ON THE ROADS OF EQUESTRIA, part 4 of the Origin of the Rom
ON THE ROADS OF EQUESTRIA
Part 4 of the Origin of the Rom
by
De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)
The Morgantown Fair was over. I was sitting at an outdoor table that Sando had designed, doing our books in the dappled shade of a tree. My wife, Nore, and the other horses of Rom’s band were gathered about, watching in fascination.
They were still new to Equestria. They had been slaves in Gyptia but were cast out due to a famine caused by drought. I found them, lost, dying of thirst and starvation, in the deadly desert of Celestia’s Anvil. Forgoing any hope of profit from the load of food and water that I was taking to Gyptia, I brought the band to Equestria.
As a result, though they were literate in Gyptian, they were still learning Equestrian. Trickier than that, they were still learning about money. As slaves, they had rarely seen it, let alone needed it. They were fast learners, I give them that.
Rom was nodding at the double entry books. He pointed to the columns and said, “So, by these, you not only know a total amount spent or taken in, you know what it was spent on or earned by.”
“Right,” I agreed at once. “That lets us spot the things that cost the most for the least return or the other way about. We can see what makes us the most for the least costs.”
Looking about, I noticed an absence in our numbers. “Where is Shehan?”
Nore smiled quietly and offered, “I sent her to fetch the Royal Road Policepony that has fairground duty.”
I was about to ask why, when I saw the town’s Council Pony approaching. He had a ledger and coin bag, which meant that he was after money.
Not far behind him was our adopted filly Shehan, leading the Royal Road Policepony and gesturing him to silence. I instantly appreciated the brilliance and subtlety of my dear wife.
The Council pony slapped his account book down on the table and demanded, “You got to pay a excess firewood assessment! Five gold bits or you don’t leave this fairground! I got constables watching both exits!”
I hoofed over the pages of my ledger and pulled out our Fairground and Fair contract. I thoughtfully ran a hoof down the terms and shook my head. “Nope. We have fully paid our Fairground fees at the start of the fair. According to this, we have until evening of today to be packed and gone without any extra charges. Hum … All firewood and water are provided in the fee that we paid. It says so right here!”
Big Phapa Al Oosa, our blacksmith, a breeze playing with her black mane, pointed out, “The Barn Dance that you held last night had a big bonfire. I saw you throwing on wood and saying that it was free!”
The Council pony ground his yellowed teeth and snapped, “That was for PONIES! You HORSES don’t get free wood!”
Rom looked down at him and said disdainfully, “So, your word and contract both are worthless?”
I nodded, “That is what he is saying, Rom. The kingdom wide Edict of Equality does not apply here.”
Unwisely, he snapped, “Glad that you get it! That sort of stupidity may go up in Canterlot but WE ARE HERE and the Princesses are not! Now pay up or we will seize everything you have and sell it.”
He felt a touch at his shoulder and growled, “Whatever you want, I am busy! Tell me later!”
The next moment, he was knocked flat and being expertly manacled by the midnight blue uniformed Royal Road Policepony! “Sir, I must inform you that you are under ROYAL arrest. You will be charged with violating of the Edict of Equality, Extortion, and Fair Contract violation.”
I watched the arrest and told him mildly, “Being honest would have been cheaper.”
Turning to the horses about me, I observed, “I think that it would be wise to be gone from here. Finish packing the caravans and we will hit the road!”
Since we were already preparing to leave, the final packing went like greased lightning. As we were securing our harnesses to the caravans’ assorted whipple staffs and trees, I noticed Sando giving the whole operation his alert attention. I have spent a lot of time harnessing up and getting un harnessed. I had to wonder what his brilliant mind for design had noticed.
No time for it just now. We were in harness and ready to go. “Lean Right! Lean Left! Pull Right! Pull left, pull right, left, right!” The starting cadence got our small band underway.
Thanks to Nore’s timely intervention, the Royal Road Police were holding the town constables away from the exit road. I overheard as we passed, “Ticket for Road obstruction! There they go! We are not stopping them!”
“You were barricading a Royal Road to force these horses to pay an illegal fee. You may not use the Royal Roads except to come to the station to have your case heard or pay your fine.”
We turned onto the main road, Nore leading off a cadence song to help us all to pull together and stay in step.
As the others sang, in the exotic for Equestria, Gyptian tongue, Nore turned her head to me and said, “I thought it important to give the town ponies a good show. Even if the town council won’t let us buy land or tries to charge us wrongly, the town ponies came to our booths and dances. We did well here. This is for the good ponies.” She returned to her singing and I joined in. My voice may not be the best but the voices of the others tends to hide it!
It was lovely early autumn weather. There were only a few clouds and they were just simple wild clouds not being driven somewhere by busy pegassi. The day was warm and the shade of trees overhanging the Royal Road made welcome breaks. We were long out of Morgantown, our wheels making a small steady crunching on the hard packed fine gravel of the road. Our hooves made a steady beat of small gritty impacts that timed neatly to the cadence songs that the whole band was singing softly as we left kilometers of road behind us.
We pulled into an empty wayside and started to prepare our noon meal. It was a simple one. Just some skewers of fruits and vegetables. My lovely chestnut sorrel mare, Nore, made up a quick batter of our secret recipe Ka'chek biscuits, ground to a flour. She dipped apple chunks into it and toasted them over the coals. They were as lovely to nibble as my skewers were plain.
It was our little adopted filly, Shehan, who noticed the bank sorrel growing profusely around the wayside’s boxed spring, put there for the free use of thirsty travelers. Like us. She happily gathered all that she could of the big clover-like plants.
Bringing them back to the cook fires, she chirped, “Look what I found! I think that I saw a stand of nettles back there in the woods, too!”
Heads all turned to stare like compass needles! Nore just put aside our other lunch fixings and got out our big baking griddle with its cooking covers. She set it over the fire to heat. Sarel, Maina, Malit, and Phappa made a beeline for the woods.
Nore happily showed Shehan how to mix the sorrel and leaves of the nettles and mash them to a fine paste-like mix. They formed the mashed leaves into patties and baked them on the griddle, under covers.
“We keep this a secret, Shehan, dear. When the patties are toasted, they will be Ka'check. We can eat them as is or make a flour of them to make our many other snacks and good foods.”
Shehan, the pretty leather and gilt Freedom on her head glinting in the sunlight, nodded. “I understand, Nore. Mothers Maina and Malit have carpentry and wheelwright secrets that we keep from the town ponies too.”
Sarel set up her portable retting vat, a small two wheeled trailer wagon with a tightly lidded tank. She loaded in all of the stripped nettle stalks and set weights on them. She added water to help break down the stalks and free the fine fibers that were one of the bases of her excellent weaving.
As she helped Nore to bake up the Ka'chek patties, Shehan looked about at our encampment. Even though the stop had not been planned to go this long, her adopted mother Maina had a carpentry project out and was serenely shaving two small planks for an exact fit. He other adopted mother, Malit was happily chiseling the rough work on a new wheel hub. Big Phapa, our blacksmith, had out an iron strip that she was cold hammering into the circle of a new iron wheel tire. Sando was working on a drawing for some device and Rom, their leader, was passing quietly between the industrious horses, seeing all that was being done and offering some advice on what might be needed next.
Since the batter was already made up, I got busy dipping chunks of dried fruits on the tips of skewers and toasting them for any hungry horse to eat. I may appear to be a donkey but that does not change a thing about food. I like the same things.
Happily, our filly pointed out to me, “I don’t really understand why you want to find us some place to buy and settle down to farming or some such. I was an orphan in Haulmarket. They never treated me well. The only good ponies I ever met were here. The Rom on the roads.
“The Royal Road Police have been good to us. We have met some others that were nice too. None of them had anything to do with running a town. My mothers have told me how Sunbreak and her Royal Armored Pegassi unit saved them and their caravan when it looked like it was going to fall down the slope at Riten’s Notch.
“Why do you want us to settle in with ponies that don’t like us, Marchhare?”
That stopped me cold. I smiled at our perceptive youngster and told her, “You have just ruined my whole day, Shehan. You have got me to thinking!” I thumped the top of my head with a hoof.
Shehan giggled at my antics but persisted, “I really do not understand why you want us to settle down somewhere. When we do a fair, if there are ponies that we don’t like, we can just leave them behind. When we meet some that we do like, we can come back to them at the next fair. “
I gave her an appraising stare. “Those are actually good points, Shehan. I will seriously think about them. It may be that I will need to change how I am guiding the band.”
Shehan booped me on the nose as she pointed out another thing. “I am only a filly. In towns, nopony takes what I say seriously. That only happens here, among the Rom.”
I wrinkled my brow as I asked, “THE Rom?”
Shehan nodded. “All of the town ponies call us that. It is just them shortening the Band of Rom to Rom. Some of us are going along with it because it is easier than trying to correct them all the time.”
I twisted a lip sourly as I agreed, “I have heard it among the town ponies. I did not expect to hear it here.”
Rom, overhearing, offered, “It makes it easy for them. Why not let them? It also gives us a short and clear identity.”
I nodded at that one. “It makes sense, my friend. Too much sense.”
Rom sat next to me and got out a map of the Royal Roads. He was pointing to a possible problem. “Marchhare, to get to the Haymarket Fair, we are going to have to pass through Haulmarket again. We had so much trouble with them at their Summer Fair.
“I have noticed that Haulmarket has notices up for their big Autumn Fair. They have put it on the same days as the Haymarket Fair.”
Nore, leaning her head over to look at the map, observed, “The Haymarket Fair was created by a Royal Decree to help the village to recover from that disastrous flood this summer. Haulmarket will have to change the date of their Fair.”
Rom, showing the wisdom that caused the others to follow him, pointed out, “How they treated us last summer was a violation of Crowns law too, Nore. It did not stop them. What stopped them was the Royal Road Police. We may want their aid again.”
Nore, remembering well how Haulmarket tried to cheat us, nodded. “I can see how that could be. Perhaps if we had a few of the RRP officers hide in our caravans, they could overhear the problem and do whatever is needful.”
I nodded. My friends and wife were sorting things out on their own. Such help as I could give would only be if they suggested something illegal or wrong.
I did not really think that I was going to be needed at all. Except for Pulling the caravan. Actually, considering the sheer size of my dear wife Nore, I probably wasn’t really needed there either.
Nore almost seemed to be reading my mind. She was good at that!
She leaned down and nuzzled me. “Dear Love, never forget that however well we learn the ways of Equestria, we ALWAYS need you. We know what happened, that last day on the Desert of Celestia’s Anvil. You came back for us, after … your nap, to guide us. We need that guidance now and likely always will.
“It is a great comfort to us to know that you will be with us always.”
I noticed that everything was being packed away. Rom saw my glance and confirmed, “We have harvested and prepared what we can. It is almost time to for us to hitch up and Pull.”
I noticed that Sando was watching the whole procedure as we hitched up. Lively interest was writ wide across his face. As Nore and I finished our hitch, she began our starting cadence. “Lean left! Lean right! Pull left! Pull right! Pull! Pull!” The heavy caravans of our whole band got smoothly underway.
Little Shehan, hitched just ahead of her adoptive mothers, began to sing the Shehan Ja Rom in perfect Gyptian. The whole band picked it up.
They moved seamlessly to other chants. The band called them Road Songs. I was especially fond of one that they were still hammering out to perfection. They called it the Two Green Vines. The songs by any name made the kilometers seem short and the Pull easy. The ponies of hamlets and small villages, too small to have fairs, nevertheless lined the road to cheer us on.
With only one fly in the ointment, a Haulmarket Fair flier just posted in the village of Clover Hill, we made our way toward the Road Section Toll Gate.
It was not too long before we pulled over at the local Royal Road Police headquarters. The desk pony looked up from his solitaire game in mild irritation. I hoofed over the Clover Hill notice board announcement of Haulmarket’s illegal fair. I pointed out, “They are advertising our singing, dancing, snacks and unique hoofiecrafts. The only problems are that we have already signed contracts with the Haymarket Fair which was set by Royal Decree. Besides, Haulmarket has cross scheduled their Fair with Haymarket and that is a violation of the Royal Decree.”
Little Shehan, standing beside me, giggled. “He really blew his stack, didn’t he? Took that flier straight back through that door!”
I nodded. “What did you expect? Who is the High Commissioner of the Royal Roads? Princess Luna. Whose idea was the Royal Decree to give the Village of Haymarket a Fair to help it recover from this summer’s Red Branch flood disaster? Princess Luna.”
The door opened. Sargent Convoy came out to meet us. He said, “Marchhare, Sir, do you have actual contracts signed or just promises made?”
I pulled out our ledger and removed the contracts from the back pocket of our account book. Sargent Convoy looked them over and nodded grimly. “I was afraid of this. We have the service receipt for the Royal Order demanding them to move the date of the Haulmarket Fair.
“This flier shows that they have directly violated a Royal Decree. We are going to have to close their Fair. Whether they retain town status and the right to have Fairs at all, will be put under the Royal Wing. Princess Luna will not be a happy pony!”
Rom had come in and overheard the Sargent’s statement. Sargent Convoy regarded Rom for a moment and said, “As I recall, you are the leader of this band of pon … horses?”
Rom agreed, “I am. What would you have of us? The RRP has always done right to us. Few others in positions of power have done so. What you need, if we can do it, is yours for the asking.”
The Sargent relaxed. “I was hoping that you would help us. The Haulmarket Fair is advertising your activities at their event on the same day that you are contracted to be at the Haymarket Fair. Considering how they misbehaved at their Summer Fair, I want to see how they plan to get you to do it.
“Would it be possible to hide myself and some troopers equipped for trouble in your wagons?”
Rom looked blank at the word wagon. Little Shehan spoke to him in Gyptian, “<< He means our caravans. >>”
Rom nodded then. “You may. Those caravans are our homes but we will trust you and your ponies in them. We were trying to think how to ask that very favor. Thank you.”
We were almost to the Haulmarket Fairground cutoff when Foulip and his cronies stepped out of the brush lining the roadside. Two of them were armed with military pikes, their long, needle like points glittering in the sunlight.
Grinning meanly, Foulip declared, “You are going down the cutoff to our Fairground. Got it? We are generously going to allow you to keep a third of all the coin that come your way. Out of that, you gotta pay the Fair fee. You also got to pay us Firewood and Water Access charges!” He stuck his head forward, low, lips protruded in insult as he finished, “What do you think of them apples?”
I regarded him calmly and retorted, “Not much. Those pikes have to be an empty threat. Try to use them and the least charge will be attempted murder.
“We are contracted for the Haymarket Fair, which is the ONLY legal fair in the Red Branch Section, this coming weekend. Your terms are completely illegal and amount to Slavery under the Crowns Law. Slavers get the Traitor’s Drop.”
Foulip glared at me and snapped, “The fat bottoms up in Canterlot gotta find it out and they won’t! We are here! They ain’t! You are a mere donkey. Those so called horses of yours are not registered either! They dance for us or you die! Nopony will miss a lousy donkey!”
There was the sound of doors opening. Our caravans jostled and bounced as ponies jumped to the gravel of the road! Armed Royal Road Police formed up behind us.
Foulip took one look and snarled, “Lex, take out that vile donkey now!”
One of the pike ponies lunged. Nore screamed, “Love! Night Horse, NO!” Before I could stop her, she lunged forward along the extended pike. The strain of her lunge, while still in harness, jolted our caravan fiercely! She hit Lex just at the junction of windpipe and chest with an extended hoof. He had almost enough time to look surprised as he collapsed to the gravel with a slight crunch.
Foulip was staring in horror at the scene as Sargent Convoy and his troopers charged forward and seized him, the other pike pony and his weapon. Lex’s pike was leaning, butt in the road gravel, the point supported by the hole pierced through the chest of my broadweave sash.
Sniffling, Nore was holding me, looking at the deadly pike that appeared to be driven into me. “Thank the Night Horse of Dreams that vile pony could not make you die a second time, my Love.”
Ignoring the pike, I looked up to my lovely wife and said, “Dear, I keep telling you, I would have noticed it if I had died, there in the desert. I took a nap, that is all. When I was rested, I caught up to you.”
Sargent Convoy removed the pike from my sash, careful not to tear the cloth further. Dryly he remarked, “Some nap!”
The horrified Foulip, now in the solid iron grip of manacles, demanded, “What in the name of Nightmare are you? You gotta be dead! What about Lex? When is he going to wake up?”
Nore, still shuddering, replied, “That murderous pony will never wake up. He tried to kill my husband and love. Only the fact that our Ghost Who Guides has already been to the Lake of Paradise has allowed him to be with us still.”
Sargent Convoy nodded to himself as he absorbed what Nore said. He simply asked, “Marchhare, you still hold your field surgery certification from the Royal Armored Pegassi, don’t you?”
“Yes, Sir, I do.”
“Will you certify Lex’s condition for our report?”
For an answer, I began releasing myself from our double tree and got my medical kit out of one of our caravan lockers.
My examination did not take long. “The pony named Lex is dead, Sargent Convoy. He has no pulse, no visible respiration, a mirror at the nostrils shows no sign of breath. He has no reflex reactions at all.”
Sargent Convoy made notes and remarked, “Lucky for you that the pike only caught your sash. That could have been a lethal wound. Lex died while attempting to commit murder at the order of Foulip while on a Royal Road.”
Haulmarket had its fair closed by the RRP. I heard the assembled exhibitors as they were informed, “I am sorry, but you have no choice about leaving the Fairground. This fair was illegally scheduled to harm the Haymarket Fair which was created by a Royal Decree.”
“Well, what can we do? We paid good bits to be here. Who is going to pay us back?”
The RRP pony shook his head. “About what you can do, there are only two ways open. You can just leave or you can pack and go to the Haymarket Fair. It is only about three hours of road time from here.
“As for getting paid back, demand your refunds from the Haulmarket Council. They must pay you back or have embezzlement added to the charges that they already face for defying Royal Decree and Served Orders.”
It took awhile to get things straightened out but after a couple of hours, we were on the road again, headed to Haymarket and their first Fair.
I caught young Shehan giving me amazed stares from time to time. Couldn’t really blame her. She had just seen somepony try to murder me by stabbing me with a foot long spike on an eight foot pole and fail totally. That was going to play hob with my attempt to pretend to be a normal old donkey!
She also gave some very considering looks to Nore. She was not alone in that. We had mostly put aside that “Gyptian Death Touch” business of hers. We had managed to not use it since the Haulmarket Summer Fair. The others were totally mystified by it. I had my own suspicions.
I remembered that I had showed her the gentle nerve pinch that had put Ground Nest into a paralyzed sleep while I did surgery on his wounds. I suspected that she had expanded on that bit of knowledge. If so, she was potentially one of the deadliest of beings.
Young Shehan led off our next road song. She was making a version of the Shehan Ja Rom that had the proper cadence for our Pull. It did a great job of getting us down the road AND kept certain recent events fresh in the mind of every horse in the band!
In only three hours we pulled up at Haymarket. Nothing was ready. The pony that greeted us said with a sour tone, “Haulmarket hijacked our Fair Days. Even got our Rom Dancers. Says so right here on this flier. They brought it around day before yesterday and laughed at us.”
Nore gave him a big grin and informed him, “They sort of fired their catapult a little too soon! Their fair just got closed down by the Royal Road Police! Foulip is under arrest for attempted murder and the whole town council is charged with violation of Royal Decree and Served Orders.
“We are here. At least, many of those who were setting up or planning to will be coming here. You had better get moving on setting up the Fairground.”
He looked down and scratched the dirt with a hoof as he admitted, “We got no firewood cut and no water supply. We were going to fix things up, but Haulmarket was pulling the rug from under us.”
Little Shehan had gone exploring as soon as we came to halt. She came back with muddy hooves and exclaimed, I found the water! It is a little further than at most waysides, but it is a neat pool! We can even partly dam it to make it bigger! Lots of rock in the stream bed to do it with!”
I gave him a curious look. “Water problem is solved. We have learned a lot about fairground layouts since Haulmarket’s Summer Fair. We have been all the way to Manehatten by the Sea and back. Want help?”
He managed an almost hopeful look and asked, “How much is all this going to cost us? We got almost nothing.”
Rom had joined the discussion. He offered, “Our help will cost you nothing. We have already signed our Fair Contract and paid you. It is in our interest that the fair be a good one.
“Firewood is the last obstacle. We have still three days to solve it. Can you get the wood cutters together? We can help with that chore too.”
He looked up with real hope. “Only problem is how to pay them.”
I chuckled. “Not a problem. There are regular report forms to file with the Royal Road Police. You file how much was supplied and you will get a benefice from the Royal Road Funds to pay for it. Same for all of your set up costs. The only thing that you need to do is Deed Over your Fairground to the Royal Roads.
“You will get regular maintenance funds for the Fairground and for the Road Section. It looks like Haulmarket has cut themselves out by the current mess so apply to take over their Section too. It couldn’t happen to “nicer” ponies!”
By the time that we had finished he was looking delighted. He turned and ran flat out for the Village Meeting Hall! Soon we heard the peal of the Village Meeting Bell.
We went into the commons area that was originally planned to be the Fairgrounds and started to set up our encampment.
By the next morning, our booths and equipment were nearly ready. Shehan and her mothers, Malit and Maina were mowing the unruly grass of the commons to a smooth and level dancing area.
Maina pointed toward the entrance from the Road. “We need to level that area too. The Midway will need at least some clipping and leveling of clumps so no clumsy pony trips.”
Seeing an officious looking pony approaching, Shehan called out in cheerful Gyptian, “<<Look alive! Here comes a vulture!>>”
Every horse in camp broke out in giggles.
The officious one held out a copy of the Haulmarket Flier and demanded, “You lot gotta get down there to Haulmarket. They got you advertised to be there!”
I twitched an ear to Rom and said, “He’s the one you need to talk to. Only one problem with going to Haulmarket. We were there yesterday, about noon.”
Rom filled in, “This is the ONLY legal fair this weekend. It is by Royal Decree and Haulmarket has now found out what happens when you get caught violating Royal Decrees. The Royal Road Police have closed their fair and fairgrounds. The whole Haulmarket Council have been arrested on multiple criminal charges.
“The exhibitors and sales booths that were setting up have been required to come here or just shut down. We came here. We are simply the first ones, that is all.”
Rom gave him a copy of the RRP forced closure notice for the Haulmarket Fair. He calmly pointed out, “Notice that it prominently mentions THIS fair as the proper alternative. Now please leave us and go do some sort of honest work.”
Just then, Nore trotted past, her harness attached to a skid sled loaded with nicely cut firewood. She had some longer poles on top of her load. Partway up the Midway, but back from the booth line, she stopped. She took her long poles and planted them, along with setting solid braces for them.
She was cheerfully stacking the firewood into the rick when stuffed shirt stuck his nose in. “You messed up, but what can you expect from an uneducated monstrosity of pony!”
Nore continued to stack her load of firewood.
“Didn’t you hear me, you brown and black freak?”
Nore nodded, “I heard you, you backwards built pile of pony parts. I was waiting for you to say something either courteous or sensible. It appears that you can do neither.”
Snarling, he pointed to our encampment. “You are putting your firewood too far from your camp! Deny that!”
Smiling, Nore responded, “IF it was OUR firewood, you would be right. It is NOT our firewood, so you are wrong. This is the free firewood for the merchants who will be coming. I am placing it for THEIR convenience.” She paused and pointed to a spot on the other side of the Midway that Maina, Malet, and Shehan were measuring and marking out with stakes and little sign posts with the space numbers. “When I am done here, on this side, I will load up that side the same way.”
She turned and trotted back to the wood cutting party, dragging her sledge behind her.
Shortly, ponies from the village began to trickle in. They wanted to know what they could do to speed things along. I directed, “You three can go follow that brown mare with the black mane and tail. She will take you to where we are cutting wood and doing some charcoal burning.”
Taking the next group, I pointed up the Midway. “Those three mares are getting the grounds ready. They can show you what is wanted.”
I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the level of cooperation that the town ponies were giving us. For once, nopony was giving us any flak about what to do or how to do it better. They just pitched in and started work. Amazingly, they did not even comment about the size or oddball color patterns of our horses. I mean, only Shehan has a normal pastel color pattern. And she is adopted.
It was not too long before a group of five ponies came down the access road from the village. Leading them was the town pony that we had met when we first arrived.
Now he was all smiles. “I was so down when we met that I totally forgot to introduce myself. I am Leroy. I am supposed to be the Village Elder. That means I should be leading this lot.” He gestured at all of the hard working ponies about the site.
“Got to thank you Rom horses for this. We could never have pulled everything together like you are doing. We got the ponypower and even the knowhow. Thing is, we never did anything like this.
“Then Haulmarket tried swipe our Fair days and all. We were too discouraged to go on. You changed all of that.”
Rom, swinging past on his way from the wood cutters to the party setting up the Fairground itself, paused and replied, “We thank you for those kind words. Do you know that this is the first town to simply thank us for our help?”
Leroy looked puzzled. “That ain’t right. You are an odd looking lot, it is true. You are also hardworking and really well organized. I have been watching.”
One of the others, an off green pony with darker green mane and tail, in the group, squinted his eyes and held his head low in suspicion. “This all well and good, or so it APPEARS. This is a lot of work! I was checking them forms and stuff that was delivered along with the Royal Decree! There are Royal Benefices to be paid for ALL of this! You are setting up to snag that money out from under us, aren’t you?”
Both Rom and I snapped, “No! We are not. The Benefices are ALL yours. We already told Leroy that!”
Rom glowered down at him. “I have not had the displeasure of an introduction to you, and do not want one. To be sure that YOU earn all of those Benefices, I will tell our band to return to camp. YOU and YOUR PONIES can do all that is left. YOU can claim it all!
“You could have had our aid for free but this accusation of dishonesty is not to be borne. If you decide that you want our help to finish up this work, PAY US FOR IT!” He wheeled and trotted over to where Maina, Malit and Shehan were directing booth space layouts.
The three of them frowned, looked over to the Village’s Council, shrugged and came back to our encampment at a leisurely walk. They set about starting noon meal preparations.
Rom disappeared in the direction of the watering area. Sando and Phapa soon came back to camp. They too looked disturbed.
Shortly after that, Nore, Sarel and Rom all came in from the direction of the woodcutting.
The whole band busied themselves at preparing more of things to sell when the Fair started, tomorrow.
The off green pony shook his head and sounded aggrieved as he asked, “What put the burr under HIS tail? All I done was try to clear up the money thing.”
Leroy actually kicked him. “YOU put the burr under his tail, Dan! You did not try to clear anything up. You called him a liar for saying their help was free! That wasn’t the end of it, either. You accused them of trying to STEAL our money.”
Leroy sourly pointed up the Midway layout. The ponies that had been working harmoniously with us were now milling about and trying to sort out how to finish the task.
Cocking an ear, Leroy pointed out, “Don’t hear the wood cutters either. Maybe, Dan, you could go and get them all to working again? It was these Rom that was the core of the job. And just like the job here was an apple, you cut the core right out of it.”
Leroy turned to me and offered, “Marchhare, I remember when you was a donkey cart trader. You were always reasonable and did your best to get us what we needed. We can both agree that Dan’s an idiot. Can you straighten out this mess? I will say it straight out. We need you.”
I pulled a bit of a face as I thought it through. “Tell you what, Leroy, I will see if I can. Won’t happen until after lunch, since we are already cooking.
“One condition, though. We will all quit absolutely and not lift a hoof if Dan so much as sticks his nose past the access road gate. It is clear that he does not like us and, trust me, WE don’t like him, either.
“Is it a deal? He goes away and STAYS away or we stay quit.”
Leroy was about to say something when Dan cut him off. “Listen here, DONKEY! Setting up this fairground is MY job! Started it a month ago! You are not cutting me out of it!”
Leroy put a hoof on Dan’s head and pushed down hard! He slammed Dan’s jawbone against the turf! Looking at the others in the group, he said quietly, “Motion to relieve Dan of all responsibilities in connection with this Fair.”
A mare in the group, seeing the disaster that was shaping up, promptly said, “Seconded.”
The others all voted, “Aye!”
The mare pulled out a minutes book and wrote quickly. “Motion to remove Dan from all responsibilities in connection with the Fair. Seconded and passed by a vote of four to one.”
As an aside, she pointed out, “He started last month with a crew of twelve. They all quit by the end of the first day. He has not done any part of the job that he just claimed since.”
Leroy nodded agreement, his hoof still holding Dan down firmly. “Our purpose in coming here was to give you all the formal thanks of the Council for your efforts to get our Fair a good start. Dan sort of messed that up.”
I smiled agreeably, “He sure did! Now, just have him removed, physically from the Fairground and we will be back to work.”
I heard a welcome voice from beside and a bit behind me. Shehan said, “I brought you your lunch, Marchhare. I could not help but overhear.
“Mister Leroy, that was a lovely thing that you tried to do. We thank you.
“As soon as Dan is out of the grounds we can get back to work. I am sorry to say it but we have met too many like him and Foulip since the Haulmarket Summer Fair.” She curtsied politely and went back to the encampment.
My lunch was two fruit filled Ka'chek buns, a big vegetable skewer and a mug of our dark tea.
I saw a familiar dark blue uniformed pony trotting our way. Sargent Convoy. Dan did not notice him. The green pony just reached over and grabbed one of my fruit filled buns. He took a big bite and sneered, “Get me kicked off the Fair, will you? What do you think of this!?”
With the Sargent standing right behind him, Dan finished off the bun and made a grab for the second one. Sargent Convoy said, “Do you have Marchhare’s permission to take that?”
Without looking around, Dan snapped back, “Don’t need permission! I am on the Village Council! What I wants I can take!”
I spoke up, “No, Officer, he has no permission. In the presence of the balance of the Council, he has stolen my fruit filled buns and used his membership in the Council as an excuse for his crime.”
Sargent Convoy nodded. “That was what I thought.” He efficiently arrested the protesting Dan and blew a whistle. Two more RRP troopers came at a gallop. After brief instructions, they hauled Dan away.
Sweetest sight that we had seen since I brought the Rom to Equestria was Dan’s rear as he was hauled away by the RRP.
It was a sign of just how well the band was paying attention to the situation that young Shehan was back promptly. This time she had a tray with SIX fruit filled Ka'chek buns and five more of our throw away fair cups filled with our dark tea.
She replaced my two buns, gave one to Sargent Convoy and passed the others about to the remainder of the Council along with a tea for each of them.
She curtsied to them all and said, “Rom saw what was just done. He sends his regrets for his hasty words and actions. Our whole band has agreed that you deserve our thanks. We shall continue to help you for free just as soon as our meal is over.”
I smiled up at Leroy and the rest. “There you have it. It was just as Shehan said, that we have seen too many of Dan and Foulip’s stripe. Rom was already bothered by how we have already been treated. Dan just shoved a hoof up his rump at exactly the wrong time.”
The mare in the Council hung her head as she replied, “We took the trouble to inquire after you sent us our first signed contracts. Every Fair that you have gone to had large gains in attendance and income. Despite that, we have heard that many committees and Councils have dealt with you poorly. We did want to do better by you because you had the faith in us to send us our first paid contracts.”
Shehan smiled. “You did, Ma'am. You just had one sour apple in the batch. You are lucky. The rest of the barrel is good. You may be sure that we will come back, too. Places that we are actually welcome are too rare.”
The mare smiled and said, “Thank you. How come you can speak for the others? Aren’t you too young?
I picked up that one. “Shehan is young, yes. Too young? No. She can speak for us all because she has and still does show the level of wisdom and sense that we respect.”
I pointed a hoof at Sargent Convoy and suggested, “While we were at RRP Headquarters, we had Shehan’s educational level tested. How did she do?”
Sargent Convoy swallowed his bite of filled bun before replying, “Shehan was tested as a home schooled filly. She scored past school graduation in all subjects. She has a good grasp of Algebra and Geometry too.
“Besides taking Shehan in when she had a broken neck and her recovery was uncertain, these Rom have given her a first class education.”
All four of the Council ponies were impressed. Leroy asked, “Is there anything that we can do to help you, after all the help you have given us?”
Shehan beat me to the punch. “Indeed there is. We have been having trouble getting good quality dried grains, fruits and nuts. If you can simply get us access to quality supplies, we will be well repaid. Be sure that we will give you fair prices for them.”
The four Council members conferred briefly. Leroy, showing some real respect, told Shehan, “Tell your horses that we can provide you with fruits and nuts. Our orchards mostly survived this summer’s flood disaster in good shape. We lost a lot of grain and hay, though.
“Mora said that she has a field of clover that survived well but getting to it could be a problem. Her lane was washed out. She had ponies in to cut it and windrow it but has not the means to bale it or get it out of the field with the lane destroyed. What you can salvage is yours to keep. She does not want to see it wasted.”
Shehan replied, “That is most gracious. I will speak to Rom of this.”
Soon all of the band returned to the many tasks needed to finish setting up the Fairground. With the others all busy, Sando and Shehan came up.
Sando smiled and offered, “Miss Mora? I am Sando. Shehan you already know. The others have the needful work in hoof. We would like to see the problem of your lane. Perhaps we can do something to make it better.”
`Mora nodded before asking, “Does Shehan know much of things like lanes and bridges?”
Sando smiled back. “No, Ma'am. She knows a good road from a bad. We will bring her because those who do not know as much often have insights that we of experience have missed. If she has no useful insight, she will learn from what she sees. Either way is good.”
“I see. Please come with me.”
The three trotted off to examine the problem.
It was late afternoon when they returned. Sando was carrying a good clover bale on his back. He was grinning. Shehan was skipping happily. Mora was walking beside a small wagon piled with more bales being pulled by one of her farm ponies.
She told me, “This is the share that Sando and Shehan asked. They saved my whole field. We will be able to finish the harvest tomorrow.”
Sando, all smiles, pointed out, “The basic idea was Shehan’s . I was looking to make a bridge. That would have been costly and time consuming.
“Shehan thought of just using ropes across the washout. She tied a net, like she learned to make in Manehatten by the Sea. It held the bales and slid back and forth on a fixed rope. I redesigned it but only to make a good idea better. We used it to get the bale equipment across to the field. It took very little time after that to bring our first bale across.”
I smiled too. “You did very well, Shehan and Sando. Mora? Would you please have our bales put just behind my four wheeled caravan?”
I pointed to the Fairground. All was now ready and there were four vendors setting up.
Mora brightened up even more. She hugged Shehan and said, “You saved my harvest and my farm. That field was not the only one that we could not reach.
“Don’t you miss not having a home?”
Shehan returned her hug and answered, “I was happy to do it, Miss Mora. You have been good to my family.
I never had a home when I lived in Haulmarket. Now I have the finest home that ever could be.” She pointed to Maina and Malit’s caravan. “Most every morning, I look out our window and see some new and wonderful place. Between our caravan and the roads of Equestria, there is no better home to be had.”
Seeing the world with eyes opened by the child, I had to agree. Our home was on the roads of Equestria.
~THE END~