Misty was crying. Again.
She was always crying. Opaline said it was stupid, but she couldn't help it, and her stupid eyes kept making these stupid tears. She was weak, and it just happened to her, like everything else in her life. Her eyes always watered. Her tummy always grumbled. Her pillows kept losing their stuffing. And she just kept leaking like some naughty little filly! She thought she might be over it, but...
Her bedding was soaked. Again.
Misty felt so helpless. How was she going to explain this to Opaline? She got a mighty paddling the last time she had an accident. Her rump had stung for days! It had been a few weeks since then, but Opaline didn't forget shameful failures.
Misty suspected that her accidents were the real reason Opaline wouldn't give her a cutie mark. This was yet another setback, another disappointment, another failure for Opaline to hold over her head. The little unicorn buried her snout in her hooves and sobbed helplessly. The fur on her bottom was still damp, and that just made everything worse. She felt like such a little foal.
Once she'd cried herself out, Misty gathered her last remaining shreds of willpower. She knew what she had to do, and she'd better do it quick, before Opaline got up and demanded breakfast. She nipped a corner of her meagre bedding, wrinkling her nose at the scent of her own pee, and began to drag it toward the door of her nook. If she could just get to the laundry chamber and start washing before her morning chores, maybe she could...
The door crashed open, and Misty startled and fell back on her rump.
"What are you doing, Misty? Breakfast should have been on the table seven minutes ago!" bellowed Opaline.
Misty cringed back onto her soaked sheets.
"S-sorry, Opaline, I'm on it! W-won't be too long, I promise! Just l-let me ge-"
Opaline sniffed the air and wrinkled her snout in obvious disgust. "What is that smell?" Her eyes fell upon the raggedy dog-bed that her hench-pony slept on. "Ugh, not again, Misty! Such a filthy filly. When will you outgrow this foalish habit?" sneered Opaline. Misty scuffled back against the wall, sure that she was in for the paddling of the century. Her mistress sniffed again, this time in a clear gesture of disdain. "Such a nasty little foal. Luckily for you, I'm too hungry to correct your disgusting failures right now."
"I'm so, so sorry, Opaline! I'll f-fix everything, I swea-"
"Enough!" interrupted the irate alicorn, "Anyway, I won't have you near the kitchens like this. Go and clean yourself up, and then prepare my breakfast, this instant! Then we'll deal with your... ugh." Opaline waved a hoof in dismissal. "You know what? Just go." And with that, the imposing alicorn that dominated Misty's world turned around and strode off into her domain.
Misty felt those stupid tears coming again. Disgusting filly. Nasty foal. Stupid, gross, stupid, stupid...
~~~
Showers in Opaline's castle were chilly affairs, and Misty always dreaded washing up.
As the ice cold spray pounded down on her back and washed away her shame, the little mare shivered and tried to master her emotions. Opaline wouldn't want a teary little minion serving her breakfast. She was the right hoof mare to an alicorn! She needed to behave like one. She was going to earn her cutie mark, she wasn't a dirty little pony, and she would impress Opaline, she would, she would, she...
~~~
Big smile.
"Here you go, Opaline! Sorry for the wait. It's crispy sweet pumpkin fritters, fresh from the gard-"
"Shut up, Misty. Go feed yourself, and then attend to me in the throne room."
Misty deflated. "... yes, Opaline." She slunk out of the dining hall, tail between her legs, and tried to hide those stupid, stupid tears.
Breakfast was a cold bowl of oats soaked in even colder water. Opaline never let her have any of the tasty veggies from the garden. Her mistress said it was to build character. Her tummy grumbled anyways. Sometimes Misty fantasized about the smoothies that the ponies in Maretime Bay enjoyed while she choked down her bland meals.
Misty slurped down the rest of her gruel in misery and got to her hooves.
~~~
"Explain yourself, Misty."
There were so many things that Misty had to explain at any given moment, so she decided to pick something relatively innocent. "Whatever do you mean, Opaline? If it's about breakfast, I'm really sor-"
"About your bed! Why do keep fouling it up? Do you know how disgusting that is?" Opaline wasn't going to be distracted, not this time. By the alicorn's expression, Misty could tell she was walking on a knife's edge now. Her rump could already feel that paddle. It would be the ones with holes in it this time, the one with no air resistance, she just knew it. That one stung more than a horn zap, and she'd had plenty of each to know the difference.
"I'm so sorry, Opaline, I really am. I just can't help it, it just... just... happens?" she squeaked.
Opaline stamped a forehoof in irritation and her horn flared menacingly.
"Well, see that it doesn't 'just happen' again! That is an order! I swear, it's like you try to ruin everything I give to you. Have you forgotten that I rescued you as a filly? Where would you be if I hadn't, hmm? Probably pissing on somepony else's bed like a little baby foal, I suppose."
Opaline smirked. "You know, I should put you back in diapers. Maybe you'd even like it, hmm? Such a stupid foal."
Misty cringed back from her mistress, ears flat back and head down, the very picture of submission. Opaline sensed her moment of complete dominance. The alicorn's eyes gleamed as she went in for the kill.
Her voice turned silky smooth as she leaned her face towards her ward, and whispered smugly, "If you can't deport yourself like a grown mare, you'll never be worthy of a cutie mark!"
"No! I mean, yes, I am! I'm worthy, I swear, please Opaline! I'll be good!" cried Misty.
Opaline towered over her little blue and pink unicorn minion, her eyes filled with fire.
"One more chance, then." She stamped a forehoof on her dais imperiously. The resulting spark snapped and made Misty flinch. "Go sort yourself out, Misty. And don't come back until you can behave like a grown pony, do you hear me?!"
Poor Misty had never felt so small. "Y-yes, Opaline." Her bladder suddenly felt full, and she clenched it tight. Not now! "I won't fail you, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry!" Her hind legs quivered; she had never needed to pee this badly!
"GO!"
With a desperate squeak, Misty the unicorn fled from Opaline's throne room, trying with all her might not to wet herself in terror.
Misty's last thought as she galloped past the gates was about her bed, still unwashed. It was going to smell so gross if she was ever allowed to come home. Opaline never did the laundry.
Her other last thought was which nearest patch of grass was out of view of the castle. Misty had to water some plants real bad.