“A word if I may, Khatun.”

In the dim light of the torches, a single griffin kneeled before the throne built out of stone and noble metals. The soldier wore a lamellar armor made from iron, and a sturdy helmet bearing the crest of the imperial clan. His precious bow had been set aside, along with the rest of his weaponry, as he approached the female griffin sitting on the throne. The yellow eyes of the griffin were firmly aimed at the floor, so that his gaze would not fall on his superior.

“Speak, soldier. I expect this to concern the situation brewing in the west, across the sea,” spoke the female griffin on the throne. Her tone was as harsh as the blizzard raging outside the castle. “Have there been any changes?”

“Yes, Khatun. It seems that the wielders of the Elements of Harmony have disappeared from their hometown of Ponyville. They have eluded our scouts so far, but they are presumably on their way further to the west,” the soldier reported. “In addition, the scouts we have scattered across Equestria have given reports of unrest amongst the citizen, especially in their capital. This stems from the lack of information from their leader, Princess Celestia. It would appear she does not want to announce her intentions or plans to deal with the threat of Marecedonia yet, for unknown reasons. Most of the scouts who are in Canterlot suspect she is trying to stall for time.”

“Princess Celestia… A fine tactician. Whatever she is planning, I know that it aims to turn this unfavorable situation around,” the griffin on the throne said with a dry smile. “As expected of an alicorn who has lived for well over thousand years.”

The griffon with the title of “Khatun” shifted her position on the throne, and the light of the torches finally revealed her form to the soldier in front of her. The one on the throne was the leader of all the soldiers of the castle, Aiyurug Khatun. She was the daughter of Temujin, the Khan that ruled the lands of the griffins, and these days her power nearly rivaled that of her father. As Temujin grew older and more paranoid by every passing year, Aiyurug continued to gather more troops under her banner. It could have very well been said that she was the de facto leader of the northern area of Griffin Empire, Ikh Iarudi Uls. And it was no exaggeration to say that even those northern mountaintop areas lost in sheer coldness when compared to their ruler.

Aiyurug was dressed as if she was ready to leave for war. Though the silk clothing she wore under her beautifully decorated steel lamellar armor might have looked like it was meant for the court, there was a more practical reason for it. Silk was especially good when it came to protection from arrows, and as the griffin soldiers favored mobility above everything else, silk was a natural choice for them. A sword with a curved, single-edged blade rested in its sheath next to her. This particular saber was infamous for how many lives it had taken after it had been given to Aiyurug on her sixth birthday.

The Khatun herself was taller than most male griffins. Her wingspan was wide enough to impress even her father, who had once half-jokingly called her “A dragon of the north”. Black fur that covered most of her body ended abruptly around her neck, from where the white-colored feathers started. The feathers that grew on her head were long enough to act as a crown of sorts, a sign of her authority.

Aiyurug crossed her deadly claws and her remaining right eye, red as a ruby, stared deep into the flames of the torches. Rumors said that her left eye had been pierced by an arrow in a battle against one of the rivaling clans, and that she had proceeded to pull the arrow out, along with her eye, only to eat the said eye to encourage her men.

There were many rumors like that about the Ice Queen of the northern Griffin Empire. And nopony was brave enough to ask if there was any truth to them.

“So she stalls for time when an ancient enemy is amassing their troops? What are you thinking, Princess Celestia…?” Aiyurug murmured to herself. “You must have contacted Prance for reinforcement in the name of the old alliance, but even you must know that Princess Neptuna cannot be trusted. So, why the wait? What is your goal…?”

The soldier, who had been silent during the time of his Khatun’s soliloquy, suddenly opened his beak, as if to say something. However, he hesitated for good few seconds before finally voicing his thoughts.

“A suggestion if I may, Khatun,” he said carefully, and after getting a nod from Aiyurug, he continued. “What if Princess Celestia trusts that there will be no need to gather her troops at the border? What… what if she has found the way to stop Marecedonia before war can even begin?”

“Stop the war before it can begin? Yes. Yes. That would make sense. If the Princess had a way to actually undermine the war itself from Marecedonia’s side, she would not have to spend her resources on the borders. However, if she kept the cogwheels of the Merchants’ Guild spinning, she could give the impression that the country was preparing for war. This would keep the enemies inside on their hooves, not to mention…” Aiyurug suddenly smiled darkly, and her eye flashed in the dark. “Yes, of course. A trap within a trap. No doubt laid to both take advantage of the war itself, but also of how it affects the political movement both in and out of the kingdom.”

Aiyurug suddenly rose up from her throne and briskly walked over to the window. She leaned her claw against the cold stone surface of the castle’s wall. The smile on her beak widened, reflecting the coldness of the raging blizzard outside. The single red eye stared deep into the snowstorm, as if the Khatun could have seen her desired answer somewhere within the northern expanse.

The tales of the Khatun discussing her strategies with the mountains themselves had a basis in reality. It was her method to stare into the wilderness of the Ikh Iarudi Uls to get her answers.

And once again, she had obtained them.

“Soldier. Call for my generals and a scribe. There is lot to do, and considering the information we now have, a little time,” Aiyurug said, and the kneeling soldier saluted her. “If Princess Celestia is to succeed, she’ll need all the help she can get. Considering the tense relationship between our their kingdom and ours, it would be in my… best interest to show her that we are not like my father. I will scratch her back, and hopefully she will scratch mine when the time comes.”

Aiyurug raised an eyebrow at the silent soldier, and tapped the pommel of her saber.

“After all, who knows at what point my dear father decides to retire? It would be best to make new friends soon, or we will be left behind by the times. And when the world is malleable like this once more, who knows what sort of chances will pop up amongst the snow…?”

As the soldier hurried to fulfill the orders of his Khatun, Aiyurug was left alone in the throne room. She let her gaze wander back into the blizzard, the only weather her home seemed to have. The climate was vastly different from that of the peaceful land of the ponies. After hearing some tales from her relative, Aiyurug had seen the ponies simply as lazy, idiotic, useless beings.

But then she had gotten her hand on a book detailing the history of Equestria. And after reading the chapters entailing what sort of pony their current ruler was, the griffin had understood that there was much she did not know.

And as much as Aiyurug hated to admit it, she had grown to respect the Princess of the Sun.

Eventually, her two most loyal generals arrived, both staying at the sidelines as the scribe hurried to her side. The small griffin must’ve been a teenager still, as her feathers had not fully developed yet. Her tail also gave it immediately away that she was terribly afraid of the Khatun, as it swished back and forth. Aiyurug snorted once and turned away, not giving the young griffin any more of her attention.

“Write down what I am about to say, scribe. This is an official letter, so heed my words well,” she said, and the young scribe prepared her quill.

“Khatun…?” One of the generals suddenly asked, his eyes gleaming in the dark of the room. “If I may ask, was the soldier you sent for us speaking the truth? Are you planning on taking part in the war against Marecedonia?”

“Which is a terrible idea, if I might add,” the other general said.

Aiyurug simply grunted and spat to the ground. She then turned towards her subjects with a confident, freezing smile.

“Even better. I shall ally myself with Princess Celestia.”

For reasons unknown to Twilight, whenever she gazed at the depths of the crystalline lotus flower, she felt an odd pang of nostalgia well up within her. The way the colors danced as the light of the single candle on the table was reflected from the shining surface was both very reassuring and very foreboding. Had she not promised Fluttershy that she would take a look at the strange object they had found from the Everfree City, Twilight would have simply stuffed the flower into the saddlebags and forgotten about it.

But she could not do it. The sheer desire to know the meaning of the artifact that had shined from Fluttershy’s face had been enough to make Twilight’s judgment waver.

And so, in the dead of the night, Twilight continued to research the artifact with the aid of the tome that had once belonged to Star Swirl the Bearded. They were on the second floor of the only inn at Ross-on-Welara. It was a clean, cozy establishment, and the innkeeper had been more than welcoming. Apparently travellers were a rare sight these days. After the building of the railway lines, remote towns such as Ross-on-Welara had been all but forgotten.

When she had heard the inn-keeper say that, Twilight had felt rather guilty. Ponyville had prospered due to how close it was to Canterlot, but here, weeks’ worth of travel away from there, things were different. It did not help that the town was nestled deep in the mountains, away from the eyes of Princess Celestia.

“—Nn. No, I must concentrate.”

Twilight swatted herself lightly on the snout with her hoof, trying to keep herself awake. While the others were already snoozing happily, exhausted from their encounter with the pooka, Twilight was resolved to do as much as she could that night. The artifact refused to reveal its secrets easily, so she needed all the time she could have in order to crack its mystery.

Not to mention that the research kept her mind away from the nightmares.

But try as she might, Twilight could not even find anything to start from. She did not want to risk using magic at the artifact, especially when she could not control her own magic. And if she wanted the help of the grimoire, she would first need to find a spell she wanted to use. That, of course, led to a dilemma. What spell to use if she did not even know what the artifact was? It was old, that much she could surmise. If Twilight had to guess, it was around thousand years old, judging from the glyphs that ran across the outer edge of the crystal-petals. They were very old, and clearly differentiated from the classic Equestrian that ponies wrote these days.

Had Twilight been back at her home or in the royal library of Canterlot, searching for the name and origin of the writing would have been easy. But here, in a small room with nothing but a fickle grimoire to help her, the mission seemed absolutely overwhelming. Only through sheer stubbornness was Twilight able to continue going through the pages of the tome, fervently searching for something, anything, that would have brought her closer to the answer.

And it was because of that fierce concentration that Twilight was not able to hear somepony getting out of her bed, and walking up to her.

“Um, Twilight? I… I think you should come to bed, too,” Fluttershy whispered. “When I asked you to look at the flower, I didn’t… I didn’t mean that you would have to risk your health.”

“It’s fine, Fluttershy. Really. It’s fine,” Twilight answered bluntly. “I just need to find some reference to the language used here, and I’m good. Just peachy, I assure you. So it’s alright.”

“No, no it’s not,” Fluttershy continued, this time with a bit more determination in her voice. “If you don’t get any sleep, you’ll get sick, you know?”

“I don’t need sleep, I simply need to find out what this crystal does,” Twilight said and her eyebrow twitched. “And it would be a lot easier if I wasn’t constantly being bothered by everypony!”

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as Twilight stared in annoyance at Fluttershy. The yellow Pegasus gave a sigh, and returned that stare with stern eyes, refusing to back down.

“I wasn’t, um, trying to bother you Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “I simply wanted to help. Why are you getting so angry about it? I didn’t mean to offend you.”

Hearing her friend’s words, Twilight allowed her tense shoulders to relax momentarily, and shoved the crystal out of her hooves. She let her head hit the wall next to her, allowing the cool surface of the wood to ease her headache.

“Sorry, Fluttershy. I didn’t mean to snap at you. The idea of sleeping, though, it… it just doesn’t sound inviting right now,” Twilight apologized.

“Oh, it’s alright,” Fluttershy hurried to reassure. “But… do you mean you have n-nightmares? Um, well, I might know a good way to keep them away.”

“Another song?” Twilight asked, and chuckled when Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion. “Don’t worry about it. So, what were you going to suggest?”

“Well, there’s this old form of meditation I’ve modified so that it helps in, um, sleeping,” Fluttershy said, looking somewhat embarrassed. “It was my own idea. Well, you see, I was bothered by lots of nightmares when I was a filly. So I had to do something about it. And this is what I c-came up with.”

“Really? Show me. At this point, I’m ready to try anything,” Twilight said and put aside her research, facing Fluttershy.

Fluttershy directed Twilight to her bed, and the two ponies laid down side-by-side. Feeling the warmth of her friend near her, Twilight found herself calming down considerably. It felt strange. While a summer night like that would have usually made it uncomfortable to sleep next to someone else, Fluttershy’s presence was actually refreshing. Curious about the method the yellow pegasus had mentioned, Twilight gestured her to continue.

“Well, alright. First you must, um, calm down your breathing and close your eyes. Just like that. Make your breathing like a flowing river,” Fluttershy instructed Twilight, and the latter complied. “Now, after you’ve done that, s-start removing all unnecessary thoughts. And don’t stop until you’re all alone in your mind.”

Twilight mumbled and allowed her mind to start visualizing the different thoughts that constantly appeared. One-by-one, she pushed those thoughts away, into the darkness where they disappeared. It wasn’t as easy as she had thought, and many of the thoughts came back. But even so, she eventually understood what it meant to let go of one’s own thoughts. It was not intently destroying or rejecting them, but realizing that they were not needed, and letting them go.

And so, after a good few minutes of meditation, Twilight finally let go of all of her thoughts. Last one to go was the visualization of the thoughts themselves. Even that was unnecessary. The only thing that was needed was “nothing”.

“Okay. I’m done,” Twilight informed Fluttershy.

“Good. Now, the next step is to, um, imagining something. Or rather, imagining and studying the ten concepts I say to you. After you’ve been told the subjects, you need to study the subjects in your mind. Study everything about them, every single thing you can. If you think you’ve completely understood one concept, then… then you haven’t. Only once you “know” you’ve mastered it, then you have to move to the next concept,” Fluttershy explained, somewhat unsure if she was using the right words. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” Twilight answered. “Tell me the concepts.”

Fluttershy cleared her throat with the smallest of coughs, and started to read out a list with a soft voice.

“Earth. Water. Fire. Air. Blue. Yellow. Red. White. Space. Light.”

In Twilight’s mind, those concepts sounded nothing like what they had used to be. In the silence of the room, spoken with Fluttershy’s gentle voice, they were like feathers that fell upon her, calming her down and allowing her to descend into a trance.

Twilight allowed her mind to wander at the first concept presented by Fluttershy. Earth. Dirt. The soil which nurtures all life. It existed everywhere and made up the foundation of life. As an magical element, it was believed to be the most heaviest of all, and it is associated with both living and dying. Tied to the season of autumn, the direction of south and to the gender of mare. Associated with the substance of salt and represented by a downward-pointing triangle, bisected by a horizontal line. But that was not all. That was only the most basic information Twilight knew as a student of different forms of magic.

But then what was “earth”, in the end?

It was what was always around us, always under us. The solid foundation upon which everything rested. If one wanted to control earth by magic, one had to build his or her spells upon the concept of pentacle. But beyond that, what was the actual “truth” of the earth? It was the great wheel that allowed life to circle around, returning and growing from it in an endless cycle. It manifested in flora and fauna, and all of their various forms.

Yet it was still just a part of the “truth”.

Thinking these thoughts, even without realizing it, Twilight slowly drifted from the waking world into the one of sleep. Fluttershy watched her friend with a smile, knowing quite well that her method had helped. By focusing on a problem, or rather, understanding the problem, Twilight had manually decided the contents of her dreams. Just like Fluttershy had for all these years.

And so, for that night, Twilight did not see any nightmares. Instead, she dreamed of lying in the middle of a beautiful field of dirt, allowing the brown soil fall from her hooves and drop back to the earth itself.

“Wow! This place is so busy even during morning! These ponies must be super-duper hardworking!”

Pinkie’s words were not an exaggeration. As the six ponies and one baby dragon exited the inn, they were greeted with a rather impressive sight. The morning sun shone radiantly from between the mountains, having already started its rise towards the center of the sky. And under that sunny weather, ponies of the town of Ross-on-Welara had all started their daily routines. Foals were on their way to school, merchants had started to advertise their wares on the market, bakeries and restaurants opened their doors, and all of the stores had turned their signs from “closed” to “open”.

Applejack found the down-to-earth atmosphere of the town rather relaxing, and admired how some of the local stallions and mares headed further into the mountains, speaking of crop-fields that they had carved to the slopes of the mountains. The orange pony felt reassured that even this far away from Ponyville, ponies could still be so hard-working. Not to mention the amount of merchants allowed her to do something she had wanted to do for many days.

“Wow. It’s like we’ve jumped back in time hundreds of years. Just look at all of this! No machines, no modern luxuries, just what is essential for a life. And yet these ponies smile so widely!” Twilight said, fascinated by the sights. “This is amazing!”

“As much as I agree with you, I do admit that these ponies should, perhaps, at least acquire some new knowledge on how to dress up,” Rarity commented with a smile. “The little clothing I see them wear is, shall I say, outdated.”

“Psh, who cares!” Rainbow Dash said and grinned. “It’s not like they have anypony to impress up here. So let them wear what they want.”

“I guess I simply have to accept that,” Rarity said and gave an overdramatic sigh. Then, with a mischievous smile, she winked at her friends. “Though I must say, I would do a killing here, if I were to put up a shop!”

The ponies shared a hearty laugh, and proceeded further into the town. Acting by the advice of the innkeeper, they were searching for the house of the two mayors of the town. Only they, apparently, could allow travellers to use the route that lead to the Fort Stronghoof. The innkeeper had said that it had something to do with old laws of the mountains, and how only the mayors could decide if the travellers were prepared for the harsh conditions.

Twilight couldn’t imagine the conditions being too harsh, seeing that her brother had survived there.

“Hey, Applejack! What’cha doing?” Pinkie suddenly yelled, making the others realize that the orange pony had separated from the group. “You aren’t supposed to buy souvenirs yet, silly!”

To everypony’s surprise, Applejack had walked up to one of the merchants at the edge of the market. The brown pegasus dressed in various scarves had all sorts of items on sale, ranging from pretty baubles to more useful ones, like knives or flasks. Applejack tipped her hat to the merchant and exchanged few words with her. As the rest got closer to her, they started hearing what the two were talking about.

“Ah like this here copper bracelet, lady,” Applejack said and pointed at a rather plain looking trinket. “Seems like something that’ll get the ponies back home talkin’.”

“A fine choice, fine choice indeed,” the merchant said with a wide smile. “Travellers buying wares like this usually know what they are after. So, the pay would be two bits.”

To the confusion of the ponies, Applejack nodded and opened her saddlebag. But instead of two coins, she firmly put three bits to the table and slid them towards the pegasus. The merchant nodded, clearly satisfied, before arching her brows high.

“Here ya go,” Applejack said nonchalantly. “Now, Ah couldn’t help but to notice, but there’s awful lot of merchants and caravans in this city. Is there any particular reason?”

“Oh, us? Well, most of us deal in lumber, nails, salt… that sort of stuff,” the merchant said and took the coins. “There are some, like me, who deal with other items, but our job is to fund the caravan since we receive no bits from the Guild. Independent, you could call us.”

Applejack nodded in deep concentration and took the bracelet, before slipping it in her bag.

“Surprising, isn’t it? Most of the local merchants work in tandem with the Merchants’ Guild, after all. But, unfortunately, that beast’s head is and always will be from Prance. Thanks to the current alliance between Equestria and Prance, the Merchant’s Guild is now good little pet of the Princesses, strictly assigned to the gathering of the funds and commodities to the military,” the merchant continued. “So now we’re on our own, because other ponies than military need our services. An ever-growing group of nobles is dead-set on getting their hooves as much commodities as they can. Strange, isn’t it?”

“Yah. Ah can’t imagine why they’d be doin’ something like that,” Applejack answered, looking rather stern.

“Well, because we’re independent, we’ll make our profit and then move on. Judging by what the crown is stocking up on, it seems like a good time take a trip south, or perhaps to Ikh Iarudi Uls. I hear the griffins respect merchants more than most ponies,” the pegasus said and chuckled.

With another tip of her hat, Applejack thanked the merchant and walked back over to her friends. She was assaulted by confused looks from the others, and only Rarity seemed to understand what was going on. AJ kept her lips sealed, though, and gestured that they should move on. Only after they had resumed walking did the orange earth pony open up her mouth.

“Well, that was interesting alright,” Applejack grunted. Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“What was that all about?”

“Merchants are the best source of information in the country, darling,” Rarity said. “Applejack was simply gathering some facts.”

“That Ah did,” the orange pony agreed. “And what that pegasus said didn’t exactly calm mah nerves. Two sides are stockin’ up on lumber and nails, not to mention salt. This might get mighty ugly.”

“Huh? What’s the problem with that?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking confused. “It’s not like those things are dangerous to anypony.”

“No, but the fact that they are being stocked means that the Princesses are preparing for a war. And not only them. In fact, it does look like that the nobles of Canterlot and Manehattan are doing their own little foray into gathering these commodities,” Rarity explained. “And that sounds rather alarming. Two sides in the same country, preparing for war… it has never led to anything good.”

“Yep. Independent merchants will go after the sweetest deals and then gallop outta the country as fast as they can,” Applejack nodded. “They’re not tied to the military, like the Merchants’ Guild.”

As much as these thoughts worried the ponies, they still had to be pushed aside as the group arrived to a mansion that stood in the far end of the town. It was like a silent watchtower, guarding over the ponies of Ross-on-Welara. The whole structure practically screamed about the fact that important ponies lived inside it.

“I guess we’re finally here,” Twilight commented. “This must be the house of the mayors. Come on, girls. Let’s go inside.”

“Umm, Twilight, wait,” Fluttershy suddenly said. She pointed at the entrance of the house with her hoof. “It… it might be a bit hard.”

There, on the stairs leading up to the front door, sat a tall stallion looking rather downcast. His brown mane looked like it had been violently ruffled, and his cream-colored coat managed to seem as grey as his eyes. The stallion was pretty much the definition of a pony down on his luck. This image was reinforced by the various items around him, which looked like they had been thrown there in a hurry. Or in anger.

“E-Excuse me, sir?” Twilight called out to the stallion. “We are looking for the mayors of the town… Do they live here?”

“Well, only one lives here now, apparently,” the stallion answered and sighed. “Seeing that my honeybun just threw me out, it’d be wrong to say that I lived here too, don’t you think?”

“Huh?”

Six ponies and one dragon uttered that one sound of confusion in unison.

The tall stallion turned to look at the group with his tired eyes, while giving a heavy sigh. He absentmindedly scratched his flank, as if to remind himself that the Cutie Mark depicting a gust of green wind was still there. He tried to start speaking a few times, but seemed uncertain as to what words he should use. Eventually, he decided where to start.

“I am Silent Relic, the other mayor of this town. Though I don’t know for how long, as this morning, my wife, Elfin Fresh, misunderstood what I had been doing last night. We got into a fight and suddenly I find myself without a home or a wife,” Silent Relic sighed. “So if you travellers have so urgent business with the mayors of the town, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait till this all is cleared.”

Rainbow Dash groaned and landed on the ground, grumpily staring at the brown-maned stallion.

“Figures there’d be some sort of problem!” the blue pegasus complained.

“Well, I’d be more surprised if getting caught by your wife wouldn’t get you into trouble,” Spike said and snorted out a cloud of black smoke. He didn’t seem that impressed with Silent Relic. “So, what? You were seeing some other mare, and your wife found out?”

“No! I’ll even testify it in front of Princess Celestia herself!” Silent Relic shouted. “I could never cheat on my pudding, never! I was simply enjoying a game of cards with the stallions of the town, and as usual, the game went on past midnight. But when I got home, my marshmallow accused me of cheating on her, and refused to listen to the real reason!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the outburst of the stallion, before looking at Applejack. The orange earth pony had been keeping a close eye at Relic.

“So, what do you think, Applejack? Is he speaking the truth?”

“Well, horrible pet names aside, Ah don’t think this colt here is lyin’. Ah can’t be sure, of course, but he seems honest in his sorrow,” Applejack commented. “Ah don’t think he’s to blame, in other words.”

“I guess it’s your lucky day, then,” Twilight smiled at the stallion. “If you really haven’t done anything wrong, we might be able to help you. We really need to speak to both mayors, after all.”

“H-huh?” Silent Relic asked. “How are you planning to make my sunflower listen?”

“Darling, simply leave it to us,” Rarity said as she took the lead, and the ponies headed inside. “We will have a little “mare talk” with your wife, and make her see that it was simply an unfortunate misunderstanding. Trust us.”

And before Silent Relic could get a word in edgewise, the six ponies had disappeared into the manor, leaving him outside with only the baby dragon to hold him company. Spike walked up to the stairs and sat down, huffing in his displeasure. He glanced at Relic, and for a moment, the stallion and the dragon stared at each other.

“So, I guess we’re in the same boat, huh?” Spike asked.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

The two gave out a deep sigh, both well understanding the troubles other went through daily.

Meanwhile, inside the rather boisterous manor, six ponies were peeking into every room they could find in order to locate the wife of Silent Relic. This was easier said than done, however, as even for a manor of a such a small town, the home of the mayors managed to have three floors and many doors in each one. In first floor there was dining hall, the parlor, the living room and so on, while the second floor was filled with smaller bedrooms.

It was finally on the second floor that the ponies saw one of the doors being ajar, with light shining from the room on the other side. Rarity nodded to her friends and leaned into whisper, not wanting to scare the tenant of the room.

“Now, let us show proper etiquette and tact. Inside we shall most likely find a poor mare up to her eyes in tears, thinking her husband has been unfaithful. To not upset even more and make her jump into conclusion, let us simply say we came to meet the mayors,” the white unicorn told the others. “Allow me to handle the speaking. After all, this sort of conversation requires some savoir-vivre.”

“—The what now?” Applejack asked, looking doubtful.

“Emotional know-how. Just follow my lead, and don’t mess up.” Rarity rolled her eyes.

With her friends in tow, Rarity briskly trotted over to the door. After knocking on it audibly with her hoof, she cleared her throat and peeked in. A warm, well-trained smile spread on to her face, showing off the experience she had gained from dealing with all sorts of customers in her boutique. Using that smile as a bulkhead, she stepped further into the room.

“Je vous prie de m’excuser, madam,” Rarity said as she took a further step inside. “I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but my companions and I are searching for the mayor of this fine town.”

“Wow,” Twilight whispered to Rainbow Dash as they followed the white unicorn. “Rarity’s natural shine is magnificent, but introducing herself like this makes her seem like some sort of celebrity.”

“Psh. As if,” Dash snorted. “Like any true celebrity, like a Wonderbolt, would act so silly.”

“You see, my companions and I are planning to travel to a certain location only accessible from your town, “ Rarity continued. “The friendly innkeeper informed us that we would need to discuss this plan with you, since—“

That was as far as Rarity got in her eloquent speech. Rest was cut off as a knife, a fairly large one at that, flew right past her eyes and embedded itself to the opposite wall. The blade of the knife had nearly nicked her muzzle, and few strands of purple mane were dancing in the air, having been cut by the sharp edge. Rarity, completely frozen up by this sudden development, let out an inaudible squeak of surprise.

“W-what was that!?” Rainbow Dash shouted, lunging forward to protect her friend. “What’s the big idea, you mean—Uaaah!!”

The blue pegasus’ threat had suddenly become a shout of panic. It was because she, immediately after charging into the room, found herself muzzle-to-muzzle with the angriest looking earth pony mare she had seen. This unknown mare was rather lithe and small of stature, and her coat’s calm green color made her seem even more unthreatening. Even so, her flax-colored mane jutted upwards as if mimicking the blaze in her dark green eyes.

The angry image was reinforced by the second knife the mare brandished between her teeth.

“Hey, what’s the big idea!?” The mare growled. “How’s a lady supposed to grieve in peace if a bunch of nonsense-spouting travellers barges into her room uninvited!?”

“W-wait! Everypony, calm down!” Twilight hurried to defuse the situation. “Rainbow Dash, stand down! Applejack, help Rarity to recover. Pinkie… stay put and don’t say anything.”

After seeing that Pinkie grudgingly put away the Trick Bag she had brandished the moment trouble had started, Twilight was able to breath out in relief. She turned to look at the still-annoyed earth pony with a knife, and cleared her throat. It didn’t seem that Rarity’s tactic had gone over well, so a little more down-to-earth approach was in order.

“Erm, sorry about that. We didn’t mean to bother you too much, but we really, really need the help of the mayors,” Twilight said. “By any chance, are you Elfin Fresh?”

“Yeah. I am. Isn’t that obvious?” Elfin said and put away the knife she had been holding, spitting to the floor in the process.

While her name might have described her stature to some extent, Twilight could not think of a more non-fitting name for the other mayor of the town. Elfin Fresh was far from fairy-like, and seemed more like a delinquent or a roughneck. Her stare, stance and the atmosphere around her were all ones of a pony who was far from the nicest. Elfin was not the frail mare that the group had thought they’d meet.

Twilight also saw that she was not alone in her surprise. She had to disguise her giggle with a coughing hack when she saw Rarity mouth the word “Pudding?” with an expression of confusion and terror on her face.

“Err, yeah. Sorry about that,” Twilight laughed sheepishly. “In any event, we came here to talk to you about our need to get to the Fort Stronghoof. But then it became apparent that we’d need to help you and your husband before that. So, here we are.”

“Help us?” Elfin Fresh asked, cocking an eyebrow. “You’re honestly going to defend that two-timing mule? Then you’re wasting your time.”

“Hey pal, your husband wasn’t cheating on you! You just jumped to conclusions!” Rainbow Dash, having recovered from her surprise, glared at Elfin. “Applejack here can prove it!”

“How? What is she, a living lie detector?” The green-colored earth pony snorted.

“No, but she is the bearer of the Element of Honesty,” Twilight answered and nodded towards the Stetson-wearing pony. “She can tell if somepony is being truthful with her or not.”

Of course, this was not true, and Twilight knew it. While Applejack had a good idea and could usually tell if somepony was lying, she wasn’t infallible. However, she had learned to trust her friend. And since Applejack had said that Silent Relic was telling the truth, Twilight believed her. Now the problem was to get Elfin Fresh to believe it, too.

“Element of Honesty?” Elfin asked. “Wait, don’t tell me you’re the six heroes of Equestria? Psh, yeah right. And I’m Princess Celestia!”

“Wow, Princess! You really changed your style!” Pinkie Pie giggled and jumped next to the earth pony. “Did you also get married while we weren’t looking?”

“… Just ignore her, please. And yes, Elfin Fresh. While I wouldn’t call us anything as grandiose as heroes, we really are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony,” Twilight assured Elfin. “And we are being serious when we tell you that you have jumped onto conclusions regarding your husband. As we said, Applejack would have noticed if he was lying. The only thing he is guilty of is losing the track of time during a game of cards with his friends.”

Elfin Fresh’s eyebrows twitched rather dangerously, but she did put away the knife she had been brandishing. Giving a large and a rather tired sigh, she looked back at Twilight.

“Wait, so that’s what this is about? He was simply having another one of those game-nights of his, and was too much of a wimp to talk back to me when I was chewing him out?” Elfin asked, and the ponies around her nodded vehemently. “I swear, that stallion can be such a doormat sometimes. I wish he’d just grow a pair and start acting like the colt of the house. For example, he could stop hiding behind the door, eavesdropping, and simply come in and explain the situation.”

The last words of the mare drew the attention of the ponies to the door of the room. It opened slowly, revealing a rather sheepish looking Silent Relic, followed by Spike. The baby dragon looked like he wanted to simply dig a hole and disappear into it.

Under Elfin Fresh’s stern gaze, her husband meekly walked over to her with his head hanging low. An awkward silence descended into the room, with the six ponies watching how the two supposed love-birds switched uncomfortable glances. Seconds passed, eventually turning into a whole minute. But still, there was no end in sight to the atmosphere that made everypony simply want to run away as fast as they could.

Until finally, to their complete surprise, Elfin Fresh caught Silent Relic in a crushing hug.

“Oh come on, you dolt!” Elfin laughed roughly. “You look so pathetic I should just sell you as a rug to the griffins! Why didn’t you say anything? While I’d hate the idea of you finding some other mare prettier than me, being finally brave enough to not abide the curfew makes me happy and proud!”

Twilight and her friends broke out into smiles when they heard those words. Some of them had been afraid that the sudden schism between the husband and wife would turn into something serious. And now, seeing how Elfin Fresh quickly forgave her husband, they felt proud that they had decided to help the two. Without their help, this problem might have lasted far longer, to the point of even causing a divorce because of a misunderstanding.

Unfortunately, those heart-warming feelings quickly turned into those of awkwardness, as Elfin Fresh drowned Silent Relic in kisses. It got to the point that even Rarity suddenly found the tapestry of the room extremely interesting. Relic himself did not seem to mind, taking the whole situation with relative calmness. Spike made a gagging motion, to which Twilight giggled. After all, she saw that previously the baby dragon had seemed quite envious of the affection the stallion had received from his wife.

“Oh yeah, you girls were here,” Elfin suddenly said and stopped smooching Relic. “So you wanted to get to the Fort Stronghoof? Well, first you gotta pass a test. If you do, we’ll allow you to use our cloud-glider.”

“A test?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head.

“Yeah, a test,” Elfin answered and grinned. “Give us a minute in private, and I’ll show you what’s it about after I’m done with him.”

Six ponies and one baby dragon suddenly found themselves in a quite the hurry to get out of the room.

The location of the group’s test was on a small field outside of the town, up a winding path. The field was nestled against the side of the mountain, with the other side overlooking the village itself. One could see far into the Windswept Valley from the field, and Rarity could have sworn she saw Everfree Forest far in the distance.

However, more than the sights, what drew attention of the ponies was how the field had been prepared. It was large enough to have a small elevated part closer to the mountain, and trees grew around the perimeter creating a complex terrain in such an enclosed space. Considering what she had heard from Twilight about the place’s history, Dash guessed the place had something to do with how the two original villages competed with each other.

That proved to be true when Elfin Fresh finally opened her mouth. She and Silent Relic were standing in the middle of the field.

“A’ight, listen up, Bearers,” Elfin said and hit the ground with her hoof. “This place is the sacred tournament grounds of Ross-on-Welara. Here, our ancestors butted heads whenever they disagreed about something, which was often. Nowadays it doesn’t see much use until the festival season, but occasionally, we use it to these tests. After all, not everypony is allowed to the Fort Stronghoof.”

“Ah reckon it’s some sort of test of strength, right?” Applejack asked. “Ah think y’all see that we ain’t too shabby when it comes to provin’ ourselves.”

“We shall see about that,” Elfin Fresh grinned. “I see you have some rather rare artifacts you’re using, but I think you’ll find that not everything can be solved with a borrowed power. In any event, the object of this test is simple: You simply must defeat us. If you prove strong enough, you’ll be allowed to use the cloud-glider to get to the Fort Stronghoof. Anything else you’d want to add, darling?”

“…Of course, this is simply a competition, not a serious fight,” Silent Relic continued. “But that does not mean you should not take it seriously. Come at us with everything you have. That is all.”

The six ponies looked at each other, before nodding as one. Both Elfin Fresh and Silent Relic seemed to take this seriously, and there was no reason to belittle a tradition of the village. Therefore, they would just simply have to beat the test. While something like this might have made them unsure few months ago, now that they had gained experience during their journey, they felt like they were ready to try their hoof at something like this.

Still, Spike opted to stay out of the test. He was a child, after all.

“Are you girls ready?” Twilight asked, looking at her friends. She saw nothing but determined faces next to her. “Well then. I guess that means we can start whenever you want!”

The bearers of the Elements of Harmony turned towards the two mayors, who had already taken their positions. Elfin Fresh and Silent Relic stood side-by-side, their heads lowered as if they were about to charge. Wind blew through the clearing, ruffling the manes of the ponies gathered. For a one tense moment, excitement akin to electricity began crackling in the air. Spike, watching from the sidelines, could see how the ponies tensed up their bodies and prepared themselves to move the second the start of the test was announced. It was something one did not see in the peaceful lands of Equestria very often.

A stray thought entered the baby dragon’s mind when he realized that fact. He wondered idly if this was how it had been thousand years ago, during the times the Princesses had fought against Discord. Had the ponies seemed this prepared for battle back then? If so, was this some sort of primal memory that was groggily waking up in the minds of the ponies he saw.

That was as far as his thoughts got, though. Because on that moment, Elfin Fresh decided to open her mouth.

“Very well then!” the mare shouted. “Let the test begin! Come at us!”

“Don’t mind if I do!”

The moment the yell echoed in the air, Rainbow Dash answered in kind. Her wings began striking the air with ever-increasing speed. Creating whirlwind around her that pushed the others out the way. In mere three seconds, she had accelerated herself enough that she was able to shoot off the ground with incredible force. The armor around her glowed, increased her speed even further. And just like that, like an arrow leaving the string, she shot straight towards Elfin Fresh with a wild grin on her face.

Unfortunately, the other mare was far from unprepared.

“You’re the impulsive one, huh?” Fresh chuckled.

In that moment, something surprising happened. Dash could have sworn she saw the mare take only one step. However, like a ripples moving throughout the lake, ghostly images of Elfin Fresh were left in the air as the mare side-stepped gracefully, showing reflexes that left even Dash to pale in comparison. Having now lost her target, the blue pegasus tried a sharp turn to continue her attack, but found herself unable to do so.

It was the armor. Just like Celestia had said, it did increase her speed, but at the same time, it made her much less agile in the air. Thus, muttering few curses under her breath, Rainbow Dash crashed against a tree far behind Elfin Fresh, bringing down the trunk as she hit it dead-on. The armor protected her, but the hit left her still groggy in the head.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted after her friend. However, she quickly got her mind back to the task at hand. “Applejack, Pinkie! Get Elfin Fresh and tie her down! Fluttershy, Rarity! Trap Silent Relic into that clearing beyond the trees! I’ll finish them both with my spells after you’re done!”

“Alright!” The four ponies shouted in unison, and charged forward. Twilight allowed the grimoire of Star Swirl to float next to her, and quickly scanned through the pages to find a fitting attack spell.

Applejack and Pinkie charged straight at Elfin Fresh. Having seen how nimbly the mare moved, Applejack had devised a plan in her mind. She quickly got her Chain Bridle and allowed it to take a form of a lasso. Throwing it forward, she nodded to Pinkie, who circled around the green pony, cutting her escape route. Before Elfin could even say “rodeo”, her legs were quickly caught by the golden chain. Applejack grinned and yanked the chain, trying to bring down the mare and have her tied up like a bull.

However, that proved to be the wrong move. Utilizing Applejack’s yank to boost her momentum, Elfin Fresh performed a backflip high into the air, showing a ridiculous agility for a pony. At the same time, her hooves slipped out of the chain neatly, making her free again.

Oh horseapples, Applejack thought. Ah forgot that this here thing didn’t work on civilized creatures.

That was the last thing Applejack managed to think before the chain she herself had yanked collided with her muzzle. The chain was going at such a high speed that it completely knocked out the earth pony with a single strike. After all, though Applejack was far sturdier than most earth ponies, her strength was even more amazing. And when a snarl of metal hit her in the head after being pulled by the said strength, the results were obvious.

Applejack fell to the ground with eyes swirling.

“You meanie! That’s no way to treat Applejack!” Pinkie Pie shouted after seeing what happened. “No more Ms. Nice Pie!”

Pinkie Pie quickly grabbed her Trick Bag, understanding that Elfin Fresh was now defenseless as she hung in the air. The backflip had been powerful, but it had given the green mare too much hang-time in the air. Therefore, it was also Pinkie’s chance for a counter-attack. She struck her hoof deep into the bag and began pulling, finally emerging with an item from the depths. She brandished it forward, preparing to either hit Elfin with it, or throw it at her.

However, when she saw the item, Pinkie’s face grew rather confused.

“Huh? A picture?”

“You’ve lost your focus!” Elfin’s sudden shout pierced the air.

Before Pinkie could react, the hind leg of the green mare came crashing down upon her. Though the pink earth pony’s mane slightly softened the blow, it was still a hoof swung like a pendulum, descending upon her in a manner of a waterfall. Not only that, but despite her small body, the amount of power that were in the legs of Elfin Fresh was simply staggering. Pinkie managed to look up from the picture she was holding, only to see a green hoof fill her vision.

After that she saw nothing but stars, as the mare’s kick connected to her forehead.

On the other side of the field, arrows pierced the air with a whistling sound as Rarity used her bow to force Silent Relic into an array of trees that covered the hillside. Fluttershy, somewhat unsure as to what she could do, flew up into the trees and landed on a branch with a clumsy kick, trying to bring it down to the escape path of the stallion. She succeeded, and with an audible snap, the log of bark and branches fell down. Silent Relic looked up and saw the trap moments before it him. There was a loud thud as the branch fell straight on to his back, the gravity making sure that there was more power behind the object than the yellow pegasus’ kick. To any regular pony, that would have meant the end of the road.

But that did not stop Silent Relic. On the contrary, a small smile curved his lips as the branch shattered against his back. Both Rarity and Fluttershy let out a gasp of surprise. Using that moment of confusion to his advantage, the stallion rammed straight against the tree Fluttershy was perching on, causing it to shake furiously. It was as if a bull had hit it head on. Before the pegasus could even let out a squeal of surprise, she fell down from a branch and straight into a bush, tangling herself up for good.

Rarity clicked her tongue and let out another volley of arrows, trying to work as fast as she could. However, despite the blue energy bolts hitting the hide of the stallion, Silent Relic simply shrugged off the attacks, turning around his charge and heading straight for the unicorn. In a moment of desperation, Rarity started gathering more magical power into her bow, hoping to create an arrow powerful enough to either knock the stallion out or at least stagger him. Blue energy swirled around her as she gritted her teeth together, taking straight aim at Silent Relic.

But that lengthened moment between shots cost her. Before Rarity could let go of the string of her bow, Silent Relic rammed his front hooves straight into the ground, causing it to crack with a magnificent force. The rumbling, collapsing chasm of earth headed straight for the white unicorn, and after a single moment of confusion and panic, Rarity found herself trapped under a heavy mound of dirt. The powerful kick had destroyed the ground beneath her, while throwing up enough earth that it effectively stopped her from fighting once it fell upon her.

“Girls! Hang on!” Twilight shouted and her magic roared as spell formula lit up on the pages of her grimoire. “I’ll help you right now!”

“You’re planning on taking on both of us?” Elfin Fresh asked with a grin as her husband ran next to her, the two ponies now facing the unicorn. “I’ve gotta admit, you’ve got guts.”

“It’s not about guts, it’s about knowledge,” Twilight grunted back. “I know that even if you charge me now, I can use this spell to take at least one of you out before that!”

“That’s good thinking,” the green mare answered and cocked an eyebrow. “Unfortunately, there was never a reason for us to charge at you.”

“Huh”?

Twilight’s confusion turned into surprise as both Elfin Fresh and Silent Relic suddenly dove away from their spot, both to different directions. A flash of rainbow filled the purple unicorn’s vision, and moment before the hit came, she understood what had happened. Rainbow Dash had tried to take advantage of their opponents’ eyes being on her, and she had launched a surprise attack. The only problem was that the two mayors had noticed it, and acted accordingly. Therefore, there was only one possible conclusion.

And that’s definitely not the type of conclusion I wanted, Twilight complained in her mind, just a second before Rainbow Dash hit her straight on, unable to dodge because of her armor.

The two mares flew backwards, both seeing stars as the battleground around them started to fade away.

It would have taken a very optimistic pony to say that the rest of their fight with the mayors had turned out just as disastrously as the first try. The six ponies felt that the bruises in their bodies would take weeks to heal. Thanks to the speed and power of Elfin Fresh, and the apparently impenetrable hide of Silent Relic, the Element Bearers had not been able to land a single effective hit, much less knock either of the mayors out. In the end, after tenth round, the ponies had been so exhausted that they had given up for the day. Elfin Fresh had promised that they could have as many rematches as they wanted, though her eyes told that she did not really believe that she would see them again.

Rainbow Dash was taking the loss especially hard. As the group was sitting on the dining hall of the inn they stayed at Ross-on-Welara, she kept ordering pint after pint of the local apple cider. The others, who were rather unenthusiastically nibbling their dinners, swapped worried looks.

“I can’t believe it! We lost! How lame is that?” Dash complained and hit the table with her hoof. “I mean, we’ve beat a golem, a freaky killer-plant, and even outwitted a pooka! So how come we lost to those two? We had our artifacts and everything!”

“Hun, Ah reckon ya have had just ‘bout enough of those,” Applejack patted the blue Pegasus on the back and took away her current pint. “But ya know, that’s true. We ain’t half bad at this fightin’ thing, so how come we ended up like an old bull in a rodeo?”

“It’s partially my fault,” Twilight said with a sigh, and poked her plate with apathy. “I could not devise a strategy clever enough to actually defeat those two. I tried thinking of different ways, like going in as a whole group or using smaller teams, but nothing worked. I know I haven’t been exactly enthusiastic to read the old books about application of warfare, but I thought I knew something about strategies. And I only made us look like a bunch of fools.”

“Do not take it too harshly, dear. Ponies live different lives in a different place like this,” Rarity consoled her friend. “Nopony can blame you for not knowing about battles and the sort. After all, in Ponyville or Canterlot, duels and such are practically unheard of these days.”

“Oh! Not to mention there was definitely something funny about those two,” Spike suddenly chimed in. “I mean, the way Elfin Fresh moved… she was like water! I could actually see her form blur when she ran. And then there was Silent Relic. Even his coat didn’t get dirty no matter how bad hit he took!”

“Um,Spike may be right, you know,” Fluttershy agreed. “They definitely did not feel, well, normal when we fought them.”

“Was it some sort of magic? No, that couldn’t be. They were earth ponies after all,” Twilight muttered to herself. “Perhaps some sort of passive trait that is common here in the mountains? Or is there something unique about those two themselves?”

“Well, whatever it was, it made clear that our artifacts didn’t exactly help,” Applejack said. “Ah felt like such a goof, tryin’ to catch them with the chain.”

“Not to mention I didn’t even get a chance to use my bag!” Pinkie complained. “Every time I tried, that super-meany Elfin kicked me! How rude is that?”

“Just how are we supposed to beat them if even the Princess’ gifts don’t help?” Twilight asked and leaned on the table tiredly. “It was like everything we tried was seen through and countered.”

“That’s because you’re going at it the wrong way.”

To the surprise of the six ponies and one baby dragon, another voice entered the conversation from the table next to them. As the group looked at the speaker, they were surprised to see a tall mare with a brilliantly blonde coat and a light-colored mane. Her eyes, red in color, were staring straight at them, and there was an amused look on her face. And that was not the only strange thing about the mare. She was wearing some sort of combination of travelling clothes and armor, with the fabric having been reinforced by metal plates. She even had a large brown cape, though the hood had been thrown down for now.

“Huh? Are you making fun of us?” Rainbow Dash asked with a loud voice and glared at the mare. She simply chuckled.

“Fun? Hardly. Though I guess you considered it fun to get beaten time and time again by the mayors,” the mare answered. “But yes. Let’s see… If I had to explain what I want to say, then it’s that you ponies aren't going to the test with the right priorities.”

“Priorities?” Twilight raised her eyebrows. “What’s that supposed to mean? Are you offering to help us somehow?”

“Priorities, yes. First of all, you should ditch those fancy artifacts of yours for now. You’re not proficient enough to handle them yet, and they only get in your way. Second, you seem like a really good group of friends. Unfortunately, good friends do not make a good team,” the mare explained, before scratching her chin. “As to what comes to helping you… Well, not really. At least, I hadn’t planned to. Then again, I’m stuck here anyway till a qualified group of travelers gathers so that cloud-glider can be used. So, why not?”

“That was awfully easily decided,” Applejack said with a hint of doubt in her eyes. “What’s yer name, stranger?”

“Oh, me?” the blue mare asked and grinned at the group.

“My name is Lovely Corn.”