Misty has always wanted to impress Opaline. But when she finds a new calling, a purpose beyond servitude, she feels that she might not want a life defined by a pony who does not care for her..
Misty blindly follows Opaline's rule. She couldn't refuse, because she had nowhere else to go. No family, no real friends. No one knew who she was or where she came from, besides Opaline.
She feels shame for all the things she has done, from her lies to her outright theft. But everypony has a price. Opaline has promised her a cutie mark for her unconditional servitude. Opaline is an Alicorn, one of the most powerful creatures to ever exist, her rise to ruler is inevitable.
After helping Opaline, Misty realizes her mistakes and regrets them. Perhaps even a cowardly mare like Misty can stop whatever evil plan Opaline has in store.
Misty slowly creaked open the door to Opaline's throne room. Misty always had to be cautious, Opaline had a habit of surprising her by flying down from the top of the tower, yelling orders directly behind. She had a room up at the very top of the tower, one that Misty never had the honor of seeing. She bit her lip. Opaline had to be awake by now, but Misty was scared of facing her.
The last time they spoke, Misty had been scolded for her failure to obtain Opaline's dragon Sparky…. Misty wished Sparky didn't have to be dragged into all this. Tip-shoeing into the throne room, she looked about, thinking maybe Opaline had fallen asleep, she sighed and let her body relax.
As she looked upon the throne across the room, she remembered the few times where she would sit on Opaline's throne pretending to be a princess herself. But that was when she was a mere filly, silly and thoughtless of Opaline's true power.
Opaline appeared from behind her, flying right above her shoulder.
“MISTY” Opaline yelled, flying mid-air.
“AAAH” Misty yelled, so startled that she hopped a bit in the air. Misty could feel the disappointment on Opaline's face as she quickly shot her head to look at her disapproving glare. Misty whimpered and curled into her usual stature. Opaline must always be respected and feared, Misty had been told this from the early stages of her acceptance into Opaline's castle. It was drilled into her mind, and she always remembered.
“Misty, I thought by now you would've outgrown your usual jitters” Opaline remarked flippantly rolling her hoof.
“S-SORRY Op-paline! I-I’ll try not to jitter!” Misty remarked as she twirled her hoof on the ground causing a small noise.
Opaline landed on the floor, clopping her large hooves on the floor and glancing a nasty look at Misty. She made it over to her magic pool, where she occasionally caught a glance at the ponies in Maretime Bay. To Misty, it seemed like Opaline could only do this a few times for a couple minutes a day. Almost like she didn't have much magic to draw from. But Misty would never say such things to the alicorn, it would earn her a hefty berating.
“Mmmm~” Opaline hummed as she looked at one of the unicorns. It was Izzy. She was floating a musical instrument by her horn and humming a tune; ever since the incident with Sparky, she'd been taking up more musical endeavors, particularly the flute. Pipp was pleased with this.
“Huh..” She tilted her head as she looked upon the unicorn with great interest. She walked around the pool chuckling a bit as she did.
“Misty…” She said as she turned her head with a slight smile towards the small unicorn.
“W-what Opaline?” Misty said as she crept towards the Alicorn nervously. Misty never knew what task Opaline would ask of her next.
“You need to learn to use your unicorn abilities, if you can do that, then you might be able to capture the dragon" Opaline said as she walked closer to Misty.
“My unicorn abilities?” Misty asked, craning her head.
“Yes, if you can levitate objects, then maybe you might ACTUALLY have a chance of fulfilling my request” Opaline remarked as she got into Misty's face and smiled.
“B-but how! I don’t know the first thing about magic, I don’t even have my cutie mark!” Misty yelled, waving her hooves.
“You don’t need a cutie mark to use your unicorn abilities! The crystals brought magic back to all unicorns, even cutie-markless fillies. Even you.” Opaline said as she walked around her.
Misty cringed a little as she sat on the ground. The floor had brief dirt marks, how long had it been since it had been cleaned she wondered…
“Where would I even start?” she asked as she caressed her cheek with her hoof.
“Here, take this.” Opaline gave her a small rock. “Levitate it” She said.
Misty gazed at the rock confused. Before glancing at the unpleased face of Opaline.
“Ugh, Misty, what are you waiting for, somepony to do it for you? JUST LEVITATE IT” Opaline said as she walked away and laid on her throne.
Misty watched her, then walked around the rock, picking it up with her hooves and tossing it about. She studied it wholeheartedly. She brought it close to her nose glaring at the object as though it had slighted her.
“Ok rock, this shouldn’t be so hard…. Just cooperate for me ok?” Misty remarked as she set it back down on the hard floor. Straining her head, she filled her cheeks with air as she tried to direct a magic stream onto the rock. Her eyes crossed in opposite directions and her face turned a shade of red.
It didn’t work. Crouching down she stared intently, as though something would happen automatically as she held a staring contest with the rock. Sighing, she got back on her hooves once more circling the object with a cold expression.
“Alright rock, you can’t beat me! I’ve got the power of magic and Opaline on my side!”
Misty closed her eyes and let out a loud seething noise from her teeth as she tried to unlock her magic. She creaked open one eye, and saw one small spark fly from her horn onto the rock.
It didn’t do anything, but something was better than nothing. Misty gasped at her progress, and smiled, exhausted.
“You call that magic? That was worse than a newborn….quite literally" Opaline remarked from across the room on her throne. “Misty, do put in more effort than that" Opaline said as she looked away but mockingly waved her hoof.
Misty became embarrassed as she shot her ears to the sides of her head. Slowly rotating her hoof in a circular motion, she resumed doing nothing.
"How am I supposed to levitate this rock?" Misty whispered to herself as her eyebrows furrowed.
Misty started back towards her room, thinking nothing could be done right away. Opaline’s request had been done spur of the moment, Misty had no prior knowledge of how magic worked, or if she could use it at all.
“Where are you going? You can’t leave until you levitate that rock!” Opaline yelled at Misty as she scowled.
"What! But I can't…" She said as she rocked back and forth.
"You can and you will, stay right where you are and don't move until you figure it out" Opaline said, crossing her hooves and pointing her nose up like a snooty princess.
Misty signed and went back to the rock. It was quite a foe. Magic seemed like something innate for the other unicorns, but she just couldn't seem to do it.
For a few hours she tried and got a few more tiny sparks to fly off, but nothing else. What once felt like progress now just felt like a chore. Repeating and failing something so simple made her feel inadequate.
After those few long hours, Opaline was looking into her pool once more, watching the ponies in the town go about their day. She looked over to Misty and released her from her captivity.
"Misty." Opaline said.
"Y-yes Opaline?" Misty replied, exhausted.
"Go down into the town and figure out how the other unicorns use their new powers." She said.
"Of course! Of course! I-i won't fail! I me-mean I will find out for you Opaline" Misty replied excitedly getting up.
Misty hurried from her spot. Running into her room, she drew back on her fake cutie mark with haste. The town was still a ways away. So it would take a bit to get there.
"Bye Opaline!" Misty said with a huge smile on her face as she ran down the stairs and out the front door. She always liked to be around the ponies of Maretime Bay. She couldn't wait to get to the town. Maybe she'd have to spy a bit, but it would be ok if she laid low. After about 30 minutes, she reached her destination.
Slowing her pace, she could see some ponies walking about. No sign of Izzy or any others, but that was fine. She would've gotten all nervous around them anyway. Looking at the small shops, a couple of unicorns could be seen trotting out and levitating bags with items in them. In hindsight, perhaps Bridlewood would have been a better contender for abundant amounts of unicorns. Maretime Bay only had a few who moved recently.
Tapping her hoof against her chin, Misty scanned the area, two unicorns, ten earth ponies, and one pegasus flying overhead. Still no sign of Izzy or any others. She trotted towards the middle of town, which was usually where Sunny's stand was. Ever since she became a magical alicorn, her business was booming with all sorts of ponies.
Seeing that the large stand was there and Sunny was serving different ponies, Misty decided to stick around. Seeing if any other unicorns would go there.
She sat for a while, drawing little doodles on the dirt as she waited. A butterfly, one of the things she best knew how to draw, and fire, the thing Opaline was obsessed with. She'd always been drawn to butterflies, they hung out right outside her window. They seemed so free and good-spirited.
But Opaline liked fire, she'd told Misty stories of ponies forged in fire. All attempting to steal her prestige. Misty often wondered if Opaline had spoken of her siblings, perhaps the ancient alicorn once had a family. But she always spoke as if they were her enemies. She'd been shown small murals of them, which bore striking resemblance to Opaline herself, but Misty would never bring it up.
A small bright yellow unicorn filly walked up to the stand, getting a smoothie and trotting away.
Misty contemplated, a unicorn filly was much less threatening to talk to than a full-grown one. And this particular unicorn had helped Pipp and Zipp escape from her trap. She decided to speak with her.
"Oh, uh, hey kid!" Misty yelled as she nervously trotted towards the unicorn.
"Huh? What is it?" She turned her head to look at Misty.
"Uh, um well, are you friends with Pipp? I saw you in her newest music video. How does it go.. uh. Oh, oh where'd it go? Oh, oh, where'd it go? We're not gonna stop till we find what we're missing" Misty sang awkwardly.
"Oh! Yes! I am friends with Pipp, that was a great rendition!" The small filly replied, beaming a bright smile on her face. "I'm surprised, you're the only pony who seemed to notice so far!" She said bouncing in place.
"Well, I want to know more about the princess! And I was hoping to speak with you about her" Misty managed to blurt out in a rush as she pinned her ears to her head and averted her eyes.
"Of course! It's only natural to want to know the princess better, what do you want to know?" The young unicorn said with curious eyes.
"Uh, well, you see, what does she think about unicorns? You know, it's strange for a princess to be FRIENDS with other kinds, not to mention common ponies. I-I mean, I know she lives in that house with 3 others…not including her sister. But that could easily just be for appearances" Misty said, airing a questioning tone to her words.
The small unicorn looked at her blankly. "Huh? You think she's pretending?" She said looking at Misty with a bewildered stare.
"Well, it's possible, don't you think? You know, unicorns like us, t-hat thing…uh…. that allows us to do magic, that uh… what is it again?" Misty asked, raising her hoof and leaning closer to the filly. With a nervous smile.
"Our Sparkle! Izzy says that's our sparkle!" The unicorn yelled leaving her mouth agape.
"Yeah! That!" She said as she pointed to the pony. "Uh, well, maybe Pipp knows about that, and she wants to take it from us! It could happen! I m-mean, the pegasus have a whole lot of technology. They even brought phones to us more common ponies for little price. Couldn't that be z-zapping our sparkle? Pipp just LOVES us using her phones to see all her videos. Wouldn't It be p-possible?" Misty said dramatically as her voice cracked its way through the entire sentence. Nervousness filled her whole body.
The unicorn bolted, leaving Misty in the dust. Twisting her around before she could think. She shook her head, watching the small filly run off into the distance. She'd just come up with that lie on the spot.
"Now, this Sparkle thing sounds like it could be just what I need! Now to find Izzy…wherever she is.." Misty thought as she happily trotted off, now aimed at a tangible goal.
Looking around the town, Izzy was nowhere to be found. And that put Misty off, that pony was usually the easiest to run into. Always aware of everyone and everything.
This strange fact didn't last long. Because Izzy appeared behind Misty in a flash. It reminded Misty of Opaline's surprises from back home.
"Ah!" Misty yelled, turning around towards Izzy.
"Oh hey, Misty!" Izzy said, tilting her head. "Whatcha up toooo?"
"I-izzy… good.. GREAT even, yeah, I was just talking to one of the Pipp-squeaks just a few minutes ago" Misty replied, fidgeting a bit.
"Huh.. so you wouldn't happen to know why I saw all 3 of them acting really peculiar" Izzy Said, pulling her hoof close to her face in contemplation.
Misty began to sweat, her stomach dropped with guilt "NOPE, I wouldn't know! Must just be kids being kids!!!" Misty said, feeling her eyes dart around.
"Hm, ok! Huh" Izzy said, strangely slinking around Misty, eying her up and down. Misty froze, feeling Izzy's eyes crawling around her whole body. Like a snake.
"W-what are you doing??" Misty asked, following her friend with her eyes.
"Your sparkle looks…. different today…" Izzy commented, looking both suspicious and shocked. "Less pink, more red" She said, eyeing her with a strange expression and emotion Misty hadn't seen yet before.
"Does it??? Well, I don't know anything about that, you are the sparkle expert!!!" Misty exclaimed half-excitedly but half filled with dread.
"Well… usually pink is your sparkle color, but changing colors usually means a change in magical ability." Izzy said, contemplating.
"Oh.. w-well I have been trying t-to learn some new spells.." Misty said, dilating her pupils. "Yeah! Um, the library has some old books they brought out of storage with all kinds of history and spells!" Misty said.
"Oh. Well, it's probably fine then! I think" Izzy whispered at the end. "Well! I have to go! See you later Misty!!!" Izzy yelled as she galloped away.
"Uh! OK!...uh" Misty yelled back as she watched the unicorn run away. Misty thought maybe Izzy had become suspicious of her, but maybe not? That unicorn was hard to pinpoint.
Misty felt disappointed in herself. She hadn't even the slightest clue why your "Sparkle" has magical qualities, or even why hers had changed. Perhaps her earlier practice of levitation had impacted it in some way? But Misty didn't know how that would happen.
She saw that Pipp's salon was a few feet away, she felt a bit bad the last time she had run out. Her hair probably did need some cleaning, Opaline didn't have any hair products. Although, Misty didn’t have any money either, so buying anything was out of the question. Until of course, she could find out how to obtain money.
Walking over to the building, noting a unicorn trotting out of the store with a freshly groomed mane, and pulling the door open, she could see different ponies in the chairs with a small performance from the employees on the stage while they had their hair done.
She carefully trotted her way down the aisle, seeing many holding phones or books. Books that had come from the library archives of history that had long been labeled as propaganda by the leaders.
Titles like "Celestia and Luna take on Discord" "Tree of harmony" and Misty's favorite. "Magical spells and ailments, a guide on curing magical diseases".
Misty heard from Opaline many magically oriented curses she had done in the past. For Misty, it was as though traveling back in time to all the stories she had heard. She thought for a second.
"Wait, I should've gone to the library! There should be plenty of information about magic there! Ugh… why didn't I do that earlier!"
Misty slapped herself over the head, she should've thought of this sooner. It would be so much easier to get a book instead. She chuckled to herself, thinking about the library as she turned to go back towards the door.
"Gasp* Misty!!!" Some pony said from her side.
Misty turned her head to see the one and only Pipp Petals looking at her.
Her stomach dropped, she remembered the blatant conspiracy theory she told the small unicorn about Pipp. She froze in place.
"Would she know about what I said? No, no way, she can't know. It's fine, she's only saying hi"
Pipp eagerly walked up to Misty. "Hiiiiii Mistyyyy" She waved her hoof.
"H-hey, Pipp!" Misty said.
"Wow, ok so like, last time you were here was a huuuggge bummer. But look! You're back now. So nice to see Zipps outburst didn't scare you away!" Pipp happily exclaimed.
"Yeah..it's fine really. I know what it's like to be obsessed with something…." Misty said, looking to her flank.
"Weelll, do you want to get your hair done? I'll post your new style on my pooonnyyygrammm" Pipp said, singing the last word while fluttering her wings.
"O-oh, well I don't have any money to pay for something like that.." Misty said, drooping her head.
"Ohh, that's fine! Consider it my treat after the incident with Zipp! My apologies again by the way" Pipp said.
"But-"
"Uh, nuh uh. No buts!"
Pipp sat her down in a chair, whirring her around to the mirror.
"Now just relax, pick what you want! It doesn't have to be a haircut either! Take it away, Rocky!"
Misty began to sweat in her seat. Everything was getting dizzy. She felt guilty for receiving such kindness from Pipp after her admittedly nasty lie. The guilt would probably stick around for a while.
"Hey there! Hm, I saw you last time you were here, but you rushed away so suddenly!" The pegasus declared. "Names Rocky by the way" He said as he held out his hoof.
Misty stared at the stallion's hoof, wondering if she should accept a hoof-shake. She hesitantly held out her hoof and shook it up and down, while he smiled.
"So, Pipp gave you a free styling! Lucky you! So what do you want?" He asked.
"I- I don't know.. um, my hair has always been the same" Misty whispered.
"Always the same? Well, we'll have to change that!" Rocky happily trotted over to the products and scissors. "A cut?" He asked.
"Ah..n-no cutting please" Misty said.
"Alrighty" the stallion rubbed his hooves together. "May I braid it then?"
"Um, sure"
"This will take a while then, strap in!" He exclaimed.
Then began the long process of braiding her hair. Rocky told her it would take a long time, but she never expected for it to be as lengthy as it was. She felt guilty, all this work, and she wasn't even paying! It was akin to stealing in her mind.
To pass the time, Misty wondered what books she could bring back to Opaline. Magic? Spells? Ancient Equestria? She had a hard time imagining what she would find.
Her hair went this way and that, other ponies were leaving and some were coming in. She closed her eyes, almost dozing off. It was a solid couple hours for sure, but it was finally finished.
"Ok, go ahead and look" Rocky said, turning her chair.
Her hair looked different. Misty's eyes watered at her new appearance.
This was too much, truly. Her gut welled up with guilt again, her eyes leaked tears. Her reflection was one not of Opaline's assistant, but one of her own. Her own identity. She was afraid of what Opaline would think, would she scold her? Yell? Demand that she change it back? Misty didn't know.
She wiped her face of her sorrow "thank you" she said.
Rocky looked at her with solemn expression "no problem, come back anytime" he smiled.
Misty got up out of her seat and walked out of the salon. It was getting quite late, and she still needed to check out a book to bring back home. Turning a corner, in her view was the library. She sighed, moving her hooves to get straight to the building.
The door jingled when she came in, no ponies in sight for the time being. There were piles of unorganized books in the room. It was dusty and unkempt. She wondered why anyone would come here at all.
The aisles were packed, stretching from the door to the counter. Rows of them stretched to the ceiling. She turned her head to each side, eyeing some titles on the shelves. Some even looked to be of pegasus origin, meaning they had transferred them over from the pegasus city.
"Hello?" Misty said, drawing her eyes across the room. "Uh hello?"
"What?? HUH??" A small old pony looked out from one of the shelves, straightening the glasses on her muzzle.
"Oh my, I didn't expect somepony this late" the pony whispered to herself.
Squeezing around some books, the Mare looked at Misty.
"Hello dear, what might you be here for so late?" The old pony asked.
"Hello ma'am, uh, you wouldn't happen to have any books on old world unicorn spells would you?" Misty asked the mare.
"Well, I don't know why you would need any of those. Old world unicorn magic is quite complicated. Unicorns only just recently learned to levitate objects. And these books claim that changing matter to other types of matter, teleportation and even time travel was possible!" The old pony exclaimed as she almost dropped the books she was holding.
Misty looked strangely at the pony who was in front of her. Did she not want Misty checking out books?
"Uh, well, that's what I came for. I was just curious about the old types of unicorn spells" Misty said.
"Well, I suppose your curiosity is admirable" the old pony said, beginning to dig into the piles of books, tossing them about and skimming some pages. "Hm, no. Ahhh, no not that one. Hm ah yes!"
She held a book close to Misty's face. The title was "Starswirl, Magic and Destiny"
"This is a copy of a book made by the most ancient unicorn to ever exist. He was once thought to be a myth or propaganda, but now, with these new developments, it's likely he was real."
"Wow…" Misty said.
"Hitch and Sunny visited me and told me to freely give history books to anypony who wanted them, so go ahead and take it." The old pony said.
"Thank you very much" Misty said, taking the book from her hooves.
"Don't get too carried away now, it will probably be a very long while before any high level spells can be performed by a unicorn in this age. It will take years of practice and honing your magical power. At least, that's if ancient unicorn abilities are to be believed" the old mare explained.
"Alright…" Misty said. She looked at the book, it was a cool green color. The swirl and sparkle on the cover only added to the old looking appearance.
She wondered if the book would help in her pursuit of magical knowledge, or if she was always destined to fail at spells. Either way, Misty hoped Opaline wouldn't scold her too much.
Misty walked in front of the castle that was home to both her and Opaline. She hesitantly opened the front door, seeing the large winding stairs to the throne room. She held the book in her hoof. The cover shone in the moonlight of the windows. It was quite a beautiful night. She has always wondered about those empty halls as a filly, wondering what ponies used to live and work there. Sometimes she found relics of previous staff like decorated cutie mark blankets or small bracelets or various trinkets. She had once asked Opaline about them, wondering what could have happened to them, but Opaline was never pleased with the comments, but never as cruel as she was now.
Misty had quite the outing in the town. She had only just arrived back at the castle hours afterward. She had taken her sweet time as well, facing Opaline was always such an ordeal that Misty could hardly stand it. The guilt, the disappointment, the shame. It was all so uncomfortably horrible. No doubt she would love for Opaline to be proud of her, show her in the sweetest affections and compliments, but that was a hollow pipe dream. One that Misty knew all too well to be impossible in nature.
She finally reached the top. Seeing the magnificently decorated door, one that held the most interesting craftsmanship, only fueling Misty’s curiosity over the years as to who had done it, she creeped into the room, seeing no sign of Opaline. But like always, there was a good chance she would appear soon. Misty closed her eyes. Taking deep breaths. Remembering calming moments other than with her maniacal caretaker.
"It won't surprise me this time" She whispered. Pressing the book tightly to her chest.
She could hear the faint sound of hooves touching the ground.
"MISTY!" Opaline yelled from behind.
She wasn't surprised, she slowly turned around, facing Opaline. "Hi Opaline…" Misty stammered, looking away and to the side, not bearing the impact of Opalines eye contact.
Opaline quickly took notice of Misty's sudden changes.
"Hm." Opaline smirked. "What's that you have there Misty?" She asked, smiling. Obviously curious as to what she had in her possession.
"It's a book on magic I got from the library" She said, clutching it to her chest like a newborn foal.
"Hand it here" Opaline demanded, holding out her hoof.
Misty obliged, handing it over.
Opaline eyed the book, looking dubiously at the cover and title. "Starswirl, Magic and Destiny? Well, certainly not the worst thing you've brought me." She said rolling her eyes and flipping through the pages with ease. "Spells, beginner to master, potential of unicorn abilities and manifestation of greater power."
Opaline stopped. Staring at Misty questingly. She handed back the book. Starting off towards her throne once more.
"Read the whole thing, if you find nothing, read all the magic books in the town, I don't care, find something useful" Opaline remarked as she laid down lazily on her throne.
Misty slowly stepped towards the door to her room, she opened it and carefully shut it closed. She was quiet and Dumbfounded. The alicorn was much less judgemental than usual.
Misty sighed as the moonlight spilled into her bedroom window. The tension in her body released into the cool air coming in, revealing Misty's eagerness to actually read the book that Opaline had so quickly skimmed through, almost like she already read it.
She put the book down on the ground, laying on the cold floor, she flipped to the first page.
"Page 1.
Magic has always been an enigma, coded in many layers of both talent and dedication. Unicorns have long debated the difference between the two, but to me, Starswirl the Bearded, both of these and one more are required to be great spellcaster"
Misty cocked her head. She was confused, what more was needed for magic? You needed more power. Power and strength were the root of all magical abilities that Misty knew of. She found herself enamored instantly, she quickly read more.
"Yes, one more is required for becoming a great spellcaster. You need to be able to make your thoughts become reality"
Misty's eyes were glued to the book, she found the whole thing fascinating. She had never known books could be so interesting.
"Learning to make your own imagination a spell is much harder than casting someone else's spell. This myth that you need someone else's spell persists. This innate suspicion that your spell will not work is the very core of failed spells.
We perceive that others' spells will work better than our own, because of doubt! Doubt in our abilities and all else. But If you eliminate doubt, you can eliminate failed spells!"
Misty was taken aback, unicorn abilities couldn't be contained AT ALL?? How was that possible! This was utterly preposterous.
"My first advice to any unicorns learning spells, don't rely on others too heavily. Your magical ability Is much more powerful than you will ever know."
Misty began reading with her utmost attention. It was strange for her to feel passion for something. Never did she have hobbies or even an interest in books. Now all her concentration was on reading.
Spells, magic, cutie marks symbolizing magic ability. She read it all. It sucked her in, numbing all her senses except her own imagination. The bright moonlight greeted her with open arms, shining bright enough for her to read.
It brought her back to even before Opaline. She didn't remember much before then, but she did know that it reminded her of something more than the old, rickety, and cold tower.
"Page 125
The most important part of utilizing your magical power, is using your own being as a conduit. Emotion is the center of all beings, including ponies.
Unicorn magic is much more powerful when paired with great emotion. That is the reason newborn foals possess great strength, and how desperate ponies will obliterate all in their path, no matter how strong."
She gasped at the revelation. Could she learn this as well? Not likely…. She didn't even know if she was connected with magic, let alone spells.
"When doing basic spells like levitation, small fillies should practice putting their whole self to that spell. Every emotion, everything that upset them that day, or made them laugh. Should go straight to that spell. It will make the process of learning much easier."
Misty stared silently at the book. She was still laying on the ground in her room. She hadn't even remembered. But suddenly she was broken from her trance of reading.
These new words were intoxicating to Misty. She had always wanted a cutie mark, but she was never good at anything, other than sneaking. But that didn't quite count. She had never cast a real spell, let alone one that was above her skill level. But others had done it, so why couldn't she?
She suddenly stood up, overcome by awe and curiosity. She closed her eyes, thinking of everything that had happened to her that day. The shame of lying, the guilt of abusing kindness, the happiness of her new appearance, and of course the passion of her reading. She directed it all to her spell.
Only one thought was on her mind. Just like the book had suggested.
Levitate
Misty felt a chill in her spine, it went all the way through her body and her horn. It startled her, being that it was a cold and unfamiliar feeling.
She opened her eyes, the book she once read was floating above the floor.
Pink and red aura covered her entire body. She looked to the ground, she herself was floating as well. Along with her bed and phone. She waved her legs frantically, trying to find a floor where there was none.
"EEP!!!" She yelped.
Suddenly everything, including her body, fell to the ground. Causing a hard slam to the floor. She closed her eyes and reached for the book when she heard loud footsteps at her door. It slammed open, revealing a very angry Opaline.
"MISTY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?" She yelled, stomping her hooves in the doorframe.
"Uuuggghhh" Misty groaned. "I think I'm going to be sick" She covered her mouth. Pulling her ears to the sides of her head in shame.
"MISTY!! Have you been up all night!" Opaline yelled, still stomping and fuming.
"Yes…" Misty mumbled.
"Did you EVEN find out anything useful?" Opaline asked through her seering anger.
"......" Misty fell silent. She felt that same drop in her gut. She couldn't possibly lie to Opaline? Could she?
"N-no.. bu-t I-I just wanted t-to do what you told me…" Misty said, burying her head between her hooves.
"Misty, JUST BE QUIET! DON'T WAKE ME AGAIN!" Opaline yelled. Slamming the door closed once again.
Misty didn't understand why she lied to Opaline about the spell she just performed. She didn't take lying to Opaline lightly either, the alicorn had a nasty temper. One that Misty knew all too well over the years.
Misty quietly sat on the cool floor. She was quite tired. Bags were under her eyes. She sighed, climbing onto her bed which was now slightly crooked. She remembered her spell. It almost didn't seem real, like a fairytale that Misty had stumbled her way into by accident.
Closing her eyes, she wondered what else she could do if she put her mind to it?
Misty awoke with vigor. It was a bit later than she usually woke up, but that was fine with her. The previous day, she had cast a spell that levitated everything in her room.
She could hardly believe herself. This new feeling of excitement buzzed within her. She jumped out of bed, scooping up the book she was reading last night. She needed more, more books, more knowledge, more magic.
She wondered if this was what Opaline felt like when she had more magic? She happily trotted out of her bedroom door. She felt lighter, and happier than before.
She turned her head, seeing that Opaline had already awoken. She was glaring into her precious pool once again. Misty wondered why she couldn't just leave the castle herself…
"Opaline always sends me away to do everything. Why is that? Why can't she leave this castle?" she thought.
She pondered it while walking towards the shimmering pool. The alicorn had a sour expression on her face, but when didn't she. She did not even notice Misty standing right next to her, glancing at what Opaline was looking at. It was the dragon Sparky.
“Ohhh” Misty said, still standing next to Opaline.
“Gah!” Opaline yelped, looking shocked that Misty was standing there. “When did you get here Misty?” Opaline asked, confused.
“Hm? Just a moment ago Opaline” Misty remarked calmly.
The alicorn pried her eyes away from the bright-eyed unicorn to look back at the pool. Misty noticed that she hadn't yelled yet or even ordered her to do something yet. Misty’s mind once again wondered about spells, the small dragon Sparky very easily cast all sorts of spells. Where did dragons come from? Was there only one left? Or did magic awaken them from some sort of slumber? It was actually quite fascinating, many ancient creatures could have gone extinct, but maybe they didn’t, maybe they were just dormant until now.
"Hey Opaline, do you think there are any other dragons?" Misty asked.
"What? Well… I don't know." Opaline said. "His egg practically came from nowhere, I doubt there would be others" She firmly remarked.
"But it couldn't have come from nowhere. Hey Opaline, do you think any other ancient creatures came back?" Misty asked.
"Misty, I'm going to say this in the nicest way possible. NO. I’m too tired for your questions" Opaline established as she pulled her hoof down her drowsy face.
"Ah…alright." Misty said, backing off and rocking in place.
Opaline stared at the small dragon intently. She didn't say anything, merely looking without speaking. She had planned to tell Misty eventually, but she wondered if she should.
"Misty, I'm going to tell you a story." Opaline said, while looking queasy and unkempt.
"Huh?"
"There were many things that happened in ancient times. Magic artifacts and creatures were as common as technology is now" Opaline continued with a blank stare into the pool, the colors shining and dancing on her face. "Unicorns were both numerous and powerful. Making them the obvious leaders. But the dragons were jealous, some stole unicorn magic and adapted to their fire. Making any magical qualities a unicorn may have, completely accessible for dragons as well."
Opaline turned to Misty, weighing her next words carefully. Misty felt caution in the alicorn's face.
"And so, these dragons became powerful adversaries, possessing size, brute strength, and magic on a whim. It was madness, spells of great caliber once held for sorcerers were now in the clawed hands of dragons. I chased them down. Finding them and taking back what was ours. I fought many foes at once, many called me insane for going up against them. But I persevered, and that is how I became a princess. I defeated them all single-hoofed." Opaline shook her head and hoof in a threatening manner to the sky.
Opaine stopped, putting thd hoof on Misty's face.
"Misty, the old Princess tried to stop me in my pursuit to claim back what was already ours. We deserve everything that they stole from us. I became the way I am by liberating unicorn magic. Even earth ponies wanted to steal our power for themselves, that's why you must restore me. Once I'm restored, I can liberate Equestria once again. I can be a princess again! You want me to become a princess don't you Misty?" Opaline said with a glaring crazed look.
Misty looked at her caretaker. All she could think was how insane Opaline appeared, desperate and deranged. Misty smiled at the alicorn, responding with two words.
"Yes Opaline"
"Good good Misty. You know I'm hard on you, but this really is of the utmost importance."
Misty bowed her head, she might be nice now, but Misty knew, she always knew. It would never last. From time to time, Opaline would shower Misty in the fondest words, reassuring her. Misty quite enjoyed it, but it was temporary. Merely a tool for Misty to be even more desperate for that next time, those sweet nothings. The next hit.
Misty shook her head, she needed to be anywhere else but there.
"I'm going to the town, I'm getting more books Opaline" Misty said, looking at the alicorn with the saddest eyes.
"Sure, yes of course. Go get more books" Opaline remarked flippantly, not really caring about the words Misty said.
Misty went down the long ever-winding stairs of the castle. It was so beautiful. The texture and the history ripe with every hall, every crack, and every stroke of a brush. It was all hoof made. Misty always felt a little sad that she was the only one to ever enjoy any of it. It was carefully crafted and for what? Some small unicorn to awe at it each day?
"Really…I wish there were others here…" Misty thought as she reached the end of the stairs and to the giant front door.
Misty walked with her book out of the castle. She turned towards the door, noticing a flame on the front. She hadn't thought much of it before. But now, it made sense. It all made sense. Opaline was a powerful and ruthless mistress. But she couldn't leave the castle, for whatever reason. Misty looked to the grass, seeing multiple bugs.
Suddenly tears leaked from her eyes.
"W-why? Nothing bad h-happened" Misty put her hoof to her face, smearing her tears around her cheeks.
She just wanted a cutie mark, was that too much to ask for? Misty gasped through her sobs. Her tears ran down her face and gave her a chill.
She needed to go and fast, she thought perhaps it would end her distress. She clopped her hooves hard on the path, she galloped fast, with the book being held in place by her teeth. It helped her run faster.
Her tears were blown away by the wind she was running against. She felt mad, she didn't know why. Her anger persisted as she ran, beating it out onto the hard path.
Maybe it was the adrenaline, or maybe the persistent nature of the book in her mind, but Misty felt truly like she might be able to do anything.
Soon enough she was standing on the edge of Maretime Bay. She wondered what things looked like back then, with countless magical creatures of all shapes and sizes roaming the earth. It would be unlike now, where ponies and regular animals prevailed. Perhaps they were merely too far away, but out there somewhere. They had to be.
She could see the concrete town street. It was any other normal day in Maretime Bay. Ponies walking around, enjoying their day. It was strange, coming from the dreary castle, over to the town that had no idea about Misty's life from beyond.
Misty once again passed by the shops and ponies she had seen before. Maretime Bay was the only place other than Zephyr Heights that had such a different atmosphere than almost everywhere else. The castle in which Misty resided was a relic of the past. Many of which were sprinkled throughout Equestria, presumed to be abandoned.
She saw that none of the BrightHouse members were around. That was ok with Misty, she wanted to go to the library for more books anyway. She trotted down the streets, taking a deep breath, she let go of all the shame she felt. Pretending to be a normal citizen, not being bothered with anything else was freeing.
“Today will be a good day I think.” Misty whispered to herself, calmly opening her book to the final pages she had not yet finished.
The pages of that book held ideas and magic that Misty had not yet known. Teleportation for one, but also manifesting objects, changing them into whatever the spellcaster wanted, or even foreign ideas like age manipulation and transformation into different forms of other creatures. Very, VERY high-level unicorns could perform age manipulation like alicorns. Then there were barrier spells that could cover and protect an entire kingdom. Not necessarily for alicorns but certainly a level of magic casting that had to come from a talented unicorn.
"Page 160
The last thing about a unicorn's magic is that it is produced from within. The drive to cast spells and fulfill the endless search for more ability. But it is all within your reach, always strive to do more, and you will succeed.
Happy casting, -Starswirl the Bearded"
"That's it? There has to be more." Misty frowned at the book she was holding. She was almost at the library anyway.
Once she saw the bright sign indicating the library, she felt her buzzing excitement again. She heard the jingling of the door as she walked in once again. She smiled to herself, entering the dusty bookshop, she saw many more titles she wanted to read. There were plenty more both fiction and non-fiction books she could choose from, and she was ecstatic for whatever would come next.
"Hey Ms. Bookkeeper?" Misty asked quietly, looking around the shelf she had seen the pony before when she came the first time.
"Ah, you're back" the bookkeeper remarked as she opened the door to the back of the counter. She walked up, smirking at Misty as she did. "That was quick" she leaned her body at the counter.
Misty blushed. "Um..you wouldn't happen to have Any other books with magic, would you?" She said as she held out the previous book she had gotten.
The pony continued to smirk, "Well, you're certainly committed. Here let me take that" the pony took the book Misty was holding, and put it on a cart.
She skimmed the shelves, searching for something to give to Misty. Misty leaned towards the mare reading off some titles in her mind.
"Twilights Reign", "How To Beat a Pegasus in a Competition" that one was a bit peculiar. "Living with Yaks" that one sounded a bit outlandish.
"Hmm, stay here, I'm heading to the back" the book keeper said, clasping the door handle to the backroom and opening it.
Misty knew the librarian had told her to stay, but all the books were mystifying. She slowly turned her head towards the other shelf, taking a peek at the kinds of books that were featured there. She turned back to the door, a couple minutes browsing wouldn’t hurt anypony.
She walked over to the bookshelf. Many books had bright and unique colors on them. She leaned down to the bottom shelf. “History of Equestria - Celestia and Luna” Misty stared at the book with zero recollection. Who were Celestia and Luna? She’d never heard of these ponies before. She had only ever heard of Twilight and her imprisonment of magic within the crystals. Never of these mysterious other ponies. She moved on to the next title.
“Cadence of the Crystal Kingdom" Misty was confused yet again, she didn't know who Cadence was either. These ponies sounded important, but she had no idea who they were. She snapped out of her trance, when she heard the sound of the door opening again.
"Hey unicorn, I got something for ya" the old librarian said, pushing her glasses up her snout.
Misty moved in front of the pony "Oh really, what is it?"
"Since you seem to be such a fast reader, this baby right here is 800 pages" She said as she smiled and patted the book.
"Wow, uh, that's quite a lot of pages…" Misty said, eyeing the giant book, she didn't know if she could even carry it back to the castle. "Twilight Sparkles lecture on magical forces" Misty read out.
"Yep, Sunny already read this whole thing, she's obsessed with anything to do with that pony" the old pony said.
"Well..who is she anyway?" Misty asked.
"Huh? Oh, she was the last princess of Equestria before it's collapse, apparently some other princess didn't agree with her methods and they duked it out, leading to the loss of magic. They say the other princess was locked up somewhere afterwards" she said.
"L-locked up…." Misty whispered. "Can I have a couple more books? Those on the bottom shelf?" Misty asked, pointing to the two books she saw earlier.
"Yeah sure" the pony said, taking the two books off the shelf, and handing them to Misty.
"Oof! These are heavy!" Misty said, crunching her legs beneath the weight.
"Ok bye then!" The librarian exclaimed, turning and walking away while chuckling and saying quietly "just use your magic horn, seriously."
Misty struggled towards the door, opening it slightly and squeezing her body outside. Walking on unstable hooves, she tried to stumble her way to the shoreline.
"Oh! Ah! No, no, no! Don't fall yet"
Her legs finally gave out, tumbling her books straight to the pavement.
Misty blushed, groaning her embarrassment as she laid her head on the ground.
"Misty???" Somepony said from above.
"Huh?" Misty exclaimed, looking above to a floating white pegasus.
"Woah there girl, you've bitten off more than you can chew!" Zipp lowered herself to the books messily strewn on the ground.
Misty looked at Zipp, as she smiled and offered a hoof to the pony.
"Need help?" Zipp asked.
"Oh..yeah." Misty slowly took her hoof, helping her up off the ground.
"You sure you need all these books Misty?" Zipp asked as she picked up the largest one.
"Oh well…no, but the librarian said I should take it…s-so I did" Misty stammered.
"Well" Zipp said, handing the two smaller books back in Misty's hooves, "you shouldn't do things just because ponies tell you to" She smiled, still holding the large 800 page book.
"Ah…." Misty exclaimed, looking to the ground with embarrassment.
"So..Misty, I'm sorry for the other day, I was being unfair to you." Zipp said. "I was being hasty and rude, would you forgive me?" She asked with sincere eyes that spoke to Misty's soul.
She felt she was being unfair to Zipp, she was actually responsible for everything Zipp had acusssed her of. Every suspicion, was correct. But here Zipp was, apologizing to a guilty pony. One who had abused their kindness from the very beginning. Zipp was passionate about what she did, and owned up to her "mistakes" when she made them.
Misty started to tear up, she couldn't tell the truth! No! No! Nopony would ever trust her again!
"Oh no! Misty, I'm so sorry, I-I feel so bad. Are you ok!?!" Zipp said, hyperventilating and looking around nervously.
"Z-zipp, it's fine, I forgive you. I get it, sometimes you get so caught up in what you're doing. And my behavior didn't help much either, I WAS acting suspicious, wasn't I?" Misty said, wiping her moist eyes, chucking a bit.
Misty thought about her behavior, it was despicable, how could she possibly right her wrongs.
"Oh thank you Misty!" Zipp was beaming, absolutely shining with her smile. "Can I give you a hug?" She asked.
Misty thought about it, staring with a blank smile "Sure"
They hugged very quickly, Misty was awkward and felt out of place in the gesture. Opaline hadn't hugged her much as a filly. They pulled away, and Zipp was a bit confused but still happy for Misty's forgiveness.
"Misty, what would you get, if it was anything in the world?" Zipp asked.
"Huh? Why…" Misty said, pulling her ears down onto her head. Was she still suspicious of her?
"I don't know, I guess I just don't know much about you." Zipp said, rubbing the back of her head.
Misty knew what her answer would be, but she couldn't say Cutie Mark. Ponies thought she already had one, the placebo butterfly.
She paused, thinking over her answer. She had decided.
"If it was anything.. then it would be magic" She said. That was another thing that she now craved, the ability to cast a spell like any normal unicorn.
"Magic? Like, what kind" Zipp asked, confused.
"Well..I haven't told anyone, but I'm not very good at unicorn spells. Can't properly levitate anything yet" She said, smiling.
"What! Well, you must just need more practice then!" Zipp exclaimed seriously, holding her head up high. "Uh, well, what else would you want" Zipp asked.
"If it was anything else, then it would be my own saddlebag, to carry things in" Misty said.
"Oh, alright then" Zipp said, pondering something. "Do you really need this huge book?" Zipp asked still holding the giant book. "My arm is tired" she said, tired.
"Oh…no not really" Misty told her.
"I could take it back it to the library for you" Zipp exclaimed, happily looking at Misty.
"U-um…yeah thank you" Misty said, looking away from Zipps sharp gaze.
"No problem!" Zipp said as she leaped into the air with little issue. "I'll get it back right away! Bye Misty!" And there she went, flying through the air toward the library.
"Oh! Bye!"
Misty was left in the sidewalk with the two other books she had. These ones were about some ponies that Misty knew nothing about, Cadence, Celestia and Luna.
She peeked into the first book, Celestia and Luna.
"Page 1
Celestia and Luna, the leaders of Equestria. Controlling both the sun and moon respectively"
Misty already gasped, these two ponies were leaders before Twilight was even ruler?! And they controlled the sun and moon?
She quickly closed it back up again. She wondered if she should wait until she was back at the castle to read these books. She decided that would be best. But maybe just a little peek into the other book as well.
"Page 1
Cadence of the Crystal Kingdom, leader of crystal ponies and cultivator of the element of love."
Wow, just wow. Misty was stupefied. She never knew magic and history could be so interesting.
She happily trotted all the way to the shoreline. Which showed a sunset of the most magnificent kind. It reflected the colors in just the right way creating a display of beauty that would never occur again.
She smiled, maybe life wasn't all bad. Even with all the lying and guilt and shame. The sunset still smiled on her face.
The mysteries of the past, like Opalines castle, and the magic may never be uncovered. But there were some good things about this version of their world as well. Even if there was only one magic dragon.
Misty thought about Sparky. She hadn't been able to capture him as Opaline had wanted. It had been a few days since her last horrible failure. She hoped this endeavor for unicorn magic would be enough to satisfy the temperamental alicorn. Misty definitely thought so, she was enjoying herself. Putting her efforts into the task, making it her own.
She had reached the castle yet again, but it was very late at night, dark and gloomy. She had spent a considerable amount of time just looking at the sunset in the town. She had not wanted to walk back to the castle. The giant tree protruded from many angles in all the various towers, she wondered just how old it was, along with Opaline. Must’ve been at least a few centuries, if not many more years than even she could imagine.
Her echoing hoofsteps once again made their way to the top of the tower. Passing by the grand architecture and spiraling beams. She halted at the door and took a deep breath. Misty could hear Opaline on the other side, waiting for the small unicorn to make her move and deliver whatever little she had to offer.
“Breath in, Breath out Misty. It’ll be fine” She spoke to herself, reassuring her inner voice that was telling her to turn away,
Her eyes met Opaline's when she opened the door, the alicorn was smirking from cheek to cheek.
"Misty, I implore you. What have you brought me this time?" She asked, bringing a menacing aura to the room.
"These Opaline. I found these" Misty told the looming figure. Handing them to her.
Those greedy hooves snatched up the books like a shark, descending upon Misty with a toothy smirk.
She quickly skimmed the pages as she had done before. But her smirk turned into a deep frown as she got further into the book, turning each page slower than the last.
She snapped the first book closed, and went to the next, making a terrible cracking noise. Her fury radiated in every direction, quickly making the temperature in the room go up. Her fiery eyes peered at Misty's face with an anger that could tear her apart.
She slowed herself backward.
"DID YOU READ THESE?!" Opaline shouted, shattering Misty's ears. The alicorn might've been madder than she'd ever seen her.
"No! I-I didn't read them!" Misty was so overflowing with confusion that it made her head spin in all directions.
"You're lying. I know you are." Opaline exclaimed, slowly walking towards Misty and extruding fire from her whole body.
"I didn't!- I didn't!" Misty looked around the room, the only place to go was the stairs.
"COME HERE NOW!" Opaline yelled, booming and making the floor shake.
"N-no I-I s-swear. W-what's wrong with them! I don't un-nderstand! I don't understand!" She yelled, stumbling and forcing words out of her mouth.
“You are trying to outsmart me eh? You think you’re so smart, bringing my past into this! Well, you won’t get the last laugh Misty. It belongs to me, like everything should!” She flared and raged, leaving Misty at a loss.
“I don’t know! I don’t know!” Misty exclaimed, closing her eyes.
“I’LL TEACH YOU NOT TO DISRESPECT ME MISTY! GET OVER HERE!” The fiery alicorn said, slamming her hoof to the ground.
“No! No! I won’t!” Misty yelled stumbling towards the door.
“Where are you going!” Opaline shouted, looking confused but enraged.
She ran, Misty slammed the door open. She didn't understand, they were just books! What could possibly be so horrible about books?! Books she barely peeked into! It was unfair, NO, it was INSANE!
The stairs, she went down faster than she ever had before in her life. Down, down, one after another. No time to waste.
"MISTY!!! NOW!" Opaline roared, it echoed from every direction, the sound moved like a rocket in each hallway.
Misty heard a crashing noise echo in the stairwell, she whipped her head upward, seeing debris and a hole in the wall where the door had once been.
Nothing now, one thought, run. Only the stairs in front of her, only the castle windows she'd passed so many times before.
She heard the sound of flaring wings above her, no time, no time! She had to hide, there was no time to get to the front door. And even if she did, there was no guarantee Opaline wouldn't follow her. Misty did not have the time to care about whether or not the alicorn could leave the castle, she had debated the thought many times before, but the risk was too high. She needed to hide.
She turned into a hallway, galloping to where she wanted to go, it was a close call. She slid herself behind a corner. She panted, looking for where she wanted to hide. She knew the castle well, and a place Opaline had little chance of finding her.
The room lent to that fact. The room itself was blocked off by the giant old tree growing throughout every crevice of the old building. But she had broken in long ago. The room on the opposite end had a hole that might be good enough to squeeze through, even at her present size. She'd done it before when she was a filly, seized by the boredom of living in an empty home.
She knew the creaky room was dangerous. But she had done it before, and facing Opaline was more terrifying than any rickety floorboard.
"Here it is!" Misty said, smiling wide and scrambling for the door handle.
"MISTY!" Misty heard Opaline boom down the end of the hall, the flaming alicorn was close! Too close!
She made it in, closing the door as it had been before. She could see the hole, and she ran over, judging the size, and seeing if she could fit through the sharp broken wall.
She tried to fit herself through, to no avail, it pricked her skin, and she could not get her body through.
"No!" Misty whispered. The sound of Opaline could be heard from the hall, flaming and growling like a beast.
"I have to! I have to!"
Misty focused on one thought, one thought. Like she had learned before.
Shrink
She felt the chill down her spine and horn, it tickled like an old friend, one that Misty welcomed with open hooves. Her pink and red aura covered her body, shrinking her size to be as small as she had once been as a filly.
She rushed through the hole, even faster than she could shrink, the adrenaline and the magic was flowing, and her mind was in chaos.
She stumbled on her small hooves, knocking her face on the floor of the room. She hoped the noise wouldn't alert Opaline. She crawled away from her entrance, dodging sharp debris of wood. The outside was clearly visible, but currently, she didn't think she was at risk of falling. But of course, she could never know, now with an unfamiliar body. The corner was the safest place, with no broken floorboards. She stayed silent, her small body shivering from the terror that gripped her very core. The cold wind that blew in didn’t help much either, but it mattered very little at the moment.
"Misty, where are you?” “Fine, hide then.” "The princesses were incompetent, I was making everything better! They let beasts roam with ponies!” "I might've lied about many things, but I'm all you have. Come out now"
Misty was still silent. Lying? Misty didn't know anything about that. She didn't read what was in those books, but it must have been pretty bad for Opaline to go on a rampage throughout the castle.
What was in them? Something about her past, something bad. Something Opaline wanted to lie to Misty about. Why did she need to lie anyway?
"I don't know, why would she need to lie, what exactly was in those? They had previous Equestrian figures in them, ones that Opaline knew from before.
It was scary, some important history was accumulated in those few words the alicorn had read. Just where exactly had those books come from!? They weren't in the library before, no.
Misty had noticed before that there were boxes everywhere and cluttered bookshelves. The librarian had said they had brought the books out of storage, but whose? Who would have such delicate information? And also keep it from the public until now??? Someone very powerful had held them until now. The ponies don't even know how important or accurate to real history they were.
Misty was smaller, and in a more delicate state than she had ever been, but her mind felt renewed. She saw things clearer than before.
"Opaline is insane" Misty whispered to herself. The thought had been suppressed since her early years, but it came to her clearer. Lying in the corner of that cold broken-down room. Tired, shivering, and lonely.
She wondered if she could cast any other spells, it was freezing.
"Nnnnahhggg" Misty tried to cast more but found herself drained. Whatever spell she cast before, it was a big one, brought on by desperation and an outburst of magical ability.
She probably wouldn't be able to cast again for quite a while. She rubbed her head, feeling fatigued and a nasty headache washing over her. She contemplated how she could get out of this situation. She was alone, with no friends, small and helpless, hunted down by Opaline.
It was silent. Very silent. Misty hadn't heard anything. She wanted nothing more than to leave this place. Crawling over to her original entrance, she wondered if she could make a run for it. She looked back and forth in the room, it didn’t look like the alicorn was anywhere to be seen, if she was quiet, perhaps she could make it out intact.
She slowly made her way out, seeing nopony around. The door seemed far away with how her sight was set up. She was only now getting used to her smaller legs so close to the ground. She made sure to make as little noise as possible. The door slowly opened, leaving misty to look around in deep thought. She was very cautious, but still just as terrified. She felt all her senses accelerate in overdrive for any sort of noise. The hallways were empty and nauseating, making her hair stand up. Her small hooves saw all the doors as she once did when she was small.
It was a blast to the past, one she never particularly wished to revisit. Not that it was particularly bad, but just eye opening and hard to get past. She needed to accept her new reality, the one where she abandoned Opaline…her caretaker and all Misty had ever known.
"Misty…" Misty heard Opaline's raspy voice from down the hall.
She frantically looked left and right, ducking under a table with a cloth on it, she was sure Opaline wouldn't see her. She was in a small state that Opaline had no idea she was in. Opaline wasn't even aware of her magical exploits. She had previously lied to her about it.
The hoofsteps accelerated, and she stayed quiet.
"Misty, where are you.. ugh. This is stupid! You shouldn't be able to hide so well in MY castle." "I gave her everything, shelter, food, water. THIS is how she repays me??? AND ALSO, give her the cutie mark, if she would just stop messing up! Oh bleh, Opaline look at these booooookkkksss, they TWIST the narrative of history" The alicorn mocked Misty's speech and waved her hoof around.
"I-I was helping! Taking those dragons' ability to destroy our society was necessary! Stupid princesses as well, getting right in my way! It wasn't MY fault they were unresponsive to my solutions after I became an alicorn." Opaline monologed as she walked right past Misty's place of hiding. Misty closed her eyes and covered her mouth to keep from breathing too loud. She felt like her senses were exploding from the anxiety she felt.
Misty heard the sound of Opaline turning the corner once again on the opposite way. She let out a breath, getting her bearings together. The sudden mood swing of the alicorn could be caused by many things, but Misty was sure it had to do with her recent….discoveries. Opaline was so desperate for power that she quickly spiraled into a maniac.
She peeked to the side, and quietly crawled out from her hiding place. She shook a bit but had to get together her bearings in order to escape her predicament. She started walking slow towards the stairs, but went faster as her desperation increased.
She galloped down the stairs, one after another, the front door was so close, there was no way to miss it. Tears streamed down her eyes, it was too good to be true.
The door was within reach, much too close to miss. Of course, Opaline wasn’t keen on letting Misty go.
Opaline descended from above, putting Misty’s smaller body in her blue tinted magic, like when she had consumed the dragon fire. Her wings were fiery with blue flame.
She slammed misty on the floor. "GAH" Misty yelled in terror. The alicorn loomed over her with a deranged look that could kill.
"HAH! You seriously thought you could leave without me knowing?" Opaline exclaimed with malice.
"No!" Misty yelled, squirming and attempting to break from her magic grasp. She dragged her over, stepping closer to Misty.
"Such a chore, you made me waste at least a week's worth of magic! But alas, it would've been even more devastating to let you leave." The alicorn devoured her with curious eyes.
"Hm, I see you've de-aged yourself! Congrats on the high level spell, those books were good for something. But I'm still more powerful" Opaline told her.
"Why! Why can't I go! I don't understand!" Misty said, becoming more desperate.
"Really? Fine, I'm imprisoned here. The princesses made sure to let me have the smallest access to the outside world that I could. First the barrier, then the imprisonment, two levels of insurance I'd never leave" Misty stared slack jawed, she knew something was off for a long time, but hearing it from Opaline herself still shocked her.
"Once I obtain the magic rightfully belonging to me, I can leave. Just come with me, those pesky memories don't have any place in your mind" Oplaine exclaimed.
"My memories? Wait… what are y-you going to do with my memories!?" Misty shook with fear.
"Hm? Well get rid of them, they are so inconvenient for me" the alicorn said calmly.
Misty stopped shaking, her mind was blank with the utter ridiculousness of the statement. Why had she followed Opaline's orders all this time? How many more memories had been lost, how many times had Opaline chased her down and violently made her subservient once again. It was laughable, really.
She concentrated, focusing her energy on a spell like none she'd ever cast, it couldn't fail, not now.
"What are you doing?" Opaline had little time to act, but soon she'd know Misty's true capabilities.
One thought.
Magic
Misty's body transformed back to the way it had been, she rapidly changed into her grown body. She kicked Opaline in the face with her back hoof, causing her to stumble backwards.
"Ah-! Ouch!" The alicorn said, confused.
Misty let out a beam of pure magic from her head, a laser beam pushing Opaline even farther backwards. Her horn released a trail of smoke afterwards.
Misty took the chance to run out the front door.
"No! Come back!" Oplaine yelled, running after Misty with a clean stride.
But it was too late, Opaline crashed against the barrier between the door and the outside world.
"So you really can't leave this castle." Misty said, standing right outside of the doorway.
"Misty! N-no, I'm the great Opaline! You can't leave!" She panicked, holding a hoof against the invisible barrier.
"I can, and I will! I bet you were lying about even getting me my cutie mark!" She yelled at the distressed face in front of her.
"What? Hah…. No Misty, that was the only thing I wasn't lying about. I can give you your cutie mark." The alicorn said, defeated.
"You're just saying that to get me to come back" She twisted her face in disgust.
"No… You wouldn't understand"
"Hah, no. I won't believe your lies anymore" Misty said, turning away from Opaline.
"You'll be back… once you realize I'm the only one who can give it to you…" She said, chuckling a bit.
Misty began to walk away from Opaline's castle. It was likely she would never return again. It saddened her, but it couldn't be helped.
"You'll be back!!!" Oplaine yelled again, raging with disdain.
Misty wanted family, friends, to call her own. Not the twisted lies of Opaline that brought her down and convinced her to commit horrible acts against others.
Cutie mark or not, It was time to find her own way.
Misty staggered her way into town, it was midnight. She had left Opaline's castle in the dead of night, no thanks to the Alicorns outburst. So she was tired, very tired, but with no place to sleep she wasn't sure what she would do. The town was quiet, surrounded by the chilly night air. She folded her ears, she knew she couldn't go back to Opaline, but where else was there for a wayward, broke, uneducated pony to go?
It was nerve racking, and quite a point for Misty, she needed money, and a bed to sleep in. But neither of those were in hoof's reach.
But she supposed…
"I guess I could ask Izzy if I could stay in the Brighthouse…" the thought was numbing, what excuse would she serve to Izzy? She needed a place to crash on such short notice. She certainly couldn't tell her the truth. She shook her head, she could just ask to stay a couple days. Enough to get on her hooves and find somewhere else.
"*sigh* I suppose I'd be better than sleeping in the cold streets.."
She went towards that house on the hill, seeing the garden, it brought back bad memories of her lantern ordeal. She groaned and moved on closer to the actual house. Tall and new, it symbolized new beginnings, a new Era of magic and friendship for all. Her anxiety made her hesitate at the door, she could run all the what If's in her head all night. She almost turned around right there, but she shut her eyes closed tight and made herself summon the courage she had when she stood up to Opaline.
She didn't want to knock. She wanted to get away from here. But she pushed on, motivated by her newfound homelessness.
Knock, knock
She stood at the doorway, waiting for no one to answer so she could forget she had ever come to the Brighthouse as quickly as possible. But the cards weren't turned towards her tonight.
The groggy and tired face of Izzy gazed at her.
"Misty?" She asked, confused.
"Hey…" Misty said, stomach twisting inside out.
"What are you doing here so late? Are you ok?” She asked, rubbing her eyes.
Misty couldn't help herself, her heart couldn't take anymore shock and denial of what happened. Even though Opaline was horrible, Misty still missed her, even with all the yelling and outrage. All she ever wanted was to be accepted by her, to be taken under her wing and led to a cutie mark. It hurt so bad that she knew that dream was dead, trampled by Opaline's sparkling hooves.
She cried, she cried so hard she gasped for air, her body recoiled with despair.
"Oh my goodness!" Izzy yelped, she hadn't expected this, it was completely out of the blue how Misty had shown up, and now she was sobbing in front of the door.
"Misty…" Izzy whispered, significantly losing the usual bubbliness that was normal for her. She went for a hug, hoping it would help the unicorn a little bit.
Misty fell into her embrace, caught up with a salty damp face.
Izzy was silent, gripping her friend in that dark night. It was an unusual situation to be sure, but Izzy wouldn't question it, how could she. They just stood there for a short while, crickets chirping around them. To Misty, it felt like the whole world had stopped, it was a terrible feeling to lose everything you knew to be true. Only friends could help her now, if she'd let them.
Izzy let Misty into the main room, big and uncrowded as it was. No other pony in sight, though not for very long. Misty and her sat down on the couch, Izzy gave a small sympathetic look that Misty took notice of. Zipp gasped from the top of the stairs, wiping the grogginess off her face in one foul swoop. She flew down, flapping her pale wings in the darkness.
Her hooves clopped on the ground "woah, Misty? What are you doing here? Are those tears?" She asked loudly.
Izzy turned her head and glared at Zipp, causing her to turn her ears back in embarrassment. "Sorry! Ah you ok?" she said.
Misty merely turned her head, slowly shaking it back and forth somberly to convey an obvious no.
"Hey, Zipp, we should all go back to bed. We'll talk tomorrow. Misty, you're going to bed too. It seems you've had a long night" Izzy told both of them, getting up and gesturing Misty to the stairs.
They got up, and Izzy led Misty to the stairs, Misty followed her, not knowing what else to do. Just feeling like the world collapsed around her. The stairs didn't creak or make any noise at all, it was a new building after all. Misty kept her head low, not wanting to make eye contact with either pony. Zipp just awkwardly flew back up and lowered herself into her bed, laying down but still looking curiously at the mare as she stood at the end of Izzy's bed.
Izzy went to her bed and took out an extra mattress, putting it out and giving Misty some pillows, a stuffed animal and covers. Misty looked at Izzy, and she just looked back with a warm aura that was unfamiliar to Misty. Opaline had never been warm or motherly.
She sheepishly laid down and pulled the covers over her body, the small hoof-made stuffed animal of a rabbit was just to the side, inviting her to take it.
Izzy calmly went back to bed and wished Misty a good night "Night Misty" She exclaimed in the darkness, Misty could barely see the outline of her face.
"Night... Izzy" She said softly, looking at the stuffed animal with curiosity.
It was curious, Misty had just shown up, cried, and then got led to an extra mattress, not a sleeping bag like when she had previously been there. No talking, no questions except for Zipp, and no explanation. Had it truly been this easy the whole time? She didn't know, but she was exhausted, more exhausted than ever.
She held the rabbit a little bit, and closed her eyes, hoping that it all wouldn't be a dream when she woke up. Her newfound confidence, her confrontation of Opaline, and the warmth of having friends.
●
Misty didn't usually have groggy mornings. She had overslept, but that was indeed the intention of Izzy and others, to let her sleep just a bit more before the inevitable questioning of why she had shown up in the middle of the night.
She turned over, noticing that the rabbit was wrapped tight in her arms. In her foggy mind, the distant sound of voices could be heard. No doubt everyone who had woken up much earlier before Misty had. She had expected this conversation, but still felt shocked awake. Questions were now on her mind.
Could she tell them the truth? If she lied, what lie would it be? Would the others try to kick her out? Or would they question her motives in the wake of the inconsistencies that would plague any explanation she had to give.
"Ok, um, ah… m-my house burned down!" Yes. That sounded good enough, at least it was a start. Then she wouldn't need to go back to Opaline. "My house burned down, and I need a place to sleep. It would be much appreciated if you would help me in this task" Misty whispered this to herself in the bed, so they wouldn't hear.
Ok so, if this mysterious house was in Bridlewood, perhaps they wouldn't look too much into it. And if she found a job, then she could actually pay to live on her own. It was far from a deep story, but she needed something to say when they asked. Her mind raced, and she wondered what other questions they would have. She didn’t know, but she was mindlessly coming up with ideas and scenarios that could happen. All was possible, especially if they would catch wind of what she had done in the past.
She shook the covers off her body, lightly biting her lip with anxiety, and she looked over the railing. There were two layers of downwards spiral staircases until the end, where it was the living and kitchen area. Six very distinct figures were gathered there, Izzy, Zipp, Pipp, Hitch, Sunny and of course, Sparky.
She could hear small remnants of their conversation, but nothing concrete. It worried her to no end. She slowly crept her way to the group, hearing some more of what they were talking about on her way closer.
"And Misty just showed up here?" Sunny asked, confused.
"Yes, something very bad must've happened" Zipp told her, nodding eagerly.
"Yep, she was in a pretty bad state, I didn't ask, just put her to bed. It felt more appropriate at the time" Izzy remarked to Sunny, Hitch eying her and contemplating the claim while holding Sparky.
"Well, not that I don't support helping friends in need, but waking up and seeing her there was surprising" Sunny said, awkwardly chuckling.
Pipp wasn't really listening, just tapping on her screen annoyedly. "Huh, I didn't really notice. But these views! They've been almost halved in Maretime Bay over the last few days! It's infuriating!" She scoffed, scrolling through her analytics. "Younger ponies don't want to watch my vids! It just can't be right!" She said, scrolling more aggressively by the second.
Hitch rolled his eyes, "All that being said, I am the sheriff, so if anything horrible happened to her, tell her to go to my station and I'll do an immediate investigation on any pony!" He proudly exclaimed. "You never know who may be lurking around" he said, Sparky cooed at the stallion.
"I second that!" Zipp loudly said, stomping her hoof on the kitchen table. "I'll help on any case, if she ever needed me as well" She smiled widely.
"U-uh.." Misty squeaked from the stairs, she had walked her way down and heard the conversation.
Sunny, Hitch and Zipp went silent. Staring at the pony whom they were speaking about. Izzy quickly got up out of her seat to greet her, trotting and smiling.
"Misty!" Izzy said, bouncing over to the unicorn mare. She pulled her into an immediate hug, surprising Misty. "I made you breakfast! Come here, come here!" She ushered her over to the table, where fresh pancakes were set in an extra spot for her.
Misty looked around to the ponies, who either smiled or were uninterested like Pipp. She sat at the table, staring at the food in which she hadn't eaten before. It was a peculiar flat shape.
Izzy eagerly sat at her own seat, and picked up her utensils to cut and devour the food. The other ponies, now just ate slowly as well. Not wanting to ask Misty right away what had caused her to show up last night. They acted delicately toward her predicament, despite the circumstances and that was quite confusing for Misty.
She picked up the fork and knife with her hooves, she wasn't quite sure magic would be reliable. Her spells were off the charts, but the simple mechanics still scared her if not in a dire situation. Once again, it was her hesitant nature and anxiety that controlled her. If only in a small way. Misty felt ashamed for doing so.
She tried to copy the others movements, studying them and replicating them for her own breakfast. The food landed in her mouth, and her taste buds went aflame, like when she had first tasted the popcorn at her first sleepover. Quickly she learned the utensils, if only to shovel the food into her mouth faster. She licked her lips, forgetting how awkward everypony was.
Hitch fed Sparky by lifting the fork and putting it into his mouth. Misty gazed at the small dragon, and he stared back, looking almost accusatory in his stare. Misty felt unsettled by it.
"Are you better now?" Izzy asked, tilting her head and smiling while putting down her own fork with her magic.
"I guess.." Misty said, remembering her encounter with Opaline and feeling like she could never escape the memory. "Breakfast is delicious, did you make it?" Misty asked, subconsciously creating conversation.
"Oh, yes, I'm glad you enjoyed it" She smiled. Zipp looked over in obvious curiosity.
"So, Misty" Zipp said, pushing her half empty plate to the side. She chuckled, questioning her own next words "if I may ask, what happened to you?"
Misty's ears folded, her throat became dry and horse. The tears welled back up, this was it, either the truth, or her half baked lie.
"M—my…" She paused looking at all the ponies which she had wronged. "My house b-burned down" She croaked. Even though it was false, her feelings were quite real.
A few gasped, putting their hoof against their mouth. And Misty distinctly saw Pipp looking up from her phone and her brow going higher.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Misty" Zipp told her.
"Misty! That's horrible!" Izzy exclaimed."I-I can't believe no one stopped the fire! I didn't hear about any sort of fire in Maretime Bay…" She pondered.
"Um… not to be rude.. but if there was a fire in this town, then I'd know about it, I am the sheriff…" Hitch said apprehensively.
This was It, she had to come up with a good excuse "It was in Bridlewood, I was only staying here in the Bay for a short while… My house and savings are ruined. I got the news just last night. I was very distraught you see" Misty said sadly. Tears welling in her eyes.
"Oh Misty… I know what it's like to lose a home… you can stay with us however long you like! If you need to save money or something, no worries!" Sunny said.
"Thanks…" Misty said, twiddling her hooves. "Is there any chance I could get a job here in town to help pay for reconstruction?" She asked.
"Hmm.. perhaps?" Sunny said "but no promises, I'm not sure who'd be hiring" She explained.
"Thank you" Misty said.
"Misty, what would make you feel better? A smoothie? It's Sunny's specialty" She turned her head towards the orange pony "Sunny! Please, make her one of your best! The pineapple-spinach-blackberry!" Izzy pleaded to Sunny with sad eyes.
"Well….hm…" she glanced for a second at the teary eyed Misty. "Yes I can make her one if she wants. Would you like a smoothie Misty? It's free of charge" Sunny said, giving a signature bright smile.
"O-oh…yeah sure" Misty told her.
"Oh! Sunny! You have to make me a kiwi-orange before I get to work!" Hitch pleaded "you usually don't make any until you get your stand into town"
"Ok, but you'll have to pay for yours" Sunny told him, getting up out of her seat and towards the front door.
"Ah man" Hitch said as he walked after Sunny, Sparky in hoof, twiddling with a small trinket that Hitch had given him to distract him.
Misty awkwardly looked at Izzy, who got out of her seat and gestured to Misty to follow suit behind the two ponies. On the side, Zipp and Pipp were speaking and Pipp seemed less than pleased. This sudden decrease in views was getting to her. Zipp was trying to calm her down, and just gave a little hoof wave to go on without them both.
She turned, following Izzy while she opened the main door. All of them stopped in front of Sunny's little smoothie business, it was placed right outside the main door, she kept it outside the brighthouse when she wasn't selling in town.
Misty had now tried multiple different foods that she never had before. It had all been amazing, much better than Opaline’s rations of slop. She was not a great cook, but Misty had never known any different, that she could remember. But alas, yet again, she was about to try another food, a smoothie. She never had one before. After the pancakes, she wasn’t sure she could even stomach another rich food.
“Misty, you are going to FALL IN LOVE with the Pineapple-spinach-blackberry! You won’t ever want to drink another drink EVER again” She proudly declared. It was a bit ridiculous of a claim, but claim she did.
Sunny opened up the small portable shop, getting it ready, the handle popped up effortlessly with a flick of Sunny’s hoof. She pulled out everything, the ingredients, blender, toppings, and even opened a tiny drawer that she couldn’t see. She was looking from below.
The pony quickly went to work, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that she’d been doing this for almost her whole life. Making them perfect was like a second special talent to her. She did need some way to make money after her father passed.
“Smooth or chunky?” She asked, prepping and cutting multiple things at once.
“Uhhh” Misty stopped, she had no idea what to say. She looked over to Izzy in confirmation, and Izzy nodded her head ushering her to answer. "Um, smooth uh, I suppose” She replied.
“Alrighty” She turned the blender setting up, making the items blend together in one solid color, a strange light purple color. She hummed, prepping Hitch’s ingredients as well. Getting them ready for his own order.
“Ice?” She asked Misty, very calmly turning off the blender and holding a cup with some ice cubes.
“Sure” Misty replied, she had no idea what she was agreeing to, but it would probably be fine, she wouldn’t worry about it much.
Izzy smiled and gave Misty a friendly little shake on the shoulder in anticipation. She seemed mesmerized by the quick actions of Sunny, who paid no mind to the excited pony, merely continuing her work. The ice would surely make it cold, Misty was a tad confused by the action. She hadn’t really tried cold food. At least not enough to determine if she liked it or not.
Sunny completed the mixture by pouring it into a bright and sunny glass, adding a blue swirly straw and a small piece of pineapple on the side. She also moved over to the drawer in which Misty could not see, and took out a bag that had a little charm and lollipop in it. She handed it down to Misty, who promptly took it with hesitation.
"Go ahead Misty! Try it, try it!" The bubbly mare told her, and Misty smiled. The first real smile that day. Misty felt good, smiling, enjoying her first smoothie with Izzy.
She took a small sipp and saw it curl up the straw, and she just stood in place. Her eyes widened, and her senses may as well have blown out of her mouth. She wondered how there was so much flavor in just one small sip.
"Oh--my--g–o–od–ness" She said with a full mouth. "How did Sunny do this!" Misty exclaimed, surprised and delighted.
Sunny spoke up behind them, while handing Hitch his kiwi-orange. "Lot's of practice, and hybrid fruit" She smirked.
"Thanks Sunny!" Hitch said as he attempted to trot away.
"Hitch! Is there something you're forgetting?" She asked, leaning against the front.
"Uh, no?" He said, as Sparky sneakily took a sip from the straw.
"Nuh uh, pay up" Sunny said, gesturing to Hitch.
"But Misty didn't have too!" Hitch pleaded.
"Hitch, that was a special case, not you, come on, pay up" Sunny exclaimed, still holding out her hoof.
"Fine" he said begrudgingly, placing some money into her hoof. He trotted away, spouting some annoyance at the small dragon for drinking from his drink.
"Thanks…" Misty said, bowing her head slightly at Sunny.
"No problem, just… focus on recovering okay? You just went through something pretty bad, no need to rush anything" She said. "Both of you can go back inside, I'm going to prep my cart"
"Okey-doke!" Izzy half sang, bouncing.
Misty was busy savoring her smoothie, drinking the cold drink pleasantly. She made it to the door, where they walked in and saw both Zipp and Pipp still talking and arguing.
"What's going on you guys?" Izzy asked them, a bit confused.
Misty stopped drinking her drink in curiosity of whatever was happening.
"Pipp here is being overdramatic" Zipp said, glaring at Pipp with annoyance.
"What! No.. I was just asking dear sweet detective sister to find out why my views have decreased in town. That's all." She waved her phone, showing Izzy the numbers. "See!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah, because that worked out for us so well last time I investigated." Zipp cringed, glancing at Misty.
"Well, Misty forgave us, didn't you Misty?" Pipp asked, pleading her eyes at the unicorn just trying to enjoy her drink.
"Yeah, it's cool.." Misty said, feeling the burning eyes of all three ponies.
"I know that" Zipp rolled her eyes "but besides that, you are still overreacting! I'm not going to investigate a small temporary loss in view count" Zipp explained, putting her hoof down on her sister's antics.
"Ok..fine! But I'm going to find out what or who has messed things up!" Pipp exclaimed "all I have to do is talk to ponies in town-..." She began to ramble to herself, picking up her body and flying upwards towards her bedroom, not acknowledging them as she flew away.
Zipp watched her sister go on about her view count, sighing she looked towards Misty, "Don't worry about her Misty. She's just obsessed with her little social media bubble. Soon enough she'll get back her views and forget this even happened" she explained, leaning her hoof on her face, displeased.
"Um, so anyway, Misty! What's your favorite color scheme?" Izzy asked, putting her hoof against her face as well.
"Huh? Um. Pink and blue I suppose" she answered, put out of place with the random comment.
"Great! Amazing!" She turned to Zipp, whispering something in her ear and Zipp gasping in surprise.
"What?" Misty asked, tilting her head.
"Izzy just had a great idea! But it's a secret" they both grinned to each other. Confusing the poor Misty that still held her smoothie in hoof.
Misty was a bit stunned, but she couldn't really worry about that now. She was more worried about her money situation. Now that she had nothing except herself and this temporary housing, it made her anxious if they decided to kick her out one day, she couldn't possibly support herself. She needed her own job and savings, and quickly. If she ever wanted to make something out of her life without Opaline.
"Are there any job openings in town?" Misty asked them both, stirring the drink with her straw.
"Huh?" Izzy said, turning her head "no, no, no, you just went through something awful. Just calm down for a bit. No need to jump into any sort of job…" Izzy told her, shaking her hooves back and forth.
Zipp contemplated, seemingly thinking of multiple jobs that Misty could occupy. She replied "Hitch needs a new deputy, Sunny might need help with her business, you could ask Pipp for a position at the salon or you could just go from store to store asking who needs somepony" She explained in one foul swoop, making Izzy cringe.
"Noo, Miiisstyyy, don't listen to her" she pleaded, flopping herself on the counter. "Why did you say that?" she asked Zipp.
Zipp chuckled, "If Misty wants to earn some money, who are we to stop her?" She told Izzy, patting her on the back.
"I know… but.." Izzy said, the displeasure still stinging on her features.
"Hey Misty, I'll help you find a job. If you want to make some money, I think that's great" Zipp replied, smirking.
"Thanks Zipp" Misty said, tilting her head towards her straw and lighting appreciative.
She'd gotten quite comfortable in the short time being there, despite her other anxieties with money and housing. With no crazy plot that Opaline planned for her. No stress, no plots, but still no cutie mark. It still pained her, she wanted a cutie mark of her own so badly. But she'd have to make due without one, speaking of cutie marks, Misty made note to get a blue marker so that she could draw it back on everyday.
She didn't know why she wanted to hide her cutie mark-lesseness from the others, but it probably had to do with the fact she was massively insecure about it. She'd been prompted to feel this way because of Opaline's constant verbal diarrhea about when she got her own mark. It made her feel like a lesser version of a pony. She'd poke and prod, waiting for Misty to snap and beg for a mark. And it worked.
With a croaking sound, she looked down and saw she'd finished her whole smoothie. She frowned, realizing that another precious moment was stolen away from her by Opaline, even if indirectly. She just couldn't get the alicorn to stay away from her thoughts. It plagued her.
"Misty, you told me before that you can't really levitate things yet. I thought....maybe Izzy could help you learn" She kindly smiled at both ponies.
"Wha-? MISTY!! You didn't tell me you couldn't levitate things?!" Izzy shouted, holding her maw agape.
Misty blushed with embarrassment. She already had no sign of any sort of cutie mark, it was quite shameful to admit she couldn't do a simple levitation spell that apparently every unicorn and their grandma could do in such a short time after rediscovering magic ability. Misty had done multiple higher level spells, but never a sustained levitation.
"Well…yes it's true I can't control my magic all that well. But it's really fine….I-I don't need any help or anything" She said, shaking her hoof in a dismissive manner.
"Nuh, uh. If you need help, then I shall help you!" Izzy declared, putting her hoof over her heart in a mini salute while closing her eyes.
"Um well…" Misty stammered, she really didn't want to do any of that right now. She just wanted to forget her past ever existed.
"What do you say Misty? Up for some training?" Izzy said, holding her hoof out expectantly.
"...ok" Misty exclaimed, putting her own hoof right onto Izzy's.
She looked away, as they shook hooves. Truly, this was not at all what she expected when she came here.
Izzy jumped back, startling both Zipp and Misty. "Ok, in order to teach you the ways of levitation, I must ask. ARE YOU READY?!" She yelled, excitedly and proudly.
"Yes?" Misty squeaked, holding back apprehension. She felt her cheeks blush, and legs shake with nervousness.
"Way to go Misty!" Zipp said, giving her an encouraging smile and wave.
"My excellent all Sparkle-seeing eyes can tell you that you are more than ready to cast spells. In fact, I'd say that you are much better than any average unicorn" Izzy declared to the nervous pony. "So, this is probably just a matter of you needing more confidence!"
"Ok…" Misty said, still not really understanding how any of this was helping.
"Look into my eyes!" Izzy said as she stared down Misty with wide open eyes, walking closer as she did.
Misty looked, but was quite uncomfortable while doing so. Leading her to back up a bit.
Izzy wouldn't let up though, she began "you can do any spell. Any that you want. You can levitate anything." She stopped. "Did that help?" She smiled, ceasing immediately.
"Uh..I don't know" She replied, tapping her hoof to the ground.
"Only one way to find out! Go ahead and…uh…Levitate that glass!" Izzy pointed to the empty smoothie glass, which Misty had finished a few minutes ago.
"Sure…" She replied, she held the glass in her hooves, looking intently at it.
It felt nerve racking, even though she'd now cast multiple spells. The failure was still overwhelming and wrecked her mind with anxiety. Misty began to practice her breath, breathing in and out slowly, trying to forget both pairs of eyes on her. They expected magic, they expected her to do something. It was hard, why must it be that way Misty wondered.
Her intent raged. It flared. Izzy could see it in her sparkle, she was close to accomplishing her goal, but for some reason, it was harder for Misty than other unicorns. She needed more focus, more intent. It was abnormal. She needed to want it, want it more than anything in order to achieve it.
Misty let go, panting and feeling beat.
"Huh…" Izzy said. Deep in contemplation. "It seems like you need much more magical energy than the average unicorn to cast spells, you were putting out enough magic to cast a spell ten times over. Something seems to be off" She paced, thinking. "Is there anything you aren't telling me Misty?" She asked.
Misty knew, it was probably her flank. Her stupid, stupid flank. It must be! It was the only thing strangely abnormal about her. But she was apprehensive, she didn't want to tell Izzy. She really didn't. It just wasn't something she ever wanted to tell anyone. It made her feel inadequate.
She whispered "no" to the purple unicorn. Lying was becoming easier, like second nature. She was angry, she felt it deep in the pit of her gut. It was a deep seeded hate, one that had been with her since the beginning.
Anger
A red laser beam shot from her horn, pushing her body back a bit. Her red tinted cheeks faded and she realized what she'd done.
Izzy looked at the hole in the glass, perfect height and shape, completely symmetrical and unnatural.
Zipp had an awkward smile on her face. Like an unbelieving expression of disbelief.
Both Izzy and Zipp looked at each other and began shouting at the top of their lungs "UNICORNS CAN ACTUALLY SHOOT LASERS?!"
Misty stood in place while holding the glass which she had just put a laser straight through.
Peculiar as it was, since the ponies of Maretime Bay had decreed that it was fake news, and unicorns cannot “literally shoot lasers” as the foal stories suggested, Misty just did. She did not expect to randomly procure one in the middle of the living room, nor did she expect for it to happen so quickly and with such anger surging through her veins. It seemed to her that all her unicorn abilities happened when she was under very high levels of emotion. But that was it, if she did not have strong emotions, magic did nothing for her, she found that it was completely useless for anything else.
Zipp and Izzy were slack jawed. They’d come to believe, in the short amount of time spent with many unicorns, that horn lasers were a myth. And unicorn magic was meant to be simple and useful for daily life. But Misty had just blown a hole into that newfound belief. She had revealed a new version of history, that unicorns could have attacked other ponies with these sorts of spells back in ancient times. But, when so close to the beginning of a new magic era, it was quite an ignorant mistake to think that way.
“Gah, whaAAAA-” Zipp recoiled, taking a step back as the previous moment played back in her head, she couldn’t quite grasp that it had actually happened, let alone for it to be Misty who had cast the spell. The pony who had told her that she couldn’t so much as levitate a pencil. “Misty, what was THAT?” She yelled, pointing at Misty.
Misty looked up, straight into Zipp’s eyes and smiled an awkward smile. The unorthodox mare turned out to be quite the mischief maker for the others.
Izzy walked up to her, and touched the glass. Then took it into her hooves, staring at it. Misty let her take it, curious as to what she was going to do with it. The unicorn turned it around, gazing at the back. It indeed had a hole in it. Izzy looked into Misty's eyes, with no expression. Misty looked up and down, confused.
"Misty." Izzy exclaimed "How did you do that?" She said as she looked down at the ground, noting a small blast mark on the floor.
Misty merely shrugged. “I’m not sure, I guess I just got mad.” She explained, in truth, she was proud of herself. It made her feel better that she could prove her talent to the others. She knew the repercussions of her actions could be disastrous, but she couldn’t help but be proud of her work. The doubt could come later, if she was being honest with herself.
“W-we need to tell Sunny about this!” Zipp yelled, getting ready to take off from the ground. “T-This is mad! The implications of this are disastrous!” She frantically sputtered from her snout. Zipp’s mind raced, how many more ancient tall tales were true? How many were fake? Only time would tell, but telling the general public would be the ordeal. It could possibly take out whatever acceptance the others had with each other.
Izzy looked at the panicked princess Zipp, contemplating what to do. She’d known that unicorn magic could be a powerful force for good and evil. But she wondered what would happen as well. Who would pull the trigger first? Any unicorn in town could get so angry that they let out a powerful laser which destroyed the new society.
“Zipp, calm yourself. This is bad, yes…But we have to collect ourselves.” Izzy walked over to Zipp, looking into her face with purpose. “Breath in.” Izzy explained.
Zipp took in a gulp of air. She breathed out, and Misty just looked upon the scene. She gathered as much as she had begun a crisis. It wasn’t of any natural fault of hers, she was only attempting to use the magic which was given to every unicorn. The way she used it however…Could threaten relations between earth ponies and unicorns. The traditional stories were ingrained in their minds, and they could choose to reject unicorns yet again. It hadn’t been that long, truly.
Izzy turned to Misty, with an air of seriousness. Misty had no clue that Izzy could be so level headed during the worst of times. When she showed up in the middle of the night, and now, when she obliterated a glass with a laser. It was a side that Misty could appreciate. “Misty, bring the glass, we have to go find Sunny. We’ll have to interrupt her job and tell her about this. It might get messy.” She explained, she was right.
Misty meekly carried the glass over, “Ok, shall we go then?” Misty said, holding it in her hoof.
“Pipp!” Zipp yelled, as she took off from the ground and went to their room. She went directly to where Pipp was, to notify her of the news. Both Misty and Izzy gazed at each other, as they let Zipp notify Pipp of the news. They heard Pipp’s voice yell from the second floor “WHAT?!” it could be heard by both ponies that were standing.
Pipp rushed out and flew down with Zipp following right behind her, “Misty, WHAT DID YOU DO!?” she yelled as she floated mid-air.
“Uhh…well…I was just trying to do some levitation and well…It just kinda came out as a laser instead.” Misty told her, dazed.
Pipp held her mouth open in a sudden unbelieving expression.
Izzy spoke up yet again “We need to go and tell Sunny about this,” She pointed to the door.
Pipp gave her a questioning expression “We could just call her, she’d get here faster with her skates.” She exclaimed, holding up her phone in Izzy’s face.
Izzy stared at Pipp “Yeah, or we could do that,” she said. “Go ahead, one way or another, she’ll know.” She looked back at Misty, still standing with the glass “Misty, we will have to deal with this in the most delicate way possible. Earth ponies are quite…Sensitive to news about unicorns. This new development proves unicorns can in fact shoot lasers from their horns, like the old stories stated. This could prove that unicorns did in fact shoot earth ponies with them. She frowned, giving a tense air to the room.
Pipp held up her phone pressing a few buttons while hearing it ring for a few moments. All the ponies in the room stopped and stared before Pipp responded “Hello? Sunny? Yes, yes, ok so, you need to get over here right away. No, not later. Right now, it’s important. Yea, everypony here is freaking out, no you just need to come back here and see for yourself. Yea, ok see you back at the Brighthouse.” Pipp clicked her phone to end the call, landing on the ground with a light thump.
Zipp came up to her quickly and decisively “Did she say when she’d be here?” Zipp asked Pipp as she also landed on the floor.
Pipp held her phone in her hoof clicking a few more buttons before saying “No she didn’t. But she’ll be here soon.” Pipp explained, as Zipp looked at her. Zipp seemed more collected after the initial shock, which was calming to Misty.
Misty could only stare and awkwardly fidget in her place. There was tension in the room, which covered the entire space. Izzy went to comfort Misty, trying to retract some of the shame that inevitably fell on Misty’s shoulders “Misty, don’t worry." she held her hoof on Misty’s shoulder. “You are really great at magic, you’ll be able to levitate in no time.” she told her.
Misty saw the faces of both twins, they were tense. With fear, or anxiety, or any other emotion that wasn’t positivity. In practically no time, she could see Sunny and Hitch walking through the door. Just as tense and anxious as the rest of them. They shuffled inside quickly.
Sunny saw the group of them “What’s going on you guys? Pipp’s call really startled me.” She said, as her hair stood on end, with Hitch holding Sparky and looking very conflicted behind her.
Izzy took the lead, heading over to Sunny while holding up the glass which Misty had once held. "Look at this,” She said, as she handed the glass to Sunny.
“Well, it has a hole in it…But that’s not really a huge problem? Is that it?” Sunny said as she looked at all of them, quite confused.
“No…It’s more like how it got a hole in it.” She explained, darting her eyes to both Zipp and Pipp.
“Misty shot a laser through it!” Zipp exclaimed.
“Uh yeah, she shot a laser through it.” Izzy agreed.
“She did what now?” Sunny took a step backward, taking in the information.
“Are you sure? I thought that was an Earth pony myth? Unicorn magic is practical, and useful for everyday life.” Hitch said, trying to be the voice of reason within the group.
Pipp spoke up, “I didn’t see it happen, but Zipp and Izzy did. Ask them both.” She motioned over to both Izzy and Zipp.
Zipp eagerly pointed to the burn mark on the ground “That’s from the laser! You know what this means Sunny.”
Sunny got down on the ground glaring at the mark like it was the plague, “Misty, is this true?” She asked Misty. She inwardly debated the validity of the situation.
“Y-yes Sunny, I was trying to levitate the glass…But well…It kinda backfired when I got angry.” She chuckled awkwardly explaining her use of magic.
Sunny stood up quickly from the ground, giving a look to all the ponies in the room. Then she turned to Hitch, who nodded to her. “If one unicorn can do it when they are angered, then any unicorn can do it. I-i can’t believe that some myths were true… I only wanted for everypony to get along. We need to do more research, we must head to the library for more ancient tall tales and myths and assess from there”
“Sounds like a plan, Sunny.” Izzy exclaimed.
“All right then,” Zipp said, agreeing.
“Yep,” Pipp said.
Hitch suddenly went up to Sunny, and whispered something in her ear. Misty couldn’t hear it, but it couldn’t be good. She wondered if they were considering kicking her out, but nothing Sunny had said so far indicating that.
“Alright, everyone, get ready, we’re all going to the library. We are going to take any and all books that could help us.” Sunny explained as both she and the rest of the group went to the giant door.
Misty caught up with them all, they moved in unison while walking away from the Brighthouse. Misty followed behind them in silence. She felt out of place in the group. She had never really joined them in any sort of situation that didn’t have to do with Opaline’s plans. It was strange to her, but she followed anyway, she had started this whole thing after all.
The garden was a ways behind them, and the streets filled with various ponies were beginning to surround them. She looked at faces who she was beginning to recognize. She’d been coming around the town long enough to know some names even, but she didn’t really know them. She didn’t really know any of them, not even Izzy or any others. And they didn’t know her, they didn’t know about what she’d done, and it haunted her. It haunted her even in the good times, but now, when she caused a crisis, it’ was even worse.
It didn’t take long to get to the library, the town was small. Misty saw the sign which was above the door. And she was the last one through. Sunny, Hitch, Izzy, Zipp, Pipp and finally Misty all got into the small and crowded store. It was a bit ridiculous how they all squeezed past the tight shelves. The old mare at the counter widened her eyes in shock as they all walked up.
“Hello…Y'all. What can I do for ya?” she asked, leaning against her counter.
Sunny was the first to speak, she was the front of the group after all “We need some books. Like, a lot of books.” she explained.
“Ah, what is it now? We just got these out to the public from Canterlogic’s private collection.” She explained, “First you ask me to distribute them, now you want all of them?” She said with a lot of sass.
“Yes, I know, it’s a bit inconvenient for you. But we’ve come into some new information that we need to investigate.” Sunny said, looking to Hitch for more authority,
“That’s right, by the sheriff's word, I can guarantee you, this is important.” Hitch said, holding his signature firm stance.
“*sigh* You ponies are mental. Alright, take as many as you want. If it is important, then it’s important.” She said, shooing them away with her hoof.
“Thank you.” Sunny smiled. “Ok everypony, gather every book that you can on ancient myths.” she announced.
They all dispersed, into the various bookshelves and such. Except for Misty, who lingered around the counter. She slowly went up to the pony who ran the library, “Uhh, hi again.” She said.
The pony looked her up and down, giving a look that was akin to unsurprised “You again, why are you here with Sunny, the sheriff and the Princesses?” She asked, moving a pen around on her counter.
“Well, I’m helping with the magic emergency” She exclaimed, not taking much consideration into what she said.
The pony smirked yet again, leaning in close to Misty “Sunny didn't say it was a magic emergency.” she chuckled. “You’re the cause of this “magic emergency” aren’t you? You got so many books on magic and history, I’m surprised you actually got Sunny and the Sheriff on your case!” She slapped the counter, letting out a belting laugh. “So what’d you do? Oh-ho-ho I knew some of these books were going to cause trouble!”
Misty’s head felt light. She stuttered out a bunch of nonsense “W-ell, I-, Um- I was just! Well…I couldn’t just…”
The mare stopped her there. “Hey now, I didn’t mean to grill ya. I won’t ask you any more questions. Just look around for whatever Sunny says you are looking for. As long as you didn’t kill anypony, you’re good in my book, (haha book).” She told Misty.
“W-well… Actually… Do you have any more copies of the books I got last time?” Misty asked.
“Hm? Yeah probably. Go look in the same section you got them in.” She told Misty pointing to the bookshelves. The old book pony seemed to wonder why Misty had lost the first ones, but it was of no consequence, Hitch was paying her to do this after all. Distribute the books, so it didn’t hurt to have a few newer copies, because ponies would ultimately lose a third of the books they checked out. Thanks to the magic of technology, they could do it fast too.
“Thank you.” Misty thanked the pony. She wasted no time, trotting over to the section, she was now looking for the books which Opaline went mental over. They had to be important, Misty had momentarily forgotten about them from her other woe’s, but now she could find out what was in them that was so crucial.
She now found herself face to face with the bookshelf in which she found both information about Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. The supposed rulers of Equestria before Twilight. She crouched down, and found her prize. She lifted the book from off the shelf, and opened it up once again. It looked like much newer paper, not even a smidge old or dusted. It was just a copy of the original. Made to be given to everypony. Just before she looked upon the words of the book, she was met with Sunny.
Sunny trotted up to her, “Hey Misty, find anything?” she asked.
“Yeah…Some good books and other things…” Misty replied, she cradled both copies like they were the last on earth. She glanced away, feeling exposed. Perhaps she held some information that she shouldn’t, although she couldn’t tell at the moment.
Sunny led her over to the door, where of course, the whole gang all held different books. Some about Equestia, magic or mythical creatures. Misty now expected for a lot of information to be true, and much to be learned from the private collection of Phyllis.
“Alright Y'all, we have everything we need?” Sunny announced, holding some books in hoof.
Hitch nodded, holding some old law books and such. Both Zipp and Pipp gave a smile to indicate contentment, without saying anything, though Pipp was taking a few pictures of her own stash.
“Yep, I think so.” Izzy said, notably carrying more books then she probably needed.
They set off back towards the Brighthouse. They had a lot of studying to attend to as of late. Sunny subtly walked next to Misty as they both carried their own books. Misty took notice of such action, since her and the mare were not close in the slightest, in fact, she knew next to nothing about her, other than her budding wings and horn.
“Hey Misty?” She asked, notably tense.
“W-what Huh? What is it Sunny?” Misty replied, as she saw Sunny’s face.
“Um, I think that I’ve been taking this magic a bit too lax.” She sighed, looking down with shame. “I was so happy to reunite everypony like I always wanted since I was a foal. But I ignored anything that could disrupt my vision.” She explained.
“Really?” Misty replied, “And I’m guessing my little magic trick gave you a wake up call?” She said, tilting her head.
Sunny chuckled, “Yes Misty, your “Magic Trick'' gave me a wake up call.” Sunny looked up at the sky, “I’m no leader, but I’m an alicorn now, and I have all these expectations to be good at it. I just put the books from Canterlogics private collection in the regular library without a second thought. I believed it would be good, and Hitch supported my decision. I thought I was doing the right thing, but obviously, I didn’t think this through.” She explained, sighing with contempt for her own choices. “These myths and ideas aren’t fake, they are real, and now with sparky, I’m wondering if other creatures will show up..And we won’t have a clue how to deal with them”
“Right…And what are you going to do now?” Misty asked, now intrigued in Sunny’s tale.
“Well, I need to take these things more seriously. I learned that a barrier that protected us from the outside world. But right after it fell, Sparky showed up. That isn’t a coincidence, nor does it bode well for us. There very well could be other mythical beasts that will come here, and we need to be ready for them.” Sunny explained, now immersed. “They all have had magic for much longer than us, we could be easy pickings for them.”
“And my magic?” Misty asked.
“Your discovery of this magic could very well save us all. Even though it could bring tensions for earth ponies and Unicorns.” Sunny said. “Unicorns with destructive and deadly lasers is one of our legends, one we all grew up with…Well, not really me, but everypony else.” Sunny explained, seemingly remembering many more times she’d heard it, “It just goes to show how much we don’t know about the past, we know next to nothing about the incident that caused all of this, or even what magic is really capable of.” Sunny shook her head, bringing her gaze back to Misty’s face.
Misty hesitated before adding, “Of course…But, you're doing the best you can…You can be proud of that.” Misty exclaimed, and she meant it. Even with Sunny’s mistakes, she was doing far better than Misty could ever do. She was kinder, more honest, and all around better. That’s what Misty thought, and without atoning for her previous sins, perhaps it was up to her to become somepony that she could be proud of.
“Thanks Misty…Well anyway, now that we know about your apparent and very powerful magic abilities, you should learn to train it. So that you can control it better.” Sunny said, she smiled a bit, leaning into a happier state.
Misty smiled, “Will do.” She stated. She was already planning to do just that, but the encouragement didn’t hurt. They reached the Brighthouse. Large and intimidating in its design.
The door to the Brighthouse was now upon them all. Misty, Sunny, Izzy, Hitch, Zipp, and Pipp. All together, walking in, Misty now felt a bit more comfortable around Sunny, Izzy and Zipp, but not really Hitch or Pipp, she didn’t know them all that well. Izzy had motherly qualities that Misty couldn’t help but adore, Sunny seemed sympathetic and all around moral. Zipp of course, helped her, and was a good pony, despite her issues. Pipp was nice, but always disconnected from the physical world, and Hitch had Sparky, and was the Sheriff. Misty didn’t really know much about him other than that.
She walked in, and they all set their books down on the table. “Alright everypony.” Sunny said as she stretched, “We’ll read these over whenever we’re free, Hitch?” She asked.
“Yeah, I’ll try, but you know I have duties to attend to, not to mention Sparky.” He exclaimed, rubbing his eyes.
“Pipp?” Sunny asked.
“My salon is busy… But I’ll find the time.” Pipp said as she held one singular book in her hoof.
“I guess that leaves me, Izzy and Misty, what do you say guys, should we look these over tomorrow?” She asked, lifting one brow.
“Yepa-Rooney!” Izzy happily agreed. “It will be so fun! like a group session of reading!” She yelled, overjoyed at the proposition, even though to many it would seem boring and monotonous.
“Sure.” Misty replied, her anxiety hadn’t stopped, and she’d much rather find out right now what those books held, not tomorrow. But she was much too cowardly to say so. Despite her recent progress, it was still too much for her to say her mind. She sheepishly accepted the fact that she would be waiting until tomorrow to find out what kind of secrets Opaline kept from her. Although, she could deduce most of what she’d said to be false. But it wouldn’t hurt to know why it was such a sore spot for Opaline.
“Alright everyone, bed time?” Sunny asked, yawning as she took one last look at the books they’d gathered.
Misty shuffled up next to Izzy, both Pipp and Zipp began to flap towards their own room which was spacy and connected to the great room. Misty briefly bit her lip, glancing back at the pile of books as she walked with Izzy back up into the large room where they now both slept. Misty was tired, but even so, could she fall asleep not knowing what was in those books?
This time, Misty wasn’t disturbed by her own intrusion into the unicorn's room. Her appreciation and kinship with Izzy had only become larger in the last day. Despite it being a small window of time, Misty couldn’t care less. She hadn’t had friends up until this point, and she sure was thankful that they all hadn’t kicked her out yet. Although, she still needed to keep hushed about her various crimes.
Izzy yawned, having sleepy and bored eyes, “Alright Misty, I’m going to get ready for bed. Oh gosh, I just realized you don’t have a toothbrush! We’ll need to change that soon enough.” Izzy smiled warmly, a quaint smile, one that Misty always welcomed.
“I guess I do need some things…” Misty chuckled, amused by the fact that Izzy still used a toothbrush despite being able to instantly clean her teeth with magic. That’s how Opaline did it when she was a filly. Yeah, getting ready for bed didn’t take all that long. “Izzy, you do know that Unicorns can clean teeth with magic?” She said.
“Huh? Oh well, no? How do you know this?” Izzy asked, confused about this new information.
“Oh? Well I’ve heard some others do it…” Misty added, unsure what to answer.
“Huh…” Izzy tapped her chin with her hoof. “Well, I’ve never done that, and I’m guessing you can't either, based on your magical ability, so you’ll still need a toothbrush.” She bounced her way to the bathroom still contemplating Misty’s words “Just add it to the list of magic we need to study…” She said to herself, finally popping out of Misty’s immediate sight.
There, alone, sitting on the mattress that Izzy had so graciously provided her, she knew that her fake cutie mark wouldn’t last much longer. It was already faded, not enough for an untrained eye, but enough that she was worried. She’d have to ask Izzy for a marker along with that toothbrush…
From a distance, she could hear the faint noises of Pipp and Zipp chatting with each other, and the sound of Sunny packing up her cart for the long run, guesses were that it would be out of commission for a bit while she addressed greater issues.
Misty took a moment, and inwardly hoped that she hadn’t ruined anything for anypony. It was already bad enough. She would hate for her only chance at magic to be the reason that magic got sealed away yet again. Izzy had said something peculiar earlier, that she needed to exert more magical energy in order to cast a spell. Basically making it much harder to do any spell. But when she finally let it rip, it just turned out larger than she originally intended. Opaline had warned her that she'd be back, Misty hoped that would never come to fruition.
She couldn’t help but wonder why her magic was so royally screwed. Why couldn’t she just be at peace and find her new life already. She desperately wanted it, she had only ever known loneliness and hardship, Agonizing as it was, surely it would take a lot longer for the smoke to pass, and for her to truly have the life that she wanted.
Laying herself on the mattress, her mind still lingered around the books. Opaline had been pretty sure about herself when she'd told Misty that she would in fact get her that cutie mark. All she could do now was hope otherwise. She wouldn’t willingly give herself back to the maniacal alicorn. Her hope was that she wouldn’t succumb to her desires, it was probably straight insanity if she did.
That again, brought her back to Opaline's self admission of getting rid of any memories that were not favorable to her. And honestly, if the memories of Opaline she did have were the best ones, Opaline must've been truly horrible. Every memory she had was either aloof, nice but with manical undertones, or just straight up nasty. It only fueled her desire to never return, perhaps one of her old selves had found out Opaline's secrets, but she’d been suppressed by Opaline time and time again.
Perhaps she could sneak down for a quick look? Perhaps if the information was terrible enough, she wouldn’t want the others to see it. Maybe, it was better to keep it to herself. Misty got up, unfortunately, she took too much time contemplating these events.
Izzy exited the bathroom, trotting up to Misty with a smile, “Ok Misty, I’m ready, you?” She said, unknowing of Misty’s inner cursing of consistent hesitancy.
“Oh, um yeah. Of course. We’ll need plenty of shut eye for tomorrow.” Misty had already surrendered herself to her timidness.
Izzy pranced over climbing onto her own bed. “Misty?” She questioned, picking up her pillow and cuddling it.
“Yes Izzy?” Misty said, laying back down just as she had got up from the mattress.
Izzy halted for a moment, “I’m glad you’re here.” She simply stated. It wasn’t much, but to Misty, it almost made her break right there and then.
Misty set her own head down on her pillow, “Y-yeah, me too Izzy. I’m glad I came here.” Misty paused, contemplating the reaction. She wished she could spill her guts to Izzy, despite having known the pony for only a few months, did it really matter? Misty never had any friends at all, so Izzy was a breath of fresh air.
Cold nights in the castle, gazing out the windows into the unknown would never amount to anything more than loneliness. Sure, the castle walls kept her from being homeless, but that’s all they did. Misty wondered if she’d ever tried to leave before and see the world, but gotten stopped while she was ahead. She muffled her own soft tears on the pillow. Only a few seeped from her eyes, but it hurt just as much as it always had. Her social skills were still subpar, but she tried her best.
As the lights went out in the Brighthouse, a small fire lit inside Misty. “Hey Izzy?” Misty exclaimed in the dark.
“Yeah Misty?” She said, tilting her dark silhouette off the edge of the bed.
“Sweet dreams.” Misty smiled, she knew she couldn’t possibly stay asleep, not after her pondering.
“You too… I hope we can figure this mess out.” Izzy said, shuffling.
“Yeah.” And with that, Misty could only wait, she knew she wouldn’t fall asleep.
In a few minutes or a few hours, it didn’t matter, she needed to know what was in those books. Whenever she thought they were asleep. Her eyes were heavy, but her mind raced. It wasn’t all fun and games having magic.
Misty laid on her mattress. She had a slight glimmering hope that she'd peacefully drift to sleep, unbothered by the blatantly important books staring her right down the snout. Say goodnight to Izzy, feel the warmth of friendship and forget her woes, drifting into a beautiful dream that would last until the nice morning. That was her vision of the night.
Alas, it was not her fate. She lay awake for a couple hours, tossing and turning. Before she finally realized she wouldn't get any shut eye. Her mind was still awake, she was tormented by sudden thoughts of worst case scenarios. Like looking in those books tomorrow, only to find that Opaline was actually the most powerful, and would someday escape, hunt her down and force her to serve. Or, that her new friends would discover her secrets and lies and shove her back into Opaline’s castle, never to be seen again. Punished for her deception and sins.
"Really...I'm trying…" She whispered, taking a deep huffing breath. Putting her hooves over her closed eyes and rolling onto her side. She talked to herself, trying to convince her psyche that she didn’t want to read them, she’d see them tomorrow, and that would be that.
She tried not to think that anything horrible would be revealed that she would rather not know. Or at least, not anything she couldn't deal with. With all that in mind, she was still desperate to know who Opaline really was. Who all the old figure heads were.
She lifted her hooves from her eyes and groaned. The covers were warm, warmer then they had any right to be.
Her caretaker was an alicorn. Opaline mentioned that she had BECOME an Alicorn, not been born one. An interesting distinction, judging on her horrid treatment of anypony who didn’t have as much power in her eyes. So, it was only logical to assume that she thought of herself as more powerful even before becoming an alicorn. Not to mention her obsession with fire, a topic Misty had debated before.
Would Misty find out why such a terrible pony had become such a powerful figure? Misty hoped she would, or at least, an inkling to lead her to the true answer. Her morbid curiosity could not be helped. It was a desire, one she couldn't resist.
She locked her eyes on the dark figure of Izzy. She wondered if she would wake up if she tried to get up. Misty squirmed in place, testing the awareness of her friend. She tossed the covers around, not in any meaningful way of course.
Misty, besides the Opaline mystery, Misty wanted to know about affairs outside of their scope, like dragons and creatures they didn’t know about before. Sunny did mention knowing of creatures outside whatever barrier had kept the two places separated until now. No doubt, beasts other than an alicorn would come looking through the "new" land. Sparky had shown up unannounced, so anything was possible.
She continued to debate her choices…Maybe she'd sneak down, just for a light stroll. Nothing serious. She looked at her pillow and clenched her jaw. The covers fell off her body, leaving only the cool air for her to shiver slightly in.
Slowly, but surely, she lifted her body from her mattress. Her heart raced and her gut went into a state of adrenaline and shock, almost like she was going to throw up. The feeling persisted, while sharply nailing her eyes to Izzy. Then, It was done, her hooves stabilized below her on the floor. She still was afraid of Izzy waking up, but fortunately, that didn’t happen. She successfully put the covers back where they were. She a suspicion that Izzy would wake up and tell her it was a bad idea, but that did not happen.
She quietly and slowly creeped over to the spiraling ramp that went all the way down to the main room. The ramp was not holding her back, but her memories were.
It reminded her of the cold nights that she'd climb up the hollow steps and creep slowly as she could towards Opaline's chamber. Of course, she was going down instead of up, but the dark night and creeping sickness in her gut was all the same. It wasn’t surprising to Misty, but it was still a drag, a stain on her psyche.
She stepped down with slow methodical steps. She knew only herself could hear her slow steps, but she was still worried that somepony else would. She jumped at small noises. Small things that couldn't have frightened her in daylight.
When Misty reached the bottom, she contemplated, how would she see the books in the dark? She couldn't use magic, so what would she use? If pegasi and earth ponies lived here, there were bound to be ways. She trotted over to the lower cupboards, low and behold, candles and a lighter. Misty carefully handled them, lighting one in the darkness.
It glowed and lit the large empty space. She smiled, reveling in her small victory. First, she took up the book named after Cadence, she remembered when she'd previously peeked into the first passage, the cultivator of love?
Once again, she opened it up to the first chapter
"Page 1
Cadence of the Crystal Kingdom, leader of crystal ponies and cultivator of the element of love.
Once, in the Crystal Kingdom, crystal ponies thrived and danced. The previous villain who'd locked them away had been banished, and peace was everyone's friend."
Misty read on, most pages were about lost traditions that were reignited and the birth of the baby princess who had both wings and horn. That in particular was an important detail, since both Cadence and her child were the same as Opaline. It was hard for Misty to believe such a foal bedtime story was actual history, but it was.
"After the Reign of Twilight began (refer to the Reign of Twilight series for more information) all was well. Equestria was well and Cadence loved her sister In law. So did Flurry love her Aunt. But there was evil brewing in the dark. A rotten unicorn allied herself with evils that were beyond comprehension. She elevated herself to alicorn status through dark means, and declared herself Queen of Fire."
Misty bit her lip, scared to read to the next line.
"The Dark coated alicorn gained a following, ponies with darkened souls pledged themselves willingly to the Queen and built her a hilltop castle. A following made purely of unicorns.
She declared war on the Queen of Love. She hated any who supported creatures that weren't ponies. She sucked dry the dragons and the kirin, taking their power for herself."
Misty was stunned, but less so then she thought. Opaline had apparently declared war on all of Equestria. With her temper, Misty supposed that it was possible.
"Luckily, Twilight Sparkle delegated magic usage, and locked those who might hurt Equestria out of the confines of the land.
Book written with help from editor Sunburst."
"That's it?" Misty was peeved, that couldn't be it. There were so many more questions. Opaline's powers, her followers, the war!? It just couldn't be! The passage was short, not telling of key details, why? It was evident that Opaline was important in history, it couldn't be all there was. It read out more like a night-time filly storybook then history.
Misty shoved the book to the side, causing a loud thump on the floor.
THUMP
She brought the candle closer to her reading area, what other books? Celestia and Luna? That could be promising, right? She remembered the short passage she'd read on the first page, rulers before Twilight, that was interesting. Also something about the sun and moon, she didn't quite remember. The Reign of Twilight as well, that must have something! She could find more, there had to more she would just-
"Misty?" A voice rang out behind her.
Her mouth went dry, she cursed herself inwardly. Her head turned, and there was Pipp, standing behind her with a steeled expression.
"Uh.." Misty blushed in embarrassment. In her folly, she had too much noise, such an idiot she was!
Pipp sighed "Misty, what are you doing up so late? And why are you being so loud?"
"Couldn't sleep." Misty said, that was technically true. Not a lie. Her ears pinned to her head, she eyed the books on the table.
"Ooookkkk, can you "not sleep" more quietly?" Pipp asked, lifting an eyebrow in annoyance. "Not all of us are rocks in bed like the others."
"O-of course…" Misty stammered.
Pipp groaned, "Can I ask you something?"
"Y-yeah…"
"Have you ever been avoided by someone?" She asked, Misty didn't know why Pipp was asking all of a sudden, but she wasn't in any position to decline.
"Uh..yeah I have."
"Then you know how much it sucks." Pipp walked over, standing next to Misty inquiring.
"Yes. It is pretty bad." Misty darted her eyes back and forth.
"I feel like every filly in town is avoiding me. I haven't even seen Peach in days." She dragged her hoof across her face.
"I'm sorry that's happening to you…Um, I think your videos are great… it must've been hard being avoided for a week." Misty smiled, genuine in her apology.
Pipp stared at Misty, hollow "…It was." She continued to stare, until she turned back, "You coming back to bed?" She asked.
Misty stood there, until replying "Yeah…" She walked back to the ramp and went up while Pipp flew up towards her room.
She bowed her head in defeat, so much information yet so many more questions. A strange predicament. Misty didn't plan on sneaking back down, she already had some read on the situation. Opaline had acquired her alicorn-hood from dark means, and was against the princess for siding with non-ponies. Also something about her followers being only unicorns. Strange.
She obtained all her influence from sheer power, forcing her body into an alicorn and taking the magic from both Dragons and Kirin to do so…whatever Kirin were… Opaline surely was a force to be reckoned with, she wondered how powerful Twilight had to be in order to imprison her and lock her out of Equestria.
Misty reached her bed, laying down, she felt closer to the truth, but also far away from definite answers. It surely didn't explain the loss of magical creatures and Sparky…
She laid her head on the pillow, it was dark, a fine time for sleeping.
●●●
Misty awoke from slumber. She could get used to Opaline not being there to yell at her in the morning. First thing she noticed was Izzy being missing from bed. This time, she wasn’t stressed about it. She hadn’t had any bad dreams that night. Though it her peace didn’t last long, because she heard a loud clang on the ground. Waking her up from her morning daze. She snapped her head up and the light stung her eyes.
Izzy stood a few feet away, cringing her face in a strained expression. It was quiet for a moment.
“Izzy?” Misty asked tentatively.
Izzy quickly stuffed some various items in a bag. “Hey Misty! Good morning!” She smiled, as though she wasn’t suspiciously holding that bag.
“What are you doing?” Misty eyed up the strange situation. Her intense worry began to set in.
Izzy looked at her, “Oh me? Well I was just getting some things ready. It’s a secret!” She trotted over to the closet, and chucked the bag in, making various noises. “Well, anyway, good morning again! Are you ready for today!” She excitedly exclaimed.
Misty tried to wave away her worry, “Yeah I'm ready for some book reading.” Misty groaned as she stretched her back when she got up. Misty expected to read a LOT of books today, so she prepared herself for the long haul.
Izzy chuckled, “Well…Something came up.” She trotted over.
“Huh? Then where is Sunny and the everypony else?” Misty asked.
Izzy took a hoof and placed it over Misty’s shoulder, "Ok, so…Sunny had to leave for a very good reason! Pipp told me she had some things to take care of, and Zipp is running some very important errands!"
Izzy shrugged, turning back to the ramp, “We can read those dusty books later. Are you ready for Fun Fun Fun!?” She deepened her smile.
Misty frowned, "What? Everypony just left and you won't even tell me why?" Misty shook her head, filled with confusion and questions.
Izzy looked guilty and tried to rectify the confusion "Sorry Misty… Uh I'll make it up to you? We can go into town, eat at a local restaurant and I'll pay for everything!" She lifted her hoof.
Misty felt a bit cheated, she knew that she of all ponies had no reason to complain, she'd been eating, sleeping and putzing around the place for days now. With no evidence to suggest that she would pay back any of their kindness. That small pang of guilt, however small, caused her to revert and accept the strange information.
Misty smiled a little, reminded of her friend's endless kindness, "Ok…"
"Great!!! Oh we'll have so much fun! With Hitch too! It'll be wonderful!" Izzy excitedly started prancing down the ramp, caught up with happiness. Misty hurried to follow.
"Don't worry about anything Misty, you'll be really happy! Especially afterwards, oh I just can't wait!"
Misty tried to enjoy Izzy’s enthusiasm. But this was all a lot for her to process right in the morning, especially when she was still groggy.
They both hurried down into the main room, which was peculiarly clean. It had been lived in last night, but now the tabletops were clear and the books were gone.
"Hey Izzy?" She meekly asked as they zipped past the room and stood at the door.
"Hm? What?" She asked with blank eyes as she creaked the door open.
"Where'd the books go?" She asked.
"Oh those! I put them away in the backroom, since everypony was busy." Izzy hurriedly exclaimed.
"Oh, uh, ok…" Misty was utterly confused. But went along with Izzy, she was all over the place all the time after all.
Izzy led the way, basically pushing her out the door with zero hesitancy. She smiled so wide that Misty thought her face was about to explode. Misty's stomach growled with hunger, she hadn't had any breakfast yet. As they passed the community garden, she stared at the fruits and vegetables with intense hunger. She bit her lip, lightly trotting next to Izzy.
"Izzy?" She meekly asked.
"Hm?" Izzy turned.
"You said something about Hitch earlier?" She tapped her hoof, barely remembering Izzy's words from her groggy morning memories.
"Yeah! Oh I nearly forgot, we're meeting Hitch for breakfast. It's going to be great. I know so." Izzy turned back, continuing her high speed trotting.
Misty was silent. She didn't know Hitch all that well, but he seemed like a good sheriff. Keeping everything clean and tidy. It was a respectable position.
She slowly turned her head back towards the Brighthouse, and gasped. She squinted her eyes, she thought she saw a light blur go into the house. Just before speaking once again Izzy pulled her forward.
"Come on! We're going to be late!" Izzy yelled.
"Wait, but-"
"Come on!"
They both walked up to the edge of Maretime Bay, taking in the usual bustle of ponies doing things. Running into various shops and doing different activities. It was never dull, somepony was always doing something strange or other.
Now, because of plant magic, the town was plagued by immature small ponies sprouting vines and giant orange apples and watermelon trees everywhere. They had somewhat of a discipline over adults. But the little ones grew strange concoctions all over the place.
"Look Misty, there it is! In allllll it's glory!" Izzy pointed to a meager building with plants covering it almost completely. Then there was a sign, held up by a vine, which read,
"Welcome to The Food Empire. You grow it, we cook it?" Misty read out the words with hesitancy. "What is this Izzy?"
"This is a brand new restaurant! Cool right? You can pick whatever food that you want if you are a unicorn or pegasus, or you can just grow it right here and they'll cook it!" Izzy hopped over to the place and ushered Misty in.
Misty stepped through the door, taking in the sight of plants, vines, and basically every plant growing in every direction. Ponies sat at tables made of plants. There was dirt in small patches which they grew plants in, and it was whisked away to the kitchen.
"Woah." Misty marveled at the shop, it was like nothing she'd ever seen.
"Did you know they made this place after Plant magic appeared? It was an old horseshoe shop, before they covered it with plants and opened the Food Empire." Izzy replied to Misty, who was still looking at the ceiling, where a few birds perched in the small trees that came out of the boards.
"It's so messy, how do they keep it to code?" Misty asked, it was confusing, dirt and animals and plants were everywhere, dominating everything.
"It's the best! Don't you think? Unicorns put a special spell making it possible!" She pointed at a table. "Look! It's Hitch! Come on!"
Misty broke her gaze, and looked to see Hitch sitting calmly at a table. He had a bird on his hoof, whom he was speaking to intently, like a conversation. They began to walk over, and she could hear the sounds of him and the bird.
"No, we're not having Dandelion qiwi salad." He frowned at the bird. "What? Well sure, you'll have it, but not me." He crossed his hooves.
Hitch stopped, noticing the both of them walking towards him. Izzy with a rapid and intense grin, and Misty with a confused and doubtful expression. He set the bird down, greeting them with a nod and a smile.
“Hey Hitch! Whatcha doing? Izzy happily stood in front of the table, taking into account the bird which was now standing on the table with ease.
“Trying to order, but someone over here is being picky.” He motioned to the bird, who tweeted angrily in response.
“Misty, go ahead and sit down, you can order anything!” Izzy excitedly ushered her to the table, which also had the plantlike chairs and decor.
Misty sat, the bird being right next to her, and it felt awkward.
“Here’s the menu.” Izzy handed her a bright orange piece of laminated paper, having all sorts of strange and unique combinations. She still didn’t understand many of them, like pineapple and dragonfruit, or Pear and Squash. But it was unique to Maretime Bay. Being the only place where so many strange combinations were frequently made. There would even come a time where mixed fruits would become boring and they would mix together the mixes to create even more strange creations. It seemed far off, but it could occur anytime.
Misty didn’t know whether or not the plants that were grown would go off into nature and become invasive species. She startled herself with the thought, she needed something else to focus on.
“So, uh Hitch, what do you like to do?” Misty asked because she didn’t know, Hitch didn’t seem to have hobbies like the others, Izzy had crafts, Sunny had smoothies and alicorn stuff. Zipp had flying and detective work and Pipp had socials. What did Hitch do in the meantime? Surely his sheriff job couldn’t be the only thing he was interested in.
He was silent, before answering, “Nobody ever asked me that…Well, I like dancing.” He tapped his hoof on his chin.
“Really?” Misty replied.
“Yes, I take lessons on the weekends. I’ve tried to start a group, but no one else has ever been interested. So I just do it in my spare time.” He looked down at the table.
Misty could relate, having no one else like your interests and push you away when you need them most. Hitch was a tough kind of pony, one who knew what he wanted, and pushed to be better all the time. It must’ve been hard, having no one appreciate what you do, and all the solutions you come up with everyday for the town. It was an isolated town, and it had no mayor, so the sheriff was basically the president, and the mayor, and the police, all in one.
“That’s a great hobby.” Misty smiled, and Izzy grinned as well.
Izzy clapped her hooves together. “Let's order.”
They all looked at their bright orange menus, seeing all the foods they could order. As well as the “make your own" section which cost at least twice as much. She cringed at the price, she didn’t want Izzy to pay for something so expensive. She decided blueberry-asparagus sounded interesting. She’d never had either before, so it would be a new experience.
Once they finished picking, they ordered their food.
“Kiwi-orange for me.” Hitch ordered, he’d also ordered it from Sunny’s smoothie cart, so Misty assumed he liked the flavor.
“Hmmm, I want Melon chips and Strawberry flowers!” Izzy answered, to the waitress, who marked it down on the clipboard. Misty didn’t even know that combination existed.
“Uh, Blueberry-asparagus please.” Misty replied.
The waitress pony, who was an Earth pony, chuckled at the choice. Misty didn't know what was so funny about it. "Alright, I'll be back in just a bit, enjoy." She walked off, and Misty felt a bit peeved.
There were strange chips that were on the table, they looked inedible. She didn't try to eat any of them.
"Hitch." Izzy smiled, "Are you going to ask her?" She picked up a chip, and threw it into her maw.
Hitch cleared his throat, and said "Yes.. alright, Misty?"
"Yes?" Her heart beated in her chest. Twisting her guts.
"Would you ever consider…Well, would you be my new deputy?" He asked, and his expression twisted into that of discomfort.
Misty didn't reply, she only mentally processed the information which was just laid into her brain.
"Misty?" Hitch asked, as Misty blinked her eyes in shock.
"Huh? Me? Your deputy? You can't be serious." Misty cringed at the suggestion, she was jumpier than anyone else, why would Hitch ever ask her such a thing was ridiculous to even comprehend.
Hitch fiddled his napkin, "I thought you'd need work after what happened to you, so I figured I'd offer."
Misty studied to see if he was serious, and she found that he was. Even still, Misty found it silly to ask, they didn't really even know each other, and she had previously proven herself to be jumpy.
"Are you sure? I'm not trained to do anything like that…" She shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
Hitch laughed, making the table shake with his bellowing voice, "Neither was Sprout."
Misty became annoyed at the concept, "We all know how that turned out…" She looked down, appalled at the mind numbing absence of clarity.
Hitch paused, "Misty, you aren't anything like Sprout. Plus, Sunny told me how powerful your magic is, if you trained, you could become a force to be reckoned with!" He spoke his hooves, essentially salivating at the idea of Misty using her magic.
Misty's mouth turned dry, sucking in terrible air. She was like Sprout, Hitch just had no idea of what horrible things she had done. Hitch didn't know anything about her, only that her magic could be a powerful asset to law enforcement.
"Did Sunny put you up to this?" Misty looked up solemnly from her spot.
"No!… well she mentioned something about your magic. But it was Izzy who recommended you become a deputy."
Misty jolted her head towards Izzy, who silently waited to be acknowledged. She smiled her warm fuzzy smile, taking in the conversation with ease. Misty was put off by how quickly she changed from her bubbly self, to her more serious demeanor.
"I did, I think it's a good idea." Izzy exclaimed.
"Why!? You were the one who opposed Zipp when she recommended me jobs!" Misty couldn't believe the absurdity of everyone in this town, it never ceased to amaze her.
"Sunny and Zipp made me realize something, you can never get back on your feet if we don't let you. Being Hitch’s deputy just makes sense. You can practice your magic, help Hitch, and get paid." Izzy concluded her thoughts, wrapping it up like a present for Misty to try and unfold.
"I-i don't know what to think…I wouldn't be fit for it…" Misty shook in opposition.
"Think about it." Hitch said.
Then the food came, "Alright party ponies, drinks are served!" They all took the food.
Hitch thoroughly enjoyed his plate of strange fruit. And Izzy chomped down on the food like it was candy. Misty set to try and eat her own food, she took a bite, and found that it wasn't particularly good. She smacked her lips together, trying to eat the stringy vegetable-berry. She finished in silence, regretting her choice. Still, it was better than whatever Opaline would've given her.
Izzy spoke up after they finished, "So Misty, what do you think of the Brighthouse?" Her eyes shone with curious sparkles.
"What do I think of it? Well, it's very nice. Why?"
"I don't know, you've been there for a few days now, I just wanted to know what you thought." She shrugged.
Misty licked her lips as she finished her food. She had no idea why Izzy was being so peculiar today. This whole time had been one long whirlwind of confusion. She really wished she could properly read social cues.
Soon enough, they were all leaving the restaurant.
Hitch smiled "Izzy, I'm going to do that extra important thing now, see you both later alright?"
Izzy suddenly widely accepted this explanation. "Yes! Yes! Great idea. You go do that." She turned to Misty, "Misty, let's go pick you out some supplies! Like a toothbrush, a blanket, maybe some clothes, everything you need!"
Misty understood the meaning, she did need some things, especially a toothbrush. But everything was off. She only went along with the charade to appease Izzy, what intents was she hiding? More importantly, what could possibly be so great that everyone had to run off except the both of them?
As they all exited the restaurant, Izzy waved to Hitch "Have a good time!" She yelled.
"I will!" He said as he trotted away.
"Let's go Misty, we're on a mission."
"To find a toothbrush?" Misty asked.
"To find a toothbrush." Izzy exclaimed as she nodded accordingly.
They trotted away, and eyed multiple stores before picking one to go into. Most of which Misty didn't even know existed. Misty noticed that there were not as many ponies around town than before. She could only guess why. All these coincidences were too much to believe that it wasn't suspicious. Not that they'd been very secretive about it.
They raced around the shops faster than she would've liked. Soon enough they had a pile of belongings in their hooves.
"Izzy?" Misty asked as they trotted along with the outrageous pile.
"Yes? We only have a few more shops to go." Izzy happily replied.
"I think I'm done shopping for today…These things are getting heavy…" Misty's eyes sagged before her, she supposed she should've gotten more sleep.
"Just a little longer? The next shop is just around this corner!"
"Izzy.."
"We can get you a phone case- or a lamp!"
"Izzy."
"The daylight is getting away from us! How are we supposed to-"
"IZZY!" Misty yelled. Causing Izzy to take pause.
Misty composed herself, "You are so nice thinking of all this for me, thank you so much. But I'm tired and this is getting heavy. We can get more stuff later… Please, let's go back now."
"W-well…They might not be…oh..nevermind. Yes, we can go back now." Izzy replied, as she turned around.
Misty sighed in relief, "Thank you."
"No problem Misty, we all want you to enjoy yourself as much as possible."
Misty smiled, she felt bad that she'd yelled at her friend. But today was getting quite ridiculous. She just hoped nothing too bad was waiting for her back at the Brighthouse.
As they started back to their home, Misty silently hoped that she'd never have to leave. It was all too good to give up.
Carrying all the things they had bought up the hill to the Brighthouse turned put to be quite miserable. But the strangest thing was that no one was around. When they got all the way up, the windows were all closed shut, tight and silent. No sunlight could possibly shine into the building like that.
Izzy seemed nervous, yet giddy with joy. It was quite surreal, Misty couldn’t help but feel that same sort of anxiety as when she would walk up the steps of Opaline’s castle, waiting to get a harsh scolding from her old mentor. Except this time, it wasn’t Opaline who gave her the sinking feeling of failure, but her own friends, who she could call home. It was less than pleasant, but she stood awkwardly in front of the building, not daring to go in.
“Misty? Are you coming in?” Izzy skeptically stared at the unicorn, snapping Misty out of it.
“Yes…I suppose I am.” She gulped, preparing herself, reassuring that it was a whole lot of nothing, even though she knew that wasn’t the case.
Izzy opened the door for her, and it was pitch black inside. Her heart pounded against her chest, which she was still holding a blanket and other assortments which she wasn’t sure she truly needed.
“Why is it so-” Misty stopped, interrupted by a bellowing cry throughout the entire room.
“SURPRISE!” the light turned on suddenly, and she backed away in surprise.
Pink and blue streamers, balloons, presents, and ponies who she both knew and didn't know. All there, waiting for her to come in. She dropped her belongings onto the ground. It made a loud plop when it dropped.
Izzy was beaming, and asked "Well? Do you like it?"
Misty stood in the doorway, slack jawed. How had she missed this? She re-thought her previous suspicions. They all seemed so outrageous now, there were so many signs, yet she assumed the worst. She'd gotten used to it from her upbringing.
Izzy motioned over to the group, Zipp, Hitch and Sunny stood before her with happy smiles.
"Misty!" Sunny cheerfully exclaimed.
"Sunny? Hitch? Zipp???" Misty asked, utterly dumbfounded by the display.
"Happy NOT your birthday!" They said as they burst out in intense laughter.
"W-what's going on!?" Misty stuttered as she came to grips with the entire room being filled with ponies.
Zipp piped up, still chuckling, "We set up a party for you! We knew how down you were with the craziness that's been going on, all of us knew that you needed something special!" She half-shouted.
Izzy groaned, "Zipp! I was going to tell her!"
Zipp gasped, "Oops! I was just excited, sorry Izzy." She covered her mouth with her hoof.
Izzy continued after Zipp, but still gave a small sneer. "We were all in on it. Hitch carried all the heavy stuff, Zipp put up the streamers and balloons, and Sunny made all the layouts and invitations!" Sunny nodded while Hitch blushed just a bit.
Misty was so happy. So utterly and completely happy, that she had no words to describe her happiness. No feeling in the world could be better than what she was feeling right now. It was all so massively overwhelming,
The only thing strange about the whole setup was Pipp's absence in the presence of the entire town. But, of course she was probably somewhere. Maybe some royal duties. Or perhaps she just didn't want to be here… Misty tried to forget that thought. Even if not everyone was here, it didn't mean anything! Besides! Her friends were there, and that mattered.
Her body felt light, and her tension was alleviated, even if she was awkward around large crowds. It melted away, because she knew 3 ponies who cared about her. She didn't need anything else.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you…" Misty thanked them, over and over. She knew she would thank them forevermore. Her throat was tight with the feeling of tears.
Izzy contorted, a sympathetic look overwhelmed her features. "No need, no need! Let's get you some cake!" Izzy pointed at the pile of goodies that were for Misty. "You must be hungry again! From all that walking!"
Overwhelming was an understatement in Misty's mind at this point. It was more like mind blowing. She was ushered into a seat by the gang, and many gathered near for whatever declaration was next.
The large halls and spindle ramp made good space for such large party. Pegasi flying above in the high ceilings, earth ponies holding down the ground, and unicorns gathering hype by shining lights from their own horns.
Izzy began, after Misty had sat at the table, in front of a cake larger than she could eat. And yelled. "Everyone! Everyone!"
The crowd slowly silenced for the unicorn speaking. Izzy had quickly captured the hearts and minds of all town goers. Misty was enraptured by the action, she could only wish to be a quarter as eloquent as Izzy.
"As you all know, I've thrown a party for all the town!" Cheers, whoops and hollers erupted from the entire room. Misty was quick to cover her ears.
"Yes, it's amazing to have you all here. But the real reason I've thrown this party is because of Misty. Her tragedy inspired this entire event." Izzy looked down at Misty, as though beckoning her to speak, or to nod. Misty did the latter, nodding to Izzy's speech.
"Misty has recently been staying with us in light of tragic events in Bridlewood. One of which being her precious house burning down!" Izzy exclaimed. She choked a bit, "To one of my best friends, I've decided to make her life a little happier, a little lighter. To make sure she knows the whole town will come to her aid! And help her through the darkest times!" She excitedly cheered.
It was a chain reaction, no stallion, filly, colt or mare refused to cheer and cry out at her excellent speech. Izzy hadn't remarked too much upon the actual event, but focused on the cheery times that were ahead. Even though Misty didn't in fact have a house that burned down in Bridlewood, she felt that the lie had some truth to it.
Her one and only home had been demolished when Opaline chose to attack her and subjugate her to such insanity. Chased her around and promised to wipe her mind violently. That was the home that burned down, that home was dead and gone. She wouldn't have it any other way.
Zipp and Hitch came closer to her, with determined looks upon their faces. Zipp came forward first, holding a small wrapped gift.
"Misty, you once told me something that you wanted. And I just thought that you might want this!" She shoved the gift to Misty's hooves, putting it onto her lap.
"I did?" Misty pondered and tapped her hoof on the present. "I don't remember telling you anything like that…" She looked left and right at it. Blue and pink wrapping, how fitting. The whole party was that same color scheme. She mildly remembered telling Izzy how those were her favorite colors.
She slowly and gingerly ripped the wrapping paper, much to the anticipation of Zipp. The pegasus bounced up and down with impatient hooves. Hitch was dutifully nearby, Sparky, that tiny dragon hanging off his coat like a newborn to his father. Hitch patted him, and assured him amongst the chaos of the room. Sparky had gotten notably calmer since hatching.
Misty took out the present, and noticed that it was a saddlebag. Her very own saddlebag. Now she remembered. Zipp had helped her with those books when she stumbled out of the shop. Then asked her what she would want. And she replied with; Saddlebag. The bag was quite cute, with a little butterfly in the corner, almost matching her own fake cutie mark.
"Do you like it?" Zipp asked, toppling over her hooves.
Misty nodded, chuckling. "Yes, yes! I like it a lot!" Misty held it in her hooves, and stared longingly at it. As though it were too precious to put on.
Zipp continued, "I know we weren't supposed to give you presents until after the cake…But I was too anxious for that! I had to see your reaction to it." She fluttered and struck a sly pose. Looking content all throughout. "Well? Put it on!" She gleamed.
Misty hoised the strap over her head, and it went around her neck easily. She found that she actually liked having attention! Especially when it was the good kind. The bag certainly complimented her coat.
Sunny suddenly interrupted the conversation, breaking Misty from her stupor. “It looks amazing on you! Here, put some books in there!” She suddenly opened the bag and plopped two books directly into it. “Wow! It reminds me of my own! Zipp really picked the right saddlebag!”
“I may or may not have taken inspiration from your own bag Sunny.” Zipp chuckled.
Sunny smiled “Well I'm glad you did. It looks amazing.”
“I’m glad you approve, your highness.” Zipp smirked and teased.
Sunny's body went stone cold. "Hey! I'm not a ruler!"
Zipp replied, "Hmm. Maybe not yet."
Hitch finally spoke up. "Girls, girls, no need to argue over who is the most royal. You're both royal."
Both girls irritably yelled back, "Hey!"
Izzy suddenly barged into the conversation, balancing 4 plates with cake placed on them. "EVERYPONY! Eat cake! Right now!" She yelled, panting while holding all the plates on many limbs.
She shoved the plates into each ponies hoof, forcing them to forget the previous conversation.
Hitch raised a brow to Izzy, "Eat cake? Really?"
"Yes!" Izzy panicked.
Misty gazed down at the piece of cake. She hadn't had any cake yet. From all the food she had eaten so far since coming to Maretime Bay, it appeared to be quite a bit more light and non-solid. Flimsy, with crumbs strewn on the plate as well. Quite the interesting combination.
She took the first bite of this "cake". It was a lot better than popcorn. "Hhmmmm!" She hummed as she chewed her piece of delicious floaty dessert.
Sparky stared at Misty, he plopped down off of Hitch’s back. Putting himself directly into the gazed Misty's lap. His quickness surprised all 5 ponies.
"Huh?" Misty gasped as Sparky made himself at home in Misty's lap.
Misty swallowed her bite of the cake. She had previously come to think Sparky disliked her a fair bit. She had in fact harassed and tried to dragon-nap him. He hadn't gone near her purposefully every time she'd been near him. But now he was willingly sitting on her lap in front of her.
"W-what? I thought…" Misty began trailing off immediately afterwards.
"Wow! Even Sparky thinks you should stay here." Izzy beamed, mentally taking a note that Sparky had given the a-ok seal of approval.
Hitch wasn't all that surprised, in fact, he was relieved, "Well, I hope you don't mind a bit of dragon sitting. He's kinda heavy to carry around everywhere." He sighed, tension melting off his body like water.
Misty took a moment to stare into Sparky's giant eyes. "Uh, yeah Hitch. I'll watch him for a minute."
"Great! I've been dying to hit the dance floor!" He happily trotted away.
Zipp laughed, leaning up against the table, "Sunny, you're so uptight! Hitch wants to live a little."
Izzy grabbed Sunny, bringing her forward to the table near Zipp. "Sunny, why don't you tell some of these lovely guests some jokes." She tousled Sunny's hair.
Sunny gave a small smirk. "Ok, ok, I'll ignore it for now. Ooohhhh but next time I see Hitch, he'll get a earful! This is Misty's party!"
Zipp rolled her eyes and focused on other ponies.
Izzy gave a small wink from Sunny’s shoulder, and Misty's brain had a double take. Izzy chuckled as Sunny began to speak.
Misty continued to sit at her table, with her cake, and Sparky plopped right onto her lap. The dragon was having an excellent time, especially since he got his powers (mostly) under control. Hitch had done a great job teaching him. She only wondered how much bigger the lad could become! He was already such a large dragon.
Misty laughed as Sunny told a joke, and Izzy wiggled some sticks in her mouth as teeth. Hitch danced with all the enthusiasm he should have! He got to show off his impeccable moves. Zipp flaunted her stories of detective work to some mares and stations. She smiled when Sparky toyed with her hair, and some fillies ran around happily.
It was incredibly loud, so much so that she wanted to leave the room; despite how happy she was to see everpony having the utmost amount of fun. She couldn't bring herself to do it. The atmosphere radiated everything she ever wanted in life, all the things she never knew she were missing from her life. Alone, forever a slave to a shady Alicorn's whims.
She wasn't frightful, or anxiety riddled, she was content now. If the rest of her life could be like this moment, then she'd put up with the noise. Because it was worth it.
Almost as quickly as she bit into her second bite of cake, and looked down at her new saddlebag full of books; she heard the sound of a door opening. She didn't pay much mind, it was probably the fillies who were running about.
She enjoyed her cake, and cooed at Sparky. She wasn't sure why he had changed his mind about her, especially after the backroom incident, where she had tried to steal him away for Opaline. How silly that whole event was now. If she could've laughed at her previous self, then she would.
"Missssss!!! Missssssy."
Misty's jaw dropped, spitting the cake back onto the plate. Did Sparky just?...Try to speak? Was that even possible? Misty contemplated this. It could've just been more incoherent babbling from a baby. Or it could be…Speech? Hitch had previously mentioned not understanding a word Sparky said, despite talking to other creatures.
Could it be that Sparky could learn to speak real words, and therefore hadn't spoken at all because of his underdeveloped mind? They had no real reference to a dragon's capacity for speech or intelligence, so it was entirely possible.
Did Hitch know about this? Had Sparky tried to speak before? This was astonishing! What other wonderous things were waiting right under their snouts. She smiled, and Sparky babbled back nonsense.
Well, even if it wasn't speech, she was still curious about the real origins of everything. There had to be something out there worth looking for.
Abruptly, she felt a pair of eyes staring her down, and a chill in her back. She directed her eyes towards the door, and through the crowd. A scowling Pipp Petals was approaching her.
Pipp's green eyes burned with a fury Misty had seen countless times before. She froze, awaiting Pipp. Pipp stormed over, hooves clanking on the floor. No pony else seemed to take notice, only going about the party as usual. Misty finally saw, behind her were three small ponies, the most dedicated fans Misty knew of; the Pipp-squeaks.
Misty knew this could out mean one thing. A little bit of barf made its way up her throat, she coughed, and forced it back down. Sparky looked at her curiously. Misty's eyes turned into glassy orbs of pain. The cake wasn't delicious anymore, it was awful bile.
Pipp made her intentions clear. She hovered over Misty with malice…However, instead of yelling, or anger, she instead placed a wrapped gift onto the table in front of Misty.
Misty's lips were dry, "H-huh…"
Pipp continued to rip into her with only a glance. "Hello Misty, sorry I was absent from your party. I hadn't helped at all. You see, I was busy with many OTHER things." She let a smile creep onto her lips, a vicious expression.
Misty couldn't help but tremble in her seat. What Pipp had been doing outside of the party, was obvious. The small ponies trailing shortly behind her was a good sign. Misty remembered what she'd said to the small unicorn who was part of the Pipp-squeaks, what malice her words held. It was wholly untrue, and she knew it. Why Pipp hadn't yet exposed her was unclear. What was clear was her unbridled fury.
"Misty?" Pipp sneered, pushing the present towards her. Misty clutched Sparky, like a pillow, he squeaked from the pressure.
"Y-Y-yes?" Misty croaked.
"I'd like you to open this, right here, right now." She insisted.
"Oh…" Misty glanced from the present over to the pile over by the ramp. "Y-you'll just have to wait! There are many other presents t-that I need to open!" Misty racked her brain, and came up with this excuse. Whatever was in there, she dared not see.
Pipp turned red in the face, "The least that YOU could do for me is open it!" She yelled, referencing something that she knew Misty would understand.
Misty became defensive, pulling back from it, "No! You'll need to wait!"
"What's that on your shoulder?" Pipp asked, pointing at the bad which hung from her neck.
"T-this? It's…From Zipp." She squirmed.
"Her present." Pipp smugly stated. "You made an exception for Zipp. And Zipp is my sister, so it only makes sense that you open this as well. Two peas in a pod as my mom would say." She stated her case, clear and concise. There was a glimmer of logic in the argument. But it still didn't deter Misty.
"Yeah well, Zipp was a lot nicer about it!" She exclaimed, Sparky covering his ear holes with his claws.
"Nice? Like you'd know anything about that-" Pipp was abruptly interrupted.
Zipp flocked to the scene, "PIPP! What the HAY are you doing!" Zipps' eyes pierced into Pipp. The siblings battled for control over the other.
Pipp scoffed, "Me? I'm just giving Misty a present." She turned away, letting her steam.
"Except you weren't. You were pestering her…Like…Like a Bully! Like…How I did when I accused her of being suspicious …" Zipp calmly looked down, ashamed.
"And you were right!" Pipp yelled, slamming the wrapping paper on the ground. "PEACH!"
The small unicorn rushed over to Pipps' side. Hanging her head in shame. Pipp continued, "Peach, what did Misty tell you about me and the Pegasi?"
Peach mumbled, before speaking "Misty told me…That she thought Pipp was pretending to be friends with us…And that…the phones we got from the Pegasi, were sucking our sparkle…"
Sunny entered the conversation, suddenly aware of all the tension going on in the room, "What's going on here, what's this about Misty?"
Zipp looked over to Sunny, "Peach was telling us that…Misty convinced her pegasi were stealing unicorn magic…"
Pipp scoffed, "Not just Peach, the other children too." She glanced at the other two Pipp-squeaks, and continued. "My numbers have been going down ever since Misty moved in here. Something was fishy. I didn't want to believe it, but after Peach told me about what Misty said, I was angry…Hurt...That's why I went to Bridlewood."
"You went to Bridlewood by yourself?" Izzy poked her head into the drama, letting the others stare at her.
"Yes I did, and I found something very incriminating." Pipp said, standing straight with confidence. "Hitch! Get over here!" She yelled.
Hitch broke from the crowd. He was cheery, up until he saw the frowns which everypony was sporting. "What's going on here? Pipp? What's happening?"
"Open this Hitch." She handed the wrapped box to him and he glanced with suspicion.
"Ok…um." He looked over at his friends. He slowly unwrapped the box, taking out a single piece of paper. "Oh." He said.
"Read it out loud." Pipp requested.
"Alright." He sighed, "Hello Ms.Pipp, we have processed your request to find "Misty Brightdawn" and found that this individual hasn't ever lived in Bridlewood. We are sorry for the inconvenience. And thankfully, no houses have burned down for over 10 years." Hitch stared at the paper, then lifted his head at Misty. "It-...it's an official document. Not fake." He continued.
Izzy blinked her eyes in shock. "M-misty. This is a mistake. It's a mistake. If you aren't from Bridlewood, and your house isn't burnt…Then, where are you from? That's silly!" She chuckled. "All unicorns are from Bridlewood! Your paper must be wrong, Pipp!" She clenched her eyes shut.
Sunny immediately rushed over to read it, and confirm for herself. "Let me see that!" She grabbed it, and skimmed over to the official seal. "No. No it can't be. Misty- You- Where?…I can't…"
Zipp stood in place, she turned to Misty, "Tell me…Tell me right now Misty, are you lying to us?" She said it calmly, like she was trying to decide if what Pipp said was the truth.
Misty couldn't say anything, when she tried, she just croaked out a noise that wasn't coherent in any way. Her face burned with shame, but not merely shame, but sadness too. She could feel her eyes beginning to leak a large stream of tears. How many times had she cried? How many times had she known it would come to this?
Zipp mumbled, "Misty…" She repeated again, "MISTY!" She yelled. "I-I trusted you! I apologized to you! Why are you lying to me!" She exclaimed, loud enough for the whole party to hear. They had all gone silent a long while ago.
Misty just hugged Sparky tighter, and the small dragon seemed to nuzzle back. "I-i didn't…I didn't mean too!" Misty yelled.
Pipp emptied even more fury, "That isn't justifiable! You can't just lie and spread rumors about us and say you didn't mean too!"
"But I- I didn't! It was…It was Opaline! It was always Opaline! She sent me! It's- it's not my fault! I didn't know any better!" Misty tried to rationalize her actions, but it was useless, her defensive words would only prove to alienate her new friends.
Sunny chimed in, "Who is Opaline Misty?… Is she? Oh, oh no…" Sunny came to a realization, was this the pony they were warned about? "Why did she send you Misty? Just what were you sent to do?"
"It's not my fault! It's not my fault!" Misty cried, she cried and cried, but it wasn't any use. Her friends had caught her in deception. They'd found her sins. She regretted them so much. But she couldn't do anything else except cry.
Zipp scowled and clenched her eyes. "Even if this "Opaline" sent you…You still deceived us on purpose! What ELSE have you done that we don't know about!?"
Misty glanced towards the lantern that sat at the rim of the table across the way. It was Sunny's lantern, she had tried to steal it in the past, on Opaline's order.
Zipp followed her eyes, and scowled, "Pipp, where did you find Sunny's lantern?"
Pipp's attention was grabbed, "I tripped…The lantern, it was buried in the garden…"
Zipp stood in attention. Letting her mind work and put together the pieces of the puzzle. "Misty was covering up that hole, I saw her there. And she acted in an EXTREMELY suspicious manner when I chased her down!" She once again turned to Misty, "Did you try to…Steal Sunny's lantern?" Zipp looked in disgust, debating her options.
Sunny finally shook out of her crazed stupor, "Misty…You tried to steal my lantern? WHY? WHAT HAS OPALINE PLANNED!" Sunny said toward Misty.
Misty sobbed even harder, "I-im sorry! I'M SORRY!"
Izzy jumped to the scene, "EVERYPONY STOP!" She tried to choke back her tears, "T-THIS IS NOT HOW WE TREAT OUR FRIENDS! This was meant to be happy! I-it was supposed to go differently!" Izzy cried out.
Misty looked down towards Sparky, who was concerned and covering his ears. "I'm sorry Sparky, I really am…" Misty said softly.
Hitch reacted, "Misty, why are you apologizing to Sparky?" He asked, holding back his contempt. "Y-you didn't…. Well that day he went missing… Y-you wouldn't…"
Misty was tight lipped, "I-i didn't know what I was doing. I'm sorry Hitch."
It was chaos, Misty broke down. She could hear Sunny, Zipp, Pipps voices they all cried out In her mind.
"Tell me what Opaline has planned!" "Give Sparky to me!" "I can't believe I trusted you!" "Why would you do this!"
"STOP! JUST STOP! SHUT UP!" Misty yelled as she heaved, her heart broke out in rapid fire. Her eyes sparked in powerful magic. It ended up toppling everyone in the room onto their knees as it shot through the room.
Her body was covered in a dark red aura, she dripped in magic. Misty could barely tell where she began and the magic ended. Her senses burned in utmost limitation. They all gasped in fear, they wondered how one unicorn could carry so much power in her body.
Misty disappeared in a giant flash along with the tiny Sparky. It almost seemed as though a glitching effect was imposed on her body as she phased out of existence.
She couldn't think, her mind existed, yet it also didn't exist at all. She dove into the fabric of reality.
Soon enough, she collapsed onto cold floor tiles. It seemed familiar, yes, through her muddied and cloudy mind she recognized this place. She sobbed into Sparky, continually mouthing, "I'm sorry."
She was so tired, her bag hung around her neck and held her down like a bag of rocks. Over her head a dark shadow loomed above. The shadow saw the sparkling magic particles loom around Misty like a charm.
The shadow smiled, "Ah, so your back already. Such a strong teleportation spell." She chuckled, and finally noticed something in Misty's clutches. "What's this?"
Misty's face came snout to snout with Opaline.
"Y-you've done it!" Opaline excitedly stammered as she stared at Sparky. "I-i can finally leave this place!"
Misty tried to croak out a sentence, but nothing came out. She couldn't talk, she couldn't move. She had teleported back to Opaline's castle in her haste to escape from her friends. Now she had played right into Opaline's hooves.
This castle was her place of hiding, her haven of escape no matter how vile. Opaline told her she'd be back, and here she was, of her own volition, albeit unconscious.
Well played Opaline, well played.
Misty struggled as her consciousness left her brain and everything turned black.
Misty awoke with a pained groan, she could feel the tug of a rope when she tried to get up. Misty was tied up. She could barely see anything, as the bright light of a window glared into her pupils. This wasn't the chamber room, Misty knew that much, but where was she? She didn't recognize anything she saw after she blinked her eyes and looked around.
The one pony she did recognize was her mentor. The vile alicorn of fire, Opaline. She hesitantly looked at the complex spell which Opaline was scribbling on the floor. She was hasty with her movements, while trying to get the circle into a certain shape. She levitated a book next to her. Painfully snapping her head from the book to her precious floor tiles.
"No no, it was… Maybe? Yes here! Only a few more to go!" Opaline exclaimed happily. Her excitement was palpable. Emanating from her usually scornful face. In her haste, Opaline was botching the circles, forcing her to erase them and try again. She scowled for a moment, before taking back her bubbling excitement when she got it correct.
Misty stayed muted. She ruminated on her feelings. She was sad, miserable even. Her friends were no longer her friends. Why? She had tried so hard. It wasn't her fault, was it? No. It was Opaline's fault. Opaline used her, over and over again. It couldn't be Misty's fault, if that was the case…Then Misty wondered if she could ever forgive herself. Maybe…It was her responsibility to accept her actions. Perhaps, even if Opaline was vicious, Misty still participated. She longed for a cutie mark. She even believed Opaline could give her one.
She was still responsible for spreading rumors. She was responsible for lying to them about her home. She was still responsible for trying to hide her intentions and steal from them, and even giving Sunny a mirror to spy on her. It was all her own doing, even if Opaline told her to, she took part for her own selfish reasons.
Opaline was evil, but Misty herself was selfish and cowardly. No matter how she spun it, Misty still needed to take accountability for everything she did, even if she wasn't the true mastermind of it all. She sat in shame, how could she have yelled at those ponies like she did? They were cornering her, but she had provoked the beast, by using deceit like a spear.
However, she was still furious at Opaline. Why did she need Misty? Was her only purpose to acquire Sparky? What were all those years for? No matter how hard she tried to conceive a reason, she couldn’t. She had an empty, regretful, static life. All courtesy of her mentor. Well, she wasn’t going to take that. No, that life was over.
“Opaline.” Misty inquired. The vengeful Alicorn didn’t bother to turn her head and look at her own child. Misty was never her priority. Misty sat in silence, still strained from her previous spells. How long had it been? A few minutes, a couple hours?
“Opaline.” Misty stated again.
Opaline seemed unamused. She tilted her head, while her eyes squinted in the shadow. “Bach…” Muttering, “Congratulations my subject, I’m preparing for my release.” Misty flinched in her restraints, Opaline had never called her “my subject” before.
She continued to write her many symbols, slowing only a little. Sighing, she began, “I know you’ll probably ask something like. “Opaline, what are you doing? Where am I? Why am I restrained?” She glared at her pupil. “But don’t bother to ask any of those questions.” She slammed her hoof on the tile. She continued, “Because I won’t answer.”
Misty took a deep breath, letting her fury boil to the surface of her lungs. Opaline was just…INFURIATING. Endlessly rude, uncouth, and oafish.
Misty began, “Fine, I won’t.” She simmered in her unheard anger. “I only have one question for you.” She thought of the most aggravating question she could possibly dig up. “Where is my cutie mark?” She smirked, almost chuckling at her own insanity. She knew Opaline had thoroughly screwed up something about Misty’s lack of one. But she doubted the alicorn would truly give her what she desired. Still, if she could give her some information, it would be preferable to a lifelong mystery.
Opaline took it as a challenge. “I knew you didn’t believe me…Well, that old thing is somewhere around here.” She rolled her eyes as she ignored Misty once again.
Misty felt her stomach drop and her face contort. Opaline had dropped an immediate bombshell on the poor mare.
Her cutie mark was just…around?
She was so flippant. Did Misty's prized possession (which she had never seen), mean that little?
This only proved to anger Misty to no end. “What do you mean by that? My cutie mark can’t be separated from my body! It doesn’t work that way!” How could something as important as a cutie mark be lying around the castle? Misty didn’t even know what that meant. It wasn’t like it could be anywhere else except on her flank. She concluded that it must’ve been another trick to fool her, it wouldn’t have been the first time after all. Misty wanted to convince herself that she was better than that now, wiser and alert to the misgivings of a rabid manipulator.
Opaline chuckled wickedly, “You’ll soon see how wrong you are.” She made quick work of the conversation, unresponsive to any of Misty’s other queries. She trotted over to the shadows, picking up a small cage. The recollection was immediate, she saw her grave mistake wave before her eyes. It was Sparky.
Opaline set to teach Misty a lesson of who was truly in control. She placed the small bars mere inches away from where Misty sat; a clear view of how miserable he was. He had a muzzle on, to keep him from trying to use his magic fire to get out. Atrocious a sight as it was, it only reminded Misty of her how much trouble they were in. It was a torturous couple minutes, spent scolding herself for the capture of the small dragon, who hit against his cage in fear. Sparky was a baby, who could have done such a thing to a baby?
The sight itself wasn’t the most unpleasant part. It was the spell that Opaline was preparing, Misty didn’t know what it was, but it was more than obvious to her. The spell was to drain Sparky’s magic, and escape. Misty half-expected her to take all his magic like she did the tiny flame which she had previously procured from him earlier that month, but she hadn’t. She wondered how much difference one dragon could make to whatever spell was keeping her trapped within, but it didn't matter.
Opaline would escape and take over Equestria, and there was nothing she could do about it. She felt her anger subside and be replaced by endless dread and guilt. No matter how much she hated all of this, or tried to make things right, it somehow backfired miserably. She glanced up at her horn, hoping that she had a little juice left to get them both out. She struggled against herself, letting her emotions power her horn, but nothing came out. It wasn’t like before, she felt a distinct lack of magical power in her body. Was this also Opaline’s doing as well? Her difficulty with spells had always been present, but why, she had little idea.
The alicorn cared little for Misty’s guilt, she didn’t completely understand such things as guilt. To her, there were necessities for her cause, and tools to complete that cause. Torturing her pupil a bit before her leave was her last amusement before casting her to the side for her insolence. She had finished the spell. Misty knew she had finished it by the ecstatic look in her eye, glimmering with anticipation for her release.
Opaline flew up and over to a carrier at the top of the tower. She pulled at it slightly, and it creaked in the years of unuse, but it budged. She pulled down dozens of containers, in neat rows and cubicles. All at her disposal for hundreds of years. She glanced to Misty who only squeaked. “Do you know where power comes from Misty?”
Misty swallowed a lump in her throat, “It comes from ponies.” She knew the answer because of her upbringing. How could she not, when she’d heard it a thousand times.
“Good, very good. Ponies generate power, but only the best can take advantage of that power. Power is in us all, except not all are worthy of wielding it, like I have.” She touched the ground, walking over to Misty with a grin of the ages. “Do you know where we are? We haven’t left the castle.”
Misty looked left and right, as she tried again to recognise the room which they stood in. She didn’t. The only things she saw were old furniture, a bed, tools and books. It was cluttered. Opaline hadn’t bothered to clean up anything. There were a few papers on the wall, and spells which she didn’t know strewn about the desk next to the window.
Opaline turned her head, “This is my private quarters, the highest tower in the castle. You were never allowed to step hoof into this room until now. It was for my eyes only." She nodded, turning towards the isolated desk.
"And, do you know why unicorns are better than the other races?" Opaline turned a skeptical eye to her pupil.
Misty hesitated. She wasn't exactly sure what her vile mentor was getting at. And Misty certainly didn't believe in any sort of superiority of unicorns over other ponies. Alas, she still knew the answer Opaline was fishing for. "B-because…" Misty stopped before continuing. "Because they can utilize more potential and power than the other races."
Opaline beamed, "Yes Misty, I see you've listened to me over the years. This is the reason I am better than all ponies, I utilize all magics. It will be too bad you won't be by my side to see the utopia I will bring to our kind." She huffed.
She made her way to the many jars. Misty couldn't see them properly in the shadows. But she could make out symbols on each one. Deciphering them in such darkness would be impossible. Opaline looked at many of them, trying to pick out a particular one to present to Misty's eyes.
Misty felt a growing sense of dread, what were those jars, there were so many of them, what were they for? She felt the trickle of sweat go down her brow. Opaline smirked when she finally found what she was looking for. She trotted over with the container, letting Misty squirm in her seat. She still wished to use her magic and escape, but found it to be impossible. At the mercy of another as deranged as Opaline was a scary thought.
"Behold Misty, a fraction of my power. Contained here for you to see." She calmly lowered it down, allowing Misty to gaze at the object of her obsession.
"N-no!" Misty yelled as she felt a terror ripple through her body. She clenched her eyes shut, as her breathing grew erratic and shaky. "It's a trick, I'm not a fool." She replied.
"Ah, but it isn't. I promised you a cutie-mark Misty, and this one has been yours from the day you got it. That was, until I needed it for my own purposes." She smiled, almost as if she remembered something that Misty didn't.
"I don't believe you. Don't try to lie to me, Opaline." Misty spat.
"Oh my," Opaline tutted her lip, "Such insolence from a mare with no power and no cutie-mark." She came closer to the tied up unicorn. "Listen to me Misty." She placed a threatening hoof on Misty's shoulder, inciting a glance. "You belong to me, you always have. You are just one of the many unicorns I've had under my tutelage over the years. Where do you think your parents are? Why, they traded you to me for power!"
Misty listened in horror. "You see, these containers hold all my students from over the years!"
She raised her hoof, and shot a shining spell over to the many cubicles that lined the wall. It exploded in a massive light, eliminating all of them for Misty to see.
A hundred cutie-marks, maybe more. Misty couldn't believe what she saw, she could feel her chest huff in pain as Opaline forced her forward, filling her vision with all the "students" she had.
Opaline began to whisper in her ear, "It started with many students, they took care of my every need, and willingly gave their marks to me. I needed the magic that resided within to keep my powers at capacity after Twilight locked almost all of it away. They dwindled over the years, having fewer each generation. They resided in this very castle." She flung Misty to the ground in front of Sparky, who cried and whined in his cage.
"You are the last of my pupils, and by far my worst." She scoffed. "I promised your cutie-mark, and that's exactly what you shall have. I will require no use of it when I absorb the dragon's magic instead." She concluded, picking up the dragon's cage as Misty trembled in front of the spell circle.
All this time, Misty couldn’t imagine the truth. It was a miserable truth, and was that she wished she could forget immediately. The jar had one thing glowing within.
A star-shaped butterfly with a sparkling flame in the background. It was hers, and Opaline had claimed it for herself, like a common object with barely a lick of worth.
That was wrong, that was despicable. The only thing important to Misty now was stopping her, she clattered and struggled in her seat, flailing on the floor like a fish. She managed to buck herself a few inches.
"No!" She called, and she saw Opaline floating with Sparky's cage. She removed the muzzle from his face, she needed the magic he contained in his fire.
The giant circle glowed, sensing the beginning of the epic spell that would release the alicorn ruler. Opaline's eyes lit up in attention. Her hair began to waft with magic, while Misty finally managed to get herself out of the chair. A shiver shot down Misty's spine, as she felt the endless magic flowing through both the room and the alicorn.
"You're too late Misty, behold my new power." Opaline spiked Sparky right in the gullet, causing his fire to spill out with a yelp. He started to float, his magic drained out of him. It looked painful to Misty, who tried to get into the circle, to no avail. His fire turned a brilliant blue.
Opaline sucked it into her body. "Yes! YES! POWER!" She called out. Her wings and horn blasted a powerful beam in the ceiling, causing a magical rift to form in the sky. "NO LONGER SHALL THIS WRETCHED SPELL CONTAIN ME!"
Opaline struggled against the ancient magic, giving every last drop of her ability to break it. Her feud with Equestria and Twilight ended a thousand years ago, and still she committed herself to her one dream. It yielded, shattering into a million shimmering pieces. The purple aura was gone, replaced only by a ring of Opaline's magic which rippled across the land. And evil brewing right above in the sky.
Misty watched in horror as her nightmare came true. The jars holding cutie-marks smashed on the ground, causing tiny magic explosions all around her. All the while Opaline laughed wickedly with glee.
"Finally! I can see the outside world once more!" Opaline had gone under a transformation. Her mane and body were slender and shiny. Once drained of all his magic, Sparky slumped to the floor. Exhausted and emancipated. He didn't have a chance to think, or to do anything.
Opaline saw the mountains, she saw the trees and sky. She knew they all belonged to her. Most of all, she saw her empire, Maretime Bay shining in the sunlight like a gem in the rough.
"My first stop will be your precious friends. Oh how I wish to see your face once the town is destroyed!" She chuckled, taking in Misty's horror as if it were air. "Well, Farewell Misty. I hope to see you when I'm finished."
Misty trembled, and her knees buckled as Opaline prepared to cast her largest spell in at least 500 years. In a blinding flash of blue light, she disappeared. Opaline had teleported herself to Maretime Bay. The air from the outside rushed into the building, the wind pushed severely on Misty's mane.
The first thought Misty had was to check on Sparky. She ignored her cutie-mark as she held the small dragon in her arms. His color was all but gone, replaced with a gruesome gray. It emulated in his body, only a small inner fire keeping him going.
Misty sighed, it was bad, no, it was closer to death than she'd ever seen any creature. But he lived. Opaline would've killed for her escape, but Sparky still lived, so it must've been only to torture Misty. She felt her eyes frantically scan the room, something, anything to revive Sparky, alleviate him of pain.
Her cutie-mark? She knew that she had trouble casting spells. If she reattached her own mark, would it help? She knew one thing, if she didn't help Sparky, he might be in trouble. Grabbing the jar, she looked at the mark, as her pupils enlarged. It was pretty. Beautiful even.
She struggled at the lid. She couldn't get it open. Her anger persisted, as she stood up, gingerly placing Sparky away from the danger, on top of the bed in the corner.
Why had this happened? Why? Misty tried to pry the lid off to get her cutie-mark. She couldn't. Opaline was so violent, and angry, that she had hurt a child. It was without words that Misty knew she must stop Opaline, but how? She could never beat an alicorn, let alone one who'd been recently powered by a spell. Misty struggled and growled.
"JUST OPEN! I DON'T HAVE TIME!" She threw it to the floor, as it shattered below her hooves. The butterfly shifted under the glass pieces. Misty flinched backwards, cutie-marks couldn't move by themselves…Right?
It snapped up from the rubble, looking around as if looking for somepony. It held its attention to Misty. Her eye flickered in recollection, it omitted magic that was similar to her own, but obviously older. She didn't know how long her mark had been separated from her body, but immediately she could tell that it was many years. It was a pleasant pink, like a warm fire that spread across the area.
"U-uh, hey?" She waved at it. She wondered if it had a mind of its own. It floated closer, letting her have a good look and feel for the magic. Her hoof reached out, feeling her old friend as it recognized the mare.
A flash overwhelmed her body, when she felt it, it was like the first time she earned her mark. Her missing memories came rushing back into her mind. Training her talent and practicing advanced spells with her parents. Many gruesome things Opaline had done over the years which were locked away in her mark never to be seen again, until now.
Misty felt a peace she had never felt before. Her body became whole again in a matter of seconds. She shed a tear for her memories, and her old family.
She looked over to Sparky, her body emanated a pink glow. She levitated him close to her, she immediately forfeit some of her own magic, filling his small body with only a fraction of what he once had. But it was enough, his flame burned brighter, and certainly not on the cusp of death any longer. Misty was relieved. Despite it all, she scraped up the burnt pieces of this disaster, somehow gluing them back together.
She could finally remember her talent. Magic.
That was it. The absence of her mark only made it harder to perform properly. Her skill was always present. She learned the art of advanced spells from her parents and Opaline, who were the last of the unicorn order which looked after the castle. Opaline herself allowed Misty a small taste of magic she still held in order to cast without the crystals activated. Once Opaline found her strong enough to go without magic, she took her mark, and locked it away with the others, advancing her own magic pool that dwindled over the hundreds of years.
Misty couldn't let her master take over the land. She was unfit for it. She sighed, looking to the demolished ceiling and staring into the distance for Maretime Bay. Opaline was most likely utterly destroying every crevice of it by now.
She had no more time to waste. She levitated herself up to the large bookshelf where spells were kept, Sparky laid and rested on the bed. She worked quickly, flipping the pages with her pink magic.
She nodded, "Yes, this will do." She glanced at a spell she hadn't seen in years. One that would allow her to channel the magic of the many marks that lined the wall over to herself. Carefully, she unscrewed every single jar. The marks floated around her body in a celestial display. "Here goes everything." She whispered as she chanted the spell.
Each mark emitted its own glow of magic, her senses were full of oversaturated memories of times long passed, they floated and funneled into her own body. It hurt, but only for a moment while she was overwhelmed with more magic than she had possessed for years. She felt her body morph into a form that was not destined for a cowardly mare like herself. Unfortunately, that mare had transformed, leaving only the ashes. Like a Phoenix flame.
Her hair danced with ethereal pinks and Celestial blues. The darkest shade of black, and the lightest of white. She could feel the sun and moon jump for joy when she connected to the Astral plane. She had the blessing of both objects. Her eyes were a stark white when she looked at Sparky.
Levitating him up to her side, she ruminated on her old home, it was all but dead to her now. After this was over, she promised to demolish the unnerving castle, for it never to be seen again. Opaline's Reign would be a quick one, she would make sure of it. With the marks of all her ancestors dancing around her body, there was hope to beat her yet.
Teleporting herself was easy now, akin to breathing air or drinking water. The subtle power wafted in the air like snakes. She only had to think of where she wanted to go and she'd be there in an instant. She only hoped the alicorn hadn't destroyed too much of Maretime Bay by the time she finally got there.
Sunny sat in silence on the couch. It had been at least two hours since both Misty and Sparky had phased out of existence. Hitch was hyperventilating and having a panic attack for thirty minutes afterwards. Of course, all feelings that they held for Misty had to be put aside and replaced with worry for the dragon, who had come to be like Hitch's own child in a way. It was easy for Sunny to guess her friend's reactions. Izzy felt depressed that her new friend actually wasn't her friend. Hitch was worried for his child. Pipp was angry about being hurt, and Zipp was betrayed. Sunny however, didn’t exactly know what she felt. A fear for the future? A fear of what was happening outside of the town that she didn’t know about?
No matter what she felt, one thing was true, that Misty was an agent of Opaline. She was not their friend, she said and did despicable things. Most of which Sunny couldn’t even comprehend. Regret was one of the emotions that haunted her. How could she have been so blind, Misty’s magic, the missing lantern, the missing Sparky. It all had a purpose. She was blind to it before. Held down by believing in the best of intentions from a pony. Zipp had suspected her, and yet they all ignored the signs. Sparky had become a victim to Opaline and her plans.
Hitch was stupefied. He went back to the place where his baby disappeared over and over again. Wordlessly breathing and hanging his head low. His forceful personality seemed unrecognizable to the others. Pipp and Zipp cleaned the wreckage from the party very solemnly. Zipp wouldn't admit it, but she came to like Misty, despite her earlier suspicions.
To Izzy however, everything seemed futile. Cruel and unusual. She wanted to integrate Misty into their own home. To see her smile and hear her laugh. Now that she was gone, well… Her excitement was not what it was when she planned the party.
When they all finished brooding. Sunny demanded that they talk and set things straight. They sat and laid on top of a few beanbags which Izzy crafted. They needed Hitch to be as comfortable as possible, level headed and able to deduce what he wanted to do after such a tragic event. Even though he was almost reduced to a bubbling pile of sobs, he held firm in his strong and steadfast responsibility to protect the town.
Sunny cleared her throat to begin, "So, I believe that Misty was working for Opaline. This is the pony who we were warned about by Twilight." She looked around at her friends, they were shells of what she knew them as.
Zipp decided to speak after Sunny, "How did Opaline live as long as she did? Magic has been gone for hundreds of years."
Sunny nodded, "Yes, that is true. However, I have reason to believe that Opaline was getting her magic from somewhere else." Sunny cautiously glanced at Hitch.
Pipp was next to talk, "Where could a pony get enough magic to live for hundreds of years?"
"Well, all of you saw yourselves how powerful Misty was with spells. That has yet to be replicated by any unicorn we know of. Ponies are still able to acquire cutie-marks, even within the magicless era of history. However, they contain magic in them as well."
Hitch gaped his mouth open, "Don't tell me you're suggesting …"
Sunny smirked. "Yes Hitch. Opaline has been grooming unicorns with high level abilities so she can siphon their abilities and power spells even with the limitations opposed by Twilight. This would allow her not only to use magic, but also to live for an extraordinary amount of time."
Izzy was silently listening, only now attempting to contribute, "That means Misty was groomed! We need to help her!"
Hitch glared at Izzy, obviously retorting, "Be that as it may…Sparky is gone because of her. If I see her again, it'll be right in the slammer." He remarked. Most of his anger was talk, and he directed it to Misty. Sunny couldn't blame Hitch for his words, if confronted with the same action, she would've wanted punishment as well.
Izzy deflated. "O-of course Hitch… I didn’t mean…Well I-i suppose." She obviously didn't agree. Sunny knew her own point as well, Misty might've been just a pawn. However, Hitch had a very good point. Especially considering her involvement. Sunny had previously yelled at Misty, making the situation worse. She felt guilty, but the fear of what could happen to her new town.
Sunny looked at the faces of her friends. This is not what she imagined when she brought everypony back together. Smiles and laughter, friendship and acceptance. Her vision had shattered. Everything she did was being eroded in front of her eyes. Without cheery ponies around her, it was empty and nauseating to think of what happened.
"Everypony. Listen up. With this threat upon the horizon. We need all ponies on deck. If we don't prepare, then some crazy pony is going to come here and try whatever plot she has." She sparked a little eye out to her cohorts, a small sparkle glimmering in the grim atmosphere.
Izzy could see it, her sparkle glowing and lighting up like a match. Sunny spoke again "I know it won't be easy, but I believe in us. I believe in all of us." Both her wings and horn appeared, as she clawed her optimism to the forefront of her mind. "I think that, like Twilight. If we put our heads together, we can do anything." She paused, waiting for a sign that her friends supported her. Any sort of signal she could count on. Their support meant everything, without it, Sunny wasn't sure she could do it all by herself. Being an leader was hard.
Hitch’s skin was clammy, but it didn't deter his dependable nature. "I agree, anything we can do to stop this from happening to anypony else." He frowned.
Zipp was next, "I think that's a great idea. I wasn't being careful enough, I will help with whatever is takes to secure Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood." She drew her bashful nature in.
Pipp scowled, "I'll help too. I don't want any more spies trying to decimate our reputations." She puffed her feathers like a swan in a lake, it was quite frazzling.
Once they were done, they turned to Izzy, expecting a response. "I-i… I need some time… This is all going too fast. I can't think straight!" She stood with extreme trepidation. It wasn't like her to be so put off, however it was understandable to Sunny, who had a hard time believing it all herself. Without a warning or pony to guide the crew, they were merely stumbling about like foals.
Unfortunately for Izzy, and the rest of the group of friends, they had no time to think of ways to plan against Opaline.
In an instant, there was a large earthquake, it shook the earth below their hooves.
Sunny trembled with unease. "What was that!?" She exclaimed. Maretime Bay, despite everything, had never experienced an earthquake. Not in her lifetime at least.
One thing that caught her eye, in the window, was a large blue magic circle. Echoing the one that the crystals had produced when magic came back to all ponies. She rushed outside. Taking no time to alert her friends.
Outside she saw a figure, floating mid-air above the town. Sunny couldn't fathom what she was looking at. It was a pony. A pony unlike herself, but similar. A glaring difference between them was Sunny's lack of concrete horn and wings.
Her hair flew into the sky like a blazing storm of blue and magic. Like a blue fire in hairstyle form. Her wings were large and intimidating, cascading a dark aura around the ground. She had both horn and wings, tailored for her body like they'd always been in place. Something Sunny hadn't gotten. It was strange, like looking in a mirror of what could've been.
The pony looked around, snaking her eyes against the world like she hadn't seen it before. The wings had powerful strokes, drawing air from all directions. Sunny began to hyperventilate, staring at the apparent alicorn from the door of the lighthouse. It seemed silly to her now that she thought peace would be easy. There were so many unknowns. So many loose threads she had yet to tie.
The alicorn looked in the direction of the lighthouse, and Sunny froze. Her body turned cold, a chill ran down her spine. It just wasn't right. Not at all.
She could hear Izzy's voice echo behind her, she could barely make it out. "Sun–What?---who is that?--she—-COMING!!!"
Sunny wasn't thinking, or acting, or moving. She was just waiting, waiting for Opaline to come, and she'd be forced to fight her. Sunny hadn't a clue how to fight. She'd need to, if she wanted to protect the town.
She could hear Izzy screaming, and see Hitch standing tall and proud, ready to fight. Zipp’s tech by her side, and Pipp's agape mouth as she stared in horror.
Opaline, when she teleported into Maretime Bay, let her lungs breathe in fresh air. She hadn't done such a thing in centuries. It was a cathartic experience. When she turned her head, she could see the lighthouse, prime and freshly built. She could make out the face of Sunny from afar, it would fill her with joy to see it become twisted and broken.
She chuckled, smiling and shaking her head. She needed those crystals, and she knew just how she'd get them. Flaring her wings, she bolted towards Sunny. She didn't need hesitation, because she was the queen of all.
When she got up close to the Brighthouse, her head was immediately struck. "Gah!" She growled, turning towards a white pegasus whose name she couldn't remember. "You strike your new Queen. Stand down, pegasus." Opaline shook her neck and mane pulling out a device similar in design to the new tech which was common in this advanced world.
Zipp scowled. "No! I won't let you through!" She beeped a small controller on her hoof, which let out a flurry of devices.
They stuck and beeped at Opaline, who growled and sighed. In a swift action, she outstretched her wings, flapping them quickly, turning herself into a pony tornado. All the devices were promptly smashed to the ground in a swift action. Opaline snorted in victory.
After Zipp's devices were indisposed, she rushed in. Zipp didn't notice the subtle glow of magic that emitted from Opaline. She was too unfamiliar with the old ways of spell casting. In a swift action, she was flung about like a ragdoll from the tip of her tail. Pipp could only watch in sudden terror as her sister crashed beside her with a pained squeak.
"Fools…" Opaline sighed, scanning the area for any more aggressors. She materialized a shield around herself, not for fear of failing, but to save precious time. To her credit, she was correct, on cue, Hitch emerged behind her form. He chucked a metal object in her direction, which clanged against the force field.
She held it up in a magic field, "This is what you call defense? Needs a little WORK!" Opaline chucked it back, clanging against Hitch’s leg. He winced and kneeled down, examining the wound.
He touched the ground lightly, "I have much more than that, it's just not as useful against flying pests like yourself." He hummed, crackling a humorous snort, even while in pain.
From Opaline's peripheral, she could see the pink pegasi character trying to come at her, only being stopped by the two other ponies. The false alicorn Sunny and a unicorn who she did not remember the name of.
"SHE HURT ZIPP! LET GO! LET GO!" Pipp thrashed defiantly, taking no care against Sunny or Izzy.
"Pipp stop! You'll only hurt yourself! I'll fight her!" Sunny retorted, still holding down Pipp in a battle of will and strength.
"Pipp! You have to calm down! You can't defeat her!" Izzy exclaimed, pointing out the obvious.
Opaline took their infighting as a chance to turn her head to both Zipp and Hitch. She charged her horn, sizzling the powerful magic. It crackled and sputtered, as it reached its intended targets. They growled in a pinching pain that took hold of their bodies. Before they knew it, their cutie-marks had vanished. Opaline breathed in the fresh magic, not those old dusty marks of her previous servants. The two cutie-marks of Hitch and Zipp floated around Opaline's body like charms she had collected. The magic energized her even more.
Before it was known, Sunny had calmed Pipp, explaining to her what to do with the crystals in the tower. Sunny needed to hold the alicorn off for as long as possible, while Pipp and Izzy made off with the crystals. Sunny thought the plan had a small chance of working, even if it didn't, she could take comfort in knowing they had tried.
Opaline turned, and Sunny was bolting toward her with a vengeance. Sunny's horn and wings shined brighter than ever. The darker and more fiery alicorn didn't believe for a second that Sunny could stand a chance against her.
When Opaline charged her horn with blue flame, she waited for the exact moment to strike. Opaline might've been a dramatic and fanatic pony; however, she was locked away for a reason. Her magic reached levels unknown to Sunny and the others. When Sunny got in close for a blow, Opaline pulled a flip above her, shooting a laser into her back. The beam shoved her into the ground, grinding against her body.
Sunny was shocked with the pain of a thousand needles. "AHHHHH!" A satisfied smile overtook Opaline while she beat upon Sunny.
Opaline fizzled out her horn, almost disbelieving in how much power she had recovered. "So I still have it don't I? I ought to take a little something from you, just so you remember that I am the true ruler of ponykind." She whistled in victory.
When Opaline gently glided down to the crater that Sunny laid in, she readied her magic to take Sunnys' cutie-mark. That deactivated Sunny's false wings and horn. Sunny did not have very much practice with her new disappearing body, especially not enough to go toe to toe with an ancient force of evil.
The magic flowed into the fire alicorn like a stream of water. Her parched body became obsessed with the feeling of empowerment from taking marks. She turned her sights toward the tower, the pink pegasus Pipp was fumbling to unlodge the three crystals as if her life depended upon it. While the unicorn Izzy was using her magic to try and disassemble them into a more transportable form. The flying object had an innate need to stay in the same place, as if it was programmed. And it was.
Opaline flew upwards, leaving the three incapacitated ponies to whatever fate lay upon them their shambled form.
"Don't try." Opaline began as she landed on the top of the Brighthouse.
Izzy growled, "You can't have these! They belong to us!" She frantically pulled with her magic on the crystals, they gave way only a little.
"Oh yadda yadda. It's a formality, when Twilight made these crystals; she made them to crown the new ruler of Equestria, and since I just defeated Sunny, they belong to me now." She looked around, "In fact, congratulations! You are witnessing the coronation ceremony. I've just decided I'm the Queen." She shook her head at Pipp, mocking her stature, "Awwww, sorry little pegasus, playing house is over for you in that big castle of yours."
She took hold of Zipp's cutie-mark, examining it. "You know, once I have both of your cutie-marks, I might just bind them together and lock them into my new crown! How fun would that be, you serving me while glancing longingly at your own cutie-marks! It gives me the shivers just thinking of it." She caressed Zipps mark, looking to Pipp for a reaction.
Pipp took a step back with disgust. "You…You…Won't win. The ponies, they won't accept you as their leader." She gritted her jaw.
Opaline cocked her head, "You see, that's the thing about ponies. They follow who you tell them to follow. They accept whatever benefits them most. Especially after I take their cutie-marks. When you reunited the three tribes, why did the pony citizens accept this…Unification?"
Pipp frowned, "Because it was right! Because we brought back magic and friendship." She exclaimed, craning her neck to show the obvious veins popping out.
"Wrong, they did it because you told them. You are the princess, and if you told them to accept me as the new Queen, they would do it." Opaline smiled.
"You're wrong. I wouldn't do that."
"Maybe not at first, but to save your sister? If I promise to spare them? Would you?"
Pipp stopped, trapped in thought. "I-i…."
Izzy growled, "Stop talking. You aren't the new Queen. And the crystal is ours." She continued to try and take out the object, but no success was found.
Opaline sighed, she levitated both of them in blue magic. "Enough talk, move aside." She moved them over to the edge of the Brighthouse. "Don't try anything, it will end badly for you."
With the Crystal in her reach, Opaline touched it with her magic. Indeed, it was a powerful relic, containing all the previous ruler's strength. However, Opaline knew Twilight's tricks. It would be little more than a hop skip and a jump to suck out all of the magic from it. After that, she alone would control all, they would be forced to bow, or be obliterated.
She hummed, starting her work over the spell. It had a few leaks, it was already breaking, Opaline could tell by the small inconsistencies in the aura. She slithered her magic into those cracks, the old thing was no match after its centuries of preservation.
"Yes! Now it's mine." She could feel it click, disabling its field entirely. Taking it in her hooves, it stopped beaming the rainbow in the sky, and became dull like a regular rock.
Opaline looked at it for a mere second, before replacing the magic with her own, slowly imploding it from within. After it fell, Twilight's right Reign over the ponies of the land would end.
The Crystal shattered into six distinct pieces, and a wave similar to the first was unleashed. "HA! If only Twilight could see me now. She'd certainly be peeved." She levitated both Pipp and Izzy towards her.
Both ponies were defeated, having starry and scared looks to their glassy eyes.
"I-it can't be…" Izzy croaked. She shut her eyes, hoping it was all a dream she would soon wake from.
"What? How-" Pipp began, before Opaline unleashed an unrelenting assault upon their bodies. The color slowly drained from them, cutie-marks vanishing from their flanks.
"Twilight's magic is very effective, I know first-hoof from her spells. She spent many years studying in order to make them as effective as they could be. However, a pony long dead for a thousand years is easily beaten by a pony with more magic power. Besides, I've spent years dissecting her magic from my castle." She smirked and looked at her new subjects. They didn't respond, and she groaned. Did nopony appreciate evil speeches anymore?
Looming over them both, she swiftly left, and went to gather more marks, and more power. It was all hers after all.
From the outside of the Brighthouse, Sunny opened her eyes slightly, witnessing Opaline fly toward the town. She tried to get up, but it stung, all she wanted to do was lay down and close her eyes forever. Her body, she couldn't move it, and not in the tired way, more like the non-response way.
With her cutie-mark gone, Hitch yelling into her ears, and Zipp laying limply on some objects nearby. She just felt lost. How in the world could she win now? Opaline certainly was a force to be reckoned with, Twilight wasn't joking about that. She chuckled in her own delirium. Hazy Hitch was still limping around, dulled and static.
Sunny realized there was another. A pony with a flowing mane of beautiful magic, with objects around her entire body.
"Misty?"
Misty teleported to the Brighthouse to find everything in ruin. Sunny In a hollow ditch, with a dull coat. Hitch limping around, trying to wake Sunny. Zipp was clearly concussed, she looked as though she'd been thrown with enough force to kill. Misty hoped that wasn't the case.
She wanted to help Zipp, but Sunny and Hitch were much more alarming. Hitch was yelling something along the lines of "STAY WITH ME, KEEP BREATHING" Well, Misty decided that didn't sound so good. Misty silently apologized to Zipp, she'd rather check on the ponies close to death than the already dead ones. She couldn't revive anyone after they'd already gone cold.
She swiftly made her way, albeit carefully due to holding Sparky, over to Hitch. "Hitch." She said, and he widened his eyes with relief and terror.
"Misty?" He was more confused than anything. "Is that…Is that you? And Sparky? Oh horse apples, I must be seeing things from the pain." He drooped.
"No, it's me, here." She gently placed Sparky into his arms. He cradled Sparky like a lost treasure.
"He's real." He looked at Misty and frowned, "That means you are too."
"Sadly enough, yes I am real." Misty smiled. "But enough with the talk, how is Sunny?" She came closer, trying to touch the pony.
Hitch slapped her hoof. "Why are you here? Why do you look like that?" He growled.
"I'm here to heal you. Look I've given you Sparky, I can heal you too to prove it." She half-whispered her words, wanting to heal Sunny immediately.
Hitch softened, "Fine, if you can heal me, then I'll let you near Sunny."
"Good, I don't think she'll last much longer, give me your hoof." She reached out her hoof, and Hitch gently placed his into hers.
With a warm glow, Misty went to work healing him. His leg was practically mangled, however, magic was a power thing. Instead of being permanently disfigured, Misty healed him in a short matter of seconds.
Hitch took a step, then another. "I can't believe it." He whispered. "How did you learn something like that? It seems so…advanced."
"It is advanced. However, Opaline trained many unicorns in her time, me included. Turns out when you have some time on your hooves, you can learn many spells." Misty glanced back to Sunny, she was looking beat, she creaked open her eyes, only a little.
"Misty?" She croaked. Misty, seeing the delirium setting in on Sunny, rushed forth.
"Sunny, I'm sorry this happened to you…I'll fix it. Let me fix you, take my hoof." She grabbed hold of the hoof, Sunny didn't react.
"Misty…M-My whole body..I can't move."
"I know, please, let me make you better." Misty started her work, it was hard and consuming. Sunny's spine was preposterously twisted. Yet again, she felt the injury go from excruciating to manageable. Sunny wouldn't be paralyzed, but she'd live with this memory forever.
When she finished, Sunny lifted her hoof, "Haha…Never knew I'd see the day." She carefully looked at Zipp. "Please…Misty, help Zipp…If you can. I don't know why you're here or if you're with Opaline, but I don't want ponies to be hurt." Sunny had a distinct sincere twinkle to her eyes, one Misty couldn't just ignore.
When Misty got up to look at Zipp, she swallowed a lump she didn't know she'd been carrying. She changed her magic in preparation. She closed her eyes and listened for a heartbeat, wincing as she looked closely for a sign of life.
There was life. Misty galloped over, this would need a lot of work. Possibly weeks of recovery. Zipp was concussed, like she'd thought but it might've been a lot worse than that, major brain damage. There was some, but minor and fixable. Misty wasn't God, she couldn't bring back someone who'd broken their brain. Some injuries were too much to heal.
Zipp had a myriad of injuries, most of which are better left to the imagination. Point was, she lived. Misty finished, just in time for Pipp to come running outside. Izzy following dutifully behind.
"Zipp!" Pipp hurried past, taking no notice of Misty.
"You were incapacitated by Opaline. But I healed you now. Are you alright?" Misty began.
Pipp looked shocked, "You healed her?"
Zipp held herself up, though she was shaky and stood on uncertain hooves. "Misty…I'm not sure why you're back, but I do know that I would've been a goner if not for you, so I owe you one." She fell on Pipp, who tried her best to support her sister.
"Don't try too hard. You'll hurt yourself." Pipp told her sister. Pipp grew softer to Misty's whims, now that she'd saved her sister.
Izzy, in the midst of the reunification of all her friend's, only smiled. She knew everything was messed up. The Crystal was shattered, and everypony was out of luck in the cutie-mark department. But even so, they were all together, that had to mean something. She picked up the shattered pieces of the Crystal and put them into her bag. She didn't know if they'd be useful or not, but she had them.
Sunny finally got herself out of the ditch. She brushed off some rubble. "Everypony, we need to head over to Maretime Bay, Opaline has likely caused a lot of damage. The ponies need us."
Hitch shook his head. "Sunny, we were defeated in a matter of seconds, you and Zipp almost died, and now we have no cutie-marks. I'm usually optimistic, but this seems like a downhill battle."
Misty wanted to reassure them, to tell them it would all work out in the end. But it just wasn't something she could promise. "Sunny, I'm sorry for what I've done. All you ponies need to do is get the remaining citizens out of the town, and alert the other tribes. I'll hold Opaline off."
Sunny nodded, "Thank you for your apology, but how will you ever go against Opaline? Surely you couldn't hold her off long enough?"
Misty levitated herself into the air, "I have my ways, besides, I know Opaline best, I was her student. When you're ready, I'll cover you. Whatever it takes to fix my mistake."
Sunny glances skeptically at her friends, who's looks assured her that Misty was their only chance. "Alright, let's go…Gang?"
They trotted forth reassuringly, Misty's tension released from her body at the sight of it.
They hurried down as fast as they could. Maretime Bay was plagued by chaos. In the streets, there were ponies everywhere. Some were fleeing, others were trying to help family or friends. And at the center of it all, was fire, so much fire. Buildings, streets, everything.
At the top of it all, was the alicorn herself, announcing her new reign to all who passed. "HEED MY WORDS PLEBIANS, I AM YOUR QUEEN!" She cackled maniacally. She was noticeably larger than she should've been. Now sporting glowing eyes of blue flame. A whirlwind cascaded on all ponies who weren't in the middle of the storm. It seemed as though she had spared ponies who came willingly, but punished whoever else.
It was no joke to suggest that Opaline had gotten cocky, drunk with lustful desires of fear. Misty only felt anger when she looked at her enemy. Was she so sure that burning down the town was a good strategy to give ponies a reason to follow her? Misty was sure not, Opaline was short-sighted, focused on small events that would only last a few years at most.
With no hesitation, Misty began to put out the fires. With no town, there would be little victory for either side. The ocean was only a bit away, that would be a good source of water. Taking as much magic as she could muster, Misty levitated water on every fire in sight. With that action, she caught the attention of Opaline.
"Misty?" Opaline stared at her old student with wide flaming irises. She laughed again, "What have you done to yourself?" She huffed while she laughed.
Misty's mane floated with a blinding brightness, and her eyes turned back into pure light. Her levitating cutie-marks returned, and her body loomed small underneath the abnormally large pony.
"Me? What about you? You're huge." Misty said, she looked her up and down.
Opaline smirked, "I've taken many marks, this is the ultimate result. Well, this will be easy."
Misty tried to react as fast as possible, but found herself being slow. Opaline wasn't kidding about her attack, she dove right for Misty, charging her horn halfway.
Misty bolted her body away by a hair, observing Opaline's body in slow motion while Opaline left a nasty crater.
"Fast I see." The alicorn commented. "I wonder what the ponies who were once attached to those marks would've said about all this, they'd agree with my conquest I imagine. They were my pupils."
Misty snorted, "Doesn't matter what they think, they're dead and gone. If it helps me defeat you, then I will do anything."
Opaline's flame worsened, she unleashed a destructive blast that almost caught Misty by the tail, however, she raced by the buildings. Through the street and couldn't watch while Opaline destroyed the trolley rail. She saw that many ponies were getting out of town, some with cutie-marks, and some without. She felt pleased that she was useful to the town.
She looked as the alicorn was prepared to release another blast. Misty turned to the ocean. She needed to lure her closer to the seaside. That would both stop major destruction of Maretime Bay, and let more citizens escape.
She darted towards the sea. Opaline followed suit, taking no thought into why Misty would do such a thing. The fiery pony had almost no higher idea as she bludgeoned towards her target. The sight would've made anypony scream in terror. Sadly, Misty was familiar with this brutish behavior. As much as Opaline liked to gas herself up and pretend to be sophisticated, she was anything but.
Jumping downwards was her only salvation, Misty didn't look back, as she leviatted herself only inches away from the water. The faster she went the more she felt like she was doing something to save Maretime Bay from destruction. She could hear the heavy and angry breaths of Opaline when she focused too hard. Fortunately, it came into her favor, when Opaline shot a blast, but instead it hit the water due to Misty's renewed instincts.
"Who's easy again?" Misty chuckled, darting left and right to avoid any more attacks.
Opaline fumed, but suddenly looked back to see that Maretime Bay was far behind her. She realized Misty's tactic, surrounded by water, the fire alicorn would be more easily weakened.
"I see how it is…" Opaline turned back towards her new domain, forgetting Misty.
Misty couldn't allow that. In a few short seconds, Opaline was surrounded by a large ball of water. Misty hoped it would at least mitigate her abilities. The giantess roared in anger. Fire magic wasn't the only type she knew, she thought a nice horn beam would suffice as Misty's punishment.
Misty locked eyes with the alicorn as she grinned with a new attack. Misty dispelled her bubble to rehash it but instead onto herself but as a shield.
The beam was relentless, a pure magic tornado that shook her resolve to fight. Misty bolted upwards, twisting and turning to avoid most of the damage. She could feel her magic draining quickly the more she had to hold off the attack. Drained and exhausted, Misty slowly followed behind as Opaline returned their fight to the edge of town.
Opaline gazed on with her blue irises of fire. "Still alive? How disappointing." Her eyes were cold, no sympathy, not even a lick of empathy. She raised Misty and yet, didn't care whether Misty lived or died. Her drastic age (being akin to multiple millenia) might have caused it, however that was not all. "Bow to me Misty." She shot another beam from her horn. "Bow to me, bow to the Alicorn of power. You are an imitation, a copy. So is Sunny, a lousy imitation of a true ruler of Equestria." Opaline shook her hoof.
Another beam, and another, before Misty felt her horn burn with overuse, and her control over her marks slip. This wouldn't continue for long. Misty hoped that her death would be meaningful. That those ponies had escaped and fled to wherever Opaline wasn't.
Before she could give into her evident superior, her ear swerved to hear a voice. It was Izzy's voice, calling out to her from behind. The mare galloped over, taking shelter with a makeshift umbrella and fire resistant clothing. Before she could react, Izzy held onto her tightly. Her throat went dry as a bone.
Izzy couldn't die here. She had too much talent, too much to achieve in her lifetime. Misty could momentarily feel magic flowing back into her body. Her shield became more durable, and more effective against Opaline.
Misty thought hard. The thing Opaline hated most was friendship, she had a bad past with it. Misty knew if she flaunted it in her face, then her guard might have been let down for a second.
"Izzy…You're here." Misty cried.
"Of course, I thought it was a little loopy that you had to be alone with such a party pooper, so I came to cheer you up." She exclaimed, still holding tight to her friend from under the shield.
"Tell the others I'm sorry. Tell them that I want them to run away as fast as possible, and warn the other tribes." Misty said as she held strong her magic, still taking blasts and yet, her body was light as a feather.
Opaline screamed, "Are you seriously having small talk right now!?" She gritted her teeth, trying to channel even more power into her spell.
Izzy ignored Opaline, "You can tell them yourself Misty." Izzy smiled.
"What?" Misty could see that Sunny was flying with Zipp and Pipp, quite fast. With Hitch holding a large stick in-between his teeth. That wasn't all however, because Hitch was being miraculously carried by all three winged ponies.
Misty cringed, she didn't want them to be blown out of the air, that would take them all out instantly. She tried to reach out and shield them, but to her surprise, Sunny was wearing a strange looking crystal on her neck. She was channeling her own shield around all of them. Now that she looked, Izzy, Zipp, Pipp, and Hitch were wearing them as well.
They landed mostly uneventfully,to the immense gratitude of Misty.
Sunny chimed out from her shoulder, "Misty, we're all in this together. These pieces may be the last we have of the Crystal, but it doesn't matter. Because when we are all together we can do anything." Sunny reached around her neck, and attached a similar crystal piece to her own neck, that matched the others.
"I c-can't hold it much longer." Misty, told Sunny, with damp eyes.
Sunny let some of the weight off Misty's horn, taking up half the shield. "You aren't alone anymore. I know you wanted to impress Opaline, but it doesn't matter now. All that matters is the ponies out there that are worth more than a cutie-mark." Sunny said, grunting.
Zipp put a hoof on Misty's shoulder, "I'm sorry I was hard on you. But you really were suspicious, you know that?" Zipp grinned.
Pipp lightly spoke. "I'm sorry I was so happy to barge in and expose you in front of everypony, I just… I was angry that you tried to ruin the one thing I love to do."
Hitch was next, "I really wanted to arrest you, and I still do. But I think we can work something out with community service. And a lot of dragon sitting."
Misty couldn't believe what she was hearing. These ponies, who she did nothing but betray continuously, were with her until the bitter end. Even if they ended up dying, even if the town was half destroyed.
"I'm the one who is sorry, this is my fault, I helped evil, I colluded with her for something as simple as a mark on my flank. If it wasn't for me, none of this would've happened." Misty concluded.
Opaline stopped her assault. She was looking tired even for someone as empowered as herself. She was quiet, but only for a moment. "You wretched ponies. I was meant for glory, you lot are meant for nothing more than fodder for my empire. I'm the Queen! I'M THE QUEEN!"
Izzy started to laugh, she giggled so much that Opaline sneered in annoyance. "You laugh now, but when you are slowly dying by my hoof, I'm sure you'll be receptive to bowing down."
"No silly, I'm laughing because you're just such a goober."
The whole gang began to laugh, Misty giggled until her whole abdomen hurt. In the middle of a brutal battle, showered in uncertainty. It now felt stupid, Opaline picking her ears to see if the sight in front of her was really happening.
"STOP!" Opaline yelled.
Misty felt a light tingle at her neck. The Crystal was glowing and shaking. The rest of them were as well, popping and rocking like a frenzied rainbow.
The overwhelming magic felt right as it poured over in an arc and slammed onto Opaline. She shrieked like a banshee. Misty swore she felt the Crystal tearing the magic off of Opaline and back into the six crystals.
In a minor flashbang. The alicorn was now smaller than ever, the size of a regular pony at least. Misty could still see wings and horn, but no flame, and no extra cutie-mark power. Suddenly, the cutie-marks of all her friends returned. They excitedly squealed in victory.
Misty slowly crept her way to Opaline, while Sunny and the rest walked closely at her side.
Opaline's eyes fluttered open, taking in her new surroundings.
"Opaline?" Sunny asked, tilting her head in an abstract way.
Opaline took large gulps of air, trying to recover a voice.
Sunny spoke up, "I read about this once. Twilight and her friends banished the evil away from Luna and then she turned back to normal!!!" She squealed in her fangirlish ways.
Misty could see that pony. Though she was smaller than before, it was the same mare as before, as she'd always been. So when Sunny suggested just…Accepting her back. It was unthinkable.
Zipp looked skeptical, "Don't fangirl right now Sunny! We don't know what happened!"
"Yeah Sunny! She could still be evil! And she destroyed the town and almost killed us all!" Pipp exclaimed.
Opaline croaked lightly, "C-closer…H-hurts."
Sunny gasped, "Of course!" She leaned in closer, letting Oplaine whisper in her ear. But instead of that, Oplaine grabbed her by the neck, attempting to pull off the crystal around her gullet.
"Gluk! Get her off!" Sunny yelled.
Bonk.
She collapsed on the floor, going limp and letting Sunny go as her hooves turned limp. Hitch held his stick in place, making sure Opaline was really unconscious.
"Hitch!" Sunny whined.
"What!? She was attacking you. And besides, I really wanted to apprehend her." He shrugged, bonking her once more for good measure.
Zipp shook Sunny "Hey! Earth to Sunny! Don't go close to evil ponies who might try and kill you!"
Sunny slumped, "Sorry…I guess my nerding out got the better of me."
Misty began to lay down, as exhaustion took the front seat in her psyche. It had been a long day.
"Hey Misty?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah Izzy?" Misty blinked.
"We're proud of you." Izzy nodded.
Misty grinned, "Well, I suppose that is much better than hating me isn't it?"
Izzy tapped her hoof against her own snout. "I guess so."
"Then that's all I could've done"
Misty watched as her new friends argued over an evil dictator's unconscious body. A lot of "you shouldn't haves" and "I had tos." Well, Misty was glad that they could laugh and joke again, the town was still in shambles. But at least it was intact, Misty could take a little pride in that.
