//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Misty's New Magic // by Someoneirrelevant //------------------------------// Misty stood in place while holding the glass which she had just put a laser straight through. Peculiar as it was, since the ponies of Maretime Bay had decreed that it was fake news, and unicorns cannot “literally shoot lasers” as the foal stories suggested, Misty just did. She did not expect to randomly procure one in the middle of the living room, nor did she expect for it to happen so quickly and with such anger surging through her veins. It seemed to her that all her unicorn abilities happened when she was under very high levels of emotion. But that was it, if she did not have strong emotions, magic did nothing for her, she found that it was completely useless for anything else.  Zipp and Izzy were slack jawed. They’d come to believe, in the short amount of time spent with many unicorns, that horn lasers were a myth. And unicorn magic was meant to be simple and useful for daily life. But Misty had just blown a hole into that newfound belief. She had revealed a new version of history, that unicorns could have attacked other ponies with these sorts of spells back in ancient times. But, when so close to the beginning of a new magic era, it was quite an ignorant mistake to think that way.  “Gah, whaAAAA-” Zipp recoiled, taking a step back as the previous moment played back in her head, she couldn’t quite grasp that it had actually happened, let alone for it to be Misty who had cast the spell. The pony who had told her that she couldn’t so much as levitate a pencil. “Misty, what was THAT?” She yelled, pointing at Misty.  Misty looked up, straight into Zipp’s eyes and smiled an awkward smile. The unorthodox mare turned out to be quite the mischief maker for the others.  Izzy walked up to her, and touched the glass. Then took it into her hooves, staring at it. Misty let her take it, curious as to what she was going to do with it. The unicorn turned it around, gazing at the back. It indeed had a hole in it. Izzy looked into Misty's eyes, with no expression. Misty looked up and down, confused.  "Misty." Izzy exclaimed "How did you do that?" She said as she looked down at the ground, noting a small blast mark on the floor.  Misty merely shrugged. “I’m not sure, I guess I just got mad.” She explained, in truth, she was proud of herself. It made her feel better that she could prove her talent to the others. She knew the repercussions of her actions could be disastrous, but she couldn’t help but be proud of her work. The doubt could come later, if she was being honest with herself.  “W-we need to tell Sunny about this!” Zipp yelled, getting ready to take off from the ground. “T-This is mad! The implications of this are disastrous!” She frantically sputtered from her snout. Zipp’s mind raced, how many more ancient tall tales were true? How many were fake? Only time would tell, but telling the general public would be the ordeal. It could possibly take out whatever acceptance the others had with each other. Izzy looked at the panicked princess Zipp, contemplating what to do. She’d known that unicorn magic could be a powerful force for good and evil. But she wondered what would happen as well. Who would pull the trigger first? Any unicorn in town could get so angry that they let out a powerful laser which destroyed the new society. “Zipp, calm yourself. This is bad, yes…But we have to collect ourselves.” Izzy walked over to Zipp, looking into her face with purpose. “Breath in.” Izzy explained.  Zipp took in a gulp of air. She breathed out, and Misty just looked upon the scene. She gathered as much as she had begun a crisis. It wasn’t of any natural fault of hers, she was only attempting to use the magic which was given to every unicorn. The way she used it however…Could threaten relations between earth ponies and unicorns. The traditional stories were ingrained in their minds, and they could choose to reject unicorns yet again. It hadn’t been that long, truly. Izzy turned to Misty, with an air of seriousness. Misty had no clue that Izzy could be so level headed during the worst of times. When she showed up in the middle of the night, and now, when she obliterated a glass with a laser. It was a side that Misty could appreciate. “Misty, bring the glass, we have to go find Sunny. We’ll have to interrupt her job and tell her about this. It might get messy.” She explained, she was right.  Misty meekly carried the glass over, “Ok, shall we go then?” Misty said, holding it in her hoof. “Pipp!” Zipp yelled, as she took off from the ground and went to their room. She went directly to where Pipp was, to notify her of the news. Both Misty and Izzy gazed at each other, as they let Zipp notify Pipp of the news. They heard Pipp’s voice yell from the second floor “WHAT?!” it could be heard by both ponies that were standing.  Pipp rushed out and flew down with Zipp following right behind her, “Misty, WHAT DID YOU DO!?” she yelled as she floated mid-air.  “Uhh…well…I was just trying to do some levitation and well…It just kinda came out as a laser instead.” Misty told her, dazed.  Pipp held her mouth open in a sudden unbelieving expression.  Izzy spoke up yet again “We need to go and tell Sunny about this,” She pointed to the door. Pipp gave her a questioning expression “We could just call her, she’d get here faster with her skates.” She exclaimed, holding up her phone in Izzy’s face.  Izzy stared at Pipp “Yeah, or we could do that,” she said. “Go ahead, one way or another, she’ll know.” She looked back at Misty, still standing with the glass “Misty, we will have to deal with this in the most delicate way possible. Earth ponies are quite…Sensitive to news about unicorns. This new development proves unicorns can in fact shoot lasers from their horns, like the old stories stated. This could prove that unicorns did in fact shoot earth ponies with them. She frowned, giving a tense air to the room.  Pipp held up her phone pressing a few buttons while hearing it ring for a few moments. All the ponies in the room stopped and stared before Pipp responded “Hello? Sunny? Yes, yes, ok so, you need to get over here right away. No, not later. Right now, it’s important. Yea, everypony here is freaking out, no you just need to come back here and see for yourself. Yea, ok see you back at the Brighthouse.” Pipp clicked her phone to end the call, landing on the ground with a light thump.  Zipp came up to her quickly and decisively “Did she say when she’d be here?” Zipp asked Pipp as she also landed on the floor.  Pipp held her phone in her hoof clicking a few more buttons before saying “No she didn’t. But she’ll be here soon.” Pipp explained, as Zipp looked at her. Zipp seemed more collected after the initial shock, which was calming to Misty.  Misty could only stare and awkwardly fidget in her place. There was tension in the room, which covered the entire space. Izzy went to comfort Misty, trying to retract some of the shame that inevitably fell on Misty’s shoulders “Misty, don’t worry." she held her hoof on Misty’s shoulder. “You are really great at magic, you’ll be able to levitate in no time.” she told her.  Misty saw the faces of both twins, they were tense. With fear, or anxiety, or any other emotion that wasn’t positivity. In practically no time, she could see Sunny and Hitch walking through the door. Just as tense and anxious as the rest of them. They shuffled inside quickly. Sunny saw the group of them “What’s going on you guys? Pipp’s call really startled me.” She said, as her hair stood on end, with Hitch holding Sparky and looking very conflicted behind her.  Izzy took the lead, heading over to Sunny while holding up the glass which Misty had once held. "Look at this,” She said, as she handed the glass to Sunny.  “Well, it has a hole in it…But that’s not really a huge problem? Is that it?” Sunny said as she looked at all of them, quite confused.  “No…It’s more like how it got a hole in it.” She explained, darting her eyes to both Zipp and Pipp.  “Misty shot a laser through it!” Zipp exclaimed.  “Uh yeah, she shot a laser through it.” Izzy agreed.  “She did what now?” Sunny took a step backward, taking in the information.  “Are you sure? I thought that was an Earth pony myth? Unicorn magic is practical, and useful for everyday life.” Hitch said, trying to be the voice of reason within the group. Pipp spoke up, “I didn’t see it happen, but Zipp and Izzy did. Ask them both.” She motioned over to both Izzy and Zipp.  Zipp eagerly pointed to the burn mark on the ground “That’s from the laser! You know what this means Sunny.”  Sunny got down on the ground glaring at the mark like it was the plague, “Misty, is this true?” She asked Misty. She inwardly debated the validity of the situation.  “Y-yes Sunny, I was trying to levitate the glass…But well…It kinda backfired when I got angry.” She chuckled awkwardly explaining her use of magic.  Sunny stood up quickly from the ground, giving a look to all the ponies in the room. Then she turned to Hitch, who nodded to her. “If one unicorn can do it when they are angered, then any unicorn can do it. I-i can’t believe that some myths were true… I only wanted for everypony to get along. We need to do more research, we must head to the library for more ancient tall tales and myths and assess from there”  “Sounds like a plan, Sunny.” Izzy exclaimed.  “All right then,” Zipp said, agreeing.  “Yep,” Pipp said. Hitch suddenly went up to Sunny, and whispered something in her ear. Misty couldn’t hear it, but it couldn’t be good. She wondered if they were considering kicking her out, but nothing Sunny had said so far indicating that.  “Alright, everyone, get ready, we’re all going to the library. We are going to take any and all books that could help us.” Sunny explained as both she and the rest of the group went to the giant door.  Misty caught up with them all, they moved in unison while walking away from the Brighthouse. Misty followed behind them in silence. She felt out of place in the group. She had never really joined them in any sort of situation that didn’t have to do with Opaline’s plans. It was strange to her, but she followed anyway, she had started this whole thing after all.  The garden was a ways behind them, and the streets filled with various ponies were beginning to surround them. She looked at faces who she was beginning to recognize. She’d been coming around the town long enough to know some names even, but she didn’t really know them. She didn’t really know any of them, not even Izzy or any others. And they didn’t know her, they didn’t know about what she’d done, and it haunted her. It haunted her even in the good times, but now, when she caused a crisis, it’ was even worse.  It didn’t take long to get to the library, the town was small. Misty saw the sign which was above the door. And she was the last one through. Sunny, Hitch, Izzy, Zipp, Pipp and finally Misty all got into the small and crowded store. It was a bit ridiculous how they all squeezed past the tight shelves. The old mare at the counter widened her eyes in shock as they all walked up.  “Hello…Y'all. What can I do for ya?” she asked, leaning against her counter.  Sunny was the first to speak, she was the front of the group after all “We need some books. Like, a lot of books.” she explained.  “Ah, what is it now? We just got these out to the public from Canterlogic’s private collection.” She explained, “First you ask me to distribute them, now you want all of them?” She said with a lot of sass. “Yes, I know, it’s a bit inconvenient for you. But we’ve come into some new information that we need to investigate.” Sunny said, looking to Hitch for more authority,  “That’s right, by the sheriff's word, I can guarantee you, this is important.” Hitch said, holding his signature firm stance. “*sigh* You ponies are mental. Alright, take as many as you want. If it is important, then it’s important.” She said, shooing them away with her hoof.  “Thank you.” Sunny smiled. “Ok everypony, gather every book that you can on ancient myths.” she announced. They all dispersed, into the various bookshelves and such. Except for Misty, who lingered around the counter. She slowly went up to the pony who ran the library, “Uhh, hi again.” She said. The pony looked her up and down, giving a look that was akin to unsurprised “You again, why are you here with Sunny, the sheriff and the Princesses?” She asked, moving a pen around on her counter.  “Well, I’m helping with the magic emergency” She exclaimed, not taking much consideration into what she said.  The pony smirked yet again, leaning in close to Misty “Sunny didn't say it was a magic emergency.” she chuckled. “You’re the cause of this “magic emergency” aren’t you? You got so many books on magic and history, I’m surprised you actually got Sunny and the Sheriff on your case!” She slapped the counter, letting out a belting laugh. “So what’d you do? Oh-ho-ho I knew some of these books were going to cause trouble!”  Misty’s head felt light. She stuttered out a bunch of nonsense “W-ell, I-, Um- I was just! Well…I couldn’t just…”  The mare stopped her there. “Hey now, I didn’t mean to grill ya. I won’t ask you any more questions. Just look around for whatever Sunny says you are looking for. As long as you didn’t kill anypony, you’re good in my book, (haha book).” She told Misty. “W-well… Actually… Do you have any more copies of the books I got last time?” Misty asked.  “Hm? Yeah probably. Go look in the same section you got them in.” She told Misty pointing to the bookshelves. The old book pony seemed to wonder why Misty had lost the first ones, but it was of no consequence, Hitch was paying her to do this after all. Distribute the books, so it didn’t hurt to have a few newer copies, because ponies would ultimately lose a third of the books they checked out. Thanks to the magic of technology, they could do it fast too.  “Thank you.” Misty thanked the pony. She wasted no time, trotting over to the section, she was now looking for the books which Opaline went mental over. They had to be important, Misty had momentarily forgotten about them from her other woe’s, but now she could find out what was in them that was so crucial. She now found herself face to face with the bookshelf in which she found both information about Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. The supposed rulers of Equestria before Twilight. She crouched down, and found her prize. She lifted the book from off the shelf, and opened it up once again. It looked like much newer paper, not even a smidge old or dusted. It was just a copy of the original. Made to be given to everypony. Just before she looked upon the words of the book, she was met with Sunny.  Sunny trotted up to her, “Hey Misty, find anything?” she asked.  “Yeah…Some good books and other things…” Misty replied, she cradled both copies like they were the last on earth. She glanced away, feeling exposed. Perhaps she held some information that she shouldn’t, although she couldn’t tell at the moment.  Sunny led her over to the door, where of course, the whole gang all held different books. Some about Equestia, magic or mythical creatures. Misty now expected for a lot of information to be true, and much to be learned from the private collection of Phyllis.  “Alright Y'all, we have everything we need?” Sunny announced, holding some books in hoof.  Hitch nodded, holding some old law books and such. Both Zipp and Pipp gave a smile to indicate contentment, without saying anything, though Pipp was taking a few pictures of her own stash.  “Yep, I think so.” Izzy said, notably carrying more books then she probably needed.  They set off back towards the Brighthouse. They had a lot of studying to attend to as of late. Sunny subtly walked next to Misty as they both carried their own books. Misty took notice of such action, since her and the mare were not close in the slightest, in fact, she knew next to nothing about her, other than her budding wings and horn.  “Hey Misty?” She asked, notably tense.  “W-what Huh? What is it Sunny?” Misty replied, as she saw Sunny’s face.  “Um, I think that I’ve been taking this magic a bit too lax.” She sighed, looking down with shame. “I was so happy to reunite everypony like I always wanted since I was a foal. But I ignored anything that could disrupt my vision.” She explained.  “Really?” Misty replied, “And I’m guessing my little magic trick gave you a wake up call?” She said, tilting her head.  Sunny chuckled, “Yes Misty, your “Magic Trick'' gave me a wake up call.” Sunny looked up at the sky, “I’m no leader, but I’m an alicorn now, and I have all these expectations to be good at it. I just put the books from Canterlogics private collection in the regular library without a second thought. I believed it would be good, and Hitch supported my decision. I thought I was doing the right thing, but obviously, I didn’t think this through.” She explained, sighing with contempt for her own choices. “These myths and ideas aren’t fake, they are real, and now with sparky, I’m wondering if other creatures will show up..And we won’t have a clue how to deal with them”  “Right…And what are you going to do now?” Misty asked, now intrigued in Sunny’s tale.  “Well, I need to take these things more seriously. I learned that a barrier that protected us from the outside world. But right after it fell, Sparky showed up. That isn’t a coincidence, nor does it bode well for us. There very well could be other mythical beasts that will come here, and we need to be ready for them.” Sunny explained, now immersed. “They all have had magic for much longer than us, we could be easy pickings for them.” “And my magic?” Misty asked. “Your discovery of this magic could very well save us all. Even though it could bring tensions for earth ponies and Unicorns.” Sunny said. “Unicorns with destructive and deadly lasers is one of our legends, one we all grew up with…Well, not really me, but everypony else.” Sunny explained, seemingly remembering many more times she’d heard it, “It just goes to show how much we don’t know about the past, we know next to nothing about the incident that caused all of this, or even what magic is really capable of.” Sunny shook her head, bringing her gaze back to Misty’s face.  Misty hesitated before adding, “Of course…But, you're doing the best you can…You can be proud of that.” Misty exclaimed, and she meant it. Even with Sunny’s mistakes, she was doing far better than Misty could ever do. She was kinder, more honest, and all around better. That’s what Misty thought, and without atoning for her previous sins, perhaps it was up to her to become somepony that she could be proud of.  “Thanks Misty…Well anyway, now that we know about your apparent and very powerful magic abilities, you should learn to train it. So that you can control it better.” Sunny said, she smiled a bit, leaning into a happier state.  Misty smiled, “Will do.” She stated. She was already planning to do just that, but the encouragement didn’t hurt. They reached the Brighthouse. Large and intimidating in its design.  The door to the Brighthouse was now upon them all. Misty, Sunny, Izzy, Hitch, Zipp, and Pipp. All together, walking in, Misty now felt a bit more comfortable around Sunny, Izzy and Zipp, but not really Hitch or Pipp, she didn’t know them all that well. Izzy had motherly qualities that Misty couldn’t help but adore, Sunny seemed sympathetic and all around moral. Zipp of course, helped her, and was a good pony, despite her issues. Pipp was nice, but always disconnected from the physical world, and Hitch had Sparky, and was the Sheriff. Misty didn’t really know much about him other than that. She walked in, and they all set their books down on the table. “Alright everypony.” Sunny said as she stretched, “We’ll read these over whenever we’re free, Hitch?” She asked.  “Yeah, I’ll try, but you know I have duties to attend to, not to mention Sparky.” He exclaimed, rubbing his eyes.  “Pipp?” Sunny asked.  “My salon is busy… But I’ll find the time.” Pipp said as she held one singular book in her hoof.  “I guess that leaves me, Izzy and Misty, what do you say guys, should we look these over tomorrow?” She asked, lifting one brow. “Yepa-Rooney!” Izzy happily agreed. “It will be so fun! like a group session of reading!” She yelled, overjoyed at the proposition, even though to many it would seem boring and monotonous.  “Sure.” Misty replied, her anxiety hadn’t stopped, and she’d much rather find out right now what those books held, not tomorrow. But she was much too cowardly to say so. Despite her recent progress, it was still too much for her to say her mind. She sheepishly accepted the fact that she would be waiting until tomorrow to find out what kind of secrets Opaline kept from her. Although, she could deduce most of what she’d said to be false. But it wouldn’t hurt to know why it was such a sore spot for Opaline.  “Alright everyone, bed time?” Sunny asked, yawning as she took one last look at the books they’d gathered.  Misty shuffled up next to Izzy, both Pipp and Zipp began to flap towards their own room which was spacy and connected to the great room. Misty briefly bit her lip, glancing back at the pile of books as she walked with Izzy back up into the large room where they now both slept. Misty was tired, but even so, could she fall asleep not knowing what was in those books? This time, Misty wasn’t disturbed by her own intrusion into the unicorn's room. Her appreciation and kinship with Izzy had only become larger in the last day. Despite it being a small window of time, Misty couldn’t care less. She hadn’t had friends up until this point, and she sure was thankful that they all hadn’t kicked her out yet. Although, she still needed to keep hushed about her various crimes.  Izzy yawned, having sleepy and bored eyes, “Alright Misty, I’m going to get ready for bed. Oh gosh, I just realized you don’t have a toothbrush! We’ll need to change that soon enough.” Izzy smiled warmly, a quaint smile, one that Misty always welcomed.  “I guess I do need some things…” Misty chuckled, amused by the fact that Izzy still used a toothbrush despite being able to instantly clean her teeth with magic. That’s how Opaline did it when she was a filly. Yeah, getting ready for bed didn’t take all that long. “Izzy, you do know that Unicorns can clean teeth with magic?” She said.  “Huh? Oh well, no? How do you know this?” Izzy asked, confused about this new information.  “Oh? Well I’ve heard some others do it…” Misty added, unsure what to answer.  “Huh…” Izzy tapped her chin with her hoof. “Well, I’ve never done that, and I’m guessing you can't either, based on your magical ability, so you’ll still need a toothbrush.” She bounced her way to the bathroom still contemplating Misty’s words “Just add it to the list of magic we need to study…” She said to herself, finally popping out of Misty’s immediate sight.  There, alone, sitting on the mattress that Izzy had so graciously provided her, she knew that her fake cutie mark wouldn’t last much longer. It was already faded, not enough for an untrained eye, but enough that she was worried. She’d have to ask Izzy for a marker along with that toothbrush… From a distance, she could hear the faint noises of Pipp and Zipp chatting with each other, and the sound of Sunny packing up her cart for the long run, guesses were that it would be out of commission for a bit while she addressed greater issues.  Misty took a moment, and inwardly hoped that she hadn’t ruined anything for anypony. It was already bad enough. She would hate for her only chance at magic to be the reason that magic got sealed away yet again. Izzy had said something peculiar earlier, that she needed to exert more magical energy in order to cast a spell. Basically making it much harder to do any spell. But when she finally let it rip, it just turned out larger than she originally intended. Opaline had warned her that she'd be back, Misty hoped that would never come to fruition. She couldn’t help but wonder why her magic was so royally screwed. Why couldn’t she just be at peace and find her new life already. She desperately wanted it, she had only ever known loneliness and hardship, Agonizing as it was, surely it would take a lot longer for the smoke to pass, and for her to truly have the life that she wanted.  Laying herself on the mattress, her mind still lingered around the books. Opaline had been pretty sure about herself when she'd told Misty that she would in fact get her that cutie mark. All she could do now was hope otherwise. She wouldn’t willingly give herself back to the maniacal alicorn. Her hope was that she wouldn’t succumb to her desires, it was probably straight insanity if she did. That again, brought her back to Opaline's self admission of getting rid of any memories that were not favorable to her. And honestly, if the memories of Opaline she did have were the best ones, Opaline must've been truly horrible. Every memory she had was either aloof, nice but with manical undertones, or just straight up nasty. It only fueled her desire to never return, perhaps one of her old selves had found out Opaline's secrets, but she’d been suppressed by Opaline time and time again.  Perhaps she could sneak down for a quick look? Perhaps if the information was terrible enough, she wouldn’t want the others to see it. Maybe, it was better to keep it to herself. Misty got up, unfortunately, she took too much time contemplating these events.  Izzy exited the bathroom, trotting up to Misty with a smile, “Ok Misty, I’m ready, you?” She said, unknowing of Misty’s inner cursing of consistent hesitancy.  “Oh, um yeah. Of course. We’ll need plenty of shut eye for tomorrow.” Misty had already surrendered herself to her timidness.  Izzy pranced over climbing onto her own bed. “Misty?” She questioned, picking up her pillow and cuddling it.  “Yes Izzy?” Misty said, laying back down just as she had got up from the mattress.  Izzy halted for a moment, “I’m glad you’re here.” She simply stated. It wasn’t much, but to Misty, it almost made her break right there and then.  Misty set her own head down on her pillow, “Y-yeah, me too Izzy. I’m glad I came here.” Misty paused, contemplating the reaction. She wished she could spill her guts to Izzy, despite having known the pony for only a few months, did it really matter? Misty never had any friends at all, so Izzy was a breath of fresh air.  Cold nights in the castle, gazing out the windows into the unknown would never amount to anything more than loneliness. Sure, the castle walls kept her from being homeless, but that’s all they did. Misty wondered if she’d ever tried to leave before and see the world, but gotten stopped while she was ahead. She muffled her own soft tears on the pillow. Only a few seeped from her eyes, but it hurt just as much as it always had. Her social skills were still subpar, but she tried her best.  As the lights went out in the Brighthouse, a small fire lit inside Misty. “Hey Izzy?” Misty exclaimed in the dark.  “Yeah Misty?” She said, tilting her dark silhouette off the edge of the bed.  “Sweet dreams.” Misty smiled, she knew she couldn’t possibly stay asleep, not after her pondering.  “You too… I hope we can figure this mess out.” Izzy said, shuffling.  “Yeah.” And with that, Misty could only wait, she knew she wouldn’t fall asleep.  In a few minutes or a few hours, it didn’t matter, she needed to know what was in those books. Whenever she thought they were asleep. Her eyes were heavy, but her mind raced. It wasn’t all fun and games having magic.