//------------------------------//
// Frozen in Time 
// Story: Rebirth of Magic: In the Mists 
// by JimmyHook19 
//------------------------------//

That night, in the tent, I could truly reflect on how alone I was. Fate is cruel sometimes to those bounced about like tennis balls on a court. If we can't truly control our fates, what is the point of it all?

It wasn't as if I'd made the choice to come here. I hadn't decided to come here, after all. I was made to come here, by whatever that voice I had encountered in the castle had been. I was dragged into that water and forced to be like this. Forced to go on this crazy adventure. Forced to be a thief. Forced to be the character who has the odds most heavily stacked against her by the circumstances of her time.

Would I have chosen to come here, forced to live this life in an alien body as a unicorn with no magic and apparently no way of doing anything right?

No. No I wouldn't. I was stuck here, stuck in a place that hated me, and hated everything I'd done. It was a miserable life, and I hated it now. I cursed the day I'd even become Misty. And with the amount of stuff that I'd screwed up, it only seemed fitting to curse the other days as well, as they had left me miserable and unable to just enjoy things around me. Not even the darkness or this mattress, which was giving me severe backache and other spinal pain.

I was still stuck here, no matter how much cursing I did. It didn't change anything that had happened, no matter how much I wanted it to change. I was small, insignificant, the sort of thing that blends in when walking around a square or sitting at a table. I just blended in to the point nopony spotted I was even there. I truly was nopony, the bland flavor of ice cream nopony buys, or the world that everypony tries their hardest to avoid interacting with, as it simply causes them pain and sadness.

All the things I'd done flooded back through my memories. Seeing the ruins of Equestria, abandoned after thousands of years of harmony. Theft of the crown (twice). Meeting Sunny and Izzy (at least they were still on speaking terms with me). The fun that we had in the palace during that time. Opaline demanding things of me. The chaos that broke out after the party, and evading the police.

Yesterday stung most distinctly in my mind, and I could still hear Pipp's words ringing in my ears.

"She'll thank me later. If she ever thinks of betraying a friend, she'll remember the pain."

I rubbed the cheek in question, still smarting even after Sunny had applied an ice pack to get the swelling to go down. Turns out getting smacked in the face with metal hurt. At least she didn't go any further with that, as even though she isn't the strongest mare I'm not exactly the toughest pony out here. That wasn't what hurt, though.

Every word she had said was true.

I couldn't hold it in any longer. I turned my head to one side and wept, determined to ensure nopony heard my pain. I was, put simply, the butt of this universe's joke, the punching bag of the being who oversaw this. If there is a creator, he must be a very cruel one.

I did my best to keep the noise down, but it seems somepony heard me, and stopped in front of the tent. "Misty?" they asked. "Are you OK?"

"Go away," I replied.

"You're not going to help yourself by shutting yourself off," they said. "I know how you feel."

They did? I crawled forward, trying to remove any evidence of my tears as I crawled over to the tent entrance and opened it. I then saw who was on the other side. It was Hitch.

"Misty, I want to help," he said.

"How could you possibly understand me?" she said.

He then said the four words I was least expecting.

"I'm not from here."

He wasn't? What? "You mean, as in, 'human'?"

Hitch looked at me. "Yes. And I can tell from your face that you aren't either, considering your speech patterns and other points you're making. And seeing as I heard you crying, it only seems you're hurting."

That gave me some relief, so I pulled myself out of my tent and into the moonlight. A fire was already going, and we sat round it. Hitch already had two mugs sitting there. "I asked Sunny if I could borrow some of her hot drinks, and she agreed. We're worried about you, Misty. I heard what Pipp did- I had a word with her about it, and she's here."

Pipp appeared on the other side of the campfire, looking down. She saw me, and her eyes filled with guilt. "Misty, I apologise for what I did," she said. "Yes, I was frustrated, but it doesn't justify taking my anger out on you. I really am sorry." The fact she was struggling to maintain eye contact with me suggested this was true.

So, I said the three words that can set anypony free. "I forgive you." I was never one to hold petty grudges. Even against those who had potentially hurt me.

Hitch placed his foreleg around my shoulder. "At the end of the day, we're all outcasts in a way. We are here, stuck in a world not meant to house us, never designed for our needs and hopes and desires. And yet, here we are. We have each other as a support group to survive in the harshest of times. When empires fall, we're still there. When horrendous regimes mistreat their own people, we're still here. When the darkness is thick and it seems the sun will never rise, we're still here. The simple fact is that we've always been here. And we will always be here, as long as the world exists."

That was actually pretty profound. Had he been a philosopher in a previous life?





The next day saw a walk across Equestria, and I will admit seeing the landscapes of Equestria helped to improve my mood a bit. It was lovely to look at it unfolding before me once again. I can remember feeling the same sense of wonder when I read The Lord of the Rings for the first time and truly got sucked into the majesty of Tolkien's creation. It was so much more than just a fantasy book. It was a living, breathing world, full of amazing places, wondrous civilizations, and interesting characters.

And I was getting the same feeling of wonder from being in this section of Equestria. It was very peaceful, which probably helped for my mental state. I also took the chance to do some positive reflecting, which Hitch helped me with. Pipp also mentioned this thing called a mindfulness app- when I have a phone I'll have to give it a try.

I took this chance to reflect even further as we pushed onwards into this land, which glowed with such life and intensity it was sometimes had to believe I was actually here. I went onwards, my smiles attracting more attention.

That night, we set up camp in another place on the side of a mountain. Truly we were the Fellowship now. The Fellowship of the Crystals. Didn't quite have the ring (pun not intended) I was looking for, but if you can think of any words for crystals that rhyme with ring let me know in the comments.

"Come on, Hitch! Sit with us!" I called to him, seeing him trying to start his own campfire for some reason. I'd had a chat with Pipp about things she liked, and we found we had even more in common than I thought possible.

"Alright," Hitch said. "At least knowing that there are other people in my situation makes things a little easier on me. Possibly not on you guys, but it's comforting to know I'm not alone."

After a brief chat about the world, Sunny said something actually very profound.

"But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Izzy, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something."

"What was that?" Izzy asked.

"That there’s some good in this world, Izzy… and it’s worth fighting for.”

That really struck a chord with me. I couldn't hide the fact I'd done a lot of bad things whilst here. But my heart knew we aren't entirely defined by bad things.

Even if I had done wrong, that didn't mean I couldn't turn over a new leaf and fight for a better tomorrow.