“Did we lose them?” Glory asked after she hid behind a tree as everypony else.
“I think so.” Gusty took a deep breath.
Starswirl looked around, noticing somepony was missing.
“Where´s Buttons?” he asked worried.
“Right here!” the pink unicorn replied right then.
Lancer widened his eyes when he noticed that a certain earth pony came along.
“What the? Why is she with you?!” he scolded Buttons.
“I couldn´t leave her alone! She was about to be harmed by those witch hunters.” Buttons slammed her hoof.
“You were? Are you alright?” Gusty approached Shady.
“Yeah yeah I´m fine.” she walked backwards, trying to get away from Gusty as much as possible. “It´s not like I´ve just probably lost my inn forever, get myself involved with wanted unicorns, one of which casted some crazy spell on me that made me disappear one moment; and now I have a great chance to be executed!” she laughed maniacally. “WHAT´S GOING ON?!” she snapped, changing her mood rapidly. The unicorns stared at her scared. “Who are you? How did you get here? Or better question, what are a bunch of unicorns doing in earth ponies´ land?”
Gusty inhaled and exhaled calmly.
“It´s kind of a long story…” she lamented. “What´s worse, it´s even crazier than the fact we are in your land. But what I can assure you is that we mean no harm to any earth pony nor we ever intended to set a hoof in here. Circumstances just forced us to be here. Please, don´t be scared of us.”
Shady´s angry expression softened. Gusty´s tone of voice and face indicated that she was being sincere and felt ashamed. She started regretting her sudden outburst.
“I´m sorry.” she apologized. “It´s just so much to take into. To be clear, I´m not scared of you. I mean, Buttons helped me and saved me from the witch hunters.” Buttons smiled tenderly at her. “That tells me that you are good ponies. I´m just confused, this is the first time I interact with unicorns and see their magic. I don´t know how it works, or if it´s dangerous. I…” she shook her head. “I just don´t know how to react.”
“Of course. We understand chérie.” Buttons reassured her. “But if you let us explain, you´ll understand everything.”
Shady sighed.
“Alright. Tell me everything.”
So, Buttons told Shady the whole story. She talked about unicorns´ history, Majesty, the prophecy, the incident at Grogar´s castle, and Fizzy´s ponynapping. To every unicorn´s surprise. Shady listened with lots of attention and never judged them. Sure, she expressed confusion many times, but who wouldn´t if they were told such story. But she took it way better than they expected.
“So… Do you have any questions?” Buttons asked her.
“Well… To be honest, it is a very crazy story.” said Shady. “And no offence to you,” she looked at Gusty. “but I´m not really sure that a single pony will dethrone Grogar.”
“To be honest, me neither.” Gusty admitted with a smile. “But I´m not alone. Besides, if there´s a chance that I´ll help somepony, then I think it´s worth the try.”
Shady smiled back.
“But in order to do that, we´re going to need to free our friend.” Glory added. “How much do you knoo about Katrina´s castle?”
“Not so much. But I know somepony who probably does. She lives very hidden in these woods, but I know how to get to her.”
“Wait.” Lancer stopped her. “Is it safe for us? Won´t they mind that we are not earth ponies?”.
“Well, technically, you are an enemy to the witch hunters, so you´ll get along.”
Starswirl widened his eyes when Shady mentioned the witch hunters.
“What do you mean with witch hunters?” he asked scared.
His question was ignored.
“So we are going to see your friend, right?” Buttons deduced.
Shady nodded.
“Then let´s go! There´s not time to waste.”
Starswirl approached Buttons once he made sure Shady was far enough for her not to hear them.
“Buttons, you mentioned earlier about witch hunters. I never told you this, but there were also witch hunters among unicorns. They made sure that nopony was using black magic. If Shady´s friend is an enemy to witch hunters, she must be using black magic. Are you sure it´s wise following her?” he said worried.
“I know you have more knowledge about magic and our history than any of us and I understand your worry, but I think their definition of witchcraft is different than ours. You saw they called Gusty a witch and she never used black magic.”
“Hm... Good point. I´m just making sure. You know I don´t take black magic lightly.”
And so, the ponies delved deeper in the woods. Buttons sighed sadly when she noticed that it was getting dark. The more they walked, the more scared they got, as this pony seemed to live very very far away from earth ponies. Perhaps Starswirl and Lancer were right, perhaps Shady´s friend truly used black magic and lived well hidden in the woods so as not to be discovered, and thus she may be a danger to the unicorns. Plus, the darkness did not help either. It was so late in the night that they could hear owls. Even Shady was stressed by the lack of light. When the unicorns lit their horns, she was initially surprised but welcomed their help anyway.
Finally, in the distance, they noticed a dim light between the trees. Shady gasped excited.
“There she is!” she exclaimed before running to the light.
The unicorns followed the earth pony. They stopped in front of a cabin surrounded by many crops. It was similar to Starswirl´s home, however, it had much of an eerie air to it. Maybe it was because of the dark wood, the spooky aesthetic of the house or the unwelcoming, angry scarecrow looking right at the visitors. Whoever lived here, really wished to be in solitude. The unicorns shared uncomfortable glances, wondering if they had made a big mistake and asking each other whether they should run away.
Shady, on the contrary, kept a happy smile on her face while walking to the door.
“I hope I´m not disturbing.” she turned to everypony.
Right after she knocked the door, the pony behind answered. It wasn´t in a very friendly manner, unfortunately.
“GO AWAY IF YOU DON´T WANT ME TO CAST A SPELL ON YOU! NO VISITORS ALLOWED! DIDN´T YOU SEE THE SCARECROW?!”
The unicorns hugged each other, shocked by this receiving. Noticing that both he and Gusty were hugging each other, Starswirl blushed in embarrassment. He diverted his look from Gusty to the door.
Although also taken aback, Shady remained calm.
“It´s ok, Magic Star. It´s me, Shady. Do you remember?”
“Shady?” the pony behind the door wondered aloud.
She slightly opened the door, revealing her appearance. She was a yellow earth pony. Her dark turquoise mane was picked up in a very messy ponytail. Her confused brown eyes checked Shady.
“Oh, it is you!” she exclaimed genuinely surprised.
She fearfully opened the door slightly more to see if she came alone. Starswirl looked at her with fear, Glory hid behind Gusty, Buttons pressed her lips, expecting the worst to happen. Lancer prepared his sword in suspicious paranoia, and Gusty waved her hoof gracelessly, wearing a nervous smile on her face.
“Ah, and you brought some company.” she pointed out. To the unicorns´ surprise, the earth pony wasn´t freaking out or expelling them from her house. Instead, she just winked and returned her gaze to Shady. “Why did you do that?” she asked upset but coolly.
Shady smiled apologetically.
“I know, I know. But we need your help. We are being chased by soldiers and witch hunters.”
“Witch hunters? Ah.. I see you finally joined the dark side, eh?” Magic Star nudged Shady while teasing her.
“No. I´m still not interested in that stuff.” Shady lowered her foreleg. “I am on their watchlist because I´ve helped them, who are their real targets.” she pointed at the unicorns.
“Oh. Are you witches too?” Magic Star asked the unicorns excited.
The unicorns shared confused looks.
“Um… Not exactly.” Buttons replied. “We do use magic, however.” she pointed at her horn repeatedly.
“Oh right.” Magic Star giggled. “How silly of me. You´re unicorns.” she nodded with a calm smile. A few seconds later, she gasped in realization. “You´re unicorns?!”
“Seriously? She realizes that now?” Lancer asked sarcastically.
Magic Star shook her head.
“Wai- Whe- Wha- HOW?!” she asked Shady. “I thought you were the careful one!”
“I am. But it´s a very long story. Perhaps they can explain it better to you than I would.”
Magic Star raised a skeptical eyebrow as she stared at the unicorns.
“You see the pink one?” Shady pointed at Buttons. “She rescued me from a witch hunter. Plus, she helped me with the inn when they came there. Besides, it would be a great chance to share knowledge between magicians, huh?”
Magic Star took some time to think.
“Ok, you can come in.” she finally answered. “Technically, you are magicians, so I guess we can understand each other despite being very different. I just need you to answer one question. What on earth are you doing here?”
And so, Gusty and her friends explained everything as Magic Star offered them tea and biscuits. Starswirl was the one who talked the least. Although he was afraid of her at first, that wasn´t the reason. He was just observing the house decoration. It reminded him so much of his home: shelves full of bottles and books, laboratory materials, a big cauldron over a fire in the middle of the leaving room, notes in every corner of the table. That´s when he understood that the so-called witch was nothing to fear. She was an investigator and not a black magic enthusiast.
Once they were done explaining their story, Magic Star was left perplexed. It might have looked like she was staring at them, but in reality, she just had a lifeless gaze due to how confused she was. She was so focused trying to process what she just heard that she wasn´t aware that she was slipping the tea.
“The tea!” Shady warned her.
“Sorry!” Magic Star stopped pouring the tea in the cup.
“I know this is a lot to take in, but I swear, this is what truly happened and the reason why we´re here.” said Gusty.
“You unicorns have pretty crazy lives!” Magic Star exclaimed. “I mean, a prophecy? What? That´s just surrealistic!”
“Well, you are a magician, aren´t you? I don´t think this should come as a surprise to you.” Lancer commented.
“An earth pony magician. I only know what our ancestors taught us. And our magic is not like yours. We can´t cast the spells you do, or see into the future, or levitate objects, or control the weather. What you´ve just told me is pretty different to what I´m used to! We brew potions with magical materials, not challenge the laws of physics!”
“Earth ponies used to be magic users?” Glory asked intrigued.
“There were earth ponies that were magic users, but it wasn´t that common. Most of us were and still are dedicated to farming. And we are pretty good at it! Even though, our crops are not as good as they used to be. Nonetheless, every tribe needs doctors and healers. And they also have their beliefs. That´s what we witches were for. To make plants grow faster, make other ponies fall in love with others, to heal illnesses… We were very appreciated!”
“So there were no witch hunters back then?” Glory asked.
“Nope. But everything changed until Katrina came along.” Magic Star crossed her forelegs.
“Katrina carries a potion that gives her power, and she uses that power to do evil things.” Shady explained. “Before she came, potions were used for good, so we didn´t see the dark side of their use until Katrina. After she came, everypony got so afraid of magic, that they tried to forbid their use among us! And those prohibitions, turned into persecutions to the point of killing any pony suspicious of witchcraft.” she lamented. “And in the best of cases, they were just shunned. That´s what happened to Magic Star. She used to work by my side, but after rumours of her being a witch spread, the previous owner of the inn fired her!”
“I don´t care if it´s they think it´s bad, brewing potions is what I´m good at.” Magic Star said with conviction. “It allows me to experiment with their ingredients and create new potions that could help everypony.”
“But what you´re doing isn´t witchcraft.” Starswirl corrected her. “Witchcraft is black magic, and black magic requires doing somepony harm or using it for selfish purposes.”
“Then we must have different definitions of witchcraft, because for us witchcraft is using magic!”
“See, what did I tell you?” Buttons whispered in Starswirl´s ear.
“Nonetheless, we also had our history of witch hunts.” Starswirl continued. “While understandable, there were times where that fight became hysteria and innocent ponies paid for crimes they didn´t commit. I always say, it´s ok to fight for good but not to that point!”
Gusty covered her giggle with her hoof.
“Really? You had witch hunts? But you are the ponies with the weirdest magic!”
“Like I said, we have different definitions of witchcraft.”
“You know what? Despite that, we are not so different.”
Magic Star and Starswirl shared sly smiles. Gusty smiled as well. She was happy to see that her friends were realizing that interacting with ponies of different species was actually good. She was glad to see Starswirl having the same experience she had with her husband.
“While I enjoyed this class of earth pony history, I´m afraid I´ll have to cut it.” Buttons intervened. “We have a friend to save, remember?”
“Oh right! Gusty exclaimed. “Shady told us that you could give us some information about Katrina´s castle. We are planning to get in to free our friend. What is it that you know?”
“Plenty! You see, just like you, I am part of-”
Suddenly, they heard knocks on the doors.
“Ugh! DOES NOPONY NOTICE THE SCARECROW?!” Magic Star yelled frustrated.
“Who might that be?” Buttons asked confused.
Magic Star gasped in realization.
“Oh no.” she quickly turned her head to the unicorns. “You might want to hide.”
“But why?” Gusty asked confused.
“Wait. You have a reunion today?” Shady asked Magic Star. “Had I known I would have waited.”
“Apparently I do, but I didn´t remember.”
“Why does it not surprise me?” Shady muttered under her breath.
“Hey! I heard you.”
“Magic Star? Is everything alright?” a voice from outside asked.
“Yeah! Everything´s fine!” Magic Star lied. “You need to hide. Now.” she started pushing the unicorns one by one to a closet.
“Could you explain us what is going on?!” Lancer yelled frustrated.
“I have more visitors, and I´m not sure they´ll tolerate your presence here. Now, if you want to survive, you´ll just have to stay here until they´re gone. They can´t see you.”
Glory bit her lip.
“I´m afraid it´s a little late for that…” she said fearfully.
Slowly, everypony turned their heads back. Behind the window, there was a brown earth pony, staring horrified at the scene. The ponies didn´t have time to react, as he just ran away before they could even blink.
“No, no, no!” Magic Star ran to the window. She put her hooves against the window. “Alonzo don´t!”
“Sir! Sir! There are unicorns in her house!” the male earth pony yelled.
“What?” a deep and older voice enquired.
“I think she´s having trouble to fight against them!”
“Oh no! Don´t worry, Magic Star, we´ll help you!”
Suddenly, the door was opened in a blow by a big bearded green earth pony, with other earth ponies carrying swords on their mouths. The elder earth pony, who was around Majesty´s age, glared at Starswirl, since he was the one Magic Star was pulling then.
“You!” he exclaimed furious as he drew his sword. He walked intimidatingly to Starswirl, making him shake in fear. When he was close to him, he grabbed him by his armour and lifted him off the ground. “I don´t care that you´re a unicorn, stop harming her!”
“No. You let him go!” Gusty demanded. “Or I´m afraid you´ll have to see my wrath.” she ignited her horn.
“No, no! STOP!” Magic Star got between the two. “You all misunderstood.” she said the earth ponies. “They were not harming.” Magic Star explained. “They are with us!”
The earth ponies widened their eyes in surprise.
“They what?” the big earth pony asked angry. “Don´t you know they are not to be trusted?!”
“They are, Moochick! One of them saved my life.” Shady said in their defence.
“If you let us explain, you´ll understand.” Magic Star continued.
Though not very trusting of the unicorns, the earth ponies trusted both Magic Star and Shady. So they listened what they had to say.
“Aand that´s why they´re here.” Magic Star finished explaining.
The earth ponies blinked in disbelief. Moochick snorted slightly and ended up roaring in laughter.
“She- She´s destined to what? Ha ha! That´s the stupidest thing I´ve ever heard.” he wiped a tear. “Ah… I knew unicorns were proud, but I didn´t think they would have an ego that big.”
“It is true.” Lancer stomped his hoof against the floor.
“Look, I don´t know if it´s because you have magic, but you need to get your heads off the clouds. Face reality, one cannot defeat Grogar by miracle! You need armies, you need strategy, you need experience! And from what I´ve heard, you haven´t any.”
“Well, I wasn´t planning to do it alone.” Gusty justified herself. “Besides, we are not going to attack him directly. We need to reconquer other cities in order to get to him.”
“Ok, that´s more sensible.” a white earth pony commented.
“Still, I find that prophecy hard to believe.” Moochick replicated.
“If you don´t want to believe us that´s fine.” Gusty said in reply. “All you need to know is that we are not a threat to you.”
“Yeah!” Glory agreed with Gusty. “And if you think aboot it, we both are fighting to take back our realms.”
“Realm? We never had realms. We lived in clans.”
“Oh, you didn´t? I figured you were reclaiming a throne like Majesty.”
“We may not have had a kingdom like you, but these lands are still ours. We were the first one to establish our homes and crops here.”
“Which is why you´re fighting Katrina.” Starswirl finished.
Moochick nodded his head.
“And how are you doing?”
“Bad.” the white earth pony replied.
“Knightshade!” Alonzo nudged him.
“What honey? It´s true. We don´t know how to fight against her magic. And we´ve lost many comrades. You have to admit it.”
“I do, but that´s why we are counting with Magic Star. Hopefully, we can confront her with potions.”
“But we are still few to attack the castle tomorrow!”
Buttons widened her eyes. She held Kinghtshade´s hooves.
“You´re planning on attacking the castle tomorrow?!”
“Um… Yeah?”
“Then let us come with you! We can help you with Katrina and you can help us get Fizzy!”
“What?!” Moochick asked shocked.
“That´s a brilliant idea, Buttons.” Gusty complimented her.
“No, no. We are not fighting along unicorns. We don´t need your freaky magic to defeat Katrina.”
“Oh, I beg to differ.” Gusty intervened. “With our freaky spells, we might facilitate everything.”
“Yeah, that´s the thing about you. We have to work twice as hard whereas you can ignite those horns and make everything a reality!” Alonzo said bitterly.
“Well, Katrina does as well.” Glory reminded him. “Wouldn´t you want to have things as easy as her for once?”
Alonzo stayed quiet to think her words more profoundly.
“Good point.” he agreed with her.
“And I happen to have lots of knowledge about Katrina´s magic.” Starswirl added. “This is usually forgotten, but knowledge is the greatest weapon.”
“Lastly, this fella right here mentioned that you are in need of ponies to attack.” Lancer looked at Knightshade.
Every earth pony shared looks. Their arguments were actually very convincing.
“Everything sounds like a win-win to me.” Magic Star raised her eyebrow teasingly.
Moochick sighed grudgingly.
“Fiine…. We can help you get your friend, and you can help us overthrow Katrina. It might be helpful. Maybe.”
“Woohoo!” Buttons screamed excited.
“But now it´s not time to celebrate. We must plan this carefully.”
“It somewhat is, Moochick.” Magic Star disagreed respectfully. “The time when The Great Seedling comes back is coming nearer.”
“The Great Seedling?” Gusty asked curious.
“It´s a spirit we venerate.” Shady explained. “He springs through to field, making plants grow. He´s so generous that he doesn´t mind being caught! And if he is, he´ll grant you crops that will always be in bloom. That is, if you catch him.” she winked an eye.
“Unfortunately, he hasn´t come ever since Katrina came.” Magic Star continued. “But we believe that if we defeat Katrina, he´ll come back and make our crops rich again!”
“Great Seedling come
Fast as a drum” Shady sang.
Magic Star smiled. She joined in her song.
“Bless our fields
Make grow the yields.”
Slowly, some female earth ponies joined as well.
“Take out the snow
Let the sprouts show
Jump on the land
Where the seeds stand
The soil needs you
The time is due
Hear our cry
Be our ally.”
“What are they singing?” Glory asked to Buttons.
“That´s the melody our ancestors used to invoke the Great Seedling.” Moochick explained. After being so serious with them, Glory and Buttons were surprised to see him smile. “It´s also the hymn of our revolution.”
He laid his hoof on his chest before he and other male earth ponies started to sing.
“Grateful we´ll be
We guarantee
We´ll sing in cheer
As plants appear
Fruits and the trees
All of the greens
Bloom the flowers
With your powers
Colour the earth
That you gave birth
Let the spring
Come back again
Pretty, pretty, pretty
Pretty spirit
Pretty, pretty, pretty
Pretty spirit.
You´re our only light
Our delight
You are our home
When all is gone.”
They repeated the song from the beginning. Having heard the lyrics, Gusty began to sing. Her friends stared at her estranged. She winked an eye at them, inviting them to sing. Starswirl smiled and sang along her, then came Buttons, then Glory, and lastly Lancer. Though a bit doubtful, at the beginning, they enjoyed singing along the earth ponies.
“Great Seedling come
Fast as a drum
Bless our fields
Make grow the yields
Take out the snow
Let the sprouts show
Jump on the land
Where the seeds stand
The soil needs you
The time is due
Hear our cry
Be our ally
Grateful we´ll be
We guarantee
We´ll sing in cheer
As plants appear
Fruits and the trees
All of the greens
Bloom the flowers
With your powers
Colour the earth
That you gave birth
Let the spring
Come back again
Pretty, pretty, pretty
Pretty spirit
Pretty, pretty, pretty
Pretty spirit.
You´re our only light
Our delight
You are our home
When all is gone
Great Seedling come
Fast as a drum
Bless our fields
Make grow the yields.”