When I finally returned upstairs, my plush clutched against my chest, I found Sunny and Pipp were in the process of making decorations and taking them up to the bedroom. Meanwhile Izzy seemed to be listing off things to Zipp in the kitchen. I had no idea what was even happening up here. The only thing I couldn't see was Opaline's little sneak thief.

Pipp was the first to notice me, pausing while hanging up some strange woodsy ornament. "Oh, there you are, Anon," she announced in a voice that sounded like she was trying not to succumb to how adorable my alicorn filly appearance was. "We were wondering what was up with you vanishing."

Sunny placed a hoof on my withers. "We heard you crying," she whispered. "Is everything alright?"

I didn't meet here gaze. "I overheard your story, and I... remembered something from the time leading up to my entering the time capsule," I said, noting that my most comfortable pillow was still where I left it. Thanks to the infusion of love, I was able to get this next part out. "The earth pony who got hurt... that was my sister, Emerald Flicker. It hit me hard, because she was still in the hospital when Mom convinced me to come here... Then I found a letter from Mom..."

The girls both looked stricken, and Sunny herself was radiating a fair amount of guilt as I followed them up to the bedroom. She probably saw it as her fault that I'd remembered. Maybe it was, but as much as I wanted to be mad, I was actually thankful. If I'd never overheard that story, I might never have remembered those events in the first place... I'd never have gotten to read Mom's final goodbye.

I smiled up at Sunny. "None of that self-recrimination and guilt, Ms. Starscout," I chided, reaching out with my magic and adjusting an ornament Pipp had just hung up. "I just have a whole lot on my mind... Like the fact that I apparently submitted to a magical oath before my sealing away, and the fact that it prevents me from talking about what's bugging me."

She looked like she wanted to say something, and I'm sure Zipp would definitely try to grill me if she'd heard it. "Anyway, what's all this? I asked, glancing around. "And where's our new friend gone?"

"Oh, Misty?" Pipp asked as she moved one of the glowpaz stones placed beside Izzy's bed. She radiated frustration and a bit of pity. "Somepony couldn't help but get on Misty's case and scared her off."

Shit... I was hoping that I'd get to talk to her in private about if she'd always been in service to Opaline or if she remembered a foalhood before that, I thought, remembering the picture of the Alphabittle's missing daughter on my phone. At the very least, I'd have liked to tail her home and see where the fire alicorn was based.

Sunny nodded, hanging another decoration "Then Izzy declared this whole night one big jinx-a-thon and that it didn't count as a real traditional unicorn sleepover because we weren't in Bridlewood," she explained. Why was she so damn compassionate? It was getting too easy to think that Mom had somehow picked Sunny as her successor. She seemed too perfect for the role. "As for all of this, I thought she might feel a little less homesick if we did this for her."

Feeling homesick, huh? "Hold my beer, I've got an idea!" I exclaimed as I readied the Spatial Fold spell targeting the anchor stone affixed to the underside of my bed.

"What beer?" Pipp worriedly asked before I dropped through the floor.

The moment I was clear of the rip in space, I spread my wings and glided over to my workbench. Setting Serenity down beside me, I grabbed a slate and my etching tools, and quickly started writing out an illusion projection. It would take me casting it once to imprint the memory I wanted them to see in the stone, but that was fine. I didn't even add in an energy storage matrix to the spell, instead making it purely powered by channelled mana so that it could operate off the crystal power.

Once the tablet was complete and imprinted, I slotted it into what had been the housing for a prototype magic lantern Izzy had been helping me with. A freshly charged chunk of quartz was slapped into the housing and locked down.

I nearly bowled over Sunny as I burst through the door to the main floor with a lantern hanging from my mouth. "C'mon," I whispered, "Lemme get this set up, and then bring Izzy and Zipp up."

When I got up the stairs, I set the ~~lantern~~ illusion projector down beside the lantern Izzy had unicycled for Sunny—I think it'd been called the Hope Lantern. "Anon wh—" Pipp began, her words hitching in her throat when I clicked the switch on it to the on position. The ceiling vanished, leaving only the view of the forest canopy as I'd seen it just outside the Crystal Tea Room. "Oh my hoofness."

When Sunny got up here, she practically had to pick her jaw up off the floor. It wasn't a perfect illusion, since if you looked hard enough, you might notice a raven frozen mid-flight. It was also way too still and quiet. Trees subtly shifted and groaned in the wind, and there was always the wind rustling through the forest canopy.

Just as Sunny looked like she was about to squeal in excitement, the purple pegasus darted over. There was no literal hoof-in-mouth silencing here, but when she covered Sunny's mouth, the earth pony got the point. "This is incredible!" She looked around, before shooting me an appreciative smile. "She's going to love it, Anon."

I chose to remain up here while they went and fetched Izzy. Already, I was looking at my handiwork and considering making one of these for my lair. How nice would it be if the ceiling and walls in my room were replaced by a memory of Ponyville? It'd take some time meditating and preparing a mental construct from memory. If I was gonna surround myself with the past, I wanted it to be perfect.

Hmm, there's an idea... Panoramic memory illusions. Capture that perfect moment and look back at it... A shame it requires you to be actively picturing everything in your mind when you imprint it... Otherwise it'd make for a great tool for interviewing victims of crimes.

My thoughts were interrupted by a very bizarre sight. Sunny and Zipp were marching Izzy backwards, blindfolded, up the ramp from the main floor. That wasn't the weirdest thing, though... "...Crunchy unicorn corn cakes! Sweet, salty horn-shaped strudel! Knitting scarves for armadillos in the winter!" She was currently still listing all the things that she missed about Bridlewood. "Say, when did all the lights go out?"

Even Zipp looked dumbstruck at the illusion that was currently obscuring the ceiling. I think she might even have been fighting the pegasus desire to fly high. That's good, because she'd probably break her neck if she rocketed into the ceiling. "Okay, stop listing things, Izzy," Sunny said, spinning her on the spot. "Because... One... Two..." She whipped off the blindfold. "Surprise!"

She gasped, and looked at all the stuff. "What... What is all this stuff?" Izzy couldn't help but gasp. She was surprised, but she was radiating happiness. Then, she looked up and she went teary eyed. "Oh my..."

Sunny beamed at her friend. "It's all the stuff you said you missed from Bridlewood," she explained, patting my still small form on the head. "Give or take a few horn-shaped strudels."

Pipp stepped up to the other side of me. "Now you can lay down and look up at the branches, just like home," she added, also patting me. What am I, a fucking cat now? Or are my tiny forms that cute to these ponies? "Now quite literally with Anon's contribution."

The shock of seeing the Bridlewood skies must have worn off, because she quickly tugged the three of us into a bone-crushing hug... Or rather, an Anon-crushing one, since I was damn near killed. Only detransforming and occupying more space saved me. I swear that filly has earth pony in her.

"I can't believe it," Izzy stammered. When she finally put the three of us down, she gaped at all of us. "How did you manage all of this just when I was talking?"

Finally Zipp found her own voice, and let out a chuckle. "To be fair, you had a lot to talk about."

I was momentarily distracted as another pony's emotional presence entered the effective radius of my bug horse senses. They were anxious, but also hopeful, and determined. It was also unmistakably Misty. I can't believe she came back. She's so timid, and you'd think with her getting Zipp on high alert, she'd have hightailed it out of here.

As Izzy looked around, she saw Sunny's pris-beam lantern encircled in construction paper. The paper was cut in such a way that it cast tree-shaped shadows around the room. "Oooh! This is some pretty impressive unicycling, too!" she noted, regarding Sunny and Pipp with a sly look. "Maybe you all have a bit of unicorn in you after all."

By the time Izzy finished that sentence, Misty had made her way up here. She was currently peering nervously around the glass elevator leading up to the Brighthouse's lighthouse gallery. I of course said nothing, as I wanted to watch how this all played out. Instead I found myself wishing I knew off the top of my head the cantrip to project my voice. Imagine how spooked she'd get if I whispered to her from across the room that we needed to talk later.

When Izzy finally spotted Misty, she gasped and exclaimed, "Misty! You're back!"

Despite the earlier determination, she wilted a bit as everyone turned to face her. With a nervous laugh, the young mare offered up her half-assed excuse. "Uh, yeah. I-I was hungry, so I thought, 'Maybe I'll go down to the garden and harvest some glimmerberries?'" Why was that intoned like it was a question? "Th-that I ate all myself, which is why I don't have any right now." This was punctuated by another nervous laugh.

Yeah, I don't think Zipp bought that any more than I did. It didn't seem all that suspicious to Izzy though. She crossed the floor to meet Misty, and placed a hoof in her alleged friend's wither. "Oh, I'm just so glad you're back!" she said in a soft voice. "I hope you know how welcome you are here."

I watched the emotional aura of the cornflower mare waver, and her determination fell away completely, replaced by a strong sense of guilt. Then Izzy waved a hoof and gestured at all the decorations and the illusory forest canopy above. "Look, even if you didn't grow up in Bridlewood, I hope you can feel the welcoming vibe of my sweet little home town."

Misty's eyes danced over the decorations, with nary a second thought. That changed when she actually took in the view of the trees above. There was a glint of recognition in her eyes, and when she looked at everything again, she let out a quiet breath. "Yeah," she whispered as her eyes locked on a specific grouping of trees. "It's like I'm transported back in time. It's actually... really incredible."

~ 07-II ~

After popping back downstairs to grab my phone and getting permission to record, I sat down on my pillow with a smile. I opened the video with a sweeping shot, capturing everyone as Izzy recommenced the traditional unicorn sleepover under the illusory canopy. Even as they transitioned to the unicorn song, I focused the camera on me.

"Good evening, Maretime Bay," I greeted my fans. "It's your one and only changeling queen, Anonymous Flicker, and I'm coming to you live from the Crystal Brighthouse. Since I'm participating in a kinda-sorta traditional unicorn sleepover hosted by our very own Izzy Moonbow, I figured I'd use the opportunity to discuss what sleepovers were like when I was growing up."

A yawn escaped me and I couldn't help but stretch as my magic held the camera before me. "There were two kinds of sleepovers I went to over the years," I explained with a wistful smile. "The first was the sleepovers that involved my sister, my friends—the Cutie Mark Crusaders—and some foals from their extended friend group."

The memories flooding back elicited a sigh. "These were simple foal's sleepovers, with scary stories, board games, pizza, and an unholy amount of sweets," I listed with a smirk. "As we got older and more of us reached adolescence, things of course got more mischievous. Truth or Dare was Scootaloo's favourite, but Sweetie Belle got surprisingly saucy as she grew older and, well..." I could feel the chitin on my cheeks darkening with a blush at the recollection, and I chuckled nervously. "I don't need to get into the kind of things young mares can get up to."

I realised then that the room had gone eerily quiet. When I looked at the other girls, all of them except for Misty was blushing. Clearly she wasn't quite aware of what I was insinuating. Do I need to also ask if Opaline gave her the birds and the bees when I interrogate her?

"The other sleepover type I attended was the group sleepovers Mom had with the other Elements of Harmony," I redirected with a wave of my hoof. "These occasions were few, but they usually involved a big meal, drinking, and chatting. They always ended in everypony sleeping in a pony pile, using one or more of your neighbours as a pillow.

"Their Philia... Their platonic love for one another was so strong that I never failed to feel safe snuggling in with them," I said with a happy smile. "You wanna see something cute, there's nothing cuter than a changeling who goes to sleep in such a pony pile and wakes up so bloated from passively absorbing love that she has to transform in order to walk without her love distended belly touching the floor."

The others all burst into laughter at the mental image. Evidently, they were all listening intently to what I was saying now. I suppose it was a pretty relevant topic. I just shrugged and shook my head.

"It's funny how tonight's festivities, different though they were, were also so similar to what I grew up with," I murmured. "Makes me glad that some traditions are universal, regardless of societal collapse and rebuild."

Another yawn overtook me, and I decided to cut things short. As I shank myself down to bug-filly size once more, I gave a nod to the camera. "This is your sleepyhead changeling queen... Signing off."

~ 07-II ~

I think I was probably the first one to turn in that night. They all stayed up and chatted a bit longer, and though I was mostly asleep, I came out of it enough at one point to hear Pipp asking Sunny whispering in scandalised voices. Evidently, Pipp was trying to imagine what a bunch of fillies got up to with a shape-shifter at a time in their lives when hormones were going wild. Sunny was a bit more respectful of my privacy, but admitted they were probably some wild experiences that transcended the border of species and sex. Honestly, the two were probably having way lewder thoughts than was actually the case.

I probably slept until a little after two in the morning. It would've been longer, but somepony had opened a window, and a cool breeze washed over my chitin. Given that my core temperature was naturally lower than an average pony, the shift in temperature was enough to jar me awake.

The last time somepony opened a window here tonight, it was a certain little spy. Cracking open an eye, I saw Misty once again stop the desk at Zipp's portion of the bedroom, poking her head out the window. Quickly and quietly, I crept over to evesdrop.

"What took you so long!?" came the frustrated voice of Opaline. "Did you find it!?"

"I tried, Opaline, but this plan has been, well, more difficult than we originally anticipated," the young mare apologised, her tail swishing about anxiously. "But don't worry! Though I haven't picked up the lantern per se, I have gathered plenty of info about their new magic! Well, they believe a completely different story about the origin of Equestria." She was positively gushing. "Oh! And they told me all about dragonfire and how it changes cutie marks! Also, we did a hoof-reading and ate ponycorn and did horn decorating and—"

The fire alicorn on the other end of the enchanted necklace interrupted her."Hold on, Misty. Horn decorating, ponycorn, and hoof-reading!? Did you have fun with these puny ponies?!"

A shiver of fear wracked the young mare, and I saw her head subtly angle away from the direction she'd been looking. "No, no, of course not. It was strategic hoof-reading for gathering intel," she lied. With a gasp, she sidetracked herself. "But seriously, have you ever tried ponycorn before?! Because it's the best! I mean, the best way to trick the ponies into thinking I'm one of their friends!" She let out a nervous chuckle, and I began to feel the teensiest bit of remorse from her. "I'm telling ya! They were gabbin'! I was grubbin'!"

Behind me, I heard Zipp beginning to stir. When the pegasus yawned, she quickly said her goodbyes whispered something about top secret plans, before pulling the window shut. Zipp was fully awake and eyeing the little sneak with barely-contained suspicion as she crept back to her bedding. As Misty passed me, the pegasus detective noticed me, and I was forced to shrug and pantomime, "I think she was having a smoke?"

Soon, everypony returned to sleep... Well, until Izzy got up and wandered out with the lantern. I quietly followed her downstairs, my pillow levitating beside me, and watched her move out to the garden, where there were some tea leaves. A bit late for some fresh, tea, but I'm not gonna judge, I thought as I entered my room and activated the light at my workbench. Without even looking, I dropped the pillow off in my bed as I made my way over to the workspace. From the bookcase, I levitated over one of my spell notebooks, and Mom's notes I found. I also grabbed my fountain pen from the writing nook and settled down. As an afterthought, I set an alarm on my phone to alert me when seven thirty rolled around.

It didn't look like the anti-scrying field spell's prototype needed any tweaks. There was no point in putting in any sort of whitelist, so I could leave out that section when I inscribed it on a slate. All I'd need are some straps from Izzy's craft corner upstairs, some superglue, and then craft a holder for a relatively small crystal. It'd be short use, but I wasn't intending to go on any sort of long missions where somepony might be scrying on me. I had everything else I needed in here.

The scrying spell, on the other hoof, required some personalised tweaks. Mom always leaned towards the classical, traditional spells, and as I looked over what she'd left me, it was the exact spell I'd seen in one of those old grimoires that belonged to Princess Luna. It required you to have a pool of water to project the vision upon. It was 'safer' than simply projecting it into one's mind, but there were other, better ways to view.

In my notebook, I penned out a revised version of the scrying spell. Gone was the projection onto water, replaced with projecting an illusory pane of glass through which the target could be viewed. I actually considered making it project onto the nearest mirror and then just engrave the spell on the back of a hoof-mirror, but the thing was that I was not intending to need to use it more than to simply test the anti-scrying field... Or to spy on the enemy... but I'd only be doing that in here anyways...

Eventually, when I determined the spell was complete, I switched my attention back to the notes on the anti-scrying field. Pulling over my materials, I got to work etching the spells into the ceramic slates I typically used these days. Once upon a time, I would have just rolled out a ball of clay, etched the spell in, and cooked it off in a fire spell or a kiln. That said, the curing process tended to introduce small deformities. With less complex spells, like the Plasma Bolt I made when I was a filly, it wasn't so bad, but with extremely complex spells like scrying or the illusion projector, more imperfections in the energy flow resulted in a more unstable a spell. Better to simply carve it out of a perfectly uniform surface that's already been cured than to fuck around and find out.

By the time I finished both spells, the clock on my phone's display read six o'clock in the morning. I didn't like the idea of spying on any of my friends, but I needed to verify that both spells worked, and that meant making sure I could actually see somepony from afar. Holding the scrying slate in my hoof, I turned to face the centre of my room and started focusing on Hitch Trailblazer as I activated the spell.

For a moment, nothing happened, and it felt like something was actively resisting the spell. Then, I thought I heard my mother's voice whisper, "Authorised user detected... Scrying permissions: granted," in my ear, and the illusory glass appeared a metre in front of me. It showed the stallion climbing out of a bed somehow hidden in the bottom drawers of three separate filing cabinets, and walking over to a coffee maker.

That's new... I didn't hear anything like that when I started tearing the fabric of reality in and around the Brighthouse. Could the Unity Crystals be serving as some sort of security system?

I changed my mental focus towards Misty. Immediately, the scene in the window changed, showing the young pony lying on the provided bedding with her pillow. It appeared as though the young unicorn was having some sort of nightmare, based on the way she was twitching and frowning. There were also some tears... What a shame. I wish I knew dream magic, kiddo.

It felt like I was intruding on something private, so I quickly focused on myself. Again, the image changed. It was so weird seeing myself in third pony perspective. The scrying window's feed appeared to originate in the air above my bed, probably two metres up.

While still keeping my focus, I reached over and grabbed the anti-scrying spell's slate. The moment I activated the spell, it felt like an elastic band had slapped around the fetlock of the hoof holding the first spell slate. The viewing window changed, and the third pony view of myself was replaced by an exterior shot of the Brighthouse from afar. With a sigh, I ceased channelling both spells, and put them both away in my magical storage.

I took my phone over to the sofa, where I proceeded to rest my eyes. I'd set my plan into motion, and until my phone's alarm went off, I wanted to get a bit extra rest. Maybe it was a quirk of being changeling queen—a being that could live potentially for a thousand years—but as long as I wasn't sleeping off severe alcohol poisoning, I technically didn't need nearly as much sleep as a pony. Maybe six hours max, and only a tiny fraction of it needed to be REM. A day could be stretched out with intermittent napping... actually not unlike a cat's ability to sleep at almost any time of the day, come to think of it.

When the alarm did go off, I heard movement upstairs, and there were several presences up in the kitchen. I quickly silenced the alarm and tossed my phone into my magical storage before grabbing up my mug. Yes, I filled it with yet more love. So what if I'd technically had more than subsistence level intake in the last day? I deserve to treat myself a little, even if I was still owed a snack from Izzy. With a full mug of Grade-A Princess of ~~Food~~ Love brand life-nectar, I stepped through the portal and made my way over to the dining nook.

"Morning, ladies," I greeted, looking from each sleepy looking pony gathered around the table. Princess Detective Zipp Storm was practically staring a hole into the side of Misty's head, but based on the bags under her eyes, she hadn't gotten that good of a sleep because of that nightmare. Pipp, and Izzy looked much more rested, despite the latter's nocturnal foraging. Then of course, you had Sunny—Our Lady of the Pancakes, Giver of Smoothies and Snackies. She was a whirlwind of movement as she constructed a tower of pancakes and ran some blenders.

"Good morning, Anon!" replied Sunny without taking her attention from her work as I sat down at a free spot. "You're usually a late riser, and when you weren't there when we all got up, I figured you might've gone down into your room to sleep until noon again."

I shrugged, even as Misty observed the exchange with interest. "Nah, woke up when Ms. Two O'clock Tea Time went down to the garden," I commented, shooting Izzy a smile before sipping my cup of love. "I figured I'd get to work on something Mom left me while I waited for the rest of you all to wake back up."

Misty, who was seated next to Izzy, leaned in close to her fellow unicorn to ask about who my Mom was. I paid little mind as Izzy explained how I was the adoptive daughter of an alicorn from the distant past, hurled forward through time in a magic trash can. Sure, it struck me weird that she somehow knew Mom erased me from history, but I was convinced by this point that she was some reincarnation of Pinkie Pie. Like Pinkie, she seemed to possess some sort of extra sense that granted her forbidden knowledge.

Zipp looked interested, but looked like she didn't want to ask while Ms. the Mole was present. Instead, Pipp asked, "How do you do it? I look awful at the end of an all-nighter and I feel worse, even after sleeping it off."

Ponies always get a bit creeped out when I laugh in my two-toned voice, and it was no different. Pipp, Izzy, and Zipp visibly shivered, and even Sunny paused what she was doing to glance over her shoulder. The odd thing was that Misty started laughing along with me, which diverted everyone's attention back to her. She quickly stopped, embarrassed beyond all belief. "Sorry, I tend to start laughing when others do."

"I've been something of a night-owl since my mid teens," I explained once I finished being weird. "It also helps that, as a changeling, I need less total sleep, and a circadian rhythm is more of a suggestion than a rule."

"Ooh! Cicada Rhythm sounds like a great name for a band!" exclaimed our resident unicycler as she played an air guitar. I didn't have the heart to tell her that she was thinking something completely different from what I'd just said.

Everything quieted down once food was served. Most of the ponies were taking their time eating. That said, since the time she saw me demolish a stack of pancakes bigger than my smol-bug form, Izzy had gotten... competitive over who could eat faster. I mean, it was quite clear that she'd never win at a contest for how much we could put away, what with me being a literal hunger fae, but even I had to pace myself and breathe. I nearly choked when Misty asked if this was also a traditional unicorn thing.

When I was finished eating, I excused myself, saying that I had to go meet with a publisher. This wasn't exactly a lie. I'd sent an email to a publishing company here in Maretime Bay and gotten a response saying to stop by whenever I finished the Your Magic and You manuscript. That said, it was an open invitation, and I was just using it to get out of the house.

The moment I was out the door, I transformed into a raven and perched myself near the door. It took some waiting, during which time I took another quick snooze, but eventually Misty exited the Brighthouse. She was probably thinking she was in the clear to return to her dark mistress, but then, she probably also thought I was long gone.

Flying after her, I mused to myself that if I'd been a stallion following a young mare home, it'd be super fucking creepy. Why should being a shape-shifting bug queen make it any different? It really didn't. Still, creepy simply didn't need to play into things. I wasn't actually intending on following her all the way home, and I wasn't up to anything nefarious. Just as soon as she was far enough away from the Brighthouse, I'd reveal myself, drop an anti-scrying field, and have a little talk.

Unfortunately, she kept to very public places during her journey through town, so I couldn't really approach her without causing some sort of scene. Despite ponies starting to accept me, I didn't doubt they'd assume I was trying to do something to her if I tried anything. Stranger still, even as she stopped here and there to collect groceries, she seemed to be making her way towards the west edge of town. I guess she lives outside town.

I continued to follow her from above for several klicks, right up until she entered a treeline. The one thing I noticed before I broke through the canopy to follow her closely was a castle on the edge of a cliff, with a big tree growing out of it, that seemingly popped up out of nowhere. It took me a minute to find her, but I decided I'd waited long enough. In the very voice I'd heard coming through her locket only hours before, I called out her name. "Misty."

She turned to look in the direction Opaline's voice had apparently come from, but paid no mind as a mere raven flew overhead. I quickly landed behind a tree, reverted to changeling form, and retrieved the scry-be-gone slate. I felt disgusting for what I decided to do next, but I started focusing on a newly resurfaced memory... Not long before everything started going to shit, Mom had once met with Opaline, who had only come out of hiding the year before. Being the kind, loving pony she was, Mom tried to broker peace, but Opaline had none of it; I'd been there at the meeting, disguised as a guard, and I got a real good look at her.

I should've killed her then and there and saved everypony the trouble, I thought darkly as I pictured the fire alicorn in my mind. Blue magical flames raced up my body, leaving me with a dark magenta coat with a light greyish mane streaked with pale opal, broad feathered wings, and a sharp slightly curved horn. I could do nothing about the armoured horseshoes she'd been wearing when I'd seen her, but I didn't really care. This was about sending a message.

As Misty passed my tree, I let out a two-note whistle. Before she'd even turned her head, I activated the anti-scrying field and smiled at her. "Hello, Misty," I purred in Opaline's voice. "Was this excursion everything you hoped for?"

She let out a startled squeak and nearly tripped over an exposed tree root. "O-oh, Opaline!" she stammered, placing a hoof over her heart as if it could somehow steady her heartbeat. Here came a lie. "Y-yes. I got so much useful information!"

Shaking my head, I trotted over to her. "That's not what I asked, Misty," I said in a quiet voice. Maybe it was just the intonation, but this only got Misty's hackles up more, and she backed up until her rump was pressed up against the tree whose exposed root nearly spilt her groceries. "Putting aside the lying and the spying, did you enjoy yourself with those ponies?"

"N-no, of course not!" she said too quickly. "How could I ever get along with the ponies who stand between you regaining your power and me getting my cutie mark?" When I frowned and cocked an eyebrow at her, she got really nervous. She refused to meet my gaze for several seconds before finally wilting. "Y-yes, Opaline, I enjoyed myself. I'm sorry I got carried away with all the new experiences, but—"

My smile returned, and I continued with the charade a bit more. "But nothing, my dear," I cut her off in that still too friendly tone. "If you enjoy hanging out with those ponies, you shouldn't feel guilty. Ponies are social creatures, after all. You can't spend your whole life kowtowing to one pony with zero downtime to spend with friends. It'll drive you mad."

She looked at me as though I'd just grown several heads. "Huh?" she asked in a questioning tone. "Y-you want me to make friends?" Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Is this another one of your tests?"

I rolled my eyes and let the transformation drop. "No test, I'm afraid," I explained, feeling remorse as Misty's panic skyrocketed. "Don't worry, she can't see anything happening here so long as I'm holding this slate. Now, relax before you give yourself a heart attack; I'm just here to talk."

"I-but you..." She started to hyperventilate, and I found myself having to sit down, transform the Hug spell onto my back leg, and cast it on the panicking pointy pony. Although she tensed at first when she felt my magic around her, she started to calm down at the gentle warmth wrapping around her midsection. "Y-you know about Opaline..." I nodded. "You know that I'm spying on them for her..." Again I nodded. "Have you told them already?"

I shook my head and then released the spell. With a smile that showed way too much of the sharp canines and incisors in my mouth. "Nope."

"B-but why?" Misty asked, looking at me in disbelief. "You live with them and they're your friends, aren't they?"

Again, I gave her a nod before meeting her with a level stare. "What's said here stays between you and me, capisci?" I said in a commanding tone. Immediately, I regretted it, as I felt the magic in my voice. Without a thought, she nodded. I didn't mean to put a geas on her... I didn't even say it like Chrysalis did... So why? "Opaline lucked out in that I took a magical oath that prevents me from directly interfering with the others' destinies. Mom had plans for the five of them, and it's up to them to face down your master. I may guide them and nudge them along, or take steps to indirectly undermine Opaline, but nothing short of innocents being directly imperilled will allow me direct intervention."

She looked shocked that I was admitting this, and I didn't exactly blame her. She probably hadn't even realised I'd committed a grievous sin against the sanctity of her mind by complete accident. "The flipside is that I also cannot reveal to Sunny, the girls, and Hitch that I know who their foe is."

That gave Misty pause. Cogs inside her head began to turn, and I could see in her emotional state the expanding bit of confusion and doubt. "But ratting me out isn't going against her directly... I'm a... what did she call it... I'm a proxy. So why keep quiet?"

Good question. I knew myself that ratting her out would only be impeding Opaline, just as it had been back when I'd been hunting down her cultists. That said, I actually also knew the reason I didn't do it before I remembered the fact that I had such oaths. Hell, I told you last night, girl.

"I'm gonna be real with you, Misty Brightdawn, servant of Opaline Arcana," I said in a sad voice. "You seem like a good kid, but I can tell by watching your behaviours and your emotions that she has not been nearly as kind to you as she might lead you to believe. I don't know if she foalnapped you, or arranged conditions for you to end up in her 'care', but she is not a good pony.

"Countless ponies—my sister included—have been seriously hurt or killed as a result of her actions, or the actions of those who choose to follow her. The thing is, she doesn't care for her followers. When they outlive their usefulness, she throws them away or simply leaves them hanging." She looked shaken by what I said, but I continued on. "Believe me, as somepony who made a deal with a devil, there are always caveats. Sometimes, the devil won't reveal the full conditions of the deal until you've already been burned... and your hooves are so soaked in blood that you wonder if it was worth it. If she's offering you a cutie mark, consider if you can live with whatever it takes to get you that mark... if she doesn't throw you away when she gets what she wants, first."

She looked like she was ready to cry. "W-why are you doing this?" she quavered. "You seemed so nice when we met before, and yesterday too... Was that all an act?"

It was my turn to recoil as though I'd been slapped. I'd never even thought how this must seem from her perspective. I mean, yeah, it's rich coming from a spy who was also playing with the emotions of other ponies, but still, I might've been being a bit too cruel. "Nah, I was being honest the whole time," I said in an apologetic tone. "Just... I felt how happy you were spending time with them. You might've been there under false pretences, but your emotional reactions, and theirs, were all genuine. Zipp's suspicious of you, but the rest of them genuinely enjoyed their time with you last night... I don't want to ruin that for them... or for you."

She looked startled when I spoke, so much so that she didn't even react as I shrank myself to her size and walked over to her. "I said last night during Dare the Mare that you set off my older sibling instincts... Something about you makes me want to protect you..." I placed a hoof under her chin and made her look me in the eye. "I want you see that there's more to life than being a pawn for a petty tyrant who didn't even raise a hoof to help her cults when a single pony was tearing them down..." With a sigh, I etched my phone number into the dirt in front of her. "I'm always willing to talk or hang out if she starts wearing you down. If you won't call me... at least consider the girls. You don't have to be alone."

Without any further warning, I transformed the spell formula for Fuck It, I'm Out onto the foreleg holding the slate. "See ya 'round, my little pony," I whispered before touching the spell engraved on my chitinous leg and taking the plunge. As I fell down into my nest of pillows, I wondered if I'd done the right thing. I'd stolen some agency from the young pony—even if it wasn't intentional—by implanting compulsion in her mind to keep that conversation quiet. That said, it didn't seem right to just leave her faith in that bitch unshaken.

I can't start thinking for the greater good, or else I'll become little better than that fucking tree... Or Opaline.

When I surfaced from the suspended pillow bowl, I was surprised to find Izzy in my lair. She was standing over by my workbench, dropping off a spool of gem-infused copper wire and what looked like some the straps and parts needed for mounting the Scry-Be-Gone slate on my foreleg. She smiled and waved at me as I climbed out and walked over to the bench.

"Oh! Hi, Anon!" she said in a cheerful voice. "You're back early; what were you doing in the woods with Misty?"

I didn't meet her eyes when I set the slate down on the bench. "Just making sure she got home safe," I lied. "She lives out in the sticks, so you never know when a wolf made of wood's gonna attack, y'know?" I reached into my magic storage and fetched my phone. To my surprise, there was a message from an unknown number already waiting for me.

'Did you really mean it when you said we could hang out if you-know-who got to be too much?'

I considered typing out a message immediately, but I returned my attention to Ms. Moonbow. "I converted more of your copper into wire like you asked," she explained, gesturing at everything she'd set down on the table. "I also got you the bits and bobs you asked for and even made you a little battery compartment for a gem!" She looked at the slate I set down. "Oooh, is that what you need it all for? What's this one do?"

With a smirk, I elbowed her. "Keeps the jinxies away," I intoned in a faux spooky voice. "For real though, you never know who or what might be magically eavesdropping. This'll keep super secret conversations actually secret." I started guiding her back to the exit, nabbing my harness and stylus from the bedside table. "Thanks a bunch, Izzy. I plan on making a few more for everyone else, too."

As we walked, I tapped out a quick response to Misty. 'I wouldn't offer if I didn't think you were a good pony.'

Izzy dug her hooves in as we got to the door, and gave me a half-lidded look. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked in a teasing voice. She reached up and booped my nose, before explaining, "I promised to feed you, remember?"

Author's Note

Next up, Anon goes on a 'date'? Wait, what?

I debated whether or not it was a good idea for Anon to blab to Misty, but really, if the girl sets off our bug's big-sister instincts, there's no way she wouldn't try to interfere in that way.

Just to explain the context of the magical oath/compulsion that Anon consented to:

1. Anon cannot reveal Opaline's existence before New Guardians learn about her.
2. Anon cannot take any action that would directly 'resolve' the Opaline situation before the group is ready to face her. Opaline is their stepping stone, not hers.
3. Anon is free to meddle in Opaline's plans and keep her weak or distracted.
4. The only escape clause that would allow Anon to directly intervene is if innocent lives are imperilled. This includes keeping the group alive, but the ~~Anon~~nuclear option is a last resort.

What this means is that while Anon cannot just go out and fix the Opaline problem, she would have full agency to interfere behind the scenes as she wishes. This includes arson, jaywalking, vandalism, and psychological warfare. It also means that Anon now has a very nice punching bag for those bad days.

Also, Changebug Queen [left cutie mark hidden].