When Campfires Can't Burn The Cold Away
Izzy felt alone. Despite the fact that she was surrounded by a group of wonderful new best friends, she just couldn’t shake the feeling. Her mind whirled as she attempted to get some form of sleep. The campfire that Sunny and Zipp created for warmth had long since seen its final embers die away. Now, there was just the night. Stars, too numerous to count yet each holding a distinct name and personality, lay twinkling in a void immeasurably tall above her head. The moon, huge in size yet seemingly delicate in design, hung as an obstacle to the millions of shining implements around it; or, at least, that’s how it seemed to Izzy. The creative unicorn’s mind never allowed itself to stop dreaming…thinking…wondering.
It was way too much for her slumbers to withstand. So, she got up and, being careful not to disturb her peaceful friends, slowly made her way a few hoofsteps to where the rocks jutted downward. Cliffs had never been her favorite things, but on this night, she felt as if she could fling herself forward. Perhaps that might calm her ever quivering mind. She was thinking of her home in Bridlewood, where she and her friends were presently heading towards. Their mission of finding one crystal amidst a bevy of likeminded gems was like finding a needle in the proverbial haystack. Namely…next to impossible.
Still, it wasn’t the mission that brought her to the edge of this rocky outcropping. No, it was something else about her home. The canopy that had always greeted her day in and day out flashed through her mind. She’d told countless acquaintances of her journey away from there to try and find Maretime Bay. They either laughed at her, spat hateful things at her, or just plain ignored her. This was nothing new to the young unicorn. For, after all, when you’re the only pony in Bridlewood who believes in the powers of friendship and light, it can be an existence of solitude. True, the odd moment alone drove her creativity to new heights. That said, it also urged her loneliness…a loneliness expressed in her over-the-top greetings to others.
Her memories were interrupted by a soft hoof on her shoulder. She turned to see Sunny Starscout standing there. The moon reflected off the Earth Pony’s orange coat, tinging it to a fine silver. Izzy stared into her new friend’s aqua gaze, trying to read what she found. It was a definite curiosity, mixed with an almost fierce sense of worry. The bluntness of the revelation was such that it nearly knocked Izzy off her hooves. However, that being said, the kindness and complete dedication mixed in with Sunny’s silent emotions was enough to bring Izzy back into reality.
“Mind if I join you?” Came Sunny’s calm voice.
“Not at all,” Izzy said, gesturing to the spot beside her. “After all, what are moonlit nights for if not for friendly talks?”
“You seem troubled, Izz,” Sunny said.
Izzy smiled. “Is it that obvious?”
Sunny nodded. “Yeah…kinda…”
Izzy chuckled. “Well, I’ve never been good at pony poker. But, still. I just…I…”
Here, she sighed and dropped her shoulder a bit. How could she let her new best friend know what she was really feeling? She was supposed to be the bright, bouncy, happy pony. Her sparkle had always been a terrific source of light to her. She was so different from all the other unicorns back in Bridlewood. So different…and yet, so alike indeed. Buried underneath her tapestry of smiles and sporadic inventions lay somepony that truly wanted to be more than she was. Now, she had the chance to share that with someone she trusted implicitly. But, again, how could she? What would Sunny think if she knew the absolute truth?
“…you…?” Sunny asked, gently urging her friend forward.
“…I just can’t believe that I’ve met and made such wonderful friends over these past few weeks,” Izzy said.
Sunny smiled, but her eyes spoke her uncertainty. “Mm-hmm. You know, Izzy, if you don’t wanna talk about things, that’s perfectly alright. Just know that you have somepony that cares for you…and I’m always here if you need me.”
“Thanks, Sunny,” Izzy said. “The truth is, I do wanna talk. I wanna share everything with you. I just…don’t know how.”
“The beginning might be a good start,” Sunny said with a playful wink.
Izzy chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Alright…the thing is, I’ve been thinking a lot about Bridlewood over these last few nights. I’ve been considering why I left, why I needed to see what the lamp was about, and why somepony as bouncy and bubbly as me could ever have come from such a place.”
“What do you mean?” Sunny asked.
“Well…something that a lot of ponies don’t know about my home is that it’s…not exactly the most welcoming place in Equestria.”
“Well…” Sunny ventured, “…I mean, it’s not like Equestria is exactly known for its hospitality…at least…not anymore.”
“But that’s just the point,” Izzy said. “Now that I’ve been to Maretime Bay and Zephyr Heights, it’s easier for me to get a perspective on things. Both of those places, while not exactly harboring friendship towards other pony kinds, still show goodness towards each other. Bridlewood is just…full of genuine rumps.”
Sunny giggled. “Did you just say genuine rumps?”
“Yeah, I did,” Izzy said with a chuckle of her own. “It’s the only way I can think of to describe my fellow unicorns. They’re all dark and super obsessed with magic.”
“But…I thought you didn’t have it,” Sunny said.
“We don’t…I guess a better way of phrasing it would be that they’re obsessed with its return,” Izzy said.
Sunny cocked her ears. “Go on…”
“Okay…but it gets kinda ugly…”
See…I was born Ismaus Patricius Moonbow, the first daughter of Malichus Dominatus Moonbow. My father was one of the seven Barons of Bridlewood, who sought to keep our forest free of Earth Ponies and Pegasi. They bought in to all the nonsense about how Pegasi would kidnap our foals and Earth Ponies were dumb and smelled like, well, like rotten sardines. Before I was born, they sent guards throughout the forest surrounding my home to rid it of anypony that they didn’t like. It was quite the horrifying thing, let me tell you. Though I wasn’t alive for it, there were paintings in The Great Hall of the Barons that showed the massacre. Oh, yes, there were ponies other than unicorns hiding out in the woods around Bridlewood. Their blood paints my father’s hooves.
From the moment I could comprehend life, death, right, and wrong, I hated everything having to do with my father…and he didn’t much care for me, either. Neither did my mother, who hung onto the Bridlewood social life and neglected my two sisters and I. Since I was the oldest, I was expected to help care for them. Since my mother was always out at some wild, stallion drenched party and my father was always working to “make Bridlewood better,” as he called it, I was left alone. So, when my day’s work was done, I turned to my creativity to help me relax. Seriously, Sunny…you have no idea how therapeutic and cathartic it is to just sit and create.
Then…one day…my younger sister, Traceus, went missing. I was absolutely distraught. I searched everywhere for her, all around our home and the surrounding area. But, there was absolutely no trace of her. I reported her missing to the Barons, and my father came down on me especially hard. He said that I was responsible for her, so I was responsible for finding her. His parting words to me that day were that he would not consider me his daughter until I brought Tracey home. That broke me, so I rushed off into the woods. I’ll never forget the tears that stained my cheeks…the pain that tore through my very soul. My hooves quivered with agony. Every single step was laced with a fresh bit of torrential sadness. For a fleeting moment, I considered ending my own life right then and there. I was so far away from everything that made me happy.
But then…as I was debating whether or not to cease my existence…I…found it. Your lantern, Sunny. The drawing may have been somewhat crude, but the message was timeless. I had never known friendship before. Oh, sure, I grasped the concept. In fact, I was desperate for it. But I had lost all hope of ever finding it in Bridlewood. Everypony was too spiteful, with souls charred black from years of overexposure to extreme hate. The Barons pushed this in all of their propaganda leaflets and speeches. Even my own father, decorated hero of the unicorn race, set his teeth against those who were different from us. Different…with only a horn or a pair of wings to set us apart. Such minor differences, yet they created such major problems.
Upon finding your lantern, Sunny, I knew I had to get to whomever had made it. My hope was rekindled and my joy reinstated. But, I also knew that I had to find Traceus. My father would accept my blood in place of hers should I return empty hooved. So, for weeks after I found the lantern, I hid out in the forest and conducted a full search. Tracey and I had been incredibly close, so the search was much more than just saving my own skin. I needed to find her. If I did, then perhaps she and I could search for the creator of the lamp together. I looked everywhere, Sunny. I overturned darn near every rock, looked in every tree, inside every cave…any place a small pony like herself could have been hidden. But, I found nothing. Not a trace of my sister.
It was at this point that I returned to my father. I knew what was coming, but not even moons of forewarning could have prepared me for…well…what happened when I saw him. He and my mother were standing in our living room…and Tracey’s body was there between them. It looked as if she’d suffered a great deal before death. I looked at both of these…foul, disgusting, wretched spawns of hell itself that had, at one point, dared to refer to themselves as my parents. I remember my lip quivering…my very bones shaking. I looked from Tracey’s dead body to them and back again. I couldn’t take it. Before they could stop me, I ran out of the house and never looked back.
Thankfully, they never got a look at the lantern. If they had, they would have launched all-out war on the ponies of Maretime Bay. My father hated all other pony kinds with a deadly spite, but he saved his most severe for the Earth Ponies. I never wanted to believe that they were bad. We were fed a lot of propaganda, Sunny…a lot…and…it hurts to even think that I’d fall for such nonsense. It hurts to think that I once listened to ponies say such mean and horrible things about the citizens of Maretime Bay. I’m sorry, Sunny. I’m sorry I ever went there. I’m sorry I ever sat in my school lecture halls and listened to each of the seven Barons and their racially charged rhetoric. I’m so sorry, Sunny…
I left Bridlewood proper that night and never returned. I built myself a small cottage on the outskirts of the forest. It was far enough away that I wouldn’t be associated with my murderous parents or their superstitious, wicked townsponies, but close enough to where I could scrounge around for food and other supplies. For months, I just sat in my cottage and created things. It brought me a great deal of comfort to be able to do so in peace. My creativity flowed and, eventually, I was able to put my past firmly where it needed to be. Oh, the memory of my sister haunts me to this very day. But I wasn’t as hateful anymore…I didn’t want to kill my parents anymore. I just wanted to ask them why they’d done it. Why had they kidnapped their own foal and tortured her to death? Why did they abuse me so terribly? What was the point…of it all?
“…and now I find myself here,” Izzy finished. “Wanting to ask that very same question, but…knowing that I’ll never get to. The leaves of my home’s canopy used to sing innocence to me, Sunny. They used to speak beauty and life into my soul. Now they just sing pain…and guilt…and the blood of my sister.”
Sunny was in absolute shock. “I…never realized you had such a traumatic upbringing. I’m so sorry, Izzy.”
Izzy gave her friend a thankful look. “Thanks, Sun. But the truth is, I can’t ever do anything to bring myself any kind of closure. My parents have been dead for years now. I never got the chance to ask them…or tell them…that I’d forgiven them. I never got the chance, Sunny. Now, I never will.”
“I wish there was something I could do to change the past,” Sunny said, wrapping a friendly hoof around Izzy’s shoulder.
“The past?” Izzy asked rhetorically before following it up with an answer. “The past is something that I’ve come to terms with. I’m at peace. It’s not just because of my creating and inventing, either. It’s because I’ve finally found the one thing my heart perpetually sought: true friendship. Yes, the memories of my sister are still very prevalent, and they always will be. But my soul is soothed now that I have you and Zipp and Hitch and Pipp in my life. Thanks to you, Sunny, and the rest of our friends, the leaves sing innocence once more…and now I can’t wait to show my home to you.”
