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// Chapter Six 
// Story: Peace Petal goes to Bridlewood Forest 
// by Peace Petal 
//------------------------------//

Strawberry Sunrise put the book I had lent her on the table. “Thank you,” I said. We had run into each other in the Crystal Tea Room as she was coming in and I was leaving. I slid the book into my saddlebag.

“I’m sorry to get this back to you so close to the deadline,” Strawberry said. “I finished reading it a while ago, but I never saw you in town.”

“Yeah, I went back to Zephyr Heights for a little bit,” I said. “That’s my fault, not yours. But the deadline is still two days from now. I’m going to return this before I forget. It’s good to see you again.”

“You too!” Strawberry said. “Stay dry.” I trotted out of the tea room into the rain. It was a warm rain that had been going all day. I decided to fly to the library. I was on my way out to the depths of the forest today, so I wanted to get out of the town quickly. I had a rainproof jacket, but the droplets hit my glasses and wet my mane. I had a plastic bag inside my saddlebag, so the book was safe. I arrived at the library shortly, breathing a little heavy. I shook the water off me as I stepped inside. My vision was smeared by the water on my glasses, but there was no point cleaning them since I would be back out shortly. Luckily, Dust was at the front desk. I wordlessly walked up to the desk and put my book on it, which I had found to be the best way to get her attention.

“Oh, what’s that?” Dust said. “Hey, I knew you’d get it back in time.” I started and looked at her. Every hundredth sentence or so that she said was not a question, and I couldn’t figure out a pattern to it. “Is there anything you want to check out?” Dust said.

“No, not today,” I said.

“Here for the herbarium?” Dust said.

“No, just dropping this off. I’m off to the forest for a little field research.”

“Ugh, why today?” Dust said, shuddering.

“I like the rain,” I said as I turned to leave. I stood at the door of the library, listening to the soothing patter of the rain. With the sun blocked by clouds and every surface wet, the colors of the world shifted. I loved rain simply because it made the world different. An entirely different Bridlewood Forest waited out there, with entirely unfamiliar sights and sounds.

I trotted off into the forest, leaving the town. I had been back in Bridlewood for a week since my break in Zephyr Heights. I would soon shift from gathering information to drafting papers. I was thinking of writing an article for Evolution and Taxonomy to summarize my findings and get my research out there. If I could get that published, I would organize my notebook into a publishable book listing every new species I had found in detail. But before I parked my soul behind a desk for the next several months, I wanted to go through the forest for a few days to find the species I had learned from unicorn books. I couldn’t take the library’s herbarium back to Zephyr Heights, so I wanted samples.

Mud was building up at my fetlocks as I continued into the forest. The water was sliding off my feathers, but my mane and tail were getting soaked. I heard frogs croaking in the underbrush. I kept my eyes open for plants that I hadn’t collected yet as I came closer to the thickest, most diverse part of the forest.

After half an hour, I had already found three of the species that I hadn’t collected yet. The patter of rain drowned out softer sounds, so I jumped when I heard a large animal shifting a couple of meters behind me. I spun around, flaring my wings. Where did it go? I couldn’t see any movement, but I had definitely heard something. “Who’s there?” I said loudly. The foliage was thick here, so I couldn’t see much.

Something moved in the corner of my eye.


*  *  *


I stirred a few times before fully waking up. I smelled… lavender. It was quiet in here. In… where?

I opened my eyes. I was in a bed, in a dimly lit room. Without my glasses, I couldn’t see much more than that. I looked at the side table, but my glasses weren’t there. When I turned to look, my left wing burned in pain. It was extended at my side, bandaged. What happened? I thought. I couldn’t remember how I had gotten here.

“Hey, you’re awake,” a voice said. A pony trotted up to my bed. I couldn’t see her face clearly without my glasses, but she had a pink coat and a yellow mane.

“Where am I?” I said.

“In a hospital in Bridlewood,” the mare said. “I found you out in the forest. What happened to you?”

“That’s just what I’m wondering,” I said. But my brain was caught on something else. She had said Bridlewood. As in, Bridlewood Forest? What was I doing here? “Where are my glasses?”

“You didn’t have them when I found you,” the mare said. “I don’t know where they are.”

“You found me in the forest,” I said. I carefully moved my left wing, feeling that burning sensation again. “Was I injured?”

“Oh, yeah,” the mare said. “You were unconscious, with a burn on your wing. I carried you back to the town. You’re lighter than you look.”

“How did you find me if I was out in a forest?” I said.

“I went out looking for berries once the rain stopped,” she said. “You were right by a stream where raspberries grow.”

“It sounds like I’m lucky you found me,” I said. “Thanks. What’s your name?”

The mare paused for a moment, then leaned a little closer. “Uh, it’s me, Strawberry Sunrise,” she said. “We need to find you those glasses.” I didn’t know a “Strawberry Sunrise.” So then, something took out my short-term memory, I thought, going analytical. I tried to think further back. I remembered graduating from the Royal University with a degree in biodiversity and conservation. I remembered serving a mission for my church in Buenas Alas. I remembered getting baptized when I was eight. Long-term memory was intact.

What were my last clear memories? After graduation, I got accepted at the University of Zephyr Heights for my doctorate degree. Then… the royal family was exposed as frauds, unable to fly like the rest of the pegasi. Then pegasus flight had somehow been magically restored. Then the leaders of the three pony tribes had agreed to improve relations and open their borders. Seizing the opportunity, I had applied for funding to do botany research in Bridlewood Forest. And… that was it. Had they accepted my proposal? Apparently, since I was in Bridlewood Forest.

“Well, I’m going to let you get some rest,” Strawberry said. “And I’ll tell the nurse you’re awake.”

“Thanks for helping me, Strawberry,” I said. “I owe you one.”

“Nonsense,” Strawberry said. “You helped me with that book. Now we’re even.”

“I’m not sure it works that way,” I said. “I’ll just leave it at thank you.”

Strawberry nodded and walked past a curtain that sectioned off part of the room. I heard her hoofsteps depart, leaving me to think over what the hay had happened to me. Instead I got distracted, as usual. Where was that lavender smell coming from? It took me a while to realize that it was my own mane. They must have washed my mane with something lavender-scented. I wanted to look around the room, but I really couldn’t see anything without my glasses. Where were they? Apparently I was in Bridlewood Forest now. Had I brought a spare pair?

After a while, the nurse came in and asked me some questions. I explained to her that I had lost my short-term memory. She detailed my injuries and how long they would take to heal. I would be in the hospital for at least a week until the burn healed sufficiently that it wouldn’t get infected. I still wondered about the burn. There wasn’t a fire in the area I had been found. The nurse said it had been raining before Strawberry found me, so it might have been a lightning strike. But the likelihood of getting struck by lightning in a forest was incredible, so I didn’t believe that was it. I asked her about any magical creatures in Bridlewood that might be capable of this, but she didn’t say much.

The nurse was about to leave me with some oatmeal, but I told her I was vegan and she realized there was milk in it. Hopefully they would find something vegan for me to eat. A few minutes after the nurse’s visit, I heard approaching hoofsteps. A large, dark blue pony came through the curtains. “Peace Petal, right?” he said.

“Yes,” I said.

“I’m Officer Suitcase,” he said. “I was talking with the nurse. You don’t remember anything about the attack?”

“No,” I said. “Going by the current date, I don’t remember anything from almost the last two moons.”

“Understood,” Suitcase said. “I have news. You can decide if it’s good or bad. I think I know what happened to you.”

“Please share,” I said.

“One other pony was found out in the forest with similar injuries last week,” Suitcase said. “She had no memory of recent events either. Given the circumstances of her attack and yours, I think we have a criminal on our hooves. Or rather at least two criminals, probably. Magic is harder than you might think. Most unicorns are only good at one or two spells. So there’s probably one criminal doing fire attacks and one criminal doing memory wipes.”

“I see,” I said. “That would explain why I was found without anything on me. I usually go everywhere with my glasses, a saddlebag, and a scarf.” My eyes went wide. “My scarf! It took me so long to find a scarf that matched the shade of my eyes. And now it’s gone…”

“There’s one more thing you should know,” Suitcase said. “The other pony that was attacked… she was a pegasus, too. So this is probably racially-motivated violence, maybe a tactic to scare pegasi away now that they’ve started visiting Bridlewood more frequently. Make of that what you will, but… I’d recommend you get out of Bridlewood. Even after we’ve caught these particular criminals, the anti-pegasus sentiments that fueled their actions will remain. Staying here might put you in harm’s way again.”

My face felt hot at this unexpected news. That really… peeved me. I’d so much rather somepony attacked me just to take my stuff than because they hated me for having wings. “Thanks for letting me know,” I said.

“No problem,” Suitcase said. “If you have no more questions, I have some criminals to catch.” He turned around, heavy hoofsteps departing. I was boiling with frustration at all that I had lost: my scarf, my glasses, anything in my saddlebag—probably including my notebook and whatever notes I had inside. Also almost two moons of memories, including meeting new ponies who knew me but now I didn’t know them. My health, at least for a while. Not least of all, the innocent assumption I had made before that unicorns and pegasi would get along just fine.

Yes, that hurt as much as anything. Unicorns had attacked me just for being a pegasus? If I was here, it probably meant I had gotten funding to do research in Bridlewood Forest. If that was true, I couldn’t just leave Bridlewood. But I would be wary. Now I knew I couldn’t trust those unicorns and their brain-frying horn lasers.