It was a clear daytime in a small and quaint village surrounded by high hills and a sinuous river going across from the southern part of the valley.

Pastel-colored butterflies were freely fluttering around a hedge array of lush lilac bushes that decorated the granite-cobblestoned town hall square… a beautiful spring scene that a fancy-looking stallion appreciated through a window.

"Mayor Smith?"

Turning his head to the source of the polite female voice, he blinked curiously. A top hat was over his curly light gray mane, his peach-colored average body was attired with an elegant black-striped suit and vivid red tie, and a golden monocle graced one of his light green eyes. In his flank, he sported a black pen tracing the letters F and S together in italic style as his cutie mark.

The stallion's gaze contemplated his office upon hearing his title. Pale gray walls and roof made the inside of the enclosed area, with a light blue floor mostly covered by a red rug. There were about six book shelves, two pair of flowerpots having different kind of plants each put to both sides of the burgundy door, some abstract art pictures and framed certificates on the wall in front of the well-dressed pony, a piano on the upper right corner on his vision field around the workplace, a pendulum clock filling the air with its mechanical sound, a big white table with cushioned green chairs used for conferences or debates, and his personal desk occupied by family photos, scrolls, documents, inkwells, seals and a desk lamp.

Facing his desk some feet away from distance was a cornflower blue unicorn mare with beige bob-cut hair and cutie mark of two checked yellow notes clipped together. As usual, his diligent secretary worked her magic on a white computer in order to operate it. Right now, she stopped what she was doing to talk him about something. Through the dark purple glasses she wore, her maroon eyes looked at her boss, holding an attentive expression.

"Yes, my dear Penny?" Mr. Smith offered a smile.

"I just finished registering the most recent census of Neigh Town population in our database." Penny informed. "Twenty-one pony denizens overall, which include both of us."

The unicorn then used the mouse to click on a window in the PC's screen and show a pie chart with the pink portion taking most of the half of it, the remaining portion being blue. The Mayor came closer to Penny's work spot to watch the statistic gauge. "According to this graphic, about 67% of the citizens are female while the 33% represents the male gender." Using her telekinetic dark blue aura, the secretary pressed the right arrow key to show the next slide. "I also calculated the ponykind that our town has: 57% represents the earth type which almost all of the stallions are, 24% unicorns, 14% Pegasi and 5% being of the unicorn-Pegasus crossbred, also known as Cerapter."

"We both know very well who got that 5%." The mayor let out a little chuckle. "Quite unique he is among everypony else. Just another thing I love about Neigh Town: our quirky charm." He closed his eyes, pride and bliss evident on his smirking face.

"Neigh Town indeed has grown up so quickly in just one year after its construction." The blue mare admitted. "I don't think Mr. & Mrs. Young would ever have imagined their newly founded village could get the attention from other inhabitants of Segundo, let alone Primero and Ultimo continents."

The Mayor just gave a solemn nod as his secretary referred to the couple; he also couldn't help but letting out a sigh. He then noticed Penny herself realized she accidentally mentioned his deceased family members, and before she came up with an apology by upsetting him with such a sensitive issue, he rose up a foreleg and said with a grin.

"In resume, ponies from all Everlot."

"Huh… I… Yes, I guess." She faltered out, confused by his sudden change.

"No need to worry about talking about the very founders of our village." He assured his secretary. "Though, it's still unbelievable for all of us they had to go like that… even to this day." The fancy stallion said, trying to not sound sad. "May my baby sister and brother-in-law rest in peace." He uttered this last sentence almost as a soft mutter.

The unicorn pony remained silent, just listening to her bureaucrat friend.

"After the funeral at Flowery Hills, I promised myself to follow my sister's hoofsteps about leadership and take care of her kiddos as if they're my children. I used to be their counselor back when Neigh Town was born." Putting his hoof on his heart and closing his eyes, the stallion firmly stated. "But now, I, Frank Smith, have to be strong and kind for my family and people."

The Mayor felt a comforting pat on his shoulder and saw the blue unicorn giving him a small smile.

"I trust you, Frank. I really do." It was rare for Penny to call the Mayor for his real first name, especially while in his office, but she didn't care at the moment. She had a pony to give good support to. "Your nephew and niece trust you. We all trust you. Everypony here is your friend, even the new residents."

"And let's not forget my son, his marefriend and the ones who lived here before they went to live somewhere else. Wherever they are, I will have them in my heart for their help and friendship." Frank expressed with a nostalgic smile. Though deep down, he forlornly thought. "Well, almost all of them..."

Telepathy wasn't her skill, but it could as Penny mentally spat a thought in mild anger: "All our former residents except her! She definitely doesn't deserve pity from any of us after what she did to Neigh Town, especially to our Mayor!" Back to reality, she added. "And somewhere beyond our understanding, they both would trust too."

"You know, I never thought you were the type of pony to give moral support." Frank laughed with a snicker.

"Just because I'm your shy yes-mare and educated clerk doesn't mean I can't become your counselor… even of anyone else for the matter, can I?" The blue mare pretended to be offended, playfully smirking. She did an accusative hoof gesture at the stallion, her reserved manner being left aside to have fun with her headpony. "Blame yourself for that, Frank. You indirectly taught me!"

The peach-colored pony laughed and happily sighed. "Thank you for your loyalty, Penelope."

Penny nodded with a smile. "You're welcome, Mayor Smith."

The fancy clock on the wall made its reverberant gong sound.

"Hmm, it's nine o'clock." Penny noticed. She then summoned a clipboard out of nowhere and read the items listed on it. Bringing a red pen under her table, she checked a blank square. "Save and register Census #004... Check!" *squee* She then made the clipboard dissapear with a blue magic puff.

"What's the next to-do action for today, my esteemed assistant?" The Mayor asked in his usual happy mood.

Albeit slightly snickering, the unicorn held her professional posture. "We have to arrange a reunion with the Squad Trio and have them in the round table to discuss about the weather schedule for the upcoming weekend. The event is meant to be done this afternoon."

"Perfect." The elegant earth pony stallion said with a soft grin. "Now, it's time for you to pay a visit to Miss Winter-White and her friends and inform them of the meeting."

"On it, Mayor Smith." Penny magically closed all windows of her computer and shut the electronic machine down. After that, she trotted towards to door.

"Oh, and Penny?" The Mayor called his secretary before she left his office to do her job.

The unicorn stopped just past the doorframe and turned around, blinking. "Is there anything else I can do for you, Mayor Smith?"

"For tomorrow, I would like you come with me to Saddle Side to see a good friend of mine I haven't seen since... you know..." He hesitated to continue.

Penny nodded with understanding and gave a small smile.

"Are you planning to visit Mr. Roble?" The unicorn asked. "The local carpenter of the farmland hamlet northeast to our village?"

"I see you remember him."

"Of course, who doesn't? He was one of the too many workers hired to build Neigh Town." Penny then reminded to the Mayor. "And don't forget our citizen Mr. Slate helped on that too."

"I know. Bruno is the only workpony who decided to stay with us." He smiled. "Anyway, I miss my Noble buddy so much... even though we both have our places somewhat close to each other." Frank couldn't help but chuckling... but it didn't last as a little frown made way to his face. "But we haven't had time to catch up with our lives..." Looking at his secretary with expectant green eyes and other of his pleasant smiles, he asked. "So, what do you say?"

The unicorn pony pondered a few seconds about the invitation. "Alright." She accepted. "That sounds nice. It also would be better for me to know our neighbor hamlet's inhabitants in case we need their help or viceversa again." Meanwhile on her brain: "I have heard good references and an interesting description about Saddle Side but I never was in there myself."

"That's the spirit." The peach-colored pony broadly grinned. "Though it will be just a casual encounter. Got it?"

Penny returned a playful snort as a reply. "I get it."

"Well, that's all I wanted to tell you. Now, you can go and proceed with the task on hoof."

"Yes, Mayor Smith." And with that, the blue mare left the Mayor's office and the town hall.

Once alone, Frank went to take seat on his desk to examine some documents and check what else needed to be done for the day.

"Let's see..." The Mayor said to none in particular while reading a scroll and taking the quill out of the inkwell. "I still need to finish this petition for an Evernet conection I want to get installed in my village. After that, I will have Miss Summers to send the request to Electric City's Evernet Company so that they answer it." As he was about to write the rest of the petition letter, he fixed his eyes at one of his framed photos next to the paperwork.

A tear of nostalgia was hidden behind his monocle as the fancy-looking stallion saw a picture of himself hugging his only son: a bigger-than-the-average and robust brown earth pony with short black hair, dark yellow eyes and cutie mark of a pink teddy bear. "My Abby made that lime green sweater for my Ted boy on his last birthday." He thought as he looked at the woolen clothing the other stallion of his same blood wore. Then, Frank closed his eyes as a sorrowful fact of his past came to his mind. "Since the divorce, he keeps putting it on everyday to remind his mother's sweet side before she went and took the wrong way in life..."

Seeing the smirk on Ted's face made Frank think of his whenever he was around other ponies he knew. "Just like that famous saying." He chuckled and tenderly patted the photo like if it was actually his big colt.

"How I would wish to see you again, my Ted boy...?" The Mayor whispered to the picture. "I wonder how you're doing right now in that super high-technologic floating island which you and your marefriend moved to..."

He suddenly furrowed his forehead to express his annoyance at such a decision of place to live by his son's part. "That sophisticated, selfish, little chunk of earth on the sky above Segundo seldom uses the traditional mail service which bothers me a lot... simply 'cause I can't contact you!" He emphasized the last part of his sentence by gritting his teeth. He then snapped out of it and coughed, realizing he was doing something quite off about himself. He usually didn't like feeling angry or mad at things that upset him so much.

Regaining composture and closing his eyes, The Mayor stated. "But I have my hopes on Miss Summers. She'll manage to do something about it by delivering my request letter to ECEC." His eyes flashed some determination as he added. "It will be a wonderful adaptation for the southern regions of our precious continent." He gave a very firm nod as a proof he wanted the best for his community. "Also, our idiosyncrasy would be increased."

He shot a smirk the photo. "With Evernet in Neigh Town, we finally can catch up or maybe even I can properly convince you to visit your lovely hometown, my big Ted boy." A brief pause. "Someday, just wait."

And whithout further ado, Mayor Smith resumed his hoof-written document, now filled with more confidence than ever.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading what I consider the prologue of this series.
I kinda think I have a odd way of writing sometimes...

Stay tuned for more episodes.

Until next time!