Twilight awoke to three things; the steady beeping of a heart monitor, a pounding headache that made her own horn throb, and the angry visage of Luna. It was the third that blasted her away.

“DOST THOU KNOW WHAT THY ACTIONS HAVE DONE, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!? ALL OF OUR ALLIANCES ARE IN JEOPARDY NOW DUE TO THINE ATTACK ON THE OVERLORD!”

The blast of the Canterlot Royal Voice blew her off the bed she was on and into the waking world, all the while making her headache even worse. She grabbed the edge of her bed and pulled herself up, staring at Luna with bleary eyes.

“Princess Luna? What happened? Did we get the Overlord?” Twilight asked, making Luna's scowling face further enraged.

Before the princess of the night could say anything, there was another groan making the two look over to see Rainbow sitting up, clutching her head.

“How much wine did I drink?” The wonderbolt trainee asked.

The question was followed by more groans as the others all woke up. Luna watched with her arms crossed, scowl on her face, and wings out. Once Twilight was back in and more aware with water in her, she looked at Luna.

“You did not get the Overlord. What you DID do was piss off EVERY SINGLE BUCKING member that was part of our alliances! From the Arabians to the Zebras and everyone in between!”

Rainbow looked mad at that and made it known.

“The actual buck, Princess? Don't they know that the Overlord is evil as Evil can get?! Ouch, too many words...”

Luna sighed, rubbing her temples at how stupid the Pegasus acted sometimes.

“No, they don't know because the Overlord has made himself out as a being of the people. By freeing Prance from the grip of a tyrant, he has made himself out as a savior. What's more, is that he has also foiled an attempt by the Caribou who were planning to invade us and all of Equestria quite possibly the world after. Furthering his credibility as a savior. Your attack on him made him accuse Celestia that she had invited him to end him! The other members took this at face value!” Luna snarled with a glare at the six.

“So...what you're sayin' is that we attacked a dignitary without just cause?” Applejack surmised making Luna throw up her arms in exasperation.

“By my mother's massive tits, YES! You have undone a thousand years of work in a single night! Your attack on the Overlord has Prance baying for blood, our allies to be uneasy around us thinking that we'll attack next simply because they're 'evil' in how they do things! My sister and Cadenza are doing EVERYTHING they can to assure our allies that this international crisis was not planned by us.”

The six mares all looked at one another as Discord popped in, his face somber. He curled up next to Fluttershy who buried her head in her knees. He planted a hand on her shoulder, hissing slightly as he felt the Overlord's magic. Twilight, on the other hand, snarled.

“We need to try again...this time, strike the Overlord with the Elements when he least expects it.”

Rainbow nodded.

“Yeah, no one makes a monkey out of Rainbow Dash.”

Hearing that, Discord shook his head and snapped his talons. The six elements appeared hovering in the air. The girls all looked at the blackened, cracked stones and gasped in shock.

“W-what happened to the elements!? They're...they're...” Rarity stammered out.

“They're powerless.” Luna said somberly. “No doubt the Overlord told Twilight a bit of their history. I want you all to listen and listen well.”

Luna sighed, sitting down in a nearby chair and crossing her legs. She told the tale of the terraforming of the planet, the days of the Overlord and Celestia's youth. How using ancient methods, the Overlord planned, created and made a tree of crystal with each of the newly made tribes and races offering up a single gemstone to the Alicorns and the Overlord. How he poured the ancient magics into the gems, strengthening them and imbuing them.

These stones would be shaped, cut and finally inserted into the tree, making it a Tree of Harmony.

“The magic of that single event empowered the tree with so much power, we could run an entire city on it for eons. EONS! Say what you will, but the Overlord could craft spells that would make impossible and improbable, possible and probable. But the Overlord had also added fail-safes to the tree and gems in the off-chance that they were turned into weapons of mass terror.” Luna said, thinking also of the first time she had heard of her sister going at it with the Dark Lord keeping her blush down.

“Those fail-safes activated last night didn't they?” Twilight interrupted, making Luna start.

“Yes...how-”

“He told me...he took me to some sort of void of white and...and he told me that we do not truly represent the elements of Loyalty, Kindness, Honesty, Laughter, Generosity, and Magic slash Friendship.”

That made everyone stare at her. Luna had an inkling as to how the Elements worked, but never thought that this was a reason. They all stared at their best friend with her explaining the encounter with the Overlord. Twilight didn't go into too much detail, just saying that he had stripped away the veil. She of course didn't believe him making Luna scoff.

“Whatever he showed you is true. The elements were made to promote and teach harmony, not enforce it. Celestia and I learned that the hard way the first time. But the fact that they WORKED the first time just tells me that the Elements saw him in the wrong, whereas this time, they no doubt view him in the right or when you tried to use them against him, you considered them weapons hence the deactivation and failure to overcome him.” Luna mused.

“Still there has to be something we can do!” Rainbow stated hotly.

“Yes, there is.” A new yet familiar voice said making the eight look up.

There standing in the door was Celestia. Her once ethereal hair was disheveled, her crown crooked, and bags under her eyes. She watched as Twilight got up and ran up to her.

“Cele-” Her student began.

SLAP

The sound echoed in the room, Twilight stumbling back onto the ground, clutching her now red cheek, eyes wide in shock and tears prickling her eyes. The monarch stepped forward to look at the other five, ignoring her now crying student.

“Glad to see that you're awake after two weeks.”

That made them all jump.

“TWO WEEKS!?!” “WHAT HAPPENED?!” “MY STORE!”

“SILENCE!”

The bellow that came from Celestia made the CRV of Luna's look tame. Wind blew around while hairs were swept back. They all stared at Celestia in fear, the princess's face a unholy visage of rage. She yanked Twilight up from her place on the ground with a golden glow, tossing her onto the bed she was on. They all watched as the Princess paced, her heels clacking.

“You have no idea how much trouble you have just made for all of us.” Celestia said, her tone dead and emotionless. “All of our allies threatening to cut off ties, our trade wiped out, our way of life threatened, the kingdom coming THIS close to collapse. All because you. Couldn't. Leave. Well. Enough. ALONE. Prance nearly came close to remaking our deal that would have left the nobles broke and the rest of the nation penniless.”

She stopped pacing, a sad smile on her face.

“But thanks to myself and Cadenza, that did not happen...but that does not mean you are off the hook. Oh no. In order to keep what agreements we now have, the representatives of all our allies have given me an Ultimatum and I intend to follow through with it if only to appease them.”

The remaining five looked at each other, the comatose Twilight still in shock over what her teacher had just done. Celestia turned to the one occupant in the bed, her eyes showing none of the kindness she was renown for. All they showed was a jaded hardness.

“Rarity, your dresses shall be sold nowhere else save Equestria's borders.”

“WHAT!?! BUT! MY BUSINESS! I'LL LOSE TOO MUCH!” Rarity shrieked.

The golden aura appeared again, clamping the mare's mouth shut. She leveled a look that booked pain if the mare continued on her tirade.

“That is the deal. Now suck it up and learn to deal with it.”

Celestia spun on her heel, walking from the newly sobbing mare to stand in front of Rainbow. The cocky mare gulped at seeing those same cold eyes bore into hers.

“Rainbow Dash, I, Princess Celestia, hereby strip you of your rank in the Wonderbolts and forbade you from entering their forces until you have paid back the debt you owe to the party you have insulted.”

The world shattered around Dash hearing that. It was an ancient law that Twilight had her study in earnest and it was only given out to the WORST offenders of the Wonderbolts, be they trainee or veteran. She wouldn't be able to partake of the shows, training, anything to do with the Wonderbolts. As her mind tried to process this, Celestia moved on.

Pinkie Pie whimpered as she stared at the enraged goddess.

“Pinkamena Pie, Until you pay back the debt you owe, you shall not host one single party except when they reserve it at the Sugercube Corner.”

Pinkie's hair deflated with a loud sound. Despite his best attempt to hide it, Discord snickered. Scathing looks from Luna and Celestia made him shut up. Celestia moved onto the next bed where Applejack was sweating buckets.

“Please don't let it be losin' the farm, Princess! Granny...she wouldn' take it too well!” Applejack blurted out.

Celestia shook her head.

“Your family won't lose the farm, but the demand is this; you are not to work any apple bucking season or sell any apples outside of Ponyville. Instead, you are to train Apple Bloom in the responsibility.”

Compared to the others, Applejack felt she got off lightly. Until the full implications hit her. Recalling her nightmares, she began to sob. Celestia ignored it as she walked to the now silent Fluttershy and Discord.

“Fluttershy, you shall release the animals in your care to their natural habitats save Discord and one of your choosing.”

The single statement made the butter-creme mare wail. It nearly broke Celestia's heart, but as di-arch, she had to put the needs of the many over the good of one. Facing the last bed, Celestia took a deep breath.

This one would test her resolve and her conviction.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

The mare in question made no move to acknowledge her ruler. Luna sighed, snapping her own fingers. The mare was covered in a blue aura, snapping to attention, now alert and awake.

“Celes-”

“You will address me as 'your majesty, Princess Celestia' Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia hissed, bitter cold frosting her words.

Twilight's fur stood ramrod straight, fear prickling her mind. Staring into the cold eyes of Celestia's made Twilight feel like a filly again. She did not speak but did not need to. Her face said it all to her former mentor.

“For attacking a foreign dignitary, for insulting our allies, shaming your family, land, and kingdom, I, Her Majesty Celestia, strip you of your title of Princess, convict you to House arrest, forbade you from contacting myself or my sister, revoke your guardianship of MY son, Spike Solaris, revoke your licenses to practice any theoretical magic and renounce you as my protege in all terms.”

Twilight's heart stopped for a full second, her entire universe shattering in one mind-numbing moment. Everything she had ever done, worked for, earned, striven to achieve under Celestia's tutelage.

Gone. Like ashes in the wind.

“You shall retain all books in the library you live in, but any and all books taken from the Canterlot Royal Archives and Star-Swirl section MUST be returned. If not done so in thirty days, you will be tried as an enemy of the state for sharing kingdom secrets.” Celestia's voice broke through the haze of Twilight's lamentation.

It dealt another devastating blow to her; seventy-five percent of the library she lived in had most of the CRA and SSS in them for her own self studies. With her life now in utter ruins, Twilight did the only thing she could.

She wept.

Celestia left the room, tears of her own threatening to spill out. Luna looked at the six devastated mares and shook her head.

“Tis a sad day indeed...” The mare of the Night whispered, leaving as well, the sounds of the broken mares echoing in her skull.

MLPOV

Luna looked left and right for her sister, knowing that she hadn't taken this job too easy. She found her solar sister, sitting on the ground, knees up with her arms wrapped around them, her crown off and openly weeping. Luna watched her elder for moments, not sure how to handle a heart-shattered sister.

“Lu-lu...”

Luna's ears perked up at the mention of her old nickname. Kneeling, she wrapped Celestia in a hug, stroking her elder sister's mane as she let her bottled emotions flow out her eyes.

“Yes, Tia?”

“I want things to go back to the way they were...” Celestia whispered, blubbering the words out. “Before this...this madness.”

Luna felt her own tears flowing, recalling happier times with her sister and the Overlord.

“As do I sister...as do I.”

The celestial sisters remained like that for the rest of the night.

MLPOV

It was a somber arrival of the Mane six back in Ponyville. Their eyes were all red from the crying that had been done. Not a word was said between them and no pony said a word to them as they disembarked. Nor did any pony even looked at them.

They were ignored. That suited them just fine. They walked the streets of their home, manes drooping, sullen expressions on their faces.

One by one, the mares left for their homes, hearts heavy, no words spoken.

What could be said? No musical numbers or laughter would heal the scars they now bore. No kind words of encouragement could erase the sins and guilt they now held. They were left in their own worlds of darkness and regret.

Twilight opened the door to see a nearly empty library. Obviously, Spike had decided to take the books back with him on his trip back to Canterlot.

That struck another chord with Twilight's heart; Spike. Her magical son. She planned on apologizing for her actions to him, for the years he had spent with her.

Only now she'd never get the chance. He was gone now...gone for good. Gone back to his real mother, to a real home. A soft hoot made her look up to see Owlicious, her night helper. She swept up the bird in a hug, being mindful of the tiny thing. Fresh new tears fell as the owl returned the hug.

“What can I do to fix this, Owlicious?” Twilight whispered in the still air.

No answer came.

Author's Note

What madness is this? Ah, its just me finally getting back into the swing of things. Looks like the Overlord isn't the only one who can deliver some powerful blows. Guess the allies of Equestria can hit just as hard.

Till next time.