The cold snow falling upon Maretime Bay piled up high around the bustling city. What once was once only the scent of seawater had been filled with peppermint, pine and ponies' baked goods. Festive lights lined the streets and carols filled the air.
Winter Wishday had finally arrived.
For many a pony in town, it was a time of great celebration. Though most relations between the Three Tribes had been tenuous throughout the year, most were willing to throw open their doors in a sign of good faith as part of the holiday spirit. Pegasus and Unicorn visitors took shelter by the fireplaces and family gatherings with their Earth Pony companions and exchanged stories all night long. Everypony in the city found themselves laughing, smiling, and enjoying the holiday to the fullest.
Everypony, except for Misty.
The blue coated Unicorn shivered as she walked through the night, her scarf doing scant little to keep her warm when snow kept piling up along the rest of her body. Her breaths came out in a fog, stinging her eyes as she walked through them. Beneath her, the freezing asphalt and concrete seeped through her hooves, leaving her joints aching as she marched through winter's wrath.
None of it could compare to the bite of Opaline's words earlier.
'Can't you do anything right!?' her scream echoed.
The words rattled through her head like a hive of hornets, each syllable a sting that made her flinch a little more.
"She's right," Misty said, sighing out a cloud of fog. "I couldn't do it. I don't know how or why, but... I'm sorry, Opaline. I just keep messing up."
Raising her head, she glared at the infernal lighthouse keeping so much precious magic in check. With those five ponies sleeping there, she'd have no chance of getting the magic for her adoptive parent. She'd already been scolded of her failures to procure said magic, but now she was after something else. Something that had far less security. Ahead at the end of the road, she could see her destination, a large tent with a red "closed" sign hanging between the opening flaps.
"Alright, almost there."
Misty reached up to her necklace and tapped the covered gem twice, igniting a whirl of smoke. Once the cover opened, the gem's smoke coalesced into a cloud, through which the violet Alicorn could be seen. Her stern stare and scowl came through clear as day, Opaline's menacing visage enhanced by the backlighting of a roaring fire behind her.
"If you've yet to retrieve the staff, you'd better be close to it," she said, her tone flat.
"I'm ab-b-b-bout to get it," Misty said, shivering. "I'm j-j-just outs-side the tent!"
"Then what are you doing, wasting my time and calling me when you should be getting your hooves on that artifact!?" Opaline said, gritting her teeth. "The Staff of Sacanas was once used to harness the power of several Alicorns, and even reached between dimensions! Some arcane might has to be still kicking around in that old twig, and I need all the magic I can scrounge up since you keep managing to somehow fail the simplest tasks!"
"I-I'm sorry, Opaline, I'm trying my best, but-"
"Your best!? Your 'best' means you constantly trip over yourself, avoiding the most straightforward solution possible because of some misguided sense of morality? Well then by all means, please stop trying, and actually do what you're told!"
The smoke faded to the wind in a second, Misty's tears threatened to spill over and freeze her fur while she tried to take her mother's harsh criticisms in stride. She took in a deep, shaky breath, and turned to her objective.
'It'll all be worth it, she thought. 'Once I get her that magic, and the dragon one day, everything will be alright. She'll give me a Cutie Mark and apologize. I can forgive her, and we can do... whatever it is that happens after that. I'm sure it'll all work out. I just... I just really need to not mess this up.'
Letting out a strained breath, holding back a sob, she made her way through the darkness of the night. Darting from cover to cover, she checked to make sure she wasn't being watched and snuck along until she'd reached her destination. The tent was held closed by a zipper and a sign kindly asking to keep out. Misty faked an evil chuckle, trying to force the previous scolding out of her mind. Casually tossing the sign aside, she ducked through the tent's entry and zipped it up behind her.
Turning about, she saw her objective sitting upon a cushion on the table. A plaque explained the supposed history behind the find, but Opaline had told her the truth. The Staff of Sacanas, a powerful scepter wielded by a moronic king undeserving of its power and lost in the hooves of some foalish Alicorns from ages ago. The power it held could be enough to restore Opaline's magic to what it once was, enough to finally get Misty a Cutie Mark.
Misty walked up to the staff and picked it up.
\\\\\\//////
Dark.
All encompassing dark.
Misty knew this wasn't just darkness, that was just the absence of light.
This pitch dark ink around her had mass, significant enough to make her panic.
It was like she was drowning in the middle of nowhere, all sense of direction lost as she tumbled through an ocean of pure void. Fear set in seconds, and she tried to scream, but sound didn't exist anymore. Further and further into nothingness she drowned, hooves kicking wildly in a vain attempt to latch on to something. Eventually, after minutes of gasping and plunging, a pit of light appeared beneath her and she slammed into the crystalline floor. Her entire body ached, her horn especially, and she groaned in pain while laying on the ground.
"You know her."
Misty's eyes shot open at the sound of a new voice, and she quickly flung herself upright.
Standing across from her was a tall mare, and the presence struck her in a way not dissimilar to Opaline's own, and Misty found herself cowering slightly. She sported a coat of short orchid fur, covered in scars and black armor, and a mane the color of bright roses. Piercing opal eyes met Misty's gaze with a harsh glare, and she sat on her haunches. It was only then that Misty realized the mare was a Unicorn, or at least was in a sense. Where a horn should be was a jagged stump, and she could have sworn a spark of electricity danced around it when their eyes met.
"Not what I expected of a servant of the dark Queen," she said. "Honestly, I thought I was in for an actual fight for a moment."
"Wait... what-what happened!?" Misty said. "Where am I!? What's going on!? Opaline!?" she said, tapping for her necklace.
Her hoof met her coat, and she turned to see if she'd dropped her only line of communication.
"It's not in here," the mare said. "No outside artifacts can translate into the Staff's inner space."
"Staff? Are... are we inside the Staff of Sacanas?"
"I thought that'd be obvious," the mare quipped, smirking.
"But, how? How is it so big in here?" Misty said, turning to look up at the roiling black clouds overhead.
"It's not. This is just a projection of consciousness utilizing the staff's overlapping spell matrices to drawn in your thoughts. In reality, you're standing around like an idiot gawking at a stick."
Misty pouted at the mare, narrowing her eyes as she stomped up to her.
"Okay, I don't know what your problem is, you... uh, what's your name?"
"You can call me Tempest Shadow," she said.
"Right. Well, Tempest, I really need to get this staff back to Opaline, and-"
"I'm going to stop you right there," Tempest said, holding a hoof up to Misty's mouth. "Not happening. Not in a million years."
"Oh, come on! It's just a staff! Why would you even care?"
Tempest's eyes narrowed as she stood back up, towering over Misty. The blue Unicorn in turn lost grip on her frustration, taking a step back.
"Because I was there, more than a thousand Moons ago," Tempest growled. "I witnessed the monster's return first-hoof, and I know what she's done, unlike you, you simple minded peon!"
"Hey, I'm not-"
"Silence, I'm speaking!"
Misty's instincts kicked in as she shut her lip and flinched.
"I watched her burn every town that stood in her path until naught but embers and sorrow remained. I saw her turn armies to dust, as she devoured the hopelessness of soldiers' families. When she wrenched the sun and moon out of the sky, I was there. When she made gods and demons cower in fear, I was there. When she brought pain and suffering to millions, I was there. I was there... I was there, the day Opaline slew the Princesses."
Tempest's mood soured even more, but she cast her glare to the ground. Turning her back to Misty, she walked away, staring into the infinite abyss around them. Her fury went from an inferno to a glacier in the span of the last few words she spoke. Shame permeated her features, and she let out a deep sigh.
"I remember the Princess' last words to me. She didn't ask this of me, she begged. Opaline can not get her hooves on this staff. No matter what, or who, tries to get it."
Misty sat down, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.
"That... that can't be true! Opaline might be mean, but she's not-"
"OPEN YOUR EYES, CHILD!" Tempest screamed, turning to meet Misty. "She is a monster! She is using you!"
"N-no, she's not!" Misty said, choking on a sob as she stood her ground. "She's my caretaker, my mother! She took me in when no one else would!"
"She's a manipulator! The moment she has what she wants, she'll throw you aside and let you waste away to nothing!"
"No she won't! She'll give me a Cutie Mark, and then she'll love me!"
"She'll never, ever, give you a Mark," Tempest hissed in a low voice.
"Yes she will!"
"You think following a mad tyrant around like an obedient little puppet, propping up every crushing step they take, empowering them by any means necessary, makes you special?"
"I-I'm her daughter..."
"You think you're the first one she's adopted? How do you know that the bed you sleep in didn't belong to somepony else before you were even born?"
"S-stop it..."
"You're just a cog. A tool to be used and replaced when your job is done."
"Please..."
"She'll wait until you've done your part and take everything. She'll leave you in the dust to cry and plead for relevance."
"No!"
"I know your type, so desperate to prove yourself to the worst the world has to offer."
"No you don't!"
"I know you're the type of mare who'll take every beating in a limping stride, desperate for any recognition for your perseverance."
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Misty cried, gripping her ears as if to tear them off.
"I know you're the type of mare who'll burn every bridge you can to see one, just one, single, smile from that insane monster that rules your life!"
"You don't know anything!" Misty screamed, her voice cracking.
"I know that you know that everything you're doing is wrong! That you want to run away, so badly, but you know you've sunk too much time in to turn back now! That all of the suffering has to be worth something, anything, at the end!"
"HOW!?"
"I know you, because I AM YOU!"
Misty stopped, as did Tempest. An inch away from each other, Misty watched the fury and shame stir in Tempest's eyes, her barrel heaving.
"I served a mad king for most of my life. He promised me something very simple, something I thought would be easy for some creature with the power of all of the Alicorns at the tip of his staff." Tempest tapped her head. "I was promised my horn back. I enslaved thousands. I've burned hundreds of homes down. Some still occupied. I've... spilled so much blood. All to appease a monster in the hopes of restoring my horn. And do you know what happened, when I hoofed him this staff? What happened when I gave him all the power in the world?"
Misty shook her head.
"He tried to throw me off a balcony high as a mountain," Tempest said. "I did everything, every despicable thing in the world, even had some crimes named after me in some kingdoms, only to be thrown away like a rotted out doll. When I was faced with my sins, I thought... I thought myself irredeemable. I thought I'd be treated like a rabid animal by those I'd hurt. But the Princesses saw something valuable in me. They saw my regret, and asked me to act on it. They didn't force me to change, they gave me the opportunity and told me to choose. I served Princess Twilight faithfully from the shadows for a decade before Opaline showed up. When Twilight asked me to protect the Staff of Sacanas... I knew I had to make the sacrifice. I bound my soul to the staff to combat her should she try to pry its magic out. I was hoping to catch her unaware, but instead, I end up with you."
Tempest gently rose Misty's chin with a hoof, trailing it over the trails of tears on her face.
"So yes, Misty, I know who you are. You're a mare scared of the position she's found herself in. You're full of regret and pain, wishing you could break off from this horrible part of your life. To find some happiness, however fleeting it may be, but the chained leash Opaline keeps on you is too often pulled, reeling you back into the reality of where you are. You just want to be free."
Tempest's other hoof found Misty's shoulder, and the mare smiled.
"But you can still change. You have so much more strength of will than you think you do. You still have time to turn back, get out from under her hoof, and make a difference. Don't make the same mistake I did. You haven't shed any blood. You haven't ruined any lives. Opaline's power over you is nowhere near as vast as you think it is. Think of this, if she needs you to go into town to steal an unguarded staff in the middle of the night, or foalnap a baby dragon from those ponies in the lighthouse, how could she possibly be strong enough to keep you there?"
Misty felt the dam crack and wept. Tempest guided her into a hug, and the blue Unicorn screamed. Decades of tormented emotions raced through her all at once, and the staff's atmosphere took on a devastating storm as the world around them cracked like glass.
\\\\\\//////
Misty shivered as the door closed behind her, snow kicking up off of her coat while she took off her scarf.
"Where is it?"
She nearly jumped out of her fur when Opaline spoke, the dark Alicorn's brows furrowed as she scowled.
Misty's hoof tapped on the ground.
"It... i-it was b-broken. The gem had no power in it, and it fell apart when I picked it up," she said.
True enough, the Staff had crumpled to dust when she'd awoken. A last act of defiance from Tempest Shadow, once she'd finished consoling Misty.
"Ugh, of course it broke! I can't have one single thing go right in this day and age!" Opaline said. "Return to your room without dinner. It's apparent that you've already gorged yourself on failure."
With a casual scoff, Opaline retreated behind her bedroom doors, slamming them shut hard enough to shake the room. Misty flinched at the sound, and resigned herself to her room. When she walked in, she examined everything in here. She grazed her hoof along the bed post, wood far older than she was creaked at the touch. Her thoughts turned to the things Tempest had said, and a chill ran up her spine. Not one from the cold outside, but of the thought that this bed wasn't hers. This room, wasn't hers. A part of her wondered if the next pony through here would wonder about her...
Misty threw herself into the sheets and tumbled herself into a ball of blankets. She bit back the urge to cry, knowing the noise would draw Opaline's attention. It terrified her to think of making her even angrier. The words of Tempest rang further, and she thought of everything she'd done for Opaline up until now. Sure, she'd failed at every attempt to secure her adoptive mother power, but she had done her best every time.
How much more could Misty afford to give? She'd come home on Nightmare night completely exhausted and starving, only to be forced back into her room that same night. After returning from Izzy's slumber party, Opaline had made sure that she regretted the fun she had by making her clean every spot in the castle twice over. If her track record was anything to go by, tonight's failure would be one to remember. Misty knew that nothing she could say would sway Opaline's decision either, and that she'd likely go the next few nights without dinner as well.
All for the sake of a Cutie Mark.
'I... I don't want this,' she thought. 'I don't need a stupid Cutie Mark! I don't want to live like this for the rest of my life! I just wish... I wish I could leave this place! I wish I could just be happy!'
Across the sky, an orchid comet flashed by Misty's window as the last few seconds of Wishday ticked away.