Sunset's phone was blaring its alarm dark and early at 6:00am, and the unicorn immediately began a fire, not only to make breakfast, but also to warm up a bit before starting her hike down the mountain, and the rising sun wouldn't get over the peak for another couple hours. As much as she wanted to stay up here and wait for the sun to come up over the peaks to give her a stunning view of Bridlewood and the grasslands between, it would mean stopping for lunch before she actually got to the forest, and she preferred to hopefully join Izzy for a meal.
After a couple of hot fresh haycakes, her fire was doused, her fire ring scattered, and her tent packed up and ready to go. The descent was fortunately easier than the climb, and just about an hour later, her hooves touched the wide open fields between the mountains and forest. The blades were still wet with morning dew that hadn't quite evaporated, because the sun was just now reaching the fields. She checked her phone, and found that she was starting to get into range of the Bridlewood tower, but thought it would be a nice idea to surprise Izzy.
As she spent the next half hour waiting to see Bridlewood on the horizon, all she could think about was how stunning stargazing must have been out here. She made a mental note to make camp out here on her way back.
After another hour of hiking at a steady trot, she finally saw the tops of trees on the horizon. The forest of Bridlewood was almost completely perpendicular to the rest of the plains, almost like a wall of trees. If it wasn't for the very faint path of dirt she was walking on, she'd have almost no idea where to enter. But sure enough, said path went right up to where a couple of signs were prominently displayed on both sides of the path. At first she thought they were welcome signs, but was mistaken as she came up to the wooden welcome sign on the right side of the path, well before the treeline, very similar to the bridge dedication.
WELCOME TO BRIDLEWOOD
All Earth Ponies and Pegasi Welcome!
Her curiosity now piqued, Sunset continued towards the treeline to have a closer look at the signs right at the front of the woods. They were painted white with red lettering.
ATTN: Unicorns Returning Home
Due to recent events, for the safety of you, your fellow Bridlewoodians, and all visitors, absolutely no magic is permitted within town limits.
Thank you.
Sunny had told her about the cluster of warning signs that they had encountered when they had first come to Bridlewood, that warned other ponies away. Those were nowhere to be seen, just these two signs for returning unicorns, and they looked new... Brand new. She could still smell the paint.
Maybe Izzy knew something about this. Her house wouldn't be hard to find.
'First thing you'll see on the right, you seriously can't miss it,' Sunny had told her.
The ambience had dimmed considerably as she went underneath the forest canopy. Natural crystal formations jutted out from the ground every now and then on both sides of the path. About a quarter of a mile in, the hills started up again as the forest got thicker, and the unicorn's attention was drawn to the right. There, a large pink and white tree jutted out from the hill, and a two-story dwelling had been built into it. It looked perfectly rustic; the doors, the windows, even the patio didn't look terribly out of place from the surroundings.
Sunset approached the large round door, and gave a trio of knocks with her hoof, announcing her presence. A few moments later, the door slowly opened, and the lilac unicorn appeared in the cracked open door, peeking to see who it was, before seeing the familiar unicorn on her doormat.
"Oh, Sunset! Sorry, I almost forgot you were coming, come in, come in," Izzy greeted, opening the door the rest of the way and stepping aside.
The first thing Sunset noticed was Izzy Moonbow had an ice pack on her head, resting against her horn.
"Hey there, Izzy. Um, everything okay?" Sunset asked as she stepped into the unicorn's house. In almost every corner, there was an arts and crafts piece, or some kind of contraption made of scrap metal, discarded plastic, and pieces of wood.
"Hm? Oh, this. I've just been fighting a headache for a few days, that's all," Izzy replied, shutting the door behind Sunset. "Can I get you anything?"
Sunset felt something was off as Izzy directed her to the kitchen, and she quickly moved a book that had been laying on the dining table and set it off to the side on the counter.
"Your headache wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that book, would it?" Sunset asked, immediately seeing the 'IV' etched into the side.
Before Izzy could answer, Sunset heard a groan of discomfort from upstairs, glancing up towards the bedroom area.
"You already have a guest?" Sunset asked. She remembered Sunny telling her that Izzy lived out here on the edge of the forest alone.
"Alphabittle. He figured it would be a good idea to get away from town for a little while to recover..." Izzy said as she started preparing a pot of tea.
"Izzy, what's going on? Something happened, and you're not doing a very good job of hiding it. Those signs out front are brand new. What happened?"
Izzy knew the facade was unconvincing at best, and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to keep stepping around the elephant in the room with someone as astute as her new friend here.
"We... Had an accident a few days ago. Alphabittle was practicing a spell he found in a book he found, and... There was a fire."
"Where?" Sunset asked.
"The Crystal Tea Room, pretty much the center of town, and—"
Sunset didn't wait any longer. She turned and pulled the front door open, and went into a full gallop down path deeper into Bridlewood.
"Sunset, wait!" Izzy called, to no avail.
The trees blazed past as Sunset maintained her fastest gait further into Bridlewood. She raced beyond a playground and another few treehouses before coming to the considerable clearing, and had to nearly skid to a halt.
The Crystal Tea Room sat barren and empty before her. Scorches and smoke stains marked the bark all over. Caution tape had been placed over the double doors that served as the front entrance. She stepped forward, and gently pushed the front doors open, ducking under the caution tape, and stepped inside.
She had never been inside a burnt building before, so it was very surreal to her. There was char and black everywhere. If this place could be salvaged, it was doubtless that everything would have to be replaced or scrubbed down, such as the stone mosaic floor, or the cobblestone tables. The wooden tabletops were all scorched or had soot on them that had fallen from the ceiling. Remnants of picture frames clung on the wall, or rested on the floor where they had fallen. Cups and dishes had shattered on the floor where they had been dropped as ponies clearly left in a panicked hurry. Some small table lamp fixtures sat blackened in the middle of tables, while others were on the floor on what looked like a stone stage area, and others still knocked over and shattered.
"Faciem larva" Sunset whispered, her horn lighting up for just a moment before a glowing cloth covering materialized over her mouth and nose as she continued into the structure. The center of the structure appeared to be a bar area of some sort, and Sunset immediately made the educated guess that it was there that the fire originated. Very little remained of the shelves behind the stone counter, and whatever keepsakes and trinkets were on them had turned to piles of ash.
Lastly, center on the counter, was an open book, bizarrely looking like the flames had barely touched the pages or the ink on them.
Sunset's throat tightened as she reached a hoof up to the counter, closed the book, and rotated it ninety degrees so that the binding was facing her, and what she wanted to see least of all stared right back at her at the bottom of the binding.
V
Her hooves quivering, she picked up the book, and silently slid it into her saddlebags, and immediately turned back to the front entrance. Ducking under the tape once again, she turned around and pulled the doors shut behind her, turning to face the forest clearing again, and found Izzy there waiting for her.
"Sunset...?" the lilac unicorn asked softly as the glowing covering dissipated from Sunset's snout.
"Izzy, I'm sorry this visit didn't go as planned, but I need you to do me a favor. That book you have? Go around town, gather up any more like it, and keep them in a safe place, please. I'll be back for them as soon as I can. Do you think you can do that for me?"
Izzy nodded.
"Thank you. I'll be back."
Izzy watched as the amber unicorn galloped back the way she had come, down the forest path, saw her horn glow bright for a moment, and Sunset Shimmer vanished in a flash of light.