Surrender or Death

by draculaelliot

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Spitfire, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Wonderbolts, Alternate Universe, Twilight Sparkle, Sad, Main 6
Length: 14959

After ten years of war, Twilight Sparkle finally took control of Equestria as its new princess. But before anything, she needs to judge those who fought against her, including her friends and loved ones.

Twilight Sparkle has done it. After ten long years of fighting, she has taken over Equestria as its new princess. While there is much to heal, much to change, and much to do in order to bring about the new Equestria she has envisioned for so long, she must deal with the hardest thing she has ever done. Judging the friends and loved ones she had to fight. Will they submit to her, help her crate the new world for all beings? Or will they take the hangman’s noose?

Many thanks to Rated Ponystar for letting me adopt the idea of ​​this fic and helping me to improve each chapter of it, and to mikemeiers for being a wonderful proofreader and correcting the grammar of the story.

Published 2014-08-30 14:30:05 UTC
Last updated 2015-03-06 13:46:21 UTC

Prologue - The Revolution

My name is Twilight Sparkle and I was once known as Princess Celestia’s most faithful student. Now I'm called the newest princess of Equestria. Sitting on my throne, I am trying to prepare myself for my first duty as a princess.

Everything I went through to make this far was still clear in my mind. To think it all began ten years ago with innocent studies in the library of Canterlot. I wanted to learn about everything, I even risked picking up some books from the forbidden section to sate my desire for knowledge. Unfortunately, there was a reason the restricted section was, well, restricted.

In those books I found incredible inventions that could absurdly improve everyone's life in Equestria. However, none of them were new inventions, quite the opposite, they already have been discovered many decades ago. Celestia, later with the help of Luna and Cadance, hide all this knowledge away from the public in a forbidden section of the library.

I still feel myself filling with rage at the thought of how much the good princesses could have done for the country and their subjects if they applied this knowledge to improve the quality of life for the residents of Equestria. So many lives that could be saved! Instead, the princesses preferred to use their immense power for their own use, without letting Equestria evolve.

I spent months reading everything I could about this subject and every day my indignation grew more and more. It was unbelievable how the princesses seemed to try to prevent this knowledge to spread, as if they preferred the life of nopony to improve. My anger had grown so much that it was hard to keep facing Celestia and treat her right, but I needed to do this for the good of Equestria. If I showed my anger to her, she would find out everything and I would not have the opportunity to do something to change the future of my country.

It was obvious that I, as one of the Elements of Harmony, had an obligation to change it. I needed to bring all that knowledge to the people of Equestria, even if it cost me my life.

Thus, I told everything to my best friends and Spike. They were all insecure, my plan was truly risky, but in the end I managed to convince them that it was best for everyone. “If it's for the good of Equestria and you think it's a good idea, we are always with you, Twilight,” I still recall them saying it, it was our friendship overcoming their insecurities. They considered our friendship more important than their doubts. It is a shame that the best things do not last forever.

We then began to command a rebel group. At the beginning there were only seven of us: me, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike. Later, other ponies joined, they were also unhappy with the way the princesses’s government. Soon we started to receive many other species, they didn’t feel represented by the princesses, after all the princesses always did everything for the ponies and forgot all the others. Gradually other rebel groups emerged in various locations of Equestria, I was not the first to want to change the government, but I was the first to really fight for it.

I continued to live in Ponyville. So, with the help of my best friends, I took as my duty to prepare the rebel group of my city. I taught all the spells I knew and thought could help us. I taught unicorns and any other creature who could use magic. Rainbow Dash had been very excited to hear that she would teach her flying techniques to pegasi and griffins, even when some Wonderbolts decided to join our cause.

Applejack taught the techniques she used to run the farm for all kinds of ponies and other creatures who decided to help us, after all everyone should know the minimum of defending themselves if the fight became more physical. The others helped as they could, Rarity used her incredible skills of sewing to create clothes which I later enchanted. This saved so many rebels from being killed in battle; unfortunately we could not make clothes for everypony.

Fluttershy did not like the idea of fighting the government, much less when we wanted to make her persuade the animals to help us. Of course she accepted because of our friendship, but she just made the minimum possible and always seemed ready to give up on everything and abandon our cause. Pinkie Pie and Spike were left with the task of recruiting new rebels, ponies who were already unhappy with the governments of the sisters. I never wanted to involve Spike in that, but he wanted to help so badly, he was great convincing people. How could I say no to him?

As I always went to Canterlot, I also coordinated the rebel group from there. My excuse to be in Canterlot was that I was missing my mentor, Princess Celestia, but then I could hardly stay near her and I used the excuse of wanting to visit the library. I always said I didn’t want to bother Celestia with my visits, and I tried to persuade the guards not to warn her about me. Neither me nor my friends taught in this rebel group, but we found other ponies competent enough for that. Anyway, I was always there to make sure that everything went as planned.

This was unquestionably the best phase of our friendship, we were having fun training and planning everything. Every moment we spent together, planning new lessons to teach the rebels or planning how we would take the power just made our friendship stronger. Our friendship had never been this strong.

After a long while we were ready.Everyone had learned what they needed to and our devices were ready. I sent a secret message to the leaders of all the rebel groups. It was time for everyone to prepare to take the power of Equestria and in a week we would start the attack. We were finally going to defeat Celestia.

Our emotions were mingled between the excitement of finally seeing our plan in motion and the anxiety of not knowing if every thing would occur as expected. But we knew that with the Elements of Harmony in our hands no one would be able to defeat us, not even the princesses.

Unfortunately, we had no idea how wrong things would go. We had a spy in our group and she just decided to tell our whole plan to the princesses, ruining our element of surprise. So, when we attacked, the major cities of Equestria were protected. The Air Force, guards, soldiers and powerful spells prevented our attack.

All Spitfire's faults! I hit my hooves on the arm support of my chair, letting the anger flow through my body. I forced myself to take a deep breath and calm down. I could not help but be angry at Spitfire, she, together with Soarin and Fleetfoot, delayed our victory by at least eight years. It was their fault many of our allies died, and what would be a peaceful takeover, without deaths, turned into a bloody battle with inestimable losses.

I recall well the uncertainty that threatened to ruin the unity of our group. Everyone distrusted everyone. But the main suspects were some Wonderbolts, royal guards and other soldiers that once worked for Celestia. It didn’t take long for Spitfire to be revealed as a spy and leave with Soarin and Fleetfoot.

Rainbow Dash for sure was the most disappointed about it. The leader of the Wonderbolts was her greatest admiration and nothing could disappoint the Element of Loyalty more than the lack of her element. Despite everything, she and the rest of us continued to fight, and we managed to take some villages and small towns.

We soon discovered that loyalty was something lacking in the rebels, and even in my closest allies. Even Rainbow Dash eventually broke her loyalty to us, perhaps for seeing such disloyalty by people she liked. Some Wonderbolts followed Spitfire and went to fight for Celestia, and even Gilda left to fight for celestia, convincing other griffins to left as well.

Rainbow was not the first to betray the friendship among the six of us. The first disappointment was obviously Fluttershy. She wasn’t happy to help us from the beginning, and she just needed a little incentive from Discord. Fluttershy said it would be safer for her beloved animals and for everyone else if she did not ally with neither side. She did not like the idea of using the elements of harmony against other ponies and she knew that her going would prevent it.

I can’t really blame Fluttershy, she had always been very influenced. Discord probably managed to persuade her to betray our friendship, using all the artifices which a Lord of Chaos has. But even he wasn’t able to make my friend fight alongside Celestia.

Rarity didn’t take long to follow Fluttershy. She didn’t care helping the rebels, but only if she didn’t have to get her hooves dirty.. Even though she was the element of generosity, she was rather selfish. Of course she invented an excuse to abandon us, she said something about not wanting to risk the welfare of Sweetie Belle.

I knew Rarity wasn’t speaking the truth, but that destabilized Applejack and Rainbow Dash. AJ had a younger sister, as well as a grandmother, who would not know how to defend themselves because of their ages. And Rainbow treated Scootaloo like a sister. Both were very concerned that something might happen to their relatives as well.

The betrayal of the people closest to me were many. I think the only one who never left me was my little Spike. Of course I didn’t let him actually join the war. Spike was in Ponyville, which had become practically a neutral territory. So he was completely safe while we are at war. Plus, I sent letters almost every day to him, to be sure he was alright.

Returning to the betrayals, even Shining Armor dared to let me stay with Celestia and Cadance. I remember well our discussion. He had been sent by Celestia to persuade me into giving up on fighting for the rebels. I tried to show him the good we would do for Equestria and how his help would be important to achieve this. But he had already been convinced by the lies of the princesses, mainly Cadance.

Our discussion was awful. Amidst screams we said horrible things. He promised to do anything to prevent the princesses lose of power, he was keen to point out that this included battling his own sister. Obviously I also made my promises, I swore never to abandon the rebels, but I said I would always leave my heart open for him and, when Shining realized his mistake, he would have his place with me and the rebels just waiting for him.

Maybe my BBBFF, my Big Brother Best Friend Forever, now notice that I was right and wants to ally with us. Tears streamed down my face without my realizing. I took a deep breath and dried up my tears. I could not let them see me in this state, at least not now.

Almost a year after this discussion, remained in our group, of our friends, just Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Pinkie also left us, but I can’t blame her. Is there something the Element of Laughter could hate more than wars? Nobody laughs in wars, we only see pain and suffering. I even thought that Pinkie Pie would be the first to abandon us, but she managed to resist with us for almost a year.

It is hard to handle a war, I know that, it was hard for me too. The Element of Honesty was not able to hide her dissatisfaction with everything and her willingness to give up on everything about this war and go to her farm, take care of the trees, animals and especially her family. It did not take long for Applejack to decide to go. But she left on good terms with me, I understand the necessity of AJ and I just pointed out how much we would miss her.

Rainbow Dash didn’t take things so well. She was the Element of Loyalty and saw everyone going away, leaving their friends behind. In the fifth year of the war, Rainbow was with one of our groups, they tried to take a city near Canterlot. Unfortunately, the group was unsuccessful and she was captured by Celestia’s soldiers.

All our attempts to recover Dash were in vain. In a week she was present at one of our attacks against the cities of Equestria, but fighting against the rebels. We had the opportunity to have a quick conversation. She actually apologized to me because of it, but Celestia convinced her that our cause was wrong and she said she was more loyal to Equestria than to our friendship. And it was obvious that she was glad to finally be a Wonderbolt and work with Spitfire. Apparently, Rainbow was the second in command of the Wonderbolts.

The tears turned to roll down my face, but I didn’t make any effort to stop them. I knew that soon some guards would appear, but I had the right to suffer for all my friends. It was not healthy to keep so much pain inside me. I stayed nine minutes crying, until I calm down. I dried my tears again and went back to my thoughts.

Nine was also the number of years, after the war started, it took us to change our fate. We won and lost many territories, many of our fellows died, as well as we killed many of Celestia’s soldiers. Nobody knew how the war would end, and everyone was afraid of the rebels lose.

When Queen Chrysalis appeared in our campsite, everyone was concerned. If she had managed to sneak among our group without us realizing it, how many other changelings would be there too? But we talked a lot. She and her subjects also suffered under Celestia’s government, they were not monsters.

The changelings mainly ate love, but they could also feed on other positive feelings such as friendship. Celestia didn’t allow any of the changelings live in Equestria, which forced Chrysalis to take extreme measures, like invading Canterlot. Chrysalis said she was only concerned about her poor subjects, that she considers as her children.

I knew this wasn’t the whole truth, Chrysalis also wanted power. But Celestia didn’t have to keep out all changelings and treat them as monsters. She wanted the changelings to be discriminated and never accepted in Equestria. And I wouldn’t allow myself to be like Celestia.

Despite everyone trying to convince me that allying with Chrysalis was crazy, I managed to persuade them that it was better in this way, they weren’t the monsters that Celestia told us. Our union was sealed and our progress in the war was unbelievable.

Only one year was necessary for us to take all Equestria save Canterlot. With the defeat of the Crystal Empire, Shining and Cadance managed to disappoint me again. The two didn’t accept the defeat with their empire, they fled cowardly to Canterlot, taking shelter with the other princesses. Canterlot then had the magic of three alicorns and Shining Armor, an expert on shields, to protect them and prevent the passage of the rebels. Even with the help of the changelings, it seemed impossible to conquer Canterlot.

I debated much with myself about what I should do. The best idea I had was extremely dangerous, not only for me, but also for everyone around me. My idea was to go to the now abandoned Zecora’s hut, and take the Alicorn Amulet. I already had been in her hut, and searched for something useful, since she had a lot of potions. I ended finding the amulet. I was afraid of someone finding it and trying to use it against us, so I preferred to hide the amulet in another place of her hut.

I knew well what could happen and all the risk that followed with it. But I also knew that if the princesses were able to recover and form a counter attack, we had a good chance of losing the war. We had been able to contain the ponies of the conquered cities, but I was not sure if it would last with the victory of the princesses in Canterlot. The ideal would be attack now when they were weak, which would only be possible with the Amulet.

I discussed it with my allies, including Chrysalis, and all were against it. They were right, it wasn’t safe. Though I know some new protection spells, I do not know if any would actually work with the amulet. But I convinced them that it was worth trying. I even told them that if things got out of control, they should drop their differences with the princesses and join them to defeat me. If they were not able to just defeat me, I gave them carte blanche to kill me, I knew it would be better they do it than to allow me to destroy everything for which we fought.

I didn’t have much time to practice my protection spells until one of our group returned with the amulet. I couldn’t waste one more second, if I decided to train for another day, perhaps Celestia had already planned the counterattack and would win the war. I had discovered a spell able to repel a certain object after a predetermined time of contact with someone’s body and that was my main bet to get to take off the Alicorn Amulet.

While the rebels passed the message that we were ready to attack and everyone prepared themselves, I prepared my spells. They demanded enormous concentration and I wanted to make sure that they would work in the right way, the future of all Equestria and my life depended on it.

We traveled to Canterlot, trying not to attract much attention. Just me and my main allies were part of the small group that would begin the attack. After I destroy the barrier, the others would show themselves, so we would prevent the princesses to be ready for it all.

When I put the Alicorn Amulet, I understood perfectly well why it was so hard to take it off. It was amazing the power that I felt coming from me, I felt like I could win alone against the three princesses. Of course I haven’t yet felt the corruption taking my mind, my spells were working well.

Me and the others unicorns in my group come together to break the barrier. It didn’t take long until we could break the barrier enough to allow the passage of a large group. I knew I should take off the amulet that instant, but I preferred to take my chances with it a little more. The amulet made me feel very confident and I was sure that I could spend more time with it without problems.

While my group had defeated the first guards and the rebel groups from the nearby towns approached, I used a spell that I had never tested before. It was a spell that prevented the use of any kind of magic in the place where it was used. I had studied the architecture of the castle enough to know where the prisons and some other important points for the princesses were.

I first concentrated on putting the spell in the prisons and then in the throne room. I noticed that my protection spells were working and soon one of them would repel the amulet away from my body. Instead of trying to enchant any more rooms in the castle, I tried to make myself immune to spells I had just cast in the castle.

I didn’t know if it had worked, since it didn’t take long for the amulet fly out of my neck after that. The protection spell worked better than expected. I quickly placed the Alicorn Amulet in my bag and went to help the rebels in the battle. I still have the amulet with me, but I do not intend to use it again. I don’t know if I could resist to its corruption another time.

We needed three days to conquer Canterlot. After ten years of fighting, we did not expect such a quick victory. We arrested the three princesses, Shining Armor, and all the others who fought against the invasion. The civilians who agreed to renounce their fidelity to the princesses and to support us were released, they were also victims of the princesses, they had no choice but to stay in their homes waiting for the end of the war. The barrier worked for both sides, no one could enter and no one could come out.

I admit that it was hard for me to believe that we had won. It has been ten years of fighting, but finally we were in the power. After so much pain and suffering, we could rest. We were going to recover the cities and their citizens, then we could implement the reforms that I so desperately wanted.

But of course, nothing is that easy. Yesterday I had the worst possible conversation with my allies, they want me to talk to all our major prisoners and decide what will be their fate. They will be hanged or will have to apologize publicly to the rebels and beg for his forgiveness. I will hear what they say and decide if they are truly sorry. Their life will be in my hooves.

My allies gave me the night to get used to the idea and soon the first prisoner will appear here, in the throne room. At least they agreed to leave my friends and my brother last. I don’t know if I will be able to…

The sound of footsteps interrupted my thoughts. The guards were coming and I should prepare myself for the first sentence. I saw them coming from afar and I took a deep breath. I ordered them to approach, I was ready to fulfill my obligations.

Author's Note

I want to say thank you to Rated Ponystar for letting me adopt the idea of this fic and help me to improve everything I wrote about it. He created the general idea and I wrote everything, including all the details, using my own imagination.

I want to say thank you too to mikemeiers, my proofreader. Now my story is way better and with a lot less mistakes, thank you!

Chapter 2 - The Thunder's Team

I sat on my throne and went back to cry. I didn’t allow myself to stay that way for long, neither to wonder about what Celestia said to me. I couldn’t help but think about Trixie. She was dead and her sad face wouldn’t leave my mind.

I wiped my tears and waited for some guard show up with the next prisoners. This time, a large number of guards appeared to bring not only one prisoner, but three, as I had requested.

The next to be judged were the leaders of Wonderbolts: Spitfire, Fleetfoot and Soarin. Spitfire was the one to blame for our first failed attack, and she had convinced Rainbow Dash to abandon us, but I would not prevent her to surrender because of it. At that moment, I would rather have someone alive, than to have more blood dirtying my hooves. Even if it was someone who had done all she could to prevent the advance of Equestria.

But it was clear in my mind that my allies would not be happy with just one death coming from my judgments. Of course they were judging their own old friends and acquaintances, which would likely result in more deaths, but none of them had friends as important as mine and that caused so much damage to our plans for a better Equestria.

I took a deep breath and asked the guards to left, so I could start my judgment. Spitfire was between her two companions and kept her brave air, she remained as the leader of them and I would bet my magic that she would try to be considered the only guilty, to thereby rid Soarin and Fleetfoot of an execution.

“Spitfire, Fleetfoot and Soarin, the so-called leaders of the Wonderbolts and more recently known as the heroes of the pegasi,” I started, looking into the eyes of each of them as I spoke their names.

I noticed Soarin and Spitfire keeping their eyes looking firm at me, undeterred by what I say or for what I was about to do. Fleetfoot seemed unable to look into my eyes, as if she feared something, probably that her life would end.

“As the new Princess of Equestria, I called you here to decide your fate.” I noticed Spitfire containing herself so as to not interrupt me. I was right, she wanted to put all the blame on her shoulders and prevent her companions to suffer the same fate as Trixie.

Inevitably the image of Trixie's funeral came back to my mind. I took a deep breath to prevent the tears to return to my eyes and I tried to look as cold as possible. “You fought against the rebels in our war to improve Equestria and therefore my allies require the death of each of you”

“It wasn’t their fault, I used our friendship to force them to fight alongside Celestia,” Spitfire interrupted me. She spoke quickly, as if she was afraid that I would prevent her from talking before she finished defending Soarin and Fleetfoot. “The only one guilty in all of this is me.” The pegasus took a deep breath, turning to speak more calmly, “So, please, Princess, release them and apply whatever the penalty for these crimes are on me and only on me.”

I didn’t expect her to interrupt me so quickly. I could finally understand what Rainbow saw in Spitfire, she was incredibly loyal. She didn’t think twice before risking her life for her friends, that was something I admired.

“No!” Soarin shouted, taking a step forward. “I chose to serve Celestia with free and spontaneous will. It was not Spitfire’s fault! She can not receive the punishment alone!”

Soarin seemed upset, Spitfire apparently was not the only loyal pegasus in that judgment. I expected Fleetfoot to speak too, but she just looked down, ashamed. Weird, she always seemed so close to Spitfire, even more than Soarin, but the possibility of dying can change ponies.I knew it well.

“Enough!” I kept my voice steady and extended my hooves in a gesture of stop. “I do not care who convinced them to fight for Celestia, what I care about is that you fought for Celestia.”

I could feel the anger and the resentment of Spitfire burning me, this was the last thing she wanted to hear. She opened her mouth to protest, but I gesture for her to stop. “Despite everything, the fate of each one of you does not depend on the fate of the others. You can choose your own fates.”

“I surrender!” Fleetfoot spoke quickly, surprising not only me but also her two friends. After recovering from the surprise, Soarin and Spitfire just looked away from their partner, they said nothing about it. Fleetfoot seemed to notice this and looked back at the floor.

“I choose death,” Soarin said after a few moments, in a calm tone and with a sad expression on his face.

“No!” Spitfire interrupted, turning Soarin’s expression of sadness in determination. “You have to surrender with Fleetfoot! This was the deal!”

“I never agreed with that!” Soarin growled back, approaching Spitfire.

“Someone needs to take care of her!” She pointed to her companion. Soon her furious anger began to diminish in her voice, getting more moderate. “You can’t leave her alone and you know it.”

“So why don’t you surrender and takes care of her in my place?” Soarin's voice accompanied Spitfire’s, getting lower. “You have no stomach to surrender to them and you want me to have?” He made sure to show the disgust he felt for us and suppressed a look at me.

“You know I can’t do that! I am the leader of the Wonderbolts!” She paused to contain her anger again. “Soarin, do you really think someone is going to accept that a subordinate be killed while the leader surrenders?”

“I am not your-”

“By Equestria! Enough!” I shouted, interrupting the Soarin’s speech. I had no idea what they were talking about, much less why someone needed to stay to help Fleetfoot. But I had to stop this discussion. “This is a judgment to decide your future. I am here as a judge and not as some kind of therapist to solve your problems!”

For a moment the three were stunned, staring at me, and I had to contain an angry sigh. Gradually their surprise expression dissipated, Spitfire was the first to recover.

“We have already decided, Fleetfoot and Soarin will surrender and I will be hanged,” Spitfire spoke decisively, not leaving room for contrary ideas.

“I already told you-”

“Enough!” I returned to stop Soarin. I didn’t expect a judgment could be so annoying. I expected to cry, I expected to feel guilt, I expected to feel anything but irritation. I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment, trying to calm myself. “This will last forever this way, so I'll solve this.”

I noticed them eagerly awaiting what I was about to say. Spitfire, as always, looked ready to stop me if she didn’t agree with my solution. “I said that the fate of each one of you doesn’t depend on the fate of the rest, but I changed my mind.”

“What? You can’t do that!” Spitfire shouted, flapping her wings in irritation.

“Heavens! I have not finished, calm down,” I practically growled, making another break for me to calm down again. “Fleetfoot can only surrender if Soarin also surrender. Spitfire can choose whatever she wants, it will not influence in their destiny.”

“That’s unfair! You can not do that!” I thought I would hear something like that of Soarin,not Fleetfoot. Her voice was choked with the tears that began to fall from her eyes. “You can not do that! I can’t die now!”

Spitfire quickly went to her and hugged Fleetfoot with her wings, trying to console the blue pegasus. Soarin just looked away, as if he felt guilty about his decision. Even I took a few moments before I could speak again, I really didn’t want her death. Then I had to gather all my strength before speaking again.

“Why do you think I mind about being fair? I am the Princess of Equestria, I decide what is fair!” I said trying to pretend being angry, but I didn’t think it actually was working. “I have killed Trixie, why do you think I'd care to hang a few more ponies?”

I hoped that some of them looked me in the eye and would answer me. I hoped to be told that I cared because my eyes said this, as well as the tears I wanted to shed but couldn’t. Why don’t they said it was obvious that I was suffering with these deaths? That I had a heart? That I was traumatized by all that I had seen in the war and now in the judgments? That I just didn’t start crying because I didn’t let myself think about it long enough, because I did not let all that had happened really came into my consciousness with all its consequences? And when that finally happened I would collapse?

I did not want more deaths and this should be clear in every cell of my body. Why can’t they see that I only want the best for Equestria and every creature that lives in it? It would be so easy if they could see it and then surrender. No one wants to let them die, beyond their own pride.

I breathed deeply a few times, I couldn’t cry. Not in front of them. I'd be the princess Equestria needed. Finally I had managed to calm down and I dared to look at them. The three stared at me, Fleetfoot seemed to not know what to think, Soarin seemed incredibly surprised and Spitfire looked worried.

“Is everything okay, Twilight?” Spitfire spoke up after a few moments. She spoke as if she was speaking to some of her teammates, without anger, without hatred, without treating me like a superior. For a moment I felt again like Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia and friend of the promising Rainbow Dash, who would one day be the leader of the Wonderbolts.

“Of course!” I gave a wry smile, hoping they had not noticed my previous moment of weakness. “So what did you decide? Will any of you surrender?”

“Well,” Spitfire began, looking as if she not know how to say what she wanted to say. “We have already said our decision, but you, Princess, did not appear to be listening. Soarin and Fleetfoot will surrender, I'll be hanged.”

She returned to treating me like the Princess of Equestria, the one that overthrew the kind princesses and killed many in a war for power. But I didn’t care, after all two lives would be saved today. “Wonderful! Guards, come take the prisoners!” I felt my voice getting a little hysterical, but I managed to control myself.

Four guards arrived, all unicorns. The pegasi probably would not be very happy to arrest any of the Wonderbolts, the childhood idols of any pony who liked to fly. “Take them and prepare them for the ceremony, they will no longer be prisoners in today's ceremony. But leave Spitfire, I want to talk some more with her.”

The mood of the guards seemed to have improve a lot, I certainly was not the only one who hated to hang someone. When they were far enough away, I returned my attention to Spitfire who sat and smiled at me.

“I saw what you did for Soarin.” Her smile didn’t decrease at any time and her voice seemed to carry some feeling that I could not identify. It looked like...gratitude? But that made no sense, I would kill her at the end of the day.

“What are you talking about?” My voice sounded far away as I tried to decipher the thoughts of the pegasus.

“You know that Soarin would not allow kill Fleetfoot, even if it meant he would have to apologize to you,” She explained to me the obvious. Of course I knew that, my only goal with this was to have less blood on my hooves. “Thank you for saving him.”

“You shouldn’t thank me, I'll let you die.” I felt like my voice was empty, not really indifferent, just empty of any emotion. How could she care more about the lives of her friends than with her own life?

“I know, I never had hopes of living. I know you need some of us dead, you need some martyrs.” I wanted to stop her, say that I don’t want that, but I couldn’t risk losing everything I have achieved for not wanting to do this for my allies. It would be worse if I denied it to them. I kept my silence, noting Spitfire signaling for me to let her continue.

“I know, I never believed you would want it, Twilight, but I know well what is having to yield to the wishes of allies. It's okay, I don’t blame you.” She gave me a warm smile. “I also would not surrender, I couldn’t betray the memories of those who died for us, neither the trust of those who are still fighting for us. I could not betray Trixie.”

“I am so sorry.” It was the only thing I could say before the tears start to fall. I wasn’t sure for what I was sorry. Killing Trixie? Hang Spitfire at the end of the day? Accept the request, or rather, the order of my allies? Allowing so many to die in the war? I thought that was because of everything and even more things I had not yet let actually get in the conscious part of my mind.

“Twilight, you don’t need to apologize, I'm happy that my friends will stay alive.” She gave me another of her warm smiles. How can she do this? “I am not sure if you know, but Fleetfoot had a beautiful daughter and I don’t mind dying if I know that she can mother her daughter with Soarin’s help.”

“I'll be sure that she has everything she needs for her daughter,” I said immediately, without thinking. Everyone should have everything they needed now that I was the princess of Equestria, this was the goal of the entire war.

“I know you will, I trust you and I hope you can implement all your ideas for Equestria.” She stood up and took a step back, as if ready to leave. “Good luck, Twilight Sparkle. Now, if you don’t mind, I'd love to spend the time I have left to live with some friends.”

“Of course, I'll call the guards to prepare you for the ceremony.” I forced myself to smile. Spitfire was much sweeter than I could imagine and it hurt me a lot to know that she would die. “You probably don’t know how works the last day of those who chose death. You will have a few hours to be with anypony you want, just ask the guards and they will bring anypony to you. You will also have the right to your last meal, which will be whatever you want, just ask. If necessary, I will go after whatever you want, really.”

I hadn’t noticed the tip of desperation in my voice neither how fast I was talking, until Spitfire interrupted me. “Thank you so much, Twilight, I really appreciate your commitment, but now I just want to go and spend all the time I have with the ponies I love.”

“Oh, of course! Guards! Guards!” I yelled louder than I expected, which caused three guards to run towards me with worried expression. I definitely had to calm down. Even the ponies that would be killed were handling it better than me. “Take Spitfire and be sure to give her everything she wants. She will be hanged in today's ceremony.”

The guards agreed and took Spitfire without question. When they finally moved away, I took a deep breath until I could calm down properly. The judgments were very difficult for me and were becoming even worse knowing that at the end of the day I would not have my friends to help me.

But I always would have my dear Spike. I intended to go to his room today. Spend some time with him, see that he is well, that always calmed me. Of course this also reminded me that at some point I would have to decide the future of Rarity and that it could devastate Spike. At least now he was happy, he spoke less about Rarity and more about all the dragons he had known and how he was learning better how to use his dragon’s attributes.

I stood up and went to my room. I went through several guards who smiled at me, but I was unable to answer their smiles. Arriving at my room, I lay on my bed and tried to empty my mind, I needed to sleep and I was not sure if I could do this after Spitfire’s death.

I tried not to think of all the war, how I felt using the Alicorn Amulet, in all the judgments, Trixie and how her funeral had been earlier that same day, even if seemed to have passed days since it happened. I tried not to think mainly on how Spitfire would die today and the eternal hate that her friends would feel for me, and with every right.

It was difficult, but I finally fell asleep and remained so for a few hours. I dreamed about everything I tried not to think and I also dreamed about Nightmare Moon and Celestia. It was one of the worst nightmares I've ever had and it seemed a work of the Princess of Dreams, but I refused to believe that she was able to do that.

I went to my closet and looked for some clothes for the execution of the evening. I decided to choose an orange and yellow dress. It was in gradient, orange gradually turning yellow in the end of the dress. In its most yellow part, at the dresses end, my cutie mark was stamped in orange. All the dresses were custom-made for me, ordered by my allies, who felt that a princess needed a wide variety of clothes. I preferred to not discuss.

After getting ready and putting on the dress, I went to Spike’s Room. I knocked on the door and entered without waiting for an answer. He was at his desk reading some of the books I gave him about dragons. He was so grown up, he was already higher than me. His wings never developed, contrary to what some of the dragons said could happen, slow wings growth was not something unheard of. But it was nothing that I couldn’t fix later with my magic.

“Hello, Spike,” I said with my best smile, glad to finally be with him.

“Hey, Twilig-” He stopped in the middle of my name, finally looking at me and noticing how I was dressed. “Wow, you look beautiful, Twi.”

“Thank you.” Around him my smiles never ceased. “Good to see that you are reading a little about dragon theory.”

“Yeah, I decided to hear you a little and try to learn some theory before my practical classes.” He returned my smile, closing the book to give me more attention

“I just wanted to know how you are and spend some time with you. We almost never spend time together...”

“I know, I miss you too.” He moved closer, giving me a hug that did not take me long to answer.

We spent some time sitting, talking. We talked a lot about the lessons that Spike had with the other dragons, about what he wanted to learn more, what books he would need soon and then we talked about trivialities. We always avoided any matter relating to war and judgments.

He knew all about the judgments, I couldn’t hide it from him, but he believed that I would do the better for Equestria. Spike was old enough to understand that sometimes deaths were necessary to bring progress. I had never said this to him, but several dragons held this view and he took it well.

“Spike, I'd love to stay longer here, but I have responsibilities to fulfill now,” I said in a tired tone, not wanting to leave my beloved dragon, that calmed me so much.

“It’s ok, Twi, I understand.” He paused and I felt he had something he wanted to say but wasn’t sure if he should. “If you need to talk anything about, you know, everything that's happening, I’m here.”

“Thank you, if I need to, I will not hesitate to look for you.” I smiled as sincerely as I could, wanting him to believe in what I said. “But don’t worry about it, I'm fine.”

“Ok, good night, Twi.” He hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“Good night, little Spike.” I gave him a kiss on the forehead and headed to the door. “Later I’ll pass here to make sure you're not awake reading late again.”

I didn’t need to turn around to know he was smiling as much as I was. After closing the door and take a few more steps, I let my smile die and took a deep breath. It was about time of the hanging, and I needed to go to the ceremony and announce what happen.

I walked faster than normal, reducing my pace at the sight of other ponies. I took my seat and noticed that all the prisoners were already there. I definitely was late.

Guards approached escorting Soarin and Fleetfoot. They were soon left in front of the desk in front of my seat. I called everyone's attention, making it clear that I wanted to talk.

“Today is a happy day for us,” I announced, and thus noticed Soarin trying to prevent any negative expression arose in his face and ruin his chance to live, as well as Fleetfoot’s chance. “The second in command of the Wonderbolts, Soarin and Fleetfoot, recognized our intentions in improving Equestria and finally realized they were wrong to fight alongside the Princesses, Celestia, Luna and Cadance.

“Now that they understand all this, they want to apologize and ask forgiveness for their mistakes. And they want to swear loyalty to our new Equestria. Fleetfoot, would you like to speak first?” I would not allow Soarin to speak first, it was better if the mother who didn’t want to leave her daughter orphaned invented a speech first and Soarin only had to agree.

“After Princess Twilight Sparkle explained to us all she wanted to do for Equestria and how Princes-” She made a slight pause, taking a deep breath and then continued. “and how Celestia tried to stop the progress that our Princess so much wanted. We both, me and Soarin, are sorry for letting ourselves be deceived by Celestia and we ask forgiveness from all of you.”

“Soarin, do you agree with that?” The representative of Zebrica, Zora, asked. She possessed a serious expression on her face, she appeared to be much younger than she really was. She didn’t look anything like Zecora, the first zebra I met, her manestyle was completely different, as well as her clothing and way of speaking. Only the adornments they wore were alike, what appeared to be part of Zebrica culture.

“Yes, I agree with everything Fleetfoot said.” He didn’t look happy to say this, but he tried to hide the best he could.

“Now, you can sit with the rest of our people and we will continue to hanging Spitfire.” Guilherme, the representative of the Griffin Kingdom, took the reins of the execution, as he had done the day before with Trixie.

I stopped listening to what he said and concentrated on the path that Fleetfoot and Soarin made among the crowd. Fleetfoot approached Fluttershy, followed by Soarin. Flutter was next to a baby carriage. I would bet that this baby was Fleetfoot’s daughter.

Soon the little baby was looking forward to the hooves of blue pegasus. The filly was a pegasus and had a yellow-orange coat, not much darker than Spitfire’s. Her manestyle also remembered much Spitfire’s manestyle, it also had the orange color of Spitfire’s mane. In fact, that filly looked much like Spitfire’s daughter than Fleetfoot’s.

Then I finally realized why Spitfire cared so much about Fleetfoot and her daughter. That little orange filly was the daughter of Spitfire, not Fleetfoot. I should have noticed it, the way she cared for Fleetfoot should have been enough for me to at least suspect it. Of course she needed somepony who would care for the filly as their own daughter. And now I was leaving one of the mothers of that filly be hanged, the real mother. She would be orphaned because of me.

I averted my gaze immediately to Spitfire. She was with the ropes around her neck and one of the guards was ready to take the support off her feet, the only thing that kept her alive. Her eyes met mine and I felt that she knew of my recent discovery. So she just smiled at me and I tried to contain my tears, but I had to disguise some tears that rolled anyway.

I never would know what that smile meant, but I decided to interpret it as her way of saying that she knew what she was doing and it was not my fault her daughter got orphaned. This at least soothed my conscience. As I watched her face, I saw her surprise, her hooves crawl the rope and her wings beat frantically, trying to sustain her body a few seconds more. The chains are too heavy, causing Spitfire soon to stop and I saw the life be drained from her body.

I did everything possible to not cry at that moment. I would leave to do this when I was in my room, alone. I just needed to handle a few more times and I could leave, they hardly would notice my absence among the party they always did.

The end of the compulsory part of the ceremony was announced, and many of the civilians left, including Fleetfoot, Soarin and my old best friends. I got up to leave when Guilherme stopped me. He put one of his blue feathered wings around me and gave me a smile.

“Princess, you should stay a little longer, enjoy the party,” he said smiling, placing a grape in his mouth.

“I'm tired, and I want to get some sleep before going to the funeral and then to the next judgment.” I tried to force a tired tone, quickly I noticed that I was really tired and it was not hard to show it.

“I understand, Princess, but they are already talking about this attitude of yours, you know?” Guilherme finally removed his wing off me, taking another bunch of grapes. “People like to comment things, you know? And they say that you may not be ideal for the position of princess, you know? You don’t appear long after the judgments and always leaves early. People find these things strange.”

“The life of ponies are in my hooves and I spend much of my day just taking care of my responsibilities as Princess, and the rest of my free time I use to have a few hours of sleep and think about what I can do more for my people.” I spoke looking into the Griffin’s eyes, always stamping clearly a fake smile on my face. “I think people can understand my absence in some parties.”

“Of course, Princess. Know that I didn’t doubt your ability for the position, I was just telling you about what people say, you know?” He quickly chewed a grape before continuing. “But, just to calm their gossip, eat something before leaving, Princess.”

I didn’t answer Guilherme, I just caught a eclair with my magic and put it all in my mouth. I didn’t wait to see his reaction, much less if he would say something, I just walked back to my chambers, I needed to prepare for the funeral of the next day.

Sometime among my thoughts, as I tried to finally sleep, Spike came, I had said I would pass in his room at night to see if he was sleeping well. I sighed, I was not able to go to his room, not that Spike didn’t know that I would not go in his room, he knew how much I was tired with all this and even he would tell me that I should not go to his room but go rest. But I wanted so badly to see how he was…

I woke up startled, still with thoughts about Spike in my mind. I dreamed that we was still at war and that Spike was hurt, I could only think about how I had to go to him and make sure that my little Spike was fine.

After my morning preparations, I decided to pass in Spike’s room. He slept peacefully with a half open book beside him. I used my magic to put the book on the desk and put a sheet over Spike’s body. It was amazing how he was grown up, it seemed like just yesterday he was a kid, smaller than me.

I held a sigh and left the room as quietly as possible. Spike deserved a little rest, he probably had been all night reading instead of sleeping. I tried to take Spike out of my head and concentrate on Spitfire and her funeral.

Again I would have to speak something, give a final farewell to Spitfire, and I was not sure about what to say. I still have to deal with all those who loved Spitfire, at the funeral, crying and blaming me for everything.

I decided to ignore all that and go towards the funeral. I noticed Soarin comforting Fleetfoot, who couldn’t stop crying. Again one of the prisoners was present at the funeral, but this time, instead of Celestia, Rainbow Dash is who was present.

Some other Wonderbolts, many in their uniforms, also wept by Spitfire. I also noticed that the vast majority of the guards present were pegasus. Many of those present were crying, including Rainbow Dash.

I honestly wanted to go to her, to hug and say how much I was sorry for everything that happened. I took a deep breath and tried to think like the Princess of Equestria, instead of thinking like Twilight Sparkle. It was hard, but I couldn’t show any special treatment for Rainbow, both to frustrate my credibility as a princess, as out of respect for Spitfire, which was not entitled to any special treatment.

As I approached, the coffin was more visible and my fear of looking at the body without life of Spitfire increased. The image of her being hanged was still clear in my mind and I tried to think she could not be worse in the coffin, but I knew that it didn’t mean that the experience wouldn’t be horrible.

After all, I took another deep breath and looked inside the coffin. The image I saw was better than my last vision of Spitfire: her body hanged, lifeless. Spitfire was beautiful, her mane seemed to have much more brightness than yesterday and truly remembered fire. I could imagine how beautiful it was when Spitfire flew and I wished she were alive so I could see that.

Spitfire wore a beautiful dress, I thought it was also courtesy of Rarity. The dress was an adaptation of the well-known yellow and blue uniform of the Wonderbolts. The colors and patterns of the dress were equal to the uniform’s, the only difference was that it had the shape of a dress and the yellow part of the dress was full of topaz.

Various flowers surrounded Spitfire’s body, mainly sunflowers and blue petunias, the flowers symbol of the Wonderbolts. Between her hooves there was some paper, it appeared to be a letter. I took a few more steps close to the coffin, to be able to read better what was that paper.

It was definitely a letter, signed by Fleetfoot, Soarin and Rainbow Dash. Near the signatures there was the mark of a small hoof, belonging to a baby, I had no doubt that was of Fleetfoot’s daughter. Or rather Spitfire’s daughter. I didn’t dare read anything but the signatures, I truly wanted to preserve Spitfire’s privacy.

I felt all eyes fixing on me, but I didn’t allow myself to look back at them. I wanted to look to Rainbow Dash, trying to decipher her thoughts by her gaze, trying to find out if she hated me for the death of her leader. Or look at Fleetfoot, see if she blamed me for Spitfire, the mother of that filly (now Fleetfoot’s daughter), death.

I took a quick look at Fleetfoot, who was still crying silently, and I confirmed that her daughter was not with her. I agree that a funeral was no place for such a young baby, she would probably be better with some foalsitter. Maybe she was right then with Fluttershy, being pampered by the more kind pegasus existent.

I straightened in front of the coffin and called the attention of the guests, although this was not necessary, they all looked at me. I took a deep breath and tried to start talking. My mouth was dry and my throat seemed to not want to obey me, refusing to form the right words. But even then I forced myself to continue.

“Spitfire,” I was forced to take a break. I took a deep breath again and continued. “Spitfire was well known as the leader of the Wonderbolts, but her greatest achievements were as wonderful friend and loving mother.”

I gave again a quick glance at Fleetfoot, who had begun to cry with greater intensity. “Much of what I knew about Spitfire I heard from Rainbow Dash.” As much as I wanted to look at Rainbow, and I really wanted to, I avoided doing so. “And, well, Rainbow always admired Spitfire, and with that, I always felt a great respect for her.”

“But that didn’t stop you from killing her,” a pegasus interrupted me. She wore a Wonderbolts uniform that covered almost her whole body, leaving only her mane and wings naked. Her wings had some blueish green tone and her mane was yellow. I didn’t remember ever having met her.

“Shut up, Dust,” Rainbow spoke in a hostile tone, stirring with difficulty her trapped wings. “It wasn’t her fault.”

I did not know what to do and my mind was divided into many thoughts. Part clung to the thought of Rainbow defending me and fantasized about the two of us getting back to be friends, how she would surrender without a second thought and the happy ending that would happen.

Another part of me was thinking about Dust and how that name seemed familiar. The word "light" came to my mind, but I couldn’t relate it to that name. If I had heard that name, appeared to have been even before the revolution begin.

The last part of my mind wanted to continue the speech and didn’t want to ruin Spitfire's funeral. That part was thinking of everything I wanted to say to her, the phrase "I'm sorry" repeating itself in an endless loop in my head.

With all these pieces fighting for my conscience, the only thing I could do was look at the two pegasi fighting, as I opened and closed my mouth, barely computing what happened.

Before I could interfere, Fleetfoot had intruded and had ended the discussion. I had no idea what she had said, but the important thing was that whatever it was it had solved the whole discussion.

“Okay, I will not say anything more,” Dust began, launching a displeased glance in my direction. “But to honor Spitfire’s memory and just for it.”

Dust walked away and sat down next to other Wonderbolts. Rainbow made sure to sit with her back to Dust, like a child, and that thought made me hold back a smile. Fleetfoot sat near Rainbow, soon being followed by Soarin.

After a few moments, I called the attention of the guests again, I had to continue my speech, for Spitfire. “As I was saying, I always admired Spitfire and, after finally talk to her, I understood why so many people loved her.”

I noticed a buzz among the Wonderbolts, they seemed to share the same opinion of Dust. Fleetfoot and Rainbow launched a reproachful look at them, which decreased the buzz, to my delight. I pretended not to have heard anything and continued.

“Spitfire understood that her decision to fight for Celestia was wrong, but she concluded that what she did needed a punishment, a punishment that would prevent other ponies to make the same mistake.” I paused, watching better Spitfire and thinking about the similarity between her and her daughter. “Spitfire was able to understand that this sacrifice was necessary so we could build a better Equestria, a better place for her daughter to live. With that she showed she really was the bearer of the Element of Sacrifice, and I hope that everyone is able to follow her example, to be able to accept any sacrifice for those we love.

“Spitfire, today you are being buried as the Element of Sacrifice and I hope your story awaken the admiration and inspiration which deserves from all the ponies who hear it.” I finished, leaving some tears stream down my face, that I discreetly cleaned, before it awake more fury of the Wonderbolts.

“And don’t doubt it!” Rainbow Dash immediately interrupted me, before any of the Wonderbolts could say anything. “Spitfire herself told me it was her decision to be hanged and that Twilight had nothing to do with it.”

As she spoke, Rainbow approached Dust and the other pegasi. Despite her difficulty moving, tethered and unable to fly, she walked a lot, forcing one of the guards to stop her and get her back to her place.

“So you think Spitfire led us into a war that could have killed us and that really killed several of our friends, but she thinks she should have allied with Twilight Sparkle from the beginning?” Dust spoke again, approaching Rainbow, who kept a hateful look on her face. I noticed a hint of disdain when she said my name, but I ignored it completely Despite all this confusion, Rainbow was trying to defend me, she was on my side and I had no doubt that she would surrender.

The thought to anticipate Rainbow’s judgment went through my head. She would surrender today and it would be easier for me to deal with all this, with so many deaths. But I knew I couldn’t do that, my next judged was very special to leave to another day, other than that she probably had already been prepared for her judgment.

“Yeah, maybe Twi has decorated things up a bit, but...” Rainbow started, without knowing how to continue.

“None of that matters now!” Fleetfoot interrupted, positioning herself between the two pegasi. “Spitfire knew what she was doing and the consequences of what she did and it's not you, Lightning Dust, that wasn’t even her friend, who will dictate what she thought, especially about the Princess.”

“Exactly!” Rainbow exalted herself again, and again she was contained by one of the guards.

“And if you can not accept this, Soldier Dust, I command, as one of the captains of the Wonderbolts, you to leave the funeral.” Soarin finally decided to act, keeping his tone firm and his face with an angry expression. He wrapped Fleetfoot with one of his wings, as if to show his support to her.

I was feeling dizzy. Everything went very fast, before I could do anything, and the last thing I expected was that any of them defended me so fiercely.

“Whatever,” Dust said, stretching her wings. “If you want to dishonor her memory, it’s your problem. I will not stay here watching.”

Without waiting for answers, Lightning Dust, the pegasus I thought I had already met, but was barely able to remember her name, left. I was still stunned by what had happened. I didn’t expect something like this to happen at any of the funerals, I should have expected it, but this not occurred to me. I should have prepared myself better.

I was not sure about what to do now. Should I go and start the next judgment? Should I thanks the three pegasi for helping me, even after I have condemned to death their leader and friend?

Then came into my mind how daring Dust had been, challenging the Princess of Equestria in that way. Would my allies kill her for it? I was pretty sure they would and I didn’t know if I could do something about it.

I just hoped Dust wasn’t hanged in one of my ceremonies, but it was unlikely that she died in another ceremony. Each ceremony took place at different times, probably now was occurring a ceremony, but they were separated by species. I was the representative of the ponies and ponies should be judged by me and killed in my ceremonies.

“Princess?” one of the guards asked, approaching me with a worried look. I was so lost in my thoughts that I probably have lost part of the conversation again.

“Yes?” I tried to talk as if nothing had happened, slowly approaching him and Dash.

“The captive Rainbow Dash was trying to make a request, but the princess didn’t seem to be listening,” the guard continued, unsure of how to act. I suppressed a sigh before continuing.

“What is your request, Rainbow Dash?” I tried not to sound too intimate or happy to speak to the pegasus, but I also couldn’t seem too cold, because it would ruin the chances of Rainbow surrender. I thought my tone was too distant, too much like the Princess of Equestria and almost nothing like Twilight Sparkle, but Rainbow not seem to mind.

“It’s about Spitfire. I would like to give her a proper funeral...” Rainbow said, barely looking at me.

I couldn’t understand what Rainbow meant, I had just given a wonderful funeral, to the extent that the war allowed, to Spitfire. What more could Dash want?

“I mean, in the pegasi way,” Dash finally clarified my doubts. Each pony breed had a different way of dealing with death and funerals and I hadn’t noticed that maybe some of them would prefer a funeral befitting their beliefs. Would Trixie have also preferred a different funeral?

I took a deep breath and took these thoughts out from my mind. I couldn’t do anything about Trixie, the funeral had already been done and I couldn’t change it. But there was still time to change Spitfire's funeral and give her a proper funeral.

“Oh, of course! I'll get everything immediately,” I said, soon leaving Rainbow and speaking with one of the only unicorns guards.

Pegasi usually cremated the dead and let their ashes be carried by the wind. They said it was a way to free the dead and make they become part of the wind. So I asked the guard to provide an urn to place Spitfire’s ashes and whatever she thought could help spread the fire by Spitfire’s body and facilitate the cremation. I would start the fire with my magic.

It didn’t take long until some servants appeared with a beautiful blue and black urn, and a bottle of some liquid unlabeled to help with the combustion. I positioned myself away from the coffin, while an earth pony stallion poured the liquid in Spitfire. I thought of the loss that would be burning that dress, one of Rarity’s masterpieces. But if she still had a little of the Rarity I met, the bearer of the Element of Generosity, she would not care about that.

“Ahem,” I called the attention of everyone who looked with curiosity and even perplexity at what I was doing. “Please, I ask you to stay away from the coffin, so we can start Spitfire’s cremation, following pegasi rites.”

After a few moments of indecision, all the guests began to move away from the coffin. When everypony was at a safe distance, I pointed my horn to the coffin and I made the fire initiated at Spitfire’s feet. Soon the whole body of the pegasus was on fire and I noticed some sad smiles on the guests.

“Twilight,” Rainbow Dash began to speak.

I wasn’t sure when she had sat next to me, I hadn’t noticed her until she started talking. I took a deep breath, trying not to show my surprise at her sudden appearance.

“Would you mind not accelerate the cremation?” Rainbow was still treating me with an unnecessary formality. But it was understandable, I wasn’t now in the role of her friend, but the princess who fulfilled her obligations at the funerals of her victims. “The pegasi wait the fire burn everything naturally, and I think Spitfire would like us to follow it.”

“As you wish,” I practically whispered, wanting only her to hear. So I watched Spitfire’s body burn and thought about the liquid that this earth pony put in her, to burn easily. “I did wrong to have asked them to put that liquid...”

“No,” Rainbow interrupted quickly. “The pegasi do this too, nobody wants to see half burnt flesh and having to restart the fire all the time, we just don’t accelerate things with magic. You are fine.”

I repressed a slight smile. Rainbow seemed to still be the same friend of ever, the Element of Loyalty. I tried not to think about it so much, and focused on the fire that still burning the body of Spitfire. Soon it would remain only ashes and I would have to go to the next judgment, maybe even take another life.

It wasn’t long until only ash was left of what was once Spitfire’s body. Taking a deep breath, I approached the coffin again. I used my magic to collect the ashes and put them in the urn. Still holding the urn, I approached Fleetfoot and Soarin.

“Here are the ashes, do you prefer to throw them here or you already have another place in mind?” I rested the urn in the grass, just in front of Fleetfoot, she looked sadly at it. “I can try to get you to wherever you want, but with the tensions with the recent end of the war, it can be not very safe.”

“We will spread the ashes right here,” Fleetfoot said, without looking away from the urn.

“I'm sure Spitfire would prefer that we threw her ashes here than we put ourselves at risk,” Soarin added, also with the eyes fixed on the urn.

“As you wish,” I said stepping away a few steps. I wanted to give them space so they could prepare to say their final goodbye to Spitfire. After that there would be nothing more of the existence of pegasus.

This time I noticed Rainbow approaching and sitting next to me. But I preferred to let her talk when she was ready. “Twi, do you think you could help me fly to throw the ashes?” She spoke softly, without looking directly at me. Rainbow knew it was a difficult request, I would never have the permission of my allies to release, even temporarily, some of my prisoners.

But I wouldn’t need to free her. The funeral was full of pegasi, including guards who should follow my orders. I felt a smile appears on my face. This idea was simply perfect.

“Surely, Dash,” I said, barely looking at her.

I went to the agglomeration of pegasi guards closest to me. It didn’t take long until everypony stopped talking and were all ready to follow my orders.

“I need two pegasi to carry the prisoner Rainbow Dash.” I realized how none of them were happy to fulfill my orders. “Because of the ties, she can’t fly, so I need two of you to help her to fly and throw Spitfire’s ashes. Do you think that any of you are able to obey that order?”

It did not take long for everyone to change their attitude. They realized that I didn’t ask to drag Rainbow away, but to help her pay her last tribute to the Captain of the Wonderbolts.

“Princess, only one of us is enough to carry lieutenant Rainbow Dash,” one of the guards spoke. He was a white pegasus stallion with a black mane.

“Alright, but I want at least another guard around, making sure that Rainbow Dash will not fall.”

“Yes, Princess!” they all said, almost in unison. I sat on the grass, waiting for everypony finish to prepare. Soon the urn was already in the air, with Soarin holding one of its handles and Rainbow the other. Fleetfoot held the urn’s cover, while she tilted it, making the ashes fly with the breeze.

Rainbow Dash seemed pleased, despite having to fly with the help of one of the guards. Meanwhile three other guards, including one unicorn and two pegasi, were under her, ready to prevent her from falling.

As much as I wanted to continue watching the pegasi pay their last tribute to Spitfire, I knew that my time to go had already passed. My next prisoner already was waiting for her judgment. And I should not let a prisoner so important waiting.

With a restrained sigh I stood up and walked towards my next judgment and maybe next funeral.

Author's Note

I am really sorry for the delay, I will try to update this story more often. The next chapter is almost done, and I will try to post it until the end of the month. Thank you for the patience! :)

Chapter 1 - The Great and Powerful Magician

“Trixie Lulamooon, as the new Princess of Equestria, I called you here to decide your future,” I said as I watched the guards leave the room. “You fought against me and the other rebels in our war for a better Equestria...”

“Yeah, I know all that, just tell me what you want from The Great and Powerful Trixie,” she spoke in her arrogant tone, as always. It was unbelievable how even after losing a war, Trixie didn’t lose her pose.

“My allies want the death of all who fought against the rebels.” I made a deliberate pause, waiting for some change in her attitude, but I couldn’t notice anything.

“But I convinced them to give you a chance, the only thing I ask in return is apologize to the rebels in a ceremony this afternoon.” I forced myself to do another pause, still waiting for some reaction from Trixie. “So what’s your choice? Surrender or Death?

“I think I prefer death, Twilight.” The blue unicorn looked selflessly to her own hooves, I was able to notice a mocking tone becoming present when pronouncing my name. “I have the right to a last request too? Before dying, I would like to have some thing-”

I finally noticed what was so present in Trixie since she had stepped into this room: she thought all this was a mere bluff. I was forced to interrupt her. “Trixie, I'm not kidding. If you do not surrender, I'll have to hang you. The rebels demand it.”

“Uh-huh, of course, Twilight.” A slight smile formed on Trixie’s face and I was sure that I wouldn’t like what she would say next. “And will you hang the princesses too? Your brother? Your dear friends who abandoned you? They also betrayed you and I do not think they will surrender.”

When Trixie wanted, she knew how to hurt someone. I had spent the rest of the morning reminiscing about all we have passed on the war and crying about having to fight against my friends. In the most discreet way possible, I held my tears and took a deep breath. I would not cry in front of her. I never would show how much she had managed to hurt me, I still had my pride.

I knew Trixie was right, as much as I avoided seeing the truth, I knew that. Shining had his loyalty to the royal guard, and his love for Cadance, he wouldn’t surrender easily. But my best friends, or at least those who were once my best friends, I knew nothing more about them. We spent so much time away that I had no idea of what to expect from them. Especially Rainbow Dash.

“Trixie, don’t you see what Celestia did?” As much as she could be detestable, I did not want to be responsible for the death of anyone. “Think of the ponies you met and died of disease or some accident. They could be saved if it weren’t for Celestia!”

“I know well what could have saved the ponies I met.” She took a step towards me, the anger clear both in her face and in her voice. “You not starting a war!”

“This is your last chance to surrender. You can think whatever you like, but you have to make a choice now, Trixie Lulamoon.” I tried to sound serious, to show that I wouldn’t mind killing her. I tried to destroy the idea that it could have the remotest chance of being a bluff. “Surrender or Death?”

“Death,” she spoke in a low tone, it was obvious that she wasn’t so sure of the bluff anymore. But I could see in her eyes something I hadn’t expected to find: she seemed to try to be ready to die for a cause, the cause of Celestia.

“As you wish,” I said with a sigh. Celestia seemed to have brainwashed her allies. “Guards! You can take her, she will be hanged later today.”

I could see the scared look that Trixie exhibited when the guards grabbed her. Now she was sure there was no bluff and that she would have to prove her certain to want to die for a cause.

“Twilight, are you sure you want to start your reign with deaths?” Trixie's voice trembled with fear. Maybe the brainwashing of Celestia wasn’t that good. “Will you simply kill everyone who thinks differently from you? And do you think you will be better than Celestia doing this?”

I gestured to the guards to stop to walk, for the relief of Trixie. “We're not killing those who think differently from us, but instead the ones who support a government that prevents the development of the country at the cost of the death of their subjects.” I made another gesture to the guards continue their duty.

“What?” she cried astonished, being dragged by the guards. “Wait, Twilight! I changed my mind! I want to surrender!”

“I said that was your last chance coming from me. You better hope my allies have pity on you before the hanging.” I sighed as I heard the screams and cries of Trixie. As much as I disliked her, I hated to see her despair “And, guards, ask Chrysalis to enter too.”

“Yes, Princess!” the guards answered. I closed my eyes, making everything disappear, especially Trixie's face.

“You know you have to forgive some of them,” said Chrysalis, as she walked in my direction. “To show how tolerant we are.”

“I know, I know. But I'd rather forgive one of my friends than...” I made a grimace of disgust. “Trixie Lulamoon.”

“I understand.” Chrysalis decided to try to win the title of my adviser and she offered to help me deal with the weight of choosing the death of our prisoners. I know her intention is only to get more power, but she was really helping me. “Now it is better for us to get ready for the ceremony. You have to be there for her hanging.”

With another sigh, I headed to my room. My allies had placed several dresses at my disposal for me wear them in the various ceremonies that we will have until the end of the sentences. One of the dresses caught my attention, it was dark blue and white. It reminded me of a dress that Rarity had given to me for the Grand Galloping Gala.

I let a few tears fall before putting the dress. I missed all of my friends so much! But soon we'd be together again, as soon as they all surrender. So we would never split up again.

I went to the ceremony and sat in the highest chair, the most prominent place. I let my allies speak for me. And then they talked about the reason of the hanging and they explained that this would happen with all the prisoners who refused to surrender.

All the prisoners were there, they still trapped and had hoofcuffs. I avoided looking at any of them, especially Shining and Rainbow. The remaining of my best friends were sitting with the crowd, but they had guards around to prevent them of escape. They weren’t prisoners, but they would undergo the judgment for their betrayal when abandoning the fight.

I didn’t want to look at Trixie also, I didn’t want to see the life slipping away from her body. So I ventured to look at my best friends in the crowd. Applejack and Rarity were with her sisters. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are then grown up mares and were sitting together, with their respective sisters on their sides. I didn’t see Granny Smith or Big Mac around, had something bad happened to them?

Fluttershy cried next to Discord, they were in the row behind Applejack and Rarity. Pinkie was in the right side of Fluttershy, with Limestone and Marble Pie, but I couldn’t see either of their parents or Maud around.

Soon I noticed a big red stallion coming towards my friends, sitting close to Applejack and Apple Bloom. Big Macintosh was alright! I recognized Babs Seed beside him, Apple Bloom’s cousin, hugging a mare, which I assumed to be her mother.

I still didn’t see Granny Smith or other Pinkie’s relatives. I managed to find Rarity’s mother a few rows away from them, but I didn’t see her father. I thought I saw Rainbow’s father, but I did not know him well enough to be sure.

I felt the panic taking my mind when I noticed the absence of Scootaloo. What if something bad had happened to her? Rainbow Dash would be so devastated! I would have to remember to ask the guards about her.

Before I could realize, Trixie's body was being taken from the gallows, lifeless. Everything was over. The crowd had been released to move on with their lives and the prisoners were taken back to their cells. Only me, my main allies and the soldiers who received medals of highest honor for their services stayed behind.

The banquet was just for us. I wasn’t hungry, but the others seemed not to care about the death that occurred recently. I put some food on my plate and the best smile I had on my face. Some of the soldiers came to see me, they thought it was an honor to have served the Princess of Equestria and I did my best to not disappoint them.

But the one thing that continued to resonate in my mind was a simple sentence that summarizes everything that happened on this day: Trixie Lulamoon is dead. She is dead. She will never see the sun or the moon rise up again. And tomorrow morning I would have to make a speech at her funeral, and then prepare myself for the next sentence.

The colorful tables and chairs seemed to mock me. The red tablecloth and chairs seemed to want to imitate the blood of Trixie. The decorations in shades of pink, yellow and blue seemed to want to emulate Pinkie’s animation, but they failed miserably. Nobody should be laughing after seeing one death. Nobody should be able to eat after seeing a life go away. For a moment I agreed with Trixie, we weren’t any better than Celestia.

As soon as possible, I made up an excuse and went to my room. I spent hours lying in my bed, unable to sleep. Trixie was dead because of me. I condemned her to die and I had yet to come up with a speech for her funeral.

I could not help but cry. In my years of war, I did not have to enter combat many times and I never killed anyone. The greatest thing I did was hurt them enough that they could no longer attack us. I wanted to improve Equestria and prevent deaths, not cause more.

I cried myself to sleep. But the images of Trixie, lifeless, being taken from the gallows haunted me all night. I could hear her crying, her despair. And I woke up in tears. I barely slept and I couldn’t sleep any longer.

After everything was ready, I went to Trixie’s funeral. I asked them to arrange the best possible funeral and to find out what her favorite colors and flowers were.I wanted them to incorporate everything they find out about Trixie in the funeral.

When I got there, everything was beautiful. There weren’t many people. The only living relative of Trixie was her father, who was crying desperately when looking at his dead daughter. The guests consisted of a few of her friends and some soldiers who had surrendered.

A cage large enough for an alicorn was near the coffin. Celestia had been authorized to attend the funeral, as long as she was stuck in the cage and surrounded by guards. Apparently she and Trixie became very close, as if Celestia wanted to replace me with the now dead blue unicorn.

I felt a hint of jealousy at this thought. I shouldn’t feel jealous of the two. Trixie was dead and I hated Celestia. There was no reason for jealousy. Of course I missed a relationship like the one I had with Celestia, but she ruined everything with her thirst for power and now I could only feel hate for her. Nothing more. Nothing.

I didn’t want to get close to the coffin and see Trixie’s face. Did the makeup artist manage to leave her with a beautiful look? I knew Rarity volunteered to make her dress. Trixie should be beautiful, anypony who wore Rarity’s clothes became wonderful.

A few tears slipped from my eyes. I miss Rarity so much! I miss all my friends so much! And Trixie’s death was my fault. My fault!

I forced myself to get close to the coffin and look at her face. The black coffin was fully open, exhibiting a body with a sad expression. Trixie looked so sad in that coffin, I couldn’t help but sob amidst my tears.

She was really wonderful, the makeup artist had done a perfect job, I couldn’t see the marks that the gallows had left on her neck. The dress Rarity made was dark blue, with Trixie’s cutie mark in white, it matched perfectly with Trixie’s beauty.

The lining of the coffin was almost the same color of the unicorn’s fur and white lilies decorated the coffin as much as the rest of the funeral. Who would have thought that Trixie’s favorite flowers were white lilies?

I caught one of the lilies of the decoration with my magic and put it in her mane. That got everyone's attention. Or maybe my sobs had done this before? Well, that didn’t matter anymore, I had to speak my discourse. I calmed myself and stopped my tears.

“Trixie Lulamoon was known as The Great and Powerful Trixie and I can’t deny it, she was truly great and powerful.” I had to take a break to not cry again. “She was great and powerful when she left everything to fight for a cause. This cause might not be the right one, but it's always admirable when someone has the courage to do this.

“She was also great and powerful when she agreed to go through ten years of fight, pain and suffering to defend this cause. And she was more than great and powerful when she accepted death to not let her cause die.” I was interrupted by the endless sobs coming from Trixie’s father. I wanted to hug him and apologize for everything, but I knew I, as the Princess of Equestria, shouldn’t do this.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is an example of courage to be followed. And I hope that this courage lives forever in the hearts of everypony who knew her.” I had to make another pause, but this time I allowed a few tears to roll down my face. “Trixie, you will be buried today with the biggest title that I could give you. You will be buried today as the bearer of the Element of Courage and you will be an inspiration to everypony who hear your story.”

I stepped away from the coffin, giving time for others to talk about Trixie too. Without noticing, I ended up standing next to Celestia. I didn’t look at her, I didn’t want her to notice how much I suffered with it. I didn’t want her to have hopes that I would feel so sorry for her too.

“At least you still have a heart, Twilight,” said Celestia. She actually dared to talk to me.

I held my tears before answering her. “Don’t you dare to talk to me. She's dead because of you.” I kept my voice low, but I let all the anger I felt clear in my voice.

I left before she could answer anything. I heard a range of sobs and I refused to believe that they came from Celestia. It was easier to accept the death of Trixie, and the future judgment of Celestia, if I thought of my old mentor as a monster.

I didn’t stay to see the end of the funeral. I preferred to recover from all that happened. I still had to go through another judgment and perhaps a hanging before the end of the day.

Author's Note

Trixie's was the hardest to decide which future to do. I could see the chapter working both ways: with Trixie's death and with her apologies. But I think this ways was best, especially considering what I want for the end of the fic.

Thanks again for my wonderful proofreader, the chapter is much better now!