• Published 25th Feb 2021
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Sunny Starscout and The Mystery of Magic - OneLonelyPickle



Sunny Starscout wants to unite the pony races of Equestria. With her new friends, she just might - and she may even discover the mystery of where all the magic went along the way! (Updates every Thursday!)

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26 - The Underground Tree

Sunny bounced down the dimly lit path that started behind the strange mansion bookshelf. All worries and fears were lost as she thought of what she had just witnessed: ponies who knew her dad, who knew “hoof to heart”, claiming to be part of a secret society dedicated to Equestrian unity?!

“Comon already! Tell me what this is all about! Were you guys friends of my dad?”

The tunnel was lined by tiny orange flames. Sunny looked back and forth as if the fires were at any time going to turn into giant blazing pyres of magical light. Her tail was swishing back and forth wildly.

Regan, who led the group down into the earth, chuckled.

“Of course! Argyle loved ta come here and read the books we’ve got at tha Tree.”

Regan was followed by his two accomplices, the mare with the fiery mane and the pony covered in black clothing revealing only his eyes, and then by Sunny, Hitch, and Izzy. Izzy was rolling Hitch down the tunnel, as he was still covered in what amounted to a big ball of chains with a padlock on it.

“Geez this is fun.” Hitch sighed. “Good thing I don’t normally get motion sickness.”

Izzy hummed in a quiet, singsongy way. Sunny bounced next to Regan.

“The Tree?” she asked.

“Heh. Ye’ll see. The hoof to the chest thing is ours, ya know. The Society taught yer dad, not the other way round.”

Izzy chimed in.

“W-wow that’s pretty neat, huh Sunny?” Sunny of course happily agreed. Izzy peered over at Regan, craning her neck around Hitch’s large chains. “Umm, Mr. Regan, sir? Sorry… you said ‘read the books at the Tree’… what kind of books do you have?”

“All kinds. What tickles yer fancy young Unicorn?”

Izzy and Sunny were reminded of the horn on Izzy’s head. They exchanged a glance, but Sunny smiled back. Izzy cleared her throat.

“W-well, I like to read books on knitting or crocheting usually, but sometimes if the cover is interesting, I’ll choose a book about animals or history.”

“Ahhhh so ye like history books? We’ve got a whole library full of ‘em!”

Izzy’s tail wagged. Hitch groaned, his eyes spinning and his mane all over the place.

“Please tell me you have a giant hammer or something that can break these chains…”

The fiery mare chimed in with a cheeky scoff.

“Those are Whitemetal chains, Unicorn-made. No way we can break them with what we got. Though, this fella can break out of the lock easy enough.” She motioned toward the pony in black. He nodded at Sunny and Izzy. Hitch sighed heavily.

“That’s good news. When is that going to happen?”

The fiery mare smiled.

“I’m not sure. What do you think, should we make him wait?” she directed to her all-black accomplice. His smile was evident through his eyes, and he nodded. Sunny looked back at Hitch and giggled.

“It’s okay Hitch. You just relax!”

Sunny sneezed. The sound echoed up and down the path, highlighting its true length. The angle was not as steep as the cave system of the moles Sunny and friends had used back at Castle Rockhoof, and the tunnel was clearly made for ponies in mind, not blind rodent-like mammals.

Not long afterwards the group reached a level part of the cave system. The tunnel opened into a much larger area, the ground changing from dirt to a wide layer of inlaid slabs of turquoise stone. Sunny and Izzy looked all around them and gasped.

It was difficult to decide on where to look first, but Sunny settled on the glowing spots on the cave walls and ceiling, so far away among the distant stalactites of the cave. They were unlike anything she had seen before – light captured within the stones, glittering pink, red, blue, green, yellow, all the colors, at one spot or another, and bright enough to give the inside of the cave an appearance like it was outside world.

“Magic!” Sunny cheered. She became the picture of an excited filly. Izzy responded just as loud, and not quite as energetic.

“I think it’s just phosphorescent gemstone, actually! But it’s still so beautiful!”

Sunny sneezed again and rubbed her snout. Regan chuckled mirthfully.

In the centre of the giant cave was a tree – or rather, a mess of roots that had been shaped somehow into a tree-like structure. The “tree” had a big, round door painted red, and numerous windows with flower planters sitting on their sills that showed light coming from inside the “tree” dotted all around its frame – more glowing stones, Sunny figured. Various accoutrements made it seem homey, such as a mailbox outside the door, a row of planters with colorful flowers in front, and a group of windchimes hanging from one of the branches next to what was ostensibly a balcony about one floor up. The “tree” had upper branches that reached to the ceiling so very far away. The branches were filled with green moss and vines that gave the illusion of leaves, though closer inspection gave it away. Still, the general effect was to give the appearance of a tree underground, and it worked on Sunny and Izzy.

Izzy’s eyes shined like sapphires as she got onto her tippy hooves. Her and Sunny couldn’t decide where to go or look, every single thing seemed so interesting. They scuttled about trying to take it all in.

“Hey!” Hitch inside his ball of chains complained. “I can’t see, I can’t see, turn me around!” He grunted as he flexed his muscles. “W-wish I could… break these chains.”

The fiery mare shook her head and mocked him.

“You can’t break those chains.”

Hitch grunted again, louder.

“Ahhhh!”

The fiery mare chuckled and rolled the Hitch ball around. Regan waved a hoof.

“Now now Firecracker, don’t tease.” Firecracked rolled her eyes and turned Hitch around until he could see the “tree”. He saw the same things his friends did, and his mouth dropped.

“Wowzers t-that’s a… wow!”

Regan cleared his throat and threw his hoof up as if to present the “tree” to Sunny and her friends. “Welcome to tha Underground Treehouse of Friendship! The official headquarters of the Society of tha Sun: Earth Pony branch!” He coughed. “We uhh we just call it the Tree though.”

The pony in black whispered to Sunny and Izzy.

“And keep this in mind: this is kinda a secret sort of place if you didn’t realize. So, no snitchin’…”

Sunny and Izzy looked at one another and gulped. Firecracker spoke up with a flick of her head and her mesmerizing orange mane, curving up like a wave of lava.

“Enough with the act, already, Jay. Just show ‘em!”

Sunny glared.

“Wait, JAY?”

Her voice had transitioned into being nasally and congested, hiding the anger behind her words. The pony in black sighed and removed his full-face covering. Indeed, the same pony from the alley stared back at Sunny. Jay forced a half-smile.

“Ya ya, it’s me.”

Sunny would have tackled him to the ground but for the mare named Firecracker holding her back.

“Okay now I’m really not feeling this place! You know this guy robbed us, right?”

Jay took a step back and sucked air through his teeth. Regan put up a hoof as if to try and diffuse the situation

“Now now ponies! Ease off, ease off. Jay was puttin’ on airs, lass. That was a test of ours.” He smiled at Sunny, who sniffled sickly in response. “And ye passed!”

“Test?”

Regan nodded eagerly.

“Aye! Jay told ye to pay for just yerself an’ he’d let ye pass, but ye’d have ta leave yer friends. But ye refused. Ye weren’t prepared to give up on yer friends.” Sunny looked to Izzy and Hitch in turn, each of them smiling (Hitch from an upside-down position). Regan chuckled. “If ye had, well, we wouldna helped ye at all!”

Izzy put her hoof on Sunny’s shoulder.

“So everything Jay said and did was just part of the test, right Jay?”

Jay shrugged.

“Ehh maybe. I’ve always been a bit of a jerk.” He flashed Sunny a smile that made her frown. “Guess I did want to see how you’d react if I bugged you enough.”

Sunny snorted, which made her cough her congested throat, and Jay laughed and threw his head back as if it his own words were the funniest he had heard in months. Izzy stood awkwardly beside a quietly stewing Sunny. Regan clopped his hooves on the stone slabs and sighed contently.

“Right, no use standing out here an’ I suppose you’ll all be wantin’ an explanation. We got food inside and tea and coffee, so let’s set yer minds to rest, hmm?”

Hitch waved his head back and forth, jingling the chains in the process.

“And me, you got to get me out of this, too!”

Jay walked up to Hitch and flicked his mane.

“Do I though? I ain’t so sure. I’m liking this look, Hitch Trailblazer.”

“Ha Ha very funny,yo—wait, what did you call me?”

Jay grinned sincerely.

“Ya thought I didn’t know your name? I just like messin’ with folks sometimes.” Jay motioned with a twist of his neck. “Comon let’s get you out of there, hairdo.” Jay walked away and Hitch nodded.

“Awesome!” When he went to step forward, Hitch remembered his predicament. “HEY!”

Jay laughed from the belly. Sunny’s nose was feeling a bit tender, and the inside of her chest soured with wooziness. Despite that she worried more about something else. She did not follow after Regan, Firecracker and Jay as they made for the front door of the Tree. Izzy stopped as well.

“Sunny?” the Unicorn asked.

Sunny inhaled a large burst of air.
“IzzyI’mSuperExcitedAndIWantToRunInsideAndAskAMillionQuestionsAndSeeAllTheAwesomeMagicalThingsI’mSURETheyHaveInside BUT” — she weezed. Izzy’s head was cocked, her mouth somewhat ajar — “I’m… I’m worried about… about you two. I don’t want… want anything like… like last time to… to happen again.”

Izzy frowned.

“I get that but, you okay? You sound sort of yucky wucky…”

Sunny caught her breath and raised a hoof.

“Y-Yea it’s just… the journey catching… up to me…”

Izzy nudged Sunny with a smile.

“Listen, we made it out last time, and all the other times. We’ll be fine!” Izzy’s eyes twinkled. “I mean, when I’m with you I just feel so confident! Like nothing’s gonna go wrong! Or if it does, we’ll beat it, right Hitch?”

“Less pep talk, more breaky outty of the Hitchy!”

Izzy continued. “I’m honestly not afraid at all, for the first time in”— Izzy looked down and shook her head incredulously— “I don’t even know how long! So, let’s go already!” She ran in place. Sunny, not altogether convinced, looked sidelong at Hitch.

“Hitch?”

To his credit Hitch kept his cool and breathed out slowly. He smiled at Sunny.

“Sunny Starscout, trust me when I say that if I had any doubts about joining you on your journey, I would be long gone. Now can we PLEASE get me out of this mess?”

Sunny wanted to smile, but she sighed and turned away.

“I know you two keep saying that but… I’m so worried… you’re my two first real friends, you know? I don’t want to mess up. And I don’t want you to get hurt either.”

Izzy hugged Sunny from behind, knocking her off guard. She blushed.

“Sunny I’m not letting go of this hug until you accept that we are here to stay!”

Sunny couldn’t hold onto her doubts and fears for very long with a warm, cuddly Unicorn attached to her body. She broke into a fit of laughter, as did Izzy, and the two swerved around back toward the Tree. Izzy let go and Sunny sniffled again, her voice still dry and cracky.

“Fine, fine, you’ve convinced me!”

Hitch strained with all his might.

“Sunny… I promise to give you a super convincing hug too… just as soon as I get out of here!”

Sunny nodded. Izzy ran in place again.

“Now, can we go? Please please please?! I want to see the library! I’ve read every single book on knitting in Sire’s Hollow, maybe they have one here I haven’t read before!”

Sunny allowed her joy to pierce through her doubts, and she joined Izzy’s display of energetic excitement.

“Forget the books, I KNOW they’ve got those magic crystals in there!”

Izzy’s brow creased somewhat.

“S-Sunny, like I said, the crystals—”

Sunny broke off toward the Tree.

“RaceYaToTheTree!”

Izzy giggled and went after the wily Earth Pony.

“H-Hey!”

Hitch called after.

“Girls! GIRLS! DON’T LEAVE ME HERE!”

* * *

Jay turned his lockpick until it clicked. The giant padlock released, and Hitch pushed himself out of the chains that bound him.

“I’m free!” He cheered. He ran around in a circle around the other ponies. They were all situated in a large, open foyer just inside the Tree. “FREEDOM!” Firecracker reached out a hoof.

“Alright pretty boy simmer down.” Hitch stopped in front of her hoof. He looked at it, cocked his head, then grabbed it with one of his own. Firecracker flinched. “W-what?”

Hitch looked closer at the hoof.

“It’s so clean and… perfect. Wow.”

Firecracker yanked her hoof away and turned around.

“W-weirdo…”

Hitch scratched his head. Sunny nudged him hard enough to ilicit a grunt from the former sherrif.

“Ow! Sunny I thought we were past that phase of our relationship!”

“Hardly! You get out of the chains and the first think you do is flirt! Get a grip Casanova!”

“But didn’t you see her hoof? It really is perfect, I’ve never seen anything like it before!”

Regan sighed. He seemed to be exasperated.

“C-can we hurry this… little whatever it is… up, lass, laddy?”

It was then that Sunny noticed that Regan, Jay, and Firecracker were all sweating and panting. Sunny looked to Izzy, and Hitch stared at Firecracker with worry. His ears flicked and his head jolted.

“Hold on, that’s—did you three drink some Liquid Power by any chance?”

Regan stumbled about until he fell to his knees. The sweat poured from his forehead.

“Aye… how else were we gonna rescue you louts huh? Haha…”

Sunny looked to Hitch who had an uncharacteristically grave face.

“What’s Liquid Power, a potion?”

“Yes. It makes you stronger for a very short time, like as strong as me.” He sniffed nonchalantly and Sunny’s expression turned deadpan momentarily. “Only after the potion wears off you’re pretty much down for the count for a few hours.”

Izzy frowned.

“We saw someearthpony drink it in Castletown, that red stuff, didn’t we?”

Hitch nodded.

“That’s right. These three need to rest right away.”

Sunny saw Regan smiling at her despite his condition. She looked away uneasily.

“You didn’t have to… I mean, why? Just for us?”

Regan flopped down entirely, his tongue rolling out.

“N-not for ‘us’ but f-for ye, Sunny. No offence to… yer friends. Ack, c-can this… can it wai—”

Regan’s eyes came to a close and he started to gently snore. His breathing was ragged. Hitch nodded resolutely.

“Let’s move them to someplace they can rest. The sooner, the better. They need good rest to recover to the full extent.”

He looked at Firecracker and smiled. Even in her state she remained with her usual temperament. She shook her head.

“Don’t even… think about it… pretty boy! You grab… Jay… he’s the bigger… pony.”

Jay was wobbling. He held up a hoof.

“Nah nah I’m good, I’m good.”

After a few more seconds of spinning around, he collapsed. Firecracker sneered.

“I win…”

She too fell. Izzy cleared her throat.

“Umm. Where are we supposed to bring them?”

All three ponies looked up at the foyer of the Tree – it was much taller, Sunny noted, than even the lobby of her family mansion. The centre of the Tree was marked with a curved wall covered in bark. One finely carved wooden door on either side of the foyer, one leading to the left and one to the right, were the only exits besides the big red round one behind the ponies. The foyer was lit by a bundle of tree roots that jutted from the ceiling with inlaid white crystals like the ones outside on the cave ceiling.

At various places, small statues sat on mid-sized marble pedestals, adding some flair to the tall room inside the Tree. But otherwise, it was empty. Nothing seemed to indicate the direction of the sleeping quarters, if there were any to begin with. Sunny weakly pointed to the door to their right. She sneezed and shook her head.

“Let’s just… find a place!”

Hitch looked at her.

“Sunny maybe you should rest too…”

“I am fine, it’s them we need to get to some beds!”

She sneezed again. Hitch and Izzy looked at one another worriedly. Hitch went to grab Firecracker. Sunny clopped her hoof against the wooden floor.

“Hitch!”

He turned around and feigned ignorance.

“What… what?!” Izzy shook her head and Sunny glared. Hitch sighed. “Okay fine, I’ll take the street urchin.”

* * *

Izzy was awestruck – she couldn’t lift her fallen jaw that hung with solid shock.

“L-Look! Books! So many books!”

She moved forward, then turned and stepped in that direction. After seeing the hundreds of different colored tomes lining the shelves of the Tree’s library’s left wall, she again shifted to the other side and beheld the texts on the right.

“I can’t believe it, I mean, I just—sorry but, how can there be more books than we have in the biggest library in Sire’s Hollow?!”

She turned back to Hitch and Sunny, who both briefly looked at each other, less than enthused, and then back to their chipper Unicorn pal.

“We call it the Star Study,” Izzy explained. “It’s a big place where all the old books are kept. But it’s not nearly as big as this…” She ran right up to the right wall. Further forward was a wooden spiral staircase, which led to the second floor of the library. One could spot the signs that the library continued, so too did all its many shelves and countless books, though from the entrance, nopony could see where it ended, and anyway too many shelves blocked the view. More crystals from the ceiling cast such a clear light below, as if from all places at once a persistent glow was being cast.

Hitch shook his head and stepped forward, making for a cushiony chair.

“I’m not really into books. I’m waiting for them to wake up already so we can ask them what this is all about. A big tree underground? Glowing crystals?”

Sunny tried to smile with her teeth, but her brow was drenched in sweat and she felt woozy, so settled with a wavy closed-mouth one instead. Hitch sat down, worried, as Izzy wandered the library.

“Right?! I feel the same way, but at least we found a bed for them all to share. They’ll… forgive us for the tight squeeze.” She rubbed the back of her head. “They were heavy and everything…”

“I could have carried Firecracker and Jay.”

“Yeah that wasn’t going to happen.”

Hitch frowned at Sunny.

“You should go lay down too. You look sick, Sunny.”

Sunny felt her forehead and panted. She shook her head and managed a big smile after all.

“Hitch, please, I’m good! I get this way sometimes.”

“Uhhh, I know you, remember? You don’t.”

“You just forgot, and you’ve been gone from town for a long time!”

Sunny challenged Hitch’s stern look with the happiest face she could muster in her state.

“I’m fine, o-okay?”

Hitch facehoofed.

“It’s not like I can convince you to do anything Sunny Starscout. Anyway, I’m still not so sure about all of this. If Izzy wants to explore the library, I’m staying here to keep an eye on her. Just in case. If you want to go rest, which I strongly recommend, I have this covered.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow and smiled.

“You worried about the Hornhead Hitch?”

Hitch looked back at Izzy, zipping about from one part of one shelf to another shelf somewhere else. He let himself grin.

“I guess I am.” He cleared his throat, turned back, and crossed his hooves. “I will call one Unicorn my friend. For now. But no Featherfreaks—” Sunny protested with short breath. Hitch hushed her with a held-out hoof— “Uhpuhpuh, baby pony steps, Sunny. I have accepted Izzy as my friend. These things take time, okay? I’m still worried about where Halter is, and I can’t rule out that he’s in Unicornia right now. You saw what was up with the Night Owl, didn’t you?”

Hitch glared.

“Whatever Izzy’s brother is doing right now… the Warlock King… if it’s happening to my own brother…”

Sunny shot back.

“It’s not! We’ll find him, okay? I’m sure one of these ponies knows something.” Sudden remembered grief struck Sunny. “Maybe they can tell me more about what’s going on with my family, too…”

Hitch’s brows softened and flexed upward. He opened his mouth to speak, but Izzy’s sharp gasp from some corner of the library drew the two Earth Ponies’ nervous glances.

“S-Sunny, Hitch! C-Come here!”


They were up in a flash. Hitch hollered ahead.

“Izzy! I knew it, Sunny! This was all a trick!”

“IZZY!”

They winded down a literal maze of shelves and found Izzy… looking at an open book on the floor. They panted.

“W-w-what, y-you’re okay?” Hitch managed. Izzy nodded super fast. She pointed down at the book.

“This book on knitting, I’ve never read it before! A-A-And it’s… the pictures… the Unicorns in here are using magic!”

Hitch hung his head down and groaned his complaint. Sunny sprang forward.

“W-what, magic?! Lemme see!”

“Yeah look!”

The two mares “ooo’d” and “aww’d” as they flipped through the pages. Hitch leaned against a shelf.

“I got all defensive and sheriff-y for nothin…”

After that, Sunny followed Izzy around as she found various books that looked interesting. Her enthusiasm for magic helped hide her slowly deteriorating state. Sunny rarely cared except when magic, in one way or another, was involved. Hitch eyeballed a novel here and there but for the most part simply stayed nearby in case something happened. Something caught his eye between two shelves near the back of the library.

“W-whoa…”

It was a large rectangular painting, obvious signs of age reflected in the raised flecks of paint coming off it. In the painting sat a yellow-furred mare with a long, silky, pink mane done in an intricate style and held in place with a teal barrette of sorts. Wrinkles sat below her eyelids, but despite that, Hitch was smitten – she was breath-takingly pretty, even being clearly old enough to have been his grandmother. The yellow mare’s eyes seemed to twinkle right off the ancient painting. She was seated in a field and surrounded by some animals. Hitch saw a squirrel, a rabbit, even a bear. The upper right portion of the painting was horribly burnt, but it looked like another creature was also in the painting once upon a time.

“Hubba hubba…” Hitch said quietly. He sat down and stared at the yellow mare in the painting. Sunny nudged him after what seemed like hours to Hitch. Hitch flinched.

“Look at her with all the animals, she’s just like you, H-Hitcheroo!” Sunny snickered. Underneath her eyes was puffy and swollen. “Guess you were born too late to find your dream mare…”

They both did a double-take at the same time.

The yellow mare had fluffy yellow wings.

"Or... maybe not?"

Hitch seemed in a trance.

"A... Pegasus? Wow..."

Hitch broke his stare and looked at Sunny. His brow pointed toward his snout.

“Sunny, l-look at you! Okay, that’s it: I’m taking you to a bed—”

A cry broke out. Hitch’s ears perked up and he ran toward the source, Sunny in tow as fast as her sore hooves could take her.

“Izzy!” Hitch shouted. “This better be a real emergency!”

But when he navigated through a couple more rows of bookshelves, he discovered that Izzy was again simply enraptured by a book. It was the cover of the book that had her gobsmacked. Sunny cocked her head and Hitch stood beside her, catching his breath once more.

“Who is that?” Sunny asked breathlessly. Izzy lit up.

“T-That’s Starswirl! That’s him, that’s his picture!”

Sunny turned to Izzy.

“There’s a book about Starswirl here, in the Realm?”

Hitch made a spitting noise out of the side of his mouth.

“So what, I saw a book about cabbages earlier! There’s lots of weird books here!” He put a hoof on Sunny’s back. “More importantly, you’re coming with me!”

The mares were in a world of their own. Izzy looked at the cover closer and approached the book. She pointed at it.

“Sorry, you don’t understand. See that symbol up in the top left of the cover?” Sunny stepped closer out of Hitch’s grasp and saw the cover clearer. Sure enough, a strange symbol that looked like a bunch of squiggly lines was exactly where Izzy said it would be. The old stallion Starswirl looked even more distinguished from up close – Sunny peered into the drawn Unicorn’s piercing grey eyes. When she did, something like a jolt ran through her. For a split second she thought she saw a bunch of pictures in her head, as if a bunch of images ran by super quick. She shook her head and Izzy continued. “That’s Old Ponish. I only know because my nana taught me what that symbol means – it means Equestria!”

Sunny’s mouth opened into a circle.

“Oooo… so what does it mean?”

“It’s a history book about Starswirl! From when they used Old Ponish! From when Equestria was whole!”

Sunny smiled briefly, then frowned.

“Oh, that’s boring. I hate history.”

Izzy fell over from the shock alone. Sunny sneezed a few more times. Hitch stepped forward again. Somepony cleared his throat nearby. Sunny, Hitch, and even Izzy (after she scrambled up to her hooves) all turned to the sound.

“Aye tha’s Starswirl alrigh’.”

Sunny smiled weakly, her puffy eyes fluttering. She wobbled about. Regan rubbed his still-sore head, now hatless and allowing his meagre red curls to breath easy.

“Sadly, we don’t know tha Old Ponish neither, but there’s an image in that book that’s very interesting to our Society…”

Sunny sneezed super loud, not just once, but multiple times. Her nose had reddened considerably, and she had a sort of nasally open-mouth breathing thing going on as if she were very ill. Regan raised an eyebrow.

“That…”

Hitch held Sunny as her eyes closed and her breathing slowed to a dangerous wheeze. Izzy panicked; Hitch glared at Regan.

“What’s happening to her?!”

Regan looked to the floor, himself still recovering. He looked up with an open expression as if realization had hit him all at once.

“S-she’s—I know what’s goin’ on! Let’s bring her to tha infirmary! Cam on!”