In all his time in Bridlewood, Alphabittle had never seen such chaos. Ponies were running amuck in states of panic, many of them missing their Cutie Marks. Alphabittle hadn't seen for himself, but he'd heard from others that an alicorn had appeared from the Together Tree, flanked by two giant dragons, and was stealing the marks with her magic. All of his attempts to impose some semblance of order had met with failure, as the ponies were too freaked out to listen to reason. The older unicorn cursed under his breath as another mark-less unicorn ran past him, screaming all the way. He wondered where Misty and her friends were in the middle of this crisis, since they were usually the ones to intervene in disasters. Of course, his fatherly instinct overrode any frustration he had with them, and he instead hoped they were alright.
Another scream from behind caught Alphabittle's ears, and he whirled around on one hoof. The sight that awaited him was a magenta alicorn mare with a white, blue-streaked mane, standing over a cowering unicorn colt. Unlike Sunny Starscout, this alicorn's wings and horn were all organic. On either side of her, a massive dragon stood, though their eyes stared forward, as though they weren't actually seeing anything. The alicorn cackled as she levitated up the colt, and with a pulse of magic, ripped his Cutie Mark from his flank. The mark floated up to her in a transparent bubble, and she dropped the colt to the ground.
"Get back! Leave him alone!" Alphabittle roared, as he charged across the grass towards them.
He lit up his own horn, levitating up a few rocks as he went. He pitched them towards the alicorn with as much power as he could, but he realized too late that shouting had been a mistake. The alicorn turned towards the source of the noise, and with a flap of her wings, evaded the rocks coming at her. Then she fired a blue bolt of magic from her horn, which hit Alphabittle in the legs, creating blue energy shackles around them, and sending him toppling to the ground. As he struggled to get free, the alicorn descended towards him.
"Really, you foolish pony, what did you expect to accomplish with that little stunt?" she asked in a mocking tone of voice.
Alphabittle weakly raised his head to look behind her. The colt she'd had before was picking himself up from the ground, a few tears dripping from his eyes.
"Run..." Alphabittle managed to grunt out. Fortunately, the colt heeded his words, and turned around to flee into the woods. The dragons made no move to stop him.
The alicorn simply scoffed. "It's not like I needed him for anything else, anyway," she gloated. Then her eyes fell on Alphabittle's Cutie Mark. "You, on the other hoof..."
Alphabittle felt her magic envelope him, and he was pulled off the ground. "Who are you?" he demanded, trying desperately not to show any weakness. "Why are you doing this?"
"I'm taking your Cutie Marks, and your magic, because it is my right as the only and most powerful alicorn in all of Equestria," she replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "As for my name, I will grace you with the knowledge of it. I am Opaline Arcana, and I am your new master."
As her magic sought out his Cutie Mark, something in Alphabittle's brain clicked. That name was familiar to him, but he couldn't place where he'd heard it before. He racked his memories, searching for the connection, until he finally hit it.
"Where were you all these years, Misty?"
"It's kind of a long story, Dad. See, I met this alicorn named Opaline Arcana. She took me in, and I think she might've wiped my memories, because I forgot all about my foalhood, and—"
"YOU!" Alphabittle screamed. His voice made Opaline actually jump and stretch her wings outwards in fright. She quickly recovered and looked back at him.
"I'm sorry, what?" she asked. "Do I know you or something? I don't recall ever meeting an old unicorn before I was banished from Equestria by that infernal Twilight Sparkle.
In the back of Alphabittle's mind, the name "Twilight Sparkle" rang a bell, but he didn't care. Rational thought was buried under tons of pure rage.
"You're the one who took Misty that night!" he snarled. "When she got lost, you're the one who found her! You took my daughter away from me!"
Opaline blinked a couple of times, before throwing back her head and laughing. "Misty actually had family this whole time?!" she cackled, as though she couldn't believe it. "Someone actually found a reason to care about that stupid filly?! Now I've seen everything!"
"'Stupid filly?!'" Alphabittle snapped back in fury. "She's my child! My little girl! And you took her away from her home! You took her, erased her memories, and forced her to serve you!"
"Well, of course I forced her to serve me. That's the purpose all ponies exist for, after all," Opaline continued, looking down at her hoof. "You should be grateful I took her. That's one less mouth for you to feed, after all. And instead of growing up, being a waste of space, she gained a purpose in helping Equestria's true empress."
Alphabittle couldn't believe his ears. This mare was talking like his daughter was some stupid possession that she took off his hooves, instead of a living, breathing pony. She saw Misty as nothing more than a tool to be used to achieve her objectives. Misty had told him about how cruel Opaline had been to her, promising her a Cutie Mark for service, but punishing her so harshly every time she failed. It broke his heart.
"You're a monster," he breathed. "You ruined her life, and you don't even care."
Opaline rolled her eyes. "Is this another stupid friendship lesson?" she demanded. "Because I'm over those by now. Sunny and her friends have been throwing those at me enough already."
With another pulse of magic, she ripped Alphabittle's Cutie Mark from his body. He felt no physical pain, but there was a feeling as though part of his very soul had been taken. Opaline then released the restraints around Alphabittle's legs, and dropped him to the ground. He fought through his sheer fear to try and levitate something else to throw at her, but his magic wouldn't respond without his Cutie Mark. He could only watch as Opaline and the two dragons marched off to steal more marks.
Alphabittle was left alone in the middle of the forest, staring in horror after the mare who'd ruined his daughter's life. His eyebrows shot upwards as he remembered Misty and the others. They weren't safe from Opaline, either. Alphabittle grabbed his phone, and hurriedly dialed Misty's number. The phone rang and rang, but she didn't pick up. Alphabittle swallowed in fear.
