Chapter 29
I looked out the open side of the throne room at the curtain of rain outside, mostly blanking out the lights from the village below.
Not being rain season, didn't mean no rain. It just meant rain was maybe half an hour a day versus half an hour not rain a day. This place also didn't really seem to do half measures. It almost never drizzled down. Either it was on and you might as well stand beneath a waterfall, or it was off and clear skies. We did have a small weather team now, but these were wild weather clouds. Not the tame balls of fluff manufactured in Cloudsdale.
Their duties were more finding and reporting on incoming weather than trying to wrangle it.
"You know," I mused and turned to look towards Flower, "I think we should try to get some nightly exercise penned into my schedule. All this sitting around is bad for me."
Flower glanced up from the report she had been reviewing before she smiled, "Of course, your majesty. We can do that. Flying?"
"No," I said and pushed myself up to sit, "I enjoyed it when I tried that spear thing. And I have been missing the training I did with my wife in learning how to defend myself. Besides, doing martial arts is much more interesting than just flying."
"...I see," Flower answered, now sounding much more hesitant, "I suppose I could get together with Captain Moon Glow to hammer out the details."
I studied her for a moment, "I could talk to her myself, Flower. I just need to know a good spot in my schedule. You work too much as is, you need to learn how to relax."
Flower flicked her ears, "I know how to relax!" she protested, "My coltfriend and I are going to the theater after work!"
I smiled, "Excellent. Anything new?"
"It is!" she said happily, "It's a comedy play and it's supposed to be hilarious. It's about this pottery crafter that-"
There was a knock on the door and we both looked over just in time to see a guard poke his head inside, "Your Majesty," he said, "Lady Fluttershy wishes to see you."
I nodded, "Of course, show her in."
The door opened after he disappeared only to allow Fluttershy inside, Eris riding on her back. The little foal smiled at everyone and everything as she clung to her mother.
"Fluttershy," I said and then smiled, "And Eris. How can I help you today?"
Fluttershy smiled back and did a careful bow, wings only half spreading to be able to catch the little filly if she tumbled off, but like all batpony foals, she seemed to be able to have a really good grip and a good sense of balance, "Your majesty, I'm sorry to bother you, but I need to discuss the hunting teams."
I felt an eyebrow raise a bit at that, "In which manner?"
She shifted slightly, "We're overhunting the area. We're mainly focused on the large herbivores and they are getting scarcer and scarcer. There's just too many bats for this area to keep up."
I was feeling a headache coming on.
"That is an issue," I admitted, "But surely we can't be going through them that quickly. I know most of our diet is fruit."
Fluttershy nodded, "It is, but there are thousands of us. And they are learning to avoid this area."
Right.
There was a reason why hunter gatherer groups very rarely got over like a hundred humans.
I slowly nodded and then frowned, "How's the farming going? I know we had some griffs that were giving it a go with those big turtle things."
"Going well," Fluttershy said with a smile, "Sadly, they grow a bit slowly and need quite a lot of food. The first calf is only half grown and they need a lot of room."
"I see."
All of this meant that if we ended up with too much of a shortfall, we would need to import meat. And who the buck sells meat? Not Equestria, that's for sure. We'd need to import it from the Griffins!
"Thank you, Fluttershy," I said, giving her a smile, "For bringing this to my attention. How urgent is this issue?"
She shook her head, "We likely have years before we need to start ranging too far for it to be practical to transport. The things we hunt are not the smartest, there's still plenty that wander into our area."
"Understood, we still have time to think about it. Please, if you or anypony else on the teams come up with any suggestions, feel free to pass them on. You're the ponies in the field, you know the situation better than anypony."
Fluttershy nodded, "Of course your majesty," she agreed, Eris copying the nod behind her head with a serious expression.
I tried not to grin at the sight, "We'll figure it out, there is always a solution."
"Yes, my prince," Fluttershy agreed and then bowed again, "Good morning."
"Good morning, Fluttershy, Eris," I said and she left with her foal. The door closed behind her and I closed my eyes in turn, taking a deep breath before letting it out.
A scent tickled my nose and I opened them again with a small smile, looking down at Flower as she held out a bowl of mango and strawberry cubes to me, "You don't need to appease me, Flower," I said as I took the bowl, "I'm not a pony to yell and rave when problems happen."
She smiled a bit back, the petite batpony shifting her wings, "No, but it is getting to lunchtime, your majesty. If I tried to appease you, it would have been tea."
"Ah, good point," I agreed with a smile and picked out a strawberry with my magic before chewing on it. Then I frowned and glanced down at the bowl, "Since when do we have strawberries?"
Flower smiled, "Since the first harvest yesterday. There is a good slope on the western mountain outside the shield. It's too steep for any large predators and has small plateaus on it. A family claimed them, cleared out what was growing there that was in the way and started to grow things such as strawberries, cucumbers and such. Things that don’t import well."
Western mountain was technically a very large hill as it only rose about half a kilometer out of the jungle. But the sides were steep so it looked like a mountain. Due to how steep that side of it was, it was fairly safe even if it was outside the shield. It had actually been one of the site we considered for Nocturnis before we decided on the trees instead. Mostly because it was so far from the river.
"That's some good news at least," I agreed and chewed on another one, "All food that doesn't transport well long distance. I'm sure the ponies of Nocturnis will appreciate the variety."
Flower nodded, "And I understand it, their stand at the market was sold out in thirty minutes."
"Makes sense," I agreed before I raised an eyebrow, "If they were sold out that quickly, how come we have some? Was chef at the market at the time?"
Flower shook her head, "Ten kilos was gifted to the crown from the first harvest."
I eyed her, "Did you have any?"
Flower blushed slightly, "...I may have sneaked one, my prince," she admitted.
I smiled and used my magic to gather the strawberries out from between mango cubes, splitting the ten or so strawberries into roughly equal portions before dividing them up between Flower, Leaf and Shade where they were standing by the door.
"Your majesty!" Flower protested but sat down as she caught her berries with her hooves.
"Just enjoy," I told them and chewed on a mango cube.
Leaf and Shade knew better than to say anything and just enjoyed their strawberries.
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A loving and kind king is a king that loves forever
Strawberries. Still a 6 too 8 weeks till I can harvest them myself.
Mmm, yes, fresh strawberries are awesome. I've only tried to grow them a few times, and was only able to get one small crop. Totally worth it.
Did anyone else immediately think of the pottery wheel scene in "Ghost"? (It's not exactly a comedy, but the only comedy pottery scene I can think of was a parody of "Ghost.")
This reminds me of Civilisation V gameplay, eventually the map is used up, no more new resource come in and the cities start to have food problems if not carefully managed.
Than one has to consider to made the choice to focus general production power, food production and making money with trading.
A rulers work is never truly done.
Blank Page is clever to restart training, Celestia of all could sing a song about problems turning up in times.
Especially the last years, with Blank Page involved quite a lot on his own way.
Griffons can't be the only meat traders, perhaps the Hypogriffon
I hope the bats know to fallow the soil before that too becomes a problem as well.
11876239
I'm sure the farmers know how to farm. The meat situation could be interesting, though. How would Nocturnis get around that?
I don't remember Fluttershy having a kid when was this?
Page:
Can you define exactly how much "one" happens to be in this situation?
Flower:
...It counts as me "getting a raise"? You keep telling me I need a raise!
Page:
...The logic is sound. Carry on!
Flower:
MMMmmm... Strawberries.... *Drools*
11876265
This story, while the comment section is working towards it long before.
11876259
Meat farms by breeding stuff. I wonder if truffles grow in the rain jungle?
11876271
Clever girl ~♡
This chapter was deep, time to celebrate it:
Probably with another Mango smoothie night, sponsored my Sunstone Changelings Griffons
11876180
Whereas I'm thinking Legend of Zelda.
I hope they can get the money issues done with soon and maybe some royal babies to worry about instead.
Well, if the herbivores are being hunted too heavily for their population, then why not hunt some of the carnivores? The Rexis, for instance? Their meat should be just as tasty. Perhaps a little risky to the hunters, but every rexi taken out takes a good deal of pressure off the herbivores to keep their harvesting more sustainable, and less competition for your own hunting teams venturing out.
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But if they hunt them now, than they can't train their babys.
Just imagine it, the nobles having had enough o th troubles with the Thestrals that some of them decide to send a large group of mercanerys to wipe ou the city. One or two of the nobles even accompaning them, only to see how their attack force is completly anaihilated by a group of Rexosaurus riding Thestrals.
11876996
Good points, but I never implied wiping out the rexis and other carnies.
The issue is the thestrals/griffons are a new set of predatory species showing up in the area, and the existing ratio of predators/herbivores is tilting such that too many herbivores are being killed. To restore the balance, either Nocturnis has to go, or there has to be a reduction in the established native predators.
This does lead into the point you brought up: how to train the young rexis? Well, to do that, you've first got to kill a few of the adults so that you can acquire the young to raise and train....
That WAS, after all, how humans were able to get several predatory (cats/dogs) and prey species (horses/cattle/goats/sheep) to peacefully live together.