With a little convincing, the townsfolk agreed not to press charges against Anakin, since it was an accident that he crashed into town. But, Qui-Gon did choose to have Anakin take a deal.
In exchange for not pressing charges, Anakin agreed to help clean up and repair the damage caused by his sudden appearance. And there was a lot of stuff that needed repairs.
Anakin took a look at the town. The window in Master Mundi's bookstore would be a simple removal of the broken glass and replacing it with a new sheet. The outdoor seating at the diner, a simple pick up and organize. Even the scattered clothes, just pick them up and clean them up and sweep what hay he could that burst from the bales that broke. But the hole in the stable was pretty big. They would need to take out probably half the wall, reinstall the supports, and rebuild that part of the wall completely.
"Fortunately, we have most of the material in the emergency supplies," said Qui-Gon. "However, Jango has gone out of town to retrieve the required material to repair the barn."
"So, what do I do in the meantime?" Anakin asked.
"For now, you can start with assisting our friend Ki-Adi Mundi and his daughter Comedia with cleaning up their shop. Afterward, you will join Jango's children in fixing up Plo Koon and Shaak's diner."
"Once Jango arrives with the parts," said Padme. "We'll go over construction details for repairing the stable. You can help feed the horses in the meantime."
So, before getting to work, Anakin had to feed the Fetts' horses. He saw a trough for each horse. Nine in total, each with their horse's names on them. Maybelle, Pinto, Banjo, Teatra, Indira, Estrella, Remix, Cisco and Sadie (Maybelle, Pinto, and Banjo's mom and dad). Except, he saw baskets of different things. Apples, hay, carrots, celery, pears, and oats.
"Um... how am I supposed to feed the horses?" Anakin asked Tech.
"There is, or rather there was a chart here with the dietary preferences of each horse." Tech said.
"Again, I am so sorry!"
"Fortunately for you, I have converted the entirety of the chart to memory and will guide you on the proper portions and mixtures of food to give each horse."
So, with Tech's help, Anakin was able to figure out which horses liked how much of which food and filled their respective troughs with the right meals. Hunter showed Anakin how they fed the horses treats.
"For bigger treats, carefully hold it out to their muzzle and let them have it. But for smaller stuff, like oats for instance, hold your hand out flat like this and let them eat from the palm of your hand."
Hunter fed Remix an apple and Indira some oats to demonstrate.
"Apples are an old favorite of the horses'. Excellent for giving them lots of energy."
Wrecker was also downing an apple from the basket of horse food.
"And if you're feeding, Wrecker." Echo teased. "He eats like a horse."
"Seems easy enough." Anakin said. "If you'll excuse me, I gotta start helping Mr. Mundi in the bookstore."Anakin got right to work sweeping up the shattered glass from the broken window while Ki-Adi went to get the new sheet from storage. He just finished getting all the shards gathered into the dust pan and threw them into the recycling bin before going inside where Comedia was picking up some of the books that fell off the shelves and organizing them by genre and author.
"We needed to reorganize these shelves anyway." Comedia said, picking up another book with her horn, and another with her mouth.
"Of all the things I've seen in all the different towns I've gone to for races," said Anakin, picking up a book. "I can't say I've seen a lot of horses working in bookstores."
"Horses can do a lot more than run, kick, and pull carriages."
According to Comedia, all the horses in Naboo Springs had jobs most would normally expect people to do. Sure, some did the usual stuff horses typically were used in like pulling heavy carts, riding to different places, and of course giving the sheriff a ride, a second set of eyes, as well as someone who could sense danger long before humans could. But, a lot of the horses did other jobs.
For example, Plo Koon had a horse named Citrus; his job was inspecting produce before he and Shaak used it for cooking in the diner. Horses had a great sense of smell and taste, and Citrus had an especially keen nose for fruit, especially citrusy ones like oranges and lemons. Only the best oranges were used to make orange juice at breakfast time and only the freshest lemons for Shaak Tii's special multi-flavor selections of lemonade.
Another example was Tech's horse Teatra, who had a powerful singing voice and exceptional directing abilities. Her job was being the main entertainer for the whole town. She wrote a lot of plays and often had the townsfolk join in as actors, especially when she made plays for the kids, not that there were a lot around. Currently, the twins Boba and Omega were the only children in the whole town. All their lives, they only had each other to rely on having another child their own age to play with, and the two of them had to be homeschooled.
There used to be a school in the town, but it got shut down long ago, and two children was not nearly enough students to re-open it, and the town's best teacher moved away a long time ago too.
Comedia, she helped her adoptive father run the bookstore.
"He's the only family I've known since I was a small filly." Comedia said. "According to what I can recall, and what my dad has told me, my birth parents abandoned me, and my sister and I got separated in the adoption. She got adopted before me, and I was all alone until my dad came and brought me here."
"Was it always this... empty?" Anakin said. "Not that there's anything wrong with a quiet town. I have to confess though, it could use a bit of sprucing up."
"Yeah, it sure could. But it's hard to get any help around here for anything. With the limited number of customers, we have to rely mainly on selling crops at the farmer's market just to keep what remains of it afloat. As for your first question, I can't say I know everything about this town's history."
Comedia opened a bigger book that sat at the checkout. It was all about the town's history.
"Naboo Springs, according to this book, used to be a great place to live. People used to come from miles around to see its natural beauty and all the horses that run through the fields, especially around spring when the pegasi migrated here. Flying horses are known to be among the more reclusive type of horse who don't trust just anyone. That's why I like it here so much. Not as much bustle as the city where I stayed in an orphanage before."
Anakin looked at a box that had "Comedia's reserve" written on it in marker. And he picked up a book from it about pranks. And another filled with knock-knock jokes.
"You sure like comedy, don't you?"
"I do. It's my dream to be a stand-up comedian someday. But that's not so easy when you don't have too big an audience. We have plenty of open-mic nights at the diner so I can practice my jokes. Gotten lots of laughs too. And I like working here in the bookstore, but it's not my dream. I can't leave either, because my dad needs me, and the way I care for him is no joke."
Anakin got to helping Comedia sort more of the books.
"Have you thought about posting videos of you doing your act on the web?" Anakin said. "You'd get a lot of publicity for this place."
"That would be helpful," said Ki-Adi, walking in with the new glass. "Except none of our connections are working. The tower that allows us to make long-distance connections over the phone or the computer has been acting out for months. Our comms only work a short distance. So, I suppose you could say we've been trapped in the olden days."
"And you haven't been able to get it fixed because...?"
"Why do you think?" said Tech, walking in. "No one knows our town exists. We're on our own, and therefore have had to conduct research on how to fix the tower ourselves and acquire the tools and parts required for the job, which does not come cheap."
Tech brought out a package that was addressed to Ki-Adi.
"By the way, Ki-Adi. My father has just returned, and he picked up your package as it arrived early."
"See?" Comedia said. "We can't even have things delivered here because our town literally isn't on the map. And without that tower working, no one can even track us through a satellite signal."
"You know, I think I might be able to help." Anakin said. "I've built a lot of things over the years using very little."
"Well, that will have to wait until you are done helping here." Ki-Adi said. "We just need to replace the sash so this glass will stick to the window. Comedia, finish shelving those books. And don't forget to dust the shelves you haven't already."
"Yes, Dad." Comedia said, getting back to work.
So, Anakin got right to work with installing the new glass in the window. And afterward, he volunteered to help Comedia with her chores. He grabbed a duster and started dusting the shelves while Comedia got to shelving the books on the already dusted shelves. For a small bookstore though, some shelves were awfully high, even for someone as tall as Anakin to reach without standing on a stool.
Anakin was standing on a tall stool to reach one of the higher shelves to dust, when Comedia started dancing around to some music that was playing on a CD player, and she accidentally backed into Anakin, and made him lose his balance. Anakin almost caught his balance, but he ended up falling right onto Comedia's back, which startled the poor mare into running with Anakin on her back.
"Comedia!" exclaimed Ki-Adi.
Fortunately, the door opened for Comedia to run through it, but she barely managed to miss Padme, who'd been opening the door.The Fett brothers and their sister were helping Plo and his wife clean up the seating at their diner, when they heard the sound of someone shouting and a horse whinnying.
"Look out!" Anakin shouted, hanging on for dear life on Comedia's back.
Comedia ran and jumped all about as Anakin struggled to hold on. She ran around the diner, across the block, through the courthouse, jumped over the Fett's fence and over it again, and through the stable! Anakin ended up getting pieces of straw stuck in his hair, he got splashed by a puddle Comedia ran through, and over all he could barely keep holding onto her.
Anakin had been through crazy situations in races before, but he'd never faced struggling to stay in the pod or even steering. But, that was because he'd installed seatbelts into his pod and made sure the controls were working before every race. And Comedia did not appear equipped with seatbelts on her saddle. The closest thing was her rein, which wasn't too good at holding Anakin on her back.
"Slow down, horsie! Slow down!" Anakin shouted, but Comedia didn't stop. "Sit, Comedia! Stop! Heel! Sit! How do you stop this thing?!"
Comedia only seemed to run around faster and crazier all around the town with Anakin struggling not to fall off.
"What's going on?" Qui-Gon said, riding in on his horse Orpheus.
"I think our guest is in trouble." Obi-Wan said, getting onto Peppermint. "Giddyup, Peppermint!"
Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon both ran in on their horses to catch up to Comedia, Anakin looking like he would fall any moment.
"Anakin! Have you ever ridden a horse before?" Asked the doctor.
"Is now the time for questions?" Anakin said, still struggling to hang on to Comedia as she kept running.
"Comedia, slow down!" Padme shouted. She got out a carrot and held it out for Comedia. "Here, girl!"
"Look, she's got a carrot for you!" Anakin shouted, hoping it would make Comedia stop, but she jumped up before he pulled on the rein and screamed. "WHOA!"
That finally got Comedia to stop before she walked over to Padme for the carrot, but not without sending Anakin flying off her back.
Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon got their horses to stop and looked around.
"Where did Anakin go?" Obi-Wan said.
"A little help here?" called Anakin.
The others looked up, and had to stifle a laugh when they saw Anakin hanging from a sign of one of the closed stores.
"Let go, Anakin, I'll catch you." Qui-Gon said.
So, Anakin let go with a yell, and his father caught him and set him down on his feet.
"Phew!" Anakin breathed and wiped some sweat away.
"This answers my question," said Obi-Wan. "Clearly you never have ridden before."
"I've ridden a horse before." Anakin huffed, trying to avoid embarrassment.
"Really?" Padme said, disbelief clear in her voice. "Was it made out of wood? And go up and down to music?"
"It counts." Anakin huffed again, crossing his arms with a pout.
"Not really," Qui-Gon corrected. "These aren't racing machines, son. These are horses. Living creatures, which run on an entirely different system."
Ki-Adi pet Comedia but also scolded her for going so crazy with Anakin on her back.
"I'm a horse, it's a natural response to sudden drops on the back." Comedia defended.
"I am so sorry," said Anakin. "I lost my balance and had no idea she would react like that."
"At least you learned one of the first things to know about riding a horse." Ki-Adi said. "Pull the rein and yell 'whoa!' to make them stop. Now you just need to learn how to get on and off a horse properly."
"That can wait until later. They still need your help over at the diner, Anakin." Padme said.
"Let's get you cleaned off before we do that." Qui-Gon said, noting the mud and straw that had gotten onto Anakin's clothes and hair.
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Jedi Storytime: Pods & Ponies
FanfictionInspired by the plot of Pixar's Cars: Anakin Skywalker is a champion pod racer in the Boonta Eve cup, a race where everything goes. But as bright as he smiles on camera, the truth is that life in the fast lane is no picnic, and he desires something...