From the right, I see Discord point his talon at the two larger alicorns across the table from me, “Ah yes, here it is! The consequences of your actions!”

The large Luna whispers to her sister, "I told you this would happen!"

Celestia murmurs, "That we'd meet filly Opaline as adults? You said no such thing!"

"No, that we shouldn't just shove her aside and ignore her! That we have a responsibility as her sisters!"

I finally say, "I'm right here, you know!"

They both quit bickering and stare at me from the sides of their eyes.

“I never saw either of you… You were never there… ”

Celestia starts, “But the prophesy!”

Discord chimes in while flitting his talon, “Ah, yes! The prophesy! Starswirl himself said that she’d one day become a dangerous threat to Equestria, as I recall! And so that’s why you kept her locked away, right? To ensure your safety?”

Luna looks at Discord with a worried frown, “Well, what were we supposed to do? She had to be contained for the good of the kingdom!”

Discord grins and chuckles, “Finally! A pony who makes some sense!” while throwing his talon and paw towards her, before lowering his appendages and view towards them, “But tell me, what affect on her psyche do you believe years of isolation would do?”

Luna’s eyes widen, “What do you mean?”

I finally speak up, “I was alone! There was nopony there for me! All I had were my books and puzzles! You abandoned me!”

Celestia speaks, “We had to!”

“No, you didn’t! All you had to do was visit me! All you had to do was spend time with me! Was I not your sister?”

Celestia frowns, “Well, we just didn’t have time!”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I was alone… “ I cross my forehooves.

Luna fidgets, “Well, there were so many things we had to learn as future princesses of Equestria, and we just… “

I sigh and nod, “Yeah, I know! You just didn’t have time for me, right?”

Discord smiles, “Why don’t I introduce you to somepony who knows what Opaline would one day become, hmm? Tell me princesses, would you like to meet Misty?”

I stare at him, “I already met her!”

He looks at me, “Hush Opaline! I’m educating your sisters!”

<*****>

FROWN ENGAGED!

“Where did they go?”

Misty widens her eyes, “How would I know? I don’t know who Discord is, or what a draconequus is, either, and they took our filly!”

Our filly? “A draconequus is a creature with a body composed of many different parts from many different animals. Discord is the only known draconequus in modern history, however… “

SMILE ENGAGED!

“I read fast!”

She chuckles nervously, “Uh, yeah I see that! I’m uh, not really sure what we should do?”

“Well, what else can we do? Discord took our filly to an undisclosed location, and now all we can do is wait and trust that he’s good natured enough to bring her back… “

“But I don’t trust that he’s good natured! I don’t know him!”

“He seemed to know you?”

“And that’s another thing that scares me… “ She stares off to the side…

Suddenly, her body flashes blue and she disappears…

EYES WIDEN!

“Misty just teleported out of here to undisclosed location… “ I say matter-of-factly to nopony.

<*****>

I look around the strange room and I note the larger white and dark blue alicorns on the right side of the table, and I see Opaline on the other, and I also see a familiar brown serpent smile from the other side, as he says, “Misty! When Opaline grows up, she abuses and neglects you, does she not?”

I stare to the left at the magenta filly there, who stares at me with enormous cerulean eyes, “Well, she doesn’t have to be that way! She’s a filly again, and I can make sure she gets the upbringing she needs!” and smile. “The one she deserves!”

The foal looks confused as the white alicorn says, “Well, it wasn’t our job to raise her, you know? We had our own lives!”

I stare at the mysterious white pony, “And then who will, hmm?”

The dark blue alicorn sighs and looks down, “So this is it… This is what happened when we ignored Opaline… “ and she looks up at the filly, “Although the one thing I don’t understand is, why is Opaline still a filly? She disappeared many moons ago!” *

The filly smiles at the two older alicorns, “I wonder just how long it took you to notice?”

I ask Opaline, “Just who are these ponies, anyway?” before staring at the white one, “And why are their manes so swirly?”

Opaline says, “These are my sisters! They are adults now, but I’d know them anywhere… “

The white one stares at the foal, “Opaline, we’re REALLY sorry, and um, “ she gulps, “I uh, I didn’t mean to neglect you like that!”

Opaline stares at the white pony, “Can it, Celestia! You’ve done enough!” and stares at the darker blue one, “You however, I’ll forgive! But under one condition!” **

Luna looks back at Opaline, “Name it!”

<*****>

“Push me Luna! I wanna go really high!” The magenta filly says, as she dangles her hind hooves on the swing, in the gravel pit on this side of the playground… “And don’t use your magic! Shove me with your hooves please!”

I guess she yearns for a pony’s touch? I ponder to myself as I give her back a small push to make the swing swing up a few feet…

“Come on Luna! Is that all you got?”

“Celestia didn’t mean to neglect you, but as the heir apparent, she had a lot of responsibilities! Please do not be so hard on her!” I say before giving her a stronger shove with my right hoof.

As the filly swings upwards, she says, “You don’t get it, do you?”

She comes down and I give her another push, “Get what, child?”

The swing flies upwards, “That I’m just a filly! All I know is that I was left alone and abandoned!” **

Her swing falls back down, and I push it again, and sigh, “Y-yes, I realize that now Opaline and I’m sorry… But since I’m here and you’re who you are at this time, why don’t we make our time count?”

It goes back towards the sky, “Okay, Luna! We’ll have a play-date!”

It falls and I push again, “As you wish, Opaline! I wasn’t there earlier, but I’ll be there now!”

<*****>

I stare at the white alicorn while the serpent stares at us both and her swirly magenta lavender mane flows of to the side, “What did you do to Opaline?”

She sighs, “Starswirl the Bearded predicted she would one day become a danger to Equestria, and so we locked her in the castle. She was taken care of, however, and had food, resources, and schooling!”

I frown, “And you believe that somehow fulfills all of her needs as a filly?”

She looks down, “No, I suppose it does not… “ and back to me, “My name is Princess Celestia, but you can simply refer to me as Celestia… And you are?”

“I’m the pony who’s going to raise Opaline the right way!” I blink… “My name is Misty Brightdawn!”

“Harmonia was the alicorn who sired Opaline, and so I can’t help but wonder why she set things up the way she did?”

“Well, Starswirl had that prophecy?”

She suddenly frowns… “We made her evil!”

My eyes widen, “What?”

She stares at me, “Opaline was bad because we ignored her! That’s why she… Oh my! I’m so sorry Misty!”

I repeat myself, “What?”

Discord suddenly snickers, “It’s finally sinking in, isn’t it oh great white princess?”

“I need to apologize!”

I grimace at this weird statement, “Didn’t you already do that, Celestia?”

Her eyes close, “Yes, I know, “ and open, “but that was before I truly grasped the gravity of what I had done!”

I begin to understand why Opaline never accepted her apology as I reply, “Well, she’ll be back eventually! You’ll get your chance soon!”

<*****>

I stare at the insolent blue alicorn and furrow my brow, “No, you don’t understand Luna! I didn’t have anypony there!”

She sighs again, “Well, I know Opaline and like I already told you, I’m willing to make amends!”

Probably better than what I’ll get with Celestia? “How, Luna? I’ve already grown up and abused that poor unicorn! Because of what you and your sister did!”

She frowns, “But you’re still a filly?”

I begin to charge my horn with magic as I start to grow tired with this one, “Choose your next words carefully, princess… “

She smiles, “We don’t have to fight Opaline, I… “ she takes a deep breath as she trots towards me and embraces me in a hug!

I lower my magic, and return the hug…

“I’m truly sorry little Opaline… But I’m here now, and you’re not alone… “***

I close my eyes as I feel moisture exiting the right one, “That’s all I truly wanted… To not be alone… “

<*****>

I see the enormous white alicorn embrace the smaller bluish-green unicorn in a tight warm hug as her two-toned mane falls off to one side of her head, and she says, “It’s okay, Celestia! You didn’t know!”

“I was her sister! I shouldn’t have listened to the prophecy! I should’ve been there for her!”

Discord smiles while blowing bubbles with the pipe held in his lion paw, that quickly moves to the side, “And now you understand what you’ve done, and why Misty here suffered because of it!”

“I’m so sorry, Misty!”

“It’s not your fault!”

She releases me, and stares down at me with massive lavender pupils, “What do you mean? We were the ones who kept Opaline contained and caused her to feel the way she did! Who’s fault would it be, if not ours?”

I breath out and feel my shoulder’s relax as I stare up at the large white pony, “You were just acting out of fear… You were afraid of what she might become, so you felt that containing her was more important than being a good sister… “

Discord says, “It’s called a self-fulfilling prophecy, dear Celestia!”

She closes her eyes and lowers her muzzle… “I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner… I didn’t know…” and she raises her view to me, to open her now watery eyes, “I didn’t know!”

I frown and widen my eyes when it begins to occur to me that gravity is currently hitting this large pony… “Well uh, do you want to talk about it, or?”

(To be continued… )

Author's Note

*Remember, this is an alternate timeline that was created by the freak time warp that occurred near Opaline when she was a filly.

**As a child, I didn’t understand why I was neglected. I only knew there was nobody there for me…

***And now, the apology my inner child deserves, but will never receive!