Daybreaker flew over the buildings of Ponyville, contemplating on which one of them to destroy. If she destroyed one of the homes of Twilight's closest friends, perhaps Twilight would surrender right away.

It was when she was thinking this that her eyes landed on the nauseatingly colorful Sugarcube Corner. Daybreaker grinned until she saw Rainbow Dash run out the front door and fly up to face her.

She expected the blue pegasus to yell at her, but she flew right into Daybreaker's chest plate and started hitting it with her hooves. Her movements became more desperate as Daybreaker flew out of her reach and shot a ball of fire.

Rainbow Dash flew out of the way in a rather clumsy movement, her eyes wide.

"Celestia?" Dash gasped.

Daybreaker took the moment of shock to shoot more fireballs at her, and when Rainbow Dash avoided another fireball, she flew right in the direction of another one. The fireball hit her and consumed her entire body, and after two seconds of agonized screaming, Rainbow Dash was no more than a pile of ash on the ground.

The Element of Loyalty was dead.

Daybreaker wasn't too keen on killing one of her beloved's best friends, but it had to be done. She saw Pinkie and the Cakes escaping out the back door; Pinkie stopping to see the dark blue ash fall on the ground.

Celestia could see the glitter of oncoming tears in Pinkie's eyes before she threw her head to the sky and screamed.

"NO!" Pinkie sobbed. "Rainbow-"

"We have to go!" Mrs. Cake begged. "She'll kill us too!"

Daybreaker saw Pinkie turn around and follow the Cakes, her mane turning straight. She threw a fireball right into Sugarcube Corner, igniting it into flames.

"TWILIGHT!" Daybreaker shouted over the chaos. "I've come to take you home!"


Daybreaker's shout had woke up Twilight.

The little alicorn jolted out of her bed, finally being exposed to the desperate screams of dozens of ponies right outside her castle. Her eyes widened as she realized this was no senseless attack from a bugbear or Ursa Minor, or a strategically planned invasion like one from Chrysalis, but a brutal killing spree.

One out of vengeance.

Oh no.

"...Celestia?" Twilight whimpered. She jumped out of the bed and opened her blinds, immediately being blinded by the bright sunlight and fire that cascaded the town. Twilight shrieked at the literal hell her home had become.

"Twilight!" Twilight felt Tempest's foreleg wrap around her shoulders, and her marefriend let out a gasp at the scene before them.

"I'm gonna kill her!" Tempest snarled, bolting for the door. Twilight stood for a few more moments, distracted by the bright flashes of wildfire, before she processed what her love had said.

"WAIT!" Twilight yelled, following Tempest's hoofsteps. She began to cry out through the hallways, even though Tempest was nowhere in sight. "Tempest, she'll kill you! You can't go out there!"

"And what? We're just going to let her kill everyone else?!" Tempest's voice echoed back in response.

Twilight used a teleportation spell to appear in front of Tempest, standing between her and the front door. Tempest stopped moving, staring at the torn expression on Twilight's face. It was the same expression that the purple bookworm made when she was solving equations. After two minutes had passed, Twilight finally snapped out of her confusion, looking at Tempest.

"I know what to do."


"YOUR CROPS SHALL BURN!" Daybreaker cackled as she threw one fireball at the apple trees of Sweet Apple Acres, and another fireball at the barn itself. She thought she could hear a tiny scream from inside, but no more than that.

Daybreaker determined that Applejack and Big Mac were probably not inside the barn, which was somewhat of a good thing. She didn't need to kill any more of Twilight's best friends after all.

She turned away from the burning trees and flew towards the Friendship School. This was it, she had felt that Twilight would not let this school burn. She would give up!

As she predicted, before she could release fire from her mouth, Twilight and Tempest ran in front of the school to stop her. Daybreaker grinned, aiming her unreleased fire at Tempest.

"STOP!" Twilight cried. "Daybreaker, y-you win. If you don't hurt Tempest, I will go back with Celestia to Canterlot. And belong to her for the rest of eternity."

"What?!" Tempest gasped. "Twilight, you can't be serious! You said it yourself! Celestia shouldn't stop us from loving-"

"Shut up." Daybreaker hissed, before looking back at Twilight. "You...you mean it?"

"Truly, I realized that I made a mistake leaving Celestia." Twilight looked into Daybreaker's eyes. "Please, Daybreaker. I want to see my Celestia again, I miss her."

Daybreaker turned around and shot a beam of white magic at the burning buildings, extinguishing the flames. Soon, there was only charred buildings devoid of any fire. Daybreaker looked back at Twilight and lifted her head to the sky as she transformed back into Princess Celestia, who looked exhausted from the excessive use of magic.

"T-Twi...I'm sorry about the mess I made." Celestia panted. "When we get h-home...I'll spend the rest of our lives making up for the death of your friend."

"The...?" Twilight's eyes widened for a moment before she shook her head. "Nevermind that, I just want to rest my head on your chest. For a moment?"

"Anything for you, my love." Celestia raised a hoof and brought Twilight's head to her fluffy chest. "There, there. I'm so glad we could compromi-"

Celestia let out a bloodcurdling scream as she felt a pink magical sword enter her chest and exit through her back. Every single movement that she made caused more blood to pour onto Twilight's head.

After several moments of thrashing, the sword disappeared from Twilight's horn, and Celestia's unconscious body slumped into a pool of her own blood. Tempest could only stay frozen still as Twilight, still drenched in her former teacher's blood, took several steps back and looked at Tempest with teary eyes.

"I didn't want this to happen! I couldn't let her kill anyone else!" Twilight cried. "I'm such a stupid pony for not being more careful in breaking up with her."

"You did nothing wrong." Tempest insisted. "She was being possessive over you, and she was about to attack me that night. You had a right to be angry."

"She's not dead, it wouldn't be right to kill her." Twilight explained. "Plus, her fate must be decided by all the Princesses as well as witnesses. If death is her punishment then, so be it."

"What about the death of your friend? Which one was it?" Tempest asked.

"I..." More tears fell down Twilight's face. "I n-n-need to take Celestia's body back to Canterlot castle and then cleanse myself of her blood. Then I will allow myself to...assess the casualties."

"Even now, you're still the task-oriented mare I fell in love with." Tempest confessed, briefly pressing her muzzle against Twilight's before pulling away. "I'll leave you to it, and I'll go see who needs help here."

"I...I love you too." Twilight replied. "I'll see you soon."

Twilight turned to Celestia's body, and with another spell, she teleported her and her former teacher to Canterlot.


Twilight and her teacher's body were teleported to one of the castle's hallways, where she could hear guards asking about the absence of both Princesses. After a few moments, two of the guards came into Twilight's view.

"Twilight, I...oh great stars above!" The guard gasped at Celestia's body. "What happened?!"

"Princess Celestia finally snapped, and set Ponyville to flames to get me back." Twilight sighed. "I'm sure you guards knew the reason of her grievances lately."

"Indeed." The other guard nodded. "I thought she was just expressing great sorrow, as would most ponies after a breakup, but it seems that she was determined to keep you forever."

"Did...did you say that Princess Luna is missing as well?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, we've looked in all the rooms."

"Have you checked t-the closets?" Twilight whispered, hoping that she didn't have to deal with anymore dead bodies. The two guards looked at each other before taking off to check.

Without anypony to talk to, Twilight realized that her legs were shaking, and that Celestia's blood was sinking into the carpet below their hooves. Even now, when she knew that Celestia could hurt her no more, she was still afraid of the future.

"I must warn you, Princess Luna, your sister and her former student are covered in blood. It won't be a pretty sight."

"I've seen many wars in my day, nothing could-"

As Twilight expected, Luna covered her shriek with her own hoof, her cyan eyes staring at her sister's mortally injured body.

"I must heal her!" Luna cried.

"No!" Twilight gasped. "I m-mean, please imprison her and strip her of her magic, so she doesn't set anymore lands on fire or take anymore lives."

Princess Luna managed to look even more shocked then before, but even in her seemingly frozen state, she gave a small nod and teleported herself and her sister out of sight.

"Anything you want us to do, Princess Twilight?" the guard asked.

"Make sure that Celestia can't hurt anypony." Twilight said. "And send a letter to Candace and my brother. Princess Celestia has a lot of crimes to be held accountable for."

"Yes, Princess."


Fluttershy, fortunately, was far away from the fire.

In fact, Discord had soundproofed the cottage as soon as he heard indistinguishable loud noises stirring his dear Fluttershy. However, that didn't prevent Tempest from knocking the door down and prodding Discord with her hoof.

"You two! There's been a fire!"

Fluttershy leaped onto her four hooves, wide awake.

"F-F-Fire?" Fluttershy whimpered. "Is everypony okay?"

"No." Tempest winced at Fluttershy's broken expression. "That's why I came here, to collect Twilight's friends that have made it through the fire."

"And I don't suppose you'll tell us how this fire happened?" Discord frowned.

"Unfortunately, Celestia has turned on her own people." Tempest explained. "She was determined to tear down every building until she could bring Twilight back to Canterlot."

"It's Nightmare Moon all over again!" Fluttershy wailed, falling to the ground and covering her eyes with her hooves. "She's going to kill all of us!"

"Twilight managed to trick her into stopping her madness, and she's gone now. We're safe, Fluttershy." Tempest placed a hoof on her pink mane. "Come with me, we need to find Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash. Then we can go from there."


Tempest managed to find Rarity hiding under her bed. Once Tempest had coaxed her to crawl out, Rarity had told her that Applejack had spent the night with her. But as soon as they heard the fire start, Applejack led her to a safe hiding spot and ran to Sweet Apple Acres to save her family.

When Tempest asked if she returned, Rarity woefully shook her head. Discord and Fluttershy offered to look for Pinkie and Rainbow Dash, and Tempest thanked the two before she left for Sweet Apple Acres.

Tempest's gallops through the hillside leading to Sweet Apple Acres were the only sounds present in the otherwise silent wreckage of burned wood. Much to her horror, there was no barn, but instead there was a black splat of ash where it used to be.

As she ran closer, she saw an orange figure standing in the ashes. It was Applejack, weeping. Tempest stopped mid-run, and slowly approached her without a word.

"Big Mac w-was out of town...but Apple Bloom and Granny Smith were spending the time by themselves while I was wasting time with Rarity!" Applejack snarled. "They were my damn family, I never should've left them!"

"You can't blame yourself or Rarity." Tempest sighed. "Blame me, I was the one that pissed Celestia off."

"You? Twilight was the one that broke up with her. Huh, maybe she's the reason my granny and baby sister are dead..."

"We don't know that, we need to do a search on all the missing ponies." Tempest insisted.

"Quit giving me false hope and leave me alone!" Applejack snapped.

"We need to gather the Elements of Harmony so we can restore Ponyville." Tempest told Applejack. "They need you, Applejack."

"...I'll be there in a few minutes." Applejack turned her back to Tempest. "Now go."


Pinkie was near the remains of Sugarcube Corner, crying hysterically.

Through her crying, she managed to get out that the Cakes did not come back to Ponyville despite the news of safety. Discord, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie were in the town square. And Rarity once more asked where Rainbow Dash was.

"She's gone!" Pinkie yelled, breaking into sobs once more. "That monster killed her!"

Tempest, who was within earshot, stopped in her tracks. So not all the Elements of Harmony survived Daybreaker.

"P-Pinkie, everypony is watching you. We need to remain strong for the sake of Pony-"

"We were in love, you asshole!" Pinkie shouted in Rarity's face.

"I...I'm sorry!" Rarity lost it and started crying as well. She kept saying sorry over and over again, and was on her 20th apology when Twilight appeared in the middle of the two crying mares, cleansed of all the blood that was on her body.

"Twilight...Rainbow Dash is dead." Tempest told her.


Celestia woke up feeling a tightness on her sides, and all she could see was dark grey in her vision. As soon as she fully regained consciousness, she saw that she was behind bars in a cell by her lonesome.

"HELLO?" Celestia yelled. No response.

She looked at her wings, which were tied firmly to her sides with a silver belt with a lock on it. When she tried to use magic to tinker with the lock, she felt a sharp pain her horn. With her hoof, she rubbed her horn until she felt a magic-restricting ring at the bottom of it.

She placed a hoof on her chest, which was completely healed from Twilight's unexpected attack. Celestia sighed, not blaming Twilight for her hysterical reaction. However, she hoped to sway her fellow Princesses into giving her a light sentence so she could be with her Twilight again. She understood if it took a few years, but she hoped to be in her beloved's good graces again.

"Good evening, Celestia."

"Luna, dear sister?" Celestia called out. "Oh thank the stars you are here! It seems that the guards have placed me in a quite uncomfortable situation in this cell. I need some fresh air-"

"You won't be experiencing that for a long time, if I have my way."

Luna appeared on the other side of the cell, where Celestia could only see her glaring eyes in the darkness.

"As soon as I saw your body, I felt an instinct to heal you. But then Twilight and the guards told me everything that happened. Especially what you did with me when I called for you." Luna hissed. "The closet was not a comfortable place to wake up."

"I'm sorry, dear sister-"

"Don't call me that ever again." Luna's voice was wavering. "For hundreds of years, I've done nothing but support you and love you. Even when our parents died, even when our friends and lovers became nothing but dust, I was by your side until you pushed me away!"

"And I'm not talking about the banishment, that was my fault." Luna whispered. "I'm talking about when you tossed me aside cause you 'needed' to be with Twilight. You forced something on her, and she didn't deserve to be treated like that! You treated the closest ponies in your life like shit!"

"I'm sorry that you think that-"

Celestia felt a spell of magic seal her lips shut as Luna's glare only intensified.

"Your trial will be in two days. Prepare yourself, foul beast."