Spring had arrived in Helovia! Or Birdsong or whatever this weird culture that Wilibald had found himself in decided to call their seasons. Today, he didn’t really care about all of that (okay he did but he was ready to pretend) other stuff. It didn’t matter that everyone here was just really weird or that some of them blinded him with their brilliant colours. Did these ‘unicorns’ and ‘pegasus’ pollinate like flowers and require the extra umph to attract gigantic bees?

Oh junipers did he ever not want there to be gigantic bees hiding about here. That definitely should be something worth mentioning. For now, however, the only bees that he had seen were the normal-sized ones – some nice plump bumblebees having woke him up earlier as they bustled about the new blossoms in the little thicket where Wilibald had decided to make his bed each night. There would be strawberries later in the year and even if there weren’t other reasons, that would have been enough to want him to stick around this place a bit longer.

Strawberries were a rare treat in his home because everyone snatched them up quick as you like.

He was rather in love with this place, which was often a source of grumbling because by all reason he should have packed up as soon as he had been greeted in the gloomy forest by an even gloomier looking fellow. Then Midas had found him and brought him here and well, maybe it was the full belly but Wilibald just did not feel like vacating the premises anytime soon.

Well, he did move a little bit at least.

Leaving his bed by the pool, he waded the cool waters until he was in the main meadow of this herd land, where the sun should be shining down but instead a rather dreary sky loomed overhead. Realizing that he would not get the chance to nap in sunlight today, he sat back with a sigh and regarded the mid-morning sky with a most despairing look.

That was not very nice of it, to be so uncooperative. Rain was undoubtedly on the way, likely before the sun reached its peak.

Guess he needed to find something else to do today! Dark brown eyes scanned about the meadow as he maintained his sitting position – knowing full well he’d have to get up soon if only to move to a more private (and comfortable) spot. Rainy day naps could be pleasant, sure, if you had the right nest for it. But he was working on his still! More materials were needed. "This rain is most inconveniently timed." He thought to himself as the first few drops fell, a light - spitting type of rain. Not quite enough to encourage him to move from his stubbornly picked spot.

There was just no winning with this place. Either there was a perfectly peaceful and reasonable assortment of colours and number of limbs or there was a pleasant personality. The two never seemed to quite coexist here in Beqanna and, once again, the chubby little pony found himself with quite the odd little collection of faces around him.

This might be the point where we could say ‘what he wouldn’t give for someone his size – just one someone would do’ but we must be realistic. There was a lot that Wilibald would not give up. Mild-mannered and mild-in-appearance company was just going to have to be a rare treat. Rarer, even, than a unicorn!

The first to approach him on this lovely, drizzling day was a vividly pale mare who, rather appropriately, stood out like a snowstorm in the middle of summer. And she had what he considered at the time to be quite the opening line. So she needed to bathe? Well, he wasn’t quite sure what to say about that. The logical thing would be to lean over and get a sniff but that was hardly appropriate! Besides, she apologized right away!

“Oh that’s quite alright dear! The rain does funny things to us all.” ‘Dear’? Well, it seemed appropriate at the time. But before he could continue on and introduce himself, which was what would come next, a rather tall oaf came stumbling into what was bound to be a polite yet odd conversation. Well, not anymore.

Things were taking a rather distastefully impolite turn.

Impolite enough to get Wilibald to stand up. “That is rather rude of you.” Being the only thing that he could think to say – there being no real reason to return the insult. Though certainly there as no shortage food and thus Wilibald had no reason to feel guilty. “I wasn’t aware that I was in the company of royalty?” Although it had started out as a retort, it sort of lost the punch towards the end as he began to question it himself. Was this Elsa a queen? He doubled the oaf was anything special, though he couldn’t quite find a nice way of putting that and so it stayed quietly in his mind. Hardly the most graceful of the giants, was he? Hopefully he wasn’t ill.

“Oh my gosh I am sorry! Forgive my lack of manners. I am Wilibald, son of Hamfast.” Maybe he would’ve remembered to introduce himself if they had not been interrupted in such an unfavourable manner. To her assurances that this new stallion was ‘actually quite nice’ Wilibald remained sceptical and the short little snort he released showed just how disbelieving his was.

Luckily Elsa seemed rather pleasant herself and maybe she could make up for her unfortunate choice of companion. A rather odd couple these two made. Although Wilibald was still offended, he could put that on hold for a moment. Just a moment, mind you. But the way this stallion was swaying did not seem entirely stable – and though the pony wasn’t so small that he would be squashed flat by the oaf if he were to fall, he did not fancy the idea of being in the position where he might have to actually feel obligated to worry about this odd fellow.

“Are you quite alright? You seem a little unsteady on your feet.” ‘A little’ was Wilibald’s way of being polite. For the fourth time in his life he wished he hadn’t been raised so well – he might have found a more creative and insulting way to deal with this stallion. His overall impression of these larger horses had been that they were rather clumsy looking – extra length to their limbs with no apparent benefit. But this… this giant oaf represented rather thoroughly every poor opinion and stereotype that his kind had of the larger folk.

Well, moving on! “Just enjoying this fine spring day.” Well, even with this misty sort of rain – it really wasn’t so bad of a day. “Rather new here, you know, and I’ve quite been avoiding exploring.” And meeting the inhabitants, but he wasn’t about to say that out loud. Not while Elsa seemed pleasant enough but a sideways glance was cast towards the stallion before he returned the question - actually finding himself rather curious as to what these horses did on a day-to-day basis. “What about you? Any grand plans for such a day?”