Imagine had Skyros had been the antagonists like if Opaline was just one antagonist instead of the main one
Imagine had other elemental Alicorns decided to build an new Skyros in Equestria and then conquer the world to build a true Grand New Skyros Empire one where a council of Alicorns would rule over the lands and other creatures Opaline would be named Lord of the Dragonlands meaning her subjects would be dragons and kirin but she would answer to an Emperor or Empress of Alicorns
Heck they could have reused the canned movie character Cosmos
Yes Cosmos was originally going to be an Alicorn and celestia and Lunas brother
An Alicorn who is more about order and rule over friendship and tolerance
It is possible that the three guardians in the book from C3 could be the “council of Alicorns”, Elder Flower had demonstrated that there is something that manipulated the memories of this very period when Equestria collapsed, when she was unable to say “alicorns”, and instead uses the word “bats” about these, in response to the name Opaline when she was interviewed by Zipp. It’s possible that the remaining alicorns after Twilight had disappeared and the royal sisters may have gone as well, forming a council to look after the ponies during the confusing time, only to fall apart when they “forgot their purpose”, as it said in the book. One of them could be Flurry Heart, since the Crystal Palace is visible on the cover of the book. And it is possibly she who was last seen in the book, when she left. These who printed the book may have suffered the same as Elder Flower. It is possible that she is still alive, and that there may be two other alicorns.
Considering that it’s now certain that the magic disappeared about four or five generations ago, Opaline may still have been under house arrest because she didn’t have her magic for “several hundred moons”, and this is longer than five generations - maybe she was under house arrest for at least a thousand years as suggested by IDW comics. Maybe she was accepted into the council, maybe not. But Opaline likely did not consider them a threat, although it is seen that when she talks about other alicorns, it is in the present tense as if they are still alive, including Twilight. She believes the alicorns are immortal. We don’t know yet what Twilight wanted Opaline not to do when she made her warning. Maybe other alicorns?
“The tree network” is like a door from a Babylon 5 special (sci fi) - which goes both ways, probably Twilight or one of her friends was the first to discover that one can teleport from tree to tree, but that implied that both parties control this activity. It is also possible that whoever wanted to teleport could control the drift from the receiving tree and could create a portal some distance away, as Opaline may have done in the Dragon Lands. This is reminiscent of the principle from the sci fi game Mass Effect. If the realms can have instant contact with each other, and can also control the magic in the trees so they can block unwanted intruders, they will undoubtedly see great value in friendly relations with these in the network. For Twilight, this will be essential to her empire based on friendship and volunteerism. She doesn’t need army power for this.
Opaline is very aware of it, since her magic returned she had been able to use the Together Tree, which may have also been her instrument to observe the events of Maretime Bay in C1, especially since she was not supposed to be magically stronger than a normal unicorn.
And last but not least; it is possible that Equestria’s collapse and the memory of Twilight’s empire could mean that there is a vacant throne out there, waiting for her successor, who will reunite the old bonds of friendship between the ponies and the rest of the world. Opaline wants this throne in her revenge against Twilight.
A throne that rightfully belongs to Sunny.
