Redeemed

by Admiral Producer

Through The Fog And The Misty Part 1

It was cold.

Dark.

Freezing.

That was all she remembered about that stormy night. She didn’t have many memories of her childhood, yet that was always be something that she vividly remembered no matter how many years passed. No matter how many times she tried to forget, that memory would always come back to her. Sometimes she would dream about it, sometimes she would hallucinate about being hopelessly lost to the point of death.

No matter how many times she tried to prove that she was no longer that same scared little pony anymore, that night would always come flooding back and remind her about how she would not even be standing today if she wasn’t rescued and taken in. She knew that to be the undeniable truth, one that she would never be able to shake until her very last breath. The howling, the crying, the screaming, the constant crashing cacophony of lightning from the clouds above.

She remembered it all too well.

The rain poured down on the newborn foal as she lay on the ground in the midst of a freezing storm. The rain battened against her body over and over and she huddled up to keep herself warm. She didn’t know where she was, nor where her parents were. She just wanted to go home. She was tired of being alone. She wanted nothing more than to be back in her loving mother’s embrace. She was too young to be left abandoned like this. If only the torture would just end…

The wind howled in her face and thunder boomed across the sky as lightning crashed onto the ground below. The small foal squeezed her eyes shut to try and avoid the battering of the rain. She sobbed quietly to herself. It wouldn’t be long before she froze to death out there. She was in the place where nopony dared to ever go and she had been laying in the same spot for hours on end.

Her hooves were shaking from the chilly air and her teeth were chattering. She could not sleep as the constant rumbling of her stomach would not give her a piece of mind. Her tears froze up as soon as they came out of her, becoming nothing more than ice that she ate to keep herself alive. The only things that she could muster out were quiet whimpering.

She silently begged for anypony to hear her. A part of her held out hope that someone was out there searching for her. Surely that tall grey stallion Alphabittle had sent out squads of unicorns to search for her, right? There was no way that her parents weren’t at least coming back for her, right? They were desperately looking for her…
Right?

As the minutes piled on, reality began to set in for the poor filly that no one was coming. She was going to die alone without anyone even knowing that she was gone. She was going to freeze out in the cold with no food, no nothing. She curled up into a ball as she felt her breathing slow down with each passing moment. Her suffering was going to end soon. The sweet release of death was coming for her at any moment. But it was okay. She had enjoyed her life while it lasted. She was loved and cared for. That was all that mattered.

As she prepared to accept the inevitability of her incoming demise, the sound of doors opening made her ears twitch. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a strange-looking winged unicorn step a hoof out of the castle to look at her. The pony was a tall, pinkish purple figure with a white and blue mane and tail. She sported a curved horn and teal bands on her hooves. She stared at the little filly with a look of surprise, making it clear that it was not common to see a lost filly out in these treacherous parts.

“Who are you?” asked the tall pony.

The foal didn’t move. How could she? She didn’t even possess the ability to walk yet, let alone talk. She couldn’t speak and all she had were her thoughts that kept her company. She stared at the winged unicorn with innocent eyes.
“You know it’s rude to not respond, little pony. Answer your Queen!!!!”

She whimpered again, her whole body trembling all over from fear. Why was this stranger mad at her? What had she done? Suddenly, she felt herself picked up by an aura of light pink magic and carried over to where the pony was standing. She could barely move, so she couldn’t fight back. She just let herself be dragged and dropped right in front of her.

The strange unicorn got down to her level and began studying her intensely. She hid her face in her mane so as to not be seen, but the older pony clearly saw through it as she brushed aside her mane and forced the poor little filly to look at her in the eyes.

“What are you doing out here in the cold at my castle no less?! Don’t you know who I am?!”

No response.

The other pony began to grow frustrated at each passing moment. “Well…DON’T YOU?!!”

Still no answer.

She then sighed in exasperation, knowing full well that she wasn’t getting anywhere. “Fine. I’m Opaline. Opaline Arcana. And you are?”

The foal still couldn’t respond and she was growing more and more cold by the minute. She knew that if she didn’t talk, then she would be left out to die. She tried to form a response, but all that came out were gurgling noises and whimpers.

Opaline rolled her eyes and began carrying her in a magic bubble once again. Within moments, she was taken inside the large castle and into the dark and decrepit throne room. In an instant, she felt the sweet rush of warm air overwhelm her senses and begin feeding life into her being.

The conditions weren’t perfect, but it was certainly more preferable to the outside weather. She started to feel movement in her limbs again as she was dropped to the ground on her stomach. She sat up with great effort, shaking all over from fear as her rescuer stood over her with a stern expression on her face.

“I usually do not let babies into my castle, but you were definitely cold out there,” Opaline spoke. “I don’t know what possessed me to be nice to you, but consider yourself lucky.”

She nodded in response.

“Anyways…” continued Opaline, “Don’t get too used to this place. You leave by morning, do you understand me?!”

The foal whimpered at the thought of being left outside once more.

“Quit whimpering!!” She snapped. “You’re giving me a migraine!!!”

The foal began to loudly cry from being yelled at, screaming to a nauseating degree. Opaline covered her ears with her hooves, trying her best to block out the sound.

“And what makes you think that I’m going keep you?! I don’t need ponies like you constantly nagging at my hooves!” Opaline yelled. “Unless you can prove to me that you’re actually useful, you’re leaving!!”

Tears appeared at the corner of the young foal’s eyes again and she looked up at her pleadingly, silently sending the message that she wanted to know what she could do.

Opaline smirked. “Well since you seem like you can at least move on your own, why don’t you go ahead and clean the cobwebs beside my throne? I’ve been meaning to take care of those for a while.”

The little pony was instantly galvanized into action and she wasted no time in crawling to the nearest cobweb, gumming it with her mouth and ripping it off of the throne. She did this for about 10 minutes and once she was finished, she looked at the older pony for approval.

“I must say, I am impressed by your work,” Opaline acknowledged her. “Truly you have a knack for getting into the small spaces of things. I could actually use that.”

The small foal gurgled with happiness upon finally getting praise. She cooed and her eyes shine with pride for what she had done.

It was at that exact moment that Opaline got an idea. An awful idea. Opaline Arcana got a wonderful, awful idea. She would use the foal to her advantage. After all, she was willing to do anything for her, so why let the opportunity go to waste?

“It appears you have proven yourself to me at last. So would you like to stay with me, little Misty?” she asked, getting the foal’s name from a small collar she wore around her neck. Her mother had bestowed this upon her before she had abandoned her, so that anyone that found her would instantly know her name.

The little foal clapped her hooves with excitement, giggling and gurgling with joy at the thought of gaining a symbol on her flank like her mother. She didn’t know what it was, but she wanted one of her own badly.

“Then how about this?” Opaline smiled widely. “You promise to serve me only and do my bidding, and I’ll let you stay for at least a little while longer. Sound like a deal?’

The foal was instantly happy again, jumping into her embrace. Opaline was caught off guard, but humored the innocent gesture from the child, holding her close and chuckling.

”Come, my adorable little minion. We have work to do.”

---

WHOOSH!!!

The Marestream flew as fast as it could through the overcast skies, leaving a rainbow contrail in its wake. Flashes of lightning threatened to strike it at every turn as the ship swerved and ducked to avoid impact. The wind howled and thunder boomed across the skies. It was a turbulent ride, but its occupants could not lose faith. They had to make it in time. They had to save the unicorns.

Inside the cockpit was none other than Misty Brightdawn and her friends, struggling to hold on for dear life as the area around them rocked back and forth violently. Zipp was piloting the airship with her hooves gripped tightly on the wheels. Her teeth were clenched and she was doing her best to keep standing as the constant motion was beginning to make her sick.

The five of them were traveling to Bridlewood in an attempt to warn Alphabittle and the other unicorns about Opaline and Sunny’s attack on them. They had been traveling for days since leaving Maretime Bay, but they had not seen any signs of either alicorn until about a couple hours ago, where a magical surge was reported near the Bridlewood Forest. Since nopony else but the two alicorns had magic, they knew it could only mean one thing, and they had to move in fast.

The cabin rocked violently again, sending Pipp crashing into Izzy. The two fell on top of one another in a heap as Hitch ran over to help them up. As he did so, a bolt of lightning struck the top of the cockpit ceiling, blasting a massive hole that began to let the air out.

Hitch cursed. “I knew flying through this stormy weather was a bad idea!” He turned towards Zipp. “How much farther are we?!”

Zipp opened her eyes, staring at the map on her phone. “We’re right above the forest! Hang on, everypony, we’re going in!”

“BRACE YOURSELVES!!!” Izzy shrieked as the cockpit lurched again. Everypony held on to each other tight as the ship began a rapid descent into the trees below.

The Marestream flew downwards quickly, very narrowly missing another lightning strike that was headed right for it. The wheels began to come out from the inside, slowing its descent and allowing for a relatively graceful landing onto the scorched terrain below. Misty and her friends got out, closing the door behind them.

The forest was on fire. Many trees had been scorched during the invasion and now lay on the ground in a flaming mess, which blocked their path for the briefest of moments. Smoke rose from the severed branches, obscuring their vision. The ponies coughed and hacked until it cleared. It was then that Misty took a step forward to try and locate the magical surge.

She looked around for any sign of the pony she once called her mother, scouring each area from left to right with her eyes. Fortunately for her, the flash of purple magic that had alerted them came once again, this time in the direction of Bridlewood itself.

“This way!” Misty exclaimed, pointing in the direction of the spark with her hoof. They took off on their hooves, jumping and hopping over the fallen trees as they did so.

They ran and ran, sweat heading down their faces and their expressions filled with great alarm. Up above, the skies were a crimson orange and the clouds changed from grey to black. Lightning struck a tree right next to them, sending it falling right in the direction of Pipp. As the pink pegasus screamed, Zipp pulled her right out of the way just in time and they continued on. They ran faster than the wind, stampeding through the collapsing foliage like it was no tomorrow. The more time they wasted, the more lives were being lost. And none of them were going to face the possibility of failure.

As they hurried in the direction of the town, the forest was falling apart all around and behind them. Trees fell on top of one another and were ablaze in a matter of seconds, while flowers and plants were burned to ash in the destruction. The fire increased in size and Misty struggled with keeping her friends from falling behind and being burned to a crisp in the process. There was no time to dawdle. She had to get to Bridlewood in time. She hadn’t ever been there before, but she knew deep in her heart that she could not let her fellow unicorns die. She would save them. She had to. She didn’t care what the cost was. All her mind could focus on was getting there on time.

She could hear her own heartbeat pounding harder and harder in her chest as the stress increased. Her hooves were starting to tire after a while of running, but she ignored the urge to rest and continued on. She couldn’t fail. She had to stop Opaline from destroying the place she would’ve called home. Failure was not an option. The sound of screams filled her mind and that made her quicken the pace. She had no clue as to whether or not she was imagining any of it, but she couldn’t take that chance. She was going to save them, even if it meant sacrificing herself in the process.

Eventually, she and her friends reached the entrance to Bridlewood and found the village completely and utterly unrecognizable. Houses had been burned down and now only existed as ruins. Bodies of dead unicorns lay on the floor. The area was scorched and no signs of life were present. Discarded swords, pitchforks, and knives lay all around, some still being held by their deceased occupants.

Misty could feel her heart sink to the bottom of the ocean and she felt like crying. They were too late. Opaline and Sunny had already departed, a senseless genocide left in their wake. She carefully stepped over the bodies as she surveyed the damage done. She could not believe what the two alicorns had done to such a peaceful village. What had the unicorns ever done to deserve this?

Her friends were silent, only staring at the leftover carnage in deep sorrow. Izzy knelt down and lifted up the body of a fallen unicorn mare, weeping softly into its bloodied hide. Misty walked over to her and put a hoof around her sister’s shoulder.

There was a slight noise and her ears perked up upon hearing this and ran to the source. A violet mare was crawling out from underneath the rubble of her house, coughing and weeping. Misty helped the mare to her hooves.

“Are you okay, ma’am?” she asked politely. “What happened here?”

The mare coughed out blood. “My baby…where’s my…”

“I don’t know,” Misty replied, shaking her head. “And I wish I can help. But I need to get to the Crystal Tea Room right now. Where is it?”

The mare pointed to the left with a trembling hoof before continuing to whisper over and over. “My baby…my baby…my baby…my baby…”

Misty felt awful for not helping the mare, but she knew in her heart that there wasn’t time. She went over to her friends and she and Izzy ran as fast as they could possibly run to the Tea Room, where she could only hope that there were some other survivors.

By the time they got there and slammed the doors open, however, it was too late. The place was completely empty and a huge mess had been left behind. Tables and stools had been haphazardly thrown around all over the place and equipment for the slam poetry performances lay scattered around in a broken heap.

The decor was also nowhere to be found and the walls had been scorched with fire, which now left smoldering craters in the center. Misty ran to the fallen ordering counter, expecting to find somepony hiding. Instead, she found a pair of blue hooves sticking out from underneath.

Curious, she lifted the table with all her strength and there was the decapitated corpse of Onyx. Her head was right by her side, frozen in a perpetual state of fear. Cuts and scratches were all over her body and a bloody knife had been violently implanted in her chest.

Misty was sick to her stomach upon seeing this and her eyes filled with tears. She didn’t know this unicorn, but nopony deserved to have their life ended like this. It was unfair. Why couldn’t they have gotten there sooner? That was a question that she wished she could answer.

Izzy walked up to her. “Did you find anything or-“ She gasped upon seeing Onyx’s body. “Onyx!! No…no no no no no…”

Misty turned towards her. “Did you know her…?”

Izzy nodded slowly. “She was my only friend…” Her hooves buckled and she fell to her knees before sobbing uncontrollably over the body, her tears mixing with the dried blood and staining the fallen unicorn’s coat. She mourned for her, the only mare who understood her growing up.

Misty took a couple steps back in horror. They had failed. She had failed. She had to stop Opaline in time, and it resulted in the deaths of possibly hundreds. She was not a leader. She was a failure. She let Izzy cry into Onyx’s body and stumbled towards the exit of the Tea Room, feeling worse than she had ever felt in her whole life.

As the sky slowly began to get dark with nighttime, Misty walked out into the desolated wasteland that was once her hometown, letting the massive cloud of ash and dust consume her completely.

---

6 Months Later….

Misty shot up in bed with a loud scream, sweat on every inch of her face. She could feel herself hyperventilating and her heart palpitating with each beat as the memory she had been trying to forget continued to play out in her mind, despite the fact that she had just woken up. She wanted to forget that night, but she never could.

The night that Opaline found her as a filly still haunted her every being. That had been the moment her life changed forever and not in a good way. She had been forced to be a slave for years, and she could never leave as she had been indebted to the alicorn over a promise that was never meant to be. The only reason she stayed in the first place was so she could earn the one thing that she thought would make her feel better about herself.

A cutie mark. The very symbol that determined a pony’s special talent had been something she had sought after for years without end, and she had done countless missions and laborious tasks in an attempt to earn it. She had always gone above and beyond the call of duty and she never gave up on her one true dream no matter how hard life got for her. No matter what Opaline had entrusted her to do, she always did as she was told in spite of the numerous conflicts she had. No matter how nice her friends treated her, she always strived to get the job done.

Alas, it had been all for nought. She had been lied to for her entire life by the pony she trusted and she would never be the same as a result. She still blamed herself for being fooled the way she was. It didn’t matter that she had been far too young to understand the concepts of manipulation, perpetual servitude, or anything of the sort. She believed that she should’ve known better than to commit all these crimes for something that she wasn’t even guaranteed to get. After all, it was because of her that Maretime Bay was now doomed beyond repair, destined to become nothing more than another tiny town under the rulership of the Fire Alicorn she once served. It was because of her that the magic was gone and the ponies hated each other once more. She had turned a blind eye when the pony suffering the most needed her.

What kind of pony was she?

As these negative thoughts overflowed like a massive tsunami through her mind, she stared at her flank and sighed deeply. By now, she knew that she was never going to get a cutie mark. And truth be told, she didn’t want one anymore. She didn’t feel like she deserved anything in life after what she had done. She felt like a terrible friend. She felt like she didn’t deserve to be happy after all the trouble she caused. Because of her, Sparky was with Opaline and he was most likely far beyond help at this point. Either he was already dead, or he was going to be soon. She knew that the alicorn would not spare him nor show him any mercy. He had what she wanted, and he was too helpless to defend himself with him being a baby dragon.

Of course, she knew deep down that it wasn’t her fault that all of this happened. It was all because of Opaline and her evil schemes that Equestria was now even more divided than it had ever been, not her. Yet…why did it feel like it was her fault? Beyond the fact that she was used to blaming and putting herself down due to experience and low self-esteem, whenever she reflected on that moment, she felt like she was to blame. She couldn’t put the Crystals back together when they shattered. She couldn’t save two of her friends from that mob attack. She couldn’t do anything right and she didn’t get it in the slightest. But one thing was undeniably clear to her and it was something that she would never shake no matter how many times she thought about it.

She had failed her friends.

You will never be forgiven. Your disgrace is worse than death. You deserve to suffer a horrible fate for what you’ve done. She sniffled and she felt the sudden rush of tears come to her eyes. With not a second to waste, she wiped them away with her hooves as fast as she could. It didn’t matter that she was alone. Crying was for cowards. She couldn’t be vulnerable. The voice in her head was certainly harsh, but it was right. She didn’t deserve to live.

After a deep and shaky breath, she slowly got down from the bed and began walking out of the bedroom. She didn’t know where she was going and a part of her told her that simply running away would be the best option for her. Nonetheless, she continued on. The others seemed to be fast asleep in their beds and none of them woke up at the sound of her hoofsteps.

She couldn’t bare to look at them. It was too painful. Despite the fact that she knew they weren’t even looking at her and were most likely lost in their own worlds, she still felt the weight of their hypothetical scorn and judgement bearing down on her. Each step she took out of the room was like balancing on knives and needles, each stab more painful than the last. She kept her head forward and headed outside and down the ramp.

Once she was downstairs, she breathed a sigh of relief. Now was her chance to leave. She would go back to Opaline and slaughter her in cold blood. She would end the nightmare herself, and rid the world of the alicorn’s dark presence once and for all. She had failed last time when she had gotten her friends involved, but she had faith that she would succeed on her own this time. She couldn’t live with the guilt on her consciousness, and she was finally going to do something about it once and for all. After that, she figured that she would strike out on her own and attempt to live the rest of her life as a lone traveler in the wilderness. She knew that wasn’t a sustainable life, but she didn’t know where else to go.

As she put on her purple cloak and prepared to walk out the doors of the Crystal Brighthouse, Misty heard a rumbling sound come from below and she froze in place, thinking that one of her friends had woken up and spotted her. When she looked down, however, she noticed that it was instead the rumbling of her own stomach.

She groaned, cursing her own hunger. She silently prayed that nopony would see her as she grabbed some food from the refrigerator. Walking over to the kitchen, she opened up the main door to the refrigerator and felt the frigid air blast her face in an instant. She squeezed her eyes shut as it came at her with full force, only opening them again once the sensation had gone away. She didn’t like the feeling of cold air as it took her back to that unwanted memory.

She reached around the shelves, trying to find the pepperoni pizza that she always loved to eat. Alas, it was not there. Only Sunny knew how to make the best kind in the town, and she was gone. Nopony else knew how to make it and she certainly didn’t know how either.

Finally, she settled on a plastic bag containing five cookies and took them in her hoof, placing them in one of her cloak’s pockets. She then closed the fridge and started to walk away from the kitchen and towards the doors when she heard a sound behind her. She whirled around, startled, only to see a white pegasus mare with a red and blue mane and tail in the kitchen to her left.

It was Zipp Storm, the last pony she expected or wanted to see. She had flown down a couple of minutes back and was leisurely grabbing a plastic bottle of water out of the refrigerator to take back to bed.

That was when she spotted her and the two locked eyes with one another.

Misty squeaked in fear and hid her face underneath the hood of her cloak. She didn’t want to be confronted again. Not now. Not when she was trying to run away and never come back.

“Misty?” Zipp realized, laughing at her own foolishness. “Oh thank hoofness it’s just you. Don’t scare me like that, silly. Why are you wearing a cloak when the air conditioning is so warm? Aren’t you sweaty in that thing?”

Misty trembled all over from fear as she attempted to speak. “I-I-I-I’m leaving!! I’m going back to Opaline! I’ve caused enough trouble for you ponies already!”

“Back to Opaline?” repeated Zipp. Her puzzled expression was now replaced by one of deep concern for the unicorn she used to despise. “Why would you want to do that?”

Misty hid her face underneath the cloak, trying desperately to think of a good excuse for leaving. “B-because s-she offered me free ice cream in exchange for my renewed loyalty and you know h-how much I love the vanilla types!! Can’t refuse!! Haha, yeah…”

“You’re still trying to pull that baloney with me? I thought we were past that stage.”

It was at that moment that Misty knew there was no escape. She removed the hood off her head and she faced the young detective that she had such a complicated relationship with for such a long time. Tears rushed to her eyes again and this time, she let them spill out.

“You don’t want to know…”

“Why not?” Zipp inquired. “Seriously, Misty. You promised to not be so secretive with us anymore, at least with me. What’s wrong? You know you can tell me.”

Misty shook her head. “I can’t. Just…let me leave, please…”

“Does it have to do with what happened?”

Whimpering, Misty nodded slowly. She didn’t know what she could say. She blamed herself for all of it and she was scared. She couldn’t explain to the pegasus the full reason as to why she was leaving. She would surely judge her and yell at her again. Nothing she did made any difference.

“I was going to go back to Opaline so that I could kill her myself,” she revealed. The pegasus gasped at this, but she ignored her and continued. “I want her dead. She ruined everything. I know we failed in the past together, but I can succeed on my own. I can get her to trust me again. I’ll stab her in her sleep and end this once and for all.”

Zipp shook her head vigorously. “Misty, you can’t do that. She’ll kill you. I know you’ve become obsessed with our failure in recent months, but I can’t let you risk your life like that. I refuse to let one of my own friends die. You’re not going, or if you are going, you’re not going alone.”

“I don’t want you all to be dragged into this again,” Misty countered. “I made a mistake forcing you all into this. This is my war to fight, not yours. I’m the reason that all of these terrible things that happened, and I know it. I’m going to make up for failing you, Zipp. I’m going to be somepony you can be proud of for once.”

“Misty,” Zipp stated gently. “It’s not your fault we failed last time-“

“Yes it is!!!” Misty yelled angrily, letting all of her grief spill out. “We could’ve saved those ponies! We could’ve stopped Opaline right then and there if we just arrived sooner, but we didn’t! I didn’t! Since the moment I first arrived here, I’ve done nothing but make things worse for you and the others!! I couldn’t save Sparky and I couldn’t save Sunny either!! I watched her shatter the Crystals and disappear, all while doing nothing!! I could’ve done something to save her and avoid this whole mess!!“

“Misty-“

“I could’ve saved you and Pipp from that crowd fight too!!” continued Misty, “I watched as you and Pipp were beaten by those other ponies for absolutely no reason at all and I didn’t help!!”

“Misty…”

“And to top that off, our last mission resulted in the destruction of the entirety of Bridlewood! I had the chance to fix things, but I was too late to do anything!! I’ve done nothing to earn your trust in any way!!! You and the others gave me a second chance and this is how I repay you!! I let Oxyx die and she was Izzy’s only friend back home! I don’t deserve any forgiveness!! Just let me go out there and die already, please-“

“MISTY!!!”

Misty was stunned into silence for a moment. Her instincts immediately stopped talking the moment Zipp raised her voice at her. She was used to being yelled at, that was nothing new to her. But she didn’t understand why the pegasus wasn’t letting her go. Didn’t she hate her after everything that she put them through? The amount of trauma that everyone had endured was solely due to her own actions. She couldn’t understand for a minute why she wasn’t being ripped to shreds.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“Listen to me for one second!!” Zipp shouted back. “This isn’t your fault!! You need to stop blaming yourself for every single insignificant little thing! You couldn’t control what happened back there! The fact that Sunny’s gone evil isn’t your fault!! The fact that as were too late to save Bridlewood isn’t your fault!! Neither is the fact that magic is dead!! You did all that you could to be there for Sunny and she chose this for herself, not you!!”

“But you can’t fly-“

“So what?” Zipp asked her, unfolding her wings for a brief moment. “I don’t blame you for that either! So why do you?! Tell me, Misty. You know you can be open with me.”

“No I can’t!!” Misty sobbed. “You'll just judge me like you always do! No matter what I say or do, it's never enough for you!"

"Misty, please-"

"You always acted so hostile towards me in the past and you’ve never taken my feelings seriously, that’s why…that’s why I don’t open up about anything to you. It was...always a detective game between you and me. You only showed me genuine kindness once in the entire time I've been here..."

Zipp nodded solemnly. “You have no idea how much I’ve needed to hear that. Really.”

Misty wiped her tears, sniffling. “What…?”

“You’re right,” Zipp said in a shaky voice. “I…I wasn’t really the best to you, was I? I let my love for mysteries turn me into a narcissist.”

“No! Zipp, you’re not a narr…nar…”

“Narcissist,” corrected Zipp a matter-of-factly, “It basically means somepony that’s obsessed with themself to the point of outright egotism. And yes, I am. I was always hard on you, suspicious of you. And yeah, I was right all along, but that shouldn’t matter. None of this was my business to get involved in. Sometimes, I let the thrill of an investigation take over me and I became numb to other ponies’ feelings…”

“What inspired you to be a detective?”

“Well, I…” Zipp smiled sheepishly. “It kind of came with age. I was always the curious one growing up, never really conforming to the world around me. While Pipp enjoyed the Princess life to the extreme, I wanted to get out there and explore the world. One day, Mom lost Cloudpuff and I was the first to spring into action. After we found him under the bed an hour later, that’s kinda what woke me up and made me realize that I could be more than what fate had planned for me. I could solve cases, uncover clues, ask questions. It wasn’t long before I found out we royals couldn’t actually fly either after taking a peek backstage during one of Pipp’s concerts.”

“I see.”

“But really, that doesn’t matter. There’s a time and place for investigations. I never should’ve made you feel like you didn’t belong. In contrast, I think I might’ve only solidified your loyalty to Opaline over us with my constant questioning. It’s more my fault that Sparky was taken than yours.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes, it is. Serving that mule was the only life you ever knew. If given the choice, of course you’d choose your family. I know I would.”

“You had every right to be on my flank about this though. Because of me, Sparky is gone and so is Sunny. I don’t deserve this chance you and the others gave me. I’m a walking time bomb.”

“No you aren’t. You’ve done a lot of great things for us while you’re here, especially for Izzy. You can’t leave now. Not when she needs you the most. She’s your sister after all.”

“But I already failed to save Sunny.”

“No, you didn’t,” Zipp insisted. “You didn’t fail to save her. I already told you, she’s the one that chose to join Opaline, not you. Honestly, I just can’t stand to see you blaming yourself for this.”

Misty looked back at her, sitting on the floor. “Why are you being so nice to me now? That’s what I want to know. Even if it wasn’t my fault, Sunny was your friend. Don’t you want somepony to blame for her turn? Who else than the pony who started all this to begin with?”

Zipp’s expression was one of immense guilt and sadness. She sat down besides Misty and put her hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder. “I wish I could find somepony to blame. But that isn’t healthy, I see that now. Whenever something went wrong in this town, I always found it comforting to pick the first suspect that came to mind. No thought to the content of their character, nothing. If they left a bad first impression on me, they’d be the first pony I’d suspect, and you fell victim to that fallacy of mine. No matter how many times I tried telling myself the opposite, the truth is that I’m…not really that good of a detective. If I was working for a real agency, I’d get fired real quick.”

“I’m…surprised to hear this coming from you.” Misty remarked gently.

“So am I. I guess ever since the Crystals were destroyed, I’ve honestly felt…relieved.”

“Why?”

“I’ve been obsessing over that stupid Twilight Sparkle hologram for what seems like forever. Now that I know that I’ll never get an answer to it, I feel like a part of myself has been set free. The rational side of me, if there ever was one. I’ve let that mystery consume me and drive me insane. At least I know that it won’t bother me anymore.”

Misty nodded. “I just wish that…I don’t know, we met under better circumstances. Like, instead of me being sent by Opaline, we actually met naturally or something. I always think about what could’ve been and it makes me sad.”

“Then stop.”

“What…?”

“Stop thinking about what could’ve been and focus on the now,” Zipp advised her. “There’s a whole multiverse of possibilities on what you might’ve done differently. But that’s not the reality we live in. This is our reality, Misty. And you have an opportunity to move forward with your life. You’re free now.”

“No I’m not…” Misty countered, sniffling. “This isn’t over. I won’t be satisfied until I defeat Opaline and get Sunny back…the nightmares won’t leave me until we do.”

“Misty, you’re not leaving."

“Yes, I am! You can't stop me from going!”

“Why?!“

“I know we failed before, but I wanna try again…if that’s even possible. I just feel like…we could’ve done more for her. And I want to apologize for inadvertently ruining her life. I just…can’t stop thinking about what we could’ve done differently. Please tell me it’s possible, Zipp.”

Zipp sighed deeply. “I don’t know if it is. I want nothing more than to apologize to Sunny for everything, but…I don’t know, it feels like this is a lost cause. I’m not letting you go alone, that much is final. But even if we all wanted to try again, we don’t even know how to get there. It’s why we spent weeks drifting aimlessly in the Marestream.”

“Well we have to try,” suggested Misty. “I can take us to where Opaline is. We just need to wake up the others.”

Zipp seemed a bit hesitant. “Misty, I…” She was fumbling for the right words to say. “I’m not sure if…you’re in the best state of mind to lead a rescue mission like this right now. Especially how our failure last time broke you. I-I mean, I’m no expert, but…I’d rather you take the time to get over your trauma first. Please?”

Misty shook her head once more, standing up on her hooves. She looked down at the ground, and then back at the pegasus with fresh tears at the corners of her eyes. “I’ve had all the time in the world to get over my past already…and it resulted in us losing Sunny. The longer we wait, the closer she is…”

“You need to stop thinking about Opaline and start thinking about yourself!” Zipp tried to tell her worriedly. “You’re never going to be at peace with what happened if you keep beating yourself up over it!”

“I DON’T HAVE ANY MORE TIME!!!” Misty snapped. The pegasus was taken aback by her friend’s outburst, stunned into silence. “No matter how you try and spin it, Zipp, Sunny betrayed us because of me! She felt left out because of me!! I’ve done nothing but cause you all pain, suffering, and heartache since the moment I got here!! I’ve done nothing but hurt your friendship and betray your trust!! Now I finally have the opportunity to make up for all that! You want me to be at peace?! At least let me do something useful for once!!”

After a brief moment of saying nothing, Zipp relented. Her eyes indicated that she was not happy with her decision in the slightest, but that she valued the greater good more.

“Damn it, Misty…” she muttered, shaking her head with a mix of both exasperation and resignation. Finally, she looked up. “Fine. But you better have a great plan in mind, I swear.”

“I do,” Misty confirmed. “I’ve been thinking it over for a while now, but I believe that we might have a fair shot. But we have to get the others on board first.”

Zipp and Misty headed back up the ramp together towards the bedroom where they found the lights on and their friends searching all over the place. While Misty was talking with Zipp, Hitch had vanished into the night and was now nowhere to be seen.

Pipp was checking under the beds while Izzy was checking the windowsills. No matter where they looked, there was no sign of Hitch anywhere. Upon seeing her sister, Pipp leapt into her hooves and hugged her tight.

“Hey sis,” Zipp greeted her, gently prying the pink pegasus off of her chest. “What’s going on? I just went down to grab a glass of water.”

“Hitch is gone!!” Pipp exclaimed. “We thought you had vanished too and I was freaking out big time!! Thank goodness you’re okay!”

“Don’t worry, I’m okay.” Zipp assured. “I just had a little conversation with Misty. She still hasn’t fully forgiven herself for what’s happened. Come out, Misty.”

Misty walked out from behind Zipp and faced her other friends. She had a feeling as to where Hitch might’ve gone as this wasn’t the first time she had woken up in the middle of the night. She had done this many times over and she always remembered hearing screaming coming from the streets below. Normally, she assumed that it was because the other ponies were still on edge from losing their magic again, but now she realized that it may have been for a different reason. But she had something else she had to get off of her mind first.

“Guys…” Misty said, taking a deep breath. “Do you remember our last mission where we tried to stop Opaline from destroying Bridlewood?”

Pipp nodded solemnly. “Yeah, I remember that well. What about it?”

“I want to try again,” answered Misty. She took a step forward towards them and looked at them all in the eyes. “Look, I know we all failed before last time, but even though we did…it made me realize that I actually had the courage to stand up against her. It felt exhilarating…taking the initiative and leading a mission. And I was going to do all of this myself and leave you guys out of it this time, but…Zipp stopped me from leaving.”

“And for good reason,” Zipp stated firmly. “If you’re going to do something dangerous like this, you have to include us. We care about you way too much for you to do this alone.”

Izzy’s eyes reflected concern. “Misty…we can’t keep dragging ourselves out like this and repeatedly failing. I know you blame yourself a lot, but…I-I’ve already since let it go. I know Sunny is never coming back, and we’ve all accepted you as our new leader anyway. Not every problem has a solution.”

“But this one does,” Misty insisted, remaining firm. “I know we can save her, I just know it. One way or another, we can stop Opaline and end this madness. We can save Sunny, we can put all of it back. We just need to try. Please…will you guys trust me to do this one last time?”

Pipp sighed. “We’ll…talk about this later one on one. But first, we need to find Hitch. That’s what we have to worry ourselves with at the moment. He could be anywhere at this time of night.”

“I think I may know where he is,” Misty told them. “I’m not entirely sure and I may be wrong. But…we should probably check the streets.”

“The streets?!” Izzy asked in confusion. “Why would Hitch be patrolling the streets this late in the night other than to try and imitate-“ That was when her face lit up with realization. “Oooooh!! That makes sense.”

“What?” inquired Pipp nervously.

“You know that time Hitch activated Operation Glitterbomb?” Misty asked them. “Izzy, you told me about that.” The lavender unicorn nodded. “Well…every night, I hear the sound of ponies screaming out in the streets. And…there’s always a bright light coming from outside keeping me up.”

“And you never checked to see whether there was a fire because…” Zipp seemed confused by this revelation.

“I just assumed that the other ponies were still freaked out over magic disappearing…” answered Misty quietly.

“Hey,” Pipp noticed, looking around in confusion. “Is it just me, or are you guys hearing boss music outside?”

Suddenly, the ponies turned their heads to the window upon hearing the sounds of screams and crashes coming from outside. They ran to the windowsill, only to see the night sky light up with the symbol of Hitch’s cutie mark and a masked figure jump from the top of the Sheriff’s Department, landing on three unsuspecting ponies who were attempting to run away from him.

Zipp facehoofed. “That moment when you’re a better detective than me, Misty.” She faced the others. “Hurry! We have to stop him before he kills somepony!!”

---

There was no warning, nor any time for an explanation. The moment the beacon was activated, he was on them in an instant. To the ponies of Maretime Bay, that light was not a symbol. It was a warning. He wasn’t just hiding in the shadows.

He was the shadows.

Former sheriff Hitch Trailblazer leapt from the top of the Sheriff’s Department onto the Filly Four faster than a lion trying to catch its prey. They had hurt his closest friend and led her down a path to darkness. From now on, he was going to make sure that they never hurt anypony again.

He hated them for what they had done. It was because of them that this whole mess had happened. He wanted to see them suffer for what they had done to Sunny. It wasn’t enough that he had charged and sentenced them. No. That was too lenient. In order for those little brats to understand the full ramifications of the horror they had unleashed, they had to feel the same pain that Sunny felt when she was at their mercy. He knew that they would never learn unless they were given a taste of their own medicine.

Earlier that night, Sugar Moonlight and her friends had attempted an escape from their holding cells in his office at midnight while he was asleep. Despite resigning from office, he still lived in the building as he considered it his home. He had been alerted instantly to the escape attempt by his animal deputies swarming him and the alarm blaring at full volume in his ears. Within seconds, he was on the chase, decked out in full costume. Upon reaching the top of the roof, he turned on that dreaded beacon and leapt straight for them with no intent of mercy.

Sugar looked up and saw him heading right towards her. Her eyes filled with fear as she turned towards her friends. “Run!!”

The three mares took off as fast as they could running in an instant, with the former sheriff right on their tails. Hitch chased after them, an expression of rage on his face. He didn’t care how tired he was. He was going to get them no matter the cost. He had no other goals other than vengeance. He was a carnivorous predator in the wild, only knowing how to hunt and catch.

He pursued them down the streets, knocking over abandoned grocery carts and stop signs in the process. Sugar and Rosedust then separated in order to throw him off, running through one abandoned alleyway while Lily went down another. Unfortunately for Hitch, he was too late to stop them from doing this. He could only see where Lily was going, so he focused on her.

He ran after her and saw the terrified mare disappear into a hardware store that was closed for the night. With little effort, he burst through the automatic doors, shards of glass falling in every single direction. Seeing him right behind her, Lily shrieked and disappeared behind an aisle of smartphones and chargers. He followed her, picking up the pace so as to not lose her.

In his mad pursuit, he inadvertently bumped into the shelves to his left, sending it falling towards the ground. Boxes flew all over the place and some cords that had been opened fell out and landed on the floor. Fortunately for him, he ran out of the way just as it collapsed, narrowly avoiding it. Some of the chargers caught fire and began to smolder from the electricity.

Lily turned left and ran down another section. She slowed down a little bit, thinking that she had lost him. But right as she was about to stop and catch her breath, Hitch burst through the flaming isle, hooves outstretched in an attempt to catch her. She yelped and threw a discarded box at him. He shook it off of him, growling in an animalistic manner. Her eyes went wide as she realized too late that this only served to make him angrier.

She headed down another aisle in an attempt to make a beeline for the exit. He was after her again in an instant, trailing close behind her as she burst out of the exit. He broke through the glass again just as the interior of the store exploded and lunged straight for her. She ducked and move off to the side, resulting in him in landing headfirst on the hard concrete. He groaned, wiping the fallen leaves and sticks out of his eyes. By the time he got up again, she was gone again.

He had to think on his hooves. He looked all around desperately for any signs of activity, finally getting his break when he saw a red and white tail disappear behind another alleyway. He smirked sadistically to himself. He finally had his true target in sight.

He took off after Sugar and Rosedust. As he pursued them, he reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a black bat-shaped boomerang. With the weapon in his hooves, he reached back and hurled it at the two mares.

The boomerang landed on Rosedust, knocking the mare off her hooves. She screamed as she fell to the ground. He was on her in an instant, knocking the wind out of her with one simple punch to the chest. It was then that he took off after Sugar. However, the lavender mare had a bit more of a brain than her friends as she kept zigzagging and accelerating at random intervals, sending him crashing into walls on either side.

He quickly recovered, only to see her disappear from sight as she exited the network of alleyways and returned to the streets. He snarled and for a moment, he thought he had lost them for good. However, his eyes suddenly noticed the top of Mane Melody, which was in his line of sight. He ran towards the salon and pulled out a grappling hook from his saddlebag. He swung it to the roof and then began to climb up the walls with his hooves.

After much effort, he reached the top and jumped, leaping onto the roofs of various buildings and using the hook to swing between others, all while keeping a close watch on the mare throughout. There was the sound of thunder and a bolt of lightning struck the side of a house that he had just swung from. He leapt down towards the ground again, dropping, tumbling, and rolling before standing up again. He caught onto her and swiped at Sugar from behind. The mare briefly stole a glance behind her and squeaked, not expecting to see him still chasing her.

He pounced on her, grabbing her by the neck in an attempt to strangle her. She squirmed and fought in his grasp before managing to break free by kicking him in the chest. Hitch was knocked back several feet and saw her take off again. He yelled with rage and sprinted after her as fast as possible.

He swiped at her tail again, managing to slice a small portion of it off in the process. Sugar yelped upon feeling that. He threw another boomerang at her, but she ducked, causing it to miss her mane by half an inch. She ran through the streets across multiple blocks, bumping into streetlights and throwing anything she could to knock him off her trail.

Meanwhile, about several ponies had overheard the destruction of the hardware store from their houses and they opened their windows to look outside, only to see their deranged former sheriff acting like Batman and chasing a seemingly innocent mare throughout the town square. Many of them just shrugged it off like just another normal Monday and closed the blinds right afterwards while others looked on in concern.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sugar seemed to spot a quick getaway to her right in the form of a grocery store. She burst the doors, shattering them into many shards of broken glass that temporarily blinded Hitch as he followed close behind her. He let out a guttural scream as they flew into his eyes, momentarily stopping to pull them out one by one. She used this time to disappear into an open storage closet in the back of the store.

Once he was recovered, he was after her once again. The two pursued one another throughout the closet, knocking down many items and shelves in the process before stampeding towards the exit and returning to the outside streets once more.

After a while of running, Hitch lost her once again. This time, however, he didn’t think to give up as he knew that she was around here somewhere. He slowed down once he began to hear commotion. He peeked behind a corner and saw that Sugar had regrouped with Lily near Canterlot Studios. The two were talking nervously and quietly, so as to not alert him.

“…we’ll have to move,” Sugar explained. “There’s no stopping him. Find Rosedust and let’s get back to my house. We’ll be safe there.”

“A-a-are you sure?” Lily asked in a trembling voice.

“How should I know?!” Sugar snapped in response. “We’re dealing with a genocidal maniac here. Let’s go before either of us get caught again! I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve nearly lost my whole freaking tail!”

Lily nodded meekly. “O-of course. A-any place but that blasted cell…”

“Funny you should say that…” came a familiar disembodied voice. “After all, that is where you should be.”

Sugar looked around frantically, clearly paranoid out of her mind. “Where are you?! Show yourself!!!!”

“Up here.”

She looked up to the top of the Canterlot Studios building, but it was too late to say anything as he leapt from the building and pounced on them both. As he landed on them, he heard them scream in terror, but he didn’t care one bit for them. He wanted them to pay. His heart filled with hatred and rage, he started beating them over and over with his hooves.

They struggled and fought against him as he did so, yet that only made him angrier. He increased the violence and smacked them across their faces multiple times as punishment.

The beatings continued, all while they shrieked and cried for mercy. Blood spilled across the pavement with every single punch he delivered. He smiled sadistically as he heard the sounds of bones and ribs cracking. Within minutes, Lily was rendered unconscious, leaving only a frightened Sugar Moonlight left alive.

“S-S-Sheriff H-H-Hitch, p-p-please…” Sugar choked out while coughing up blood.

“What do you have to say for yourself?!” Hitch demanded, his voice amplified beneath the voice modulator and the mask. “WHY SHOULD I SHOW ANY MERCY TO YOU AFTER WHAT YOU DID TO SUNNY?!!!”

“S-s-she d-d-deserved-“

“SHE DESERVED WHAT?!!!” screamed Hitch. “DESERVED TO BE SHAMED?!! IS THAT WHAT YOU’RE TRYING TO SAY?!!! IS IT??!!! IS IT?!!!!!!” He pressed a hoof against her neck. “LOOK AT WHAT YOU TURNED HER INTO!!!!!!!”

Sugar coughed and gagged, all while trying to get her words out. “I-I-I-I c-can’t b-breathe-“

The deranged former sheriff growled once more. “Sorry doesn’t cut it anymore, Sugar. You and your cult are the reason why Sunny is with that monster. You are the reason why magic is gone!! Tell me…” He pressed further down on Sugar’s neck, all while the poor mare continued to try and helplessly fight for her life. His sadistic smile grew wider and wider as he did so as he prepared to give Sunny’s tormentor what she deserved. “Do you bleed?!” She choked and gagged, coughing out pools of blood from her mouth as he violently strangled her. “You will.”

“S-S-Sunny w-w-w-wouldn’t w-want-“

“HOW DARE YOU SPEAK HER NAME?! DON’T YOU TELL ME WHAT SHE WOULD’VE WANTED!!!! YOU HARDLY KNEW HER AT ALL!!!!!”

“P-p-please-“

“SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!”

“I-I-I-c-c-can’t b-b-breathe-“

Right as he was about to completely lose his mind and choke Sugar Moonlight to death for what she did, however, he heard the sounds of running hoofsteps coming towards him out of the corners of his ears. Before he could blink, he was tackled to the ground by none other than Misty. Acting quickly, she was able to pin him down long enough for the tortured mare to scramble to her hooves and escape.

She disappeared into the dark shadows of the night, limping and dragging the unconscious body of her friend behind her.

Hitch got to his hooves and picked up his mask after realizing it had had fallen off. Before long, Zipp, Izzy, and Pipp arrived at the scene. They all wore concerned and worried expressions on their faces and it became clear that they were worried about him.

“Hitch!!” Zipp scolded. “What in Mom’s name were you doing?!! You could’ve killed Sugar Moonlight!!”

Hitch glared at her. “She would’ve deserved it for what she did. I hope you’re happy with yourself, Zipp. Now you’ll never see proper justice carried out.”

“Proper justice?!!” demanded Zipp. “You can’t be hurting ponies like this!!”

“Honestly, what’s gotten into you lately?! Misty says you leave the Brighthouse every night nowadays to do this!” Pipp added angrily.

“It’s true…” Misty replied. “I hear shouts and screams every night and it keeps me up. Now I know they come from the ponies you target.” She took a couple steps towards him. “I know you’re grieving over Sunny, but you can’t let her decision get to you.”

“Why not?!” Hitch shot back. He couldn’t even fathom the notion of not punishing the ponies of Maretime Bay for what they did to his best friend. “Those ponies hurt her!! They made her do this!! They deserve to die for what they did!! All of them!!” He could feel tears rush to his eyes and he sat down on the ground, putting his head in his hooves.

Misty put a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “Please, Hitch. Come back with us. I think we might have a plan to rescue Sunny. But we need your help.”

“Don’t do that…” Hitch told her, shaking his head vigorously. “Don’t give me hope…”

Misty’s eyes glistened with tears of her own. “We’re sorry that we couldn’t give it to you sooner. Please, Hitch. We need you…”

Finally, Hitch capitulated. He knew that he had nothing to lose at this point and that it was better to try than do nothing at all. “Fine. You win…what do you all have for me?”

---

Hitch emerged from the shower and dried himself off with the nearest towel hanging on the racks. He then emerged from the bathroom to find Misty patiently waiting for him outside. She had a concerned look on her face and he knew that she felt worried about him. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate her being there, he just still slightly resented her for everything that had gone wrong in his life, even though he knew it wasn’t entirely her fault.

She was just trying her best to make up for her past actions, and he understood that. However, that didn’t stop him from harboring animosity towards her due to the fact that it was because of her that Sparky and Sunny were both gone. And now she was proposing another rescue mission, even though the previous one had resulted in an innocent village being burned to ash.

He wanted nothing to do with her silly games, yet he also could not bring himself to refuse her offer either, almost as if there was a slight chance that one of them would work that he didn’t want to pass up.

“Are you okay?” Misty asked him softly, taking a cautious step forward towards him.

He regarded her coldly. “You should’ve let me kill them. Those mares were responsible for Sunny getting hurt. I already resigned as sheriff, so there’s no more moral code for me to uphold. They deserve it.”

“You don’t really believe that…do you?” Misty seemed disturbed by the mere fact that he even wanted to kill them in the first place, which just made him angrier at her. There was just so much that she didn’t understand, yet despite that, she was acting like that she knew everything about him and Sunny. She didn’t, and he wished that she would stop acting so pretentious about it.

“There’s nothing left for me to deliver except justice,” Hitch replied sternly. “I’ve wanted vengeance on those three for the longest time…but my duties as sheriff always stopped me from exacting it. Wouldn’t you want the same if Izzy got hurt?”

Reluctantly, Misty nodded. “I have to admit I’ve had my own thoughts about…going to Opaline’s castle and murdering her myself for everything she did to me, for how much she hurt us.”

“And what’s stopping you from doing just that? Sounds like attempting that would be very cathartic for you right about now.”

“Two things…” Misty admitted. “One is the fact that in spite of everything…she was the pony who took me in and raised me. And two…on the night that I finally committed to doing it, Zipp was there to stop me. I think she did more for me in that moment than anyone.”

Hitch scoffed. “That’s quite ironic.”

“Why?”

“Izzy and I tried doing everything for you to help you get over your depression, yet it was Zipp of all ponies who ended up doing the most for you. What kind of living paradox is your life, Misty?”

“I wish I knew…” Misty looked down at the ground in sadness.

Hitch sighed deeply, glaring at her. “You said you had a plan to rescue Sunny. This is your last chance. If we fail this one, I’m never trusting you again. I don’t care what pathetic sob story you have to excuse it.”

His words seemed to stab Misty right in the heart emotionally as she blinked tears back from her eyes at that. “I promise I won’t let you down this time…”

“You better not.” He said coldly in response, making it clear to her that this was the final time that he was going to put himself on the line for her wild ideas.

Misty stood in front of her friends with a drawing board containing battle plans behind her. The ponies had all gathered in the living room and were discussing a way to sneak into Opaline’s castle and get Sunny back, as well as Sparky.

None of them had any clue as to whether the baby dragon was still alive or not, but they knew that sooner or later, they were going to find out the truth. The worse case scenario was that either Opaline or Sunny had killed him, but none of them wanted to believe that their closest friend would ever do something like that.

Even Misty had to admit that she was still terrified about going back to Opaline, despite that being her intention earlier in the night. She knew that stealing both Sparky and Sunny back would be a herculean task to accomplish. It all depended on how far the orange earth pony had fallen, and whether not she was willing to come back with them at all. Her outburst had made it clear to them that she was angry at them and no amount of reasoning would make the stubborn mare flip sides that easily after everything that had happened to her.

It would take a lot to bring Sunny back, that was for sure.

Sparky was a different matter altogether. Not only did they not know whether he was still alive, but they also had no idea whether he would even survive the trip home if he had survived Opaline’s wrath. There was a very strong chance that if he was alive, Sparky was most likely drained of all his dragon fire, which was the very essence that made up who he was. He was most likely near death and that was a terrifying prospect.

Despite all of their doubts, however, they knew that it had to be done. Misty knew it deep in her heart that she would never be able to live with herself if they didn’t at least attempt a rescue mission. She knew the risks, but the thought of Opaline taking over and killing her friends was too much to bear. She had to be stopped no matter what.

“Okay,” Misty spoke. “So here’s what I’m thinking we do. We take the Marestream to Opaline’s castle and make it seem like I captured you all and brought you all here just for her. I know Opaline. She has such a high ego that she’ll actually fall for that. Common sense isn’t exactly her strong suit considering the amount of failed plans she has under her belt, most of which involved me.”

Zipp stifled laughter at that last sentence.

“Just one problem,” Hitch pointed out. “What do we do if she doesn’t fall for it? Remember, we’re trying to get both Sparky and Sunny. A couple of us have to fight Sunny and take her down while another one of us gets Sparky. And we have to do it all while Opaline is distracted with her new “prizes.” We can’t be sure that she’ll be distracted that long.”

“That’s where I come into play,” replied Misty, flipping towards a map of the castle. “The first thing I’m going to do is come in and play up the whole ‘I was wrong! Forgive me, Opaline!’ shtick that will cause her to let her guard down for but the briefest of moments. Then, while I go on a monologue on how oh so terribly wrong I was, one of us sneaks upstairs and snatches Sparky. And then…well, I’ll tackle Sunny and knock her out, providing she’s even there, and we’ll haul her back to the Marestream unconscious.”

“You’re gonna TACKLE Sunny?!” Izzy looked flabbergasted at the prospect. “You know, I don’t really see that part of the plan working out too well. After all, she’s an alicorn and we’re…well, you know.”

“Powerless mortals without a hint of combat training or skill,” Pipp finished for her. “Yeah, Misty. We might need to revise the way we take down Sunny. Simply trying to pounce on her punk style isn’t really the smartest move.”

Misty nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you may be right. Any other ideas?”

Izzy raised her hoof. “Ooh ooh!! I got it!!”

“What is it?” Misty asked.

Izzy smirked. “Here’s my plan! We infiltrate the castle, confront Sunny, and offer her a gift and say ‘Hey! Wanna help us defeat Opaline together? Because all it takes is coming back with us to Maretime Bay!’ And then she’ll say, ‘Yes! I’ve been waiting for somepony to ask me! Let’s go!’ Best friends forever!!”

The others looked completely dumbfounded at Izzy’s idea.

Misty shook her head. “No no no, absolutely not. We’re going with my plan then.”

“Yeah, that has gotta be the worst plan of attack I’ve ever heard,” Pipp agreed. “No offense, Iz.”

Izzy looked crestfallen at that. It was obvious that she expected her idea to go down much better with her friends than it ended up doing.

“So I guess we tackle Sunny then,” Zipp said. “This’ll surely be a sight to behold. Pipp, make sure to capture that on your phone.”

Pipp nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, I can already see the amount of impressions this baby’s gonna get. I’ll add a sunglasses filter for you, Misty.”

Misty couldn’t imagine what she would do without her friends by her side to support her. Well, they weren’t really her friends, more so Sunny’s. Even so, they were all ready to stand by her side in battle. They had forgiven her for everything she had done in the past, and for failing to save Sunny from Opaline’s clutches. The only question was whether she could forgive herself and allow herself to be redeemed in her own eyes.

That was something she still struggled with. She still didn’t think that she was ready for that. Perhaps once they had saved Sunny and turned her back to the light, she would finally be willing to let go of her past and move forward with her life the way Zipp wanted her to. Until then, however, she would still feel responsible for it all.

“Once we get Sparky and Sunny back,” Misty spoke to her friends, “We will research a way to make new Crystals. If this Twilight Sparkle pony was able to make them, so can we. We’ll get magic back in no time.”

Hitch sighed with relief. “Well, that’s a relief. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss magic already, despite how unpredictable it can be.”

“So do I, Hitch, so do I. But I can’t believe it, we actually have a plan!” Zipp exclaimed.

Misty nodded in confirmation. “We have a plan. It’s all up to us. The future of Equestria is in our hooves now.”

Later in the night, the ponies began preparing themselves for the inevitable final battle that was about to take place. There was an aura of nervousness and anticipation in the air at the same time as each pony was assigned their roles. Everypony knew that there was no guarantee whether the plan would succeed or not.

Yet Sunny meant too much to all of them. She had been the one to bring them together. She had given all of them a sense of purpose in their lives when they had none. She had given them hope that they could change the world. To them, demonstrating to Sunny how much she meant to them was more important than their own lives.

Misty assisted in the preparations and once everything was loaded onto the Marestream, she went back inside the Brighthouse to collect her thoughts. All of this was still nerve-wracking to her. She didn’t know if she was going to come out alive or even worse, get her friends killed. She never claimed to be an expert strategist as she had demonstrated on several occasions how terrible she was at thinking of plans. Despite this, however, she knew she had to try her best. These ponies had placed their trust in her once again.

And unlike before, she was not going to let them down.

As she was pacing around the empty bedroom, she heard the sounds of hoofsteps behind her. She turned around and saw Izzy come walking up the ramp and stand by the doorway. The unicorn had a troubled expression on her face, which was a cause for alarm.

Misty motioned for her to come in and Izzy did so, stepping over scattered detective gear and other possessions. Once they were face to face, she asked her what was troubling her and whether it was because of what they were about to do.

Izzy shook her head. “No, that’s not it. It’s just that…” She sighed heavily. “I don’t like how you didn’t stand up for me back there when we were planning strategies. Did you really think my idea was that outlandish, Misty?”

“No! I-“

“Tell me the truth. I can tell you’re lying.”

"How?"

"We're family. I know exactly how you're feeling."

Misty looked down in shame. “I…I’m sorry, Izzy. I didn’t mean to make you feel ostracized back there, really, I…it’s just that…you know not everything can be solved with a simple lighthearted conversation, right? Especially not the way Sunny is feeling right now. We can’t just talk to her once and expect everything to be okay.”

“And is there any reason why Sunny wouldn’t listen to us?” Izzy asked her. “I was the first non-earth pony friend she ever met. If anypony can talk some sense into her, it’s me. We don’t have to resort to violence.”

“But that’s the thing!” Misty cried. “She won’t listen to us! I still play back that fateful night in my head constantly whenever I’m alone and it haunts me. I remember how angry she was, how she screamed at us while holding the Crystals up in the air as she prepared to drop and shatter them.” She shivered. “Whatever Opaline told her got to her deeply. If we’re going to get her to see reason, it’ll take lots of time. We can’t expect it to be instantaneous.”

Izzy faced her with an angry expression. “Maybe you think that way, Misty, because you haven’t forgiven yourself and you’re projecting. I know Sunny. She can be reasoned with! I know that deep down, she’s just hurting! She simply lost her way, she’s not evil!”

“Maybe she wasn’t then, but she definitely is now!” Misty shot back. “It’s been six months since magic was destroyed, who knows what lies about us Opaline has fed to her by now?! Izzy, I have the responsibility of keeping all of us alive while we go on a rescue mission that could potentially end our lives! I have the job of keeping us all together, and if there’s even a 1% chance that Sunny may not see reason, we have to take it as an absolute certainty!”

Izzy looked at her in an obviously disgusted manner. “No we don’t. If that was the logic we went on, then you wouldn’t even be here tonight. We wouldn’t’ve forgiven you as you would still be considered a threat. We gave you a chance, Misty. Sometimes all you need is a leap of faith. That’s what we did for you, so why can’t we do it for Sunny?”

“We can’t,” Misty said mournfully. “Izzy, you have to understand how much time has passed. She’s most likely not the Sunny we knew and love anymore. Bringing her back to the light will be a gradual process that isn’t so simple as talking to her.”

“It worked with you.”

“It did. But that’s because I was in the mood to talk. I had already joined your side a month ago and was considering my place here, as well as…whether I truly belonged. You ponies helped me realize that I had more to offer the world. But it’s also because of me that we neglected Sunny so badly when she needed us the most. Her turn was my fault. She hates me and probably despises the rest of you. She’s going to try and kill us. And let’s not forget that she’s the only pony in Equestria besides Opaline with magic. The rest of us are at a horrible disadvantage.”

“So there’s no happy ending for any of us here…” Izzy realized with tears in her eyes. “I can’t even tell her how sorry I am for letting her down…for being a bad friend.”

“You’re not a bad friend, Izzy,” Misty reassured her. “It’s my fault for unintentionally stealing you all away. This is my mistake to correct, not yours. You will be able to apologize to her…just not now.”

“Are you sure it’s possible…?”

“You just have to trust me,” Misty told her. “I wasn’t able to save her then, but I can save her now. If we try to negotiate, we’ll just waste time. Just…stick to the plan.”

Reluctantly, Izzy nodded, though it was clear she wasn’t happy about it in the slightest. “Fine. But you better be right about this, Misty. I hope you are.”

With that, she turned around and left the bedroom, leaving Misty alone to reflect on what she had just heard, and whether or not her friend was right. She wasn’t confident in her own words in the slightest, but she knew that she had no other choice.

---

The Sun rose across the horizon the next morning, illuminating the land in its heavenly and beautiful light. To most ponies, the dawn of a new day was something to celebrate and embrace. Yet Maretime Bay took no joy in it, at least not anymore. There was nothing for the townsponies to get excited over. They had magic once, but they lost it twice.

But for five quirky, but determined ponies, the dawn of a new day was something they had prepared for. As the Sun cast its rays on the Brighthouse, the doors burst open and out stepped Misty and her friends, all sporting nervous, but resolute expressions on their faces. They had wasted time for far too long, and now it was time for action. They had the means to rescue their captured comrades at last.

And hoof to heart, they were going to do just that. No matter what it took, they would see their mission to success.

“Six months ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends, we lost family, and we lost a part of ourselves. Today we have a chance to take it all back. You know your roles, you know your responsibilities. Steal Sparky back, save Sunny from Opaline…”

“…get in and get out,” Misty spoke to her friends. They were all standing by the Marestream as she debriefed them one last time on what the plan was. “No mistakes. No do-overs. We will undoubtedly be seeing Opaline, but that doesn’t mean we should be in a rush to fight. She’s so much more powerful than we are. This is a rescue mission, not a battle.”

Hitch and Zipp nodded as Pipp and Izzy loaded the last of their weapons into the back of the airship. In the past six months, the Marestream had been renovated to have an actual engine that didn’t rely on magic, as well as a trunk in the back that could store all the necessary supplies that they needed.

“Be careful.” Misty finished. “Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we’re gonna win.” She and Hitch faced one another. “Whatever it takes.”

Hitch smiled at her and for the briefest of moments, she felt assured that everything was going to work out in the end.

“Good luck.”

“She’s pretty good at that!” Izzy quipped.

“Right?” Pipp agreed with a smile of her own. She held up her phone to her face and began a brief livestream. “Alright, Pippsqueaks! My friends and I are going on a very important rescue mission, so if you all don’t hear back from me in the next few hours, then you’ll know something went horribly wrong! Thank you for all the support over the years, you’ve been the absolute best! Pipp Pipp Hooray!!”

Zipp playfully rolled her eyes.

“We are going to bring Sunny back in one piece, right?” Hitch asked. “I want a nice, clean fight! No cuts, no bruises, no nothing. And those are sheriff’s orders. She’s been through enough.”

“We’ll certainly do our best,” Misty assured him. “You’ll be there to make sure I don’t lay a scratch on her, remember?”

Hitch shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right. Though as far as promises go, that was pretty lame.”

They glanced at each other and all nodded in unison. They all knew what they had to do and any doubt they might’ve had was immediately squashed by the overwhelming feeling of purpose.

“Let’s get our friend back.” Izzy said with a determined smile.

The five ponies opened the door to the Marestream and all stepped inside in a single file formation. Before long, the engines started rumbling and the ship began lifting up from the ground. It flew up towards the air and into the clouds, vanishing without a trace.

Inside the main cabin room of the ship, not a single pony was calm. Hitch paced back and forth in nervous anticipation for the inevitable confrontation while Pipp practiced meditation on the floor in order to calm herself. Ironically, it was Misty of all ponies who seemed to be in the most calm mood. She was anxious for sure, but she had gotten better at not outright showing it.

She sat with Izzy on the main red couch, keeping the other unicorn calm with her hoof around her. She was still trying to deal with the fact that she was her sister. It still didn’t feel real, even in spite of months passing. She had been alone for her whole life and suddenly she found out that she was not only friends with somepony else, but also related to her. She had always been close with Izzy and the hyperactive craftsmare had given her more kindness than anyone else, but the fact that the two were related was something else to Misty entirely. She didn’t see the resemblance between them, yet the reality was that they were family.

And family protected one another no matter the cost.

She looked over at her upon hearing the soft sound of whimpering. The lavender unicorn was staring at the ground sadly. It was at this point that Misty instantly began to fear that she had said something wrong back at the Brighthouse. She knew how much getting Sunny back meant to them both, in fact, it might’ve meant more to Izzy than her. But she didn’t know how else to phrase it other than being honest.

“Are you okay, Izzy?” Misty asked her.

Izzy looked back at her. “Huh? Oh, I’m okay. I’m just…nervous, that’s all. I still don’t like the whole attack idea. We’re just going to make Sunny angrier and she doesn’t deserve that.”

“Just don’t think of her as your friend yet and we’ll be fine,” Misty advised her. “We’re going on a mission to rescue Sparky and battle two alicorns. We’re taking one of them in for questioning, no personal stakes at all.”

Izzy threw her hooves up into the air in frustration. “Misty, you know I can’t lie to myself like that! I know full well I’m about to battle my best friend and I don’t wanna do that! I didn’t agree to this at all, why did you force this on me?!”

“Because it’s something we both want deep down…” Misty replied quietly. “I want to make up for my mistakes and you want to tell her how sorry you are. We’ll both get to have that.”

“But at the cost of what?!” Izzy demanded. “Our friendship?! At least if I try reasoning with Sunny, she’ll see that we’re not out to harm her! If we take her back by force and she sees us following your lead…she’ll…” She trailed off, squeezing her eyes shut to avoid a sudden rush of tears.

Misty understood what she was feeling. “…she’ll think we’ve really replaced her. There’ll be no doubt in her mind upon seeing you guys backing me. That’s what you’re worried about.”

Izzy nodded slowly. “My first ever true friend…she…she gave me something to look forward to in life, she…she made me realize that I’m not an outcast. She gave me friendship when I really needed it. I don’t want to lose her, Misty. Please…”

Misty didn’t know what to say in response. She couldn’t assure the unicorn of anything as she had no idea what was going to happen. All she could do was listen and try to be there for her.

Fortunately, Hitch saved her from having to say anything as he walked towards them both.

“Izzy, what choice do we have?” he asked. “Look, I don’t think this is going to pan out well either, I’m going to be honest. I’ve had my hopes dashed way too many times to really be optimistic. But if we don’t at least try, then what kind of friends would we be? We’d be exactly what she’s accusing us of being. This is more than just a mission, this is…I don’t know, it looks like we all have something to prove here.”

Izzy sighed, facing him. “Then let’s prove whatever we need to. But Misty…” She looked back at her with a pleading expression. “Promise me that we’ll come back with her, okay? Promise me.”

Misty knew that she could not promise, but she also didn’t want to make the unicorn more upset. So she decided to lie, even though doing so made her feel horrible.

“I promise.”

The skies were as dark and stormy as they usually were above Opaline’s Dark Castle. It didn’t matter what time of day it was, for the skies were always overcast. Lightning struck the ground and thunder clapped across the sky. This was the furthest place beyond the borders of Equestria where nopony ever dared to go.

The castle was a rather small structure on the tallest mountain in the land. It was worn, weathered, and rusty from age and lack of maintenance. Branches from dead trees were growing through it and it looked rather tacky at a first glance, yet the presence it carried on its own could not be underestimated.

It was a structure that held many secrets and many dangers, never to be discovered. It was from the throne room of this decrepit fortress where Queen Opaline Arcana ruled with an iron hoof, watching the daily lives of the ponies she now ruled through a special projection mirror with a perpetual sinister smile on her face.

And it was here where Misty and her friends were going to face the greatest challenge of their lives. They just didn’t know it yet. They thought it was going to be a simple rescue mission, but they were about to be proven wrong.

As the Marestream touched on the ground in front of the castle, the ponies stepped out of it and their jaws dropped in shock as they finally saw their destination face to face.

Misty swallowed hard. She had never wanted to return to this place again, but she knew that she had to if they were going to rescue Sparky and Sunny. No one ever said the right thing had to be easy, but it sure was giving her flashbacks that she didn’t want to relive.

“I take it back…” Izzy commented. “THIS is the spookiest place I’ve ever seen!!”

“Sparky’s in THERE?!” Hitch asked with dread, his shocked expression morphing into one of dismay as he thought about having to endure whatever horrors lie within that evil fortress.

Misty nodded. “Yup. I thought I’d never have to return to this decrepit castle again…” She motioned for her friends to follow her. “Come on! We don’t have a moment to lose.”

The five of them stepped inside the throne room of the castle, closing the double doors behind them as they began to explore the place a bit. They marveled at the ancient looking decor and creepy atmosphere. The throne room definitely seemed abandoned and there were no signs of Opaline or Sunny anywhere.

“She’s got great style!” Pipp marveled. Upon receiving a glare from Zipp, she cleared her throat and corrected herself. “Ahem, great evil style.”

“So where is Sparky?” Hitch asked, looking from left to right and vice versa. “Oh, I hope we’re not too late.”

Misty walked over towards the throne to look for herself and that was when her worst fears became a reality. The very dream that she had while in a coma had been real. Her eyes went wide with terror as she laid eyes on what she would always remember as the most horrible sight she had ever seen.

Underneath a small piece of fallen purple fabric was the deceased and lifeless body of Sparky Sparkeroni.

His formerly vibrant green color was now a sickly and pale gray. His eyes and mouth were still open as if frozen in time. There were cuts, scratches, and bruises all over his body as if he had been thrown around and abused before being brutally murdered. There was a deep gash on his chest where a knife had to have gone through.

Misty couldn’t believe what she was seeing. This could not be real, it wasn’t. This had to be an illusion, surely. They couldn’t have come all this way for nothing. Sparky couldn’t be dead. He wasn’t dead! She could still save him…right?

In that moment, she felt her heart sink to the very bottom of her stomach. She had failed. She had caused all of this. Because she had given Sparky to Opaline all those months ago, she had ensured that he would never see the light of day. Her entire body felt sick as the reality set in.

She had killed Sparky.

Hitch ran up by her side and grabbed Sparky in his hooves, holding him tight and beginning to sob relentlessly. Zipp, Izzy, and Pipp then followed suit, slowly walking up to their distraught friend and let him cry into their hooves while they tried holding back tears of their own. As she watched him grieve, Misty could not help but feel worse and worse for what she had done.

Sparky had meant so much to them. This wasn’t fair. They were supposed to save him, no, she was supposed to save him. She had beaten herself up for months over what she had done and she thought for once that she would have a chance to redeem herself for at least one of her failures.

But the reality was that she had doomed the baby dragon to his fate. There was no way to sugarcoat it. She had been the one to kidnap him in the first place, and she was now seeing the full extent as to how much she had screwed up. She would never forgive herself for this. She was a killer. A murderer.

She had let him die.

Instantly, Hitch’s expression changed from sadness to anger and he pushed the girls off of him, standing up. “WHO’S RESPONSIBLE FOR MURDERING SPARKY?!!! COME ON OUT WITH YOUR HOOVES UP!!!!”

His voice was so loud and booming that even Misty got scared for a second and she shrank away from him, thinking that it was directed at her. She knew that it wasn’t, but she felt responsible for this. It was her fault that Sparky was dead. She had no one to blame but herself.

Suddenly, there was the sound of maniacal cackling above them and a pair of green eyes emerged from the dimly lit stairwell. The shadows slowly parted to reveal orange hooves, golden wings and horn, and a purple mane and tail.

Misty instantly knew who it was and her heart sank all the way to the bottom of the ocean with dread. “Sunny…”

“You know I had the same reaction as you,” Sunny Starscout stated calmly as she flew down from the stairs and onto the ground. “I remember crying into my bed for two weeks straight, asking Opaline why she would do this to such an innocent baby dragon.” She faced her former friends with an expression of pure hatred. “How’s it feel to know that your pathetic little mission accomplished absolutely nothing?”

“Sunny,” Izzy tried to say. “I know you’re angry at us, but we didn’t mean to make you feel abandoned-“

“Oh you didn’t?” Sunny asked mockingly. She laughed, but this wasn’t one of her genuine laughs. It was obvious that she didn’t believe them and she was taunting their efforts to appeal to her better nature. “Well silly me, I must be remembering things wrong again! Look at me! Poor little Sunny; too weak and pathetic to do anything on her own! Let’s all treat her like the little foal she is, hm?!”

“That’s not what it was!” Hitch protested. “We were just trying to protect you!”

“PROTECT ME?!!” Sunny roared. “You were trying to replace me!! The moment Misty came along, you all started paying more attention to her and left me alone!! When she was in that coma, you all stayed by her side until she woke up! You took the time out of your days to comfort her!! But when I needed you guys in my darkest hour…where were you?!! That’s right. Obsessing over finding out the truth about Opaline!! NO THOUGHT AS TO HOW YOUR BEST FRIEND FELT!!!!!”

“W-w-we’re s-sorry!!” Izzy apologized, trembling. “W-we should’ve taken a break! But we thought you didn’t want anypony-“

“What kind of logic is that?!!” Sunny demanded. “I felt so scared and alone after those other ponies turned on me!! The least you all could’ve done was be there by my side! Only Misty ever bothered to be there for me every now and then!! Why didn’t you all?! Oh that’s right. It doesn’t matter how I feel now because Misty is your new favorite!!”

“NO!!”

“Misty, now!!” Zipp ordered.

Without a second to waste, Misty threw herself at the alicorn as fast as she could. Unfortunately, she barely made an inch as she was caught in a golden magic bubble and thrown against the wall. She groaned and gritted her teeth as she forced herself to stand up again. Her body ached all over from the impact, but this was no time to think about how she herself was feeling. They had a job to do.

Zipp was instantly by her side, helping her up. She glared daggers at Sunny as she began walking towards them. “You can’t be serious, Sunny!! We care about you and we want to apologize!! Just listen to us for one second!!”

“Why should I listen to you when you never listened to me?!” yelled Sunny furiously. “For the longest time, all you’ve done is patronize and belittle me!! You never took what I said seriously!! You mocked my causes and treated me like a filly who doesn’t know any better!! It’s like I don’t even matter to you all anymore!! Unlike you guys, Opaline does care about me!! Under her, I’m not weak, I’m not different, I’m special!! I AM AN ALICORN!!!”

“She’s using you!!” Misty shouted. “She won’t keep her promise to you!! The moment she’s done conquering Equestria, she’ll toss you aside like you never existed!! You don’t want this-“

“I’D RATHER BE USED THAN IGNORED!!!” Sunny screamed. “YOU MADE ME FEEL WORTHLESS!!! YOU STOLE MY FRIENDS AWAY FROM ME!!! SINCE THE MOMENT YOU CAME TO MARETIME BAY, YOU’VE CAUSED NOTHING BUT TROUBLE FOR ALL OF US, ESPECIALLY FOR ME!!! I HAD NOT FELT SO ALONE IN SUCH A LONG TIME!!!! IT MADE ME THINK OF MY DAD!!!!!!”

“I’m sorry, I-“ Misty began to say. She could feel her resolve slipping. She knew that deep down, Sunny was right in her assessment. She had been hogging all of her friends’ time, unintentionally of course, but it was time that could better have been spent comforting the poor mare when she needed them.

“Don’t you DARE try to apologize!!!” Sunny growled. “You took everything from me!! You made my friends cast me out!! Well, how is that working for you?! Do they love you yet?! Do they APPRECIATE your company?! Are they showering you with all the praises in the world?!”

“No, but-“

“EXACTLY!!!” Sunny’s horn glowed yellow and before they could blink, she had her former friends trapped in an inescapable magic bubble. They scrambled, trying to escape to no avail. She grinned widely with insanity as she watched them do so. “YOU GET WHAT YOU FUCKING DESERVE!!! IT WON’T BE LONG BEFORE THEY DROP YOU TOO!!! AND THEN WHERE WILL YOU BE, MISTY?!! YOU’LL HAVE NOPONY AND YOU WILL FEEL ALL THE PAIN I FELT!!! YOU WILL ALL SEE THE CONSEQUENCES OF WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!!!! IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME!!!!!!”

As Sunny began to walk away, Misty looked around at her friends. They were all now sitting on the floor looking more helpless and depressed than they had ever been. She glanced at Izzy, who was sobbing her eyes out in her little own corner of the bubble. Then she glanced at Zipp and Hitch, who were comforting each together and refusing to look back at her. Pipp was also not her spunky, positive self.

This betrayal had gotten to them and it was then that she knew that she had to do something before either of the other ponies let their emotions consume them. She walked towards the end of her corner of the bubble and called out as loud as she could: “None of us ever meant to hurt you, Sunny!!”

Sunny turned around, her eyes still blazing with fury. She ran over to where Misty was and stomped her hooves on the ground. “Be quiet!! I don’t want to hear from any of you anymore!!!”

“I know you don’t,” Misty spoke softly, “And I don’t blame you for being angry at me. Frankly, I take full responsibility for all of it. You didn’t deserve this.”

Sunny blinked in confusion, backing up a couple steps. She never expected to hear these words coming from the blue unicorn, nor did she ever expect to get sympathy. She thought that she would be judged and scolded. Instead, she was being offered a choice to talk and her mind wanted to hear more. Regaining her composure, she stared at her prisoner. “Go on.”

It was at that moment that Misty finally realized what Izzy had meant. Sunny was hurting, and all she needed was a friend to talk to. Taking a shaky breath, she decided to finally unload everything she wanted to say. She didn’t know if it would do any good, but she hoped that she could at least explain and apologize for inadvertently hurting her so badly.

“I’m sorry,” Misty apologized, tears brimming at the corners of her eyes. “You were so happy before I came along…and I took your friends away. I know how you must’ve been feeling. You needed them the most after those other ponies hurt you and it’s because of me that they weren’t there. I couldn’t get over my own pain, my own past…I made them be there for me, and as a result…I made you feel abandoned, like you didn’t have anypony to be there for you. You didn’t deserve any of this to happen to you, and I’m sorry for ruining your life.”

Upon hearing this, Sunny’s expression began to change. She was still angry, but her eyes reflected a hint of doubt and uncertainty. She blinked back tears from her eyes and Misty’s heart skipped a beat. She was listening.

Sunny walked a bit closer towards them, still refusing to get up close to the magic bubble. She faced Misty with that same cold look in her eyes, but this time it was mixed with a hint of sadness and many other emotions that she had been hiding internally for so long. Misty took this sudden change in demeanor as a clue to continue.

You treated me better than anypony ever has,” she continued, “you treated me like a friend, and you…you made me realize that there was more for me out there. You gave me a home, the life that I wanted…and I repaid your generosity by stealing Sparky and letting the rest of us neglect you after you were hurt. I still don’t forgive myself for any of it.” She faced the angry alicorn and looked her in the eyes. “You have no idea how much I blame myself for failing to save you, Sunny-“

“YOU’RE LYING!!!” Sunny shrieked, tears streaming down her face. “YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT ME!!! NONE OF YOU EVER DID!!! YOU JUST USED ME AS A MEANS TO AN END!!!!”

“No we didn’t!!” Izzy instantly jumped in to back up Misty. “You changed our lives, Sunny, changed mine!! I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for you! You brought us together and made the world believe that we could all be friends!! We all care about you!! We love you! All we wanted to do was protect you, Sunny. We didn’t want you to be hurt again. But we went too far in doing it and…we didn’t trust you enough to make your own choices. I’m sorry we did that to you. We were never trying to replace you.”

Sunny was shaking her head in denial, trying to make sense of everything she was hearing. “No…no you’re lying…she told me…she…”

“Sunny,” Hitch chimed in sadly. “You needed me so many times throughout your life. You needed me to be there for you so many times…yet I never gave you the validation you desperately needed. I should’ve said more. I should’ve done more to really show that I care about you. So many times I let my fears for your safety consume me and I never trusted you. I always treated you like somepony to constantly be watched over. I never wanted you to go through heartbreak like losing your father again, which is why I was so harsh on you. It wasn’t my place to tell you how to feel.”

“No…y-you can’t be…I-I-you’re not-“

“I know that…” Misty told her gently. “…nothing we say can undo all the hurt you’ve been through. You’ve spent years being shunned by the community you live in, belittled by the ponies around you. But…I want you to know that I understand what that’s like. I know how it feels to not be appreciated, to be hurt by those you thought cared about you, to be betrayed, to feel worthless…to feel like you’re not worth anything…to feel like an outcast…”

“No!!” Sunny begged desperately. Her alicorn form had disappeared and she was back to her normal earth pony form, laying on the floor and sobbing. “Y-y-you d-don’t know a-anything! Stop…”

“…I know what it’s like to feel that you’re a failure, that you can’t do anything right…”

“Stop! You don’t love me…none of you do…none of you love me…they don’t love me…they don’t love me…th-they don’t…” she repeated the same words over and over again until they were barely audible and it was just sniffles and tears that came out.

“…I want you to know that…none of that is true and…you’re an amazing friend.” Misty finished, wiping tears from her eyes. Having gotten the words out of her system, she accepted her fate and walked over to another corner where she beside Izzy, the two of them holding and comforting one another.

Sunny was a broken wreck, no traces of the happy pony she once was left. As Misty listened to her cry, her heart ached for her. She wanted desperately to hold her tight and let her know that everything was going to be okay, that she wasn’t alone. But what more could she say? Nothing that she said would ever replace the amount of pain she had gone through for her whole life.

It was then that Zipp sat up and walked up to one of the corners of the bubble. “Sunny…will you look at me? I’m right here.”

The distraught earth pony picked her head up from the ground, showing off her tear-stained face and eyes. It was a sight that none of them ever wanted to see again.

“You gave us something that nothing and nopony could ever take away from us…” Zipp explained with a shaky voice. “Y-you gave us friendship, you gave us love. The blame is all ours. Like Hitch said…we should’ve…done more, been there more for you. It never truly dawned on us how fragile you really are on the inside. All that happiness and nonstop positivity in every situation…it was all a facade, wasn’t it?”

The slow nod from Sunny was all she needed to see in order for her theory to be proven true, and it just made her and the others look worse for not recognizing it sooner.

“You were hurting this whole time and we…we never noticed.”

“W-why…why else did you think that I was so clingy sometimes?” Sunny asked her, finally speaking again. “During Winter Wishday, when you were all planning on leaving to do your own plans…I-I thought we were growing apart…Same in every other situation where you guys weren’t there…the hike…I always had this fear that we would one day drift apart and…you would abandon me. Little did I know…that day came sooner rather than later…”

“And again, we only have ourselves to blame for you thinking that. You needed companionship. You needed us to constantly be there for you because we’re the only family you have. You can’t be away from us for long, I should’ve known that was the reason.”

“I-I know it sounds ridiculous to you, but-“

“No. Don’t say that. You have nothing to blame yourself for. When the Filly Four hurt you, we should’ve been on high alert. But we weren’t, because we thought that you would get through it all right. You always seemed to bounce back from any situation, no matter how bad it was. Little did we know…you internalized everything…”

“It’s too late for me, Zipp,” Sunny said. “I hurt too many ponies…I let too many die. No one will forgive me besides you guys. There’s no future for me in Maretime Bay. I’m a monster and I can’t be trusted around anyone. But I can do this…”

Sunny stood up from the ground, her expression a combination of both pain and guilt. She didn’t know what to believe at this point, but she could tell that Misty meant what she said. She looked back at her former friends, and then at Opaline’s throne.

That was when she ran up to it and kicked one of the decorative flame torches down.

Misty looked up, startled at the sound and she turned around to see Sunny slowly walking with the torch in her mouth to the magic bubble and popping it. It dissipated into thin air, little sparks of magic floating in the air before falling and being scattered around the area.

Hitch was the first to notice that they had been freed. Then the others began to notice as well and they all faced Sunny with a mix of surprise and disbelief.

“Sunny, you…you freed us?” Hitch asked her.

Sunny took a deep breath. “I still don’t forgive you guys…but I can’t bring myself to condemn you all to Opaline’s wrath. My heart will not allow it.”

“A part of you still cares…” Pipp realized.

Sunny didn’t respond to that, only staring at them in silence with a look of sadness on her face. It was clear that she still cared about them a little bit, but she could also never admit that as she still hated them deep down at the same time.

Misty stepped forward and held out her hoof. “Come back with us, Sunny. We’ll talk to the town, get them to apologize to you. We’ll figure out a plan together.”

“Yeah,” Izzy added. “We got a lot of lost time to make up! I’m sure everypony will forgive you for what you did.”

Sunny shook her head. “I’m sorry…I’m not going back. As I said…It’s too late for me now and I can’t leave anyway. Opaline’s going to come back soon from her trek across Equestria. She’s thinks that there’s other ponies out there and she wants to unite them all under her rule. If I leave, she’ll notice that I’m gone.”

“What?!” Hitch looked shocked at what he had just heard. “Sunny, you cannot be serious!! You’re actually going to stay with her?!!”

“Sunny, please!” Zipp’s voice was close to breaking. “We came all this way! We have to take you back with us! Misty, tell her!”

Misty glanced back at her. “We can’t force her, Zipp. We have to leave now before we’re captured again. At least we got Sparky back.”

“No!!” Zipp protested angrily. “This wasn’t the plan!! You said that we had to get her back!! We can’t just leave her here!!”

“We have to!!” Misty yelled at her. “Sunny just freed us!! Do you want to get us captured all over again?! Opaline won’t show us any mercy!!”

Sunny nodded in solemn agreement. “No, she won’t. I’ve gone too far to be forgiven, Zipp. I destroyed the magic. There’s no hope for me. But I can get you guys home. Just promise me you’ll never come back! I can’t save you all a second time and get away with it. If you come back…I’ll have to kill you.”

Izzy looked absolutely heartbroken. “Sunny…please don’t stay here. We’re in this together, remember? I need you…”

Sunny looked away in shame. “I’m sorry for causing you so much heartache, Izzy…” She faced the rest of them. “Go! Never come back here, promise me!!!”

Misty nodded reluctantly. She knew in the deepest corners of her mind that she was making a massive mistake. But she knew that it was Sunny’s choice in the end and she couldn’t change her mind. “I-I promise…”

With that, she and the others ran as fast as they could out of the throne room. All while they were running, Misty could feel her heart being stabbed from every angle. She knew that her friends were going to chew her out for this later, but she hoped that they would at least they would understand where she was coming from.

Once they were out of the castle, they hopped back on to the Marestream, which flew away from the area at top speed until it was gone from sight.

Back inside the throne room, Sunny stared at the opened doors with deep sadness. She could have gone back with them, but she was just too scared to face the ponies of Maretime Bay again. If they hated her before, then they definitely hated her even more now. They had no reason to trust or even associate themselves with her.

She looked down at the ground, closing her eyes and fighting back the sudden rush of tears. She truly was alone again, just like when her father Argyle died. The many years she had spent dealing with her grief had been the most difficult part of her life then and it still wasn’t any easier now.

As she prepared to return to her room, she heard the sound of humming and hoofsteps and she instantly knew who it was. Her heart began pounding as she quickly closed the doors to make it seem like nothing had happened.

Opaline Arcana walked into the throne room with a sinister grin on her face. “Turns out there are other ponies after all. Equestria’s definitely been scattered in the past thousand years. No unified government anymore. Perfect for me.” She glanced at her new apprentice. “I take it you have been doing well at home, my dear?”

Sunny nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Just the same routine as always. Nothing out of the ordinary happened here.”

Opaline looked skeptical. “You’re standing by the doors, Sunny. Are you sure there was nopony trying to seek an audience with their Queen? You didn’t happen to see Misty "Brightdawn" and those pathetic former friends of yours that she has with her now, did you?”

Sunny shook her head vigorously. “N-no!! I-I mean, I saw nothing. Nopony. I was just standing by the doors because I felt…cold…”

That appeared to satisfy her. “Very well then! We’ll get them next time. I thought they would be in a rush to rescue you from me. But it looks like I was right. They clearly don’t care about you in the slightest after all.” She began to fly up the stairs. “Come, Sunny.”

Sunny sighed heavily and followed the alicorn upstairs, her mind still reeling from the unexpected reunion that she had with the ponies that she had once called her friends. She questioned why she had freed them, why she had let them go, and most importantly…

…Who was telling the truth?

---

The Marestream emerged from the clouds and touched down on the ground beside the Crystal Brighthouse. Several hours had passed since they had departed and it was now nighttime. Once the ponies stepped out and had time to collect themselves, they began to engage in a full blown argument with Misty over what happened in the castle.

Misty tried to defend herself, but she knew that she was in the wrong. She knew that she could’ve convinced Sunny to leave with them. Alas, she did not and now everyone was angry at her. She didn’t blame them as they had put their trust in her and she had let them down.

If only they understood why she had agreed to Sunny’s wishes and why she was too afraid of losing her friends to Opaline’s wrath to try harder. Most of the plan had fallen apart the moment it was discovered that Sparky was dead. But she could have salvaged the rest of it. She wished she could’ve done so.

“I can’t believe it!!” Zipp shouted. “You left Sunny with Opaline?! What the heck got into you back there?! You told us that we were going to rescue her!!”

“That was the plan, I promise!” Misty insisted. “We had no idea that Sparky was actually dead! We didn’t know how far gone Sunny was! This was never going to work and I only did it anyway because I still blame myself for all of this!!”

“That’s the problem!!” Hitch shot back. “You’re too afraid of losing us to Opaline that when an opportunity presented itself to win Sunny back, you didn’t take it!!”

“Well at least I negotiated with her like Izzy wanted!!” yelled Misty, “I knew this wasn’t going to work! I knew we were going to fail!! But I thought if we at least tried, then I-“

“You what?!” Pipp interrupted her. “You would’ve felt better about yourself?! Seriously, Misty, you need to let your emotional baggage go!! We had the chance to get Sunny back and end things!! You were able to reason with her!! She even freed us!! That proves she’s not evil like you thought! Why didn’t you push her a little further?!!!”

“I’m sorry, I-“

Izzy was the one who looked the most upset. “I went along with your plan despite not agreeing with it. I thought you were going to save Sunny no matter what…but instead you left her in the hooves of her torturer, I just…I just can’t believe you. You lied to us again.”

“No!!” Misty cried. “I didn’t lie to you!! I wanted to save her!! I wanted to bring her home!! I just didn’t know what to do, honest!!”

“You haven’t been honest with us ever!!!” Zipp yelled.

Hitch’s eyes were filled with absolute rage as he glared at her. “Yeah. I guess old habits really do die hard, don’t they?!”

Misty felt her heart shatter into a million pieces at that statement. None of them trusted her anymore. And it was all her fault. She had failed to deliver on her promise of saving Sunny and now they all hated her. She felt more horrible than she had ever felt in her whole life.

Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and she began sobbing as she desperately tried to think of something to say, anything that would explain her act of cowardice to them. She had no defense, no excuse, no explanation that would absolve her of any guilt. She was at fault and there was nothing she could say to defend herself no matter how hard she tried.

“At least we tried something!!” she snapped through tears and sniffles. “I knew this wasn’t going to work, but I did it anyway!! You want to know why?! Because all I wanted for the longest time was to make up for everything I did, for ruining your lives!! All I’ve done since coming here was drive you ponies apart, and I thought if we were to try this half-baked plan, I would finally be doing something right! I wanted to feel like I’m not a burden on you all!“

“NOT A BURDEN?!!” Zipp screamed back at her at the top of her lungs. “What do you think you’ve been this whole time?! You know, you were right about one thing, Misty. It’s because of you that all this happened!! IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU THAT SUNNY GOT HURT!!! IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU THAT SPARKY IS DEAD!!! YOU KILLED HIM BY CONDEMNING HIM TO THAT MONSTER!!!! AND NOW SUNNY HATES US BECAUSE SHE THINKS WE LOVE YOU MORE THAN HER!!! IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU THAT SHE JOINED OPALINE!! YOU DESTROYED OUR FRIENDSHIP, MISTY!!!!!”

“I-I-I-I’m s-s-sorry-“

“I went along with your crazy idea and comforted you last night because I believed that you genuinely wanted to make up for your mistakes!! You promised me that you were going to bring her home!! Never in a million years would I have imagined you leaving her behind!!” Zipp finished angrily. “You may have fooled everypony else into thinking you changed, but you’re certainly not fooling me!! You wanted the mission to fail, didn’t you?! That’s why you took us to Opaline!! YOU WANTED HER TO CAPTURE US!!!!”

“No!!”

Hitch was the next to confront her and he laid into her thick, letting all of the emotions that he had been bottling up for the past year spill out in one thunderous display of rage.

“You took everything and everypony that I ever loved away from me, Misty!!” he interrupted her. “I loved Sparky more than anything in the entire world. And he is dead because of your actions!! The baby dragon that I practically called my son was murdered in cold blood because of you!! Because of your stupid grief!! You couldn’t stop feeling sorry for yourself in time to save his life!! His blood is on your hooves!! And don’t even get me started on Sunny!! When she needed me most, I wasn’t there for her!! MY CHILDHOOD FRIEND!!! I WAS ALWAYS THERE FOR HER!!! WHEN SHE FIRST STARTED BEING AN ACTIVIST AND GOT REJECTED BY THE TOWNSFOLK, I WAS THERE TO CONSOLE HER AND TELL HER TO KEEP GOING!!! I WAS THERE FOR HER WHEN SHE BROKE INTO CANTERLOGIC!!! I WAS THERE FOR HER WHEN SHE GOT BEATEN UP BY THAT PATHETIC BRAT SUGAR MOONLIGHT!!!”

“P-pl-please, I-“

“And yet when she was hurting the most and needed the support of the pony she grew up with and practically considered her brother, where was I?!!” he continued. “Oh that’s right. Dealing with your antics and trying to come up with plan after plan!! All that time I spent by your side while you were recovering was time I could’ve spent with Sunny, talking with her, and helping her deal with her insecurities!! All that time we spent reading that stupid Journal was precious time that I could’ve been spending with my best friend in her distraught mental state!! I could’ve prevented her from falling to Opaline if I was just there for her more!! You’re the reason I wasn’t!! YOU’RE THE REASON WHY SUNNY HATES ME!!!!!!”

“H-Hitch-“

“BE QUIET!!!!! You are exactly the same pony you were before you left Opaline!!” Hitch accused her harshly. “I find it hard to believe that you didn’t want to destroy our friendships from the moment you met us. Nothing’s changed about you, so stop pulling that cheap ‘second chance’ nonsense with us. We don’t want to hear it. You’ve manipulated us long enough, so give me one reason why I shouldn’t lock you up for all the crimes you committed.”

Misty had nothing to say in response. She knew that ultimately, this was her mess. She couldn’t explain herself to them as they wouldn’t understand. If only they knew the amount of guilt she felt for everything that had happened to all of them and how she might’ve doomed the town to an eternity of oppression and tyranny. She didn’t mean to destroy their friendship. All she wanted was to feel like she belonged somewhere.

She looked at Izzy for any shred of sympathy, hoping that the lavender unicorn’s kind-hearted nature would allow her to understand how she was feeling. However, all she got from her was a look of pure anger. Tears were streaming down her face and she looked away instantly, sending the message that she didn’t want to talk to her anymore.

Without saying anything more, Misty sprinted off into the darkness and towards the Brighthouse, the only sounds being her hooves running in the tall grass and the chirps of crickets. Once she was inside she slammed the doors behind her. She didn’t know what she was doing, but all she knew was that she wanted time alone.

She headed up the ramp and took the elevator up to the place where the Unity Crystals used to be. As she stepped out of the chamber, she saw the shattered remains of the three artifacts that once held all of Equestria’s magic. Her eyes filled with tears as she walked through the destruction. It was because of her that magic was gone, and she had only made things worse by failing her friends.

They thought that she had lied to them and although she knew that she hadn’t, she didn’t know to explain that. She understood that they would most likely never trust her with anything again and she was scared to face them once more. She could never explain herself properly. Her friends would never believe her.

She sat down and let her tears fall onto a couple of the shattered pieces, feeling worse than she ever had before. She felt like a failure and all she wanted to do was end her suffering. She couldn’t do anything right and it was pointless to keep on living.

She couldn’t even save those that she loved.

Just as she was about to give up hope, however, she noticed one of her tears had fallen on a fragment of the Unicorn Crystal. The piece then began to vibrate and pulsate with pink magic. She gasped as a beam of energy shot out of it and towards the center of the rainbow prisbeam, which began to swirl with energy. This was then followed by the fragments of the Pegasus and Earth Pony Crystals as well.

“Misty…”

Misty glanced up, startled by the sound of her name being called. She looked around every which way and saw nopony there. Then, she looked to the spot where the Crystals used to be and she found the source. The voice was calling to her from inside the shattered pieces of the gems

The energy began to gather in the center and slowly come together, taking the form of a pony. No, it was not just any ordinary pony. It was a unicorn…no, it was an alicorn! She had a blue and pink mane and tail, as well as purple eyes. Her coat was lavender and her cutie mark was of a large pink star with five other small white stars around it.

Misty could not believe what she was seeing. Her mouth was wide open in shock as she took in the sight in front of her. She knew that there was no other pony that this figure could be. It was undeniable and clear as day.

Princess Twilight Sparkle.

This was no mere hologram like what Zipp had described. This was the spirit of the former ruler, a ghost in full form. And she was speaking to her from beyond the grave.

“Twilight Sparkle…?” Misty asked in confusion. “How are you here? I thought you’re-“

Twilight’s expression was somber as she faced the unicorn. “Dead? I am. The spell I cast on Opaline removed my immortality. But although I am gone physically, my consciousness has lived on for generations in what was once these Crystals. I lay dormant for years until you ponies awoke me with your unity.”

“I’m sorry…” Misty apologized, hanging her head low with grief. “I can’t imagine what it must feel have felt like to watch your kingdom die…”

“It was an inevitability that could not be prevented,” Twilight answered sadly. “But I do not blame you ponies for what you did.” She looked her in the eyes as her expression changed from disappointment to seriousness. “Listen to me, Misty. Opaline is coming and the Magic of Friendship is in danger once more! You must save Sunny Starscout and bring her home.”

“How can I convince her?!” shouted Misty with tears in her eyes. “I can’t even forgive myself and my friends hate me now! I just don’t know what to do…”

Suddenly, she felt a hoof lift her chin up and she was now staring into the eyes of the deceased alicorn. Twilight looked at her with a face of compassion and empathy, radiating wisdom beyond her years with the words that she spoke next. “Many moons ago, a student of my own taught me a valuable lesson that I will never forget; that nopony is beyond redemption.”

Misty sniffled, wiping her tears with her hooves as she processed what she had just heard from the former ruler. “Not even me…?”

“You made a mistake, Misty,” Twilight told her gently. “You were manipulated by somepony close to you. None of this was ever your fault.” Her image then began to glitch and slowly disappear as it did before when she had first appeared to the Mane 5.

Misty instantly noticed this. “No!! Please, Twilight!! Don’t leave me! I need your help…”

“I never left you, and never will. Remember, Misty. Friendship…is…magic…” With that, she completely vanished and the shards stopped glowing.

Misty looked down on the ground, her thoughts spinning around in circles like a tornado inside her mind. She closed her eyes in deep contemplation as the reality of her situation became clear. She knew what she had to do, but she didn’t know if she even had the strength to do it, nor whether or not she was going to make it out alive.

She had to confront her past and save Sunny from Opaline. But she had no idea how. Opaline was extremely powerful and would crush her in an instant. She also knew that she would have to do it without her friends. They no longer trusted in her, so she was on her own. The thought was scary and filled her entire being with dread. She didn’t think she was ready to face the pony who had put her through so much pain and suffering throughout her entire life. She had no clue on how to convince Sunny to come back with her as the earth pony had refused to do so the first time. There were so many unknown variables that told her that this was a bad idea and that she shouldn’t go through with it.

However, she knew that she had to anyway. Living with so much grief and regret for her entire life made her depressed, and if she was going to die, she wanted to do so fighting for what was right. It didn’t matter what her friends thought of her now. They would understand in the end what she had done. She didn’t need their forgiveness to be happy. All she really needed this whole time was to forgive herself for not only her past mistakes, but for everything she had done.

There was no more time to blame herself. The fate of the world depended on her. She had failed those who she cared about before, but she was going to set things right. She knew that she couldn’t take back all of the horrible things she had done and the emotional trauma she had inflicted on her friends multiple times, but she was going to make damn sure that such things never happened to them again. Failure was no longer an option. She finally had a cause worth fighting for.

She opened her eyes at last with a newfound resolve. She was no longer the scared, broken, and abused young mare who left Sparky in Opaline’s clutches a year ago. She was no longer the cowering, sobbing wreck who had failed to stop the magic from being destroyed. No longer was she a worthless slave whose only purpose was to be pushed around and stepped on.

She was Misty Brightdawn. She was somepony. She had a purpose that transcended beyond anything she had ever imagined, a friend to save, a destiny that awaited her.

And she was going to save Equestria or die trying.

Without giving her brain a chance to change its mind, she took off on her hooves in a hurry. She didn’t know where she was going, but she knew that she couldn’t stay here. She had to find help. It was because of her mistakes that the other ponies hated each other again. She vowed that she was going to undo this and bring them back together. In order to do that, however, she had to reach Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood. She had to convince the unicorns and pegasi to come back.

Once she was downstairs, she put on her purple cloak to avoid detection by her friends. She couldn’t let them see that she was leaving. This had to be a surprise. She slammed the doors open in a triumphant manner and ran outside as fast as she could, feeling the warm air assault her face. Her hooves ran through the grass faster and faster as she picked up speed. She clenched her teeth in determination as sweat began appearing on her forehead as a result of how fast she was running.

The minute she was far enough away from the Brighthouse, she took off her cloak and tossed it to the wind as hard as she could behind her, where it landed on the sidewalk with a soft thud. In that moment, she felt more free than she ever had in her life. That cloak had been a symbol of all of her grief and conflict for so many years, and she was finally letting it go. Throughout her entire life, she had done nothing but use it to hide from the outside world and those she had wronged. Now, she had no more use for it.

The Sun was slowly rising above the horizon, lighting up the sky above it. The bright rays and golden aura shone brightly, illuminating her in a heavenly light as she continued her sprint. From a distance, the light made her seem like a shadowy silhouette. She had always hidden from the light, yet she was always drawn to it all the same. Here she was now, however, at long last embracing the Sun’s rays and the freedom it represented. It was her cheerleader, egging her on with every step she took.

As she ran, the wind blew her mane back and her face lit up with a bright and wide smile as the sights around her became clear. She was finally seeing everything around her in a whole light. Suddenly, the world was different to her now, no longer inhibited by the rigid and cynical ways that Opaline had attempted to impose on her. She was now liberated, unbound by any threat or order. She could go anywhere and meet anypony she wanted. She could travel the globe and finally experience life the way that it was always meant to be experienced.

The future was in her hooves. She had a second chance at last to make things right. And hoof to heart, she was not going to waste it.

---

The Royal Palace
Zephyr Heights

“Your majesty?”

Queen Haven looked up from the ground at the sound of somepony calling her name, thoughts of love and loss being ripped from her in an instant. She had been thinking of Alphabittle and the life that she could have had with the burly stallion before magic was destroyed once more and the ponies had started blaming each other again. Being the leaders of two respective cities, they had to cut ties and it hurt her just thinking about it.

As she located the source of the voice, she breathed a sigh of relief once she realized that it was coming from none other than one of her personal guards, Zoom Zephyrwing. She and Thunder Flap were leading a blue unicorn into the throne room, flanking her on both sides like a prisoner. The unicorn had the traditional security shield placed on her horn, a tennis ball.

“We found this unicorn at the gate,” Zoom stated. “She claims to have a desire to speak with you.”

Haven gave a simple nod in response, still not fully trusting this unicorn. She could have sworn to have seen her before, but whenever she tried to think about it, her mind blanked out. Yet, she was intrigued nonetheless to find out what this pony wanted with her. Perhaps it was her ego feeding off of the attention, perhaps simple curiosity, but for some reason, she didn’t want this unicorn escorted out.

“Shall we escort her to your luxurious dungeons for sneaking into the city without proper documentation, your majesty?” Thunder asked her.

The monarch shook her head. “No. I wish to speak to this unicorn alone. I wait outside the throne room until I give my signal.”

Zoom bowed before her ruler. “Of course, your majesty.”

Thunder followed suit and before she could blink, they had run out of the throne room, hiding just behind the doors for their leader’s signal.

Haven stared at the unicorn, eyebrows furrowing in skepticism. “I could have sworn I’ve seen you before. You do look familiar.”

The unicorn lifted her head up from the floor. “My name is Misty, Misty Brightdawn. I’m friends with…well, I was friends with your daughters.”

That was when it finally clicked. “Ah! Yes, yes, yes! Now I recognize you, dear. You know, Pipp’s spoken very highly of you. Zipp, not so much. You know, you’re not easily noticeable at a first glance.”

Misty didn’t answer that, instead getting on with the point. “I know you’re extremely busy, so I’ll make this as quick as I can. I need the pegasi to come back to Maretime Bay, as well as the unicorns. Since you’re in contact with Alphabittle, I’m sure-“

“Don’t speak his name in my presence!!” Haven snapped. When she saw Misty jump back in fear, she took a couple deep breaths to calm herself. “Sorry about that, Misty, but I’m not sure you’re aware. Nopony is allowed to speak his name in my kingdom anymore.”

“Why…? I thought you two were…” she trailed off.

Haven sighed regretfully. “Close? Yes, it definitely appeared that way at one point. And we would’ve continued our relationship had our duties as leaders of separate civilizations not gotten in the way. Magic disappearing once more has put us all in quite the predicament. Oh well, at least ‘ol Alphie was understanding…”

Misty nodded slowly. “I’m sorry that happened to you. I don’t have anypony personally, so…I wouldn’t know what that’s like.”

“I can see that must be really hard on you.”

“It once was…but now I’m used to it, I think. We’ve been trying to get the other ponies back together since magic disappeared, but…I don’t know, I feel like maybe they need something stronger than that.”

Haven cocked her head in confusion. “What could possibly be stronger than magic? If that failed to unite ponies long term, then what would?”

“Friendship…”

“Pardon?”

“Sunny showed you all if nothing else that friendship was stronger than any magical incentive,” Misty explained. “Her loss brought you all together in her darkest hour. She needs your help again now, your highness. She’s been captured by Opaline and I want to save her. But I can’t do it alone.”

Haven shook her head, standing up from her throne. “Well I’m sorry to say, you’re on your own, dear. We all trusted Sunny and that whole “friendship” thing she was selling us. We felt bad for her after she lost her house and we took a gamble despite being so unsure of ourselves. We didn’t know what our future was, but we all placed our trust into Sunny. I trusted both Zipp and Pipp with her. I even thought of her as my own daughter for a brief time.” She felt tears come to her eyes and turned away. As she thought about the earth pony, her sorrow soon turned into anger and she turned back around. “And then she went ahead and destroyed those Crystals of yours, putting all of my subjects in danger.”

“It wasn’t her fault though!” Misty argued. “I apologize for my tone, your majesty, but Opaline manipulated her into doing that. She’s coming for all of you and if we don’t work together, we’ll all die!”

“It doesn’t matter who started what!” Haven shot back. “I put my trust into that slimy earth pony!! I trusted her with secrets that I wouldn’t even tell my own offspring!! And she put the whole planet at risk!! She nearly killed my precious daughters!! I’m not going to bust my chops raising an army for somepony who doesn’t deserve it!”

She felt bad for yelling at Misty, but the idea of helping the very pony who had destroyed magic in the first place sounded downright ludicrous to her. Sunny had betrayed her trust and put her subjects’ lives on the line. In her mind, there was no going back from that.

It ultimately came down to the pegasi she ruled versus an earth pony who had demonstrated without a shadow of a doubt that she could not be trusted. For Queen Haven, the choice was an easy one, and she was not going to allow herself to be fooled again like she had been before. But if that was the case, why did a part of her think to the contrary? Why did a part of her think she was making the wrong decision? She didn’t know, but her mind was made up.

Misty looked back at her with tears of her own. “So…you’re just going to leave her. In spite of all the good she has done…in spite of the genuine bond you two had, you’re not going to help me save her from Opaline.”

Haven sighed deeply. “No dear, I’m afraid not. My decision isn’t easy, but she broke my trust. I could forgive her for stealing a piece of my crown at the concert in spite of my misgivings as she needed it for a greater cause, but destroying all magic and risking my subjects’ lives is a new low that I can’t forgive. We were finally getting somewhere as a society when magic came back. Flight opened up so much opportunities for us. Now she’s set our economic and social development back years. Not to mention, it's because of her that my Zephyrina was almost murdered. There is no redemption to be found with one who puts their own friends in harm's way."

“But if you saved Sunny,” Misty insisted. “Ponies would finally be united again! You’d be able to see…err, him again and things would be back to normal! Please, your majesty, I just-“

“The answer is no!!” Haven shouted. She took a couple more breaths to calm her temper as she stared at the unicorn below her. “As a friend, I would say yes. But as Queen of Zephyr Heights, I say absolutely not. My responsibility is to protect my subjects, and most importantly, my family. Sunny is a loose cannon. She must pay for what she has done to us.”

“But-“

“And I can’t have you going after her either. If what you’re saying is true, we’re about to be invaded by an evil alicorn, the same one you once worked for, and she’ll most likely be coming for you. You were once an agent of that monster. You’ve put us all in danger by your very presence alone. I say you’ve done enough, Misty.”

Misty blinked, a look of fear appearing on her face. “What…?”

Queen Haven whistled. “Zoom!! Thunder!!”

In an instant, the two guards were back in the throne room and saluting her, waiting patiently for their next order. Misty looked at the two of them anxiously, almost as if she was beginning to realize what was about to happen to her.

“Yes, your majesty?” Thunder inquired respectfully.

“Escort Misty Brightdawn to the dungeons,” she ordered with a heavy heart. “She is to be locked up for her own protection, so she does not go after the traitor. I do not want the citizens do not try and attack her either. We hold her as leverage to get this Opaline scum to surrender!! I will release her once we have taken care of this personally.”

“No!” Misty cried desperately. “Your majesty, please!!”

“Please don’t make this harder for me than it already is,” Haven told her mournfully. “This is for your own good.” She faced her guards. “Take her away and mobilize immediately!!”

“As you wish,” Zoom responded, bowing to her. She looked at her new prisoner with a sad expression. “Come along, Misty. This’ll all be over soon, I promise.”

“No!!” Misty shrieked, struggling against the guards as they attempted to lead her out of the throne room. “You can’t fight Opaline alone!! Listen to me!!”

She managed to break free and make a beeline for the exit before she was tackled and restrained. She was still screaming and begging for Haven to listen as she was hauled and dragged out of the throne room, doors slamming closed behind them.

The pegasus monarch watched as this all went down with an expression of great disappointment and regret. She didn’t want to do this as Misty meant well, but the fate of her kingdom was at stake. She could not afford to take any chances on anypony anymore.

The main courtyard was bustling with a level of activity unseen in hundreds of moons. Many curious ponies had gathered to see their military march out of the palace. It was a rare occurrence as Zephyr Heights had always been known as a particularly peaceful nation. It wasn’t known to have too many conflicts, and the guards weren’t usually needed. This time was different, however, for the drums of war had sounded, and preparations were being made for a full-scale assault on Opaline’s castle.

The sky was overcast and covered the land in harsh shadows to reflect the grim reality of the incoming war. Thunder boomed across the sky and hard rain began to pour onto the ground below. Flashes of lightning struck the roof in a powerful display of divine fury as the heavens cast their judgment on the world below.

Percussion drums began to sound and horns were being played by the regular palace guards as part of the ceremony to make way for their higher-ranking peers. The crowd watched in trepidation either on site or on the broadcasting screen as church bells rang across the city.

The doors slammed open and an army consisting of about three hundred pegasi decked out in golden armor marched out in two battalions. They all wore grim expressions on their faces and carried the flag of the kingdom on their backs, hoisting it high into the air. They carried themselves professionally and not a single face was doubtful. They had been trained for this sort of scenario for years and endured the hardships of the boot camps. They had proven themselves on the field of battle before and had sworn an oath to execute the will of their Queen no matter the cost.

As they marched past the adoring eyes of their citizens, Queen Haven emerged from the palace as well. She was dressed in a silver commander’s uniform and a ceremonial crown for this sort of occasion. Her eyes blazed with fury and she had an an aura of authority about her that no one dared to step out of line.

She stomped her right hoof on to the ground, ordering them to come to a halt. The guards did so instantly and she walked past them, inspecting each one of them one by one before stopping at Zoom, who was leading the second division. The pegasus guard nodded and saluted her.

That was when Haven gave the go-ahead and made the charging motion with her hoof. The army moved out at once, each one of their hoofsteps making clip clop noises on the ground as they marched in formation to their deaths out of the courtyard and down the hill that led to the outside world. The sound of their marching and brandishing of swords echoed across the vicinity and up into the sky.

She watched them go, her face illuminated by the flashes of lightning above. The rain poured down on her armor, soaking it in the downpour. She was confident that they would get the job done. The time for negotiations had come to an end.

There was no time for trust nor reasoning, only war.

---

The Crystal Brighthouse was once again in a state of chaotic frenzy after the ponies had woken up and realized that Misty was not in bed. Once they realized that she was nowhere to be found, they checked every corner in a frantic search for about two hours before giving up to finally have breakfast with the promise of resuming the search later on.

Not a single one of them were in good spirits. Izzy was inconsolable and was being comforted by Pipp while Zipp sat in grim silence for about half an hour while eating her hayburger. The only pony who seemed to be in any rational state of mind was Hitch, who was trying desperately to start up a conversation with his friends.

“Soooooo…” Hitch began to say. “Wonderful weather we’re having right now, right? Not a single cloud in the sky! I see this as an absolute win!” When all he got was angry looks and blank stares in response, he sighed. “Alright, look. We messed up big time.”

That was when Zipp finally spoke up. “Well, look at that! The sheriff finally uses his brain. We did more than mess up big time, we made her run away!! Who knows where she is now?!”

“Probably captured by Sunny and Opaline,” Pipp replied while stroking Izzy’s face gently. The poor unicorn was sobbing into her hooves and she was trying her best to console her. “That’s my best assumption, I mean, Opaline’s no longer confined to her castle, so where she’s at now is anypony’s guess.”

“This just isn’t right…” Izzy said through tears, sniffling as she did so. “She may have lied to us, but it was well-intentioned…all she wanted to do was help and we chased her away…”

“You think that’s bad?” Hitch asked her. “I flat out accused her of being her old self! I mean, how much more heartless could I be?! I would never say that to anypony!!” He threw his hooves into the air and hung his head low in shame. “It’s official. I’m nothing without Sunny. She always knew what to say in order to keep my stress and temper under control. I always thought that I knew best, but without her, I’m a broken wreck.”

“I know how you feel,” Zipp added. “None of us have been the same since she left. It’s like when her innocence died, a part of ourselves also died alongside it. Doesn’t help that it’s because of us that she joined Opaline…” She trailed off after saying this and tried to change the subject. “Have you buried Sparky yet?”

Hitch shook his head. “No…it’s just too painful. He’s still in my room. I guess I have to pay those funeral expenses sooner or later though. My little guy deserved so much better.” He put his head in his hooves on the table. “He was my world, and Opaline took him from me…”

Zipp put a comforting hoof on his shoulder and he looked up at her, tears brimming at the corners of his eyes. She let him sob into her chest and held him as Pipp had done for Izzy.

The five of them sat in silence for about several minutes before Pipp cautiously spoke up, her face full of emotion.

“Maybe…” she whispered softly. “Maybe we’re all to blame here for what’s happened. All of us.”

Zipp looked confused. “That’s quite obvious already, sis.“

“No no,” Pipp shook her head vigorously. “You’re not understanding. I’m not just talking about Sparky and Misty. I mean everything that’s happened over this past year. We’re all to blame.”

Izzy sat up, looking her in the eyes. “What do you mean?”

“It’s all of our faults that Sparky’s dead,” explained Pipp with a shaky voice. “All Misty ever wanted was to be loved and cared for. We could’ve gotten her to open up sooner before she dragonnapped him. We didn’t think much of her suspicious antics when it should’ve been a serious warning sign. Zipp, you weren’t helping things either by constantly treating her like a criminal. You could've avoided this all if you just showed her more kindness."

Zipp tried to defend herself. “Hey, I know I was a jerk to her before, but we already talked and made up! I already apologized to her, I don’t get-“

“You apologized too late.”

This got Zipp to stop talking instantly as she knew that her sister was right. By the time she had apologized to Misty, the baby dragon had already been completely drained of his essence and killed. There was nothing she could say to sugarcoat that.

She nodded solemnly, looking away. “You’re right…this wasn’t a game. She was being abused. And I only added to it…”

“Sunny’s also gone because we weren’t there for her,” Pipp added. “Everything she said back in the castle was absolutely true. We were too focused on finding the truth about Opaline and we neglected her when she needed us the most. We had no excuse making our best friend feel abandoned. Treating her like an immature filly also didn’t help matters. Hitch, you said that you didn’t trust her. How do you think that made her feel?”

Hitch picked his head up from the table, facing her. “I imagine that she must’ve felt pretty terrible, like she didn’t have anypony who believed in or trusted her anymore. She probably felt so alone, just like when…” His eyes went wide with realization and he sighed in deep despair. “…Just like when Argyle died. Poor Sunny…”

“Why did you say that to her, Hitch?” Pipp asked him. “You knew she was more than still capable of taking care of herself.”

“I just didn’t want her to be hurt again, okay?!!” Hitch yelled, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Throughout her whole life, she’s done nothing but put herself on the line for what she believes in! I warned her when we were both 14 and she began taking up this activist gig that she would get hurt doing it one day! And then when I saw her all bloodied and bruised on the streets, being pelted and beaten by the townsponies, I didn’t know what to do! My worst fears had become a reality and I vowed to never let that happen to her again! If I had to go full sheriff mode and treat her like a prisoner to keep her safe, then I would! She means far too much to me!!”

“And did that keep her safe?”

Hitch shook his head. “No. No, it didn’t. It only made the problem worse. This wasn’t helping her and I should’ve known that. All she wanted this whole time…was a friend…” He wiped his tears with his hooves. “Not a sheriff, not an overprotective guardian. A real friend; somepony who would be there to talk and hold her whenever she needed it, somepony who…wouldn’t put her down.”

“We all messed up in our own ways…” Pipp stated gently. “And…I don’t know if we’ll ever get the chance to undo it. All we can do now is hope that we don’t get invaded, and that Misty comes back, so we can apologize to her for never believing in her.”

“She always believed in us.” Izzy piped up with a sad smile. “Even when we didn’t believe in her. That’s something, right?”

Pipp smiled back. “That she did, Iz…that she did. Both she and Sunny always stuck by us. We don’t deserve them.”

They ate in silence for the next few minutes as they silently reflected on their lives, and how much they wished that things panned out differently.

That was when the doors to the Brighthouse burst open and a teal earth pony with a red mane and tail came frantically running in with a panicked expression on her face. It was Jazz Hooves, and she was panting from exhaustion.

Pipp was the first to hear her and turn around. “Jazz?!! What are you doing here?!”

“The news broadcast outside!” Jazz stated between breaths. “You need to see this. The pegasi are under attack!!”

The ponies all ran outside as fast as they could to the town square where a television screen in front of a large crowd was relaying the latest news from Zephyr Heights. As the reporter spoke about the situation, Zipp felt her heart fill with dread. Opaline was getting bolder with each passing day, showing no mercy to her opponents.

“And this just in,” Dazzle Feather explained over footage of a large-scale battle happening right in front of Opaline’s castle. “A military patrol of about 300 pegasi sent by Queen Haven is getting absolutely slaughtered by the evil alicorn and Sunny Starscout. Body-cam footage shows guards retreating and going down in droves…”

“No…” Zipp realized, her eyes going wide in horror. This could not possibly be true. Her mother would never be so reckless with her own guards that she would send them out to die, right? But the truth was undeniable and she knew it. There was no other way to state it.

Equestria was officially at war.

In the video footage shown on the screen, the pegasi guards were getting magically sliced in half and decapitated by Opaline in a full bloody massacre as she and Sunny rampaged through the enemy lines. They screamed for their comrades as their futures ended faster than they began. It was a brutal bloodbath, and the two alicorns were showing them no mercy.

One by one, the guards went down in a lifeless heap and those who were smarter than the others took off, retreating for the hills before Sunny caught up with them and sliced through their skulls with a javelin that she conjured up using her magic. Tears rained down her face as she did so and it was obvious by her expression that she took no joy in doing this.

Opaline, however, was reveling in the chaos that she was creating. She sliced three fleeing pegasi in the chest in less than a millisecond and then ripped them into a million pieces of flesh using her magic. Her grin was one of pure insanity as screams of terror erupted all around her. Finally, she spotted the guard with the body cam and sliced through his neck.

The sound of choking could be heard as he slowly fell to the ground, the video glitching rapidly as a result of being severely damaged. The last thing the video showed was Opaline’s triumphant face before glitching again and cutting to static.

“The question on everypony’s minds is now,” Dazzle spoke mournfully. “In a state of complete and utter turmoil, where are the princesses when we need them?”

That was when the entire news broadcast ended and the screen turned off, leaving the assembled crowd of earth ponies in dead silence.

---

“I regret to inform you that Zoom Zephyrwing and Thunder Flap have died.”

Queen Haven looked up from her throne once more. Her eyes widened with alarm and she could feel herself being stabbed in the heart internally with this knowledge. She had always adored her two personal guards and had seen them as practically family. This news hurt her more than anything in the world, and shocked her to the core.

She stared at the messenger mare below her with great sadness before clearing her throat and swallowing back any tears that were threatening to form. “I take it that the mission was a failure, Clear Skies?”

Clear Skies nodded solemnly. “All dead, your majesty. Not a single pegasus soldier survived the onslaught. Reports have been coming in left and right showing the live footage and it’s…not good. We know you did everything you could.”

Haven sighed deeply. “This is not the first time I let pride cloud my judgement. I knew that it was a mistake to send that battalion. This Opaline is just too strong to be taken down. Perhaps Misty was right about me needing her help after all.”

“Pardon?”

“The prisoner down in the dungeons,” Haven clarified. “She came to me earlier and warned me that this exact situation would happen. Deep in my heart, I knew that this had to be a sign of things to come, but I didn’t listen. And now Zoom and Thunder both dead…because of me.”

“Should I ask the guards to bring her up here again?” Clear Skies inquired.

“No no,” replied Haven, shaking her head. “Nopony is authorized to release her except me, which means that I have to go down there and speak with her.”

“I see. Well I hope you’re not walking into a trap, your majesty.”

She stood up and walked down from her throne, her eyes radiating authority as she gazed upon her messenger with confidence. “Take me to her.”

Misty didn’t know how long she had been crying. It felt to her like months had gone by, even though she knew full well that was not the case. Without any empathy whatsoever, the guards had thrown her in the dungeons of the castle by order of Queen Haven and warned her not to try and escape. She couldn’t warn them about the dangers they were going to face nor reason with them, as they gave her no chance to explain why this was here.

Fortunately for her, the dungeon was surprisingly luxurious, with its own built-in air conditioning and a single lounge chair for spa treatment, along with a great view of the outside through a large barred window. It wasn’t dark or oppressive and that was of great relief to her. Yet she was still worried about what was going to happen.

She knew Opaline extremely well, and she understood that a pegasus military would be nothing against a powerful alicorn like her. Queen Haven was sending her army to her doom, and she didn’t even know it. After thinking about how the monarch, as well as her friends were going to die by her former mother’s hooves, she laid on the floor and sobbed relentlessly.

She silently cursed herself for thinking that bringing the ponies back together was going to be an easy task. It wasn’t, and she should have known better. Due to magic disappearing again once more, the ponies were now so hopelessly divided that nothing was going to reunite them this time no matter what, not even friendship. She couldn’t incite them to come back and she knew it.

As she lay there in utter despair, her ears perked up upon hearing a noise coming from the hallway. Instantly, she got up and ran to the door of her cell, thinking for a moment that her friends had come back for her. Instead, it was a disheveled and exhausted-looking Queen Haven stumbling down the steps and heading towards her.

Upon the monarch approaching her cell, Misty looked away. She was in no mood to talk to her after what had gone down in the throne room and she just wanted to be left alone.

As if she noticed her being non-receptive, Haven let out a sigh of disappointment. “You were right, Misty. Almost all my guards are dead. I should’ve listened to you, but my desire to protect my subjects got in the way of my reason.”

Misty looked back at her, finally deciding that it was better to talk with the queen rather than be alone again without anyone there for her. She knew she was not getting out, but at least the other pony was willing to talk reasonably now instead of shutting her down.

“What happened to Zoom and Thunder…?” she asked carefully.

“Gone,” replied Haven bitterly. “They were reported as part of the battle casualties at the dark castle. I’m going to miss them a lot.” She looked away.

Misty nodded slowly. “I know this must be really difficult for you to deal with…and I know why you want to keep me here. I understand…” She could see the queen’s lips trembling as she tried to figure out what to say, but was probably too embarrassed to ask it out loud. “You know you can tell me.”

Haven faced her again, tears in her eyes. “I’m almost glad that Zipp and Pipp aren’t here right now in the midst of this war. My poor daughters…it was the right call letting them stay in Maretime Bay. I was tempted to call them home after all the ponies split again, but I knew Zipp wouldn’t have liked that and she’s a big girl now. She deserves to make her own decisions…”

“Is Zipp her real name?”

Haven let out a small chuckle. “No. That’s the abbreviation we coined that she likes to go by. I still call her by her real name Zepphyrina sometimes, but she doesn’t quite appreciate that. Too much of a mouthful as she calls it.” Her smile faded. “She doesn’t want to be a princess and prefers being a detective. One day though, she’ll have to take up the throne and she knows it.”

“Does she though?” Misty asked. “You could very easily ask Pipp to do that. I don’t mean to intrude in personal matters, your majesty, I just-“

“No no,” Haven said, shaking her head. “It’s alright. You’re probably right in saying I should do that, really. I’m the queen and I can change the law. Realistically, I can never ask Zipp to give up a life of adventure in exchange for the stuffy palace life. She likes to be herself and you don’t really get to do that when you’re queen. I know I learned that the hard way.”

They stared at each other in silence for a couple of minutes before Misty spoke up again. “What else…what else did you see in the casualty report? If you don’t mind me asking…”

“Well, the body cam footage showed it all,” Haven answered. “Nearly the entire military got wiped out in that battle. I know that I have to start drafting new soldiers again if this kingdom is to survive. Sunny was also there, participating in the massacre…but something about the way she carried herself was different from what I was expecting.”

“How so…?”

“Well she seemed like she didn’t want to be doing it. I saw tears run down her face during the bloodbath and she looked tortured, like she wasn’t having any fun, like she was…being forced into committing these actions against her will.” Haven explained. “That was honestly the last thing I expected to see, I thought she was-“

“Evil?”

Haven nodded. “She destroyed the magic and yet, it looks like she didn’t have any malicious intent while doing it. I can only assume this because otherwise she would’ve been enjoying slaughtering all my soldiers. You don’t just commit a horrible act of treason and then come out of it the same pony. I thought this Opaline turned her into a monster."

“Deep down, she’s just hurting…” Misty told her gently. “She’s not evil. I know this for a fact, which is why I was adamant in the throne room. A year ago, Sunny was hurt by the ponies of Maretime Bay while promoting her causes. We were never there for her when we should’ve, which is why…she turned on us. All she needed was somepony to be there for her when she needed it most. She thought Opaline was that dream parental figure that she always wanted. But she knows now that she isn’t.”

Haven looked down at the ground, and then back at her. “I can’t send out another battalion. The risks are far too great…” Her eyebrows then furrowed into a serious expression as she seemingly made her mind up about something. “Misty, I want you to look at me because I mean this.”

Misty did as she was told, staring the ruler directly in the eyes. “Yes, ma’am?”

“I want to know what you are willing to bet on with your belief of there still being good in Sunny,” Haven stated with great emotion in her voice. “Tell me. How much do you believe in her?! How much would you be willing to bet on that?!”

Misty didn’t know what Queen Haven was getting at yet, but she knew in her heart that this was something that she believed in strongly. She had seen it firsthand during the first encounter with Sunny in the castle. The broken earth pony had seen reason back there and there was still good in her. Whether or not she would ever get a chance to tell her that, this was a fact that she knew without a shadow of a doubt.

“I’d bet my life on it.” Misty replied with no hesitation.

Right when she said that last sentence, Haven walked to the right of the cell and pressed the red button on the wall with her hoof as hard as she could. There was a loud buzzing sound and cell door slid open above her.

Misty was free.

She slowly walked out of the cell and stared at the monarch with a mixture of surprise and shock as she didn’t expect to be released so soon. She had no idea what had caused her to change her mind, but she wasn’t about to question it.

Haven reached out with her hoof and lifted her chin up in stern manner. “Do not make me regret this, Misty Brightdawn. Let’s go!” She then began running down the hallway in a rapid manner with Misty frantically trying to catch up to her.

“Wait!!” Misty called after her. “Where are we going?!”

“We’re going to rally the citizens!” Haven answered quickly. “Like it or not, we’re going to need a massive army, and that includes the unicorns and earth ponies. I pray to the heavens Alphie doesn’t skin me. We’re going to Bridlewood!!”

Misty could not believe her ears. They were actually going to get the ponies back together! This was the best news that she had heard in her entire life and suddenly, she felt a great wave of hope wash over her like a massive tsunami. Her face lit up with a bright and wide smile as the information registered with her. She could still do this. She could still make up for what she had done. She could still save Sunny. There was still time to heal the damage that had been dealt to Equestria.

Izzy had been right the whole time when she had talked with her in the bedrooms that fateful night. Sunny was hurting from the betrayal of the townsfolk. True friendship was all she needed, and Misty was going to make sure that her friend never felt abandoned again. Twilight’s advice of nopony being beyond redemption also rang through her mind, and she knew it was true. She had redeemed herself by turning against Opaline all those months ago, and it was time to give Sunny that same second chance. She silently vowed that was going to redeem her no matter what. She would bring her home.

She only prayed that her faith in Sunny was well-placed. It was make or break now. If she couldn’t reform Sunny and defeat Opaline, then Equestria was doomed. She knew that they only had one more shot at this, and she was not going to fail. There was no more room for failure. She had spent years of her life failing mission after mission. But this time, she knew that she was going to succeed. She was not doing this alone.

Not anymore.

Once they had gotten to the throne room, Queen Haven immediately sent out a citywide broadcast using one of Pipp’s old phones with Misty’s help, informing all of the pegasi to meet up by the castle as they were going to Bridlewood. Within seconds, the post blew up with tons of hearts and likes and the call to arms reached the whole city. Ponies flocked to the castle entrance in droves, determined to serve their queen and avenge their loved ones who had fallen in battle just a few short hours ago.

Misty then led the pegasi on a long journey by hoof from Zephyr Heights through the uncharted terrain. She had never been in charge of a crowd of ponies before in her life and she felt scared. But she knew that she wasn’t alone this time. The queen was right by her side, barking orders to her subjects whenever she needed to as they traveled the long distance to the Bridlewood forest.

---

Bridlewood had mostly recovered in the six months following the destruction of the last attack and was now a thriving community once again, with Alphabittle and the surviving unicorns having quickly restored order in the time that had passed. It had taken a long time of pain hardship, but things were more or less back to normal in a sense.

The villagers went back to their daily lives and resumed being paranoid of the other tribes as if nothing had ever happened, all those months of progress and inclusion being undone in a snap. Many of the old customs and travel bans were reinstated as Alphabittle didn’t trust the earth ponies and the pegasi anymore. He retreated back to the Crystal Tea Room and his isolation, never allowing himself to open up to anypony else ever again.

That was until the pegasi came back.

It started near dawn. Alphabittle was making some early morning tea for himself. He didn’t normally have the time to make things for only him to enjoy, but business was slow and he wanted to try out a new blend. As he was heating the tea, he was interrupted from his thoughts by a panicked aqua unicorn mare running into the shop.

“Alphabittle!!” The mare cried, panting as she ran up to the counter. “I just…I saw…They’re…they’re here!”

He turned around to face her. “Who’s here?! What’s going on?! Are we under attack?! Slow down, Isla Breeze!”

Isla took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself. “The pegasi…they’ve…they’ve crossed the border into town! A young unicorn is leading them. They’re back!”

Alphabittle could not believe what he was hearing. Could it be true? As fast as he could, he rushed out of the Tea Room with Isla and what he saw made his jaw drop in shock and tears of joy filled his eyes. It was a beautiful sight that he thought he would never see again in all of his years as Chief of the village. This wasn’t a dream. This was real.

Walking into town off in the distance was none other than his beloved Queen Haven, having finally returned to his life at long last. Behind her was a crowd consisting of about over a hundred pegasus civilians, all marching into town with weary expressions on their faces and tired eyes. Walking next to her was a blue unicorn mare with a red and purple mane and green eyes. She was giving silent orders with her hoof and commanding them.

With each step they took past the border, more unicorns came out of their houses to admire the sight before them. They marveled at the bravery of this strange unicorn, who they had never seen before in their life, leading an army of pegasi into town. It was an act of treason by law, but it was still something not seen every day. It was a magical sight to see, the two races finally united again after so long.

“The pegasi! They’ve crossed the border!!” One stallion exclaimed, pointing at them with a mix of surprise and awe.

“This is a sign from the gods!” another mare chimed in.

“This unicorn! She leads the tribes!!” another stallion remarked from the back of the assembled bystanders. “The prophecy has come true at last!”

“She is the Chosen One!”

“She leads the pegasi!”

“It’s the Second Coming!”

“The messiah has come to save us!”

“The Daughter has returned!”

The mare looked at the other ponies who were in awe of her and silently acknowledged them with a simple nod before turning her attention to the front once more. She looked exhausted and like she hadn’t gotten much sleep, which showed in her movements. There were bags under her eyes and she occasionally stumbled, only to be supported by Haven. Despite this, however, there was an aura of confidence and authority about her. She was determined to get whatever she needed to do done no matter the cost.

She was clearly grabbing the attention of the citizens as they all gathered in droves to watch this procession through town. The ground trembled slightly beneath her each time her hooves touched it.

The crowd bowed down to her as she passed by them. They were amazed by her and saw her as some sort of messiah. And for good reason, it seemed, as she was doing what nopony else would even dare to do. She had the courage that none of them had. She led the pegasi past the Wishing Tree and towards the Tea Room.

Alphabittle watched all of this go down with a mix of bewilderment and suspicion. On one hand, he was excited to see his beloved once again, but at the same time, an army of pegasi marching into Bridlewood constituted an act of war under tribal law. He didn’t know what this unicorn wanted, but he was for sure going to get to the bottom of it before he let any one of his ponies get hurt.

The mare came to a stop in front of him, the army of pegasi following her lead and skidding to a halt. She faced him with such a serious expression that it even made him slightly afraid. If looks could beat you into submission, this would be it.

“Oh my darling Alphabittle…” Queen Haven spoke, breaking the silence. “It’s so lovely to see you again!”

Alphabittle regained his composure, resisting the urge to just hug her right then and there and lose all of his professionalism. “It’s so great to see you too. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.” His gaze turned towards the unicorn. “But who is this unicorn and why is everypony treating her like a goddess?”

The mare took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “My name is Misty Brightdawn, daughter of Star Collector and Moon Watcher. I am your granddaughter.”

The unicorns around them gasped in shock, murmuring about how Star’s name had not been spoken in so many moons, and how Misty had just committed a serious crime by uttering his name.

Alphabittle’s eyebrows furrowed in anger. “You dare speak my son’s name in my presence! How do you know who he is?! I never told anyone!”

“Izzy and I both hail from the same family,” Misty explained. “Some childhood memories just can’t be repressed, and I believe that we were able to remember for a reason. Judging by everypony’s reactions to me though, I believe that his name’s been spread throughout Bridlewood without your knowledge.”

All eyes were instantly on Elder Flower, the oldest mare in the town, and the keeper of stories passed down through generations. She stood in the back of another group of bystanders, grinning sheepishly.

“Be that as it may,” Alphabittle said sternly. “What do you want with us?! As Star’s daughter, I should have you executed for violating the ban I placed on him. You are not welcome here.”

“I know I’m not,” replied Misty firmly. “But that won’t stop me from finishing his mission. I’m not here to request living arrangements here, for that life is gone forever. I’m here to ask for the help of the unicorns in our rebellion against Opaline.”

Alphabittle stared back at her, eyes seething with anger. He was surprised to see that she didn’t even flinch, instead holding firm underneath his withering gaze.

“…you walk into town, blatantly disregard my laws, get everypony into a frenzy thinking you’re some chosen messiah, and to top that off, you ask for my help?!” Alphabittle demanded.

He was sitting at a table in the Crystal Tea Room. Misty and Queen Haven were sitting opposite him, with the pegasus monarch providing her with moral support during the negotiations. The room was silent, with a very few amount of customers that were doing their best not to disturb what was going on with their idle conversations.

Deep down, Alphabittle could tell that the mare was slightly afraid of him by the way she sat so closely to Haven, but aside from that, she was doing a good job of not showing her fear to him and retaining a stoic expression throughout his rants.

“Not too long ago,” Misty pointed out. “Sunny upset the peace here by stealing the unicorn crystal and preaching unity among the tribes, and she turned out to be right. I want to make up for my past, and save Equestria from Opaline’s wrath. She won’t stop until she has all of Equestria in her possession. We share a common enemy in her. We can stop her together.”

Alphabittle scoffed. “Together. Now where have I heard that before?” He turned towards Haven. “Don’t tell me you’re actually buying this slop from her. We’ve both been down this rabbit hole before.”

“Now see here, Alphie,” Haven spoke up. “I have my reasons to doubt Misty as well. I haven’t seen Sunny in a long time and it could be that her faith is misplaced. But is this any time to start thinking about that? Especially when the fate of both of our cities hangs in the balance. In these times, it’s either we go all in or nothing.”

“We’re leaders,” Alphabittle countered. “We shouldn’t be so dumb to take the word of some ‘Chosen One.’ We tried that before, and look what it cost us. Ultimately, if it comes down between some false sense of unity and the safety of our ponies, you should know exactly what side to pick.”

“I tried ‘picking the safety of my ponies’ and it cost them their lives.” answered Haven flatly. “It’s because of my arrogance that Zoom and Thunder were killed in that assault on the castle. Don’t tell me you’re thinking of doing the same thing just because you want to ‘prove something.’”

“I’d rather try ‘proving something’ than trusting the word of some maniac!!” Alphabittle yelled, slamming his hooves on the table. Misty flinched in response to that, but he didn’t care how she felt. “I’m not letting myself fall victim again to somepony who only uses their allies as a means to an end!”

“And you claim to know what happened to Sunny?!” Misty shot back angrily. “You know nothing about how she turned, nor how much we blame ourselves for-“

“I’d watch your tone if I were you, young mare!!!” Alphabittle snapped at her, silencing her instantly. “This is a matter between adults, and I don’t know who died and put you in charge of anything. So shut your mouth!”

“I did.”

Alphabittle turned back towards his marefriend, shocked. “You…you trusted her? Why?! Don’t you remember what happened to Sunny?! We trusted her and then not even half a year later, she destroyed all magic! You’re really going to let the same thing happen again?!”

“Alphie, we have no choice!” Haven shouted. “How can you not see that?! The entire reason why this alicorn has been going after towns left and right and succeeding no less is because we weren’t united! When magic died, we should’ve been more unified than ever, standing together against the incoming darkness! Instead, we doomed our subjects because we let our pride get in the way!”

“Are you saying that I’m choosing my pride over the safety of Bridlewood?!”

“I’m not just saying it, I know it!”

“And if Misty betrays us too, what will you do?!!”

Haven was stunned into silence for a moment at that, clearly not expecting that sort of response to come from him. “What?”

“What will you do if months after we defeated this Opaline,” Alphabittle pressed harshly. “Misty here also decides that magic doesn’t belong in Equestria anymore and destroys whatever conduit remains?! If your daughters are killed in the process, would you be so open to trusting a literal stranger?! Need I remind you that Zipp was literally almost killed by an angry mob because of Sunny’s actions?!”

Haven looked down in sadness, shivering. “Not a day goes by that I don’t hear those blasted words from Doctor Redcross in my head. ‘Your daughter is in critical condition.’”

“Then you know exactly how I feel,” Alphabittle asserted. “Think of your daughters, but multiplied by a hundred! I’m not risking their lives on the off chance that things might be better this time! I’m never trusting anypony with the safety of my citizens again!”

“But would you trust your own family…?” Misty asked softly.

Alphabittle glared at her. “Your father harbored an earth pony in town for years behind my back. You’re not one to be lecturing me about ‘trusting family.’” He stood up. “This discussion is over. You and your army of flightless birds leave at first light tomorrow.”

With that, he walked away from them and back towards the counter to start serving tea. Misty watched him go and sighed deeply.

Haven glanced at her, smiling sadly. “I’ll work on him. If there’s one thing Alphie knows, he can’t say no to me. You go help the pegasi set up camp for the night, okay?”

Misty nodded obediently, standing up and silently heading towards the double doors with a lot on her mind. The reunion with her grandfather had been a disaster, and she didn’t know how she was going to convince him to help.

---

“I thought you’d still be in here.”

Alphabittle turned around, startled upon hearing Queen Haven’s voice. He accidentally dropped the teacup that he was carrying to the ground, which shattered into a million pieces. He sighed. He knew what she was here to talk about and he didn’t like it one bit. He wished that his past hadn’t come back to haunt him like this.

He hadn’t meant to be so rude to Misty earlier in the day during the negotiations and he felt bad for telling his own granddaughter off, but all the fear and shame that he had been internalizing for over a decade had gotten the best of him and he lashed out. He thought that he would never have to deal with the mention of his son ever again.

“Leave me alone.” Alphabittle demanded bitterly. “I know you’re here only because Misty asked you to be.”

“Actually,” Haven corrected him. “I told her that I would talk to you. She didn’t ask me to do anything, not like she can anyways. I’m here because you need somepony to talk to.”

Alphabittle glared at her. “I don’t need anyone. Not anymore. I buried any mention of Star for years, and I will continue to do so. I don’t need to be reminded about what I did.”

“And has that helped you?” she asked sternly.

“…”

“Answer me. Has it?”

Alphabittle sighed heavily. “No, it hasn’t. In fact, I think it’s only served to make me grumpier with age. But why do you suddenly care? And how do you know anything about Star? I’ve never mentioned him to you.”

“Misty knows,” Haven answered. “According to her, she remembers everything. She’s lived with visions of her past for years, and they’ve only now started to make sense to her. She told me everything she knows about them on the trip here. I can tell that the fact that she’s the child of your son troubles you.”

“An illegitimate child, I might add.” Alphabittle replied angrily. “She and Izzy both. I wanted to exile her as well, but…” He looked down. “…For some reason, my heart couldn’t bring me to do it. Maybe it’s because she was already very close to me, or the fact that I couldn’t send such a small filly to die out in the wilderness like that.”

“But you were willing to banish a newborn foal, I take it.” Haven reminded him, not buying his excuse in the slightest.

“She already had her mother!” snapped Alphabittle. “Why do you think I didn’t have Moon executed the moment I found out about her treachery?! I knew she was pregnant! I wasn’t willing to let the foal die! At least she got to live a happy life with her mommy, free and sheltered from this horrible world we live in!”

“What if I told you that she didn’t?”

Alphabittle was confused. “What are you saying?”

“Picture this, Alphie,” said Haven sternly. “The parents escape the forest. They travel on their own for days until they cannot keep the foal safe anymore due to food options being limited and they think the mob is close by. They’re forced to abandon the foal near a decrepit old castle. She’s left on her own on a cold winter’s night as she waits in anguish to die of starvation. But instead of a somewhat merciful end, the despicable occupant of the castle takes the starving child in and raises her for years as a slave to do her bidding.”

Alphabittle’s blood ran cold. “No…”

“The child then grows into a young mare who is socially isolated and her past completely buried under a mountain of lies. She knows nothing about the world, only having her first moment of true happiness upon meeting new ponies who truly care about her. Yet even then, the lies that she’s been led to believe by her adoptive mother outweighs any moment of happiness she has received…and she makes the biggest mistake of her life, one that she’s spent months trying to undo.”

“Are you…are you saying that-“

“Yes. That newborn child you sent out to die is Misty. And she’s come back here to do something you were never capable of doing. She’s already so much braver than you are. And she’s a better leader too, I might add.”

“How dare you-“

“You know it’s true.”

Begrudgingly, Alphabittle conceded the point. “She certainly showed a lot more courage than I could ever dream of earlier today when she led your people across the border.” His arrogance returned right after. “But that doesn’t matter! I’m not putting my trust into somepony like that ever again, family or no! We tried that with Sunny and look where it got us!”

“What Sunny did was horrible,” Haven admitted. “And I will never truly forgive her for almost indirectly killing my daughters. But at the moment, we have no choice but to do this. Don’t you remember how much worse the era of disunity was for us before Sunny came along? I was forced to lie to my own subjects, Alphie, and I don’t ever want to have to do that again. And you certainly know how much better off Bridlewood was during the age of magic returning. This isn’t even about ethics anymore; it’s how both of our civilizations would benefit from defeating this monster.”

Again, Alphabittle had to admit that she made a very good point, but his eyes still reflected uncertainty. “True, but we put our trust into Sunny. What if this happens again? What if…Misty decides that she’s the only one who deserves to have it? If it happened to Sunny, it can happen to anypony else! These so-called ‘Chosen Ones’ aren’t infallible. They’re just as susceptible as any other pony to dark forces. They’re not the pure saints our stories like to portray them as, Haven. Don’t start putting your faith into some ‘messiah’ who claims to be of holy intent.”

Haven stood her ground, remaining firm. “I certainly trust her more than I’d trust myself to lead another assault on the castle. I told you already, I already lost everything to my own ego. I thought I knew what to do against an alicorn with all the magic in the land, and I lost over a hundred soldiers due to that arrogance. And I’m not going to choose to accumulate more casualties. Is it risky? Yes, it is. But she’s your family, Alphabittle.”

“But-“

“Wouldn’t you trust the offspring of your own flesh and blood? Especially when you know now that your perceptions of Star were proven wrong? You know that’s what he would’ve wanted.”

Alphabittle looked away, lost in deep thought. He looked around the room until his eyes settled on a picture of Star Collector as a young colt that stood on the back counter. He picked it up, staring at it. Tears filled his eyes and he wiped them away. But as he did so, one of the tears fell on the picture frame and it began to glow, increasing in brightness ever so slightly before it filled the entire area in a blinding golden light. It was at this point that his cutie mark lit up as well and began pulsing with blue energy.

Haven stared on in amazement and Alphabittle was left speechless as the picture frame pulsed with the warm golden light. It felt comforting and familiar and for the briefest of moments, he began to sense a presence next to him that he had not felt in a long time.

It was like a sign from the heavens, that Star was telling him what to do right now from above. At that moment, he knew that he had an opportunity to right the wrongs of the past and trust his family when he didn’t before. He could make everything right. There was no other way. He had to take a leap of faith once more, if not for himself, then for all the ponies he cared about.

The glow faded and Alphabittle looked back at his beloved, gently setting the picture back on the table. He knew what he had to do. He still wasn’t completely onboard, but he knew that Haven was right. This was the right thing to do, even though it was the hardest call to make.

He sighed again. “Watch my shop for me, will you? I’m going to go talk to her.”

Haven nodded, but she was a little unsure about managing the place in his absence. “But isn’t it closing time? Seems like there wouldn’t be too many customers coming to the Tea Room this late.”

“Trust me,” Alphabittle assured her. “There’s always the occasional stallion running home from work who wants to get his wife something. You got this.”

Without giving her a chance to respond or protest, he bolted towards the exit and headed out into the dimly lit roads where the campsite was supposed to be.

The Moon shone brilliantly over the small town as the pegasi prepared camp for the night by the Crystal Tea Room. Misty helped the civilians set up tents and sleeping bags, as well as give them slices of the cookies that she had stored in her saddlebag. They weren’t as tasty as they once were by this point, but they had to eat something while out on their journey.

As she watched the other ponies fight over who got to have what slice from her small campfire, she let out a deep sigh of defeat. She wasn’t prepared for this at all, and she knew it. She couldn’t lead these ponies, what was she thinking? It was ridiculous to think that Alphabittle would suddenly change his mind. After all, he had a good point. He didn’t have any reason to trust her. Despite the fact that they were family, he didn’t even know her. It was equivalent to trusting a stranger, and her parents had left on bad terms with him.

She had struck out on her own, thinking that she had a chance of reuniting the tribes all by herself. But she wasn’t a naturally gifted orator like Sunny. She didn’t have anything to incentivize them with. At least back then, the other ponies were able to be tempted with magic. What did she have to offer them in return for their services? Nothing. All she had was her words alone and the abstract concept of living in harmony again, which didn’t work out the first time.

So why would it work out now?

The truth was that she stood no chance of accomplishing her goal and she was leading herself on a wild goose chase. If only her friends were here to support her. If only they were here to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. But they weren’t. They didn’t trust her anymore. They hated her now, and wanted nothing to do with her. She had failed them, just like she had failed everypony that she had ever met.

A soft whimper escaped from her and she began to softly cry on the floor, burying her face in her hooves as the harsh reality that she was all alone once more began to overtake her. She had no friends, no family that loved her, and no life beyond constantly blaming herself. Why couldn’t she just…

“Misty?”

Misty looked up, instantly springing to her hooves upon hearing someone call her name. She looked all around until her eyes saw Alphabittle coming towards her from off in the distance. He slowly walked over to the campsite with a concerned look on his face, a sharp contrast from the angry one he had earlier. She wondered what had changed.

Upon him approaching her, she was instantly on her guard. “What do you want? Here to beat me down some more about things I can’t control?”

Alphabittle shook his head. “No, I…I just wanna talk to you, one on one. Like family. Are you willing to do that with me?”

Misty regarded him coldly. “You didn’t seem to care about that back in the Crystal Tea Room. What changed?”

“Haven filled me in on everything, and I think I understand you a bit better now,” Alphabittle replied, sitting down on the grass beside the campfire and patting the spot where he wanted her to sit. She reluctantly did so, taking a seat right next to him. It felt weird, but also oddly comforting.

“What did she tell you?” Misty asked.

“Your upbringing and…” Alphabittle trailed off for a moment, sighing. “…basically whatever else you told her. I’m sorry you had to go through such a difficult life and I believe we got off on the wrong hoof. I should’ve been more happy to see my granddaughter after all these moons.”

“It’s…all water under the bridge now, I guess.”

“I know it isn’t,” Alphabittle countered. “I know you’re angry at me and you have every right to be. I’m the whole reason why your life was ruined. You could’ve lived here with everypony else, but my foolish pride drove your father away. Now that I’m dating Haven, it…it feels different, and I…just can’t help but feel like I missed out on so much.”

Misty said nothing, only looking into the burning embers of the fire in front of her. Her face briefly reflected in the flames for a split moment and for the first time in a long while, she saw herself and what a dirty, tired wreck she had become on her fruitless quest. She was slowly losing weight and her eyes reflected many nights of insomnia. All of this pain for a mission that she couldn’t even succeed in.

The reflection then vanished and she blinked fresh tears back from her eyes. She couldn’t cry again, not now. She had to be strong for her friends back home, no matter what the outcome of the mission was.

“Tell me something,” Alphabittle told her gently, breaking the silence. “Now that you’re free from Opaline, you can go anywhere…live a brand new life, far away from all of this drama. So why do you want to stay and fight to save the ponies who hate you?”

Misty looked up at him. “Because I can’t bring myself to fail them again. I’m responsible for Sunny turning evil and destroying magic. It’s my fault that Sparky’s dead, I couldn’t save Bridlewood from being destroyed six months ago…I should’ve succumbed to my injuries and died after escaping Opaline’s castle that night. I was never meant to live, but…somehow I did…by some miracle. I have to undo my mistakes, or else I won’t be able to live with myself.”

Alphabittle looked down. “I know the feeling, kid.”

“What?” she asked, surprised at his answer.

“The day I banished your father…” Alphabittle revealed, his eyes shimmering with tears. “It was the worst day of my life…my son, the only pony who ever truly understood me…I banished him out of my own fear of the unknown, and I could never take it back. I spent a lifetime trying to bury his name, forbid any mention of anything he did. I told myself for years that I never had a son, that he never existed. But the more time I spent in my own denial…the grumpier I became, and the more bitter I became at the world. You and I both share these traumatic experiences.”

“Oh…”

“But unlike me…you actually did something about it.” Alphabittle finished, looking back at her. He smiled. “And that’s something I have to admire. You’re already so much stronger than your old man, just by…coming out here, knowing full well the consequences that doing so would bring.”

“I…never thought about it that way.” Misty admitted.

Alphabittle chuckled, the first sign of happiness from him in a long time. “So I guess the plan is to reunite the unicorns, pegasi, and the earth ponies into a unified coalition in order to defeat a rampaging alicorn dictator.”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

He stood up, grinning at her. “Want some help?”

Misty smiled back at him, feeling happier now that she had somepony by her side that actually understood her. She stood up and walked with him back to the Crystal Tea Room.

They got back inside to find a whole crowd of unicorns harassing Queen Haven at the counter and refusing to be served by her. She was doing her best to calm them down, but all attempts did was make them angrier as a result. Fortunately, Alphabittle was there to settle them.

He walked up to the angry customers and stomped his hooves one at a time on the ground. The sound reverberated across the vicinity and instantly quelled the fighting. Whatever he did, he had authority, and everyone listened to him.

“That will be enough fighting for the night!” Alphabittle ordered them. “I was going to close up shop anyways, so you either respect her or no late night tea at all for any of you! I left her in charge of the shop for a reason.”

“You’re letting a pegasus serve us!” shouted an angry stallion. “What’s gotten into you?!”

Alphabittle held firm. “She is as much a pony as the rest of you. Her race does not matter and she is a queen no less. I will hear no more of this. We have something else that’s way more important to take care of tonight.” He glanced at Misty. “Tell them.”

Misty nodded slowly, walking up to the skeptical ponies. They all glared at her intensely and she resisted the urge to curl up into a ball and cry. She would not do that this time. The fate of the world depended on her too much for her to do that. She had spent the entire journey worrying about whether or not she would succeed.

This was her moment to prove herself, not just to her friends back home, but also to herself. She wasn’t worthless. She was the daughter of two ponies who had given up everything so she could have a chance at life, and she had just been reunited with her family. She had to get the job done, no matter what it took to do so.

“I know you all are scared,” she began to say, addressing all in the room. “You’ve all experienced unimaginable tragedy at the hooves of somepony you trusted. And I know how that feels. I know what it feels like to lose faith, to be frightened of the unknown. I know what it must feel like to lose everything you’ve ever loved. But now is not the time to be vulnerable!”

“What are you saying, Ms. Brightdawn?” asked a mare who was in the front of the crowd and holding a newborn foal in her hoof.

“I’m saying that I’m not afraid,” Misty continued. “For my whole life, I lived with a bully. But I learned that bullies can only make you afraid if you let them.” She softly stroked the small tuft of mane on the foal, who giggled in response. “And sometimes…all you need to beat the darkness is a little light.” She faced the other ponies once more. “My parents gave everything for me so that I could live and stand before you today! And in spite of all the hardships that I’ve been through, I’ve come out of it all a stronger pony! But I could not have gotten where I am without my friends back home to support me.”

“She can’t be serious…” murmured one pony in the back to her friend.

“Aye, she is.” the other unicorn whispered back with a knowing look of her own.

Misty faced the mare with the foal one last time before turning away and heading up towards the counter, standing on top of it in a determined manner. “My friends were there for me when I needed them the most! They made me who I am today! So I’m asking you to not give up on yours, and stand by their sides!!”

Haven’s mouth opened wide in utter shock, which was followed by a couple unicorns murmuring to each other in hushed conversations. The mare from earlier them inched closer to her husband in a show of solidarity, which led to a couple of other unicorns doing the same and inching closer to their friends or loved ones. The process repeated until all of them were gathered in one massive cluster, embracing one another.

Alphabittle smiled proudly and walked up to where she was. “My granddaughter speaks wisdom beyond her years! We can all choose to stay separated and be subjected under tyranny, or we can embrace the things that have brought us together and unite for our freedom! From now on, if there is to be any fighting between us, it will not start with me! Ready yourselves for the struggle ahead!! We journey to Maretime Bay!!!!”

The unicorns all threw their hooves into the air in celebration and stampeded out of the Tea Room as fast as they could, knocking over stools and tables in the process. They headed out into the streets in droves towards the direction of the campsite, where they were going to grab the pegasi and head out. Shouts of excitement and battle cries filled the air as the herd of ponies cascaded down the streets and awoke their friends and neighbors.

Misty watched all of them go with tears in her eyes. She had done it. She had fulfilled her quest. The sight before her was beautiful, and she could not believe that she had brought the tribes together all by herself. She hopped down from the counter and was hugged by both Alphabittle and Queen Haven.

Once they let her go, Misty stared at the wide open doors of the Tea Room. “I…can’t believe that I just did that.”

“I can,” Queen Haven complimented her. “You’re a natural speech giver! You should really take over my job.”

Misty giggled. “That…might be a little too much.” She then turned her head to look at Alphabittle. “Grandpa…thank you.”

Alpabittle wiped tears of his own from his eyes and winked back at her. “No problem, kid. Now come on! You’ll be leading us back to town!!”

Misty headed with the two leaders out the doors of the Crystal Tea Room and followed the other unicorns into the horizon just as the Sun slowly began to rise above the horizon and clear away the oppressive darkness.

By early morning, the ground trembled as about several hundred hooves stampeded out of the Bridlewood Forest and out into the unknown, back towards the place they thought that they would never have the chance to return to. It would a long way back without any means of transportation, but she made sure to pack plenty of food for the other ponies to share along the way. They had come well prepared for the journey, and with each step taken, their confidence only grew and their resolve only strengthened further.

“FOR EQUESTRIA!!!!” Misty bellowed at the top of her lungs as she led them at the front. The other ponies behind her responded with a rallying battle cry and marched in unison throughout the empty plains and fields.

There was no doubt in her mind that the ponies were united once more. They were facing the world together, and although a couple of angry glares were thrown around every now and then, it was clear that both parties were onboard and ready to stand by one another. The Sun shone down on them, warming them with its embrace, and the omnipresent grey clouds cleared to reveal the beautiful blue skies. Soft wind blew throughout, a sharp contrast to the rough weather that they had faced on the way there. The heavens were on their side she knew deep down that her parents were watching her from high above.

The trek was brutal as they traversed through harsh and dry deserts and endured heavy downpour in the rainforest areas. When day turned to night, they utilized the old fashioned method of following the light of the stars in order to guide them to their destination, which worked out perfectly. Soon, word began to spread about this strange unicorn that was leading a mass migration to Maretime Bay, and her existence soon made the local headlines.

She felt herself feel so much lighter with the weight that had burdened her finally off her shoulders. There was no more room for talk nor error, only action. They had been traveling for several thousand miles by this point, yet she felt like she could run forever and never get tired of it. She had never gone this far before, never allowed herself to push her own limits. It was invigorating and she didn’t ever want it to end.

The voices of her friends and the memories they had together rang through her mind as she made her trek. No longer were they condescending or angry, but they were encouraging. She thought of Izzy and how she was her first ever friend, and now she was so much more than that. She had forgiven her and given her a chance when nopony else would, how she was willing to stand by her side in spite of everything. The unicorn deserved better than empty promises. She deserved the world. She thought of Zipp and how she was once scared of the pegasus, but that they had finally mended their relationship at last. She was not going to let her down again.

As she helped the army across a rampaging river, she began to reflect on her life and how far she had come since starting her journey across Equestria nearly a week ago. She was a pony who had grown up isolated and alone, thinking that there was no other life out there than one of servitude.

Now she knew better. Here she was at this point in time, bridging the divide between the two races of ponies as they worked together to stop the greatest threat to the land.

---

Back in Maretime Bay the next morning, Hitch was giving a motivational speech to a large crowd of terrified citizens in the town square. Following the fateful news report about the defeat of the pegasi, rumors had began circulating amongst the ponies about Opaline and Sunny heading to Maretime Bay and attacking it next. While this all amounted to simple conspiracy theories and nothing more, it was also a very real possibility and no one wanted to get involved in the crossfire.

In order to mitigate as much panic from the populace as possible, he had retaken the mantle of sheriff, which was fairly easy in itself as all he needed to do was swear the oath of office again. As such, he was responsible for soothing the public’s fears and making them feel better in a bad situation, and although he was trying his best, he knew it wasn’t working. No matter what he said, his words were constantly being drowned out by angry yells and frightened chatter. He could not get through to them despite his best efforts.

His friends were in the crowd watching him for moral support, but even they seemed to know that his attempts at reasoning with the townsponies was not working in the slightest as Zipp kept shaking her head in exasperation whenever somepony talked over him. They were all worried about what was going to come next. After all, if the rumors were to be believed, then they were all about to be in massive trouble.

“Listen to me!” Hitch shouted. “We will find ways to stop Opaline’s invasion! We may not have magic, but we aren’t completely helpless! There will be no more death coming for us!!”

“How do you know that?!” yelled a random stallion. “We can’t take her on all by ourselves! We’re nothing without the unicorns and pegasi!”

“We don’t need them!” somepony else argued. “They can go back to their own kind!”

“Nopony has magic!!” another stallion shot back.

“You better fix this!!” a filly yelled from next to her mother in the front.

The crowd then devolved into an all-out shouting match once again as the assembled ponies tried to get the one-up on each other. Hitch buried his face in his hooves upon seeing this. What was he doing? He had only made things worse.

Right when he was about to give up hope, however, the crowd suddenly went silent as they noticed something off into the distance. Hitch looked to his left and saw what appeared to be an army of shadows coming his way through the dense fog. They were indescribable shapes at first, but as they got closer, their forms solidified into solid shapes. These vaguely looked like ponies, but he wasn’t entirely sure at first.

He peered closer, squinting his eyes to have a closer look. Emerging from the gradually clearing mist were the silhouettes of about more than several hundred ponies led by a familiar figure that he could swear that he recognized via mane style. But these weren’t just earth ponies. Some of them appeared to have wings…or horns!

“Look!” a mare in the crowd exclaimed in excitement at the top of her lungs. “Everypony, the unicorns and pegasi are coming back!! The unicorns and pegasi are coming back!!!!”

The crowd began to excitedly chatter amongst themselves as the mist began to clear further, and the familiar silhouette of a unicorn mare in front of the crowd began to materialize. Zipp instantly recognized the pony leading the other ponies as soon as she saw her. The look of the mane was instantly recognizable. She began to tear up with happiness upon seeing her friend alive and well, as well as for what she had done.

“By hoofness, you did it, Misty…” she whispered, wiping tears from her eyes.

“MISTY’S BACK!!!” Seashell shouted from the front of the crowd, jumping up into the air repeatedly. “She’s back!! And she brought the other unicorns and pegasi!!!!”

“Misty has returned!!” echoed Toots. “She’s come back!!”

The crowd went wild and stomped their hooves in a standing ovation. They cheered and waved at the approaching crowd, chanting her name over and over in a fervent manner, their voices growing in intensity as they did so. It was as if at long last, hope had returned to Maretime Bay and swept over the townsfolk, their fears and doubts washing away like a tidal wave on the beach. The optimistic spirit that made them who they were came back and banished the internal darkness away.

Izzy looked up upon hearing her sister’s name and smiled proudly off in the distance. She knew that the blue unicorn would return successful. If anypony could bring ponies back together, it was her. Hitch also let out a massive sigh of relief and swallowed back tears of his own. He had been so worried about her. He thought that he had lost her forever after telling her off a week ago, yet here she was safe and sound, and a hero no less.

The mist fully cleared away and sure enough, leading the combined forces of unicorns and pegasi back into Maretime Bay was none other than Misty Brightdawn herself, who was sporting a confident look in her eyes for the first time in her life. Her flank was glowing brightly with the cutie mark of a magenta butterfly. The shining light almost made her look ethereal, like a messianic figure returning from beyond the heavens. With each step she and her followers took, the cheering of the crowd became louder and some even bowed before her. She had started her journey as a broken pony and had been spiritually reborn over the course of it. She was committed and ready to take on the world once again. She was no longer scared and doubtful of her destiny, for she had embraced it and accepted her role as a leader. The fate of the land depended on her, and she was ready to step up to the challenge, just as she should’ve done long ago.

Once Misty stopped and took in the sights around her, she was immediately tackled and wrapped in a massive bear hug by Hitch and the others. She giggled as they held on to her tight, refusing to let go for a solid minute. Izzy and Pipp were sobbing, while Zipp and Hitch begged her to never run off on an epic quest without telling them ever again.

She promised them that she would not and they let go, staring at her with a mix of amazement and regret. She could tell that they wanted to apologize for not believing in her, but were unsure on how to get the words out.

“It’s okay,” she said gently. “I know you were all angry. Frankly, you had every right to be. I promised that I would save Sunny, and I didn’t. I was scared…I didn’t want to risk losing you all after you all practically became my family…and it made me chicken out at the wrong time. I should’ve stayed strong and it’s my fault. I’m ready to try again though.”

Zipp’s whole body was trembling with nervousness as she gazed at her with sad eyes. “Misty, please don’t blame yourself. All of this is on me. This whole debacle started because I didn’t trust you.”

Misty was confused. “Zipp, we already talked about-“

“Listen,” Zipp interrupted her. “This isn’t just about what happened to Sunny, it’s about everything. Since the moment you came to Maretime Bay, I’ve treated you like a pawn in my investigation instead of a friend. I know we already talked about this three days ago, but it’s only now dawned on me that you were being abused this whole time and I did nothing to help you. I saw the signs, knew what was going on, and I did nothing. I only wish we could’ve talked more before…” she trailed off.

Misty understood what her friend was trying to say. “Before I stole Sparky and condemned him to his death…”

Zipp nodded. “You have nothing to apologize for. The fact that we didn’t see the signs makes us to blame for what happened to Sparky, not you. If I just talked to you and got you to open up about your experiences with Opaline at least once, then you could’ve used that as a reason to turn back. But I didn’t, and none of us were any wiser. You can’t be expected to be perfect all of the time, and we shouldn’t have accused you of lying to us. You saved our lives back there by forcing us to leave. Who knows what would’ve happened if we stayed and tried to get Sunny out?”

Misty put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “Zipp, thank you. I mean, you have every right to be angry and hate me…but…I’m grateful that you’re not, that none of you are.”

“I was afraid, Misty…” Izzy admitted softly. “For Sunny’s life…I was afraid she was going to die if we didn’t save her. But I’m not anymore…”

“Sometimes, ponies make mistakes,” Hitch told her. “But it’s what we do in the end that counts. Sunny taught me that. I may have lost Sparky, but I enjoyed the time that I had with him. This battle shall be fought in both his and her names.”

“You have a second chance now, Misty,” Pipp said. “Not only at redemption, but at a new life. We’ll be there for you whatever you do next, we promise. Congratulations on the new cutie mark by the way. Very fancy!”

“Thanks.”

The sound of Alphabittle clearing his throat interrupted their conversation and Misty turned back to look at him and Queen Haven, who were both pointing at the sight in front of them. She looked back around and saw that the earth ponies were angrily staring the unicorns and pegasi down. A crowd fight was due to happen at any moment.

She then faced Hitch and cleared her throat in order to address him. “Hitch Trailblazer, sheriff of Maretime Bay.” He nodded back in acknowledgement. “With your permission, I will speak to these ponies now. You will honor me by lending me the podium.”

“That much I can do,” Hitch agreed. “But you’ll probably have a tough time getting this crowd to listen to you. They wouldn’t even listen to me! And I’m their sheriff!!!!”

“I’ll certainly do my best.” With that, she walked over to the assembled crowd of ponies, who were currently engaged in a full on shouting match with each other. She stamped her hooves to get their attention. “Everypony, listen to me!!”

Suddenly, the crowd stopped arguing and all eyes were now on her. She swallowed hard, hoping desperately that what she was about to say wasn’t going to end up with her getting herself smacked to pieces like a piñata at a party.

“We have to save Sunny!” Misty told them. “She is our friend!”

“No she isn’t!!” shouted Posey Bloom. “She destroyed our magic! I had a bad feeling about that mare from the start, but did anypony listen?! No, because nopony ever listens to poor ‘ol Posey!! I tried to warn you ponies!!!!!!”

“Oh, just get over yourself, Karen!” another mare shot back. “None of us had any idea that she was going to turn out this way!”

“I did…” mumbled an embarrassed-looking Sprout from way off to the left. When he caught a few glares from the ponies next to him, he looked surprised. “What? Don’t look at me. We were friends once when she was a filly. Emphasis on were.”

“Please listen-“ Misty began to say before she was interrupted by the townsfolk now going after the crimson earth pony.

“You’re as bad as she is, lighthouse demolisher!” hollered another earth pony mare. “That was a priceless piece of Maretime Bay history!!”

“That was years ago!!” Sprout protested. “And Sunny was living in it! That makes it okay, right?”

“NO!!!”

“Sunny certainly deserves serious jail time, but you deserve the death penalty, jerk!! Sheriff Hitch was way too lenient on you!!” Dahlia accused him.

“Hey!”

“Believe it, manbaby!!” Toots insulted him.

“I’M NOT-“

“Sunny deserves to rot down to the deepest pits of Tartarus for what she did!!” Rosedust shouted. “There is no forgiveness to be had here!!”

“Everypony, please!!” Misty begged.

“She poisoned our water supply, burned our crops, and delivered a plague onto our houses!!” Lily screeched.

“SHE DID?!!”

“No!” Lily replied angrily. “But are we just going to wait around until she does?!! Something worse might happen!!”

“I say we all take her smoothie cart and chuck it down the ocean!!” Sugar Moonlight declared. “She doesn’t deserve to have any trace of her hard work preserved!! LET HER SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!!!”

“YEAH!!!”

“LET’S RAID THE BRIGHTHOUSE AND THROW ALL HER BELONGINGS DOWN WITH IT!!!”

“YEAH!!!”

From afar, Hitch watched the whole argument go down and facehoofed, groaning audibly. He knew that he should’ve killed that mare when he had the chance. She had apparently learned absolutely nothing from her time in jail.

“WE DON’T WANT SUNNY STARSCOUT HERE!! LET HER DIE ALONE!!!!”

“YEAH!!!!”

“LISTEN TO ME!!!!” Misty bellowed as loud as she could, her voice radiating and echoing throughout the entire vicinity, carrying authority wherever it went. She had never yelled this loud before in her life, but she knew that it had done the trick.

In an instant, the argument was quelled to a couple barely audible “yeah”s and angry stares. Nopony dared to make a move as they were all paralyzed in fear at the sound of her voice.

Misty let out an audible sigh of relief as she gazed at the crowd. “I get that you all hate Sunny for what she did!! But have you considered for one second what she’s been through her whole life due to your own selfish actions?!!”

“Mocking and belittling her for her naïve view on the world isn’t the same thing as committing a literal crime, Marcy,” Sugar stated flatly. “An ungrateful little brat is not somepony whom I’m intending to die for.”

Misty nodded solemnly. “You’re right.” The influencer blinked in surprise as she said that. She looked at all of the gathered ponies. “Then who shall you die for?”

The ponies of the crowd all looked at each other in confusion at her question.

Having gotten their attention, she walked to the podium after commanding the ponies to listen to her. She stood behind it and began to speak. “You all know full well that Sunny isn’t a bad pony! She believed in all of you! When you were all separated by fear, who traveled to the ends of the earth to prove her belief that you were better off together? Yes, she’s the reason you embrace those around you today! Why you had magic in the first place!”

The ponies began to look at each other with begrudging acknowledgment. It was true. They had never appreciated what Sunny had tried to tell them, nor apologized to her when she had turned out to be right. They all kept treating her like trash when all she was doing was advocating for what she believed in.

While she was speaking, Hitch and the remaining members of the Mane Five had joined the crowd and stood in the front row listening in anxious anticipation to her speech, waiting to hear more.

“And when you were all about to be forced to fight against one another,” Misty shouted. “Who was there despite losing everything she had ever loved to reach out with her hooves and offer you all a better way to live?!” She paused momentarily and began to indicate individual members of the crowd. “She’s the reason you made new friends…” Izzy looked up at her in sadness. “…she saw the good in all of you!! And she's the reason we believe in ourselves!!”

The crowd was fully paying attention now, expressions of anger now replaced with sorrow and grief over what they had done to the pony who had once treated them all like her friends. She glanced at her friends in the front. “We’ll do our parts…” Hitch held his breath as he awaited the inevitable response.

“Hooves to hearts.” she finished with a determined look.

Hitch nodded, a smirk appearing on his face as he whispered the words. “Hooves to hearts.” The ponies next to him began to repeat the word and it wasn’t long before the whole entire crowd was saying it to themselves. They looked at each other in shock and repeated the words again with a bit louder intensity.

“She’s right!” Windy realized, getting the attention of all those around her. “Sunny is our friend, everypony!!!! SHE NEEDS OUR HELP!!!!!”

That was when the whole crowd suddenly burst into a standing ovation, cheering the blue unicorn on with a newfound energy and vigor. In spite of the dangers of doing so, they knew what had to be done, and how they were going to fix it. Sunny was their friend, and they were going to bring her home.

“HOOVES TO HEARTS!!!!” Misty screamed at the top of her lungs with equal enthusiasm.

Alphabittle brandished a sword and held it up into the air in solidarity with his granddaughter as he bellowed as loud as he could: “For Sunny!!!”

The other unicorns followed his example, holding their hooves up in the air and shouting the same phrase. This was followed by the pegasi and the earth ponies doing it as well. In just a few short moments, the very thing that had been considered an impossible task several months ago had been accomplished.

The ponies were now unified again.

Within seconds, the streets were packed with more than a thousand ponies running back and forth in massive stampedes, shouting battle cries in a fervent manner and climbing up ladders on the town’s buildings to put up the banners of their civilizations. The unicorns helped the earth ponies raise the flag of Maretime Bay, and the pegasi helped out both parties.

Around another nearby block, Seashell and her fellow Pippsqueaks put war makeup on their faces and held out their cellphones into the air as weapons. This was followed by Sunshine Wings and Rainbow Tails, the fillies of Zipp’s flight academy, holding Wonderbolt banners out and waving them out in front of them as a sign of support.

All across the town, weapons were being brandished and flags were being hoisted. Atop the sheriff’s office, the unicorns were hoisting the flag of Bridlewood with Izzy’s help, while right above Sunny’s smoothie cart was the raising of her very own flag with her face on it. The earth ponies held up discarded smoothie cups, sipped through the straws, and raised them high into the air as the flag was put into place.

Meanwhile, Zipp and Pipp finally embraced their roles as princesses and were shouting orders to the pegasi raising the flag of Zephyr Heights above Mane Melody as Jazz and Rocky were climbing the ladder to put it on the roof. Queen Haven watched her daughters with pride, wiping tears from her eyes as she did so.

From atop of Canterlot Studios, Misty was watching the entirety of ponykind gear up for war with a confident look on her face. She may have failed to save Sunny before, but she was going to this time. Opaline was strong, but she had never fought the full might of Equestria at once. In her own words, she was going to feel the flames, the flames of rebellion.

Standing beside her was Hitch with an expression of equal determination. He had been sheriff for a long time, and now he could finally say that he was using his position to do the right thing. He was going to avenge Sparky and take down his killer in the most brutal way possible.

As the two looked on, the old flag of Equestria was hoisted in front of them, officially signaling the call to war.

---

Sunny lay on her small bed in Opaline’s room on her side, her eyes swollen and puffy from crying. Her body was covered in cuts and bruises and she was bleeding onto the tiny mattress she was laying on. She didn’t know how long she had been sobbing for, but it had to have been an eternity. Under normal circumstances, she could count on one of her friends to give her words of encouragement when she was feeling down. She could always rely on them for support.

This time, however, she had no one.

She had driven away everypony that ever cared about her and joined Opaline thinking that she would be valued and appreciated. Instead, all she had gotten was verbal and physical and abuse. Life was no different for her here than it was back home. She had been forced to take lives and plunder cities and threatened with death if she didn’t. She couldn’t even talk about the constant trauma inflicted on her as the other alicorn wouldn’t give her the time of day.

At least back home, she had friends to listen to her and hear her out. Yes, they had neglected her when she needed them most, but her life was so much better with them compared to with Opaline. She silently cursed herself for falling victim to blatant manipulation again. What kind of leader was she supposed to be when she couldn’t stop herself from falling to the dark side? She should’ve known better than to let herself be this vulnerable. She had opened herself up to love and it resulted in her getting hurt repeatedly.

Was she still angry at them? Of course she was, but anything was better than what she was currently forced to endure. She thought that after joining the evil alicorn, she would finally have a parental figure who loved and took care of her like Argyle did when he was alive. But she was wrong. She had instead fallen into a pattern of lies and deception that she knew she would never be able to leave.

She had committed so many crimes against ponykind that there was no way she could ever redeem herself or be forgiven. Her dream of changing the world for the better was dead and she was the cause of it. If only she could’ve listened to her friends and not fallen victim to Opaline, she could’ve had a nicer life. She had everything she could’ve ever wanted and she threw it all away in hopes of finding something better.

What kind of pony was she?

All she wanted was to make others happy and spread her passions around to those who would listen. Yet it was her passion that ultimately led to her being hurt by Sugar Moonlight and the Filly Four in the first place. She barely knew them in school, only seeing them in the hallways being paraded around by hundreds of adoring classmates. They had always been the golden ponies, the favorites, while she was shunned and ridiculed for her beliefs.

She had internalized it for years until she was old enough to start spreading her views around publicly, but all of the bullying stuck with her. She had always believed in her causes so strongly to a fault that when she faced the inevitable rejection, it stuck with her and she internalized it deeply. After magic was restored, she thought that ponies would be willing to listen to her.

Little did she know that the other ponies still despised her. She could still remember the sick enjoyment many of them had while beating her up, the sinister smiles some of them had as they pelted stuff at her, all while she was desperately begging them to stop. The day she got hurt was the biggest wake up call to her that nopony liked or cared about her. She had hoped that her friends would at least be there for her, yet she didn’t even see them for weeks as they were always holed up in the library with Misty. She didn’t hold any animosity towards the blue unicorn, contrary to what she had said prior. It was clear that she only wanted to redeem herself and make up for her mistakes. But the anger she felt towards all of them had blinded her that night and she lashed out when she shouldn’t’ve.

Now she was alone without anyone to care about her. If she died, no one would care. She had thrown away the only ponies who ever gave her the time of day at all just because of her grief. And now she was going to have to kill them if they ever returned for her. She didn’t want to, but Opaline wouldn’t give her any other choice.

It had to be done, and she hated that. She hated the feeling of helplessness, not being able to do a thing while everything she had ever loved crumbled around her. All because of her one stupid mistake. She would never be happy again. And all it took was one bad day.

The door to her room created open, interrupting her thoughts. Sunny abruptly sat up and looked in the direction of the sound, only to see Opaline walking in with an angry expression on her face. She was seething and Sunny began to tremble, thinking that she was about to be hit.

“O-O-Opaline…” Sunny greeted her shakily, doing her very best to not curl up into a ball and beg not to be hurt. She didn’t know what the alicorn wanted with her now, but it must not have been good.

Opaline regarded her coldly as she stood in front of her, wings outstretched with the authority she commanded over the earth pony. “Get up.”

Sunny did as she was told and got to her hooves, still shaking. She looked fearfully at her as she waited for her orders.

“I hope you learned your lesson, Sunny,” Opaline said harshly. “Don’t ever ask me to not make you do things ever again. I can do whatever I want with you, do you understand me?!!”
“Y-y-yes, m-ma’am…”

Opaline smiled sinisterly. “Good. Now, I’m actually feeling a bit generous today, contrary to what you may be thinking. Instead of taking you along to help me plunder New Appleloosa, I’m instead going to give you the job of watching the palace while I am away.”

“Watching the palace…?” Sunny asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Yes, that’s what I just said,” Opaline replied. “After all, this job does sicken you as I have seen. So consider this mercy on my end.”

Sunny simply nodded, refusing to say anything in response for fear of retaliation. Opaline appeared to notice this as her smile grew wider. She reached with her hoof and lifted her chin up until she was staring straight into the soulless eyes of her captor.

“You should be thanking me, Sunny,” the older alicorn sneered. “I shudder at the thought of where you would be without me. Those little ponies hated you. They cast you aside once they found their new favorite. You shouldn’t have any sympathy for such weak-minded equines who offered you nothing.”

“Y-y-you want me to kill them though…” she whispered.

“Yes. And we’ve been through this,” Opaline told her harshly. “If you’re going to prove yourself as a leader, you need to get rid of those in your way. Why do you even have any positive feelings towards them anyway? They clearly don’t for you.”

“T-th-then why did they come back for me-“

“Because they wanted to hurt you!” interrupted Opaline, who was clearly becoming increasingly more frustrated with her. “They wanted to destroy what little free will you have left. They like it when ponies are weak. Especially with you being an alicorn, it gives them extra power and status. You think they ever loved you for who you were?! Did they ever support or helped you spread your passions?!”

Sunny shook her head. “N-n-no, I-“

“Then why do you care about them?!!” Opaline demanded. “You’re stronger than this, Sunny!! If you want ponies to listen to you, you need to make it clear to them that they have no other choice!!!!”

“B-b-b-but I don’t want to kill anypony else-“

“STOP STAMMERING!!!” snapped Opaline, rearing her hoof back to hit her. Sunny immediately backed up against the bed, huddling and whimpering. Her face was full of terror, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she braced for the inevitable impact. “YOU’LL DO AS I SAY!!!”

“P-p-please d-don’t…” Sunny begged. “D-don’t hurt me, please…I-I’ll do what you want, I promise. I-I’m the one that’s wrong. I-I just need to get over them. You’re right.”

Opaline removed her hoof from Sunny’s face, satisfied that she had scared her into submission once more. “That’s better. You should know better that you have no future with them. You’ve gone too far to be in their good graces ever again. Remember, Sunny. Only I have your best interests at heart. When you first came to me, you were nothing but a scorned dog. But once we’re done conquering Equestria, that dog shall have a home…and a proper family.”

Sunny nodded again, opening her eyes. She blinked back tears that were threatening to come out. She couldn’t show weakness. That was wrong. She wouldn’t show her vulnerable side ever again. She would never be hurt again. She just needed to get the job done, as painful as it was.

“Y-you’re right…” Sunny replied. “I-I’ll do w-what must be done. I-I won’t doubt you again. I-I know y-you’re just doing this for my own good.”

“I am,” Opaline confirmed. “And I want you to know that I care about you, Sunny. I too was misunderstood by those around me and betrayed. You’ll never have to worry about that ever again. I will love you like your father did. I’m only trying to toughen you up.”

“I-I know…”

With that, Opaline turned and left Sunny alone in her bedroom, walking into the hallway and slamming the doors violently behind her.

One day, she would get rid of that miserable pony, just as she did Misty. But for now, she needed her loyalty. She had been taking baby steps for far too long. It was time that she finally show Equestria the full extent of her power. It was time that she finally demonstrated that she was not somepony to be messed with.

She grinned malevolently and walked to her main study where the Dragonstone hovered above, simmering with dark energy. She placed her hooves upon it, imagining how much power would soon be in her veins. Her redemption in the eyes of all who once rejected her was inevitable. She would prove them all wrong and at last, her worth would be seen.

“You’ll see, Twilight!” Opaline cackled. “You never deemed me worthy enough to help you when you needed it. You and Starswirl cast me out on my own when I was but an innocent filly. But look at me now!! I am a god just like you!! I finally have all the magic I need to carry on your legacy and take my place among our great ancestors from Skyros!! I shall become the new Princess of Friendship and rule over all of Equestria!!! And you, my mother, shall finally see my worth in death. ARE YOU PROUD OF ME NOW, PRINCESS?!!”

Her horn lit up with bright pink flames and she shot a blast of magic through the ceiling and into the sky, turning it a crimson red. The sounds of wailing could be heard and from the ground, zombie-like corpses of ponies with deformed faces began to rise out of the ground in droves. They growled and uttered guttural noises as they wobbled towards in different directions, ready to plunder any cities or towns that got in their way.

All while she was doing this, Opaline laughed maniacally. She had been bullied for all of her formative years, but at last, she got to be the bully. She was in control now and nopony could stop her reign of terror.

---

The doors to Mane Melody burst open and Misty walked inside with her friends, closing them behind her. Following the declaration of war and the Crystal Brighthouse undergoing some refurbishments to prepare for it, she and her friends had decided that the salon would be their new base of operations.

The lights instantly turned on and Jazz looked up from her newspaper with an eager smile on her face. She was obviously happy to see them. The ponies stopped in front of her as she stood up to greet them. Pipp walked up to her and showed her the other ponies.

“I brought my friends with me.” she said. Upon Jazz nodding in understanding, she turned towards her friends. “Everypony, Jazz has agreed to host us here until the Brighthouse is refurbished for war.”

Hitch nodded and each of them greeted the green earth pony as they walked past, with the exception of Misty, who simply walked past without saying a word as she had too much on her mind.

“It’s badass, Jazz.” Zipp complimented her before she walked past her to join her friends at the center of the salon.

Jazz smiled back in response before turning her head towards Pipp. “Well, I’ll go find the mane brushes.”

“Great.”

“Though, I don’t know how we’ll accommodate that many hooficures in one day.”

Pipp shrugged. “Just do your best.”

Jazz walked over to the other side of the room and disappeared into a storage closet while Pipp headed towards the place where her friends were.

“Well,” Misty said, breaking the momentary silence. “I think our course is clear. Izzy and I are going to head out to retrieve the other creatures tonight. We shouldn’t be long. Our first stop is the hippogriff kingdom.”

“Wait, hippogriffs?” Izzy asked. “I thought you said we needed to find the queen of the hippos. I was very confused.”

“Hippogriffs,” Misty corrected her. “They’re apparently part pony, part eagle. We’re not searching out hippos. Didn’t Skystar tell you as much during one of your meetings?”

Izzy’s face lit up with the realization. “Oh yeah! Weird, I thought she said that she was a hippo.”

“Anyway,” Zipp cut in, trying desperately to change the topic of conversation. “Do you two have any course beyond Hippogriffia?”

“Not that the moment,” Misty replied. “We could try the Dragon Lands, but we have no map to there or anything. It would be a shot in the dark whether we find it or not.”

“Doesn’t hurt to try, right?” Pipp said with a smile.

“True,” Misty admitted. “But the problem is the lack of map, plus the fact that any texts about them say that they've been hibernating. According to Argyle’s geographical guidebook I found in the Brighthouse basement, many of the other creatures have been wiped off the map overtime as they became forgotten. It seems like only the hippogriffs remain.”

“Then that’s what we’ll focus on,” Hitch confirmed. “If one kingdom joins us, the rest are sure to follow. Just focus on one thing at a time.”

“Right,” Zipp stated, a skeptical look on her face. “But if you two are going out doing the recruiting, then what are we going to do in the meantime? You guys can’t have all the fun.”

“The rest of you have the most important job,” Misty informed them. “You will be keeping Maretime Bay safe and train the ponies for battle, so that if or when Opaline attacks, you all will fend her off.”

“Sounds risky…” Pipp commented.

“It is, but this is the only way,” Hitch told her. “Misty knows what she’s doing. But to get back at a reasonable time, you will both have to leave as soon as possible.”

“Then we’ll do so,” Misty answered. “Get ready, Izzy. We have a long journey ahead of us.” The lavender unicorn nodded back in response.

“Before long, we’ll be fighting the devil and her army…in hell…” Zipp realized.

Izzy’s eyes were full of fear. “Yeah, I mean…Opaline’s probably fought…hundreds of thousands of other ponies in the other villages she’s destroyed, right? And we have to assume she’s won.”

“I don’t care how many demons she’s fought in how many hells,” Misty declared firmly, her expression reflecting sheer will and determination. “She’s never fought us. Not us united.”

Author's Note:

And here we are! The beginning of the end is upon us. Let me just say, this story has had to be the hardest one that I've ever written. With all of the evolution that Make Your Mark has been undergoing, I found it important to factor in as much canon as possible from the show, while still keeping the AU status. That meant expanding Alphabittle's role in the story in the wake of Chapter 5's release during rewrites. Plus, I needed to establish connective tissue between this story and Purpose as when I first started writing this, that story didn't exist. Plus, as my writing craft improved over the course of all these months, I became dissatisfied with how certain plot points played out and felt the need to do EXTENSIVE additions to the storyline and characters, which included certain dynamics and relationships. Heck, the whole Haven x Alphabittle thing was an afterthought in the original edit, and much of Izzy's dialogue had to be tweaked in order to establish the fact that she is in fact Misty's sister in this universe. So this chapter is a hell of a lot longer than originally anticipated and double the length to boot. I really went out of my way to make sure that this story is the conclusion you all deserved, and that includes bringing the story full circle.

You all might be wondering why this story is light on action so far, aside from Hitch's Batman v Superman-inspired chase scene through town in the beginning. Well, that's because I realized early on that there were two things that people came looking for when it comes to this Saga, those being the heartfelt and emotional character work, and the Lord of the Rings-esque epic storyline and action. Not wanting to sacrifice a possible grand spectacle of a finale, I split the structure of this story in two, whereas this chapter is primarily centered around Misty's quest for redemption, and the second chapter will provide closure on both her and the other characters, while centering itself primarily on the final battle against Opaline. As I'm writing this, I currently have three scenes left for Part 2 and it will release on the day Secrets of Starlight comes out, that being the 23rd. Sorry that this story wasn't released on the 20th as promised, but I needed to give this story more time to cook in the writing room. You all know me; I'm only satisfied with releasing the best quality stories I could possibly offer (except on April Fools day. That's when I don't mind shitposting a little bit ).

So I hope this gives you a little taste of what's to come in a few days. Let me tell y'all, Part 2 goes HARD. As always, feel free to let me know your thoughts on this chapter below and I will see you all in a few days for the end of an era. Bye!

Comments

[ponydog127]

This... this story was extraordinarily planned. I'm excited to see what comes next!

Chapter 6... the final chapter... while it may be coming in a few days, but that doesn't mean we can't keep the G5 spirit alive!

[BronySonicFan]

Oh, boy! I loved this first part.

However, my fear has increased as well, since the next chapter, something happens and I know about it, I just don't know about the who. Nightwing, Sir, don't you dare to make me cry a river, or else you'll be hearing about my lawyers!

[LordFlareon]

Absolutely incredible! This is looking to be an epic finale!

[Charcoal Flower]

That was a really great start, can't wait to see how the story goes from here.

[ponydog127]

11755312
I mean... 41000 words?! You put a lot of effort into this!

[The Blue EM2]

“ And this just in ,” Dazzle Feather explained over footage of a large-scale battle happening right in front of Opaline’s castle. “ A military patrol of about 300 pegasi sent by Queen Haven is getting absolutely slaughtered by the evil alicorn and Sunny Starscout. Body-cam footage shows guards retreating and going down in droves …”

Just 300 troops? Man, demobilisation really did a number on them.

[The Blue EM2]

Damn, Admiral! You've got enough plot for an entire story packed into a single chapter. Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!

[Admiral Producer]

11756427
That’s the beauty of the two-part format I adopted. I wanted to give this the structure of a typical MLP finale two-parter, so it’s two superchapters for the whole deal.

[The Blue EM2]

11756431
Keep it up! I really need to up my game when it comes to writing.

[Flamewarrior02]

Okay, now taking the time to read all of this. Holy S##t this was awesome!

Definitely had my heart being tugged at many times throughout this chapter. How dark everything was feeling at the start, how the little hope at the beginning died out, and how Sunny is now trapped in a tar pit of her own making.

Even if ponies will forgive her, I fear she may never forgive herself and return to a life of peace.

Here’s hoping we can at least defeat the evil plaguing this land for good.

NOW IS THE TIME TO ATTACK!