With a great grunt, Prince Rutherford threw his tsuki opponent to the ground with a toss of his heavy horns. He was on them in a moment, pinning them. "I win."

"You win," admitted the tsuki, sad a moment before he perked. "Good fight."

"Good fight." Rutherford sat up, letting the tsuki rise. "Question."

"Yes?"

Rutherford directed a hoof at the tsuki. "Why cheat? Why rabbit start fight unfair. Rabbit have strength fight fair!"

As accusing as it was, the tsuki seemed to grasp the compliment hidden there. They were strong enought to fight fair. "Not try fight." He spread his arms. "Want say hello."

"Hello?" Rutherford frowned, but reached out an arm. "Hello?"

"Hello!" The tsuki grabbed the prince of all yaks, joyfully embracing them despite the aches of the fight they had just finished. "Is good meet. Friends now?"

The prince staggered back a step. "Um... Sure? Tsuki and yaks friends!" Tsuki and yaks on either side cheered the announcement.

But he wasn't done, stomping up to Umbra. "Still one thing."

"Yeah?" Umbra hiked a brow at Rutherford and his scowl. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes!" He stomped a hoof, then turned it to where Witching and her yak opponent were slumped against each other, panting for breath. "No winner, only losers. She not fight fair." He curled a hoof to his chin. "Start fighting fair, give credit, but too late."

He pointed at Umbra. "Fight fair, from the start. Fight fair and then we know!"

Umbra glanced to where Witching was gingerly extracting herself from the tangle of limbs. The umbrum pony was battered and exhausted, but her eyes still held that daring gleam.

"It would seem I have little choice but to accept your challenge," Umbra sighed, turning back to Rutherford. "What contest do you propose to settle this grudge fairly?"

The prince stroked his beard contemplatively. "Yaks have traditional sport - Fireball Fling. See who toss flaming rock farthest across sky. Test of might and courage!"

Umbra suppressed a shudder, visions of wayward meteors bombarding the tundra flashing through her mind. "I...appreciate the offer, but perhaps a non-combative display would be safest for all." She gestured to the celebrating tsuki and yaks who were now enthusiastically hug-wrestling one another into the snowdrifts.

"We are allies now - let our contest be one of skill and trust rather than force." She leveled stern eyes at the skeptical prince. "I swear on my authority as a princess that any challenge you set forth shall be accepted without resistance or trickery. Does that satisfy your honor?"

Rutherford grunted begrudgingly. "Very well, pony princess. But challenge will still show true might! Yak judges never fooled!"

He gestured brusquely for Umbra to follow him towards the village forum where both tribes were now intermingled. "Come! We prepare greatest contest in yak history!"

Umbra smiled in relief and let the burly prince lead on. Peace had been brokered, the first fragile bridge laid between their peoples. Now to seal the hopeful union with an act of courage from the heart, not sword or fist. She prayed her magic would be enough.

The village square swelled with furry and shaggy onlookers as yaks hastily assembled a rather ramshackle platform in its center. Umbra was reminded of the Crystal Empire's faire grounds, though with a rougher, more primitive edge. Still, anticipation charged the icy air as surely as it did those summer festivals of home.

At last Rutherford ascended the platform, commanding immediate silence with a bellow. All eyes turned expectantly as Umbra took her place with far less bluster.

The prince met her gaze levelly. "The gauntlet is thrown, princess of puny ponies. Now we see if you can walk the walk!"

Umbra couldn't resist, hiking in place as if to show her walking ability. "Bring it."

Rutherford laughed sharply. "Good, have spirit. You'll need it." He swiveled to three elderly yaks in a line. "What contest chosen?"

Umbra inclined her head a little. "You aren't picking?"

"Not fair." The prince stomped the snow. "Elders pick. Elders judge. They will see through all trickery. You want not-fight, they pick. You don't like, we fight!"

Umbra cringed at how quickly things seemed to be swinging. "I'll accept the contest they're offering. Elders, what contest do you propose?"

The elder yaks huddled in low whispers, ancient eyes creased with thought. Umbra waited quietly as they deliberated, her gaze drifting to where Witching had settled, watching with eager anticipation.

Having made peace, part of Umbra felt guilty at the idea of potentially making the yaks look foolish with her magical prowess. Yet neither could she kneel meekly before their taunting bluster. If only she knew what test these weathered elders deemed worthy...

At last, the trio turned back, one of them raising a frail hoof. "The contest be thus:

A feat of trust, showing spirit bound not by force but freely given. Let the princess and Prince Rutherford each construct one end of a bridge with their own hooves and skill. In the center shall hang suspended a gem, offered by us unworthy ones. To claim the stone would prove selfish might; but to leave it untouched proves goodwill between tribes. This is the contest."

Umbra released a slow breath. Her eyebrows raised in surprise at their wisdom which cut far deeper than any wrestling contest. Rutherford, likewise, shuffled his hooves almost abashedly, some of his boastful wind taken out of its sails.

Yet in the sparkling emerald the eldest brandished, Umbra saw the promise of harmony far outweighing any small treasure's temptation.

"I accept this challenge in the spirit of fellowship offered." Umbra swept low in deference to the elders. "And pray our bridge shall stand long and bright with hope."

The gathered masses stomped and cheered approval. Umbra and Rutherford moved to opposite sides of the square with tools granted them. Soon the contest would commence....but already Umbra felt victory shining not through strength of arms, but of compassion unfurled at last between former foes.

The prince moved to gather a few tools. "You'll see. The yak side will be strongest!"

"So long as the bridge we make stands forever and maybe a few days after that, I'll be happy." Umbra was smiling, entirely pleased as she moved to take her position on the other side of the selected ravine. "I like this contest..."

"You would." Witching Hour settled near Umbra to watch her work. "You're going to use crystals, and you know how to mine those. This contest is made for you."

"It's more than that." Even if Umbra was already sending her senses out into the ground, searching for the sweet scent of good building crystals. "It's a cooperative game. We both win, or we both lose. I say we win."

Witching rolled her eyes. "There's no show of strength."

"Aunt's right." Morning nodded towards Witching. "There are zero feats of combat. Any two creatures could do this, and we'd have no idea which is superior."

"That isn't the goal." Umbra's horn glowed with her dark magic as she wrenched a massive crystal slab from the ground. "Mmm... It'll do..." Crystals had so many more qualities than a random person could determine, but Umbra had experience. "Enough to start."

Morning rolled a hoof. "What is the goal, mother? How will this get what we came here to do?"

Umbra levitated her first gleaming crystal into place, fusing it seamlessly to the rocky outcropping beside her to form an anchor point. As she worked, she addressed Morning over her shoulder, not breaking focus.

"This contest was never about crowning supremacy, but forging bonds," she explained. "The tsuki and yaks were strangers who collided painfully because neither understood the other."

She wrenched another massive crystal from the hard earth, careful not to rupture its intricate lattices that would hold their fanciful bridge aloft.

"My 'goal' has always been building trust where mistrust festered." She nodded toward where Rutherford was sweatily hauling stone slabs much more crudely to assemble his end of the bridge. "That prince is obstinate, but his heart is true enough. Each structure we raise shall stand testament that though our tribes walk different lands, the way before us joins under one sky."

Umbra shaped translucent stairs leading up into open air where their halves would someday meet. She then carved twin parapets and high towers to frame a walkway between, like outstretched hands awaiting a friendly grasp.

Glancing over, she saw Rutherford's progress remained squat and unadorned. Yet the yak builders peered at her creation with admiration instead of envy.

Her own daughter, likewise, watched the graceful spires rise with grudging appreciation. Perhaps Morning, too, was starting to comprehend that contests came in many forms, conquest but one.

"This is our strength unveiled," Umbra finished softly, crafting a last few filigrees before stepping back. "Not to oppress, but uplift. Consider what hands joined can build, my dears...if only given the chance."

"Prince." She climbed her side of the bridge, looking down on Rutherford. "I would like our bridge to be strong. May I build the foundation towards where you've started?"

"Strong good!" Rutherford raised a doubting, shaggy brow at Umbra. "Why make our side stronger? Lose contest! Yak win!"

Umbra clapped softly. "The rules say so long as the bridge stands strong and holds the crystal up, we both win. I like the sound of that. May I help?"

Rutherford snorted disdainfully. "Probably trying steal crystal... Fine, build!"

Permission secured, Umbra began working down towards the prince's construction. She fused her crystals into and around his work, slowly creating a single arch of stone. "There we... go. But, I can't finish this."

Rutherford started at that announcement. "Give up? Yak win?"

"Yaks win in this case." She waved a hoof slowly along the bridge. "You don't want a delicate-looking crystal bridge. We need your strong and powerful stonework. I just made a foundation to build on. You'll make it strong." Strong wasn't exactly what she thought of, but appealing to yak aesthetics felt wise. "I trust you."

Prince Rutherford eyed Umbra's pristine crystal framework dubiously, then glanced back at his own crude pillars with a scowl. Clearly he had hoped for an easy victory requiring no real effort on his part. Yet the clever pony had flipped the script, ceding the true test of skill to him.

He stomped a hoof, barking for his laborers to approach the glimmering equine-built overpass. They shuffled reluctantly, wary of potential tricks. But Umbra only smiled encouragingly and beckoned them forth.

With a frustrated snort, Rutherford gestured brusquely to start hauling more stones. If this strange princess wished to forfeit and make the yaks do extra work, so be it! He would craft a bridge to humble all of Equestria's silly glitter palaces.

Yet...as heavier slabs were lugged into place, melding seamlessly with the existing crystal spans...Rutherford had to admit the foundations this "Umbra" had conjured supported their increasing architecture remarkably well. Her towers formed connected anchors allowing his team to bridge the wide gap with stability and grace previously impossible for yak designs alone.

Much as the notion galled his pride, the pony princess had birthed a structure blending their disparate skills to a strength surpassing each tribe independently. Eyeing the progress, no obvious weak point revealed itself - merely unified potential shining clearer with each slab locked into the magical matrix Umbra somehow principle within the very earth below.

At last, as his sweating team laid the last keystone, Rutherford stepped back, gazing up at this impossible sight. Not yak architecture alone, nor pony wizardry alone...but built by both, named by none, for benefit of all peoples.

The bridge stood breathlessly complete as the village cheered. Elders strode forward, reverently placing the mammoth emerald within its centermost arch - a vibrant heart for this woven dream.

None stepped forth to claim the glittering prize. And gazing upon its graceful span, Rutherford pondered perhaps some treasures worth far more than any a single set of hands might grasp alone.

Construction Complete. 1/14 extra updates!

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