“And since so many ponies were mining,” continued Catskill, “metals were flooding the market and the price was dropping like crazy. Most of the ponies just got up and moved to the Empire. It was warmer there, anyway. Six months after the Empire was back, Mystic’s population had more than doubled. Another year later, and it was less than a quarter of what it had been. Now, there’s only one pony who still lives here.”