Celestia sighs as she gazes through her bedroom window. The starry night sky looks brilliant tonight, but there is too much weighing on her mind to give it all that much thought. She glances at the nearby table, upon which lies a long piece of parchment. The hoofwriting on it is immaculate, and Celestia immediately identified it as Princess Twilight Sparkle's. Normally, Celestia would be delighted to receive mail from her former student. However, lately she has been sending nothing but bad news. Today was no better. Things are growing turbulent in Equestria. It has been almost thirty years since Twilight took the throne, and she has been doing an incredible job. But as of late, there seems to be a growing discomfort among the populous, and no one can figure out why. But Twilight has a hunch, and after weeks of digging and research, she has a name to which she can attribute this discontent.
Opaline Arcana.
Celestia winces as she recalls that name. She glances at the other nearby piece of parchment, completely blank and with a quill resting on top of it. She needs to write a response. Celestia has a hunch of her own, and if her hunch is correct, then Opaline really is behind all of this. And yet, she isn't completely at fault. No...
That blame goes only to Celestia.
Thousands of years ago, two fillies awaken in their small home. The country of Equestria, as we know it, does not yet exist. The sun and the moon are raised by a team of sorcerers, led by Star Swirl the Bearded. Hardship was commonplace, and with each passing day, things only seemed to get worse. Even if the sun was raised successfully, the climate was cold and unforgiving, as the pegasi still had little grasp on how to control the weather in this land. These two young fillies bore the brunt of these hardships, struggling each day just to survive. And yet, they had a shared dream. A dream that one day, they too could be like those sorcerers. They wanted to make a difference in their lives. They wanted to be special, and to help everypony they knew endure the harsh realities of the world they lived in.
And when they woke up that day, they realized that they had that chance.
At the time, they were very young. Celestia was a young teenager, and Luna was still a school-age child. The two lost their parents a few particularly harsh winters prior, so it was up to Celestia to take care of her beloved younger sister. She was so focused on her sister's well-being that she hardly noticed the change that had taken place within the two of them overnight. At least, not until Luna excitedly ran into her room.
"Sister! Sister! I have wings!"
Celestia pried herself off of her raggedy pillow.
"O-oh, that's nice, Luna. I must admit, I had a similar dream myself..."
"No, sister! I really have wings! Look!"
Celestia rubbed her eyes and looked down at the filly before gasping in surprise, practically falling out of bed as she did so. Sure enough, gently folded against Luna's torso were two tiny, fragile-looking wings. On top of that, her flank looked noticeably different. It was black, with a small crescent moon gently glowing in the middle of the inky darkness. Overnight, her sister had gotten her cutie mark.
"...My goodness. W-what does this mean? And what about your cutie mark?!"
"I HAVE A CUTIE MARK?!"
The little blue filly excitedly cranes her neck to look at her flank.
"Yes, it appears you do. But what does it mean?"
"WOAH! Sister, you have one, too! AND you have wings, just like me!"
"W-what?!"
Now turning to look at herself, Celestia realized that she did, indeed, have a pair of wings sprouting from her back. On top of that, an image of a sun was visible on her flank. She stood up off of her bed, and as she did so, she realized that she felt... different. Stronger.
"How did this happen, sister?"
"I... I have no idea. Where did they come from? What do they mean?"
"I feel really, really cool right now, though! I feel like my magic could move mountains!" As if to demonstrate, Luna attempted to levitate Celestia's dresser. Ordinarily, such a feat would be ridiculous to even consider, and yet... the dresser became enveloped in a blue magic and began to gently drift through the air. "This is SO COOL!"
"L-Luna, put that down right this instant!"
Luna drops the dresser, and it crashes against the floor with a sad thud.
"Uhhh... hehe. Oops."
Celestia facepalms.
"...We should probably go visit the sorcerers. This is not normal, and I'm concerned for your safety."
Celestia nudges Luna in the direction of the door, and the two begin walking.
"But sister, what about you?"
"Don't you worry about me. I'm the big sister, after all."
So, the two set out to the home of the sorcerers. The sorcerers lived outside of town, as they had a special platform there for meditating, spellcasting, and especially raising the sun and moon. Speaking of, the sun had not yet been raised. The sorcerers had been growing older and more weary lately, and it was getting harder and harder for them to move the celestial bodies.
As the pair trot to the outskirts of town, they are approached by a filly a few years younger than Celestia, but not quite as young as Luna. Her coat is purple, and her curly white and blue mane is very striking. Her voice carried a sort of boisterous nature to it, and she was known for being a bit loud.
"Celestia! Luna!"
"...Hello, Opaline."
Celestia gives the filly little more than a passing glance before she does a double take. Celestia never really liked Opaline. 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..."
Celestia sighs.
"Just don't do that again."
"Still, where are you two going?"
"We're going to see the sorcerers. Hopefully they'll be able to explain these cutie marks. And these... wings."
"Ooo, can I come? I just got my cutie mark too, after all!"
"N-no, I don't think-"
"Come on sister, why not?"
Celestia looks down at her innocent little sister and her big pleading eyes. She was always nicer to Opaline than Celestia was, and frankly, it annoyed Celestia to no end. Still, it's just... so hard to resist that face.
"Ugh. Fine. You can come."
"Oh, thank you!"
With that, the three set off to the home of the sorcerers. When they arrived, they found the group struggling to raise the sun. The next few moments would go down as one of the most important events in history. Heck, there were even plays written about it. Ultimately, Celestia realized the significance of her cutie mark, and she single-hoofedly raised the sun, much to the shock and awe of the sorcerers. In the following hours, Star Swirl came to a realization. Overnight, the trio had transformed into mythical creatures known as alicorns, ponies with the magic of unicorns, the flight capabilities of pegasi, and the strength of earth ponies. On top of that, all three of these abilities are much stronger than when they were used by the species they are borrowed from. With that knowledge, Star Swirl vowed to train Celestia and Luna, who had seemingly been born to take over the responsibility of raising the sun and the moon. Over time, they would do just that.
Celestia would do her best to continue raising her sister. If anything, she coddled her sister more than she should have. However, it was admittedly much easier now that they had Star Swirl acting as a sort of father figure to them. Whenever Celestia struggled, she would do everything in her power to help her sister reach the same heights. She realized that they were both destined for greatness, and with that greatness would come great struggles. But nopony would ever harm Luna. Not on her watch.
Of course, Luna had some growing up of her own to do. When she became a teenager, much like Celestia, she needed someone to release her frustrations onto. While Celestia had Opaline, Luna had Celestia. Her resentment for her sister, as well as her sister's increasing popularity with the general populous, grew and grew, even after they had become adults, defeated Discord, and founded the Equestria that we know today. This would eventually be her downfall, transforming her into the evil Nightmare Moon and forcing a disheartened Celestia to banish her to the moon.
And yet, Celestia always loved her sister. After being more or less adopted by Star Swirl, there were only two things that mattered to her: raising the sun, and Luna. Since she was already getting quite adept at the former, her focus was solely on the latter. No matter what, nothing was going to happen to Luna. Outside of ensuring that, nothing else was worthy of her attention.
Perhaps that's why, after that fateful day, Celestia almost never thought about Opaline Arcana ever again.
Indeed, Opaline was there too. However, Star Swirl paid much less attention to her than he did to Celestia and Luna. After all, the two sisters were capable of raising the sun and the moon. Not only did this make his opinion immediately biased (they were saving him a great deal of effort with those new powers of theirs), but their new role in this changing world just seemed more important to him than Opaline's fancy fire magic.
Until that point, Opaline was living a happy, naive life. Even after losing her parents, her optimism carried her forward, and she was happy with the care and attention she received from the community in the wake of such a tragedy. And yet, watching Star Swirl ecstatically embrace the two sisters for "becoming alicorns that would change the world" while she was right there... it hurt. It cut her deeply. In an instant, it was as if she was forgotten entirely. Surely, she could change the world too, right? Y-yeah! She had fire magic! During the harsh winters, she would warm everypony's homes! She would ensure that nopony ever had to struggle during the cold nights or bad seasons ever again!
...But that never happened. Celestia and Luna became so adept at their jobs that cold nights were hardly a problem anymore. That, combined with Star Swirl managing to reinvent how pegasi viewed weather control with his newfound free time, meant that Opaline's fire magic was little more than a flashy party trick.
And she hated it.
Over time, she, too, began to grow bitter. Not just at Celestia and Luna, but at society in general. The same ponies that had lifted her up had suddenly forgotten about her. In the years to come, they would tote "friendship" and "harmony" as the source of their magic and the reason for their success. And yet, Opaline sure wasn't seeing any of it. In fact, while she was still a bit naive at the time, she wasn't stupid. These ponies were making fun of her behind her back. "Look, it's Opaline! I wonder if she'll use her alicorn powers to heat up my tea?" "Who has ever heard of a useless alicorn?" It ate her up inside, and eventually, Opaline became ready to abandon it all. But before she did, she had one last thing to do.
Knock, knock, knock.
Celestia answered the door, only to be greeted by a fully grown Opaline Arcana. At this point, they were both young adults, and Celestia hadn't seen Opaline since they were fillies.
"Opaline? To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Can it with the pleasantries, Celestia. You know why I am here."
Celestia glares at Opaline.
"No, I'm not sure I do."
"Then let me spell it out for you. While you and your sister have been gallivanting around getting everypony's adoration, I have been doing my very best to become a powerful fire alicorn. I will not be forced to live in your shadow any longer, Celestia!"
"...What are you talking about?"
"Oh, stop with the innocent act. I know what you ponies have been saying about me behind my back, and I'm here to prove you wrong. I am going to make sure that nopony forgets who I am EVER again!"
"Opaline, I don't know what you're talking about, and frankly, I don't really care. Luna has magic practice in a few minutes and I need to be there for her."
"It seems you don't understand the circumstances. Celestia, I challenge you to a magic duel!"
A few ponies that were passing by stop to stare at the scene unfolding on Celestia's doorstep. For her part, Celestia simply continues to stare at Opaline with a quiet fury.
"...A magic duel? Really?"
"Yes, really. I am going to prove that I am the greater alicorn, once and for all!"
"I already told you, Luna has practice. I won't allow you to interfere. We have actually important business to take care of."
"Wha-? H-how DARE you?! You would make a mockery of me?! I have challenged you to a magic duel! You have no CHOICE but to accept!"
Without a word, Celestia's horn glows a brilliant yellow. Then, in an instant, a massive beam of magic rockets out of said horn, completely enveloping Opaline. Opaline has no time to react. Receiving the force of all of Celestia's magic, she is blown back several hundred feet, her entire body getting battered, bruised, and burned from the attack all the while. Then, less than a second later, the magic ceases. Celestia still stands in the doorway, the light of her horn gently dying down. Meanwhile, a half-circle-shaped crater in the ground stretches almost five hundred feet outwards from the small house. At the opposite end of this crater lies an unconscious Opaline, thoroughly thrashed and beaten up. Using a single spell, Celestia defeated her in less than a second. Any ponies that saw the scene hurried on their way, not wanting any part in the fight between alicorns. Nopony ever bothered to check on Opaline.
And Celestia never saw her again.
Celestia nods to herself in the quiet bedroom. Finally moving away from the window, she sits down at the desk. Her horn gently glows as she lifts the quill into the nearby bottle of ink and begins writing. Twilight needs to know who Opaline Arcana really is. Where she comes from. What she's capable of. But more than that...
She needs to know how Celestia failed. No matter how good her intentions were, she failed. She failed to save her sister from becoming Nightmare Moon. She failed to consider Opaline's feelings all those years ago. She failed to even remember Opaline, let alone apologize to her. But most of all, she failed to embody the friendship that she so desperately tried to instill in others. Opaline may be the one causing the current fiasco, but it was Celestia who pushed her to do so. As such, she needs to tell Twilight that if Equestria should fall because of Opaline...
Then the blame would rest squarely on Celestia's shoulders.
Author's Note
So... Make Your Mark Chapter 4 was pretty neat.
As always, I appreciate any and all feedback!
