As the Whirlwind finally reached the stone-paved main road, exiting Canterlot city proper, Artemis flapped her wings to better survey the hilly terrain. The area surrounding Canterlot was mostly farm estates of moderate size. Not as luxurious as the grand villas of the hinterlands, but not as small as the sharecropper villages further out. Each farm was unique in its own special way: by crop, or by layout, or by orientation, or by the home built upon it. The ponies here were examples of Equestria's agricultural middle class, with easy access to irrigation and a large market for their goods right at their doorstep. If not for the rules enforcing small-holdership on these lands, some rich noblepony would have surely consolidated all of the acreage. But, like Canterlot itself, these lands were carefully stewarded. 