Ponywatching

by ThunderTempest

Prompt #36: A Link Connected

Sun Shade trotted through the Everfree forest, heading towards the town she had visited a few days ago with Rock Slide and Apple Blossom. She knew now, after re-reading the ‘Crowned Princess’ novels that the Old Witch of the forest wasn’t as unnatural as she first seemed, and certainly not as unnatural as the stories from other foals claimed she was. Sun Shade was certain that the novels, which everypony else dismissed as simply fiction for young foals, were actually true. There had once been more than just earth ponies, and Sun Shade only knew of one pony who could tell her: The Old Witch of the Forest, as everypony else who she had told had simply dismissed it as just her imagination.

As she finally entered the clearing that held the Everfree Town, Sun Shade shivered. She felt like she was being watched.

“Hello?” she called out, “is anypony there?”

For a moment, Sun could hear nothing but the wind blowing through the trees. Just as Sun Shade was about to give up and go back home, a ball of purple light burst into existence right in front of Sun Shade’s nose.

“Follow,” said the ball, its voice ethereal and full of echo. With that, it began to float down and into the overgrown town, and Sun Shade trotted after it.

The ball lead Sun Shade past the building where she, Rock Slide and Apple Blossom had taken their photo earlier that week, and continued on down the street, leading her toward an exceptionally large tree. The tree’s limbs were twisted, intertwining with each other in a pattern that Sun Shade couldn’t recognise. The ball floated through the door, leaving Sun Shade standing outside.

She took a breath, raised a hoof, and knocked on the door. Or at least, tried to, because it was yanked open by an unseen force before her hoof could contact the wood.

“Come in!” called a voice, and Sun Shade walked inside, looking around for anything that might eat her. In the central room of the tree-house, Sun Shade saw the Old Witch. She certainly didn’t look old. In fact, she looked like she was younger than Sun’s own parents. If it weren’t for the horn-thing sticking out of her head, and the two wings on her sides, Sun would have thought her just a normal pony.

“Hello there!” said the Witch, “what’s your name?”

“I’m Sun Shade,” said Sun, still looking around as though she was about to be eaten.

“And what brings you out to my town, Sun Shade?” asked the Witch.

Instead of relpying verbally, Sun dug into her saddlebags, and pulled out the first of the ‘Crowned Princess’ books, and offered it to the Witch.

“I was here a few days ago, and then I saw your horny-thing, and your wings, and...” Sun Shade trailed off, as the Witch was staring at the inside of the book.

“Sun Shade,” said the Witch, her eyes not leaving the book that was now floating at her eye level, “what do you know me as?”

“The, um, Old Witch of the Forest,” said Sun, “please don’t eat me!”

For a moment, silence reigned in the tree-house. Then the Witch started laughing. It was slow, at first, but it built into a crescendo, and ended with her rolling around and wiping tears from her eyes.

“In all my years, I had not expected this to happen. I thought that nopony would ever make the connection between myself and the books, and come and seek me out, not after so long,” said the Witch. She clambered back onto her hooves, and then placed the first book open to the first page in front of Sun Shade.

“I believe that some re-introductions are in order. Sun Shade, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and I was once a unicorn, and the supposedly normal librarian of a sleepy little town at the base of a mountain.”

Sun Shade looked between the book and the Witch, and noted the similarities between the drawing and the pony in front of her. Faced with almost an exact depiction in the book, she realised that the Witch was the pony from the ‘Crowned Princess’ books, and fainted.

Author's Note:

Written for Prompt #36: Theme Week, Day Five
The prompt: “There are more things in heaven and earth ... than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Set in the same universe as 'Winning A Bet' and 'Truth in Fiction'