“I’m with You…”
Very mysterious. In E8 it is officially said that the alicorns are immortal, although signs of old age were seen on Twilight in the IDW Comics. She had disappeared, and so far Discord’s account made the most sense of how the Unity Crystals came about, as what came in E2 and E6 was… not good.
In TYT, Twilight had a form made with the intention of influencing the future, which suggests that she had seen the Mane 5 (Sunny will be as big as Opaline later in G5) in the future. She knows about the upcoming alicorn. This may have happened in the time between S9 and Equestria’s collapse, and from the IDW comics - here the MYM team had refused to give times for what happened between Twilight and Opaline - it is known that the Unity Crystals arose while the Mane 6 were alive. And it looks like the Discord Arc didn’t happen before or during MYM C2, which means there are two or three alternate G5 universes.
Let me think;
- The end of G4.
Opaline seemed to appear a couple of years after the last S9 episode and from E8 there is an impression that she has always been an alicorn who came from a mysterious background. She started the contradictions between the ponies, and it is possible that the writers in IDW did not want to elaborate on this. If she was an alicorn back then who can use magic to manipulate and create contradictions as well as gain her own loyalists, that could explain how the Mane 6 could lose control. But she and the Mane 6 weren’t prepared for the emotional instability that makes magic too dangerous, and it could take time to resolve.
So when the Mane 6 (IDW) together with Twilight had the Unity Crystals made, it was to solve an unsolvable problem, but also to stop Opaline who had become a mortal threat to them. It is possible that the remark about Opaline being of fire could come from the time when the ponies’ magic had become unstable. In the MYM C1, Opaline had said that the magic was unstable until the earth pony magic was brought out. Maybe she was the one who made the magic unstable?
Without the Unity Crystals how could she steal all the magic and almost succeed at it? When she assimilated the magic from the dragon fire, it was not with Tirek’s technique, but by letting her body “consume” the ingested magic. Could this be an alicorn trait that was not seen early on? But everything indicates from IDW that the consequences were simply not realized until it was too late. The creation of the Unity Crystals was not her wish, and she may be the first to have the magic removed as punishment. By then Twilight and her friends had defeated her, but the phrase that she will “open” something shows that it wasn’t just the heartless alicorn.
Opaline was possibly put in chains - it may be the remains of this that can be seen on her bones - and put under house arrest in what would later become the Dark Castle. There she must spend the next centuries under house arrest, stripped of her alicorn powers.
So Equestria was shielded from the rest of the world, although the MYM team has been unusually reluctant to show more than the three solitary cities in C1 and C2. The question of whether it happened after the loss of magic. It would make sense that Twilight would shut Equestria off from the rest of the world to protect the ponies after the collapse. It didn’t make sense to have this against an alicorn who can’t use her powers. And why take the magic away from the ponies if Opaline is already stripped of her magic?
In E2 it seems - it is an interpretation - that the shielding of Equestria may have been part of the Unity Crystals’ function when the active magic is taken away, because Twilight talked about a spell. Which was broken, which means that this spell may be related to the return of magic.
Opaline could possibly have revealed the time between Equestria’s collapse and G5, as she would have seen dragon fire repeatedly while under house arrest. “Several hundred moons” suggests a couple of centuries at most.
Then came the collapse of Equestria. And this story has yet to be explained. What is told in E2 and E6 is not popular as it means that Twilight had committed unforgivable transgressions seen through the eyes of humans who believe in free will, agency and freedom of choice. Which cannot be allowed to stand.
Since Opaline thought alicorns are immortal and no one knows where Twilight and the Mane 6 come into the picture around the Unity Crystals, it could mean that Twilight will “return” because when she sent the message - which is fake because it doesn’t show her true appearance - was it with the knowledge that she wants to be with Sunny. And this does not mean spiritual presence. It is possible that she will “help” Sunny in C3 or C4 after Opaline had won and become Queen of Equestria, guiding her into a rematch that will end in Sunny’s victory. Misty can play an important role in the finale.
But if Twilight believes she will be with Sunny in the future, that must mean she has a method to connect with her successor.E4 has clearly shown that Sunny is a much better alicorn than Opaline, as she denied the lure of power and only wants to be there for the other ponies, which is a clear sign that she has the right personality to be an alicorn. This will please Twilight.
Logically, the only method is the Unity Crystals. All magic was “collected” there, but a sentence from E2 which is missing, may suggest much more, perhaps the magical dimension, C1 has shown dimensional portals from which earth pony magic came.
If Twilight was able to foresee the future in the time after her friends’ demise, it is possible that she could understand what was going to happen, with one clear exception, the collapse of Equestria. She knows that Opaline will break free and poses a serious threat if the magic returns, and thus will be of assistance. As Misty was saved by Opaline when she was just a filly, it must mean that Opaline had been released longer before the G5 movie, maybe all the way back to the collapse.
The last cover of the Discord Arc revealed that it is possible that the Mane 6 after their time are not completely gone, as their cutie mark magic may still be active.
We may have to wait until C4 to find out.
But the case with C2 is a bit problematic. It was too simple in terms of plot, that it doesn’t always flow well. Very narrow minded, Equestria was much bigger before the end of S1 in comparison.