I trot up to the magenta fire alicorn as she stared at me underneath a white mane with wide green eyes in the dilapidated palace, “Misty! What are you doing?”
I then embrace Opaline in a tight warm hug and say, “I’m hugging the evil out of you!”
“What?”
“You don’t have to be bad anymore, Opaline! Friendship is back and ponies are nice now!”
“I, what?”
I smile, “You don’t have to be wicked and mean anymore, Opaline! Why not be the ruler these ponies deserve, instead?”
She then says lowly, “Misty, are you insane?”
I giggle before saying, “Yeah, probably!” before clutching onto her fuchsia body tighter with my forehooves.
She finally snaps at me! “MISTY! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!!!!”
I chuckle slightly, “No Opaline, you get a hold of yourself! Drop the act! You’re not evil!”
“I…” The alicorn is silent and I soon feel a moist droplet hit my forehead and I look up at the older pony to see tears in her dark green eyes…
I suddenly start as I wake up while shaking my head against the big soft white pillow behind it… I open my eyes in bed, “What was that about?”
I trot into the kitchen to see a pink pegasus filly at the table sipping orange juice from a tall clear glass with her forehooves as she looks at me with her wide brown eyes from the right and says, “Oh, golly Misty! You don’t look so great!”
I stare up at her with wide pupils, “We need to talk! Uh, let me get some coffee first!”
I trot over to the maker just beyond the round wooden table as she responds, “Oh, golly! No rest for the therapy pone, huh?”
I sigh as I pour the much needed black liquid into a white mug and say, “Oh well, if it’s too much, I can just go write about it or something?”
She replies from behind my back, “No Misty! I uh, I’m sorry, okay? You know I care about you! Now get over here and tell me what the new problem is!”
I trot back over to the other side of the table with the cup in my pale green magical grasp and set the mug down in front of me as I stare at the small pink filly on the other side of the table, currently staring at me expectantly. “I had a dream…”
She frowns, “Like a nightmare?”
I sigh and stare back at her, “Not exactly?”
She blinks, “Well uh, what did you dream about?”
“Well, Opaline was there… And I was hugging her…”
Her eyes widen, “Oh, golly! The big mean nasty alicorn you uh, dispatched earlier?” she blinks.
I sigh, “Well, right! Her! I told her she didn’t have to be evil anymore…”
She frowns, “Well, how did she respond?”
“She thought it was ridiculous! Well, at first…”
She blinks, “And then?”
“And then, I stared up at her and I actually saw her crying! It was so weird!”
“Oh, golly!”
I stare at her and nod, “I know right? Any idea what that means?”
She sighs and gazes at me sincerely with her large sympathetic brown eyes, “Look… I think you’re just wondering what if you know?”
I frown back at her, “Well, yeah…”
Her brow furrows as her gaze lowers, “But you know that’s not right, right?”
My eyes widen, “What?”
“You know as well as I do that Opaline could never be reformed… You did the right thing!”
I open my mouth in shock as I repeat myself, “What?”
She smiles and giggles slightly, “You really shouldn’t doubt yourself, you know that?”
“Huh?”
Her pupils enlarge themselves, “Yeah! These thoughts obviously stem from self-doubt and wondering what if, but you know they won’t change anything… Just accept it already and move on!”
I sigh, “I-I guess you’re right Twinkle Shine?”
She nods, “Golly right, I’m right! Now come on! I had to do analytical thinking before wake n bake and you know that’s bad!”
I smile and chuckle lightly, “Right! The dope!”
She stares at me severely, “Misty, I will tie you down against your will and shotgun you if you don’t shut the buck up right now!”
I just giggle some more!
She widens her eyes and says at a louder volume while shaking, “I’m serious! It’s gonna be bad!”
I shake my head, “Come back to your room Twinkle! You can roll a joint there!”
She narrows her eyes and uses her forehooves to finish up her orange juice while muttering incoherently under her breath about fiery devil weed vengeance and inhalation of doom…
<*****>
And so, I stood there on my haunches in front of the small round white table in my room while using my forehooves to fetch a rolling paper from the black pack on my slight right and setting it down, sticky side up and out before me on the table.
Misty says from my right, “Golly, Twinkle Shine! You help me all the time! Uh, is there anything you wanna talk about?”
I blink and honestly answer, “Not really?” before using my hooves to line up weed horizontally on the paper in front of me.
“Oh!” She frowns…
And as I rolled up the weed in the air with my hooves in front of my face, I suddenly realized that Misty here feels like she doesn’t contribute? I finally decide to humor her when I say, “Well, I keep thinking about my old memories sometimes… You know? The ones I’m not supposed to think about? Yeah, it hurts me when I try to and I always stop, but I can’t help but wonder sometimes what I’m hiding from myself?”
“Don’t you trust yourself?” She asks me as I lick the paper with my tongue and begin to roll it up as tight as I can from the bottom with my hooves…
I put the new joint in my mouth and say to her, “Why wouldn’t I?” before looking down at the table and trying to remember what the golly hell I did with my lighter?
She nods, “Well, you obviously blocked those memories out for a reason! You should probably just believe you were right when you did it, accept it, and move on!”
My eyes widen when I see the green disposable hoof lighter on the far end of my table and as I retrieve the squeeze box device with my hooves while leaning over the table, I say to the other filly, “Oh, golly! That’s uh, a good point! Hey! Remember when we were talking about acceptance earlier?” as I bring my body back to the floor.
Misty grins and giggles, “Yeah! I guess it works multiple ways, huh?”
“Golly right!” I say out the side of my mouth as I lower my muzzle and squeeze the lighter with my cleft to ignite the flame and inhale through the joint to bring the fire to the end…
I taste the earthy fruity flavor of the herb rolling across my tongue as she says, “So, that’s it then? I’m a killer now and you can’t remember stuff anymore?”
I exhale the smoke quickly and turn my gaze right towards Misty and say, “You know, that’s the first time you ever actually admitted that you killed somepony! Acceptance, huh?” before bringing the joint back to my snout for another inhale…
She smiles faintly, “Y-yeah… I killed Opaline… Me! Misty Brightdawn, the unicorn filly murdered Opaline the fire alicorn…”
I exhale smoke again and look at her as I hold the burning joint in my right hoog, “Brightdawn? You never told us that was your last name!”*
She giggles, “Yeah, I rarely tell it to anypony…”
I nod again, “Well, golly right! But the important thing now is that you actually admitted it!” before ashing the few ashes at the end into my glass tray and bringing the joint back to my snout for another inhale of the fruity goodness!
“Yeah, I mean, I guess part of moving past it is acceptance then?”
I exhale smoke between us again and say, “Of course!” before bringing the joint back to my snout… Pretty sure I had already been over this with Cozy Glow?
<*****>
I talked to my new orange love on my bright colorful pink smartphone as I stared out at the dark Bridlewood Forest in the early morning hours through the window in my purple house as she says to me, “I love you so much, Izzy! I can’t believe our fillies actually want to live together though!”
I reply, “Oh, yeah! I already got Jessi’s new room lined up and we can sleep together in the master bedroom at the end of the hall!”
She’s silent for a moment, “Wait! You’ve already arranged everything?”
I frown, “Well, picking out a room for Jessi was the only X-factor! I mean, of course you’re gonna sleep in the big bed with me! But really, on the right just past Twinkle Shine’s room makes more sense since the other side is a broom closet!”
She’s silent for a moment... “Izzy, remember when we talked about with moving too fast?”
My mouth normalizes, “Well, we all know it’s coming! Probably sooner than we realize!”
She chuckles slightly, “Heh, sure Izzy! Sure!”
I finally blink and take a deep inhale through my nostrils… I say the words that have been on my mind for some time now… “Sunny, I think your smoothie stand would do great here in Bridlewood! I think you should move in with me!”
<*****>
I look at the pink pegasus on my left in her wooden room as I held my teal green left wing up to my face with my neck turned towards her, “So wait! I need to preen through the feathers with my brush?”
She nods, “Well, golly yeah! I mean, I don’t have magick, so you know, there might be a special alicorn spell for preening, for all I know? I just use my brush!”
I nod, “Well uh, okay! I’ll get a preening brush later then!”
“Oh, golly gee, no! You don’t have to do that! I’ll just give you my spare! It’s blue!”
“I like blue!”
She smiles, “Great!”
Suddenly, a fluffy blue unicorn bursts through the door and yells, “Sunny and Jessi are coming!”
Both our eyes widen at this sight as the filly next to me asks, “Say what now?”
I add, “I’m kinda already here…”
<*****>
I look at the yellow stallion sitting on the other end of the table from me that morning early before the sun rose, “Hey dad! Your new mustache is coming along great!”
He moves his hoof to the stubble on his upper lip, “Yeah, I think so?”
“Hey, why is it that your mane and tail are green, but your facial hair is brown?”
He frowns, “You know something Little Snack, I’m not sure?”
I frown, “You should probably talk to your doctor then? I mean, you might have some funky facial hair disease!”
His head quivers as he attempts in vain to suppress giggles as his muzzle squiggles in amusement, “I’ll uh, keep that in mind Little Snack! Anyway, I need to check in with the mayor this morning! Was there anything you needed?”
I smile, “As a matter of fact dad, could you deliver this letter about buckball to her? I want to start something here and getting her backing would mean an awful lot!” and widen my eyes like Twinkle taught me to do earlier…
He smiles back, “Sure thing, champ! Anything else?”
“Another pie?”
He giggles, “Sure!”
“Blueberry this time!” I say before I take another sip of my coffee with my forehooves… I lower it to my front and widen my eyes, “Oh, and don’t get captured by bad guys!”
He grins and giggles, “I’ll keep that in mind, Little Snack!”
I set it down and another moment passes before my dark gray smartphone rings on the table at my left! I pick it up in my hooves to my left ear and say, “Uh, yeah Jessi? Oh, he’s got it! Uh, what? You’re not gonna be in Maretime Bay anymore?” my eyes widen. “You’ll teleport me?”
Suddenly, my body is enveloped in a blue flash and I see myself standing on the carpeted and draped living area in Izzy’s front room, now standing on three hooves as I hold the phone to my ear! I say to it, “Hey, Jessi! I gotta go! Jessi’s here now!” before hanging up with my tongue and putting it away into my right saddlebag with my hoof and then, staring at the teal green alicorn in front of me and widening my eyes as I yell, “So, you guys live here now? Oh man!”
(To be continued…)