A headache pounded away above her eyes as the rattling of the train car roused her.
Wait, train?
Mist looked around the dimly lit car, crates and luggage piled high around her as she sat on the floor, her wings and forelegs bound by rope, and her hat completely absent.
"Reginald?" she called out worriedly. Her last memory was of the two of them in Penumbra, heading to meet up with Gabriel for the long awaited meeting with Lord Sombra. Someone had attacked them, the sleep spell they'd been hit with left them both too sluggish to react in time, and Mist caught only a glimpse of their assailant before a second spell put her under.
Reginald's gold chain necklace was tossed at her as Sunset Shimmer walked into view. The unicorn smirked. "If you want to see your friend alive, you'll do as I say. Won't you, Lillian?"
No, nononono... Mist could only stare, grasping at straws as she tried to fathom the sight before her. Her mind raced, was he hurt? Did the clan know? How could Sunset do this?
Why?
Mist couldn't comprehend it. "Why do this?"
"Don't be a fool Lillian, we're villains. You can pretend to be a better pony all you want, but you're still a coward and a thief," Sunset said. "I'm just doing what needs to be done to achieve my goal. Now," the unicorn loomed over her with a sneer. "You're going to sneak into Canterlot Castle and bring me the Elements of Harmony, or you'll never see your friend again."
Mist fell silent, she stared down at her boss' necklace, her friends necklace. She was angry, confused but it all melted away into cold, hard logic as Sunset Shimmer effectively killed the last shred of compassion and mercy Mist had for the mare, now a target.
The target.
Mist nodded mutely and her quarry backed off, untying the ropes with a bit of magic. Freed from her bindings, Mist picked up the necklace and slipped it around her neck, its weight settling on her chest was a grim reminder of her situation.
A villain? Mist pondered as she slipped off the train and out into the elegance of Canterlot, pushing her glasses back up her muzzle. Something dark, petty swirled in her thoughts as she mulled over every true villain she had faced in her time as Bluebird, every half-remembered interaction with Sunset Shimmer, every small slight or jab at her for being the weakest of the two of them. She knew what she was, a coward, a thief.
A good mare. Or at least she tried to be, part of her wanted to give in, to take all of her frustration, disappointment, and righteous fury and use it to show that whinning foal what a villain really was. She could do it too, she could tear down everything Sunset had worked toward before the day was over and not even the princesses would be able to stop her. The entire city would be at her mercy.
Reginald's necklace lightly thunked against her chest as she stopped by the curb. A thought bubbled to the surface.
No one aside from Sunset had figured out she was working with the Toppats. The Suri case? Considered the Toppat Clan's debut. The robberies? She never took part in them. The rumours floating around Penumbra about her had more to do with whether she back in business or not, and any mention of her with the clan was brushed off as simply business as usual for the former mercenary. Without her hat she had no way to contact the clan and with Reginald held hostage...
Mist sighed, she didn't want to hurt anyone, but she knew this couldn't escalate any further. She was a good mare, a good granddaughter, a good friend, and look where that got her.
Mist took to the air, refracting light to hide as she did. Sunset wanted the elements? Fine, but Mist was going to make sure Sunset Shimmer would regret ever returning to Canterlot. Descending into a glide as she neared the castle, Mist went unseen by the guards at the front entrance as she landed and walked the familiar path through the halls to the Throne Room.
There upon her throne, sat Princess Celestia. Mist walked into the room undetected, stood on her hind legs and dispelled her invisibility with a flourish of her coattails. The Princess was surprised, the guards present in the room alert for any sign of danger as they pointed their spears at her.
Mist bowed with all the air of a noble as the princess regained her composure. "Princess Celestia, I bring vital information about her highness, Princess Sunset Shimmer."
A wing gesture from the alicorn had the guards returning to their posts. Celestia was hopeful as she addressed the thief. "You know where Sunset is?"
"Here, in Canterlot, after blackmailing me to steal the Elements of Harmony for her," Mist drawled. "Maybe you should, oh I dunno, do something about that? Before I do."
The Princess' gaze hardened. "If you hurt her-"
"She is holding my friend hostage, has kidnapped, and assaulted me! Either you get off your arse and set your daughter straight, or Sunset loses her horn," Mist growled. "I am done trying to appease a selfish brat that would endanger others for her own benefit."
Celestia recoiled at the harshness of her tone. "She did what?" the princess was stone-faced. "Are you certain? I could hold you accountable for your own crimes, Bluebird."
"Last I checked, I never threatened to kill someone," Mist shot back. "We had a deal, I'm your bloody informant Princess, I'm trying to help! I don't want to be in this situation any more than you do."
"...You're right, I should be thankful you chose to come to me rather than take action yourself," Celestia stated and rose from her seat. "Follow me, we can discussed this as we walk."
Mist dropped back down on all fours and followed the princess out the room and around a corner.
"Look, I'm sorry for getting snippy but I've been telling you for years to sort her out." Mist said as she trotted up to walk beside the alicorn.
"I know," Celestia replied. "I had hoped you would help her improve."
"I hoped so as well, ignored a few warning signs I probably shouldn't have," Mist commented. "Then I got sick and had to retire for my own safety."
After several minutes, they reached a large vault door, the lock shaped like Celestia's cutie mark, and the golden doorframe decorated with several large gems. Mist stood to the side as Celestia slid her horn into the lock, her horn glowed, and Mist had to shield her eyes from blindingly bright light as the door opened. When her vision cleared, she found an ornate box floating in Celestia's golden magic hovering before her.
"I have teleported the elements to a safe location and replaced them with fakes, we can use these to lure Sunset out of hiding and confront her," Princess Celestia explained. "Perhaps some time in the castle dungeons will convince to rethink her goals in life."
"Doubt it," Mist said plainly. "You'd have to talk to her, repeatedly, get through to her yourself. Sunset told me the rendezvous point was in the statue garden."
"I'll meet you there," Celestia said as Mist stowed the case away in her pocket. "I will have guards at the ready."
The statue garden was one of the quieter places on the castle grounds, tours were done early in the morning, and barring the occasional groundskeeper or guard, the place saw very little foot traffic throughout the day. It was the perfect place to meet up. Mist sat on a bench waiting, watching leaves be blown about in the spring breeze. Sunset teleported into view, cape fluttering in the wind.
"Well? Do you have them?" she asked and Mist pulled out the case and tossed it at her hooves.
"You are going to let my friend go, right?" Mist asked.
Sunset grinned sharply as she levitated the box up to her face. Mist cleared her throat to get her attention and the unicorn rolled her eyes with a scoff. "He's fine, I couldn't levitate him so I took his necklace and left him for his friends to find. Oh, here."
Mist's hat was teleported into her lap, she put it on, and retrieved a spare earpiece from it.
"I'm sorry, you what?" Mist asked flatly as she put the earpiece in her left ear and turned it on.
"I didn't kidnap your friend, jerk was magic resistant and nothing I did worked on him," Sunset clarified as she turned her focus back towards the case, opening it. "Finally! After all this time I will-"
Mist was very satisfied as she watched Sunset's face fall, dropping the case onto the ground, and staring in disbelief as the fake elements tumbled out onto the grass. In a flash of light, Celestia appeared with several armed guards in tow. The princess gazed down at the stunned unicorn. "Sunset Shimmer, it pains me to see you like this, please My Little Sun, come with me and we'll sort this out together."
Mist's world went teal as Sunset snarled in fury.
Ponyfeathers Mist thought as the unicorn's horn glowed an ominous greenish-black and Sunset held Mist in front of her as a hostage.
"Call off the guards! or Bluebird gets her wings clipped," Sunset demanded fiercely. "You wouldn't want anypony to get hurt, right Mom?"
Mist felt dread settle in her stomach as the princess stepped forward. "Please Sunset, rethink your decision, we can help you." the alicorn pleaded.
Mist was jostled in warning, Sunset's telekinetic grip kept her from moving, and watched in silent horror as Celestia tried to reach out to the runaway royal once more. Mist's vision was obscured by sickly green light, her wings felt heavy, the individual feathers felt uncomfortable and out of place as she was unceremoniously dropped to the ground, and she heard the guards rush past her.
When her vision cleared, she extended her wings out to her face. Mist was speechless, her wings were black, moth-eaten, emaciated things that could be barely called wings. She moved the joints experimentally, flapping, and flexing her feathered "fingers". It took far more effort than it should have.
She looked up at the sound of hoofsteps, Princess Celestia bowed her head in regret. "Lillian, I am so sorry."
Mist pulled herself to her hooves. "Can you reverse this?"
The Princess closely inspected a wing, her horn glowed and the limb returned to normal for a brief moment before the curse angrily warped the wing once more. Mist awkwardly folded her wings closed, straightened her hat, and turned on her heel and left despite the alicorn's protests.
Outwardly she was as blank-faced as ever but internally, Mist was seething. She needed to find Sunset immediately.
Fortunately Mist found her hiding in an alleyway behind an inn, the unicorn glared at her as she approached. "You traitor! You were supposed to do your job."
Mist sidestepped the blast of magic Sunset fired at her. Stepping into a beam of sunlight, the pegasus curled her hoof, disguising the motion as a gesture to her ruined wings. The light responded to her touch and solidified, taking shape as a physical object. "..."
Sunset was oblivious. "What, that?" she smirked deviously. "If you promise to cooperate this time, I'll remove the curse-"
In one swift motion, the polearm of pure sunlight was pressed against Sunset's throat, the unicorn staring at it wide-eyed. The blade glowed white-hot and the air around them was already becoming uncomfortably hot as solar magic rolled off the weapon. Sunset's horn sparked, sputtered and died as the excess magic in the air stiffled her ability to cast.
"There are three ways to dispell a curse," Mist recited matter-of-factly. "One, the caster dispells it. Two, Liquid Moonlight is applied to the affected area. Or Three, the link between curse and caster is broken by either the caster's death or destruction of the Foci," she pointed the polearm at Sunset's horn, her voice dripping with venom. "Break the curse or lose your horn. Pick one."
"You wouldn't." Sunset spat.
"Don't be an idiot Sunset, we're villains. I'm just doing what needs to be done." Mist said in a sickeningly sweet voice.
Sunset, fearful, dispelled the curse with a flash of magic.
With her wings restored, Mist stunned the unicorn with a blast of lighting from her left wing. She spun the polearm around idly as she debated on what to do with the now neutralized target, cutting off Sunset's horn would remove the threat but, despite her everything with Sunset Shimmer, Mist couldn't find it in herself to be so cruel as to cripple her former friend. Instead, she dragged the dazed mare out into the street and went invisible as guards swooped down to surround the unicorn and haul her off to the castle. As Sunset disappeared from sight, Mist activated her earpiece.
"Right? Have you found the boss yet?"
"Yeah, we're heading to your location. Signal's only now jus' comin' through." Right replied.
"I'll fly out as far as I can and meet you halfway."
"Don' strain yourself." Right ordered.
By the time Mist made to the ship, she felt out of sorts, a strange mix of tiredness, regret, and guilt had consumed her thoughts. She walked into the bridge, removing Reginald's necklace to return it to him wordlessly.
Right walked up to her, observing her passively. "You alright?"
"I'll be fine." spilled from her lips before she could think about it, sitting on the soft blu carpet, next to Reginald in the pilot seat.
She wasn't fine, she despised the performance she had to put on to resolve the situation, stooping to Sunset's level. She couldn't tell if she was disgusted with the fact that she did it, or that it worked. She'd threatened Sunset before, when they reunited at the guild but even them, she hated having to be so, so ruthless. Bluebird was a modern day Gentlemare Thief, whose actions were highlighted with speeches and wit whether she was denouncing injustice, or stealing priceless treasures, and a stylish flair that captivated her audience. Her actions today, as desperate as they were, went against what she strived to be, who she was.
With all of this clouding her thoughts and souring her mood, Mist tentatively spoke up.
"Am I a good mare?"
Right was quiet as Reginald blinked at her from his seat.
"I'd say so," Reginald replied easily. "Why?"
Mist was at a loss, she couldn't put her thoughts into words, well she could but somehow she lacked the will to tell him. She grappled with the sensation, struggled with it internally, until after a quiet moment, she stared at the floor and spoke.
"I try to stick to my morals, my rules, and it helps that I genuinely prefer not to fight, I hate it. But... I was no better than Sunset herself, she said we're villains, like it was why she decided to do all of this in the first place, and I... contemplated trapping all of Canterlot in a storm only I could break, capture Princess Celestia, and make her watch as I deprived Sunset Shimmer of her magic and made both of them see the folly of their actions that led to that point," Mist explained calmly. "Instead, I bully Celestia into working with me, put the fear of the heavens into Sunset, and leave her for the legal system to deal with afterwards... What kind of person does that?"
It was Right who answered. "You wouldn' have done what you did if you 'ad a choice."
"You did what was necessary, and you stuck to your morals in the end. I'd say a little intimidation never hurt," Reginald added. "We've seen the real you, a valued, kind individual we're happy to have in the clan. Plus a group such as ours has always been a bit iffy with morality, but you more than meet our standards."
"Okay... Thanks," Mist said meekly. "Um, are we headed back to Manehatten?"
"Yes, we'll meet up with Gabriel tomorrow, after what happened today I'm sure you'll want to relax." Reginald said.
"Yeah."
Right gestured for her to follow him. "Come on, you got friends waitin' for you, best go tell 'em you're safe."
Sometime later, Mist had to gently explain to Dave that she didn't do hugs, for health reasons, and was roped into recounting what happened to the crew in a ship-wide meeting with everyone crammed into the cafeteria.