Filly Eyes

by Betty_Starlight

Chapter 19: The Cutie Mark Quest

The teal green unicorn filly smiles at me from the other side of the door, “Hi Twinkle!”

I keep my eyes wide and trained on the other filly, “Oh, golly! Hiya, Jessi!”

We both stand silent for a moment before she asks, “Uh, can I come in?”

“Probably!” I quickly respond…

She blinks, “Uh, may I come in?”

It then occurs to my intoxicated mind that my friend wants to come into my house! I smile and say, “Sure thing, Jessi! Come on in!” before turning and trotting back into the foyer. I turn to Misty, now standing in the entryway to the kitchen and say to her, “Hey Misty! Jessi is here!”

Misty’s eyes widen in the entryway to the kitchen, “Oh, gosh! There’s two of you now!”

Jessi magically shuts the door behind us and trots over to my right side and stares at Misty, “So Misty! How you holding up?”

Misty looks down and sighs, “Everypony always wants to know how I’m doing…”

Jessi raises her gaze, “Well, of course! We were helping you, remember?”

Misty looks up and widens her eyes, “Why?”

Jessi smiles, “Because you’re our friend and that’s what friends do!”

“B-but you don’t even know me!”

I finally add, “Well, Izzy knows you and you needed help, right?”

“But I was evil!”

“You were forced! There’s a difference!”

Misty frowns, “B-but I didn’t have to kill her… Did I?”

I sigh and stare at the blue filly, “You know, if you didn’t finish her, she would’ve just hunted you down after you left, right?”

Jessi turns her head towards me, “That’s actually a good point, Twinkle!”

I nod, “Believe me! Being evil is an art! You can’t leave loose ends like that! She would’ve killed you, had you not done the job first!”

Misty frowns at me with wide green eyes, “I-I never thought about it like that?”

I lower my gaze, “Golly no you didn’t, because you were too focused on revenge. But strategically speaking, you know she would have good reason to destroy you, had you not done what you did…” I smile. “You know, the one good thing about you burning the remains like that is that we can now be truly sure that Opaline will never come back and be a threat to anypony! Isn’t that just swell?”

Jessi turns her head back to Misty before us and quickly blurts out before Misty can respond, “You said she was evil, right?”

I look up at Misty, “Wicked and cruel?”

Misty smiles dimly, “R-right! So it’s a good thing that I killed her, right?”

I nod, “Of course!”

Jessi adds, “Absolutely!”

She smiles lowers and her eyes narrow, “You’re just saying that, aren’t you?”

Now, I can’t for the life of me explain it, but then, something snapped in my mind when I looked directly at Misty and said, “Oh golly gee, Misty! Opaline is dead! For better or worse, she’s not coming back… And while you did the deed and you have your reasons, nothing is going to change those facts… You know, you should probably begin to work through this, cause it’s not gonna get any better until you do!”

Her eyes widen again as her mouth frowns in confusion, “And you’re here to help me!”

I raise my head, “Of course!”

Jessi chimes in as her little body vibrates, “Right!”

I add as my body shakes, “Friendship!”

Jessi says while jittering, “Yes!”

Misty smiles and giggles, “You two are almost as awkward as me!”

Jessi smiles, “I’m not awkward! Ur mom is awkward!”

Misty chuckles, “Ur dad is awkward!”

“Your family is awkward!”

I stare at both these fillies with wide eyes and say the only thing that makes sense to me at this point, “Look! Either everypony is awkward, or nopony is!” I nod. “It’s the only way to be fair!”

Jessi stares at me with a perplexed look in her burnt orange eyes and remains silent for a moment… “What?”

Misty then adds, “I have no idea what that meant either…”

I smile, “Oh, you’re gonna know what it means…”

Jessi is slack jawed, “Uuuuhhh…”

Misty stares at me wide-eyed, “I’m confused!”

Jessi smiles and says, “Yeah! It’s almost like Twinkle Shine wants me to hold her down with a forcefield while Misty tickles her?”

I stare at the green unicorn with wide eyes and a panicked frown, “I do?”

Jessi smiles and giggles while Misty says, “Uh, what?”

I widen my eyes, “You better not!”

Jessi’s eyes narrow as she smiles with wicked thoughts in her mind, “Not now, but soon!”

My body begins to shake, “I’m serious, Jessi! Horrible fiery retribution!”

Misty asks, “Is this normal interaction between you two?”

I stare at Misty with wide eyes and quickly say, “No!”

Jessi looks at her at the same time and replies, “Yeah, pretty much!”

Misty stares at me as a tear slides down her right cheek from the eye above, “I...have friends now!”

I nod, “Yup!”

“Goofy, silly, stupid friends!” she sniffs.

I widen my eyes, “Something wrong, Misty?”

She sniffs again, “N-no Twinkle…” she smiles widely as a small tear streams down her right cheek, “I just didn’t have this earlier, and now, you two are being stupid together!” another larger tear falls down her cheek. “And it’s just great!”

Jessi stares back forward at the crying unicorn and asks, “Hey, are you alright?”

Misty turns and grins at Jessi, “I-I’m fine!”

I widen my eyes and frown at the blue unicorn when the sudden realization hits me, “Oh, golly! You were all alone, huh?”

Misty nods before sniffling, “Yeah! All alone! All by myself!”

I trot three paces to Misty and embrace her in a tight hug while saying loudly, “I’m supportive!”

Misty lets out an “EEP!”

I hear Jessi behind me, “She’s been smoking, hasn’t she?”

Misty desperately gasps out while choking for breath, “Uh, yeah! Kinda!”

Jessi smiles and giggles, “Welcome to the crew Misty!”

I let Misty out of my forehooves and return them to the floor with a clack, before staring at Misty wide-eyed, “So, Misty! Ready to get your cutie mark?”

Misty stares at me in frowning confusion as she asks, “Uh, what?”

I grin wider, “Are you ready to get your cutie mark?”

“How?”

I grin wider, “Well golly gee! You know, we’re not gonna find out what you’re good at unless you start trying new things!” I nod. “So, that’s what we’re gonna do!”

Misty blinks, “Well uh, where do we even start?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, what do I do?”

I widen my eyes when I suddenly understand, “Oh! Well, the goal is to find out what you’re good at, right? Think, Misty! What have you done so far and what do you seem to have a talent for?”

“I” Misty blinks, “I don’t r-really know? I mean I uh,” she continues to stammer.

“Well?” I repeat myself while leaning forward with my eyes super wide.

Misty sighs, “I don’t know, okay? I uh,” she blinks, “don’t know what I could be good at? All I’ve really done for the longest time is serve Opaline…” she closes her eyes… “I really have no idea!” she widely opens them back up. “Oh, gosh! I killed somepony! What if my special talent is killing?”

I do my best to suppress a chuckle at this point, “Well, you did a pretty good job of killing Opaline, right?”

Misty regularizes her eyes, “Um, well, yeah…”

I nod, “You chopped up the body and burned it and everything! And you still don’t have your cutie mark, right?” I widen my eyes, “Congratulations!” I nod again. “I’m pretty sure we can cross psycho killer off the list, now!”

Misty smiles dimly, “Thanks Twinkle! You really are my best friend, you know that!”

I feel my cheeks grow full and hot at this point as I timidly reply, “Oh, Misty! It was nothing!” while waving my right forehoof in the air.

Jessi turns her head left towards me and keeps her mouth agape with befuddlement, “Twinkle! Are you blushing?”

I widen my eyes, “No!”

She smiles, “Aww! You like helping poor Misty, don’t you?”

“No I don’t! I’m filled with violence, hate, and darkness!” I reply as my little body quakes.

Jessi begins to giggle at me while Misty keeps her eyes wide and her mouth scrunched in confusion and I don’t think she knows what to say at this point?

“What?” I ask Jessi with my eyes wide.

“I think it’s sweet, Twinkle Shine!”

Misty suddenly raises her gaze to me, “Yes! Thank you so much, Twinkle Shine!”

My mouth goes agape, “I...I’m a good filly?”

Jessi normalizes her mouth and eyes me carefully, “I keep telling you, you are. Why don’t you believe me?”

I sigh, “I just worry, sometimes, okay? About her, you know? E-especially after you said you were scared of me earlier.”

Misty chimes in, “Wait! Jessi is scared of Twinkle Shine? But she’s so adorable!”

I adjust my gaze to Misty and point my right forehoof at her and say while my body jitters, “Yes! Thank you! Far too cute to be dangerous! Yes!” and I turn to Jessi at my right while lowering my forehoof and say while my body quivers. “See! I’m not dangerous! I’m adorable!”

Jessi is giggling by this point, “We’re not talking about that, okay? It’s just something I need to work through!”

Misty raises her head and keeps her eyes wide while saying, “I’m not afraid of Twinkle Shine! She’s the nicest filly, I know!”

I barely manage to resist the urge to tell Misty to shut up, as I feel the hotness on my cheeks and grimace hard as I hear Jessi continue to giggle softly from my right. “You fillies are awful!”

Jessi says, “It’s sweet!”

Yes Twinkle Shine! Very sweet! I hear in my head as I sigh in defeat… At that point, I knew the truth… They finally got me… I was a good filly…

<*****>

I use my orange glow to hold the pointer up to the chalkboard with poorly written scribbles on it… I’m actually not even sure what the scribbles mean. I’m just trying to get everypony’s attention. “Alright! Now, what do we know about what Misty has done so far? Tell us Misty! What sorts of things were you doing, while serving Opaline?”

Misty looks up at me with wide green eyes and nods timidly as she says, “Well uh, mostly sneaking around and stuff?” she stops nodding, “I’d plant things for other ponies to find, or steal things, or find out stuff for her. Things like that!” she smiles dimly and nods. “Other than that, I mostly just kept to myself and read stories… “

I widen my eyes, “Stories? What kind of stories?”

Her eyes widen slightly more, “Well, I always liked fantasy stories and stories about far off mystical places! Anything to take my mind off living where I was!” she sighs and smiles dimly while her eyes adjust. “I loved the thought of meeting a dragon or traveling on an adventure or something like that, you know?”

I nod, “Well, right! Because you wanted to be somewhere else!” I smile. “Unfortunately, that does nothing to tell us what you might be good at?”

“What if sneaking around and being nefarious is what I’m good at?”

I stop smiling and lean towards her, “You did a lot of that working for Opaline, right?”

“Yes!”

I nod, “And you never got your cutie mark?”

“No!”

I go back to my original posture, “Okay, we can also cross that one off!” I blink. “Well, how are you with animals?”

She frowns, “Well, I wasn’t very good at taking care of a baby dragon, earlier!”

Twinkle looks over from the left of Misty and asks, “Dragon?”

I look at Twinkle, “Hitch is taking care of a baby dragon! He named him Sparky!”

Twinkle asks Misty, “Why did you have Sparky?”

Misty smiles over at Twinkle shyly, “Well, Opaline kinda needed the dragon for his fire! She knew Hitch had it and well…”

Twinkle nods, “See? Even Sparky is safer after what you did!”

Jessi is staring at Twinkle wide-eyed in puzzlement as Misty stammers out, “S-so, Equestria is safer now?”

Twinkle nods again, “Exactly!” and she leans forward. “Trying to find your cutie mark can be like your therapy!”

I twist my mouth in confusion, “Therapy?”

Twinkle turns to me, “Yeah! I mean, she clearly has issues, right? She could try all sorts of things for therapy? I mean, who knows? Maybe even writing stories in an obscure genre might be good for her?”*

I keep my eyes wide, “Yeah! Like a Cutie Mark Adventure or maybe a Crusade?”

Twinkle frowns, “Crusade sounds kinda lame? We should call it a quest!” she perks up and smiles. “Yes! Misty’s Cutie Mark Quest!”

I smile, “Okay, Twinkle!”

She turns her head left back to Misty. “Ready to go on a quest, Misty?”

Misty frowns in wide-eyed concern at what we’ve just started for her, “Oh gosh!”

(To be continued...)

Author's Note:

*Yes, you are correct! Twinkle Shine is indeed, breaking the fourth wall with this statement!