Bitterroot stared into her half-full glass and swished the beer around again. The situation had left a bad taste in her mouth that hadn’t even dimmed slightly yet. For all the princesses’ bleating about “friendship” and “harmony”, ponies could be remarkably backstabbing. Heck, the presence of the Royal Guard proved that; if nopony ever tried to do anything wrong, the Guard would never need to serve any law-enforcement roles. And that was within Equestria, the supposed heart of friendship and harmony. Out here… “lawless” was, perhaps, a bit strong. But the land was definitely wilder. Maybe it was because Bitterroot didn’t know many ponies in the Frozen North, but the backcountry of the Crystal Empire had always seemed more of a free-for-all than Equestria. In this land, it seemed friendship would only slow one down, so ponies — people — fell into an every-mare-for-herself mentality, fighting for survival against the weather and each other, and to Tartarus with anyone else.