With the recent discovery and translation of records from the era of the second sundering of the tribes, I thought I'd share a record we had tucked away in the Dream Valley archives. This excerpt comes from the memoirs of August Peridot, a unicorn stallion scholar from the crystal empire who came south the study the unicorns of Bridlewood. This is his story, and the creepy events that occurred around it...

To her royal majesty, Empress Dazzleglow, alicorn ruler of the Crystal Empire, and Daughter of Princess Flurry Heart, greetings,

Your royal highness, this is August Peridot, your loyal servant and historian for the Crystal Empire. As you have requested of me, I have journeyed south with a merchant's caravan, and entered the fractured kingdom that was once called Equestria. From here, I proceeded south towards our old ally, Dream Valley, where I stayed for several days, before continuing towards that portion of the Everfree forest now called Bridlewood. As per your request, I have begun my study of the Equestrian unicorns, who live in their own separate community in these lands, and they live, along with their customs and culture.

In the next several entries, I will expound upon my experiences here over the next several months; of modern Equestrian unicorns and customs, on the few friends I have managed to make here (including two... unique unicorns, namely a stallion with whom I enjoy gambling, and a lovely, long-haired, playful and energetic unicorn artist with whom I enjoy... something else). I will also tell you about how these ponies are coping with the loss of their unicorn magic, how they reacted to me still having mine, and how they believe the other pony types might be responsible.

All this and more, I shall speak of in my next four entries, I will talk about all of my experiences during this visit... including my encounter with one of the spookiest legends of Ponydom, passed down from olden times. All this and more, this stockily built crystal unicorn stallion with a green coat and black mane will now relate to you. I hope this helps enrich your royal knowledge of Modern Equestria, and will be of use to the royal archivists.

until next time,

Baron August Peridot

...

entry two-

My first week amongst the Equestrian unicorns of Bridlewood was an interesting experience, entirely defying my expectations of these ponies and their home.

Upon first arriving here, the unicorns of Bridlewood reacted to my appearance with great surprise. While they were at first confused by a crystal unicorn, that confusion quickly turned to indifference. There was none of the xenophobic hostility I had heard about and expected from Equestrian ponies, and when I inquired about this, I was promptly told. "Well, a unicorn is a unicorn, crystal or not." But when I say they treated me with indifference, I don't mean they merely tolerated my presence. They just showed the same apathy towards me that they show towards everyone and everything else, including each other.

The first thing I noticed during my stay here, was that the unicorns had become a tribe that is very close to nature, living in houses grown from trees, and their buildings and structures blending in with the forest landscape. Their society has beatnik/alternative elements to it, such as poetry readings with bongo drums and tea shops. Unicorn culture is about individualism,closeness to nature and spontaneity, a far cry from the aristocratic unicorn culture of old.

There are many fascinating aspects to their culture; they have a unique word for positive exclamations, 'unicycling' , which I have heard them exclaim the few times I have seen them happy. They also are a very superstitious culture, as I noticed several times when I spoke 'forbidden' words that caused them to go into elaborate rituals to ward off bad luck, called the 'jinxies'. After several occurrences of this event, a few unicorns took me aside, and explained this phenomena to me patently- (seeing how I was an outsider, they were very understanding), and I now know not to speak the words 'magic' (due to the sadness of their loss of it) wing and feather (their irrational fear and hatred of Pegusai) and mayonnaise (note to self; research the unspeakable incident that led to this word becoming taboo). Their habit of living in trees, I speculate started from an emulation of unicorn icon Twilight Sparkle living in a tree library, but there is of course no way to prove it.

As I spent more time among these ponies, I became aware of how lethargic and disinterested most of these unicorns are to the world around them. I believe this is due to the loss of their magic, which being such an important part of their lives, it's loss left an indistinguishable scar on this herd. As a unicorn myself, I can sympathize, to lose something so inherently a part of my being... well, it is certainly a terrifying notion to think of, now isn't it? These potions barely emote (or do anything else, for that matter), just enough to survive and procreate. This is a deeply depressed group of unicorns, who I wish I could do something to help.

Seeing as there were several abandoned treehouses that had clearly been vacant for some time, I quickly set myself up a dwelling in a slightly dusty old one, still filled with furniture from it's previous occupants. After asking the neighbors if anypony still lived here (they told me, in their disinterested voices, that it had been empty for over a decade), I promptly made myself at home. Once I had cleaned the place up, and made myself out some work and sleeping areas, I set out to try and integrate myself into the community.

I made little progress with these ponies at first; the local grocery store sold me food and supplies, the other ponies said 'hey' to me in their dull voices when they trotted by. There were only two ponies I met who I interacted with much; first, there was Aplhabittle, a wise old stallion who runs the crystal tea shop, and serves as something of a leader to this community. This stallion is amused by my presence here in Bridlewood, both due to my appearance, and lack of sadness, like the other ponies. Alphabittle and I have spoken several times over cups of warm Samurai mai chattai tea, and he has told me a lot about the customs and culture of the ponies here. We have also gambled several times against one another in games of chance, and he usually manages to beat me for whatever little trinket I bet that day.

The other pony I have met is the unicorn I spoke of in my previous entry. Her name is Izzy Moonbow, a local unicorn mare who is far more energetic and happy than most of these other depressed ponies. I first ran into her when studying the odd crystals that poke out of the ground here and there in Bridlewood, where she just cheerfully trotted up to me and asked. "Whatcha dooin?" and "You're not from around here, are you?" Seeing I was more positive and talkative then the rest of the depressed unicorns around here, this pretty little ball of energy has attached herself to me, chattering away as I work, following me all over town when she's not busy, and taking away a mile a minute. She has told me things she said as a unicorn I 'should know', such as a unicorn's ability to see something called 'luminescence'. (note to self; investigate if this 'luminescence' Izzy speaks of is acutally the inborn unicorn ability to see other ponies' auras).

This mare has been occupying nearly all of my time. I often play games with Izzy when I'm not writing or working on my notes, and she has shown me around town and explained a lot of things that I don't understand to me. She's also told me of unicorn attitudes towards other equestrian pony types (Equestrian earth ponies smell like fish? Note- must research this further) I've also taken a keen interest in her homemade arts and crafts- Izzy's special talent, it appears, which she is very skilled at. Taking everyday objects like colorful glass bottles and macaroni, and turning them into beautiful things, such talent! Izzy also has questions for me, like what it's like where I'm from, and what it's like in the Crystal Empire. It's actually nice to have such a happy-go-lucky pony near me, especially with all the depressed ponies around everywhere. (note to self; research if happy-go-luckiness in Izzy results from possible descent from harmony bearer Pinkie Pie)

So, that's how things stand right now. Izzy has become my little satellite whenever I'm exploring the areas in and around Bridlewood. Alphabittle is approvingly amused with this whole thing, saying 'Well, at least she won't be pestering the other unicorns around here anymore for entertainment'. But while my research is going well, there are still things that trouble me. The unicorns have urged me not to go into the deep forest, they say there is a haunted place there, from ancient times. Even Izzy shudders at following me into that 'evil' place, and she always tries to herd me back towards Bridlewood whenever I try to explore there. Perhaps I am being a fool, but I feel like my academic curiosity demands I learn more about this mysterious hidden spot.

I shall update again when I learn more...

Baron August Peridot