Chapter Four: Darkness Gathers
Opaline's Castle
Misty hurried as fast as her hooves could carry her back to the shadowy castle. It was a good distance to the northwest of Maretime Bay, but close enough that she didn't need a ride or anything. The castle itself sat in the middle of what had once been a densely populated town, but as ponies had grown apart, the town fell into ruin, and now, nopony even remembered the name. Opaline claimed the castle was hers by right, but as with all of her statements, the veracity of that could be called into question.
Misty reached the front door, stopping only to catch her breath. She tried lighting up her horn, attempting to use her magic to push open the door, but all that came from the appendage was a few weak sparks. Sighing with resignation to herself, Misty pushed the door open with her hooves, and strolled inside.
She made her way to Opaline's scrying chamber, moving as quickly as she could without scuffing the floor (that was one of Opaline's rules). She found her master sitting at the scrying pool, intently staring at the still image of the Crystal Brighthouse. Opaline's expression was one of tranquil fury, and her tail flicked back and forth, like a cat on the hunt.
"Ah, Misty. You've finally returned," she noted without looking up. "Come to me. There's work to be done."
"Yes. I-I mean, yes, Opaline," replied the bushy-maned unicorn. Opaline had insisted that Misty always address her by name whenever they spoke. She sat down on Opaline's left side.
"You know, Misty," Opaline began, "I used to believe that my troubles, for the most part, were over. Sure, your incompetence and failure have held me back, but those things would eventually fade." Misty flinched, but Opaline either didn't notice or didn't care. "Now, I see that I was wrong. Because today, Twilight Sparkle returned to plague me once more!"
She stomped one hoof, and the image within the reflecting pool changed to a picture of Twilight. The lavender alicorn looked much older than the one that had come out of the portal. The telltale signs of aging were beginning to show on her face. She wore a golden crown with her Cutie Mark imprinted on it.
"I thought I'd seen the last of Twilight Sparkle centuries ago. Even alicorns pass on, though much later than ponies like you. Yet, here she is, appearing in Equestria yet again! Do you know what I feel when I see that, Misty?"
"Um...you feel angry?" asked Misty.
Opaline was already starting to yell. She hadn't even noticed Misty didn't address her by name. "RAGE! MANIA! MADNESS! WHY MUST THAT PONY CONSTANTLY GET IN MY WAY, EVEN FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE?!" She picked up an empty potion bottle and hurled it across the room, where it shattered into hundreds of pieces against the wall. Snorting, Opaline turned back to Misty. "Tell me everything you saw and overheard, quickly. Before my anger grows any further."
"O-okay, Opaline," replied Misty, speaking quickly to avoid another outburst. "So Twilight Sparkle and her friends came out of that portal, and then they met up with Sunny's group. And then Sunny started freaking out because of Twilight, and Hitch blew his whistle and made everypony else go away, and—"
Opaline groaned, placing her hoof against her face. "Misty, change of plans, just skip to the important part."
"Y-yes, Opaline. So Zipp asked Twilight about the message she left in the Unity Crystals, but Twilight didn't know what she was talking about. Then Izzy said they could come to the Brighthouse, and—"
"Wait, wait," Opaline interrupted. "Twilight didn't know about the Unity Crystals at all? She had no knowledge of them?"
"No, Opaline." Misty hurriedly shook her head.
Opaline put a hoof on her chin, deep in thought. "But I remember seeing those crystals from the first day I was her student," she noted. "If this Twilight doesn't know about them, that means she must've come from a time before they were created. Which means that she doesn't know who I am, because I don't exist in her time." A smile slowly returned to her face. "Perhaps we can work this situation to our advantage."
"How, Opaline?" asked Misty. "I don't understand."
Opaline rolled her eyes. "It's simple, Misty. If Twilight's come from a time before I met her, that means she won't be able to warn Sunny Starscout about me. Plus, if I regain my powers and take down Twilight now, that means I can undo my previous defeat at her hooves. I could take over Equestria in the past and the present! I will become the Empress I was always destined to be!"
She threw back her head and cackled, while Misty sat quietly. She was probably remembering the times Opaline had scolded her before. Opaline's laughter continued for a few more minutes, until she came to a stop. She settled back down onto her throne.
"Now, Misty," she continued, never missing a beat, "we must redouble our efforts to capture that dragon. And by we, I mean you, as Twilight's spell keeps me confined to this castle. I need to reactivate my powers before Twilight figures out how to close that portal! With Sunny and her friends distracted, it should be easier for you to obtain it."
"O-okay, Opaline," replied Misty, shivering where she stood. "So, go back to Maretime Bay and get Sparky?"
"YES!" Opaline shouted. "Go and get me that dragon's fire!"
Misty squeaked in fear, but managed to bow before turning around and running out of the castle.
Maretime Bay
Twilight stretched her limbs as she climbed off the couch. The paper bag she'd been breathing into lay discarded next to it, with multiple holes punched into it from usage. Twilight got back onto her hooves, and strolled around the Brighthouse.
"Ruler of all Equestria," she mumbled to herself. "When were they gonna tell me that?"
Sunny came up the ramp from the bottom of the Brighthouse, where the rest of the group had gathered and were engaged in conversation.
"Are you feeling any better, Princess Twilight?" she asked. "I'm sorry I let that fact slip. I should've thought before I spoke."
"It wasn't your fault, Sunny," replied Twilight. "There's no way you could've known. And you don't have to call me princess. From what I understand about this time period, I don't have any authority."
"Okay, if you're sure." Sunny reached into her bag, pulling out a leather-bound book. "Here's my Dad's journal if you want to look at it. I've marked some spots you might want to avoid, because of the future...I don't know what word to say, spoilers?"
"Thank you, Sunny." Twilight lit up her horn, levitating the journal over to her. "Do you mind if I ask you some questions about your alicorn powers? I've never seen one like you before, and it makes me curious."
"I'm an open book," said Sunny. "Though, to be honest, I don't know that much about it myself. I don't even understand what makes me transform. Even Zipp hasn't figured it out."
"Well, there goes most of my questions," said Twilight. At the look on Sunny's face, she hastily added, "I'm sorry, I was just making a joke. I'm also sorry you didn't have anypony to help you understand it like I did. That must've made things difficult."
"Oh, yeah! I mean, I don't mind having alicorn powers, but it's kinda nice to not have to be a princess or anything. I can't imagine the stress you must have to go through, making sure friendship is spread all across Equestria. And then you opened the School of Friendship."
"It is stressful, I admit, but truth be told, I enjoy it. I love showing ponies and other creatures how much friendship can bring into their lives. It makes me feel like I'm part of something really special."
Sunny smiled warmly at her. "Dad always said you and your friends were the brightest beacons of friendship in Equestria. When the whole Unity Crystal debacle happened, I hoped my group could be half as inspiring as yours."
Twilight put a comforting hoof on Sunny's shoulder. "Don't worry so much about that, Sunny. Just do the best you can. I'm glad we could encourage you after all this time, but you don't have to think about measuring up to us or anything."
Sunny's eyes widened, as a thought apparently occurred to her. "Oh, there's something else I wanted to show you! Follow me!"
She led Twilight back downstairs, where she pointed to a round blanket hanging on the wall. Twilight looked, discovering the blanket held an image of all five of the ponies in Sunny's friend group, with Sunny in her alicorn form in the center. Twilight's eyes widened, and she lit up her horn, probing the blanket with magic.
"This is...old. Maybe the same age as the Unity Crystals! It has an anti-decaying charm woven into it!" she exclaimed. "Did this predict that you were going to become an alicorn?"
"I didn't find the first piece until after we'd all moved in here," Sunny explained. "We tracked down the other two in Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood. I think Dad knew what we were gonna do before I was even born."
She grabbed a picture from beside her bed, and passed it to Twilight. The alicorn looked at the image contained within, which depicted a small, filly version of Sunny, minus the rainbow streak in her mane. Beside her was a pale blue, earth pony stallion. Obviously Sunny's father.
"His name was Argyle Starshine," said Sunny. "Even when other ponies mocked him behind his back, he never stopped believing ponies could be friends. And he taught me to believe the same things. I promised him I'd work to bring our dream to life." Sunny placed a hoof over her chest. "'Do our part, hoof to heart.'"
"I'm glad," replied Twilight.
The two trotted downstairs, where the other nine ponies were still talking to each other.
"And this is Señor Butterscotch!" said Izzy, proudly levitating her homemade unicorn friend up to show Rarity. "I made him for T.U.E.S. Day! I don't have a lot of unicorn friends, so he's a lot of fun!"
"Oh! Um, h-hello, Señor Butterscotch," said Rarity, as her eyes blinked rapidly and looked from side to side.
"Wait, so you tried to buck all those apples down by yourself?" asked Zipp. Applejack gave a small nod in return, blushing from embarrassment. "Wow. I thought I was stubborn."
Fluttershy was playing with Sparky, waving her hoof so that he could swipe at it, while Hitch supervised. All of a sudden, Sparky burped a purple fireball, which hit a nearby pillow, transforming it into a hayburger.
"Sparky!" Hitch scolded. However, the smile on his face betrayed him.
"That's interesting," noted Fluttershy, looking at the new burger. "In our time, Spike's fire can be used to send messages, but not transform things. I guess dragon fire changes in the future. Where'd you find Sparky, anyway?"
"Well, funny story," replied Hitch. "His egg just washed up on the beach one day. Nopony knows where it came from."
"Are you sure you won't let me style your mane?" whined Pipp, pulling on Rainbow's wing. "I don't want to mess with your amazing rainbow colors, but think how good you'd look with a manehawk!"
"Uh, thanks, but no thanks," replied Rainbow. "I have enough trouble with Rarity trying to make me curl it every day."
"She tried that with mine!" chimed in Pinkie. "It just kept popping right back into the poof!" She flattened her mane with one foreleg to demonstrate, only for it to snap back into shape one second later.
Twilight cleared her throat, drawing everypony's attention. "Everypony, I'm glad we're all getting along," she said to the room. "However, at this point, I think my friends and I should go back to our own time. We have to get the Time Twirler to Star Swirl, and figure out how to deal with the rift."
"Aw, already?" complained Izzy. "We were all just starting to make new friends! We haven't even shown you guys the Marestream!"
"The what?" asked Applejack.
"Long story," said Zipp. "It's better to show than to explain."
Suddenly, Sunny's eyes lit up. "I've got an idea!" she exclaimed. "Why don't we go with you guys? I've always wanted to get the chance to see ancient Equestria up close!"
"I don't know," replied Twilight. "We're not entirely sure how this type of time travel works, and we don't want to risk changing this time period by bringing any of you back."
"Are you sure? I mean, what if we didn't mess with anything that could impact the future? Like in that movie?"
"Movie?" asked Fluttershy.
"Something I guess you don't have back in your time," replied Hitch.
"Well..." Twilight placed a hoof on her chin, deep in thought. "If we didn't take anything between times, I guess it wouldn't hurt. We'd need to have you stick close by us, just so you don't get into anything. Not that we don't trust you, but we don't want you to alter anything."
"Oh, of course! We'll do everything you say! Right guys?" said Sunny. Four affirmations came from her friends, while Sparky made a gurgling noise.
"And after that, we can show you around our time!" said Izzy, jumping up and down with joy. Pinkie joined in.
"Alright. Let's go," said Twilight. "While we're there, there's something I want to ask Celestia."
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Awesome, and looks like Opaline has a plan when she just found out that twilight and her friends are from before her defeat and the Unity crystals being created, and looks like she will try a time travel evil scheme, and the Mane 6 and Mane 5 chatted along while twilight giving Sunny a proud talk about her success and looks like the Mane 5 are going back in time with the Mane 6 to see history for themselves, this is getting better and better, awesome job! Keep up the great work, I am looking forward to the next chapter
Celestia better be ready to deliver some answers because Twilight won't accept a no in response.
Everyone's interactions are so nice to watch. They're like long time friends who haven't seen each other in a while. I wonder, if Twilight seeing the tapestry and all those other items, will she be the one to create them in her own time. Kinda like a self fulfilling prophecy.
But they DID have movies ("Hurricane Fluttershy", "One Bad Apple").
Uncontrollable anger that would sentence you as 'having issues'
uh oh
Not on our watch
yeah....
there's not much we really know.
Thats the thing. We don't know WHO predicted the future. Its a big mystery
Hoof to Heart
Just don't question her.
oh dear no.
!!!!! oh no no no no no!!!
movie???
11486419
That was a Back to the Future reference. I couldn't think of a way to ponify the name.
Probably when they call you during the season 9 premiere I know that's basically dropping the ball
11486422
"Twilight can I tell you something?" Sunny asked in a concerned.
"Yes Sunny?" Twilight replied
"There's something im concerned about." Sunny said. Looking at the ponies of going about their days and hanging out with each other.
"What is it?" Twilight asked.
"Well im happy, im truly happy to see ponykind reunited again, to be friends and no longer tell lies and fear each other, to all be united like we always should be. To see a better future.
My dad inspired to try and bring friendship back, for everypony to be friends. But the inspiration truly came from you and your friends." She explained as she looked at Twilight with a small smile and small tears forming in her eyes.
Sunny continues. “I always saw you, your friends, your home as the perfect beacon of friendship. A place and time where Unicorns, Earth Ponies and Pegasi lived in harmony and no pony ever felt left behind." "But.... We visit an ancient place that was an old home of yours. Canterlot, and it was in ruins, long abandoned. It made me think, "I've read stories of how ponykind easily begin fighting, we did have that type of accident and things didn't go well because I was too ignorant to solve it. That lead to what im concerned about."
"Looking at this." She gestured at the ponies of all three types talking and walking around doing their daily stuff. Soon 3 foals of both ponykind ran by while chasing each other and laughing.
"And thinking what the past was like for moons before this...makes me question how hard it would be to keep it that way.” She finished, looking down at the ground in sadness
"Ponykind was divided and fighting each other before uniting for the first time. Everything was peaceful after that, but then history repeated itself. Who's to say it won't happen again?" She said
The story can be unigue on its own
Probably not a good idea not to show your journals especially her curiosity to check it out if she can help it
I still wondering who made that blanket and who predicted the future of them
I mean sunny kind of knows what it looks like but it will be nice to have the others to check out how Equestria used to look like before this whole separation
Like Back to the Future
Ohhh princess Celestia has some explaining to do
Well then this is very interesting so far so back at the castle Opaline was not so happy to see Twilight after what happened a thousand years ago but Misty told her that she had no idea what the unity crystal is therefore Twilight and her friends doesn't know about Opaline and that gave her the element of surprise attack oh dear that's not good meanwhile back at the Lighthouse Twilight was still kind of freaking out about this whole becoming the princess of Equestria but she's trying to calm down and sunny apologize for revealing that future event but it looks like Twilight and the others are getting along with sunny and the others as well but it looks like Twilight needs to go back and her timeline but Sunny wants to come with her hopefully whatever the time Paradox does not mess up so I guess we'll find out next time
Uhh... Yes they do. The Crusaders went to a movie theater in One Bad Apple.
Anyway, good chapter! Can't wait to see what Opaline has planned this time. As well as her meeting with both groups. Since the Mane 5 don't even know that she exists in the show, I'll be curious to see how it happens there too.
Until next time!
Just who predicted the future?
Starswrirl the bearderd? TWILIGHT herself???
11486604
Its obvious, The Tree of Harmony. I mean that thing did exist when Starlight changed the timeline and made Twilight realized how her and her friends seeing the Rainboom is important. I still don't like it, I mean a spirit was born from it but what if its responsible for Opaline turned evil? I mean Cozy discovered its roots under the school and gave her the same thing the Young 6 experience. Maybe that's why Cozy believes Friendship is Power, because of that tree.
11486613
.................
you are implying the tree of HARMONY is evil? And NO, it had nothing to do with the time travel mess.
I doubt the Spirit of the Tree of Harmony can just predict the future in a way. And why would it created a RUG?
A RUG of all things?
This is gonna be fun!
11486629
It was made by the pillars and had a 1000 years of growing, its unpredictable. It made that chest which created the Castle of Friendship, its roots are spreading and it restored itself after Sombra destroyed it. I mean creating a villain can be possible to create more harmony magic. Good creates evil as evil create good.
So far so good on this new chapter, I enjoyed it!
Uh, Opaline? If you go back in time and change the future the way you’re thinking, wouldn’t that stop you from having the motivation to go back in time to begin with? Kind of like the Grandfather Paradox? Things might even work out such that you’re never born…
11486785
She could write a note to her younger self explaining what to do and why. Similar to what happened in Babylon 5.
11486629
The tree could tell when the timeline was messed up by Starlight.
TBH this part of the timeline will already be unstable due to the changes that were made... It's possible that the portal is the only thing keeping it from collapsing, or at least changing substantially... After all, as soon as Twilight knows about Opaline, she's gonna be less likely to take her on as her student. She'll see the betrayal coming.
11486868
thats the problem
Opaline's plan would most likely create a dangerous paradox similar to what Starlight did but possibly even worse. I'm eager to see how the new generation will react to Ponyville.
I've always had this fan theory that Argyle Starshine was just Twilight Sparkle under a magical glamor spell.
Can I just say I'm impressed that you wrote a scene with a dozen different characters interacting with each other and managed to make it all feel completely natural.
11487234
Thanks. That was the hardest part.
Something tells me that at the end, it’s revealed that Opaline’s first defeat was actually the result of a bootstrap paradox and Opaline’s efforts to change the past and prevent it from happening is actually what caused it to happen.
Omigosh omigosh omigosh
Doctor Who reference
11488308
The comics and canon have to 2 different causes of events.
Comic - Ponies fighting
Canon - Opaline
11488288
The comics are different from canon
11488357
You do know that Opaline is still the cause in the comics, right? And she’s referenced in the comment you’re replying to? The silhouette has the same supremacy outlook, hairstyle, horn-shape and everything. Issue 2’s backstory mirrors the backstories in “The Traditional Unicorn Sleepover”, and predates it by four months.
This is exactly like the time Legends of Equestria was directly tied to Season 7 of FiM, while Issue 53 hinted at the Pony of Shadows six months before he debuted in Shadow Play.
2.bp.blogspot.com/QdawwGzlt5QttJKuoEu0hs5M5EwCiTBMFoAW42BSk3Sb9Gbml64Jhi9Yo6TpI_lc3w4qlRx8c8SEAPxRWI77cAXnOS9z14gq0sp61BA6Cq5aqsujVRY1wNMLGRMfY0fi-l4kaA=s0?rhlupa=MjcuNjcuMTc2Ljg3&rnvuka=TW96aWxsYS81LjAgKGlQaG9uZTsgQ1BVIGlQaG9uZSBPUyA5XzNfNSBsaWtlIE1hYyBPUyBYKSBBcHBsZVdlYktpdC82MDAuMS40IChLSFRNTCwgbGlrZSBHZWNrbykgR1NBLzUuMi40Mzk3MiBNb2JpbGUvMTNHMzYgU2FmYXJpLzYwMC4xLjQ=
11488627
But ponies fighting was still the issue. All she did was be mean and the rest was ponykind.
(I don't want to do this)
11488628
Yes, which is exactly like what happened in the show. The only real difference (aside from age disparities like I’ve already mentioned) is that Opaline harmed an Earth Pony in the show, and shoved Fluttershy in the comics.
11488640
what Earth pony?
11488643
Did you not watch "The Traditional Unicorn Sleepover" (episode 6 of Chapter 2)? In Sunny's backstory, she mentions that tensions between the Pony tribes didn't arise until a unicorn harmed an Earth Pony.
On another note, what's strange about this fanfic is that Sunny mentions that Twilight put all the magic in Equestria inside the Unity Crystals in that same episode, so I'm not sure why she suddenly doesn't know all of a sudden.
11488667
Thats just an ubsumption or theory from Sunny.
We don't know the true story.
You know, Spike is like a magical dragon with his fire breath magic, which only for sending messages but still magical, and Opaline needs a dragon fire to power up, so my guess if Misty traveled the mane 5 and mane 6 back to the past, she will tried to catch spike if she can’t get sparky and used his dragon fire, since spike’s dragon fire is magical after all and in MYM, Opaline tried to find any magic sources to restore her magic, like Sunny’s lantern or the crystals but now need dragon fire, Spike will be target as well if Misty can’t get Sparky
11488742
Except it’s not a theory or an assumption. It’s a legend in the same vein as Nightmare Moon or Tirek. Just because we don’t know every microscopic detail doesn’t mean it isn’t true, there’s just gaps in the story.
Do you think this is some type of red herring? Because that isn’t how they work…
11488859
Do you seriously want to do this?😞
11489118
Eh. You're the one who claimed that the comics weren't canon. I was just responding to let you know that your reasoning is off.
11489134
is very clear
the comics aren't canon and there are many more reasons.