//------------------------------// // Interlude #1: Opaline’s Manipulations/What Do You Want, Sunny? // Story: The Fall of Opaline // by Admiral Producer //------------------------------// Pipp paused reading once she reached the end of the Festival of the Two Sisters entry. She looked at her friends and she could tell they were all equally shocked as well by what they read. Even Misty, who had known Opaline for years, looked downright mystified that Opaline had the power to raise the Sun all by herself at such a young age. “So Opaline had the power to raise the Sun that young?” Zipp inquired. “But that doesn’t make any sense! It shouldn’t be possible for a unicorn only in her early adult years to be that powerful! No offense, Misty.” Misty shrugged. “It looks like magic was much more powerful back then than it is now due to centuries of practice,” Sunny mused. “But it is odd how she was able to do that…Could it be because of what type of alicorn she is? I know I can’t do something like that even if I tried.” Misty nodded slowly. “I wouldn’t rule it out. Opaline always told me that Fire Alicorns were very powerful. But the fact that she was a unicorn like me at first kinda breaks that theory. But it is interesting. I wonder how she became an alicorn.” “Probably the same way Luster Dawn did,” suggested Hitch. “We’re told here that Twilight gave Luster alicornhood. Maybe that’s also what happened.” “But then why fall to the dark side?!” Zipp started pacing around the room, the detective side of her now fully activated once more. “Nothing makes sense. If she completed her training, why try to destroy the very mentor who gave her everything?” “I remember Opaline telling me once that she was betrayed…” Misty stated, a haunted look in her eyes. “She didn’t tell me who did it, but I have reason to suspect that Twilight did something, whether she realized it or not…” “That’s impossible though!” Sunny exclaimed indignantly. “Twilight would never…” She trailed off mid-sentence as a theory began to come to mind. It was one that made her feel horrible. Unfortunately for her, Hitch noticed this. “Sunny?” he prodded her gently. Sunny shook her head. “I-I-I’ll be back in a bit!” With that, she ran out of the bedroom and down the ramp as fast as she could before her friends could say another word. She ran and ran until she reached the sofa where she had been laying on. Once she was there, she took a couple of shaky breaths to calm herself. She didn’t know what had frightened her so much as the theory she had been thinking about was now gone from her mind as quickly as it had appeared. However, she knew that there was only one way that she was going to be able to find out the truth. Beside her was the Alicorn Mirror, the present that Pipp had given her so many months ago. It was the very device that Opaline had used to manipulate and groom her to the point of extreme vulnerability. She still remembered their last conversation and it haunted her, how Opaline brought up her past with zero self-hesitation in order to get her to cooperate. It occurred to her that the evil alicorn may have been watching her life the entire time. The thought scared her and shook her to her core. How much had Opaline seen? Heard? How much did she know about her private life? Her thoughts? Her insecurities? Her father… She looked around in order to make sure her friends weren’t around before sitting down on the couch, taking the Alicorn Mirror in her hooves, and flipping it open. “O-Opaline?” Sunny asked, trembling all over with fear. “I-I know y-you’re watching me right now. T-tell me the truth.” Instantly, her reflection shifted and was replaced by an evil version of herself, which stared back at her with all the malice of a wolf hunting its prey. “Ah Sunny,” the evil Sunny replied. “There you are! I was beginning to think that you had forgotten about our little conversations. Glad to see that you’re still open to talking with yourself.” “You’re not me,” Sunny told her firmly. “I know that much. So just cut the act and tell me the truth. Why do you want to take over Equestria?! How did you have the power to raise the Sun all those moons ago?!” “Oh, you know about that?” answered evil Sunny, “Well, I hate to tell you this, but even I don’t know. The only thing that I was told was that I possessed incredible magic that had been unseen in Equestria for centuries. That really didn’t tell me much. But it really should’ve been a red flag for those puny ponies in hindsight. Why? Do you want to learn the power to bend reality to your will?” Sunny’s gaze remained firm. “Say that I did for a split second. How did you possess that much magic? I know that you know at least something. Otherwise I wouldn’t have talked to you.” Her reflection cackled heartily. It was a full body laugh that chilled Sunny to her core. She was considering putting the Mirror down and running back to her friends before her twisted image spoke again. But alas, she was a second too late as the next thing it said forced her to stay put. “Oh Sunny,” her reflection mocked her. “Sunny, Sunny, Sunny. Still searching for answers, are you?! That is what you always do. You always think there’s some greater truth behind why things happen to you. Deep down, you’ll always be that scared and insecure filly who lost her father at such a young age. Have you not considered that your desire to bring ponies together comes out of a need to be heard and validated by those around you?” Sunny’s hooves felt shaky upon hearing those words. “Y-you know nothing about me! I-I ask the questions, not you!” “Sunny, I know everything about you.” Evil Sunny prodded her sinisterly. “I know that beneath that facade of positivity lies a broken heart who feels so alone without Daddy around to comfort her. But you have a gift now, Sunny! Don’t you want to be in control of your own destiny? Don’t you want to get revenge on all those who were ever mean to you? I know I did. Don’t you want to get back at those popular ponies? Oh…what are their names? The Filly Four?” The name of her former schoolmates’ group was enough to make Sunny freeze for the briefest of moments. In her mind, she remembered being beaten and tortured until she was nothing but a bloodied mess that Hitch had to rescue. It filled her with an unbridled rage that the more rational side of her tried so desperately to keep hidden. “Enough!” Sunny yelled, trying to mask the fact that she was beginning to fall for Opaline’s lies again. “Answer my question!” “I am getting to that, Sunny. You see, I really don’t have an answer. I never knew the full extent of my powers until I just…tested them. Don’t you want to test what you can do, Sunny? I saw how those ponies treated you back there. You were only trying to help, and the entirety of Maretime Bay ganged up on you. Tell me. How does that make you feel? Don’t you want to give the Filly Four what they deserve?” “They’re already in jail! That’s enough punishment…” “Oh, but you don’t think so…do you? You think the punishment Hitch gave them feels like they got off scot free in comparison to what they should have gotten. Let’s see how powerful you really are, Sunny. Go to the Sheriff’s Office and let them have it.” “No!!” Sunny cried. “Please, I don’t want to hurt anypony-“ “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!” Opaline cackled evilly through the mirror in a manner that was too terrifying for anyone to hear. It was a sinister, laugh that only a truly insane pony would ever let out. It was at that moment that the evil Sunny reflection morphed into the Fire Alicorn herself. She didn’t need to hide her true form anymore. She had Sunny right where she wanted her. “Please-“ “NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!” Opaline shouted at her. “YOU HAVE POWER, SUNNY!!!! YOU SHOULD USE IT!!!! YOU’RE NOT A STUPID EARTH PONY ANYMORE!!! YOU’RE AN ALICORN, A GOD!!!! SHOW THEM!!!!! SHOW THOSE PONIES!!!!!!” “No!!” “YOU’RE WEAK!!!” “NO!!!” “SPENDING THE REST OF YOUR LIFE CRYING ALONE ON YOUR OWN BED INSTEAD OF DOING SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR SITUATION IS COWARDLY!!! DO YOU DENY IT?!!” “No!!! I just-“ “YOU WHAT?!! TELL ME!!! WHAT?!! WHAT?!!!” “I-“ “Drop that Mirror right now!!!!” Sunny turned at the sound of the voice, tears flowing down her face. It was Misty, standing beside her. As quickly as she could, she dropped the Mirror on the floor and the call abruptly shut off. Sunny took several deep breaths, sniffling. “Misty, I-“ “We heard you screaming all the way from the bedroom!” Misty yelled. “Hitch was gonna come too, but I told him to stay put. What were you doing?!!” That was when Sunny couldn’t take it anymore. She burst into tears and began to sob all over again. She couldn’t help herself. She was so scared from that encounter and she didn’t want to hold anything in anymore. Misty didn’t know what to do, but she knew she had to do something. She wasn’t experienced in comforting others as no one had ever done that for her, but she decided to give it her best shot. She walked a little closer and let Sunny cry, stroking her gently. It wasn’t long before Hitch came up from behind them and did the same thing. He stroked her back in a rhythmic motion in order to get her to calm down. “What happened?” Hitch asked as gently as he could. Misty looked at him, tears brimming in the corners of her own eyes too. “It’s Opaline…they were communicating.” “Shit…” Hitch cursed. “Sunny, you can’t be doing that. You knew how hard it was on you last time. Why would you want to do it again?” Sunny looked up at him, her face red from the tears. “A-a-all I-I w-wanted to do was f-find o-out t-the t-truth! I’m sorry, I-I-I didn’t mean to-“ “Shhhhhhhhhhhh…” Hitch soothed her. “It’s okay. I’m here, Sunny. I’m here…” Back in the bedroom, Zipp, Pipp, and Izzy were still mulling over the journal’s contents when Hitch walked back in with Misty and Sunny. Zipp was the first to notice them. “Sunny, thank hoofness you’re okay! I legit thought someone broke in to the Brighthouse. Are you alright?” Sunny didn’t answer her, only keeping her head low. “I think Sunny would prefer if you guys didn’t pry her about it,” Hitch said. “Rest assured, she’s okay. Now let’s get back to that journal.” Pipp nodded. “Right! Okay, I’ll read again.” She walked over towards the journal once more and turned the page. Izzy walked over towards the distraught Sunny and picked her chin up. “You know I’m here if you need a friend to talk to, okay…?” Sunny nodded briefly before hanging her head low again. Izzy’s eyes were full of worry and sadness as she walked up next to Misty. Pipp cleared her throat. “Okay! Entry #13! This looks like training time.” She put her right hoof on the first lines. “I wished I could’ve delayed it, but Spike insisted that today was the day that I trained Opaline. I didn’t know why I needed to speedrun her training so soon, but…at least she was eager. Very eager…”