Have you ever felt like you don't deserve everything you have?
Have you ever felt that that unconditional love you receive, whether from friends, family or even that special someone, you don't deserve it? That you are not worthy of the roof you sleep under, the food you eat or the good times you have had with your loved ones? Well I do. I have felt it every day of my life, since I stopped living with Opaline.
Living under the absurd rules of an Alicorn like Opaline was is not nice. Every single thing you do, no matter how small and insignificant it is to others, is reason enough for Opaline to walk all over you and make you feel like everything bad that happens to her is your fault, even when you know it's not, and that sometimes even the fault lies with Opaline herself. But she was never one to accept responsibility for her actions. If you told her that it was her fault, she only made you feel worse and treated you like an ungrateful person... She never gave me anything beyond a "bed", which in reality was just a deflated and very uncomfortable cushion. Uncomfortable, but still managed to make me feel like the most ungrateful unicorn in all of Equestria.
And that's not the worst. Doing any task that she tells you to do is terrifying because the smallest mistake you make will be thrown in your face to make you feel useless. And even if you do the job perfectly and to the letter, just as she asked, she will look for something insignificant or, directly and blatantly, she will ruin what you did herself so that you have to do it again and, on top of that, she will blame you and call you useless again.
And it gets worse: When it came to food, I didn't even eat well. Many times I got sick because Opaline forced me to eat expired food, leftover food that she had literally taken out of the trash, or even burnt food that I tried to prepare myself despite not even knowing how to cook. Maybe that's why, when I tried ponycorn for the first time, they felt like a delicacy from heaven. It was much better compared to the literal garbage Opaline made me eat.
And at night, when I couldn't sleep, she used to lock me in the deepest dungeons of the castle so as not to hear me whimper because I was cold or afraid. At least she always did that when she was a filly, but when I started to grow and mature, I resigned myself to staying silent and enduring the cold that entered my room... Did you know that it used to be a warehouse? When Opaline "rescued" me, she left only a shelf and a deflated cushion to make my room. I thought that with time I would get used to a place as cold as the heart of that damn mare who thought she saved me... But I never did. I would even say that it seemed like a place that was getting worse and worse.
I only stayed in that damn castle with that monster because I really wanted my Cutie Mark, and Opaline made me believe for years that not only was she the only one who could give me one, but she also made me think that no one would want to be with a side blank like me.
Looking back on everything she told me, I realize that I was very naive to believe in her, and that I am better off without her... So why don't I feel better? Why can I still hear Opaline's words echoing in my head? Why do I listen to every damn word coming out of her mouth that tells me I don't deserve anything I have? Why even being dead is she still a damn pest to my life?!
Why... Why don't I feel like I deserve to have him in my life?
Since I've known him, he's done nothing but be kind to me, listen to me if I'm feeling insecure, comfort me when I feel so overwhelmed by having too many ponies around... Hitch is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I feel like I don't deserve him.
I fell in love with him not because he's handsome or dedicated to his job, everypony knows that he has those qualities... What made me fall for him was his kindness towards me, his compassion and understanding me. He, who lives to serve everypony around. He, who feels sure of himself even when others doubt. He, who never stops being who he is or defending what he loves for anything in the world.
He is the complete opposite of me, and in some way that I can't explain to this day, he has also fallen in love with me... It doesn't make any sense. Why would Hitch Trailblazer, a handsome and kind stallion, fall in love with a unicorn as pathetic as me?
I'm too clumsy, shy, I suffer from constant anxiety about literally anything, and sometimes I can barely see him face to face. He's my coltfriend and I can't even see him without feeling so nervous or unworthy of being with him!
Opaline "educated" me in a bad way. She made me believe that love was something that you had to earn until you yourself felt that you were loved. I never even loved Opaline in the slightest, so maybe that's why she was so hard on me, because she didn't feel like I loved her even a little bit.
And yet, thanks to her awful upbringing, I feel like a coward who doesn't deserve Hitch in the slightest. I just caused one problem after another for him and his friends since we met, lied to his face and got him caught. Accidentally? Yes, but I did it anyway. I even dragon-napped Sparky twice! And he's his father, for hoof's sake! I don't understand how he forgave me after that, and even worse, that he fell in love with me and agreed to be my coltfriend.
I... I commented all of this to Hitch, right about now on the Sheriff Station, to be precise. We're both sitting in front of each other and... Well... Now I await for his answer...
"...Whoa..." Hitch said after some awful minutes of silence. "That is... A lot to process, Tea..."
Him saying my nickname made my heart flutter with joy. Even when I feel like I don't deserve his love, I can't help but feel like a young filly in love whenever he shows me how much he cares for me.
"Why... Why didn't you told me you felt like this before?" Hitch asked me, concern filled his face and there was no hint of anger, which I found as a good sign.
I decided to take a deep breath before answering. "Because I was afraid you'd feel like I was being ungrateful, or that I wasn't appreciating you as much as you deserve. But most of all... I was afraid you'd agree that I don't deserve you, Hitch."
"Why do you keep insisting in that? Why do you feel that you don't deserve me?"
"Hitch, I had you and the rest of our friends captured by a tyrant that wanted nothing but to steal everypony's Cutie Marks; I stole the lantern that meant the world for Sunny and that Pipp said I didn't took even though I did; I spied on you for months because I wanted to capture Sparky and take him to Opaline; and I even used you all to pretend I was your friend! How can you not be mad or hate me after all I've done? How can you love a pathetic excuse of a unicorn like me?!"
I started to cry out loud in concern, feeling like the worse pony in the entire world. If I could just disappear by lighting my horn, like the unicorns did in the old days, I would do it right now and stop being a bloody nuisance to Hitch, and to all our friends...
Yet I was surprised when I felt a pair of strong yet gentle hooves wrapping around me. I opened my eyes and found myself even more surprised to see that Hitch was hugging me, resting his chin close to my head.
"Misty, even though you had told me everything you lived with Opaline, I still cannot imagine how hard it must've been to live with her..." Hitch began to say, then looked down to me and smiled. "But I know that all of that is in the past now. You had changed into your own self. You're not a tyrant like Opaline. You're Misty Brightdawn, a beautiful unicorn that didn't doubted into ditching everything she knew in order to save those she cared for. You earned your Cutie Mark the day you gave up helping Opaline because of that same reason. You earned my love because I fell in love with real you. Not the one that pretended to be my friend, the one that actually was my friend. You think you don't deserve me?"
He then proceed to lean on me and kiss me. It was such a sweet and tender kiss that, even if it had me blushing a lot, I still returned. He was a really good kisser, after all.
"Whenever I look at you, I feel like I'm the one that doesn't deserves such a strong mare like you," Hitch told me while smiling after braking the kiss. "You survived all those years with Opaline, practically alone, and now you're here, in my hooves, being loved. So, regarding your dumb and silly question? Yes, you do. You deserve my and all the love in the world that you can get."
Hearing him say all of that made my heart melt, and I couldn't help but smile and wrap my hooves around him tightly. "Seriously, how's that you fell in love with me? I don't deserve it..."
Hitch chuckled and looked down at me with a smirk. "No, no, Tea. You do deserve me, and I deserve you, because I'm madly in love with you, wether you understand it or not~"
"I don't need to understand it... So long as I can keep you in my life..." I replied with a smile.
Hitch smiled back at me, and then we shared one more kiss. He always knows what to say when I feel down, he always knows how to cheer me up... And I'll forever be thankful for that, for having him in my life.
THE END
Author's Note
I agree with Hitch: Misty deserves all the love in the world that she can get.
Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks for reading! Bye! 
