We have already touched upon the Children of the Sky, and their City, so let us now concentrate upon their compatriots upon the Ground, the Children of the Earth, and their City. This City started like any of the others, a small Hamlet of houses clustered together, formed during the desperate times of struggle after the Banishment of the Younger of the Two Sisters. What differed was that it was not situated in the lush plains and rolling hills of the North, but the scorched deserts and parched badlands of the South.
The Children of the Earth have the Gift of the Ground as much as the Children of the Sky have the Gift of the Sky. They have the ability to hear the earth, to communicate with it and all the things that grow within, to persuade, to cajole, to help. And so it was such that the inhabitants of the Hamlet eked out a peaceful existence, for the warring parties of the day could not be bothered with Lands where even the Buffalo dared not roam.
Decades passed, by now, the hope of peace and sanctuary had drawn more of the Race of the Earth to the Hamlet, for it is only the strength and endurance of the Earth lent to its Children that they may endure in such conditions. Yet, the worth of peace was equal to any hardship, and so the Hamlet grew and swelled into a Town.
The Banner of Equestria rode the sands of Time in the Eight Directions of the Wind, casting its shadow upon the Town. Yet, life lived on, the peace brought upon the Land by the Elder affecting not the peace that was already in the Town. But this Peace in the Other Regions brought something new, for now that the Throes of War no longer affected the Peace of the Nation, Trade within the Land opened up, for ponies could no longer worry and hoard all that they could own. And Trade did come to this Town, and the Town gave greatly to this new Trade, giving the Expertise and Skill of its inhabitants, born from the long years of tilling the Soil which Rejected Plants, and as stated in the Book of Law before the Dawn of Time, if thou give thou shalt also receive, and the Town too benefitted greatly from this new Trade, receiving food and supplies and the Expertise of the other two races, bringing the Winds of Rain upon the parched earth. And so it was such that the pressures of life in the Town did ease, but it was still such that only the toughest of the tough not of the Children of the Earth could thrive there, and it was in this state that the Town continued its quiet existence.
Yet, even as much as peace exists, there must too be war, for without one you cannot have the other. And so it was such that a great host swept far from the Lands Deep South beyond the Great Salt Plains, of a people much like the Citizens of the Nation yet unlike, and the Town fell without a struggle, for ponies are a people of Peace, and it is not of their nature to war. The Elder sent an army in response, but with the Great Desert of the South in the way, the response was too slow. The population of the Town was brought under subjugation. Dissenters, regardless of the truth of the accusations, were rounded up. A great portion of their Annual Harvest was taken as tribute, yet they were pushed to demand more and yet more from the Earth. The Trade which had bolstered the Town for so long slowed down to a trickle. And so it was such that a great Famine reigned upon the Town. Even in this dark time of Sickness and Hunger, the inhabitants of the City did not give up, turning to the Hills which had cast their Shadows upon the Town for so long and dug into Them. And the Hills did cry out to them, for the Occupiers had wronged the Earth, taking more than their due, and the Earth yearned for revenge. And so the Earth sided with its Children, guiding them towards the riches hidden within it, teaching them the ways of the Mine and the Forge. And so it was such that a Resistance was formed within the depths and tunnels of the Hills themselves. The Occupiers they fought and the People they helped until the Guard of Equestria relieved the Town, for under the Elder’s eyes no Hamlet or Town or City was or is too small to be disregarded by her care. And so it was such that one of the darkest chapters of the Town’s history drew to a close, and life continued on, though the culture of the Town did not remain untouched. During the long years of Occupation, the accent and speech of the Occupiers had ingrained themselves into the populace. But the inhabitants not griped but embraced it, for it is the nature of the Children of the Earth to accept and endure, to make the best of the worst. Even to this day, the Inhabitants of the Town, wear this mark as a badge of honour, a testament to their ability to endure the harshest of the harsh and adapt.
Generations lived and died, and soon a new Period of Change swept from the Lands of the East through the Port Town of the East through the Nation, advancing the Technology of the Nation by great leaps and bounds. Yet, all things come at a cost, and the Cost of Technology is Resources. The People of the Town forgot not the Resistance of the Old Days and the Mines of the Hills. And so it was such that wealth poured forth again through the Town from the Mines of the Hills, and the Town swelled to become a City.
Yet, even in this new-found wealth, the City forgot not the horrors of the past and the fragility of their Experience. And so a University was commissioned with the Wealth of the City, a great campus of education and learning meant to pass the Knowledge and Experience of the Forebears to students from the four borders of the Nation and beyond. And it is in this way that the culture of the Essence of the Children of the Earth will be preserved, for their culture is that of cultivating the Life of the Land, and to heed its calls.
For this is the story of the City of Stone and Ore, the City of the Earth, Trottingham.
And so dear reader, wherever you are, cast your eyes southwards and see the great orange glow of the Deserts of the South. Remind yourself, of the troubles the good citizens of this fair City have faced, of how they have tided over them. Ask yourself, will you be strong enough to do the same?