//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - The Start // Story: Against The Crowd: Opal Gemstone // by RowanSkie //------------------------------// Opal Gemstone woke up with a gasp. Opal looked around and looked at himself. He's a unicorn pony with magenta fur and a black mane. Opal didn't remember anything at all. His head is blank, like an empty lot. He seemed rather uncertain of himself, though, and he felt like he was missing something, like where is he and what happened to him. He could only remember being hit by rocks. Then, he recalled his daughter, Ruby Sunshine. That made him smile, before a purple unicorn walks up to him. Opal looked at the unicorn, "Who are you?" "Opal? You can't remember, can you? It's me, Twilight Sparkle. Your friend," answered the purple unicorn, "remember?" "I... don't remember." Twilight frowned. "I... I don't even remember meeting you." Twilight looked at Opal saying, "Those memories..." Opal notices Twilight walk into her room in the hollow oak tree, and a few tears are seen getting down from her face. Opal felt sad about this. What exactly had just happened? Is something off with him? Did Opal, an industrious pony, get hit by something hard? He had been thinking about it. If only I can remember... he thought, remember almost everything... Year 2, Month 8. Running of the Leaves. "Opal, this is your first time participating after moving from Canterlot, right?" asked Twilight. "Yeah, Oh, the dream of being part of it." Opal looked at the tracks. "And you took part last year?" Twilight nodded. "Won fifth place, I think." "Cool. Better than having part-time working on my family's rock farm." Opal looked at Pinkie Pie, who was hopping around. "I did work on her family's farm. Don't tell..." Opal and Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie who suddenly appeared right near them. "YOU DID?!??" Opal giggled a bit, before nodding. "Ohmygoshohmygosh–" Opal pressed his hoof gently in Pinkie's mouth. Pinkie nodded then. "Anyway, have I ever tell you all about the things..." Opal blinked the memory back into his head after looking at the curious Pinkie Pie. Everypony seemed to recognize what has happened, and he found himself being the subject of the ponies. Opal felt like he shouldn't have come at all. It's like he's a celebrity. And he hated celebrities, except for Twilight Sparkle. Opal felt more comfortable with her every second, until he spoted a filly going to him. That filly was his daughter, Ruby Sunshine. He felt strange, and he stopped moving into his house. "Dad? You ok?" asked the cute little filly with no cutie mark, "What happened papa?" "I..." he looked at Ruby's glistering eyes. "I'm fine, dear..." Ruby felt like something was wrong with her dad. She looked at Opal for a few seconds before looking at Twilight Sparkle with her eye twitching a bit. "Auntie Twilight," Ruby asked, "What's wrong with papa?" Twilight responded with a smile and a wink, "He's fine, he just had his head bumped into... a big object." "Ok, I don't remember much," said Opal, "but my head hurts just listening. Maybe, Ruby, you can lead the way home for a while?" Twilight Sparkle looked at Ruby who was unsure of what her father meant. "Do you know where you live?" "We're actually... homeless." Ruby replied, "it got destroyed during the parasprite infestation, and all I got was my photo with mom." Opal is confused. He did remember a house. "But... what? Parasprites?" Ruby nodded. "I think one of the reasons that you were supposed to be going, dad, is to ask Twilight is we can stay in her library." "I... I was?" Ruby winced. "Ruby, first do I have a journal?" "Um... it's in your saddlebag back at the library..." Twilight flinched after hearing Ruby's response. This is getting out of hand. Twilight thought. Maybe they need a rest. And so, Twilight led the two ponies into her library and lets them stay for a week until they could build a new house. Hopefully. "Sir, he's acting far more strange." "What do you think it means?" "He's the one in the prophecy." "Says who?" "The prophecy goes along 'a twilight seen in an opal stone,' and it means Twilight Sparkle, the personal protegé of Princess herself, and Opal Gemstone. Listen closely." The two unicorns pressed their ear against the wall of the library, and they hear a female, a male, and another male voice. "Twilight, do you have, in any sorts, a remember spell?" asked the first male voice. "Well, we can search a tome for it in the Castle of Two Sisters' library," the female voice replied, presumably Twilight Sparkle, while a sound of pages flipping are heard. "But Twilight," the second male voice protested, "It's dangerous in the Everfree! Especially Opal Gemmy–" A slap was heard. "Er... Opal, who just lost his memories today!" The voice trailed off afterwards. The two unicorns step backwards in shock, then hits a filly who was spinning around, making herself dizzy. "Ow!" the unicorn filly lost her balance and trips, causing the two to hide, as they watch Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Opal Gemstone check the filly. The first unicorn who spoke, a dark blue one, felt relieved as they weren't seen. The second unicorn, looks at Opal sternly as they enter the library again. "Gemstone, you'll never hear the end of this, " He gritted his teeth, "You never will." Opal Gemstone's Journal: Entry no. 1 I woke up without most of my memories. I woke up in Twilight Sparkle's library, who looked fabulous at that time. Wait, what did i just write? Anyway, I remember when I was a little colt, then nothing, then my daughter Ruby Sunshine, then that's all. Since this journal is half-filled, I'm gonna take my time reading it. All that aside, we stayed at Golden Oaks Library. Ruby Sunshine tripped while trying to get her cutie mark by spinning. PS. She doesn't know that her talent is sculpting. I once watched her movements. I don't want to ruin the fun, so I just let her go with her friends. Yay. As Opal finished off his journal entry, he went outside, finding a yellow-tinted gem. He looked around, and began to shout, "Hey, has anypony dropped a gem here?" Everypony looked at Opal and a teal pegasus claims that the gem was hers and she dropped it while flying home. Opal smiled, gave the gem back, and went into Sugarcube Corner. Ruby, nicknamed "Rubyshine" by a few, wandered around town, trying to find the CMC, who in turn, was wandering around town trying to find her. Ruby was about to give up until she bumped into Scootaloo. "Oh, seems like we're going to bump often if we try to find ourselves," Ruby commented at the scene. Then, the Cutie Mark Crusaders share a wonderful laughter. "Ew, more blank flanks." Diamond Tiara mocked. "Didn't you girls learn at least a bit from your cuteceréna?" Twilight asked Diamond Tiara. "Um..." Silver Spoon, who was beside Diamond Tiara, looked at Twilight Sparkle. "Yeah, yeah." The two ran off. The Cutie Mark Crusaders went off to Crusade. Opal went to Sugarcube Corner to get some cupcakes, only to be greeted by a "birthday" party. Twilight Sparkle wondered why Pinkie hosted a party, and then remembers it. "Horsefeathers, I forgot!" Twilight dashed to the library. "It's Opal's birthday! Why didn't I think of that!" The other ponies who knew Opal dashes to Sugarcube Corner as well.