//------------------------------// // Taste of Freedom // Story: Brighter Dawn // by Luminous Comet //------------------------------// Misty stretched slowly and yawned, curling back up under the blanket and pulling the pillow close to her chest. She laid there for a little while, slowly coming to while dozing, instead of suddenly startling awake. There was a breeze from an open window, but it only touched her mane, with most of her coat covered. Some rustling and the occasional clopping of hooves meant somepony else was in the room with her, near one of the other beds. Not Opaline. She wasn't here. Only her friends. After a moment of trying to lie still and shake off the tension, she instead sat up and stretched one more time, before looking into the room. The other beds were empty, but she could see movement beside the next one over. Zipp came into view, pacing with a thoughtful look on her face, before pacing almost back out of view, until she noticed Misty. "Hey. Looks like you got a few hours after all," she said casually, trotting over towards her. Misty slowly got up, the bed swaying again as she skipped off of it onto the floor. "A few hours? Really?" "Yeah, it's past noon. Everypony else already headed out. We still have most of the day, though. What do you wanna do with it?" "Huh? Me?" She looked up to the open windows behind the seating area, looking out over the sea. So far, she'd just gone with whatever was happening. Whatever Opaline told her to do, whatever her friends invited her to. "I... don't really know." "Well, no pressure. You can just hang out for a while." Zipp shrugged and headed behind her desk again. Misty slowly made her way over, following her and peeking around the corner of the pegasus' elevated bed. "Um, so... what are you doing?" "I'm just reorganising my clues. I always do that after I get a major piece in place. Plus, I have some running investigations from around town." While she explained, Zipp moved a bunch of notes around on her desk, arranging a few on a board behind her desk, a rough drawing of Opaline in the middle. "Can I help?" Misty asked quietly, her eyes fixed on the drawing. "Thanks, but I kind of like doing these steps by myself. Helps me go through everything again in my head." She dropped a few papers into the bin and quickly wrote up a new one. "If you're bored, you could go and check on everypony else. Hitch is down at his office, Pipp is at the salon, Sunny is working her stand, and Izzy went out to work on... something." Misty looked past her out the window again. Now that she didn't feel as tired anymore, she started to feel antsy. Just lying around didn't feel right, not when she still had so much to make up for. "Okay. I'm gonna go find them." She turned and started cantering to the stairs, but slowed down before she got there. "If... I'm not bothering them," she said more to herself as she started to head down. Over the course of multiple infiltrations, Misty had gotten a good idea of the town's layout. If Sunny's stand was on Mane Street, where it usually was, it would be closest from the Brighthouse. So she headed down the road and quietly moved through the thin crowd of ponies, until she passed under the bridge and the smoothie stand came into view. A small line was already waiting in front, but Sunny worked fast and kept it moving, keeping up her friendly smile the whole time, taking a moment to chat whenever the order took a moment longer. Misty quietly stood nearby and watched, uncertain about whether she should approach her right now, while she was busy. "Excuse me. Are you in line or not?" Misty looked over her shoulder, following the stern voice, directly faced with a yellow earth pony, her pink mane tied back, almost glaring at her. You're in the way, Misty. Don't just stand there. She quickly took a few steps aside. "N-no, I'm sorry." The earth pony scoffed quietly as she moved past her to join the line. "If you're going to space out, at least stand aside." "Sorry," Misty repeated quietly, wandering a little further away to sit by one of the open tables. She rested her head on her hoof and watched the line move, but replenish at about the same pace. A breeze picked up from the sea and blew past her across the street, picking up loose leaflets and sending them tumbling through the air. Misty turned to look out over the ocean, stretching far towards the horizon. In the distance, she could make out another shore, but so small and partially swallowed by perspective she couldn't begin to guess whether it was a small island or a whole other place. The air was fresh and the wind was welcome with the sun directly overhead. She didn't have this kind of view from the tower. Just forests and mists as far as the eye could see. Not that the small window in her room ever gave her a good view regardless. The glass was a coloured mosaic, not the best for seeing through. And it didn't open properly, which also made the air in the chamber pretty stuffy. Misty took a slow, deep breath of the ocean breeze. The small undercurrent of fish aside, it was clean and refreshing. And these ponies could breathe this air the whole time. And drink delicious smoothies. She looked back to the stand again, finding Sunny serving the last pony in line. Maybe now was a good chance. Getting back up, she wandered back over again, quickly looking aside to make sure she didn't get in anypony's way again, before stopping in front of the service window. "H-hey, Sunny." "Misty!" Sunny smiled as she rested her forelegs on the counter to lean out a bit. "Were you able to get some sleep?" "Y-yeah, thank you." She shifted on her hooves, struggling for what to say. "I thought I'd go for a walk. How, uh... how's business?" "Going well. I've gotten a bunch of new ingredients from Bridlewood, now that ponies travel back and forth more frequently. Do you want to try some?" "That sounds great, but... I don't really have any bits on me." Not that Opaline ever gave her any before, either. The only ones she'd had available were the few she'd managed to scrounge together with less wholesome methods during earlier visits to town. "Oh, don't worry about that. I always have some extra for my friends," Sunny waved off, already getting to work with her blender, adding chopped fruits together with herbs and ice. Misty wanted to argue, but she bit her lip. Every other smoothie she'd had before had been a small revelation. This is no time to drink vegetables! Sunny filled the smoothie into one of her cups and held it out to Misty, who seized it in her magic, levitating it over, already licking her lips before carefully drinking through the straw. The slightest hint of bitterness hit her tongue, immediately washed away by the natural sweetness and the refreshing taste of herbs. The aftertaste lingered, not oppressively, but like a faint reminder. "So?" Sunny asked expectantly. "It tastes like... freedom." She smiled wide and took another long sip. "Freedom, huh? That might not be a bad thing to put on the menu. What did you call my jicama smoothie again?" Misty tilted her head, trying to remember over the sound of her own slurping. "Happiness?" "Right! Maybe they could all use some positive nicknames like that. Oh, do you think the foals would like that?" "I... don't know. I haven't really known any foals. Except myself. Back when I was one. Which was a while ago. You know." She quickly put the straw back between her lips to stop rambling and avoided eye contact as Sunny giggled brightly. "Sure, I know. Well, let me know if you want to try another one. I'd love to hear what you come up with for the rest." Misty found herself snickering lightly as well. "Thanks. I promise I'll pay you back. Eventually." Another short moment passed. She wanted to say something else, something more substantial. Something that expressed how genuinely grateful she was, for a lot of things, but in the moment she just couldn't find the words. And as she glanced up, she noticed Sunny fidgeting as well, before redirecting the energy to quickly wiping down her small counter. She wasn't sure how long that silence would have lingered if somepony hadn't come in to break it. "Good afternoon, ladies. Enjoying the beautiful weather?" Hitch said confidently, striding up to the stand, Sparky perched on his back. "Afternoon, sheriff," Sunny returned, quickly starting to mix a few ingredients. "How go your rounds?" "Mostly quiet so far, nothing but a few casual disputes, the usual." He accepted the smoothie cup when Sunny handed it down to him and took a quick sip. "I just need to finish my round of Mane Street and the boardwalk, then I can start on the paperwork." "Can I help?" Misty asked before she could stop herself. Hitch and Sunny briefly exchanged a glance. You should know when you're not wanted, Misty. "I mean, sure, I don't mind you keeping us company," Hitch said with a shrug. "Right, Sparky?" The dragon had climbed up Hitch's mane and was balancing on his head, reaching one tiny claw out for the piece of fresh fruit Sunny was holding out to him. Once he had it, he tumbled back down, off the side as Hitch tilted his head to guide him into his waiting foreleg. With a bubbly chortle, he started gnawing and sucking at his snack. Misty smiled as she watched him, relief mixing into her cocktail of feelings. He had been so weak before, but already he was so energetic again. She trotted up to them and put her empty cup into the bin next to the stand. "Thank you. I'll be useful, I promise." "Alright, then we're off. Have a good day, Sunny!" Misty quickly said goodbye to Sunny as well and followed Hitch as he continued down the street. She waited as he took another long sip through his straw and let the tram car pass by them, before she softly cleared her throat. "So... what are we doing?" "Watching for trouble," Hitch said seriously, before breaking into a smile. "Or anypony who needs some help. It's fairly quiet most days. My job is to maintain order and help out wherever I can. We rarely get any actual law-breakers." "Except me," Misty said quietly, looking down at her hooves. They walked in silence for a few more steps and she felt the tension build in her withers again. "Misty, listen. It would be a lie to say nopony blames you for anything. But you ended up making the right choice. And in Maretime Bay, we--" "Sheriff!" Before Hitch could get to his point, a small foal came galloping up, pointing his hoof behind him. "Sheriff, can you help us?" Hitch and Misty both followed the point of his hoof. At the street corner, two more foals stood beneath a tree, looking up at a small colourful thing, its ribbons tangled with the branches. "Our kite got stuck!" "Well, duty calls. Come on." Hitch lightly bumped Misty's shoulder with his hoof and headed towards the tree with the foal. Misty only slowly followed, watching the foals swarming him and all asking for his help, while he looked up at the branches, rubbing his chin in thought. She stopped a few paces away, thinking about what he said, even though he didn't quite finish. She did make the right choice. Didn't she? Being honest with her friends, helping them when they needed her, cutting ties with Opaline... That last one tightened her chest. She knew Opaline was wrong, for what she was trying to do. But would she hate her now, even if these ponies didn't? They were doing so much for her, too. Would she just be indebted to somepony else? How could she hope to repay their forgiveness, and letting her stay at the Brighthouse, their generosity, and helping her earn her cutie mark and, with that, her magic? "Oh!" She perked up and hurried up to the tree, which Hitch was standing up against, trying to reach one of the ribbons with an outstretched hoof, while Sparky was clinging to his mane. "Wait, I think I got this!" Her horn lit up and she managed to seize the ribbons with her magic grasp. A careful tug one way or another proved useless, with how tangled they were, so she narrowed her eyes and tried to focus, the tip of her tongue between her lips. She moved one ribbon first, by the end, making it loop back around the branch, then another, gradually untangling them until she could levitate the whole kite away from the tree and safely move it down into one of the foals' waiting hooves, to their adorable cheers. "Thanks, lady!" one of the other foals said, running up and pressing herself against Misty's chest in a quick hug, before the three of them all went galloping off, calling their thanks to her and Hitch. Misty watched them leave, weaving past other ponies, an involuntary smile on her face. "Good job, deputy," Hitch said as he trotted back up again. Sparky chortled quietly as he watched the kite flutter and disappear in the crowd. "Thanks." She smiled sheepishly and slowly started walking again alongside him. "It feels good to help. But there's so much I don't know about how ponies live here. I don't really know where to start." "Well, you started already. Give it some time, you'll get a feel for how things work around here. When pegasi and other unicorns first moved here, we all needed an adjustment period. You'll find that most ponies will be patient with you." "And most of them don't know what I've done," she said quietly, watching the ponies they passed. There were mostly earth ponies, but she did see other unicorns among them as well, and occasionally a pegasus flying past overhead, or gliding alongside somepony they were chatting with. "Do you know what we do with criminals in Maretime Bay, Misty?" She tensed up and walked straight, not looking up at him. "No." "Rehabilitation." He gently stopped her with a hoof on her shoulder. "Even when somepony does wrong, we find out why they did what they did. And then we find a way to help them, so they can live happily again, with everypony else." Misty carefully peeked up at him past her mane. He was looking down at her, with a calm smile. On his back, Sparky had one claw in his mouth, looking between the two of them. There's just no fixing you, is there? "And you think I can... reha... you think I can do that?" "I think you already did." They held eye contact for a long moment, before he glanced aside, then back to her. "Can you do me a favour?" "Of course." He picked Sparky up and held him safely up towards her. "I need to grab some food for my critters and Sparky gets kind of out of control when I take him into the store. Can you watch him for a minute?" Misty quickly took Sparky into her own foreleg, since he started slowly toppling forward, reaching out towards her, before she looked up again. "You... trust me with Sparky?" "I do. And I won't be long. Just keep him entertained, I'll be right back." He gently nudged Sparky's head and turned to head into one of the stores lining the side of the street. Misty looked down at the little dragon and was met with his wide eyes and excited smile, his tiny claws grabbing at her chest fluff. She quickly looked both ways down the road and took a few steps closer to the walls, away from the hoof traffic, and sat on her haunches. "Okay. Just watch after Sparky for a minute. No problem. Just stay right here and hold him." Bring me... ...dragon fire!... ...bring it to me! Misty! She quickly shook her head. "No. No, I'm not letting Opaline anywhere close to you ever again," she said firmly and smiled down at Sparky. Her smile slipped as he put his claw to his mouth, his little body twitching slightly, a tiny squeak escaping him. "Oh. Oh no, do you have hiccups?" She quickly looked around, to see if anypony was watching them. "Um, uh, what do you do about hiccups again? Drink water upside-down? Get a scare? Aww, but I don't wanna scare you! Oh, or do you have to burp? You did just have a snack." She carefully picked him up with one foreleg, resting him against her shoulder, while patting his back with the other hoof, as gently as possible. After two short hiccups, she finally teased the burp out of him, along with the sharp hiss of a flame. Misty yelped quietly and shook her head, though luckily her mane didn't seem to have caught fire. With a gurgling laugh, Sparky reached out and got his tiny claws into her mane as she moved it about, starting to pull at her curls. "Ow! Okay, please be careful!" She tried to pry him off without being too rough, but he grabbed on more, cuddling into her mane. It was a little uncomfortable, sitting with her head tilted, so she could still hold Sparky instead of leaving him dangling. But after a few moments, he went quiet and she could carefully pull her mane free, though a single strand was left in his claw, clutched while he slept. She sighed quietly and felt over her curls, many strands now knotted and out of place. But at least he looked peaceful. She didn't have to wait much longer. Hitch returned with a few small packages and made his way over to her, smiling apologetically when he saw her mane. "Ooh, sorry about that. His claws are really growing in now, so he's been grabbing anything he can reach." He carefully balanced the sleeping dragon on his back after Misty gently reached him over. "But don't worry, I know exactly who can fix that for you."