A Herd in Maretime Bay

Once she put some distance between herself and the cafe Misty slowed from a run to a walk, Haven’s words echoing through her mind.

“I assumed that if something was going on, they would have invited you to join in or at least told you about it.”

Misty felt anger spreading through her body like a poison. She wasn’t angry at Haven for bringing the topic up. Haven was just being curious, and had no idea what had been going through Misty’s mind the last few days. No, Misty was angry at herself for lying to loved ones again. And the worst part was that she was lying to protect a secret that she technically was never let in on. Misty knew the truth, but that was because she worked it out. Her friends never told her. Her friends. The ones who embraced her as part of the group in spite of her past, considered her as one of Sparky’s moms and let her move in with them so she could have a home where she felt welcome. And yet, they never told her.

“They don’t trust you,” said a voice inside her head that sounded an awful lot like herself. “Why would they? You lied to them for so long.”

Misty scowled as she approached the Brighthouse. She could see the others outside in the community garden. Hitch and Zipp were examining a wobbly section of fence with Sparky sitting on the nearby grass, Pipp and Izzy were taking photos of themselves in front of the Cutie Mark flowerbeds Hitch had grown and Sunny was kneeling in front of the carrot patch, growing carrots with her plant magic. There was a basket of recently pulled up carrots next to her.

Sunny looked up as she heard Misty approaching and waved at her. “Hey, Misty.” She greeted, before noticing how angry the Unicorn looked. Sunny’s usual cheerful smile faded and was replaced by a concerned look. She stood up and opened her mouth to ask what was wrong.

“Don’t say anything.” Misty snarled as she walked past. Ignoring the shocked look on Sunny’s face Misty walked up to the Brighthouse and pushed open the front doors with such force that they bounced off the interior walls. Misty stormed upstairs and over to her bed, pulling out the projector the others had given her from under it. Closing the curtain around her bed Misty sat down and turned the projector on. Projections of videos Pipp had taken of the group started to appear on the wall, but they did little to calm Misty down. In fact, all the videos did was remind her that she and her friends were supposed to be a family, yet the others hadn’t trusted her with their secret.

“Um, Misty.” She looked to the source of the voice, only to find Izzy poking her head through the curtain. “Are you… feeling okay?”

“I’m fine.” Misty growled.

“No, you’re not.” Zipp said as she appeared next to Izzy, pulling the curtain back to reveal that Sunny, Pipp and Hitch were there too. Sensing her friends wanted to talk, Misty decided she should at least give them her full attention. She turned the projector off and put it back under the bed before shifting around so she was facing her friends. The atmosphere wasn’t pleasant. Misty was sitting with her arms and legs crossed, glaring at the others, almost as if daring them to speak.

“So,” Pipp began finally. “What exactly happened? You went out for breakfast with mom and Alphabittle and came back in a huff.”

Misty’s only response was to look away from the group.

“Misty, please don’t shut us out.” Hitch said politely. “We’re your friends. We want to help you.”

Misty laughed bitterly at that statement. “Friends,” she repeated sarcastically as she looked back at them. “True friends don’t keep secrets from each other. I know that better than most ponies, especially after everything I’ve done.”

The others stared at her in confusion. “What does keeping secrets have to do with anything?” Zipp asked. “Are you hiding something from us again?”

Misty laughed bitterly again and shook her head. “No. This time it’s you guys who are keeping secrets.”

Izzy tilted her head in confusion. “What do you mean, Misty? What secret?”

They don’t even realise, do they? Misty thought, getting angrier by the second. They don’t even realise they’re hiding it from me.

“Your herd, that’s what.” She shouted at them. The five were so shocked they took several steps back from the bed. Misty glared at them in anger for a few seconds before the realisation of what she just said hit her, and she froze. Instantly all her anger vanished. Misty unfolded her arms and stared down at her hands.

“Misty?” Sunny asked gently as she slowly approached the bed again. She was acting like Misty was a ticking time bomb that could go off at any second, and Misty could hardly blame Sunny. She had just exploded at her friends simply because she was really worked up.

“Sorry…” Misty managed to say. Just saying that one word felt like a struggle. Why was it so hard to talk suddenly? “I didn’t mean…” she stopped when she noticed she was trembling. What the fuck was wrong with her?

Seeing the state Misty was in, Izzy ran forward and climbed onto the bed, pulling Misty into a hug. Misty melted into Izzy’s embrace. “What’s happening to me?” She managed to ask.

“Sometimes when your emotions are a wreck, your nerves are too.” Izzy explained. “You’ll stop shaking once you calm down.”

Izzy held Misty until the latter stopped shaking. Pulling out of the hug Misty found that Izzy was giving her a smile that was wide even by Izzy’s usual standards. Looking around Misty saw that the others had gathered around her bed again and were smiling too. Feeling like herself again for the first time since she left the cafe, Misty smiled back.

“So, our herd. You knew about it.” Izzy said.

Misty nodded. “I’d been trying to work out how to bring it up for the past few days, but I didn’t mean to just blurt it out like that.”

“That’s okay. Your head wasn’t in the right space to be thinking clearly.” Sunny assured her. “How long have you known, anyway?”

Misty had to pause to think about it. When had she figured it out exactly? “Since… about five weeks after I first met you guys.”

“What? You mean it only took you two weeks to find out?” Pipp asked.

Misty tilted her head in confusion. Two weeks?

“The herd was formed three weeks after we first met you, Misty.” Zipp explained, seeing the confused look on Misty’s face.

“Oh,” Misty said in understanding. “Right.”

“And you thought we didn’t trust you with our secret?” Hitch assumed.

Misty nodded again. “The thought did cross my mind.”

“Oh, we’re sorry Misty.” Sunny said. “We didn’t mean to hide it from you, we’re just so used to keeping it secret.”

“You know,” Izzy began awkwardly. “It’s actually a funny story.”

Misty raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean ‘funny story’?”

“Well, remember the day we first met Opaline?” Zipp asked.

Misty looked away in shame. That day was one of the worst in her life. It was the day she nearly got her family killed, just because she chose to follow Opaline’s orders.

“Hey, don’t give us that frowny face.” Pipp told her. “We’ve told you a million times it wasn’t your fault. Anyway, you came to see us afterwards, but you were too tired to walk back to Opaline’s castle so you ended up falling asleep on the couch next to Sparky.”

“I remember.” Misty said. She also remembered that the others must have moved her off the couch while she was asleep, because the next morning she woke up in Pipp’s bed.

“Well, after you fell asleep Izzy called a group meeting.” Sunny continued.

“Really? About what?” Misty asked curiously.

Izzy looked rather embarrassed. She mumbled a response, but Misty didn’t hear it, so she leaned forward. “Sorry Iz, could you repeat that?”

“To suggest inviting you to join the herd.” Izzy muttered quietly.

Misty’s heart leapt into her throat.

“And we all agreed we’d love to have you join our herd.” Hitch said.

Misty was silent. Her voice didn’t seem to want to work.

“But since you were just starting to wrap your head around the fact that you were free from Opaline, we decided that we shouldn’t invite you just yet.” Zipp explained.

“Although, we all agreed that we should tell you we were a herd,” Pipp said, picking up the story. “But between the Cutie Blossom Bash, you finding your father and moving into the Brighthouse, Nightmare Night, finding the Dragons and the final battle with Opaline we never got the chance to tell you, so we just sort of fell back into our usual routine of keeping it secret from everyone. Sorry about that.”

Still unable to speak, Misty nodded her head to show that she had heard.

“So, do you want to join our herd?” Izzy asked. There was an unmistakable tone of hope in her voice.

The image of her and the others on the beach with Hitch massaging her back appeared in Misty’s mind again, clearer than it had ever been before. Shaking her head to get rid of it, Misty finally got her voice back.

“Part of me does,” she admitted. “But remember, I’m very different to the five of you. You’re all socially outgoing and gel together really well, whereas I’m a social wreck at the best of times. Sure I’m getting better at the whole ‘being social’ thing, but there’s still a reason why my bed is away from the rest and why I have a curtain around it (she briefly grabbed the curtain with her hand for emphasis). I’m worried that me being part of the herd wouldn’t work.”

“If you’ve thought about it this much, then I’d say it’s more than just a part of you that wants to join the herd,” Zipp said, giving Misty a playful smirk. “Besides, who says we can’t make it work.”

“Yeah, we know you can get overwhelmed easily,” Sunny added. “If you’re uncomfortable with something, you can just say so. We’re not going to make you do it.”

Izzy leaned forward slightly. “So, you’ll join the herd?” She asked hopefully.

Misty thought about it for a second, then gave Izzy a wide smile. “Of course I will.”

“Yay!” Izzy cheered happily, giving Misty a quick kiss on the cheek before wrapping her up in another hug. “Welcome to the herd, Misty.”

Laughing at Izzy’s joyful reaction, Misty returned the hug. Then the other four climbed onto the bed and joined in the hug.

Eventually a familiar sound brought the group back to reality, and they looked up to see Sparky standing there. At some point during their conversation he had wandered up the ramp and was now standing a few feet away from Misty’s bed. He was looking at Misty with concern written all over his face. Figuring he was probably worried about her like the others had been Misty wiggled out of the group hug and climbed off the bed, walking over to Sparky and gently picking him up in her arms.

“It’s okay, Sparky. I just had a bad morning. I’m alright now.”

That was enough to satisfy Sparky, as he smiled at her before snuggling into her chest.

“Awww.” Hitch and the girls cooed from the bed. Misty was positively beaming. We really are a family.