“It’s nice to meet you, Opaline,” Twilight said slowly, glancing uncertainly at Sunny and Flurry, but both of them were staring at the fourth alicorn with barely-disguised shock. “I’m Twilight, and this is Sunny and Flurry. We’re, uh, new, and we were just looking around.”
Opaline looked at her skeptically. “It would take a very powerful pony to open those doors,” she said, jerking her head in the direction of the entrance. “You haven’t had any training at all?”
“Um…”
“She’s very bright,” Sunny blurted out, rushing to Twilight’s side, throwing her arm over her shoulders, and grinning nervously at Opaline. “I mean, we only got here, like, two days ago, and she’s already learned so many new spells, you wouldn’t believe the amount of magic she knows already-”
“Woah!” Opaline’s eyes widened as she stared at Sunny. “I’ve never seen anypony with wings like yours before! How do they glow like that?”
“What? Oh, uh,” Sunny stammered, unsure of what to say, “they, uh, it’s the… light?”
Opaline blinked. Then her face split into a grin. “I know what you are.”
“Uh… you do?” Sunny gulped and looked around at her two friends, but they seemed to be at as much of a loss for what to do as she was.
“Of course! Your specialty is light, isn’t it? I’ve seen a couple other alicorns like you around here, too. They like to make their wings glow all the time, and everypony thinks it’s sooo cool, but I can make my wings glow, too! Watch this.” She shut her eyes, her expression one of immense concentration, and her horn began to glow. Bright purple and pink and blue flames wrapped around her horn, and Opaline spread her wings, which also began to become enveloped in flame. When the fires finally fizzled out, her wings glowed fiery pink and blue for just a moment before Opaline’s magic gave out, and the light faded away. Her eyes snapped open with a gasp, and then she straightened, a proud grin spreading across her face. “Ta-da!”
“That was really… awesome!” Sunny managed a smile, though in her mind she was reliving the many, many times that she and her friends had come face-to-face with future Opaline, and the cruel, malicious laughter that echoed in her ears when she thought about it.
Opaline beamed proudly, but before anything more could be said, the sound of echoing hoofsteps reached their ears, and they all looked at the hallway.
“It’s Starswirl!” Opaline hissed frantically. “You really shouldn’t be in here - you’ll get in so much trouble!”
“What do we do?” Flurry whispered desperately.
“Under there!” Opaline pointed to the deep purple cover next to the strange ring device in the center of the room. She lit up her horn, and the cover levitated into the air. “Quickly!”
Twilight, Flurry, and Sunny dashed under the floating fabric and curled up as small as they possibly could on the floor. Opaline remained where she was.
“What about you?” Twilight called out as loudly as she dared with the hoofsteps growing louder and closer.
“I’ll be fine!” Opaline waved it off like it was no big deal. “You ponies stay hidden!”
She dropped the cover on top of them, and everything went dark. Sunny could hear the sound of whoever it was walking down the hallway growing louder. She felt Twilight and Flurry pressed up against her. She could hear her breathing and thought in a panic that it was so loud that anyone would be able to hear it.
The hoofsteps stopped. Whoever it was had just entered the room and saw Opaline standing in the middle of it.
“Opaline,” said a disapproving voice. Sunny didn’t recognize it, but Twilight tensed up beside her. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”
“Sorry, Starswirl,” she heard Opaline say. “I was just looking for you, and I-”
“How did you get inside?”
“I, uh, I slipped in when somepony else left. I tried to open the doors myself, but my magic… isn’t strong enough yet.” There was something in her voice that Sunny recognized - like she was admitting to something that she knew wasn’t true, but everyone else did.
“Hm. That would explain it. I sensed that my magic spells had been… tampered with.”
Finally, Sunny could bear the darkness no longer, and she shifted the fabric around her just enough to create a small opening through which she could see.
Opaline was standing with her back to them, facing an older unicorn. He had a gray coat and a light brown mane and beard streaked with ribbons of silvery gray. His blue eyes were staring at Opaline disapprovingly. He wore a tall, pointed hat and a matching cape, both of which were blue and patterned with images of stars. His gaze would occasionally sweep over the whole room, and Sunny tried her hardest not to move.
“Why were you looking for me?” Starswirl the Bearded said.
“I, uh…” Opaline swallowed nervously. “I just… wanted to ask you something.”
“Yes?” Starswirl raised an eyebrow, looking impatient. “Speak quickly, foal. I’m late for my tutoring session with Celestia and Luna.”
One of Opaline’s ears twitched. “When are you going to send me to Equestria?” she blurted out. “I’ve studied here my whole life and I’m sure that I’m ready-”
“For the last time, Opaline, I’ll send you when you’re ready.” Starswirl’s voice was exhausted and exasperated. “Once you have completed your training and proven yourself to be capable of the responsibility of-”
“But I know that I’m ready!” Opaline cried, her voice sounding far more desperate than she probably meant it to be. “Starswirl, I’ve been training for this my whole life, and I’ve still never been outside of Skyros once! Please, just take me to Equestria and let me try-”
“Not yet, Opaline.” When she started to protest, Starswirl held up a hoof and silenced her. “This conversation is over. Why don’t you go talk to Gusty for a bit.” It wasn’t a question, but an order, one that could not be ignored. Starswirl jerked his head towards the entrance. “Come on. Out you go.”
Grumbling to herself, Opaline followed Starswirl down the hallway and out of sight. Once they were safely around the corner, Sunny, Twilight, and Flurry all crept out from underneath the velvet cover and snuck after them as quietly as they could, ducking into doorways whenever there was one in case Starswirl happened to glance behind him. They were hiding just inside the doorway to the star-gazing room when they heard the door open and then close, and the sound of Starswirl returning to the main room. As soon as they were sure that they could move without being spotted, the three alicorns rushed down the rest of the hallway and flung open the doors, escaping back into the bright radiance of Skyros.
Opaline was pacing back and forth in front of the entrance, looking agitated, muttering to herself. When she saw the other three alicorns, she looked relieved. “He didn’t see you, did he?” she asked.
Twilight shook her head. “I think we’re safe. Only, we didn’t get what we came here for,” she added, casting a forlorn look at the building behind her.
Opaline stopped and tilted her head to one side curiously. “What did you come here for?” she said.
Twilight and Sunny exchanged looks, and a whole mental conversation appeared to happen between them in the space of a few seconds. “Actually, Opaline,” Sunny said slowly, seeming to have made her mind up about something, “there is something that we might need your help with-”
“Ah, Sunny? Can I, uh, talk to you? Just for a second,” Flurry Heart added as she grabbed Sunny’s hoof and dragged her out of earshot. Once they were far enough away, Flurry shoved her into an alcove and hissed, “What are you doing?”
“Look, I don’t like it anymore than you do,” Sunny began, but Flurry interrupted her.
“Don’t you have any idea who she is? What she’s done?”
“She’s Opaline Arcana, a fire alicorn,” Sunny said, seeming to stiffen up. “She stole my cutie mark and the cutie mark of everypony in Equestria, therefore stealing our magic; she kidnapped and brainwashed my friend Misty since she was a foal, feeding her lies and fake promises; she is a ruthless, cold-hearted villain who will steal all the magic in the world just out of spite. Yes, I am very aware of who she is and what she has done, but this is the past, and she’s completely different now! And besides, we need allies-”
“That’s not all of it.” Flurry’s voice seethed with a pent-up anger that had just been able to be released. Her voice dropping even further, she went on: “Do you know how Twilight's friends died?”
Sunny blinked. The question had caught her off-guard. “I… don’t know. I guess I just assumed old age or something like that-”
“Well it wasn’t,” Flurry snapped. “It was something much, much worse. Before all of ponydom began to fight and split apart and magic began to fade away, Opaline was at her most powerful - more powerful than she’s ever been. She’s spent the rest of her life trying to get to the level of power that she was then. She was so powerful that when Twilight and her friends tried to stop her-” Flurry’s voice broke, and suddenly the anger was replaced with immeasurable grief.
“Opaline knew that Twilight’s friendship with her friends was what made her so powerful. So she decided to cut it off right at the source.” Flurry jerked her head in Opaline’s direction. “She killed them,” she said, her voice turning angry for another moment.
“Do you know what that does to somepony like my aunt? Do you know what happens to a pony when she loses the ponies she cares about more than anyone else in the whole world? She breaks. And when she breaks, you wish that you were anywhere other than on the receiving end of her wrath.” Flurry took a deep breath. “Twilight stripped Opaline of all of her powers and banished her from Equestria with every spell that she could think of. But it wasn’t enough. She lost herself that day. She lost herself in the grief. She would get mad at random ponies, and her magic would be set off by the smallest of things. She might have been gone forever.” Flurry had to stop again to regain control of her emotions, so that she could speak with a calm and level voice.
“Luster Dawn said that she would cry all night. She was less than she was. Luster risked her life trying to recover that broken, angry shell of a pony, and even when she did…” Flurry swallowed. “Twilight was never the same after that. She became… reclusive. She didn’t like to talk to anyone. She would see such evil things happening and would look on sadly, knowing that she no longer possessed the power to fight them. Until she faced the Windigos-” Flurry shut her eyes, and it was a while before she was able to talk again.
“I wasn’t supposed to know. No one was supposed to tell me the truth. But Luster Dawn and I were good friends, and she sent me secret letters that Twilight and my mom didn’t know about, and she told me everything. And I told her about the Windigos, and we realized that everything was falling apart.” Flurry’s voice turned soft and wistful as she stared off into the distance. “I wonder what happened to her…”
Sunny was quiet for a moment, processing all of this new information. She wanted to think that a pony would never be that cruel, but then she remembered the Opaline she had fought, and she thought, Yes. She would be that cruel.
Flurry seemed to return to herself, and she locked gazes with Sunny once more. “But you see? We can’t accept help from her. We can’t ally ourselves with a monster.”
“You’re right,” Sunny said quietly. “But Opaline’s not a monster. Not yet.”
Flurry’s eyes widened, and she started to protest, but Sunny held up a hoof to stop her. “Just listen. Please. When you were fighting the shadow wolves in Zephyr Heights, you said that Ash and Brooks were able to hold them off, each of them using their respective fire abilities.” Flurry nodded. “So the wolves must have some kind of a weakness for fire. Maybe it would be a good idea to have a fire alicorn on our side to help fight them. Flurry,” Sunny went on, “we need help here. We have no idea what we’re doing and hardly any idea of what we’re going up against or how to stop it. We need to minimize interactions as much as possible, or at least until - if - the attack starts. So please just… give this Opaline a chance. Please.”
Flurry looked up and met Sunny’s eyes and didn’t say anything for a long time.