Chapter 9
Misty stood in the doorway, slack jawed. How had she missed this? She re-thought her previous suspicions. They all seemed so outrageous now, there were so many signs, yet she assumed the worst. She'd gotten used to it from her upbringing.
Izzy motioned over to the group, Zipp, Hitch and Sunny stood before her with happy smiles.
"Misty!" Sunny cheerfully exclaimed.
"Sunny? Hitch? Zipp???" Misty asked, utterly dumbfounded by the display.
"Happy NOT your birthday!" They said as they burst out in intense laughter.
"W-what's going on!?" Misty stuttered as she came to grips with the entire room being filled with ponies.
Zipp piped up, still chuckling, "We set up a party for you! We knew how down you were with the craziness that's been going on, all of us knew that you needed something special!" She half-shouted.
Izzy groaned, "Zipp! I was going to tell her!"
Zipp gasped, "Oops! I was just excited, sorry Izzy." She covered her mouth with her hoof.
Izzy continued after Zipp, but still gave a small sneer. "We were all in on it. Hitch carried all the heavy stuff, Zipp put up the streamers and balloons, and Sunny made all the layouts and invitations!" Sunny nodded while Hitch blushed just a bit.
Misty was so happy. So utterly and completely happy, that she had no words to describe her happiness. No feeling in the world could be better than what she was feeling right now. It was all so massively overwhelming,
The only thing strange about the whole setup was Pipp's absence in the presence of the entire town. But, of course she was probably somewhere. Maybe some royal duties. Or perhaps she just didn't want to be here… Misty tried to forget that thought. Even if not everyone was here, it didn't mean anything! Besides! Her friends were there, and that mattered.
Her body felt light, and her tension was alleviated, even if she was awkward around large crowds. It melted away, because she knew 3 ponies who cared about her. She didn't need anything else.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you…" Misty thanked them, over and over. She knew she would thank them forevermore. Her throat was tight with the feeling of tears.
Izzy contorted, a sympathetic look overwhelmed her features. "No need, no need! Let's get you some cake!" Izzy pointed at the pile of goodies that were for Misty. "You must be hungry again! From all that walking!"
Overwhelming was an understatement in Misty's mind at this point. It was more like mind blowing. She was ushered into a seat by the gang, and many gathered near for whatever declaration was next.
The large halls and spindle ramp made good space for such large party. Pegasi flying above in the high ceilings, earth ponies holding down the ground, and unicorns gathering hype by shining lights from their own horns.
Izzy began, after Misty had sat at the table, in front of a cake larger than she could eat. And yelled. "Everyone! Everyone!"
The crowd slowly silenced for the unicorn speaking. Izzy had quickly captured the hearts and minds of all town goers. Misty was enraptured by the action, she could only wish to be a quarter as eloquent as Izzy.
"As you all know, I've thrown a party for all the town!" Cheers, whoops and hollers erupted from the entire room. Misty was quick to cover her ears.
"Yes, it's amazing to have you all here. But the real reason I've thrown this party is because of Misty. Her tragedy inspired this entire event." Izzy looked down at Misty, as though beckoning her to speak, or to nod. Misty did the latter, nodding to Izzy's speech.
"Misty has recently been staying with us in light of tragic events in Bridlewood. One of which being her precious house burning down!" Izzy exclaimed. She choked a bit, "To one of my best friends, I've decided to make her life a little happier, a little lighter. To make sure she knows the whole town will come to her aid! And help her through the darkest times!" She excitedly cheered.
It was a chain reaction, no stallion, filly, colt or mare refused to cheer and cry out at her excellent speech. Izzy hadn't remarked too much upon the actual event, but focused on the cheery times that were ahead. Even though Misty didn't in fact have a house that burned down in Bridlewood, she felt that the lie had some truth to it.
Her one and only home had been demolished when Opaline chose to attack her and subjugate her to such insanity. Chased her around and promised to wipe her mind violently. That was the home that burned down, that home was dead and gone. She wouldn't have it any other way.
Zipp and Hitch came closer to her, with determined looks upon their faces. Zipp came forward first, holding a small wrapped gift.
"Misty, you once told me something that you wanted. And I just thought that you might want this!" She shoved the gift to Misty's hooves, putting it onto her lap.
"I did?" Misty pondered and tapped her hoof on the present. "I don't remember telling you anything like that…" She looked left and right at it. Blue and pink wrapping, how fitting. The whole party was that same color scheme. She mildly remembered telling Izzy how those were her favorite colors.
She slowly and gingerly ripped the wrapping paper, much to the anticipation of Zipp. The pegasus bounced up and down with impatient hooves. Hitch was dutifully nearby, Sparky, that tiny dragon hanging off his coat like a newborn to his father. Hitch patted him, and assured him amongst the chaos of the room. Sparky had gotten notably calmer since hatching.
Misty took out the present, and noticed that it was a saddlebag. Her very own saddlebag. Now she remembered. Zipp had helped her with those books when she stumbled out of the shop. Then asked her what she would want. And she replied with; Saddlebag. The bag was quite cute, with a little butterfly in the corner, almost matching her own fake cutie mark.
"Do you like it?" Zipp asked, toppling over her hooves.
Misty nodded, chuckling. "Yes, yes! I like it a lot!" Misty held it in her hooves, and stared longingly at it. As though it were too precious to put on.
Zipp continued, "I know we weren't supposed to give you presents until after the cake…But I was too anxious for that! I had to see your reaction to it." She fluttered and struck a sly pose. Looking content all throughout. "Well? Put it on!" She gleamed.
Misty hoised the strap over her head, and it went around her neck easily. She found that she actually liked having attention! Especially when it was the good kind. The bag certainly complimented her coat.
Sunny suddenly interrupted the conversation, breaking Misty from her stupor. “It looks amazing on you! Here, put some books in there!” She suddenly opened the bag and plopped two books directly into it. “Wow! It reminds me of my own! Zipp really picked the right saddlebag!”
“I may or may not have taken inspiration from your own bag Sunny.” Zipp chuckled.
Sunny smiled “Well I'm glad you did. It looks amazing.”
“I’m glad you approve, your highness.” Zipp smirked and teased.
Sunny's body went stone cold. "Hey! I'm not a ruler!"
Zipp replied, "Hmm. Maybe not yet."
Hitch finally spoke up. "Girls, girls, no need to argue over who is the most royal. You're both royal."
Both girls irritably yelled back, "Hey!"
Izzy suddenly barged into the conversation, balancing 4 plates with cake placed on them. "EVERYPONY! Eat cake! Right now!" She yelled, panting while holding all the plates on many limbs.
She shoved the plates into each ponies hoof, forcing them to forget the previous conversation.
Hitch raised a brow to Izzy, "Eat cake? Really?"
"Yes!" Izzy panicked.
Misty gazed down at the piece of cake. She hadn't had any cake yet. From all the food she had eaten so far since coming to Maretime Bay, it appeared to be quite a bit more light and non-solid. Flimsy, with crumbs strewn on the plate as well. Quite the interesting combination.
She took the first bite of this "cake". It was a lot better than popcorn. "Hhmmmm!" She hummed as she chewed her piece of delicious floaty dessert.
Sparky stared at Misty, he plopped down off of Hitch’s back. Putting himself directly into the gazed Misty's lap. His quickness surprised all 5 ponies.
"Huh?" Misty gasped as Sparky made himself at home in Misty's lap.
Misty swallowed her bite of the cake. She had previously come to think Sparky disliked her a fair bit. She had in fact harassed and tried to dragon-nap him. He hadn't gone near her purposefully every time she'd been near him. But now he was willingly sitting on her lap in front of her.
"W-what? I thought…" Misty began trailing off immediately afterwards.
"Wow! Even Sparky thinks you should stay here." Izzy beamed, mentally taking a note that Sparky had given the a-ok seal of approval.
Hitch wasn't all that surprised, in fact, he was relieved, "Well, I hope you don't mind a bit of dragon sitting. He's kinda heavy to carry around everywhere." He sighed, tension melting off his body like water.
Misty took a moment to stare into Sparky's giant eyes. "Uh, yeah Hitch. I'll watch him for a minute."
"Great! I've been dying to hit the dance floor!" He happily trotted away.
Sunny scowled, "How rude! Hitch dumped Sparky onto Misty so easily!"
Zipp laughed, leaning up against the table, "Sunny, you're so uptight! Hitch wants to live a little."
Izzy grabbed Sunny, bringing her forward to the table near Zipp. "Sunny, why don't you tell some of these lovely guests some jokes." She tousled Sunny's hair.
Sunny gave a small smirk. "Ok, ok, I'll ignore it for now. Ooohhhh but next time I see Hitch, he'll get a earful! This is Misty's party!"
Zipp rolled her eyes and focused on other ponies.
Izzy gave a small wink from Sunny’s shoulder, and Misty's brain had a double take. Izzy chuckled as Sunny began to speak.
Misty continued to sit at her table, with her cake, and Sparky plopped right onto her lap. The dragon was having an excellent time, especially since he got his powers (mostly) under control. Hitch had done a great job teaching him. She only wondered how much bigger the lad could become! He was already such a large dragon.
Misty laughed as Sunny told a joke, and Izzy wiggled some sticks in her mouth as teeth. Hitch danced with all the enthusiasm he should have! He got to show off his impeccable moves. Zipp flaunted her stories of detective work to some mares and stations. She smiled when Sparky toyed with her hair, and some fillies ran around happily.
It was incredibly loud, so much so that she wanted to leave the room; despite how happy she was to see everpony having the utmost amount of fun. She couldn't bring herself to do it. The atmosphere radiated everything she ever wanted in life, all the things she never knew she were missing from her life. Alone, forever a slave to a shady Alicorn's whims.
She wasn't frightful, or anxiety riddled, she was content now. If the rest of her life could be like this moment, then she'd put up with the noise. Because it was worth it.
Almost as quickly as she bit into her second bite of cake, and looked down at her new saddlebag full of books; she heard the sound of a door opening. She didn't pay much mind, it was probably the fillies who were running about.
She enjoyed her cake, and cooed at Sparky. She wasn't sure why he had changed his mind about her, especially after the backroom incident, where she had tried to steal him away for Opaline. How silly that whole event was now. If she could've laughed at her previous self, then she would.
"Missssss!!! Missssssy."
Misty's jaw dropped, spitting the cake back onto the plate. Did Sparky just?...Try to speak? Was that even possible? Misty contemplated this. It could've just been more incoherent babbling from a baby. Or it could be…Speech? Hitch had previously mentioned not understanding a word Sparky said, despite talking to other creatures.
Could it be that Sparky could learn to speak real words, and therefore hadn't spoken at all because of his underdeveloped mind? They had no real reference to a dragon's capacity for speech or intelligence, so it was entirely possible.
Did Hitch know about this? Had Sparky tried to speak before? This was astonishing! What other wonderous things were waiting right under their snouts. She smiled, and Sparky babbled back nonsense.
Well, even if it wasn't speech, she was still curious about the real origins of everything. There had to be something out there worth looking for.
Abruptly, she felt a pair of eyes staring her down, and a chill in her back. She directed her eyes towards the door, and through the crowd. A scowling Pipp Petals was approaching her.
Pipp's green eyes burned with a fury Misty had seen countless times before. She froze, awaiting Pipp. Pipp stormed over, hooves clanking on the floor. No pony else seemed to take notice, only going about the party as usual. Misty finally saw, behind her were three small ponies, the most dedicated fans Misty knew of; the Pipp-squeaks.
Misty knew this could out mean one thing. A little bit of barf made its way up her throat, she coughed, and forced it back down. Sparky looked at her curiously. Misty's eyes turned into glassy orbs of pain. The cake wasn't delicious anymore, it was awful bile.
Pipp made her intentions clear. She hovered over Misty with malice…However, instead of yelling, or anger, she instead placed a wrapped gift onto the table in front of Misty.
Misty's lips were dry, "H-huh…"
Pipp continued to rip into her with only a glance. "Hello Misty, sorry I was absent from your party. I hadn't helped at all. You see, I was busy with many OTHER things." She let a smile creep onto her lips, a vicious expression.
Misty couldn't help but tremble in her seat. What Pipp had been doing outside of the party, was obvious. The small ponies trailing shortly behind her was a good sign. Misty remembered what she'd said to the small unicorn who was part of the Pipp-squeaks, what malice her words held. It was wholly untrue, and she knew it. Why Pipp hadn't yet exposed her was unclear. What was clear was her unbridled fury.
"Misty?" Pipp sneered, pushing the present towards her. Misty clutched Sparky, like a pillow, he squeaked from the pressure.
"Y-Y-yes?" Misty croaked.
"I'd like you to open this, right here, right now." She insisted.
"Oh…" Misty glanced from the present over to the pile over by the ramp. "Y-you'll just have to wait! There are many other presents t-that I need to open!" Misty racked her brain, and came up with this excuse. Whatever was in there, she dared not see.
Pipp turned red in the face, "The least that YOU could do for me is open it!" She yelled, referencing something that she knew Misty would understand.
Misty became defensive, pulling back from it, "No! You'll need to wait!"
"What's that on your shoulder?" Pipp asked, pointing at the bad which hung from her neck.
"T-this? It's…From Zipp." She squirmed.
"Her present." Pipp smugly stated. "You made an exception for Zipp. And Zipp is my sister, so it only makes sense that you open this as well. Two peas in a pod as my mom would say." She stated her case, clear and concise. There was a glimmer of logic in the argument. But it still didn't deter Misty.
"Yeah well, Zipp was a lot nicer about it!" She exclaimed, Sparky covering his ear holes with his claws.
"Nice? Like you'd know anything about that-" Pipp was abruptly interrupted.
Zipp flocked to the scene, "PIPP! What the HAY are you doing!" Zipps' eyes pierced into Pipp. The siblings battled for control over the other.
Pipp scoffed, "Me? I'm just giving Misty a present." She turned away, letting her steam.
"Except you weren't. You were pestering her…Like…Like a Bully! Like…How I did when I accused her of being suspicious …" Zipp calmly looked down, ashamed.
"And you were right!" Pipp yelled, slamming the wrapping paper on the ground. "PEACH!"
The small unicorn rushed over to Pipps' side. Hanging her head in shame. Pipp continued, "Peach, what did Misty tell you about me and the Pegasi?"
Peach mumbled, before speaking "Misty told me…That she thought Pipp was pretending to be friends with us…And that…the phones we got from the Pegasi, were sucking our sparkle…"
Sunny entered the conversation, suddenly aware of all the tension going on in the room, "What's going on here, what's this about Misty?"
Zipp looked over to Sunny, "Peach was telling us that…Misty convinced her pegasi were stealing unicorn magic…"
Pipp scoffed, "Not just Peach, the other children too." She glanced at the other two Pipp-squeaks, and continued. "My numbers have been going down ever since Misty moved in here. Something was fishy. I didn't want to believe it, but after Peach told me about what Misty said, I was angry…Hurt...That's why I went to Bridlewood."
"You went to Bridlewood by yourself?" Izzy poked her head into the drama, letting the others stare at her.
"Yes I did, and I found something very incriminating." Pipp said, standing straight with confidence. "Hitch! Get over here!" She yelled.
Hitch broke from the crowd. He was cheery, up until he saw the frowns which everypony was sporting. "What's going on here? Pipp? What's happening?"
"Open this Hitch." She handed the wrapped box to him and he glanced with suspicion.
"Ok…um." He looked over at his friends. He slowly unwrapped the box, taking out a single piece of paper. "Oh." He said.
"Read it out loud." Pipp requested.
"Alright." He sighed, "Hello Ms.Pipp, we have processed your request to find "Misty Brightdawn" and found that this individual hasn't ever lived in Bridlewood. We are sorry for the inconvenience. And thankfully, no houses have burned down for over 10 years." Hitch stared at the paper, then lifted his head at Misty. "It-...it's an official document. Not fake." He continued.
Izzy blinked her eyes in shock. "M-misty. This is a mistake. It's a mistake. If you aren't from Bridlewood, and your house isn't burnt…Then, where are you from? That's silly!" She chuckled. "All unicorns are from Bridlewood! Your paper must be wrong, Pipp!" She clenched her eyes shut.
Sunny immediately rushed over to read it, and confirm for herself. "Let me see that!" She grabbed it, and skimmed over to the official seal. "No. No it can't be. Misty- You- Where?…I can't…"
Zipp stood in place, she turned to Misty, "Tell me…Tell me right now Misty, are you lying to us?" She said it calmly, like she was trying to decide if what Pipp said was the truth.
Misty couldn't say anything, when she tried, she just croaked out a noise that wasn't coherent in any way. Her face burned with shame, but not merely shame, but sadness too. She could feel her eyes beginning to leak a large stream of tears. How many times had she cried? How many times had she known it would come to this?
Zipp mumbled, "Misty…" She repeated again, "MISTY!" She yelled. "I-I trusted you! I apologized to you! Why are you lying to me!" She exclaimed, loud enough for the whole party to hear. They had all gone silent a long while ago.
Misty just hugged Sparky tighter, and the small dragon seemed to nuzzle back. "I-i didn't…I didn't mean too!" Misty yelled.
Pipp emptied even more fury, "That isn't justifiable! You can't just lie and spread rumors about us and say you didn't mean too!"
"But I- I didn't! It was…It was Opaline! It was always Opaline! She sent me! It's- it's not my fault! I didn't know any better!" Misty tried to rationalize her actions, but it was useless, her defensive words would only prove to alienate her new friends.
Sunny chimed in, "Who is Opaline Misty?… Is she? Oh, oh no…" Sunny came to a realization, was this the pony they were warned about? "Why did she send you Misty? Just what were you sent to do?"
"It's not my fault! It's not my fault!" Misty cried, she cried and cried, but it wasn't any use. Her friends had caught her in deception. They'd found her sins. She regretted them so much. But she couldn't do anything else except cry.
Zipp scowled and clenched her eyes. "Even if this "Opaline" sent you…You still deceived us on purpose! What ELSE have you done that we don't know about!?"
Misty glanced towards the lantern that sat at the rim of the table across the way. It was Sunny's lantern, she had tried to steal it in the past, on Opaline's order.
Zipp followed her eyes, and scowled, "Pipp, where did you find Sunny's lantern?"
Pipp's attention was grabbed, "I tripped…The lantern, it was buried in the garden…"
Zipp stood in attention. Letting her mind work and put together the pieces of the puzzle. "Misty was covering up that hole, I saw her there. And she acted in an EXTREMELY suspicious manner when I chased her down!" She once again turned to Misty, "Did you try to…Steal Sunny's lantern?" Zipp looked in disgust, debating her options.
Sunny finally shook out of her crazed stupor, "Misty…You tried to steal my lantern? WHY? WHAT HAS OPALINE PLANNED!" Sunny said toward Misty.
Misty sobbed even harder, "I-im sorry! I'M SORRY!"
Izzy jumped to the scene, "EVERYPONY STOP!" She tried to choke back her tears, "T-THIS IS NOT HOW WE TREAT OUR FRIENDS! This was meant to be happy! I-it was supposed to go differently!" Izzy cried out.
Misty looked down towards Sparky, who was concerned and covering his ears. "I'm sorry Sparky, I really am…" Misty said softly.
Hitch reacted, "Misty, why are you apologizing to Sparky?" He asked, holding back his contempt. "Y-you didn't…. Well that day he went missing… Y-you wouldn't…"
Misty was tight lipped, "I-i didn't know what I was doing. I'm sorry Hitch."
It was chaos, Misty broke down. She could hear Sunny, Zipp, Pipps voices they all cried out In her mind.
"Tell me what Opaline has planned!"
"Give Sparky to me!"
"I can't believe I trusted you!"
"Why would you do this!"
"STOP! JUST STOP! SHUT UP!" Misty yelled as she heaved, her heart broke out in rapid fire. Her eyes sparked in powerful magic. It ended up toppling everyone in the room onto their knees as it shot through the room.
Her body was covered in a dark red aura, she dripped in magic. Misty could barely tell where she began and the magic ended. Her senses burned in utmost limitation. They all gasped in fear, they wondered how one unicorn could carry so much power in her body.
Misty disappeared in a giant flash along with the tiny Sparky. It almost seemed as though a glitching effect was imposed on her body as she phased out of existence.
She couldn't think, her mind existed, yet it also didn't exist at all. She dove into the fabric of reality.
Soon enough, she collapsed onto cold floor tiles. It seemed familiar, yes, through her muddied and cloudy mind she recognized this place. She sobbed into Sparky, continually mouthing, "I'm sorry."
She was so tired, her bag hung around her neck and held her down like a bag of rocks. Over her head a dark shadow loomed above. The shadow saw the sparkling magic particles loom around Misty like a charm.
The shadow smiled, "Ah, so your back already. Such a strong teleportation spell." She chuckled, and finally noticed something in Misty's clutches. "What's this?"
Misty's face came snout to snout with Opaline.
"Y-you've done it!" Opaline excitedly stammered as she stared at Sparky. "I-i can finally leave this place!"
Misty tried to croak out a sentence, but nothing came out. She couldn't talk, she couldn't move. She had teleported back to Opaline's castle in her haste to escape from her friends. Now she had played right into Opaline's hooves.
This castle was her place of hiding, her haven of escape no matter how vile. Opaline told her she'd be back, and here she was, of her own volition, albeit unconscious.
Well played Opaline, well played.
Misty struggled as her consciousness left her brain and everything turned black.
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Born in Grief
Raised in Hate
Helpless to Defy her Fate
11584009
That's true. Very good summary.
Aside from some minor typos, this is easily the best written chapter yet. I was on the edge of my seat when Pipp came back. And the fact that Misty's reaction to her friends turning on her is to run straight back to Opaline?. That's wrong on so many levels, yet I could totally see it happening.
11584437
Thank you, yes I will try and find typos.
11584437
I appreciate you noticing how I thought through Misty and Opaline's relationship. Misty has been alone with only Opaline for so long, it is the only "safe place" She could turn to when faced wth the "death" of her friendships and the ultimate conclusion of her actions, even though they were not completely her fault.
11584461
Sadly, that line of thinking's common with a lot of real-life abusive relationships.
!!!!!!!!! YIKES!!!
11584446
Run to Opaline??? After she just ratted her out and Opaline could hear her through the necklace?
11590355
After she was faced with the consequences of what she did, the only place she could go was Opaline. She had been manipulated by her for a long time. Even if there were bad times, Misty still holds memories that are good as well.
Also I don't know what necklace you are speaking of. It's not Canon in my story.