Zipp walked down the path of the unicorn village with Izzy, It was her third visit to the Bridlewood and her first time being her alone without any of their other friend. All in all it was an enjoyable trip. The sun was shinning through the trees and there was a constant breeze blowing into the Wood from the plains. The unicorn residents of the town were much more lively than her first visit, and seemed to be getting more and more so as each day passed.
"Oh No! Jasper, I told you not to throw it so hard." One of the colts said at the edge of the wood.
"I'm sorry I really thought they'd catch it I didn't mean to lose your ball, Myrtle." Jasper said trotting the the edge of the town near where the path ended. "I'll get you and your friends a new ball."
"I'm sorry Myrtle I tried to catch it, but I just couldn't get my magic around it."
"Huh, what's going on?" Zipp asked walking up behind them. She paused at the scene that was in front of her. In front of her not even ten feet away was the ball in question, but not just that one ball there were dozens of balls, kites, and even a couple of bicycles. "Uh is that the 'lost' ball you're talking about?"
"Yeah, it's lost forever now."
"Uhm. Yeah, hey Izzy. Could you explain this to me?" Zipp waved Izzy over. "Why don't they uhm I don't know just go over there and get the ball and bring it back?"
"Because you can't just walk into the Bridlewood. Nope sadly that ball is lost forever."
"Jinxies?" Zipp asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well sure you have Jinxies, but that's not all, the wood is well." Izzy tapped her chin looking for the word.
"Cursed."
"Terrifying."
"Spooky." The foals all offered.
"Yeah exactly what they said." Izzy smiled and nodded several times. "Yeah. Every foal is taught at a very early age you never leave the path because."
"The woods will close and there will be no way back!" The foals and even Jasper answered in unison.
"Right so why don't you just I don't know float the ball back?" The foals looked to each other then to Jasper who in turn looked to Izzy. She shrugged.
"I don't know."
"Oh for the love of. I'll just it. It's literally not even ten feet away." She started walking.
"Zipp wait don't leave the pa-" She grabbed the foal's ball.
"See nothing hard about i-" Her eyes widened as she turned around. Izzy, Jasper, and the foals weren't there. The path wasn't there. The entire town wasn't there, all around her was just the forest. "Crud, well today just got a lot more interesting." She put the ball in her bag and took off flying as hard as she could into the sky, she broke through the canopy into the sunny blue sky above the forest. Everywhere she looked for as far as she could see there were just trees. "Okay, well if it's still morning then that must be east." Then she turned around. "That must be north relatively, so I need to head that way I guess."
She started flying. She stayed in the air for what felt like hours until her wings started to feel sore. "I should have gotten back by now. She looked up at the sky. The sun for some reason hadn't moved. She broke hard coming to a complete stop. "Okay, now that, that's weird. What's going on here."
"Destiny." She looked around as the word was carried on the wind.
"What?" She looked around.
"This way," The wind softly rolled over her. "This way."
"Right okay, sure why not." She turned around and started gliding after the wind. It took her only a few minutes of gliding before she could see the tell-tail sign of civilization as the trees thinned out in a large area, and she could almost make out the sight of buildings. "Alright I'm finally out." She flew down hard toward what she thought was Bridlewood only to break a few moments later. The buildings she was diving toward weren't the same wooden buildings of Bridlewood but were large stone ruins that maintained a sense of a former regal glory, despite being broken down and covered in vines and weeds. "What is this place?"
"Har-mony. Harmony. Home."
"Where are you?!" She looked around.
"Down here!" Zipp looked down pausing as she spotted an elderly unicorn mare. "Hello, I see the forest brought me a visitor, it's nice to meet you come on down." Zipp slowly descended down to the elderly pink unicorn who was standing in a small clearing between several large stone columns and plinths of whatever this place used to be.
"Hello, I'm Zipp, uhm who are you, and what is this place?" She asked as she landed infront of the very elderly mare who smiled at her as she landed.
"I'm Jinxy, and this well this is my home. Not much of looker huh?" She asked with a smile.
"I mean it's a bit of a fixer upper, but why am I here?"
"Not sure how'd you get here," Jinxy wave for Zipp to follow her as she lead her deeper into the ruins of what had clearly been a palace of some kind. She'd lived in a palace all her life she knew the extravagance of one even if it were in ruins it still held a regal air to it.
"I was getting this ball and then when I turned around I was in the middle of the forest."
"Oh yes Everfree wanted you to be here that much is for sure."
"Everfree?" Zipp asked.
"The forest, it has always had a mind of it's own, I knew something was up when my clocks stopped working, I take it that, that was thanks to you?" She laughed. "That's impressive. We can talk about it in my place. Well here we are."
"Woah." Zipp gawked at a large crystal tree like house. "That's were you live."
"Yep. Also close your mouth you don't want a paraspite flying into your mouth." Jinxy laughed walking into the building. As Zipp began to walk toward it the tree began to glow. "Woah." Jinxy laughed. "You're a special pony for the tree to glow like that. It hasn't done that in. Well a long long time, back in the days of my Great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother."
"What was that. What is that?"
"The tree of Harmony, and I think it's what brought you here. Come on in let's go ask Spike, if he's awake." She walked in. The entire building was make of crystal.
"It almost looks like the crystals that were a part of mom's crown."
"Of course it does, this tree is the one that those three crystals were taken from." A voice came from a crystal ball. "I see that the Everfree brought you here, interesting, I just got done talking to Sunny."
"Ohh, I think things are going to become very interesting very soon." Jinxy sat down in a chair. "I guess it's time to give this pony the talk."
"What talk?" Zipp asked. "And you know Sunny?"
"I'm an old friend of the family." The crystal ball answered.
"As for the talk well you see Zippy when a mare and a stallion love each other very much."
"Wrong talk, Jinxy." The elderly mare laughed as Zipp just looked at her in stunned shock. "I believe that you have a book to give to her?"
"Oh yes I forgot silly me." Jinxy got up and moving slowly grabbed a large book from a display case. "Here you go Zipper, you and your friends might need this book soon. It was my great-great-great-"
"Right your supper grandma's book. But why will we need it and how do I get back?" She asked
"It's a surprise, we can't ruin it that would be terrible, and don't tell me 'but I'll pretend to be surprised,' that's not going to work on me no sir-y. As for how you get home. Just step out the door. The Everfree has given you what it needed to. We look forward to seeing how you and your friends progress."
Zipp was stepping out the door; she looked over her shoulder. "Thanks will I-" She was looking back at a bunch of toys in the forest.
"Zipp!" The next thing she knew Izzy was on top of her, as were the foals. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure but I got the ball, have fun kids." She passed the ball to the. "And I got this."
"Oh my that sparkle is amazing!"
"What is it?"
"It's a book, it's a bunch of paper with words bound-"
"I know what a book is but what is this book."
"I mean we can go to my house and find out."
"Yeah, that sounds good." Zipp followed Izzy back to her home, looking one more time over her shoulder to the forest behind her.