you’re just sitting there, all calm and having a good scratch while I’m rambling like a nutter and all of my thoughts are going to awful places and right now I feel like screaming because I don’t want my little ones to watch something bad happen to me and it is really, really scary being out in the middle of nowhere with a total stranger. I’m sorry. I thought I could handle this better and instead I’m losing my mind.”
Still scratching, Sundance saw this for what it was; a test. What was he being tested for? Character perhaps. He had himself a branded thief—a convicted criminal—and she was in a position that was vulnerable to his authority. How he handled himself right now, at this very moment, would define his rule as a baron. Right out of the gate, impossible tests of moral character were being thrown at him and he had no doubts that he was being watched. There was no way that this situation wasn’t being observed somehow, by somepony, and that somepony would be reporting back to Princess Celestia.
It was time to develop a healthy sense of paranoia.
“I got sentenced to peasanthood.” Hollyhock’s voice cracked mid-sentence and she closed her eyes while her face darkened. “Now, I don’t wanna say that it was unfair… I’m happy I still have my foals… but all of this has been humiliating and scary.”
“I would imagine so,” Sundance replied.
“You talk!” Hollyhock’s eyes flew open and her ears made a dramatic upsweep. “And your voice is really kind and reassuring too. I’ve been waiting for you to say something… anything, really. This not knowing what is about to happen to me is killing me. Whatever is about to be done next, just get it over with.”
Pulling his hoof away, Sundance ended his delightful scratch and studied the mare that had been pouring her heart out to him for the past few minutes. In the distance, birds trilled, making distracting sounds that caused his ears to pivot about and face different directions. A breeze made the grass ripple and the occasional gust was strong enough to whip his mane about.
“It seems to me”—Sundance paused and demanded as much as possible from his brain—“that your trouble came about due to concerns about money. And this Twilight Velvet, whomever she is, it seems to me that she took away the circumstances where money was a concern. The barony is a rough place, I won’t lie. It’s downright unpleasant, but money isn’t a concern there. At least not for the peasants. There’s lots of food and that… that’s just about it. There’s housing, but it is not good housing. I’m trying to fix that, because I live there too. There’s not much to steal, I’m afraid, so those job skills of yours are going to grow rusty. We’ll have to find something else for you to do. Everypony works, no exceptions.”
“I can work.” The pregnant mare bristled and her sides heaved with every troubled breath she drew. “I dropped out of school and was a factory worker for a long time. Pulled a lever on a machine that made wagon hub assemblies. But things happened. My job got stolen by a steam piston. My savings ran out. Those hardly lasted a month. And then… then… I just couldn’t make things work. I couldn’t find a foalsitter… look, I wanted to work. I didn’t want to be a thief! I’m really ashamed of myself—if I could have just somehow found a job I wouldn’t have become a pilferer! Foals make awful sounds when they're hungry! You don’t know what it’s like—”
“Actually,” Sundance neatly interrupted, “I do. I’m not making any judgments.” He saw her eyes narrow, and though still fearful and full of shame, something else could be seen.
“How could you possibly know?” she demanded. “You’re the lord of some barony.”
“I grew up poor.” Sundance locked eyes with the now defiant mare. “My father is a factory worker. He pulls a lever and makes little dimple things that go on the bottom of light bulbs. My mother is a beat cop. I was one of those poor foals that made sad noises when I was hungry. Keeping the lights on and the rent paid was hard for us. Sacrifices had to be made.”
“Gosh, I’m sorry… that makes me feel better—not that you suffered, no! Don’t get the wrong idea! I keep making a mess of things, darn it. I just feel better knowing that you understand. It means something, though I’m not sure what that is.”
A mutual silence settled in and as the two ponies studied one another, grey clouds rolled in overhead. The breeze grew cold and delicate flower petals, torn free by ruthless gusts, swirled above the tall, swaying grass. Sundance could not help but think that his barony had one young mare now, an earth pony filly, and one unicorn colt. There was also one foal on the way and making certain that said foal was delivered healthy was now his top priority. It might mean flying in a midwife, though he was not sure how he would pay for one.
“This”—with a soft touch, Hollyhock placed one hoof upon her daughter’s head—“is Amber Dawn. She’s a bit sarcastic and I’m told she’s smart and I can’t believe how well-behaved she’s being right now and I feel terrible because I don’t have anything to reward her with. She’s polite but snarky.”
Sundance nodded.
“And this”—she lifted her hoof and prodded her colt—“is Lemongrass. He’s a worrywart. After I got arrested and he was taken from me, I’m told he went catatonic for a while and scared everypony. He’s not stupid, but he’s been a bit, um, uh, slow to develop. He’s actually pretty smart. I guess he’s just not in a hurry to grow up like his sister was. Like I said, he’s not stupid. He just needs some patience before he catches on. I hope your school is understanding.”
Somehow, Sundance’s expression remained placid while panic erupted within.
There was no school. Even worse, there was no school teacher. Education was nonexistent. Sundance was not the smartest pony—he was no great mind—but he understood the importance of education and he owed these two foals some kind of future. There was a third foal on the way. How could he fix this? Hiring a teacher was going to cost a lot of money, no doubt. Money he did not have. Twilight Velvet had done this to him, so perhaps it was time to hunt her down so she could be made to answer for all this trouble she had caused.
The first raindrop caught him by surprise and he went cross-eyed trying to look at his nose where the droplet had struck. Recovering his senses, he turned his gaze skyward, saw trouble, and knew it was time to go. To the south, the skies had darkened and Sundance had the distinct feeling that the feral weather of the Everfree did not like him.
“Uh, we’ll need to finish our discussion at a later time,” he announced. “We need to go. Now. No, not now, five minutes ago. Hurry!”
Stats
Page generated in 0.047 seconds
Total duration
673 users online
849,859 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
In a bereft barony of uneducated earth pony peasants, he needs a school, teachers, a weather patrol, presumably some guards to prtect said peasants, and who knows what else. Sundance has got a lot on his plate, and very little to solve it with. Good luck to him.
Everfree weather doesn't like anypony, but by this point it probably has some respect for Ponyville's weather team, just for dealing with it as much as they have.
"Well, miss Hollyhock, your first job will be schoolteacher!"
9220178
Um, she never finished primary school.
I just thought I should point that out. I mean, it does say that.
One shudders to think of the education standards.
I mean, it seems the best 'school' for them and the barony is an apprenticeship.
There are a lot of old ponies who know things, they just need a nice young brain to pour words into.
It might not sound glamorous, but glamour becomes available when there is a surplus that can be safely played with and they could help make that possible.
Foal on the way and no midwife, no doctor (?) ...
2 older foals in town and no school ...
Poor Sundance will have some sleepless nights as he cares about his peasants.
firmly puts the shipping goggles away
No. Bad Maus. There will be time enough for that later.
This "Twilight Velvet", whoever she is, is in for one heckuva talking-to… if our esteemed baron can work up the courage once he meets her.
they're
9220307
She's really not his type.
Examples of his type have been given. What do they all have in common?
9220323
That's fair. I'll
haveget to re-read; that detail has completely slipped my mind.Well at least Sundance isn't like some lords. Beyond training for their job it wasn't uncommon for pheasants to recieve no further education what so ever..
As to a midwife and the like pheasants have been having foals for centuries without hospitals or midwives
Why send them to him? They must have known that there isn’t a school, given that the age range of 40 to 100 is known. There must be slightly better off fiefdoms with educational facilities that could have taken them as labourers. It may be a punishment for the mother, but why make the foals suffer and add to Sundance’s already substantial workload as well?
9220491
From Celestia's perspective, make Sundance demand a school. Motivate him to make much-needed improvements.
When Sundance goes to bargain with Twilight Velvet, major character development takes place.
Wow. This was definitely a chapter that shows the failing of society, that this single mom was hungry for work, but couldn't find any that wouldn't involve problems with her children. I am sure that there will be a MUCH better life here, though it will be one that still involves struggles.
9220137
I LOVE your profile pic! <3
9220186
Probably still more schooling, than most of the peasants in the barony have.
From Hollyhocks excusing I get the feeling, that Lemongrass have been called stupid a lot, by the standards of normal education.
Maybe the more practical way of teaching, that is used amongst the people like the peasants, will work better.
Absolute responsibility is a way of looking at it that I can't argue.
So, the Sunfire Barony is kind of Australia? I'm thinking the penal colony days.
Yeah, they'll need schooling but depending on the foals ages, Sundance could do a bit of teaching to get them started and apprentice them to some of the other peasants.
With any luck, one of the peasants knows some midwifery.
9220778
This seems more a case of gaming the system. "Thieves are sent to prison" says the law. A prison is a horrible, isolated place, in people's minds. The barony could qualify as such. So, by sending a criminal to a place equal to (or potentially worse that) prison, a family is saved and a criminal quote unquote punished.
At least, that's how it reads to me.
curious to equestria's primary education drop out rate
She's a good mom for that.
Ahh, so this is another example of the society-wide earth pony employment problem.
She's gonna fit right in.
This is just beautiful, I'm not talking about what is said, but how it is written.