Meeting the Caravan

Dusty can hardly believe that a month has already passed. Guess time starts to blend together when all you see for a whole month of travel is sand. He, and his compatriots arrived at the border of the San Palomino Desert a day prior, and have set up camp to await the caravan from Ponyville. In the distance, he can see the green hills of the road to Ponyville. He's not sure exactly when the caravan will arrive, but they've got supplies for a good month or two so they should be able to wait fairly long. As the sun rises over the desert, Dusty awakens from his slumber to see a plume of dust approaching the camp from the north. He heads over to the tent of his new Dusk Patrolman, Mist (who does not share the sentiment), and wakes the man up so they can prepare to greet the caravan. He gets a dirty look, but before long, Mist is up, and standing near the entrance to the camp with the rest of the escort. When the caravan finally arrives at the camp, the representative of the Ponyville Trading Company begins to check all of the cargo among the caravan. The other rangers go about helping set up tents for the members of the caravan, and Dusty inspects all of the wagons. Strange. The brief they'd been given had said there would be settlers with this caravan, but so far, only one wagon isn't from the trading company. After asking the leader of the caravan, Dusty learns that there were supposed to be 5 families accompanying the caravan. All but one backed out before the trip, leaving only a family of three. Dusty then heads back into camp, where he finds the settler family huddled around a campfire, preparing some breakfast. The family consists of three zebras. A father, mother, and their 10 year old son. As Dusty sidles up to the family, the father looks up from his cooking to smile, and greet him. When he speaks, his accent is present, but not particularly thick. "Ah, hello Mr. Ranger! Are you hungry? We have plenty of food if you'd like to join us for breakfast." Now, Dusty had already ate some rations earlier this morning, but he wasn't about to turn down a free meal. "Why that's mighty kind ah yah mister. Ah'd be happy tah." Dusty takes a seat next to the father, but before either can speak again, the son pops up in his face. The boy's eyes are aglow with awe, and wonder. "Wow! A real ranger!" The boy's accent is very light. It's practically imperceptible. "Now Johnny. That is not how we greet guests." The mother lightly scolds the son as she gently tugs his sleeve. The boy pouts, but does not protest. "Yes mom." Dusty interjects. "It's quite alright ma'am. Ah don't mind." This appears to excite little Johnny, who looks to his mother. She gives him a nod, and the boy is once again in Dusty's face. While little Johnny bombards Dusty with questions, he responds with as much gusto as he can muster. "Do you catch bad guys?" "Darn tootin' ah do. Ain't nobody that gets away with crime on my watch." The mother giggles. "Ah, Johnny." "Yes mom?" "Perhaps you should introduce yourself to your new friend." To this, Johnny puffs out his chest. "I'm Johnny! One day, I'm gonna be a sheriff!" In response, Dusty tips his hat, and flashes his badge. "Well Deputy Johnny, ah can tell yer gonna make a fine sheriff one day. You can call me Dusty." His attention then turns towards the mother. "And what about you missus? What should ah call ya'll?" "I am Zevana, and this is my husband, Makabe." Dusty tips his hat once again. "Well, it's nice tah meet ya'll. If ya'll don't mind me askin', why are ya'll movin' down to little ol' Appaloosa?" To this, the father, Makabe responds. "My grandfather recently passed away, and left his farm to me. We've been wanting a change of scenery for some time now, and a homely little farm in Appaloosa sounded wonderful." "Oh! Ya'll 'r relatives of Ol' Man M'banze 'r yah? Yeah, we were all quite sad when he passed. Glad tah see his farm ain't gonna be left tah ruin." After some time, the family finishes their cooking, and the four enjoy a meal of sausage and eggs as Dusty gives them a rundown of what to expect on the next leg of their journey. The caravan will be spending a day in camp before setting out early the next morning. Afterwards, it will be two months of travel through the San Palomino Desert with plenty of opportunities for danger to pop up. Once they're about 3 days out from Appaloosa, they should be home free, but until then, they'll need to stay cautious. When breakfast is finished, Dusty thanks the family for the meal, and heads off to find Mist. They've got a long road ahead of them, and it would be best to make plans on how they're going to travel with the caravan before they head out tomorrow.