//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Benath the Plains of Mustangia // by TwoTrenchcoats //------------------------------// Dear Princess Celestia, It has come to my attention that there is an area of Equestria that has been left untouched by the magic of friendship, and that I and my friends have failed to explore during any of our adventures together. The map in my castle has never alerted us to a friendship problem there, and I don’t recall ever seeing a pony from there anywhere else in Equestria (with the exception of one chance encounter in the Crystal Empire, but a single pony doesn’t show the intricacies of an entire region of ponies).  I am, of course, talking about the region of Mustangia. The maps that I have studied show that it’s a huge region that takes up the entire south-western edge of Equestria. Appaloosa is the closest my friends and I have ever been to its borders.  Naturally, I’ve buried myself in research of the region and the ponies who live there. Such a secluded community of ponies must have a fascinating history and rich culture completely unique to them. After all, I know more about the cloud regions where the pegasi live than I do about Mustangia, and I’ve only become able to walk on clouds recently! However, I’ve come up with almost nothing. There is hardly any documented information on the region of Mustangia, and the information that I have found is concerning to me. According to what I’ve read, the ponies of Mustangia are almost completely culturally stagnant. They live almost exclusively outdoors, only going inside in bad weather. They still use primitive tools for work and seem to have absolutely no modern conveniences at all, including horseshoes and indoor plumbing. In fact, it sounds like most of them eat grass straight from the ground like back in the stone ages! Most concerning, they still hold onto the superstitious belief that unicorns are witches and regard any race other than earth ponies with suspicion. The entire region of Mustangia is in a wild state comparable to that of the Everfree Forest, but unlike the forest, Mustangia could be cultivated if only the ponies living there were educated properly. All the documents I’ve found describe the mustangs as generally friendly and welcoming to other earth ponies but superstitious and trapped in the past. It’s now that I finally come to the point of my letter, Princess. I would like to travel to Mustangia as an ambassador of sorts, in order to educate and introduce the mustang ponies to the modern world, and I would like to ask for your blessing in doing so. There’s an entire region of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of ponies that are currently living like common livestock and I feel it is my responsibility as the princess of friendship to show them what they’re missing.  Please consider this a formal request, Princess. I will provide all of my own provisions for the journey and take full responsibility for any and all results in this endeavor. Always your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle ~*~*~ My dearest Twilight Sparkle, Once again, your attention to detail and insatiable curiosity persists as your greatest strengths, my dear former student. I knew it was only a matter of time before you found some new puzzle for yourself to untangle in order to keep that powerful mind of yours busy. Was saving all of Equestria a dozen times over not enough to satiate you? In all seriousness, though, I’m more than delighted that you’ve chosen the region of Mustangia as the focus of your curiosity.  I will assure you that all of the research that you have done and the documentation that you have found is correct. The mustangs are made up entirely of earth ponies that all live very simple lives and keep themselves separate from the rest of Equestria. Your concern for them is quite admirable and it may provide you some peace of mind to tell you that I pay a visit to Mustangia from time to time to check in on them, the same as I do for all of my little ponies. Their current chief, Mushroom, is a very dear friend of mine and I’m sure he would be delighted to meet you.  Consider my approval and blessing upon you and your efforts. However, I have two stipulations for you before you set out on your self-imposed quest.  First: You will bring your friend Applejack with you when you go. She is a good, level-headed mare and will give you invaluable earth pony insight that may be out of your reach.  Second: I would advise you to not travel to Mustangia with the intention of civilizing them. (I believe "educate" is the word that you used, but I assume I am correct in deducing your intent.) The mustangs have reasons for living the way that they do, and I expect you to respect their way of life the same way you showed respect for the lifestyles of the yaks and griffons. Always remember, some live a certain way due to circumstances, others due to personal choice. I will leave it up to you to determine which category the mustangs fall into. I know you will make the right choice. I wish you safe travels and a successful journey. With the greatest love, Celestia ~*~*~ Twilight read the princess’ letter once, twice, three times to make sure she had it completely memorized before she added it to the drawer in her desk that held all the letters from Celestia.  “Why would anyone choose to live in the Stone Ages?” she wondered aloud as she returned to the seemingly endless task of packing for the trip. Spike had gone off on a dragon pilgrimage in order to reconnect with his dragon roots, so she didn’t have his much-needed voice of reason to talk her out of all of the things she was bringing. Or his dexterous little hands to help her pack.  She stuffed another bag with books, parchment, and bottles of ink, and pondered the letter from Celestia. Was she wrong for wanting to introduce the Mustangia ponies to the modern world? If that were the case, she was confident the princess would have told her outright. So why the caution? She mentioned the yaks and griffons but at least they lived in houses! What thinking creature would want to live exclusively outdoors? Twilight had thought Ponyville was primitive when she had first moved there, she couldn’t imagine not having a roof over her head at night. “She wants me to keep an open mind,” she reasoned, forcing another book into the straining bag, “one of the first lessons I learned after coming to Ponyville was to not judge others based on what they look like. Zecora doesn’t have a lot of modern conveniences in her hut and she’s perfectly happy.” She forced the bag shut and added it to the growing pile of overstuffed bags. Finally satisfied with her packing she checked it off her lengthy checklist.  “Next I need to talk to Applejack.” Twilight scowled; it was August, the beginning of apple bucking season and cider season. Applejack wasn’t going to drop everything to head off on some random journey if it wasn’t an emergency. She had done all of that packing for nothing. With a snort of frustration at the oversight, Twilight headed out to Sweet Apple Acres anyway. She still had a checklist to finish. As expected, Applejack was too busy to leave the farm. Twilight found her and her brother already hard at work in the orchard, slamming their hooves into the trees and knocking apples down into waiting buckets.  “I sure am sorry, sugarcube,” Applejack said with a frown, “if I had a couple extra sets of hooves around to help me and Big Mac out you know I’d say yes. But Filthy Rich is breathin’ down my neck to get the yearly tax money in, and Granny’s gettin’ too forgetful to manage the money end of the business.” “It’s okay, Applejack,” Twilight said, forcing a smile, “I don’t want to add any more stress to you. I knew before I even came here that you would probably be too busy. We can postpone the trip until spring.” Waiting that long would be torture, just saying the words made her skin itchy, but it had to be done. Celestia insisted that Applejack come along.  Applejack smiled sympathetically, “As long as it’s after the spring plantin’ that’s alright with me, darlin’. You just give me a holler whenever you’re ready to go and I’ll come runnin’. It’ll be nice goin’ back to my roots.”  “Your…what?” Applejack quirked an eyebrow, “My–....now Twilight, you’ve heard the Ponyville founding story before, haven’t you? Granny Smith and her family traveled here lookin’ for a new place to live and Princess Celestia gave them the land that became Ponyville.” “Yes-yes, I’ve heard the story before!” Twilight spluttered, “But you never said that they came from Mustangia!” Applejack subjected Twilight to a patient smile, the kind that never failed to remind her that the farm mare was not only several years older than her but was more world-wise than she was likely to ever be. “Just about every earth pony in Equestra can trace their roots back to Mustangia, sugarcube. Just like how all the pegasi came from Aurora Borealis and unicorns come from the Crystal Empire.” “Unicorns come from where?!” Twilight reigned in her reeling head just in time to collect her thoughts before she spiraled down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, “So…so you’re saying that Granny Smith is from Mustangia?!” “Sure is.” “C-can I talk to her?!”  “Well sure, I don’t see why not.” Twilight barely gave her time to finish before she sped toward the Apple family farmhouse, head bouncing from one revelation to another. By the time she climbed the sturdy steps onto the front porch she felt the need to sit down in Granny Smith’s rocking chair. Unfortunately, the ancient mare was already sitting in it, rocking incrementally and gazing out at the orchard with rheumy eyes. Her shaky hooves clutched at her knitting, which was now just a tangled mess of yarn with several needles sticking out of it, and she aimed a wobbly smile in Twilight’s general direction. “Howdy there, young ‘un, what can I do ya for?” “Good afternoon, Granny Smith,” Twilight said breathlessly, “am I correct in understanding that you are originally from Mustangia?” The old mare’s wrinkled, toothless face scrunched up in thought until it resembled an old, rotted pumpkin caving in on itself, “Well now, that’s a name I ain’t heard in a coon’s age! I sure am, young ‘un! ‘Course we never called it Mustangia when me n’ my kin lived there. We just called it home.”  “I see,” Twilight frantically rummaged through her saddlebags for a notebook and fresh quill, “What can you tell me about it? What was living there like?” What were the odds of a pony who used to live in Mustangia being right in Ponyville? If she made a habit of visiting Granny Smith more often, she could build a clearer image of Mustangian culture before she ever set hoof in the place. Maybe the long wait for spring wouldn’t be quite as torturous as she originally thought. Sadly, it seemed Applejack hadn’t been exaggerating when she said that Granny Smith’s memory wasn’t what it used to be. After more than an hour of struggling to keep the old mare on topic, all Twilight had was a jumble of ramblings and half-remembered thoughts that barely filled one page.  Once again squashing her disappointment, Twilight bid the dozing Granny Smith goodbye and headed for home. She unpacked all of her engorged bags in a frustrated huff she was glad Spike wasn’t around to see and whipped out a fresh sheet of parchment to start a fresh checklist.  “First: locate all information available on the region of Mustania,” she dictated to herself as she wrote, “check the local history section of the new Ponyville Library, most of the books were donated by local ponies. Now that I know there’s a connection there’s a chance–albeit a slim one–that one of the books could hold information I haven’t seen yet. I should also take a look at the Canterlot Archives; Princess Celestia said that she visits Mustangia regularly, there may be records of it on file in the archives. “Second: study earth pony history and genealogy. I’ve neglected to look more thoroughly at earth pony origins–and the origins of all races, apparently–and if Applejack was right about all earth ponies being able to trace their roots back to Mustangia that could be a serious point of interest.  “Third: put together a more…practical checklist of things to pack.” Silence answered her and she sighed. Postponing the trip would give Spike time to return from his trip; it would be good to have his perspective on things once he was back. For now she had research to do.  ~*~*~ The months passed slowly and so did Twilight’s research. The new Ponyville Library didn’t hold anything of interest but a look at the genealogy records at Town Hall proved more fruitful. Obviously, a lot of ponies had moved to Ponyville from other towns in more recent years and a lot of them didn’t have a clear record of their genealogy, but an exhaustive examination of every earth pony on record more or less confirmed Applejack’s claim. A large number of the earth ponies in Ponyville could be traced back to the same place, though what that place was called was never explicitly mentioned, but descriptions were too similar to be a coincidence. As Twilight backtracked through the records they became progressively more and more vague. Familiar sounding names like “Lemon Drop”, “Lovey Dovey”, and “Peachie Keen”, faded out to odd, single word names like “Bird”, “Copper”, and “Smoke”. A look at Granny Smith’s file–yellowed and crumbling to dust with age–showed that her name had been changed a number of years after her family’s arrival in Ponyville, from “Sprout” to just “Apple” and then finally, the familiar “Granny Smith”.  The Canterlot Archives were promising at first glance, but once she looked into the records properly, Twilight was left disappointed. Every one of Princess Celestia’s visits to Mustangia were carefully recorded, but in the most bare-bones way possible. 184 LE: Visit to Mustangia fruitful. Received a generous gift of 32 bundles of wheat. 284 LE: Visit to Mustangia fruitful. Resolved small border conflict. 384 LE: Visit to Mustangia fruitful. Provided a gift of 100 bags of soy seeds. Hundreds of years of the same, with little to no variation between records. Every hundred years, with the occasional discrepancy, Princess Celestia visited the region of Mustangia, and it almost always was “fruitful”. A few minor skirmishes over borders and gifts of crops and seeds, and that was it. There was only one entry that broke the pattern of monotony. 722 LE: An incident in Mustangia prompted an impromptu visit. The matter was dealt with but a large number of mustangs have made the decision to flee the region. By decree of Princess Celestia, the exiles shall be given a new region to inhabit.  Twilight searched for any information on the “incident” referred to in the record and turned up nothing. Any mention of Mustangia was confined to the records she had already studied.  By the time Twilight had exhausted every avenue of research available to her, Spike returned from his dragon pilgrimage and was subjected to a barrage of information as soon as he walked through the door, which he endured with admirable resilience.  “So let me get this straight,” he said once Twilight had finished, “earth ponies and Granny Smith all come from this place called Mustangia, Granny Smith used to be called a different name, and there was some big thing that happened that made a bunch of ponies leave, Mustangia. You and Applejack are gonna go to Mustangia next month to do…what, exactly?” “To introduce the modern world to the mustangs,” Twilight said, “and to learn more about the incident mentioned in Celestia’s report. There’s an obvious connection to this mysterious incident and Granny Smith and her family founding Ponyville that has been lost. I can’t consider myself a scholar if I allow such an important piece of Ponyville history to get swallowed up by the passage of time.”  “Right,” Spike sighed and scratched his scales, “I’m guessing you have a checklist of things to pack?” “Of course! But first–” Twilight smiled sheepishly, “–I haven’t asked you about your trip yet? Did you have fun?” Spike shrugged, “I guess,” he said, “living with dragons is a lot different from living with ponies. It feels weird being in a house again.” He flexed his claws passively and glanced around the house, looking a little lost. When Twilight thought about it, it was odd that he was still standing in the middle of the room and hadn’t thrown himself onto the nearest cushion like usual. She couldn’t imagine there were many soft surfaces in the dragon colony or along whatever route his journey had taken him and found it strange that he wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to indulge in some modern comforts.   The conversation struggled for a few minutes before they said their goodnights and went their separate ways, Spike to his room and Twilight to her study to make some final revisions to her checklist.  The remaining month was a flurry of preparations. As expected, Spike proved invaluable in helping put things in order and by the time Twilight checked the last box on her list, she had a much more manageable amount of luggage than the first time. She would have to come up with a way to thank him somehow. She had offered to bring him along to Mustangia, but he had refused. “I think I’ll sit this one out,” he said, “I’ve been away for a while, Twilight, I’d like to settle back in for a while. You can tell me all about it when you get back, yeah?” “Of course, Spike,” Twilight said, smiling, but there was a tightness in her chest. Spike had been different since he had come home; still kind, still himself, just quieter, more grown up, maybe. She could swear he was a little taller, his voice a little deeper. It was an odd, bittersweet feeling she imagined parents must feel watching their children grow up. She didn’t quite know how to talk to him anymore. After a strangely awkward goodbye and promises to write as often as she could, Twilight left Spike and her castle behind to meet Applejack at the train station.  The farm mare was already at the station when she arrived, a surprisingly generous amount of luggage piled around her hooves.  “Big Mac wouldn’t quit pesterin’ me,” she said by way of explanation, nudging one of the bags with a hoof, “I had to take at least some of it, or he’d be beside himself frettin’ the whole time I’m gone.” Twilight helped her load her things into the luggage car and felt a surge of nauseating excited apprehension as she took her seat. It was going to be a long train ride and that would only take them as far as Appaloosa, from there they would have to rent a wagon and travel on hoof the rest of the way, with a bit of time set aside for Applejack to visit family. Twilight would rather have avoided any distractions, but reminded herself that there was no time constraint for this trip. This wasn’t a life or death, "the fate of all Equestria hangs in a balance" kind of trip. This was just to satisfy her curiosity. And if her curiosity could wait seven months for spring, it could wait a couple more days.  So, she settled into her seat, took out all of her notes and research that she had done so far, and started making a checklist.