Everfree Forest
Twilight, Sunny, and Starlight barely had a second to speak to the princesses once they emerged from the portal. Twilight shut down any and all attempts at their questions, instead begging Celestia to recharge her magic and telling her that there was no time. The solar alicorn had complied, and the three mares were off in an instant, flying towards the heart of the forest. Twilight held Sunny aloft in her magic as she flew, heading for the gorge near the Castle of the Two Sisters. Starlight Glimmer floated alongside them, propelled by her self-telekinesis.
"Are you sure about this?" asked Sunny. "I mean, you creating a whole stable time loop for yourself over a couple of days is one thing, but this..."
"To be honest, no, I'm not sure," admitted Twilight. "But right now, it's our best hope for taking down Opaline. And we're gonna need some pretty powerful magic in order to do that."
"Why not just use the Elements of Harmony?" Sunny asked again. "They worked on every enemy you ever faced before."
"True, but that was in my time," said Twilight. "You heard that message my future self left in the crystals. Magic is changing. Constantly evolving. Pinkie and Applejack have access to new magic in your time. We don't know if the Elements will do the same thing in the future. With the crystals, at least we're making something where we know exactly what it will do."
"If you say so," replied Sunny.
"So, let me get this straight," said Starlight. "After you rule Equestria for a couple hundred years, you take Opaline as a student and make her an alicorn, but she turns out to be a genocidal maniac who divides the three tribes of ponies and drives all other creatures away from Equestria. Oh, and the spell on the Time Twirler is something we create after we defeat her to ensure that this event can happen?"
"Pretty much, yeah," replied Twilight. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not proud of what my future self will do, giving Opaline everything she needs to become the master of Equestria. But we can't worry about that now. We have to stop her."
The three glided down gently, drifting into the gorge where the Tree of Harmony lay hidden. Sunny gazed in awe as she beheld something she'd only heard legends about before. The tree was solid crystal, with five branches jutting outwards from the trunk, each carrying one of the Elements of Harmony, while the Element of Magic lay in the center. The tree even glowed with a bright light. Twilight landed on her hooves, and gently set Sunny down. Starlight settled down as well.
"Whoa," Sunny breathed, staring into her reflection of the crystal of the tree. "So, if we're not using the Elements, what are we doing here?"
"Well, we're gonna need crystals that are already capable of absorbing vast amounts of magic," replied Twilight. "I figured this would be our best option. The Storm King's staff was made from a branch of the tree, and capable of holding the magic of all four alicorn princesses. It should work."
No sooner had the three mares taken one step towards the tree that a blinding flash of white light obscured their vision. Twilight, Sunny, and Starlight clamped their eyes shut, and when they opened them again, another pony stood in front of them. This pony looked to be an exact copy of Twilight, only her body was transparent, and dotted with white stars.
Twilight frowned a little. "Tree of Harmony, or whatever you want me to call you, do you really have to use me as your avatar to communicate? This is just weird."
"Ooh, just like Sandbar and his friends said!" added Starlight.
"Wait, that's the tree doing that?" demanded Sunny.
"Indeed, Sunny Starscout," replied the transparent Twilight. "I apologize, Princess Twilight Sparkle. My method for speaking to ponies may be odd, but I never intended to offend. Your form is simply an easy one to use for communication."
Sunny blinked. "How do you already know my name?" she asked.
"I am Harmony itself," said the tree's avatar. "The laws of time don't apply to me the same way they do to you. Even if this particular vessel of myself is destroyed," she indicated the tree itself, "I will still live on."
"I take it you know why we're here, then?" asked Twilight. "We need those crystals. Without them, I don't think we can stop Opaline."
"I am aware. And I have already prepared the necessary materials. However, you must be aware that I cannot cast the enchantments you require on the crystals. That part you must do on your own."
"I figured that would be the case," said Twilight. "Thank you for your help. We'll take it from here."
The tree's avatar nodded, before she faded from sight. The glow around the Tree of Harmony began to intensify, and the light gathered around the socket where the Element of Magic lay hidden. Then, three pulses traveled from the center of the tree. One went downwards, towards the roots. One barely moved at all, traveling to an undeveloped branch sticking out of the trunk. The final pulse went up, touching the highest branches of the tree.
Suddenly, a glowing root of the tree emerged from the earth beneath it, wrapped around a diamond that was clearly the earth pony crystal. The tiny branch grew outwards, forming the long sapphire of the unicorn crystal. And from the top of the tree, out of a white glow emerged the turquoise wings of the pegasus crystal. The three gems were laid upon the ground in front of Sunny and Twilight.
"Okay," Twilight breathed, "now for the hard part."
She powered up her horn, levitating the three crystals upwards. She slipped the diamond into the hole of the pegasus gem, and stacked the unicorn crystal on top of them. Once she had them arranged the exact way they would be in the Brighthouse in the future, she turned to Sunny.
"I can cast the spell, but I'll need your magic to boost me. It'll ensure that the crystals can give you your alicorn powers in the future. Starlight, I'll need you to keep the energies stable, so we don't blow something up." The pink unicorn nodded.
"Okay," Sunny began, "but how do I bring out my alicorn form? We never managed to deduce exactly what triggers it. It seems to come out when I'm helping somepony, but beyond that..."
"Think of it as you helping me with this task," replied Twilight. "Focus on your friends, on the harmony we want to protect in Equestria, on the peace between the tribes that you helped restore. Remember, Opaline wants to destroy all of those things, and you have the power to stop her. Concentrate on the pillars of generosity, loyalty, laughter, kindness, honesty, and the magic of friendship."
Sunny's eye twitched, but she kept her face neutral. "Okay, I'll try."
She closed her eyes and bent down, reaching deep inside herself again. For the first few seconds, nothing happened. Then, a faint golden light illuminated Sunny's entire body, and her mane bega to wave in a non-existent breeze. The yellow gleam coalesced around Sunny's head and the sides of her body, forming a transparent horn and wings. The wings flapped once, lifting Sunny ever so slightly off the ground.
"That's it! You're doing it, Sunny!" Twilight encouraged. "Just keep doing what you're doing!"
Twilight's horn flared with magic, and a thin, raspberry trail of energy came out of the tip, lazily drifting through the air, and connecting to Sunny's horn. Small beads of light came from Sunny, floating down the magical tether into Twilight, as the combined magic of two alicorns charged up. Building up her power, Twilight aimed her horn at the crystals, and fired.
A beam of mixed colors (raspberry, gold, and white) launched from Twilight, bathing the crystals in an ethereal glow. The crystals shook with power as Twilight imbued them with the pooled magic. At the same time, Starlight lit up her own horn, and her turquoise aura surrounded the crystals, keeping the magic from escaping. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut from the strain, and carefully fed the crystals the spell they would need. Sunny's eyes opened, and she stared in awe at the sight of Twilight charging the crystals. Still, both mares kept the magical chain going, and eventually, a white bubble formed around the crystals.
"Okay, that's enough!" Twilight announced.
Sunny relaxed, and her magical horn and wings faded away. Twilight cut off the spell, leaving the crystals floating in a transparent sphere of white light. With a quick pulse of magic, Twilight pulled the crystals over to them.
"There," she said. "That's the strongest magic we can put into them. Now we just have to put them into action."
"Whew!" breathed Starlight. "That's a lotta magic. Those things might even be a match for the Elements at this point."
"So what do we do? Just point them at Opaline?" asked Sunny.
"It's a bit more complicated than that," replied Twilight. "It'll take the magic of us and all our friends to activate the spell I placed on them. We'll need to wear Opaline down enough that she won't be able to dodge the spell. Then, it should drain away all her magic, and we can hold her easily."
"Alright," said Sunny. "I hope we're ready for this. This is kinda nerve-wracking."
"I understand," admitted Twilight. "But remember, you're not fighting alone. We're doing this together. We'll have all our friends by our side."
"Good." Sunny smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.
Twilight placed the combined Unity Crystals into her saddlebags. "We'd better hurry."
Crystal Brighthouse
Opaline roared with fury as she tossed more fireballs down at the ponies racing beneath her. None of them hit, but that was only due to the speed of the ponies. Not even Rarity got injured. Meanwhile, she had four pegasi flying rings around her, messing up the air. Her horn sparked with electricity, and she fired several lightning bolts, forcing Zipp, Rainbow, Pipp, and Fluttershy into evasive maneuvers. One of the bolts clipped Pipp's wing, sending the pop star pegasus tumbling out of the sky.
"Hold on, Pipp! I gotcha!" called Applejack. The earth pony charged over to where Pipp was about to impact, leaped upwards, and caught her with both forelegs just in time.
"Thanks, Applejack," said Pipp, brushing off her wing. "I'm gonna need a ton of conditioner for this when we finish here."
"No offense, Princess, but can we keep the focus on the important stuff?"
Opaline, seeing that she had an opening, took aim at Applejack and Pipp, charging more fire in her hoof. However, she didn't notice the massive vine, grown with earth pony magic, that erupted from the ground under her, punching her in the stomach and sending her into the wall of the Brighthouse. Grunting, Opaline looked at the vine to see Hitch climbing it, charging towards her. The fury in his eyes even gave her pause.
Before she could break free, Hitch tackled Opaline and sent the two plummeting to the ground. Hitch then reared back and punched Opaline in the face, knocking one of her braids loose, and sending some spit flying from between her lips onto the ground.
"That's for what you did to Sparky, you creep!" he snarled. "This one's also for Sparky! In fact, they're all for Sparky!" He raised his hoof once again, only for Opaline's telekinesis to freeze him in place. Hitch blinked in surprise, before being hurled off of her. He was only prevented from falling into the ocean by Fluttershy catching him.
"Sparky?" Opaline growled back as she climbed to her hooves. "That simpering, pointless baby dragon? You should be thanking me for putting his power to good use. After all, what better purpose could one serve than to restore the might of Equestria's rightful queen?!"
"You're no Queen!" snapped Izzy. She telekinetically tossed Señor Butterscotch's charred head into Opaline's face, where it bounced off, causing little harm. "You're just a big meanie who wants a bigger piece of pie than they deserve!"
"For your information, that entire pie is mine by right!" Opaline charged up her horn and fired a lightning bolt at Izzy, who was quickly yanked out of the danger zone by Rarity's magic.
"Being an alicorn doesn't make you better than everypony else!" she shouted at Opaline.
Opaline didn't bother to answer this time, instead opting to take to the air once more. Rainbow and Zipp came flying at her from opposite directions, clearly intending to smash into her. However, Opaline simply teleported away, leaving the pegasi with no target. Fortunately, Rainbow and Zipp managed to swerve past each other to avoid a collision.
Opaline, now standing on top of the Brighthouse, launched a steady stream of purple fire from her horn, putting everypony on the run again.
"That's right, run!" Opaline shouted. "Run, like the little insects you are beneath my hooves! I will crush all of you puny ants!" As she glanced around, Opaline took a quick head count, and realized that Izzy and Pinkie were missing from her sight.
"SURPRISE ATTACK!" came a jubilant voice from behind her. Opaline whirled around, finding herself face to face with Pinkie Pie, who was being levitated up by Izzy's magic. She had a party bazooka in her hooves. At some point, the two had sneaked back around to the back of the Brighthouse, and Izzy had raised Pinkie upwards.
Opaline grunted, and tried to raise a shield, but it was too late. Pinkie fired, and Opaline was hit with a blast of compressed air and confetti. The attack was powerful enough to launch her off the roof of the Brighthouse, and send her head-first into the community garden. Opaline was jammed from her horn to her neck in dirt.
"Quick! Everypony get her now!" shouted Applejack.
The nine ponies and one dragon all charged towards the fallen alicorn, but Opaline teleported yet again before they could get to her. Reappearing a short distance away, she charged a sphere of electricity in her hoof and pitched it, hitting Hitch and Applejack. The two earth ponies fell to the ground.
"No!" screamed Fluttershy. She immediately flew down to her friends, unfortunately leaving herself wide open. Opaline created another lightning ball and took aim, hurling it towards the yellow pegasus.
"Fluttershy, move!" called out Rarity. She galloped in front of Fluttershy and projected a diamond barrier, which absorbed Opaline's attack. Seeing her friend's plight, Fluttershy came to her senses again, and yanked the weakened Applejack and Hitch away.
"You honestly believe your magic can compete with mine?" Opaline growled. She tossed another blast at Rarity, who blocked it again, though her shield was starting to crack.
"No," replied the unicorn. "But it can keep you busy."
Opaline's eyes widened, and she turned, but it wasn't fast enough. Rainbow and Zipp hit her with a double uppercut, knocking her skyward. Pipp followed up by ramming into her, pushing her over the railing alongside the Brighthouse. Clearly, they were trying to send Opaline falling into the ocean.
However, the alicorn recovered too quickly. Opaline made a quick U-turn before she hit the water, and flew back towards the Brighthouse. Her eyes were burning with rage.
"Okay, so that plan didn't work," commented Rainbow. "Please tell me we have a backup."
"Honestly? I don't think we do," responded Zipp.
Opaline howled like a wounded animal, launching another stream of fire from her horn. The ponies scattered from the attack, allowing her to land in the middle of the community garden. Applejack, having recovered from her earlier attack, attempted to leap onto Opaline, but the alicorn saw her coming and bucked, kicking Applejack in the face. She was made to regret that a second later, as Spike took advantage of Opaline's distracted nature to fly up and punch her in the nose.
"Insolent little drake!" Opaline snarled. She seized Spike by the leg, and prepared to smash him against the ground. Before she could, a glitter bomb, propelled by Izzy's magic, flew over and smacked against her face, where it burst. Opaline was blinded by the purple sparkles filling her eyes. Spike wiggled free of her grip. Clearly not happy with this latest development, Opaline began firing bolts of lightning and fireballs in all directions like a maniac.
"Okay, so does anypony know what we're doing here?!" demanded Pipp, as she swerved to dodge a blast from Opaline. "Seriously, we don't seem to be making any progress!"
"I hate to be on the negative side, but I agree with Pipp!" exclaimed Fluttershy. "What are we going to do?!"
"Remember, we need to give Sunny and Twilight enough time," replied Applejack in a low voice. She didn't want Opaline hearing. "Our only goal here is to stall."
"Can somepony tell them to hurry up?!" said Spike. "I'm not sure how much longer we can hold out!"
Opaline finally shook the last of the glitter out of her eyes, and glared at the ponies (and dragon) opposing her.
"Perhaps I have made a slight error in this little game," she remarked, sounding oddly calm. "I merely sought to entertain myself for a few minutes before I reclaimed my rightful place as ruler of all Equestria. However, I feel this has gone on too long." She started powering up her horn once more. "So I'm going to put an end to you pathetic ponies now."
"Oh, really?" demanded Hitch. "And how do you plan to pull that off?"
"Easily," replied Opaline.
She launched yet another stream of flame from her horn. Spike responded with fire of his own, and the two beams met in the center. At first, the two looked evenly matched, but soon enough, Spike's emerald fire seemed to overpower hers. His flames reached the spot where Opaline had been standing, only to meet with nothing, as Opaline had teleported away again.
"Now where'd she go?" demanded Izzy.
The group looked from side to side, searching for Opaline, only to be interrupted by a bolt of electricity that lanced from the left, blasting Spike in the stomach. The young drake screamed as he fell out of the air, hit the dirt of the community garden, and dug a long trench into it.
"Spike!" exclaimed Hitch, rushing over to his friend. He lifted Spike up and cradled the dragon in his hooves.
"Can't...move..." Spike mumbled. His limbs twitched, but all the strength seemed to have left them.
Hitch opened his mouth, but another bolt hit him in the back, and he rolled forward on his head, stuck in the same paralyzed state as Spike. Spike dropped out of his hooves, and the two were left sprawled out in the earth. Opaline floated up from the side of the Brighthouse.
"Two down," she cackled.
"Why you rotten, evil meanie!" Fluttershy growled. She lunged at Opaline, only for the alicorn to dodge nimbly. Zipp followed after them, and the three were soon engaged in an aerial chase across the sky.
"Fluttershy, don't let your temper get a hold of you!" shouted Rainbow. "Remember, if you lose control, you could—"
But it was too late. Fluttershy made a dashing motion, pushing herself into Opaline, and attempting to punch her. Opaline simply caught the careless attack, and blasted Fluttershy point blank with the same paralysis spell she'd used on Hitch and Spike. With her body immobilized, Fluttershy plummeted out of the air like a rock, and was only saved from the impact by Zipp and Rainbow flying over to grab her.
"I told you not to let your anger get the best of you!" Rainbow complained, as they set down Fluttershy. Opaline attempted to paralyze them as well, but Rarity raised a diamond barrier to intercept the attack.
"Rainbow, this is not the time for 'I told you so!'" said Zipp. Fluttershy made a mumbling noise, probably an attempt at an apology, but since she could barely open her mouth, nopony knew for sure.
Meanwhile, Izzy pulled out an entire bag of glitter bombs, and began using her magic to fling them furiously at Opaline. Pinkie helped out, using her hooves to chuck the bombs. Unfortunately for her, this time, Opaline wasn't distracted, and kept swerving and swooping in the air to dodge each and every one.
"Hold still, you creep!" Izzy shouted, clearly getting angrier and angrier.
Zipp and Pipp, eager to help, flew up to try and grab Opaline and pin her in place. Opaline merely smirked, and allowed the two pegasi to grab her, before lighting up her horn and redirecting one of the glitter bombs upwards, where it exploded against Zipp's face. Pipp got a share of the glitter, too. With her opponents blinded, Opaline sent an electric charge through her body, zapping both of them and causing them to fall out of the sky. They were low enough that the collision with the ground didn't hurt, but they were still frozen.
"Oops," mumbled Izzy, looking guilty. Pinkie didn't look too proud of herself, either. Zipp and Pipp just glared at them.
"That's five," Opaline sneered. "Any of the rest of you want to try?"
"We gotta stop her, y'all!" shouted Applejack. She produced her lasso once again. "We can't let her get away with this!"
She tossed the rope forward, intending to snare Opaline, but the alicorn dodged it. However, Izzy and Rarity soon enveloped the lasso with their magic, causing it to abruptly change direction in midair, and fly backwards, snagging Opaline around the chest. Opaline immediately began beating her wings rapidly, trying to ascend, but Pinkie and Applejack held on tight to the rope, preventing her from flying away. With their enemy occupied, Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to fly up and smack her across the face.
"You little..." Opaline growled. She formed a ball of electricity in her hoof and pitched it at Rainbow, who barely managed to dodge. While she was occupied, Opaline fired two more paralyzing bolts, aiming at Applejack and Pinkie. Though Izzy rushed towards them to shove them aside, she failed to do so. With the two earth ponies mares stunned, Opaline ignited a fiery aura around her, burning the rope on her body to ash.
With a few flaps, she floated down and landed, facing Izzy, Rainbow, and Rarity, the only three ponies she hadn't yet incapacitated.
"If any of you feel like begging for mercy right now, I might listen," she said with a wicked grin. "Although, to be fair, that's a small 'might.'"
"We're not backing down!" Rainbow snapped back. "Come on, girls! Let's teach her a lesson."
Izzy and Rarity roared in affirmation, showing no fear as they charged Opaline together. Opaline tutted impatiently, and began firing more stun spells, only for her enemies to avoid them. Rainbow made a circle around her, and began charging from the back, while Izzy and Rarity continued their approach from the front.
"Fools," Opaline muttered quietly.
At the last second, she teleported away, leaving the three mares with no target. Rainbow, unable to stop her momentum, crashed into Rarity and Izzy like a bowling ball, smacking them aside and leaving all three dazed. Opaline reappeared a short distance away, and fired three more shots, stunning the three remaining ponies.
"There," she said with another smile. "I've put an end to that little waste of my time. Now I'll just take the Unity Crystals and reclaim what's—"
A magic beam to the face cut her off, sending her flying into the side of the Crystal Brighthouse. Opaline slammed into the concrete, and fell down with a painful thump. She jumped up a second later, discovering Twilight and Sunny (in alicorn form) floating a short distance above her.
"So, you decided to face me after all," she spat at them.
"Sorry to show up late," responded Twilight. "It's time you answered for the atrocities you committed, Opaline!"
She powered up her horn once more, sending out a pulse of white magic from the tip. As the pulse touched each of her paralyzed friends, the spell Opaline had placed on them was lifted, and they climbed to their hooves once again. Even Spike broke free, taking to the air with a flap of his wings.
"It doesn't matter how many of you there are," Opaline shot back. "I am the most powerful alicorn of all time! I will tear you all down again and again if I must!"
"We'll see about that," replied Sunny.