Way of the Wanderer

The Romani ponies, the wandering troupes of performers and entertainers, who make their rough and rugged living on the open roads of this world. There are many legends among the Romani ponies, tales of their travels and adventures among the kingdoms and lands of Ponydom. But there is the one that they hold dearer than any other, for it is the tale of their beginnings...

Long ago, a little over a millennia before the great and wonderful Harmony Bearers, there was a noble and just stallion named Roma. A pony entertainer whose special talent was dance and song, their was no pony more handsome or shined so brightly as he performed before others. His greatest joy was in making other ponies smile, wanting to turn tears into laughter, and frowns into smiles. A grinning and laughing trickster, Roma could bring joy to even the most angry of equines. All ponies who saw the great performer loved his act, and none could turn down the charismatic or charming pony, or tell him no.

Roma managed to capture the hearts of every mare who saw him, including the aloof heart of a princess of the Sun. Even the great Celestia's heart melted before his kindness and pure joy and love of all things. See caught sight of him at one of his performances at the palace of the two sisters, and asked to speak to him backstage. That dark black coat, coal colored eyes, mane the color of night.... is it any wonder the kind and gentle princess found a kindred spirit in Roma? The two were actually able to become friends, They would meet at secret in night, talking and laughing and enjoying one anothers company. Celestia and Roma began to care greatly for one another.

But the day came, that the great mare's sister came to learn of the lover's trysts. Following Celestia when she snuck out to the everfree one night, Princess Luna caught the two together in the shadows. Her heart filled with a jealous rage, fueled by an festering anger at her sister for having yet another thing she did not. The poison that would soon grow to become Nightmare Moon, drove the princess of the night to deal with her sister's beloved paramour. Luna summoned the unicorn before her the very next night, and unleashed her fury upon the unsuspecting stallion.

"Arrogant mortal! Dare thou try to winnest the heart of an eternal goddess?!" The princess of the night declared angrily, her rage burning at the pony before her. "Then ye art a fool, and for thine foolishness thou shall suffer greatly!"

A spell shot forth from the angry Alicorn's horn, engulfing the stallion before her.

"A wanderer ye shall be, and of of thine descendants, as well! The soil shall yield no crops under thine hooves, and disaster shall follow in thine hoofsteps wherever thy goest. None shall permit you to dwell in one place for long, and thou shalt be an exile of all the days of thine life. My night shall hold no refuge for you, and all things that dwell therin shall hunt you as their enemies.  This curse I do pass on to all of thine descendants, that thou mayset be sire to a cursed herd, ponies without a home, forever! Let thine punishment be an eternal reminder to those who would dare incur the wrath of Princess Luna!"

The stallion was greatly dismayed by this fate, and it was not long before the curse took effect, and drove the cursed figure from Equestria. Princess Celestia did much lament the loss of her paramour, and it was not until after Nightmare Moon's banishment that she discovered Roma's tragic fate. Now, there was no way for the saddened mare to remove the tragic curse from the innocent stallion, nor could she find the love she had lost, wandering out there amongst the world. But a chance for the grieving alicorn mare's vengeance soon presented itself, and the Princess of the sun would soon make another innocent taste her wrath....

Princess Luna was unloved by the ponies of Equestria in that age, and the only friend she had was a quiet little earth mare, named Romani. This timid mare cared for the plants and animals in the castle gardens by night, and she was the only pony in those days, besides the thestrals, who stayed awake and appreciated Luna's beautiful evening sky. This caused the princess of the night to have great affection for the kind little pony, and the two would come together and speak in while Luna rested during the day, much as Roma and Celestia had spoken during the night. Romani was said to be the kindest of all ponies until the coming of harmony bearer Fluttershy, and there was none in all of Equestria who could find fault with her.

But the solar princess discovered her sister's companion, and a thirst for vengeance entered Celestia's heart. Many at court, seeking to curry the Solar Princess's favor, whispered in her ear that it had been the timid little earth mare with the yellow coat and mane who had poisoned Luna's mind, turning her into Nightmare Moon. And in her grief-stricken state, the mare turned her anger upon the unsuspecting caretaker of the gardens. Romani had mostly kept quietly to herself after her friend's banishment, so it was to her great shock when Celestia appeared before her in her full blazing anger.

"Arrogant mortal! How dare you turn my sister against me?!" The princess of the daytime declared angrily, her rage burning at the pony before her. "You are a traitor, and for your traitorous actions you shall suffer greatly!"

A spell shot forth from the angry Alicorn's horn, engulfing the frightened mare before her.

"You and your descendants shall be exiles, hated and scorned by ponies everywhere! There will be no honest trade for you to work, and you shall always be regarded as a thief and brigand by all who come across you. Nopony shall allow you to stay in one place for long, and you will be a wanderer for the rest of your life! My day will hold no refuge for you, and all things that thrive in the sunlight shall hunt you as their enemies.  I curse your children, and your children's children, so that your family will forever feel the pain in my own heart! I will never forgive you or your family for the loss of my sister!"

And so, the mare followed the same road of misery that Roma had taken before her, and she was driven from land to land by the disasters that befell her. Sad lonely, weary and forlorn, the accursed mare finally made her way to the court of a distant Mereharajah, where the the Solar and Lunar princesses, and their disastrous curses, were unknown to ponies. It was here that Roma first met Romani, and they found relief from thier respective afflictions in each others hooves. Both discovered how they had been hurt by the curses laid upon them by the alicorns, and how miraculously, the two curses seemed to cancel each other out in regards to each other. The two ponies were eventually married, and Roma became and entertainer in the royal court, and Romani the caretaker of the Mareharajah's menagerie and gardens.

But though the two cursed ponies were able to find happiness late in their lives, the two curses soon fell upon their children in a blazing fury. Plagues and disasters followed Roma and Roamni's bloodline over the next two generations, until all of their descendants and their families were driven from the mareharajah's kingdom. They became caravan of wanderers, and over time, their numbers increased as they spread across the world. Within a few centuries, caravans of Romani wagons could be found in every nation, performing for both rich and poor alike.

The ponies inherited Roma's gift for entertaining, banging on their tambourines while singing and dancing for happy audiences. And from Romani came the gift of being able to talk to plants and animals, giving them a close connection to nature that seemed almost magical to other ponies. But the two curses, joined together as they now were, produced an effect neither Alicorn had foreseen. For the Roma ponies gained the ability to forsee events before they happen, a kind of 'danger sense' that they developed as a magical defense mechanism against the curse's effects. This made the Romani the tellers of fortunes, through crystal ball, hoof readings, and the tarot. And putting these ponies of Prophecy in high demand across all the lands.

Sadly, this did nothing to negate the curse's effects. The Roma ponies were still hated as vagrants, accused of being chicken thieves, and kidnapping foals from their cradles in the middle of the night. They were still driven from place to place, sometimes barely escaping with their lives. It is no surprise, as their time in the Mareharajah's kingdom gave them a very different appearance and culture from the rest of ponydom.  Despite love and toleration, ponies can be horrible gossips. And many times, gossip and bad harvest or misfortune in a town can lead to violence against those who are different or strange.

But though they are much hated and feared throughout the realms, there are those few Roma who have done great things in the service to Ponykind. For there are Romani song sung of a little pink filly, the daughter of Romani parents, who was left on the doorstep of a rock farmer just outside of Ponyville. This filly, with her natural ability to entertain, and a 'danger sense' that manifested as body twitches, came to be one of the greatest heroines that ponydom has ever known, and the pony the Romani are the most proud of.

...or so the romani stories and songs say...