It had been three years since Virtue had last set hoof in Coupledye.  She'd visited once not long after Glaive and his family moved away.  It had been over fifteen years since she'd seen her family then.  Seeing them again after so long had been a bit bittersweet, but mostly sweet.  After all, how did one explain not visiting even once in such a long time?  Letters were one thing, but nothing like hugging your family and speaking to them face to face.  She'd enjoyed her last stay in Coupledye.  Seeing Glaive's old family home and spending some more casual time with his family was nice.  Her parents immediately fell in love with their grandfoals, and Temperance hadn't changed a bit.  That much was a bit surprising though.  Even at thirty four years old, he was still single and continuing the dead end administration job he held.  But despite all of that, she'd enjoyed her last stay.  She figured she'd come back sometime soon.

She didn't expect it to be this soon though, and she really wished she was enjoying this stay more.

After receiving the letter from the winter caravan, she immediately set out to return to Coupledye.  A letter from Temperance, saying that he'd applied for and been accepted for the leading position for an expedition off into the wilderness to set up a few farms to help feed Coupledye.  She couldn't believe it at first.  After all of the letters she sent home about the things that had happened here?  And he still wanted to do this?

That was two months ago.  Now, she was sitting in his living room, trying one last time to convince him that it was a terrible idea and he could be killed.  Did he not remember what happened to Brook?  Or Barley?  Or, heaven forbid, what happened to Arbalest, Wool and Stiletto?  Apparently not.  None of her pleading seemed to be making any headway.

Temperance sat across from her, filing through some of the paperwork she'd brought back from Dawnpick to give him an idea of just what he'd be getting into.  All of the management, the logistics, sorting out social problems, doling out justice even, all of that would soon be dumped onto him and nopony else could do it for him.  At least not for a long time.  He seemed all the more excited for it.  "Well, early on it looks simple enough."  He raised a hoof to his chin.  "It really takes this long to get shelter put up?"

"Yes, it does.  Or it can anyway."  Virtue was flipping through her diary, reliving the early months of Dawnpick.  "Bring as many skilled hooves as you can.  You want to get protection up as soon as you possibly can."

Temperance rolled his eyes.  "Or the badger ponies will eat me.  I know, I know, you've said it thirty times since you got here."  He pushed the papers aside.  "I'll be careful, I promise.  I've got all of your expertise to learn from."

Virtue paused on the page where she recorded Brook's death, and shut the diary.  She didn't want to read that again right now.  "I know, but this isn't a game.  The badger ponies aren't going to play fair."  She sighed.  "They're going to come when you least expect it.  At night.  From the darkness.  They'll hide in the trees.  And they seem to know no fear, from what I've seen.  They charged our trapped gate, heedless of the ones that died right in front of them."

"Then I'll bring a couple of soldiers with me.  From the sounds of things Halberd did a great job.  And I've met Glaive, he seemed to think they weren't very tough."

"And do you recall the time that badger pony almost got me?  If Halberd hadn't been there he would have.  Temp, you're not a soldier.  You can bring all you want, but if they're not around..."

"I know, I know..." Temperance insisted, rolling his eyes again.  "Virtue, I'm not a five year old foal.  I know how to be careful!"  He started fiddling with the papers again.  "Look, can we change the subject?  How much food and water did you bring?"

Fine.  If he was going to go through with this foal's errand despite her warnings, she couldn't stop him.  "I... uh, I don't remember.  Hold on..."  She started rifling through her own stack of papers before letting out a small yawn.

Temperance soon followed with his own, and rubbed his eyes.  "You know, it's getting late.  Harvest went to bed two hours ago.  Why don't we pick this up tomorrow morning?"  He stood and stretched.  "You want anything before bed?"

Virtue stood and faced him.  "Just one thing."  With that, she pulled her little brother into a tight hug.  "Just be safe.  Please, for me."

"Hey, we're just going to bed," he teased.  When she gave him a disapproving frown, he said, "Sorry, no more joking.  But it's not like you're not going to see me again."

At least she had a few more days to spend with him.  She made a tiny smile.  "Right.  Come on, let's get some sleep."

It's been five years since the events of Dawnpick came to a close.  A few things have happened since then in that little mining town, but this is a story about another group of ponies.  This is the story of the Fellowship of Hope, a group of ten brave ponies who heeded the call of the king and queen of Coupledye.

The populations of Coupledye and its attendant lands have grown considerably over the past decades, and resources are starting to be spread a bit thin.  Twenty years ago Virtue Cookales led an expedition to seek out new sources of rich minerals to fuel the economy.  But ponies do not live on steel alone.

This is the story of Virtue's younger brother Temperance Scribebakes, and his expedition to fulfill a more basic need.  Coupledye needs more food, and new farming communities are being established throughout the land.  Temperance volunteered for the most distant and challenging of the new sites, eager to prove himself to the royalty and everypony in Coupledye.

Temperance and his band have traveled for three months to reach the rolling plains that they were promised, and in celebration of arriving he has christened the lands Duskfields.  Will he succeed and bring more honor to the family and himself?

Or is he doomed in ways he cannot begin to imagine?

From right to left, Smoothblock, Case Study (on the rock), Flamberge, Maize, Temperance, Crosshair, Wood Chips (way in the back), Cream Puff (on the ground), Holly and Veneer (way in the back) settle in after a long journey and prepare to put in the hard labor to build Duskfields up strong.  This is their story.  Hopefully, it won't be a short one…

Temperance's Journal, 1st Granite, 269

We're here.  It's not as impressive to look at as I expected, but we're here all the same.  After three months of slogging our way here, we've made it.  At least it's warm.  Trudging through snow the whole way here wouldn't have been very fun at all.

There's so much work to be done.  I've talked with Virtue a dozen dozen times about how she started things out in Dawnpick.  I've heard every last little detail.  She even let me read some of her diary to see what decisions she made, and which were mistakes.  I think I know how to proceed.  It's going to be a huge amount of work, but I'm ready.  I'm not scared to put in some effort.  And I know the others aren't either.

Which is good, because I've already got work laid out for most of them, and there's plenty of lugging stuff around for the rest.  The land's fairly level, thank goodness, but there's still a bit of earth moving to be done so I've asked Smoothblock to look into it.  That ought to give her something to do to get her out of my mane for a little while.  Holly too.  I don't think the two are getting along too well, which is somewhat understandable.  I'll get Holly to start knocking some of these trees down to let her vent a bit, and to get us something for Veneer and Wood Chips to start working with.

As for me and the others, there's a lot of unloading to do.

I'll probably keep reciting all of Virtue's warnings in my head as we unload everything.  That keeps coming back to me whenever I don't have anything else to occupy my mind.  She begged me not to come.  Begged me.  I know she means well, but I'm a thirty five year old stallion.  I can handle myself.

Anyway, I did some debating and I think I'm going to name this place Duskfields.  It's kind of a small nod to her and Dawnpick, even if she didn't like the idea of me coming out here.  Maybe she'll get a kick out of the name when she gets my letter.  But more to the point, it's getting dusky, and the name just stuck with me.  Far off to the north, I can see what looks like a small dust storm sweeping the land.  I didn't expect that out here, but it's a minor inconvenience.  We'll weather a dust storm with no problem.