His eyes flickered open to the darkness of the early dawn, or at least he hoped it was dawn. Rising from the cold ground, his muscles aching and his joints snapping from stiffness, he threw off his old, holey blanket and looked to the horizon. Beyond the tips of the grasses he could see the faint peak of the sun, it’s only tell coming from the touch of it’s color distant and solitude. He was sure the moon was likely still falling from the sky behind him.

Lifting himself from the ground, the Peddler began his usual routine: rolling up his blanket, dusting off his clothes, checking his hat (it had been made off with on more than one occasion by curious critters), and looking over his pack (which had also sometimes been made off with). All was fine, and he breathed in the cool, dry air of the grasslands, and started to build a fire for breakfast and coffee.

He stopped, and remembered that he had promised Yellow Stone to come by for breakfast. Blowing air from his nose, he put away his log, which was already half way from restoring it’s sad, black charred stump into a perfectly fine piece of wood, and started to gather his things. It was very early, especially by pony standards, but he was sure that traveling folk understood the need to wake up even before full sunrise.

After ensuring he had not left anything, he took up his walking stick and made his way through the early morning darkness towards the caravan’s camping area. He quickly began cursing his decision, hoping to expect some early fires cooking an early breakfast, he was greeted instead by an inactive camp. The man’s eyes focused hard on the wagon trains parked sporadically around, and spotted the area where he had brought Crystal Night back before, and shuffled through the clearing towards it.

Still no signs of activity, and he chewed his cheek. He would have already eaten and been on his way down the road by now, the sun barely peeking itself out in the distance, finally breaking the purple hues of the early morning with it’s dim rays. But, he didn’t want to be a man to break his word, despite the road calling to him now that he could see further than a couple feet in front of him, and simply sat on the dirt ground around the fire pit as he had last night.

And so the Peddler waited, and waited, and waited.

The light of a lantern shone from one of the covered wagons, and out from it’s open end a silhouette jumped down and lowered the wagon’s back latch to allow easier entry and disembarkment. More silhouettes followed as more lanterns began to spark to life. This included Yellow Stone’s wagon. From his place the man could see Lavender Shade hop down from the back end, a lamp dangling from her mouth as she surveyed the surroundings, her emerald eyes almost glowing in morning light, a bat pony trait the Peddler remembered.

She seemed to spot him a mile off, sitting by the ash covered pit where he had been the night before, and trotted up to him, lowering the lantern, “I know my Stone invited you for breakfast…” She began, “But you’re quite a bit early.”

Peddler shrugged, “What can I say…” He smiled, “I’m sort of an early bird.”

Lavender returned it in kind, “This is early even for me.” She looked him over for just a second, “How long have you been waiting out here.”

“Oh, not long.” Peddler responded, shifting himself slightly so his legs wouldn’t fall asleep.

“I would hope not.” Lavender stated, “We wouldn’t want our guest to be out alone in the dark and cold.”

Peddler chuckled, “Don’t worry about me, Mrs. Shade.”

She smiled behind her tiny fangs, “We’ll see.” And at that, she took up her lantern and trotted back towards her family’s wagon. It wasn’t long before ponies of many kinds began to start crawling from their temporary (or perhaps even permanent) homes, and started their morning routines. The man got stares and looks here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary, nothing he wasn’t used to. Peddler decided it would be a good time to rest his eyes, considering he wouldn’t be needing them for a while, he figured, and let the world fall into darkness.

But his conscious rest didn’t last long, when the thudding of hoofsteps sounded in his ears he opened his sore eyes again to see Lavender Shade return, this time accompanied by her husband who held a few logs on his strong back, Yellowstone beamed at him, “Good morning Peddler!”

Peddler nodded, “Good morning, Stone.”

Yellowstone shrugged the logs into the pit, and Lavender laid out a long ground throw which she placed bowls and utensils on, then he heard a voice beside him, “You came back after all.” Down to his side he saw Crystal Night, rubbing a sleepy eye with a foreleg, but gazing up at him with a wide smile, “We thought you wouldn’t come back.”

Yellowstone chuckled nervously from his place by the firepit, “Hehe! It’s not that we didn’t think you’d come back, it’s just…we figured…we thought…”

“Honey.” Lavender said from her place on the blanket, “The fire.”

Yellowstone’s eyes jutted between his wife and the man, and he went back to tending the small fire in the pit. Peddler couldn’t help but chuckle, and nodded down at Crystal Night, “I would have doubted myself too...but, I’m here now.”

“And that’s what’s important!” Yellowstone said as he rose from the side of the firepit, “If you thought my wife’s soup was good, you’ve got to see what she can do with just a few apples.” He trotted up beside the man, “You’re lucky, we’re about halfway through our trip, and that means--”

“Baked apples for breakfast!” Crystal Night chirped.

Oh God, Peddler couldn’t remember the last time he had tasted baked apples. It had to have been years, and if they were even nearly as good as Lavender's soup from the last night...he was already salivating at the thought.

Yellowstone smirked, “I see that look on your face.”

Pedder licked the inside of his lips, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The stallion barked a laugh, “Sure, Peddler, sure.”

Peddler watched Lavender Shade work with clockwork precision, and much, much sooner than what the man thought, it was time to eat. Four apples were given to him, perfectly soft and caramel colored, and sweeter than anything the man had eaten in a long time, even compared to that chocolate he had bought in Feltlocke. After he had only eaten the first one he was already licking his teeth due to the sweetness, and he still had three more to eat! Ponies sure did love their sugar.

After drinking much from his canteen to wash down the sugar on his tongue, he finally finished. Though he looked only to see that his hosts had already downed their own breakfasts long ago, with Yellow Stone and Lavender Shade checking over the wagon, and with Crystal Night nowhere to be seen. Leaving the warmth of the fire he stood up and made his way to the pair, “Is there anything I could help you two with?” He asked them.

Yellowstone put down the bucket he had been holding via mouth, and nodded to him, “If you want, you can just check the axles right quick.” He responded.

“Alright.” Peddler nodded, and rolled up the sleeves on his coat and undershirt. He also took this moment to get a proper look at their wagon: it was a simple thing, akin to the covered wagons he had seen in illustrations and movies telling the tales of brave pioneers of the West. It was driven by a saddle and set of tackle for the pony pulling it, with a tall canvas hood covering the long flat of the wagon’s back. He also knew a decent bit about these types of wagons technically speaking, he knew it’s anatomy and it wasn’t much of an issue to do a once and twice over of the wheels and their axles, which were in great shape.

He did take a moment to look in the back, and saw much of what he expected: a couple of trunks, likely for personables, a few barrels for perishables and water, a couple of large crates, a few loose bags, and one large sleeping mat, with a pile of blankets not yet folded. It was simple stuff, for a not so simple family. The man was still quite shocked by seeing a bat pony, and he was sure there was no shortage of ponies that were shocked to see one either.

Sort of how there were never a shortage of ponies shocked to see him.

They were all soon finished with their preparations, and it was now time for the caravan to get back on the road. Fires were snuffed, supplies were repacked, and ponies hitched themselves to their wagons. The Peddler took up his heavy pack with a grunt, and grasped his stick as he prepared to follow along, “Why don’t you ride with us, Peddler?” Yellowstone asked beside him, now fitted with his equipment to pull his family’s wagon.

“Oh.” Grunted the Peddler, “I wouldn’t want to be a burden on you all. I can follow along well on foot.”

“Nonsense.” He heard Yellow Stone assert, “If you’re going to be traveling with my family, you’ll be treated like family. That's how we do it in this caravan, and that’s how I do it to good folk.”

“And you’re good in all our books.” Lavender Shade agreed from her place on the wagon bench.

“Yeah!” Crystal Night exclaimed from within the wagon itself, his little head poked out the front above the bench where Lavender Shade herself sat, “Ride with us! You can sit in the back with me!”

Peddler looked at Crystal Night’s beaming face, and couldn’t help but find it contagious, “Alright.” He agreed, and walked around the back to hoist himself into the wagon, setting down his pack and stick beside him, letting his feet hang down, “You sure I’m not a burden on you, Stone?” He called to the front.

He heard Yellowstone chuckle as the wagon began to lumber forward, “Not at all! You’re not as fat as you think!” And the man couldn’t help but laugh as well. He felt something soft brush his arm, and saw Crystal Night sat beside him, “Thank you, all of you.” The man said to the young pony.

“Hey, I wasn’t going to leave my friend to walk all by himself!” Crystal Night exclaimed.

Peddler raised a playful brow, “We’re friends now?”

Crystal Night nodded confidently, “Yep, whether you like it or not.”

Peddler shrugged his shoulders and grinned, “Yeah, I think I would like that.”

The cart rattled and clacked as the road continued on.

Author's Note

Sorry about the lack of updates. I had two chapters pre-written that I had wanted to get finished first, but I ended up scrapping them for whatever reasons that might have been. I'm hoping to start getting updates out at a faster rate from this point on. So long as Covid doesn't kill me anymore than it already has been.

As always, God speed. - GC.