That night, I had stayed outdoors instead of going in my tent, and had taken the opportunity to speak to Pipp about how she had acted earlier. I did understand her frustration given the chaos that seemed to be erupting across the country, and the fact her life had been utterly messed up by whatever had happened in the throne room (I still wasn't entirely up to speed on how that plan of there's had been working), it still didn't justify violence. Especially given none of this was Misty's fault, and instead I suspected was a consequence of something else that was going on behind the scenes.
But still, I had to investigate. I left the campfire and stopped. There was a sound coming from the blue tent!
I walked over and stopped to listen. There was distinct sobbing audible in the tent. Whomever was in it was clearly in distress over something, and I had to help them. I was about to knock, but then realised that knocking on canvas probably wasn't going to work. At best it would move some fabric around and at worst it would knock the tent over.
So I stood by the side and waited for a moment for the sobbing to slow a bit. Then I spoke. "Misty? Are you OK?"
"Go away," Misty replied. She sounded really torn up over something.
So I tried again. "You're not going to help yourself by shutting yourself off. I know how you feel."
There was a brief moment of silence, and then the tent was opened. Moments later, Misty wriggled her way out of the space in front and stood up. She looked a mess, and not in a good way. Her mane was all over the place, and her muzzle was wet- wet and stained from her tears. Some were still leaking out of her eyes, and as a consequence of her emotional state her eyes were red and quite puffy.
They weren't the only thing that was puffy. Her cheek (the one which Pipp had hit) was still red and inflamed, even after the application of numerous ice packs to try and remove the worst of the swelling.
I looked into her eyes. "Misty, I want to help," I said. I mean, what sort of monster wouldn't want to help somepony in their moment of distress?
Misty looked at me, seemingly baffled by this statement. "How could you possibly understand me?" she asked. Oh, you have no idea.
I suspected she wasn't from here either given that Misty was only introduced after the events of the movie, and yet here she was regardless. It was time for a change of pace, time to try a risky strategy, if you will. If this didn't work, it'd be the loony bin for me.
So I spoke the four words that threatened to turn her world upside down.
"I'm not from here."
Misty blinked, and stared in surprise, and then countered with a question of her own that answered all of my own questions. "You mean, as in, 'human'?"
I nodded, getting the point across. Her reply implied she was a human too. "Yes. And I can tell from your face that you aren't either, considering your speech patterns and other points you're making. And seeing as I heard you crying, it only seems you're hurting."
As we walked over to the fire, I continued talking to her, passing her a hot drink that would help her with the cold of the night wind that howled over the hills. "I asked Sunny if I could borrow some of her hot drinks, and she agreed. We're worried about you, Misty. I heard what Pipp did- I had a word with her about it, and she's here."
Upon hearing her name, Pipp glanced up. Her facial expression indicated guilt- I'm not surprised to be honest, as in moments of anger we often do or say things we later regret. She then spoke to Misty. "Misty, I apologise for what I did. Yes, I was frustrated, but it doesn't justify taking my anger out on you. I really am sorry."
Now for the moment of truth. Would Misty forgive her, or lose her temper, or do something possibly worse?
The three words she said put all my fears to rest. "I forgive you." Good on you, Misty!
Now that all had made up with one another, we sat around the campfire, our faces illuminated by the gentle flames and the ambient noise amplified by the crackling of the fire. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to say something profound, and so I did.
I placed my foreleg around Misty's shoulder and began to speak. "At the end of the day, we're all outcasts in a way. We are here, stuck in a world not meant to house us, never designed for our needs and hopes and desires. And yet, here we are. We have each other as a support group to survive in the harshest of times. When empires fall, we're still there. When horrendous regimes mistreat their own people, we're still here. When the darkness is thick and it seems the sun will never rise, we're still here. The simple fact is that we've always been here. And we will always be here, as long as the world exists."
Maybe I should have majored in philosophy instead. Or were my own personality and Hitch's starting to blur together? Maybe. I could puzzle it all out tomorrow.
I'm sorry to say the next day didn't go as well as I'd hoped it would.
I had decided to temporarily take over navigation as Sunny seemed to be leading us round in circles. It probably didn't help we didn't have a map. And therefore had no idea where we were going. Having said that, the map I'd used to navigate to Zephyr Heights had been about as much use as a chocolate teapot, Clearly cartography is a skill they need to teach more in this world.
I tried leading them through another route- but this didn't work out as we simply ended up back where we started. Yeah, maybe it's best we let Sunny and Izzy navigate, as they seem to know what is where around here. Considering Izzy is from Bridlewood, it makes sense to let her lead us there.
That evening brought all sorts of crazy revelations. Trying to squeeze all of us round a single campfire in the rocky outcrop proved to be more than a little challenging, so I attempted to build a separate fire and light it. Emphasis on 'attempted'.
"Come on, Hitch! Sit with us!" Misty called to me.
"Alright," I said. I came and sat down next to the fire, and looked at them. "At least knowing that there are other people in my situation makes things a little easier on me. Possibly not on you guys, but it's comforting to know I'm not alone." I'd admitted to not being originally a pony earlier in the walk, just in case that remark didn't make a lot of sense.
I'd already had my suspicions about Izzy from yesterday, but her talking about being comfortable in her own skin and how being Izzy was the best thing that had happened to her confirmed to me that she was also from my old world. That just left one major questions.
Was Sunny from there as well?
Suddenly, Izzy spoke up again. "How can we when so much has gone wrong? How is there any hope left?"
Sunny glanced up, and began to speak again. "I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. Do you remember the old stories?"
Izzy perked up, and her eyes widened as if in recognition. "Which ones?"
Sunny then began to speak once more, her voice taking on a familiar rhythm. "The old stories we used to be told as kids, or foals I guess. The nes that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?" Sunny paused, presumably to give us a chance to digest the meaning in the words. "But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Izzy, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something."
"What was that?" Izzy asked.
"That there’s some good in this world, Izzy… and it’s worth fighting for.”
I knew that quote very well. That's from Lord of the Rings, which doesn't exist in this world (the equivalent series around here is the Chronicles of Chevalia, which is an amusing pun as Cheval is Prench for horse). I looked over. "Did you just quote Lord of the Rings?"