Sunday was the warmest day since I had arrived in Bridlewood. The forest was vibrant. Insects buzzed, birds sang, warm sunlight trickled through the canopy. The unicorns of Bridlewood still seemed subdued. I knew there wouldn’t be any congregations of my church in Bridlewood, but I found a church to attend.
Given the weather, I decided to wear the one dress I had brought with me. I didn’t much like stallions’ formal attire anyway, and I was feeling pretty today. It was a black dress, pleated and made of cotton. At my breast was a brooch of my cutie mark, a dove. I wore dark gray leggings and black shoes with little pink bows. I pulled my unruly mane back into a tail. And of course, I had my pink scarf. My rule was that scarves went with everything.
The church meeting was different from meetings at my own church, but that was to be expected. I wasn’t switching religions or anything. I just didn’t want to experience spiritual regression during my time in Bridlewood—same as with the trumpet. I was reading my own church’s scriptures every day and praying consistently, but I felt the sabbath day wasn’t complete without a church meeting.
I was trotting down a street in Bridlewood Forest on my way back to the hotel after church. I was planning on writing a letter to my family, practicing my trumpet, and getting to bed for an early start tomorrow. “Hi, Peace!” a voice behind me called. I turned to see Izzy the unicorn cantering towards me. A group of other ponies was following behind her at a trot. I immediately noticed that two were pegasi—the first I had seen since arriving in Bridlewood—and two were earth ponies—the first I had seen ever.
“Hey, Izzy,” I said. She and her friends had flower crowns, and I noticed the pink roses I had showed her earlier. I had one in my mane, as well.
“Let me introduce the rest of my friends,” Izzy said. “This is Sunny Starscout,” she said, pointing to an orange earth pony mare. “I told you about her earlier. This is Hitch Trailblazer. He’s the sheriff of Maretime Bay, which is pretty nifty.” He was an earth pony stallion, and he seemed a little less than excited to be wearing a flower crown. “And you probably recognize the royal sisters of Zephyr Heights, Princesses Zipp Storm and Pipp Petals.”
My eyes went wide. I hadn’t recognized them until she said it. Now I realized that I had seen the shorter pegasus on countless advertisements and album covers. But I actually found Zipp to be the more interesting of the two princesses. Her studies in aerodynamics were neat, and I really wanted to see some performances of that “Wonderbolts” aerial team she was reforming. “Everypony, this is my newest friend, Peace,” Izzy said. “We met yesterday.”
“Charmed,” I said.
“Oh my stars, I love your ensemble!” Pipp said. I blushed. “Can I please take a selfie with you.”
“A… selfie?” I said. She already had her phone out. “How do you have that here? My hotel doesn’t even have electricity.”
“I brought a portable charger, and I’m not staying in Bridlewood for long,” Pipp said. “Selfie?”
“Sure,” I said. Pipp stepped to my side.
“Oh, you’re tall,” she said. “Would you be the selfie stick?”
“No problem,” I said, taking the phone. I flipped the camera and lined it up.
“Wow, our flowers even match!” Pipp said.
“Peace found them for me,” Izzy said.
“A little lower,” Pipp said. “There you go. ♪Smile!♪” I took the picture and gave back the phone.
“That was perfect!” Pipp said. She swiped on the touchscreen. Apparently she was posting it immediately.
“So, Peace, what are you doing in Bridlewood?” Sunny said.
“I’m studying the plants here,” I said. “They’re quite different from what we have in Zephyr Heights or anywhere else in the pegasus queendom. I don’t know how long I’ll be here.”
“Is it just Peace?” Pipp said, still looking at her phone.
“Peace Petal, actually,” I said.
“No way,” Pipp said, looking up. “I wonder if we’re related.”
“I’ve done a lot of my genealogy,” I said. “I’ve never found a relationship to you. It’s probably just a coincidence.”
“Still magical,” Pipp said. “Done! Hey, you play trumpet?”
“Yes,” I said. Apparently she was on Facehoof, the one social media platform I occasionally used.
“I think I heard him playing one of your songs, actually,” Izzy said.
“I was, yes,” I said.
“Which one?” Hitch said.
“It’s one of her less-known ones,” I said. “‘Feelin’ Trotty.’”
“I love ‘Feelin’ Trotty,’” Hitch said. “Her voice really lends itself to jazz-funk fusion. But who am I kidding? I love all of your songs, Pipp.”
“Thank you, Hitch,” Pipp said.
“I like the more creative ones,” I said. I looked at Pipp. “Just my opinion, you should branch away from that pop style more. Every time you do something less manestream, I love it.”
“It’s good to meet a fan of those other songs,” Pipp said.
“Princess Zipp, I love the idea of bringing back the Wonderbolts,” I said. “I’ll try to catch a performance the next time I’m in ZH.”
“I’ll keep an eye out for you,” Zipp said. “Are you into flying?”
“Oh, I just fly to get around,” I said. “But I do enjoy it. Who would have guessed that clouds were so soft?”
“Ah, they’re amazing,” Pipp said.
“Well, it was nice to meet you all,” I said. “I have to go do… stuff…”
“Are you sure you don’t want to hang out with us?” Izzy said. “We’re on our way to the Crystal Tea Room.”
“No thanks,” I said. “I don’t buy on Sundays.”
“Well, suit yourself,” Hitch said. “We’ll see you around.”
“It was nice to meet you, Peace,” Sunny said. I trotted off towards the hotel. Hmm, maybe I should have stuck around with them, I thought. I didn’t have all that much to do today. I had a tendency to keep social interactions to a minimum. Which was probably why I struggled to make friends. Well, I was telling the truth; I didn’t buy on Sundays. I also didn’t like watching everypony else eat or drink something while I wasn’t. As a vegan, I had run into that situation often enough. Although I was interested in talking with those earth ponies more. They didn’t seem dumb, but I had never expected that stereotype to be true. Anyway, it was too late now. If I saw them again I’d say hi.
* * *
I glued another maple leaf to a mounting paper. I had already run out of the glue and mounting paper I had brought from Zephyr Heights, but I had found adequate substitutes at a crafting store. I had a lot of specimens to take home. I would probably need to hire a balloon to bring them back. But that was fine. I had a research grant from the queen. I could spend as much money as I needed to, as long as it was for research. Living costs were covered by a more conservative salary.
I put the mount under some books to press it. It was time for lunch. I made a cucumber and daisy sandwich and put it in a bag. And another sandwich. And one more. I was hungry, and daisies were in season, cheap, and locally grown. I didn’t like spending time in this dark, cramped hotel, so I trotted out the door. I flew up above the canopy to look at the sky. There was a single puff of cumulus cloud over the town, not too far or high. Perfect. I flapped my way up towards it.
When I got to the cloud, I was surprised to see a pony lounging on top of it, flipping through a book. “Oh, hey,” I said. “I didn’t know you were up here. I’ll find another cloud.”
“Where would you find another cloud?” the pony said. He was an older pegasus with a green coat, fading red mane, and tired eyes. “I had to sweep the sky clear to make this one. In retrospect it is too big for me alone. Have a seat or cut your own resting place from my cloud.”
“Um…” I couldn’t formulate an excuse. “Sure,” I said. I lay down on the edge of the cloud, kicking up a little puff between me and the other pegasus. I pulled out my sandwich bag. “I’m surprised to see another pegasus in Bridlewood,” I said. “Did you just arrive?”
“I’ve been in Bridlewood Forest for two weeks, arrived as soon as its location became known,” the other pegasus said. “I’ve spent most of my time in Sparkleton. It’s a quaint little town three point seven four miles east-northeast of here. What is your story for being here?”
“I’m studying plants,” I said. I took a bite of a sandwich. “They’re all different here.”
“My name’s Typhoon Tack,” he said. “What’s yours?”
“Peace Petal,” I said. “What are you doing in Bridlewood?”
“Oh, uh, I just needed to get away from Zephyr Heights,” Typhoon said. “I have spent a long time there. Maybe too long. Everypony’s muzzle always shoved in a phone, advertisements blaring from every screen on every building. I needed a change in scenery.”
“I feel that, too,” I said. “I don’t even have my phone here, and I haven’t missed it for a moment.”
“It’s good for a colt to get out and see the world,” Typhoon said. “Travelling really broadens the horizon.”
“Bridlewood is interesting,” I said. “I’ve noticed the unicorns are… gloomier? But I like it. At Zephyr Heights, I sometimes feel like I have to pretend I’m happy all the time so nopony is worried about me.” I took another bite of sandwich. “But I do feel the disparity in development. I don’t miss phones, but I do miss electric lights and the internet. My hotel is cramped. I play trumpet, and there are no practice rooms.”
“Maybe you simply have not looked hard enough?” Typhoon said. “Bridlewood Forest likes to conceal its amenities. They do have electricity. A central grid does not make sense for a city this size, so everypony has their own generator and rigged up crystals for storage. It might be possible to charge them with lightning, but that is fiddly even if one experimented with weather manipulation for a few days. I learned that lesson the fun way.” He flared his sings, and I noticed the singed tips of his feathers. He laughed. “The same goes for music. There are talented musicians in Bridlewood, but you have not heard them despite the lack of practice rooms. They can just go to the forest and practice there. Maybe practice rooms are a symptom of Zephyr Heights being too crowded. Maybe you will find the acoustics of the trees more to your liking or convince some unicorns to give the reflexive nature of practice rooms a try.”
“I suppose you could be right,” I said. I munched through another sandwich.
“How’s your plant study coming along?” Typhoon said after a while. “That sounds like an overwhelming project.”
“That’s just the word for it,” I said. “All the plants here are different species than in the mountains. I’m trying to classify them all, but I don’t know if there are multiple species, subspecies, or just high genetic variation in a single species. I might lay a foundation for future research, but I’m going to be wrong about some things.”
“You’re classifying everything from scratch?” Typhoon said. “Haven’t the unicorns named any of the species here?”
“I, uh…”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t checked.”
“You got me,” I said, feeling surprised and embarrassed. “I hadn’t thought about it.”
“The unicorns are just as curious as you,” Typhoon said. “I was impressed by how much they know about meteorology, considering they’ve never left the ground. They live in a forest under a dense tree cover, but they still investigated the weather and stars above them. I’ll bet their understanding of botany is solid.”
I felt like a fool. Why hadn’t I thought of this? I had to admit to myself that I had assumed the unicorns were too primitive for taxonomy. “I should check their records,” I said. “That’s a great idea. I just wish I had thought of it.”
“It’s not your fault,” Typhoon said. “It’s just the way you were raised. We all have to learn new lessons with age through the wrong decisions we take. You won't believe how glad I am that you don't repeat my mistakes but make your own.” Typhoon averted his gaze, looking down upon the forest. I stood up, still feeling embarrassed but also excited. Who had time to lie down on a cloud and enjoy lunch when there was learning to be done? I looked over at Typhoon, and I noticed that his book had a unicorn drawn on the cover.
“Did you get that book here?” I said. I shoved a large bite of sandwich into my mouth.
“From a bookstore in Sparkleton,” Typhoon said. “Truth be told, I’m not here just to get away. I was curious to see how the unicorns fared all these years. Maybe you should learn about the unicorns before you keep trying to do work that might already be done?”
“Thank you for the advice,” I said. “I’m going to see what I can find out at the library.” I shoved the rest of my sandwich into my mouth, leaving the last one in the bag. I put the sandwich bag in my saddlebag and flew off. I dove straight down, picking up speed rapidly before flaring my wings to stop before the canopy. Izzy had mentioned a pony named Woody Dust who supposedly knew everything. Izzy said she was always in the library. Maybe she could point me in the right direction to learn some unicorn botany.