"Sugar, the worker ponies are gone," Misty called out as she climbed the stairs to the second floor. "All the new appliances are hooked up and ready to go."
Opening the door that separated the two floors, Misty glanced up the hall for any sign of the earth pony. She could hear movement in the living room area at the end of the hall.
A second later, Sugar's head poked around the corner. "Excellent. Perfect timing. We've got to report to Opaline."
"Okay," Misty agreed, shutting the door and trotting over. She admittedly wasn't sure why Opaline wanted to know when the friendship party was. It didn't seem very important. But there must be a reason, Opaline wouldn't have asked for the information if it wasn't.
Sugar hummed a happy tune as she went around closing the curtains. The living room was sparsely decorated, Sugar had focused more on their bedrooms. She'd been very generous with Misty's bedroom, encouraging Misty to get whatever she wanted, even though the bedroom was only temporary. Honestly, her bedroom here might be nicer than her bedroom at the castle.
With the curtains shut, Sugar set up her charm bracelet on the table. Each one of them had an item that contained the magic mist Opaline used to communicate. Sugar's was inside the gem charm on her bracelet, Misty's was inside one side of her locket, and Comet's was inside his wonderbolt keychain. They also had magic mirrors when they had to communicate more stealthily, but when they were alone like this, Opaline preferred using the mist. Misty messed with her mane a bit, not wanting to look disheveled in front of the alicorn.
When Sugar twisted the gem charm open, dark mist poured out of it, creating a thick, round cloud that hovered above the charm. A few moments later, Opaline's regal form (only her top half) appeared in the mist's center. If you looked really closely, you could see a slight haze over her image, but it looked very solid. It was almost like she was actually in the room with them. Misty and Sugar both bowed in greeting.
Opaline observed the two of them, head tilted down (her cloud was higher than them) to look at them more directly. "I assume you have something to report?"
"Yes," Sugar confirmed eagerly. "We have a date for the beach party. Next Saturday."
Opaline grinned, eyes glinting with anticipation. "Excellent. That will work nicely. Does it seem like ponies actually plan to show up?"
Sugar nodded. Misty was so glad Sugar was here to do most of the talking. "It seems like the unicorns will have low attendance, but there will be a decent amount from the other two tribes. The pegasi have their princesses advertising it and Hitch seems popular enough among the local earth ponies to draw them in. Me and Misty have landed the cake catering job for the event. We've hit it off quite well with the crystal guardians. Getting access to the lighthouse during the event should pose no problem."
Opaline nodded in satisfaction. "That will do. This all puts us in a very good position."
"I assume you've already come up with an ingenious plan," Sugar said. It was phrased as a question, but it was really more of a statement fishing for information.
"Naturally," Opaline drawled. "It is quite elegant in its simplicity. I have an acute understanding of the magic protecting the crystal. It is quite a frail defense." She let out a short laugh and some of the mist broke off and created a floating replica of the unity crystals. "Once the barrier goes down, one of you must grab the crystals and leave the Brighthouse. Once you have successfully left the building-" the illusion of the unity crystals disconnected back into the tribes' crystals. "try to separate the crystals if possible." The illusion crystals flew into Opaline's chest then disappeared. "Then return them to me immediately. You must not get caught once they are in your possession. However, there will be no need to keep up any unhelpful facades at that point."
Misty tried not to feel disappointed that her time in Maretime Bay would be so short. Izzy and her friends were nice. Well, they could still be friends afterwards, right? Once they understood who Opaline was and why Misty had done what she did. That was a comforting thought.
Opaline began to pace, the mist's framing following her movement like a camera. "When the ponies have their little party. I shall use my magic to summon a powerful storm." Her horn glowed briefly. "It's a classic misinterpretation amongst the tribes, as old as the tribes themselves. They'll blame each other for the drastic weather. Unicorns will blame the pegasi, pegasi will blame the unicorns, and earth ponies will blame them both. So much disharmony in close proximity to the crystals will destroy the barrier, and the chaos will make taking the crystals foal's play." Wow…
Sugar clapped enthusiastically. "Brilliant. I expected no less."
The plan would almost certainly work, but… "Will ponies get hurt in the storm?" Misty asked timidly. A storm big enough to freak ponies out appearing unexpectedly on the beach like that seemed like it could be dangerous.
Sugar's aghast expression made Misty's ears go flat. She hadn't meant it as an accusation.
Opaline's eyes narrowed slightly and Misty's quivering heart sunk, but when the alicorn spoke she sounded more annoyed than angry. "An understandable concern. But you really ought to know better than to worry, Misty. I will always succeed in my endeavors. And I have no intention of hurting my subjects unnecessarily. The storm will not be a display of my full power. I could do far worse."
"Right. Sorry," Misty apologized quickly. "I knew that already. I was just trying to understand better."
The alicorn gazed down at her, mildly exasperated. "And is there anything else you need to understand better?"
"Well." Misty swallowed nervously. Should she say it? Opaline must already know. But what if Misty stayed quiet now and the plan went wrong and she'd never said anything- "… there is one thing I'm a little nervous about. I'm sure I'm just being stupid. But, um, what if they don't blame each other?"
Sugar rolled her eyes. "They'll definitely blame each other." A cold bitterness swept her tone. "They always do."
"But the pegasi can barely move clouds," Misty pointed out. "They aren't anywhere near being able to make a storm. And the unicorns know, like, three spells. They aren't capable of making a storm right now either."
"They'll be too distracted to think so deeply on the plausibility of their accusations," Opaline dismissed. "Especially when so many already distrust each other. They also lack comprehension of each other's abilities. They'll act as expected."
Sugar nodded in agreement. "You're thinking sensibly, Misty. Most ponies aren't sensible. You're used to being surrounded by competent ponies, you don't understand how the riffraff think." Opaline snorted in amusement.
"Oh, okay," Misty nodded rapidly, just wanting to move on.
"Is there anything we should do to prepare, Opaline?" Sugar asked dutifully.
"Just make sure you are ready when it happens," Opaline instructed. Her form began fading, her eyes the last thing to disappear. "I shall take care of the rest myself." With that the mist retreated back into the charm and snapped shut.
Misty buried her head in her hooves and groaned. "Why do I always embarrass myself?"
"You were a little impertinent," Sugar winced. "But-" she patted Misty's shoulder comfortingly. "I'm sure Opaline knew you just wanted to do your best on the mission." Scooping up her bracelet, Sugar flopped down onto her plush armchair. "And you really are lucky. To have had competent, knowledgeable ponies around your whole life, even if it made you a bit over-sheltered. Your mom, then Opaline." The earth pony let out a long sigh. "I wasn't so lucky. Opaline was the first pony I'd ever met who wasn't an idiot."
"Really?" Misty asked, surprised. Sugar usually avoided talking about her time before Opaline.
"Oh, yes," Sugar nodded, admiration shining in her eyes. "You can't even imagine what a relief it was to meet somepony who knew- everything."
Misty's ears perked. "Where did you and Opaline meet Sugar? I don't think you've ever told me."
Sugar was quiet for a few long seconds. Finally, she answered, "I don't know the exact spot, though I do remember it perfectly. Some hillside in pegasus territory, near Mist Rise, I believe. I thought she was a pegasus for a second, until I saw the horn. That was a shock. Opaline was curious as to why an earth pony was alone wandering around in another tribe's territory." Her lip curled. "Most earth ponies are too cowardly to go far from home."
"Why were you in pegasus territory?" Misty questioned, intrigued.
"I wanted the truth," Sugar answered simply.
Misty tilted her head. "If pegasus could fly or not?"
Sugar chuckled. "No. I'd never even considered that. That pegasus could fly was the same as saying the sky was blue. I was shocked to discover the lies went deeper than I had ever imagined." Sugar flipped her mane back, chest puffed up proudly. "Opaline was impressed with me. An earth pony with enough brains and guts to seek out the other tribes, go to forbidden ground. I'd spent moons in 'enemy' territory by the time I met Opaline."
Misty blinked. "Moons? You were investigating that long? And you never went back to tell the other earth ponies the other tribes don't have magic?" That seemed like the type of thing a pony would race to talk about. A 'I have to tell you this thing or I'll explode' kind of news. But clearly the earth ponies had never been told.
Sugar scoffed. "Why would I? If they wanted to cower away their whole lives, who was I to try and stop them."
"I guess," Misty said, sort of understanding what Sugar was saying. It mirrored the way Misty viewed unicorns. Though Sugar definitely hadn't told her the full story. "All this stuff is so weird to me. The only ponies I ever had problems with were other unicorns. The other tribes never seemed weird or scary to me."
Sugar sighed. "Like I said, Misty, you're lucky." She got up and patted Misty on the head. "Well-" she turned and started trotting towards the stairs. "I'm going to go do some reconnaissance. Get a better lay of the land, build bridges, all that. You should try to get into the Brighthouse a couple more times before the party. Learn what you can." She glanced back. "Think you can get yourself invited over?
"Yeah," Misty assured her. "I don't think it should be hard."
