//------------------------------// // The Dark Age // Story: Ideas Entwined // by FanOfMostEverything //------------------------------// The Bridlewood was a lot bigger than Izzy’s village. The further in Izzy and Sunny went, the darker, damper, and warmer it got, until the latter felt like she was trudging through the sprawling southern jungles spoken of in her father’s notes. “Are we getting close?” she panted. “Hmm?” Izzy looked back. She seemed fine, which wasn’t at all fair given what Sunny had read about earth pony magic. Never mind how the only thing that magic had done since she'd entered the deep Bridlewood was make her feel progressively more nervous and unwelcome the further they’d gone. “Yeah, just about! Should be just around this— Aha!” Sunny didn't get it at first. A different kind of tree didn't seem to merit an "Aha," even if its twisting trunk and broad-reaching branches seemed completely out of place in the forest. But she trusted Izzy, and so she came closer. Only ten paces away did she realize there was a door carved into the thick trunk, much less obvious than anything she'd seen in the village. Still, from there she could make out the windows, the little crevices and folds in the wood that held vials and bottles. She wrinkled her muzzle, close enough that she could smell unidentifiable odors from the other side of the door. Some ancient carving stared back at her, blending into the wood aside from a few surviving flecks of paint. “… Nice place?” “You think so?" said Izzy. "It’s always given me the heebie-jeebies.” “Right. So." Sunny took a deep breath. "You really think this ‘forest witch’ will know something about Old Equestria?” “You picked an awfully funny time to ask that.” Another deep breath. Still not the most frustrating exchange she'd ever had with Izzy. “I just want to be sure the trip here will be worth it.” “Well, everypony in Bridlewood knows that if you’re out of ideas and better options, you go see the witch. And if she agrees that you really need the help, she helps!" After a moment, Izzy added, "Plus she knows everything about everything, so that seems like it’ll be a plus.” “Well, let’s find out.” Sunny knocked, keeping her hoof well away from the mask. Just to be safe. The door opened, revealing an indigo unicorn mare in a long, undyed shawl. She was definitely younger than Sunny had expected, just a few crow's feet around her eyes and thin grey streaks hinting at her age. Beyond that, she didn't seem tall so much as stretched, gaunt and lanky like a normal amount of pony trying to occupy too much space. The forest witch raised an eyebrow. “That was fast. Ponies usually need a lot more prep time before they have the nerve to knock. And I didn’t hear a single bing-bong.” “I’m not superstitious." Sunny tapped her bare forehead. "Or a unicorn.” “I’ll grant that you’re not a unicorn. Though just because you can put the horn away doesn’t mean I can’t tell what you are.” Sunny drew back a step. “What?” The witch clicked her tongue. “Don’t play dumb. Your type’s never been good at it. Your friend, under another hoof, could teach college courses on the subject.” “Hi, miss forest witch!” Izzy said with a wave. “Hi, Izzy." The witch grinned and stepped out of the doorway. "Come in, both of you. I'll make tea.” The inside was moderately less creepy. Bundles of drying herbs, enough old books to make Sunny's hooves itch... and a genuine cast-iron cauldron in the middle of the floor. But one question stood out in her mind above all others. “Seriously, what did you mean about what I am?” The witch didn't answer for a bit, focused on the blend of leaves and petals she was assembling. To be fair, her mouth was occupied for a good bit of it. Once she had three cups poured and steeping, she sat at the table by the cauldron. “Becoming an alicorn leaves a mark for those who know what to look for. Even if you stopped halfway." That got another look, like she could see the golden glow in Sunny's heart. "You’ll want to resolve that one way or the other, by the way. Standing on the threshold for too long isn’t good for the soul.” Sunny filed that away for latter. She knew she could only take so many world-shaking revelations at once; she'd need to pace herself. “You’re certainly more forthcoming than Izzy said you’d be.” “I do matters of health for free unless the pony really bothers me. That’s just courtesy. But I can't imagine you came to me specifically for that. What did bring you all the way out here.” “What happened to the old magic? To all the knowledge of old Equestria? How did we lose so much?” Okay, Sunny admitted internally, pacing herself would be harder than she thought. Thankfully, the witch took her outburst, looking more amused than anything. “Not afraid to ask the big questions. Good. I just hope you remember the small ones can also be important.” Sunny looked down, abashed. The witch said nothing more, leaving her to wonder how to fix this. Apologize, obviously, but what could she say? Was she even supposed to say anything? Was this simpler than she was making this out to be? Oh Twilight, was she ruining everything by staying silent? “I don’t think she needs tea right now.” Izzy's voice brought Sunny out of her spiraling thoughts. She realized that the ripples in the teacups were coming from her fidgeting hind legs. The witch nodded. “Probably not, no. Before I tell you, Miss…” She trailed off, giving Sunny a pointed look. “Sunny. Sunny Starscout." She bowed her head. "Sorry.” The witch reached out and patted her fetlocks. “Learning from your mistakes is the best apology you can offer to me. Yours and everypony else’s.” Sunny nodded. “That’s what I’m here for.” “Good. But before I tell you how the old magic left, I’d like to know how the new got here.” “Learning to trust one another." Sunny looked to Izzy and smiled. "Looking past our differences and coming together.” Izzy beamed back, throwing her hooves into the air. “And magic crystals!” “Yeah, but those weren’t nearly as important as I thought they were.” The witch nodded. “They rarely are. It’s much easier to turn intangible virtue tangible with an artifact or six, but you need to have the intangible first." After a sip of her tea, she added, "That’s how it worked last time, after all.” Sunny's smile grew at the hint of past knowledge. “So I passed the test?” “Test?" The witch looked genuinely confused for a moment before smiling back. "That was gossip. Relax, Sunny. I’m not going to curse you or something silly like that. “Now. Have you heard of Twilight Sparkle?” “Of course! Bearer of Magic, Queen of Friendship, the mare who brought the whole world together!” “Princess of Friendship," said the witch. "They were very particular about that sort of thing. And her title was well-earned. But you hit on the problem she faced: What does the Princess of Friendship do when she has no more nations to befriend?” Sunny blinked. She hadn't ever considered that. She hadn't thought it would even be possible. “Um… enjoy the ones she has?” “Perhaps. But that wasn’t good enough for Twilight." The witch stared off into the middle distance. "She was a problem solver. An organizer. Put less charitably, a meddler. She’d already made friends in one other world." "She what?" "Later. Knowing how many more were out there, trudging through existence without the guidance of friendship and harmony…" The witch sighed and shook her head. "Well, it probably sounds arrogant now, seeing where it led us, but Twilight believed the next logical step after world peace was a vast network of interconnected worlds, united through friendship and magic. “So, once her student was secure on the throne, Twilight went out beyond time and space." The witch shut her eyes. "And she never came back.” Silence fell on the cottage. Sunny said “Oh” and immediately felt foolish for doing so. “I don’t know if she met her end, if she’s just been lost all this time, or if something even stranger befell her. Either way…" The witch smiled at Sunny, though there was still sorrow in her eyes. "Well, as you’ve discovered, friendship is magic. And when the Princess of Friendship left this world, she ended up taking most of the magic with her. By the time we realized what had happened, there wasn’t enough power left to tell her to come back. “After that, I don’t know how much of the collapse was Twilight literally ripping the friendship out of the world and how much was panic and fear leading to anger and hatred. Whatever the case, things degenerated from there.” The witch grimaced. “Though the library burnings were definitely meant to spite Twilight. They used to call her Princess of Books, after all.” “That’s… that’s horrible," said Sunny, forehooves over her mouth. "Why did she have to go, anyway?” “Have to? She didn't. Choose to? Personally, I blame her predecessors. They put her on the throne too early. She stayed there a good, long while, but she jumped off the first chance she got. After everything she’d had to put up with, who could blame her?" The witch's expression turned sheepish. It looked wrong; that was a muzzle made for looking wiser than everypony else in the room. "Truth be told, I’d thought magic returning meant she had finally come back. I might finally have a chance to apologize.” Sunny's jaw dropped. “Apologize?” Bits of the story began to come together in her mind. The witch didn’t seem to hear her. “When she didn’t show up, I figured either I was wrong or she saw the memorial. Assuming it’s even still there. Nopony visits my grave anymore. Not even me.” “Y-y-y-you’re…” The witch smirked. Something at her midsection shifted about. The shawl fell to the floor, and she stretched out her wings. “I thought I’d made it fairly obvious.” Sunny's mouth worked silently for a moment. "Wow, did you get all three crystals too?" said Izzy. "Something like that." “I figured there was a line of succession! An oral tradition!" Sunny thrust her forelegs at the witch like a spokesmare showcasing the latest from Canterlogic. "Not just Luna herself in a cloak!” Motherflipping Luna her gosh-darn self shook her head. “No, no, those never hold up for long. A century or two at most before everything gets warped beyond recognition.” Izzy looked back and forth between the two of them. “I feel like I’m missing something.” Sunny turned to her, dazedly saying, “This is the mare who used to move the moon for a living.” “Huh. Neat." Izzy turned back to actual, genuine Queen Luna. "I really like the craters.” The Watcher of Dreams grinned. “Thanks. Though I can’t take credit for the more recent ones.” Izzy nodded like that was a sane thing a pony might expect to hear every day. “So, what now?” Sunny took the deepest breath yet in an effort to recenter herself. That was an important question, after all. “How do you feel about rejoining society?” Luna looked askance at her with hundreds if not thou No, no, Sunny was calm. “You’re not just saying that so another alicorn takes some of the attention off of you?” “We could use a voice of experience as we rebuild. My dad tried to piece together as much of Old Equestria as he could, but there’s a lot we still don’t know." Inspiration struck, and Sunny grinned. "Like you said, we should learn from everypony’s mistakes, right?” That got a chuckle out of the living legend. “You ponies. Alright, fine. I tend to do my best work after a long exile, anyway.” Sunny furrowed her brow. Her knowledge of Luna was admittedly patchier than some other alicorns. “I feel like there’s a story there.” “You haven’t heard that one? We’ll have to fix that right away." Luna cleared her throat, shut her eyes, and lit her horn. A hazy illusion formed at the center of the table. "Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters…”