//------------------------------// // Bridlewood // Story: Unicorn Attack! // by milesprower06 //------------------------------// "Okay, so maybe a unicorn forest isn't the most magical thing I can think of..." Hitch commented, as he and his new friends stood in front of a nearly straight treeline. The dirt path went into the trees and grew considerably darker compared to the sunshine of the open grassy plains they currently stood on. All around on both sides of the path, staked into the ground and nailed to the trees, were signs of various designs, warning others to stay away, and more or less inform approaching equines that they were not welcome. "Come on, my house isn't far from here!" Izzy said, singing to herself as she began trotting into the forest. After exchanging glances, the others, somewhat hesitantly, followed her in. Sunny quickly noted that these were some of the biggest trees she had ever seen, easily dwarfing the smaller forests and tree clusters on the outskirts of Maretime Bay. Bridlewood may have looked dark and gloomy from the outside, but once they were in the thick of the trees, and their eyes had adjusted. There was something undeniably enchanting about this place. The rays of the late morning sun broke through the canopy dozens of feet above, and all manner of birds and critters in the branches sounded off, betraying the abundance of life the otherwise still forest had. "And here we are!" Izzy announced, turning off of the main path to a two-story dwelling that had been built into a gargantuan tree. Green and red leaf vines hung from the roof and the right side of the balcony. Once up at the roof, the trunk of the tree split off into three, and strangely didn't look any worse for wear for the fact that the interior had been turned into a house. Izzy opened the door, stepped inside, and immediately aside, ushering her new friends in. "La villa Izzy!" The unicorn announced as the four other ponies entered and reacted to the creative flair that she had filled her house with. The first thing Sunny spotted was an odd cylinder-shaped device, with wooden spoons sticking out of it, and empty glass bottles strung up on a frame hanging above it. The cylinder was attached to a crank, and the unicorn encouraged the earth pony to give it a try. She stepped up to the crank, and began to slowly rotate it counter-clockwise. The cylinder began to rotate, and as the ends of the wooden spoons came into contact with the bottles hanging above, they formed a harmony of ten notes. A slowly rotating chandelier and rotating-mobile combination had grabbed the attention of Zipp and Pipp, while Hitch had gravitated towards some odd contraption with macaroni art on it. The purple pasta had formed a face, and as he stepped up to it, something in back clicked, and the eyes shifted left to look at him, not too unlike a mechanical clock would. "Did you make all this?" Zipp asked, as she followed the bird-shaped pieces hanging from the bottom of the chandelier. "Yep!" Izzy replied. "Unicycling. Isn't it funky?" The unicorn asked excitedly. "It is gorgeous!" Pipp complimented. Sunny found her way up the stairs as she saw Izzy scurry to the kitchen downstairs. The earth mare came to a dresser and a large mirror, and to the left of that tucked away in the corner was a full size bed. It wasn't the furniture that drew her attention, but all the works of art. And front and center above the headboard, was a filly's artistic impression of Maretime Bay's lighthouse. She didn't hear the hoofsteps come up the stairs, nor the approaching steps behind her, until she turned her head and saw Hitch. "Reminds me of your room," Hitch commented. Sunny scoffed. "Please, I was nowhere near as creative as this," Sunny countered, looking at the other works of 'unicycled' art that adorned the walls and ceiling. "Well no, but there was passion. You believed in what you were doing. You always have." Sunny gave the sheriff a soft smile, before turning back to the artwork above the bed. "All these years she wanted to see Maretime Bay, and that was the welcome we gave her. What do you think the chances are of other earth ponies coming around? A second chance? A real second chance, Hitch," Sunny asked. Hitch thought for a moment before replying, watching as Sunny continued to look at the art thoughtfully. "I can't speak for the rest of Maretime Bay, Sunny. But after just a couple days out here with everypony, I can say that I'm starting to come around. But you were right; CanterLogic's profits count on keeping everypony in town 'scared and prepared', for something that can't possibly be a threat. I don't have any answers on how to confront that yet, but it will have to be confronted, if there's going to be real change. Not just in Maretime Bay, either. With how we had to sneak around Zephyr Heights, and with how Izzy's down there pondering up a way for us to blend in, I'd say all three tribes have some adjustments to make, if this does work." "Even if it doesn't Hitch... Yeah I was excited to have friends who could fly and levitate things, but that's not the heart of it. I just wanted friends. Togetherness. To me, friendship is the real magic, Hitch. If these crystals do end up being a dead end... I'm sorry, I don't want to think about all of us going our separate ways. I won't go back to the way things were. Not with what I've experienced these past few days. But Pipp is right, going all in on these crystals without a backup plan is foolish. We need to know what we'll do if they don't work." Hitch heard the concern and worry in her voice, and decided to humor her, and not try to play down her fears. "Well, I guess you have three options. All of us going to Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights, or here in Bridlewood. I was going to say four, but I doubt the five of us could go off and start our own little village. Zephyr Heights may be the best bet, because I'm not sure if that city is willing to let go of their royal sisters anymore than Maretime Bay is willing to let go of their hysterics. I can't really speak for Bridlewood yet, but I imagine we'll be finding out more about that in a bit." They heard a tea kettle begin to whistle from downstairs. "Hey, Hitch, Sunny!" Zipp called. "Get down here, Izzy has something she wants to show us!" The pair of earth ponies turned and trotted down the stairs, coming to the center of the room just in time to see Izzy come out of the kitchen with a giant flower. On wheels. "I've never gotten to use it with actual friends!" Izzy exclaimed, as she brought the contraption to a halt around the other four. She tapped it on the side, and the 'petals' blossomed outward, transforming into a six-pointed table, with a steaming kettle in the middle. The teacups were of various patterns and types, from ceramic to plastic and from cup to urn to mug, but each of them had stayed firmly attached to its place on the petal as it unfurled, defying gravity, and while Izzy picked up the kettle and poured hot water into each cup, Sunny discovered upon picking it up that each was held lightly in place by a magnet glued to the bottom. "To new friends!" Izzy said, raising her cup after dipping in one of the teabags that had been resting in the middle next to the kettle. They all raised their glasses, met in the middle with a series of clinks, before drawing them back and taking sips of the delicious tea. "Alright, so!" Izzy began, after finishing her tea in just a few sips and returning her cup to its place on her table. "Who's ready to fit right in?"