A Trade Route from Santillama
Santillama was a town not known to many beyond the mountains it was nestled into. But, to all who passed through, one thing was agreed: that town grew the best dragon fruit they had ever eaten.
After tragedy struck the town, and the local farmer’s orchard was burned, the family of growers set about replanting their once grand field. It had taken a long time, but now their field was as grand as it once was.
Things were truly decidedly back to normal when the first harvest was tasted, and was found to be better than ever before.
The growers’ oldest daughter, Hitapaya, was inspired to share the ambrosial harvest with the rest of the world, and resolved to start a new trade route, just as her parents had done in their younger days.
Preparations were made. A custom cart was built, saplings were potted, and fruit was stored to maintain its freshness for the long trip. After Paya left her son in the care of her parents, she was ready to leave home.
The objectives were simple: Paya had to sell her entire payload of saplings and dragon fruits as far as she could from home. Hopefully, her transactions would prompt others to continue the sales and cultivation of dragon fruit to others, and spread her life’s work across even more lands.
It was this idea that inspired Paya to not simply keep to her own land, but travel across the borders of another.
At the moment, she was stopped at a checkpoint by a border guard.
“Okay, I see you have some plants and some produce barrels back there. If you’ll allow my partner to examine them for a moment. She’s going to inspect them for any diseases or molds,” the unicorn guard said.
“Que?” Paya asked.
“May we inspect your wares, ma’am?” the guard said.
Paya was not well versed in speaking pony, but she had been asked that question before by a non-llama speaker, and knew what to answer.
“Oh. Yes. Please inspect,” Paya said.
“Thank you. Now, if you’ll please unhitch yourself while my partner inspects your wares.”
The farmllama was slightly irritated by the idea that these ponies thought she might try to run off without going through the proper channels. Her parents had raised her to be an honest llama, and she would never do such a thing. But, for the sake of completing the process in a timely manner, Paya complied with the border guard's request , and unhitched herself.
“Okay, while she’s busy, I’m going to be asking you a few questions,” the guard said, as he magically retrieved his clipboard. “Alright. Where are you coming from, ma’am?”
“Santillama,” Paya answered.
“And your reason for visiting Equestria?”
“Business,” Paya said.
“Do you have anything to declare?”
“Ah…Uno momento,” Paya said, as she reached into the pack she had on her back and produced a slip of paper.
Her mother knew that Paya didn’t speak pony very well, and wrote a cheat sheet for her to refer to.
Paya held the paper in her hoof and read what was written. Her eyes scanned the paper, passing by numerous phrases that would come in handy for her travels. Until she found what she was looking for: ‘Do you have anything to declare=Tienes algo que declarar?’ Now, she knew what to answer.
“No. I declare nothing,” Paya said.
“Alright. That should about do it. Now, you can just wait for my partner to finish,” the unicorn guard said, as he magically put away his clipboard, and picked up an apple, which he promptly took a bite from.
Paya eyed the apple. Every llama she knew loved apples, but they were hard to come by up in the mountains. If she could start a trade route with some apple farmers, she knew she would really be in business.
“Um…” She tried to remember the pony language lessons her mother taught her before she left home. “Where is...best place for apples?”
“Apples? I just got these from the market back in town that way. But, the best apples are the ones that come from Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville. It’s a pretty long walk from here, but it’s well worth the trip. Even if you do have to go through the Everfree Forest to get there. Sometimes, I just go there to buy a few days worth of apples for when I’m working,” the pony said, not regarding the fact Paya barely understood him.
But, Paya had understood enough. For the best apples, one had to go to Sweet Apple Acres.
Before the farmllama could ask how to get there, there was a loud crash, and the sounds of rolling wheels were heard.
Paya barely had enough time to move, as her carriage was pulled past her by a pair of charging ponies.
“What just happened!?” the unicorn guar asked.
“I don’t know! They must have been waiting to ambush and--” the earth pony guard said.
“Mi carrito!” Paya shouted.
Her cart was rapidly traveling down the road past the checkpoint gate, and was turning around a bend in the trail.
“Ma’am, it’s alright! We’ll contact the guards at the other outposts, and get your cart back!” the earth pony guard said.
That wasn’t good enough for Paya. As far as she was concerned, she was finished with her business at the border checkpoint. She charged past the border and started climbing up the nearly sheer vertical wall that separated the trail.
The ponies who had stolen Paya’s wares picked up their pace as they rounded the bend. They knew that the border guards would be hot on their trail, and one missed step for them meant jail time. Unknown to them, they were going to face a threat worse than any border guard.
Paya reached the top of the rock that divided the trail, and saw the thieves rapidly running toward her. She swore that she could see them smiling victoriously for their haul. That would have to be changed.
The farmllama took off her necklace and quickly placed a stone in the leather strip. She took the braided wool in her teeth and twirled it around, before letting the stone fly.
The stone flew straight and true, hitting one pony squarely in the jaw, making him lose his balance.
The pony rolled alongside the carriage, until he stopped completely. His partner ran past him, and kept running. Before he could stand up to follow, he caught sight of a red llama, wearing a colorful manta jumping down the rocky slope.
Ready for a fight, the stallion got to his hooves to intercept the llama, only for her to run right past him and leap to a lower part of the path.
The path zig-zagged back and forth down the slope, forcing the stallion hitched to Paya’s cart to make sharp turns with his heavy haul.
On the path ahead, the stallion saw rocks and dirt falling down the rocky wall. Looking up, he saw a red llama hopping down the sheer face of the wall, as though she were sticking to it like a spider.
With a burst of speed, the stallion ran past before Paya could jump him, and rounded the next bend to the path below.
The stallion felt as if he had eluded danger. He had dodged the owner of the cart, and was now mere feet away from the base of the hill to level ground.
Paya jumped to the path in front of the stallion, whirling her loaded sling in her teeth. With a shout, she let the stone fly.
With the heavy cart behind him, it was too difficult for the stallion to move in time. His leg was struck, and he stumbled and slid on his knees toward Paya, who was waiting to pummel him with her bare hooves.
Paya was jumped from above by the first stallion she tripped, and knocked to the side.
The farmllama rolled over the edge of the path, suspended nearly twenty hooves above the ground.
The two thieves regrouped, and continued on their way down the path to the bottom of the hill, thinking they had escaped the llama who so fiercely pursued them. But, Paya was not done with them.
Quickly placing her hooves on a hold she could find in the wall, Paya practically ran across the sheer rocky surface, as the trail bended once more. If she was fast enough, she would have been able to catch the thieves again.
The thieves ran faster when they saw the treeline of the Everfree Forest before them. Only a fool would follow them in there.
Paya leapt from the rocky wall to the path to intercept the thieves. She missed tackling them, and continued her pursuit.
The three passed the entrance to the forest, and were now charging down the dirt trail.
The thieves knew the ins and outs of the forest, and so long as they kept to the path, they knew they were in no danger. Now, all they had to do was lose Paya in the thick undergrowth of the forest and be on their way.
Paya saw a turn in the road with small, dry trees around it. Trees that could be easily felled by one such as herself.
Without stopping, Paya kicked a large rock into the air and caught it in her sling. Whirling it faster than she had before, she let the mighty missile fly forth.
The two thieves shouted as the rock whizzed past them, only to feel a minor relief when neither was hit.
The rock flew into the base of one of the dry trees, and knocked out a chunk of the tree.
The thieves both screamed as they ran toward the tree that was falling toward them. Both veered to the side, and ran off the trail as the tree blocked the path before them.
Things were more difficult now. The ground off the side of the trail was boggy and wet, slowing down three who were running.
One of the cart’s wheels stuck in the mud.
The thieves tried to free it, only for the cart to be struck from behind by the charging llama.
Both thieves clung to the front of the carriage as it was powerfully shoved through the boggy ground.
Ahead, there was a lip that separated the bog from dry land, and the entire carriage bumped violently when it hit.
The carriage with the two stallions on the front jumped and landed on the ground.
Paya tripped watched in horror from the ground as the potted saplings and barrels of fruits all jumped up into the air. It was only a slight relief to see them all land safely back in the cart, before it was pulled away by the fleeing stallions.
The stallions both hauled as fast as they could across the bumpy and unstable ground, knowing if they stopped for a second they would be caught by the raging llama behind them. But, there were still the dangers of the forest.
Somehow, they ended up in a place where fire spouted up from the ground like geysers.
Harrowing as it was for the thieves, it was all the worse for Paya. One hit from those flames, and her cart would surely burn, along with her precious cargo.
A burst of fire licked at the wheel of the cart, charring the wood but not burning it.
Paya knew she needed to keep her cart safe. Rather than try taking it in this horrible place, she decided to steer the thieves out.
She kicked a rock with all her might at the stallion pulling the cart’s hooves, making him veer to the side, just as fire spewed from the ground.
Another well aimed kick sent a rock to steer him away from more danger.
Soon, they were out of the fiery danger. Only now, they were headed for a large gorge.
There was no time to stop. Both stallions screamed as they went careening over the edge, right onto a standing mesa. Then to another and another, until they landed on solid ground at the other end of the gorge.
It was quiet. With a collective sigh, the two thieves knew they were now safe.
“Finally! I thought we’d never lose her…” the stallion pulling the wagon panted. “Let’s check the haul...See what’s worth selling.”
“For this trouble, it had better be something real valuable…” the second stallion panted, as he walked around to the back of the cart. Before he reached the back, he saw something that stopped him in his tracks.
Paya was leaping across the mesas in the canyon toward them, sometimes skipping over one to the next after it.
“Run! She’s still coming!!” the second stallion shouted.
The first stallion looked around the wagon, and couldn’t believe what he saw. Whatever this llama was, he was almost sure she wasn’t natural. Almost as if she were part machine, or augmented by some unknown spell.
“Don’t just stand there! Haul flank!” the second stallion shouted, as he ran past his partner.
The stallion hitched to the cart ran as fast as his aching legs would carry him, just as Paya landed on their side of the gorge and continued their chase.
At the very edge of the Everfree Forest, a more peaceful situation was underway.
Fluttershy was having a picnic with her animal friends on her front lawn. Joining her were a family of squirrels, a spotted gecko, a pair of blue jays, a monkey, and her good friend Mr. Bear.
Everypony was having such a lovely time. Mr. Bear had just used his claw to nudge a coconut over to the monkey, when a loud clamoring was heard from the direction of the Everfree Forest.
Fluttershy recognized it as the sounds of wagon wheels. But, what was anypony doing hauling a wagon from the forest? Her curiosity was answered when she saw two stallions burst from the underbrush, hauling a wagon behind them.
Fluttershy and the animals all quickly picked up their food, just as the stallions charged toward them.
Everyone on Fluttershy’s property went into hiding. From her hiding spot beneath a tiny table, Fluttershy thought she could see a set of red cloven hooves jump up and land on top of her cover.
Paya had taken a route to head off the thieves, and pulled down a low-hanging branch from the nearby tree. A branch where Fluttershy’s monkey friend was hanging onto, but jumped away and dropped his coconut when Paya broke the branch, and promptly threw it toward her wagon.
Her aim was true. The broken branch lodged into the spokes of her wagon wheels, caught on the axle and stopped the first thief from running, just before he ran down the picnic blanket that was set up.
Stepping on the coconut to make it jump, Paya caught it with her sling, and sent it flying into the second thief’s head.
Both thieves were stopped cold, and Fluttershy watched as who was on her table jumped forth, revealing the woolly, red features and colorful manta she recognized from an adventure in the mountains.
Paya stomped toward the second thief, and threw him back toward her cart with his friend. Now, she was ready to go to town on them.
“Paya!!?” Fluttershy called.
As enraged as she was in the moment, Paya was surprised to hear anypony who knew her name in this place. Turning to see who had called her, the farmllama was delighted to see the butter-yellow pegasus trotting toward her.
“Fluttershy, mi amiga! Es tan bueno verte de nuovo!” Paya greeted her.
“It’s nice to see you too, Paya. But, why are you chasing these stallions?” Fluttershy asked.
“Sh-She-She stole our cart! We were minding our own business, and she tried to kill us!!” said the stallion hitched to Paya’s cart.
Though Paya understood little of the language, she knew when she was being implicated.
“Robé este carrito!!? Después de que me robes, tienes el descaro de acusarme de robar!!?” Paya shouted.
She had had quite enough of these thieves. She knocked them both onto the empty nearby picnic blanket, took each corner in her teeth, swung the two thieves around at her fastest speed, and let them both fly back into the Everfree.
“Y esa es una lección para ti! Nadie roba una llama honesta! Malos bandidos!” Paya shouted.
Fluttershy had ducked in cover again when the farmllama was slinging away the thieves. After they were thrown away like yesterday’s trash, Fluttershy was helped up by the animals she was picnicking with.
“Paya, um...what are you doing so far from home? Shouldn’t you be back in Santillama with your family?” Fluttershy wondered.
“My family is home. I am selling dragon fruit for trade routes,” Paya answered. A thought suddenly occurred to her. If Fluttershy was here, so might her other friends. “Do you know where is Applejack?”
“Applejack? Oh, yes. She’d be delighted if you went to visit her. She’s probably leaving Sweet Apple Acres now to set up her apple stand. We could go see her now. If you want,” Fluttershy excitedly answered.
After the unpleasant experience at the Equestrian border, things were quickly looking up for Paya. She was now reuniting with friends she had not seen in months, and came across the phenomenal apple orchard she was told about.
“Yes. Show me to Applejack,” Paya answered, smiling widely at the prospect of going into business with her friend.
Paya and Fluttershy talked back and forth on their way to town. Though separated by language, it was no obstacle for friends such as them.
In Ponyville’s market district, Applejack had just arrived to set up her stall for selling her wares. At the moment, Rarity was with her to help set up. They too were having a talk of their own.
“Rarity, you gotta get yer mind off o’ that juggler o’ yers. I say it’s time ya stop pinin’ an’ throw yerself back into yer work,” Applejack said.
“But, I can’t stop pining. I truly felt he was the one,” Rarity said.
“Aw, that’s a bunch o’ brown betty.”
“The nerve of you! How can you say that about my one true love!?”
“‘Cause every stallion ya got yer eye on is ‘the one.’ An’ frankly, I don’t think this guy was anywhere near yer league. He sounded like a windburnt bozo, the way ya talk about him,” Applejack said.
“Yes. But, he was my windburnt bozo! Oh, how will I go on, knowing I’ll never see him again!?” Rarity dramatically swooned.
Applejack rolled her eyes, and continued to set out her fruity wares. Her ears pricked at a distant call.
“Amiga!”
It was a word Applejack had not heard in some while now. A word she had been called before, that even though she didn’t know the translation, she knew precisely what it meant. And she knew it was addressed to her.
Turning her head to look down the road, Applejack’s face bloomed into a beaming smile at the familiar sight. One of them was Fluttershy. The other: a red llama with a colorful manta, who was hauling a cartful of pink fruits behind her.
Author's Note
How was that for a one shot? There really was no thought process behind writing this one. It was just a spur of the moment, after I reread one arch of the story Paya originally came from. I just thought to myself: what happened to Paya after her friends from Equestria continued their magical quest? Well, now we know.
What made me pick this particular kind of story was the idea that someday she would go into business with Applejack. Sure, they don't speak the same language, but that surely won't stop a couple of stubborn hotheads like them.
Whether or not this story is canon is completely up to you readers to decide. And you may have noticed a reference to another character from that story Paya originated from. I wonder if that means anything...You know what to do here \m/
