Chapter Twenty Five.
The Misty of The Woods.
Sunny stared up at the ceiling of the trailer, deep in thought as she lay in the bed, somehow during the night, Pipp ended up snuggling into her, wrapping her in her fluffy wings. David had decided to sleep on the couch at the other end of the trailer, despite protests from Pipp.
"Pipp was right, I guess, this is better than being a Sunnycicle." She thought to herself, "Nice and warm..." She continued to think to herself. Slowly, her eyes fluttered shut as sleep took hold of her once again.
"Sunny..." A voice entered her mind. A voice too familiar to her.
"Dark Star..." Sunny said to herself.
"Hello again, Sunny." Dark Star smirked darkly as she stepped out from the darkness, "Or should I call you, Stellar Harmony." She snarled, "I've waited a long time to see you. You can not stop me, Stellar." The large purple mare lunged at Sunny, "I WILL GET MY MAGIC BACK!"
"You never get your magic back!" Sunny shouted, dodging Dark Star's attack, "You'll have to rip it from my cold dead chest." She added as her golden wings and horn materialised.
"Oooooh I'm so scared. NOT!" Dark Star cackled, "I already have an alley going to get those crystals." She laughed as an image appeared of Misty standing in front of the Unity Crystal, "You're little sister is nothing more than a pawn in my hoof!"
"No! NOT MISTY! You would not dare to use her as a tool for yourself!" Sunny yelled through tears.
"Oh, but I am and there’s nothing you and your pathetic mother can do to stop her! I have already gained her trust and now the unity crystals SHALL BE MINE!" Dark Star continued to cackle as everything went black.
"Ah!" Sunny awoke with a scream.
"Sunny!" Pipp snapped awake, "What's wrong?!" She added, seeing Sunny panting uncontrollably with tears running down her face. David snapped awake, falling off of the couch.
"Dark Star... She was in my dream and... She showed me images of Misty and the Unity Crystals." Sunny panted harshly, "She's going to use Misty to get to those Crystals..." She continued, sobbing into her hooves. Pipp looked over at David with concern.
"Psst... Opaline..." Pipp nudged the sleeping alicorn with a stick.
"Do you mind!" Opaline's eyes snapped open, "I am trying to sleep!" She added, horn crackling as she snatched the stick away from Pipp, "I was having such a nice dream till you woke me up!" She snarled in an angry tone, "What do you want?!" She demanded as her wings flared up.
"It's Sunny, She-" Pipp said before being cut off by Opaline leaping to her hooves, shaking the snow off of her body.
"Take me to her." Opaline spoke bluntly.
"There there?" David softly spoke as he patted Sunny's back, not sure how to comfort her, "I'll be honest here, Sunny, I have no idea what I'm doing." He added.
"It's ok..." Sunny said, still panting harshly, "It's helping somewhat." She looked down at the floor as the door suddenly flew open.
"Stellar!" Opaline shouted, leaning her head through the doorway. "URGH! BLASTED DOORWAY!" She groaned.
Sunny chuckled, "Are you okay Mom?" She asked the tall alicorn.
"I'm fine, but this blasted door is annoying me!" Opaline responded in a grumbled tone, "Give me a second to teleport inside." She added, her horn crackling as she disappeared from the doorway in a bright flash before instantly appearing inside the trailer, "Much better! She smiled before smacking her head off of the light, "I'm going to ignore that." She grumbled to herself as she knelt down at Sunny's level.
"Pipp, I did tell you not to wake my mom..." Sunny spoke as she wiped tears from her eyes.
"Hey. If I had a nightmare half as bad as the one you just had, I would want my mom too..." Pipp replied, sitting back down on her bed.
"A nightmare?" Opaline's eyes widened, "Oh, Stellar..." She quickly wrapped Sunny in her wings, pulling her close, "It was her again, wasn't it?" She added, anger in her voice.
"Y-yes..." Sunny replied, nuzzling into Opaline's chest fluff, "She said that she had employed Misty to steal the crystals..." She added, sobbing slightly.
"She. What." Opaline snarled darkly as she processed what Sunny had just said, "How dare she use Misty in her plan. I'm going to kill her when I find her." She snapped, her eyes now barred flames of fire as her wings flared up in rage and anger.
"She... She also said that Misty was my sister... Is that true?" Sunny asked, looking up at Opaline.
"Well, yes but technically no." Opaline replied softly, "While it's true that I raised her as my own, she isn't my offspring by birth." She continued, sighing deeply, "I found her in the woods when she was a foal..."
*18 Years Ago*
Opaline grumbled as she trotted through the thick shrubbery of the forest, "Stupid brambles..." She fumed as thorns cut into her skin while she foraged for food, "What are you staring at?" She asked a nearby squirrel as it stared blankly at her, mid-chew on an acorn. She grunted as it ran off up the tree.
"Check that chest!" She heard a gruff male voice echo in the treeline as the smell of smoke quickly filled her nose.
"Bandits..." Opaline said to herself, lowering herself closer to the ground, she crawled towards the source of the voice, prowling like a tiger in the long grass.
As Opaline crawled through the grass, she accidentally stepped on a stick "Shit!" She said to herself.
"Hey, you hear that?" A second gruff voice called out.
"Could be anything." A third voice replied.
"Quit talking and go check it out!" The first voice commanded.
"Alright, fine. Whatever you say!" The second voice groaned as he went over to the source of the sound. He pulled out his sword and slowly walked towards Opaline’s position.
Opaline dug through her saddlebag, feeling up a few ball-like objects, "Just enough..." She said to herself as a plan formed in her mind.
"Alright! Who's there!" The gruff voice called out, slicing through the grass with his sword, "What the?" He said as two balls rolled out from the grass, "Ah shit!" The bandit shouted as the two balls exploded, he let out a cough as he swung his sword around trying to hit whoever threw them.
Opaline seized the opportunity and lunged at the bandit like a fox, "WHAT THE!? What are you!???" The band screamed in fear as Opaline stood over him.
"Your worst nightmare." Opaline spread her wings.
"The Purple Devil!" The bandit screamed, wriggling free from Opaline and running back into the woods.
"Oh, I don't think so." She snarled darkly before giving chase.
"Run for your lives!" The bandit screamed as he ran past the rest of his gang.
"What the?! Get your ass back here!" Said another bandit.
"It's The Purple Devil!" The other bandit continued to scream as he disappeared into the forest.
"W-what?" The first bandit said, fear in his voice as more balls rolled out from the grass, exploding into a screen of smoke, "I can't see a thing!" He choked on the smoke, a silhouette of a large pony stepped out of the smoke, horns on its head, wings at each side.
"No... It’s her!" A second bandit said with fear in his voice, "The purple devil!" He said.
"Impossible, I thought she was just a myth!" The first bandit said.
"WELL SHE’S REAL AND SHE’S GONNA KILL US ALL!" The second bandit added.
A third bandit lunged and stabbed Opaline right in the side of her chest, under her wing. But to their surprise, she felt no pain and began laughing loudly. "HAHA! You fools do you think your puny swords will save you!?" She added, fire burning in her eyes.
"There's three of us and one of them, we can take them." A fourth one spoke, trying to sound tough.
"It won't matter..." The third one sighed, pulling out his blood-covered sword as Opaline continued to chuckle.
"Run." Opaline spoke, grinning her teeth. With one hard kick, the bandit's sword shattered. The bandits all ran in fear in various directions, she snorted as they all scattered like cockroaches, "You better run!" She shouted, picking up a nearby rock and throwing it in the general direction they all ran in, "You better run and never come back or I will make sure you regret the choices you made..." She snorted.
As the adrenaline left her veins, Opaline gasped in horror at the sight before her. A large stagecoach rested on its side, broken wheels and axles scattered amongst upturned luggage bags, "My gods..." She said to herself as she slowly trotted through the wreckage. The alicorn froze when she came across four bodies, all dead judging by the amount of blood pooling under them. Three stallions and one mare, Opaline counted, two of the stallions were dressed like they were the ones pulling the stagecoach.
Opaline's ear twitched as she heard the sounds of crying, the crying of a foal, no more than a few days old. She turned towards the source of the cries, it was coming from the stagecoach. Quickly patching her wound, Opaline set to work finding a way into the coach. Walking around the coach, she found the roof had been peeled back like a can, possibly from when it rolled over.
"Shhh... It's ok..." Opaline said, trying to calm the foal as she wriggled her way into the coach. She gently scooped up the crying baby in her hooves, holding it close to her chest, "There there..." She spoke softly, her motherly instincts kicking in for the first time in years. She looked down at the foal, it was a bright blue unicorn with a fuzzy mane. She was glad the foal was spared and could not imagine the horrors if the foal had been executed alongside the 4 bodies she saw. With some quick thinking, she decided to bring the foal back to her home for safety.
"Over there!" She heard a voice shout, without thinking, she quickly dashed off into the forest, b-lining straight to her home.
*Present Day*
"You... you saved her..." Pipp said, hoof on her mouth in shock
"Yes... I saved Misty from impending death that very day..." Opaline replied as she breathed in and out, "That very day I saw the bodies of her parents, slain in cold blood and they were executed in cold blood too, not even the stagecoach drivers were spared." She spoke softly.
"All of that and you still treated that poor mare like shit..." Pipp said under her breath.
"Hey! I gave her a roof over her head, I had no idea what to do when I saw her dead parents, I took her under my care after Stellar and Argyle went into hiding!" Opaline snapped back while holding back the urge to yell.
"At the cost of her basic rights?!" Pipp screamed back, "You have no idea how much you affected her. Misty nearly burst into tears at a sleepover because Sunny raised her voice at Izzy."
"Hey now, let's not get into another shouting match, alright?" Sunny said as she placed herself between Pipp and Opaline to calm things down.
"Pfft, fine, if you say so, Sunny." Pipp said as she folded her forelegs and looked away from Sunny and Opaline.
"Was everything you said true... Mom?" Sunny asked as she looked at the giant alicorn.
Opaline sighed, "Yes, what you heard was true. 18 years ago I saved Misty from death and I fostered her as one of my own after you and Argyle went into hiding..." Opaline replied softly.
"But why were you so cold to Misty?" Sunny pleaded for an answer.
"I was afraid of becoming too attached to her, in case I lost her..." Opaline avoided eye contact with her daughter.
"What do you mean?" Pipp and Sunny spoke in unison before looking at each other.
"I did not want to forget I had you Stellar." Opaline said as she looked away from Sunny.
"That doesn't justify your treatment of Misty." Pipp spoke bluntly.
"I know that now..." Opaline grumbled under her breath, "I just didn't want to get too attached to her, I didn't want to think of myself as replacing Stellar..." She added, "I'm sorry I have been a thorn in everyone's side on this trip, all I want to do is be positive..." She sighed sadly.
"Hmmm, I doubt that..." Pipp thought to herself, biting the inside of her cheek.
"I know what you're thinking, Pipp..." Sunny spoke as she looked at her friend.
"Gah! Dang it Sunny, are you sure it's not Earth Ponies that can read minds?" Pipp jumped, startled by Sunny's question, "But, if you must know, I was thinking of a possible solution to this."
"And what would that be?" Sunny smirked, eyebrow raised.
"Simple, we get Misty and Opaline to talk things out." Pipp said with confidence in her voice.
"Yeah, that's not gonna be as simple as you think, pink one." Opaline grumbled, "She meant it when she said she was done talking." She added, headbutting a table in frustration.
"Hmm..." Pipp rubbed her chin, deep in thought.
End of Chapter Twenty Five.