The serenity of the cool summer night was broken by soft, slightly stumbling hoofsteps. Amidst the peace, a mare made her way through the streets and alleys of Maretime Bay, having just crossed the treeline from the woods outside the town. She was a tall, yet dismally thin unicorn. So thin, in fact, that the outlines of her ribs were visible upon close inspection. Her freckled face bore many bruises. Her naturally curly, navy blue and turquoise mane was terribly matted and unwashed and was pushed to one side. Misty walked with her head low, creeping through the night with an expression of extreme uneasiness, at the very least. Even the slightest sound of a mouse scurrying across an alley behind her would cause her to jump or stifle a small cry. She eventually made her way toward the Sheriff's Office. A part of her wanted to knock on the door, to find some form of help. But... she was given a job, and if she fails... she didn't want to know what would happen if she did. And so, she slowly crept away, a shaky, somber sigh falling from her.

"Come on... just stick it out..." she said to herself.

Misty soon found herself alone in the streets of Maretime Bay once again. This was not the first time she'd wandered the town by herself. In fact, she had only ever seen the town this way. For the past week, she had come out alone, moving through the town like a mouse in a maze. She knew her way around most of it well enough by now, though she often confused street names and roads. She'd mostly memorized them via landmarks she set for herself: Sunny's smoothie cart, the Sheriff's Office, things of that sort.

As she wandered about, she took a look at the clearing where Sunny's lighthouse was being rebuilt. She didn't know Sunny --or any of her friends, for that matter-- personally. Even so, she'd seen them around, seen how they interacted with each other, seen how much they had going for them. A part of her was happy for them, happy they were such good friends and had each other. Yet another part of her was so... envious of it. They had so much, and she was left with nothing. This conflict often weighed hard on her mind. Was it appropriate for her to feel this way? Was she acting as though she was entitled? She had often been called selfish... though that was an area of her mind she often tried to escape from when she could. Fortunately, her mind was drawn away from this before she could think too hard about it. A faint yet evident growl from her stomach reminded her what she was looking for in the first place.

Misty made her way slowly through the streets of the town, leading toward Sunny's smoothie cart. Upon approaching it, she shook her head, even turned away. She knew she hated stealing things from others. She knew that it could hurt them in a few different ways. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but even so... she knew she had no choice. She knew she could either steal or starve.

"I've done it once before..." she said to herself.

And so, she stepped up to the door, but what was presented before her made her heart sink. Sunny had chained it shut, and on the chains was a lock unlike any Misty had ever seen before. However strong it may have been, a rock surely wouldn't break this one. With a look of dismay in her eyes, she turned away, creeping slowly back into the alley.

"Why did I think she wouldn't notice..." Misty asked herself with a grim sigh. "I really am that stupid."

A thought crossed her mind to possibly check some of the other shops around town. There had to be something she could eat somewhere.

Every store in town was, of course, closed for the night. Each door Misty went to was locked. She knew she couldn't break into one of these, not with cameras or security. Eventually, she decided she would have to do something she had always dreaded but never ruled out. A defeated half-cry escaped her as she crept toward the back of the store she was at until she found what she was dreading. She slowly lifted the lid of the store's dumpster before slamming it shut and turning away, refusing to do it. There had to be something edible somewhere, and she absolutely refused to resort to eating garbage. Leaving the dumpster behind, she crept back out into the street, sitting on a bench and wondering what she was going to do.

From here, there was nothing stopping her mind from spiraling.

"What are you going to do? Ask Luster for more? What if she declines? What if she gives you even less? What if she hits you again? What if she does worse than hit you? You already have three cuts..."

Before long, Misty had become a sobbing mess on the ground--a starving, shaking, sobbing mess. She wanted nothing more than to disappear. She wanted nothing more than for it all to end. She wished she could just... disappear, turn to dust and blow away. She wanted it to be over. But even so... for some reason she herself couldn't explain, she picked herself up and crept back toward the woods she had entered the town from. If she wanted it to be over, she thought to herself, she was going to have to stick it out and do as she was told. She even had an idea, one of her own that she felt could possibly help her get through this -- one that could help her do what she needed to do. As she walked, albeit fairly weakly, through the woods, every moment seemed to suddenly discourage her. Surely she'd be severely punished for coming back empty-hooved once again. This was something she was certain she knew, and even so... as her uneasiness began to get the better of her, the sun began to rise. In the bright of dawn, she stopped to take a deep breath.

"It's going to be fine. Get it over with... and you'll be fine," she thought to herself.

After a long walk of about an hour, and many stops to catch her breath or pluck the few wild berries she rarely found growing, she entered a clearing that led to a cliff. On that cliff stood a decrepit castle, various bricks strewn around the base, almost completely overgrown with vines and trees twisting in and out, various courtyard columns fallen to their sides. With a shaking hoof, Misty reached out, pushed open the door, and entered.

Author's Note

I'm sorry if this doesn't seem like my best work, there's been a lot going on and I haven't been able to pour my entire focus into it. It's a bit shorter than usual and it isn't the best i could do, but either way I hope you enjoy.