Jedi Storytime: Pods & Ponies

Turn Right to Go Left & Left to Go Right

Anakin felt much better once he was bathed and out of those muddy clothes.
After helping to fix all the knocked down tables and chairs, Anakin was allowed to sit down at the diner with his father and brother to eat something. This was especially good since he hadn't eaten in a long time, much less eaten anything as delicious as the veggie omelettes Plo and Shaak cooked for everyone.
"Slow down, Anakin." Qui-Gon scolded, seeing Anakin eat so fast.
"Sorry. I haven't eaten anything since... two days ago, I think."
"You haven't eaten in two days?!" Caroline said in shock.
"Afraid not." Anakin said.
"You're a champion racer who can't afford to eat anything?" Boba said.
"It's not that I can't afford to eat. More like I'm not allowed to until given the okay to eat whatever's placed in front of me."
"Is it like one of those dangerous diets that some supermodels put themselves on?" Ahsoka asked. "Because a friend of mine tried that and nearly lost her life because of it."
"No. It's probably a bit worse than that." Anakin said. "When you're a slave... food is earned, and not exactly on a regular basis."
According to Anakin, he and his mother didn't always get to eat before or after races. Watto was very cheap when it came to maintenance, equipment, or feeding his so-called "workers." Sometimes, they went without eating for days at a time, struggling to sleep with growling stomachs and to work due to malnourishment. In the occasional event the Skywalker slaves did eat anything, it was usually bland-tasting protein rations or some kind of bread and water. Sometimes, the bread was more than two days old, so Anakin often had to sneak away as far as he could to search through garbage cans, snatch food that race fans left behind in the bleachers, or crawl under outdoor dining tables and swipe food when people weren't looking just so he and his mom could survive.
"Breakfast places and bakeries usually threw out good stuff though." Anakin sipped some coffee. "You wouldn't believe how many people waste perfectly good egg sandwiches."
That was when Citrus placed a plate with an orange sliced in two in front of Anakin.
"Here. You need this more than me. It's fresh from the tree in my family's yard." said the horse.
Carmine also shared some of his fruit salad with his twin.
"You'll need all the nutrients you can get now." Carmine said, sliding some fruit onto Anakin's plate.
Anakin thanked the two for their generosity and enjoyed the fruit, starting to feel more nourished with each bite.
"This food is really good." Anakin said. "And not just because it tastes better than old bread and rations."
"We're glad you like them." Shaak said. "Those fruits and vegetables you're enjoying, we all grew them ourselves."
"Citrus inspects them well to ensure only the best go into each meal." Ahsoka said, pouring Obi-Wan another cup of coffee.
"The farms around these parts grow great crops." Padme said. "A lot of it is due to the horses."
"Really?" Anakin said in disbelief.
"It's true." Carmine said. "Horses have pretty keen senses for good land to plant crops and a good eye for the the perfect harvest time."
As Anakin took another bite of his farm fresh breakfast, he'd taken some time to think. From what he noticed, there seemed to be horses all around, and each citizen had one of his or her own. In most towns Anakin had been to during his tours of racing, there weren't a ton of horses, much less ones who lived in houses, worked in diners or bookstores, or did tasks other than pulling carriages or giving rides at kids' birthday parties. What was it about this town that made the horses here stay, and why did they live different from other horses?

While Omega and the rest of her brothers got all the horses out of the stable and into the corral, Anakin got on a hard hat and joined in with Wrecker in knocking down the part of the wall that Zam marked nice and clear.
"Okay, boys. You can knock it down now!" Zam called.
"Oh yeah!" Wrecker shouted, eagerly starting construction knocking down the wall, barely giving Anakin time to knock it down.
"You know I'm supposed to be helping, right?" Anakin pointed out.
"Sorry, I like to blow things up!" Wrecker said, demonstrating that point by breaking more of the wall.
"Wrecker, that's enough!" Zam scolded. "Let Anakin have a turn."
Wrecker looked down in shame.
"Sorry, Mama."
Zam kissed her son's cheek and had him step aside so Anakin could finish up.
"Go ahead, Anakin." Zam said.
Anakin got to bashing what remained of the wall. Once that was done, he got a wheelbarrow to clear out all the rubble from the old wall. And while Wrecker and his mother took the rubble away, Anakin had the task of moving the Fetts' horses to another stable, where they would sleep until theirs was fully repaired.
It turned out, Qui-Gon had a stable at his home too that had enough room for the horses. And, as part of his community service, Anakin was to help move them. He approached a big blonde colored stallion named Cisco and grabbed the reins.
"Okay, boy. Let's go." Anakin said, starting to walk, only to feel a tug and fall down, finding that Cisco didn't even step forward.
Cisco snorted and just started to walk away, much to Anakin's confusion. He tried again, but Cisco yanked him again.
"Hey!" Anakin said angrily, picking himself up from the ground.
Cisco just lowered his head to munch on some grass. As you can probably guess, he wasn't much of a talker. He was more the strong, silent type.
"Alright, playtime's over, Cisco." Anakin said, yanking the rein again. "Come on!"
But Cisco was as stubborn as a mule.
"Okay, fine. Be that way." Anakin said. He then went over to a pretty reddish brown colored mare with a blonde mane like Maybelle's. But she turned her head away and walked off before Anakin had a chance to grab it.
"Really?" Anakin groaned. "I'm trying to get you to a stable for you to sleep in."
"Well, we don't feel like moving." said Sadie. "We like it here."
"Look... I get it, you got minds of your own, but we gotta get moving."
Anakin tried climbing onto Sadie's saddle, but she shook him off and sent him flying to the dirt again. So, Anakin tried the other horses, and got mixed results. Pinto and Remix just kept running about, Banjo flew off and teased Anakin in a game of Tag, Estrella just went to drink water from her trough, Indira was more interested in basking in the sun than moving to another stable, and Maybelle just pounced him and started licking Anakin's face!
Anakin spat and sputtered as Maybelle attacked him with kisses.
"Stop it! Pleh! Enough! That's disgusting!" Anakin shouted. "Someone, help!"
"Maybelle! Bad girl!" Crosshair said, pulling his horse off of Anakin. "No licking!"
Anakin wiped the horse saliva off his face and picked himself up.
"Okay, what is wrong with these horses?!" Anakin said. "I've asked nicely for them to come with me, but they just won't behave."
"That might be because they don't know you very well." Hunter said, brushing Indira.
Anakin was confused.
"Aren't horses supposed to have a sense of whether someone is good or not?"
"They do, usually. But that doesn't mean they'll go anywhere with just anyone."
Omega held out some strawberries for Estrella, which the pink alicorn proceeded to munch right out of the palm of her rider's hand, licking the juice they left. It tickled Omega's hand.
"Maybe tasks involving the horses should just be left to us." Echo suggested.
"No, kids. He has to learn how." Jango said, grabbing Sisco. "And we're gonna teach him."