Meanwhile, in the capital of Equestria, Princesses Celestia and Luna went about their evening, completely unaware of what had happened in Ponyville. Luna had just woken up and raised the moon and was speaking with her sister before she went to her quarters for the night. They were talking about recent political threats made by the ambassador from Saddle Arabia.

"I don't understand this, sister," Luna said, "we've always been on good terms with their country. Why in the world would they want to threaten us?"

"I believe that these threats are born out of jealousy. After all, we basically control our world. We do raise the sun and moon for every creature, the pegasi of Cloudsdale come up with the weather for the entire world except for the Everfree Forest, and the ambassadors of other nations are always coming to us for advice. I feel that Saddle Arabia's government thinks that it's their turn to be in control."

"We must quell these threats at once, or risk the destruction of our beloved home!"

"I don't think that there is any reason for concern, Luna," Celestia said calmly, "these will die down soon enough."

Suddenly, a letter magically appeared right in front of Celestia's nose. She opened it and read it, her eyes growing wide with fear and becoming wider all the time. Luna took notice of this. "Celestia…um…what's with the eyes?"

"Th-th-th-there's been an attack on the School of Friendship!"

"WHAT?!" Luna shouted. She began hyperventilating. "An attack? In Equestria? Is it Saddle Arabia?"

"No, it's much worse, in fact. It appears we have a racially motivated war on our hooves!"

Luna sighed, "did Maddock-?"

"No! Maddock had nothing to do with this! You know he's changed! We saw him on our last visit to the school, teaching other creatures how to get rid of their bigotry." Luna nodded, "yes, I suppose you're right, Celestia. But who would dare do something so horrible?"

"According to Spike's letter, her name is Sapphira and she's hell bent on making sure that unicorns are the dominant race in Equestria!"

Luna gasped, not only at her sister's use of the term "hell bent," but at the horrific viciousness of this malefactor. She couldn't believe that somepony would actually act on feelings like that. She thought that every pony with a prejudice could somehow be changed. Unfortunately, this did not appear to be the case, no matter how much she wished otherwise.

"It says here that…she's headed for Canterlot!" Celestia suddenly screamed, "quick Luna, give orders to triple the guards around the city! Also, get me Shining Armor!" Luna nodded and flew off to give the orders while Celestia began worrying and pacing around the room.

It was at times like this she wondered why Star Swirl had chosen her to be a princess of Equestria. He had given her so much in the way of friendship, but she thought he would have made a far better ruler than she ever was. She tried to put up a brave front during crises like this one, but was never able to do so to her own satisfaction.

So she paced and worried and paced and worried some more. She was concerned for everypony, but above all, she was worried for her beloved former student, Twilight. Her letter confirmed that she was at least okay, but how was her condition? Was she badly hurt? Did Spike send the letter while Twilight was lying in bed, bleeding from all of her orifices and with two broken wings? Or was it Twilight herself who had magically written the letter with a quill and ink? UGH! There are too many variables! Celestia shouted internally, she could be hurt or she could be fine or-

At this point, the doors to the room opened. "Luna! Thank goodness you're back," Celestia said breathlessly. "Not quite," a female voice replied. Celestia turned to see her adopted niece Cadance with her husband Shining Armor and her little great niece, baby Flurry Heart. "Cadence," Celestia said as she stepped forward and hugged her, "how…how did you get here so quickly?"

"The Crystal Express is a bullet train," Shining Armor said, "it can get us here in the blink of an eye." "As soon as we got Luna's message, we made a beeline for the train," Cadance said, "is everything alright?"

"So far," Celestia replied, "there's been no attack by the marauding unicorns. But…that doesn't mean I'm not worried."

"I think ponies would be angry if you weren't worried. I mean, you're the ruler of Equestria! Worrying about your subjects is kinda part of the job. I mean, I worry about the ponies of the Crystal Empire."

"Boy does she ever," Shining Armor put in, rolling his eyes. This earned him a bit of a jab from his wife. "Oh, you stop, Shining," she said, "you know darn well you worry just as much as I do."

"OK, OK, I'm guilty," Shining Armor said, blushing, "so I worry. They're my subjects too, you know. I am the prince, after all."

Cadance smiled, "yes, sweetheart, I know. You do a wonderful job." She kissed him, and he blushed some more. "Aw, you know…I try."

Celestia gave them both a look. How could they possibly think about romance at a time like this? "I hate to break up the love fest here, but Equestria is in grave peril!" She said sharply, "this is no time for kissing and making goo-goo eyes at each other!" With that, she resumed her pacing and worrying.

"Aunt Celestia," Cadance said, "I appreciate that you're worried about Equestria, but you're pacing so much, you're gonna wear a hole in the carpet!"

"It's my carpet," Celestia retorted, "if I want to wear a hole in it, then I will wear a hole in it!"

At this point, Luna came galloping back in. The other ponies turned and looked at her and gasped. She was covered with blood and one wing appeared to be broken. She was breathing heavily and her blue eyes were flitting wildly around the room. Once she saw she was safe, she settled down a bit, although the others could tell she was in a massive amount of pain.

She limped across the room to her sister and collapsed on her shoulder. "Luna," Celestia said soothingly, "what happened?"

"The invaders have attacked Canterlot. I did my best to help where I could, but three of them held me down while a fourth beat me. I can still see the vicious look in their eyes. They were calling me 'inferior' and 'impure.' What's worse, they want all of us princesses dead by morning. It's not safe to be gathered in one place. We must flee!"

"How on earth did you manage to escape?" Cadance asked

"I teleported out of there when I had a moment's break," Luna said before groaning, "oh…my wing…my hoof…ugh…"

"You need medical attention," Celestia pointed out, "come on, let's go see the palace medical staff." With that, she helped her sister back to her hooves and tried to leave the room. But Luna wouldn't budge. "No! We can't bother with some frivolous thing like my well being. We have to flee! If we don't, then the entirety of the royal family of Equestria might be nothing but historical dust by morning!"

"I'm not going anywhere," Cadance said with a resolute look, "we can beat these evil ponies. I just know it."

"I'm not going anywhere either," Shining Armor said, "I'll defend this castle and my family until my dying breath!" Celestia half expected them to give each other dreamy, cliché looks, but nothing like that happened. They were completely serious, and looked ready to give their lives for Canterlot and Equestria. She turned to her wounded sister. "Luna, we need to get you well. Come on, let's go."

"NO! WE HAVE TO FLEE! THERE IS NO POINT! THEY'LL KILL ALL OF US! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!" Luna screamed as her sister fairly dragged her out of the room and towards the palace medical wing. Her words echoed throughout the chamber as Cadance and Shining Armor looked at each other with complete fear. They had put up a big front in front of their friends, but could they back it up? Could they defend Canterlot against the invading horde? They didn't know. But they knew one thing: they had to try.