Benath the Plains of Mustangia

by TwoTrenchcoats

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Drama, Original Character, Mystery, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack
Length: 6303

The ponies of Mustangia live outside like wild animals. They eat grass off the ground like cattle and bathe in the river. Separate from the world, trapped in the past.

The mustangs are one of the oldest communities in Equestria, but hardly anything is known about them. All records and information are vague at best, but what is available is concerning. They live outside, use primitive stone tools, and eat grass from the ground like livestock.

Scientific curiosity piqued, Twilight ventures to the plains of Mustangia to see the mustang ponies for herself and introduce the modern world to a community trapped in the past.

But history points to a dark secret hidden just underneath the idyllic surface of the rolling hills. If Twilight digs too deep she may find something that was better off buried....

Published 2024-04-10 13:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2024-04-12 02:27:28 UTC

Chapter 1

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.

Author's Note

I may not update very frequently. I'm giving this story plenty of time to cook, and it's paying off.

The title and cover art may change and I may add tags as I go along. It's going to be a journey, and one I hope you will accompany me on. (And one I hope I will be able to see to completion.

As always, any comments and thoughts are more than welcome. I read them all. I hope you have a better day than you did yesterday.

Chapter 2

Unsurprisingly, the stopover at Appaloosa extended much longer than Twilight had originally planned or hoped for. Applejack’s massive extended family was hospitable to a fault and before she realized what was happening they had already been there for a week and had enough apple themed food stuffed into their supplies to last them for months. It took a full day of subtle (and not so subtle) hints and reminders to Applejack to peel her away and even then, some of the more stubborn family members insisted on following them around as they made their final preparations.

“It sure was great to see you again, Applejack,” one of the hundreds of cousins (...Braeburn?) said, at least making himself useful by helping load their luggage into their rented wagon. “Too bad you can’t stay around a bit longer, but I suppose you gotta hit the trail. Where did you say y’all were headed again?”

“Mustangia,” Applejack answered, cinching the harness of the wagon firmly around her withers, “Ever been?”

Braeburn whistled through his teeth, “Headin’ back to the old pasture, eh? Naw, never been there myself, but I reckon a few of the ponies here have wandered over a time or two. Nice place I hear, have to bring me back a souvenir. Maybe a sapling, I hear the soil there is great for growin’ trees.”

“Do you have any idea how to get there?” Twilight asked, desperately trying to keep the conversation on track.

Braeburn smiled indulgently, “There ain’t no set way to get to Mustangia, princess,” he said, “just follow the trail until there ain’t a trail anymore and then keep goin’ until you run into someone, chances are they’ll be a mustang. If you want somethin’ more specific maybe…two, three days trip? Provided you go at a steady trot the whole time.”

Twilight thanked him for the information and turned to her map, forcing the conversation between the cousins into the background. It’s what she had been doing for most of this extended visit when she wasn’t getting various apple pastries shoved in her face. She was either studying her maps or trying to subtly ask around about Mustangia. She may not have succeeded at the subtle part but, thankfully the Appaloosa ponies were a friendly bunch and answered her questions with only a few odd glances here and there.

It was a common trend that mostly only old ponies had any sort of memories of Mustangia with the younger generation only having heard about it second-hoof. Unfortunately, none of the old folks had anything to say that Twilight didn’t already know, so in the end it was just a way to waste time until they were on the move again.

After another torturous twenty minutes of well-wishes the conversation finally petered out and Twilight and Applejack were on their way through the gate that separated Appaloosa from the wilderness beyond, and presumably, from Mustangia.

Spring had well and truly come to Appaloosa and the landscape that stretched out before them had transformed from a barren desert to a flat prairie as far as the eye could see and the grass only got thicker and greener the further they traveled. Every now and then, Twilight spotted a wild rabbit or field mouse going about their little critter business and wondered if the Appaloosa ponies woke up the hibernating animals outside their wooden border or if they were already in the wild lands of the mustang ponies.

Following Braeburn’s advice, they maintained a steady trot all day, only stopping for a light lunch of cucumber sandwiches before continuing on again. Conversation was kept to a minimum and, by Twilight’s estimation, they made good time. Their combination of Twilight’s alicorn advantages and Applejack’s natural earth pony stamina meant that the loaded wagon hardly interfered with their progress and by the time the sun started to set, and they stopped to make camp, Twilight was pleased with the distance they had traveled.

Applejack set up the tents with the confidence of a pony who has gone camping several times in her life and Twilight left her to her expertise, tasking herself with lighting the fire and setting out the supplies they would need for dinner. Mushrooms, leeks, potatoes, and half of a water jar into a kettle over the fire, crusty bread, a chunk of cheese, and an assortment of apple treats all set out in order of size and health benefits. Quite a lavish dinner considering the surroundings, more in line with an extravagant afternoon picnic with Rarity, but Twilight felt like celebrating finally getting out of Appaloosa and away from all those noisy, overbearing Apple ponies.

“Can’t say I like our supplies sittin’ out in the open like this,”Applejack said, frowning at the wagon and glancing around the area, “All manner of wild critter could root around in there durin’ the night and we’d be none the wiser. Wish there was a tree to string ‘em up into.”

Twilight nodded thoughtfully, stirring the bubbling soup. Trees had been few and far between while they had been walking, just miles and miles of rolling grassland. Making camp by a tree would be a wise move especially if it started to rain. She made a mental note to look out for trees in the future when looking to make camp. “I can put a ward on the wagon,” she offered as a solution to their current problem, “that would keep animals away from it while we slept.

Applejack looked uncertain, “Not sure if lightin’ up your horn out here would be a good idea,either, sugarcube,” she said, “We don’t know what kind of varmints live out here, might be some that are attracted to magic and the like. Ain’t that how it is in the Everfree Forest?”

Twilight hadn’t considered that. The trip had been so peaceful she had forgotten that they were essentially in a different version of the Everfree. A wide open…completely exposed Everfree, with no hiding places, and she had lit a fire that could probably be seen all the way back in Appaloosa and started cooking food. Food that could attract all manner of wild animals, friendly or–she fought the urge to violently douse the flames and looked around with newfound anxiety. “Maybe we should take turns sleeping?” she offered, “we can keep an eye on our supplies and watch out for any unknown wildlife that might be living here.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Applejack agreed, finally settling down by the fire and looking at the food. “You got quite the spread set up here, Twilight,” she said with a smile, “what’re we celebratin’?”

She couldn’t hurt Applejack’s feelings with the truth, but she couldn’t lie to her friend either. Twilight busied herself with ladling the soup into bowls, “Nothing really,” she tried, “just happy to be properly on the road, I guess. Plus, we covered a lot of ground today! That’s worth celebrating, I think.”

“It sure is!” Applejack grinned, “And here I thought you were happy to finally get away from my kinfolk.” She laughed at Twilight’s abashed face and gave her shoulder a rough shove, “Don’t worry, sugarcube, I ain’t mad! I know they can be a lot to handle, and I imagine it can’t be easy for a–well–for a former unicorn to understand how earth pony families work.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, my understandin’ of unicorns is that you don’t keep track of your extended family all that much. There’s you and your brother and your parents, and that’s it. Same for all unicorns, or all the ones I’ve talked to about it anyway. Earth ponies keep in touch with everyone; all the uncles and aunts, cousins, nieces, and nephews, and a lot of them all live together in one great big house too. Family is everything to an earth pony.”

Twilight considered her words as she sipped carefully at her soup. She never really thought about her family outside of those in her house before and it hadn’t occurred to her that not everyone else was the same way. She had attributed Applejack’s closeness with her family to be a trait restricted to that family rather than all earth ponies, but it would explain why Pinkie Pie was so excited at the prospect of possibly being a distant relative of the Apple family, and why so many earth ponies could be so sure of their family history. Twilight could have seen her grandmother on the street every day and she never would have known who she was.

Conversation dwindled as they ate and when they had put everything away and doused the fire the subject came up of who would take the first watch.

“You go ahead and get some sleep, Twilight,” Applejack said, “I’ll wake you up when I get too tired.”

That seemed as good a choice as any and Twilight found no reason to argue. She bid Applejack goodnight and crawled into her tent.

Alicorn advantages or not, she must have been more tired than she realized because she didn’t even remember laying down before her eyes shot open again. Applejack hadn’t woken her and the air around her was as silent as a wild plain filled with insects and night birds could be, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Ears straining to hear something past the cacophony of nightlife, Twilight unzipped her tent and poked her head outside.

Dim light from the crescent moon painted a hazy picture of the camp; long dead fire, the wagon of supplies, Applejack’s tent, and Applejack herself, sitting with her back to Twilight, still as a statue with her hat on the ground beside her. Her back was straight as a fencepost and twice as rigid as she stared out into the darkness around the camp like a Canterlot guard.

“Applejack,” Twilight whispered, “is everything alright?”

The earth pony didn’t turn around, but her ear flicked back in Twilight’s direction. “M’hm,” she hummed, barely audible over the roar of early cicadas, “Just a couple wolves, nothin’ to worry about yet.”

Twilight squinted into the darkness but couldn’t see anything other than shadows on top of shadows. “Would you like me to take over for a while?” she offered.

“No, I’m alright. Go back to sleep, sugarcube.”

“Alright.” Twilight pulled her head back into her tent and zipped it shut again. She strained her ears for several agonizing minutes, searching for any noise other than shouldn’t be there, but there was nothing. No footfalls in the grass, no panting breath of some predator, she couldn’t even smell anything out of place. But if Applejack said there were wolves then there were wolves and the fact that she couldn’t sense anything was more troubling than comforting.

Feeling the need to make as little noise as possible she laid on top of her sleeping bag instead of crawling inside it. She didn’t expect to fall asleep again but suddenly there was light outside her tent and Applejack hadn’t come to wake her up all night.

~*~*~

Applejack didn’t say anything about the night before and Twilight didn’t have the heart to scold her for staying up all night. She just promised to take the next night’s watch, provided they didn’t reach Mustangia before nightfall. Applejack didn’t argue and after a quiet breakfast they packed up their supplies and headed out again at a slightly slower pace to compensate for her sleepless night.

About eight hours into the day, just before they planned to stop for lunch, they reached the end of the trail just like Braeburn had said they would, meaning they were officially in Mustangia. All they had to do now was keep going until they spotted someone, an admittedly vague and daunting task given the sheer scale of the area, but Twilight had searched bigger haystacks and found a needle. She was more concerned about Applejack making it to nightfall without collapsing. The lack of a hard-packed trail made pulling the wagon all the more strenuous. She kept insisting that she was fine and going on about earth pony stamina and endurance, but Twilight wasn’t going to take any chances. She announced a long lunch and persuaded Applejack to take an hour nap before heading out again.

When she had started preparations for this journey, Twilight had been expecting walking through Mustangia to be similar to maneuvering through the Everfree Forest. Eerie and unsettling with strange noises and the threat of danger around every corner. It had never occurred to her that it would be so…pretty. The flat prairie that had emerged from the desert of Mustangia had transformed again, this time into rolling hills of thick green grass dotted with white and yellow flowers. A few clusters of trees were visible here and there, covered with fresh spring leaves and pink blossoms, and she could see the sunlight sparkling off a river in the distance, right at the edge of her ability to see. The air was thick with the warm smell of sweet, sun-soaked grass and daisies. Twilight had forgotten somehow that daisies just…grew out of the ground.

Whether she would admit it or not, the nap had done Applejack some good and they made better time in the second half of the day than they had in the first. Still, Twilight didn’t want to push her friend too hard so she decided to set up camp a little early and urged Applejack to head straight to bed after dinner.

“Alright, but you give me a holler if you notice anything, y’hear?”

Twilight promised that she would and took her spot by the fire, approximately where Applejack had been the night before and settled in for a long night. A childhood of long nights spent cramming for tests had prepared her for times like this and the night passed without incident and no sign of any unpleasant creatures of the night.

~*~*~

“How much farther do you reckon we’ve got to go?” Applejack asked, breaking the comfortable silence that had clung to them since they had started walking.

“It’s hard to say,” Twilight frowned at the green landscape before them, “It would make sense for a civilization to be located close to the water so heading to the river is our best option so far. If we don’t find anything there we can at least refill our water supplies while we plan our next–” sudden movement to her left caught her eye. A pony was standing like she had just sprung up out of the ground, the movement Twilight had seen had been a flick of her tail, the only part of her that seemed to move.

How had she not noticed her there?

“Uh…good afternoon!” Twilight called out hesitantly, “my name is Twilight, and this is my friend Applejack, we’re looking for Mustangia, are we close?”

The pony looked puzzled but came closer and Twilight was able to get a better look at her. She was a simple light bay colored earth pony with a dark brown mane and tail, a little tangled and windswept, with a few bluish colored streaks in it. She regarded Twilight with curious brown eyes, “I do not know the place you speak of,” she said slowly, glancing between the two of them, “but if you are in need of a place to stay you are welcome in the herd.”

“Do you and your kin live nearby?” Applejack asked and the strange mare nodded.

“Where the herd lives has no name,” she said, “we simply call it home, but I imagine it is the place that you are looking for, winged unicorn. It is the place that the other of your kind is always looking for.”

“You know Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked, perking up, “you must be a mustang pony then?”

“I am Cornflower,” the mare said, “I will take you to the herd. You will want to speak with Mushroom and he will want to speak to you.” She promptly turned and started walking away, apparently expecting Twilight and Applejack to follow.

Twilight’s head was reeling. She didn’t know what she had been expecting from the mustang ponies. Suspicion? Hostility, maybe? Perhaps she was expecting them to come at them with spears and clubs like savages. Whatever she had unconsciously thought was going to happen, it wasn’t this…lukewarm reception that they had received.

Cornflower’s speech had surprised her too. She hadn’t expected such an eloquent manner of speech from ponies who supposedly shunned the rest of ponykind. Maybe it was hideously presumptuous of her, but she had expected them to be more…primitive. Cornflower was anything but, though she hardly represented all of the mustang ponies, it was still a surprise, and a rather humbling one at that. Twilight would have to make sure to keep a more open mind from now on.

She almost ran into Cornflower’s rump before she realized that the mare had suddenly stopped. “Is something wrong?”

The mare looked back at her and gestured ahead vaguely with her hoof. “Welcome to the herd.”

Author's Note

I'm hoping to make Thursday a regular upload day, but no promises. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!