the foothills [Lore] Solstice Heights

[Bellosh]

The Solstice Heights - Where the Sun Always Shines

 

Towering over the Equestrian heartland, the Solstice Heights comprise some of the most majestic mountains and hills on the continent. The capital city of Canterlot deservedly earns its place as the shining beacon of the hilly region; the Solstice Heights wouldn’t have gotten their name had the Princess of the Sun resided elsewhere in the kingdom. Looking beyond Canterlot however, the Heights offer ponies plenty of additional treasures too.

 

In centuries past, the Solstice Heights was the center of Equestria’s thriving mining industry. When the Crystal Empire disappeared a thousand years ago, this forced ponies to look elsewhere for large deposits of gems... which they found readily within the mountains northeast of Canterlot. Generations of mining however left the mines depleted of jewels and other valuable minerals, and so operation after operation relocated to the Eponnine Mountains to the east and the Roughrider Ridge to the far west. That doesn’t stop intrepid spelunkers though from lurking about in long-forgotten caves in search of undiscovered mineral veins or other subterranean wonders.

 

These days, the Solstice Heights are better known for the various farms nestled in the mountain valleys and on the feet of the hills. Unlike other fields in Equestria, the boundaries of these valley farms are marked by hedgerows; a farming practice not universally followed outside the Heights. Thanks to the cool temperatures provided by the higher altitude, crops thriving in warm environments don’t tend to thrive here very well, but the farmers who live under the mountains reap bountiful harvests each year nonetheless.

 

As typical of attractive-to-live areas, a number of towns and other villages are scattered throughout the Solstice Heights, each with their own special identities. For example, the out of the way Garden Gait lies in a secluded peaceful dale, and the villagers of the small hamlet mirror their surroundings with their laid-back attitudes. At the southeastern end of the Heights, the mist-shrouded highland community of Fet Loch is famed for its rugged inhabitants and the sometimes hard to understand local dialect. A description of the hilly expanse wouldn’t be complete though without mentioning the manors settled on the mountainsides; the Solstice Heights will never suffer from a lack of upper-class ponies in need of exclusive scenic vistas for their domiciles.

~Hitchhiker's Guide to Equestria