Opaline stretched as she rubbed her eyes with her hooves. A warm, gentle breeze blew into the room from the window. She got out of bed and went to the mirror on the nightstand, brushing her mane.
"I wonder what Twilight wants me to do?" she said aloud to herself.
As she finished brushing her mane, a knock came from the door. She walked over and opened it. Twilight greeted her.
"Good morning, Opaline!" she said in an enthusiastic tone of voice.
"Oh, good morning, Princess." Opaline said, rubbing her eye.
"Breakfast is prepared down stairs. I made haycakes!" Twilight said, grinning.
They took their seats at the table as they began to eat. Opaline turned to Twilight.
"So, princess, what exactly are we doing?"
Twilight turned her head to the filly and spoke,
"Oh, we are going to perform a magic test." Twilight then turned her head back to her food.
Opaline's blood ran cold; she could feel her stomach drop as her face began to sweat.
"She didn't know," she thought to herself.
She turned her head back to the princess, looking quickly before turning it back.
"Twilight doesn't know. She doesn't know."
Opaline began to shake. What would she do? She couldn’t just tell Twilight she didn't have magic; she couldn’t embarrass herself in front of the pony she adored. But she was too far in; there was no going back now.
Twilight noticed Opaline's state.
"Are you okay, Opaline?"
Opaline turned and said,
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." "I'm just still a little tired, that’s all."
Twilight let out a suspicious "hmm" before going back to her food, making sure to keep her eye on her pupil. Opaline looked down at her food. She couldn’t eat anymore. She felt a wave of nausea wash over her as she began to get nervous.
After breakfast, Twilight walked her to a large empty room.
"Are there going to be any other ponies in here?" Opaline said timidly,
"Oh, no, it will just be us."
But Opaline was still worried; that meant that only Twilight would be the only pony to see her when she would eventually fail. In the center of the room stood a table, and on top of the table was an empty glass. Opaline gulped as she slowly walked forward to the glass.
"Now Opaline, all I want you to do at first is lift the glass upwards." said Twilight.
Opaline looked forward, focusing on the glass. She closed her eyes and thought.
"All I have to do is lift it."
She focused all her energy into lifting the glass. She imagined it slowly floating off the table. She opened her eyes to see the glass still standing in the same place. She looked at Twilight, who gave her a supportive glance. She focused in on the glass again. She clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. She opened them again to see the glass still stood untouched. Twilight watched, confused. Opaline tried again for a third time, this time putting all her energy into moving the glass; she could feel her hooves anchoring to the ground as she lifted her head upwards, screaming with all her might. Only a few sparks came out of her horn. She looked and saw that the glass had not moved. She fell to the floor in defeat.
She felt wet tears run down the side of her face.
"I'm so sorry, Princess; I just can't do it," she finally muttered, defeated.
She then felt a warmth grow around her body as Twilight lay down beside her.
"It's okay, Opaline, it's okay," she said in a reassuring tone.
"You didn't do anything wrong." "I'm sorry for doing that to you."
Opaline looked up at Twilight with tears in her eyes.
"I can't use magic; I've never been able to," she said.
Twilight hugged her,
"It's okay, Opaline."
Opaline wiped away her tears.
"Will I ever be able to use magic?" she questioned.
"I don’t know," Twilight said, hanging her head.
"I've never seen a pony without the ability to use magic."
Opaline hung her head low. "But can you give me magic?" asked Opaline.
Twilight was unable to think of a response to the question. She then sat in front of the unicorn, looking her in the eyes.
"Opaline," she said, lifting her chin up with her hoof. "You can be special even without magic." I will not let this get in the way of me teaching you. It was my mistake to make you do this; I should have known better. But you never know, you might be able to get magic one day. and I'll make sure I'm there when that happens."
Opaline looked back up at the princess hugging her.
As Opaline got into bed that night, the events of the day replayed over and over in her head. She thought of what Twilight had said to her over and over again. Twilight still wanted to teach her, and that reassured Opaline somewhat. But she was still unable to shake the feeling of embarrassment she felt. She failed to complete a task that her hero had wanted her to do. Sure, Twilight was going to teach her, but it just wasn't the same. Why couldn’t she use magic? But more importantly, why couldn't Twilight just give her magic? She was the most powerful pony in Equestria. She had to have some way of giving her magic. She tossed and turned in bed. Twilight said she might be able to get magic, but that’s all Opaline ever heard her entire life, and it never happened. Why would Twilight be right? Was she just not trying hard enough? Did she just need to work harder? Twilight was an alicorn because she had made friends, and her friends helped her fall into a position of power and soon become the most magical being in the world. So was that what she had been missing? Was making friends just a step in the direction of becoming an alicorn? If it worked for Twilight, then it could most certainly work for her. If Twilight was unable to give her magic, then maybe all Opaline needed to get magic was a couple of friends.
Moons soon began to pass, and Twilight would make an effort to teach Opaline all about making friends. She took Opaline to Ponyville one particular day and tasked her with the objective of making one friend. Twilight felt confident that Opaline would be able to properly socialize, so when Opaline came back to her with a Pegasus filly and exclaimed, "She had made a friend!" Twilight was delighted. Twilight invited the filly to dine with her and Opaline at the castle. But when they were at the dinner, Twilight would be told by the Pegasus that she was only there because Opaline told her that she was the student of Twilight Sparkle and that to see the Princess, she would have to be friends with her.
Twilight was horrified at the idea that Opaline manipulated her association with her to get a friend. Twilight would confront her, telling Opaline that manipulating ponies into becoming her friends was not what she was trying to teach her. She would always be patient with the young pony and try to understand her. After all, she had never really understood the concept of making friends when she was young. But every time Opaline made a friend, the relationship would never seem to last long. and Twilight would find herself back at square one.
Every time this would happen, Opaline would ask Twilight how friendship was magic. And Twilight would tell her time and time again that making friends was the magic, but Opaline never seemed to understand this. Opaline would continue to use her connection to Twilight in an effort to easily get ponies to be her friends, unbeknownst to the princesses' knowledge, as she would never really try to make an effort to get to know the ponies, only thinking that if she could show Twilight that she was progressing and making relationships, maybe Twilight would grant her the status of alicornhood finally allowing her to use magic.
But every time she would do this, the quote-on-quote friend would soon learn what Opaline had done, causing the relationship to die before it had even started. And every time she would fail, she would notice Twilight's slight annoyance at her inability to progress.
This would cause Opaline to start to fear the idea that if she couldn’t prove herself to her teacher, she might lose her forever. She would need to do something to prove herself to Twilight. She knew that she couldn’t continue to try to make friends the way she had. She needed to try something different. In an effort to help Opaline, Twilight would try to use the help of her friends to teach Opaline different aspects of friendship and different pony viewpoints. But all Opaline was concerned about was the approval of Twilight and the ability to somehow gain magic.