//------------------------------// // Interlude: A Pony Made of Fire // Story: Sonic The Hedgehog x My Little Pony: The Final Act - Part 2: Time Runs Out // by BronySonicFan //------------------------------// Universe 220822 Opaline's Dark Castle wasn't as silent as usual... In fact, there was a TV turned on in the studio, with the Dragon Stone being in the floor with a crack, as well as some broken bottles were spread across the room. "We're getting more information regarding the mysterious disappearance of magic that happened last night..." Sky informed with concern during a TV report. "The rainbow light that always illuminated the Crystal Brighthouse has shut down out of nowhere, causing a massive wave to spread across Equestria that has made Magic disappear entirely." "There's been multiple reports of accidents all across Equestria after magic dissipated." Dazzle's voice joined with a worried tone. "At least 15 to 20 Pegasi have been reported dead because of falling from a very high distance, while over 50 more were found injured." "There's been reports of Unicorns and Earth Ponies dying because of falling objects that some unicorns dropped when magic disappeared... Truly a tragedy..." Sky added with concern. "To make things worse, all the Mobians, as well as the Mane 6 and their baby dragon, had disappeared with no trace behind!" Dazzle added with wide and panicked eyes. "Queen Haven is desperately trying to calm things down in Zephyr Heights as she tries to start an investigation to find her daughters, while Alphabittle already has unicorns all around Bridlewood looking up and down for his daughter." As these news played in the background, a flash suddenly illuminated the room, and then a blast traversed the TV that was informing all the catastrophe that followed after Opaline stole the Unity Crystals from the Brighthouse. The Fire Alicorn was now once again on her studio in her Dark Castle. After getting the Unity Crystals, she came back here and tried to absorb their power, but she was still not powerful enough, so she went out on a small odyssey to Universe 030823, Universe 190623, Universe 300519 and Universe 271121, where she obtained two more green shards and two more blue ones as well. And now that she has successfully obtained 14 shards of the Paradox Prism, she has come back to try and absorb their power again. After all, she was more powerful now. By her logic, it had to work this time around. She hasn't noticed how much her physical form is changing, though: Her wings started to grow red, yellow, blue and green feathers; her mane now glows slightly thanks to all the magic she has stolen across the Multiverse, and her hooves sparkled with fire flames. However, her veins were also starting to show in the same colors of the shards, although Opaline either didn't knew this, or she did, but she couldn't care less. Right now, she only wants to get the power from the Unity Crystals. So, she focused and closed her eyes, lightening her horn up and then making a small trial of her magic hit the Crystals. Then, when she opened her eyes, they were glowing white, and the Unity Crystals began to glitch and loose their color, as their magic was absorbed by the Fire Alicorn. However, the line that connected the Crystals and Opaline's horn suddenly shifted from white to pink, and Opaline's eyes shifted to color pink as well. Opaline started to yell out loud in pain, before the Crystals began to show her a couple of visions, visions about her life in other universes, and where that lead her. Universe 060623 In this universe in particular, Opaline was despised by Celestia since they were fillies. She found her to be annoying, conceited, and most of all, too pretty for her own good. Of course, this was simply Celestia's teenage angst needing an outlet. Opaline was far from perfect, but Celestia would never admit to being jealous of some of her better qualities. She had a refinement that Celestia lacked, and although Celestia was more popular with the adults than Opaline, she had a habit of letting that get to her head. As such, whenever Opaline was in the public eye, it only made Celestia's disdain for the purple filly grow. And considering that Opaline's parents had passed away not long prior to that day, she was getting a lot of attention. Celestia hated that. After all, her parents were gone, too. Why is she so special? Ordinarily, Celestia wouldn't even consider giving Opaline the time of day (not that Opaline would notice, she was naive and a bit of an optimist at that time), but the suspicious horn on her head that wasn't there the day prior, coupled with her fiery new cutie mark, got Celestia's attention. "Oh! I see you two got your cutie marks as well! AND you got wings! Eeeee, this so exciting! I got my cutie mark overnight, too! And look at this horn! Isn't it so pretty ?!" "Y-Yeah, sure..." "A sun and a moon? Those are so neat! Where are you going? Gonna try them out?!" "Try them out?" "Yeah! Your cutie mark is your special talent, right? Watch this!" Opaline steadies herself on her hooves and winds back before thrusting forward, her horn glowing as she does so. Then, her horn begins to spew a mixture of purples and blues before a torrent of flame shoots out of it into the air, nearly singing the sisters in the process. Celestia covers Luna, protecting her from any excess heat, before Opaline's spell ends. "Oh, uh... oopsie daisies! I haven't really learned how to control it yet!" "Yeah, I'll say! If I see a single burnt hair on my sister, you're dead, Opaline!" Opaline cowers a little bit. "I-I'm sorry..." The vision of this universe ended with Opaline witnessing how she's defeated by Twilight, right before the creation of the Unity Crystals. Universe 291022 In this other universe, Opaline had a terrible stepmother. No matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn't impress her. Even worse, the mare had the nerve to physically hurt her by slapping her whenever Opaline did something she didn't liked. Right now? That's what Opaline was witnessing: Her younger self from another universe, getting slapped by her stepmom simply because she tried to be what she wanted. "You'll never be my daughter! You... Will never be good enough." Those words were stuck in the mind of the younger Alicorn from the vision, but it just got worse when her stepmom levitated her and started to hit her several times against the wall. The image switched and showed that Opaline from that universe... crying... Something the main one hasn't done in a very long time... But in this universe she did, because in that universe, her mother did loved her before illness took over her, a few years after that her father married her stepmother. The Opaline of this universe worked so hard to be a proper young princess so that her stepmother would not view her as a hindrance. To be enough for her. At that last thought, this universe's Opaline's ears drooped as the words she had screamed at Misty repeated themselves once more in her mind's eye. "You won't be enough." The vision ended again, this time showing her defeat by Sunny and her friends, although Misty didn't seemed to have leave in this universe, because she was tied to her throne with vines. Universe 040222 You think you have seen the worse? You don't. In this universe, Opaline was created by a weird-ass cult that sacrificed dragons and made her out of a ritual... She was a made up experiment in this world. There were slight flashing moments of this universe's Opaline having fun with Twilight Sparkle, becoming friends with Flurry Heart, learning lessons and new spells by studying and giving her best effort, as well as dreaming of one day being like Twilight herself. But after finding out her purpose, as well as being expelled by Twilight because she killed some guards by mistake, her mind drove her crazy, and she wanted nothing but revenge over those who hurt her. So she did that: She got her revenge. She stole the magic from Luster Dawn, then she destroyed Twilight's entire life of work, then killed the other species out of Equestria, and then attempted to defeat Twilight so she could stand proud as the ruler of Equestria... Let's emphasize on the word try, okay? She fought against Twilight, destroyed Canterlot City in the process, and almost succeeded on destroying the entirety of Equestria... But Twilight thought faster than her. In the middle of their fight, Twilight sent her whole strength to her horn and casted a spell that not only vanished Opaline to Celestia knows where, but it also marked the creation of the Unity Crystals... The same magical artifacts that stole her magic in this world. The vision, weirdly enough, ended showing the Opaline and Sunny of this universe hugging each other, although said image also faded away, like if such a thing didn't happened... not anymore... Universe 220822 Opaline shook her head and cancelled the spell. She yelled in pain again and rubbed her head, also starting to breath heavily in panic, as she looked slowly at the Unity Crystals with wide eyes. "W-What the buck was that?!" Opaline shouted loudly in panic and slight rage. All those visions were strange, but they all shared two points in common: How her life was such a pain in the flank that it lead her to become the merciless Alicorn she's today, and how she was defeated... Well, the last one didn't showed such a thing, but she'd rather forgot she saw it. She soon realized that the Unity Crystals were recovering the color they were loosing earlier, but she also realized that what she saw was a vision from the Crystals... or rather, a warning. A warning to what, exactly? Maybe to tell her that she's gonna fail in the end, that her vision of seeing Equestria kneeling before her is a dumb desire that won't ever come true. After all, every single Opaline across the multiverse has lost, one way or another... Why would she be different? Her mind suddenly reminded her of her own childhood, and of her own motivations to do what she's doing right now... Just like in the first vision, she met Celestia and Luna when they were all fillies, but she was always outcasted by the two sisters, and she was always told that her magic was more of a circus show than a talent. This always enraged her... But it was worse when Twilight and her friends showed up. They saved Equestria time and time again, then Celestia turned Twilight into an Alicorn, and all of this frustrated Opaline even more... But what finally draw the line for her was when Twilight was named the new ruler. That finally pushed Opaline over the edge, so she decided to make of Twilight's reign a nightmare: She disguised as a Unicorn and spread rumors among ponykind, then attempted to kill Twilight as well... However, Twilight and her friends created the Unity Crystals to stop her, and they did... For a couple of years. After Twilight's friends passed away, Opaline spread more and more rumors, until Twilight's monarchy was completely destroyed, just as planned. Eventually, Twilight disappeared one day, but not without creating a shield around Equestria that obligated Opaline to make her own Castle not so far from Maretime Bay. That's when everypony went on their own, and then magic disappeared as well... Then Opaline found Misty, and the rest is history. In reality, she was always meant to rule, or at least she believes so, but she also believed that the world wanted to refuse her her rightful place. So, she was going to take it by force, no matter the cost. Opaline looked back at the Unity Crystals and grinned sinisterly. "I don't know what kind of mind controlling spell Twilight launched over you three... But It won't work. I will rule, and I will be the greatest Alicorn that has ever existed!" She declared with anger, as her wings and horn lightened in fire. The Unity Crystals started to glow, since they tried to sent a warning, but not a warning for Opaline... It was a warning for somepony else. "I will rule over the entire multiverse, and every critter will kneel to me... AND ADORE ME AS THEIR QUEEN!" Opaline shouted once again, her eyes turning white one more time. Then, she connected her horn to the Unity Crystals with another white string, but this one was thicker, and it was absorbing the magic from the Unity Crystals even faster than before, as their colors faded away as twice as fast. Soon enough, though, the Crystals were not floating anymore, and they fell to the floor, each shattering into hundreds, if not thousands or millions, of pieces, while Opaline laughed maniacally, as her horn and wings lightened up in fire again. She did it, the magic was all hers... And now she was unstoppable.