The sky was painted multiple shades of purple and orange, getting more and more blue. Elsewhere, Celestia and Luna were just done with sunset and moonrise. But here, right here, at this place, and at this height, it was a strange place for a unicorn, a pegasus, a bunny, and an owl to be. Yes, even the owl.
"I'm so glad Owlowiscious found the Unpine still at twilight," the namesake unicorn cheered, sitting comfortably on one of the top branches just off the main trunk, the owl on her back.
"I saw this tree appear before my own eyes, but… But I still can't believe I can't see this huge tree from my cottage. It's the only one this high. We can see all of Ponyville clear from here. I can even…" Fluttershy whispered, sitting on a different branch and also facing the main trunk, squinted her eyes past her friend. It was getting darker by the second, but she could still see most of what mattered. Was it really him? Yes, "I can even see Hummingway sleeping by the window! I think we're some good ten meters above all the other canopies. I wonder if he could see me?"
Angel was just in front of Fluttershy. He squinted his eyes in the same direction the pegasus did, but his sight was by far the worst of the four. He just sat back at the branch, folding his arm, announcing solemnly his unwillingness to be there.
Twilight only shook her head to Fluttershy's question. "No, we are also covered by the illusion magic of this tree until we stop seeing it. That's why the bark can be used for illusion potions. It's also a central ingredient of Gossamer Grove Glue, one of the most potent glues in the market, so don't hurt it." She stretched her head a bit closer to Angel, and extended her recommendation. "And don't nibble on it either." The bunny just glared in return. Can we start this already?
Fluttershy decided not to push it with her little white friend. "Let's collect the leaves, Twilight. I don't think Angel wants to stay here very long."
And he didn't need to be told twice. He jumped to the third branch, that neither the ponies were using, looking at both of them, his eyes were begging for instructions. The unicorn happily obliged. She pointed with her head to the leaves far behind the bunny, and recited the instructions. "I'll put a sparkle where you have to break the leaves. Always break them away from the branch straight, and never wiggle them. Don't shove the leaves in the bag, try to have them as flat as possible, even if they're narrow."
Angel ran towards the sparkle and slowly broke the leaf it indicated. He looked back at Twilight as if to ask for confirmation. She nodded with a satisfied smile and the bunny went on to it. The sooner they were done the sooner they'd get down to home sweet home.
Owlowiscious had been looking down for a while now. "Hoo," he informed, and then he took off Twilight's back and flew straight down.
"How can this single tree grow alone here anyway? Or are there more like this in the Everfree forest?" Fluttershy pondered, as she exchanged a full bag with an empty bag with Angel.
"Nobody knows. The book gave a list of known Unpines, and declared this one to be the only one in Tailbes… the city before this became the Everfree Forest. It's said these trees are almost as old as the Princesses, if not older." She looked up at Luna's moon, with a short sigh of frustration. "I'm going to ask Princess Celestia later. It's really annoying to read wild guessing in an academic book… Even if research was a more lighthearted art back then." Twilight was looking at the tree bark in front of her, carefully peeling some more. Her telekinesis was the only safe way to handle it, and her bags were thicker and waterproof.
Fluttershy made a soft laugh. "I can see why. So this place was a city?" The pegasus looked towards the spot they defeated the Nightmare Moon… more or less. It wasn't visible from there, due to other trees. "I guess that's why we found a palace in the middle of it." As she mused, she thought she heard a voice down below… or was it a bird?
Twilight blinked. "Yes. It was the old capital. Biggest city in Equestria back then, yet… still smaller than Ponyville today. I can't even picture that!" She was still having trouble adapting to Ponyville's small town vibe at times.
Her butter yellow friend whispered, more to herself, "I can." It was a soothing image to picture in her mind. Bucolic, sparse homes, much like her cottage, and lots of nature around. Beautiful, starry nights like today. It was already dark, the west horizon had a very narrow light that was quickly fainting. She smiled to herself, into her imagination, until brought back to the real world by Angel's shoving yet another filled bag onto her hoofs. And then she heard that voice again. "Twilight…? Can you hear that?"
"Hoo! Hooooo!" Owlowiscious! It was now loud clear to both of them, a screaming call for help. Fluttershy darted down, leaving the bags at the branch. Twilight lit her horn, invoking the same magic that brought her up there. She walked towards the main trunk and started walking on it, defying gravity, only her mane and tail obeying the laws of physics. She wished she could at least trot, but then she'd fall. And Angel, left there, groaned silently and pressed on his assignment — he knew he couldn't help with whatever was happening, but if they were going to be lingering on, at least it wasn't going to be his fault: back to work!
—
"So you hunted a squirrel, and then you ate it, and when you stepped on the squirrel… uh…" Twilight was having trouble saying the word, as she was seeing the dried dark red spill before her eyes. Sure, she knew Owlowiscious was carnivore, but she didn't usually have to witness that fact. "Hoo!" "Yes, that. And then you got stuck when you stepped on it? I wonder that activated the glue spell?" She looked closer. Owlowiscious, talons didn't seem stuck, but when she just lit up her horn a little, there it was, a light brown aura. "Yes, that's it."
Twilight started to think. How to set him free? She lit her horn again and tried a teleportation spell, but the spell was unable to take the owl without the tree, which wasn't the point. Owlowiscious tried to fly off again, in despair, even knowing it would fail.
Fluttershy flied closer. "Is that magic glue dry, Twilight?" The unicorn just nodded, thinking of some other spell to try. The pegasus inhaled in preparation for the horrible taste she was about to feel and went on to lick Owlowiscious' paws, in hopes it would slide off when wet. He blinked, took by surprise by this, and felt a little relieved. He could tell, though, it didn't help his actual problem.
Twilight stepped closer, looking at the owl's eyes. Can she dream to safely cut open gossamer grove glue without hurting her favorite junior assistant? "Owlowiscious… I can try to cut it. I'll do it very very delicately and slowly, and only if you're ok with that." He nodded, he just wanted out! And so the unicorn lit up her horn… concentrating on the delicate magic she was performing… But no… It wasn't giving way for her cutting spell. It just wasn't. "I give up," she blurted out, panting a bit, "I… I can't try any harder. I could hurt you badly if I go any stronger than this."
It was then that Twilight noticed that Fluttershy had left while she was trying her cut spell. She looked up to see the pegasus bringing Angel to join the group. "He was done anyway," she explained, as she perched beside the owl. The bunny hopped down onto the branch, noticing Owlowiscious situation, and inspected closer the dark brown body beside the owl. He smelled the squirrel a bit (Fluttershy was a bit disturbed at the nonchalant way he examined that corpse), and then pushed it off with his large foot, imagining it would be stuck too.
But it wasn't. It fell down into the dense canopies beneath them. They could hear the leaves ruffle, and some wings flapping. "You're free!" The ponies said that at the same time, very relieved. Owlowiscious was flapping his wings, unstuck!
Finally!
Despite his beak, he was noticeably smiling, and flew two quick laps around his companions before stopping right in front of Twilight. He very clearly stated how he missed being at Ponyville. "Hoo!" As if in cue, Angel pointed to the leaves in Fluttershy's saddlebags and then to her cottage.
"Looks like you're all eager to leave," Twilight said. She didn't collect as much bark as she wanted for her experiments, but at least there were plenty of leaves. The issue was that the unicorn didn't want to leave without trying to at least probe the magic in the tree itself, so she would have something to compare afterwards. "You go ahead, I'll just try to see the magic in the main trunk."
—
Angel was fast asleep in a large pillow in one of the cottage's rooms, dreaming the day's events away. Fluttershy and Owlowiscious were both drinking tea, to warm up from the soft chill of the early night, and Futtershy in particular wanted to wash away what she previously licked. It was just a couple minutes shy of the time Twilight promised she'd be back. The owl was curiously looking around him, just now getting acquainted to the cottage, while the pegasus was staring at the beautiful sky Luna brought up every night, right at the spot the tree was supposed to be.
To her relief, with impeccable punctuality, Twilight teleported into her cottage. It all worked well. Until Fluttershy looked into her friend's eyes. The unicorn looked confused, surprised, or something in between. "Twilight, are you okay?"
"I… I am." She laid on her stomach right there. Fluttershy looked at her worried, it was clear that Twilight wasn't all that ok. The unicorn shook her head, and looked around, now finally in sync with where she was. Were they having tea? "Can I… have some tea too?"
Fluttershy served it immediately for her friend. She handed the cup to Twilight, looking into her eyes, and slowly asked, "Twilight, please tell me what happened."
She sighed. She was still sorting it all in her head, but decided to start from the beginning of the conversation that happened before. "The tree doesn't like carnivorous animals, basically. It traps dead animals with what killed them. But only this one Unpine, other Unpines may be ok with it."
The pegasus was both excited and frightened by this idea. "So trees do have personality."
"No," Twilight blurted out. "Well, not like this one. I don't know about actual trees."
"The Unpine isn't a tree, then?" Fluttershy was confused.
"No, it wasn't always a tree." She sighed. "Remember in that train, that you said you wanted to be a tree? I'm not so sure this is a good wish to have, Fluttershy." The pegasus only blinked in reaction, a blink that had many questions. Before she could formulate them, Twilight kept explaining. "I talked to the tree. It used to be a pony. All of the Unpines did. There was a spell back then that transformed a pony into a tree after he just died, but it could only be done by the Queen, the mother of our Princesses."
Twilight sipped on the tea slowly, eyes closed. She was choosing carefully her next words. "It wasn't… consciously alive. The personality of that pony is echoing into that tree and will keep doing so until this tree dies. It can take many more centuries. He told me a bit about what Tailbes was. And I tried to explain how Ponyville is today and he didn't seem to accept it… it didn't match what he knew. I'm not sure."
"Twilight…" Fluttershy knew where she was getting at.
"It kind of disturbed me, I wouldn't want you to become some permanent shadow of yourself, Fluttershy." She was actually pleading now.
"I… I thought about it a lot since that trip, Twilight." She smiled, appreciating the concern of her friend, but some explanation was in order. She started walking towards the window. "I renenber your worried tone when I asked you to actually make me in a tree just before we came back. But when I did finally get back to my cottage… I realized how silly of a fantasy that was. The animals are already more around me." She very softly petted Hummingway, careful to not wake him up. He was still in the same spot she saw during twilight, from the Unpine. "I'm already living the way I really want to live. And I can help these animals much more as a pony."
As Fluttershy finished that last point, she went through a bag and took some cat food, as this was the time for them. Suddenly the quiet silence of the living room was filled with three cats and two kittens, all mewing loudly about how hungry they were. She served a few cups into their bowls and watched them eat.
Twilight also watched, listening to them mew and purr, and then the crackling noise of their eating. It was clear, Fluttershy meant it.
