The dwarves had the horse-creatures surrounded, making sure to keep to the shadows of the foliage. The rainbow-maned one looked like it had seen them when the throng had stepped out with it's 200 clansmen, but when it didn't make any moves and shook it's head as if in disbelief, the rangers were long gone.
Now the horses were enjoying a feast of some sort. A purple drink bowl was on top a black and red checkered mattress, with some strange looking sandwiches - one for each of the creatures - that looked like they had flowers in them.
Now that the king had seen them for himself, he came to the conclusion that these things were far too flimsy to be horses. At least of the kind that he had been used to seeing when marching out to war alongside the manlings.
They resembled the mules that the more conservative dwarves used in the hold - the Stonewall lad was right. Strangest of it all was how they spoke the same language that the manlings do.
Slowly backing off, the throng began to whisper amongst themselves as to not attract the creatures attention.

"What do you think, King Thirgaz? They look like... Like mutants." One of his shieldbearers - among the youngest of the lot - asked as he kept his gaze on the white horned horse which was eating it's sandwich with a faint resemblance to some of the nobles of the manling Empire.
The king shook his head slowly.

"No, those markings are nothing like the stigmata of Chaos. This is different. They don't have that smell either. And there's no warpstone in the air." He said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. Soon he stopped, continuing his little speech afterwards.

"Nay, these little horses seem peaceful enough. But the Stonewall has a point. We do not know what they're capable of. We'll go out to meet them. Keep your weapons ready. Only attack on my command."
The dwarves grunted in response and annoyance. Some pleaded for the king to take a bit more caution, but as it stood, they had no choice. If these creatures could help the dwarves get a sense of where they were, then perhaps they could find a way back to their lands in the World's Edge Mountains.
Slowly they made their way towards the clearing where the horses sat, happily gulping their drinks and foodstuffs.

Fluttershy was just about to get up and get back towards her cottage-- a bear was expecting back there and needed constant care and attention-- when she heard some rustling in the bushes. Her eyes became as large as saucers when she saw the creatures that stepped forth. It was a bipedal creature clad in some metallic armor with gold decorations. It wielded an axe that glittered in the direct sunlight. It had a helmet that was festooned with golden decorations as well as a pair of ivory horns, though the helmet did nothing to hide the facial hair that seemed to run all the way to the creature's knees - a big beard, even if the creature was about as large as a pony. As slowly as it had stepped into the open, it became clear that there were more of these things. Some had leather tunics instead of metal armor, but they looked nonetheless menacing. As she glanced around, Fluttershy noticed that there were more of them. They were completely surrounded! She tried to make herself as small as possible as her friends got ready for a fight which these things were looking like they wanted. They had these evil glares in their eyes. They stood there silently for a moment before the figure that first showed itself - likely their leader - raised his axe and pointed it towards her and her friends.

"Are you friendly or are you foe?"
The horses stood there, obviously frozen in terror if the one with the cream coat and pink mane could be taken seriously.

"Answer me! I know that you can speak! My patience is wearing thin!" The king said, taking a step towards the things while sneering.
The purple creature stepped forward, still wary, but a lot less scared now that it had gotten over the initial shock.

"That depends on whether you're looking for trouble or not. If you're going to harm me or my friends, you're in for a fight."
Thirgaz was annoyed.

"That does not answer my question, horse."
The unicorn - It was definitely a unicorn, even if it was mule-sized - raised an eyebrow at that.

"Umm, I believe the proper term is pony. That, or a mare, since I am not a stallion obviously. But we are not looking for trouble, if that answers your question."
Thirgaz sighed as he laid down his weapon, placing it in it's sheath in his belt before bellowing to his kinsmen in dwarfish. As soon as he did so, the other dwarves began to echo his actions, confusing the horses - or ponies, it didn't really matter to the dwarf king at this point.

"Then that's good enough for me. I am King Thirgaz of Karak Ungzan of the dwarf people." The battle-tested warrior said, taking off his helmet, which revealed his face. It had a scar along his right eye.
A moment of silence passed between the ponies as they looked at eachother in confusion before the purple unicorn looked back at the king.

"What's a dwarf?"
Thirgaz facepalmed as he sighed. They were truly in a place where his people have never existed.

"We are Dawi. People of the Mountains. Known to others as the dwarven race." Thirgaz explained. He wasn't comfortable giving more information than that, however, they did answer a question for him unintentionally.
They have not heard of us or our people before, he thought.
Thirgaz ignored the curious looks from the small horses, and continued with his line of questions.

"Tell me, where are we, what is the name of this land?"

"What is your name as well, horse - or pony, doesn't matter to me - since you seem intelligent enough to belong to one."
During the short time between the king's questions some of the throng had pulled out pipes and pouches containing pipe weed and stamped them full, lighting them and taking puffs,all the while scrutinizing these tiny horses. One of the dwarves carrying a massive hammer noticed the cream-white mare and her hair style and nudged one of his brethren standing next to him. Rarity, noticing the attention smiled at them tenetively.

"She looks like an ufdi." The hammerer chuckled, the other hammerer smirked and replied "Don't make me hit you. Look serious." This conversation had been made in Khazalid - the ancient language of the dwarves - as to keep their "guests" from overhearing. Rarity, unable to make heads or tails of this language merely heard words that sounded like stones grinding together, waved a hoof at the two. Both dwarfs nodded their heads and chuckled again.
As the purple unicorn introduced herself and her friends, the pink pony began spluttering words out of her mouth in a rapid manner.

"OHMYGOSHITOTALLYNEEDTOTHROWAWELCOMETOPONYVILLEPARTYFORYOUAFTERALLYOUARETHINGSI'VENEVERSEENBEFORE!" Pinkie said before she zoomed in the direction of the town, leaving behind confused dwarves and a giggling Twilight.

"No need to worry about Pinkie Pie, King Thirgaz. She is just doing what she does whenever a new pony comes to town - throws them a party to welcome them."
Thirgaz' one good eye flared at that as his kinsmen were still a bit surprised about the speed that the pony took off. They sobered up instantly as Thirgaz put his helmet back on and began to bark orders in Khazalid.

"Everyone get ready for the trip back to the mountain! We won't let these ponies fool us!"
Instantly the dwarves got up, some blowing a last puff of smoke before putting their pipes back in the safety of their coats before forming up. This confused Twilight and the others.

"What's going on?"
Thirgaz looked at Twilight menacingly.

"We are not quite trustful of you. This party of yours sounds like a trap to me."
Twilight took a step forward as she tried to plead with the dwarf.

"But why would we try to harm you? I thought we were friends!"
The dwarf king shook his head in disappointment and slight contempt.

"It takes more than answering a king's question to become friend to his people, horse. Remember that."
With that, the king bellowed the order to move out. As slowly as the dwarves had first appeared, they were gone. Minutes after they had gone, Twilight and the others could still hear the footsteps of the dwarves as metal boots met stone floor.

"Well that dude sure could learn some manners." Dash said eventually.

"Indeed. And that stuff they put into their pipes, urgh! It smells just horrible!" Rarity said, gagging a bit as she waved her hoof in front of her face.

"Not the most diplomatic circumstances, true. But the Princess should be told about this! Maybe royal negotiations would help these 'dwarves' warm up to us. Oh, I can't wait to learn about their culture!"

It had been almost a month since King Thirgaz and his people first established contact with the ponies of this strange land that they called Equestria. Strangely enough the ponies didn't try to speak with the king again until only two weeks ago, when the same purple unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, had come to announce that the main figure of authority of Equestria, Princess Celestia, was coming to negotiate peace and possible trade routes. The tales that the unicorn told the dwarves of this Celestia's abilities beggared belief.

"You expect us to believe that this princess of yours raises the sun?"

"I tell this from personal experience. You see, I am the princess' personal protége as well as her student."

"It changes nothing, Twilight Sparkle." Thirgaz said, resting his head on the stone throne that the Goldmine clan's best smiths and quarry workers had fashioned.
Twilight sighed as she came to the conclusion that she needed more than words to have the dwarf king believe her.

"I suppose I cannot convince you here. Perhaps when the Princess arrives, you will believe me."

"We shall see. You are dismissed, Twilight Sparkle. My cousin Angr will escort you back to the entrance to this mountain." The king said, motioning with his hand for the next one who was looking for an audience to step up.
With no other choice, Twilight started to walk back towards the hold's entrance, the king's cousin in tow.

"If you don't mind me asking Angr, do you think your cousin will react favorably to my idea?"
The dwarf shrugged.

"Not my place to answer that, Twilight Sparkle. As long as your requests are reasonable and we benefit from it, you can rest assured that our dwarven steel will be there when you need it." The dwarf said simply, having had to answer the same kinds of questions in the past by human ambassadors.

It was a long wait. But eventually, on the last day of the month, one of the rangers had come before King Thirgaz and told him that three airborne carriages were coming, pulled by pegasi and bearing important-looking ponies.
The king took a swig from his tankard, emptying it before calling his shieldbearers forth.
As the dwarf king and his hammerers stepped outside, they saw the carriages which were made from some white material and was gilded with gold. At such short distance the dwarves were surprised at the quality of the gold itself, which was basically flawless. It had been carved a bit shoddy, but it was to be expected - one cannot simply fashion a work of art with something so inconvenient as hooves.
As the carriages came down, the armored pegasi that pulled the transports gave way to two large ponies with both wings and horns, as well as Twilight Sparkle herself and an unknown unicorn.

"This must be the princess Twilight Sparkle told us about." Thirgaz thought, immobile on top of the shield that he stood on. It also made sure that the dwarf stood on eye-to-eye level with the larger pony. She had a flowing mane that shimmered in bright colours even though the wind was nonexistent today. She also had this air about her, made the dwarf less reserved before Thirgaz noticed this and sternly shook off the influence. She was also flanked by another pony like her.
The second winged unicorn was a deep blue, with a flowing mane as well, but this one glowed with dark colours.

"So you must be the Princess Celestia Twilight Sparkle told me about."

"You are correct, King Thirgaz of the dwarf people. I am Princess Celestia, responsible for the raising of the sun. This is my sister, Luna who is responsible for the moon." The alicorn said, gesturing towards the deep blue pony who nodded.

"You say that you control the sun. I do not quite believe it. You do not look like you could handle such a task." Thirgaz said in a manner-of-factly tone.
The unicorn that arrived with Twilight Sparkle was about to tell the dwarf to respect the princess before Twilight put her hoof on the guard's shoulder.

"Don't do it, Shining. They'll understand eventually." Thirgaz heard the unicorn say to the other unicorn.

"Thou art skeptic of our powers? Doth thou request a demonstration?" Princess Luna said, using the royal voice, though not yelling like she did in the past.

"Aye. Actions speak louder than words, princess." Thirgaz said, grinning to himself.
Luna looked at her sister, who nodded before her horn lit up. The sun began to visibly move towards the horizon and the moon soon showed itself. Thirgaz was impressed but that was magic they used. He spat at the ground in front of them, though the ponies paid that motion no attention.

"Even though you use magic, you have proven that you spoke truth. Now, state your business."
Celestia stepped forward and hoofed the dwarf over a piece of vellum that seemed like a contract at a glance.

"What is this?" Thirgaz said, raising his gaze towards the princess of the sun.

"A trade agreement. We will provide our wares for yours and allow commerce to flourish in Equestria. Twilight has told me of your people and seeing you with my own eyes tell me that while you may be a bit hard to understand, our two peoples can become friends. Hopefully this will allow us to plant the seeds of friendship between us and your people."

"What would you have that we would need, Celestia?" Thirgaz said, crossing his arms.

"We have construction materials, clothes and wood for your forges. Not to mention metals that you would be able to use."

"We have a mountain to hack at with our pickaxes and our clothes are made from the hides of the creatures around these lands. We do not need wood either, for we make use of a flammable black liquid which does more than wood would ever do." Thirgaz said, pointing with his thumb towards the mountain which was behind them.

"We also have gold. I noticed how you looked at the golden decorations of my carriage."
The dwarves eyes all lit up at the mention of the hallowed metal.

"This gold that you have on your transports seems like a fair representation of your best. But I need to feel it with my own hands." Thirgaz said, rubbing his forefinger and thumb together. The ponies understood this and Celestia motioned for Shining Armor to bring forth a chest full of bits. It opened and the dwarves looked at the bits hungrily.

"Gold..." One of the hammerers muttered in Khazalid.

"Look at it shine..." A second one said, almost unable to keep himself from lunging at the chest.

"And they say they have lots of this." A third one said to himself.
Thirgaz heard them and a quick glance towards them made them shut up. Knowing that the dwarves would not rob their king of a gift, he ordered his guards to lower the shield that he stood on, quickly moving to the chest. He took one of the golden coins, feeling it with his fingers. He bit on it and was surprised at how soft it was. This was very high-quality gold.

"You say you have more of this?"
The princess nodded.

"Now you're talking my language. I think that this friendship-business of yours is going to be a profitable one for us both."
Thirgaz stepped in front of the princess.

"You promise to fulfill your ends of any bargains you make with my people and we will do the same. But try to cross us and you will pay dearly. Make no mistake, Celestia." The king said, his tone accusatory.

"I promise this in front of all your people, King Thirgaz. Let it be known that from now on that the Dwarves are a race of Equestria and friends of ponies. The small town of Ponyville would be glad to welcome you should you wish to visit. Wouldn't they, Twilight?" Celestia said, looking at her student.

"Absolutely! You're always welcome." Twilight beamed.
As an afterthought, she also added that Pinkie would be really excited for their first visit, which Thirgaz groaned at.

The next week was busy for the dwarves as Thirgaz was explained about ponies lifestyles, architecture and how they were herbivores, though that was already quite clear to the king. Likewise, Thirgaz had made sure that the Equestrians understand and respect the dwarves and their traditions as the ponies were given access to the public areas of the hold. A pair of colts, apparently going by the name of Snips and Snails had unintentionally made fun of a statue of Grimnir and it took a lot of convincing and apologizing for the dwarves to calm down and even then the two colts had been banned from every religious area, like the Shrine of Grungni and Valaya. And the dwarves got eventually a good taste of Applejack's famous apple cider. Most of them passed it off as a good cider, but dwarven ale was better in all cases. Her pies were passed off as an appetizer for the meaty main course, which the farmer didn't mind one bit - at least until she noticed how much the dwarves actually ate. Working in the mines is tough work and they need nutrition - something that AJ was hardpressed to deliver to the dwarves since she had not expected them to eat this much.
Rainbow Dash was also given a mug of the nutritious beer when she failed to obtain a mug of cider from AJ's stand in Ponyville. It was fortunate that it was of the lighter variety, for Dash was soon booted out of the city for reckless behaviour.
Pinkie Pie had also shown Ponyville to some of the beardlings who'd decided to visit the rural town, though her parties and such were scowled at for being childish, not to mention that pranks were usually making the dwarves tempers flare. The party pony had to promise not to prank on any dwarf ever again, a promise which she has kept ever since to the surprise of some longbeards. A few of the older ones even thought about opening a tavern in town. Some of the richer ponies, like Diamond Tiara and her father Filthy Rich, even managed to obtain some dwarven goods and furniture with their large sum of bits, though the dwarves were rather adamant about getting the better part of the deal - something that Filthy admired about them. Most of the furniture happened to be just perfect for ponies, but despite that the dwarves began to make something more fitting - some of them didn't like sitting like the dwarves did.
Fluttershy was absolutely horrified of the fact that the dwarves ate meat. How could they kill all those innocent animals!?
The dwarves merely responded by saying that if she doesn't like it, she can take it up with the king. She actually tried to seek an audience with Thirgaz at first, but her timid nature eventually kept her from doing that. She did however manage to ask the dwarves to keep their poaching near Ponyville to a minimum - something that the dwarves agreed to, albeit through clenched teeth.

And despite their best efforts, the dwarves couldn't manage to have a single normal day with ponies since.

Author's Note

Many thanks to Malus Darkblade for helping me overcome my writer's block and being the co-author for this story!