“Misty!” Sunny said as she saw their other friend that they occasionally hung out with. “Its been a while! How are you?”
“Oh, uh- good,” Misty said nervously as she looked around. “Hi, Sunny Hitch, Pipp, Zipp… and…”
She looked at the red stallion she’d never met before. He looked at her with a curious expression.
“Uh, hey I’m Sprout,” he said. “Never seen you before. Misty?”
“Yeah,” Misty said. “Nice to meet ya?”
Sprout’s eyes widened, while Zipp’s narrowed more.
“Uh, don’t you know who I am?” Sprout asked.
“Can’t say I do,” Misty said.
Sprout blinked before saying, “I’m Sprout Cloverleaf! The Earth Pony that tried to start a war.”
“Oh, wow,” Misty said.
“Seriously Misty, didn’t you here about it back in Bridlewood?” Izzy asked. “Come to think of it, I’ve been looking for you there but never found out your address!”
Misty clenched her teeth. Zipp looked her dead in the eye.
“Alright, come clean! I may have been wrong about you stealing Sunny’s lantern a while back, but my instincts are never wrong! Well, rarely at least. There is something different about you and I want to know what it is! You didn’t know anything about Bridlewood which is where unicorns are supposed to be from!” Zipp said.
Misty clenched her teeth harder for a moment. “Ok, fine, you’re right! I’m not from Bridlewood!”
This shocked the other ponies, especially Izzy.
“But then where are you from?” Zipp asked earnestly
“A place several miles from here!” Misty said.
Sprout looked at her in surprise. “There’s another settlement in Equestria?”
“Well, not exactly a settlement. Its mainly just an old structure,” Misty said. “I’ve lived there since I was a filly. For as long as I could remember! Someone there took me in and raised me!”
They all looked at her in surprise.
“So, you’re not from Bridlewood?” Izzy asked her ears falling.
“No, I mean maybe. I don’t know what happened to my parents!” Misty said. “I’m sorry! I was just trying to blend in with you during the Traditional Unicorn Sleepover!”
It was all true pretty much, but Misty didn’t go into details about Opaline. She’d have to make something up if the ponies dug deeper.
Zipp’s suspicions, fortunately (at least for Misty) were satisfied.
“No, its okay Misty,” she said putting a hoof on the blue unicorn’s shoulder. “Its understandable you would want to blend in with the others.”
“I know one pony that didn’t care about that though,” Sprout said as he looked at her before saying her name. “Sunny.”
The orange earth pony smiled. “I just did what I knew to be right.”
Misty looked at her. “Did what you knew to be right?”
“Yeah, my father always believed that one day all ponykind could be friends,” Sunny said.
Sprout looked at the picture that had been reframed of Sunny and her father. “I’m sure he’d be proud of you, for all you’ve accomplished.”
That was a lot coming from one of the ponies who had been most against everything Argygle had said when he was alive. Not surprising though since his own mother had been a staunch opponent of Sunny’s father, and the pony whose example had been followed by everypony else. Except for Sunny and her father.
“Thank you Sprout,” Sunny said. “I know things have been hard for you, but I believe you can still become a better pony.”
“I want to,” Sprout said. “Its hard to change after spending your entire life pursuing a path you believe to be right.”
“Well, you did have your ponies concerns at heart,” Hitch reminded him kindly. “I guess it just goes to show that even good intentions can lead to something bad.”
Misty listened and looked down in thought. She’d been by Opaline her whole life. Yet she didn’t think what Opaline was doing was necessarily right. Of course, it might not have helped that Opaline openly called herself maniacal, villainous, and evil. Misty did owe her though, since she had no pony else.
No pony else except these ponies, she thought.
They passed the rest of the night watching movies, playing board games and eating ponycorn. Misty smiled and laughed with the others
“Well thanks everypony, this really helped me feel better,” Sprout said. “I know I have to make up for the things I tried to do. But I do want to do that when I can!”
“Glad to hear it Sprout!” Sunny said.
“You just watch, I’ll make the best redemption ever!” Sprout vowed.
“Yeah well, we’ll just see about that,” Hitch said in a joking manner. “But I can see you’ve changed, Sprout.”
“By the end I’m sure you’ll be a much better one!” Izzy said. “You wanna hang out some more with us?”
“Uh, lets just take it one step at a time,” Sprout said. “I’ll see you around everypony.”
“Sure you don’t wanna crash here?” Sunny asked.
Sprout shook his head. “I wouldn’t feel right doing that just yet. After its because of me that you had to rebuild this place. It does look amazing though, especially with the Unity Crystals at the top.”
He exited the brighthouse to return home. Misty’s ears perked up at the mention of the Unity Crystals. She was tempted for a moment to ask to see the crystals but didn’t want to risk looking suspicious.
“Misty?” Zipp said.
“Yes,” she asked nervously.
“Can you tell me that story you made up during the first traditional unicorn sleepover again?” Zipp asked.
“Uh, well long ago there was a queen that ruled Equestria with a fist of fire,” Misty said reluctantly. “She owned all the magic, but other ponies stole it.”
“That sounds like the recording we heard about!” Zipp said.
“Recording?” Misty asked.
“Yes, Twilight Sparkle left a message in the Unity Crystals that said a pony once tried to steal magic for herself and almost succeeded!” Zipp said.
“Really the Twilight Sparkle from… the old stories?” Misty asked, catching herself before she could say Opaline’s stories.
“Yes, and I think that pony was an alicorn from around or even before her time!”
Misty was getting more nervous by the second.
“Really? Wow, that’s a great theory!” Pipp said.
“Are you sure, Zipp?” Sunny asked worriedly.
“I don’t think Sparky wants to hear any spooky stories tonight,” Hitch said holding his baby dragon whose expression suggested otherwise.
“I think so!” Zipp said. “The unity crystals are filled with an incredible amount of magic. Only someone really powerful could withstand or be able to control them.”
“But how do we know that this evil alicorn is even still alive?” Sunny asked.
“Well according to legend alicorns possessed immense magic power that delayed their aging or made them immortal,” Zipp said.
“But magic disappeared and was gone for hundreds of moons!” Sunny said. “Could an alicorn really survive that long without it?”
“Maybe,” Zipp said. “But I don’t know for sure. Misty, who told you that story about the queen that owned all magic?”
“Um… my-my adoptive mother,” Misty said which was technically true.
“Maybe you could take me to meet her sometime?” Zipp said. “She’s gotta have more details that can help me solve the case.”
“Um, maybe tomorrow, its late!” Misty said.
“Yeah you’re right!” Zipp said.
Pipp yawned. “I need my beauty sleep! Come on Misty we can get a sleeping bag out for you as well!”
They got one and spread it out on the floor. Taking showers to clean themselves after their various days of hard work in their various occupations they then climbed into their various sleeping bags they used for makeshift camping. They’d done this every so often. Soon all of them were sound asleep. All except one.
Misty opened her eyes and looked around. Seeing everypony was indeed asleep, she got to her hooves. Though she did so uneasily. If she were a genuinely evil pony she probably would have grinned and chuckled softly. But instead, she just felt remorse and guilt welling up in her for what she about to do. She looked over at Sparky who slept next to Hitch. She’d once tried to grab him with a trail of sandwiches and lure him into a trap. But she had magic now thanks to Opaline’s training. She looked around, seeing no pony awake. Izzy gurgled in her sleep a little bit while Zipp snored. Sprout had left to return home, Hitch and Pipp cuddled together while Sunny slept peacefully nearby.
Misty lit up her magic, the cyan light shining briefly, but she looked around, fearing it would take some pony up. She tiptoed away just a bit so that she could still grab Sparky and avoid waking anypony else up. Then she lit it up again, the cyan aura surrounded the little dragon and slowly brought him over to her. She put his sleeping form on her back and then snuck out of the brighthouse. As soon as she closed the door to behind her, she let out a sigh that was a mix of thrill and regret.
“I finally got you,” she said looking at Sparky sleeping on her back snoring softly. “I guess that means I’ll get my cutie mark.”
She looked at the brighthouse where her friends were in remorse. Opaline had said they were the enemy, and they were to her, but not Misty. They’d been nothing but good to her since she’d met them. She’d had fun with them during their little get togethers like this one. Was getting a cutie mark really worth the pain she would cause them when they discovered Sparky was missing? A part of her wanted to just give Sparky back, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She owed Opaline too much, the queen had found her as a lost filly. Misty wouldn’t even be alive without her, she had to get this dragon to Opaline.
She began walking home to Opaline’s castle. Finally, she was going to get her cutie mark. But what happened after that? Misty didn’t know. Though she did feel as though she had forgotten something. Then she remembered her other assignment.
“Oh, can’t forget the letter,” Misty said as she drew it from her saddlebag. “But the post office isn’t open right now.”
She then saw a mailbox at one of the nearby houses of Maretime Bay. She walked over to it, not managing to smirk in triumph as the regret was brewing over. She stuck the letter Opaline had given her into it, catching a glimpse of the name on it.
“Right Light,” she said with a small curious hum. “Wonder who he is?”
She shrugged. Just some potential ally Opaline wanted to recruit. She put the letter in the mailbox and continued on her way home. The name soon faded from her mind, and tomorrow she would finally have what her mistress wanted most.