//------------------------------// // Finding Happiness 1 // Story: The Hag, the heroes, and a few other things // by Amaranthine Thought //------------------------------// The next day Twilight was surrounded by paper, trying to break the puzzle that I had accidentally given her by sheer brute force. Spike brought her drinks and new quills as she used them up with endless theories over everything that I had done and every word I said during my brief time in contact with her. She huffed in frustration, “I need more than this! It just doesn’t make any sense! I need to know why she did everything, but she never really told us and I didn’t write down what she did say!” Twilight thumped her head on the table. “You shouda asked her when you had the chance.” remarked Spike as he refilled her cup. “But I didn’t! And now it’s really important that I should have! I’m the one who spent the most time with her and I wasted it!” “No you didn’t.” Spike said offhandedly. Twilight looked up, confused. “Wait what? Spike? What do you mean?” Spike looked over his shoulder at her as he began leaving, “The CMC spent two weeks with her, remember? They even told me that she taught them a lot of stuff.” Twilight blinked. Spike hesitated at Twilight’s growing grin. “That’s it!” she crowed and picked him up for a brief instant in a hug. “Spike you are a genius!” “Thanks, but how?” he asked, confusion scrunching his face up. “I can explain later! For now I need you to get the CMC over here so I can ask them to fill in the missing pieces of Hag’s psychology! I need to prepare for this! I am not going to miss writing down important information this time, so bring them in an hour, O.K Spike?” “I got it.” He said as he headed off, long used to not understanding Twilight’s ideas. Best to just do what she said and not wonder what she meant. Soon, the three fillies were watching Twilight as she readied Spike and several magical ways to record every word spoken. “And there! O.K girls!” she smiled at them, “You’re not in any trouble! I just need you to remember the time you spent at Miss Hag’s house!” “I thought that you didn’t want to hear about that…” said Sweetie. “Now I do, go ahead.” The three looked at each other before Applebloom began. “Well, we were goin ta Zecora’s place like we sometimes do.” “Without my sister’s permission” added Sweetie with a frown on her face. “An when we got in th Everfree we got lost. We wandered around fer a few hours an then a pack o timberwolves pounced.” Applebloom trailed off as all three looked uncomfortable. “They… they hurt us, bad.” Scootaloo took a deep breath, “But then Miss Hag jumped outta the woods and yelled and they ran off!” Twilight frowned, “She just yelled at them? And they just left?” Scootaloo nodded, “She said that if she couldn’t command a single… keistamaner… thing, then she wouldn’t be Hag!” Twilight found this rather unbelievable. A pack of timberwolves spooked off by an old pony yelling? That if she couldn’t command them she wouldn’t be herself? Perhaps the girls were misremembering she reasoned. My healing of them had cast severe doubts about their injuries as well. Ponies reasoned that such injuries would take far longer than two weeks to heal, which they would have without the forest’s boost and my expertise. That then led to the idea that the girls were exaggerating or I had convinced them otherwise. That led to fights, with the girls defending me and their loved ones trying to tell them that they were lied to, and that I was a bad pony. “So she carried us back to her house, it was small and filled with stuff!” Scootaloo said. Sweetie nodded, “She bandaged us up so we looked like mummies!” “An she fixed my legs.” Applebloom said. Twilight grew concerned. Applebloom was still insistent after all this time and that worried her. She couldn’t believe that the filly would be so certain, even in the face of punishment, and wondered how much I had twisted their little minds. “Then she kept tellin us ta keep still and fed us some horrible thing that made th pain go away, but I couldn’t talk.” Sweetie nodded, “She took good care of us even if she did tie us to the bed.” “She what?!” Twilight abruptly yelled, shocked. All three of them cringed, “Hang on Twilight!” yelled Scootaloo, “We kinda deserved it!” That did not help matters. Sweetie tried to salvage it with, “You see, she said not to move and we kept moving even when she yelled, so she had to!” She smiled in an attempt to defuse the situation. Based on Twilight’s twitching eye, she had failed. That was the first time somepony had actually asked them about their stay, and it seemed that they had just gotten me in more trouble by telling the tale in full. All three were trying to find some way to prove to somepony that I wasn’t evil, and they felt as if they had just lost a chance to. But by some miracle Twilight took a deep breath instead of blowing up at them. Many deep breaths. Quite a few before she was calm again. “O.K girls… I’m fine, keep going.” She said after a while. They looked to each other again. “Not if you’re gonna think that Miss Hag’s a bad pony.” Stated Applebloom, bless her tiny heart. The other two nodded in tandem and Twilight began deep breathing again, her diligent assistant and recording spells continuing to write down the minor chaos that a simple interview had become. Discord would have been proud. I slowly came back to myself. My trip through the clouds had been long and oddly tiring and I was getting sick of being in white nothingness. Clouds are a bit different than pure white, but still. I didn’t bother trying to move or open my eyes at first. I called around, trying to tell if I was in the Everfree. I was not, and a voice came back, calling itself the far woods. It was much bigger than the Everfree and was surprised. Nothing had ever spoken to it before, and it felt burdened with the need to respond. It told me that if I asked, it would give and not to bother it with questions. The interaction was a bit calming; there were normal forests here after all, though the Everfree had been much friendlier than the far woods. I began longing for the Everfree’s voice, wanting to hear it again, but I held myself back. I had a job to do and the Everfree would not hold what I sought. I opened my eyes. I was resting on a bed that someone had folded in two, one half pointing into the air so as to mimic a chair’s backrest. I stared at it, wondering why anypony would do that before shifting to see the room I was in. I was in a simple home, in the main room I guessed. A table sat nearby, several chairs around it, all of them made from a dark wood. A smaller table sat right in front of the bed I was resting on, far too short for anypony to sit at. A lantern on that table illuminated the inside weakly with a dim flame, and a window allowed me to see out into the forest and note that it was the middle of the night. I noted the time change. It had been morning when Discord and I had gotten to the crystal tree. I moved to my feet, trying to be silent. A door was nearby, as were several cushioned chairs and a large dresser that I had failed to see before. Asleep in one chair was a pony. The coat was a dark red and the mane was pink. It wore a robe about itself, and using my suspicion, I decided that it must have found me somewhere and brought me here. I would have left then, if not for the feel in the air. There had been a death. Probably of a child if I didn’t miss my guess and the effects lingered in the house. Death can harm the… spirit of a home, and cause sickness or even more death if it lingered. Normally the effects were wiped out by the normal life of those that lived on, but this was an old feeling and the pony before me must live in the house. It hadn’t been dispelled despite that, and that was very concerning. I took a closer look around the small home, noting that the pony was oftentimes depicted with two others in many tiny paintings scattered about the room; an adult with a brown coloration and a foal with green fur. The red one had a rose on its flank, the brown a shovel, and the foal had no mark, due to its youth. Quite the talented artist had made them; the details were stunning for such tiny images. They were no more than a few inches across and were covered by a layer of glass, most standing atop a table or chest instead of hanging on the wall for some reason. I could tell their age and tapped one, noting that the glass covering was nearly invisible; another example of great craftwork. But why would somepony go through such effort for a tiny glass cover on a painting? The oldest ones had all three ponies depicted. The newer ones only had the red pony and the foal. The newest, the one sitting on the dresser, was of the foal alone, a large smile on its face as it held a colorful ball and sat atop a blue blanket. The picture was placed with great care amidst some toys and sat atop the same blanket it showed. I was looking at a shrine to a dead child. No wonder the feel of death hadn’t gone, it was being increased by that kind of behavior. I knew that I had to fix it before it got worse. The pony in the chair shifted and opened its eyes, blinking in the low light. It saw me soon; I was caught in my own thoughts and standing in plain view. “You’re awake?” she asked, the voice giving away her sex. She reminded me of flowers for some reason. “Are you all right?” I looked to her, taking great care to hear the tone she spoke in and see the colors of her soul. Both were bright, but there was an underlying pain and darkness in her soul that threatened to consume her. Great grief, and based on my discovery, grief over death. “I am fine, yes.” I said, “And you might be…?” “I’m Rose Bush, and I found you out in my garden earlier today.” She was tired and yawned, “You were lying in my rose bush after this odd fog just dropped from the sky and I carried you into my home when I couldn’t wake you. Where did you come from miss…?” “Hag, my name is Hag. Thank you Rose Bush, your kindness is most appreciated.” I looked back at the picture, and made a decision. “Did you love them Rose?” I asked, not looking at her. For a moment she was confused until she saw what I looked at. With tears in her eyes she responded, “I did.” I wondered about the perfect willingness to tell me that, but it did make what I was doing easier. “But now they are gone, and you are alone.” I said. “How would…” “There’s nothing left here for you is there?” I looked over at her slightly stunned expression, “They were everything and now they are gone. Why bother to continue? You don’t want to go on without them and wish that they were still here. How long now?” “Only a month…” she said. I had dazed her. I just needed to say the right things and I would have done it. “A month is a long time for grief Rose Bush. The life of a child and mate enriches your life, but they cannot be allowed to define it. Your child would weep to see you like this, to see you slumped in that chair, to see you looking at his picture with tears in your eyes. You think of seeing him again. Tell me Rose, what you want.” “I… I want… I want to see him again. My little Sunny… It’s so hard to go on…” As she spoke tears collected in her eyes, though she still stared at me as though forced to. “But go on we must. We do not hold the power to determine our own end.” I stepped up to her, looked deep into her eyes and focused, not blinking. “Live for him Rose. Live your life as though he is with you, and when the time comes you will be reunited.” My eyes bored into her own, an unbreakable will behind them to force her to make the correct choice. I allowed my eyes to soften, “Perhaps you can even find him another father, and a sibling or two?” She nodded slowly, unable to take her eyes from mine. I watched her soul darken, absorb the pain and take it in. Now it wouldn’t kill her, and she could deal with the grief properly instead of forever pining after her lost family. “Good. Now go back to sleep, I shall handle your wakening.” She went back to the chair like a puppet before collapsing into it, asleep before she hit the cushions. That had been easy; she was very easy to manipulate compared to most I had attempted that to. The last time I had tried to do that I had needed to make the woman hate me to get her over her depression. She did too, just so I would be wrong about her. I looked around. My words had a great impact, but I needed to make sure that they stuck. I was gone before sunrise. She would find her home cleaned, breakfast prepared (oats), and a tree moved from its place to allow the morning sun to better come into the house. I also brightened the place up; she had darkened it in her grief and I found many unused lanterns in a closet. The last touch was the picture of her child. I had never seen such a tiny painting before, but I had a trick or two I had learned from painters. It would appear as though her child was alive when she saw it out of the corner of her eye, playing with his ball, or looking at her with different expressions. Just enough to make her feel like he was still with her, and not accidentally send her into madness. Didn’t want to replace one problem with another. The woods I entered were calm, quiet, didn’t like being spoken to, and home to a large town not far from where I was. I headed toward the town; I needed directions and some food before I continued on. I had a new duty, two in fact. First: remedy my mistakes, and heal the tree of harmony, returning the elements to their rightful state and possibly finding forgiveness from the ponies. The second was far simpler if I ever saw him again. Free Discord from his stony prison. I really wanted some harsh words for the pony that did that to him. Petrification was a cruel way to trap somepony. At least the town, Leaffall, was bright and happy. Rose Bush had gotten me down a bit, and this place was doing wonders for perking me up, the morning light beautiful as it shone through the colorful leaves. It reminded me of Ponyville, but Leaffall was smaller and not as open to strangers. I soon ran into a problem. The ponies didn’t barter. They used ‘bits’ and wouldn’t buy my herbs in exchange for some so I could get some fruit from them. Seemed I would need to scavenge in the woods and not enjoy their carrots. But not until I was absolutely certain that I couldn’t convince the pony selling them otherwise. It was as I was trying to convince the shopkeeper that he really needed a load of dried parsley in his life that I heard a shout from behind me. I looked and gaped; Rose Bush was running toward me, determination in her eyes and life in her step. She soon got to me, gasping slightly. “Ha… Hag!” she wheezed, “I nearly… nearly forgot about you!” “Deep breaths Rose Bush.” I said, “Why are you here, and not at your home?” “I just wanted to say…” she turned to look at the shopkeeper who was shocked into stillness for some reason. “Do you mind?” she asked, her tone growing sharper, “I am trying to have a conversation.” “But you haven’t been…” he began. “I know that! Just… oh fine, Hag could you follow me?” I did so, curiosity consuming me. We soon came upon a small river running through the town and she stopped at a point far from other ponies. I did notice that we were attracting a lot of stunned looks and hushed whispers. I was wondering what was going on. Rose took a deep breath, “I just wanted to say thank you Hag.” “There is no need.” I said, “You needed my help and you have already helped me. No need to feel indebted to this old woman.” “But there is!” She continued in a quiet voice, “I haven’t left my home since... a long time. And I always wondered why I was still alive, but then I found you in my rose bush and you just made everything better again!” “Is that why the entire town is staring?” I asked. She looked about, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks as if she hadn’t noticed them until now. “How long were you in your home? I figured it had only been a month.” I said. “It was… um…” she leaned in and whispered, “A couple of years or so.” I blinked. A couple of years or so? “After my husband died, I never got the urge to go beyond my own gardens really.” She looked down with a shy smile before looking back up to me, “But now I do! And with you!” “Who with what?” I asked. My mind had been too busy wondering over her words. A few years! She was a hermit! I was stunned that she hadn’t died of heartbreak after that long of nursing her pain and hadn’t really listened to her. “You Hag! You’re like a gift from the sky! You got me living again after so long! Please, please let me come with you, wherever you’re going! I want to be by your side until the day I pass! To go where you go! To see what you see, to get to be with the pony that gave me life again! Please take me with you Hag! I need to be with you!” That was uncomfortably like a proposal to my ears, and to the ears of our gang of eavesdroppers; the whispers picked up in intensity. What could I do? If I turned her down, she would resume her old life, wondering why she continued to breathe, and I found the idea unacceptable. I bemoaned my luck internally, already knowing what I was going to say. That had never happened before when I consoled a widow! “Yes, just.” I managed before she squealed and jumped for joy, standing on her back hooves and clapping her front hooves together. I had never really been embarrassed before, but this was nearing even my legendary tolerance. Everypony was watching, whispering, and I was sure that they had misconstrued the situation. It was easy to, with her choice of words. “Don’t…” I sighed. Too slow to prevent her from calling this to the attention of the entire town. “Just wait right here and I’ll be right back! I need to pick up my things and then I’ll be right back!” she ran off with a huge smile, unheeding of the crowd. I looked about at them. “Go on, git! You got your show! Go on! Back to whatever you were doing!” I chased them off and I kept getting congratulations and odd looks when I got mad whenever somepony said that. I had once found myself tied to a tree branch in a pink dress and bows in my hair (fairy trick, don’t ask), and that seemed a better fate than this, especially with the giggles and snickers of the crowd as I chased them off. Least then only one man had found me and had been quite kind considering. That was how I met my love, Na… I’m off the trail. Back to the correct tale! Rose Bush returned soon with saddlebags that bulged to near bursting. “O.K Hag! I got everything a pony might need for a journey in here!” “Like a house?” I asked, not so subtly trying to get her to return to her own life. “Of course not!” she giggled. “This contains my money and whatever food I could pack, and this has the stuff I couldn’t leave behind!” She indicated her left and right bags in turn. “So where to Hag? There is nothing left for me here, just like you said, and Sunny always loved to see the outdoors! I am sure that he would have adored going on a journey!” Well that explained why she had followed me, uprooting her life to wander where I might. I really stepped in that one didn’t I? “I don’t even know where Leaffall is in Equestria.” I said, “Do you have a map or something in there?” She nodded in conformation before producing a rough map. It seemed that the town was near to whatever ‘the dragon wastes’ were. We were to the southeast of Ponyville, on the far side from the Everfree. I determined that the best path seemed north, where I could find larger settlements like Manehattan, where I might find some kind of clue as to where I could find the elements that I was looking for. Ponies would gather in large towns, just like people, and more ponies meant a better chance at getting an idea of where to find them. I had gone on similar searches in my youth, but not for something as vague as happiness that I could touch. Still, what held for one thing should hold for another. “I am heading north, along the coast.” I said, wrapping up the map before plunging it into my own sack. “Let’s go, far ways to travel before we reach anything.” Rose followed after me, humming a tune. As we left town I turned to her, “By any chance, do you know where I might find some happiness, honesty, or magic?” Stupid question really, but I needed to find their physical forms somewhere in this land. She thought about it before smiling and saying, “You seem to carry a lot of happiness in you Hag!” “But what’s bugging me is your bag,” she said, “I’ve never seen one quite like that. It’s almost like its grabbing you.” “I made it myself a long time ago. A friend enchanted it so that I could carry what I needed in it. And it does grab me see?” I pulled at it and she frowned to see it pull at my skin. I could detach it with some force, but for now I let it snap back to me and kept walking. Rose recovered and resumed humming. Not that I disliked music, but silence is golden. I didn’t have the heart to stop her, at least not now, and we left Leaffall together, heading into the woods, and towards Manehatten. I only hoped that I would be able to find what I sought for swiftly, and possibly that Rose would realize that she shouldn't be following me and return to her own home. *** At Canterlot castle, as the sun drops and the moon rises *** “And you cannot find her?” “Discord left her covered in his magic. It is like trying to find a specific leaf on a forest floor Luna.” “Mayhap we can help. It is possible that she dreams, and nopony can hide from us in our own realm.” Celestia smiled at her sister, “It would be most appreciated sister. But promise me that you will be careful, Hag is far stronger than she looks.” Luna laughed. “Fear not Tia! We are the mistress of dreams! Not some gaurdpony waiting to be overpowered by an old mare!” Celestia watched her sister go with a faint smile. I didn’t seem dangerous, but Twilight had said that I had been able to overpower Applejack and Rainbow during their fight, both strong ponies. Her sister was perfectly capable though, so she set aside her concerns. Maybe Luna would even be able to bring this problem to a close faster than Celestia anticipated.