“Well, Misty? What excuse do you have this time?”
Opaline Arcana was stood over her cauldron pool in the middle of the throne room in her castle. She’d heard the door creak closed behind her, which could only mean one thing. The return of her young protégé, Misty, empty hoofed.
Misty squeaked; she’d hoped to sneak in before Opaline could spot her. Clearly, she’d failed as the large purple alicorn turned, her disapproving gaze burrowing into Misty as she cowered.
“I…I didn’t get the chance,” Misty spluttered. “The dragon is with at least one of the ponies all the time. They’d know if I grabbed him.”
“Really, and why should we care if they know?” Opaline frowned. “Is it because you actually like them?”
A photo appeared in Opaline’s hoof. Misty gasped as she looked at it. It showed her and her friends, the five ponies that lived in the Brighthouse, smiling, and having a good time.
“You know Misty, this photo actually pointed something out to me,” Opaline continued smoothly.
“It…It did?” Misty asked worriedly.
“Their cutie marks, you said before that they glowed, and I admit I didn’t believe you,” Opaline smirked. “However, in this photo, you can see it actually happening.”
She held the photo closer to Misty so she could see. The cutie marks of the ponies that were visible were indeed glowing. “However, what it also shows me is you are slipping Misty.”
Misty gulped. “Sl…Slipping?”
“Yes, you’re letting yourself be drawn in by their lies. They are not your true friends Misty. I think it’s time you remember who is really important in your life.” Opaline turned, walking back towards the caldron pool.
“It’s you,” Misty blurted out. “You are the most important pony in my life.”
“Exactly,” Opaline smirked as she turned back to look Misty in the eye. “But your actions aren’t backing that up are they? Look at your grin in this photo, that’s not acting Misty. I know you too well for that. You’ve failed me far too many times recently, so I want you to actually think why that is. Consider yourself grounded.”
Opaline’s horn flared and Misty gasped as whisps of magic appeared around her hoofs. Before she could say or do anything, Misty found herself skidding backwards. She slid through multiple doors until she finally stopped in her room. Panting she tried to move but found she couldn’t, her hoofs were still trapped by the whisps of magic rotating around them.
“What will I do with you, Misty?” Opaline sighed before letting out a groan in realisation. “Now I’ll need to find that spell book myself, won’t I?”
With that she walked off towards the castle’s library, muttering to herself.
A short time later, Opaline groaned for what felt like the umpteenth time. The library was a mess, books strewn all over the place and she’d long given up trying to use the shelf labels or catalogue system as guidance.
“Why is finding one simple spell book taking so long,” she growled to herself. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been so hasty in grounding Misty.”
She pulled another book from the shelf and coughed as it kicked up a layer of dust.
“Why is it so dirty in here?” she moaned. “I cannot wait for my full powers to be returned to me. Then instead of messing around like this, I’d be able to use my magic. If I use it now, then I’ll have to wait to recharge before casting my spell. Stupid Twilight Sparkle and her stupid banishment spell, I can’t wait to break it!”
She groaned as the book was yet another dud and threw it onto a large pile in the middle of the floor. A pile that was slowly growing ever larger.
“I hope Misty is learning her lesson not to underestimate me,” she continued rambling as she pulled out the next book. “I need her to do all these silly little tasks.”
She looked at the book in her hoofs and looked surprised as she read the cover. “Oh, didn’t realise I had this one,” she smiled. “I’ll keep that safe for later, it could prove useful if Misty continues to defy me.”
She placed the book under her wing and pulled out another.
Meanwhile, Misty grunted and groaned as she continued trying to free herself. However, she wasn’t making much headway and stopped with a sigh.
“This is the worst punishment yet,” she grumbled. “Why can’t Opaline see that getting Sparky is hard? It’s not as easy as she thinks.”
She started pulling and tugging again, her bottom making circular motions as she struggled.
“This is nothing, I’ll get out of this,” she said confidently.
However, after a few more minutes of effort, she stopped struggling again and sighed dejectedly. Spotting her phone, she wondered if she could reach it and looked around for something to use. However, she sighed again.
“What would I do with it?” she wondered aloud. “It’s not like I could call my friends to come rescue me.”
She looked down at the swirling magic and frowned. “If I had my cutie mark, I bet I could use unicorn magic to escape. I’d close my eyes and think really hard, like this.”
She closed her eyes and focused. Without realising it, her horn fizzled and popped into life and the magic around one of her hoofs suddenly fizzled as it was disrupted and eventually disappeared.
Misty’s eyes snapped open as she felt her hoof come free of the ground. Gasping she looked at it in astonishment. “D…did I just…” she stammered. “No, I couldn’t have. I don’t have magic yet. You need a cutie mark from your family first, right?”
She lifted her liberated hoof and studied it for a moment.
“Maybe I’ll try that again anyway,” she reasoned to herself. “Can’t hurt, can it?”
She closed her eyes and focused again on freeing herself. However, nothing seemed to happen. She focused harder, this time also pushing at the magic with her free hoof. Grunting with effort, her horn fizzled again and the magic holding her other hoofs was disrupted and disappeared with a poof.
“I did it! I really did it!” Misty grinned as she grabbed her phone. “Opaline thinks she’s so powerful but she’s no match for my hoofs.”
However, there was a sudden clatter and Misty jumped high in the air with a squeak, landing on her bed behind her. She looked worriedly towards the closed door, listening hard. The muffled sounds of Opaline shouting came from the room below.
“Ha, I bet she’s having fun without me then,” Misty grinned before blinking in realisation. “Ah, that means I’ll have more fun later. Oh well, nothing I can do about that right now.”
She looked at her phone and smiled. “I wonder what my friends are up to?”
With that, she laid down on her bed, unlocked her phone and started scrolling her social media feeds.
Meanwhile, Opaline was indeed in a foul mood as she walked back into the throne room. The spell book she had been looking for hovered in front of her as she read the spell she needed.
“Excellent, with this, I’ll be able to locate the Dragon Stone and then Misty can prove her loyalty by fetching it,” she schemed to herself.
She placed the book down and started dropping items into the cauldron pool. However, as she checked the book again, she realised something was missing.
“Aaah, where’s the poppy grass,” she moaned. “I thought I had plenty of that right here.”
She looked around and spotted some small bits of grass in a trail heading to the corner of the room. “Blasted rodents,” she exclaimed. “Just wait until I’m free of this infernal castle. Then I’ll deal with them, I’ll deal with all of them.”
She let out a cackling laugh before sighing. “I’m going to have to go to the storeroom now aren’t I?”
She walked out into the corridor, finding a small door she opened it and revealed a spiral staircase. She grimaced as she started heading downwards. Ducking as she avoided one spider web only to have a second impact her in the face.
“Why is this so filthy as well?” she spluttered. “Misty is going in and out of here so often. She's going to have to clean the whole castle right through. It'll be her punishment when she fails again.”
She finally, reached the bottom and looked around the storeroom. Thankfully it looked cleaner, but she quickly realised she had no idea where to start looking.
“Okay, maybe you were a little hasty in punishing Misty,” she said to herself with a sigh. “She always finds things so quickly. She just pops down here and comes back with whatever I need almost immediately.”
She sighed again as she started looking in boxes and bottles for the poppy grass.
In the meantime, Misty was lying on her bed, watching her phone with a massive grin on her face. She’d found a cooking show, ‘Sunny Side Up’, which was being presented by Sunny and Hitch.
“That’s it Hitch, get her,” she laughed as she watched Hitch throw another hoof full of fruit at Sunny.
“This is brilliant,” Misty giggled. “Who knew cooking could be so much fun.”
She suddenly gasped as Sunny slid across the stage and into a wall. As the camera pans, it shows Pipp and Izzy laughing at their friends’ antics.
“If Pipp and Izzy are there, then Zipp is likely aiming the camera,” Misty smiled. “That will mean Sparky isn’t being watched and I can get more Dragon Fire. If I can get lots and lots, then maybe I won’t have to take him.”
She jumped off her bed and ran to the door. “If I’m quick, maybe Opaline won’t realise I’ve gone anywhere.”
She opened the door with no problem, however suddenly slammed into an invisible forcefield face first. Groaning she stepped back and closed the door, rubbing her nose. “Of course, nothing's that easy, is it?”
“This was supposed to be easy!” Opaline shouted.
She’d found the poppy grass and had continued her mixture. However, when she tried to activate the location spell it didn’t work. She’d drained the caldron pool out at least two times and retried but it still didn’t work.
Annoyed, she re-read the instructions again and again. Then she carefully measured out the ingredients and added them to the pool. “I do hate it when they say a ‘pinch’ or a ‘dash’, this isn’t some silly cooking recipe,” she grumbled. “It’s a serious magical mixture.”
Finally, she came to the last instruction, she read and re-read the incantation before turning to the pool. Focusing hard, she shot a magical blast at it. Finally, the pool activated, and she smiled broadly as a map of Equestria appeared. A network of faint lines appeared, crisscrossing it in all directions but with a few large holes.
“At last,” she giggled. “Now I just need to wait whilst it does its thing. Oh, I always knew that the full series of Glimbursts anthologies would come in handy!”
Misty meanwhile was sat on her bed again. She watched her phone excitedly as ‘Sunny Side Up’ started again after another break. “Why do these things have so many adverts,” she muttered.
Watching the screen Misty listened as Sunny started talking.
“Welcome back to Sunny Side Up,” Sunny smiled. “My co-chef Hitch will be making Cinnamon-Rasin Fruity Cookies blindly whilst I instruct him.”
Misty giggled as Hitch stumbled around with a blindfold over his eyes. He was already knocking things off the worktop. However, Sunny looked downhearted.
“You know what, I can’t,” Sunny sighed as she moved the mixer away before Hitch could knock it off.
“Sunny? What are you doing?” Hitch asked, taking off the blindfold.
“I’ll tell you what we’re not doing, a cooking show,” Sunny replied. “Look at this place, and us, it’s all become such a mess since we started trying to follow likes. We’ve totally lost track of what’s important here,” she sighed. “You want to know what I love about cooking? What I thought this show was about? It’s a way to let loose and break free of expectations! Cooking is fun, it’s brilliant for getting you out of a rut. Especially if you’re in that rut because somepony keeps telling you to do things you don’t want to do. Maybe even things you don’t think are right!”
Sunny pauses, looking straight into the camera. Misty gasps as she watches her friend pour her heart into what she was saying.
“Cooking is a great way to pick yourself up when you’re feeling down,” Sunny continued. “There are no rules...”
“Yeah, there are,” Hitch cut in. “They’re called Recipes.”
“Yes, but you don’t have to follow them,” Sunny smiled. “You can do it by the book, or you can experiment and try your own thing. It may work or it may not, but you’ll have at least tried. With a little bit of hope, you’ll find the way that works, so believe in yourself.”
Misty looked deeply at the screen, letting the words sink in and whispered, “Believe in yourself.” Even as Sunny kept talking.
“She’s right,” Misty sighed as she put her phone down. “I’ve been failing Opaline because I don’t believe in what she wants to do. I don’t want to take all the ponies’ power or help Opaline rule Equestria. I wanted to please her so much that I never thought about what I wanted. I never truly believed in myself. I never even gave it a thought!”
She hopped off her bed and began pacing as she thought everything through. “All the others have done is treated me with kindness. Everything Opaline told me about them hasn’t been true. They’ve never tried to do anything bad to me at all. They are my friends, no matter what Opaline tries to say.”
She pulled out a box and tipped the contents out. Then she grabbed a saddle bag and began packing it. However, picking up a photograph of her with Sunny and the others she stopped. Looking at it deeply and sighing. “Is this really what I should do though? Opaline has been like family, the only family I’ve known even. Will they fully accept me if they know the truth about me?”
She rested a hoof next to her image, she looked so happy in the photo. She knew in her heart that she wanted to feel that happiness more often. However, leaving Opaline suddenly felt like such a large thing to do.