"So I'm not going to immediately start with Golding, what you need to know interlocks with Coltriella's history. The land of Coltriella wasn't always a desert. When it was being settled on, it was green hills, forests and woodland animals and all of that. Fast forward a good few hundred years and you have the central city of Coltriella rising up from the ground, housing the first Ao'Coltriella. Something I have to mention is that Coltriella once prided itself on extreme personal freedoms. If you paid your taxes and didn't step on the wrong pony's hooves, you were free to do just about anything; restrictions were few and often specific, stuff like don't kill anypony or take from them. Other than that, if you chose to do something and somepony else followed along, that was your business. That was why Coltriella attracted so much foreign fare, you could trade using money. By bartering, you could trade slaves, hallucinogens, favors, and so on. It was cool for a while, everypony loved the city, everypony made vacations to the city, it was freedom at its finest and Coltriella prided itself on that. There was a problem though, the cash flow into the city was enormous, and certain trade goods took certain routes through the city to sell their wares, a lot of very bad ponies saw how they could take advantage of this. In short time, gangs started to spring up, gangs who controlled the routes and offered protection, or they would buy the foreign goods just outside the city to save them the walk and then sell the stuff at inflated prices. It didn't start out so terrible, but as more and more ponies got in on the business, conflicts began to spring up, gangs started to attack each other, control over the routes, over the merchants, over the shopping areas became such a huge deal that it's been called the Inner-City Wars."

"Getting more on topic, around the same time, Golding was being built from the ground up by a pair of very ambitious brothers and their followers. These two brothers had an amazing history together, not seeming to have any home country but traveling among the warring nations surrounding Coltriella - which was the only neutral zone on the continent at the time - and leading whatever state they occupied to unparalleled victory. The eldest brother, Lord Galio, was cited repeatedly for his tactics and his inspiration, while his little brother Firago took care of the nation behind the war with his vast medical knowledge and empathy. Together, the two won the hearts and minds of many ponies and gathered-"

"Hold up." Dash interrupted suddenly. Everypony turned to look at her as she rubbed her own chin. She looked to Twilight with a bit of slight worry and hummed thoughtfully. "Okay, you said Galio was doing this around the time Coltriella was becoming cruddy, right?" Sabine nodded. "But that was like… A few hundred years ago?"

Sabine nodded again, "Yep." Dash just frowned more deeply, and Twilight froze as she realized just what Dash was getting at. Glancing to Sabine, she could see the mare wasn't worried at all about this. She wasn't lying, Galio was around hundreds of years ago.

Looking among the others, they could see they were equally confused… and worried. It was Applejack who popped the question, "So, just how old is this Lord Galio fella?"

The answer was… surprising… "He's been around since before Coltriella. Nopony knows exactly how old, all we know is that he's old, real old. He's practically legendary on this continent. There are paintings and artifacts dating several thousand years back depicting him and Firago. It's generally known that a pony can live for a very long time with magic but even the Archmage is stumped by how long the two have lived, it's just become accepted that Lord Galio and Lord Firago may very well be…" She paused, and looked up at the ceiling, "Well, it's rumored they're either Alicorns or Gods, or perhaps both. They've been worshipped by ponies for as long as anypony can remember, it's entirely possibly they work by personal magic or even faith by itself."

There was not a sound as Sabine finally closed her mouth. She was met with twelve wide eyes, and more than one of them looked absolutely terrified. Sul had said they were in danger concerning Golding. She hadn't heard why and it somewhat concerned her that they knew nothing about Galio. Yes, they were most certainly foreign, more foreign than anypony who have ever visited Coltriella as far as she knew. This was a level of ignorance she wasn't used to, everypony on the continent had to know about Galio and Firago by now.

In her head, she tried to theorize precisely how far or where they could have come from, but she couldn't think of any place on a map that didn't know Lord Galio at the very least by name alone. But there were lands across the seas they sometimes got visitors from…

"Anyways, Golding was on the rise with their power and influence, and the two Lords were determined to lead by example a state that was as noble as its rulers. It was highly militaristic and planned to the tee: where towns could and would go, the best planting areas, the best mining cities, where trade would go through. Within the span of several years, Golding was born. Everypony watched it closely since they knew Galio and Firago were heading it, but nopony dared try and attack in case they lost the brothers' favor. Golding's ponies were a very pleasant, proud group. They knew who they served and were happy to follow their every order. With Galio and Firago heading the planning, Golding quickly became a super-power despite being so small. On top of that, their honest, independent, and non-violent approach to gathering allies and trading partners quickly had other nations trying to follow the same example. It was a peaceful, strong place."

"As I said before, it was around this time that Coltriella was losing itself to its own hedonism. It wasn't just the gangs and their leaders now, the city was being controlled in sections by the nobles. With the nobles on their paychecks, the gangs were free to run around and do as they pleased since the city guards were basically being paid to not do a thing about it by the nobles, who, at the same time kept the former Ao'Coltriella in blissful ignorance. The former Ao was pretty well-known for being ignorant, gluttonous, and gullible, easily swayed by the nobles with a few glasses of wine to give them a bigger cut of territory, or to pass some arbitrary law to hinder their competition, but none of them had the sway, the money, and the highlife like the noble who had married the former Ao's niece."

"Being married to the niece meant the noble was part of the royal family, which meant he had unrestricted access to the Coltriellan palace. The noble, known as Elmirus, could walk in and appeal to the former Ao for whatever he pleased. This made him one of the most dangerous and most powerful ponies in Coltriella, and had a lot of gangs vying for his attention."

"Elmirus was surrounded by wealth, mares, and whatever fineries he damn well wanted, but he forgot something: he was still married to the former Ao's niece, and his niece was not as corrupt as he was. Many ponies in Coltriella were honest, hard-workers who felt obligated to their city and country but were oppressed by the corrupt higher-ups. Golding, which had just opened its borders to ponies interested in looking for a new home, became a wonderful option to escape the city and settle somewhere where they wouldn't be afraid."

"Among the Coltriellans that migrated to Golding was the niece. According to Coltriellan law, a Coltriellan royal who does not sign several official documents does not count as a royal outside of Coltriella. The niece had not signed these documents and, by law, was not a royal until she was back in the city, which meant that Elmirus was no longer a royal. He had lost all of his influence with the former Ao, and lost practically all of his power in a single day. The noble, and the gangs he lead, were understandably angry by this, and hired several slavers to go after the niece."

"The niece had settled into an outlying village in Golding, having been granted citizenship by the mayor of that little village without so much as a question. She was at peace for several days, but one night the slavers came. They had broken into her house noisily and captured her and her hand-maiden, but as they set to return, they were confronted by a good portion of the villagers, armed with farming equipment. The slavers were disposed of, and Lord Galio was informed of the attack. The niece revealed who she was and why she had come to Golding to the Lord, who took it upon himself to see the former Ao and demand an explanation. The former Ao, as I said, was pretty stupid, and did not see the threat Galio posed. He even went so far as to insult Galio for trying to 'restrain the freedoms of Coltriella'. When Galio returned home, he had been insulted, spat on, and nearly struck by the former Ao. The decision for war was made, and the very next day, Golding marched on Coltriella."

"Coltriella was not ready for a war. Its standing army was under-prepared and lazy, and though the gangs understood they needed to work together to repel Golding, they weren't at all experienced with dealing with armed and armored targets. Coltriella never had a very large population of Unicorns, while Golding did, and with their help, they easily melted through the first few walls of Coltriella. Battles were usually short and favored Golding easily, but the closer the battles got the palace, the more desperate things became. The former Ao deployed every anti-magical practice they had while the gangs quickly forgot their differences and banded together as one army to fight for what they had, and they started employing their most monstrous strategy: marching slaves in front of the armies to take the brunt of the attack. Golding detested slavery and slavers, but were very careful with the slaves themselves. Golding was slowing down."

"During this entire time, the former Ao had a son, a young colt with big dreams and a love for reading stories about heroics. Little was known about the colt, and there were rumors his father was not very proud of the child. Nopony knew why until the day of Coltriella's loss; his son was idealistic, and very much against what Coltriella prided itself in: the hedonistic freedoms that were so easily taken advantage of. He saw the corruption from where it started and for what it really was and gathered a lot of the ponies that believed the same thing, whether they were guards, citizens, or merchants, the true noble Coltriellans stood underneath him when he saw the opportunity to march into his father's throne room, kill all the attending nobles and gang leaders, and finally the former Ao's son himself slew the king and took his throne. With all of Coltriella's leaders gone, Golding took the palace in an instant. The son, now the newest Ao, met with Lord Galio and a treaty was formed between Coltriella and Golding. In this time, the newest Ao informed Lord Galio what he intended to do with Coltriella, his plans, his rules, his remaking, and Lord Galio was so impressed he gave the newest Ao a title in Coltriella's own language: To'Sivo'Coltriella (The Savior of Coltriella)."

"With Sivo in command, order was soon returned to Coltriella, the walls and buildings rebuilt, and trade was slowly coming back to Coltriella. At the same time, those things that had made Coltriella so desirable were being taken away. Hundreds of laws were passed to restrict certain substances, to prevent merchants from being hoof-handled through the city, and to keep anypony and their mother from selling whatever they pleased at whatever prices they wanted. The gangs and nobles that had once held power tried to reclaim it but failed under the city's new laws and with increased pressure from the new guards. With Coltriella blooming again, Sivo was soon an icon as much as Galio and Firago was."

"There were two things that weren't accounted for though: the first was that the gangs would not stop. They were persistent in thriving in their old business and began to operate around the city of Coltriella, not just inside it. They still managed to control the merchant and cash flow, although at a much more limited rate, and still managed to sneak protection rackets and prostitution all around the city. On top of that, slavery was still a big issue in the outlying villages since Sivo's hooves could only reach so far. All of this factors into the second thing: To'Sivo'Coltriella was medically insane."

"He had grown so used to the violence, to the underhoofed businesses, to the blatant disregard for pony decency that it began to influence him. As kind and fair as he was, and as much as he looked after the common Coltriellan as well as their foreign allies, he detested the criminal element more than anypony you would know. He was not even the slightest fair with the gangs, with thieves, with assassins, and even small-time gamblers. He was vicious. On the outside, everypony saw a lawful city with booming opportunity. On the inside, they didn't see the creeping corruption, and the crazy pony with the axe chasing it."

"If you could be proven you were part of a gang, there was no question as to what would happen to you. You were first interrogated, if that didn't work, tortured. Not simply torture either. Sivo brought mutilation into it and sometimes even headed it himself. He was a royal noble, he had experience with blades and had the knowledge to use them very effectively on a pony's body, and in his time, he pioneered not only a lot of the inner-state territorial practices and court law practices, he was also on the forefront of engineering new torture methods. Very effective torture methods."

"If you revealed any incriminating information or evidence about your gang, you were given a swift death in public, either by hanging or by the axe, an incredibly merciful thing compared to what would happen if you did not. If you stayed quiet, or revealed no pertinent information, you were put in a tiny iron cage and hung up on the top of the forth wall to starve to death under the hot sun. As horrifying and intimidating as this sounds, the gangs, as I said, were persistent. They continued to thrive, and Sivo did not know how. Angered, concerned, and paranoid from the many assassination attempts set on him, he decided to crack down harder."

"The short years of prosperity began to dwindle as new laws were put in place, more guards and soldiers were hired, and given free reign on what to do with law-breakers. You could have been taking an apple to show your mother nearby when you were gut by a guard who hadn't heard the conversation, or you could be walking on the street twitching your ear in a certain way when you were hauled off for interrogation. It didn't stop just there, the outside town… There used to be many more, many of them associated with gangs, but not all of them. Sivo would lead raids on these towns on the barest rumor, often massacring the town and burning it to the ground as he did. Trade began to dwindle again, cages lined the forth, fifth, sixth, and seventh walls, sometimes stacked up on each other, executions lost scheduling and went on almost 24/7, and through it all, through all that blood, violence, and desperation, Sivo was losing his mind."

"Golding knew of this. Word traveled fast through the surrounding nations, but no hoof was picked up to stop it. Sivo was obeying his treaty by keeping his delusions within the borders of Coltriella, and despite Firago's insistence, Galio left Sivo to his own devices so he could keep an eye on the peace in Golding. Golding had changed little other than growing, its ponies were still proud, noble, and strong. Crime amounted to petty thievery with jails being small and stays usually only lasted for a few weeks at the most. In the thirty years Sivo ruled Coltriella, Golding lived happily."

"That happiness was short-lived, however, as with little explanation Firago, one of the so-thought Alicorn Gods grew ill. It was not your common illness though, it was the sort of thing that turned the body in on itself, left it reeling in pain while your mind slowly slipped away from the pain and hallucinations. Despite Golding's best efforts, Firago was irreversibly sick. Desperate, Galio turned to medical histories and myths for an answer. What he found lead him to Coltriella. There is an incredibly rare plant that grows only in Coltriella, a special herb that can survive in only such specific conditions that the royal palace keeps it out of the publics' hooves to preserve it. It is rumored to have advanced healing properties that put even an Alicorn to shame, and Galio needed it for his brother."

"Reports of the day are sketchy, but there is one thing that was agreed upon: Galio, high, mighty, noble, and powerful, took to his knees and begged To'Sivo'Coltriella for the plant so that he could revive his beloved brother, humbling himself to such a degree that everypony who watched this legend was moved. Everypony except Sivo. It is thought that, if Galio had been just a few days earlier, before an act of gang violence had destroyed a bakery Sivo frequented, he may have gotten his wish granted, but Sivo had long left his right mind. Sivo was pissed at Galio for intruding on his kingdom, did not listen to a word he said, more angry that he was distracted from his snipe hunt than being asked for the rarest of all Coltriellan plants, and had Galio all but kicked out of the city. Galio pleaded again and again, but Sivo grew so enraged by Galio's repeated interruptions that he made a very dangerous move: he declared that if Galio was going to keep bothering him, he'd have Firago killed to end this whole debate."

"The second Coltriellan-Golding War began when Galio marched into his palace quietly, and announced to his hopeful population that he was going to have Coltriella obliterated. His story, mixed with Firago's condition, turned the entirety of Golding and a few allies against Coltriella so quickly that trade stopped the day after Galio's return."

"The first attack was made when Sivo was just returned from a raid: the unicorns of Golding had turned the seventh wall to dust, released and fed the prisoners, and started for the sixth wall. In the time between the former Ao and Sivo, the walls had been reinforced, giving them some resistance to the unicorn attack. It did little to protect against Pegasi and dragons though, and the initial fire-bombing run left a good part of Coltriella destroyed before the anti-air defenses were set up. Sivo, cunning as he was, used all his wits and resources as well as a good number of his secret weapons to fight the angry onslaught Golding brought. Black powder kegs were lit and thrown into the Golding ranks, napalm was flung into the air, incinerating Pegasi, and despicable acts of war were thrown about mindlessly. Prisoners were taken, beaten, used, killed, experimented on, and even forced to turn-coat."

"Eventually, the unicorns of Golding became creative in disposing of their enemies, using magically crafted diseases and flames to obliterate portions of the enemy army. However, Golding was eventually forced out of Coltriella when the massive army found their own diseases and weapons turned against them."

"The war raged for years, Coltriella rebuilding itself slowly in the time to undo the initial damage dealt while meeting Golding on the battlefield time after time. There weren't too many entries on this in the stories, but I've heard that the Golding Unicorns became infamous for being near unstoppable on the battlefield, Godly to some and Anathemic to others. The magic they used was almost always senselessly cruel experiments in how painful or interesting they could kill a pony, each and every one fueled by their hatred and anger towards the Lords' treatment, but quickly just giving into devilish sadism."

"The war lasted for many many years, so long that Sivo even began peeking into his hundreds and still going strong. The reports on how Firago was holding up were few, but he was most certainly not dead, though very close to it. Galio was still desperate to break into the palace and take the plant, but Sivo turned his own craziness towards the war effort, soon matching the unicorns in just how violent a pony could be. Due to the war soon losing any sense of nobility or honor, it was not entirely uncommon for captured mares to be… used. This is important because this gave way to the first generation of Coltriellan unicorns. Sivo, and a good amount of the Coltriellan population already saw unicorns as evil-incarnate, so the ponies born with horns were quickly exiled from Coltriella if not outright killed. The exiled unicorns were sent who-knew-where, usually left in the wild to fend for themselves at even newborn ages, but there was a single spot of hope for these unicorns that proved to be the downfall of Sivo: Belezia, the unicorn exile of Ardennian, a country several thousand miles northwest that had deep suspicions about magic."

"Belezia had traveled to Coltriella as she'd heard of its freedoms when she was nearly murdered in her home country for her practice, and had lived in relative peace until the war broke out. She was no soldier so she did not fight, but she was famous for being highly magical and was run out of the city."

"She did not move on. As she saw the other unicorns the country had abandoned she decided to gather them. Belezia lead the unicorns to safety, but when word spread that this group had appeared, that a group that designated itself as the 'Belezians' had popped up, Sivo ordered their execution. Though the struggles were comparatively small, it showed the amount of power the Belezians truly had, Belezia herself being a magnificent battle-unicorn, and having imparted such knowledge on her followers."

"With Sivo too focused on the war, he could barely keep an eye on his own city… or his own son. In a twist of irony, his son saw the exact same thing Sivo did in his father: the source of the city's corruption. He knew Golding and Coltriella were both degrading themselves with this war and making horrible decisions, among them was Coltriella kicking out the unicorns and forcing them to fend for themselves, and in them he saw a way to stop the war."

"For many long years the Belezians had been exiled from Coltriella, staying within its borders as, traveling elsewhere they got equally hostile responses for being savage Coltriellans or cruel Golding ponies, and the other countries wanted no part of either of the warring sides, with too many conflicts spilling into their borders already. The Belezians, lacking a home, were surprised to get a visit from To'Sivo'Coltriella's son. Belezia was a wise, wonderful mare, and invited the son in to hear his story. Sivo's son was idealistic, and felt there was only one way to stop the mindless fighting. He did not see Belezia or her followers or any unicorn as monsters, he saw them as powerful allies. Belezia, wanting to find a place for her and her kin to settle, especially after the many grueling attacks that left their numbers so few, agreed to help him stop the war."

"While Sivo was in his war council, his son opened the secret passage-ways inside Coltriella and lead the Belezians through the water system to the palace, where they met up with the rest of the son's forces. Vega, the daughter of a retired general was among them, helping lead the ponies that the son trusted to let in on the plan, and while initially suspicious, the Belezians were greeted into the ranks. They snuck into the palace as Sivo planned the war in his throne room, and was understandably surprised when the wall of the room melted. The generals and the nobles were quickly dispatched by Vega and her soldiers, while the Belezians burned through the royal guards and fended off the soldiers as Sivo's son, in front of the heads of Coltriella, drove a blade through his father's heart and declared himself the ruler of Coltriella."

"None could refute him, and by law he was made To'Ao'Coltriella. In about a day, the war stopped. All the soldiers turned their eyes to the palace to see what To'Ao'Coltriella would do. Ao, the one heading our city, our country at this very moment, gathered his soldiers and marched out into the field of battle, stood before Golding's forces with Coltriella's soldiers, with the Belezians behind him, and declared the war done with. Coltriella returned to Coltriella, and Golding quietly held back to hear orders from Galio."

"Ao was already facing complications, even with Galio making his trip to Coltriella. It had gone unnoticed at first, but near the end of the war the farmers began to report that the land's vegetation was receding. Desert was quickly taking over, even in untouched farmers' fields the crops were dying out. Ao quickly called for every available crop to be harvested before they could die out, starting what would be known as the Great End Harvest. Even worse, the real reason for his sudden uprising came to light: his late wife, To'Quo'Coltriella (You can figure it out, I believe in you!), was deathly ill, wracked with pain and delusions, a sickness that left her on the very brink of death. Even worse was she was pregnant with Sadi'o'farrosun'o'eropafaniquehuomla, and if something wasn't done, Quo and Sadi would die. When Galio approached, once again to ask for the plant… Ao, knowing there would be trouble, denied him. The plant would be used to save Quo and Sadi, and since there was only enough to do just that since the depleting of the land, he had to, for his family's sake. He told Galio as much, without insulting him, hoping he would understand… But Galio, tired of Coltriella and watching his brother sit within inches of death, grew enraged. The two shouted, fought, and argued for hours as, in the hospital, the sacred plant was given to Quo."

"Nopony attacked the other, but the arguments grew heated and intense, Lord Galio losing his calm composure while Ao went from defending himself to insulting Golding's recent war policies, but it came to a stop when they were interrupted by Quo's doctor. The plant had been used, but despite this, Quo had died. But in her place, Sadi had been saved. Galio, furious with the fight, with his own fear, and with Ao's denial, left with a very heavy threat of another, even worse war."

"Ao spent the next few months rebuilding the city, dismantling or changing the laws to act more fairly, freed up the trade even to attract more foreign fare. With Coltriella once again being rebuilt, with trade slowly trickling back again with the war temporarily called off, Coltriella began to calm down again. Ao kept an eye on Golding though, the threat of Galio's words still heavy in the air, yet Golding was oddly quiet. Nopony knew much except that Galio had taken on a new pony in his court, merely called the Golding Witch due to her appearance, and the only pony who knows anything about her is Galio. Rumors sprung up about her, many claiming she could grant mighty power in a pony, and Ao feared the power this witch could grant would be used against Coltriella. Years began to pass, but nothing came of it. Coltriella breathed a sigh of relief when Galio came forward to hastily create an official treaty, but some are still worried it is just a ploy. Little is known about Firago nowadays, some think he got better, some think he died, nopony knows."

Sabine reached for her cooled cup of tea and began to drink it down, and happily went for the other ponies' tea cups to get some moisture on her now dry tongue. The six of them were quietly thinking about the story they'd been told, and somewhere, deep down, Sabine felt proud that she got through that whole thing. She even get all wordy somewhere through it! "That is the history of Golding and Coltriella together. That is the story you wanted." She spoke up again, grabbing their surprised attentions. She grinned a little and drank the very last of the tea. "All that's left is your story, my friends."