Misty had been terrified to tell Opaline about the baby dragon, sure that the alicorn would immediately put together what had happened. But to her huge relief, before she could even get to the hatching part of the story, Opaline assumed Sunny had done it. Misty hadn't lied, exactly, she just hadn't corrected her.

"As if it's that notable of magic," Opaline had scoffed. "That used to be a test children would take to be accepted into the academy. Even a sham alicorn such as she should be capable of far more." Opaline always took any opportunity to insult and belittle Sunny, taking great offense to Sunny's 'alicorn' status. Misty understood why she was upset, an earth pony pretending to be one of her kind with her own stolen magic- of course it angered her. The thing was though, Sunny herself wasn't claiming to be a real alicorn, had made it very clear she didn't think herself equal to real alicorns. And the earth pony didn't know the magic she had was stolen. Misty had tried to explain this to Opaline once, thinking it would make the alicorn less mad, but it really hadn't had any effect.

So Misty didn't speak up as Opaline seethed about Sunny, just held her breath and hoped Opaline didn't probe further into what had happened. The unicorn didn't truly start to relax until the call had ended.

Sugar took back her charm bracelet. "Weird that a dragon egg was here in Maretime Bay," she mused. "I don't think it means anything for us though. There have been no sightings of dragons anywhere else in Equestria." She snorted. "Not that they'd try to help the ponies even if they were here. Not after the whole-Windigos-freezing-over-the-dragon-lands incident."

"The dragon lands are across the sea from Maretime Bay, right?" Misty theorized. "Do you think the egg could have floated over? Could it have gotten through the barrier?"

"I don't know," Sugar shrugged. "We don't even know if dragons still live in the dragon lands. The Windigos should have left after they kicked out the ponies, but who knows if they ever managed to recover." She tilted her head in thought. "Dragon eggs are pretty durable, but that's a long way." She shrugged again. "Like I said, don't worry about it, Misty. It's interesting, but it doesn't affect us."

"Yeah, I guess…" Misty agreed. And with that, the talks of dragons were over.

"Alrighty," Sugar said cheerily, pushing her bangs back. "What do you want for dinner Misty?"

After a delicious dinner, Sugar was good at making more than just cakes, Misty retreated to her room. Lying on her bed, she thought over the day. So much crazy stuff. Especially…

A small smile spread over her face, even though guilt at having disobeyed Opaline kept it from being a full on grin. That hatching magic hadn't been the standard magic type. It went beyond the common levitation or horn glow.

"I did it, mom," she whispered. "I used real magic. You would have loved it…"

Many years ago…

In a lone cottage outside Lumina Wood…

Misty was sitting on their living room couch, listening as her mom read her one of her many, many, many old books.

Her mom didn't look too much like Misty. They had the same teal green eyes and freckles, but beyond that they were fairly different. Her mom had dark pink, slightly wavy hair with lighter pink and light yellow stripes. She usually wore the top part of her hair in a loose bun with a pair of braids that encircled her whole head, going behind her horn then in front of her ears then around the back of her head. The bottom part of her mane cascaded down to her back. She was orange which turned white as they neared her pink hooves. Misty hoped their cutie marks would be similar when Misty finally got hers. Her mom had a pretty sun coming over a horizon. In each sunray was a small white six-pointed star and in the center top right of the sun was a bigger six-pointed pink star. Misty would be happy with having some stars or a sun in her mark.

"And with that, Starswirl successfully created the first enchanted object, making him the inventor of the amniomorphic spell. The magic was used to incredible effect throughout pony history. The Elements of Harmony themselves stemmed from this branch of magic."

"Wow," Misty gasped, snuggling closer and peeking over to look at the illustrations on the page. The unicorn stallion looked so majestic and magicky. "So he could put magic into normal objects?" That was an insane escalation of confluence. And he wouldn't have had all the books, he'd had to figure it all out himself!

"Yes," her mom nodded, enthusiastic. "It was revolutionary. He was called the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era for a reason. He created almost three hundred spells by the time he passed."

"Awesome," Misty grinned. This guy was already so cool and they hadn't even finished the book yet.

"Super awesome," her mom agreed, nuzzling her head. Then she glanced at the clock on the wall and frowned. "This is a good chapter to stop on for now."

"Awww," Misty pouted. "We could do a little more."

Her mom chuckled. "We can do more when we get back from the store."

Misty's ears flattened at the thought of going into town. "We? Can't I just stay here? I'll do my studies." The unicorns in town were mean. That was why they lived out here instead of there.

Her heart sank when her mom shook her head. "Nope. You've got to get out of the house sometimes, kiddo. It'll be quick, we just need some groceries."

"I get out of the house plenty," Misty protested. She played in the yard all the time. And she did go into town pretty often. She wasn't a shut in or anything. So she didn't understand why her mom made her go to Lumina at least a few times a week. "Why should I go hang around with ponies who don't want to hang around with me?" The ponies in town weren't always awful, she could make a trip without receiving a snide comment, but they didn't like her. They didn't like either of them.

A pained look crossed over her mom's face. "Most of the ponies in town aren't bad ponies. Not really. They're just sad. And superstitious. You need to interact with other ponies fairly regularly, Misty. It's important for your development. And you'll never make friends if nopony ever sees you."

"You don't have any friends and you're just fine," Misty pointed out.

"Misty!" her mom scolded, nostrils flaring. "That's a terrible attitude. And I do too have friends."

"Miss Camellia and your coworkers don't count," Misty argued stubbornly, even though guilt was starting to burn her stomach. "You don't ever hang out with them and talk, you don't go to each other's birthdays, you don't do things together. They're just ponies you know."

Instead of getting angrier, her mom deflated. "Most of my close friends live far away. And I've fallen out of touch with my old Bridlewood friends," she told Misty quietly. "Friends are very special, Misty. Even just one really good friend makes a huge difference." She shook her head. "And you need to be able to stay strong in the face of potentially uncomfortable situations. Don't let ponies scare you into staying inside. Besides, most of the ponies here have warmed up to us quite a bit. You don't need to go out of your way to talk to anypony, but you are coming. I'll let you pick a candy you want." She sighed. "I'm going to go get my bag, then we'll leave."

Misty hopped off the couch, feeling awful. She hadn't meant what she'd said as an insult. She just didn't want to go out today. Going into town could be stressful and she could be reading her book instead.

She trotted up to the bookshelf by the TV. Most of the walls in their house were filled with books. A collection gathered by their family for generations. Spellbooks mainly, but some history as well. Not all the books were as informative as others. There were some that contained only a single spell nestled amongst the text but that one spell made the book worth it. Misty pulled out the book on teleportation she was reading through. It was fairly complex, but very interesting. Even if she'd never actually be able to cast the spell herself.

Flipping open the book, Misty glanced at the illustrations on the page she'd stopped on. It was so amazing that unicorns really used to be able to do this stuff.

She let out a long sigh. The ponies in town thought she and her mom were weirdos bringing bad luck wherever they went. They either laughed or got angry. 'You're wasting your time'. 'Don't say the 'm' word, you'll give us the jinxies.' 'What, you think you'll get powers if you just read hard enough?' 'No wonder your dad didn't stick around.' All the usual stupid, dumb stuff.

Too bad she couldn't bring the book to town and just keep reading it there. She didn't trust the ponies there not to steal it or 'accidentally' drop it into a puddle.

When her mom came back, Misty still had the book open. "Oh, Misty, brushing up on teleportation theory? Good for you. A more advanced subject, but a fascinating read."

"Interesting, yeah," Misty agreed glumly, the taunts of the townsfolk ringing in her ears. "But I'll never be able to test it. We're just – memorizing stuff."

"Hey, no need to get so down," her mom encouraged. "Magic will come back one day; I know it will. And our collection and studies will be invaluable when that time comes."

"But it's been so long," Misty lamented. She loved magic, she really did, but spending so much time and effort on something you couldn't actually do got depressing at times.

"Magic isn't gone, Misty," her mom comforted, pulling her into a hug. "Not truly. It's just hiding somewhere. It will come back. One day. Even if it's after my time, I hope it will come during yours, Misty." She released the hug and straightened, smiling softly. Her eyes wandered over the sea of books lining their walls. "But even if it doesn't return for either of us, preserving this knowledge will help the unicorns after us. It's important work. We can't give up now."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," Misty nodded determinedly, closing her book. Her ears drooped guiltily. "Sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about, Misty," her mom assured. "It can be a hard job at times and you're still so young. But no matter what anypony says now, they will be grateful for our work one day."

"I wish they weren't so stupid right now," Misty huffed.

Her mom chuckled lightly. "Me too, sweetie. But we just have to play with the cards we've been dealt. We'll be okay." She adjusted her bag. "Now, let's get going."